Theresa Vargas

25/05/2024

For my final column, I wrote about the role you played. (Thank you to everyone who read, emailed and took action over these last six years!)

Together, over the last six years, we took on complex issues, met interesting people and did some good.

20/05/2024

Some personal news (that I’m really excited about)…

Vargas will oversee high-impact accountability reporting, incisive narratives and conceptual scoops, working with a team of reporters on a range of issues that impact our communities.

17/05/2024

Families who lost loved ones in crashes with large trucks and people with national organizations are now calling for an investigation.

Families who lost loved ones in crashes with large trucks and people with national organizations are now calling for an investigation

05/05/2024

My grandma was a wonderful cook and had this amazing ability to make food stretch. I wrote about her, and my older son and the power recipes hold to connect us to those around us and those who are no longer with us.

For Cinco de Mayo, people across the country will be reaching for Mexican food. So will my son and I, but for a different reason.

02/05/2024

A heartbreaking update in the search for a missing Maryland teenager I told you about in an earlier column:

After Maryland teenager Jason Abarca went missing in December, his family pleaded for the police and the public to see him as more than a fugitive.

21/04/2024

When the teenager fled Afghanistan and arrived in the U.S., he was alone. He has since seen a community come together to help him and his four brothers.

14/04/2024

The shuttering of a store in D.C. is not usually newsworthy. But Monarch Novelties wasn’t just any store. My column:

An iconic photo taken at Monarch Novelties in 1968, as parts of D.C. burned, shows three brothers standing, guns in hand, ready to protect the family business

07/04/2024

In recent days, those who knew Lillian Orlich as “Miss O” have learned that, even in death, she will continue to play an important role in the school system’s community. Orlich left a $1 million donation to SPARK, the education foundation for Prince William County Schools.

Even after her death, Lillian Orlich, who served as a teacher and counselor before retiring at the age of 89, is still helping a Virginia school system

01/04/2024

The creators of Capitol City Crunch were searching for joy after loss when they entered the cereal business.

The creators of Capitol City Crunch, which honors the city in more than name, were searching for joy after loss when they entered the cereal business

10/03/2024

Long before a lawsuit detailed the shameful ways that a lack of reliable school bus service has been burdening local families, D.C. officials knew they were failing disabled students.

City officials have long known that unreliable school bus service is disrupting families and keeping children from arriving at school on time or at all

07/03/2024

“The Purple Alert could have been the voice he needed,” Jimmy Hall said of his son, Rashawn Williams, who has Down syndrome and was missing for six days. “And it could be the voice for the next family who goes through this situation.”

Rashawn Williams was missing for 6 days, and a public alert was never issued. Legislation would create a new Purple Alert in Maryland for vulnerable people.

03/03/2024

I stepped out of my columnist role briefly to serve as the editor of this piece. I was one of the reporters who covered Relisha's disappearance a decade ago, so working on this story was deeply personal for me. The wonderful Ellie Silverman did an amazing job with it. I hope you'll take the time to read it.

Relisha Rudd was last seen in March 2014 after a janitor at a D.C. homeless shelter took her. Her disappearance altered practices and people.

18/02/2024

Getting children to read more can sometimes pose a challenge. But students at an elementary school in Maryland know exactly what would help pull them into their school’s library and make them want to stay there. They also know that the grown-ups around them have been trying to fulfill their wishes.

While the nation has been focusing on book bans, some schools have gone without enough (noncontroversial) books. One in Maryland has been trying to raise funds.

15/02/2024

On Monday, I gave myself a long overdue gift — braces.

I was about 10 when a dentist first suggested I get my teeth corrected.

11/02/2024

The 83-year-old Maryland resident is a Holocaust survivor, and for most of his life he thought his situation was unique. But in recent years, he has met other people like him who live in the U.S. but don’t belong to this country or any other.

Fear has long kept stateless individuals in the U.S. from speaking out. But some are done staying silent.

08/02/2024

The nation has a child-care problem, and the Washington region has not been immune to that. The long waitlist for a child-care center that is still months away from opening in a Washington suburb shows that.

The demand for one of 127 spots at the Maryland center shows how eager families in the region are for quality, affordable childcare

04/02/2024

The former CIA analyst was known in the international intelligence community for his critical thinking skills and analytic techniques. He wrote books on the subject and gave lectures on the topic. But in the last several years, Pherson faced his hardest-to-solve problem.

Randolph Pherson was known in the intelligence community for his problem-solving techniques. His wife plans to keep working on his hardest to solve problem.

