A mysterious infection nearly killed him, but college basketball brought him back

parents, Carolyn and Wayne Lewis, were notified. “The person said Jamal was pretty sick and that we needed to come up to the hospital,” Carolyn said. “We were very concerned.” When Carolyn and Wayne arrived, what they saw unnerved them. Jamal’s body had turned bright red from toxic shock syndrome. He was struggling to breathe. The doctors first told Lewis’s parents it might be scarlet fever, but nothing they tried seem to make him better. By Friday, the doctors decided to put him on a respirator and induce a coma. Jamal’s condition continued to worsen. According to his mother, Jamal developed a staph infection, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and a blood clot. Just 10 days after playing 20 minutes against Princeton, Jamal was fighting for his life. “On Friday, they said that we should have the family come up,” Wayne said. “I don’t think there was ever a comfort level he was going in the right direction until a week later.” Eventually the doctors figured out the right course of treatment and Jamal began to improve. The respirator was removed and he came out of the coma. “I kind of freak out,” Jamal said. “Because I’m like, I’ve got to go to practice. I look at my dad and he’s shaking his head. He’s obviously worried. He’s like, ‘Do you not know how long you’ve been out?’ And I said, ‘A few hours?’ They’re like, ‘No, six days.’ ” Jamal spent more than a month in the hospital before returning home to Springdale. While he was home, Jamal discovered another bump forming under his arm. “I was like, ‘Oh no, this isn’t happening again,’ ” he said. “I told my mom and I can’t even tell you how fast she got the car ready.” The bump proved to be MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant staph infection. It took two surgeries at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital to clear it out in early May 2014. According to Carolyn, that was when the doctors figured out that a piece of hair with bacteria on it had been the root cause of his problems. By July 2014, Lewis was back at Penn, trying to get in shape for the basketball season and finish the classes he missed during the spring semester. All was going well until Labor Day weekend, when another setback after a workout put him in the hospital for two days. Lewis missed


Spotted: A faint galaxy from a long time ago and far, far away

The massive cluster of galaxies that magnified the tiny, dim object. (NASA, ESA, and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) Scientists using the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have spotted the faintest object ever seen in the early Universe. Named Tayna, the compact galaxy was one of 22 such objects recently found thanks to an intriguing physics trick -- a natural magnifying lens in space. The tiny young galaxy existed just 400 million years after the Big Bang. Because it's so far away, we're seeing Tayna as it was back in the early days of the Universe. Researchers believe that we may have caught it in the process of growing into a fully-sized galaxy. Tayna (meaning "first-born" in Aymara, a language spoken in the Andes) is about the same size as the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite of the Milky Way about 14,000 light years across. But it's making stars about 10 times faster. It goes without saying that spotting a big, bright galaxy is easier than spotting a dim one. If you were looking through a telescope in New Jersey, you'd be more likely to identify the Empire State Building than a Starbucks. But with space telescopes getting better and better -- and scientists developing more and more techniques with which to use them -- we're now starting to uncover some of the punier galaxies. The secret behind Tayna's discovery (and that of the other 21 faint objects, all described Thursday in The Astrophysical Journal) is a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. Massive clusters of galaxies have a warping effect on the light that passes through them, much like a magnifying glass does. When a distant object is positioned just so -- so that, from Earth's perspective, the massive cluster is in front of the more distant object -- it's as if our space telescopes are looking into a magnified version of distant space. Read More: Why NASA’s top scientist is sure that we’ll find signs of alien life in the next decade European probe launched in a search for ripples in space-time A ‘dead’ galaxy full of dark matter is lurking close to home Scientists just smashed the distance record for quantum teleportation Nearly 600 ancient, massive galaxies emerge from hiding The Hubble spotted this smiley face in space


Why the Pentagon opening all combat roles to women could subject them to a military draft

A female soldier maneuvers through an obstacle course during the Ranger Training Assessment Course (RTAC) at Fort Benning, Ga., on April 5, 2015. (Photo by Spec. Dacotah Lane/ U.S. Army) Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter’s landmark decision Thursday to open all jobs to women in the military was greeted by many as a sign of changing times and a move toward true gender equality. But it also raises a related question: Will women be required for the first time ever to register for military drafts, and is it constitutional if they are not? The Selective Service System has existed for decades, and is used to provide the U.S. military with enough manpower when it short-handed in a time of war. A variation of it was adopted in 1917, as the United States prepared to join World War I, and it has been updated over the years. Selective Service laws, however, have never required women to subject themselves to the draft and face the prospect of being forced into military service. The current version of the Military Selective Service Act requires that virtually all men in the United States between the ages of 18 and 26 register, most within 30 days of turning 18. That includes non-U.S. citizens living in the United States, such as refugees. But women are entirely exempt. [Earlier coverage: In historic decision, Pentagon chief opens all jobs in combat units to women] The issue has come up on occasion since then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta rescinded the longtime ban on women serving in ground combat units in January 2013. Panetta gave the services until this fall to make recommendations on how they wanted to proceed on implementing the full integration of women, but the Selective Service issue is unresolved. Carter is required by U.S. law to submit a detailed analysis of legal implications if more jobs are opened to women when it comes to the Selective Service Act. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged that Friday, telling reporters the Obama administration will work with Congress to look at the analysis and determine if any additional reforms or changes to the act are necessary. Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and Rep. Mac Thornberry (R.-Tex.) brought the issue up in a joint statement Thursday, saying they “look forward to receiving the [Defense] Department’s views on any changes to the Selective Service Act that may be required as a result of


Scientists detect the magnetic field that powers our galaxy’s supermassive black hole

the different magnetic fields. These interactions are thought to be critical to the black hole's ability to acquire matter — and to its ability to turn that matter into intense radiation that jets into space, shaping surrounding galaxies. "Understanding these magnetic fields is critical. Nobody has been able to resolve magnetic fields near the event horizon until now," Michael Johnson of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the lead author of a paper on the findings published Thursday in Science, said in a statement. To find evidence of these magnetic fields around Sagittarius A, the black hole at the center of our galaxy, scientists needed a telescope as big as Earth itself. Well, not a telescope, exactly: They used the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which is a network of radio telescopes across the globe. When you put all those radio telescopes together into one massive array, you can see some really hard to spot stuff — including compact black holes. "We are on the cusp of a true first in astronomical exploration," study author Avery Broderick of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the University of Waterloo said in a statement. "We fully expect to have imaged a black hole's event horizon in a matter of years. This would be an incredible accomplishment, not just for science, but humankind." The researchers looked for light that was polarized in a particular way — the signature left behind by a magnetic field. By looking for this signature, they could trace the structure of the magnetic field itself. They found that some regions of the event horizon had patterned, orderly magnetic fields, while others were a jumbled mess. Further research will help scientists determine which parts of the field are responsible for the high-energy jets that black holes emit. "Once again, the galactic center is proving to be a more dynamic place than we might have guessed," Johnson said in a statement. "Those magnetic fields are dancing all over the place." Read More: Stephen Hawking believes he’s solved a huge mystery about black holes The new biggest thing in the universe, and why it’s a headache for scientists Radio pulses from space have stumped scientists for years. Now we may be close to solving the mystery. This is what it looks like when a black hole tears a star apart Spotted: A faint galaxy from a long time ago and far, far away


Why some police departments let anyone listen to their scanner conversations — even criminals

out such information could help the criminals, if they or a remote third party happened to be tuned in. Again, YES I'm listening to the #SanBernardino police scanner and NO I won't be tweeting the details. Let police do their jobs w/safety. This problem led the Washington, D.C. police department to start encrypting channels in 2011. Only people with passwords or the right hardware can tune in. "Whereas listeners used to be tied to stationary scanners, new technology has allowed people — and especially criminals — to listen to police communications on a smartphone from anywhere," Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at the time. "When a potential criminal can evade capture and learn, 'There's an app for that,' it's time to change our practices." Criminals used the scanners to stay ahead of police, Lanier argued at a city council hearing. The open channels, she said, helped criminals pull off a series of carjackings. Which raises the question: Police in the United States aren't legally obligated to broadcast their conversations, so why do many departments still grant this all-access pass? The answer, according to Daniel Isom, former chief of the St. Louis police: The benefit exceeds the trouble. "People listen because they want to know what's going on in their community," he said. "Maybe they could have heard about the situation in San Bernardino and fled the area. Or maybe they lived nearby, looked out the window and saw the [license plate number] on that SUV." Besides, non-officers rarely rush to still-volatile crime scenes — at least in St. Louis, Isom said. He appreciates eager reporters, too; they publish information that helps the public spot a perpetrator. But scanners can also spread misinformation. Take the manhunt after the Boston marathon bombing: Listeners heard names of people who weren't actually suspects. Some of those people received death threats. Departments in California, Florida and New York, for example, have also encrypted their conversations. Some offer special radios or log-ins for the media. Others have replaced scanners with email blasts to crime reporters (who complain they're updated too late). John Banzhaf, a law professor at George Washington University and former engineer, said the rise of smartphones created the dilemma for police departments. “In the past, people had to go out and buy a separate piece of equipment,” he said. “This involved some expense, and a bit of expertise to operate.” But efforts to safeguard


Superbug known as ‘phantom menace’ on the rise in U.S.

we're seeing is an assault by the microbes on the last bastion of antibiotics." Bacteria develop antibiotic resistance in two ways. Many can evolve their own genome in ways that deactivate antibiotics, although that ability can't be shared with pathogens outside their own family. Yet other bacteria rely on a shortcut: They get infected with a plasmid carrying the resistance gene. That makes them more dangerous because plasmids can make copies of themselves and transfer within a family of bugs and as well as jump to other families of bacteria, which can then "catch" the resistance directly without having to develop it through evolution. In a related alarming development, Danish researchers announced Thursday that a dangerous new superbug gene discovered in China two weeks ago had been found in bacteria infecting one person in Denmark. The gene makes the bacteria resistant to colistin, the antibiotic of last resort. And similar to the 'phantom menace' type of CRE, the gene is contained in a plasmid. Experts warned that the latest development was frightening. "History shows that these mobile resistance genes can spread around the world quickly, silently riding in people, animals and food," said Lance Price, director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at George Washington University's Milken Institute of Public Health, in a statement. He said the news that the superbug gene first found in China has now turned up in Denmark "suggests that this scenario is playing out in real time," he said. [A superbug emerges in China] CDC received reports counting at least 43 patients in 19 states with this type of CRE superbug between June 2010 and August 2015. All cases were confirmed by CDC. Although the numbers are relatively small, Frieden said they are "just the tip of the iceberg." There was one patient with this type of superbug in 2010 and 11 patients each year in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Most U.S. clinical laboratories that test for CRE organisms wouldn't identify this particular type of bacteria because it's not part of standard testing. CDC changed its definition of the organism in January to help increase detection. CRE stands for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Read more: CDC says ‘nightmare bacteria’ a growing threat Extra funding sought to fight antibiotic resistant bacteria One day, doctors might prescribe viruses instead of antibiotics White House opens antibiotic summit Chipotle CEO pledges to make restaurants ‘safest place to eat.’ Here’s his plan.


