Marathon misery: Wind, water and even thunderstorms expected for Boston’s famous footrace

For the second consecutive year, the world’s most famous marathon will be plagued by poor weather, prompting race officials to take additional precautions. Last year, dreadful weather in the form of heavy rain, high winds, and temperatures in the 40s forced more than 60 percent of the elite men’s runners to drop out before the race even began. Overall, did-not-finish rates were up 50 percent from 2017, and 91 runners were admitted to hospitals, many showing symptoms of hypothermia. This year, runners will face myriad conditions, potentially resulting in a wild swing of weather rarely seen during the event’s 123-year history. A potent storm system will quickly move up the Ohio River Valley on Sunday afternoon, passing to the west of Boston and eventually ending up in northern New England by Monday. In the meantime, a complex set of fronts associated with an area of low-pressure systems, separating vastly different air masses, will be hovering nearby on Monday morning, right as the starting gun fires. Similar to the other Abbott World Marathon Majors, the Boston Marathon has staggered start times, beginning with the Men’s Wheelchair event at 9:02 a.m. and ending with the final wave of runners at 11:15 a.m. This year, participants starting toward the end of the staggered start times may find themselves with completely different weather than their early morning counterparts. Despite being less than 72 hours from the start of the race, forecast uncertainty remains extremely high. The difference in the air masses separated by the fronts is rather stark. North of the boundary, temperatures will be stuck in the upper 40s with a potent east wind (15-20 mph) directly in the face of the runners. South of the boundary, temperatures will soar in the mid-60s, and winds will be strong out of the southwest, or at the back of the runners. With a racecourse that runs due west to east, the direction of the wind matters a great deal to performance. As of Friday afternoon, the forecast has the bulk of the expected precipitation falling between midnight and 7 a.m. on Monday morning. However, once the frontal boundary eventually moves north of the racecourse sometime on Monday, the warm and moist air mass that follows may kick-start some isolated thunderstorms with embedded lightning. Given what happened last year, race organizers are prepared for the worst. “The Boston Athletic Association (BAA) has taken multiple steps toward


Irish cultural pride gives this cosmopolitan second thoughts

It’s said that the man who invented the Irish language created something beautiful, then didn’t know where to stop. Irish is a beautiful language, with lilting cadences that roll gently through lushly rounded vowels and soft consonants. But it is also a complicated one. For example, Irish has many different words for “up” and “down,” depending on whether you are moving and where you are in relation to the speaker. Irish certainly isn’t the hardest language in the world; it doesn’t boast the 64 cases of the Tsez language in the Dagestan region of Russia, or the Navajo language’s rococo verb architecture. But as Indo-European languages go, Irish is rather tricky, hard to learn unless you soak it up as a child. Coming up with a good reason for a non-native speaker to brave these complexities isn’t easy. No important international trade, after all, is conducted in Irish. Its literature and music are small, though unusually vibrant for a language whose native speakers number in the tens of thousands. And the only places you can really use the language in everyday life are the scattered rural areas along Ireland’s western coast that are collectively known as the Gaeltacht. “Gael” was an Old Irish name for the people of Ireland; “acht” is a suffix that roughly corresponds to English suffixes such as “-ness” or “-hood.” So “Gaeltacht” means, sort of, “the Irishness,” which suggests how deeply language and identity and place are all connected to each other. Which is why I went to the Donegal Gaeltacht the weekend after Brexit was supposed to happen. The entire Western world seemed to be in a simultaneous convulsion over questions of identity and language and culture — or as the critics of the rising right-wing populism liked to put it, “blood and soil.” Echoes of the Nazi ethos very much intended. The Gaeltacht is one of the few places where the promotion of a native identity, one that by its very nature is somewhat impenetrable to most outsiders, is utterly uncontroversial. No one gets mad that Irish is the first official language of Ireland or that the Irish government offers wage bonuses for Irish fluency. We take it for granted that promoting the Irish language, and Irish culture and the places where those things survived in daily life isn’t an attempt to oppress anyone. Rather, the Irish are struggling to regain something lost to


Trolls hijacked a scientist’s image to attack Katie Bouman. They picked the wrong astrophysicist.

didn’t write “850,000 lines of code,” a false number likely pulled from GitHub, a Web-based coding service. And while he was the primary author of one piece of software that worked on imaging the black hole, the team used multiple different approaches to avoid bias. His work was important, but Bouman’s was also vital as she helped stitch together all the teams, Chael said. “Katie was a huge part of our collaboration at every step,” Chael said. In truth, singling out any one scientist in a massive, cross-disciplinary group effort like the Event Horizon Telescope’s project is bound to create misapprehensions. Many who shared an equally viral image of Bouman clutching her hands in joy at the sight of the black hole came away wrongly believing she was the sole person responsible for the discovery, an idea the postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has tried to correct. “No one algorithm or person made this image,” Bouman wrote on Facebook, “it required the amazing talent of a team of scientists from around the globe and years of hard work to develop the instrument, data processing, imaging methods, and analysis techniques that were necessary to pull off this seemingly impossible feat.” But those who sought to diminish Bouman’s work — especially while boosting Chael in her place — were making an absurd argument, the astrophysicist said. The New Mexico native is on the Outlist of LGBTQ scientists in the astronomy and astrophysics fields, and advises gay undergraduates at Harvard. “Yes, that was ironic that they chose me,” he said. Despite having to speak out against the backlash, Chael said he’s also been heartened to see Bouman’s work held up as an inspiration and hopes it leads to more women in astrophysics and astronomy departments. “I don’t want to downplay the fact that it’s a very male-dominated community, especially radio astronomy,” Chael said. “There are less women there than even in other fields of astronomy, which we have to work hard to change." He added, “Katie and several other women scientists on our team are just incredible leaders in this effort, and I’m hoping this can be a chance for all of us to talk about doing better.” More from Morning Mix: A column suggested waiters could ‘tamper’ with Trump officials’ food. Amid backlash, the Boston Globe pulled it. ‘What does it mean?’: Mysterious mashed potatoes perplex a historic neighborhood


Switzerland wants to declare coffee nonessential for human survival. But the real story is even more dire.

alliance — just like Switzerland — the government of Sweden recently distributed a 20-page leaflet that urges citizens to stockpile food and drinks themselves. The recommendations, which also feature motivational slogans (“If Sweden is attacked by another country, we will never give up”), continue a Cold War-era strategy that relies on all citizens to resist an invasion even if their military has been defeated. Two years before the Swedish government released its war leaflet last year, the German government spearheaded Europe’s stockpiling movement when it urged citizens to store piles of water bottles and food, too. It was the first time such advice had been issued since the end of the Cold War, reflecting growing concerns over a geopolitically volatile situation in many parts of the world, including in Eastern Europe. Germans mostly ridiculed the recommendations, accusing the government of scaremongering. On Twitter, the hashtag “panic buying” (in German: “Hamsterkäufe”) trended soon thereafter. But Britain’s subsequent efforts to leave the European Union appeared to validate German concerns that no nation is fully safe from supply shortages — even in the absence of war. Amid fears of a no-deal Brexit that would result in the reintroduction of tariffs and tougher customs checks, the British government drew up emergency plans and even ran out of storage space to stockpile medicines and food. Some Brits took matters into their own hands and headed to supermarkets in droves, even though their worst fears have not (yet) materialized: Brexit is now delayed until Halloween, unless a deal is signed earlier. In Britain, more so than in other countries, stockpiling has become a new societal fault line between those in panic and those who have maintained some optimism. After one man went on a drunken and panicked pre-Brexit shopping spree in March — spending more than $800 on 144 rolls of toilet paper and other purchases — one British woman took her frustration to social media, tweeting a photo of her husband’s “mad” and unilateral stockpiling mission. Switzerland still has until November to prevent similar scenes: That’s the deadline for the country’s final decision on the meaning of coffee for human (well, actually, mainly Swiss) survival. More on WorldViews: Sudan and Algeria’s dilemma: How to avoid turning into Egypt Five crises Sudan’s president survived before the mass protests that led to his downfall Stuck in the E.U. for now, Britain’s hardcore Brexiteers want to sabotage it


The surprising battle over ‘heartbeat bills’ among activists who oppose abortion

but she said the incremental strategy they were pursuing wasn’t working. She said her new effort is religiously motivated. “God gave me the idea, and I’ve been pursuing it ever since,” she said. Elizabeth Nash, senior state issue manager at Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research group that supports abortion rights, said most abortion opponents have traditionally focused on incremental strategies, such as making it harder to access abortion through waiting periods and counseling requirements or making it harder for the abortion clinics to stay open. Abortion opponents have been very successful in recent years at passing legislation at the state level restricting abortion. With the shift in the Supreme Court, she said, abortion opponents see a real opportunity to ban abortion. “We know the court has shifted to the conservative side,” she said. “The anticipation is that the court will be accepting some kind of abortion case. We don’t know what that case will necessarily be.” Observers say there are four justices who could cast votes to limit constitutional protections in favor of abortion and four who would vote to uphold such protections, with Roberts serving as a possible swing vote. However, if someone left the bench because of death or another circumstance, Trump would be expected to nominate an antiabortion justice. James Bopp Jr., an attorney based in Indiana who is general counsel to National Right to Life but did not speak for the organization, considers the heartbeat bills counterproductive. The Supreme Court, he said, will likely consider cases that could eventually limit or overturn Roe v. Wade, but it won’t happen overnight. “Legislators will use it to say, see how pro-life I am,” he said. “It’s a completely futile effort that accomplishes nothing.” Many abortion opponents have been eyeing legislation in Virginia and New York that seeks to expand access to late-in-pregnancy abortions. According to a 2018 Gallup poll, 6 in 10 Americans say abortion “should generally be legal” during the first three months of pregnancy. Support for abortion drops off during the second three months (28 percent) and during the last three months (13 percent). Support for abortion varies depending on the circumstances, such as whether the life of the mother is endangered. Of those polled, 45 percent say abortion should be legal for “any reason” in the first trimester compared with 20 percent who said this about the third trimester. Scott Clement contributed to this report.


