Good morning. Sunny today with cooler temperatures and lower humidity than we’ve seen in a bit. A high around 86. A chance of showers and storms overnight, with a low around 71. The Nationals begin a three game visit to the Colorado Rockies tonight, and the Mystics visit the Golden State Valkyries.
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I canāt stop listening to:
Frances Forever, āMonica Gives Me Lockjaw.ā Some nice indie pop from this Boston-area artist. Frances Forever plays DC9 tonight with Purser.
Take Washingtonian Today with you! I keep ridiculously long playlists on Apple Music and on Spotify of this yearās music recommendations. Here are 2025ās songs (Apple, Spotify), too.
Hereās some administration news you might have blocked out:
The war: A US service member died disarming an Iranian drone in Iraq Saturday, bringing to four the number of Americans killed or presumed dead this weekend in the US’s spiraling return to war with Iran. Seventeen Americans have lost their lives in this war so far. (WSJ) The US struck targets in northwestern Iran overnight, and Iran attacked Kuwait and Bahrain. (AP) The US is moving toward a “wider war,” one US official said, while another cautioned that the US does “not have enough” munitions to sustain a larger operation after months of war. (Washington Post) For both countries, the “costs of accelerating the conflict are high.” (NYT)
Oil: The price of oil shot up over $90 a barrel Sunday due to the fighting and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the US’s blockade of Iranian ports. (Axios) The average price of a gallon of gas in the US has passed $4 again. (AP) Iran used the one-month pause in fighting to rush out $5-6 billion worth of oil, giving its “government a valuable buffer” against economic effects brought on by the renewed fighting. (WSJ)
Beyond Be-leaf: The FDA said yesterday that it didn’t identify cyclospora in tests of Taylor Farms lettuce after all and blamed false positives. Taylor Farms said the agency apologized. (WSJ) The company recalled lettuce in 27 states over the weekend, including Maryland and Virginia, and said it wouldn’t distribute lettuce grown in central Mexico. (CNBC) Monroe County, Michigan, has an unusually high concentration of cases; residents there discuss the painful symptoms of the condition, whose source has been linked to Taco Bell restaurants as well. (NYT)
House of Spain: President Trump and FIFA honcho Gianni Infantino were booed at New York New Jersey Stadium yesterday after Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup. (Reuters) Trump, upset about Spain’s military spending and lack of support for his war with Iran, recently called the Spanish “bad people.” (Politico) He nonetheless presented the World Cup trophy to the victors. (NYT) Then things got weird. Trump “attempted to stand with the team at the side of the podium as they celebrated before Infantino quietly ushered him away.” (Guardian)
Administration perambulation: FBI personnel received guidance over the weekend that would prohibit them from investigating violent incidents that involved immigration officials, a move that could “sharply limit law enforcement scrutiny” of incidents like ICE’s fatal shootings this month. (NYT) The Department of Homeland Security will pay Thomson Reuters $125 million so ICE can investigate voter fraud and immigration fraud. (404 Media) Trump said the luxury jet Qatar gave him will receive upgrades. He had to fly home from Turkey earlier this month on a different aircraft after the Secret Service raised concerns about the new plane. (Reuters) Trump’s call to rescind ABC and NBC’s licenses after the networks’ flagship broadcast operations declined to carry his speech live last week are raising concern that his activist FCC might pursue such a course. (Politico) Trump threatened Canada with higher tariffs over the wildfire smoke that hung thickly around the DC area Friday. (NBC News) The influencers Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate were arrested by US Marshals in Miami on Saturday. The UK is investigating the brothers, who came to the US from Romania after Trump returned to office, on charges of rape and sex-trafficking. (AP) Congratulations to Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, who welcomed their fourth child, Alec Neel Vance, on Sunday. (AP) Trump installed a statue of Thomas Jefferson on the White House grounds. It’s the fifth sculpture he’s added during his wide-ranging renovations. (Washington Post)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
ā¢ A push to raise DC’s minimum wage to $25 per hour won’t appear on this fall’s ballot, in part because of a lawsuit by a local bar owner. But organizers of the initiative say they’re working to have it on the ballot for next year’s special election.
Local news links:
ā¢ The Vances’ reported lease of a second home in swanky Middleburg, Virginia, has local tongues a-waggin’. (Washington Post)
ā¢ Trump’s push to quickly build a Triumphant Arch near Arlington Cemetery could speed up the rules for building monuments in DCāa process that by design typically takes many years. (Atlantic)
ā¢ Sally Quinn declares a vibe shift among Official Washingtoniansāthe MAGA invaders are losing ground, she says, and the establishment is eyeing a return to primacy at Cafe Milano. (NYT)
ā¢ The Jack Blanchard era at Politico Playbook is drawing to a close. Adam Wren, Dasha Burns, and Will Steakin will helm the popular newsletter’s next incarnation, which will officially begin on August 31. (Politico) In other local newsletter news, NOTUS has launched a local newsletter. (NOTUS)
ā¢ People gathered in Southeast DC Saturday to protest a reported ICE facility on the St. Elizabeths campus. (WTOP)
ā¢ Deaths from traffic accidents have “more than doubled” in the first half of this year. What happened to Vision Zero? (Washington Post)
ā¢ Scroll down for a wild photo: A lightning strike caused the roof of a Gaithersburg house to burst into flames during Saturday’s storms. (NBC4 Washington)
ā¢ A truck collided with ten vehicles in Silver Spring on Saturday, causing many hospitalizations. A Cybertruck got cut in half amid the mayhem. (WTOP)
ā¢ Police in DC arrested a person they say was under the influence when they hit a lamppost on the Kutz Memorial Bridge near the Tidal Basin early Sunday, and they also hauled in two people who stopped to help. The cops say the Good Samaritans had illegal drugs on them. (Fox 5)
ā¢ Brendan Banfield has appealed his life sentence in the double murder of his wife and a stranger in Reston. (DC News Now)
ā¢ Kevin Bacon was at George Mason University this weekend, helping his nonprofit pack meals for distribution in Fairfax. (Not that anyone’s ever asked me, but I have an extremely loose connection to Kevin Bacon via a cousin whose band’s recording session he helped fund after a party they both attended in Northwest Connecticut.) (NBC4 Washington)
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.
