NASA’s science missions bring the universe into sharper focus even as agency struggles with manned flight

of NASA) Science at NASA is not without serious problems, a fact expected to be reflected in the Obama administration’s budget request Monday. The James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble, has gone far over budget and is still years from launch. The next Mars rover has also experienced cost overruns. As a result, planetary science, one of the divisions within NASA’s science directorate, will suffer a sharp cut under the new Obama budget, according to scientists familiar with the administration’s plans. Scientists expect that NASA will terminate its collaboration on two European-led robotic Mars missions scheduled for later this decade. The question is: To what extent will future science missions be squeezed, delayed or terminated by the NASA budget crunch? What’s certain is that NASA has managed in recent years to launch a formidable fleet of scientific instruments. Activity abounds NASA’s internal chart shows 86 missions, involving 96 spacecraft, either in service or preparation. That doesn’t include the two European Mars missions. It does include other international collaborations, and the extended operations of aging spacecraft that have completed their primary mission and are still blinking away. One probe, New Horizons, is on its way to Pluto. Another, Messenger, has been orbiting Mercury since March. A lunar orbiter launched in 2009 has mapped the moon in unprecedented detail, and two more NASA spacecraft achieved lunar orbit six weeks ago on a mission to study the moon’s gravitational field and interior structure. NASA’s Juno spacecraft blasted off in August on a five-year mission to Jupiter. The robotic probe Cassini continues to study Saturn, and in a week will make another close pass of the huge moon Titan. Kepler, a space telescope launched in 2009, has found 61 planets by last count, with many more candidate planets yet to be confirmed. The longer Kepler observes a small patch of deep space, the more likely it is that it will detect a true Earth twin — a planet that’s both Earth-size and in a propitious orbit that puts it in a star’s “habitable zone.” NASA is eager to see what happens on the morning of Aug. 6, when the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory, launched in November, lands in a crater and dispatches a souped-up rover, Curiosity, to look for signs that Mars was once warm, wet and teeming with Martian life. The laboratory will land on Mars using a never-before-deployed


Music Review: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

One of the advantages of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s residency at the University of Maryland School of Music is that local audiences get to hear the celebrated conductor-less ensemble in action. On Friday night, the musicians stepped out of the classroom and into the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center for a concert with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. The performance is just one component of Orpheus’s residency. School of Music director Robert Gibson noted that Orpheus players coach students in chamber music, a crucial step to becoming a well-rounded orchestral player. “There are elements in large ensemble performance that can’t come from a conductor,” Gibson said. “Listening closely, knowing when to lead and follow and adopting the collaborative spirit of chamber music brings qualitative results.” Friday’s concert epitomized those results. Orpheus, with 23 players and a smart program, showed how to blend chamber music transparency with a full symphonic sound. Michael Tippett’s underappreciated Divertimento on “Sellinger’s Round” was an inspired choice for an opener. An ingenious, Renaissance-styled stew intricately spiced with 20th-century dissonances, Tippett’s suite provided five viewpoints on an old English dance tune, including elegant solos for violinist Eric Wyrick, syncopated viola strumming and quirky excursions for winds, which quickly evaporated in Dekelboum Hall’s troublesome acoustics. Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Decca/Kasskara) Sonically, Honegger’s impressionistic “Pastorale d’ete” fared better. Softly undulating strings supported a twittering of winds, references to Beethoven’s “Pastoral” symphony and Julie Landsman’s soaring horn. The tranquilizing swelter of a summer day was palpable. There was also heat in Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, but perhaps too much. The tremendously energetic performance felt, at times, strangely overdriven. This is not heart-on-sleeve Tchaikovsky; it’s the composer’s homage to Mozart. Yet the aggressively attacked phrases in the opening movement and the famous waltz (far from lilting) would have sounded more at home in the heady melodrama of the fourth symphony. But there was also subtlety and beauty: a delicate scrim of tone opened the Elegie; and in the Finale, low strings produced waves of lustrous, chocolate-dark sound while violins plucked like balalaikas. More musical impersonations materialized in Shostakovich’s whip-smart Piano Concerto No. 1. Composed as a vehicle for himself in 1933, the concerto prominently features a single trumpet, backed by strings. The music’s carefree personality marked high times for the lauded composer. But those days were numbered. It wouldn’t be long before Shostakovich’s brilliant but acerbic opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” would land him


Community banks and credit unions brace for end of Fannie, Freddie

credit unions out of the market. “We want some sort of mechanism or entities that would provide equal access to community banks,” said Ann Grochala, vice president of lending and accounting policy at the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group. “There’s a variety of possibilities out there . . . but we haven’t seen the solution yet.” Holding on to their loans Traditionally, community banks and credit unions kept on their books a majority of the loans they originated. Credit Union National Association, for instance, estimates that its members sold between 25 and 40 percent of their loans before the financial crisis. Those percentages grew as falling interest rates fueled demand for mortgages. “Credit unions individually are fairly small in this business,” said Bill Hampel, chief economist for the credit union group. “But if there’s no publicly supported vehicle to the secondary markets, each credit union would be so small that they would not get good pricing or access. And that would cost credit union members.” Hampel said the association is talking with the Treasury Department about the future of McLean-based Freddie Mac and Washington-based Fannie Mae, but he noted that credit unions are working on contingency plans. One solution, he said, could be greater reliance on credit union service organizations. Such entities enable institutions of all asset sizes to make loans by collectively managing the risks. Grochala said the community bank association is also considering a cooperative structure, modeled after the Federal Home Loan Banks, whereby participating banks would be responsible for capitalizing the entity. Still, she said, “there must be some sort of continued government ties because that provides the liquidity source you truly need and confidence to the markets,” Grochala said. “There are a variety of ways that could function, whether it be an explicit or implicit fee paid for the guarantee.” While Cardinal Bank chief executive Bernard Clineburg doesn’t discount the viability of a cooperative model, he stressed there are private investors, such as pension funds, buying mortgages from community banks like his. Tougher on borrowers McLean-based Cardinal, he said, holds on to less than 10 percent of the $3 billion to $5 billion in mortgages it originates annually. Clineburg said the bank doesn’t sell directly to Fannie and Freddie but instead moves loans to aggregators that are likely to work with the mortgage giants. Cardinal, he said, should suffer little impact if the


In Md., fear for the turtles

biologists said. But several wildlife experts said the disease’s short-term effects are probably affecting the food chain in the ICC study area between Muncaster Mill Road and Emory Lane, just west of Georgia Avenue in northern Silver Spring. The birds, snakes and raccoons that dine on salamanders and tadpoles have less food at their disposal, experts say. Meanwhile, the loss of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tadpoles and salamander larvae wiped out in two consecutive breeding seasons has probably left far more of the insects that young salamanders and frogs eat. “What is the ecological significance of a virus that can kill every one of an animal’s offspring? The implications of that baffle me,” said David Green, a veterinary pathologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. Wildlife experts say they’re also concerned that the sudden appearance of ranavirus, a disease that some believe has been lurking in the United States for a century, might signal that local ponds and wetlands are becoming more susceptible to disease under the stresses of climate change, pollution and development. “Amphibians are very good indicators of the health of our ecosystem,” said Scott Smith, a wildlife ecologist for Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources. “When we see things happen to them, it means our environment is unhealthy.” Green, the veterinary pathologist, said ranavirus causes measles-like or severe herpes-like symptoms. Often, turtles discharge mucus from their eyes and noses. He said the virus damages their skin, palate, esophagus, stomach, liver, spleen and blood vessels. ICC researchers said they found some turtles dead within four days of their first symptoms. The ICC tadpoles and young salamanders became sluggish and were seen swimming off-kilter before bleeding into the skin of their bellies, thighs and feet. “It’s a really, really, really horrible disease,” Seigel said. Confirmed cases Ranavirus, first identified in the United States in 1968, has been suspected or confirmed in turtle and amphibian deaths in 29 states 71 times since 1997, according to the USGS, which tracks animal diseases at its National Wildlife Health Center. Maryland’s first confirmed case came in 2005, when it and the Chytrid fungus killed more than 2,000 young wood frogs and spotted salamanders near Montgomery’s portion of the C&O Canal, Smith said. Since 2000, ranavirus has been confirmed in Anne Arundel, Prince George’s and Baltimore counties. Virginia’s only confirmed outbreak hit in 2003, when ranavirus killed 20 Southern


In Md., fear for the turtles

leopard frogs in the Virginia Beach area, according to the USGS. No cases have been reported in the District. Ken Ferebee, a National Park Service wildlife specialist in the city’s Rock Creek Park, said he’s seen no signs of the disease in the box turtles and pond life that he monitors about 12 miles south of the Montgomery outbreak area. He said he hopes box turtles’ slow pace and propensity to stick close to home will keep the disease contained near the ICC. “I don’t think it’s something we can stop,” Ferebee said. “If we find it in the park, it will probably be way too late.” ‘Devastating impacts’ The Towson University findings, which are just beginning to circulate among biologists in the Northeast, stemmed from a $300,000 state-funded study of how to best save the turtles that, unlike deer and foxes, needed help to escape 18 miles of woods and wetlands ahead of the bulldozers. A team of Towson students attached radio transmitters to 123 of the more than 900 turtles rescued, allowing them to track the animals’ every move. The idea was to study whether the turtles fared better by being relocated about six miles away or to an adjacent area separated from the construction site by a fence. The study was considered potentially important to highway agencies and developers across the country, who are under pressure to reduce the environmental effects of road and building construction. Rob Shreeve, the Maryland State Highway Administration’s ICC environmental manager, said the study was helpful in concluding that the turtles’ survival rates — even with ranavirus — were about the same even when they were moved to different locations with similar living conditions. Seigel, the Towson researcher, said he has no data to show that turtles that were moved from the ICC’s path started the outbreak or were more susceptible to illness. He said his team checked the turtles’ mouths, eyes, noses and weight to make sure they were healthy before moving them. The ranavirus death rate in turtles that were moved from the ICC site was roughly the same as the mortality rate in a control group of turtles that already lived in the area and never relocated, Seigel said. The apparently fast-acting virus didn’t begin affecting any of the turtles until about 18 months after the ICC animals were moved, making it less likely that the relocation was at


