Why Gaza’s ‘March of Return’ isn’t dominating Arab headlines

emotional appeals or obviously mobilizational content. Syria topics have outweighed Gaza by 6 to 1 over the past two weeks on the station’s nightly “Behind the News” talk show program. Though Al Jazeera offered far more attention than did its Saudi competitor, Gaza by no means monopolized its agenda. Shades of 2006 Key elements of the dynamic are quite familiar. On the Saudi side, the trend is similar to the 2006 Israeli war with Hezbollah, when pro-Saudi media initially minimized hostile coverage of the conflict and focused more criticism toward Hezbollah. After about a week and a half, its coverage was forced to shift at risk of losing viewers. Al Jazeera took full advantage, aligning with the broad attitudes of the Arab public and covering the conflict intensively and in a highly mobilizational way. Now, the big difference is not the divide between the two ideological poles, but that Al Jazeera no longer dominates the center of Arab media and politics as it did in 2006. In those days, Al Jazeera was more than the first among equals in the Arab public sphere. During times of conflict, Al Jazeera became the first source for most Arab viewers, glued to its professional but sensational news coverage and fiery talk shows. This was the conflictual, vibrant heart of an Arab public sphere. Today, that is no longer the case. Arab audiences are now sharply divided along sectarian, national and ideological lines, and no station today is capable of dominating the landscape. Al Jazeera came to be identified with Qatari foreign policy during the heated politics of the Arab uprisings, and even more during the seven month old Saudi-UAE-led campaign against Qatar. Al Jazeera today is still popular, but it resonates and appeals primarily within its own constituency. This division of media into relatively insulated bubbles, along with the much more crowded agenda of regional conflicts, creates a very different dynamic than in 2006. This new Arab media landscape, and the underlying regional political divisions, means that it will likely prove difficult for the clashes in Gaza to generate widespread, enduring mobilization in support of Palestinian rights. Arabs clearly still care about Palestinian territories and were clearly infuriated over the attack on protesters in Gaza. But while Arab media will continue to pay attention at the moment of crisis, they will not sustain that focus at the expense of other issues and interests.


NTSB and Tesla executives clash over investigation into deadly California crash

Tesla is no longer a party to the federal investigation into a deadly crash involving one of its vehicles in California last month, the government and company said Thursday. But the two sides offer different explanations for the split, and the dispute between the National Transportation Safety Board and the electric carmaker could have broad implications for safety investigations and the development of partially and fully automated vehicles. The NTSB says it “decided to revoke Tesla’s party status” in the case after the automaker released information about the crash. Tesla says it chose to withdraw and accused the safety agency of being “more concerned with press headlines than actually promoting safety.” Teslas said it “will be making an official complaint to Congress” about the NTSB. The highly unusual public conflict between the federal government’s top transportation safety agency and Tesla executives could shape how future investigations unfold. A key question in an era of swiftly changing technology is whether companies will increasingly speak out on their own, particularly when they believe it is to their benefit to do so, or whether they will follow the protocol of NTSB investigations, which can take a year or more but are widely trusted. The dispute centers on the investigation of the March 23 crash in which Tesla owner Walter Huang, 38, was killed when his 2017 Model X, running in semi-automated “Autopilot” mode, smashed into a concrete median on U.S. 101 near Mountain View, Calif. Initially, it was unclear whether the vehicle was in Autopilot mode, and the investigation was focused on a damaged collision barrier and the post-crash fire that complicated the emergency response. In a March 30 blog post, Tesla confirmed the car had been in Autopilot. Among other disclosures, it also said Huang “received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds before the collision.” Tesla tells customers to keep their hands on the wheel. But researchers and competing technology developers say human nature makes it easy to become overly reliant on such technology. NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt spoke with Tesla chief executive Elon Musk on Friday, raising objections, as the agency has done multiple times in recent weeks, about the company’s release of information “before it was vetted and confirmed” by the NTSB. “Such releases of incomplete information often lead to speculation and


Skywatchers in Chile were star-struck by this incredible lunar halo

Observers at the La Silla Observatory on the border of Chile’s Atacama Desert were studying the stars and constellations last week when they saw something spectacular: A bright lunar halo had formed in front of the Orion constellation and Sirius, the brightest star in our sky. The technical term for a lunar or solar halo is a “circumscribed halo.” Similar to sun dogs, lunar and solar halos belong to the family of ice halos, which are optical phenomena formed by the refraction of sun on hexagonal ice crystals suspended high up in the atmosphere, most commonly in cirrus clouds. These are also known as 22-degree halos, because the ring of light forms 22 degrees from the sun. Cirrus clouds are made up of millions of tiny ice crystals. When the light from the sun or moon hits these crystals in just the right way, the light refracts and reflects. It’s this interaction between the light and the hexagonal ice crystals that forms the ring around the moon. Although solar and lunar halos form in the same way, there’s one noticeable difference. Since moonlight isn’t very bright, lunar halos are typically colorless, compared with their more rainbow-colored solar cousins. However, with the ideal optical setup and perfect camera settings, we can sometimes see color in lunar halos — typically red on the inside and blue on the outside. That is exactly what photographer Yuri Beletsky was able to capture! There’s an old weather saying that “a ring around the moon means rain soon.” I mentioned that halos form when the sun reflects off ice crystals found in high cirrus clouds. Because cirrus clouds are the highest in our atmosphere, they move at the fastest speed and are often the first clouds to arrive ahead of a storm system. If you see this ring around the moon, expect the clouds to thicken and lower — and for rain to arrive within the next 12 to 24 hours. Weather is awesome. #cwgpicoftheweek


Civilian casualties in Afghanistan at near-record level this year, according to U.N. report

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An ambulance packed with explosives that detonated in Kabul and a pedestrian suicide bombing outside a Shiite shrine there were among the deadly incidents that led to a near-record 2,258 civilian casualties in Afghanistan during the first quarter of this year, U.N. officials reported this week. According to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, there were 763 conflict-related civilian deaths and 1,495 injuries across Afghanistan between January and March. Those figures were comparable with record-high levels of casualties reported during the same period in the past two years, as aggressive attacks by Taliban insurgents and the Islamic State increased. In an especially alarming sign, the report indicated the number of casualties caused by suicide bombings or by complex insurgent assaults with both bombs and guns was twice as high as during the first quarter of 2017, even as thousands of U.S. military troops embarked on an ambitious effort to expand and bolster the performance of Afghan defense forces. The Western-backed war effort has continued to suffer from a number of problems, including low morale among Afghan troops and corruption among military officials. The Taliban have failed to capture any cities but control large portions of territory across the country, more than at any time since the war began in 2002. The Islamic State has mainly targeted urban Shiite communities, with dozens of attacks. The largest single spike in civilian casualties came during a 10-day period in January, when both Taliban and Islamic State forces attacked numerous targets in Kabul, killing more than 150 people and wounding hundreds. They included the ambulance suicide attack near a hospital, a commando siege of a luxury hotel and an armed raid on a military training facility. A second deadly trend during the first three months of the year was a string of bombings and other attacks on Shiite communities, mosques and other targets, both in Kabul and in other cities including Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif. Most were claimed by the Islamic State, an extremist Sunni Islamic group. One March bombing near a shrine in Kabul, where Shiites had gathered to celebrate the Persian new year, killed 30 people and wounded scores. “Afghan civilians continue to suffer, caught in the conflict, in ways that are preventable. This must stop now,” Ingrid Hayden, the U.N. Secretary General’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan, said in a statement. “All parties to the conflict . . .


Why dictators love Facebook

Facebook and the United States are in an “arms race” with Russia. But within the Russian Federation’s borders, you won’t catch the tech giant standing up for the very democratic ideals that Russia sought to undermine in the 2016 election and beyond. Facebook, which owns Instagram, recently caved to the Russian government censor’s demands that it remove content related to opposition activist Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption investigation. Navalny’s video used posts from a Russian escort’s Instagram account to implicate Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko and recently sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who filed a lawsuit saying that the Instagram content violated his right to privacy. Rather than ignore the request from the Russian censor and risk being blocked in Russia, Facebook removed the content in question, rendering it inaccessible to the 5 million-plus Internet users who watched Navalny’s investigation. To its credit, Facebook has not yet (that we know of) relented to Moscow’s demands that it store data relating to Russian users on servers within the country. But that does not make pandering to an authoritarian government acceptable, and it’s a practice that has been repeated around the globe; Facebook has complied with arcane censorship laws and blocked anti-government content in Morocco, India and Israel. It reportedly sought to woo Beijing to unblock the site within China by developing a government censorship tool. Despite these actions, Facebook said until recently that it was not an “arbiter of truth.” Zuckerberg has come around, saying in the Senate on Tuesday that his company is “responsible for content.” He seems to have not yet grasped that this responsibility extends to preserving, not squelching, democratic debate, particularly where it is most vulnerable. Zuckerberg would like us to believe that he is a champion of connection and free expression, a vision of American Dream 2.0, from dorm room to boardroom. But he is more demagogue than democrat. If he weren’t, Facebook would have stood up for the voiceless in places like Turkey and Russia and been more apt to respond to the truly problematic content that has poisoned American online discourse for the past several years and continues apace today. This is the only area where there is harmony between Facebook’s policies at home and abroad. The bottom line is that Facebook only prioritizes connecting people and making their voices heard when it doesn’t affect the bottom line. Read more: It’s not just America: Zuckerberg has to


American orchestras: Revamping the model, or embracing the obvious?

