Good morning. We’ll start the day frosty and warm to a high around 63 under sunny skies. A low near 50 overnight. Virginians will go to the polls today to vote on a referendum about redistricting. You can read about it here, and find your polling place here. Alexandrians will also vote in a special election for city council. In sports, the Nationals will host Atlanta again. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
This September, we’ll publish our annual list of the area’s “Tech Titans.” We accept nominations! Here’s what you need to know.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Rain Shears, “Copperhead.” Sorry if you need any reverb—this local artist may have exhausted the region’s remaining stockpile! Rain Shears plays Rhizome tonight with Grace A. Keller and Tiberius.
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: The US’s ceasefire with Iran expires tomorrow. Iran has not yet sent any negotiators to Pakistan for peace talks. (WSJ) It also demanded that the US release a ship and its crew that it seized on Sunday. (Reuters) Meanwhile, President Trump on Monday “whipsawed in telephone interviews and social media posts between measured optimism that a deal could soon be reached and warning that ‘lots of bombs’ will ‘start going off’ if there’s no agreement before the ceasefire deadline.” (AP)
Mr. Talkative: “Trump’s running commentary has added to the confusion as he veers between threats, optimism and dishonesty.” The President claimed that Iran agreed to give up its plans to enrich uranium, for example, which hasn’t happened. His nonstop chatter, online and to reporters, from someone supposedly negotiating to end a war has got Iran thinking the US’s “diplomacy was all just cover for a surprise attack.” (Axios) On matters large and small, the President’s “oscillating claims have led to confusion and required cleanup by his staff.” Trump also contradicted Energy Secretary Chris Wright‘s statement that gas prices, which have shot up since the war, would remain high until next year. He said he thought prices would drop “as soon as this ends.” (Washington Post) He said Monday that Vice President JD Vance was on his way to Islamabad for negotiations. Vance is in fact expected to leave today. It’s all “part of a pattern that has accelerated over the past week – of this president being incorrect about even the most basic of matters related to the Iran war.” (CNN) Meanwhile: “The war appears to be accelerating what some see as a U.S. break-up with much of the rest of the planet.” (Politico)
Labor trouble: Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned yesterday as allegations of misconduct continued to swirl around her tenure. (NOTUS) A whistleblower complaint “alleged she drank in the office during work hours, created a hostile work environment with her top aides and was pursuing an extramarital affair with her security guard.” (New York Post) “The complaint led to the suspension of several top aides and surfaced sexual misconduct allegations against Chavez-DeRemer’s husband, Shawn DeRemer.” (Washington Post)
Over on the Hill: The Department of Homeland Security remains unfunded, and attempts to renew Section 702 of FISA have turned into a “never-ending crisis” for Republicans in Congress. Now, “there’s only one functional chamber on Capitol Hill right now — the Senate. And it’s barely so.” (Punchbowl News) Some GOP lawmakers are pushing leaders to address affordability while trying to find solutions to these problems that all of the majority party can live with. (NOTUS) Meanwhile, some Democrats are likely to join Republicans in voting to expel US Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Dem from Florida, about whom the House Ethics Committee will meet today. (Axios) US Rep Nancy Mace of South Carolina filed a resolution to expel her fellow Republican Cory Mills of Florida. (NBC News) Mills floated a measure to expel Mace. (NOTUS)
Administration perambulation: Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to lead the Fed, will go before senators today. (Politico) Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum would like to know more about an operation against a drug lab in Chihuahua that cost the lives of four people, two of them US officials, over the weekend. (AP) Businesses can now apply for tariff refunds. Consumers who indirectly paid for Trump’s tariffs are unlikely to see any relief. (NYT) ICE seeks to develop smart glasses that it hopes will allow its agents to ID people on the street. (Ken Klippenstein) Trump will “use a Cold War-era national security law to try and bolster domestic production of motor fuels and electricity.” (Axios) The FBI will look into the disappearances of scientists and government workers after Trump caught wind of online attention to the weird situation. (NBC News)
How to meet DC’s newest celebrity, by Daniella Byck:
There’s a new diva in town, and she’s preparing to meet her adoring public this week. Yes, I’m talking about Linh Mai, the National Zoo’s Asian elephant calf. Little Miss Linh Mai will make her debut tomorrow, April 22, and if you want to see our new VIP (that’s Very Important Pachyderm), it’s as simple as snagging the usual timed-entry pass to the zoo. Ahead of her debut, Robbie Clark, elephant manager and acting curator of the zoo’s Elephant Trails, shared some details about Linh Mai’s personality: “She is rambunctious. She is sassy. She’s playful.” Can’t make it to the zoo for a bit? The Elephant Cam will also be back in action starting Wednesday.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Neighborhood guide: Where to eat, shop, and enjoy yourself in Dupont Circle and Logan Circle.
• Westover Taco is the first sports bar in the DC area that’s dedicated to women’s sports.
• FBI Director Kash Patel sued the Atlantic over a report that his work had been affected by “excessive drinking.”
Local news links:
• A civil trial that could remove Purcellville, Virginia’s vice mayor from office began yesterday. Prosecutors say Ben Nett maneuvered to become the town’s police chief when he learned he would be fired from the department. (NBC4 Washington)
• The DC Council will decide the fate of youth curfews today. (NBC4 Washington)
• The Department of Justice and Maryland both sued the District and DC Water over the pipe break that led to hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage flowing into the Potomac. (Washington Post)
• National Guard troops are still milling around DC at a cost of more than a million dollars a day. (AP)
• Live Nation will pay DC almost $10 million to settle a lawsuit over Ticketmaster fees that the District joined. DC residents who bought tickets through the service will be eligible for some refunds later this year, the office of AG Brian Schwalb said. (WTOP)
• US Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and his wife, Lisa Collins, said their daughter Madison Warner has died. (NBC News)
• A pedestrian was killed in Alexandria yesterday. (Alexandria Brief)
• Police in Fredericksburg say an intoxicated woman got into a fight with a school cop while attempting to register a student. (WUSA9)
• Everyone is bagging on TMZ reporter Jacob Wasserman for his Captain Obvious takes on DC dining, but people should let him “drink his chain coffee in peace,” Michael Schaffer argues in City Cast DC’s fun revamped morning newsletter.
• Ben’s Chili Bowl’s famous U Street location will reopen in May after months of renovations. (Washington Post)
• Leesburg may start cracking down on people who do a lousy job preparing their recycling for pickup. I see all manner of recycling fouls in my neighborhood—a neighbor recently dumped shredded paper in MY bin, which nearly gave me a heart attack, and don’t get me started on people who put out their recyclables in plastic bags—and a part of me I should probably seek therapy to define would welcome a similar enforcement effort. (WTOP)
Tuesday’s event picks:
• See jazz treasures at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
• Manil Suri reads from his new memoir, “A Room in Bombay,” at Politics and Prose.
See more picks for this week 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.
