Photo by jim_malone

Good morning, Washington. Did you manage to get out and enjoy your weekend despite all the rain? You might have been best served by spending some quality time pulling your fall jackets and sweaters out of the back of your closet. After this weekend’s dreary but still kinda warm drizzles, we appear to be in store for sincerely cooler temperatures. Jason Samenow describes his forecast thusly: “After today, for the better part of the week ahead, day time temperatures will be in the 60s to near 70, with overnight lows in the 40s and low 50s.” That’s a big change, so plan accordingly.

Loza, Graham, and Fiesta DC: We know a lot of you made your way over to Fiesta DC, the annual Latino cultural festival in Mt. Pleasant, on Sunday. Unfortunately, as the Washington Post’s Ruben Castaneda and Nikita Stewart note, the recent arrest of Ted Loza put a bit of a damper on the celebration. Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham made sure to show up in person to the festival in an attempt to reassure his constituents that he has not been implicated in his chief of staff’s bribery case, but now this morning, WUSA9 is reporting that they have sources who say Graham is also a target of the investigation. “Our sources say both Graham and Loza are on tape talking with who they thought was a cab company representative when in fact they were communicating with an undercover FBI agent. Our sources say bribes exceeding $150,000 were also offered to a member of the DC taxicab comission, who went to DC police who turned the investigation over to the FBI.” Should be an interesting morning at the ribbon cutting for the new Columbia Heights civic plaza.

Moving Older Rail Cars to the Middle Was Just PR (Duh): In case you missed’s the Post’s A1 story on the whole 1000-series rail car shuffle that went down in the immediate aftermath of the June 22 Red Line crash, make sure to take a look. All the evidence gathered by the newspaper suggests Metro’s reasons for moving the older cars to the middle of the trains were all about PR, and nothing to do with an actual safety decision based on sound engineering principles.

Mayor’s Office Passed the Buck on Ghost Bike Removal: Why.i.hate.dc’s Dave Stroup tries to get to the bottom of the source of the initial removal order for the Alice Swanson ghost bike memorial, and discovers via a FOIA request that it came from Andrew Huff, Mayor Fenty’s Ward 2 Outreach Specialist. But later on, after residents and reporters started to make a big deal out of the sudden removal, the mayor’s spokesperson wanted “to leave the Mayor’s name out of the matter.” Writes Stroup: “Fenty’s office demanded the prompt removal of the bike, and then essentially hung DPW out to dry.”

Briefly Noted: Former Graham intern to appear in court on assault charge … Mount Airy man kills wife, 2 children, himself in home … Rockville woman killed by falling tree.

This Day in DCist: In 2007, we heard the first rumors of a possible Apple Store coming to Georgetown, and in 2006, we asked if D.C. bartenders are pouring weaker drinks for women than they are for men.