Marijuana use and high school graduation: it’s complicated

People buy marijuana products at the medical marijuana farmers market at the California Heritage Market in Los Angeles, California July 11, 2014. REUTERS/David McNew A study published in Lancet last week raised some eyebrows for describing a strong link between frequent marijuana use and a variety of negative outcomes, particularly lower high school graduation rates. As I wrote at the time (and as plenty of other observers have pointed out), while the study provides compelling evidence of a link, the direction of causality isn't clear. But that hasn't stopped opponents of marijuana legalization from using the findings to argue that increased marijuana use will lead directly to lower graduation rates. This week, for instance, the Washington Post's editorial board cited the findings as part of an argument against D.C.'s November ballot measure that would legalize marijuana. An Australian medical news outlet headlined its story on the findings with "Cannabis use catastrophic for young brains." Given that we'll see a lot more rhetoric like this as more states consider liberalizing their marijuana laws, it's important that we put the Lancet findings in context. Wouldn't it be nice, for instance, if we could look at teen marijuana use rates over time and see how they interact with high school graduation rates? Or if we could look at different regions with different prevalences of marijuana use, and see if their graduation rates differed significantly? As a matter of fact, we can. The chart below plots monthly marijuana use rates among U.S. high school seniors, from the Monitoring the Future study, against public high school graduation rates from the National Center on Education Statistics. You'll notice that from 2003 to 2006, marijuana use declined slightly while graduation rates held steady. But from 2006 to 2012, the rates of monthly marijuana use and high school graduation increased in tandem. From 2006 to 2012, monthly marijuana use among high school seniors increased by more than 4 percentage points*, from 18.3 percent to 22.9 percent. If indeed marijuana use were the educational catastrophe that opponents predict, you'd expect to see downward pressure on national graduation rates as more kids took up the habit. But in actuality, the opposite happened: over the same period, as kids were smoking more, graduation rates jumped 8 percentage points. This should not be at all construed to imply that increasing rates of marijuana use are somehow causing higher graduation rates. Correlation doesn't


British Muslims plead with Islamic State not to execute hostage Alan Henning

An image taken from a video released by the Islamic State organization and identified by private terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence Group on September 13, 2014 purportedly shows a masked militant (R) threatening to execute British hostage Alan Henning. AFP PHOTO / HO / SITE INTELLIGENCE GROUP Alan Henning, a 47-year-old man from Eccles, England, was said to be so moved by the humanitarian crisis in Syria that he felt he had to help. The father of two, a taxi driver nicknamed "Gadget" by his friends, began working with AID4SYRIA, an Islamic charity based in Britain. He left his wife and children at home and drove with convoy to the Syrian border and beyond, delivering aid to civilians during a bloody civil war. By Christmas 2013, he had already made three trips to the country, and was embarking on his fourth. He was the only non-Muslim traveling in his convoy, and was aware of the risk. "It's all worthwhile," he said in a video made during this journey, "when you see what is needed actually get to where it needs to go." The brother-in-law of British aid worker Alan Henning says the man who is now a hostage in Syria only wanted to help people. He fears airstrikes from the U.S. might hurt Henning’s chances of being found. That trip proved disastrous. On Dec. 26 2013, Henning was kidnapped near the Syrian city of Al-Dana. Last Saturday, his ordeal was revealed to the world when Islamic State, also known as ISIS, released a video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines. At the end of that video, masked extremists showed Henning, pale and clad in orange like the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. They said he would be next. The execution of Haines, like that of Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff, had prompted a huge backlash in Britain: Prime Minister David Cameron called him a "hero" and said his murder was "despicable." However, in the response to the threats against Henning's life, one thing clearly stands out: British Muslims led the outcry. In a letter to the Independent newspaper published on Thursday, more than 100 British Muslim leaders appealed to Islamic State for the release of Henning. "Mr Henning was a volunteer who traveled to Syria to help innocent civilians," the letter states. "Acts of humanitarianism are an essential element of religious practice for all Muslims, and of course


Senate’s new overseas-email protection act gets mixed reviews

needed." That notion was echoed by IBM in its statement: "We are proud that our customers entrust their data to IBM, wherever in the world they choose to have us secure it. By introducing this legislation, Congress is taking a positive step to clarify and modernize the legal framework regarding government access to digital data." But even some of those who had praise for what the senators are trying expressed only limited support. Microsoft's Smith, for one, said that the bill was the next step in the global conversation over who controls which data where, but that it could not be that conversation's conclusion. And Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, wrote that his organization praises the bill's "overall thrust," celebrating in particular what he called its "codification of the warrant-for-content rule," a goal CDT and allies have long pursued. But, said Nojeim, he's concerned that the law only applies to emails in accounts held by "U.S. person." Those in accounts of non-U.S. persons would be released only under coordination achieved through the multi-national Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, or MLAT. The MLAT process, CDT argues, is under-resourced and clunky -- in his January speech on NSA reforms, President Obama talked of the need for improvement -- but represents a global agreement that CDT would prefer would be triggered in all email cases. That duality, argues CDT, risks establishing the idea that governments have a special power over their own citizen's data that extends across border. For that reason, says Nojeim, those involved in the debate must take into consideration how the bill "would affect the global balance of privacy versus government power with respect to data U.S. providers store outside the U.S. for account holders who are not Americans." It's a tricky situation that is only going to grow trickier as the Internet becomes ever more global -- in part because countries like Ireland have been aggressive in attracting Internet-based providers to base at least some of their operations within their borders. That might make technological and economic sense, but it raises legal questions with which the world has never before had to cope. Jim Dempsey is a senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. In an interview last month, Dempsey predicted that "there is increasingly going to be situations where two governments have a legitimate interest in the same piece of data."


Bacon can stop a nosebleed — and other Ig Nobel discoveries

Gary Dryfoos demonstrates the effectiveness of packing strips of cured pork in his nose to stop uncontrollable, life-threatening nosebleeds during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Sept. 18, 2014. The Ig Nobel prize is an award handed out by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for silly-sounding scientific discoveries that often have surprisingly practical applications. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) The Ig Nobel awards celebrate the eccentric side of science. While they may not be serious discoveries, they often offer practical wisdom (yes, you can stop a nosebleed with a “nasal tampon” made of bacon,) clarify cultural assumptions (are cat ladies really crazy?,) or satisfy persistent curiosities about unimportant matters (what’s up with people who see Jesus on toast?). The annual awards were handed out by winners of real Nobel prizes in an event Thursday night organized by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research and co-sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students and the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association. It was overseen by two semi-nude attendants covered in silver paint. There were not one, but two paper airplane breaks. Flying paper airplanes at any other time during the ceremony is strictly forbidden. A band of accordion players serenaded the audience. The winners were led onto the stage with a string so they wouldn’t get lost. Jim Bredt, man who helped to invent the process for 3D printing, was one of the human spotlights tonight for #ignobel http://t.co/58X1H8YbjB There were ten prizes in all. Here are the winners: PHYSICS NEUROSCIENCE PSYCHOLOGY PUBLIC HEALTH BIOLOGY ART ECONOMICS MEDICINE NUTRITION ARCTIC #IgNobel winners for study of how arctic reindeer react to humans dressed as polar bears. http://t.co/XYueKrdTQ6


Is the federal hiring system broken?

(USAJobs.gov) It’s getting harder to get a job in the federal government. Some say managers face challenges as they try to hire the best-qualified candidates to a shrinking number of jobs. The Post wants to hear from you why getting the best people into government is so hard, and what managers are doing about it. We also want to hear about your own experience trying to open the door to a civil service job. Having trouble reading this? Try clicking here: https://www.publicinsightnetwork.org/source/en/insight/iframe/543b74a4184c


READ IN: Kilt-Lifter Edition

$950,000 in broadcast advertising over the last two weeks before Election Day, or about $475,000 a week. That only covers the Cincinnati, Evansville, Lexington, Louisville and Paducah markets. Expect additional buys in Bowling Green and Charleston, and on the cable networks around the state. B1: -- Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has contributed $10 million to Crossroads GPS and pledged an equal amount to the American Action Network. That's on top of about $4.5 million the Adelson family has contributed this year, mostly to gubernatorial, state legislative and ballot initiative campaigns. (Politico) -- Alibaba Group will sell its first shares on the U.S. market this morning in what is expected to be one of the most lucrative IPOs in history. The Chinese online retailer generated $248 billion in sales last year, more than Amazon and eBay combined. Shares will debut on the New York Stock Exchange, priced at $68, valuing the company at $168 billion. (Washington Post) -- Stock futures are brighter this morning after the Dow tacked on 109 points on Thursday. The results in Scotland have sent world markets higher, too. (CNN) C1: -- Georgia is "a state whose transformed economy has spawned a population boom and demographic shifts that are slowly altering its politics. With African-Americans coming in large numbers from other states, and emerging immigrant communities like this one in Lawrenceville, Georgia is less white and less rural than it was a decade ago." The state is now 55 percent white, 31 percent black, 9 percent Hispanic and 4 percent Asian, with the fastest growth happening in the collar counties around Atlanta. A great deep dive into a changing state, from the New York Times. -- The fight against Islamic State has once again exposed a rift between the White House and the Pentagon as a series of military leaders accuse President Obama of hampering efforts by refusing to dispatch ground troops. Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis told the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday that airstrikes alone were "half-hearted or tentative efforts," and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested that policy could be revisited. (Washington Post) C4: -- In other Scottish voting news, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews voted Thursday to accept female members for the first time in its 260-year history. Eighty-five percent of the Club's 2,400 members voted to admit women. (Washington Post) Just a


It’s International Red Panda Day! Go see red pandas.

