Ben Bradlee, legendary Washington Post editor, dies at 93

Anglo-Saxon, Protestant Boston on Aug. 26, 1921. His father, Frederick Josiah Bradlee Jr., known as “B,” could trace his American ancestry back through 10 generations of Bradlees. B was an all-American football star at Harvard who became an investment banker in the booming 1920s. He married Josephine deGersdorff, daughter of a prominent New York lawyer and a New England aristocrat named Helen Crowninshield. Benjamin was the second of three children. At first, he was surrounded by domestic staff and other signs of wealth, but the stock market crash of 1929 ended all that. During the Great Depression, his father had to improvise a living for many years, keeping the books for various clubs and institutions and supervising the janitors at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (for $3,000 a year). The family had free use of a summer house in Beverly, Mass., whose owners couldn’t find a buyer for it. Rich relations paid the Bradlee children’s tuition to private schools. “Benny,” as the family called him, was a 14-year-old ninth-grader at the venerable St. Mark’s School in Southboro, Mass., when polio broke out at the campus in the spring of 1936. He was stricken with the fearful disease on the same day as a close friend. An ambulance that carried both boys dropped Mr. Bradlee at his Beacon Street home, then took Fred Hubbell to Massachusetts General Hospital. Mr. Bradlee was paralyzed from the waist down; Hubbell died. Even his polio proved to be an example of Mr. Bradlee’s lifelong good luck — bolstered, as usual, by his own determination. A young coach who had encouraged Mr. Bradlee’s athletic pursuits, a working-class Irishman from Boston named Leo Cronan, visited him in the Beverly house almost nightly during his summer with polio. Cronan introduced the idea of walking again at a time when Mr. Bradlee’s legs lay helpless and numb in clunky metal braces. Cronan got him on his feet and then helped him learn how to stand without the braces. Within eight weeks, thanks to rigorous rehabilitation, Mr. Bradlee was playing a clumsy game of golf. Two years later, he was playing varsity baseball for St. Mark’s. The physical therapy he did to fight off the effects of polio left him with a barrel chest and powerful arms for the rest of his life. Mr. Bradlee got his first whiff of the newspaper business at age 15, when his father


Ali A. Mazrui, controversial scholar of African politics and culture, dies at 81

racial conflict” — in which “blacks will inherit the most advanced nuclear infrastructure on the continent. Out of the ashes of apartheid will emerge a black-ruled republic with convincing nuclear credentials.” When “The Africans” aired in the United States in 1986, the Nigerian author Wole Soyinka suggested that Dr. Mazrui had been “brainwashed.” Soyinka, who received the Nobel Prize in literature that same year, said the Kenyan scholar did not fully understand tribal traditions in other parts of Africa and, with his professed Islamic beliefs, dismissed the Christian influence on that continent. A look at those who have died this year. “I was invited to look at Africa as an African,” Dr. Mazrui told The Post, defending his views. “I wasn’t trying to run for election in the U.S. . . . The last thing I wanted to do was pander to Western prejudices.” Ali Al’Amin Mazrui was born Feb. 24, 1933, in Mombasa, Kenya. His father was Kenya’s chief judge of Islamic law. Dr. Mazrui graduated in 1960 from the University of Manchester in England and received a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York a year later. He was already teaching at Uganda’s Makerere University when he received a doctorate in political science from the University of Oxford in 1966. Throughout his career, Dr. Mazrui criticized the dictatorial tendencies of African leaders. Those views put him at odds with the mercurial and often violent Amin, and Dr. Mazrui left Uganda for the University of Michigan, where he taught from 1974 to 1989. Since that time, he had been at Binghamton. He also taught at the University of Jos in Nigeria and held academic appointments at Cornell University and other colleges, advised the World Bank and served on many academic boards. His first marriage, to Molly Vickerman, ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 23 years, the former Pauline Uti; six children; a sister; and three grandchildren. Dr. Mazrui’s wide-ranging scholarship included studies of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela of South Africa and the ancestral roots of President Obama, whose father was from Kenya. In recent years, he examined the connection between terrorism and Islam. He argued that the West should pay reparations to African countries, which he called “the cradle of mankind.” “We are the people of the day before yesterday,” Dr. Mazrui said in 1986, “and the people of the day after tomorrow.”


Election 2014: Congressional candidates respond to federal employee concerns

you think the expedited process that cuts into the ability of Senior Executive Service members in the Department of Veterans Affairs to appeal disciplinary actions should be expanded to other SES members or federal employees generally? The misconduct at the VA was simply inexcusable and an insult to anyone who has served our nation. I fully expect those responsible to be held accountable. Going forward, we must make sure that federal employees have protected appeals rights to ensure that political appointees can’t run roughshod over our nation’s civil servants. Do you think the government has the right mix of federal employees and contractor workers? I don’t support the efforts of this administration to insource lots of the work currently being done through our working public-private partnerships with government contractors and our contracting community. We can protect and promote our federal employees and at the same time have a vibrant contracting community. The important thing on contractor compensation is to provide the compensation that gets the jobs done as needed in the most efficient and professional manner. I would review these issues with both federal employees and contractors. Note: Comstock did not initially answer a question on federal workplace diversity, but her office did respond later. The question and answer are below: Diversity is lacking in the senior levels of the federal Civil Service, with percentages of women, African Americans and Latinos below their percentages in the national population. If you are elected to Congress, what would you do to make the top levels of the Civil Service look more like America? I will work to make opportunity available to everyone throughout the federal government and make sure we have the most talented workforce possible to ensure taxpayers are getting the efficient services they expect. Our diversity of talent in our community provides us with the ability to have the best workforce. I served on my law firm’s diversity committee that focused on making sure we had a diverse and talented workforce where all could excel and advance. I started a Young Women’s Leadership Program to help provide young women with the skills and know how to advance in the career of their choice. We can also make the hiring process more transparent and responsive so people from every background have access to advancing a career in the federal government. Twitter: @JoeDavidsonWP Previous columns by Joe Davidson are available at wapo.st/JoeDavidson.


Bears and wolves find a voice in the wilderness

perpetuates an unhealthy cycle that only creates more problems — growing the bear population and making the bruins too comfortable around human areas — that hunters then use to justify more baiting and shooting. Avid hunter and writer Ted Williams, who wrote about bear baiting for Audubon magazine in 2005, calls it “garbaging for bears.” Other states, such as Colorado, Oregon and Washington, meanwhile, have managed to maintain mostly stable bear populations without these inhumane practices. Plus, bear-hunting licenses in these states for fair-chase hunts have doubled or tripled. A fair hunt may be more dangerous and require greater courage than shooting Winnie in a tree, but isn’t that at least part of the point? It should be noted that the Masai warrior, who carries a shield and a spear to hunt a lion, does sometimes lose. In Michigan, wolves are the designated prey. The Humane Society is campaigning there to stop the reopening of a wolf hunt, which has been deemed necessary largely because of human-wolf stories that were found to be false. In one true case, a farmer who lost several cattle to wolves had left several rotting cattle carcasses lying around. Talk about a baited field. Was he expecting squirrels? Otherwise, the stories are mostly myths — wolves staring at humans through windows, stalking little girls in red capes, that sort of thing. Although wolves have been removed from the endangered species list in Michigan, they number fewer than 650. Humane Society President and chief executive Wayne Pacelle fears that wolves will suffer the inhumane hunting practices — hounds and traps — seen in other states that are part of what he describes as “anti-wolf hysteria sweeping the Midwest.” Rather than leaving power in the hands of legislators and commissioners, Pacelle is urging voters to speak up through ballot initiatives: “We need to make a statement that the public — and not just trophy hunters — has a right to have a say in the protection of wildlife.” The referendum, by circumventing heavily lobbied legislators, sought to resonate with people who are disgusted with politics or who abhor cruelty to animals as sport. And, yes, often for food, but that’s a subject for another day. In the meantime, we can safely say that nobody eats wolf. And nobody eats bear — twice. Read more from Kathleen Parker’s archive, follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook.


Experts discuss technology’s role in future of transportation

own vision of the future. The central theme for most was the critical importance of investing in the nation’s tattered infrastructure to keep the United States competitive in the global market. Finding the funding to do that as revenue from the traditional gas tax dwindles was a subset of that conversation, with several suggesting a move to a mileage-based fee or tolling on interstate highways. When it comes to a vision for the future that lies just over the horizon, there were many ideas tossed out that made certainty a bit elusive. Technology has spread so rapidly through virtually all modes of transportation that the challenge is in determining how it will continue to transform the future. At few times in history has the pace of change come so quickly. Questions that arose — without firm answers — from the presentations Tuesday included: ●If autonomous vehicles — driverless cars — are just over the horizon, will drivers who no longer drive still need insurance? Or will vehicles and their manufacturers be covered by product-liability policies? ●Will highways of the future need things such as road signs or guardrails, since the cars know where they are going and will stay between the white lines? ●If electric cars are a major part of the future — Tesla was represented at the conference — will there still be a need for a gas station every few blocks? ●With autonomous cars able to toddle off and park themselves, will there be a need for vast acres of underground parking garages in downtown areas such as the District’s where land is at a premium? ●When the last parking meters wear out and disappear, and cars begin to park themselves and pay for the space electronically, will parking tickets become a thing of the past? And what will replace the ticket revenue that cities have come to count on? ●Will public transit be less popular when autonomous cars can deliver their passengers that “last mile” from the transit stop to the front door? ●Will magnetic levitation trains running through tunnels deep underground carry passengers at 300 mph? ●And will cars fly? A prototype of a flying car sat on 14th Street NW outside the conference. “Hopefully we can use these technologies we’ve talked about here at the conference and change some things,” said flying-car developer Carl Dietrich, head of Terrafugia, whose Web site says that it