Center. “That’s the story of this festival, to the degree that we can get that story out in a cogent way, so everybody’s getting it beyond the people who already know.” It’s not clear, though, that the Kennedy Center or Washington Performing Arts are actually telling that story. Moving outside concert halls Innovation doesn’t have to mean reinventing the wheel. Some of the field’s biggest innovators point to existing models that are worth emulating. Forsyte cites the great London Symphony Orchestra as an example of the freelance model that the Pacific Symphony also follows. And Kieser, at the New World Symphony, cites the Berlin Philharmonic — not only for its reputation, but because it has more than 30 smaller ensembles active within the larger organizational umbrella. “What I’m seeing as the future is not new,” Kiesier says. He cites Ernest Fleischman, the visionary impresario who long ran the Los Angeles Philharmonic. “Fleischmann in the 1980s talked about the institution of orchestra as a community of musicians.” It’s a fallacy to think that classical music can only be purveyed in the way it’s most familiar: the established concert-hall format. The New World Symphony is actively exploring other ways to perform: shorter, more informal concerts; video projections on an exterior wall; several concerts happening simultaneously. Younger audiences, Kieser points out, don’t always enjoy the inflexibility of sitting in a concert seat for a couple of hours — a realization that led the San Francisco Symphony, while Kieser worked there, to develop its Soundbox, a black-box performance space where the orchestra’s musicians could have a freer rein in coming up with concert ideas of their own, and audiences could interact with them in a more club-like ambiance. And there are several respected professional orchestras that operate on adapted freelance models. The Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York, now 43 years old, employs three tiers of musicians: a core of about 23, with additional membership levels that enable the group to expand to a full symphony orchestra when necessary. The group has its own subscription series but also works with a number of collaborators, from Baroque companies to Sting, as a band-for-hire, and is active in chamber music and teaching. But James Roe, the orchestra’s president — who was himself a professional oboist for 25 years — isn’t sure that St. Luke’s represents a model others can follow. “For us to maintain this


What’s it like to film a TV travel show? I joined the crew of “Travels With Darley” to find out.

left, explaining the history of Old Antibes for a second time and take. Darley raised her chin and lifted her gaze toward the invincible medieval architecture, a portrait of thoughtful contemplation. A tree of chattering birds threatened to drown out their conversation. The crew made its way to Chateau Grimaldi, where Pablo Picasso painted for about six months in 1946. The imposing 14th-century castle, which has a crumbly texture resembling Rice Krispies treats, became the Picasso Museum in 1966, the first institution devoted to the peripatetic painter. Picasso donated 23 paintings and 44 drawings to the city, a starter kit for a collection that has more than tripled in size. Short on time, we dashed up to the second floor to a gallery that would give any Picasso pilgrim shivers. “This is the room where he worked,” said a museum guide. During his time on the French Riviera, Picasso was fairly literal about his influences. His color palette evokes the baby blue blanket of the Mediterranean sea, and his subjects are familiar characters around town: birds, boats, sea urchins, fish and, depending on your absinthe intake, mythical creatures. Acting like an unsupervised child, he painted “Les Clés d’Antibes” directly on the wall. The trio of shapes with black dots for eyes and a straight line for their mouths look quite amused by his impertinence. The unofficial tour ended with the sound of clapping hands, the signal that the camera was rolling and all nonessential personnel must hush up. We hit a bump in the itinerary that night. We were supposed to visit Hotel Belles Rives, where F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, had lived (it up) in the 1920s. Chef Aurélien Véquaud and pastry chef Steve Moracchini were going to prepare a dish for us at the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant, La Passagere. Visions of its pearl-in-blown-sugar-shell dessert danced across the Med. Unfortunately, a timing mix-up forced Darley to scotch the plan. Quickly rebounding, we ventured over to Mamo Le Michelangelo, an Italian restaurant that is studded with celebrities during the Cannes Film Festival. Photos covering the walls and framing the open kitchen showed chef-owner Mamo grinning alongside such high-voltage famers as Mick Jagger, Robert De Niro and Clint Eastwood. Several fallen stars, including Kevin Spacey, Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein, were grouped together in a Column of Shame. For a Facebook Live segment, Darley plus a special guest (me)


Police arrest suspect in January homicide in Northeast D.C. basement

Detectives on Saturday arrested a suspect in a fatal shooting that took place in Northeast Washington in January, D.C. police said. Shelby Jones, 17, of Waldorf, Md., was arrested and charged with first-degree murder while armed, police said in a statement. Jones is being charged as an adult. The shooting Arriving at the house, police found two adult males and a teenager suffering from gunshot wounds. The teen, D.C. resident Davon Fisher, 17, died of his injuries after being transported to a hospital. peter.jamison@washpost.com


Andrea Bruce wins the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award

In April 2014, Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus was killed by a police officer in Afghanistan’s Khost province. And for the past four years, Niedringhaus’s dedication and legacy — one that includes a Pulitzer Prize for photography — lives on through the Courage in Photojournalism Award, organized by the International Women’s Media Foundation and named after her. This year, the award, which comes with a $20,000 cash prize, went to Andrea Bruce, a former Washington Post staff photographer. “I looked up to Anja,” Bruce told In Sight ahead of Thursday’s announcement. “She was courageous and smart, but also grounded and kind. She cared. As one of the few women covering conflict, she showed me how it can be done.” “Now, receiving this award, I hope I can continue to encourage other photographers, especially women, to stay in this profession with Anja’s sense of purpose,” she added. Bruce’s work focuses on the people living in the aftermath of war, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Andrea was selected for her empathy, her emotional connection with subjects, and for the dignity that shines through in her portfolio, which also includes images from Syria, Russia, Bahrain, India and Haiti,” the IWMF said in a statement. Juror Eman Mohammed added that Bruce “was always inspiring others within the field to step up and inspiring young female photographers.” Bruce was chosen from among 136 nominations, the highest number since the program began. Photographers Amber Bracken and Rebecca Conway received honorable mentions. In Sight is The Washington Post’s photography blog for visual narrative. This platform showcases compelling and diverse imagery from staff and freelance photographers, news agencies and archives. If you are interested in submitting a story to In Sight, please complete this form. More on In Sight: “I saw a lot of women who died during delivery, but I did not know how to help them.” Wave riders: The men and women of Gaza’s Surf Club making waves in Gaza City Heartbreaking images of the pets left behind during Hurricane Katrina


PM Update: Summerlike weather continues through tonight. Much cooler on Sunday, with rain showers in the afternoon.

feature more of the same. In reality, the forecast is much more complicated. Listen to the latest forecast: Get our daily forecasts on your Amazon Alexa device. Click here to find out how. Through tonight: View the current weather at The Washington Post. Tomorrow (Sunday): Overall, expecting mostly cloudy skies in the morning with temperatures in the 60s around the District. Rain showers will increase in coverage by early Sunday afternoon and the second half of the day will feel quite raw with an east wind in the 10-to-15-mph-plus range. A strong cold front will approach the region Sunday night, bringing a burst of heavy rain and some isolated thunderstorms. The main hazard with this line of storms will be heavy rain: Anywhere from 1 to 2 inches could fall in just a few hours. The heaviest rain should move through sometime between 1 and 4 a.m. Monday. Low temperatures will range from the upper 40s to mid-50s with winds out of the east at 10 to 15 mph and gusts up to 25 mph. See Ian Livingston’s forecast through the week. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. For related traffic news, check out Gridlock. April 14, 1865: Naval Observatory records show a morning low temperature of 41 degrees in the District on April 14, 1865, rising to a daytime high of 71.5 degrees that afternoon. Skies were reported as mostly clear for much of the day, becoming partly cloudy with a temperature of 49.5 degrees by the time Lincoln and his entourage arrived at Ford’s Theatre in the early evening. Booth fired his infamous shot at about 10:15 p.m. that night, and Lincoln died some eight hours later. Booth and David Herold, a co-conspirator, fled the theater on horseback and crossed the Anacostia River via the Navy Yard Bridge, riding into Maryland. Booth and Herold would be on the run for nearly two weeks, spending much of their time camping outdoors, before authorities finally caught up to them on April 26 in Virginia. Booth and Herold had many misfortunes on their fugitive run, one of which came in the form of uncooperative weather. The Naval Observatory records show that it rained three times between the 15th and the 26th of April, with lightning observed on the 21st. Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox? Subscribe here.


She was tossed from a hospital on a cold night wearing only a gown. The viral video followed years of struggles.

looks immoral is not always illegal. “There is certainly an ethical obligation to provide people with the best care available,” said Sophie Terp, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Southern California who has studied patient dumping. “One would hope that hospitals would ensure patients be discharged to a safe environment. However, there are circumstances, at times, in emergency departments where people are sometimes discharged after their medical complaints and conditions have been stabilized in a way that is somewhat abrupt.” The hospital apologized, mounted an internal investigation and in March was cited by a federal regulator. There are a lot of people to be called to account in how her daughter was treated, Chandler said. There are hospitals, case managers and emergency responders who she says failed her. She has a lawyer and is contemplating a lawsuit against UMMC. “Rebecca will be Rockefeller,” she said. Then there is the army of trolls on social media. As much as Baraka’s video helped Hall receive quality treatment, it also made her a target. People made fun of her appearance and called her a junkie. And then there is Baraka. Chandler feuded with Baraka after he posted the video of Hall on a GoFundMe page, created in 2016, where he says he is raising $250,000 for “the John F. Kennedy Community Counseling Center.” He says he plans to build the center in Baltimore to “serve the community as a teaching behavioral health center providing culturally sensitive counseling services,” according to the page, which has raised a bit more than $1,100 in about 18 months. Baraka said he was not aware of a conflict with Chandler and pointed out that she thanked him for filming the video at a news conference in January. He also said he had planned to build the community center long before he shot the video. “I don’t have a disagreement with them,” he said. “If they have one with me, you have to ask them about that.” In the weeks since the video went viral, Hall and her family have tried to heal. “I have a lot of hate toward the people who dehumanized her, embarrassed her, hurt her,” Taylor said. “I know Rebecca wouldn’t want me to do that. She wouldn’t want me to think that way. But it’s hard to think that people didn’t treat my sister like the beautiful human being she


