Juror search begins in trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect

be in part paying close attention to what his explanation is and what circumstances beyond his control . . . caused him to do this,” Collins said. Prosecutors say Dzhokhar, 21, and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev — ethnic Chechens who had lived in the United States for about a decade — carried out the bombing in retaliation for U.S. actions in Muslim countries. Tamerlan, 26, died after a firefight with police several days after the bombing. Dzhokhar was captured later that day, wounded and bloodied, hiding inside a boat stored in a suburban Watertown yard. Prosecutors said he described a motive in a note written in the boat: “The U.S. Government is killing our innocent civilians,” and, “We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all.” Tsarnaev’s attorneys might lay the groundwork for an explanation involving mental health, said Christopher Dearborn, a professor at Boston’s Suffolk University Law School. That could include any persecution his family could have suffered as ethnic minorities in Kyrgyzstan, where the brothers spent most of their lives before moving to the United States with their parents and two sisters. “I think the real value in that may be to start to try to generate even a little bit of empathy around this and humanize the kid a little bit, hopefully enough to save a life,” Dearborn said. Alice LoCicero, a Cambridge, Mass., psychologist and terrorism expert who wrote the book “Why ‘Good Kids’ Turn Into Deadly Terrorists: Deconstructing the Accused Boston Marathon Bombers and Others Like Them,” said she thinks Dzhokhar Tsarnaev might have been susceptible to the influence of his brother and others in part because he had lost structure in the year before the bombings. Among those life changes: Dzhokhar had left the family’s Cambridge home to attend the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth; his parents had moved to the volatile Dagestan region of Russia; and the family was having financial trouble. Authorities think Tamerlan became radicalized in the last few years of his life, including during a six-month trip to Dagestan and Chechnya in 2012. Prosecutors say, however, that Dzhokhar showed signs before the bombing — even to his closest friends — that he was becoming radicalized. At least one of three college friends convicted of lying or impeding the investigation is expected to testify against him. An additional friend who pleaded guilty to possessing a gun used to


Loudoun course addresses the growing concerns about eco-friendly gardening

soils covers topics such as erosion and soil compaction, which is a problem in neighborhoods that have been recently developed, she said. The need to conserve drinking water is an area of particular concern for McCarry. “We are seeing really frightening droughts in other parts of the country,” she said. “Right now, we are lucky to be experiencing some wet years, but water is going to become a more limited resource everywhere as we have more people.” Landscape for Life advocates smaller lawns that require less water and fertilizer to maintain, as well as the use of rain barrels to retain water in the yard. Collecting water in a rain barrel conserves water that otherwise would flow down the driveway or through the yard, McCarry said. The collected water can then be used in the garden. The class also teaches how to create rain gardens by growing deeply rooted native plants, such as white oak, coral honeysuckle or bee balm, among other varieties, to trap water that would otherwise run off the property, McCarry said. “The water can flow in there and sink down into the deeper layers of the soil instead of just running off the surface,” she said. “So you’re really getting use of that water, and then your rain garden is actually cleaning that water as it goes down through the soil.” Native plants are also beneficial because they can better coexist with local pollinators and other wildlife, McCarry said. “We’re losing our local insects, and this is really a concern, because we’re going to lose our butterflies and we’re losing our bees, which do our pollination for us,” she said. “It’s the basis of the food supply.” Julie Borneman, who took the Landscape for Life course last year, said that the classes provide useful tips and tools gardeners can apply at home, such as testing the soil and creating maps of their own yards. The maps are helpful in planning what to plant, or dealing with problem areas in the yard, she said. “It’s a really good class for the everyday homeowner — people who aren’t into gardening, and [who] want to be more eco-responsible,” said Borneman, who runs a native plant nursery in Hamilton. “It puts it in terms that everybody understands, and it gives them tools that are really easy to apply to their own garden, without having horticultural or wildlife background.” The Landscape


Healthful foods you can expect to see more of in 2015

says. “Try roasting them instead.” She also suggests using some olive oil or other fat — maybe a flavorful, anchovy-based sauce — to give them a crispier surface. Fat doesn’t just create better texture and flavor, she says, it also helps the body better absorb plant-based vitamins and other nutrients. Furthermore, it helps create a feeling of fullness that is hard to come by with veggies only. So instead of thinking “low-fat” for 2015, she says, think “high-veggie” with some added fat. Both Sacks and Waybright say quinoa probably will continue its impressive run in the new year, but people inspired by their discovery of quinoa will also experiment with other grains. “People will continue to try to get more of their protein from grains,” says Sacks. “Especially, gluten-free grains that are high in fiber and easier to digest will continue to be popular.” In this category, you will find rice and millet. There’s also amaranth, which, like buckwheat, fits the profile of a whole grain in many ways, but is actually a seed rather than a grain. A major food crop for the ancient Aztecs, amaranth is a protein powerhouse, containing all essential amino acids. And it has been shown to lower cholesterol. Amaranth can be used in baking, by itself as a cereal or as a substitute for polenta or quinoa. Not all the grains that seem poised to enter the food scene in 2015 are gluten-free, says Sacks. Those that are not include kamut and farro, an ancient Roman grain that’s high in fiber, protein and iron. Kathleen Wood, a regional healthful-eating coordinator for Whole Foods, adds kelp — a seaweed — to the list of up-and-coming vegetables. High in folate, magnesium, iron and calcium, kelp can be used in smoothies, salads, stir-fries and sautes. Another green food item that’s on the rise, says Wood, is macha. This powdered green tea can be drunk or used to flavor foods from ice cream to sushi. It has antioxidant properties, and some studies indicate that regular macha consumption makes the body more energy-efficient. Wood also predicts an increase in savory vs. sweet foods. She says we will see more seafood snacks and savory yogurts (think carrot instead of strawberry). Sacks agrees, adding that probiotics will continue to become more popular. “I see a focus on less sugar and more fermentation,” she says. Meanwhile, there are still plenty of meat


Northwest D.C. man sentenced in Bloomingdale double-killing

THE DISTRICT Man sentenced in double killing A Northwest Washington man was sentenced to 36 years in prison Monday for the fatal shootings in July of two Maryland men in the Bloomingdale neighborhood. Jimmie Fleming, 36, pleaded guilty in September to two counts of voluntary manslaughter while armed in the July 13 fatal shootings of Donchell Thomas, 21, of Montgomery Village and Derek Price, 20 of District Heights. According to prosecutors, Fleming and a juvenile approached a blue Honda Accord about 1:15 a.m. near North Capitol and T streets NW. Price was the driver, and Thomas was in the back seat. A third victim, who was injured in the shooting, was in the front seat. As Price began driving, Fleming pulled out a silver handgun and began shooting inside the vehicle. Prosecutors said the shootings were unprovoked. — Keith L. Alexander MARYLAND Charges in theft of holiday decorations Police said a man stole a three-foot handmade lollipop and tried to swipe a Tootsie Roll and large snowman from a Brookeville home’s Christmas display. But the man, identified by authorities as Daniel Ryan Anger, 19, of New City, N.Y., didn’t get far with the decorations. Montgomery County police said the lollipop and a large red ornament were found in the Brinklow area shortly after the Dec. 4 theft. Rebecca Innocenti, a Montgomery police spokeswoman, said the theft was captured on the Brookeville house’s surveillance camera. Anger was charged with theft under $1,000 and malicious destruction under $500. — Victoria St. Martin VIRGINIA Ex-Redskins player Smoot acquitted Former Redskins defensive back Fred Smoot was found not guilty of a misdemeanor domestic assault charge in Loudoun County on Monday. Smoot was arrested in November at a residence in Ashburn. Police said at the time that a woman said her boyfriend had grabbed her during a fight, and Smoot was taken into custody. The Loudoun office of the commonwealth’s attorney said Monday that Smoot was found not guilty by a judge after a non-jury trial in juvenile and domestic relations court. — Julie Zauzmer Apartment fire was intentionally set Authorities said a fire in a garden-style apartment building that injured three people Sunday in Fairfax County had been “intentionally set.” Dan Schmidt, a spokesman for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, said fire investigators are working to figure out who set the 2 p.m. blaze. The fire caused $500,000 worth of damage to the three-story


Weeknight Vegetarian: Make 2015 the Year of Tempeh

tofu shop in Portland, it’s one of the oldest ones in America, from 1905. The first commercial tempeh, on the other hand, was made in 1978. While tofu is produced in many Asian countries, tempeh is very localized. It’s just Indonesia that has tempeh of any magnitude in Asia.” Another obstacle to tempeh awareness might be its appearance. Some tempeh (from such brands as Lightlife, Tofurky and WestSoy) might have some black spots visible through the plastic, putting off potential buyers who wrongly think it’s spoiled, when in fact those spots are a natural byproduct of the fermentation process. It also might come down to mainstream skepticism about fermented foods generally, although with the explosion of interest in products like kombucha and sauerkraut, you’d think tempeh wouldn’t be far behind. Tempeh, fried to a browned, crisp exterior. (Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post) Convenience or freshness? Tempeh sales are a fraction of those of the better-known soy product, tofu, but sales are on the upswing, with tempeh growing faster than any other refrigerated meat alternative, says Tibbott. What tempeh needs in order to take off, he thinks, is a blockbuster convenience food akin to Tofurky, which he says led many customers to go back and discover tofu in its more stripped-down form. His company’s best-selling tempeh product is smoky maple bacon-flavored marinated tempeh strips. “Bacon’s on such a roll right now,” he said. “And this makes tempeh a little more bomb-proof for the home cook.” At Lightlife, the country’s leading maker of tempeh, the best-selling version is plain soy. But sales of pre-sliced, marinated Fakin’ Bacon are growing. Brad Luhrman, director of marketing, says Lightlife is also developing more convenience-oriented tempeh products. “We want to make it easier for people to try tempeh,” he said. “That will be our focus.” Some small makers have been around for a while; Twin Oaks Community in Virginia makes 300 to 400 pieces of tempeh a week, a fraction of its tofu production, and distributes it mostly around Richmond and Charlottesville. “Our incubator is just a plywood box, with thermostat-controlled light bulbs to heat it up,” said Brenda Callen, who has supervised the tempeh production there for almost 20 years. Other regional makers have popped up more recently, including Barry Schwartz, who has been making Barry’s Tempeh in Brooklyn for about five years and sells to customers and restaurants in New York (but doesn’t ship


