Photo by yomaullman.

Good morning, Washington, and get ready to vote (if you haven’t already) — today, after all, is the special election to decide the permanent replacement for the open at-large Council seat, as well as Board of Education seats in Ward 4 and 8. It’s feels like today has been a long time coming, what with the kitchen deals, the innumerable forums and the wide-open field of candidates vying for the position. Will Sekou Biddle be able to parlay a three-month stint into a permanent job? Will Vince Orange retake a seat on the Council after so many citywide failures? Will Patrick Mara once again bring a Republican presence to the legislature? Will Josh Lopez become the first Latino in the Council’s history? Will Bryan Weaver’s impassioned base push him to a surprise victory? We’ll find out. But we can’t write about it unless you get out there and cast a ballot. All polling places are open and ready for business, and with turnout expected to be low, things should go relatively smooth — though we have heard about a couple of hiccups so far. Let us know if you run into any issues. (Oh, and here’s where you’ll want to be drinking tonight.)

Inspector General Releases Report On Firetruck: Remember in 2009, when the donation of an older D.C. firetruck and ambulance to a resort town in the Dominican Republic through the Office of Contracting and Procurement, Peaceaholics and Sinclair Skinner was the talk of the town? Well, the District’s Office of the Inspector General finally got around to releasing a report on the brouhaha, about two years later. The conclusion: Fenty deputies “failed to exercise proper oversight.” Meanwhile, Skinner responded to the report in typically Skinnerian fashion, with a press release that includes this observation: “How many lives could that worn-down fire truck and ambulance saved during the Haitian earthquake that killed thousands of people? A whole lot more than Mayor Gray and Chairman Kwame Brown’s fully-loaded Lincoln Navigators.”

Arrest Made In Zoo Stabbing: A 16-year-old was taken into custody by police and charged with assault with intent to kill for his involvement in the stabbing of a teen inside the National Zoo yesterday afternoon. The victim has stabilized and is expected to survive. The zoo was temporarily closed after the incident occurred.

Worst Headline Ever: “US lion cubs tumble toward adulthood.” Oh, and the cubs are apparently going to be separated from one another up pretty soon. (Hurry up and make more babies, National Zoo.)

Briefly Noted: File this away for 2012: Ward 7 CM Yvette Alexander switches endorsement from Biddle to Orange; both seats will be up for reelection next April…Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell asks Airports Authority to reconsider underground Dulles station vote…BeyondDC simplifies the D.C. land use map…Is Broad Branch Road turning into another Klingle Road?…R.I.P. Poly Styrene.

This Day in DCist: Last year, Arlington residents were getting mysteriously silent calls at all hours from a Wyoming area code. (And, yeah, a Waffle House would’ve been so much better than a Subway. Thanks a lot, Fred Smoot.)