Two men charged in 1996 shooting in Northwest Washington

D.C. homicide detectives have arrested two men in connection with the 1996 fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man in Northwest Washington. Wednesday night, detectives arrested Curtis Farmer, 44, of Northwest and charged him with first-degree murder while armed in connection with the slaying of Michael Davy. Davy was shot multiple times on Feb. 19, 1996, in the unit block of Rhode Island Avenue NW. Alexander Passee, 39, of Bowie was arrested early Thursday and is also charged with first-degree murder while armed in the case.


Poll: D.C. voters poised to legalize pot, elevating national debate over marijuana

in favor of legalization and 55 percent opposed. The District’s rapidly changing demographics also help explain the possible success of the initiative. In four years, the population in the District has swelled by 45,000, or 7.4 percent, and many newcomers are young, white and increasingly affluent. More than 7 in 10 voters in these groups support legalization. All that puts the District far to the left of the legalization discussion nationally with the country closely divided at 49 percent in favor and 48 percent opposed, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this year. Nina Moiseiwitsch, 19, a college student studying biomedical engineering in New York, said she is certain to vote absentee in the District to be heard on the marijuana issue. The government and police “have better things to focus on than trying to keep on top of something they really can’t,” she said. “I think it’s a distraction from . . . harder drugs that really are a problem in D.C. And it could become safer once regulated.” Activists collected more than 57,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. They pushed forward even as some pro-marijuana groups urged restraint, concerned legalization in the District risks forcing Congress to react. As it is, votes will be held in the District, Alaska and Oregon to decide legalization in November. Alaskans voted down a similar measure a decade ago but also have no criminal or monetary fines for possession. The measure in Oregon led by a bare majority in a poll five months ago. Voters in Florida also appear certain to approve a medical marijuana measure in November. The measure would allow people 21 and older to possess as much as two ounces of marijuana for personal use and to grow up to three marijuana plants at home. To keep from triggering a prohibition on ballot measures that run afoul of federal law, Initiative 71 does not spell out that the District would allow for the sale of marijuana. That would be left up to regulations to be written and approved by the next mayor and D.C. Council. They also would have broad power to alter the measure. Against that backdrop, the increasing likelihood that Initiative 71 will pass could force candidates for mayor — Democrat Muriel Bowser, a council member representing Ward 4; David A. Catania, an at-large council member running as an independent; and Carol


Fall festivals for the Washington area: Books, beer, and bratwurst

Inner Harbor Sept. 27: D.C. Armory, 2001 East Capitol St. SE. Oct. 11: M&T Bank Stadium, 1101 Russell St., Baltimore. $25 (admission only); $39 (admission plus unlimited beer samples) in advance, $59 all-access VIP tickets in advance. Chow down on a bratwurst or schnitzel as you browse and sample more than 150 regional, national and European craft brews, wines, and schnapps at this outdoor festival. The German-inspired beer fest offers a mix of traditional oompah music and local cover bands, as well as wacky competitions, including Best Beer Belly, Miss Oktoberfest, “best pretzel necklace” and a homebrew contest. Don’t leave your lederhosen at home; free beer-themed lanyards will be given to revelers in authentic German attire while supplies last. Smart Tip: A Fall Festival visitor enjoys the rope swing at Cox Farms. (Jason Hornick/Courtesy Cox Farms) Cox Farms Fall Festival Cox Farms, 15621 Braddock Rd., Centreville, Va. Sept. 27 through Nov. 4. $9 weekdays, $14 to $17 weekends. During the day, younger children can pet farm animals, climb through straw tunnels, enjoy rope swings and ride down a six-lane, 150-foot-long slide. But at night, the family-friendly park morphs into the Fields of Fear. Beware of the “zombie” hayrides, bonfires and the “Cornightmare,” a spooky, self-guided maze. After Halloween, families can squish, stomp, smash, drop and catapult their leftover jack-o’-lanterns to smithereens at the festival’s Pumpkin Madness Weekend (Nov. 1-2). Smart Tip: Convention attendees dressed up in cosplay (shorthand for “costume play”) at Anime USA in 2013. (Courtesy Anime USA) Anime USA Washington Marriott Wardman Park hotel, 2660 Woodley Rd. NW Oct. 3-5. Three-day pass $65; $32, ages 6-12; free for age 6 and younger. More expensive options ($85 for Silver, $135 for Sponsor) include priority access to events and Anime USA memorabilia. Characters come to life at Anime USA, where die-hard fans personify their favorite anime heroes and villains in fuchsia-colored wigs, latex bodysuits and plastic body armor. Organized by the Northern Virginia Anime Association in Fairfax County, this annual fan event has grown in the past 15 years from 350 people to more than 3,000 attendees. Fans attend panels and workshops by voice actors, manga creators and anime authors, and listen to talks on topics such as the history of samurai and Japanese fashion. Smart Tip: Slovenia's "About the Fox and Other Forest Animals" puppet show will be performed at this year’s Kids Euro Fest. (Courtesy of Kids Euro


Iraqis seeking refugee status shouldn’t be allowed to remain in limbo

U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations and the news media; people who worked for the U.S. government, including the military, and its contractors, and their family members; Iraqis from religious minorities, and Iraqis who have immediate family members in the United States. In short, these are people who deserve support in their quest to come to these shores. In this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, some 10,000 Iraqis inside the country and 9,500 beyond had completed the process and have come to the United States or will be coming soon. This fiscal year will probably be the largest ever for Iraqis seeking to reach the United States in this program. Overall, 110,000 have arrived since the effort was begun in 2007. But many were left behind when the doors closed to interviews June 15. State Department officials express an eagerness to resume. They told us they want to return to the Baghdad embassy and conduct interviews there, as before. However, no timetable exists for such a return, and it depends on the security situation. It would be wrong to do something imprudent. At the same time, the hopes of 36,000 people are hanging in the balance. Some pathway needs to be created for them to complete the application process. If an Iraqi’s life is in danger, flight abroad might be possible but risky. Another option might be to restart interviews at the U.S. consulate in Irbil, a relatively calm city in Iraqi Kurdistan where many people have sought a safe harbor since the upheaval of last summer. Although this is not the first choice at the State Department, it might be better than allowing applications to languish without action. If the refugee application process remains disrupted for long, it will allow the radicals of the Islamic State to hold a gun to the head of the United States and will negatively affect Iraqis who worked shoulder to shoulder with Americans during years of conflict. As the Pentagon and other agencies contemplate a return to Iraq to fight the Islamic State, how many will raise their hand to volunteer — and risk their lives — if the United States cannot take care of those who served last time? Read more on those issue: Becca Heller: The U.S. should not abandon those who helped in Iraq Rajiv Chandrasekaran: At great risk, they helped The Post cover Iraq. Now, they’re remaking their lives in America.


The tiny Ebola clinic that offers a ray of hope for rural Liberia

As the Ebola epidemic continues, patients in Liberia celebrate recovery from deadly disease. Deep in the rain forest, down a dirt road with potholes that swallow four-wheel-drive vehicles, is a tiny point of light in the darkness that Ebola has brought to Liberia. The Bong Ebola Treatment Unit is a modest collection of blue tents, connected by gravel paths, near the site of a former leper colony. But when the camp opened Monday, it provided the first 10 beds for Ebola victims in this rural county four hours from Monrovia, where 183 people are known to have been infected with the virus since July, and 81 have died. Most people believe there are many more victims. Until now, any of Bong County’s more than 325,000 residents who showed symptoms of Ebola had to find his way to the capital or another treatment center in Foya, six to seven hours away. Many people just stayed home, hoping to survive the virus on their own. But with 60 more beds planned, two pickup trucks that serve as ambulances and scores of trained Liberian staff, the Bong center is now making a small contribution against the most deadly Ebola outbreak on record. “There was an acknowledgment on the part of many of the actors in the response that there was a need for a facility in the middle of the country,” said Sean Casey, the Liberia emergency response team director for the International Medical Corps (IMC), which is running the center. “Every week that we don’t open new facilities, we create the need for several more. It’s just a self-perpetuating problem.” After coming under fierce criticism, the international community is scaling up its response to the Ebola crisis. The United States this week launched a $750 million effort to establish treatment facilities with 1,700 beds in Liberia. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to create an emergency medical mission to respond to the outbreak, with an advance team in West Africa by the end of the month. Millions of people in Sierra Leone are preparing for a three-day nationwide lockdown, which aims to curb the spread of Ebola and allow health workers to share information and calm fears about the virus. The Bong center is a small initiative, built for $170,000 by the nonprofit group Save the Children. But it is a godsend to rural villagers. Elijah Kollie, 13, was living with


D.C. police arrest suspect in year-old homicide

D.C. police arrested a suspect on Thursday in a homicide that occurred nearly a year ago. Christopher Fields, 33, was arrested by the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force and charged Thursday with the murder of Devar Battle, 34, of Southeast Washington. Battle was found on the 3000 block of 30th Street SE on Sept. 28, 2013, suffering from gunshot wounds to the chest, back, arms, and legs. He died that day.


