Vincent Orange, fighting Kwame Brown for Gray’s seat, went with a smaller Cadillac SUV than his competitor. What, he couldn’t afford an orange paint job?

Happy Friday, Washington. DCist had our very own staff holiday party last night, and as you might imagine, we’re all a little worse for the wear this morning. So we hope you’ll forgive us for a late-breaking, hastily tossed together Morning Roundup. As soon as our heads stop pounding, we’ll resume our regularly scheduled blogging.

Metro Cries ‘Uncle’: After boat loads of Metro commuters sent in thousands of angry emails and messages reacting, shall we say, not so well to the proposed Metro rate hikes, the WMATA Board appears to be backing down a bit this morning. The Post reports that Metro will try to tighten their staffing budgets and other administrative costs before implementing any rate hikes. That doesn’t mean, however, that any rate hikes are now out of the picture. No decision will be made on new fares until Spring.

Briefly Noted: Freight trains derails near Carroll-Howard County line … Va. Gov. Tim Kaine gives $500 Million for transportation … D.C. Jail officers reinstated … Developers seek mandatory residential gym exemption … Housing inspector accused of extortion.

This Day in DCist: Last year we gave you some sweet D.C. gift ideas, while in 2004 we took a break and enjoyed some tea.

Photo by urbanartist.

Filed Under: As, breaking, Briefly Noted, dcist, Happy Friday, happyfriday, holiday, housing, howard county, metro, morning roundup, morningroundup, news, photos, spring, This Day, tim kaine, transportation, washington, wmata,