Good morning. Sunny and breezy with a high around 40 on this Friday the 13th. A low near 28 overnight. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below. We’re off Monday; I’ll see you bright and early Tuesday. I hope you have a great long w eekend. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here. I can’t stop listening to: Marissa Nadler, “Bessie, Did You Make It?” Nadler brings her dreamy folk music to Songbyrd on Valentine’s Day. Take Washingtonian Today with you! I made a playlist on Spotify and on Apple Music of last year’s music recommendations. I’ll make one soon for 2026. Tell us where to go: Typically, we’re the ones giving readers travel recommendations. But this year, we’re asking you to share your opinions too. Nominate your favorite place to stay in our travel survey. Your picks could end up in the May issue. Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out: Surge overkill: The administration will end its savage immigration crackdown in Minnesota, border czar Tom Homan announced yesterday. Mary Moriarty, the county attorney for Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, said her office would continue to investigate offenses by federal officers. (MPR News) Trump administration officials hope their retreat will blunt Democratic calls for reforms to Department of Homeland Security forces. (Politico) DHS will shut down at midnight unless lawmakers reach a deal for funding—unlikely since Congress left town last night. (Punchbowl News) DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and “close adviser” Corey Lewandowski “have embarked on a rehabilitation tour” in the wake of growing bipartisan criticism of the Minnesota operation, but noise from the “constant chaos” in their department has grown louder. (WSJ) A top federal prosecutor in Minnesota asked a judge to dismiss charges against Julio Sosa-Celis, a man an ICE agent shot last month, saying the evidence in the case is “materially inconsistent” with what federal authorities claimed about it. (NYT) Meanwhile: In California, an immigration judge ended deportation proceedings against Narciso Barranco, a man agents claimed threatened them with a weed whacker. (NYT) Climate change is over: The EPA will no longer regulate greenhouse gasses. Trump repealed a 2009 finding that emissions threaten health, which could lead to more pollution and further warming of the planet. (NYT) Here’s a list of lies by Trump and others about the finding. (AP) The FBI—including a member of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force—appears to be investigating the activist group Extinction Rebellion NYC. (The Intercept) Administration perambulation: The mysterious whistleblower complaint about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard centers on an intercepted conversation two foreign nationals held that concerned Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. (WSJ) A federal judge in DC halted, for now, the Pentagon’s campaign against US Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. (NPR) Americans are paying 90 percent of Trump’s tariffs, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (Reuters) House Speaker Mike Johnson mildly criticized the Department of Justice for surveilling lawmakers while they read the Epstein files. (Politico) DOJ forced out Gail Slater, the administration’s top antitrust official. (Guardian) Jeremy Carl‘s State Department nomination may be kaput after US Senator John Curtis of Utah said he’d vote against him, citing what he characterized as Carl’s “anti-Israel views and insensitive remarks about Jews.” (Deseret News) Trump met with Paramount CEO David Ellison last week despite claiming “I haven’t been involved” in Paramount’s hostile bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. (CNN) Don Lemon will be arraigned today. Legal experts expect the feds’ case against him to be dismissed. (CBS News) Trump pardoned Nate Newton and four other former NFL players for various crimes. (AP) New York officials raised a rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument yesterday, defying an order by Trump. (AP) US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro filed a slip-and-fall lawsuit against the city of Rye, New York, where she tripped over a piece of wood in August. (AP) Trump wants the National Portrait Gallery to commission a new portrait of him. (NYT) And finally: “I’m not scared of a germ,” Health Secretary RFK Jr. said on a podcast released this week. “I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats.” (USA Today) One snazzy open house this weekend: Photograph by BTW Images. This three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom townhouse in Old Town has large windows, spa-inspired baths, and a swanky patio. It’s listed at $2,495,000, and you can see it and our other picks for the best open houses this weekend. Recently on Washingtonian dot com: • Alexandria’s Kathryn Andrea, who shocked audiences on “My Strange Addiction” because she snorted all her food, tells us she has resolved to eat in a more conventional manner. • As some NHL franchises roll back celebrations of Pride, the Capitals are still making efforts to welcome LBGTQ+ fans. • Nine fun ideas for Valentine’s Day, which is tomorrow. Local news links: • DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said Congress didn’t act in time when it repealed a local tax bill. Expect absolute flipping chaos this tax season. (The 51st) Neither DC Mayor Muriel Bowser nor Attorney General Brian Schwalb have said whether they’ll sue. (WUSA9) • Schwalb yesterday announced a RICO lawsuit against DC landlords his office accuses of running a “slumlord empire.” (WTOP) • Manassas Mayor Michelle Davis-Younger unexpectedly announced that she would step down with two years left of her term to go. (InsideNoVa) • A workplace dispute in Hyattsville left one man dead and his coworker arrested for murder. (WUSA9) • Montgomery County police arrested a man they said smelled a child’s feet at a Dave Buster’s. (DC News Now) • Ramil Ventura Palafox, the former CEO of a multi-level marketing company, was sentenced in Virginia to 20 years in prison for a bitcoin-related Ponzi scheme. (WUSA9) • The Richmond Free Press will close, ending a decades-long run as the capital’s Black newspaper. (Washington Post) • Ilia Malinin will go for gold in the free skate today at 1 PM. (Axios D.C.) Weekend event picks: Friday: “Mammoth,” a new immersive exhibition by the artist Nick Cave, opens at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Saturday: The annual George Washington Birthday Parade rolls through Old Town. Sunday: Celebrate Mardi Gras at the Wharf. See lots more picks for the weekend from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.  The post Yet Another Shutdown Is Nigh, DC Tax Chaos Looms, and RFK Jr. Says He Used to Snort Coke Off of Toilet Seats first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less