China’s president-in-waiting heads to Washington for a visit crucial to both nations

The man who is expected to become China’s next president will arrive in Washington on Monday for a visit crucial to his political ascension and also to U.S. hopes for easing the mounting tensions between two of the world’s most powerful nations. Xi Jinping He is, for example, quick to mention his fondness for the American Midwest, having toured Iowa’s small towns in 1985 as a lowly provincial official, visiting farms and staying overnight in the cramped bedroom of a middle-class family, surrounded by their boys’ “Star Trek” figures. In exclusive comments to the Washington Post, Xi said of that trip: “I was deeply impressed by America’s advanced technology and the hospitable and industrious American people. That visit drove home to me the importance of closer exchanges between our peoples and gave me a better understanding of China-U.S. relations.” But it remains unclear whether Xi’s familiarity with U.S. culture will help lead to warmer relations between the countries after years of intensifying economic and military rivalry. So far, he appears no less likely than previous Chinese leaders to resist demands for expanded human rights at home or to rail against Westerners for meddling in Chinese affairs. This week’s visit, however, could indicate whether Xi’s ascension might result at least in a more candid and productive rapport, current and former U.S. officials say. “Right now, I think there’s a lot of concern in the administration and Congress that we’re heading for a very rough five to 10 years,” said Michael Green, who was a White House adviser on Asia under President George W. Bush. “If there’s a sense in his meetings here . . . that he’s a guy we could do business with, that could help.” There’s little doubt that the United States and China have entered a rough period, with tensions over China’s economic policies and its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea, among other issues. For its part, Beijing has sounded increasingly alarmed by the Obama administration’s shift of military resources toward Asia. None of those issues are likely to be resolved during Xi’s visit, which includes meetings at the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department. Rather, U.S. officials say, the visit is an opportunity to build a relationship and to get a better sense of how Xi operates. The few U.S. and foreign diplomats who have met with him at length say the stylistic


For China’s next leader, the past is sensitive

After years of persecution by a Communist Party he helped bring to power, Xi Zhongxun was hauled from solitary confinement and taken to see his family. The purged revolutionary could barely recognize his own offspring and recalled a melancholy Tang Dynasty poem: “My children do not know me. They smile and say: ‘Stranger, where do you come from?’ ” More than three decades later, his son is set to become China’s next leader. Just months from his near-certain elevation to the country’s most powerful post — general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party — 58-year-old Xi Jinping arrived in Washington on Monday for a visit that U.S. officials hope will clarify the direction of the world’s fastest-rising economic and military power. Probing where Xi might be going, however, involves answering a question that, back home in China, is largely taboo: Where exactly is the leader-in-waiting coming from? A brief, official biography issued by Xinhua News Agency makes no mention of Xi’s illustrious father, who commanded communist guerrillas in northwest China, rose to the rank of deputy prime minister after the 1949 revolution, got ousted by Mao Zedong in 1962 and, after 16 years in disgrace, reemerged to pioneer some of China’s boldest economic reforms. In written replies to questions submitted by The Washington Post, Xi did not answer a query about how he has been influenced by his father’s troubles. That Xi’s father — who died in 2002 at age 88 — was once one of Mao’s trusted lieutenants and also one of his early victims is not a secret. Nor is the family’s suffering. Xi himself mentioned the trauma in a private August meeting in Beijing with Vice President Biden. But the details of the elder Xi’s tumultuous career — his rupture with Mao, his close ties to other purge targets who are still on the party’s blacklist, and his defiance of rigid orthodoxy — are increasingly sensitive topics in a one-party state where history is shaped to serve the present. Like father, like son? Fixing an official line on the elder Xi “has become more and more complicated,” said Jia Juchuan, a party historian entrusted with writing an official biography of Xi Jinping’s father. He published a first volume in 2008, covering his life up to 1949, but a second volume recounting subsequent, strife-torn years is stalled. The text was finished three years ago, but Xi Jinping’s anointment


Rail and trucking industries call a truce

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted 33 to 22 on Feb. 2 to delay any expansion in use of trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds for three years, so the Transportation Department can study the potential effect on highway safety, roads and bridges. The measure, as originally written by House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John L. Mica (R-Fla.), would have allowed states to permit more 97,000-pound trucks on U.S. interstate highways and would have expanded use of double- and triple-trailers in states that allow them. The language on longer, heavier trucks prompted a lobbying and public-relations blitz before last week’s vote that included a YouTube video, posted by a railroad equipment trade group, that showed triple-trailer trucks weaving on rainy highways. Burnley accused railroad interests at the time of running a “multimillion- dollar propaganda campaign.” Trucking companies such as Con-way and shippers including Home Depot and International Paper were pushing for the language to improve efficiency as freight volumes are expected to surge. The rail industry opposed the language, citing a study that showed it would reduce railroad traffic by 19 percent. In addition to the railroads and their suppliers, big-truck opponents included highway safety advocates, truck accident victims, independent truck drivers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and state highway patrols. Before the deal was announced Thursday, the Railway Supply Institute, which represents makers of railroad equipment and technology such as Wabtec Corp. and Alstom SA, asked its member companies “to help us keep the pressure on your members of Congress by urging your employees to call and ask them to vote ‘no’ on bigger trucks,” according to a report in Railway Age, an industry newsletter. The Washington-based institute told members their employees could call the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks’s toll-free hotline to be connected to their representative’s office. The coalition, based in Alexandria, is a railroad-industry-funded group that works with law enforcement, local government, engineers, independent truckers and highway safety advocates to oppose increasing truck size and weights. “We are obviously disappointed that the weight provisions didn’t survive in the committee vote, but there are significant productivity gains in the bill,” McNally said. Holly Arthur, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based railroad association, declined to comment. The Highway Trust Fund, which finances U.S. road, bridge and mass-transit projects, may become insolvent as soon as October unless lawmakers lock in additional funding sources, the Congressional Budget Office said on Jan. 31.


Love’s injuries came from various impacts, medical examiner tells Huguely jury

senior at University of Virginia and a lacrosse player. A roommate found her body May 3, 2010, face down in blood in her bed. Love, of Cockeysville, Md., was 22. Under questioning by Huguely’s attorney, Gormley agreed that injuries to the right side of Love’s head, right eye and chin could have been suffered in one incident close to the time of her death, such as a fall. But Gormley said he couldn’t say what had caused the damage and told attorney Rhonda Quagliana that no one impact could explain the other injuries, including small oval bruises on her chest, bruises to a buttock, calf and knee, and a pair of “major bruises” on her forearm. In his police statement aired in court, Huguely said he had shaken Love “a little bit” and “may have grabbed her a little bit around the neck.” But he said he had not strangled her or hit her in the face on the night he went to talk to her about their jealousy-tinged arguments. When he left her, Huguely said on the tape, he thought she was bleeding from her nose, but not so badly that he needed to call for medical help. Gormley is expected to return to the stand Tuesday and has not told jurors his conclusion about what caused Love’s death. Previous hearings revealed that he ruled that she died from blunt force trauma to her head. Huguely’s attorneys have called Love’s death a tragic accident and indicated their case will include testimony that Love could have died from an irregular heartbeat brought on by the drug Adderall, which she was prescribed for an attention disorder. Jurors on Monday also were asked to read what was described as an “e-mail exchange” that appeared to be about four pages long. Although those e-mails have not been read aloud in court, last week prosecutors and the defense team referred to a series of angry e-mails the couple exchanged days before Love’s death that included a line from Huguely that said, “I should have killed you,” after finding out about a sexual encounter Love had with another man. More news from PostLocal: The Groupon effect: Can date-night deals save your marriage? Fear for the turtle: Deadly disease could devastate Md. ecosystem Some students learn about suspension before they master spelling or math Score one for lovesick third-graders: Md. school lifts ban on Valentine’s Day


Five myths about cheating

1. Cheating and affairs are more common among the rich and less common in conservative cultures. From golf star Tiger Woods to Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich, cheating seems commonplace among famous and wealthy men. But although studies have found that the more money and celebrity men have, the more likely they are to cheat, cheating is hardly the domain of just the rich and famous. In fact, according to Boston College economist Donald Cox, poorer women are more likely to cheat than wealthy women. Nor do more socially conservative times erase infidelity. America today may seem more sexually relaxed than in the buttoned-down years immediately following World War II, yet pioneering research by Alfred Kinsey found that married men cheated at rates of around 50 percent.In 1953, Kinsey showed that 26 percent of married women had also been unfaithful. Estimates today find married men cheating at rates between 25 percent and 72 percent. Given that many people are loath to admit that they cheat, research on cheating may underestimate its prevalence. But it appears that cheating is as common as fidelity. 2. If you really love your partner, you’ll remain faithful. Perhaps one of the most tragic misconceptions about cheating is that people stray because they have fallen out of love with their partners. We are taught to value fidelity as the litmus test of a relationship and conditioned to feel victimized if someone cheats on us. But my research shows that young men don’t cheat because they have fallen out of love with their partners. Rather, they cheat simply because they desire sex with someone else, even if they want to preserve their relationship. I found that, though 78 percent of the men I interviewed had cheated on their current partner, only a handful said they cheated because they were near the end of their emotional relationships. And women may respond to similar pressures: According to a 1999 study in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 68 percent of female undergraduates also cheat. (Whether they cheat for sexual or emotional reasons remains unclear.) 3. We generally agree on what counts as cheating. In Kinsey’s day, the meaning of cheating was simpler — it involved physical contact with another person. But today, the Internet and its democratization of pornography not only make yesterday’s stigmatized bedroom activities seem mundane but also force us to ask what defines cheating. A