It’s great to see Barbara Bush and Richard Nixon in the Potomac

500 and counting. We have had some groups with more than 100 individuals. Scientists aren’t the only ones who get very excited about dolphins. A story in the Chesapeake Bay Journal about our work sparked many watermen, boaters, local government officials and other groups to contact us to tell us what they have seen or just to ask questions. Bottlenose dolphins are apex predators, relying on fish and squid, and are what biologists call “bioindicators.” That means they tell us whether the environment is healthy. If there are a lot of fish, there will be dolphins. Commercial fisheries will also benefit. So while some fishers might be disappointed that the dolphins spirited away a few fish, dolphins have been a sign of good luck to watermen for centuries. As apex predators, dolphins accumulate whatever toxins are in the fish and store them in their blubber. If there is chemical pollution, it winds up in fish and ends up in dolphins. (Humans store toxins in their fat tissue, too.) Unfortunately, the only way to offload these chemical cocktails is in their milk supply. In Florida, scientists found that firstborn offspring, who receive all the pollutants that their mother has accumulated, are much more likely to die than later-born offspring. As a female dolphin has offspring, she has fewer pollutants in her system. Males are not as lucky and accumulate these toxins indefinitely. It is striking to see so many newborn dolphins here in the Potomac. This means they come here each year — they are here from April to October — not only to feed but also to mate and give birth. Pregnancy is 12 months long, so the Potomac is both a breeding and feeding ground for the dolphins. While there are reports of dolphins near the District back in the late 1800s, and up to Indian Head, Md., in the early 1800s, we do not know how long dolphins have been here or how far up the Potomac they go. We know that many dolphins are repeat visitors, returning three years in a row. We intend to find out how many keep coming back and where they winter. These dolphins are part of a very large network of dolphins that extends far into the Chesapeake. Northern Neck locals have seen dolphins over the years but often remark that the numbers seem to be increasing. Have the Potomac and Chesapeake


Power ranking the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ all-athlete cast

If it is, is that a violation of NCAA rules? If it isn’t, how much is she paying out of her own pocket to do this? 3. Tonya Harding, retired Olympic figure skater Harding’s last return to the athletic spotlight — celebrity boxing in 2004 — was, in a word, pathetic. Fans booed as she entered the ring. She got her face pummeled. They cheered as she left the ring. Then came a string of documentaries and network interviews before the PyeongChang Games that revived her star power. The movie “I, Tonya” won critical acclaim and an Oscar for Allison Janney (whose previous best role was C.J. Cregg in “The West Wing”). In interviews, she was both charming and bubbly, and whiny and vengeful, lest we all forget that she “may” have helped orchestrate an attack on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan. Harding, 47, is the obvious villain in season 27 of DWTS (despite the protestations of my colleague, Sarah Dunton, and others of her ilk who itch for a Harding comeback). But villains have a way of sticking around longer than anybody wants, so Harding comes in at No. 3. 2. Mirai Nagasu, Olympic figure skater Let’s get the obligatory exclamation out of the way now, Tom Bergeron: She’s trading in her skates for heels! Nagasu became the first American woman to land a triple axel in the Olympics in PyeongChang. The feat was stunning, even though she didn’t win an individual medal in the women’s singles competition later in the Games. Figure skaters, though, do tremendously well on DWTS. Meryl Davis won in 2014 with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Guess who Nagasu’s partner is? It’s Alan Bersten, but I made you think about it, didn’t I? 1. Adam Rippon, Olympic figure skater As if you really thought anyone else was going to occupy the No. 1 spot. Figure skaters do tremendously well on DTWS, remember? And before Loyola Chicago’s Sister Jean came along, Rippon laid claim to America’s heart and the title “America’s sweetheart.” I’m not giving him up. He is perfect. Read more from The Post: Brett Favre says he’s suffered ‘probably thousands’ of concussions Seahawks reportedly postpone a Colin Kaepernick workout over protest uncertainty Is Aaron Rodgers unhappy or should Packers fans just R-E-L-A-X? Ex-Dolphins cheerleader says she faced discrimination after revealing her virginity NBA playoff matchups: Who’s playing who in the East and West; complete first-round schedule


Power ranking Dancing with the Stars all-athletes cast

is, is that a violation of NCAA rules? If it isn’t, how much is she paying out of her own pocket to do this? 3. Tonya Harding, retired Olympic figure skater Harding’s last return to the athletic spotlight — celebrity boxing in 2004 — was, in a word, pathetic. Fans booed as she entered the ring. She got her face pummeled. They cheered as she left the ring. Then came a string of documentaries and network interviews before the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, which revived her star-power. The movie, “I, Tonya,” won critical acclaim and an Oscar for Allison Janney (whose previous best role was C.J. Cregg in “The West Wing”). In interviews, she was both charming and bubbly, and whiny and vengeful, lest we all forget that she “may” have helped orchestrate an attack on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan. Harding, 47, is the obvious villain in season 27 of DWTS (despite the protestations of my colleague, Sarah Dunton, and others of her ilk who itch for a Harding comeback). But villains have a way of sticking around longer than anybody wants, so Harding comes in at No. 3. 2. Mirai Nagasu, Olympic figure skater Let’s get the obligatory exclamation out of the way now, Tom Bergeron: She’s trading in her skates for heels! Nagasu became the first American woman to land a triple axel in the Olympics in PyeongChang. The feat was stunning, even though she didn’t win an individual medal in the women’s singles competition later in the Games. Figure skaters, though, do tremendously well on DWTS. Meryl Davis won in 2014 with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Guess who Nagasu’s partner is? It’s Alan Bersten, but I made you think about it, didn’t I? 1. Adam Rippon, Olympic figure skater As if you really thought anyone else was going to occupy the No. 1 spot. Figure skaters do tremendously well on DTWS, remember? And before Loyola Chicago’s Sister Jean came along, Rippon laid claim to America’s heart and the title “America’s sweetheart.” I’m not giving him up. He is perfect. Read more from The Post: Brett Favre says he’s suffered ‘probably thousands’ of concussions Seahawks reportedly postpone a Colin Kaepernick workout over protest uncertainty Is Aaron Rodgers unhappy or should Packers fans just R-E-L-A-X? Ex-Dolphins cheerleader says she faced discrimination after revealing her virginity NBA playoff matchups: Who’s playing who in the East and West; complete first-round schedule


Festival probes formula for orchestral creativity. Bottom line: good music.

I heard a lot of invigorating and unusual orchestral music this week. The Shift festival of American orchestras, which finished its second iteration on Saturday night, is a confusing and well-meaning event that tries to showcase creativity in the field by presenting four American orchestras in a range of performances, in and out of the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. But the bottom line: Good music is good, and I was glad to have more of it. To experience Shift the way joint presenters Washington Performing Arts and the Kennedy Center conceived the festival, music lovers could have ranged the length and breadth of the city over the course of the week: to Union Station for the National Symphony Orchestra, to Southwest’s arts club Blind Whino for the Albany Symphony’s new-music ensemble; to THEARC in Southeast to hear the Fort Worth Symphony’s wonderful bilingual “Peter and the Wolf,” with dancers from the Texas Ballet Theater. (For the record, my 6-year-old son, who can be a hard sell, was riveted by “Peter and the Wolf” and gave it an emphatic thumbs-up.) After the Fort Worth Symphony’s opening concert (which I reviewed last week), the Albany Symphony under David Alan Miller showed its bent for new music with 2 1/2-hour program that included three concertos by established American composers: Joan Tower, with her contrasting piano concert “Still/Rapids”; Michael Torke, with his muscular, intense, yet somehow slightly anodyne “Three Manhattan Bridges” (with Joyce Yang the impressive pianist in both); and Michael Daugherty, whose mellifluous tuba concerto “Reflections on the Mississippi” has become a showpiece for the remarkable tuba player Carol Jantsch. Arguably stealing the show, though, was an endearing piece for youth chorus and orchestra about the Erie Canal, which filled the stage with Washington-area kids singing wholeheartedly. The Indianapolis Symphony showcased music by composers from Poland, the native land of its music director,Krzysztof Urbanski, who was authoritative in this outing with his home orchestra. Lutoslawski’s thorny cello concerto featured the star cellist Alisa Weilerstein, whose hyperexpressivity wins over audiences even in complicated repertoire; but the real showpiece was the Credo by Krzysztof Penderecki, a rousing and powerful work in the grand classical tradition, complete with trumpets in the balcony, and yet anchored in the present, that should enter the repertories of some of Washington’s symphonic choruses. The NSO made an odd addition to the lineup. The orchestra contributed energetically to the festival’s community


Five years ago, I caught the Boston Marathon explosions on camera. Here’s what I remember.

