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  • Arlington County Board raises vehicle tow fees by $25 – WTOP News

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    Drivers whose vehicles are towed in Arlington County for parking where they shouldn’t have will pay higher tow rates this year, but not as much as the local tow industry would have liked.

    Drivers whose vehicles are towed in Arlington County, Virginia, for parking where they shouldn’t have will pay higher tow rates this year, but not as much as the local tow industry would have liked.

    In December, the county board approved a new rate structure that raises the fee from $135 to $160 for vehicles under 7,500 pounds. The lower fee had been in place since 2014.

    A 2025 change in Virginia law allowed localities to charge a minimum of $135, and up to $210 for a trespass tow. In recent months, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties each set their rate to the new maximum.

    County Board Chair Takis Karantonis called the $160 rate “fair market value” for the industry, adding that Arlington tow operators “do not have as far to travel as in many other jurisdictions with higher fees.”

    How is the towing industry responding?

    But some members of the local towing industry take issue with the “fair market value” characterization of the new fee structure.

    Al Leach, who owns Al’s Towing and Storage, serves on the Trespass Towing Advisory Boards in Arlington and Fairfax counties. He told the board his company doesn’t operate in Arlington County.

    “The reason why Al’s Towing is not in Arlington County is because we couldn’t give you professional services at those rates,” he said.

    Michael Reynolds, of the A-1 Associates towing firm, said his company was forced to move out of Arlington prior to the pandemic “because it was too expensive to operate,” adding that Arlington now has only one towing business that does trespass towing.

    Reynolds told the board that tow fees provide for many things, including real estate, location and cost, and hiring qualified employees.

    “It’s too expensive for other companies to rent or buy a location in the county,” he said. “While it’s wonderful to see the proposal to increase the fee limit to $160, $160 is already outdated and insufficient.”

    Gary Kauffman, of Henry’s Wrecker Service, told board members he agreed low towing fees discourage companies from doing business in Arlington. He said “realistic fee increases” help prevent predatory tow company behavior.

    Kauffman said predatory towing is defined as the unethical and illegal practice by towing companies to exploit motorists for excessive profit, often through deceptive taxes, such as hidden fees and unwarranted charges, delaying vehicle release or towing without proper authority.

    “When fees are unrealistically low, operators are pressured to cut corners, delay releases and seek revenue through questionable practices,” he said.

    What fees were left untouched?

    While the county board voted 5-0 to set the maximum tow fee at $160 for vehicles under 7,500 pounds, it left unchanged the $250 towing fee for vehicles between 7,500 and 10,000 pounds and $500 for vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds.

    Surcharges ranging from $40 to $60 for vehicles towed at night, on weekends and holidays were left unchanged, as was the daily storage fee of $50.

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    Sarah Jacobs

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  • Md. Rep. Glenn Ivey says the GOP is in trouble over health care premiums – WTOP News

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    Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey believes that Republicans will have to address the elimination of the Affordable Care Act tax subsidies with health care premiums rising.

    Millions of Americans are entering the new year with far more expensive health insurance premiums. WTOP’s Sarah Jacobs reports Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey predicts a health care fix early in the new year.

    With the expiration of the Affordable Care Act tax subsidies, millions of Americans are entering the new year with far more expensive health insurance premiums.

    Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey said he believes this issue has fractured the Republican coalition in Congress.

    “The health care fight that came out of the government shutdown has been a real sign,” said Ivey, a Democrat who represents Maryland’s 4th District. “I think there’s a lot of cracks, not only in the Trump administration, but the Republican caucuses in the Senate and the House”

    In December, four Republicans broke from House Speaker Mike Johnson and signed a petition, led by Democrats, that would force a House vote on extending an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy for three years that lowers health insurance.

    It came in the aftermath of House Republican leaders rushing to pass a health care bill that didn’t address the rising monthly premiums.

    “I think that Republicans have dug a very deep hole for themselves with the way they’ve mishandled Americans health care, especially with respect to their refusal to extend the tax credits for the Affordable Care Act so that people can afford to continue to have insurance,” Ivey said.

    Ivey expects that Democrats will force Republicans to address the elimination of the Affordable Care Act tax subsidies in the next 30 days.

