TASK DEFINITION: Given a document, find the main entity about whom the author is writing. Write the full name if mentioned in the text. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: âThe Honors are the greatest weekend of the year  and it is also the bane of our existence  â Deborah Rutter  said with a laugh. For the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts  the annual Kennedy Center Honors  airing on CBS on Dec. 26 and honoring dancer Carmen de Lavallade  rapper LL Cool J  television producer and writer Norman Lear and singers Gloria Estefan and Lionel Richie  is a welcome national spotlight on the memorial to the late president. But thatâs all anyone seems to know about the the white jewel box on the Potomac.
âWe really like to think about the other 364 days of the year  and all of the programming that happens on those days â  Rutter  told me in the latest episode of âCape Up.â âWhat I love about being here at the nationâs cultural center is that we have really a mandate to welcome all of the performing arts. It is not just a performing arts center for one assumed art form or another.â
I bet you didnât know that hip hop was one of those art forms at the Kennedy Center and that Q-Tip is its artistic director. âThis is a first â  Rutter  said. âAnd as far as I know  there is no other artistic director for hip-hop â¦ anywhere in probably the world. And weâre very proud to have Q-Tip here leading  guiding and inspiring us.â
While she didnât need much convincing   Rutter  allowed that there could be others who might â for fear of what it could mean for the other arts. âJust because we are bringing in more programming that includes hip-hop artists  it does not mean that weâre doing less dance or less international programming or less of the National Symphony Orchestra â she said. âIt just means that weâre doing more  that we have thrown open the doors of the Kennedy Center  and we are ensuring that all are welcome here.â
 Deborah Rutter   president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts  talks with The Postâs Jonathan Capehart on the âCape Upâ podcast on Nov. 28 in her office at the Kennedy Center. (Jonathan Capehart/The Washington Post)
There are nine performance spaces at the Kennedy Center that are in use all year. In addition to the orchestra and  the Washington National Opera  Rutter  noted the 46-year-old institution has âa magnificent  world-recognized ballet season. We have contemporary dance  we have jazz  we have a huge jazz series  chamber music  recitals  comedy  international programming.â
Listen to the podcast to hear  Rutter  talk further about the work of the Kennedy Center and how it fits into the cultural life of Washington.  She  goes into what it is like to be the local performing arts center for members of Congress  foreign diplomats and âquite a number of justices from the Supreme Court.â But  Rutter  insists none of those constituencies tries to exert influence over programming.
âHere at the center we have no limits on what we could present â  Rutter  told me. âThe problems I always describe is how to say no  when to say no  and how to not be really  truly overwhelmed by the extraordinary limitless richness of what happens here.â

SOLUTION: Deborah Rutter

PROBLEM: Eric Hargan  is about to get a demotion  and  he  is just fine with that.
The acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services is more than thrilled to go back to the position  he  originally held. President Trump tapped him to lead the agency after Tom Price resigned when scrutiny of his travel habits revealed a taste for the excess.
Alex Azar is the president's new choice to run HHS.  Hargan  sat for this interview as Azar faced his first Senate confirmation hearing on Nov. 29.  Hargan  has held the position since early October  but this is certainly not  his  first rodeo at HHS. From 2003 to 2007   he  served here under then-President George W. Bush.
 Hargan  is a man grounded in  his  family's roots in Mound City  a small southern Illinois town just across the Ohio River from Kentucky where  his  parents not only advocated for a lifetime in public service but also led by example.
 He  said: "I grew up on a farm  my father held different local elected offices from county commissioner to school board  and my mother worked in a variety of healthcare roles throughout her life; first at St. Mary's hospital  which is no longer there  and then at the Cairo Community Health Clinic. All total  a career serving her community's healthcare that spanned 58 years."
 Hargan  faced reporters at the White House almost three weeks ago to discuss Trump's decision to donate his third-quarter salary to HHS in order to combat the opioid crisis.  Hargan  said the donation would be used for the planning and design of a large-scale public awareness campaign about opioid addiction.
" His  decision to donate  his  salary is a tribute to  his  compassion  to  his  patriotism and  his  sense of duty to the American people "  he  said.

