How we shop for food is changing, in three charts

The produce aisle at a Publix grocery store in Knoxville, Tenn. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg) The grocery industry is grappling with significant transformation in the marketplace. Traditional supermarkets are feeling pressure from new competitors, including upstarts focused on natural and organic goods and big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target that have expanded their grocery offerings. All of these stores have had to figure out how to adapt to the preferences of millennial shoppers and fast-moving food trends, from the rise of the paleo diet to the preference for eating local. A new research report Here are the key findings: Millennials have a different approach to shopping As the chart above demonstrates, millennials are more likely than previous generations to build shopping trips around a particular recipe, rather than simply to take a peek in the pantry and restock staples. They also place less emphasis on special discounts in their menu planning than do other generations. FMI’s research found that millennial consumers have something of a last-minute approach to shopping. The study found that more than 25 percent of meals consumed by “20-somethings” include items they bought on the same day. Millennials are also more last-minute when it comes to making grocery lists, with 37 percent of respondents saying they do so right before going to the store. In other generations, the largest share of shoppers said they worked on their grocery list throughout the week, adding items as they ran out. The report makes clear that FMI does not expect these differences to go away as millennials age. Rather, they say this more spontaneous approach to meal-planning reflects broader changes in food culture that are likely to remain endemic to this generation. People are more focused on healthy eating The drumbeat is growing louder for Americans to adopt healthier diets. This chart shows that in a relatively short time span, shoppers have become more focused on the healthiness of the goods they are buying. Many retailers are moving to cater to these changing preferences. Wal-Mart, for example, announced earlier this year it would carry low-priced Wild Oats organic products. Kroger’s chief operating officer Michael L. Ellis told investors earlier this year that the company’s Simple Truth organic line “continues to grow at an astonishing pace” and is likely to be a billion-dollar brand by the end of this fiscal year. Loyalty to a particular store is fading away While the traditional


making grocery lists, with 37 percent of respondents saying they do so right before going to the store. In other generations, the largest share of shoppers said they worked on their grocery list throughout the week, adding items as they ran out. The report makes clear that FMI does not expect these differences to go away as millennials age. Rather, they say this more spontaneous approach to meal-planning reflects broader changes in food culture that are likely to remain endemic to this generation. People are more focused on healthy eating The drumbeat is growing louder for Americans to adopt healthier diets. This chart shows that in a relatively short time span, shoppers have become more focused on the healthiness of the goods they are buying. Many retailers are moving to cater to these changing preferences. Wal-Mart, for example, announced earlier this year it would carry low-priced Wild Oats organic products. Kroger’s chief operating officer Michael L. Ellis told investors earlier this year that the company’s Simple Truth organic line “continues to grow at an astonishing pace” and is likely to be a billion-dollar brand by the end of this fiscal year. Loyalty to a particular store is fading away While the traditional supermarket still reigns as the top destination for grocery shopping, this chart effectively illustrates just how fierce the competition for your grocery dollars has become. FMI found that the traditional way of shopping–with one major weekly trip to the same neighborhood grocery–is becoming less common. The shopping experience is becoming highly fragmented, the study found. For example, a consumer might do a large trip to a traditional supermarket every other week, but do “fill-in trips” in between those outings to a drug store or a convenience store. Another shopper might purchase produce at an organic food store, but get packaged items at a warehouse club store such as Costco or Sam’s Club. Our decreased loyalty to a single store is also evident in the number of people who say they have a “primary store” where they do most of their shopping. In 2014, the number of people who do not have a primary store rose to 9 percent, up from 3 percent in 2013 and 2 percent in 2011. As these patterns continue to shift, the pressure is on food retailers of all kinds to react nimbly to give shoppers an experience that will keep them coming back.


Quarantining an entire Liberian slum to fight Ebola is a recipe for disaster

West African patients in an RV park, regardless of whether they show symptoms of contracting the disease. Such moves have obvious appeal to a public worried about an incurable disease that kills 60 percent of the people who contract it. But in fact they make matters worse. The quarantine in West Point is a recipe for disaster. A vestige of the Middle Ages But a quarantine, or cordon sanitaire, restricts the movement of individuals who may be healthy and pose no risk to others, such as those in North Carolina's Mecklenburg county. Quarantining individuals who have no symptoms is not justified. It is not evidence-based. Much worse, it may prohibit the critical basics of civilized society from entering the quarantined region, as is happening in West Point. There, the situation is much more dire, with water, food and medical supplies becoming scarce in the quarantine zone. Total breakdowns in law and order, barbarism and lethal force exerted against those who defy orders are serious concerns in quarantined regions. Even worse, a disease like Ebola, free of the sterilizing effects of civilization, can flourish in such environments, where bodies, waste and refuse collect. This provides ample opportunity for the virus to prey on healthy people, potentially increasing the burden of infection. And those healthy people quarantined may turn against their government, which is violating the very liberty it is constituted to protect. Where quarantine, or more accurately, "isolation" is effective is in the treatment of individuals with symptoms of contagious diseases, who must be separated from others to decrease the spread of infection. Quarantine periods are ended when it is apparent that the individuals are free from disease. Isolation can be applied to a contagious tuberculosis patient, for example, who represents a true risk of spreading the infection to others. In fact, authorities in California's Santa Barbara County issued an arrest warrant last week for a tuberculosis patient who discontinued his treatment and vanished. While decisive action is needed to combat Ebola and other diseases, the quarantine of a geographic location applied to people without evidence of infection functions not to control disease but to promote its further development. Amesh Adalja is an infectious diseases physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and a faculty member in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is on Twitter @AmeshAA and his blog www.trackingzebra.com.


Astronomers spot the birth of ‘Sparky,’ a massive star factory

researchers observed a newly discovered galaxy -- which they nicknamed "Sparky" -- as it was about 11 billion years ago. That's roughly three billion years after the Big Bang. To see Sparky is to get a sense of what it looked like when galaxies formed during the earliest stages of the universe's existence. The European Space Agency and NASA released video of a deep sky Hubble Telescope survey called GOODS North. ESA says the zoomed in view shows "a very early stage where the dense galactic core is still furiously churning out newborn stars." "It was really a crazy time in galaxy formation. The universe was very extreme, forming these incredibly dense galaxies and it was forming them really, really rapidly," said Yale University's Erica Nelson, the lead author on the paper. "It's fascinating that the early universe could make galaxies in this way and the modern universe just can't anymore, and we’re really beginning to understand in a profound way how different the early universe was than it is now." The early universe was a much more dense place, since matter has been expanding away from each other ever since the Big Bang. At the time astronomers spotted Sparky -- when it had a “violent, turbulent-star producing environment" -- the galaxy was jam-packed with about 300 billion stars, Nelson said. That's twice as many stars as in our home galaxy, the Milky Way, and in a fraction of the space. Researchers think that Sparky continued rapidly producing stars but stopped about 10 billion years ago, when it expanded and eventually ate smaller galaxies as it grew. Taken from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope survey, space is shown lit up with galaxies, with Sparky barely visble in the bottom right.(Courtesy of NASA, ESA, and Erica Nelson) An arrow points to "Sparky" shown in the zoomed-in box, as captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys. (Courtesy of NASA, ESA, and Erica Nelson) Since the mid-2000s, astronomers have been on the hunt for an example of a giant elliptical galaxy forming, Nelson said. Technological advances, particularly with the placement of a new camera on the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009, have helped their quest. “Understanding how these galaxies were formed is to understand how we got here and how it is that we exist,” Nelson said. “This is understanding our greater human history.”


Experimental Ebola drug halts virus in monkeys five days after they were infected

During the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever in western Africa, two American missionaries received an experimental drug called ZMapp. An Ebola expert explains how ZMapp is derived and how it fights the deadly virus. The experimental drug pressed into emergency use in the West African Ebola epidemic cured a group of 18 monkeys of the deadly disease, including some who didn't receive the treatment until five days after they were injected with the virus, researchers reported Friday. The finding, published online in the journal Nature, raises new hope for use of the cocktail of monoclonal antibodies, called ZMapp, against Ebola, which has no known cure or vaccine. It has been fatal to more than half the people who have contracted the virus in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. During the current outbreak, more than 1,500 people have died and 3,069 people have become infected in five countries, the latest of them Senegal, according to the World Health Organization. The current epidemic is worse than all previous Ebola outbreaks combined. A small number of cases, believed to be a separate outbreak, have surfaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Governments move to stop the epidemic from spreading further as the death toll from the virus continues to grow. "The highlight of these experimental results is undoubtedly ZMapp, which was able to reverse severe [Ebola] disease...leading to full recovery of all treated [non-human primates]" within 28 days after they were infected, the researchers wrote. They added that their work marked the first time that test subjects, in this case rhesus macaques, were effectively treated five days after acquiring the infection. Another group of researchers reported last week that they had used a different drug to successfully treat monkeys for the deadly and similar Marburg virus three days after the animals were infected. Though it had never been tested on humans, the drug was given to seven people who fell ill with Ebola in Africa in recent weeks, but it is impossible to determine its impact on a small sample of people who became infected at different times and received their care under differing circumstances. Two American missionaries, who were rushed home from Liberia and placed in isolation, recovered. An elderly Spanish priest and a Liberian doctor have died. Two more Liberian doctors and a British nurse are still being treated. The small supply of the drug, perhaps about 20 doses, is exhausted,


Pot is becoming legal in more places, but we should drug test employees anyway

(David McNew/Reuters) The movement to normalize the use of marijuana is growing across the United States. Nearly half of states now allow medical use of marijuana and, in November 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first places in the world to pass legislation legalizing the regulated production, sale and recreational use of marijuana. Now this movement is turning its sights on employer drug testing, arguing that, in an environment that is increasingly tolerant of marijuana use, testing for marijuana is outdated, irrelevant and, in some cases, even illegal. In Colorado, a medical marijuana user is suing Dish Network for firing him over a positive drug test, bringing the legality of such screening into question. Meanwhile, marijuana advocates are targeting drug-testing policies of major employers, including launching a petition to pressure the New York Times to trash its drug-testing policy. If successful, this movement will damage the safety and productivity of U.S. workplaces and take away one proven way to reduce substance abuse. Workplace drug testing became commonplace in the 1980s as employers sought to reduce the negative effects of drug use. This practice has succeeded. After implementing drug testing programs, many employers have reported higher productivity, less absenteeism, lower employee turnover, and declines in workers’ compensation claims. In a 2011 poll of human resources managers, the number of employers reporting high absenteeism fell by half after implementing drug-testing programs. Nearly one in five reported improved productivity. Further, employers are legally obligated to provide safe and healthy environments for their employees. Drug testing is a crucial part of achieving that goal. Post-accident testing helps identify the use of impairing substances, including marijuana, that causes accidents and injuries on the job. There is clear evidence of the short- and long-term adverse effects of marijuana use, including impairment related to memory, altered judgment, motor coordination, cognition, and even addiction. In chronic daily marijuana users, impairment in critical tracking and divided attention tasks are observed following three weeks of abstinence. For all of these reasons, marijuana and other illicit drug use is prohibited by many employers, including specifically under federal regulations for commercial drivers, airline pilots and train engineers. These issues are particularly important to safety sensitive roles, but substance abuse adversely affects all workplaces. The legalization of marijuana for medical and recreational use does not change these facts. It is uncommon for an occasional user to be identified in random workplace drug testing.