A 72-year-old woman died at home in September. Police now say she was killed.

A lifelong Arlington resident who died in her home in September was killed, police said Friday. Penelope Holloway, 72, was initially believed to have died of natural causes. But Arlington police said crime scene evidence, witness interviews and a medical examiner’s report now indicate she was drugged with a mix of oxycodone and alcohol and smothered. The death was ruled a homicide, police said. The friend who reported Holloway’s death on Sept. 28, told police she had planned her own death, according to a search warrant filed in Arlington Circuit Court, paying her personal physician $10,000 to help her. The witness said he came over for drinks that night and that Holloway told him and the doctor, “Let’s get this show on the road.” All three of them were drinking alcohol, the witness said. He told police Holloway consumed what he said looked like a “smoothie” and the doctor gave her a syringe of anti-nausea medication through her abdomen. He said she did not struggle or protest when the doctor tried to smother her with a pillow and, when that failed, his hand, telling her, “This is what you wanted.” The witness told police the doctor then changed Holloway’s shirt, discarded the smoothie and ran the dishwasher, according to the search warrant. He called a funeral home Holloway had contacted earlier, but the undertakers refused to come unless police were notified, the friend told police. The witness said Holloway had been having a difficult time getting around because of back surgeries, according to the court record. The Washington Post is not naming the doctor or witness because no charges have been filed. Police spokeswoman Ashley Savage said law enforcement has not confirmed that version of events. “We anticipate more information will come out,” she said. “We have to ensure that everything provided to us was correct.” Holloway’s doctor died unexpectedly just a few days after Holloway, on Oct. 1, according to an obituary in a local medical society journal. Holloway is survived by her brother, Lyman Fairbanks III, and stepson Paul “Bucky” Holloway, according to an obituary published in The Post. “Penny was a truly unique person, all who knew her would agree that she had a real passion for life; and for her, the relationship with her friends was most dear,” the obituary says. She had a career in retail, real estate and hospitality and was a patron of


A hydrogen-powered bus goes to Washington

Foundation — was intended to build a market for vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells, especially for public transit. Conrad and representatives from the bus and fuel cell manufacturers met with officials from Metro, Alexandria DASH, the Fairfax Connector and other regional transportation officials. DASH took the vivid blue bus for a spin over a few routes. “It handles pretty good compared to what I drive now,” said Joseph Fletcher, a DASH operator who drove the bus into Washington for a demonstration Thursday at the U.S. Transportation Department. Come early next week, the blue SARTA bus will be headed back to Ohio the way it came — on a flatbed. Hydrogen fuel cell technology has long been seen as prohibitively expensive and exotic but has been working its way toward the market since Honda, Hyundai and Toyota announced plans in 2013 to begin rolling out passenger vehicles. The U.S. Energy Department, in a 2016 report on the growing use of hydrogen fuel cells, says California has led the way, with a few hundred vehicles on the road and about 20 refueling stations open to the public. Sunline Transit Agency, headquartered in Thousand Palms in California’s Coachella Valley, operates 23 hydrogen-powered buses, as does AC Transit in the Oakland area, according to Sydney Krueger, a sales consultant with BusStuf 2.0. Supporters tout the fact that the hydrogen-powered fuel cells go farther than battery-powered vehicles. But the technology has its downside, too, and some believe its prospects have been overhyped. While hydrogen can be produced from water through electrolysis, the process consumes a significant amount of electricity. A more common method at the moment produces the gas from methane, which is a fossil fuel. Building a network of hydrogen refueling stations is costly and lags far behind recharging stations, while a big chunk of the market has already voted in favor of batteries and plug-in electric cars. Yet hydrogen power has its believers, including Japan. NPR reported last month that the nation is eager to become the first “hydrogen society.” Conrad’s proud to say that his corner of Ohio has the third-largest fleet in the country. Just don’t ask him about the risks of using a highly flammable gas such as hydrogen. And if you do, don’t mention the Hindenburg, the German airship that exploded at a landing site in New Jersey in 1937 when static electricity ignited a leak. “Around work,


Trump administration applauds international court’s decision to abandon Afghan war crimes probe

of his long-standing opposition to the court, which is based in The Hague in the Netherlands. The United States signed the Rome Statute creating the court in 2000 during the Clinton administration but never joined, as have 123 other countries. Bolton was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 2002 when he “unsigned” the United States from the court’s jurisdiction, an action he has called “my happiest day in government.” “Today is the second happiest day of my life,” he said Friday. The U.S. refusal to cooperate in any investigation by the court was one of the key reasons the judges rejected the 2017 request by chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan. Bensouda said on April 5 that her visa to the United States had been revoked. Bensouda’s request said there was reason to believe that members of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies had “committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence against conflict-related detainees in Afghanistan and other locations, principally in the 2003-2004 period.” She alleged that the Taliban and other militants had have killed more than 17,000 civilians in the past decade, and Afghan forces have tortured prisoners. Human rights groups said the court’s decision was a capitulation to U.S. threats and bullying. Amnesty International called it “a shocking abandonment of victims.” Human Rights Watch said it dealt “a devastating blow for victims who have suffered grave crimes without redress.” The Trump administration has been openly dismissive of the court’s authority Bolton has been the most vociferous and scornful. On Friday, he handed reporters copies of a speech he gave to the Federalist Society in September and read aloud his own words: “We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on his own. For all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us.” Bolton denied that the United States had bullied the court. “I don’t think it’s bullying to stand up to protect innocent American service members, members of the intelligence community who are unjustly accused,” he said. “When Americans violate their training and doctrine, whether they’re in the military or in the intelligence community, as a democratic, constitutional society we are capable of holding our own citizens accountable.” carol.morello@washpost.com


Israeli spacecraft reaches the moon — with a crash

government agencies offered support. Kahn, a South African-born millionaire, “gifted” the project to Israel and declared it a national project. He said he was hopeful that the initiative would contribute significantly to future space exploration and also to inspire a new generation of Israeli children to embrace science and realize that anything is possible. Measuring 1.5 meters in height and two meters in diameter, Beresheet was the smallest and least expensive spacecraft ever to attempt the journey from Earth to the moon, said those behind the project. Departing the Earth’s atmosphere on Feb. 21, the spacecraft initially hitched a ride on a Falcon 9 commercial rocket belonging to Elon Musk’s SpaceX from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Over the past seven weeks, Beresheet covered a total distance of about 4 million miles, circling Earth several times before reaching the moon’s orbit on April 4. The craft had began preparing to land on a flatter part of the moon’s rocky surface, and right before it crashed managed to capture an image of the moon showing how close it had been to completing its mission. Seven countries have attempted to land on the moon, but only three have succeeded so far — the first unmanned landing was by the Soviet Union in 1966, then American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin reached the moon in 1969, and in 2013, there was an unmanned landing by China. All were government-sponsored endeavors. The idea for Beresheet began in 2010, when three young Israeli entrepreneurs signed up to compete for the now-defunct Google Lunar X Prize. Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari and Yonatan Weintraub hoped to win the $20 million prize by landing an Israeli-built unmanned spaceship on the moon. Though they failed to win the prize — no one did — they went on to create SpaceIL. The project not only gained financial backing from private investors, it also got support from Israeli government agencies such as Israel Aerospace Industries and the Israel Space Agency. It was these connections that last summer helped facilitate agreements with NASA and Musk’s SpaceX. Israelis have experienced their share of disappointment and tragedy when it comes to space travel. Israel’s only astronaut, Ilan Ramon, was among the seven-member crew of the space shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere in 2003. ruth.eglash@washpost.com NASA Kelly twins study shows harsh effects of space flight and a brutal return to Earth


Measles outbreak has not spread to D.C. area so far, officials say

arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport and spread the infection from there. “With the number of cases in the country right now, I’d be surprised if we don’t eventually get some,” said Shawn Kiernan, senior epidemiologist with Fairfax County’s communicative diseases division. Mary Anderson, a spokeswoman for Montgomery County’s Health and Human Services Department, noted that in the Washington region, it is easy to find people who live in one state, travel to work in the other and then stop in Washington to eat or shop. “So far, we’ve been spared the outbreak,” Anderson said. “But our immunization rates are generally high — we’re not known as a pocket of anti-vaccination sentiment.” However, state health officials said they are carefully watching the disease as it races through parts of the Northeast, the West Coast and the interior of the country. New York City declared a public health emergency this week and made immunization mandatory in some communities. Colleges in the D.C. area said they have had no instances of measles infections, but the University of Maryland sent out a campuswide notice Wednesday reminding students and employees that a “measles vaccine is required for students at UMD.” The notice said the university was “working to alert those students who have not submitted proper records.” When a case is reported, Kiernan said, public health departments work together to confirm it is measles and then interview the patient to determine where they have traveled while infectious. The patient is kept isolated, usually voluntarily, and health officials develop exposure lists. For example, if he or she went to a large office building with a single ventilation system, everyone in that building would be notified that they have been exposed. Individual people who may have come into contact with the patient are sought out and warned that the symptoms of measles can mimic other diseases — with high fever, cough, red runny nose and watery eyes — before the appearance of white spots in the mouth and eventually red spots on the skin. ‘If we catch people early enough, we can give them medication,” Kiernan said. Vaccines will work if given within three days of exposure, and immunoglobulin can work within six days of exposure. But that’s an expensive treatment route that doesn’t protect everyone, he said. The good news is that if someone was vaccinated as a child, the prevention lasts a lifetime. patricia.sullivan@washpost.com


