Photo by keviikev

Good morning, Washington. WJLA writes that a memorial ceremony will take place today at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to remember the two U.S. postal workers that were killed by anthrax at the Brentwood facility a decade ago. In 2002, the mail-sorting facility was named after the two workers that were killed, Joseph Curseen, Jr. and Thomas Morris, Jr.

Controversy Over Maryland Redistricting: Our own local ward redistricting may have been slightly contested, but it’s nothing compared to the legal battle that may be heating up in Maryland. According to the Post, Maryland Republicans have accused Governor Martin O’Malley and Democrats of gerrymandering the state’s new congressional districts along racial lines. They say that the plan passed by the Maryland General Assembly and signed by O’Malley creates districts in which Democrats can be reliably elected but where minority groups are divided so as to not be able elect minority representatives. There’s one interesting twist to the fight — the man who could ultimatelt decide whether the plan passes muster, Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for Justice’s Civil Rights Division, is a former O’Malley cabinet member who has spoken out against vote dilution.

Occupy Federally Funded Grass!: The Occupy D.C. protesters in McPherson Square are certainly ones for irony — the Examiner reports that the tents that have come to occupy large parts of the square may well be killing grass that was planted earlier this year as part of a federally funded stimulus project. The original project likely cost upwards of $200,000, and National Park Service still aren’t sure if they’ll have to re-sod. Also in Occupy D.C.-related news, a Post reporter spent the night camping out with the protesters and the City Paper guesses that Freedom Plaza will likely be abandoned before McPherson Square.

Yeah, We Could Have Used That $15 Million: After a hearing yesterday, the D.C. Council has stopped trying to get $15 million it thinks the city is owned from an obscure real estate tax dating back a decade that officials from the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue seemed to have been misinterpreting all along. The Washington Times reports that the council will instead focus on legislation clarifying the tax, which is supposed to be levied on new debt acquired through refinancing on commercial properties. The Post’s Mike DeBonis adds that the two private lawyers who discovered that the city wasn’t collecting the tax as it should have been took the opportunity to ding D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi, who they accuse for failing to collect the $15 million owed to the city.

Briefly Noted: The Post profiles Benjamin Mufti, the 35-year-old who was killed by an errant falling tree branch in Mt. Pleasant this week … Money is the new race in D.C., says columnist … Teen to be charged as adult in intentional hit-and-run on 14th Street … If you self-identify with your car, you’re more likely to suffer from road rage … So we’re calling them “flash-robs” now?

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2010, a man hurdled the third rail to rescue someone who had fallen on Metro tracks and a proposal to add “Benjamin Banneker Park” to the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station name didn’t seem to gain much traction. In 2009, the Post started looking like The Wall Street Journal and President Obama recommended Pete’s Apizza.