Photo by Ryan Maxwell

Good morning, Washington. We might be starting out chilly today—27 degrees as I write this, but it’ll be back in the normal-for-this-winter 50s before long.

Unexpected Sympathy: After a mosque under construction in Chantilly, Va. was vandalized in January, its members were surprised by the outpouring of support they received from groups representing non-Muslim faiths, the Post reports. The attack, Pamela Constable notes, came at a time when “some political and religious figures in the United States warn that the proliferation of Muslim immigrants and mosques represents a danger to American society.” But, “In contrast, local groups took pains to reassure the Chantilly mosque members that they are a welcome part of the region’s rapid diversification.”

What the Frack?: Virginia-based utility Dominion Power is eyeing Cove Point on Maryland’s Eastern Shore as a potential site for an export facility for its supply of natural gas, WAMU reports. But Riverkeeper groups and other environmental organizations are opposed to such a facility, saying it would only encourage more of the hydraulic fracturing process that uses pressurized chemicals to extract natural gas from shale deposits. And by having an export site on the Eastern Shore, detractors say, Dominion Power might invite natural gas mining into more of the Potomac riverbed in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and western Maryland.

Pay to Pay: What’s worse than paying bills? Paying fees to pay those bills, NBC Washington reports. Verizon Wireless said in December it would begin applying a $2 fee to anyone paying a bill online with a credit card rather than making a direct payment from one’s checking account, but that plan was quickly scuttled in the wake of customer outrage. But turns out that kind of stuff is de rigueur for utility companies. Pepco wants $4.95 for a credit card payment, Comcast takes $5.99 to pay via a live customer-service representative—and Cox wants $10 for that! It’s all done in the name of efficiency, the utility companies say. Sounds pathetic.

Briefly Noted: Nice typography at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau … Driver killed as car going 100 miles per hour plows through KFC window in Landover … White House budget would give District extra $10 million for 2013 inauguration security … Jury in George Huguely case to begin deliberations Wednesday … Anacostia High School reopens after fire … “I think that for 75, I’m beyond good health,” Barry says.

This Day in DCist: Last year, Aaron Morrissey toured D.C.’s historic poopshacks, and Kwame Brown’s Navigator got the Xtranormal treatment. In 2010, it was hinted that D.C. would play host to the 2011 NHL Winter Classic (we didn’t), and we got some gardening advice in the middle of Snowpocalypse.