DC Isn’t A State — But It Might Become One Sooner Than You Think

“It really wasn’t that long ago that I think most people thought of it as a very fringe issue, so the fact that it even got as many Democratic cosponsors as it did before it passed is a massive historic deal.”

Alex Wong / Getty Images

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks as DC Mayor Muriel Bowser (left), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (second from left), and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (right) listen during a news conference on DC's statehood on June 25.

The date: June 29! The time: News O'Clock!

Listen above to today's News O'Clock podcast, as we explain the big news from over the weekend: Russia reportedly offered a cash bounty to Taliban-linked militants to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan — and, according to US intelligence, they may have succeeded.

Shah Marai / Getty Images

US soldiers outside Bagram Airfield, Feb. 28, 2009.

Also we explain how the US saw yet another record-high day of reported COVID-19 cases yesterday, making it five days in a row. The new record number is 40,587 across the country.

Plus hear how just this morning, the Supreme Court decided that Louisiana’s limits on abortion clinics are unconstitutional in a 5–4 ruling.

Sarah Silbiger / Getty Images

Demonstrators hold banners in an abortion rights rally outside the Supreme Court, March 4.

Then, Scaachi Koul explains why Netflix’s 365 Days, is, uh, bad. Like, really bad.

And finally we’ve got Meagan Hatcher-Mays, director of democracy policy with the Indivisible Project, with us to give us the rundown on the push to make Washington, DC, into state number fifty-one.

You can listen to today's News O'Clock above or on any of these platforms:

Or find News O'Clock wherever else you might listen to your favorite podcasts.

HEY! Do you have thoughts on the DC statehood vote or want to tell us about a movie you've seen that is somehow worse than 365 Days, or have anything at all that you want to share with us?

Feel free to send us an email: [e-mail]! You can either write down your brilliant opinion OR, even better, record it as a voice memo. You can email it to us or DM us on Twitter — we’re @NewsOClock.