Elaine Duke, the second-highest-ranking official at the Department of Homeland Security, announced Friday that she will step down after serving less than a year in the job.
A longtime Homeland Security official who ran the agency as acting secretary for more than four months last year, Duke, now deputy secretary, is a well-regarded figure at DHS and viewed as one of its most experienced managers. But Duke was largely sidelined after Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen took over in December and given a portfolio described as “embarrassingly light,” according to people familiar with the matter. Read More...
For citizens of D.C.’s musical nightlife, the pandemic forced a painful spate of sudden goodbyes. No more getting your dancing shoes dirty at Velvet Lounge. No more getting your mind blown clean at Twins Jazz. No more higher-plane human communion on the dance floor of U Street Music Hall, one of the greatest music rooms the city will ever know.
These permanent closures still hurt. But over the past year — even over the past week — an assortment of new music venues have begun daffodiling across the cityscape, giving us fresh space to gather and listen, or maybe even project our optimism. Read More...