Do metal detectors and X-ray machines belong in schools?

Dorn said that parents are often behind pushes for more security but that metal detectors can be expensive and impractical — and don’t necessarily increase safety. In suburban campuses with thousands of youngsters, students often have their choice of entrances. Schools would have to pay for multiple metal detectors and X-ray machines — and hire trained staff to run them — or have students arrive through a single entrance. Dorn said school shootings are at the root of much of the anxiety surrounding school safety. But metal detectors, he said, will not protect students from shooters intent on killing many people or harming themselves — scenarios that Dorn stressed remain rare. And when monitoring for weapons at schools, Dorn said, the machines are not infallible. In 2015, a student at Woodrow Wilson High School in Northwest Washington managed to enter the school, which has metal detectors and X-ray machines, with a semiautomatic handgun and flashed it in the hallway later in the day. “Most people have a lot more anxiety, and we need to make sure not to overpromise,” Dorn said. “It’s a bad thing to imply safety when it’s not legitimate.” Shanese Bryant, a mother of a 10th-grader at Cardozo Education Campus in Northwest Washington, said she is comforted knowing that her son’s school has a metal detector, hoping its presence ensures that students are not bringing weapons into classes. “It makes me feel more comfortable,” Bryant said, “knowing that they can detect something before anything happens to the children.” At KIPP DC KEY Academy in Southeast Washington, school leaders have also opted against metal detectors. John Barnhardt, principal of the charter middle school, said people perceive metal detectors as evidence that a school must be violent or “bad.” Barnhardt, who is working on a dissertation exploring school safety, said that his students come from neighborhoods with high crime rates and that he wants them to enter campus feeling welcome. Students at KIPP receive greetings in the morning from unarmed security guards and administrators. The school is staffed with social workers and psychologists, so if someone senses something is amiss with a student, mental-health workers can quickly intervene. Metal detectors “can set the expectation that we think they are violent,” he said. “It’s tough because we can never completely know a student, but I do think that KIPP DC has made a significant investment in the social-emotional aspect.” perry.stein@washpost.com


A football player died, and all of the University of Maryland is diminished

the day, we’ve got to take a look at that,” Evans said. At the end of which day, exactly? We now have another external review of the situation. The first aims to reveal what went wrong with the medical and safety procedures in place at the May 29 workout. Even as Loh and Evans revealed the “preliminary” results Tuesday — that Maryland made egregious errors and used outdated policies — the full report isn’t due until Sept. 15. The new panel, which Loh announced Tuesday, will investigate the environment inside Durkin’s program. Just a thought, but shouldn’t Loh and Evans have wondered about that environment on, say, May 30? This isn’t asking for a rush to judgment. This is asking, 63 days after Jordan McNair died, for someone to stand up and say, “I messed up, and one of our students isn’t here because of it.” The university — the entire university — is diminished because of all this. Not just the trainers who Loh tried to isolate and will certainly be unemployed soon. Not just the football team’s strength coach, who already is unemployed — though handsomely compensated for his efforts. Not just Durkin, who is on administrative leave as his former team prepares for what feels like a comparatively meaningless season opener Sept. 1 against Texas. Not just Evans, who said Tuesday that when he was promoted, “My highest priority was to investigate the events surrounding this death.” But he waited for a media report to truly explore the culture in which that death occurred. And not just Loh, who led a public approach since McNair’s death that amounts to these Terrapins pulling their necks into their shells. All of them are diminished. Tuesday, Loh and Evans drove to Baltimore to meet with Tonya Wilson and Martin McNair, Jordan’s parents. Sixty-three days after the death of their son, Jordan’s parents received an apology from the university. A global leader in anything wouldn’t have waited that long. A preeminent university would employ people who hire well, who delegate appropriately, and who make sure basic safeguards are in place. A preeminent university would then have spent every moment asking the most basic questions with urgency. Sixty-three days after Jordan McNair died, the University of Maryland is still pondering it all — its football coach, its training staff, its direction — and the entire school is diminished because of it. barry.svrluga@washpost.com


Maryland football Coach DJ Durkin still has support of many players’ parents

Several parents of Maryland football players say they remain confident in the program and supportive of embattled Coach DJ Durkin, who has been placed on administrative leave in the wake of the death of a 19-year-old player. Media coverage regarding the June death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair and ensuing reports about an abusive culture within the football program sparked widespread shock and outrage, prompting the school to order a pair of external investigations, part ways with an athletics staffer and place Durkin and two other employees on administrative leave. But eight parents and family members interviewed by The Washington Post in recent days said that the team’s coach still has widespread support, with many saying the cruel and punishing environment depicted in news reports didn’t align with their experiences. One parent of a current player said Durkin is “100 percent different” than the one outlined in a recent ESPN report, which described “a coaching environment based on fear and intimidation.” “Freak accidents happen,” said the parent, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the situation. “This wasn’t part of a toxic culture. It’s almost like someone or some entity or groups are trying to blend the two together.” McNair died June 13 after suffering heatstroke during a team workout on May 29. University President Wallace D. Loh and Athletic Director Damon Evans apologized to McNair’s family on Tuesday and held a news conference in College Park immediately afterward, outlining major mistakes made by athletic staff members in treating McNair. The parent said the nature of the workout was not “asking for trouble.” The temperature in College Park on May 29 was in the low 80s, and the parent said, “based on the amount of sprints, the amount of activity they were doing and the temperature, it wasn’t one of those days that most teams or coaches would think something would go wrong.” The workout was run by strength and conditioning coach Rick Court, who resigned from his position with the school Monday. The university has said that athletic trainers were present throughout the workout and that Durkin and his coaching staff were also on hand. Many parents declined to discuss their feelings about Court or two other training staffers, Wes Robinson and assistant athletic director of athletic training Steve Nordwall, who have been placed on leave. While Durkin, 40, is effectively chief


Now a hero in Ethiopia, exiled runner Feyisa Lilesa is invited to return home again

Almost two years after his protest of oppression in his home country led him to go into exile, Ethiopian marathoner Feyisa Lilesa has been hailed as a hero and invited to return home in safety. In the wake of the election of reformist prime minister Abiy Ahmed, Lilesa, who crossed his forearms over his head after winning a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, has been extended the invitation by the country’s Olympic committee and the Ethiopian Athletics Federation. Lilesa, a member of the Oromo ethnic group that rebelled against the previous government in 2015, has been living in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2016 and was joined by his family the following year. The Oromo protested a crackdown by former Ethiopian leader Hailemariam Desalegn that included imprisonment of dissidents and disregard for human rights. “My legs were running, but my mind was also racing,” Lilesa told The Post’s Rick Maese in September 2016. On his training runs, he said, he feared authorities would leap from the bushes and attack. He said when someone knocked on his door, he raced to the roof to check on the visitors before allowing anyone inside. The Olympics offered a platform to raise awareness of what was going on even as he, his wife and his children left for Rio knowing they wouldn’t be returning home. “I debated for a long time, deciding if I take this stand and leave my family behind, what would I do about them?” he recalled. “At the same time, the situation in Ethiopia was getting worse and worse, which only made my decision easier. Desalegn resigned “We want Feyisa to return home and continue to register great results,” Olympic committee chief Ashebir Woldegiorgis and Haile Gebrselassie, head of the athletics federation, wrote in an open letter. Getachew Reda, Ethiopia’s communications minister, told CNN that Lilesa is “an Ethiopian hero” who “shouldn’t at all be worried” to return. The marathoner wrote in The Post in September 2016 that “I’m a runner, not a scholar or politician. But I know that all people yearn for fairness and justice. I will continue to race and pursue my career, and I will speak out until the Oromo and others in Ethiopia find justice.” Lilesa came to the United States on a special skills visa. “As I was preparing for Olympic competition, my thoughts were always preoccupied with the suffering


to return. The marathoner wrote in The Post in September 2016 that “I’m a runner, not a scholar or politician. But I know that all people yearn for fairness and justice. I will continue to race and pursue my career, and I will speak out until the Oromo and others in Ethiopia find justice.” Lilesa came to the United States on a special skills visa. “As I was preparing for Olympic competition, my thoughts were always preoccupied with the suffering of my people,” he wrote. “The Oromo are Ethiopia’s single largest ethnic group. The Ethiopian coffee that Americans drink comes mostly from my region. We are also well known for our long-distance runners. Peaceful protests against the government started in November when the government was forcing Oromo farmers off their land and selling it to foreign investors. Since then, human rights reports say more than 500 people have been gunned down by the security forces, but I believe at least twice as many have been killed. This includes at least 12 people that I know from my home district of Jaldu in Oromia. Tens of thousands have been arrested. Families do not know what happened to their sons and daughters after they were taken by the army and police.” His protest during the Olympics was designed to raise awareness, he wrote, with communication from Ethiopia suppressed under Desalegn. “This is sign of peaceful protest used by my people, the Oromo, for the past 10 months,” he wrote. “I did it to raise awareness; hundreds of my fellow Ethiopians have been killed by security forces only because they peacefully protested against injustice. I knew there were millions of people watching the Olympics, and I wanted the world to see me. I want to tell the world what is happening in Ethiopia — in Oromia, Amhara, Ogaden, Gambella and elsewhere.” Read more from The Post: Johnny Manziel placed in concussion protocol; medication may also be causing symptoms Benches clear after the Braves’ red-hot Ronald Acuna is drilled by the Marlins’ Jose Urena Mike Rizzo ‘really likes’ the way the Nationals are playing (except for the losing part) A sad Mariners tale: After years of Felix Hernandez waiting on his team, they now can’t wait on him Fantasy Football 2018 beginner’s guide: The best draft picks for Rounds 1-3 Jalen Ramsey unloads: Josh Allen is ‘trash,’ Matt Ryan is ‘overrated,’ Joe Flacco ‘sucks’


Pratt & Whitney accused of using defective assembly process in whistle-blower suit

Jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has been accused by a former employee of using an ineffective assembly process for engines that go in U.S. fighter jets and manipulating test processes to pass inspection, according to a whistle-blower suit recently made public. The legal complaint was filed October 2016 in U.S. District Court in Connecticut by a man named Peter Bonzani, a former engineer at the firm. Bonzani alleges that the company used the wrong equipment to apply a sealant spray required to keep engine parts together and keep hot gas from leaking throughout the engine. According to Bonzani the “plume” of the spray gun being used to apply the sealant was too short, meaning it couldn’t reach the inner crevices of the engine. A Pratt & Whitney spokesman denied the allegations but declined to answer specific questions: “There is absolutely no merit to these claims. Pratt & Whitney intends to defend this case aggressively.” Bonzani worked on the F119 engine, the jet engine in F-22 Raptors, a fighter jet used by the U.S. Air Force, as well as F100 engines used in the F-16 and F-15 fighter jets. If his allegations are correct, there is a worry that F-119 and F-100 jet engines used on the F-15, F-16 and F-22 fighter jets could deteriorate more quickly than had been expected. The F-16 fighter jet has been deployed not only by the U.S. Air Force but also by Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Pakistan. Failures involving F119 and F100 engines have resulted in several recent in-flight mishaps, though no evidence has yet emerged that they were caused by inadequately applied sealant. On April 6, 2018, for example, an F-22 Raptor was forced to make an emergency landing at Tyndall Air Force Base is Florida after its engine failed. Later that month another F-22 was forced to land without landing gear for the same reason. According to Bonzani, one company technician who was responsible for testing the engine parts admitted that testing equipment had been “manipulated to give a positive result” on whether engines were production ready. The complaint accuses Pratt & Whitney and its parent company, United Technologies, of engaging in “a pattern of intentional and/or reckless conduct” that “knowingly exposed United States military aircraft and pilots to substantial and wholly unnecessary risk,” by failing to fix the process. Bonzani also accused his former employer of violating the False


إصلاحات السعودية توسع المجال أمام النساء – لكنها لا تزال تحرمهن من أصواتهن المستقلة

جوديث إي تاكر: أستاذة في تاريخ الشرق الأوسط في جامعة جورجتاون ورئيس جمعية دراسات الشرق الأوسط (ميسا). مريام آر لوي: أستاذة في سياسات الشرق الأوسط في كلية نيوجيرسي ورئيس جناح الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا في لجنة الحرية الأكاديمية التابعة لـ”ميسا”. في الرابع والعشرين من يونيو الماضي، طبّقت المملكة العربية السعودية تغييرًا طال انتظاره حين رفعت رسميًا الحظر على قيادة النساء للسيارات. إلّا أن هتون الفاسي، وهي أستاذة جامعية مرموقة ومدافعة عن حقوق النساء ذاع صيتها عالميًا، باتت رهن الاعتقال منذ سبعة أسابيع بعد إلقاء القبض عليها بينما كانت تعدّ نفسها للاستفادة من الإذن الذي مُنِح حديثًا لها بقيادة السيارة داخل بلدها. قضيتها تصور بوضوح التوترات والتناقضات المرافقة للإصلاح السعودي، وخاصة فيما يتعلق بقضايا المرأة. (من الجدير بالملاحظة أن عددًا من الناشطات الأخريات ألقي القبض عليهن سابقًا قبل وبعد رفع الحظر.) تُعتبَر هتون الفاسي نموذجًا لما حققته المملكة العربية السعودية للمرأة، فقد حصلت على شهادتيّ البكالوريوس والماجستير بمرتبة الشرف من جامعة الملك سعود في الرياض. ثم تابعت دراستها العليا في الخارج بدعم من حكومتها فحصلت على الدكتوراه في تاريخ النساء في عام 2000 من جامعة مانشستر بإنكلترا. وبعد عودتها إلى موطنها، انضمت إلى هيئة التدريس في جامعة الملك سعود ونشرت إحدى الدراسات النادرة حول النساء في جزيرة العرب قبل الإسلام، واستمرت في إجراء الأبحاث وإعداد الدراسات حول النساء والحياة الاجتماعية في الأزمان القديمة – رغم أنها ولأسباب غير معروفة لم يُسمح لها بتدريس الطلبة هناك منذ عام 2001. وكانت مشارِكة نشطة في مبادرة “بلدي” التي حثّت لسنوات على منح المرأة حق التصويت والترشح في الانتخابات البلدية بالمملكة. وفي ديسمبر 2015، بعد عدة سنوات من منح ذلك الحق لهن، شاركت هي ونساء بلدها في الانتخابات البلدية لأول مرة. كما كانت تكتب بشكل منتظم في كبريات الصحف السعودية حول قضايا النساء وحول المسائل التي تهم المجتمع السعودي. كل من قابل هتون الفاسي عاد بنفس الانطباع، وهو أنها امرأة متفائلة بشأن مستقبل حقوق المرأة في بلادها. فما الذي جرى إذًا؟ الإصلاحات التي تبناها ولي العهد السعودي محمد بن سلمان حظيت بحفاوة وإشادة كبيرة كانت تهدف للسماح للنساء بالمشاركة في الحياة العامة ودعوتهن لها، على الأقل في ظاهر الأمر. وفعلًا، بالإضافة إلى رفع الحظر المفروض على قيادة المرأة للسيارة، طبّق الأمير إجراءات تحد من صلاحيات الشرطة الدينية كي تمنعها من التدخل بلباس المرأة ومظهرها وسلوكها، بل وصرح حتى للمغنيات بالمشاركة في الحفلات العامة، وسمح للنساء السعوديات بحضور المناسبات الثقافية والرياضية المختلطة، وشجع على زيادة عدد النساء العاملات في المؤسسات وأماكن العمل المختلفة. كل هذا يبدو في الظاهر منسجمًا تمامًا مع تفاؤل هتون الفاسي حول اتجاه


The happy hour destination you probably never thought of: Fast-casual restaurants

for dipping in a spicy cilantro sauce. A bowl of eight costs $5; with a group you may need to order two. You'll sip your wine or beer from a clear, thin plastic cup, which is a clear reminder you're not in a bar — but at least it goes with the recyclable cardboard containers and plastic cutlery. Nando's Peri-Peri Happy hour at Nando's is clearly designed for groups. Why else would specials include a carafe of fizzy white wine and peach slices that yields five glasses of sangria or bottles of wine that cost less than three individual glasses? (The bubbling soundtrack, full of Afrobeat and world music, suggests a party in the offing.) Food-wise, the platter of two dozen hot wings seems more suited to watching Sunday football. Even the bowl of hummus — two giant scoops surrounded by pita strips, veggies or both — looks daunting to a solo diner. But fear not: The drinks are so inexpensive — when's the last time you saw $3 DC Brau cans or Super Bock bottles? — that ordering from the regular, non-happy-hour food menu means you'll wind up saving a few bucks, even if you go back for a second round. Rasa Rasa, located a block from Nationals Park, is an assembly-line fast-casual joint in the spirit of Chipotle or Sweetgreen — pick a base, pick a topping, pick a sauce — except the flavorful, made-from-scratch Indian bowls stand far above most competition (Post food critic Tom Sietsema awarded it two-and-a-half stars). So I can overlook the fact that they don't discount any of their food at happy hour. Two cocktails are served on draft: a margarita bursting with tamarind aroma and flavor, and a gin and tonic that's a bit overwhelmed by masala spices, to the point where it became a masala-and-tonic. The beer selection is wide, from a $3 tallboy of Pabst Blue Ribbon to a $6 22-ounce bottle of Taj Mahal. Both would pair well with the mini samosas ($2.50 each) or the lamb kebab bowl ($11.77), or you could just sip a $5 pint of the Mango Saison, brewed by 3 Stars exclusively for Rasa. READ MORE The best happy hours in D.C. D.C.'s cider scene is blossoming. Here's where to go and what to try. Stuck in a lunch rut? Head to a D.C. farmers market for barbecue, crab cakes or Mexican street food


Baltimore to trade bike-share for dockless system

to each place 1,000 scooters or bikes on the streets, at no cost to the city. Bird launched a pilot fleet of more than 60 dockless, electric scooters in Baltimore earlier this summer. According to the Department of Transportation, the shuttered bike-share program cost the city a total of $3.2 million. It promised an eventual 500 bicycles at 50 docking stations, but the system never met its expansion goals amid widespread theft and a maintenance backlog. Bird and Lime will be required to offer discounts to low-income customers. — Associated Press Stallion hit by car has been euthanized A 2-year-old stallion struck by a car last week at a national park on Maryland’s Eastern Shore has been euthanized. Although the Assateague Island National Seashore said Adriana’s Yankee Prince was able to move around without much difficulty after being hit, he was found down in a salt marsh and unable to stand Wednesday morning. National Seashore spokeswoman Liz Davis told news outlets the horse was euthanized that day. The total population of the Maryland herd is now at 78, with 20 stallions and 58 mares. Two other horses were reported missing and presumed dead after Assateague’s July census. — Associated Press the region Wind carries Western wildfire smoke to East Lest anyone living in the D.C. area think Western wildfires are a problem 3,000 miles away, they might take a whiff of the air in their own backyard. Yes, high-altitude winds have carried the smoke across the country into the Mid-Atlantic region. “I walked outside earlier and definitely smelled wildfire smoke,” @annikaep tweeted from downtown Washington on Wednesday. Capital Weather Gang readers queried on Twitter reported smelling smoke all over the region. In a forecast Tuesday, the National Weather Service predicted that the jet stream, the fast-moving current of upper level winds, would carry smoke across the country but had expected it to remain “above the surface.” However, some of it has found its way toward the ground. Joel Dreessen, an air quality forecaster for Maryland’s Department of Environment, confirmed the smoke is affecting the air we breathe. He said the smoke had wafted over the air above us for “many” days but had “made its way to the surface in noticeable fashion” as of Thursday. He noted that several constituents of smoke were detected in elevated quantities including fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide and black carbon. — Capital Weather Gang


Have we reached a fork in the road for food criticism?

