👋🏼 Cuneyt here, with Town Talker — my column on money and power.

AI's power thirst and geopolitical upheaval are jacking up electricity prices — so what's a mayor's race got to do with it? Well, D.C.'s frontrunners are pointing the finger at one another for the panic you now feel every time you get a Pepco bill.

The big picture: It's hard to blame a council member in D.C. for the phenomenon of rising global energy prices — so let me try to fact check the attacks on both sides.

State of play: At a rowdy debate recently, Council member Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie made specious claims about why the other had a hand in D.C.'s escalating utility bills.

• Scuttling criticisms of being a lowkey candidate, McDuffie launched into a thunderous attack, claiming Lewis George hasn't introduced "a single piece of standalone legislation to deal with the problem."

🔎 McDuffie reality check: Ehhh, technically true. But as the Sierra Club points out, Lewis George signed onto at least one council bill that aimed to reduce costs. (A pending measure, for instance, would enroll households unable to keep up into affordability programs.)

The other side: Lewis George is blaming McDuffie — when he was chair of the council committee overseeing electric utilities — for not putting pressure on the Public Service Commission, whose job it is to set fair rates.

• "He sided with Washington Gas and Pepco and delivered higher rates for you," said Lewis George.

🔎 JLG reality check: You can't draw a straight line from McDuffie to your gas bill, but it's fair to say McDuffie and his colleagues can always be more aggressive at oversight — crack some agency heads and hold them accountable, on behalf of the taxpayer. But ultimately, it's up to the PSC members to set rates.

• The council's real power lies in the appointment process. And this is where Lewis George's argument is weakened by the fact that she, like McDuffie, voted in favor of all three of the commission's members.
• In fact, there was broad support for the nominees. The Sierra Club, which now blasts McDuffie's record on utility oversight, had applauded the nominations of two members, Richard Beverly and Ted Trabue. (Four years later, Sierra Club director Mark Rodeffer rues backing Trabue.)

💭 My thought bubble: The strongest line of attack in this messaging war is that McDuffie could've been more muscular on oversight — at the same time, that's not a terribly satisfying, succinct stump speech for JLG.

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Some Virginia Democrats are campaigning for congressional districts that don't exist yet.

Why it matters: The political landscape is only getting more confusing for Virginia voters already navigating how redistricting might affect them.

The big picture: Early voting for the referendum that would allow lawmakers to redraw the congressional map mid-decade is underway. But Election Day isn't until April 21.

State of play: Dorothy McAuliffe, Virginia's former first lady and a Fairfax resident, announced that she's running for the newly drawn 7th District.

• That's the lobster-shaped seat pairing the staunchly red Goochland and Powhatan counties with Arlington.
• Del. Dan Helmer, who represents Fairfax and helped advance the redistricting amendment, is also vying for that not-yet-created seat.
• So is J.P. Cooney, an Arlington resident and former federal prosecutor who helped investigate President Trump.

Keep reading...

🗑️ To stop rats from diving into D.C. trash cans, the council is proposing rodent-resistant bins. The current open-lid style is "an all-you-can-eat buffet," says Council member Christina Henderson. (WUSA9)

🏛️ Trump's appointee to the federal arts commission wants to redo the White House facade, swapping its classic Ionic columns for more ornate Corinthian ones. The White House, however, says it has no plans to change them. (WaPo)

❌ Vanity plate rejections across the DMV last year included "ELONSUX," "DOGESUX," and "OLDAF." D.C.'s list also had "H8ELON." We're noticing a pattern here.... (WTOP)

March Madness is back, and the DMV is well represented — with 9 men's and women's NCAA teams facing off.

• The latest: Howard's men's team held off UMBC last night — their first NCAA tournament win.

🏀 A quick guide to the coming days —

Men's tournament —

UVA (No. 3, Midwest)

• vs. Wright State (No. 14) — Friday, 1:50pm (TBS)

VCU (No. 11, South)

• vs. North Carolina (No. 6) — Tomorrow, 6:50pm (TNT)

Women's tournament —

Howard (No. 14, Region 1)

• vs. Ohio State (No. 3) — Saturday, 11:30am (ESPN2)

UMD (No. 5, Region 1)

• vs. Murray State (No. 12) — Friday, 3pm (ESPNU)

University of Richmond (No. 3, Region 1)

• vs. Nebraska (First Four) — Tonight, 7pm (ESPN2)

UVA (No. 10, Region 1)

• vs. Arizona State (First Four) — Tomorrow, 9pm (ESPN2)

Virginia Tech (No. 9, Region 3)

• vs. Oregon (No. 8) — Friday, 1:30pm (ESPN2)

More matchups

If you're filling out a last-minute March Madness bracket, AI can get you off the bench. But only if used thoughtfully.

• "AI isn't designed to predict random events," Sheldon H. Jacobson, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois, tells Axios. "It's designed to look for patterns."
• Pro tip: prompt them to analyze multiple simulated brackets and track patterns.

How it works: Fans could use AI to simulate outcomes randomly, or based on specific stats or seeding on NCAA's and ESPN's tournament-picking platforms and Jacobson's BracketOdds.

• And any chatbot can be prompted to help analyze historical NCAA tournament trends, search for the latest news about injuries or identify statistically unlikely outcomes.

Pro tip: Start with the Final Four or Elite Eight — instead of the full 68 — and work your way out, says Jacobson.

• That helps you have a "more reasonable" bracket that avoids adding "far too many upsets in the early rounds," he says.

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