Photo of otters at the National Zoo by aimster215

• It wasn’t exactly the most uplifting news day here at DCist, so we’ve posted this photo of some adorable otters from the National Zoo to cheer you up. In Britain, otters are moving into towns and villages and totally hanging out and stuff, which is awesome. Please send city otters to D.C. kthxbai.
• Metro is finally getting with the program and demanding to make some money off of the presidential inauguration: General Manager John Catoe said the transit agency is now hoping to charge rush-hour fares all day on Inauguration Day, and regular parking fees in all Metro lots.
• The D.C. Council finally shot down Mayor Fenty’s lottery contract proposal once and for all, in a 5-8 vote. City Desk has the liveblog.
• The Sports Bog notes that Redskins fans appear to know how to rig online polls. Can’t say we’re that surprised on that one.
• Mayor Fenty announced $3.8 million in federal funding to build nearly 60 units of housing in Ivy City.
• The Council voted to require five hours of gun safety training for all gun owners in the District.
• Looks like the Foggy Bottom escalators are out again.
• And finally, this feels like it’s almost a joke, doesn’t it? The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to “to a range of zero to 0.25 percent” and “declared that it was ready to move to a new phase of monetary policy in which it prints vast amounts of money …”