I was already feeling anxious at 4:45 a.m. on April 15, 2013. I needed to get to the starting line in Hopkinton, Mass., where at 6 a.m. I would appear live on camera for Boston.com to preview the 117th Boston Marathon. I planned to host three pre-race live interviews before heading to Copley Square to film the finish line for the next six hours, just as I had for the three previous Patriots’ Day races. For my first “Finish Line Scenes” on April 19, 2010, the idea was to produce a three-minute video that shows the diversity of the runners crossing the finish line — especially the first-time finishers and charity runners — while capturing the raw human emotion at the end of a 26.2 mile run. I shot about five hours of footage for that three-minute online package. Patriots’ Day 2013 was shaping up to be a perfect Marathon Monday. Unlike the oppressive 89-degree temperatures during the 2012 marathon, the cool, sunny weather felt perfect for runners and spectators. There were a couple of good story lines heading into the race. Marblehead’s Shalane Flanagan was running in her first Boston Marathon and was one of the favorites to win. Legendary local father and son Dick and Rick Hoyt were set to run their 32nd and final marathon as a duo. After I filmed the post-race reactions of Lelisa Desisa Benti and Rita Jeptoo, the male and female winners, next was keeping a lookout for Flanagan. Though she finished a respectable fourth, I was able to capture her disappointment and secure a quick interview. My video in 2012 had set a high bar: the Boston Athletic Association took it to the 2012 London Olympics in hopes of recruiting more world-class runners to the 2013 race in Boston. There was work left for me to do. My plan was to hunker down on the finish line until sundown and keep the camera rolling for cartwheels, marriage proposals and over-the-top costumes. Some runners cry tears of joy after completing the marathon in memory of a loved one. These scenes are much more compelling to my audience than anything involving an all-business runner hoping to set a personal best. At 2:49 p.m., I was standing just to the right of center of the finish line, about 10 yards away from where the first pressure cooker exploded on the sidewalk in front of Marathon


Warm ocean waters bring an unwelcome resident to the Outer Banks: Bull sharks

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland who was the study’s lead author. The number kept rising up to 2016, establishing a pattern. “We kind of have a before and after in our data set.” The study was published Monday in the journal Scientific Reports. The study was an offshoot of a larger survey of 12 shark species, including the four-foot smooth dogfish, the spiny dogfish and Atlantic sharpnose shark — all relatively small. The sandbar shark is the largest of that study, published last week in the journal PLOS One. A bull shark nursery in the Outer Banks raises eyebrows because Florida is the Atlantic’s haven for bull shark nurseries. The barrier islands near Cape Canaveral are where most are born. There are also several nurseries between the Florida Keys and the Everglades and Tampa Bay. South Carolina has a massive shark nursery, but it does not have bull sharks. Bull sharks like water temperatures at 68 degrees or a little warmer. Juvenile bull sharks hang around the area where they’re born for about four years. It’s safer there in the tepid, less salty water that isn’t tolerated by other shark species that might eat them. Then they swim off to join adults that glide up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Those early days in the near-freshwater nursery is why adult bull sharks maintain an affinity for bays and rivers. They have been spotted as far north as Long Island and deep into the rivers of the Chesapeake Bay. “Bull shark migration patterns are poorly understood,” Bangley said, noting it was a subject for a future study. “Juvenile bull shark presence in the sound was strongly related to early summer temperatures and late summer salinities, which have increased in the estuary over the 13 survey years,” the study said. “Further evidence for increasing water temperatures in Pamlico Sound was found in a 45-year data set for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries estuarine trawl survey.” The results suggest higher water temperature “allowed bull sharks to expand their nursery habitat. This shift will have unknown, but potentially strong, impacts on both the local ecosystem and interactions with humans,” the study said. Human and shark encounters overwhelmingly result more often in the death of the shark. Shark attacks of all kinds in North Carolina have been exceedingly rare. In 2015, Bangley said, there were eight bites in summer, none


Flooding hits D.C.-area roadways, causes closures and delays

Updated at 9:12 a.m. The Washington-area commute was a mess for many after a night of heavy rainfall caused a number of area roads to flood. Even at mid-morning, parts of Interstate 95 north in the express lanes near VA 289 were closed. Near the Pentagon, there were reports of flooding on parts of Interstate 395. And in the District, there was flooding along sections of Canal Road, along with River Road in Montgomery County. Heavy rain continued to move through parts of the region. Updated at 6:55 a.m. D.C.-area residents faced delays as some area roadways were closed due to high water from heavy rain overnight. All lanes of Interstate 66 near Spout Run in Northern Virginia were closed for more than an hour early Monday near the Spout Run exit. In Maryland, where parts of Montgomery County were under a flash flood warning, rescuers helped some drivers who were stranded. One rescue happened Monday morning near Beach Drive eastbound and Stanhope Road in Kensington. Several vehicles became stranded in water, according to Montgomery County Fire officials. The driver did not suffer serious injuries. In other parts of Montgomery County, there were also reports of high water in roadways. In Northern Virginia, there were also reports of high water along Interstate 395 near the Pentagon. And in the District, there was high water along Arizona Avenue and Canal Road in Northwest. Original post at 5:20 a.m. Part of Interstate 66’s east- and westbound lanes near the Spout Run exit in Northern Virginia are closed due to standing water in the roadway after heavy rain. It is not clear how long the road will be closed and drivers are advised to avoid the area. Tolls along I-66 inside the Beltway are still in effect, officials said. Part of Interstate 395 north is also closed due to flooding, according to transportation officials. Transportation officials warned motorists to expect delays and check their social media account about possible other road closures because of heavy rain overnight. They also reminded drivers to allow extra time and slow down. Drivers should not proceed in areas of high water. In Bethesda, Md., part of the Beltway’s inner loop near River Road, also known as MD 190, has some lanes closed due to standing water. And in the District, part of Interstate 295 south is closed due to flooding conditions.


Boston Marathon 2018: Americans dominate both races; Desiree Linden, Sarah Sellers finish 1-2

over a block away. ‘We’ve had an attack,’ I said into the camera’s microphone. “In a split-second, I went from sports video producer to accidental war correspondent.” Read more about his experience here. Looking for a specific runner or time? The field of 29,960 athletes included runners from all 50 states (4,921 from Massachusetts) and 109 countries. You can find out how they did searching the field at BAA.org. Security restrictions … Security for the 26.2-mile race has been tightened since 2013 and spectators, who are expected to number more than 50,000, were reminded of what is and is not allowed, particularly close to the finish line. At least five transgender runners entered the race Marathon organizers are not concerned about gender boundaries, saying that transgender runners can compete using the gender they qualified with. At least five openly transgender women signed up to run the race, and a BAA official told Runner’s World that race officials and volunteers would compare gender identity on the government-issued ID required to pick up a bib number with what’s on runners’ entries. If there’s no match, a BAA spokesperson told Runner’s World that it would be addressed “in a manner intended to be fair to all concerned, with a strong emphasis on inclusion.” “We take people at their word. We register people as they specify themselves to be,” Tom Grilk, who heads up the Boston Athletic Association, told the Associated Press. “Members of the LGBT community have had a lot to deal with over the years, and we’d rather not add to that burden.” Play ball? Not Monday. Weather forced postponement of that other Patriots Day tradition, the 11 a.m. Red Sox game against the Orioles at Fenway Park, for the first time since 1984. Japanese runners once dominated the Boston Marathon There was a time when runners from Japan ruled the Boston Marathon and The Post’s Kathryn Tolbert takes a look back at the slurs and prejudice they endured years after the end of World War II. Read the story in Retropolis. Read more from The Post: Nationals finish frustrating homestand with another tough loss to Rockies The Wizards and Raptors were once peers in development. Now they aren’t even close. Eagles’ Daryl Worley tased, arrested after allegedly passing out in car on highway How Quin Snyder set aside a broken NCAA career to become an NBA coach of the year candidate


Why the Syrian regime has been targeting civilian infrastructure

The recent displacement of civilians and rebel fighters from the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta signals an important victory for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In the face of these successes, it is worth remembering that the imminent downfall of Assad’s regime was proclaimed several times since the onset of violence in Syria in late 2011. Each time, Assad defied such predictions. How has his government, which several times looked so close to being toppled, weakened its rivals and ensured its continuity? In a new article, we argue that a crucial component of the Assad regime’s wartime success has been its strategic use of aerial bombardment. Bolstered by its allies, especially Russia, the Assad regime has consistently targeted public infrastructures in opposition-held areas, including bakeries, hospitals, markets and schools. Media outlets, policy experts and international aid organizations have written about the humanitarian and military dimensions of such raids at great length. Yet they overlook the key political logic underpinning these systematic attacks. Disrupting opposition governance Our findings suggest that regime concerns with rebel governance, rather than military calculations or sectarian motivation, best explain the Assad regime’s targeted bombardment of opposition-held areas. It also helps us understand the regime’s ongoing success in the war. From 2013 to 2016, we conducted more than 100 interviews with civilians, activists, journalists and aid workers to explore how the regime’s aerial bombardment campaigns affected various rebel groups’ attempts to govern. We found that during the conflict, carrying out basic statelike functions, from mediation to education — what we term “performing the state” — has been one of the most important governing strategies undertaken by rebel groups. At the same time, the Assad regime actively targets these institutions and services to undermine and defeat rebels that seek its downfall. State performances by opposition forces make political authority tangible, perceptible and concrete to local residents. During the war, rebel groups have established checkpoints that control the movement of people and goods, taxed local businesses, founded courts to resolve local disputes, coordinated agricultural production and organized schooling. In contexts where sovereignty is so hotly contested, such actions can help legitimize opposition actors. When executed successfully, they demonstrate an ability to govern proficiently and allow residents to consider an alternative to the Assad regime. Why rebels provide welfare Throughout the Syrian civil war, rebel attempts to perform the state have been frequent, deliberate and purposeful. One of


