Good morning, Washington, and welcome to the first of the three days that you'll have that you won't need to spend glued to cable news - even though we know most of you probably still will. (Not to mention, that there's plenty of local coverage available if you just can't seem to pull yourself away for two freakin' minutes.) That said, let's peruse some headlines with non-Denver bylines, shall we?

"Capital Gains" Schools Announced: Over a week ago, we brought you the news that District middle schools would be participating in a program which will reward students who perform well with monetary awards. Now, the Post has more details: namely, which schools will participate in the controversial "Capital Gains" program. Long story short: if you're a kid in Wards 4, 5, or 6, well, you're in luck - 71% of the schools slated to receive cash awards are located there. The selection of sites, via an algorithm created by Harvard economist Roland G. Fryer, factored in academic performance among the 28 D.C. schools serving middle school children, but not geographic location. Half of said schools, including all in Wards 2 and 3, will act as the program's control group. According to the report, students will also attend "financial literacy" training.

Maryland Facing Large Deficit: The Post also reports this morning on Maryland's rocky future financial status - most officials in the story blame the staggering national economy for the drying-up of state tax revenues. The reported figures put next year's deficit at somewhere near $1 billion - and with the large $1.4 billion tax package that passed last year, many Maryland legislators believe that the solution to the shortfall will lie in cutting programs, though no one really has any ideas at the moment. The news is also expected to mobilize more support for legalizing slot machine gambling, which could potentially bring in $500 million to the state within a few years.

The Requisite Bit Of Cute Animal News To Get You Through Your Friday: They might not have been successful with Mei Xiang, but the National Zoo certainly isn't stopping efforts to produce other fuzzy creatures - even if their sires have been dead for almost a decade. WTOP reports that the Zoo was able to foster the births of two black-footed ferrets (of which there are only about 700 in the wild) with sperm that had been frozen since at least 1998. They're the fourth and fifth black-footed ferrets to ever be conceived via frozen sperm. We're sure they'll grow up to be a very cuddle-tastic addition to the Zoo, indeed.

Briefly Noted: With school back in session, more local crossing guards are needed...With Kaine and Fenty at the forefront, Obama reaches out to Md. Gov. Martin O'Malley...Two critically injured in Potomac house fire.

This Day In DCist: In 2007, Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was asking for the power to fire DCPS workers; way back in 2005, we actually wrote the words "the Nats are still within striking distance in the Wild Card chase." Ah, memories.

Photo by volcanojw.