Meri, left, and Gansu reside at the Brandywine Zoo in Wilmington, Del. (Leah Newmann) Saturday is International Red Panda Day, but don’t go looking for the raccoon-like critters at the National Zoo. “All of our red pandas are in Front Royal helping to make more red pandas at the moment,” says zoo spokeswoman Devon Murphy. You could wait for Rusty, the zoo’s famous escapee, to make a break for it again, or you could visit these guys. Gansu and Meri JJ is a picky eater. JJ Amber is lazy and likes treats. Amber A red panda in the wild. Mysterious stranger


Traffic, transit tips for the weekend

H Street Festival. (Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) Many festivals and 5K runs are scheduled for this weekend, but there’s no event likely to cause a major traffic disruption. The Washington Capitals have a preseason hockey game at the Verizon Center at 5 p.m. Sunday, but the Nationals and D.C. United are out of town. The Capital Weather Gang says the last weekend of summer will indeed be summery, at least until a cold front brings a chance of showers on Sunday night. Here’s a quick review of events scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, followed by the schedule changes for Metrorail and the major road work projects that could affect your weekend travels. Dulles Day festival With Metro’s Silver Line open to Wiehle Avenue in the Reston area, visitors can take the train to the Wiehle-Reston East station and board one of the buses that leave every 20 minutes on weekends and cost $5 one-way. When the Silver Line Express bus reaches the airport, transfer to a free shuttle to reach the Dulles Day events. Lori Aratani has more details about Dulles Day in her blog posting. H Street Festival in the District The nearest Metrorail stations are Union Station and NoMa-Gallaudet, both on the Red Line. Check those weekend Metrorail schedules below. Arlington Festival of the Arts “Big Build” event in the District Bethesda walk Baltimore 5K Tysons Corner 5K 5K in Southeast Washington D.C. police plan to close these streets along the event’s route from 8:45 to about 10:30 a.m.: N Street SE between First Street and New Jersey Avenue, N Place SE, First Street SE between N Street and Potomac Avenue, Potomac Avenue SE between South Capitol and First streets, New Jersey Avenue SE between M and N streets. Metrorail schedule Red Line. Orange Line. Blue Line. Yellow Line. Green Line. 95 Express Lanes Columbia Pike interchange detours All Columbia Pike traffic, including pedestrians and bicycles, will be detoured around the work zone to a temporary signal at Washington Boulevard. Traffic heading west on Columbia Pike for I-395 North will turn right onto the ramp toward Washington Boulevard northbound and follow the Second Street South interchange detour. Intercounty Connector lane closings The ramp from Briggs Chaney Road to the eastbound Intercounty Connector will also be closed. Drivers will be detoured west on Briggs Chaney Road to southbound Route 29 and then to the eastbound connector. Thursday night football


First-ever weather instrument to dock on International Space Station, may improve hurricane forecasts

Artistic rendering of RapidSCAT, aboard the International Space Station (NASA) On Saturday, NASA will launch into a space an instrument that will obtain invaluable measurements of ocean winds from the International Space Station (ISS). It will become the first weather instrument or earth-observing instrument of any kind docked to the ISS and its data have potential to improve hurricane forecasts. Known as the ISS Rapid Scatterometer or ISS-RapidScat, it will be carried aboard the fourth SpaceX resupply mission that delivers cargo items to the space station. The instrument will be propelled into space by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at 2:14 a.m. ET early Saturday morning (or tonight) from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Assuming no changes in the mission’s schedule, SpaceX’s cargo-carrying capsule known as “Dragon” will port the instrument to the ISS by Monday, when a robotic arm will reach out and grab it. RapidScat: NASA's Newest Wind Watcher The instrument promises to deliver ocean wind data unavailable to scientists through other means. “Scatterometers provide a measure of near-surface wind speed and direction, via pulses of microwave energy, which can “see” through thick cloud layers,” says Jeff Halverson, Capital Weather Gang’s severe weather expert, who has participated in many hurricane missions for NASA. “That’s important, because these remote sensors can detect low-level, vertical circulations beneath developing tropical storms. The only other way to do this is to fly aircraft into these disturbances – many of which are out of reach from air bases, and there are not enough planes and crews to do this around the clock.” There are currently two other scatterometers in space that take these measurements, but they cross the equator at the same times each day. “The space station’s orbit will take ISS-RapidScat across almost the entire globe between the Arctic and Antarctic circles at different times of the day,” NASA says. “This will give scientists data they need to study how ocean winds grow and change throughout the day.” Brian McNoldy, Capital Weather Gang’s tropical weather expert, adds that the existing scatterometers sense winds across narrow swaths, limiting their coverage. “The design of the ISS-RapidScat instrument provides much wider swaths of data, reducing the chance than an overpass will ‘miss’ a hurricane,” McNoldy says. The ISS-RapidScat data may prove extremely helpful in identifying where tropical weather systems are developing. “Scatterometers can provide early clues that a tropical cloud disturbance is organizing a larger wind field, and


How to view SpaceX rocket launch along Eastern Seaboard, weather permitting

Launch of the Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on December 3, 2013. (SpaceX) Early Saturday morning, SpaceX will launch a rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying the robotic Dragon capsule, which is headed for the International Space Station. Saturday’s 2:14 a.m. ET launch will be carrying something particularly interesting, at least in our opinion: the first weather or earth-observing instrument to be docked aboard the ISS. The ISS Rapid Scatterometer, as it is called, will monitor the world’s oceans to measure hurricane winds, with the hope of improving forecasts. The Dragon capsule was designed to carry cargo and personnel to the International Space Station, and return cargo safely to Earth. Related: The path of the rocket northward from Florida along the Eastern Seaboard means many people could have a shot at seeing the rocket’s glow. If you want to take a chance and look skyward, Joe Rao of Space.com describes what you might see. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is launched into orbit using two stages. The first stage utilizes nine Merlin 1C engines, which will burn for three minutes, then shut down. Five seconds later, the first and second stages will separate. Seven seconds after that, the single-engine second stage will ignite, burning for six minutes and two seconds. The Dragon capsule will then separate from the second stage and head into orbit. After the first stage shuts down, the rocket will put out only the light from its single second-stage Merlin 1C engine. At that time, the Falcon 9 should appear as a small, pulsating, fast-moving star that will shine with a yellowish-orange glow. Forecast cloudiness from the ECMWF model, valid at 2 a.m. ET. This is just a snapshot of the potential cloudiness, and the forecast could change through Friday afternoon and evening. (Weather Underground) Of course, this all depends on the weather. Cape Canaveral has a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms tonight, and viewing would be obstructed by overcast skies along the Southeast coast. But if the launch does end up happening, and if you want to take your chance at seeing it, we’ve got the forecast. Cloudiness forecasts Northeast: Mid-Atlantic: Southeast: Florida: If the launch is delayed, the next opportunity for launch will be early Sunday morning, at 1:53 a.m. ET.


Is Uber showcasing its softer side?

(Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post) Uber, the self-described technology company that is reinventing the way people get from here to there, seems to be showing as softer side with two recent campaigns focused on charitable giving and veterans. Earlier this month, Uber announced its “Ride For A Cause” initiative in which the company would donate $1 for each trip completed to one of five charities selected by its D.C.-area customers. Among those on the list: SOME — So Others May Eat; Best Buddies; Fight for Children; IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America); and the National Park Foundation. The campaign will run through Sept. 28. As an added incentive, the charity with the most rides will receive an additional $10,000. D.C. isn’t the only community where Uber has stretched is philanthropic wings. In Philadelphia, it organized a drive to collect school supplies for Philadelphia School District schools. Uber also recruited another high profile former member of the Obama administration to announce another initiative — UberMILITARY. In a POLITICO Magazine piece, Uber chief Travis Kalanick and former secretary of defense Robert Gates announced an 18-month effort to recruit 50,000 service members, veterans and military spouses to become Uber drivers. The pair wrote: UberMILITARY is working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring our Heroes program to streamline Uber’s partner on-boarding process for the military community. Beginning this week, we are connecting directly with thousands of service members, veterans and their families at events around the country. On the ground, our targeted recruiting efforts include free rides to job fairs, special referral bonuses for UberMILITARY partners, waived city fees or deposits, and special information sessions and office hours. Gates will serve as voluntary chairman of the newly created UberMILITARY Advisory Board. Uber has previously announced the hiring of David Plouffe, one of Obama’s chief strategists as a senior vice president of policy and strategy. Uber’s rivals were quick to respond to the company’s efforts to recruit veterans. In an e-mailed statement, Robbie Werth, president of the International Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association, which is sponsoring the “Who’s Driving You” awareness campaign, highlighted concerns that have been raised about insurance coverage for uberX drivers, who use their own vehicles to give rides to customers. “Our fear is that these drivers will be uberX drivers, in which case veterans absolutely must be told that they are putting their financial well-being at


Rare respiratory virus spreads to 22 states

That rare respiratory illness sickening children around the country continues to crop up in new places. It has been confirmed in 22 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday, appearing in three states where it had not been previously: Georgia, Michigan and Washington state. These children are facing an uncommon enterovirus strain. While enteroviruses in general are quite common, this particular strain — enterovirus 68 — has not cropped up terribly often since it was first identified in 1962. It can cause severe breathing problems, a particular danger for children who may suffer from asthma or other respiratory issues. Testing has found 160 cases spread across these states that span from coast to coast, though public health officials have warned that the actual number of cases is likely much higher. In addition, there are other states where clusters of children are facing similar respiratory illnesses that could turn out to be this virus. (Health officials in Ohio and Utah have told The Post that they suspect they have cases of the strain.) Head here for a list of the other states with this virus. Here is more information on the enterovirus and how it was first identified as part of this recent surge. And here is why we are only gradually learning about how many states have this virus.