Georgetown offering preventive antibiotics to close friends of meningitis victim

Georgetown University is offering antibiotics to students who came in close contact with Andrea Jaime, a sophomore who died of meningitis on Tuesday, to prevent others from developing the illness. In an email to students and staff on Thursday night, administrators wrote that no additional cases of meningitis other than Jaime’s had been identified. To protect students, the university said, it had already provided antibiotics to Jaime’s close friends and would seek others who had had close contact with her. The email told students that simply breathing the air in a room where a person with meningitis has been, or touching the same surfaces, does not cause meningitis. The disease, characterized by inflamation of membranes around the brain and spinal cord, is transmitted through exchange of respiratory and throat secretions — meaning kissing, sharing drinks and similar contact. On Wednesday, the university said that it believed Jaime died of an “isolated case” of meningitis and was still determining the cause of her illness. Meningitis can be caused by a virus, bacteria, injury or other conditions. In the email on Thursday, vice president for student affairs Todd Olson and assistant vice president of student health services James Welsh said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified Jaime’s case as a case of bacterial meningitis on Thursday. The administrators said that the particular strain that killed Jaime, type B meningococcal meningitis, is not covered by meningitis vaccines approved in the United States. Georgetown requires incoming freshmen to either get a meningitis vaccine or sign a waiver, but vaccinated students are not protected from this strain. Princeton University and the University of California at Santa Barbara were both affected last year by outbreaks of serogroup B meningitis, strains related to the illness that Jaime was diagnosed with. At those schools, where numerous students were sickened, students were warned against risky parties — where they might share drinks or kisses — and were treated with special permission from the FDA with a vaccine otherwise not approved for use in the United States. Georgetown has not announced plans for any similar measure. In the Thursday night email, the administrators said that the CDC did not recommend antibiotics for the entire student body “at this time” and that students should simply practice good hygeine and report any symptoms of the illness at an emergency room.


Local digest: A roundup of D.C. area news briefs

THE DISTRICT Two men charged in ’96 shooting death D.C. homicide detectives have arrested two men in the 1996 fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man in Northwest Washington. Curtis Farmer, 44, of Northwest was arrested Wednesday night and charged with first-degree murder while armed in the death of Michael Davy, police said. Davy was shot multiple times Feb. 19, 1996. Alexander Passee, 39, of Bowie was arrested early Thursday and charged with first-degree murder while armed, police said. — Keith L. Alexander MARYLAND American Legion joins defense of cross A U.S. District Court in Maryland on Thursday allowed the American Legion to intervene in a lawsuit calling for the removal of Bladensburg’s 40-foot Memorial Peace Cross, which honors men from Prince George’s County who died in World War I. The American Humanist Association and three individual plaintiffs filed suit in February, saying the cross, which is on state property, violates the constitutional principle of separation of church and state. The American Legion, its Maryland department and local Post 131 of Colmar Manor asked to be allowed to join the defense. The lawsuit states that the Humanist Association is an organization that advocates progressive values and equality for humanists, atheists and freethinkers. The cross “associates a Christian religious symbol with the state and gives the impression that the state supports and approves of Christianity, as opposed to other religions,” the suit says. — Michael Ruane the region Rail bridge study gets federal funding The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $2.8 million to study the long-term replacement of the Long Bridge over the Potomac River. The century-old rail bridge, which runs parallel to the 14th Street bridge, is the only direct intercity rail connection between the District and Virginia. The two-track bridge is owned by CSX and is used by CSX, Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express. Transportation officials say the bridge has become inadequate, and the District has been working with the Federal Railroad Administration on a study to identify options. The bridge handles 23 freight and 56 passenger trains a day and is at 98 percent capacity at peak hours, a DOT report says. A new bridge would increase capacity, and it could handle high-speed passenger rail; commuter rail; freight rail; transit; and bicycles and pedestrians. — Luz Lazo


Metropolitan Opera, with new contract, gears up for season that nearly wasn’t

Union-bashing is a popular pastime in classical music these days. Reactions to the Met situation often included disparaging mentions of six-figure salaries for stagehands, without much regard for their 80-hour work weeks. The Met’s board, in an open letter in the New York Times, disparaged a couple of union work rules. And for the past few years, lockouts have been all too much in vogue. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony and the Atlanta Symphony all exacted concessions from their musicians by locking them out before the Minnesota Orchestra embarked on a devastating 16-month lockout of its musicians that was resolved in February with a contract that made fewer cuts than management had wanted. Atlanta is now embarked on its second lockout in three years. Following suit, the Met administration targeted union salaries. In a Guardian interview in June, shortly after talks had begun, Gelb pointed out that nearly two-thirds of the company’s $327 million budget was spent on labor costs. Faced with declining ticket sales and a dwindling endowment, “If we are not able to create a more sustainable business model now,” he said, “we know we will face a bankruptcy situation in the next two or three years.” (Those who looked for financial salvation from the live HD broadcasts that are among Gelb’s most successful initiatives are disappointed; the $17 million in revenue they generate is only a small fraction of the budget.) Gelb’s proposal to the unions: Accept changes in work rules and pension and benefit plans amounting to income reductions of about 16 to 17 percent, or be locked out. The unions countered by pointing to the increase in new productions during Gelb’s tenure, many of which flopped with critics and at the box office. To present “the unions” as a single voice is misleading. Of the 15 involved, the main focus was on the three largest: the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA); Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians (representing the orchestra); and Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), representing the stagehands. AGMA’s president, Alan S. Gordon, was particularly adept at incendiary memos that were picked up on blogs and Facebook posts. “I was so nasty,” Gordon said on the phone last week, “that I wouldn’t ever talk to me again, if I was Peter Gelb.” At issue, for the unions, was that the increased number


Scotland sends Europe’s elites a warning

A Scottish Saltire flag and British Union flag fly together with the London Eye behind them in London. (Luke Macgregor/Reuters) LONDON In Aberdeenshire, more than 87 percent of people voted on Scotland’s independence referendum; in Clackmannanshire, the number was above 88 percent; in the Western Isles, it was close to 90 percent. One remote Highland peninsula actually achieved a 100 percent turnout — meaning that all 98 residents showed up to vote. Overall, the proportion of Scots participating was an astonishing 84.6 percent, more than 20 percentage points higher than at the last British general election. For a referendum that wasn’t supposed to be interesting, that wasn’t taken seriously in London, that wasn’t even much covered by the British media until the last few, frantic weeks, these are extraordinary numbers. In the end, the Kingdom remains United, Scotland will stay inside Great Britain and that particular question is settled for a generation. But the turnout is a warning that, beneath the surface, the political earth is moving, in Britain as everywhere else in Europe. Supposedly, electorates across the continent were becoming apathetic, apolitical. It turns out that Europeans can be galvanized by politics as long as politics offers something deeper: not a choice between marginally higher or lower taxes, not a debate about incremental changes to the welfare state, but rather an existential choice, a debate about identity and a chance to overturn the establishment. The United States has a long history of anti-Washington rhetoric, but this is really the first time we’ve heard anti-Westminster rhetoric of such power in the U.K.: against the Conservatives, against the Labor Party and, above all, against London, a city that appears, from the perspective of the Highlands, to be controlled by unaccountable bankers and foreign oligarchs. Most people date modern Scottish nationalism to the days of Margaret Thatcher. But like Europe’s other anti-establishment movements, this one picked up speed thanks to the financial crisis of 2009, when Britain, like the rest of Europe, was suddenly hit by a financial hurricane that seemed to come from far away. Unpopular economic decisions made at the time were blamed on forces beyond Britain’s control. The Scottish “Yes” campaign grew out of a popular demand to bring those forces back under control, to make decisions locally — and to defy the iron logic of global markets. At its utopian worst, the Scottish independence movement seemed to be


A reshuffled Baltimore Symphony Orchestra can’t quite fill the void after headliner’s exit

A tinge of disappointment lingered over the audience as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra launched into “The Star-Spangled Banner” to inaugurate its new season. The expected headliner of Thursday night’s season opener at Strathmore, superstar violinist and hometown darling Hilary Hahn, was to have returned to the stage after a summer hiatus due to injury. But Hahn this week announced a further withdrawal from performances, citing lingering “muscle strain,” and pressed into last-minute service was veteran soloist Pinchas Zukerman. The evening, led by music director Marin Alsop and devoted to Beethoven and Mahler, never quite shook off that sense of disappointment but nonetheless offered some compensations. Zukerman, 66, is no longer quite at the height of his powers. His beloved sweetness of tone has taken on some wiriness, and his intonation on opening night in the Beethoven Violin Concerto proved occasionally fallible. Yet his musicianship remains honest and probing, and his command of Fritz Kreisler’s formidable cadenzas attested to a still-impressive technique. Zukerman adopted spacious tempos, even in the concluding Rondo, favoring lyrical insight over dramatic urgency. Yet rather than coasting on the hum-along melodies, Zukerman offered an introspective reading, allying a sense of rapt concentration with innately musical phrasing. At times, the violinist’s inward approach and exploration of subtle nuances came at the cost of rhythmic tension and continuity. The rewards, however, were considerable, particularly in the poignant contrast between the playful and elegiac strains of the score. Alsop seemed content to provide restrained accompaniment, with warm strings, lovingly caressed woodwind lines and gentle rubatos. Yet the soloist and orchestra were never fully in dialogue. Alsop’s stately, more conventionally beautiful approach offered an incongruous backdrop to Zukerman’s leaner, more rhetorical interpretation. Alsop appeared almost deferential to her soloist, yet also inhabited an altogether different sound world, perhaps a consequence of the late switch. After intermission came the bucolic bliss and wistful nostalgia of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. In this gentlest of Mahler’s symphonies, Alsop favored detail over form, episodic expression over structural insight. She enforced lean and transparent textures, with obtrusive brass occasionally disrupting an otherwise astute orchestral balance. The strings played with filigreed elegance, the woodwinds with admirable finesse. This refinement, though, meant a loss of piquancy and character, particularly in the Scherzo’s grotesqueries. In the first two movements, Alsop adopted leisurely tempos, as marked, yet her elastic beat and lingering over detail often sacrificed the underlying musical pulse. Interpretively,


Book review: ‘Thirteen Days in September,’ on Camp David accords, by Lawrence Wright