Smithsonian scientists discover gold bat along with four other new species

Andinobates geminisae. (Brian Gratwicke) “If you had the chance to name a poisonous species, would you name it after your wife?” Micaela Jemison asks at www.smithsonianscience.org. That’s what Marcos Ponce of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute did: When his team discovered a bright-orange, big-eyed poison dart frog in Donoso, Panama, Ponce named the previously unknown species Andinobates geminisae, in honor of his supportive wife, Geminis Vargas. A. geminisa ● A tiny mite with a ferociously ugly, dragonlike visage, Osperalycus tenerphagus was discovered in Ohio by entomologist Samuel Bolton. It appears to be an all female-species: The bug lays eggs that don’t need to be fertilized, and no males have yet been found. ● Ricardo Moratelli, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Museum of Natural History, discovered a bat with stunningly bright-gold fur, Myotis midastactus, in Bolivia. That’s just one of half a dozen new bat species he has identified. Osperalycus tenerphagus. (Samuel Bolton) ● Gustavo Ballen, from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, discovered Farlowella yarigui in streams of the Magdalena River basin, west of the Andes in Colombia. It’s a five-inch-long stick catfish, so called because its thin body looks like a stick. ● A fly that has evolved to look like a bumblebee to avoid predators also acts like a bee — Sericomyia khamensis pollinates flowers, specifically the yellow poppy of southern China. That’s where it was discovered by Christian Thompson of the National Museum of Natural History. Read more: Newly discovered frog gives birth to live tadpoles


Looking for black holes and light from the big bang

and amazing. I worked for him in a summer and fell in love with the idea of building new telescopes and studying these objects. There’s an aspect of discovery that is wonderful. I got hooked on that. How is the NuSTAR observatory you designed different from a regular optical telescope? When you see waves on the ocean, you can measure the distance between the crests. That’s the wavelength. For X-rays, the wavelength is the size of an atom. This has consequences for how you build a telescope. You can only reflect X-rays at glancing angles; they do not reflect directly like visible light. This means that X-ray telescopes look very different. We make them out of thin shells, like the bottom of coffee cans with a slight angle. We have 133 of these shells in NuSTAR that make up the telescope. They reflect off the surfaces and come to a focus point 33 feet away. That’s why X-ray telescopes are so long. The images [picked up] are 100 times crisper than anything we have had before. What can we learn looking at high-energy objects? The reason you can see black holes is that matter falls onto them. The black hole heats up and causes radiation in the X-ray spectrum. Studying X-ray objects enables us to probe regions close to the black hole. We can tell things like how fast the black holes are spinning. That tells us how they grew. If they are spinning rapidly, then matter was falling onto it to make it spin faster and faster. The growth of black holes is related to growth of galaxies. We can also tell things about how the universe’s structures are formed. The NuSTAR is providing a whole new way of looking at supernovae [exploding stars that give off the energy of a sun in a few weeks or months]. To detect radioactive material, that gives us direct information about what makes the star explode. We are looking at some of the most energetic, densest and hottest objects. You can’t study them if you have optical telescopes. What’s the next frontier for astrophysics? The launch of the James Webb telescope in 2018 will be transformative. Also on the ground, complementary to the Webb, will be the 30-meter telescopes like the Giant Magellan Telescope and the European Extremely Large Telescope, which will be able to peer much further back into the universe.


D.C. cabaret series La-Ti-Do relocates to Dupont Circle bar

entire musicals and an evening of songs from the television show “Smash.” While the sports memorabilia in the restaurant doesn’t exactly scream, “Let’s sing show tunes” — and the first night conflicts with the College Football Playoff championship game — the space still has “an intimate feel of hanging out,” Mendoza said. And most important, “there will be a piano.” Roth is moving forward If Ari Roth, former artistic director of Theater J, were to pick a number to perform at an upcoming cabaret, “And the Money Kept Rolling In (and Out)” from “Evita” would be an appropriate choice. The Web site for Mosaic Theater Company, Roth’s venture following his December firing from the theater based at the D.C. Jewish Community Center, went live Dec. 31. The launch was a bit complicated because the Internal Revenue Service’s Web site was down over Christmas, Roth said, and Mosaic needed to be registered to receive donations. But since then, “there is lots of good news.” The company has raised $120,000. That includes large pledges from the Eugene M. Lang Foundation and the Share Fund. The money will help Mosaic pay rent to the Atlas Performing Arts Center, where Roth is beginning to set up shop and interview potential board members. “We are moving on with the business of making theater,” he said. A coalition of Roth supporters still plans to run a protest ad in the Jan. 15 edition of Washington Jewish Week chastising JCC leaders for caving to a “vocal conservative pressure group” that opposed some of Roth’s artistic choices. While previous public outcries have included a freelance director resigning from Theater J and an open letter from nationally known theater figures, the $1,400 ad will be signed by local arts patrons. “As supporters of Theater J and artistic freedom, we join the many voices in the U.S. and Israel who have condemned the dismissal of Ari Roth,” the ad reads. Ford’s Theatre donation While area arts groups old and new are always looking for donations, Ford’s Theatre stands as one that launches an annual charity drive of its own. On Tuesday, the historic theater announced that it raised more than $84,000 during its curtain call collection taken by Tiny Tim and other characters as patrons left performances of “A Christmas Carol.” The money will be donated to Thrive DC, a soup kitchen and job training center in Northwest Washington. Patrons


FreshFarm Markets founders to retire this year

the Chef at Market program, and cookbook authors such as Mark Bittman and David Lebovitz set up shop to sell and sign their latest releases. Along the way, Prince and Yonkers have picked up a healthy crop of distinctions, including a Hometown Heroes award from WETA in 2008, a Mayor’s Sustainability Award in 2012 and a “Women Who Inspire” Community Service Award in 2006 from the national Women Chefs and Restaurateurs. Yonkers, 73, and Prince, 65, are proud of what they’ve accomplished but are the first to admit that they’ve made miscalculations along the way: that although they were ahead of the curve in opening successful markets in growing neighborhoods such as Penn Quarter, H Street Northeast and CityCenter, not all of their markets flourished. FreshFarm markets in Georgetown and Baltimore’s Harbor East eventually closed, and a Union Market location that debuted in 2013 will probably see a revised mission and balance of producers this coming season. The women say they are constantly trying to adapt to the changing food environment. Shoppers continue to ask for more prepared foods, a request that they’re trying to accommodate by including more vendors that sell meals, such as at the food court-style FreshFarm Market by the White House. “They’ve done a lot of exciting things. And they’re willing to try things that don’t always succeed,” Shuster says. “That’s very important.” Prince and Yonkers know that much work has yet to be done by FreshFarm, and by farmers markets in general. Diversifying the types of food sold at markets and through other channels such as community-supported agriculture (CSA) shares is key to nudging up those direct-sales numbers and ensuring that regions can feed themselves with local goods, Yonkers says. Since the founding of FreshFarm, the number of producers offering meat, dairy and eggs has grown, though organizers would like to have even more. Yonkers also hopes to see more local grain production, such as that being done by FreshFarm vendor Next Step Produce, which sells rice, flour, barley and more at Dupont. Shuster says she, too, would like more local dairy, eggs and grains at area markets, in addition to mushrooms and native plants. She has asked her producers to bring food foraged from their farms. One vendor decided to bring paw paws — and sold hundreds of dollars worth of the green fruit a week. Physical and financial access to fresh, local produce


Test launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket delayed until Friday for technical problem

SPACE TECHNOLOGY Technical problems delay rocket launch SpaceX — Tesla chief executive Elon Musk’s private space company — must wait until at least Friday for a test of a potentially groundbreaking reusable rocket. The launch of SpaceX’sFalcon 9 rocket was scrubbed Tuesday just seconds before the scheduled 6:20 a.m. EST liftoff at Cape Canaveral, Fla. A statement from NASA said the decision was made with 21 seconds left on the launch clock after a problem was detected in the “thrust vector control” system on the rocket’s second stage. Musk said it was “behaving strangely.” The next launch is scheduled Friday at 5:09 a.m. The mission is to resupply the International Space Station. But attention will be on an unprecedented attempt to recapture and reuse the rocket’s booster. A successful retrieval would have wide-ranging implications for space missions, including lowering costs and possibly speeding up the pace of launches. But even SpaceX was keeping expectations modest in the first attempt to try to steer the booster to a platform in the Atlantic. “The odds of success are not great — perhaps 50 percent at best,” the company said. “However, this test represents the first in a series of similar tests that will ultimately deliver a fully reusable Falcon 9 first stage.” — Christian Davenport and Justin Moyer REGULATORS Obama nominates former banker to Fed President Obama has selected the former head of a community bank in Hawaii to fill a vacancy on the Federal Reserve Board. The White House says that Obama will nominate Allan R. Landon, the former chief executive of the Bank of Hawaii, to fill one of two vacancies on the seven-member board. The nomination will require Senate confirmation. The decision comes after a lobbying campaign by community bankers who argued that the central bank, which regulates banking institutions, should have at least one community banker on its board. The White House said Landon compiled a strong record in leading the Bank of Hawaii through the 2008 financial crisis. Landon was chairman and chief executive of the bank from 2004 to 2010. — Associated Press Also in Business ● Global oil markets slumped for a fourth straight session Tuesday, as mounting worries about a supply glut pressured crude prices, which are down almost 10 percent this week to hit their lowest since spring 2009. Traders said the trend for crude seemed lower, but prices could bounce up whenever