FBI still hasn’t determined if the Chattanooga attack was terrorism

A tear rolls down the cheek of Sgt. Benjamin Tranter as he attends a memorial service for former classmate Lance Cpl. Squire D. “Skip” Wells at Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Ga., in July. Wells was one of five U.S. troops killed in an attack on military facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn. (AP Photo/David Goldman) More than five months after attacks on two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn. left four Marines and a sailor dead, federal investigators still have not determined whether the attack was terrorism — and it’s financially costing the families of those who died, as Purple Heart awards hang in the balance. The July 16 attack killed Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, 40; Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, 35; Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist; Lance Cpl. Squire D. “Skip” Wells, 21; and Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, 26. Other service members and a Chattanooga police officer also were wounded by Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, a naturalized U.S. citizen, who was born in Kuwait. The attack was carried out at the Chattanooga Naval Reserve Center and a recruiting station a few miles away. As noted previously on Checkpoint, Abdulazeez called Muslims who waged jihad in earlier generations “the best human beings that ever lived” other than the prophets, on his blog. He also downloaded recordings of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-Yemeni cleric who recruited for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula until he was killed in a 2011 airstrike, according to a NBC News report. [Heroism in the Chattanooga Naval Reserve Center: ‘He went back to save others‘] But there still is no assessment of whether the incident qualifies as international terrorism. Sharry Dedman-Beard, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in eastern Tennessee, said the investigation is ongoing and declined additional comment. The issue is particularly sensitive in light of a similar attack this week in San Bernadino, Calif., that killed 14 people and wounded 21 more. It was carried out by a married couple, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik. Malik, 27, was a Pakistani woman who entered the United States on a so-called “fiance visa.” She pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group on Facebook prior to the attack, a U.S. law enforcement official said on Friday. The law enforcement official compared the San Bernadino case to the Chattanooga attack, noting that it took days for the FBI to sort out what happened and some questions still remain. A


An astronaut is running the London Marathon from space

Tim Peake will run the full marathon on the ISS treadmill. (ESA) You know all those excuses you have for not training for a marathon? Your bad knee, your crazy work schedule, your inability to stop binge watching "The Office" on Netflix? Well I take your earthly excuses and raise you the way better excuse of being on the International Space Station. That's a really, really good reason not to run a marathon. But it's not a good enough excuse for astronaut Tim Peake, a Brit on a mission. Two missions, actually, since his first mission is the whole being an astronaut who lives in space thing. The second mission is that he's running a marathon. Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti runnning in space. (ESA) Peake will head to the ISS on Dec. 15, but he's scheduled to run the London Marathon in April. He'll strap into the station's treadmill — usually used for the two hours or so of daily exercise an astronaut needs to stay healthy in low gravity — and start right with the other runners. He's going to do the full 26 miles and change, though he doesn't expect to match the 3:18.50 time he made when he ran the marathon (on Earth, like a normal human) in 1999. “I have to wear a harness system that’s a bit similar to a rucksack," Peake said in a statement. Indeed, the ISS treadmill looks mighty uncomfy. "It has a waistbelt and shoulder straps. That has to provide quite a bit of downforce to get my body onto the treadmill so after about 40 minutes, that gets very uncomfortable. I don’t think I’ll be setting any personal bests. I’ve set myself a goal of anywhere between 3:30 to 4 hours," Peake said. I'm pretty sure that's still faster than I could finish a marathon on Earth. Peake won't be the first marathon runner on ISS. That honor belongs to NASA astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams, who ran the Boston Marathon in 2007. But until now, no other astronaut has attempted the feat. Read More: NASA is looking for new astronauts. Do you have what it takes? Why American astronauts drink Russian urine NASA reminds us that astronaut poop burns up ‘like shooting stars’ How filthy is the International Space Station? An astrobiologist weighs in.


Rio Olympic organizers will give athletes free air conditioning after all

A look inside a unit at Athletes Village in Rio. (Silvia Izquierdo/AP) The average high temperature in Rio de Janeiro in August is 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Sure, that’s not World-Cup-in-Qatar hot, but it’s enough to warrant air conditioning — especially if you just spent your day competing for gold at the Summer Olympics. (Or in the case of water sports athletes, recovering from whatever virus you might catch in the nearby bay…) Until this week, however, Olympic organizers were demanding the thousands of athletes who will congregate for the Games scheduled Aug. 5-21 for the service. On Friday, though, the athletes got some welcome news. They’ll get free air conditioning at their Olympic Village accommodations after all, the Associated Press reports. The original decision requiring athletes to pay for the service was based on budget concerns, but after reports surfaced this week — followed by some raised eyebrows — Rio’s organizers changed their mind. “The sports department found a solution that could allow us to have the air conditioning,” Rio spokesman Mario Andrada told the AP. “So we’re buying air conditioning for all the athletes’ bedrooms and social rooms.” It’s unclear where the money will come from to run the units, but Rio does not have much to spare. In October, organizers had to cut budgets by about a third due to Brazil’s sinking economy, according to the Guardian. Officials then said the athletes’ experiences would not be affected, and that the budget cuts would mostly come from moves such as scaling back the Opening Ceremonies program and cutting back on services for volunteers.


FBI says San Bernardino attacks considered act of terrorism; shooter pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader

“She did maintain certain traditions in terms of prayer and fasting. She chose not to drive voluntarily. She was a very, very private person. She kept herself pretty well isolated,” family attorney David Chesley said. “Syed didn’t want any fathers or brothers or brothers-in-law in the same room when she would also be there,” said another family attorney, Mohammad Abuershaid. He added: “The family was not that close to him. He was kind of like the lone wolf.” But the attorneys emphasized that there is no established link between Farook, Malik and terror organizations, and Chesley said it is inappropriate to assign culpability to Muslims broadly when someone who is Muslim is involved in a shooting. Farook and Malik had a six-month-old daughter. The baby is in child protective services,the attorneys said. They said they think they won’t be able to get the baby back to family members – the child may be adopted by an aunt – until at least Monday, when there is a court hearing. A senior law enforcement official said Friday that the attack in San Bernardino evoked the mass shooting in Chattanooga, Tenn., earlier this year, when 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire at an armed forces recruiting center and a Navy Reserve center, killing five people. In that case, the official pointed out, it took days for the FBI to sort out what had happened, and some questions remain unanswered. After the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., on Dec. 2, that left 14 people dead, the FBI is unearthing more information about who was involved in the attack. Here's what we know about Syed Rizwan Farook, his wife Tashfeen Malik and his neighbor Enrique Marquez. Some evidence collected in California was flown across the country on Thursday so that the FBI could examine it in its lab, Bowdich said at an earlier news conference. “We’re hoping some of that digital media … will help us,” he said. The FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, Va., has units that can try to retrieve data from smashed, burned and damaged devices, including cellphones, hard drives and flash drives. A computer analysis team there can look to pull call records, pictures, GPS location data, address book information and other data from the devices, while a forensic analysis unit tries to restore and enhance audio and visual data. Any data that is pulled would go to analysts


At Paris climate talks, experts cite looming risk from industrial coolants, methane

Gas is shown flaring as waste in this March 2014 photo from California’s Monterey Shale formation, where gas and oil extraction using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was on the verge of a boom. (David McNew/Getty Images) As world leaders grapple with how to cut global emissions of carbon dioxide, diplomats in Paris are recording progress in combating other pollutants that scientists believe are contributing powerfully to rising temperatures. A coalition of governments and private businesses has agreed to take up a series of initiatives to limit so-called “short-lived climate pollutants,” ranging from industrial chemicals used in refrigerators to soot particles given off by diesel engines. While emissions of these pollutants are small compared to carbon dioxide, some are vastly more powerful, pound for pound, in trapping heat in the Earth’s lower atmosphere. Participants in the efforts say controlling these pollutants could offer a way to slow global warming in the coming decades while giving scientists and policymakers more time to tackle the bigger challenge of curbing carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. “This will produce the biggest single piece of climate mitigation in the near term and avoid a half degree Celsius of warming by the end of the century,” Durwood Zaelke, founder of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and an expert in international environmental law, told a news conference Friday at the Paris climate talks. In fighting climate change, “speed matters profoundly,” he said. Short-lived climate pollutants are so named because they dissipate relatively quickly in the environment — in years or decades, compared to hundreds or thousands of years for carbon dioxide. They include methane, a naturally occurring gas that is also given off in large quantities by oil and gas operations, farms and landfills; common industrial coolants called hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs; and “black carbon,” which consists mostly of soot particles. When black carbon settles on snow and ice it darkens the surface, drawing more heat from the sun and causing faster melting. On Friday, officials in Paris announced plans to broaden the Green Freight Action Plan, a coalition of 20 countries and several major corporations, including Volvo and Hewlett Packard, to reduce diesel soot from the transportation sector, especially heavy trucks and cargo ships. Separately, a business group called the Global Food Cold Chain Council announced new steps to cut back on the use of HFCs in commercial and industrial refrigeration. Dozens of U.S. companies are