For Olympic medalist Katie Meili, two swims, a nap and a Georgetown law paper is a day’s work

know that I need to work on [gaining] speed and power in the next few weeks,” she said. “The goal was just to put my stroke together here in a long-course pool.” On Friday, Meili will swim the 50-meter breaststroke, prelims and finals, and also file a paper, due that day for her class on national security law, on “President Trump’s Declaration of a National Emergency at the Mexican Border, and the Congressional Response.” She spent most of Wednesday afternoon working on the paper before packing two backpacks — one for her swim gear, the other for her laptop — and making the roughly two-hour drive from Georgetown to Richmond. “I’ve been coming to meets so long now,” she said, “it took me about three minutes to pack my swim bag without forgetting anything.” Meili, who won bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the 100-meter breaststroke and gold as the breaststroke leg of Team USA’s victorious 4x100 medley relay, hasn’t retired from swimming — at least not yet — but the demands of law school have forced some difficult choices of late, which more often than not fall on the side of school instead of sport. Her performances last summer at U.S. nationals and Pan-Pacs earned her a spot on the U.S. team for this summer’s world championships, but instead of traveling to Gwangju, South Korea, with the national team in July, she will stay back to intern at the Washington office of the Jones Day law firm and prepare for her final year of law school. “It was a really hard decision,” Meili said of turning down the spot. “But I knew I wasn’t going to be able to give 100 percent to work and 100 percent to training. I respect the sport too much and respect my teammates and competitors too much to take a spot and show up at worlds without knowing I’m at my best. I didn’t think that was fair for me to do.” A bigger decision awaits Meili this fall, around the time she departs her internship and returns to the Hilltop for her final year of law school. By then, she will need to decide whether to make a run at another Olympics team — the one that will head to Tokyo in July 2020. “The million-dollar question,” as Meili called it. “I haven’t made a decision. I’m obviously still


After years of debate, Trump administration chose to pursue criminal case against Assange

said. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III also accused Russian intelligence officers of working with WikiLeaks to disseminate Democratic emails in 2016. But prosecutors in Alexandria have not indicated that their case goes beyond the 2010 leaks. The indictment relies heavily on online chats between Manning and Assange that were first produced during her 2013 military trial. Manning told Assange in a March 8, 2010, chat that she was “throwing everything” she had from Guantanamo detainee reports at him. She added: “after this upload, thats all i really have got left.” Assange responded: “curious eyes never run dry in my experience.” Manning asked Assange soon after if he could help crack a password, according to the military court records. His reply: “yes.” When Manning sent a string of numbers, according to the chat logs, Assange replied: “passed it onto our . . . guy.” Days later, the records show, Assange told Manning he had had “no luck so far.” Before the interactions regarding the password, Manning had already given WikiLeaks hundreds of thousands of classified records. The material included four nearly complete databases, according to prosecutors, including 90,000 reports from the war in Afghanistan, 400,000 reports from the war in Iraq and 250,000 State Department cables. While not charging Assange with any other crimes, the indictment includes as “part of the conspiracy” conventional journalistic practices, including communication over an encrypted messaging service and the transmission of documents through a cloud service. Manning was found guilty of espionage, theft and computer crimes in 2013; her 35-year sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama in 2017. In fighting the grand jury subpoena, Manning told reporters that she already gave “voluminous information” to the government at her military trial and had nothing more to offer. Prosecutors disagree, saying in a recent filing that she has never fully revealed the extent of her interactions with Assange. In a court filing Thursday, Manning’s attorneys said the indictment bolsters their argument that she was subpoenaed so “the government could preview or undermine her testimony as a potential defense witness at a trial.” Manning told the military court she only began sharing information with WikiLeaks in February 2010 and did so entirely on her own initiative. Military prosecutors argued that the relationship started months earlier, not long after Manning deployed to Iraq. Assange is set to next appear in court in London in May. rachel.weiner@washpost.com matt.zapotosky@washpost.com ellen.nakashima@washpost.com


Senators to Metro: No more federal funding if you buy Chinese rail cars

Warner said that the bill’s final language is still being tweaked but that the legislation would prohibit deals with firms based in countries such as China, which have laws requiring companies to cooperate with state intelligence or other government agencies. Metro has been under pressure from Congress, the Pentagon and the U.S. rail industry to guard against the risk that China might plant listening devices or malicious software in rail cars as a way to conduct surveillance or allow sabotage of trains traveling beneath or near the Capitol, Pentagon and White House. “We need to make sure the nation’s capital is more protected than any,” said Warner, who is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “With almost all of these next-generation train cars, [the manufacturer] can send a software update remotely, where you as the owner don’t have any ability to screen that update,” Warner said. “The update could add malware.” He also warned against unfair Chinese trade practices that he said use state resources to unfairly target competitors from free-market countries. “China is once again taking on industries sector by sector,” Warner said. “It’s providing incredibly generous financing, and then putting price points that are generally 20 percent to 30 percent less than any Western competitor.” Congress’s concern about Chinese tactics in the transit sector extends nationwide. Last month, a bipartisan group of high-ranking senators filed a bill that would prohibit any U.S. transit system from using federal funds to buy transit cars or buses from Chinese companies. The bill’s original sponsors are Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). The bill would also impose one-time financial penalties on agencies that buy from China, even if they use only state and local funding for the purchase. That provision would apply to Metro, which is using state and local funding to buy its 8000-series cars. “The efforts by Congress to address this matter both locally and nationally would provide all U.S. transit systems receiving federal funding with clear legislative intent. We will follow all applicable laws,” Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said regarding both pieces of legislation. The pressure from Congress and elsewhere has stirred the previously low-profile CRRC to mount a counteroffensive. It has hired two public strategy firms, Signal Group and Mercury, to lobby and provide consulting services as it battles its opponents. CRRC has contracts to build rail cars for


It matters who we champion in science

Maryam Zaringhalam is a molecular biologist and science and technology policy fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Jess Wade is a research associate in the physics department at Imperial College London. The world’s first-ever image of a black hole took over science Twitter this week, thanks to an algorithm that stitched together data generated by a global network of eight radio observatories, collectively called the Event Horizon Telescope. Within a few hours, the algorithm had a face: Katherine Bouman. Bouman, 29, is a computer scientist who was part of the team that generated the historic image. Shortly after the discovery was announced, MIT’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab tweeted a photo of a stunned and overjoyed Bouman taken the moment the black hole’s image was processed. Within 48 hours, Bouman was celebrated across international media, her new Wikipedia entry has been translated into about 20 languages, and there have even been exuberant calls for her to win a Nobel Prize. In Bouman’s expression, we were reminded of the pure joy that comes with discovery. It is no surprise that the photo went nearly as viral as the image she helped produce. The world had a new hero. Bouman’s newfound visibility highlights the power of social networks to lift up those who might otherwise go unrecognized. Discoveries this epic are typically attributed to one or a few men, so Bouman’s prominence in the narrative was refreshing. Social media platforms such as Twitter and community-led information resources such as Wikipedia democratize access to and the dissemination of information. So the people have power over who we champion. But what happens to the scientists who don’t catch fire online? The world knows about Bouman because social media needed a hero to attribute this historic achievement. But many equally impressive women stay under the radar and are subsequently erased from the history books. The reasons for this range from systematic bias in authorship to grant allocation and publishing to the decisions of journalists on whose stories they tell. Over the past few years, we’ve taken the initiative to write hundreds of Wikipedia entries with the goal of giving forgotten scientists — especially women — the recognition they deserve for their work. Take Clarice Phelps, the first African American woman to be part of team that discovered a superheavy element. Phelps purified the berkelium-249 that was used in the discovery


Despite the Brexit chaos, Europe did not collapse like dominoes

realities also serve to delegitimate claims politicians make about reasons to leave the E.U. People use social cues to decipher what is rational and what is not — and Brexit demonstrates that leaving the E.U. is much less like a simple exit from an international treaty, and much more like the complex and fraught unwinding from a complicated set of arrangements that reach deeply into citizens’ everyday lives. 2. The Brexit mess has helped the E.U. consolidate its authority E.U. scholars have used the idea of “failing forward” to trace out how governance problems and crises in the E.U. have prompted solutions that deepen, not dissipate, European integration. Indeed, under certain conditions, politicians historically have been able to use crisis to move forward and consolidate power and authority at the center. Examples of state-building and comparative political development might provide some clues as to why the path of the E.U. might be more positive than predicted by the initial Brexit shock. Scholars who study state-building 3. The E.U. has its own social glue — The research on state-building also helps us think through the social conditions under which shocks and crises might produce more unity, rather than centrifugal splintering. Nationalism In my book, “The Politics of Everyday Europe,” I argue that an unobtrusive but potentially powerful set of everyday symbols and practices under the E.U.’s governance has produced a common European identity that, although weak, has moved a generation of Europeans toward a shared social solidarity. From the euro, to a common passport, to the common E.U. security and defense strategy, many Europeans now take for granted a host of E.U.-generated symbols and practices normally associated with nationhood. However, only a portion of the U.K. population has felt part of this shared European identity, as the symbols and practices of everyday European life penetrated British life unevenly — after all, Britain never joined the euro or the Schengen borderless free movement zone. In countries like Denmark and Ireland, social solidarity helped produce more effective responses to the global financial crisis. Perhaps the Brexit catastrophe is demonstrating a similar effect via the surprisingly united and cohesive E.U. response. Whatever the reasons, the E.U.’s solidarity throughout the Brexit crisis is still somewhat unexpected. While many challenges remain for the E.U., the combined impact of Brexit seems to have been a boon rather than a unraveling of the European project. Kathleen R. McNamara


