Maria Tedesco

Eating or keeping the lights on. That is the choice Ward 8 resident Don Gardner was forced to make. 

Gardner is praying that his application for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, will be approved before his power is turned off. He is behind on his bill because he was laid off from his job as a contractor for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in January. 
“Over the last three or four months, I haven’t been able to give them [electric company] anyt...

By Maria Tedesco
In Washington, D.C., civic engagement can be as simple as voting, attending hearings or talking to an advisory neighborhood commissioner. But to inmates in the D.C. jail, voicing their political concerns is no easy task.  
Some incarcerated individuals, and advocates on their behalf, said they have been denied the opportunity to testify in front of the D.C. City Council on bills ranging from better food while in custody to better health care for those giving birth in the jail —...

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers in the U.S. House scrambled to meet the deadline to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government on Friday, with the looming threat of a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
In the spirit of “third time’s a charm,” the House pulled through by passing a spending bill in the end. However, the day consisted of conflict among House Republicans.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert was involved.

In the end, the House passed the bill withou...

WASHINGTON – A bill to recover endangered fish species in the Upper Colorado River Basin and San Juan River Basin made it through U.S. Congress on Wednesday in a larger must-pass defense funding bill.
Stakeholders in Southwest Colorado have been waiting for fish recovery funding. If signed by the president, yearly funding for the program will increase. That will allow for fewer cutbacks on projects to increase fish populations, said Steve Wolff, general manager of the Southwester...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet was the first Democratic senator to publicly call on President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. But Biden’s eventual exit did not result in victory for his party.
Bennet said that is because voters wanted a bigger change than what the Democrats were bringing to the table.
“I think Donald Trump was elected not because people love his policy ideas, but because they think he's more likely to blow the system up...