Shopping Cart: Epicurean state cutting boards; Big Spoon Roasters nut butters

(Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post) CUT WITH PRIDE: (Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post) TOP THAT: (Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post) JAR HAPPY: More from Food: Weeknight Vegetarian The Immigrant’s Table Smoke Signals Spirits Column Beer Column


D.C. news in brief

PurpleLight Vigil for Hope, one of more than 80 events throughout the nation, in Upper Senate Park, between Constitution and Delaware avenues NE, at 6 p.m. Sunday. The candlelight observance honors those who have died of pancreatic cancer and survivors of the disease. The event precedes National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month in November. The American Cancer Society estimates that 46,420 people in the United States will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year and, of them, 39,590 will die of the illness. Survivors may request a reserved seat. Otherwise, seating is limited, and those who do not wish to stand should bring a folding stadium chair. For information, go to www.purplelight.org. Financial Planning Day offers free workshops Metro Washington Financial Planning Day, a program of free workshops and counseling with certified financial planners, will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Columbia Heights Educational Campus, 3101 16th St. NW. Financial planners will be available for one-on-one meetings on home purchases, debt management, retirement planning, investments, income tax, insurance, estate planning and other topics. Planners will not sell services. The D.C. government and the Financial Planning Association of the National Capital Area co-sponsor the event. For information, go to financialplanningdays.org/event/metro-washington-financial-planning-day, e-mail info@financialplanningdays.org or call 877-861-7826. Open house on Ward 1 transportation projects The D.C. Department of Transportation is having an open house on projects in Ward 1 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Monday at Columbia Heights Community Center, 1480 Girard St. NW. Project engineers will provide updates on dedicated bus lanes on Georgia Avenue NW, safety improvements on 15th Street NW, the resurfacing of Seventh Street NW, reconstruction projects on U Street and Florida Avenue NW, D.C. Streetcar, traffic improvements, asset management, tree projects and low-impact development projects. A question-and-answer session will follow the updates. For information, go to ddot.dc.gov. SoberRide offers free cab rides on Halloween The Washington Regional Alcohol Program is offering free cab rides to prevent drunken driving on Halloween. SoberRide will operate from 10 p.m. Oct. 31 until 4 a.m. Nov. 1 and is available in the District and in Montgomery, Prince George’s, Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William counties and eastern Loudoun County. Local taxi companies provide the service. Those in need of a ride can call 800-200-TAXI (8294) for a free ride home worth up to $30. AT&T wireless users can dial #9727. For information, go to www.soberride.com. — Compiled by Terence McArdle


Four Blackwater guards found guilty in 2007 Iraq shootings of 31 unarmed civilians

Kia sedan, killing him. Slough, the convoy command vehicle’s turret gunner, joined in as other Raven 23 members fired into stopped traffic and then turned more firepower onto a panicked, fleeing crowd, prosecutors said. The only damage caused to the convoy’s command vehicle came from shrapnel by an American grenade fired at short range, the government said. To buttress their case, prosecutors contended that Slatten and Liberty held hostile views about Iraqi civilians and that Slough on occasion fired weapons at Iraqi targets without provocation. The defendants’ attorneys said their clients acted reasonably at a time when the Iraqi capital was the scene of “horrific threats” from car bombs, ambushes and follow-on attacks, sometimes aided by Iraqi security forces infiltrated by guerrillas. At trial, under cross-examination, some former Blackwater employees differed over whether Slatten or others fired the first shots, and some agreed that they heard incoming AK-47 fire. Charges in the shooting were first brought against six Blackwater employees in 2008, one of whom, Jeremy Ridgeway, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and testified for the government in the current trial. Charges against another man, Donald Ball, were dropped. A federal judge, however, threw out the other indictments in 2009, saying that prosecutors improperly relied on statements that the guards gave the State Department immediately after the shooting, believing that they would not be used in court. An appeals court reversed that ruling in 2011, enabling prosecutors to obtain fresh indictments. The remaining four defendants claimed the violence was triggered by Ridgeway, who a prosecutor conceded suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and “lost it” in Iraq, and by the convoy’s team leader, Jimmy Watson. Watson and two other members of the Blackwater team were granted limited immunity by the government to testify against their former colleagues. Wednesday’s verdict by a civilian jury against the contractors marked a striking departure from how the military justice system dealt with U.S. service members accused of killing 25 unarmed Iraqi in a 2005 raid on their home in Anbar province. Eight U.S. Marines were initially charged in the Haditha incident, but one was acquitted and six others had charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to assault against them dropped. Ultimately, only one, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, was convicted of negligent dereliction of duty in connection with the incident, receiving a reduction in rank and no jail time. Julie Tate and Christian Davenport contributed to this report.


Congressional Cemetery: A place for all souls

The 35-acre cemetery serves also as both a grand city park and a sort of neighborhood community center. The 35-acre cemetery serves also as both a grand city park and a sort of neighborhood community center. There is a scene in “House of Cards” in which coldblooded political wife Claire Underwood jogs through her District neighborhood into what looks like Capitol Hill’s Congressional Cemetery. As she runs heedlessly past the headstones, a passing woman chastises her for disrespect to the dead. Claire is — for once — unnerved. But the truth is, jogging is hardly out of place at Congressional. The 35-acre cemetery, with its open fields and twisting trees, serves also as both a grand city park and a sort of neighborhood community center. Visiting on a sunny autumn day, I saw a young family racing toward the gate in the iron fence; a couple of women with coffee cups heading for a workshop on gravesite preservation; and an abundance of dogs and dog walkers. The Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery, which manages the property (it is owned by Christ Church on Capitol Hill) maintains a robust calendar of activities, exhibits and events, including a weekly yoga class called Yoga Mortis, the Halloween-themed Ghost and Goblins’ Soiree and a birthday party for cemetery denizen John Philip Sousa. In other words, Congressional Cemetery is a resting place for the dead, but it is also one of Washington’s liveliest historic sites. Hilary Benson strolls thought the Congressional Cemetery with her daughter Sophie Lee. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post) Tours for all interests To serve the needs of a growing capital, Washington Parish Burial Ground was established in 1807 on a picturesque vista next to the Anacostia River. The name reflects its early use as a burial site for senators and congressmen who died in office, but today the list of gravesites reflects a much wider diversity: In addition to 19 senators and 71 representatives, it includes J. Edgar Hoover, first director of the FBI; Alain LeRoy Locke, the first black Rhodes scholar; Leonard P. Matlovich, a gay Vietnam veteran who outed himself to challenge military policy on gays; Belva Lockwood, the first woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court — plus thousands of ordinary citizens. There are about 60,000 people buried here in all — the exact number, like many facts about the cemetery, is difficult


Montgomery County Animal Watch

These cases were received recently by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Labrador mix bites girl: 2300 block, Washington Ave., Chevy Chase, Oct. 6. A Labrador mix, which was being walked by its owner, bit a 12-year-old girl on the arm as she ran past the animal to catch her school bus. The girl visited the school nurse, who contacted animal services. The dog, which was current on its rabies vaccination, was placed under a 10-day home quarantine. The girl suffered a minor bite wound on her arm. Two men, two dogs, two bites Adopt or foster rescue dogs: Rockville Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Plume at the Jefferson: A hushed escape, expertly handled

Potato Roesti Symphony - blue, sweet and white potato, beans, corn, mushroom and tomato, photographed at Plume restaurant in Washington, DC. (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanchik for The Washington Post) (Joseph Victor Stefanchik/For The Washington Post) (Joseph Victor Stefanchik/For The Washington Post) There is, in Washington, no more sumptuous place to pick up a fork or raise a flute than Plume, the main dining room in the Jefferson Hotel. Behold the crystal chandeliers sparkling from coffered ceilings! Feast your eyes upon the crackling fire! Silk wallpaper brings 18th-century Monticello to 21st-century Washington, and padded stools are brought out for the benefit of purses and briefcases alike. Ample tables mean you come in contact with your companion(s) only if you wish to. And, yes, that’s a cheese trolley parked in the corner. For a price, Plume offers the illusion of having dinner in a Michelin-anointed star across the pond. There are two fresh reasons to get to know the five-year-old gem if you haven’t already been introduced: executive chef Ralf Schlegel and wine director Jenn Knowles. Schlegel, 36, is a German native who comes from a family of hoteliers and last worked at the formal French restaurant Marcel’s in the West End. Knowles, 39, hails from the esteemed Inn at Little Washington and infuses dinner with charm and wit as she dispenses a lovely marsanne with a first course of diver sea scallops. (The wine, she shares, is a collaboration between Rhone winemaker Michel Chapoutier and Anne-Sophie Pic, one of a handful of female French chefs to receive three Michelin stars for her restaurant in southeast France.) The sweet seafood is revealed when its recipient removes a sheer mustard crouton covering the scallops, their bright red bell pepper sauce and a scattering of toasted cashews and golden raisins. With just six or so starters and entrees, Schlegel’s menu does not take long to examine. And the selections — foie gras terrine, lobster gratin, herb-crusted lamb — reflect those of a list written with high-end hotel guests in mind. What appears on the tables are compositions that, while serious, demonstrate a chef with a sly sense of humor. Almost every dish comes with a detail that elevates the familiar. Lobster gratin with vanilla blood orange maltese, mirepoix and nasturtium. (Joseph Victor Stefanchik/For The Washington Post) Legions of upscale restaurants serve foie gras terrine. The surprises in Plume’s version are dark veins of


