Photo by outtacontext

Good morning, Washington. The World Cup kicks off today, which means that for the next month your co-workers are either going to be showing up at work tipsy after an early-morning game (bars open at 7 a.m.; boozin’ legally starts at 8 a.m.) or slyly keeping live-streaming game on at all time while at work. (Hell, considering that the Tour de France kicks off in early July and runs for three weeks, I likely won’t do anything productive until August.) I’ll be cheering for the Swiss and the Dutch — the former is my country of birth, the latter the country that my family hails from — and if those two fail to move forward (and the likely Swiss won’t, since winning seems to offend our neutral sensibilities), the Argentine squad has long been a household favorite.

Fenty Keeps the Pressure on Gray: When Mayor Adrian Fenty suddenly went negative on challenger Vince Gray at a Ward 3 forum last week, every was surprised, no one more so than Gray himself. At another Ward 3 forum yesterday, the Post reports, Fenty keep hammering Gray for his record in the administration of Mayor Sharon Pratt, provoking Gray to approach him and say, “You want to talk about my record, let’s get it on.” It’s nice to see the mayoral race get a little spicy, but Fenty probably shouldn’t let attacks that worked once to become the only campaign pitches he uses from now on in. On the other hand, Gray should welcome a debate over his past record in public office; just seeming offended that questions are being asked about it doesn’t substitute for actually responding to legitimate concerns some voters may have.

Candidates Tally Up Campaign Funds: In more D.C. election news, yesterday was the filing deadline for candidates for elected office in the District to tally up how much money they had raised and how much they had spent. The Washington Business Journal’s Mike Neibaeur reports that the Fenty campaign raised almost $500,000 since March — for a total of $4.3 million thus far — and is sitting on $3.2 million for the rest of the summer. The late-starting Gray campaign picked up a strong $560,000, and still had $371,000 to spend. He also collected more small donations than Fenty. In other races, the Post reports that D.C. Council Chair candidate Kwame Brown raised $180,000 to Vincent Orange’s $153,000 (which included a hefty personal loan), while Council member David Catania (I-At Large) bested pretty much everyone running for a council slot by taking in north of $200,000. (He’s got $300,000 in the bank; Catania for Mayor!) Neibaeur also got a great little scoop — always indecisive developer and possible mayoral candidate Don Peebles gave $3,500 to Brown.

Confused About Those Fare Increases?: The Examiner runs down the two fare increases Metro users will face this summer, one on June 27 and the second on August 1. The first round of increases will see a jump in base costs — the current minimum fare will go from $1.35 to $1.60 for non-peak hours and start at $1.95 during peak hours — while the second round will start charging a 20-cent peak-of-the-peak surcharge and possibly even add five cents at designated stations for maintenance and upkeep.

Briefly Noted: Landon School tries to control impact of student sex scandal … Maryland state trooper shot and killed … Holocaust Museum honors fallen security guard … Maryland gives OK to fortune-tellers.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2009, CVS got protested for locking up condoms and the shooting at the Holocaust Museum sparked another debate over gun control in the District. In 2008, we asked if Agent Zero should stay or go.