Orbital ATK returns to flight more than a year after explosion

decided to contract out the missions to the space station, located in what’s called low Earth orbit, or about 220 miles from Earth. Two companies, Orbital and SpaceX, won the contracts to fly supplies there. Eight months after Orbital’s explosion, SpaceX also saw its rocket explode. The twin failures, both ending in spectacular fireballs that caused millions of dollars of losses, made some question NASA’s decision to contract out such important and difficult missions to the private sector. But Sunday’s flight had all the satisfying trademarks of a successful launch — a powerful engine roar, a gradual lift off the launch pad, then the thunderous, graceful arc through the sky — and was hailed as a key step in restoring confidence in NASA’s plan. Currie called it a “picture perfect ascent.” [Orbital and SpaceX to fly again for first time after rockets exploded.] Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft is expected to reach the orbiting station, traveling at 17,500 mph some 250 miles high, on Wednesday morning. U.S. astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren would use the station’s robotic arm to grab the Cygnus and berth it. “This is about as good as it gets,” said Vern Thorpe, ULA’s program manager for NASA missions. “I know the crew up on the ISS is really looking forward to getting this load of cargo.” SpaceX has also been working to upgrade its Falcon 9 rocket, which last flew in June, when it blew up about two minutes into flight. The company has said its next mission would be to launch a commercial satellite for Orbcomm, a communications company. That launch is expected sometime later this month, but the companies have not yet announced the date. The cargo the Cygnus spacecraft is carrying includes food and water for the astronauts, and supplies, including a new jet pack astronauts wear on space walks. Among the experiments is a system designed to test the flame retardant qualities of clothing that could help firefighters and soldiers. “While the pantry shelves are fairly well stocked, this delivery will definitely help the crew with commodities as well as research experiments,” Currie said on NASA TV Sunday. Cygnus would stay attached to the station for more than a month, when it will act as a giant space dumpster. Astronauts aboard the station will use it to dispose trash. Eventually it would detach, fly back toward Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.


Loft apartments coming to D.C.’s Ivy City

(Ray Cavicchio) Apartments with an industrial vibe can be found throughout the Washington area, but few can match the authentic industrial roots as the new apartments at the Hecht Warehouse at 1401 New York Ave. NE in the District’s Ivy City neighborhood. (Ray Caviechio) Built in 1937 and expanded in 1948 as the central warehouse for the now-defunct Hecht Co. Department Stores, the property was acquired by Douglas Development in 2011 and redeveloped in 2013. Bozzuto Management Group is managing the apartments. There are 110 units currently available for residents; when complete, the development will have a total of 335 loft apartments. [12 low-priced townhouses coming to D.C.’s Ivy City] The mixed-use development is already home to Bikram Yoga, CrossFit Hierarchy Ivy City, MOM’s Organic Grocery, a Nike Factory Store and Planet Fitness. Additional retailers and restaurants slated for the neighborhood include Ulta; Hyphen Art Gallery by Billy Colbert; Big Chief, a New Orleans-themed bar; Ivy City Diner; a Mexican restaurant; and a Prohibition-themed bar. The seven-story apartment building has a modern style with extensive glass and a 12-point star-shaped cupola at the front corner. Inside, the apartments have up to 12-foot-high ceilings, exposed and refurbished concrete flooring, stainless-steel appliances, subway-tiled bathrooms, exposed brick walls and, in some units, oversize glass block windows. [Ivy City is emerging at last] (Ray Caviechio) Building amenities include a brick fireplace in the main lobby, a clubroom with billiards and TVs, a wet bar with a “kegerator” for beer, a demonstration kitchen, bike storage, a dog run with pet wash areas, three courtyards and a free membership to Planet Fitness. (Ray Caviechio) The studio apartments start at $1,500 per month, one-bedrooms at $1,650, two-bedrooms at $2,310 and three-bedrooms at $3,810. For more information, visit www.hechtwarehouse.com. Michele Lerner is a freelance writer. To pass on a tip or news item, contact us at realestate@washpost.com and put “Town Square” in the subject line.


How can universities deal with racism? Learn from war zones.

research in some of the world’s most fragile states — including Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia — reveals that the three most pressing issues to understand for building peace are: people, places and the past. First, people. Peace negotiators, from national presidents to university presidents, must ensure the right people are at the negotiating table. In Sudan, a 2005 settlement between the Khartoum government and southern Sudanese ended Africa’s longest civil war, but it snubbed Darfuri people in western Sudan, who fought back and faced an onslaught that observers labeled the first genocide of the 21st century. Women I met in Somaliland, the semi-autonomous region of northern Somalia where elders negotiated their clans out of civil war in the 1990s, lamented that women’s concerns remain secondary to maintaining political balance between rival groups. At American universities, understanding people means appreciating the complex demands of protesters and those who are more silent. One’s racial identity coexists with one’s gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or religion. Student groups, alumni and university officials might consider bringing into the debate, for instance, Muslim-American students (following calls they should be registered into a national database), transgender students, survivors of sexual assault, undocumented students — and those who are the first in their families to attend college. Their experiences address how racial injustice intersects with other forms of injustice. Second, places. Resolving conflict involves creating spaces for people to work through trauma, slight and discrimination. In war zones, this means the provision of medical and mental health services for survivors of war — including civic activists and former combatants. As an aid worker in South Sudan told me, some survivors must “overcome their own traumas before they can actively engage in peace building.” For other survivors, joining a peace building effort promotes personal healing and builds mutual trust, helping to defeat the long-term effects of trauma. Here at Princeton, 40 percent of students access counseling and psychological services, a figure not unique in American higher education. Students I meet at colleges across the country live in fear simply because they belong to an ethnic, gender, or religious minority. As in conflict settings, civic organizations can do much of the work, if university deans allocate additional funding for student groups, resource centers and events that shape the debate and create safe spaces for student-led empowerment. Finally, the past. Preventing conflict involves addressing grievances over injustices


Main Street Morning: Smart-phone app maps restaurant availability in real time

artificial intelligence makes a picture worth a thousand words. - The “reverse Uber” app can set you up with gas or an oil change. Social Media - A marketing expert explains how you can use Periscope for video streaming. Around the Country - Philadelphia’s city council plans to strengthen existing laws prohibiting in-street solicitation from community groups looking to raise money. - California farmers will intentionally flood their fields this winter. - A bazaar in St. Paul, Minnesota proves that crafts go deeper than just business. - A hotshot innovation center is eyeing Providence, Rhode Island for its business research hub. - The owner of a Mississippi gas station is forced to pay thousands after a person drives away with the pump’s nozzle connected to his vehicle. - Studies show that the failure to fix roads could hurt an Ohio city’s business growth. - Pedestrians in Portland Oregon are confused by a newly installed traffic signal. - Commercial loans in Northeast Ohio are thriving as the local economy picks up. - Keurig to be sold for $14B. - A Knoxville, Tennessee dental practice celebrates 100 years and a barber in Dannemora, New York marks 50 years in business. Around the World - Global stock markets are weak amid still-falling oil prices. - Air France to resume flights to Tehran after nuclear deal. - The global mining sector is in turmoil as a London-based corporation says it will shed 85,000 employees. - Finland plans to give every citizen a basic income of 800 euros a month. - Colombia says it found the San Jose, a sunken ship full of treasure. - English shoppers are ditching plastic bags after the introduction of a new tax. - E.U., Ukraine agree to a trade pact despite Russian threats. - The moment of truth is here as Puerto Rico faces a crucial debt payment. - Hawaii to get a broadband upgrade due to undersea cable. - This young entrepreneur believes that start-ups will get Greece back on its feet. - A new strain of an old disease is threatening the existence of the world’s top banana export. Small Business, Big Impact - The founder of Williams-Sonoma dies at 100. Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd PA consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. Follow Gene Marks and On Small Business on Twitter. News we should know about? Email us here.


