Government-backed mortgage lenders are awful — and essential

they went bust, and their drive for market share during the housing boom early in the past decade left taxpayers on the hook to bail them out. But we still need Fannie and Freddie, even more now than before. They own or guarantee the payments on more than $5 trillion in American mortgages, or about 60 percent of the total. In the years since the financial collapse, they have been the major source of credit for most people who got mortgages, and the only source of credit for less-than-pristine borrowers. Washington is paralyzed. Even Corker, when pressed, backed away from his call to eliminate them, because despite the hatred of the housing giants, collectively known as “government-supported entities,” or GSEs, no one wants to see what would happen without them, and no one can agree on how to replace them. As a result, there’s no plan for how the United States will finance housing in the future. Without a housing finance policy, there is no housing policy. And that’s a huge problem, because another crisis — about how people will afford a place to live — is brewing. Since 2008, while Fannie and Freddie have sat in limbo, homeownership has plunged. This summer, the Census Bureau reported that the homeownership rate had fallen to 63.4 percent, the lowest level in 48 years. (It had peaked at 69 percent, in 2004.) “Renter nation,” one blog called the United States. The decline is particularly pronounced in minority communities. At the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference this year, housing advocates pointed out that the homeownership rate for the black population has decreased from nearly 50 percent in 2004 to about 43 percent, its lowest level in 20 years. It’s projected to continue to drop. Pundits have argued that the homeownership rate was, and maybe still is, too high, because too many people were getting mortgages they couldn’t afford. But if people don’t own (and don’t sleep on the street), they rent — and rents have been steadily rising since 2000, while incomes have not kept pace. In the third quarter of this year, rents increased by 5.7 percent year over year, according to Morningstar, and they rose at a double-digit clip in some large cities such as San Francisco and Denver. (Rents in Washington were up just 1.44 percent year over year, according to the online real estate database Zillow, in


The virus that ruins Caribbean vacations

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne virus. (CDC) On a trip to the Caribbean, you wake with a fever and achy, swollen joints that you can’t blame on too many piña coladas. You might suffer from a headache, muscle pain, nausea or a rash. All you want to do is crawl back into your hotel bed and hide in your hermit shell. Based on your symptoms, you can rule out heat stroke and hangover. A more likely diagnosis: the chikungunya virus. “People notice that they’re well one minute, and then they’re unwell” said Erin Staples, a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year was rough for island locals and visitors. The mosquito-borne virus, which first appeared in Africa in the 1950s and later spread to Asia, Europe and India, didn’t surface in the Caribbean until late 2013. Then it made up for lost time. Since the initial findings on the French half of the island of St. Martin, the Pan American Health Organization has tracked more than 1.2 million probable cases in 44 countries and territories throughout the Americas. The CDC lists 25 Caribbean destinations — from Anguilla to the U.S. Virgin Islands — with instances of chikungunya. “It was easier to talk about islands that didn’t have cases,” Staples said. Fortunately, the virus has slowed its Carib-wide invasion. Last year, for instance, Martinique reported 73,000 cases; this year, the number has dropped to 320. (One caveat: Because of lapses in information, the counts are not exact.) The bug has been shifting its course to the west and south. In May, the CDC added Mexico, Central America and South America to its “Watch Level 1, Practice Usual Precautions” category. The Caribbean also made an appearance. Despite the receding figures, chikungunya is still a threat, especially among individuals who have never contracted the virus. (As with chicken pox, once you have been infected, you are immune for life.) Visitors with health issues should also be vigilant. The mosquitoes that carry chikungunya are most active during the day — a departure from the maxim of dusk and dawn — and breed in coastal regions as well as water-filled containers in residential areas. The two species are less prevalent in forested areas, but hikers should still remain on guard. The incubation period lasts a few days, and the symptoms typically remain for up to two weeks. There is no vaccine


Man fatally shot, another stabbed in separate incidents in District

A man who was shot Thursday night in Southeast Washington died later at an area hospital, according to D.C. police. It was one of two slayings in the District in a matter of hours. Police said the shooting occurred about 7:35 p.m. in the 3200 block of 15th Place SE., in Congress Heights. The victim was identified as Tavon Maurice Patterson, 23, of Southeast. Early Friday, police said a man was killed and another person was injured when they were stabbed in the 200 block of K Street NW. The attack occurred shortly after 1 a.m. The area is near apartment buildings and I-395. The stabbing victim who died was identified as Joel David Midgett, 24, of Northwest. No other details about the shooting or stabbings were released.


Not a triathlete? You can still benefit from combo workouts.

(Istockphoto) It makes sense to bring combo workouts — or bricks — into your fitness regimen if you’re training for a triathlon. But they can be helpful, some experts say, even if you don’t have a triathlon penciled into your calendar. Typically a brick workout combines at least two events back to back, such as biking and then running, or swimming then biking or even swimming then biking and then running, which is essentially what a triathlon looks like. Some people say it’s called a brick because when you go from one event to another without a break you can feel like you are hitting a brick wall. Other people say especially when you go from biking to running that your legs can feel heavy like bricks. But that’s no reason to avoid them. In addition to simulating a multisport event, bricks can help you avoid hitting a plateau in your training because they are another way to keep you from getting too comfortable, and they keep you focused, said Reuel Tizabi, a personal trainer in Silver Spring. “Mental game is huge.” Tizabi said bricks as well as more informal combination workouts have a lot to offer anyone who is trying to raise his or her level of fitness. And they can be especially good for people new to exercise because they don’t require a long attention span. Although you still need to pay attention to your form, you are not challenging yourself on the same exercise for as long a period of time and you’re giving yourself a little break in between exercises. “Combination workouts help prevent your body from getting used to the same movements in the same sequence,” Tizabi said. “And one of the best things you can do to progress properly after you have a solid base is get outside your comfort zone.” I first wondered about brick workouts because they appeared on my marathon training calendar. I asked my running coach, Ann Alyanak, about them, and she told me that because I was coming off an injury, they could help me build endurance. “I use bricks for my runners who are more injury-prone and not running a ton of miles,” said Alyanak, who coaches about 11 runners at a time through the Arizona-based Run S.M.A.R.T. Project. “This way you can do something to get a long endurance span without all the pounding.” She’s got some


Can we trust Obama’s Afghanistan policy?

speech at West Point six years ago announcing a troop surge into Afghanistan. I partook of that drink, as I wrote at the time, because it was inconceivable to me that Obama, a cautious, thoughtful leader who presciently opposed the Iraq war, would, after months of painstaking review, decide on a course that would lead the United States to military, financial and political disaster. “After 18 months,” declared Obama, “our troops will begin to come home.” I allowed the cup to pass my lips because I believed the president when he said that, in all of a year and a half, tens of thousands of U.S. troops would be mobilized and sent to Afghanistan, where they would join other forces and, in 18 months: deny al-Qaeda a haven; reverse the Taliban’s momentum; strengthen the capacity of Afghan security forces; and stabilize neighboring Pakistan. So I swallowed. Yes, I was hard-pressed to understand why al-Qaeda, a vicious group of extremists, and that brazenly ruthless movement called the Taliban would stick around for 18 months doing battle with U.S. and allied forces, when all they seemingly had to do was hide out and wait until we left. And I was mystified how we would achieve the goal to bring agriculture to Afghanistan’s poppy fields; get tens of thousands of Afghans into the fight on our side; and convert Afghan ministries, governors and local chieftains into symbols of corruption-free zones by 2011. But I concluded that maybe one had to be a member of Obama’s war council and privy to inside information to know how it would be done. So now we are being told “never mind,” “disregard that last transmission,” “oops, there’s been a change in plans.” On Thursday, the president announced that 9,800 troops will remain in Afghanistan during most of next year, with 5,500 remaining in 2017. That’s because, despite the president’s declarations six years ago, the Afghan security forces can’t fend for themselves and the Taliban’s momentum has not been reversed. The Taliban reportedly is now spread through more of Afghanistan than it has been since 2001, according to the United Nations. Deny al-Qaeda a haven? Al-Qaeda fighters are still on the ground taking territory and lives. The ice has melted in my cup of Kool-Aid. This isn’t an antiwar screed, a cry to get out of Afghanistan or a denunciation of Afghan security forces. At issue are decision-making


A step toward justice in the shootdown of Flight 17

plummeting to the earth. Working from bits and pieces of perforated wreckage, the safety board found that the shrapnel came in two shapes, one a cube and the other a distinctive bow tie or hourglass. This shape marks it as originating from a “Buk” 9N314M warhead on a 9M38-series surface-to-air missile manufactured in Russia or the Soviet Union. At the moment the plane flew over Ukraine, Russian-backed separatists were battling Ukrainian forces on the ground. On the day of the disaster, about 160 flights crossed the war zone, and the safety board rightly questioned why Ukrainian authorities failed to close the airspace. More forensic investigation will be necessary to identify precisely where the missile came from, but the safety board identified a 123-square-mile area mostly held by the separatists. The board’s report unequivocally refutes distracting theories that Russia has floated, such as a claim that the airliner was downed by an air-to-air missile fired by Ukraine. A Dutch criminal investigation is underway that may identify the individuals who ordered and carried out the shootdown. We hope the prosecutors will have access to precise data scooped up by U.S. technical means at the time of the shootdown, which made clear the responsibility of Russian-backed forces. Already, outside investigations based on open sources and social media, such as by the citizen journalist group Bellingcat, have shown the Buk launcher was probably wheeled into Ukraine in June from the Russian 53rd Air Defense Brigade, based outside Kursk. The criminal probe should aim to determine whether Russian servicemen were operating the unit when it was fired or helping the separatists fire it. Russia has gone to considerable lengths to deflect blame onto Ukraine, and was still doing so with another absurd propaganda blast on Tuesday, suggesting the missile could only have come from Ukraine’s arsenal. If he cooperated with the Dutch investigators, President Vladimir Putin could very quickly facilitate justice for this sordid crime. Instead he has chosen to deliberately shroud the shootdown in deception and misdirection, thereby implicating himself in a shameful coverup. With or without him, all those responsible for the crime must be identified and held to account. Read more on this topic: Katrina vanden Heuvel: Downing of Flight 17 should trigger talks, not violence The Post’s View: The world must know who downed the Malaysia Airlines plane Anne Applebaum: The Malaysia Airlines crash is the end of Russia’s fairy tale


Goddard’s role in the Webb telescope

In his Oct. 4 op-ed column, “Our place in the stars,” George F. Will waxed poetic on the mysteries of the universe and our ability to understand them through space-based astrophysics observations. I enjoyed reading his thumbnail sketch of astronomy, the Big Bang and the role that the Hubble telescope plays and, in the future, the James Webb Space Telescope will play in their understanding. However, the Webb Space Telescope is not being developed at the Johns Hopkins University campus. It is being managed and developed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt. Goddard is leading a national and international team, and the Johns Hopkins Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore — about 45 minutes away — will serve as the telescope’s science and operations center. NASA Goddard is also home to John Mather, a Nobel Prize winner in physics. His scientific leadership and painstaking analysis were crucial to solidifying today’s understanding of the Big Bang theory. Mather is also the senior project scientist for the Webb telescope. Frank H. Bauer, Silver Spring The writer is a retired aerospace engineer from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA headquarters.


