Boisterous, novel effects on Prokofiev by Baltimore Symphony programmer

São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop, conductor. Prokofiev: Scythian Suite, Op. 20; Autumn — Symphonic Sketch, Op. 8; Symphony, No. 3, Op 44. (Courtesy of Naxos) Prokofiev: Scythian Suite, Op. 2 Autumn — Symphonic Sketch, Op. 8; Symphony, No. 3, Op 44. São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop, conductor. Naxos 8.573452 Prokofiev: Scythian Suite, Op. 20; Autumn — Symphonic Sketch, Op. 8; Symphony, No. 3, Op 44. São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop, conductor. Naxos 8.573452 Local audiences have long known Marin Alsop’s special way with Russian music, which has figured prominently in Baltimore Symphony programming throughout her tenure. She is now midway through a project with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra recording a Sergei Prokofiev cycle for Naxos Records. Four of the seven symphonies already have appeared, along with other orchestral pieces. The São Paulo Symphony was founded 61 years ago and, despite its relative youth among internationally acclaimed orchestras, is a top-flight ensemble. Alsop’s regular association with it goes back several seasons and she now serves as its music director. This new recording of two Prokofiev blockbusters, along with a less familiar early piece, suggests that the relationship between Alsop and the orchestra is an extraordinarily happy one. Both of the big pieces on the disc were the result of failures. The Third Symphony is a recycling of music for an opera never staged during Prokofiev’s lifetime and the “Scythian Suite” incorporates music from a ballet written for but ultimately rejected by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. But what hadn’t worked as opera or ballet ultimately succeeded in purely orchestral garb, particularly when swathed in colors as sumptuous and vivid as Prokofiev’s. “Scythian Suite” uses a huge orchestra with an enormous percussion section to create boisterous and novel effects. Alsop and her musicians seem to love every minute of it, skillfully maintaining the energy of Prokofiev’s mechanistic rhythms without letting them become flat-footed. There’s nothing earthbound about this performance, because the music’s gigantism is consistently held aloft. Imagine the huge balloons of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade bobbing their way along St. Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect. If Alsop could be said to have a weakness as a conductor, it might be her tendency on occasion to over-conduct, the sort of micromanagement that reins in the musicians rather than letting them ride the musical flow. Thankfully, there’s none of that on this recording. The Third Symphony’s tortuous musical narrative blossoms naturally


Montgomery is staying in the booze business

Kentucky bourbon. (John Sommers II/Reuters) In a move that should be disappointing to taxpayers, Montgomery County is staying in the liquor business. The county council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Liquor Control will recommend that the county limit privatization of alcohol sales to wholesale distribution of specialty beer and wine. That was the fourth of five options provided in an Office of Legislative Oversight report and just one step up from doing nothing. According to the office’s estimates, full privatization would be more than revenue neutral; it would generate an additional $8 million annually for the general fund. No one believes the county’s monopoly will ever serve our residents as efficiently and effectively as private businesses would. Chief Administrative Officer Timothy L. Firestine correctly noted that the county will continue to compete with private beer and wine sellers (who pay taxes) and has high operating costs and low profits compared with other control states, including Virginia and Pennsylvania, for which he offered no remedies. Several years ago, I did an analysis of the Department of Liquor Control’s balance sheet and found high inventory costs. I reported my findings to County Executive Isiah Leggett’s (D) Reform Commission and the Department of Liquor Control. Not much has changed. I didn’t know then that these high inventory costs were in part because of poor inventory controls that let drivers fraudulently sell beer off the back of their trucks. That was discovered just a month after an internal audit gave the Department of Liquor Control a clean bill of health on its internal controls. The Office of Legislative Oversight report noted that licensees have problems with wholesale operations, product availability, high wholesale prices and the control structure. The Ad Hoc Committee on Liquor Control’s proposed solution only partially addresses these issues. Further, as long as the county stays in the booze business, its regulation and enforcement of liquor laws will be seen as a conflict of interest by licensees and the public. Taxpayers have another beef: We’ve been bankrolling this enterprise’s above-average salaries and benefits. In return, we get substandard profits, according to Firestine ($21 million last year). Even that’s a stretch. The profits seem to be overstated because some costs are not included. The Office of Legislative Oversight estimates that privatization would yield one-time proceeds of $66 million to $76 million. That’s enough to avoid busting the charter limit on property tax increases next


How the Chattanooga shooting unfolded

Here's what you need to know about Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the gunman who opened fire at two military facilities in Tenn., killing four Marines. CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. The car’s top was down, and the driver, Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, was carrying at least two long guns and a handgun. He never left the vehicle. Instead, Abdulazeez pulled the vehicle parallel to an Armed Forces Career Center, threw it in reverse and began shooting out the passenger side as he accelerated backward. The recruitment center is a glass-fronted office embossed with the different insignia of the services. It’s sandwiched between a cellphone store and an Italian restaurant. Abdulazeez shot more than 25 rounds in an initial salvo, spattering four floor-to-ceiling windows with loosely grouped shots. He then jolted to a stop, probably to use another weapon or reload. The second group of shots — about 30 — is centered on the door to the recruitment center. What he apparently didn’t know was that the military had installed bulletproof glass in recent years as a security measure, according to a law enforcement official who described the sequence of events on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. The bullet strikes have since been marked by law enforcement, and they span the length of the military center, aside from a few untouched windows in the middle of the two bullet concentrations. With the barrage of shots, the Chattanooga police radio started to “go crazy,” the official said. After the shooting at a Chattanooga, Tenn., U.S. military recruitment center, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said security at military recruiting and reserve centers will be reviewed. The Washington Post's Dan Lamothe describes previous attacks at military recruiting centers and why they are vulnerable targets. But the shooting was over almost as quickly as it began, and Abdulazeez was gone, headed up Route 153 North to his second target, a naval reserve center seven miles away. He arrived about 11 a.m. Abdulazeez drove the Mustang through a green chain-link fence that provides remote entry to the grounds of the Navy Operational Support Center Chattanooga. There was no guard at the fence. Abdulazeez got out of the car and entered the main building — commonly called the drill center — on foot. The police were in pursuit. They exchanged gunfire, Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher said at a Friday


D.C.’s hurdles for the unemployed

Regarding Catherine Rampell’s July 14 op-ed column, “Who can get workers off the sidelines?”: The problem is especially acute here in the District, where unemployment is low but the labor pool is circumscribed by security clearance requirements and preferences in addition to pressures to hire military veterans. I went to a job fair at a major defense/intelligence contractor, and, after the company tour and the coffee and cookies, everyone who did not have an active security clearance was ordered to leave. Nearly all the women were disqualified, just like that. Some had clearances that had lapsed because of time taken off to care for children or elderly parents. These patterns combine to limit employment opportunities for talented members of the workforce. Their loss is Trader Joe’s gain. Tracey A. Johnstone, Chevy Chase


The only real danger of marijuana is its prohibition

Regarding the July 12 editorial “Weeding out synthetic drugs”: The use of so-called synthetic marijuana is an unintended side effect of the war on natural marijuana. Consumers are turning to potentially toxic drugs, made in China and sold as research chemicals before being repackaged as incense for retail sale in the United States. A punitive criminal justice system incentivizes use. These chemicals cannot be detected by standard drug tests. Some people use synthetic drugs to escape detection. Cracking down on retail sales will drive users to the Internet, where dangerous synthetic highs are readily available. A better solution is to legalize retail marijuana sales and stop drug testing for marijuana. Taxing and regulating marijuana would eliminate the demand for synthetics, provide consumers with a safer alternative to alcohol and close the gateway to hard drugs by taking marijuana distribution out of the hands of criminals. Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana prohibition is deadly. Robert Sharpe, Arlington The writer is policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy.


She was a quiet commercial lawyer. Then China turned against her.

do their jobs in implementing the rule of law.” But the authorities used the train station incident against Wang. “The fact that she has this conviction, even as dodgy as it is, makes her a target,” Pils said. When the state commentary appeared, Wang and her colleagues knew it was a sign of something bad to come. On July 8, Wang saw off her husband, human rights activist Bao Longjun, and their 16-year-old son, Bao Zhuoxuan, at the airport. They were heading to Australia, where the teenager was set to go to school. That night at her home, the electricity went off and the Internet connection went down suddenly at about 3 a.m., she wrote in a text message to a group of fellow lawyers. Then she heard the sound of someone picking the lock on the door. “I looked outside through the peephole but it was all dark. Some people were speaking in low voices but I couldn’t hear them clearly,” she texted. “Neither my husband nor my son picked up their phones.” It turned out that they had been arrested at the airport. When human rights activists tried to call Wang after receiving her texts, she didn’t answer. Wang and Bao have been in detention since, although their son was released into the care of his aunt, but not before his passport was confiscated. Sensing that she was likely to be picked up, Wang had said last month that her work meant that “many of the rich and powerful bear a grudge against me.” “The truth cannot be long hidden,” she wrote in a statement responding to the Xinhua commentary. “I believe that during this time of enlightenment and rapid development of Internet and media, any shameful attempt to smear me is doomed to fail.” Authorities appear to be trying to make sure that doesn’t happen. Searches for “lawyer Wang Yu” and “rights defense lawyers” have been blocked on Weibo, and the only comments about Wang’s case have been highly negative ones. “Such a bad person should have been executed long ago,” said one, “and those lawyers who wrote nice things about her aren’t any good, either.” Xu Yangjingjing contributed to this report. Read more: This Chinese feminist wants to be the country’s first openly lesbian lawyer, and police harassment won’t stop her China’s new crackdown on civil rights Proposed Chinese security laws rattle U.S. and European businesses


