Indian tribes gambling on high-interest loans to raise revenue

— keeping ahead in part by embracing the safe haven of Indian country, where state laws don’t apply. The transformation seems to be working: The high-rate lending industry has grown nearly 20 percent since 2009, much of that growth coming online. Some 4.2 percent of Americans took out a payday loan in 2013, according to a Federal Reserve survey, compared with 2.4 percent in 2007. During that span, traditional lenders have upped their own standards for creditworthiness, a course correction after the anything-goes sub-prime years. “All of the market flow has been going to the tribes,” said John Hecht, a lending industry analyst who works at Jefferies LLC, a New York-based investment banking firm. “It’s almost like an unintended consequence of tightening regulation at a time when consumers have less access to credit.” It is left to McGeshick and the others to manage the pitfalls of that influx. McGeshick never meets any of the borrowers, never even talks to them, but she reads their e-mails and sometimes wonders what brought them to a place of last resort. An accident? A medical bill? A life of mistakes? She also sees the other side, how her tribe of 684 members — the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians — depends on the lending revenues, which account for 42 percent of the annual budget, tribal officials say, and have filled a shortfall that otherwise would have brought many of the tribe’s health-care and education services to a halt. She sees how lending has brought a handful of decent jobs to one of America’s most remote regions, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where winter temperatures often fall to 20 below zero. Lending has allowed the tribe to subsidize propane costs during winters, preventing members from facing a choice “between heat and food,” tribal Chairman James Williams Jr. said. Lending allowed the tribe to cover the combined $60,000 shipping costs for 12 old Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers — government hand-me-downs, including a few used in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, that will soon turn into permanent housing. For McGeshick, lending proceeds even helped get her an affordable prefab home. She pays a $300 per month mortgage. Tribal subsidies cover the rest. Earlier in her life, she faced problems much like those of her borrowers. Four years ago, she had finished one semester of community college when she was hit with a $700 tuition bill.


Can this company do better than the egg?

by Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong billionaire business magnate. Early seed funding came courtesy of Silicon Valley-based Khosla Ventures. Meanwhile, major supermarket chains are signing on. Just Mayo can be found on the shelves at Walmart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Dollar Tree, Safeway and Whole Foods. Hong Kong’s ParknShop grocery chain sells it. In Britain, Tesco stores will carry it soon. Just Cookie Dough, an egg-free chocolate chip treat that can be cooked or eaten raw, is sold in Southern California Whole Foods and Costco stores and is slated to be in Kroger stores nationwide in March. Ikea and General Mills are considering Hampton Creek’s egg-substitute powder for meatballs and muffins, respectively. Hampton Creek officials decline to talk about sales figures or market share, but they do want to talk mission. “I believe in the power of business to change things, and we need change. There’s a lot that’s wrong with our food system,” says Hampton Creek founder Josh Tetrick. “I want to work with big food manufacturing companies like Nestlé, Kraft and General Mills, along with big food service companies like Compass, to fix the problems. We’re not some alternative, hippie Northern California niche thing. We want to connect with regular customers across the country and reach consumers on a large, global scale.” “I believe in the power of business to change things,” says Hampton Creek founder Josh Tetrick, who started the company in his apartment a little over three years ago. (From Hampton Creek) How to improve on the egg? Tetrick isn’t your typical Silicon Valley techhead. A Fulbright Scholar with a law degree, he spent seven years working for nonprofit groups serving youth in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Liberia. “I was frustrated the entire time,” he said. “Our impact was tiny, the pace slow and we had very stale solutions to gnarly, entrenched problems. It wasn’t bold enough.” Tetrick wanted to improve the world’s food, take risks and eventually partner with big business to bring about systemic change. But he had to start smaller, so Hampton Creek launched in his Los Angeles apartment in December 2011. He relocated to San Francisco in June 2012 because he needed space to grow his company. Hampton Creek now has about 60 employees, who share crowded quarters that are part science lab, part makeshift kitchen, part business office and all bootstrap tech start-up. The company is named after a friend’s


dog. The word “creek” was added when food company purchasing managers were polled and responded that Hampton Creek sounded like a company they could trust. Why mess with eggs? They’re a cheap source of animal protein, they taste good and they serve an impressive array of culinary functions. An egg is delicious on its own, whether boiled, fried, poached, baked or scrambled. In mayonnaise, egg yolks stabilize an emulsion of oil and acid. In baking, eggs leaven and create a light airy texture in cakes and cookies. Beaten egg whites add volume. Eggs bind ingredients in meatloaf and crab cakes. They thicken custards and sauces and glaze pastries and breads. But Tetrick and company believe industrial-scale egg production is ripe for reinvention: Think unsustainable environmental inefficiencies (all that land, water and fossil fuels to produce chicken feed, all that animal waste runoff), high production costs, food-safety scares and animal cruelty concerns. Free-range eggs are a step in the right direction, he says, but mainstream Americans like his dad won’t buy them because they cost more. Egg-loving consumers, chicken farmers and gastronomes may shudder, but Tetrick thinks he can do a whole lot better than the egg — and at a lower price point — using plant-based protein sources. If Just Mayo is any indication, he might be right. In a taste test by the Web site Serious Eats, Just Mayo beat out not just other egg-free mayonnaises but also a leading conventional mayo that was included as a control group. Tetrick, who grew up in Alabama on a diet of chicken wings, biscuits and grits, is vegan, simply because he thinks it’s the right thing to do for the planet, his body and animals. But he knows that his dietary choice isn’t for everyone — and that the idea of veganism might turn off some customers — so the word is deliberately absent from any company messaging, which focuses on the power of plants as an affordable and more healthful option. (It also downplays technology in its branding, stressing that this is real food with real ingredients for regular folk, not high-tech science experiments for adventurous eaters.) Finding plant sources that can mimic the egg’s functions, though, is no easy task. Hampton Creek has a database of 4,000 plant samples and their molecular structures, built in part by ex-Google maps engineer Dan Zigmond. Hampton Creek biochemists extract proteins from those


Nasdaq near dot-com era record, Google eyes wireless service.

corporate customers. ● Costco has chosen Citigroup and Visa to run its co-branded credit card starting next year, replacing American Express, which lost the coveted tie-up last month. Citigroup will exclusively issue the Costco-branded cards and Visa will provide the payment network in the United States and Puerto Rico from April 1, 2016, Costco said. The deal means that Costco customers will only be able to use Visa credit cards at its stores, as is the case with American Express cards. ● Robert Califf joined the Food and Drug Administration as the deputy commissioner after more than 30 years as a researcher and administrator at Duke University. For years, Califf, 63, has served on committees that advise the FDA on scientific and medical matters. The George W. Bush and Obama administrations had considered Califf for the agency’s top job. The timing of his appointment raised speculation that he may eventually be nominated to lead the agency. The week after announcing Califf’s new position, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said she would leave the agency after nearly six years on the job. ● U.S. construction spending fell 1.1 percent in January following a revised 0.8 percent increase in December, the Commerce Department reported. Spending on home construction rose 0.6 percent, but spending on nonresidential projects dropped 1.6 percent, reflecting declines in hotels, office buildings and the category that covers shopping centers. Spending on government projects also declined in January, falling 2.8 percent. ● U.S. factories expanded last month at their weakest pace in a year, with orders, hiring and production all growing more slowly. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said its manufacturing index slipped to 52.9 in February from 53.5 in January. It was the fourth straight drop and the lowest reading since January 2014. Still, any reading above 50 signals expansion. ● Keolis Commuter Services, the company that operates the Massachusetts commuter rail system, has been fined more than $434,000 after nearly two-thirds of the trains were late or canceled during the heavy snowfalls that pounded the region last month, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said. An on-time performance rate of about 35 percent warranted the maximum fine allowed under the company’s contract with the state, the MBTA said. Keolis disputed the fine, blaming unprecedented February snowfalls as acts of nature beyond its control. — From news services Coming Today ● All day: Motor-vehicle sales


Thousands defy Putin in Moscow

cause of democracy and human rights. They’re still willing to oppose the lies, corruption, imperialism and repression of Mr. Putin — and they deserve the support of the democratic West. Sadly, many Western leaders remain in a state of denial about Mr. Putin or still hesitate to take measures that might stop his aggression. The Obama administration has delayed for weeks any decision on imposing new economic sanctions or supplying defensive weapons to the Ukrainian government, despite the failure of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine to respect a Feb. 12 cease-fire agreement. On Feb. 21, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said he was “confident some additional steps will be taken in response to the breaches of the cease-fire.” On Feb. 25, he said, “we are getting to that critical decision time.” Nothing happened. The administration, which often boasts of acting in lockstep with allies on Ukraine, has not even matched the modest additional sanctions adopted by the European Union on Feb. 17. Though both his secretary of defense and his director of national intelligence have publicly indicated their support for delivering weapons to Ukraine, President Obama has remained passive. On Monday, after a lengthy meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, Mr. Kerry announced that Russia was getting yet another chance. There would be consequences, he said, if the violations of the cease-fire “continue.” Many Russians, including Mr. Nemtsov, have tried to point out that such irresolution encourages Mr. Putin to escalate his campaign to forcibly overturn the post-Cold-War order in Europe. They say he can be stopped only by steps that decisively raise the cost of his military aggression and cripple the financial system that sustains his regime. Mr. Nemtsov was seeking to help in his own way, by preparing a report documenting the participation of Russian troops in the Ukraine war — something that Mr. Putin denies in part because his public opposes it. It’s not known who murdered Mr. Nemtsov, and it probably won’t be as long as Mr. Putin remains in power. However, the Russians who courageously turned out on Sunday placed responsibility where it must lie: They marched straight to the Kremlin. If only Western leaders would show some of the same determination, Mr. Putin might still be checked. Read more about this topic: The Post’s View: Boris Nemtsov’s murder is another dark sign for Russia Fred Hiatt: Russians lose a champion of democracy


