Senators aim to remove racist’s name from traffic circle

WASHINGTON (AP) — Maryland’s U.S. senators have introduced legislation to remove the name of a segregationist former lawmaker from a prominent Washington-area traffic circle. Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin said Tuesday that they are seeking to take Francis G. Newlands’ name off of a fountain and plaque at Chevy Chase Circle. The roundabout is on the border of Washington’s Chevy Chase neighborhood and Chevy Chase, Maryland. Newlands was a former Nevada senator who died in 1917. He aimed to keep working-class, Black and Jewish families out of the Chevy Chase community that he helped develop. The circle is managed by the National Park Service and therefore under federal jurisdiction.