Alzheimer’s scientists to meet in D.C. amid signs of progress for treatment

More than 4,000 scientists from around the world will gather in Washington this week to share the latest findings and ideas on Alzheimer’s disease, with some saying that the odds of finding effective treatments look promising even as an aging society increases the urgency of finding a cure. The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, which runs from Sunday through Thursday, is expected to highlight a number of recent trends in the field. Among them is a search for inexpensive, noninvasive diagnostic tools that would allow doctors to determine whether a person’s brain has begun to undergo changes that will later lead to cognitive impairment, memory lapses and other symptoms of dementia. Researchers are also more aware that the disease’s complexities suggest that the way forward will involve multi-pronged interventions, not a silver bullet. And a growing body of evidence also suggests that those interventions will not just involve taking medications, but embracing changes in lifestyle, such as diet, sleep habits and physical exercise. What’s more, researchers more than ever understand that Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias pose different degrees of risks for different groups of people, such as women and minorities, and may even develop in their bodies in different ways. Researchers are devoting more time to exploring the role that gender and race might play in developing dementia and the best treatments. Several leading scientists say the field has matured to the point that the possibility of identifying more effective ways to detect the disease in its early stages and treat, delay or prevent it seems less far-fetched — even as they also say that their work remains relatively underfunded compared to other diseases such as heart disease, cancer or HIV/AIDS. “This is a very important time in Alzheimer’s disease research. I think the tide is really shifting now in terms of developing new types of research as well as new treatments,” said Nancy J. Donovan, an associate psychiatrist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Advances in the field now allow doctors and researchers to analyze dementia-related changes in the brain years before symptoms appear, she said. “To me, that is the most exciting thing going on in Alzheimer’s research right now.” More than 5 million people are living with Alzheimer’s, a number expected to increase to 13.5 million by 2050. As the disease grows more prevalent, its financial impact is also expected to soar. Alzheimer’s and other dementias


Yoichiro Nambu, physicist who won Nobel Prize in 2008, dies at 94

theory in 1965 to describe how protons and neutrons are bound together in the nucleus of an atom. “He’s always been way ahead of his time,” Cronin, his Chicago colleague, said in 1994, “to the point where what he found was thought to be discovered by other people.” The Standard Model of particle physics has been used to describe three of the four fundamental forces of nature: strong, weak and electromagnetic. The fourth force is gravity. In addition to his other work, Dr. Nambu was considered a seminal thinker in the formulation of string theory. A still-developing field, string theory seeks to describe the composition of elementary materials in terms of a subatomic object known as a string. Some experts believe that advances in string theory may lead to a grand unification theory, explaining all of the fundamental forces of nature. Yoichiro Nambu was born Jan. 18, 1921, in Tokyo. His father was a teacher. Dr. Nambu grew up in rural Japan, and his childhood hero was inventor Thomas Edison. After receiving a master’s degree in physics from the University of Tokyo in 1942, he entered the Japanese army and worked at a radar laboratory during World War II. He survived the U.S. firebombing of Tokyo during the war. While teaching at a university in Osaka, Dr. Nambu received a doctorate in physics from the University of Tokyo in 1952. That year, he was invited to the United States by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who ran the U.S. nuclear program that produced the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. While in residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., Dr. Nambu met Albert Einstein. In 1954, Dr. Nambu became a researcher at the University of Chicago and, four years later, a full professor. He became a U.S. citizen in 1970 and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among his many awards, he received the National Medal of Science in 1982. Survivors include his wife since 1945, Chieko Hida; a son; and a sister. When he won the Nobel Prize, Dr. Nambu was asked what advice he would offer students interested in science. “Think independently and think all the time,” he said. “I like to tackle a problem first by myself, and then look up somebody’s answer, if there is one.”


The scariest thing about synthetic drugs is everything that’s unknown

let her take his blood pressure and prick his finger to test his blood-sugar level. He walked to her supervisor’s vehicle, a red Chevrolet Tahoe, and sat on the back bumper, the police officer at his side. “Did you do any drugs tonight?” Lewis asked. “K2?” The man, in his mid-30s, told her he had smoked a full pack of a synthetic drug called Bizarro. He then fought her and others’ attempts to get him on a stretcher, and then he lay on his back in the middle of the street. “They can go from half asleep to combative and raging,” said Holly O’Byrne, a paramedic who said some patients have been found nearly unconscious, and one recently tried to bite off a colleague’s finger. “The drug is a game changer.” The worst part of the epidemic, officials say, is that the concoctions appear to keep changing. Several said they have seen signs recently of a more dangerous offering known as Trainwreck that combines synthetic drugs with heroin and PCP. First responders say they suspect some users are mixing the synthetics with prescription mental-health medications. True effect is unknown Data obtained by The Washington Post show that emergency room visits for synthetic cannabinoids — commonly referred to on the street by such names as K2, Spice, Scooby Snax and Bizarro — have grown steadily since 2013. Then came June, when D.C. paramedics recorded 439 ambulance trips — roughly 15 per day — representing more than eight times the number of emergency room visits made for synthetic drugs during the same period last year. So far in July, ambulances have carried suspected synthetic drug users to the hospital 149 times, and that number is expected to rise. On the most recent date of data collection — July 12 — District ambulances picked up 22 people believed to have used the drugs. The problem appears less acute in the District’s suburbs, officials say, though Montgomery County officials reported a potential link between synthetic drug use and violent crime and suicide. DEA officials say the prevalence — and deadliness — of the drugs have fluctuated for years across the country. In the past, the drugs appeared designed to provide a legal high that would subvert state bans on marijuana while inducing similar effects. As laws were passed to target the new chemicals, manufacturers altered their products to stay one step ahead. It has


China’s irrepressible lawyers

Chinese President Xi Jinping on July 10. (Brics /Sco Photohost / Ria Novosti / Pool/European Pressphoto Agency) Teng Biao is a human rights lawyer and a visiting fellow at New York University’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute. At around 3 a.m. on July 9, human rights lawyer Wang Yu was abducted from her home in Beijing. Her husband, rights defender Bao Longjun, was also disappeared. Wang is renowned in China: She represented Cao Shunli, who died after being denied medical treatment while in custody for her human rights activism; Ilham Tohti, a Uigher scholar unjustly sentenced to life in prison; and protest organizer Wu Gan. In the days since Wang’s arrest, dozens of human rights lawyers and others have been abducted, arrested and disappeared; all told, including those who have been temporarily detained or given warnings, the sweep has targeted more than 200 people in 24 provinces. This is the biggest crackdown on lawyers in China since the legal system was reestablished in 1980 after the Cultural Revolution. It is also just part of the purge that President Xi Jinping has carried out against civil society since he came to power in late 2012. Those hit by this comprehensive suppression have included political dissidents, nongovernmental organizations, government petitioners, underground churches, Internet users, news organizations and universities. More than 1,500 rights defenders have been arrested or thrown into jail, including well-known lawyers Xu Zhiyong, Pu Zhiqiang and Tang Jingling. But this repression has not succeeded at forcing the lawyers into retreat. In the courts, on the Internet and in the streets, China’s human rights lawyers remain active. Since the rights defense movement emerged in 2003, their numbers have grown from dozens to a thousand. They use the legal system to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens, and wield the Internet and media to expose abuses of power and the justice system. There is little doubt that they have become one of the most spirited and active civil forces in China. As professionals with a thorough understanding of the law and a deep familiarity with political and social conditions, rights lawyers have, case by case, brought together a disparate range of social groups: the victims of forced housing demolitions, legal injustice, forced abortion policies, pollution and poisoned foods and medication; persecuted Christians and Falun Gong practitioners; prisoners of conscience; and many others. China’s rights lawyers are the link between them all. The Chinese


Report: U.S. airstrike kills eight Afghan soldiers

Afghan National Army soldiers keep watch at a checkpoint ahead of Eid celebrations, on the outskirts of Jalalabad city in Nangarhar province on July 15. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images) KABUL — The assault unfolded around 7 a.m., striking an Afghan National Army outpost in Logar province, south of the capital, Kabul. The area, in the province’s Baraki Barak district, is thought to be a stronghold of Taliban insurgents, said Halim Fedayee, the provincial governor. A U.S. Apache helicopter struck the post, he said. “It seems that the coalition made a mistake in coordinating the air raid,” Fedayee said in a telephone interview. A U.S military spokesman in Kabul said that the military was looking into the report and that he could not provide details or the circumstances of what happened. “We are aware of an incident involving U.S. forces in Logar province this morning, 20 July,” said Army Col. Brian Tribus, the spokesman. “This incident is under investigation.” Logar’s police chief, Mohammad Dawood Ahmadi, said eight soldiers were killed in the attack, although other local media reports put the death toll as high as 14. Five soldiers were also wounded, Ahmadi said. Monday’s incident was the second friendly-fire attack on Afghan soldiers in Logar province since early last year. In March 2014, an American air assault killed five Afghan soldiers and wounded seven. And in December, a NATO airstrike killed five civilians and wounded six in Logar, days before the U.S.-led military coalition ended its combat mission. In recent weeks, the United States has intensified an air-assault campaign in eastern Afghanistan, targeting not only the Taliban but also forces aligned with the Islamic State. In June, the United States carried out 106 airstrikes, more than twice the number in May, according to U.S. military statistics. Even so, there are far fewer airstrikes being carried out now than in previous years, a reflection of the diminished U.S. military presence. By the end of last year, when most U.S. and international forces withdrew from Afghanistan, there had been 2,363 airstrikes in the previous 12 months. At the end of June this year, the figure was 305. Although the Obama administration has officially declared America’s longest war over, U.S. forces are permitted to engage in counterterrorism operations and in cases where firepower is essential to protect U.S. forces and the Afghan government. The Afghan army corps commander for the region, Sharif Yaftali, said the


