Good morning, D.C. With both political party conventions now over and done with, Congress back in town, and some areas of suburban Washington still cleaning up after Tropical Storm Hanna dumped 3 to 5 inches of rain on the metro area, it’s no surprise we’ve heard traffic was the worst it’s been in a month during this morning’s commute. The worst damage from Saturday’s storm was through parts of Fairfax County, and to the C&O Canal towpath in Montgomery County. Most everyone who lost power over the weekend has since had it restored. So, we weathered the storm. Now we just have to get over the sad fact that summer has ended and get through another busy fall legislative session, nationwide and local elections, and a brand new school year. Washington is getting back to work this week. What does that mean for you?

Govt. Takes Over Fannie and Freddie: The morning’s major news is of course that the U.S. government seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Sunday in an effort to put a stop to the downward spiral of the mortgage lending crisis. This step is the latest, most expensive and most dramatic move by the U.S. to get a handle on the recession, most of which haven’t really worked at all. Both lenders have been given new CEO’s in the takeover: Herb Allison, formerly or Merrill Lynch and TIAA-CREF, takes over at Fannie, while David Moffett, previously of U.S. Bancorp, takes over Freddie.

MPD Lost Hundreds of Police Reports: The Examiner reports that the Metropolitan Police Department has misplaced hundreds of reports that document police actions in response to emergency calls, and officers are scrambling to reproduce them. A police source told the paper that commanders have ordered officers to start from scratch and to rewrite the reports from memory.

Briefly Noted: M Street in Georgetown reopened after water main break … Man shot and killed in Southeast … Smoking in bed kills Silver Spring man.

Photo by Cazimiro