Smithsonian would keep regular hours under sequester

A few items that caught our attention today: Smithsonian Castle (AP) Smithsonian vows to keep doors open under sequester. Army assault ladders: Priceless. No, really. Sequester will sock a vulnerable economy, then possibly help it grow faster. Sequester impacts would depend on who you are and where you live. Unlike a shutdown, the sequester wouldn’t spare “essential” fed workers. Possible titles for Hilary Clinton’s memoir. For more federal news, visit The Federal Eye, The Fed Page and Post Politics. To connect with Josh Hicks, follow his Twitter feed, subscribe to his Facebook page or e-mail hicksja@washpost.com. E-mail federalworker@washpost.com with news tips and other suggestions.


Standard reopens on Friday with lobster rolls, barbecue and German beer

A sure sign that Spring is on the way: Standard reopens Friday at 5 p.m. Standard, an outdoor barbecue-and-beer garden at the corner of 14th and S streets NW, reopens for the season on March 1. (Photo by Astrid Riecken for The Post) The popular barbecue joint/beer garden hybrid closes every December, because the vast majority of its seats are outdoors at long communal tables. But on March 1, Standard will awaken from its hibernation to serve smoky brisket, buttermilk onion rings and liters of German beer. What to expect for 2013? Chef Tad Curtz says there are "no grand plans, other than we're excited to be open again." But he did let a few items of news drop: The popular lobster rolls, which were only served on Sunday afternoons last summer, will return. You'll be able to try them on Friday, and then again every Sunday. There's been a slight shakeup on the taps, with the return of the strong, dark Celebrator Doppelbock. And Curtz will again be smoking whole pig heads, which customers need to call ahead to reserve. (You can start calling and asking next week, he says.) Perhaps the hottest news: Seven new heat lamps have been installed on the patio. With temperatures dipping below freezing this weekend, you might need them.


Up Close and Very Personal

the delicacy and breeding of the orchids at this exhibition. About 300 varieties of the plant are on view in the 18th annual orchid show. (The theme changes each year, and this year’s celebrates Latin American traditions of using orchids as decor for large religious feasts.) It must be noted that part of the reason orchids have long been considered so exotic and rarefied is their “erotic” appearance — something that’s been observed since ancient times. (Look below for some science on this matter.) The plant family name “orchidacae” means “testicle” in Greek, and ancient Greeks believed orchids boosted virility. A Chinese legend holds that the “13 treasures” cymbidium orchid smelled so wonderful that it could help a barren woman bear that many children. And when the cattelya orchid was introduced to Europe in the 19th century, its shape “caused an absolute sensation” — especially among men, Mirenda says. “Think about Georgia O’Keeffe and her kind of sexualized look of flowers,” Mirenda says. “Without going into too much detail, I think you could look at an orchid and see something else. “Don’t blush!” he says, laughing. “You know what I’m talking about!” A cymbidium “Moonwalk” orchid, left, and cymbidium heart joy “Papini” orchids are on view at the National Museum of Natural History. 1. Orchids, They’re Just Like Us! People and orchids are “bilaterally symmetrical” — if we cut them in half in a certain way (vertically, for humans), the two sides mirror each other. (Other flowers, such as daisies, are “radially symmetrical” and can be divided on any plane.) What’s more, some orchids — such as the Miltoniopsis Princess Diana — appear to have “eyes” (symmetrical spots on the petals). In other words, “when we look at an orchid,” specialist Tom Mirenda says, “it seems to look back.” 2. Show-Offs Orchids need to perpetuate their species, so they must attract insects and birds (which spread pollen among plants). This is often accomplished by luring those “pollinators” to the plants’ central reproductive parts. The middle “labellum” petal — tricked out with stripes, spots or extra colors — is adapted to attract pollinators. 3. Ready for Landing “Like the lights on the runway of an airport,” in Mirenda’s words, “nectar guides” help steer pollinators toward these targets. More Orchids in the Area The U.S. Botanic Garden Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens The National Capital Orchid Society National Museum of Natural History


Michelle Obama op-ed: Healthy food is good business

First lady Michelle Obama is out with a new op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, in which she argues that health food options are a growth industry and, thus, businesses should focus on them. Here's the crux: Take the example of Wal-Mart . In just the past two years, the company reports that it has cut the costs to its consumers of fruits and vegetables by $2.3 billion and reduced the amount of sugar in its products by 10%. Wal-Mart has also opened 86 new stores in underserved communities and launched a labeling program that helps customers spot healthy items on the shelf. And today, the company is not only seeing increased sales of fresh produce, but also building better relationships with its customers and stronger connections to the communities it serves. Wal-Mart isn't alone in discovering that healthier products sell. Disney is eliminating ads for junk foods from its children's programming and improving the food served in Disney theme parks. Walgreens is adding fresh fruits and vegetables to its stores in underserved communities. And restaurants around the country are cutting calories, fat and sodium from menus and offering healthier kids' meals. These companies and so many others are responding to clear trends in consumer demand. Today, 82% of consumers feel that it's important for companies to offer healthy products that fit family budgets, according to the Edelman public relations firm. Meanwhile, a study conducted by Nielsen revealed that even when many families are operating on tight budgets, sales of fresh produce actually increased by 6% in 2012. And in 2011, the Hudson Institute reported that in recent years, healthier foods have generated more than 70% of the growth in sales for consumer packaged-goods companies—and when these companies sell a high percentage of healthier foods, they deliver significantly higher returns to their shareholders.


Gordon Biersch near Nationals Park plans Opening Day debut

April 1 is Opening Day, but not just for Nationals fans: A spokesperson confirms that it's also the opening date for the new Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, which is just a line drive away from the stadium at 100 M St. SE. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) How big is this news? With room for 226 diners (plus 88 more in an outdoor beer garden), the new Gordon Biersch is the largest bar or restaurant to open near Nationals Park since the stadium opened in 2008. And unlike the converted Half Street SE lot that is the Fairgrounds, there will actually be a roof over patrons' heads as they eat their garlic fries and drink pints of lager, hefeweizen or marzen brewed on the premises under the direction of former Capital City Brewing Company brewer Travis Tedrow. (It looks like a sure bet to open ahead of the even more anticipated Bluejacket, which is aiming to open in May or June.) The 8,290-square-foot restaurant, which becomes the fourth Gordon Biersch in the D.C. area, sits above the New Jersey Avenue entrance of the Navy Yard Metro station. And while it promises to be full of Curly W-wearing fans when the Nats are in town, the restaurant will be open at 11 a.m. seven days a week, with happy hour from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and the bar open until 2 a.m. Friday through Monday. That's good news for Capitol Riverfront residents and government workers, too. JDLand snapped some photos inside the new Gordon Biersch in early February.


What Germany’s beer consumption says about its demographic shift

German chancellor Angela Merkel drinks beer during a political meeting on Feb. 13. (AP Photo/Stefan Sauer) Germans are drinking less beer now than at any time since 1990, a big change for the country that gave the world Oktoberfest. NPR’s Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reported Thursday on a recent German study that found Germans drink less beer now than they did a generation ago. While that report is new, the trend isn’t -- Germans have been drinking less for years, to the immense consternation of the country’s brewing industry. According to the German Brewers Federation, per capita consumption peaked at 151 liters in 1976. It’s now down to a relatively paltry 106.6 liters per capita -- or 28 gallons, roughly a third more than Americans drink each year. Experts have offered a plethora of reasons for the drop, from German drinkers’ boring tastes to lifestyle changes to the impact of the recession. Marc-Oliver Huhnholz, the spokesman for the brewers federation, told NPR the drop-off is demographic: “The people become older and less younger [people] are following,” he said. Germany certainly faces a serious population shift. Low birth rates and greater life expectancy have shifted the population upward, much as they have in the United States. A 2010 forecast by Germany’s statistical office predicted that one in three people would be older than 65 by 2060, and that the population overall would shrink by as much as 21 percent. But even if Germany boasts fewer beer-drinkers than before, the rest of the world has taps to spare. According to the brewers federation, German beer exports have grown prodigiously since the mid-90s -- including exports to the United States, which has developed its own taste for German brews.


Why is Michelle Obama praising Wal-Mart in Springfield, Mo.?

more than 70 percent of growth in sales nationwide in recent years, she said. Of more importance to families: “In just two years, Wal-Mart has saved customers $2.3 billion on fresh fruits and vegetables.” The chain is also working to help consumers stay healthy by cutting salt and sugar in its house brands and encouraging national brands to do the same; it’s already reduced sugar by 10 percent. The first lady spoke to an invitation-only audience of less than a hundred people. (The members of the press, corralled in the back, almost outnumbered the rest of the audience.) She praised Wal-Mart’s commitment to affordable healthy food: “You didn’t just dip your toe in the water, you went all in.” As part of that commitment, Wal-Mart has opened 86 new stores in “food deserts,” areas where accessibility to affordable healthy foods is limited. The company also announced Thursday its “Great for You” icon, which will appear on more than 1,300 of its house brands of foods and beverages in U.S. stores, making it easier to identify nutritionally sound choices. Obama cited statistics that claim 82 percent of consumers want “healthy products that fit their budget.” And sales of fresh produce, the foundation of a healthy diet, increased by 6 percent last year. A diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables can help fight obesity, and obesity-related health issues carry a high price tag for the country: $190 billion a year. Obesity doesn’t just result in higher health care costs but causes higher rates of absenteeism and reduced worker productivity. “That’s why businesses across America are stepping up,” she said. And she’s “more optimistic than ever” with the progress being made. “This is not about government telling businesses what to sell and people what to buy,” she emphasized. “It’s about helping parents get by on a budget. It’s about giving kids the nutrition they need to learn and grow and fulfill their God-given potential.” She called it “a moral obligation” for businesses to step up and provide healthy food at affordable prices. I applaud her efforts to get America’s children to eat healthy foods and exercise more. But as an ardent supporter of buying from local farmers, I’d like to see an emphasis on purchasing produce from community markets rather than corporations. Buying local is healthier, with a shorter time from harvest to table, and supports local farmers while cutting transportation


Today’s reads: Ping-pong diplomacy, John Kerry’s big job

This post is part of a recurring feature, in which the WorldViews team shares some of what it's reading today. It’s meant to highlight some of the best foreign affairs coverage from other media outlets, blogs, academic institutions and think tanks. It’s also meant to give you a sense of what might end up driving the foreign policy conversations for the day. We hope you enjoy it and check back tomorrow. 1. The Diplomat: Why Rodman's trip isn't ping-pong diplomacy Trying to make sense of the Dennis-Rodman-in-North-Korea shenanigans. 2. Foreign Policy: Welcome to the Middle East, Mr. Secretary A look at the many, many fires John Kerry will have to put out. 3. Der Spiegel: Nobel Laureate Mo Yan: 'I am guilty' The controversial author speaks out on Chinese politics and cultural change for the first time since winning the Nobel prize for literature. 4. Slate: The whimsical circus of China's bike peddlers One artist's charming, surreal take on China's break-neck development.