Syrians to be trained to defend territory, not take ground from jihadists, officials say

in Syria, but they worry that many of those who have fled the country as refugees may not want to return to their war-ravaged homeland. The officials said they intend for U.S. troops to use the basic training sessions, which will focus on unit discipline and elementary combat skills, to identify promising candidates for more advanced courses. Those individuals could be schooled to engage in more offensive missions. “We will evolve and learn as the program proceeds,” said a senior Defense Department official. For now, the official said, “there is an enormous focus on building leadership structure.” The first phase, Mayville said, “is identify and vet them, create a relationship and give them basic training.” Then, he said, they will “go back and protect their communities.” Thus far, senior military leaders have concurred in public with Obama’s decision not to send ground combat troops to Syria and Iraq, but the country’s top military officer, Gen. Martin Dempsey, has said that if he determines that it is necessary for U.S. advisers to accompany local forces on attacks against Islamic State targets, he would make such a recommendation to the president. Administration officials say technological advancements will allow the U.S. military to provide a degree of air support to Syrian forces without having to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. They note that in Iraq, U.S. commanders recently employed surveillance aircraft, including drones, to identify Islamic State militants near the Mosul Dam, striking them in proximity to Kurdish forces. But military officials regard those Kurdish forces as far more seasoned than the newly assembled Syrian fighters will be. “This isn’t just about coordinating airstrikes,” the senior military officer said. “It’s about keeping up morale, attending to injuries, ensuring order within the ranks. You can’t do that from afar.” U.S. officials are talking to the governments of Jordan, Qatar and Turkey about opening additional training camps in those nations, should the volume of recruits exceed capacity in the two facilities that are being established in Saudi Arabia. Skeptics of the administration’s policy within the Pentagon and in Congress worry that the recruitment effort will be hindered by a lack of a clear U.S. commitment to assist the new force. They also argue that the administration’s unwillingness to commit to toppling Assad — Obama has said he wants to see a “political solution” to the civil war in Syria — will lead many moderate


As researchers develop Ebola vaccine, early human clinical trials show promise

on anybody’s radar,” said Ripley Ballou, a former U.S. Army researcher who is a vice president at GlaxoSmithKline, which is developing one of the potential Ebola vaccines with the National Institutes of Health. “Something that normally takes five to seven years to do, we’re compressing into a matter of months. . . . We’re going to be pushing the system awfully hard to make this happen.” Now, with the epidemic deepening by the day in West Africa and traditional public health methods for containing the virus so far unable to keep up with its rapid spread, some officials have speculated that a vaccine might be the only way left to suppress the outbreak, which has resulted in nearly 10,000 reported cases and almost 5,000 deaths in the affected countries. Jeremy Farrar Anthony Fauci, head of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, agrees that the global effort to stop the outbreak might not be sufficient or arrive quickly enough to halt the spread of Ebola in West Africa. “It is conceivable that you will actually need a vaccine to stop the epidemic,” Fauci said. “It won’t just be a commodity for health-care workers. It will be an essential tool to try to turn the epidemic around.” But first, scientists must prove that a vaccine works. The vaccine being developed by England-based GSK is one of two that health-care leaders hope could be ready to begin distributing on a broader scale later next year in the hard-hit countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Based on a chimpanzee cold virus called chimp adenovirus type 3, the vaccine is designed to deliver pieces of genetic material from two Ebola species: Sudan and Zaire, the type responsible for the epidemic in West Africa. The vaccine, which cannot actually infect those who receive it and is designed to trigger an immune response in the patient, has shown promising results in animal trials. Washington Post photographer Michel du Cille’s photographs of Ebola-stricken Liberia. Initial results from small human safety trials at the NIH and Oxford — another trial began recently in Mali — have shown no signs of harm. Researchers expect more robust safety data later this year, including on what doses prompt the appropriate immune response. Already, GSK is taking steps to ramp up production of the vaccine and to begin much larger trials, which could involve as many as 20,000 to 30,000


D.C. community calendar, Oct. 23-30, 2014

a.m., Washington Monument Lodge bookstore, 15th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Free. Survey lodge, 202-426-6841. Ward 8 farmers market, “Hundred Dollar Holiday ,” Tom Dougherty: classic clowning, Fall floral workshop, Yoga for adults, Saturday morning yoga, w Cemetery tours, a docent leads a tour of the cemetery that provides a final resting place for John Philip Sousa and other notables. 11 a.m.-noon Saturdays through Nov. 1, Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E St. SE. Free. 202-543-0539. www.congressionalcemetery.org . Yoga, Yoga mortis: outdoor yoga in a cemetery, an all-levels class led by Ingrid Benecke, emphasizing alignment and breath in each posture; bring a yoga mat and preferred yoga props including blocks, blankets, straps and bolsters. 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m., Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E St. SE. Free; donation requested; registration required. www.eventbrite.com or 202-543-0539. Carillon recital, carillonneur Edward M. Nassor performs. 12:30 p.m., Washington National Cathedral, Bishop’s Garden and other outdoor areas, Wisconsin and Massachusetts avenues NW. Free. 202-537-6200 or www.nationalcathedral.org . History tour, visit the restored 1914 Connecticut-Copperthite Pie Co. truck, meet Michael C. Copperthite, a descendant of the founders (established 1885 in Georgetown), learn about the truck’s restoration, free pie samples distributed. 1 p.m., Georgetown Library, rear parking lot and terrace, 3260 R St. NW. Free. 202-727-0232. Portrait story days: Andy Warhol, Chess tournament, “The Wizard of Oz ,” Spooky Pooch Howl-o-ween celebration, “The Wall in Our Heads: American Artists and the Berlin Wall,” Guided bike ride, about three hours, led by a National Park Service ranger, with stops to discuss moments in American history; bring your bike, water and snacks; helmets required. 2-5 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, 900 Ohio Dr. SW. Free. 202-426-6841. “Bumming in Beijing,” Mariana to the Philippines, Power of Twitter, Gamers galore, “Where is Task Force 34?” 21st Century Consort: “Aviary,” Making the new “La bohème,” Chocolate City Rocks! Bamboo Brilliance: A Mujuan Shakuhachi Celebration, Ghosts and goblets Halloween party, All-Star Spoken Word Reunion, Sunday, Oct. 26 Palisades farmers market, locally grown seasonal produce year round, music by Sherier Mountain. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sundays, 48th Place and MacArthur Boulevard NW. www.palisadesfarmersmarket.com . Get it “write” study hall, Serene Sunday, view Marjorie Merriweather Post’s dazzling jewels amid a garden oasis. 1-5 p.m., Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. $15; 65 and older, $12; 6 to 18, $5; 5 and younger, free. 202-686-5807. Luce Artist Talk with Leslie Berns and Shelley Warren, Georgetown Library yoga, taught by


Get ready for the Marine Corps Marathon, whether you’re running in it or running away

from 23rd Street and Crystal Drive in Crystal City. Drivers can purchase guaranteed parking passes through the marathon Web site, www.marinemarathon.com. Race organizers suggest arriving a full two hours before the race begins, but 90 minutes should be plenty for most runners. Just be sure to leave extra time for train and security delays, porta-potty lines, bag check and chatting with fellow runners. Relish the opportunity to stand still and take in the scene around you: You won’t be able to do it again for 26.2 miles. ■ Five places to load up on pasta before the Marine Corps Marathon Carmine’s specializes in marathon-size portions of pasta. (Katherine Frey/THE WASHINGTON POST) Argia’s Olazzo Sette Osteria Carmine’s Pasta Mia I’m a spectator: How do I make the most of my MCM experience? Spectators cheer for the runners during the 37th annual Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, October 28, 2012. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post) Once the howitzer fires, there’s not much for runners to do except run. But spectators? Now is your time to shine. Prepare for race day by downloading the MCM app and registering to get real-time alerts about your runner. This will allow you to track the progress and keep an eye out as he or she approaches your station. Knowing what clothes your runner is wearing will make it easier to pick them out among the throng of athletes. You should also try to provide a sense of where you’ll be and what you’ll look like. And, if you say you’re going to be someplace, be there: As a runner, there’s nothing worse than looking forward to seeing a familiar face for 18 miles, only to find out that your friend overslept. A few more words on cheering etiquette: Keep it positive — “Looking strong” and “You can do it” are great — but don’t say “You’re almost there” or “Only six miles to go.” When someone has already run 20 miles, those final six-plus will seem endless. Unless the finish line is in sight, “almost there” is still not close enough. Make an inspirational sign (extra points for witty political cracks and sexual innuendo) and let your runner know what it will look like, since it can help them spot you during the race. But don’t leave your sign behind — that’s littering, and it’s rude. There are many fun spots along the marathon route for


Russian fighter suspected of terrorism and held in Afghanistan to be prosecuted in U.S.

