A bleary-eyed good morning to you, Washington. Thanks to everyone who came out to DCist’s first birthday party at Stetson’s last night. Although this DCist was stuck out of town, he’s confident that a good time was had by all. The evidence will no doubt trickle into Flickr over the course of the day — dcJohn already has the first two such pics here.

WMATA Grapples With Gas Prices: Escalating diesel prices are affecting the transit agency’s bottom line, producing a looming $22 million shortfall. Officials are sensitive to the recent frequency of fare increases, however, and say that in order to make up the difference they intend to leverage diesel futures and to make internal cuts rather than raise prices again.

Dupont Killer Convicted: Just over a year ago, Dupont waiter Adrian Alstad was shot to death in a crime that shook Northwest residents’ conception of the area’s safety. Yesterday one of the men responsible for his death, twenty year-old Kurt Williams, was sentenced to twenty-two years for the crime. Williams didn’t pull the trigger, however; the man who did was a minor at the time, and will be released when he turns 21.

More Mixing Bowl Delays Ahead: We remember when VDOT promised that the worst of the I-95 delays were over. That may have been technically true — or perhaps we just dreamed it. Either way, we foolishly took it to mean that driving through that godforsaken expanse of asphalt would somehow become bearable. Not so. In addition to last night’s detours, this weekend will see the interchange closed from 8:30 p.m. on Saturday until 10 a.m. Sunday.

Briefly Noted: Rabid fox attacks Fredericksburg boy… Street vendor beating victim “Grandma” returns to work… Collision with horse kills Maryland motorist… D.C. likely to get more dog parks… Northeast gets three new traffic cameras…

Photo of a bus bound for Adams Morgan posted to DCist Photos by an unknown contributor.