Good morning. Mostly sunny with a high of 80 today. Sounds heavenly! A low around 54 tonight. The Orioles will face the Nats at home again this evening. The Capitals won the second game of this playoff series last night, and Montreal will host them on Friday. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
Reading this post on the web? That’s lovely, but you can get it as a morning email newsletter if you’d prefer! Sign up here.
I can’t stop listening to:
Lowertown, “Best Person You Know.” The stylistically elusive indie group plays Songbyrd this evening, and I love this video, which features one member of the group repeatedly murdering the other one. It’s tough to be in a band sometimes!
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
“Say it louder”: Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly argued loudly in the White House Thursday, within earshot of President Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The brouhaha was putatively about which man’s pick would become acting commissioner of the IRS, but there appears to be a subtext: Bessent “can’t stand” the billionaire and his antics, Marc Caputo reports, and the feeling is apparently mutual: When Bessent said “fuck you,” Musk replied, “Say it louder.” (Axios) Musk’s DOGE project will continue after he scales back his Washington adventures to focus on Tesla, but absent”Musk’s constant hovering around President Donald Trump, DOGE may not have the same firepower it once did.” (Politico)
Playing defense: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had a makeup studio installed at the Pentagon. The Defense Department told CBS News that Hegseth does his own makeup. (CBS News) Hegseth also had Signal, the app by which he informed his wife, brother, and personal lawyer about attack plans in Yemen, installed on a work computer. (Washington Post)
Trump, universities: The President issued a flurry of education-related executive orders, including one that “would make it easier for schools to switch accreditors and for new accreditors to gain federal approval.” (WSJ) The President “also ordered the Education Department to root out efforts to ensure equity in discipline in the nation’s K-12 schools.” (AP) Trump’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission texted a survey about antisemitism to employees of Barnard College. Question No. 2 asked whether they were Jewish. (NYT) International students are asking college newspapers to take their bylines off articles that could cause the administration to revoke their visas. (WSJ)
Poll positions: “President Trump’s job approval rating has fallen steadily during his first three months in office.” (NYT) YouGov’s poll “also shows Trump underwater on an issue where he was previously popular: immigration.” (YouGov) Majorities disapprove of the President’s tariffs and cuts to federal agencies. (Pew Research Center)
Administration perambulation: Trump has offered a private dinner to the biggest investors in his memecoin. (NYT) Federal Judge Paula Xinis paused a directive that required the administration to provide updates about its efforts, which have not appeared to be maximal thus far, to return Kilmar Abrego García to Maryland, from which it admits he was wrongly deported to El Salvador. (AP) The Department of Homeland Security mistakenly posted the address of Abrego García’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, online, forcing her to move. (The New Republic) Attorneys general from a dozen states sued over the administration’s tariff policies. (NBC News)
Hidden Eats, by Ike Allen
Breakfast at Abebech, a a modest, exemplary new Ethiopian cafe in Brightwood Park, begins at 8 AM. Served on an unusual red dish that consists of a series of separate pods for each item, the lumberjack breakfast of firfir (seasoned shredded injera), kinche (sautéed cracked wheat), chechebsa (thick flatbread tossed in clarified butter) and scrambled eggs, along with a morning cup of coffee and the warm, bluesy tezeta scales of Ethiopian pop, could sustain anyone—gastronomically and spiritually—until well into the afternoon. Plus, chef-owner Emebet Demissie has range: come back later in the day for a classic Ethiopian seven-veggie combo platter or a home-made lasagna layered with besciamella sauce (a recipe she picked up from a nonagenarian Italian woman while living in Rome). (5320 Georgia Ave., NW)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• A wave of cheap martinis has washed over Washington, DC.
• Steven Spielberg, Jamie Dimon, Temple Grandin, and Joy Harjo will have their portraits added to the Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection.
• We’ve added a raft of content to our Welcome Guide for visitors to town.
Local news links:
• A 16-year-old boy is in the hospital after being stabbed at Fairfax’s West Potomac High School Wednesday, and a 15-year-old is in custody. (WTOP) Parents of other students are, as you might imagine, very upset. (WUSA9)
• An online fundraiser aims to help the family of Deaundre “Dre” Jack with funeral expenses after the 19-year-old was shot to death in Alexandria Saturday. (NBC4 Washington)
• A GOP proposal that would change the formula for federal reimbursement of Medicaid expenses has local hospital administrators worried. (Axios Pro)
• Residents of Navy Yard want to know how packs of teens flooded their neighborhood Friday. (WUSA9)
• Sandy Springs Friends School will remain open. (The MoCoShow)
• Authorities in Montgomery County say they arrested a woman who stole checks from US Postal Service mailboxes, aided, they say, by a mail carrier’s hat and bag. (NBC4 Washington)
• The Ryan Lizza-Politico fight continues, and Washingtonian Today is considering another Substack subscription. (Telos)
• We’re in a (non-metaphorical) drought. (WUSA9) Also our air is bad. (WTOP)
• Purcellville intends to keep its police department. (WTOP)
• Acting US Attorney Ed Martin sent another letter to a scientific journal. (Stat News)
• A former DC schoolteacher is suing Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl. (Josh Gerstein)
• Trump says he prefers the Commanders’ old name. (NBC4 Washington)
Thursday’s event picks:
• Filmfest DC begins today and runs through May 4.
• Dreamer Isioma performs at Union Stage.
• The Washington Ballet’s Alice (in wonderland) starts today and runs through Sunday at Capital One Hall in Tysons.
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. Enter our Cutest Dog Contest here.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
