Photo by Rukasu1.

Good morning, Washington. The Post has the story that will no doubt have people talking today — it seems that Sulaimon Brown, the former mayoral candidate who landed a plum job in the Gray administration despite a lack of experience and sketchy past, was actually vetted. “Sulaimon Brown was vetted more thoroughly than a lot of people,” said a source to Mike DeBonis and Tim Craig. This obviously raises a whole host of interesting questions. Did that vetting include his professional history? If so, was Brown qualified for the gig he landed at the Department of Health Care Finance? And if he wasn’t, was the vetting simply to check that crony hires don’t have too checkered a past? (If so: that went well, huh?) More importantly, if Brown was “vetted more thoroughly than a lot of people,” what does that say about those lots of people that didn’t get the Sulaimon Brown treatment? I’m sticking to what I said yesterday — I’m willing to forgive mistakes people have made, provided they’re qualified for their jobs. But with Brown, it doesn’t seem like we’ll ever really know how much, if any real vetting was done of his professional experience, or if he really just was a crony hire.

Maryland Moves Closer to Full Texting-While-Driving Ban: The Examiner reports that the Maryland House of Delegates yesterday approved a measure banning texting while in a car at a stoplight, moving the state closer to a full ban on the practice by drivers in their cars. Once the law is signed, sending or checking text messages while your car is stopped at a light or sign will cost you $500 and count as a misdemeanor offense.

Spending Measure Could Cut Metro Security Measures: The Post writes that the House spending package that would cut the $150 million annual subsidy Metro receives would also slash federal funds for programs aimed at enhancing security in the transit system. According to the plan, Metro would lose $13 million of the $18.6 million it received last year, money it used to install cameras at Metro yards and a bus driver authentication system to prevent people from stealing Metro buses. You know what the rich irony of this is? Metro’s controversial bag checks, which are based on no real threat and aren’t expected to provide much additional security for the network, aren’t threatened by the funding cuts; it’s only programs that may actually work that are on the chopping block.

And Now For Your Daily Dose of Awful News: D.C. police know where Latisha Frazier’s body may be — a Richmond landfill — but they won’t be paying to retrieve it. Not only would it be very expensive, writes the Post, but police officers could face multiple risks in digging through 70 feet of trash over the course of six months to find her body. Six people are charged in her August 2010 killing.

Briefly Noted: Nurses at Washington Hospital Center go on 24-hour strike … Post editorial board likes Vince Gray’s newly improved Summer Youth Employment Program… Virginia to create a database of slave names.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2010, Richard Sarles was named Interim General Manager of Metro and the District got federal funds for the December 2009 snowstorms. In 2009, the NRA derailed a vote on a House vote for the District and Bobby Flay threw down with a local chef.