Marine in Chattanooga shooting may have been armed, officials say

Tennessee Highway Patrol officers and the Chattanooga Police Department on Sunday escort a hearse carrying the body of U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, who died Saturday after Thursday’s shooting in Chattanooga. (John Rawlston/AP) CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. Investigators are trying to determine, based on forensics, whether the pistol, a 9mm Glock, was used in an exchange with the shooter, Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, and possibly wounded him, officials said. The standard-issue pistol for military personnel authorized to carry a sidearm is a variant of the 9mm Beretta 92. According to the Marine unit’s commanding officer, Maj. Mike Abrams, Marines are not authorized to carry personally owned firearms while at the support center. An FBI spokesman declined to comment. The shooting has prompted calls to arm military personnel at bases and other facilities, including recruiting centers, in the United States. In the 1990s, the Pentagon restricted who can carry weapons at domestic military facilities, ostensibly to make them safer by allowing only military police to carry weapons in most situations. Investigators probe for a motive behind Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez’s shooting spree that left four Marines and a Navy sailor dead in Tennessee. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called Friday for the Pentagon to do more to protect troops. “Long before the Chattanooga attack, we had been working to clarify a post commander’s authority to allow carrying of personal firearms,” McCain and Thornberry said in a joint statement. “This year’s National Defense Authorization Act will reflect that work. Together, we will direct the Pentagon to end the disconnect between the threats our war fighters and their families face and the tools they have to defend themselves.” Law enforcement officials said they were still sifting through details of Abdulazeez’s life and trying to figure out what specifically led to shootings. Abdulazeez, whose family said he had been suffering from depression, did not have an extensive social-media profile, officials said. A family representative said Monday that the FBI also recovered personal writings from his house that were depressive and contained extremist views, including references to martyrdom. The notes did not appear to be written recently. Four Marines were killed Thursday when Abdulazeez, after ramming his rented Ford Mustang through a gate, headed into the reserve center and began firing. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith,


Woman walking on Monday morning is sexually assaulted by armed man

Surveillance video released by D.C. police shows a person labeled as a “person of interest” in a first-degree armed sexual abuse crime which occurred in the 700 block of 19th Street NE on Monday. A woman walking in Northeast D.C. on Monday morning was sexually assaulted by an armed man, D.C. police said. Police said that the victim was walking on the 700 block of 19th Street NE between 5 and 5:30 a.m. when the man attacked her. That block, which is just south of Benning Road, is the location of Friendship Blow Pierce Junior Academy, an elementary school. Police posted a video online showing a man believed to be involved in the attack, and asked anyone who recognizes him to call 202-727-9099. Related: Police search for robber who tried to sexually assault woman in Northwest D.C. Woman sexually assaulted by stranger in Columbia Heights Woman attacked in daylight near Maryland-D.C. border


Obama’s trip to Ethiopia alarms some human rights activists

Rosa Anyango poses near the ancestral home of President Obama in Nyangoma village in Kogelo, west of Kenya's capital of Nairobi. (Thomas Mukoya/Reuters) President Obama embarks on a trip to Africa on Thursday that includes a controversial stop in Ethiopia, where the authoritarian government has come under sharp international criticism for its handling of political dissent. The Ethiopia visit has raised hackles among human rights advocates who question the administration’s level of concern about the issue as it seeks to advance new security and economic goals on a continent where good governance and democratic freedoms often do not top the priority list. But to others, it reflects the evolution of America’s relationship with the continent, which now offers opportunities for the United States in a way it didn’t decades ago, when it was primarily an aid recipient. “The decision to go to Ethiopia greatly undermines the stated goals and commitments of this administration when it comes to support for human rights, the rule of law and good governance in Africa and beyond,” said Sarah Margon, Human Rights Watch’s Washington director. “It shows that it ranks priorities and shows that security and development often trump human rights concerns, which is a very shortsighted policy approach.” Dozens of journalists left Ethiopia last year, saying they faced threats from the government because of the work they do. In April 2014, the government charged seven bloggers known as Zone 9, as well as three reporters, under the country’s anti-terrorism law. A few months later, the owners of six private publications were charged under Ethiopia’s criminal code. In early July, the government released two of the bloggers and all three of the reporters who had been arrested, along with a journalist who had served roughly four years in prison, though the Committee to Protect Journalists said at least a dozen members of the media remain jailed on terrorism charges. Ethiopia’s ambassador to the United States, Girma Birru, described Obama’s decision to visit his country as “confirmation of the strong relationship that’s been built between the two countries.” Birru said prosecuting journalists was not evidence of human rights violations. “If a journalist, or a teacher, or a professor, or a farmer is supporting these types of groups to instigate violence, then he should be charged,” he said. “But the fact that he is carrying the name of ‘journalist’ should not save him from being charged on


McAuliffe sees no need to arm National Guardsmen — yet

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe wants to beef up patrols at military recruiting stations but sees no need to arm Guardsmen — yet. (Steve Helber/AP) RICHMOND — Gov. Terry McAuliffe said on Tuesday that Virginia state police will beef up patrols around military recruiting stations following attacks on two military facilities in Tennessee, but he will not order National Guardsmen to be armed. McAuliffe (D) said he consulted with Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams of the Virginia National Guard on Monday about the need for extra security. “He said, ‘Right now, governor, don’t arm us,’” McAuliffe said. “‘I will get back to you if the situation changes, but let the civil law enforcement folks handle it. But we’re going to watch this day by day.’” McAuliffe’s comments, made during the “Ask the Governor” radio show on WRVA, came just days after state Sen. Richard Black (R-Loudoun) called on McAuliffe to arm guardsmen. Governors of at least a half-dozen states — Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Indiana — have done so in response to the Tennessee attacks, which killed five. “I urge you to immediately issue arms and ammunition to Virginia’s National Guard and to the Virginia Defense Forces,” Black wrote to McAuliffe this week. “I also ask that you harden State military installations and recruiting stations against ISIS and al Qaeda sympathizers. Soldiers must be armed.” McAuliffe said he has asked Brian Moran, his secretary of public safety and homeland security, to tighten security around recruiting and reserve offices. “I’ve told Secretary Moran that I would like to see increased state police activity around the storefronts and where the recruiting stations are,” McAuliffe said. “But at any moment, we’re willing to take whatever action is [needed] to protect, obviously, our military.”


Local digest: D.C.-area news briefs

THE REGION 3 area residents die in Wyo. plane crash Three Washington-area residents were among four people killed in a plane crash in Wyoming on Saturday. The Associated Press identified the victims of the crash, which killed everyone on board the small craft, as Joyce Bartoo of the District; an Annapolis couple, Diane and Gerald Stubbs, 68 and 69; and pilot Donald Edward Scott, 66, of Denver. Diane Stubbs was Scott’s sister, the AP said, and Bartoo was a friend of his. The Park County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the Cessna 310 was scheduled to fly from Sheridan County Airport in Wyoming to Billings, Mont. Instead, Scott flew to Yellowstone National Park and circled the park from the air. Then he radioed to ask for new flight instructions, the sheriff’s office said. Scott was told to climb to 14,800 feet. He did, but then suddenly turned east and went into a steep descent. THE DISTRICT Police arrest 30 men in prostitution sting D.C. police say they have arrested 30 men in connection with prostitution in Northwest Washington as part of an effort to cut down on the crime. The men, who were charged with solicitation of prostitution, were arrested over the past week, police said. The arrests also come after D.C. Council member Jack Evans recently unveiled a proposal that would allow police to tow and impound a vehicle when they have probable cause to believe it has been used by someone patronizing a prostitute. Evans said it is meant to combat what he called a rise in street prostitution. In their operations, police lured men with fake ads on the Internet and then waited for them to knock on hotel doors. — Dana Hedgpeth, Peter Hermann Stabbings take place in NE Washington A woman has been arrested and charged after three other women and a girl were stabbed in Northeast Washington. Police said Laqueda Ransome, 34, was charged with assault with attempt to kill in the Monday night incident, which followed an argument in the 500 block of 50th Place NE. In an unrelated incident, a 15-year-old male was stabbed Tuesday in the bus bay area of the Brookland Metro station in Northeast, and a 17-year-old was arrested, authorities said. The victim’s injuries were not considered life-threatening, said Metro spokeswoman Sherri Ly.


Questions linger about Trump’s draft deferments during Vietnam War

individual files after the draft ended in 1973 and the military converted to an all-volunteer force. In recent days, Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, and his campaign have said that he received the medical deferment because he had bone spurs in his feet. But rather than clear up all questions about why he did not serve in the military during the Vietnam era, they have given shifting accounts that are at odds with the few remaining documents in his Selective Service file. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a decorated Vietnam war veteran, was not a war hero because he was captured by the North Vietnamese. Trump has given limited information about the nature of his medical ailment from 1968 that left him classified as “1-Y,” or unqualified for duty except in the case of a national emergency. On Saturday, during a campaign stop in Iowa, Trump said he had a bone spur in his foot but couldn’t recall which one. Pressed for details, he told reporters to research his draft records. “You’ll have to look it up,” he said. Later that day, his campaign issued a statement saying he had bone spurs in both of his heels. Trump’s draft board records show that he had another armed forces physical two years earlier, on Dec. 15, 1966. Although the ledger does not spell out the results, he was not granted a medical deferment at the time — indicating that he was found fit for duty. When Trump registered for the draft at 18 in 1964, he had just graduated as a decorated cadet from the New York Military Academy in Cornwall, where he played football and basketball. His draft registration card lists him as being 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds and having birthmarks on both heels. Almost immediately, as he enrolled at Fordham, he was granted the first of his four education deferments. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows businessman and 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump leading the GOP field for Republican voters. In 1968, Trump obtained his medical deferment at a time when the Vietnam War was intensifying and the military needed a wave of new conscripts. To help meet the demand, a national draft lottery was held in December 1969, for the first time since World War II. Men born between 1946 and 1950 were assigned a draft number —


