Scientists find possible cause for mystery epidemic that wiped out Mexico 500 years ago

From 1545 to 1548, a mysterious disease killed about 80 percent of the population of Mexico. It was one of the worst epidemics in human history, felling an estimated 5 million to 15 million people, and was known by natives as cocoliztli — a word meaning pestilence. About three decades later, cocoliztli struck again, wiping out half of the remaining native population between 1576 and 1578. “The place we know as New Spain was left almost empty,” wrote a Franciscan friar who witnessed the horrors. “In the cities and large towns, big ditches were dug, and from morning to sunset the priests did nothing else but carry the dead bodies and throw them into the ditches.” For more than 100 years, scientists have sought clues to what may have caused this disease of epic proportions. Some have suspected illnesses such as measles, smallpox or a type of hemorrhagic fever — potentially brought over to Mexico by the Spanish. Now, using ancient DNA, a team of researchers has for the first time identified a possible cause of the colonial-era epidemic: Salmonella enterica, a pathogen that causes enteric or typhoid fever. The study Up until now, scientists studying ancient epidemics have been forced to mostly rely on historical descriptions of symptoms, which were subject to cultural biases and inaccuracies. Most infectious diseases are incredibly tough to track on the DNA of skeletal remains. But using a new computer program, this team of researchers was able to analyze ancient DNA from the teeth of 29 skeletons. Most of the remains were excavated from the only known cemetery linked to the cocoliztli epidemic of 1545 to 1550 AD, a burial site located in the Mixtec town of Teposcolula-Yucundaa, in Oaxaca, Mexico. After the epidemic, this city was relocated to a neighboring valley, leaving the epidemic cemetery essentially untouched, according to the study. A new computer algorithm called MALT allowed scientists to screen broadly for all bacterial DNA in the extracted samples, without specifying a target organism beforehand. “We could look at anything and everything,” Åshild Vågene, one of the authors of the study, said in an interview with The Washington Post. The program allowed researchers to filter out all environmental DNA, such as fragments from plants or fungi, she said. Matching up the DNA fragments with a large database containing all known environmental and pathogenic bacterial genomes, the scientists were able to find traces


Why 7-Eleven, inventor of the Slurpee, is now all about cold-pressed organic juice

Like thousands of U.S. convenience stores, the 7-Eleven off Spring Street Northwest in Washington, D.C., crams three rows of snacks between a wall of chilled sodas and a bank of churning Slurpee machines. But starting this month, 7-Eleven will also begin selling cold-pressed juice. It’s organic, vegan, fair trade, non-GMO, gluten-free — and designed to appeal to an entirely new type of convenience-store consumer. Analysts say the launch is a tiny part of a major trend sweeping truck stops, corner stores and minimarts from coast to coast. As sales of gas, cigarettes and soda plummet, many stores are vying for consumers with fresh produce and other “better-for-you” products that would have once looked out of place in the land of Big Gulps. That could make a difference in the diets of millions, experts say, especially those who rely on convenience stores as a primary source of food. “There is a convenience store in every community in America,” said Amaris Bradley, the director of partnerships at the nonprofit Partnership for a Healthier America, which has worked with stores to offer more nutritious items. “If you can transform that industry, you can make healthy options more accessible for a lot of people.” Already, convenience stores have begun to change how they do business, said Jeff Lenard, who heads strategic industry initiatives at the National Association of Convenience Stores. Nearly half of all convenience stores expanded their fruit and vegetable offerings in 2017, according to a NACS survey, and thousands more introduced yogurt, health bars, string cheese, packaged salads and hard-boiled eggs. At 7-Eleven, the world’s largest convenience store chain, with 10,500 U.S. locations, the company has aggressively developed “better-for-you” products under the Go!Smart banner, pushing low-sugar herbal teas, fruit-and-nut bars and rice crackers. At Kwik Trip, the Midwestern chain seen by many in the industry as the leader of the healthy stores movement, executives hired an in-house dietitian, Erica Flint, to help introduce new products and reformulate old ones. Each of the company’s 586 stores now stocks fresh fruit and vegetables, from avocados, potatoes and mushrooms to “snack packs” of grape tomatoes. Over the past four years, the chain has also gradually begun introducing healthier items like an egg white breakfast sandwich and reduced the sodium in its soups. “As the generations change, what consumers are looking for changes as well,” Flint said. “Different consumers are looking for different things, and we’re


team of researchers from the University of Illinois tallied the foods available at 127 stores in underserved areas in 2015, they found the stores stocked 1.8 fresh fruit options, on average, and 2.9 fresh vegetables. Only 12 percent offered whole-wheat bread or low-fat dairy products. “We’ve seen that smaller, independent stores have a much harder time picking up on this trend,” said Melissa Laska, the director of the Public Health Nutrition program at the University of Minnesota. “They don’t have access to the distribution chains that other stores have, and that creates challenges.” Despite those challenges, Laska and other public health advocates continue to push for change in convenience stores. They’re a prime target because they’re everywhere: 93 percent of the U.S. population lives within 10 minutes of one, according to NACS figures. Convenience stores are often one of the only food sources in low-income areas, where people may rely on them for groceries in between big trips or drop by regularly for snacks. Research has not strongly demonstrated that healthier convenience stores lead directly to healthier diets — but they are a necessary prerequisite. “People can’t purchase healthier foods if they aren’t available,” Laska said. “So this is the first step — but only the first step. Other things need to happen to change the wider food system.” For Lenard, those next steps will involve getting more produce and other perishable foods to smaller stores that can’t buy in bulk. The industry is working on a number of possible solutions, including cooperative buying arrangements and direct sales from farms. Already, they say, there are positive signs. In the past year and a half, four of the country’s largest convenience store distributors have committed to initiatives with Partnership for a Healthier America, which is allied with former first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! project. With PHA, the companies have promised to make it easier for convenience stores to source produce and other healthy foods — and to market those products. Collectively, PHA estimates, the four distributors reach 130,000 stores. “Some stores may be slower to adapt,” said Beard, the analyst. “But there’s no question that everyone is going to follow.” Read more: The one piece of Michelle Obama's legacy that President Trump can't wreck Why Wawa won’t let food stamp recipients buy a sandwich on toasted bread It's a nightmare for grocery stores, but it might make your groceries cheaper


A missing tourist scattered Bible pages in Israel’s desert. Is ‘Jerusalem Syndrome’ to blame?

his father,” they wrote, adding that about 100 cases of the syndrome occur a year. In another moment of divine interference, Australian tourist Denis Michael Rohan in 1969 believed he was preparing for the Second Coming by setting fire to the al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites near the Western Wall. “I fully understand the people who are skeptical about it,” said psychiatrist Katz, a co-author of the study who directs the emergency unit at Jerusalem’s Kfar Shaul hospital, where suspected suffers of the syndrome are diverted. “If I hadn’t seen it myself, I also would be very skeptical. But you can’t deny what you really see,” Katz said, according to CNN. There may be explanations for the strange behavior in the brain. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, documented brain activity during moments of worship and religious thinking. The emotion regulator limbic system flourish while the front frontal lobe, which regulates judgment and decision-making, begins to shut down. “In extreme cases, that can lead to hallucinations, where someone might believe they’re seeing the face of God or hearing voices,” Newberg told WIRED. “Your frontal lobe isn’t there to say, ‘Hey, this doesn’t sound like a good idea.’ And the person winds up engaging in behaviors that are not their norm.” There are loosely linked conditions, such as Paris Syndrome — a brief psychotic episode strangely affecting mostly Japanese tourists who encounter the City of Lights as just another metropolis with dirty streets and busy roadways far from the idealized city of travelers’ dreams. McAfee’s brother, Matthew, told the Telegraph on Jan. 9 that McAfee’s camera was recovered, and what was depicted worried family members who said he experienced bouts of depression. “The nature of them is just a bit out of character and suggests he might not have been quite himself. One of them showed a lot of litter and debris around his camp and that was just not like him at all,” the Telegraph reported. Rosenfeld, the Israel Police spokesman, would not elaborate on any search operations that may be affected by a missing person with a condition that may make their behavior unpredictable, and offered no details on how the syndrome may play a role. Rescuers are treating the incident as a missing-person event, and are exploring all avenues for McAfee’s potential location, which could be a cave or other shelter, he


Metro says a broken rail likely caused Red Line train carrying 63 to derail

center was then asked to investigate the report. “I got as far as the smoke, all I see is smoke in the tunnels,” an employee is heard saying. “It’s no visibility,” says an employee in another exchange. The ventilation fans were turned on, but it appeared radio transmission problems prevented further communication with the train. A dispatcher repeatedly asked for updates from the train operator. “106 can we get an update, location, good radio communication? Over.” “Train 106 track 1, can we get an update? . . . Get you to a location where we can get a better radio communication?” Then, an update from outside the train: “Officer was on the train, he said it seems like a derailment — he said just all of a sudden smoke came out of nowhere, he thinks it derailed but I’m not too for sure,” an employee said. Finally, a man who may have been the Metro Transit Police officer aboard the train contacted central control. “It seems like we probably derailed leaving Farragut North station,” he said. “We are obviously stuck in the tunnel, there’s no radio transmission on my radio or phone reception so what do you need from us and what’s the plan?” Wiedefeld acknowledged some “spottiness” in Metro’s radios. Doug Buchanan, the D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman, said the fire department’s initial call was for a report of smoke. The fire department cleared the scene about 9 a.m. Stessel said the train operator is cooperating with investigators and will be subject to standard post-incident alcohol and drug screenings. He could not say how much experience the operator had, only that it was a male operator. He said derailments typically focus on three things: human factors, including how the train was operated; track and infrastructure issues, including the condition of the track and whether temperature fluctuations were a factor; and rail car-related factors. The derailment, on a quiet holiday weekday, came as Metro touted a bolstered safety and reliability record in the wake the year-long SafeTrack program and an initiative known as “Back2Good,” aimed at winning back riders. Though there were no serious injuries Monday, the incident could further complicate Wiedefeld’s efforts to secure $15.5 billion — including $500 million in permanent annual funding — to ensure the system’s safety and reliability. Metro Board Chairman Jack Evans, who was briefed by Wiedefeld on Monday morning, was shocked by the


