Photo by jim_darling.

Good morning, Washington. The wickedly strong thunderstorm which plowed through the metro area yesterday certainly left its mark: downed trees, downed power lines, but also reduced temperatures. As of 8:30 this morning, Pepco was still reporting about 240,000 outages in its service area. If you see a downed power line, Pepco is asking that you call the utility at 1-877-PEPCO62 to report it. Traffic lights all over the place are still out — drivers should treat those intersections as four-way stops until things get back online. The Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission has mandated water restrictions in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, after the storm knocked out power to a water filtration plant. Metro admitted that many rail cars would likely be more crowded than normal this morning, after the storm knocked out power to rail stations and yards, affecting routine maintenance and the dispatch schedule. WMATA is still operating many rail stations on generator power. The storm is being cited for at least three deaths. On the bright side, at least we’re seeing a 20-degree drop in temperature this morning.

Might Want To Rethink Those Nachos: Remember when Ted Leonsis said that he wanted to work for a day with the Verizon Center’s cleaning crew? Well, it looks like he’ll have his work cut out for him. An investigation by ESPN into health inspection examinations of North American sports facilities revealed that the Chinatown venue had mice droppings at ten vendors inside the arena. The only other stadium with a poorer health record was Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay, which had every one of its 47 food and drink outlets incur a “critical” violation. (Eww.) If your idea of a perfect baseball game involves a hot dog and a beer, though, not to worry — Nationals Park did well, only receiving one minor violation for some missing paperwork. Read the entire report here.

Norton Talks Voting Rights, Guns: In an op-ed in Sunday’s Washington Post, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton gave an overview of where the District stands in terms of achieving voting rights and “freedom from congressional interference” (read: gun legislation). “[I]f I am reelected, I will introduce a series of bills in the next Congress that include not only the pending House-only approach but also the other bills that I have put forward in previous years: bills for statehood and for votes in both the Senate and the House,” wrote Norton, adding later that “[a]s we move forward, it is important to remember that today all approaches would need to overcome the gun provision, even statehood.” Discuss.

Gray Wins Ward 7 Straw Poll: According to unofficial numbers released by his campaign, the Council Chairman took 226 of the Ward 7 straw votes, compared to 64 for Adrian Fenty. Gray has now won straw polls in Wards 3, 7, 8 and the influential Gertrude Stein endorsement.

Briefly Noted: Fatal car crash snarls traffic on New York Avenue this morning…D.C. Latino Caucus endorses Gray; Fenty didn’t even show up to the Caucus’ candidates’ forum…Man charged with murder in Capitol Hill stabbing…Mosquitoes with West Nile Virus found in Pr. William County…Stephen Tyrone Johns’ heroism brings awareness to Holocaust Memorial Museum…Original Ledo restaurant closes…Bomb threat at Howard on Saturday…Car drives into Bonini Road SE home.

This Day in DCist: Last year, we wondered whether racism was a problem on the Cleveland Park listserv, and the Post Office literally stunk.