Good morning. Sunny and warm today, with a high around 80. A low near 58 overnight.
Sports this weekend: The Nationals visit Milwaukee this weekend. Loudoun United FC host Louisville City FC at Segra Field tonight. The Capitals visit Pittsburgh Saturday and host Pittsburgh for their last regular-season home game—perhaps Alex Ovechkin‘s home finale with the team?—on Sunday. D.C. United visit New England Saturday. The DC Defenders host the Houston Gamblers at Audi Field Saturday. Old Glory DC visit the New England Free Jacks Saturday.
You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here.
I can’t stop listening to:
Mclusky, “As a Dad.” This Welsh band made one of my favorite early-2000s rock records (this song still blasts a hole into my brain), and I’m delighted that they’re back. Mclusky plays the Black Cat Saturday with Pile.
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.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
War news: Israel and Lebanon will negotiate a possible peace deal in Washington next week. (AP) Israel continued to strike targets in Lebanon, and Iran kept the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, but the shaky truce between the US, Israel and Iran has more or less held so far. The US and Iran are scheduled to begin peace negotiations tomorrow. (Reuters) President Trump pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ease off on attacking Lebanon. (WSJ) A top Iranian health official, Abbas Masjedi, said more than 3,000 people in Iran have died because of the war. (AP)
Weird how this keeps happening: Dozens of anonymous accounts made big bets on prediction markets just ahead of the ceasefire, continuing a worrisome trend. (AP) The White House emailed staffers and told them not to make such bets. (WSJ) Emil Michael. a top Pentagon official who oversees DOD’s AI efforts, made millions selling stock in Elon Musk‘s xAI. It wasn’t clear how he acquired the stock in the company, which isn’t publicly traded. (Guardian)
What is she thinking? First lady Melania Trump surprised journalists in DC with a hastily called press conference in which she denied having significant associations with the deceased, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Trump called on Congress to hold public hearings where Epstein’s victims could testify, then “turned on her stiletto heels and stalked out as the dazed reporters started shouting after her: ‘Why now!? Why now!?'” (NYT) President Trump said he didn’t know about the statement in advance, and “many White House staffers were caught off guard” by the event. (MS Now) Melania Trump described an email she sent to Ghislaine Maxwell—in which she called the since convicted sex trafficker and Epstein associate “sweet pea” and signed it “Love, Melania,” nothing more than “casual correspondence.” (NBC News) Her press conference “risked undermining the White House message that there’s no reason for interest in or concern about Epstein.” (CNN) Later, President Trump lashed out at conservatives who’d criticized his war in Iran, calling Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, and Alex Jones “stupid people.” (NYT)
Playing defense: A federal judge slammed the Pentagon for its efforts to restrict press coverage under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. (NYT) DOD “simply cannot reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking ‘new’ action and expect the court to look the other way,” US District Judge Paul Friedman wrote. The Pentagon said it would appeal. (AP)
DH-mess: ICE agents fired on a man in California Tuesday, causing six wounds, his lawyer says. (NYT) Federal prosecutors must turn over records related to an ICE officer’s killing of Renee Good in Minnesota. (Intercept) Republicans plan an “incredibly tricky attempt” to fund the ICE and US Customs and Border Patrol. The Department of Homeland Security remains shut down. (Punchbowl News)
Administration perambulation: The Justice Department opened an investigation into the NFL. (WSJ) The department is also preparing a report “that casts the Biden Justice Department as anti-Christian.” (NBC News) The administration “proposed weakening rules for the disposal of ash produced by burning coal that can contain hazardous heavy metals and contaminate groundwater.” (AP) Three people have filed workplace-discrimination complaints against embattled US Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Two are from women who say Chavez-DeRemer’s husband, Shawn DeRemer, “subjected them to unwanted sexual touching late last year.” (MS Now) US officials played down reports that they threatened the Pope with references to the Avignon papacy. (FT) Hunter Biden challenged Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump to a cage match. (Reuters)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Debra Katz‘s father was a Latin percussionist, and the well-known DC attorney keeps his bongos on a bookshelf in her living room. “There’s something very sweet about touching the skins,” she says.
• Why does Grindr need a DC policy operation? Joe Hack explains his job as the app’s man on Capitol Hill.
• Project Glow Fest, Lily Allen, Bruce Springsteen: Here are 11 concerts and festivals to look forward to this spring.
Local news links:
Casi-NO: Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger vetoed a bill aimed at paving the way for a casino in Fairfax County. (FFX Now) State Senator Scott Surovell got the bill to Spanberger’s desk, and he says he’s going to keep trying. (Axios D.C.) Many of Fairfax’s public officials oppose a casino. (WTOP)
• Spanberger also signed a bill that would raise Virginia’s minimum wage to $15—by 2028. (WUSA9)
• Two Metro employees died after a shooting early Thursday that police described as a murder-suicide. (NBC4 Washington)
• Police in Montgomery County say two men stabbed one person in the face and slashed another person’s tires after complaints about them blocking the entrance to an apartment building. (WUSA9)
• An 18-year-old Fairfax High School student was convicted of groping female students in the school’s hallways. (DC News Now)
• A Maryland woman says a crematorium gave her ashes that weren’t of human origin rather than the remains of her eight-year-old son, who died of cancer in 2024. (ABC 7)
• Free parking on Sundays in Alexandria may soon be a thing of the past. (ALXnow)
• A man admitted to doing a pull-up that broke a water pipe at George Mason’s Arlington campus. I recommend you watch the video. (WTOP)
Weekend event picks:
Friday: The “America’s State Flowers” exhibition opens at the US Botanic Garden—with a “Blossom Soirée” tonight.
Saturday: The National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade blooms on Constitution Avenue.
Sunday: Da Baby plays the Fillmore Silver Spring.
See lots more picks for the weekend from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
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.
