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>> Think your commute sucks? Consider that of the winner of WTOP’s Commuter Idle contest—Brenda Wells wakes up at 3 a.m. in her Baltimore County home and drives her car, takes the MARC train, jumps on the Metro, and finishes it off with a bus ride to her job at the State Department in D.C. Why all the hassle? She’s a single mother of three and can’t afford to live any closer.

>> Got a parking ticket? Now you can receive an email telling you so. The Examiner reports that the D.C. DMV has started a program through which you can sign up to receive email alerts if you receive a parking ticket and warn you if you’re close to the 30-day mark after which fines double. An added benefits: if you lend your car to a friend or a child and they get a ticket, you’ll know. Downside: you can’t pretend like you never got the ticket to begin with. (Not that it would ever work as a defense, but still.)

>> Headed to the Eastern Shore or Delaware beaches? WAMU reports that Maryland officials are encouraging motorists to cross the Bay Bridge at off-peak hours—before 10 a.m. today (get going!) or after 10 p.m. and before 7 a.m. or after 5 p.m. on the weekend.

Briefly Noted: D.C. firefighter charged in theft of…hay? … Two men stabbed outside Friendship Heights Metro station … Maryland driver found guilty of hitting and killing cyclist … No, the guy drinking coffee on a bench in your local park isn’t a threat.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2011, Mayor Vince Gray demanded that Walmart build at Skyland (or not build in D.C. at all) and Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) proved her worth as a comedian. In 2010, Third Eye Blind was announced as the headliner of the HFStival. Yeah.