Photo by mofo

Good morning, Washington. There’s a lot going on today in the District. Besides it being Car Free Day and the official first day of autumn (which has also brought with it some clouds and showers), it’s also the first day back in session for the D.C. Council. Apart from considering emergency legislation on Council ethics, the Council also plans to agree on a compromise on State Board of Education staffing. This is one of those sticky issues that’s led to a lot of back-and-forth posturing between the Mayor’s office and the Council, with Fenty previously pulling out his veto to smack down any attempt at giving the education board more autonomy, so it’s nice to see that an agreement appears to be on the table today.

Senate Bill Has $150 for Metro: Lena Sun reports in the Post that the $122 billion transportation, housing and urban development funding bill the U.S. Senate passed last week includes that $150 million for the first year of dedicated federal funding for Metro. The Senate bill includes a lot of language focusing on safety improvements, so now it’s time for the House’s version to be reconciled with this one before President Obama signs it.

Regional Incomes Hold Steady: Despite increasingly bad unemployment figures inside the District of Columbia, the relatively robust job markets in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs continue to prop up the regional jobs and salaries data. Bill Myers reports in the Examiner on some new Census figures that show that Maryland residents were the wealthiest in the nation last year, despite the recession, with a median household income of $71,000, while Virginia came in eighth at $61,000, and D.C. was 12th, at nearly $58,000.

Briefly Noted: Council could be about to begin a showdown with the Mayor over the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center … FBI reminds us that transit systems could by targeted for attack … New international arrivals building opens at Dulles … Temple Hills school files for bankruptcy … Prince George’s County to lay off up to 125 … Fatal hit-and-runs increasing in D.C. region.

This Day in DCist: In 2008, Metro changed the way it displayed its passenger info inside stations, and in 2006, we surveyed pollo a la brasa options across the metro area.