Mystery paralysis in children is perplexing parents — and researchers

BALTIMORE — Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers Aaron Milstone and Priya Duggal are leading a study to help children who have been paralyzed after contracting enterovirus. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) But then there was this mystery: More than 100 kids suffered an unexplained, polio-like paralysis that struck quickly but even now continues to stump researchers and upend the lives of the families across the country. For Priya Duggal and her colleagues at Johns Hopkins University, the biggest puzzle is why those children became paralyzed while their brothers and sisters, who also were exposed to the virus, escaped largely unscathed. “Is there something in these [paralyzed] kids that is different than the kids that are fine?” said Duggal, a genetic epidemiologist. “Maybe it’s the host, and the virus is a trigger that sets off the paralysis. . . . Maybe it’s something in their genetic makeup.” Duggal and fellow researchers Aaron Milstone and David Thomas, who are gathering DNA from patients around country, are among the experts trying to find answers for families affected by the paralysis. Doctors believe the condition, known as “acute flaccid myelitis,” is linked to last year’s nationwide outbreak of enterovirus D68, or EV-D68 — part of a family of viruses that appears in summer and fall — but they haven’t proved a connection. The outbreak probably sickened millions of children and sent thousands to doctors’ offices and emergency rooms with severe respiratory problems. [What is Enterovirus 68?] Many of the children with paralysis also got the virus, but initially they weren’t any sicker than their siblings or peers — until they experienced sudden muscle weakness days later. Some of the children, whose average age is a little younger than 8, have lost the use of an arm or a leg. Some have ended up in wheelchairs or on breathing machines. Although some have improved, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost none have fully recovered. When viruses mutate, scientists try to stay one step ahead. Columbia University virologist Vincent Racaniello explains the different ways that viruses like Enterovirus D68 can change. Doctors flummoxed Recently, as part of the Hopkins genetic study, Duggal sent DNA kits to some of the families wrestling with their new reality. One of the kits arrived at the Sheehan residence in Welches, Ore., a hamlet near Mount Hood. Bailey Sheehan, then 7, had woken up Oct.


— part of a family of viruses that appears in summer and fall — but they haven’t proved a connection. The outbreak probably sickened millions of children and sent thousands to doctors’ offices and emergency rooms with severe respiratory problems. [What is Enterovirus 68?] Many of the children with paralysis also got the virus, but initially they weren’t any sicker than their siblings or peers — until they experienced sudden muscle weakness days later. Some of the children, whose average age is a little younger than 8, have lost the use of an arm or a leg. Some have ended up in wheelchairs or on breathing machines. Although some have improved, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost none have fully recovered. When viruses mutate, scientists try to stay one step ahead. Columbia University virologist Vincent Racaniello explains the different ways that viruses like Enterovirus D68 can change. Doctors flummoxed Recently, as part of the Hopkins genetic study, Duggal sent DNA kits to some of the families wrestling with their new reality. One of the kits arrived at the Sheehan residence in Welches, Ore., a hamlet near Mount Hood. Bailey Sheehan, then 7, had woken up Oct. 21 with a headache and pain in her neck and back. She soon developed a respiratory infection. The rest of the family — her parents; brother Caleb, 5; and sister Andi, 4 months — also came down with flu-like symptoms. Everyone but Bailey recovered. Her respiratory problems cleared up, but the nerve pain got worse. One morning she had trouble lifting her arms. She later collapsed while trying to get up from the couch. “Mom,” she shouted, “my leg’s not working!” Mikell Sheehan rushed her daughter to Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland, an hour’s drive away. Bailey’s right arm had grown weak from shoulder to elbow; her right leg was numb from ankle to knee. She underwent tests, including for West Nile virus and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Physicians determined that Bailey had been infected by enterovirus D68, but they couldn’t say for sure whether that caused the paralysis. [How virus sleuths and officials are tracking the mysterious illness] “The doctors just tell us they don’t know [the cause],” Sheehan said. “It’s the most terrible feeling to have to tell your little girl, who’s in so much pain and whose leg won’t work, ‘I don’t know how to fix it and neither


Kennedy Center’s 2015-’16 season features big names, small series

Irish musicians, dancers and a film series. It stretches from May 16 to June 5, 2016. Highlighting the robust dance calendar is a joint commission of new work commemorating the legendary Twyla Tharp’s 50th anniversary. Other contemporary offerings include Paul Taylor (May 25-28, 2016) and Monica Bill Barnes and Company (March 10-11, 2016). The ballet offerings include the American premiere of the Royal Swedish Ballet’s production of Mats Ek’s “Juliet and Romeo,” (June 1-4, 2016) and the National Ballet of Canada’s “The Winter’s Tale, (Jan. 19-24, 2016). It will be the last year to see Robert Joffrey’s original “Nutcracker” (Nov. 25-29), since the Joffrey Ballet recently announced it will create a new production with choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. [Twyla Tharp unveils new works on 50th anniversary tour] Music lineup About 40 jazz concerts have been booked, with luminaries including Jimmy Heath (Dec. 18-19) and Stefon Harris (April 9, 2016) as well as young talent such as Marquis Hill (Nov. 6), Ambrose Akinmusire (May 6, 2016), and twins Peter and Will Anderson (April 22, 2016). The Anderson brothers are part of a new series called “A Family Affair,” which explores the deep familial connections among many jazz musicians. Finally, the National Symphony Orchestra will offer a 21-week classical series featuring premieres of Tobias Picker’s Concerto for Orchestra (March 10-12, 2016) and a new work by Sean Shepherd composed for violinist Leila Josefowicz (June 2-4, 2016). Violinist and conductor Nikolaj Znaider will visit for a two-week residency. The orchestra will tour Europe in February, making stops in Berlin, Munich, Madrid, Vienna and Wroclaw, Poland, the birthplace of music director Christoph Eschenbach. Joining the orchestra will be soloists Lang Lang and Daniel Muller-Schott. The orchestra will bring back midday concerts at 11:30 a.m. on four Fridays and will offer a new late-night series, “Declassified: Fridays@9.” A mix of classic and modern music with pre- and post-performance activities, “Declassified” concerts will have no intermissions and audiences will be allowed to take drinks and snacks into the theater. Guest artists include Ben Folds, Sarah Hicks, Anne Akiko Meyers, James Gaffigan and Storm Large. “You have to respond to what your audiences are telling you,” Rutter said. “These are tests. We want this, as much as possible, to feel like your living room, your family room. We can’t change the sense of place overnight, but we can, one person at a time, provide a great welcoming experience.”


Legislative session a mixed bag for McAuliffe

state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage from the books in its first session since the Supreme Court allowed same-sex unions to proceed in Virginia by letting a lower court’s ruling stand or replace “husband” and “wife” with terms that are gender neutral. “I’m not so sure this session was the lovefest that a lot of people think it has been,” Del. Marcus B. Simon (D-Fairfax) said. “The Republican majority still killed all of our bills, but they smiled while they did it this year. Part of the reason things were so eerily quiet here at the end is that minimum wage, equal pay, one handgun a month, same-sex marriage and fair housing all died during the first two weeks. The majority was incredibly efficient in disposing of popular, progressive initiatives this election year.” McAuliffe also suffered a surprising loss on a bill supporters said was intended to help the state hire compounding pharmacies to make lethal-injection drugs. The effort died in the House amid concerns about a secrecy provision, with conservatives suspicious of government secrecy forging an unlikely alliance with anti-death penalty Democrats. In the budget, the legislature rejected McAuliffe’s plan to increase certain business taxes by $11.7 million, spend $28 million on new voting machines and close tax loopholes for the coal industry. But the budget plan does provide the millions the governor had sought to expand mental-health services and school breakfast programs. In addition, the legislature gave McAuliffe the $27 million he sought to lure new businesses to the state. Yet the budget puts new controls on how he can spend the money and, in a partisan jab, changes the program’s name from the Governor’s Development Opportunity Fund to the Commonwealth’s Development Opportunity Fund. A few bills with the potential to become political flash points made their way through the legislature with little to no opposition. Lawmakers approved a narrowly tailored medical-marijuana bill, aimed at protecting people with severe seizures from being prosecuted for possessing a non-hallucinogenic extract of the plant. They also signed off on the cultivation of hemp for industrial uses. The legislature found time to pick not one but two replacements for “Carry Me Back to Old Virginia,” the minstrel tune demoted to “state song emeritus” in 1997 because of its nostalgic references to slavery. It designated “Our Great Virginia” the official traditional state song and made “Sweet Virginia Breeze” the official popular state song.


Montgomery County Animal Watch

These cases were received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. No problems for goats: Dog in a jam: Upcoming firefighters fundraiser Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: Rockville Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Adopt or foster rescue dogs: Rockville Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Be skeptical of ‘net neutrality’

As a young reporter in the 1970s, I covered the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). Created in 1887, the ICC regulated the nation’s railroads and sought to protect the public against abusive freight rates. Congress deregulated the railroads in 1980 and ultimately abolished the ICC. The verdict was that the agency had so weakened the industry that a government takeover might be necessary. Deregulation was a desperate alternative to nationalization. I mention all this because there are obvious parallels between the Internet today and the railroads in the late 19th century. Like the railroads then, the Internet today is the great enabling technology of the age. Like the railroads then, Internet companies inspire awe and dread. And now there’s another parallel: the resort to regulation. Just recently, the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to adopt a proposal to ensure “net neutrality.” The new rules will promote an Internet that’s “fast, fair and open,” said FCC chairman Tom Wheeler. As a slogan, net neutrality is swell. Who could oppose it? Speed is good, and hardly anyone wants an Internet that favors some users and penalizes others. Be skeptical. The FCC’s new rules weaken — or reverse — decades of minimal regulation, during which the Internet flourished. As often as not, economic regulation has adverse, unintended side effects. That was true of the railroads, and it may be true of the Internet. The railroads needed ICC approval for almost everything: rates, mergers, abandonments of little-used branch lines. Shippers opposed changes that might increase costs. Railroads struggled to meet new competition from trucks and barges. In 1970, the massive Penn Central railroad — serving the Northeast — went bankrupt and was ultimately taken over by the government. Others could have followed. The ensuing deregulation succeeded brilliantly, as economist Clifford Winston has shown. Costs and freight rates both declined. Railroads shed unprofitable lines and offered pricing packages that rewarded shippers for moving more freight in bulk. Mergers consolidated railroads into four major companies. Profits rose. The industry brags that it has spent $575 billion since 1980 to improve the rail network. Switch now to the Internet. It’s unclear what justifies new regulation. The FCC plan bars companies such as Verizon and Comcast — Internet Service Providers (ISPs) — from blocking any Internet connection. But there was never any support for this sort of censorship, and the agency’s press release contains no evidence that it is


