What’s it like to be a park ranger? Rolf Gubler of Shenandoah National Park tells us.

a food reward, and then it can become food conditioned and become an animal that causes property damage … and needs to be relocated to a new area.” One of Gubler’s focuses this spring was reintroducing peregrine falcons to the park. The birds — known for their fast flying and blue-gray wings — declined sharply in the eastern U.S. in the mid-20th century as a result of the pesticide DDT, and they’re still considered a threatened species in Virginia. Shenandoah works with groups like the College of William and Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to take at-risk falcon chicks from eastern Virginia, get them ready for flight through a process called hacking and then release them from the park’s Franklin Cliffs. “The falcons are protected in a hack box, like a big doghouse, and after two weeks or so they learn how to fly and hunt on their own,” Gubler says. “Visitors can come up and watch [the release], and it’s a pretty unique experience.” Aside from the wildlife, there are nearly 200,000 acres of park that need to be managed, too. Gubler is particularly concerned with suppressing the emerald ash borer — a green jewel beetle — and hemlock woolly adelgid, a sap-sucking insect that ravages hemlocks. “Tens of millions of trees have died because of the emerald ash borer,” Gubler says. “We try to find money to support our work against it. Some of it’s suppression work; some of it’s pesticide treatments; but eventually, some of it’s gonna have to be money for tree removal work.” How he got the job “It was a little outside my interest area, but it’s very competitive to get into the park service,” he says. “I ended up working two or three different roles and got into the natural resources area and became a biologist.” He marked 30 years at the park in May. Who would want the job How you can get the job As Gubler points out, few other offices can boast such striking, varied co-workers. “I fell in love with [Shenandoah],” he says. “Growing up in eastern PA, you didn’t see things like black bear and bobcat and wild turkeys. Here, you’re down in the valley canoeing in the river and it’s routine to see osprey and bald eagles.” More jobs you can steal: Wedding planner Cake decorator Travel guide


From ‘the Count’ to inmate: The fall of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort

Washington requesting aid from the U.S. government. Manafort, soft-spoken and dignified, cultivated an air of mystery about his international exploits. He earned the nickname “the Count” — after the Count of Monte Cristo, the fictional character known for adventure and intrigue, and also because of his skill at tallying delegate votes at political conventions. One of his partners in the firm, Roger Stone, worked with Manafort and would also become an adviser to Trump. While together, the firm did some lobbying and consulting for Trump on tax and political issues, and both Stone and Manafort participated in conversations with the then-New York real estate entrepreneur. After the firm split up, Manafort continued his career in domestic and international consulting in partnership with another prominent GOP strategist, Rick Davis. In 2006, the Manafort-Davis firm began doing business with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who was drawn to the firm’s experience in “international and domestic business, politics, government and public policy development,” according to a legal petition filed on behalf of Deripaska in the Cayman Islands. Manafort’s relationship with Deripaska Just two weeks before Trump accepted the Republican nomination, Manafort offered to provide Deripaska with private briefings. But Manafort’s work during this era for his major client — Ukraine — seems to have been the primary focus for federal prosecutors. A 12-count indictment last fall described $75 million in income Manafort’s firm received from the work he did in Ukraine over the previous decade, some of it allegedly laundered through offshore accounts to conceal it from the U.S. government. The money from Ukraine flowed primarily from the Party of Regions, which hired Manafort to improve the image of Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted as Ukraine’s president in 2014 and fled to Moscow. The offshore funds, the indictment said, were used to pay for Manafort’s “lavish lifestyle,” including rugs, cars, antiques and fancy clothes. Manafort and his attorney, Kevin Downing, have rebutted the charges of conspiracy, money laundering, failure to register as a foreign agent — and vowed to fight them. When the indictment was filed against Manafort and his partner, Rick Gates, a former Manafort associate said the news was crushing. “This indictment is tragic for Paul and his family,” said Manafort’s former business partner Charles Black, who has maintained contact with Manafort even though the two have not worked together for two decades. “I just pray that they are innocent.” tom.hamburger@washpost.com


Judge in U.S. election-interference case of Russian firm urges sides to resolve legal impasse

services, particularly those of the Russian Federation,” and could help people who are still engaged in “interference operations like those charged,” prosecutors said in writing that they want Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to bar Concord from sharing the information with the defendants who have not responded to the indictment. Concord’s attorneys said in a court filing that Mueller has no valid legal reason for seeking “a special and unprecedented blanket protective order,” and they asked Friedrich to deny the request. “He chose to indict a case while his investigation was apparently ongoing,” they wrote. “He must deal with the consequences.” On the bench Friday, Friedrich appeared frustrated, calling it “unfortunate” that after several weeks of discussions, the two sides had not reached a compromise on how the evidence should be handled. She gave the lawyers 10 more days to agree on a protective order for her to sign that lays out procedures and conditions under which some of the evidence could be shared. In a joint interim proposed order filed Friday afternoon, both sides agreed that, pending a final resolution, the government could begin turning over password-protected sensitive materials in electronic form to Concord’s two defense attorneys only for use by employees of their firm or by an e-discovery vendor engaged solely for the defense of the case, and for no other purpose or proceeding. The order bars disclosing the materials, the contents or any notes made of them to any other party; requires that the materials be viewed only at the U.S. offices of the law firm representing Concord and stored in a locked room when not in use, not viewed or stored in any Internet accessible device, and “under no circumstances be transported or transmitted outside the United States.” One of the defendants, Concord founder and food-catering magnate Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, is known as “Putin’s chef” because of his ties to the Russian president. Prigozhin was hit with U.S. sanctions over Russia’s occupation of Crimea and military action in Ukraine in 2016. Further sanctions were imposed on him in March based on what officials called “malicious cyber-enabled activities.” Because Russia does not allow its citizens to be extradited to the United States to face trials, Prigozhin and the other people charged in the election-interference case have not been in U.S. custody since the indictment was issued. paul.duggan@washpost.com spencer.hsu@washpost.com


Why we should celebrate high school grads signing up to defend us

slighting of our enlistees is the result not of anti-military bias but of ignorance. A good example is the reaction to Gregory Salcido, a history teacher in Pico Rivera, Calif., who was surreptitiously recorded telling a student wearing a Marine Corps sweatshirt that Americans serving overseas were “a bunch of dumbs---s . . . the lowest of our low.” Salcido was dismissed for bullying the student, his school board president said. I would have fired him for being a bad teacher; he told his class things he would have known were untrue if he had done his homework. He thought he was better than enlistees because they don’t have college degrees. In fact, the young people who enlist these days measure up far above average. They also learn a great deal, as I did, from experienced teachers in the military. Only 29 percent of today’s youth even have the cognitive, physical and legal requirements to be considered for induction, according to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. And almost everyone in that group is already enrolled in college, lacks a high school diploma or can’t pass Army aptitude tests. (I totally flunked the mechanical aptitude section.) So the Army estimates that less than 1 percent of U.S. youth who are eligible are both qualified and want to serve. That is about 144,000 people, who are far from being the “lowest of our low.” Most will stay in the military four or five years and find when they enter college that on average they do better than traditional students, according to the Army. One example is Mathieu Delmar, who just graduated from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington County and is on his way to the U.S. Coast Guard. He told me he prefers that to college now because “I hate school.” Some friends expressed surprise at his choice, given he had good scores on some Advanced Placement tests. Kenneth E. Hartman, a veteran and educator who founded Our Community Salutes, told me in April “this is the time of the year when the parents go underground, because they are tired of defending their son’s/daughter’s decision to enlist.” One group member said he thought enlistees sensed disappointment from school administrators because those educators’ careers were focused on getting as many students into college as possible. There may be some like that, but most just want kids to follow their instincts. Hartman and his


NASA’s Opportunity rover is fighting for its life in a Martian dust storm

For weeks, Mars has been besieged by a massive dust storm. A thick haze fills the atmosphere and blots out the sun, immersing much of the Red Planet in an impenetrable, perpetual night. Caught in the middle of it all is NASA's Opportunity rover, a 5-foot-tall, bear-size spacecraft that has already defied the odds by surviving on Mars more than 55 times longer than originally planned. For the solar-powered robot, the dust is not as dangerous as the darkness. Since the storm began two weeks ago, the amount of light the spacecraft receives has dropped to less than 1 percent of normal levels. Energy production has fallen from hundreds of watt-hours a day to almost nothing. NASA has not heard from the rover since Tuesday. This is a “spacecraft emergency,” Mars Exploration Rover project manager John Callas said Wednesday. His team is operating under the assumption that the charge in Opportunity's batteries has dipped below 24 volts and that the rover has entered a low-power fault mode, when all subsystems except the mission clock are turned off. The clock is programmed to rouse the rover at periodic intervals to check whether light levels are sufficient to wake up — a state called “solar groovy.” But the storm is still growing and should encircle the planet in a matter of days. NASA expects that it will be weeks, if not months, before the dust clears enough to allow the spacecraft to turn back on. Though the rover is expected to survive the storm, “It's like you have a loved one in a coma in the hospital,” Callas said. “The doctors are telling you, 'You just gotta give it time, and she’ll wake up.' But if it's your 97-year-old grandmother, you’re going to be very concerned, and by all means we are.” Opportunity, along with Spirit, its twin, landed on the planet in 2004. Though the mission was supposed to last only 90 days, Opportunity is approaching its 15th year there. Before the storm began, it had been rolling down a channel called Perseverance Valley, which scientists think may have been carved by water billions of years ago. NASA's main worry now is that the rover's batteries may freeze without the heat generated by its normal operations. (Opportunity is designed to withstand temperatures as low as minus 55 degrees Celsius.) Other problems may arise if the rover's energy levels drop even further.