Egypt's president Anwar Sadat, left, shakes hands with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin as U.S. president Jimmy Carter looks on (center). (AP) After a summer when Gaza was viewed as the most implacable place on Earth, when Jews and Arabs renewed their ancient enmities and charges of war crimes were followed like daily box scores, Lawrence Wright’s “Thirteen Days in September” comes as a refreshing reminder that peace between Arabs and Jews was once possible and has even proved to be durable. Like a modern pharaoh making an exodus to Israel, Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat delivered his historic speech before the Israeli Knesset in November 1977, and President Jimmy Carter saw an opportunity to fulfill his religious destiny by bringing peace to the Holy Land. First lady Rosalynn Carter suggested Camp David as an ideal location for a summit, which commenced on Sept. 5, 1978. The president hoped that a dramatic change in scenery from the deserts of the Middle East to the lush, mountainous forests of Maryland would help bring a final end to four wars fought over 30 years. What was needed, however, was the wisdom of King Solomon, not the peacefulness of Camp David. Serenity was soon outmaneuvered by realpolitik. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin never loosened his tie, nor did his mind stray from the horror of the Holocaust, where Jewish ash would convince the world that Jews deserved land of their own. Sadat secluded himself, even from his advisers, believing that Camp David would make him as immortal as a pyramid, whether or not he took part in the negotiations. With rare exceptions, the Egyptians and the Israelis remained, physically, worlds apart — no campfire songs or movie nights. Carter believed that an agreement could be reached within three days. It took an interminable 13. The parties threatened to walk out almost daily. Begin and Sadat received Nobel Peace Prizes for their efforts in reaching an accord. They deserved medals just for sticking around. The American president’s optimism was misplaced, and he eventually paid a price for prodding the statesmen at Camp David while appearing to ignore his own country’s collapsing economy. Wright, a New Yorker staff writer, does a masterful job painting psychological portraits of three world leaders who had little in common other than a shared sense that they were, quite possibly, changing the course of history. (Wright adapted the same material into


Ebola could infect 500,000 by end of January, according to CDC projection

been broken,” said John Connor, associate professor of microbiology at Boston University School of Medicine and investigator at the university’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories. He said there is no way to know how many people will be infected in the future, because there are too many variables. “That’s like asking whether it’s going to be sunny a month from now,” he said. “I’m really worried that no one has a handle on everything that’s happened,” he said. “Do we know all the places where there’s been virus present?” Millions of people in Sierra Leone are preparing for a three-day nationwide lockdown, which aims to curb the spread of Ebola and allow health workers to share information and calm fears about the virus. Alessandro Vespignani, a Northeastern University physicist, has looked at the outbreak and studied the response on the ground. He has worked on a model to estimate the growth of the disease, and by the end of this month, he has said, the epidemic could get much worse — as in, “thousands and thousands of cases” worse. Vespignani and his colleagues project between 6,000 and 10,000 Ebola cases by late September. “These predictions are like the weather forecast,” Vespignani said. “These are statistical predictions. So you have uncertainty cones.” Vespignani’s model assumes that response to the deadly virus stays the same, that the picture of the event remains unchanged. It assumes there will not be increased medical attention and that the spread of Ebola will continue. As of Sunday, the WHO said the virus had infected 5,357 people and killed 2,630. In addition to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the disease has spread to Nigeria and Senegal. WHO officials said those numbers vastly underreport the true number of cases. Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, who has been speaking with health workers and officials in the region, said that the cumulative number of cases will probably reach 250,000 by Christmas unless the U.S. plan provides for immediate measures that lead to long-term escalations in supplies, logistics support, air shipments and personnel on the ground in West Africa. Joel Achenbach and Sarah Larimer contributed to this report. Related: Ebola isolation ward wasn’t the most dangerous part of his job Eight dead in attack on Ebola education team in Guinea Ebola outbreak in the U.S.? Don’t bet on it. Suiting up for Ebola


A misguided rush toward climate engineering

The Sept. 16 Health and Science article “A non-apocalyptic look at some apocalyptic issues” discussed “How to talk about climate change so people will listen,” Charles Mann’s article in the Atlantic. Mann stated that some in the policy and scientific community see climate engineering as a quick-fix solution to climate change. Climate engineering refers to various proposed techniques for influencing climate on a large scale, such as blocking sunlight through solar radiation management. One proposal mentioned is to spray the atmosphere with sulfuric acid droplets to reflect sunlight away from the Earth. These methods mask the problem because carbon dioxide emissions continue unabated. The associated ethical issues are enormous (e.g., unilateral manipulation of the Earth’s climate by one country or region; unintended consequences such as the altering of global rainfall patterns as predicted by computer models). As climate change accelerates and a panicked call for action ensues, there may be a misguided rush to climate engineering as an “easy” choice. The sensible course is to collaboratively and systematically reduce our carbon emissions. Christophe r Miller, Arlington


Trees offer a way to delay the consequences of climate change

convicted Galileo of heresy for insisting that the Earth was not the center of the universe. But, for now, the United States is politically gridlocked. Our domestic paralysis also has an international equivalent that has stymied global reform ever since the U.N. climate conference at Kyoto in 1997. All attempts to reduce carbon emissions through binding international agreements have floundered because the world’s developing countries — chiefly China and India — are understandably reluctant to deny their populations a higher standard of living in response to requests from the West, which already achieved that higher standard by burning fossil fuels with impunity. We are, then, in an awkward historical moment, waiting for the looming environmental catastrophe to get worse — goodbye polar bears and Greenland glaciers — and change the political chemistry for the better. For the foreseeable future, it seems clear that hurricanes, droughts and floods will intensify, and the political will to address the problem will lag behind the crises that occur. In this stymied situation, the obvious question is: What can we do? The three-word answer is an environmental version of the Hippocratic Oath: Do no harm. The one-word answer is forests. If the bridge fuel from coal and oil to renewables is natural gas, the bridge technology between today and the emissions reductions we need is nature’s most efficient carbon container: the tree. At the upcoming U.N. summits on climate change in Lima (in December) and Paris (in 2015), we propose setting forest conservation as the global goal that most maximizes benefits and minimizes sacrifices. Conversations laying the groundwork for these negotiations will begin at the U.N. climate summit on Tuesday in New York. Here are the numbers But here is the good news. When a tree is cut down, it releases carbon into the atmosphere; when it is allowed to grow, however, it continues to absorb carbon. The environmental impact of forest conservation is double-barreled. The more we cut, the more we compound our problem, but conversely, the more that forests regrow, the stronger our potential for recovery. If we stopped deforestation tomorrow, the total power of forests would offset a third of our human-caused carbon emissions. Until we are prepared to wean ourselves from fossil fuels, forests are a stopgap that allow us to minimize the damage and save us from ourselves. The tropical forests of Asia and the Amazon and Congo basins are


The West ignores the stories of Africans in the middle of the Ebola outbreak

A Nigerian port health official uses a thermometer to screen Muslim pilgrims for Ebola at the Hajj camp before boarding a plane for Saudi Arabia at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria. (Sunday Alamba/AP) Ishmael Beah is the author of “Radiance of Tomorrow: A Novel” and “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.” He is on Twitter: @IshmaelBeah. It wasn’t surprising that Western journalists would react with doom-and-gloom when the Ebola outbreak began in West Africa. Or that the crisis would not be treated as a problem confronting all humanity — a force majeure — but as one of “those diseases” that afflict “those people” over there in Africa. Most Western media immediately fell into fear-mongering. Rarely did they tell the stories of Africans who survived Ebola, or meaningfully explore what it means to see your child or parent or other family member or friend be stricken with the disease. Where are the stories of the wrenching decisions of families forced to abandon loved ones or the bravery required to simply live as a human in conditions where everyone walks on the edge of suspicion? Instead, we have been given news from “the frontlines of Ebola” and “the war on Ebola,” video clips with somber narrators and eerie soundtracks and photographs that capture only sadness and hopelessness, all without the necessary human context. We have seen endless images of Westerners, covered head to toe, amid crowds of healthy-seeming onlookers; given such presentations, it is no surprise that people would begin to think that Ebola is an airborne contagion that might get on a plane and travel around the world, infecting people on its own. Or that all Africans are potential carriers. Once again, sensationalism and generalization seem to be the only ways that Africa can be presented in the West. Once again, my country, Sierra Leone, along with Liberia, Guinea and, as far as some are concerned, the entire African continent, makes news because of a crisis. Is this the only time we are relevant? Why is it that, once again, even those who have never set foot on our continent seem to think they know all about us? Given our interconnected world, it’s no longer possible to excuse such treatment as a lack of access to the facts. So what is the explanation? To borrow the words of Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, “Quite simply it


D.C. police investigate fatal stabbing of woman in Southeast

D.C. police identified the woman killed early Saturday in a stabbing incident on the 4600 block of Benning Road SE as 39-year-old Tracy Womack of Southeast Washington. Police responded to the report of a stabbing around 1:32 a.m., said Officer Hugh Carew, a department spokesman. As police continue to investigate the homicide, they have offered up to $25,000 for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in connection to the homicide. Anyone with relevant information is encouraged to call the police at 202-727-9099 or text the tip line at 50411.


