Good morning, Washington. Hurricane Irene hit the Washington region Saturday, bringing heavy rain and high winds that plunged hundreds of thousands of homes into darkness, downed massive trees and fueled marathon media coverage. NBC4 reporter Pat Collins was born for this storm.

The party’s over. Yesterday, a D.C. Superior Court judge ruled that Peyton Brooks, the son of alleged bagman Howard Brooks, can invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying in front of Mary Cheh’s Committee on Government Operations and the Environment, effectively ending the public side of Sulaimania.

Yup, this is awesome. I mean, “Sunglasses at Night”? Well done, WAMU producer Michael Martinez, well done.