Navigated to The Politics Hour: The D.C. Council seals the RFK stadium deal; plus, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich

The Politics Hour: The D.C. Council seals the RFK stadium deal; plus, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich

August 1
50 mins

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Episode Description

After two days of hearings, the D.C. Council took a first vote on the much-anticipated multi-billion-dollar RFK Stadium deal. WAMU's Senior D.C. Politics reporter Alex Koma joined us live from the Wilson building to give us the latest. He also broke down this week's final vote on the budget, which included a controversial compromise on the future of the tipped minimum wage.

The Trump administration has opened multiple investigations into George Mason University over alleged discriminatory policies, including into actions by the school's faculty. We asked Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell to weigh in. 

Sen. Surovell also explained why the General Assembly is mulling a return to Richmond for a special session next month, and we got his thoughts on Virginia's 11th Congressional District race to replace Rep. Gerry Connolly, who passed away unexpectedly this spring.  

The Montgomery County Council recently approved a "missing middle" housing plan. It's drawn backlash from some residents, as well as from County Executive Marc Elrich. He shared his take on the zoning change that will allow developers to build more types of housing in certain areas of the county.

County Executive Elrich also discussed the county's efforts to manage the increasing instances of flash flooding. Maryland has had 51 flash food warnings to date this year, already the most since 2020. Elrich warned that current systems won’t be adequate for what’s coming, and the county is researching fixes, including stormwater retention areas. 

"This, for us, is going to be challenging because these are capital expenses that no one thought we were going to be making," he said. "So this, in my mind, alters the trajectory of future budgets."

Elrich said the county has already installed dozens of flood sensors to help warn when water is rising. 

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