They lost their legs in the Boston Marathon bombing. Then the newlywed couple found a surprising way to heal

while they were living in Washington, D.C., and said a lot of their early dating life was spent jogging around the D.C. monuments and the Tidal Basin. Since they were wounded, there have been plenty of positive moments in their lives. They are grateful to be alive: Three people were killed in the attack. Their friends and families rallied around them in a way they said they can never repay or even express adequate gratitude for. They even went back and completed the Boston Marathon in 2014 using handcycles, arm-powered bicycles. Patrick competed in other years on a handcycle, and in 2016, completed the marathon on a prosthetic running blade. But along with the good moments, the physical and emotional trauma is always present. And even though they seemed to go through the same horrors in the bombing, they experienced it differently. Studies show that couples who experience significant life trauma often pull apart rather than together in the wake of a tragedy. Kensky and Downes didn’t want that to happen to them. “We know that on the surface we are two people who went through this super intense thing, we were there the same day and hurt the same day,” Kensky said. “But we’re two totally different people. What feels good or therapeutic to Patrick may not feel good to me.” So they support and love each other, and go to individual and couples therapy. And they talk about their feelings a lot. “It has permeated every ounce of our lives,” Downes said. “There’s a lot of sadness to unpack and a lot of rich, positive feelings too, and we can experience those at the same time, not only individually, but as a team.” For now, they are proud of the progress they’ve made on their own and as a couple. And they have a book they are really proud of, too. They hope people respond well to it, both kids and adults. They have a tour planned for April when the book comes out, and they have already started speaking with groups of kids about the book. “It’s cool to see where little minds are going,” Kensky said. “Leaving those talks, we always feel so good.” Read more: This dad wore a T-shirt at Disney that said ‘In need of kidney.’ It worked. When this groom got married, he also exchanged vows with the bride’s sister. Here’s why


Trump puts the brakes on new Russian sanctions, reversing Haley’s announcement

of state, Haley has been the face of American diplomacy, playing an especially prominent role over the past week as the Trump administration responded to the attack in Syria. Haley said Sunday on CBS: “You will see that Russian sanctions will be coming down. Secretary Mnuchin will be announcing those on Monday, if he hasn’t already. And they will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons used. And so I think everyone is going to feel it at this point. I think everyone knows that we sent a strong message, and our hope is that they listen to it.” The Russians were listening. After Haley’s comments, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that the sanctions were a U.S. ploy to oust Russia from international markets and constituted “undisguised attempts of unfair competition.” “The sanction campaign against Russia is truly assuming the nature of an obsessive idea,” Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “We still do not see these sanctions as lawful. We see them as going against international law.” Peskov added: “Certainly, this cannot have any relation to and cannot be motivated by considerations of the situation in Syria or any other country. . . . I would call this international economic raiding rather than something else.” But there was a subtle shift in Moscow toward a less confrontational tone, even as officials continued to slam U.S. sanctions as veiled attempts at gaining economic advantage. Russian lawmakers were crowing Friday that they were going to make the United States pay for already imposed sanctions, potentially by blocking American imports or U.S.-Russian aerospace cooperation, or allowing Russians to violate U.S. intellectual property rights. Russia, one top lawmaker promised, was going to “hit the Americans in the gut.” But on Monday, senior lawmakers in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, decided to hold off until May 15 before considering any counter-sanctions against the United States. Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the Duma needed to meet with experts and the business community first. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also urged calm. “Let’s first wait until these sanctions are implemented,” Ryabkov said in reference to possible new U.S. sanctions, Interfax reported. “We have to see what will be announced, at what scale, and who or what will become the targets of these sanctions.” philip.rucker@washpost.com carol.leonnig@washpost.com anton.troianovski@washpost.com greg.jaffe@washpost.com


The Japanese once ruled the Boston Marathon. A war bride’s son recalls the slurs.

April 19, 1966: An 11-year-old boy was excitedly awaiting the outcome of the Boston Marathon, with a special interest in the Japanese runners. His father, who, as a young GI, had married a Japanese woman and brought her home to East Boston, had found them a spot near the finish line. Angelo Amato wanted his son, Joseph, to feel proud of his Japanese heritage. And what better place and time to instill such pride, with the strong possibility of a repeat of the 1965 marathon? That year, Japanese runners took first, second and third place. And coming toward the finish line were runners about to best that showing. The four in top places were all Japanese, led by Kenji Kimihara, who finished first with a time of 2:17:11. What Joseph remembers most sharply about that day, however, is what he heard nearby. “So we’re standing there near the finish line,’’ he recalled more than 50 years later. “Right near us, within earshot, was another father and son about my age. And the father would look and talk to his son, looking at us. And I can hear them saying derogatory things, ‘Japs.’ … I looked at my father. He didn’t say anything, and I didn’t say anything.” For the running world, the success of the Japanese was no surprise. “There were more fast Japanese runners than any other country in the world in the 1960s,” Boston Marathon historian Tom Derderian says. “By 1965, the U.S. occupation of Japan was over. Japan was our ally. Japanese coming to Boston was the politic thing to do. And also Japanese became nuts about the marathon.” Twenty years after the end of the war, Japan was reclaiming a place as a great nation. It had just hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the first Olympics held in Asia. If it was not yet the economic heavyweight of later decades, it was of immense importance to the United States as a bulwark against the spread of communism in Asia. U.S. military bases dotted the country. But in a little corner of East Boston, a mixed-race boy and his brothers — half Japanese, half Italian American — were growing up and dealing with the fact that they did not look like everyone else. Adults remembered Pearl Harbor, some with deep anger. But it wasn’t just the war and the reminder of the enemy. Kids with garbled ideas


Why Europe, not Congress, will rein in big tech

DUBLIN — U.S. lawmakers demonstrated an increased appetite for regulating technology giants when they grilled Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg about privacy last week. But the future of Facebook’s relationship with its 2 billion users is less likely to be determined from the halls of Congress than it is from an unassuming 18th-century townhouse in Ireland’s capital packed with lawyers, technology experts and gumshoe investigators. Europe has been moving aggressively to impose order on the tech space. Already, it has inflicted painful penalties on Apple and Google for their business practices. Now, technology companies are readying themselves for sweeping new privacy rules that will go into effect next month across the European Union. They could face billion-dollar fines if they fail to give European users far more control over their personal information. Whether Congress follows the European model, as some lawmakers floated last week, or whether big tech companies determine it’s too cumbersome to treat the 500 million people of the European Union differently from the rest of the world, Europe is likely to keep setting the global pace for aggressive regulation. “As a first mover, that has now become a baseline,” said Dean Garfield, the president of the Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington-based trade group for tech giants such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. Europe “is increasingly setting the norm.” And Europeans have embraced the role. “The E.U. is a real regulatory superpower, and it exports its values and its standards,” said Christopher Kuner, a director of the Brussels Privacy Hub at the Free University of Brussels. At the center of the action is Helen Dixon, Ireland’s data protection commissioner. Because the European operations for many big technology companies are headquartered in low-tax Ireland, Dixon is set to become the top cop for U.S. tech giants that include Facebook, Google, Apple, LinkedIn and Airbnb when the new privacy regime comes into force on May 25. She will have the power to slap companies with fines of up to 4 percent of global revenue — which for Facebook could mean penalties of up to $1.6 billion. “Their business model is around monetizing personal data, and this creates very significant challenges in terms of fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals,” Dixon said in an interview in her Dublin townhouse office. “It creates a type of surveillance and tracking of individuals across the Internet that undoubtedly needs regulation.” Facebook’s latest


U.S. plans to impose sanctions on Russia over alleged chemical weapons use in Syria

Macron’s comments, made during a televised debate with two journalists. Haley, the administration’s most prominent diplomatic voice until a new secretary of state is confirmed, said the new round of sanctions will target Russian companies that have helped the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad make and deploy chemical weapons. A suspected chemical weapons attack April 7 spurred the United States and its allies to launch more than 100 missiles at Syria over the weekend. “You will see that Russian sanctions will be coming down,” Haley said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “will be announcing those Monday, if he hasn’t already,” she added. “And they will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons use. I think everyone is going to feel it at this point. I think everyone knows that we sent a strong message, and our hope is that they listen to it.” Haley has been one of the strongest voices accusing Russia of enabling the Syrian government in its alleged use of chemical weapons in the civil war, which is in its seventh year. Russia has vetoed at least six resolutions in the U.N. Security Council regarding chemical weapons. The Russian vetoes have been one of the main irritants in strained relations between Washington and Moscow, with Western diplomats accusing Russia of trying to protect the Assad government. The Trump administration has placed sanctions on Russian individuals and entities, including penalties targeting Russian oligarchs who are close to President Vladimir Putin. The rollout of new sanctions is usually closely guarded, in part to prevent people subjected to them from quickly moving their money around. The Treasury Department does not comment on pending sanctions. Haley spoke less than two days after the United States, France and Britain struck at three facilities that the administration called the “heart” of Syria’s chemical weapons program. But it is unclear how much capacity Syria retains to produce chemical weapons and whether the strikes chipped away at the government’s political will to deploy them. For the near future, the strikes indicate that the White House has no intention of withdrawing 2,000 U.S. troops currently in Syria, as Trump suggested on April 3 that he intends to do. Macron, appearing on television in Paris, suggested that he had played a key role in persuading Trump both to act in Syria and to stabilize the region


PM Update: Heavy rain and gusty winds late tonight. Cool and cloudy with a few showers Monday.

