Good morning. Give yourself a hand if you made it through a day without Slack. The National Park Service will announce its peak bloom prediction this morning. Showers likely this morning, with a high near 69 and a low around 40 overnight. The Capitals host St. Louis at 7 PM, and Alex Ovechkin is on pace to break Wayne Gretzky‘s record by April. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address at the bottom of this post.
I can’t stop listening to:
Kathy Mattea, “Hello, My Name Is Coal.” I love Kathy Mattea’s mainstream country hits, but my folks were bluegrass fans, and her later-career turn back toward mountain music reminds me of the Sundays we’d spend listening to music together. This tune, from “Calling Me Home,” Mattea’s 2012 album about her home state of West By God Virginia, calls me home a little bit, too. Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye! Mattea will play the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick tonight.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
• The Trump administration ordered federal agencies to make plans to move operations outside the Washington area. (Washington Post) Flashback: The history of the idea, long considered far-fetched, to move the US government away from DC. (Washingtonian)
• The administration also ordered agencies to prepare for heavy layoffs. (AP) The White House walked back Trump’s claim that he planned to cut 65 percent of EPA’s staff—he’ll cut 65 percent of the agency’s spending. (Politico)
DOGE days: Many of Elon Musk‘s “receipts” for savings are bogus. (NBC News) DOGE’s staffers at HUD include people with serious potential conflicts of interest. (Wired) What an amusing coincidence: “The Federal Aviation Administration is close to canceling a $2.4 billion contract to overhaul a communications system that serves as the backbone of the nation’s air traffic control system and awarding the work to Elon Musk’s Starlink.” (Washington Post)
• Chief Justice John Roberts allowed Trump to continue his freeze on foreign aid. The case is likely to come before the full Supreme Court. (Politico) Trump plans to eliminate 90 percent of USAID’s contracts. (AP)
Diseases in the news: The FDA canceled a meeting to determine the contents of next season’s flu shots. (NBC News) An unvaccinated child in Texas died of measles, the first such death in the US in more than a decade. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the measles outbreak there “not unusual.” (AP) Musk claimed DOGE restored ebola prevention measures after it “accidentally” canceled them. That’s not true, say people who actually know how government works. (Washington Post)
• The White House Correspondents’ Association will “no longer coordinate shared coverage of President Donald Trump in an escalating dispute over press access to official events.” (Politico)
• Keir Starmer is on his way to DC. (Politico Europe)
• Andrew Tate is on his way to the US, too. (AP)
One great dish, by Jessica Sidman
I would venture to say I’ve visited the majority of Korean barbecue restaurants across the DC area. But I recently tried something I haven’t seen elsewhere at ChuSun Hwaro, which opened late last year in Fairfax (there’s also a location in Ellicott City). Baekdusan bulgogi, named after a sacred mountain in Korea, is essentially a mountain of shaved beef chuck roll, onions, and slivered scallions surrounded by a moat of sweet-soy beef broth that comes to a simmer over the grill. Our server described it as a cross between barbecue and hot pot—use your tongs to move pieces of beef into the broth, then let the meat cook until no longer pink. For $44, it can easily feed two, though the wide-ranging menu has lots of other temptations from Korean-style pancakes to classic stews. (10790 Fairgrounds Drive, Fairfax)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Some restaurants are paying double what they used to for eggs. Menu prices are going up.
• Don’t miss this sale if you’d like to incorporate some vintage pieces into your wedding.
• A preview of Tapori, an H Street Indian street food restaurant from Rasika alums Suresh Sundas and Dante Datta.
• The Go-Go Museum has opened.
• Here are the restaurants on our 100 Very Best list that readers tell us they visit most often.
• We have some exclusive travel deals for you.
• They dressed as Captain Hook and Tinkerbell for their first date. More than a decade later, they married.
Local news links:
• Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos ordered what appears to be a rightward shift to the publication’s opinion section. Opinion Editor David Shipley resigned. (NYT) Former Executive Editor Martin Baron said he was “sad and disgusted” about the decision. (The Guardian)
• “Real Housewives of Potomac” star Karen Huger got a 12-month sentence after she crashed her Maserati while drunk last March. (Washington Post)
• The owners of the Waldorf-Astoria downtown (the former Trump International Hotel) are quietly shopping the property. (Semafor)
• This is the event that may have prompted Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center. (WCP)
• Vikings fans have a warning for Commanders fans: Don’t expect tailgating at your next stadium. (WUSA9)
• Republicans may be avoiding town halls because they’re worried about reactions to DOGE cuts, but Democrats in the area are holding them. (WUSA9) There was a packed town hall in Arlington Tuesday. (ARLnow)
• The Old Town Festival of Speed & Style—one of my favorite car shows, not that anyone asked—will take place Sunday, May 18. (Alexandria Living)
• Brown’s Hardware in Falls Church plans to close next month. (Northern Virginia Magazine)
• Arlington could raise taxes on meals and on real estate. (WTOP)
• Catching up with Alison Starling. (Northern Virginia Magazine)
Thursday’s event picks, by Briana Thomas:
• Solas Nua’s Capital Irish Film Festival opens in Silver Spring.
• African American professionals in the intelligence community reflect on their careers at the International Spy Museum.
• Jason Isbell plays the Warner Theatre.
See more of Briana’s picks here.
Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here. If you love your workplace, now’s your chance to nominate it for Washingtonian’s next Great Places to Work contest. Register here to get the ball rolling and hurry! Registration closes February 28.
RIP Gene Hackman. I’m going to watch “The Conversation” tonight in his honor. Okay, let’s do Thursday.
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.
