According to a post by Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Public Information Officer Pete Piringer on the X platform, two vehicles collided at the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and I-495.

Two people were trapped in their vehicles. Several lanes were blocked while the crash was investigated.

Dutch, the dog, was last seen in the 2000 block of 21st Street N. fleeing the area of the crash in a panic after police found him uninjured.

Officers say they saw him in the area of Langston Blvd. and N. Veitch St.

Police have asked anyone who sees Dutch to please call dispatch at (703) 558-2222.

Democratic state House and Senate candidates have largely zeroed in on abortion as a key messaging tactic, painting their Republican opponents as extreme on the issue. Republicans, on the other hand, have hit Democrats for being too lax on crime. 

The election comes as both parties navigate a post-Roe v. Wade world that has seen crime become an increasing concern for voters. 

“It really is the Democratic message vs. the Republican message and seeing which of those is resonating more,” said Abhi Rahman, communications director at the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), a group that works to elect Democrats in state legislature races.

Rahman noted that of the 10 most competitive House of Delegates races in Virginia, seven are open seats, while five of the most competitive state Senate seats are open seats. 

“It means basically there is no incumbent advantage,” he noted. 

Polling shows a tight race in the commonwealth. A University of Mary Washington poll released last week found 40 percent of respondents saying they favored Democratic majorities in both chambers next year, while 37 percent said they favored Republican majorities. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3 points. 

And both sides are pouring massive amounts of money into the off-year battle. On Thursday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) Spirit of Virginia PAC announced it brought in more than $7 million during the third quarter, while the DLCC said it was injecting $2 million into the races in an effort to boost Democratic candidates. 

Republican and Democratic groups and candidates have been infiltrating Virginia’s airwaves with spots pushing their messaging on their preferred issue in recent months. 

In July, Virginia House Republicans launched a six-figure ad buy targeting 12 House Democrats, painting them as extreme on crime and taxes. Meanwhile, Democrats have sought to capitalize on the party’s successful attacks on Republicans over abortion last cycle. 

Democrats point to the Virginia special House of Delegates race in January in the 7th state Senate District. Now-Sen. Aaron Rouse (D), who campaigned heavily on the issue of abortion, flipped the seat, which represents swaths of Virginia Beach and Norfolk. And two months before that, Democrats performed better than expected in the 2022 midterms.

“The reason we believe that seat flipped for us is because of the messaging on women’s reproductive rights,” said state Sen. Mamie Locke (D), chairwoman of the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus. “I did door-knocking for that candidate, and much of what we heard is, ‘This candidate going to protect women’s right to choose?’” 

According to data from the firm AdImpact cited in the Washington Post on Friday, abortion is the top issue in ads supporting House and Senate Democrats in Virginia’s Legislature. Those ads total $4.5 million. 

“People know that the only thing that is stopping Virginia from becoming the next Florida is having a Democratic Senate,” Rahman said.  

The same University of Mary Washington poll found that 53 percent of Virginia voters said the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year would be a “major factor” for them at the ballot box; 23 percent of respondents said abortion should be legal in all cases, while 34 percent said it should be legal in most cases. Another 27 percent of voters said abortion should be illegal in most cases, while 8 percent said it should be illegal in all cases. 

Republicans note that there is much more nuance in abortion messaging, noting how voters nationwide tend to be more supportive of a 15-week federal ban. 

“We’ve told Democrats and the whole commonwealth exactly where we are,” said Garren Shipley, communications director for House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert. “We are at a limit after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life and health of the mother.”

A Gallup poll released last June found that 69 percent of Americans said they believe first-trimester abortions should be “generally legal,” while 37 percent said they supported second-trimester abortion access in general and 22 percent said the same about abortion access in the third trimester. However, Gallup also found that support for second- and third-trimester abortions increased by 9 percent since 2018.  

Veteran Virginia political analyst Bob Holsworth said the Democratic messaging on abortion polls well, but noted the support changes when it comes to a 15-week ban. 

“If you ask about the 15-week ban, most of the polls I see, it’s relatively even,” Holsworth said. “What the Democrats are doing, they’re just saying [the Republicans] want a ban, and 15 weeks is disingenuous.” 