    “I think we’re going to force them to do something to address the elimination of the Obamacare tax credits so that people don’t see their premiums double and triple,” Ivey said.

    Ivey is also predicting Democrats will retake the House in 2026 and possibly the Senate.

    “Because he can’t be counted on to do it himself, the only way to keep him in check is to have counterweights to him and Republicans in Congress are not willing to do it,” he said. “It’s got to be Democrats that do it.”

    WTOP’s Tadiwos Abedje contributed to this report.

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    Sarah Jacobs

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  • DOGE in review: Did the agency create opportunities for new government efficiencies in 2026? – WTOP News

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    The “Department of Government Efficiency” was greenlighted as a means to modernize information technology and slash federal spending while improving productivity, but now that the agency has quietly disbanded, how successful was it?

    President Donald Trump greenlighted the “Department of Government Efficiency” as a means to modernize information technology and slash federal spending while improving productivity, but now that the agency has since been quietly disbanded, how successful was it?

    To find out, WTOP turned to Terry Gerton, who began hosting the Federal News Networks’ “The Federal Drive” earlier this year.

    Before joining FNN, Gerton spent her career working in and with the federal government, including eight years at the National Academy of Public Administration, which assists government leaders in building more efficient and transparent organizations. Gerton also served in the military and in the departments of Labor and Defense.

    To evaluate whether DOGE achieved its goals, Gerton said you have to start with the definition of efficiency. For some people, the bottom line is whether the government costs less — and it might be that in the short run, it does.

    The General Services Administration terminated hundreds of building leases, so they’re not paying rent. Also, fewer people now work for the federal government, although most of those people drew their full salary for the fiscal year before the layoffs and departures took effect.

    Additionally, agencies terminated many contracts, so there’s less money going out the door. But, Gerton said, many of those savings may be offset by legal costs challenging the terminations, and they may be reinstated with penalties.

    But if the definition of efficiency is making government programs work more smoothly and achieve better results, then Gerton said the uniform consensus is, no, nothing right now is working better than it was in 2024.

    Using data to make government function better

    That’s not to say there aren’t opportunities on the horizon for new government efficiencies.

    “A lot of experienced federal workers and good government groups have long argued that there are a lot of ways the government could work smarter and not harder,” Gerton said.

    “And I think as we go into 2026, there actually are some opportunities to really improve government work.”

    One option is using data better.

    Laws and regulations have always prioritized data privacy over data sharing to prevent data breaches, but for better or worse, Gerton said, DOGE broke down all the data silos.

    “As a result, there is now an opportunity to rebuild the government data system that works better for beneficiaries,” she said.

    “And the program managers can use data better to understand the commonality among their beneficiaries, design programs to meet those needs, and to make that process work more smoothly.”

    Gerton said government will still have to prioritized data privacy, but she believes there’s a real opportunity there, and that “people are really engaged in moving that forward.”

    Artificial Intelligence vs. Federal Acquisition Regulation overhaul

    The other big opportunity is the deployment of artificial intelligence. AI has been in the background for a long time, and people have been talking about what will happen with it, but it’s happening now, Gerton said.

    “Sometimes with guardrails, sometimes not, but it’s being tested in lots of different ways,” she said.

    Given how much smaller the federal workforce is right now — somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 fewer people — Gerton said AI could streamline many processes that used to require humans and instead put humans where they really can make a difference.

    One other positive that emerged in 2025 is the overhaul of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which regulates how the government contracts for the purchase of products and services.

    Gerton said the FAR reform is getting good marks early on, although the formal rulemaking process hasn’t happened yet.

    Acquisition, she said, is one sector where AI is being rolled out quickly, helping contracting officers design and evaluate proposals and helping contractors prepare their proposals to speed up the contract award process.

    In 2026, there will be a lot of watching. Gerton said she will be keeping tabs on the planned reforms by the Office of Personnel Management to streamline the hiring process, many of which have been tried before without success, and checking the details of acquisition reform when they write the rules to see if they match the guidance.

    “Perhaps the biggest thing to watch is what role Congress will play in all of this,” she said. “Will they start to legislate to stabilize the executive branch in the federal workforce?”

    Gerton said there is hope that things will settle down into a new normal, but there are still so many decisions about what happened in 2025 to come, that much remains unresolved.

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    Sarah Jacobs

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