Good morning. Rainy today with a high around 77. Thunderstorms likely this evening, then rain with a low near 52. The Nationals host Minnesota again this evening, and DC Power FC plays Sporting Jax at Audi Field. 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:
Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra, “Barcelona Nights.” The German-born flamenco artist Liebert 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.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Sad strait of affairs: “Project Freedom,” we hardly knew ye: President Trump‘s latest redefinition of the war he started with Iran more than two months ago ended Tuesday, a day after the effort to force open shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz began. (CNBC) The White House quietly informed Iran about the planned operation Sunday before Trump announced it, an apparent attempt to curb Iranian attacks on ships transiting the waterway. It didn’t work. (Axios) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested yesterday that China could pressure Iran to open the strait. (AP) Rubio is headed to Rome to try to smooth things over with Pope Leo XIV, but Trump appears to not have had enough of that particular feud: In an interview yesterday, he said the pope was “endangering a lot of Catholics” and “thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” (Washington Post) Rubio yesterday joined Trump in claiming that the war had ended, “the latest rhetorical leap in an effort to put a war that has created the greatest political crisis of Mr. Trump’s presidency in the rearview mirror”—despite the fact that Trump’s stated objectives for the war remain out of reach. (NYT) Governments in the Gulf region worry that Iran is betting that “further escalation pays off because Trump is so intent on extricating himself from the war that he will ignore renewed Iranian attacks on America’s regional allies.” (WSJ)
Meanwhile, at home: The average price of a gallon of gas in the US rose 31 cents in just the last week. It’s a result of what one expert called a “fundamental shortfall” in oil supply due to Trump’s war. (AP) Indeed, “Global oil reserves plunged at a record pace in April.” (FT) Today’s average national gas price is $4.536. (AAA)
Suits and more: The administration sued the New York Times yesterday, claiming it discriminated against a white man who didn’t get a promotion. The paper promised to defend itself “vigorously.” (NYT) The feds also sued Denver over a ban on so-called assault weapons that dates back to 1989. (AP) The Department of Education opened an investigation into the Los Angeles Unified School District, saying it reassigns teachers accused of inappropriate relationships with students. The district argues that “reassignment” is a term of art—in fact, it says, teachers accused of such acts are sent home while the district investigates. (LAT) Weird coincidence: Phillip “Bert” Callais, one of the plaintiffs in the case that enabled the Supreme Court to take an ax to the Voting Rights Act, was at the January 6, 2021, pro-Trump protest in DC. (Democracy Docket) Meanwhile: DOJ “appears to be preparing to drop a nearly two-year criminal investigation of Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles, agreeing to return or destroy evidence seized from the diehard MAGA Republican before the FBI ever got a chance to review it.” (WTVF) It’s also offering signing bonuses of $25,000 as it struggles to fill vacancies. (Bloomberg Law)
Health news: Officials at FDA “have blocked publication of several studies supporting the safety of widely used vaccines against Covid-19 and shingles in recent months.” (NYT) The FDA did approve flavored vapes sold by an LA company, a sharp swing from its earlier stance. (Washington Post) Trump put the screws to FDA commish Marty Makary over the weekend. One of his campaign promises was to “save vaping.” (WSJ)
Administration perambulation: Republicans in the Senate proposed spending $1 billion for “security enhancements” for Trump’s planned ballroom. The White House says the structure, to be named for Trump, will be paid for via private donations. (NYT) Most of Trump’s preferred candidates prevailed in his “revenge campaign” against Indiana Republicans who didn’t back his push to redistrict the state in Republicans’ favor. (Politico) That’s a strong signal to legislators in Southern states considering the same thing. (Punchbowl News) Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will appear before the House Oversight Committee today in its investigation of how the government handled files regarding the deceased, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Lutnick had numerous contacts with Epstein and had lunch with him on his private island. (NBC News) Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” threatened to “flood the zone” with immigration enforcement in New York if the state limits local cooperation with federal authorities and bans officers from wearing masks. (Politico) The Department of Homeland Security is “abandoning the accelerated training program it used to quickly deploy” ICE agents. (Politico) The feds charged FAA employee Dean DelleChiaie of New Hampshire with threatening to kill Trump. Authorities say that he used his work computer to search the phrase “I am going to kill Donald John Trump” and emailed the White House to say, “I, Dean DelleChiaie, am going neutralize/kill you – Donald John Trump.” (NYT)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Our annual list of the region’s 500 most influential people is here.
• Do you know a local power player who belongs on next year’s list? Here’s how to nominate them.
• Some restaurants in Mount Pleasant are banding together to raise money to build three shared structures that will meet the city’s new requirements for streateries.
• Kathmandu Tapas & Cocktails, Dipesh Acharya‘s new Nepali cocktail bar and small-plates spot, has opened near 14th and U.
• It’s time for the Hot List! Here are the ten restaurants our food team is particularly excited about this month.
Local news links:
• The DC Council voted to extend the cops’ power to declare youth curfew zones through 2028, adding some “guardrails.” The city promised more youth programming. (Washington Post)
• That guy is still up on that bridge. (WUSA9)
• Someone stole more than $7,000 worth of “Breadcoins”—$3 tokens that people can use to buy food at participating merchants. (NBC4 Washington)
• Arlington activist Barbara Wien won’t face charges for flyers that listed Trump aide Stephen Miller‘s address. (Washington Post)
• Three people were shot and two people were stabbed last night near a Cinco de Mayo celebration in Laurel. It’s not clear if the incidents were related. (NBC4 Washington)
• The feds named Michael Marx of Texas as the suspect in the shooting incident that took place near the White House Monday. (NYT)
• Authorities added an assault charge to the ones accused WHCD shooter Cole Tomas Allen is already facing. (NBC4 Washington)
• Officials ID’d William Caulfield Lankford of Lynchburg, Virginia, as the kayaker who died after an apparent mishap in the Potomac over the weekend. (DC News Now)
• Virginia State Police are looking for a motorcyclist they say drove down a sidewalk in an apparently successful attempt to evade them. (WUSA9)
• Twenty-six deer were removed from Arlington by way of professional sharpshooters during the country’s first ever cull. (ARLnow)
• DC resident Max Davis plans to run around the Washington Monument 300 times Sunday to honor his brother. (WUSA9)
• ESPN’s Mina Kimes will host the Scripps Spelling Bee, to be held at Constitution Hall later this month. (AP)
• Plans to build a “Sphere” at National Harbor are rolling right along. It could loom over the river by 2030. (WBJ)
Wednesday’s event picks:
• The Psalmayene 24–directed revival of “Purlie Victorious” opens at Studio Theatre.
• “The Motion” opens at Arena Stage.
• Watch “Pirates of the Caribbean” at Alethia Tanner Park.
See more picks 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.
