Photo by Madame Meow.

Good morning, Washington. If you’re anything like us, you’re still digesting the latest released indictments in the ongoing Ted Loza scandal which hit the interwebs yesterday. City Desk ponders why most of those involved in the kerfuffle are Ethiopian, including Abdul Kamus, whom the City Paper once dubbed the “de facto leader of D.C.’s Ethiopian community.” It just keeps getting deeper and deeper, doesn’t it?

In other headlines this morning:

>> Virginia has applied for 1.8 billion dollars in stimulus funds for high-speed rail upgrades. Of course, if the Commonwealth is hoping for more money, they might want to get cracking on using the cash they already have — Governor Tim Kaine got a scathing letter (bold and underlined!) from the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, reminding him that Virginia ranks dead last in the utilization of already-awarded highway stimulus funds.

>> The venerable Florida Avenue Grill, one of our favorite breakfast joints in D.C., is hosting a block party from 10 to 4 on 11th Street NW — with free food, natch — to celebrate their 65th anniversary.

>> Thousands of people gathered at Freedom Plaza this morning for AIDS Walk Washington, having raised a sizable $770,000 for AIDS prevention and treatment. Borderstan reminds us that, in a city with such an astronomical rate of HIV-AIDS infection, more donations are always needed.