Photos: Glowing ground fog and the crescent moon — sunrise scenes from Saturday

met a large group of photographers at the Reflecting Pool early Saturday morning for a sunrise shoot, including Dennis Govoni and Kevin Wolf. Many of us anticipated a good sunrise and the weather cooperated. Dawn broke mostly clear over Washington with a red stripe of color on the horizon and a beautiful crescent moon slowly rising over Washington. For several minutes after dawn, the light on the horizon faded to pale yellow but when the sun peaked over the horizon at sunrise, colorful light flooded back into the eastern sky. The sun rose over horizon and tracked behind the Capitol dome. At the same time, patches of ground fog glowed red and yellow near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The crescent moon rises over Washington at dawn, September 20, 2014. (Kevin Ambrose) The previous Saturday, clouds and light rain appeared to play spoiler for the sunrise shoot. Only for a moment last Saturday, a narrow gap in the clouds allowed the light of the rising sun to briefly illuminate the clouds with vibrant stripes of red and magenta. This Saturday, there was no doubt that sunrise would be visible. The sky was fairly clear and there was good light from dawn through sunrise for photography. But with the limited cloud cover there was not as much color in the sky as compared to the sunrise the previous week. What the sky lacked in cloud cover the ground made up with fog cover. The combination of ground fog with sunlight was one of the more interesting sunrise combinations that I have had the pleasure to photograph. An assortment of photos from Saturday morning, from the first light of dawn to the foggy ground on the Mall, are included in this post. Walking briskly through ground fog, September 20, 2014. (Kevin Ambrose) Dawn and sunrise side-by-side, September 20, 2014. The crescent moon reflects on the surface of the water in the Reflecting Pool at dawn (left) and the rising sun moves begin the Washington Monument (right). (Kevin Ambrose) The sunrise at the Reflecting Pool, September 20, 2014. (Kevin Ambrose) A sunrise close-up, September 20, 2014. (Kevin Ambrose) The rising sun moves behind the Washington Monument. (Kevin Ambrose) The Vietnam Veterans Memorial at sunrise, September 20, 2014. (Kevin Ambrose) The Lincoln Memorial at sunrise, September 20, 2014. (Kevin Ambrose) A portrait view of the ground fog with sunrise light on Saturday morning. (Kevin Ambrose)


READ IN: Big Apple Edition

Do you Read In? Sign up today and get all the political news you need to know, delivered to your inbox bright and early every morning. A1: -- Former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani was named the winner of Afghanistan's disputed presidential election on Sunday, after reaching an agreement that would share power with second-place finisher Abdullah Abdullah. Abdullah will be named Afghanistan's new chief executive, a prime minister-like position with responsibility for implementing government policy. The Afghan Independent Election Commission did not release a margin of victory; the international community spent $147 million on a recount. (Washington Post) -- President Obama will spend three days this week at the annual U.N. General Assembly, where heads of state will consider the danger posed by Islamic State militants. A draft resolution expected to be adopted by the Security Council would require countries to prevent recruitment by groups like Islamic State. On Sunday, U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power said more than 40 countries would support the U.S.-led effort against Islamic State, but she said they would announce their own plans on their own timelines. (Associated Press) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin will skip the General Assembly as Russia tries to keep their involvement in Ukraine off the front burner. Russia will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (Associated Press) Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will ask the Security Council for a binding resolution with a specific date for ending Israel's presence in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Abbas would seek membership in dozens on international organizations if the U.S., as expected, vetoes the resolution. Abbas meets Thursday with Secretary of State John Kerry. (Associated Press) -- The Secret Service is considering moving tourists and D.C. residents farther away from the White House complex to reduce the ability of intruders gaining access to inner security perimeters. The agency is considering several yards of additional barriers and whether to screen visitors up to a block away from the White House. The plans come after a man jumped the fence and sprinted to the North Portico before entering the unlocked front door, where he was tackled and detained. Omar Gonzalez was charged Saturday with trespassing and with carrying a small knife; his family says he suffers from PTSD. (Washington Post, New York Times) -- A three-day lockdown is over in Sierra Leone, after officials checked more than 1 million households for unreported Ebola


Immigrants don’t merely come to America. They also go back and forth, as mine did.

as a kitchen helper at Dave’s Coffee Shop, and Grandma worked in a garment factory. I remember she had a stash of designer labels like Jordache, and would sew them into our sweaters, which made the back of our necks itchy. Grandpa and grandma did not have grand ambitions, and just wanted their children to have food on the table and a roof over their heads. They believed that as long as their family had a peaceful life, they would be content. Mom was 16 when she arrived and attended Oakland Tech High School, where she worked hard on her English and went to UC Berkeley, at the height of ’60s counterculture and student activism. Mom lived in a co-op and has hilarious tales of flushing her roommate’s joints down the toilet because she didn’t like the smell of the smoke, as well as theories on the lasting effects of tear gas on the nervous system, having been exposed to it as a matter of course between classes. She met Dad at a Chinese student group on campus in the early 1970s. My dad was born at the end of World War II in Nanchang, by the Yangtze River in southeast China, but his father moved his family to Hong Kong and set up Hong Kong’s first evening newspaper. Dad came to the U.S. for college, as did most of his siblings. At the time, the children of well-to-do families were often sent to the West for university. Mom and Dad moved our family between Hong Kong and California a number of times. I was born in Hong Kong, because my parents had moved back to help with the family newspaper when Dad’s father passed suddenly. They returned to the California to set up an import-export business, and had my sister. In the mid 1980s, their business brought our family back to Hong Kong. Wherever we were, my parents carried with them the American ideal that merit trumped connections. I was raised with the belief that we could make it on our own. As long as we worked hard, harder than everyone else, we would eventually get ours. The “Tortoise and the Hare” was our bedtime story. And my parents’ hope for my sister and me was that we would find stable jobs as engineers or scientists. It was never a directive, but rather conveyed through tales of humanity majors


Anti-vaccination beliefs are contagious like a disease

FILE: Nancy Brajtbord, RN, (L) administers a shot of gardasil, a Human Papillomavirus vaccine, to a 14-year old patient (who asked not to be named) in Dallas, Texas. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi A recent and disturbing trend in California is making headlines in the popular media: An increasing number of parents are opting out of vaccinating their school-aged children. California, like all states, mandates that children receive certain vaccinations before they enter school. However, like all but two states, California also has a provision for voluntary exemptions (called Personal Beliefs Exemptions, or PBEs, in California). Statewide, the rate of voluntary exemptions has been rising steadily for almost two decades—from 0.5 percent of kindergarteners in 1996 to 3 percent as of the most recent data. This pattern reflects a growing number of parents who worry that vaccines are unsafe, ineffective, or unnecessary. These increases are troubling, especially in the face of recent outbreaks of childhood diseases such as measles and pertussis (whooping cough)—diseases that used to cause widespread illness and even death in the United States, until they were all but eliminated by successful immunization programs. Now those diseases are back: there have been 593 cases of measles to date this year in the U.S. Compare that to only 119 cases per year on average in 2009-2013. But statewide exemptions data don’t reveal the true severity of this trend. Infectious diseases don’t operate at the state level—they are transmitted from person to person. We need to look at local data to fully understand the risk of outbreaks. And it is the rates of vaccine exemptions in some localities—counties, school districts, individual schools—that are really making epidemiologists’ hair stand on end. As articles in The Atlantic and the The Hollywood Reporter have recently highlighted, some affluent Los Angeles schools currently report that upwards of 60 or 70 percent of their students have PBEs on record. The threshold varies by disease, but as a rule of thumb about 90-95 percent of a population needs to be immune (either through vaccines or prior exposure to disease) in order to produce what is known as “herd immunity”. What is herd immunity, exactly? When most people in a population have immunity to a disease, an infected person is less likely to bump into a susceptible person (someone with no immunity) —so the disease doesn’t readily spread. One susceptible person may get it, but will be very unlikely to


The latest victims of Ebola? Pets — abandoned at zoos in Africa

An abandoned monkey, taken in by the zoo in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan, is seen in a cage in the quarantine ward Sept. 9. (Sia Kambou/AFP/Getty Images) As the Ebola epidemic continues to sweep across West Africa, concern is so great that local zoos are now taking in abandoned wild animals that had once been considered pets, out of fear that the monkeys and cats could spread the deadly virus. At one Ivory Coast zoo, vets have set up a quarantine zone, with green cages of animals that have been isolated to prevent exposure to the virus, according to an AFP report. The cages at the Abidjan facility held a two-year-old chimpanzee and a red baboon whose owner had left it on the street. A monkey named Louise sat in one cage, while another cage held two males that hadn't been named. "As soon as we can, we'll put the (isolated arrivals) in the zoo," with their own species, the zoo's deputy director, Richard Champion, told AFP. More than 2,700 people have died during this year's Ebola epidemic, according to the World Health Organization. Thousands more confirmed, probable and suspected cases have been reported. Many have suggested that fruit bats might be to blame for this outbreak, and the WHO also warns that people "should reduce contact with high-risk infected animals (i.e. fruit bats, monkeys or apes) in the affected rainforest areas." There are no confirmed cases of Ebola in the Ivory Coast, and the animals that have been taken in by the zoo are not infected by the deadly virus. AFP notes: "Even if they are not carrying the Ebola virus, the beasts taken in by the zoo could be infected with a range of diseases, and at risk of contaminating other animals." But visitors remain wary. Take, for example, one frightened woman whom zoo director Samouka Kane remembered. Kane told AFP that the woman walked in "on tiptoe," and told him she was looking for the virus. "I told her that Ebola doesn't hide in the bushes," he said. "Nor in the eyes of an animal." Then, there was this case, detailed by AFP: The zoo's vet, Daouda Soro, said that he had been summoned in haste to Abidjan's military hospital to deal with "an animal who was spreading panic." When he got there, he found a "very small (monkey) who was sleepy but shivering with


