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This is not the way Ward 7 Councilmember Vince Gray’s storied political career was supposed to end. 

It was a given that Gray’s various health challenges would deprive him of the sort of graceful ride into the sunset that might otherwise have been afforded to someone with his three-decade-long career. Gray announced Thursday through a spokesperson that he’s experiencing “early-stage, age-related dementia” and he will step back from Council duties until his term concludes at the end of the year, a sad but perhaps inevitable development for the former mayor after he endured strokes and other health problems. The details below the headlines are another matter entirely. 

The councilmember’s children have been trying to wrest control of Gray’s health care and finances away from his wife, Dawn Kum, according to documents filed in D.C. Superior Court. They argue that she has concealed the extent of his health troubles and exploited his illness for her own monetary gain, liquidating Gray’s assets to pay for “luxury apparel” and “extravagant vacations.” Most troublingly, Gray’s kids claim he’s had at least four strokes since November 2021—two more than his office has disclosed—and that he’s “nearly fully paralyzed” and “extremely fragile.” A Superior Court judge ultimately agreed to appoint a guardian and conservator to manage the 81-year-old’s affairs, after Jonice and Carlos Gray claimed Kum has repeatedly worked to block their access to their father, including blocking their numbers in his phone.

The revelations in conservatorship filings has transformed this story from a melancholy tale about the difficulties of aging into something quite different. There’s every reason to regard claims made in court amid an ugly familial dispute skeptically—Kum and Gray only married in 2019—but they will prompt some serious whispering, nonetheless. 

Gray’s caustic, controversial spokesperson, Chuck Thies, has spent months insisting that although the councilmember may be unable to effectively communicate, he has still been fully engaged with his work as a lawmaker. Wilson Building observers have long doubted these assertions—and Council Chair Phil Mendelson greatly reduced Gray’s committee duties last year in response to these worries. But councilmembers generally have been unwilling to challenge them publicly out of deference to Gray and his long record of service. If Gray’s health truly has been as bad as his children describe, it raises real questions about the extent to which his office has been covering up his deficiencies.

As far back as mid-December 2021, Gray could not “count backwards from 20 and recite the the months of the year backwards” during a neurological exam, according to the court documents. What’s more, Gray’s children claim that Kum “injected herself into a leadership role” in his Council office. 

For more on the messy dispute playing out in court, and the fallout sure to come from these revelations, read our full story online.

—Alex Koma (tips? akoma@washingtoncitypaper.com)

• D.C. police are warning about an increase in thefts of expensive and designer shoes. [NBC Washington]
• U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan closed her courtroom to the press and public for a hearing in the case against D.C. gym owner Michael Everts, who is accused of distributing child pornography. The Oct. 23 hearing was listed as a “change of plea.” Everts, who owns FIT Personal Training, initially pleaded not guilty, but it’s unclear whether he accepted a plea deal. No details about a potential change in his plea, or the terms of any deal, were publicly available after the courtroom was closed. [Blade]
• Arsonists set fire to multiple mopeds on B Street SE, at least some of which belonged to Venezuelan immigrants who use them to make deliveries. “We use these to work, to eat,” Junior Valera told NBC Washington in Spanish. “To pay rent, help our families. Without them, how? We can’t.” The arson was caught on video, which shows five people walking up to the mopeds, pouring liquid on them, and lighting them on fire. [NBC Washington]
• The Department of Justice has reached a $100 million settlement with the owners and operators of the ship that crashed into Baltimore’s Key Bridge. [Maryland Matters, Banner]

By City Paper Staff (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)

• Families booted out of a key rental assistance program are now suing the D.C. government. A group of renters are demanding that they be reinstated to the city’s Rapid Rehousing program after the city moved to exit hundreds of families from it, citing time limits and budget pressures. The case, filed by attorneys from the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and the D.C. Children’s Law Center, is a first-of-its-kind effort in the city. [Post]
• Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks claims she once rented out her grandparents’ home in Northeast, but there are no records she ever secured the proper permits to do so. Alsobrooks’ failure to pay the correct taxes on the home has become a central issue in her Maryland Senate race. [WJLA]
• At first, no one stepped up to run for the advisory neighborhood commission seat in Southwest vacated by Clayton Rosenberg, who pleaded guilty to defrauding pandemic relief programs. Now two candidates are mounting write-in bids: Liam Goodwin and Sam Sanders. [Hill Rag]

By Alex Koma (tips? akoma@washingtoncitypaper.com)

Good Taste: San Pancho Blesses Takoma Park With Hefty San Fran-Style Burritos

The husband-and-wife team behind Cielo Rojo are serving belly-busting breakfast, lunch, and dinner options at their new burritoria.

• Celebrity chef Eric Adjepong, of Top Chef and other assorted food network shows, is bringing upscale, contemporary Ghanaian food to D.C. His first restaurant, Elmina, will open on 14th Street NW in January. [Washingtonian]
• Vibes, vibes, vibes: At Michael Rafidi’s latest restaurant, La’ Shukran, the sister spot to Albi and Yellow, reservations go quick, the food is fun, and the space is—wait for it—vibey. [Axios]

By City Paper staff (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)