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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Help Michael Brown Pay Off His Tax Debts

Good morning sweet readers! Happy MLK Day! Safeway was selling blueberries for 99 cents a packet this weekend. And they were already de-wormed! Can’t beat that bargain. News time:

Ron Moten is Best Friends with Stevie Wonder!?: The city’s favorite anti-youth violence advocate, Ron Moten, organized a unity brunch Sunday at Ballou Senior high to discuss Martin Luther King Jr.‘s legacy and the recent uptick in violence in the area. Who showed up and promised to raise $100,000 a year for anti-violence efforts? Steve Wonder! No, LL is not kidding. Fox5’s Karen Gray Houston has the story. LL, like all of you, is curious about how this came about and has put a call into to Moten to get more details.

AFTER THE JUMP:  Southern City? Obama Puts in Church Time; Michael Brown Pays His Taxes…

I Approve: Robert McCartney joins the long list of veteran D.C. journalists who make the not-so-bold claim that Mayor Vince Gray will eventually remove the “interim” part from Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson‘s title. McCartney sources the prediction to unnamed anonymous sources who are “familiar with Gray’s thinking.” Who might those sources be? Well, McCartney also lets us know that he feels better about the city’s future after having a 40-minute telephone chat with Hizonner last week. “Gray struck me as someone who moves deliberately, yes, but has a clear sense of where he’s going and how he wants to get there.” McCartney also lets us know how to push Gray’s buttons. “In the interview, Gray sounded testy only once, when I told him that some D.C. Council members and community activists expressed concern that some of his appointments were part of the “old guard” from when Marion Barry (D), now the Ward 8 council member, was mayor.” Other news from the article: Gray wants to appoint his deputy mayor for economic development this week. “He said it has taken a while partly because it was critical to have someone with ‘the respect of the development community.'”

Neil Young or Lynyrd Skynyrd? The Post’s Steve Hendrix takes a look at how “southern” D.C. is, y’all. Hendrix reports that Military-Industrialstan, or Northern Virginia, is no longer southern, but predominately African American parts of the city still retain their southern charm. “Greg Carr, who grew up in Nashville, sees Southern markers here. Carr, chairman of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, said he recognizes the fading signs of the Old South in this region. “For black folks, this is still very much a Southern city … Anacostia, that’s the South over there … Folks with their shirts off washing their cars, waving at you as you pass by. That’s Southern.” Amusing detail: “Although Safeway has no stores in the deep South, the supermarket chain says its cluster of stores between Culpeper, Va., and Frederick, Md., posts the company’s biggest sales of such regional offerings as fried chicken, ham hocks and other ‘country meats,’ collard greens and sweet potatoes, spokesman Greg TenEyck said.”

Church Time: President Obama and his family attended Metropolitan AME church Sunday and the Post‘s Hamil Harris was all over it, with a blog post, Twitter updates and one really grainy photo. “Rev. Ronald E. Braxton and the members of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Northwest Washington made sure the Obama family had a regular, downhome service complete with announcements, the passing of the collection plates and plenty of foot-stomping gospel music.”

Taxes Are Paid: A spokesman for Councilmember Michael Brown says the tax scofflaw has paid his delinquent property tax bill, reports Tim Craig at the Post. Coincidentally, Brown paid the bill on Friday, the same day the Post ran a story about the income-tax-increase-advocating councilmember. What are the odds?

More Students!: Beth Solomon over at the Georgetown Dish reports that Gray is “open to removing city-imposed student and employee population caps at D.C. universities, a policy change which could have sweeping implications for Georgetown and other neighborhoods.” Over our dead bodies, say GU’s neighbors.

Metro Board begins interviewing for permanent boss. Meanwhile, 61 percent of the District’s bridges aren’t up to snuff.

Were you at the “I Have a Dream” speech?

It’s public safety day at Newstalk with Bruce DePuyt: U.S. Park Police former and possible new chief Teresa Chambers and new D.C. fire chief Ken Ellerbe.

Mayor’s sked: 12:30 appearance at MLK Library for D.C. MLK day of service.