A Russian captured fighting with insurgents in Afghanistan and held for years at a detention facility near Bagram air base will be flown to the United States to be prosecuted in federal court, according to U.S. officials. The move marks the first time a foreign combatant captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan and held by the U.S military at Bagram will be transferred to the United States for trial, a decision the Obama administration has weighed for months. With combat operations winding down, the administration’s authority to continue to hold the man was in question, and U.S. officials said Russia had little interest in getting him back. The detainee, known by the nom de guerre Irek Hamidullan, is suspected of leading several insurgent attacks in 2009 in which U.S. troops were wounded or killed. He was captured that year after being wounded in a firefight. Congress was recently notified that Hamidullan would be transferred to the United States, officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the decision to prosecute him had not been released publicly. Congress has barred the transfer to the United States for prosecution or continued detention of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but has not enacted a similar law preventing the movement of those held in Afghanistan. A spokesman for the Justice Department’s National Security Division declined to comment. It is not clear what terrorism charges Hamidullan will face. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement that he believes the Obama administration “is trying to undercut the military commission process,” by sending all terrorism suspects captured overseas to federal court, but that he accepted the decision on how to handle Hamidullan. “I would have preferred he be tried before a military commission, but I respect the decision to bring him to trial in an Article III court,” Graham said. “He has been held for a sufficient period of time as an enemy combatant and I believe we have gained valuable intelligence during this period.” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan declined in a statement to discuss specifics of the transfer, but said “the President’s national security team examined this matter and unanimously agreed that prosecution of this detainee in federal court was the best disposition option in this case.” Hamidullan, also a veteran of the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan, is expected to be tried in the Eastern District of Virginia, U.S.


Multiple cases of meningitis reported at U-Md.

Multiple cases of meningitis have been reported at the University of Maryland, College Park. Katie Lawson, a university spokeswoman, said that she did not know the number of cases, but knew that more than one student was sick. She did not know when the illness was first reported on campus. In a statement, the university’s health director, David McBride, said, “We have reached out to the organizations that are primarily affected with information about the condition and what to do in the event that they are feeling unwell.” Lawson did not immediately provide information about which organizations were referred to in McBride’s statement. She said the university was focused on outreach to those groups and was not offering preventative medications — including vaccines or antibiotics — at this time. According to the university’s Web site, all students are required by state law to be vaccinated against meningitis before enrolling or to sign a waiver indicating that they have chosen not to receive the vaccine. Outbreaks of meningitis In September, a Georgetown University sophomore died of the illness, which affects the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The university referred to the death of sophomore Andrea Jaime as an isolated case but offered preventative antibiotics to students who may have come in contact with Jaime. The illness is spread through exchange of respiratory and throat secretions, meaning kissing, sharing drinks, and similar close contact. McBride’s statement said that the confirmed and suspected cases at Maryland were viral meningitis, not the bacterial version of the illness. The cases at the other three universities were bacterial. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the viral version, though serious, is rarely fatal.


Islamic State militants allegedly used chlorine gas against Iraqi security forces

The men had been brought in from the front lines of the nearby town of Duluiyah. Tucked into a bend of the Tigris River, the town had been under heavy assault for days, according to the accounts of three survivors. Islamic State fighters had taken territory to the north, cutting the only direct land access to the river town, and had blown up the last bridge into the town. The police officers, all members of the Sunni Jabbour tribe, which has turned against the Islamic State, were guarding a line in the town’s north. After an exchange of fire, they said, they were surprised to see Islamic State fighters retreating from their position about 150 yards away. Suddenly there was a boom in the area the extremists had just vacated, said Lt. Khairalla al-Jabbouri, 31, one of the survivors. “It was a strange explosion. We saw a yellow smoke in the sky,” he said. The wind carried the fog toward their lines. The men say it hung close to the ground, consistent with the properties of chlorine gas, which is heavier than air. “I felt suffocated,” Jabbouri recalled. “I was throwing up and couldn’t breathe.” Another officer, Ammer Jassim Mohammed, 31, who suffers from asthma, said he passed out within minutes. The men were taken to a small clinic in Duluiyah, before being transferred by boat to the larger hospital in Balad, where they were treated with oxygen and hydrocortisone, an anti-inflammatory medication, until the symptoms began to subside. They were all discharged the following morning. The four physicians who treated them said there was no question that chlorine gas was to blame. One physician on the team, Hassanain Mohammed, had treated similar cases before. In 2006 and 2007, al-Qaeda in Iraq, a group that later morphed into the Islamic State, carried out a string of chlorine bombings in the country. Mohammed was on duty at a Baghdad hospital one day during that period when dozens of victims were brought in after a bombing in Taji district, just north of the capital, in which insurgents had packed a truck with explosives and two one-ton chlorine tanks. There have been no confirmed accounts of the use of chlorine gas as a weapon in Iraq for several years. An Iraqi Defense Ministry official confirmed this week that a bomb rigged with chlorine canisters was used in the Duluiyah attack. “They use it


Veterans have created a housing boom

that emphasizes the individual applicant rather than the algorithm-driven computer programs that dominate conventional lending. Also, VA interest rates are competitive and maximum loan amounts go well into the jumbo range. ●Lenders increasingly recognize VA loans as good business. Despite having features traditionally connected with high risks of serious default and foreclosure — zero-down-payment borrowers during the housing boom often performed poorly — VA’s default rates are as good as or better than “prime” conventional market performance and far superior to FHA’s. VA’s low rates of serious default are attributable in part to its intensive, hands-on servicing of mortgages. At the earliest hints that a borrower may be facing financial strains, VA servicers get in touch to begin finding ways of solving whatever problem may exist. ●Demand is booming. There are now an estimated 22 million veterans in this country, many of them with eligibility for VA loan benefits. In an era of extremely tight credit and underwriting in most segments of the marketplace, the VA program looks like an extended hand for creditworthy vets who don’t have large amounts of money to put down on a home purchase or are transitioning into regular employment in the mainstream economy. Meanwhile, with relatively little national publicity, growing numbers of financial institutions are partnering with nonprofit groups to help veterans with housing needs. Organizations such as Operation Homefront, the Military Warriors Support Foundation, HomeStrong USA and Purple Heart Homes have given away hundreds of houses acquired through donations from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, U.S Bank, SunTrust Mortgage and others. Bank of America alone has donated more than 1,500 houses to nonprofits that serve veterans, according to a spokesman. JPMorgan Chase has donated about 700, part of its commitment to give away at least 1,000. Wells Fargo has gifted $23 million worth mortgage-free homes to 150 veterans and families in 40 states. Some of the nonprofits maintain online listings of the homes they have available. The Military Warriors Support Foundation’s Homes 4 Wounded Heroes program displays a map showing the locations and photos of properties available across the country, along with guidelines for potential beneficiaries: They must be a vet wounded in combat (Purple Heart recipients are given priority) or an unmarried Gold Star spouse from any American conflict; must be honorably discharged or retired from the military; and must not currently have a mortgage. Operation Homefront has


UNC scandal not just about athletes; many who took ‘paper classes’ were not in sports

Correction: Much has been made of irregular “paper classes” at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which helped numerous student-athletes score high grades for little, if any, academic work. But one aspect of the latest report on the scandal, this one from investigator Kenneth L. Wainstein, is worth a closer look: It wasn’t just about special favors for student-athletes. The classes, which apparently offered no teaching and offered generous grading for term papers of dubious quality, persisted from 1993 to 2011. They provided more than 3,100 students with “one or more semesters of deficient instruction” within the African and Afro-American studies department, Wainstein reported. Previous reports have illuminated the scandal, which started to emerge in 2011, but Wainstein’s is considered the most comprehensive. It was commissioned by UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol L. Folt, who took office in 2013. How irregular were the courses? Wainstein reported that one “particularly popular class” was third-level Swahili, in which students who struggled at lower levels in the subject were able to satisfy a foreign language requirement “by writing a paper about Swahili culture in English rather [than] completing a regular Swahili 3 paper class in Swahili.” The report raises questions about how athletes were steered into these courses. But many who took them were not athletes. The report found that student-athletes accounted for 47.6 percent of “paper class” enrollment from 1999 to 2011. That meant the majority were not athletes. Who were they? Some stumbled into the classes without knowing they were bogus. But many sought them out. “As with any course that offers an easy path to a high grade, word of these classes got around,” the report says. Some academic advisers pointed students to them. The report recounts an incident in which a struggling student with an academic scholarship in a program known as Morehead-Cain scholars was referred to a “paper class” to bolster his grade-point average to avoid losing his grant. Word of the classes also circulated widely within fraternities. Two fraternity members told investigators that the classes were seen as “a ‘loophole’ in Chapel Hill’s otherwise demanding curriculum.” These members said that some of their non-athlete fraternity brothers took so many of the classes that they inadvertently wound up with minors in African and Afro-American studies. This raises questions about how many administrators at one of the nation’s most prestigious public universities knew about the scandal before it


Candy: The next battle in America’s health war?

an area that governments will have to increasingly address,” Tejada says. Tejada rattles off obesity and diabetes statistics the way a general spits out enemy troop strengths and locations. “Pick the sweet and the fatty stuff, live less. Pick the healthy stuff, and you’re likely to live longer.” And his message for America’s snack and candymakers is equally concise. “It might mean less sales for the product that they provide, but the writing is on the wall,” he says. “We’ve got a problem, and we have to address it. The candy companies are going to have to reinvent themselves and provide healthy options.” Wootan senses momentum and doesn’t want to see the sugar-removal effort stop at the boundaries of schools and public buildings. She is preparing a campaign to rid candy and unhealthy snacks from all checkout aisles of grocery and convenience stores. This strategy is borrowed from Great Britain, where earlier this year Tesco, the United Kingdom’s largest supermarket and convenience store chain, announced it would remove all candy at checkouts. Other U.K. chains are doing the same, says Malcolm Clark, coordinator of the London-based Children’s Food Campaign, which led the effort. Could candy removal work on this side of the Atlantic? Currently, most supermarkets in the United States have one or two checkout lanes where candy is not sold. Those are mostly intended for parents who have small children and don’t want to endure the ruthless negotiating of 4-year-olds with visions of Sour Patch Kids in their heads. But Wootan isn’t just worried about whiny kids; she’s also thinking about weak-willed grown-ups. “Companies know that at the end of a shop, your willpower is at a very low point, and then they assault you with this huge display of candy, knowing that it will induce impulse buying. Pushing people to buy food that they didn’t want, that is going to harm their health, just doesn’t seem appropriate, given the high rates of obesity.” Of course, the idea of restricting choice simply because Americans may not want to make a healthy choice is not roundly popular, particularly not with … Americans. But what is to be done and who should decide? Is America capable of going on a diet and eating healthier without being pushed and prodded and punished to do so? 8.6 six-inch Twizzlers have approximately 25 grams of added sugar. (Scott Suchman/For The Washington Post) There’s a


