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Water began flowing back into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool over the weekend, months after peeling paint necessitated additional repairs. But close observers noticed that the water has since receded.
Images captured by EarthCam, which operates a 24-hour video camera posted at the top of the Washington Monument, show that the water was higher on Monday evening than it was Thursday.
“The National Park Service planned for a partial fill and drain cycle so that we can reduce the amount of biological loading in the water,” an Interior Department spokesperson said in an email. “This planned action to partially fill and then drain the pool is to flush out any material or debris that had accumulated in the pipes and trough during the repair period.”
On Thursday morning, workers could be seen power-washing portions of the surface. One worker appeared to be clearing debris from grates throughout the pool. A sign posted by the National Park Service earlier this week advised visitors, “As part of the normal refilling process, the water may temporarily appear cloudy before clearing.” In the portion of the pool closest to the Lincoln Memorial, where the water is deeper, the water appeared murky.
Last week, President Donald Trump told reporters that the second round of renovations for the Reflecting Pool are “totally complete” — necessary after the pool’s new “American flag blue” coating peeled because of what the Justice Department deemed a “botched” installation.
“The Reflecting Pool is totally complete, and we changed the old pipes,” the president told reporters on Oct. 6. “I’m going to visit.”
A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by former CIA director John Brennan, who had asked in a July lawsuit for a court order directing the Trump administration to preserve all records related to its investigation of him.
The judge wrote that while allegations the Trump administration is using its law enforcement powers to target the Obama administration-era official are “deeply concerning,” Brennan did not meet the legal requirements to bring a lawsuit.
Brennan faces a possible federal indictment amid an investigation into how he oversaw intelligence gathering on potential ties between Russia and President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. This investigation is part of a broader probe looking at whether officials in previous administrations conspired to violate Trump’s rights.
Brennan acknowledged his lawsuit against the Justice Department was unusual but argued that court intervention was necessary because the case appeared to be based on Trump’s personal animus against him. He also expressed fear that federal officials could destroy the records — even though they are required to preserve them.
U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb, an appointee of President Joe Biden, said that although Brennan could be harmed in the future, his claims now are speculative and based on a “chain of possibilities.”
A newly released report sheds new light on the death of Jackie, the famed bald eagle mother who died in August. An autopsy revealed that Jackie died of pathogenic avian influenza, also known as bird flu.
Jackie rose to fame from a webcam placed in the eagle’s nest 10 years ago near the shore of Big Bear Lake, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles. Millions of viewers tuned in the watch her love story with her partner, Shadow, as they fought year after year to keep their eggs and chicks safe from predatory ravens, heavy snowfalls and windstorms.
In July, Jackie was found on the shoreline of Big Bear Lake weak, disheveled and undernourished. The Ojai Raptor Center took her into its care and was flooded with questions about her treatment. She died on Aug. 10.
The report stated that Jackie suffered several diseases and a toxicology screen found rat poison in her system. But Steve Kubiski, director of disease investigations at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, said in a joint statement that bird flu was the “primary underlying cause of her decline.” The virus caused an ulcer in her stomach leading to internal bleeding and infection.
Jackie was cremated following the investigation to prevent the spread of the virus.
Friends of Big Bear Valley, which operates the webcam and documented the eagles’ journeys, wrote: “Fly high and soar free…Jackie. Thank you for all that you taught and gave us.”
Speaking at Vice President JD Vance’s rally in Monroe, Michigan, House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (Michigan) delivered the party’s final argument to voters: that Americans should keep the GOP in power because the party has “more work to do.”
“No one up here is going to tell you things are perfect,” McClain said at the rally Thursday. “I’m never going to gaslight you: We know we have more work to do. We need to keep the Senate and the House to do it.”
High gas prices, rising costs due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and Trump’s sagging favorability ratings have complicated Republicans’ efforts to maintain their House and Senate majorities. The party faces tougher-than-expected midterm races across the country, including in Michigan, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is running against Republican former representative Mike Rogers for Senate. El-Sayed, considered a progressive Democrat, is holding a narrow lead in most polls.
