Photo by Synapped

Good morning, Washington. We’ve had two weeks of glorious weather, but real spring had to hit at some point—we’re looking at a pretty rainy weekend ahead of us.

Capital Bikeshare Starts Pilot Program for Homeless: The District’s bikesharing system is more popular than ever, but one group wants to expand it to residents who might not otherwise use it—the homeless. WTOP reports that Capital Bikeshare has teamed up with a non-profit group to offer discounted memberships to homeless residents who attend education and job training sessions. As part of the deal, if the residents attend 90 percent of sessions offered by Back on my Feet D.C., they’ll be eligible for a $50 annual membership, down from $75. Advocates for the program say the bikes can then be used to get to job interviews and classes.

MoCo Ethics Commission Can’t Handle Workload: As part of a recent ethics overhaul, the D.C. Council created a new Board of Ethics and Government Accountability to serve as a new watchdog agency. But a similar commission in Montgomery County is struggling to deal with a small staff and large workload, reports the Examiner, showing that even the best ideas can fall victim to the realities of not having the people or resources to effectively implement them. The problem with the commission is that it only has two people on staff, leaving it to struggle with the task of keeping tabs on the county’s elected officials. The District’s board, by comparison, will be comprised of a three-person board and a professional staff of between eight and 12. It will take form by the summer.

Welcome to the 667: 301, 240, 410, 443—say hello to 667. The Post reports that Maryland is adding a new area code, 667, because of a growing number of people and mobile devices in the Old Line State. The change won’t affect the Maryland suburbs closest to D.C., though—only those living in counties served by the 410 and 443 area codes could start seeing 667 pop up on their phones. (Any discussion of area codes really isn’t complete without mentioning the Seinfeld episode in which Elaine is conflicted over a friend that gets the 646 area code instead of the preferred 212.)

Briefly Noted: Are juridictions move to ban synthetic marijuana … Two die in Chevy Chase after crashing stolen car … Maryland’s elected officials may be forced to put financial disclosure forms online … Howard University students protest Trayvon Martin shooting … No surprise here: D.C. campaign finance laws full of gray areas and loopholes.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2011, Mayor Vince Gray found out that he wasn’t the most unpopular politician in D.C. and Councilmember Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) went on a street-renaming tear. In 2010, we spied the trailers for a reality show starring none other than our very own Marion Barry.