began his career as a space scientist in 1954 as leader of an Air Force expedition to observe a solar eclipse in the Labrador region of Canada. In 1955, he led a similar expedition to Vietnam. He came to Washington in 1960 to do research on classified satellite reconnaissance photographic systems for government agencies. From these spy satellites, the government could gather photographic data from countries where flyovers by U.S. aircraft were prohibited. He retired in 1990 as a scientific adviser for cartography at the U.S. Geological Survey after 23 years with the agency, but for much of that time he had been on loan to NASA. While at USGS, he was an adjunct professor of photogrammetry at George Washington University and Virginia Tech. Frederick Joseph Doyle was born April 3, 1920, in Oak Park, Ill. He began his mapping career during World War II with an Army Air Forces unit on Guam, where he prepared target-approach and damage assessment charts for B-29 bombing raids. Later, he was assigned to a geodetic survey unit in Central and South America, and in 1946 was one of two survivors of an airplane crash in the Andes Mountains between Chile and Argentina. For 12 hours, he waited on a mountaintop before a rescue party could reach him, and he was carried down the mountain, having suffered a broken femur and other injuries. After being hospitalized for 18 months, he entered Syracuse University, from which he graduated summa cum laude in 1951. A look at those who died last year. He then studied for a year on a Fulbright fellowship at the International Training Center for Aerial Survey in Delft, Netherlands. He joined the faculty at Ohio State University in 1954 and later became the first chairman of a new department of geodetic sciences. His avocations included model railroads, and he had an extensive collection of trains and tracks in the basement of his home. Mr. Doyle was a former president of the parish council and director of the lector ministry at St. John the Beloved Roman Catholic Church in McLean, and a volunteer with Meals on Wheels. Survivors include his wife, whom he married in 1955, Mary Blaskovich Doyle of McLean; four children, Frederick J. Doyle Jr. of Evergreen, Colo., Margaret Grant of Hermosa Beach, Calif., Mary Ellen Slattery of Annandale, and George Doyle of Vienna; two brothers; a sister; and 10 grandchildren.


In South Korea, high-profile defector is accused of spying for the North — by his sister

Seoul’s top universities, and packed his days with social activities — speaking engagements, dinner parties, weddings, weekly meetings with four or five defector groups. Yoo was hired at City Hall in 2011, and the job suited him well, friends and colleagues say. He assisted those in need of Seoul’s welfare programs, including many defectors. One day, a network television camera followed him on the job as he visited an elderly defector confused by tax documents. “Defectors trust me more because I understand them better,” Yoo said as the camera rolled. But Yoo was different from most defectors — and he defected successfully to South Korea only because he kept a secret when he first arrived, Yoo’s attorneys now admit. He had indeed been born in North Korea, but he was a Chinese citizen — meaning he carried a Chinese passport and could enter and exit the North with freedom inconceivable to the average North Korean. That Yoo held a Chinese passport was an important detail, because Chinese — even those born in the North — are not entitled to automatic South Korean citizenship, as are typical defectors. Yoo’s attorneys say Yoo lied to interrogators about his identity when he arrived, and he received years of aid, earmarked for defectors, to which he was not entitled. There are some 4,000 Chinese in the North, living in pockets in Pyongyang or, as Yoo’s family did, along the northwestern border. His father was a city worker and his mother a nurse; both were born in China. When they ran low on food, Yoo was able to cross into China and earn money by selling deer meat, mushrooms and North Korean-made pottery. Still, after Yoo arrived in the South, he gave friends here the impression his family was no different than others in North Korea, something that has become a point of bitterness and suspicion for other defectors. He spoke about his family as many defectors do — sparingly but with concern. He did occasionally express hope about reuniting with his only sister, younger by seven years. But Yoo never mentioned that she had moved from North Korea — where she, too, had been born and raised — to China in 2011. Yoo, like some higher-profile defectors, also kept in touch with a member of South Korea’s NIS who served as a de facto minder. When his sister, Yoo Ga-ryeo, set out for South


Virginia Community College that year? Dropped. Millions of Americans struggle with phobias. People’s fears can include flying in airplanes or becoming a landing pad for a flying cockroach, things they “go to ridiculous lengths to avoid,” said Michael Reeder, a mental health counselor at Hygeia Counseling Services in Baltimore. “I think I’ve always had . . . a huge fear of bugs, any kind of bugs,” said Milani, who would get no more specific than to say she is in her 20s and who started a blog, Cicadaphobia, to connect with others who share her feelings. “They just creep me out. I find them disgusting, anything with many legs. I don’t eat crab; I don’t eat shrimp. The cicadas are so huge, and there are so many of them.” Yet others adore cicadas for those same reasons. The teeming horde, the giant orange eyes, the jumbo size, the wicked buzz and the large wings, colorful like stained-glass windows. Cicada-watchers have waited eagerly for this year’s reemergence of the group called Brood II. Enthusiasts plan to follow the insects, spy on them with binoculars, soak in their one-of-a-kind noise. It’s one of nature’s miracles, entomologists say, bugs creeping out of the earth when the ground temperature hits 64 degrees to mate, make babies and die. But Yamile Garcia, 33, of Baltimore County, doesn’t see it that way. As cicadas whizzed about in the 2004 swarm, Garcia described being 30 minutes late for a doctor’s appointment for her baby because she sat frozen in her car outside MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center. Paralyzed, her imagination ran wild. She could see cicadas flying in her hair, feel their legs skittering on her skin. “They were all over the parking lot. I had to get myself together to run into the building,” Garcia said. Like a running back hoping to avoid tacklers, she visualized a path to the goal, the hospital’s front door. Get the baby out of his car seat. Hustle a few steps down the walk. Don’t touch or step on one because of the crunching sound. “I know they don’t hurt you,” Garcia said. “I know they don’t bite. My fear is they will fly into me, into my hair, down my shirt. I’m afraid of things that fly. I even hate butterflies.” Don’t be quick to judge, psychiatrists say. “When the cicadas show up, people will identify with these folks,”


