Good morning, Washington. Turns out it’s hard out there for an aging U.S. senator. First Ted Kennedy and now Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.), the longest-serving member of the Senate (Kennedy is the second-longest) has been hospitalized for the third time in as many months. It turned out Byrd had a fever, which is pretty serious business when you’re 90 years old. But the early AP story cited his symptoms as having exhibited “lethargy and sluggishness” while at work, which of course prompted everyone at DCist HQ to wonder whether we ought to head down to the hospital straight away ourselves. In all seriousness, we wish Sen. Byrd a speedy recovery.

D.C. Social Workers Remove More Kids: The Post does a nice job following up on the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency nearly six months after the discovery of the murdered daughters of Banita Jacks. Turns out that after the social workers who were assigned to the Jacks case were fired, the agency shows a 20 percent increase in child removals in three of the first four months this year. The story cites several child advocates who say there has also been a sharp increase in cases that were quickly thrown out by judges during the same time period, suggesting that many of these children should not have been removed. Agency director Sharlynn Bobo told the paper that her staff may have become more conservative since the Jacks case, but that they are not just randomly removing children.

Fireworks Ban Unlikely to Pass: The D.C. Council is in session today, and one of the bills they’re expected to hear is the emergency legislation that would ban the sale and use of fireworks in the city. When we unscientifically asked our readers whether you were for or against the ban, a whopping 78 percent of you were opposed to it. The Examiner reports that most of the Council agrees with you, and that the emergency measure appears unlikely to pass today. Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans has even taken to calling it the “Anti-fun bill.”

Briefly Noted: D.C. Police union faces off against Lanier … D.C. and Maryland challenge electricity rates in Mid-Atlantic region … A Blue line train somehow ended up with 12 rail cars on it on Sunday.

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