Good morning. Sunny with a high around 75 today. A low near 55 overnight.
Sports this weekend: The Capitals host the Rangers tonight and the Kraken on Sunday. The Wizards host Detroit Saturday in a preseason matchup. D.C. United visits Inter Miami on Saturday. Loudoun United FC will be in Florida on Saturday, too, where they’ll play Miami FC at Pitbull Stadium—which, yes, is named for the musician. The Commanders host the Giants at Northwest Stadium on Sunday.
I hope you have an excellent weekend. I’ll be back, typing into the void, on Monday morning. 💰 My friends in Washingtonian’s circulation department have put together a great deal for Washingtonian Today readers: A year of our print magazine for just $9. 🌎 How well do you know the District? Play our new geography game and test your local knowledge. 📫 You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, 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
Strange Boutique, “Blindness.” The local dream-pop legends play Black Cat tonight with Cemetery Sex and DJ Sara Vox.
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:
Another ICE shooting
An ICE officer shot a man while attempting to arrest him in Manhattan Thursday. The federal immigration agent fired seven rounds into Oscar Belgal‘s car, which had a five-year-old child inside, on a crowded street. The boy was not hurt. (NYT) Federal agents involved in the shooting appear to have been dressed like construction workers. (Intercept) New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said there was “no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents.” (NY1) He and New York Governor Kathy Hochul both said they had spoken with President Trump. Mamdani said he was unable to persuade the Department of Homeland Security to release Belgal. Hochul said she urged the President to end immigration activities in New York, where DHS has dramatically stepped up operations since July. (Bloomberg) By way of trying to explain this latest shooting, DHS said Belgal is from the Dominican Republic and had a criminal record. (Washington Post) Protesters gathered overnight near the hospital where ICE is holding Belgal. (WABC)
Maybe next year
Former International Court of Justice judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Friday. (AP) Trump’s hopes to win the prize for himself “appear on hold” while he prosecutes the war he started with Iran in February, and some in Norway have called for the prize’s suspension until he leaves office to avoid his wrath. (Washington Post) Flashback 1: Trump mentioned the perceived snub in a message to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in January as a reason for his pursuit of Greenland. (AP/PBS News) Flashback 2: FIFA created a consolation Peace Prize for Trump last year. (AP)
A public execution
The Defense Department will live-stream the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan on December 3, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview. (Washington Post) “Public executions are more commonly experienced in non-democratic countries like North Korea or Iran.” (Politico) Hegseth called the plan a “no-brainer.” (Reuters)
Administration perambulation
Neither Vice President JD Vance nor Secretary of State Marco Rubio answered questions yesterday about a bombshell report that Kimberly Guilfoyle asked a donor for $100,000 to pay her Amex bill before the US Senate confirmed her for her current role as the US ambassador to Greece. (Washington Post) The Justice Department’s Civil Rights division hopes to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson on charges of lying to Congress. Hutchinson testified before Congress about Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by Trump’s fans after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. (NBC News) The US blocked Microsoft and other firms from visa programs used to bring workers to the US, with Vance claiming Microsoft in particular had “abused this system.” (Bloomberg) In a bizarre split-screen moment, Trump honored Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella yesterday. (AP) The administration is considering a program that would deport people by sea. (NYT) Trump invested in Elon Musk‘s company SpaceX “just days before the White House announced a new space-travel policy.” (Washington Post) The White House may appoint Eric Ueland, a top deputy to OMB boss Russ Vought, to head the Government Accountability Office. (Washington Sun) A federal judge in DC “appeared inclined to extend his block” on Trump’s media ban. (Politico) DHS claimed a man it arrested in Pennsylvania worked for a Democratic candidate, apparently because he had flyers for her in her car. The campaign says he didn’t work there. (AP) Both White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and her daughter Katie Wiles have met recently with officials from the Republika Srpska. Revelations that Trump advisers Chris LaCivita and James Blair have done work for the autonomous region during a dicey midterm election have roiled Republicans. (Washington Sun)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Astro Zombie, a tiki bar with a punk sensibility, will open in Dupont Circle around Halloween.
• Baltimore’s Turnstile will play a free benefit show at the Washington Monument on October 24.
• Local porch stylist Devon Szklennik talks about pumpkins and fall.
• Halloween events for kids that aren’t too scary.
Local news links:
• Arlington (curiously described as a “Northern Virginia county” in our local paper’s headline) has sued to block construction on Trump’s Triumphal Arch near Arlington Cemetery. The county says the administration has skirted regulatory requirements and environmental assessments in its haste to build this thing. (Washington Post)
• The Kennedy Center plans to hire Rick Canny—a former manager to Tommy Lee, Dave Navarro, and Scott Stapp—to head artistic programming at the arts complex when it reopens. (CNN) Reports that Canny “made a series of anti-Trump comments in meetings and conversations” made it into Playbook earlier this year. (Politico)
• The Army’s report on the deadly midair collision over the Potomac (which, I guess we should feel lucky the Post does not describe it as a “Mid-Atlantic river”) cited multiple systemic failures. The report “does not describe any disciplinary action for leaders.” (Washington Post)
• It’s looking like we’ll pay more for Metro fares soon. (NBC4 Washington)
• Alexandria hired Jharrett Bryantt, the superintendent in Anchorage, Alaska, to run its public schools. (Alexandria Brief)
• Dudes will definitely be discussing this news over the weekend: Richmond’s Hardywood Park Craft Brewery bought Charlottesville’s Starr Hill Brewery. (Axios Richmond)
• One of my former coworkers and I have an imaginary blog called “What the L” in which we report on happenings near Washingtonian’s old L Street digs. This news would have led the site yesterday if it in fact existed, which it does not. I flatter myself that we may have even beaten PoPville to the story. (PoPville)
• There will be a “Million Frog March” in DC this weekend. (Save the Frogs)
Things to Do:
Friday: The Fall Wine Festival at George Washington’s Mount Vernon runs through Sunday.
Saturday: The beer festival Snallygaster is back in downtown DC.
Sunday: Georgetown Canal Day celebrates the C&O.
See lots more ideas for the weekend 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.