Sequester prompts (some) closed doors at U.S. Capitol

(Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Voters may want to slam doors shut in the faces of lawmakers, but it's actually going to happen thanks to sequestration. Officials warned Friday that at least some entrances to the U.S. Capitol, adjoining congressional office buildings and the Capitol Visitors Center, may be closed, or open for only limited hours, in the coming weeks because of budget cuts taking affect Friday. A letter sent to congressional staffers Friday said that the "changes will most likely take place within the next two weeks, and the Congressional Community will be notified in a timely manner before implementation." The message was co-signed by Terrance W. Gainer, the Senate sergeant-at-arms, and Paul D. Irving, the House sergeant-at-arms, who stressed that "the safety and security of the U.S. Capitol will not be compromised. The U.S. Capitol Police will remain ever vigilant, prepared and committed to protecting the Congressional Community." Just like federal agencies, congressional offices and support agencies also face budget cuts as part of sequestration. The U.S. Capitol Police faces a $23 million cut in personnel costs, mostly through reducing overtime hours, and a $5 million cut in other expenses, according to estimates produced last fall by the Office of Management and Budget. A Capitol Police spokesman didn't immediately return requests for comment Friday on the specifics of the anticipated budget cuts. The Architect of the Capitol, the agency employing the Capitol's maintenance and support staffers, also faces a 5.3 percent budget cut. Stephen T. Ayers, head of the agency, told employees this week that the agency will absorb the cuts by eliminating certain contracts, delaying maintenance projects, reducing supply levels and cutting back on overtime pay, training programs and hires. Despite potential inconveniences, closed entrances are nothing new on Capitol Hill, which has seen at least a few entry points closed off in recent months due to construction of the inaugural stage. Follow Ed O'Keefe on Twitter: @edatpost


How sequester will affect University of Maryland

University of Maryland community: Today, the $85 billion across-the-board federal spending cuts to defense and discretionary domestic programs — known as “sequestration” — are expected to go into force amid the continuing fiscal impasse in Washington, D.C. It will directly affect two critical areas of the University: financial aid and funded research. Although the full impact of the cuts may not be clear for a few months, we are prepared to redeploy our limited resources to help tide over, as best we can, those who are most vulnerable to the financial consequences of sequestration. Reductions in federal work-study aid will affect over 200 of our undergraduates. The most at risk are in Maryland Pathways, a program that assists academically talented students from low-income backgrounds. To them, the University of Maryland offers this assurance: you will not have to leave the University in the coming year because of sequestration. We will find private funds to replace the lost aid, so that the current federal budget stalemate does not derail your education. Sequestration will affect in different ways the approximately 1,500 graduate research assistants and 2,300 research faculty and staff whose salaries are supported partly or wholly by grants from over a dozen federal funding agencies. The University will work with colleges and research centers to help buffer, on a case-by-case basis, the varying impacts of cuts by different agencies. To our research assistants who are jeopardized by sequestration, the University will find ways to provide you with temporary bridge support. We want you to stay on track with your graduate education. We do not yet know the full force of federal austerity on Maryland’s economy, which is heavily dependent on federal and military spending. Therefore, we do not yet know the ripple effects on the state’s budget for higher education next year. Meanwhile, we continue to work with our elected officials in Annapolis to keep the tuition increase low; to fund salary merit increases that we have not had in four years; and to support expanded enrollments in science and engineering. I will keep you informed as sequestration and the state budget process unfold. We are a campus family. We must stand together to help each other through these difficult and uncertain times. I am confident that our nation, our state, and our university will come through this latest round of fiscal brinkmanship. Sincerely, Wallace D. Loh President, University of Maryland


The week ahead: Stormy weather, sporting events, Metro repairs, road work

Beltway drivers continue to express confusion about how to use the 495 Express Lanes. (Robert Thomson – The Washington Post) The focal point of the D.C. area’s travel week will be the winter storm forecast to develop Tuesday evening through Wednesday. Check the Capital Weather Gang doing frequent updates on its forecast. You can also follow the gang on Twitter @capitalweather. It’s using the hashtag #snowquester for the storm. The Capitals are home at Verizon Center on Tuesday and Thursday nights.The Wizards are away till Saturday night. D.C. United is back at RFK Stadium on Saturday night. The week’s roadwork schedule is light, but even that may get thrown off by the mid-week storm. Here are some of the highlights for both the roadwork and the Metrorail construction plans. Join me at noon Monday for our weekly online discussion about traffic and transit issues in the D.C. region. Metro late-night work Metrorail riders may encounter delays on these line segments after 10 p.m. through Thursday. Red Line: Orange and Blue Lines: Green and Yellow Lines: Beltway/Telegraph Road Watch for single-lane closings in both directions on Telegraph Road between Duke Street and East Drive at midday Monday through Friday. This is part of the Wilson Bridge project’s final stage, the reconstruction of Telegraph Road at the Capital Beltway. It’s scheduled to be done by late spring. Dulles Metrorail construction The eastbound lanes of the Dulles Access Highway are scheduled to close overnights through Wednesday, starting at midnight each night from Centreville Road (Route 657) to the merger with the Dulles Toll Road just past the main toll plaza. The closing will clear room for removal of construction equipment for Metro’s Silver Line, scheduled to open late this year. During the closings, traffic will be detoured from the eastbound Access Highway onto the eastbound Dulles Toll Road at Centreville Road. Drivers will use the Toll Road the rest of the way to the Capital Beltway and will have to pay the toll at the toll plaza. Using 495 Express Lanes Drivers continue to puzzle over when it might be worth their while to use the express lanes. They can get one more clue by checking the express lanes’ Web site, www.495expresslanes.com. The map that is part of the site’s “On the Road Now” page indicates traffic speeds in the lanes in the green, yellow, red color code familiar to users of online


Today’s reads: Slam dunk diplomacy, Chinese political cliques

This post is part of a recurring feature, in which the WorldViews team shares some of what it’s reading today. It’s meant to highlight some of the best foreign affairs coverage from other media outlets, blogs, academic institutions and think tanks. It’s also meant to give you a sense of what might end up driving the foreign policy conversations for the day. We hope you enjoy it and check back tomorrow. 1. NK News: 25 Years of Slam Dunk Diplomacy On the surprisingly long relationship between North Korean leaders and American basketball stars. 2. Foreign Policy: Don't Trust Anyone Over 70 As speculation over the next pope continues to heat up, Gautam Mukunda ponders some of the problems with elderly leaders. 3. Tehelka: In Concert for Bangladesh What Bangladesh's youth protests could mean for "Islam in the subcontinent." 4. Reuters: Connected China A dizzying interactive on Chinese political cliques. We could spend a few hours clicking through this.


Is fracking a ‘bridge’ to a clean-energy future? Ernest Moniz thinks so.

U.S. emissions a bit. (Indeed, that's already happening.) That, in turn, buys us some time to make the more arduous shift to even cleaner forms of energy, like solar or wind or even nuclear. Indeed, in his testimony Moniz argued that natural gas would need to phase out by 2050, and that "we must continue to invest in research in carbon-free sources—renewables, nuclear and CCS [carbon capture and storage] for both coal and natural gas." Some climate hawks have looked skeptically on this whole notion. They'll point out that natural gas is still a fossil fuel, capable of quickly heating the planet. What's more, cheap shale gas could thwart the development of solar and wind. And plus, our natural-gas infrastructure still leaks an unknown amount of heat-trapping methane, which means that the climate benefits of natural gas may well be oversold. So what's the best way to sift through this debate? Perhaps some hard numbers can help. That's what energy expert Michael Levi tried to do in his recent paper, "Climate consequences of natural gas as a bridge fuel," published in Climatic Change. As the title suggests, Levi tried to model the actual climate consequences of using natural gas as a bridge. And what he found was striking. Say we want to stabilize the amount of carbon in the atmosphere at about 450 parts per million — giving us a shot at limiting global warming below 2°C. If that's the goal, then the world can only use natural gas for a short while. Gas consumption would have to peak by 2020 or 2030. A very short bridge. What sort of bridge is this? By contrast, say the world can't or refuses to meet that ambitious climate goal and instead aims to stabilize atmospheric carbon concentrations at around 550 parts per million. This is risky: It would mean a very strong chance of breaching the 2°C threshold. Still, natural gas would be useful as a bridge in this scenario, with global gas use peaking somewhere between 2020 and 2060. Meanwhile, some climate groups have argued that even 2°C is too dangerous and that we should try to stabilize at 350 ppm, which would mean taking carbon out of the atmosphere (the world is currently hovering around 393 ppm). In this scenario, we'd basically need to stop using all fossil fuels immediately. No room for natural gas. So those are the basic


