Marijuana is legal in California Jan. 1. But you won’t be able to buy it everywhere.

Jane Futcher and her wife, Erin Carney, were thrilled that California voters legalized marijuana last November. Their cannabis farm in Laytonville, Calif., would be completely compliant with the new laws, and they loved the sense of community that came with long-underground growers coming together and shaping a legal marketplace. But by May, the couple had had enough. Despite plowing nearly $15,000 into making the farm where they grew medical marijuana with a county permit comply with new state and local rules for recreational use, they scrapped it all, frustrated with the layers of bureaucracy and seemingly endless government edicts. "It seemed like everywhere we turned there was a new regulation that was making it difficult," Futcher said. The drug will be legal for adults over 21 in the state starting Monday. (Medical marijuana has been legal for years.) Along the way, an edgy, sexy industry has become beholden to reams of regulations and compliance issues — in other words, marijuana has become just another business in California, except that it remains illegal federally. "It's like any other heavily regulated industry. Look at the pharmaceutical industry or the liquor industry. They're heavily, heavily regulated industries, and the cannabis industry is no different," said Cara Martinson, federal affairs manager for the California State Association of Counties. "It's a cultural shift, and that's what makes it interesting." The change has not been easy, and some feel in limbo as the cannabis industry, which has been valued at between $5 billion and $7 billion, starts to take form. To be above board, businesses must comply with regulations from the state and the city or county where they operate. The state's rules were only released in mid-November. San Francisco and Los Angeles approved theirs in December. Local rules and regulations vary widely across the state. In some places, marijuana remains completely banned. In others, it won't be legal immediately. "On January 1, people are going to want to go out and buy cannabis," said Alex Traverso, spokesman for the California bureau of cannabis control. "They're going to have to be patient in that not every place will be up and running." Users won't be able to buy marijuana in San Francisco until Thursday. Many involved believe it will be several months before the market starts to settle and availability will become much more widespread. The regulations will, in many places, continue to be tweaked. "We're


A distressing limit on scientific opportunity

I was concerned and distressed when I read the Dec. 26 news article "Interior cuts number of scientists sent to gathering," about the Trump administration's decision to severely limit the number of U.S. Geological Survey scientists who could attend the annual American Geophysical Union conference in New Orleans. Some who were scheduled to present research on a world stage to their peers were denied the opportunity to attend and notified within days of their flights. This was one of the most important annual scientific opportunities for scientists to meet, discuss and present innovations before other scientists, assembled from the entire globe. For 50 years as a scientist and educator in secondary schools and universities, I emphasized the importance of leading-edge scientific research presented among peers for dissemination of important new technologies as well as scrutiny, the most important parts of the scientific method. The USGS scientists are dedicated public servants helping Americans with natural disasters, agricultural planning, land usage, water resources, climate change, fire management, development of geological resources including renewables and much more. Wayne Wolfersberger


Have a drinking problem? Here’s a tool for finding effective treatment.

American alcohol consumption spikes every December as the holidays descend, which may help explain why reducing or eliminating alcohol consumption is a common New Year’s resolution. If you have resolved to seek treatment for a drinking problem, there is good news and bad news. On the one hand, federal laws such as the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 make it more likely than ever that your health insurance includes an alcohol treatment benefit. But on the other hand, because of years of underfunding, stigma and segregation from the rest of the health-care system, many alcohol treatment programs are of poor quality. Fortunately, the federal government has a new tool that can help you find a quality treatment program that works for you. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has launched an Alcohol Treatment Navigator that walks treatment-seekers through important questions to ask and quality indicators to look for when choosing which treatment program is right for you. NIAAA’s Lori Ducharme, who led the development of the Navigator, says she hopes “it helps people to feel more comfortable and confident reaching out to find alcohol treatment.” The Navigator flags important signs that a treatment program is high-quality, including that the staff are licensed by legitimate professional bodies and that the program conducts a careful assessment of your situation and develops a responsive treatment plan. Quality programs also provide access to Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for alcohol-use disorder such as acamprosate and naltrexone. In low-quality treatment programs, individual and group counseling is composed largely of unstructured, unproductive, chat or aggressive confrontations designed to shame patients. Fortunately, there are structured, evidenced-based psychotherapies with higher levels of effectiveness. According to NIAAA-supported research, they include cognitive-behavioral coping skills therapy that teaches new ways of thinking and acting in relation to addictive substances and 12-step facilitation therapy, which introduces patients to the concepts of Alcoholics Anonymous and supports participation in that mutual help fellowship. Finally, it’s worth remembering what is not a guarantee of quality: slick advertising, posh surroundings and sky-high prices. Alcohol treatment programs don’t need to resemble day spas or oceanside resorts to be effective, so don’t be tempted by fancy trappings that are more likely to relieve you of your life savings than your drinking problem. NIAAA’s Navigator can help you find reasonably priced, ethical and effective treatment


‘One of the coolest races’: Pacers Running store owner completes solo marathon, keeps streak alive

The streak was over. Pacers Running store owner Chris Farley was convinced of it. Every year since 1999, Farley had run a marathon or the distance of 26.2 miles in under three hours, but when he crossed the finish line on a windy morning at the Philadelphia Marathon on Nov. 19, his watch flashed back an unfamiliar number: 3:01:04. “I didn’t do it,” Farley immediately texted his wife, Olympian and Georgetown University running director Julie Culley. “So disappointed.” As word spread of Farley’s time, Culley and Farley’s friends at Pacers began to brainstorm. There was still more than a month to go, they reasoned. The store organizes races nearly every weekend, so why not host another one — just for Farley? A little past 1 p.m. Friday, Farley crossed another finish line. But this time, he was well under three hours, having completed a U.S. Track & Field-certified marathon course at Hains Point in 2:52:53 in front of dozens of friends and family members. The streak lives on. “I can’t believe how good I felt,” Farley said while still catching his breath after breaking the tape. “I never really hit a wall because I kept seeing new people show up, new people jump in [to pace]. It was one of the coolest races I’ve ever done.” Competitive running has been a part of Farley’s life since his days on the cross-country and track teams at Yorktown High. Born and raised in Arlington, Farley, 41, also ran at the University of Virginia and eventually bought the Pacers Running stores with his parents in 2003 after an unfulfilling stint as a junior computer programmer for the Justice Department. Eight years later, Farley became the sole owner of the popular Washington area running stores and has been a fixture in the local running community. He also co-hosts a podcast, “Pace the Nation,” with store manager Joanna Russo and Tim Marriott, a college teammate who goes by William E. Docs on the show. A handful of podcast listeners showed up Friday in sub-freezing temperature to show support. Mark Naylor, a 34-year-old Annandale resident, took off from work to be one of the dozen or so runners who paced Farley through the 3.2-mile loops around Hains Point. A regular Pacers customer and podcast listener, Naylor said he did not know Farley personally but was inspired by his streak. “The story of somebody trying to keep


The world’s biggest brewing company is thirsty for your data

through a little-known division called ZX Ventures. Launched in 2015, ZX Ventures is charged with "disrupting" the beer industry by developing and investing in businesses that will provide value and improve user experiences — and make more money for AB InBev — somewhere down the road. They've invested in e-commerce delivery systems, beer-rating applications and home-brew suppliers, all of which provide data points that can tell them about trends and help them get ahead of the market. Over the years, as AB InBev absorbed Elysian, Devils Backbone and North Carolina's Wicked Weed, the backlash to the announcement has become formulaic: The craft brewery announces that nothing will change despite the new ownership. Fans get angry, call the owners traitors and sellouts, and swear they'll never drink the beer again. (Those are the nice ones.) But as a result of AB InBev's 2016 merger with SABMiller, snapping up small brewers has become harder. The U.S. Justice Department's settlement prohibits AB InBev from acquiring any craft brewer "without allowing for department review of the acquisition's likely competitive effects. So where are the growth opportunities? That's where ZX Ventures comes in. According to its mission statement, "ZX Ventures is hopelessly dedicated to creating and analyzing the data necessary for determining our ideal strategies, products and technologies. We believe that the more we know and learn about our consumers and products, the better chance we have of anticipating their needs in the future." Translation: They want to know everything about purchasing patterns and decisions. What are customers looking for? What are influencers thinking? How can they make it easier to get AB InBev's products into the hands of people who might want beer? ZX Ventures' broad portfolio includes last year's purchase of Northern Brewer Homebrew Supply and Midwest Supplies, two of the largest home-brewing businesses in the country. It also has a minority stake in PicoBrew, the countertop home-brewing system that uses Keuriglike "PicoPacks" to make beer in a certain style or mimic the recipe of an existing brand. In October 2016, ZX Ventures purchased a minority interest in RateBeer, a 17-year-old international beer-rating site that has grown to become one of the largest online databases of crowdsourced beer, brewery and bar rankings in the world. But neither RateBeer nor ZX Ventures publicized the deal until June 2017, when beer website Good Beer Hunting published a story about the move. ZX Ventures did not


