Photo by James Turitto.

Good morning, Washington. It’s hard to turn away from riveting coverage of the massive gathering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where an estimated 100,000 people gathered to continue protests against the governance of Hosni Mubarak. Locally, an interesting story has developed involving the number of D.C.-area college students who are studying abroad in the nation. The Washington Post reports that there are dozens of regional students involved in the mass departure efforts from Egypt, including some “who are refusing to leave at all.” American University is working overtime to get their students back to the States, while other schools have been successful in at least moving their study abroad participants to satellite campuses around Europe and the Middle East. Obviously, thousands of Americans remain in limbo as flights out of the country are incredibly rare.

Ice, Ice Baby: There was significant hand-wringing about the icy weather headed our way, but as far as we can tell, the biggest issue so far has been the fact that it’s just kind of miserable out there. Sure, it’s slippery in spots, some schools in the outer suburbs have closed or are on a two-hour delay and traffic’s no picnic. But in the District, things appear to be moving as normal. Of course, we’ll be getting another round of icy precipitation this evening, so be sure to drop some non-clumping kitty litter on your walks again tonight.

D.C. Council Convenes Today: The D.C. Council gets together for its Third Legislative Meeting this morning. On the agenda (PDF): legislation concerning foreclosure, the upcoming special election, government furloughs, among others. Also, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh will introduce a bill to move D.C. primary from September to July in order to fall in line with federal law. Oh, and the Council will also consider the “Soul Searchers Band and Chuck Brown as the True Originators of Go-Go Recognition Resolution of 2011.” Time to get down at the Wilson Building!

Briefly Noted: Fire battled inside rowhouse at 1010 3rd Street SE…Fact-checking Jim Moran’s “a lot of people in this country … don’t want to be governed by an African American” remark…Mayor Vince Gray, MPD Chief Cathy Lanier visit site where William Mitchell was gunned down…Maryland wants performance standards for Pepco.

This Day in DCist: Last year, D.C. Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe resigned (but now he’s back!), while a poll showed that then-mayor Adrian Fenty was incredibly unpopular, despite citizens’ pleasure with the way things were going. Also: The Daily Beast thought we were good-lookin’.