The myth of China as a harmless tiger

difficulties she encountered as a result of this decision. On the surface, the West has profited from its trade with China. Western consumers can buy vast amounts of cheap Chinese products. However, fundamental values of the West are quietly being eroded: Who knows whether the American flag flying outside your home was manufactured by inmates in Chinese prisons or by child labor? I arrived in the United States a month ago, thinking I had escaped the reach of Beijing, only to realize that the Chinese government’s shadow continues to be omnipresent. Several U.S. universities that I have contacted dare not invite me for a lecture, as they cooperate with China on many projects. If you are a scholar of Chinese studies who has criticized the Communist Party, it would be impossible for you to be involved in research projects with the Chinese-funded Confucius Institute, and you may even be denied a Chinese visa. Conversely, if you praise the Communist Party, not only would you receive ample research funding but you might also be invited to visit China and even received by high-level officials. Western academic freedom has been distorted by invisible hands. I believe that China is a far greater threat than the former Soviet Union ever was; unfortunately, the West lacks visionary politicians, such as Ronald Reagan, to stand up to this threat. President Obama might perceive the Chinese Communist Party as a tiger that does not bite and, hence, is looking forward to Vice President Xi Jinping’s visit this week. Will Obama, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, openly request that China release Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace laureate imprisoned by the Communist Party? Why did Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have the courage to meet with Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi but not to meet with Liu? Is it because Burma is weak, while China is strong? The Chinese Communist Party remains a tiger that will bite. For working on human rights with Liu Xiaobo, after he was awarded the Nobel Prize, I was tortured by the country’s secret police and nearly lost my life. Since then, dozens of lawyers and writers have been subjected to brutal torture; some contracted severe pneumonia after being held in front of fans blowing cold air and then being baked by an electric furnace. The secret police threatened me, saying that they had a list of 200 anticommunist party


Not up for a marathon? Try a relay race.

A Ragnar Relay D.C. team gets psyched up before the September 2011 race. (Bruce Buckley/Swim Bike Run Photography) On New Year’s Day, when you vowed to run a marathon this year, it probably seemed like an awesome idea. And then the champagne wore off. Maybe you researched some training programs and realized you just can’t devote the time. Or you saw that as many as 90 percent of folks training for marathons get injured. Or your background is in team sports and the idea of going for a goal solo now seems lonely. Whatever the reason for your resolution dissolution, I have a backup plan: Run a relay. Splitting up the work means you don’t need to train as hard or as long, plus you’re guaranteed to have at least one person cheering for you. In the case of the Delaware Marathon (May 13), you could have seven teammates. “A lot of people aren’t going to run 26.2 miles, but they want to be a part of it,” says Wayne Kursch, the director of the race, which is introducing an eight-person relay option this year. The marathon’s four-person option has been popular, but Kursch realized that even 6.55 miles was a hurdle to entry for some would-be runners. Offering to cut down the distance to a little over a 5K “is a great way to bump up the numbers,” says Kursch, who hopes to lure 3,000 participants. Plenty of other races are also welcoming runners who don’t want to go the distance. The Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend featured a relay for the first time last month. The Marine Corps Historic Half marathon (May 20), launched last year, is growing from 100 teams to 250 teams. And the relay at this year’s inaugural Rock ’n’ Roll USA Marathon (March 17) is sold out. When you hear runners talk “relays” these days, however, chances are they mean the long-distance, overnight kind. There’s nothing new about getting 12 people to take turns covering 200 miles over 30 hours. This year marks the 31st running of Oregon’s Hood to Coast, which has 12,600 participants, making it the largest relay in the world. In the D.C. region, the granddaddy of overnight relays is Tom’s Run, which was founded in 1999 and stretches from the northwest corner of Maryland to Washington. It’s not a race, which is part of the appeal to participants such as


Report: Yahoo calls off talks on Asia deal

In this Oct. 14, 2010 photo, the exterior of Yahoo Inc. offices are seen in in Santa Clara, Calif. Yahoo Inc. reports third-quarter financial results Tuesday, Oct. 19, after the close of the market. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) (Paul Sakuma/AP) Yahoo has reportedly broken off talks with its partners in Asia to work out a deal to drop its holdings in China and Japan and save Yahoo over $4 billion in U.S. taxes. All Things Digital’s The deal, as detailed in the Wall Street Journal, was believed to have been a swap of cash and assets that would help Yahoo avoid a serious tax hit. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company has been undergoing some major changes in the past year, naming former PayPal executive Scott Thompson to be its chief executive. Last month, Yahoo co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang left Yahoo’s board; a few weeks later chairman Roy Bostock announced he and three other board members will step down. With those developments, all of Yahoo’s directors will have joined the board after 2010. In a release announcing a major board shake-up, Yahoo had mentioned that it was looking at restructuring its Asian assets without going into detail. Yahoo stock fell following the report, down over 5 percent in mid-afternoon trading. Around 1:45 p.m., Yahoo stock was trading at $15.15 per share, down from an opening price of $16.07. Related stories: Yahoo shakes up its board Yahoo’s 4Q earnings fall 5 percent as revenue slumps again; new CEO vows to shake things up Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook and others companies team up to combat e-mail ‘phishing’


Eating meat, with a side order of conflicting emotions

Barnard, a physician and president of the PCRM, make no apologies for it. He compares current anti-meat campaigns to those that discourage underage smoking: It’s important to hit ’em while they’re young. “If a kid, like me, found a pack of cigarettes when he was 11,” Barnard says, “that kid is more likely to grow up as a smoker as opposed to a kid who never encountered them at all.” Hitting the youth market PETA, in particular, has actively targeted young eaters with its Peta2.com Web site, which launched in 2002 and has more than 500,000 e-news subscribers. The site has little interest in promoting the health-care savings or potential long-term health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Instead, it adopts a pop-culture approach to make meat-free eating seem cool and “cruelty-free” to animals — or, at the very least, contrarian to the adult world, which in itself might appeal to the more rebellious. The idea, says Dan Mathews, senior vice president of campaigns for PETA, is not to take an elevated intellectual approach in trying to appeal to youth, but to play up factors important to young eaters. Like looking good, or sex, or celebrities. PETA even works with television producers to insert anti-meat messages into various programs, such as an episode of last season’s “Real Housewives of Miami” in which Lea Black annoys her fellow South Beach sun-bunnies by pooh-poohing a pig roast. “Being realistic, we realized we had to go to a lower common denominator” to hit the youth market, says Mathews. “They want to look good. They don’t care about something that will take decades to affect them,” like heart disease. But the anti-meat and reduced-meat messages are not coming just from animal-rights organizations with an agenda. Cookbook authors, activists and even the federal government have embraced an idea that might have seemed radical a generation or two ago: We don’t need to eat as much meat as we used to. Pollan, in his “In Defense of Food” (Penguin, 2008), famously wrote that we should “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” The following year, author Mark Bittman espoused essentially the same idea in “Food Matters” (Simon & Schuster, 2009) by noting that we should “eat less meat and junk food, eat more vegetables and whole grains.” More than two years later, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued


Eric Waldbaum, entrepreneur in financial services and information technology businesses, dies at 73

policies at competing markets such as Giant Food and Safeway. Mr. Waldbaum was dismissed by the board for reasons that were never publicly stated. He brought an unsuccessful libel suit against Fairchild Publications, whose Supermarket News wrote that the cooperative was losing money and retrenching under Mr. Waldbaum. A federal trial judge ruled in 1979 that Mr. Waldbaum was prominent enough in his profession to be considered a public figure and did not prove Supermarket News deliberately published false information — the standard for public figures. The judge dismissed the suit. The following year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the trial judge’s ruling and announced a test for determining whether a person qualifies as a public figure that has since been widely cited in defamation cases. While with Greenbelt Consumer Services, Mr. Waldbaum served on the Ad Hoc Committee of the Uniform Grocery Code Council, which was initially formed to facilitate automatic scanning at supermarkets. The council recommended the adoption of the UPC symbol that is now commonplace in scanning systems on products in virtually every business. After leaving Greenbelt Consumer Services, Mr. Waldbaum worked for several businesses and started others, including a computer retail store. He was president of Baskin Financial Corp. from 1985 to 1990 and then spent much of the next decade as a senior partner with Pacific Basin Partners, a U.S.-Japan consulting firm that provided strategy planning and advisory services for financial institutions, governments and aid agencies. He subsequently was chief financial officer of eGlobal Business, a microlender, and created a technology consulting business that included Middle Eastern and former Eastern bloc countries. He was on the board of Solargenix Energy, a North Carolina-based solar-energy business, and a past board chairman of Legacy International, a nonprofit organization focused on international conflict resolution that teaches leadership to youths and business development to young professionals. Eric Waldbaum was a Philadelphia native and a 1960 mathematics graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Early on, he worked in New York for Hills Supermarkets and the old E.J. Korvettes department store. In 1997, he moved from Arlington County to Huddleston, a community southwest of Lynchburg, Va. His marriages to Susan Carlin and Dorothy Stein ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 20 years, Yvonne Behrens-Waldbaum of Huddleston; a daughter from his second marriage, Kiran Waldbaum of Alexandria; a sister; and a brother. — Adam Bernstein


