Good morning. Sunny with a high around 80 today. Clear overnight with a low near 61. The Wizards visit Miami this evening. 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: Cat Power, “Could We.” It’s been 20 years since “The Greatest,” Chan Marshall’s album recorded with some terrific Memphis studio musicians. She’ll perform the whole record tonight at 9:30.    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 updates: The Pentagon identified Army Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington as the seventh US service member to die in President Trump‘s war on Iran. (AP) Oil prices, which had approached $120 a barrel yesterday, fell after Trump said the war was “very complete, pretty much.” (CBS News) Trump later complicated the picture he had created, calling the war a “little excursion” drawing to a close but also agreeing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said US actions so far were “only just the beginning.” (NBC News) Some of Trump’s advisers “have encouraged him to articulate a plan to extract the U.S. from the war and make the case that the military had largely achieved its objectives,” worried that support for the war among the public, which is already low, would fall further as conflict drives up gas prices. (WSJ) The economy: Stock and oil markets had a wild day as Trump sent conflicting signals about his war plans. (WSJ) The war has “triggered the largest oil supply disruption in history.” (CNBC) Republicans are freaked out by the resulting rise in gas prices this week. (Politico) Officials in the US and other countries said they wouldn’t yet tap strategic reserves of oil. (NYT) Iran said it “would not allow ‘one litre’ of Middle Eastern oil to reach the U.S. or its allies while U.S. and Israeli attacks continue.” (Reuters) Meanwhile, on the Hill: Democrats in the Senate plan to force repeated war-powers votes unless the administration explains what, exactly, they hope this war to accomplish. (Politico) Trump didn’t offer members of his own party much messaging clarity on affordability with yesterday’s remarks, in which he prioritized the Senate passing the “SAVE America” act, a voter-ID law “that Senate Majority Leader John Thune insists has no path forward in the Senate.” (Punchbowl News) Trump is reportedly withholding his endorsement in Texas’s GOP Senate primary to try to move the legislation forward. (Politico) He also asked for more additions to the bill, including a ban on voting by mail. (NBC News) US Representative Kevin Kiley of California left the Republican party yesterday, narrowing Speaker Mike Johnson‘s already slim majority. (Axios) Republicans in Congress avoided addressing a social media post by US Representative Andy Ogles of of Tennessee, who wrote—where else?—on X that “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” (NPR) The shutdown we all kind of forgot about: The Department of Homeland Security is still shut down as the White House and Democrats tangle over reforms to immigration enforcement. In Norfolk, a food bank prepared meals for people affected. (WAVY) Former ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan spent millions to buy new Chevy Tahoes for ICE agents emblazoned with the agency’s name and the slogan “Defend the Homeland”—making the vehicles extremely identifiable and hence kind of useless for enforcement. (Washington Examiner) Over the objections of Cook County’s state’s attorney, there’s a high-powered push in Chicago to appoint a special prosecutor to “investigate and potentially charge the law enforcement officials who carried out the aggressive deportation campaign in the Chicago area.” (Chicago Sun-Times) The teen mariachis ICE detained last month were released yesterday. (Texas Tribune) US Senator Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s choice to replace fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, could get a confirmation hearing next week. (Politico) Administration perambulation: The FBI subpoenaed Arizona voting records from the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden. (NYT) A federal judge in New Jersey warned the administration against leaving in office three prosecutors it installed as leaders of the US Attorney’s office there after the same judge disqualified his previous pick, Alina Habba. (Washington Post) Trump plans an executive order against Anthropic, the AI firm with which the Pentagon is feuding. (Axios) Anthropic sued DOD, which designated it a “supply-chain risk.” (Wired) A year after Signalgate, there have been few consequences for Hegseth. (Atlantic) The White House said it fired J. Todd Inman from the NTSB because he used alcohol on the job and missed meetings; Inman called his ouster a “political hit job.” (Washington Post) Trump is fixated on whether Republicans should nominate Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio to run in 2028. (WSJ) He’s also pretty obsessed with Florsheim oxfords. (WSJ) Consider the magnolias, by Daniella Byck: Photograph by Flickr user m01229. The National Park Service’s official peak bloom prediction for the Tidal Basin cherry blossoms (March 29-April 1) tends to overshadow another bloom coming to town: magnolias. The flowers begin to burst open around mid-March in pink, white, and yellow, a welcome reminder that spring has arrived. Smithsonian Gardens has a map of where you can find various magnolias around the National Mall, from the white and pink varietals in the Haupt Garden to the early bloomers outside the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Dumbarton Oaks is a favorite destination for magnolias, and petal-peepers should reserve tickets to see the flowering trees as well as other spring blooms. The US National Arboretum has a collection dedicated to holly and magnolia, with the latter shining in spring. Recently on Washingtonian dot com: • Bumblebirds, Carla Hall‘s new fried chicken joint and Southern-style cocktail bar, will open Saturday on Capital Hill. • A JFK Jr. lookalike contest this past weekend brought out more than a dozen John-John hopefuls. Meet the fellow who won. • The local Black and Missing Foundation works to bring greater attention to missing persons cases that involve people of color. • Rockville’s new Hijos del Maíz trailer focuses on food made with freshly pressed corn tortillas. • Photos from our After Hours event at a.kitchen+bar last week. Local news links: • US and DC officials yesterday released details about the upcoming Indycar Freedom 250 Grand Prix scheduled to take over DC streets in August. (Washington Post) • A class action suit led by a local boater accuses DC Water of negligence in the Potomac River sewage spill. (NBC4 Washington) • Metro Transit police arrested Bryan Betancur after he left a hearing in Arlington Monday. The January 6 rioter whom Trump pardoned last year filmed himself touching women’s hair surreptitiously while on Metro. (WUSA9) • Police say former DC cop Timothy Valentin assaulted multiple women. (Washington Post) • Audrey Clement, a perennial candidate for office in Arlington, was attacked while gathering signatures. A bystander who tried to help her got injured, cops say. (ARLnow) • ESPN hired six journalists the Washington Post laid off when it took a meat ax to its newsroom recently. (Axios) • Watergate figure Alexander Butterfield died yesterday. He was 99. (Washington Post) Tuesday’s event picks: • A DC-themed take on “As You Like It” opens at the Folger Theatre. • Pre-game for the Oscars with a trivia night at DC Arts Center. See more picks for this week from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.The post Trump Struggles to Explain When His War Will End, DC Grand Prix Plans Revealed, and DHS Is Still Shut Down first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less