25/01/2024

Often, fandom gets passed down. Parents transfer their devotion to a team to their children. But in our house, it got passed upward. My son pulled my family into watching football, and long before it became clear how far the Ravens would go this season, he became a fan.

Normally, parents pass down their love for a team to their children. My 9-year-old son turned my family into Ravens fans.

21/01/2024

When I first told you about Hannah Williams in a column that ran in April 2022, she was working as a data analyst for a government contractor, earning $115,000 a year. She had just started Salary Transparent Street . What has happened since then offers a lesson on taking career risks and saying aloud what employers would prefer to keep quiet.

In a viral video, Virginia resident Hannah Williams shared how much Salary Transparent Street, the online pay transparency effort she started, earned last year

14/01/2024

When she thinks about the day her friend fell, Roberta Shapiro wonders, "What if she had reached out her hand sooner?" Maybe she could have grabbed her sleeve. Maybe she could have caught her collar. That day, the two women were walking and talking in Shapiro’s Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington. Then, suddenly, they weren’t.

A survey asked people in a D.C. neighborhood how many had fallen on sidewalks in the last few years. Their responses, and other data, have people talking.

07/01/2024

The food delivery workers were both on bikes picking up orders at a D.C. business. One had a broken foot and unpaid bills. The other had a large online following.

The food delivery workers were both picking up orders at a D.C. business. One had an injury and unpaid bills. The other had a large online following.

30/12/2023

“I just feel so helpless,” Jason Abarca's mother, Jennifer Soto, said. “We didn’t even celebrate Christmas. We just sit at home and wonder, ‘What can we do?’ I feel guilty for even just sitting at home in a warm house knowing my son could be out in the middle of the woods somewhere dying or dead.”

The Maryland teenager’s family recently searched a wooded area in Virginia, hoping to find signs of life and bracing to find a body.

23/12/2023

If E. A. Raven had sent only one gift, her initials might have gone unnoticed amid the other donations. But then another package from E. A. Raven came. Then another. Then another.

“Every day, they just kept coming,” Kindness Activist Susan Thompson-Gaines recalled. “She granted wish after wish after wish.”

She sent gifts and food for families in Virginia. But the notes that came with those packages identified her only as E. A. Raven.

21/12/2023

“I feel like I would like to live. Live a good life,” Timothy Robinson told me last year.

On Sunday, the army veteran died while waiting to receive veterans benefits.

Timothy Robinson, an army veteran who spent decades homeless in the Washington region, died waiting for benefits.

17/12/2023

Abel, an Ethiopian immigrant who prefers people call him by his first name because of cultural naming practices, was sworn in as a D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner on Friday, making him the first noncitizen to hold public office in the nation’s capital.

Abel Amene, an Ethiopian immigrant, fought for noncitizens in D.C. to get to vote in local elections. Now, he is an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner.

14/12/2023

“A tsunami of gorgeous gently loved gifts” is how Denise Woods of Food Justice DMV described the scene of donated toys last year. “A trickle” is how she might describe it this year.

Food Justice DMV gave gently used toys to thousands of Washington-area children last year. This year, they’re struggling to collect enough.

10/12/2023

When we talk about civil rights activists, Louise B. Miller’s name does not usually come up. But it should. The D.C. mother stood up for her son and other Black deaf children, and in doing so, she forced the campus of Gallaudet University to enroll Black students before other schools across the country were ordered to desegregate.

Gallaudet University has launched a fundraising campaign aimed at honoring Louise B. Miller, a D.C. mom who fought for the rights of Black deaf children.

29/11/2023

“I just felt myself getting lighter and lighter. I was losing a lot of blood. I said a prayer in my head. Then, once I said that prayer, I was at peace. Not at peace, but I was okay with dying.”

Tanija Moore and other trauma survivors were honored by George Washington University Hospital at an event that celebrated the work that went into their recovery

26/11/2023

"I’ve paid my taxes. I’ve voted for presidents. I’ve served my community in Northern Virginia. During covid, I was at work, putting myself at risk, putting my family at risk. So when you’re told after 61 years, ‘Oh there was a mistake, you’re no longer a U.S. citizen,’ it’s really, really shocking," Siavash Sobhani said.

A Northern Virginia doctor was born in D.C. and given a U.S. birth certificate. At 61, he learned his citizenship was granted by mistake.

18/11/2023

In recent days, many Maryland officials have applauded the decision to house the headquarters in Prince George’s. They’ve also been forced to defend that decision because Virginia officials have decided to keep fighting rather than admit defeat.

In fighting the decision to build the headquarters in Maryland’s Prince George’s County, Virginia lawmakers are drawing out an already long-drawn-out process