Good morning. Rain before noon with a high around 61 today. More rain likely overnight, with a low around 55. The Washington Mystics will visit the Golden State Valkyries this evening, and the Nationals will host the Braves. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Squid, “Crispy Skin.” This English band brings its arty post-punk and Fall-like vocals to the Black Cat tonight.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Jabs report: The FDA plans to limit access to the Covid vaccine to people over 65 and those at risk of serious illness. (Stat) Health Secretary RFK Jr. “spent years campaigning against the Covid shots, claiming falsely at one point that the Covid vaccines have killed more people than the virus.” (NYT) “It’s unclear what the upcoming changes mean for people who may still want a fall COVID-19 shot but don’t clearly fit into one of the categories.” (AP) Related: The rise of former Democrat and “Food Babe” blogger Van Hari, who “surfed the wellness wave all the way to the center of the Trump administration’s food agenda.” (NYT)
Hasn’t this guy been on the verge of leaving for a while now? Speaking from Qatar, Elon Musk said he’ll cut back on political spending. He’s supposedly in DC less these days, and he accompanied President Trump to the Middle East last week. (NYT)
Homeland insecurity: At the direction of Secretary Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security has begun to administer numerous polygraphs to employees in an attempt to “root out leakers.” Employees say there seems to be no clear reason who gets selected for a lie-detector test, and some have resigned rather than submit. (WSJ) Noem couldn’t define habeas corpus in a Congressional hearing yesterday, “incorrectly asserting that the legal right of people to challenge their detention by the government was actually the president’s ‘constitutional right’ to deport people.” (NYT) Meanwhile: Lawyers told a federal judge in Massachusetts yesterday that the government put people from Asia onto deportation flights to South Sudan. (CBS News) The judge told the feds to be prepared to return some of the migrants. (WSJ) A new study says “most of the Venezuelan migrants deported to imprisonment in El Salvador had no criminal records, and many (perhaps a majority) entered the US legally.” (Reason)
New fun administration official incoming: Billy Long, Trump’s choice to run the IRS, “pitched his friends on a tax credit that the agency has said does not exist.” (NYT) Long “was invited to attend Trump’s inauguration as the guest of a financial services CEO who said Long promised him benefits for his company.” (The Lever) US Senator Ron Wyden said he had recordings of Long’s business associates “saying they expect to get favors from him once he is in office.” (The Hill)
Administration perambulation: Joe Kent, a failed Congressional candidate who’s a top aide to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, pushed intelligence officials to rewrite a report so it couldn’t be “used against” Trump. (NYT) The Justice Department opened an investigation into Andrew Cuomo. The department squashed an investigation into NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who will run against whichever Democrat wins an upcoming primary. Cuomo is leading those polls. (NYT) My generation grew up hearing about an imaginary missile defense system nicknamed “Star Wars.” Gen Z will apparently grow up with one called the “Golden Dome.” (NPR) The EU authorized spending money in an attempt to help keep Radio Free Europe’s work going. (Le Monde)
One book we can’t wait for this summer, by Kate Corliss
The Washington Post once described DC native Rax King, whose sophomore essay collection “Sloppy” is slated for release on July 29, as “Bettie Page meets Carrie Bradshaw.” If that comparison doesn’t compel you to pick up her forthcoming book, then you should at least be persuaded by the colorful, perversely nostalgic picture she paints of her hometown. Between wistful mentions of shopping at Commander Salamander and Up Against the Wall, she muses about a classmate who operated a retail theft ring out of Rock Creek Park, repents for the way she treated the Bethesda Row Barnes & Noble, and reflects on her days as a stripper at the now-defunct club King’s Castle.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Marcus Samuelsson has opened Sly, a new rooftop bar.
• Pop-Up District, a new food hall, has opened at Eden Center.
• King’s Dominion has a new roller coaster. It is made to resemble the wings of a jungle hawk, and its name is Rapterra. Hail, Rapterra. \m/
Local news links:
Some will probably misinterpret this act of public service: US Representative Nancy Mace “shared a photo of what she described as a ‘naked silhouette’ of herself that she said was taken without her consent while renewing allegations of sexual abuse against multiple men” during a hearing in Congress yesterday. (Politico) An unintentionally prescient February 2024 headline: “Inside Nancy Mace’s Apparently Bottomless Quest for Attention.” (Washingtonian)
• DC “added almost 15,000 residents in 2024, nearly doubling its population gain in 2023.” (US Census Bureau)
• In 2017, 45 percent of people in the area rated Metro service as good or excellent. Now 80 percent do. (Washington Post) Metro announced longer service hours and new bus and train designs for WorldPride. (WUSA9)
• Gordon Ramsay‘s new show, which debuts tonight, finds him “spying” on the Parthenon restaurant in Chevy Chase DC. (WTOP)
• Winners at Monday’s Helen Hayes Awards ceremony, which honor local theater arts. (Washington Post)
• A stretch of the GW Parkway that’s been closed since storms on Friday has reopened. (NBC4 Washington)
• Arlington police plan to disband their gang unit, which officials said preceded the county’s decision to not cooperate with ICE. (ARLnow)
• There were two fatal shootings in DC yesterday. One man was killed near a track meet at Spingarn High School. Another person was shot in Capitol Riverfront just after last night’s Nats game. (Washington Post)
• Arlington cops are investigating a car-jacking that took place outside the Clarendon Taco Bell Cantina Saturday. (ARLnow)
• Police in France found a stolen bust of former Alexandria high school student Jim Morrison. (WUSA9)
Wednesday’s event picks:
• NMWA Nights returns to the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
• Sample lamb-inspired bar bites from local chefs at at the Autoshop at Union Market.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
We’re now taking suggestions for this year’s “Most Powerful Women” list. You can nominate someone here. Know someone we should consider for our Tech Titans feature this year? Put their name forward 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.