Local digest

MARYLAND U-Md. student hurt during fight at dorm A University of Maryland Baltimore County student is recovering after he was stabbed in the arm Saturday morning inside his residence hall. Campus police Maj. Paul Dillon said Cody Jared Kradz, a former student at the school, stabbed the victim about 6 a.m. in Erickson Hall during an “alcohol-related dispute.” Kradz, 22, of Catonsville was charged with first- and second-degree assault. Police did not name the victim. The wounded student was treated and released from a hospital, Dillon said. — Michael S. Rosenwald VIRGINIA Medical condition cited in parade crash Authorities think the driver who plowed into dozens of hikers marching in a Virginia mountain town parade suffered from a medical condition and did not cause the crash intentionally, an emergency official said Sunday. Officials did not have a formal confirmation or any specifics on the condition, but based on the accounts of authorities and witnesses on the scene in Damascus, they are confident the issue was medical, according to Pokey Harris, Washington County’s director of emergency management. “There is no reason to believe this was intentional,” she said. In what witnesses called a frantic scene at the parade on Saturday, 50 to 60 people suffered injuries ranging from superficial to critical. No deaths were reported. Three of the worst injured were flown to hospitals. Two people stayed in hospitals overnight, but their injuries were not critical as of Sunday, Harris said. “For the most part, everyone was treated and released,” she said. The crash happened about 2:10 p.m. Saturday during the Hikers Parade at the Trail Days festival, an annual celebration of the Appalachian Trail in Damascus, near the Tennessee state line and about a half-hour drive east of Bristol. Damascus Police Chief Bill Nunley did not release the driver’s name or age but said he was participating in the parade and had traversed the Appalachian Trail before. Several witnesses described the driver as elderly. Nunley said the man’s 1997 Cadillac was one of the last vehicles in the parade and that the driver might have suffered an unspecified medical problem when his car accelerated to about 25 mph and struck the crowd on a two-lane bridge along the town’s main road. The driver was among those taken to hospitals. — Associated Press


Lyric Opera of Baltimore presents a worthwhile ‘Rigoletto’

The jester, Rigoletto (Stephen Powell), amuses the court in Lyric Opera of Baltimore's "Rigoletto." (Rich Riggins Photography ) The world celebrates the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth this October, but opera companies hardly need any encouragement to stage the Italian composer’s works. Lyric Opera of Baltimore’s staging of “Rigoletto,” heard on Friday night at the Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric, offered another chance to appreciate the mastery of Verdi’s first great achievement, given its premiere at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice in 1851. This Baltimore production offered many excellent qualities, beginning with the powerful and emotionally intense performance of baritone Stephen Powell in the title role. Verdi’s masterful characterization of Rigoletto makes the viewer both dislike and sympathize with the spiteful court jester, and Powell captured both sides of this complex role. As the loathsome Duke of Mantua, tenor Bryan Hymel, a recent winner of both the Beverly Sills and Olivier awards, displayed a ringing top, if not always quite so much elegance at the bottom, and he also drew out the role’s hard-to-find sympathetic qualities. Norah Amsellem’s soprano was not quite pure enough in tone to make a great Gilda, especially in the exceptionally high parts, but she was certainly a very good one. Matthew Treviño was a wicked Sparafucile, with fine low notes, but not enough at the top to double in the baritone role of Monterone, as he was required to do. Jennifer Feinstein was a smoky Maddalena. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra played beautifully in the pit, with just a few misalignments — especially because of the tendency of the otherwise fine men’s chorus to rush — but they were smoothed out by Richard Buckley at the podium. You could be excused for thinking that the production looked like something from 40 years ago, since the sets were made for Cincinnati Opera in 1979. Nothing about the costumes (A.T. Jones) or the direction (John Hoomes) was particularly noteworthy, but they also did not detract from the story or music. The jester, Rigoletto (Stephen Powell), mourns his dead daughter Gilda (Norah Amsellem) in Lyric Opera of Baltimore's "Rigoletto." (Rich Riggins Photography ) Downey is a freelance writer.


Lamar Smith: Overheated rhetoric on climate change hurts the economy

Correction: Lamar Smith, a Republican, represents Texas’s 21st District in the U.S. House and is chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Climate change is an issue that needs to be discussed thoughtfully and objectively. Unfortunately, claims that distort the facts hinder the legitimate evaluation of policy options. The rhetoric has driven some policymakers toward costly regulations and policies that will harm hardworking American families and do little to decrease global carbon emissions. The Obama administration’s decision to delay, and possibly deny, the Keystone XL pipeline is a prime example. The State Department has found that the pipeline will have minimal impact on the surrounding environment and no significant effect on the climate. Recent expert testimony before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology confirms this finding. In fact, even if the pipeline is approved and is used at maximum capacity, the resulting increase in carbon dioxide emissions would be a mere 12 one-thousandths of 1 percent (0.012 percent). There is scant scientific or environmental justification for refusing to approve the pipeline, a project that the State Department has also found would generate more than 40,000 U.S. jobs. Contrary to the claims of those who want to strictly regulate carbon dioxide emissions and increase the cost of energy for all Americans, there is a great amount of uncertainty associated with climate science. These uncertainties undermine our ability to accurately determine how carbon dioxide has affected the climate in the past. They also limit our understanding of how anthropogenic emissions will affect future warming trends. Further confusing the policy debate, the models that scientists have come to rely on to make climate predictions have greatly overestimated warming. Contrary to model predictions, data released in October from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit show that global temperatures have held steady over the past 15 years, despite rising greenhouse gas emissions. Among the facts that are clear, however, are that U.S. emissions contribute very little to global concentrations of greenhouse gas, and that even substantial cuts in these emissions are likely to have no effect on temperature. Data from the Energy Information Administration show, for example, that the United States cut carbon dioxide emissions by 12 percent between 2005 and 2012 while global emissions increased by 15 percent over the same period. Using data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a Science and Public Policy


Silent Circle start-up ‘hiring as fast as we can’

A new start-up based in National Harbor is rapidly hiring as its encryption technology gains popularity. The 56-employee Silent Circle is led by two retired Navy SEALs, Mike Janke and Vic Hyder, as well as Phil Zimmermann, who invented e-mail encryption software PGP, and Jon Callas, an Apple alumnus. The self-funded company is selling the technology to government customers, individual consumers and commercial businesses, said Janke, Silent Circle’s chief executive. “What we do is we negotiate encryption keys in a way that doesn’t share them with any servers,” Zimmermann said. The technology essentially means users can make calls or send messages without leaving a trail. Silent Circle officially began operations in October, though its executives started developing the technology two years ago. “We’re hiring as fast as we can,” said Janke, who said he expects to have more than 100 employees by year’s end. Govini seeking to help contractors Some of the biggest government contractors are looking to Silicon Valley for help winning new contracts. Big data analytics company Govini is promising companies better analytics geared toward identifying new opportunities to win work. It says it can figure out who has been awarded a contract and what rates they may be charging, helping rivals shape future bids. Eric Gillespie, the Govini’s founder, said he got the idea after building a Web site that tracked Recovery Act spending. Govini now has about 1,000 users, including Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton and IBM, according to the company. Still, Gillespie said the company has had to overcome skepticism on both coasts. “On the West Coast, government data’s not sexy. Government contractors do not resonate in the Valley,” he said. On the East Coast, “people are leery of that new technology because they have a work flow established.” CSC posts improved earnings Falls Church-based Computer Sciences Corp. reported last week that profit for the quarter ended March 29 rose to $286 million, up from a $153 million loss in the same period a year earlier. Revenue dropped about 7 percent to $3.7 billion. As CSC pursues a recovery, it is consolidating its real estate and making workforce changes. Mike Lawrie, the IT company’s chief executive, said CSC plans to reduce its 16 million square feet of owned and leased space by more than 1 million square feet by the end of next year. CSC has reduced its management layers from about 13 to eight, he