Bear struck by car in upper Frederick County

A bear died after being hit by a car in upper Frederick County on Wednesday morning, officials said. No people were hurt, but Maryland State Police Sgt. Todd Hill said that the bear suffered severe injuries on impact. When a state trooper arrived at the scene of the crash and found the bear on the road, he called the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Wildlife and Heritage Service to euthanize the bear, Hill and Natural Resources Police spokeswoman Candy Thomson said. Hill said the officer shot the injured bear. The crash happened about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday on Sabillasville Road, north of Catoctin Mountain Park. Hill said that black bears are not uncommon in the area, and they are particularly vulnerable to being hit by cars when they wander onto roads on dark nights. Thomson said that an average of 50 bears are killed by cars annually in Maryland. Hill said Wednesday that the bear that was hit was on the small side for female black bears, about 180 pounds. She appeared to be about two or three years old. That’s roughly the teenage years for bears, Hill said — the point at which nearly full-grown bears are pushed away by their parents and sent out to fend for themselves. Those newly independent bears don’t always have the survival skills they need. Other teenage bears have wandered past a Fairfax County playground, lumbered around a Montgomery County park and mesmerized onlookers after climbing a tree at the National Institutes of Health in recent months. “They’re roaming around,” Hill said of bears that age. “Unfortunately, if they roam, they get out on the roads.” In this case, it ended badly. “It was hit pretty much square on.” The car was damaged but the driver was able to drive away, Hill said. Related: Montgomery County street Bear’s Den Lane sees a real live bear Bear wanders past daycare center in Montgomery County


The Baltimore riots, as seen through the eyes of school-aged musicians

Believe in Music student Caleah Pulley, 9, records her original song mentioning the passing of her grandmother in a small studio space at the Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center in Baltimore. (Brittany Greeson/The Washington Post) BALTIMORE — “Check, check.” Giggle. The makeshift studio, with a mirror on one wall and crookedly cut foam boards on another, is home base for the underprivileged kids in Believe in Music, a program in which they learn to write and record their own songs. Tucked into the corner of a dance studio-plus-classroom at the Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center in East Baltimore, it doubles as the office of Kenny Liner, 36, a former professional musician who four years ago founded Believe in Music, part of the Living Classrooms Foundation. The tiny blue room is a distant cry from the recording studio at WTMD-FM, an NPR member station based at Towson University, where Chelsea and eight of her Believe in Music classmates recorded an original song in May alongside members of high-profile Baltimore bands such as Future Islands, Lower Dens and Celebration. The lyrics and melodies that the students created in class were transformed into a song by Baltimore-based musician Cara Satalino. The collaboration, released Wednesday and aptly titled “Believe in Baltimore,” calls for unification and peace in the community. Over drumstick beats, a chorus of youthful voices sings out: This city is where we live This city is where we come from 'Believe in Baltimore' by Living Classrooms students (w/Future Islands & more) Written just weeks after violent protests broke out in April in response to the death of Freddie Gray, who suffered a fatal injury in police custody, the students’ words are laden with equal parts uncertainty (“Who’s gonna save Baltimore?”), anger (“People outside trying to tell us how to live/ They teach us to hate, then ask us to forgive”) and hope (“Unification can show the whole nation/ That we are together by association”). [Gallery: Capturing Baltimore beyond the riots] In the Believe in Music classroom last week, the dozen students in Liner’s class were polishing and rehearsing their lyrics for a new project as they awaited their turn in the studio. One of the “Believe in Baltimore” lead singers, 12-year-old Taniyah Kutcherman, pored over a notebook page with Caleah Pulley, 9. Believe in Music student Marcus Joyner, 11, adds the finishing touches for lyrics to his song. (Brittany Greeson/The Washington Post)


Montgomery County news in brief

creation of two small conference rooms, a rearrangement of the circulation and information desks, the repainting and recarpeting of the children’s picture book area, and upgrades to the public restrooms. The book drop will remain open for returns through Aug. 13. The nearest branches are Rockville Memorial at 21 Maryland Ave. and Aspen Hill at 4407 Aspen Hill Rd., both in Rockville. For information, call 240- 777-0001 or go to www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library. African culture and music festival in Silver Spring Fest Africa 2015 — a free celebration of African music, culture and cuisine — will be open from 1 to 8 p.m. Aug. 8 and 9 at Veterans Plaza in Silver Spring. Jazz vocalist Somi, kora player Amadou Kouyate, storyteller Diane Macklin and hip-hop artist Jay Cube will perform Aug. 8. Malian griot and ngoni player Cheick Hamala Diabate, Ugandan dance hall musician Eddy Kenzo, neo-soul singer Maimouna Youssef (a.k.a. Mumu Fresh) and local Afropop band Elikeh will perform Aug. 9. Other features and activities will include food vendors, children’s games, health and career fairs, and tourism information. For information, go to www.festafricausa.com. Fall prevention program for older adults Stepping On, a fall prevention program for older adults, is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon on seven consecutive Mondays (except Labor Day) beginning Aug. 3. The program will be at the Benjamin Gaither Center, 80A Bureau Dr., Gaithersburg. Participants will do balance and strength exercises for 10 to 15 minutes in each session. Lectures will help attendees with ways to reduce and eliminate falls. The program is recommended for older adults who walk unassisted, use a walker outside only, use a cane, have had a fall or limit activities because of a fear of falling. Participants should live independently. A commitment to all seven classes and possibly a booster session in December is required. Classes are in English. For information, call 240-773-8268 Meeting to review park’s disability features Montgomery Parks is having a meeting on the planned Americans With Disabilities Act improvements to Ayrlawn Park in Bethesda at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the YMCA Ayrlawn Program Center, 5650 Oakmont Ave., Bethesda. Parks staff members will present a revised plan for upgrades to the parking area near the facility’s entrance and ballfield. The construction, part of a larger initiative to bring all county parks into compliance with 2010 revisions to the ADA, should be completed next month. For information, go to www.montgomeryparks.org/about/ada.shtm.


D.C. news in brief

DDOT to hold public workshopson Vision Zero initiative The District Department of Transportation is holding a series of public workshops to promote Vision Zero, an initiative to eliminate all transportation-related deaths and serious injuries in the District by 2024. The program aims to improve pedestrian and bicycle transportation safety through more effective use of data, education, enforcement and engineering. The public can point out — and leave detailed comments about — hazardous areas and intersections on an interactive D.C. map at visionzero.ddot.dc.gov/visionzero. Workshops will be outdoors or at Metro stations. Attendees should look for the Vision Zero tent. The times and locations are: →Tonight, Anacostia Metro station → Saturday, M Street and Wisconsin Avenue NW from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. →Monday, Seventh and H streets NW →Tuesday, Rhode Island Avenue Metro station →Wednesday, Minnesota Avenue Metro station →August 1, Eastern Market Metro station For information, go to www.dcvisionzero.com. For transportation options, go to www.godcgo.com. Parks department will host recreation day at Randall Field The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation is having a free recreation day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Randall Field, South Capital and I streets SW. District residents can participate in swimming, soccer, basketball, softball, moon bounce, dodgeball, horseshoes, sack races, tug of war and other activities. Singers, dancers and other budding artists can perform in a talent search on the park’s mobile stage. The outdoor pool and tennis courts will be open and fully staffed. Other activities including gardening demonstrations. For information, go to dpr.dc.gov. District offers funding for Greening the Fleet project The District Department of the Environment recently announced a $150,000 grant to assist in the completion of Greening the Fleet, the initiative to develop an inventory of vehicles and to guide owners of large fleets in the District to adopt cleaner vehicles with greater fuel efficiency and lower air emissions. Fleets examined through the program will include those belonging to the D.C. and federal governments, WMATA, and universities, as well as private fleets, such as taxi services, UPS, FedEx, Peapod and Car2Go. DDOE hopes to encourage vehicle switch-outs through policies, incentives and new purchasing strategies. The grant is for a project to create specific policy recommendations and is open to nonprofit and faith-based organizations, universities, educational institutions, and private enterprises. Funding is subject to availability. To view the request for applications, go to green.dc.gov/node/1089712. The deadline to apply is


The government’s top workers, Group 2

and Technology Advanced the field of physics known as atomtronics, paving the way for new technologies A 35-year-old physicist at NIST, Campbell is a pioneer in a new field of physics known as atomtronics and has conducted a series of seminal experiments that show its promise and possibilities. Electronics have dramatically changed our lives, making it possible for computers to process information and run everything from automobiles and kitchen appliances to smartphones and spacecraft. Scientists like Campbell are now researching a circuitry system that uses the flow of atoms rather than electrons, which may lead to a wide range of future technological advances. “What we are seeing with her work is the dawn of a new kind of opportunity that is analogous to electronics, but has different kinds of opportunities,” said William Phillips, an NIST fellow and Nobel Prize Laureate in physics. The atomtronic circuit, for example, could be useful in applications such as rotation sensors, improving the functioning of gyroscopes that are used to stabilize spacecraft and airplanes. Someday, the atomtronic circuitry also may be able to perform quantum computations that could offer a significant leap forward in computing speed, performance and capability. Stephanie L. Hogan. (Aaron Clamage/Partnership for Public Service) Stephanie L. Hogan Environmental Protection Agency Led the EPA’s legal defense of its interstate air pollution rule The EPA is responsible for enforcing provisions of the Clean Air Act aimed at preventing states from polluting their downwind neighbors with harmful emissions from coal-burning power plants and other industrial sources. A 35-year-old attorney with just five years of federal experience, Hogan has played a pivotal role in defending the federal government’s interstate air pollution policies and is providing critical legal advice as the agency seeks compliance from the states. The agency’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule requires 28 states and approximately 1,000 power plants to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, which are associated with higher rates of heart attacks and respiratory illnesses. One of the younger attorneys in the EPA’s Office of General Counsel, Hogan contributed to the successful defense of the interstate pollution regulation before the Supreme Court, which upheld the rule in April of 2014. In that case, the EPA argued that upwind states can be significant contributors to pollution problems in downwind locations, citing places such as New Haven, Conn., where the agency said 93 percent of the ozone pollution comes from out-of-state emissions.


