Good morning. Mostly sunny and humid today with a high around 88. Showers and storms are possible this afternoon. Rain chances continue into the evening, with a low near 70. The Nationals begin a three-game visit to the Colorado Rockies tonight. The Mystics visit the Golden State Valkyries.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Eli Derby & Bri3, “Pretty Girl Dangerous.” Derby is an up-and-coming R&B singer originally from Prince George’s County; he plays Songbyrd tonight with Honey Bxby and Sidney Gilliam Jr.
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 paused its renewed attacks on Iran over the weekend. President Trump ordered the respite after a meeting with advisers who informed him of the US’s “dwindling stockpiles of interceptors to shoot down Iranian missiles.” (NYT) Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine “believes that the low inventories wouldn’t preclude a resumption of major combat operations against Iran, but would add to the risk.” (WSJ) CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper told the President the US bombing campaign had “reached the limit of its effectiveness.” (Axios) Iran said it would pause attacks as long as the US refrained. (Reuters) Regional officials mediating attempts to end the war said they’d seen progress in nudging the two sides back to the table. (AP) Trump’s airplane switch in Turkey was prompted by a threat from Iran. (NYT) Oil prices retreated due to the pause in fighting. (NBC News) The national average price of a gallon of gas is $4.11. (AAA)
At home: The Pentagon added 140 injuries and restored the names of US four service members killed in the war to its online tally. More than 600 US troops have been wounded since Trump began the war on February 28. (CNN) The stalemate in the Gulf has left Trump “deeply frustrated, his aides say, and … more erratic, even by Trumpian standards.” (NYT) To wit: He spent much of Sunday posting AI-generated memes that depicted him winning the war. (Independent) From Manila to New York to Istanbul, here are stories about how the war affects everyday people. (AP)
The free press: The White House Correspondents’ Association for some reason mounted a redo of its dinner Friday. Trump attended and delivered a rambling speech to an audience that “reacted at first with friendly laughs, but slowly quieted to scattered titters as the insults piled up.” (AP) WHCA members gathered to party with a man whose Justice Department reluctantly squashed subpoenas of New York Times journalists the day before and who ordered signs warning of “inaccurate information” at the Smithsonian. (NBC News)
Administration perambulation: Drug traffickers have adapted to the administration’s regime of deadly strikes on small boats. The flow of cocaine to the US hasn’t been affected by the legally dubious strikes. (Washington Post) The administration admitted in court documents that cut grants to states “‘based solely’ on political criteria.” (NYT) ICE plans operations against Haitian people in the US after Trump ended their Temporary Protected Status. (CBS News) Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House this week. (Politico) So will Volodymyr Zelensky. (Axios) Trump will deliver remarks at a memorial service for Lindsey Graham Tuesday at Washington National Cathedral. (Roll Call) Katy Perry said she was “deeply appalled and angry” that the White House used her song “Firework” in a video of bombs going off in Iran. (Washington Post)
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week, by Ann Limpert:
We are a city of a thousand Caesar salads, and only a few worthy ones. The Oak Room, the swank, clubby new Georgetown restaurant, understands that the best Caesar is a maximalist one (Is there any bowl sadder than a pile of dry romaine with a few shreds of Parmesan and a stray crouton?). Its salad verges on too-muchness in the best way. And beyond the abundant cheese, pepper, and croutons, the key is lettuce craggy enough to pick up all the deliciously creamy, anchovy-laced dressing.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Our food critics’ favorite bites from last week’s Best of Washington party.
• Patrons were distraught when the Crunch gym in Friendship Heights closed. But longtime residents have mourned the closure of the Cinema theater in the same space for decades. We visited the space with a member of the family that co-owned the K-B chain that used to operate it.
• Collars & Co. is opening two new brick-and-mortar stores in Bethesda and Reston.
• New weekend brunch spots.
Local news links:
• The administration doesn’t want to allow the DC Preservation League to test purportedly dirty dirt from the White House that it dumped at the East Potomac Golf Links. (WSJ)
• The US government will spend almost $300 million to house National Guard troops in DC until the end of Trump’s term. Each Guard member you see costs the government $607 per day, on average. (Military Times) Nineteen people were hospitalized after a DC National Guard-sponsored event in Laurel yesterday. Details are scant. (WUSA9)
• The Democratic National Committee put up its Southeast DC HQ as collateral for a loan last year. (NOTUS)
• A fountain at the German-American Friendship Garden on the Mall got damaged when a contractor drove over it. (WTOP)
• A draft inspector general report found that the DC police’s “crime reporting controls broke down significantly.” (NBC4 Washington)
• Court documents say Heritage Foundation employee Matthew Christopher Wingate was detained by Capitol Police after he tried to bring a pistol magazine and pills and tablets that tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl into the Russell Senate Office Building earlier this month. (NOTUS)
• Police in DC say two teens used a broom handle to try to rob someone near 13th and U streets Thursday night. The victim ran away. (WUSA9)
• Five teenage members of an area travel basketball team and their coach were arrested in Florida after, police say, the kids shoplifted from a 7-Eleven and the coach lied about the whereabouts of some of the teens. (Fox 5)
• A man in White Oak died after crashing his car into a tree Saturday. (MoCoShow)
• Infrastructure is going up downtown for next month’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix. (ABC7)
• Democrats in Virginia could vote on Leap Day for primaries in 2028. (ARLnow)
• SmarTrip is now Smart Trip. (Axios D.C.)
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.