Prince William County news in brief

Sequestration’s effect on Prince William Forest Park Prince William Forest Park has had to reduce its annual budget by 5 percent because of sequestration. The park will remain open but will offer fewer programs and amenities. With the budget cuts, the park will not hire an interpretive park ranger, park automotive worker or park custodial worker. According to park officials, the elimination of these positions will have the following effects: →No special events, such as Paws in the Park, Petrified Campground and National Trails Day. The annual Heritage Festival will be smaller. →Elimination of visitor education programs, including the weekly campfire talks. Spring bird and wildflower hikes have been canceled. The park plans to have one ranger program Friday evenings and Sundays throughout the summer. →Reduction in curriculum-based education programs, including the attendance of rangers at school career days and science fairs. →Reduction in group service projects, including Boy and Girl Scout projects. →Closing of the Pine Grove Picnic Area restroom and the C-Loop Oak Ridge Campground restroom. Visitors may use the restrooms at the A/B-Loop Campground and visitor center. →Reduction in cleanliness of open restrooms, especially during heavy visitor weekends and special events. →Reduction in mowing and leaf/debris blowing of public areas, including the park entrance road, picnic areas, cabin camp ballfields and Scenic Drive roadside. →Reduction in overall operations as equipment and vehicles are not repaired when they malfunction or break. — Compiled by Sarah Lane


Man, 21, shot dead in Bloomingdale neighborhood

District police are investigating the shooting death of a 21-year-old man who was killed early Saturday in the Northeast Washington’s Bloomingdale neighborhood. Police identified the victim as Dontel Price of Northeast. He was shot about 3:20 a.m. in the first block of S St. NE, near the campus of McKinley Technical High School. Police said he died at an area hospital. Authorities did not release other details. No arrest has been made, and police did not say if they knew a motive. D.C. police are offering a $25,000 reward for anyone with information leading to an arrest and conviction. Call in tips to 202-727-9099 or text 50411.


British ‘opt-out’ from EU could complicate law enforcement in Irish ‘bandit country’

follows through with proposals made public last October to exercise a mass “opt out” and subsequently seek to negotiate with EU partners to opt back into some of these measures. Britain negotiated the right to withdraw from EU justice and police co-operation measures under the Lisbon treaty, which gives the European Court of Justice the right to make rulings on these matters from December 2014. A final decision by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition on the issue is expected shortly, in order to provide time for London to negotiate with its EU partners. David Forde, Northern Ireland’s justice minister, wrote this month to the House of Lords warning that Northern Ireland was “particularly vulnerable” to the proposed opt out, given that it was the only part of Britain that shared a land border with another country. His letter, seen by the FT, noted particular concern regarding any British opt out from the European arrest warrant. Between 2004 and the start of 2013, some 192 suspected criminals or terrorists were surrendered to the British authorities by Ireland under the European arrest warrant, according to Irish figures. Last year, Britain issued 51 warrants to the Irish authorities, of which 14 related to murder, attempted murder, or manslaughter charges. The latest arrest in a terror investigation was made on Friday. “Police on both sides of the Irish Sea – as well as either side of the border – fear a return to the days when Ireland’s supreme court would refuse extradition of terrorist suspects,” says Hugo Brady, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank. Before the introduction of the European Arrest Warrant, Ireland and Britain relied on the 1957 Council of Europe Convention on Extradition to surrender suspects to its neighbor. But legal experts say this measure is no longer covered by Irish legislation and, in any case, is inadequate for dealing with terrorism. Lucinda Creighton, Ireland’s Europe minister, said the border situation and the peace process could be complicated by British opt-outs or full withdrawal from the bloc. “Most worrying is the impact this could have on the delicate peace on the island. We have been able to build the peace process in the context of the EU, which has helped us establish the Good Friday institutions,” she told the FT. “If we suddenly have a new frontier with UK – and it becomes a new frontier


Almost forced to pay for a movie theater’s marketing

gallon. Fortunately, I adjusted my printing options before hitting the button, printing just the first two pages and foiling their nefarious plan. By the way, guess how many movie screens the Regal Majestic 20 has? Well, it has 20. Guess how many movies they were showing? What with multiple screenings of 2-D and 3-D versions of “Star Trek,” “Iron Man” and “The Great Gatsby,” there were a grand total of nine movies offered. In the weeds I heard from plenty of fellow weeders after last week’s column on the tactile pleasures of weeding. Some said they find weeding far from enjoyable. An Arlington reader named Phyllis said she wore out her knees weeding recently. Two plants, in particular, fight her eradication efforts. Wrote Phyllis: “One I used to call the ‘porcupine weed’ because at the point of maturity, in an amazing tip of the hat to evolution, it would hurl its needle-like seeds in a spray whenever it was touched. It did so last month as I was weeding, sending me to the ophthalmologist.” Phyllis said she nicknamed this weed “al-Qaeda.” The other unwanted plant is a lily called arum. “Its beauty sucks you in,” she wrote, then its white flowers turn to seeds that are scattered everywhere. Phyllis calls this plant “Ahmadinejad.” Dick Coleman Finally, my plant choices did not sit well with some readers. “With all due respect,” wrote Martha Klein of Norfolk, Conn., “everything you are doing on your property is hurtful to the earth, and these actions destroy habitat for American pollinators, and put our food supply at risk.” Yikes. Sorry! What Martha meant was that the non-native pachysandra and liriope plants in my front yard don’t belong here. She recommended I read “The Climate Conscious Gardener,” published by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Silver Spring master gardener Paula Jean Hallberg recommended the book “Bringing Nature Home,” by University of Delaware entomologist Doug Tallamy. Wrote Paula Jean: “He discusses a simple yet powerful concept: Because humans have used up so much of the land and other resources, we have left little room for nature (plants, insect, animals, etc.). This has had a devastating effect on their ability to survive, since we also have converted each of our little home environments to landscapes with no ‘food’ for the native insects, which co-evolved with the native plants that used to be in abundance.” For previous columns, go to washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.


