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LOVE Act lets DC residents get married during shutdown

By Jimmy Alexander

Romance is no longer dead in the nation’s capital, thanks to the LOVE Act. Starting Tuesday, D.C. residents will finally be able to get marriage licenses in the District for the first time since the federal government shutdown.

The Clerk of D.C. Superior Court issues marriage licenses and arranges for a justice of the peace to officiate weddings. But thanks to the shutdown, they have been furloughed and couples haven’t been able to officially get married.

On Oct. 7, the D.C. Council passed the Let Our Vows Endure (LOVE) Emergency Act, which gives Mayor Muriel Bowser the power to handle marriage licenses and authorize wedding officiants during the shutdown.

This proposed solution was included in both emergency legislation and temporary legislation (effective for 225 days), according to the D.C. Council.

This power is only for Bowser to use during the shutdown and is in effect for 90 days.

Bowser, who was given this power during the shutdown of 2019, signed the LOVE Act of 2025 bill into law on Oct. 9.

This NICU nurse takes care of infants all while flying hundreds of feet in the air

By Luke Lukert
In the D.C. region, conversations often start with, “What do you do?” WTOP’s “Working Capital” series profiles the people whose jobs make the D.C. region run. Many nurses in the D.C. area are responsible for taking care of people struggling with severe illnesses, but only a few are doing it for the youngest patients all while traveling over a 100 miles per hour, hundreds of feet above the ground.
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