Eww, eww, Jerry’s. The local sub chain’s TV ads strike some as tasteless.

it.” Kamran said they were inspired by the racy TV spots done by the California chain Carl’s Jr. (That chain’s latest commercial, featuring a seemingly naked woman walking through a farmers market, was dubbed the “slutburger” ad by foodie Web site Eater.) Jerry’s was founded in 1954. It now has 43 locations around the Mid-Atlantic. It has changed ownership several times over the years, most recently in 2013, when it was bought by Blackstreet Capital Management, a private equity firm headquartered in Chevy Chase, Md., that specializes in turning around distressed companies. Jerry’s executives declined to address the ads specifically, but in a statement, Eli Chediak, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said: “In the past several years we’ve made dramatic changes to Jerry’s menu, introduced new products and launched a new marketing strategy as part of an ongoing effort to rescue this iconic Washington brand. A lot has changed since 1954, and over time, Jerry’s had fallen victim to a variety of market forces and economic trends. But today, customers are returning to our stores, sales are up and we’re putting Jerry’s back on the map.” The company feels the ads have helped increase sales by 18 percent. I wish there’d been a less exploitative way to do it. Jerry’s advertising has landed the company in hot water before. In the 1990s, the company used a Bill Clinton sound-alike in radio spots. The White House was not pleased. I was curious about what Jerry thought of the new ads. You know: Jerry, the kid the original restaurant was named after. Jerry Suls’s mom and dad, Abe and Leiah, ran a struggling coffee shop in the Anacostia neighborhood in Southeast Washington. They decided to switch gears and open a sub shop in Wheaton, Md. They named it after their son, who grew up to become a psychology professor. He retired two years ago from the University of Iowa. Jerry hadn’t seen the ads, so I sent him links. His verdict? “Appalling,” he said. He continued: “I think my mother would be rolling over in her grave if she saw that. My mother was no prude, that’s for sure. She could enjoy a good joke and whatever — and it could be a little racy. She’d probably say this is in bad taste.” Bad taste. Is that something you want at a restaurant? Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.


Montgomery County Animal Report

This case was received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Loose and aggressive: Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: Rockville Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


When it comes to vacationing and bugs, I’m a moveable feast.

a twinkle in his eye, discharged me with painkillers and a medical certificate that read: “Diagnosis to be influenza.” It remains in my photo album, next to pictures of Buddhist temples and floating markets. In my more rational moments, I’ve honed insect-coping strategies. For instance, in Isla Holbox, a small island off the Yucatan Peninsula, I figured out the best way to watch a beach sunset — when biters are most active — is shoulder-deep in the ocean. If I have to stand on land when bugs are out, I march in place to prevent them from latching on. Yes, I have found effective bug sprays and anti-itch creams over the years, but these products generally don’t last long, and the critters even track me down indoors. (Fun fact: My first bite of this year was in Washington in early April, in a CVS.) And while we’re on the subject, please don’t tell me I have “sweet blood”: It’s more likely to do with my genes, a recent study found. Being a nature person helps put all this in perspective. I regularly remind myself, for instance, that mosquitoes not only provide food for bats, but that they also pollinate the flowers we look forward to each spring. What’s more, my buggy allure offers at least one benefit: Connecting me with people when I travel. A few years ago, I explored Jeju, a volcanic island off mainland South Korea, with a driver and guide who spoke little English. As we drove along craggy coastlines, the driver stopped in a small town and got out of the car. A few minutes later, he handed me a small green bottle covered with Korean writing and the unmistakable drawing of a stinging insect. He then pointed to my bite-covered legs and smiled. Gladly applying the cooling balm, I realized that we broke the language barrier. I still keep his gift on the shelf with my other bug-fighting paraphernalia. Recently, rereading my journal entry about Augustine, the Ecuadoran healer, it hit me that I already knew bugs could bond. “I’m almost glad that chigger infected my ankle,” I wrote all those years ago, “just so I could have that experience.” Christine Dell’Amore is a digital editor and writer for National Geographic in Washington, D.C., where she carries bug spray in her purse between April and November. More from Travel: Travel Guide Ski Guide Caribbean Guide


Canoe through the Bronx

home that they never knew. They get a sense of ownership, and the river gets another parent. So I know that the river is loved,” Alex said. The river got 20 new parents that day. Lee is a freelance writer living in Virginia Beach. More from Travel: In the Bronx, finding hidden ties to Washington The Met, they’re not: The oddest museums in New York City At the Urban Cowboy B&B, a tumbleweed blows in Brooklyn If you go Where to stay We stayed in the Upper West Side, so the hotels and restaurants listed here are in that part of New York City. To reach Shoelace Park in the Bronx, take the No. 2 train to 219th Street. Hotel Excelsior 45 W. 81st St., Manhattan 212-362-9200 www.excelsiorhotelny.com European-style hotel in a landmark building across the street from the Natural History Museum. Closest stop on No. 2 line is 72nd Street. Rooms from $215. Days Inn Hotel New York City-Broadway 215 W. 94th St., Manhattan 212-866-6400 www.daysinn.com Just around the corner from the No. 2 train. Rooms from $175. Where to eat Isabella’s 359 Columbus Ave., Manhattan 212-724-2100 www.isabellas.com Mediterranean cuisine in popular neighborhood establishment across the street from American Museum of Natural History. Sidewalk dining in nice weather. Very busy; reservations recommended. Entrees from $17. Indian Tanpura 564 Amsterdam Ave., Manhattan 212-721-8700 www.indiantanpuranyc.com Only eight tables in this tiny restaurant catering to a neighborhood crowd; very popular for takeout with local people. Friendly staff. Entrees from $9.95. Amsterdam Ale House NYC 340 Amsterdam Ave. No. 1, Manhattan 212-362-7260 www.amsterdamalehousenyc.com A boisterous bar and restaurant with 31 draft beers to choose from. Lovely woodwork, Tiffany windows and tin ceiling. Pub fare. Entrees and burgers from $12.95; sandwiches from $10.95. What to do Bronx River Alliance 1 Bronx River Pkwy. 718-430-4665 www.bronxriver.org The Bronx River Alliance offers canoe and kayak outings on the Bronx River most weekends from May through early November. The upper river run goes from the Shoelace Park Boat Launch to the Bronx Zoo, about four miles. The estuary starts at Concrete Plant Park and covers the last four miles of the river to its mouth. Occasionally, a full-river (eight-mile) run in the Bronx is offered. All of these runs cost $30 per person; the Alliance provides canoes or kayaks and life vests. Check the Web site for dates. Note that spaces fill fast. Information www.nycgo.com — J.L.


European Union files antitrust charges against studios including Disney

American film studios did not reply to requests for comment. Sky UK said in a statement that it would consider the complaint and “respond in due course.” — Brian Murphy and Jacob Bogage Also in Business ● Japanese media company Nikkei is buying the Financial Times as part of a $1.3 billion deal with Britain’s Pearson. As part of the deal, Pearson has agreed to sell the vast majority of the assets in FT Group, including the salmon-colored Financial Times business daily newspaper and the popular FT.com. Nikkei is the largest independent business media group in Asia. Its flagship paper, the Nikkei, has about 3 million subscribers. ● The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused Student Financial Aid Services, a company that helps people apply for college aid, of withdrawing money from customers’ accounts without their consent. The Sacramento-based company, which denies the allegations, agreed to refund $5.2 million to 100,000 people to settle the charges. The CFPB said it will contact all customers who are affected by the settlement. ● Instagram unblocked the #curvy hashtag after a week of controversy. Instagram first prevented users from searching for photos with the term last week, prompting a huge backlash from users and women’s advocacy groups outraged to see a term normally associated with body-positive messages removed from the site. The problem was that the #curvy hashtag was being used for other reasons — namely pornography, said Nicky Jackson Colaco, Instagram’s director of public policy. ● General Motors shares rose about 4 percent Thursday after the automaker reported that its adjusted net income more than doubled in the second quarter, driven by North American truck sales and continued strength in China. Net income rose to $1.1 billion from $200 million a year ago. ● Starbucks reported higher quarterly profit on Thursday, as new drinks like the Flat White and food such as breakfast sandwiches and bistro boxes helped heat up sales in its dominant Americas region. Sales at Starbucks shops open at least 13 months jumped 8 percent in the U.S.-dominated Americas unit for the fiscal third quarter ended June 28. Analysts had expected a rise of 6.3 percent. The world’s biggest coffee chain’s net earnings jumped 22 percent, to $626.7 million. Revenue rose 18 percent, to $4.88 billion.● — From staff reports and news services Coming Today ● 10 a.m.: New home sales for June. ● Earnings: AbbVie, American Airlines Group. technology


How NASA advanced the cause of African Americans during the Civil Rights movement

racism. When asked, some of them said that they were too busy to pay attention to racism or that they did not experience it. Of the 10 men profiled, most worked behind the scenes, but Ed Dwight, the first astronaut trainee, became something of a celebrity among African Americans. He graced the covers of African American newspapers and magazines and encouraged young people to consider space careers. Dwight’s prominence reminds us how important it was for the black news media to cover stories ignored by the majority press. Black newspapers, especially the New York Amsterdam News, scolded NASA for its slow pace in integrating. Unfortunately, Dwight, whom Kennedy had encouraged to apply, resigned from the program in discouragement in 1966. As NASA expanded, Vice President Lyndon Johnson wanted the agency to do more for African Americans. Employment was not the only focus — there were efforts to provide opportunities for African American contractors. Progress was slow, however. When the notoriously racist Sen. John Stennis invited NASA Administrator James Webb to speak at the Jackson, Miss., test facility, NASA policy compelled Webb to decline. Stennis appealed directly to the White House, but Webb did not speak. In another instance, NASA astronauts were invited to a Time Inc. party at the Petroleum Club in Houston but were not allowed to attend because of the club’s whites-only policy. Clearly NASA hoped it could push segregationists, but segregationists often pushed back. NASA also used its resources to address the scarcity of African American workers at the root. It developed a partnership with Miles College, a historically black college to which the agency loaned black engineers as instructors. It also offered a few internships for African American students. This comprehensively researched book is replete with fascinating details about ways in which the civil rights movement influenced the space program. The 10 pioneers — Julius Montgomery, Theodis Ray, Frank Crossley, Ed Dwight, George Carruthers, Delano Hyder, Richard Hall, Clyde Foster, Morgan Watson and George Bourda — bring history to life. I would have liked to know more about them, but “We Could Not Fail” is intended to focus more on the space program than on them individually. This book is not the kind of absorbing read that you can’t wait to finish but rather a detailed, scholarly work best digested a chapter at a time. As such, it makes an important contribution to African American history.