Local digest: D.C.-area news for Sept. 20, 2014

THE DISTRICT Police investigate fatal stabbing of woman A Southeast woman was fatally stabbed Saturday morning on the 4600 block of Benning Road SE, police said. Police responded to the report of a stabbing around 1:32 a.m., said Officer Hugh Carew, a department spokesman. Authorities identified the woman as Tracy Womack, 39. Police have offered up to $25,000 for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in connection to the homicide. Anyone with relevant information is encouraged to call police at 202-727-9099 or text the tip line at 50411. — Karen Chen Police arrest suspect in fatal stabbing in SE D.C. police have arrested a District man in connection with the Sept. 9 fatal stabbing of Edward Eugene Hall Jr., 38, at First and Brandywine streets in Southeast. Officers arrested Lennard Sweeney of Southwest Washington on Friday and charged him with first degree felony murder while armed, police said. — Karen Chen In hit-and-run, SUV strikes, kills cyclist A 53-year-old cyclist died after she was struck by an SUV early Saturday in a hit-and-run that occurred at Eighth and S streets NW. About 2:33 a.m., Tonya Reaves of Northeast Washington was biking on Eighth Street when a light-colored SUV traveling southbound on the street struck her, police say. Emergency responders took Reaves to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. D.C. police are searching for the driver who was last seen fleeing the scene in the vehicle heading south on Eighth Street toward Rhode Island Avenue. Police said the SUV may have damage to its right front bumper. Anyone with any information on the incident is urged to call the police at 202-727-9099 or text the tip line at 50411. — Karen Chen


What’s the next big tech trend? This federal agency thinks it can predict the answer

— 100 or 200 percent. So far, FUSE has pointed toward topics including quinone, an organic compound that could be used for better energy storage, and perovskite, a material used in tin-based solar cells. FUSE ranks quinone high because scientists often write about its potential applications across industries, Murdick said. “It’s moving out of the organic chemistry space, and it’s moving into batteries.” The software also tries to gauge a technology’s maturity. Patents involving an early-stage technology often spend several words explaining it, for instance. When writing about quantum computing, which relies on atomic particles known as “qubits” instead of ones and zeroes, scientists don’t say, “I am using quantum computing to do X,’ ” Murdick said. “They say, ‘I hope to develop a part of a component that could be used in quantum computing.’ ” Scientists developing nascent concepts are eager to contrast their work with existing research when filing patents and articles, said Olga Babko-Malaya, a senior research engineer at BAE Systems working on FUSE. FUSE counts the number of times a term is contrasted with similar technologies and assumes that as the term becomes more commonplace, this number will decline, she said. FUSE also assigns more weight to technologies mentioned in highly reputable journals, and to certain companies filing patents — this helps it gauge whether the concept is attracting the best scientific research talent. IARPA has designed FUSE to crunch academic research and patents, Murdick said, but has intentionally left out market data about business and consumer adoption. After FUSE surfaces potentially prominent technologies, another IARPA project, called “Forecasting Science and Technology,” surveys tens of thousands of human technology experts to assess how viable a certain technology is. Experts weigh in online through a Web site called SciCast. Collectively, for instance, they believe there is only a 31 percent chance utilities will install a quinone-based battery by January 2017. Without human input, the system still struggles to separate fads from longer-lasting trends. “There’s still a lot of noise in the system,” Murdick said. The team is still tweaking FUSE’s algorithm to ignore fads, he added. Right now, it just has a working definition: “If it lasts for three years, or two to three years in a community [publishing] 20 papers per year . . . then we know it’s much more likely to emerge as a [more permanent scientific] community, as opposed to a passing fad.”


Capital Buzz: Wardman Tower to be turned into luxury residences

spaces per unit and concierge service. Chevy Chase-based JBG is teaming with Deborah Berke Partners of New York and Hitt Construction to convert 150,000 square feet in Wardman Tower. The Marriott hotel at the location would remain in operation. The project, at the corner of Connecticut Avenue and Woodley Road, rests on 16 acres that is among the most valuable real estate in the Washington region. Berke’s firm is designing the residences, which range in size between 2,200 square feet to a McMansion-like 4,600 square feet, with the average size of 3,300 square feet. Berke’s firm is also designing the interior spaces for the project. Nozar said the demographic includes people who have second, third and fourth homes, but use Washington as their primary residence. Although the units do not go on sale until later this year, there has already been interest among potential buyers, including the diplomatic community. Many foreign embassies are close by on Massachusetts Avenue NW. The building, which has more than 1,000 windows, is at one of the higher points in the city. It also features a club room, garden and terrace. Construction on the project is under way and is expected to be completed next year. The eight-story, red brick, iconic building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It is named for local developer Harry Wardman and was completed in 1928. The Wardman project’s chief architect Deborah Berke has a strong local connection to the Wardman Park, having resided up Connecticut Avenue a few blocks at the Kennedy-Warren while she taught at the University of Maryland. The first “Meet the Press” — the longest-running broadcast series in television history — was broadcast from the Wardman Tower and, according to a news release by the developers, “notorious spies darkened its hallways during World War II.” The Wardman was designed by Mihran Mesrobian and was once christened by The Washington Post as “the most fashionable apartment address in Washington.” Pay day Danaher Joyce succeeds H. Lawrence Culp Jr., who retired after 13 years. Culp was one of the highest paid executives in the Washington region for the past several years. Joyce is going to do pretty well, too. The District-based diversified conglomerate will up Joyce’s base salary to $1 million from $825,000, according to a recent filing Danaher made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. When stock incentives, potential bonus and other


Three Afghan soldiers missing from joint training exercise in Massachusetts

Officials said three Afghan National Army soldiers are missing from a joint military training exercise in Cape Cod, Mass. Massachusetts Three Afghan soldiers missing from training Police and military officials were searching Sunday for three soldiers from the Afghanistan National Army who went missing during a training exercise at a Cape Cod military base. The soldiers had been participating in a U.S. Central Command Regional Cooperation training exercise at Joint Base Cape Cod, U.S. military officials said. They arrived at Camp Edwards on Sept. 11 and were last seen at the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis. The soldiers were reported missing by base security personnel Saturday night. They were identified as Maj. Jan Mohammad Arash, Capt. Mohammad Nasir Askarzada and Capt. Noorullah Aminyar. Base and exercise officials were working with local and state authorities to locate them. There was no indication that they posed a threat to the public, military officials said. The Regional Cooperation training exercises have been held annually since 2004 to promote cooperation and interoperability among forces, build functional capacity, practice peacekeeping operations and enhance readiness. — Associated Press California Manhunt capturesfive jail escapees All five fugitives have been recaptured a day after their escape from a jail in central California, authorities said. A pair of special sheriff’s units caught four of the men late Saturday night, about 24 hours after they broke out of the Madera County lockup, sheriff’s spokeswoman Erica Stuart said. No further details about where or how they were caught were immediately available. Juan Lopez, 33, Jorge Lopez-Diaz, 26, Abel Ramos, 25, and Ricardo Cendejas, 19, all of Madera, were back in custody Saturday, Stuart said. Roel Soliz, 29, of Chowchilla, was captured Sunday. The men were being held in custody on various charges including attempted murder and armed robbery, Stuart said. It’s unclear how they escaped, but they were gone for about an hour before their disappearance was discovered, she added. “We don’t know how they got away. All we know is that they took off on foot,” Stuart said. The jail is operated by the Madera County Department of Corrections. The Madera County sheriff’s major crimes unit and Madera special investigations unit made the capture, Stuart said. — Associated Press Pennsylvania Police closing in on ambush suspect Nine days after a gunman opened fire in a deadly ambush at a Pennsylvania State Police barracks, authorities said Sunday that they have recovered


Wal-Mart’s plan for a store in south Bowie is delayed, sent back to planning board

A proposal for a Wal-Mart Supercenter in a South Bowie strip mall was delayed Monday after a Prince George’s County panel returned it to the planning board for review. Citing concerns that the plan had not properly addressed issues such as traffic impact, members of the Prince George’s County Council said further review is needed before Wal-Mart can proceed to build a new store that will offer groceries and other general merchandise at the Duvall Village Shopping Center. Some small-business owners in the strip mall support Wal-Mart’s move to the area, but the plan has also ignited protests among people who live nearby who say that the store would have a negative impact on the adjacent neighborhood. The County Council, seated as the District Council because it was reviewing zoning matters, voted unanimously to send the case back to the county’s planning board, which had approved it in April. Residents appealed the planning commission’s vote to the council, saying it had ignored their concerns that the store is not a good fit when it approved the plan. Monday’s decision is another setback for Wal-Mart, which is aggressively pursuing expansion plans in the Washington region. Last month, a county zoning authority denied Wal-Mart’s request to build a supercenter in Oxon Hill and the chain is awaiting a decision from the zoning hearing examiner on a proposed supercenter at the corner of U.S. 301 and Mill Branch Road, also in Bowie. In that case, Wal-Mart is proposing a 186,000-square-foot store that would replace a 20-year-old, 117,000-square-foot Wal-Mart just across the street. Nina Albert, Wal-Mart’s director of community affairs, said in a statement Monday that the company plans to review the District Council’s decision and continue “to work with the community to revitalize Duvall Village Shopping Center.” A store at that site would generate 300 new jobs in retail space that has been vacant for about five years, Wal-Mart officials said. The shopping center is on the southeastern corner of Annapolis and Glenn Dale roads, in an area surrounded by single-family homes. Wal-Mart wants to take over 56,238 square feet of existing space and expand it to 77,916 square feet. William Randolph, who lives in a subdivision across the street from the proposed site, said residents think the shopping center is better suited to a smaller, more upscale, grocery store such as a Trader Joe’s or Harris Teeter. “They want to move the


Loudoun fourth-grader plays major role in effort to save the monarch butterfly

“And there will be an educational element, so people understand why medians won’t be mowed. That will have a huge impact.” Monarch butterflies, along with their fellow pollinators, also got a boost this summer from the White House, which issued a presidential memorandum in June calling for protective measures for butterflies and other pollinators. Noting that populations of domestic pollinators — including bees, birds, bats and butterflies — have been falling for many years, the memorandum directed U.S. government agencies to take additional steps to help protect and strengthen the creatures that serve as “critical contributors to our nation’s economy, food system, and environmental health.” The memorandum came as welcome news to wildlife advocates and enthusiasts, Hamilton said. “It really demonstrated that there is a national interest and a national interest for monarchs as well as pollinators, and a recognition that these species are really playing a strong role in our environment and our habitats and our own food supply,” Hamilton said. “I think that’s a really great step in the right direction.” Meanwhile, Carter Steadman is doing his best to help this year’s monarch campaign surpass last year’s total of 2,500 butterflies released. So far, about 900 monarchs have been released by volunteers participating in the campaign. At the same time last year, that number was closer to 400, Hamilton said. Most butterflies — including the 200 still developing at the Steadman home — will be released in the coming weeks. Carter hopes that sharing his passion for raising the butterflies will encourage friends and neighbors to do what they can to help — even if they’re unlikely to invite hundreds of caterpillars into their homes, or don’t have property to plant a way station. “We’ve been telling everyone about the monarch problem,” he said. “Even if you live in a townhouse and can’t plant a way station, you can tell people and spread the word.” His parents and big sister, Samantha, 13, have encouraged his devotion to his cause — which is a good thing, he said, because he has no plans to slow down. When the monarchs return next spring, he’ll be ready to start the whole process again. “I love that I have more monarchs this time. I can handle more, I can release more, and more practice means more experience, which means I’m getting better,” he said. “You’re never too young to make a difference.”


