As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com.

Good morning, all. The Board of Elections and Ethics is scheduled to certify the Nov. 4 election this morning; D.C. Republicans will be there asking for Michael Brown‘s head.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—-“Malia and Sasha Obama Will Go To Sidwell Friends“; “Fired Fenty Aide Now Working for Marion Barry“; “District Owes Feds Millions in Medicaid Costs“

D.C. cops have residents flood mailboxes of Peter Nickles et al. with e-mail about oft-arrested, rarely prosecuted teenage thief, Theola Labbé-DeBose and Robert E. Pierre report in WaPo. Nickles responds with one of those quotes he should already be regretting: “I don’t mind getting 20 e-mails about a particular problem that reflects the unique perspective of people in the community, but I don’t approve of an organized campaign to send me 50 e-mails.” Some early blogger reaction.

What happened with the Housing Purchase Assistance Program? asks Michael Drost in WaTimes. After austerity measures passed by the council, Greater Washington Urban League, which administers the program, told homebuyers their assistance wouldn’t be there. Vince Gray wants to know what the hell’s going on, considering only a small portion of HPAP funding was frozen. There’s also an online petition on the issue. WCP’s Housing Complex is also on it!

Michael A. Brown is an independent as far as we’re concerned, Board of Elections and Ethics tells the D.C. Republican Committee. “Mr. Brown does, in fact, meet the statutory requirements necessary to hold the office of at-large member of the District of Columbia Council,” board lawyer writes, according to WaPo; election will be certified today. ALSO: Jonetta Rose Barras sends roses to the D.C. GOP in her Examiner column, calling the Brown feint “a principled fight,” and blogger David Gaines ponders the question.

Both Bill Myers in Examiner and Hamil Harris in WaPo get anonymous sources to say that the city’s Medicaid liability could top $100 million.

Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans is cleared of Office of Campaign Finance charges that he misused public resources for campaign purposes in connection with an August ad he ran in the Current newspapers. Evans foe David Mallof says decision “opens the floodgates fully for further future abuse by incumbent elected officials using senior civil servants…as their campaign ‘props.'”

COPYEDITING GOLD STAR FOR THIS WAPO HEADLINE—-“Ceilings Sag as Inspections Lag,” reads the top of Debbie Cenziper‘s Sunday WaPo article. Shoddy buildings identified by city’s tenant advocate go uninspected because of a dearth of inspectors, court-ordered inspections in Nickles slumlord case, and pre-inauguration hotel checks. DCRA chief Linda Argo says “the competing demands, including the hotel inspections, have not hampered residential inspections.”

YOU’RE ON NOTICE, COMCAST—-FiOS Districtwide in 10 years! That’s terms of Verizon’s franchise agreement with the city, Michael Neibauer reports in the Examiner. Not fast enough for Jim Graham!

MALIA AND SASHA AFTERMATH—-Here’s the AP postmortem; NYT postmortem. Examiner’s Leah Fabel finds that rich, powerful folk send their kids to D.C. public schools. Sidwellland is happy, NC8 reports. Right-wing react from National Review; Right Angles, too. NYC Ediucator says Obama “made the best decision under the circumstances”; Deceiver plays the Matt Santos card.

IN RHEELATED NEWS—-ABC’s World News Tonight profiles Rhee on Sunday night broadcast. Less laudatory are a pair of Close to Home pieces in Sunday WaPo; one takes issue with her relentless, get-it-done-now style, while the other questions merit-based teacher pay as a cure-all for failing schools. Blogger Lane Davis calls Rhee “The Most Interesting Person in Politics.” WSJ editorial kicks off lots of tenure debate, from theday.com; kevincolby.com; Jack Buttram; the Hoya; Progressive Review; Objectivist Individualist. Think-tanker Terry Moe mentions Rhee in WSJ op-ed on school reform.

THE STORY LOCAL TV NEWS EXISTS FOR—-In one of the year’s most sensational crime stories, Michael and Ginny Spevak are found bound and beaten to death in their Chevy Chase home. Here is early coverage and followup from WaPo. City Desk covered the Petworth angle. Here’s a NC8 report; WRC-TV report; WTTG-TV report.

RELATED—-Bill Myers ponders in the Examiner whether Mr. Spevak’s psychiatric practice, focused on troubled youth, may have had something to do with the crime. “Investigators are working from the theory the couple was killed by one of the youngsters Michael Spevak frequently counseled, an official with intimate knowledge of the unfolding case told The Examiner.”
—-Marc Fisher looks at the couple’s legacy; both had been community activists, and Ms. Spevak had spent time as an advisory neighborhood commissioner.

IN OTHER SENSATIONAL MURDER NEWS—-Housemates plead not guilty to obstruction of justice charges on Robert Wone case.

In one of those instances where LL wishes to God the Examiner had given their reporter more than 400 words, Scott McCabe tells a chilling story about police and U.S. Marshals racing to capture an escaped felon after taking a distress call from his ex-girlfriend. They were too late.

WUSA-TV looks at why fired D.C. government workers keep coming back to the job.

Harry Jaffe explains how Michael Dickerson, who murdered Shaquita Bell, “gamed the system.”

Woman found dead in burned River Terrace rowhouse.

GGW covers DCZC nom William Keating‘s confirmation hearing.

Kansas City Star covers D.C. voting rights prospects: “Eleanor Holmes Norton, the delegate for the District of Columbia, predicts that the passage of the D.C. Voting Rights Act will occur sometime next year.”

D.C. high schools—-Bell Multicultural, McKinley Tech, Woodson, Coolidge, School Without Walls and Anacostia—-host anti-prostitution lessons from nonprofit Fair Fund, WaPo reports.

Biz Journal weighs in on the 14th-and-T furniture firestorm: “[W]e must ask residents and businesses who complain about the arrival of Room and Board, a new national furniture store, to a building at 14th and T streets NW: What in the world are you thinking?”

HOT TIF NEWS—-“The Neighborhood Tax Increment Financing program, launched last winter, will now be open to developers and retailers on a rolling basis,” reports Jonathan O’Connell in Biz Journal.

ALSO FROM BIZ JOURNAL—-Condos at Georgetown Park Mall?; Adams National Bank teeters on the brink of failure.

D.C. COUNCIL TODAY—-9:30 a.m.: Committee on Finance and Revenue hearing on Bills 17-660, 17-181, 17-905, 17-1008, JAWB 500; 10 a.m.: Committee on Economic Development roundtable on Proposed Resolutions 17-1021, 17-1022, 17-1023, 17-1024, 17-1117, 17-1118, 17-1119, 17-1120, 17-1121, 17-1122, 17-1123, 17-0808, 17-1163, JAWB 412; 10 a.m.: Committee on Finance and Revenue roundtable on Washington, D.C. Fort Chaplin Park South Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Inc. real property tax relief, JAWB 500; 1 p.m.: Committee on Economic Development hearing on B17-0908: District Land Disposition Amendment Act of 2008, JAWB 412.

ADRIAN FENTY TODAY—-No public events scheduled.