Democrat Kenyan McDuffie, a former letter carrier who put himself through law school and went on to work as a criminal prosecutor, will replace Harry Thomas Jr. as Ward 5’s D.C. Council member. His victory was sweeping, winning 10 of the ward’s 18 precincts and coming in second in every precinct he didn’t win. McDuffie, who assembled a broad coalition and ran a focused campaign, outpolled nearest competitor Delano Hunter by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. More on McDuffie’s big win to come. More coverage from WaTimes, Examiner, Blade, and WAMU-FM.

A federal judge ruled Monday that Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) must answer questions about the city’s controversial lottery procurement.

U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts, ruling in a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by a former city contracting official, said Gray and Graham are required to give depositions in the case but strictly narrowed the scope of questioning.

Busy day today: For one, there’s an election. If you live in Ward 5, go vote by 8 p.m. if you haven’t already. For another, the D.C. Council will vote on the city’s fiscal 2013 budget today, and there’s a number of tweaks in the draft legislation unveiled late last night. The Post’s Tim Craig breaks down the big changes — including a move pumping $18 million into affordable housing by selling off a city property on K Street NE (seen above). For more info, check out my late-night tweets or review the draft legislation yourself.

Fifty-five years ago, a “streetball series for the ages” took place on D.C. playgrounds, when Kansas University superstar Wilt Chamberlain rolled into town to challenge phenom Elgin Baylor, of Seattle University via Spingarn High, on his home turf. The fabulous Dave McKenna goes long at Grantland: “ The city’s top young black ballplayers played alongside the headliners, making for an ungodly assemblage of future NBA first-round picks, NCAA tournament MVPs, and Hall of Famers. Flash mobs created entirely via analog social media appeared wherever Chamberlain and Baylor played. ... Those who watched or played in these clashes of young titans recall a feast of dips, dunks, shot blocks, hang time, and even trash talk that was way ahead of its time.”

So with delay after delay after lawsuit after delay, when will District residents actually be able to start buying medical marijuana? D.C. Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), legislative point man on the program, appeared on WAMU-FM today to answer that question, among others. Wait till winter, he said: “Without question, by the first of the year,” Catania said. “It is not as quick as we would have liked, but we don’t live in a perfect environment.”

He took a look at some of the development subsidies handed out by city officials in the past decade or so, to figure out whether they were valuable catalysts of development or corporate giveaways with little civic upside.

The upside of being mayor? Access to the city-owned luxury boxes at Verizon Center and Nationals Park. The downside of being mayor? Nosy reporters FOIAing your social calendar. WTOP/WJLA-TV’s Mark Segraves reports that Vincent C. Gray (D) has personally attended only a handful of events: The college hoops tournament and concerts by R. Kelly and Sade. But his kids have been lux-box fixtures. Daughter Jonice has requested tickets to Disney On Ice, Cirque Du Soleil and Taylor Swift. Son Carlos: Jay-Z, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj. Do note: “According to records maintained by the Executive Office of the Mayor, the vast majority of the tickets controlled by the mayor go to constituents.”

The map above (click here to zoom in and play around) shows early and absentee voting returns through Wednesday. The patterns hew, for the most part, to my earlier observations: For votes, go north.

Earlier this year, I took note of the city’s new mixed-case design for street signs. And in the past few months, I have watched the new signs pop up across town, and they, with some exceptions, look pretty sharp.