tradition of hiring, by and large, white males to pass judgment on restaurants. “Everything can and should be reassessed,” says Paolo Lucchesi, the Chronicle’s senior editor for lifestyle, which includes food coverage. “That’s kind of what we’ve done with our food journalism overall: reassess the conventions, and if they’re there for a reason, we can keep it. But don’t do them because that’s what we’ve done.” The conventions and guidelines for food criticism had already been in flux since the dawn of the Information Age, which coincided with the decline of general-interest newspapers. As budgets have shrunk and pressures have increased for high-profile critics to take part in promotional events, editors have sometimes cut back the number of times a critic visits a restaurant or asked reviewers to drop their anonymity (which the Internet had pretty much destroyed anyway). But as two of the most prominent food critic jobs in America are up for grabs, editors are grappling with larger cultural, ethical and financial questions: Should a single critic be responsible for an entire region? What kinds of restaurants should be reviewed? Should the criticism be limited to the food on the plate, the decor, the service? Or should it look at broader societal issues, since Yelp and other sites are already packed with amateur reviews? Should editors strive to hire men and women of color, who would bring fresh perspectives? Complicating matters, San Francisco and Los Angeles have their own legacies to confront. For better or worse, chefs, restaurateurs and diners have been reading Bauer and Gold for decades. They have opinions on who should — and shouldn’t — succeed them. If there is one truism about each city’s hunt for a replacement, it’s this: San Francisco — flush with tech wealth and progressive values — seems ready for change. Los Angeles is still coping with the change forced upon it by the death of a beloved food critic, the only one to win a Pulitzer Prize. Caleb Zigas pulls up a chair Until this month, Bauer had never reviewed a single one of them. But on Aug. 3, he wrote a three-star rave about Dyafa, a partnership between Reem Assil, the Palestinian Syrian chef behind the touted Reem’s California bakery in Oakland, and Daniel Patterson, the innovative Bay Area chef and restaurateur behind the Michelin-three-star Coi. “The reason he’s there is because of Daniel,” Zigas says about Bauer’s


She works for Trump. He can’t stand him. This is life with Kellyanne and George Conway.

more I know that. It’s the story of people who love Trump, and the people who are trying to love them. Kellyanne remembers how encouraging George was of that independence when they got married 17 years ago. Back then, Kellyanne was just finding her footing as a sought-after pollster in Washington. She remembers one of George’s friends telling him that the best thing for their marriage would be for her to shut down her business — the company she built from scratch — and how George, even though he made enough money himself to support the family, encouraged her to keep working toward her own dream. And now? “I feel there’s a part of him that thinks I chose Donald Trump over him,” Kellyanne says as we walk. “Which is ridiculous. One is my work and one is my marriage.” Naturally, though, the two things overlap. When George criticizes the president publicly, Kellyanne says, the media coverage and the implication that they are pitted against each other bothers their children. And as for the president himself, Kellyanne won’t say it irks him, but she does think he finds it “impolite.” On that, she’d agree. “I think it’s disrespectful,” she says. “I think it disrespects his wife.” Kellyanne is an independent woman, an independent woman stuck between two men who could blow up her day with a tweet. “Nobody knows who I am because of my husband,” she says. “People know of my husband because of me.” After our six-mile sojourn, it is late when we get back to their house. George is in his office, eating a bowl of cereal and yawning. He is too tired for an interview at the moment, he says. He has never given an interview on his thoughts on Trump, preferring to let the tweets speak for themselves. Two hours after I leave, he is awake and online. A tweet from Merriam-Webster has caught his eye, and he presses the retweet button: Merriam-Webster: ‘Mendacious’ (adj.) — likely to tell lies ‘Mendacity’ (n.) — a lack of honesty or a lie There's a theory among D.C. Trumpologists They live across the street from Vernon Jordan, once a top adviser to Bill Clinton, just down the way from Adrienne Arsht, the uber-rich philanthropist and Democratic donor, and next door to a house that until recently belonged to Oleg Deripaska, the Vladimir Putin ally who owned Paul Manafort’s


How to prevent another rogue flight in a stolen plane

believe they were being treated to an impromptu air show. The real story was far more tragic: The plane was piloted by Richard Russell, a 29-year-old Horizon Air employee who worked at the airport and had apparently never flown an aircraft before. He managed to commandeer the plane, take off and fly over a major metropolitan area for about an hour as two fighter jets trailed behind him. He eventually crashed into an uninhabited wooded area on nearby Ketron Island in what authorities presumed was a suicide. No one else was injured in the crash, and Mr. Russell was reportedly worried about harming people on the ground. Yet the incident, which could easily have turned deadly for many more people, exposed the vulnerability of aircraft to tampering, theft and hijacking from airport employees. How could a member of the airport ground staff steal a plane from a large international airport and take off without authorization? This potential gap in aviation security has been pointed out before, notably in a 2017 House Homeland Security Committee report that warned of threats to airport access controls. The report drew attention to “security vulnerabilities” that could allow terrorists and criminals to join the workforce of about 900,000 aviation employees. In response, the House approved a bipartisan bill that called for more stringent background checks of these employees and increased surveillance at airports. Following the Seattle incident, a Senate version of the bill might now pick up traction. There is no question that the circumstances behind Mr. Russell’s flight and crash need to be thoroughly investigated. But as authorities and lawmakers assess the situation and consider policy responses, they should be careful not to overreact. There needs to be a measured conversation about how best to improve airport security and prevent incidents such as this one — and the solution might not necessarily involve more cumbersome background checks and expensive security technology. Instead, there are simple, actionable policy shifts that could reduce these threats. For example, airlines and airports could focus on improving communication links among the different stakeholders involved in airport security; training staff on how to report suspicious activities; reducing the number of employee access points to planes; and revamping the employee screening process to become more strategic and targeted. The incident on Friday drew attention to a possible loophole that should be closed. Now what is needed is a rational, evidence-based response.


A football player died on Maryland’s watch. Something needs to change.

training staff did not take his temperature or immerse him in cold water as they should have done immediately. Paramedics were called almost an hour later, and when he arrived at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, his temperature had hit 106 degrees. Hospital personnel were able to reduce his temperature to 102 degrees, but by then it was too late. Experts say that if he had been treated within half an hour of the heatstroke, he would have likely survived. Mr. McNair’s death has cast a spotlight on the culture of Maryland’s football program, which — like many other big-money athletic programs — seemed to place a premium on wins over student well-being. An ESPN report released last week describes the environment as “toxic” and “based on fear and intimidation.” Players were reportedly subjected to frequent verbal abuse and forced to partake in unhealthy eating habits. The report singled out former strength and conditioning coach Rick Court as particularly abusive; he allegedly threw weights and other objects at players when enraged. Mr. Court led the training session in May and has since left the university. At a news conference Tuesday, Maryland President Wallace D. Loh and Athletic Director Damon Evans acknowledged that the athletic staff failed to properly diagnose and treat Mr. McNair and formally apologized to his family. The university deserves credit for accepting “legal and moral responsibility” for the mistakes before the official investigation into Mr. McNair’s death has been concluded. University officials were also right to swiftly part ways with Mr. Court and establish an external probe to investigate the football program. However, there is still much more to be done. The process of cleaning up the program and changing the culture will take time and commitment. Maryland needs to undertake a thorough and rigorous investigation into all allegations of abuse and intimidation and hold all the staff members who failed to help Mr. McNair accountable. It should also create new monitoring and reporting mechanisms to prevent players from being verbally abused or pushed beyond their limits. Other football programs should follow suit. During Tuesday’s news conference, Mr. Evans told reporters, “I have looked into the eyes of a grieving mother and father, and there is simply nothing good enough.” Nothing can bring back Mr. McNair, but Maryland can honor his memory by making sure that it never again fails an athlete entrusted to its care.


Why Trump will pardon Paul Manafort

well put by Franklin Foer, who has reported extensively on Manafort: Going on the stand himself was probably never under consideration, since cross-examination would have been a nightmare. It’s unclear whether Manafort had any fact witnesses who could refute the evidence that was offered in the prosecution’s case. And there may not be anyone around who would testify to Manafort’s sterling character, both because few people want to be associated with him today and because he has long been known as a particularly immoral schemer, almost a walking caricature of the mercenary lobbyist willing to do anything for a buck. It’s unclear whether, even if they had wanted to, his defense could find someone to stand up and say Manafort is a great guy who would never do the things he is accused of. From the beginning, there has been a question hanging over Manafort’s case: Why won’t he flip? After all, other Trump aides have when faced with possible jail time, and Manafort is facing more than anyone. There’s a real possibility he’ll never see another day as a free man. One popular explanation is that he’s afraid that if he tells everything he knows, some people in Russia would become displeased enough to kill him. The oligarch Oleg Deripaska, whom Manafort supposedly owes $19 million, allegedly has links to a Russian organized crime group. So Manafort may have decided that it’s better to take his chances with a jury than to find a strange substance smeared on his door handle one day. It’s also possible Manafort really has nothing to offer special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about Trump, that his activities, criminal though they might have been, never actually involved the president. That would mean he has no one to flip on. But let’s imagine for a moment that he knows something incriminating about the president — or even that the president isn’t sure what Manafort knows, but suspects that he might know something. (This, by the way, is Adam Davidson’s extremely plausible theory of Russian kompromat: Trump acts the way he does toward Vladimir Putin not because he knows Putin has damaging information on him, but because he just isn’t sure what Putin might have.) Would Trump actually go so far as to pardon Manafort, given the firestorm of criticism he’d get? There are some lines even Trump is unwilling to cross. For instance, while he


Are rich people more likely to lie, cheat, steal? Science explains the world of Manafort and Gates.

of a prince for enlightenment. Jesus warned his disciples a camel would have an easier time squeezing through the eye of a needle than a rich man trying to get into God’s kingdom. Rapper Biggie Smalls reached a similar conclusion before his untimely death: “Mo money, Mo problems.” In the past few decades, a growing body of psychology research has tried to capture and measure the exact effects of wealth on behavior and morality. That research has shown the rich cheat more on their taxes. They cheat more on their romantic partners. The wealthy and better-educated are more likely to shoplift. They are more likely to cheat at games of chance. They are often less empathetic. In studies of charitable giving, it is often the lower-income households that donate higher proportions of their income than middle-class and many upper-income folk. In one of the more surprising findings from their 2015 paper, Keltner and Piff found the rich are more likely to literally take candy from children. In that experiment, they first asked 129 subjects to compare their finances with people who had either more or less money. Then they gave their subjects a jar of candy and told them the sweets were intended for children in a nearby lab but they could take some if they wanted. Those who felt richer after comparing their finances to poorer people took significantly more candy for themselves. The findings build on similar research in recent years that suggests wealth and power strip people of their inhibitions, increase risk taking and feelings of entitlement and invulnerability. At the same time, power makes people less empathetic and able to see others' perspectives. "Wealth is basically a mechanism for power, and power has a freeing effect on people. It takes away the constraints of society and frees people to act according to their dominant desires," said Adam Galinsky of Columbia Business School, whose experiments have explored how power often propels people's actions. In some cases, those desires may be altruistic or helpful to society, so power heightens those goals and can give rise to effective philanthropists. Often, however, power leads to self-serving behaviors unrestrained by the usual concerns over rules or the consequences for others. Because much of the psychological research into wealth and power is relatively new, many of the findings are still being tested and need to be confirmed by replication, researchers say. "I