Why climate change is a growing health threat

close their doors to new patients, write former Health and Human Services secretary Donna Shalala and Johns Hopkins University's Alfred Sommer. "We have one of the world’s finest emergency response systems, but in its current configuration it cannot be expected to manage the additional morbidity and mortality from dramatically higher heat," they warn in a July commentary piece for the Institute of Medicine. Hospitals face additional preparedness concerns around major storms, like Superstorm Sandy nearly two years ago. Power failures and flooding forced some New York hospitals to evacuate, and about 90 percent of 174 hospitals in the declared disaster area experienced "substantial challenges" in responding to the storm, the HHS inspector general reported last week. 2. Climate events are deadly — and expensive Climate events, such hurricanes and heatwaves, leave a devastating personal toll that researchers tried to quantify in a 2011 Health Affairs study. Examining six cases of climate change-related events between 2000 and 2009, researchers found related costs exceeded $14 billion, including $740 million in actual health-care costs from 760,000 encounters with the health-care system. The vast majority of the costs (95 percent) represented the value of lives prematurely lost in the six events researchers analyzed. 3. Climate change is already affecting patients Doctors say the effects of climate change are already apparent in their offices. The American Medical Association, the nation's largest physician lobby, laid out the public health concerns related to climate change in a 2011 op-ed, writing: Patients are presenting with illnesses that once happened only in warmer areas. Chronic conditions are becoming aggravated by more frequent and extended heat waves. Allergy and asthma seasons are getting longer. Spates of injuries are resulting from more intense ice storms and snowstorms. The effects are different across the country, the op-ed notes. Maine, for instance, had seen a tenfold increase in Lyme disease cases over the previous decade, while the Florida Keys has reported cases of a tropical disease rarely seen in the United States. 4. Health care uses a lot of energy Hospitals run around the clock and use plenty of energy-intensive equipment, and they are estimated to have 2.5 times the energy intensity and carbon dioxide emissions of your typical office building. The health-care sector as a whole accounted for 8 percent of the country's carbon footprint, concluded a 2009 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The industry has taken steps


Wonkbook: Obama takes on tax inversions, but the move only goes so far

at the U.N. climate summit? The business side will be key. Background reading: Still, business actions alone may have their limits. Video: Background reading: Charts: Fossil-fuel companies feel the heat. Explainer: The irony of the 'Flood Wall Street' protests. Google: We’re parting with the climate change skeptics at ALEC. Background reading: Other environmental/energy reads: Next-generation GMO seeds wait for weedkiller to win over EPA. Venessa Wong in Bloomberg Businessweek. On a warmer planet, which cities will be safest? Jennifer A. Kingson in The New York Times. Testing future conditions for the food chain. Justin Gillis in The New York Times. Dangers aside, railways reshape crude market. Russell Gold and Chester Dawson in The Wall Street Journal. MILIBAND, FIGUERES AND MANUEL: The summit's major sin of omission. KABERUKA: Burning down the house. McARDLE: Divestment is easy; dumping Big Oil isn't. Science interlude: 3. The impact of new signs of weakness in the housing market Cash buyers retreat from housing market, cooling home sales. Here's why it may not be such a bad thing after all. But weak household formation doesn't bode well. Related: The long-term jobless keep reeling. Fed update: Plosser, hawk at helm of Philly Fed, to retire. Other economic/financial reads: Cutting wages is hard to do; why that's bad for unemployment. Brendan Greeley in Bloomberg Businessweek. Why Wall Street cares about inequality. Pedro Nicolaci da Costa in The Wall Street Journal. Middle class hasn't gotten raise in 15 years. Ben Casselman in FiveThirtyEight. GAO: Consumer protection bureau has data on up to 600 million credit card accounts. Laura Ryan in National Journal. Confused cats interlude: 4. Another day, another new set of pessimistic Ebola projections 20,000 cases by November without tougher action. Explainer: Although an outbreak isn't likely in the U.S., could Ebola become endemic in Africa? Are health officials unable to fully account for all deaths? Maybe not. New lab incidents fuel fear, safety concerns in Congress. Southern states are now the epicenter of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. Other health care reads: HealthCare.gov gets an overhaul. Robert Pear in The New York Times. Young whippersnappers interlude: 5. Could the latest White House breach have been prevented? Secret Service study from 1990s found White House vulnerable to fence-jumpers. White House fence has evolved, from a wrought-iron decoration to a line of defense. Other legal reads: New level of smartphone encryption alarms law enforcement. Devlin Barrett and Danny Yadron in


Marijuana advocates set their sights on states for 2016

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, left, shakes hands with clerk Pam Fenstermacher after purchasing marijuana at Cannabis City this July. Legal sales of marijuana began in Washington state this past summer. (Elaine Thompson/AP) A newly launched campaign to allow for the recreational use of marijuana in Arizona in 2016 is just the latest in what will likely be a slew of state-level legalization efforts for the next election cycle. A local chapter of the Marijuana Policy Project, the advocacy group that helped legalize marijuana in Colorado, has formed a committee to push the same in Arizona, the Arizona Republic reports. But the Grand Canyon State is just one of a dozen states where the group plans to focus its efforts in the coming years. MPP has set its sights on passing legalization in about a dozen states by 2017. It plans to focus on legalizing marijuana legislatively in Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont in the coming years, while the group hopes to use the initiative process to achieve the same goal in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada. Recreational marijuana use legalization is already on the ballot this November in Alaska, Oregon and D.C., following successful efforts in Washington state and Colorado. An early-August Public Policy Polling survey found that 49 percent of Alaska voters oppose the measure while 44 percent support it. Support in Oregon was pegged at 51 percent in a June poll by Survey USA. Arizona already has more than 52,000 active qualified medical marijuana patients using the plant to treat a variety of conditions such as cancer, glaucoma and HIV. Slightly more than 70 percent, however, use it simply to treat chronic pain, according to a July report. The more than 52,000 patients amount to roughly 0.8 percent of the state population. The Marijuana Policy Project of Arizona isn’t the only group pursuing full legalization in the state. Safer Arizona, which abandoned a push this past June after failing to collect enough petition signatures, has shifted its sights to 2016, announcing on its Web site last week that the group is “just a few months from launching our campaign.”


Survey: Support for legal weed drops 7 points in the past year

Partygoers dance and smoke pot at the annual 4/20 marijuana festival in Denver. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File) National support for legalized marijuana has slipped by seven percentage points in the past year, from 51 percent in 2013 to 44 percent today, according to the Public Religion Research Institute. PRRI asked 4,500 Americans about the intensity of their support for or opposition to legalizing marijuana. The year-over-year drop in overall support was concentrated among those who favored marijuana legalization last year, but not strongly. Opposition increased greatest among those who strongly opposed legal marijuana. These numbers suggest that people who only slightly supported legalization last year have changed their minds, and that people who slightly opposed legalization now feel more strongly about it. They could augur difficulties for marijuana legalization measures on the ballot this year in Alaska and Oregon. An August PPP poll found Alaska voters closely divided on the marijuana question, with 44 percent in favor of legalization and 49 percent opposed. A June SurveyUSA poll found more robust support for legalization in Oregon, at 51 to 41. An October 2013 Gallup poll found strong support for marijuana legalization nationally, with 58 percent in favor and 39 percent opposed. The PRRI and Gallup numbers are not directly comparable, since the questions were worded differently in each survey. Moreover, survey responses on marijuana legalization tend to be highly sensitive to particular question wording. Still, the year-over-year drop within this one poll is significant and well outside the poll's 1.8 point margin of error. If other surveys show similar findings, it could mean that Americans generally don't like the news coming out of Colorado and Washington - even if that news has been largely positive.


This is the FTC’s first-ever Bitcoin case. And it’s winning.

(BTC Keychain / Flickr) The Federal Trade Commission has won an early victory against a company that allegedly made misleading claims about its ability to produce bitcoins for customers. At the FTC's request, a federal judge has shut down Butterfly Labs, a Missouri-based firm whose specialized computers, which were touted for their ability to produce bitcoins, allegedly went for thousands of dollars but often turned up way late to customers' doorsteps, if they arrived at all. The FTC alleges that the scam affected 1,000 people at a cost of between $20 million and $50 million. This marks the first time the FTC has ever pursued a Bitcoin case, according to Helen Wong, an FTC attorney. The computers were designed to produce new bitcoins through the process known as "mining." New bitcoins are created whenever a computer successfully completes a math problem proving the veracity of a series of actual bitcoin transactions. The process is a race — when the puzzle has been solved, the solver gets awarded 25 free bitcoins. Once upon a time, your ordinary computer could have easily cracked the code. But the race has gotten increasingly competitive, such that now only the most advanced computers reap the rewards. "When a new and little-understood opportunity like Bitcoin presents itself, scammers will find ways to capitalize on the public’s excitement and interest," said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC's consumer protection bureau. The next step in the case involves a hearing on Sept. 29 to determine whether the court's preliminary ban on the company stays in place. "Butterfly Labs is disappointed in the heavy-handed actions of the Federal Trade Commission," Butterfly Labs said in a statement. "It appears the FTC has decided to go to war on bitcoin overall, and is starting with Butterfly Labs." Indeed, the case may signal a broader interest in Bitcoin at the FTC. "We're always interested in any issues that impact consumers," said Wong, "and we think that the basic consumer principles of making representations to consumers — and meeting them — always apply, no matter what industry you're in."


How about some love for the new moon and a few cool crescents?