Bettina Graziani, early supermodel, dies

French model Simone Micheline Bodin, known as Bettina, models an evening dress including $35 million worth of jewelry on Nov. 5, 1952. The black evening bag was designed by Andre Dallioux. (Levy/AP) Bettina Graziani, the willowy Parisian redhead who became one of the first global supermodels, posing for fashion luminaries such as Hubert de Givenchy, Christian Dior, Coco Chanel and Valentino, died March 2 in a Paris hospital. She long-shrouded her age and was reported to be 89 or 90. Her death was first announced by the news service Agence France-Presse, which did not cite a cause. Considered “the most photographed woman in France” in her heyday — and one of the first French models to attain enormous success in the United States — Ms. Graziani dominated fashion magazine covers and advertisements in the 1940s and 1950s with her regal poses and dramatic doe eyes. Making her fashion career under the moniker Bettina — a name bestowed upon her by designer Jacques Fath — she helped influence and shape French haute couture in postwar Paris. She served as a muse to Fath and a bevy of other French couturiers. She became one of the highest-paid models of her era and posed for many of the leading 20th-century photographers, including Irving Penn, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks, Horst P. Horst and Erwin Blumenfeld. The social event of the Paris season was the party hostess Elsa Maxwell gave at a Paris restaurant on June 24, 1957. Here, from left, are Bettina, vintner Paul Dubonnet and Prince Aly Khan. (Jean-Jacques Levy/AP) The French-born cover girl was “popular not only with the editors and photographers but with every man who ever dreamed of meeting a French mannequin,” wrote former Vogue fashion editor Bettina Ballard in her 1960 autobiography “In My Fashion.” She was born Simone Micheline Bodin in the Normandy region in 1925. She was raised by her mother, a schoolteacher. Her father, a railworker, deserted the family. “We had no money,” she once told The Washington Post. “We had to learn to clean and cook, which was the best thing that could happen.” She moved to Paris following the city’s liberation from the German occupiers in 1944. She told reporters her childhood wartime experiences kept her grounded in an industry known for its vanity and excess. “I cycled across frozen cabbage fields to get to school every morning. Experiences like that make you who


D.C. community calendar, March 5 to 12, 2015

Thursday, March 5 Washington Cathedral behind the scenes Tax assistance Memorials of the Mall Manga, anime and everything Japanese “Gute aussichten: New German photography 2014-2015” Chilean singer homage FlexAware exercise workshop “Back to Methuselah” Friday, March 6 AARP driver safety class Seniors line dancing Gardener’s focus: Orchid-filled greenhouse “Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt: Friday Morning Music Club recital Scholar talk Pipe organ concert Carol Feather Martin performs works by Gerald Bales, Frank Bridge, Johannes Brahms, J.S. Bach and Seth Bingham. 12:15-1 p.m. National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Cir. NW. Free, donations welcome. 202-797-0103. Hands-on workshop: To Repot or Not Latin American culture Open house Papo Vazquez Pirates Troubadours Drop-in figure drawing Evening with a park ranger Embassy Series: Classical Piano Recital Rueda All Stars dance concert Space lecture Saturday, March 7 Second inaugural address commemoration ceremony at Lincoln Memorial Capital Area Food Bank Mobile Marketplace Elizabethan garden tours Workshop: Getting your orchid to rebloom Native Women Artists: Creativity and Continuity Persian New Year and Iranian art exhibitions Diabetes support group Carillon concert Bloody Sunday: Portrait story days: Susan B. Anthony Career design Art opening for “Food for Thought” Lego Club Classical music at Hillwood Saxophonist Moreira Chonguica concert Axelrod String Quartet concert Curtis Chamber Orchestra Drummer Yissy Garcia Sunday, March 8 Edit-a-thon Low vision rehab Ice cube magic U.S. Air Force Band concert Cathedral Choral Society concert Music at the Monastery Classical piano recital Jack Quartet concert Monday, March 9 Income tax assistance Fábulas Mayas Therapeutic yoga classes U.S. Botanic Garden lunchtime tour Cancer support group “The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse ” Tuesday, March 10 Orchids: Interlocking science and beauty Growing gardeners Yoga at noon Classical music concert Sketching workshop Mingering Mike: Curator gallery talk Unbuilt Washington: Alternative visions Yoga Parenting without power struggles Wednesday, March 11 Benjamin Botkin lecture Gallery talk Lunder behind the scenes Arts in the library Yoga in Luce Birth of the banjo Mystery thriller book club Zumba at Southwest “Laugh” Thursday, March 12 Preschool program: Treasure Quest “The Great Divide: The Conflict between Washington and Jefferson that Defined a Nation ” Art Signs Tudor nights: Yours affectionately, G. Washington Poetry reading Democracy since 1989: A questionable triumph — Compiled by Gerri Marmer TO SUBMIT AN EVENT E-mail: Mail: Details:


Man fatally shot in Southeast Washington identified

D.C. police are investigating the fatal shooting of a Prince George’s County man early Thursday in Southeast Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood, according to a department spokeswoman. The shooting occurred about 1:10 a.m. in the 1400 block of Cedar Street SE, adjacent to the grounds of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. Police identified the victim as Thomas N. Deal, 33, of Upper Marlboro. Aquita Brown, a police spokeswoman, said the victim was found unconscious. Police said he was pronounced dead on the scene. Residents sent notes to police on the department’s Internet bulletin board reporting that they heard as many as 10 gunshots.


Mother goosers: The Style Invitational (someone’s) Mama jokes from Week 1110

E.L. James’s Mama E.L. James’s Mama Whistler’s Mama Harry Truman’s Mama’s Vin Diesel’s Mama’s Minnesota Fats’s Mama Frank Lloyd Wright’s Mama Optimus Prime’s Mama, Chuck Norris’s Mama Superman’s Mama Clark Kent’s Mama’s Sigmund Freud’s Mama Charles Darwin’s Mama Dr. Mengele’s Mama Galileo’s Mama Chris Christie’s Mama Colonel Sanders’s Mama Bob Staake’s Mama The prophet Muhammad’s Mama And this week . . . NEW CONTEST FOR WEEK 1114:AWWW TOGETHER NOW: GIVE US SOME NEWS FOR THE OPTIMIST Your Mama’s Fat Cells May Provide Unlimited Clean Energy Visiting Martians Say They’re Not Conquerors, Just Want ‘to Serve Man,’ Plan Elections Soon Israelis, Palestinians Find Common Ground: Both Pass on Pork Belly Fad You know how hard it is to bring yourself to even look at the slew of dispiriting headlines these days, let alone the depressing articles that follow them; sometimes it’s as if comic-book villains have come to our real world, with no caped superheroes to bail us out. The Washington Post has come to our rescue: Every week it sends subscribers an e-mail newsletter called The Optimist, with links to good-news and feel-good articles — “stories that inspire.” (To sign up, go to your account at bit.ly/twp-newsletters.) Recent headlines included “Couple married 67 years holds hands in final hours together; “Cat cheats death, claws way out of grave days after his burial”; and “The Hubble spotted this smiley face in space.” But if we’re really optimists, why limit the news to good news? If we want to live up to the name, we should see the bright side in bad news as well. This week: Write us a humorous headline — from the present, past or future — that puts an optimistic perspective on some otherwise not-so-promising news, as in the examples above by 225-time Loser Gary Crockett, who suggested this contest. (Do you think another recent Invite contest was on his mind?) Winner gets the Inkin’ Memorial, the Lincoln statue bobblehead that is the official Style Invitational trophy. Second place receives Lucky O’Pooper, a cheap-looking plastic wind-up leprechaun that poops candy. (Packaging: “I Poop Candy!”) Donated by 119-time Loser Barbara Turner. Other runners-up The Style Conversational: The Empress’s weekly online column (published late Thursdays) discusses each new contest and set of results. Especially if you plan to enter, check it out at wapo.st/styleconv. Still running — deadline Monday night: our song parody contest for “Happy Birthday” alternatives and other


D.C. police arrest man being sought in killing of woman in Southeast

Vernon Bullock (D.C. Police) A man being sought in a January killing of a woman in Southeast Washington was arrested Thursday on a warrant charging him with second-degree murder, according to D.C. police. The suspect has been identified as Vernon Bullock, 32, of Southeast. He could make his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Friday, when an arrest affidavit would be unsealed, revealing additional details about the case. Bullock is charged with killing Lakida Goodman, 34, of Southeast. Her body was found about 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 19 at a location in the 3000 block of Stanton Road SE. Police did not revealed how she died, but said the medical examiner has ruled her death a homicide. Police announced Feb. 23 that they had obtained a warrant for Bullock’s arrest and were seeking him. Authorities distributed a picture of him as well. Authorities have not commented on a possible motive or whether the suspect and victim knew each other.