Beer of the Week: New Belgium Le Terroir

New Belgium Brewing’s Le Terroir is one of America’s finest sour ales, and its release as part of the Colorado brewery’s “Lips of Faith” series is always highly anticipated by lovers of tart beers. But this year, the recipe has been tweaked, which always makes people nervous. Le Terroir is based on the brewery’s lightly sour ale known as Felix, which is aged for three years in massive traditional oak barrels called foeders (pronounced FOOD-ers). The Felix is then dry-hopped, which the brewery says helps balance the sourness. (I’ve never tried Felix straight, but it’s a dream of mine.) For years, this has been done with Amarillo hops, which lend those delicious peach and apricot flavors, and the popular and citrusy Citra, which, I admit, is one of my favorites. For the 2015 version, though, New Belgium’s wood cellar manager Lauren Salazar decided to swap the Citra for Galaxy. As always, the result is brightly sour, with an acidic peach tartness and a slight funkiness that comes from the reuse of wooden barrels. The hop blend emphasizes peach and passion-fruit notes in both the nose and the body, and there’s an interesting undercurrent of bitter citrus throughout. The overall effect is a rich, enjoyable, tongue-puckering sourness, not extremely tart for the sake of being tart. This is a beer that fizzes on the tongue, and it’s exactly what I want at this time of year: Unlike those thirst-quencing gose and Berliner weisse beers that are so popular in the summer, Le Terroir is a fruity autumnal beer that evokes changing leaves, not patio picnics. The only caveat is that Le Terroir is sometimes served too cold on tap at bars, which turns it into a different beer: extremely dry and acidic, with very little oak, and carbonation that’s almost excessively high. If you experience that, cup the glass for a few minutes until the beer wakes up. You’ll be glad it did. (New Belgium) — Fritz Hahn New Belgium “Lips of Faith” Le Terroir. www.newbelgium.com. $15 to $16 per 22-ounce bottle, or about $8 on draft in a bar. More from Food: Beer Column


George Mueller, NASA engineer who helped enable moon landing, dies at 97

for the mammoth Saturn V, the launch vehicle upon which NASA pinned its hopes of sending Americans to the moon. Ultimately, a NASA history reads, “it is clear that without all-up testing the first manned lunar landing could not have taken place as early as 1969,” the last year that met Kennedy’s schedule. The same NASA history went on to say that Dr. Mueller’s “bold telescoping of the overall plan bore magnificent fruit.” Frank Borman’s Apollo 8 crew orbited the moon on Christmas 1968, and in the next year, the sixth Saturn V took Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 to the first manned lunar landing. In an interview for a Smithsonian Institution publication, Dr. Mueller indicated that some of his assurance was borne of necessity. “Well,” he told Air & Space magazine, “one thing that gave me the confidence is that there wasn’t any other way we were going to get the program done on the schedule that we had.” A look at those who have died. But he maintained that he was not being rash in sending Apollo 8 to circle the moon after the 6.5 million-pound rocket that was to lift it into space had flown only twice, neither time carrying men aloft. “It wouldn’t have gone if I hadn’t been comfortable,” he said. “I spent about four months that summer looking at every possible way that it could fail, and convinced myself that it wasn’t going to fail,” he said. “So we went forward with it.” In the same interview, he observed that his sort of decision-making would no longer carry the day. “We have too many people who believe in absolute safety,” although “there is no such thing,” he said. Moreover, he added, “if you designed your program to be absolutely safe, you’d also be sure you’d absolutely never fly.” Yes, he suggested, he did run a risk, but it was only “a reasonable risk.” What he would have ruled out, he said, was “an unreasonable risk.” A method of distinguishing one from the other, he implied, entailed imagining the worst that could happen, and then deciding whether that danger could be overcome. In January 1967, NASA suffered one of its most devastating setbacks to that point. Three astronauts were killed in a fire during a launch pad test. The response given then by NASA’s administrator, James E. Webb, helped show how Dr. Mueller was regarded. Despite


No, you can’t do Shakespeare’s and Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at once

Christina Sajous played Juliet. (Courtesy of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) “I’m not crazy about the music,” the woman behind me told her companion after intermission. Me, I wasn’t crazy about the words. Objectively speaking, we were both wrong. The music was by Prokofiev, the words by Shakespeare, and both score and text are among the most beloved works by their respective creators: “Romeo and Juliet.” But playing two works at the same time creates interference that neither the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop nor a fine set of actors under the auspices of the Folger Theatre and director Edward Berkeley could resolve in a performance at Strathmore in North Bethesda on Saturday night. Throughout the evening, one strained to hear the words through the music or the music over the words or struggled with the dislocating sensation of having the words say one thing while the music appeared to be saying something else. Dramatic pacing is one thing, musical pacing another, and on Saturday, the two met all too seldom. Prokofiev’s score, with its lyrical arabesques and angular rhythms, was a translation of the play into a ballet; it wasn’t conceived of as incidental music. It certainly wasn’t conceived of as background music to be played while actors shouted their lines into their mikes. After having some of the most beautiful music reduced to mere soundtrack, it was odd to have the whole wedding scene pantomimed while the orchestra played music that sounded as if it had been written as filler. Sebastian Stimman played Romeo. (George Riveron/George Riveron) The actors, meanwhile, had to try to flesh out parts that had been grievously reduced, while the music kept imposing limitations on what they could convey. Christina Sajous was a luminous Juliet, and Sebastian Stimman did his best to project an ardent young Romeo. Their story never fully took hold emotionally in this Cliffs Notes version. The cast members were called to take on multiple roles — none more than Lisa Bruneau, who had a virtuosic tour de force as no fewer than 11 characters, including Tybalt, and was in some ways the most distinctive figure onstage. Louis Butelli was less successful in playing the Nurse and Friar Laurence, which meant he sometimes had to engage in dialogue with himself, making comic figures of both in the process. Alsop is good at the big, energetic gesture, and in many ways Prokofiev’s


U.S. blocks some anti-drug funds for Mexico over human rights concerns

and police officers have regularly been accused of killing innocent civilians, torturing witnesses and using disproportionate amounts of force as they fight drug cartels. In several parts of the country, the Mexican military has taken over primary security duties after the municipal police were disbanded because they had been infiltrated by drug gangs. “Despite years of the Merida Initiative and the efforts the United States has made to work with the Mexican government to improve justice and accountability, there has been little progress,” said Tim Rieser, a foreign policy aide to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). The “Leahy law” bars the U.S. government from providing aid to foreign military units that appear to have committed gross human rights violations. A string of alleged killings The most notorious recent case of alleged abuses by Mexican security forces involves the disappearance last year of 43 students from a teachers college. The Mexican government claimed that municipal police from the town of Iguala, in Guerrero state, turned the students over to drug traffickers who killed them and burned their bodies in a trash dump. But investigators convened by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded last month that the students could not have all died in that fashion because such a large fire had not occurred. They also wrote that soldiers allegedly witnessed the violence but failed to intervene. Government investigators looking into the case mishandled evidence, and witnesses claim to have been tortured, the report said. “Everyone knew that the spotlight was on this case,” Rieser said. “And yet even still, they tried to whitewash it and cover up what happened. It shows the amount of impunity that exists there and the belief that you can get away with anything.” A few months before the students disappeared, the Mexican army allegedly killed 22 people, including shooting some execution-style after they had surrendered, in a warehouse in Tlatlaya, southwest of Mexico City. Human rights groups also have compiled allegations that witnesses to the killings were subsequently tortured. Three soldiers are facing homicide charges in the incident, and seven state police officers have been accused of torture. In January, federal forces allegedly killed 16 civilians in Apatzingan, a town at the center of the militia uprising against drug cartels in Michoacan state. Although these issues have raised concerns in Washington, the scandals do not appear to have generated much pressure to change broader U.S.


