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Metro Board delays any action on Evans ethics issues

The Metro Board suddenly delayed any final action Tuesday on ethics issues facing Metro Board Chairman Jack Evans.

A planned closed session of the Metro Board was converted at the last minute into a closed session of the board’s Ethics Committee, which is responsible for the investigation. The closed session of the full board called by First Vice Chair Clarence Crawford was then pushed back to Thursday on Metro’s website.

Several people familiar with the matter confirmed the other board members had expected to act Tuesday until the last-second switch, which was only made on Metro’s website about an hour before the meeting was due to begin at 10 a.m.

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Evans walked into Metro headquarters about 45 minutes before the closed session of the Ethics Committee started. Unusually, he apparently had a lawyer with him at the meeting.

Evans has already been reprimanded by his colleagues on the D.C. Council and is under federal investigation over allegations he used his official roles for personal financial gain.

While few on the current Metro Board may be familiar with it, another then-D.C. council member also got caught up in a Metro ethics probe when he was on the board.

The case involving Jim Graham attempting to trade support for a city lottery contract bid for a developer dropping out of a Metro project led to Metro beefing up policies and investigations, which could mean Metro’s ethics probe has turned up additional information in the Evans case that is not yet public.

National Museum of the American Latino to be housed in historic Smithsonian building

The Smithsonian Institution has decided to put the National Museum of the American Latino into an existing, historic building, rather than constructing a new one. The Smithsonian Board of Regents on Monday designated the Arts and Industries Building, a 145-year-old redbrick Victorian structure located between the Smithsonian Castle and the Hirshhorn Museum, as the permanent site of the National Museum of the American Latino, which Congress authorized in 2020. In 2022, the Smithsonian narrowed its survey for permanent locations for the National Museum of the American Latino and the American Women's History Museum to four locations near the National Mall on land owned by the National Park Service. The Arts and Industries Building, located at 900 Jefferson St. SW, was one of the four sites. New construction on National Park Service land would require congressional approval. However, since the Smithsonian already owns the Arts and Industries Building, the institution can place the National Museum of the American Latino in the existing building without additional legislation.
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