Six months on, and we’re still not calling him Tai Shan. He’s Butterstick, and he basked in even more attention than usual yesterday as he turned six months old. A hefty 27 pounds and boasting a newly-blackened nose, Butterstick has been all the rage in the District as of late — those who haven’t yet seen him in the flesh have opted instead for the voyeuristic Panda Cam, watching and awwing his every move. While we’re not completely sure as to how the ‘stick celebrated his turning, we’re on good authority to say the party at the National Zoo was a rager. Seems that tigers don’t hold their liquor well, and no one can yet explain how an elephant ended up in the Great Ape house.

Wal-Mart Legislation Faces Vote in Maryland: Love or hate Wal-Mart, a vote expected this week in Annapolis could well shape the future for the retail giant across the nation, writes the Post. Maryland’s House of Delegates is slated to vote this week on a controversial measure that would force Wal-Mart to spend eight percent of its payroll on employee health benefits, legislation derided as anti-business by the Wal-Mart crowd or promoted as pro-worker by the retailers’ many detractors. Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich vetoed the measure last year, but a veto-proof majority is secure in the Senate and shy a few votes in the House.

District Schools Could Get Billions Under Plan: A plan discussed Monday by two members of the D.C. Council may direct $100 million a year for the next 10 years to school repairs and modernization, reports NBC 4. Under a proposal introduced by Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), the city’s crumbling schools would get more than $1 billion over the next decade for needed repairs, with funds coming from a portion of the existing sales tax and an increase in commercial property taxes.

District Ranks High on Emergency Care, Low in Other Categories: According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, the District fares better than the rest of the country in providing emergency care, but falls short in the promotion of public health and injury prevention, notes the Post. In most any other situation, rankings like these would hardly make the news, but with the city and Howard University Hospital having recently agreed to build a state-of-the-art 250-bed hospital in Southeast for $400 million, proponents and opponents of the idea have taken the rankings as proof of their points.

Briefly Noted: Mark Warner’s legacy considered … Police search for two people in journalist’s death … CSI for animals becomes a reality … Prince William County police get new cruiser … More homes on the market in the District.

Picture snapped by Peter Waterman.