Hazards of the post-New Year’s rush to gyms

you the ropes. "It wouldn't hurt to have a second pair of eyes to watch you while you're doing a workout you enjoy, to make sure you have the right form to avoid injuries," Popovitz counsels. Beware of treadmills. One of the biggest problems with treadmills is that users "zone out" while jogging on the conveyor belt. They often listen to music on their ear buds, watch TV or read a book, but pay no attention to the speed of the belt. Exercisers have been seriously injured by falling off the treadmill after losing their balance or simply reaching for a water bottle. As crazy as it sounds, some people sustain back injuries by trying to move a treadmill by themselves. Finally, persistent running on a treadmill can cause inflammation of the joints in the hip as well as tendinitis and bursitis. That's because people alter their gait to compensate for the narrow path or fast pace of the treadmill. Moderate your weightlifting. When properly executed, the overhead standing lift is a great exercise for toning the shoulders. That requires distributing weight evenly across the shoulders and spine. However, many inexperienced people add far too much weight to the bar, which causes them to hold the bar slightly in front of their body. Popovitz warns that doing this can place an inordinate amount of pressure on the spine, especially the lower back. That is a recipe for chronic back problems. What's more, he said, vigorous curling with excessive weights to build up the arms and pecs can lead to ruptured tendons in the chest that require surgery to repair. Know your own limitations. One little-known danger zone is rhabdomyolysis, a condition in which overactive, highly fatigued muscles break down and release proteins and enzymes into the bloodstream at a dangerous rate. The runaway proteins and enzymes attack the kidneys. If left untreated, the condition can cause kidney failure. Even more scary, the condition can be triggered by a single, especially taxing workout, such as a beginner persevering through an hour-long, intense spin-cycle class, or an ordinary runner undertaking a marathon under hot, humid conditions. Clumsiness can do you in. Finally, watch out for slippery areas, such as floor tile around swimming pools and in locker rooms. Health clubs and gyms are obstacle courses, and the more vigilant you are, the less likely you will become another post-holiday injury statistic. health-science@washpost.com


U.S. companies see opportunity in exodus from storm-ravaged Puerto Rico

and showed them to their rooms. The employee guided Velez and her brother Carlos, along with a friend who had also come, to a room on the second floor. They stepped inside and looked around. The lights worked. So did the TV. Warm water came out of the bathroom faucet. "Everything okay?" the employee asked, and when Velez said "Yes," he said, "Have a good night." Velez pushed her suitcases into the corner and then tried to make the room feel like home, walking over to the thermostat and turning the heat to high. After the storm Ten weeks earlier, Velez had been a college student with a part-time job and no plans to leave Puerto Rico. But then the hurricane hit, bringing with it 30 inches of rain and 120 mph winds, and when it was over she had knee-high water in her house and no idea what to do. She had lost her job; the building where she'd worked was flooded. Her college classes were canceled. The train she used to commute wasn't running. As the weeks passed, Velez saw only deeper evidence of a place falling apart: long lines for bottled water; empty grocery shelves; waits at Kmart where residents could charge electronics. To catch phone service, Velez walked toward a cell tower until she had enough of a connection to see the goodbye notes friends were posting on Facebook as they left the island. And then, one day, a different kind of message popped up, posted by her cousin, about an opportunity in South Dakota at a turkey plant where he worked. "Take advantage!" he wrote. The turkey plant had opened 12 years earlier and since then had grown into one of the largest employers in South Dakota, with more than a thousand workers. It had also transformed the character of Huron: The starting-level jobs — breast-pullers, carcass-loaders, bird-hangers — rarely attracted anyone from the local workforce, so instead the plant filled with people from all over the world. Soon, a town that had been 97 percent white had four Asian grocery stores and a school district where half the students were learning English as a second language, and at the center of it was a plant in constant need of workers — people who would be ready every morning as trucks dropped off 19,000 live turkeys that would be killed, deboned, sectioned and sliced, and


New cancer treatments have perplexing side effects

said: arthritis-like joint pain, lung inflammation called pneumonitis and liver inflammation that bordered on hepatitis, in addition to the uveitis. She warns patients that highly touted immunotherapy treatments have downsides as well as benefits and to watch for complications, because "not all doctors know all the side effects." Called checkpoint inhibitors, the new therapies offer a tantalizing chance for survival for patients with advanced melanoma and hard-to-treat cancers of the bladder, kidney and lung. But the treatments, designed to unleash the immune system to attack malignancies, also can spur an assault on healthy organs, causing varied and bizarre side effects ranging from minor rashes and fevers to diabetes and deadly heart problems. Many doctors are not up to speed on how to spot and handle an immune system revved up by immunotherapy, with symptoms that can mimic those of the flu, infections or even food poisoning. That lack of awareness can be dangerous, given that quick intervention is the key to preventing serious damage. "Immunotherapy has a completely different side-effect profile than chemotherapy, and that has caught some physicians off guard," said Drew Pardoll, director of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins University. Doctors — including emergency-room physicians, dermatologists and gastroenterologists — "need to go back to school" to learn about immunotherapy, he says. One expert said a patient who had an immunotherapy-caused rash was mistakenly diagnosed in the emergency room with a skin infection and given an antibiotic, which was useless. Another said ER doctors have told immunotherapy patients with diarrhea to take medications such as Imodium when steroids might be needed to calm the immune system. Some patients contribute to the confusion through their own lack of understanding of these new treatments. Thomas Tobin, a Spokane, Wash.-based emergency physician, said people in his area sometimes fly to California for immunotherapy, then go to ERs back home when they have side effects and say, erroneously, that they are on chemotherapy. "Sometimes it's difficult to know what we are treating," he says. Information campaigns Now, doctors organizations and nonprofit groups are mobilizing to narrow the knowledge gap on immunotherapy — an increasingly urgent task, they say, as the new treatments move from academic medical centers to community hospitals and oncology practices. Professional groups such as the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer and the Association of Community Cancer Centers are writing recommendations on side effects and conducting programs


complications. When John DeWolf, 62, a Maryland real estate developer, was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2016, he sought aggressive treatment. "Bring it on," he told his doctors. "If there's a chance this is going to fix me, I'm taking it, and if I die in the process, that's fine." His combination of an immunotherapy drug, chemotherapy and a medication called Avastin shrunk the tumors sharply but took a toll. By early last year, DeWolf was panting for breath. "I knew I was breaking down," he said. "But when you become part of a clinical trial, the last thing you want is to get kicked out. I should have said, 'I can take a break.' " He ended up at MedStar Washington Hospital Center with heart failure and lung inflammation. His doctors there and at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital are not convinced the immunotherapy drug was the main culprit but say it may have played a significant role. "Probably, it was the combination of all three," said Ana Barac, a cardiologist at the hospital center. Kristina Baum, 35, who had advanced melanoma, also minimized complications from her two-drug immunotherapy treatment. Just before her third infusion, she developed a horrific headache that she attributed to work stress. At the time, she was communications director for the House Science Committee and getting ready to go to the Republican National Convention. But instead of going to Cleveland, she landed at Hopkins for several days with autoimmune meningitis. "My immune system started to recognize my brain as something to be attacked," said Baum, now chief spokesman for Chevron Phillips Chemical. She was taken off the treatment, but it had already done its job. Her latest test showed Baum's melanoma was gone. These days, Hopkins melanoma expert Evan Lipson, who was Baum's doctor, tells patients they must call his office quickly even if side effects seem minor. A few years ago, he said, a patient didn't report severe diarrhea that lasted more than a week; his colon was so badly damaged by the immune system that it had to be removed. "That was an outlier," he said. Like many oncologists, Lipson gives his patients wallet cards in case they have to go to the ER. "They say, 'I'm on immuno-oncology, please contact my oncologist,' and give the drug name," he said. Patient: Still worth it Legg vividly remembers the 2004 World Series, and not just


The New Year supermoon was glorious, but it will dull the upcoming Quadrantid meteor shower. (Photos)

the debris path left behind by comets. These gritty, cosmic snowballs round the sun and leave a dusty trail, so that when our home planet passes through them, the dirt strikes our atmosphere and incinerates it — leaving sky gazers to observe streaks of burning dust. Meteors! The Quadrantid meteors peak Wednesday around 4 p.m. Eastern, according to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. For Washington, sunset is 4:59 p.m. and civil twilight ends at 5:28 p.m., according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. As moonrise is at 7:08 p.m. Wednesday, the dinner hour may be a good time to glance at the frigid, dark skies if too many clouds aren’t in the way. Much like December’s Geminid meteors, an asteroid is thought to cause this meteor shower. For January’s Quadrantids — named for an extinct constellation Quadrans Muralis in the late 18th century — astronomers believe the parent object is asteroid (196256) 2003 EH1, which may have been a comet seen in Asia about 500 years ago. The International Astronomical Union officially nixed the Quadrans Muralis constellation in 1922 and replaced it with Boötes, a constellation near the Big Dipper in the northern sky, according to NASA. The meteors appear to emanate from that location. The New Year’s Day supermoon, a full moon quite close to perigee (the moon’s closest point to Earth in its lunar cycle), marked the closest the moon will be to our planet in 2018. We have lots of photos of it below. If you enjoyed it, the next supermoon will be Jan. 31 — and it is also a blue moon (the second full in a month) and a lunar eclipse visible in the western U.S. Incidentally, for the first time since 1999, February will not feature a full moon. March gets two full moons: For the eastern United States, the first one falls on March 1 (March 2 at 51 minutes past midnight for Universal Time) and the second occurs on March 31, a blue moon. The gaseous Jupiter and Earth’s red neighbor Mars conjunct in the morning heavens this weekend. See them high in the southeastern sky before sunrise. Of the two planets, Jupiter is the brightest at -1.8 magnitude, as the reddish Mars is at 1.5 magnitude (dim). By next week they start to break apart, and the moon — in a waning crescent phase — joins them Jan. 11. Supermoon photos