In Afghanstan, delusions of a soldier — and an army

of his mental state when he walked away from his platoon’s base: “Happily with my ignorance, from a young man’s mind and my imagination, I came up with a fantastic plan.” Delusion factors heavily into Bergdahl’s understanding of his actions. At his court-martial, his defense team diagnosed him as schizotypal. Unlike schizophrenics, schizotypal patients don’t suffer from complete breaks with reality but often become lost in their own fantasies. If Bergdahl suffered the delusion of believing he could become a savior by solving a crisis of his own making, the case is artfully made in “American Cipher” that America itself is a schizotypal, that we became lost in our own fantasies for Afghanistan, in which we could deliver the Afghan people from a crisis we created. In “American Cipher” the specific facts of Bergdahl’s case are elevated to the allegorical, and this is where Farwell and Ames’s storytelling really shines. The U.S. government’s interdepartmental dysfunction when negotiating with the Haqqani network, which was holding Bergdahl, mirrors the government’s dysfunction in nascent Taliban peace talks brokered by then-special envoy Richard Holbrooke. The dysfunctional recruiting process of an overextended U.S. military mirrors the specifics of Bergdahl’s recruitment into the Army, even though the government knew of his psychological issues. And when Bergdahl deserts, the dysfunction of the military’s counterinsurgency strategy mirrors the dysfunction of U.S. attempts to elicit intelligence about Bergdahl from a distrustful Afghan population. The parallels go depressingly on. Farwell and Ames convincingly show that so many of the reasons we’ve been fighting in Afghanistan for 18 years — bureaucratic inertia, partisan dysfunction, domestic indifference — are the same reasons that, even when Bergdahl’s captors eagerly hoped to broker his release, it took so long to recover him. And when we did recover Bergdahl, the cost of his actions, particularly for his former comrades and those sent to search for him, became acutely evident. Some of the most moving pages in the book recount the testimony of Shannon Allen, whose husband, Mark, was shot in the head when he was sent to a remote part of eastern Afghanistan to track down information on Bergdahl. Mark Allen remains largely in a vegetative state despite at times responding to prompts from Shannon and their young daughter. On the witness stand Shannon said, “Instead of a wife, I am a caretaker,” at which point the prosecution showed a video of the Allens’ daily


into the Army, even though the government knew of his psychological issues. And when Bergdahl deserts, the dysfunction of the military’s counterinsurgency strategy mirrors the dysfunction of U.S. attempts to elicit intelligence about Bergdahl from a distrustful Afghan population. The parallels go depressingly on. Farwell and Ames convincingly show that so many of the reasons we’ve been fighting in Afghanistan for 18 years — bureaucratic inertia, partisan dysfunction, domestic indifference — are the same reasons that, even when Bergdahl’s captors eagerly hoped to broker his release, it took so long to recover him. And when we did recover Bergdahl, the cost of his actions, particularly for his former comrades and those sent to search for him, became acutely evident. Some of the most moving pages in the book recount the testimony of Shannon Allen, whose husband, Mark, was shot in the head when he was sent to a remote part of eastern Afghanistan to track down information on Bergdahl. Mark Allen remains largely in a vegetative state despite at times responding to prompts from Shannon and their young daughter. On the witness stand Shannon said, “Instead of a wife, I am a caretaker,” at which point the prosecution showed a video of the Allens’ daily routine, in which Mark is fed through a tube and wears a percussion vest to prevent fluid from collecting in his lungs, and Shannon crushes pills for his 80-odd prescriptions. Watching the video, Shannon concluded through tears that at least Mark was back home, “where he’s safe.” Following Shannon Allen’s testimony, Bergdahl took the stand. He read a prepared apology in which he said: “I made a horrible mistake. . . . People went through things that they never should have. I was trying to help, and the fact that I did not breaks my heart.” On rebuttal, the lead prosecutor, Maj. Justin Oshana, challenged Bergdahl’s choice of words. “It wasn’t a mistake,” he said. “It was a crime.” Whether Bergdahl’s actions were a mistake or a crime is the central question of “American Cipher.” In light of the amount of suffering his actions caused, it’s a fair question to ask of Bergdahl. And in light of our nearly 20-year misadventure in Afghanistan, it is also a fair question to be asking of ourselves. American Cipher Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. Tragedy in Afghanistan By Matt Farwell and Michael Ames Penguin Press. 388 pp. $28


Cheating the Boston Marathon is disrespectful to those running an honest race

Derek Murphy operates marathoninvestigation.com. Cheating in the Boston Marathon on Monday will be much harder than it was in 1980 when an unknown runner named Rosie Ruiz slipped onto the 26.2-mile course less than a mile from the finish line and won the women’s division with a blistering time — while barely breaking a sweat. As suspicions about Ruiz increased and the marathon’s organizers searched for evidence, witnesses emerged saying that they’d seen Ruiz run onto the course. After eight days, her victory was nullified. But cheaters are going to cheat, and although race organizers have instituted plenty of measures since 1980 to try to catch them — or at least to make cheating less tempting — it still happens. Four years ago, I became fascinated by the case of a runner named Mike Rossi. He had gained Internet fame for defending taking his children out of school in Rydal, Pa., so they could watch him run in the Boston Marathon. Soon, other runners began analyzing how Rossi had qualified for Boston at the Via Marathon in Lehigh Valley, Pa., the year before by posting a time not even close to his usual, slower results. Though Rossi denied it, the evidence — he appeared in Via race photos only at the start and the finish — strongly suggested he had cut the course. At the time, I had completed 10 marathons (I’m no threat ever to qualify for Boston), and I wondered how common course-cutting is. I examined race results for anomalies such as Rossi’s and quickly found either a course cutter or someone who had suddenly acquired superhuman powers. The closer I looked, the more cheaters I found. Now I operate a website called marathoninvestigation.com, and I’m never short of material. Road-race organizers have responded since the days of Ruiz with a variety of anti-cheating security measures, including implanting electronic chips in runners’ bibs that will register their “split” times as they cross sensor mats laid down at various points along the route. Most races have photographers stationed along the course, taking photos for runners to purchase as mementos, but also providing time-stamped evidence to show that a runner was on the course, to determine pace and to verify identities. The uploading of splits data to websites is helpful in detecting course cutters. But there are other ways of cheating, and other ways to catch it. Some runners don’t


Show dives into stories of pioneers who created things we take for granted today

We take them for granted, but innovations such as the automobile, the rocket and the telescope were once unthinkable. Once they emerged, often the products of centuries of progress, they changed the world forever. “Breakthrough: The Ideas That Changed the World,” a six-part PBS series that debuts Wednesday, demonstrates that their stories are worth reliving. The TV show follows pioneers whose work led to some of the most revolutionary technology in history. Their names won’t always be familiar. Next to icons such as Henry Ford and Alexander Graham Bell are figures such as Henrietta Swan Leavitt, an American astronomer whose discoveries laid the foundation for innovations such as the Hubble Space Telescope, and Karl and Bertha Benz, automotive trailblazers who awoke the world to the potential of cars. Each show dives deep into the background behind a key innovation — the telescope, airplane, robot, car, rocket and smartphone — backgrounds that go much further back than you might expect. (What does a cave in ancient China have to do with rockets? Tune in to find out.) Science-focused and undeniably enthusiastic, the series may make you appreciate even more the tech around you. The twists and turns it took to make each invention are a reminder that it takes collaboration, patience and creative thinking to push humanity forward. “Breakthrough” will air Wednesday nights on local PBS stations from 10 to 11 p.m. Eastern. Check your local listings for air times in your area. Want to watch using spectacular innovations such as your smartphone or smart TV? It will stream on all PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS video app.


What it means for us to actually ‘see’ a black hole

a star might become so massive it would collapse under its own gravity. Then in 1969, Donald Lynden-Bell suggested that supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies could be responsible for the huge energy signatures detected there, far beyond what stars alone could generate. In 2015, near-definitive proof arrived with the cosmic “zing!” that was the sound of two black holes colliding, a billion light-years away. For most scientists, the detection of gravity waves cinched it: Black holes were out there, churning up spacetime, even if we never saw them. Yet images of outer space have an uncanny power over us: These are sights so supernatural that they never quite fit our understanding. Naked, our eyes perceive the night sky as a cosmic swirl of dust and diamonds, hints of a greater complexity. In the early 1600s, Galileo and others pointed the first telescopes into the sky to describe the mountainous face of the moon, the dark-splotched sun turning slowly on its axis, the three gleaming moons of Jupiter wobbling in their distant orbits. Sight gave us irrefutable proof of the vastness of the universe, its chaotic, balletic physics. And, seeing all this for the first time, we believed in it. I grew up under these cosmic visions. I remember napping beneath posters of the Pillars of Creation and the Cats Eye Galaxy at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, while my mom sorted through data and proofread grant proposals at her desk. When I was a little older, I would entertain myself by launching a toy propeller in the hallway, to watch it drift along the currents shifting above my head. My mom told me that looking into space with a telescope was like looking back in time. Nothing ever disappeared from the universe, she said, it just got farther away. I understood this to mean that everything could be known, if we could just see far enough. Our telescopes are bigger and more powerful than ever. They are mirrors tilting at the sky from mountaintops and deserts, or drifting in orbit like huge insects on their stiff solar-cell wings. They swallow light, not only the visible spectrum of blues and reds but also the X-rays and radio waves we are blind to, revealing the intricate structures of distant galaxies and misty Technicolor nebulas. These are landscapes we could never see for ourselves, but, in seeing their


This Appalachian town was America’s ‘fattest city.’ Here’s how it slimmed down.