What a difference a day makes. We never really had a chance at any redeemable weather from the get-go today, as a backdoor cold front came barreling through the D.C. area early this morning. With a low cloud deck and a persistent east/northeast wind, temperatures this afternoon were a good 30 or more degrees lower than yesterday afternoon. Listen to the latest forecast: nGet our daily forecasts on your Amazon Alexa device. Click here to find out how. Through tonight: At the same time, a well-defined line of heavy rain approaches the region from the southwest, probably focusing on the immediate D.C. area sometime in the hours after midnight. Some isolated thunderstorms with gusty winds embedded are possible, especially south and east of the city. We’re not expecting anything severe around the metro region. However, there is enough low-level spin in the atmosphere to create a slight chance at a stray, weak tornado or waterspout forming near the bay. Overnight temperatures will be higher than the daytime temperatures in many spots, ranging from the upper 40s well north and west to low 60s in the warm spots. Southeast winds will be gusty at times, ranging from 15 to 20 mph. Rainfall could be heavy, totaling from one to three inches when all is said and done. View the current weather conditions at The Washington Post. Tomorrow (Monday): See Brian Jackson’s forecast through the week. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. For related traffic news, check out Gridlock. Postponement blues: Through April 15, 21 games have been postponed because of bad weather. Nearly all of those games will need to be rescheduled, probably resulting in many doubleheaders and strained travel schedules for many teams. So much for building in those four extra days off. Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox? Subscribe here.


Inside the Marines’ new mission in Afghanistan: Taking back territory previously won

BOST AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — In a dusty open-air building with houseflies buzzing, Marines here received a call for help. Afghan forces had been ambushed by Taliban fighters wielding machine guns and wanted an American airstrike so they could break free. Within 20 minutes, an A-10 attack jet responded, killing the fighters with guided weapons and allowing Afghan forces to continue an April 1 offensive in Helmand province’s Nad Ali district, said Marine Capt. Jesse Gonzalez, an intelligence officer. It was a success in the Marines’ eyes: The strike occurred after Afghan forces provided enough information for the United States to carry out the airstrike, even though there were no U.S. troops on the ground. But the operation shows how far expectations have been lowered after more than 16 years of war, with U.S. and Afghan forces seeking to recapture areas that were once under U.S. control. “We want to get away from just, ‘We’re receiving fire at this position,’ ” said Maj. Wilson Moore, the senior Marine at an operational coordination center. “Well, where is the fire coming from? How heavy is the fire? What kind of weapons are they shooting at you with? . . . Help us out.” Afghan government control in many areas outside Kabul evaporated as the United States cut its troop numbers in Afghanistan from more than 100,000 in 2011 to fewer than 10,000 by late 2016. President Trump authorized a more muscular strategy in August, enabling the military to carry out hundreds of airstrikes each month while boosting the number of troops from about 11,000 to more than 15,000. The air campaign, paired with additional U.S. military advising, has helped stop the disintegration of security, but it has meant sending U.S. troops back to regions where they once engaged in direct combat with the Taliban during a surge in 2009. Trump has promised repeatedly that the United States will win in Afghanistan, but what that means is unclear. U.S. commanders say that the most likely path to declaring victory is reaching a political settlement with the Taliban. But the insurgents had control or influence in 56 percent of Afghanistan’s 407 districts as of last fall, according to a U.S. military assessment. In fall 2016, the government controlled 72 percent. As the U.S. intervention continues, Trump announced recently that he wants to bring home all U.S. troops from another war zone — Syria — as


Thousands of pounds of prepackaged salad mixes may have been tainted with E. coli, officials say

Prevention. No one has died. Health officials said these people became ill between March 22 and March 31. The majority of them reported that they ate romaine lettuce within a week before they became sick. Many said they ate salads with romaine lettuce at restaurants, and these businesses told health officials that they used store-bought chopped romaine lettuce. The highest number of illness was reported in Idaho and Pennsylvania, with eight and nine cases, respectively. Seven were reported ill in New Jersey. The others were in Washington state, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Virginia and Connecticut. Health officials in Montana and Arizona also said they each have three confirmed cases of E. coli infections. But the CDC, as of its latest announcement Friday, has not linked those cases to romaine lettuce from Arizona, a spokeswoman said. Bill Marler, a Seattle-based personal injury attorney who focuses on food-borne illness litigation, said the reported illnesses are probably just the tip of the iceberg, partly because it remains unclear how romaine lettuce harvested from the Yuma region made it to retailers and restaurants. “This stuff went everywhere. It's conceivable that we may be seeing the beginnings of a fairly significant outbreak,” Marler told The Washington Post. “They've linked it to Yuma because that's where romaine this time of year is grown. It's unclear how it made it from Yuma. ... What we don't know is the sort of supply chain in between.” Romaine lettuce is sometimes packed in the fields and shipped directly to restaurants or grocery stores. But other times, Marler said, the vegetables are taken to a central processing plant, where they're packed under different brands before they're sent to retailers. The latter situation could make identifying the specific origin of contaminated vegetables more difficult, Marler said. “I think they're going to figure this out, but it may take awhile,” he said. “And we may see these numbers stack up, unfortunately.” Marler said he's representing eight people from several states who have become ill. Two clients, he said, suffered kidney failures, which generally happen in a small number of cases. One woman had to undergo a blood transfusion. One man's kidneys are not functioning at all, and he is undergoing a treatment called plasmapheresis, a procedure in which blood is separated into cells and plasma. Health and food safety officials are advising consumers who have store-bought chopped romaine lettuce, including


HP finds an opportunity in the marijuana industry

Correction: An earlier version of this story and its headline inaccurately characterized HP as jumping into the pot business. The technology company sold hardware to Flowhub, which is providing integrated hardware and software solutions to the marijuana industry. As recently as December, the Justice Department reminded the public that marijuana remains a controlled substance that is banned by law and that the federal prohibition takes precedence over state laws. But the uncertainty over the substance’s legality on a national level hasn’t stopped marijuana’s growing popularity in the 29 states where it has been legalized for either recreational or medicinal use. Now, technology giant HP counts a company that sells software solutions as one of its customers. HP said it sold hardware to software firm FlowHub, which is launching a new point-of-sale hardware and software package specifically designed for the marijuana industry. Denver-based Flowhub’s product not only provides business management and transactional processing tools for retail stores but also workflow specifically focused on the ever-changing compliance, regulatory and reporting rules that challenge the owners — many of them small business owners — of marijuana dispensaries. So, why is HP dipping its toes into the potentially risky marijuana market at a time when the U.S. attorney general has stated his opposition to its legality and many banks still refuse to open accounts for businesses in the industry out of concern about violating federal law? The answer, as always, is money. Marijuana sales are booming nationwide — with research firms like Cowen & Co. predicting that sales of regulated cannabis will skyrocket from $6 billion in 2016 to $75 billion within the next 12 years. “Retailers across a wide range of industries use our hardware in their store operations,” HP said in a statement to Bloomberg. “Our retail solutions are widely available and used by all sorts of customers as they see fit to meet their business need.” HP isn’t the only large tech company that is selling products to companies in the marijuana industry. According to Green Market Report, Microsoft in 2016 allowed a cannabis compliance company to develop and host its products on its cloud-based Azure Government platform. And even IBM has been pitching the Canadian government on a potential blockchain-based system that would help track seed-to-sales transactions in the country.


A medical marijuana dispensary in Maryland banned patients for online complaints, prompting investigation

said he feels justified because those patients can buy cannabis elsewhere, even though the closest dispensaries to his are in Frederick, about 90 miles away. “There’s plenty of other dispensaries, and access is not a question,” Roy said. “I think on some level in today’s society we baby everyone and we coddle everyone. There are repercussions for what you do.” Two patients he put on a do-not-serve list in January and February were allowed back into the dispensary after apologizing for their critical posts. Roy said the patient who was disruptive also has been allowed back in, but two others remained on the banned list as of March. Kelly Robertson, founder of the Western Maryland Medicinal Marijuana Patients Alliance, said banning patients is wrong because it limits access to medication and creates a particular burden for those with low incomes who may not have the resources to travel across the state. “It really sets the tone with the entire relationship with patients and the dispensary — that they are the authority and they say what goes and if you step out of line, you risk being banned,” Robertson said. Neil Weigman, 35, uses cannabis to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder, rheumatoid arthritis and chronic pain. He emailed Roy at the end of January to discuss delivery options, and the conversation turned to pricing. At one point, according to copies of the emails shared with The Washington Post, Roy said cannabis prices were higher in Colorado than in Maryland, which is generally not true. Weigman then posted on a private Facebook page that is focused on Maryland’s medical marijuana program, accusing Roy of being a liar and saying he was charging too much. Roy later emailed Weigman to say he’d received complaints about the post, and would no longer welcome Weigman at his store. Weigman apologized to Roy and deleted his Facebook post. “I kind of just figured, ‘Well, it’s not worth it.’ Getting my medicine is more important to me right now,” he said. He said he submitted a complaint to the state cannabis commission. Spokeswoman Jennifer White said the commission received several complaints about the dispensary, leading to an investigation by its Bureau of Enforcement and Compliance. The investigation was closed in April, after the dispensary agreed to a request from the commission to “revise patient complaint procedures and how the public is notified of the Patient Bill of


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blurbing This is a developing story. It will be updated.


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– This is a developing story. It will be updated.


A day trip to Warrenton, Va.

