Tennis Tempest. Is the Rock Creek Tennis Center the site of local D.C.’s next parkland fight with the Trump administration? National Park Service officials raised alarms about a plan to lease the facility — and a chunk of parkland — to Mark Ein, who owns the D.C. Open tennis tournament. According to the Washington Post’s Rick Maese, officials feared it would violaterules designed to keep national parks accessible to the public. If that sounds familiar, it’s the same critique locals lodged against the luxury Hains Point golf course. Ein is also the owner of Washington City Paper and a partner in the Washington Commanders.

Biz Briefs. The Washington Business Journal published answers to its mayoral candidate questionnaires about economic development. The leading candidates’ responses are telling. Kenyan McDuffie opens with the current crisis, promising a “private-sector economy capable of absorbing the shock from cuts,” and talking up startups. Janeese Lewis George mentions “reskilling” displaced feds, but skips the fulsome paeans to the private sector. She talks up arts, university research, “independent producers,” “mission-driven technology” and ensuring local cultural organizations can lead major festivals.

JLG in the Atlantic. The Atlantic also profiles Lewis George as an avatar of intra-Democratic divisions. Notably, the piece gets into her pledge to build 72,000 new housing units at a time when builders are already avoiding tenant-friendly D.C. “Instead, the most important developer would be the local government,” it says. Also notable: Whenasked if she’d commit to “not defunding, demilitarizing, or disarming the police,” she’s less than full-throated: “That’s a nuanced question,” she says.

Mount Pleasant Arrest Latest. Last week, video of U.S. Marshals making an arrest in Mount Pleasant’s main plaza went viral. The video was disturbing in part because the federal forces at one point appear to draw guns on one of the neighbors heckling them. But NBC4’s Mark Segraves reported yesterday that the man arrested for public intoxication turned out to be wanted for murder.

McDuffie’s Successor Picks JLG. Lewis George picked up an endorsement from Ward 5 D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker. He’s a fellow progressive who joined Lewis George in opposing the curfew bill — but he also represents McDuffie’s home base, giving the move a bit of extra significance. For those counting at home, that’s four Councilmembers endorsing Lewis George to two for McDuffie.

A JLG-Trayon Attack Ad. An attack mailer linking Lewis George to indicted D.C. Councilmember Trayon White landed at your newsletter author’s house yesterday. The ad reminds people that the mayoral candidate had recently called White a “mentor” and swore him back into office following his arrest on corruption charges. The sender is called People for a United DC, and it’s funded by the United DC Research Council, a dark-money group that has attacked Lewis George.

Finally: The former Rock n’ Roll Burger King may be gone, but the lot is for sale, according to Urban Turf. The Connecticut Ave. fast-food joint was a longstanding D.C. curio — a dowdy, un-updated eatery with an odd collection of 1980s pop-culture memorabilia. It closed in 2022 and a variety of plans for the space fell through. It was abruptly demolished in February.

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Your newsletter author got an emoji-filled campaign robotext yesterday from Malcom, “a volunteer with DC Election Facts, a non-profit initiative to ensure voters have access to non-partisan information about candidates for DC mayor.” The attached link went to a site that presents a set of facts that are, shall we say, friendly to McDuffie and unfriendly to Lewis George.

I was a little suspicious, since my last message from the same phone number came from “Socrates from RFK Now,” and encouraged me to urge my councilmember to support last year’s vote on the stadium deal. Also, Malcom Fox — with the same unusual spelling — is the head of Opportunity D.C., a pro-market independent expenditure group that has endorsed McDuffie.

“Yes, DC Elections facts is an Opportunity DC initiative (as disclosed on the DCEFs website) to provide accurate information about the record of mayoral candidates,” Fox texted me yesterday, acknowledging that he was the “volunteer” in the text. He said the pro-stadium group had been another Opportunity DC initiative.

Tradecraft, people!