Our elections are in danger. Congress must defend them.

send an important message to any adversary contemplating interfering in a future U.S. election. This legislation uses key national security tools to dissuade hostile foreign powers from meddling in our elections by ensuring the costs outweigh the benefits. To start, we must ensure there is a system for continued monitoring and reporting on foreign threats to elections — and clear punishments if attacks occur. Our legislation would require the director of national intelligence to issue a determination to Congress, within one month after every federal election, on whether any foreign government had interfered in that election. The Deter Act also spells out actions that would elicit retaliation. A foreign power cannot purchase advertisements to influence an election, including online ads, or use social and traditional media — such as the thousands of trolls and botnets deployed by the Kremlin — to spread significant amounts of false information to Americans. They also cannot hack, leak or modify election and campaign infrastructure, including voter registration databases and campaign emails. Finally, no foreign power can block or otherwise hinder access to elections infrastructure, such as websites providing information on polling locations. Because we know Russia has already employed many of these actions, the Deter Act would mandate a set of severe sanctions if the director of national intelligence should determine that the Kremlin had once again interfered in a U.S. federal election. Within 10 days of such a determination, our bill would require the administration to impose sanctions on major sectors of the Russian economy, including finance, energy, defense, metals and mining. It would also block the assets of every senior Russian political figure or oligarch and prevent them from entering the United States. We also would require the administration to work with the European Union to enlist its support in adopting a sanctions regime to broaden the impact. These sanctions are far tougher than any action taken on Russia to date and would send an unequivocal message to the Kremlin: We will not tolerate an attack on our democracy. But Russia is not our only concern. The director of national intelligence has identified China, Iran and North Korea as our other major foreign government cyberthreats, and they may also seek to exploit U.S. vulnerabilities in the next election cycle. That is why our legislation would require the administration to present Congress with a plan for preventing interference in our elections for each


A family of doctors helps reinvent medical marijuana

possible — a model that led to "doctors becoming millionaires," Rachel Knox said — the family would actually practice medicine with cannabis. This demands more than teaching patients not to spill the bong water. Every client is different. Some don't want to get high or might have anxiety that does not respond well to products high in THC. Those new to marijuana use — "naive users," as Rachel Knox puts it — might turn to edibles. But marijuana edibles are notoriously easy to overdo, especially if a patient takes them on an empty stomach. So, she says, the doctors advise new users to start with drops of a cannabis extract or a topical application that can help to ensure accurate dosing. Veteran pot smokers, meanwhile, might wish to turn to vaporizing, which Jessica Knox said "is certainly cleaner, often less harsh, and definitely less stigmatic than smoking." And all patients should be made aware of the possible side effects of any medication. Like the beneficial effects of marijuana, there is still a lot to be learned about its dangers, such as the risk of lung cancer, cognitive impairment or impaired driving. "If you're trying something new for the first time, maybe do that at home on a Saturday when you don't have to go anywhere and don't have any responsibilities at home to worry about," Jessica Knox wrote in an email. But whatever the chosen remedy, the Knoxes aren't going to sign a prescription and send patients on their way. "We want our patients to come to us for guidance, not this card," Rachel Knox said. "We're not here to see a patient every five minutes." After a year of the Trump administration, the future of patients seeking medical marijuana still isn't clear. Attorney General Jeff Sessions sought the ability to prosecute medical marijuana providers in states where the practice is legal. Such providers have been protected by federal law since 2014, but those protections expire Friday. The Knoxes, however, aren't that worried. While Janice Knox acknowledged that physicians are "in a precarious position" working with a federally controlled substance, 29 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana; eight have legalized recreational use by adults. With so many benefiting from the once verboten drug, it's hard to imagine going back. "We're going to plow ahead and do what it's right for us to do," she said. justin.moyer@washpost.com


Skipping or skimping on breakfast may increase risk of heart trouble

Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with any advertisers on this site. A study published recently in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology adds even more credence to the adage "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper." Research has already provided ample evidence that breakfast skippers tend to have higher rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, as well as higher blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels. But this study is the first to find that breakfast has an impact on your risk of early-stage atherosclerosis (hardening or narrowing of the arteries caused by plaque buildup). Unchecked, atherosclerosis can lead to serious health issues such as heart attack or stroke. This research involved just over 4,000 people ages 40 to 54, none with a history of cardiovascular disease. Based on their responses to dietary questionnaires, the subjects were divided into three groups: breakfast skippers (people who had only coffee or juice); consumers of "low-energy" breakfasts (whose morning meals were 5 to 20 percent of their daily caloric intake); and those who ate "high-energy" breakfasts (consuming more than 20 percent of their daily calories first thing in the morning). Ultrasound and other imaging techniques were used to identify signs of atherosclerosis. The researchers accounted for heart-disease risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure. Even so, they determined that both the breakfast skippers and the low-energy breakfast consumers were at a higher risk for atherosclerosis than those who ate a hearty morning meal. The study found that the odds of finding atherosclerotic plaques were up to 2.5 times greater in those who regularly skipped breakfast and 1.2 times higher in those who ate low-energy breakfasts. "Our results indicate that there is an independent association between breakfast consumption and cardiovascular disease," says José L. Peñalvo, an assistant professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and senior author of the study. Peñalvo hypothesizes that "a higher caloric intake in the morning could result in better glucose regulation throughout the day, as well as increased satiety and balanced appetite regulation that could prevent overeating during the day." The research also found that "the people who skipped breakfast also made poor choices for their food intake later in the day," says Prakash Deedwania, a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco and author of


Should colleges let football players risk damaging their brains?

Big football news: Researchers in Boston announced last week that they had examined the brains of 111 former National Football League (NFL) players and determined that 110 had a serious brain disease — chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. CTE is found in people with a history of blows to the head. Symptoms include headaches, confusion, memory loss and anger control. The symptoms usually get worse with time. This doesn't mean that every NFL player gets CTE. Ann McKee, the head of the research project, says that the study may not be representative of the whole league because most of the brains examined were from players who had shown symptoms of the disease. Researchers can examine someone's brain for CTE only after the person dies. For the Boston study, the players or their families donated the brains. While CTE may not affect every NFL player, McKee says her findings show that the disease is "not uncommon" in the league. Sometimes, however, the big news is behind the headlines. If you read deeper into the story and the study, you will learn that the researchers also examined the brains of 53 men who played football in college but never in the pros. Forty-eight of the college players — or 91 percent — were found to have CTE. This means that college football players may be at a similar risk of getting CTE as professional players. That finding, it seems to me, raises several important questions as the college football season approaches. NFL players are paid millions of dollars to play football. Someone such as superstar quarterback Tom Brady may think it's worth the risk of injuring his brain to make all that money. College players, however, are not paid. Many receive scholarships. But that is small compensation compared with the money that coaches, athletic administrators and people at the television networks make from college football. Shouldn't the athletes — the people who may be risking their brains to play — receive a greater share of that money? Also, colleges and universities sponsor the football teams we watch on Saturdays. The mission of these institutions is to develop and train the minds of their students. Should these schools be sponsoring a sport that may be damaging the brains of their student-athletes? And shouldn't the schools consider ways to lessen the risk for their players? Maybe teams should play only eight or nine regular-season


Howard County home sales

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Will this North Korean band bring hits like ‘Our Comrade Kim Jong Un’ to South Korea?

SEOUL — North Korea will send the 140-strong Samjiyon orchestra to perform in South Korea as part of its delegation to the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies next month. The dispatch of the orchestra was the first item on the agenda when North and South Korea began discussions this week about logistical arrangements, which include the two teams again marching under a unity banner and, for the first time, plans to compete with a joint team — a women's hockey squad with athletes from both sides. The Samjiyon Orchestra will perform in Seoul and on the east coast in Gangneung, one of the venues for the Olympics, which the South Korean government are promoting as the “peace Games.” Here’s what you need to know about this musical group. What exactly is the Samjiyon orchestra? Good question. North Korea has a “Samjiyon Band,” a group made up of about 50 or 60 musicians — strings, woodwind, brass, percussion — that mostly plays popular classical music. It's what might be called an orchestra anywhere else, except that North Korea calls it a band. “Samjiyon orchestra is not like the symphony orchestras that we know. It includes singing and dancing parts as well,” Chong Chi-yong, artistic director of the Korean Symphony Orchestra and part of South Korea’s delegation, told local media. North Korea will probably turn the band into an orchestra for this event. “The North Korean authorities seem to treat musicians fluidly and move them around from one orchestra to another, typically without any distinction being made to the audience, so I believe that Samjiyon will follow suit,” said Adam Cathcart, a North Korea expert at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom and an accomplished cellist who has taken close interest in North Korea's musical groups. But given how high-profile these performances will be, there will be additional considerations, he said. “It seems certain that the North Korean authorities will fill the orchestra with players who can get the job done, refrain from defecting — not something the South Korean organizers of the games and related arts festivals would like to see either, presumably — and augment whatever 'soft power' reserves that the North has when dealing with South Korea,” Cathcart said, describing South Korea as a “bona fide musical superpower.” After all, South Korea gave the world “Gangnam Style,” not to mention the renowned conductor Chung Myung-whun and a slew