Chronic Lyme disease can seriously affect a person’s quality of life

Regarding “This tiny bug is at the root of a big controversy over Lyme disease” [Sept. 16]: I am a registered nurse who has suffered the effects of post-tick-bite Lyme disease. Despite being treated, progressive signs of Lyme disease persist. Something that most doctors and the general population do not know about tick bites is that a tick carries other infectious diseases simultaneously. A single bite can cause a myriad of infections that may not be responsive to the traditional tick-bite antibiotics. Thomas Platts-Mills, a noted tick-bite researcher at the University of Virginia, and his colleagues are working to determine why certain individuals who have been bitten by ticks and treated for Lyme disease develop an allergic reaction to beef and pork that can cause an anaphylactic reaction necessitating emergency treatment. Researchers are finding that many viruses can affect one’s DNA post-infection. Janine Goldsmith, Manassas Have the author and her daughter been tested for alpha-gal allergy? I had tick-bite-related symptoms similar to what the author described in the article. Then I learned about how tick bites can induce alpha-gal allergy. I was a vaccine senior scientist (FDA and NIH). Alpha gal [in which a tick bite can induce a reaction to red meat and dairy products that in severe cases causes anaphylactic shock and even death] could easily have been missed by doctors. Frank A. Robey, Bethesda My daughter had lost 20 pounds and suffered from nausea, joint pain, dizziness and flulike symptoms. After two trips to the top disease specialists at Johns Hopkins and several blood tests that came back negative for Lyme, she happened to accompany me to a veterinary appointment for my dog. I explained what was going on with my daughter to the veterinarian. He said that the type of blood test they did for Lyme disease would not come back positive until the disease had progressed to the later stages. My daughter finally saw a Lyme specialist, who said there is only one lab in the United States that can detect Lyme in the early stages. The doctor also tested for the co-infections of Babesia and Erlichia, which, if present, must be treated prior to treating Lyme disease; otherwise, the antibiotic for Lyme will not be effective. It turned out that my daughter tested positive for these two co-infections as well as for Lyme disease. (Babesia is a relative of malaria.) She had terrible brain


Italian-style salami, made with American pigs, powers growth of a Virginia business

Olivierio “Olli” Colmignoli, whose great-grandfather cured meats in Italy, started his company, Olli, four years ago. (Kip Dawkins/Courtesy of Olli Salumeria) Olli Salumeria produces several types of salami, including the organic Molisana, flavored with black peppercorns and garlic. (Kip Dawkins/Courtesy of Olli Salumeria) Richmond — That was 2011, and Colmignoli was one of just five people working in a quiet 700-square-foot space in Mechanicsville, Va. Today, the company employs 40 people in a building more than double that size, and Olli sausages can be found all over the country, including in Whole Foods Markets, Wegmans, Kroger and Costco. The growth of the company, begun only four years ago, is remarkable. Even though they wanted the company to grow, Colmignoli and then-partner Charles “Chip” Vosmik never expected that their product — artisan sausages at a fairly high price (around $9 each) — would go from something you might pick up in a small wine shop to pair with an intriguing asiago to something you can throw in your cart with a giant jug of olive oil at Costco. The first big leap happened less than nine months after the company entered the market: Whole Foods came calling, and Olli soon was in its stores, rolling out regionally first but then rapidly expanding to shelves nationally. “It almost happened a bit by mistake,” says Colmignoli, 36. The natural-foods giant was looking for a line of charcuterie that adhered to its environmental and animal husbandry standards while also satisfying the sophisticated palates of its shoppers. Colmignoli, meanwhile, was focused on quality, but it just so happened that the most environmentally friendly and humane way to raise pigs also produced the best-tasting pork for his sausages. “Whole Foods was kind of looking for us at the same time we were looking for Whole Foods,” says Vosmik, who now sits on Olli’s board of directors and has stepped back from day-to-day operations. “We filled a void.” ‘You need good raw material’ Colmignoli knows sausage. Innocenzo Fiorucci, his great-grandfather, opened cured-meat company Fiorucci Foods in the mid-19th century in Norcia, Italy, and Colmignoli grew up in the family business. His father set up a subsidiary of Fiorucci outside Richmond, Va., in the 1980s, and throughout his childhood, Colmignoli traveled back and forth between Italy and the United States, finally settling in Richmond in 2004 when he took over as vice president of operations for the company.


Meet the winners of the Sammies, the civil service’s version of the Oscars

Achievement Medal. Rana Hajjeh of the Centers for Disease Control won for the Federal Employee of the Year. (Courtesy of Partnership for Public Service) The other 2014 winners were: ●William Bauman and Ann Spungen of the Department of Veterans Affairs won the Science and Environment Medal for developing “innovative medical advances and novel drug therapies” to aid paralyzed veterans. ●Omar Pérez Aybar, Reginald France, Joseph Beemsterboer, Dan Bernstein, Randy Culp, Joseph Jeziorski and colleagues in the departments of Health and Human Services and Justice for uncovering hundreds of Medicare fraud schemes. Their work won the Homeland Security and Law Enforcement award. ●Sean Young and Benjamin Tran, Air Force engineers, won the National Security and International Affairs Medal for leading the development of an aerial sensor system to identify and destroy improvised explosive devices. ●Alan Lindenmoyer, a NASA program manager, received the Management Excellence award for helping launch “a new era of private-sector orbital transportation” while “dramatically reducing the costs to taxpayers of building and deploying rockets and spacecraft.” ●Sara Meyers of the Department of Housing and Urban Development was awarded the Call to Service Medal for setting up systems to analyze data to evaluate the performance of programs dealing with homelessness, public housing and rental subsidies. ●Michael Byrne, a former geographic information officer with the Federal Communications Commission, won the Citizen Service Medal for creating interactive, searchable online maps that put information about broadband availability in the hands of the public and policymakers. Edwin Kneedler, a career deputy in the solicitor general’s office who has argued 125 cases before the Supreme Court, won the Career Achievement Medal. (Courtesy of Partnership for Public Service) “The Service to America Medals are a powerful illustration of the good that government workers do every day and their impact on our lives,” said Max Stier, president and chief executive of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, which awards the medals. Speaking before announcing the winners, he said, “We have to reward the people who dare to challenge the status quo and take risks.” Several winners said in interviews that they hoped the attention to their work would inspire other federal employees to reach high. “The big thing to me is this shows them there’s still the ability to make a difference in federal work and federal service,” Young said. Hajjeh, the top winner who will fly to Africa next week with a team that will


Led global vaccine campaign to stamp out childhood bacterial meningitis, pneumonia

and a doctor, but she is also a mother and a very passionate person, and was able as one person to bring many different groups together.” For her work, Hajjeh has been awarded the prestigious 2014 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal as Federal Employee of the Year. “She is a tireless public servant, one who always enjoys addressing challenges and making a difference through preventing disease around the world,” said Dr. Rima F. Khabbaz, director of the CDC’s Office of Infectious Diseases. In 2005, Hajjeh became director of the Hib Initiative, a consortium of four organizations funded by the GAVI Alliance, a public–private global health partnership. Born in Lebanon, she studied medicine at the American University of Beirut. She completed her residency in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Emory University in Atlanta and fell in love with public health during her training at the CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer. “With clinical medicine you have a patient, you treat them, they improve and it’s a relatively instant reward. But in public health, you have to be patient, because the reward involves providing services to a large group of people and it takes time,” she said. “We all go into medicine thinking we will save lives, but you really do it on a large scale when you are working on interventions at the population level—especially in many of the developing countries.” Yet even she admits knocking down the barriers complicating the Hib Initiative required an extraordinary amount of persistence. “I’m one of these people who tends, as my kids say, to be ‘disgustingly positive,’” she said. “In public health, and global health in particular, you really need to have an optimistic outlook on things, because the challenges can be daunting, and stay focused on what the real goal is.” The Hib bacterium, first described in 1892, is a source of major bacterial infections, including meningitis and pneumonia. Pneumonia continues to be the number one cause of child mortality globally, and these deaths can be largely prevented by Hib and pneumococcal vaccines. The diseases with which Hib is associated typically occur in children under five years of age and are transmitted through coughing and sneezing. One of Hajjeh’s most daunting tasks was to convince countries that their children were dying from preventable diseases. And in parts of Africa and Asia, many children who survived the diseases, meningitis in