The Scene: The Inn at Little Washington celebrates 40 years

Patrick O’Connell is a perfectionist, so it was no surprise that he somehow produced a flawless summer night for the Inn at Little Washington’s 40th anniversary party. More than 300 guests — including French Ambassador Gérard Araud, celebrity chefs José Andrés and Daniel Boulud, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, White House social secretary Rickie Niceta, philanthropist Jackie Mars, International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde and George Washington himself — gathered at Mount Vernon over the weekend to fete one of America’s most celebrated restaurants, awarded two stars by Michelin. “Tonight is an invitation to reflect on the last four decades of our lives and consider what makes a place endure in a culture that reinvents itself every 15 minutes,” chef-owner O’Connell told the VIP crowd. “It’s actually pretty simple: Every day we just try to make it a little bit better than it was the day before.” The night began with champagne and caviar, moved on to dinner on the lawn with a luxurious menu (foie gras in a golden egg, anyone?) and ended with dessert and fireworks over the Potomac River. All proceeds went to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; “President Washington” declared the party “a fine thing.”


Russia used to see itself as part of Europe. Here’s why that changed.

The European Union is expected to announce soon whether it will expand its economic sanctions against Russia. It first imposed sanctions in March 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea; they were expanded a few months later after Russia destabilized eastern Ukraine and following the destruction of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 by a Russian-made missile over territory controlled by pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. The sanctions reveal that E.U.-Russia relations are at their lowest point since the Cold War. It hasn’t always been this way. As an article of mine published earlier this year shows, Russia saw itself as part of Europe at the turn of the millennium. It aspired to closer integration with the E.U. But over the past 18 years, the Kremlin has gradually turned its back on the West — and now sees the E.U. as an aggressor in a new Cold War. This happened in three distinct phases. 2000-2005 As the first president of post-Soviet Russia, Boris Yeltsin wished to integrate with the E.U., an aspiration held by much of Russia’s political elite. After being elected president in 2000, Vladimir Putin initially pursued Yeltsin’s vision. Adopted in 2000, Russia’s Foreign Policy Concept — an official white paper that defines the country’s foreign policy — described the E.U. as being “of key importance” for Moscow, “one of its main political and economic partners.” At the time, the Kremlin saw the United States and NATO as the principal threats to Russia’s national interests and the main obstacles to its long-term foreign policy goal: once again being a “great power.” The E.U., by contrast, was the acceptable face of the West. After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in mid-2003, however, Putin began to speak about the need for Russia to become a “strong” country to thrive in the post-Cold War world. Russia began reasserting its right to ensure that its neighbors’ foreign policy was aligned with Russia rather than the E.U. When the E.U. expanded to include the three Baltic states and several former Warsaw Pact countries in 2004, Russia accused Brussels of drawing “new dividing lines” in Europe. After that, Russia began to treat the E.U. as an expansionist power, encroaching on its sovereignty and foreign-policy objectives. The Kremlin concluded that the E.U. had been actively involved in the “color revolutions” in Georgia in 2003, Ukraine in 2004 and Kyrgyzstan in 2005 — each of which would have, or did,


Artificial trans fats, widely linked to heart disease, are officially banned

Once ubiquitous in everything from frozen pizza to coffee creamer to popcorn, artificial trans fats are — as of Monday — banished from U.S. restaurants and grocery stores. Food-makers have had three years to phase out the ingredient, which the Food and Drug Administration ruled unsafe to eat in 2015. Nutrition researchers and public health advocates long ago found artificial trans fats, a modified form of vegetable oil, raised “bad” cholesterol and contributed to heart disease. That prompted a wave of voluntary recipe changes at food companies, and trans fat consumption has plummeted over the past decade. But the June 18 deadline marks a final chapter in the U.S. fight against trans fats at a time when other countries are beginning to contemplate a similar change. “The elimination of artificial trans fat from the food supply represents a historic and long-fought victory for public health,” said Michael F. Jacobson, the former executive director of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, in a statement to mark the occasion. “Ridding the food supply of partially hydrogenated oils will save tens of thousands of lives each year.” Scientists developed the method for modifying oils in the early 20th century, but food-makers didn’t deploy them until the 1950s and ’60s when they needed ways to lengthen shelf life and improve the texture of processed food products. But in the early 1990s, research began turning up powerful links between artificial trans fats, cholesterol and heart disease. (Studies have not established a connection between those conditions and the natural trans fats that occur in some animal proteins.) Artificial trans fats are made in an industrial process that injects hydrogen atoms into molecules of vegetable fat, changing their chemical structure. For reasons scientists don't entirely understand, these altered molecules prompt the body to produce more bad cholesterol — among other possible problems. As the scientific consensus grew, the FDA required food companies to disclose artificial trans fats on product labels in January 2006. Nine years later, the agency ruled that artificial trans fats are not safe in food and set a June 2018 deadline for their removal from the food system. Food companies cut trans fats 86 percent between 2003 and 2015, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, and expended hundreds of thousands of hours tweaking foods from Jell-O to Wheat Thins. Food companies made further reductions between 2015 and 2018, removing 98 percent


The Energy 202: Kilauea’s eruption reignites debate over Hawaii’s geothermal plant

with PGV are low. “In terms of alternatives, geothermal is a wonderful alternative to burning oil. They do have wind and solar in Hawaii, too, but of course it’s intermittent,” he said. “It would actually be a dreadful shame if they weren’t able to restart it, either for political reasons or for geological reasons.” Still, Ruderman and Petricci both said PGV would not reopen without a fight. “I can’t believe you’re going to look at this picture and say, ‘Let’s double down, let’s spend millions to get this back online now, looks like a pretty safe place to be, looks like a good bet, huh?’ ” Ruderman said. “Who’s going to do that?” Ruderman, who along with Kahakalau and Petricci has been arrested for protesting the plant, said he believes the uproar if the plant reopens would be even greater now. “A lot more people are aware of geothermal now, and many more people are living here now, and I think the protests that would happen; the outcry would dwarf the protests in 1991,” he said. Here’s the latest on Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt: — No ANWR oil before 2030: However: — Oil watch: The reports follow news Sunday that Iran said three OPEC members, including Venezuela and Iraq, will block the proposal to increase oil productions during the meeting this week in Vienna with OPEC and its allies. But some officials say a deal can be reached for a modest increase at this week’s meeting. — The key to clean energy? Natural gas, energy ministers say: A surprising concession: However: — Perry’s plans to help Argentina: — The last straw: — Big truck, small engine: — No more monkeying around: — The Chesapeake Bay cleanup seems to be working: — “I don’t want to be right in that sense:” Flashback: — El Niño is likely coming back and may make our summer even more muggy: — Bumblebee buzz: The aim, according to the AP: “Citizen scientists are being dispatched to selected 2.5-acre (1-hectare) sites with insect nets, plant and bee guides, and an app for smartphones so findings can be recorded, photographed, mapped and sent to a central database... Bees are captured and put in a chilled cooler so they go into a state of lethargy. Diagnostic photos are taken, and the bees are released unharmed when they warm up.” Today Coming Up — Celebrating Hawking's life:


Looking for the District’s orchestra highlight? Go to Maryland.

Anyone who wants to fall in love with orchestral music could do worse than go to Maryland in June. The National Orchestral Institute, held every year at the University of Maryland at College Park, brings together the cream of young instrumentalists from around the country and throws a bunch of strong conductors and teachers at them. The results are generally invigorating. On Saturday night at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the young players joined forces with the young singers of the Wolf Trap Opera in an all-American concert that had some remarkable strengths, though not always where you might expect. The putative highlight of the evening was NOI’s contribution to the ubiquitous and seemingly never-ending celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s centennial: “Songfest,” written for the American Bicentennial and given its premiere by the National Symphony Orchestra in 1977. “Songfest” aims to be a portrait of the diversity and sprawl of America, recreated by setting a wide-ranging array of poetry in a medley of styles. Intended as a major social statement and a demonstration of Bernstein’s musical versatility, it feels labored and hollow on both counts, like many of Bernstein’s later, aspirational pieces. “Songfest” is not often done, and I was eager to hear it when the NSO did it earlier in this Bernstein season, but after hearing it twice live, and a few times on recording, in the past few months, I have found it doesn’t improve with acquaintance. That wasn’t the musicians’ fault, of course, and they were as ardent and lively as if they were playing a better piece, though the young singers, duped into thinking the music was as earnest and meaningful as the composer thought it should be, gave it correspondingly earnest treatment. The standout was the bass Patrick Guetti, whose sound was warm and rich as he negotiated “To What You Said,” a setting of a Walt Whitman poem that dances around the idea of homosexuality, Bernstein’s most personal and authentic moment in the whole cycle. Joshua Conyers, a baritone who will join the Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz program in the fall, offered a spark of communication in “The pennycandystore beyond the El,” a Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem set to jazz-inflected 12-tone music. But he had the unenviable task of taking the Langston Hughes part in a duet Bernstein set that contrasted “I, too sing America” with “Hey Negroes” by June Jordan. He sang ardently against


