Good morning. Partly sunny with a high near 82 today. A low around 59 overnight. The Capitals face Montreal at home tonight in a game that, if they win, will advance them to the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. (Scroll down in this post for a guide to Caps watch parties.) The Nationals are at the Phillies this evening. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
Today is your last chance to enter your dog in our Cutest Dog Contest.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Wine Lips, “Stimulation.” This super-fun band from Toronto plays Comet Ping Pong tonight alongside Philly’s Wax Jaw.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Prime beef: President Trump called Jeff Bezos after Punchbowl News reported Tuesday that Amazon planned to display the premium Trump’s tariffs has added to the price of goods. Amazon said it was considering such a move at Haul, its Temu competitor, but that there was no such plan for the main business. Bezos “solved the problem very quickly. He did the right thing,” Trump said. (Washington Post) White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the reported initiative “a hostile and political act.” (CNBC)
The bill always comes: Nevertheless, consumers will probably see higher prices soon as a result of Trump’s tariffs. Adidas says it will likely raise prices for its goods. (CNBC) Some merchants plan to pull out of the next Prime Day. (Reuters) During a rally in Michigan yesterday, Trump touted his tariffs as a mechanism to create jobs, but warning lights are flashing over costs. (WSJ) And in a video posted by China’s Foreign Ministry, a narrator says the country “won’t kneel down.” (CNN) Production at Chinese factories is down. (NYT) UPS said it would cut 20,000 jobs because it anticipated lower volumes from its biggest customer…Amazon. (CBS News)
More shipping news: The US Postal Inspection Service “has quietly begun cooperating with federal immigration officials to locate people suspected of being in the country illegally.” (Washington Post)
Judge dread: The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, who is fighting federal charges over allegedly escorting a suspect out a door during a hearing unrelated to his immigration status. (AP) Dugan has engaged the services of Paul Clement, a former Bush solicitor general “who has argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court” and “has clashed with the Trump administration in other cases.” (Reuters) Clement is part of an “all-star” team on Dugan’s side. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Meanwhile, in Miami: A federal judge may hold Florida’s attorney general in contempt if the state continues to arrest undocumented immigrants who enter the state. (Miami Herald)
Media news corner: Paramount’s board is preparing to make a deal with Trump so his lawsuit over what he claims was “deceptive editing” of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris will go away, clearing the way for a sale. (NYT) The Corporation for Public Broadcasting sued Trump over his removal of three board members. (NPR) A federal judge ordered the administration to restore funding to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. (NYT) A perfect headline? “Trump’s first ‘new media’ briefing hosts influencer who spent 7 days convinced the moon had disappeared” (Daily Dot) A strain in QAnon media has turned on Trump loyalist Michael Flynn. (The Bulwark)
Cuts: Elon Musk‘s DOGE project has canceled grants to DHS “Centers of Excellence” that study “domestic national security threats like active-shooter scenarios and the spread of dangerous diseases.” (NOTUS) Transit agencies are sounding alarms over cuts to funding. (Bloomberg) A study from American University finds that Trump’s cuts to scientific research will “permanently lower economic output” in the US. (NYT) A top environmental health journal has ceased accepting new studies for publication, citing the administration’s cuts to the National Institutes of Health. (NYT) The EPA plans to cancel nearly 800 grants. (NYT) And yet: US government spending in Trump’s first 100 days in office was up over the prior year. (CBS News) The GAO acknowledged yesterday that it has opened 39 investigations into administration’s withholding of funds approved by Congress. (NYT)
Administration perambulation: World Liberty Financial, Trump’s crypto firm, is “eviscerating the boundary between private enterprise and government policy in a manner without precedent in modern American history.” (NYT) Trump fired board members of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, including Doug Emhoff. (NYT) Trump has “signed just five bills into law — fewer than any president in the first 100 days of an administration since at least Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s.” (NBC News) A provision in the GOP’s domestic-policy bill “would grant Trump sweeping powers to erase existing federal regulations from the books.” (Politico) Musk’s X has lost so many users in Europe that it now has fewer users on that continent than it did before the billionaire bought what was then Twitter. (Mashable) Health Secretary RFK Jr. advised parents to “do your own research” about vaccines. (NYT) Trump said he’d like to be pope. (Politico)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Meet the viral food truck heroes of Flavor Hive.
• Interim US Attorney Ed Martin‘s denunciation of a J6 rioter is part of a strategy to flood the zone of coverage, says a reporter who follows him.
• You’ll love the moody, DIY bouquets at this wedding.
• DC sued five more Maryland and Virginia drivers.
• DC will have more influence on who’ll be the next pope than it does in Congress.
• Former workers at the United States Digital Service unload on DOGE.
Local news links:
• A double shooting in Petworth left a man dead and a teenage boy in the hospital. (WTOP) A man was shot in an argument outside a Fairfax nightclub. (WUSA9)
• John Reid, the GOP’s nominee for Virginia lieutenant governor in this fall’s elections, has taken aim at Matt Moran, the head of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC, over what Reid claims is extortion to get him to drop out of the race. (Virginia Mercury)
• US Representative Andy Harris of Maryland says there’s not enough support in the House to fix the hole the GOP blew in the District’s budget. (WTOP)
• Metro is “in the very early stages of considering civilian fare enforcement.” (WUSA9)
• George Mason will rename its School of Computing after donors Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong. (Northern Virginia Magazine)
• Haikan will close. (WUSA9)
• Arlington will lose 19 bus stops. (ARLnow)
• DC Mayor Muriel Bowser says she “insisted that we have a dome” on any new football stadium. (WTOP)
Wednesday’s event picks:
• Jim Henson’s Labyrinth in concert at the Warner Theatre.
• Zosha Warpeha, Heather Stebbins, and Naoco Wowsugi play Rhizome alongside visual art by Claire Alrich.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Know someone we should consider for our Tech Titans feature this year? Nominate them here. Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here.
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.
