Good morning. Sunny and hot with a high around 97 today. A low near 74 overnight. The Nationals host the Mets this evening after a wild game last night. 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 em ail newsletter. Sign up here. I can’t stop listening to: Knave, “Don’t Feed the Shark.” Something tells me this DC band gives a memorable live performance. Find out yourself tonight when they play Rhizome with Rain Shears and Big Government. 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: In a reversal not seen since the one-day effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month, President Trump announced on social media Monday that while he had planned to attack Iran Tuesday, he wouldn’t. (NYT) The President said Middle East allies including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar had asked for time to seek a deal to end the war Trump started, which is now in its 81st day. A negotiated settlement with Iran has remained out of reach since the sides agreed on what was first billed as a two-week ceasefire in early April. (AP) Iran’s latest proposal does not look substantially different than its previous ones, including the one Trump called “garbage”: It wants reparations from the US for damage from the campaign as well as an end to sanctions and the US blockade of its ports. (Reuters) Stuck in the riddle with you: Trump wants Iran to end its nuclear program. Iran sees that as a red line. “The result is a war of endurance centred on one of the world’s most critical waterways.” (Reuters) Iran said it had established an authority that would formalize its de facto control of the Strait of Hormuz. (France 24) Meanwhile, Pakistan, which is ostensibly brokering an end to the war, has deployed jets and thousands of troops to help defend Saudi Arabia, a US ally. (Reuters) Back at home: Global oil prices fell after Trump’s announcement, though gas prices in the US rose again, to a national average of $4.533 a gallon. (AAA) Trump’s approval rating fell to 37 percent, and support for the war registered at 31 percent. (NYT) Young conservative supporters of the President expressed “a striking level of frustration” over the war in interviews. (Politico) There’s a kind of slush / All over the world tonight: As expected, Trump dropped his lawsuit against the IRS, which he oversees, in exchange for the establishment by the Department of Justice, which he oversees, of a $1.776 billion fund to “compensate those who, like him, have claimed they have been targets of a ‘weaponized’ justice system.” (Washington Post) Trump and his family members won’t receive any funds from the slush fund. January 6 rioters, however, may get some of the money. (NYT) Brian Morrissey, a top lawyer at the Department of the Treasury, resigned after the fund was announced. DOJ won’t need approval from Congress as it decides how to disburse payments. (NYT) You can read the agreement here. (Law Dork) Ballroom pickle: Republicans in the US Senate are searching for a way to fund security at Trump’s planned White House ballroom that will satisfy him, members, and Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. (Punchbowl News) Trump pressured Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fire McDonough after she zapped funding from the current version of a reconciliation bill. (Notus) Trump put the screws to Thune in a call yesterday. (Semafor) Administration perambulation: A top State Department official, Christopher Landau, pushed his department to approve a visa for Zbigniew Ziobro, a former Polish government official who’s on the run from charges in his country. (Reuters) Trump proposed admitting 10,000 more white South Africans, saying they faced an “emergency refugee situation.” (NYT) A county prosecutor in Minnesota announced charges against Christian Castro, an ICE officer who shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis this January. Castro and another officer claimed Sosa-Celis, who is in the US legally, attacked officers with a snow shovel and a broom, an account that video of the incident does not support. (AP) A Brookings report estimates that 100,000 American kids have had at least one parent detained by the feds since Trump’s second term began. (ProPublica) Perambulation, Part Two: DOD’s inspector general is investigating the Pentagon’s program of deadly strikes on small boats it accuses of smuggling drugs. (NBC News) The New York Times filed another lawsuit against the Pentagon over press restrictions it has imposed. (WSJ) The FBI hopes to purchase access to license-plate readers that would allow it to track vehicles anywhere in the US. (404 Media) The EPA proposed eliminating limits on four “forever chemicals” in