Photo by Kevin H.

Good morning, Washington. The District might see some snow at the end of this week. So it’s timely that the Council will soon consider a new piece of legislation which would allow city agencies to write tickets to residents who don’t shovel their sidewalks when the white stuff accumulates. Mary Cheh (who had a very busy day yesterday) introduced the legislation, the Winter Sidewalk Safety Amendment Act of 2011 (PDF), which would impose fines of $25 on residents and $250 on businesses who do not shovel the sidewalks in front of their property within eight hours after the end of a snowfall. Under the legislation, which is expected to pass easily, the Department of Public Works, the Metropolitan Police Department and the Department of Transportation would all be able to issue such citations — sounds Cheh’s proposed bounty hunter squad will have even more work on their hands than originally assumed.

Five Killed In Prince George’s County So Far This Year: The District has had some big problems with violence during the dawn of the new year — but that’s nothing compared to Prince George’s County, which has seen five people killed in the first four days of 2011. The Post reports that the deaths are surprising, given that crime in the County decreased sharply over the last two years — but such a spate of deaths is not unprecendented. In fact, four people were killed in the County at the beginning of last year between January 5 and 8, as well.

Maryland Considering Booze Tax Hike: The Maryland General Assembly is planning to introduce a bill which would impose a ten-cent tax on each alcoholic drink served in the state, reports WTOP. Assembly legislators tried to advance a similar tax last year, but it didn’t have the votes to pass. Revenues from the tax would help pay for health-related concerns, including alcohol rehabilitation. (Feel free to simmer on that concept for a while.) Studies show that such a tax might also cause a slight decrease in consumption — though we don’t need any study to state definitively that the tax would increase the amount of grumbling around bars and liquor stores in Maryland.

Briefly Noted: Jobs way up in region, but jobless rate only sees slight decrease…14-year-old foreign exchange student charged for bringing air pistol to Walt Whitman High School…Nope, you didn’t win the Mega Millions jackpot…Nationals sign first baseman Adam LaRoche…Montgomery County to host hearing on Pepco reliability today…Councilmember Phil Mendelson calls for D.C.’s crime lab to break from police department…One anonymous chef tells Washingtonian that Yelp is “The most horrendous Web site on earth.”

This Day in DCist: Last year, we looked into Carlos Allen’s HushGalleria Mansion.