Good morning. Mostly sunny with a high around 91 today. A low near 73 overnight. The Nationals wrap up a homestand against the Cubs this afternoon. The Mystics visit the Las Vegas Aces again tonight.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Thomas Rhett, “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Woman.” The country star plays Merriweather Post Pavilion tonight with Kashus Culpepper and Emily Ann Roberts.
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: Iran disputed President Trump‘s claims that the US has control of the Strait of Hormuz, and a senior Iranian source reportedly said the two nations are not talking in any real sense. (Reuters) Trump amped up his assertions about the strait being open for transit, but on Tuesday, just 14 ships got through the waterway, where more than 130 ships per day passed before the war. (WSJ) Inflation cooled slightly last month. Rising oil prices could halt that progress. (AP) American sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are wrestling with mental health as their deployment aboard the carrier, which is supporting the war, drags on. Some have attempted to jump overboard. (Military Times) The word “quagmire” has begun to seep into conversation around town. (Politico)
The ruse cruise: Israel provided the intelligence about an Iranian threat that led to Trump secretly switching planes on his way home from Turkey last month. CIA officials were skeptical about it. (Washington Post) Here’s a tick-tock of the event, which involved Trump traveling in a catering container marked “DO & CO.” (WSJ) Dan Scavino, Walt Nauta, and Natalie Harp joined Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the smaller plane, while other officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, traveled on the decoy, where few of the passengers knew they may have been in danger. (NYT) Trump’s secret flight “represents a Russian nesting doll of scandal,” writes Presidential succession expert Garrett Graff. (Doomsday Scenario)
ICE update: ICE officer Adam Saracco pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery charge. He pushed a Chicago man who filmed him at a gas station to the ground late last year. (Chicago Sun-Times) A third person has died at a federal immigration detention center in Newark. (NYT) The administration awarded a $158 million no-bid contract to represent unaccompanied immigrant children to a concern founded by the human-trafficking activist Tim Ballard, who was celebrated in conservative circles before he “faced accusations of sexual exploitation,” which he denies, and left the group. (NPR)
Administration perambulation: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will step down at the end of the month, Trump announced. (Politico) The Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Intercept filed suit to block a new program by Trump Media, which sells early access to Trump’s posts on his social media network Truth Social. (NYT) Officials in Greenland have frustrated a plan by a Trump-linked oil company, Greenland Energy, to drill there. (Guardian) The feds charged a former Southern Poverty Law Center employee with making payments to white supremacist groups. The SPLC says the government is “mischaracterizing a long-standing informant program designed to gather intelligence on hate groups.” (CNN) Acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas says American consumers can go ahead and eat lettuce again. (Hill)
Hidden Eats, by Ike Allen:
I must have driven the stretch of New Hampshire Avenue that slopes up from Sligo Creek dozens of times without noticing the Caribbean Market. Turns out, it’s a great place for seasonings and fresh ingredients from Jamaica, Guyana, and Trinidad. It also has a hot food bar with the somewhat puzzling policy of selling stews and other dishes by the pound only—no lunch plates or rice-and-peas here, to the consternation of at least one other customer in line with me. I brought a pound of superb curry chicken home, but was glad that at least the flaky, scotch-bonnet-laced beef patties were available to enjoy right in the parking lot.
Take Hidden Eats with you! Our fantastically popular map will show you which Hidden Eats—the out-of-the-way mom-and-pop eateries Ike highlights in this newsletter and in our print magazine—are nearby.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• The new Vietnamese restaurant Tam Tam Brunch and Dinner offers an upscale dining experience at Eden Center.
• A tour of DC’s True Reformer building on U Street, where history swirls around visitors.
• Last month’s most expensive residential real estate transactions—and the bold-faced names that made them.
• This local group will help you figure out how to go electric.
• Ellory Ridenour is representing DC at the Patriot Games. She talks about her experience in the contest.
Local news links:
Your moment of KenCen: The Kennedy Center’s board will meet today to vote on whether to close the center for two years for renovations. (AP) The National Symphony Orchestra’s financial problems have multiplied since Trump took over the arts complex. It still doesn’t have a budget for the upcoming season. (Washington Post) A peek at some of the proposed renovations. (Axios D.C.) What about the mice? (NYT)
• US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro, on the outs with Trump since she dismissed a case against a canoeist he believes vandalized the Reflecting Pool, has convened a special grand jury, a rare move “typically used to pursue investigations of government officials or probe broad conspiracy cases and organized criminal activity.” (Washington Post)
• Hair-touching Metro creep Bryan Betancur was found guilty of simple assault by a judge yesterday. Betancur filmed himself touching a woman’s hair on a Red Line train and posted about it on social media, writing, “Blondes are a good adventure and yeah she gave me permission Lol.” The Trump-pardoned January 6 rioter, who faces other charges in Arlington and the District, will be sentenced today. (WTOP)
• The White House “plans to spend at least $900 million for construction projects on the White House grounds.” (Washington Post)
• Virginia won’t change its vaccine regimen despite Trump’s proposed new schedule of jabs. (ALXnow)
• DC police Lieutenant Matthew Mahl has “pleaded guilty after being caught in a child sex abuse sting operation.” (WTOP)
• The Fauquier County Sheriff’s Department said it arrested a 17-year-old in connection with the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Samuel Ojeda at a quinceañera this past weekend. (WUSA9)
• Wisconsin Avenue, Northwest, was shut down yesterday while authorities investigated a suspicious item that turned out to be an “electronic sex portable pump device.” (NBC4 Washington)
• A “four-pound ball of crystal meth from Utah” won’t make it to Paris—customs officials stopped the unauthorized export at Dulles. (WUSA9)
• Tom Sietsema reviews DC’s exclusive Ned’s Club, where he noted “Someone’s not tasting the food” and observed “plenty of ineptitude” among the servers. (NOTUS)
Thursday’s event picks:
• Chang-rae Lee discusses his new book, “A Tender Age,” with Kat Chow at Politics and Prose.
• The Library of Congress shows “Clueless” outdoors.
• See the 1995 animation classic “Ghost in the Shell” at the Embassy of Japan.
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.