“For the Republicans, what’s interesting is, does the 15-week ban … does this work? Or does the fact that Republicans have pushed far more stringent bans in many states make their claim suspect?” 

Virginia Republicans were not immune from Democratic successes during last year’s midterm elections, with Democrats winning two out of the three competitive federal House races, in the 7th and 10th Districts. Republicans were successful in flipping Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. 

Democrats in 2022 focused heavily on the threat of potential state abortion bans in their elections, catching many Republicans nationwide flat-footed. But Republicans inside and outside of Virginia say this time around they’re confronting the issue head-on. 

“We’re not putting our head in the sand,” said Zack Roday coordinated campaigns director for Youngkin's Spirit of Virginia PAC. “We’re correcting the record and sharing where Democrats are in this case, with a pretty simple choice between a reasonable 15-week limit to protect life and an extreme position where there are no limits to abortion.”

“I just always go back to Campaign 101,” Roday continued. “You can’t just ignore what your opponent is leveling against you when it’s their No. 1 attack.” 

Roday said Republicans are continuing to zero in on kitchen-table issues, such as education, crime, and the economy. 

“We’re running toward where the broad majority of issues and where their interests are and that’s the kitchen table around those three: economy, education, and public safety,” he said. 

On crime, Republicans are seeking to peel away from the support Democrats are trying to win in the suburban enclaves in Northern Virginia, outside of Richmond, and the greater Virginia Beach. 

“There is an understanding out there that persuadable voters are concerned about inflation and they’re also concerned about crime,” Shipley said. “The closer you get to an urban area, the more concern about crime pops up.” 

Holsworth also noted that many of the Republican attacks on crime in Northern Virginia are linked to the election of progressive prosecutors in the region. 

“The crime issue is one which is really an attack on the progressive prosecutors, which they’re hoping will rub off on the Democrats,” he said. 

But Democrats also say they are also focused on running on kitchen table issues, including public safety. 

“Voters are really concerned about what happens at their kitchen tables,” said Locke, the state senator. “Yes, they’re concerned about crime. They’re concerned about what’s going on at the federal level, but they’re more concerned about what’s going on in my neighborhood, what’s going on in my community.”

Democrats are also trying to flip the script on Republicans, saying the GOP is to blame for crime-related issues, citing issues such as gun control. 

“Every time that we have tried to address those kinds of issues, they have voted against all of it,” Locke said. 

“We can’t be hypocritical about this issue,” she continued. “Where Democrats have always tried to figure out ways we can be sensible about this issue, we have had roadblocks thrown in our way.” 

"I decided to attend today in my personal capacity because I wanted to show solidarity and support with the Palestinian people who have been struggling under apartheid and who had been struggling for basic human rights for decades now," said Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Zainab Chaudry.

This comes two days after Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic militant group launched a surprise attack from Gaza.

Israel then declared war on Sunday and promised to retaliate against the militant group.

More than 1,100 people have been killed and thousands have been wounded on both sides, according to AP.

Chanudry said people from all walks of life were at the rally outside of the White House Sunday.

"There wasn't just Muslims or Palestinians. There was a very strong Interfaith showing," she said.

She said people around the DMV are left with conflicting emotions. Some expressed anger toward the Palestinian people while others - especially those at the rally - were somber, concerned as to what might happen next in the conflict.

"My immediate thought was concern for innocent life, what the consequences are going to be, what this will mean for civil society," said Chaudry.

Police said that at about 11:30 p.m., troopers from the Maryland State Police College Park Barrack, who were assisting Bowie State University with security during Homecoming weekend, responded to the school’s Center for Business and Graduate Studies for the report of a shooting.

Two 19-year-old teen boys were found shot in front of the Center for Business and Graduate Studies and were transported to the hospital.

There is no indication that either of the victims were students at Bowie State University according to police.

No other injuries were reported.  

After a chilly start, we'll see temperatures rebound into the upper 50s to mid-60s this afternoon.

Also, this afternoon, clouds will increase in coverage, and we'll even see a few showers sliding in from the west.  These will be isolated and will move in closer to the evening commute, so overall, the bulk of the daytime hours are dry.

Tonight, aside from a lingering shower early, we'll see mainly cloudy skies with lows in the 40s to around 50.

