Photo by Jon Grant

>> Much as we all hate Pepco, the electric company is quite familiar with the insides of the John A. Wilson Building, lobbying the District more than 100 times in 2011, WAMU reports. Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-At Large) is a former Pepco lobbyist, and the company is credited with blocking D.C. Public Counsel Betty Noel’s nomination to the Public Service Commission. All Pepco’s lobbying kind of makes Mayor Vince Gray’s rebuke of the utility at a news conference yesterday all the more surprising. (Then again, when you’re one of more than 40,000 without power, as the mayor was yesterday afternoon, you might get testy, too.)

>> Maryland statehouse leaders met behind closed doors yesterday to reopen talks about expanding casino gambling and renewed the potential for a special legislative session, The Baltimore Sun reports.

>> School’s out, and there’s no time like the long vacation for kids to start experimenting with drugs and alcohol, according to a federal health study. The Examiner reports that authorities in the D.C. area are stepping up their anti-drug efforts for the summer.

Briefly Noted: D.C. cabbies are threatening to strike … Dominion Virginia Power is 76 percent back online from Friday’s derecho … Maryland businesses suspected of price gouging in storm’s aftermath … This power pole is about to tip over on Fessenden Street NW.

This Day in DCist: Last year, Maryland made it awkward for campers to apply sunscreen. Hey, did they ever make this hipster robot movie described in a 2010 casting call?