Furlough-caused financial problems could affect security clearances

Federal employees holding security clearances who run into financial trouble due to sequestration-caused furloughs should bring that issue to their agency’s attention to help protect their cleared status, according to two military services. In guidance that could apply equally to employees of other agencies, the Navy has said its employees should notify their supervisors or their security officers in writing if the forced unpaid leave time causes financial troubles that would act as a security red flag. Indebtedness is one of the potential indicators of reliability, trustworthiness and judgment that go into a decision on granting or continuing security clearances, which are needed for many federal jobs. Similarly, an Air Force base has told its employees to “advise your supervisor if you are having financial issues that may impact your security clearance. Supervisors contact the Special Security Office (SSO) and document concerns/issues that can be considered next time clearance is due.” Navy and Air Force employees, along with nearly all other Defense Department civilians, are facing unpaid furloughs of 22 days from late April through September, which would be spread out as one day a week on average. That would amount to a 20 percent pay cut for nearly half the year. Potential furloughs at many other agencies range from several days up to 22, the maximum an agency can impose without triggering complex layoff-type procedures. “Employees who encounter financial problems due to a furlough should (1) work with their creditors to maintain their debts in a responsible manner; (2) keep documentation of their financial situation and communications with creditors; and (3) keep their local security office informed if they are experiencing financial problems,” says the Navy guidance. It said that clearance determination standards “take into account the circumstances that led to a financial problem,” particularly if the problem is outside the individual’s control, as would be the case with unpaid furloughs. Those standards also take into account “the individual’s actions to responsibly contend with financial problems,” and adjudicators “are sensitized to and also personally impacted by a furlough,” it says. “Individuals should continue to pay their debts to the best of their ability and should maintain contact with their creditors to make arrangements to pay their debts, even if this means delaying or reducing payments,” it says. “Many creditors are willing to work with their customers in such situations. You should also keep clear, written documentation of your financial


How to punish robots when they inevitably turn against us

prisoner who is trying to escape. If they identify that this is the situation, they start a process of alarming the human guards. This is awareness. The problem is that when we think of the typical murderer or the typical rapist in non-legal terms, we think about the murderer as an evil person, the rapist as an evil offender. But evil is not required here. What is required is only awareness. In some offenses there are additional requirements like specific intent. In murder we require that. But intent is derived by the awareness. You must be aware in order to intend something. In the current technology, we have the capability to do that. We have the capability of applying awareness by the criminal law definition to machines. I should say that the plan of the book is a bit different. I’m not calling for the imposition of criminal liability on machines. The point here is to call for a change in the criminal law and its narrow definitions, by stating that either you have to accept the possibility of imposition of criminal liability on non-human entities, as we have done since the 17th century on corporations, or that we should change the legal definitions. This is the point. Watson seems like he'd be likelier to commit white collar crimes. (Seth Wenig - AP) Dylan Matthews: A question many people would probably have is, "But how do you punish a robot?" The analogy seems less clear there. Gabriel Hallevy: The rule is very simple. Any punishment that we may impose on humans, we can impose it both on corporations and on the robot, or any other non-human entity. You need some fine-tuning adjustments. We can impose imprisonment on corporations. We have no problem with it. I’m not talking about putting in prison the people who are managing the corporations. The legal technique for corporations is to ask, “What is the meaning of imprisonment?” It’s to negate its freedom. The freedom of any corporation is the legal capability to make business. Therefore, when you impose six years imprisonment on a corporation, you cannot allow the corporation during this period to do business. Robots, it has the same technique but it may lead to different consequences. When we impose imprisonment, we should ask what is the meaning of the certain punishment on the robot. It means to negate its freedom. That freedom is


Strangulation of infant leads to grief, soul-searching in China

Monday when a father in the city of Changchun left his baby sleeping in his silver SUV as he ran inside his family’s supermarket to turn on the stove. He returned to find the car gone along with the baby, named Xu Haobo, according to local authorities. The father later explained to local media that he left the baby in SUV because he worried the store would be too cold. The baby's disappearance set off a massive search throughout Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province in northeast China. Hundreds of local taxi drivers and private car owners joined in the hunt. Local news even reported some instances of husbands driving around with their nursing wives in case they discovered the baby hungry. One day later, the pink blanket used to warm the baby and the vehicle were found in a neighboring suburb, but folks online continued tweeting prayers and hopes that the baby would be found safe. Those hopes ended Tuesday night when the thief, identified as Zhou Xijun, 48, turned himself into police, and according to authorities, confessed to strangling the baby after discovering it in the backseat and dumping the body in the snow. As thousands turned out for a candlelight vigil in Changchun, sorrow online turned to hand-wringing and even anger over the money-crazed values of China’s new society. “How did the social security become this bad? How did man lose all his humanity?” posted one mother named Che Xiaoyan. Others blamed the father for leaving the baby alone. Many, however, linked to an eerily similar case one month ago in New York with a vastly different outcome. After stealing a jeep containing an 8-month-old girl in the Bronx, the thief not only left the baby and vehicle unharmed, but called police twice to give them the location of the SUV. One Chinese blogger under the handle "Sishi Bowen" noted the heated competition between U.S. and China these days, and said, “The same car thieves, different ethical bottom lines. A country [like China] with several thousand years of history can’t even match the culture of a country with just a two hundred year history.” The online outrage echoed another case in China a year and half year ago, when video footage captured 18 people passing by a bleeding two-year-old girl after she was hit by two cars without trying to help. The girl died a week later.


Army clarifies exceptions to hiring freeze

The Army has clarified the exceptions to its general freeze on civilian employee hiring, addressing policies including the movement of current employees within the agency. A memo dated Feb. 27 follows earlier guidance allowing for only limited exceptions. Those mainly apply to filling vacancies deemed critical to the agency’s mission and hiring persons with job-placement rights, such as those returning from an injury or overseas areas of military operations. The Army along with other military services imposed a general civilian hiring freeze among other steps responding to the sequestration. The new memo from the Army manpower office clarifies, for example, that an exception for internal recruitment actions that are limited to current employees also applies to positions that formerly were open to outside applicants as well, within certain limits. Also, existing positions “may be upgraded to accretion of duties and internal promotions may continue.” However, hiring under those exceptions can come only from within the same commuting area and commands “must fully consider the impact of associated cost increases on budget reduction plans.” Also allowed is hiring through certain career developmental programs, scholarship programs and internship-type programs that provide for job placement, the memo says. Further, while the original memo specified that there is no specific exception from the freeze for veterans, the new guidance notes that appointments to permanent positions remain allowed under several special hiring policies for veterans. It also says the overseas assignment exception is not limited to Iraq and Afghanistan, but also applies to all jobs supporting overseas military operations as well as emergency, humanitarian, disaster relief, stability and similar missions. The memo also specifies that the hiring freeze does not apply to self-supporting “non-appropriated fund” functions such as officers’ clubs. And it clarifies policies on laying off temporary employees when they reach the end of their appointments.


japan


Google Street View maps ghost town evacuated after Fukushima

An image of Soma, Japan, from Google's "Memories for the future" project. (Google) For two years, no one has entered the town of Namie without hazmat suits and government approval. But thanks to Google Street View, former residents and observers around the world will soon be able to virtually tour one of the Fukushima meltdown's biggest casualties. On March 4, Google began mapping the town at the request of its residents and mayor, Tamotsu Baba, ABC reports. Namie sits just north of the disabled Daiichi nuclear plant, whose 2011 meltdown marked the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Namie's 20,000 residents have since relocated, more than half to other cities in the Fukushima province. Google expects to finish its map within a few weeks. The tech company has actively documented the damage from Japan's 2011 tsunami (and the ensuing nuclear meltdown) since they first devastated the area almost exactly two years ago. Google created a Web site, "Mirai e no kioku”" -- or "memories for the future" -- with Street View footage from before and after the tsunami. Some of it is chilling, like these before and after images from Ishinomaki, a city north of Namie. Ishinomaki, before and after the 2011 tsunami (Google) "There's nothing that compares to actually coming in and seeing [the damage] for yourself," Kei Kawai, Google's Namie project manager, told ABC. "But we can at least show what these places are like, to the people who [evacuated] the city, to the world." It may be many years until anyone sees Namie much closer than that. As ABC reports, the Japanese government has cordoned the area off; the Post's Chico Harlan, traveling through the evacuation zone eight months after the meltdown, described a ghost town where cobwebs covered storefronts and mushrooms spouted through living room floors. “By photographing the town and making those photographs publicly available, we can show the townspeople the condition of the streets," Namie's mayor said in a promotional video for the project, translated by Japanese news blog RocketNews 24. "In addition, I want to show the world the true state of Namie.” View the full video, with footage from Namie, below. 福島県浪江町のストリートビュー撮影を開始しました。


Just Like Mom Used to Buy

Brand-name Oreos, left, inspired Bayou Bakery’s house-made Dat-O cookies, right. No matter how sophisticated our palates, some mass-produced flavors are hard-wired into our taste buds. So it’s simultaneously daring and safe for chefs to attempt their own variations of beloved grocery-store staples. “Don’t we all always look for a better version, to step it up?” asks Casey Patten, a co-owner of Taylor Gourmet delis and the Taylor Charles Steak & Ice. “We always want to make something ours, and we want to make it better.” Amid the current craze for reimagined comfort foods, we wondered: Are restaurants’ takes on the classics really improvements? Find out how four remakes stack up. Boundary Stone’s house-made ketchup, right, is thinner but more complex than Heinz Tomato Ketchup, left. Heinz Tomato Ketchup The Remake: The Restaurant Take: The Verdict: Farmers Fishers Bakers’ lemon-lime soda, right, has more delicate carbonation than Sprite. Sprite The Remake: The Restaurant Take: The Verdict: Oreos The Remake: The Restaurant Take: The Verdict: Taylor Charles Steak & Ice’s house-made white whiz, right, tastes and looks more natural than store-bought Cheez Whiz, left. Cheez Whiz The Remake: The Restaurant Take: The Verdict:


Morning links: Ramen city

The Deer Tracks - Bucket of Sunbeams Soundtrack: Deer Tracks, performing tonight at the Black Cat. • Diners can show love to the kitchen staff at Daikaya by buying them a six pack. [Young & Hungry] • Pliny the Younger vs. Hopslam vs. Nugget Nectar. Who ya got? [Drink DC] • Kojo looks at the District's trend in ramen. [The Kojo Nnamdi Show] • Which D.C. bars are the best bars for regulars? [Eater] • Tom Sietsema gives Range three stars. [WaPo Magazine] • An ode to Snowquester. [Capital Weather Gang] • And finally, our 40 Eats gallery for 2013 is ready for your consumption.


Who is Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the captured bin Laden son-in-law?