Beneath all that snow is spring, if you know where to look for it

in his basement, under the grow lights where his kohlrabi seedlings are basking until their outdoor debut. Winter refuses to surrender as D.C., New York and more endure another snowy blast. “It’s a good way to get over the s--w and ice,” he said. In most years, those in charge of the Mary Garden at St. Mary’s Parish in Annapolis would have dirt under their fingernails by now. “Because of the weather, we’re waiting,” said Rose Love, whose florally appropriate name evokes thoughts of a warm April stroll in Paris. Love runs the group of master gardeners that tends the plot, which features varieties of flowers named for the Virgin Mary. She admires the garden’s begonias and vincas, but she most looks forward to the blue hydrangeas, their blossoms resembling a cluster of butterflies on the verge of takeoff. She and her fellow caretakers so miss their gardening that they plan to meet for lunch this weekend just to talk horticulture. Boyd McHugh is a human barometer of spring. He works in Spring Valley, in Northwest Washington. During the winter, he is the sales manager at Ski Center. Each March, that same store transforms into Spring Valley Patio, and he becomes an outdoor-furniture buyer. As he has for the last 16 years, he is waiting for the moment of morph, when they take down the rack of ski parkas at the front and replace it with a vast photo-mural of a tropical beach. “I don’t know, we may push it back a week,” McHugh said as the winter weather coated his nearly empty parking lot Thursday. “We love it, but I hope this is the last of the [crystalline water droplets] we are going to see this year.” Businesses pine for spring. In Washington, it’s an industry. Each year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival draws more than 1.2 million tourists and generates in excess of $100 million in economic impact. Convention season will soon bring thousands of expense accounts to town. Graduation ceremonies for area colleges will fill hotels and restaurants. “It is our Super Bowl,” Elliott Ferguson, head of Destination DC, said of the season. Spring fashions weren’t waiting for warm weather. One shopper at Hu’s Shoes in Georgetown bought an $820 pair of Isabel Marant flats Thursday in defiance of the slush outside. “I think there’s a lot of pent-up energy and demand for sandals that remind you


D.C. police arrest man sought in the January slaying of Southeast woman

THE DISTRICT Police arrest man in woman’s slaying A man being sought in the January killing of a woman in Southeast Washington was arrested Thursday on a warrant charging him with second-degree murder, according to D.C. police. The suspect has been identified as Vernon Bullock, 32, of Southeast. He could make his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Friday, when an arrest affidavit would be unsealed revealing additional details about the case. Bullock is charged with killing Lakida Goodman, 34, of Southeast. Her body was found on Jan. 19 in the 3000 block of Stanton Road SE. Police did not reveal how she died but said the medical examiner has ruled her death a homicide. Authorities have not commented on a possible motive or whether the suspect and victim knew each other. — Peter Hermann Man is fatally shot in Anacostia D.C. police are investigating the fatal shooting of a Prince George’s County man early Thursday in Southeast Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood, according to a department representative. The shooting occurred about 1:10 a.m. in the 1400 block of Cedar Street SE, adjacent to the grounds of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. Police identified the victim as Thomas N. Deal, 33, of Upper Marlboro. Aquita Brown, a police spokeswoman, said the victim was found unconscious. Police said he was pronounced dead on the scene. Residents sent notes to police on the department’s Internet bulletin board reporting that they heard as many as 10 gunshots. — Peter Hermann


Give veterans access to the care they need

differently to varying drugs and dosages. Finding the right mix can be a frustrating saga of trial and error. The wrong drug or dose can, if not caught in time, become a factor in other serious mental-health and behavioral issues, even including suicide. It only makes sense that once Defense Department doctors identify an effective treatment for a service member, that same treatment should be available when the service member leaves active duty and moves to VA for care. More often than not, however, it is not. The disconnect occurs because Defense has an all-inclusive drug formulary that allows clinicians to prescribe almost any medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration, while VA has a very limited formulary, primarily to control costs. Medically discharged service members who are given a 90-day supply of PTS prescriptions eventually must report to their VA medical facility for refills, where they are often denied — not for medical reasons but because the medications they rely on are not on VA’s approved list. This is not a case of one prescriber issuing Bayer aspirin while another uses Saint Joseph. Service members whose symptoms are being controlled by specific anti-depressant, anti-anxiety or anti-psychotic drugs, as well as pain and sleep medications, are forced to give them up and search for a replacement — often a painful and dangerous process — simply because Congress has failed to require Defense and VA to harmonize their drug formularies. Let me be clear: The problem is not that doctors within the two systems disagree over which drugs should be part of their formularies. Their hands are tied. They must operate within the rules set out by Congress. Rather than repeating the laborious process of finding another drug that works, many veterans have told me they sought out private providers to fill their prescriptions, usually paying for their medications out of pocket. Imagine how they feel about VA when their first experience with the agency is a doctor telling them they cannot fill a prescription that has relieved their PTS symptoms for months or even years. In some cases, the veteran is not even given enough of the recommended drug to safely discontinue its use. I have testified about this serious discrepancy, most recently as a member on the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission, and have discussed it privately with members of Congress. A few have said they will


Squeezing Somalia may backfire

central banking sector; it continues to struggle with terrorism, acute food insecurity and criminality. Globally, the Somali diaspora sends back an estimated $1.3 billion annually, which represents 25 percent to 45 percent of Somalia’s gross domestic product. Nearly a fifth of that comes from Somalis in the United States. Somalis are now facing a serious crisis that Washington helped to create. Because of increasing regulatory pressure to comply with counterterrorism and anti-money-laundering guidelines, numerous banks have decided to stop servicing the accounts that money-transfer operators use to help Somalis send cash home — including Merchants Bank in California, which until last month handled 60 percent to 80 percent of the money sent from the United States. This trend, known broadly in the banking industry as “de-risking,” has been accelerating, even as humanitarian assistance to the country has declined. Lately, there has been some cause for optimism in Somalia, but the catastrophic economic, social and political consequences of shutting down remittance flows could severely set back the progress the country has made in recent years. “For a lot of Somali families, this is the difference between life and death,” said Scott Paul, senior humanitarian policy adviser for Oxfam. “When you take into consideration the fact that nearly half of Somalis in Somalia depend on money from the diaspora to meet their most basic needs, you’re looking at very significant consequences for people living in Somalia.” After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States began looking more seriously at the role that global money flows play in financing terrorism. The Patriot Act and the Bank Secrecy Act compel banks to assist government efforts to detect money laundering and terrorism. Institutions can be hit with gargantuan fines for failing to comply: In 2012, HSBC was fined almost $2 billion to resolve a laundering case involving Mexican drug lords. Horrific terrorism throughout the Horn of Africa by al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab, the lack of a formal financial regulator in Somalia and the harsh U.S. regulatory environment have created a perfect storm of risk for wary banks. The irony is that the U.S. regulatory squeeze could well backfire. Disrupting remittance flows in Somalia will force people to turn to a much less transparent black market for money transfers and encourage criminals — and terrorists — to take advantage of those desperate to maintain their financial lifelines. Osman Gabeire, a former director of banking supervision


Widening superbug outbreak raises questions for FDA, manufacturers

herself a registered nurse, in her first interview on the matter. “We’d just like them to do something so that people are better informed. Nobody said Aaron could get something from these scopes that could kill him. . . . We just had no idea.” Lori and Glenn Smith are the adoptive parents of Aaron Young, a high school student hospitalized at UCLA for a CRE infection. CRE is highly resistant to antibiotics and kills as many as half its victims if it spreads to the bloodstream. The family has alleged negligence and fraud on the part of Olympus Corp., maker of the duodenoscope. (David Walter Banks for The Washington Post) The family of Antonia Torres Cerda, a 48-year-old woman who died in November after apparently being exposed to a contaminated duodenoscope at the hospital, has sued the company for wrongful death. Cerda underwent the endoscopy procedure before receiving a liver transplant. An Olympus spokesman said the company “does not comment on active legal matters or speculation” but added that it “continuously strives to improve our products for safe and effective use.” ‘Why did it take so long?’ For years, the FDA has received warnings — from hospitals, from clinicians, and from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — about possible links between the duodenoscopes and the spread of deadly infections. The devices are used in a procedure known as ERCP, or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, on roughly 500,000 patients annually in the United States. They are considered a critical tool in diagnosing and treating cancers, gallstones and other ailments of the digestive system in a minimally invasive way. [California public health officials are tracking down 179 patients after superbug deaths] The general public may not have known about the small but serious risks associated with bacteria harbored in duodenoscopes, but some medical experts have been flagging the problem for decades. “We have known about this even as early as 1983 or 1984,” said John Allen, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine who is president of the American Gastroenterological Association. In 1987, Allen wrote in an academic journal about 10 of his patients in Minnesota mysteriously becoming infected with a bacteria known as Pseudomonas. He and his colleagues traced the infections to a single duodenoscope, whose small crevices harbored bacteria despite repeated cleanings. In 2009, after a dozen patients in France were infected with drug-resistant bacteria linked to


U.S. denounces award-winning cleric who called 9/11 ‘inside job’

Saudi King Salman, left, presents Zakir Naik, president of the Islamic Research Foundation in India, with the 2015 King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam in Riyadh on March 1. (AFP/Getty Images) LONDON — At a news conference in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, Secretary of State John F. Kerry was asked about the award that Saudi King Salman presented last weekend to Zakir Naik — one of five winners of the King Faisal International Prize, which comes with a 24-karat gold medal and $200,000. Kerry, who had just come from a meeting with the king, said he was unaware of the award and declined to comment. [The Saudi king gave a prize to an Islamic scholar who says 9/11 was an ‘inside job’] But State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki sent a statement Friday harshly critical of Naik. “The views he expressed in the past on Jews and 9/11 are reprehensible,” she said. Naik is founder of Peace TV Channel, which specializes in comparative religious topics and purports to have an audience exceeding 100 million among English-speaking Muslims around the world. The prize from the King Faisal Foundation, whose board members are all relatives of the late king, cited Naik’s “service to Islam.” The Indian cleric has made a string of controversial comments over the years, causing Britain to bar him from entering the country. In a 2008 broadcast on Peace TV, Naik suggested that President George W. Bush, not al-Qaeda, was responsible for flying hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. “Even a fool will know that this was an inside job,” he said at the time. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were born in Saudi Arabia. On another occasion, Naik branded the United States the “biggest terrorist” around. “If he is terrorizing America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, I am with him,” he said. [Read: The facts, and a few myths, about Saudi Arabia's human rights record] He also has said that the Koran permits men to have sex with female “slaves,” that apostates should be killed and that “the Jews” control America. But Psaki did not say anything about the decision by the Saudi king to present the award last weekend. Instead, she noted that Saudi Arabia is an ally of the United States in the campaign against the Islamic State. “Saudi Arabia is a key partner in the Coalition to counter


