Red-light runners and speeders who routinely trigger automated traffic cameras in the District at specific locations and times of day are not being targeted by enforcement operations by the city authorities tasked with road safety.

Traffic cameras have recorded a number of motorists who repeatedly speed or run red lights at the same place and time of day — and owe the city tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid citations. Assigning officers to those locations and times would allow the city to apprehend the violators and collect the outstanding fines.

But neither the Metropolitan Police Department, which can ticket and arrest drivers for traffic violations, nor the Department of Public Works, which impounds cars with unpaid fines, targets the small group of motorists who regularly flout traffic laws.

“We do not target any individual, we target data,” said police Sgt. Terry Thorne, the head of the Traffic Safety and Special Enforcement Division. “We’re never going after a single person if they are going through the speed camera.”

The District Department of Transportation told The Washington Times it will request a tow only if a parking enforcement officer discovers a vehicle that has hundreds of dollars in outstanding tickets while attempting to cite it again.

A DDOT spokesperson said the city’s Department of Public Works does not request “blitzes” on specific drivers who continue to accrue fines.

Both Metropolitan Police and DDOT suggested the Office of Attorney General for the District of Columbia, which handles criminal traffic prosecutions, could provide a list of drivers regularly captured by automated traffic cameras.

The Washington Times made multiple requests to the OAG for comment, but the office did not respond.

Traffic data shows that some scofflaws, many of whom live in Maryland and Virginia, have made a habit of breaking road rules in the same parts of the District.

A vehicle with Maryland tags received more than 180 tickets in one year along an eight-block stretch of Alabama Avenue SE, according to records cited by The Washington Post. Another car with a Maryland license plate racked up nearly 110 tickets from a camera on Bladensburg Road NE.

Cameras that catch drivers going 11 mph above the speed limit, running a red light or rolling through a stop sign will assess a $100 fine, according to DDOT.

The Maryland drivers mentioned above likely owe roughly $18,000 and $11,000, respectively. Speeding fines can scale up to $500 per ticket depending on how fast the drivers are going when they are caught by the cameras.

According to the dataset, of the 103 vehicles with the most tickets in fiscal 2025, 67 had Virginia tags and 25 had Maryland tags. Only three were from the District.

But no targeted crackdown on those drivers has been implemented despite their known pattern of violations.

As the District has moved to enforcing road safety largely through traffic cameras, an archive of stop data by Metropolitan Police reveals ticketed offenses have declined in recent years.

Between July 2019 and December 2022, police handed out 143,209 tickets for moving and vehicle equipment violations on the District’s roads.

For those same types of violations between January 2023 to June 2025, the department said it issued 75,139 tickets — just over half as many.

Sgt. Thorne said his six-man team concentrates its efforts on the District’s high injury network of major roads where the most of crashes occur.

The sergeant said some areas that garner the most attention include New York Avenue NE and Southern Avenue, which straddles the border between the District and Prince George’s County. The MPD also patrols Interstates 695 and 295 for reckless driving.

If DDOT’s cameras have been flagging drivers in one corridor or another, Sgt. Thorne said the agency will pass that information along to Metropolitan Police and they will have an officer post up as a deterrent.

A U.S. military spokesperson described the operation as defensive, saying the goal was to reduce an immediate risk to American personnel rather than widen the conflict. The statement also emphasized that U.S. forces were acting with restraint while a ceasefire remained in place.

The strikes added another tense moment to an already unstable period between Washington and Tehran. President Donald Trump has said diplomatic talks with Iran are continuing, even as military activity in the region remains a concern.

Information from Iranian media pointed to explosions near Bandar Abbas, a key port city close to the Strait of Hormuz. Some local reports also claimed members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were killed, though full details were not independently confirmed.

The situation remains sensitive, with both military and diplomatic moves drawing close attention.

CNN reported that officials ordered evacuations after a tank containing methyl methacrylate began overheating, raising concerns that it could leak or explode. The chemical is used in manufacturing plastics and can pose health risks through fumes or direct exposure.