Anna Deavere Smith returns to Baltimore hoping to close the school-to-prison pipline

refreshments — meant to help spark ideas and creativity, and solutions. Finding answers is the kind of work that will be waiting even if every Confederate flag in every corner of the country suddenly disappeared. The creative process Listening to a young man during a visit to the New Beginnings juvenile facility in Laurel, Smith was most struck by what happened after the formal interview. He was worried, he told her, about what’s ahead for him. If released, he had nowhere to go, no resources or options. He was even considering finding a way to get back into the criminal justice system, he told her. A day later, Smith is sharing this with former Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon, leaning in a bit as she speaks. Members of Smith’s team are nearby. So is a PBS camera crew. But the two women, sitting inches across from each other in folding chairs, may as well be the only two in the cavernous room at Center Stage, a theater downtown. Families can be trapped in a web of problems, Dixon says, pointing to Gray’s own family as an example. (His mother had been on drugs at one point, she notes.) The solutions must be as layered. Smith is steady, methodical. She starts every interview by asking her subjects to spell their name, the way many journalists do. More than 60 people will have been interviewed before it’s all done, and in September she plans to return to do two stage readings. To say that her work is built on interviews though is like saying a Romare Bearden collage is made with pieces of paper and cloth. The voices, the stories, our conflicts — and our bound destinies — are the thing. The audience speaks The next night, the Center Stage auditorium is packed. For a second time, Baltimore residents have come to a town hall with Smith to talk about the state of their city. Crisis has a way of opening people up or shutting them down. Baltimore feels wide open. She and NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund President Sherrilyn Ifill are talking onstage. Eventually they will take audience questions. The aftermath of Gray’s death is a critical moment, a time to focus on articulating what Baltimore needs, Ifill is saying:affordable housing, transportation, education, jobs. She used to listen to her father talk about the civil rights era and felt as if


Smithsonian flight exhibit lets you get a passport to Mars and fly like a bird

Marathon to Mars. Through augmented-reality technology, visitors experience firsthand the challenges of an ultra-long-haul flight to Mars. The activity demonstrates what happens to humans’ bodies--and their psychological state--over time and distance. (Above and Beyond) Here’s one way to lure the kids out of the house and away from video games — and immediately back into an interactive computerized environment. Just head to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, bypass the Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 command module and the moon rock, and go directly to “Above and Beyond: The Ultimate Interactive Flight Exhibition,” opening Saturday on the second floor, where flight simulation, augmented reality, touch tables, skill challenges and virtual reality are meant to inspire new generations to explore the science of flight and space travel. The immersive exhibit, meant to convey the thrill of aerospace innovation, design and technology, is brought to you in part by a company that’s been doing that all along: Boeing. Here are some numbers about the exhibition, which is beginning an international tour with its stint at the Air and Space Museum. 5,000 The square feet of the exhibition, designed by San Antonio-based Evergreen Exhibitions and Boeing Co. in collaboration with NASA and the Air and Space Museum. 5 Number of themed galleries with names that sound like barked orders: Up, Faster, Higher, Farther and Smarter. 16 Interactive stations in the exhibition, including one that transforms visitors into virtual birds, a simulated wind tunnel and an “International Space Elevator.” 3 The length, in minutes, of an introductory video titled “Beyond the Limits,” featuring “stunning high-definition imagery with soaring music in surround sound.” 140 million The distance, in miles, to Mars. An augmented-reality experience studies the challenges of a visit before issuing a passport to Mars. 10 Times the strength of steel — the new lightweight composite materials being used to help aircraft and spacecraft fly farther with less fuel. More than 500,000 Pieces of space junk orbiting Earth, according to NASA. One exhibition station raising the issue allows visitors to choose a solution. 17,500 The speed, measured in miles per hour, of the space junk as it orbits Earth. 3 Number of dimensions of the 3-D printed aircraft models and other objects recently installed on the International Space Station, on display here. $100,000 Estimated cost, per seat, to fly on a supersonic space plane that would transport passengers from New York


Jazzed up about music education, Marsalis comes to Castleton

and where he won the Harvey Shapiro Award for outstanding brass student. “Those were great experiences for me as a musician,” he said. It was Juilliard from there, and before long Marsalis had joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. At summer music camps, in addition to the interaction with instructors and all the time spent practicing and playing, “you meet other musicians from around the country that are serious,” Marsalis said. “And you learn as much from them as you do from the teachers, really. The people you meet at musical camp, you’ll see for your entire life.” Jazz, Marsalis said, “helps you focus your individuality through improvisation and helps you figure out how you fit in with other people through the art of swing. That’s two of our basic things: improvisation and swing. One teaches you about yourself; the other teaches you how to fit into the context of others. All very important skills for teenagers.” Joining Marsalis as teachers at the summer camp at Castleton are trumpeter Marcus Printup, saxophonist Ted Nash, trombonist Vincent Gardner, pianist Helen Sung, guitarist James Chirillo, bassist Rodney Whitaker and drummer Ali Jackson. The program culminates with two “Academy All-Stars” performances with Marsalis on July 25 and 26; a week later, Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will play a pair of concerts. Castleton is Marsalis’s second Virginia residency with young musicians this year. In January, he worked with the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra in Winchester on his revised “Blues Symphony,” which was performed at Strathmore in February. “Blues Symphony” continues Marsalis’s catalogue of quasi-classical compositions, which have not met with universal favor, despite or perhaps because of their scale and ambition. (“Blood on the Fields,” which won the Pulitzer Prize, is a 3 1/ 2 -hour oratorio.) But Marsalis has gotten used to the critics, and says: “It is what it is. I don’t fret over it. “I think that you need that criticism. We’re all the same way as human beings. We compare ourselves to each other, and we do things. Until we get on a much higher level as a species and until we evolve to a higher level, we’re going to continue to do that.” He added, “I try to concentrate on improving and making people happy with music and bringing people together and dealing with other higher levels of consciousness through music.” Catlin is a freelance writer.


BSO skillfully illuminates familiar terrain of Vivaldi, Handel and Bach

BSO concertmaster Jonathan Carney added his own flourishes to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” (Chris Lee) When ensembles perform chestnuts like Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” it is easy to fall into a routine. In the latest performance of this perennial favorite, heard at Strathmore on Thursday night, members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra by contrast sounded like they had made the piece their own. Concertmaster Jonathan Carney played the solo parts with panache, adding many small embellishments, especially in the slow movements, and some folk-fiddle-like twists and extra virtuosic flash. A reduced number of strings — about 20 musicians — helped keep the ensemble lithe and precise, and pianist Lura Johnson filled out the continuo part on the harpsichord, especially odd and dreamy in the slow movement of the Autumn concerto. The string instruments were modern, but the influence of the early music movement was felt in the tempo choices, often buzzsaw-fast, and the dramatic narrative approach. Four movements from Handel’s “Water Music,” played with a larger number of strings, made a pleasant opener. The opening and closing selections featured a pair of bright trumpets, and although the minuet from the second suite felt too stately in tempo, the faster pieces sometimes left the horns in the dust. Rounding out the Baroque Top Three program was Bach’s solo cantata “Ich habe genug,” a meditation on the readiness for death expressed by Simeon in the Gospel of Luke — an odd choice for a summer concert. Baritone Grant Youngblood had a full and resonant sound, rich and legato but with the text clearly enunciated. Katherine Needleman, on the oboe parts in the outer arias, infused this performance with a gorgeous sense of phrasing and musicality. Downey is a freelance writer.


Give those cute goats some kudzu

The July 17 Weekend article “Cute alert at the cemetery: Get ready for the goat mowers” told about the mighty goats of Southern Maryland that are spending their second year gobbling up poison ivy and kudzu at Congressional Cemetery. Drivers on Interstate 495, park roads and other major area thoroughfares regard with dismay the vast sheets of kudzu, an invasive ivy that chokes to death the trees it cloaks. After the fearless goats have completed their Congressional Cemetery mission, could they be unleashed to attack the pernicious kudzu, the “plant that ate the South,” before it shivers the timbers of our byways? Michael Rae, Potomac


District man sentenced to 37 years in 2011 revenge shooting

A District man was sentenced Friday to 37 years in prison for the 2011 murder of a District man who police say was shot seven times in the back as part of a vengeful scheme. D.C. Superior Jennifer Anderson sentenced Jarod Yorkshire after a jury in May found him guilty of the Dec. 19, 2011, fatal shooting of Derrick Ragland, 19, of Northwest Washington. The jury found him guilty of murder, three counts of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Spence and Glenn Kirschner argued that Yorkshire and his co-defendant, Raymond L. Faunteroy, 29, orchestrated the fatal shooting after Ragland had set up a fake gun sale. That incident resulted in three masked men shooting at Yorkshire and Faunteroy during a robbery. Faunteroy was shot in the hand. Out of vengeance, prosecutors said, Yorkshire and Faunteroy then planned to kill Ragland. Prosecutors say on Dec. 19, three days after the fake gun sale, Yorkshire texted Faunteroy regarding Ragland’s whereabouts. Prosecutors say Faunteroy then ambushed Ragland in an alley in the 1000 block of Taylor Street NE, shooting Ragland seven times in the back as Ragland ran down the alley before collapsing. After Ragland’s death, prosecutors said, Yorkshire began intimidating witnesses. Yorkshire was also heard on a wire coordinating with a police informant in a scheme to kill a witness who was scheduled to testify on behalf of the prosecution. As he prepared to go to trial last month, Faunteroy, 29, also of Washington, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while armed. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 31.


