Photo by thisisbossi

>> If you’re just emerging from that post-weekend haze or from beneath a big rock, here’s the news that’ll lead the day: Mei Xiang, the National Zoo’s female panda, gave birth to a cub last night! It’s the first birth since Butterstick—also known as Tai Shan—was born in 2005.

>> Geckos and scorpions may seem like valuable learning tools for D.C. public school students, but they’re not allowed in classrooms under a city law that prohibits owning them. The Examiner reports that the D.C. Department of Health tried to remove 37 animals from an elementary school after deciding that they didn’t comply with D.C. law; the animals included the geckos and scorpions along with bearded dragons, chameleons, tarantulas, frogs, and tadpoles. The department backed off after the incident provoked complaints from Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who introduced legislation allowing the animals to be exempt from the law provided they are used in the classroom.

>> Are fewer pink polyester suits a sure sign of a gentrifying Washington? The Post’s Paul Schwartzman says just that today, writing of the closing of H Street’s Men’s Fashion Center, which for six decades has served as the go-to place for black Washingtonian to buy their suits. The store is closing both because it lost business as the streetcar tracks were laid and because the clientele that frequents the commercial corridor has changed over the years.

>> Two Islamic centers in Virginia were the scenes of vandalism over the weekend, reports the Washington Times. Vulgar pictures were painted on the outer walls of the Islamic Association of the Shenandoah Valley in Harrisonburg on Friday, while some 30 cars were damaged on Saturday morning outside the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church. Muslim leaders worry that the incidents were related to the recent outburst of violence against U.S. embassies in the Middle East in the last week.

Briefly Noted: Environmental study of proposed Potomac Yards Metro station gets more expensive … D.C. budget autonomy bill going nowhere fast … Overflowing sediment reservoirs threaten Chesapeake Bay … National Museum of American History gets acting director … D.C. DMV inspection station shuttered on Saturday without much notice … Man accused of threatening to blow up U.S. Capitol sentenced to 30 years.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2011, Metro fired a bus driver who shoved a passenger. In 2010, Mayor Adrian Fenty was told that he couldn’t accept the Republican nomination and Michelle Rhee tried to walk back some controversial comments.