Jeong Min-je: Balancing service and education

military suits, they have to do some kind of training all the time, but here we’re providing services to the civilians, so we have no training at all,” Jeong explained. “We have to study language all the time. So that’s kind of the difference: our work involves language studies.” While Jeong’s time in the tourist police will reflect well on him, not everyone has grounds for optimism or shares in his positivity. “Most of them think it’s a waste of time,” he said, acknowledging how many motivated students are frustrated by another obstacle to entering the workforce. Frustrations among servicemen took a turn for the worse this past August, when three army conscripts committed suicide, reigniting concerns over compulsory service and conditions within the military. From 2004 to 2011, the number of suicides in the military rose continually from 67 to 97, though it fell to 79 in 2013, according to the Korean defense ministry. Nonetheless, Jeong sees a practical imperative to service. “At this moment, conscription should exist because we have to protect ourselves from North Korea’s attacks and threats,” he said. According to the Joongang Daily, the government in 2010 had considered shortening the length of service, but in light of North Korea’s sinking of Korean ships and shelling of sovereign islands, decided to scrap the plans. While many students still blame the government for interrupting their education, Jeong tries to recognize the broader pressures on politicians: “If North Korea continues to threaten us with secret weapons, we have to join the army to protect ourselves. It’s all up to North Korea.” However, military service is not mandatory for all youths—only males. For young women, joining the military is a purely optional endeavor, though Korea is hardly an exception. Only a few countries—Norway and Israel, among others—mandate military service for women. “It is a sexual equality problem,” Jeong said. “For me, women should also join the army, but there’s a lot of problems involved with that. My opinion is that women should join the army in some form. They can provide their time to help those who are serving the army, but they should do something for military service.” Having only joined the force a few months ago, Jeong still believes he has much to learn about the army, but his positive attitude is undying. “What I can tell you is it’s pretty good... it’s better than expected.”


Restaurant reviews: Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House and STK DC

kept me sipping swell for well under three digits.) If you can bear the thought of dessert, splurge on the butter cake, one of the best steakhouse endings in recent memory. Served warm on a pool of caramel sauce, the golden confection smells of butter and sugar. A tuft of whipped cream and a scoop of butter pecan ice cream turn comfort into decadence. The city might not need Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House, but half a dozen meals since the restaurant’s fall debut have convinced me of this: Bite for bite, the CityCenterDC arrival offers the finest two-fisted dining around. 2 1 / 2 stars Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House: 950 I St. NW. 202-289-0201. www.delfriscos.com/steakhouse/washington-dc. Open: Daily for lunch 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and dinner 4 to 11 p.m. Prices: Dinner appetizers $10-$19, main courses $32-$80. Sound check: 80 decibels/Must speak with a raised voice. --- STK DC The dining room of STK DC. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post) Among the tasks of a restaurant critic is to judge an establishment based on what it aims to do rather than what the reviewer wants it to be. Before I started typing these words, I went online to see what STK DC, an import from New York, had to say about itself. “STK’s vibe-driven atmosphere challenges the traditional modern steakhouse mold, with DJs spinning nightly and inspired cocktails to dazzle even the most discerning dining enthusiast” reads part of the venue’s breathless mission statement. STK, in other words, is a club where grilled beef gets served to the beat of “Don’t You Want Me.” STK, in reality, is a sad follow-up to Casa Nonna in Dupont Circle, a sprawling, multipurpose meat market whose short name underscores its limitations. A visitor discovers this early in the meal, when he orders steak tartare, ground to a near puree and lacking in any meaty flavor, or foie gras and poached apples atop a raft of French toast, a combination that’s more breakfast sandwich than prelude to a night on the town. The designer deserves a high-five for the ebony-and-ivory decor, or most of it. The white horns protruding from the wall of the bar look like something the Flintstones might have used for coat hooks. Otherwise, the dining room makes itself swank with low, curvy couches near where the drinks are doled out, and raised seating with circular


Montgomery County Animal Watch

This case was received recently by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. In a rut: Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Adopt or foster rescue dogs: Dogs from the Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation are available at the following location. To view dogs and for information about adopting or fostering cats, call 703-295-DOGS (3647) or visit www.lostdogrescue.org. Rockville — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Julio Scherer García, journalist and irritant to politicians, dies at 88

Mexican journalist Julio Scherer García in 2002. (Gregory Bull/Associated Press) Julio Scherer García, a Mexican journalist who founded the newsmagazine Proceso, one of his country’s most crusading publications, died Jan. 7, it was reported from Mexico City. He was 88. Proceso announced the death and said the cause was septic shock. Mr. Scherer helped expose many of Mexico’s greatest scandals for decades, probing a secret army unit set up to combat guerrillas, a multimillion-dollar Swiss bank account of a president’s brother, and official involvement in the assassination of a journalist. His tough independence stood out at a time when independent reporting critical of the government was rare in Mexico, and he inspired and trained a new generation of the country’s journalists. As editor of Excelsior, then Mexico’s leading newspaper, from 1968 to 1976, Mr. Scherer took on the omnipotent ruling party over corruption and human rights abuses, and he questioned the government’s version of an army massacre of students. He so irked President Luis Echeverría that the government maneuvered to push him out of the newspaper in 1976. Just months later, Proceso published its first issue with the help of journalists who left Excelsior with Mr. Scherer. In the decades since, the weekly newsmagazine has become the country’s most consistent source of investigative journalism. Mr. Scherer wrote nearly two-dozen books, often analyzing the terms of Mexico’s presidents. In 1971, he won the prestigious Maria Moors Cabot award from Columbia University. In 1994, the Zapatista rebels invited Mr. Scherer to participate with a Catholic bishop and the Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu as intermediaries in a dialogue with the Mexican government. Mr. Scherer demurred. “My condition as a journalist obligates me to impartiality, difficult to sustain as both mediator and chronicler of the events we experience. I must then comply exclusively with the rules of my profession.” Seven years later, when the Zapatistas’ charismatic leader was on verge of talks with then-President Vicente Fox, the masked rebel commander sat down for an interview with Mr. Scherer. Mr. Scherer scored another coup in 2010, when he interviewed Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a leader of the Sinaloa cartel and one of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lords. Just reaching the interview site, a rustic two-room house in the mountains, was a multi-day affair. Proceso reported that Zambada said he had always wanted to meet Mr. Scherer and opened up about his life as a fugitive, admitting,


Washington-area obituaries of note

a son, the Rev. Jason Duley, also a Methodist minister. Rev. Duley, who lived in Lake of the Woods, Va., was a District native and longtime Arlington resident. His pastoral work included congregations such as Arlington United Methodist Church, Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Alexandria and Messiah United Methodist Church in Springfield. Ronald J. Bombick, science teacher Ronald J. Bombick, 69, who taught science in Montgomery County Public Schools for more than three decades, died Dec. 5 at a hospital in Portland, Ore. The cause was complications from leukemia, said his son, Andy Bombick. Mr. Bombick, a Pittsburgh native, was a former resident of Columbia, Md., and Bethesda. He taught at Montgomery Hills junior high school and at Montgomery Blair, Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Wheaton high schools before retiring in 2000. He also coached baseball, field hockey and soccer and volunteered with a crisis intervention center and animal-rescue group in Maryland, said his son. Mr. Bombick moved to Ashland, Ore., in 2005. Samuel W. Keller, NASA administrator Samuel W. Keller, 84, a career NASA administrator who retired in 1994 as the agency’s associate deputy administrator, died Dec. 14 at a senior living community in Silver Spring. The cause was atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, said his wife, Sally Keller. Mr. Keller, a Silver Spring resident, was born in Grafton, W.Va., and grew up in Washington. He began his NASA career in 1960 at Goddard Space Flight Center’s legal patent office in Greenbelt, Md. He became the center’s director of administration and management in 1972 before transferring three years later to NASA headquarters, where he was appointed the deputy associate administrator for space science and applications and later managed the agency’s Russian space program. He was a project manager the Hubble Space Telescope, spearheaded negotiations on joint space projects with Russia and helped oversee the development major spacecrafts, including Magellan and Galileo. His honors included NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal. Ruth B. Thompson, Navy Waves member, VA employee Ruth B. Thompson, 103, a former Navy Waves member and national placement personnel executive for what is now the Department of Veterans Affairs, died Dec. 16 at her daughter’s home in Chapel Hill, N.C. The cause was congestive heart failure, said a son, Baird Thompson. Mrs. Thompson was born Ruth Baird in Baltimore and served in the Navy Waves in Washington during World War II. She worked for the Veterans Administration from the early 1960s to the


The sweet sell of success: These are the top 10 most expensive homes sold in the D.C. region in 2014

the Edgemoor neighborhood, the 2008 home has seven fireplaces, a wine cellar, a home movie theater with stadium seating and leather reclining chairs, an indoor sport court, fitness room, an outdoor kitchen, outdoor swimming pool and four-car garage. 1824 R St. NW in Washington sold for $8.45 million. (Courtesy of TTR Sotheby's International Realty) 5. 1824 R St. NW, Washington D.C. $8.45 million Bedrooms/bathrooms: Approximate square footage: Lot size: Listing agent: Built by noted D.C. architect Clarke Waggaman, this 1911 Dupont Circle mansion started off as two separate row houses that were combined as part of a 2006 renovation. Existing historic elements were carefully restored. The home has 13 gas fireplaces, antique wood, limestone and terracotta floors and a sweeping staircase. The former home to the Embassy of Singapore includes a blast-resistant safe storage room. 2915 O St. NW in Washington sold for $7.395 million. (Washington Fine Properties) 6. 2915 O St. NW, Washington D.C. $7.395 million Bedrooms/bathrooms: Approximate square footage: Lot size: Listing agent: The 1942 white-washed Federal style home in Georgetown’s East Village was renovated in 2005-06. The home is concealed and enclosed by a brick wall. The private gardens feature three fountains. The house has three kitchens and an elevator. 6800 Hillmead Rd. in Bethesda sold for $7.35 million. (Photo by HomeVisit) 7. 6800 Hillmead Rd., Bethesda, Md. $7.35 million Bedrooms/bathrooms: Approximate square footage: Lot size: Listing agent: Built in 2000 by award-winning builder Jim Gibson and renovated in 2010, the home features a great room with a beamed ceiling using reclaimed lumber. There’s also an outdoor lighted tennis court and an outdoor swimming pool with a pool house on the property. 4800 Woodway Lane in Washington sold for $6.855 million. (Photo by Jack Shorb) 8. 4800 Woodway Lane NW, Washington, D.C. $6.855 million Bedrooms/bathrooms: Approximate square footage: Lot size: Listing agent: Built in 1935 on two lots, the private hilltop residence is one of the first W.C. & A.N. Miller houses constructed in Spring Valley. It is likely the second structure built in the Northwest Washington neighborhood. Sold for the first time ever, the home has white oak floors, walnut paneling and moldings, a graceful curved stairway and granite walls. 2510 Foxhall Rd. NW in Washington sold for $6.833 million. (Courtesy of HomeVisit) 9. 2510 Foxhall Rd. NW, Washington, D.C. $6.833 million Bedrooms/bathrooms: Approximate square footage: Lot size: Listing agents: The Georgian-style English country house was


