Photo by suburbannation.

Good morning, Washington. Are you slogging along at the same rate of pay as you were last year? You’re not alone. Capital Business reports that wages for the Washington metropolitan region only increased by 0.04 percent in 2011, while inflation was clipping along at a steady 4.1 percent clip. It’s an anomaly for the area, which — thanks to a highly educated and specialized workforce — is usually ahead of the pace when it comes to salary increases. It doesn’t help that the federal government has frozen rates for this year and next, an economic move that’s trickling down to contractors and affecting organizations who use the government as a measuring stick.

Nooooooooo: Goodness, are we really about to go through this whole thing again? The Post reports on Congress’ attempts to once again avoid a government shutdown. The third such shutdown threat in the last six months is currently being bickered about in the House and Senate; of course, for the District, the consequences of a shutdown are somewhat the same as they were back when we all freaked out about this in April. (Ezra Klein explains why some Democrats might even be angling for a shutdown to happen.) For his part, Mayor Vince Gray has responded to the shutdown threat a bit earlier than he did this spring, issuing a statement last week announcing contingency plans and wondering “How many times must the District of Columbia be treated like a political ping pong ball?”

Union Station Evacuated After Fire: Metro passengers at Union Station last night were forced to exit the station after a fire broke out inside an equipment room around 6:30 p.m. A decent amount of smoke from the fire could be seen around the west entrance to the station. The flames took about 45 minutes to extinguish, and while the fire was being fought, power to the station was cut and Metro service was halted.

FInally, A Word Of Advice: Even though money may be tight, we highly recommend not eating those strange mushrooms you find in the yard, lest they be Death Caps or Destroying Angels. (But Elegant Stinkhorns? Those are okay, if you can get past the smell and the slime, I suppose.)

Briefly Noted: WaPo leads Monday morning edition with story about at-home euthanasia for pets, region arrives to work weepy…Police respond to barricade situation near the unit block of N Street SW…Alexandria fire department worried that Mark Center traffic could delay emergency response times…Google antitrust accusations a boon for District lobbyists…John E. “Jack” Potter, Dulles rail peacemaker…Be careful, MoCo barkeeps…RIP, Wangari Maathai.

This Day in DCist: Last year, we debunked the Great U.F.O. Sighting of 2010; the year before, we noted that there were plenty of ways to kill time if you were locked inside a Metro station.