Photo by Cdurfor

Photo by Cdurfor

>> Housing prices are up across the region, reports WTOP, with median housing prices up 4.4 percent across the region. The increases are most notable in the Virginia exurbs, though the crash in prices during the recession was more pronounced there. In D.C., prices are up 2.7 percent, and we’re at 101 percent of where we were in 2006.

>> The fight between a group of activists who want to put a measure on the November ballot to ban corporate donations to local campaigns and the D.C. Board of Elections has gotten more pitched. The Post reports that the city’s election board said in a legal filing that the group simply didn’t get enough signatures to get its measure on the ballot and that it misunderstood how the board actually reached that conclusion. The two sides will fight it out in court tomorrow, with the fate of the good government ballot initiative in the balance.

>> The father of an Afghan war vet and GWU student who was killed last year at a Dupont Circle McDonald’s during an altercation says the police botched the investigation, reports WUSA9. Police claim that Paul Casey started a fight with other patrons and died after he was pushed over and hit his head on the sidewalk, but Casey’s father says that video footage from the night shows something different and that D.C. police did sloppy work investigating the death.

Briefly Noted: Mayor Vince Gray opens lactation room in Wilson Building … Do we really take more vacations than anyone else? … Gay, Latino groups in Maryland join forces to fight for ballot measures … Meth lab found in Arlington building … Wal-Mart submits plans for Ward 7 store … New lights coming to Sherman Circle … 15-year-old Baltimore County school shooter to be charged as an adult.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2011, we pleaded for a roast of Pat Collins and a guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery remained on the job during Hurricane Irene. In 2010, a poll showed Vince Gray with a lead over Mayor Adrian Fenty.