Photo by M.V. Jantzen

Good morning, D.C. With Thanksgiving now just a week away, the local media are breaking out the chestnuts: yep, you guessed it, it’s time to start panicking about holiday travel. The first thing you do when you want to freak out about getting home for Thanksgiving is call the AAA spokesperson. That guy is always going to give you a great, terrifying quote about how bad traffic is gonna be this year. So after checking all the local news outlets on this one, what are we to conclude? Traveling next week is going to be annoying, just like every year. But if you’re interested in the specific predictions, it looks like train and automobile travel might be up slightly over last year, while air travel may go down a bit. Good luck to you all!

Day Two of the ‘Vince Gray Under Fire’ Show: Let’s see how the D.C. Council Chair is handling himself in the wake of the multiple allegations he faced on Wednesday. First, it looks like being somewhat contrite about his use of Council stationary to raise funds for the local Democratic party has paid off: the Washington Post declined to follow up on its story about Gray’s letter to Comcast today (the Examiner does offer a second day wrap-up story of their own, though.)

But Gray has no such luck with the Washington Times, in which Jeffrey Anderson follows up on his original story this morning to report that even a spokesperson for developer William C. Smith & Co. has to admit that the company “would not ordinarily provide construction management services for minor repairs” of the sort they did for Gray. And while Gray insisted on News Channel 8’s NewsTalk on Wednesday that the work was merely incidental to a larger architectural development project, the same Smith & Co. spokesperson cast some doubt on that claim, in addition to agreeing that even if that were the case, the work done on Gray’s house was still unusual for them. Now, much to his credit, Gray did offer up the actual invoices to the press, which Mike DeBonis has posted on City Desk for your perusal. Does it seem like Gray got a deal?

Anti-Gay Marriage Group Files Suit: Totally expected, but Bishop Harry Jackson and conservative legal outfit Alliance Defense Fund have gone ahead and filed a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court to try to force a ballot measure on same-sex marriage, as the Post reports. “In the 15-page filing, Jackson and his seven co-petitioners argue that the city’s ordinances gives residents the same lawmaking power as the council, except for appropriations.” Tellingly, the end of the Post story focuses on how even conservative members of Congress like Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Ut.) have to admit they aren’t likely going to be able to stop D.C. from legalizing gay marriage.

Briefly Noted: Metro seeks OK for trip already under way … Pedestrian fatally struck in Silver Spring … Computer glitch causes East Coast flight delays … Commercial real estate vacancy rates continue to look grim.

This Day in DCist: Last year, we offered up our recipe for deep fried pumpkin pies, and the year before that, we got our first look at Office of Tax and Revenue embezzler Harriette Walters.