Haunted by their decisions in war

“To understand moral injury and address its effects, we need to recognize that it exists,” Thomas Gibbons-Neff writes. (PATRICK BAZ/Getty Images) Thomas Gibbons-Neff, a senior at Georgetown University, was a 2014 Washington Post summer intern. He served as a rifleman in the 1st battalion, 6th Marines in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2010. Even on the short overnight ops, sometimes we talked about things we knew we’d carry home. On a cold night in March 2010, Jeff brought up the kid he’d shot a month earlier, when the battle for the Afghan city of Marja was hot and there was no shortage of 15-year-olds picking up Kalashnikovs off the ground. Jeff had killed one of them with four shots from a heavy-caliber semi-auto that made a soft thud when the bolt released. The kid had a rifle, and even kids with rifles can kill Marines, Jeff had figured. A few weeks later, we were on the side of the road watching for Taliban fighters digging bombs into the ground, and Jeff was telling me about it. He described the way the kid fell and how he wasn’t sure he’d done the right thing. That was five years ago. Jeff doesn’t bring up that story anymore. I know he thinks about it, though, because a couple of years back he put a Remington 700 short action in his mouth and didn’t pull the trigger. Rather than remaining in the flooded poppy fields of Afghanistan, the story of the kid Jeff shot stuck with him. It grew and matured just as Jeff had, until one day Jeff sat on his bed with a loaded rifle across his lap, staring at a part of his life he could no longer understand. “I’m not crazy,” he told me, and I knew he wasn’t. Ten years ago we would have just called it post-traumatic stress disorder. Sixty years ago, it would have been combat fatigue. And in the shell-raked trenches of the Western Front, it would have been shell shock. But Jeff’s dead kid was none of those things. Jeff’s weight was something else — a moral injury. Moral injury David Wood, a Huffington Post reporter, describes moral injury as “the pain that results from damage to a person’s moral foundation.” In her forthcoming book “Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of Our Soldiers,” Georgetown University’s Nancy Sherman thinks of moral injuries as a painful “transgression” or


A spectrum of service models is changing the way we sell homes

(The Washington Post) When Rachel and Mark Stephens were preparing to sell their home in Chevy Chase in Northwest Washington last summer, they started looking for a less costly way to handle the transaction. The Stephenses are from the United Kingdom, where homeowners pay just 1 or 1.5 percent to real estate agents when they sell their home. “We already sold a home in San Francisco and we didn’t want to pay a high commission again, especially because we knew our home would be pretty easy to sell,” Rachel says. The Stephenses’ home is within the boundaries of sought-after Murch Elementary School on a large lot for that neighborhood. The couple hired Atieno “Ati” Okelo Williams, owner of DC Home Buzz, a real estate agency in Washington, to sell their home after interviewing several other companies. They hired her for two reasons: DC Home Buzz — a boutique brokerage with six licensed real estate agents and four staff members who provide staging, marketing and transaction support — lists and sells homes for a flat commission fee of $9,900. And the Stephenses were confident that her marketing strategy would work quickly to get the result they wanted. It did: Their home received four offers and they sold it in one day for a price slightly above the list price. In listing with a broker offering the flat fee, the Stephenses saved approximately $20,000. While DC Home Buzz introduced its flat fee commission structure in the spring of 2013, Redfin brokerage started its own game-changing low commission program last fall. “Redfin already offers sellers a 1.5 percent commission nationwide, which is a lower fee than most other brokerages, but in the D.C. market we decided to test a 1 percent fee to gain momentum for our listing business,” says Karen Krupsaw, vice president of real estate operations for Redfin real estate brokerage in Washington. A 6 percent commission is not necessarily a fact of life for people listing their homes for sale. Sellers not only can negotiate a lower fee, but they can take advantage of a growing number of brokerages offering flat fees and deep discounts. There’s a spectrum of service models available to home sellers ranging from full service- full commission agents on one end to discount agents on the other end who provide a “pay-per-service” system in which sellers opt to pay separately for items such as a listing


Multiple VHSL gymnastics state meet postponements cause major headaches

get back in time to compete for the all-around title. But no more than a couple hours after changing her flight, she received word that the championships had been pushed back again. Even though she had known for almost a week that the event was to take place on Feb. 28, Broussard said the reason she waited until two days before the meet to change her flight was because she thought the meet had a chance to get pushed back again. “My dad wasn’t too happy,” she said. Perpall is leaving town this weekend, and won’t be able to be there on Sunday for Marshall’s lone competitor, Morgan Stahl. Stahl, who doesn’t compete for a club, is an all-around finalist and will be competing on the bars, beam, floor and vault. She hasn’t had much practice time the past two weeks. “Right now I am much more out of shape,” she said. “I haven’t practiced in a high school floor since regionals. The people who don’t do club gymnastics are at a really big disadvantage” as a result of the postponements. Freedom’s Cara Fragala, who also does not compete for a club, hasn’t practiced her state meet floor routine in 10 days, Freedom Coach Laura Wrighte said. “It’s just unfortunate,” Perpall said. “You would like to think that they have all the gymnasts in mind, but it doesn’t always works out that way. I’m sad that I can’t be there for her.” Stahl said she’s hopeful the latest postponement will allow a full roster of gymnasts to attend the meet. “Everyone deserves to go to the meet,” she said. “If there is a big conflict for one of the meets, it makes sense to push it back. No one could have expected the season dragging on this long.” The third postponement ended up benefiting Conference 14 and 5A North champ and state all-around finalist Sydney Wrighte. She will be in Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday competing for her club, which would have kept her out of the field for Saturday’s rescheduled VHSL meet. With the move to Sunday, she’s now scrambling to find a Saturday night flight that would get her back in time. “It will be very difficult but I will do everything I can to try,” said Laura Wrighte, who is Sydney’s mother. “We will have to figure out a way.” The third delay also benefited Broussard. She will


Bees’ crucial role in the food chain

Thanks for including honey as a natural sweetener in the March 3 Health & Science article “It’s sweet! A periodic table.” As I am a beekeeper in Northern Virginia, it certainly got my attention. The accompanying graphic said honey “has antioxidants, but may contain pesticides.” I hope readers think about the survival of honeybees that make the honey and the other pollinators upon which we depend for most of our food. If food plants have flowers, we need pollinators to visit those flowers to create the food we love and the seeds needed to grow that food. Wind pollinates grains: wheat, corn, rye, etc. Almost everything else requires a bee, butterfly, hummingbird or other pollinator. Pesticides contaminate honey and kill beneficial insects as well as less-desired ones. I was surveyed recently about my beehives and honey, and I asked the interviewer how pesticides could be eliminated from use because they are so destructive. He said that he thought the chemical companies would take care of the problem themselves — when the pollinators are all dead and soybeans can no longer be grown. I trust that we humans are not that stupid. Pamela S. Popovich, Nokesville


A scary new virus strain

I was riveted by the March 3 front-page article “Cause of children’s paralysis is elusive for researchers,” about a polio-like paralysis linked to the enterovirus D68 strain and its possible genetic component. In 1949, there was an outbreak of polio in my father’s family. It killed him and one of his sisters; another sister’s legs were paralyzed, and her young son died. The (genetically unrelated) three spouses and their other 10 children had either mild or no polio symptoms. It always seemed that my father’s siblings must have had a genetic susceptibility. The article quoted Mikell Sheehan as saying her biggest fear was that her daughter “Bailey and these other [paralyzed] kids are going to be forgotten.” I, on the other hand, am terrified that they may be remembered as the vanguard of a new and terrible polio-like paralysis epidemic for which our country seems totally unprepared. Thank goodness for researchers such as Priya Duggal, Aaron Milstone and David Thomas. It gave me chills when I reread the article and recalled that the name of my cousin who died in 1949 was Bailey. Lynn N. Hargis, Bethesda


A scrapped science project

The Feb. 28 news article “DHS criticized for scrapping plan to fight bio-threats” reported that a Department of Homeland Security official raised the ire of department scientists when he quashed a project that promised to offer advanced capability to detect pathogens. Before folks start brandishing their pitchforks, it is worth noting that scientists (and I am one) are often not the best arbiters of the commercial relevance or financial feasibility of a technology. By nature, they focus on the technical features of a product rather than on its practical utility or benefit-to-cost ratio. Government scientists who manage federally funded research and development projects are frequently the authors of the original contract solicitations to which companies respond. Although they don’t benefit financially from the success of contractors, they do have a vested professional interest in the outcomes of the research they fund. This may contribute to bias when a decision needs to be made about whether to sustain a program. Gary Robinson, Gaithersburg


This is not Edward Brooke’s GOP

John Tunney. Brooke and I spent many hours on the floor together, where he was also aided by his veteran civil rights legislative assistant, Ralph Neas. When Brooke wasn’t fending off attacks, he and I talked about growing up in segregated Washington and attending school at Dunbar and Howard and how it was a shame that the original Dunbar building — the United States’ first black public high school and a mecca for black education — had been razed based on black activists’ arguments that it symbolized black elitism. Brooke had uncanny skills at bridging the divide — the title of his 2006 book. That talent is sorely missing in Washington today. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Congress this week brings me to the third event. For insight, I turn to another Howardite, the Harvard-trained political scientist who created and led the university’s political science department from 1928 to 1941: Ralph J. Bunche. Creation of the Jewish state in 1948 opened wounds in the Middle East. The United Nations, supported by President Harry S. Truman, turned to Bunche to establish peace between Israel and the Arabs. Michael B. Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington, describes Bunche’s negotiating style in his 2008 book, “Power, Faith and Fantasy”: “ ‘Have a look at these lovely plates!’ the dapper but straight-talking Bunche told the Arab and Israeli delegates who dined with him on the island of Rhodes. ‘If you reach an agreement, each one of you will get one to bring home. If you don’t, I’ll break them over your heads.’ ” Bunche successfully mediated that day’s conflict over Palestine, leading to armistice agreements between Israel and four Arab states. The achievement won him the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize. What would Bunche think of what just happened here in Washington? An opposition-party leader conspires with a foreign leader to poke a stick in the eye of an American president, thus undercutting the president’s role as a principled peacemaker and mediator. That’s not the Israel of Ralph Bunche’s day. And it’s not the GOP of Ed Brooke’s era. But it’s the world that Wayne Frederick and his students at Howard must contend with. And the Ides of March are still a week away. Read more from Colbert King’s archive. Read more: Charles Krauthammer: Netanyahu’s Churchillian warning E.J. Dionne Jr.: The wound Netanyahu left Dana Milbank: Congress declares war at Netanyahu’s request


