Photo by abaran.

Good morning, Washington. Yesterday was a very good day for a select few Metro executives, who received iPads or $2,000 as a year-end bonus. Kytja Weir reports that WMATA handed out the pricey gadgets and cash as a thank you to eight executives who “had worked evenings and weekends to finish a project…as a token of thanks for the tremendous amount of personal time they dedicated to this project.” The details about what the project was are unknown, but a Metro spokesperson said it “saved Metro tens of thousands of dollars immediately and hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run.” While we don’t doubt that there are some people at Metro headquarters working very hard, there are plenty of people who find the bonuses a little unfair — namely, the labor union which has been fighting for a bus and train operator pay increase for two years and riders who are paying a lot more to ride Metro during a lean time for the agency. Metro’s refusal to specify what the execs were actually rewarded for will certainly only increase that frustration.

Fire Breaks Out At D.C. Superior Court: A debris fire broke out this morning on the 6th floor of Moultrie Courthouse at 500 Indiana Avenue NW, causing damage to some boxes and building materials. That part of the building is under construction and some workers had to be evacuated, but fortunately no one was injured and the Courthouse’s sprinklers knocked down the flames. All proceedings at the Courthouse will be delayed until 10 a.m. this morning.

Man Killed At Rockville Car Wash: An incredibly strange story from Rockville — a man died after he and another person were hit by a car at Flagship Car Wash on Hungerford Drive. An employee of the car wash was reportedly driving a car out of the wash tunnel to the dry-off area, when the vehicle “took off,” hitting the two victims, dragging them across the street and pinning them.

Briefly Noted: Virginia educators seeking alternatives to factually incorrect history textbook…Video of a RideOn bus on fire outside the White Flint Metro station, no injuries reported…Rates for Dominion Virginia Power customers going up on Jan. 1…Arlington police investigating overnight hit-and-run in Ballston…Md. Sen. Barbara Mikulski will become longest-serving female Senator on January 5…Starbucks planning to crack down on refills.

This Day in DCist: Last year, we investigated how a drum fill by D.C. funk and soul group The Winstons became one of the most sampled pieces of music in the world, while the Washington Times’ sports section was on its death bed.