Koreas plan Olympic first with joint women’s hockey team. But many in the South are not happy.

a sight," he said, according to pool reports from his visit, which came before the agreement was reached. "It will also mark a good start to improving South-North Korea ties for the future." But South Korean hockey players and officials are annoyed that the engagement efforts will probably result in the exclusion of half the South's hockey players to make way for the athletes from the North at the Olympics, which open Feb. 9. "I think there is damage to our players," Sarah Murray, the coach of the South Korean team, told reporters. "It's hard because the players have earned their spots, and they think they deserve to go to the Olympics. Then you have people being added later. It definitely affects our players," she said. Online petitions calling on the presidential Blue House to withdraw the plan have collected thousands of signatures, and people are taking to social media to vent their frustration. Moon, a progressive leader who favors engagement with North Korea, has been promoting the Olympics as the "peace Games" and hopes that the diplomacy involved in bringing North Korea to the event will create a better environment for broader talks, which could involve the North's nuclear weapons program. Kim Jong Un's regime, however, has been adamant that denuclearization is not an inter-Korean issue and is not related to the current discussion. A senior official with the Korea Ice Hockey Association said the plan for the joint hockey team came as a "shock" to the players. "They were just furious and found the idea absurd," the unnamed official told Reuters. "We are utterly speechless that the government just picked us out of blue and asked us to play with total strangers at the Olympics." The proposal came from South Korea during the first round of talks last week, but North Korea did not respond until Wednesday. The two Koreas have never fielded a joint team at the Olympics before, although they did combine teams at table tennis and soccer championships in 1991. Further details on the joint hockey team will be decided when the two Koreas meet with International Olympic Committee officials in Switzerland on Saturday. North Korea has already agreed to send a 140-member orchestra to perform in the South during the Olympics, and it agreed Wednesday to send 230 people in a "cheering squad" and 30 people in a taekwondo martial arts demonstration group. anna.fifield@washpost.com


A popular school fundraiser is just ‘junk-food marketing to kids,’ experts say

on other companies to take the same step.” Besides Campbell’s, two other companies dominate school rewards: General Mills and, to a far lesser extent, Tyson. Each company awards schools a set amount of money — roughly 5 to 38 cents — for each purchase code or label collected from participating products. Those products carry a distinctive logo on the front of the box or bag. Schools publicize that logo to parents via conferences and meetings, as well as through materials sent home with their kids. Many schools also promote rewards programs directly to students, holding contests and constructing bulletin boards to encourage them to bring more labels in. Once the labels are collected, schools exchange them for cash or supplies, ranging from pencils and markers to playground equipment. The average payout is modest — $750 per school per year, in the case of General Mills — but that can go a long way at some schools, program participants say. At Glover Community Learning Center, a small, low-income elementary school in Akron, Ohio, money from Box Tops and Labels for Education has bought jump ropes, gym balls, pencil sharpeners, paintbrushes, markers and an insulated water cooler. “We’re a small school, and these programs are a big help,” said Kia Strickling, the president of the school’s parent-teacher association. “The alternative is teachers buying basic supplies out of their own pockets.” Critics don’t object to schools getting much-needed funds. But they do protest the nutritional quality of the foods in rewards programs and schools' role in promoting them, which potentially undermines nutrition education and could boost kids’ lifelong taste for unhealthy foods. Campbell’s, which also owns brands such as SpaghettiOs and Pepperidge Farm, has slapped the Labels for Education logo on frozen desserts and queso dip. Tyson’s Project A+ includes salty chicken nuggets. When it comes to Box Tops, by far the most popular of the programs, a recent study by researchers at Harvard University's Chan School of Public Health and MassGeneral Hospital for Children found that two-thirds of the products bearing the Box Tops label do not meet federal nutrition requirements for sale in schools. “The vast majority of these products can't be sold in schools, so they shouldn't be advertised in schools,” Schwartz said. Food companies point out that their rewards labels appear on healthier foods, too, such as vegetable soups and juices, in the case of Campbell’s, or yogurt and


SpaceX, Boeing face delays and technical challenges as they work to restore human spaceflight for NASA

into cost overruns,” said Rep. Brian Babin (R-Tex.), the chairman of the House Science subcommittee on space. He added that the “situation gets even worse when we look at safety and reliability concerns surrounding these two new systems.” As a result, NASA may have to seek additional funding or accept greater risk. “Neither of those options is viable,” he said. NASA has been unable to fly humans to the space station since the shuttle was retired in 2011. Since then, the space agency has awarded contracts worth up to $6.8 billion in total to Boeing and SpaceX to develop spacecraft capable of flying humans to and from the station, which orbits the Earth at an altitude of about 250 miles. The reliance on private-sector companies to perform a function that had traditionally been purely the government’s domain was seen as a bold bet, one that would free NASA up to pursue more ambitious deep space missions. While Boeing has a long heritage in space, dating to the early days of the Space Age, and SpaceX has been supplying the station with cargo and supplies for years, both companies are struggling with deadlines and safety issues in the “commercial crew program.” Before they fly humans, Boeing and SpaceX must overcome complex technical problems with their spacecraft, the GAO said. Boeing has an issue with its abort system that may cause the spacecraft to “tumble,” posing “a threat to the crew’s safety.” Boeing is also addressing a concern that as the spacecraft reenters the Earth's atmosphere, the heat shield could disconnect “and damage the parachute system,” the GAO found. Before it allows SpaceX to fly, NASA must first determine whether it can safely fuel its rocket while the astronauts are on board — an issue that the both the GAO and the agency’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said could be a safety risk. In 2016, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket exploded into a massive fireball while it was being fueled ahead of an engine test. Heading into 2018, the program is at a critical juncture, as NASA will have to sign off on some key decisions about whether it thinks Boeing and SpaceX’s spacecraft will be able to meet the agency’s rigorous safety standards. In its annual report, NASA’s advisory panel recently wrote that “we expect to see several significant certification issues brought to culmination within the next year that will require NASA


Facebook opens probe into Russian involvement in Brexit

Responding to growing pressure in Europe, Facebook is opening a new probe into Russian interference in Britain’s 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union. A Facebook executive confirmed the existence of a formal investigation Wednesday in a letter to Damian Collins, a member of the British Parliament. Collins had previously complained that the social network had been focused on U.S. election meddling and hadn’t dug deeply enough into Russian meddling in European affairs. In November, a Facebook executive said she had “seen nothing” to suggest Russian involvement in Brexit on Facebook. The following month, Facebook surfaced a tiny amount of evidence: The company said that the Internet Research Agency, a Russian “troll farm,” spent less than a dollar on three Brexit-related ads. “You expressed a view that there may be other similar coordinated activity from Russia that we had not yet identified through our investigation and asked for us to continue our investigatory work,” Facebook's U.K. policy director, Simon Milner, wrote to Collins in a letter that was published by Business Insider. “We have considered your request and can confirm that our investigatory team is now looking to see if we can identify other similar clusters engaged in coordinated activity around the Brexit referendum that was not identified previously.” Facebook found that the Internet Research Agency had engaged in an aggressive influence campaign ahead of the 2016 presidential election in the United States. The group spent roughly $100,000 on thousands of ads that reached over 10 million Facebook users. The operatives also pumped out a huge amount of free content that was seen by up to 126 million Facebook users, the company has said. U.S. technology giants are facing increased pressure from lawmakers in the United States and Europe over the exploitation of their platforms, including the spread of fake news and the use of inauthentic accounts, during elections and other major public events. The reopening of the Brexit inquiry could prompt additional inquiries in the United States. Facebook’s letter confirms that the company will begin to look for evidence of meddling beyond the Internet Research Agency. If the company finds evidence of other troll farms, it may prompt U.S. lawmakers to reopen their investigations. In the coming days, Twitter plans to notify users who may have been exposed to Russian content, an executive said at a congressional hearing Wednesday. Facebook released a similar tool in late December.


The Health 202: Some Republicans blame Medicaid for opioid epidemic

journalist Yashar Ali: Our colleague Derek Hawkins writes on the Lebanese Canadian doctor, Ziad Nasreddine, who created the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which he reports "has proved so effective over the past two decades that it has been translated into dozens of languages and is used by physicians in well more than 100 countries." AHH: The Department of Health and Human Services is preparing new protections for health-care professionals who refuse to perform abortions, treat transgender patients based on their gender identity and provide other services to which they morally object, "The pending rule, which could be released as soon as this week, has been described to Politico as establishing a new 'division' of the HHS civil rights office that would conduct compliance reviews, audits and other enforcement actions to ensure that health care providers are allowing workers to opt out of procedures when they have religious or moral objections," Dan Diamond and Jennifer Haberkorn report. "The office would also conduct outreach and technical support to help others who are seeking to strengthen protections for these workers," they write. "The new rules — a priority for anti-abortion groups and supporters — could come just days before Friday's March for Life, the annual gathering in Washington marking the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision." OOF: The Department of Veterans Affairs says it won't conduct research into whether medical marijuana could help veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain. "VA is committed to researching and developing effective ways to help Veterans cope with post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain conditions," Shulkin wrote in a response to a letter from members of Congress. "However, federal law restricts VA's ability to conduct research involving medical marijuana, or to refer veterans to such projects." "The response comes as at least 29 states, plus the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico, have legalized the use of medical marijuana in some form," the Post's Katie Zezima reports. "Veterans groups, including the American Legion, have been pushing for the drug to be studied and used to help ease the effects of PTSD, chronic pain and other disorders." "What America's veterans need prioritized right now is for cannabis to be treated as a health policy issue," said Nick Etten, founder and executive director of the Veterans Cannabis Project. "We're desperate for solutions for the conditions we're dealing with." OUCH: More than 3 million fewer


The government doesn’t need a shutdown. But it may need a timeout.