2:14 a.m., according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. While you won’t be able to see the new moon in the instant it occurs, gazing toward the western sky after dusk over a period of several days, people can watch the young, waxing crescent moon grow. On Thursday, the thin crescent moon is found in evening twilight in the west-southwestern sky, to the right of the planet Mercury (zero magnitude.) Relatively speaking, both the fleet Mercury and the skinny crescent moon are found low on the horizon. However, on Friday evening, the crescent is a little more chubby and higher in the southwest after sunset, and it sets around 8:20 p.m. Keep this mind: Young moons are always found in the western sky after sunset. By Saturday evening, the crescent moon is approximately 15 percent illuminated and it should be visible near the planet Saturn (zero magnitude) in the southwest. The moon sneaks between the ringed Saturn (right) and the reddish Mars (zero magnitude, to the left of Saturn) on Sunday evening, loiters with Mars on Monday only to scurry away from both planets by Tuesday. Religions such as Judaism or Islam hold new moons in high regard because they use lunar cycles to track calendars. In fact, the new moon marks the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which starts Wednesday at sunset. The Islamic community starts its New Year on Oct. 24, just after October’s new moon. Full moons grab attention thanks to being bold and beautiful. The thin wispy crescents, just after their new phase, carry a certain cosmic subtlety. Astronomers have studied the early visibility of the new sliver of crescent moon. With the naked eye, gazers have found them in about 15 hours after new, according to the Naval Observatory. With telescopes, astronomers have found moons within 12 hours after new. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Naval Observatory and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center used citizen science to gather visibility data. The late Naval Observatory astronomer LeRoy Doggett and NASA astronomer Bradley Schaefer (now a professor of physics and astronomer at Louisiana State University) used five “Moonwatches” and about 2,000 observers to catch the first skinny glimpse of the new crescent. In 1994, they published “Lunar Crescent Visibility,” in the scientific astronomy journal Icarus and established a higher rate of accuracy in predicting visible lunar crescents after a new moon.


U.S. shouldn’t be ‘the buffoon country’ on climate change

Jeffrey Sachs, an eminent researcher and policy analyst, minced no words when describing the world’s failures on the issue of climate change. Speaking to a small group of reporters at the United Nations Climate Summit, he blasted certain U.S. media outlets for being “anti-science” and providing “irresponsible” coverage on climate issues. He was more frank on the specifics of the world’s deficits in combating climate change: President Obama addresses the Climate Summit at the United Nations headquarters on Tuesday. (Richard Drew/Associated Press) On the years since the Copenhagen meetings: “One thing that’s changed is the air is far more filled with carbon dioxide than it was in 2009, and the pace of carbon emissions has continued to rise, with another startling increase in 2013 just measured and published in recent days. The failure in Copenhagen was a great disappointment, and we have wasted more years in the wrong direction so that we are almost running out of time. The difference between Copenhagen and now is that Copenhagen was the last chance but one. This is really the last chance coming up in Paris.” On the United States’ lack of comprehensive plans: “From a policy point of view, what’s needed are plans. Where is the U.S. plan? It doesn’t exist! With all the speeches that Obama may give about the commitment, where is the U.S. pathway to deep de-carbonization by 2050? It doesn’t exist. We’ve never written it down. That’s the responsibility of governments. Show us the pathway.” On the upcoming U.S. elections and what Americans should do on climate change: “I think Americans should ask the candidates where they stand [on climate change]. If they get the nonsense that we don’t know the science and so forth, that’s a disgrace. Such candidates have no business in our public life. If you have candidates that support the Keystone pipeline and mumble about it and don’t understand the stakes involved, how can we support them? What Americans need to do is ask, ‘What’s your view?’ If they spout anti-science climate nonsense, tell them they have no place in American politics in the 21st century. We don’t have to be the buffoon country. Because of propaganda, because of money from Koch brothers or Big Oil, such nonsense gets spouted in our country. How can anyone support any candidate until we hear they are going to take decisive stands [on the issue] and how


“We have to adapt” — President Obama announces new climate change actions

extreme weather, the President announced a plan to do something about it. NOAA will begin to focus on extreme weather outlooks in the 15 to 30-day time range, pushing the envelope on what is typically considered to be “reliable” in weather forecasting, to help empower farmers, business owners, and decision makers against the effects of climate change. These forecasts will include actionable information for people to use as they make plans and prepare. Beginning the effort this year, NOAA will start to issue weekly three to four-week precipitation outlooks. It also plans to extend the currently operational extreme heat index product to eight to 14 days out. These changes are a ground-breaking advancement toward closing the forecast gap in the three to four week period, according to Louis Uccellini, Director of the National Weather Service. “For certain areas like heat, drought and the increasing likelihood of heavy precipitation events and flooding, these extended outlooks will prove vital information to the advance preparation by the emergency management community and the general public,” said Uccellini in an email. “We will start providing experimental products by the end of 2015 as we continue to work with the research community engaged in extending predictability of extreme events.” In addition to the plans to help build climate resiliency in the U.S., NOAA also plans to focus on helping developing nations grow within the context of a changing climate. “No nation can meet this global threat alone,” said the President in his speech. “We recognize our role in creating this problem, and we embrace the responsibility to combat it.” The plan to aid developing countries includes not only the expansion of the already successful international meteorologist “Training Desk” program, but also a plan to build partnerships in the private sector to connect decision-makers in developing countries to actionable climate data and tools. Related: The President made his announcements at the U.N. General Assembly’s Climate Summit on Tuesday. The Climate Summit has been drawing attention in part because of the 100,000 climate change activists that demanded action from world leaders at a rally on Sunday. On Monday, about 100 people were arrested after a sit-in along part’s of Manhattan’s financial district turned disorderly. The announcement of the actionscomes on the heels of a new report released by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, which concluded that the next 15 years of action (or inaction) will


Wal-Mart teams with Green Dot on checking account

or minimum balance. Membership costs $8.95 a month, but can be waived for customers with direct deposit of at least $500 a month. It costs $2.95 to buy a starter kit, which comes with a temporary debit card for use until a personalized card arrives in the mail. GoBank customers can withdraw money from a network of 42,000 ATMs at no cost, but will be hit with a $2.50 fee for stepping out of network. The debit card can be used wherever MasterCard is accepted, Wal-Mart officials said. “Our customers really don’t feel they are getting a great value from traditional services, particularly checking accounts,” Daniel Eckert, vice president of financial services for Wal-Mart U.S., said in an interview. “Adding GoBank gives our customers another option to better manage their money, without the unnecessary complexity and sky-high fees of other accounts.” Although Eckert said GoBank has broad appeal beyond people with limited or no access to banks, the account could be attractive to those who have been pushed out of the banking system because of past financial transgression. GoBank, unlike other mobile and traditional banks, will not use the ChexSystems database to review would-be customers. Thousands of banks and credit unions screen would-be customers through databases such as ChexSystems that document repeated overdrafts, bounced checks, unpaid balances and other behavior that could signal fraud. Authorities have accused institutions of using these databases to bar people who have had even brief money troubles from getting accounts. Green Dot uses an in-house system to screen GoBank customers for a history of fraud and to verify their identity. “You still have an obligation to make sure the bank has honest and legitimate customers, but we’re not relying on bureaus that stack the cards against everyday working Americans,” Steve Streit, founder and chief executive of Green Dot, said in an interview. Streit anticipates that a majority of GoBank’s customers will still primarily use their smartphones to conduct transactions, although they now have the convenience of stopping at Wal-Mart to deposit cash into their accounts, something people can’t do using a smartphone. Smartphones have become the center of financial services as companies latch onto technology that could help them reach millions of people at a fraction of the cost of traditional banking. It costs banks about $1.34 for tellers to process a transaction in a branch, while the same transaction on a smartphone costs one-tenth


Metta World Peace debuts Panda Friend basketball shoes

The only thing better than Metta World Peace adopting the name “The Panda’s Friend” while he’s playing basketball for the Sichuan Blue Whales of the Chinese Basketball Association is that he’s got new kicks to go with it. And they are spot-on. Minus the spots. World Peace confirmed via Twitter he’ll be rocking these low-profile basketball shoes that come in all-white or all-black and have a teddy bear head and arms protruding from the front and sides. They’re not detachable. Or maybe they are? In a statement to Courtside Access, World Peace made it sound as though he’d be conducting sneaker decapitations for each game: “Before every game, I will be wearing the white or black shoes,” the man once known as Ronald William Artest Jr. said. “The top part of the shoe has a panda on it. I will be throwing it to a friend in the crowd. The person who catches it will be the Panda’s Friend of the day.” World Peace said the shoes will be available for purchase through his Web site. Surprisingly, panda-bear sneakers have been done before; Jeremy Scott designed a pair for Adidas and they actually looked like pandas. The whole shoe was black-and-white plush. Detachable or not, teddy or panda, World Peace’s shoes seem like the ultimate bait for the hardest of hardcore sneakerheads: a little bizarre, somewhat rare, given that they’re only relevant as long as World Peace is playing in the CBA (he signed a one-year contract), and highly collectible. Really, what person is going to be walking around town in a pair of Panda Bear sneaks like they’re vintage Js, especially when they look like a zhuhzed-up version of your grandparents’ diabetic shoes with a teddy bear glued to the front and sides? You know what? Never mind. Someone will, and we salute them for it. Carry on, Metta. Carry on.