China’s long and punishing arm

power of the Chinese party-state and its general intolerance of dissent — because, with individual cases, they did not seem to threaten the regime. But since the crackdown began, 293 of them have been questioned by police or detained, a serious setback for the movement and an assertion that President Xi Jinping will not tolerate independent voices of any kind. Among those detained July 9 was human rights lawyer Wang Yu. At that moment, her husband, Bao Longjun, was at the airport preparing to take their son, Bao Zhuoxuan, to study in Australia. Both father and son were hauled out of the security line at the airport and thrown into vans. Ms. Wang and Mr. Bao have not been seen since. The boy’s passport was confiscated; he was told he could not leave China and was sent to live with grandparents in Inner Mongolia. The son decided to flee. He crossed from China to Burma at the notorious border town of Mong La, where passports are not required and the Chinese have a strong influence. He was apparently hoping to make it to Thailand and then on to the United States. Bao Zhuoxuan was detained at a guest house in Mong La on Oct. 6 in circumstances that look like a snatch by the Chinese authorities. The grab is reminiscent of the brutal kidnapping of Wang Bingzhang, a democracy activist who was abducted while on a trip to Vietnam in 2002 and then sentenced to life in prison in China. If China can reach out and seize the son of dissidents in a Burmese border town, will it do the same in Bangkok or Baltimore? The campaign against family members is an abhorrent tactic of thugs. The State Department described it as a “seemingly systematic campaign by China to target family members of Chinese citizens who peacefully challenge official policy and work to protect the rights of others.” China should immediately free Bao Zhuoxuan’s parents and allow him to leave the country . And not to be forgotten are many other lawyers, dissidents and activists languishing in Chinese prisons and camps because they had the courage to speak out for freedom and basic human rights. Read more on this issue: The Post’s View: China’s new crackdown on civil rights Fred Hiatt: China’s lawless path The Post’s View: China’s pathetic crackdown on civil society Ti-Anna Wang: Fighting for My Father’s Freedom


Creating corals that can survive climate change

to survive early in their life cycle. This biology may allow researchers to choose which micro-algae the coral will host. “You can insert a symbiont [micro-alga] that’s really tolerant of stress and continues to provide the coral with nutrition through that stress,” Gates says. In other words, scientists may be able to improve the resilience of coral by improving the resilience of its assemblage of microorganisms. Gates and van Oppen also plan to take advantage of the fact that simple microorganisms, such as Symbiodinium, reproduce and evolve very quickly. Using common lab techniques, they may be able to guide that evolution by inducing random mutations into their DNA, then breeding and selecting the new strains for characteristics that will increase the resilience of their host corals. The key to all this — and maybe the reason there has been so little criticism in the scientific community — is that none of what Gates and van Oppen are doing is genetic engineering in the technical sense. They’re not gene-splicing or creating Franken-corals. On the epigenetics side, they’re simply turning on genes that are already present in the coral’s own DNA. Similarly, the symbiotic micro-algae that they’re working with already exist in the corals on the reef. No new genetic material is being introduced. And in the future, when the coral is returned to the wild, it will go back to its home reef. “We’ve been very strong in saying we’re not genetically modifying anything,” Gates says. “All we’re doing is accelerating or assisting evolution.” No Franken-coral But Gates isn’t cavalier about the risks. For example, she acknowledges that, however unlikely, it’s possible that these new “super corals” could become invasive or have other unintended consequences. These are issues that environmental managers, policymakers, scientists and the general public will have to discuss, Gates says. But for now, the more urgent goal is for scientists to develop what she calls a “biological tool box” to address the threat that climate change poses for coral reefs. The question of whether to use those tools comes later. “We can often pick holes in potential solutions and have a very nuanced argument about why we shouldn’t do anything,” Gates says. “Or, we can turn the argument on its head and ask, ‘What is the risk of doing nothing?’ The risk of doing nothing is the obliteration of coral reefs worldwide.” Hollier is a Hawaii-based science writer.


Local roundup: Suspect arrested in July fatal shooting in D.C.

Avenue near the Petworth neighborhood. Sean Green, also 24, of Northwest, was charged with first-degree murder while armed. Police said the shooting took place July 30. The victim was identified as Derrick Black of Northwest Washington. Police said the suspect was arrested on a warrant. — Peter Hermann Man is fatally shot near Gallaudet A man who was shot early Monday near Mount Olivet Cemetery and Gallaudet University died at a hospital, according to D.C. police. The man was identified by authorities as Percy Williams, 20, of Northeast Washington. Police said the shooting occurred about 2:30 a.m. near Central Place and Capitol Avenue, just off the 1900 block of West Virginia Avenue NE, in the Ivy City neighborhood. — Peter Hermann MARYLAND Hearing postponed in transgender killing A court hearing scheduled for Monday for the suspect in the murder of a transgender woman in Montgomery County was postponed. Rico Hector LeBlond, 20, had been set to have the terms of his bond reviewed Monday. His attorney requested that the hearing be waived. LeBlond remains held without bond. He will stay in jail pending further action. LeBlond is charged in the fatal shooting of Zella Ziona, 21, who also was called DeAndre Smith. The shooting Thursday occurred in the county’s Montgomery Village area. — Dan Morse Elections board ends partisan wrangling The Montgomery County Board of Elections ended nearly a month of partisan wrangling Monday by voting unanimously to restore a Bethesda community center to its list of nine early balloting sites for 2016. The Republican majority on the five-member board had little choice after the Maryland Board of Elections rejected its plan last week to drop the Jane Lawton Community Recreation Center in favor of the Potomac Community Recreation Center on Falls Road, about 10 miles away. But the county board also called on state lawmakers to introduce emergency legislation expanding the number of early voting sites in the county to 10 so that Potomac can be added. The actions put to rest a controversy triggered Sept. 21, when the board voted 3 to 2 along party lines to switch Bethesda for Potomac, and the Marilyn Praisner Community Recreation Center in Burtonsville for the Longwood Community Recreation Center near Olney. Democrats charged that the moves amounted to voter suppression by shifting early voting to sites that are less populous and not as well served by public transportation. — Bill Turque


Meb Keflezighi still runs to win at age 40

I have to break away from the group.” An interactive course is always good, and it’s always special when you have an out-and-back course because you can see the other runners. They draw energy from you, and you draw energy from them. People can engage on how fast they can go and see you and say, “I ran the same route as Meb!” or whoever it is, and we help and support each other. Do you have to adjust your training or even recovery based on different terrains of cities? I always say a marathon is 26.2 no matter where you go, but you can’t just train flat and expect to do well on a hilly or a downhill course. You’ve got to stress those muscles to do those things. You don’t have to be at the course to do that, but I believe that you have to be cognizant that miles 17 and 18 are hilly, so try to find something like that. Have you been able to run in a race here in D.C.? I have relatives in D.C., so I come back quite a bit and have done a lot of practices,a lot of running by the monuments. The buildings there on the Mall, it’s an awesome feeling. Race-wise, the Capital Challenge [a three-mile race that features teams from Congress, the military and the media] I’ve done twice, and those are lots of fun. How many miles have you run this year? It’s anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 a year, but I can tell you I have run over 100,000 miles since 1993. You know the circumference of the world? It’s 24,905 — so 25,000. I have finally completed my four laps around the world. Are you planning to retire after the Olympics or have you set a date yet? No, I haven’t set a retirement date. Hopefully, Rio and one or two more New York City marathons and call it a goodbye. I’ve been saying is that I’ve done 21 marathons, and I want to stop at 26. I’ll be a part of the sport to do 10Ks and half-marathons. I enjoy those, and they are a way of life for me. It’s in my blood. More from Wellness: How to pick a better running shoe From non-swimmer to triathlete in one year Why now is the best time to jump-start your workout @mjmplunkett on Twitter


In technology test, senator is along for the ride — the driver-less ride

the very least doesn’t take away from safety. But ultimately our goal is to drastically improve safety. That’s kind of our fundamental belief — that that’s all possible.” Research scientist Myra Blanco said there are gradations to what people want and what technology can and will be able to do, and she and her colleagues are trying to see how those line up. And there is a long distance to be worked out from traffic-jam assist technologies, which are here today and keep drivers a certain distance from the car inching in front of them, and hailing a robot car to come take you to a ballgame or the beach. In her technical lingo, Blanco said a key human-level challenge is the notion of “primary task reversal.” “You’re primary task, people tell you, is driving. You need to pay attention to it,” Blanco said. “But when you have a system that is telling you, ‘Hey, I got you. It’s okay,’ then people think: ‘If you’re taking care of this, I can do other stuff. Very cool!’ ” Many intermediary technologies will require drivers to be alert, even when their hands aren’t on the controls. “Time flies so quickly. . . . You’re allowing the user to do other things, but at the same time you’re telling them, ‘But don’t do it for too long!’ ” Blanco said. Research shows that a person’s “primary task” can shift quickly from driving to writing e-mails or making quick edits in that presentation he or she is finishing. “We are like that as humans. We get engrossed in a task. We’re goal-oriented,” Blanco said. “How do we, after giving the user control of their life back, pull them back to paying attention?” Warner is a big booster of the technology, and he wasn’t turned off by one startlingly sharp turn on the way to the future. “I could get used to that,” he said, since it’s expected to make cars safer, faster and more fuel-efficient. Warner, who made his fortune as a cellular technology pioneer, held up his iPhone in a scuffed brown case and said people were skeptical decades ago of the coming mobile revolution. With manufacturers, Google, Uber and others “putting literally hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars” into automation, he said, change will come much faster than people think. “This is the next great big disruptive technology,” Warner said.