which Hib is associated typically occur in children under five years of age and are transmitted through coughing and sneezing. One of Hajjeh’s most daunting tasks was to convince countries that their children were dying from preventable diseases. And in parts of Africa and Asia, many children who survived the diseases, meningitis in particular, were left with crushing disabilities, such as mental retardation and deafness. Part of the problem was that the hospital labs and disease surveillance systems in many of these developing nations had failed to do a good job of detecting Hib, and by 2004 only 13 of 73 countries eligible for GAVI grants were advocating use of the vaccine. It was up to Hajjeh and her partners at the World Health Organization, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the London School of Hygiene and Tropic Medicine to furnish compelling evidence. Other issues complicated the picture: The vaccine was expensive; health systems in many countries were struggling to deliver other vaccines; and some lacked the facilities to store and transport the Hib vaccine. Her team collected and disseminated the data needed to help countries build the case and made available a five-in-one vaccine that included Hib, which made immunization less costly. Among the countries eventually adopting its use were India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sudan and Senegal. The Hib Initiative officially ended March 20, 2014, but its lessons have propelled Hajjeh into a number of new projects. Recently she helped her team at the CDC secure a grant to investigate the impact of a meningitis vaccine now being deployed in sub-Saharan Africa. She is also seeking fresh challenges. “I’m looking beyond vaccines toward child health in general and child development. I feel I am ready to tackle more complex issues, like a larger focus on quality of life beyond just survival,” she said. “I think it will come down to the same strategies we used with vaccines—staying evidence-based, having the policies needed to implement scientific interventions, making sure you will have impact and then monitoring and evaluating the impact.” This article was jointly prepared by the Partnership for Public Service, a group seeking to enhance the performance of the federal government, and washingtonpost.com. Go to the Fed Page of The Washington Post to read about other federal workers who are making a difference. To recommend a Federal Player of the Week, contact us at fedplayers@ourpublicservice.org.


Pearls Before Breakfast: Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let’s find out.

HE EMERGED FROM THE METRO AT THE L’ENFANT PLAZA STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL BESIDE A TRASH BASKET. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play. Can Joshua Bell, one of the nation's great musicians, cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out. It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by. Almost all of them were on the way to work, which meant, for almost all of them, a government job. L’Enfant Plaza is at the nucleus of federal Washington, and these were mostly mid-level bureaucrats with those indeterminate, oddly fungible titles: policy analyst, project manager, budget officer, specialist, facilitator, consultant. Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he’s really bad? What if he’s really good? Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn’t you? What’s the moral mathematics of the moment? On that Friday in January, those private questions would be answered in an unusually public way. No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend? The musician did not play popular tunes whose familiarity alone might have drawn interest. That was not


Afghan President Hamid Karzai slams U.S. government policy in Afghanistan

Outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai used his farewell speech Tuesday to take a parting shot at the United States, accusing Washington of waging a war against Taliban insurgents for its own ends. (Wakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) KABUL — Karzai, who will be replaced by President-elect Ashraf Ghani on Monday, accused the American government of spending the past 13 years focused on “its own interests” instead of what was best for the Afghan people. “We don’t have peace because Americans didn’t want peace,” Karzai told a gathering of several hundred Afghan government employees. “If the U.S. wants Afghanistan to be a good friend, it needs to match its words with actions,” Karzai later added. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, when the NATO coalition installed Karzai in office, more than 2,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and about $100 billion in U.S. tax money spent rebuilding the country. Karzai did not mention that commitment, prompting a rare rebuke from U.S. Ambassador James B. Cunningham. In a meeting with Western reporters Tuesday evening, Cunningham called Karzai’s remarks “ungracious and ungrateful.” “His remarks, which were uncalled for, do a disservice to the American people and dishonor the sacrifices that Americans have made here . . . and continue to make,” Cunningham said. In an interview, Karzai spokesman Aimal Faizi said Karzai has repeatedly stressed that he appreciates what U.S. troops and taxpayers have done to try to help Afghanistan. But Faizi said Karzai strongly believes that the U.S. government hasn’t been aggressive enough in confronting Pakistan over “insurgent sanctuaries” on its territory. Karzai also believes that the United States, working in conjunction with Pakistan, “sabotaged” the Afghan government’s efforts to reach a negotiated peace with the Taliban, Faizi said. “The president believes, and the Afghan public believes, ‘This is not our war, and this war has been forced upon us,’ ” Faizi said. “The president’s focus over the last 13 years has been to stop this war, which is not ours, and to do that we had a successful war strategy . . . but those points were never taken seriously by the U.S. government.” The latest public split between Karzai and the U.S. government seemed a fitting end to Karzai’s 13 years in office. Though U.S. officials credit him with keeping Afghanistan intact despite a continued Taliban insurgency, relations between the countries have soured dramatically since


Obama appeals for ‘ambitious’ effort to stem effects of climate change

Obama said. He ticked off a list of recent U.S. weather disasters — from Hurricane Sandy to record droughts in the West — as evidence that the once-distant threat of climate change has “moved firmly into the present.” Activists, politicians and celebrities rally in New York to demand action on climate change. Obama was one of scores of heads of state to address the U.N. summit, convened by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to pressure the world’s industrialized countries ahead of a round of climate negotiations scheduled for late next year in Paris. Previous efforts failed to yield a global deal on cutting carbon emissions, in part because of differences between developing countries and the industrialized nations historically responsible for the bulk of the pollutants in the atmosphere. But in recent years, China has overtaken the United States as the largest single emitter of greenhouse gases. Obama reiterated his commitment to seeking an “ambitious” global pact on climate change even while acknowledging heavy political resistance in the United States, where Congress repeatedly has voiced opposition to binding limits on carbon emissions. He said Washington and Beijing bear special responsibility for reducing carbon pollution, but he added: “No one gets a pass.” “We can only succeed in combating climate change if we are joined by every nation,” he said. Obama touted his administration’s achievements in lowering pollution, pointing to a drop in U.S. emissions to 20-year-lows and sharp increases in solar and wind energy production. Early next year, he said, the White House will announce plans for further cuts, made possible in part by tougher fuel-economy standards for American automobiles and proposed new restrictions on carbon emissions from utility plants. But he said the administration simultaneously must take steps to prepare for climatic changes that already have started to emerge, particularly rising sea levels and more intense weather events. He said the administration would revise its foreign aid guidelines to factor in the effect of weather disasters tied to global warming. The White House also pledged to expand access to weather data and forecasting technology to enable developing countries to prepare better for storms. “No matter what we do, some populations will still be at risk,” he said. China’s Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, speaking after Obama, said his country was willing to do more to lower emissions. “China is ready to work with other countries and to shoulder its responsibilities,” he said.


World Digest: Sept. 23, 2014

Wednesday, securing India a place in the elite global space club of Martian explorers, fourth behind the United States, Europe and Russia. More than half of the 51 Mars missions launched globally have failed. Images of beaming scientists clapping and hugging each other at the command center in the southern city of Bangalore were shown live in a nationally televised minute-to-minute broadcast after a breathless, nail-biting countdown during the spacecraft’s final leg. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, witnessed the final insertion of the Mission Orbiter Mars, or MOM as it is fondly called in India. — Rama Lakshmi MEXICO Bodies found after lawmaker kidnapped Two charred bodies were discovered Tuesday in a burned-out vehicle in which a congressman and his driver were kidnapped at gunpoint the previous day, Mexican authorities said. Zacatecas state prosecutor Arturo Nahle said that although the vehicle was completely burned, the license plates left “no doubt” that it was the congressman’s. He said DNA testing was being done to determine whether the remains were those of Gabriel Gómez Michel, a member of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and hisdriver. Nahle said two emergency phone calls Monday tipped authorities off that armed men in several vehicles had intercepted a blue Chevrolet Suburban on a highway on the outskirts of Guadalajara in Jalisco state. The vehicle and the bodies were found seven hours later in Zacatecas state, which neighbors Jalisco. — Associated Press AUSTRALIA Counterterror police kill man after attack Australian police said they fatally shot an 18-year-old man after he stabbed two counterterrorism officers, just days after raids involving hundreds of police thwarted what they said was an imminent plot to behead a member of the public. The man had been asked to go to a police station in Victoria because his behavior was “causing concern,” according to Luke Cornelius, assistant commissioner of Victoria police. Police said the man had been displaying a flag linked to the Islamic State, while local media reported he had been shouting insults about Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the government before he was shot. On Monday, Abbott warned Australians that the balance between freedom and security “may have to shift,” given the darkening security situation as he outlined broad new security powers expected to be introduced in Parliament on Wednesday. — Reuters 3 ordered held in Chile bombattack Vatican arrests former archbishop on pedophilia charges: — From news services


Business digest: Sept. 24, 2014

more freedom to chase global growth. The company is still evaluating which employees will move to New York, but spokesman David Caldwell said it’s likely that fewer than 100 people will move in the first phase next year. — Associated Press ALSO IN BUSINESS ● Royal Philips said it will spin off its lighting division and the rest of its operations into two separate companies, continuing a radical reshaping of one of Europe’s best-known corporations. Tuesday’s announcement follows the decision in June to spin off its lighting-components arm. Chief executive Frans van Houten said the company’s consumer division — which makes a range of household products such as coffeemakers and shavers — and its health-care division will operate as a single “HealthTech” company. Both the lighting and HealthTech company will continue to use the Philips brand. ● Regulators in the United Kingdom fined Barclays Bank, Britain’s second-biggest bank, a record $62 million for failing to properly protect client assets. The Financial Conduct Authority said the penalty was the largest ever for such violations and reflected a significant weakness in the systems and controls at Barclays’ investment-banking division between November 2007 and January 2012. Separately in the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Barclays has agreed to pay a $15 million penalty and take corrective actions to settle charges that legal controls in its wealth-management business were inadequate. ● The World Trade Organization has sharply reduced its forecast for global trade growth this year, pointing to uneven economic growth in countries including China and the United States. The WTO said its economists are now predicting 3.1 percent growth in world trade this year, down from the 4.7 percent forecast in April. They also cut their outlook for 2015 to 4 percent from the previous 5.3 percent. ● Citizens Financial Group has raised about $3 billion in its initial public offering of stock that was priced at $21.50 a share, below the expected range. The U.S. banking unit of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group said it sold 140 million shares in the IPO that had initially been expected to fetch between $23 and $25 a share. The IPO gave Citizens Financial, based in Providence, R.I., a market value of about $12 billion. The bank has about 1,200 branches across the Northeast and Midwest. — From news services COMING TODAY ● 10 a.m.: New-home sales for August. Los Angeles