The expanding role of women in combat and the future of male-only draft registration

on national security issues and the consequent need for “healthy deference to legislative and executive judgments in the area of military affairs.” That deference might justify upholding male-only draft registration even if all or most combat positions are open to women…. Lower courts applying Rostker could… still conclude that male-only draft registration is constitutional, though Rostker is ambiguous enough on the amount of deference due, that issue is not a slam dunk. If the issue gets to the Supreme Court however, I’m far from certain that Rostker wouldn’t be overruled or severely limited. As compared with 1981, the idea of women serving in combat is far more widely accepted by both elite and public opinion. And sex discrimination in draft registration is likely to seem like an outdated relic of the days when women were barred from numerous positions in the military. Since I wrote that post, at least two cases have been brought to challenge the constitutionality of male-only draft registration: One brought by the National Coalition for Men, which is currently before the Ninth Circuit, and another brought by a teenage girl in New Jersey (who claims that the status quo actually discriminates against women, as well as men). One or both of these lawsuits might fail on procedural grounds, particularly, the New Jersey case (in which the government could argue that the plaintiff hasn’t actually suffered any harm, and therefore lacks standing). But, sooner or later, a case of this type is likely to be decided on the merits. And when that happens, I think it is quite likely that male-only draft registration will be struck down Rostker will get distinguished or overruled. Back in October, Army Secretary John McHugh suggested that “true and pure equality” between the sexes might require forcing women to register for the draft, along with men. But there is another way achieve gender equality in this field: Simply abolish draft registration for men and women alike. That’s exactly what would happen if a court were to strike down the current male-only draft registration system. Such a decision would invalidate the present selective service system, but without forcing the government to adopt a new, gender-neutral one. Only Congress could do the latter, and I am skeptical that it will have the political will to do so in an era where both the majority of the general public and an overwhelming majority of recent


Scientists just undermined a key idea behind the Paris climate talks

always stated up front, but it was explicitly acknowledged by the United Nations’ Environment Programme recently in its assessment of nations’ current pledges and just how much they fall short. The report noted that because strong climate action has generally been pushed off til after 2020, staying within 2 C now requires “so-called ‘negative emission technologies’ such as bioenergy combined with carbon capture and storage.” In other words, while negative emissions aren’t explicitly an idea at the center of the Paris climate negotiations, they are very much a subtext and part of the background. And that’s the problem. The second new study, a large overview of negative emissions technologies penned by no less than 40 separate authors, finds that reliance upon them in the future to pull a lot of carbon out of the air (because we can’t cut our emissions more in the present) is “extremely risky.” The report looked closely at four major ideas for pulling carbon back out of the air — bioenergy combined with carbon capture and sequestration, direct air capture of carbon dioxide, massive afforestation (planting trees where they did not exist before), and so-called “enhanced weathering” of rocks. The goal was to find out if there are any major tradeoffs or drawbacks to any of these technologies, and it basically found that they all had problems if implemented on a scale significant enough to really remove a lot of carbon from the air. “The study shows that there’s no free lunch,” said Pete Smith, lead author of the paper and a researcher with the University of Aberdeen in Britain. “With all these negative emissions technologies, they have significant impacts either on water, or energy, or cost, or land.” Take the leader of the pack — bioenergy combined with carbon capture and sequestration, or BECCS. Here, the idea is that we would burn trees or plants to get energy, and when they grow back, these living things would pull carbon out of the air again — thus, burning them would be carbon neutral. However, if the burning process also sequestered carbon and buried it deep in the ground, then the process becomes carbon negative — carbon dioxide is not only pulled out of the air but then never makes it back there again. However, the major problem here is that to do this at a scale that would really make a dent, you need a


Surprisingly good news for the Earth’s climate: Greenhouse gas pollution dropped this year

past decade, contributing to steadily rising levels of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. Earlier this year, U.S. and U.N. scientists reported that CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere exceeded 400 parts per billion over most of the Northern Hemisphere, compared to about 280 ppm in the mid-18th Century, before the start of the Industrial Revolution. The newly compiled data shows a much smaller annual increase in 2014 — a net gain of 0.6 percent. And preliminary figures point to a slight decrease in 2015, according to the report in Nature Climate Change. The biggest single factor was a sharp decline in emissions in China, where carbon pollution fell by nearly 4 percent, reflecting a drop in coal consumption within the country, the report said. Reflecting official worries about air pollution and climate change, China has become the world’s leading investor in clean-energy technology, building massive wind and solar energy projects while also continuing to invest in traditional energy sources to fuel its growing economy. Emissions have been steadily declining in European Union states, also largely because of a shift to renewable energy, as well as in the United States, where carbon pollution has fallen by an average 1.4 percent annually over recent years. Pollution levels meanwhile continue to rise in India, which is seeking to rapidly expand its electrical grid to service its 1.3 billion citizens. At current rates, India’s total emissions from fossil fuels will match that of the entire European Union in two to three years, the report said. Because of such rising emissions from the developing world, “it is unlikely that emissions have peaked for good,” said co-author Corinne Le Quéré, director of the Tyndall Center at Britain’s University of East Anglia. “Energy needs for growing economies still rely primarily on coal, and emissions decreases in some industrial countries are still modest, at best,” Le Quéré said. “Global emissions need to decrease to near zero to achieve climate stabilization. We are still emitting massive amounts of CO2 annually – around 36 billion tons from fossil fuels and industry alone. There is a long way to near zero emissions.” Chris Mooney contributed from Paris. Read more: Scientists just undermined a key idea behind the Paris climate talks Key divides persist as final week of Paris climate meeting begins Climate-change warnings include rising seas. But giant flying boulders? Invisible threat: warmer temperatures could bring more tropical diseases to U.S. mainland


Pentagon: Opening combat jobs to women alters ‘factual backdrop’ in keeping them out of the draft

Female soldiers conduct marksmanship training at Fort Bragg, N.C. (Staff Sgt. Russell Klika/U.S. Army) A newly released analysis by the Pentagon states that Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter’s decision last week to open all jobs in combat to female service members “further alters the factual backdrop” of a Supreme Court case that has exempted women from a military draft, raising the possibility that the Military Selective Service Act may change. The two-page analysis states that how women are assigned in the military has changed since Rostker v. Goldberg, the 1981 case that addressed the issue. The nation’s highest court considered the constitutionality of requiring only men to register for Selective Service, and found that because women were not allowed to hold combat jobs such as infantryman in the military, they were not required to register. “The opening of all direct ground combat positions to women further alters the factual backdrop to the court’s decision in Rostker,” says the analysis. “The court in Rostker did not explicitly consider whether rationales underlying the statute would be sufficient to limit the application of the MSSA [Selective Service Act] to men. The department will consult with the Department of Justice as appropriate regarding the issue.” [Why the Pentagon opening all jobs to women could subject them to a military draft] The analysis does not take a position on whether the Selective Service Act should be amended to include women in any future draft. The unsigned document was posted online by the Defense Department over the weekend with other documents related to the decision to open all jobs to women. It comes after Carter’s landmark announcement Thursday, in which he said all jobs will be opened to women who can meet the requirements beginning in 2016, after the services each submit a required plan by the end of the year on how they will implement the changes. The current version of the Military Selective Service Act requires that nearly all men in the United States between the ages of 18 and 26 register, most within 30 days of turning 18. That includes non-U.S. citizens living in the United States, such as refugees, but all women are exempt. A draft has not been implemented since the Vietnam War. The analysis notes that reality in the military has evolved several times since Rostker v. Goldberg in 1981. In 1994, for example, the Defense Department allowed women for


Want to reduce obesity? Legalize medical marijuana, researchers say.

So they analyzed over 20 years of data from the federal Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS), including over 5 million individual survey responses. And during the time period they studied (1990-2012), a number of states implemented medical marijuana laws, while many others didn't. Voila: natural experiment. [Read more: Every minute, someone gets arrested for marijuana possession in the U.S.] They found that passage of medical marijuana laws was associated with declines in obesity and overall BMI, controlling for social and economic factors, policy differences and food prices. As for the "why," the researchers found that a number of factors may be at play. For older adults, they found that medical marijuana laws "are associated with an increase in physical wellness and frequent exercise." The possible reason? People are often prescribed medical marijuana for chronic pain, one of the conditions it's most affective at treating. Older patients are more likely to experience chronic pain. So if medical marijuana reduces pain, it may be allowing those patients to be more active -- and hence, burn more calories. But for younger adults, age 18 to 24, the study found a different dynamic at play. "Our findings show that the enactment of MMLs is associated with a 3.1 percent reduction in the probability of alcohol consumption and a 4.8 percent reduction in the probability of binge drinking" among this younger group, the researchers found. They posit that medical marijuana availability may lead some younger adults to "substitute away from highly caloric alcoholic beverages toward a lower-calorie marijuana 'high,' resulting in lower body weight and likelihood of obesity." This so-called substitution effect is often cited in arguments for legalizing marijuana: If you legalize weed, some people will opt for pot over alcohol. Alcohol consumption will fall as a result. And since researchers agree that marijuana is far less harmful than alcohol, the net effect of such a change for individuals and society would be positive. But actual evidence for this effect has been mixed, so far. In Colorado, for instance, alcohol sales have continued to rise in the first year of marijuana legalization. Some research has shown that marijuana availability decreases alcohol consumption, others that it increases it. [Read more: The states where Americans are the most and least obese] Some researchers caution against reading too much into the results of this one study. Rosalie Pacula, director of the BING Center for Health Economics


The next generation of roach traps could harness bacteria from their poop

Gross. (Marianne Hale/San Francisco Zoo via Reuters) For cockroaches, the scent of poop is a welcoming one. Roaches actually gather in response to pheromones — scent chemicals that unconsciously drive behavior in many animals — released by their feces. So for those in the roach trap business, harnessing the power of those pheromones is kind of the holy grail. In a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report that certain gut microbes are necessary to create these inviting bouquets. The North Carolina State researchers found 40 unique, smelly chemical compounds in roach feces in healthy insects. When they removed gut bacteria from the intestinal tract, 12 of the compounds disappeared and another 24 became scarce. The also found that young cockroaches (called nymphs) were much more attracted to the scent of poop from a healthy gut. [Stop naming stars after your loved ones. Name a cockroach after your boo instead.] "The chemical compounds seem especially essential for nymphs," lead researcher Ayako Wada-Katsumata said in a statement. "It's important for nymphs to determine a safe place, and these pheromones help do just that." Six compounds were found to have a particularly strong effect, encouraging cockroaches to aggregate. It's not the bacteria themselves that make an irresistible siren call, but they do produce fatty acids that help create pheromones in cockroach poo. If scientists can get a good handle on how that process works — and which scents are the most difficult to resist — they could make a roach motel that any insect would die to check in to. Read More: This beetle’s butt is basically a machine gun Bees naturally vaccinate their babies, scientists find This brilliant plant pretends to be poop Say hello to the dementor wasp. It turns cockroaches into zombies.


