Good morning, Washington. Are you ready for the new year? We can’t say that we’re quite ready to say goodbye to 2005 — it’s been a pretty good year for us. On the other hand, it’ll be nice to have a new set of resolutions to ignore. Have you got any?

District Spends Lavishly On Travel: In a story that strongly recalls November’s contracting scandal, the Post reports on D.C.’s big-spending attitude toward employee travel — and not just the Mayor’s. The District spends more than five times as much on travel per employee as Baltimore, and not all of it wisely. The article raises questions about the spending, its accounting, and the value of the trips themselves. Don’t miss this one.

FLYi May Cease Operations: WTTG reports that Independence Air might be going out of business for good. The Washington-based airline declared bankruptcy in November; now a letter sent from a vice president to employees states that if the company doesn’t find a buyer or major investor by January 7th, it may be forced to permanently close its doors.

Thurmont Teacher Says Notes Are From Imposter: Michelle Dohm, the middle school teacher accused of making bizarre threats against both her students and her school, now says that someone else is responsible for the notes that implicate her. It all has something to do with the town’s Little League team — frankly, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to us. But we’d hate to leave Ms. Dohm unjustly accused. At the very least, it’s clear that someone in Thurmont, Md. needs to find a better way to spend their time.

Briefly Noted: No clip-ons for Williams… Surveillance cameras to be activated for New Year’s… Lots of Eagles/Skins tickets still available… D.C. to get more pedestrian countdown timers… Virginia car tax is about to resume…

Image uploaded to DCist Photos by Flickr user erin m