Good morning. The deep freeze’s grip on us will begin to loosen today—after we get through another very cold morning. Maybe you should stay in bed for a few more minutes to revisit our profile of “Quad God” Ilia Malinin from last year? A high around 32 today, and a low near 23 overnight. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Snacktime, “Who’s Been Stopping You?” These Philadelphia phunksters play 9:30 tonight with Electric Guest.
Take Washingtonian Today with you! I made a playlist on Spotify and on Apple Music of last year’s music recommendations. I’ll make one soon for 2026.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Shutdown, Part 3: The Department of Homeland Security will shut down this weekend if Congress can’t figure out how to fund it. There’s nothing even resembling a deal so far. (Punchbowl News) Democrats want reforms to ICE; Republicans claim that making federal immigration agents show their faces and produce judicial warrants, as required by law, would endanger them somehow. (NYT) One idea floating around is to split the bill so DHS operations like FEMA and TSA could continue. (AP) Meanwhile: ICE’s plans to turn warehouses around the country into detention centers have faced bipartisan opposition. (NYT)
Culture war update: President Trump got the weekend started with a post on his social network that portrayed former President Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as apes. The White House defended the video, then Trump deleted it, then the White House blamed a staffer, and Trump refused to apologize. (AP) The President of the United States also found time to criticize a US skier, Hunter Hess, who said he had “mixed emotions” about representing his country right now. (Politico) And, of course, Trump sounded off about Bad Bunny‘s Super Bowl halftime show, which apparently he was watching instead of…. (ABC News) Turning Point USA’s own alternate halftime show, which drew about 6 million views on YouTube and wasn’t seen on X. (NYT) That wasn’t Liam Conejo Ramos in the Bad Bunny spectacle. (NPR)
Administration perambulation: Trump disinvited some Democratic governors, including Wes Moore of Maryland, from a traditionally bipartisan meeting later this month during the National Governors Association summit. (Washington Post) Officials in Fulton County, Georgia, challenged the administration’s seizure of voting records from 2020. (Politico) If you donate at least $1 million to a Trump-affiliated group set up to celebrate the US’s 250th birthday this summer, you’ll get special access to the President. (NYT) The Department of Justice is struggling to recruit and keep prosecutors as Trump turns it into an instrument of revenge. (NYT) New Deal-era murals are disappearing from Post Offices around the country. (Washington Post) Ghislaine Maxwell will be deposed by the House Oversight Committee today. She plans to take the Fifth. (The Hill)
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week, by Ann Limpert:
In December, restaurateur Ashok Bajaj announced he was closing Rosedale and turning the short-lived Forest Hills restaurant into Malabar, a coastal Indian sibling to his Bombay Club, Bindaas, and Rasika. While chef Vikram Sunderam’s menu spotlights seafood, my favorite dish was the relatively simple tandoori chicken. It was spice-crusted, crisp-skinned, and juicy, thanks to one thing that carried over from Rosedale—a rotisserie. Also worth noting: it’s one of the more generous entrees I’ve had lately for under 25 bucks. (4465 Connecticut Ave., NW.)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Wilmer Valderrama tells us about how he ended up opening a bar in DC—Elegancia, his collaboration with Colada Shop owner Daniella Senior, opens this week.
• “The word ‘empathy’ gets a bad rap these days in the culture, but that is my driving truth”—Rachel Martin tells us about her new podcast, “Wild Card.”
• Golden Hour Collective opened this weekend in the former Meeps Vintage spot.
• Not feeling Valentine’s Day this year? Here’s where you can anti-celebrate it. Or, if you prefer, here’s how you can celebrate it in a luxe hotel.
• Sixty breakfast, brunch, and weekend lunch spots from our 100 Very Best Restaurants list.
Local news links:
Post everything: Will Lewis finally lost his job as Washington Post publisher. He was AWOL during last week’s mass layoffs and was seen at a Super Bowl event as the paper eliminated its sports desk. “I’m glad Will Lewis has been fired. I wish it had happened before he fired all my friends,” Post reporter Katie Mettler said in an absolute banger of a quote. (NYT) The Post’s CFO, former Tumblr exec Jeff D’Onofrio, is interim publisher. In a memo to the organization’s remaining staff, D’Onofrio wrote that he’s looking forward to leading the news organization “into a sustainable, successful future with the strength of our journalism as our north star.” Huh: A “group of wealthy D.C. locals” approached Lewis with a proposal to let them buy its local news and sports operations before the layoffs. They never heard back. (Status) Confidential to Jeff Bezos, who I presume never misses Washingtonian Today: Perhaps it’s not too late to take Kara Swisher‘s call? (Washingtonian)
• “[M]ultiple people with confirmed cases of measles” traveled around the area in late January and early February, including at the March for Life. (NBC4 Washington)
• Sarah Beckstrom, the West Virginia National Guard member who was shot and killed in DC the day before Thanksgiving, and Andrew Wolfe, another Guard member who’s continuing to recover from his injuries that day, will receive the Purple Heart. (West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey/X)
• It will take longer than expected to repair the Potomac Interceptor, the sewage pipe whose rupture caused a massive spill of stuff you don’t want to think about into the Potomac. (WTOP)
• Patricia Mathis-Burby of Middleburg was found guilty of hosting an “unregistered animal rescue” in her house. (WUSA9)
• Road closures will occur in Arlington today as the Buddhist monks arrive there. (ARLnow)
• A massive 20-foot-high pile of snow is currently wowing onlookers at the RFK site. (WTOP) DC has restarted fees for residents and businesses who haven’t shoveled. (WTOP)
• Sonny Jurgensen died Friday. The Washington sports legend was 91. (Washington Post)
• Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner was named the NFL’s Man of the Year. (AP)
• Where is Darrow Montgomery? (WCP)
• I’m loving my former boss Michael Schaffer‘s imaginary tabloid fronts for DC news. I’d go buy a paper every day if these were real! (via Instagram)
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.