Astronomy trifecta: Venus occultation, crescent moon and Comet Catalina

The moon and Venus were joined in the sky by the comet named Catalina on Monday morning from Arizona. Venus was occulted by the moon Monday afternoon, eastern time. Catalina will remain visible through the month of December. (Brian Effinger via Twitter) Early Monday morning, an astronomic trifecta dazzled sky-watchers: the comet Catalina, Venus — close to occultation — and a waning crescent moon. Venus was spotted just left of the moon, so bright in the sky it could even be seen by the naked eye in daylight. Around 12:30 p.m., Venus passed behind the moon in what’s called occultation, and then reemerged on the other side a few hours later. The moment just before Venus passed behind the moon. (Phil Yabut via Twitter) If you missed the Venus occultation show Monday, you can still catch the comet Catalina in the morning sky through December. Comet Catalina, technically known as 2013 US10, can be found in the southeastern sky before sunrise. In terms of visibility, it’s a fifth or sixth magnitude object, which from the city and suburbs is virtually impossible to see with the naked eye – but in practical terms, you’ll be able to find the the fuzzy-looking comet with binoculars. Look to the southeast to left side of the brilliant planet Venus, about an hour before sunrise. In Washington, D.C., the sun rises at 7:13 a.m. Venus, currently in the constellation Virgo, is a negative fourth magnitude object, extraordinarily bright and easy to spot – as it looks like the high beam headlight on a car compared to the comet. Above Venus is the much-dimmer planet Mars that appears with a hint of red color. The icy comet is expected to loiter in the morning heavens for about the next five weeks. On Jan. 1, the comet will appear next to the star Arcturus, in the constellation Bootes. “The comet will likely, slowly fade, or it could brighten up, as comets are notoriously unpredictable – and that’s one of the joys of comet watching,” says astronomer Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory. He spotted the comet with binoculars from Alexandria. Comet Catalina was discovered in 2013 by the Catalina Sky Survey, near Tucson, Arizona, that – to keep our world safe — examines the heavens closely for near-Earth objects. While you’re scouting the comet, you could find some stray Geminid meteors, offering up a


The Daily 202: Trump’s Islamophobia may help him in short term but will prove fatal long-term

A Muslim cab driver in Northern Virginia was awarded $350,000 after a civil jury concluded that a passenger attacked him because of his religious beliefs. (Matt Zapotosky) GET SMART FAST: - The Supreme Court declined to review a Chicago suburb’s ban on assault weapons, which lets the ordinance stand and represents a blow to the NRA’s hope of striking down similar bans in seven states. It will also embolden other blue states to pass their own versions. (Robert Barnes) - The justices will hear oral arguments in a case to determine whether “one person, one vote” means all residents or just eligible voters. (New York Times) - Three years after the Sandy Hook shootings prompted calls for more funding for mental health, the number of states that increased funding dropped from 36 in 2013 to 23 this year. (Lena H. Sun) - The president of the University of Maryland recommended dropping segregationist Curley Byrd’s name from the football stadium because, when he led the school, he refused to admit African Americans until forced to do so by the courts. (Susan Svrluga) - A Yale lecturer who was criticized by students after she advocated for people wearing whatever Halloween costumes they want, including those that might be obnoxious or offensive to others, resigned her teaching post. (New York Times) - Iran apparently violated U.N. Security Council resolutions by testing a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon last month near Chabahar. (Reuters) - The U.S. blamed Russia for an an airstrike on a Syrian army camp that killed three soldiers. (Liz Sly and Dan Lamothe) - The Navy’s largest destroyer headed into the sea for the first time off the coast of Maine. (AP via NBC News) - If uninsured people don’t get health insurance by the end of the open enrollment period, which ends Jan. 31, they won’t be able to avoid paying a penalty fee this year. (Wall Street Journal) - Greenhouse gas emissions unexpectedly dropped 0.6 percent in 2015, but scientists say that it is probably only a temporary lull. (Joby Warrick) - Millennials have surpassed baby boomers as the largest share of the U.S. voting-age population. (Bloomberg) - Only one-third of Secret Service agents are happy with their jobs and would recommend a career there, down from two-thirds in 2011, according to an annual survey of federal worker morale. (Lisa Rein) POWER PLAYERS IN THE NEWS:


What the heck is shade-grown cacao? This pricey treat is actually good for the planet.

are better, in terms of mitigating global warming.) Shade-grown farms, with their diversity of crops, are also more resilient to changes in weather and to market fluctuations, says the University of Missouri's Francisco Aguilar, the study’s co-author. It’s a low-cost, relatively easy to maintain production system, compared to monoculture plantations that rely on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Cacao originated in Ecuador, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. Today, it exports 95 percent of its cacao and is the largest grower of the aromatic beans used in fine chocolates - the kind that wins international competitions and is stocked in gourmet markets. In Ecuador, 90 percent of the cocoa production comes from small-scale, shade-grown systems. “Farmers grow their food for their families but it's also good for cacao when there are other crops,” said Leonor Zambrano of Minga del Cacao, an initiative that prunes cacao trees on farms smaller than 10 hectares. Luis Chamba holds a split cacao pod in front of his home. (Vanessa Hua) A 2012 study There’s an optimum balance, researchers say. Too much shade does hurt productivity. But farmers might be willing to plant a denser canopy if they could sell fruit from their shade trees, or if they could get premium rates for biodiversity-friendly chocolate. Green and Black’s, a British gourmet chocolate maker, recommends that its growers plant shade trees to protect cocoa trees from excessive sun and heat and regulate moisture, as well as protect biodiversity. Likewise, Pacari, an Ecuadorean chocolate maker, sources its cacao from farmers who plant hardwoods and banana, papaya, and citrus trees, an environment that that brings out "the underlying flavors that make fine chocolate such a delight for the palette," said co-founder Santiago Peralta. On Chamba’s finca, birds twitter overhead. He splits open a cacao pod with a machete and I suck on the luscious, honey-sweet fruit that surrounds the seed that will be dried, roasted, and transformed into chocolate. Delicious, from tree to bar. Vanessa Hua reported from Ecuador on an International Reporting Project fellowship. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, New Yorker online, Salon, San Francisco, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Newsweek, among other publications. Her short story collection is forthcoming. Correction: This post has been corrected to amend a typo in the original headline, which confused "cocoa" with "cacao". Read More: The world’s most beautiful greenhouses are underwater, and growing


Early results of marijuana extract treatment for children with epilepsy prove promising

People wearing marijuana leaf hats gather during a rally in support of cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes in Santiago, Chile in March. Several families whose children are suffering from epilepsy gathered in front of the the government palace to support the use of cannabis oil for medicinal purposes, according to the organizers. (Ivan Alvarado/Reuters) For a number of years now, families of children with epilepsy have been relocating to Colorado from around the world to try to obtain a special marijuana extract known as "Charlotte's Web" that they had heard had an almost magical ability to reduce seizures. In late 2013 and early 2014, as the political movement to legalize medical marijuana was heating up, many of these parents traveled to state capitals around the country to plead for help in getting access to similar treatments. More than a few legislatures, regardless of their stance on marijuana, were so moved by the stories that they acquiesced. The reaction from the scientific community was more cautious. Some researchers dismissed the reports of recoveries — shared widely on social media — as wishful thinking. Others launched clinical trials to try to figure out what was going on. Early results, unveiled at the American Epilepsy Society's annual meeting in Philadelphia this week, are encouraging. The first study, led by Orrin Devinsky, director of the comprehensive epilepsy center at NYU Langone Medical Center, involved giving a drop of liquid cannabidiol (CBD), a key component of marijuana, to 261 patients with severe epilepsy for three months. The participants, most of whom were children with an average age of 11 and were at 16 different sites around the country, continued to take their regular anti-seizure medications as well. By the end of that time period, their seizures were reduced by 45 percent on average. But the treatment wasn't without risks. Some 5 percent of the patients had side effects, such as changes in their liver enzymes or diarrhea. Twelve percent stopped taking the medication in the middle of the study because it didn't appear to help. Devinsky called the data "promising" and said that they provide "hope to the children and their families who have been living with debilitating seizures.” The second study which was conducted at the University of California Benioff Children’s Hospital involved fewer participants — only 25, and all children — but involved giving the drug for a longer time period —


The radical idea that’s gaining momentum at the Paris climate talks

concerned at the suggestion of tougher targets, explains Wael Hmaidan, director of the Climate Action Network International. “They’re concerned if we move into 1.5, that means even more radical action,” he said of Saudi Arabia. “How will they cope with needing to change completely their economy in the next 35 years?” The deepest problem is that even as 1.5 degrees is gaining momentum in the Paris discussion, at least as a number that might be mentioned in the final agreement text alongside 2 degrees C, the grim math behind the carbon problem raises severe doubts about how achievable the target really is. One study earlier this year, for instance, found that while keeping warming from ever exceeding 1.5 degrees may not be possible, initially overshooting that number and then coming back down again might be, assuming future technologies that can remove carbon dioxide from the air at a massive scale. Another scientific group, Climate Analytics, has also acknowledged that 1.5 degrees C will require such “negative emissions,” but pointedly observes that the same is true for the 2 C limit. “Because of the delay in substantial global reductions to date, both limits now rely on negative emissions,” the group notes. However, on Monday a group of scientists strongly critiqued the hope of relying on such “negative emissions” technologies, noting that the leading idea, bioenergy combined with carbon capture and sequestration or BECCS, would require a staggering amount of land if used at a scale sufficient to really make a difference. Other negative emissions technologies also come with major tradeoffs, the report noted. But then, as noted before, many 2 degrees C scenarios also require negative emissions. “What we’ve seen is that the technology to get us to 2 degrees Celsius is the same technology that will get us to 1.5 degrees, the only difference is the deployment,” says Fletcher. “You will need much more rapid deployment.” One thing seems clear — the more the world seriously considers a target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, the more likely it also is that it will actually stay under 2. More at Energy Environment: The one thing that really doesn’t make sense about the climate debate in Paris Climate-change warnings include wild weather shifts. But giant flying boulders? In Paris, experts cite looming risk from coolants, methane For more, you can sign up for our weekly newsletter here, and follow us on Twitter here.