A beginner’s guide to enjoying classical music. No snobs allowed.

forms offer you something as big as an orchestra concert: 100 people playing pieces that can last half an hour or more. These pieces offer an experience of time you don’t get in many other art forms; music that starts in one place and finishes in another, bathing your ears in big sounds along the way. To start with, just try identifying some of the different things you hear. There are a lot of journeys to choose from. Pick one of the nine Beethoven symphonies (I love the third and the less-popular fourth), and add to your plate gradually, choosing from the smorgasbord of the Western canon: Brahms’s Second; Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, Mahler’s Fifth; Bruckner’s Seventh, and into the 20th century with Shostakovich’s Fifth. Or, start from the 21st century and work backward: from Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra to Bartok’s; from Philip Glass’s Fifth to Gloria Coates’s First. Remember that this field isn’t just about white men, either. If you name Dora Pejacevic, whose Symphony in F-sharp minor sounds like a Croatian cousin of Strauss; or William Grant Still, whose Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American,” shows where Gershwin got a lot of his ideas, you might even catch aficionados by surprise. 2. There’s a lot more to classical music than orchestra music. Don’t think you’re stuck with orchestras, though, if that’s not your thing. The term “classical music” is an inaccurate catchall for everything from solo piano works to Gregorian chant to contemporary instrumental sextets with electric guitar. For orientation purposes, start with some of the traditional smaller ensembles — three or four musicians playing together, classical music’s equivalent of a rock band. Most familiar is the string quartet: You can spend hours with canonical works such as Beethoven’s set of 16 and Shostakovich’s of 15, or dive into sets by living composers such as Elena Ruehr and Jefferson Friedman. Then there are trios: string trios, like Mozart’s stunning Divertimento in E-flat; or piano trios, written not for three pianos (a common misconception) but for a piano and two stringed instruments. Schubert’s two are among my favorites, and I bypass Robert Schumann’s in favor of the nice one by his wife, Clara Schumann. Or check out the instrumental configurations in some of the seminal works of the 20th century: the septet Stravinsky used in “L’histoire du soldat;” the quartet of clarinet, violin, cello and piano that Olivier Messiaen used in “Quartet for


Nationals vs. Marlins weather forecast: Rain may get in the way

Nationals vs. Marlins [How the Nationals make high-pressure weather decisions] First pitch: Ninth inning: Chance of rain: Chance of delay: Chance of postponement: NatCast appears on the day of every Nationals home game. Follow us on Twitter for breaking weather updates before, during and after the game.


Maryland open houses Aug. 18-19

DAYTON 21036 13615 Voland Ct ELKRIDGE 21075 5830 Claremont Drive 6709 Caleb Dorsey Sq #40 5830 Claremont Dr 5936 Meadow Rose ELLICOTT CITY 21042 12729 Folly Quarter Rd 12118 Frederick Rd 12026 Lamplighter Dr 12115 Mount Albert Rd 3623 Lynway Ct 3214 Hearthstone Rd 10333 Breconshire Rd 2602 Melba Rd 3724 Tustin Rd 10364 Waverly Woods Dr 21043 5203 Font Rd 4833 Lauren Ct 4109 Old Columbia Pike 8034 Four Quarter Rd 3105 Edgewood Rd 4646 Dower Dr 7812 Falling Leaves Ct FULTON 20759 7734 Water Street 11728 Pindell Chase Dr 7853 Tuckahoe Ct 11395 Iager Blvd #24 7819 Early Morning St 7672 Maple Lawn Boulevard 7672 Maple Lawn Blvd 7734 Water St HIGHLAND 20777 12406 All Daughters Lane 12720 Lime Kiln Rd 7646 Greendell Lane 7646 Greendell Lane WEST FRIENDSHIP 21794 2725 Woodridge Ct 2940 New Rover Rd WOODBINE 21797 1955 Heron Dr WOODSTOCK 21163 10402 Popkins Ct MONTGOMERY COUNTY ASHTON 20861 18823 New Hampshire Ave BETHESDA 20814 7500 Woodmont Ave #s1217 4821 Montgomery Lane #104 8002 Overhill Rd 171 Winsome Cir 5225 Pooks Hill Rd #128s 5225 Pooks Hill Rd #1214s 9825 Old Georgetown Rd 9409 Locust Hill Rd 20816 5316 Wapakoneta Rd 6450 Brookes Lane #4 6450 Brookes Lane #6 6004 Osceola Rd 5009 Sentinel Dr #55 5101 River Rd #1610 5301 Westbard Cir #146 20817 7212 Heatherhill Rd 6508 Greentree Rd 7005 Buxton Ter 5910 Johnson Ave 5609 Roosevelt St 8302 Rising Ridge Way 8713 Burdette Rd 8826 Ridge Rd 8830 Ridge Rd 7005 Kenhill Rd 8053 Rising Ridge Rd 7803 English Way 5609 Roosevelt Street 9049 Holly Leaf Lane 9231 Vendome Dr 5522 Mckinley St 8405 River Rock Ter BOYDS 20841 12914 Ethel Rose Way BRINKLOW 20862 3 Brighton Knolls Ct BROOKEVILLE 20833 2709 Gold Mine Rd BURTONSVILLE 20866 14908 Perrywood Dr 14922 Saddle Creek Dr CHEVY CHASE 20815 7 Hesketh St 4601 Park Ave #1216r 5500 Friendship Blvd #1214n 4515 Willard Ave #1017s 5818 Hillburne Way 2 Primrose St 4604 De Russey Pkwy 4242 East West Hwy #701 4515 Willard Ave #2321s CLARKSBURG 20871 12901 Benton Park Cir 23945 Catawba Hill Dr 23104 Birch Mead Rd 10402 Regina Ct 12559 Horseshoe Bend Cir 11914 Chestnut Branch Way 13402 Latrobe Lane #3387 23069 Winged Elm Dr 23018 Turtle Rock Ter 22210 Fair Garden Lane DAMASCUS 20872 9424 Damascus Rd 10805 Show Pony Pl 24723 Ridge Rd 10621 Santa Anita Ter DARNESTOWN 20878 15602 Bondy Lane


Are Frosted Mini-Wheats less frosted than their generic competitors? An investigation.

But that doesn’t answer why I remember the Mini-Wheats of my youth as being so much sweeter. There is, however, one question that’s straightforward enough: When it comes to frosting, how do the name-brand Frosted Mini-Wheats stack up against their generic competitors? Could I maybe get that old-fashioned whole-grain sugar high somewhere else? In the data-driven spirit of Wonkblog, I decided to find out. I found the raw materials for my investigation at my local Walmart: one box of Frosted Mini-Wheats, one box of Great Value Frosted Shredded Wheat, and a bag of Malt-o-Meal Frosted Mini Spooners. Because I lack access to the mad-scientist-grade lab equipment necessary to run a proper sugar content analysis, I turned to a framework more suited to my particular skill set: image analysis. I sampled 10 biscuits from each of the three frosted wheat products, randomly selecting from different points within each bag. I arranged the biscuits by brand on a sheet of dark paper and then photographed them from directly overhead. The initial photograph of the biscuit samples is above. A quick visual inspection does suggest Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats are more sparsely covered than the other two brands. Also notable is the presence of a “dud” biscuit in the Malt-o-Meal sample that’s almost completely bereft of frosting. Next, I imported that image into Adobe Illustrator and converted it to a five-color vector graphic. This allowed me to remove the background, isolate each individual biscuit, and define the frosted (lightest color) vs. non-frosted (other colors) areas on each biscuit. Reassuringly, the lighter areas designated as “frosting” in the processed image line up closely with the visually apparent frosted sections in the raw image. For the last step, I imported the image into Photoshop to calculate each biscuit’s total area, as well as its frosted area, yielding a frosting percentage for each biscuit. Alas, my worst Frosted Mini-Wheats suspicions were confirmed. The name-brand cereal had the lowest frosting percentage in the sample, averaging just 48 percent coverage. Great Value’s offering had the most frosting, with an average of 71 percent, while the Malt-o-Meal biscuits averaged 59 percent coverage — still an increase of more than 10 percent over name brand. One interesting thing to note is that the nutrition labels for all three cereals show identical amounts of added sugar per serving: 11 grams each, although the serving size for each product varies slightly, from 52


A year before Jordan McNair’s death, Maryland president nixed plan to overhaul athletes’ health care

situation, Eastman wrote in an Aug. 29, 2017, email to Anderson, Evans and Klossner: “I have spoken to Dr. Loh and he will not concede hiring or firing to another institution.” The NCAA’s constitution leaves it up to schools to establish their preferred medical structure, but in 2014 the governing body for college athletics issued recommended guidelines to its member schools to encourage the independence of medical providers. While the guidelines do not call for medical care to be removed entirely from an athletic department, they do urge independence and autonomy. The recommendation was added to the NCAA’s bylaws in 2016. In a statement Thursday, an NCAA spokeswoman noted that the organization “has published clear guidelines to aid in the prevention and treatment of heat illness and we expect universities to provide an athletic culture that protects and fosters student-athlete well-being and safety. “The University of Maryland has taken responsibility for its failures in the care leading up to Jordan’s tragic death and offered steps to ensure this does not happen again,” she said. “We believe all of our universities should take this opportunity to assure they are prepared to avoid these types of tragedies.” As Maryland considered overhauling its model, school officials visited or studied similar-sized programs that already had reassigned some of their sports medicine services to the school’s medical schools or affiliated hospitals, including Ohio State, Iowa and the University of Pittsburgh. At schools such as Pitt, Northwestern and Michigan, for example, athletic trainers are still technically employed by the athletic department, but the various team doctors are employed by the affiliated university hospitals, and athletic department officials are supposed to be at least a step removed from medical decisions. “It’s a great feeling to know that, and it’s an attractive thing for my staff of 20 to have when they are facing those situations on a day-to-day basis sport-by-sport,” Northwestern’s Lindley said. Chad Asplund, president of American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, said that built-in autonomy could help remove potential conflicts of interest and limit any undue influence a lower-level staffer might feel. “The coach may need a player for a big game, but they have an injury where it’s not safe. If you report directly to the football staff or someone in athletics, you might worry about being fired if you pull a kid out,” Asplund said. “You may feel coerced to playing a kid


