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Christina Henderson asked whether any consideration had gone into instituting a scholarship incentive — a program Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan unveiled for the state earlier this week — that could bring in more kids ages 12 to 17 to get vaccinated.

Cheh and Councilmember Christina Henderson (I-At Large) both advocated for a broader look at the 295 stretch, suggesting a study to turn it into a boulevard instead of a freeway or turn it into a tunnel with a park over it. “Let’s use this opportunity to think a bit more creatively and innovatively about how we connect, reconnect neighborhoods, and redo or rather correct the injustice that was done before,” Henderson said, pointing to a document about how 295 took out more than 35 homes, several stores, a popular nightclub, and a church when it was built in the 1950s.

The collapse left the majority-Black community increasingly isolated from the other side of the highway, shining a light on equity concerns. D.C. Council members Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Christina Henderson (I-At Large) called on the city to conduct a broader study about how to better connect the two sides. Among the possibilities, they said, is slowing traffic through the corridor.

Councilmembers like Mary Cheh, who is head of the Transportation Committee, and Christina Henderson have also written to DDOT, pushing for an investigation and solutions.

The 8-to-5 vote came after a lengthy debate in which legislators who opposed the ban — and even some who favored it — raised concerns that the law could create opportunities for Black smokers to be harassed by police, and that the city would be unfairly targeting a smoking choice preferred by Black residents.

D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson said it's important to rebuild the bridge because many residents used it to access the Deanwood Metro station. Henderson said that more than $3 million already marked for bridge maintenance in next year's budget "definitely" wouldn't be enough to replace the bridge.

The D.C. Council on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would ban the sale of flavored tobacco, including menthol cigarettes, and prohibits electronic smoking devices from being sold within a quarter-mile of any middle or high school. The ban — which requires a second vote and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s signature before taking effect — would put D.C. alongside a growing number of states and localities taking action against flavored tobacco products and electronic cigarettes, and comes as the Food and Drug Administration has announced its intention to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

The D.C. Council passed a bill Tuesday evening banning the sale of flavored tobacco products, such as flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. The bill, called the Flavored Tobacco Product Prohibition Amendment Act of 2021, would update a long-standing ban on the sale of tobacco products to minors under 16 to include e-smoking devices within a quarter-mile of middle and high schools, and eliminate the sale of flavored tobacco products.

The council’s newer Office of Racial Equality reviewed the bill and found that while the bill "has the potential to advance racial equity by improving health outcomes, enforcement of the bill has the potential to exacerbate racial inequity in economic and social justice outcomes." The review looks at the impact on businesses within communities of color, where tobacco use is more prevalent. It also looks at the fines that could disproportionately impact those communities and enforcement, which the study noted could lead to more interactions with police if officers are charged with enforcing the ban.

A growing number of D.C. residents say they’re in a post-pandemic quandary: parking enforcement has resumed, but they can’t get an appointment at the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew their licenses and tags ahead of a July 1 deadline to do so. DMV officials say they’re ramping service back up, but apparently not fast enough to meet the demand of folks who are rushing to get services that were largely suspended during the pandemic. And the situation has drawn the attention of multiple D.C. lawmakers, some of whom tweet as soon as appointments become available while others push the DMV to fully open to the public.

In D.C., the pace of shots administered to residents Ward 7 and 8 lag far behind other parts of the city. Overall, about 42% of all D.C. residents are fully vaccinated, compared to just 18% of residents in Ward 8 and 24% in Ward 7, according to D.C. data, which lags slightly behind CDC data. “When you look at the existing map of who’s vaccinated, we have a tale of two cities,” said At-Large Council member Christina Henderson, who questioned the wisdom of the plan to phase out most of the District’s large-scale vaccine clinics by the end of the month, which was announced last week.

Pro tip: Pay the parking meter. Why? All parking enforcement returns to D.C. on Tuesday, June 1. For over a year, residents and visitors have mostly dodged tickets. But come Tuesday, D.C.’s 240 parking officers will again enforce expired parking meters, along with expired residential parking permits and vehicle tags; no parking zones; registration of residential out-of-state automobiles; and abandoned vehicles. Street sweeping also returns, meaning cars parked in street sweeping zones during posted sweeping hours will be ticketed.