1. And so for the seventh time in their last nine Stanley Cup playoff series the Caps will play a Game 7. The Rangers assured that with a 1-0 victory at Madison Square Garden on Sunday evening. Washington’s checkered history in those games will leave its fans gasping for air for the next 24 hours. It’s why we love this sport – and hate it, too.

There aren’t a ton of internal decisions for Capitals general manager George McPhee to make this summer. He has four unrestricted free agents pending July 5. Defenseman Tom Poti and forward Wojtek Wolski won’t be back for sure. We’re unclear on the status of forwards Matt Hendricks and Mike Ribeiro.

That was some glorious return from the All-Star break for the Wizards, now wasn’t it? From the scoreboard that didn’t work, including the time and shot clock normally kept above the backboards, to Wale getting in a feud with the Toronto Raptors broadcasters, who called him a local rapper and said he was ‘no Drake,’ to the random “Jor-dan Craw-ford!” chant that sprang to life late as the Wizards failed to generate any consistent offensive flow and as Crawford himself remained reclined at the end of the bench throughout the game.

With the Jordan Crawford situation taken care of, the Wizards can turn their attention back to the court, where Bradley Beal and Cartier Martin both aren’t expected to miss any time following a yucky face-to-face collision during Thursday’s practice.

I’m going to start one more post with Jordan Crawford even though he’s gone because there are some things about his departure that are applicable to the rest of the Wizards roster. If nothing else, he’s not the Washington player who has bounced in and out of coach Randy Wittman’s rotation this season.

*Whatever the trade deadline and All-Star break did to disrupt the flow of the resurgent Wizards, they’re back. The idea of home wins over legitimate Western Conference teams Denver and Houston on back-to-back nights appeared daunting after the Wizards looked lethargic in their loss to Toronto earlier in the week. Instead, they proved they can still dictate how they want to play defensively over the course of 48 minutes against two teams with different kinds of significant offensive punch.

With their 90-84 win at Air Canada Centre on Monday, the Wizards sort of vindicated the notion that who they are now is a team that’s better on the road than their record (5-22) would indicate. I say “sort of” because that was the epitome of ugly. But it was also a game in which the Wizards never trailed by more than three points. As bad as they looked offensively at times (20 turnovers), they still had 23 assists on 34 field goals and made the Raptors, who shot 36.7 percent, look even worse.

There’ll be no more teasing with the standings after the Wizards lost, 96-95, to the Detroit Pistons. I’ll get to that in a sec, but first:

A Maryland teacher has reportedly been suspended after being accused of spreading antisemitic social media posts.

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and his deputies in the House endorsed Rep. David Trone's (D-MD) run for Senate on Monday, further dividing the party in what has become a two-person race in Maryland.

An elected Washington, D.C., official was among six people who were fined by the city this week after voting in the 2020 elections twice.

(The Center Square) - In the case of a holiday health emergency, there’s both good news and bad news for Marylanders.

The Justice Department will reportedly review the planned merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

The U.S. Open is being hosted at the exclusive Los Angeles Country Club for the first time in the club's history, with the world getting an up-close look at one of the most mysterious golf courses in the country.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) discussed the Senate's investigation into the merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, saying there is a "real risk" with the proposed agreement.

Former President Donald Trump spoke favorably of the controversial merger between LIV Golf and PGA Tour.

Two PGA Tour golf officials will testify as witnesses in front of a Senate subcommittee hearing on the LIV Golf merger next week, the committee's leaders announced Monday.

The PGA Tour announced it is adding Tiger Woods to its policy board and making changes to its governance after criticism from several players over the lack of transparency in the lead-up to the announced deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf in June.

Golfer Jon Rahm is reportedly jumping from the PGA Tour to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf and is expected to receive a lucrative payday for his move.

A deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf is not expected by Dec. 31, but the deadline is expected to be extended as the two entities reportedly appear within sight of making a deal.