How minor parties help address climate change

Day laborers struggle to navigate their boat due to water Hyacinth plants taking over the water’s surface in the Buriganga River in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The condition of some parts of the river is unnavigable due to a lack of maintenance and pollution from chemical waste. Abir Abdullah/European Pressphoto Agency The following is a guest post from University of Michigan-Dearborn political scientist Salomon Orellana. ***** Concern over climate change continues to grow among climate scientists and across the political spectrum. But climate change is a difficult problem to address in large part because its consequences are not immediately apparent, and thus it can be difficult to convince the public to accept the material sacrifices required. In democracies, this task can be made more difficult by the incentives parties and politicians face to pander; that is, to pursue votes by appealing to voters’ short-term interests. In the case of global warming, this would be by appealing to voters’ preferences for material comfort in the present at the expense of a future stable climate. In my recent book, I make the case that democracies with fewer parties in the legislature struggle more with pandering than democracies with more parties. As I discussed in an earlier post at The Monkey Cage, this dynamic is consequential to important social problems such as crime and incarceration, but it is also quite relevant to how societies respond to other complex and critical problems such as global climate change. In two-party systems, when one party panders on material comfort (e.g., “gasoline prices have risen under the current government”) or even survival (e.g., “carbon taxes will cost jobs”) versus doing something about climate change, the other party feels great pressure to follow suit. This dynamic also tends to reduce dissent on issues like carbon taxes, and thereby can influence public opinion and the policies governments adopt on such issues. Most people actually demonstrate a preference for protecting the environment when responding to general questions about the environment; however, levels of commitment to environmental protection tend to decline as people begin to realize that there are specific material costs involved. Survey questions that more specifically address the costs of environmental protection tend to show lower levels of support. This may help explain why presidential candidates in the U.S. will make general statements about protecting the environment, but they tend to avoid making statements about specific steps that might involve materials


Scattered storms give way to stunning rainbows

Potomac River & DC area! https://t.co/x6zXegDhzU @capitalweather @SteveRudinABC7 http://t.co/KM0cO7XecB 4:50 p.m. update: Perfect end to a late summer storm! @capitalweather @capital_climate @ameliasegal @nbcwashington http://t.co/WMCMRO3Kgm Double rainbow as we land into #DCA! @SouthwestAir @capitalweather http://t.co/TVp4DFeJWQ Another pic of the rainbow over @Reagan_Airport @ccbid @capitalweather @wtop @dcairports http://t.co/AUjs8MlWC1 @capitalweather @Ginger_Zee@Toppersweather the storm which just came through DC left this rainbow in its wake: http://t.co/B7RuWAL54g 4:40 p.m. update: Just west of the storms, we’re having a rainbow bonanza. Some views: @capitalweather this one is better -- #rainbow stops at Capitol http://t.co/j2gTntYPA9 A nice full #rainbow over #DC as seen from #Arlington @capitalweather @WTOP http://t.co/tJVabWkxGL Beautiful rainbow in Silver Spring @capitalweather http://t.co/VzQe8U3ZgT The best storms are short storms! Clear of @JBMHH @capitalweather http://t.co/jYI5hEap9X 4:25 p.m. update: Some storm photos: Storms moving into downtown DC - can't even see Arlington! @capitalweather @dougkammerer @SteveRudinABC7 http://t.co/Pp1Z1jFaX5 @capitalweather storm looking west from Sugarloaf Mt. http://t.co/vrpn7Ptx7H @capitalweather The View in Bethesda http://t.co/sDpPUytd9g 4:05 p.m. update: @capitalweather 350pm EST, marble sized hail near Toll Road and Wolf Trap National Park. Event over in < 5 mins. skies now brightening. .@capitalweather here's 5 mins of the storms that passes through Herndon in 51 sec! http://t.co/AvgFFfZKkF 3:47 p.m. update: Head inside as this storm comes through. The most intense activity looks to pass through McLean, NW D.C. and Bethesda. Severe tstorm warning for DC and most areas inside Beltway thru 430p. Intense storm near Reston heading E. http://t.co/zxuTvxURuU Original post: 3:34 p.m. Widely scattered storms have developed over the region, focused in two areas: northwest of the District and south of the District. The area northwest of the District stretches from eastern Loudoun and northern Fairfax counties through central Montgomery County. These storms are headed east and should pass through northern Fairfax, NW D.C., southern Montgomery County, northern Prince George’s County, southern Howard County and northern Anne Arundel county through 5 p.m. @capitalweather thunderstorm over Germantown http://t.co/HMcxCIsBhS The storms to the south are right along I-95 in southeast Prince William County through central Stafford County and should push into Charles, southern Calvert, and St. Mary’s County over the next two hours. Outside of the primary storm areas, some isolated storms are possible so keep an idea on radar. None of these storms (so far) are severe, but gusty winds, downpours, and lightning are possible as they move through. Activity should mostly pass to the east and diminish in coverage after 5-6 p.m.


Five big-deal restaurant openings in D.C. to get excited about

Photo by Sam Vasfi This fall, D.C.’s dining scene will see the arrival of big-name chefs (Daniel Boulud is coming!) and new projects from well-loved local establishments (cheers to another Chez Billy, above). While there are plenty of other restaurants in the works, here are the five to get most excited about. El Camino Washington Firehouse Restaurant DBGB Kitchen and Bar China Chilcano Chez Billy Sud You may also like: Eight D.C. chefs to know now D.C.’s Rose’s Luxury is Bon Appetit’s Best New Restaurant in America Meet four successful local chefs who said ‘no thank you’ to the culinary-school path


Wonkbook: What you need to know about Obamacare, year two

find state responses to deferred-deportation law vary. Tim Henderson in Pew Stateline. Dog days of summer interlude: 4. What Eric Cantor's new Wall St. job means Beltway big shot to Wall Street titan? Explainer: A new paradigm in the House? New job shows lack of transparency in ethics rule. Other political reads: Texas voter ID trial seen as test to restore U.S. oversight. Laurel Brubaker Calkins in Bloomberg. Music interlude: 5. Energy firms paying big bucks for recent disasters Judges propose $1.4 billion penalty for firm in gas pipeline blast. Halliburton agrees to $1.1 billion penalty to settle Gulf spill lawsuits, but denies wrongdoing. Other environmental/energy reads: Keystone XL redux? Jeremy van Loon and Rebecca Penty in Bloomberg. Water resources a problem for energy extraction worldwide, report finds. Jennifer A. Dlouhy in the Houston Chronicle. 2016 watch: 6 things to keep an eye on when Hillary Clinton goes to Vegas for energy summit. Ben Geman and Jason Plautz in National Journal. Drillers may be forced to cut methane emissions, EPA chief says. Mark Drajem in Bloomberg. Study links polar vortex chills to melting sea ice. Seth Borenstein in the Associated Press. EPA's renewable fuel quota may climb as gasoline sales climb. Mark Drajem in Bloomberg. 'Sesame Street' interlude: Wonkblog roundup America’s growing food inequality problem. Roberto A. Ferdman. Where working women are most equal in the U.S. Niraj Chokshi. America is rapidly aging in a country built for the young. Emily Badger. Et Cetera What's at stake in Detroit's bankruptcy trial. Karen Weise in Bloomberg Businessweek. Manufacturing, construction data point to sturdy U.S. economic growth. Lucia Mutikani in Reuters. Marijuana's hazy contribution to highway deaths. Joan Lowy in the Associated Press. Why Congress won't help Jennifer Lawrence. Lucia Graves in National Journal. Appeals court chilly to feds' argument for NSA surveillance program. Josh Gerstein in Politico. The politics of calling in sick. Emily Cadei in NPR. How will Obama college ratings affect the underserved? Michael Stratford in Inside Higher Ed. Some accused of campus sexual assault say system works against them. Tovia Smith in NPR. U.S. temporarily blocks Norwegian Air's flight request. Alan Levin in Bloomberg. Banks face more oversight of ability to weather credit crunch. Jesse Hamilton in Bloomberg. Welfare rates vary widely by state and city. Carol Morello in The Washington Post. Got tips, additions, or comments? Wonkbook is produced with help from Michelle Williams and Ryan McCarthy