FBI agents killed in training exercises belonged to elite hostage rescue team

2005. Joining the Hostage Rescue Team requires years of service and brutal training during which agents shed their identities to ensure each is judged equally. On the first day, applicants are awakened before dawn to climb stairs wearing 55-pound vests and carrying 35-pound battering rams. And that, the FBI says on its Web site, is the easy part. Fewer than 300 agents have been selected to the team since it was formed 30 years ago. The Hostage Rescue Team, based at Quantico, was created in 1983. The Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles were approaching, and fears remained after the 1972 Games in Munich, when Palestinians took 11 Israeli athletes hostage and killed them. The unit is not limited to rescuing hostages. It also responds to terrorist threats and large-scale manhunts in extreme weather and habitat. In 2011, the FBI team helped other special operations forces kill four sea pirates, one in close combat with a knife, who had commandeered a yacht off the coast of Somalia and killed the four Americans aboard, according to the FBI’s Web site. A member of the Hostage Rescue Team had been deployed from Nairobi. In February, the hostage team killed a truck driver who had taken a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker in Alabama for a week. The kindergarten student was pulled out unharmed as agents exchanged fire with his captor. It could not be determined what missions Shaw or Lorek had performed. A person who answered the phone at Lorek’s house in Glen Allen said the family did not wish to speak about the agent. Calls to his parents and brother were not returned. Lorek graduated in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in ocean engineering from Texas A&M University, a school spokeswoman confirmed. Past jobs and various positions in the FBI were not disclosed, though published reports named Lorek as a field agent in Wisconsin in 2001. An obituary notice distributed by Bliley’s Funeral Home says Lorek is survived by his wife, Jennifer; daughters Abigail and Madeline; his parents, William and Janet Lorek; and his brother, Jason. Lorek’s family attends Three Chopt Church of Christ in Richmond. The FBI Agents Association, a professional group of nearly 12,000 active and retired agents, released a brief statement Monday saying, “The bravery and dedication of special agents Lorek and Shaw will not be forgotten.” Sari Horwitz and Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.


THE REGION THE DISTRICT Man, 21, fatally shot in NE on Saturday District police are investigating the shooting death of a 21-year-old man who was killed early Saturday in Northeast Washington’s Bloomingdale neighborhood. Police identified the victim as Dontel Price of Northeast. He was shot about 3:20 a.m. in the first block of S Street NE, near the campus of McKinley Technical High School. Police said he died at a hospital. Authorities did not release other details. No arrest has been made, and police did not say whether they knew a motive. D.C. police are offering a $25,000 reward for anyone with information leading to an arrest and conviction. Call in tips to 202-727-9099 or text 50411. — Peter Hermann MARYLAND VIRGINIA Man with toddler robbed in Annandale A man was robbed at gunpoint Friday night as he took his toddler out of his vehicle in Annandale, Fairfax County police said. Two men approached the man in a parking lot in the 4500 block of Commons Drive around 11:30 p.m. Friday and ordered the man to hand over his money, police said The men then fled. No one was injured. The robbers are described as black males between the ages of 18 and 25. One man was tall with a muscular build, had short hair and was clean shaven. He was described as wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans. The other man was thin, had a short goatee and was light in complexion. He wore a black T-shirt and blue jeans. — Justin Jouvenal Shots fired at unoccupied building An Alexandria man is facing multiple charges for allegedly torching a sedan and firing shots at an unoccupied office building in Fairfax County on Saturday night, police said. Officers and firefighters found a Toyota Camry fully engulfed in flames around 11:20 p.m. Saturday in the 5500 block of Cherokee Avenue in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, police said. A handgun and a gas can were discovered near the vehicle, and it appeared shots had been fired both at the office building and within the building, Fairfax County police said. Police declined to name the office building or give its exact address. No one was injured. Matthew Mehar, 30, was arrested and charged with shooting in public, arson, entering an alarmed building, damage to public property and use of a firearm in commission of a felony, police said. Police declined


EdX adds 15 schools, several from Asia

The race to enlist the world’s universities in the movement for free online education accelerated Tuesday as the Web site edX announced that it has added 15 new schools, more than doubling the size of the venture, with new partners from Asia, Europe and Australia. EdX Until Tuesday, edX counted 12 institutions in its partnership, including Georgetown University. Now it has 27. Coursera Both sites launched last year. The schools joining edX include several from Asia: Tsinghua and Peking universities in mainland China; the University of Hong Kong; Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Kyoto University in Japan; and Seoul National University in South Korea. Among the others were Cornell University, of New York, Boston University and Davidson College, of North Carolina, as well as the University of Queensland in Australia and three schools from Europe. Coursera recently announced that Yale University, of Connecticut, had joined its efforts. Now the only Ivy League school unaffiliated with either major MOOC site is Dartmouth College.


Genetically modified foods have to take two steps to gain approval in Europe

Regarding the May 18 news article “Planting a seed of discord”: The Frankenfood brawl has never been about science and safety but trust and choice, mixed with a dash of anti-Americanism and European political grandstanding. The question is what to do? First, the biotech industry ought to stop fighting a labeling war that it lost in Europe more than a decade ago. No matter that science convincingly shows that genetically modified (GM) farming is environmentally kinder than conventional crops, or at least no worse, and that GM foods pose no known human health risk, consumers are fearful of any manufacturer that refuses to be transparent. Second, agricultural biotechnology has yet to offer customers significant direct benefits. In the 1990s, when the first modified product — a tomato paste — reached British supermarkets, it was in a can with a label proclaiming that it was made with genetically modified tomatoes. Consumers bought this product because the maker offered 40 percent more tomato paste for the same price as other brands. Since then, few products have offered sufficient advantages worth the risk of offending skittish customers. Ultimately, farmers will clamor for GM seeds to help mitigate the predicted negative consequences of climate change on European agriculture. The proposed transatlantic free-trade pact is in the interests of both the United States and Europe. GM seeds should not be a deal-breaker but should lead the way in bringing the two sides together. Julia A. Moore, Washington The writer is a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.


Heinrich Rohrer, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, dies at 79

objects. Heinrich Rohrer, left, and Gerd Binnig won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 for designing the scanning tunnelling microscope. The device became a pillar of nanotechnology, the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules to create useful devices. (EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY) The devices stemming from Dr. Rohrer’s work are even more powerful than the basic electron microscope. In part, they depend on a particularly startling feature of quantum reality: quantum tunneling. In the quantum world, electrons can be in two places at once; they can show up on both sides of a seemingly impenetrable barrier. This phenomenon comes about through what is known as quantum tunneling, and the scanning tunneling microscope depends on it. In the device, a probe with a tip as fine as a single atom moves over the surface of a material. Electrons tunnel through the minuscule gap between probe and surface. The current produced in this way varies with the distance between the probe and the surface. High points on a surface, closer to the probe, create stronger current. For low points, the current is weaker. Charting the current yields a map of the surface. Dr. Rohrer and his co-inventor produced an image suggesting a landscape of hills and valleys. But, they wrote, they recognized this image for what it was. They knew that the “pronounced and regularly arranged protrusions we saw” were actually individual atoms. They had been told that such a precise finding was impossible. “Rumors reached us that scientists would bet cases of champagne that our results were mere computer simulations!” they wrote. But their success soon became clear. A look at those who died last year. Heinrich Rohrer was born June 6, 1933, in Buchs, Switzerland, and moved with his family to Zurich as a teenager. Acknowledging that he was not one who had dreamed since childhood of physics, he nevertheless took it up at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and went on to obtain bachelor’s and doctoral degrees there in 1955 and 1960, respectively. After two years of postdoctoral work at Rutgers University in New Jersey, he returned to Switzerland in 1963 to work for IBM, where he conducted his prize-winning scientific investigations. Binnig worked for Dr. Rohrer at his laboratory in Zurich. Survivors include his wife since 1961, Rose-Marie Egger, and two daughters. At the outset of their Nobel lecture, Dr. Rohrer and Binnig said it