On Tuesday morning, pondering the increasing likelihood of a government shutdown, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) turned to a gaggle of reporters and said, "We should all be kicked out if that happens." The nation heard this. "I heard this," affirms Jenny Lou Park, of Austin. "And I thought, 'Oh, we can only hope!" It now appears that Republicans have cobbled together enough votes to broker a deal and avoid a shutdown. Which, some folks have come to believe, might not be such a good thing. Kick them out "I mean, missing the CHIP deadline?" Park continues. "Passing a tax bill without any bipartisanship?" Don't get her started on DACA, the cause of the current stalemate — but it's one more sign that the shutdown, while terrible, is the sort of event adults must endure if we want to raise Congress to become a productive member of society. "They need a huge timeout," offers Linda Brooks from Long Island. "The problem with the shutdown is that it's the wonderful regular people who are in public service who are going to be impacted. The people who really need their paychecks. But I wish there was a way to reverse it." Under law, in the event of a shutdown, senators and representatives still receive salaries. Their staffs, however, do not, and neither do the thousands of nurses, park rangers and record clerks who constitute the federal workforce. Brooks sorts through the unfairness of this, searching for a solution and growing increasingly exasperated. "Congress? Just — just have them all go stand in the corner with their nose to a wall." Truly, it is a mark of the national mood that for some citizens, the solution of how to save the nation is to take the elected representatives of the nation and lock them all in a closet. The last government shutdown happened in 2013, lasted for 17 days, affected 2 million workers, and resulted in hordes of tourists descending on Washington and angrily finding out that Washington was closed: no monuments, no museums. Before that, a shutdown in 1995-1996 resulted in the halting of toxic waste cleanups and medical research trials. Still. However. Maybe please shut down the government. Because the government has been terrifying us lately. We are starting to wonder whether the government perhaps — perhaps — doesn't entirely have its act together. To wit: The word of the week


Family and friends baffled: How did a fun-loving, gun-hating, sports-crazy Buddhist wind up shot by police?

selfishness like that that has led to war in many nations.” The Park Police handled the Ghaisar investigation for three days, then shifted it to the FBI. Neither agency would comment on the case. Ghaisar’s parents, James and Kelly Ghaisar, both grew up in Iran and immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. Kelly Ghaisar’s father was the police chief in Shiraz, Iran, and a colonel in the Tehran city police, and she said her son grew up with a deep respect for law enforcement. James and Kelly were married in 1986. Negeen was born in 1988 and Bijan in 1992, also at Inova Fairfax Hospital. After living in Vienna, Va., for several years, they moved to McLean, where James operated his own accounting practice and Kelly worked as a makeup artist, sold real estate and dabbled in interior design. In the suburban bubble of well-heeled Fairfax County, the Ghaisar children had a typically safe and smooth childhood of rec league sports, summers at the pool and deeply involved parents. “Bijan was always very particular about everything,” his mother said, laughing when recalling his childhood. “He always had to wear khakis. His pockets were always full of coins, so he had to wear suspenders. This child knew what he wanted, how he wanted it, what he wanted to play. He hated copying people. He had to be the one who started everything.” His passions moved from floors filled with miniature cars to video games, an interest that lasted into adulthood. He recently polled his friends on Facebook for their opinions on the latest version of “Call of Duty,” the hugely popular first-person shooter game. And he loved football. As a 9-year-old after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Ghaisar watched a team called the Patriots rise up with an unsung quarterback named Tom Brady to win the Super Bowl that season. “He said, ‘They are my favorite team,'” his mother recalled. “He said they brought hope to America.” One friend cracked, “Tom Brady was his Jesus.” He named his dog Bruschi, after Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi. At Langley High School, he went out for both football and lacrosse, although he was not particularly big or athletic. “He was not necessarily the best player,” his mother said. “He worked really hard at being an athlete. He would start training way ahead of his team, lifting weights, agility drills, practicing his timing.”


A wedding expo turns out to be the perfect place to talk about marriage

for family definitely played a huge part in accepting his proposal." According to a 2017 survey by the Associated Press and the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, more than half of married couples say that they are quite happy with one another. Of course, marriage is not without its pitfalls. According to that same survey, 22 percent of men and 14 percent of women in opposite-sex marriages admit to cheating on their spouses. Nearly a quarter of all marriages end in divorce, according to the survey. But neither subject is anything anyone thinks about at a wedding expo. Marc McIntosh, who organized the Washington Wedding Experience, said the event aims to help take the stress out of wedding planning. The target audience was women in their 20s and 30s. According to the census, the median age for a first marriage is about 27 for women and 29 for men. Chantal Head, an information technology programmer from Woodbridge, Va., was at the expo looking for a wedding cake vendor and a photographer — having already found the perfect man. She is 41. "I definitely believe that he is a respectful person," said Head, who plans to get married Sept. 1. "I know his family, and they raised a gentleman. I'm not young, I've dated for a long time and I've met men who weren't respectful. So, I waited to find the right one." These days, the decision to marry is often tied to economic status, with poor people the least likely to tie the knot. In 2015, 54 percent of white adults ages 18 and older were married, 61 percent of Asians, 46 percent of Hispanics and 30 percent of African Americans, according to the census. But poverty is not the only reason people don't marry. Christa Smallwood, who is a 40-something African American, is one of about 6 in 10 people who say they would like to be married but just haven't found the right person. "Until I find what I want, I'm not going to settle," said Smallwood, who specializes in computer graphic design. She is also Jasmine Adams's aunt. "There's no 'oops clause' with marriage, no redo, as far as I'm concerned," she said. "It's a one-time event and I'm going to wait. And if I happen to die first, well, that's fine, too." There are said to be many benefits to a healthy marriage — including


Can these two North Korean ice skaters help bring about a diplomatic thaw?

Games. North Korea boycotted the Summer Olympics in Seoul in 1988 — and in fact blew up a South Korean airliner, killing all 115 on board, at the end of 1987 to try to deter people from attending the Games. But it has sent athletes to more recent meets, including sporting events held in 2002 and 2003, during a period of warmer inter-Korean relations, and again in 2014. Parlaying an ice skating performance into a broader diplomatic thaw, however, will be a challenge the size of the iceberg that sank the Titanic. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who turned 34 on Monday, has taken great pride in his nuclear and missile progress over the past year. He has proved impervious to U.S. and international sanctions, even as he has admitted that they are having an impact on North Korea's economy. But now, he might see an opening to cause a different kind of trouble — by driving a wedge between Seoul, where the government wants to change North Korea's ways through engagement, and Washington, where President Trump urges "maximum pressure." Kim's New Year's Day address was notable for its conciliatory tone toward South Korea, wishing it well for the Winter Olympics and calling for the two Koreas to work together. "The South Korean authorities should respond positively to our sincere efforts for a detente," Kim said. The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency made it clearer that "outsiders" — read the United States — have no place in their discussions. "As the inter-Korean relations are, to all intents and purposes, an internal matter of the Korean nation, dependence on the outsiders will make matters more complicated," the agency said Monday. For its part, South Korean President Moon Jae-in's government is bending over backward to make the Olympics — which it has dubbed the "peace games" — a success and to open a new era of engagement with the North. The South Korean government is reportedly prepared to pick up the bill for the North Korean team's accommodation at the Games, with the Unification Ministry bluntly dismissing any concerns that this may violate international sanctions. And Seoul scored a remarkable victory in persuading the United States to postpone the huge joint military drills that start at the beginning of March each year to avoid antagonizing North Korea. They have been postponed until after the Paralympics finish on March 18. Moon,


Why the Olympics matter when it comes to North Korea

part of the Korean entourage,” Klingner wrote in an email. What could go wrong? Although both North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have suggested a willingness to cooperate on the Olympics in the past few days, there may be a lot of details to work out still. Technically, North Korea has missed the deadline to send a delegation, although the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday that it considered the invitation to Pyongyang still open for the time being. The two Koreas would need to meet to decide how North Korea's participation in the event would proceed; the South has proposed a meeting next week in the truce village of Panmunjom. Experts suggest that even that meeting would need to be carefully arranged because of protocol concerns. Sticking points at the talks might include any concessions demanded by the North Koreans, such as the canceling or delaying of planned U.S.-South Korea military exercises to be held next year. Other factors, including the size of a delegation and the route it would take into the country, could throw up unexpected road blocks. If talks were to collapse, it could add to the already tense situation on the peninsula. Writing for the BBC, North Korean leadership expert Michael Madden said that North Korean participation in the games could provide an incremental step that could be built upon. “For Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in, and to those who follow the peninsula closely, DPRK participation will be an excellent public relations opportunity, and also cause a temporary pressure drop in neighborhood geopolitical tensions,” wrote Madden, a visiting scholar of the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS-Johns Hopkins University. But as the United States and its allies propose putting ever more pressure on North Korea, others may balk at decreasing the country's isolation without a tangible benefit. Klingner compared the situation to the restrictions placed upon apartheid-era South Africa. “As the world seeks to isolate and pressure North Korea for its repeated violations of U.N. resolutions, it should ask itself why Pyongyang is still allowed to participate in the Olympics but Pretoria was shunned,” Klingner wrote. Simon Denyer contributed to this report. Read more: What made North Korea’s weapons programs so much scarier in 2017 Why haven’t sanctions on North Korea worked? Two very different theories. South Korea’s Winter Olympics sets off some jitters with just 100 days to go


