Good morning. Another spectacular weather day looms. Sunny with a high around 82 and low humidity. Clear overnight, with a low near 59.
Sports this weekend: The Nationals host the Pirates all weekend. DC Power FC will play Lexington SC at Audi Field tonight. DC United will host Orlando City Saturday. The Washington Spirit will visit the Kansas City Current on Saturday.
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:
Tone, “Repo.” Tone’s new album, “Mechanisms,” has been sitting with me this week, but the venerable DC guitar ensemble is something you really should experience live—the group’s sound just envelops you. Tone will play at 4718 14th Street, Northwest, tonight at 9:30 PM as part of this weekend’s Art All Night festival.
Take Washingtonian Today with you! I’ve made a playlist on Spotify and on Apple Music of my daily music recommendations this year.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Kirk shooting latest: Officials released photos of a person of interest in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, but still haven’t identified the shooter. (Washington Post) The manhunt has been “plagued by slow, confusing and contradictory disclosures from public officials,” including a bulletin that said authorities found ammunition festooned with “transgender and antifascist ideology,” a report that officials later downplayed. (WSJ) Pressure is growing on FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino. Patel’s “swift pronouncements about the inquiry have revived concerns about his lack of experience, obsession with social media and purge of some of the bureau’s most experienced investigators.” (NYT) President Trump, who was close with Kirk, said his administration needed to “beat the hell out of” its ideological enemies. (Politico) He “vowed to unleash the weight of his administration onto those he said contributed to an environment of ‘radical left political violence.'” (Washington Post) Far-right commentators are posting what they claim to be instances of people celebrating Kirk’s death online, prompting threats. (Wired) Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the department “would review the legal status of immigrants ‘praising, rationalizing, or making light'” of Kirk’s killing. (Axios) HBCUs across the country received threats and had to lock down their campuses. (ABC News) Vice President JD Vance, who was also close with Kirk, escorted his body home to Arizona aboard Air Force Two. (AP)
Interesting economic development strategy: Hyundai’s CEO, José Muñoz, said the company would delay construction work on an electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia following a federal raid that swept up hundreds of workers from South Korea. (CBS News) Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the company should have asked him for help getting the correct visas for its workers. (Axios) Trump delayed the workers’ return home, South Korean officials said, “to explore whether they could stay in the United States to educate and train American workers.” (Washington Post)
Administration perambulation: Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s interior minister, says that none of the people the US killed in a strike on a speedboat in the Caribbean on Trump’s orders were members of a gang with which the White House said they were affiliated. The White House said they were and called them “narcoterrorists.” (Reuters) Brazil is “bracing for further punitive measures” from Trump after it convicted its former President, Jair Bolsonaro, for his attempts to overturn an election he lost in 2022. Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison. (NYT) “Millions of dollars’ worth of birth control pills and other contraceptives destined for people in low-income countries have been destroyed at the direction of the Trump administration.” (NYT) GOP senators triggered the so-called “nuclear option” to get more of Trump’s appointees confirmed. (CNN) The Trump-controlled Kennedy Center fired Kevin Struthers, who ran the arts complex’s jazz programming, and Malka Lasky, the only remaining member of a team that “focused on reaching new and diverse audiences.” (Washington Post) Many of the same conservative lawmakers who claimed that the US was subsidizing media organizations via subscriptions have kept subscribing. (The Bulwark) Confidential to those lawmakers: We’re offering one year of Washingtonian in print for only $9 to Washingtonian Today readers this week.
One snazzy open house this weekend:
This three-bedroom/two-and-a-half bathroom 1922 Capitol Hill rowhouse features a newly renovated kitchen with French doors that open onto a backyard patio, refinished hardwood floors, and a new roof and skylights. It’s listed at $1.1 million and you can see it Saturday and Sunday. See more of Emma Sullivan‘s picks for this weekend’s best open houses.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Joe Biden dined at L’Ardente Wednesday, and unlike someone else I could name, was met with applause by diners.
• Russ Breckenridge and Pendar Khosravi took a rickshaw, which they likened to a “slightly overpowered lawnmower,” over the Himalayas to raise money for the World Literacy Foundation.
• Last month’s most expensive real estate transactions—and the bold-faced names that made them (or, in the case of Mark Zuckerberg, appeared to make them).
Local news links:
• The Washington Commanders got creamed by the Green Bay Packers last night, raising a lot of questions about the team’s renaissance. (Washington Post)
• The US Naval Academy was placed under lockdown yesterday after a bogus report of a shooter on campus. A midshipman “mistook a law enforcement officer for the shooter and struck him in the head with a parade rifle. The law enforcement officer then fired at the midshipman, wounding him in the arm.” (NYT)
• A man was stabbed in a shop in Arlington last night. (ARLnow)
• A fight at MoCo’s John F. Kennedy High School involved pepper spray. It’s not clear who wielded the lachrymatory agent. (BethesdaToday)
• Alexandria’s city council is studying the possible use of DASH buses to transport students. (NBC4 Washington)
• This won’t be a surprise if you walked around town yesterday, but there are so many spotted lanternflies in the region right now that they are showing up on weather radar. (Capital Weather Gang)
Weekend event picks:
Friday: The Washington Ukrainian Festival kicks off in Silver Spring.
Saturday: Grupo Fénix closes out the Hot Joe’s Summer outdoor concert series in Mount Rainier.
Sunday: It’s Adams Morgan Day.
See lots more picks for the weekend from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Know a local hero? Nominate them to join our next class of Washingtonians of the Year. We’re looking for anyone who makes our area a better place. Nominations are due by September 30.
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.