West Africa’s last line of defense against Ebola: the thermometer

– malaria, common ailments and infections. In normal times, a fever is not a barrier to climbing aboard a plane. But not anymore. The health worker jotted down my number: 36.8. Not being good with Celsius conversions, I asked her, “Is that okay?” “Yes,” she said, smiling. “Okay.” That translated into 98.25. Normal. I could continue on my way. But that wasn’t the final temperature check at Lungi International Airport, a small facility reachable by a 30-minute water taxi ride from the capital city of Freetown. After going through passport control and getting my boarding pass for the 4:10 a.m. flight on Royal Air Maroc to Casablanca, Morocco, passengers were probed again for fever just before leaving the terminal. Passengers compared temperatures on the short bus ride to the plane. I’d scored the same 36.8. An American doctor, forced to leave the country by the aid group she worked for, joked about her 33.4-degree temperature – a little low. A man standing next to her with a guitar slung over his shoulder had scored 36.8. Fever checks at airports have been done during other outbreaks. In 2003, when the world was alarmed by the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), many Asian airports used thermometers to help stop its spread. Airports have checked temperatures in outbreaks of dengue fever and the H1N1 flu virus, as well. A study In 2003-04, Taiwan began screening passengers’ temperatures at two major airports. They were looking for SARS, but found the test “is an effective means of identifying imported dengue cases,” while health questionnaires were essentially useless. It’s not clear what will happen with this Ebola epidemic. Ebola is not an airborne virus, like SARS or the flu. But it can be spread by contact with infected blood, saliva and sweat. So far, there has been only one documented case of someone with Ebola making it onto a flight. That was in July, before the airport screening protocols were in place, when a man, who apparently knew he was infected, flew from Liberia to Nigeria. He apparently didn’t infect anyone on the plane, but he did infect staff and hospital workers in Lagos. After we got off the Royal Air Maroc flight in Casablanca, passengers were greeted by another screening: a thermal imaging camera. My next flight was to Dakkar, Senegal, a country that shares a border with Guinea, where this Ebola epidemic


LinkedIn thinking twice about its adoption of China’s aggressive censorship

headache for Web users in China, is marked by a clampdown on search terms, Internet speeds and intense government scrutiny. Heavy security, including paramilitary police, blanketed Tiananmen Square on June 4, 2014, the 25th anniversary of a government crackdown on pro-democracy protests. (Alexander F. Yuan/Associated Press) LinkedIn users reported posts about Tiananmen being blocked even in Hong Kong, which lies outsides China’s censorship firewall. LinkedIn said at the time that it was an accident. And it said that although such content was self-censored in China, it would remain “accessible elsewhere in the world.” But some users said that wasn’t true. Rob Schmitz, a radio journalist for Marketplace whose story about the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown was blocked in China, wrote recently that LinkedIn blocked his report not only in China but also globally. “Content posted from China IP addresses will be blocked globally to protect the safety of our members that live in China,” LinkedIn said in an e-mail to Schmitz. A few users have said that they would close their accounts in protest. Paul Mooney, a journalist forced out of China by the government, announced on Twitter and Facebook that he would close his LinkedIn account. Post Others said they’re making the same choice because LinkedIn is restricting free flowing communication, undermining its own objectives. “I think that LinkedIn needs to realize that in China, even more so than in other countries, when you want to talk about business, politics is unavoidable, they’re intertwined,” Fergus Ryan, the China correspondent for the news site China Spectator, told Wall street Journal during the Tiananmen anniversary. "I think that my followers on LinkedIn would expect to receive information from me about what’s happening in China." When LinkedIn launched in China, Ryan Budish, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, predicted to Time magazine that LinkedIn would eventually have to do what China’s domestic social media companies do — hire armies of censors that sift the content and determine what to remove. “You can’t exactly just move in there and do business.” At the time, LinkedIn chief executive Jeff Weiner seemed prepared to do so. In a post, he justified the decision this way: LinkedIn’s absence in China would limit the ability of individual Chinese to pursue and realize the economic opportunities, dreams and rights most important to them. It’s paid off for the company. In a July


For the first time, our region of the universe has a map and a name

Galaxy superclusters are the biggest structures in the universe. Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa discovered a new technique that maps the universe by redrawing boundaries. Our home supercluster is named Laniakea, which means ‘immeasurable heaven’ in Hawaiian. Scientists have redrawn the cosmic map of our corner of the universe, using new tools to define which galaxies interact with our own. The so-called supercluster of galaxies that contains the Milky Way has been named "Laniakea," which means "immense heaven" in Hawaiian. Defining regions in an infinite universe is tricky business: Clusters of dozens of galaxies, called local groups, are further bound into clusters containing hundreds of galaxies. The Laniakea supercluster, described in a paper published in this week's Nature, is 500 million light-years in diameter and contains 100,000 galaxies - and we sit at the very edge of it. Together, those galaxies carry 100 million billion times the mass of our sun. How can such a massive number of galaxies be connected? While some areas of space are basically empty, others contain highly concentrated star power. In these areas, the supercluster galaxies are drawn toward each other in intricate ways. According to R. Brent Tully, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and lead author of the study, galaxies in the cosmos can be compared to water on Earth. You are here. (SDvision interactive visualization software by DP at CEA/Saclay, France) "Within a land form, water flows in certain directions," Tully said. "The water knows, even if the land is very flat, which way is downhill." Instead of downhill valleys that attract water flow, our universe has something called the "Great Attractor." This region serves as a gravitational focal point , influencing the motion of galaxies in the supercluster. In the new study, Tully and his colleagues provide our first clear definition of a supercluster. By mapping the flow of over 8,000 galaxies that surround our own, they figured out where the clusters diverged. In other words, they pinpointed at what point galaxies started to be drawn toward a different "valley" than we are. It's possible that scientists will eventually map out a cluster that's even more super. "We've found the local region, but we already see that our base of attraction is actually being pulled toward another base of attraction," Tully said. "We don't really understand why." To solve that mystery, researchers will have to


USAJobs site still leaves something to be desired for users

The federal government’s human resources department fixed many of the problems that led to the troubled launch of USAJobs.gov in 2011, but the agency still wants to fine tune its employment database. Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta posted an article on her blog last week asking for volunteers to help identify any remaining issues with the site, which helps job seekers find employment opportunities with federal agencies. (USAJobs.gov) USAJobs runs more smoothly than it did during its glitch-plaugued inaugural year, but OPM still thinks it can improve the site. “One request I get each time I talk with students, teachers, federal employees and community leaders is: Please make USAJOBS easier to use,” Archuleta wrote. The director wants users to participate in testing, brainstorming and focus-group sessions with the site’s development team. “We would need about two hours of your time,” Archuleta said. OPM Director Katherine Archuleta throws the first pitch at a Nationals game on May 6. (Patrick McDermott/Washington Nationals). OPM clarified on Wednesday that the director’s solicitation wasn’t prompted by any new bugs in the system, but instead was just part of an effort to make the site as user-friendly as possible. “OPM is constantly looking at its programs to ensure they are of the highest quality, and that they meet its customers wants and needs,” agency spokesman Edmund Byrnes said in a statement. “The volunteers will help OPM to identify what functionality is most important to its clients and stakeholders.” Prior to launching USAJobs, the federal government contracted with Monster.com to post employment opportunities and gather applications. Less than a month after the launch of USAJobs in 2011, former OPM Director John Berry acknowledged that his staff had underestimated the “capacity of the system” and made other missteps that caused it to crash and lose data. The problems drove frustrated job seekers to vent on social media sites, prompting OPM into action. Berry acknowledged that the agency had “messed up,” and OPM eventually added additional servers and bandwidth to help fix the problems. The former director also shuffled around the team that oversaw the project, added more customer-service staff and brought in IT specialists to work on some of the issues. Nonetheless, Berry said the glitches were expected to continue for months as OPM worked out the kinks. Nearly three years later, Archuleta is checking to see what problems remain. USAJobs cost about $20 million over


Debating the benefits of rebel brutality

samples, comparing different types of actors or employing different definitions of “success.” For example, our study examined all organized insurgent groups in post-Cold War Africa and evaluated the impact of variations in intentional civilian deaths on the manner in which the war terminated (rebel victory, rebel loss and peace agreements). The Abrahms study, by contrast, examined a sample of foreign terrorist organizations designated by the U.S. State Department, codes groups according to their primary target selection (civilians versus other targets), and relied on a subjective coding of success based on the extent to which the group achieved its primary political objectives. Key differences in these items are likely to lead to different conclusions, and scholars and policymakers should be careful to understand the relevance of these differences. Nonetheless, this is a healthy debate. The development of this research agenda is important for both scholars and policymakers struggling to find ways to avert mass civilian deaths and suffering. First, understanding the general influence of civilian targeting on conflict bargaining and war outcomes should shed light on the motives for their use. For instance, the findings from our analyses support a strategic view of victimization by providing evidence that violence helps groups achieve their military or political objectives. While we believe that factors other than the desire to achieve strategic goals motivate civilian targeting, our results and other existing studies strongly suggest that it is at least a frequent motivator of such violence. Second, understanding the perceived incentive structures of violent groups may contribute to the construction of policies that can dampen the costs of war to the civilian population. Particularly, if civilian targeting is explicitly intended to shape the bargaining process, policymakers should be aware that an unwillingness to negotiate with “terrorists and thugs” might increase the frequency of attacks on civilian targets rather than deter future attacks. Of course, policymakers often fear that concessions to terrorists will simply embolden future violence. However, our results suggest that regardless of bold declarations to the contrary, governments are already bargaining with the worst types of rebels. Moreover, these groups are likely to extract more concessions the more violent they become. Reed M. Wood is an assistant professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. Jacob D. Kathman is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.


