Good morning. Still hot and soupy today, with a high near 88. Showers and thunderstorms are likely this afternoon. The Nats host the Braves again.
🌎 How well do you know the District? Play our new geography game and test your local knowledge. 📫 Ike Allen here, filling in for Andrew. You can find my food coverage on Instagram 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:
Joshua Redman, “Make Sure You’re Sure.” The saxophonist’s moody take on a 1991 ballad by Stevie Wonder. The DC Jazz Fest kicks off tonight; Redman’s quartet plays on Sunday.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
The war: The US carried out a new wave of strikes on Iran, including one that killed at least four and injured dozens at a wedding. (NYT) Iran launched missiles at Jordan in response. (AP) The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier arrived at a port in Thailand after nine grueling months at sea. (NOTUS) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s purges have hit about 10 percent of top military officers. (NYT)
Stop Making Memes: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says he can still see a path to a trade deal with the US, if the Trump administration will just “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious.” (Politico) After promising not to re-label Lake Ontario as “Lake America” as Google and Apple have done, MapQuest shot up to the fourth-most-downloaded free app. (Business Insider) A record 38 percent of Republicans think of Canada as “unfriendly” or “an enemy.” (YouGov)
Midterm omens: The military might not show up at polling sites as Steve Bannon suggested, but Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said ICE agents could deploy to some voting locations in response to “specific” threats. (Politico) Protesters gathered in Texas to decry a plan to cut the number of polling places in Tarrant County, a swing county and one of the state’s largest, by nearly a third. (MS Now)
Who let the Blue Dogs out?: House Democrats were left “astonished” when two centrists, Reps. Jared Golden and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, unexpectedly voted with Republicans to pass procedural legislation. Both are members of the Blue Dog Coalition. The rule included language condemning and denouncing “socialism in all its forms.” (Axios) House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries says he was blindsided and that the defections deserve a “serious response.” (Politico)
Administration perambulation: After losing temporary protected status along with 350,000 of his fellow Haitian immigrants, Pierre Damas Bel, a college student and JROTC member, took his own life on a busy interstate. (Washington Post) Tyler James Robinson, the 23-year-old accused of killing Charlie Kirk, will potentially face the death penalty. (Washington Post) The House censured North Carolina Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards over unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female former staffers. (AP) The Justice Department says the FBI has seized over $560,000 in cryptocurrency donations intended for Hamas. (AP) The State Department wants to require parents applying for passports for their children to provide proof of their own citizenship or immigration status. (Reuters) After being arrested last week by ICE and deported to the United Kingdom, far-right activist Milo Yiannopoulos said he was “ashamed” of his past support for Trump. (The Guardian) You’ll be able to pay $88,600 for a photo with Trump at the RNC’s midterm convention in Dallas this month. (WSJ)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Isn’t it funny that the McLean School is in Potomac and the Potomac School is in McLean? It also causes real issues.
• Every drink is $5 all the time at this new “Spirit Airlines of Bars” on U Street.
Local news links:
• The Kennedy Center will remove the outdoor sculpture “Blue” today. Trump’s team had targeted it early on. (NYT)
• Most big expensive cities are losing kids. DC and Seattle are bucking that national trend. (WSJ)
• National Guard numbers in DC fell sharply this week as the last of the America 250 celebrations wrapped up. (WUSA9)
• The guy who brought a guillotine to the Capitol, a tattoo artist from California, says he didn’t expect to get arrested. (Washington Post)
• The northbound George Washington Parkway will remain closed through September 17 for tree work. Then the southbound lanes will close for much of late September and October. (National Park Service)
• The Reston-based Thompson Restaurants has taken over ownership of the 50-year-old L’Auberge Chez Francois. (FFX Now)
• DC’s strict gun laws are facing more and more legal challenges. (NOTUS)
Wednesday’s event picks:
• DC Jazz Fest kicks off tonight with a concert at the Hamilton Live and a jam at Mr. Henry’s Restaurant.
• Try your hand at American Mahjong at Aslin Beer Co. in Alexandria.
• Learn about DC’s Black poets at a book talk by author Brian Gilmore at MLK Library.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Ike Allen covers politics, food, culture, and transportation in DC and writes the monthly Hidden Eats column for the magazine. He grew up in DC.