Why we rebel when big companies change our favorite junk food

Northwest. Regional food survives because of taste memories formed by unique combinations of culture, economics, climate and geography. Even with processed food, there is more to taste memory than taste. A British Cadbury bar may outshine its American counterpart, but it can’t match the dozens of gourmet chocolates readily available. The expats cling to their Cadbury for its association with British identity. All of us have a nostalgic snack-food treat — mine is Doritos — especially since processed food accounts for 70 percent of the America diet. But our fondness for junk food comes at the expense of losing control of our taste memory. Processed foods can be shipped around the world and remain the same. I’ve found Doritos for sale in a shack in a Guatemalan jungle and a convenience store in the Canadian Arctic. There are more than 1,500 types of potato chips on the market, but hundreds of great-tasting varieties of tomatoes, apples, greens and other plants rarely, if ever, make it inside a grocery store, usually because they are too delicate, expensive or low-yield to turn into a high-profit commodity. In effect, we are replacing natural and cultural diversity with product diversity. In a 2004 file photo, diners in Mexico City wait for their food while drinking Mexican-made Coca-Cola. There’s a popular notion that Mexican Coke is made with different ingredients from the U.S. version; research has thrown doubt on that theory. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune) The tastes of heirloom plants and homemade foods are cherished because they also come with a story. Companies have learned how to make that happen through “relationship marketing.” Coca-Cola has mastered the act of tying its sweet brown fizzy water to special moments: Christmas, sports, summer, childhood, even World War II. Coca-Cola became a victim of its own success, because New Coke bombed when it was introduced in 1985, despite extensive research indicating a solid majority of consumers preferred it over the classic Coke or Pepsi. People loved Coke more for what it represented than its taste. So our taste memory in many ways is no longer ours. Companies realize it’s best to be discreet when tweaking the recipes of iconic foods. In the 1970s, Coca-Cola started switching its sweeteners to high-fructose corn syrup, and there was no outcry. (Many people claim to prefer Mexican Coke because it’s made with cane sugar, but lab research indicates it, too, might be made


Man fatally shot in Northwest Washington

D.C. police said a man was fatally shot Tuesday morning while sitting in a car in Northwest Washington. Few details were immediately available, and the man was said to be unconscious when police arrived at the scene. Police did not release the man’s identity but said it is a homicide. The incident began around 11:12 a.m. in the 2900 block of Sherman Avenue NW. Police said the man was shot in the chest. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier went to the scene and said the man was sitting in a car and “apparently someone walked up to him and shot him.”


A male elephant in D.C. heads to Okla. zoo reeling from death of a female

WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 25: A playful Kandula tosses around a tire at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post) (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post) Kandula the elephant bade farewell to Washington on Tuesday, en route to a grieving zoo in Oklahoma, where his arrival comes after the death of a 4-year-old female elephant there three weeks ago. The National Zoo’s prize male Asian elephant was shipped to the Oklahoma City Zoo so that he can breed with the female elephants there. But he arrives just weeks after the sudden death on Oct. 1 of one of Oklahoma’s females, Malee, who apparently died of the elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus. “It’s been a really difficult time,” an emotional Oklahoma zoo spokeswoman, Tara Henson, said Tuesday. “She was our firstborn at the zoo. . . . We have all been reeling.” Asked whether Kandula might be sickened, Henson said, “No, he’s not in danger.” National Zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson said experts at both zoos discussed the death and the move at length, deciding that it was safe for Kandula to go. “They would not have accepted the elephant if they did not think he would be okay,” she said. “We wouldn’t have sent the elephant if we didn’t think he would be okay.” Henson said African and Asian elephants have carried strains of the virus for as long as the species have been studied. Brandie Smith, the National Zoo’s associate director for animal-care sciences, said Kandula and others in the zoo’s herd already carry the virus, and most elephants sickened by it are between the ages of 4 and 8. Kandula, who is 13 and weighs 7,300 pounds, “is out of that danger zone,” she said. The National Zoo is home to the National Elephant Herpesvirus Lab and is a center for study of the illness. Malee showed faint signs of illness late Sept. 30, and she died 18 hours later, to the dismay of her keepers, Henson said. The zoo hosted a celebration of her life Sunday. “Our whole community is devastated,” she said. “Malee was just beyond special.” The National Zoo will retain ownership of Kandula, with the possibility that he might someday return. The zoo also could acquire another male elephant to breed with its females, but females can also become pregnant via artificial insemination, which is how Kandula was conceived. He is leaving behind


zoo, said that the zoo’s staff members “are thrilled. . . . He is such a handsome elephant.” “We’re excited to welcome him to Oklahoma City and to assure the community there that our community here is going to greet him tremendously,” she said. Elephant keepers coaxed Kandula into a huge shipping crate shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday, Smith said. The crate was loaded onto a small truck that was driven to the larger truck parked in the zoo’s complex, and it was placed onboard. The truck left the zoo just before 1 p.m. The 1,300-mile trip is expected to take about 20 hours with no overnight stops, the zoo said. Keepers from the zoo accompanied the truck in chase cars to feed and water the elephant along the journey and to help him adjust once he arrives. The National Zoo has a new $56 million facility for elephants and has been working to become a center for research on the animals. It began building its then-three elephant herd in 2013, with the importation of Bozie from Baton Rouge, La. She was the first elephant in years to join Ambika, Shanthi and Kandula. Last year, the zoo added three more elephants — Kamala, Swarna and Maharani — from the zoo in Calgary, Alberta. The National Zoo announced plans for Kandula’s departure in August. Since then, keepers had been training him to enter the travel crate, which was stationed outside the zoo’s elephant barn. Keepers also tried to simulate noises he might hear en route, by knocking against the crate. Kandula is a descendant of elephants from Sri Lanka, where his mother was born. His name means strength and virtue in Sinhalese. Smith said the departure of Kandula clears the way for the National Zoo to fine-tune its herd. “Now, actually, we’re starting discussions about what do we want to do next,” she said. “This is kind of the final component of our larger elephant plan,” she added. “We wanted to increase the number of females in our herd” and send Kandula to a place “where he can create his own family.” “After this, we’re going to sit down, and we’re going to talk about where we are now and what the best way forward is,” she also said. “Now is a good time for us to take that really big-picture look at the next five years, the next 10 years.”


‘Clock kid’ Ahmed Mohamed and his family will move to Qatar

from shouting to him from behind the rope lines: “Ahmed! How are you feeling?” Perhaps that’s the question that has been left out of the viral hubbub: What has this been like for Ahmed? To go from a run-of-the-mill 14-year-old to an international symbol for stereotyping in America? In a phone interview on Tuesday, Ahmed’s 19-year-old sister Eyman said he’s under a pressure they never imagined. It can be a good pressure: “It’s like now he’s motivated to work harder than every before,” she said. “Because people are going to be waiting to see what happened to that 14 year old kid.” Texas ninth grader Ahmed Mohamed was arrested after his homemade clock was mistaken for a bomb. Here's what you need to know. And a bad one: “It’s been really hard. Everything happens for a reason, but there’s so much stuff being said that isn’t true. . . ” Eyman was referring to a number of conspiracy theories that appeared on the Internet about his arrest. Most attest that the incident was a pre-planned plot to get attention. Some of that skepticism stems from claims against Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan, who has run for president of Sudan and was present during a high-profile Koran burning in Florida. Bond, the family friend, said the conspiracies are why Ahmed doesn’t want to go to school in America. “Everybody’s vilifying him, and he’s not a villain. He’s a 14 year old boy,” Bond said. “The whole world was concerned about this, and it’s impossible that anyone could have expected this international reaction.” Bond said the family is planning to move next week so Ahmed can begin school at the Qatar Foundation, where he will receive a full scholarship. His parents and two sisters will relocate too. The news release announcing the move may be the last we hear from the family for a while. It included one statement from Ahmed: “I loved the city of Doha because it’s so modern. I saw so many amazing schools there, many of them campuses of famous American universities. The teachers were great. I think I will learn a lot and have fun too.” Ahmed’s sister Eyman said the Middle East won’t feel too different from the U.S., except that the family will be surrounded by Muslims like themselves. “Qatar is in the Arab world, but it also feels like Texas. It’s like Texas in Qatar.”


Washington-area obituaries of note

Obituaries of residents from the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia. Marion G. Lawrence, NIH biochemist Marion G. Lawrence, 86, a biochemist for the National Institutes of Health’s critical care medicine department from about 1985 to 2009, died Sept. 28 at her home in Silver Spring, Md. The cause was cancer, said her daughter, Valerie Tennant. Mrs. Lawrence was born Marion Baker in Central City, Ky., and moved to the Washington area early in her teenage years. Before her NIH career, she had accompanied her first husband, a Navy officer, to posts in Hawaii and Spain; owned an AAMCO Transmissions business in Annapolis; and sold real estate in Annapolis. Frederick B. Arner, disability specialist Frederick B. Arner, 91, a lawyer who specialized in disability guidelines while working for the Congressional Research Service, a House Ways and Means subcommittee and the Social Security Administration, died Oct. 7 at an assisted living center in Woodstock, Va. The cause was prostate cancer, said a son, Rob Arner. Mr. Arner, a resident of Kensington, Md., was born in Champaign, Ill., and grew up in the Washington area. After military service as an aircraft tail gunner in World War II and the Korean War, he joined the Congressional Research Service in 1952, becoming a specialist in Social Security legislation. In that job, he worked for congressional committees and subcommittees, and then became a staffer for the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security and in the late 1980s the Social Security Administration. He retired in the early 1990s. Sholom Wacholder, biostatistician Sholom Wacholder, 60, a biostatistician and cancer epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute, died Oct. 4 at his home in Rockville, Md. The cause was prostate cancer, said his wife, Michele Rhone. Dr. Wacholder was born in Fort Worth. He was an assistant professor at McGill University in Montreal before moving to the Washington area and joining the National Cancer Institute staff in 1986. Since 1992, he had been senior staff investigator in the epidemiologic methods section of the biostatistics branch. Dorine Smoot, school secretary Dorine E. Smoot, 73, a secretary at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School on the campus of Gallaudet University in Northeast Washington, died Sept. 26 at a hospital in the District. The cause was cancer, said a daughter, Sabrena Barfield. Ms. Smoot, a native Washingtonian, was a lifelong resident of the city. In the 1970s and 1980s, she was secretary to