Warrenton is nestled in Virginia’s picturesque Piedmont region where horses graze and wineries abound. It’s a perfect day-trip destination about 50 miles west of Washington. Amble along Main Street’s brick sidewalks to see 19th-century architecture. Tour the Fauquier History Museum at the Old Jail on Ashby Street, built in 1808 next to the beautiful brick Fauquier County courthouse. Shop at the farmers market at Lee and Fifth streets on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. Pick up lists of shops, Civil War sites and other attractions at the visitor center on North Calhoun Street. And stop in these casual eateries to imbibe and revive: Deja Brew Cafe Besides espresso drinks, tea, sandwiches, wraps and salads, this cafe (22 Main St.) offers alcoholic drinks, including the Zombie Tea. “That’s a cold, iced tea-based alcohol drink made of muddled berries and three rums,” said owner Nikki Guskiewicz. On the first Friday night of each month, local writers and poets read their own work or that of a favorite author; on the third Saturday of the month, local musicians play tunes; and every other Sunday afternoon there are painting classes. Great Harvest Bread Co. “We mill the flour and make everything by hand with basic, pure ingredients,” said Pablo Teodoro III, owner of this bakery (108 Main St.). The store, an independently owned franchise, offers whole-grain breads, hard-crusted loaves, scones, muffins, cookies and sandwiches. Painted on the wall: “If a stone was thrown at you, throw back some bread in return.” Red Truck Bakery You can’t miss this bakery (22 Waterloo St.) as you glide into town because the red pickup is always out front. Proprietor and baker-in-chief Brian Noyes launched Red Truck in 2009 in a 1921 Esso gas station. Bakers arrive at 3 a.m. to make muffins, pastries, granola and, of course, the bakery’s signature moonshine cakes. This writer loved the chocolate hazelnut croissant. Wort Hog Brewing Company This industrial chic brewpub (41 Beckham St.) was once an auto repair shop. “We replaced the old garage doors with new accordion glass doors to give an outdoor feel to the inside taproom,” said partner Lou Oliva. It has three floors plus an outdoor patio and roof deck. About a dozen beers are on tap. “One of the favorites is the Warrenton Great American Ale,” Oliva said.


Large majority supports tougher Russia sanctions, Post-ABC poll finds

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans support tougher U.S. sanctions against Russia, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that also finds roughly half the public saying President Trump has done “too little” to criticize Russia for alleged violations of international law. Despite support for penalizing Russia, 52 percent of adults say Trump should invite Vladimir Putin to the White House in an effort to improve U.S.-Russia relations, while 42 percent say Trump should not do so, because it would grant Putin legitimacy. The Post-ABC poll finds uncommonly broad support for tougher sanctions on Russia, with 74 percent of Democrats along with 68 percent of Republicans and independents favoring tougher penalties. A 66 percent majority of those who strongly approve of Trump back such measures, as do 73 percent of those who strongly disapprove of him. On Monday, Trump pulled the plug on sanctions aimed at Russian companies behind the equipment related to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s alleged chemical weapons attack, after the sanctions were announced Sunday by Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The Post reported that administration officials said Haley made an error and said it was unlikely that Trump would approve any additional sanctions without another triggering event by Russia. In March, the Trump administration expelled 60 Russian diplomats and suspected spies from the United States after Britain accused Russia of attacking a former spy, living in Britain, with a military-grade nerve agent. Russia has denied responsibility, and The Post reported that Trump approved sanctions but was furious after learning that the United States expelled more Russian officials than other individual countries. The Post-ABC poll finds 49 percent saying Trump has done “too little” to criticize Russia for allegedly violating international law, 38 percent saying he’s handled the issue “about right” and 4 percent thinking that Trump has criticized Russia “too much.” The survey was conducted April 8-11, immediately after Syria's alleged chemical attack but before Trump launched retaliatory air strikes Friday. Partisans are deeply divided on this question, with 70 percent of Democrats saying Trump has not criticized Russia enough, while 71 percent of Republicans say he has been about right. Independents are closer to Democrats, with 54 percent saying Trump has done too little. There are also stark partisan divisions over whether Trump should invite Putin to the White House, a possibility Trump floated during a March phone call after the Russian


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This is a test blurb This is a developing story. It will be updated.


Woman was sickened by E. coli after eating contaminated romaine lettuce at Panera Bread, suit says

Southern California, and distributed to retailers and restaurants across the country. According to the complaint, Fraser, of Flemington, N.J., was hospitalized for more than two weeks and underwent multiple blood transfusions, among several treatments. “I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy,” Fraser told NJ.com. She did not return a call Tuesday. Her attorney, Bill Marler, said a possible link was identified between Panera Bread and E. coli cases from multiple counties. A spokeswoman for New Jersey's health department did not comment on questions about Panera Bread, but county officials told NJ.com they are investigating a cluster of E. coli illness cases that are potentially linked to local Panera Bread restaurants. Marler said he expects the number of reported illnesses nationwide to grow as officials investigate how romaine harvested from the Yuma region made it to retailers and restaurants around the country. “This stuff went everywhere. It's conceivable that we may be seeing the beginnings of a fairly significant outbreak,” Marler told The Washington Post Sunday. “They've linked it to Yuma, because that's where romaine this time of year is grown. It's unclear how it made it from Yuma. ... What we don't know is the sort of supply chain in between.” Romaine lettuce is sometimes packed in the fields and shipped directly to restaurants or grocery stores. Other times, Marler said, the vegetables are taken to a central processing plant, where they are packed under different brands before they are sent to retailers. The latter situation could make identifying the specific origin of contaminated vegetables more difficult, Marler said. Last week, Fresh Foods Manufacturing, based in Freedom, Pa., recalled 8,757 pounds of prepackaged salad products over fears they may have been contaminated with E. coli. The recalled items were labeled “Great to Go by Market District” and were shipped to retailers in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Though officials say no E. coli-related illnesses have been tied to the Fresh Foods recall, 35 people from 11 states were reportedly sickened last month; 22, including three suffering from kidney failure, have been hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No one has died. Health officials said these people became ill between March 22 and March 31. The majority reported they ate romaine lettuce within a week before they became sick. Many said they ate salads with romaine lettuce at restaurants, and these businesses told health officials


The Health 202: Trump is backing off the marijuana fight. But his attorney general has not.

of directors of Acreage Holdings, a company that grows and sells the drug in 11 states. Boehner had said in 2011 that he was worried legalizing marijuana would result in increased abuse of a variety of drugs, including alcohol, but wrote last week that he has changed his mind because of the promise pot holds for medical treatment for veterans. “I have concluded descheduling the drug is needed so that we can do research and allow VA to offer it as a treatment option in the fight against the opioid epidemic that is ravaging our communities,” he wrote. Politico’s Jake Sherman: The Post’s Christopher Ingraham: Founding partner of CB1 Capital: AHH: Patients with advanced lung cancer lived significantly longer when they received an immunotherapy drug along with standard chemotherapy compared with those who received chemo alone, our colleague Laurie McGinley reports. The report underscores the increasingly important first-line role that immunotherapy -- which unleashes the immune system to destroy cancer cells -- is taking against lung cancer, the second-most common malignancy in the United States. OOF: There's a petition circulating for Apple, Google and Amazon to remove an app by Bravo Kids Media called “Beauty Clinic Plastic Surgery” that turns cosmetic surgery into a game, “By making cosmetic surgery apps available for download, Apple, Google and Amazon are allowing companies to stoke and profit from the insecurities of children,” says a petition addressed to the companies from Endangered Bodies, a group devoted to promoting positive body image. It’s one of eight petitions the group is promoting across the world. The petition in the United States gathered more than 119,000 signatures during the year-long campaign. OUCH: When Boehner joined Acreage Holdings, he repeated a myth — that the U.S. has “filled up our jails” with nonviolent people whose only crime was that they possessed marijuana. In state prisons, only 3.4 percent of prisoners are in jail for all types of drug possession; in contrast, 54.5 percent are in prison for violent crimes such as murder, rape and robbery and another 11.6 percent are in prison for public order offenses. In the federal system, the numbers for marijuana possession are also astonishingly low. “Under no stretch of the imagination has the United States ‘literally filled up our jails with people who are nonviolent,’” Glenn writes. “Very few people end up in prison for marijuana possession, and those who do are probably there


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In wake of Olympic sex abuse scandals, USA Wrestling toughens policies — for the media

resigned Feb. 28. While the nonprofit umbrella organization oversees Olympic sports in the United States, each sport’s governing body operates independently and has the power to create its own rules and procedures. “Keeping athletes safe requires us all to evaluate how we operate and identify areas to do better, and offering free safe sport training to the widest possible audience is critically important,” USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky said in a statement. “We look forward to working with everyone involved in Olympic and Paralympic sport to make sport a safe and positive experience for all.” Journalists seeking to cover USA Wrestling events will have to undergo online training provided by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an independent organization formally launched last year that oversees educational programs and is supposed to investigate claims of sexual abuse in Olympic sports. For now, it’s a one-time training, and among those required to undergo the program: USOC employees, coaches and volunteers, as well as athletes training in an Olympic Training Center or attending a USOC event and “individuals the USOC formally authorizes, approves or appoints (a) to position of authority over or (b) to have frequent contact with athletes.” The training includes a series of online videos and quizzes, covering topics such as physical and emotional misconduct, bullying and harassment. The new credentialing measures go into effect immediately and will affect journalists seeking to cover the U.S. Open Wrestling Championships, set for next week in Las Vegas. As part of the new protocols, the organization has effectively canceled any previous credentials for the 2018 season and is requiring journalists to submit to the new requirements for all of the year’s remaining national and regional events. The procedures will apply to both U.S.- and foreign-based reporters. “We know this isn’t the end-all, be-all, that this isn’t a magical program that makes our sport perfectly safe,” Bender said. “By no sense of our imagination do we think that’s it. The bigger idea is education — not just education for victims, but education for everyone. We want to create an environment where we’re hypersensitive to it.” Read more: Larry Nassar’s ex-boss at Michigan State charged with sexual assault, harassment of students As USA Gymnastics promises to change in post-Nassar world, love for the sport remains Ariana Kukors, Olympic swimmer, accuses coach Sean Hutchison of sexual abuse Victims say the USOC deserves blame for America’s Olympic sex abuse problem