Quantum computing finds its lobbying voice

Futuristic machines that rely on quantum mechanics to solve complex problems, known as quantum computers, have been touted as technology disrupters that could one day transform entire industries. Some of the world’s biggest companies say they are developing such systems — IBM, Google and Lockheed Martin, to name a few — though they say they are years away from being able to use them for practical purposes. In the meantime, the industry’s early players are enlisting influential lobbyists to sell the concept as a national imperative, arguing that America risks falling behind China if it does not take a more concerted approach. Computing hardware pioneer IBM wheeled a towering replica of its own quantum computer into the Rayburn House Office Building last week, where company lobbyists and technical experts schmoozed with sharply dressed congressional staffers. The next morning a consortium of physicists and industry representatives organized by the trade group National Photonics Initiative met at the offices of BGR Group, a lobbying firm, to discuss existing federal programs, according to a person who was at the meeting. A separate lobbying group called the Quantum Industry Coalition is bringing together 14 of the industry’s early players to influence legislation on the matter. The coalition doesn’t have a website yet, but it says it counts some of the technology world’s biggest players among its membership: Microsoft, Intel and Lockheed Martin, as well as a handful of start-ups. The coalition’s goal is to help the fledgling U.S. quantum computing industry — which promises to transform entire economies but as of yet has no known viable product — move from theories to products. “We wanted to have an exclusively corporate voice, one that represents the U.S. quantum industry community — and only that community,” said Paul Stimers, a partner at the law firm K&L Gates who founded the coalition. “We are pushing the legislation as much as we can in two directions: One is more of a focus on applied research as opposed to theoretical research, and the other is workforce development.” They are trying to shepherd parallel legislation in the House and Senate. On June 7, Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) introduced the Quantum Computing Research Act of 2018, which calls for a federal research consortium funded by the Defense Department. It is now being considered by the Senate Armed Services Committee. And staffers for Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), say they are preparing


Trump escalates China trade war, threatens tariffs on $200 billion in products

which is reflected in our massive $376 billion trade imbalance in goods,” the president said in the statement, released by the White House at about 7:30 p.m. Trump doubled his April threat to respond to any Chinese retaliation for his trade actions with $100 billion in additional tariffs. And he vowed to levy tariffs on a further $200 billion in Chinese goods if Beijing hit back against Monday’s action. Trump has signaled an interest in using tariff threats to force trading partners to the negotiating table. Lighthizer employed similar tactics in the 1980s while leading American negotiators in talks with the Japanese. But early rounds between the United States and China have made little progress, beyond a now-withdrawn Chinese offer to buy more American goods. That’s something that would cheer U.S. businesses and farmers but does little to resolve the structural forces that concern administration hard-liners. They say China seeks to acquire American technology via licit and illicit means to dominate industries of the future, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles and quantum computing. Trump’s latest move seems to indicate that discussions between the two sides have fizzled, according to Derek Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute. “There is some sort of fundamental breakdown in communication,” Scissors said. “From Trump’s standpoint, the Chinese are basically flipping off the U.S. president.” Monday night’s directive was the most expansive to date in a fast-escalating trade dispute between the world’s biggest economies that has rattled business leaders and Republicans in Congress. The White House appeared headed for a showdown with Congress on Monday after the Senate passed legislation to reinstate a ban on the sale of U.S. components to the Chinese telecom giant ZTE. The measure, part of the annual defense appropriations bill, which passed 85 to 10, ordered the reimposition of the punitive measures imposed on ZTE after the company pleaded guilty to violating U.S. sanctions against North Korea and Iran. Trump had sought to roll back the measures last month as part of a deal with Chinese government leaders, arguing that the punishment against ZTE risked putting the company out of business. But several lawmakers — including some of the president’s close allies — remain concerned that ZTE’s products pose a significant national security risk and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on the United States. Senate leaders decided last week to include language written by two


Trump’s pick to lead the Afghan war says he won’t talk turning points ‘unless there is one’

The U.S. general nominated by President Trump to be the commander of the war in Afghanistan told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that he wouldn’t speak about the war reaching a turning point “unless there is one.” The statement by Army Lt. Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller during his confirmation hearing was an acknowledgment that the war has dragged on nearly 17 years and of how past U.S. commanders often proclaimed that conditions were set for forces to make significant progress soon. Miller said that he couldn’t “guarantee you a timeline or an end date” but that the United States should stay in Afghanistan because it is vital to U.S. interests and countering terrorist groups. “This is about protecting U.S. citizens, when you go right to the heart of the issue,” he posited. Miller was nominated this spring by Trump to take over for Army Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., who has led the war effort since March 2016. Miller has spent much of his career as a member of Special Operations Command, most recently as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which includes the elite forces commonly known as SEAL Team 6 and Delta Force. Miller testified 10 months after Trump announced a strategy change in Afghanistan that includes loosening the rules of engagement to allow more airstrikes, modestly increasing the number of U.S. troops to more than 15,000 and pointedly saying that the United States will not set a timeline for withdrawing unless conditions on the ground improve. The last point especially marked a change from the Obama administration, which deployed more than 100,000 U.S. troops to the country but pulled out more than 90 percent of them as security disintegrated. Miller’s confirmation is considered a foregone conclusion, with numerous senators expressing admiration for his service during the hearing. At one point, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) asked him whether he had been wounded in the past, seemingly just to get the point on the record. Miller responded that he had been twice: during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu — an operation recounted in the book and movie “Black Hawk Down” — and about 10 years later in Iraq. But Miller did take tough questions from lawmakers concerned about whether success in Afghanistan can be achieved. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.), in particular, said that even after 17 years of U.S. involvement, Afghanistan is “in crisis,”


National Digest: China-based hacking campaign into U.S., Asia infects computers that control satellites

NATIONAL SECURITY China-based hacking campaign hits U.S., Asia A sophisticated hacking campaign launched from computers in China burrowed deeply into satellite operators, defense contractors and telecommunications companies in the United States and southeast Asia, security researchers at Symantec Corp said Tuesday. Symantec said the effort appeared to be driven by national espionage goals, such as the interception of military and civilian communications. Such interception capabilities are rare but not unheard of, and the researchers could not say what communications, if any, were taken. More disturbingly in this case, the hackers infected computers that controlled the satellites, so that they could have changed the positions of the orbiting devices and disrupted data traffic, Symantec said. Satellites are critical to phone and some Internet links as well as mapping and positioning data. Symantec, based in Mountain View, Calif., described its findings to Reuters exclusively ahead of a planned public release. It said the hackers had been removed from infected systems. — Reuters KANSAS Judge tosses law that restricted voting A federal judge has ruled that Kansas cannot require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, finding such laws violate the constitutional right to vote. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson on Monday is the latest setback for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has championed such laws and led President Trump’s now-defunct voter fraud commission. The 118-page decision came in two consolidated cases challenging a Kansas voter registration law requiring people to provide documents such as a birth certificate, U.S. passport or naturalization papers. The decision strikes down the Kansas proof-of-citizenship registration law and makes permanent an earlier injunction that had temporarily blocked it. In an extraordinary rebuke, the judge also ordered Kobach to complete an additional six hours of legal education on top of other requirements before he can renew his law license for the upcoming year. She imposed the sanction for his numerous disclosure violations. Kobach said his office would appeal the judge’s “extreme conclusion,” which he said was unlikely to survive scrutiny by a higher court. Kobach, a conservative Republican who is running for governor, was a leading source for Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that millions of immigrants in the country illegally may have voted in the 2016 election. No other state has been as aggressive as Kansas in imposing proof-of-citizenship voter registration requirements. Alabama and Georgia have proof-of-citizenship laws that are not being enforced,


The 24 dishes that took D.C. from culinary backwater to food destination

These meals, suggested by historians, food writers and chefs, chart more than a hundred years of dining in the city.


Maryland governor vows not to deploy National Guard resources to border in protest of family separations

Gov. Larry Hogan ordered a helicopter and its crew to return from New Mexico and vowed not to deploy any Maryland National Guard resources to the border until the Trump administration stops separating migrant children from their parents at the border. The Republican governor took the action amid rising national fury over the issue, as well as amid calls from state Democrats to take forceful action.This is a developing story. It will be updated.


This start-up can make avocados last twice as long before going bad

Kenya lack reliable, refrigerated supply chains, which causes them to lose large portions of their harvests, said Betty Kibaara, an associate director at the Rockefeller Foundation. Apeel can "greatly contribute" to reducing those losses, she added, which is why her organization has embraced it. Apeel is currently awaiting regulatory approval in Nigeria and Kenya. Closer to home, Rogers said, Apeel will let farmers ship niche products — such as finger limes — to more distant and profitable markets. Experts said Apeel's promises have potential, even if it’s too early to evaluate them. “I think we’ll have to wait and see if all these things pan out,” said Kathleen Merrigan, the head of the Food Institute at George Washington University and the former deputy secretary of agriculture under the Obama administration. “But we know that all Americans need to increase their fruit and vegetable intake. Anything that makes that supply chain more efficient and cost effective is great.” For now, Apeel is focused on shipping its avocados to more stores — and expanding the range of fruits and vegetables that use its technology. Within the year, Rogers said, he hopes to have Apeel avocados in Costco stores nationally. The company has also developed skins for strawberries, bananas, mangoes, peaches, pears, nectarines, green beans, citrus fruits and asparagus. It expects citrus and asparagus will be the next Apeel products on the market. Dozens of other companies are working on their own “shelf life extension solutions” — though none with quite the funding of Apeel. According to Crunchbase, the company has received $40 million from Andreessen Horowitz and DBL Partners, as well as the Rockefeller and Gates foundations. One promising initiative called FreshPaper uses sheets of treated paper, placed in salad bags and produce bins, to inhibit bacterial and fungal growth, ReFED’s Cochran said. And a Canadian company has developed a spray for retailers to extend the shelf life of produce, said Carol Culhane, a food technology consultant. “It’s become a bit of a movement,” Culhane said. “We’re getting to a turning point — so many companies are beginning to say ‘we need to do something about this.’ ” Read more: The Silicon Valley food start-up best known for its vegan mayo thinks it can cure malnutrition in Africa We think fresh is best. But to fight food waste, we need to think again. The hot new trend in food is literal garbage