As head of the GOP conference, McClain is largely in charge of House Republicans’ messaging. In her Thursday remarks, she told the crowd that the Democratic Party “is communism” — rhetoric she’s been employing throughout most of the campaign season.
“Democrats want free health care, free tuition, free housing,” McClain said. “To pay for all that free, Democrats will tax the hell out of your paycheck.”
McClain also attacked Democrats’ border policies and emphasized Republican-passed tax cuts, including no tax on tips or overtime.
The holdout juror in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother who killed her three children in 2023, said in an interview with Fox News he answered questions truthfully during court proceedings and the jury selection process.
Michael Desronvil, the holdout juror, has faced questions from Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington about the truthfulness of his answers.
The Boston Globe reported after the trial’s conclusion that Desronvil had an active civil restraining order over claims he assaulted his nephew, and that previous domestic assault and battery charges against him had been dismissed.
In the interview with Fox News that published Wednesday, he described the assault and battery charges from 2021 as an incident that “got blown out of proportion.”
Reddington filed a motion on Sept. 18 that asks the court to question Desronvil about the truthfulness of his answers on the questionnaire, which asks whether potential jurors have been arrested or charged with a crime.
A mistrial was declared in the case on Sept. 4 after Desronvil refused to join 11 other jurors in voting to acquit Clancy.
Desronvil also denied claims made by Reddington and other jurors that he experienced doubt about Clancy’s guilt, and he said that thought Clancy’s actions on the day of the strangulations were “methodical.”
For weeks, Luna, a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier mix, has been a blur around Yellowstone National Park.
She dashed out of the cabin where her family was staying Sept. 10 after “a tragic mistake” while the owners were out with a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, according to the group called in to find her.
Since then, park staffers and visitors had reported sightings, including in lodges and restaurants.
But Luna was fast, and would “not allow anyone to approach her,” wrote Norris Ark Training & Recovery Center, the Montana-based nonprofit that has provided multiple updates on the search, on Facebook.
On Wednesday, there was another update: “WE GOT HER!!! Luna is safe.”
Katie Boucher, Norris Ark’s president, wrote in a message that Luna had lost about 10 pounds but was otherwise in relatively good health.
“She had words for her human!” Boucher wrote.
The group had said that it could not use food to try to lure Luna because it could attract predators; instead, they used a live trap baited with the dog’s own scent and that of her family. Norris Ark warned in recent days that time was running out because it would need to remove equipment when its permit expired on Oct. 31. Luna was found in the park’s Canyon Village area, near the wastewater treatment plant zone, Boucher said.
“Park rangers worked with the owners and an outside organization to recover the dog and are glad she was successfully captured and is alive and well,” park spokesperson Linda Veress said in an email.
In an email, Boucher said she wanted to urge Yellowstone visitors to leave their pets at home.
“It is a very dangerous place, escapes happen often, and it is very hard to get them back if they aren’t recovered within a few hours,” she wrote.
On Wednesday afternoon, Reagan National Airport hit 90 degrees — the latest in the year that Washington has hit 90 since recordkeeping began in 1871, when Ulysses S. Grant was in the White House.
The previous record for a late 90-degree day was Oct. 11, 1919, when D.C. hit 90 degrees. (National Airport hadn’t been built yet, and readings at the time were taken at the U.S. Weather Bureau’s city office on M Street NW in Foggy Bottom.)
The 90-degree reading came around 4 p.m. Wednesday, and, notably, it accompanied a southerly breeze. The sensor’s position is far enough out on National Airport’s peninsula that any southerly winds would blow off the Potomac. That would mean slightly cooler temperatures reaching the sensor.
To break records at National, you normally need a westerly wind.
Since recordkeeping began about 155 years ago, Washington’s average October high temperature has warmed by 3.7 degrees, largely because of human-induced climate change. Subsequently, record temperatures are now disproportionately more likely to occur.
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