For more than seven years, Geri Mitchell has been a familiar voice on WAMU 88.5.

Stories WAMU is following this week include looking at the shutdown's impact on debates over federal health aid programs, a controversial bill to slash child caretaker pay in D.C., and the kick off of the Washington Wizards' new basketball season.

The D.C. region has been preparing for an economic slowdown. But surprisingly, the outlook isn't all bad, and there may even be some bright spots, including for defense contractors in Northern Virginia.

The Bright Center was already operating on a shoestring. Now the program's sustainability is even more in doubt.

Susan Stamberg – the first woman to anchor a national nightly news broadcast, and often remembered as one of NPR’s “Founding Mothers” – died on Thursday. She was 87. But before she was revolutionizing news radio at NPR, she developed her craft at WAMU.

Michael Raupp at the University of Maryland, College Park and author of the "Bug of the Week" blog, gives all you need to know about spotted lanternflies.

We talk with U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks and Clark Mercer, head of the regional leadership group known as COG, about how the federal shutdown is threatening the region's economy.