(read one translated transcript here) and published a fatwa in a Kuwaiti newspaper calling on Muslims to fight "Jews, Americans and all their allies," according to AP. That eventually led the Kuwaiti government to revoke his citizenship. Saudi Arabia's top religious leader was also forced to speak out against Abu Ghaith after he ordered Americans and Britons to leave the Arabian Peninsula before the land burned "with fire under their feet." According to 2004 court testimony posted by AP, Abu Ghaith may have founded al Wafa, the "humanitarian organization" sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council for its ties to al-Qaeda. Little has been published about Abu Ghaith's life before the Sept. 11 attacks. Born in Kuwait, he was "a quiet school teacher and mosque preacher," according to the AP. But the BBC put it differently in an October 2001 report: Mr Abu Ghaith became famous in Kuwait during the Iraqi occupation, when he gave strong sermons, daring the government to attack Baghdad. He was banned from preaching in Kuwait after the country's liberation, because his sermons had turned against the government, the constitution and other Arab states. In Afghanistan, Abu Ghaith married one of bin Laden's daughters. (He has at least 23 children.) According to the BBC report, Abu Ghaith had six children at that time and was 36, which would make him 47 or 48 years old now. A U.S. detainee who testified to working with him at al-Wafa called Abu Ghaith "a good person" who "honored his family." The same detainee testified that he helped move Abu Ghaith's family to Pakistan shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks. His whereabouts since Sept. 11 aren't clear, however. He is believed to have spent the last few years in Iran under "a form of house arrest." When he entered Turkey recently, he did so with a fake Saudi passport, according to the Turkish press. He was in the process of being deported to Kuwait when he was taken into U.S. custody in Jordan. More details about Abu Ghaith would likely emerge during his trial, which is expected to be in New York. In the meantime, his capture is being trumpeted by some as a major win for the Obama administration. "Definitely, one by one, we are getting the top echelons of al-Qaeda," King said. "I give the administration credit for this: it's steady and it's unrelenting and it's very successful."


Michigan Sen. Carl Levin will not seek reelection

Carl Levin is retiring. (Melina Mara/Washington Post) Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) will not seek reelection in 2014, he announced Thursday afternoon, saying he wanted to focus on the nation's challenges rather than politics. In a statement, Levin explains that he and his wife "decided that I can best serve my state and nation by concentrating in the next two years on the challenging issues before us that I am in a position to help address; in other words, by doing my job without the distraction of campaigning for re-election." The 78-year-old senator has held his seat since 1979; he is chairman of the powerful Armed Services Committee. He has not faced a close election in decades. In his statement, Levin mentions corporate tax avoidance, the health of the manufacturing industry, campaign finance reform, military budget cuts, the end of the war in Afghanistan and veterans' care as issues he wants to address in his final two years in office. A former civil rights lawyer, Levin was a leading critical voice on the war in Iraq. As chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, he has investigated Enron, the credit card industry, the 2008 financial crisis, and offshore tax havens. The senator is known as a hard-working advocate for his state, pushing to protect Great Lakes water and manufacturing jobs. A one-time line worker ad a Ford tractor factory, he pushed hard for the auto industry bailout. Levin becomes the seventh senator to announce his retirement so far this year, including Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who resigned in January. The other retirees are Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.). Candidates who will likely look at the seat include Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), but Democrats also must recruit for the governor's race against Gov. Rick Snyder (D-Mich.). "I am confident that we will recruit a great Democratic leader who will continue to fight for the values and priorities Senator Levin advocated for all these years," Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Michael Bennet (Colo.) said in a statement. On the GOP side, Attorney General Bill Schuette is one prospect, although he wrote on Facebook Thursday that he plans to spend six more years in his post. Rep. Justin Amash will also likely consider a bid. Republicans struggled to field a top-tier candidate against Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) last year, as former


Sen. Sherrod Brown explains why he wants to break up the big banks

the timeframe? Sherrod Brown: My legislation is called the SAFE Banking Act, also known as Brown-Kaufman, for the amendment my former colleague Ted Kaufman and I offered to the Dodd-Frank bill. The legislation would place sensible limits on the amount of debt that a single financial institution could take on relative to the entire productive economy. No bank could have non-deposit liabilities valued greater than two percent of U.S. GDP, and no investment bank could have non-deposit liabilities exceeding three percent of GDP. This would only affect the six largest megabanks, which would be given three years to comply by drawing up their own proposals to meet this goal. Under my plan, the largest U.S. banks would have approximately $1.2 trillion in combined liabilities. The six biggest megabanks would be reduced from their current size of about 64 percent of U.S. GDP to about 34 percent of GDP, as they were in 2001. Finally, their funding would come from more stable sources, with about $3 of deposits for every $1 in volatile non-deposit funding. MK: I want to walk through some of the criticism of breaking up the banks. One you hear all the time from industry is that our banks give us an international, competitive edge in finance. Especially our largest banks, who do more financial services than what small banks do. If we break up the banks, we'll lose that, and we may lose it to other countries. What do you make of those arguments? SB: I am not proposing that every bank be limited to $500 million in assets. As a result of my legislation, $2-trillion megabanks would be about $1.2 trillion. I have yet to hear why 20 super-regional banks couldn’t do a better job than 11 megabanks that benefit from implicit guarantees from the federal government. The biggest banks argue that only they have the capability to make $20 billion loans to multinational companies like Caterpillar. When the nation’s biggest bank made the largest loan in history in 2011 – a $20-billion loan to AT&T to take over T-Mobile – it shared that loan with 11 other banks because $20 billion was equivalent to about 17 percent of the bank’s Tier One Capital. The losses from that loan alone would have lowered the bank’s leverage ratio by a full percentage point. That’s too much exposure for a bank to have to a single company. Multi-billion


To Protect and Share

Tabby Fique pushed Howard County Conservancy to adopt Ranger, a barred owl. Name Salary Position What She Does In 2010, she spearheaded the Howard County Conservancy’s adoption of Ranger, a barred owl who had been injured in the wild. He joins Fique for outreach programs in local schools. “Our favorite part is when I get Ranger out of the cage, and the kids go ‘Ooh’ because they’re so excited to see him,” she says. Fique also takes care of the other animals at the Conservancy, including four hens, two goats and Torope the diamondback terrapin. As land manager Fique leads more than 200 volunteers as they clean up fallen trees, restore plantings and remove invasive plants on the Conservancy’s 232 acres. She also helps locals preserve their property by creating easements. “If they don’t want their forest to be ripped down,” Fique says, “we will write a document that will protect their land in perpetuity.” How She Got The Job After graduation in 2006, she got a job testing soil on construction sites. “The first day that I saw the machine that, like, eats the trees, I cried,” she says. “So I came crawling back.” Fique returned to the Conservancy part time. In 2007, she began working full time as education director. She shifted to the land manager position in 2010. Who Would Want This Job “I gave a native plant talk to our volunteers last month, and it actually inspired so many of them to want to go out, find these native plants and plant them in their yards,” Fique says. How You Can Get This Job County and state extension offices, such as the University of Maryland Extension, offer programs to help you learn about the local ecosystems. Fique trained to became a Maryland Master Naturalist and a Howard County Master Gardener. She also worked with the Irvine Nature Center to learn how to handle birds of prey.


The week ahead: Seeing more daylight, road and transit work, Silver Line meetings

The Spring Hill Metro station for the Silver Line in Tysons now has a canopy and pedestrian bridge visible on Route 7. (Chuck Samuelson – Dulles Metrorail project) Monday will remain mostly cloudy, and Tuesday may bring showers, the Capital Weather Gang says, but commuters this week will eventually notice the effects of daylight savings time. Early morning travelers are suddenly back in predawn dark, while afternoon drivers find the sun is right in their eyes. Of course, everyone gets used to this, but for the first few days, use extra caution on the roads as you adapt. The weather for the rest of the week looks pretty good, but it’s going to be chillier. The Capitals play at Verizon Center on Tuesday night. The Wizards are there Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights, so watch for extra congestion around Gallery Place and Chinatown. In addition to some of the road and transit issues that might affect your commutes, I also want to tell you about an unusual number of public events coming up this week that may interest travelers of all sorts. And join me at noon Monday for our weekly discussion of travel issues in the D.C. region. Radio discussion on bike culture Interesting forum at noon Monday on Kojo Nnamdi’s WAMU 88.5 FM radio show: “Our region’s growing bike culture,” with Shane Farthing of Washington, executive director of Area Bicyclists Association, Chris Eatough, program manager for Bike Arlington, Carolyn Szczepanski, director of communications for Women Bike. Dulles Access Highway The left lane of the eastbound Dulles Airport Access Highway is scheduled to close between Difficult Run and Hunter Mill Road from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day through Friday. This is for grading work related to the Dulles Metrorail project. Arlington Boulevard interchange Lane closings continue at the Arlington Boulevard interchange with 10th Street and Courthouse Road in the Rosslyn area that the Virginia Department of Transportation is rebuilding. This week’s closings will occur from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on westbound Arlington Boulevard and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the eastbound side. Mobile DMV in Loudoun The DMV 2 Go mobile customer service center, part of a fleet of five vehicles operated by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, will be at the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Eastern Loudoun Station from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday. Among other services at the mobile center, people


Are methane hydrates the next big energy source? Japan hopes so.

Japan is in a tough spot, energy-wise. The nation imports nearly all of its oil and natural gas. Most of its nuclear reactors have been shut down after Fukushima. Wind and solar are still in the early stages of ramping up. A methane hydrate block embedded in sediment in Oregon. (Wikipedia) That explains why the country is looking for energy in unexpected places. Japan is currently trying to tap into undersea deposits of methane hydrates — also known as "fire ice" — in hopes of converting the trapped methane into usable natural gas. On Tuesday, Japan announced a major new breakthrough. For the first time, a team aboard the drilling ship Chikyu had successfully extracted gas from a layer of methane hydrates 1,000 feet below the seabed in the Eastern Nankai Trough. Now, this is just an initial step — albeit a big one. The Japanese government says that it's still five years away from commercial extraction of natural gas from methane hydrates. The drilling process itself is still tricky and expensive. But if Japan figures out how to unlock these hydrates, it could have huge implications for both energy and climate change. Here's a quick primer on the issue: What are methane hydrates? Where are they found? How much energy are we talking about? Some of that gas will never be accessible at reasonable prices. But if even a fraction of that total can be commercially extracted, that's an enormous amount. To put this in context, U.S. shale reserves are estimated to contain 827 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Um, wouldn't burning all that fuel heat up the planet? <br />Distribution of organic carbon in Earth (excluding dispersed carbon in rocks and sediments, which equals nearly 1,000 times this total amount). Numbers in gigatons (1015 tons) of carbon. Now, that might be a high-end estimate. More recent studies have suggested that the hydrates contain somewhere between 500 and 2,500 gigatons of carbon-dioxide. Even that lower figure, however, is more than twice as much as the carbon contained in natural gas from all of Earth's other sources. Bottom line: It could prove impossible to keep global warming below the goal of 2°C if a significant fraction of this natural gas gets burned. Why are methane hydrates so tricky to exploit? The U.S. Energy Information Administration is even more skeptical: "So far, gas hydrates have provided more problems than solutions."