Both San Bernardino attackers pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, officials say

and Malik took part in the planning. The couple died in a shootout with police four hours after they opened fire at a conference center in San Bernardino. Bowdich also clarified that authorities recovered 19 pipes that could be used to assemble homemade bombs during a search of the couple’s home in nearby Redlands, Calif., along with thousands of rounds of ammunition. Authorities had earlier said that 12 pipe bombs were found. As the probe expands to sites where Malik lived overseas, friends and family in the United States struggled to piece together clues about what may have led the couple to the violence. The Illinois-born Farook was described as a bright student during his childhood in California. As an adult, those who knew him said, he was a devout Muslim, quiet and private. Farook brought Malik to the United States on a fiancee visa in July 2014. But friends said they knew little about Farook’s wife. Many weren’t even aware that the couple had welcomed their first child in May 2015, a baby daughter who was placed in the custody of child protective services after the attack. “At this time I feel like he had a double life,” Saira Khan, Farook’s sister, said in an interview with ABC News. “I feel like he was very good at concealing everything from all of us. The guy that we know, all his co-workers, everybody that knew him at the mosque, they’re all commenting just like we [are]. . . . Nobody knew him any different than how we knew him.” Much less is known about Malik, who was born in Pakistan but spent at least some time in Saudi Arabia, where her father relocated more than two decades ago. It remains unclear how much time she spent in Saudi Arabia, but she is known to have studied in Pakistan to become a pharmacist. After arriving in the United States, Malik appeared to have interacted with very few people. Even male relatives said they had never seen her face, which was typically covered by a niqab, or face veil, used by some Muslim women. Around the time of the attacks, Malik went on Facebook to post the pledge of loyalty to the leader of the Islamic State, which has urged followers to launch attacks wherever they may be as the militant group seeks to expand its reach beyond Iraq and Syria. The


Chinese students make a portrait of Kobe Bryant on a snowy basketball court

Cold weather, warm feelings toward Kobe Bryant. (Reuters) It’s well known that Kobe Bryant is by far the most beloved NBA player in basketball-mad China, more so even than homegrown stars such as Yao Ming. The latest evidence of that country’s Mamba-mania arrived recently in the form of a snow-covered basketball court. Well, the court was covered entirely by snow, but a few enterprising students at Beihua University in northern China’s Jilin province shoveled some of it out of the way. And what they left behind was quite the tribute. Farewell, @kobebryant! Students draw out "Forever 24" on snow in NE #China's Jilin to salute the great NBA star https://t.co/YrlE9hEMk6 The number “24” is, of course, Bryant’s jersey number, at least since the 2006-07 season, before which he wore No. 8 for the Lakers. It remains to be seen which number gets retired by Los Angeles, but Bryant himself is set to retire after this season, and he has been basking in a series of tributes as he makes his farewell tour around the NBA. From a report by the Los Angeles Times: Wei Xudong, a sophomore majoring in sculpturing at Beihua University, said he and some classmates were looking for an idea for their next art project when he read the letter from Bryant announcing his retirement. “I must do something for Kobe,” said Wei. “I always thought he had not decided on retiring from the NBA, maybe he’ll play one more season. Now I know this is the last season I can see him play.” Wei, 21, said he “became a huge fan of Kobe because he was such a great shooter.” “His shooting form was always so handsome and cool,” he said. “Most of his moves were too hard for me to imitate, but I tried to learn to shoot the basketball like him.” Here’s hoping Wei isn’t taking too many shooting tips from Bryant this season. The shooting guard is taking that term far too literally, as he is hoisting 17.8 shots per game so far this season, not far below his career average of 19.6, but he is making just 30.6 percent of them, way below his career average of .449 and a mark that puts him among the worst in the NBA. Michael Jordan's 82 worst shooting games of his career: 29.1%. 2015-16 Kobe Bryant is 30.6%. https://t.co/aZXN7oAjdL Unfortunately, it’s looking more and more


How the Earth itself could undermine a Paris climate agreement

to thaw — and as it thaws, it’s going to release carbon dioxide and methane into the air. A lot of it, it turns out. Potentially enough to really throw off the carbon budgets that have been calculated in order to determine the maximum emissions that we can release and still have a good chance of keeping warming to 2 C or below it. In particular, Susan Natali of the Woods Hole Research Center explained Wednesday that with a very high level of warming, permafrost emissions this century could be quite large indeed. Natali used numbers from the 2013 report of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which found that humans can only emit about 275 more gigatons, or billion tons, of carbon (about 1,000 gigatons of carbon dioxide, which has a greater molecular weight) to have a greater than 66 percent chance of limiting warming to 2 degrees C. But out of that limited budget, she said, permafrost emissions could take up some 150 of those gigatons (or about 550 gigatons of carbon dioxide). “That’s on par with current U.S. rates of emission,” Natali said, which are about 1.4 gigatons of carbon per year. “So we’re talking about another emitting region that’s currently not included in our emissions scenarios.” Fortunately, even though they’re not considered to be strong enough, the current national pledges to limit global warming appear to have taken the world off a truly high emissions path. These pledges, or “intended nationally determined contributions,” could potentially limit warming to 2.7 degrees Celsius, according to the United Nations. But in an interview, Natali and her Woods Hole colleague and fellow permafrost expert Max Holmes explained that even for lower warming scenarios like this, permafrost could emit 50 gigatons of carbon (or about 180 gigatons of carbon dioxide) in this century. This is because under lower warming scenarios, only about 30 percent, rather than about 70 percent, of surface layer permafrost is expected to thaw. In this Aug. 10, 2009 photo, a hill of permafrost “slumping” from global warming near the remote, boggy fringe of North America, 2,200 kilometers (1,400 miles) from the North Pole.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Another 50 gigatons out of a 275 gigaton carbon budget — or, another 180 gigatons out of a 1,000 gigaton carbon dioxide budget — would significantly constrain how much the world could emit and still have a strong chance of


The most outlandish theory yet for what killed off the dinosaurs

An international team of astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a ghostly ring of dark matter that was formed long ago during a titanic collision between two massive galaxy clusters. (NASA-ESA/AP) There have been a number of theories advanced for what killed off the dinosaurs more than 66 million years ago, but until 2014 there was never one that involved dark matter and meteors. In “Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs,” acclaimed Harvard theoretical physicist Lisa Randall outlines a complex — and radical theory — that goes something like this: roughly 66 million years ago, gravitational perturbations caused by a thin pancake-shaped disk of dark matter in the Milky Way galaxy dislodged icy comets in the Oort cloud at the very edge of the known solar system, resulting in the fiery meteoroid that eventually crash-landed in the Yucatan, leading to the mass extinction of more than 75 percent of life on the planet in the process. The key to this theory, of course, is dark matter, which remains one of the mysterious components of the known universe, despite accounting for 85 percent of all matter in the universe. Ordinary matter – the stars, the planets and the chair you’re sitting in right now – accounts for only 15 percent of all known matter in the universe. That’s why solving the mystery of dark matter is so important. The problem is that dark matter does not interact with ordinary matter except via gravity. You can’t “see” dark matter because light passes right through it: dark matter neither absorbs nor emits light. And as Randall points out, you can’t measure dark matter directly, you can’t feel it and you can’t smell it. Yet billions of dark matter particles pass through us every second and dark matter appears to permeate the entire cosmos. As Randall points out in “Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs,” we can only glimpse dark matter indirectly. That’s because dark matter does have measurable gravitational effects, which results in some interesting phenomena: the expansion rate of the universe, the bending of the path of light rays and irregularities in the orbits of stars. In short, dark matter must exist because some astronomical observations just don’t make sense if it doesn’t. One example that Randall cites as evidence of dark matter is the Bullet Cluster, which was formed by the merging of at least two galaxy clusters. The problem is that


Main Street Morning: North Face founder Douglas Tompkins dies at 72 in Kayaking accident

A company which makes and sells kombucha tea is being challenged by the largest wine company in the world over trademark litigation. Cash Flow - A personal finance publication lists the five important things to know about the 401(k) and IRA in 2016. - How one company is getting millennials to save for retirement. Retail - A study finds that more shoppers are waiting to make their purchases until Christmas Eve. - Good news: Patti LaBelle pies are back at Wal-Mart. - Craft brewers and beer wholesalers want conditions on SABMiller acquisition. Restaurants - Chipotle shuts a restaurant after college students get sick. - A McDonald’s burger and fries remain mold-free after six years. Sales Marketing - Why every marketing executive needs a 21-year-old advisor. Travel - United Airlines adds a reliability guarantee for corporate clients. Finance - A mentoring matchmaker raises $8 million. - A new $3.5 million seed-stage fund aims to help small businesses in South Africa sell on WeChat. - These awesome video-playing sneakers have raised more than $300,000 on Indiegogo - A popular online lender made a loan to the San Bernardino shooters. Start-ups - A start-up seeks $2 million to help employers fill low-skill jobs. - Airbnb is now the third-highest valued start-up after a massive $1.5 billion funding round. Technology - A call center software start-up says it’s “growing like crazy.” - Smart-device start-ups are targeting business customers. - If you’re looking for a cheap location to build a data center then Portland, Oregon’s the place. Online - A popular publication says that homepages are obsolete. - The Girl Scouts embrace e-commerce for their cookies. - Streaming video and audio now account for 70 percent of U.S. broadband usage. - Google taps Los Angeles and Chicago to explore fiber and its chairman wants algorithms to censor the Internet for hate speech. - Amazon is upping its content game with “expert articles.” Social Media - The most influential moments of the year on Twitter. Opportunities - These are the fastest-growing occupations projected through 2024 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Around the Country - A new Legoland is coming to Philadelphia. - Fourteen voters in a Montana county will decide the fate of a proposed sales tax that would help fund a community improvement district. - Scams and ignorance are spurning foreign buyers of Detroit properties. - A report from Pittsburgh’s City Council calls


