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>> If you haven’t already, vote for who you think should be the fifth racing president at Nats games! Real and fictional presidents are included in our poll.

>> A merit system in place for D.C. teachers is being expanded to school principals, reports the Post, offering them higher pay if they score well on evaluations. High-performing administrators could receive salary bumps of $5,000, or up to $20,000 if they work in any of the city’s 40 lowest-performing schools. The initiative is being funded by a $62 million grant from the Department of Education.

>> The number of Maryland and Virginia residents that described themselves as being of more than one race grew at almost double the national rate over the last decade, reports the Examiner. According to the 2010 Census, the number of Virginians that considered themselves multiracial grew by 63 percent over 10 years, while the growth hit 59 percent in Maryland. Nationally, multi-race respondents grew 32 percent, while in D.C. they only grew by 29 percent.

>> More than 80 pilots are participating in a one-day airlift of over 300 dogs from a North Carolina kill shelter to shelters and adoptions clinics in a number of other states, Virginia included, writes WTOP. Around 100 of the dogs will be flown from Charlotte into Virginia, where they will go to shelters in West Point, Warrenton and Manassas.

Briefly Noted: Metro launches “Auto Reload” program for SmarTrip users … Reston Zoo director heads to court for animal cruelty charges … Pepco continues negotiations with union … Marion Barry wants federal investigation into Mayor Vince Gray brought to a close … Investigation into Harry Thomas, Jr. continues … Police find remains of D.C. woman that went missing six years ago.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2011, D.C. officials said that taxi modernization would cost riders and D.C. simulated a disaster. In 2010, a man was killed during a brazen daylight drive-by on U Street.