Life, death and guns in Capitol View

Gun violence is a tragic fact of everyday life in Capitol View (Michel du Cille — The Washington Post) The national gun-control debate is back at a full-throated roar after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. But as tragic as the killing of 26 innocent people might be, 10 times as many people have been killed by guns in the District’s neighborhoods in the past three years. The Post’s Krissah Thompson and Hamil Harris go to D.C.’s Capitol View neighborhood, off East Capitol Street in Ward 7 — a place where handgun violence, while in decline, remains a part of everyday life: “Many residents of the neighborhood say it came as no surprise that America’s political system swung into action after the December mass killings at an elementary school in mostly white, middle-class Newtown, Conn. But the current political wrangling on the Hill has just served to underscore residents’ suspicions that Americans as a whole undervalue the lives lost to gun violence in inner-city neighborhoods such as theirs.” In other news: Affordable housing task force makes its report; Vincent Gray still hazy on commitments (Post, Housing Complex, UrbanTurf, WJLA-TV) Activist groups want Hizzoner to put $25 million toward Housing First and rent supplements for the neediest (Housing Complex) At-large candidates’ war chest rankings: Frumin $97,519; Mara $53,529; Silverman $47,139; Bonds $44,982; Brown $28,114; Zukerberg $15,560; Redd $1,236 (Post, Examiner, DCist, WRC-TV, Loose Lips, AP, WAMU-FM) Patrick Mara returns check from Todd Akin-supporting “Freedom’s Defense Fund” (DCist) Frumin, Bonds, Brown top Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance ratings (GLAA) Three sisters among those wounded on North Capitol Street (Post) Tommy Wells: “I’m definitely going to do my best to remove the nightclubs from the area” (WTOP, Examiner) Gray on shootings: “This is a police issue” (WRC-TV) Fire union leaders vote “no confidence” in Kenneth Ellerbe (Examiner) NBC lawyer says David Gregory’s producers “incorrectly interpreted” police advice on magazine (Crime Scene, City Desk) Checking in on 2-year-old Kodie Brown, shot in her mother’s arms at Fairlawn bus stop (Post column) Could be a huge deal: Could private office buildings being leased by government tenants be exempt from property taxes? (WBJ) Analysis: The median DCPS school’s testing proficiency has worsened since 2008, while the median charter school has improved (Post, Examiner, DCFPI) Changes could be coming to city garbage/recycling cans (DCist) National Gallery of Art will embark on three-year, $30 million renovation of East


Bernard Pollard says he’s been released by Ravens

Bernard Pollard (left) says he has been released by the Ravens. (Colin E. Braley / AP) On the second day of NFL free agency, there was another surprise move involving the Super Bowl champions. Safety Bernard Pollard tweeted that he has been released by the Baltimore Ravens, although the team has not yet confirmed that. The move would save the Ravens $1 million against the salary cap. Pollard, who signed a four-year deal 10 months ago, was due a $500,000 roster bonus and $2 million in salary this season. Well Raven Nation it's been fun. My time in Baltimore is done... Thank you! On the first day of free agency, the Ravens lost linebacker Dannell Ellerbee to the Miami Dolphins and linebacker Paul Kruger to the Cleveland Browns. Linebacker Ray Lewis has retired to an ESPN chair and safety Ed Reed, cornerback Cary Williams and nose tackle Ma’ake Kemoeatu are free agents. Also on Monday, the Ravens pulled the shock of the week so far, trading wide receiver Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers for a sixth-round draft choice. The team did, though, give quarterback Joe Flacco the biggest contract in the NFL. No wonder the Baltimore Ravens posted a big purple “Keep Calm and Trust Ozzie” on Facebook yesterday. Follow @CindyBoren on Twitter and on Facebook.


Japan shows how to demolish a building in style

The Japanese economy may be in trouble, but the country has made some important advances in building demolition: Japan Presents the Incredible Shrinking Building From the caption: "A construction company in Japan has developed a method of tearing down a building without the noise smell or dust caused by conventional demolition. Its a novel but effective approach to deconstruction in densely built cities." The link comes via Tyler Cowen.


Researcher alleges VA covered up adverse consequences to toxic exposures

A senior epidemiologist for the Department of Veterans Affairs who resigned in December told a congressional committee Wednesday that the agency has covered up data showing adverse consequences for veterans who were exposed to toxic materials from burn pits and other environmental hazards in Iraq, Afghanistan and the first Gulf War. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) Steven S. Coughlin testified that he resigned from the VA’s Office of Public Health in December “because of serious ethical concerns” about the agency’s conduct, which he said included not releasing study results that point to a connection between environmental exposures and illnesses. “On the rare occasions when embarrassing study results are released, data are manipulated to make them unintelligible,” Coughlin said in his testimony to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs’ oversight and Investigations subcommittee. Coughlin said during his work studying the relationship between exposure to burn pits and asthma and bronchitis among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, his supervisor told him not to look at data regarding hospitalizations and doctors’ visits. “When I advised him I did not want to continue as a co-investigator under these circumstances, he threatened me,” Coughlin said. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki has directed the Office of Research Oversight to review the allegations, according to the VA. “Research on the health of Gulf War Veterans has been and continues to be a priority for VA,” the agency said in a statement. “The Department depends on this research to inform our decisions and guide our efforts in caring for Gulf War Veterans. All allegations of malfeasance are taken seriously and are investigated fully.” (Mario Tama/Getty Images) During the hearing, several speakers said the VA has been slow to clearly acknowledge research that has validated Gulf War illnesses as a serious medical condition. “There are many examples large and small of the VA minimizing Gulf War illness,” said Lea Steele, a professor of biomedical studies and director of the Veterans Health Research Program at Baylor University. Victoria Davey, chief officer for the VA’s Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards, told the subcommittee that the department takes the ailment seriously. “We do not believe it is psychological,” she said.


Ashley Wagner’s lost luggage heightens skating championship drama

Another interesting story in The Washington Post: Wager at the U.S. Championships in January. (Nati Harnik/AP) Is one not allowed to pack professional-grade ice skates in carry-on? Your little flight-delay/lost-luggage crisis is nothing compared to what Ashley Wagner suffered this week: Her flight-delay/lost-luggage crisis could affect her chance to go to the Olympics. Our colleague Liz Clarke is in Ontario covering all the drama of the two-time U.S. champion/Northern Virginia native’s medal quest at the World Figure Skating Championships. More Reliable Source


Green Flash announces East Coast brewery in Virginia Beach

Green Flash fans eager to taste the goods on-site, Virginia Beach is just over 200 miles south of Washington.) Green Flash has built its reputation on aggressively flavored, often highly hopped beers like Hop Head Red, Palate Wrecker, West Coast IPA and Rayon Vert (the latter a Belgian-style pale ale bottle-conditioned with Brettanomyces yeast). “We’ll brew all of our brands here and continue to make very assertive, very innovative beers,” Hinkley said. Hinkley said he’s spent the last nine months scouting possible East Coast sites. “We had originally crossed Virginia Beach off the list,” he admitted. But then, last May, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell signed into law SB 604, a measure that allowed bottling and kegging breweries to sell beer for consumption in their tasting rooms without operating an on-site restaurant. “That was instrumental in getting us to take another look,” Hinkley stated. Virginia's largest city, Hinkley found, has a lot in common with his hometown. Like San Diego, Virginia Beach has an oceanfront location, is home to a major U.S. Navy base and is a tourist magnet, drawing more than five million visitors each summer. The city is centrally located, he added, and offers second-day freight service to two-thirds of the U.S. population, from Boston to Miami. Virginia Beach is no stranger to craft beer. In 1984, Chesapeake Bay Brewing Co., one of the first microbreweries in the East, opened there. That operation marketed a golden and a dark lager under the Chesbay label. Unfortunately, the unpasteurized lagers had short shelf lives and deteriorated badly when not kept refrigerated. The company changed its name to Virginia Brewing Co. and ceased operations in the mid-'90s. Hinkley said he wants to cultivate friendly relations with Virginia’s existing breweries, informing the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild of his plans ahead of the official announcement. He added that when the new plant opens, Green Flash will allow the state’s small breweries to use its quality-control laboratory for product testing. “We want to be part of the local community.” Meanwhile, Colorado-based Oskar Blues, maker of Dale’s Pale Ale and other brands, brewed its first batch of beer at its new Brevard, N.C. facility last December. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. expects to start production this fall at its brewery in Mills River, N.C. and New Belgium Brewing Co. predicts the first shipments will roll out of its Asheville, N.C. plant during the first quarter of 2015.


How the White House thinks about climate change, in 7 charts

The latest Economic Report of the President (pdf) has a whole chapter on energy and climate change that's worth reading as a window into how the White House thinks about the topic. Here's the basic story in chart form: 1) If the world doesn't tackle global warming soon, the United States will get uncomfortably hot. 2) U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions are falling, but the country's nowhere near on pace to meet its climate goals. 3) Most of the recent drop in emissions has been due to the recession. 4) The U.S. economy is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. 5) Natural gas is going to continue to dominate for years to come. 6) Wind power has also seen rapid growth over the past decade. 7) The United States is getting more efficient in using energy, but it's not quite as efficient as Germany or Japan. So that's the basic situation, although there's much, much more detail in the report. Here's how the White House sums things up: The scientific consensus is that the anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases is causing climate change. The results can be seen already in higher temperatures and extreme weather, and these are but precursors of what lies ahead. Although greenhouse gas emissions and climate change are global problems, the United States is in a unique position to tackle these challenges and to provide global leadership. The Nation has made substantial progress toward the Administration’s ambitious short-term Copenhagen targets for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, but much difficult work lies ahead. Undertaking this work, which reflects the Administration’s commitment to future generations, entails many policy steps that are economically justified by the negative externalities imposed by greenhouse gas emissions. Policies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases include market-based policies; encouraging energy efficiency; direct regulation; encouraging fuel switching to reduced-emissions fuels; and supporting the development and widespread adoption of zero-emissions energy sources such as wind and solar. And, as the country reduces emissions along this path, it also needs to prepare for the climate change that is occurring and will continue to occur.