If the government shuts, don’t plan on visiting Yellowstone, financing your home or getting your tax refund

Defense Department civilians who support it —keeps working, at home and abroad. These operations are considered essential to national security and safety. But hundreds of other services the public depends on from the government would not be available. And whenever Congress agrees to pass a budget that allows federal offices to reopen, the work that got backed up during a shutdown could cause big delays to a range of services. [Federal workers: Are you prepared for a government shutdown?] The head of the National Institutes of Health and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, warned in September that patients with critical illnesses will be turned away and research disrupted during a shutdown. NIH’s clinical facilities at its Bethesda, Md., campus will not admit new patients, they said. At Yellowstone, Park Superintendent Dan Wenk and his staff have worked to determine what new wildlife management programs and services are in place today that weren’t in 2013, when the government closed for 16 days in the most potent shutdown in modern history. The park would close to the public. But there’s a native fish restoration program, for example. Contractors are fixing and upgrading roads in and out of the park. [Van Hollen on government shutdown: Patients will be turned away from NIH] “We are going through the ‘what’s different this year?’ questions about activities in the park that might be affected,” Wenk said in an interview two months ago. Two years ago, about 850,000 of 2.1 million civilian federal workers were sent home. About 15 percent of these employees are paid through fees, budgets that span several years or other appropriations, said John Palguta, a former federal manager who is now a vice president at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. But don’t count on them to fill in the huge gaps in customer service a shutdown would leave. Most phone calls, to the IRS, for example, will go unanswered. And if you try e-mailing a federal employee, you won’t get an answer. They must turn off their BlackBerrys and i-Phones during a shutdown, or they could be in trouble for working. The Department of Veterans Affairs has warned that overtime for employees who are whittling down the agency’s large backlog of applications for disability payments would cease, creating further delays for veterans. Head Start, the education, health and nutrition program for low-income children and


How much could Marissa Mayer get if she and Yahoo part ways?

Kilts in 2005, was $164.5 million. Change-in-control severance payments skew larger than regular executive send-offs for a reason. As with Mayer's awards, most boards allow outstanding options or equity grants to be immediately vested, or "accelerated," if there's a change in ownership. That's to keep CEOs from thinking with too much self-interest about all that stock they could be leaving behind, rather than about what's best for investors. "It's to provide the executive with a fall back, with an incentive, to act in the best interests of the shareholder," Equilar's Yu said. "The company wants the executive to not be afraid to potentially lose" out on those awards. Still, say Yu and Paul Hodgson, a partner in compensation research firm BHJ Partners, these packages are large enough that a few investors have begun pushing back and trying to limit how much stock is accelerated. They're saying "enough of this, we're tired of paying for everything twice over," says Hodgson. In Mayer's case, any potential package is likely bigger because she was a star hire recruited to a struggling company where she is still relatively early in her tenure. "The difference is she’s not been in the job very long, and she still stands to gain [some of] her golden hello," said Hodgson, referring to a 2012 recruitment grant. Again, all of this hinges on a number of big question marks. One, of course, is what the board ultimately decides to do, and if there is an eventual sale, whether Mayer will actually go anywhere. Then there's the question of what would actually constitute a change-in-control at a company like Yahoo, which holds such a big stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group. Corporate documents If in fact, all those "ifs" transpired, and Mayer ended up with the $59 million Equilar calculated, she would have some interesting company. The figure is not far from the $58 million severance payment given to Mayer's former deputy, Henrique de Castro, who left the company last year after just 15 months. Yahoo is scrapping its plan to spin off its huge stake in Alibaba and is instead exploring a "reverse spin-off," where it would transfer its core internet business into a separate company. Read also: Dismantling CEOs' golden parachutes Here’s why Yahoo’s COO got that $58 million severance package Like On Leadership? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes.


Yes, Donald Trump is playing the media to his benefit. But it’s not the media’s fault.

or so survive today, according to the Smithsonian Institution. When one was stolen from Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Frank Almond last year, the 300-year-old violin was valued at more than $5 million. In this undated photo provided by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, concertmaster Frank Almond plays a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin. (AP Photo/Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra) So, according to this metaphor, the press is one of the rarest and most precious things on Earth. On behalf of the media, thank you, Jeb. Now, back to the “playing” part. Bush is right. Trump might as well be Frank Almond with a Strad in his hands. But it’s not that he has somehow brainwashed the press, turning journalists into de facto PR reps who spin everything in his favor. On the contrary, a lot and probably most of the Trump coverage — especially lately, as he has called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States — has been highly critical. But it’s that critical coverage that actually reinforces the principal narrative of Trump’s campaign: He’s anti-establishment — the candidate feckless party leaders and the biased mainstream media don’t want you to vote for. That is his appeal. And he crafts it masterfully through the press. Still, there isn’t really anything the media can — or should — do about this. If positive coverage helps Trump and negative coverage also helps Trump, then the only thing left is to not cover Trump at all. You’ve no doubt heard this argument, which was articulated nicely by PR executive Colette A.M. Phillips in the Huffington Post. “I am calling on the media to impose a blackout,” Phillips wrote in September. “I can tell you that if they do not cover him, he will go away.” Let’s suspend disbelief for a moment and pretend it is actually possible to orchestrate a Trump boycott by literally every single media outlet. Deprived of attention, maybe he really would go away. Even if the media could pull this off, it shouldn’t. That’s not the role of the press. To continue with Bush’s Stradivarius analogy, it isn't the violin’s job to convince concert-goers that they’re listening to terrible music. The instrument is there to make sure people hear every sour note — and truly appreciate how off-key the musician is — but it's up to people in the audience to decide whether discordant melodies suit their tastes.


‘Alien megastructure’ continues to not be aliens in latest study

An artist’s representation of a crumbling Dyson sphere orbiting KIC 8462852(Danielle Futselaar/SETI International) Breaking: That thing that scientists suggested could maybe possibly be aliens (but that they said probably wasn't aliens) continues to not be aliens, as expected. Star KIC 8462852 caused quite a kerfuffle when scientists noted its unusual flicker. To make a long story short, the Kepler Space Telescope checks out distant exoplanets by monitoring the dimming of their host stars. A star dims a certain way (at least from Earth's perspective) when a planet is passing in front of it. KIC 8462852 had a flicker to be sure, but not any kind that scientists had seen before, ergo maybe aliens??? [Why NASA’s top scientist is sure that we’ll find signs of alien life in the next decade] One possible explanation that was floated was pretty fantastic, and even the scientists who brought it up said it was highly improbable: The flickering could be caused by some kind of alien-made, artificial structure. In the past few weeks, scientists watching KIC 8462852 have put more and more ticks in the "totally not aliens" column, which I assume is a thing that SETI scientists actually have on their desks. The SETI institute reported that radio telescopes tuned in to KIC 8462852 had failed to pick up any relevant radio signals, and another research group suggested that a trail of comets might be to blame for the irregular flickering. In a paper submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers report a failure to detect laser pulses from the strange star. So if there are aliens, they've been incredibly quiet on all fronts -- probably too quiet, considering they're meant to have built a Dyson Sphere around their star. [Stephen Hawking announces $100 million hunt for alien life] “The hypothesis of an alien megastructure around KIC 8462852 is rapidly crumbling apart,” study author Douglas Vakoch, President of SETI International, said in a statement. “We found no evidence of an advanced civilization beaming intentional laser signals toward Earth." The researchers used the Boquete Optical SETI Observatory in Panama to search for laser pulses as short as a billionth of a second on six consecutive nights. The star is so far away that any lasers we received from a civilization there would have to have been sent during the dawn of the Roman Empire -- but the researchers say they could have detected even


Federal appeals court weighs: Is it discrimination for only men to register for the draft?

