Good morning, Washington. Sure, the economic downturn might be decimating our savings and local government services. But at least it prompts a lot more entertaining stories designed to make the corporate class look bad. The Post has the latest one, in which the leadership behind our local airports squirms and denies wrongdoing in the aftermath of earlier coverage that revealed lavish spending on first-class travel and accommodations.

Council Extends Bar Hours For Inauguration: The Post reports that Mike Panetta’s Twitter Feed may not have been accurate, but it may well tell the future: the D.C. Council eventually did vote late in the evening yesterday to allow restaurants, bars and nightclubs to serve alcohol until 5 a.m. during the inauguration, and to stay open around the clock (the City Paper has the play-by-play). Somewhat interesting is the inclusion of nightclubs in the list of eligible establishments — Mayor Fenty had wanted to exclude them, and the amendment to add them to the bill prompted Jim Graham to vote against his own bill.

New Firearm Legislation Proposed: The council is taking another crack at drafting a gun law that will withstand court challenges. The Examiner has the details, which include background checks, annual recertification, five hours of safety training and a limit of one gun purchase per month. The measure will be taken up again in two weeks.

Briefly Noted: ACLU announces settlement in wrongful death suit of quadriplegic man at D.C. jail… Air & Space Museum receives $6M gift from Airbus… Council votes for FiOS bill… Virginia revenue picture looking worse than expected… The Capitol Christmas tree was lit last night…

This Day In DCist: One year ago we checked out the winter beers on tap around town.

Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user pierceta7