Photo by GDL Studio.

Good morning, Washington. Has D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown got the votes he needs to strike down an income tax increase proposed by Mayor Vince Gray? It appears that way — the Examiner’s Freeman Klopott reported last night that Brown has been able to woo the vote of Councilmember Marion Barry with the promise of tax abatements for six churches and nonprofit organizations in the Mayor-for-Life’s Ward. Barry’s vote would give Brown the seven Councilmembers he needs to push through his counter-proposal — though he still could run into trouble by including a tax on municipal bonds which the Council has axed before, in 2002. As you can imagine, social services advocates — who have been spending the last few days ramping up a campaign in favor of the income tax — are less than pleased with the development.

Another Metro Train Runs Red: It’s only been a few days since Metro instituted a “safety stand down” to remind its train operators not to run red lights — but apparently, that message isn’t taking. Kytja Weir reports that another operator ran a stop signal at the Shady Grove rail yard on Friday morning — the third time an operator has done so in the last month. The latest incident is all the more surprising since Metro had just completed a special safety meeting.

Barry Keeps Busy: While it feels like most of the city’s political muscle are out wooing retailers in Las Vegas, Barry is keeping himself busy here on the homefront. In addition to the budget maneuvering, Barry also held a news conference yesterday in which he declared a pension reform bill fronted by Councilmember David Catania as “dead,” Mike DeBonis reports. Catania’s bill would have capped future cost-of-living increases in pensions given to members of the city’s police, fire and teachers’ unions. (It didn’t seem like the bill was ever going anywhere, but far be it from Barry to start being modest about legislative victories now.)

Briefly Noted: Metro to reduce on-time performance goals…Libya’s transitional council to open a D.C. office…NoVa BRAC opponents turn to letter-writing…Montgomery County to raise parking rates, bus fares…So who in Maryland doesn’t earn more than Governor Martin O’Malley?…Woman killed, husband critically injured in Wheaton hit-and-run…Woman groped on W&OD Trail in Loudoun County…Looks like Seth Green is in town…Steve Martin to play a banjo at D.C. Fourth of July celebration.

This Day in DCist: Last year, we wondered which stupid drinking trend, ‘Vodka Eyeballing’ or ‘Bro Icing’, was worse and extolled the virtues of rubber sidewalk slabs.