Lager — yes, lager — could be the breakout star of D.C. Beer Week

Vilarrubi says. “Then there's also the fact that D.C. in August really calls for something light and delicious.” While IPAs dominate the craft beer scene, representing more than a quarter of all sales across the country, an increasing number of the country's best brewers, including Founders, Victory and Bell's, have released pilsners and lagers in recent years, which have led to double-digit sales increases. Local breweries have also seen a growth in interest. Port City Brewing launched a rotating lager series last May, releasing a new batch of a different lager in its Alexandria tasting room every four to eight weeks. For Port City head brewer Jonathan Reeves, it's a chance to experiment with one of his favorite styles. The latest release, an unfiltered Franconian Kellerbier that will be available at the Lager Fest, is “between a pale ale and a lager, and dry-hopped just a little bit,” Reeves says. “I'm trying to stay in style without blowing out the style — to make a pilsner that's as hoppy as a pilsner can be. I think people are surprised they can be more aggressive.” DC Brau In 2015, Hancock finally got to release Brau Pils, a spicy, crackerlike northern German pilsner that's now DC Brau's third best-selling beer. Two months ago, DC Brau began exporting Brau Pils to Sweden, after the beer received a “near-perfect” score in the blind tasting that determines which beers are sold in the country's state-controlled liquor stores. Hancock says he appreciates that pilsners and lagers can appeal to both novice and experienced craft beer drinkers. “For someone just getting into beer, they're looking at it like, 'Oh, it's a craft Bud Light,'" Hancock explains. “But it's just a nuanced beer, with a lot of subtleties. You can't hide any mistakes with them. “You have a lot of breweries pushing out hazy, juicy IPA, but at the end of the day, the brewers want to make something they want to drink.” And for many of them, that's a refreshing, thirst-quenching lager. D.C. Beer Week is your chance to find out why. Lager Fest at City Winery Liquid Integrity and Right Proper Home Brew Contest at Right Proper Brewing Other D.C. Beer Week events to look out for: 'The Art of Beer' at Heurich House New Maryland Breweries and Brewpubs at Meridian Pint Craft Beer Trivia at Glen's Garden Market Brewers on the Block at Union Market


The next generation of wine coolers tastes like fun

Remember wine coolers? Bartles & Jaymes, those two old guys, one in suspenders, sitting on a front porch or flying a biplane while thanking us for our support? Bruce Willis strutting through a bar singing about Seagram’s wine coolers — “It’s wet and it’s dry”? Those ads were all over the airwaves during the 1980s. The ads may be relegated to YouTube, but the flavored wine beverages are still with us. Bartles & Jaymes, produced by E & J Gallo, remains a malt beverage “wine cooler” with a wide variety of flavors. Seagram’s now sells Seagram’s Escapes, with fanciful flavors like Calypso Colada and Bahama Mama. The rising popularity of cans for wine over the past few years has given a boost to flavored wines. Cans are fun and casual, and they bend the rules that say wine should be in glass under cork. (Those rules have been bent by corkscrews, boxes and Tetra Paks as well.) The lines between wine, beer and cocktails have blurred even more. Infinite Monkey Theorem, a winery based in Denver, markets a sauvignon blanc infused with hops. It tastes rather like an India Pale Ale, with the lighter body and higher acidity of wine. It’s an identity crisis in a can. A popular line of “sparkling wine cocktails” is Pampelonne, a brand started in 2013. “The inspiration came from our enthusiasm for the sparkling wine cocktails like Aperol Spritz we enjoyed in France and Italy, and a desire to make them accessible to everyone back home,” says Wyatt Carder, co-owner along with Erik Weller. Pampelonne taps into the current vogue for craft cocktails, bringing the bar home in a can, with a straw. Pampelonne uses white wine imported from France as its base. In early years, it used Melon de Bourgogne (the grape of Muscadet) from the Loire Valley, switching in 2017 to ugni blanc, a grape widely grown in Gascony. Both are fairly neutral whites, without much inherent flavor but with good acidity to make a refreshing base for a blended drink. At the company facility in Modesto, Calif., the base wine is blended with sparkling wine and natural flavorings. The Negroni Sbagliato resembles its namesake cocktail with flavors of bitter orange, if not gin. (The can lists Italian bitters and orgeat to mimic the botanicals in gin.) Rosé Lime is another refreshing flavor, and the company has introduced a Harvest Pear Palmetto


Reverse Trump’s reversal of a dangerous pesticide ban

Another harebrained decision by the Trump administration has apparently flown under the radar. According to a memo released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Aug. 2, the Trump administration has rolled back the ban on neonicotinoids, a type of synthetic pesticide that was banned during the Obama years. This pesticide has been linked to the decline of wild bee populations around the world. The substance also interferes with the ability of birds to navigate normally. This class of pesticides would have a deleterious effect on the production of countless food crops that need pollination because bee populations would be significantly threatened wherever they are used. We must demand passage of a law again placing this class of pesticides on the banned list. Willis Mann


Rash of overdoses show dangers of powerful synthetic drugs

10 states in recent months. Unlike previous overdose clusters around the country, “there is no indication of the presence of fentanyl” in samples of the synthetic marijuana being analyzed by the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Uri Shafir, acting assistant special agent in charge of the DEA’s New Haven office. Early media reports had indicated the synthetic marijuana was laced with fentanyl. Illicit fentanyl continues to do far more damage on the streets than other drugs. About 50 times more powerful than heroin, it is cheap and easy to make. It is being cut into heroin, cocaine and other drugs and is often pressed into pill form, tricking users who covet prescription medications. According to one medical specialist in Baltimore, users aware of the combination of drugs they can receive in a single purchase are calling the mixture “scramble.” More than 72,000 people died of drug overdoses last year Just a few grains of either can kill a person. In Cincinnati, 174 users overdosed in six days in 2016 after taking heroin cut with carfentanil. For years, much of the focus has been on curbing the supply of illicit opioid painkillers from doctors and pharmacies to people who abuse the drugs. Now, there is some evidence that battle may be succeeding. The CDC data shows that deaths involving hydrocodone and oxycodone appear to have flattened out, offering possible hope that painkiller deaths might have peaked. On Thursday, the Justice Department and the DEA announced a proposal to further curtail the manufacturing of six powerful prescription painkillers, reducing production quotas by an average of 10 percent in 2019. President Trump also asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to bring a federal lawsuit against opioid suppliers. The federal government already has filed a statement of interest in a mammoth federal lawsuit involving cities, counties, Native American tribes and unions who have sued companies up and down the opioid supply chain. But authorities and others who work with those who are addicted say that prescription pills are no longer the most urgent threat. “Seventy-five percent of the deaths we get are fentanyl related,” said Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County, N.J., prosecutor. “It’s the heroin laced with synthetic opioids that we’re getting creamed with.” Andrey Ostrovsky, president and chief executive of the Concerted Care Group in Maryland, a chain of three outpatient treatment centers, said positive tests for fentanyl among opioid users


Walmart shares up 9 percent after strong earnings report

Walmart on Thursday said its second-quarter sales grew at the fastest clip in more than 10 years, as Americans spent more in stores and online. The retail giant on Thursday said U.S. same-store sales -- a closely-watched industry metric that measures growth at stores open at least one year -- rose 4.5 percent during the second quarter. Online sales, meanwhile, grew 40 percent as consumers bought more groceries, apparel and seasonal items such as swimming pools, air conditioners and gardening supplies. A low unemployment rate has also helped boost consumer spending, the company said. Shares of the world’s largest retailer soared more than 11 percent following the news. "We benefited from a favorable economic environment,” Doug McMillon, Walmart’s chief executive, said in a Thursday call with investors. “Customers tell us that they feel better about the current health of the U.S. economy as well as their personal finances. They’re more confident about their employment opportunities.” Although wage growth has remained tepid in recent years, analysts say Americans are feeling better about the economy as recent tax cuts translate into higher take-home pay. This has boosted sales for some of the country’s top retailers, including Nordstrom and Home Depot, where second-quarter revenue grew 7.1 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively. “There is something of a party going on in retail, with consumers spending in a relatively carefree way,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. “This has been a glittering quarter for Walmart with strong uplifts across most parts of the business.” Walmart has been investing heavily in its online business as it goes head-to-head with rival Amazon.com. It has also doubled down on two key areas of growth: groceries and clothing. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon.com, owns The Washington Post.) The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer spent $3.3 billion buying up Jet.com two years ago in the hope of reaching more affluent customers in large cities. Since then, it has purchased niche apparel businesses including Bonobos, ModCloth and ShoeBuy, and has also expanded its own lineup of private-label brands. A recent partnership with Lord & Taylor has also helped boost Walmart.com’s cache with higher-end brands like Calvin Klein, Donna Karan and Ray-Bay. On Wednesday, the retailer said it would be partnering with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres on an upcoming line of T-shirts, denim and sneakers priced under $30. “The addition of more premium brands is starting


revenue grew 7.1 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively. “There is something of a party going on in retail, with consumers spending in a relatively carefree way,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. “This has been a glittering quarter for Walmart with strong uplifts across most parts of the business.” Walmart has been investing heavily in its online business as it goes head-to-head with rival Amazon.com. It has also doubled down on two key areas of growth: groceries and clothing. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon.com, owns The Washington Post.) The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer spent $3.3 billion buying up Jet.com two years ago in the hope of reaching more affluent customers in large cities. Since then, it has purchased niche apparel businesses including Bonobos, ModCloth and ShoeBuy, and has also expanded its own lineup of private-label brands. A recent partnership with Lord & Taylor has also helped boost Walmart.com’s cache with higher-end brands like Calvin Klein, Donna Karan and Ray-Bay. On Wednesday, the retailer said it would be partnering with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres on an upcoming line of T-shirts, denim and sneakers priced under $30. “The addition of more premium brands is starting to have an impact,” Saunders said. “There has been a notable increase in the number of higher income customers visiting the site over the past couple of months.” More Americans also shopped at Walmart and Sam’s Club locations during the most recent quarter, contributing to a 2.2 percent increase in store traffic. Helping drive that growth: The company’s grocery business, which accounts for about more than half of its revenue. “Customers continue to gravitate toward our selection of fresh produce, meat, and bakery items,” McMillon said. Sales of frozen foods and dry goods also rose during the quarter, as Walmart continued to expand its selection of private-label foods and organic offerings to win over time-strapped shoppers. More than 1,800 of Walmart’s 4,700 U.S. stores now offer grocery pick-up, and executives said they plan to offer grocery delivery to 40 percent of the country by the end of this year. “We are attracting new customers, but we’re also seeing existing consumers put something extra in their baskets," Brett Biggs, Walmart’s Chief Financial Officer, said in a Thursday morning call with reporters. Overall, Walmart’s revenue grew 4.2 percent to $127.1 billion in the most recent quarter. While revenue increased, the company ended


