Photo by anokarina.

Good morning, Washington. DCist’s Martin Austermuhle is all over this morning’s budget gap-a-palooza and will have a post about Vince Gray’s budget proposal, which the Council will debate and vote on today, shortly. The District is looking to close a $188 million gap — will residents be paying more taxes and what will be cut? Stay tuned.

Assange Arrested: Authorities in Great Britain brought Wikileaks founder Julian Assange into custody this morning. (They obviously didn’t attend the Jeffrey T. Kuhner school of justice!) Assange will apparently fight extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning in connection with two sexual assaults. Of course, if you thought that Assange’s apprehension would somehow stop WikiLeaks from publishing more confidential diplomatic cables, well, you’ll be disappointed.

Food Truck Operators Meet With Councilmembers: Representatives from Fojol Bros. of Merlindia and Red Hook Lobster Truck, among others, met with Councilmembers and staff yesterday to discuss a potential piece of legislation which would cap the number of food trucks which could operate in the District. It had been rumored that the Council might take up emergency legislation on the idea as soon as today, but today’s Council agenda (PDF) does not include discussion or a vote on such a bill. A website in opposition to such a moratorium on new trucks has been established here.

Still Curious About Metro Track Circuits?: WAMU has an easily-digestible discussion about why and what happens when Metro track circuits fail — track circuit failure was one of the main causes of last year’s fatal Red Line crash which killed nine people.

Briefly Noted: Yup, it’s cold…Michael Wilbon pens his final column for the Post…Montgomery County facing big hit to park funding…Safeway now selling SmarTrip cards…Driving around the White House on Thursday: not recommended…It’d be fair to say that your DCist editor is an outlier in these kinda fascinating statistics on how many tabs people keep open in Firefox windows….Panda overload.

This Day in DCist: Last year, a group of 20 people protested outside of Mayor Fenty’s 39th birthday party/re-election fundraiser. (Those same folks, well, they didn’t need to organize a similar protest this year.) Oh, yes, and happy belated 40th, Mr. Mayor!