Fire officials said a crack found in the tank may be helping release pressure, which could reduce the chance of a larger explosion. Still, evacuation orders remained in place while emergency crews continued cooling the tank and checking air quality around the affected area.

California officials declared a state of emergency for Orange County as shelters opened for displaced residents. The company has said it is cooperating with emergency responders.

The situation has also led to legal action from residents who say the evacuation disrupted their homes, work, and daily lives.

U.S. officials described the talks as showing progress, while Iranian state-linked media pushed back on parts of Trump’s claim, saying Tehran would keep control over shipping access through the waterway. The Strait of Hormuz remains central to the talks because it is one of the world’s most important routes for oil and gas shipments.

The proposed framework is expected to focus first on extending a ceasefire, easing restrictions around Iranian ports, and allowing safer maritime movement. Broader issues, including Iran’s nuclear program and sanctions relief, would be addressed in later negotiations.

Pakistan has played a role in mediation, with additional diplomatic support from regional governments. For now, both sides appear to be leaving room for more talks, while officials continue to stress that no final agreement has been completed.

The meeting came as U.S. officials continued to assess Iran’s position and the risks of a wider conflict. People familiar with the planning said the Pentagon has prepared options for the president, though no final decision has been announced.

The situation has placed renewed attention on Trump’s foreign policy approach, especially his use of military pressure alongside negotiations. Iran remains a major focus for U.S. officials because of its nuclear program, regional influence, and long history of tension with Washington.

For now, the administration is weighing its choices while keeping both diplomacy and force on the table. Any next step could carry major consequences for the region and for U.S. policy.

The announcement comes after recent uncertainty over U.S. troop planning in Europe, including questions about whether a planned deployment to Poland had been delayed or stopped. Polish officials welcomed Trump’s statement and described the move as a sign of continued security cooperation between the two countries.

Poland has taken on a central role in NATO’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The country borders Ukraine and has pushed for a stronger U.S. military presence since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Trump also connected the decision to his relationship with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whose election he had supported. The move comes as the Trump administration reviews America’s broader military footprint in Europe and continues pressing NATO allies to take on more responsibility for regional defense.

The report says Iran has restarted some drone production during the six-week ceasefire that began in early April. That detail has raised concern among U.S. officials because drones remain a key part of Iran’s military strategy, both for its own operations and for its support of allied groups in the region.

The full scale of the rebuilding effort is still unclear, and the assessment has not been independently verified. Still, the information suggests that earlier damage to Iran’s military-industrial base may not have slowed production as much as some officials had believed.

The development comes as President Donald Trump has warned that the United States is prepared to launch further attacks on Tehran if Iran does not agree to a peace deal. He has also indicated that Washington may allow a short window for diplomacy to continue.

Ed Gallrein defeated Rep. Thomas Massie on Tuesday in the most expensive House primary on record, handing President Trump another high-profile victory and cementing the president’s standing as the center of gravity in the Republican Party.

Mr. Trump had personally recruited Mr. Gallrein, a Kentucky farmer and former Navy SEAL officer, to challenge Mr. Massie after growing increasingly frustrated with the congressman’s willingness to break with the president.

The race was called less than two hours after polls closed in the 4th Congressional District.

Mr. Gallrein jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished it. With 95% of the vote counted, Mr. Gallrein had a 55% to 45% lead.

“God is good,” Mr. Gallrein said in a short victory speech at his election night party. “The winner of the race is not so much Ed Gallrein, but it is the Republicans of Kentucky District 4 and their families, whom I will be a champion for in Washington.”

He also thanked Mr. Trump for his support and his “courageous leadership of our nation at this critical time and juncture in history.”

Mr. Massie, meanwhile, was more long-winded — and defiant in defeat.

“I would have come out sooner and conceded, but it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv,” he told supporters, alluding to the financial backing his rival received from deep-pocketed pro-Israel donors and outside groups.

As supporters yelled “2028,” Mr. Massie hinted at a possible presidential run, saying his message energized younger voters fed up with taxpayer money going overseas, global wars, and corporations escaping accountability.

“There is a yearning for someone in this country who will vote for principles over party,” he said. “What happens in 2028?” — triggering chants of “President! President!”