Police ID man shot in Northwest D.C. neighborhood worried about crime

Police said a man found fatally shot in a vehicle Tuesday morning near Howard University has been identified as 38-year-old Marcus Manor. Manor of Northwest Washington died at the scene in the 2900 block of Sherman Avenue NW, a block west of Georgia Avenue, near Columbia Heights, police said, after being shot in the chest. It was the latest burst of violence in an area where residents have expressed fear for months. Manor’s killing was the third fatal shooting since July in three adjacent neighborhoods — Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant and Park View. Manor was a felon who was released from prison in March, according to police and court records. He had served three months after violating the terms of his supervised release in 2012 from a six-year sentence on a gun and assault charge. Court documents say Manor had accumulated seven convictions, including for felony gun possession, selling drugs and assault. Though police have not linked the three fatal shootings in the area, the crimes have some residents on edge. “Ward 1 is having as bad a spasm of violence as I can recall,” Terry Lynch, a longtime resident of Mount Pleasant, wrote in an e-mail this week, referring to one of the city’s eight election wards. “The community and the police have got to turn this around. It’s tragic for the victims and others are at high risk as well as bystanders. Things are certainly moving in the wrong direction right now.” Motives in two of the killings in which there have been arrests are listed in court documents as arguments between the suspects and victims. Police have not made any arrests in Manor’s case. A summer crime surge increased the District’s homicide count by 44 percent over last year. There have been 125 killings so far this year, compared with 86 at this time in 2014, a year that ended with 105 homicides. The pace of killings has slowed over the past two months but remains a top area of concern. Residents who live along the Georgia Avenue and 16th Street corridor have complained of frequent gunfire and crime since July 30, when 24-year-old Derrick Black was killed in the 3300 block of Georgia Avenue NW, in Park View, at about 9:30 p.m. in front of a Metro bus. A witness interviewed at the time described the shooting as a “straight-up execution” in which a gunman chased


Montgomery Animal Watch

These cases were 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. Hospital incident: Boston terriers vs. Maltese: “A Party for Paws”: Sponsored by the Montgomery County Humane Society, the Saturday fundraiser will benefit homeless animals in the county. Highlights will include a silent auction, music, dances, a pooch parade and drinks. Cocktail or business attire is suggested. 7:30 to 11 p.m. Universities at Shady Grove, 9630 Gudelsky Dr., Rockville. 240-252-2555. Visit www.mchumane.org for tickets or information. $80. Paws4people/Paws4vets fundraiser: Rockville Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


D.C. news in brief

DDOT to hold public meeting on secured bike lanes DDOT is having an open house on the Eastern Downtown Protected Bike Lanes Study, a report on possible designs for bike lanes separated from car traffic between central D.C. neighborhoods — such as Shaw and Bloomingdale — and downtown. The meeting is from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library, 1630 Seventh St. NW. Project team managers will show design options and take questions and feedback from attendees. For information, go to ddot.dc.gov. The department also recently released a draft plan to expand the Capital Bikeshare program by 99 stations over the next three years and to double the bike-sharing stations east of the Anacostia River. The District has partnered in the program with the city of Alexandria and Montgomery and Arlington counties. To comment on the bike-share proposal, go to dcforms.dc.gov by Nov. 15. Lung cancer group to hold fundraising walk Nov. 1 The Breathe Deep D.C. 5K, a fundraising walk by the LUNGevity Foundation to benefit lung cancer research, is scheduled for Nov. 1 at the Sylvan Theater on the Mall, 15th Street and Independence Avenue SW. Check-in is at 9 a.m., followed by a program at 9:30 a.m. and the walk and fun run at 10 a.m. The course is open to strollers, wheelchairs and pets on leashes. There will be children’s activities during and after the walk. Registration is free for lung cancer survivors and children 5 and younger. The cost is $10 for children 13 and younger, $15 for students and seniors, and $25 for others. For information or to donate, go to www.lungevity.org/dc. Park service seeks comments on landscaping plan at statue The National Park Service is seeking comment on a landscaping project at the triangle of Massachusetts Avenue and 24th and S streets NW, a park area with a sculpture of Irish patriot Robert Emmet. The proposal would replace a Deodar Cedar tree that is obscuring the sculpture with three eight- to 10-foot-tall Irish yew trees. The yews would be kept at a height and diameter that would prevent damage to the Emmet statue. Other tasks include replacing invasive English ivy with native ground cover, adding and replacing shrubbery, tree trimming, and rebuilding turf. To comment, go to parkplanning.nps.gov or send a letter by Nov. 12 to Rock Creek Park, Attn: U.S. Reservation 302 Landscape Rehabilitation Project, 3545 Williamsburg Lane


D.C. news in brief

DDOT is having an open house on the Eastern Downtown Protected Bike Lanes Study, a report on possible designs for bike lanes separated from car traffic between central D.C. neighborhoods — such as Shaw and Bloomingdale — and downtown. The meeting is from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library, 1630 Seventh St. NW. Project team managers will show design options and take questions and feedback from attendees. For information, go to ddot.dc.gov. The department also recently released a draft plan to expand the Capital Bikeshare program by 99 stations over the next three years and to double the bike-sharing stations east of the Anacostia River. The District has partnered in the program with the city of Alexandria and Montgomery and Arlington counties. To comment on the bike-share proposal, go to dcforms.dc.gov by Nov. 15. Lung cancer group to hold fundraising walk Nov. 1 The Breathe Deep D.C. 5K, a fundraising walk by the LUNGevity Foundation to benefit lung cancer research, is scheduled for Nov. 1 at the Sylvan Theater on the Mall, 15th Street and Independence Avenue SW. Check-in is at 9 a.m., followed by a program at 9:30 a.m. and the walk and fun run at 10 a.m. The course is open to strollers, wheelchairs and pets on leashes. There will be children’s activities during and after the walk. Registration is free for lung cancer survivors and children 5 and younger. The cost is $10 for children 13 and younger, $15 for students and seniors, and $25 for others. For information or to donate, go to www.lungevity.org/dc. Park service seeks comments on landscaping plan at statue The National Park Service is seeking comment on a landscaping project at the triangle of Massachusetts Avenue and 24th and S streets NW, a park area with a sculpture of Irish patriot Robert Emmet. The proposal would replace a Deodar Cedar tree that is obscuring the sculpture with three eight- to 10-foot-tall Irish yew trees. The yews would be kept at a height and diameter that would prevent damage to the Emmet statue. Other tasks include replacing invasive English ivy with native ground cover, adding and replacing shrubbery, tree trimming, and rebuilding turf. To comment, go to parkplanning.nps.gov or send a letter by Nov. 12 to Rock Creek Park, Attn: U.S. Reservation 302 Landscape Rehabilitation Project, 3545 Williamsburg Lane NW, Washington, D.C. 20008. — Compiled by Terence McArdle


Fairfax County news in brief

SoberRide offers free cab rides for Halloween The Washington Regional Alcohol Program is offering free cab rides to prevent drunken driving on Halloween. SoberRide will operate from 10 p.m. Oct. 31 to 4 a.m. Nov. 1 and is available in the District and Alexandria, as well as in Montgomery, Prince George’s, Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William counties and eastern Loudoun County. Local taxi companies will provide the service. Call 800-200-TAXI (8294) for a ride home worth up to $30. AT&T wireless users can call #9727. For information, go to www.soberride.com . Slow down for deer during breeding season The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries warns motorists to be aware of deer this season. Deer breed in the fall and are more active between October and December than at any other time of the year. According to information provided by DGIF, one-half to two-thirds of all vehicle collisions with deer occur in the fall. The DGIF recommends the following tips to avoid hitting a deer: → When driving, particularly between dusk and dawn, slow down and be attentive. If you see one deer, there will probably be others. → Deer crossing signs have been installed by the Virginia Department of Transportation where deer habitually travel. Use caution when you see them. → Drivers should apply brakes and stop, if necessary, to avoid hitting a deer. But they should never swerve out of the lane to miss a deer. A collision with another vehicle, tree or other object is likely to be more serious than hitting a deer. → Do not rely on deer whistles sold for cars. These devices are not effective. → If you are involved in a collision with a deer or bear and kill the animal, immediately report the accident to a conservation police officer or other law enforcement officer. Once the officer views the animal and issues a possession certificate, the driver may keep the carcass. For information about white-tailed deer or deer behavior, visit www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/deer. Stream restoration project begins at Wakefield Park The Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, in coordination with the Fairfax County Park Authority, has begun stream restoration projects at Wakefield Park in Annandale. Work along 3,700 feet in the Accotink Creek watershed area includes the installation of in-stream structures, a pedestrian bridge crossing and pipe culverts, as well as stabilization of the stream banks and channel within the park.


150 robins shot outside of Pikesville office building

Robins found dead in Pikesville (Courtesy of Maryland Natural Resources Police) Someone shot 150 robins in one night outside a Baltimore-area office building. Maryland Natural Resources Police are trying to determine who committed the bizarre massacre, which is a crime under state and federal animal protection laws. Candy Thomson, a spokeswoman for the police department, said that workers at an office building off Reisterstown Road in Pikesville saw nothing amiss when they left Sept. 29. When they returned to work the next morning, 150 red-breasted robins were dead on the lawn. Thomson said that robins congregate in large numbers in one place as fall begins, so they were all likely living in the trees on the property where they were shot. At first, investigators assumed bad weather or pesticides had killed the birds at one fell swoop. No other robin deaths were reported in the weeks after that event. But a necropsy which was just completed revealed that the robins actually had been shot with a pellet gun. Police announced that finding Wednesday, and Thomson said that while there is no security camera footage that shows anyone shooting birds on the property, she hopes someone will provide a tip. “We just hope that someone cruel enough to shoot 150 robins would be dumb enough to talk about it, brag about it to someone,” she said. “It’s disturbing to us, and I’m sure it’s disturbing to the community, that someone would shoot 150 robins in an evening.”


