Washington’s biggest news-makers

Working out for his first Redskins season, Robert Griffin III has jumped into the ranks of Washington’s biggest news makers. Who else is there? We look at enduring stars, supernovas and people known as much for infamy as fame. Let us know in the comments section who else you think should be included.

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Robert Griffin III, Redskins quarterback, superstar-in-training

Just 22 years old, the 2011 Heisman-winning quarterback enters Washington knowing he's carrying the hopes of Redskins fans everywhere. Born in Japan, this high-school class president and three-sport star finished Baylor University in three years with a degree in political science and a 3.67 grade-point average. On July 18, he agreed to a four-year, $21.1 million contract with a $13.8 million signing bonus. “Success for us is winning football games,'' Griffin said July 26. "How many, I have no idea.''

John McDonnell / The Washington Post

Jose Andres, chef, TV personality, philanthropist

Is there a cuisine the peripatetic Jose Andres can’t master? The chef’s starry restaurants come in flavors as diverse as Mexican, Greek and Chinese and can be enjoyed on both coasts. (Plus, there’s his classes in culinary physics at Harvard and his occasional “Top Chef” and Anthony Bourdain guest spot). But his work with job training for the homeless in Washington and relief efforts in Haiti, among other passions, reminds us why Andres is the best ambassador Spain has ever sent over.

Timothy A. Clary / AFP/Getty Images

Michelle Bachmann, member of Congress

Magnetic, dogmatic; loved, hated. There's no middle ground for this GOP member of Congress and onetime presidential contender. She was recently named to "The Hill's 50 Most Beautiful People for 2012'' — and excoriated by 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain for casting aspersions at Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's aide for a purported Arab American conspiracy. Almost anything she says can go radioactive — that's why she's covered so closely.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Marion Barry, D.C. Council member, ex-mayor

In his first phase, he was a civil rights activist from Mississippi who worked hard to rise to power as the District’s second black mayor. Second phase: cocaine, conviction, disgrace. Third phase: council member, still often politically incorrect, but one with the devotion of many Washingtonians who are marginalized by the city's yuppie invasion/transformation. Cheered at the funeral in May of another D.C. one-of-a-kind: go-go pioneer Chuck Brown.

Linda Davidson / The Washington Post

Hillary Rodham Clinton, secretary of state

Brainy first lady, heavy-hitting senator, now the U.S. secretary of state who has visited the most countries while in office. She came to town to investigate Watergate and returned on the arm of a philandering president. The Democrat sought first to impose her will on health care, then learned from defeat to build coalitions, and has earned the respect of McCain's party as well as President Obama, her bitter 2008 primary-season rival.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Vincent C. Gray, embattled mayor

The native Washingtonian personally integrated George Washington University's Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity in 1963 and expanded Covenant House into a leader for homeless care. But his time as mayor and his 2010 campaign are under increasing scrutiny. Questions over campaign funds, an undisclosed satellite negative campaign and possession of a list of voters in public housing have sullied his administration. Associates have been charged in connection with accusations.

Sarah L. Voisin / The Washington Post

Bryce Harper/Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals

One is a rookie phenom; another was once one, suffered a setback but has returned to become an established star. At 19, the brash, hard-working Harper was the youngest non-pitcher ever on an All-Star squad. Strasburg is an anchor of the best starting pitching staff in baseball. If the first-place Nationals hold on for postseason glory — and the Nats are playing better this year better than any Washington baseball team in nearly eight decades — the whole nation will see their worth.

Joe Skipper / Reuters

Gwen Ifill, host, Washington Week in Review

The face of a weekly TV program broadcast to the nation, Ifill also is a blogger, columnist and public speaker who projects an everywoman personality. In a commencement speech to Bates College, Ifill spoke of tripping while walking in town — while reading on her smartphone. She moderated the 2004 and 2008 vice presidential debates and is the author of the book "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.''

Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

Jim Yong Kim, World Bank president

A doctor and anthropologist, Kim was a MacArthur fellow and co-founder of Partners in Health, an innovative nonprofit organization that has about 14,000 employees working on preventive care and collaborating with local caregivers to improve health in low-income communities worldwide. Kim, nominated by President Obama for the World Bank, left the presidency of Dartmouth College for the promise of fusing economic development and global health.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Valerie Jarrett, presidential gatekeeper

One of three senior advisers to President Obama, Jarrett was deputy chief of staff to Chicago's mayor when she met and offered a job to the woman who would become the first lady. The Stanford- and Michigan Law School-educated Jarrett co-chaired Obama's transition team. She's in charge of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs. Did we say powerful?

Marvin Joseph / The Washington Post

Christine Lagarde, managing director, International Monetary Fund

In 2011, Forbes ranked Lagarde the ninth most-powerful person in the world. A nationally ranked synchronized swimmer as a teen, here are a few of Lagarde's firsts: first woman ever to become minister of economic affairs of a Group of Eight economy, first female chair of the international law firm Baker & McKenzie and first female chief of the International Monetary Fund — following the scandal-plagued, hard-partying Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Lagarde doesn't drink alcohol and is a vegetarian. She sang ska in a band in college, and her hobbies include scuba diving.

Neil Hall / Reuters

Grover Norquist, anti-tax advocate, big government bete noire

Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform is behind the pledge not to raise marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, a document that has influenced Republican lawmakers (Democrats might say handcuffed them) for a generation. Norquist began working for Republicans before he was a teenager, volunteering in Richard M. Nixon's 1968 campaign. One effort, to bring the Arab American community into the Republican Party, caught Michele Bachmann's attention, and he was included in her harangue about an anti-Muslim conspiracy.

Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP

Barack and Michelle Obama, U.S. president and first lady

By definition, the president almost always is the leading character in this town, and an active first lady is a bonus. Their influence goes beyond government to fashion, exercise, sports, gardening and fighting child obesity. One effect of note: The Obamas have helped the local restaurant industry with the publicity from their frequent visits.

Patrick Smith / Getty Images

David Rubenstein, Carlyle Group founder

A Baltimore native, Rubenstein is extraordinarily D.C. civic-minded. And he’s able to be: In 2011, Forbes ranked him the 138th richest person in America. In 2010, he bought the last privately owned copy of the Magna Carta for $21.3 million and lent it to the National Archives, which he has given $13.5 million for a new gallery and visitors center. After 2011's earthquake, Rubenstein pledged $7.5 to help repair the damaged Washington Monument. In December, he donated $4.5 million to the National Zoo’s cash-strapped giant panda program.

Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post

Andy Shallal, bookstore/restaurant owner, neighborhood redeveloper

People didn't know what to make of Shallal when he opened Busboys and Poets, his Langston Hughes tribute bookstore-restaurant, along Washington's Black Broadway, the U Street corridor. The naturalized Iraqi American, who became obsessed with Harlem's renaissance in school, has expanded to Shirlington, Fifth and K streets NW and Hyattsville. He sees himself as an activist first, businessman second. “I call him ‘democracy’s restaurateur,' " Ralph Nader says.

Matt McClain / For The Washington Post

Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court justice

The first Hispanic appointed to the Supreme Court, Sotomayor has gone where few recent justices have lived, buying a home in the rising U Street corridor after living in the Cleveland Park neighborhood. Is Washington Nationals fandom next? Doubtful. Sotomayor was born in the Bronx and was a longtime resident of Greenwich Village. Nonetheless, she was thrilled when President Obama told her he would nominate her to the highest court, telling C-SPAN: "I had my [hand] over my chest, trying to calm my beating heart, literally."

