5-year-old boy drowns in Anacostia River

April 16, 2026 | 8:40 PM

A five-year-old boy has died after drowning in the Anacostia River.

Around 6 p.m. on Thursday, first responders were called to the area of Anacostia Drive in Southeast D.C. for the report of a child in the river.

When they arrived, the five-year-old had already been pulled from the river by family members and others in the area.

D.C. Police said the unconscious boy was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital by U.S. Park Police where he was pronounced dead.

Police believe this was an accidental drowning.

This story is developing.

Civil rights groups make urgent plea for voting rights in DC, ahead of midterm elections

By The Associated Press
August 28, 2026 | 9:37 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voting rights, the work of the Civil Rights Movement and racial justice took center stage on the National Mall Friday, with protesters gathering ahead of midterm elections and following a wave of changes to voting laws and redistricting that some have condemned as detrimental to Black Americans. Hundreds of people rallied on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for the 2026 “Defend the Vote” March on Washington, organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, echoing the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 march. The event follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark April decision in Louisiana v. Callais that reinterpreted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, allowing Southern states to redraw their congressional maps in a way that erodes equal representation in Black communities. “We’ve been doing these marches for years, but this is probably the most important because this is the first year we are marching that the voting rights bill has been nullified by the Supreme Court,” Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, said in an interview with The Associated Press. Civil rights leaders and major Democratic political figures rallied attendees before rallygoers marched past national monuments, including the late King's memorial.

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