What getting medical marijuana is like today vs. what getting medical liquor was like during Prohibition

were available to patients with anemia, tuberculosis, pneumonia, high blood pressure and other disorders, according to the History Channel. The American Medical Association actually adopted a resolution in June 1917, less than three years before Prohibition began, stating alcohol’s use as a “therapeutic agent” had no scientific value and “should be further discouraged.” However , alcohol had long been used for medical purposes, including during the Civil War to treat soldiers’ pain when they ran out of other painkillers. What qualifies someone for medical marijuana? In California, which in 1996 became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, its Department of Public Health allows marijuana to be used by those with a “serious medical condition,” including AIDS, anorexia, arthritis, cachexia, cancer, chronic pain, glaucoma, migraines, persistent muscle spasms, seizures, severe nausea or any other chronic medical symptom that limits their life activities or would cause serious harm to their physical or mental safety if untreated. How did someone apply for medical liquor? Prohibition prescription front (Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons) Patients had to receive a prescription from a doctor that noted the kind of alcohol they were to receive, and a dosage, according to Okrent. It usually cost $3 for a prescription and $3 or $4 to have it filled at a pharmacy, Okrent wrote, or about $40 in today’s dollars. Quality varied, ranging from cheap alcohol to well-known brands like Jack Daniel’s, which included a phrasing “Unexcelled for Medicinal Purposes” on its label. How does someone apply for medicinal marijuana? California’s medical marijuana application form (via California Department of Public Health) Applying varies by state. In California, a resident must receive a doctor’s recommendation and provide that along with proof of identity and proof of residency in their county. The state charges a fee of $33 to $66. The highest fee in the country is the $200 charged by Minnesota, New Jersey and Oregon, while in Maine and New Mexico, there is no fee. How much medical liquor could someone possess? The maximum legal prescription was for one pint of alcohol every 10 days, according to Okrent. How much medical marijuana can someone possess? It varies greatly by state. In Alaska, Montana and Nevada, it’s legal to possess one ounce of usable marijuana, in addition to plants, while in Oregon and Washington, it’s legal to posess 24 ounces of usable marijuana in addition to plants.


D.C. area forecast: Lingering summer heat should come to thunderous end this weekend

- Today’s Daily Digit - A somewhat subjective rating of the day’s weather, on a scale of 1 to 10. - 6 Fall lovers like me are not amused with the heat and humidity hold over. - Express Forecast - Today: Variably cloudy, warm. Highs: 86-90. - Tonight: Mostly clear, humid. Lows: 68-72. - Tomorrow: A few clouds, still humid. Highs: 87-91. FORECAST IN DETAIL Radar lightning: The potential of three straight days of around 90 is not my idea of a good time and, while not oppressive, the humidity is enough to keep heat index in the vocabulary. A cold front enters late Saturday and is timed well to probably give us a decent line of thundershowers. That is my last hope to keep from finally breaking out the sprinkler, so fingers crossed. Sunday through Tuesday get more in the swing of things calendar-wise with cooler and drier air. This makes for much nicer viewing of the Harvest Moon rise on Monday evening. Today (Thursday): Tonight: For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend… Tomorrow (Friday): Tomorrow night: A LOOK AHEAD Saturday Sunday Monday


Bloomberg gun group hits Kroger with six-figure ad campaign, its first against a corporate gun policy

Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement. A chain spokesman said in an e-mail that Kroger’s policy to abide by state and local laws is “in practice identical” to many other retailers. “We know that our customers are passionate on both sides of this issue and we trust them to be responsible in our stores,” Keith Dailey, Kroger’s director of media relations said in an e-mail. The ads contrast Kroger’s policy on carrying guns with its stance on other behavior in its stores. In each, an individual carrying a long firearm stands next to another individual — a girl eating an ice cream cone, a boy with a skateboard, a shirtless man — alongside text that reads: “One of them isn’t welcome at Kroger. Guess which one.” The group says it has secured more than 115,000 signatures on a petition calling for the chain to prohibit the open carrying of firearms in its stores. (An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated the number of signatures.) Kroger is only the latest business to be targeted by Everytown’s Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America campaign. As the federal government remains deadlocked on gun reform, the group has set its sights on corporate chains. It has also launched a social media campaign — #GROCERIESNOTGUNS — against Kroger’s policy. As part of that campaign, individuals have posted photos of receipts from other stores with that hashtag written on them. Moms Demand Action has in the past year shamed Facebook, Instagram, Chipotle, Sonic, Chili’s and Target over their gun policies. It maintains a short list of corporations worth either praise or pressure for their gun policies, with the aforementioned businesses now considered praiseworthy, along with Jack in the Box, Costco, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Starbucks and others. It singles out Staples and Dick’s Sporting Goods as businesses that need to be pressured to change their policies along with Kroger. Earlier this year, Bloomberg pledged to spend $50 million this election cycle through Everytown to promote gun control policies. The powerful gun rights group the National Rifle Association has since launched its own multimillion-dollar campaign in which it targets Bloomberg as a kind of political bogeyman. Voters in several states have considered or will consider changes to gun policies this year. In Washington, dueling measures would ban or require universal background checks. In Alabama, a measure would amend the state


Hill leaders hoping for a quick September session — and no shutdown drama

of the Export-Import Bank, the federal entity that provides loan guarantees to foreign purchasers of American goods, including airplanes. Reauthorizing the bank has emerged as a cause celebre for conservative Republicans, who believe that the bank is an example of "crony capitalism," or Washington's practice of putting corporate interests over ordinary people. In order to reauthorize the bank, Boehner will need to strike an agreement with Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), who chairs the House Financial Services Committee that oversees the bank, and who has emerged as one of its fiercest critics. Aides said Wednesday that no deal has been reached, but that an agreement to authorize a short-term extension -- possibly only until early next year -- is in the works. No final decision on how to proceed is expected to be made until the middle of next week, after lawmakers return to Washington and confer on how to proceed. With the House tasked with starting the process of passing a short-term spending plan and reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, the Senate is poised to begin September holding votes on measures designed to shore up support among minorities, women and working-class voters -- key Democratic-leaning constituencies in several close races. Democrats are expected to hold a vote as early as Monday night on a measure that would give Congress the power to overturn controversial Supreme Court campaign finance decisions. The measure, which is ultimately expected to fail due to a lack of Republican support, is viewed as a political gesture to appease liberals and Democratic base voters who've bemoaned the flood of unregulated money into campaigns since the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision. The issue of unlimited campaign donations is a special concern of Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who has spent much of the past year blasting the wealthy industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch for financing outside political groups pouring millions of dollars into several states in hopes of unseating Democratic senators. During his conference call Wednesday, Boehner faulted Reid for planning to hold the vote: "At a time when Americans are concerned about the economy, jobs and the security of our country, the leader of the dysfunctional, do-nothing Senate plans to spend the final legislative days before November talking about the Koch brothers," he said. If Democrats fail to advance the campaign finance measure, they will likely try holding votes on a proposal to raise


Short on cash, the Army National Guard is cutting back on drilling nationwide

at training earlier this year. “A number of things are being done to mitigate the shortfall and minimize the impact to troops and readiness,” Fesler said. “Immediate actions include suspending travel, rescheduling drill, and identifying all end-of-year surplus funds while NGB seeks approval to reprogram other available year-end funds.” The budget shortfall does not affect the Air National Guard, officials said. The news began to surface over the weekend as the National Guard in individual states reported that drilling for their troops would be postponed. In Ohio, for example, Maj. Gen. Deborah A. Ashenhurst released a video saying that drilling for most guardsmen there would not be held until the last week of September. Units preparing to mobilize will still receive their training on time, but most would remain on the sidelines, she said. “We’re very much aware that this action will be at best an inconvenience for all of you and will have varying degrees of economic impact across the force,” Ashenhurst said in the video. “We’re taking this action as a last resort.” The Hawaii Army National Guard cancelled monthly training for 3,000 soldiers last weekend, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The Guard there will not receive $1 million it expected from the National Guard Bureau as result of the national shortfall. In Maryland, about 3,900 guardsmen will be held back from training in September, saving about $1.5 million, The Baltimore Sun reported. In Delaware, the National Guard cancelled training last weekend and attributed the budget shortfall nationally to accounting problems by the National Guard Bureau and the Guard in numerous other states. Pointedly, the top officer in the Delaware National Guard, Maj. Gen. Frank Vavala, said that some states were asked to “make up for the sins of others,” according to the News Journal of Wilmington, Del. “As a member of the Guard, and somebody who is always carrying the standard for the citizen-soldier, I’d be hard-pressed to say that I want to see my National Guard take on the stigma of not being able to meet its commitment,” Vavala told the News Journal. Maj. Gen. Benny M. Paulino, the top officer in the Guam National Guard, said it is “waiting game” right now to see when more funding becomes available, according to the Pacific Daily News. It cancelled training for guardsmen from Sept. 5-7, but hopes to return to drilling by the end of the month.


Wonkbook: Will Obama delay immigration reform?

Cortez and Kristen Hallam in Bloomberg. Can Big Data and patient informed consent coexist? Arthur Allen in Politico. Texas abortion clinic to reopen after ruling. Erik Eckholm in The New York Times. VA rules may enable benefits long denied to Vietnam War veterans. Dave Philipps in The New York Times. Baby interlude: 4. What's happening with bank regulations? Agencies approve new suite of banking rules. Bank-liquidity rule reflects Dodd-Frank requirements. How the derivatives rule aims to curtail risk buildup. Top bank investigator at DOJ to leave agency. Other business/financial reads: House GOP moves toward Export-Import Bank deal. John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman in Politico. Commerzbank close to settling U.S. sanctions probe. Karen Freifeld in Reuters. Path of stolen credit cards leads back to Home Depot. Nicole Perlroth in The New York Times. How taxpayers subsidize Freddie Mac. Joe Light in The Wall Street Journal. China's anti-monopoly push creates anxiety for U.S. businesses. Dexter Roberts in Bloomberg Businessweek. Animal attack interlude: 5. America's mounting food problem USDA: More jobs, but little change in number of 'food-insecure.' Another study: America's growing food-inequality problem. ICYMI: Tens of millions of Americans — and 620,000 military households — relied on food pantries last year. Pam Fessler in NPR. Food-stamp use shows continued "underemployment" pain. Tim Henderson in Pew Stateline. 'To-do list' on food safety grows larger for agencies. Other food policy reads: Profile: Monsanto, under attack for GMOs, has a new defender. Jacob Bunge in The Wall Street Journal. Money begins to flow in Oregon over its GMO ballot measure. Niraj Chokshi in The Washington Post. Relaxation interlude: Wonkblog roundup The housing bust turned more renters and homeowners into neighbors. Emily Badger. The end of health care’s historic spending slowdown is near. Jason Millman. Can a new $76 million net under the Golden Gate Bridge really prevent suicides? Keith Humphreys. America is slowly — but surely — becoming a nation of tea drinkers. Roberto A. Ferdman. 20 states bar cities from building their own Internet. Netflix wants the FCC to change that. Brian Fung. Mapping the counties where public-school children still remain segregated. Emily Badger. After quitting tobacco, CVS makes its next health-care moves. Jason Millman. OECD: America’s job market is better than most. Ylan Q. Mui. Et Cetera Justice Department to probe Ferguson police force. Sari Horwitz, Carol D. Leonnig and Kimberly Kindy in The Washington Post. Federal agencies flooded with comments on new


U.S. sanctions probe. Karen Freifeld in Reuters. Path of stolen credit cards leads back to Home Depot. Nicole Perlroth in The New York Times. How taxpayers subsidize Freddie Mac. Joe Light in The Wall Street Journal. China's anti-monopoly push creates anxiety for U.S. businesses. Dexter Roberts in Bloomberg Businessweek. Animal attack interlude: 5. America's mounting food problem USDA: More jobs, but little change in number of 'food-insecure.' Another study: America's growing food-inequality problem. ICYMI: Tens of millions of Americans — and 620,000 military households — relied on food pantries last year. Pam Fessler in NPR. Food-stamp use shows continued "underemployment" pain. Tim Henderson in Pew Stateline. 'To-do list' on food safety grows larger for agencies. Other food policy reads: Profile: Monsanto, under attack for GMOs, has a new defender. Jacob Bunge in The Wall Street Journal. Money begins to flow in Oregon over its GMO ballot measure. Niraj Chokshi in The Washington Post. Relaxation interlude: Wonkblog roundup The housing bust turned more renters and homeowners into neighbors. Emily Badger. The end of health care’s historic spending slowdown is near. Jason Millman. Can a new $76 million net under the Golden Gate Bridge really prevent suicides? Keith Humphreys. America is slowly — but surely — becoming a nation of tea drinkers. Roberto A. Ferdman. 20 states bar cities from building their own Internet. Netflix wants the FCC to change that. Brian Fung. Mapping the counties where public-school children still remain segregated. Emily Badger. After quitting tobacco, CVS makes its next health-care moves. Jason Millman. OECD: America’s job market is better than most. Ylan Q. Mui. Et Cetera Justice Department to probe Ferguson police force. Sari Horwitz, Carol D. Leonnig and Kimberly Kindy in The Washington Post. Federal agencies flooded with comments on new rules. Gautham Nagesh in The Wall Street Journal. Louisana same-sex marriage ban survives federal court challenge. Lyle Denniston in SCOTUSblog. U.S. and Europe struggle with response to a bold Russia. Peter Baker and Steven Erlanger in The New York Times. EPA looking at new mandates on methane. Jennifer A. Dlouhy in the Houston Chronicle. Obama spy chief comes out in favor of NSA reform. Dustin Volz in National Journal. Long read: Welcome to the Uber wars. Andrew Zaleski in Politico Magazine. Minimum-wage hike makes Arkansas ballot. Reid Wilson in The Washington Post. Got tips, additions, or comments? Wonkbook is produced with help from Michelle Williams and Ryan McCarthy


Newly discovered asteroid will narrowly miss Earth on Sunday

While the asteroid will be too small to see with the naked eye, NASA says it might be possible for sky watchers to catch a glimpse with small telescopes. A depiction of the passage of asteroid 2014 RC past Earth on September 7, 2014. At time of closest approach, the space rock will be about one-tenth the distance from Earth to the moon. Times indicated on the graphic are Universal Time. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) While 2014 RC will pass extremely close to the orbiting height of our planet’s geosynchronous satellites, which are parked at a height of 22,000 miles, NASA says it does not pose any threat to the satellites because of its path below Earth and the satellite orbit ring. The Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Ariz., discovered this small asteroid on Sunday night. It was then confirmed the next night by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii. While NASA makes a point to monitor asteroids that have the potential to enter Earth’s “air space,” sometimes the smaller asteroids, such as this one, aren’t discovered until they’re very close to Earth. Of course, the bigger the object, the easier it is to spot. Related: But as we have written before, the idea that there are objects hurtling their way toward Earth that scientists have not yet discovered is mildly disconcerting. In 2013, Earth was buzzed by an asteroid approximately 100 feet wide, DA14, which passed just 17,500 miles above our planet. The asteroid was discovered just a year before its close encounter with Earth. It was the closest documented encounter of an asteroid that large. Capital Weather Gang contributor Steve Tracton wrote then that it was a wake up call to the surprises possible: For the foreseeable future, then, Earth will continue to reside in a cosmic shooting gallery with an enormous number of currently unknown objects, some of which may have a direct bead on us without our knowing. While it is probably much more unlikely than likely, a potentially disastrous collision with an asteroid of at least the dimensions comparable to DA14 could occur anytime possibly with little or no warning in our lifetimes. Other astronomic close calls: Surprise attack: Meteor explodes over Russia hours before giant asteroid flyby (VIDEO) Earth to narrowly escape collision with asteroid 150 feet wide Huge asteroid 1998QE2 to zip by Earth, offer skywatchers, scientists a glimpse Newly discovered small asteroid just misses Earth


Here’s a Whole Foods buffalo burger named after Wilson Ramos

marketing team leader, told me on Wednesday. “There’s the low hanging fruit of it — he’s The Buffalo, and we have buffalo meat. But also, we feel like he’s kind of an unsung hero. Like you said, he doesn’t get a ton of recognition, he’s not one of the most popular players, and it’s cool to highlight him.” (Full disclosure: I used to work at two D.C. area Whole Foods stores, though not Foggy Bottom. I do much of my shopping at Whole Foods. My sisters got me gift cards to Whole Foods for my birthday. I lay in bed at night and dream of going back to work at Whole Foods. I was thinking about it in the shower just this week. It’s not hard to figure out the purpose of a grocery store: People need to eat, and people often enjoy eating, and grocery store employees facilitate that process. What’s more irenic than good food? Plus you get to meet lots of people. And they usually don’t send you electronic vitriol. And you get to see how things work. And open boxes of treasures. And drink beer samples, sometimes. And you virtually never have to transcribe sports radio interviews. Man. Anyhow.) The burger, Carlin said, was a collaborative process between the prepared foods department, the marketing department and the store manager, although Joe Wood from prepared foods deserves much of the credit for the final concept. She said that it’s possible the store will start selling guasacaca, if enough people go bonkers over the topping. This is the first sports-themed sandwich the store has offered, and it proved fairly popular in its first day of sales. So, are more Nats burgers on deck? Will there be special sandwiches throughout the postseason? “That’s a good question,” Carlin said. “I think one of the great things about Whole Foods is we have a lot of freedom to do that sort of experimentation here. If something is successful, it definitely would be something that would be worth considering?” First, though, there’s the matter of Ramos. The store reached out to the Nats to tell them know this was coming, and tweeted the finished product at Ramos, who re-tweeted it. Some store employees live near Nats Park, and it’s really a pretty reasonable commute. So…. “We would love for Wilson Ramos to come in and have one,” Carlin said. “On the house.”


First Person: Would raising the tipped minimum wage devastate sit-down restaurants?

shocked and dismayed that people are trying to misinform people on the tipped wage. This argument I’m making is not being heard, but it’s definitely a part of the legislation these people offer. Even President Obama said it should be 70 percent of the minimum wage, in other words $7 an hour in Maryland. When I told them that a $5 increase in the tipped minimum wage is going to cost all of the cash flow of your average restaurant, they said, “Oh, we’re not understanding this right.” It was a real big education campaign so that everybody up and down the ladder understood the facts. Right now we’re seeing it on the national level, but it comes and goes constantly throughout the states. Maryland just did theirs, and it’ll roll in over four years. Maybe Virginia will take it up one day. To us it’s just being used as a political tool leading up to this election, to try to get that message out there, to get some voters into the voting booth. Let’s talk about Maryland. In Montgomery County, they went with an $11.50 minimum wage and a $5.05 tipped wage. So companies like ours won’t locate in Montgomery County, because the cost to open a restaurant there, as opposed to in Virginia, is over $200,000 a year in higher service labor. Now, if I went there, I’d have to choose the most high-volume, low-rent place I could find, and there’s only a few of those, so you’re just going to see a few players. You’re not going to find them in the suburban areas. Right now, the full-service restaurant sector isn’t doing that well, because a lot of people have moved into that lower-priced environment of the fast casual. So we’re losing some traffic to them already. So if you impact full service with a tipped wage increase, especially now, it’s just going to exacerbate that wound. You’re going to have to take a look at how many people are employed in full service restaurants across America. There’s a whole hell of a lot of them. Just because you might be down one percent, it’s still tons and tons of people. [Editor’s note: According to the NPD Group, the number of full-service restaurants did decline by one percent last year — but there are still almost 300,000 of them across the country, out of about 633,000 total.]


Why your fear of medical debt is entirely justified

(Flickr / 401kcalculator.org) In an age of expanded health insurance coverage, being able to pay your medical bills could still be a major headache. One in four people say their medical debt exceeds their emergency savings, according to a new survey published today. The problem is even more acute among low-income people, as you might expect. Nearly half (44 percent) of those earning less than $30,000 per year say their emergency savings are eclipsed by medical debt, according to the Bankrate survey. And most people (about 55 percent) say they're worried that they won't have enough savings to pay their medical bills. The survey is a reminder that being able to pay medical bills is still a huge problem with plenty of consequences — whether it means people can't actually afford the care they need or they can't pay for other necessities. Medical debt was the top reason for individual bankruptcy filings in 2013, according to a study earlier this year from Nerd Wallet, a personal finance Web site. Starting this year, the Affordable Care Act places new limits on patients' out-of-pocket spending. But can the law actually put a stop to medical bankruptcies? Probably not. About 40 percent who purchased new coverage under Obamacare said they're struggling to pay premiums. A study of Massachusetts' coverage expansion, which was the basis for the ACA, found medical bills still contributed to about 52 percent of bankruptcies. It's also true that many people still aren't aware of the financial assistance, such as tax credits, available to them through Obamacare — help that could make paying medical bills a little more doable.