Kunduz faces tough resurrection after brief Taliban takeover

and civil servants. Then they systematically targeted anyone opposed to them, creating a hit list and deploying death squads. A group of 10 Taliban fighters arrived at the green gate of Turdi Bai. They were looking for his 26-year-old son, Ismatullah. A year and a half ago, the former bodyguard stopped a Taliban suicide bomber from assassinating Mir Alam, a well-known pro-government militia commander. Ismatullah lost both his legs in the blast. “Please spare my son,” Bai recalled begging the fighters. “He can’t do anything now. He has no legs.” The fighters refused. “We’re here to send you to the next world,” one said. Ismatullah crawled across the courtyard and held his father’s hand and asked him not to beg anymore. Then, he crawled outside the compound, followed by the fighters. There, they shot five bullets into his abdomen. Later, the Taliban burned Mir Alam’s mansion. Yet in many other areas, the insurgents left residents alone. A drive around the city revealed that most houses and stores were untouched, save those that were caught in the exchange of gunfire between the insurgents and government forces. No jewelry shops reported being looted, and the Taliban provided a hotline for complaints. The insurgents were looking in particular for government workers and officials, said Jaleel Sabiri, 21, a university student. The two-story house of his neighbor, a government official, was razed. The third floor of the burned-out home of Mir Alam, a powerful Kunduz militia leader who fled Kunduz when it came under attack from the Taliban, on Oct. 20. (Andrew Quilty/For The Washington Post) A militia fighter guards the burned-out home of Mir Alam on Tuesday. Several buildings on his property were destroyed using what were believed to be IEDs. (Andrew Quilty/For The Washington Post) Some allegations of abuses committed by the Taliban were false. At the women’s hostel at Kunduz University, local Afghan television networks reported that the militants raped many of the students. The Taliban denied the reports and said it would target reporters from those networks. In interviews, three employees of the hostel said it had been closed for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday when the Taliban arrived. “There were no girls here,” said Mustapha Nazeri, the guard at the hostel, where red roses bloomed in the yard. “They all left seven days before Eid.” Human rights activists say that other women were raped, especially relatives of government employees


NHTSA says air-bag explosions killed 8, injured 98; UAW ratifies Fiat deal

AUTOMOBILES Air-bag explosions killed 8, injured 98 People whose cars have been recalled to fix air-bag inflators made by Takata Corp. should get the repairs done as soon as possible because of the risk of death or injury, U.S. safety regulators said Thursday. Speaking at a public meeting, officials of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said eight people have died and 98 have been hurt by inflators that can explode with too much force, spewing shrapnel in the direction of drivers and passengers. About 23.4 million Takata driver and passenger air-bag inflators on 19.2 million U.S. vehicles have been recalled. As of Oct. 9, only 22.5 percent of the recalled inflators had been replaced nationwide. Officials said it is difficult to estimate how long it will take to fix all the cars because of the size and complexity of the recall. The NHTSA is weighing whether to take over management of the recalls to speed up the pace of repairs. “NHTSA is considering a number of steps under the authority Congress has given us that could accelerate repairs and ensure that the inflators that present the greatest safety risk get replaced first,” NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said. About 23.4 million Takata inflators have been recalled. As of Oct. 9, only 22.5 percent of the recalled inflators had been replaced nationwide. The agency plans to make a decision on management of the recalls by Thanksgiving. NHTSA officials also cautioned that the recalls, which date to 2004, could expand beyond front driver- and passenger-side air bags. Volkswagen and General Motors recently recalled Takata inflators in seat-mounted side air bags over concerns that they could rupture. — Associated Press UAW ratifies deal with Fiat Chrysler The United Auto Workers union has approved a new four-year contract with Fiat Chrysler. UAW members at Fiat Chrysler’s U.S. factories voted 77 percent in favor of the agreement, the union said. The contract covers 40,000 workers at 23 U.S. factories. It was the second time in a month that Fiat Chrysler workers had voted on a contract. A previous deal was soundly rejected, largely because it did not eliminate a much-hated two-tier pay system. The new agreement gives raises to all workers and eliminates the two tiers over eight years. The union agreed to this tier system in 2007 when all three Detroit automakers were in financial trouble. But members have resented the varying pay. Under


In Southern California, ride the rails on a kid-friendly scale

La Mesa Model Railroad Club's HO scale Tehachapi Pass layout is one of the many model railroad displays at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. (Courtesy of San Diego Model Railroad Museum) Correction: Coming around the curve, my son excitedly pointed at the red wooden bridge crossing over a small creek. “Look, Mompa,” Zephyr said, collectively referring to his mother and me. We were all aboard a miniature train looping around a woody patch of Griffith Park, 4,210 acres of greenery situated in the heart of northwest Los Angeles. In front of us, the cheery cherry-red, propane-fueled Stanley Diamond engine chugged along, the engineer occasionally tooting its whistle. After crossing the bridge, we momentarily passed out of the bright sunshine into a short tunnel before whizzing through a mock Western town. This late-morning railroad ride was the perfect amusement for our 2-year-old son, as trains fascinate and delight him no end. Some mornings I awake with the imprint of a Thomas the Tank Engine on my face. Zephyr often brings his favorite toy locomotive to bed and, because he sleeps with us, it somehow always ends up between my cheek and the pillow during the course of the night. Downstairs, our living room is ruled by an epic Brio-brand train table covered in wooden tracks, engines and train cars — plus plenty of plastic dinosaurs. So when we started planning a week-long family trip to California, we decided to schedule several stops at train-related attractions. Our first destination was Griffith Park & Southern Railroad, which has been running mini-engines, such as the Stanley Diamond that carried us, since the late 1940s. Housed in a basement space inside the city’s culture-rich Balboa Park, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum boasts 27,000 square feet of layouts. (Courtesy of San Diego Model Railroad Museum) Second on the itinerary was Travel Town Museum, located on the other side of Griffith Park, a 10-minute drive away. Although there’s another miniature train to be ridden there, we decided to simply walk through the outdoor collection. There are a dozen engines and nearly a dozen cars, as well as semi-related oddities, including a horse-drawn car and a San Francisco cable car. A Baldwin steam locomotive from 1899 weighing an impressive 70 tons was front and center in the rail yard that day. (Trains move around the tracks that crisscross the property frequently, so there’s no map for


Who’s off the Internet — and why

I To be “left behind” in the 21st century now means something completely different compared with what it meant at the end of the 20th. Then, Washington worried about getting enough telephones and personal computers into U.S. households. Although that challenge may seem like a distant memory, it has since been replaced by others. Today, access to high-speed Internet — and the know-how to use it — have become regulators’ chief worry. They not only pose new problems for society but also, in subtle ways, change who needs the most help. “It has more to do with knowledge and information literacy,” said Mark Warschauer, an education professor at the University of California at Irvine and author of the book “Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide.” Yes, cost is still a factor. As many as 10 million U.S. households without Internet access say they might be convinced to sign up for Internet service if they received a government subsidy, according to Federal Communications Commission estimates. But if that sounds like a lot, it pales in comparison to the two-thirds of non-Internet users in the United States who say they don’t intend to sign up for broadband — at any price. A recent study by the Pew Research Center found that only 19 percent of the 51 million people without Internet access blame high prices, and only 7 percent cite the availability of broadband. Those who aren’t on the Internet today are saying they lack something else: the guidance that would make it an object of value to them. Far more, 34 percent, told Pew that the Internet simply isn’t relevant to their lives. And 32 percent said it is too hard to use. In other words, adding more connectivity won’t close the digital divide if those who stand to benefit aren’t interested in what the Internet has to offer. Coaching low-income Americans to look up information or apply for federal benefits online, or showing seniors how the Internet can help them stay in touch with family members, are difficult goals to measure. They don’t lend themselves to reports about numbers of homes connected or miles of cable laid. But the evidence suggests that policymakers already have reached the vast majority of households for which accessibility, or price, was the single biggest barrier to adoption. Some aspects of this newer, skill-based digital divide promise to resolve themselves over time. Take


Maryland’s medical marijuana industry taking shape

Peak Harvest Health has selected a 152,000 square-foot warehouse at Riverside Industrial Park in Cumberland, Md., as a potential site to grow and process medical marijuana products. (Courtesy of Peak Harvest Health) A 152,000-square-foot warehouse in Cumberland, Md., could soon be the home of some of Maryland’s first legally produced medical marijuana. To address security concerns, Peak Harvest Health says it will install bullet-proof glass and retinal scanners to identify those entering the building. Employees will wear color-coded uniforms confirming where they are allowed to be. By late 2016, if approved by state regulators, the windowless building next door to a police station could be churning out up to 18 pounds of marijuana a day, enough to treat thousands of patients a month. A year after Maryland legalized marijuana for medicinal use, the seeds of an industry are beginning to form. Experienced marijuana growers from across the country have begun piling into the state to compete for $165,000 a year in state-issued licenses to grow medical-grade pot. The Maryland Medical Cannibas Commission, which regulates growers, said it expects to give out up to 15 licenses by late 2015 or early 2016. But at least 60 companies are likely to apply for a license, according to the Maryland Cannabis Industry Association. The market could quickly become oversaturated, industry insiders say. “Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in Maryland have their eye on this opportunity,” said Rachelle Yeung, government affairs manager at Denver-based Vicente Sederberg, which is helping some companies wade through Maryland’s approval process. “And medical cannabis providers from other very competitive states are looking to operate [in Maryland] as well.” Gaithersburg-based Green Leaf Medical has signed a lease for a 42,000 square-foot warehouse in Frederick County after collecting nearly $1 million from investors. The company has packed its board with PhDs, including pharmacologist Vincent Njar and agronomist Marla McIntosh of the University of Maryland. Frederick Police Department veteran Tom Chase will advise the company on security issues. But locally based firms will face stiff competition from out-of-state growers. At least two New York-based companies — Citiva Medical and Alternative Medicine Associates, which has established a Maryland subsidiary — were not approved to set up operations in their home state and are vying for a license in Maryland. “If you look at the state of Maryland, you’re not supposed to know how to grow marijuana on a massive scale, so you


