Good morning. Another brutal two days before things cool off this weekend. Highs near 95 today, with a heat index that could reach 105. Maybe a thunderstorm in the late afternoon.
🌎 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:
Squeeze, “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell).” The English new wave band plays alongside fellow ‘80s acts Adam Ant and Haircut 100 at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center tonight.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
The war: Iran reported 18 people killed in the latest round of US strikes, and the UN said it was “deeply alarmed by reports of civilian casualties.” (Reuters) That included the wedding struck by an American bomb in the town of Kuhestak, which killed five, including a six-year-old boy, and injured 67. (NYT) Trump suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz after himself. (CNBC)
Hegseth headache: Army sources say they think Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s culture war fixations and firings of officials are holding back the modernization of the military. (CNN) House Republicans are starting to get sick of his approach. (MS Now) Hegseth is quietly extending troop deployments into next year. (WSJ) Outgoing North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis called for Hegseth’s ouster. (Politico)
The White Fortress: Lafayette Square could be permanently fenced off, and more fences are coming to Pennsylvania Avenue. The Secret Service is also making plans for a new visitor screening center. The “People’s House” is becoming more barricaded than it has been during any other administration. (Washington Post)
Pro-bot: The Trump administration sided with OpenAI in a lawsuit brought by the New York Times. DOJ attorneys wrote that it would be in the national interest for a judge to find that the company behind ChatGPT did not violate copyright law by harvesting Times articles to train its chatbot. (AP) It was a stunning departure: previous administrations’ Justice Departments have generally favored copyright holders. (NOTUS)
Administration perambulation: US Postal Service officials worried that the new mail-in voting rules pushed by the Trump administration could cause mass disenfranchisement. They’re moving forward anyway. (ProPublica) ICE is creating a national voter database. (Wired) Republicans fear Trump will keep all his super PAC money for himself and not spend it on them in the midterms. (Washington Post) A lot of them are skipping his big midterm convention in Dallas. (Politico) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blamed Ukraine for high gas prices. (Bloomberg) A Coast Guard plane carrying DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin made an emergency landing at Reagan National Airport after one of its engines failed. (Washington Post) The US Mint launched a dollar coin featuring Trump’s face. (The Hill) The DOJ quashed a federal prosecutor’s civil rights charges against an ICE agent who shot a Venezuelan immigrant in the leg in Minneapolis in January and then lied about it. (ProPublica) ICE hasn’t paid for medical care for its detainees since last October. (SF Chronicle) A staffer for a New York GOP representative was struck by lightning on Staten Island. (The Hill)
Hidden Eats
Abstracted images of the Istanbul skyline adorn the walls and menus of Anatolian Bistro, a white-tablecloth place in a Herndon mini-mall. The menu consists of well-rendered Turkish classics, like Iskender kebap, a pile of thinly shaved grilled lamb dunked in tomato sauce and topped with garlicky yogurt, grilled tomato, and green bell pepper. Don’t skip the beyti kebap either: dainty portions of ground lamb rolled in lavash bread and grilled, then arranged on a base of yogurt and topped with slivers of pistachio. (13029 Worldgate Dr., Herndon)
Take Hidden Eats with you! This helpful map will show you which Hidden Eats—the out-of-the-way mom-and-pop eateries I highlight in this newsletter and in our print magazine—are nearby.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• The immersive digital art space Artechouse is reopening in Southwest after a year.
• Meet DC’s most stylish people of 2026.
• The parking garage where Woodward and Bernstein met Deep Throat is set to be razed. Here’s a look back at Washingtonian’s coverage of it over the years.
Local news links:
• DC is getting new and improved dog parks. (Axios)
• The Maryland Renaissance Festival has banned furries after some patrons complained the costumes made them feel uncomfortable. (City Cast DC)
• DC and Arlington had the worst job losses in the country last year. (City Cast DC)
• America 250 events drove a tourism rebound in DC this year. (NBC4)
• Mayor Muriel Bowser says she opposes a $300 million plan to put a roof on Audi Field. (Washington Business Journal)
Thursday’s event picks:
• Get a flash tattoo at the $20 Phillips after 5 event at the Phillips Collection.
• Hear Sarah Longwell, founder of The Bulwark, unpack her book How to Eat an Elephant at Sixth & I.
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.
