Gilded Capital, Flawed Foundations | Birmingham News

Birmingham AL News Today | 2 Min News | The Daily News Now! · Aug 8, 2026 · 2m

Washington D.C. is getting a dazzling, gold-leaf makeover—with two Lincoln Memorial statues regilded for $5 million via a no-bid contract, while grocery prices climb and gas hovers at $4 a gallon. Critics say the capital’s aesthetic overhaul, echoing a Florida resort vibe, overshadows urgent domestic issues. Meanwhile, the Justice Department admits it wrongly indicted an Olympic canoeist over vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial pool—a project also awarded without bidding, botched by a contractor with no federal experience (vetted by the president for work on his golf course). The pool’s paint…