Hartford Residents Vote For City’s First Residential District:

A “residential services district” could soon come to Hartford after a vote by property owners supported the endeavor, the Hartford Courant reported.

According to the Courant, residents started “pressing for the district months ago,” advocating that for decades, upkeep in Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood has been scarce.

The district will include 41 homes along four of Hartford’s streets.

Mayor Luke Bronin will meet with residents in the coming weeks, the Courant said, adding that residents will nominate six people for the governing board.

Longest Government Shutdown Comes To An End:

The government is officially reopen for business after Friday marked an end to the longest shutdown in United States history.

The resolution President Donald Trump announced on Friday afternoon was quickly passed by both the House and the Senate later that evening.

With the promise of only being open for three weeks, Trump noted the ticking time clock, saying that “negotiations [for the southern border wall] with Democrats will start immediately,” but it will “not be easy to make a deal.”

The reopening brings a sigh of relief to 800,000 federal government workers who, for the past 35 days, were without pay. Museums and national parks are also officially back up and running.

Despite the end of the shutdown, Trump is still set on building a steel barrier wall along the U.S-Mexico border, tweeting: “We will build the wall!”

Church Attack in Philippines Kills 20:

At least 20 people are dead and 42 injured after a twin-bomb attack took place at a church in the southern Philippines, according to BBC News.

The attack occurred during Sunday mass in a Roman Catholic Church. As soldiers responded, the second device exploded in the parking lot.

The area in which the attack took place has served as a foundation for Abu Sayya Islamist militants, who are blacklisted by the U.S. and the Philippines as a terrorist organization, BBC said.

As of Monday, no one had claimed responsibility for the attack.