St. Patrick’s Day Parade to close D.C. streets

The Laureen O”Neill-James School of Irish Dance performs on Constitution Avenue during the 2008 St. Patrick’s Parade. (Richard A. Lipski — The Washington Post) The St. Patrick’s Day Parade in D.C. on Sunday will close several streets and lead to delays and crowding in the vicinity. The parade will gather on the National Mall and head west on Constitution Avenue NW from 7th Street NW to 17th Street NW. 7th Street will be closed between Constitution Avenue NW and Independence Avenue SW from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., according to D.C. police. The numbered streets between 7th and 17th streets NW that intersect with Constitution Avenue NW will also be closed during this period.


The music of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon

On Saturday morning, Rock 'n' Roll Marathon runners will race past the Lincoln Memorial, across the Memorial Bridge, through Columbia Heights and Dupont Circle. And at every mile along the course, the 30,000 participants will be treated to motivational jams. Yes, they take their "rock" moniker seriously. Thirty-five local music acts, ranging from surprisingly awesome/adorable pre-adolescent rockers Throwing Wenches to fierce lady-led drum corps Batala will dot the course, strumming, thumping and yodeling for the enjoyment of runners-by. Not everyone took their 26.2-mile run so seriously during last year's Rock 'n'Roll Marathon. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Tomorrow's weather is likely to be uncomfortably soggy, but Dan Cruz, a spokesman for the race, assured us that, like the race itself, the shows will go on; the 26 stages along the course will be covered by tents, making the drizzle an issue only for the runners. Want to imagine what sounds will blare from the corner of Harvard and Fifth streets NW at 9:30 a.m. as the competitors blaze past? Just check out videos from a few of the acts: Throwing Wrenches - Too Close (Hard Rock Cafe DC) Batala DC at Adams Morgan Day 2011 Oh So Peligroso Oh So Peligroso - The Mattress live at the Black Cat 01-28-11 Yodel Your Blues Away - The Grandsons Related stories: Marathon to close city streets on Saturday Rock 'n' Roll Marathon: Detailed weather forecast


The Weekend and Beyond: Marathon closures, Metro work and more

roam through all four quadrants in D.C. on Saturday, and the resulting street closures will slow traffic and lead to bus detours. The marathon and related half-marathon will gather on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. on Constitution Avenue and 14th Street in Northwest before crossing Arlington Memorial Bridge, zipping up Rock Creek Parkway, cutting through Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights and other neighborhoods en route to North Capitol Street. The full marathon will continue along East Capitol Street NE, Constitution Avenue NW and 9th Street, cutting down to Maine Avenue, through Southwest and toward the Navy Yard before crossing the Frederick Douglass Bridge. After stretches on Anacostia Drive SE, Minnesota Avenue SE and East Capitol Street SE, it will conclude near RFK Stadium. Metro will open on Saturday at 5 a.m. for this event. In addition to street closures, the marathon will also lead to bus detours and delays. All streets should reopen by 2 p.m., though that could change, according to police. For the full course map and more information, visit this post. New York Avenue reduced to one lane New York Avenue will be limited to just one lane in both directions between Florida Avenue and Penn Street from 10 p.m. on Friday through 4 a.m. on Monday. Lane closures on Anacostia Freeway/I-295 The District Department of Transportation will work to repair ramps along the Anacostia Freeway/I-295 from Friday, March 15, through Friday, April 5. This will create ramp closures in the coming weeks, so be prepared for that. Beginning Friday and lasting until Friday, March 22, the ramp from northbound South Capitol Street to northbound Anacostia Freeway/I-295 will experience single lane closures. Rush hour restrictions will be imposed during this period, and during the evening rush hour traffic will be on the outbound side of South Capitol Street. St. Patrick’s Day Parade street closures The St. Patrick’s Day Parade in D.C. on Sunday will also close streets. The parade will gather on the National Mall and head west on Constitution Avenue NW from 7th Street NW to 17th Street NW. Expect 7th Street to be closed between Constitution Avenue NW and Independence Avenue SW from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., according to D.C. police. Numbered streets between 7th and 17th streets NW that intersect with Constitution Avenue NW will also be closed during this period. SoberRide returns The free cab service is back for 12 hours on Sunday and


Obama Inc.: What businesses want to learn from the president’s campaign

the same types of principles to people who wanted to advocate on behalf of Ford,” says Scott Monty, global head of social media for the automaker. Since 2009, Ford has worked with Blue State Digital, a firm co-founded by Rospars, to develop its online outreach. Ford’s social media platform now boasts more than 100,000 users. “It really doesn’t matter whether you’re running a political campaign or a marketing campaign — a campaign’s a campaign,” Monty says. While Rospars helped launch Blue State Digital in 2004 after working with Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, it wasn’t until he helped lead Obama to victory in 2008 that the firm began building a large client base well outside politics, attracting such customers as the Green Bay Packers, AT&T and HBO, as well as nonprofits and cultural institutions, including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Dan Siroker, a co-founder of the web optimization company Optimizely, served as director of analytics for the 2008 Obama campaign and now counts Walt Disney and Starbucks among his clients. He believes that 2012’s veterans may similarly be able to commercialize new innovations from this election cycle, such as the campaign’s use of cloud computing to scale up its data infrastructure more rapidly and the real-time integration of its e-mail marketing, Web site analytics and ground-level information gathering. Others point to Obama 2012’s microtargeting campaigns on Facebook and its novel use of TV ad buys — which targeted viewers based on channel and time of day instead of specific programs — as breakthroughs that could have commercial applications. Reed, the 2012 campaign’s chief technology officer, says he has received a steady stream of offers since the election. But he believes his deputies are attracting even more interest. “I probably get fewer job offers than some of the engineers that I hire,” says Reed, who came to the campaign after working on the e-commerce site Threadless.com. “There was a specialization this time around and an expertise developed that could be applied to a variety of organizations and companies,” says Ben LaBolt, who served as press secretary for the 2012 campaign. “The expertise isn’t necessarily relationship-based — it’s skill-based.” Aline Lerner, a San Francisco-based tech recruiter, says that having the campaign on one’s resume is “definitely attention-getting. “How they had changed the status quo and built something using data in a compelling way — it’s extremely interesting, particularly in a field that’s not


The week ahead: Cherry Blossom Festival, elephant walk, new Fairfax Connector expresses

Much of the work on the Metro Silver Line is now inside the stations. Drivers on the eastbound Dulles Toll Road pass under a new pedestrian bridge, where workers are installing triangle-shaped wind screens. (Robert Thomson – The Washington Post) Monday should be the worst weather day of the week for travelers as the D.C. region moves into cool, dry weather for the next few days, the Capital Weather Gang says. The National Cherry Blossom Festival starts Wednesday, but the events that draw big crowds won’t start till the weekend. Because the festival brings extra crowds, Metro won’t be doing any major weekend track work until late April. There is some late-night track work through Thursday. The Capitals and Wizards are on the road, but the circus takes over Verizon Center starting Thursday. Though Wednesday is the first day of spring, the road work schedule is pretty limited. Metro late-night delays All this work is likely to result in delays of about 10 minutes each night through Thursday. Unless otherwise indicated, trains will share tracks around the work zones starting at 10 p.m. Red Line: Orange/Blue lines: Blue/Yellow lines: Green Line: Fairfax Connector The Fairfax Connector announced it has started two new express routes, modified three routes and increased the number of stops on one route. The new express routes are Route 493 from Lorton VRE Station and the Saratoga Park and Ride to Tysons and Route 494 from Franconia-Springfield Metro station and Greater Springfield to Tysons. These routes join the others already using the 495 Express Lanes. An introductory free ride period for the two new routes continues to April 12. These are the modified routes. - Route 333 will now use the Franconia-Springfield Parkway during rush hour. - Route 334 during the morning will travel south along Cinder Bed Road and north along Fairfax County Parkway. In the afternoon, it will travel south along the parkway and north along Cinder Bed Road. - Route 372 is adding rush-hour service to the Patriot Ridge Office Campus on morning southbound trips and afternoon northbound trips. - Route 495 is adding service to all stops between Burke VRE station and Wakefield Chapel Road. Anacostia Freeway The District is repairing some ramps along the Anacostia Freeway. From 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, the ramp from southbound South Capitol Street to southbound Interstate 295 (Anacostia Freeway) is scheduled to close.


A powerful video on war criminal Ntaganda, who just gave himself up to the U.S.

Bosco Ntaganda - Wanted for War Crimes In the years since Rwandan national and former Congolese General* Bosco Ntaganda was indicted by the International Criminal Court, accused of committing horrific war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Democratic Republic of Congo's civil war in 2002 and 2003, he has acted more or less with impunity. He's been accused of running his little corner of the Congo as a mafia-style fiefdom, participating in smuggling and the conflict minerals trade. On Monday, for reasons that are still mysterious, he walked into the U.S. embassy in Kigali, Rwanda, and asked to be transferred to the ICC for trial. It's difficult to fully capture Ntaganda's hard-earned reputation for brutality, his role in some of Central Africa's darkest moments, the legacy of horror he leaves behind. But this six-minute video, produced by Human Rights Watch, provides a helpful understanding of who he is, why he matters and what made him such a uniquely frightening figure. We'll have more on Ntaganda soon so, please do check back. * – An earlier version of this post described Ntaganda as a “Rwandan general.” A number of readers, understandably, took this as implying that Ntaganda is a general in the Rwandan military. He is not; he is a Rwandan national who also served, presumably until he led a rebellion in April, as a general in the Congolese military. I regret causing any confusing.