Climate change’s instructive past

“Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century,” Geoffrey Parker, a history professor at Ohio State University, explains how a “fatal synergy” between climatological and political factors produced turmoil from Europe to China. What he calls “the placenta of the crisis” of that century included the Little Ice Age (LIA), between the 1640s and the 1690s. Unusual weather, protracted enough to qualify as a change in climate, correlated so strongly with political upheavals as to constitute causation. Whatever caused the LIA — decreased sunspot activity and increased seismic activity were important factors — it caused, among other horrific things, “stunting” that, Parker says, “reduced the average height of those born in 1675, the ‘year without a summer,’ or during the years of cold and famine in the early 1690s, to only 63 inches: the lowest ever recorded.” In northerly latitudes, Parker says, each decline of 0.5 degrees Celsius in the mean summer temperature “decreases the number of days on which crops ripen by 10 percent, doubles the risk of a single harvest failure, and increases the risk of a double failure sixfold,” For those farming at least 1,000 feet above sea level, this temperature decline “increases the chance of two consecutive failures a hundredfold.” The flight from abandoned farms to cities produced the “urban graveyard effect,” crises of disease, nutrition, water, sanitation, housing, fire, crime, abortion, infanticide, marriages forgone and suicide. Given the ubiquity of desperation, it is not surprising that more wars took place during the 17th-century crisis “than in any other era before the Second World War.” By documenting the appalling consequences of two climate changes, Rosen and Parker validate wariness about behaviors that might cause changes. The last 12 of Parker’s 712 pages of text deliver a scalding exhortation to be alarmed about what he considers preventable global warming. Neither book, however, supports those who believe human behavior is the sovereign or even primary disrupter of climate normality, whatever that might be. With the hands that today’s climate Cassandras are not using to pat themselves on the back for their virtuous empiricism, they should pick up such books. Read more from George F. Will’s archive or follow him on Facebook. Read more about this topic: George Will: Pardon these turkeys Charles Krauthammer: Obama’s global-warming folly The Post’s View: This global-warming warning can’t be ignored Lamar Smith: Overheated rhetoric on climate change hurts the economy


World Digest: Jan. 7, 2015

GERMANY Hackers strike before Ukraine leader’s visit German government Web sites, including Chancellor Angela Merkel’s page, were hacked Wednesday in an attack claimed by a group demanding that Berlin end support for the Ukrainian government. The hacking occurred just before a meeting in Berlin between Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and German President Joachim Gauck. Yatsenyuk is set to meet Merkel on Thursday. Germany has been a firm supporter of Ukraine in its confrontation with Russia, which Kiev accuses of aiding armed separatists in eastern Ukraine. In a statement on its Web site, a group calling itself CyberBerkut asserted responsibility. “Berkut” is a reference to the riot squads used by the government of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian Ukrainian president who was ousted in February. — Reuters MEXICO 10 bodies, 11 heads found in Guerrero Authorities in Mexico say 10 bodies and 11 severed heads have been discovered in clandestine graves in the troubled southern state of Guerrero. The remains were found Tuesday in Chilapa de Alvarez, and state prosecutor Miguel Ángel Godínez Muñoz said Wednesday that investigators were examining six sites. Most of the bodies — many with the hands tied — showed signs of torture. The 11 heads were unearthed in one of the graves. In November, 11 headless bodies were found in the area. Guerrero is the state where 43 students disappeared in September at the hands of police, sparking protests across the country. — Associated Press CUBA 3 political prisoners freed, activist says Three Cuban political prisoners were freed Wednesday, and a leading human rights advocate said he believed their liberation was part of a U.S.-Cuban deal to release 53 dissidents. The head of Cuba’s Human Rights and Reconciliation Commission, Elizardo Sánchez, said 19-year-old twins Diango Vargas Martín and Bianco Vargas Martín were released without any of the judicial procedures that normally precede the liberation of those held in politically related cases. He said Wednesday night that Enrique Figuerola Miranda had just been freed under similar circumstances. The releases followed days of mounting criticism in the United States of a rapprochement between Havana and Washington that included an agreement to release 53 prisoners that the Obama administration wanted freed. According to Amnesty International, the brothers were arrested in December 2012 as they tried to return to their home, where they lived with their mother, a member of the dissident group Ladies in White. They had been held


D.C. police arrest man in connection with Dec. 23 fatal shooting in Petworth

A man who was fatally shot on Dec. 23 in Petworth was suspected of shooting a man in September in the same neighborhood, according to a police affidavit filed in court by D.C. police on Thursday. Authorities do not say whether the fatal shooting of Daniel Joseph Hinton last month was retribution. But court papers say Darren Patterson, the man charged in Hinton’s killing, had been living with the victim of the September shooting. Police charged Patterson on Wednesday with first degree murder while armed, and he will appear in court Friday. New documents made public on Thursday demonstrate how at least some of the violence is interconnected. Hinton, 21, of Northwest was shot and killed shortly after 6 p.m. on Dec. 23. He was found dead in a car parked in the 900 block of Delafield Place NW. It came amid several other shootings in the Petworth neighborhood that had residents concerned and prompted a visit from Muriel E. Bowser (D) days before she was inaugurated as mayor. Police said that at the time Hinton was shot, he and another man were under investigation for the Sept. 21 shooting that wounded a man in the 4700 block of Seventh Street NW, near Sherman Circle. The victim from Seventh Street was shot in the face and arm, and police recovered 17 shell casings from 9mm and .45-caliber semi-automatic handguns. The police affidavit says police searched Hinton’s home, also in Petworth, and found three guns — including a 9mm and a .45-caliber — along with an extended magazine. The affidavit also says that Patterson, known as “Fat Man,” was found in an apartment in Landover, along with the man police say Hinton shot in September. Federal drug agents raided the Landover house in October as part of the investigation into the September shooting. In that house, court documents say authorities found eight ounces of suspected PCP and a gun magazine to hold bullets. The shooting of Hinton was the first in a spate of violence that erupted in the District over the holidays, though most of the incidents do not appear to be related to the earlier shootings in Petworth. Four people were fatally shot on Christmas Eve, and another two were shot by D.C. police officers, one of them fatally. A 71-year-old man and his 49-year-old son were shot and killed Dec. 28, and another man was fatally shot the


China uses long-range intimidation of U.S. reporter to suppress Xinjiang coverage

the brothers live. “All three of my brothers are hard-working, upstanding members of their community, with little if any interest in politics or social issues,” the reporter said in the statement. “As farmers and merchants, they have been dedicated to supporting and providing for their families.” Hoshur said the harassment had become so intense that he had even received phone calls from family members asking him to leave his job at RFA, an organization set up by Congress in 1994 to broadcast news that would otherwise not be reported in Asian countries where governments do not allow a free press. RFA continues to be funded by an annual grant from the U.S. government’s Broadcasting Board of Governors. Hoshur dismissed the charges against his brothers. “The conversation between me and my two brothers about our third brother’s trial was a private conversation about a serious matter that deeply concerns my family,” he said. “I find it very difficult to believe that this conversation could be used as the basis of the charges brought against my brothers for ‘leaking state secrets’ and ‘endangering state security.’ These seem only like thin excuses to justify the continued harassment of me as a journalist reporting on events in China’s Uighur regio In Washington, the State Department said it is “deeply concerned” by the news about Hoshur’s brothers. In a news briefing Thursday, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in response to a question, “We urge Chinese authorities to cease harassment of his family and to treat them fairly and with dignity. We continually urge China to respect internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression.” Human rights groups say China brutally represses rights, culture and freedom of worship for the region’s Uighur Muslims. Xinjiang has been home to long-running separatist unrest, and violence has dramatically increased in the past year or two. China’s government says the separatists are motivated by Islamist extremism, but it has made independent reporting from Xinjiang almost impossible by harassing foreign journalists who visit the province and threatening or arresting Uighurs who talk to reporters. In July, for example, Hoshur reported that Chinese police had fatally shot scores of knife- and ax-wielding Uighurs who went on a rampage in Shache county in Xinjiang, apparently angry about restrictions on the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and an earlier “cold-blooded killing” of a family of five. That contradicted the official version of


Five myths about freshman members of Congress

Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), both former Marines, and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), an Army veteran. Moulton saw intense combat while serving in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 and earned two medals for his service. But he didn’t mention the commendations during his campaign — or even to his parents — until the Boston Globe unearthed details about them last October, shortly before his election. In the Senate, Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) is a Marine reservist who deployed to Afghanistan. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is a lieutenant colonel with the Army National Guard who served during Operation Iraqi Freedom. And Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a former House lawmaker, deployed with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq and served in Afghanistan. He was a member of the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery in between his war stints. “I like the fact that you will have more defense-oriented members and [members] with military experience,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the most famous congressional war veteran, said in a recent interview. The new recruits “are very pro-defense,” he added, signaling “a victory for the internationalist wing of the Republican Party.” 5. They reflect America. We hear a lot about how Congress is more diverse than ever. And yes, the combined number of women in the House and Senate tops 100 for the first time this year. In the House, 44 African Americans serve along with 34 Hispanics, 10 Asian Americans and two Native Americans. The Senate has two African Americans, three Hispanics and one Asian American. But even the freshman class is disproportionately male (81 percent), white (86.5 percent) and Christian (98.6 percent). Compared with the last Congress, the 114th has nine more Christians, five fewer Jews and one less Buddhist. A recent analysis by the Pew Research Center, using data compiled by CQ Roll Call, found that the most underrepresented group in Congress is “unaffiliated” people, who make up 20 percent of Americans but just 0.2 percent of lawmakers. Members of Congress are also far wealthier than most Americans. The combined net worth of lawmakers topped $2 billion in 2013, according to a CQ Roll Call analysis — and the numbers will easily jump again now that six more millionaires have joined the Senate. ed.okeefe@washpost.com Five myths is a weekly feature challenging everything you think you know. You can check out previous myths, read more from Outlook or follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.