Randy Travis has released a new song, "Where That Came From," with the help of artificial intelligence. It's his first single since he had a stroke.

A group of protesters blocked the entrance of Google's developer conference in Mountain View, Calif. The demonstrators have condemned the tech giant's cloud computing contract with Israel's government.

TikTok creators sued the U.S. government on Tuesday, alleging a new law that could ban the app violates their free speech rights under the 1st Amendment. The legislation is meant to force Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the service.

YouTube said more people are watching live events like Coachella and short form videos on TV sets. Sports, including the NFL, are also boosting viewership.

Knee-jerk regulations of AI and privacy issues could end up serving the biggest companies and hurting consumers by stifling future competition.

Johansson, who portrayed the voice of a computer program in 'Her,' was not behind OpenAI's 'Sky' voice assistant. Another actor provided the voice, OpenAI said.

TikTok plans to lay off employees this week, according to a report in the Information. The job cuts come as other companies have recently cut staff, including Apple and Google in California.

As Netflix continues to invest more in games, it is expanding its titles based on its popular reality shows including 'Too Hot to Handle' and 'Selling Sunset.'

Former President Trump is scheduled to headline fundraisers in San Francisco, Beverly Hills and Newport Beach next week after his felony convictions.

In the deeply Democratic Silicon Valley, there are some defectors. They're setting their sights — and their money — on Trump in the 2024 election.

Former President Trump, in his first post-conviction fundraising swing, raises millions of dollars throughout California.

New amendments to the California Journalism Preservation Act aim to make it more like a similar law in Canada.

The Tesla and SpaceX leader's beef with OpenAI flared up again after Apple unveiled its plans to use ChatGPT to support some of its AI features. Apple said privacy is a key component of its entry into the space.

A new poll shows that California voters are increasingly moving to social media, such as TikTok, for election information.

The Gene Roddenberry foundation will award $1 million to an early-stage venture focused on harnessing artificial intelligence in service of humanity.

Santa Clara chipmaker Nvidia has ridden the AI revolution to briefly vault over Microsoft and Apple and become the world's most valuable company.

The bill would tax Amazon, Meta and Google for the data they take from users and pump the money into news organizations in the form of tax credits.

Supreme Court sidesteps a ruling on laws in Florida and Texas that would regulate social media platforms.

Keke Palmer defends Angela Simmons after the reality TV star faces scrutiny for her promotional post featuring a video of her lounging in an Oreo-filled bathtub.

Some Silicon Valley investors are vocally backing Trump due to concerns about how the government is regulating cryptocurrency, its policies on AI and the threat of an increase in capital gains taxes.

Veronica Fraley, a U.S. discus thrower at the Paris Olympics, was having financial trouble back home. Flavor Flav and Alexis Ohanian helped pay off her rent for the year.

In a sweeping lawsuit, the Dept. of Justice on Friday accused TikTok of illegally collecting information on minors without their parents' permission.

In a major blow to Google, a federal judge on Monday ruled that the tech giant maintained and abused a monopoly on web searches.

Former President Trump returned to X, formerly Twitter, posting multiple videos as he seeks to rebuild momentum for his flagging campaign.

SB 1047 would require AI firms to share their safety plans with the attorney general upon request and face penalties if catastrophic events happen.

The autonomous vehicle company Cruise, which lost its California operating license last year after one of its cars struck a pedestrian, announced a partnership this week with the ride-hail service Uber.

The 'de-extinction' company Colossal and the conservation group Re:wild found common ground in the potential of genetic technology to rescue today's disappearing creatures.

Big Tech titans such as Elon Musk and Reid Hoffman are divided between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump but all too united in their selfish aims. We need a new model.

After years of complaining about Google's dominance in search, Yelp sued after a federal judge recently ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly in search.

In "Mating in Captivity" and "The State of Affairs," Esther Perel dissects our hidden desires and impulses with intellectual rigor.