Three D.C. chefs nominated for James Beard Awards

be too old by then," the 43-year-old chef laughs. Chefs weren't the only locals nominated today by the foundation. The recently relocated Minibar by Jose Andres was nominated in the Restaurant Design and Graphics category, along with another Andres property, Jaleo at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Spanish designer/architect Juli Capella collaborated with the Georgetown-based architectural firm CORE on the new Minibar, while Capella consulted with the Rockwell Group at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Andres was traveling to Cambodia today, as part of his work with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, and could not immediately be reached for comment. The other local nominee today was Andy Myers, sommelier at CityZen, whose wine lists were one of five nominated in the Outstanding Wine Program category. CityZen chef Eric Ziebold says the nomination was a real honor, given the restaurant is approaching its ninth birthday. "In today's age, that's ancient," Ziebold says. "It becomes easy to forget the rest of the world is looking at you." As for Myers, he was a little hard to track down. Earlier in the day, the sommelier was on a bus headed to New Jersey to add a new Easter Island head tattoo to his already impressive display of body ink. When we finally caught up over the phone, he was freshly tatted and ready to talk about his nomination, which he had been pondering since he first heard the news this morning. "I’ve been doing the same stuff, every single day," Myers says, almost rhetorically. "Why did they notice us now?" Myers believes several factors account for the nomination: his stockpiling of older vintage wines, whether from Oregon or Italy or Bordeaux, France. He also thinks that some wine dinners, served family-style, have taken a little of the stuffiness out of the grape experience. But most of all, Myers thinks it's his long collaboration with Ziebold that sealed the deal. "The menu and the wine list have become tighter knit," Myers says. "To me, there’s more of a conversation happening between Eric’s food and the wine list.” On the journalism side, the Washington Post earned one nomination in the Health & Well-Being category with freelancer Aliza Green's story, "The gloves can come off, as far as I'm concerned." Locally, the Washingtonian Food & Drink section, edited by Todd Kliman and Ann Limpert, earned a nomination in the Food Coverage in a General Interest


Shorthand

* Rand Paul backed legalization but not a special path to citizenship. * The White House Easter Egg Roll lives. * The assault weapons ban is not so lucky. But the White House plans to work on it. * Elizabeth Warren is writing a book. * And Rick Perry is thinking about running for president again.


2013 RAMMY Award finalists: Is your favorite restaurant on the list?

Washington restaurants have been earning accolades left and right this month, including James Beard Award nominations and an America's Classics Award. Some of the area's establishments could soon have another trophy to add to their cases as the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington announced the finalists for the 2013 RAMMY Awards on Tuesday. The winners will be announced on June 23. View Photo Gallery —The RAMMY Awards honor the best in the D.C. food scene. Did your favorite restaurant make the cut? Take a look at some of the finalists here. The winners will be announced at the RAMMY gala on June 23, 2013. Top prizes are awarded for fine dining, wine, pastries and more. Three of the 16 categories will be selected by public vote on the RAMW Web site: Neighborhood Gathering Place, Hottest Restaurant Bar Scene and Power Spot of the Year. (Nominations can only go to restaurants that are members of the association.) Some of the restaurants that earned multiple nominations include the Ashby Inn & Restaurant, Bombay Club, Fuego Cocina y Tequileria, Birch and Barley and Bar Pilar. The full list of nominees is below: 2013 RAMMY Finalists: Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year The Ashby Inn Restaurant Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year Birch Barley Casual Restaurant of the Year Bar Pilar Neighborhood Gathering Place of the Year Ardeo + Bardeo New Restaurant of the Year Boqueria Chef of the Year Tony Conte – The Oval Room Haidar Karoum – Estadio/Proof Tarver King – The Ashby Inn and Restaurant Cedric Maupillier – Mintwood Place Fabio Trabocchi – Fiola Rising Culinary Star of the Year Scot Harlan – Green Pig Bistro Tim Ma – Maple Avenue Restaurant Marjorie Meek-Bradley – Ripple John Melfi – Blue Duck Tavern Nathan Shapiro – The Ashby Inn and Restaurant Pastry Chef of the Year Beverly Bates – Vidalia Peter Brett – Blue Duck Tavern Alison Reed – Ripple Susan Wallace – BlackSalt Fish Market & Restaurant Tom Wellings – Fiola Wine Program of the Year Adour Birch Barley/Churchkey Power Spot of the Year The Bombay Club Hottest Restaurant Bar Scene of the Year Bar Pilar Manager of the Year Joseph Cerione – Blue Duck Tavern Justin Guthrie - Estadio Alex Muñoz – Hill Country Michael Nevarez – Vidalia/Bistro Bis/Woodward Table Tyes Zolman – Black Restaurant Group Employee of the Year Helene Jones – Poste Moderne Brasserie Lauren Lowe – DC Coast


RAMMY Awards: Post critics discuss the nominees

talent. I’d be happy to eat anything any of these chefs made for me. Tim Carman, $20 Diner columnist: I think it’s hard to fairly evaluate these nominations for one main reason: You have to be a member of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington to earn a nod. So restaurants that you think are a lock for a nomination are nowhere to be found, like Izakaya Seki in the New Restaurant of the Year category. With that said, I do like a number of the nominees this year, specifically Room 11 in the Beverage/Mixology Program category, which seems like a nice vote of confidence for the smaller restaurateur. I also like that Marjorie Meek-Bradley, who performed admirably at Graffiato in an often chaotic situation, got a fast nomination for her work at Ripple. I think the Restaurateur of the Year category represents some of the best minds in the local hospitality business. I’d like to see RAMW not include chains based in other cities, whether Boqueria (which I like) and Nando’s Peri-Peri (which runs hot and cold for me). It just doesn’t seem very Washington to me. The Beverage/Mixology Program category also strikes an odd note: The EatGoodFood Group is the only one among the nominees that’s a restaurant group; I mean, we all know Todd Thrasher is a mixology genius, but shouldn’t the category differentiate between the kinds of work he does among the different restaurants in the group? Fritz Hahn, bars clubs reporter: Beverage/Mixology Program of the Year: The Washington area's cocktail scene is so strong that we could easily argue that any of 15 different bars deserve to be one of the five nominees. That's why I'm surprised to see that four of the five nominees in this category are exactly the same as last year's, with Rasika taking the place of Estadio. That substitution's definitely a head-scratcher. It's great to see recognition of D.C.'s burgeoning beer scene with the nomination of ChurchKey (only Birch & Barley was mentioned last year) and continued plaudits for the mixologists at Room 11, even though the staff has changed quite a bit over the last two years. The glaring omissions to me are the Columbia Room and the Passenger, which remain among the city's top bar experiences, whether you're going for the $60 bespoke cocktail treatment or just want a quirky variation on a Manhattan. (The problem is that they're


Why the Easter Bunny and White House tours have become the public face of sequestration

country, the national press is based in Washington, which makes a White House-specific story much easier to cover. White House spokesman Jay Carney “We've been dealing with questions about this every day, quite a few of them. And as the President has said, and I and others have said, this is a very unfortunate circumstance that is a result of the sequester. And it was an unhappy choice that had to be made,” he said, adding moments later. “And I think it's always important to remember, of course, that when we talk about that unfortunate outcome or result of the sequester, that we recognize that the impacts of the sequester go beyond whether or not people are going to be able to have tours of the White House. And in some ways you might say some of the impacts are even more unfortunate -- families who lose slots in Head Start, or families who experience layoffs or furloughs around the country.” At the Hanford Site in Washington State, for example, the sequester has forced the Energy Department to lay off nearly 250 employees and furlough 2,600 more. It will deal a serious blow to the nation’s largest Superfund cleanup effort, which is addressing the impact of 40 years of plutonium production. “It’s a hard blow to the workforce because these are the people who actually do the work in the field,” Energy Department spokesman Cameron Hardy said of the layoffs, adding the cuts are so deep because the agency cannot reduce its surveillance and maintenance budget. “There’s no such thing as cutting surveillance and maintenance with a nuclear facility.” Miller’s district in southeast Michigan has felt the impact of sequestration as well. The suspension of the military’s Tuition Assistance Program has cost 4,000 Central Michigan University students their aid, at least temporarily, and the Federal Aviation Administration has announced it will close the control tower at Detroit's Coleman A. Young International Airport in April. But the Congresswoman noted that Macomb County government employees have been taking furloughs for four years, so the idea of government cutbacks haven’t fazed her constituents. “In the ten years I’ve been in Washington, this is the first time we’ve ever cut spending,” she said. “It’s not like there’s some groundswell of sympathy for the federal government finally taking some cuts. And the decision to cancel White House tours is going over like a lead Zeppelin.”


Shorthand

* Obama is happy to be in Israel, and he filled out his bracket. * Larry Grooms will get a recount. * Claire McCaskill is writing a book. * Leahy is worried about the immigration pace. * While seven Democratic senators pushed to maintain family visas.