Industrious fire ants reveal surprise secret to success: Selective laziness

Ants don't tend to get in traffic jams. They might butt heads (or antennae) momentarily as they go about their industrious business, but ants somehow have mastered the art of keeping things moving. They're geniuses of flow. Another striking thing about ants is that some of them just sit around doing nothing. This has also been noticed in other social insects, such as bees. When ants build a nest, some of them just sit around, inert, lazy, seemingly useless. Now a study out of Georgia Tech, published Thursday in the journal Science, combines these observations to deliver a lesson that could have implications for such things as how the robots of the future might be used for disaster relief. The researchers found that ants are more successful when they are selectively industrious. They use idleness to their advantage. Quitting has its virtues. The researchers studied groups of 30 color-coded fire ants digging tunnels in glass-walled containers in a laboratory. About 30 percent of the ants did 70 percent of the work. Some ants did very little or nothing. When the researchers removed the most hard-working ants, some of the previously less-active ants stepped up their game and began working harder. It appears that industriousness is not an individual attribute but a defined role. It's like a job title: heavy lifter. When excavating a tunnel during the frenzy of nest-building, the tunnel face — the deep end of the tunnel — can get crowded. That can cause traffic jams. What the researchers noted is that some ants turn around and leave the tunnel without doing any work. These reversals limit the potential for clogging up the works. The team created computer models with simulated ants and found that this system of selective idleness enables the ants to dig deep faster. Their method reduces the chances of clogs. In effect, the ants have solved the eternal problem of too many cooks in the kitchen. “What the ants have discovered is pretty close to the best way to do it. You need the idleness distribution and the appropriate amount of giving up,” said Daniel Goldman, a Georgia Tech physicist who runs the lab and is the senior author of the new study. “It’s a nice example of where doing less gives you more. And perhaps the most,” said Ofer Feinerman, a physicist who studies ants at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel


Syria accuses Israel’s Mossad of assassinating top rocket scientist

BEIRUT — Syria on Tuesday accused Israel of assassinating a top Syrian rocket scientist over the weekend, heightening the growing tensions between the two countries as Syrian government troops restore control over areas close to Israel. Aziz Asbar, a research director at Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, was killed Saturday by an explosive device targeting his car in the town of Masyaf in Syria’s Hama province, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency. The center has long been linked by intelligence agencies to Syria’s chemical weapons program, and Israeli warplanes are suspected to have targeted the facility on at least two occasions over the past year, in September and July. Syrian news reports blamed Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency for the killing and said Asbar had survived two previous assassination attempts, also by Israeli agents. According to the al-Watan Daily newspaper, he was killed because of his “important” work on Syrian defense systems. “Yet again the Israeli enemy has assassinated one of the greatest Syrian minds,” al-Watan said in a commentary Tuesday. Also Tuesday, the New York Times quoted an unnamed official with a Middle Eastern intelligence organization as confirming that Israel was responsible for the attack. The newspaper said Asbar had been collaborating with the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, on the production of precision-guided missiles in Syria. An Israeli government spokesman declined to comment on the allegations. If this new assassination was carried out by Mossad, it was the latest in a long line of Israeli attacks targeting Syrian weapons capabilities and development. Israel has carried out more than 100 airstrikes against targets in Syria since 2012, aimed either at Iranian military facilities or at attempts to transfer sophisticated weapons to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. The Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center has long been a focus of international efforts to curtail Syria’s capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological weapons. A branch of the center outside Damascus was among the targets of U.S. strikes against Syria in April, and the U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on the institution since 2005. After the Syrian government carried out what independent inspectors said was a sarin nerve agent attack that killed as many as 100 people in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in 2017, the United States also imposed sanctions on 271 individuals associated with the center.


Kofi Annan, U.N. secretary general and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, dies at 80

to mediate a host of conflicts in his native Africa. Kofi Atta Annan was born with a twin sister on April 8, 1938, in Kumasi, Ghana — in what was then the British colony of the Gold Coast. His father was a senior buyer of cocoa for the Anglo Dutch corporation Unilever. He named his son in the Ghanaian Akan language: Kofi means “born on Friday” and Atta means “twin.” After attending schools in the Gold Coast, Mr. Annan won a Ford Foundation scholarship to Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1961, he found work as a junior administrative and budget officer with the U.N. World Health Organization in Geneva. He received a master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. Mr. Annan began to attract wider notice at the start of the Persian Gulf War in 1990. On a special mission to Baghdad as chief of personnel, he helped persuade the Iraqis to release 900 U.N. employees and dependents held as hostages. He also organized an airlift of hundreds of thousands of Asian workers back to their original homes. Boutros-Ghali pulled Mr. Annan out of the United Nations’ bureaucratic ranks in 1992, naming him deputy chief of peacekeeping, the most dramatic work done by the United Nations. The next year, Mr. Annan was promoted to chief of peacekeeping with the rank of undersecretary general, the highest in the U.N. civil service. Mr. Annan presided over a record expansion of peacekeeping to 75,000 troops in 19 missions. In his new role, Mr. Annan drew strong criticism from some journalists and activists for failing to sound the alarm about the threat of impending genocide in Rwanda. He and his aides worked behind the scenes to prevent the widespread killing in Rwanda, but they said the forces of ethnic hatred were too strong to temper. When the massacres erupted in the mid-1990s, the U.N. Security Council, led by the United States, did little to stop them; hundreds of thousands were killed. Mr. Annan’s first marriage, to Nigerian-born Titilola Alakija, ended in divorce. In 1984, he married Nane Lagergren, a Swedish lawyer and jurist. Her uncle was Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved the lives of thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II and disappeared mysteriously in 1945 while in the custody of the Soviet army. In retirement, Mr.


Kofi Annan’s legacy was complicated by the Rwandan genocide

of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Rwanda when the genocide began. He refused to leave, even as the situation escalated dramatically. In a phone call with The Post on Saturday, he said that the U.N. initially provided a false sense of security for many Rwandans, who may otherwise have run. It was “an enormous failure that has always been a very, very difficult thing for me,” said Wilkens, who wrote a book about the genocide, called “I’m not leaving.” “Every time, I thought are you kidding me? The person in charge of this enormous failure then gets made the secretary general of the U.N.,” Wilkens said. “That just really was a bitterness inside of me. I think it blinded me from any other positive contributions and achievements and reasons that he may have been selected for that position and then what he was able to accomplish.” Annan acknowledged the U.N.'s shortcomings, saying in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, in 1998 that "the world failed Rwanda at that time of evil.” Meisler wrote in Annan’s obituary that he later “published long reports, chock full of classified cables, that detailed the United Nations’ mistakes in dealing with the massacre in Srebrenica during the Balkans war and Rwanda in the 1990s.” In 2001, Annan shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations “for having revitalized the U.N. and for having given priority to human rights,” the prize’s website says, in addition to his work on “the struggle to contain the spreading of the HIV virus in Africa and his declared opposition to international terrorism.” Annan is also widely credited with brokering a peace deal that put an end to post-election violence in Kenya in early 2008, after contested elections in 2007 sparked clashes that left hundreds dead. Wilkens said that in the wake of Annan’s death, he now hopes to set aside some of his bitterness and take a more objective look at what the complicated leader accomplished after 1994. “When I read about his death, I realized I was very much guilty of something that I think Rwanda has been trying to teach me, and something I think everybody should have a look at,” Wilkens said. “Are we always going to be defined by our worst choices? Our worst mistakes?” Read more Rwanda’s children of rape are coming of age — against the odds In 2017, the world let a ‘genocide’ unfold


Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has died

Kofi Annan of Ghana, whose popular and influential reign as secretary general of the United Nations was marred by White House anger at his opposition to the American invasion of Iraq, has died, the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation said on Twitter. Mr. Annan, who shared the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize with the international body he led from 1997 to 2006, owed his original triumph and his later turmoil to tense relations with the United States. In some ways, he was an accidental secretary general.This is a developing story. It will be updated.


