Photo by er3465

Good morning, Washington. It’s a slow local news Friday at the end of a slow local news week. Hard to say whether everyone in town is busier reading the CIA torture memos or watching that Susan Boyle video, but there’s just not much happening on the city beat. Perhaps that helps explain why the Washington Post assigned not one, but two reporters to cover the story that lots of people still forget about Emancipation Day. To be fair, Mayor Fenty recently proposed eliminating the official observance of the holiday, which has actually only been celebrated as such for four years, to save money. Still, thank goodness the D.C. Council will be back at work next week and we might have some actual news to roundup.

Maryland May Pass Homeless Hate Crime Legislation: Md. Gov. Martin O’Malley is considering whether he will sign into law legislation that would make Maryland the first state to list the homeless as a class of people who are protected from hate crimes, the Post reports. Notably, the bill came from state Sen. Alex Mooney (R-Frederick), one of the most socially conservative members of the General Assembly, who admits that he originally came to the issue several years ago out of irony, but later embraced the cause of protecting the homeless as a worthy one.

D.C. Area Foreclosures Drop: If you’re looking for more potentially cheery economic news beyond the fact that Citigroup is suddenly posting profits, head over to the Examiner, which is reporting that foreclosure filings have dropped in the D.C. metro area. Then again, foreclosure filings for the entire country in March increased nearly 50 percent over the same time the previous year, and 24 percent from the first quarter of 2008. That’s much less good.

Briefly Noted: Virginia Tech marks two years since massacre … Loudoun County rescue workers find woman’s body under bed … Inmates, Md. prison guards face drug smuggling charges …
Judge rejects Nickles’ effort to recover fees from lawyer.

This Day in DCist: In 2007, we learned about and remembered the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre.