Top local stories of 2013: A year in review

10 - Sequestration At 12 a.m., Friday, April 1, $85 billion in spending cuts hit the U.S. government.

Both political parties warned the cuts -- 5 percent to domestic agencies and 8 percent to the military -- could inflict major damage to government programs and the economy at large.

Read more on the Sequestration

(Getty Images)
9 - March on Washington On Aug. 28, tens of thousands commemorated the March on Washington and the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Read more stories on the March on Washington

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
8 - Shooting Outside the U.S. Capitol On Oct. 3, a woman driving a car with a young child inside tried to ram through a White House barricade and led police on a chase toward the Capitol, where police shot and killed her.

Tourists watched the shooting unfold on Constitution Avenue outside the Capitol.

Read more about the Shooting Outside the U.S. Capitol

(Getty Images)
7 - Adam Kokesh On July 4, controversial activist Adam Kokesh filmed himself loading a gun in D.C.'s Freedom Plaza and posted the video to YouTube.

On July 9, U.S. Park Police officials executed a search warrant at Kokesh's Herndon, Va. home.

Kokesh was eventually arrested and charged in D.C.

Read more about Adam Kokesh

(Courtesy D.C. Police)
6 - The Snowquester On March 6, a major snowstorm hit the Mid-Atlantic, dumping nearly two feet of snow in some places and knocking out power to about 250,000 homes and businesses. For the D.C. area it was the snowstorm that wasn't.

It largely spared the nation's capital, which was expecting much worse and had all but shut down.

Read more about the Snowquester

(Getty Images)
5 - Birth of the National Zoo Panda Cub On. Aug. 23, Mei Xiang, the the National Zoo's 15-year-old female giant panda, gave birth to a cub.

The cub, later named Bao Bao, was Mei Xiang's third cub born through artificial insemination.

Read more about the Birth of the National Zoo Panda Cub

(Courtney Janney/Smithsonian's National Zoo)
4 - WWII Memorial Protest On Oct. 13, thousands of people converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall and tore down the barricades blocking it off, protesting the closure of the memorial during the federal government shutdown.

The memorial had been closed since the government shutdown began Oct. 1.

Read more on the WWII Memorial Protest

(AP/Alex Brandon)
3 - RGIII's Right Knee In early 2013, all eyes were on RGIII's knee. The face of the Redskins franchise was recovering from surgery two ligaments in his right knee.

Griffin had his lateral collateral ligament repaired and his ACL reconstructed for a second time. The surgery was performed in Florida by orthopedist James Andrews, who was optimistic that Griffin would be back on the field this fall.

Read more on RGIII's Right Knee

(Getty Images)
2 - Navy Yard Shooting On Sept. 16, gunman and defense contractor Aaron Alexis fatally shot 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard.

Officials later said Alexis was carrying three weapons during the rampage: an AR-15 assault rifle, a shotgun and a handgun that he took from a police officer at the scene.

Read more about the Navy Yard Shooting

(Getty Images)
1 - Federal Shutdown On Oct. 1, the federal government shut down for the first time in more than 17 years after Congress was unable to reach a deadline in time to keep the government funded.

The shutdown lasted 16 days and affected hundreds of thousands of workers.

Read more about the Federal Shutdown

(WTOP/Nick Iannelli)
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