A star violinist rebels against what she’s supposed to play — or wear.

were playing Brahms or Sibelius. She approached it like a masterpiece. And then it comes across as a masterpiece. It's contagious, and that sort of approach transmits energy to the audience." Salonen promptly asked her whether he could write a violin concerto of his own for her — and was impressed anew by her authority. "When we started this process, she said, 'Remember not to put too much s--- in it,' " he said. He asked her to clarify. "She said, 'I can do a very expressive thing on one note if you let me,' " he explains. "She was referring to a sort of over-busy-ness, an over-manipulation in contemporary music, which often happens. . . . Music happens often with less notes, less events per second." And then, when he was finishing the work, the violinist, who can rise to any technical challenge, pointed to one passage at the end of the third movement and said, "I'm not going to play that; I'm not going to go anywhere near this; rewrite it," he says. "I was taken aback, of course, but she said it with such firmness and confidence that I thought, 'Okay, yeah, listen to this person.' And I did rewrite the last two minutes of the movement, and it came off better." A number of classical soloists are creating maverick careers within the standard concert establishment. The pianists Simone Dinnerstein and Jeremy Denk, the violinist Jennifer Koh; and the soprano Barbara Hannigan are just a few of the artists known for exploring less-trodden pathways while remaining largely within the framework of a conventional classical concert career, seeking out a creativity that an exclusive diet of the standard repertoire of masterworks, great though it is, doesn't necessarily provide. Josefowicz's particular terrain is new music by blue-chip composers, a particular slice of contemporary classical orthodoxy. She has given dozens of performances of concertos by Knussen and Salonen, Thomas Adès, and especially John Adams, who wrote his most recent violin concerto, "Scheherazade. 2" (described as a "dramatic symphony for solo violin and orchestra") for her, and whose first violin concerto she recently recorded with David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, to be released later this year. "I feel like I sort of came into this at a very crucial [time]," she says. "When I started work with John Adams, he was really just starting to skyrocket into being


Zoo, Smithsonian, will be temporarily open this weekend if government shuts

The Smithsonian Institution said Thursday that its museums and the National Zoo will be open this weekend, even if there is a government shutdown Friday night. If there is a shutdown, the zoo and the museums be closed starting on Monday. "The Smithsonian also has two museums in New York City that will be closed — the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum and Heye Center, a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian," the Smithsonian said in a statement. The zoo's live-animal cameras, including the panda cam, will not be broadcasting in the event of a shutdown. "All the animals will continue to be fed and cared for at the National Zoo," the statement said. "A shutdown will not affect the zoo's commitment to the safety of staff and the standard excellence in animal care." Michael.Ruane@washpost.com


Minnesota Orchestra sets its sights on Africa

The Minnesota Orchestra is going to South Africa this summer to honor the centenary of Nelson Mandela — the first major professional orchestra from North America to visit that country. The orchestra will perform five concerts in the course of an 11-day tour (Aug. 8-19) with its music director, Osmo Vanksa, that also includes master classes and other community activities. Classical Movements, the Alexandria-based company that is making the tour arrangements, also commissioned an original work by an African composer, Bongani Ndodana-Breen, with texts by Mandela, that the orchestra will perform alongside Beethoven on its five tour stops — including a concert in Soweto, the township where Mandela once lived, and a famous site in the struggle against apartheid. A seed for the tour was planted when Vanska led the South African National Youth Orchestra in 2014, and hoped to return (side-by-side rehearsal and master classes with members of this orchestra will be a part of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Pretoria stop). Another impetus was the positive experience the orchestra had when it became the first North American orchestra to visit Cuba after the easing of trade and travel restrictions with that country. The tour, in May 2015, was a high point in what has been a happy tale of recovery and growth for an orchestra that for 18 months (until early 2014) was best known for enduring a lockout at the hands of its management, among questions of whether it would survive. It has not only survived but prospered — and can afford to embark on a major tour, which is largely funded by two anonymous donors. The orchestra’s annual Sommerfest, 10 concerts held from July 13 to Aug. 1 (over Mandela’s actual 100th birthday), will be centered on Mandela and include the world premiere of Ndodana-Breen’s work, which will feature the South African soprano be Goitsemang Lehobye, now studying at the University of Michigan. In South Africa, the orchestra’s selections will include the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, with members of the Minnesota Chorale joining the Gauteng Choristers, a successful South African chorus, and a quartet of South African soloists.


Community deaths

president of an international agricultural consulting firm, died Nov. 5 at an assisted living center in Aldie, Va. The cause was complications from a urinary tract infection, said his wife, Shirley Gray. Dr. Gray was born in Ridge Spring, S.C., and moved to Fairfax City, Va., in 1983. He taught agronomy at Virginia State University before joining USAID, where his assignments took him to India, Nepal and Jordan. He worked for the Rockefeller Foundation as its representative to the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines until 1983. He was a founding member of the Royal Nepal Golf Club. Shirley Harley, day-care teacher Shirley Harley, 70, who worked as a Prince George's County, Md., day-care teacher in recent years, died Sept. 15 at a hospital in Cheverly, Md. The cause was a bilateral pulmonary embolism, said her husband, Gary Harley. Mrs. Harley was born Shirley Moore in Upper Marlboro, Md., and moved to Landover Hills, Md., in 1984. She was a member of a Red Hat Society chapter. Elisabeth 'Lisa' Kimball, consulting company founder Elisabeth "Lisa" Kimball, 69, who helped found two Washington-based management consulting firms, died Nov. 3 at a Washington hospital. The cause was amyloidosis, said her husband, John Cooney. Ms. Kimball was born in New Britain, Conn., and settled in Washington in 1976. She worked for the Office of Personnel Management from 1978 to 1981 and helped develop the federal government's Senior Executive Service. In 1983, she helped found Meta-Systems Design Group, where she was a partner for 16 years. In 2000, she founded GroupJazz.com, where she held the title of executive producer until her death. The company assists organizations and communities in developing collaborative initiatives. She was also a founder, board member and project leader with the Plexus Institute, a nonprofit organization that, among other endeavors, has helped hospitals identify ways to reduce the transmission of MRSA infections. Ms. Kimball was a member of the Cosmos Club and Chevy Chase Woman's Club. Alphonse Elser, electrical engineer Alphonse Elser, 90, a civilian electrical engineer at Fort Belvoir for 30 years, died Nov. 9 at an assisted living center in Vienna, Va. The cause was congestive heart failure, said a granddaughter, Shannon Eriksson. Mr. Elser was born in Queens and moved to the Washington area in 1967. He retired from Fort Belvoir in the late 1990s. He lived in Vienna for many years and volunteered with youth soccer


After a year of historic natural disasters, what would happen to FEMA if the government shuts down?

As lawmakers continue trying to pass a long-term spending bill — or yet another temporary stopgap measure — to avoid a government shutdown before Friday at midnight, many federal employees are watching negotiations closely, wondering about the short-term fate of their jobs. But some are also keeping a close eye on Capitol Hill talks with apprehension about how a shutdown might affect the Federal Emergency Management Agency as it comes off a year of natural disasters described as “historic on many levels” — and as FEMA-aided recovery continues in affected areas in Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida and California. Because FEMA is run by the Department of Homeland Security, which has in the past continued to receive funding during government shutdowns, former agency officials say it is common for lawmakers to brush off concerns a shutdown would adversely affect the agency’s operations. “The Republicans like to say [a shutdown is] not a big deal because they say DHS stays on the clock because they’re exempt,” former FEMA administrator W. Craig Fugate told The Washington Post. “At FEMA that’s not true.” More than 3,000 of FEMA’s estimated 15,815 onboard employees would be suspended in the event of a government shutdown, according to the Homeland Security Department’s contingency plan for a lapse in appropriations. The plan was last updated in 2015. Fugate, who led the agency from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama, said most of FEMA’s workforce can indeed be dispatched to emergencies regardless of a shutdown because they are funded out of the Disaster Relief Fund, which is not affected by a lapse in appropriations. During the most recent government shutdown, in October 2013, FEMA furloughed nearly all its full-time staff members who were deemed nonessential, Fugate said. That had an effect on the agency’s administrative support and its employees’ overall morale as the agency continued to respond to emergencies. “For us at FEMA, it’s a huge deal,” Fugate said. “We ended up furloughing 85 to 90 percent of our career folks . . . Who do you think processes the payments? Who do you think does all that back-end stuff? IT stuff? Plus, if you have policy issues, there’s no one to turn to.” Fugate is among those who say a shutdown would add stress to an agency that has been pushed to the limit in the past year by a spate of especially catastrophic natural disasters. Hurricanes Harvey,