Ukrainian soldiers ill-prepared for psychological toll of war

Officers in training rub each others' shoulders during a volunteer psychologist-led mental health training at the Ukrainian military's Desna training facility in north-central Ukraine on Feb. 23, 2015. It is the first time mental health training has been mandatory for new recruits. (Karoun Demirjian/The Washington Post) DESNA, Ukraine — “How do you feel? You feel uplifted!” Mosgovoi drilled the group of men in heavy boots and fatigues. Most of them followed along with blank looks or smirks on their faces. A few erupted into giggles. “Sing a song about what you see,” Mosgovoi suggested as a way to beat the battlefield blues. “And don’t drink.” In nearly a quarter-century of independence, Ukraine’s military has seen so little combat that the country’s defense minister estimated the nation had only 6,000 battle-ready troops a year ago. Over the past 10 months, the Ukrainian army has drafted almost 70,000 soldiers in a war against pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. And most of the fighting has been carried out by recruits and volunteers with no prior combat experience. Since the hostilities began, Kiev has scrambled to train tens of thousands of soldiers on how to fire weapons, take orders and internalize what commanders and enlistees refer to as a patriotic call to arms. But despite continued warnings from inside and outside the country about the war’s mental toll, it was not until the latest mobilization, which began a few weeks ago, that Ukraine ordered new recruits to go through a short psychological training course. It is run by a battalion of hastily retrained, unpaid civilian professionals. “It’s all volunteers. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t support any of this,” said Valentina Neikova-Mohova, a volunteer crisis psychologist who also works with returning soldiers exhibiting signs of post-traumatic stress and other related disorders. “We lack the military specialists. We lack experience in this field.” Neikova-Mohova is one of thousands of psychologists who offered their services, just as other civilians provided money, food and arms to a sorely under-supplied military when the fighting began. But with no post-Soviet combat experience, and a military structure that officials say was intentionally wizened under years of pro-Russian leadership, very few people had any practical experience with war trauma. “We practically do not have military psychology in this country,” said Elena Stupak, 46, who founded the Psychological Crisis Center — a group that began by working with civilians stricken


Man shot to death in NW D.C.

A man was fatally shot Saturday night on a Columbia Heights street, D.C. police said Sunday. The victim, who has not been publicly identified by authorities, was found suffering from gunshot wounds shortly after 9:30 p.m. in the 3500 block of Center Street NW, near the corner of Ogden Street, police said. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The slaying remains under investigation by homicide detectives.


Value Added: This Eagle Scout plans to do good — and clean up — with soap

David Simnick’s Alexandria-based SoapBox soaps broke to a fast start when he expanded into a fleet of Whole Foods Market grocery stores in the spring of 2012. Then the bottom fell out. Without Simnick hawking the bars during in-store demonstrations, sales slumped. Simnick and his partners began a swift course correction: changing prices, jazzing up the packaging and eventually expanding the product line to liquid soaps and body wash to capture a wider audience. “We were way too expensive and the packaging was awful,” said Simnick, the 27-year-old chief executive of SoapBox, whose marketing slant is to donate soap, vitamins or clean water every time a customer makes a purchase. The reset worked. SoapBox expects to gross between $3 million and $6 million this year. Two weeks ago, the company landed $1.1 million from investors to help fund an expansion into 1,700 Targets, 1,600 CVS locations and, beginning next month, Sam’s Club, Giant, Martin’s and Stop & Shop. Advisers include bankers, financiers and local heavyweights Roger Mody, who is part-owner of the Washington Wizards/Capitals sports empire; Marc Katz, the founder of T-shirt company CustomInk, and Josh Deckard, a former White House deputy press secretary in the George W. Bush administration. Simnick said the Whole Foods slump triggered a seminal moment in the company’s trajectory. “You can’t be a charity that happens to sell soap,” said Simnick, who runs the business with Daniel Doll, a college buddy who serves as chief operating officer. “We have to be a company that sells an amazing product that happens to give back.” The SoapBox lesson is about more than running a mission-driven company. It’s about being smart enough to pivot when the path you are on isn’t working. It’s about carving a niche in the hypercompetitive hygiene and beauty market, where margins are minute and the masters of scale are Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive. I also learned a couple of interesting things about the soap business from Simnick. First, there is a subculture of soap hobbyists who sell their wares at country fairs and farmers’ markets. Secondly, most consumers view soap as a commodity and stubbornly refuse to pay much. Third, Simnick said millennials prefer liquid soap over bars. The company makes about $1 on each bar of all-natural soap it ships from its Indianapolis manufacturing plant. Last year, it shipped a quarter-million of them. The profit is higher on the liquid


NSO, Lopez-Cobos disappoint in “Iberian Suite” program

Portuguese fado singer Carminho seemed dwarfed by the Kennedy Center concert hall. (Courtesy of the Kennedy Center) Such a disappointment. An enticing program that wasn’t performed well enough. This was the National Symphony Orchestra’s concert Friday night, part of the Kennedy Center’s “Iberian Suite” festival. It offered Spanish- and Portuguese-tinged music that I wouldn’t think I could resist, such as Heitor Villa-Lobos’s “Bachianas Brasileiras,” No. 5, with its haunting melody. Or Manuel de Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain,” so fragrant, dark and rhythmic. Or Joaquin Turina’s “Danzas Fantásticas,” Op. 22, whose movements have titles that tell the whole story: “Exaltation,” “Fantasy,” “Orgy.” I was also eager to hear Carminho, a Portuguese star, who sings fado, the native music her country most loves. I could crudely say it’s like flamenco, though it’s darker, with a melancholy color all its own. The evening did have its high points. One was a piece from 1986, “Tiento del Primer Tono y Batalla Imperial,” by Cristóbal Halffter, a Spanish composer new to me. He richly reimagined Spanish music from the baroque and the Renaissance periods and teased it with playful bursts of noise. Pianist Javier Perianes playing in a Falla piece was one of the evening’s highlights. (Marco Borggreve for Harmonia Mundi) Another high was Javier Perianes, the deft and fluent pianist who played extensive solos in the Falla piece. But Carminho, though she was sincere and touching, seemed a little dwarfed by the Kennedy Center concert hall, and she sang without the power I had expected. The soprano in the Villa-Lobos suite, Juanita Lascarro, also sounded just a little wan. What dragged the concert down most, though, was the orchestra. These musicians don’t always sound their best, and this was a most unhappy night for them. They played out of tune and without much spirit. One cause might have been the snow, which led to a rehearsal being canceled. I would also fault the conductor, Jesús López-Cobos, despite his long international career. He kept the music moving. But someone else — with more buoyancy, some well-chosen words and maybe, now and then, a disapproving eyebrow raised toward the winds and brass — could have done a lot more to pull things together. But I might blame the musicians, too. Some orchestras, even when things go wrong, still insist on playing well. Sandow is a freelance writer. Juanita Lascarro, the soprano in the


Russia’s anti-American fever goes beyond the Soviet era’s

challenge for U.S. policymakers seeking to reach out to a shrinking pool of friendly faces in Russia. And it is a marker of the limits of their ability to influence Russian decision-making after a year of sanctions. More than 80 percent of Russians now hold negative views of the United States, according to the independent Levada Center, a number that has more than doubled over the past year and that is by far the highest negative rating since the center started tracking those views in 1988. Russians wait in line outside a McDonald's in 1991 in Moscow. The fast-food chain has had to emphasize its local ties after finding that it’s not immune from the anti-Western sentiment in the country. (AP) Nemtsov’s assassination, the highest-profile political killing during Vladimir Putin’s 15 years in power, was yet another brutal strike against pro-Western forces in Russia. Nemtsov had long modeled himself on Western politicians and amassed a long list of enemies who resented him for it. The anti-Western anger stands to grow even stronger if President Obama decides to send lethal weaponry to the Ukrainian military, as he has been considering. The aim would be to “raise the cost” of any Russian intervention by making the Ukrainian response more lethal. But even some of Putin’s toughest critics say they cannot support that proposal, since the cost is the lives of their nation’s soldiers. [U.S. military vehicles paraded 300 yards from the Russian border] “The United States is experimenting geopolitically, using people like guinea pigs,” said Sergey Mikheev, director of the Kremlin-allied Center for Current Politics, on a popular talk show on the state-run First Channel last year. His accusations, drawn out by a host who said it was important to “know the enemy,” were typical of the rhetoric that fills Russian airwaves. “They treat us all in the same way, threatening not only world stability but the existence of every human being on the planet,” Mikheev said. Soviet rhetoric was officially anti-Western, but it couldn’t repress ordinary Russians’ passion for the Beatles or their enthusiasm for getting news from jammed Voice of America broadcasts. Those positive feelings spilled over after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. But the list of perceived slights from the United States has long been building, particularly after the United States and NATO bombed Serbia, a Russian ally, in 1999. Then came the war in Iraq, NATO