few items they did have, cheaper, at the discount grocer Aldi. It took years to figure out what would work. In 2012, a group of women opened the Wild Ramp, a food market that runs on consignment, with 80 percent of sales going to local farmers and artisans who drop their goods off, then come back to pick up their checks. This makes sense in Huntington because farming has always been a marginal proposition in the region’s rocky hills and tight hollows. Most farmers have other jobs to pay the bills and, therefore, little time to stand at a farmers market to sell what they grow. It makes sense, too, because Huntington has never really recovered from the collapse of its manufacturing economy, and the market is billed as economic development rather than some yuppified import from the coasts. Most of all it makes sense because it is as convenient for shoppers as it is for farmers — something rare in the good-food movement, which has made “convenience” the enemy of a healthy diet, railing against drive-throughs and microwaves. Unlike most farmers markets, the Wild Ramp is open six days a week, it is centrally located, and it has an array of products, from fresh produce and dairy to meat, pasta and salsas. Since it launched, the market has returned some $1.3 million to local farmers and producers. This in a town where the per capita annual income is about $21,500. It has become a hub of activity around locally produced food, with educational programs, a festival and a positive presence in a town that needed one. The Wild Ramp will never supplant Walmart or Kroger as Huntington’s grocery mainstay. But it has made the idea of fresh, local food — and the healthier way of eating that evokes — a point of pride for residents, rather than an eat-your-broccoli lecture by outside “experts.” Meanwhile, a much less visible revolution was underway in the public school cafeterias. The schools were a major part of Oliver’s show, with Rhonda McCoy, the school system’s food service director, playing the villain to the chef’s righteous crusader. Oliver decried the “processed crap” served to students, as well as the thicket of rules that stood in the way of reform. But it turned out that McCoy was the real reformer. In the years after Oliver left town, she took the recipes he introduced — which


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quits Facebook, calls social media a ‘public health risk’

including WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, who sold his company to Facebook in 2014, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Both technologists parted ways with the social network amid a user boycott and as the company faced a congressional inquiry over the Cambridge Analytica controversy, when it was revealed that the political firm had improperly obtained personal information from millions of Facebook users. Ocasio-Cortez’s disengagement from Facebook also tracks broad trends in social media use among young people. According to a 2018 Pew Research Center study, Facebook’s popularity among teens has plunged in recent years. Roughly half of the nation’s teenagers say they use Facebook, compared with 71 percent in 2015. YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat have now overtaken Facebook as the most popular social media networks, the study found. After a rolling series of scandals involving the misuse of personal data, hateful content and misinformation, many Facebook users have also changed the way they use the platform. A separate Pew Research survey found that 74 percent of U.S. adult Facebook users have done one of the following: changed their privacy settings, taken a break from the platform or deleted it. Despite Facebook’s troubles, the social network has recently gained daily active users in the U.S. and Canada, according to the company’s most recent earnings report. Prior to the last quarter of 2018, Facebook’s user numbers in its most important market had flatlined, with most of its growth coming from countries outside of North America and Europe. Facebook counted 1.52 billion daily users, on average, an increase of 9 percent from the end of 2017. The figures suggest that some of the people who abandoned the platform have returned and that the company is still attracting new users. Though the company continues to post strong returns, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to find himself under scrutiny. Last year, he was called to testify before Congress, enduring 10 hours of questioning tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. And it’s currently negotiating a multibillion-dollar fine with the Federal Trade Commission to settle the agency’s investigation into its privacy practices. Meanwhile, European regulators have criticized Zuckerberg’s new plan to merge the company’s messaging platforms — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger — citing antitrust concerns. During her podcast interview, Ocasio-Cortez pointed to negative health consequences as a reason to scale back on social platforms. “I actually think that social media poses a public health risk to everybody,”


An Australian woman went to Syria to find her ISIS-raised grandchildren

The fate of children raised by foreign fighters in the Islamic State has become an international issue following the collapse of the group’s caliphate over the past year. Facing a slow government response to issues surrounding her family, an Australian woman decided to take matters into her own hands. Karen Nettleton traveled to the Syrian refugee camp of al-Hawl to find three of her grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. When she finally embraced them after years apart, one of her granddaughters, Hoda Sharrouf, said that she couldn’t believe it. “I’m pretty sure I’m dreaming,” 16-year-old Hoda said, according to footage aired on Monday, captured by an Australian television crew with ABC-TV’s Four Corners. “You’re not dreaming. You’re not going to wake up,” Nettleton said in response. Hoda and her siblings — 17-year-old sister Zaynab Sharrouf and 8-year-old brother Humzeh Sharrouf — live with Zaynab Sharrouf’s two young daughters in the camp. They are believed to be the only surviving members of a family that fled to Syria and gained infamy in Australia. The family was brought to Syria by Khaled Sharrouf, an Australian fighter who sparked worldwide horror in 2014 after tweeting a photograph of a young boy, apparently his son, holding a severed human head in a town controlled by the Islamic State. “That’s my boy!” a caption on the photo said. Khaled Sharrouf, who Australian authorities said had a history of mental illness, went to the Middle East to join the nascent Islamic State in 2013. His wife, Tara Nettleton, and their five children soon followed. Tara Nettleton is believed to have died in Syria before 2016 because of complications with appendicitis, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Khaled Sharrouf is also believed to have died in a U.S. airstrike in 2017, along with his two oldest children. Karen Nettleton has repeatedly campaigned to bring her grandchildren home. This is her third trip to the Middle East in the hope of reuniting with her family, but it is the first time she has met her relatives since they left Australia. The Australian government has said it would refuse to help Australian citizens who went to fight with the Islamic State. However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this month that it would work with aid groups to repatriate the children of Australian citizens. “Where there are Australians who are caught up in this situation, particularly as innocent children, then we


2019 Pulitzer Prizes: Winners and finalists from The Washington Post

In ambitious and innovative essays, Lozada ranges across identity politics, diplomatic memoirs, presidential history, campaign war stories, feminist analysis, national security reporting and immigrant memories to probe our national dilemmas. • In his new book, James Comey calls for ‘ethical leadership.’ But does he live up to it? Carlos Lozada is the nonfiction book critic for The Washington Post and has previously served as The Post’s Sunday Outlook editor, national security editor and economics editor. He received the National Book Critics Circle’s Nona Balakian citation for excellence in reviewing in 2016 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2018. Before joining The Post in 2005, Lozada was the managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine and a Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University’s Journalism School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in public and international affairs from Princeton University. For the past decade, he has taught an undergraduate course in political journalism for Notre Dame’s Washington program. Born in Lima, Peru, Lozada immigrated to the United States as a child and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. [ Read more recent work from Lozada here. ] For brilliant photo storytelling of the tragic famine in Yemen, shown through images in which beauty and composure are intertwined with devastation. (Moved by the jury from Breaking News Photography, where it was originally entered.) P He witnessed the bitter rivalry between pro-government factions, backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and the Houthi rebels, aligned with Iran. He then picked his way through dangerous territories controlled by both sides to portray lives ruined by malnutrition, insecurity and forced conscription. His Pulitzer entry is presented below: Lorenzo Tugnoli is a photojournalist and a regular contributor to The Washington Post. His work also has been published by several international magazines. He is represented by Contrasto and resides in Beirut. Tugnoli has extensively covered the Middle East, including living and working in Afghanistan. In 2014, in collaboration with writer Francesca Recchia, he published “The Little Book of Kabul,” a portrait of Afghanistan’s capital through the daily life of artists in the city. Tugnoli, who was born and raised in Lugo, Italy, is fluent in English and has a working knowledge of Arabic. [ See more recent work from Tugnoli here. ] For beautiful and daring editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting


Features Syndicate. Bell lives in Sacramento with his wife and two children. [ See more from Bell on The Washington Post News Service & Syndicate as well as his recent work here. ] For commanding and courageous coverage of the murder of Saudi-born journalist and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi inside Saudi Arabia’s Turkish consulate. W Khashoggi’s death was personal to us — he was a contributor to our Global Opinions forum. But his assassination was a matter of international significance, an attempt by a government to use lethal force to silence a critic. His was the kind of killing that, left unchallenged, jeopardizes every reporter, every writer, every dissident whose work exposes tyranny and oppression. • A missing voice Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist and author, and a Washington Post Global Opinions contributing columnist. [ Read more work from Jamal Khashoggi here. ] For exhaustive data analysis and haunting storytelling that revealed the vast number of unsolved homicide cases in America’s major cities. T Reporters knew that crime data gathered by the FBI failed to capture the detail needed to understand the forces at work. Starting nearly two years ago, the team came up with the idea to file open records requests with about a dozen major police departments for case-level information on homicides in those cities, including — critically — the precise address of the killing and whether police had made an arrest. The team consulted with cartographers and criminologists to learn how to most accurately and descriptively plot the location of individual murders and the outcomes. As data rolled in from select cities, reporters tested and tweaked the methodology to map the murders. What emerged were shockingly stark inequities in justice. • Murder with Impunity: Where killings go unsolved • Database: Out of 54,868 homicides in 55 cities over the past decade, 50 percent did not result in an arrest. • Killings of black people lead to arrests less often than when victims are white • Daunting caseloads for detectives in many big cities • A witness’s duty — and burden • Sacramento aims to flip the script on gang violence • Shuttered in a house amid the murderers • Domestic slayings: Brutal and foreseeable • Baltimore’s open season • To catch a killer, the first days are crucial • Detroit police reassign detectives to help reduce homicide caseloads For eloquent reflections on the exile of