Tim Sloan / AFP/Getty Images

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

James Gandolfini stars as Tony Soprano in the critically acclaimed HBO series 'The Sopranos.' The show received 16 Emmy nominations Thursday, July 22, 1999, including best dramatic series and best actor for Gandolfini. It is the first cable show ever recognized in the dramatic series category. (AP Photo/HO, HBO, Anthony Nesta) Original Filename: EMMY NOMINATIONS.jpg ORG XMIT: LA109

James Gandolfini dies at 51

James Gandolfini, whose portrayal of a brutal, emotionally delicate mob boss in HBO’s “The Sopranos” helped create one of TV’s greatest drama series and turned...

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 19: Vice President Joe Biden speaks before the Frederick Douglass statue now permanently placed in the US Capitol's Emancipation Hall in Washington, DC on June 19, 2013. The statue of the abolition leader was chosen by District residents to represent them in the Capitol because of his stance on self governance according to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). The statue by artist Steven Weitzman, was blocked from it's placement in the Capitol for years, a victim of rules that stated that only the 50 states can display statues of their favored sons and daughters in the Capitol. The House and Senate passed a resolution last month allowing DC to be represented in Emancipation Hall which features statues of notable leaders nominated by each state. (Photo by Linda Davidson / The Washington Post)

Frederick Douglass statue unveiled in the Capitol

The carving of the famed abolitionist and District advocate finds its place inside the halls of Congress.

TV presenter and conservationist Anneka Tanaka-Svenska wears a hat designed by Louis Mariette during the first day of Royal Ascot, in Berkshire, west of London, on June 18, 2013. The five-day meeting is one of the highlights of the horse racing calendar. Horse racing has been held at the famous Berkshire course since 1711 and tradition is a hallmark of the meeting. Top hats and tails remain compulsory in parts of the course while a daily procession of horse-drawn carriages brings the Queen to the course. AFP PHOTO / ADRIAN DENNISADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

Photos of the day

Royal Ascot, protests in Brazil, Lego exhibition, flooding in India, Cheetah-Cub robot and more.

Two-year old male rat named Dyatlik wears a costume during a rodent exhibition in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Animal views

Rodent exhibition, swimming with elephants, Mexico’s feline mayoral candidate and more.

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 18: Madonna attends the Dolce & Gabbana and The Cinema Society screening of the Epix World premiere of 'Madonna: The MDNA Tour' at The Paris Theatre on June 18, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Madonna, Michael Buble, Barbara Streisand, Jackie Chan, Jerry Seinfeld, Estelle and other celebrities.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 14: Johnathon Carrington, valedictorian at Dunbar High School, laughs with family and friends after his school's graduation ceremony at Howard University on Friday, June 14, 2013, in Washington, DC. Carrington, who grew up in Tyler House public-housing apartments and is graduating from one of DC's low-performing high schoolsy, where academic expectations are high. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Johnathon’s journey

Johnathon Carrington graduated Friday as the valedictorian of his neighborhood school, Dunbar High, and is headed to Georgetown University. But Carrington, 17, is nervous, and so are...

In this June 8, 2013 photo, youth compete in the Sao Carlos slum local soccer tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The pitch is just dirt and the incandescent lights aren't so bright. But when the boys' feet strike the football in the Sao Carlos slum as night falls every Saturday, big league dreams glow, inflated by the hope of escaping the shantytown with sporting skills. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Brazil’s other soccer fields

With the Confederations Cup opening this week and the World Cup one year away, all eyes are on Brazil, where soccer is arguably played with more passion and art than anywhere else....

Inmates walk at a high-security male prison camp outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk May 14, 2013. High-security male prison camp number 17 is intended to house male inmates who are serving a sentence for the first time, and have been convicted for serious crimes. Prisoners at the facility work in wood and metal processing shops, manufacture furniture, sew clothes and do other kinds of work. They can also take part in educational, sport and cultural programs. Picture taken May 14, 2013. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin (RUSSIA - Tags: CRIME LAW SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 4 OF 29 FOR PACKAGE 'INSIDE SIBERIA'S PRISONS' SEARCH 'ILYA PRISON' FOR ALL IMAGES

Life in a Siberian prison

A look inside a high-security prison camp outside Krasnoyarsk, Russia

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