Southern Maryland volunteer opportunities

Chesapeake Baseball Association Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maryland Accokeek Foundation Crisis Intervention Center of Calvert County Charles County Freedom Landing, a mental health program for adults, needs volunteers to assist with group activities, crafts, gardening and computer and clerical tasks. 301-932-2737. Special Olympics of St. Mary’s County Charles County Literacy Council needs volunteers to tutor in reading, writing, spelling, basic math and English as a second language. The council is also seeking students who need help with reading, writing and basic math. 301-934-6488 or www.charlescountyliteracy.org. Tri-County Animal Shelter needs volunteers 14 and older to help clean kennels, wash bowls and toys, do laundry, sweep, take photos of dogs and cats and spend time with animals at the Hughesville shelter. 800-903-1992 or 301-932-1713. Humane Society of Charles County Golden Retriever Rescue of Southern Maryland St. Mary’s County Meals on Wheels needs drivers and substitutes to deliver meals to homebound seniors weekdays. Call Bridget Maddox, 301-475-4200, Ext. 1060. St. Mary’s County Historical Society Hospice of St. Mary’s needs volunteers to help with patient care, administrative work, cooking at Hospice House, bereavement services and fundraising. Training is required. Katy Crowell, 301-994-3075, or mary_crowell@smhwecare.com. Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center Charles County Children’s Aid Society needs volunteers to sort clothes for yard sales, which are on first Saturdays. Volunteers are also needed for office duties. E-mail info@childrens-aid-society.org or call 301-645-1561. Calvert County Historical Society St. Mary’s Animal Welfare League Birthright of Prince Frederick needs volunteers to work with pregnant women at its center on Steeple Chase Drive, Prince Frederick. Bari-tennette McKinley at 410-257-1402. TO SUBMIT AN ITEM E-mail: Fax: Mail:


Stretching your retirement dollars

For the second time in as many weeks, educators have joked that I was scaring them about retiring. In the end, these readers felt that they would be okay, but the steady news of retirement woes have them thinking of plans A, B and C. I’m a long way from retirement. But as time passes, I’ve become more aware of the challenges of leaving the workforce and trying to live off my savings. It’s hard to stay optimistic, even if you’ve done well for yourself, when report after report lays out facts that make getting older seem forbidding. A new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of the Census Bureau’s poverty estimates for seniors is frightening. Nationally, 9 percent of people 65 and older live in poverty. But when the poverty measure adds in other supplemental information, such as out-of-pocket medical costs or the high costs of housing, 15 percent of seniors are living in poverty. In examining the data state by state, the foundation reported that “the share of seniors living in poverty is higher in every state under the supplemental measure than under the official measure.” And it’s at least twice as high in 12 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The District has a higher rate than any state — about one in four. Then there is a report from MoneyRates.com that won’t come as news to savers and retirees. The company put into context the pitiful interest rates people are getting on their deposited cash. In responding to the Great Recession, the Federal Reserve instituted polices that have kept borrowing rates low. But the ultra-low-interest-rate environment has been crushing to customers with certificates of deposit, money-market funds or savings accounts. The Fed policy cost depositors more than $120 billion in purchasing power in the 12-month period that ended in March, according to MoneyRates.com, a Web site that helps users find the highest rates on their savings. In the past four years, the lost buying power comes to $635 billion. Using the $8.8 trillion on deposit in U.S. banks at the end of the first quarter in 2012, MoneyRates.com calculated the interest that would be earned on that amount for the year using monthly average money-market rates from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The value of the deposits, plus that interest, was adjusted for inflation to come up with


Dennis Blair and Jon Huntsman: Protect U.S. intellectual property rights

lost the capacity to verify the integrity of its supply chains. So far, our national response to this crisis has been weak and disjointed. Our commission was advised by some experts who said the U.S. should simply wait until lesser-developed economies mature and then find it important to protect their own intellectual property. Others counsel against antagonizing countries such as China, whose buying power is strong but where IP protection is especially poor. Many companies simply internalize the threats of IP theft by going on the defensive; in the process, they pay ever-greater sums for improved cybersecurity precautions without any real increases in security. The Obama administration has made some progress in raising this issue with foreign governments, but more needs to be done. For nearly a year, the nonpartisan, independent commission we co-chaired has sought to document the causes, scale and national impact of international IP theft and to recommend robust policy solutions for the administration and Congress. Our report — which will be published Wednesday at IPCommission.org — includes practical measures, both carrots and sticks, to change the cost-benefit calculus for foreign companies and their governments that illegally acquire U.S. intellectual property. The United States must make the theft of U.S. intellectual property both risky and costly for thieves. We recommend immediately: denying products that contain stolen intellectual property access to the U.S. market; restricting use of the U.S. financial system to foreign companies that repeatedly steal intellectual property; and adding the correct, legal handling of intellectual property to the criteria for both investment in the United States under Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) approval and for foreign companies that are listed on U.S. stock exchanges. All of these recommendations will require strengthening the capacity of the U.S. government in these areas. In addition to these measures, which use the power of the U.S. market, we recommend reinforcing the capacity-building programs underway that strengthen the legal frameworks and practices for IP rights overseas. As these countries develop, their companies will want protection for their ideas. But the United States cannot afford to wait the many years this will take. We must help speed the process, and only when we make IP theft very costly for thieves can U.S. companies begin to realize a fair playing field. Read more on this topic: The Post’s View: Cyberattacks call for legislation and open debate John O. Brennan:


