Photo by Paul Frederiksen

Good morning, D.C. The bulk of this morning’s headlines continue to focus on the post-earthquake devastation down in Haiti. Everybody’s looking for that local angle, and the Post does an admirable job exhausting the topic: there’s the local Haitian community coming together to pray; anxious adoptive couples waiting for their Haitian children; and the Northern Virginia church group that’s long been sending aide to Haiti. WTTG/FOX5 also covers last night’s candlelight vigil at the Haitian embassy, plus speaks to a group of Maryland women who managed to escape injury during a week-long mission trip to Port-au-Prince. And WAMU talks to some Haitian students at Howard University to see how they’re holding up.

New DOT Funding Would Benefit Local Transit Projects: The Obama administration announced a sweeping new transportation policy on Wednesday that will see lots more federal funding going to toward transit projects that both spur economic development and help the environment, as the Post reports. Area transit planners are salivating. “Winners of the grant money are expected to be announced this month, and if the K Street project is among them, District officials said construction could begin in the latter half of this year.”

Three Fatal Shootings Within 24 Hours: FOX5’s Wisdom Martin covers the three fatal shootings in the District in the last two days. The victims include 20-year-old Nadar Mobley, who was gunned down in broad daylight Wednesday afternoon on Blaine Street NE; a 20-year-old man who was shot and killed on Eaton Road SE earlier in the day; and a 23-year-old who was killed on Tuesday afternoon on Alabama Avenue SE. “So far, there’s no motive or reason behind any of these shootings.”

Where the Sidewalks End: Over at the Examiner, Michael Neibauer reports on a floundering piece of legislation that was designed to help put sidewalks on the last remaining city streets that don’t have them. “The bill, first introduced in 2007 and again in early 2009, is idling in the Public Works and Transportation Committee. Chairman Jim Graham tabled the legislation Tuesday, the day it was scheduled for a vote.”

Briefly Noted: Maryland tops states on education report card … Tanker overturns, catches fire on I-270 … Arenas in negotiations for a plea deal … O’Malley expects end to tuition freeze at U.Md. … Marshals seek homeless man in downtown D.C. throat slashing.

This Day in DCist: In 2009, then-President-elect Barack Obama went over to the Marie Reed Community Learning Center in Adams Morgan to shoot some hoops, and in 2008, the number of rat complaints by residents to the city was up by 8 percent.