Photo by ianseanlivingston

It seems like 2010 just won’t be the year where we just get a little weather. We’re either getting slammed by record amounts of snow, suffering through weeks-long heat waves, or, as yesterday proved, victims to massive thunderstorms that sweep through the area and leave tens of thousands of local residents without power. Just under 40,000 homes in the region are still in the dark this morning, the majority in Alexandria and Prince George’s County. Plenty of trees were knocked down during yesterday’s afternoon rush, including one that blocked off MacArthur Boulevard in Northwest Washington and another that closed off a lane of the George Washington Parkway. Where I live in the city was largely spared, thankfully, but plenty of other folks weren’t so lucky. How was your thunderstorm Thursday?

Local Latinos Hit Hard By Housing Boom, Recession: The Post reports on a study from the Urban Institute that found that local Latino residents have lost low-wage jobs during the recession and have been slowly pushed out of housing in the District because of rising rents. The report also finds that there’s not much of a Latino middle class in the District, and that many Latino families have settled in Virginia or Maryland, where they are more likely to be able to afford housing.

A Moment of Candor From the Fenty Campaign: The Examiner might have the quote of the day in their recap of Wednesday’s Ward 4 straw poll in which Vince Gray soundly defeated Adrian Fenty. While the article rightly points out that straw polls tend to attract only die-hard voters, it also gets an anonymous high-ranking Fenty campaign official to see the, ummm, white lining to the defeat. “There are other demographics in Ward 4 that will show up on primary day,” says the official, confirming that the Fenty campaign has been aiming its efforts at white voters, and that more will come out on election day than came out for the straw poll. Yes, this is true, but it’s also one of those things you just shouldn’t publicly confirm, even if you do so anonymously.

WaPo Calls for Civility in Mayoral Campaign: The Post’s editorial board today appeals to both the Fenty and Gray campaigns for just a little less nastiness in what’s left of the campaign. After this week’s mayhem, we couldn’t agree more.

Briefly Noted: The Examiner actually thought that Edge Gel “survey” on the country’s most irritated cities was worth an entire article, it seems … Local law firm called “litigation ninjas” … Anne Arundel County executive not happy about dog shooting … Prince William County requests immigration info from feds after deadly crash.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2009, PETA had some thoughts on Molly and San Diego’s pandas made ours look bad. Again. In 2008, we gave Adam Express a taste and the D.C. teachers union polled against merit pay.