To keep up with 21st century threats, the military needs to modernize its hiring

The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. (Charles Dharapak/AP) The writer is head of diversity, inclusion and women’s policy for the U.S. Navy. The views expressed here are her own. If the United States were attacked again, the way it was at Pearl Harbor or on Sept. 11, would you step forward to serve in the military? If you’ve climbed any distance up the career ladder, the answer is probably no, because the military hires people almost exclusively at entry level, and signing up could severely diminish your pay and status. But what does that mean for the defense of our nation? The world is changing rapidly, with technology at the forefront. It once was possible to hire military personnel young and teach them to be experts in a single skill over a 20- to 30-year career. But today this approach isolates the military from society, limiting its expertise with cutting-edge technology and reducing the diversity of its thinking. Plus, in the past, people were our main source of power projection and had to be physically present at the battlefield in a fight. But this, too, has changed. Now we use missiles and drones to fight from a distance when possible. The need for skills beyond physical prowess has multiplied. The breakneck advance of technology is producing commensurate change in the threats we face. How can we keep up? The answer is to be just as innovative with our human resources strategy as we are with our weapons and tactics. We need new ways to recruit the best talent to defend our nation. The key is to modernize our core concept of an all-volunteer force to include lateral hiring. When the all-volunteer force was formed in the 1970s, its structure reflected the common career arcs of the day, where many workers served a single employer their entire careers. Now, workers change jobs every few years, updating and improving their skills to stay current. The military hasn’t kept pace. Suppose you could enlist at a rank reflecting your management experience or mastery of a valuable, high-level skill? And for a limited number of years? Would that make you more likely to answer the call to serve in an emergency? For large numbers of patriotic Americans, I think it would. There are many advantages to this approach. Although boot camp or officer candidate school would still be required to acclimate enlistees to the unique


Oleg Ivanovsky, Soviet engineer who was a key designer of early spacecraft, dies at 92

Rocket engineer Oleg Ivanovsky, right, accompanies Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin to the Vostok spacecraft before the launch of the first manned space flight on April 12, 1961. (NPO Lavochkin Museum/AP) Oleg Ivanovsky, a Soviet rocket scientist who played a central role in developing satellites at the dawn of the space age, including the first vehicle to carry a human being in orbit around the Earth, died Sept. 18. He was 92. His death was announced by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. The cause and location were not reported. Mr. Ivanovsky worked for many years as a top engineer at the secret Soviet space facility known as Star City, where he helped design Sputnik, which was launched on Oct. 4, 1957. The unmanned satellite, just 23 inches in diameter, circled the globe for three months and prompted alarm in the United States that the Soviets had taken the lead in engineering, rocketry and the Cold War in general. A month after the first Sputnik launch, the Soviets sent Sputnik 2 into space, this time with a dog on board. The dog, named Laika, died after a few hours in orbit, apparently from heat exhaustion, “but she gave much to biology,” Mr. Ivanovsky said later. “We didn’t know if an animal could survive for longer than a few minutes in weightlessness,” he said. “But from the data from Sputnik 2, we could see that she moved, and even ate, after the launch.” Encouraged that a mammal could survive in space, at least for a short time, Mr. Ivanovsky took a leading role in building a capsule that could carry a Soviet cosmonaut into orbit. A 27-year-old pilot, Yuri Gagarin, was chosen to fly the spacecraft, called Vostok 1. In 1960, an explosion at the Soviet launch pad in Kazakhstan killed 126 people, and there were other technical setbacks along the way. Mr. Ivanovsky and other engineers estimated the chances of a successful manned flight at no more than 50-50. Gagarin wrote a farewell letter to his wife in case he would not return from his mission, but he blithely sang a folk song as he climbed into the cockpit on April 12, 1961. His heart rate stayed at a steady 64 beats per minute while he awaited liftoff. Mr. Ivanovsky accompanied Gagarin to the cockpit. “There were all kinds of wild fears that a man could lose his mind in zero gravity,


Prince George’s County Animal Watch

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY These were among cases received recently by the Prince George’s County Animal Management Division. Call 301-780-7200 for directions to the county animal shelter, hours of operation, and adoption and licensing procedures. The department Web site is www.princegeorgespets4us.com. Hungry dog scratching at door: Tiger-striped cat in trap: Snake alert: Dog tethered to dumpster: Snake in bedroom: The Prince George’s County Animal Management Division Bowie pet adoption showcase: — Compiled by Jillian S. Jarrett


Prince George’s and Southern Maryland Going Out Guide, Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2014

Drummer Mauricio Zottarelli is member of Brazil Project, a Latin music quartet that fuses Brazilian rhythms with contemporary jazz performing Friday in Laurel. (Courtesy of Montpelier Arts Center/Courtesy of Montpelier Arts Center) Brazil Project 3The Latin music quartet fuses Brazilian rhythms and contemporary jazz, with Leonardo Lucini on bass, Jeff Antoniuk on saxophone, Mauricio Zottarelli, pictured, on drums and César Orozco at the piano. Friday at 8 p.m. Montpelier Arts Center, 9652 Muirkirk Rd., Laurel. 301-377-7800. arts.pgparks.com. $25. THU 25 “The World as I See It” An exhibit of works by artists from the Arundel Lodge, a nonprofit organization that specializes in helping people with behavioral health disorders. Proceeds will benefit the artists and Hospice of the Chesapeake. Public reception Oct. 5, 2-4 p.m. Through Jan. 26. Gallery 90, Hospice of the Chesapeake, 90 Ritchie Hwy., Pasadena 443-837-1501, Ext. 1328. jboyer@hospicechesapeake.org. www.hospicechesapeake.org. Free, RSVP by Tuesday for reception. “Curious George” The U.S. Air Force Orchestra FRI 26 “Lend Me a Tenor” New Direction Community Theater presents the Tony Award-winning farce set in 1934 Cleveland. Friday-Saturday at 7 p.m. Long Beach Community Center, 5845 Calvert Blvd. 443-624-4484. www.ndctheater.org. $12; students, teachers and law enforcement $10. Familiar Faces The Cruisers “Children of Eden” “Hamlet” Brazil Project Hard Swimmin’ Fish SAT 27 Exploring Estuaries Day Greenbelt Rhythm Drum Festival College Park Day RiverFest Susan Jones Jazz Quartet Hispanic Heritage Celebration “Aldo Leopold: A Standard of Change” “Remembering Dick Cerri: A Celebration in Song” Black Masala The Music of Motown Patsy’s Honky Tonk Torch Twang SUN 28 “Heavy Metal” “The Mousetrap” Riversdale Chamber Music Society Concert Series “An Evening of Jazz” The Nightingale Trio “We Are Samurai” “Steven Williams” MON 29 “Head Games: The Global Concussion Crisis” TUE 30 “Blazz: Works on Blues and Jazz by Ulysses Marshall” WED 01 FrightFest 2014 Randy “Windtalker” Motz — Compiled by Jillian S. Jarrett from staff reports


Ask Amy: Neighbor fears for safety of roaming children

more attentive? They are educated professionals. We cannot seem to get them to respect boundaries and take care of their kids. -- Concerned DEAR CONCERNED: I agree that it is terrifying to think this toddler is out in a busy street with lots of inexperienced drivers. Do everything possible to educate your young drivers about the very real hazards right in the driveway. They should walk around the entire car (including looking underneath the car) before pulling out, and be extra attentive pulling in. You may not be able to get these people to be better parents (the mother’s behavior raises serious concerns). Some of this sounds extreme enough to discuss with a case worker at the department of children’s and family services. (Also, lock your garage.) DEAR AMY: Years ago I could have really used some of your hard-hitting relationship advice. Unfortunately, I was in an unhealthy relationship in which he was sleeping with other people. He passed onto me the gift that keeps giving: herpes! Eight years later, I am a very healthy, happy, sexy woman with a blossoming career. I have my act together! I always have (slightly uncomfortable) conversations about my health history with new love interests. Now I’m in a long-distance relationship with someone I haven’t yet met in person (online matching). I want to talk about it in person, but I’m afraid he’ll think I’ve kept it a secret if I wait until we finally meet, especially since we’ve already had some discussion about “health problems.” Since it requires some travel and a bigger time/energy/money investment to meet, do I owe him a disclosure before he makes the effort to meet? What if telling him now and/or waiting until later are both uncomfortable? And worse, what if I chicken out? -- Online Dating is Hard! DEAR DATING: Online dating isn’t hard. Keeping a secret from someone you care about is hard. You are throwing down lots of conditions about disclosing your herpes diagnosis, and the longer you wait, the more your anxiety grows and then you worry about both the disclosure and your own anxiety. And before you know it, the disclosure has taken on its own viral quality. So stop it. Be brave. Say, “I have something to tell you that is tough for me, but I want you to know about it.” Give him information so he can educate himself about herpes.