for a license, according to the Maryland Cannabis Industry Association. The market could quickly become oversaturated, industry insiders say. “Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in Maryland have their eye on this opportunity,” said Rachelle Yeung, government affairs manager at Denver-based Vicente Sederberg, which is helping some companies wade through Maryland’s approval process. “And medical cannabis providers from other very competitive states are looking to operate [in Maryland] as well.” Gaithersburg-based Green Leaf Medical has signed a lease for a 42,000 square-foot warehouse in Frederick County after collecting nearly $1 million from investors. The company has packed its board with PhDs, including pharmacologist Vincent Njar and agronomist Marla McIntosh of the University of Maryland. Frederick Police Department veteran Tom Chase will advise the company on security issues. But locally based firms will face stiff competition from out-of-state growers. At least two New York-based companies — Citiva Medical and Alternative Medicine Associates, which has established a Maryland subsidiary — were not approved to set up operations in their home state and are vying for a license in Maryland. “If you look at the state of Maryland, you’re not supposed to know how to grow marijuana on a massive scale, so you have to look outside the state for people with the right credentials,” said John Pica, a former state senator from Baltimore who is helping Alternative Medicine Associates with its application. Green Thumb Industries, a Chicago-based company that won three cultivation licenses in its home state, is also applying for a Maryland license. The company said it received county commissioners’ endorsement to produce medical marijuana in Hagerstown. Regulators will consider whether the companies have Maryland residents in their executive ranks or among their investors during the approval process. Cumberland-based Peak Harvest Health, which has raised $12 million from investors, is filling its ranks with well-known local executives and is aggressively courting Maryland-based investors. When Maryland legalized medical marijuana, Ethan Ruby, a former private-equity trader and the company’s co-founder, partnered with Kevin Gibbs, a District native who spent 10 years with the L.A. Dodgers and the New York Yankees, and Peter Kirsch, a local real estate executive. Ruby became a medical marijuana activist after a car ran a red light while he was crossing a Manhattan street and slammed into another vehicle, colliding with Ruby and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Years later the injury was still painful, Ruby said,


Bradley Cooper talks temper tantrums and other heated moments in ‘Burnt’

that’s what this burn is over my eye.” When it comes to depicting the inner workings of an acclaimed kitchen, “Burnt,” which opens Oct. 30, is nothing if not true to life. That makes it an anomaly among cooking movies, which tend to romanticize the craft, pulling heartstrings and inciting hunger pangs in equal measure. You’ll see it in “Chef,” “No Reservations,” “The Hundred-Foot Journey” or “Chocolat.” The camera might zoom in on a pair of hands carefully tending to a sizzling filet or the cheddar oozing out of a generously buttered grilled cheese. The act of making an omelet approaches a spiritual experience. “Burnt” is rougher around the edges. The food still looks tasty, but the process of getting it to the table isn’t pretty. Sweat and rage may not be on Adam Jones’s menu, but they go into nearly every dish. Even before writing the script, Steven Knight began compiling insights from Marcus Wareing, the celebrity chef behind London’s Marcus, a restaurant with two Michelin stars — the restaurant equivalent of winning a Golden Globe. According to Wareing, Knight wanted to hear stories from the trenches. So the chef obliged, giving the writer some sense of “what makes [chefs] tick — what makes us get out of bed and do a 16-hour day, six days a week, day after day, week after week, plate after plate after plate.” For Cooper’s character, it’s the desire to whip up “culinary orgasms.” Once the enfant terrible of the Paris dining scene, Jones vanished one day without a word. As “Burnt” opens, it’s years later and he has just resurfaced, sans his drug and alcohol habit, to open a London restaurant with the express purpose of getting his third Michelin star. In other words: an Oscar (an award, incidentally, that Cooper has been nominated for on multiple occasions but has never won). The script intrigued Cooper and Wells for a few reasons. For one, it explored the almost pathological perfectionism associated with the trade. “Then, I was fascinated by the idea of trying to re-create the kitchen environment,” Wells said. “I had worked in a lot of kitchens, Bradley worked in a lot of kitchens, and I think both of us felt that the only film that had fully done it justice over the years was ‘Ratatouille.’ ” But doing it justice was a tall order. For starters, they needed a set


Thomas Stemberg, founder of Staples office-supply chain, dies at 66

children’s footwear retailer, and Zoots, a dry cleaner. Thomas George Stemberg, the son of Austrian immigrants, was born in Newark on Jan. 18, 1949. His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic, and they had fled the Nazis in the late 1930s. He was 11 when his father died, and Thomas moved with his mother to her native Vienna, where he attended an American school and became a basketball standout. A look at those who have died. Mr. Stemberg returned to the United States to attend Harvard University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1971. “I was an organic chemistry major and managed a C+ average,” he wrote in the Times. “I realized that I wanted to do something I could be good at.” Two years later, he received an MBA from Harvard Business School. He then went to in Chicago to work for the Jewel supermarket chain, where he said “teamwork” was stressed among corporate management trainees. “I spent a decade at Jewel, and my mother was incredibly offended that her son was trimming lettuce while learning how to help run the operation,” he wrote in the Times. “She hadn’t spent all that money sending me to Harvard so that I’d end up in the produce section.” He became vice president of sales and merchandising before joining First National Supermarkets in 1980 and rising to president of its Edwards-Finast division, which operated stories in the Northeast. The company then began talks to spin off his division. “They were selling the division out from under me, and I got into an argument and was fired,” Mr. Stemberg told the Fairfield County Business Journal. He then went into business with Kahn to start Staples. One of the company’s major early backers was Bain Capital, an investment firm co-founded by Mitt Romney. Mr. Stemberg, in turn, became a significant backer of Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012. Romney often mentioned Staples on the campaign trail as an example of an American success story. Romney also credited Mr. Stemberg with pushing the then-governor to advocate for universal health care in Massachusetts. The law became a model for the federal Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare. Mr. Stemberg’s marriages to Maureen Sullivan and Dola Hamilton ended in divorce. Survivors include his third wife, Katherine Chapman; six sons; three stepdaughters; and three grandchildren, according to the Boston Globe.


A new wave of diseases threatens Southern Europe and the Middle East

the island of Corsica, while outbreaks of opisthorchiasis, a liver fluke that causes bile duct cancer, have occurred in Italy. We are still investigating the forces responsible for the transformation of Southern Europe into a tropical disease “hot zone.” Among the possible causes are the severe economic downturns in Greece, Italy and Spain, which may have slowed national public-health efforts, and global warming, which is creating temperature and rainfall conditions better suited for insects and other carriers of disease adapted to tropical climates. But a third factor must also be considered: The conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa. Ebola arose in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, in part because the health systems of the affected countries had been weakened by years of conflict and human migration. That same combination is now present in the Islamic State-occupied areas of Syria, Iraq and Libya, as well as in Yemen. We are already seeing the consequences of drawn-out Islamic State occupation and the subsequent halting of public-health interventions in places under the terrorist group’s control. These include the reemergence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio and measles but also a dramatic increase in leishmaniasis. Known in Syria as “Aleppo evil” because of its ability to disfigure the faces of young people, leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease transmitted by sandflies. Dengue fever is also now widespread in the Middle East and parts of North Africa, while deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infections appear regularly on the Arabian Peninsula. These diseases pose additional threats to Southern Europe. The extent to which Southern Europe’s new wave of tropical infections is due to human migrations from across the Mediterranean Sea or the Middle East remains unclear. But it is apparent that an enormous band of territory extending from Spain and Morocco in the west to Asia Minor, Iran and the Arabian Peninsula in the east is under threat and could become a source for epidemics that imperil the world. Action is urgently needed to answer this threat. Key needed measures include expanded surveillance for selected tropical infections, as well as studies to better understand how these infections are transmitted and where they originate. A global health-security agenda launched last year and endorsed by the G-7 countries is intended to address some of these urgent issues. Wherever possible, public-health preparedness efforts must be intensified on both sides of the Mediterranean and in the Middle East.


of its ability to disfigure the faces of young people, leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease transmitted by sandflies. Dengue fever is also now widespread in the Middle East and parts of North Africa, while deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infections appear regularly on the Arabian Peninsula. These diseases pose additional threats to Southern Europe. The extent to which Southern Europe’s new wave of tropical infections is due to human migrations from across the Mediterranean Sea or the Middle East remains unclear. But it is apparent that an enormous band of territory extending from Spain and Morocco in the west to Asia Minor, Iran and the Arabian Peninsula in the east is under threat and could become a source for epidemics that imperil the world. Action is urgently needed to answer this threat. Key needed measures include expanded surveillance for selected tropical infections, as well as studies to better understand how these infections are transmitted and where they originate. A global health-security agenda launched last year and endorsed by the G-7 countries is intended to address some of these urgent issues. Wherever possible, public-health preparedness efforts must be intensified on both sides of the Mediterranean and in the Middle East. Finally, we need to start developing new medical interventions, and especially vaccines, in preparation for these coming plagues . Last year, Ebola vaccines were not available to fight the epidemic in West Africa even though the technology to produce them had been available for years; a lesson learned was that, because vaccines for tropical diseases are not financially remunerative, we cannot depend on big pharmaceutical companies to produce them. Instead, nonprofit product-development partnerships, such as our Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, must step in to do this work, including building parallel capacity for vaccine development infrastructures in the Middle East and North Africa. However, we need innovative financing mechanisms to develop these products in a timely manner and provide them at low cost to vulnerable populations living in these newest hot zones. The world slept as Ebola overtook West Africa. We should not make the same mistakes in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Read more on this issue: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: The long-term cure for Ebola: An investment in health systems Michael T. Osterholm: What we need to fight Ebola Jim Yong Kim and Paul Farmer: What’s missing in the Ebola fight in


