Good morning, Washington. We hope those of you who gleefully celebrated the winter solstice yesterday are happy with yourselves; as far as we’re concerned, you are responsible for bringing the arctic airmass currently over the region, along with the sub-freezing temperatures, ice and wind chills in the teens that came along with it. This is all your fault, winter-lovers! Hang your heads in shame!

Budget Shortfalls Are Gifts That Keep on Giving: The Examiner reports that even though the latest projected budget gap for the District, a roughly $127 million shortfall for 2009 which came to light on Friday, is expected to be fairly easily managed without major cuts, the city will face even more financial woes for many more years down the line. D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi is now projecting that the District will come up short by $304 million in 2010, $330 million in 2011 and $328 million in 2012.

EMS Probe to Investigate Death: The Washington Times got the scoop over the weekend that D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Dennis Rubin has asked the city’s inspector general to investigate the death of Edward Givens, the man who instructed by paramedics to take antacids for heartburn and then died several hours later. The fire department is also investigating the incident and Rubin said they would forward their results to the Office of the Inspector General.

Briefly Noted: Woman killed on Parkway due to icy roads … Double homicide in Dale City … Police shoot man who stabbed woman in Takoma Park … VRE looks to another fare increase by summer.

Photo by picture prefect