Kim Jong Un’s special envoy visits China

North Korea's Vice-Marshal Choe Ryong Hae, who was appointed as a "special envoy" for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left Pyongyang for China on May 22, 2013. His trip comes at a rocky time in ties between the allies. (Jon Chol Jin/AP) TOKYO — Choe Ryong Hae, who holds several top Workers’ Party positions and serves as vice marshal of the Korean People’s Army, met with Wang Jiarui, a senior official of the Chinese Communist Party,according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency. Neither Beijing nor Pyongyang provided details of the meeting or indicated the length of Choe’s stay. Choe’s visit marks the first trip to China by a high-level North Korean since August and could signal an attempted detente after the North spent months stoking tensions in the region — and frustrating China. The North ignored China’s warnings not to carry out a February nuclear test. More recently, itseized the crew of a Chinese fishing boat, holding them for more than two weeks while trying to extract a ransom. Analysts say longtime allies Beijing and Pyongyang have increasingly different visions of how they should get along. The North wants to test weapons and alarm its neighbors while still collecting aid and investment from China. China prefers the North to be peaceful and compliant and has recently signaled a new willingness to pressure the Pyongyang government to change its behavior. A visual tour of the reclusive and secretive country. China supported U.N. Security Council sanctions after the February nuclear test. Earlier this month, the state-run Bank of China cut off dealings with North Korea’s primary foreign-exchange bank, a conduit for funding the North’s weapons program. Choe’s trip could represent an effort to repair frayed ties, although the North’s government-controlled media did not elaborate on its purpose. Observers who monitor the police state say Choe is among Kim’s closest lieutenants. Since Kim took over as head of state after the death of his father in December 2011, Choe has received numerous high-profile titles, giving him power on par with that of Jang Song Thaek and Kim Kyong Hui, Kim’s aunt and uncle. His visit to China could provide the United States and South Korea with some indirect insight into the North’s young leader and his interest in dialogue. President Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye have both scheduled summits in June with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Kim himself has not


D.C. news in brief

District offers seniors a discount on trash can fees The D.C. Department of Public Works recently began offering a senior citizens discount for trash cans. District residents age 60 and older can pay $30 for a Supercan used in once-a-week trash collection neighborhoods; $20 for the 32-gallon trash cans used in twice-a-week collection neighborhoods; and $20 for the blue recycling cans that are used citywide. Non-seniors will continue to pay $62.50 for a Supercan or $45 for a 32-gallon trash can or recycling bin. In 2011, the Department of Public Works began charging residents for the 32-gallon trash cans and recycling cans, which had previously been offered for free. The department will continue to replace lids, bars and wheels on Supercans and the 32-gallon containers for free. Residents may pay for containers by check or money order payable to the D.C. Treasurer and mailed to the Department of Public Works, 2750 S. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC 20032. The delivery address should be written on the payment. Residents should include proof of age, such as a photocopy of a driver’s license, passport or District-issued identification. Containers will be delivered within 10 business days of payment. For information, go to www.dpw.dc.gov. Martha’s Table opens thrift store in Anacostia Martha’s Table, a nonprofit provider of food, clothing, education programs and support services for low-income District residents, recently opened a thrift store in Anacostia. The new Martha’s Outfitters, at 2204 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE — just south of the local landmark big chair — is open from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Donations are accepted at the other Martha’s Outfitters store, 2114 14th St. NW, from 7:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday through Saturday. Clean and gently used seasonal clothing, shoes, accessories and jewelry; fully functioning kitchenware and small electric appliances; books, art, linens, picture frames, lamps, occasional furniture and small electronics are needed. For information, go to www.marthastable.org/outfitters.html. Fifth-grader Alessandra Selassie wins national essay contest Alessandra Selassie, a fifth-grader at BASIS DC Charter School, recently won Letters About Literature, an essay contest sponsored nationally by the Library of Congress and locally by the D.C. Public Library. She was presented a check for $1,000. Her essay was one of more than 50,000 submitted in the national contest. The contest asks children and teens in grades 4-10 to write to an author about how the author’s book affected their lives.


D.C. news in brief

to the D.C. Treasurer and mailed to the Department of Public Works, 2750 S. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC 20032. The delivery address should be written on the payment. Residents should include proof of age, such as a photocopy of a driver’s license, passport or District-issued identification. Containers will be delivered within 10 business days of payment. For information, go to www.dpw.dc.gov. Martha’s Table opens thrift store in Anacostia Martha’s Table, a nonprofit provider of food, clothing, education programs and support services for low-income District residents, recently opened a thrift store in Anacostia. The new Martha’s Outfitters, at 2204 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE — just south of the local landmark big chair — is open from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Donations are accepted at the other Martha’s Outfitters store, 2114 14th St. NW, from 7:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday through Saturday. Clean and gently used seasonal clothing, shoes, accessories and jewelry; fully functioning kitchenware and small electric appliances; books, art, linens, picture frames, lamps, occasional furniture and small electronics are needed. For information, go to www.marthastable.org/outfitters.html. Fifth-grader Alessandra Selassie wins national essay contest Alessandra Selassie, a fifth-grader at BASIS DC Charter School, recently won Letters About Literature, an essay contest sponsored nationally by the Library of Congress and locally by the D.C. Public Library. She was presented a check for $1,000. Her essay was one of more than 50,000 submitted in the national contest. The contest asks children and teens in grades 4-10 to write to an author about how the author’s book affected their lives. Selassie wrote to Laura Ingalls Wilder about how Wilder’s books helped her understand her father’s experience in his native Eritrea. Winners were chosen from three age groups: level 1 (grades 4-6), level 2 (grades 7-8) and level 3 (grades 9-10). Selassie is the first winner from the District. For information, go to www.dclibrary.org. Races and fun walk for heart disease is June 8 The American Heart Association will hold its annual Lawyers Have Heart 10K and 5K races and fun walk June 8 to raise awareness of heart disease and stroke, and raise funds for prevention and education. The race begins at 7:30 a.m. at Washington Harbor, 3000 K St. NW. Race-day registration begins at 6 a.m. To register for the race or to donate, go to www.lawyershaveheartdc.org, e-mail joellen.brassfield@heart.org or call 703-248-1784. — Compiled by Terence McArdle