Maryland confirms first case of enterovirus

Maryland health officials announced Wednesday the state’s first confirmed case of enterovirus, the respiratory illness that has sickened hundreds of children in more than a dozen states. The virus was found in a child who is hospitalized in suburban Maryland and health officials sent a specimen to the Centers for Disease Control for confirmation, officials said in a statement. The virus, known as enterovirus 68, is related to common-cold viruses, and contains a rare strain that can cause severe severe difficulty in breathing for affected children. Last week, Virginia health officials confirmed seven children were infected with the virus and more than two dozen others were being tested for the virus. Maryland officials did not release any information about the child who contracted the virus. “Now that this virus is known to be in Maryland, it is important that we all take reasonable steps to limit its spread and control its impact,” Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the state’s health secretary, said in the statement. Officials released a list of preventive measures: ●Practice preventive steps, as with other ailments, by regularly washing hands with soap and water. ●Pay special attention to children with asthma. ●Be alert to wheezing and other respiratory ailments in children. ●Keep sick children at home. ●Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth. ●Cough and sneeze into sleeve or a tissue. ●Avoid kissing, hugging and sharing cups, eating utensils, etc., with people who are sick. ●Disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as toys and doorknobs, especially if someone is sick. ●Stay up-to-date on vaccinations, especially influenza vaccine, to reduce respiratory illness.


D.C. community calendar, Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 2014

Constitution Avenue NW. Call Paul O’Brian, 202-438-7066. Dog walking tour, Hispanic Medal of Honor recipients, Chamber orchestra concert, The Capital Hearings in concert, “Apocalyptic Fairytale for the Modern Age,” Sunday, Sept. 28 Palisades farmers market, locally grown seasonal produce, music by Sherier Mountain. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sundays, 48th Place and MacArthur Boulevard NW. www.palisadesfarmersmarket.com . Cathedral restoration and preservation, D.C. Turkish Festival, National Gallery of Art Wind Ensemble concert, Cathedral potluck picnic, “Ploy,” Know your rights, Get it “write” study hall, Yoga at Georgetown Library, Cathedral gargoyle tour, a docent shows slides of the building’s whimsical stone gargoyles and grotesques, followed by an outdoor tour; binoculars and cameras welcome. 2 p.m., Washington National Cathedral, Wisconsin and Massachusetts avenues NW. $15; age 12 and younger, $6. 202-537-6200 or www.nationalcathedral.org . Art exhibit introduction, Join the STEAM team, for ages 6-12 with an interest in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics and a desire to design, construct, discover and create. 2 p.m. Sundays, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW. Free. 202-727-1278. Washington Bach Consort concert, Chicago Piano Duo concert, Board games in the afternoon, for age 10 and older, play board games with your friends or learn to play chess. 3 p.m. Sundays, Northwest One Library, 155 L St. NW. Free. 202-939-5946. Shaw knitting and crocheting circle, all experience levels welcome, bring needles and yarn for a take-home project. 3 p.m. Sundays, Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library, 1630 Seventh St. NW. Free. 202-727-1288. “Nymph,” Zumba kids, “Il Sorpasso ,” Cathedral pipe organ recital, artist-in-residence Jeremy Filsell performs works by Leo Sowerby, Richard Wayne Dirksen, Charles Callahan, Richard Roecklein, Douglas Major and Calvin Hampton on the 10,650-pipe organ. 5:15 p.m., Washington National Cathedral, Great Choir, Wisconsin and Massachusetts avenues NW. Suggested donation, $10. 202-537-6200 or www.nationalcathedral.org . Hip-Hop and spoken word, the winners of the Youth Speaks “Raise Up” contest perform a program about their education and aspirations. 6 p.m., Kennedy Center, Concert Hall, 2700 F St. NW. Free. 202-467-4600. Ghost tours, Monday, Sept. 29 English conversation classes, volunteer teachers from the Washington English Center facilitate classes twice a week. 10 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, Georgetown Library, 3260 R St. NW. Free. 202-727-0232. Therapeutic yoga classes for cancer patients, Corrin Bennett and Alaina Sadick lead patients, survivors and caregivers. 10:30 a.m. Mondays, 6 p.m. Wednesdays, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, 1632 U St. NW. $25/month. 202-483-8600 or www.smithcenter.org


Water-bath canning just got easier

Every year, new rules and regulations come out for canners. Yet most veterans rely on what we learned from mothers, friends and books. This is the year to pay attention to the professionals. The quality assurance team at Jarden Home Brands (the makers of Ball jars) released two big changes recently, and they are so dramatic, I want to shout them from the rooftops. They really do make canning simpler, less messy and less onerous. Yes, really. Sanitizing the jars. Warming the lids. No boiling jars. No preheating. Jarden Home Brands says it’s interested in safely streamlining the process so more people will want to start canning at home. — C.B. More from Food: Weeknight Vegetarian The Immigrant’s Table Smoke Signals Spirits Column Beer Column


Montgomery County Animal Watch

This case was received recently by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Pit bulls clash: 9800 block, Brookridge Ct., Montgomery Village, Sept. 12. An unleashed pit bull attacked another unleashed pit bull that was with its owner. The dog owner was bitten on the hand by the attacking animal while attempting to break up the fight. The injured man told animal services that he and his dog were in a common area when the attack occurred. The owner of the aggressive dog said he did not know the animal was loose. The other pit bull suffered minor injuries. The dog that bit the pet owner was placed under a standard 10-day home quarantine. Board members wanted: The Montgomery County Humane Society seeks members for its board of directors. Send via e-mail a résumé and cover letter to the society. The application deadline is Friday. 240-547-4304 or www.mchumane.org or mchs@mchumane.org. Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Cats and kittens will be available for adoption through the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County no-kill shelter at the following locations. For information, call 301-740-2511 or visit www.awlmc.org. Gaithersburg Gaithersburg Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Adopt or foster rescue dogs: Rockville — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Major food brands go after a once-ignored customer: Men

households consisting of single people or roommates are growing at a faster clip than traditional ones. During a recent shopping trip at Yes Organic Market in Petworth, District resident John Pollock said he and his wife split the grocery shopping about fifty-fifty, as they do with many household responsibilities. Each night, Pollock said, “One does baby, bath, bed. And one does dinner.” And Pollock, 48, said that while he was keeping it simple that night, picking up a couple of bottles of Chianti and a pizza, it’s not unusual for him to do more elaborate cooking and shopping. “I can make a heck of a flank steak,” he said. The influx of men at grocery stores is difficult to measure. Market research firm NPD Group recently found that men are the primary grocery shoppers in 41 percent of U.S. households. It had not asked the question in previous surveys. But some food companies say internal research indicates that men are increasingly doing the grocery shopping. In some cases they have responded by introducing new flavors. Kraft updated some products this year to make them palatable to millennial men, adding a Hot Habanero flavor of sliced cheese and a Chipotle flavor of its Planters peanuts. Campbell’s has added a Beer-n-Cheese with Beef & Bacon flavor Chunky soup to appeal to the bold tastes the company says it has found men prefer. Earlier this year, Ball Park launched Park’s Finest, a new line of premium hot dogs that includes strong flavors such as Cracked Dijon Mustard and Slow Smoked Hickory. The company has dubbed its target customer the “the grill-master guy,” a confident, savvy chef who takes great pride in his skills behind the grill. As part of those efforts, Ball Park has launched a nationwide grilling contest, encouraging customers to post photos on Instagram showing why they are “America’s Finest Grill Master.” The winner will get a trailer equipped with two grills, beer taps, and a stereo system. Dannon is also taking an aggressive approach to what it sees as a growing market. It has developed ads targeting men, noting that the protein in yogurt can be an alternative to a burger or grilled chicken breast. Dannon’s Oikos brand of Greek yogurt now comes in blue packaging and a short, wide cup to give it gender-neutral appeal. “It comes back to proteins and Americans’ association with strength-building,” said Michael Neuwirth, Dannon’s


Mistrust between Afghanistan and Pakistan soars as U.S. forces depart

KABUL Afghan officials say their allegations stem from an influx of foreigners fighting for a resurgent Afghan Taliban, as well as a Pakistani Islamist militant group’s recent announcement that it was abandoning domestic attacks and turning its sights across the border. Afghans have long blamed Pakistan for the violence in their country, reserving special ire for the Pakistani spy organization that they and U.S. intelligence officials say has nurtured and supported Islamist militants. But those accusations are intensifying, and they now include charges that Pakistan’s military and Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) are recruiting, training and equipping Afghan Taliban fighters as most U.S. troops withdraw from Afghanistan this year. Pakistani officials strongly deny the charges, accusing outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai of paranoia and of scapegoating them for his own government’s failures. But as Afghans at all levels of the country’s government and military assert that they are being systematically undermined by Pakistan, also a key U.S. ally, the tensions are serving as a sign of how hard it will be for U.S. forces to withdraw from the region without risking a future conflict. “We know they have not given up their dream of controlling Afghanistan,” Mohammad Umer Daudzai, the Afghan interior minister, said of Pakistan. “They want Afghanistan to be their satellite.” Smoke rises following clashes between Afghan security forces and the Taliban insurgents during an anti-Taliban operation in Dur Baba district near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on September 25, 2014. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images) Since spring, more than 2,000 Afghan police officers and soldiers have been killed, twice as many fatalities as during the same period last year, officials said. The death toll can be partially linked to the drawdown of coalition forces, which has left Afghan troops more vulnerable. But Afghan officials have also issued public statements accusing Pakistan of sending army commandos, doctors and military advisers to support the Afghan Taliban. Some of their evidence is vague — officials will say only that they believe “thousands” of foreign fighters are in Afghanistan and that they include a smattering of Uzbeks, Chechens and others. But they also cite the recent announcement by the Punjabi Taliban — a Pakistani group that has carried out scores of attacks against Pakistani security forces — that it would ally with a major Afghan militant group and redirect its fighters to Afghanistan. Karzai’s National Security Council called that a “declaration of war” and blamed the