Efforts lag to improve care for National Guard

N.C. A sea of Web sites Steve Hale, a Washington National Guardsman sent to Iraq, said that reservists experience a brief honeymoon after returning from war, but that “the ticker-tape parades, the pats on the back, the free beers at the bar” often give way to loneliness, stress and depression. Reservists suffer from high rates of PTSD, alcoholism, unemployment, divorce and drug abuse, but military psychologists and research studies indicate that many cases go unreported. Lack of emotional support is challenging for reservists, whose patched-together units often scatter between deployments. Eric Kettenring, who served in Iraq and is a Veterans Affairs counselor in Montana, said the onus is on reserve unit commanders to watch for signs of trouble. But unlike active-duty units, their commanders only see them during drills, which can be 60 days apart, as opposed to the frequent contact during recruitment and enlistment. “When they come back and they’re no longer serving and they have problems, who’s finding them?” he said. In 2005, the National Defense Authorization Act established a health plan to give reservists access to the Tricare military health-care network for a monthly fee. But many wounded reservists instead choose to drive often long distances to Veterans Affairs facilities that provide free care from specialists. The Pentagon has scrambled to close gaps in care by creating more than 200 programs, but that has invited waste, duplication and a lack of oversight, according to a recent Rand Corp. report. Capt. Brian Pilgrim, a behavioral health officer with the New Mexico National Guard, praised the service network for reservists, saying it provides more options than the regimented system for the active-duty military. But that range of options, many of them private-sector, often means reserve members are “thrown into a sea of Web sites with no idea of where to go to find appropriate care,” said Stephanie Nissen, North Carolina’s behavioral health programs director. The issue is further complicated in the National Guard because each state is responsible for developing its own programs, and states are not required to adopt another’s successful strategies. More changes to the post-deployment system were made last April. In response to Wyden’s investigation, the Army National Guard increased the time allotted for demobilization and required leaders to sign off on the disposition of each soldier. In recent congressional testimony, McKinley praised the guard’s reform efforts. But he added: “We will have decades to go


In D.C., a real-life drug investigation straight out of ‘The Wire’

A game at the Barry Farm public housing project, which prosecutors say was the home turf of a violent drug-running gang led by Mark Pray. (Jonathan Newton/Washington Post) When Crystal Washington checked out of her halfway house and stepped into a gray April morning, the gunman was ready. He silently slipped behind Washington as she crossed a busy street at rush hour, then he pulled out a semiautomatic pistol and fired six shots at point-blank range, killing the 44-year-old mother of four. It would not take long for authorities to piece together a motive — Washington, a recovering drug addict, was a key prosecution witness at the looming trial of the gunman’s boss, an alleged Southeast Washington narcotics kingpin. The slaying in 2009 soon sparked an undercover FBI investigation straight out of the HBO series “The Wire” that would lead to charges against 13 alleged members of a Southeast drug gang. On Feb. 1, the trial of three of those people began in the District’s federal court. Six defendants have pleaded guilty; the dispositions of four others could not be determined from court records. The investigation provides a rare window into an organization that dominated a vibrant open-air drug market in Southeast, a gang that stopped at nothing to protect its turf. The case also helps explain the city’s stubborn level of violence. Although homicides have plummeted in the District (last year, city police tallied 108 killings, nearly half the number recorded in 2004), authorities say they are still battling an intractable cycle that fuels the city’s murders — territorial disputes and retaliation for snubs and other acts of violence. In the case of the Southeast gang, prosecutors say, its ringleader, Mark Pray, thought little of conspiring to kill Washington, a woman he had known for years. A few months later, prosecutors say, Pray and his chief “enforcer” — the same man accused of shooting Washington — agreed to eliminate a rival dealer because that man’s brother had shot one of Pray’s lieutenants. And, in 2008, angered that another dealer had disrespected one of his associates, Pray participated in a drive-by shooting: He popped out of the sun roof of a speeding Cadillac, whipped out two semiautomatic pistols and littered a major street with 27 bullets that riddled another car and killed his intended target, prosecutors say. “This is a case about greed,” federal prosecutor Matthew Cohen of the District’s


Guantanamo detainee with Baltimore ties is charged with war crimes

A former Baltimore area resident held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was charged Tuesday by military prosecutors with war crimes, including murder, attempted murder, spying and providing material support for terrorism. Majid Khan, a Pakistani citizen and a former legal resident of the United States, is accused of conspiring with Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to conduct a series of follow-up operations in the United States. These included targeting underground gasoline storage tanks, according to the military. Khan, a graduate of a suburban Baltimore high school near where his parents ran a gas station, is also accused of donning a suicide vest and planning to assassinate former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf. According to the military, Khan traveled to Pakistan in January 2002 and returned to Baltimore a few months later to acquire a laptop for al-Qaeda and get information about the U.S. military. After he went back to Pakistan in August 2002, Khan worked directly for Mohammed, according to the military, and his tasks included carrying $50,000 to an al-Qaeda affiliate group in Bangkok. The military alleges that Jemaah Islamiah, a regional terrorist organization in Southeast Asia, used the money to fund the bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, in August 2003. Eleven people were killed in the attack, and more than 80 others were wounded. Khan was detained at a relative’s house in Pakistan in March 2003 and turned over to the United States. He vanished into the CIA’s system of overseas prisons until President George W. Bush announced that he was one of 14 “high-value” detainees who had been transferred to Cuba in September 2006. At Guantanamo Bay, he is held at the top-security Camp 7, whose exact location at the U.S. naval base remains classified. Khan’s attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based advocacy organization, have said their client was tortured and coerced into making self-incriminating statements. If convicted, Khan faces up to life in prison. A senior Pentagon official must still refer the charges to a military commission for trial. More national security coverage: - Chinese blocked visit by U.S. religious freedom envoy, advocates say - Efforts lag to improve care for National Guard members - U.S. shippers watch for progress on Panama canal project - Read more national security news


NATO resumes transfer of Taliban detainees to Afghan government

KABUL — The transfers began again in January after three rounds of inspections by NATO officials at 12 of the 16 facilities where, according to a U.N. report released publicly in October, some detainees were subjected to “systematic” torture. The Afghan government has replaced the directors of several of the facilities in recent months as part of an effort to prevent the abuses, Maj. Carl Dick, a U.S. military officer involved in inspections and recertifications, told reporters. “We see no gross violations of human rights,” he said of the 12 facilities that have been listed as “certified.” The coalition is monitoring those detentions, along with the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to make sure abuses do not occur again, he said. If they do recur, the coalition will be forced to again halt the transfer of detainees, he said. The four facilities where transfers have yet to resume include a prison called 124 that is run by the Afghan National Directorate of Security and has gained a particularly notorious reputation. The U.N. report said the detainees there were subjected to torture by Afghan interrogators seeking intelligence regarding the war against the Taliban. The detainees are suspected insurgents arrested during operations by international forces. The U.N. report Many released detainees formerly held by the Afghan government or international forces have complained of being mistreated or tortured. More world news coverage: - Iran touts activation of nuclear reactor - ICE agent’s death puts new focus on U.S. role in Mexico’s drug war - Opposition crowd-sources Syria’s map - Read more headlines from around the world


Wrestling: Dylan and Olivia Devine find a home on the mat

to focus full-time on wrestling and has only continued improving, finishing third at the National Prep tournament last season. Thanks to a daily workout regimen and an improved diet, he now competes at 195 pounds. For the past two years, he’s had a constant training partner in his little sister. Olivia Devine also grew up practicing martial arts and earned a second-degree black belt. Right away, wrestling’s similarities appealed to her. “I think it’s the work ethic involved,” Dylan said. “What you put in is what you get out. We both love it.” To prepare for her first high school season, Olivia attended open mat practices at North County several times a week during the summer and a wrestling camp at Bloomsburg (Pa.) University, where she was the lone girl that session. She also worked out almost daily in the basement of the family’s Severn home alongside Dylan. Olivia competed mostly on junior varsity this season, compiling a 6-5 record wrestling at 132, 138 and even 145. She finished her season at the county’s junior varsity invitational on Tuesday. In 24 seasons as a wrestling coach in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, Liddick had never used a girl on varsity before, but he didn’t hesitate turning to Olivia when his lineup thinned due to injury and illness. She made her varsity debut with a pair of losses at the Arundel Holiday Tournament, where Dylan won his weight class. At first, Olivia leaned on Dylan heavily for help. Dylan taught her moves that utilize her leg strength and continues to provide feedback when the family gathers to watch tape of matches. “It’s easier when he critiques her,” their mother Theresa said. “She’d rather hear it from him than us.” “He breaks me down and builds me up.” Olivia added with a smile. Lately, there have been fewer lessons and more conversations. Dylan, who hopes to wrestle in college — with West Virginia and Edinboro among his options — chuckles when thinking about how far his sister has come in a short time. “She knows a lot more now,” Dylan said. “We’ll talk about what a guy should’ve done [on the mat], and sometimes now she’ll argue with me because she’ll know something better than I do.” Related links: New team, individual wrestling rankings Westfield back on top in Northern Region Photo gallery from Northern Region Urbana wins first Md. duals title