The joys and perils of nesting season

the soil or on the wing. This provides poison-free food for the birds. Encouraging the birds’ arrival is just the half of it, because their appearance coincides with that time of year when they are driven to construct nests, lay eggs and raise their young. Entomologist Doug Tallamy, author of “Bringing Nature Home,” says birds and other wildlife have come to rely on native plants that foster a rich insect life. Caterpillars, he says, are the best food for new birds. I attended an event recently where he made a compelling case for planting trees such as red oaks, which foster scores of insect species. “Caterpillars are excellent baby food,” he told a gathering at the New York Botanical Garden. “They’re soft, they’re high in protein and easy to digest.” A single pair of chickadees will bring its young between 390 and 570 caterpillars a day, working from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., he said. Before the chicks fledge, they will have eaten as many as 9,000 little caterpillars. As frenetic and exhausting as it is for the birds, it’s pretty draining for the bird-watcher as well. In the back of the house, I have a downspout that rises about 15 feet before moving out to a projecting eave. At the fork between pipe and house wall, a robin built a nest and set about raising a family. The mother cannot alight directly onto the nest: She arrives by bouncing between wall and drainpipe in a way that strikes a note. The nest is not hidden, but it’s virtually impossible for predators to reach. Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal have adopted a different approach. They built their nest in the thorny veil of a rambling rose whose buds are growing noticeably by the day, as are the chicks in the nest. The rose and its nest adjoin a screened porch. At about four feet above the ground, the nest is clearly seen from the porch. When the mother leaves, there is a heartwarming show of young, vulnerable life. The cabaret began with the nest building before, lo, the appearance of four eggs, light in color with tan specks. Some of the things you learn about cardinals at close quarters: The female can chirp with her mouth full; and she and her mate can talk to each other across a crowded garden. The chicks emerge as little quivering blobs, but their rate


Jack M. Merry, construction worker

Jack M. Merry, 62, a Vietnam War veteran who worked in construction and property maintenance in the Washington area for more than three decades, died May 7 at his home in Arlington County. He had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said his executor, Leonard Sherp. Mr. Merry worked as a roofer, carpenter, painter and commercial window washer and took jobs in New Jersey and Florida in addition to his assignments in the Washington area. He was granted military disability status in 2006, Sherp said. Jack Michael Merry was born in Vienna and grew up in Arlington. Before graduating from Wakefield High School, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. After advanced training as a machine-gun specialist, he was deployed to Vietnam and contributed to border defense security at Da Nang Air Base. From 1970 to 1974, he served in the Marine Corps Reserve. Mr. Merry’s hobbies included fishing and hunting. He was a regular participant in the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rallies in Washington. His companion of more than 20 years, Sally Shogren, died in March. Survivors include two sisters, Jean Hadley of Woodbridge and Pam Burgesser of Hagerstown, Md. — Emily Langer


National Zoo welcomes Bozie the elephant

is “Bo,” had to be coaxed from the truck with pink and purple marshmallow Peeps. New people, new animals After Bozie arrived in Washington, she was to be placed in an area of the barn, separate from the other elephants. There, she will be medically quarantined for 30 days, but have access to three stalls and an outdoor patio. She will not be on public view during her quarantine. She can be seen, but not touched, by the other elephants — Ambika, 65, Shanthi, 38, and Kandula, 11, Shanthi’s male offspring. “They can smell her,” Smith said. “They can talk to her.” “Some vocalizations are audible,” she said. “Some are almost more tactile. They communicate through something called infrasound. It’s below human hearing. . . . You can kind of hear it, but you almost feel it more than you hear it.” “The next exciting part, after quarantine, is when we actually introduce the elephants to each other,” she said. They will be separated only by bars, so they can touch one another. “That will tell us how we want to approach putting them together.” The zoo said records show that Bozie and Shanthi briefly lived together as young calves in a Sri Lankan elephant orphanage before coming to the United States. Most recently, however, Bozie had been with her late companion, Judy, in Baton Rouge. “She could behave a little bit differently [here]. . . . And we kind of expect that,” Smith said. “It’s a new place — new people, new animals. So she might be a little more aggressive. If she’s fearful, she might express that in terms of aggression.” Weeks ago, the zoo sent elephant manager Galloway to Baton Rouge to get to know Bozie. And they brought Bozie’s longtime Baton Rouge keeper Jenny Fortune on the trip, a move Smith said was like “having your mom walk you to school on the first day.” The zoo plans to have a researcher study Bozie during Fortune’s stay to see how she does after the keeper leaves. “No one has looked specifically at the human-animal relationship” in a case like this, Smith said. “One thing we’re looking at really is: Do her behaviors change when Jenny leaves?” Once Bozie gets settled, she will undergo a reproductive assessment. She has had one offspring, and the zoo wants to find out whether she can have more. If she can,


National Geographic Bee puts Mass. student on the map

National Geographic Bee winner Sathwik Karnik, left, of Massachusetts gives a thumbs-up as he correctly answers the final question posed by moderator Alex Trebek in Washington on May 22, 2013. The runner-up was Conrad Oberhaus from Illinois, at right. (Rebecca Hale/National Geographic/Associated Press) Quick question: Name the peak in Ecuador with a summit that marks the point farthest from Earth’s center due to our planet’s bulge at the equator. If you were Sathwik Karnik, a 12-year-old from Massachusetts, you’d know the answer is Chimborazo, and you’d have won the National Geographic Bee along with a $25,000 college scholarship. Karnik, a seventh-grader at King Philip Regional Middle School in Norfolk, Mass., beat out 4 million fourth- through eighth-grade students nationwide with his exceptional knowledge of world geography. In addition to the scholarship, he won a trip to the Galapagos Islands aboard the expeditionary ship National Geographic Endeavor. Conrad Oberhaus, a 13-year-old seventh grader at Daniel Wright Junior High School in Lincolnshire, Ill., placed second, and Sanjeev Uppaluri, an 11-year-old fifth-grader at Fulton Sunshine Academy in Roswell, Ga., came in third. A local student, Akhil Rekulapelli, a 12-year-old seventh-grader at Stone Hill Middle School in Ashburn, came in fourth place. The finals of the 25th annual National Geographic Bee were held Monday at Washington’s National Theatre, and were moderated by “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek. Other questions in the final round included: “Located in the Simien Mountains, Ras Dejen is the highest peak in what country?” “Ethiopia.” And: Name the “capital city on the Arabian Peninsula located at about 7,200 feet that receives its water supply from an aquifer that is forecast to run dry in the next decade.” “Sanaa, Yemen.” Karnik, who plays the clarinet and competes in chess tournaments, comes from a family of geography experts. His brother, Karthik Karnik, finished in the National Geographic Bee top 10 in 2011 and 2012.


