Photo illustration by Emma Spainhoward with photograph by Getty Images.
Good morning. Take it easy if you’re traveling today—we’ll have clouds and rain chances with a high around 59, then rain from about 5 pm on. Rain overnight, with a low near 53. The Wizards host the Atlanta Hawks in NBA Cup action tonight. Washingtonian Today will be off for the rest of the week while I enjoy time with family and friends; I wish you a safe and happy holiday. See you Monday. In the meantime, 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:
Com’z, “Rock & Roll Indeed.” Thanksgiving week is an ideal time to check out, say, some anthemic Taiwanese indie rock. Com’zplays Union Stage tonight.
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:
Kangaroo thwart: The flimsy prosecutions President Trump ordered against his nemeses James Comey and Letitia James went kerblooey yesterday when US District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that Lindsey Halligan—the former personal lawyer for Trump with no prosecutorial experience whom he installed as interim US Attorney in Eastern Virginia—had been appointed unlawfully. (Washington Post) The judge’s ruling was without prejudice, meaning charges could theoretically be re-filed, though Comey’s lawyers argued the statute of limitations on his charges had run out. (NYT) “I know that Donald Trump will probably come after me again,” Comey said in a video he posted yesterday. (James Comey/Substack) So what’s next? US Attorney General Pam Bondi, another former personal lawyer for Trump, vowed to appeal. Comey’s and James’s current cases are toast, which temporarily puts aside questions of vindictive prosecution. (Politico) And right on cue: The Department of Defense announced plans to investigate US Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona over his role in a video where lawmakers who are veterans reminded US troops they don’t have to obey illegal orders. (NYT)
Extension headache: The White House slammed the brakes on Trump’s new healthcare plan, the rollout of which was apparently news to Republicans on Capitol Hill. (Punchbowl News) House Speaker Mike Johnson told the White House the plan, which included extending for two years the Covid-era subsidies for Obamacare plans that were central to the recent government shutdown, couldn’t get enough GOP support. (WSJ) It wasn’t clear “whether the plan would also include expanded restrictions under the so-called Hyde amendment, which bans federal funds from being used for abortions.” (Politico)
Administration perambulation: The administration plans to review every refugee admitted under former President Biden. That’s about 200,000 people who’ve already been thoroughly vetted, a tremendous amount of work. (AP) Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stripped citizens of Myanmar of Temporary Protected Status yesterday despite the civil war in their country. (CNN) US Senator Jim Justice of West Virginia agreed to pay $5 million he owed in back taxes after DOJ sued him. (NBC News) Flashback: Our profile of Justice’s English bulldog Babydog, “Perhaps the greatest retail politician West Virginia has ever known.” (Washingtonian) Perhaps DOGE still exists? What is existence, anyway? I’ll spend the holiday reading Sartre and report back. (The Hill)
How to sign up for a Turkey Trot at the last minute, by Daniella Byck:
Image via iStock / Getty Images Plus.
Thanksgiving is a holiday full of personal traditions, whether that’s serving canned cranberry sauce, swapping turkey for chicken, or gently edging around the touchier political topics. For some people, those traditions include lacing up sneakers to run in a Turkey Trot before the main event meal. (I have conveniently avoided this fate by becoming my family’s Thanksgiving chef. I want it on the record that I’d rather peel a million potatoes than run a single block, let alone publicly.) It’s not too late to sign up for a trot. In DC, nonprofit SOME (So Others Might Eat) hosts an annual run that starts at Freedom Plaza. Options include a one-mile jaunt for kids at 7:30 AM and a 5K at 8:15 AM. Pets are invited to join the jog at the Alexandria Turkey Trot, which begins at George Washington Middle School. Registration is available online until 6 AM the day of the race, and 8:30 AM in-person. The 9 AM race is followed by an award ceremony. Fairfax has a four-mile race that moves through the Mantua Hills neighborhood. Registration closes at 8 AM, an hour before the trot kicks off. Prefer to break a sweat after you’ve awaken from that tryptophan-induced slumber? Seneca Creek State Park holds a five-mile and a ten-mile race on Saturday, November 29, starting at 8 AM.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Crisis PR experts offered some unsolicited advice to Ryan Lizza, Olivia Nuzzi, and others caught up in their splashy breakup.
• Nhi Linh, an Asian elephant at Smithsonian’s National Zoo, is pregnant. If everything stays on track, she’ll give birth to the first baby calf born at the facility in nearly a quarter century early next year.
• The most expensive real estate transactions in the area last month, including TJ Oshie‘s former mansion in McLean.
• This wedding blended Parisian elegance with coastal tranquility.
• Photos from last Saturday’s anti-Trump rally.
Local news links:
• Travis Turner, the head football coach at a high school in southwest Virginia, has disappeared, and an unnamed employee of the Wise County school system was placed on administrative leave, apparently in connection with the investigation into his whereabouts. (CNN)
• The words “The Oval Office,” painted in gold outside the Oval Office, appear to be gone. (Washington Post)
• A pair of 12-year-olds won’t be charged in connection with racial slurs painted at a school in Gainesville. (WUSA9)
• Pray for the administrators who had to tell high schoolers in Maryland school was dismissed because of a “gas odor.” (DC News Now)
• New live recordings from Bad Brains, recorded in 1980 and 1981 at the Bayou, will be released Friday for Record Store Day. (NBC4 Washington)
Tuesday’s event picks:
• Today through Friday, you can catch a showing of “The Wizard of Oz” on a big screen at AFI Silver Theatre.
• The musical version of “Some Like It Hot” opens at National Theatre.
• Rosie Grant talks about new book “To Die For: A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes” at the Mt. Pleasant library.
See more picks for this week from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
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.