U.S. will lead new effort to cut global warming from methane, soot

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a security conference in Munich. Clinton is set to announce the five-year climate initiative Thursday. (THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES) With global efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions stalled, the United States and five other countries are starting a new program to cut other pollutants — including methane, soot and hydrofluorocarbons — that contribute to global warming. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is set to announce the five-year initiative Thursday morning. Canada, Sweden, Mexico, Ghana and Bangladesh are also participating. The plan will be administered by the United Nations Environment Program, with a $12 million contribution from the United States for the first two years. Canada will add $3 million; contributions from the other countries are not known. Carbon dioxide — from burning fossil fuels — plays the largest role in pushing up global temperatures, climate scientists say. But methane, soot and hydrofluorocarbons also contribute to global warming. Combined, those three pollutants are believed to account for 30 to 40 percent of the nearly one degree Celsius rise in global temperatures since the beginning of the 20th century. If adopted globally, measures to reduce soot and methane emissions could slow global warming by about a half a degree Celsius by 2030, according to research published in January. They can have a quick effect on global warming because these gases do not last in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide does. “The science is quite clear that the only way to slow warming in the near term . . . is to reduce emissions of these so-called short-lived climate forcers,” said Erika Rosenthal of the advocacy group Earthjustice. The new program, called the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, will not set targets for reductions in pollutants. Rather, it will fund education projects and joint public-private efforts to reduce emissions, said three people briefed on the announcement. They said the new program is likely to encourage nations to reduce diesel exhaust, stem the burning of agricultural waste, and capture methane from landfills, coal mines and natural gas wells, among other policies. While most of these policies are expected to pay for themselves in the long run, each requires some upfront investment, said Johan Kuylenstierna, scientific coordinator of two U.N. reports on the benefits of reducing methane and soot. Getting governments and industry to pay those costs is “the


Congress must think 10 years down the line when it comes to nuclear carriers

to be able to show our force structure in the Pacific.” But as Navy experts say, you need that number just to keep one in the Indian Ocean, another in the Western Pacific, and enough in reserve for contingencies, such as today’s need to keep two available for South Asia/Middle East use. The general standard for carriers is seven months on station and 25 months at home port or dry dock. The nuclear ones also must have their power generators refueled. For example, the new budget contains $1.6 billion to refuel the reactor of the USS Abraham Lincoln, which just days ago passed through the Strait of Hormuz after weeks in the Persian Gulf aiding in the Afghan war. Refueling beginning in the next 12 months will keep the Lincoln out of action for a year. The new fiscal 2013 budget contains no money for CVN78, the USS Gerald R. Ford, although the Navy has identified the need for another $881 million for cost overruns in what has become a $12.3 billion ship. Its funding began in 2001, and money to pay off the overruns has been pushed into the fiscal 2014 and 2015 budgets. The first of a new class of nuclear-powered carriers, the Ford is projected to save money in the long run by having a new reactor power plant that requires 50 percent fewer people to run it while generating far more electricity than the previous class of nuclear carriers. Overall, including the flight crews, the Ford will have some 3,800 personnel. That’s almost 1,200 less than the current carriers. Of course, the Ford has had its problems. It became a test bed for new equipment and construction techniques. Along with the new power-generating nuclear reactor, the Ford will have a new electromagnetic catapult-launching system and a new phased-array radar to replace five radars on the earlier carriers. The catapult-launching system had to be built and then tested on land, since there was no ship deck built that could handle it. Those tests are ongoing at a site in Lakehurst, N.J., while parts of the finished system have begun to be installed in the Ford, which is being built at the Huntington Ingalls shipyard at Newport News, Va. The electromagnetic system, which has taken a decade to develop, will permit controlled acceleration and stoppage when launching aircraft. The Ford — more than 50 percent complete, with some


Norovirus sickens about 85 at GWU

George Washington University officials alerted the campus Wednesday that about 85 students have been infected by noroviruses this week. After testing by the university’s Student Health Service and the D.C. Department of Health, officials confirmed that the norovirus was the cause of dozens of cases of gastrointestinal illness since Monday, university officials said in a statement. They said they could find no common link for the infections, as students were affected who live at the Foggy Bottom campus, the Mount Vernon campus and off campus. The ill students also attended classes, studied and dined at many locations, the statement said. Students were advised to wash their hands frequently and disinfect surfaces they use, and the school said it would increase the cleaning of commonly used areas. The virus is usually not considered serious, and most people recover in one or two days. Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach cramps. Other symptoms are a low-grade fever, chills and muscle aches.


The Education Issue: Enrichment classes don’t offer credit, but they can change lives

through personal coaching and corporate training sessions. People use the classes not just to perform as storytellers but to learn to make better sales pitches, raise money, teach in academia, become less shy, or “be the life of the party,” says Amy Saidman, artistic executive director. “They finish the class, and now they get together regularly for happy hour; or, another class created their own Facebook group,” Saidman says. When she is not performing, Vijai Nathan teaches at SpeakeasyDC and has seen bonds develop firsthand. Students usually hesitate to take part in one exercise that pairs up people to talk about their first crushes. But they soon come to value the intimacy. “I think there are so few opportunities anymore where we can do that as adults,” Nathan says. “With texting and e-mail, you hardly talk to people anymore, or even make any sort of human connection with people unless you are living with them.” Like a growing number of booksellers nationwide, Politics & Prose in Northwest Washington is expanding classes. “The initial goal is to create new programming that will engage the store’s already loyal community of readers, but it would be great to attract new audiences,” says writer Susan Coll, who is heading up the effort. “Because P&P is a bookstore and not a university, we can be flexible and have a little fun with this.” Among the eclectic slate of upcoming courses are a six-part class on Eugene O’Neill pegged to upcoming Arena Stage and Shakespeare Theatre productions, and a two-session class called “Close Reading: The Craft of Reading Fiction Like a Writer.” Classes as community-builders are also offered by other local businesses, such as Hill’s Kitchen on Capitol Hill, which holds classes on topics such as knife skills and making baby food. Meanwhile, the concept of community-building has led to the establishment of new groups that are providing free classes. Hub DC Last summer and fall, more than 30 people total participated in Hub DC’s eight Citizen Circles, which are peer learning groups that aim to “knock down the notion that there are teachers and there are learners,” says Allison Basile, one of the founders. Basically, a group of as few as three people picks a topic it wants to explore and then does so, gathering and sharing research, discussing and taking field trips. Knowledge Commons DC is a free school established to foster accessible education


Consumer agency wants oversight of debt collectors, credit bureaus

gets credit and how much they pay for it. For most consumers, those scores are based on records of loans they have taken out in the past and how well they have paid them off. This information is housed in the Big Three national credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Lenders use formulas developed by companies such as FICO and VantageScore to analyze the data and determine how likely each person is to repay. Government regulators, financial firms and consumer advocates have launched extensive education campaigns in recent years to make sure that consumers understand what goes into their Big Three credit reports and how that affects the cost of a loan. But little attention has been paid to the so-called “Fourth Bureau” firms that target the 30 million consumers outside the mainstream financial system. Often they are students, immigrants or low-income consumers who do not qualify for traditional loans or choose not to use them. Instead, they rely on a makeshift system of payday lenders, check cashers and prepaid cards — none of which show up in the Big Three. Without a paper trail of credit, these consumers are virtually shut out of the traditional banking system. As a result, fourth bureau firms are increasingly using non-traditional and, at times, unreliable data, including auto warranties, cellphone bills and magazine subscriptions to come up with credit scores. Yet federal regulations do not always require these companies to disclose when they share your financial history or with whom, and there is no way to opt out when they do. No one is even tracking the accuracy of these reports. That has left the most vulnerable consumers with little insight into the forces determining their financial futures. The CFPB The proposed rule sets the bar for debt collection agencies at $10 million in annual receipts. The CFPB estimated that would encompass about 175 firms that account for about 63 percent of the debt collected from consumers each year. For consumer reporting agencies, the CFPB proposed a standard of $7 million in annual receipts. That includes not only the three major credit bureaus but also roughly 30 smaller firms in the Fourth Bureau. The rule would give the CFPB authority over about 94 percent of the industry by receipts. The power to oversee such firms and other nonbanks was a key component of the new agency’s design, and the CFPB has quickly


