Photo illustration by Emma Spainhoward with photograph by Getty Images.
Good morning. Happy 4/20 to those who observe. The cold reappears today: Occasional sprinkles and a high around 55 end our warm streak. Frosty overnight—gardeners should note that he National Weather Service has issued a freeze warning—with a low near 32. The Nationals host Atlanta this evening. 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:
Los Lobos, “Will the Wolf Survive?” Here’s a zesty chestnut from the venerable East LA band, which celebrates its 50th anniversary on this tour. Los Lobos play the Birchmere tonight with Los Hermanos Alacranes.
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:
War news: Oil prices shot up again after the US seized an Iranian cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz, straining an already brittle ceasefire due to expire Wednesday. President Trump said he’d send negotiators led by Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan for more peace talks, a prospect about which Iran expressed some ambivalence. (AP) Iran had announced the strait’s reopening but closed it again and fired on two ships after Trump said the US’s blockade of the waterway would continue. (Politico) US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said gas prices may not fall to what they were before the war until next year. (NYT) He argued the increase wasn’t so bad when you adjusted for inflation. (Axios)
Meanwhile: The UAE asked the US for a “financial lifeline” in the event the war drags on. (WSJ) Trump is “is veering between belligerent and conciliatory approaches and grappling behind the scenes with just how badly things could go wrong” as the war he started festers. (WSJ) His polling numbers got even worse. (NBC News) Only 15 percent of Americans believe that Trump has achieved the victory he keeps claiming he won. (Politico)
Party over country? FBI Director Kash Patel‘s “excessive drinking” has alarmed coworkers. Some feel he won’t be in his job much longer. (Atlantic) Patel said he would sue the publication. (CNBC) Perhaps this is unrelated, but Patel said yesterday that arrests related to Trump’s bogus claims about the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden were “coming soon.” (Democracy Docket) DOJ demanded 2020 ballots from Wayne County, Michigan. State Attorney General Dana Nessel called the ask “absurd.” (NBC News) Meanwhile: Former Trump 2020 campaign lawyer Joe diGenova, 81, will lead DOJ’s Florida-based “grand conspiracy” investigation into Trump’s perceived enemies. (NBC News)
Administration perambulation: Trump’s stopgap funding of Department of Homeland Security salaries is about to run out. Senate Republicans hope to “convince House Republicans to end the more than two-month-long DHS shutdown” soon. (Punchbowl News) A system meant to refund businesses for Trump tariffs the Supreme Court said were illegal will launch today. (AP) Ed Martin, who was briefly Trump’s nominee to be US Attorney for DC, refused to sign off on a warrant to arrest US Representative Cory Mills of Florida “after a woman accused him of assault last year.” (Washington Post) It’s not looking good for Trump’s sculpture garden to be ready for the US’s 250th birthday celebrations this summer. (CNN) Trump signed an executive order meant to expedite research into psychedelic drugs on Saturday. Joe Rogan was there. (The Hill) The President has become more and more fixated on the White House ballroom he intends to build, an analysis of public statements shows. (Washington Post) Trump, who picked a fight with the pope and posted an image of himself as Jesus last week, recorded himself reading from the Bible to take part in a marathon reading of the entire thing organized by the Texas activist Bunni Pounds this week. Many of the readings will take place live at the Museum of the Bible in DC. (NYT) Trump said “interesting” documents surfaced in a review of the US’s documents on UFOs that he said would be released—guess when—”very, very soon.” (NBC News)
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week, by Ike Allen:
All the DC foodies are excited about Rye Bunny, where Jill Tyler and Jon Sybert have festooned the former Tail Up Goat space with vintage quilts, folk art, and paper lanterns decorated with pressed leaves—and switched to a “fine casual” style of service. Grilled beef tenderloin and chocolate hazelnut cake are easy-to-love standouts, but a plate of parsnips surprised me most: slow-roasted to an almost custardy consistency, they’re drizzled with a tart and sweet chili crunch made from dates and aleppo pepper, and accompanied by a dollop of mint mascarpone. (1827 Adams Mill Road, NW)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Judy Woodruff, Shannon Bream, Missy Ryan, Priscilla Alvarez: Here are the winners of this year’s Washingtonian Women in Journalism Awards.
• AU professor Rachel Louise Snyder explains the horrible pattern of “intimate terrorism” that preceded Cerina Fairfax‘s murder.
• Layoffs, an ever-emptier building, and snarky Signal chats: Kennedy Center employees dish about life inside a wounded institution.
• The fines generated by the District’s speed cameras aren’t having the effect city officials hoped for. Experts tell us how enforcement could improve—and DC could be safer.
• Photos from an ‘80s-inspired church wedding.
Local news links:
• For the third year in a row, Amazon failed to hire as many people at its HQ2 in Arlington as it said it would. (Washington Post)
• Unlike Virginia, Maryland hasn’t reported how much it’s lost to data-center tax incentives. (Maryland Matters)
• DC mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie said the ride-share app Empower threatened to send unflattering messages about him and that his daughter received “vile messages” as a result. (WTOP)
• A three-year-old girl drowned in Potomac Saturday. (DC News Now)
• A teenage boy was shot near the Waterfront Metro station Saturday. His injuries were not life-threatening. (NBC4 Washington)
• A DC cop is accused of dragging cyclists during youth-curfew enforcement in Navy Yard this weekend. (Fox 5)
• Authorities in Fauquier County arrested Fairfax cop Matthew Sylvester this weekend and charged him with aggravated sexual battery. (WUSA9)
• An argument in a Glen Burnie parking lot Saturday turned deadly. One man was shot and killed, and another was arrested. (Fox 5)
• A woman was seriously injured in Rosslyn on Saturday when she collided with a bus while riding a scooter. (ARLnow)
• Police in Prince George’s County arrested an 18-year-old they say carjacked the clerk of the county’s circuit court. (WTOP)
• Star-gazers have a good chance of observing this week’s Lyrid meteor shower. (WTOP)
Senior editor
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.