Photo by vileinist

Good morning, Washington. It’s not going to be as nice as yesterday, but it also won’t be February cold. That’s enough to be happy with. As for the weekend, tomorrow will be very windy, but Sunday is shaping up to be a pleasant day.

O’Malley Will Sign Same-Sex Marriage Bill: No surprise here — after passing the Maryland General Assembly, Gov. Martin O’Malley has said he will sign legislation legalizing same-sex marriage, writes WTOP. Opponents can still gather 56,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot in November, but that won’t stop people from celebrating today.

For Virginia Ultrasound Law, the Devil was in the Details: With this week’s rapid reversal by Virginia Republicans on a bill that would require ultrasounds for any woman seeking an abortion, many people are wondering what exactly happened to change so many minds — including Gov. Bob McDonnell’s — so quickly. The Post reports that few people really knew that the ultrasounds called for were of the invasive variety, a fact that fueled opposition from pro-choice groups and left-leaning comedy TV shows like The Daily Show and SNL. Facing a national uproar, McDonnell and fellow Virginia Republicans moved to amend the bill to only require standard non-invasive ultrasounds. While some pro-choice groups still see this as too much, others see it as a huge step back from what could have been. (In related news, we reported yesterday that the Virginia personhood bill had been pushed back to 2013.)

Virginia Legislators Don’t Want Us to Have Nice Things: If you’ve driven out I-66 anytime recently, you’ve probably noticed that Metro’s Silver Line out to Dulles and beyond is proceeding nicely. But now Virginia is threatening to cut off funding to the second phase of the project over objections that preferences may be given to unionized labor, reports the Examiner. At stake is $150 million in funding from the commonwealth, but Silver Line officials insist that non-union contractors will still be able to bid on construction projects.

Briefly Noted: Metro improves relationship with safety oversight board … It’s official: we’re the smartest! (S-M-R-T!) … D.C. still needs funds for Ward 5 Special Election … Arlington to increase class sizes … Huguely juror at peace with decision … Amazon to pay Virginia sales tax … D.C. police find skeletal remains after chase through house.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2011, Sulaimon Brown was escorted out of his D.C. government job by police (he would be fired later in the day) and a survey found that the D.C. bag fee wasn’t harmful to local businesses. In 2010, we got word that the 2012 Giro d’Italia would be starting in D.C. (yeah, that won’t be happening) and Councilmember Michael Brown (I-At Large) seemed to hint that he wanted to be mayor.