USOC chooses Boston over D.C. as its candidate to bid for 2024 Summer Games

DC 2024 released this video as part of its campaign to help bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to Washington, D.C. Thus the organizers plotted an Olympic Stadium to replace RFK Stadium, where Redskins owner Dan Snyder already was eyeing a new permanent facility, and an Olympic Village next door, where D.C. officials were already plotting a mixed-use neighborhood. They proposed a new tennis facility east of the Anacostia River and began vetting a series of locations in Prince George's County for events. The University of Maryland could host gymnastics at Xfinity Center. National Harbor could host weightlifting, table tennis, badminton or handball. FedEx Field could even serve as the Olympic Stadium in case the RFK site didn’t work. Although Washington’s bid leaders got positive feedback on their presentation from the USOC board, the city was always considered an underdog among Olympics insiders, mostly because of its position as the seat of American power. After a series of recent failed bids, the USOC was determined to pick a candidate that could win over the IOC, a body that is widely assumed to include pockets of anti-Americanism. The U.S. hasn’t hosted a Summer Olympics since the 1996 Games in Atlanta, an unusually long time for the IOC’s biggest broadcast partner. After submitting losing bids for New York in 2012 and Chicago in 2016, the USOC declined to bid on the 2020 Games. In its statement Thursday, the USOC said the selection of Boston came after “more than one round” of voting by the 15-member board, which met privately at Denver International Airport. The final vote, the statement said, was unanimous. Ramsey and Leonsis, awaiting the decision at the Washington 2024 offices on Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest, took the call from the USOC just after 6:30 p.m. They were not given any specific feedback. Both declined to comment beyond the statement the group released Thursday night. Boston represents a new tack for the USOC — an old, storied East Coast city known for its universities and sports fanaticism. Besides Los Angeles and Atlanta, only one other U.S. city has hosted a Summer Games: St. Louis in 1904. “This selection is in recognition of our city’s talent, diversity and global leadership,” Walsh said in a statement. “Our goal is to host Olympic and Paralympic Games that are innovative, walkable and hospitable to all. Boston hopes to welcome the world’s greatest athletes to one of


U.S. food companies want end to embargo of Cuba

United States is expected to issue detailed regulations opening trade with Cuba this month, but granting credit would require an act of Congress that appears unlikely in the short term. — Associated Press RETAIL J.C. Penney to close 40 stores, cut jobs J.C. Penney said that it will close about 40 stores this year and cut approximately 2,250 jobs as it tries to improve its profitability. Most of the stores, located in malls around the country, will close by April 4. The company, based in Plano, Tex., has about 1,060 stores. One of the closings will be the Manassas Mall store in Virginia. Thursday’s announcement comes two days after J.C. Penney reported a rise in sales during the critical holiday shopping season, an encouraging sign as the company tries to recover from an unsuccessful attempt to reinvent itself under former chief executive Ron Johnson. It has tapped a new CEO, former Home Depot executive Marvin Ellison, who will replace current chief executive Mike Ullman in August. Ullman was rehired as CEO in April 2013 after retiring from the top job in 2011. J.C. Penney said all employees at stores being closed will be offered career training classes, including help writing résumés and filling out applications. The company said some employees are eligible to receive separation benefits. Last January, the company announced plans to close about 33 stores and cut 2,000 jobs. — Associated Press Also in Business ● ● U.S. consumers increased their borrowing in November as stronger demand for auto and student loans offset a drop in credit card debt. The Federal Reserve said Thursday that consumer borrowing rose by $14.1 billion on the heels of a $16 billion increase in October. The gains have pushed consumer debt, excluding real estate loans, to a record level of $3.3 trillion. The latest figures suggest that an improving economy and strong employment gains over the past year may be making consumers more comfortable with ramping up their borrowing. ● The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week and job cuts declined sharply in December, suggesting the labor market is tightening. Thursday’s reports support forecasts of faster U.S. growth this year, driven by consumer spending, despite a faltering global economy. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped by 4,000, to a seasonally adjusted 294,000, for the week that ended Jan. 3, the Labor Department said. ● McDonald’s


Is federal hiring fair and open or do ‘special hiring authorities’ get in the way?

least some of the time management had someone in mind to fill the position prior to advertising the vacancy.” Of course, having someone in mind for a position and fixing the system for that person are not the same thing. But the MSPB does say that “hiring managers need to ensure they are not tailoring the job, announcement, assessment, or any other part of the hiring process to favor a particular candidate.” Suspicions about a skewed hiring process are encouraged by agencies that post job openings only for short periods. The MSPB said that can “create an impression that the position has been earmarked for someone or that the agency seeks applications only from individuals who have been expressly recruited,” and “may discourage qualified individuals from applying.” Though short postings can undermine confidence in the hiring process, there are “legitimate business reasons” for such postings, such as a need to limit the number of applicants, Allison Wiley, the report’s project manager, said in an interview. Disturbingly, 40 percent of HR specialists surveyed said “they had been asked to re-advertise a vacancy because the selecting official wanted to hire someone who was not on the referral list,” according to the report. More than disturbing, this favoritism is illegal. Federal law “specifically prohibits this activity,” the MSPB said. Federal law does specifically allow favoritism for veterans. Veterans preference in federal hiring is widely supported by veterans and non-veterans, Democrats and Republicans. But it does have issues. “It is true,” the MSPB said, “that under CE procedures, well-qualified non-veterans cannot be readily selected over minimally qualified veterans (a situation some refer to as the veteran “blocking” the list of eligible candidates).” This statement made leaders of veterans service organizations angry. “I find it really outrageous,” said Joe Violante, legislative director of Disabled American Veterans, adding that the five- to 10-point veterans preference is not enough to boost a minimally qualified candidate over one considered well-qualified. “Most of the veterans that apply are extremely well qualified,” said Ted Daywalt, president of VetJobs, an online jobs board sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Most also are white men. “As we have stated previously,” said the MSPB report, “agencies need to take care when hiring the majority of their employees through just one or two authorities that favor one group of people over another.” Twitter: @JoeDavidsonWP Previous columns by Joe Davidson are available at wapo.st/JoeDavidson.


In a kosher grocery store in Paris, terror takes a deadly toll

and the third against a kosher grocery store. The last, said President François Hollande in an address to the nation Friday evening, was unquestionably “an anti-Semitic attack.” In Porte de Vincennes — a stately neighborhood of low-slung 19th-century buildings that is home to a heavy mix of both Jews and Muslims, many of whom share North African heritage — there was no doubt. The hostage-taking began just after noon, when Amedy Coulibaly, 32, a French citizen of Senegalese descent, walked into the store and began to shoot. The attack played out hours before the start of the Jewish Sabbath on Friday night, a particularly busy time for a kosher shop. As police quickly established a cordon around the building, residents on the outside were left to wonder what had become of friends and colleagues trapped within. Two women who worked at the store but were off at the time of the attack sobbed as they frantically dialed the phone numbers of friends. One said she had received a call from a colleague who could only get out the words “people are shooting” before the line was cut. “They were only targeted because they were Jewish,” the woman, who declined to give her name, said of her colleagues. “They’re just normal people trying to do their jobs.” French television showed hostages running out of the kosher supermarket in eastern Paris after police stormed inside. Malik Zadi, a 25-year-old Muslim of Algerian heritage, agreed that the attack was aimed at Jews but noted that Muslims were likely to be hostages, as well. “It’s a kosher store, but not only Jews go there. I go there,” Zadi said. “In this neighborhood, there are Muslims, Jews, Christians. It’s like Paris. It’s a melting pot. Cohabitation.” This week, that cohabitation is being challenged like never before, with attacks that have torn at the foundations of French society. The assault has come from three men who were all nurtured in that society but who became alienated enough to want to tear it down. Amid the standoff at Hyper Cacher, Coulibaly told a French television station that he had shot dead a Paris policewoman on Thursday and that he was working in concert with Said and Chérif Kouachi, the brothers implicated in Wednesday’s attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. “We coordinated from the beginning, when they started with Charlie Hebdo and I started with the police,”


