Good morning. Warmer today, with sun, manageable humidity, and a high around 87. A low around 65 overnight.
Sports this weekend: The Nationals will visit the Mets this weekend. D.C. United will visit Miami on Saturday. Howard University will face Hampton University at Audi Field Saturday for the fifth-annual P&G Truth and Service Classic. Loudoun United FC will visit Phoenix Rising FC on Saturday. Saturday’s also the day for WABA’s 50 States Ride. On Sunday, the Washington Commanders will host the Las Vegas Raiders. I’ll spend some percentage of my weekend fretting about whether Jayden Daniels will be able to play. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
Today’s roundup is dedicated to George Perikles, who retires today as Washingtonian’s systems manager. George has been a cherished coworker for years. Congrats, George! We will all miss working with you.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Camper Van Beethoven, “Take the Skinheads Bowling.” I’ve never figured out what, if anything, this song means, but it’s sure hard to stop myself from singing along. Camper Van Beethoven will celebrate the 40th anniversary of “Telephone Free Landslide Victory,” the album from whence this song came, Saturday night at the 9:30 Club.
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:
Meet the suppress: “They’re giving me all this bad press, and they’re getting a license,” President Trump said of broadcasters yesterday. “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.” Trump’s made such musings for years, but they hit a little different the day after ABC doinked Jimmy Kimmel‘s show following a not-so-veiled threat from FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. (Politico) Trump’s remarks “were a remarkable escalation in a coordinated attack by Mr. Trump and his top aides, who are using the threat of the power of the American government to silence criticism or dissent following the assassination of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.” (NYT) Carr claimed that the issue wasn’t Kimmel’s long-running lampooning of Trump, but rather what he described as the comic’s attempt to “directly mislead the American public about a significant fact.” (CNBC)
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Sorry, just had to clear my irony cache, which unexpectedly filled up. Onward: Carr floated an investigation of the ABC program “The View.” (Politico) ABC owner Disney’s call to abruptly pause Kimmel’s show, which it hopes to bring back, was a “product of a spider’s web of interlocking political and financial pressures placed atop one of the country’s biggest corporations.” (NYT) “For Disney, the issue under consideration was bigger than Kimmel: It became a safety issue for employees and the show’s advertisers.” (CNN) Some Republicans have discovered new limits to their free-speech advocacy following the fiasco: An FCC license is “not a right. It really is a privilege,” US Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming said, for example. (Semafor) Other late-night hosts weighed in on the perilous new climate they inhabit: Jon Stewart facetiously praised Trump, and Stephen Colbert said, “If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive.” (AP)
Charlie Kirk latest: Trump and other administration honchos will attend a memorial service for the slain conservative activist in Arizona Sunday. The event “will have Super Bowl-level security.” (The Hill) “Pentagon leaders are considering using chapters of Kirk’s political organization, Turning Point USA, at schools across the U.S. as military recruitment centers.” (NBC News) Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, will take over TPUSA. (Politico)
Injection point: Health Secretary RFK Jr.‘s handpicked panel voted to make a big change to the childhood vaccination schedule, and it may make another huge change today. (Politico) “Many major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, opted to sit out of the panel meeting.” (Guardian) “New York and several other Northeastern states are forging a regional public health coalition to issue vaccine recommendations and coordinate public health efforts in a rebuke to the Trump administration’s shifts on health policy.” (NYT)
Administration perambulation: Trump is likely to fire Erik Siebert, the US Attorney for Virginia’s Eastern District, “after his office was unable to find incriminating evidence of mortgage fraud against New York Attorney General Letitia James.” (ABC News) The administration asked the Supreme Court to allow it to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, who it also accuses of mortgage fraud. (Washington Post) The President yanked hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aid to Taiwan “as he tries to negotiate a trade deal and potential summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.” (Washington Post) He also said he wants the Taliban to return Bagram Air Base to US control. (Washington Post) The US Senate cleared 48 Trump nominees after GOP members invoked the so-called “nuclear option.” (NBC News) “A top official at the Internal Revenue Service sued the agency on Thursday, claiming that officials unlawfully leaked employment data to news outlets including Fox News, which then published an incorrect report that she had been fired.” (NYT) The Labor Department is the latest agency to bring back workers after the administration cut staff. (Bloomberg Law)
One snazzy open house this weekend:
This five-bedroom/three-and-a-half bathroom townhouse in Columbia Heights features hardwood floors, a bedroom that opens onto a screened porch, and a legal one-bedroom rental unit in the English basement. It’s listed at $1.039 million, and you can see it this weekend—along with Emma Sullivan‘s other real-estate picks.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Fiesta DC is the nation’s largest Hispanic festival. It’s still scheduled to begin in two weeks despite fears about ICE and Trump’s federal law enforcement surge.
• No one knows what happens when we die, but these University of Virginia scientists are trying to find out.
• Former Adams Morgan sushi spot Shibuya Eatery will rise again in Chevy Chase, Maryland, this time as a fast-casual restaurant.
• Marc Bromley, the general manager of Georgetown’s Four Seasons, reflects on why he left Maui for DC.
Local news links:
• DC Councilmember Robert White said he would challenge Eleanor Holmes Norton in next year’s primary. He’ll be the “first credible opponent with a citywide political profile to challenge Norton since she was first elected in 1990.” (Politico)
• Republicans grilled Mayor Muriel Bowser and other top DC officials yesterday. Most of the hearing was about crime, but US Representative Nancy Mace went unexpectedly off-piste to ask Bowser, “What is a woman?” Bowser replied. “I’m a woman. Are you a woman?” Mace said she is a woman. (Axios D.C.)
• US Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia asked the FAA to decrease the number of daily flights at National Airport. (Washington Post)
• The DC Council made it easier to get a Covid vaccine despite new administration restrictions. (Washington Post)
• D.C. United sacked manager Ally Mackay. The team has just five wins so far this season and will not make the MLS playoffs. (WTOP)
• “Viral TikToks have spread false claims of mass child kidnappings in Virginia and a serial killer in Richmond.” (Axios Richmond)
• Virginia has joined the FTC and six other states in suing Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment, saying they ” violated consumer protection laws by allowing ticket brokers to bypass security measures, leading to inflated ticket prices for consumers.” (Fox 5)
• A body was found in the woods near Columbia Pike and S. Four Mile Run in Arlington. “Police posted on social media Thursday night that a man missing since Saturday, from an address near where the body was found, was ‘sadly… presumably located deceased earlier today.'” (ARLnow)
• Students in Alexandria are not wild about the idea of using DASH buses for school transportation, according to a new poll. (ALXnow)
Florida-zation of water: An alligator, that’s right, an alligator, I repeat, AN ALLIGATOR was found in the Washington Channel yesterday. (NBC4 Washington)
• If you need a palate cleanser after this week, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources has announced the winners of its annual photo contest, and they’re magnificent. (Maryland Department of Natural Resources)
Weekend event picks:
Friday: It’s the first day of Theatre Week (which lasts for two-and-a-half weeks). Here are our picks for ten great productions.
Saturday: The 20th iteration of the H Street Festival promises to be a special one.
Sunday: Pop! Pop! It’s the last day of the National Mall of Pickleball.
See lots more picks for the weekend from Briana Thomas, who writes our terrific 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.
