Photo by Jeff Gamble

Good morning, Washington! Scrambling to the accountant’s office? Cramming those forms in the mailbox? Eagerly awaiting a check? Perhaps cursing the fact you still owe Uncle Sam money? Yeah, it’s tax day. Let’s just grumble and get through it.

Dept. of Connections You Were Waiting For: It feels a bit inevitable, but like many of his former colleagues, Harry Thomas Jr. took contributions from Jeffrey Thompson and Thompson’s associates via money order during his time on the D.C. Council, WAMU reports. Thomas, who quit his Ward 5 seat in January after admitting to stealing more than $350,000 from a city youth sports program, received a group of money-order contributions from the Thompson network three days after being re-elected in November 2010.

Party Down: Jeff Neely, a former General Services Administration official at the center of the scandal over the agency’s spending $823,000 on a lavish Las Vegas conference, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights at a House Oversight Committee hearing on the matter. After refusing to answer House members’ questions, Neely and his lawyer were called into the principal’s office, as it were, when Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) halted the hearing for a talk with the star witness. Issa claimed Neely is the first witness who’s ever refused his questions, the Post reported.

Weak Brew: Some coffee spots, like Qualia (a personal favorite of your over-caffeinated associate editor), roast their beans right here in town, but find themselves shut out from many local farmers’ markets. Even though the businesses are local, the coffee itself is not in the eyes of FreshFarm Markets, the concern that operates 10 area farmers’ markets, including the ever-crowded Dupont Circle bazaar, the Post reports. FreshFarm Markets permits only products that have been grown or raised within a small, nearby radius. “[T]here are a lot of coffee shops, like Starbucks and Firehook, surrounding our markets, and we want to support them, frankly,” the nonprofit’s co-executive director said. Starbucks—real local there.

Briefly Noted: Unwanted feline euthanasia up on the Eastern Shore … Two teenagers arrested in connection with January 2011 homicide … Post offices staying open late tonight … Is Lumen8 going to turn Anacostia into Williamsburg? Harry Jaffe says tall buildings are about “greed, period.”

This Day in DCist: Last year, two men were shot and wounded near the Shaw-Howard Metrorail station. Two years ago, it was Record Store Day!