‘Festival in the Desert’ is a documentary about a musical event in Mali

different ethnic groups.” In his view, the festival stands for tolerance, diversity and “great music and joy.” He noted that he is hopeful about Mali’s future. “Mali has a very strong culture, maybe the strongest in the world,” Touré said. “We have lived with our customs for hundreds and even thousands of years. We are not going to change for anyone or anything.” Ansar, too, is sanguine. While “the danger of extremism is still there,” he said, refugees and other Malians are weary of crisis, and the government “has the political will to resolve problems in a durable fashion.” “Even if it proceeds more slowly than one might like, one must recognize that we are in a logical process to arrive at peace,” he said. The people’s instrument Spanish-raised musician Cristina Pato has a special appreciation for the work of contemporary composer Osvaldo Golijov. Golijov’s artistic vision, she said, helped her bridge the gap between her classical-music background and her love of the gaita, the traditional bagpipe of Spain’s Galician region. After establishing a flourishing career as a gaita player in Spain, Pato moved to the United States to pursue studies in classical piano. In this country she met Golijov, who would go on to feature her gaita in “Rose of the Winds,” a piece that also showcases the klezmer clarinet, the hyper-accordion (think the acoustic accordion souped up with digital sound processing) and the kamancheh (a bowed string instrument used in and around Iran). Pato will be playing the gaita when the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop, performs “Rose of the Winds” at the Music Center at Strathmore on Sunday. “For me, it was some sort of a revelation,” Pato says of Golijov’s success in incorporating the gaita. Speaking by phone from New York, where she currently lives, Pato said that Golijov’s writing gave her the idea for the recently launched and ongoing Gaita and Orchestra Commissioning Project — an initiative that may, in the future, bring the Galician bagpipe to more concert halls. The gaita “is an instrument that comes from the people,” Pato notes. “It’s a very rural tradition. So there is a lot of value in putting it in the context of a classical music audience — especially in the 21st century, in which we are trying to connect in many different ways.” “The Last Song Before the War.” Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Wren is


Police say robbery, slaying of Temple Hills man was not a random act

Prince George’s County police have identified the man who was slain Thursday in Temple Hills as 47-year-old Kenneth Washington. Police found Washington suffering from a gunshot wound in his apartment in the 3100 block of Good Hope Road on Thursday after they were called to the area around 3:30 p.m. for the report of a shooting, authorities said. Washington was pronounced dead on the scene, police said. Washington was slain during a robbery, but“detectives do not believe this was a random act,” authorities said in a prepared statement. Detectives are still working to identify suspects. Police are asking anyone with information to call 1-866-411-TIPS. A reward of up to $25,000 is available for any information leading to an arrest and indictment in the case.


Robots are sneaking up on Congress (along with four other tech trends)

sectors. Bitcoin, a new cryptocurrency and the system it runs on, were hardly discussed. A national debate about the future of the Internet and how we use it was ignored by too many members of Congress to list, but I don’t blame them. Net neutrality is a heady, complex issue. It’s now or never. Technology — and the various ways we use and exploit it — is inextricably tied to governing and being governed. So congressional leaders and their staff members must embrace not just what’s on the horizon but everyday technology found in the private sector. The longer members of Congress wait to adapt to and adopt new technologies, the harder it will be for them to catch up. I regularly meet with researchers, academics, hackers and makers to learn about their latest projects. I also review microeconomic trends, changes in consumer behavior, patent filings, new software and gadgets from around the world. Then, each December, I make a list of trends that show where technology is moving. Of the 55 big ideas highlighted for 2015, five will affect our elected leaders. Here’s what Congress should do with them: Cognitive computing Cognitive computing systems use artificial intelligence and natural language processing, which extracts meaning from our everyday speech, to understand human intentions. In short, researchers have taught computers to think, and they’re starting to make inferences and decisions. For example: Toward the end of 2014, Google researchers unveiled a project that used such a system to caption a bunch of photos — without explicitly teaching the system to recognize what was in them. A photo with the caption “Two pizzas sitting on top of a stove top oven” showed exactly that, plus a nearly drained glass of wine. To craft that caption, millions of digital images were processed through thousands of computers so that Google’s neural network could teach itself to recognize what was being depicted. When IBM put its supercomputer, Watson, on “Jeopardy” in 2011, it made for great television. But Watson is more than a game-show stunt — it’s an extremely powerful platform capable of learning and thinking on its own. It can take a big heap of data and help a doctor make a difficult diagnosis. Cognitive systems can compose music and new languages, without any help from humans. Could a computer invent a new language to help Congress have better dialogue? Probably not. But here’s


Best new apps and games for kids

Design. Ages 9 to 13. $1.99 for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android. Imagine riding a roller coaster that is being built as you go. You’re in control of a car that starts high above other rides at a theme park. As you tilt and turn your smart device, a track appears and the car speeds downward and around various obstacles. Dip too much and you nose-dive into the grass, your car breaking apart. Even at the slowest speed, it’s easy to go out of control. As many as five players can save and replay rides that feature a variety of vehicles. Click on a graduation cap icon to learn more about the science behind roller coasters. (Vito Technology) (Vito Technology) Star Walk 2 and Star Walk Kids Vito Technologies. Star Walk 2 for age 8 and older; kids version for ages 6 to 8. $2.99 each for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Additional content for purchase. Explore the solar system with these two astronomy apps. Point your device at the night sky and Star Walk 2 will show you the stars and planets overhead. Find out which stars are visible and which ones make up constellations such as Ursa Major (the Great Bear). Tap on Ursa and get a 3-D view along with details, myths and more images. The kids version has a cartoon look and doesn’t use location tools to show exactly what you see in the sky. But a narrator pronounces constellation and star names, some of which are tricky. Several short videos give background on the moon, several planets and even the Hubble space telescope. (Nosy Crow) Jigsaws Nosy Crow. Ages 6 to 10. Free for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Comes with five puzzles. Additional puzzles for purchase. Nosy Crow, creator of beautiful app storybooks, has taken illustrations from them to make a collection of virtual jigsaw puzzles. First, browse Nosy Crow’s picture books and story apps. Choose an image from one of these or one of your own photos. (Some images require buying a token, but players get five tokens for free.) Choose the number of pieces you want — between four and 300. Once your image appears, shake your device to see the puzzle broken into pieces. The pieces appear on a puzzle tray, and you can slide one or more onto the surface where you create your puzzle. If you try to


NASA’s year of climate change research kicks off, with a little help from Washington companies

Hampton, Va. The basic aim of the project, a collaboration between Langley and a team led by Kenneth Davis, a Penn State University professor, is to track their flow. NASA awarded McLean-based Exelis a $3.5 million contract last week to modify a laser instrument so it can collect carbon dioxide measurements, making it the latest local contractor to contribute to the space agency’s carbon studies efforts. Dulles-based Orbital Sciences launched NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory into space last summer and runs its daily operations. The satellite studies the global movement of carbon dioxide from its higher perch in space. Part of the Langley team’s work is to evaluate the sensitivity of the observatory’s instruments as it performs its mission, Nehrir said. Science Systems and Applications For aerospace and defense contractor Exelis, which spun off its services unit into a new company named Vectrus last year, the NASA project is part of a strategic shift into more climate and environmental work, said Eric Webster, vice president of the company’s weather systems business. Climate projects made up less than 1 percent of sales for the company’s geospatial division in 2013. Now, they makes up more than 15 percent of sales, according to Exelis. The NASA contract is also a testing ground for Exelis’ laser instrument, said Webster. Eventually, scientists hope to use it in space for global readings, he said. “Before the laser technology goes into space, it has to prove itself on ground and air applications,” he said. What makes the atmospheric carbon project different, said Nehrir, is that it is one of the first large-scale field experiments aimed solely at understanding the behavior of greenhouse gases,without a chemistry or astronomy component. A group of scientists plan to board two planes and conduct multiple field flights over Virginia’s Wallops Island; Shreveport, La.; and Sioux City, Iowa. Those locations were chosen because they contain major sources of carbon dioxide, including cities and power plants, as well as “sinks,” which are natural systems that absorb carbon dioxide, such as the Appalachian mountains, Nehrir said. Scientists plan to conduct the research over different seasons, and through fair and adverse weather conditions. When the experiment is over, NASA’s goal is to improve existing greenhouse gas emission models and eventually, inform climate-change policy making, he said. More from Capital Business: For a daily rundown of Washington area business news, sign up for the “CapBiz A.M.” e-mail newsletter.


Law and order in the military

The Dec. 31 front-page article “Air Force investigates lawyer over stand on sex-assault bill” said that, under military regulations, “endorsing a candidate is forbidden” for uniformed personnel. Defense Department and Air Force regulations allow for the endorsement of candidates for public office as long as the endorsement is clearly a personal position and not intended to represent the Air Force or the Defense Department. Service members are likewise allowed to express their personal views on candidates and issues in letters to newspapers. While all violations of regulations or orders in the military may be characterized as criminal, Capt. Maribel Jarzabek’s alleged crime merited only a “verbal counseling” not to repeat the activity. Military law is different in many respects, especially concerning the criminalization of certain violations that are unique to military life. William T. Coleman, Alexandria The writer is a retired Air Force colonel.


SpaceX fails to nail landing on barge at sea

Elon Musk’s daring and unprecedented attempt to land a rocket booster upright on a barge in the ocean was unsuccessful Saturday, but SpaceX, his start-up space company, vowed to try again and said that the attempt “bodes well for the future.” While the launch of the rocket to resupply the International Space Station went off without a problem, Musk said on Twitter that the first stage made it back to the barge “but landed hard [and broke apart]. Close, but no cigar this time.” Musk tweeted that the “grid fins” used to help guide the booster ran out of hydraulic fluid “right before landing.” He said that the next flight already has 50 percent more fluid, so there should be “plenty of margin for landing next month.” Musk, the billionaire founder of PayPal and Tesla Motors, had said that the odds of pulling off such a feat were “not great — perhaps 50 percent at best.” But if SpaceX is able to one day stick the landing of the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket with consistency, it would mark a significant advance for space flight. Typically, rocket boosters are too burned up and damaged to be used again — an expensive and unnecessary waste, Musk has said. For years, his company has been working on developing a reusable rocket, which would significantly lower the cost of space flight. SpaceX, the first commercial company to resupply the space station, had previously attempted soft landings in the ocean. The rockets hovered briefly over the water before toppling over. But Saturday was the first attempt to land the rocket on a barge 300 feet long by 170 feet wide, using its engine thrust to slow down from a velocity of about 3,000 mph. The launch from Cape Canaveral to ferry cargo to the International Space Station was originally scheduled for Dec. 19 but postponed twice because of technical issues with the rocket. On Twitter, Musk said that the company was not able to get good “landing/impact video” because of dark and foggy conditions. But he said that the company will “piece it together from telemetry and . . . actual pieces.”


