Good morning. Mostly cloudy with a high around 88 today. A chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 PM. Rain chances persist into tonight, with a low near 72. Sports this weekend: The Washington Commanders open their preseason this evening when they host the Miami Dolphins. The Nationals visit th e Mets tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday. The Mystics host the Los Angeles Sparks at CareFirst Arena Saturday. D.C. United visits CF Montréal Saturday. Loudoun United FC visits Detroit City FC Saturday. The Washington Spirit visits Angel City FC Sunday. How well do you know the District? Play our new geography game and test your local knowledge. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below. I’ll become an empty nester this weekend! Please send advice about what I can do with all the time I used to spend turning off light switches around the house. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here. I can’t stop listening to: Yard Act, “The Overload.” This spirited Leeds band plays Black Cat tonight with the Armed. 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: The war: Two tankers were attacked by drones Thursday night while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. ADNOC, the oil company owned by Abu Dhabi, said Iran was behind the strikes, which caused minor damage and no injuries. (AP) President Trump claims the strait is open and under US control. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US could blockade Iranian ports “indefinitely.” (Reuters) Only nine ships made it through the waterway yesterday. (Reuters) Fuel prices rose in the US this week, and “So far, this is the highest August on record when it comes to the national gasoline average.” (AAA) Ship shape: The US will deploy the USS George Washington to the Gulf to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, where a nine-month deployment has led to reports of increasing despair among sailors on the carrier. (WSJ) Lawmakers said they were concerned about conditions aboard the Lincoln. (NOTUS) Meanwhile: In a nod to one of Trump’s more unusual fixations, the Navy will abandon an electro-magnetic system for launching aircraft from some ships that it has spent billions of dollars to develop and return to steam technology. (WSJ) More Kennedy Center drama: The Kennedy Center’s Trump-packed board voted again to close the arts complex for two years to conduct renovations and to again place Trump’s name on the exterior of the building, this time under President Kennedy‘s. (Washington Post) The board wants to name the center’s grounds “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” The REACH will remain open during the planned closure. Next up: A judge will scrutinize these workarounds. (NYT) Spox fly: Who will replace Karoline Leavitt as Trump’s press secretary? Some names spent Thursday being bandied about, mentioned, and floated, including those of Alina Habba, Matthew Boyle, and Scott Jennings. (New York Post) Other names in the air: Monica Crowley, Jason Miller, Leavitt’s deputy Anna Kelly, and Katie Miller. (Politico) Administration perambulation: Aaron Reitz, the US Attorney for Texas’s Southern District, said bags found in the van of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, whom immigration officers killed during a stop last month, did not contain meth, as the FBI had suggested. (Texas Tribune) “Border czar” Tom Homan argued that ICE’s planned purchase of gloves that deliver electric shocks could help avoid such deadly encounters. (AP) The Department of Homeland Security investigated unions and left-wing groups in Minnesota, going back years in a hunt for evidence of what it claims was a “conspiracy to impede the work of immigration officers” in the state. (NYT) US District Judge Emmet Sullivan warned lawyers for the government “that he has held lawyers in contempt before.” Sullivan is adjudicating a suit that claims the Justice Department mishandled files it had on the deceased, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. (NBC News) The administration has deputized private companies to attack hackers as long as they register with a program and seek authorization first. (NYT) Trump’s political operation has encouraged Republicans to go after health-insurance companies on the campaign trail. (Axios) Trump and Elon Musk “are talking again” after their relationship hit the skids, thanks in part to efforts by Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr. (WSJ) Recently on Washingtonian dot com: • Bookstores in the area say they’ve received mysterious bulk orders some suspect are from AI companies looking to scan and destroy rare books. • DC’s likely next mayor, Janeese Lewis George, shares some of her likes and dislikes. • Martinis are hot right now, but area bartenders share some other ideas for late-summer libations. • By the numbers: What goes into A. Litteri’s classic Italian sub? Local news links: • Someone poured something that caused bubbles in the fountain of the World War II Memorial and painted a cryptic phrase on the structure. (AP) • Media properties associated with David D. Smith, including Spotlight on Maryland, the Baltimore Sun, and the Sinclair Broadcast Group—which owns WJLA in the DC area—have been unsparing in investigations of Maryland Governor Wes Moore‘s military service. What is going on? (Intelligencer) • Will bodycam footage from a scary confrontation between federal immigration officers and a woman in Northern Virginia be released? Signs point to no. (NOTUS) • Assistant US Attorney General Colin McDonald posted insults about the DC Council on X, calling its request to governors to withdraw National Guard troops from the District “impotent theatrics.” (City Cast DC) • A federal court in Virginia will decide whether a Georgia-based company can proceed with a plan to auction items salvaged from the Titanic. (Washington Post) • A North Carolina man will be extradited to Maryland to face charges that he urinated on fellow concertgoers at a Morgan Wallen concert last month. (WUSA9) • Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels is upset that LSU wants to give his old number to another player. He sent a cease-and-desist letter to his alma mater. (AP) • Police in Fairfax say they broke up a large-scale reptile threat ring. (NBC4 Washington) Weekend event picks: Friday: Gianandrea Noseda leads the NSO through Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Wolf Trap. Saturday: That eat-an-apple-with-me thing is happening at Meridian Hill Park. Sunday: It’s Day 2 of Panda Fest in downtown DC. See more picks for the weekend from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.The post Kennedy Center Board Votes to Slap Trump’s Name on Building Again; World War II Memorial Defaced With Bubbles, Paint; Alleged Reptile Theft Ring Busted first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less