Teen is fatally shot at a neighborhood park in Maryland

A teen was shot and killed at a neighborhood park in Bladensburg, Md., officials said. The incident unfolded about 2 p.m. Monday at Rosini Baldi Park near 54th Place and Varnum Street. Police were called for a report of a shooting. When they arrived, they found Bryan Alvarado-Esquivel, 17, of Northwest Washington suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital, where he died, according to Bladensburg police. Detectives are trying to find a suspect or suspects and determine a motive. Anyone with information is asked to call 301-772-4925. The D.C. region has had 129 homicides this year, according to tracking by The Washington Post. Of those, 43 were in Maryland, including 30 in Prince George’s County. dana.hedgpeth@washpost.com


Americans are drowning in student-loan debt. The U.S. should forgive all of it.

poorest families are forced to take on the highest amount of debt. Women hold about two-thirds of all student loan debt in the United States, and since they still earn less than men make for comparable work, women pay their loans off more slowly, incurring higher interest payments. African Americans who tend to start off with fewer family resources fare worse than whites. And those with a larger debt burden often can’t begin saving for retirement or afford to buy a home, and they increasingly put off decisions about marriage and children. The millennial generation has taken the hardest hit. About 75 percent have some form of debt, according to a recent survey. As a result, they save less than previous generations: Around 25 percent have no personal savings. Two-thirds say they would have difficulty paying an unexpected bill of $1,000. More than one-third say debt has forced them to put off buying a home, while 30 percent say they have put off saving for retirement, and 16 percent say they have put off having children. This comes at a time when some 94 percent of the new jobs created in the “recovery” are precarious — part time, short-term, on demand. This is a recipe for calamity. Not surprisingly, a growing percentage of borrowers — now about 1 in 5 — are “severely behind” on their payments, incurring penalties and interest charges and hurting their credit. We are condemning those who tried the hardest to carry the largest burdens. And it isn’t just millennials who are troubled. AARP, the nation’s largest seniors lobby, warns that the fastest-growing category of student-loan debtors are older than 60, with soaring numbers of retirees having their Social Security payment garnished to pay for student loans — mostly loans they took out for their children, but sometimes for themselves. The reason for the debt crisis is clear: The cost of college has exploded in recent decades while median household-income growth has been relatively flat. Part of the cost increase is because state funding didn’t keep up with rising costs, so students and parents are expected to bear more of the expense. A big reason, though, is the obscene growth in administrative salaries and staffing at public colleges and universities, even as more and more of the teaching is done by impoverished adjuncts. The debt burdens not only the debtors but also the entire economy by


Trump says he’s directing Pentagon to create a new ‘Space Force’

that domain,” the statement said. And a spokeswoman for Mattis said in a statement that Pentagon officials “understand” the guidance. “Our Policy Board will begin working on this issue, which has implications for intelligence operations for the Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy,” Dana White said without elaborating. “Working with Congress, this will be a deliberate process with a great deal of input from multiple stakeholders.” The Outer Space Treaty, which the United States signed in 1967 and subsequently ratified, bars states from testing weapons and establishing military bases on the moon and other celestial bodies. It also prohibits the placement of weapons of mass destruction in orbit around Earth. Both China and Russia are signatories to the treaty. But the treaty has no enforcement mechanism (indeed, the Air Force's unmanned space plane, the X-37B, has completed several clandestine missions). John Logsdon, a space policy expert and professor emeritus at George Washington University, said the treaty is generally interpreted as barring only “aggressive” military activity in space and would not prohibit the creation of a Space Force. The idea goes back at least a year to a proposal by Reps. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.) and Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.). Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces, and Cooper, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, argued that it made sense to have a “Space Corps,” a separate branch of service with its own four-star general serving on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Under their plan, it would have reported to the Department of the Air Force, in similar fashion to how the Marine Corps reports to the Department of the Navy. In essence, the new service would elevate the Air Force Space Command to be on par with other military services in its own right. The command focuses on space and cyberspace operations, including the management and launch of satellites that provide Global Positioning System coordinates, weather and navigational data, and surveillance of everything from militant groups to potential ballistic missile launches. Unlike NASA, which focuses primarily on space exploration and scientific discovery, the new Space Force would concentrate on the military and defense aspects of space. “I think there's a recognition that space is an area of activity critical to our national security . . . and as long as space is part of the Air Force, it’s going to take kind of second fiddle to airplanes,”


How an uninvited pest doomed the ash tree

but later discovered the distance was more like 15 miles. At last count, the pest is found in 33 states, the District and three Canadian provinces. The tally of dead trees measures in the hundreds of millions. In suburban Maryland, the uncontained destructive spread of the borer had become evident by 2015. I asked Harwood to show me dead trees in the county’s Rock Creek Stream Valley Park, which extends approximately 18 miles north of the District to near Gaithersburg. Here, ash death is manifested three ways. The first is the absence of trees on either side of the highways and trails running through the park (where they’ve been taken down). The second is the way dead trunks and boughs arch up in the distance, through the tapestry of the woodland canopy — these are trees yet to be felled or that will be left because they are tucked away from where people use the park. The third iteration is, in its own way, the most poignant. In new clearings in the woods, huge logs lie in long sections, many in standing water. Some still have their bark, others are naked, laced with the twisting shadows of the tunnels of the larvae. The water is ponding, Harwood said, because the trees can no longer suck the moisture from the land. If there were an elephants’ graveyard for trees, this would be it. Most of the trees are green ash, but some are of another flood plain species, the black ash. The latter has beautiful blocky bark, like a persimmon’s, but it was never considered pretty enough to make it into the garden. A more familiar species, the towering white ash, is a tree of drier, upland areas. The parks department has removed more than 4,000 ash trees over the past five years, Harwood said, and knows of another 2,500 due for removal. Some are as tall as 100 feet. But the exact number is unknown. There might be as many as 20,000 more in the heart of the wooded areas that “we aren’t going to touch” because of their remoteness, Harwood said. “We are only removing the trees we absolutely have to.” It is not unusual for a homeowner next to a park to report a dead tree. When Harwood arrives, he finds dozens of ash trees that are dying or dead. It can take six months to three years


Ticks and mosquitoes are ready to deliver disease in a bite, but you can stop them

different country within hours. Diseases once quarantined to other regions of the globe can now be easily transported within an infected human. Some people don’t even realize they are sick. Researchers have estimated that up to 80 percent of individuals infected with Zika virus are symptomless. Yet if the right vector feeds on a symptomless but infected person, transmission can still occur. Increased climate fluctuations, largely due to human activity, can also affect how vector-borne diseases spread. Warmer climates may allow mosquitoes to survive in areas previously too cold to support them. Predicting the outcome of warming on overall vector populations can be difficult. If, for example, summer in the deep Southeast becomes too hot and dry for mosquito development, peaks in transmission and mosquito numbers could shift to the fall. Higher temperatures may shorten the time it takes for pathogens to develop within mosquitoes, so mosquitoes may become infectious faster and transmit pathogens sooner. Tick-borne diseases Five percent of 900 tick species are known to transmit disease-causing microorganisms. Because 38 percent of all tick species have been known to bite humans, researchers will probably find more tick-borne diseases. Since 2004, there have been nine new vector-borne diseases described in the United States, and seven of these are tick-transmitted, including the potentially fatal Bourbon and Heartland viruses. Most — 82 percent — cases of tick-borne disease are Lyme disease, which is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by the blacklegged tick, or deer tick. Cases of Lyme, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, babesiosis, anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis have increased several times over. Tick-borne diseases may be rising due to global travel, animal transport, habitat fragmentation and changing climate. Climate change is correlated with range expansion of several important tick species. Ticks previously limited by cold winters are now becoming established farther north. In response to the arrival of Lyme disease on Canadian soil, the Public Health Agency of Canada responded with a Federal Framework on Lyme Disease focused on disease surveillance, education and awareness, and best practices for control, prevention and treatment of Lyme disease. What can you do? To lower your risk of transmission from mosquitoes: ●Check back yards for anything that could hold water, and empty such vessels. This includes children’s toys, bird baths, empty soda cans and flower pots. ●Use mosquito repellents that are EPA-approved. Avoid natural repellents that haven’t been verified for their effectiveness. To prevent


important tick species. Ticks previously limited by cold winters are now becoming established farther north. In response to the arrival of Lyme disease on Canadian soil, the Public Health Agency of Canada responded with a Federal Framework on Lyme Disease focused on disease surveillance, education and awareness, and best practices for control, prevention and treatment of Lyme disease. What can you do? To lower your risk of transmission from mosquitoes: ●Check back yards for anything that could hold water, and empty such vessels. This includes children’s toys, bird baths, empty soda cans and flower pots. ●Use mosquito repellents that are EPA-approved. Avoid natural repellents that haven’t been verified for their effectiveness. To prevent tick bites: One sure way to prevent tick bites is to avoid suitable habitats for ticks, but this isn’t always possible. Large-scale habitat control or acaricide (tick-killing) treatment of wildlife, though possible, can be difficult or not cost-effective for homeowners. The best preventive measures are to: ●Use CDC-recommended repellents such as DEET or picaridin. ●Shower and do a thorough tick check. Tick checks are absolutely crucial. People usually follow this routine after going outdoors, but sometimes they forget. And they often avoid places that ticks love, such as between your legs. Hard-to-reach areas are prime real estate for blood-feeding parasites that don’t want to be dislodged, so make sure to check the hairline (especially on children), torso, belly button and groin. If necessary, get assistance or a mirror and a bright light. If you find an embedded tick, correctly dislodge it with fine-tipped tweezers, grasping the part closest to the skin and pulling straight up. Do not burn, squeeze, twist or smother the tick, since this may cause it to regurgitate. Gross-out alert: Any pathogens they have in their saliva can then be dumped into the bite site. After removal, keep the tick for identification; different species transmit different pathogens. Finally, see a doctor after finding an embedded tick or if you think you have been bitten. In addition to getting medical attention, your data will be added to the national list of reported tick-borne diseases. The CDC has several pages dedicated to vector-borne disease control and prevention. Local and state health departments, general practitioners and veterinarians will also have recommendations for prevention, treatment and vector control. Talk to your veterinarian about repellents or agents that will kill mites, because some can be toxic to cats. health-science@washpost.com


