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Safety upgrades coming to intersection where college student was hit and killed

New safety features will be added to an intersection where a Howard University student was struck and killed by a car on campus. One Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner suggested these updates should have been done earlier. “My understanding is that there was a safety walk about eight months ago, where these were some of the changes that they were thinking about but until Mohamed died, they didn’t actually implement them,” ANC Commissioner Josh Jacobson told WTOP. On April 11, 18-year-old Mohamed Samura was walking on the D.C. campus, police said. The driver was traveling northbound on 6th Street from Howard Place at a “high rate of speed,” then tried to turn left at the intersection on Fairmont and 6th streets, mounted a curb and struck Samura.

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Samura died in the hospital a few days later. The university’s campus newspaper, The Hilltop, reported the driver was a faculty member. DDOT will install raised crosswalks at that intersection and also install a bike rack at that corner, “where if someone were to speed and jumped the curb, instead of hitting a person, they would hit a bike rack,” Jacobson said. “DDOT said it should be within a month or two,” Jacobson said. “It just takes too long and comes at the cost of people’s lives before big changes that are needed are made.” WTOP has reached out to DDOT for comment on the project.

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Justice Department pardon lawyer who says she was fired in dispute over Mel Gibson’s gun rights sues

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Justice Department pardon attorney who says she was fired after she refused to recommend the restoration of actor Mel Gibson's gun rights sued Thursday over her termination, calling it illegal punishment for her unwillingness to grant a “political favor” to a friend of President Donald Trump. Liz Oyer's March 2025 firing came after she says she declined a request from the staff of then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to add Gibson to a list of individuals for whom the Justice Department would recommend the reinstatement of their gun rights. Oyer says she objected for public safety reasons given Gibson's prior domestic violence conviction that had resulted in the loss of his gun privileges. Blanche has denied Oyer's account, saying at his Senate confirmation hearing last month for the attorney general position that he now holds: “I didn’t even know of that. I had known nothing about Mel Gibson or that letter when I fired her. Nothing.” Oyer's lawsuit, the latest in a series by Justice Department staffers challenging Trump administration terminations that they deem unlawful, was filed after she says the Merit Systems Protection Board — which handles personnel claims — has left her case in “prolonged limbo” and declined to take action on her complaint.
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