‘Like a rerun’: Jordan McNair isn’t the first Maryland football player to die of heatstroke

has a student-athlete, athletic trainer or coach reported a seizure occurring at 5 p.m.” Nearly 60 years ago, Lohr arrived at Prince George’s General Hospital with a body temperature of 108 degrees. McNair was airlifted to R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore with a 106-degree temperature. In neither instance, 59 years apart, did university athletics personnel take either players’ temperature. Both of their bodies were so hot, their internal organs began to shut down. Doctors transferred Lohr to University Hospital where a new kidney was ready, just in case. McNair received a liver transplant. Maryland called Lohr’s death an “unfortunate accident,” in a university report, which sought to discredit Harper and the other eyewitnesses. Lohr’s mother, Lucille, told the committee that wrote the report her son’s death was “an act of God and that she had no basis for believing that anyone could be held responsible for his death.” Nugent, in his first year as head coach, retained his position with the backing of the school’s administration. “I believe my coaches to be honest,” University President Wilson H. Elkins told The Post. “I cannot find anything unusual concerning the circumstances of Lohr’s collapse. I attended the practice and have been connected with football for many years and know it is customary for players to take sprints as a windup. That is all part of the game.” McNair spent two weeks in the hospital and died June 13. University President Wallace D. Loh told the player’s parents the college accepted “legal and moral responsibility” for McNair’s death, though several formal investigations are ongoing. McNair’s parents have called for Durkin, entering his third season, to be fired. “We have looked at the preliminary observations that were given to me and others,” Loh said at a news conference this week, “and some of our policies and protocols do not conform to best practices. Some of the actions of our athletic training staff — not the coaching staff, our athletic training staff — they basically misdiagnosed the situation.” Read more: Stunned, confused, defiant: Maryland football deals with a scandal that isn’t going away With echoes of Len Bias, Maryland athletic department faces crisis again Who is Matt Canada? A look at Maryland football’s new interim head coach. Maryland places DJ Durkin on administrative leave amid reports of football program’s toxic culture Will Muschamp defends Maryland Coach DJ Durkin, calls anonymous sources ‘gutless’


U.S. sanctions Myanmar military commanders and units for their role in ‘ethnic cleansing’

HONG KONG — The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on three Myanmar military commanders and a border guard police commander, along with two military units, for their involvement in “ethnic cleansing” against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state. It was the firmest U.S. action against the Myanmar military since it launched a brutal campaign against the minority group about a year ago. The move comes as the State Department readies a comprehensive report on atrocities in Rakhine last August. The study could include findings on whether the military committed crimes against humanity or genocide against the Rohingya. Human rights groups and experts have accused the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, of waging a premeditated campaign against the Rohingya, disputing its explanation that it was merely responding to militant attacks on police posts. The army’s weeks-long clearance operation in Rakhine resulted in allegations of rape, indiscriminate killing and the torching of Rohingya homes. The three military commanders, Aung Kyaw Zaw, Khin Maung Soe and Khin Hlaing, and the border guard police commander, San Lwin, were sanctioned for their roles in leading campaigns against ethnic minority communities, the Treasury Department said in a press release. In addition to the campaign in Rakhine, the military has “used many of the same tactics against a number of other ethnic and religious minority groups,” the department said, citing “extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and torture against civilians.” Khin Hlaing was specifically sanctioned for his role in Shan state, in the country’s north, in actions against ethnic Kachin and Chinese minorities. The Treasury Department also sanctioned two entire military units — the 99th and 33rd light infantry divisions — in a rare move. Both were designated for “engaging in serious human rights abuse,” the department said. Soldiers of the 33rd Light Infantry Division participated in last August’s campaign against the Rohingya and were accused of firing on fleeing villagers and raping women. “Treasury is sanctioning units and leaders overseeing this horrific behavior as part of a broader U.S. government strategy to hold accountable those responsible for such wide-scale human suffering,” said Sigal Mandelker, treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. “The U.S. government is committed to ensuring that Burmese military units and leaders reckon with and put a stop to these brutal acts.” In a statement Friday, the Myanmar embassy in Washington said it was working closely with the United States to


Maryland football Coach DJ Durkin remains on leave, but many believe his fate is sealed

that it’s a nonstarter. He’s not coming back.” Perhaps most damning is the opinion of McNair’s parents. The player’s father, Martin McNair, said Thursday on “Good Morning America” that Durkin “shouldn’t be able to work with anybody else’s kid.” “Right now it looks pretty daunting for DJ, especially with the parents coming out and being as vocal as they are about their son’s death,” said ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who added that he would like to hear more from current and former players to gather further information about Durkin. Those close to the sport and the program say that welcoming Durkin back into the fold after he was placed on administrative leave Aug. 11 could cause divisions among the fan base, the university community and perhaps even a locker room that is grieving the loss of a teammate. More than a dozen current players and parents interviewed by The Washington Post have expressed confidence in Durkin and said they believe he has been wrongfully faulted for McNair’s death. They also disputed recent news reports that described the program culture as toxic. However, a high-level donor said it’s “impossible” that Durkin would return to his position and does not think Athletic Director Damon Evans and university President Wallace D. Loh will remain in their jobs, either. The donor expects to see “major boosters withhold support until Loh and Evans are out of the picture.” “I think both Maryland and any other prospective school that considers DJ going forward has to, prior to making that decision, needs to put themselves in the shoes of the McNair family . . . and contemplate what that family has gone through before they make a decision,” said the donor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the situation. “If you do that, there’s no way Maryland brings him back, and other schools need to answer that question for themselves.” Paths to firing or settlement There are multiple ways that Durkin could leave the program, starting with the university terminating him with cause. The coach’s contract outlines five reasons he could be fired with cause, which means he would not receive any further compensation from the university: immoral or unlawful conduct that is “inconsistent with professional standards of conduct of an intercollegiate head football coach”; repetitive unprofessional or unsportsmanlike behavior; a material act of insubordination or repeated acts of


Maryland board asserts control over probe into football player’s death

The governing board of Maryland’s public university system Friday asserted control over the widening investigation of football at the state’s flagship school following the death of a player who collapsed during a spring training session. In a special meeting closed to the public, the Board of Regents voted to intensify its oversight of two inquiries related to University of Maryland football: one looking at the circumstances behind Jordan McNair’s death and the second examining the culture of the football program. Going forward, the board said it will manage the two inquiries that had been launched by U-Md. officials. In effect, the action shifts primary oversight of the matter from the campus to the system leadership. Exactly how that will affect the handling of the probe remains to be seen. The board plans to reveal details on the process next week. The action came as Gov. Larry Hogan said he has urged the board chairman to “get to the bottom” of what happened. McNair, 19, an offensive lineman for the University of Maryland, died in June after suffering exertional heatstroke at a May 29 workout. Leaders of the university in College Park met with McNair’s family this week to apologize for lapses in treatment of the student. Trainers failed to take the player’s temperature at the time of the collapse or bathe him in ice water immediately to cool his body, officials acknowledged, steps that experts say could have saved McNair’s life. The Board of Regents, which oversees U-Md. and several other public universities, was briefed on the situation in a conference call Friday that lasted nearly four hours. “Everyone throughout the University System of Maryland was deeply saddened by the death of Jordan McNair,” Board of Regents Chairman James Brady said in a statement afterward. “Our thoughts continue to be with his family and friends, and with everyone at [U-Md.] at this very difficult time.” Brady said the board was “fully briefed” by U-Md. President Wallace D. Loh about the circumstances of McNair’s death, actions taken since and “the alarming allegations that have emerged in the last week related to the football program.” “After a long and robust discussion, the board voted unanimously to assume responsibility for the investigations into these two separate issues. Our goal is to ensure that all system universities, including [U-Md.], are actively working to protect the health and safety of every student and to foster


Man fatally shot in Southeast Washington

A D.C. man was fatally shot in Southeast Washington early Sunday morning, police said, in what was the District’s 99th homicide of 2018. Police identified the victim as 35-year-old Keith Douglas of Southeast. The shooting took place in the 3900 block of Southern Avenue SE, near the Prince George’s County border, according to police, who did not have a suspect as of late Sunday morning. Authorities said about 1:32 a.m., officers were called to the location and found Douglas suffering gunshot wounds. D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Crews were dispatched to the scene, police said. Douglas was taken to a hospital and was later pronounced dead. The 99 homicides represent more than a 30 percent increase from the same period in 2017, when there were just over 70 murders, according to police data, though police note a drop in year-over-year violent crime overall. The shooting came a day after a man was fatally stabbed in the 500 block of Rhode Island Avenue NE, according to police. Police advised anyone with information to call 202-727-9099 or connect with their anonymous tip line at 50411. faiz.siddiqui@washpost.com


Blackwater guard’s retrial on murder charge in 2007 Iraq massacre goes to U.S. jury

the leader of the four-vehicle convoy who was seated next to Slatten — retreated on the witness stand from strong, repeated testimony that he had heard Slatten fire first. Jurors began deliberating Tuesday in the case before U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth. The shooting at the traffic circle sparked anti-American outrage abroad and made the name Blackwater synonymous with unaccountable U.S. military power. Slatten’s retrial reflects the latest twist in prosecutors’ dogged but ill-starred prosecution, a pursuit marred by the government’s own missteps. Charges were first brought against six Blackwater employees in 2008, one of whom, Jeremy Ridgeway, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and testified against Slatten in both trials, although he also said he believed Slough fired first. A federal judge threw out the other indictments in 2009, saying prosecutors improperly relied on statements the guards gave State Department investigators immediately after the shooting, believing that their statements would not be used in court. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed that ruling in 2011, clearing the way for prosecutors to obtain fresh indictments against Slatten and the three others. However, prosecutors took so long to charge Slatten that the statutory time limit for bringing a manslaughter charge had expired, a court found. The Justice Department responded by charging Slatten, a former Army sniper, with first-degree murder, which has no statute of limitations. This summer, prosecutors have mostly rerun a streamlined version of Slatten’s first murder trial — cutting an 11-week trial to five weeks and relying on 37 witnesses instead of 70. But those witnesses again included Iraqi survivors who traveled to Washington and wrenchingly described out-of-control firing by Blackwater guards in graphic terms. Other witnesses included former colleagues who recounted Slatten’s description of Iraqis as “animals” whose “lives are not worth anything” and past incidents in which he fired unprovoked on innocuous targets to draw out gunfire. Prosecutors said Slough’s assertion that he was the first to shoot, believing the convoy was under attack, was demonstrably false, part of a series of lies to avoid accountability for a civilian massacre. They said his claim the Kia had approached at high speed was contradicted by nine eyewitnesses, six of whom said it rolled forward only after its driver had been shot. Assistant U.S. Attorney T. Patrick Martin said Slough was forced to falsify the threat the driver posed to


Efforts to pry back bonus payments from service members stopped

The Pentagon had been going after thousands of soldiers who had received overpayments of $15,000 or more as an incentive to reenlist during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Los Angeles Times’ David. S. Cloud reported, “Nearly 10,000 soldiers, many of whom served multiple combat tours, have been ordered to repay large enlistment bonuses — and slapped with interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens if they refuse — after audits revealed the overpayments.” In some cases, recruiters, who weren’t authorized to do so, offered the large bonuses. Susan Haley, a former Army master sergeant who deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, told Cloud that she has to send the Pentagon $650 a month as part of her repayment of a $20,500 bonus. Some soldiers have had to file bankruptcy or saw their credit ruined because of the collection efforts. This week Washington Post reporters Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Dan Lamothe reported Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter ordered the Pentagon to stop trying to collect the payments so that soldiers could appeal the clawback. In a statement Carter said: “I am ordering a series of steps to ensure fair treatment for thousands of California National Guard soldiers who may have received incentive bonuses and tuition assistance improperly as a result of errors and in some cases criminal behavior by members of the California National Guard. While some soldiers knew or should have known they were ineligible for benefits they were claiming, many others did not.” He continued: “Ultimately, we will provide for a process that puts as little burden as possible on any soldier who received an improper payment through no fault of his or her own. At the same time, it will respect our important obligation to the taxpayer.” I’m a taxpayer, and I think, given the sacrifices soldiers make, those who didn’t know they were being overpaid shouldn’t have to pay back the money. They reenlisted to serve in some dangerous areas. And, yes, a five-figures bonus is a lot of money, but it still doesn’t begin to cover the risk they took for our freedom. Color of Money Question of the Week Live Chat Today Live in the DMV area? Come to a free financial wellness workshop Sat. Oct 29 Are you struggling to budget? Stuck on how to get out of debt? If this is you, come to Catholic Charities free Financial Wellness Workshop on Sat. Oct.