How a Maryland bank is quietly solving the marijuana industry’s cash problem

Most banks refuse to open accounts for cannabis-related businesses even in states where pot is legal, citing federal laws that outlaw the drug and consider it on par with cocaine and heroin. In Maryland, however, at least one community bank is working with the state's newly launched medical marijuana industry, offering growers and stores a way to avoid the security concerns and extra costs of a cash-only approach. Two marijuana dispensaries and two growers told The Washington Post they have opened business accounts with Severn Savings Bank, an Annapolis-based community bank owned by the publicly-traded Severn Bancorp. Three other businesses involved in the industry say they know of additional cannabis companies also banking with Severn. Account holders have to pay hefty fees to Severn and can't write checks or seek loans from the bank, because doing so might trigger scrutiny from federal regulators that could prove problematic. The businesses say they go to extraordinary lengths to prove that they aren't violating any of Maryland's strict medical pot regulations. But the ability to pay employees through an automatic debit system, buy supplies with a debit card and purchase marijuana through wire transfers put Maryland pot businesses a step ahead of pioneers in such states as Colorado, California and Oregon, where industry observers estimate that 70 percent of marijuana businesses run on cash. "That bank was very quick out of the gate saying, 'I want to work with the industry,' " said Jake Van Wingerden, who chairs a Maryland cannabis trade association and heads SunMed Growers, a licensed grower in Cecil County that has had an account with Severn for more than a year. "Everybody I talk to has accounts at Severn. . . . I don't know how else we would do business." The other cannabis businesses that said they had accounts with Severn are Allegany Medical Marijuana Dispensary in Cumberland, Time for Healing dispensary in Prince George's County and Green Leaf Medical in Frederick. Alan Hyatt, the president of Severn Bank, did not return repeated phone calls, and advertising manager Nicole Donegan said the bank "does not comment on specific banking methods or relationships." For years, cannabis advocates have tried to change marijuana's status as a Schedule One drug, which would eliminate the legal limbo that deters most nationally-oriented financial institutions from holding what the federal government still considers drug money. Even state-chartered banks interested in working with cannabis companies


7 questions to ask yourself before taking on a DIY home project

can add up when you use a professional contractor. "As a general rule of thumb, about one-third of what you're paying for are the materials, and the other two-thirds are for the skills of the remodeler and their time," Webb says. Therefore, you'll want to consider how much you value your time. For example, "if a plumber charges $75 an hour, is your time worth $75 an hour?" Webb says. You can use a website like HomeAdvisor, Angie's List or Fixr to get a rough estimate of what hourly rates are for professional contractors in your area. These websites also track prices of materials and supplies. How much can you save? It's important to compare how much it would cost for you to hire a professional to what you'd spend if you do the work yourself. The easiest way to do this is to get a quote from a professional contractor for the project and to ask the company to separate the costs of materials from the labor costs. (Factor in equipment costs if you're going to need to buy or rent tools for the job.) What's your skill level? You have to be honest with yourself about your home remodeling skills. "It's easy to get in over your head," Hicks says. Depending on the project, she added, "if you screw up, you can do serious damage to your house." So, when sizing up a potential DIY project, check whether you know how to use the tools you're going to need. Don't have a ton of experience fixing things around the house? Start with a small home improvement and work your way up to bigger renovations, Webb says. "Painting a room is a great first DIY project," he says. "If you make a mistake, you can always paint over it." Is the project complicated? You should be able to map out the project step by step; this is where online videos can come in handy. Home-improvement experts such as Ron Hazelton, Bob Vila and Mr. Fix It have how-to videos on YouTube for a number of home renovations. Pro tip: "Watch the video from start to finish to see what the scope of the job is," Webb says. Because online remodeling experts sometimes oversimplify projects, Clement says homeowners should be skeptical of videos that tout unrealistic promises, such as "Build your new kitchen in a day!" or "Finish your basement


He delivered their babies and examined their bodies. Now patients are suing after learning he used a fake name and stolen Social Security numbers for credentials.

Schochor, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit, said the former patients were "shocked and betrayed" to learn of the fraud conviction. Patients in hospitals where births, surgeries, diagnoses and treatments occur expect a private safe haven, Schochor said. But the revelations that Igberase wasn't who he said he was created a breach of trust. "They've all said to us that they're worried for themselves and they're worried for their children," Schochor said. "Has he performed cesareans or surgeries that he shouldn't have? Has he performed or not performed tests that he shouldn't have?" Schochor said he doesn't understand how Prince George's Hospital Center missed so many red flags concerning Igberase. Igberase came to the United States in October 1991 on a nonimmigrant visa, according to federal court documents. He obtained fraudulent Social Security numbers and claimed someone else's identity a month later, as well as twice more, in 1995 and 1998. In 1992 and 1993, he failed basic exams for the Foreign Medical Graduate Certification, required for people from other countries to enter medical education programs in the United States, the lawsuit says. He eventually met the requirements, but in 1995, the certifications were revoked because the committee discovered he had used different names and dates of birth to apply for the credentials, the lawsuit says. About five years later, a medical center in New Jersey removed him from its residency program after learning he had used a false date of birth and Social Security number to apply as "Akoda," the lawsuit says, and in 2012, the federal government rejected his application for a Medicare claim after saying it had received someone else's Social Security number for the application. Schochor said a thorough background check would have uncovered the discrepancies in the doctor's history, names and Social Security numbers. "How in the dickens does a hospital permit that kind of a person to go ahead and practice at that institution as a credentialed OB/GYN for years?" Schochor said. There are multiple class-action lawsuits in the case, including the first one filed by attorney Cory Zajdel, who is working with attorneys David Ellin and Peter Angelos to represent more than 180 patients separate from Schochor's clients. In a motion to dismiss claims, attorneys for the hospital's parent company, Dimensions Health Corp., wrote in court filings that although the doctor who treated patients who are suing was not really


The strangest star in the sky finally has an explanation for its flicker

Fourteen hundred light-years separate Earth from the strangest star in the sky. The light from this star flickers, like a giant neon sign drifting through the constellation Cygnus. After the star's dim intervals, which last for days or weeks, it brightens again. No other star acted this way. No observation could explain its behavior. That is, until now. A 200-strong team of scientists says it has arrived at an answer, thanks to an astronomy project crowdfunded on Kickstarter. The culprits are not aliens, as some people have speculated, but probably a cloud of dust, each particle less than a micrometer across. Combined, these dust particles coalesced into one of the biggest question marks in recent astronomical memory. In 2015, astrophysicist Tabetha Boyajian published a paper describing the starlight dips. The brightness diminished by 20 percent, according to observations from the Kepler space telescope. Planets block starlight when they pass across stars, like a hand waved in front of a flashlight. But even an object as huge as Jupiter can reduce a star's brightness by just 1 percent. Other natural explanations were raised and dismissed. “It truly is something extraordinary,” said Tyler Ellis, a PhD student, who, along with Boyajian, works at Louisiana State University and studies this star and others. The star, a yellow-white dwarf labeled KIC 8462852, was unusual enough to get a nickname, “Tabby's star,” after Boyajian. Tabby's Star earned its own Reddit forum. And the star was so curious that Jason Wright, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University, floated the most exotic explanation available to astronomers: Aliens. Perhaps extraterrestrials had constructed a titanic array of solar panels around the star, a hypothetical concept proposed years ago by physicist Freeman Dyson. The construction project would, in theory, diminish a star's brightness in a way consistent with observations of Tabby's Star. But when astronomers with the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence aimed their radio telescopes at Tabby's Star, they heard no signs of life. Meanwhile, Boyajian and her colleagues wanted to go beyond the Kepler data and watch the star dip in real time. They predicted the star would dim on a 750-day cycle. But, to be sure, they needed to continuously collect images each night, in a variety of ranges across the light spectrum. Kepler is not equipped for sustained observation. “The only facility that specializes in this is a private facility called the Las Cumbres Observatory,” Boyajian said.


Former Taliban captive Joshua Boyle arrested and charged with sexual assault, death threats

The couple spent the next five years as hostages, during which Coleman gave birth to three children. Coleman, Boyle and their children were set free in Pakistan in October 2017 and flown back to Canada, but they almost immediately showed signs of stress. A week after their arrival, Coleman was rushed to the hospital with an unspecified ailment. A statement issued at the time, purportedly by Boyle’s family, said the couple was “deeply traumatized and Josh is not of clear thought as he speaks at times.” In a statement to the Toronto Star on Tuesday after Boyle’s arrest, Coleman declined to comment on the charges but said that “ultimately it is the strain and trauma he was forced to endure for so many years and the effects that had on his mental state that is most culpable for this.” Eric Granger, Boyle’s attorney, told the Star that his client had never been in trouble with the law before, describing him as “a young man who we all know has been through a lot.” Interviewed after the family’s liberation in October, Coleman’s father, Jim, expressed anger with his son-in-law. Jim Coleman, who lives in Stewartstown, Pa., told ABC News that “taking your pregnant wife to a very dangerous place, to me and the kind of person I am, is unconscionable.” Coleman’s parents were reportedly in Ottawa with their daughter on Monday. It has always been unclear what Boyle and Coleman were doing in Afghanistan. In one interview, Boyle said that they had decided to travel there “to fix things.” Although he once described himself to a friend as “a hippie Mennonite love child,” Boyle had long been fascinated by radical Islam and was married for a time to Zaynab Khadr, an elder sister of Omar Khadr, a Pakistani Canadian who as a 15-year-old was arrested and charged with killing an American soldier in Afghanistan. Omar Khadr pleaded guilty to the killing but then recanted, claiming that his confession had been coerced. He spent 10 years at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before being returned to Canada in 2012. Khadr sued the Canadian government for breaching his constitutional rights and was recently awarded a settlement of 10.5 million Canadian dollars ($8.4 million) and a government apology. Boyle and Coleman were last in the news just before Christmas, when a photo appeared on Twitter of the family visiting Prime Minister


Woman found slain in burning car is identified

The woman who died in one of the last, and more grisly homicides in the District last year was identified Tuesday by the D.C. police as a 23-year-old Hyattsville resident. Police said Kerrice Lewis was the woman whose body was found inside a car that was on fire in Southeast Washington. She was killed in the 800 block of Adrian Place SE on Thursday, the police said. They said they found "multiple gunshot wounds." Police were called there about 7:30 p.m. in response to a report about a shooting. They arrived to find a burning car, they said. When the fire was out, Lewis was found in the vehicle, police said. Lewis's death appeared to be the next-to- last homicide in the District last year, based on available records. Martin.Weil@washpost.com


Republicans say they’ve slashed taxes on small breweries. But big alcohol may be the biggest winners.

Act’s individual mandate, which the Congressional Budget Office says will lead to 14 million fewer Americans having health insurance. About 80 percent of Americans are set to get tax relief under the law, although the legilslation's tax cuts for individuals expire over time. Unlike the tax law overall, the alcohol tax provision has bipartisan origins. At the urging of Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the final tax package included an amendment based on a bipartisan bill that had been spearheaded by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), with Democratic and Republican co-sponsors in both chambers of Congress. A spokesman for Wyden confirmed that the alcohol provisions in the final law were essentially the same as those in Wyden’s bill — although all of the relief for alcohol producers is scheduled to expire in two years. (The Wyden bill gave federal agencies much more time to prepare for the bill's implementation.) The brewers themselves are careful not to overstate the rewards of the cut, noting their expansions won’t increase the number of breweries in existence or make the cost of their beer any cheaper. “We never positioned this as cheaper beer for the beer drinker — this was always about helping the small business owner have additional capital to invest in his or her brewery and hire more workers,” said Bob Pease, chief executive of the Brewers Association. For some midsize breweries, the rewards could be substantial. Steve Hindy, a founder of Brooklyn Brewery, says the cut will save his business about $400,000 next year — money that will be used for new employees and new equipment. But Anheuser-Busch InBev will see its excise tax load fall by approximately $12 million. Meanwhile, the Middle Ages Brewing Company, which employs about 10 people in central New York, expects its tax burden to drop by $10,000 next year. “It’s not insignificant, but the smaller you are the less significant it is,” said Isaac Rubenstein, vice president of Middle Ages. Other experts noted that it wasn’t clear why the federal government needed to cut taxes on this slice of industry. The number of small breweries skyrocketed from 1,653 in 2009 to 5,301 in 2016, according to the Brewers Association. “These guys are going to make an extra amount of money, which is incredible,” said Trey Malone, an economist at Michigan State University who has researched the beer industry. “It’s one of the industries booming right now anyway.”


5 reasons the U.N. Security Council should care about the Burmese military's sexual assaults on the Rohingya

Burma’s ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims has been rife with sexual violence, according to recent news accounts. Among the more than 600,000 people who have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, many are survivors of rape, gang rape and sexual slavery. How many? Pramila Patten, the United Nations special representative on sexual violence in conflict, reports that every woman she encountered during her November visit to Bangladesh had either witnessed or endured brutal sexual assault. Their stories are harrowing. One 15-year-old girl was ruthlessly dragged on the ground for over 50 feet, tied to a tree and then raped by 10 Burmese soldiers. Patten has urged the U.N. Security Council to take action. To be sure, the rape of Rohingya women is a gross violation of human rights. But why should the Security Council — charged with maintaining international peace and security — address sexual violence? Because sexual violence in conflict is not simply a human rights issue — it’s also a security challenge, according to a significant body of social science research, which we highlight in our recent Council on Foreign Relations report. What’s more, widespread rape in wartime can be prevented. Here are five key insights into how this works. 1. Sexual violence is often a symptom of military weakness. Sexual violence committed by troops can signal weak command and troop discipline, which makes military units less effective in their mission. For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a mass rape of more than 150 civilians in 2011 was attributed to local armed forces’ lax command and control structures. When state forces regularly commit sexual violence, the command hierarchy may simply be too weak to enforce a policy forbidding this crime — and therefore may be ineffective in maintaining peace once a conflict is resolved. In other cases, armed groups that recruit through abduction command those troops to rape in order to build solidarity among them. These groups have lower levels of unit cohesion and effectiveness than groups that rely on volunteers. A review of 91 civil wars, for example, found that groups that recruit by force committed significantly higher levels of rape against civilians, in an attempt to build social bonds through rape. While groups or individuals commit sexual violence in conflict for any number of reasons, when it happens there are strategic implications. Research shows that military units and law enforcement bodies that respect human rights


works. 1. Sexual violence is often a symptom of military weakness. Sexual violence committed by troops can signal weak command and troop discipline, which makes military units less effective in their mission. For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a mass rape of more than 150 civilians in 2011 was attributed to local armed forces’ lax command and control structures. When state forces regularly commit sexual violence, the command hierarchy may simply be too weak to enforce a policy forbidding this crime — and therefore may be ineffective in maintaining peace once a conflict is resolved. In other cases, armed groups that recruit through abduction command those troops to rape in order to build solidarity among them. These groups have lower levels of unit cohesion and effectiveness than groups that rely on volunteers. A review of 91 civil wars, for example, found that groups that recruit by force committed significantly higher levels of rape against civilians, in an attempt to build social bonds through rape. While groups or individuals commit sexual violence in conflict for any number of reasons, when it happens there are strategic implications. Research shows that military units and law enforcement bodies that respect human rights and prevent sexual violence are more effective at promoting security. 2. Sexual violence can increase the flow of refugees. When armed groups commit sexual violence, more people flee — making the region less stable. As we can see from the staggering number of Rohingya refugees, wartime rape forces people from their homes, depriving them and their families of their livelihoods, property and access to health services and education, destabilizing communities. Sexual violence has increased displacement around the world, from Guatemala to Iraq to Syria, where reports suggest that the danger of rape is a primary reason people flee cities under siege. 3. Unchecked sexual violence can undermine trust in the state. Conflict-related sexual violence signals a government’s inability or unwillingness to protect its citizens. That’s particularly true when, as in South Sudan, the military commits this crime widely and with impunity. The lower citizens’ level of trust in the state, the more difficult it becomes for a government to undertake economic, social or political reforms, which undermines stability. 4. Countries with widespread sexual violence incur high financial costs. Wartime rape is costly in ways that undermine national stability. Victims of sexual violence may suffer long-term physical and psychological aftereffects, which


Special Forces soldier killed in Afghanistan was hit by gunfire on patrol, Pentagon says

A U.S. Special Forces soldier who was killed in Afghanistan on Monday came under small-arms fire while on a foot patrol, U.S. military officials said Wednesday. Army Sgt. 1st Class Mihail Golin, 34, was killed in Nangarhar province’s Achin district, an area in which U.S. forces have been combating both the Islamic State and the Taliban. The Islamic State in Khorasan, the militant group’s Afghan affiliate, established roots there in the mountainous area along Pakistan’s border in 2014, and the U.S. military launched raids and airstrikes there in 2017 as it stepped up its campaign against the group. U.S. military officials first acknowledged the fatality Tuesday in a news release, adding that four other service members were wounded in the incident. Two of them were receiving treatment at a medical facility and in stable condition, and the other two have since returned to duty, the news release said. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our own,” said Army Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., the senior U.S. military commander in Afghanistan. “At this very difficult time our heartfelt sympathies go out to the families and friends of our fallen and wounded brothers.” Golin was a Special Forces weapons sergeant with 10th Special Forces Group, of Fort Bragg, N.C., the U.S. Army Special Operations Command said in a news release Wednesday. A native of Riga, Latvia, he moved to Fort Lee, N.J., in October 2004 and joined the Army a few months later in January 2005. Golin initially served as an infantryman, deploying once to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan. He joined Special Forces in 2014, and deployed to Afghanistan in September. U.S. military officials in Afghanistan have declined to release additional information about the incident. It is currently under investigation, the Pentagon said in a news release. Navy Capt. Tom Gresback, a U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, said Tuesday that “there has been a tremendous amount of kinetic activity in the Achin district” of late, using a military term that typically connotes firefights and other violence. “We continue to work very closely with our Afghan partners in aggressively clearing significant amount of territory in southern Nangarhar,” Gresback said in an email. “We continue to apply increased military pressure on ISIS-K, forcing their movement from their front-line positions.” Gresback said U.S. and Afghan forces are making “significant progress” in the area, and predicted a long winter for militants


Looking for a star for your winter garden? Try winterberry holly.