drinking water. (Washington Post) The House of Representatives is considering a bipartisan measure that would charge electric vehicle owners an annual fee for their use of roads. (NYT) The Senate confirmed Steve Pearce as the new head of the Bureau of Land Management. Environmentalists and Democrats opposed the appointment. (AP) Trump bought stock in drugmaker Eli Lilly, which makes Zepbound, as the government announced initiatives to get GLP-1s covered by Medicare. (KFF) Make plans for a rainy Memorial Day weekend, by Daniella Byck: Photo of Skyline Caverns by Flickr user Stefan Serena. I had planned a Memorial Day itinerary that spoke to the unofficial start of summer — definitely outdoors, maybe on the water. But the forecast is looking dreary all weekend long, so we need a day trip plan that can pivot. If Monday is looking dry and not too hot, it’s a free entry day for National Parks around the country, including Shenandoah National Park. Head to the northern end of the park around Front Royal for a quick and easy 1.3-mile hike to Lands Run Falls, an hour and a half drive from DC. Ditch your car in the Lands Run parking area (mile 9.2 on Skyline Drive) and venture through the trees to see the small cascades. Now, come Monday, if it’s still raining or you need to kill some time while the ground dries up or you just want to add another activity to your trek, stop by Skyline Caverns for an indoor adventure. The caves in Front Royal are filled with anthodite formations, including a freaky old 18-inch crystal. Learn all about them on a one-hour tour. Tickets are $30 per person, and you can add on a mini train or mirror maze experience for $8 per person and activity. Recently on Washingtonian dot com: • Luckily, no one was hurt when some fool threw a beer keg through Georgetown Cupcake’s window. • Marv’s Dogs, a kid-friendly hot doggerie from the owners of Cork Wine Bar, opened recently in Tenleytown. • The Hitching Post, Sushiko, Perry’s—these 25 DC-area restaurants are classics for a reason. • Last month’s splashiest residential real estate transactions—and who made them. • Photos from Sunday’s prayer festival on the National Mall. • A Nantucket-inspired wedding near Annapolis. Local news links: • Citing video of a brawl at a Navy Yard Chipotle over the weekend, US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro doubled down on her plans to prosecute parents for teens’ misdeeds. (Washington Post) The FBI is now looking into the fracas, which has yet to produce reports of injuries or damage. (WUSA9) • Four Democrats, including Dorothy McAuliffe and Bree Fram, dropped plans to run for Congress after the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated a new congressional map narrowly approved by voters in a recent referendum. (ABC News) • Trump called for an investigation into a printing error that caused Maryland officials to reissue mail-in ballots, falsely saying “nobody knows” what will happen with the old ones. The state says they won’t be counted. (NBC News) • Florida’s NextEra Energy plans to buy Richmond-based Dominion Energy. (Washington Post) • The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington has endorsed Kenyan McDuffie in the race to succeed DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. (Axios D.C.) McDuffie’s chief opponent, Council member Janeese Lewis George, campaigned with her embattled colleague Trayon White, saying she loves him. (Jewish Insider) White’s bribery trial will begin in September. (WTOP) • Police in Prince William County say an employee of a gas station fatally stabbed a man during a fight. (DC News Now) • Alexandria police shot and killed a man they say had shot a woman at an apartment they shared before charging at them. The woman later died. (WUSA9) • The Nationals banned at least one of the three people who unfurled a white-nationalist banner at Sunday’s ballgame. Jake Lang, a pardoned January 6 rioter, took credit for the stunt online. (The Athletic) • Remember those high-priced stolen bottles of wine? Two of the bottles are back. (Washington Post) • Won’t someone get the Prince of Petworth a hot dog hat? (PoPville) Tuesday’s event pick: • “Othello,” starring Wendell Pierce, opens at Shakespeare Theatre Company. See more picks for this week from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter. Correction: This post originally said a pause in fighting between the US and Iran was first billed as a “two-weed ceasefire.” It was, in fact, intended to be a two-week ceasefire. The post Chipotle Brawl Sparks FBI Investigation, Trump Falsely Claims Maryland Could Count Botched Ballots, Nationals Ban White Nationalist first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less