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Thousands affected by Bethesda power outages

WASHINGTON — A group of outages in the Bethesda, Maryland, area affected thousands of Pepco customers and briefly modified Metro service Monday night.

Power was fully restored by 1 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The outages involved different neighborhoods, including the West Chevy Chase Heights area up to Alta Vista and Pooks Hill.

Metro said that due to the outage, escalators, elevators and other station equipment were affected, but trains were still operating normally. After 8 p.m., trains were bypassing the Bethesda station and riders had to request a bus to and from the Medical Center station for a time, but regular service has since been restored.

A Pepco spokesperson said there’s an equipment issue at the Bethesda substation. Pepco said most folks should have their power restored sometime Monday night.

Fentanyl seizures plummet as Trump administration shifts focus to immigration

WASHINGTON — Fentanyl seizures decreased by 39% during the first year of the second Trump administration after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shifted the Department of Homeland Security’s criminal investigations arm to conducting immigration enforcement, according to a report government investigators published Friday.  Agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a subagency of DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reported an “all hands-on deck” environment toward immigration enforcement began in January 2025, according to the DHS Office of Inspector General report. “With ICE dedicating more staff hours to immigration investigations, staffing hours for fentanyl investigations declined,” the report said. The report found that the hours dedicated to fentanyl investigations for fiscal 2025 declined by more than 250,000 hours, or 31%, compared to fiscal 2024.
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