Wanna drop some cash at an NFL game? Go see the 49ers.

Fans, presumably of the deep-pocketed variety, attend a preseason game between the 49ers and the Chargers at Levi’s Stadium. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) If you’re looking to take your family of four to an NFL game, and you want the full experience — which includes feeling like you got thoroughly gouged — do the 49ers have the place for you! The team’s brand-new Levi’s Stadium comes complete with the highest mark in the Fan Cost Index, setting back a family of four a tidy $641.50. Team Marketing Report, which publishes sports marketing and sponsorship information, compiles the Fan Cost Index annually, and this year it has the Niners taking over the top spot from the Cowboys. Here is how the firm describes its methodology: The Fan Cost Index™ comprises the prices of four (4) average-price tickets, two (2) cheapest-priced draft beers, four (4) cheapest soft drinks, four (4) cheapest hot dogs, parking for one (1) car, two (2) game programs and two (2) least-expensive, adult-size adjustable caps. Costs were determined by telephone calls with representatives of the teams, venues and concessionaires. Identical questions were asked in all interviews. Pushing the 49ers over the top, according to the study, was a massive, 40.1% increase in average price for a non-premium ticket, which now stands at $117.00. The highest average ticket price goes to the Patriots ($122.00), who came in third in FCI, followed by the Redskins. The Bears, Giants, Jets, Ravens, Eagles and Steelers round out the top 10. If you want to take a family of four to an NFL game and still be able to pay your mortgage, you’d be well advised to head to the South or the Rust Belt. The 10 teams that have the lowest marks for FCI, starting at the bottom, are the Jaguars ($345.58), Browns, Bills, Buccaneers, Dolphins, Titans, Panthers, Bengals and Lions, then the Chiefs. Of course, some folks are less interested in bringing their kids to a football game than continuing the tailgate party they started that morning. Not to worry, Team Marketing Report has some other pertinent information: St. Louis added a new pricepoint to give it the cheapest beer in the NFL, a $4.50, 12-ounce option. Five teams have a cheapest beer that only costs $5, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, the Jets and the Giants. Those beers are also 12 ounces, except for Cincinnati, which has a 14-ounce option.


Diner en Blanc comes to D.C. for the first time

on Thursday finally made its way to Washington after pit stops in Paris, Philadelphia, Singapore and New York, among other sexy locales. At 5:30 p.m. sharp,well over 1,000 Washingtonians swathed all in white arrived at checkpoints dotted across the District to wait for their next instructions. The orderly crowds came from the U Street corridor, Dupont Circle, Chinatown and Eastern Market, hauling portable tables for two, chic silverware, flameless candles and endless vases of hydrangeas. Of course, non-monochromatically clad folks had questions. “Who are you guys?” “What’s going on?” “Did I miss the memo?” They were told to head to Yards Park in Southeast–and the impromptu ivory parade began. The idea that hundreds upon hundreds would sign up (and pay more than $100) to schlep across town for an al fresco dining “experience” of fancy cheeses and crisp crackers is much more than novel here, it’s practically impossible to imagine. Remember this town isn’t big on spontaneity. But the event’s exclusivity was simply too appealing for most Washingtonians to ignore (only previous Diner en Blanc guests or friends of guests or the lucky ones lifted from the wait list can attend). “It looks like Pinterest vomited all over their table,” noted one guest as an entire row of attendees unloaded their stylish accouterments. Once the tables were set and the Moet Ice Imperial (an official sponsor) was poured, attendees began to wave their white cloth napkins in the air. The dinner had begun. We were promised all sorts of weird Instagram-worthy fashion do’s and dont’s like wedding dresses, butterfly wings and other exaggerated sartorial moments. And the night didn’t disappoint. There were as many ill-fitting tight skirts as there were custom and chic fascinators. There were powdered wigs, white tutus, and battery operated top hats. But, in a refreshing twist for D.C., no one seemed to care. Overheard at #DEBDC14: "How cool is this?" Very. The answer is very. http://t.co/5DJa0Bm3Nh Hundreds of people decked out in white had dinner at Yards Park last night, bringing his or her own white table, tablecloth, chairs and (not necessarily white) meals. PostTV tagged along to capture some of the napkin-waving and wig-wearing action. More from The Reliable Source: Happy Bey-Day! You’ve shown great promise since the beginning #TBT This is a real (possible) TV show: Horror comedy set amid D.C. politics Let’s guess which real life ‘politician’ Vince Vaughn is going to play


Starbucks expanding its line-up with express stores, upscale tasting room

that its locations with drive-thru windows have higher-than-average sales growth, signaling that there are dollars to be made with commuter-focused express stores. The first express store is to open in New York in early 2015. The coffee company is also slated to open a Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in its hometown of Seattle later this year. The company has dubbed the space a “union for Starbucks of coffee theatre and manufacturing.” It will offer a tasting room experience for learning about coffee, a retail space for purchasing its products and a production facility for its small-batch coffees in the Starbucks Reserve line. The launch of the 15,000-square-foot tasting room comes as many retailers are seeking ways to make shopping in their stores a memorable experience instead of a routine errand. The increased manufacturing capabilities will help the chain expand its Starbucks Reserve brand, which includes premium coffees. The company currently offers the line in 800 of its stores and now plans to expand it to 1,500 stores by the end of 2015. In July, Starbucks said it saw a strong six percent increase in sales in the third quarter and an 11 percent increase in revenue. Starbucks has undertaken a variety of steps recently to expand its reach and boost its sales. Much of their efforts have been focused on making Starbucks a place that consumers think of for more than just breakfast and a caffeine pick-me-up. In June, it added Fizzio sodas and Teavana Shaken Iced Teas to its menus to expand its beverage offerings. The company has also been adding beer and wine to its menus as part of an effort to lure customers during evening hours. Menu items such as parmesan encrusted chicken skewers and chicken sausage & mushroom flatbread have been introduced as dinner-time options. After acquiring bakery La Boulange in 2012, the company began offering those pastries in stores last year, a move aimed at improving its food offerings. To keep customers lingering longer, Starbucks has begun adding charging mats its stores so people can power up their gadgets. The launch started with stores in the San Francisco area, and plans are to roll it out in other major metropolitan areas next year. Starbucks also plans to continue growing its fleet of traditional cafes. The company said it expects to add 1,550 stores overall in 2014 and an additional 1,600 stores in 2015.


How climate change is affecting the world’s biggest food company

deal with those violent swings? When people talk about the food industry and food companies, they are intuitively referring to packaged goods, and, specifically, branded packaged goods. When you look at the amount of food a human being ingests, the part that is branded packaged goods is actually a very small part. But in terms of total calories or total nutrients, it happens to be the most attractive part, partly because they have been adapted using science to make them taste better. We have to take responsibility for that. I will be the first one to say that we have done a very poor job explaining to the world why we exist as an industry, what we bring to society, and what the world would look like if we didn't exist. It's like speaking about packaging. Packaging is a huge source of littering and other negative environmental impact. But can we take packaging away from food? You know what will happen, and immediately? The amount of waste will multiply by who knows how much if we take away packaging from our food system. Instead we need to sit back and understand that we have an issue with packaging, agree that we have an issue with caloric intake, especially attractive caloric intake because of branding, and take responsibility for improving the health status down the road. We need to lower the amount of sugar and sodium we have in our food. We also have to apply a better understanding of nutrition and portion control. We have done a terrible job explaining to consumers why we existed, because we were too busy competing with each other. So, why then does Nestlé exist? Because it would be impossible to feed 7 billion people, let alone billions more to come, without it. Because we need to preserve food, and safely, so consumers can eat and drink under any condition and in any season. The reason why we exist, primarily, is that human beings decided to live together, because of urbanization. Today there is a very close relationship between urbanization and the food industry. We have to provide food all the time, during every season, and it needs to be safe, affordable, and so on and so forth. That's our job. Now, in order to do that job, you shouldn't hurt anybody. You shouldn't hurt the people who produce the food or the people that


Diner en Blanc in D.C.: ‘Where diversity meets opulence meets Instagram’

you have to haul all of this stuff to a pre-determined meeting place, on Metro and on foot. Your group leader will then take you to the dinner location, which remains secret until an hour before the event. - If it rains, you are still obligated to come -- Diner en Blanc notes that once you RSVP, your attendance is mandatory. No-shows get kicked out of the club. - And if you break any of these rules, you can be barred from entering the event and banned from all future dinners. Conformity comes easily to Washington, so guests were eager to play along. Still, many of those rules were broken on Thursday: You didn't have to look too far to spot offenses small (ivory, off-white and taupe attire) and large (a pair of orange shoes, a vase of red roses, a pair of black folding chairs). Enforcement was lax. A fine-dining flash mob descends en masse upon the city’s Yards Park. View Photo Gallery —More than 1,500 Washingtonians clad in white converged on Yards Park in Southeast Washington for an exclusive all-white-everything pop-up picnic. Diner en Blanc, an event sponsored by Moet Ice Imperial, was in the city on Sept. 4 for its latest stop in the monochromatic, worldwide tour. Powdered wigs, white tutus and suits were the theme of the evening. Diner en Blanc didn't start out this way. The first event took place more than 25 years ago in Paris, when François Pasquier ran out of space to host a dinner party, so he told his guests to arrive at the Bois de Boulogne for a picnic, wearing all white so they could easily identify each other. Since then, the events have expanded and traveled to more than 40 cities across the globe, from Singapore to Cincinnati (Really? Cincinnati beat us to this?). Some of the dinners have as many as 13,000 guests. A simultaneous Diner en Blanc was held Thursday night in Calgary, Canada. Attendance is not cheap. Lewis estimates that she spent $400 on food, supplies and attire for herself and her boyfriend, Maurice Taylor -- "which was too much," interjected Taylor. "It was well worth it," Lewis said. A diner pours wine over an elaborate white table arrangement. (Kate Patterson for The Washington Post) Of all the rules, the all-white attire was the one that participants took most seriously. Cue the adage about wearing white