I went to Alaska in winter to see the northern lights. In the daytime, I saw much more.

sky for a match, but only saw a fuzzy green shape that, in a different place and time, could pass for pollution. Wrapped in a quilt, I roamed the resort wishing upon a star for a stronger aurora. But I was too late: The stars had shut down the request line. TOP: At the Borealis Basecamp in Fairbanks, the domes' viewing surfaces are made from helicopter windshields. LEFT: Blake and Amy White, of West Virginia, socialize at a basecamp yurt. Blake White, who is losing his sight, was granted a wish to see the aurora. RIGHT: Dave Armstrong, a low-vision optometrist from Roanoke, Va., rides a fat-tire bike on the snow at the basecamp. A The base camp opened in November on 70 acres of boreal forest, 25 miles north of the bright lights and big city of Fairbanks. The natural features (trees, mountains, unobstructed sky) dwarf the bread crumbs of civilization, including a gold mine, an oil pipeline and the distant Elliott Highway. Guests sleep in futuristic-looking domes that are off the grid, though you’d never know it without peeking behind Oz’s curtain. I had heat, running water and a fridge. The one reminder that I was “roughing it” was the toilet. After a about 16 flushes, I would need a replacement liner for the dry toilet. But that was a small sacrifice for the dome’s best feature: the giant window that turned the sleeping accommodations into an observatory. I watched the full moon rise before venturing over to the communal yurt, where guests gather for meals and socializing. Jeremy Rogers, one of the owners, and Frank Stelges, who leads photography classes, were relaxing with a pair of dogs and a plate of pastries. I asked Jeremy about the inspiration for the domes. He said research centers in Antarctica use the shelters, as do rescue teams, after natural disasters. The fiberglass buildings are quick to assemble and can withstand extreme weather as well as polar bears. The basecamp’s domes are identical, with the exception of the 16-foot-wide helicopter screen-window. Those are a Borealis Basecamp original. “Nothing was built for aurora-viewing,” Jeremy said. “We are trying to create an aurora-centric destination.” Earlier in the week, the northern lights had unfurled over the six domes. A Florida film crew working on a reality show captured the moment, a crucial plotline for their pilot. The show was about granting wishes to individuals


‘Cannabis will be everywhere’: California towns scramble to prepare for legal marijuana on Jan. 1

category as heroin. The conflicting views, shaped by geography and local history, have sharpened to a point since Californians voted last year to make marijuana, an outlawed if thriving cash crop for decades, legal for adult use and small-scale cultivation. Those with a medical prescription have been able to buy cannabis here since 1996. A referendum last year made California the eighth state, plus the District of Columbia, to make the drug legal without a doctor’s consent. While seeking to clarify California’s position, the vote has in some ways had the opposite effect on what is projected to be the state’s $5 billion-a-year legal marijuana market. The ballot measure, known as Proposition 64, allows adults to possess small amounts of cannabis and to cultivate as many as six plants. But it also allows counties and cities to regulate the sale and taxation of cannabis, and to decide on their own whether it can be grown in amounts larger than those allowed by state law for personal use. The result has been an inconsistent array of rules across the state. There is money at stake, private investment and public revenue. State and local governments could collect $1 billion a year in taxes, according to the University of California Agricultural Issues Center. At the Green Mile medical marijuana dispensary in the Kern County town of Rosamond, Marcus Borgun, a manager, said, “We’re a business like any other, paying taxes, and now we’re waiting to see if the county will allow us to go on.” Standing behind a glass case displaying jars filled with West Coast Diesel, Old Skool, Gelato and other “brands” of marijuana, Borgun said the dispensary’s patients are going to be left without a way to ease pain and anxiety. “Suddenly, basically overnight, they tell us we can’t be here,” he said. “And I see liquor stores on every corner.” For potential investors, the federal law poses a similar problem. Without having a clear sense of the Justice Department’s position on state marijuana legalization, many businesses fear putting money into an industry that could be shut down by the current administration, or future ones. Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said, “We’re looking at that very hard right now,” adding that it is his view that “the use of marijuana is detrimental and we should not give encouragement in any way to it.” Nipton is nearly surrounded by federal land,


What parents should know to prevent — and deal with — bug bites

For children, summer brings the delight of endless hours outdoors, enjoying nature in full flourish. But that natural world includes insect life, some of which bite humans — including our children. While most are harmless, there are several issues that can cause concern. Let’s explore briefly the world of insect bites — when to worry, and when not to. Prevention Prevention is the best strategy. This does not mean that you should keep your child indoors (outdoor play and nature are good for children), but taking some straightforward measures to prevent bites will go a long way. Long (but light) clothing will minimize the amount of skin exposed to potential biting insects, especially if you tuck the pants legs into socks to prevent insects from making their way up legs. Hats — and for babies, mosquito netting over a stroller or carrier — can also help. Insect repellents are safe and effective for children over 2 months old. Although there is limited evidence that “natural” repellents (such as citronella and other essential oils) have some effectiveness, the best results have been found from those containing DEET or picaridin. DEET lasts about two to five hours (depending on the concentration used — you don’t need more than 30 percent), and picaridin about three to eight hours. Follow the instructions on the packaging carefully to apply it safely and with the best results. You may hear advice about using garlic, vitamins, ultrasonic devices, repellent wristbands, and other such solutions, but none of these has been shown to be effective. Stick with what works. Reactions to bites Most issues involving insect bites have to do with reactions to the bites. They can vary from a little bit of redness all the way to severe allergic reactions. It may come as a surprise to learn that health-care providers often can’t tell what kind of insect bit your child based on the appearance of the bite. Even bites by two mosquitoes of the same species can result in two very different reactions. You’ll be relieved to know that much of the time, knowing what insect caused the bite is not important. Usually, reactions consist of small amounts of redness, swelling and itching. These are harmless and primarily annoying. Sometimes, in a phenomenon known as a large local reaction, the redness and swelling can be a few inches in size. These often occur in the first


and are often transmitted by biting insects. These include Lyme disease, Zika virus, Ehrlichiosis, and others. For the most part, the typical insect bite will not transmit these illnesses, so don’t panic. While these are not unheard-of illnesses, they are also relatively rare compared with the many bites that occur. Most winged insects are unlikely to transmit disease, so unless you notice concerning symptoms — such as fever, fatigue, or an unusual rash — it’s best not to worry about the usual trivial insect bite. Ticks are a somewhat different matter — they don’t fly, but will attach themselves to skin and can transmit diseases such as Lyme and others. Luckily, most tick-borne diseases need a longer amount of time to transmit — for some diseases, as little as two hours, and for others, as long as 24, 72, or even 96 hours. This means that the assiduous use of insect repellent as well as frequent tick checks will make a huge difference in preventing disease. If a tick has attached, remove it carefully, using tweezers to pull the tick straight out. Finding and removing ticks early will prevent infection from occurring. And again, do remember that not all ticks carry disease! When to call your pediatrician Call your pediatrician if your child seems to be ill and not merely uncomfortable due to the itching from a bite. Fever, fatigue, joint pain or an unusual rash are all good reasons to call. Evaluation may still determine that there is nothing serious at hand, but when unusual symptoms are present, reassurance can be very valuable to concerned parents. Dipesh Navsaria is a primary-care pediatrician who works extensively with the American Academy of Pediatrics and is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Find him on Facebook and Twitter. Follow On Parenting on Facebook for more essays, news and updates, and join our discussion group here to talk about parenting and balancing a career. You can sign up here for our weekly newsletter. More reading: Is your child old enough to cut herbs? Crack eggs? Grate cheese? An age-by-age guide. How to not melt the couch, and other life skills to teach your kids this summer Kids do not spend nearly enough time outside. Here’s how (and why) to change that. For single working parents like me, summer isn’t all fun and games