Tuesday and Wednesday look nice with highs around 70 under mainly to partly sunny skies.  Thursday is also nice, but slightly warmer with highs in the mid-70s.  Thursday looks to be the warmest out of the 7-Day, since we'll see a cool down just in time for the weekend.

The weekend brings the cool down and the rain chances.  We could see showers moving in as early as Friday night, but the bulk of the rain slides in for Saturday.  Sunday will feature a few lingering showers, but it won't be quite as wet as Saturday.  Highs both weekend days will be in the 60s, with Sunday being the cooler of the two days.

7-Day Forecast:

Today: Increasing clouds, stray PM showers.  Highs in the upper 50s to mid-60s.  Winds: WSW 5-15 mph.

Tonight: Mainly cloudy with a lingering shower early.  Lows near 50.  Winds: SW 3-6 mph.

Tomorrow: Partly sunny.  Highs around 70.  Winds: W 10-15 mph.

Wednesday: Mainly sunny.  Highs in the low 70s.  Winds: W 5-10 mph.

Thursday: Partly sunny with highs in the mid-70s.  Winds: S 3-7 mph.

Friday: Increasing clouds with isolated showers late.  Highs in the low 70s.  Winds: ESE 5-10 mph.

Saturday: Mainly cloudy with rain likely.  Highs in the upper 60s.  Winds: SSE 3-7 mph.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy and cooler with isolated showers.  Highs in the low 60s.  Winds: NW 10-15 mph.

Maya Alper was standing toward the back of the bar with teams of environmentally conscious volunteers, picking up trash and passing out free vodka shots to party-goers who reused their cups. Just after 6.a.m., as a light-blue dawn broke and the headliner D.J. took the stage, air raid sirens cut through the ethereal trap music. Rockets streaked overhead.

Alper, 25, jumped into her car and raced to the main road. But at the intersection she encountered crowds of stricken festival attendees, shouting at drivers to turn around. Then, a noise. Firecrackers? Panicked men and women staggering down the road just in front of her fell to the ground in pools of blood. Gunshots.

The open-air Tribe of Nova music festival will go down in Israeli history as the country's worst civilian massacre. Dozens of Hamas militants who had blown through Israel’s heavily fortified separation fence and crossed into the country from Gaza opened fire on young Israelis who had come together for a joyous night of electronic music. Some attendees were drunk or high on drugs, magnifying their confusion and terror.

“We were hiding and running, hiding and running, in an open field, the worst place you could possibly be in that situation,” said Arik Nani from Tel Aviv, who had gone to the party to celebrate his 26th birthday. “For a country where everyone in these circles knows everyone, this is a trauma like I could never imagine.”

While rockets rained down, revelers said militants converged on the open field while others waited near bomb shelters, gunning down people who were seeking refuge. Israeli communities on either side of the festival grounds also came under attack, with Hamas gunmen abducting dozens of men, women and children — including elderly and disabled people — and killing scores of others in Saturday's unprecedented surprise attack.

The staggering toll of the festival was becoming clear early Monday, as Israel's rescue service Zaka said paramedics had recovered at least 260 bodies. Festival organizers said they were helping Israeli security forces locate attendees who were still missing. The death toll could rise as teams continue to clear the area.

As the carnage unfolded before her, Alper pulled a few disoriented-looking revelers into her car from the street and accelerated in the opposite direction. One of them said he had lost his wife in the chaos and Alper had to stop him from breaking out of the car to find her. Another said she had just seen Hamas gunmen shoot and kill her best friend. Another rocked in his seat, murmuring over and over, “We are going to die." In the review mirror, Alper watched the dance floor where she had spent the past ecstatic hours transform into a giant cloud of black smoke.

Nowhere was safe, she said. The roar of explosions, hysterical screams and automatic gunfire felt closer the further she drove. When a man just meters away shouted “God is great!", Alper and her new companions sprung out of the car and sprinted through open fields toward a mass of bushes.

Alper felt a bullet whiz past her left ear. Aware the gunmen would outrun her, she plunged into a tangle of shrubs. Peering through thorns, she said she saw one of her passengers, the girl who had lost her friend, shriek and collapse as a gunman stood over her limp body, grinning.