In Russia, Putin allies sharpen anti-American attacks ahead of elections

anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly. Among recent incidents was a confrontation outside the U.S. Embassy shortly after McFaul arrived in Moscow on Jan. 14. Opposition leaders who visited the embassy for an unannounced meeting with McFaul and visiting Deputy Secretary of State William Burns were accosted by a group of young people identifying themselves as television reporters demanding to know the purpose of the visit. The exchange was shown on the main television channel and on the Internet with the suggestion that the Russian opposition was receiving its orders from the Americans. Opposition leaders say they suspect the incident was a setup facilitated by Russian government surveillance. More recent Russian television broadcasts have included attacks describing McFaul as a promoter of revolution. The barrage reached a new level of offensiveness a few days ago when a video posted on the Internet drew comparisons between photos of the ambassador and those of a notorious pedophile. “Putin is choosing worse relations with the West to keep himself in power,” says Dmitri Oreshkin, a political analyst and writer who says that Putin is thinking short-term tactics rather than long-term strategy. “Of course it’s a KGB mentality.” Putin unleashed the assault Nov. 27 in a nationally televised address as he accepted the presidential nomination, suggesting that the independent election monitor Golos, which gets financing from the United States and Europe, was a U.S. vehicle for influencing the elections here. Since then, Golos has been turned out of its Moscow office and its Samara branch has come under tax investigation. Duma deputies are considering banning all foreign grants to Russian organizations. Then Putin accused U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of sending a signal to demonstrators to begin protesting the fairness of the Dec. 4 parliamentary elections. On Thursday, TV Dozhd — an Internet channel that has become a popular source of news — received a letter from a Moscow prosecutor asking how the organization had paid for coverage of the big December protests. The investigation was requested by a Duma deputy wondering whether U.S. money was involved. Responding to attacks McFaul has avoided commenting publicly but has responded by using Twitter and his blog to speak directly to the Russian people. After a columnist on the government RT television Web site proclaimed that Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright had ordered McFaul to groom revolutionaries in Russia —


Genome news flash: We’re all a little bit broken

will help especially in determining whether newly discovered mutations are likely to cause disease or are probably “benign.” As biologists come to understand better how genes interact with one another in complex networks, they may be able to discover how much of what makes each of us unique is a product of what we lack, and not just what we have. What the researchers did in the new study is carefully read a book — an individual’s genome — in which some of the sentences — a single gene — have suffered a typographical catastrophe. Words have been changed, their order changed, or whole phrases have been dropped. Whatever the cause, the result is a sentence that no longer makes sense. In genetic terms, these are “loss-of-function variants.” Most of the time this isn’t a problem. That’s because (with a few exceptions) we get two copies of every gene — one from the mother and the other from the father. If one copy is broken, the other takes over. In the new study, MacArthur and his many collaborators sequenced the genes of 185 people from four regions and ethnicities — Chinese, Japanese, Nigerian and Western European. They repeated and checked their work, filtering out variants that were simply laboratory errors. They ended up with a list of 1,285 loss-of-function variants. The number of genes involved was slightly fewer — 1,035 — because a few of the genes had more than one loss-of-function variant. On further study, the researchers found that there were 253 genes in which both copies were inactivated in at least 1 of the 185 people without obvious effect. And they found that each person in the sample carried about 20 such inactivated genes. What is the function of those genes that we don’t seem to need? For many, that can’t be answered yet. But a look at their structure gave some hints. Expendable genes tend to be ones that have evolved recently. They aren’t ancient ones shared by everything from fungi to oysters to orangutans, and therefore probably essential for life. About 13 percent are involved in smell, which is a sensation necessary for some the survival of some species but not Homo sapiens. The proteins these genes make also don’t interact much with other proteins. That makes sense, because one missing piece in such a network could cause lots of problems and would probably be visible.


Aghan army resorts to tough measures to combat Taliban infiltration

a hard-won improvement from several years ago. A closer look at recruits Training the Afghan army has been a top U.S. priority, and the force stands at 170,000 troops. But after years of rapid growth, defense officials say it’s time to take a closer look at the quality and allegiance of soldiers rather than focusing on recruitment numbers. “As we approach our ceiling, we’re able to be more selective about our soldiers,” Karimi said. He insisted that the policy would not be meant as an affront to Pakistan, but as a means of strengthening the Afghan army. After an infiltrator’s attack last month on French troops north of Kabul, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that his country’s troops would depart a year earlier than expected. The assailant had probably had contact with the Taliban in Pakistan, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet told reporters. Shortly after the incident, the Afghan Defense Ministry sent top Afghan military officials a memo titled “Keeping the Enemy Out of the Army.” The memo highlighted the urgency of the infiltration problem and the need to make changes. Attacks on foreign troops have inflamed tensions between Western trainers and Afghan recruits just as NATO’s commitment to Afghanistan appears to be waning. A report commissioned by the U.S. military said at least 58 Western military personnel were killed in 26 attacks by Afghan soldiers or police between May 2007 and May 2011, when the report was finished.“Such fratricide is fast leading to a crisis of trust between the two forces, if it hasn’t reached this point already,” the report concluded. In Kandahar alone, four rogue Afghan soldiers have killed three American and two Australian soldiers in the past year. Shokor said that in each of those cases, “upon investigation, we found a relationship with Pakistan.” Afghan officials are quick to point out that infiltrators don’t target only Western troops. Dozens of Afghan soldiers, police officers and top military officials have been killed by Taliban infiltrators in recent years, they say. Several months ago, Brig. Gen. Abdul Hamid, the top commander in southern Afghanistan, found an unexploded bomb under his desk. Last spring, a man in an Afghan army uniform opened fire inside the fortified Defense Ministry complex, intending to kill Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak. A senior Pentagon official played down the threat from Afghans with Pakistani relatives. “Our strong sense is that the insider threat isn’t an


appears to be waning. A report commissioned by the U.S. military said at least 58 Western military personnel were killed in 26 attacks by Afghan soldiers or police between May 2007 and May 2011, when the report was finished.“Such fratricide is fast leading to a crisis of trust between the two forces, if it hasn’t reached this point already,” the report concluded. In Kandahar alone, four rogue Afghan soldiers have killed three American and two Australian soldiers in the past year. Shokor said that in each of those cases, “upon investigation, we found a relationship with Pakistan.” Afghan officials are quick to point out that infiltrators don’t target only Western troops. Dozens of Afghan soldiers, police officers and top military officials have been killed by Taliban infiltrators in recent years, they say. Several months ago, Brig. Gen. Abdul Hamid, the top commander in southern Afghanistan, found an unexploded bomb under his desk. Last spring, a man in an Afghan army uniform opened fire inside the fortified Defense Ministry complex, intending to kill Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak. A senior Pentagon official played down the threat from Afghans with Pakistani relatives. “Our strong sense is that the insider threat isn’t an organized effort. Insurgents are probably to blame in some cases, but sometimes it’s simply disaffected members of the ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces]. And it’s worth noting that instances of Afghan-on-Afghan violence inside the ANSF are more frequent than ANSF-on-NATO attacks,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The Afghan army has ramped up its counterintelligence operations over the past year. While its traditional vetting process required enlistees to get letters of endorsement from village elders and district governors, the army now pays increased attention to soldiers after they have been admitted into the armed forces, particularly when they are on leave and subject to Taliban threats. “We now have a special reconnaissance group to investigate what soldiers do on leave,” Hamid said. Afghan officials have for years been weighing possible solutions to the problem of infiltration. Three years ago the country’s parliament issued a recommendation to the Defense Ministry to root out soldiers with ties to Pakistan, including those with families who own property there. The recommendation was not acted upon at the time, but it reflects the widespread sense among Afghan officials that Pakistan is at the root of their troubles. “It’s all linked to Pakistan,”


Maryland hospitals to share patient data

Maryland’s 46 acute-care hospitals will soon be able to share basic patient information among themselves and with credentialed doctors, a key step that health officials and clinicians say will improve patient care and cut costs. The development, announced at a news conference Friday at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, is being led by the Maryland’s health information exchange, a statewide system that is working to promote the secure electronic sharing of health information among approved doctors’ offices, hospitals and other health organizations. Maryland officials have been among the most aggressive in pushing for the sharing of health information, an important piece of the federal health-care overhaul. Patients have long been frustrated by the inability of doctors at one facility to access records about a visit to another hospital. But changing the process has been slow for a variety of reasons, including reluctance by hospitals and others to exchange information with competitors. The goal is to “help ensure that providers have the right information about the right patient at the right time so we can reduce costs and improve care for all Marylanders,” Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) said in a statement. The level of data available for sharing is rolling out in stages. All of Maryland’s acute-care hospitals are providing basic patient demographic information in real time to the exchange. But it will be 18 to 24 months before the hospitals’ users are fully trained to use the shared data. This includes when any patient in the state is admitted, discharged or transferred, officials said. Eventually, all hospitals would share much more detailed clinical data, such as lab reports, radiology reports (but not images), and clinical documents such as hospital discharge summaries and specialist reports, said Scott Afzal, who heads the arm of the nonprofit Chesapeake Regional Information System for Our Patients (CRISP) that is in charge of running the state’s health information exchange. Four of the five hospitals in Montgomery County already provide the most detailed clinical data to the exchange. But only two — Suburban and Holy Cross — have received the extensive training to allow their users to access patient data from other hospitals, he said. At Suburban, emergency room doctors say the additional information has allowed doctors to improve care. In an interview posted on the CRISP Web site, Barton Leonard, who heads Suburban’s emergency department, said doctors can even access the operation notes