Engaging undeveloped nations in climate policies

The “grim” part of “Planet Earth’s grim check-up” [editorial, July 22] is the not yet fated future. Developed nations have embraced policies to hold the temperature rise to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit and have begun actions mandated by this limit. But undeveloped nations do not have the technology, resources or, in some cases, the will to give up cheap and available fossil fuels. To bring undeveloped nations on board with the effort to control greenhouse gas emissions, it may be necessary for developed nations to provide incentives. This could take the form of an international agreement for developed nations to jointly fund aid to undeveloped ones, similar to the Marshall Plan after World War II, for the reconstruction of Europe. If such support is generous enough that clean-energy systems are made cheaper than those from fossil fuels, the whole world can move together to hold future global warming to a tolerable level. Such a plan would be fair, efficient and necessary if the world is to escape an overheated future. Donald McPherson and Robert Squire, Ashburn


Local Digest: D.C.-area news briefs

MARYLAND Cobras, rattlesnake seized at home Three venomous snakes were seized Thursday at a home in Allegany County, in Western Maryland, authorities said. A monocled cobra, a West African spitting cobra and a timber rattlesnake were found at a home in Cresaptown, state Natural Resources Police said. The police said they went to the home on a tip. State law prohibits possession of cobras and rattlesnakes, police said. Police said the homeowner also owns Daddieo’s Pet Store in Cumberland. The matter was turned over to the county prosecutor’s office for review, police said. No charges were reported. — Martin Weil Rabid bat caught in condominium A rabid bat was caught in a Gaithersburg condominium, Montgomery County animal control officers said. Authorities said the bat was found Tuesday in the 800 block of Quince Orchard Boulevard and tested positive for rabies. It was not known whether the infected bat had had contact with humans or other animals. Federal health officials said that of bats suspected of possible rabies, only about one in 16 tests positive. Rabies is nearly always fatal if the infection is left untreated. — Dana Hedgpeth THE DISTRICT Man, 25, dies after shooting in SW A man was fatally shot Thursday afternoon in Southwest Washington, D.C. police said. They identified him as Isiah Agyekum, 25, of Southwest. Police said he was shot just before 5 p.m. in the 100 block of Darrington Street SW, between Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE and South Capitol Street. Three other shootings were reported in the District on Thursday night and early Friday — at Benning Road NE, Pomeroy Road SE and Newcomb Street SE. D.C. police said none of the victims in those shootings suffered life-threatening injuries. Thursday’s shooting on Darrington Street occurred four blocks from where a man from Manassas, Va., was found unconscious and suffering from a bullet wound June 28. In that case, police said, the victim died at a hospital. — Peter Hermann Day-care employee accused of abuse A Foggy Bottom day-care center employee has been charged with slapping and pinching two infants, who were 3 months and 7 months old. Claudia Patricia Cruz Roldan, 35, of Rockville, Md., was charged Wednesday with attempted second-degree cruelty to children. Court documents say Cruz Roldan admitted injuring the 3-month-old baby. Wendy Odell Magus, a spokeswoman for the Kiddie Academy chain, said Cruz Roldan was fired earlier in the summer.


Obama commits U.S. to intensified fight against terrorists in East Africa

a political science professor at Davidson College, said it is hard to be hopeful that closer cooperation between countries could resolve the region’s problems anytime in the near future. “The Horn of Africa presents extraordinarily complex political and security dilemmas, for which there’s no obvious answer,” Menkhaus said in an interview. “The question really is which is the least bad choice, and how can you kick open doors which, down the road, could present opportunities for conflict resolution.” Obama’s decision to visit the African Union’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — the first sitting U.S. president to do so — is part of his push to build capacity among African nations to address the problems of their region. Ethiopia and Kenya — both of which border Somalia and South Sudan, countries that remain riven by deep conflict — have contributed troops to multiple regional peacekeeping operations. Both are part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and the U.N.-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). Ethiopia is also part of another U.N. force in Sudan and played a key role in trying to broker a peace agreement in South Sudan, while Kenya has sent troops to the U.N. peacekeeping mission there. In 2015, Kenya received $100 million in U.S. counterterrorism assistance — more than doubling the amount allocated the previous year. As a result of this weekend’s talks, the Massachusetts National Guard and the Kenyan government will sign a partnership agreement, a senior administration official said, and the administration has pledged to work with Congress to provide additional counterterrorism aid to Kenya. Vicki Huddleston, who served as U.S. ambassador to Mali as well as deputy assistant secretary for Africa at the Pentagon, said the two countries “have stepped forward in the fight against terrorism in Somalia, and we need to recognize Ethiopia for what it’s done regarding terrorism and extremism in the region.” Obama has promoted U.S. counterterrorism work with allies in Somalia and Yemen as a model for how the United States can pursue its security goals without deploying combat troops. Ethiopia has widely been perceived as having an effective military force, including in its Ogaden region, which is largely Somali, though some of its efforts have been accompanied by acts of political repression. Al-Shabab launched two horrific attacks in the past two years: the September 2013 occupation of Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, which left 67 dead, and the


Beer of the Week: Alpine Nelson Golden Rye IPA

Hop Head Red, acquired Alpine Brewing, a tiny but well-respected brewery known for outstanding IPAs, in November. The arrangement made sense: Green Flash had started brewing Alpine beers at its much-larger facilities in 2013 after a “handshake agreement” between the owners, doubling Alpine’s annual capacity — still minuscule compared with Green Flash’s — and generating income that will help Alpine eventually expand its own brewery. Alpine has stressed that it remains independent, though operating as a subsidiary of Green Flash, and its reach has expanded. Make that somewhat expanded: Alpine made its official Northern Virginia debut back in February, but appearances at beer bars have been sporadic. Right now, says Simon Thomas, who represents Green Flash with distributors Specialty Beverage of Virginia, Alpine is “heavily allocated. People who’ve been supporting Green Flash get first grab on Alpine when it’s in.” But when Green Flash opens its East Coast brewery in Virginia Beach next year, Alpine should, theoretically, become much easier to find. If you’d like to see why beer fans clamor for Alpine, you’ll have a chance on Wednesday, July 29, at Pizzeria Paradiso in Old Town, where all 14 draft lines will be shared between Alpine and Green Flash. It’s tough to pick a standout, but the one to try first is Nelson Golden Rye IPA, a rye ale named after its primary hop, Nelson Sauvin, which imparts a beautiful nose of tropical fruit — mangos, pineapple — and a dry, earthy body that’s usually compared to the sauvignon blanc grape, from which it takes its name. Alpine beers are scarce, but Nelson is especially so: Nelson Sauvin, grown in New Zealand, has become so popular that hop farmers can’t keep up, making Nelson on tap a rare treat. I had a glass or two at a Pizzeria Paradiso tasting this month and thought Nelson outshone some much more vaunted ales, thanks to a peppery European rye backbone that allowed the hop flavor to shine. Alpine should begin to show up on Washington taps in August, though Nelson will remain tricky to find. If you see it, order it. Alpine and Green Flash Tap Takeover: Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Pizzeria Paradiso, 124 King St., Alexandria. 703-837-1245. www.eatyourpizza.com. More from Food: Beer of the Week: Port City Derecho Common Beer of the Week: Clown Shoes Clementine Beer of the Week: Flying Dog Juniper White Ale Beer Column archive


Why everyone who is sure about a food philosophy is wrong

rally in Los Angeles in 2013. The company has been at the forefront of developing genetically modified crops that are resistant to herbicides, allowing for widespread spraying that kills weeds but not the crops. (Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images) Conventional agriculture Bottom line: There’s no one way to feed the world. Yet the public conversation about agriculture seems to break down along philosophical lines, and not always civilly. There’s a better way. Want to fix our food system? Ditch the philosophy. No more unifying principle. Call off the dogma. Instead, think small. The best way to tackle the tug-of-war between people and planet is to aim to improve agriculture in ways that benefit both. “There are ways to grow more food, mitigate climate change and improve the environment,” says Lal. “They’re win-win-win strategies.” Take cover cropping, the practice of planting a field with a crop that won’t be harvested but whose job is to decrease erosion and runoff, and to help boost soil quality. Cover-cropped fields that are then planted with corn and soy often have higher yields than their non-cover-cropped counterparts. Planting cover crops is one of what Lal calls the four pillars of conservation agriculture, and the other three — leaving crop residue in the field, practicing integrated nutrient management, and not plowing — also have the potential to benefit both crop and planet. So can managed grazing of livestock, the incorporation of trees (agroforestry) and increased planting of legumes. Dakota Janowitz restocks greens at the FreshFarm Market at Dupont Circle. Farmers markets might help foster a sense of community, but the small farms that tend to sell there don’t run as efficiently as larger, more specialized operations. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) Technology also brings win-win tools. Bt cotton, a genetically engineered type that has a built-in pesticide, has increased yields and decreased the need for sprayed insecticide. Precise new tools allow farmers to divide fields into small sections and custom-fertilize each section according to its needs, which can help maximize yields and reduce run-off. Lal points out that even specific strategies aren’t one-size-fits-all: “In Ohio, we can grow a cover crop in the off-season, but in Nigeria, where I used to grow a cover crop, it would take half the year, and you lose a season.” Lose a season, and you lose an entire crop. “Conservation agriculture, organic, agroforestry,” says Lal, “they all have places where they work