The Washington Post’s Carlos Lozada wins the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism

in Yemen. Tugnoli spent nine weeks in Yemen on assignment for The Post in 2018, traveling to different cities and remote villages to document the far reach of the conflict and portray lives ruined by malnutrition and insecurity. Darrin Bell won the prize for Cartooning for his editorial cartoons distributed by The Washington Post News Group and Syndicate. Bell’s work champions minorities, the poor and suffering and explores issues such as civil rights, pop culture and science fiction. He is the first African American to win the Pulitzer in this category. The Washington Post was also named a finalist in the Public Service, Feature Writing, and Explanatory Reporting categories. For the Public Service category, The Post was recognized for its reporting and commentary on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote for the paper’s Global Opinions section. “Khashoggi’s death was personal to us — he was a contributor to our Global Opinions forum. But his assassination was a matter of international significance, an attempt by a government to use lethal violence to silence a critic. His was the kind of killing that, left unchallenged, jeopardizes every reporter, every writer, every dissident whose work exposes tyranny and oppression,” wrote Baron and Fred Hiatt, Editorial Page Editor for The Post, in their joint letter of support. Early in October, members of the Opinions staff drew attention to Khashoggi’s case, publishing a blank op-ed page where his column should have appeared. With the news staff investigating the murder from Istanbul, Washington and elsewhere, The Post was the first international news organization to report that Turkish authorities concluded that the murder was premeditated, contradicting the Saudi government and President Trump. It was also the first to reveal the CIA’s conclusion that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing. Opinion Columnist Liz Bruenig was named a finalist for Feature Writing for her reporting on the long-ignored assault case of her former classmate, Amber Wyatt, in Texas. Bruenig spent years reporting the case, ultimately securing Wyatt’s trust and cooperation, without which critical documents would not have been available. After finding the detective who investigated the case and the hospital nurse who conducted the rape examination, she managed to piece together the story of how the system had failed to pursue justice, or even basic decency, in Wyatt’s case. Her final piece raised deeper, unsettling questions about human nature. Additionally, The Post was recognized in


category. The Washington Post was also named a finalist in the Public Service, Feature Writing, and Explanatory Reporting categories. For the Public Service category, The Post was recognized for its reporting and commentary on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote for the paper’s Global Opinions section. “Khashoggi’s death was personal to us — he was a contributor to our Global Opinions forum. But his assassination was a matter of international significance, an attempt by a government to use lethal violence to silence a critic. His was the kind of killing that, left unchallenged, jeopardizes every reporter, every writer, every dissident whose work exposes tyranny and oppression,” wrote Baron and Fred Hiatt, Editorial Page Editor for The Post, in their joint letter of support. Early in October, members of the Opinions staff drew attention to Khashoggi’s case, publishing a blank op-ed page where his column should have appeared. With the news staff investigating the murder from Istanbul, Washington and elsewhere, The Post was the first international news organization to report that Turkish authorities concluded that the murder was premeditated, contradicting the Saudi government and President Trump. It was also the first to reveal the CIA’s conclusion that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing. Opinion Columnist Liz Bruenig was named a finalist for Feature Writing for her reporting on the long-ignored assault case of her former classmate, Amber Wyatt, in Texas. Bruenig spent years reporting the case, ultimately securing Wyatt’s trust and cooperation, without which critical documents would not have been available. After finding the detective who investigated the case and the hospital nurse who conducted the rape examination, she managed to piece together the story of how the system had failed to pursue justice, or even basic decency, in Wyatt’s case. Her final piece raised deeper, unsettling questions about human nature. Additionally, The Post was recognized in the Explanatory Reporting category for “Murder with Impunity,” its deeply reported series on the stark inequities in police handling of homicide cases. They exposed, often for the first time, the neighborhoods where justice went unserved and where killers were left to prey on the residents who had nowhere else to go. They found and documented the individual stories that informed and explained the human toll of unequal justice. Including the 2019 awards, The Washington Post has won 68 Pulitzer Prizes since 1936. View the work of the winners and finalists.


A black college student went looking for free food. He ended up pinned down by campus officers.

eventually telling her to “relax.” In unison, the other Barnard students repeat the word “relax” with exasperation. “I am relaxed,” she says. “Yeah, well I don’t see that,” the officer says. “Right away, you’re taking a …” “Please stop talking to me,” she says. The officer walks away. The video cuts off. Alone again in the library, McNab and the Barnard students were left to properly introduce themselves and rehash what happened. Several of the Barnard students were crying. “It showed me that this wasn’t just something I went through,” McNab told The Post. “They went through this, too.” McNab said another student suggested the incident was worthy of a complaint to Barnard’s Title IX officer. She logged on to a computer and sent one off. McNab left after midnight but didn’t fall asleep until 4 a.m. By the time he woke and headed to his sailing class on the Hudson River, a video posted online had started to gain notice. McNab left his phone onshore at 10 a.m. When he got off the water at 2 p.m., it was flooded with messages. Cutlip, a student government representative, had met that morning with the Title IX officer and worked with her and other student government members to craft an official statement. In the afternoon, Cutlip posted her videos online. By Friday afternoon, Barnard College President Sian Leah Beilock had released a statement to students and staff about the “unfortunate incident” at the library, but it did not outline any details. “We deeply regret that this incident occurred, and we are undertaking a thorough review of our public safety officers’ actions, and will address our processes and procedures and how they are applied,” the statement read. Beilock announced a listening session Friday evening with public safety officials and members of the Barnard administration. McNab attended, he said, but didn’t speak until the very end. He watched as his peers scrutinized the language Barnard officials used to talk about the “incident,” listened to them call him “the student” and grew disappointed when the administration, in his eyes, failed to squarely confront the racial elements of his experience. At the end, McNab said a close friend cried as she explained to school officials that he was a kind person who did not deserve this kind of treatment. She called for a thorough investigation, support for women of color at Barnard and proper mental


As Ben Beach prepares for 52nd straight Boston Marathon, he sets sights on a bigger goal

certain checkpoint, including Beach, official finishers. Running used to be less fraught for Beach, who ran his Boston personal best of 2 hours 27 minutes 26 seconds in 1981. In last year’s cold, wind and rain, Beach struggled to the finish in 5:48:35. Even while extending his record, the 26.2-mile distance these days is hardly the leader’s stroll up the 18th fairway at Augusta — and more like an up and out of the trenches into no man’s land. “Last year was tough and more than twice as long as it took in the good old days,” Beach said. “That’s kind of pathetic, and I’m disappointed my running is so labored. But all of us have to grind it out at least some of the time.” With that self-effacing nod to his iron will, Beach is happier to acknowledge the element of fate in his remarkable run — last year, he found himself in the emergency room facing hernia surgery two weeks after Boston. This year, the week before this month’s Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run in Washington — Beach is the only runner to have completed every Cherry Blossom race since its inception in 1973 — left knee pain hobbled his preparation. Beach completed the race in 1:44:45, just over his goal pace of 10 minutes per mile. “When it gets close to these two races, I tend to be a little more cautious and paranoid,” he said. “But over the years, there’s no doubt I’ve been extraordinarily lucky.” Chris Bain, from Cabin John, Md., has a deep appreciation for Beach’s streak. Like Beach, Bain started his Boston streak as an undergraduate at Harvard. Bain now will toe the line for his 22nd straight Boston Marathon. “I keep track of [Beach],” Bain said. “. . . I’d love to think I can do what he’s done, but it’s hard to fathom, much less plan.” Bain has been a prolific and talented local runner, but now, with three young kids and at age 41, his annual running focus is Boston. “I don’t know when [my streak] became a thing, but I just love everything about the race.” While Bain still runs well under Boston qualifying times — he finished in 2:42:56 two years ago — he is still three years away from Boston’s Quarter-Century Club and the relaxed qualifying time of six hours. Phil Stewart — Beach’s longtime friend, training


The Big Number: 145.6 million patients a year go to hospital ERs

Across the country, hospital emergency rooms are seeing a record number of patients — 145.6 million a year, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data — gathered in 2016 and released this month — show that most people head to an ER because of an illness rather than an injury. Stomach or abdominal pain tops the list of reasons (affecting 12.5 million patients), followed by chest pain (7.6 million) and fever (5.5 million). Among injuries treated in ERs, the most common result from a fall (10.5 million) or a motor vehicle crash (3.7 million). Although the number of ER patients is growing — in 2016, up 8.7 million from the year before — fewer people seem to be turning to ERs for routine care. The number of people seeking treatment for what ER doctors determine to be non-urgent symptoms has actually dropped, from 5.5 percent to 4.3 percent of all ER patients. But, as the American College of Emergency Physicians noted in its review of the data, “nearly two-thirds of [ER] visits occur after business hours, when other doctors’ offices are closed.” The picture painted by CDC data also shows that, once people get to an ER, 39 percent are being seen in 15 minutes or less, and 72 percent in less than an hour. Although people of all ages seek care at ERs, about 19 percent of patients in 2016 (27.4 million) were 15 or younger and 16 percent (23.1 million) were 65 or older. The CDC data, culled from the agency’s 2016 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, included information from only ERs that are part of a hospital and did not include information from free-standing emergency departments or urgent-care centers. — Linda Searing


Pelosi warns there will be no U.S.-U.K. trade deal if Brexit harms the Irish peace accord