Is soda over? Pepsi to buy seltzer-maker SodaStream for $3.2 billion.

company’s overall sales declined 16 percent. “Consumers still like bubbles, they want carbonation, but they want it in a healthier product,” Gary Hemphill, the managing director of research for Beverage Marketing Corp., told The Washington Post in 2015. “Those products really fit where the consumer wants to be.” Americans have been drinking seltzer — and making it at home using carbon-dioxide cartridges — since the early 1900s, according to Joseph. Soda shops helped popularize drinks such as egg creams (which are made with carbonated water, milk and flavored syrup) that families then re-created at home. But demand stalled during World War I and continued to “decline precipitously by the decade,” Joseph said, until the 1970s, when Perrier expanded into the United States. Since then, the drink has enjoyed a steady rise. SodaStream entered the U.S. market in the early 2000s, making it cheaper — and easier — for Americans to turn tap water into carbonated beverages. The company says it now has 12.5 million active customers, up from 4.5 million in 2012. Sales are up 31 percent so far this year. PepsiCo’s planned takeover of SodaStream, expected to be final in January, is just one way chief executive Indra Nooyi has tried to steer the maker of Doritos and Mountain Dew toward more healthful products, such as Aquafina bottled water, Sabra hummus and KeVita kombucha. (Nooyi is set to retire in October.) Company executives say they are also hoping to offer more environmentally friendly alternatives to bottled water and canned soda. Among those initiatives: Aquafina-branded “water stations” that allow customers to fill their own bottles with flavored and sparkling waters. “PepsiCo is finding new ways to reach consumers beyond the bottle,” Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo’s president, said in a statement on Monday. At Hill’s Kitchen, a homewares store in Washington’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, owner Leah Daniels says SodaStream cartridges have been her top-selling item for at least four years. The brand now makes up for about 8 percent of her store’s annual revenue. “People love the environmental aspect of it — there’s no trash, and they’re not having to lug cases of soda water back and forth from the grocery store,” she said. “It’s become huge for us.” Read more: The personal stylists who are training the bots to be personal stylists Retailers are marketing directly to kids shopping on their smartphones Playskool crayons found to contain asbestos, advocacy group says


Kofi Annan was a strong voice for peace. Rwanda was where he fell short.

Kofi Annan, the first U.N. secretary general from sub-Saharan Africa, died Saturday after a short illness. Annan, a career U.N. diplomat, served as secretary general from 1997 to 2006 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 for his work toward “a better organized and a more peaceful world,” along with his contributions to the fights against AIDS and international terrorism. But Annan’s long career as a peacemaker has a dark page: the 1994 genocide of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority. Annan oversaw U.N. peacekeeping efforts during this time, and the situation in Rwanda unraveled quickly. The inability of the United Nations to stop the genocide has been well documented, and Annan has been criticized for not heeding the warnings of violence. There were clear signs of the violence to come Annan was named head of the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations in March 1993. Just five months later, he took on the task of setting up the U.N. Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) to oversee the Arusha Peace Accords between the government of Rwanda and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which had been at war since 1990. But even as UNAMIR troops deployed in Rwanda, the situation in the country deteriorated. Signs that ethnic violence was imminent emerged as early as November 1993. As Alison Des Forges wrote in “Leave None to Tell the Story” (a report that I helped research and write as head of the Human Rights Watch office in Rwanda in 1995-1996): The preparations for violence took place in full view of a U.N. peacekeeping force. The commander of that force reported evidence of the worsening situation to his superiors who directed him to observe the narrowest possible interpretation of his mandate. He was in effect to do nothing but keep on talking with the authorities while they kept on preparing for slaughter. The primary superior to whom the UNAMIR commander, Canadian Gen. Roméo Dallaire, reported was Annan. Between January and March 1994, Dallaire repeatedly briefed Annan and other U.N. officials about the deteriorating situation in Rwanda, including a warning as early as Jan. 11 about a plan for “Tutsi extermination.” He repeatedly sought authorization from Annan to confiscate arms and otherwise act to prevent imminent violence, but was rebuffed. Annan responded Widespread killings began in April 1994 When Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana was assassinated by a missile that took down his plane on April 6, 1994,


Why Theresa May is a great prime minister

is that she was handed an impossible brief. It is immaterial whether she was for or against leaving the E.U. ahead of the 2016 referendum. What matters is that the version of Brexit sold by Leavers to British voters was a delusion. And if Britain’s departure from the E.U. ends up being a benign, incremental adjustment instead of a sudden break creating legal and political uncertainty and massive trade barriers, much of the credit will go to May. The likes of Johnson wanted to reclaim British sovereignty over domestic regulation, immigration and trade policy — while also preserving all the benefits of frictionless commerce that Britain derives from being a part of the E.U.’s single market. “Absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the single market,” Daniel Hannan reassured voters in 2015. Of course, the E.U. would not have any of this. To enjoy the benefits of single-market membership in trade in goods or services, Brussels expects countries to abide by European rules, not come up with their own. Furthermore, from the E.U.’s perspective, the “four freedoms” — of movement of goods, services, capital and people — on which the single market is based are indivisible. To be sure, that was always a political call on the E.U.’s part, not a logical necessity. But unlike hard-line Brexiteers, May understood early on that the E.U. was not going to budge on that point. Brexit hard-liners such as Johnson, David Davis and Jacob Rees-Mogg might not like the gradual softening of Britain’s position, but they offer no viable alternative — other than simply crashing out of the E.U. As a result, they will continue to derive a greater political payoff in kibitzing from the sidelines than in either attacking May directly, or in rallying explicitly behind her. May has thus successfully twisted the arms of Tory backbenchers on a number of issues. Britain will honor its financial commitment to the E.U. budget. During the “implementation” period, the rights of E.U. nationals arriving in Britain will be guaranteed, and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice will carry weight in legal decisions affecting E.U. nationals. The question of the Irish border might seem the most challenging. May has pushed for a compromise that will allow Northern Ireland to remain in “full alignment” with the E.U. single market and customs union rules in order to ensure no hard border on the


PM Update: A few showers tonight; strong to severe storms possible on Tuesday

High temperatures held to around 80 in the D.C. area this afternoon, heavily influenced by a lot of cloud cover. Although it wasn’t exactly perfect, it felt pretty decent out there most of the day despite the high humidity. It’s the same general story tonight, and our humidity levels are going up as we get to tomorrow. Storm chances build, as well. Listen to the latest forecast: Get our daily forecasts on your Amazon Alexa device. Click here to find out how. Through Tonight: View the current weather at The Washington Post. Tomorrow (Tuesday): See Jason Samenow’s forecast through the weekend. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. For related traffic news, check out Gridlock. Tuesday boomers: In an email discussion today, CWG’s Jeff Halverson noted a bunch of pros and cons to the setup but concluded that “if we can destabilize, then multicells and some transient supercells seem possible.” One main question might be location. At this time, it seems the best odds may end up generally west of us or into the western parts of our area. The situation will certainly continue to evolve, so do check back in tomorrow! Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox? Subscribe here.


Local Digest: Fire in Northwest D.C. displaces 6 adults, 5 children

THE DISTRICT Fire in Northwest displaces 11 Flames leaped from the roofs of houses early Monday as a fire broke out near a major Northwest Washington intersection. The fire broke out about midnight in two rowhouses in the 1300 block of North Capitol Street NW, around two blocks north of the intersection of New York Avenue and North Capitol, according to the D.C. fire department. The fire appeared to be in houses at the corner of North Capitol and O Street NW. Firefighters confined the blaze to roof decks and storage structures, the fire department said. However, six adults and five children were displaced, authorities said. — Martin Weil Boy, 15, is wounded in Sunday shooting A 15-year-old boy was shot and wounded in Northeast Washington on Sunday afternoon, D.C. police said. Police said the shooting took place just after 1 p.m. at the intersection of 45th and Pond streets in Northeast. — Faiz Siddiqui VIRGINIA Man said to threaten to kill people at mosque A 22-year-old man has been charged after police said he threatened to kill everyone he encountered at a Fairfax County mosque, rammed parked cars and refused to let people inside the house of worship. Zulqarnian Khan is facing nine counts in the incident that occurred at Masjid Noor in Springfield on Sunday, Fairfax County police said. Officers arrived at the mosque in the 8600 block of Pohick Road after emergency calls were placed. Khan made death threats, prevented people from entering the mosque and forced others to leave the building, police said. Khan also rammed three parked cars with his own vehicle, including one car that was occupied, police said. No one was injured during the incident. Khan was arrested and taken to the Fairfax County jail. He was charged with three counts of abduction, one count of attempted malicious wounding, and one count of destruction of property. He was also charged with three counts of misdemeanor destruction of property and one count of disorderly conduct. Police did not disclose a motive for the incident. — Justin Jouvenal