CDC: Nearly 1 in 5 women have been raped

sexual experiences. "A substantial proportion of U.S. female and male adults have experienced some form of sexual violence, stalking, or intimate partner violence at least once during their lifetimes," the CDC report notes. "Consistent with previous studies, the overall pattern of results suggest that women, in particular, are heavily impacted over their lifetime. However, the results also indicate that many men experience sexual violence, stalking, and, in particular, physical violence by an intimate partner." Both men and women tended to be first victimized when they were young; 78 percent of female rape victims were first raped before they were 25, as were 71 percent of male rape victims. Survey estimates show significant proportions of women of all races and ethnicities have reported being raped: 32.3 percent of multiracial women; 27.5 percent of Native American women; 21.2 percent of black women; 20.5 percent of white women; and 13.6 percent of Hispanic women. The numbers are even higher when it comes to other forms of sexual violence; for instance, the majority of multiracial women -- 64 percent -- said they have been victims of sexual violence other than rape. When it comes to who is committing these acts of violence, 99 percent of female rape victims and the vast majority of male rape victims -- almost 80 percent -- said they've only been raped by men. Women made up the majority of perpetrators of other forms of sexual violence against men. Victims tend to know their perpetrators, whether they are partners or an acquaintance. Almost half of female and male rape victims have had at least one intimate partner rape them. Although the response rate to the survey wasn't that high -- about 33 percent -- those who did respond overwhelmingly cooperated, and researchers worked to overcome any bias resulting from non-responses. Researchers also note that it's very likely that their results actually underestimated the prevalence of sexual violence in American society. The survey took place over cellphones and landlines, with more than 12,000 completed interviews. This is the second National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey; the first was conducted in 2010, when 18.3 percent of women and 1.4 percent of men said they had been raped at some point in their lives. Many of the figures in this latest survey reflect what was found in the 2010 survey, when just over 16,000 interviews were completed. This post has been updated.


Strong thunderstorms moving through the D.C. area

in effect until 9:15 p.m. (Weather Underground) 7:15 p.m. update: If you’re outdoors in D.C. this evening, you should be finding an indoor place to stay until this storm passes. Arlington, DC, College Park, Laurel: you're all next. This is a very large storm! http://t.co/JN5CzTFXSN 7:05 p.m. update: This storm has spread fast across Montgomery and Fairfax counties, and has now crossed into Beltway. http://t.co/fCgMkHxtgw Thunder, lightening and sheets of sideways rain in st. Leonard, MD (Calvert co) @dougkammerer @capitalweather http://t.co/Gq8GAO574Z The view from van ness & Connecticut @capitalweather http://t.co/WbkLSKaL38 shelf cloud ftw RT @raynell_cooper: Giant ominous cloud of death, as seen from Dupont @capitalweather http://t.co/3Gz4MbFxmz 6:45 p.m. update: Severe tstorm warning for that NW metro storm including Bethesda, Great Falls, Wolf Trap, until 7:30 pm http://t.co/5U1DNNczKh 6:30 p.m. update: Radar at 6:30 shows some storms popping up locally as a line approaches from the west. 5:45 p.m. update: Radar at 5:45 p.m. Thus far, some strong wind gusts have been seen near Hagerstown, but nothing severe has been reported yet. 4:50 p.m. update: Radar mostly quiet around DC. Main storm line still in WV. Prob not in metro area til after 6-7pm http://t.co/BzWbarmqpe 3:55 p.m. update: 2:35 p.m. update: 2:30 p.m. radar across the area. Storms may remain somewhat broken for the time being if short range models are to be believed, with the cold front itself still well off to the northwest. However, given ample surface heat and moisture, any could be strong to locally severe. Another line may also continue to develop nearer the front itself, which would swing through headed into evening, and could end up being more widespread. HRRR simulated radar for 8 p.m. this evening. (Weatherbell.com) CWG’s Jeff Halverson left a comment in the forecast post with some of his thoughts on the watch issuance: I think what’s motivating this watch – in spite of weak shear – is extreme instability. Be on the lookout for single cells and small clusters producing isolated microbursts and quarter-size hail. I don’t think these will be widespread, but winds in microbursts could get to 60-70 mph. Severe thunderstorm watch area. (Storm Prediction Center) From 2:18 p.m.: DISCUSSION…SCTD TO NUMEROUS TSTMS EXPECTED ACROSS WW AREA THROUGH EARLY EVE…WITH STORMS GRADUALLY MERGING INTO E TO ESE-MOVING CLUSTERS. WHILE WLY DEEP SHEAR DECREASES WITH N-TO-S EXTENT IN WW…AMPLE SHEAR APPEARS PRESENT FOR SOME DEGREE OF STORM ORGANIZATION/SUSTENANCE…ESPECIALLY IN PA/NJ. GIVEN


Virus hospitalizes hundreds of kids in Midwest and South

Centers for Disease Control officials say a potentially deadly respiratory virus that has sent hundreds of kids to the hospital in the Midwest is likely to spread across the country. Preston Sheldon’s mother said he seemed fine when she took him to preschool on Tuesday. Minutes later, according to News Channel 4, the Kansas City mom got a call that her 3-year-old was having trouble breathing. “You could see his ribs and his stomach was pushing out really hard. I thought it was an asthma attack,” Pam Sheldon told the station. Jennifer Cornejo of Lone Tree in Colorado told News7 in Denver her 13-year-old son William had cold symptoms that developed overnight into a life-threatening respiratory illness. “He was in really bad shape,” she said. “He came really close to death. He was unconscious at our house and white as a ghost with blue lips — he just passed out.” “My head started hurting,” William said. “And after that my lungs started closing up. It felt different.” Hospitals in Colorado, Missouri and potentially eight other states are admitting hundreds of children for treatment of an uncommon but severe respiratory virus. The virus, called Enterovirus D68, causes similar symptoms to a summer cold or asthma: a runny nose, fever, coughing and difficulty breathing. But the illness can quickly escalate, and there are no vaccines or antiviral medications to prevent or treat it. Though only Missouri has confirmed cases of EV-D68, cases with similar symptoms have been reported throughout the Midwest and South. According to news reports, Missouri, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio and Oklahoma have sent samples to the Centers for Disease Control for identification. Hospitals usually aren’t able to perform testing required to identify specific types of enteroviruses on their own. This particular outbreak is associated with an unusually high number of hospitalizations — Children’s Hospital Colorado has reported more than 900 cases since Aug. 18, while Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., has seen about 30 children per day with the illness, the Denver Post reported. 13-year-old Will Cornejo is recovering at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver on Sept. 5 from what doctors suspect is the respiratory virus, human enterovirus 68 that has come to Colorado. (Cyrus McCrimmon/Denver Post) Mark Pallansch, director of the CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases, said that the recent hospitalizations may be “just


summer cold or asthma: a runny nose, fever, coughing and difficulty breathing. But the illness can quickly escalate, and there are no vaccines or antiviral medications to prevent or treat it. Though only Missouri has confirmed cases of EV-D68, cases with similar symptoms have been reported throughout the Midwest and South. According to news reports, Missouri, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio and Oklahoma have sent samples to the Centers for Disease Control for identification. Hospitals usually aren’t able to perform testing required to identify specific types of enteroviruses on their own. This particular outbreak is associated with an unusually high number of hospitalizations — Children’s Hospital Colorado has reported more than 900 cases since Aug. 18, while Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., has seen about 30 children per day with the illness, the Denver Post reported. 13-year-old Will Cornejo is recovering at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver on Sept. 5 from what doctors suspect is the respiratory virus, human enterovirus 68 that has come to Colorado. (Cyrus McCrimmon/Denver Post) Mark Pallansch, director of the CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases, said that the recent hospitalizations may be “just the tip of the iceberg in terms of severe cases.” “We’re in the middle of looking into this,” he told CNN on Sunday. “We don’t have all the answers yet.” Enteroviruses are common in the United States, causing 10 to 15 million infections per year, most of which are mild or asymptomatic. Infections usually occur in the summer and fall, coinciding with the start of the school year, and the viruses are most often found in infants, children and teenagers, who haven’t yet built up an immunity. EV-D68, which is likely causing this most recent outbreak, almost exclusively affects the upper respiratory tract and is especially severe in people who already experience breathing difficulties. The virus was first identified in 1962, but has been relatively rare until recently. Between 1987 and 2005, 26 cases were reported worldwide — in the past month, 19 have been confirmed from Kansas City alone. Identifying particular types of enteroviruses is difficult, but a 2011 CDC report on EV-D68 pinpointed clusters of the disease in the Philippines, Japan, the Netherlands and three U.S. states since 2008. Of the 90 confirmed cases described in the report, three were fatal, none of which occurred in the United


common in the United States, causing 10 to 15 million infections per year, most of which are mild or asymptomatic. Infections usually occur in the summer and fall, coinciding with the start of the school year, and the viruses are most often found in infants, children and teenagers, who haven’t yet built up an immunity. EV-D68, which is likely causing this most recent outbreak, almost exclusively affects the upper respiratory tract and is especially severe in people who already experience breathing difficulties. The virus was first identified in 1962, but has been relatively rare until recently. Between 1987 and 2005, 26 cases were reported worldwide — in the past month, 19 have been confirmed from Kansas City alone. Identifying particular types of enteroviruses is difficult, but a 2011 CDC report on EV-D68 pinpointed clusters of the disease in the Philippines, Japan, the Netherlands and three U.S. states since 2008. Of the 90 confirmed cases described in the report, three were fatal, none of which occurred in the United States. But an editorial note warns that the virus is “increasingly recognized” for causing severe — and potentially deadly — respiratory illness. This year’s outbreak has hospitals scrambling to deal with the large number of cases. “It’s worse in terms of scope of critically ill children who require intensive care. I would call it unprecedented,” Mary Anne Jackson, division director for infectious diseases at Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Hospital, told CNN. She said the facility has had to call in help from other providers. Some hospitals, including Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Ill., are barring children — who are most vulnerable to the virus — from visiting as a result of the outbreak. Though it is still unclear whether EV-D68 is present at the facility, Blessing’s emergency center saw 70 pediatric patients with breathing difficulties since Labor Day weekend, seven of whom were admitted for treatment. But early September is peak season for enteroviruses, and doctors say they expect the number of infections to begin leveling off. “The vast majority of these kids will get better,” William Schaffner, chair of Vanderbilt University’s Department of Preventative Medicine, told NBC. In the meantime, an alert from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services advises residents to take standard precautionary measures, including washing hands frequently and avoiding contact with people who are sick, and warns clinicians to be on the lookout for unexplained respiratory illnesses.