We are told that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The gardener, who is more attuned to light and shadow than most, knows that this idea is off quite a bit at this time of year. In early winter, the sun clings to the southern horizon and sleeps a lot. This skulking can have its benefits. In the mornings now, the sun creeps around my neighbor's shed to throw light on a stand of winterberry hollies in a far corner of the garden. These are the hollies that are naked in winter except for generous clusters of large red berries. After a few years, they are eight feet tall, six feet across and heavy with fruit. The gardener will take any shrub that peaks in January, and the winterberry holly and its related hollies don't hold back. It falls to the gardener to position them where the berries can be illuminated by the low sun. Putting them in a dark corner would reduce the berry set and also rob the holly of its dazzling display. Only the plants with female flowers produce fruit, but you have to add a male to the mix. I planted three fruiting winterberries along with a single non-fruiting male, positioned on the edge of the display. In May, the bees in search of nectar take the pollen from the male and fertilize the female blossoms. By late summer, the fruit is conspicuous even though the shrubs are smothered in pretty, elliptical leaves, free of the spines we associate with holly. The foliage turns yellow in the fall and looks good amid the bright red berries, but the plant comes into its own once the leaves drop. Suddenly, the branches seem to have captured strings of pearls that have fallen to earth, except they're red. I planted these shrubs five years ago, and the first year I wondered if they were going to survive because they were half dead. Winterberries are native to wetlands and heartily dislike dry conditions, especially when it's hot. (This makes them a great choice for problem wet areas of the yard). I watered them when I remembered but because they were out of the way, they were neglected for the most part. For the first few years there was little fruit. Last year, lo, they put on a good show. This year, they are spectacular. Moral:


‘She was so good to that boy’: Disbelief after ‘picturesque’ family is massacred on New Year’s Eve

In the last hour of 2017, in a brick duplex with a plastic snowman out front, a 16-year-old boy from what seemed to be a happy family picked up a semiautomatic rifle and killed his mother, father, sister and a family friend, New Jersey officials said. The boy has not been identified by the authorities because of his age, although he may be tried as an adult. The teen was to have made an initial court appearance on Tuesday, but it was postponed until Wednesday as a judge weighed a request by a media organization to open the family court proceeding, which normally is closed, according to the Associated Press. In the meantime, friends and relatives are struggling to reconcile the massacre with their conception of the Kologi family — large, loving and “picturesque,” as described by the Asbury Park Press. They had seen their troubles. Nearly a decade ago, Steven and Linda Kologi had filed for bankruptcy, the Press reported. But by 2017, they were still living in the same Long Branch, N.J., duplex and even prospering in some ways. The couple, in their early 40s, had four children, according to the Press. NJ.com wrote that 18-year-old Brittany — killed along with her parents — had recently finished her first semester at Stockton University, about an hour down the coast. “She was on the process to being great with whatever she chose,” her brother Steven Kologi would write after her death, according to NJ.com. As for the elder Steven Kologi — “my God, he’d do anything for his kids,” a friend named Ronnie Pacheco told the Press. Steven Kologi had once worked as a postal worker and later took on a multitude of jobs and shifts to bring in additional income. “Some midnight to 9 in the morning,” Pacheco said. “He did everything and anything to support his family.” A GoFundMe page set up by a family friend had raised more than $25,000 to help pay for the funeral expenses. Friends knew Linda Kologi as a doting mother, New York’s CBS affiliate reported. The whole family would often come into the Welsh Farms convenience store across the street, NJ.com wrote. Linda always looked happy and often bought a lottery ticket, the report quoted the shop owner as saying. In warm weather on Sundays, the Press reported, the Kologis would sometimes show up at a local softball field. The 16-year-old,


On Alcatraz, the island’s prison gardens are in full flower

rose still blooms behind the remains of the warden's house. Thirteen years after Michener left Alcatraz, the prison was shuttered. The beds became overgrown and birds established nesting colonies there. Plants, including nine rose bushes, did their own hard time, surviving austere conditions and neglect. In 2003, the Garden Conservancy, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the National Park Service combined efforts to restore the gardens. More work remains, says Shelagh Fritz, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy's project manager for Alcatraz. As they have toiled, park staffers and volunteers have unearthed evidence of inmate life — including 100 fugitive handballs, escapees from the prison's rec yard. The restoration involved labor-intensive sleuthing to determine what remained beneath thickets of wild blackberries and other invasives. After inventorying their finds — such as the cape tulip that appeared when brambles were cleared — they used photographs to guide careful relandscaping. New plant varieties suited to the island's Mediterranean climate were introduced. Fritz says that visitors, especially from the Bay Area, can glean ideas for plants that are tolerant of wind and drought. They also may spot residents that inhabit the island voluntarily, including eight types of bees, plus hummingbirds, monarch butterflies, pelicans and oystercatchers. "The gardens were restored and planted with non-thirsty varieties," Beary said. "There's no rain between May and October, and it never goes below freezing." (May is peak flower time, but blossoms begin with daffodils in March; various blooms continue through September.) Along one path, Beary pointed out the white-margined nightshade. "It has thorned leaves, as if the plant is trying to defend itself," she said. "It's prickly. You have to be tough to live here." To foster plant survival, volunteers and staffers have developed award-winning compost and added a gravity-fed system for rainwater. On Alcatraz' west side, in the inmate garden, cormorants, snowy egrets and Western gulls now nest. But prisoner-planted trees — fig, apple, black walnut and New Zealand Christmas — along with globe artichokes still grow beneath a decaying gun tower where a guard once kept watch. The setting is quiet, save for the mournful bell of a buoy in the bay, and you wonder what the inmates pondered as they toiled within view of mainland freedom just over a mile away. That western hillside, Michener wrote, "provided a refuge from the disturbances of the prison, the work a release, and it became an obsession. This


Snow day food and drink specials that are worth leaving the house for

The snow has fallen Arroz: Bluejacket: Cork Wine Bar: District Winery: Fare Well: Garrison: Graffiato: GRK Fresh Greek: Hamilton's Bar & Grill: Kapnos, Kapnos Taverna Kyirisan: Ocean Prime: Pepita: Requin Brasserie: Slate Wine Bar: The Sovereign: Taco Bamba: This story is being updated as more specials are announced. Send tips to becky.krystal@washpost.com. Read more: Our favorite takeout in D.C. for nights when there’s no chance we’re cooking 12 things to do in the D.C. area the weekend of Jan. 5-7


Stalking an elusive YouTube star: The adorkable red panda

quickly lost her nerve and dropped the grape on the floor. Aubrey held her grape for longer, but she, too, dropped it when Junji surprised her by placing his paw on her arm. "Can I try?" I asked, trying appear nonchalant, so that the keeper wouldn't realize that my life goal was to get Junji to touch my arm as he had with Aubrey. I held a grape just a little out of his reach, and the panda stood on his hind legs, gently placed his sharp claw on my arm and pulled my hand down. It took every ounce of my willpower to not scoop Junji up and bury my face in his soft, red fur. I was helped, however, by the surprising weight and power of the panda — this is, after all, an animal that ekes out an existence in the Himalayas, eating birds and eggs as well as bamboo. The twins eventually warmed up to the pandas. In the end, we humans thoroughly enjoyed the entire 20-minute encounter. The pandas, on the other hand, seemed a little bored. My strip-club analogy was even more apt than I'd expected, though I refrained from mentioning it again. We reluctantly bid goodbye to the pandas, but our zoo adventure wasn't over yet. For an additional $75, I had splurged on second animal encounter. "Now we're going to feed otters!" I said to the twins. I've always thought of otters as goofy, laid-back animals, but that illusion was quickly dispelled. As our keeper led us into a building that reeked of fish, she started giving us directions with the intense cadence of a maximum-security prison guard. "You must, at all times, stand behind the yellow line," our keeper said. "If you drop a piece of fish, do not bend down and pick it up. Step away from the fish, and let the otter pick it up." She then opened a door and we walked into the otter enclosure, which included a small river at the front with a plexiglass wall, designed so that visitors could see the otters swim. Other zoo patrons watched jealously from the other side of the wall as our keeper passed us frozen wads of meat and sardines. Two otters scampered back and forth along the yellow line, which they had been trained not to cross. On the keeper's cue, I tossed a sardine to the


Trump agrees to delay military exercise with South Korea until after Winter Olympics

President Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have agreed to postpone the sprawling joint military exercise their nations hold each year until after the Winter Olympics, in what appears to be an effort to de-escalate tensions with North Korea ahead of an event that will draw people from around the world. The Olympics will be held in PyeongChang, a mountainous section of South Korea that is just 60 miles south of the tense Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where North and South Korean troops have stood off against each other in an uneasy cease-fire since the 1953 armistice in the Korean War. The military exercise, Foal Eagle, often involves more than 30,000 American and 200,000 South Korean troops, as well as air, ground and naval operations. Trump and Moon discussed their options Thursday in a phone call. The White House said in a statement that Moon and Trump agreed to “de-conflict” the Olympics and the the military exercise so the United States and South Korea “can focus on ensuring the security of the Games.” The statement avoided saying that the exercise was postponed. “The two leaders agreed to continue the campaign of maximum pressure against North Korea and to not repeat mistakes of the past,” the White House said. “The United States and the Republic of Korea are committed to a safe and successful 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.” Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the decision was made “in the spirit of the Olympic Games.” He did not disclose the specific start date of the exercise, saying only that it will be after the Olympics are over. The White House statement and a message from South Korea’s Presidential Blue House both said that Trump promised to send a high-level delegation, including members of his family, to the Olympics, which run Feb. 9-25. The Paralympics will then follow March 9-18. Moon said in December that he had asked the U.S. military to postpone the joint military exercises until after the Olympics, adding that a delay was contingent on North Korea not conducting any more missile or nuclear tests. But it was not clear from Thursday’s statement whether North Korea had in fact made such a pledge. Earlier this week, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said the United States was hearing reports that North Korea might be preparing for another missile test and warned


The Daily 202: Trump’s break with Bannon over Wolff book shows the limits of loyalty

himself from Bannon's comments: A senior fellow for the German Marshall Fund noted that Bannon wants chaos: From a former senior adviser to Obama: From Joe Biden's former chief of staff: Pennsylvania's Democratic senator was happy to see the voter fraud commission go: Some Twitter users returned to this November 2016 Trump tweet in the wake of the news: An ABC News social media editor commented on that tweet from Trump: An NBC News reporter noted that the failure of the voter fraud commission is another humiliation for Mike Pence: The former director of the FBI criticized those who haven't defended the independence of government agencies: The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said the Justice Department should not be totally independent: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) responded to Trump's demand that DOJ "act" against Huma Abedin and Comey: Three vice presidents (one current and two former) attended yesterday's swearing-in ceremonies at the Senate: The governor of New Jersey congratulated a new U.S. attorney: But an NPR reporter pointed this out: One of our China correspondents heard this startling warning: The president's son accused a daytime talk-show host of being part of the "Deep State": And CBS News anchor Alex Wagner celebrated her new gig as a host of Showtime's "The Circus": GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE: -- Politico Magazine, "How Donald Trump Came Between Mike Pence and Jeff Flake," by Tim Alberta: -- Bloomberg, "America's Worst Graveyard Shift Is Grinding Up Workers," by Peter Waldman and Kartikay Mehrotra: -- The New Yorker, "Awake Under Anesthesia," by Joshua Rothman: " DAYBOOK: Trump Pence Trump NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.: -- The Wizards defeated the Knicks 121-103. -- More than 5,000 Montgomery County homeowners mailed in their prepaid 2018 property taxes before the tax plan caps the deduction on local taxes. -- The Legislative Black Caucus in Maryland's General Assembly has taken issue with a judicial pick by Gov. Larry Hogan (R). -- District authorities have begun using dry ice to combat the city's rat problem. VIDEOS OF THE DAY: Late night hosts reveled in the feud between President Trump and Steve Bannon: Sarah Huckabee Sanders answered a question about the president's "corrupt media awards": Even Tallahassee is seeing flurries amid this huge winter storm: One Florida girl delighted in the snowfall: And a man in Houston found himself locked in the store he was attempting to rob:


Jeff Sessions faces a steep uphill battle in his war on pot

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to announce on Thursday the repeal of Obama-era rules that set a federal policy of noninterference with state-legal marijuana businesses, setting up a potential clash between the federal government and state authorities backing an increasingly entrenched and popular industry. Currently, eight states plus the District of Columbia have voted to legalize marijuana within their borders. The change in policy would allow U.S. attorneys in those jurisdictions to pursue prosecutions against state-legal marijuana growers, sellers and even users. Under federal law, marijuana remains a Schedule 1 controlled substance, akin to heroin. But during President Barack Obama's administration, the Department of Justice pursued a policy of noninterference with state-legal marijuana markets provided the states take reasonable steps to prevent underage use and keep pot from flowing across state borders, among other conditions. Rolling back that policy is likely to cause political headaches for the Trump administration given the widespread public support for legalization, the economic clout of the marijuana industry and the supporters legal marijuana businesses have won over in Congress. An October Gallup poll, for instance, found a record-high 64 percent of Americans saying they supported marijuana legalization. That number included, for the first time, a majority (51 percent) of Republicans saying they supported legalization. Support for legalization is particularly robust among the young voters whom Democrats are trying to mobilize for the 2018 congressional elections. An April CBS News poll found that over three-quarters of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 support legalization. Regardless of their stance on legalization, an overwhelming majority of voters of all political persuasions say that the federal government should not interfere with state-level legalization efforts. A July Quinnipiac poll found that 75 percent of Americans, including 59 percent of Republicans, said that they oppose the enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized it. Beyond public opinion, the burgeoning marijuana industry has become a potent economic force in the states where it has a foothold. Marijuana Business Daily, an industry trade publication, estimated last year that legal marijuana employed between 165,000 and 230,000 workers, or between two and three times as many people as the coal mining industry. Last year a market research firm for the marijuana industry, Arcview Research, estimated that it generated $6.7 billion in revenue in 2016, and projected sales to climb to $21 billion by 2021. Those sales are generating significant


Video shows reporter injured while covering war in Syria

street in the southwest city of Irbin, east of Damascus, on Tuesday. Sayed is cut off mid-sentence as someone unseen yells, a loud thud is heard and the camera suddenly drops. The next thing the viewer sees is Sayed being carried into the back of a van, with blood on his forehead and nose and in his left eye. At first, it’s unclear how serious his injuries are, but by the end of the video, Sayed tells the camera, “Thank God, I am fine … and God willing, we will continue to report the news until the Assad regime and all its supporters fall.” In an interview on Thursday, Sayed said a particle from a nearby blast entered his nose. He said he required 50 stitches in his head and surgery for a broken leg. Orient News blamed Sayed’s injuries on shelling in the Eastern Ghouta area, an opposition enclave, on Tuesday. Orient News is a Dubai-based, opposition-aligned television station reporting on the conflict in Syria. Sayed said it has bureaus in Washington, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and throughout Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, reported Wednesday that two people had died in the Irbin area as a result of an “aerial bombardment.” Though the images in the video are shocking, civilian bloodshed is not rare in the Syrian conflict, which has lasted almost seven years. The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that 10,204 civilians were killed in the conflict last year, noting that the real figure was probably much higher but that a lack of information from armed opposition factions, government forces and Islamic State militants complicated the tallying efforts. Sayed said the treatment for his injuries was slowed by shortages in the area. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported in December that fighting in Eastern Ghouta had led to food and fuel shortages and prevented civilians from receiving medical care. Residents of Eastern Ghouta have spoken to The Washington Post about the devastating effects of a government blockade on their families. In November, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration was shifting priorities in Syria, hoping to help bring about a political settlement to end the conflict. Heba Farouk Mahfouz contributed to this report. Read more: Syria allows 4 critically ill patients to leave besieged suburb. Hundreds remain. In besieged Syria, one wasting death ‘just the start of a tragedy’


Our favorite takeout in D.C. for nights when there’s no chance we’re cooking

rice and beans absorb every last drop of the fragrant juices that manage to escape the chicken. My go-to order: 9005 Lanham Severn Rd., Lanham. 301-459-5375. Pete's Apizza Some food writers have 9-year-olds who eat anything. Where to go when your kid eats pizza but inherited an insistence on quality? Pete's Apizza may not be as sexy as, say, a ramen shop, but as a former New Yorker, it's become the go-to pizza joint for me and my son. It's my Platonic ideal of a neighborhood pizza place, serving pies available by the slice with a thin and blistered crust and a brush of bitingly tangy, fresh sauce. Bonus points for bold and flavorful salads and antipasti, locally sourced ingredients and house-made gelati. My go-to order: Various locations. DC Noodles Growing up in the middle of Nowhere, Texas, I lived too far for even the local pizza chain to show up at our doorstep. Takeout wasn't much of an option, either. Moving to the U Street Corridor was an embarrassment of riches, and my constant companion has become DC Noodles — a carryout spot with a predominantly Thai menu that I call upon, sometimes twice a week. The wide range of offerings means it can please most palates, but it also has some interesting gems. Best of all, when I call ahead, the food's always ready by the time I arrive. My go-to order: 1412 U St. NW. 202-232-8424. Sunrise Caribbean The day after we moved to Brightwood Park, my husband and I stumbled upon Sunrise Caribbean, a cheery little spot tucked away on upper Georgia Avenue NW. What brought us back the very next day (and several times since) is the food from chef and co-owner Alisa Plaza. The menu features specialties of Trinidad and Tobago, plus Plaza's vegan takes on those classics. Sunrise has its devoted followers — you might find several dishes sold out on any given day — but ask what else you should try, then take comfort from whatever's dished up. Before you leave, be sure to grab a few bottles of the unlabeled house-made drinks from the refrigerator case. The red sorrel ($3) and cloudy yellow ginger beer ($4) are crowd-pleasers, but my favorite is the bracingly bitter mauby ($3). Once home, we usually spike them with a little rum — you know, for extra warmth. My go-to order: 5329 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-291-2949.


Trump administration says railroads must meet automatic-braking-system deadline

well behind. Chao told the railroad executives of the need "to help create an increased level of urgency to underscore the imperative of meeting existing expectations for rolling out this critical rail-safety technology." The FRA said that eight of the 37 railroads required to install the systems have fully complied with the congressional mandate. Congress has granted the FRA leeway to approve extensions to 2020 for railroads that apply, provided that they have the necessary hardware in place. There have been dozens of train wrecks that might have been avoided were positive train control in place, but the Amtrak crashes in Washington state and Philadelphia stand in high relief because of the fatalities and mass injuries. In both cases, an engineer allowed the train to enter a curve at more than twice the posted speed limit. Three people were killed last month and more than 100 injured in DuPont, Wash., when one of two engines and 12 cars derailed, many of the rail cars tumbling onto a busy interstate highway below. Installing positive train control is a daunting task for the railroads, requiring that hardware be added in 25,000 locomotives and sensors be placed along the railway beds. The payoff is that it will help prevent train collisions and high-speed derailments. When the industry appealed to Congress for relief from the looming deadline in 2015, it said it had already invested more than $6.5 billion, anticipated a total price tag of $10.6 billion and needed additional time to put the system in place. If the Trump administration remains steadfast, and Congress does not again buckle to railroad industry pressure, the year-end deadline and possible fines for those not in compliance will bring closure to a long and arduous debate over railroad safety. The National Transportation Safety Board says it has investigated 146 rail accidents since 1969 that positive train control could have prevented, with a toll of 291 people killed and 6,574 injured. Congress was debating the need for positive train control in 2008. With their lobbyists in overdrive, the railroads might have persuaded lawmakers to delay the mandate. But in the middle of that debate, a head-on train collision in California killed 25 people and injured more than 100. The NTSB said positive train control could have prevented the accident, and that moved Congress to settle on Dec. 31, 2015, as its deadline. The Association of American Railroads, a


What Japan can teach us about the future of nationalism

a new capital at Tokyo, aimed to resemble the Western nations then building colonies among its Asian neighbors. Unlike leaders of the French or American — or the later Russian or Chinese — revolutions, the men behind the Meiji Restoration are not remembered for establishing new ideological strains of democracy or socialism. In fact, they only grudgingly implemented limited democratic institutions in 1889 when a new constitution created a bicameral legislature. They instead focused on modernization, a hazily defined drive toward a future already made visible in the West, with cultural, economic and political dimensions. They aimed to achieve this goal through state-led encouragement of a national, collective effort. Remarkably and sometimes tragically successful, this effort soon made Japan an industrial and military rival of even the most powerful Western states. During World War II, Japanese leaders claimed that their imperialism spread the fruits of modernization and national independence among benighted Asian neighbors, a claim that still appears with dismaying regularity in Japanese popular discourse today. As with European empires, rhetoric rarely matched reality, and failed to mask the often exploitative nature of Japanese rule that forced men and women from colonial territories to labor in mines and factories in support of the imperial war effort. Defeat in 1945 brought the breakup of the empire and several years of U.S. military occupation. Under American tutelage, the nation-state at the core of the vanquished empire was reframed along democratic lines with Hirohito, Meiji’s grandson, made a constitutional monarch. A new constitution, written under American guidance and, as yet, never amended, continues to serve as the guiding national document. And herein lies both the ambivalence and relevance of the uncelebrated Jan. 3. Many left-leaning Japanese and Western scholars lament the Restoration as more a transition of power among elites than a democratic or anti-colonial revolution. Some of their more conservative counterparts, by contrast, feel compelled to emphasize the Restoration’s triumphs in unifying political authority and allowing Japan to avoid colonization. And Japan’s subsequent path, becoming the first non-Western state to industrialize and aggressively build an empire, has left enduring scars in its regional relationships and in national debates over history, memory and truth. Together the imperial past and the loss in World War II have made historical commemoration a fraught topic in Japan: what ought we celebrate, and why? Around the centennial in 1968, many Japanese took a greater interest in the


Whole Foods places new limits on suppliers, upsetting some small vendors

required to help fund the effort. Suppliers that sell more than $300,000 of goods annually to Whole Foods will be required to discount their products by 3 percent (for groceries) or 5 percent (for health and beauty products) to fund the new program. Local suppliers will also have to pay $110 for each four-hour product demonstration by Daymon, while national suppliers will have to pay $165. (Vendors can also continue to host demonstrations themselves, as long as they pay a scheduling fee of between $10 and $30.) Daymon did not respond to requests for comment. "To successfully run this program, we need your financial support," Clark wrote. Some suppliers said the new policies put them at a disadvantage because they rely on regular, previously free three-hour demonstrations and tastings to introduce products that might be unfamiliar to shoppers. "Right now, you can set up your table and sample away," said Jenna Huntsberger, owner of Whisked, a District-based company that sells cookies, quiches and pies to area Whole Foods stores. "So many small brands have gotten their start like that, and shoppers love that they can walk by and meet the person who made their food." The changes are also likely to affect a cottage industry of companies that act as liaisons between local suppliers and sellers such as Whole Foods. Sweet Leenie, a Baltimore-based firm founded by former Whole Foods employee Kathleen Overman, specializes in hosting product demonstrations for companies such as gelato maker Dolcezza and Shenandoah Spice Company. Regular tastings at Whole Foods, Overman said, make up more than 80 percent of her business. "Whole Foods has done a great job of creating a community of local food producers and brands," she said. "Our job has always been to advocate for those small businesses, but with these new rules, companies like mine will no longer be useful." Since taking over the grocery chain in August, Amazon has looked for ways to combine the power of two well-known brands. Whole Foods stores now sell Amazon Echo devices, and Amazon has added more than 1,000 Whole Foods private-label products on its website. It is also working to combine sales systems to eventually provide discounts to Amazon Prime members. There are already signs the efforts are paying off: Amazon sold $10 million in Whole Foods-branded products in the first four months following the merger, according to analytics firm One Click Retail. abha.bhattarai@washpost.com


Lawyers, legal experts watching how Sessions’s new marijuana enforcement impacts District residents

The attorney general's directive Thursday encouraging enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states where the drug has been legalized has attorneys and advocates of legalization closely watching how the new mandate will play out in the nation's capital, where marijuana has been legal since 2015. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama-era directive that discouraged enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that had legalized the substance. The move means that prosecutors within the U.S. attorney's office in the District could bring more cases if so directed by Jessie K. Liu, who was picked as the city's top prosecutor by President Trump. The District has seen a drop in marijuana possession cases since residents voted in 2014 to allow adults 21 or older to possess up to two ounces of the drug and smoke in private quarters. In 2010, according to figures from the U.S. attorney's office, there were 4,599 arrests involving marijuana in D.C. Superior Court. That number dropped to 276 arrests in 2015 after the new law went into effect. Last year, there were 587 arrests. People familiar with the office say prosecutors have spent more time focusing on cases involving large-scale marijuana distribution or trafficking and those with links to violent crime. "I would be surprised if anything really changes under this new policy," said Channing D. Phillips, the District's former U.S. attorney who served from 2015 to 2017. "I don't see a return to the office prosecuting simple marijuana possession cases. The focus will be on traffickers and large organized crime. But not simple possession. The law in D.C. allows for personal use." In a memo sent to U.S. attorneys Thursday, Sessions noted that federal law prohibits the possession and sale of marijuana, and he undid several Obama administration memos that advised against bringing marijuana prosecutions in states where it was legal to use the drug for recreational or medical purposes. Sessions said prosecutors should use their own discretion — taking into consideration the department's limited resources, the seriousness of the crime and the deterrent effect that they could impose — in weighing whether charges were appropriate. The District's marijuana law, which went into effect in February 2015, prohibits smoking marijuana in public spaces and allows users to grow up to six marijuana plants — no more than three of which are mature — in their homes. The law also prohibits the sale or transfer of


‘Kids are freezing’: Amid bitter cold, Baltimore schools, students struggle

Aaron Maybin posted a video to social media earlier this week. In the clip, he sits in front of a group of young children, bundled up in a coat. "What's the day been like for you guys today?" Maybin asked. "Cold!" the kids responded. Maybin, a former NFL player, is a teacher at Matthew A. Henson Elementary School in Baltimore, where some schools have struggled to cope with the frigid weather. Earlier in the week, some students returned from their winter holiday break to chilled classrooms and older buildings crippled by facilities woes. Pictures circulating online showed students in coats and a classroom thermometer with temperatures in the 40s. "As of now, I have on four shirts, two hoodies and a jacket," high school senior Dennis Morgan told NPR. "It's kind of hard to get comfortable when you've got so many layers on and you're not used to it and you're still cold." Baltimore City Public Schools were closed Thursday, both because of the snow and building conditions. Schools remained closed Friday. The decision came after the Baltimore Teachers Union on Wednesday sent a letter that asked the school system's chief executive, Sonja Santelises, to close the buildings until officials could assess the situation. "Trying to provide a stable learning environment in these extreme conditions is unfair and inhumane, to say the least," read the letter, signed by Baltimore Teachers Union President A. Marietta English. Educators were trying to work in classrooms that were cold, drafty or had no heat, English said in a phone interview. "They either had to move to another place, like the cafeteria . . . or they had to sit in their classrooms in coats, hats and gloves and try to teach," she said. "It was unacceptable." The union received numerous calls about conditions in schools and classrooms, English said. "High school students are not going to stay in the class; they're going to leave," she said. "And our little ones are subjected to this, and it's just an unhealthy environment, it's not ideal for our children to be sitting there trying to learn and concentrate when you're cold. You can't do it." Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement the conditions were "unsafe, unbearable and unacceptable" for students, teachers and school staff. In a video posted to Facebook, Santelises on Wednesday pointed to a long stretch of low


Federal AIDS official snared in online teen-sex sting in Maryland

A key official in the federal government's efforts to treat AIDS patients was indicted by a grand jury Thursday in Maryland for allegedly using the Internet and text messages to pursue a sexual encounter with someone he thought was a 15-year-old boy. Instead, police said, he was communicating with a vice detective pretending to be a teenager. Michael Goldrosen, 56, of Silver Spring faces a single count of sexual solicitation of a minor. Goldrosen is the director of state programs for the HIV/AIDS bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), based in Rockville, a few blocks from the Twinbrook Metro station. That station was to be a rendezvous site, police said. Court papers allege that Goldrosen communicated with the detective over at least five days in October and November, eventually agreeing to meet a person he knew as "Jack Spicer." When Goldrosen arrived, according to a police affidavit filed in court, vice detectives moved in on his 2014 Subaru and took him into custody. Free on a $10,000 bond, Goldrosen intends to plead not guilty in the case, according to his lawyer, Jonathan Fellner. "We believe that when all the facts come out, he will be vindicated," Fellner said. "We intend to fight this case vigorously." Goldrosen for more than two years helped manage funding for the Ryan White program that supports HIV/AIDS treatment. He earlier served in public health posts in Massachusetts and holds a master's degree in public policy from Tufts University. "Michael Goldrosen has been an exemplary public servant for more than 30 years," Fellner said, adding that he has no criminal history. Goldrosen was suspended from his job at the HRSA in November after the allegations surfaced but is still an employee, according to his attorney. An HRSA spokesman, Martin Kramer, confirmed that Goldrosen holds his division director title but declined to comment further. Suspects in online underage-sex stings have included janitors, construction workers, journalists, college professors and police officers. Within the past year in Montgomery County, investigators have built cases against a flight attendant, a dog walker and a longtime criminal defense lawyer. "This crime doesn't discriminate," said Capt. Paul Starks, a Montgomery police spokesman. "I don't believe investigators are surprised anymore." Police say online stings often are an effective way to catch adults pursuing sex with minors 15 or younger. "Technology, specifically the Internet, is the 'modern day street corner,' " a