A world away from China, Geng He seeks justice for her dissident husband

and torture. Gao was arrested in August 2006, convicted of inciting subversion of state power, sentenced that December to a three-year prison term, but was instead given five years of probation and released. He was taken into custody again in 2007 for 50 days, during which Gao says he was beaten with electrified batons until his skin was black and swollen. (In response to petitions from the United Nations, the Chinese government denied ordering enforced disappearances or taking coercive measures against Gao; the Chinese Embassy did not respond to requests for comment on this article.) That October, Geng related the family’s hopeless situation to a sympathetic fruit vendor near their home. The next day, the vendor passed along a note while giving Geng change. It included detailed instructions for initiating a two-week-long escape for Geng and her children, who would be guided by a succession of anonymous agents. She and her husband agreed that it would be impossible for Gao to go. He was watched too closely. In January 2009, she and her children were escorted to a train station, where they received tickets, fake IDs, a cellphone and several SIM cards from an unidentified man. They boarded a train for two days and nights. Upon arriving in a southern province of China, they received a phone call and further instructions, which set in motion a series of rides across the porous, mountainous border. Throughout the journey, Geng trusted her helpers to lead her in the right direction. Gao was arrested again in February 2009, reappeared in March 2010 and spoke to his wife on the phone for the last time that April. He was relieved that his family members had sought asylum in the United States and settled in northern California, where they relied on savings, food stamps and loans from friends while Geng began learning English. Gao disappeared again that month and has not been heard from since. In December, China announced that Gao had violated his parole — even though he had disappeared and was presumed to be in custody — and would spend the next three years in prison. * * * Geng He (pronounced “Gung Huh”) tells this story Sunday, through an interpreter, over a dinner of steamed rice and stir-fried green beans at a Chinese restaurant in Rockville. Her eyes are wet, and her face is twisted into a frown. She landed at Dulles


Correspondent Anthony Shadid, 43, dies in Syria

Anthony Shadid, one of the most incisive and honored foreign correspondents of his generation, died Thursday in Syria, where he was covering the armed insurrection against the government for his newspaper, the New York Times. Shadid, 43, won two Pulitzer Prizes for his lyrical and poignant dispatches from Iraq, which he covered extensively for The Washington Post before and after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Shadid, a fluent Arabic speaker, roamed broadly across the Arab world, reporting with precision, nuance and depth from the West Bank, Lebanon, Libya and other troubled and peaceful realms in the region. The apparent cause of death was an asthma attack — an ironic end for a man who placed himself in the path of danger countless times. Shadid was shot in the shoulder while in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Easter Sunday in 2002; he and several of his New York Times colleagues were arrested, detained and treated roughly by forces loyal to Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi last year. “He changed the way we saw Iraq, Egypt, Syria over the last, crucial decade,” said Phil Bennett, the former managing editor of The Post who worked closely with Shadid. “There is no one to replace him.” The Times said Shadid had been reporting in Syria for a week on rebels battling the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Tyler Hicks, a Times photographer who was accompanying Shadid, said the reporter had asthma and carried medication with him. Shadid began to exhibit symptoms early Thursday, and they escalated into what became a fatal attack, according to Hicks’s account, as quoted by the Times. The two men had entered the country last week in defiance of a Syrian ban on Western reporters, sneaking in at night under barbed wire, according to the Times. They were met by guides on horseback, and Shadid apparently had an adverse reaction to the horses. A week later, as they made their way out, he reacted to the horses again. “I stood next to him and asked if he was okay, and then he collapsed,” Hicks said. Hicks attempted to revive his colleague and then carried him across the border into Turkey, the newspaper said. The news of Shadid’s death sent shock waves through newsrooms in New York, Boston and Washington, where journalists who had worked with Shadid at those cities’ three leading newspapers recalled a colleague of deep intellect, enormous generosity


Colleagues recall Shadid as extraordinary reporter, kind friend

Here are some reactions from colleagues to the death of Anthony Shadid, the Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent who brought the Middle East alive on the pages of the Boston Globe, Washington Post and New York Times. Shadid died in Syria while reporting for the New York Times. Phil Bennett, former Washington Post managing editor It was about 3 a.m. in Washington in March 2003, on the eve of the war in Iraq, when Anthony called me at home. We’d ordered The Post’s correspondents out of Baghdad. “I know you might fire me,” he said. “But I’m not leaving. I’ve been preparing for this my entire career.” And so over the next three weeks, he stayed. His work then was the best run of journalism I’ve seen in 30 years; I don’t expect to see better. In those few days, Anthony somehow saw, through the simple accumulation of voices and details and his own quiet presence, the soul of Iraq and Iraqis in a way that anticipated what would follow: the confusion, hope, disillusion, distrust, sadness, heroism, futility and cruelty. The entire history of a misunderstanding, unfolding even before it could be fully understood. How could he possibly have been prepared? Even in the most dire circumstances, with his life at risk, Anthony had the ability to match the big idea — about history, identity, faith, language — with the small things he could see in front of him, and the people around him. His courage never seemed fearless; he seemed determined to report and write through his fear. He lived as a witness. Anthony wrote many great stories over the last decade. Nobody captured the language and emotions and roots of change in the Middle East with the same care, wisdom and feeling for the bridge between the past and present. He had come full circle in recent years, back to the Lebanon of his grandparents, of his wife Nada, restoring the Shadid family home in the town of Marjayoun. In his memoir of that project, not yet published, he wrote about laboring to build something beautiful as an antidote to violence and war: “Cultures that may seem as durable as stone can break like glass, leaving all the things that held them together unattended. I believe that the craftsman, the artist, the cook, and the silversmith are peacemakers. They instill grace; they lull the world to calm.” David Hoffman, former


love and gratitude toward his wife, Nada. Laila had decided she wanted to be a writer like her dad and was learning Arabic. In Baghdad, I complimented him on a beautiful piece he told of the loss of life in Iraq. He followed a mother and her family on the search for her missing son. The story took us from that first glimpse when she recognized her son among the pictures of unidentified corpses flashing on a screen at the Baghdad morgue to the burial in Najaf in southern Iraq. He wrote back “that piece really took it out of me. I broke down at the cemetery. I felt like I knew him in the end, and I just sat staring, wondering why so many people had to die, and for what.” That was Anthony. Kevin Sullivan, former Post foreign correspondent, now Sunday and Features editor In late July 2003, as I was preparing to leave The Post’s Baghdad bureau after a summer assignment there, a brief notice in a local Iraqi paper caught my eye. It was about a man who had been forced by his fellow villagers to kill his own son because he was suspected of being an informant for the U.S. military. It was an extraordinary story, if true, but I doubted that I would be able to do it justice. In a village where they were killing people for talking to Americans, I didn’t imagine I would stand a chance of getting to the truth. But I knew who would. I handed the paper to my colleague Anthony Shadid. With his flawless Arabic, his easy familiarity with the ways of Iraq and his titanium nerves, Anthony was the perfect person to determine just what had happened. And a few days later, on Aug. 1, his story appeared on the front page of The Washington Post. It was lyrical and powerful as we had all come to routinely expect from Anthony. Not only did he find Salem, the father, but the man who had just shot his eldest son to death opened up and explained himself to Anthony. Here’s what he wrote: “ ‘I have the heart of a father, and he’s my son,’ Salem said. ‘Even the prophet Abraham didn’t have to kill his son.’ He dragged on a cigarette. His eyes glimmered with the faint trace of tears. ‘There was no other choice,’ he


Conductor Herbert Blomstedt lets the music speak for itself

Herbert Blomstedt manages to be, at once, one of the best conductors in the world and one of the music world’s best-kept secrets. Sure, he’s headed some of the world’s leading orchestras (the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig), but he has none of the mystique, or even name recognition, of a Riccardo Muti or Claudio Abbado. He’s unflashy, and rather unromantic. He just makes music. And, as Blomstedt showed at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra on Thursday night, he makes it with such integrity and straightforwardness and love that for those in the know, it’s a joy to watch him. Yet it’s hard to get people to be in-the-know if your offering is a rather unspectacular midwinter concert without even a big-name soloist to lure the public. Blomstedt’s program bracketed the 19th century: At the beginning was Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, which is not traditionally considered one of the highlights of the composer’s “mighty nine”; and at the end was Strauss’s “Ein Heldenleben,” which is flashy in its way but not particularly unusual orchestral fare. No concerto, no special attraction, no crowd-pleaser: just a slender, 85-year-old, American-born Swede with thick, gray hair, moving with the back-locked stiffness that some musicians acquire with age, taking the podium and opening the Beethoven so slowly and unremarkably that it — like him — was deceptively colorless. It wasn’t, of course, colorless, because Beethoven isn’t colorless, and this performance offered Beethoven’s vivid essence. Blomstedt’s failing as a conductor — and I say “failing” with tongue planted firmly in cheek — is that he’s not an entertainer in the sense that, although he can be very entertaining, he has no interest in showcasing himself. He doesn’t signal from the start that something special is going to happen, and he doesn’t telegraph his feelings to the audience. What happens, instead, is an honest act of devotion: a performance in which every drop of the music is manifested. Details emerge that you are seldom aware of — phrases bursting out like popcorn kernels in the buildup to the recapitulation of the first movement or the tangy, crunchy contrasts between the sounds of different instruments as they pass around a single tune at the end of the second movement — all in the course of a narrative told so clearly, there’s never a doubt where in the piece you are. There’s a widespread


