Happy Wednesday, Washington. Sadly, there’s even more crime to report this morning, and yes, you guessed it, more rain — though after the record high temperatures we’ve experienced earlier this week, we dare say we wouldn’t mind some more of those scattered thunderstorms predicted for the metro area — the high will 88° today, with a 40% chance of strong showers hitting this afternoon. Cooler temperatures will be a welcome relief after yesterday’s first Code Red Day since 2004 — but you should still think of your asthmatic friends and take Metro today.

Gunfire in Loudoun County: The Post is calling a series of shootings aroung Sterling this morning “bizarre”, in which unknown suspects fired shots into seven different homes over the course of 30 minutes early this morning. One man was seriously injured, and the entire state of Virginia let out a collective ‘D’oh!’ after spending yesterday rejoicing in what had appeared to be a decline in gang-related violence.

City Council Embraces Mayor’s Crime Plan: Despite strong objections and stern warnings from prominent civil rights groups, the City Council looks as though they will pass the Mayor’s emergency crime bill. The Mayor’s plan includes pushing the nightly curfew for teens up to 10 p.m. (from midnight) for the next 90 days and installing surveillance cameras in residential communities. D.C. Mayor Anthony “Big Brother” Williams hopes the measures will help curb the wave of murders and robberies the city has experienced over the last month, and a vote on the bill, now expected to pass, is scheduled for 1 p.m. this afternoon. At 1:01 p.m., the ACLU is expected to ask the Mayor to hand in his membership card.

Verizon Overbills D.C. Customers: About 11,000 customers in the Mid-Atlantic region, including several thousand in D.C., have been overbilled by Verizon because of a software error, the company said today. Verizon said it will correct the error on next month’s bill. No word yet from the Marie Johns campaign on whether she, if elected mayor, would adopt a similar overcharge-but-give-it-back-eventually policy.

Briefly Noted: The Examiner visits local families affected by the current escalation of violence in the Middle East … 11-year-old boy riding his bike was hit by a bus yesterday afternoon … Fire ants appear in coastal Virginia … Maryland sold winning Mega Millions lotto ticket.

This Day in DCist: We announced the coming of free WiFi to Dupont Circle; gave some free advice to the city’s waiters; and wondered if free public pool access was really news.

Photo snapped by epmd and placed in the DCist photostream on Flickr.

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