D.C. area forecast: Rain likely late today into tomorrow; nice weekend ahead

Flood Watch Tonight for Much of DC Area - Today’s Daily Digit - A somewhat subjective rating of the day’s weather, on a scale of 0 to 10. - 7 Despite clouds, rain may hold off for much of the day. Even when it does rain, we could use some. - Express Forecast - Today: Increasing clouds. 40-50% chance of p.m. rain. Highs: Near 70 to low 70s. - Tonight: Rain likely. Lows: Near 60. - Tomorrow: Steady rain exits early. Chance of lingering showers. Highs: Mid-60s to near 70. FORECAST IN DETAIL No weather worries as you head out this morning. The big question mark is this afternoon, as rain tries to move in from the south, but may have trouble getting going at first. By evening rain is likely, and we should welcome it with open arms given how little of it we’ve seen as of late. Showers could linger into Thursday and clouds may even last into early Friday, before skies clear out nicely for a fantastic fall weekend. Radar lightning: Today (Wednesday): Tonight: For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend… Tomorrow (Thursday): Tomorrow night: Sunset near Manassas Tuesday evening (via @JimKnappPhotog) A LOOK AHEAD Friday through the weekend


Ten things in nature that could vanish before your kids see them

In their losing battle with television and digital devices, conservationists have urged parents to get the kiddies to the great outdoors. But even if parents managed to pull their children away from cellphones, what would they find in America's wilderness? A new report by the Endangered Species Coalition, an alliance of 10 environmental activist groups, says they'll see fewer things in nature than their parents did. Many are listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Here are 10 plants and animals the groups say your children might never see. (Johanna James-Heinz/AP) Rusty patched bumblebees These big, fat and cute bees were once the most common bees in North America, buzzing across millions of acres in the United States, sucking nectar and moving pollen from the male to female parts of plants, making them one of America's most efficient pollinators, worth about $3 billion per year to U.S. agriculture. Now they have lost nearly 90 percent of their range. (Billy Hefton/Enid News & Eagle via AP) Monarch butterflies When farmers spray pesticides to protect corn and soy they've planted throughout the Midwest, the chemicals also fall on a food that's cherished by monarch caterpillars: milkweed. Monarch caterpillars are creepy and black and yellow striped early in life, but eventually they become one of the prettiest butterflies to take flight. Up to a billion monarchs once fluttered about from Canada to Mexico, but lately they've been grounded; only 33 million remain. (Leila Navidi/The Star Tribune via AP) Polar bears Being the largest predator on land is not easy. A fully grown male polar bear weighs well more than half a ton, and has a big belly to fill. With ice melting because of global warming and the seal blubber it needs to survive drifting away, polar bears are struggling to survive. They can eat as much as 100 pounds of fat in a single meal, the report says. Many drown attempting to swim to ice floes in search of food. (AP/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Marvin Moriarty) Little brown bats These little creatures are about to head back into caves for their annual hibernation. Chances are, many of them won't come back out. There's a monster lurking in those caves that attacks numerous species of bats, but kills little browns more than most. It's called White Nose Syndrome, a fungus that covers the winged animals when their hearts slow


Bob Shacochis wins Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction

rhetorically, “How could I grow up where I did, and when I did, and not become a writer obsessed by the dynamics of politics and power and, ultimately, peace, after being an eyewitness to such a continuous waste of the nation’s treasure and blood, and our soul as a nation outcast into a wilderness of fear? My adolescence was an adolescence of assassinations.” A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a Peace Corps volunteer, Shacochis worked for years as a journalist, covering, among other troubles, the U.S. invasion of Haiti. (He can still recall — with a certain degree of pique — the day his mother called him in tears because his 1999 nonfiction book, “The Immaculate Invasion,” was panned on the front of Book World. “I wish my mother were alive to witness how The Washington Post has come back around to a much more felicitous view of my work — and me.”) “There are good reasons,” he says, “why we find ourselves mired in the wars of today, this battle between West and East, and my novel tries to dramatize those reasons, and root them in the lives of characters that have surrounded me all my life: the Cold War warriors, the soldiers and sailors, the spooks that sat next to us in high school at the pizza parlor in McLean.” Grove/Atlantic publisher Morgan Entrekin said he hopes today’s prize for “The Woman Who Lost Her Soul” “will bring it even more attention — and readers. As a number of reviewers noted, it is the sort of novel of politics and ideas with a broad canvas that is rare these days.” Also announced Wednesday morning, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction has been awarded to “Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here,” by University of California at Davis law professor and human rights activist Karima Bennoune. In her review in The Washington Post last year, Rachel Newcomb wrote, “Bennoune offers a compelling, meticulously researched account of the legions of Muslims whose struggles against fundamentalist violence are almost never reported in our media…. ‘Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here’ should be required reading, not only for those of us who are professionally involved with Muslim-majority societies, but also for anyone who mistakenly believes that Muslims are doing nothing to end fundamentalist violence.” The Dayton judges also named two runner-ups: Jo Roberts’s “Contested Land, Contested Memory: Israel’s Jews and


Mr. Thiel goes to Washington, vents about America’s government

Thiel said. “Today we’re sort of living in a time when you sort of get a sense that a letter from Einstein to the White House would get lost in the mailroom.” He said this of HealthCare.gov: “Even as a hard-core libertarian, I would not have thought that the Obamacare Web site wouldn’t work. That is not something I predicted. Because building a Web site that works is much easier than building a functioning nuclear bomb.” Thiel also touched on the NSA and Edward Snowden. “The first thing a spy agency is supposed to do is it’s supposed to figure out, is there anyone inside who’s spying on them and if you have someone in the IT department downloading all the files, that normally gets people’s attention,” he said. “It would never happen even in a Facebook, Google. Even in a Silicon Valley company, that would never happen. And once somebody had downloaded all the files, you say ‘Okay they ran away to Russia,’ you’d be able to figure that out.” He pointed out how the world of atoms — which is heavily regulated — has had far less innovation than the world of bits, which is lightly regulated. “If the FDA decided it was going to start looking at video games and seeing whether it did damage to people’s brains, whether they’re addictive, what sort of effect did they have on your brain, you’d have far less innovation in video game technology than you’ve had before,” he said. While admitting there could be a place for regulation regarding telecommunications powers Comcast and Verizon, Thiel saw flaws in most regulation of technologies. “The history of government involvement with technology has been quite bad. I think the whole anti-trust thing against IBM with 20-20 hindsight feels like it was completely unnecessary because things were shifting to software and away from IBM already in the 70’s and definitely by the early 80’s,” Thiel said. “The Microsoft antitrust thing, I suspect Microsoft would have lost ground in the age of the Internet with or without the government doing it.” When asked about Bitcoin, Thiel cautioned that government could ruin its potential by shutting it down. “I think we have a very poorly functioning government, so it’s quite possible they will decide slowly over the next 10 or 15 years to do something,” he said. Government wasn’t the only area to draw Thiel’s ire


Scientists hit new milestone in search for water on planets outside our solar system

sit on." But generally speaking, water is something that astronomers look for when they're trying to find life in space — so it's important that they know how to find it. When a planet travels in front of its star, it absorbs some of the light — and looks bigger. Astronomers calculate the changes in a planet's appeared size to see how much of the star's radiation is being absorbed, which can in turn be used to determine which molecules in the planet's atmosphere are blocking the light. A planet with an atmosphere of thick clouds, left, and a planet with clear skies illustrated here. The cloudless horizon of the planet on the right allowed astronomers to take a peek at its atmosphere. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) Astronomers have had better luck doing that with much larger planets (ones like our Jupiter), but smaller planets like HAT P-11b (which is about the same size as Neptune) have proved elusive. Other objects of this size have all had clouds high in their atmosphere, which block out most of the light. "We can look at those and find some cool information, but not what we're looking for," Fraine said. "This is the first time we've seen a clear atmosphere on a Neptune-sized planet." In fact, Neptune itself has too much cloud cover to observe with a space telescope. Because it's nearby, scientists were able to send the space probe Voyager 2 to take a peek for us. But outside of our solar system, astronomers are woefully dependent on a clear cosmic forecast. "We need to find, like, 20 more of these [planets] before we're happy," Fraine said. Upcoming programs plan to use the Hubble Space Telescope to investigate about 50 similar exoplanets. "The great thing is that now we know that clouds aren't blocking all of the light on every single one of these planets," Fraine said. Astronomers like Fraine and his colleagues hope that understanding exoplanet atmospheres will help us understand how planets form. "We want to figure out how unique or normal we are, as a planet," Fraine said. And as scientists are able to puzzle out smaller and smaller exoplanets, we'll get closer and closer to ones like our own. The discovery nearly doubles the number of known planets outside our solar system, according to two new reports. Video courtesy of NASA's ScienceCasts. The European Space Agency and NASA released video of


Alaska legalized weed 39 years ago. Wait, what?

Alaska are consistently higher than they are elsewhere in the U.S, according to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Interestingly, the difference between Alaska and the rest of the U.S. is sharpest among adults: Alaska teens and young adults have about a 30 percent higher marijuana use rate than their counterparts in the rest of the country. But older Alaska adults, age 26+, are a little more than twice as likely to regularly consume marijuana. On the other hand, overall drug dependence in actually slightly lower in Alaska than elsewhere, particularly among adults. Unfortunately, the NSDUH state-level data doesn't break out marijuana dependence separately. But one explanation for the lower dependency rate would be that Alaskans are substituting marijuana for more habit-forming drugs, like heroin or methamphetamines. It's impossible to attribute these numbers to Alaska's legal framework - after all, we don't know what marijuana use in Alaska would look like if Ravin had never existed. And there are several other states with overall marijuana use rates similar to Alaska's. Moreover, a number of studies have found little or no link between liberalized marijuana laws and increased rates of use. Even more important than use rates, though, are social outcomes - education, public health, safety, etc. And on a barrage of measures, Alaska looks more or less like the rest of the U.S. It's ranked 26th among states on overall bachelor's degree attainment, according to the 2013 American Community Survey. It has a lower rate of disability than the U.S. average. Alaska's highway fatality rate is lower than the U.S. average too. Economically speaking, Alaska's poverty and SNAP uptake rates are considerably lower than the national average, while per-capita GDP and household income are among the highest in the nation - thanks, in no small part, to the state's oil and gas industry. In short, Alaskans use marijuana twice as much as Americans elsewhere, but so far the sky hasn't fallen. None of this is to suggest that the legal status of weed in the state is responsible - or not - for any of these outcomes. But opponents of legalization often discuss the issue in Manichean terms, as if the slightest departure from full prohibition would lead inevitably to a stoner dystopia, with a nation of drug-addled high school dropouts dwelling in basements where the air hangs thick with the stench of patchouli, stale bongwater,


