Good morning, Washington. So how did it feel when that extra 30 cents was drawn down from your SmarTrip balance as you exited Metro this morning? Did you even notice or think about it? The Examiner says about 5 percent of Metro riders are expected to decide to drive in to work this week because of that 30 cents (or 60, for a round trip). The paper also quotes experts who are concerned that people “aged 24-35 are most directly affected” by the fare increase, since they are more likely not to have access to a car and also make less money. Hey! Most of us are between 24 and 35, and we’re all still planning on sticking with Metro, though we might check and see if the now much cheaper Metrobus can get us where we’re going without losing too much time. What about you, commentariat?

New Flood Zone Maps Include Southwest: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has proposed new area flood maps which include an area in Southwest Washington from the Lincoln Memorial to Fort McNair. The Post says that if adopted, the new maps would result in mandatory flood insurance and stricter building codes within the flood zone. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently found that temporary levees designed to protect downtown Washington from high water in the Potomac and the Tidal Basin are inadequate, which caused FEMA to redraw the maps as if the levees did not exist. Should permanent levees be erected, the flood zone maps would revert back to their previous version. As of now, there are no plans to build such levees.

Council Measure Would Protect Injured Firefighters: A new rule to be introduced in the D.C. Council on Tuesday would give injured firefighters up to a year to recover before they would be forced to retire. Current law only gives a D.C. firefighter up to 64 workdays at an injured status before retirement paperwork must be filed. If adopted, the change would be good news for Sgt. Michael LaCore and firefighter Charlie Shyab, who were both badly injured while fighting a rowhouse fire on Capitol Hill in October.

Briefly Noted: Husband of D.C.’s former chief management officer killed in car accident … Del. Bob Marshall (R-13) will run for Warner’s Va. Senate seat … D.C. police are investigating a small fire at their First District Headquarters on Sunday … Apartment fire in Northwest kills a 78-year-old woman … Man found shot to death Saturday morning in Northeast.

This Day in DCist: In 2007 a Yellow line train derailed near Mt. Vernon Square, injuring 20 people, and in 2005 the GALA Hispanic Theater celebrated its grand opening at the Tivoli space in Columbia Heights.

Photo by {ryan}