Yesterday brought disappointing news about the New Orleans relief convoy that was hastily put together by city officials. Although the convoy and the volunteers manning it were able to distribute supplies and fuel, a late start and poor communication with relief agencies resulted in only one evacuee being brought back. Despite this lack of success, Mayor Williams says that the city will pick up the $82,000 tab — but only if the feds won’t. And, in fact, it looks like the District will be getting federal assistance in its Katrina relief efforts, although it’s not clear whether that money will be applied to the bus trip.

Oak Hill To Be Overhauled: The city’s grim and troubled juvenile detention center is getting a renovation. Yesterday Mayor Williams announced that the facility would be redone in a more modern, less institutional style. But the changes will reduce the capacity of Oak Hill; what to do with the displaced residents is still being decided.

Maryland Racing In Trouble: Magna Entertainment Corp., which owns Maryland’s two biggest racetracks, is warning that it will have to drastically reduce its operations in order to remain in business. Some are using the news to make a renewed push for legalizing slot machine gambling; others see the reduced racing schedule as a way to stabilize the industry. The state’s Speaker of the House says the issue won’t be revisited until January at the earliest.

Metro Mysteries Solved: Remember last week, when a Metro car pulled away from Metro Center with a door still open? Or the similar incident that happened on August 30? Well, the reason for each has been discovered: WMATA says the former was the fault of a broken spring, and the latter was due to a driver spilling his (contraband!) coffee on the train’s control console. The driver with the illicit coffee will be disciplined, although exactly how has yet to be determined.

Briefly Noted: Dan Snyder to pay for trees he cut down… Baby panda gets his shots… Kilgore sponsors racecar… Rear-ended schoolbus catches fire, but everyone is safe… AAA calls for investigation of area gas prices…

The photo above was posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user adrummer_boy.