Mystery solved? Suspicious radar echoes were probably migrating Monarch butterflies

“It was not ground clutter, or mid-level clouds, which we can sometimes get in Friday’s conditions.” A screenshot taken by NWS meteorologists, capturing the odd radar reflectivity that appeared east of St. Louis, Mo. on Friday morning. (NWS St. Louis via Facebook) Radar is sometimes a finicky technology. It’s rooted in simple physics: send out radio waves in all directions and wait for them to bounce back. Usually, the things that radio waves bounce off of are rain drops. But often the radar can pick up other objects in the sky, like dirt and dust picked up by the gust front of a squall line, or migrating birds, or even bats as they leave their caves for their evening hunts. But this time it was not bats, or birds, or debris. Weather Service meteorologists are keenly familiar with the reflectivity from birds on radar. But this signature was different. “High differential reflectivity values as well as low correlation coefficient values indicate these are most likely biological targets,” explained the NWS St. Louis office on Facebook. “High differential reflectivity indicates these are oblate targets, and low correlation coefficient means the targets are changing shape.” Honing in on insects, meteorologists turned to the internet to figure out what might be migrating this time of year. Sure enough, Monarchs had been spotted to the north of the forecast area. While forecasters aren’t totally sure what it was, it’s likely the radar caught the butterflies mid-flight on their way south to Mexico where the species spends the winter. “A Monarch in flight would look oblate to the radar, and flapping wings would account for the changing shape!” wrote the forecast office. From the radar echoes, it might seem as if there was quite a swarm of butterflies heading south on Friday. However, it doesn’t take much for the radar to light up when it’s dry out. “In dry conditions, the radar is very sensitive to something like insects,” said Kanofsky. “It doesn’t take a whole lot of insects to create a high return.” As a meteorologist, you don’t picture yourself spending time digging for information on migrating bugs on the internet, trying to figure out why the radar is glowing when there’s not a cloud in the sky. But maybe that’s what makes the job so much fun. “It was not something that we were expecting,” said Kanofsky. “It was really interesting.”


Islamic State just one of many al-Qaeda offshoots in the Middle East

Fighter of the al-Nusra Front. (Rami Al-Sayed/AFP) When the United States launched airstrikes in Syria this week, they targeted not only the extremists of the Islamic State, but positions manned by a shadowy organization with al-Qaeda links dubbed the "Khorasan Group." Though our understanding of the group remains murky, it joins a whole constellation of al-Qaeda offshoots in the Middle East. What is striking about many of these groups is their recent emergence. Some were founded to adapt to the challenge of pro-democracy protesters in the Arab Spring (such as Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen), while others are a reaction to the intensifying competition among terror groups in the Middle East (one example would be the Khorasan group). If we included other regions, such as further east in South Asia or in Africa, the number of organizations would rise significantly. Here is a selection of Middle Eastern groups. Jabhat Al-Nusra Two members of the Al-Nusra Front speak in front of U.N. peacekeepers on Sept. 9, 2014. (Nusra Front via Reuters TV) The group (translated name: "Victory Front") emerged in 2011 as an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is now known as the Islamic State. Donations from abroad and al-Qaeda in Iraq helped the group gain momentum very quickly — but it has since distanced itself from the Islamic State and pledged its allegiance to the central al-Qaeda network. Al-Nusra was among the groups targeted by U.S. airstrikes in Syria on Tuesday morning. Abdallah Azzam Brigades The Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for a twin bomb attack in Beirut in February 2014. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters) The group is an offshoot of al-Qaeda in various locations of the Middle East. According to the U.S. Department of State, the group operates in Lebanon and the Arabian Peninsula, and was formed in 2009. In 2014, it claimed it had fired several rockets into Israeli territory from Gaza. Two years earlier, it had warned Shiites in Lebanon not to join Assad's fight against the Syrian opposition and threatened those who would not comply. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula/Ansar al-Sharia (Yemen) Leaders of Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen. (AFP/Getty Images) Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen — an offshoot of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula —has been targeted by U.S. drone strikes in recent years. According to the BBC, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's religious leader views Ansar al-Sharia as a way to attract people to Sharia rule in areas


Wartime sexual violence is not just a ‘weapon of war’

media reports feeds into policy responses that target stereotypical perpetrators (like Islamic State) rather than underlying problems (such as refugee poverty). Focusing only on the most visible victim groups compounds the challenges that survivors face. Media narratives about Iraq and Syria are almost exclusively focused on women, concealing and marginalizing male and LGBT victims who may be equally in need of help. Syrian and Iraqi refugees must cope with extremely limited access to health-care services, which are frequently underfunded and unprepared to treat survivors of sexual violence. Restricting treatment and services to particular categories of victims makes access to these services even more fraught for others. Moreover, focusing exclusively on rape and rape survivors, as if these crimes occur in isolation, masks other forms of suffering and ignores other vulnerable groups. For example, advocates and policymakers tend to ignore children born of wartime rape. Children whose mothers suffered sexual violence in Syria, Iraq and the refugee diaspora are no exception to this rule. Graphic, selective In addition to giving us the wrong idea about patterns of wartime rape, selective narratives strengthen false assumptions about the causes of wartime rape, encouraging policymaking that addresses symptoms rather than root causes. Press reports and punditry about sexual violence in Iraq and Syria continually employ the phrases “weapon of war” and “tool of terror.” Without a doubt, some wartime rape is a weapon of war: Some commanders use rape or the threat of rape strategically to punish enemy communities, induce compliance, or demoralize opponents. But the “weapon of war” narrative is disastrously incomplete. Research suggests that rape has multiple causes, and is more closely associated with fighting forces’ internal practices (like forced recruitment, training practices, or the strength of the military hierarchy) than with strategic imperatives, ethnic hatred, or other “conventional wisdom” causes. In short, to assume that wartime rape is always “rape as a weapon of war” is to ignore the majority of cases. Moreover, to the extent that wartime rape is a weapon of war, policymakers who invoke the “weapon of war” narrative may actually strengthen belligerents’ strategic positions. Commentary about the Islamic State’s sexual “brutality” – exemplified in a recent policy recommendation aimed at “shaming” the organization – risks reinforcing the Islamic State’s intimidating reputation (which is already well-known on the ground and in the refugee camps). Reputations and rumors matter in conflict; recent research in Lebanon has suggested that fear


Army drill sergeant sexually assaulted female soldiers, court finds

for his mistreatment of women in the Army, authorities said. Staff Sgt. Angel M. Sanchez, was convicted during a general court-martial of 18 specifications that also included abusive sexual contact, maltreatment and disobeying a general order and Army regulation, Army officials said. He was sentenced to 20 years confinement, reduced in rank to a private, stripped of all pay and allowances and will receive a dishonorable discharge. Sanchez’s case, covered by The Washington Post in May, received scrutiny because of its singular nature: Sanchez was alleged to have assaulted a dozen women and used his position of power as a drill sergeant to threaten some of his victims at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Army officials said. “I’m sorry I betrayed your trust, all of you,” Sanchez said after being found guilty, according to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I accept responsibility for my actions, I pray that all of you realize that person who went through that stretch is not actually me.” Sanchez’s victims said the incidents took place in the women’s barracks and an office shared by drill sergeants at Fort Leonard Wood. Other accusations were brought by a female soldier he served with in Afghanistan and a woman at Fort Richardson, Alaska. Sanchez’s court-martial hearing began Monday, and he pleaded guilty to three charges of disobeying orders by having sexual conduct with three female trainees. His lawyer, Ernesto Gapasin, questioned the credibility of Sanchez’s accusers, but he ultimately was convicted of numerous charges, including four counts of sexual assault and six counts of abusive sexual contact. He was not convicted in the case that originated in Afghanistan. The situation has led to morale problems in Sanchez’s unit, the 14th Military Police Brigade, soldiers testified. Trainees question the orders they are given, they said, something that is highly uncommon in basic training. The Post-Dispatch also reported that one of the victims testified that her unit had been told not to report any more sexual assaults. If true, that would have occurred during a push at the Pentagon to make rank-and-file service members more willing to bring sexual assault to the attention of superiors. The number of troops reporting being sexually assaulted has jumped 50 percent in a year, defense officials said in May. Pentagon officials said that showed service members were more willing to report problems after the Defense Department mounted a campaign to stop sexual assaults in the ranks.


Indonesia quashed al-Qaeda. Now it faces new Islamic State threat.

some 250 others, and formally became an [Islamic State] soldier with a uniform, weapon, salary and housing for his family. After graduation, Akang and his family were moved to Haruriyah in Halab where Akang was assigned to an [Islamic State] unit. As a soldier he was entitled to a salary of $50 a month, with another $50 provided to his wife and $25 per child, so that every month, the family received $200. Akang joined a unit led by Abu Muhammad Al-Amriki (“the American”), a former soldier of Al-Nusra [an al-Qaeda-linked militia also fighting in Syria] who defected to ISIS. They were assisted by a sizeable ISIS force (Akang says 3,000) under the leadership of Abu Umar Al-Shishani, former head of another rebel group, Jaish Al-Muhajirin wal Anshar (JMA). Their goal was to take Aleppo. Indonesia has no law making it a crime for one of its nationals to take part in military activities in a foreign country, which deepens concern that more radicalized Indonesians may want to follow in Akang's footsteps. As the report details, many jihadists in organizations like the Islamic State look to regions like Southeast Asia and South Asia -- where the Muslim population is larger than its equivalent in the Arab world -- as fertile ground for recruits. But the Indonesian government has taken considerable strides elsewhere to counter the jihadists in its midst. Over the past decade, Jakarta's security agencies have been successful at breaking up al-Qaeda-connected cells, arresting terror ringleaders and subduing the influence of their ideologues. Earlier this month, the country's elite Detachment 88, a police counterterrorist force, picked up four Turkish nationals and three Indonesians suspected to be organizing an Islamic State cell in the island of Sulawesi, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency. Last month, the government banned outright displays of support for the Islamic State, saying it violated the country's state ideology of "unity through diversity." There are reasons Jakarta can be confident it can curb the Islamic State's reach -- not least because the ability of the terrorist organization to mobilize Indonesian recruits directly through online social media is impaired by many Indonesians' lack of fluency in Arabic and English. Yet, given the country's vastness and its history of extremism, it will have to remain vigilant. "The overall capacity of Indonesian extremists remains low, but their commitment to ISIS could prove deadly," says Sidney Jones, IPAC's director.


