Photo by MudflapDC

Good morning, Washington. The moment Washington Nationals fans have been waiting for is nearly here! Stephen “The Savior” Strasburg will take the mound at Nats Park at 7:05 p.m., marking his major league debut. If you want to go but still haven’t found a ticket, there are a few limited options left. Or you can tune in and watch the game live on … MASN 2? That’s the best we could do? Oh, oh, I see, the mothereffing Yankees are in Baltimore, so obviously that game is more important and deserves to be on the main MASN. Blah blah blah world champions blah blah. We’ve got the Jesus of pitching! Or at least, we hope we do! Fingers crossed, Nats fans.

For those of you who don’t care at all about baseball or Strasburg or MASN, just be sure to mind the related traffic and transit crush this evening.

Investigation Opened into Private DCPS Funding: D.C.’s Office of Campaign Finance has agreed to look into whether D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee violated the law by soliciting donations from private foundations that had conditions attached related to Rhee’s continued tenure, Bill Turque reports in the Post. The investigation was prompted by a complaint filed by outspoken Ward 5 activist and D.C. Federation of Civic Associations president Robert Vinson Brannum, who has made no secret of his opposition to Rhee and her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty. Brannum “alleges that Rhee contrived to protect her job by accepting the leadership clause as a condition of the private funding — constituting a direct personal financial benefit. In a statement Monday, Rhee spokeswoman Jennifer Calloway said the allegation is without merit.”

Let the Sunshine In: The D.C. Council is set to take up Mary Cheh’s open government bill, which is designed to make things like FOIA requests much simpler and easier. Writing in the Examiner, Alan Suderman covers Monday’s committee hearing on the bill, noting that most of those who testified ‘described the city’s current application of public records laws as “ludicrous,” “Kafkaesque,” and “constant dilatory nonsense.”‘

Briefly Noted: Full body scans coming to BWI … Terminally ill woman apparently kills disabled adult son, then self in Maryland … Jealousy over unborn baby spurred attack on pregnant woman, cops say … Man posed as customer before robbing P.G. bank … D.C. man gets 21 years in beating death.

This Day in DCist: In 2009, Fire Chief Dennis Rubin temporarily shut down the fireworks at Nationals Park, and in 2007, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier unveiled her “All Hands on Deck” strategy for the first time.

Also, bonus! Twitter celebrity Roger Ebert reminds us that today is the 57th anniversary of the 1953 District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co. decision, which outlawed segregation in restaurants here in the nation’s capital.