Photo by Nikoo’s Photos

Good morning, Washington. As we reported last night, Mayor Vince Gray held a 10 p.m. press conference to report on “credible but unconfirmed threats” to both the District and New York, announcing that additional police would be deployed on city streets in the days to come. (The Washington Times reports that Police Chief Cathy Lanier has invoked the same provisions of a “crime emergency,” allowing her to more flexibly assign police.) Additionally, officials said, suspicious vehicles would be towed, and we’ve heard reports this morning of heavy police presence at various Metro stations. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg similarly held a press conference, while federal officials worked to glean more information on hints of a possible car or truck bomb attack on New York or Washington to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Local officials have asked that residents reports any suspicious behavior to police (and rolled out a fancy new tool to do it).

Paging Noah: Yep, the rain’s going to continue today, and we’re under a Flash Flood Watch until 8 p.m. There’s been a ton of flooding in the region, three people have been killed, there’s a bunch of closures and delays, and you should probably just avoid being outside today. If there’s any silver-lining to the many clouds we’ve seen this week, is that it looks like they’ll slowly move away from the area over the weekend.

Union Station Changing, and Not For the Better: The Post writes that some commuters are lamenting the changes to Union Station, notably the trend of smaller mom-and-pop operations being replaced by national chains. (Bojangles, anyone?) Union Wine and Liquor, which occupied prime retail space for 26 years, was recently forced to move, leaving customers that had depended on their offerings after a hard day of work with few alternatives. Tschiffely Pharmacy, also a two-decade-long tenant, recently closed after new management demanded payment on an old debt. To the new management, though, the changes are for the best, and many of the national chains are actually locally-owned franchises.

Our Job Plan is Better, Obama: While President Obama may have gotten top billing for his speech on jobs yesterday, Mayor Gray also rolled out his own local jobs plan. According to the Washington Times, Gray asked that all D.C. employers hire at least on resident in exchange for tax benefits and wage subsidies. The program, “One City, One Hire,” is based on a similar effort in Atlanta that saw 13,000 residents gain jobs in six months. According to the D.C. Department of Employment Services, there are 51,000 jobs currently available in the District; 25 companies joined Gray at the conference and pledged to support the program.

Briefly Noted: Gray asks Barry to release money for upgrades to D.C. youth jail … Race enters discussion over lack of middle schools in Ward 5 … Two legislators want money for Georgia Avenue back … Anyone want to buy a blog about murder?

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2010, we dug through the results of the coolest political poll ever and Clark Ray continued plugging along in his quest to win a seat on the D.C. Council. In 2009, we simply couldn’t figure out why Sonia Sotomayor partied at the Irish Channel and President Obama went and made a big mess of traffic around the U.S. Capitol. (Sound familiar?)