This 66-year-old is about to run seven marathons in seven days on seven continents

on the outside led Owens to want to help people on the inside, and he enrolled in theology school. To cure the boredom that he felt in school, he began working for a group called Open Doors Ministry — smuggling literature and biblical materials into Eastern Europe, and smuggling out material showing violations of the Helsinki Accords. He became a pastor, spending over two decades counseling troubled college kids at the University of Nevada at Reno, many of whom reminded him of his younger self, and he started a nondenominational church in Reno called the University Family Fellowship. He got married and had five children, and while he continued to exercise daily, the intensity of his workouts ebbed. But then he turned 50. “My oldest son said, ‘Dad, you’re really old,’ ” he recalled. “So I decided that after 23 years off I’d do an Ironman.” And, he told his children, “you guys are going to come watch.” He enjoyed it. “I liked being in that kind of shape again,” he said. “Once you get used to going over the edge physically, you get used to things that other people say you can’t do.” And now that he was older, he began to see himself as a role model for older people. “I think there’s a lot of people my age who have so much to give, they just don’t feel that they have a platform from which to share it,” he said. When running seven marathons in seven days, he said, “I think you have to have a why, and the why has to be strong enough — Why am I doing this? My cause is being a senior. My cause is I’d like to speak to seniors about healthy living and about fitness and about ‘What’s your excuse? You can get it together enough if you try.’ ” Not everyone wants to run 183.4 miles in a week, but Owens says “there’s lots of things seniors can contribute, especially in mentoring.” A decade ago Owens’s life shifted beneath him when the Great Recession hit — his church closed, he lost his house and his marriage collapsed. “I crawled out of town a broken guy,” he said. He is now back in Laguna Beach, near where he grew up, and he recently married for a second time. He acknowledges that he has been fortunate with his health. Along with


A guide to the best brunch spots in Washington

reach Trummer's on Main, located about 30 miles outside metropolitan Washington. The trek is worth it for a quick, luxurious getaway, to where English countryside meets Southern hospitality in a charming, sun-drenched dining space housed in a historic inn. Order the lobster and grits ($18) — each hearty bite comes with generous chunks of lobster meat, Tasso ham and dense, slow-cooked corn grits — and the beef tenderloin and eggs ($28), the restaurant's elevated version of steak and eggs, served with truffle hollandaise eggs. Don't feel like a hot coffee? The frothy espresso martini makes for a cooling pick-me-up. — Winyan Soo Hoo 7134 Main St., Clifton, Va. 703-266-1623. The Indian buffet: Bombay Club Walking into brunch at the Bombay Club is like taking a time machine to D.C. in the era before fast-casual: a pianist tinkling away on a white baby grand; unobtrusive waiters in white shirts and black bow ties; a plush patterned carpet underfoot; and white tablecloths. The downtown restaurant's all-you-can-eat brunch ($24) on Sundays covers unlimited trips to the buffet, where silver chafing bowls are filled with Indian dishes not found on the regular menu: Think a spicy paneer jalfrezi with tender house-made cheese; a rich dal tadka; and a carrot and bean googath fired up with mustard seeds and curry leaves. (Make sure you save room for the rice kheer and its cardamom-spiked tapioca pearls.) Add $11 to the bill, and a waiter will keep your glass topped up with sparkling wine. — Fritz Hahn 815 Connecticut Ave. NW. The seafood feast: Hank's Oyster Bar All four branches of Jamie Leeds's upscale seafood shack offer brunch, although there are slight differences among the menus. The Hangtown Fry — a frittata with fried oysters and bacon or pork belly — is a constant ($16), as is the panko-coated crab cake paired with poached eggs and a tangy hollandaise sauce ($17). Ingredients in the three-egg omelet rotate; a recent version included house-smoked salmon ($13-$14). Each outpost has its quirks, but the newest, at the Wharf, has one perk: a large patio overlooking the waterfront. For those planning a long brunch, the Hank's on the Hill and Dupont Circle locations offer a bottomless option, with unlimited bloody marys, mimosas or plain sparkling wine. — Fritz Hahn 1624 Q St. NW; 633 Pennsylvania Ave. SE; 701 Wharf St. SW; 1026 King St., Alexandria. The Italian treat: Alta Strada If


‘I thought I was going to die’: In statement, McKayla Maroney recalls sexual abuse by Larry Nassar

a dream to go to the Olympics, and the things that I had to endure to get there were unnecessary and disgusting.” Maroney first described her ordeal in October, saying Nassar abused her until she left the sport (she last competed at the 2013 world championships). She said Nassar molested her at the 2012 London Olympics, where she won a team gold medal as part of the Fierce Five as well as a silver in the vault. In December, Maroney filed a lawsuit against USA Gymnastics, alleging the organization sought to buy her silence over Nassar with a confidential settlement agreement last year and that USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee and Michigan State University — which employed him as a full-time athletic trainer — failed to respond to warning signs, permitting Nassar to abuse Maroney and others. Earlier this week, USA Gymnastics denied reports that it would seek a $100,000 fine from Maroney if she spoke out against Nassar at his sentencing hearing, saying in a statement that it “has not sought and will not seek any money from McKayla Maroney for her brave statements made in describing her victimization and abuse by Larry Nassar, nor for any victim impact statements she wants to make to Larry Nassar at this hearing or at any subsequent hearings related to his sentencing.” Nassar faces at least 25 years in prison as a result of the plea deal he worked out with local prosecutors in Michigan and also faces a 60-year federal prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to earlier child-pornography charges. On Thursday, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina released a letter Nassar had written accusing the judge of grandstanding and conducting a “media circus” by allowing the parade of victim testimony, which he said was negatively affecting his mental health. The judge did not hold back in her response. “You may find it harsh that you are here listening,” Aquilina told him while he sat in the witness box. “But nothing is as harsh as what your victims endured for thousands of hours at your hands.” Read more coverage: An athlete accused her coach of sex abuse. Olympic officials stayed on the sideline. Abuse survivor confronts gymnastics doctor: ‘I have been coming for you for a long time’ McKayla Maroney sues USA Gymnastics, saying it tried to buy her silence on abuse Documents: USOC alerted to sex abuse problems long before taking action


The Daily 202: ‘Truth decay’ infected politics before Trump and feeds the paralysis that makes a shutdown possible

With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve. THE BIG IDEA: Despite the specter of a looming government shutdown, President Trump last night announced 11 "winners" of his "2017 Fake News Awards." These stories are not wholly unrelated. Both can be seen, at least in part, as consequences of what a sobering new study by the Rand Corporation describes as an epidemic of "truth decay." The nonpartisan think tank describes this phenomenon as an increasing disagreement about basic facts, a blurring of the line between opinion and fact, an increase in the relative volume of opinion over fact and declining trust in previously respected sources of information. The result is that policy debates hinge more on anecdotal, firsthand experiences and less on objective facts. When leaders cannot even agree on the nature of a problem, finding a solution becomes all but impossible. Rand's 324-page report identifies a host of forces driving "truth decay": from social media and cable news to a declining emphasis on civics and critical thinking in K-12 curriculums. Just as a lot of conservatives ignore evidence of climate change, the study shows that many liberals disregard mounting evidence that vaccines and genetically-modified crops are safe. There has been a steady decrease in violent crime over the past 25 years, yet more Americans across the ideological spectrum believe that crime is increasing. "In most walks of life — the military, business, the intelligence community, philanthropy, even baseball — there is more and more reliance on … rigorous analytical techniques," said Rand president and chief executive Michael D. Rich, who co-authored the study. "It seems that it's only in national policy making and the discourse surrounding it that the trends are moving in the opposite direction." "Truth decay" is not unprecedented. The study highlights several parallels with three other eras of disruption and upheaval: the 1880s-1890s, 1920-1930s and 1960s-1970s. But the experts at Rand believe today's strain is, perhaps, particularly virulent. The team at Rand thinks that "truth decay" poses a grave threat to the country's future. -- "Truth decay" may not have begun with Trump, but he has undeniably capitalized on and supercharged it. -- Jeff Flake delivered a landmark speech on the Senate floor yesterday to underscore the deleterious effects of the president's "sustained attack on the truth." "During the past year, I am alarmed to say that Senator Moynihan's proposition has likely been tested more severely than at


Could a government shutdown spook the stock market?

workers, S&P predicts a shutdown would increase the deficit because of the added cost required to stop and start federal programs,” the Washington Post’s Jeff Stein reported last month. “The last three government shutdowns — two during President Bill Clinton’s administration and a third under President Barack Obama in 2013 — cost the federal government $4.25 billion, according to the Office of Management and Budget.” Read more: A government shutdown would cost the U.S. economy $6.5 billion a week, S&P says If the past is any indication, here’s what you can expect if the government closes: — You’ll get your Social Security check. “Social Security is a mandatory program that will continue even if Congress fails to pass a spending bill,” USA Today reports. Read more: Social Security benefits? Passport? What the government shutdown would mean — Going on vacation and waiting for your passport? You trip may be derailed if the spending impasse goes on too long. “If the shutdown lasts for more than a few days and you need to renew or apply for a passport, you could run into problems,” Consumer Reports says. “Without workers, the State Department would have to stop processing applications.” Read more: How a Government Shutdown Could Affect You: What you need to know if federal agencies are closed for an extended period “Even if you’re not a government employee, the screeching halt of federal operations can affect you,” wrote Kelly Anne Smith for The Penny Hoarder. Read more: 6 Ways Government Shutdowns Hurt You (Even if You’re Not a Federal Worker) The year of Trump We are coming up on the first-year anniversary of the Trump administration. There are a lot of opinions of how well he’s done when it comes to the economy. Read more: Economists agree: Trump, not Obama, gets credit for economy Read more: Trump economy’s sustained growth pace unlike anything seen in 13 years Color of Money question of the week Live chat today Read: Mick Mulvaney puts all CFPB operations under review As CBS reported, “The Trump-appointed acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that he’s launching a review of all the federal consumer watchdog agency’s policies and priorities. This is the second major step taken this week by Mick Mulvaney, who took over as acting director in late November, to reshape the bureau. On Tuesday, the bureau announced a review of its recently