Eritrea breaks silence and responds to Ethiopia peace overtures, will send delegation

of the press. The country also remains on a war footing, with indefinite universal conscription for the military, prompting many thousands to flee the country. Peace with Ethiopia would remove much of the justification for this war footing, said Plaut, and that would probably encourage change in Isaias’s regime, which has ruled the country since independence. “If it is successful, there will no longer be any reason to have 100,000s of Eritreans trapped in indefinite military service and postponing having democratic elections,” he said. “And that will make the situation much harder for President Isaias in the long run.” The first inkling of change came June 5, when Abiy, who took office in April, broke with decades of policy and said he would recognize the 2000 deal, as part of radical domestic overhauls. There have been protests in Badme, with people insisting they would refuse to leave and the decision made a mockery of the thousands who’d died in the fighting. The dominant political party in that region, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, which is part of the governing coalition, also expressed opposition to the decision — a rare split for Ethiopia, where the politics has long had an authoritarian cast. In a question-and-answer session in parliament on Monday, Abiy came under criticism for the move. He reminded lawmakers he himself was part of the army that drove the Eritreans out of Badme. “I was standing in that village when we put up flag, and I cried. Many of my friends who fought in that war, we had to bury,” said Abiy, a former lieutenant colonel in the army. “I paid the price.” While acknowledging the massive losses in the war, he said it was time to end it and bring jobs and prosperity to the people living along that border. There has been no sign of a withdrawal yet of Ethiopian forces from Badme. Abiy was voted in by the ruling party as prime minister in March after years of unrest by the country’s main ethnic groups and has since embarked on reforms in an effort to open up the politics in the country. In his speech, Eritrea’s Isaias acknowledged the changes in Ethiopia and deemed them an opportunity for peace. “It spurred the wrath and a rebellion in the people who said ‘enough is enough,’ ” he said “Ethiopia is now at a turning point or transition.” paul.schemm@washpost.com


President Trump wants my department to keep space safe. We’re ready.

to develop a data-sharing construct with private operators. The department will engage with industry to better understand the needs of our new mission, possible applications and the potential for public-private collaborations that stimulate novel commercial uses of space data. To remain the flag of choice for commercial space activity, it is imperative that the United States lead this effort and enhance U.S.-based space activities. Future commercial activities in space — journeys to Mars, asteroid mining and space tourism — will depend upon companies’ access to accurate and usable data that manages traffic and protects their equipment. The department’s newly expanded space team and plethora of commercial space-related functions present the ideal environment for this responsibility. Unlike in past generations, activity in space is becoming largely commercial. Accordingly, Commerce is uniquely positioned to partner with industry on development of space traffic standards and best practices. We are the friend-of-business agency. We work hand in hand with multiple industry sectors. And Commerce fully understands the value of public-private collaboration. Perhaps most importantly, our mind-set is that of a facilitator of safe commerce, not a typical, old-fashioned regulator. We have a new mantra: Government must engage not just in oversight but also insight and foresight. The department also houses a diverse array of invaluable experts. Our new Space Policy Advancing Commercial Enterprise Administration will coordinate the involvement of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which manages federal spectrum use for space communications. In addition, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has a proven track record of working with industry to conduct research and define scientific standards for business needs. Moreover, Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration already oversees the country’s largest operational civil satellite fleet and provides input to current space situational awareness and space traffic management functions as the world’s authoritative resource for timely and accurate space environmental monitoring. And our International Trade Administration frequently assists companies with trade-promotion economic analyses. Commercial activity and congestion in space will only increase. By 2022, those 800 American satellites in space will increase to an estimated 15,000. As companies launch massive satellite constellations, the risk of collision damage becomes more severe. Even a small piece of space “junk” could trigger a celestial-size pinball game — a chain reaction leading to incalculable damage. This threat is why President Trump’s announcement comes at such a crucial time in history. Commerce is ready to get to work.


Transcript: Free To State – The Future of the First Amendment

the important work that we know can be done, where we’ve seen such great leadership in the past from my co-panelists here, then I’m really certain that we can actually fix this problem to move on to the next generation of American innovation and leadership in internet. Fung: Rob, you’ve been doing a lot of work on privacy and GDPR, the European data law. What kind of similarities do you see between what’s going on in Europe and privacy when it comes to U.S. ISPs and net neutrality? Atkinson: Sure. If I could, though, I want to touch on the net neutrality piece first. Fung: Please. Atkinson: I think, with all due respect to Senator Markey, the internet actually from the very beginning was designed for differential service. It was never designed for one application. The internet is not like telephony when there was one application. There are multiple applications running on internet protocol. Some of those applications you fundamentally don’t care if the data packets get there late, like your email. If your email gets there a tenth of a second late, you probably are happy, because you get less bombardment email. But if your Skype packets get there a tenth of a second late—when I try to talk to my son who’s away at college and the Skype isn’t working well because there’s network congestion, it really is upsetting and it’s frustrating. So the internet was never designed that—there’s actually an internet protocol called “DiffServ,” which means differential service. The key really is, do the carriers who play this important role, the ISPs, have they manipulated that or discriminated against that for anticompetitive or anti-free speech reasons? And the answer is, yes, they have, once. And that was a case called Madison River. A little, teeny teleco co-op that no longer is in business because it got bought by a bigger company, probably one of your members who has committed publicly to net neutrality. They tried to block Skype early on, and within five days, the FCC shut them down. And this was all done before net neutrality rules. So why is there all this brouhaha? It’s something that’s never, ever happened. No ISP has ever blocked speech. So why is there all this brouhaha? One reason is because they could, and that’s a sort of fear that everybody has, “Well how are we to trust these people?”


Space nerds, mark your calendar — Astronomy night on the Mall is Saturday

If you like parties, planets and performances, mark Saturday on your calendar. It’s the annual Astronomy Festival on the National Mall in Washington, when telescopes spring up to help view nearby planets, and astronomers — professional and amateur — come out in droves to hang out, answer questions and help us appreciate the magic of space. And this year, several Smithsonian museums will be open until midnight. The astronomical start to summer occurs at the summer solstice at 6:07 a.m. June 21, according to the Naval Observatory, and you can enjoy the planets with your naked eye on these warm nights: Saturday’s Astronomy Festival on the National Mall starts summer with several kinds of telescopes — including those with filters for people to safely see the sun — or telescopes where you can see the moon and planets or simply listen to the universe. Organized by astronomer Donald Lubowich, coordinator of astronomy outreach at Hofstra University, Long Island, about 100 astronomy educators and enthusiasts from more than 30 science organizations near Washington will provide heavenly guided tours. The Astronomy Festival on the National Mall will be held from 6 to 11 p.m. at 17th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, the northwest corner of the grounds of the Washington Monument. If it rains, head to the School Without Walls High School, 2130 G St. NW, on the George Washington University campus. Aside from being the day of the festival, Saturday is not just any mow-the-lawn Saturday. It’s Solstice Saturday, when all of the Smithsonian’s museums will celebrate the sun’s presence with myriad all-day events. Many of the Smithsonian’s museums will remain open until midnight on June 23. In this coordinated effort to soak up the sun, this is the Smithsonian’s first Solstice Saturday, according to Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas. The activities include talks, exhibits and tasting sun-drenched flavors.


U.N. panel accuses Syrian army, and rebels, of war crimes in Eastern Ghouta fight

BEIRUT — The United Nations said Wednesday that Syrian army and rebel forces committed war crimes as they fought over a Damascus suburb gripped by the longest siege in modern history. Hundreds of civilians were killed earlier this year during the government’s months-long offensive to push rebel groups from their last foothold near the capital, Eastern Ghouta. The area lay in ruins by the time the rebels surrendered in early April. In a 23-page report released Wednesday, investigators from the U.N. Commission of Inquiry said the Syrian military campaign to seize Eastern Ghouta after five years of rebel control involved indiscriminate attacks on civilian homes, markets and hospitals, forcing a besieged and terrified civilian population underground. Under international law, the panel said, those attacks amounted to war crimes. “It is completely abhorrent that besieged civilians were indiscriminately attacked, and systematically denied food and medicine,” Paulo Pinheiro, who leads the commission, said in a news release. After Eastern Ghouta, the government has turned its attention to the remaining rebel-held pockets of the country. Victory for President Bashar al-Assad is all but assured. Although it is unlikely that a final death toll from the Ghouta offensive will ever be known, relief organizations said at the time that the relentless bombing by Syrian and allied forces had killed more than a thousand people and wounded almost five times as many. During the offensive’s final weeks, the few hospitals standing were treating patients with the dregs of their supply cupboards, bandaging wounds with rags and conducting operations without anesthetic. It was, Doctors Without Borders said, “an outrageous, relentless mass casualty disaster.” About 140,000 people had been displaced from their homes by the time the government raised its flag in Eastern Ghouta after the rebels’ April 8 surrender. The surrender was precipitated by an alleged chemical attack by government forces that killed scores. While the incident is being examined by a global watchdog linked to the United Nations, the independent commission appeared to have removed its own preliminary findings from an earlier version of the report. The New York Times said Wednesday that it had obtained a draft version which dedicated 20 paragraphs to evidence of extensive chemical weapons usage by Syrian government forces, saying the attacks constituted “one of the most grim patterns of attack documented during the period under review.” The U.N. panel also said that hard-line rebel forces had arbitrarily arrested and


U.S. military budget inches closer to $1 trillion mark, as concerns over federal deficit grow

colleagues, both voted for the military budget increase. The military budget fell sharply under the Obama administration, as the Iraq War wound down and a Republican-led Congress sought to reduce overall federal spending. But military officials say that decline put America's armed services behind those of key foreign countries, as China has ramped up its military spending, and that they need bigger investments in cyber warfare, "next generation" combat vehicles and other high-technology military equipment to protect the nation's overseas allies. Defense officials repeatedly said they needed the additional funding to improve the military's "readiness," including the preparedness of troops for battle. The budget also gave a pay raise to the military's enormous workforce, which includes 1.42 million military employees and hundreds of thousands of civilian workers. "Our regional competitors in the Pacific and in Europe have been studying our strengths and our vulnerabilities for more than a decade," Maj. Gen. Paul A. Chamberlain said in February. "Their modernization efforts are slowly eroding our competitive advantage, and this budget request addresses that, by providing the necessary resources to ensure the Army's superiority." But opponents say America is sending a signal to the world that it is preparing to go to war, in part through billions in new investments in nuclear weapons research, new nuclear warheads, updated aircraft carriers and ballistic submarines whose practical application some say is hard to imagine in a modern war. Pointing to the calamity following the invasion in Iraq, they also question the assumption that the United States can use military force to solve political or humanitarian issues around the world. "This is not only wasteful, it's dangerous: It tells other countries that the nuclear arms race is back on," said William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy. "All of this money is being spent in service of the idea we can go anywhere and fight any battle, and the recent history shows that doesn't make a lot of sense or make us safer." Critics also say the Pentagon is bloated with administrative waste and contracts, pointing to a 2016 internal report finding that the military buried evidence of $125 billion of bureaucratic waste, and that America already spends far more on its military than any other country. America spends more on its military than the next 11 countries combined, according to Matthew Fay, director of defense and


