Photo by Michael Starghill

Good morning, Washington, and welcome to the first Monday of summer. The sweet season officially began yesterday, and as our reward for sticking out nearly an entire month of weird June gloom and rain, we’re getting three full days of sunshine and highs in the 80s! Make your sittin’ in the park eating your lunch plans for the week accordingly. Toward the end of the week we could see some more brutal humidity and afternoon thunderstorms, but we’re trying not to think about that too much just yet. Make sure to enjoy the beginning of this week while you can.

Fenty Passes Buck on Cab Fare Increases: Mayor Adrian Fenty has given the D.C. Taxicab Commission his authority to enact cab fare increases, though with some crucial caveats, the Examiner reports. For one, the commission can only raise fares one time per year. Two, each increase can only be a maximum of 5 percent. And three, Fenty has prohibited the commission from adding any additional charges, including fuel surcharges or fees for group rides, without his approval. The city’s taxicab drivers have been complaining since meters first went in that their incomes have dropped significantly, and have been pushing for fare increases. With this news, we’d expect the Taxicab Commission, which has long proved to be acting in the interest of the drivers as opposed to the customers, to go ahead with a full 5 percent increase relatively quickly, which would amount to 7.5 cents more per mile.

City Missing Thousands in Fines: Also in the Examiner, turns out D.C. police are missing thousands of dollars from fines resulting from a host of misdemeanor cases – funds that were supposed to be deposited into the city’s victims compensation fund. City officials have opened an internal investigation.

Briefly Noted: Three men injured in drive-by shooting in Northeast … PG County woman kills husband in apparent self-defense … Hundreds protest Russian support of Ahmadinejad in front of Russian Embassy in D.C. … Judge delays Holocaust shooter’s hearing again.

This Day in DCist: In 2007, we checked out the new Capitals jerseys, and in 2006, we detailed how corkage policies really work in D.C. restaurants.