Get the facts straight on Syria

The April 15 front-page article “Trump declares victory after strikes in Syria” deserved four Pinocchios. President Trump never claimed victory in Syria. There were no facts presented in the article to support this claim. The mission was to inflict damage on Syria’s means of producing and delivering chemical weapons. When the president claimed “Mission Accomplished,” he was obviously referring to this mission, not a successful victory to end the conflict in Syria. Such a claim may easily be made on the editorial pages. But front-page news should mandate a moral commitment to facts, not vague word manipulation. One of Mr. Trump’s many skills is his uncanny ability to provoke his critics to say and sometimes do things that are more ridiculous and absurd than his own actions. The Post is playing into his hands. Ken Sprinkle At face value, President Trump’s To add insult to injury, the Trump administration has approved only a handful of the innocent Syrian refugees who seek safety and shelter in the United States. This policy sends a horrible mixed message and makes the Trump administration a lightweight in terms of advancing human rights for oppressed Syrian refugees. Arthur L. Mackey Jr. Airstrikes in Syria are Treasury has yet to levy any such sanctions, but mere warnings to British banks (to stop helping oligarchs convert rubles into London real estate) have reportedly led to speculation that risk-averse banks there may simply cancel all of their Russian accounts. And the unspoken threat that Treasury might exercise its discretion with respect to one of them — Oleg Deripaska — caused the share price for his giant company Rusal to fall by 50 percent overnight. So the sanctions are already biting. But for secondary sanctions to work, Treasury needs to keep the pressure on, expanding the sanctions’ scope by naming other pals of Russian President Vladimir Putin and more companies, and sanctioning foreign facilitators, if necessary. Any relapse into Trumpian foot-dragging would be unconscionable. Vincent J. Canzoneri President Trump unleashed Robert Edgar


Flesh-eating ulcer ‘epidemic’ hits parts of Australia. Scientists don’t have answers.

The spread of a flesh-eating ulcer in parts of Australia is being described as a “rapidly worsening epidemic” and, to make matters worse, researchers say they don’t know exactly where it comes from or how it is transmitted. Known as Buruli ulcer, the infectious disease initially appears as a small, red lump that closely resembles a pimple or insect bite, Daniel O’Brien, deputy director of the department of infectious diseases at Barwon Health in Victoria, told The Washington Post. If left untreated the lump can gradually enlarge and within weeks cause “severe destructive lesions of skin and soft tissue,” he said. Anyone is susceptible to the disease, which usually infects a person’s arms or legs, he said. Compared with other types of flesh-eating bacteria, such as necrotizing fasciitis, Buruli ulcer is not the “most aggressive,” O’Brien said, but the disease can sometimes “eat away one limb or a large part of a limb.” The ulcer can even affect bones, leading to permanent disfigurement and long-term disability, according to the World Health Organization. Severe cases often require extensive reconstructive surgery and lengthy recovery. The disease most commonly occurs in central and West Africa, but it has recently reached “epidemic” levels in the Australian state of Victoria, alarming researchers and prompting a call for an “urgent scientific response,” according to an article published Monday in the Medical Journal of Australia. An epidemic is defined “by cases rapidly increasing in number, becoming more severe in nature and occurring in new geographic areas,” the article said. “Numbers are exploding,” said O’Brien, who was the article’s lead author. In 2017, there were 275 reported cases in Victoria, a 51 percent increase from 2016, O’Brien said. Additionally, the number of cases classified as severe have doubled in the past five or six years, he said. Victoria is one of the country’s most populous states, home to the city of Melbourne. Last year, a 13-year-old girl from a town in Victoria contracted the disease on her knee and had to undergo three surgeries as well as months of “powerful antibiotics,” the BBC reported. She described the disease as progressing from a “swollen and inflamed” knee to seeing her skin break down, the BBC reported. According to the article, about 2,000 cases are reported worldwide every year. Buruli ulcer can be treated using a combination of antibiotic regimens, with cure rates approaching 100 percent, according to the article.


How fatigue and a break helped Desiree Linden finally win the Boston Marathon

in 2:15:58, running down defending champion Geoffrey Kirui of Kenya in the final two miles; Americans Shadrack Biwott (2:18:35) and Tyler Pennel (2:18:57) were third and fourth, respectively. At the finish line, Linden was exhausted and exhilarated and there was no way the number 26.2 conveyed just what type of marathon her running career has really been. From a second-place heartbreaker at the same race in 2011 to a pair of Olympic appearances to a soul-searching 2017, she’d always felt pointed in this direction but the route was filled with twists and turns. Last year’s Boston Marathon was actually the one she felt confident about winning. She was coming off a seventh-place finish at the Rio Olympics in 2016, had been a runner-up in Boston six years earlier and was certain it was finally her time — even though no American had won the women’s race since Lisa Rainsberger (then Lisa Larsen Weidenbach) in 1985. “I know it’s a big thing to say out loud, but I think I’d be selling myself short if I was like, ‘Oh, I hope I podium,’ or, ‘I would like a PR,’” Linden told Runner’s World. “[Winning] is the thing that I’m really chasing after.” Instead, Linden finished in fourth, more than three minutes behind the winner, Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat. There’s certainly no shame in a top-5 finish at the one of the world’s toughest distance races, but Linden’s disappointment was tinged with fatigue. One year before the biggest win of her career, Linden felt she needed a break. “I hated everything about running,” she’d later tell Runner’s World. It was uncharacteristic of Linden, an obsessive student of the sport. Her coach always thought she was the model student, always eager to take on more. “For [Linden] if I say one thing, she’ll add three … She’s already done her homework,” Kevin Hanson told Excelle Sports before last year’s Boston Marathon. Linden wasn’t always looking for a second-wind; she wanted to maximize performance while she was tired. For her, fatigue was a mile-marker and pushing it through was a performance goal. “She gets it more than some,” Hanson said. “Track athletes always want to feel that zip or pop, if she’s feeling that she’s not training hard enough.” It all caught up to her last year. She’d been a serious runner since high school in California, later competing for Arizona State before embarking on


Scott Pruitt’s travel could leave him with a big tax bill

requirement, the employer must conduct an independent security study and implement an “overall security program.” The overall security program must protect the employee on a 24-hour basis. If the employer provides the employee with transportation in a chauffeured vehicle, the chauffeur must be trained in “evasive driving techniques.” These rules apply similarly to government and private-sector employers and employees. A 1992 amendment to the regulations expressly addresses the independent study requirement for government agencies: An agency satisfies the requirement if a person designated by the agency conducts a study in accordance with written internal procedures, and if the agency then applies the study’s specific recommendations on a consistent basis. It’s doubtful that Pruitt’s security detail satisfies the criteria for exclusion as a working condition fringe. In a February 2018 threat assessment, an intelligence team in the EPA’s Office of Homeland Security said that it “has not identified any specific credible direct threat” to Pruitt. The intelligence team said it saw no indication that Pruitt “would be at any greater risk on a commercial airline than any other passenger.” That suggests that Pruitt has not obtained the independent study required under IRS rules. Thus, the value of services provided by the security detail to Pruitt’s family on non-business trips would appear to be income on which the EPA administrator owes tax. This doesn’t mean that Pruitt must pay tax on all of his travel-related expenses. Business travel — even chauffeured business travel — will generally count as a working condition fringe regardless of whether the security study requirements are met. But Pruitt presumably was not going to the Disney theme park on business (even though some of his statements on climate change might suggest that he is running the EPA from Fantasyland). And he and his family did not attend the Rose Bowl for environmental protection purposes — they were there to root for the Oklahoma Sooners, the top college football team in Pruitt’s home state. Trips that mix business with pleasure pose more difficult line-drawing questions, but at least some of Pruitt’s travel with his security detail appears to fall far on the personal side of the business/personal divide. To be sure, Pruitt might not be a top target for the IRS under the Trump administration. But the agency has, to its credit, fought hard to maintain its independence from party politics, and Pruitt stands some risk of a random


There’s a ‘tsunami’ of companies applying for relief from Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs

to hire additional staff to process them. Only a few dozen applications out of the more than 1,000 that have been submitted have been posted online for the public to review for a month, the next step in the exclusion process that gives domestic steel and aluminum producers a chance to object and say they can make the part in the United States. As the Commerce Department tries to bulk up its staff, there’s a job posting on Indeed.com for an “evaluator” to help review documents, but it’s expected to be a tough job to fill because it requires a lot of technical knowledge about metal rods, plates, bolts, wire and more. The steel and aluminum tariffs affect companies large and small, from international oil pipeline makers such as Borusan Mannesmann to the owner of 7A Ranch in Wimberley, Tex., who is building a train for kids to ride at his resort. “This is the first time I have ever imported anything, let alone steel,” said Scott Way, owner of 7A Ranch, a family resort that re-creates a 19th-century pioneer town. One of Way’s favorite childhood memories was riding an old steam train at 7A Ranch. When he bought the resort in 2015, the train was in disarray, but he resolved to restore it (with some modern touches, including a gas engine). He says he looked all over the United States for steel rail for the small train, but couldn’t find any and ended up ordering from China. He signed the contract for the rails in February, just days before Trump announced the steel tariffs. “I’m crossing my fingers I’ll get an exemption,” Way said. Trump has already granted sweeping waivers from the tariffs by exempting Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Argentina, Australia, Brazil and countries in the European Union. Those nations account for 63 percent of U.S. steel imports, said Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, but the country exemptions last only until May 1. It’s unclear whether Trump will extend them. Currently, the nations affected the most by the steel tariffs are Russia, Turkey and Japan. Applications are expected to skyrocket if some countries don’t get permanent exemptions from the tariffs. Canada is the top source of metal imported to the United States, and there would be significant disruption to many supply chains if it ended up on the tariff list. “Trump’s creating chaos and uncertainty