Photo by suburbannation

Good morning, Washington. The snow may not have been much, but the rain certainly was — WTOP is reporting that the 3.1 inches of water that fell on us yesterday broke December records. (The standing record was 2.81 inches in 1977.) To put that all in perspective, consider this — December usually only gets around three inches of rain for the whole month, and we beat that in one day. Had all of that rain turned to snow, it could have produced between 25 to 30 inches of the white stuff.

Protests Lead to 74 Arrests: A hectic day of blocked streets related to an Occupy D.C. day of action led to 74 arrests, reports the Post. Of those, 62 arrests came from protesters blocking traffic along K Street during the day, while 12 more were arrested at a protest yesterday evening at the Supreme Court. The chaotic and soggy day may have cost us, too — the Examiner reports that police officers were told to stay on the beat after their shifts ended at 2:15 p.m. to handle the protests.

Metro Costs To Increase Eight Percent: For the 2012-2013 year, Metro’s operating costs will hit $1.56 billion, an eight percent increase over the current year’s costs, reports the Examiner. And yes, that jump will likely be borne by riders in the way of higher fares, not to mention increased contributions from the three jurisdictions that fund the system. The main reasons for the rise are new initiatives by the transit agency, the Dulles Metro rail project, inflation, and salaries and wages.

LivingSocial Worth More Than $4 Billion: In a Post article detailing how local online coupon service LivingSocial took in an additional $176 million from investors, the Post reports that the company is now worth some $4 billion. (It could be more, though — Bloomberg has the company at $6 billion.) Its growth and expansion have been particularly evident in D.C. — just look at all the Gallery Place real estate it has been gobbling up for its increasing workforce.

Briefly Noted: Man arrested for trying to take picture of the Old Executive Building … Live shooting outside of Pentagon today … Yep, the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k was a mess, but you already knew that … A handy guide for when to sell your home … D.C. better prepared for weather-related emergencies … Sexual assault in Gaithersburg shocks community.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2010, the D.C. Council first voted on what would eventually become the city’s controversial online gaming program, Gabe Klein said his goodbyes and Mayor-elect Vince Gray announced his City Administrator and Chief of Staff (only one of which is still around). In 2009, the price of the Post outside the beltway went up and police shot a pitbull in Cleveland Park.