A Fed policy that hurts seniors

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has raised concerns about our growing income inequality. However, the Oct. 18 news article “Fed chief tackles economic inequality” stated that she did not “address in her prepared text whether the Fed has contributed to inequality.” Ms. Yellen need look no further than the Fed’s recent Survey of Consumer Finances to see how the policy of low interest rates has adversely affected older households. The report shows that the median income of the 12 million households headed by people age 75 or older declined 9 percent from 2010 to 2013, almost double the rate for all households. Also, the median net worth of older households fell by 16 percent during the same period, compared with a drop of 2 percent for all households. Many older householders are living on fixed incomes and depend on interest income. We saw a similar effect on older savers in the 1970s when the Fed imposed a cap on the amount of interest banks could pay on savings deposits and certificates of deposit. Sophisticated depositors put their money in Treasury bills or money market funds. Elderly groups such as the Gray Panthers successfully lobbied to end the Fed’s discriminatory policy. It is surprising that similar efforts have not been made against the Fed’s current policy. Kenneth A. McLean, Arlington


Michael Gerson: The world is in denial about Ebola’s true threat

GANTA, LIBERIA  October 18: A nurse working at the Ebola holding center at the Ganta Hospital prepares to enter the compounds high-risk zone by putting on protective equipment, on October 18, 2014 in Ganta, Liberia. (Tanya Bindra/For The Washington Post) It is such a relief about that Ebola thing. The threat of a U.S. outbreak turned out to be overhyped. A military operation is underway to help those poor Liberians. An Ebola czar (what is his name again?) has been appointed to coordinate the U.S. government response. The growth of the disease in Africa, by some reports, seems to have slowed. On to the next crisis. Except that this impression of control is an illusion, and a particularly dangerous one. The Ebola virus has multiplied in a medium of denial. There was the initial denial that a rural disease, causing isolated outbreaks that burned out quickly, could become a sustained, urban killer. There is the (understandable) denial of patients in West Africa, who convince themselves that they have flu or malaria (the symptoms are similar to Ebola) and remain in communities. And there is the form of denial now practiced by Western governments — a misguided belief that an incremental response can get ahead of an exponentially growing threat. The remarkable success of Nigerian authorities in tracing and defeating their Ebola outbreak has created a broad impression that the disease is contained. Some administration officials are privately citing the news of empty hospital beds in parts of Liberia as a welcome development. But the disease is not contained within Liberia and Sierra Leone. Aid officials debate the reasons for empty beds in some health-care facilities. Are people infected with Ebola staying at home out of fear (since reporting to a health-care facility must seem like a death sentence)? Is this a dip in infections before the next rise — a phenomenon we’ve seen before? Are there many more invisible cases beyond the reach of roads and communications? (The relief organization Samaritan’s Purse reports finding some remote villages in Liberia decimated by the disease.) The least likely explanation, at this point, is that Ebola has run its course. To halt the spread of Ebola, many more people need to be isolated in treatment centers according to CDC models. (Patterson Clark/The Washington Post/Source: CDC) Until there is a vaccine, limiting the spread of Ebola depends on education and behavior change. People


Charles Lane: Colorado’s marijuana experiment has a bitter aftertaste

down to $47 million. Optimistic projections assumed users of medical marijuana, legal in the state since 2000, would switch to recreational marijuana, to avoid the hassle and cost of seeing a doctor. Instead, the number of red cards has increased slightly because medical pot is far more lightly taxed, and hence roughly 40 percent cheaper, than recreational. For heavy users, that adds up. LoDo distributes advertisements for $55 red-card consultations at the Canna Health Clinic; “pay less in taxes,” they urge. In economic parlance, this is known as “regulatory arbitrage.” The failure to have anticipated it makes the continuation of medical pot “the biggest challenge” for the new system, according to Sam Kamin, a professor at the University of Denver law school. Meanwhile, millions in marijuana revenue may be refunded anyway, under Colorado’s unique constitutional provision that requires the government to give back money when state revenue growth exceeds the rate of inflation plus population growth. No one knows exactly what to do about that or many other issues that have cropped up — such as the persistence of the untaxed black market or how to measure the impairment of pot-using motorists. Colorado could eliminate the medical-recreational distinction. If the latter is available, why keep the former? But then people would have to admit that the vast majority of “medical” usage is, and always was, recreational. The likes of Canna Health Clinic would be put out of business, too. As for edibles, the state public health department told a state pot advisory panel on Monday to ban them, except for lozenges and oils, noting a “definite risk to children.” The cannabis industry quickly shot that idea down; it appears pot growers and retailers have already achieved a measure of “regulatory capture.” The industry’s alternative is clearer labeling. That could backfire, too. “A stamp would just help [kids] find it,” LoDo employee Liza Baker told me, citing conversations with middle school teachers she knows. None of this proves Colorado’s brave new world is worse than the status quo ante; there were high costs to pot prohibition, too. Every regulatory dilemma for legal pot is analogous to those facing alcoholic beverages or cigarettes. Still, what’s impressive — and, for other states, instructive — about this libertarian project is that it hinges on well-informed, impartial government regulation, free of undue special-interest influence, about which libertarians are ordinarily and properly skeptical. Colorado may yet


New York physician who worked in Guinea tests positive for Ebola

were infected. Pham is being treated at a National Institutes of Health facility in Bethesda, Md. Vinson is at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta; her family said this week that she appears to be free of the virus. Earlier this month, Cuomo designated Bellevue as one of eight hospitals in the state that could care for potential Ebola patients. An official said Thursday evening that any hospital in the city should be prepared to identify and isolate potential Ebola patients. According to Spencer’s public LinkedIn profile, he attended Johns Hopkins University and studied Chinese language and literature at Henan University in China. He later went to medical school at Wayne State University in Detroit and earned a master’s degree in public health at Columbia University. The New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Web site says Spencer has worked in the past on “multiple projects in East Africa,” including helping develop an emergency care teaching curriculum in Rwanda. He also spent time working in Burundi and in Congo. Late Thursday, a media swarm descended on the brick-and-stone six-story apartment building where Spencer lives in a busy section of Harlem. Residents of the building said that the building supervisor called each of the building’s 200 to 300 tenants to inform them that Spencer was being hospitalized. “I feel sorry for the individual: I feel sorry for his family,” said Alvin McCain, who was walking his aunt home to her apartment on West 147th Street. But he added, “This is going to take New York into a frenzy.” Word of a potential Ebola case in New York came as Mali’s health minister confirmed that country’s first case Thursday. The patient is a 2-year-old girl who recently traveled from Guinea, according to government officials. Since the beginning of the outbreak, the World Health Organization has counted nearly 10,000 likely cases of Ebola in eight countries: Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Spain and the United States. The vast majority are in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The official death toll for the outbreak has risen to nearly 5,000, though the actual loss of life is probably far higher. Wesley Lowery in New York and Abby Ohlheiser, Lena H. Sun, DeNeen Brown and Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report. Related: Ebola vaccine deemed safe, but will it work? Health minister: Mali confirms its first Ebola case N.Y. health worker returning from West Africa is evaluated for Ebola


Ebola crisis rekindles concerns about secret research in Russian military labs

2012 book, “Spillover,” a worker named Nadezhda Makovetskaya cut herself at a facility that was developing an experimental treatment for Ebola derived from blood serum from horses. The job was unusually risky because of the test animals’ size, Lt. Gen. Valentin Yevstigneyev, a Defense Ministry official overseeing biodefense work, was quoted as telling Russian journalists. “It is difficult to describe working with a horse infected with Ebola,” he said. “One false step, one torn glove and the consequences would be grave.” Despite wearing layers of protective clothing, the woman suffered a cut that penetrated her gloves, he said. Makovetskaya hid the accident from her bosses until it was too late, he said. Her death would be noted in records of the World Health Organization as the first Ebola fatality stemming from a laboratory accident anywhere in the world. In the second incident, a Russian lab worker contracted Ebola in 2004 while working with infected guinea pigs in the Vector virology research center outside Novosibirsk. The victim, Antonina Presnyakova, 46, was drawing blood from one of the animals on May 4 when she accidentally pricked her left hand with a needle that pierced two layers of gloves. Presnyakova was immediately hospitalized, but despite medical treatment she contracted the disease and died two weeks later. A notorious past The facilities that reported the accidents have a notorious past, having once been part of a larger complex of Soviet laboratories and testing facilities devoted to the science of biological warfare. Russian President Boris Yeltsin confirmed the existence of the secret program to top U.S. officials in the early 1990s after declaring an end to bioweapons research in the months after the Soviet Union’s dismantling. Afterward, successive U.S. administrations dispatched experts and resources to the former Soviet republics to help secure dangerous pathogens and support the transition to peaceful research at civilian-run labs, including Vector, one of two known repositories for the smallpox virus. U.S. experts collected first-person accounts of the research and visited outdoor testing facilities where dogs, monkeys and other animals were exposed to deadly pathogens, encounters described in the Pulitzer Prize-winning history “The Dead Hand,” by former Washington Post editor David Hoffman. But Russian officials refused to grant access to military laboratories and never offered a full accounting of past weapons research or described how they disposed of weaponized biological agents. But more recently, new historical scholarship, drawing from Soviet-era records