Immigration team chases Bosnian war criminals 20 years after conflict’s end

Michael MacQueen heads a team investigating allegations of war crimes and immigration fraud for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) Two decades after the end of the Balkan conflict, a three-year spasm of ethnic and religious bloodletting that came to define modern-day genocide, the war in Bosnia is still being fought in the United States. On one side is a team headed by Michael MacQueen, an official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who has spent years tracking down alleged war criminals among more than 150,000 Bosnian refugees in the United States, gathering evidence on their wartime records and often using charges of immigration fraud to have them deported. The team’s efforts at ICE’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit have achieved some high-profile successes, including a recent federal court ruling against Almaz Nezirovic, a refugee in Roanoke who had been wanted by Bosnian authorities since 2003 on charges of tormenting prisoners as a guard at a military detention center. Based partly on MacQueen’s interviews with former prisoners, Nezirovic, 54, was arrested and imprisoned in 2012. After nearly three years of legal proceedings, his appeal was denied in federal court last month, and he is now likely to be extradited. But many other individuals pursued by ICE have less clear connections to wartime abuses. Some are former Serbian military conscripts, such as Vitomir Spiric, 43, a Bosnian in Phoenix who says he repeatedly tried to escape military service and committed no crimes. He was convicted of immigration fraud in 2010, but his case is still on appeal. Vitomir Spiric looks through his old photographs on March 3 in his Phoenix home. A permanent legal resident, Spiric faces possible deportation for concealing prior service in the Bosnian Serb military. (David Jolkovski/For The Washington Post) “I never killed no one, I never did nothing wrong. I just kept trying to run and they kept catching me again,” Spiric, a medical courier with two children, said in a lengthy interview last week. “The war finished a long time ago, but it never ends. It never ends.” The story of MacQueen’s mission to bring hidden Bosnian war criminals to justice, and of murky cases like Spiric’s that may fall short of that description, illustrate how difficult the truth can be to extract from chaotic, long-past events — and how hard it is to neatly distinguish between victims


Woman is found dead in Northwest D.C.

The body of a woman who had apparently been stabbed to death was found Sunday morning near the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Northwest Washington. The woman was found a few minutes after 8 a.m. in the 3300 block of Sherman Avenue NW, police said. The circumstances of the stabbing could not be learned. The woman was found outdoors at a location that is west of Georgia Avenue and about a quarter mile north of Columbia Road. This report has been updated.


D.C. employers find themselves on front line of new marijuana policies

professor who specializes in employment law at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “Legalization laws didn’t anticipate whether employers can fire you for using marijuana in a state that has legalized marijuana.” During a televised address, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said that marijuana possession would become legal in the District despite threats from House Republicans. In fact, a handful of court cases now working their way through the Colorado court system may shed light on the issue. Moss attended oral arguments before the state’s supreme court last fall for a case — involving a satellite-television company employee fired for marijuana use — that could provide a watershed ruling. As in Colorado, the issue that employment experts said is likely to emerge in D.C. is that while legalized, the city has not said that marijuana use is a protected right. No U.S. jurisdiction has declared that marijuana falls under anti-discrimination chapters in employment law. And as long as marijuana remains a controlled substance under federal law, employers can point to that in disputes with employees, Moss said. Conflicts have increased in Colorado. Positive drug tests have spiked, according to private firms who do much of the testing. And a survey last year of businesses in Colorado found that 71 percent of employers left their drug polices in place. But legalization appeared to have an unintended effect with 21 percent of others. They responded by publishing stricter no-drug policies, according to the Mountain State Employers Council, which conducted the survey. Among those with the strictest drug policies in the District are employers in the national security arena. Stewart A. Baker, former general counsel at the National Security Agency and a former senior policy adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, said he could offer only “informed speculation” about how the District’s new drug law might intersect with some of its most secretive employers. “The traditional view is that drug use in the past five years is not a serious problem; whether it’s a problem at all is a serious question,” Baker said. “But this is not like sexual preference, where once it’s legal and accepted it’s not a basis for blackmail,” he said. “My guess is it would be treated as a concern even if it’s lawful. Especially in the current context, where it’s lawful at federal level and unlawful at local level.” On the opposite end of the employment spectrum, it’s


Police investigating two weekend homicides in Northwest Washington

A man who was fatally shot Saturday night in Columbia Heights has been identified as a 30-year-old from Northwest Washington, according to D.C. police. Deonte Bethea died at an area hospital shortly after the 9:40 p.m. shooting at Center and Ogden streets in Northwest. The shooting occurred a short distance from 16th Street. A second weekend homicide was reported Sunday morning, on the eastern edge of Columbia Heights. Police said Alejandra Coronado-Cardona , 37, of Northwest was found outdoors shortly after 8 a.m. in the 3300 block of Sherman Avenue NW. Police said she had been stabbed.


This pale-gold beer looks like what?

The city of Milwaukee has been famously connected with beermaking since the mid-1800s. It was once the headquarters for Schlitz, Blatz, Pabst and Miller, though today Miller is the only large brewery left in town. And, as a new micro-micro-microbrew demonstrates, the local spirit of zymurgy (fermenting and brewing) is clearly alive and well. But as Kathy Flanigan reports in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “There are disturbing aspects to Theera Ratarasarn’s home brew.” There’s the name — Activated Sludge. There’s the logo — the international warning symbol for radiation. And then there’s the recipe: “It’s brewed with purified Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District wastewater plant effluent.” For Ratarasarn, a wastewater engineer with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the creation of a pleasant-tasting beer from effluent — water that’s not quite fit to drink but is routinely released into lakes and streams — was kind of a mission. In much of the world, he notes, potable water is hard to come by. “Effluent is not as dirty as people think it is,” he told a local TV station, “and if we can treat the water to the point where it can be consumed, then there’s so much more we can do with it.” Before turning effluent into beer, he boiled, chlorinated, dechlorinated, filtered, distilled and added nutrients to it. The resulting pale-gold brew has an alcohol content of 5.15 percent and, according to testers at a local craft brewery, it’s pretty good. Of course, jokes were made; you’re surely not surprised that somebody pointed out it’s the color of urine. But the consensus was that it “tastes great.” Less filling? Nobody said.


3 bad infections that can floor you

(iStock) Each year, tens of thousands of Americans get sick as a result of infectious diseases. A number of those people end up in the hospital or die. One way to lower your risk for many of the infections is through good hygiene, especially scrupulous hand washing. But other steps are also important, including getting vaccinated. Here’s what you need to know about preventing and treating three common and sometimes dangerous infections. Pneumonia: 50,000 deaths The risk: What to do: Whooping cough: It’s not just for kids The risk: And it’s making a comeback. In 2012, 48,277 cases of the bacterial infection were reported in the United States, the most since 1955 — and many more cases probably aren’t diagnosed. And because vaccine immunity wanes over time, it’s important to stay up-to-date on the shots, both to protect yourself and to keep you from spreading it to babies and young children who have not been vaccinated or have not finished their full series of shots. Early symptoms are similar to the common cold, but after a week or two they progress to a severe cough and the characteristic whooping sound. What to do: Enterovirus D68: Last year’s surprise scourge The risk: What to do: Copyright 2015. Consumers Union of United States Inc. For further guidance, go to www.ConsumerReports.org/Health, where more detailed information, including CR’s ratings of prescription drugs, treatments, hospitals and healthy-living products, is available to subscribers.


If your doctor sees calcium, he knows you have heart disease

(iStock) Physicians have long recognized that factors including weight, age, lifestyle and cholesterol levels can affect patients’ risk of heart disease. But as narrator Gillian Anderson repeats several times in the new documentary “The Widowmaker,” about 4 million Americans with no symptoms and none of the common risk factors have died of unanticipated heart attacks in the past three decades. Written and directed by Patrick Forbes, “Widowmaker” makes the case that many of those lives could have been saved if doctors employed a long-ignored, still-underused procedure: the coronary artery scan, a sort of mammogram of the heart that identifies calcium deposits. “If you find calcium, you know you’ve got [heart] disease,” one doctor says. With such information, a symptom-free patient can be put on a diet/exercise/lifestyle regimen before disaster strikes. More than 30 years elapsed after the scan’s invention in 1981 before it was accepted as “beneficial” by the American Heart Association. The film blames the delay on the recalcitrance of doctors, hospitals and insurers — many of whom were eager to take a different route: the “highly profitable” use of stents, inserted via catheter, into the blocked arteries of heart patients. But that operation usually takes place only after a heart attack or other traumatic event makes the patient’s disease apparent. That wouldn’t have helped those 4 million asymptomatic heart attack victims. Interspersed with emotional recollections from people who lost family members to sudden heart attacks and audio clips of terrified 911 calls, the movie is unabashedly on the side of the scan advocates (who call themselves “the calcium club”). The film recently debuted in theaters in New York and Los Angeles, and is available from iTunes, Amazon Instant and other sources.