More than 6 in 10 millennials say they don’t have a credit card

(REUTERS/Jim Bourg) Millennials hate carrying cash, but when it comes to using plastic, they don’t have much of a thing for credit either. Their preferred way to pay: debit. More than 60 percent of consumers ages 18 to 29 say they do not have a credit card, according to a study released Monday by Bankrate.com. That is almost double the share of adults over the age of 30 who said they don’t have credit cards. The phone survey, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, polled 1,161 consumers in late July and early August. Younger consumers prefer debit cards because they have many of the same benefits over hard cash as credit — they eliminate the need for a trip to the ATM and can quickly be replaced if a wallet is stolen. But mostly, young people like debit cards because they dislike debt, says Jeanine Skowronski, a credit card analyst for Bankrate.com. Already burdened by student loans and burned during the recession, many millennials may be wary of taking on more debt, she says. “They are really worried about getting a credit card, racking up a bill they can’t pay,” Skowronski says. They may be on to something: 3 percent of millennials admit to having missed a credit card payment, compared to less than 1 percent of consumers overall. More than half of millennials, 55 percent, said they carry over balances from month to month. Doing so can add to interest charges and make it easier for consumers to approach their credit limits, which can ding credit scores. But being too averse to credit may be a mistake, she says, because having a credit card is one of the easiest ways young consumers can build their credit histories. People who don’t build their scores early on may have a harder time accessing credit later when they need it to buy a car or take out a mortgage. “You need credit to get credit: There’s a catch-22,” Skowronski says. Beyond financing, people with low credit scores can also have trouble securing an apartment lease, may face higher insurance rates and have a harder time landing a job, she says. Some young people may not be avoiding credit cards by choice — it became harder for them to access credit after the recession. The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 restricted the ways companies can offer cards to


September storms provide spectacular scenes around D.C. (PHOTOS)

The moon glows while lightning flashes in the sky over the Tidal Basin on Saturday evening. (Kevin Ambrose) Storms that hit the area on Saturday were well forecast to strike the city right around sunset. They did just that. And since it’s September, the storm opportunity season is quickly waning. Perhaps why both of us ended up in the same spot without planning it!? While storms were numerous, they were also somewhat hit-and-miss, at least in the immediate area. Shelf cloud approaching NW D.C. shortly after deciding it was worth a trip to the Mall and on the way to get a cab. Via iPhone. (Ian Livingston) For a while it looked quite promising for lightning photography on the Mall, as storms erupted ahead of the main line just to the west and northwest of the city. Yet, given anemic winds aloft, storms kind of meandered and redeveloped rather than moving in any super coherent manner. We still managed some keeper shots though, as you’ll see below. Check out the cool time lapse of the storm arrival as well. A panoramic view facing east before the storm. (Kevin Ambrose) Thunderstorm approaching Washington, D.C. with lightning over Rosslyn, Va. (Ian Livingston) The storm arrives over Washington. (Kevin Ambrose) Blue hour colors with a storm arriving over the Lincoln Memorial. (Ian Livingston) Forked lightning over the National Mall. (Kevin Ambrose) Forked lightning over the National Mall. (Ian Livingston) Distant lightning strikes to the south of D.C. Note Kevin Ambrose standing at the edge of the reflecting pool. I had planned to be on my way home already but it’s always hard to take that last shot. (Ian Livingston) Cloud-to-cloud lightning. (Kevin Ambrose) Distant lightning strikes behind the Capitol and anvil crawlers are visible from storms to the south in this image comprised of two exposures for the lightning. (Ian Livingston) Stormin' the Lincoln A time lapse video shot from the Lincoln Memorial showing the thunderstorm moving into Washington during the evening of September 6, 2014. (Kevin Ambrose) Here’s to at least one more opportunity before cooler and drier air of the advancing season takes hold!


Obama administration announces new effort to collect powerful prescription drugs

the pharmaceuticals out of the hands of people who may attempt to abuse or sell them. The new regulations come as the nation is facing an epidemic of opiate abuse: the number of fatal overdoses increased by 118 percent nationwide from 1999 to 2011, mostly driven by powerful prescription drugs. Authorities have tried to tackle the scourge of prescription drug abuse in a very personal place: the home medicine cabinet. According to the Department of Justice, nearly 40 percent of teenagers who have misused or abuse a prescription drug got hold of it in a home. According to a 2013 survey, about 6.5 million people 12 and over use prescription drugs for non-medical purposes. Rashes of painkillers in homes have helped drive the national epidemic of prescription drugs and have driven up drug-fueled property crime around the country. Many people who became addicted to prescription opiates are now making the jump to heroin, which can be cheaper and more readily available. "We know if we remove unused painkillers from the home, we can prevent misuse and dependence from ever taking hold," said Michael Botticelli, the acting director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "These regulations will create new avenues for addicted prescription drugs to leave the hole and be disposed of in a safe, environmentally friendly way." Under the regulations announced Monday, people can dispose of prescription drugs at places where they may go to get drugs - hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and other locations. Using pre-paid envelopes, patients will now be able to mail back old drugs to an authorized collector. Long-term care facilities will also be able to get rid of powerful prescription drugs on behalf of patients. "As attorney general - and a parent - I am committed to ending the national epidemic that has already stolen too many lives and torn apart too many families," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a video announcing the initiative. The regulations expand on a national program that allows people to dispose of unused drugs at police stations and other secure areas. They are the result of regulations codified by the DEA after President Obama signed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act in 2010. Federal authorities have been working to collect prescription drugs for the past four years. In that time, they and other partner organizations have amassed more than 4.1 million pounds of prescription pills.


SpaceX rocket successfully blasts off, Asian satellite in tow

SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Sunday, aiming to put a commercial communications satellite into orbit. One of SpaceX’s test rockets blew itself up last month. After delaying the mission because of an explosive (but unrelated) launch in August, commercial spaceflight company SpaceX has launched its Falcon 9 rocket into orbit carrying a new telecommunications satellite for Asia. The rocket model, which has previously been used for three successful cargo deliveries to the International Space Station, took off from Florida's Cape Canaveral at 1 a.m. local time on Sunday, Sept. 7. This is actually the second AsiaSat payload that SpaceX carried: In August, the Falcon 9 was used to put AsiaSat 8 into orbit. Sunday's launch carried AsiaSat 6, which will provide television and broadband coverage for the Asia-Pacific region. With the help of SpaceX, AsiaSat now has a total of five satellites in orbit. It takes a lot of coordination to launch a rocket. The timing has to be perfect, allowing the satellite on board to slip into its intended orbit. (In this case, the time slot was 12:50 a.m. to 4:04 a.m.). Weather conditions need to be clear and favorable as well, and the Falcon 9 was lucky to slip by a lightning warning for the area. The ultimate goal of SpaceX is to create space transport that's reusable and fit for human cargo. The company has already been able to retrieve the first half of the two-stage Falcon 9 from ocean landings on several occasions, but hasn't attempted to do this on the AsiaSat missions. It could be awhile before we see astronauts hitching a ride to ISS on a SpaceX rocket, but the Falcon 9 is certainly breaking new ground in commercial spaceflight.


Millennials speak up on rejecting credit: Jobs are scarce. Pay is low. School debt is high.

(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, file) I was surprised by the Bankrate.com survey I reported on this morning, which showed that more than 60 percent of millennials say they don’t own a credit card. I wondered: How are these people building credit? And why are they so averse to this type of plastic when they are also so against carrying cash? Readers, on the other hand, weren’t that surprised. “I don’t! Never have,” commented one women after our columnist Michelle Singletary tweeted the article. @SingletaryM @washingtonpost @Jonnelle I don't! Never have. Another person responded “I don’t have a credit card too,” adding later that she was taught to save and that she worried people with credit cards may start to rely on the credit once it’s available to them. One person mentioned a factor I meant to include in the original post — that many young people are struggling to access credit because they’re struggling to find jobs. @SingletaryM @washingtonpost @Jonnelle Could be something to do with them not having a job! I told him he had a point. It’s hard to access credit when you don’t have any income, or when you don’t have enough income. Indeed, while more recent college graduates are finding jobs, they aren’t necessarily well-paying jobs. And most are probably balancing modest incomes with hefty student loan payments. Data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last week showed that nearly half, or 46 percent, of recent college grads are working in jobs that don’t require a college degree. (A “college job” was defined as one where at least half of the people doing that work are required to have a bachelor’s degree.) Benjamin Owen, a 29-year-old lawyer in Virginia who got his first credit card after graduating from college, agreed with the issue highlighted by the researchers at Bankrate.com –– that millennials are probably shying away from credit cards because they already have enough debt on their hands. Owen added that credit cards don’t have to lead to debt if they’re used responsibly. Though that may be easier said than done. Bankrate.com found that carrying a balance is relatively common, especially for younger consumers. Readers, what else should we know? When do you think people should start using credit cards? Is it a mistake for millennials to avoid plastic? Read more: Cash still rules for small purchases Bad news: Wages are down for pretty