Photo by brokenjade

Good morning, Washington. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in town for the next few days, with plans to be at the State Department all day today, at the White House and Vice Presidential mansion on Wednesday, and at the U.S. Institute of Peace on Thursday. With such a long visit and so many meetings planned in different locations, be prepared for a bit of motorcade madness this week.

Gandhi Certifies Teacher Contract: At a late evening press conference Monday on the steps of the Wilson Building, D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi announced that he is now prepared to certify the $140 million DCPS teachers contract. Over at D.C. Schools Insider, Bill Turque breaks down the financial shuffling that finally took place before Gandhi would give his blessing. That $38.8 million gap will be made up with $18.7 million in federal stimulus dollars, $3 million in accrued federal payments, and the rest, about $20.1 million, will basically be borrowed from various programs from this fiscal year, and then replaced as soon as the private funding Rhee has secured kicks in.

The certification must be a relief for Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Mayor Adrian Fenty, who have been at the center of a month of blame games and confusion over whether the city can actually afford the teachers contract, itself the result of more than two years of oft-contentious negotiations. The contract must still be ratified by teachers and then approved by the D.C. Council. The Examiner quotes WTU president George Parker saying ballots would be mailed within the next week, and that he expects it to pass.

Metro Union Calls for Trains to Run Slower: A two-fer from the Examiner’s Kytja Weir today on the continued fallout from last week’s Red Line near-miss at Wheaton. First up, a bit of unsurprising criticism of new WMATA Interim GM Richard Sarles and Safety Chief James Dougherty following the handling of the Wednesday incident, which the agency waited a full day to report. Among those taking Metro leadership to task is, no shock here, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 president Jackie Jeter, and she’s also now calling for Metro to start running all trains at a reduced speed of 40 mph in an effort to improve safety.

Briefly Noted: Police response to Alonte Sutton shooting being investigated … New poll finds Maryland residents are more positive about same-sex marriage … McDonnell wants to collect tolls on southern stretch of I-95 … Vandals ransack youth football offices in Southeast … Ward 2’s Jack Evans worries about D.C.’s bond ratings.

This Day in DCist: In 2009, D.C. United fans took to the streets to show their support for keeping the team in D.C., and in 2007, Metro installed new, brighter lights in the Foggy Bottom station.

Rachael Brown contributed to the Roundup