Good morning. It snowed again. The federal government will open two hours late today, and workers have the option for unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. Most area school systems are closed or have delayed their openings. There’s a chance of more snow until 11 AM, then cold and windy—the nominal high of around 41 will feel colder. A low near 24 tonight. 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:
Billy F. Gibbons, “Treat Her Right.” The ZZ Top legend plays the Birchmere tonight.
Take Washingtonian Today with you! I keep ridiculously long playlists on Apple Music and on Spotify of this year’s music recommendations. Here are 2025’s songs (Apple, Spotify), too.
Tell *us* where to go: Typically, we’re the ones giving readers travel recommendations. But this year, we’re asking you to share your opinions, too. Nominate your favorite place to stay in our travel survey, and you could win a $100 gift card—and your picks may end up in our May issue.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Shutshow, the return: The Department of Homeland Security shutdown is ten days old today. The White House and Democrats in Congress are nowhere near a deal. (Punchbowl News) Democrats are unlikely to give much after the revelation Friday that federal agents fatally shot 23-year-old US citizen Ruben Ray Martinez last year—at least the sixth fatal shooting during President Trump‘s immigration crackdowns. (AP) The administration attempted to pass on some of the pain from the shutdown to travelers over the weekend, pausing the TSA PreCheck and Global Entry programs, but it backed off the PreCheck idea after a ruckus ensued. (Washington Post) Meanwhile, DHS employees are figuring out, once again, how to keep working without pay. (Government Executive)
Cabinet of curiosities: Video showed FBI Director Kash Patel downing a beer and celebrating hard in the US men’s hockey team’s locker room after their thrilling overtime victory against Canada in yesterday’s gold-medal game. FBI officials had earlier pushed back against reports that Patel, a hockey fan, had flown to Italy on a taxpayer-funded trip to watch hockey. (NYT) The video has “rocketed around FBI and DOJ circles.” (MS Now) US Secret Service agents will receive tailored suits from the government, reportedly because DHS Secretary Kristi Noem disliked the way the suits they bought themselves looked. (CNN) The DC police searched the office of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer earlier this month as part of an investigation into sexual assault allegations against her husband, Shawn DeRemer. (Politico) Last week’s glyphosate thing was apparently a sign that the White House is moving to reel in Health Secretary RFK Jr. (Politico)
New tariffs in town: Trump imposed a 15 percent temporary global tariff after Friday’s Supreme Court loss, effectively lowering the average rate by a couple of percentage points. Enormous questions remain as to where all this is going. (WSJ) White House aides made the case yesterday that Trump’s overall approach won’t change after his previous policy ate it at the high court. (NYT) The US will stop collecting the previous tariffs, imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, tomorrow. (Reuters) The markets are largely waiting out the chaos. (CNBC)
International affairs: Speaking of unclear situations, Trump’s machinations against Iran continue. (NYT) Intelligence officials warned that Iran might make retaliatory attacks against the US via proxies around the world. (NYT) Many areas of Mexico were rocked by violence after the country’s security forces killed New Generation cartel leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” yesterday. (Washington Post) The US played a role in the operation. (Reuters) Meanwhile: Trump baffled a lot of people by claiming the US would send a “great hospital boat” to Greenland over the weekend. No such ships appear to be on their way, and Greenlanders don’t need US healthcare. (Washington Post)
Administration perambulation: Austin Tucker Martin, the 21-year-old shot and killed at Mar-a-Lago yesterday, was reportedly obsessed with the government’s files on the deceased, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. (TMZ) Epstein rented storage units around the country. (Telegraph) Trump ranted online that Netflix, which is bidding to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, should fire Susan Rice from its board. (NYT) The administration will end some humanitarian aid programs that escaped its dismantling of USAID. (Atlantic) Trump has been asking visitors whether Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio should be the GOP’s next Presidential nominee. (Axios) Someone whose voice sounded like Trump’s and who used Trump’s old pseudonym John Barron called into C-SPAN to complain about the Supreme Court’s tariff decision. The network says it wasn’t Trump on the line. (HuffPost)
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week, by Ann Limpert:
Chef/restaurateur Darren Norris has always had grand ambitions. He opened Kusshi, one of DC’s earliest—and buzziest—izakayas, in 2010. After it closed, he created a trio of Japanese spots under one Adams Morgan roof (Death Punch, the bar, is all that remains). Norris’s latest project, the snug, fast-casual Shibuya Eatery in Friendship Heights, feels comparatively modest, but Norris puts a high level of care into his ramen and rice bowls. His gyudon, a donburi bowl piled with melty, simmered ribeye, plus fiery kimchi and black-garlic oil, was the perfect dish for a slushy, snowy night. (4461 Willard Ave., Chevy Chase.)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Employees at the Duck & the Peach are unionizing. Two people who got fired from the Capitol Hill restaurant recently say their support of the drive got them fired.
• Last week’s melting ice seems to have released even more bacteria into the Potomac.
• Amy Hale remembers the time she helped Jesse Jackson during a snowstorm.
• Culinary school has become the hot summer camp for area kids.
• This June wedding had a “modern-California-meets–South American-inspired aesthetic” and a farm-to-table menu.
Local news links:
• The EPA will lead the federal response to the Potomac River sewage spill. (Washington Post)
• The Justice Department fired James Hundley after courts in Virginia’s Eastern District named him interim US Attorney. Hundley would have replaced Lindsey Halligan, whose eventful tenure in the role ended late last month. (AP)
• Someone vandalized a temporary ice rink at the Kennedy Center, an action center prez Ric Grenell described as a “terrorist attack.” A Park Police spokesperson, however, said the disgrace might have been the work of “a stupid kid.” (Washington Post)
• Remember Curtis Lear, the guy who drove his Jeep on the National Mall last summer? He’ll have 18 months in prison to mull over his joyride. (DC News Now)
• Samuel Thernstrom, who intentionally struck a cyclist in Arlington following an argument last October, is unlikely to face any time in jail. (ARLnow)
• Police say someone suspected of shoplifting from a BJ’s Wholesale Club in Woodbridge deployed pepper spray around the building before vamoosing. (DC News Now)
• Sandy Marks won a Democratic primary Saturday to replace Kirk McPike on Alexandria’s city council. McPike vacated his seat to successfully run for the state legislature seat vacated by Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, who won the state senate seat vacated by Adam Ebbin, who joined the administration of Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger. Marks will face Republican Frank Fannon in yet another special election this spring. (ALXnow)
• Police in Virginia and Maryland are cracking down on rowdy car rallies. (WTOP)
• Someone in Adams Morgan has been planting miniature signs that bear Trump’s photo in dog poop. (PoPville)
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.
