The District has seen good times in the last few years. Business is booming and neglected properties and neighborhoods are seeing new investment. Crime has plummeted over the past decade, and corruption in the government has faded even as the city’s coffers have filled with new tax revenues. The ebbing of many of the city’s old problems has combined with the election year to place a new and intense focus on fixing the city’s…

Artist Steven Cushner has filled three full rooms at Hemphill Fine Arts with his geometric abstract paintings that explore conflict and difficult choices. Working in acrylics and watercolors, he arranges both familiar and unusual shapes in precarious or straining positions, always questioning whether the pieces really fit. Whether you’re a fan of abstract art, or if you looked at the image of the painting on your right and thought, “I have no clue what that’s…