SUMMARY: Chief meteorologist Ed Bodsworth reports that Hurricane Aaron is rapidly intensifying, with sustained winds reaching 155 mph and a minimum pressure of 923 millibars as of 10 AM CT on August 16, 2025. The storm is moving west at 17 mph, featuring a six-mile-wide eye. Forecasts predict Aaron will become a Category 5 hurricane by midday, then undergo an eyewall replacement cycle, expanding its windfield. It is expected to pass north of Puerto Rico, near Turks and Caicos as a strong Category 4, and bypass Bermuda while remaining a major hurricane. The storm will cause large surf and rip currents along the US East Coast.

Hurricane Erin continues to rapidly strengthen and is now expected to reach category 5 hurricane status as it passes north of Bermuda.

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SUMMARY: The nation’s first and only inclusive circus, Omnium Circus, is coming to Magic City for the Journey of Hope event benefiting United Ability. Half the performers have disabilities, showcasing their talents beyond limitations. The show, titled “Impossible,” celebrates possibility and belonging. Featured artists include Tercet Sue, the world’s fastest female juggler, and Stephanie Morfitt, who performs hoop acts and holds a Guinness World Record for carrying 400 pounds on her hair. The family-friendly event takes place at the Aleia Stephens Center, with doors opening at 5 PM. Tickets are available at unitedability.org. Join for an inspiring, fun-filled evening supporting a great cause.

The world’s only inclusive circus brings magic to the Magic City

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by Ariana Figueroa, Alabama Reflector
August 15, 2025

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice will rewrite an order from Attorney General Pam Bondi that initially placed a Trump administration official in charge of the District of Columbia’s police force, after an emergency hearing late Friday afternoon on a lawsuit filed by the district.

Attorneys on behalf of the Justice Department told District of Columbia Judge Ana C. Reyes they would rewrite Section 1 of Bondi’s order by a deadline the judge set of 6:30 p.m. Eastern Friday.

In that section, Bondi’s late Thursday order named Terry Cole, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, as head of the Metropolitan Police Department.

District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb called that move a “brazen usurpation of the district’s authority” in his suit filed early Friday against the Trump administration.

Reyes, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden, said if she did not receive the new order by the deadline, she would issue a temporary restraining order against the DOJ. She said she found that section of Bondi’s order “plainly contrary to statute” of the district’s Home Rule Act of 1973.

The exact changes to the order were not immediately available.

District filed suit Friday

Schwalb early Friday sued the Trump administration for taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department’s 3,400 officers.

The suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia argued that President Donald Trump’s Monday executive order to federalize the district’s police force “far exceeded” the president’s authority under the Home Rule Act of 1973 that allows Washingtonians to elect their local leaders, but gives Congress control over local laws and the district’s budget.

Trump has warned he may pursue similar action in other Democratic-led cities that he sees as having “totally out of control” crime, though experts have questioned the legality and mayors already have raised objections.

“This is the gravest threat to Home Rule DC has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it,” Schwalb, a Democrat elected in 2022, wrote on social media. “The Administration’s actions are brazenly unlawful. They go well beyond the bounds of the President’s limited authority and instead seek a hostile takeover of MPD.”

District Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back on Bondi’s order, and wrote on social media that “there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”

“Let us be clear about what the law requires during a Presidential declared emergency: it requires the mayor of Washington, DC to provide the services of the Metropolitan Police Department for federal purposes at the request of the President,” she said. “We have followed the law.”

The suit asks for a judge to vacate Bondi’s order and an order to prevent the Trump administration from “from issuing any future orders or directives or taking any other action that attempts to place MPD under the control of anyone other than the Mayor and the Chief of Police, otherwise assert operational control over MPD, or otherwise attempt to direct local law enforcement activities.”

The suit does not challenge Trump’s decision to deploy 800 National Guard members to the district. Because the district, home to more than 700,000 residents, is not a state, the president has the sole authority over the National Guard members.

Carjacking preceded Trump order

Trump earlier this week declared a “crime emergency” after a former U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, official was injured on Aug. 3 in an attempted carjacking incident around 3 a.m. Eastern near the Logan Circle neighborhood. Two Maryland teenagers were arrested on charges of unarmed carjacking in connection with the incident.

Violent crime in the district is at a historic 30-year low.

The suit notes Trump’s previous comments about his plans for the district, from his time as a 2024 presidential candidate to his most recent remarks about taking over control of the district while at a February press conference.

“I think that we should govern the District of Columbia … I think that we should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely flawless … And I think we should take over Washington, D.C. … We should govern D.C. The federal government should take over the governance of D.C.,” Trump said in the court document.

Advocates and local leaders have criticized the president’s decision, arguing that the move is nothing more than an extension of the administration’s immigration crackdown. Checkpoints have popped up all over the city in communities with a high immigrant population. 

Additionally, the district’s police chief Thursday issued a new order to allow local police to aid federal officials in immigration enforcement for immigrants not in police custody.

Trump praised Thursday’s order, calling it “a very positive thing,” especially at checkpoints in the district.

“When they stop people, they find they’re illegal, they report them, they give them to us,” he said.

Last updated 4:33 p.m., Aug. 15, 2025

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com.

The post District of Columbia sues Trump administration over ‘hostile takeover’ of police force appeared first on alabamareflector.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

The content presents a critical perspective on former President Donald Trump’s actions regarding federal control over the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, emphasizing legal challenges and local opposition led by Democratic officials. While it includes factual details and statements from multiple sides, the framing highlights concerns about federal overreach and the defense of local governance, which aligns more closely with a center-left viewpoint. The article maintains a mostly neutral tone but leans toward skepticism of the Trump administration’s measures.