As Tesla races to meet Model 3 deadline, factory pressures and suspicions grow

“production hell,” a delay that has hurt investor confidence and constrained the company’s sales. But as Musk has revved up workers toward that goal, he has also called on them to be “extremely vigilant” in patrolling for “outside forces” bent on sabotaging their work. In a company-wide email, sent just before midnight on Sunday and provided to The Post, Musk said an unnamed Tesla employee had sabotaged operations and ferreted away “large amounts of highly sensitive Tesla data.” Though Musk noted the worker’s “stated motivation” was not receiving a promotion, Musk said “there may be considerably more to this situation than meets the eye,” and pointed to a "long list of organizations that want Tesla to die,” including Wall Street investors striving to profit from Tesla’s failure, legacy automakers challenged by a growing rival, and oil-industry moguls seeking to boost gas-guzzling cars. In another email nine hours later, Musk said there had been “another strange incident that was hard to explain” — a small fire in the factory that stopped production for several hours. The Fremont Fire and Police departments said they were not called to respond to the factory, and the company declined to provide further comment on the emails. “Only the paranoid survive,” Musk wrote. The billionaire tech entrepreneur has long advanced a viewpoint of Tesla-against-the-world, helping build his upstart car company’s reputation as a nail in the tire of Big Auto. But Musk’s latest wave of conspiracy thinking — coming within days of similar attacks on labor unions and journalists — has surprised even long-time Tesla watchers. “He’s always been combative,” said Mike Ramsey, an automotive research director at Gartner, the advisory firm. But “the public displays of paranoia have become increasingly odd. To me, they seem to reflect a level of anxiety or pressure that I haven’t seen recently.” That pressure has also seeped into the company’s 10,000-employee car factory in Fremont, California. Though Tesla has said it wants it “to be the safest factory on Earth,” three factory workers told The Post that they worried the accelerated Model 3 demands could compromise the cars’ safety and lead to more injuries and worker burnout. “We’re a NASCAR pit crew,” said one worker, who declined to be named because he feared retaliation. “We’re doing this at the speed of light.” One worker said he was afraid to raise his concerns with his supervisor amid ongoing Tesla layoffs.


The 24 dishes that took D.C. from culinary backwater to food destination

tradition has been preserved to the tune of hundreds of sandwiches a day, all served on white or “brown” bread and stacked with a somewhat obscene number of crispy, cornmeal-crusted filets. The fact that fried whiting still has devotees, on H Street NE and at carryouts such as Oohh’s and Aahh’s on U Street, is a testament to its staying power, even in a city that has gentrified beyond recognition. While trendier restaurants adopt chicken and waffles and kale, whiting remains the domain of establishments owned and frequented by African Americans — it’s an old D.C. staple amid so much newness. Try it now at Horace and Dickie’s. Le Kit Cat at Citronelle Year: 1993 “Don’t play with your food” is a common admonishment from parents. Thankfully, no one ever seems to have said that to Michel Richard. The late French chef was renowned for having fun in the kitchen, most notably at the venerable, now-closed Citronelle, which opened in Georgetown’s Latham Hotel in 1993, and the more informal Central Michel Richard. His talent and wit shone brightly in his whimsical trompe l’oeil dishes, as clever as they were delicious: turning Israeli couscous and squid ink into “caviar,” or making an “egg” with pureed yellow tomatoes and mozzarella. But Richard’s best-known transformation may have been his take on the humble Kit Kat candy bar, using crushed cornflakes, chocolate mousse, peanut butter and hazelnut sauce to turn a childhood treat into a grown-up delight. Richard influenced a generation of chefs — David Deshaies (Unconventional Diner), Cedric Maupillier (Mintwood Place and Convivial), Austin Fausett (formerly of Proof and Trummer’s on Main) — who worked under him, and keep his sense of exacting playfulness and love of contrasting textures alive. Try it now at Central Michel Richard. Gambas al ajillo at Jaleo Year: 1993 To think: There was a time when restaurant critics needed dependent clauses to explain that tapas are “exotic little Spanish appetizers.” Thanks to José Andrés — Washington’s most celebrated restaurateur and humanitarian — diners now know that small plates are meant to be shared. (They also groan silently every time a server reiterates that the plates arrive as they’re ready.) The Spanish-born Andrés, recruited as a 23-year-old by Jaleo’s founders ahead of its 1993 opening, helped popularize tapas across the country, spreading the idea that enjoying a few bites of a variety of dishes was more enjoyable than plowing


Roses are cheap on Valentine’s Day – because of where they come from

any buying decision by the United States’ largest retailer can single-handedly change the flow of roses on two continents. This year promised to be especially busy. Valentine’s Day falls on a Wednesday, a boon for Colombian growers, as they believe Americans are more likely to splurge on midweek sales and still count on extra purchases on the weekend before and after. Andres Osorio, managing director of Bogota-based Avianca Cargo, said he expects business to be up 7 percent from 2017, and the airline he works for added new warehouse space in Miami to make room for 12 daily flower flights. But long before they are loaded onto Osorio’s planes or sold in Walmart’s stores, they are “pinched” from their stems by someone like Romulo Castro, who uses a two-second snip to set the whole process in motion. Inside a steamy greenhouse here on the outskirts of Bogota, Castro, 57, was dwarfed inside a giant rose bed, surrounded by tens of thousands of bright red roses. He is wearing two hats: a baseball cap to hold his hair tight against his head and a wide-brimmed floppy hat to protect his neck from the near-equatorial sun. He eyeballs a stem, cuts it 25 inches below its red top, and places the flower in a basket. Step left, scissors open, snip again. He’s one of 850 workers at the Flores de Serrezuela farm, roughly 20 miles west of Bogota. Every time Castro places a rose in his basket, it enters an integrated supply chain that, through a mix of high-end technology and a few anachronistic touches, gets the flowers from beds outside Bogota to U.S. retailers in a matter of days — often faster than flower growers in California can get their products to East Coast markets. TOP: Workers process roses in a flower facility in Tocancipa, Colombia. The region has long, sunny days, high elevation and plenty of cheap labor, which makes it perfect for growing flowers. ABOVE LEFT: Roses grown at the Ayura farm in Tocancipa, Colombia, add to Colombia‘s gigantic role in global floriculture. The country exports more than 6 billion stems each year to a total of 90 countries. ABOVE RIGHT: Jose A. Restrepo of flower producer Ayura gives a tour of the property on a horse-drawn carriage last month in Tocancipa, Colombia. Bunches destined for Miami are wrapped in clear plastic. Flowers going to Canada are boxed in


Red wolves may be going extinct in the wild — again

the facts,” he said. “The population is declining” and federal officials are considering removing wolves, not adding them, Bryant said. For more than a decade, he ran the red wolf program in addition to directing the refuge. But in 2012 he quit the program out of frustration with policy decisions that reduced the number of wolves. Four years later he retired from the refuge director’s job. Bryant watched control of the program shift several years ago from biologists on the ground who were fiercely committed to the wolves to managers in Atlanta. “If I’m charged with the recovery of an endangered species, the most endangered canid in the world, and this is the only place you find them in the wild, I’m taking that very seriously,” he said. Opponents of the red wolf program took their concerns to the Interior Department, which oversees Fish and Wildlife, in 2015 and persuaded its inspector general to launch an exhaustive probe. According to the report, there was some merit to the claim that Fish and Wildlife broke some rules. The agency was authorized to release three pairs of wolves in 1987 and two more pairs the next year. But by 2014, the program had released more than 130 wolves, often without the state’s knowledge. None of the releases were secret, and the agency published notices each time but didn’t directly notify the state. Investigators talked to a red wolf program coordinator who “said there was confusion regarding what constituted a release,” the report said. “Catching a wolf in the wild and then letting it go again was different from releasing the wolf from captivity into the wild,” the coordinator said. A stunning study released in July 2016 concluded from DNA analysis of captive wolves that they were only 25 percent wolf and 75 percent coyote — in other words, they are not a distinct species. The study was immediately criticized by other experts who pointed to previous research showing that red wolves are genetically distinct and questioned the techniques used. But shortly after the study’s release, the agency declared that wild red wolves had to be captured and placed in zoos to shore up the declining genetic purity of captive red wolves, a claim that the scientists who wrote the analysis called backward. Within weeks, conservationists discovered that the agency granted a permit to a North Carolina private landowner to shoot a wolf


Monarch butterflies’ migration is part relay race, part obstacle course — and full of danger

