Photo by abrowntable

Good morning, Washington. Get ready for another late-winter day with temperatures set to reach the 80s. Ah, weather. And if you’ haven’t done so yet, be sure to enter the Sixth Annual DCist Reader-Staff March Madness Pool. Make your picks by noon or miss your chance at glory.

Gray Matter: Vince Gray’s 2010 mayoral campaign received as contributions 10 money orders from three companies linked to Jeffrey Thompson, WAMU’s Patrick Madden reports. Several of the names appearing on the Gray campaign’s finance report linked to Thompson, whose home and office were raided by federal authorities earlier this month, are among those that contributed via money order to the campaigns of Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-At Large).

Virginia Tech Found to Be Negligent in 2007 Shootings: A jury found yesterday that Virginia Tech’s response to the April 2007 shooting rampage that left 33 students dead was sloppy and awarded two victims’ families each $4 million. But the Associated Press notes that the awards to the parents of Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson will likely be reduced to $100,000 in accordance with Virginia’s cap on wrongful death lawsuits. Judge William Alexander called it the hardest case he had been a part of, the AP reported. The Pryde and Peterson families pressed their suits after declining to be a part of an $11 million settlement in 2008 offered to other victims’ families.

Student Can Stay: A Germantown family that was detained last week on immigration charges and was awaiting deportation received a one-year reprieve yesterday. The Post reports that Jorge Steven Acuna, who was released from federal custody along with his parents Jorge and Blanca, will now be able to complete his senior year at Montgomery College. The Acunas first moved to the U.S. in 2000 on a plea for political asylum to escape violence in their native Columbia but their application was denied several times.

Briefly Noted: Gas prices rose 14 cents in past week … Arlington wants the cool kids to live there … House race not as easy as expected for Maryland Democratic leader … Anne Arundel County casino developer pushes back on Prince George’s plan … Priest who denied communion to lesbian woman burying her mother says he was “warning” the church … Former Virginia congressman says actual filibusters will fix Congress … Plea hearings scheduled for Metro employees accused of coin theft … Life in Trel’s District.

This Day in DCist: In 2011, Marion Barry believed in the democratic process, and the cops busted down an 86-year-old mans’s front door by accident. In 2010, Christoph Eschenbach got off to a rocky start at the National Symphony Orchestra, and we were just beginning to learn all about the Cooch.