Marijuana stocks tumble after Jeff Sessions announces pot crackdown

desist state regulated cannabis markets and we expect law enforcement priorities to remain status quo,” said Matt Karnes of Greenwave Advisors, an industry financial firm, in an email. However, investors are likely to see how things shake out before pouring more money into the industry. “We think the confusion caused by the Sessions rescission will arguably lead many investors to remain cautiously observant from the sidelines,” Karnes added. “This is a speed bump in the industry,” said Jesse Peters, CEO of Eco Firma Farms, a marijuana growing business. “There is no coincidence that this announcement came three days after California implemented sales to adults 21 and over. It is an attempt by the current administration to slow the flow of cash from investors into a state that can make an unstoppable dent in full legalization.” The loosening of state regulations in the past two decades have created a growing marijuana industry involved in everything from the production to the sale to the consumption of the still federally illicit plant. Industry sources estimate that sales in 2016 topped $6.7 billion, and that the industry employed between 165,000 and 230,000 workers last year. Many of those companies have listed themselves on stock markets like the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and others, allowing investors to buy and sell shares in the companies just like they would any other business. But marijuana's unique legal status — approved under some state laws but stringently prohibited by the federal government — has meant that pot stocks have had a bumpy ride over the past few years. Industry consulting firm MJIC Inc started the index in January of 2015, and in the subsequent year the index lost nearly 75 percent of its value. The index regained most of that lost value through the 2016 election, when voters in four states, including California, approved recreational use of the drug. It fell again, by roughly 50 percent, through 2017, tempered by new uncertainties under a Trump administration disinclined to view marijuana favorably. The market rallied again in October in anticipation of legal pot sales in California starting on January 1. Just three days later the Attorney General set the stage for a new federal pot crackdown. “It is a tough day for those of us who have worked so hard to get here,” said Eco Firma Farms' Peters, “but nothing we are not used to. We will persevere.”


Side effects can develop even if you’ve been taking a pill for a long time

an anti-seizure medication for a year and then developed a rash. "It's a common side effect of the drug, but [it] was new to this patient," he says. LeRoy says he doesn't know why the reaction started when it did, but he had a fix: He changed the medication. All medicines have side effects, and lists of them are fairly easy to find. You can call your doctor or your pharmacy, read package inserts or look up information on websites such as Drugs.com and RxList.com. A lot of nonspecific symptoms, such as headache, indigestion, nausea and dizziness, show up on these lists, says Derjung Tarn, a family physician and health service researcher at UCLA. That's because these symptoms are simply common. They happen to a lot of people a lot of the time, including people who are study subjects in clinical trials testing medications. That doesn't mean they're caused by the medication, but it also doesn't mean they're not. One thing to look for is whether the timing of a symptom is related to when you take your meds. Tarn shared the story of a patient who was suffering anxiety attacks that occurred two hours after she'd taken her blood pressure medication. The patient had some anxiety issues, Tarn says, but her cardiologist agreed to try a different drug, and the attacks disappeared. "It made a 180-degree difference in her life." Internist Cynthia Smith, vice president of clinical programs for the American College of Physicians, recommends keeping a diary of your symptoms: when they happen, what meds you take and when, activities that might play a role (foods that you eat, for instance, if the symptom is digestion-related). "Capture the pattern," Smith says. A diary of symptoms will help your doctor, too, should you seek help with your concerns. If a patient came to him with a nagging symptom, LeRoy says, he would ask about prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs and herbal supplements, in addition to the person's physical condition and social stress. "I do a 360 of all that stuff," he says. "Then if a drug is suspected, I'll suggest a trial," LeRoy says, as long as it's not a critical medication. "Stop taking that drug for two to three days and see what happens. Then start the drug again and see what happens." Sometimes changing to a different formulation of the same drug can ease a side effect, as


The global economy is ignoring President Trump. Should it?

been premature rather than wrong. Though Krugman acknowledged in a New Year's Day column that he erred with his dire forecast last year, he wrote that the economic calm "probably" will not last. In a report Thursday, Holger Schmieding, chief economist for Berenberg Bank in Hamburg, said the economic outlook at the beginning of a year has rarely been this positive. But he cautioned that investors "need to watch the erratic behaviour and protectionist leanings" of the U.S. president. Talks aimed at renegotiating NAFTA are stalled, raising the risk of a collapse. Tariffs on various Chinese imports are expected within weeks. And the president retains his preference for unilateral action rather than patient diplomacy. As Trump enters his second year in the Oval Office, some foreign executives are acting on concerns that the president may finally erect barriers against countries that sell more to the United States than they buy. The United States ran a $68 billion trade deficit with Japan last year, and Japanese companies such as Toyota and Daikin have stepped up investments in U.S.-based research, production and distribution centers, said Jesper Koll, head of Japan operations for WisdomTree Investments in Tokyo. "Corporate executives are leaving nothing to chance," he said. "These investments are triggered by fears that the gates are going to close." James McGregor, APCO Worldwide's chairman for greater China, said business leaders in Beijing continue to eye the American president warily. "The instability of Trump definitely has everybody worried," McGregor said. "This country is focused on stability and predictability. Neither are hallmarks of the United States right now." There are other reasons for skepticism about the rosy global forecasts, notably the gradual end to the easy-money policies that supported growth. The Federal Reserve has begun raising interest rates, in a bid to prevent inflation from rising past its 2 percent annual target, and is beginning to shrink its holdings of government securities. The European Central Bank is reducing its asset purchases by half, starting this month. Forecasters expect the world's major economies to continue powering ahead even as the monetary spigot is gradually tightened. But these central-bank maneuvers will ripple through bond and stock markets, affecting asset prices and potentially rattling economies and presidents. "The political problems we were worrying about a year ago have not gone away," said economist George Magnus of Oxford University. "They may just manifest themselves later than we expected." david.lynch@washpost.com


Use of legalized marijuana threatened as Sessions rescinds Obama-era directive that eased federal enforcement

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday made it easier for U.S. prosecutors to enforce federal marijuana laws in states that had legalized the substance — drawing swift criticism from jurisdictions that have approved pot use and stirring confusion among entrepreneurs in the burgeoning billion-dollar industry. Whether Sessions's Justice Department actually busts dispensaries or others involved in state-approved pot production remains to be seen, but his decision to undo previous guidance and possibly put a federal crackdown on the table riled business people, legislators and civil liberties advocates across the country. Though marijuana already was illegal under federal law, the Justice Department during the Obama administration had issued guidance — which Sessions revoked — discouraging enforcement of the law in states where it was legal. Eight states and the District have laws allowing for recreational marijuana consumption, according to NORML, a group that advocates legalization and tracks pot-related legislation. Many more permit the use of medical marijuana. Those opposing federal pot laws said they felt Sessions was trying to stop the country's momentum toward full legalization of marijuana — which just days earlier had become legal to some fanfare in California. They warned that Sessions wants to impose his view that the country should return to the war on drugs. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), a member of Sessions's political party, even threatened to hold up the confirmation of nominees for key Justice Department leadership posts in response. Sessions countered that he was merely enforcing federal law, which prohibits marijuana use, and giving discretion to U.S. attorneys. "It is the mission of the Department of Justice to enforce the laws of the United States, and the previous issuance of guidance undermines the rule of law and the ability of our local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement partners to carry out this mission," the attorney general said in a statement. "Therefore, today's memo on federal marijuana enforcement simply directs all U.S. Attorneys to use previously established prosecutorial principles that provide them all the necessary tools to disrupt criminal organizations, tackle the growing drug crisis, and thwart violent crime across our country." Sessions announced his decision in a memo sent to U.S. attorneys. He said prosecutors should disregard the old guidance and instead use their discretion — taking into consideration the department's limited resources, the seriousness of the crime and the deterrent effect that they could impose — in weighing whether charges were


A widening budget gap is forcing the U.N. to slash food aid to refugees

wanting to return. "I think about my father and my brother, and I don't want to go back," Abdi said. "When I heard the story of the bomb in Mogadishu, my mind went back to what happened eight years ago." Before she made it to Ethiopia, Abdi and her family fled from city to city to escape the fighting that eventually claimed her father and brother. Lately, the camps in this area have been receiving U.S.-donated white sorghum, a grain used for food and animal fodder in many parts of Africa — but not in Somalia. The Somali refugees say they abhor the taste, and worse, cannot sell it to the local community. Most camp residents try to sell some of their monthly allotment of grain to buy items aid agencies do not provide, such as milk, sugar and clothing. "The white one makes the animals sick when they eat it, never mind the humans," said Mohammed Isak Hassan, who fled Somalia's al-Shabab militant group nine years ago and now teaches children with developmental disabilities in the Bokolmanyo camp, not far from Melkadida. He also lamented that the ration of enriched "CSB+" flour, popular with his five children, had been cut from three pounds a month to one. He eyed with suspicion the dried kidney beans now being distributed in place of the more familiar lentils. "It's not just food for them — it's income to meet the needs for what we don't provide," George Woode, head of the U.N. refugee agency's local office, said about the ration. "It's a bartering system." As the cycle of conflict and refugee flows continues around the world, there is a glimmer of hope at least for those in Ethiopia, where in 2016 the government pledged to boost ties between host communities and refugees and help the latter initiate income-generating activities, including partnership ventures. The government also has promised to reserve some jobs for refugees in new industrial parks. These southern Ethiopian camps are among the best suited for this experiment in making refugees more self-sustaining because the members of the host community, Ethiopians of Somali origin, speak the same language as the refugees and in many cases are from the same clans. "What we are looking at more and more is a shift from basic services and basic assistance to self-reliance," Woode said as he detailed plans for micro-credit schemes and vocational training.