At Marine Corps Marathon, runners find their own reasons

said. “It’s a way to prove that I can actually thrive and do better than before. And that brokenness doesn’t have to stay broken forever.” Chirstian Fazio, a former Marine and Iraqi war veteran, faced many demons upon his return to the United States. (Photo by Checko Salgado) ‘I need to turn this around’ When Christian Fazio returned to the United States in 2005 from his nine-month tour with the Marine Corps in Iraq, he couldn’t adjust to normal life. He was in the Marines for six years, and combat messed with the mind. When he was in Iraq, he drove the bodies of 14 fellow soldiers to the airport to be shipped home. After returning to the United States, he saw his fallen soldiers referenced on TV when he was working as a hotel bellman. He broke down crying and left work for the day. He slept near the front door of his house, keeping guard like a soldier in a combat zone. “I had a fully furnished house and a family and still felt alone,” said Fazio, 30. And his body was in rough shape. The Las Vegas resident gained 40 pounds. He turned to fast food and alcohol too often. He couldn’t sleep, so he would write and create art. A few years later, around 2009, he started running, another outlet from his high school days when he was on the cross-country team. “I was just going down this dark road,” he said. “I really don’t remember the day or what I felt, but I thought, ‘Enough is enough. I need to turn this around.’ I started running a mile around the house. Then it built up. I didn’t even think of a marathon. I was just running for me. It got my mind off of things.” Fazio’s stamina improved. He ran a half-marathon. Then obstacles runs. He ran his first 26.2-mile race last year, the Las Vegas Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon. His life improved, too. He got help for his mental distress. He completed his college degree in art last year, too, and is now a graphic designer at a fine arts studio in Las Vegas. He also works with a nonprofit,Home Deployment Project, which helps those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. “I feel like I was running from something,” Fazio said. “Now I feel like I’m running to something. Now I have inspiration and motivation.”


Congress expresses doubt about U.S. Ebola precautions

at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said the risk of a significant Ebola outbreak in the United States is “remote.” “Based on the first U.S. cases, HHS has already made adjustments to minimize the spread of Ebola,” she said. “These include tightened guidance for the use of personal protective equipment, an expanded aggressive national education campaign for health-care workers, and screening and active monitoring of passengers entering the United States, now funneled through five airports.” She said it was natural that procedures had changed after the disease appeared in the United States. But Deborah Burger, co-president of National Nurses United, told lawmakers that American health-care workers remained at risk. She said nurses had gotten inconsistent instructions, were often left to make decisions about proper precautions for themselves and at times had been forced to improvise their own protective gear. She said only new, legally required guidelines would ensure medical facilities will provide workers the protection they need. “The response to Ebola from U.S. hospitals and governmental agencies has been dangerously inconsistent and inadequate,” she said. John Roth, the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, told lawmakers that the administration had mishandled a nearly $50 million program to prepare for pandemics. The Department purchased coveralls and surgical masks, for example, that may have been unneeded, while other gear, such as respirators, had expired, Roth said. Officials are now working to address those problems, he said. “I think it’s evident by the hearing today and hearings that will go on that you’re not bringing us a sense of security,” said Tim Walberg (R-Mich.). Lawmakers also probed officials about plans for protecting troops sent to West Africa. “The safety of our service members . . . is absolutely paramount, and while you can never mitigate risk to zero, I think we’ve taken all the steps to mitigate the risk,” said Michael Lumpkin, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict. Officials acknowledged the U.S. government would currently only be able to bring less than 10 symptomatic soldiers home per week. The military is working to develop isolation pods that could move up to 15 sick patients by air at a time. Defense officials explained some guidelines for keeping soldiers safe in West Africa. For example: asking soldiers to stand three feet from local nationals and washing their hands with chlorine. Soldiers’ temperatures will be taken twice a day.


As customer needs change, local institutions are banking on technology

pay for purchases using their iPhones and Apple Watches. Capital One created the Labs spinoff in early 2011 and opened its Arlington location a year later. (There are also offices in San Francisco and in New York.) The idea, executives said, is to create an in-house incubator for new technology that can be fed directly to the parent company. “At Capital One, we’re embedding technology, data and software development deeply into our business model and how we work,” Richard D. Fairbank, founder, chairman and chief executive of the company said in a call with investors two weeks ago. “Banking inherently is a digital product, and digital will transform banking over time.” In 2012, Capital One paid $9 billion for online bank ING Direct as part of its efforts to beef up its Internet presence. The company continues to add engineers, product developers, designers and data scientists, and earlier this month, it acquired Adaptive Path, a San Francisco design consulting firm. “The momentum around digital is building across financial services,” Fairbank said. “Ultimately, the winners in banking will have the capability of a world-class software company.” Emphasis on mobile banking Need a credit card? Well, Navy Federal Credit Union has an app for that. Two and a half years ago, the Vienna-based credit union scrapped its third-party mobile apps and decided to start anew. It moved its mobile technology team in-house and began designing what its customers seemed to be looking for: Apps that would allow them to apply for credit and debit cards, redeem cash rewards and see real-time updates using their phones and tablets. It seems to be working: More than 30 percent of the credit union’s members now use its mobile apps on a monthly basis, with the average person logging into their account 19 times each month. “Mobile has become the easiest way to interact with us,” said Randy Hopper, vice president of credit cards for Navy Federal Credit Union. “The results have been pretty astronomical.” At Bank of Georgetown, which began offering mobile banking earlier this year, much of the company’s technology operations are handled by third-party contractors, a necessity for a bank of its size with about $1 billion in assets, executives said. “It’s the only way we can compete with the big guys,” said Domingo Rodriguez, chief financial officer and executive vice president for the District-based bank. “Emphasis number one is on data security.


Deltek: Federal government’s spending on health IT is one area that is growing

over the next five years from $4.3 billion in 2014 to $4.8 billion in 2019. Technology requirements and demand for increased capabilities are likely to fuel investments in electronic health records, analytics, decision support systems, telehealth, storage and cloud computing. Procurements for Veterans Affairs and Defense electronic record programs are currently receiving much attention, providing the most year-over-year growth for the segment. One of the more innovative and interesting market categories is that of “promoter” of health care. These are government health departments charged with protecting citizens from health risks such as communicable diseases and bio-terrorism. They also promote public wellness through campaigns targeted toward reducing smoking, diabetes and obesity, as well as increasing population insurance coverage and improving prenatal care. Several federal agencies act as promoters of public health as part of their missions. The promoter category is dominated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health, where spending should remain steady at $900 million annually throughout the forecast period. Advances in technology now allow agencies to collect, store and compare data; conduct research; and analyze massive amounts of information to further efforts to find cures, contain outbreaks and uncover risk factors. In fact, biomedical research data is amassing at a rate that can’t be handled by traditional IT tools. Agencies are trying innovative methods to store, retrieve and analyze such large data sets. For instance, the National Cancer Institute is testing a cloud-based infrastructure to process, store and analyze its massive genomic data sets. NCI awarded three contracts in September for pilot projects to create cloud computing environments that are to house a Cancer Genome Atlas totaling 2.5 petabytes in size. (One petabyte equals 1,000 terabytes.) Similarly, the CDC is using technology to track the locations of cellphone users calling emergency call centers in West Africa in order to predict the onset and spread of Ebola outbreaks. Contractors may want to pay heed, and make use of new IT technology to pose innovative solutions for making large data sets available to researchers across the country. Angie Petty is a senior principal research analyst for Herndon-based Deltek, which conducts analysis on the government contracting market and can be found at www.deltek.com. . More from Capital Business: For a daily rundown of Washington area business news, sign up for the “CapBiz A.M.” e-mail newsletter.


The District can use technology to make life better for residents

The District could be a leader in the United States — and worldwide — in using technology to improve the lives of its residents and visitors. As a rapidly growing city with a diverse and highly educated population, the District is a leader in law, education, tourism and, of course, government. With this mass of educated and engaged citizens, the District can use technology to make local government more efficient and promote the further development of vibrant commercial corridors across the city. That’s why the District government should join other leading cities in establishing an office dedicated to tech-based solutions to local, urban problems. The networks that communities use to share information and facilitate commerce have evolved across U.S. history from waterways to railroads to broadband. As the Georgetown waterfront was once a profitable international shipping hub, cities today are leveraging their advantages to attract technology innovators. In Boston, for example, the mayor’s office found partners for its civic technology incubator (the Office of New Urban Mechanics) at Harvard University and Emerson College. Kansas City won a contest and became the first city where Google built its super-high-speed Internet service. And New York City, under the leadership of tech-savvy mayor Michael Bloomberg, developed in 2011 a “Road Map for the Digital City” to establish itself as a world leader in Internet access, open government, citizen engagement and digital industry growth. True to the District’s status as a world political capital, the leaders in the city’s government, business and educational institutions should work together to benefit the region’s civic and economic future: ● The next mayor must establish a unified program housed in the mayor’s office and focused on using technology, data and innovation to make the city’s government more efficient and responsive to residents’ needs. Initiatives, perhaps similar to Boston’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, should be developed and executed in partnership with local companies, universities and nonprofits. ● Within such a program, the businesses and government could systematically encourage and support new grass-roots organizations similar to the Kennedy Street Development Association, which is using Facebook and Twitter to recruit residents and businesses, and whose investments signal the rebranding of an ailing commercial corridor as a lively mixed commercial and residential neighborhood. Memphis’s MEMshop.org business incubation program is a good model. ● Critical support for such a unified program is locally available because many global experts on telecommunications and Internet