Life is hard for the modern American butterfly. Monarch butterflies, the iconic American insect, are declining in North America, and scientists are scrambling to uncover the mystery of their disappearance during their thousands of miles of migration. Step aside, Shark Week; it’s The authors find that the greatest declines for monarchs may be occurring during their winters in Mexico and the following migration north to the Texas and Gulf States. Migration mortality, as it’s called, is creating a disconnect between the large numbers of monarchs produced in the United States and Canada and the smaller numbers reported in Mexico. “The migration itself might be the problem,” said Anurag Agrawal, James Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies at Cornell University and lead author of the paper. In past 25 years, Mexican forests where the monarchs live have experienced a steep decline. But the butterflies face many struggles during the long international journey. “Twenty million monarchs die in car accidents every year on their way to Mexico,” Agrawal said. Freeways and cities across the United States bisect the butterfly habitat and reduce the areas of appropriate pit stops. In addition, habitat loss, pollution, pesticides and climate change are also threatening the tiger-striped insect. When resting between trips, monarchs are a mosaic of orange and black, often appearing so thickly in trees that they appear to be a cloud of gently blinking leaves. The monarchs can be so dense that scientists and volunteers count them per hectare, the area of land they cover, rather than individually. Imagine having such a density of anything. Imagine an acre of bunnies. Monitoring monarch migrations is a huge effort involving three countries, more than 3,000 miles and myriad citizen scientists, along with large organizations such as World Wildlife Fund and U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and a lot of butterfly researchers. Andy Davis, assistant research scientist of the University of Georgia, examines the insects’ stress responses by gently placing chubby striped caterpillars under a small sensor that lets him and his team watch the bug’s tiny tubular heart beat. “You can get it similar to the heart-rate monitor at the hospital, you know: Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep,” Davis said. Then he plays the sounds of highway traffic. He and his colleagues found that, not unlike humans, caterpillars are distressed by short bursts of traffic noise. However, after long periods of chronic noise, the caterpillars became accustomed or desensitized. It’s


Man found fatally shot in Southeast D.C. had been kidnapped, hands bound

A man found fatally shot in an alley in Southeast Washington on Wednesday, his wrists bound with plastic zip ties, had been kidnapped and was shot after his family dropped off ransom money, according to documents filed in federal court Thursday. Authorities arrested a suspect in the kidnapping but have not filed charges in connection with the killing. The victim was identified as Andre Simmons Jr., 28, of Bowie, Md. Attempts to reach his family were not successful. Police in Prince George’s County and in the District have said little about the shooting and kidnapping. They declined to comment Thursday beyond a brief statement noting the fatal shooting, which occurred about 6:25 a.m. in the 600 block of Atlantic Street SE. Additional information was contained in documents filed in U.S. District Court charging Darin C. Moore Jr., 25, of Bowie with kidnapping and using a firearm in a crime of violence. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather ordered Moore detained until a detention hearing Tuesday. The victim and suspect have extensive arrest records in Prince George’s County. Moore is on probation from a gun and conspiracy conviction stemming from a killing during a botched drug deal in 2015 in Bowie, court records show. He was acquitted of first-degree murder. Simmons had been scheduled to be sentenced June 28 in a drug case in Prince George’s County. Authorities declined to say whether there was a connection in any of the criminal cases involving the men. Attorneys in their Maryland cases could not be reached. The court document says Simmons was kidnapped Tuesday night near his residence in Bowie when a dark-colored Nissan Maxima struck him as he drove a moped. Two men with guns forced him into the vehicle, bound his hands and drove off, the document says. Authorities said “the kidnappers made several calls to a family members of Simmons, demanding ransom money in return for Simmons’ safe release.” About 4:50 a.m. Wednesday, the court document says, a relative dropped $7,000 at a location along Benning Road in Northeast Washington. Occupants of a black Acura were seen collecting the money, the document says. The car then sped away. Police said that at 6:23 a.m., ShotSpotter, a device that detects gunshots, reported that 19 rounds had been fired in an alley off Atlantic Street, seven miles from the money drop location. Police reported finding Simmons dead. In May, police had hidden a


Former employee sued by Tesla says he was a whistleblower, alarmed by company practices and Elon Musk

can hit a long-delayed goal: building 5,000 Model 3s a week. In a company-wide email Sunday, Musk said an employee accused of sabotage had complained about not getting promoted and added "there may be considerably more to this situation than meets the eye." Musk called on workers to "be extremely vigilant" and said, "There are a long list of organizations that want Tesla to die." Asked if Tripp was the employee Musk had suggested was behind the sabotage, Musk tweeted Wednesday, "There is more, but the actions of a few bad apples will not stop Tesla from reaching its goals. With 40,000 people, the worst 1 in 1000 will have issues. That’s still ~40 people." The lawsuit highlights a widespread paranoia over information theft in the fiercely competitive industries of advanced manufacturing and self-driving cars. In February, Uber paid $245 million to settle a legal battle over the alleged theft of trade secrets with Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google's parent company Alphabet. Tesla lawyers have asked for a court order to inspect Tripp's computers, emails, online messages and phone calls. Tripp, the Tesla lawyers said, had been "disruptive and combative" with colleagues and had grown disgruntled after being assigned to a new role. The company is seeking an untold amount in damages to be decided in trial. Because of Tripp's conduct, lawyers said, Tesla had suffered "cruel and unjust hardship" and "lost business, lost profits and damage to its goodwill." Tripp said he was interrogated at work last week and fired over the phone Tuesday by a human-resources representative. He said he learned of the lawsuit for the first time Wednesday. Emails provided to The Post appear to reveal a testy exchange between the two men Wednesday morning, with Musk saying, "You’re a horrible human being," and Tripp responding, "Putting cars on the road with safety issues is being a horrible human being!" Tripp said he left his previous job with a medical-device company and moved his family to Nevada to work for Tesla, believing it was "a golden opportunity. I looked up to Elon, I looked up to Tesla. I was always drooling about the Teslas and wanting to buy one. And I was living the mission: to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy." But he said he grew disillusioned after seeing the company's waste, unsustainable practices and "seeing how Elon was lying to investors about how


Transcript: The Health 202 Live

Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, because interoperable health IT is of course a critical element of that. But we’ve got an agenda that lays out four critical areas of change. The first is genuine interoperable health information technology. The second is transparency. The third is using the Medicare and Medicaid programs to drive fundamental transformation within the healthcare system, including in the commercial space. We’re the biggest payer in the world, and we want to drive that change. And then the fourth is removing any kind of government or artificial barriers to integrative, collaborative care, which is actually what you need to be able to deliver that kind of outcome-based care and payment. Cunningham: Right. But as you know—so there’s a lot of talk about alternative payment models and people’s eyes glaze over. And there has been, I think some would argue, less progress in that direction than maybe many had hoped. Azar: Yup. Cunningham: Why? Azar: Well, listen, we’re talking about changing $1.1 trillion of spending in the United States just within government programs alone, and one-seventh of the economy. That doesn’t happen overnight, and I think what the Bush administration, which Secretary Leavitt, who started this, and then the continued efforts in the Obama administration are important foundational efforts. So we will build on that. I think we are at the hockey stick moment, though. I do believe that we will, with bold leadership and willingness to, frankly, as the president allows us to, disrupt the status quo, actually hit a hockey stick moment of fundamental transformation in how we pay. We have already declared patient ownership of their interoperable health information, that when they show up, that should be theirs. And the metric will be, is their health information there when they arrive no matter what the provider is? Removing the barriers and having them be the owner of that information—not the physician, not the hospital, but their ownership. And providing vehicles like open API to enable apps to suck up that data and be genuinely putting the patient in the driver’s seat of that. Transparent information about price and quality. We’ve already put proposals in our fee-for-service regulations, and I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg of where we need to and will go in terms of mandating requirements around price and quality transparency for patients. Through CMMI and otherwise, we


Saboteur or whistleblower? Battle between Elon Musk and former Tesla employee turns ugly, exposing internal rancor

Hours after Tesla sued its former employee on charges he had stolen company secrets, and days after chief Elon Musk had called him a saboteur, the Silicon Valley automaker made a startling claim. The company had received a call from a friend of the employee, Martin Tripp, saying he would be coming to Tesla's Gigafactory battery plant in Nevada to “shoot the place up,” according to a Tesla spokesman. But Tripp, who says he became a whistleblower after seeing what he called dangerous conditions in the company's car batteries, told The Washington Post he had said no such thing. Emails exchanged that day between him and Musk, provided to The Post and confirmed by Tesla, show bitter words from both men but also Tripp saying he had “never made a threat.” Tesla's claims, he said, are “absurd! Insane is a better word.” The sheriff's office in Storey County, where the Gigafactory is located, said Thursday that it had received information of a threat to security at the Gigafactory on Wednesday but determined “after several hours of investigation ... there was no credible threat.” Sheriff Gerald Antinoro said that names of all involved parties will be withheld while the investigation is ongoing. Tesla said it is increasing security at the Gigafactory as a precaution. The showdown has exposed deep rancor at a tech giant famous for its head-turning cars, high-pressure workloads — and Musk, its unyielding boss. It also marks a new depth of suspicions from Musk, who recently sent companywide emails urging workers to stay vigilant against shadowy “outside forces,” saying, “Only the paranoid survive.” [Former employee sued by Tesla says he was a whistleblower, alarmed by company practices and Elon Musk] It's rare for any major company, let alone one worth roughly $60 billion, to allow its internal warfare to play out in such a public way. It's even rarer for a billionaire leader like Musk — currently leading efforts to build self-driving cars, underground super-tunnels and advanced spacecraft — to serve as a soldier in the charge. But the emails show Musk duking it out with Tripp, calling him a “horrible human being” who should be “ashamed” of himself and face “legal penalties.” Tesla's lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a Nevada federal court, accuses Tripp of hacking the company's computer systems in order to steal confidential photos and video of Tesla's manufacturing systems and other trade secrets. The suit