Good morning. Sunny and very hot with a high around 102 that could feel more like 106. A heat advisory will go into effect at 11 AM. The temperature will drop to near 80 overnight. The Washington Spirit visit Gotham FC this evening.
🍔 Get your tickets now to Best of Washington—Washingtonian’s premier food and drink celebration—which features top local restaurants, unlimited tastings, and an open bar. 🌎 How well do you know the District? Play our new geography game and test your local knowledge. 📫 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:
Stephen Marley, “Hills of St. Ann.” Marley plays Jiffy Lube Live tonight with Buju Banton.
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:
The war: The US launched strikes early Wednesday against dozens of targets in Iran, including an army barracks. (AP) Iran threatened to block trade routes besides the Strait of Hormuz that benefit the US, possibly meaning it could “use its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea.” (Reuters) President Trump retreated from his one-day-old plan to charge tolls in the Strait of Hormuz and reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports. (WSJ) Iran was able to trade lots of oil after the blockade ended last month and “might be in a better position now to ride out the effects of a new blockade.” (NYT) Oil prices rose. (CNBC) The average price of a gallon of gas in the US inched up. (AAA) Meanwhile: Democrats in the US Senate blocked the annual National Defense Authorization Act, arguing that it ignores the war. (NYT)
The analyses: “The abrupt flip-flop on tolls underscored how much Mr. Trump is ad libbing these days.” (NYT) The “overall feeling in the Middle East and beyond is that the fighting will simply continue for now.” (Politico) The US may eventually be able to weaken the Iranian regime, but former officials “warn there is a long road ahead.” (WSJ)
The ICE storm returns: A man running from ICE agents near St. Augustine, Florida, was struck and killed by a truck yesterday. His death is the third in a week that stemmed from ICE operations around the country. (Miami Herald) The administration ordered the Department of Homeland Security to halt most vehicle stops. The agency is under pressure from the White House to produce more arrests and deportations. (NYT) The still-unidentified ICE officer who fatally shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine this week was a recent recruit to the agency. ICE vets say the agency’s many new recruits “receive less training in vehicle stops than most police departments do.” (Atlantic)
Hearing and now: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche “will face what is expected to be a contentious confirmation hearing” today following a blistering ruling from a federal judge about the deal he helped strike to hand Trump a $1.8 billion slush fund to settle the President’s suit against the IRS. (Washington Post) Blanche can’t lose any support from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee. (NPR) Expect to hear a lot about Jeffrey Epstein. (NYT)
Administration perambulation: Jay Clayton is “likely to get a friendly reception from lawmakers Wednesday at his confirmation hearing” to become the next director of national intelligence. (NBC News) A South Korean company paid $2 million to Trump’s holding company. It’s the lead investor in a firm that’s challenging a US trade policy. (NYT) The Wisconsin Elections Commission found that Elon Musk “likely broke Wisconsin law when he handed out $1 million checks to voters in the 2025 state Supreme Court election.” (CNN) A Trump-backed bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent passed the House. (Washington Post) People got mad at me when I pointed this out in 2022, but we tried permanent DST in the 1970s—and it was pretty unpopular. (Washingtonian)
Local news links:
• It’s going to be quite hot over the next few days. (Capital Weather)
• Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi‘s unexpectedly extended visit to DC (Trump invited him to lunch) prompted security measures that grounded flights at National Airport for hours yesterday. (CBS News)
• The Reverend Al Sharpton‘s Action Network plans a large march on DC on August 28, the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. (WUSA9)
• The helicopter that landed in Northwest DC Monday night was an Air Force chopper that experienced “vibrating mechanical sounds” and set down out of caution. It’ll move soon, a spokesperson for Joint Base Andrews said. (NBC4 Washington)
• A single-engine plane that had recently left Fredericksburg’s Shannon Airport crashed into the parking lot of a John Deere dealership in Spotsylvania County yesterday. The pilot was killed. (DC News Now)
• The DC Council is considering a measure by Chairman Phil Mendelson that would direct $300 million toward a roof and other improvements at Audi Field. (WUSA9) The Council also approved a measure aimed at clamping down on resale tickets for events. (City Cast DC)
• Wild story in Fairfax: Police say a soccer coach in Fairfax scammed parents out of tens of thousands of dollars with promises of a trip to a soccer camp in Italy. (WTOP)
• Police in Arlington investigated what appeared to be an armed carjacking in Arlington’s Cherrydale neighborhood yesterday. (ARLnow)
• Police in Alexandria arrested a 21-year-old man they say destroyed license-plate-reading cameras with a baseball bat. The suspect was sitting outside his house when arrested, and his troubles now include an open-container charge the cops added. (ALXnow)
Wednesday’s event pick:
• Enjoy one of the shows at the District Fringe Festival, which runs through July 26.
See more picks for this week and 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.