Ebola leaves ongoing health issues for survivors of the viral disease

include body and joint aches, and fatigue — are “the kind of side effects you might expect from any very serious infection,” Goodman said. These symptoms may result, in part, from the body’s release of immune-system chemicals called cytokines. These chemicals fight the disease but make people feel sick. Dehydration, low blood pressure and nutrition problems that people experience during an Ebola infection can also injure a person’s muscles and other tissues, Goodman said. Muscles and nerves also could be directly injured by the virus and take time to recover, Goodman said. Ebola survivor Nancy Writebol has said that she experienced nerve pain after her infection. “It wouldn’t be surprising, in a very severe infection that is spread all over the body, to have some long-term damage to sensitive tissues like nerves,” Goodman said. In addition, after a patient is cured, the virus may persist in some parts of the body, including the eyes, and cause inflammation and vision problems, Goodman said. After the 1995 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 15 percent of survivors developed eye problems, such as eye pain and vision loss. In the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa, in which nearly 24,000 people have been sickened and more than 9,800 have died, there have also been reports of survivors with vision problems, according to the World Health Organization. These eye problems typically respond well to treatment, but if left untreated, they can lead to blindness, Goodman said. Although it can take months, most patients who have survived the disease do fully recover, Goodman said. In the wake of the outbreak in West Africa, there are now many more Ebola survivors than before, and studies of these patients should give doctors a better idea of how often lingering side effects occur and whether other problems can also occur, Goodman said. Part of the Ebola response effort should include educating people about the complications of Ebola and ensuring that patients have access to care to prevent consequences such as blindness, Goodman said. Attention should also be paid to the social and economic hardships that Ebola survivors face, Goodman said. Several organizations are working to help Ebola survivors make the transition back into their communities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. — Live Science 7 Devastating Infectious Diseases Top 10 Mysterious Diseases Ebola Vaccines: Here’s a Look at the 3 Front-Runners


U.S. urges Iraq to ensure coalition aid is effective against Islamic State

the city of Tikrit from Islamic State militants. Iraq has “asked for help from many countries that we have a strategic relationship with, and that includes the United States, of course, and also Iran,” Obeidi said. “We are in a state of war, and we look to our friends to help us in this confrontation,” he said. “The situation is acceptable to us.” So far, equipment, training and other types of support from Iran’s military have enhanced the fighting power of the organized militias and volunteer fighters in Iraq. Dempsey has focused his concern on the aftermath of the current battles, saying that Iran must prove that its support extends to helping Iraq build a stable, unified country. While the Obama administration is in talks to end Iran’s nuclear program, Washington and Tehran remain on opposite sides of a range of issues, including the conflict in Syria. Dempsey, who spent three years in Iraq during the war that began in 2003, said the long-term viability of the international coalition fighting the Islamic State could be threatened if Iraq does not draw in Sunnis. He said some Sunni Arab nations in the alliance have raised concerns to him that Abadi’s government is not doing enough to help Iraq’s Sunnis. The Sunni extremists of the Islamic State, a radical al-Qaeda offshoot also known as ISIS or ISIL, pose a threat not just in Iraq and Syria but across the region and potentially in the West. While Abadi has committed to increasing Iraqi Sunnis’ participation in the government and armed forces, progress has been slow. Efforts to build Sunni local forces to balance the Shiite militias have moved haltingly, while a proposal to create a multisectarian national guard has not passed the Iraqi parliament. When Abadi took over as prime minister last year, he promised to reach out to all of Iraq’s sects and ethnicities. “I come away a bit concerned that it’s going to be difficult to sustain the coalition for the rest of the challenge, which is trans-regional, unless the government of Iraq can actually form that national unity platform,” Dempsey said. In the near term, Dempsey said that U.S. and allied efforts to help Iraq’s armed forces could be hindered by weak leadership in the Iraqi military, especially at the brigade level, as well as by failures to pay and equip soldiers, and recruit people for new training programs. “They’ve


Filmmaker focuses on a captive panda’s return to the wild

A mother panda carries her cub in China in “Pandas: The Journey Home,” one of the kid-friendly movies at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital. (National Geographic Studios) Filmmaker Nicolas Brown poses with one of the giant pandas from the movie "Pandas: The Journey Home." In the film, Brown tells the story of a captive panda that is returned to the wild. (Bao Chenglin) Nicolas Brown has been making films about the outdoor world his whole life. His career started as a kid in Colorado helping his filmmaker dad make movies about such things as humans’ impact on rivers and creeks. They also made adventure movies about skiing and kayaking. One of his latest projects, “Pandas: The Journey Home,” documents conservation efforts to save endangered giant pandas. It tells the story of Tao Tao, a captive-born giant panda cub trained (and later released) to live wild in his natural habitat — the misty, cold mountains of China. It also profiles the people working hard to save this endangered species. The movie is one of many family films featured at the 2015 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital. KidsPost reporter Kitson Jazynka interviewed Brown, who is 46, about the movie. What’s the message you hope kids take away from watching “Pandas: The Journey Home?” I hope kids are inspired by the movie to remember that they can participate in saving our world’s wilderness, like the people in the movie. A mother panda carries her cub in a scene from “Pandas: The Journey Home.” (National Geographic Studios) What’s your favorite memory of making the film? Once when we were filming in a large enclosure which is part of an old-growth forest [that’s a very old forest with little human impact, such as logging], our panda star wandered by. It was magical with the early-morning mist all around us. We wanted a shot of the panda eating bamboo, but she [a captive panda named Shao Xi Xi] was more interested in the jib [that’s a giant arm that lifts the camera and the cameraman up in the air]. She walked right behind the camera, grabbed onto my leg and wouldn’t let go. She was so powerful, the keepers had to work hard to pull her off of me. I never thought I would get that close to a panda. When you watch the film, what are some of your favorite


White House steps up sanctions against Venezuelans

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro speaks during the opening of the Petrocaribe summit in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 6. The U.S. government imposed sanctions on seven Venezuelan officials March 9. (Miguel Gutierrez/European Pressphoto Agency) The United States deepened its dispute with Venezuela on Monday, blocking the U.S. assets and property of seven Venezuelan officials, prohibiting Americans from doing business with them and barring them from U.S. entry. The new sanctions, imposed by an executive order signed by President Obama, were the second round since Congress passed authorizing legislation in December after opposition arrests and human rights abuses during anti-government protests. Several dozen Venezuelans were barred last month from obtaining U.S. visas on human rights and public corruption grounds. Late last month, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has accused the United States of plotting to overthrow his government, ordered a sharp reduction in the number of diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. The individuals on the new U.S. list, most of them top security officials, do not include Maduro or the National Assembly president, Diosdado Cabello, the country’s second-most powerful figure, who has strong ties to Venezuela’s military and security forces. Maduro has cast U.S. sanctions targeting specific individuals in his government as a kind of collective punishment for all Venezuelans. With his popularity near an all-time low, fewer Venezuelans appear willing to go along with his attempts to blame the United States for the country’s problems. People sign documents in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 9 to show their support to the government after the United States imposed sanctions on Venezuelan officials. (Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images) At a rally Monday after the sanctions announcement, Cabello said that when the Americans “talk about threats, that means bombing.” The U.S. goal, he said, is to topple the government before a hemispheric summit to be attended by Obama next month. The state-run news agency called the sanctions “a new escalation of aggression against Venezuelan sovereignty and democracy” and noted that Obama’s executive order had declared the situation there “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” U.S. Treasury officials said that is boilerplate language, required by decades-old authorizing legislation and contained in dozens of sanctions orders applying to other countries. But many in Venezuela — and not only within the government — appeared to interpret the “national security threat” designation as an escalation of the Obama administration’s


OPM seeks to ‘untie the knots’ in federal hiring process

you with this,’ ” Archuleta said. “We need to teach them how to fish.” She acknowledged that “there are laws and regulations” that seem like obstacles to hiring the most qualified candidates to federal jobs: “The merit system says, ‘This is how we must hire.’ ” But she said hiring staff at some agencies also subscribe to long-standing myths about the hiring process. These include the belief that managers have little flexibility to hire disabled candidates, including veterans. The truth is that they can be fast-tracked through what’s known as noncompetitive authority. The same goes for hard-to-fill science, technology, engineering and math jobs. The strategy announced Monday relies heavily on data and technology to give hiring managers and job seekers easy-to-access information. For example, USAJobs.gov, the federal jobs board, now lists areas of the country with vacancies for various job categories. The OPM’s digital team also is using technology to get a clearer look at why some candidates abandon the application process on USAJobs. (The answer appears to be that it’s too cumbersome and takes too long.) The team is identifying what a revamped USAJobs site will look like; a full rollout will not come until next winter, Archuleta said. One improvement will be shorter, easier-to-read job descriptions that are written in plain English, not government jargon. Small changes will be announced starting this spring. The OPM spent millions of dollars to bring the USAJobs site in-house from Monster.com in 2011, in part to make it easier for federal agencies to post vacancies and receive applications. But the rollout was plagued by software glitches and other problems. Archuleta said the agency is still addressing “back office” issues. The agency has made a push to train human resources staff in the basics of hiring. The training also is supposed to improve the government’s largely ineffective Pathways internship program, which was started two years ago to help launch young people on a federal career but is so beset by problems that only a trickle of workers has been hired. The OPM also is focusing on improving the caliber of senior leaders in government. The Senior Executive Service, which includes about 6,000 of the government’s top executives, needs to attract better candidates, Archuleta said. This could be accomplished through a streamlined application process that eliminates essays and relies on résumés, and a new program that helps agencies identify innovative candidates with leadership potential.


Jim Webb says ‘stay tuned’ on presidential run

Former Senator James Webb (D-VA) addresses the International Association of Firefighters delegates at IAFF Presidential Forum in Washington, March 10, 2015. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Former senator James Webb of Virginia told a crowd of firefighters Tuesday morning that he may be asking for their help soon with a 2016 presidential bid. Recalling the “Firefighters for Webb” who helped elect him to the Senate in 2006, the ex-lawmaker said, “I’m here today to say, I may call on you again. So stay tuned.” The former Navy Secretary and Vietnam veteran recalled the unconventional background that helped propel him to office almost a decade ago, arguing that he is the same outsider today. “I think I can safely say that I am still the only person ever elected to statewide office in Virginia with a union card, two Purple Hearts and three tattoos,” he said. Should he run for president, Webb will likely position himself as a populist, plainspoken alternative to former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton. More conservative than Clinton on some issues and more liberal on others, Webb could harry his fellow Democrat from left and right. But while he has criticized the Democratic party generally as too beholden to corporate interests, Webb declined Tuesday to attack Clinton directly. Asked after his speech about her use of a private e-mail account while serving in the State Department, he deflected. “I think that’s between her and you all,” he told reporters. “The best thing is to listen to her views and people will make conclusions in a better way than I can.” He also shied away from supporting or opposing marijuana legalization, calling state laws “an interesting national experiment” that should be allowed to play out further. He spoke at a presidential forum hosted by the International Association of Fire Fighters, sandwiched between two prominent Republican hopefuls: Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Webb was joined Tuesday by two other possible contenders: former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley and Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.). Vice President Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) addressed the group a day earlier. In his speech, Webb emphasized his support for union bargaining rights and promised to “stand up to the financial sector . . . to the powerful financial interests who are going to spend billions of dollars in order to elect people who think the current drift toward a permanent, moneyed aristocracy is okay.”