It's faux Friday.

🌤️ Today's weather: Patchy fog then mostly sunny. High around 72, low 51.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Maureen Hanson!

Today’s newsletter is 1,085 words — a 4-minute read.

D.C.'s proposed foie gras ban could face a costly courtroom battle if voters approve it Tuesday — and a major U.S. producer is already preparing for a fight.

Why it matters: Initiative 86 would ban the luxury duck and goose liver product from D.C. menus and markets starting next July.

• But a similar prohibition in New York City has been tangled in litigation for years, raising questions about when D.C. could enforce its own.

Driving the news: Hudson Valley Foie Gras, one of the country's two major producers, tells Axios it's consulting attorneys about a potential challenge.

• "I'm already working with my lawyers," says vice president Marcus Henley, who argues D.C. can't prohibit sales of agricultural products legally produced in New York.
• "There are no ducks that are being fed for foie gras in D.C.," he says. "And they're telling me as a New York farmer that I can't sell my products in D.C. That's unconstitutional on several grounds."

The other side: Pro-Animal DC isn't fazed.

• "We're not worried," the campaign tells Axios, arguing that a New York farm "doesn't get to overrule" D.C. voters.
• Organizers point to unsuccessful legal challenges to California's foie gras ban.

The big picture: Hudson Valley and fellow New York producer La Belle Farm have already fought — and delayed — a similar ban in New York City.

Yes, but: Pro-Animal DC argues that New York's litigation relies on agricultural protections that don't exist in D.C.

Follow the money: D.C.'s chief financial officer estimates the ban would cost $314,000 to implement over four fiscal years — money that hasn't been budgeted.

• Henley predicts litigation could dwarf that estimate. "That's a drop in the eventual bucket," he says.
• Pro-Animal DC counters that the implementation cost is modest compared with other voter initiatives.

Another legal wrinkle: Critics say Initiative 86 is written so broadly that it could also ban chicken liver pâté, chopped liver and other poultry products.

• The measure covers liver products from birds fattened through "any method or practice," not just force-feeding. Former D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine told City Cast the wording could extend to chicken.
• Pro-Animal DC insists the measure targets only foie gras, saying the language was intended to cover extreme liver enlargement, not ordinary poultry production.
• "If the Council wants to tighten the definition after the vote, we'd welcome that," the campaign tells Axios.

Another legal threat

Supporters of the European spa company Therme pitched a sprawling wellness resort on the banks of the Anacostia River yesterday, as D.C. council members questioned its viability.

Why it matters: Sauna heads suffered a setback earlier this month when likely-next mayor Janeese Lewis George voiced opposition to the current proposal.

The big picture: Therme expects to draw 2 million visitors annually, said John Alschuler, head of Therme Group US, which rallied some local neighbors and community groups to testify in support.

• "What I'm excited about is opportunity," said Council member Trayon White, whose Ward 8 includes the proposed Poplar Point site — a short walk from Anacostia and across the river from Nats Park.

How it works: The Bowser administration's plan involves a land swap with the federal government.

• First, D.C. would spend $35 million to begin designing replacement facilities for the National Park Service at the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, an initial step toward opening Poplar Point to development.
• The relocation could take five to seven years, said deputy mayor for economic development Nina Albert, who negotiated the swap.
• Then, the city wants to offer Therme a $1 lease for 20 years to build out what could be a $800 million domed spa.
• Developer RedBrick could build 4,500 to 5,500 units of housing next to it, Albert said.

The intrigue: "There's a lot of curiosity about this project," said Council member Matt Frumin, who — amid questions over Therme's financial viability — asked Alschuler whether the company thinks it'll pencil out.

• "We're highly confident," Alschuler said, predicting that tourists will make up a third of its clientele.

What's ahead

📸 Alexandria is pulling the plug on all 61 Flock surveillance cameras amid privacy concerns. The city plans to deactivate the license plate readers by Friday and remove them by December, joining Arlington in abandoning the technology. (NBC4)

🗳️ D.C. Council member Robert White says he'll resign Monday unless a legal solution emerges to a little-known law barring sitting public officials from being elected as D.C.'s congressional delegate. The resignation will come just one day before Election Day, when White is expected to win the seat. (Washington Sun)

🤒 An illness outbreak has closed a Prince George's County elementary school for the rest of the week. At Princeton Elementary, 48 students and 16 staff members reported flu-like or gastrointestinal symptoms. The cause remains unknown. (FOX 5)

🍝 Three restaurants shutter: D.C.'s Cafe Fiorello closes tonight after just 17 months in a prominent Pennsylvania Avenue space, its National Harbor sibling Fiorella closes Thursday, and Crystal City's McCormick & Schmick's closed Sunday after 20+ years. (Eater)

There's a new locally-made movie to stream that focuses on the tensions between motherhood and ambition.

Why it matters: Older women are largely underrepresented in the film industry.

• But all the higher-ups behind this project — the screenwriter, director, casting director, cinematographer and the producer — are D.C.-area women over the age of 40.

State of play: "The Other You" focuses on the toll of invisible labor that mothers tend to assume to keep their households running.

• It follows a writer and mother of three who's frustrated with carrying the mental load for her family.
• But one day she finds a magic portal in her closet that transports her to an alternate universe where her family is helpful, she has time to write, and everything is seemingly perfect — that is, until she realizes it isn't.

It was filmed in Alexandria and is the winner of several local awards, including Best Metro D.C. Film at the D.C. Independent Film Festival.

What they're saying: Julie Gold, the film's Bethesda-based screenwriter, says it was a "spiritual" experience to work on a project with other women her age.

• "It's satisfying to have talented people working when maybe they would be pushed out from stories."

Where to watch

🧣 Cuneyt is ready for sweater weather.

🥯 Mimi is carb-loading for her bday!

🦆 Anna is foie-tigued.

This newsletter was edited by Alexa Mencia Orozco.