“I can't even explain the energy they (the militants) had, it was so clear they didn't see us as human beings,” she said. “They looked at us with pure, pure hate.”

For over six hours, Alper — and thousands of other concert attendees — hid without help from the Israeli army as Hamas militants sprayed automatic gunfire and threw grenades.

Her limbs were so contorted into a tangled mess in the bush that she couldn't wiggle her toes. At different points, she heard militants speak in Arabic just beside her. A yoga devotee who practices meditation, Alper said she focused on her breath — “breathing and praying in every way I knew possible.”

“Every time I thought of anger, or fear or revenge, I breathed it out,” she said. “I tried to think of what I was grateful for — the bush that hid me so well that even birds landed on it, the birds that were still singing, the sky that was so blue.”

A tank instructor in the Israeli army, Alper knew she was safe when she heard a different kind of explosion — the sound of an Israeli army tank round. She shouted for help and soon soldiers were lifting her out of the bush. Around her lay the lifeless body of one of her friends. The girl from her car she had seen collapse was nowhere to be found — she believes that Hamas militants took her into Gaza.

Alper said the Israeli army, on its way to fight Hamas militants in the hard-hit kibbutz of Be’eri near the Gaza border, was at a loss as to know what to do with her.

At that moment, a pick-up truck full of Palestinian citizens of Israel pulled up. The men from the Bedouin city of Rahat were scouring the area to help rescue Israeli survivors. Helping Alper into their car, they drove her to the police station, where she collapsed, crying, into her father's arms.

“This is not just war. This is hell," Alper said. “But in that hell I still feel that somehow, we can choose to act out of love, and not just fear.”

MPD is urging the community to remain vigilant and that if they see something suspicious, they say something.

To report suspicious activity, people can call MPD’s Command Information Center at 202-727-9099 or use the iWatch suspicious activity reporting tool. 

She grew up in Sanford, where her mother worked as a seamstress. Arias went on to study fashion and textile design at North Carolina State University. After working for major brands in the fashion industry, like Vera Wang, she decided to bridge her two worlds using her own company, Descalza.

The idea for Descalza first came while Arias was still in college, interning at a clothing brand in Guatemala.

"When I see these textiles for the first time, I feel like I’m learning part of my history, part of my indigenous roots,” said Arias. She knew then that her mission was to work her way back to using those traditional fabrics.

Now, Descalza is a multi-country operation that Arias runs out of her garage in Wendell. The concept is a combination of the traditional fabrics from Latin America and North Carolina’s textile history. Arias sources all of her materials from Latin American countries with their own distinct weaving techniques.

After arriving in the United States, Descalza’s head seamstress, Magdalena Cruz, gets to work bringing Arias’s designs to life an hour away in Sanford. Cruz, who used to work in industrial textile factories, said she prefers Descalza’s smaller, artisanal setup, because of the quality that goes into the product.

“You never stop learning. Every day you make something new. I like everything about it, because it’s my passion,” said Cruz. She also likes that Descalza supports artisans around Latin America.

Using traditional techniques means Arias has had to adapt her designs to fit within the confines of the artisans’ machines. The most expensive item in her catalog is one example of this.

"This particular fabric is made on a traditional weaving loom. That loom is 36 inches wide, so it’s very narrow, and this skirt has also this volume. We had to engineer our pattern so that it fit length-wise instead of width-wise, because it doesn’t have any width,” said Arias.

Arias said she doesn’t have any plans to move production outside of North Carolina, even though it’s more expensive than outsourcing somewhere else.

“The reason I’m not producing everything in El Salvador, and the reason I’m having everything shipped to North Carolina is because North Carolina is a textile town. Like, North Carolina is also known as a place where makers live.”

In addition to the wealth of skilled textile workers in the state, she also said keeping manufacturing in the state where she grew up is a representation of her different worlds.

“There’s a phrase in Spanish, ‘Ni de aqui, ni de alla,’ not from here not from there. I wanted to change that and say, ‘no’. We’re de aqui y de alla. You can be from both and it’s ok. You can be proud of both and that’s okay. These fabrics and these pieces that we make are a reflection of that,” said Arias.