Japan wrestles with wartime legacy as it starts selling weapons

on defense exports, although the government says Japan will “continue to adhere to the course it has taken to date as a peace-loving country.” Both changes are highly controversial in a country where pacifism has become the default position. When the relaxation on defense sales was announced last April, 77 percent of the people surveyed by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said they opposed the change, while only 17 percent supported it. Increased coordination The changes are guided by three principles, the Defense Ministry says. First, authorities will prohibit sales that violate international treaties or sanctions, ruling out exports to North Korea and Iran specifically, and to countries that are involved in conflicts. Second, the ministry will limit sales to cases that would promote international peace and contribute to Japan’s security. And finally, it will sell only to countries that can keep control of the technology, seeking to restrict transfers to third parties. “The main purpose is not to bring in more income or to sell our weapons, but to contribute to international peace and security,” said Masanori Kegoya of the Defense Ministry’s equipment policy division. “The fundamental position is that Japan should stay as a peace-loving nation that does not promote conflict.” The Japanese government has already approved selling gyroscopes to be used in the U.S.-produced Patriot interceptor missiles and has launched a research program with Britain on air-to-air missile technology for fighter jets. It is now in talks about selling a dozen diesel-powered Soryu class submarines to Australia. Negotiations are bogged down over where the subs would be built. Australia wants the $20 billion deal to create jobs at home, and the Mainichi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, reported that Tokyo has proposed jointly building the hulls. American officials support the idea of Australia buying Japanese Soryu subs, which would be fitted with U.S. combat systems, saying it would make it easier for the U.S. military if its allies were using the same equipment. There is increasing military coordination by the United States, Australia and Japan in the face of a rising China. “Australia is a special country for us,” Kegoya said. “We have a special relationship with them and the U.S., and better trilateral cooperative relations will contribute greatly to the security of the Asia-Pacific area.” Senior officials from Japan’s Defense and Industry ministries have been attending defense trade shows such as Eurosatory in Paris and the Farnborough air


Metro blames laws of nature for cracked track rails; other transit systems agree

either the site of the break is welded back together or crews will actually replace a section of rail altogether.” Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the nation’s biggest subway system, in New York, said some commuters there were delayed Thursday by a cracked rail in lower Manhattan. “It happens,” said Ortiz. “We run 8,000 trains a day, and we have 659 miles of track. Cracks are just something we have to deal with.” Ibis Antongiorgi, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Transit Authority, said cracked rails haven’t been a big problem for that subway system, even though Chicago’s temperatures last Sunday nose-dived from 34 degrees to nearly zero. “Since January 1, CTA has experienced just one cracked rail,” she said. “It occurred on an older section of track at the western edge of Chicago.” Amid Thursday’s blizzard of complaints, some customers who also ride on MARC and Virginia Railway Express trains said the commuter railroads are far less prone to cracked rails, so Metro must be doing something wrong. Bitar said that’s not true. Compared with Metro, he said, commuter railroads operate trains at far greater intervals and have more track space, which allows commuter trains to more easily maneuver around workers fixing cracked rails. Or, as he put it, “They have different configurations for better management of the events.” As a result, “when they have cracked rails, riders don’t realize it.” But sometimes they do. In New York on Friday, commuters on the Long Island Rail Road had to put up with delays between Queens and Brooklyn because of a cracked rail. In 2012, Metro bought its first “track geometry vehicle,” or TGV, a rail car equipped with technology to analyze the condition of rails. The TGV’s job is to spot defects that might make tracks more susceptible to cracking during wide temperature shifts. “Ultrasonic and geometry testing can be performed to assist in managing maintenance needs and advance identification of trouble spots,” Tom Robinson, one of Metro’s top track engineers, said in announcing the purchase. Before then, Metro used less advanced equipment to monitor its rails. The TGV roams the system, compiling far more detailed data, Robinson said. Other subway systems, including New York’s, also use TGVs. “We have a lot of advanced equipment,” Ortiz said. “And we have a lot of track personnel who are out walking every inch of the system, inspecting it twice a week.” Metro


Modern porters derive flavor from unusual suspects: Sweet potatoes and lobster

a hop-saturated market rediscovering the joys of malt? Porter is something you take for granted, like a comfy easy chair or a well-worn sweater. Yet porters can be as complex as any beer style. Using a palette of malts that includes slightly toasted and just short of charred, the brewer brings out colors from deep amber to ebony and a melange of flavors, such as toffee, cocoa, mocha and licorice. This dark ale (well, typically it’s an ale) might take its name from the burly deliverymen who balanced wooden kegs on their shoulders and rapped on pub doors, announcing themselves with a shout of “Porter!” It was the first mass-market beer style of the Industrial Revolution. Breweries aged the beer in immense vats that might tower over 20 feet high and contain thousands of barrels’ worth. In 1814, the collapse of such a vessel at Henry Meux’s Horse Shoe Brewery in London unleashed a tsunami of porter that leveled the surrounding neighborhood and killed eight people. Modern porter has evolved in several directions. Brown porter is a lower-alcohol, lighter-bodied take on the style: Think of Yuengling Dark Brewed Porter (4.7 percent alcohol by volume), with its gentle chocolate caramel flavor and just a hint of roast. New in the Heavy Seas seasonal lineup: the malt-forward Deep Six porter. (Heavy Seas Beer) At 6.8 percent alcohol, Deep Six is a robust porter — a strong, more assertive version. The crystal malts add sweetness, the chocolate and black malts contribute a rich, bittersweet chocolate flavor. A hint of orange in the finish comes from the British Target and Fuggle hops. “I’ve been making this beer for almost 20 years,” says brewer Chris Leonard, who perfected the recipe while working for the now-defunct General Lafayette Inn in the Philadelphia suburbs. (The beer’s original name: Chocolate Thunder.) Ask brewers about the dividing line between porter and stout, and most will tell you it’s the presence of roasted, unmalted barley, an ingredient that lends stouts their drier, more acerbic coffee-grounds flavor. But the border isn’t always well marked. DC Brau, one of a few breweries to can this style, advertises its Penn Quarter Porter as “on the line between a porter and a stout.” Port City Porter, from Port City Brewing in Alexandria, is a big, almost chewy example, combining notes of cocoa, espresso and burnt toast. “Every time we send it to the Great


At the Lincoln cottage in D.C., 3-D imaging is preserving every bit — and byte — of history

sites around the world. In some cases, the scans have helped solve structural mysteries. They also provide a valuable record of current conditions that can guide future restoration and repairs. Cottage officials said they don’t know yet exactly what uses they will make of this 21st-century take on the 19th-century structure, which is being done at Ithaca College’s expense. From left, Michael Rogers, a professor at Ithaca College, and physics students Kevin Coldren and Evan van de Wall take readings within Lincoln’s cottage. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) “As historic sites go, we’re still brand new,” said Callie Hawkins of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the group that led a seven-year, $17 million restoration of the Gothic Revival house and operates it as a public museum. “There’s so much that we’re still uncovering.” Hawkins watched as Rogers and his crew set up the $95,000 device in a second-floor room on Friday. The Leica-made scanner, which looks like a sewing machine perched atop a surveyor’s tripod, throws out 50,000 laser pulses per second as the machine rotates. Timing how long it takes each light-speed blip to bounce back provides a precise measurement of the dimensions and shape of whatever is doing the reflecting. “What you can learn is in the details,” Rogers said. After the scanning, he will process the data into a “point cloud” that can be displayed and manipulated as a 3-D form. Sometimes, analyzing the images can expose spaces not apparent to the naked eye. Scans have led researchers to secret rooms used to hide runaway slaves in houses of the Underground Railroad, Rogers said. “We’re not expecting any major surprises [at the Lincoln cottage], but you never know,” he said. The team is scanning every room, negotiating the cramped stairs to the attic and aiming the laser around the air ducts crammed inside the basement. When the weather warms (the device can’t operate in below-freezing temperatures) they will scan the exterior of the 1840s-era house that sits on the grounds of the Soldiers’ Home off North Capitol Street. The technology, developed to make renderings of nuclear power plants and other complex construction, increasingly is being used to document much older structures. (In some jurisdictions, police are using the device to capture crime-scene detail.) The television series “Time Scanners” has shown scans being made at the pyramids of Egypt and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The cottage, where


Hyattsville man is shot and killed in D.C.

THE DISTRICT Hyattsville man shot, killed in Northwest A Hyattsville man was shot and killed Saturday night in Columbia Heights, D.C. police said. Officers were sent to 14th and Monroe streets NW about 9:40 p.m. for a report of gunfire, police Lt. Sean Conboy said. The officers were directed to the 3400 block of Holmead Place, where they found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. Eduardo Carias-Martinez, 21, was transported to a hospital, where he later died, Conboy said. Police did not release a description of suspects in the shooting, and no arrests have been made. Man with fake gun is arrested at station A man entered a police station on Thursday, tried to draw what appeared to be a pistol and was quickly arrested, police said. They said D’Angelo Hamilton, 18, of Northeast, had a replica gun. After an investigation, they said, he was charged in a carjacking earlier Thursday in which a replica gun was shown.