Voters in Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Oregon and Pennsylvania also went to the polls in races that will help set the table for the battle over governor’s mansions and Congress this fall.

In his push to reshape the party in his image, Mr. Trump notched another victory in the U.S. Senate primary in Kentucky. His preferred pick, Rep. Andy Barr, won the Republican nomination to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longtime Republican leader and frequent Trump foil.

He also backed Rep. Barry Moore in the Alabama Senate race and gave his blessing to Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the Georgia gubernatorial race. Mr. Jones advanced to a runoff against billionaire Rick Jackson.

All three states are at least conservative-leaning, and Kentucky and Alabama are considerably more so. Whoever wins the primaries will be favored in November.

In Kentucky, Mr. Massie drew the ire of Mr. Trump and his allies after helping force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein investigative files, opposing the president’s unilateral military strikes against Iran and voting against both foreign assistance and Mr. Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act over concerns about the soaring national debt.

Some of those stances are consistent with Mr. Massie’s history as a libertarian-leaning conservative. Yet unlike many such House members, Mr. Massie did not alter his course after Mr. Trump became the party standard-bearer.

Despite sagging polls, high gas prices and concerns over the war in Iran, Mr. Trump has proven time and again he is the dominant force in the Republican Party.

He declared victory again over the weekend after Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the three remaining Republican senators who voted to convict him for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, failed to advance to a runoff.

Mr. Trump’s endorsed pick, Rep. Julia Letlow, finished first, and Mr. Cassidy placed third, out of the running.

He also came out on the winning side of recent state Senate races in Indiana, where five of the seven Republicans who refused to support his redistricting push lost their primaries.

Mr. Trump on Tuesday also put his finger on the scale in the coming Texas Senate runoff race, tossing his support behind Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign to unseat Sen. John Cornyn.

In Kentucky, Mr. Trump pushed hard for Mr. Gallrein.

In March, he traveled to the district, praising Mr. Gallrein and criticizing Mr. Massie.

He also derided Mr. Massie in a series of posts on Truth Social, calling him “the worst and most unreliable Republican Congressman in the history of our Country.”

On Tuesday, he said he regretted endorsing Mr. Massie in previous years and called him a “terrible congressman from Day One.”

Mr. Massie countered by reposting a 2022 endorsement in which Mr. Trump described him as a “conservative warrior” and “first-rate defender of the Constitution.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a rare wartime move for a Pentagon chief, also headlined a rally for Mr. Gallrein on the eve of the election.

Pro-Israel donors, meanwhile, poured millions into the effort to defeat Mr. Massie, who has raised concerns about taxpayer money sent overseas, including to Israel, and about the conduct of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

A Trump-aligned super PAC called MAGA Kentucky raised money from hedge fund manager Paul Singer and a political committee tied to casino mogul and Dallas Mavericks owner Miriam Adelson.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other pro-Israel interest groups spent more than $9 million in the race, while the MAGA Kentucky super PAC spent nearly $7 million more — pushing total ad spending past $32 million and making it the most expensive House primary on record.

President Trump cannot collect any of the money from his administration’s new $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund, but Hunter Biden, son of the former president, can.

Those who intruded on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, can apply, as can Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk who was investigated by the FBI for breaching voting systems to try to prove fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Top Trump officials said Tuesday that the money is available to anyone who can prove they were victimized by the Biden administration’s overzealous behavior.

Vice President J.D. Vance and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund is part of a broader effort to draw a line around the Biden era and declare that its pursuit of political opponents through the legal system must never be repeated. They say the money is a way to compensate those who were victimized.

“Whether you’re Hunter Biden or whether you’re another individual who believed they were a victim of weaponization, they can all apply,” Mr. Blanche told senators.

The fund was created as part of a settlement between Mr. Trump and the IRS, an agency he oversees as president.

Mr. Trump agreed to drop a $10 billion lawsuit stemming from the IRS leak of his private tax information, and the government subsequently set up a fund to help others.

As part of the deal, Mr. Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization, all parties to the lawsuit, agreed to accept an apology but will not be able to receive any of the money from the fund.