As opioid crisis rages, Walmart hopes this powder packet will keep people from abusing painkillers

designated drop box locations. Walmart, which does not accept returned drugs, already sells a medication disposal pouch that neutralizes drugs. Walmart’s announcement comes nine months after the Cherokee Nation filed a lawsuit in tribal court accusing the company along with Walgreens and CVS of flooding communities in Oklahoma with hundreds of millions of highly addictive painkillers. The suit alleged those companies violated sovereign Cherokee laws by failing to avert the spread of pills to the black market and profiting off the country’s opioid problem. A federal judge last week, however, ruled that while he sympathized with the Cherokee Nation’s mission, the tribe did not have jurisdiction to sue, according to the New York Times. Most states, before the current opioid epidemic, developed tracking systems for health professionals to monitor patient’s prescription drug use and determine if they were receiving too many pills, too high a dose or were dangerously combining medicines. Few pharmacists and physicians used the system, though. At least 39 states are now demanding that prescribers track their patients’ drug use before they write additional prescriptions for highly addictive drugs such as Percocet, Vicodin and OxyContin. More than 63,000 people died of drug overdose in 2016, up 21 percent from 2015, with about two-thirds of those deaths caused by opioids. That year, West Virginia, Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia had the highest observed drug overdose rates, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the CDC. In October, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public-health emergency. Other developed countries are not experiencing the same rates of people dying from opioids as Americans, which experts say could be because opioids are prescribed significantly more in the United States than other countries. DisposeRX works on pills, tablets, capsules, liquids and patches, according to its website. Walmart’s announcement included an endorsement from Sen. John Boozman (R) of Arkansas, home to Walmart’s headquarters. “About one-third of medications sold go unused,” Boozman said in Walmart’s statement. “Too often, these dangerous narcotics remain unsecured where children, teens or visitors may have access. I commend Walmart for taking this innovative approach to help keep unused prescription drugs out of the wrong hands.” Scott Higham, Lenny Bernstein and Christine Vestal contributed to this report. Read more: Philadelphia sues opioid makers in response to epidemic A family’s wrenching goodbye to their 5-year-old touched hearts. Days later, she died.


This time, they’re certain that it’s coming from space

I read with interest and amusement "Scientists zoom in on fast radio bursts, the most mysterious signals in space" [news, Jan. 12]. A few years back, scientists reported on such a radio burst "from space" that turned out to be from the microwave oven at the observatory. Seeing as this latest burst was "on Dec. 25, 2016, in a space of about half an hour," perhaps the Arecibo Observatory should check the microwave oven. Maybe the staff overdid it when heating the Christmas party cheese dip. James Sullivan


Vandals nearly destroyed an Iowa bee business. This week, police arrested two boys.

Three days after Christmas, Justin and Tori Englehardt headed outside to dust snow off the 50 beehives on their property near Sioux City, Iowa. What they found was disheartening. All the hives were overturned. Clumps of dead, frozen bees littered the area. The shed where the couple kept their beekeeping supplies was also ransacked. “They knocked over every single hive, killing all the bees. They wiped us out completely,” Justin Engelhardt told the Sioux City Journal. “They broke into our shed, they took all our equipment out and threw it out in the snow, smashed what they could.” Approximately 500,000 bees “perished in the frigid temperatures,” causing damage estimated at $60,000, the police report said. “This probably sunk us,” said Engelhardt, who said the operation hadn’t been able to obtain insurance. The couple had been in the bee business for about seven years, selling honey under the name Wild Hill Honey. On Wednesday, nearly three weeks after the incident, Sioux City police arrested two boys, 12 and 13, in connection with the vandalism on felony charges of criminal mischief, agricultural animal facilities offenses and burglary according to a police news release. They were also charged with aggravated misdemeanor possession of burglary tools. The Engelhardts had started their honey business after Justin, who worked full-time as a roofer, heard a radio interview with animal behaviorist. He was drawn to the fact that bees “make life or death decisions by choosing and traveling to a new home on a yearly basis” and arrive “at their decision by collective fact-finding, vigorous debate and consensus building.” “People can learn a lot by following the lead of the honeybee,” he told the Sioux City Journal in 2014. Last month, after discovering the destroyed hives, the couple posted photos of the damage on the Wild Hill Honey Facebook page, along with a message: “With this kind of loss, the future of Wild Hill Honey is uncertain.” The community rallied, raising more than $30,000 on GoFundMe to restore the demolished hives and keep the business afloat. “Because of you, we will be able to continue our business in the spring,” the Englehardts said in a subsequent Facebook post. “We are deeply moved by your compassion.” Wild Hill Honey isn’t the only beekeeping operation recently affected by vandals. As police were arresting the two boys in Sioux City, a similar story was breaking on the West Coast. Someone


Championships and restaurants: That’s (not) what D.C. athletes do

another, chefs are celebrities now, much more so than in the 1980s. In competitive fine-dining markets like D.C., restaurateurs would much sooner slap a chef’s name on their joint than some jock who would be collecting a paycheck in exchange for his or her name and a smattering of their memorabilia to tack up on the wall. And in the age of Yelp and Trip Advisor, restaurants have to be, you know, good. Expecting quality from a restaurant simply because it has some athlete’s name on it is kind of like betting on a horse because it shares a name with a beloved relative. In either case, you’re basing your assumption on emotion and fond memories, not any sort of expectation of success or quality. Years ago on a trip to New York, I dragged my then-girlfriend/now-wife to Mickey Mantle’s restaurant on Central Park South and remember approximately nothing about the meal other than the fact that the beer was perhaps cold. (The Mick would’ve approved.) I do remember leaving the place feeling like even more of a tourist rube than I already was. The restaurant closed in 2012. This is not to say these restaurants are bad. Joe Theismann’s is ranked No. 3 of 599 Alexandria restaurants by Trip Advisor, and Bugsy’s comes in at a respectable No. 89. And just last week, the Capital Gazette gave Langways a mostly glowing review. Considering that two of the three have been around for decades, they must be doing something right. There’s also the not-insignificant fact that most athletes who get restaurants named after them are winners. Theismann won one Super Bowl and led the Redskins to another, while Langway won a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens. All of the above Pittsburghers have rings, and the Redskins restaurant craze of the 1980s was spurred by years of success. Our current crop of D.C. stars have won exactly jack squat, in the grand scheme of things. No one is going to frequent a place called Ovechkin’s Great Ate or Otto’s Second-Round Cafe or Big John’s First-Round Cafe, though Vernon Davis’s Curling Fries could be an idea with promise. More from The Post: Post columnist Thomas Boswell voted into National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame She left U-Conn. — and became college basketball’s leading rebounder at George Mason Charlie Slowes will call a Caps game American curlers have heard your jokes about


EPA will stay open all next week even if the government shuts down, Pruitt says

The Environmental Protection Agency’s operations will continue through next week even if government funding expires at midnight, Administrator Scott Pruitt informed agency employees in a message Friday. “At this time EPA has sufficient resources to remain open for a limited amount of time in the event of a government shutdown,” he said in the email. “All EPA employees should follow their normal work schedule for the week of January 22, 2018.” Although Pruitt did not spell out how the agency could continue operating if its appropriated funding expires, a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations said that the EPA could tap carry-forward funding to keep running. Carry-forward funding is money that remained unspent and can be carried over to the next fiscal year. Pruitt’s approach reflects a broader administration strategy to minimize disruptions in the event of a budget impasse between Republicans and Democrats. For instance, the Trump administration also has weighed keeping national parks open even if government shuts down, though likely without regular staffing to plow roads, run concessions and remove trash. Pruitt said that any travel requests would have to be approved by his office. The EPA also would not issue new grants or contracts, the official said, and agency personnel in the midst of traveling would be instructed to wrap up the trips as soon as possible. “Should the shutdown occur and remain in place through January 26, 2018, we will provide further updates on the agency’s operating status,” Pruitt said in his message. “Thank you for your hard work, dedication, and patience through this process, and for all that you do for the EPA and the American people.” The news left many agency employees perplexed. “I have no idea what this means,” said John O’Grady, a career employee who heads a national council of EPA unions. “Technically, they aren’t supposed to do that. If the government is shut down, it’s shut down.” O’Grady, who experienced government shutdowns in 1993 and 2013, said that while limited functions of the agency had continued during past shutdowns, never had an administration tried to keep it up and running entirely. “It’s very confusing [for employees],” he said. “Everybody is going to report to work on Monday. But I’m anticipating that if there is no [budget agreement], everybody is going to be sent home. That’s the way it normally works.” Still, he