D.C. area forecast: Showers exit but clouds linger, superb weekend ahead

- Today’s Daily Digit - A somewhat subjective rating of the day’s weather, on a scale of 1 to 10. - 6 Showery start: 4, clearing, mild finish: 8. - Express Forecast - Today: Showers ending, clearing skies by afternoon. Highs: 67-71. - Tonight: Breezes die down, patchy fog. Lows: 50-56. - Tomorrow: Lots of sun. Highs: 74-78. FORECAST IN DETAIL Radar lightning: Once the rain exits this morning and then the clouds overnight, the weather is clear sailing (literally) through next Monday. Yet again I am stuck yammering on about a great weekend to head out and enjoy the fine fall weather. Not enough leaves have fallen to require raking, so no guilt about taking some time off. Some super evenings for some last minute grilling and watch the growing crescent moon on the western horizon. With sunset coming earlier by 1-2 minutes each night that passes this time of year star gazing is no longer a late evening activity. Today (Thursday): Tonight: For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend… Tomorrow (Friday): Tomorrow night: Ballston rain, September 6. (Kevin Wolf via Flickr) A LOOK AHEAD Saturday Sunday Monday


Terrifying new normal? An Ebola outbreak that never really goes away.

region that's grappling with a constant low level of continued Ebola transmissions could find it impossible to resume normal public health operations. In late August, when Lucey was in Sierra Leone, the country's only large referral hospital for children -- nicknamed Cottage Hospital -- shuttered its doors to keep Ebola out. A single child out of a steady stream of hundreds that passed through the facility on a regular basis had been treated for two days before anyone realized he had Ebola. With Cottage Hospital closed, children and pregnant women in Sierra Leone have nowhere else to go to be treated for basic, life-saving medical care, Lucey said. In Liberia, the situation is similar: With Ebola crippling the health system, Liberians are dying of routine medical problems, as The Post reported last week. That is how things are right now, with Ebola raging unabated. But with this virus, there is no middle ground. The presence of even a small number of continued transmissions of Ebola can also wreak havoc on already fragile health-care systems. When Ebola is present in the population, it is nearly impossible to know whether a patient who walks in is sick with the deadly virus rather than another of the many other conditions that can result in similar symptoms. "So when a child has a fever and they spit up and they have some loose stools and diarrhea — that is very, very common in a child,” said Lucey. "How can you tell it’s not Ebola or something else? That means that the health-care providers have to wear this really comprehensive, hot, personal protective equipment for all of them." Most public hospitals are closed because they do not have the ability to treat Ebola patients safely; the risk of treating non-Ebola conditions with similar symptoms – such as dengue fever or even diarrhea — is simply too great. In Sierra Leone and Liberia, some of these concerns are already coming to pass. Lassa fever – a similar, but less deadly hemorrhagic fever – is on the rise as the dry season begins. "There's not even a place really to put all the Ebola patients, so now we're going to have to be thinking about how do we separate the lassa patients from the Ebola patients – because that is not something that we want to mix," Joseph Fair, a virus expert and special adviser to the


DC Brau gets into the season with its first Oktoberfest

Try DC Brau’s Oktoberfest <br />while you still can. (Rudi Greenberg/Express) There’s been a chill in the air, but it didn’t feel like fall until I sipped my first Oktoberfest of the season: DC Brau’s inaugural take. The Marzen (a German-style lager) is brewed with all-German malts, giving it that fall feeling. “It’s malt-forward,” says DC Brau co-owner Brandon Skall. “You get a little bit of a roasted character that comes out and always makes me think of fall.” Like most of the brewery’s creations, it’s heavy on hops (unusual for this style), but there’s a good balance between malt sweetness and hop bitterness. At just 5 percent alcohol by volume, it’s perfect for tailgating — if you can get your hands on it. Released on Sept. 13, Oktoberfest is already sold out at the brewery (they made only 60 barrels). Recently, though, it’s been available at Nationals games, Meridian Pint and Brookland Pint. “If somebody sees it, they should probably jump on it,” Skall says. Not that you’ll never see it again. “We probably will brew this again next year,” Skall says. “We had a lot of fun brewing it — and drinking it.” Want more beer? Drink up these stories: Denizens Brewing Co. opens in Silver Spring with its Southside Rye IPA on tap What to expect from Flying Dog’s new beer, Dead Rise Old Bay Summer Ale A heady history lesson with ‘Capital Beer’ author Garrett Peck


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READ IN: Gigafactory Gifts Edition

Don't forget to sign up for Read In, your daily dose of political news you need from inside and outside the Beltway. A1: -- U.S. missile strikes against an al Qaeda affiliate in Syria known as the Khorasan group killed a senior leader of the organization. U.S. officials said intelligence agencies had not confirmed reports that the group's leader, Mushin al-Fadhli, was the operative killed. U.S. airstrikes killed about 50 fighters affiliated with the Nusra Front, another Qaeda affiliate. The threat from the Khorasan group prompted stricter security measures at U.S. airports this summer, when passengers had to turn on cell phones or laptops at security checkpoints. (Washington Post) -- New U.S.-led airstrikes early Thursday hit Syrian oil installations controlled by Islamic State militants, killing about 20 people. The oil fields are a major source of revenue for Islamic State, which earns more than $3 million a day from oil smuggling and other illegal business. Militants released at least 150 detainees in their capital, Raqqa, fearing more attacks. (Associated Press) -- President Obama told the U.N. General Assembly that the U.S. would work with allies to dismantle the "network of death" in Iraq and Syria, and would stand up against Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine. The speech marked a reversal of last year, when Obama addressed the General Assembly just after calling off missile strikes on the Syrian regime after chemical weapons were deployed. Obama also said Russian actions would cost President Vladimir Putin, and that Russia had obstructed the investigation into the downed Malaysian jetliner. (New York Times) -- Only 18 percent of Ebola patients in Liberia are being cared for in hospitals or other proper settings that reduce the risk of transmission, according to the CDC. The CDC said the disease will continue to spread until at least 70 percent of patients are housed in proper medical facilities. The CDC said its worst-case estimate suggests 1.4 million people could be infected in Liberia and Sierra Leone by Jan. 20, about 10 percent of their combined populations. (New York Times) -- The number of mass shootings has increased dramatically in recent years, from six per year in the first seven years of the new century to more than 16 per year between 2008 and 2014. The majority of the incidents occurred at businesses or at schools and universities. FBI officials say many mass shooters are inspired by previous incidents,


Wonkbook: Obamacare, by the latest numbers

Weisberg in Elle Magazine. Science interlude: 4. Congress is ignoring the growing threat of cybercrime Feds say unhappy employees hacking employers on the rise. After Home Depot breach, fraud emerges. Congress' response: Ask us again next year. Cyber criminals eye financial markets for a better return on investment. In response, industry launches platform to thwart cyberattacks. Your medical records are worth more to hackers than your credit cards. Related: Other tech reads: Tech giants more to protect wearables. Ashley Gold in Politico. "Streisand effect" makes cameo appearance in Google EU privacy case. Aoife White in Bloomberg. FBI gags state and local police on capabilities of cellphone spy gear. Craig Timberg in The Washington Post. Slow-motion interlude: 5. New environmental actions to protect waters Obama to create world’s largest protected marine reserve in Pacific Ocean. And the EPA unveils second phase of Great Lakes damage-reversal plan. Inside Big Oil's fight over Arctic drilling rules. Financial relief finally comes to victims of toxic waters at Camp LeJeune. Judge denies BP request to recoup overpayments to Gulf spill victims. Other environmental/energy reads: Study: Natural gas reliance an impediment to renewables. Bobby Magill in Climate Central. Forest Service wants to charge $1,500 to take photos on federal wild lands. Hunter Schwarz in The Washington Post. An exodus of tech giants leaving conservative group ALEC amid climate flap. Dustin Volz in National Journal. Crude-oil train safety regulator steps down. Curtis Tate in McClatchy Newspapers. More animals interlude: Wonkblog roundup Federal student loan defaults are down — but it’s not clear why. Jonnelle Marte. HHS: Obamacare coverage is reducing hospitals’ unpaid bills. Jason Millman. Natural gas won’t save us from global warming, study confirms. Max Ehrenfreund. Guess who’s losing faith in the American Dream? Everyone. Christopher Ingraham. Alaska legalized weed 39 years ago. Wait, what? Christopher Ingraham. New home sales hit six-year high, but they’re still struggling. Dina ElBoghdady. Et Cetera Report: Treasury OKs big pay raises for GM, Ally. Marcy Gordon in the Associated Press. Feds expand family detentions despite criticism. Daniel González in The Arizona Republic. Congregations open doors to undocumented immigrants. Elise Foley in The Huffington Post. FAA said to be planning to let filmmakers operate drones in populated areas. Craig Whitlock in The Washington Post. After NIH funding "euphoria" comes the hangover. Richard Harris in NPR. Got tips, additions, or comments? Wonkbook is produced with help from Michelle Williams and Ryan McCarthy