U.S. soldier Pfc. Janelle Zalkovsky, from civil affairs unit of 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, provides security while other soldiers survey a newly constructed road in Ibriam Jaffes, Iraq. (REUTERS/U.S. Army/Handout via Reuters) PASADENA, Calif. — Just days after the Defense Department decided to open all combat jobs to women, a federal appeals court on Tuesday weighed a legal challenge that contends the male-only draft registration is discriminatory. A three-member panel with U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit heard arguments in a 2013 lawsuit filed by the National Coalition For Men and James Lesmeister but later dismissed by a district court judge. That judge, with the U.S. Central District of California, sided with the government, ruling the issue was “unripe” because the military was in the midst of revising its policies barring women from ground combat roles and it would require congressional action. But that was before the Dec. 3 decision by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter to open all military combat roles to women. During a lively, 30-minute session, that announcement was fresh on the judges’ minds. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Marc Angelucci, began to explain why the current registration law unconstitutionally violates the equal protection clause when Judge Marsha S. Berzon jumped in. [Pentagon: Opening combat jobs to women alters ‘factual backdrop’ to keep them out of a draft] “The circumstances have changed,” said Berzon, seated in the middle tan leather seat in the spacious courtroom. “The circumstances have indeed changed,” Angelucci replied. “Go ahead and argue a useless point,” Berzon added, emphasizing later that “I didn’t say it was unripe. I said there were different circumstances now.” Angelucci went on to explain how women have long been serving in combat roles prior to the draft registration requirement but was cut off by Judge Ronald M. Gould, who along with Berzone and Judge George C. Steeh will consider the case. “It seems to me that there’s no need to argue,” Gould said, speaking to the court via video feed. “The question is ripe now, in light of what the Department of Defense has said so clearly.” The lower court didn’t address that question, Gould noted, “so why is it your position then that our panel should reverse the… decision now so the district court can get to the merits” of the case? “That is probably what we should do, and you can save


Sen. McCain blasts Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture for dropping out of launch competition

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks with employees at Robertson Fuel Systems earlier this year in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) Sen. John McCain blasted the company that lifts national security satellites to space, saying it has made “troubling and specious claims” about its sudden inability to participate in a recent competition to launch an Air Force satellite. In a letter sent to defense Secretary Ashton Carter Tuesday, McCain (R-Ariz.) once again took aim at the United Launch Alliance, the joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which for a decade held a monopoly on Pentagon and intelligence community launches. Last month, ULA announced that it could not bid on the upcoming contract—the first time it would have faced competition—for a variety of reasons. That means that SpaceX, the only other company certified by the Pentagon to launch payloads for national security agencies, would walk away with the lucrative contract. One of the reasons that ULA said prevented it from bidding on the contract was a congressionally-mandated limit on the Russian-made engine that powers its Atlas V rocket. Congress imposed the limit in response to the escalating tension with Russian over that nation’s actions in Ukraine. ULA has said the RD-180s it has in stock have been assigned to other missions and were no longer available for Pentagon launches. [ULA bows out of Pentagon launch competition, paving way for SpaceX] But McCain said he found that claim “especially dubious.” “Instead of setting those engines aside for national security launches, ULA rushed to assign them to non-national security launches that are unrestricted in their use of Russian engines,” McCain wrote. He accused ULA of trying to artificially create a need for relief from the restrictions and “subvert the authorization process.” A spokesperson for ULA declined to comment Wednesday. [ULA under pressure from Elon Musk’s SpaceX upstart and Congress] For years, ULA had a monopoly on the launches, a lucrative and steady source of revenue for two of the biggest defense contractors in the world. Then SpaceX came along, and the hard-charging company founded by tech billionaire Elon Musk said it could provide the launches for far less. Musk eventually sued the Air Force, saying that SpaceX should be allowed to compete for the business. Ultimately, the parties settled, and the Air Force certified the company’s Falcon 9 rocket for the launches. The Air Force contract would have been the first time


New plan for West Heating Plant in Georgetown: tear the building down and start anew

city’s toniest commercial and residential districts. A development group led by Georgetown resident Richard H. Levy and including former mayor Anthony A. Williams bought the property at auction from the government in 2013 for $19.5 million, with plans to turn it into condominiums managed by the Four Seasons, which has a hotel across the street. The developers hired renowned British architect David Adjaye — he of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture — to try to retain a portion of the building in a new 70-unit condominium project. Adjaye’s initial design retained only one of the building’s four exterior walls, winning support from some neighbors but prompting an outcry from historic preservation advocates who saw one of the neighborhood’s final industrial properties at risk. The D.C. Preservation League, the District’s top advocate on behalf of historic buildings, named the heating plant one of the city’s six “most endangered” properties last year. But before officials rendered a decision on his initial proposal, Levy decided to start over. As he told the Citizens Association of Georgetown Wednesday, an important piece of feedback he received was that the project could be even better if Adjaye was allowed to do whatever he liked. Levy went to Adjaye and suggested he reconsider the property as a blank canvas with the hope that neighbors and officials would welcome and approve something with greater merit. “People, including someone very high up in the historic preservation process said, ‘I wonder what David would do if he had a free hand?’…That’s what you will see tonight,” Levy said. At the meeting, Adjaye presented detailed plans for a new condominium building of similar size and shape of the existing building but retaining almost none of the original structure. “What it does on the street is create a very dramatically different relationship, where suddenly you have an incredible lightness and engagement,” Adjaye said. The project would also include a public park adjacent to the C & O Canal. Though the entire existing building would be demolished, a portion of the outside wall surrounding the site would be preserved. “We would keep the remnants of the existing walls as part of the memory of the existing site,” Adjaye said. Georgetown residents at the meeting asked about bike lanes, green energy features and the effect on wildlife along Rock Creek. One woman asked how long construction would last. They appeared to


6 stories you should read as you listen to ‘Serial’s’ Bowe Bergdahl season

This undated file image provided by the U.S. Army shows Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The Pentagon’s inspector general on Dec. 9, 2015, has told a House panel investigating the five Taliban Guantanamo Bay detainees released in exchange for Bergdahl that it found no evidence that a ransom was ever attempted or paid to secure the soldier’s release. (U.S. Army via AP) Finally. After months of anticipation, season 2 of “Serial” dropped Thursday morning. The subject: Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who was captured by the Taliban and released last year through a prisoner swap. Since then, he’s been charged with misbehavior before the enemy and desertion “in connection with his June 2009 disappearance from a small military outpost in eastern Afghanistan.” He was captured soon after leaving his base. The Post extensively covered Bergdahl’s release and all the controversies and questions since then. So, skip the Bergdahl Wikipedia page and read some of our best Bergdahl coverage here. Our story on the first “Serial” episode of the season is now up here. 1. Mixed reaction to Bergdahl’s recovery by service members who consider him a deserter, June 1, 2014 Shortly after Bergdahl was released from Taliban captivity for an exchange of five Taliban prisoners, the questions started arising. On the one hand, President Obama was celebrating the news. On the other hand, Bergdahl did slip away from his platoon in 2009 after “growing disillusioned with the U.S. military’s war effort.” When he was captured shortly after, “an entire U.S. military division and thousands of Afghan soldiers and police officers devoted weeks to searching for him, and some soldiers resented risking their lives for someone they considered a deserter.” 2. Exclusive: Afghan villagers recall when Bergdahl stumbled into their midst, As criticism started growing about when exactly Bergdahl left his platoon and why, The Post’s Kevin Sieff reached Afghan villagers who saw Bergdahl after he left his base. Some were surprised and confused by his actions: “It was very confusing to us. Why would he leave the base?” said Jamal, an elder in the village of Yusef Khel, about a half-mile from the American military installation. (Like many Afghans, he goes by only one name). “The people thought it was a covert agenda – maybe he was sent to the village by the U.S.” Others tried to warn him: “They tried to tell him not to go there, that it is


Shuttering the government actually costs more than keeping it open — more than $2 billion last time

all. [What happens to federal employees during a government shutdown] Other direct costs came from missed fees from national parks, interest due on late payments, missed revenue from tax enforcement and some stop-work orders, among other money that normally flows to government agencies. The reports run through a lengthy list of disruptions in 2013. They include a backlog in veterans’ disability claims, nearly 6,300 children left out of Head Start, patients left out of cancer studies at the National Institutes of Health, halted consumer-safety work, delays in tax refunds. The Food and Drug Administration delayed “nearly 500 food and feed domestic inspections and roughly 355 food safety inspections under state contracts,” the budget office said. [The 6 issues that could cause a government shutdown] The White House and auditors at GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, did not calculate the actual costs of closing federal agencies and then reopening them. But they described the general state of inefficiency and domino effect on customer services of a shutdown’s three stages of planning, execution and reopening. For example, auditors found that furloughed Health and Human Services employees, among many others, were eligible to apply for unemployment insurance during the shutdown. They turned to the Department of Labor, which administers the insurance program. It’s different in each state. After the shutdown, HHS had to figure out how to advise its employees to stop their applications or, in some cases, repay the insurance benefits since they received back pay. This took time. At the Energy Department, the shutdown caused disruptions at nuclear storage sites, the budget office said, costing weeks of productivity. The National Nuclear Security Administration “devoted time and resources to placing nuclear weapons labs into safe standby condition, only to direct additional resources to restoring normal operations at these facilities days later,” the report said. Weeks of planning for the 2013 shutdown took resources from daily operations and services at HHS, Energy and the Department of Transportation, the three large agencies where auditors from GAO examined the shutdown’s impact. At the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, “officials estimated that budget, procurement, and management officials spent at least 50 percent of their time in September preparing for the shutdown,” auditors wrote. Managers were “consumed by work concerning the shutdown,” they found, collecting information from each field office to estimate how long they could sustain operations with current funding, among other time-consuming minutiae.


11 things to do in the D.C. area on the weekend of December 11-13

Here are this weekend's best bets in nightlife, holiday markets, museums and music, as well as many other events around the Washington area. And if you're in the spirit, read the Going Out Guide's complete guide to celebrating the holidays in D.C. Grand Central Terminal stamp, illustrated by Dan Cosgrove, issued in 2013. Part of "New York City: A Portrait Through Stamp Art," at the National Postal Museum. Thursday-Sunday: Thursday: [How to celebrate the holidays in D.C.] Friday: Friday-Saturday: [Shop at these Holiday Markets in Washington] For its second year, Georgetown Glow is bringing in artists to illuminate the C&O Canal for 10 days. (Photo by Sam Kittner/Georgetown BID) Friday-Sunday: Friday: [Get festive at these other holiday beer events] Saturday: Saturday-Sunday: Saturday: [More music on Saturday: Shy Glizzy at the Howard Theatre] Saturday: The Get Up Kids - "Holiday" [Official Video] Sunday: [Coming Monday: The Arcs, a Dan Auerbach side project, hits 9:30 Club]