Good morning, Washington, and welcome to the first full work day of 2009! Of course, we expect many of you took the day off despite the holidays being officially over, because it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to come back to work for just one day and then have another weekend, now does it? DOES IT!? Sigh. We kid. We know we should be thankful we’re not being forced to take a furlough day today like Maryland employees. We also welcome the opportunity to have an additional day to practice writing 2009, ’09, and other iterations of this newfangled numerical year before it becomes embarrassing to forget. How long do you think we have to get used to all the 9’s, anyway? A week? Two weeks? Until sometime in June?

Nine Muslim Passengers Removed from Flight at DCA: Lots of stories about this one this morning. Officials removed nine Muslim passengers from an AirTran flight originating at National Airport yesterday afternoon after two other passengers reported overhearing something suspicious — two of the party were apparently discussing some aspect of airline security. For their part, AirTran now agrees the whole thing was a misunderstanding, but while the FBI later cleared the passengers to fly, AirTran refused to rebook them.

Daytime U Street Stabbing: A little after 4 p.m. yesterday, a man was found at 12th and U Streets NW having been stabbed. MPD officers on the 3rd District email list described the incident as an assault with intent to kill that apparently broke out after an argument. The victim is in stable condition, and police are investigating.

Briefly Noted: Metro expected to trim growing payroll … Man dies in mysterious Fairfax County car accident … Silver Spring teen killed in car accident.

This Day in DCist: Last year an inmate escaped from custody from Laurel Regional Hospital and was subsequently shot and killed by police.

Photo by ameschen