Photo by Fotomoe

>> D.C. officials are preparing for two months worth of public discussions over a re-write of the city’s zoning rules, reports the Post. The revamp of the code governing how D.C. grows and develops will be the first in 54 years, and the changes being ushered in—including measures that would allow corner stores in residential neighborhoods and get rid of parking minimums for developments in areas near public transit—has predictably pitted groups of residents against each other, with some saying that the updates are needed to reflect a changing city while others fearing that it will change D.C.’s character too dramatically. The first public meeting will take place this Saturday; there are two more this month and the remainder will take place in January.

>> D.C. paid $3 million last year to send non-resident children to private schools, writes the Examiner. Federal law requires that D.C. foot the bill for any student that can’t be educated in the city’s public schools, but 47 special education students falsified residency information to take advantage of the free tuition. The city is in the midst of investigating non-resident students who attend D.C. schools for free; all told, 126 non-verified DCPS students were under investigation, along with 32 in charter schools and 118 in private schools paid for by the city.

>> An audit released late last week by the Federal Transit Administration has found that while some improvements have yet to made, Metro is making some progress towards being safer, reports WAMU. The report says that Metro’s culture of compliance on safety issues has gotten better in recent years, though gains are fragile and reversible. Local officials worry that any cuts in federal spending for Metro could imperil the gains already made.

Briefly Noted: Four-year-old hit by stray bullet in SE D.C. …U-Va. student killed by boat propeller in Dominica … Proposal to change how paramedics are deployed would put D.C. in a class of its own … Former D.C. corrections officer sues city in wake of incident in which he was hit in the face by feces flung by inmate … Teen stabbed outside Minnesota Avene Metro station … Gray, Lanier to announce further details on plan that would allow stolen phones to be bricked.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2011, the Hot Chocolate 15K/5K race was called an “epic fail.” In 2010, the Washington Times said that Julian Assange should just be killed.