LONDON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading a congressional delegation to Britain and Ireland this week. What’s being discussed? “Brexit, Brexit, Brexit,” she said. In the old days, bilateral U.S.-U.K. talks would be all about counterterrorism, intelligence sharing, NATO, Russia and China — and the special relationship. Today, Brexit dominates. And on one particular point, Pelosi is emphatic: Don’t mess with the Irish peace accord. The speaker said Tuesday that she had warned Prime Minister Theresa May, Conservative pro-Brexit hard-liners and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn that if the churn of Britain’s messy break with the European Union in any way weakens the Northern Ireland peace pact known as the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, the U.S. Congress will block any trade deals Britain might seek with the United States. “Don’t even think about that,” Pelosi said she had warned. “We made it clear to all that if there were any harm to Good Friday accords, no treaty.” Pelosi did not have to remind her hosts that the Trump administration can negotiate treaties and trade deals. But she emphasized that Congress has to approve them. Speaking at the London School of Economics on Monday night ahead of her visit to Dublin on Tuesday, Pelosi also told Brexiteers that the 1998 Irish peace agreement was dear to Americans. The accord ended 30 years of sectarian strife, known as “the Troubles,” that left 3,500 soldiers, police officers and civilians dead. In remarks Tuesday in Dublin, Pelosi stayed on message, warning that a trade deal between the United States and Britain was “just not in the cards” if Brexit caused any damage to the peace process. “This isn’t for us an issue or an agreement. It is a value,” she told an audience that included Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney. Pelosi’s remarks served to bolster demands by the E.U. that any agreement allowing for Britain’s orderly departure from the bloc must guarantee that the border between Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, a member state of the E.U., remains as it is now — open and virtually invisible. This guarantee, known as “the backstop,” would hold no matter what happens in future negotiations over customs duties, trade tariffs and immigration controls. May has stressed that her government will comply and that, as a signatory to the Good Friday Agreement, it wants to do nothing to undermine


‘This is guts personified’: Marine running for fallen comrades crawls across Boston Marathon finish line

38 minutes. “This is guts personified,” commented Darren Rovell, a sports business analyst. The resident of Tallmadge, Ohio, wasn’t always an avid runner. Monday’s race was only the third full marathon he’s ever run, he said. Herndon said he was drawn to running several years ago when he realized it provided him with the “release” he desperately sought. At the time, Herndon, like many veterans, was struggling to cope with the challenges of transitioning back to normal life after spending four years on active duty in the Marines, during which he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. “It takes me to a place that helps me to forget everything,” Herndon said, describing the activity as “therapy.” “It’s a temporary getaway from everyday life.” Among the things Herndon would like to forget are the events of Jan. 9, 2010 — the day a 400-pound IED took out a vehicle carrying his fellow Marines, Matthew Ballard and Mark Juarez, and British journalist Rupert Hamer, who had been traveling with the unit. Juarez and Hamer were killed on impact. Herndon said Ballard, his best friend, was wounded in the attack and later died of his injuries. “Survivor’s guilt, it’s real,” Herndon said. “I definitely have it because I was the lead machine-gunner on that convoy and I didn’t see that bomb that was buried. I live with that every day.” He would go on to survive two other IED attacks, both of which targeted the vehicle he was in. “There’s a reason why I’m here,” he said. “I’m just trying to find out what that reason is for.” But while he figures it out, Herndon has used running as a way to pay tribute to Ballard, Juarez and Hamer. A photo posted to Facebook in February showed race bibs emblazoned with the men’s last names. The bright orange Nikes that Herndon wore Monday had three engraved name plates affixed to the laces. It was the memory of his fallen comrades that propelled him to the finish line in Boston, Herndon said. For most of the 26.2-mile run, Herndon was on pace to finish in under three hours, and he hoped to qualify for the New York City Marathon in November. But things began to go awry when he hit Heartbreak Hill, the infamously challenging incline near the race’s 20-mile marker. The discomfort, he said, started in his Achilles’ tendon and “just went up


Apple and Qualcomm have settled their epic lawsuit over chip patents

myriad wireless tech that Apple needs in its iPhones. Apple was asking to pay for its chicken and get a side of potatoes for free, Qualcomm said Tuesday. Some nations have taken a dim view of Qualcomm’s licensing strategy. In 2015, the Chinese government fined the company $975 million for the way it bundles its licenses, forcing more favorable terms for Chinese manufacturers. In December 2016, South Korea fined Qualcomm $865 million for allegedly refusing to license competing chipset companies, a claim Qualcomm denies. The two sides eventually reached a settlement. Then, in January 2017, the Federal Trade Commission brought its own case against Qualcomm stemming from the same issues. Qualcomm defended itself in an 11-day trial in January. The company is awaiting a decision from Judge Lucy Koh, who presided over the trial. The terms of Apple’s new licensing agreement with Qualcomm were not disclosed Tuesday, and it’s unclear whether those terms will still put Qualcomm in the crosshairs of the FTC. Qualcomm could have licensing agreements with other companies that the FTC may find problematic. The FTC case marked the beginning of a tough year for Qualcomm. Apple filed its lawsuit later that same month. Then, in November 2017, Broadcom made an unsolicited offer. When Qualcomm’s board rejected the deal, it turned into a hostile takeover bid. In March, the United States blocked the Broadcom takeover bid, citing concerns that the deal would hurt innovation and give foreign companies an advantage in developing cutting-edge wireless technology. Before Tuesday, Apple had stopped making royalty payments, costing Qualcomm more than $7 billion, putting financial strain on the company and forcing it to curtail some research and development. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf and Apple CEO Tim Cook, whose relationship grew tense in recent months, were both set to testify in the trial that settled Tuesday. The settlement hurt both companies, weakening Qualcomm and taking from Apple a potential supplier of 5G wireless technology. Apple has fallen behind its competitors in incorporating the new wireless standards in its phones. The two companies went so far as to select a jury Monday and to summarize their arguments in opening statements in court Tuesday, but they didn’t wait to see what a panel of ordinary people would think about who was right and who was wrong in the acrimonious battle. Just before Qualcomm finished its opening remarks, the two sides came to an agreement.


The return of ‘reefer madness’

outcry rather than a rational debate on the issue. “Tell Your Children” isn’t alone. Both supporters and opponents of legalization are quick to use sensationalism to prove their points, stunting the pursuit of real research needed to determine cannabis’ social effects. Berenson’s book focuses on the health effects of marijuana, particularly on mental health. He argues that, as increasingly potent cannabis is more widely available, problems with psychosis and mental illness will increase. He also claims that “Big Marijuana,” which includes legalization advocates like the Drug Policy Alliance and the Marijuana Policy Project, downplay the negative effects of the drug’s use and argue instead that the real harm from cannabis come from the laws against it. In making those arguments, Berenson draws a parallel to the cigarette industry and the persuasive propaganda Big Tobacco put forward in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. In the mid-20th century, Big Tobacco was engaged in a commercial, cultural and scientific battle to convince the medical establishment and public that its product was healthful and therefore innocuous. This message became increasingly difficult to sustain, however, as smokers grew ill in greater numbers. But rather than admit defeat, the industry employed scientific research to change the conversation. It pointed its finger at genetics or social factors as the primary causes of tobacco-related ailments, rather than tobacco per se. These hazy obfuscations worked for a while, but ultimately, because nicotine is a legal substance and can be studied with relative ease, real scientific data was collected showing the clear connection between nicotine use and the development of certain forms of cancer. Despite the efforts of the tobacco industry to manipulate the data, the truth came out, and it hurt business. Cigarette consumption rates have fallen, from 42 percent of adults in 1965, to just 14 percent of adults today. The science behind marijuana is different, however. Because the federal government believes the drug has no medical value and a high potential for abuse, it’s difficult to gather concrete scientific data on cannabis’ effects. For example, the Drug Enforcement Administration requires researchers to keep cannabis in an alarm-controlled, locked container that is physically attached to a floor or wall. The government will not accept foreign studies of the drug’s effects. And, without purchasing the drug on the black or white market, it’s hard to access enough samples of the federally approved substance to do blind studies. Still, that


Brexit and Trump are flailing. But the establishment shouldn’t relax yet.

Global politics in recent years has had more twists and turns than a Hollywood thriller. Three years ago, British and American populists were staging an insurgency against their out-of-touch political establishments. Two years ago, they were taking victory laps. But, as any war movie will teach you, the fortunes of battle are fickle, and right now the populists seem to be getting the worst of it. At best, the establishment has battled them to a draw; at worst, they are on the verge of a rout. Even on immigration, where Trump supporters could credibly argue that the president had a mandate for sweeping change, Trump has been comprehensively stymied. Courts have quashed his attempts to radically transform immigration policy with a stroke of the executive pen. Meanwhile, a preexisting body of law and court orders has left him unable to do more than rail impotently on Twitter as the asylum process has turned into a sort of open-borders lite for migrants willing to drag their children north to the U.S. border. Well-crafted legislation could conceivably cut down on the revolving door for migrants with children, but Trump has shown little interest in the legislative process, and no aptitude at all for bending it to his will. But now the plot seems to be lagging a bit. Having fought Trump to a draw, the establishment now seems content to wait out the next two years. Trump’s approval ratings are lackluster, and any Democrat with a halfway-decent filter between their lizard brain and their mouth ought to be able to mop the floor with him. So the panicked talk of flight to Canada that one heard in November 2016 has given way to the grim watchfulness in an ER waiting room — after the doctor has told you Mom’s going to survive her fall. Across the Atlantic, where the United Kingdom is in the third year of the two-year Brexit process, one sees a similar phenomenon. The European Union has refused its assent to any deal that could possibly command a majority in the British Parliament, and Remainers in Parliament have refused their assent to any deal that might pass muster with the E.U. Together, they have thus forced Prime Minister Theresa May to punt on Brexit until Halloween, and they are not shy about expressing their hopes that Halloween will turn into never. The story’s ending could be written in any


It’s the heat and the humidity: The Tokyo Olympic marathon will begin at 6 a.m.

Organizers of the 2020 Summer Olympics are heeding warnings from Japan’s Medical Association about Tokyo’s summertime heat and humidity, on Tuesday announcing that the marathon will begin at 6 a.m. local time (5 p.m. Eastern). Racewalking, triathlon and rugby sevens also will take place in the early morning, while the mountain-biking events will start in the late afternoon to avoid the midday heat. In October “The Tokyo marathon normally gets [a half-million] to 1 million spectators. Even if 0.1 percent of them get ill from heat, that would amount to 500 to 1,000 people,” Makoto Yokohari, a professor of urban engineering at the University of Tokyo, told The Post in December. “Tokyo currently does not have the capability to rescue that many people, though starting at 6 may mean fewer spectators.” Tokyo Olympic organizers are taking some steps to combat the heat, coating the marathon course and other major roads with more than 60 miles of a resin-based surface that reflects infrared rays and lowers the surface temperature by as much as 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Fans will be able to retreat to tents and stand under fans that emit cooling mist, though a plan to air-condition the new national stadium in Tokyo was abandoned because of the costs involved. For comparison’s sake, the marathon at the 2016 Rio Olympics started at 9:30 a.m. local time and the temperature was around 66 degrees. A more apt comparison might be the 1996 Games in Atlanta, when the marathon started at 7 a.m. Temperatures that day reached 91 degrees, a few degrees above normal. Next year’s Olympics will be held from July 22 to Aug. 9. In 1964, when Tokyo previously hosted the Games, they were held in October, but IOC officials are loath to move the Summer Olympics to the fall because of television conflicts with NFL football and the MLB playoffs in the United States along with professional soccer elsewhere around the globe. “The Summer Olympics are simply of less value if held in October because of preexisting program commitments for sports,” Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports, told Reuters last July. Temperatures soared to 100 degrees in Atlanta during the first weekend of events in 1996, and similar temperatures were recorded in Athens eight years later. Read more from The Post: Cheating the Boston Marathon is disrespectful to those running an honest race ‘Greatness like no other’: Serena


Baltimore officials demand evidence of safety problems after Pimlico seat closure

to release the engineering report and question why it did not notify state lawmakers about the findings before the General Assembly session ended April 8. The funding bill favored by Stronach did not end in defeat until that night, and the decision to close the seats was made a few days later. “You have a group that for 17 years has systematically disinvested in Pimlico and then, after the city folks who were negotiating during the session were successful, all of a sudden they have this emergency just shortly after the session closes,” said Lester Davis, a spokesman for acting mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young. “It was questionable timing.” Davis said Young, who is acting mayor while Catherine Pugh remains on leave, asked city agencies to look into the conditions at Pimlico. A spokeswoman for the Department of Housing and Community Development said the agency would examine whether the seating closure could affect the rest of Pimlico’s ability to host tens of thousands of guests during next month’s Preakness Stakes and Black-Eyed Susan Day. “We are now having our building inspection team request a copy of the engineer’s report and conduct an inspection,” department spokeswoman Tammy Hawley said. “We are also reaching out for the fire marshal’s office on the matter.” Stronach officials said they would not release the engineer’s report because they were still reviewing its findings. The company does not conduct annual engineering reviews of the structure, they said. Bill Hecht, a Stronach executive, said the company commissioned the engineering report after the Maryland Stadium Authority’s December study concluded that Pimlico “had outlived its usefulness.” “We felt it was important to learn the implications of that,” Hecht said. “At the beginning of this year, we hired an independent engineering firm to do a thorough assessment of the facility. We received those findings in late March and have been determining the best way to proceed since that time. Our decision to decommission the seats was made late last week.” He said the legislative session had nothing to do with the closure. “This decision should in no way be interpreted as anything other than ensuring the safety of our guests and employees,” Hecht said. The company acted on the seat closure, he said, “so that people who have previously purchased grandstand tickets can make alternative arrangements.” Del. Sandy Rosenberg (D-Baltimore City) said the Old Grandstand’s condition was a “relevant fact”


The Technology 202: Notre Dame cathedral fire reveals tech companies’ struggle to combat misinformation

YouTube’s defenses against misinformation just backfired in a big way -- and ended up contributing to baseless speculation online that the Notre Dame cathedral fire resulted from a terrorist attack. As news organizations and others used the service to broadcast the collapse of the spire in Paris, YouTube’s algorithms mistakenly displayed details about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York in “information panels” below the videos. While these fact-checking tools are designed to counter hoaxes, they likely fed false rumors online, as my colleagues Drew Harwell and Craig Timberg reported. People falsely claimed Muslim terrorists caused the incident, even as Paris officials said the fire was likely due to ongoing renovations and there was no sign of a terrorist attack. And while the boxes noted the “extensive death and destruction” from attacks that took down New York’s World Trade Center and killed thousands of people, there appeared to be few injured in the Paris fire. From BuzzFeed News reporter Ryan Broderick: From journalist James Ball: Technology companies are increasingly promising investments in artificial intelligence and algorithms will be a crucial component of their arsenal of tools to combat violent content, disinformation or other hoaxes. But yesterday’s high-profile mistake — on the heels of another recent failure to quickly stop the spread of violent videos of the terrorist attack in New Zealand last month — underscore how this technology is still error-prone and unreliable. And it's raising questions about the efficacy of leaving such decisions to machines. Pedro Domingos, a machine-learning researcher and University of Washington professor, told my colleagues he wasn’t surprised YouTube’s algorithms made such a mistake. Algorithms don’t have the comprehension of human context or common sense, which makes them seriously unprepared for news events. “They have to depend on these algorithms, but they all have sorts of failure modes. And they can’t fly under the radar anymore,” Domingos told Drew and Craig. “It’s not just Whac-a-Mole. It’s a losing game.” YouTube's mistake is highlights the uphill challenge for companies under pressure from policymakers across the globe as they seek new ways to combat misinformation. “We are deeply saddened by the ongoing fire at the Notre Dame cathedral,” YouTube said in a statement to my colleagues. “Last year, we launched information panels with links to third-party sources like Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia for subjects subject to misinformation. These panels are triggered algorithmically and our systems sometimes


Washington Post wins Pulitzer Prizes for criticism, photography; affiliated cartoonist also honored

American historical fiction by John Jakes. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and holds a master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University. Lozada has worked at The Post since 2005, serving as an economics and national security editor and as editor of the Outlook opinion section in which his reviews now appear. He noted wryly that he was turned down for the first job he applied for at The Post in 2004 — editor of nonfiction book reviews. Tugnoli, a native of Italy who lives in Beirut, said he was “honored, humbled and bewildered” that his photos — 17 in all — from Yemen were recognized with a Pulitzer. The images in his Yemen series included children injured in the fighting or enfeebled by malnutrition, towns devastated by warfare and shots of bounteous quantities of food that are out of the reach of starving people because of hyperinflation. Tugnoli’s association with The Post began in 2010 when he moved to Kabul and began freelancing for international organizations. He has often teamed with Sudarsan Raghavan, one of The Post’s most experienced foreign correspondents, to cover stories in Tunisia, Libya and throughout the Middle East. Tugnoli, 39, describes the Yemen assignment as particularly difficult, given that journalists must pass among multiple warring factions to enter the country and move within it. He and Raghavan made two trips to Yemen last year, the second one shortly after Khashoggi's murder by government agents from Saudi Arabia, which is leading a coalition fighting rebels in Yemen's civil war. "The local authorities were quite nervous to have a team of journalists from The Washington Post in the country," he said. The Post’s director of photography, MaryAnne Golon, said Tugnoli has “a gorgeous and lyrical style. . . . He uses light and composition beautifully. He is respectful to his subjects, most of whom are often in vulnerable situations.” Bell, 44, may be best known as the creator of the “Candorville” strip, but his winning entry consisted of a portfolio of single-panel political cartoons published on newspaper editorial and op-ed pages. Bell’s cartoons commented on subjects such as police shootings of unarmed African Americans, climate change, the treatment of migrants by immigration officials and, especially, Trump. Bell often satirized the president by drawing him as a bloated figure in a red necktie that hangs down far beyond his shoes. One of his


Burger King’s Impossible Whopper tastes even better than the real thing

operate that way. No company will invest in a product that consumers don’t want, even one with such a potential upside for the environment. The early word from St. Louis, however, is encouraging for both Burger King and, at least in this particular instance, the future of planet Earth. Consumer demand is high for the Impossible Whopper, according to several employees I spoke with over the counter. Some locations have sold out of their supply and have had to reorder cases of the patties produced by Impossible Foods. At a Burger King in the Academy neighborhood, the store has already sold out of its supply, twice, in the week or so since the Impossible Whopper was introduced, said assistant manager Nikiesha Harvey. People have been calling and coming in from all parts of the country to order one, or a dozen, some as far away as California and Florida, she said. “I couldn’t tell the difference, and I was shocked myself,” Harvey said about the Impossible Whopper (which runs $5.59 in the St. Louis market, a full dollar more than the standard Whopper). She even served one to her husband and son, who couldn’t taste the difference, either. Part of this trickeration can be attributed to Impossible Foods, the San Francisco Bay-area start-up that this year rolled out a new formula for its plant-based patties. The company has substituted soy protein for wheat protein to give the patty a more beeflike texture. It has also added methyl cellulose, a plant-based binder, to make the burger juicier. And this is in addition to the not-so-secret ingredient, heme, which Impossible Foods produces by injecting the DNA of a soy plant into genetically engineered yeast, which is then fermented. All this science is concealed in a patty that doesn’t look too far removed from the ground-beef version, especially after both are run under Burger King’s signature charbroiler. Both beef and plant-based patties are branded with black parallel stripes, the grill marks that are as much a part of Burger King’s identity as that royal mascot with the perpetually creepy smile. I should note the chain also offers a vegan, mayo-less Impossible Whopper, whose patty is cooked in a microwave to ensure no meat particles from the charbroiler contaminate it. It’s an ashen-looking patty, unappetizing on its face, though tasty enough within its Whopper confines. It may take a genius to create an Impossible