Good morning. Any lingering rain should end by 8 AM or so, and then we’ll dry out and clear up with a high around 74. A low near 57 overnight. The Wizards host the Brooklyn Nets in a preseason matchup at Capital One Arena tonight.
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I can’t stop listening to
Ida, “Shotgun.” The longtime chamber-pop band plays Pearl Street Warehouse tonight with the Golden Hours and Storey Littleton.
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 ads
A federal judge in New York on Sunday ordered the administration to stop buying airtime for ads that praise President Trump. (AP) The administration already spent about $19 million on the spots. (Politico) The judge issued her order in response to a lawsuit from the group Common Cause. It’s one of three suits the ads have drawn. (Washington Sun) The Justice Department didn’t argue the ads were legal in its response and argued instead that since the ads were scheduled to end last night, “there will be no irreparable harm justifying an order blocking them.” (Law Dork) Meanwhile: DOJ is investigating whether TV networks broke antitrust law when they yanked pool coverage following Trump’s ban of three outlets. (NYT) Good luck with that one. (Washington Post)
Fuel around and find out
Trump’s surprise deal with Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel fuel, an attempt to ease skyrocketing prices because of the war against Iran that he launched in February, hasn’t landed well with some lawmakers from both political parties, not least because it would, uh, complicate US efforts to impose sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine. (Washington Sun) A weekend of bizarre political events followed Trump’s announcement of the deal Friday: Trump called for Ukraine to replace its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Saturday. (NYT) Then on Sunday, Trump claimed Russia and Ukraine had agreed to what he called an “energy ceasefire” that would prohibit the nations from attacking each other’s energy facilities. The deal “was news for me,” Zelensky said. (Axios) Despite the ceasefire Trump said existed, Russia attacked a Ukrainian power plant. (Reuters)
Administration perambulation
The Pentagon added two more deaths to its count of US service members who’ve died during the Iran war. (Washington Post) Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are reportedly thinking of canning Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to Greece, after reports that she asked a donor to pay her AmEx bill, among other weirdnesses. (AP) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s plan to live-stream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan appears to still be a bit up in the air—the President said he “wasn’t involved in that decision.” (New York Post) Vice President JD Vance said he wasn’t sure if the broadcast was “actually going to happen” and said he wouldn’t watch it. (ABC News) Katie Zacharia is the new White House press secretary. (NYT) Zacharia’s résumé includes posts that promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy theory as well as an apparent belief in “pedo rings of the elite cabal.” (Popular Information) Katie Bailey is the White House’s new legislative affairs director. (CBS News) Bailey ” has her roots in the oversight world, which will be very critical for Trump if Democrats take the majority in a few weeks.” (Punchbowl News) Trump hopes the Supreme Court will take up his so-far-unsuccessful lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. (CNN) The FBI hopes to enlist the UFC to help train its agents. (Washington Sun) The White House wants to hold its own hearing about mortgage fraud allegations it’s raised against Fed Governor Lisa Cook. (Bloomberg) Trump is definitely not mad that he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize. (NYT) He entertained the idea of renaming the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, perhaps for himself. (Washington Post)
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week, by Ann Limpert
The Pike & Rose location of Caruso’s Grocery doesn’t quite have the same level of Little Italy–inspired charm as the Capitol Hill original, but it’s still a pretty great place to find yourself on a rainy Sunday night. I’d make a trip just for the buttery, parm-heavy semolina garlic bread, which is served alongside an unnecessary but totally delicious four-cheese sauce (Italian queso!). Keep some around for the always-winning pasta dishes, especially spaghetti and meatballs or a seafood fra diavolo heaped with mussels and shrimp.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com
• Seng Luangrath leans into fun with Khao Nom, the new Southeast Asian snacks-and-sweets takeout window located inside her South Arlington restaurant Padaek.
• Five little cheetah cubs were born recently at the Smithsonian Biology Institute in Front Royal.
• Chanthal Harris, the owner of the Alexandria bookstore Long Dark House, recommends some scary books by local authors.
• Here are some fall hikes you can do.
Local news links
• What in the name of all that is holy was that? (Athletic) In other local sports news, Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal of the season yesterday amid the Caps’ loss to Seattle. (Washington Post)
• Talib Shakir was killed Friday when he and another person riding an electric scooter collided in an intersection. Shakir headed the Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs in DC. (Washington Post)
• DC’s elections board asked National Guard troops to not hang out near ballot boxes and voting locations after a photo of troops near a box in Foggy Bottom went viral. (Washington Sun)
• The National Park Service was scheduled to begin cutting down hundreds of trees Saturday as part of Trump’s planned renovation of the East Potomac Golf Course. (NYT)
• Police in Fairfax charged a school resource officer with shoplifting—in one instance, they say, while he was in uniform. (WUSA9)
• Sidwell Friends has put its Bethesda campus up for sale. (WBJ)
• Three high school students in Fairfax made an app that aims to make it safer to walk home. (Washington Post)
• NBC4 Washington anchor Jim Handly plans to retire next month. (DCRTV) Flashback: I wrote about Handly when he took over the 11 PM broadcast from Jim Vance in 2016. (Washingtonian)
• A police officer in Montgomery County removed a two-foot-long snake from a woman’s bedroom last week. The county’s animal control department said they couldn’t get there until the next day, inspiring the unwilling landlord’s phone call to the police instead. (WUSA9)
• Please don’t call Capitol Hill Books looking for Satan. He does not work there. (Washington Sun)
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.