Post office closings may increase rural isolation, economic disparity

divided on how to address the Postal Service’s woes. “When you deal with billions, there’s nothing that you should ignore, even if it’s only a couple percentage points of your total operating costs,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said. But for many in the communities where post offices are slated to close, doing business online is not an easy option. Trinchera, Colo., a rural town near the New Mexico state line, lacks wired broadband. Rancher Carlos Sandoval said he relies on the post office for everything except groceries. He said he uses a computer only when he visits his daughter “in town” — Trinidad, Colo., about 15 miles from his home. Like Sandoval, about a third of the 110 people served by the Trinchera post office have no Internet access, according to Gene Caldwell. The 82-year-old began mustering statistics last fall to share with postal officials at a community meeting. Many residents live as many as 50 miles from the nearest town, and to get there, they travel mostly on unpaved roads, Caldwell said. They rely on the Postal Service for livestock vaccinations and medicines, notices of livestock sales, trade newspapers and other items. Nationwide, about 1.7 million people live near post offices slated for closure in areas with limited or no broadband Internet service. “We’re targeting the wrong people,” said Mark Strong, president of the National League of Postmasters. “We probably should have taken a look to see if first of all they have Internet accessibility in their communities.” Digital divide Internet access has spread the way most businesses expand: to areas more densely populated with people willing to pay for the service. Today, rural areas remain less connected to the Internet than urban populations across every technology type, according to Commerce Department data. Nearly 90 percent of the 24 million Americans without wired broadband access live in rural areas. “There’s still a real digital divide between rural and urban America,” said Ed Luttrell, head of the National Grange, which represents rural areas. “You look at rural folks, they tend to rely much more heavily on the Postal Service for delivery of a wide variety of necessities.” Reuters gauged communities’ Internet connectivity by comparing their locations with a national map of wired broadband availability that’s compiled by the Commerce Department. Areas were identified that met the most basic government threshold of 768 kilobyte per-second-download speed, which corresponds roughly to the


Anthony Shadid, the ‘most gifted foreign correspondent in a generation’

Eloquent and prescient. Graceful and gripping. His death on Thursday, from an apparent asthma attack while on a reporting trip in Syria, has deprived American journalism of its most gifted foreign correspondent in a generation. His coverage of the Middle East — from Iraq, Lebanon, Libya and beyond — was, simply, the best. He set the standard. If you cared about the region, if you really wanted to understand what was going on, you read Anthony. If you were in his presence, as I was — we were fellow correspondents and housemates in Baghdad — you watched his performances with the awe usually reserved for basketball stars and violin virtuosos. His colleagues got it. He won two Pulitzer Prizes in a six-year span. His first, in 2004, was a result, according to the Pulitzer board, of “his extraordinary ability to capture, at personal peril, the voices and emotions of Iraqis as their country was invaded, their leader toppled and their way of life upended.” He found humanity amid the rubble, compassion in the tableau of violence. He wrote about war by focusing on people, with intimate detail, revealing their lives in elegiac prose. Anthony never let the plaudits go to his head. He could have had his choice of cushy assignments in Europe or the United States. He could have become a successful commentator or analyst. But his heart was in the Middle East — and in the story. He kept going out to report — to talk to people, to observe, to understand. Sometimes, it involved great personal peril — he stayed in Baghdad through the shock-and-awe bombing campaign, he traveled through southern Lebanon during the 2006 war and Israeli invasion, and he was kidnapped in Libya with three other New York Times journalists — but he was no adrenaline junkie. He did it because he wanted to know what was really happening. And that couldn’t be gleaned from a distance. During the U.S. invasion of Baghdad, when other journalists tried to figure out what was going on from their hotel rooms, Anthony sneaked into the streets and talked to Iraqis. His dispatches were an order of magnitude more illuminating. His knowledge of Arabic also put him ahead of the pack. Everyone assumed he picked it up as a child, as the son of second-generation Lebanese Americans. But English was the language of his home in Oklahoma. He learned


Cirque de la Symphonie brings high-flying classics to the Kennedy Center

interesting and unique,” Streltsov says. Nearly 300 performances later, the group will make its debut at the Kennedy Center (it has played 11 shows with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Strathmore Music Center in Rockville — seven of them sellouts). Krajewski, who has conducted Cirque de la Symphonie throughout its six-year history, says he has often heard comments on the music from people leaving the shows. “They’re awed by hearing a live orchestra, which probably many people have never experienced before,” he says. “We hear comments like, ‘Can you get recordings of this music?’ ” It may help that the music tends to be familiar. “When we started this program, we realized that the best way to go was to go with the masterpiece classics,” Streltsov says. Initially, Krajewski says: “I myself was pretty nervous, because these performers are doing some incredible things, and sometimes some dangerous things. There was all this stuff going on behind me, and I was thinking: ‘I hope there’s no accidents. I hope everyone safe. I hope we don’t have a disaster here.’ But I soon realized that the performers are very professional and are very much in control of what they’re doing, so I’ve learned to just relax and let them do what they do.” Streltsov, for example, grew up in a Russian circus family, though he later found that he preferred the theatrical presentation over a more traditional circus arena, despite its inherent limitations. “Having only 15 feet of stage from the lip of the stage to the conductor’s podium, that’s a pretty tight spot to have something flying around,” Streltsov says. “So there are some acts that cannot be used unless we’re performing on a big arena.” When the cirque comes to town, the musicians are sometimes as startled as the audiences, Streltsov says, and “we always do at least one rehearsal so they can get it out of their system and concentrate on the music.” By now, Krajewski says, “there are times when I get myself really involved in the music, and almost forget that there’s something else happening. Except every now and then, there will be some guy flying over my head.” Catlin is a freelance writer. Cirque de la Symphonie Conducted by Michael Krajewski. 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. Call 800-444-1324 or visit www.kennedy-center.org/nso.


Lying about receiving a Medal of Honor? It’s shameful — but it shouldn’t be a crime.

wife. It seemed like virtually everything he said about himself after “I am Xavier Alvarez” wasn’t true. He was found out, publicly ridiculed and hounded out of office. Normally, that would be the end of it. However, for local prosecutors, it was not enough to expose Alvarez as a fraud — they decided to make him one of the first people prosecuted under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005. Signed into law by President George W. Bush, the act makes it a crime to falsely claim “to have been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces of the United States.” Across the country, a number of rather pathetic individuals are being prosecuted for parading around in uniforms and pretending to be heroes. The problem with the law they may have broken is not just that it is unnecessary, but that it can be dangerous to criminalize lies. After all, with the power to punish a lie comes the power to define the truth — a risky occupation for any government. After Alvarez was convicted, he challenged the constitutionality of the law, claiming that it violated his First Amendment rights. The federal court of appeals in San Francisco ruled in his favor in two separate opinions. Now the case will go to the Supreme Court, where the Obama administration will argue that the First Amendment does not protect lies as it does true statements. Under this logic, Congress would be able to criminalize statements solely because they are lies, alleging some type of amorphous social harm. The government would become the truth police, determining when fibs become felonies. Lying about military service is a long and dishonorable tradition, standard since the founding of the republic. Some of our greatest colonial heroes were accused of lying about their military records. Gen. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, passed himself off as a “lieutenant general in the king of Prussia’s service” when it appears that he not only had been discharged under a cloud of controversy from the King of Prussia’s service but had achieved only the rank of captain. The Stolen Valor Act criminalizes what many view as a common human impulse. When the issue was raised before the federal appeals court, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski balked at the notion that lies can be crimes in a society saturated


Myong Y. Park, supermarket owner

Myong Y. Park, 64, who was the co-owner of the Capitol Supermarket in Northwest Washington, died Jan. 23 at Washington Hospital Center. She had a stroke, said her son David Park. In 1976, Mrs. Park and her husband opened the Capitol Supermarket, near the intersection of 11th and N streets NW. The store specializes in international foods. Myong Hui Yun was born in Seoul and moved to the Washington area in the early 1970s. She lived in Potomac and was a member of St. Andrew Kim Catholic Church in Olney. Survivors include her husband of 40 years, Joo Soung Park of Potomac; two sons, David Park of New York and Doo Yun Park of Gaithersburg; her mother, Jae Yun of Wheaton; three brothers, Yong Won Yun of Columbia, S.C., and Yong Bok Yun and Yong Kwon Yun, both of North Potomac; three sisters, Myong Kwak of North Potomac, and Myong Jung and Susan Yun, both of Rockville; and a granddaughter. — T. Rees Shapiro


Why higher gas taxes are the right medicine for Maryland

region’s worsening congestion and poor road conditions cost each of us right now: Almost $2,300 a year in wasted gas and extra wear and tear, according to the Road Information Project. Such congestion costs disproportionately fall on the backs of working families and the poor. Nothing is more regressive than severe congestion, lost opportunity and job losses. From a job-creation perspective, we are not just on life support, we are about to flat-line. Already, Maryland faces an uphill battle to lure companies’ headquarters, and Montgomery County has suffered a net loss of jobs in the face of stiff competition from Northern Virginia. Our job losses will continue to mount if employers can’t count on easy access to workers, customers and markets. It doesn’t have to be this way. We have studied our transportation needs for decades and know exactly what will ease our traffic woes. We simply need to make those investments. Each year, local jurisdictions submit a list of their top transportation priorities to the state for construction funding. This year, two key transit projects top the list for Montgomery County: The Corridor Cities Transitway and the Purple Line, followed by a number of road and intersection improvements that would make a real difference in relieving traffic. However, none of these projects will move forward — not now, not ever — without a major increase in transportation funding. Of course, we also must protect transportation funds from being “raided,” and the governor is supporting legislation to this effect. Finally, several major economic development projects — including new science and technology centers in the Interstate 270 corridor and community revitalization projects in the East County — cannot move forward without the specific transportation improvements the governor’s proposal would help fund. The opportunity costs in terms of our future employment and tax base would be almost too huge to measure, putting at risk our ability to support good schools and other priorities. A good transportation system is just as important to our economy as a healthy circulatory system is to our bodies. Right now we have a bad case of clogged arteries. Maryland legislators need to step up and support this proven life-saving tre The writer, Montgomery County executive from 1994 to 2006, is chairman of the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance. More Local Opinions: Gary Newton: Goose-proofing the reflecting pool Douglas Weil: One-gun-a-month’s success Ruth Hammond: Scenes from an after-midnight commute