“Is a dollar of this money going to the Trump administration? No. Is a dollar of this money going to President Trump personally? No. Is a dollar of this money going to President Trump’s family? No,” Mr. Vance told reporters at the White House.

He said it is too early to say whether money would go to those who took part in the Capitol riot, but that they have the right to apply and, in some cases, could have good claims.

He said the goal is not to reward those who assaulted police officers but to make up for an overzealous Justice Department, even in cases in which someone “did something bad.”

Mr. Vance said the left-wing legal academy and a plethora of nonprofit groups regularly challenge punishments for convicts, arguing that the sentences for Jan. 6 participants were too harsh for the crimes.

“You know who never, ever gets an ounce of sympathy when it comes to that disproportionate sentencing is people who voted for Donald Trump and participated in the Jan. 6 protesting,” Mr. Vance said.

Democrats fumed over the fund. They said the president is bilking taxpayers for his own purposes.

“President Trump is literally using their tax dollars to set up a slush fund to enrich his own friends,” said Sen. Patty Murray, Washington Democrat.

Mr. Blanche, a former personal attorney for Mr. Trump, said the fact that Democrats believed an anti-weaponization effort would benefit the president’s allies was telling.

“It proves the point that President Trump has been saying for a very long time, which happens to be true, which is for the first time in our nation’s history, you had an administration [Mr. Biden’s] seek to destroy the previous administration [Mr. Trump’s],” he told senators.

Mr. Blanche said it included calling the president’s gardener to testify to a grand jury. It also included the Justice Department peeking at the phone records of some members of Congress.

The acting attorney general said the government has created similar funds in the past but acknowledged that Mr. Trump’s case was unprecedented.

He said that was the result of the Biden administration’s unprecedented efforts and that the fund is one way to prevent a repeat in future administrations.

“This legal system was not set up to compensate for what the Democrats and Biden and what [Attorney General Merrick] Garland did for four years,” Mr. Blanche said.

“This is about compensating Americans for the lawfare that we saw under the previous administration,” Mr. Vance said.

Although nearly anyone can apply, Mr. Blanche said, decisions on who receives apologies or payouts will be made by a five-member commission that will administer the fund.

The attorney general will appoint all those members, though one appointment must be made after consultation with Congress.

The acting Justice Department chief said he will receive a quarterly report on the fund’s activities and will make it public, though some information about specific claimants may have to be withheld under privacy laws.

He specifically ruled out money for Mr. Trump but said just about anyone else is eligible.

“It’s not limited to Republicans, it’s not limited to the Biden weaponization, it’s not limited in any way, scope or form to Jan. 6 or Jack Smith,” he said, referring to the Biden administration special counsel who pursued criminal charges against Mr. Trump.

Mr. Vance singled out Tina Peters, the former Colorado clerk, as potentially worthy. She was given a nine-year sentence in state court after she was convicted of facilitating unauthorized access to Mesa County’s election systems as part of a pro-Trump effort to prove fraud in the 2020 election.

“Was that fair? No. Is it reasonable for her to get some compensation for the fact that she was treated unfairly? I think the answer is yes,” Mr. Vance said.

Ms. Peters’ sentence was commuted this month by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat. She is set for release on June 1.

Congressional Democrats demanded that Mr. Blanche find an outside party to sign off on the fund. In particular, they wanted the federal judge overseeing the case to review it.

The judge dismissed the case late Monday, and Mr. Blanche said there is no other outside authority to turn to.

McGurk says Ukraine has changed the battlefield by moving faster than Russia in drones, robotics, and other military technology. His view is that Russia is still dangerous and the war is far from over, but Moscow is paying a heavy price for limited progress.

The U.S. remains a key part of the wider picture. American support for Ukraine has helped Kyiv stay in the fight, while U.S. pressure on Iran matters because Tehran has supplied Russia with drones and missiles used against Ukrainian cities.

The conflict is no longer only about territory. It is also about who can adapt faster, protect civilians, and sustain pressure over time. Ukraine’s ability to innovate has become one of its strongest advantages, while Russia faces rising costs, battlefield losses, and growing strain at home.