Good morning. More sun today with highs around 65. The Nationals are, once again, in Pittsburgh. So are the Capitals! I like to think they’re all sharing a very large Primanti sandwich right now.
Washingtonian Today editor Andrew Beaujon will be back for tomorrow’s newsletter. I have so enjoyed our time together! You can still find me on Bluesky, I’m @kmcorliss.19 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
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A great book on my nightstand:
“Love, Loss, and What I Wore” by Ilene Beckerman. If you are too overwhelmed by the assorted daily horrors to manage a heavy read, let this short book—which is half-composed of the author’s extraordinarily darling fashion illustrations—onto your shelf. Beckerman uses vignette-style reflections on her most memorable outfits as markers to map her own life in Manhattan, from her 1940s childhood to the book’s publication in 1995. As such, the story serves as part-fashion history, part-memoir, and full-throttled warm-fuzzy-feeling generator. It somehow felt for me like a window into the life of my grandmother, who grew up in New York around the same time and had a similarly iconic wardrobe (much of it handmade, like Beckerman’s)—I wish she had kept an outfit diary, but I do have her charm bracelet, which features a disproportionately large mother of pearl-handled gun and several heart-shaped charms that she once told me she “hopes she didn’t buy for herself.” Ever since my first read of this, I look at my own closet with a sort of pre-nostalgic scrutiny; I fear my cheetah print pajama pants will make an uncouth number of appearances in the clothing-centered chronicle of my life.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
No visitors allowed: Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who flew to El Salvador yesterday, says he was denied a visit with mistakenly deported Beltsville man Kilmar Abrego Garcia because he did not notify the country of his intentions soon enough in advance. Van Hollen says he then offered to come back next week for the meeting, and Vice President Félix Ulloa told him no; he reportedly pressed Ulloa about why Abrego Garcia remains detained, despite the fact that he was residing in the US legally and neither government has produced evidence that he’s committed a crime, and was told “that the Trump administration is paying the government of El Salvador” to keep him locked up in the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center. (Baltimore Banner) Also, Abrego Garcia’s wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura responded to ICE’s release of a restraining order she filed against her husband in 2021: “After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order in case things escalated,” she said. “Things did not escalate.” (Newsweek)
All health breaks loose: A preliminary Health and Human Services budget document reveals that the Trump administration plans to slash the agency’s budget by more than $40 billion. It would shrink the National Institutes of Health budget by $20 billion. Specifically, it would consolidate the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers into eight, and eliminate some entirely—such as the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute of Nursing Research. Meanwhile, $20 billion would go toward the establishment of a new Administration for a Healthy America, which would soak up some components of the consolidated agencies, including those devoted to primary care, HIV, and environmental health. (Washington Post)
I’m sorry, but there’s more and it gets worse: HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would have $500 million to allocate toward various “Make America Healthy Again” initiatives, but numerous existing programs would be cut completely—childhood lead poisoning prevention, rural health initiatives, and the ALS patient registry among them. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would lose about 44 percent of its budget, along with all of its domestic HIV funding and chronic disease programs. The Head Start program would be eliminated entirely. “In a lot of communities, Head Start is the only early childhood provider in the community —especially rural America,” says Tommy Sheridan, the National Head Start Association’s deputy director. (Washington Post) These proposed changes come to light as leading nutrition scientist Kevin Hall exits the NIH after 20 years, citing censorship. (NYT) About a third of NIH board members were fired without cause last month, and the vast majority were women, Black, or Hispanic. (Washington Post)
You just got Boasberged: Chief US District Judge James Boasberg is launching contempt proceedings against the Trump administration, due to its noncompliance with his order prohibiting officials from deporting Venezuelan immigrants based on the wartime Alien Enemies Act. In a 46-page opinion, Boasberg wrote that the government has “demonstrate[d] a willful disregard” for providing requested information on these deportation flights.” According to Yale Law School professor Nicholas Parrillo, officials generally cooperate once they’re slapped with a contempt motion, but if, say, the officials in question were “shameless enough to be undeterred by a contempt finding in itself,” then the court could impose sanctions to push compliance. (Washington Post)
When Tax Day is over but you still want attention: The fourth acting IRS director in less than four months has been appointed—and his name is Gary Shapely. You might remember him as the criminal investigator who accused the Justice Department of dragging its feet on the Hunter Biden tax case back in 2023. Shapely’s predecessor, Melanie Krause, stepped down last week after the Treasury Department and the Department of Homeland Security agreed to share data in an effort to track down immigrants. (Wall Street Journal) The leadership switch-up comes as the administration is gearing up to axe the agency’s Direct File program, a Biden-era initiative that allows users (including me two days ago) to file their tax returns online for free. (AP) The IRS is also reportedly fixing to yank Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, days after the school refused to comply with a list of culture-war demands from the administration. (CNN)
Administration perambulation: DOGE wants to pry into a sensitive Medicare database to collect information on immigrants. (Washington Post) Secretary of State Marco Rubio shuttered the Global Engagement Center, a unit in the State Department tasked with flagging foreign propaganda, and he’s teasing a Twitter Files-esque reveal of the agency’s internal communications. (Wired) Trump will meet with Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni today to negotiate European trade. (Politico) DC’s acting US Attorney Ed Martin has appeared on Russian state-run media as a guest commentator more than 150 times in the past eight years. (Washington Post) RFK Jr. called autism “preventable.” (NYT) The administration is setting up to eliminate habitat protections for endangered and threatened species. (AP) An internal government document shows that Trump and Vice President JD Vance put in special requests for Oval Office portraits with sparkly gold borders—which hang among several other Midas touches that have cropped up around Mar-a-Lago the White House lately, thanks in no small part to the scrupulous guidance of Trump’s “Gold Guy.” Just my two cents: Vance’s skin obviously has cool undertones so a silver border on his portrait would have been a more flattering choice. (Wall Street Journal) Just two percent of Republican voters say they’d change their vote if Trump and Kamala Harris were to face off again tomorrow, according to a CNN analysis—an additional 1 percent say they wouldn’t have voted at all. (Daily Beast)
Hidden Eats, by Ike Allen:
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
- Jim Acosta ate a salad and chatted with our reporter about his plans post-CNN, what it was like to be a Trump persona non grata, and how journalists should cover the administration this time around.
- Our review of a new DC-based novel that is strikingly devoted to honoring the geography of our humble city.
- A timeline of Dan Snyder’s former Potomac mansion, which is still lounging around the market after two years.
Local news links:
- DC is closing in on a $3 billion deal for a Commanders stadium at the RFK site. (Axios DC)
- The Trump administration has revoked 15 student visas at George Mason University. (Northern Virginia Magazine)
- The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is proposing a cut to all middle school after-school activities. (WTOP)
- The City of Alexandria wants to close Waterfront Park and Point Lumley Park for at least two years in order to implement flooding protections. (ALXnow)
- DOGE is taking its chainsaw to the local dating scene. (Axios DC) I noticed!
- Robotics researchers at the University of Maryland are working on a self-driving scooter that comes to you. (WUSA9) Great, another thing to chase me in my dreams.
- A honeybee farmer in Stafford County says someone intentionally poisoned his bees, and now he’s looking at $20,000 in losses. (NBC Washington) Hold your bees close in these frightening times.
- Palate cleanser: A mother duck laid eggs on the roof of the Planet Word museum. (Washington Post) You can watch a live feed of the duckies here.
Thursday’s event picks:
- Philosopher Agnes Callard will discuss her book Open Socrates at Politics & Prose.
- Celebrate the opening of the NEXT Festival with George Washington University’s Corcoran School of the Arts and Design.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here.