Losing marijuana business, Mexican cartels push heroin and meth

In response to falling U.S. demand for Mexican marijuana, drug cartels have switched to pushing heroin made from poppies such as these seen December 2011 in Sierra de Culiacan, in northwestern Mexico’s Sinaloa state. (REUTERS) SAN YSIDRO, Calif. — The amount of cannabis seized by U.S. federal, state and local officers along the boundary with Mexico has fallen 37 percent since 2011, a period during which American marijuana consumers have increasingly turned to the more potent, higher-grade domestic varieties cultivated under legal and quasi-legal protections in more than two dozen U.S. states. Made-in-the-USA marijuana is quickly displacing the cheap, seedy, hard-packed version harvested by the bushel in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains. That has prompted Mexican drug farmers to plant more opium poppies, and the sticky brown and black “tar” heroin they produce is channeled by traffickers into the U.S. communities hit hardest by prescription painkiller abuse, offering addicts a $10 alternative to $80-a-pill oxycodone. “Legalization of marijuana for recreational use has given U.S. consumers access to high-quality marijuana, with genetically improved strains, grown in greenhouses,” said Raul Benitez-Manaut, a drug-war expert at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. “That’s why the Mexican cartels are switching to heroin and meth.” U.S. law enforcement agents seized 2,181 kilograms of heroin last year coming from Mexico, nearly three times the amount confiscated in 2009. Methamphetamine, too, has surged, mocking the Hollywood image of backwoods bayou labs and “Breaking Bad” chemists. The reality, according to Drug Enforcement Administration figures, is that 90 percent of the meth on U.S. streets is cooked in Mexico, where precursor chemicals are far easier to obtain. “The days of the large-scale U.S. meth labs are pretty much gone, given how much the Mexicans have taken over production south of the border and distribution into the United States,” said Lawrence Payne, a DEA spokesman. “Their product is far superior, cheaper and more pure.” Last year, 15,803 kilograms of the drug was seized along the border, up from 3,076 kilos in 2009. “Criminal organizations are no longer going for bulk marijuana,” said Sidney Aki, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection port director here at the agency’s busiest crossing for pedestrians and passenger vehicles, just south of San Diego. “Hard drugs are the growing trend, and they’re profitable in small amounts.” Voters in the District of Columbia and 23 U.S. states have approved marijuana for recreational or medical use, with Colorado, Washington state, Alaska


Saving Bozie: Keepers probe an elephant’s illness and are amazed she survived

get it in your ear, you’re not doing your job.” Bozie, 39, arrived in Washington in May 2013 from a zoo in Baton Rouge, La. She was the first addition in years to the National Zoo’s then-three-elephant herd: Ambika, 66, and Shanthi, 39, and Kandula, 13, Shanthi’s male offspring. Last May, the zoo added three more elephants — Kamala, 39, Swarna, 39, and Maharani, 24, Kamala’s daughter — who were brought from the zoo in Calgary, Alberta. The National Zoo has a new $56 million facility for elephants and has been working to become a center for research into the animals. Neiffer said Bozie’s sickness could be the result of a problem with her reproductive system or her gastrointestinal system or even stem from social stresses within the herd. He was not sure. As for colon cancer,“it’s not even on my radar,” he said. Elephants don’t seem to get it much. His plan was to do internal and external ultrasounds. The procedures took less than an hour and went smoothly. Neiffer was assisted by several keepers, one of whom stroked Bozie’s trunk during the work. After it was over, Neiffer said nothing seemed seriously wrong. “We got done what we came here to do,” he said. “We have some blood work on her, and we’ll be able to compare that with how she was prior.” Her last blood draw had been done Nov. 15. The zoo said Friday that preliminary blood test results showed the infection was gone and added Monday that other blood chemistry was “unremarkable.” But Barthel, the curator of the elephant complex, said Bozie still had the stomach distension. “We don’t know what to make of that,” he said after the procedure. “We also don’t know how much of that might even be a normal Bozie, because she lost so much weight you start to see parts of her body that weren’t obvious.” “But me and everybody else here continue to be very kind of nervous about her,” he said. “She was so sick, and by all rights easily could have died during that process at any number of times.” “We never pinpointed what was wrong, and [never learned] definitively that we cured it,” he said. “So we’re always worried that it’s still lingering, or that its going to come roaring back.” “It’ll be a long time before I’m completely at ease with her health,” he said.


BSO, Marin Alsop usher in new year with flashy, energetic concert at Strathmore

Kayhan Kalhor plays the kamancheh. (Todd Rosenberg) Human sacrifice, child murder and an ancient compass rose — one of these things is not like the others. Yet all belonged on the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s first program of the new year at Strathmore on Sunday afternoon, a flashy and energetic concert of 20th- and 21st-century music led by music director Marin Alsop. Infanticide is the lurid subject of Samuel Barber’s “Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance.” The concert version of ballet music written for Martha Graham’s modern dance company tells the story of the mythic mother overtaken by jealousy. Offering a dramatically shaped psychological portrait, Alsop and the orchestra vacillated between lyrical introspection and nervous agitation before an impressively controlled build to the cataclysmic climax. Closing the concert’s first half was the BSO premiere of a 2007 work by Argentinian-born, Boston-based composer Osvaldo Golijov. Its title invoking a compass pointing in all directions, “Rose of the Winds,” like much of Golijov’s work, draws from eclectic world music traditions, and places folk artists at center stage — Cristina Pato, Galician bagpipes; Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh; David Krakauer, klezmer clarinet; and Michael Ward-Bergeman, “hyper-accordian.” The motley quartet wailed, murmured, keened, droned and danced through 20 minutes of a multi-ethnic collage of pulsating beats, raucous tunes and plaintive laments. Alsop hoped that the audience would embrace the composer’s message of “tolerance and inclusivity.” Indeed, Golijov seeks to please his listeners by flattering rather than challenging them. If Golijov offers utopian pretensions, Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” lays bare the brutality and antihumanism of primitive mythology. Yet, over the years, this once shocking evocation of ritual sacrifice has been assimilated into the concert-hall tradition as a virtuosic showpiece. Alsop led a tightly coiled, rhythmically propulsive account that exhibited the orchestra’s muscularity and energetic commitment. Yet she also homogenized certain aspects of phrasing and articulation, smoothing out some of the score’s teeming lines and jagged edges. Savagery, it seems, has its limits. Chin is a freelance writer.


Kennedy Center Chamber Players present unusual, rarely heard music

obliged by economics to stick to well-trod musical paths. So it’s always interesting to hear members of the National Symphony Orchestra play chamber music, where they can be as adventurous as they like. That was the case at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on Sunday afternoon, when the Kennedy Center Chamber Players presented such unusual, rarely heard music as the modernism of Bela Bartok to the lush romanticism of Anton Arensky. Violinists Marissa Regni and Jane Stewart opened the program with a dozen brief duos by Bartok. Written in the early 1930s as technical studies for the violin, they were never intended for performance, but Bartok being Bartok, neither are they light throwaways. Biting, playful, introspective and steeped in Hungarian folk music, the duos were as challenging expressively as they were technically, and Regni and Stewart made them sing. Regni was then joined by NSO principal cellist David Hardy for Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello. The afternoon’s most familiar work, it also was its deepest and most accomplished — a lean, taut work that Hardy and Regni treated with the cut-to-the-bone seriousness it deserves. The viola is often overshadowed in chamber music by its siblings in the string family, so the unusual Fantasia for Four Violas, Op. 41, No. 1, by British composer York Bowen, was something of a revelation. A quartet of violas might sound like too much of a good thing, but this warm, elegiac work conjures a striking range of textures and effects and handles them masterfully. It’s heartfelt (in a restrained, English way, of course) and elegant, perhaps a bit stuffy to modern ears but well worth hearing nonetheless. The music of Arensky — a Russian prodigy who studied with Rimsky-Korsakov, drank himself to death at age 45 and oddly, has a glacier in the Antarctic named after him — is not widely heard anymore, but his Quartet for Violin, Viola, and Two Cellos, Op. 35, from 1895, is a gem. The profound, introspective work written in memory of Tchaikovsky uses the two cellos to beautiful effect, adding depth and darkness without heaviness. The Kennedy Center players brought searing expressive purpose to the music, particularly in the massive second movement, with its elaborate variations on a theme of Tchaikovsky’s. Kennedy Center Chamber Players include Marissa Regni on violin, Daniel Foster on viola and David Hardy on cello. (Margot Schulman) Brookes is a freelance writer.


She thought it was a chocolate candy bar. What she experienced was unexpected

digesting marijuana candy. John Nicolazzo, co-owner of Marijuanadoctors.com, a Web site that helps patients find doctors who prescribe marijuana, said reactions can include shallow low breathing, dry mouth, anxiety, paranoia, dizziness, slow reaction time, red eyes and/or dilated pupils, depression, short-term memory loss, distorted sense of time and increased appetite. These are important issues as more and more states legalize marijuana. In November, District voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 71, legalizing the limited possession and cultivation of marijuana by adults who are 21 or older. Congressional Republicans, however, are trying to prevent implementation of this measure, using the federal budget bill to ban use of tax money to administer the law. Some D.C. leaders are trying to outmaneuver Congress and put the law into effect. Colorado, Washington state and, most recently, Alaska and Oregon have legalized recreational use. The District and 23 states have laws allowing medical use of marijuana. Medical use is tightly controlled in the District: While California patients can get their supplies at many different places with minimal paperwork, for example, D.C. patients can use only the licensed commissary where they have registered. Metropolitan Wellness Center Nicolazzo said that the labels on the same candy bar vary greatly from state to state. A label on one candy bar in California says the bar contains six servings and describes each section as one serving size, adding that a dose is 35 milligrams. Washington state requires a warning label: “CAUTION: When eaten the effects of this product can be delayed by as much as two hours.” William Stage, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Alexandria, said that while smoked marijuana goes to the brain in 20 seconds, it takes longer for marijuana in food to take effect. Also, marijuana can have more of a psychedelic effect when eaten. And marijuana candy bars may contain more THC, the drug’s main active ingredient, than marijuana cigarettes do. And it’s possible, Stage said, that even a small amount could have a strong effect on someone new to marijuana. “If you use drugs a lot, you build up tolerance,” he said. As for me, I’m grateful I didn’t like the taste of that candy bar. What if I had eaten the entire thing? Curcio is a freelance writer in Alexandria. Read more: Psychedelic mushrooms put your brain in a “waking dream” The brains of marijuana users are different What’s next for the marijuana movement