A joyful evening of Wagner and Mahler from young maestros

Elizabeth Schulze has conducted the past 15 of the National Symphony’s Summer Music Institute Orchestra 23 seasons. (Scott Suchman) In all of Western music, few C major chords are as ample, radiant and filled with joyful portent as the ones that open the Prelude of “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,” Richard Wagner’s opera about the practice and love of music. Saturday night at the Kennedy Center, those chords signaled the beginning of the final concert of the National Symphony’s Summer Music Institute Orchestra, composed of more than 60 gifted young musicians ages 14 to 21, competitively chosen from 27 states and Canada. They’ve been in town for the past month, getting to know one another and making music under the expert direction of conductor Elizabeth Schulze. The music they made Saturday was engaged, sophisticated and thoroughly compelling. Although these are young musicians, many of them have already begun their professional training in conservatories and universities. In fact, the beautifully blended string choirs, superb wind and brass playing and the contained enthusiasm of the percussion section suggested a much more mature ensemble than this group’s median age. The breadth of Wagner’s great surges easily dissolved into agile quick passages, phrases ebbed and flowed, and full-throttle climaxes blossomed rather than blasted. Mahler wrote his First Symphony when he was only 28 and, despite its many challenges, both in terms of ensemble and for individual players, the orchestra played it as if it had been composed specifically for them. There are occasions in the symphony when you are not sure whether Mahler’s naivete is genuine or a tongue-in-cheek parody. In this fresh, committed performance, sincerity was never in doubt. The rustic Scherzo had an infectiously bumptious rusticity. The klezmerlike interruptions of the funereal movement here seemed emotionally credible rather than abruptly obtrusive. The apocalyptic finale was thrilling. Between these two late 19th-century orchestral extravaganzas, Gabriel Young, a 19-year-old oboist from Oregon, played a Venetian baroque concerto by Alessandro Marcello, accompanied by a chamber-size ensemble of strings. Young is not only a master of his instrument but an artist of taste and discernment. The sound of his oboe is, for lack of a better word, angelic. There were moments, particularly in the Adagio, when the music seemed to transcend even that exquisite oboe sound, emerging instead as pure, disembodied human expression. Young created a breathtaking spell that lasted well into the Mahler symphony. Schulze, who


Putting out the fire, next time

Health-care workers wore protective suits at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Liberia in August 2014. (Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images) Read more on this topic: The Post’s View: The world should learn from the Ebola crisis to combat MERS in Saudi Arabia The Post’s View: Rebuilding after Ebola will require the world’s help The Post’s View: What worked in controlling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa The Post’s View: Lessons from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa THE EBOLA virus has not been eliminated from West Africa, but the public health crisis has eased. The virus, for which there is no ready cure, infected more than 27,000 people and caused more than 11,000 deaths since the outbreak began in early 2014. The pain and suffering have been immense. Now it is time to confront another hard problem: addressing the weaknesses in global response that allowed the virus to spread so rapidly. Without the urgency of another outbreak, national governments and the World Health Organization will be disinclined to change the way they do business. But change they must, or there will be another wave of disease, panic and unnecessary death. The WHO’s lethargic response to Ebola in West Africa has brought calls for creation of a new organization that would have responsibility for emergency response. The belief in the need for rapid response to infectious disease has been gathering steam with a succession of outbreaks that spanned national borders: severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS; bird flu; swine flu; Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS; and Ebola virus disease. Although different in transmission, virulence and danger to people, all of these tested the ability of humankind to respond. Now, a panel appointed by WHO Director General Margaret Chan has examined all aspects of the organization’s response to the Ebola outbreak and concluded that a new organization is not the right answer. The panel declared in a report that such an agency would take too much time to set up and be unnecessarily duplicative. Instead, the panel said, the WHO “must re-establish its pre-eminence as the guardian of global public health.” This is a tall order, and the panel’s report explains why. A sea change in thinking and organization will be needed. The WHO “does not currently possess the capacity or organizational culture to deliver a full emergency public health response,” the panel stated. “There are no core funds for emergency response.”


Boston, USOC withdraw city’s bid to host 2024 Summer Olympics

put forth on behalf of our residents last fall,” said the statement, attributed to Russ Ramsey, chairman and CEO of the group. “Today’s disappointing announcement by the U.S. Olympic Committee reinforces the need to have a clear process in place that successfully matches a community’s long-term goals to those opportunities created by hosting an Olympic Games.” Throughout Monday afternoon, D.C. 2024 leaders were in discussions with USOC leadership to gauge the newly shifted landscape before deciding whether to renew its bid, according to a person familiar with the group’s deliberations. The group’s leadership believes there is still support for a bid within the city’s business and political community, with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) a vocal backer, but the D.C. 2024 group first wants assurances that the USOC isn’t already wed to Los Angeles as its new bid city before mounting a renewed effort. One particular concern for the D.C. group would be the host city contract required by the IOC that would put the host city on the hook for cost overruns associated with the Games — the same issue that ultimately led to the scuttling of the Boston bid. On Monday, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh (D) called an impromptu news conference to announce he would not sign such a contract despite pressure to do so from USOC officials. “I cannot commit to putting the taxpayers at risk,” Walsh said. “If committing to signing a guarantee today is what’s required to move forward, then Boston is no longer pursuing the” Olympics. Boston 2024 released this video as part of its campaign to help bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston, Mass. The United States hasn’t hosted a Summer Games since Atlanta 1996 — or any Olympics since Salt Lake City in 2002 — and Monday’s action only will weaken its chances to host in 2024. Paris, which is bidding to host on the 100th anniversary of its 1924 Summer Games, is considered the 2024 front-runner, and other cities planning or considering bids include Rome, Hamburg, Budapest and Toronto. The IOC will choose a host city in September 2017. Stung by the defeats of New York for the 2012 Games and Chicago for 2016, the USOC did not submit a bid for 2020 but was encouraged by IOC leaders to make a bid for 2024. The choice of Boston as that bid city was widely viewed as a surprise,


This teacher’s classroom is the outdoors

science, but if they don’t recognize the world around them to which it applies, they are still environmentally illiterate,” McGranaghan wrote in his application essay. The 26-year veteran of teaching said he gets his students outside as much as possible. “For the most part, I use the outside as my classroom,” McGranaghan said in a recent interview. Much of the time he and his students venture out to a wooded area adjacent to campus where his students built a mile-long trail, complete with informational placards. His students learn about air and water quality, but also about local flora and fauna. Students learn 30 species of bird common to Loudoun County and about every reptile and amphibian they will find outdoors. These localized lessons are central to McGranaghan’s purpose: to teach students about the outdoors so they will be inspired to conserve it. “If you don’t know what’s outside your house or your window, how do you protect it?” McGranaghan said. His hobbies also become a part of the curriculum. An avid falconer who wrote an introductory book on the subject, he sometimes brings his bird, a red-tailed hawk named Odessa, to the classroom. “You bring a hawk into the classroom, you have the student’s attention,” McGranaghan said. One of his former students, 22-year-old Ashley Lohr, can testify to the power of his teaching. Lohr, like McGranaghan, traces her love of nature to childhood. But it was not until taking his class that she decided to turn it into a career. She got a degree in wildlife management and now works as a field technician. “The class and him as a person is what really inspired me to do what I do today,” Lohr said, speaking on the phone from a field in Iowa, where she was out surveying birds as part of her work on a research project. “It’s what really just set me on that path. I want to study wildlife. I want to be outside every day.” She said McGranaghan’s course was hands-on, and she recalled a canoe field trip and venturing outside to sketch trees and leaves. His enthusiasm for the subject was apparent and infectious, and she said he inspired more students to care about the environment, to recycle more and to litter less. “If we had more people like Liam in this world, then we would have significantly fewer problems than we have,” Lohr said.


Hints From Heloise: Groceries, not garbage

Dear Readers: Here is this week’s SOUND OFF, about supermarket carts: “When my hubby and I grocery shop, we each bring in a cart and come out with no carts. It is so easy to do this. My gripe is: When did shopping carts become personal wastebaskets? The things left in them can be disturbing.” -- Polly K., Mission Viejo, Calif. Polly, I hope not too disturbing! A shopping list, plastic produce bag or hand wipe might be left behind, but most anything beyond that can be yucky! There usually are trash cans by the entry/exit door. Folks, toss YOUR trash. -- Heloise P.S.: Polly, thanks for the reminder to take a “stray” shopping cart into the store. SEND A GREAT HINT TO: Heloise P.O. Box 795000 San Antonio, TX 78279-5000 Fax: 1-210-HELOISE E-mail: Heloise@Heloise.com FAST FACTS Dear Readers: Here are other uses for the small plastic pots that plants come in: * Use as a scoop for potting soil when planting. * Prop up a painting project so sides are easier to paint. * Sort nuts and bolts in a garage. * Use to start new seedlings in. * Make into a yarn or twine dispenser. Pull the yarn through one hole. -- Heloise SUNSCREEN SPOTS Dear Heloise: Help! I seem to have sunscreen stains on my swimsuits! I think I remember reading about you telling us how to get rid of them. Help! -- E. Williams, Key West, Fla. You did read it here, and it’s time for a reprint. Use straight liquid laundry detergent and pour it onto the stains. Sort of rub in with your fingers or a soft old toothbrush, then let sit for 30 minutes or so. It’s important to give the detergent “work time” rather than washing right away. The swimsuits then can be hand-washed in cool water. Dry by hanging up in the shower, then check to see if the stain is gone. If not, re-treat. Try to apply sunscreen and let it dry and absorb before putting your swimsuit on, or use care when slapping on sunscreen. Have fun, but be safe in the sun! -- Heloise CLEAN THE RUGS Dear Heloise: Once a month or so, I shake out and wash the area rugs we place by the doors and the dog beds. You would be surprised how dirty they can get. The dog one does get a little stinky,