Marijuana’s addictive risk shouldn't be ignored

2.7 million Americans over age 12 are dependent on marijuana, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. For those who’ve used the drug at least once, the risk of becoming addicted is roughly 9 percent. It’s 17 percent for those who begin in adolescence, and for those who get high daily, the addiction risk is 25 percent to 50 percent. Still, despite marijuana’s addictive potential, legalizing makes far more sense than prohibition. For that reason I was one of the sponsors of Washington state’s Initiative 502, which was approved by 56 percent of the voters in 2012. In addition to mandating a tightly regulated market, this new law earmarks excise taxes to support public education about marijuana, proven prevention programs targeting teens, treatment services for youth who get in over their heads with pot, research on marijuana and a systematic evaluation of the law’s impact on public health and safety. Under prohibition, illicit marijuana enterprises have flourished, leading to horrific violence among competitors and other steep fiscal and social costs, including egregious racial inequities in how enforcement has been carried out. We are paying another price by maintaining a criminal approach as well, and that is the large-scale distortion of the truth about pot. Those arguing against legalization often exaggerate marijuana’s risks, rarely acknowledging that most occasional users are not harmed, while proponents of legalization tend to give short shrift to the risks to health and safety. Legalization needs to be accompanied by a substantial investment in marijuana education, prevention, treatment, research and policy evaluation. The Washington model deserves a close look by others heading down the same path. Several weeks ago, during a reading of my memoir in a Maine bookstore, I noticed a woman, likely in her mid-30s, sitting by herself. She moved all of us by talking about the struggle she had been undergoing trying to quit pot over the past nine months. Seventeen years of regularly getting high had brought her to a crossroads. “I didn’t want to leave myself behind,” she told us. Clear away the hyperbole, and the rationale for legalizing marijuana is compelling. But stories like hers — and mine — about marijuana’s addiction potential absolutely have to be part of the discussion. Ruth Marcus: The perils of legalized pot Charles Lane: Colorado’s marijuana experiment has a bitter aftertaste The Post’s View: D.C. voters should reject the rush to legalize


Companies shouldn’t cave in to the demands of climate change activists

minority of well-organized, professional activists intent on chilling speech and marginalizing the voice of business and job creators in U.S. society. The goal of these activists is to have business bow to their ideological will and reshape companies in their desired image. Their attacks on businesses’ protected speech and political participation are intended to sideline the entrepreneurial perspective and silence the opportunity for nuanced policy discussions. More pressure campaigns are underway, and the attacks won’t stop until companies — and their leaders — take a stand. Climate change is a big issue; informed discussion is desperately needed and solutions are not immediately obvious. It is counterproductive and dishonest to assign people and companies to one of only two possible camps when complicated policy and economic issues need to be addressed. Decisions on climate revolve around energy production and consumption, which in turn have implications in such vital areas as job growth, innovation, global air quality, grid maintenance and power generation. These are not small considerations. When discussing climate, scientists may agree that some policy change is warranted, but they also agree that action by a single state or nation will make little difference. China and India are the biggest and third-biggest producers, respectively, of carbon dioxide emissions, and their leaders were absent from the recent U.N. Climate Summit. At a time when American families are still recovering from joblessness and the recession, should the United States commit to an energy policy that puts U.S. jobs, and the economy, at risk? Last month, 15 governors sent a letter to President Obama expressing their concern over the power-plant regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency that are estimated to retire enough electrical capacity to power 60 million homes. To be sure, the Cato Institute used an EPA-supported climate model to find that if the power plant plan is implemented entirely, a mere 0.018 degrees Celsius rise in global temperature would be averted. But this information seems to be lost on the activists, who are all too willing to brand companies and groups as “climate change deniers.” No form of energy is perfect. The debate is so much more complicated than the simplistic notion of switching from traditional energy sources to renewable ones. Energy sources generate power in very different ways, and unlike traditional coal-burning power plants that reliably generate power, wind energy is volatile and unpredictable. As we head into the election


Clouds complicate viewing of partial solar eclipse in the D.C. area

A partial eclipse of the sun, a spellbinding celestial event, occurred Thursday afternoon, but because of earthly circumstances it may have been seen in the Washington area primarily by optimists. The eclipse, in which the moon covered part of the sun for a time, reached its peak here late in the afternoon, shortly before the sun sank in the west. It also came on an afternoon on which a fair amount of cloud cover was predicted. Those who managed to get a look included Jeff Gamble of Fairfax County, who used the Internet to find a place with a good view of the horizon. Such a place, he was told, can be found near the intersection of routes 29 and 28 in Fairfax. Earlier in the afternoon, Gamble said, the “clouds were pretty bad.” But, said the aptly named Gamble, he, his wife and his son “decided to take a chance on it.” Their reward was the relatively rare sight of the moon seeming to eat into the solar disk. It was a sight that another Washington-area witness, Rachel Sanderoff, saw for a few minutes from a rooftop in Bethesda. It was not a complete eclipse, she noted, but was still “pretty spectacular.”


On baseball: Maddon’s departure and the importance of a manager-GM relationship

the off-field continuity is broken. And for Friedman and Maddon, there will be no reunion, not immediately anyway. “Don Mattingly will be our manager next season and hopefully for a long time to come,” Friedman said in a statement released by the Dodgers. Yes, Mattingly — whose in-game strategy has been scrutinized for years, and continued to be during this postseason — could be jettisoned if Los Angeles starts slowly in 2015. But for Friedman to replace him with Maddon in that hypothetical, Maddon would have to refrain from taking a job this offseason. Right now, there’s only one job open — Minnesota. But again, there must be a GM or team president somewhere — The Cubs’ Theo Epstein, who chose Terry Francona over Maddon 11 years ago in Boston? — salivating over the prospect of Maddon. Which brings us to the following, central question, about which there is much debate: What is the value of a baseball manager, anyway? “Well, contrary to what the SABR people say, I think literally he’s the difference-maker,” Sabean said, referring to the number-crunching members of the Society for American Baseball Research, who are often cast as discounting the game’s human element altogether. “He’s the guy that’s got to get guys ready to play, he’s got to keep guys ready to contribute on an everyday basis. “In Boch’s case, the great gift that he has is to use the whole roster. Doesn’t have a doghouse. . . . He’s been very good to allow the culture of the team, player-wise, to be formed on its own in the clubhouse. And he’s certainly very good behind closed doors.” Friday night, the ballpark in China Basin along the harbor of this beautiful city was lit with the electricity provided by another sellout, another October, another World Series. Even after a bite-your-lip 3-2 loss that put the Giants behind in the Series, the fans draped in orange and black could file out into the night, into their weekend, knowing the men who run their franchise and the direction they’ll take it. They used to know that in Tampa. Now, there has to be a general manager ready to pounce on Maddon in hopes of establishing that same vibe in a different city, dreaming of recreating the scene to which San Francisco has grown accustomed. More on the World Series: Game 3 box score: Royals 3, Giants 2


Animal Watch: Girl bitten on the way to school in Chevy Chase

CHEVY CHASE, Among cases received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division.


Tessemae’s salad dressing hits Whole Foods, Safeway after humble start at family parties

to sell the new company bottles. A lacrosse buddy designed the labels. They bought lemons and garlic and other ingredients at grocery stores, paying retail. He even pleaded with a Maryland Health Department employee to expedite his packaging approval. He found a bottling-wax company in Wisconsin that FedEx’d what he needed. He used his mom’s kitchen double boiler to seal the bottles with the wax. The first cases of Tessemae’s Lemon Garlic were mixed at Adam’s Ribs restaurant in Eastport, Md. The restaurant became the company’s kitchen for the next two-plus years. The salad dressing’s debut in May 2009 was a huge hit: Whole Foods sold out four cases in 30 minutes. The next day, six cases sold out in 45 minutes. The first few months were rough. Vetter and his wife, Genevieve, who worked at a staffing firm, gutted their retirement accounts to cover the company’s expenses. They kept their full-time jobs for the next two years so they had something to live on. “We just didn’t know how you were supposed to do something,” he said. Vetter’s brother Brian became the first official employee and its general manager on May 1, 2010. He has since been promoted to head of sales. As they grew, they began to cut costs. They found a bottle manufacturer in Kentucky that reduced the cost of bottles from 50 cents each to about 30 cents. Eventually, they were able to reduce the retail price of a 10-ounce bottle of dressing from $6.99 to $5.49. “We wanted to get it under $6.99 for sure,” Vetter said. “Five is the magic number for refrigerated dressing. We had to get in that range.” The company now makes hundreds of thousands of bottles a month at a manufacturing facility near Baltimore dubbed “The Tree Fort,” from their childhood days zip-lining in the woods near home. By the summer of 2010, a year after their debut in Annapolis, Whole Foods bumped them up from 18 stores to 42, more than doubling the company’s presence. “It was massive,” said Vetter. “We essentially got a national deal with Whole Foods.” Now they could really take on economies of scale with up to $100,000 worth of dressing orders a month. They found a Florida company that sold them an automated line to bottle the dressing. Not knowing anything about food manufacturing, they learned after buying the bottling line that they needed