SOLUTION: Eric Hargan

PROBLEM: Five months after the deadliest human smuggling tragedy in more than a decade unfolded in his city   San Antonio Police Chief William McManus  did something unusual:  He  opted to retain local control over a similar investigation  rather than hand the case off to  his  federal counterparts at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the process  the police chief released a dozen immigrants found in a tractor trailer from government custody and opened himself up to criticism from proponents of President Donald Trumpâs hard-line immigration agenda.
According to a police report shared with The Intercept and comments  McManus  made to reporters Thursday  the story began on December 23  when an SAPD officer responded to a call regarding a suspicious 18-wheeler parked with its trailer door open. A man who identified himself as the owner of the truck was pacing around the vehicle  the responding officer reported. Inside the trailer  along both sides  were a dozen people â 10 men and two women. When the officer asked one of the men where he was from  the man responded  âGuatemala.â
By the time  McManus  arrived  the 12 individuals  suspected of being undocumented immigrants  were seated on a curb. Consistent with past investigations  special agents with ICEâs Homeland Security Investigations wing had already been notified.  McManus  said Thursday that  he  was at the scene âfor probably a good hour and a halfâ before  he  made a highly uncommon call: Breaking with tradition   his  department would handle the case on its own  pursuing it as a state-level smuggling investigation.
The driver  Herbert Alan Nichols  was arrested. Under questioning at police headquarters  the 58-year-old reportedly admitted to picking up the migrants at a warehouse in the border city of Laredo. Under the state smuggling charge  he could serve as many as 20 years in prison. Following interviews with detectives  the men and women found in the trailer  ranging from ages 16 to 41  were released to local organizations working on immigration issues.  McManus  told the press that  his  officers did not have the jurisdiction to hold the individuals and enforce immigration laws against them.
While  McManus âs decision to handle the investigation in-house might seem less than noteworthy  layers of context suggest otherwise.
The state smuggling charge  McManus  and  his  department chose to pursue in the case is similarly uncommon  at least in the frequency it has been used. At Thursdayâs press conference  San Antonio District Attorney Nico LaHood said it was the first time the charge had been brought to his office since taking the job in 2015. The Express News reported the statute has only led to one conviction in Bexar County  where the truck was found  since it was signed into law in 2011.  McManus  said  his  decision to keep the investigation under the SAPD umbrella and pursue the state-level smuggling charge was âsituationalâ and âbased on a fairly fluid situation on the scene â not the result of a change in policy.
âThis is not necessarily the way every case is going to be handled going forward â  he  said.
The San Antonio police chiefâs careful description of his decision in December is likely linked to the tumultuous state of immigration enforcement politics playing out in Texas  which  in turn  reflects debates swirling around immigration policies nationwide. By noting that his decision was not part of any change in policy   McManus  appeared to be making an effort to avoid any accusations that  he  was in violation of the controversial  newly passed Texas law  known as SB4  which penalizes public officials who oversee policies that prevent police officers from asking individuals about their immigration status. Although SB4 has been challenged in the courts  this particular provision remains in place. Locally   McManus  is already facing pushback for  his  decision. Mike Helle  president of the union for San Antonio police officers  told the Express News  âIf any one of our guys did this  any one of them  theyâd probably be put on administrative duty and terminated from the Police Department.â
Asked if the deportation of material witnesses in the July case informed  his  decision in December   McManus  told reporters Thursday that it did not. âI donât want to point fingers at any other agency â  he  added. âWe have a very  very  very good working relationship with HSI and intend to continue having a good relationship.â  McManus  said  he  met with the head of HSI in San Antonio that morning to discuss protocols for the handling of similar cases  though  he  would not say what those protocols include.
 McManus  did  however  add that  his  department was abiding by an agreement made with local immigrant rights organizations following the July tragedy to utilize a DOJ grant designed to help local law enforcement support victims in similar circumstances. Immigration advocates are hopeful that the police chiefâs decision could mark a turn to a more compassionate  victim-centered approach in such cases. Whether such a shift is actually underway  or if it would survive the ultra-heated climate surrounding immigration enforcement politics  remains to be seen.

SOLUTION:
William McManus