Magical thinking about technology in education

in the Cloud, a learning lab in India, where children can embark on intellectual adventures by engaging and connecting with information and mentoring online.” The million dollar award is not an accident when so many vendors, enthusiasts, and dreamers are willing to spend large sums of money to advance the spread of Mitra’s initiative and similar ones through both the developing and developed world. More magical thinking–another noble dream–occurred nearly a decade ago with the One-Laptop-Per-Child initiative (OLPC). Nicholas Negroponte, MIT professor and former director of the MIT Media Lab, designed the project to put inexpensive, solar-powered laptops (running now around $200) in the hands of children and youth in least developed countries in Africa, Asia, and South America. Thus far, the largest distribution of laptops, nearly a million, have gone to rural and poor children in Peru over the past few years. A recent evaluation of the effort concluded: *The program dramatically increased access to computers *No evidence that the program increased learning in Math or Language. *Some benefits on cognitive skills Results for other developing countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Uruguay have similar mixed results. At best, it is too early to say what the benefits have been; after all, laptops are slowly becoming obsolete since smart phones and cheaper devices have nearly replaced them in many parts of the world; at worst, OLPC approaches what Mike Trucano, ICT specialist for the World Bank, listed as one of the 9 worst ed tech practices in the developing world: Dump hardware in schools, hope for magic to happen. I certainly saw that with instructional television in the 1960s, desktop computers and labs in the 1980s, 1:1 laptop programs since the mid-1990s and I now see a similar pattern with iPads, other tablets, and smart phones. Magical thinking about transforming teaching and learning–dumping teachers and traditional schools disappearing–is close to make-believe even when children have these powerful devices in their hands. Vendor-driven hype and wishful policy thinking over robots, increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence software, and expanded virtual teaching feed private and public fantasies about replacing teachers and schools. Taking a step back and thinking about what parents, voters, and taxpayers want from schools–the social, economic, political, and individual goals–makes magical thinking more of a curse in the inevitable public disappointment and cynicism that ensue after money is spent, paltry results emerge, and machines become obsolete. I end with


Craft Brewers Conference: A who’s who of craft brews

Thousands of beer industry insiders will descend on the city next week for the annual Craft Brewers Conference, which is being held in Washington for the first time. The conference brings the heavyweights of the national beer scene to dozens of unofficial happy hours and beer dinners open to everyone, and the following events should be on any beer-lover's calendar. Most are free, though you'll pay for your own beer. Space and some hard-to-find beers are limited, so arrive early. The taps at the Black Squirrel will feature different beers every night during the Craft Brewers Conference, which runs from March 26-29. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) MONDAY The Craft Brewers Conference Beer Food Experience TUESDAY WEDNESDAY Beer Hunter: The Movie Masters of the Craft Beer Universe The Pietasters Baltimore Beer Jam Schlafly Tap Takeover THURSDAY The California Craft Beer Extravaganza Three Floyds Tap Takeovers Beer and Cheese with Oxbow and the Bruery Amber Waves FRIDAY SATURDAY


Days of sequester: A week-three round-up

Congress on Thursday approved a short-term funding plan to keep the government running through September. But the measure denies a 0.5 percent pay raise for federal workers set to take effect next month. The “continuing resolution” has already brought some relief to civilian defense employees, who escaped furlough notices that were supposed to go out Friday — they’ve been delayed until at least April 5. Defense officials decided to hold off on the notices while determining whether the legislation provides enough Pentagon funding to avert some of the unpaid leave. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty) The resolution, which awaits President Obama’s signature, would also halt furloughs for thousands of meat inspectors, according to the Department of Agriculture. Still, not every part of the government would see relief from the bill, as the measure only devotes funds toward certain agencies to help them avoid sequester impacts. Around Yellowstone, small communities are raising private donations to help the park open on time for spring visitors. Their money will go toward plowing roads after the park decided to idle its plows for awhile because of the government-wide spending cuts. Did we miss anything? Tell us how the automatic reductions are affecting your agency by sounding off on the Washington Post’s sequester forum. For more federal news, visit The Federal Eye, The Fed Page and Post Politics. To connect with Josh Hicks, follow his Twitter feed, subscribe to his Facebook page or e-mail josh.hicks@washpost.com. E-mail federalworker@washpost.com with news tips and other suggestions.


An early look at the D.C. area’s best bar and restaurant openings of 2013

If Mintwood Place, Range and Izakaya Seki all feel a little 2012 to you, oh wise foodie, then check out our new guide to Washington-area hot spots that have opened in 2013. Whether it's date night and you're looking for a spot that will impress someone special, or you just want to try one of the area's bright new restaurants, moody new cocktail bars or jazzy new supper clubs, have a look at these recent dining-and-drinking debuts: View Photo Gallery —Looking for the newest and hottest restaurants and bars of 2013? Look no further. Find out what’s new in your neighborhood, then click on the boldface names to read reviews, make reservations and plan your trip.


The weekend and beyond: Cherry blossom festival events begin, downtown run Sunday

delightful, but bike parking is limited. There is some parking near the Washington Monument and by the Jefferson Memorial. Parking. 5K Run/Walk for Colon Cancer Awareness The eighth annual 5K Run/Walk for Colon Cancer Awareness starts at 9 a.m. Sunday. D.C. police announced these street closings around Freedom Plaza for 5 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Pennsylvania Avenue NW from 14th Street to 12th Street, and 13th Street NW from Pennsylvania Avenue to E Street. Streets along the route of the event will be closed from 8:30 to 11 a.m. This is the route: Southeast on Pennsylvania Avenue NW from 12th to Third streets, south on Third Street to Independence Avenue SW, west on Independence to Fourth Street SW, south on Fourth Street to E Street SW, east on E Street to Third Street SW, north on Third Street to Maryland Avenue NW, northeast on Maryland Avenue NW to First Street NW, north on First Street to Constitution Avenue NW, west on Constitution to Pennsylvania Avenue NW, northwest on Pennsylvania to 12th Street NW. Download a map from this page on the sponsor’s Web site. 95 Express Lanes The conversion of the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on Interstate 95 into high occupancy toll lanes continues this weekend and this coming week. Sunday through Wednesday nights, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., the Virginia Department of Transportation plans to close Russell Road in the Quantico area for the placement of steel on I-95 above Russell Road. Through traffic on Russell Road will be directed to a detour. One lane on I-95 North will be closed. After the Russell Road operation is done, VDOT plans to close the Telegraph Road bridge over I-95 in that area for nine months. Workers will demolish and replace the old bridge. Falls Church lane closing Drivers will find the right northbound lane of North Washington Street closed at Jefferson Street in Falls Church through March 31 for work on storm sewers. Takoma Park work The Maryland State Highway Administration has begun a resurfacing project on East West Highway between Park and New Hampshire avenues in Takoma Park. The project, which will continue into the fall, is starting with work on the curb, gutters and sidewalk and then will move into road resurfacing during the spring. Drivers may find lanes closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays.


Everything’s coming up roses for D.C. restaurants

It's cherry blossom season, but that's not the only flower sprouting in D.C. Get ready for Rose's Luxury in Capitol Hill and Compass Rose on 14th Street, which join a small garden patch of other floral restaurants. Let's sniff out where all of these Roses are coming from: Compass Rose: Rose's Luxury: Bill Thomas, proprietor of JackRose, pulls several bottles Willett Single Barrel Bourbon from Kentucky for a customer to taste test on September 23, 2011 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) Jack Rose: Rosa Mexicano:


Washington Club puts historic Patterson Mansion on the market

use? Do you no longer have enough room for your liveried servants? Well, everything you’ve been looking for in a home — plus, convenient Metro access! — is now available. For the first time in more than 60 years, the Dupont Circle mansion where publishing tycoon Cissy Patterson entertained the city’s elite is on the market. The Patterson House, currently occupied by the Washington Club, at 15 Dupont Circle. (Amy Argetsinger / The Washington Post) It’s being offered for sale by the Washington Club, a women’s social group, after it determined the cost of upkeep was too much for its shrinking membership. “A building that old is difficult to maintain,” said President Priscilla Baker, “and very expensive.” What’s next for the club is a story for another day. But the Patterson House has plenty of stories of its own. It was built by Nellie Patterson, daughter of the Chicago Tribune owner, in 1901, when Dupont Circle was the hot new neighborhood for the nouveau riche, many of them also from Chicago. The grand Beaux-Arts edifice by legendary architect Stanford White was inspired by the “White City” of the Chicago World’s Fair. “It was meant to entertain, and for Nellie Patterson to show off her wealth,” says historian Amanda Smith, author of “Cissy Patterson: Newspaper Titan.” Nellie’s daughter Cissy became editor of the Washington Times-Herald and one of the city’s preeminent hostesses. Calvin Coolidge was a guest for a while when the White House was undergoing renovations; in June 1927, he hosted Charles Lindbergh there after his historic transatlantic flight. Alas, it probably won’t be a home again, unless it gets turned into condos. Other possible future uses: Office space, an embassy or home to another private club. Asking price? Well, if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. But Baker says that two bidders above $20 million have already been turned down. “We will sell,” she said, “when it’s right for our members, the building and the community.” Earlier: Also in The Reliable Source: Virginia first-grader gets lessons in Hollywood with film debut Tilda Swinton sleeps in a box: Is this (still) art? Quoted: Oscar de la Renta on his future with Michelle Obama Hey, isn’t that . . .?: Michelle Obama Hey, isn’t that . . . .?: Chris Hemsworth Lil Wayne proves he’s alive with video greeting to fans Wendy Rieger celebrates 25 years at NBC4


The week ahead: buses, blossoms, basketball, baseball

will is another matter. Riders have complained about that since Metro adopted the NextBus service.) Nationals exhibition game The Washington Nationals play an exhibition game against the New York Yankees at 2:05 p.m. Friday at Nationals Park. Nearest Metrorail station: Navy Yard. See a transportation guide to Nationals Park for the 2013 season. Cherry Blossom Festival The National Park Service now predicts a peak bloom around the Tidal Basin for April 3-6. See a walking map of the Tidal Basin. The annual kite festival is Saturday. Competitions and open kite-flying areas will draw many participants and spectators to the Washington Monument grounds from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Saturday date depends on good weather, so watch for updates. Nearest Metrorail stations: Smithsonian and Federal Triangle. Festival travel tips Riding Metrorail. Walking. Consult visitor maps on downtown streets or the ones posted by the National Park Service around the Mall. Bus shelters often have maps. Biking. Riding around the Mall and East Potomac Park is delightful, but bike parking is limited. There is some parking near the Washington Monument and by the Jefferson Memorial. Parking. 95 Express Lanes The conversion of the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on Interstate 95 into high occupancy toll lanes continues this weekend and this coming week. Each night through Wednesday, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., the Virginia Department of Transportation plans to close Russell Road in the Quantico area for the placement of steel on I-95 above Russell Road. Through traffic on Russell Road will be directed to a detour. One lane on I-95 North will be closed. After the Russell Road operation is done, VDOT plans to close the Telegraph Road bridge over I-95 in that area for nine months. Workers will demolish and replace the old bridge. Falls Church lane closing Drivers will find the right northbound lane of North Washington Street closed at Jefferson Street in Falls Church through Sunday for work on storm sewers. Takoma Park work The Maryland State Highway Administration has begun a resurfacing project on East West Highway between Park and New Hampshire avenues in Takoma Park. The project, which will continue into the fall, is starting with work on the curb, gutters and sidewalk and then will move into road resurfacing during the spring. Drivers may find lanes closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays.