Photo illustration by Emma Spainhoward with photograph by Getty Images.
Good morning. Sunny, breezy, and cool today with a high around 54. Clear and cold tonight with a low near 33. The Capitals visit Toronto this evening. The Nationals host St. Louis again. The Wizards host Chicago. 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:
Diana Ross andMichael Jackson, “Ease On Down the Road.” “The Wiz”opens at the National Theatre tonight.
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: Iran fired missiles at Saudi Arabia this morning and “urged youths to form human chains around power plants and its president said 14 million people had answered calls to volunteer to fight” Tuesday as President Trump‘s latest deadline approaches tonight at 8 PM. (AP) Trump yesterday reiterated threats to destroy civilian infrastructure in Iran unless it reopens the Strait of Hormuz—he said last week, “What happens in the strait we’re not going to have anything to do with” but here we are—saying, “The entire country can be taken out in one night.” He also claimed the US had already won the war. (Washington Post) The country’s ambassador in Islamabad described Pakistan’s recent efforts to end the war had been “positive and productive.” (Reuters) But negotiators describe a lot of daylight between US and Iranian positions and aren’t optimistic. (WSJ) Iran’s ten-point proposal offers a reopened strait in exchange for an end to strikes on it and on Hezbollah in Lebanon. (NYT) Trump said it was “not good enough.” (NYT)
So, uh, could he nuke Iran? “The chances at this moment are, at least, non-zero.” (Doomsday Scenario) Asked yesterday whether the war he started more than a month ago was coming to a close or ramping up, he said, “I can’t tell you.” (Politico) He said ‘that he’s “not at all’ concerned about committing war crimes.” (AP) Perhaps all these stances amount to negotiating positions to Trump, but both the US and Israel say power plants and bridges are legitimate targets. (WSJ) The Pentagon has expanded its list of potential targets to include plants that provide power to military as well as to civilians, a “workaround” to the whole war-crimes thing. (Politico) Trump said he believes God is on the US’s side on this one. (Washington Post) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth likened the rescue of a US airman shot down in Iran to Jesus’ resurrection. (NYT) Oh, and Trump threatened to jail people at an unspecified news outlet unless they said who leaked information about the plane being shot down. (NBC News)
Meanwhile, in DC: Presuming the world doesn’t have much bigger problems tomorrow morning, there’s still the question in Official Washington of when the Department of Homeland Security shutdown will end. Republicans in the House and Senate blame one another for the fiasco, lots of people are mad at Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader John Thune, and it doesn’t look as if anything will get solved soon. (Punchbowl News) Trump’s new budget proposed *cutting* more than 9,000 TSA workers in his recent budget proposal, which isn’t directly related to this imbroglio, and he’s floated the idea of smaller airports using private security. (Reuters) In other floating ideas, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin suggested that the US might pull customs enforcement from international airports in so-called sanctuary cities. (NOTUS) Remember ICE’s claims that it shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis in January because he and his cousin attacked a federal agent with a snow shovel, or perhaps a broomstick? Video of the incident shows a shovel on the ground throughout. (CNN)
Administration perambulation: Vice President JD Vance will visit Hungary today to try to boost the electoral prospects of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. (Politico) The Department of Education said it has ended agreements that would protect trans kids in five school districts. (AP) Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will testify about his relationship with the deceased, disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein next month. (Politico) Some Republicans in Congress hope to convince the administration to reverse cuts to rural and tribal public-media outlets. (NOTUS) Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said only about a fifth to a quarter of US farmers will be affected by a sharp rise in fertilizer prices due to the war—fertilizer is a major cargo through the strait—and that the US will do what it can to help them. (Washington Examiner) Trump entertained a tableful of kids at a White House Easter event yesterday with claims about former President Biden. (HuffPost) Melania Trump wore Ralph Lauren yesterday, which “suggested an attempt at a patriotic gesture.” (NYT)
How to kill time at the airport, by Daniella Byck:
US-AVIATION
National Airport last month. Photo by Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images.
Long TSA lines have been in the news lately, and with spring break for DC Public Schools on the horizon, many of you may have these queues on the brain. Ever your intrepid scout, I took a flight last week, arriving extra early in fear of crowds at security. The checkpoint wait times did turn out to be accurate, so I found myself with a lot of time to kill at National Airport. It was a nice opportunity to return to our airport guide, which features the lowdown on restaurants, lounges, and travel hacks for DCA, Dulles, and BWI. The extra time was a good opportunity to scope out some newer-to-me spots: I snagged a magazine from the airport’s Eastern Market outpost, scoped out the breezy and busy Capital One Landing, and then landed at Cuban cafe Colada Shop, which opened earlier this year, for some pre-flight yuca frita.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington announced finalists for this year’s RAMMY Awards. Restaurants serving cuisines from Africa and the African diaspora in the Caribbean are prominent on the list, and there’s a write-in-only award for the new “Content Creator of the Year” category.
• Iraq vet Cory Brown‘s online cooking show “Eat Your Feelings” offers honest discussions about grief, loneliness, and stress.
• The Riggsby will reopen this spring in Dupont Circle.
• Georgetown cat cafe Crumbs & Whiskers has reopened after it closed abruptly in February.
Local news links:
• ICE agents have arrested nearly 200,000 people in the DC area during Trump’s second term. (Washington Post) Loudoun County has released more than 100 people to ICE custody from its jail this year. (LoudounNow) Newly released video gives a view of what happened at a traffic stop last October when a federal agent fired on a car in DC that had been pulled over for allegedly having an illegal tint job. (WUSA9)
• Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed a bill that seeks to lower electricity costs for consumers. (ABC7)
• A jury in Prince William County found two men guilty in a murder-for-hire plot that authorities say the victim’s husband orchestrated from jail. (WUSA9)
• Police in Laurel say Robert Eakins trafficked a woman out of his house for months and hid in a crawlspace before being arrested. (NBC4 Washington)
• Cops in DC say a person riding a dirt bike hit two people in a bike lane on 14th Street, Northwest, on Saturday. The suspect is at large. (WUSA9)
• Marian Van Landingham, who founded the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, died Saturday. She was 88. (ALXnow)
• It’s just about time for the black bears to emerge. (WTOP)
Tuesday’s event picks:
• Jim Collins discusses his new book, “What to Make of a Life,” with Kelly Corrigan at Sixth and I.
• It’s a “queer line dancing night” at DC9.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Join the conversation!
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.