Marriott and other firms bow to China to protect business interests

For Marriott, it was the wording of a survey emailed to members of its rewards club. At fashion brand Zara, it was a drop-down menu on its website. And for Audi, it was a presentation at the German carmaker's annual meeting that showed a map of China that excluded Taiwan and parts of Tibet. All three drew a backlash from the Chinese government. And in the course of a single week, so did more than two dozen other international corporations — including Delta Air Lines, Qantas and Medtronic — for listing Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet and Macau as separate countries. The Chinese government, further extending its political reach on the Web and through social media, demanded public apologies from the companies. In Marriott's case, the government also complained that a U.S.-based employee "liked" a tweet favoring Tibetan independence. The government forced the company to shut down all six of its Chinese websites and apps for one week. All of the companies have moved to mollify Beijing — and their Chinese customers. "It was an inadvertent error with no business or political intention, and we apologize for the mistake," a spokeswoman for Delta said in an email. "As one of our most important markets, we are fully committed to China and our Chinese customers." "This is a huge mistake, probably one of the biggest in my career," Craig S. Smith, president and managing director of Marriott's Asia-Pacific office, was quoted as saying in the state-owned China Daily. To China experts, the striking thing about the episode isn't just the substance of the dispute but the desperate tone of the company's apology. "Mr. Smith's self-abasement would be comical if it weren't dangerous," said Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center's Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. "His apology is so abject that it could well become a standard which Beijing requires all future offenders of China to meet." The efforts by Beijing to curtail free speech at companies doing business with China fit into a larger narrative about the nature of Chinese relations abroad. In recent months, China has also sought to support pro-Beijing campus groups and has warned Chinese students abroad against involvement in groups critical of China. Once American scholars spoke of the virtue of U.S. cultural and economic "soft power" that sought to build support for American ideals around the world. A December report by the National


The Energy 202: Possible government shutdown means FEMA could be hobbled while national parks stay open

proposals since 2015." When asked Thursday about a shutdown, some scientific agencies, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, referred reporters to the Office of Management and Budget, according to a Buzzfeed science reporter: From another Buzzfeed reporter: Republican leaders in Congress wish to cast Senate Democrats, 10 of whom are up for reelection in states that voted for Trump, as the obstacle to compromise. But based on what we actually do know about the commotion a government shutdown would cause, blame may fall to the so-called "Chaos President " (polling results are more evenly divided in those red states represented by Democratic senators when the immigration standoff over "dreamers," young illegal immigrants, is mentioned). Consider this topsy-turvy situation: A shutdown would hobble FEMA while in the middle of addressing the aftermath of a number of natural disasters (hurricanes, wildfires). At the same time, the Interior Department is seeking ways to keep the national parks and monuments open, even without staff — so the president and GOP isn't blamed for ruining vacations. First, The Post's Amy B. Wang explains how former disaster-relief officials are worried about the shutdown, from which FEMA is not exempt: Meanwhile, the Trump administration, which already has a bad rap among environmentalists after shrinking two national monuments in Utah last month, is not interested in turning parks and monuments into more political fodder for Democrats during a potential shutdown. The Post's Lisa Rein and Juliet Eilperin report on efforts to keep the parks open if a shutdown occurs: During the 2013 shutdown, Trump opined Obama would bear the brunt of the backlash: Trump may see this week if the same is true in 2018. So who gets sent home if the government shuts down? — Man it's a hot one: The New York Times explains why the data point is so notable: "[L]ast year had no El Niño, a shift in tropical Pacific weather patterns that is usually linked to record-setting heat and that contributed to record highs the previous two years. In fact, last year should have benefited from a weak version of the opposite phenomenon, La Niña, which is generally associated with lower atmospheric temperatures." Of course, the fresh evidence of climate change, driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases, comes as the Trump administration rolls back rules designed to limit that pollution. But also notable: More coverage: — Preparing


U.S. customs agency is so short-staffed, it’s sending officers from airports to the Mexican border

to its hiring plans. The shortages are most critical at the busy border crossings around San Diego and in southern Arizona, where officers normally assigned to checking passports at U.S. airports are being sent to search cars and trucks for heroin and other contraband. In response to questions about the need for the short-term deployments, CBP provided a statement characterizing them in favorable terms. "Temporary duty assignments are not uncommon and could be for a variety of reasons, to include development opportunities, training needs, or seasonal fluctuations," the statement read. "These assignments are beneficial to both the temporary duty location and the permanent duty location as personnel return to their home ports with experience in a wider diversity of CBP operations and enhanced decision making skills." A group of Florida lawmakers sent a letter last week to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, protesting the emergency deployment of 10 CBP officers from the Orlando International Airport to the Mexican border. "Temporarily removing CBP officers from OIA places greater strain on the remaining CBP officers and will mean longer lines for travelers," Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) said in a news release. According to Demings, the number of CBP officers assigned to the airport has remained flat, even as international arrivals have increased 89 percent since 2009. "Even with maximum number of personnel in the facilities, the arrivals hall quickly overflows during peak times, forcing passengers to remain on aircrafts until previous arrivals have cleared Customs and Immigration," the lawmakers said in the letter to Nielsen. According to Reardon, the agency signed a $297 million agreement in November with Accenture, a federal contractor, to help with hiring. Reardon told a House subcommittee this month that the contract will pay Accenture $39,600 for every new hire, an amount nearly equal to a starting officer's annual salary. While CBP has struggled to retain officers frustrated by the long hours and separation from family, its potential recruits face a hiring process that can take as long as 18 months, Reardon said. "CBP is the only federal agency with a congressional mandate that all front-line officer applicants receive a polygraph test," he testified to lawmakers. Two out of three applicants fail its polygraph, according to Reardon, more than double the average failure rate for other federal law enforcement agencies. Many would-be hires are disqualified for lying about past recreational drug use or other behavior that would not


If you only have time for three meals in Cambridge, Mass., make sure they’re here

If you haven't been to Cambridge in awhile — say, since you left the hallowed halls of Harvard or M.I.T. — you are in for a culinary surprise. Sure, some of your favorite haunts are still around, serving up tasty burgers, and lobster mac and cheese. However, chefs of a new breed are crafting menus that reflect the vibrancy of the town's international community, combining cultures and tastes that in the past may have confounded bow-tie-and-Marimekko-frocked diners. Regional ingredients mixed with far-flung flavors can be found in many of the bistros and restaurants popping up in every neighborhood. Via its association with Greater Boston, because of its location across the Charles River, Cambridge is claiming its place at the region's culinary table. It's appropriate that the logo for Cafe Luna (cafeluna-centralsq.com, 617-576-3400) is a cappuccino with a heart sketched in foam. People obviously love the place, as attested to by lines that form for daily breakfast and weekend brunch. (Reservations are highly recommended!) Offerings skew toward traditional breakfast fare, with omelets, pancakes, Belgian waffles, French toast and such, but creative combos lift what could be mundane offerings to the sublime. Balsamic marinated figs are paired with goat cheese, leeks and prosciutto in a standout omelet ($15); grilled pears, bacon and Gorgonzola balance salty, sweet, creamy and crunchy elements in another ($15). On weekends, eggs Benedict — made every which way — take center stage, with the surf-and-turf Benedict ($25) in a solid starring role. On the sweet side of the menu, lemon ricotta pancakes steal the show ($15). Tables are crowded in a cozy way in the modern, industrial interior. Somehow, the staff manages to be friendly and efficient despite the crowds. Bar choices include bloody marys, mimosas, wine and beer. It also serves fair-trade coffee and espresso. Barcelona meets Tokyo in Pagu (gopagu.com, 617-945-9290), a tapas-style restaurant helmed by chef Tracy Chang. Inspired by her grandmother's Japanese restaurant, Tokyo (a must-dine destination for an earlier generation of Cantabrigians), Chang's influences include stints at elegant O Ya sushi, Le Cordon Bleu Paris and a three-star Michelin restaurant in Spain. The resulting menu is a pas de deux of Japanese and Spanish flavors. Popular items include the colorful squid ink oyster bao (steamed buns), a riff on pork versions in Taiwanese night markets ($15); and cedar campfire black cod, a slightly smoky dish with accents of miso and sake ($23). Comfort


Delving into the hutongs of Beijing, chopsticks at the ready

hadn't actually cooked them) he spied a huge, golden door nail. Thus the "Door Nail Meat Bun" was born. As large as a man's fist, my pie has a thick, crunchy outer shell of fried dough filled with tender, slow-cooked beef, scallions and the restaurant's secret mix of spices. Many recipes also call for pork, but this restaurant is halal. It is also apparently one of two left in the capital that make the buns in the labor-intensive traditional style. Steam rushes out as I pry open a hole in the crust with my chopsticks and drizzle brown vinegar inside. The meat is succulent, rich and absolutely delicious. This restaurant is loud and busy, a ramshackle collection of close-set tables that put diners elbow-to-elbow, but our table becomes momentarily quiet as we are lost in appreciation of our buns. Ernestina passes around small glasses of baiju, a clear and very strong liquor made, in this case, from sorghum, that warms our bellies even further. The baiju flows, and Gene rhapsodizes over his second bun. "This is just so good!" Suddenly, a young, travel-worn American man stumbles into the room. We watch in fascination as he orders food in rudimentary Mandarin and slides into an empty spot. "How on Earth did he find this place?" we all wonder. Between the conversation, the tight corners and the beer, we're all completely disoriented and we haven't seen any other Westerners all night. Even if I knew where I was at this point, I wouldn't tell you. For the Lost Plate tours to work, the restaurants have to stay local, and we have been asked to keep tonight's itinerary to ourselves. As a former tour guide and current tourist, I appreciate this approach but it may be unnecessary. Although the Chinese visit the rest of the world in enormous numbers, the reverse doesn't appear to be true. It may just be a particularly quiet period, but my fiance and I see only a few dozen other Westerners during our week-long stay. In any case, the restaurants we've seen tonight are happy to have our business, but as far as I can see, not dependent on it. After the dumplings, we have delicate spring pancakes in a family restaurant that is quiet after the dinner rush. Dessert is a surprisingly delicious cup of sour fermented milk and sweet red beans at another small establishment, whose