Photo by Frank Hale.

Good morning, Washington. With AT&T and T-Mobile announcing that they’ll be merging in an enormous $39 billion deal, much of this morning’s chatter is about phones. Too bad that, according to the New York Times, we’re no longer using them to call people. Of course, here in Washington, we’ve got a fine excuse for not reaching out and touching someone: after all, it’s basically a miracle when anyone can get a phone call to go through in a city where 18 percent of cellphone calls are problematic.

Norwood Due In Court Today: Brittany Norwood, the woman charged with murdering Jayna Murray inside a Lululemon Athletica store in Bethesda, will make her first appearance in court today. Police are still trying to figure out what exactly led Norwood to kill Murray, but are looking into a theory that a dispute developed over stolen merchandise. The media has also started to dig into Norwood’s past, finding an eviction and a lien on her record, as well as people describing her as “majorly angry” and having a “reputation…as a liar and a thief.”

Metro Asks For Public Input On Capital Budget: WMATA will hold a public hearing this afternoon to discuss $851 million in capital improvements to the system. The money will be used to purchase new rail cars and buses and small, but vital upgrades like track fasteners for the system, which turns 35 later this month. (“It’s starting to show its age,” said a Metro spokesperson to the Examiner. Uh, starting?) If you have a suggestion for whether the agency should push more money to, say, escalators or leaking ceilings, you can testify via email until March 28 by emailing writtentestimony@wmata.com and referencing “Hearing B11-01” or “Docket 555.”

Skinner Takes The Pen: Sinclair Skinner, who has been on a bit of a media whirlwind of late — what with some epic press releases and whatnot — took to the Washington Post’s opinion page over the weekend, calling for Mayor Vince Gray to resign. Gray’s “involvement in nepotism and financial mismanagement is inexcusable and an embarrassment to the District of Columbia,” Skinner wrote, while acknowledging that that recently released Trout Report regarding the Parks and Rec contracting scandal “calls for further investigation of my business.”

Briefly Noted: Police investigate stabbing on 1300 block of 10th Street NW…Major delays on Blue and Orange Lines this morning due to single tracking…Package thief nabbed in Burleith…Prince George’s budget includes more for law enforcement…61-year-old woman rescued after kayak capsizes in Potomac.

This Day in DCist: Last year, a mass gay wedding didn’t quite pan out; in 2009, the D.C. Council issued a proclamation which promoting “brain education” through dancing.