Beer of the Week: Lagunitas Born Yesterday

Customers who live close to Chicago could be drinking Lagunitas Born Yesterday as soon as a day after it’s bottled; Washingtonians might get it a day or two after that.. (Lagunitas) By now, every beer lover has been told that fresher is better when it comes to hoppy beers, and an increasing number of breweries are trying to make it easier for you to figure out how close your IPA is to its peak. Stone’s “Enjoy By” IPA series puts the best-before date right on the bottle or tap handle, and it’s typically within six weeks of when the beer was shipped. Flying Dog, the Bruery, Victory and Great Lakes place a suggested best-by date, instead of the more obtuse but common “bottled on” date, on their labels. [Stop ‘aging’ that hoppy beer. It’s only getting worse. But the new batch of Lagunitas’s Born Yesterday Fresh Hop Pale Ale is setting speed records: The hops were brewed the day after they were picked, and the beer will leave Lagunitas’s Chicago and Petaluma, Calif., breweries on Monday, Oct. 26 — the same day it leaves the tanks to be bottled. “After that, it’s dependent on geography,” explains Karen Hamilton, director of communications for Lagunitas. “If you’re really close to Chicago, it could be the next day.” (Washingtonians can look for the beer Tuesday or Wednesday, though its arrival will depend on which day individual bars and stores receive deliveries from the distributor. Update: ChurchKey [1337 14th St. NW] will hold a release party on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m.) Lagunitas tried this stunt last year, sending a limited batch of Born Yesterday to bars in California, Oregon and Washington state on the day it was bottled. This year, the brewery scaled up for nationwide release, producing Born Yesterday at both of its facilities. “Lagunitas has never shied away from something that’s a challenge,” Hamilton says. To brew with the unkilned, or wet, hops the day after they were harvested, Lagunitas took an “all hands on deck,” approach, Hamilton explains: All employees came to help prep the hops. “We had people from finance next to people from packaging sorting the hops from the vines.” Once they determined when the beer would be ready to go, the brewery changed its logistics to give Born Yesterday preference on the bottling line and then in trucks, to get the beer out for shipping. When


At D.C. gala, Laila Lalami, Elizabeth Nunez and Claudia Rankine honored

said. “This was unimaginable to me as a kid in Alabama. It took me a while to discover that there were books by black writers and black life in books. I never could have imagined that an organization like the Hurston/Wright Foundation existed, and to be part of it is fantastic. I think the current mission of the foundation is exactly right: it’s supporting, it’s discovering, it’s nurturing, it’s honoring black writers, and a big part of that mission is connecting black writers with readers.” The winner in the nonfiction category was Elizabeth Nunez for “Not for Everyday Use: A Memoir,” a riveting account in which Nunez, who immigrated to the United States from Trinidad, comes to grips with her mother’s death. “Called home by the death of her mother, Nunez tells a story of a husband and wife whose bond was eternal, an island whose repressive political and religious history shaped her family and a daughter’s struggle to witness and honor and forgive,” the judges said. The award for poetry went to Claudia Rankine for “Citizen: An American Lyric,” a groundbreaking collection of prose poetry that examines race and politics in the United States. “Claudia Rankine has changed the way we look at the poetry manuscript,” the judges said. “It is a phenomenon, a revelation and one of the best genre-bending books of recent literary history. ‘Citizen’ leaves no reader un-changed.” Emmy-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson was host of the gala, which attracted hundreds of literary stars, including powerhouse writers, editors, poets and literary agents. The foundation’s highest honor went to Edwidge Danticat, who received the “North Star Award” for excellence in writing. Danticat — author of “Breath, Eyes, Memory”; “Krik? Krak!”; “The Dew Breaker”; and “Brother, I’m Dying” — was celebrated for her commitment to social justice. “What incredible shoulders I find myself standing on tonight,” Danticat told the crowd. “I consider this award as a reward to be bolder in my writing. I think, too, of Richard Wright, who wrote in ‘Black Boy’: ‘We can fight injustice with our words. . . . We can fight the fear out of ourselves.’ ” During the ceremony, National Book Award-winning poet Nikky Finney and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa read works they wrote in tribute to Wright and Hurston, who once said that black writers “passed nations through their mouths.” “Her two calico dresses are with her for sure.


Connecting the dots is anti-terrorism center’s mission

law enforcement and director of the Federal Air Marshal Service. “Even if [an incident] is routine, we want to make sure nothing is going on systemwide.” People in the TSOC received about 7,800 reports a week from operatives in the field about a wide variety of movements and incidents, about 70 percent of them involving aviation. Then there are days when a transportation crisis hits, such as a gyrocopter landing in front of the U.S. Capitol in April or the 2013 shooting of a TSA security officer at the Los Angeles airport. When that happens, the TSA administrator appoints a crisis manager, and six top agency coordinators and their staff file through a doorway into an enormous conference room. The middle console of a conference table that seats 24 people rises to present each manager with a computer screen, and staff members monitor computers that line the wall. The TSA administrator is linked in by live video from his seventh-floor conference room several miles away at TSA headquarters in Arlington, and a second live feed is piped in from the scene of the incident. An example came on Christmas 2009, when Allison picked up the TSOC phone to hear a report of a pilot whose plane had smoke in the cabin as he prepared to land a flight from Amsterdam in Detroit. “The next report came in and it said it sounded like fireworks were going off in the back of the plane,” Allison recalled. By the time the flight reached the gate to be greeted by police, the responsible party had been subdued and his name, which appeared on the passenger manifest, had been run through the TSOC computer. “That’s when he verbalized that he had a bomb,” Allison said. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, then 23, came to be known as the “Underwear Bomber.” He had plastic explosives hidden in his underwear. When al-Qaeda-trained Abdulmutallab tried to trigger the bomb there were popping sounds and his pants caught fire, but the anticipated explosion never happened. Only after flight attendants used fire extinguishers to put out the blaze and took Abdulmutallab to the front of the plane did he reveal he was carrying a bomb. Working with the FAA representative at TSOC, the best available information was put out to every commercial aircraft in the air, mindful of the fact than on 9/11, terrorists struck four different planes on the same


With lice booming in schools, The Potomac Lice Lady is a sought-after nitpicker

Lauren Salzberg's children had lice when they were small, which got her thinking: maybe there was money to be made in the growing field of "nitpicking." The cars, some from as far as Georgia, pull up to the stately brick home tucked into an affluent Washington suburb. Some of the people who emerge are tearful, others are panicked. Most are itchy. A small sign wedged into the ground gives the only hint of the death and renewal taking place inside: The Potomac Lice Lady. The cottage industry of picking — professionals who painstakingly remove head lice, those six-legged parasites that make themselves at home on human scalps and don’t give up without a fight — is exploding, thanks to a combination of insect evolution, school policy and youth culture. Head lice have grown increasingly resistant to over-the-counter shampoos and treatments, according to a growing body of research. At the same time, school districts across the country have relaxed their lice policies, allowing children with nits — lice eggs — to attend school instead of requiring them to stay home. And head-to-head contact — the most common way that lice spread — is rising among children and teens as they huddle together over smartphones, iPads and other devices. Tammy Collis, seated, and her daughter drove from Inwood, W.V. for the services of Lauren Salzberg, the Potomac Lice Lady, who has a delousing business in her Potomac, Md. home (Brad Horn/The Washington Post) A problem that used to be an occasional nuisance a generation ago has turned chronic for some. “I am so ready to be done with this,” said Ashby Mims, co-president of the PTA at Key Elementary in the District, whose two sons, in kindergarten and second grade, each had lice twice in the past two months. At Key, lice cases were reported at the beginning of the school year, about a month later and again last week. Nearly every grade has been affected, Mims said. Two mothers were in tears recently at the school’s front desk, overwhelmed by the task of dealing with lice, she said. “I’ve felt that way myself,” Mims said. “If you haven’t had it, you don’t know what to do.” No one tracks the number of head lice cases in the United States, and there is no estimate of the number of infestations in the nation’s schools. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated


Brothers and sisters in arms, but fierce competitors on race day for their branches

First, runners must compete against members of their own branch to earn a spot on the team. “It’s an application process,” Felty said. “Even if you win the Marine Corps Marathon, you have to apply again the next year. There are no guarantees you get to come back. You apply every year, and it’s based on current results and fitness. So I spend a lot of time talking to the athletes, gauging their fitness level, going through their results, talking to in some cases to personal coaches, in some cases to race directors to validate that they’re all that they say they are.” In the past four years of the Armed Forces Competition, no runners have been better than those of the All-Army Team. Out of 23,197 runners who finished the 40th Marine Corps Marathon, Trevor Lafontaine from Cornwall, N.Y. finished the 26.2-mile race in just 2 hours 24 minutes 24 seconds. “They have a really amazing team,” Felty said. “When they came to town, you just went ahead and handed them the trophy. Nobody would beat them. They were that good. They were that deep.” Yet this year, Felty senses a potential changing of the guard. The All-Army Team will be without anyone from its World Class Athlete Program, which has produced a few elite runners, including two overall marathon winners, during the team’s reign. The All-Army Team also will face its annual challenge of competing in the marathon right after running the annual Army Ten-Miler. Seven of 10 runners on this year’s team ran the Ten-Miler two weeks ago. “I can tell you right now who will be my one through six, where they’re going to finish, and the only thing I can guarantee you is that I’ll be wrong in that prediction,” Collins said. “No matter what, there are always surprises, both good or not so good, on race day.” For the past several years, all Armed Forces Competition runners have gathered the Saturday morning before the marathon for a memorial run along the Mall to celebrate the lives of two former runners. The memorial run began in 2007 after Michael Mann, a longtime runner for the Air Force team, died from lung cancer. Teams also celebrate the life of Maj. Megan McClung, who was the first female Marine officer killed in the Iraq War. “The first time we did the memorial run when Mike Mann passed