Photo by Jacques Arsenault

>> Bernie Hammond was a small-time heroin dealer in Southeast D.C. who managed to avoid brushes with the law. But, as Washington City Paper reports, an arrest that led Baltimore police to find an illegal handgun resulted in a federal investigation that has him looking at possibly spending the rest of his life in jail.

>> Mayor Vince Gray’s office is recommending changes to the ways D.C. Public Schools are being funded. The Washington Examiner writes that Gray’s report suggests funding schools based on attracting enrollment to public schools instead of funding them based on how many students they already have. Additionally, the report recommends that public schools with excess space share it with charter schools.

>> Maryland’s Purple Line is years away from beginning construction, but its planned route through Silver Spring has some residents and businesses concerned, WAMU reports. Those concerns stem from the fact that the building of the Purple Line would mean they would have to relocate as the construction would mean a complete reconfiguration of Bonifant Street.

Briefly Noted: Rock Creek Park deer killing brings out protesters … Virginia gubernatorial candidates try to be more like McDonnell … Georgetown University is crowded … John Wall cools down in Wizards loss.

This Day in DCist: Last year, the fabricator Mike Daisey tried apologizing. In 2011, Politics and Prose got sold.