Photo by B Jones Jr.

Good morning, Washington. I’m fully aware that this will make three days running that the Morning Roundup will lead off with a note about how unbearably hot it is outside — but, to be fair, that’s the first thing on everyone’s mind today. The adjectives of the day? Take your pick from “terrible,” “challenging” and, yes, “dangerous“. Today’s been declared a Code Red air quality day, the University of the District of Columbia has closed up shop at its Van Ness campus due to the heat’s strain on its “antiquated chiller system,” and Civil War reenactors are braving the heat.

Like A Speeding Bullet: Don’t believe that the city was working hard to try and get Charles Sykes back into the business of registering handguns? Check out this report by Michael Neibauer, which proves that the District basically bent over backwards to accomodate Sykes, processing his occupancy permit, basic business license, clean hands certification and trade name registration in about three hours. Suffice it to say, it usually takes a whole lot longer for most other businesses to do the same — “good luck trying to match that clip for the deli you want to open,” quips Neibauer.

Big Day For LGBT Rights: According to the Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon is likely to inform Congress today that they are prepared to end a ban on gay people serving openly in the military; the ban would officially be lifted in 60 days. Locally, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is expected to announce his strategy to bring same-sex marriage to the state in an address today. A piece of legislation which would have allowed same-sex marriage in Maryland surprisingly failed earlier this year.

D.C. Man Shot By Police: D.C. police officers shot a man on the 5800 block of 13th Street last night. Details are light, but it appears police responded to the scene and got into a confrontation with the man, who was holding a gun, then shot him several times. The man, who was not identified, is expected to survive.

Briefly Noted: “Last week was a great week for some 40,000+ local bees.”…Messy accident at intersection of Georgia and New Hampshire Avenues…Are hand signals being used to influence testimony inside a District courtroom?…George Washington moving forward with Washingtoniana museum… David Leonhardt named new editor of New York Times’ D.C. bureau…Inside the legal war over posters in Washington.

This Day in DCist: In 2010, we found out that library costs went way beyond books, and DDOT found some historic photographs for us to gawk at; two years ago, a pro-LGBT T-shirts window display at the American Apparel in Silver Spring was vandalized.