War amputees in Afghanistan face harsh lives of discrimination and poverty

Shamsullah, 10, waits for dressings on his wounds to be changed. His legs were amputated after he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) while walking to school in Helmand province’s Sangin district three months ago. (Holly Pickett/For The Washington Post) No one knows how many there actually are. Decades of conflict have made tallying Afghanistan’s war-related amputees — the victims of land mines, unexploded ordnance and roadside bombs — essentially impossible, health officials say. But as the battle between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters rages, humanitarian workers also say potent improvised explosive devices laid by insurgents are contributing to a significant rise in traumatic limb amputations for Afghan civilians and combatants. And even as the population of Afghans who are missing limbs grows, amputees face discrimination and the harsh stigma of being disabled. Their families, too, often cannot cope with the strain of caring for severely disabled relatives in a country crushed by poverty and high rates of illiteracy. Afghan policeman Matiullah, 26, watches Fathi Momand, 50, walk during Matiullah’s first physical therapy session, two days after his legs were amputated. (Holly Pickett/For The Washington Post) Shah Zada, 25, allows therapist Sardar Wali to exercise the remains of his amputated legs. Shah Zada, an Afghan soldier, was injured by an IED. (Holly Pickett/For The Washington Post) “Socially and financially, their lives are destroyed,” Emanuele Nannini, program director at the Italian nonprofit Emergency, which operates health-care centers across Afghanistan, said of Afghan amputees. From January to June this year, Emergency’s Center for War Trauma Victims in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, performed 69 amputations. The fiercest fighting between the two sides usually takes place in the warmer summer months. Emergency then sends the amputees to the nearby International Committee for the Red Cross orthopedic facility for long-term rehabilitation. The patients receive vocational training and other support to reintegrate them into society. The ICRC said that between April and June this year, it admitted 351 amputee patients to its facilities across Afghanistan. Doctors amputate the legs of Afghan policeman Matiullah, 26, at Emergency Surgical Center for Civilian War Victims in Lashkar Gah. Matiullah stepped on an improvised explosive device, which blew off part of his left leg and shredded the right leg. (Holly Pickett/For The Washington Post) But for the most part, amputees “are completely dependent on their families, and they become a huge burden,”


NATO coalition hands over two major bases to Afghan military

C-130 transport aircraft on Oct. 25 as they prepare to withdraw from the Camp Bastion-Leatherneck complex at Lashkar Gah in Helmand province. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images) “Mistakes were made militarily, mistakes were made by the politicians at the time, and this goes back 10, 13 years, some time now,” Fallon told the BBC on Sunday. “But let’s don’t ignore what has been achieved.” Fallon said the majority of British troops would be home by Christmas. Although about 34,000 coalition troops remain in Afghanistan, President Obama has pledged to cut that number in half by January. Under a security agreement that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani recently signed with the United States, Obama plans to keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan next year. About 3,000 troops from other nations are also expected to remain in Afghanistan to help train and support the Afghan army and police force. Sunday’s ceremony means Afghan security forces now have full access to a sprawling military complex that includes more than 6,500 acres of desert land. The handover includes the transfer of at least $230 million in coalition assets to the Afghan army — mostly dozens of miles of concrete roads as well as hundreds of buildings, generators and air conditioners — and sets the stage for one of the U.S. military’s largest overseas base closures since the end of the Iraq war, coalition officials said. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, some of the bloodiest battles of the Afghan war have occurred in Helmand. About 400 British soldiers have been killed there, as well as more than 350 U.S. Marines. U.S. Marines lower their flag during a handover ceremony in Afghanistan’s Helmand province on Oct. 26 as the last U.S. Marines unit and British combat troops end their Afghan operations. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters) As coalition forces ended combat operations last year, the numbers of casualties they suffered in Helmand slowed dramatically. But Afghan forces continue to meet stiff resistance in the province, raising considerable doubts about their ability to prevent Taliban advances. Over the summer, Afghan forces faced repeated attacks near Sangin, a town in northern Helmand that is close to some of country’s most abundant and profitable poppy fields. But Afghan and coalition commanders say the Taliban offensive largely failed, which has boosted the morale of Afghan troops. “I can assure you, the ANA has already been conducting operations by themselves, in the battlefield, and no


Army runners shine at Marine Corps Marathon

was the first marathon for Wilkins in three years; she had a baby in June. She also finished second in the Marine Corps Marathon in 2008. The 2014 Marine Corps Marathon is held in Virginia and Washington, D.C., with 30,000 runners. “It was definitely warmer and windier than I was expecting,” Wilkins said. “I think that’s why some of the times are probably slower.” Kosgei, Sialo and David Kiplagat ran the race together as the top Army male representatives, but around the 14th mile, the 30-year-old Kosgei noticed his Army teammates start to run “heavy” beside him. He told them he was going to pull ahead and chase down the leader before it was too late. When he reached the final hill, Kosgei said it was “the hardest thing ever.” He worried that if someone were close behind, he would get passed. He had seen video of the course, but running it for the first time, the sudden incline at the end took him by surprise. By the time Kosgei turned the corner and made his way down the home stretch, there was no other runner in sight. He was posing for photos by the time Sialo crossed the finish line. Kosgei’s smile widened when he realized the Army team took first and second place. “This is a big deal for me,” Kosgei said. “Just finishing the marathon is a big deal. I came here for a win, so I got excited when I won it. I came here to have fun and enjoy the race.” Originally from Uganda, Kosgei ran track at Lamar University in Texas, where he was a two-time All-American. The Junction City, Kan., resident said he hopes to compete in the 2016 Olympics, so Sunday’s result was significant for him. Sialo, from Colorado Springs, also was a decorated distance runner at Central Missouri State, but the most he had run competitively was a half marathon. Sialo said he didn’t know what would happen after the 20th mile, so his plan was to reach that point and then work from there. As he neared the end of the marathon, there were no other runners around, so he had to ask spectators which way to go, unfamiliar with the course. “I was just following the people and looking at where they were standing,” Sialo said. “The cones helped. It was a good experience.” The 20-mile mark also was


Michael Chertoff: The case for suspending U.S. visas in Ebola-affected countries

— specifically, mutated avian influenza. If that virus had achieved efficient human-to-human transmission, it would have rapidly globalized, and closing borders would have had little lasting impact. Simply put, it is difficult to shut out the entire world. But Ebola is not a highly efficient contagion. For months, the vast majority of cases have been concentrated in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. There, the disease is still uncontrolled due to inadequate medical infrastructure and family-oriented medical and burial customs. As demonstrated by the tragic case of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died of Ebola in Dallas, there is a real risk that people who come into contact with a contagious individual in these countries could bring the disease to the United States. Unlike in a global pandemic, it is possible to reduce the risk of Ebola importation by suspending all but essential travel to the United States from just those three nations. The government simply has to suspend travel visas for citizens and residents of those nations. Contrary to administration warnings, this does not mean impeding the travel of essential medical personnel to the region to help stamp out the epidemic at its source. Trained medical and other aid experts should be supported in going to West Africa, but as the lesson of New York doctor Craig Spencer makes clear, they need to be more closely monitored in country and upon their return. In particular, they should be restricted in returning to medical or other work involving close physical contact with others in the United States until they are cleared of any risk of infection. Equally misguided is the contention by Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that a visa suspension would drive affected travelers underground, leading them to sneak into the United States unscreened and unmonitored. Whether a Liberian flies to Europe or drives across Africa to an airport in an unaffected country, he or she would still have to present a Liberian passport to board a plane to the United States. At that point, a visa suspension would result in a denial of boarding. Nor is it realistic to fear that our hypothetical traveler would sneak across our land borders. First, we can and should coordinate a visa suspension with Canada and Mexico. Second, smugglers are unlikely to welcome migrants who may be physically unfit to make an arduous trip while


In Florida, a water-pollution warning that glows at night

at one point stretched 100 miles. From Southern California’s beaches to the Chesapeake Bay, waterways across the United States are seeing increasing numbers of algae blooms, with impacts including tainted drinking water and poisoned shellfish beds. Some are linked to higher levels of nitrogen pollution from livestock waste and fertilizers from suburban lawns and farms. Others are mostly natural events that are occurring in new places as oceans and inland lakes grow warmer. Harmful algal blooms occur when colonies of certain types of algae grow out of control. Certain types of algae produce toxins that enter the food chain through fish and shellfish. Local economies at risk But in Florida, where three-quarters of the state’s 20 million residents live in coastal counties, a sudden change in the water is more than a colorful curiosity. Algae blooms, with their potential for damaging local economies, are the subject of particularly intense research here, as scientists and environmental officials seek to pinpoint their cause while improving early detection systems that can predict when and where they will occur. While recent discoveries have helped unravel some of the mysteries behind the appearance of algae blooms, they also underscore for local officials and business owners the extreme difficulty of resolving a problem that stems from decades of overdevelopment and lax controls. In Florida, officials are debating solutions including improved wastewater treatment and vacuuming up several feet of organic sludge that lies at the bottom of some coastal waterways. “People like to point fingers, but all of us are to blame,” said Clark Giangarra, a former Long Island clammer who has operated charter boats for eco-tourists and fishermen for 30 years along Florida’s central Atlantic Coast. “These organisms have existed here forever, but the system goes crazy when you dump in too many nutrients.” Gigantic red tide The sheer scale of some of the recent outbreaks strains comprehension. The enormous red tide that developed off the state’s Gulf Coast is one of the largest ever measured: about 6,000 square miles, or slightly larger than Connecticut. Red tides, caused by a species of toxic plankton, are not directly triggered by nutrients from the land, but some scientists believe that red-tide episodes are occurring earlier in the season and lasting longer because of climatic changes that heat up the oceans. Florida scientists activated sensors and dispatched new underwater robots called “gliders” to explore this year’s red tide and