***ROUND UP PRESENTED BY The American Gaming Association***
The American Gaming Association has released new research estimating that Americans will bet more than $2 billion through more than 70 million brackets on March Madness this year. With more people filling out brackets than casting a ballot for President Obama – who makes his NCAA predictions in the Oval Office each year – it’s clear that Americans embrace gaming. Learn more here.
#WEEKEND Saturday 58 °F and rainy; Sunday 53 °F and sunny; Let’s follow @HungryLobbyist’s advice and dress like it’s spring to let mother nature know we’re ready;
#NATIONAL Don’t worry, everyone’s brackets are jacked; How does she find anything; Best life hack of the week; We can stop pretending to care about SXSW now; Who follows whom in the Republican nominee circle; Why does every Meerkat stream end when we click it? Do they not like us?; the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air called into Washington Journal on C-SPAN this week; Game of Thrones actors act out their favorite emoji;
#DISTRICT This is not a picture from this morning; Washingtonian put an amazing DC bucket list together for locals; Our favorite end-of-winter charity event is next Weds: Congressional Hockey Game; Plight of the Unemployed Chief of Staff; if someone cracks one more “schocking” joke, we’ll lose it; really well done storytelling using Taylor Swift’s lyrics; Life on The Hill as an LC: how their time is spent some days; Through the Lens of Andy Feliciotti; Amazing picture from 1915; No whining here, only wine; Watergate Hotel embracing / capitalizing on its scandalous past; How well do you know historical DC?; The X2 bus moves to the big screen; are you going to the Red Sweater Project fundraiser?; Town Hall is one of the best bro bars in the country: “you can rub shoulders with Barbour jackets that contain life-like wax figures named Mitchell & Brad, who are interning on the Hill right now … In addition to democracy, Mitchell & Brad also enjoy double-fisting whiskey-gingers out of Town Hall’s plastic cups, and the SEC. ”
#FAMOUSFORDC Jacob Wood is still the man; Jon Grella is upset because Obama picked the Cats over Nova; Morgan Gress wrote a really sweet Thankful Thursday post this week; Sam Stein, Huffington Post’s Senior Politics Editor, has an exclusive interview with the President airing tomorrow; Famous 5 with rockstar David Drucker;
#TWEETSOFTHEWEEK Tweets we liked you can RT, @mention, or just enjoy: @ElaheIzadi; @MeghanMcCain; @NintendoAmerica; @dceiver; @aaronwiener;
#MEDIAMOVES thanks to @StoryPartners: Kevin Krolicki has been named the Washington bureau chief over at Reuters. The Hill’s Cameron Joseph moves over to the New York Daily News’s Washington bureau to cover the 2016 presidential election. CNN’s political team continues to grow, adding Sara Murray and Nia-Malika Henderson. The Daily Beast hired Betsy Woodruff to cover 2016 and Congress and promoted Will Rahn to bureau chief.;
#CONGRATS Congrats to the crappy weather winning the day, again; Mike Lambright is making big moves; Ericka Andersen Sylvester is the new digital director at the National Review; Robert Myers is starting as the Digital Director for the Senate Republican Conference; Congrats to Felicia Sonmez headed to the Wall Street Journal later this year as editor of the China Real Time blog; Penn State superstar Jonathan Nabavi turned the NFL down and started his new position as Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee with Chairman Grassley; Gindy making big moves; Tara Palmeri hit the jackpot, moving to Belgium next week to report on European politics for POLITICO Europe; Congratulations to all the winners at the Digiday Publishing Awards; Congratulations to Caitlin Poling on moving from the Foreign Policy Initiative back to the Hill as national security advisor to Sen. David Perdue; We’re sad to hear Roneeka Bhagotra-Gordon is leaving but we’re expecting bigger and better things at The Queen Vic from her; Hilary Smith is taking over as events master (i.e. manager) at Sonoma Restaurant and Winebar; Gov. O’Malley is crushing it this week; Tell Michael Woeste congratulations on his move to the House Judiciary Committee.
#BYE Catch ya later.