Frog, toad and salamander populations plummeting, U.S. survey finds

keeps up, their populations will be halved in 27 years, the study said. New research shows the lion population in Africa has fallen from 100,000 to about 32,000 in the past half-century because of loss of the animals’ savannah habitat. “We knew they were declining and we didn’t know how fast,” said Michael J. Adams, a research ecologist for USGS and the lead author of the study, Trends in Amphibian Occupancy in the United States, published in the journal PLOS ONE. “It’s a loss of biodiversity. You lose them and you can’t get them back. That seems like a problem.” The disappearance of amphibians is a global phenomenon. But in the United States, it adds to a disturbing trend of mass vanishings that include honeybees and numerous species of bats along Atlantic states and the Midwest. Bees, which also are disappearing in Europe, serve nature and farmers by pollinating a wide range of plants and food crops. Bats, which have died by the millions from a disease called white nose syndrome, also are pollinators but, along with amphibians, eat many metric tons of insects each year, allowing farmers to cut back on insecticides. Frogs and their like are much more than slimy animals that come alive in the dark and croak; they are deeply woven into the lives of humans. The offspring of frogs and toads, tadpoles, are the first organisms children watch in school as the creatures develop arms and legs. Adult amphibians are routinely dissected by many of those same children as they go through school. Scientists have produced pharmaceutical drugs from chemicals found in the skin of frogs and toads, and large numbers of amphibians are collected for medical research. For the USGS study, researchers pored over data collected at 34 watery and swampy areas from Sierra Nevada mountains to Louisiana and Florida over nine years. They traveled to sites and counted clusters of nearly 50 amphibian species, marking their decline year after year for nearly a decade. Researchers carried a list of species — some thought to be faring well, others to be struggling — compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which seeks solutions to environmental challenges. The data were studied by USGS’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative. The loss of amphibians is occurring even in areas where animals are protected, in national parks and wildlife refuges, the study said. The disappearance of


Bank of America praised, criticized for homeowner relief

Jr. Bank of America has noted that it provided some 10,000 New Yorkers more than $1 billion in relief. All told, 621,712 borrowers across the country have received $50.6 billion worth of loan modifications, short sales, refinancings and forbearance from March 2012 through March 31. On average, that represents about $81,437 per borrower. The banks involved in the agreement provided the data. Smith has to review the self-reported information before any of the banks receive official credit. Officials at Bank of America and JPMorgan say they have met their obligations under the agreement. “We’ve exceeded our expectations,” Miller said. “It’s been a strong effort to help homeowners.” Short sales, in which borrowers can sell their homes for less than what they owe, made up $20 billion of the total amount of assistance. Around $14 billion has come in the form of second-lien forgiveness, while principal reduction on first liens totaled $10.1 billion. The balance of the relief was spread among various categories, including refinancings. Under the settlement, the five banks were required to provide $20 billion in relief to consumers and an additional $5 billion to states for foreclosure-prevention programs. The total aid to consumers exceeds the $25 billion settlement amount because banks were awarded partial credit for different forms of relief under the settlement. Every dollar forgiven in a short sale, for instance, earns a bank 45 cents of credit, whereas they get dollar-for-dollar credit for principal forgiveness. Advocacy groups are pleased that homeowners are receiving help, but are urging the banks to focus on keeping people in their homes. “More borrower relief is essential to prevent foreclosures and to help stabilize the housing market,” said John Taylor, president and chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a consumer group. “We look forward to more principal reductions and other meaningful relief for consumers.” Banks have three years to complete principal write-downs, refinancings and other relief. The settlement provides incentives for actions taken within the first 12 months to speed the pace of disbursement. To date, Citigroup has provided $3.2 billion in relief to 54,742 homeowners. Ally Financial has given 8,866 borrowers about $657 million in assistance. Wells Fargo said it has helped 90,907 consumers with $5.7 billion in relief, while JPMorgan said it has provided $11.1 billion in help to 126,032 borrowers. Related stories: Behind the mortgage settlements from the housing crisis Borrowers shorted on mortgage relief checks


Veterans need jobs. This Memorial Day weekend, pledge to help them.

There is value in that — it diminishes a lot of the issues they face,” Bowes said. One 32-year-old veteran was staying at the men’s shelter on New York Avenue when he heard about America Works. He was suffering from PTSD and alcohol abuse and had already done a stint in jail. His construction job became the one thing in his life that gave him self-respect, a goal, a center. “I started as a laborer. But it was work. And I needed work,” he told me. A year later, he’s the foreman of a group at Knight Connections, a veteran-owned company that does government contract work in construction, landscaping and other labor. He’s been hiring veterans whenever he can. That’s what it was like after World War II: Veterans welcomed their comrades into the business world, and the transition was seamless for many. But today, most of upper management is a generation that has never seen combat, and it’s not so easy to see the value and skills that military training can generate. Places like America Works find companies and try to match them with vets. It recently got a big contract with a document warehouse in Hyattsville that needed big teams of workers who can function well together. Bingo! They hired 20 and are looking at 100 or so more résumés, said Jennifer Tiller, site director of the D.C. office of America Works. Work like that is a no-brainer for soldiers used to moving equipment in Fallujah. But for less-physical jobs, agencies such as America Works help with education, development and office culture. It’s no surprise, given what we’ve seen in the news lately, that workplace sexual harassment is a big hurdle to overcome. “That’s part of the culture — this is a problem we’re finding. And part of our tutorials are making sure they understand respect, professionalism in the workplace,” Tiller said. One of the women who works in the office with Tiller is a veteran. She often hears horror stories about harassment and abuse from former military women: “They talk about how they survived all that.” If you’re a business owner, make a pledge this Memorial Day to hire a veteran. Call America Works at 202-466-5627 and say you’ve got a position for someone who has a monster work ethic, steel discipline and dedication to teamwork. Even if he or she won’t look you in the eye.


With ‘Abenomics,’ Japan catches a sense of revival

Panasonic, have been chastened by earlier sunken investments in a nation with high corporate taxes and towering energy costs. Others are waiting to see whether Abe’s reforms — his third arrow — succeed in untangling regulations, increasing free trade or opening the workplace to more women. Much as the weaker yen has helped Japanese manufacturers, it will also levy a toll, raising the prices of imports — most notably the fossil fuels that power Japan in the wake of a near-total nuclear plant shutdown. The weaker yen will also extend Japan’s trade deficit, eroding Japan’s current account balance. If Japan’s growth soon tapers off, prices still might rise, a crippling scenario often described as stagflation. “So far the stock market appreciates Abenomics, but there is still plenty of uncertainty on whether this ends well,” said Kazumasa Iwata, president of the Japan Center for Economic Research and a former deputy governor of the Bank of Japan. Skepticism is ‘ingrained in me’ Abe is a second-time prime minister, and he seems to have taken cues from his first stint six years ago — a short-lived fiasco that saw him resign because of bowel problems, his approval rating near 30 percent. This time, his rating is more than twice as high, and Abe has been particularly vocal about rallying business leaders to help him defeat deflation. In February, he asked executives to raise wages for employees if possible. Only a handful of companies have complied, but Abe has held them up as examples. When Jin, a national eyewear retailer, gave roughly 6 percent bonus payments to its employees, Abe called the company president to thank him. With the bonus payments, according to employees and a company spokeswoman, one employee bought a watch. One helped pay for a wedding. One took her mom on a vacation to Guam. Another used the money for a down payment on a French car. For the employees, the payments were a sign of a turnaround — but one that some still fear might be temporary. “Not since I started working here have I felt something like this,” Koji Hiraoka, 36, said. “It’s the same for me,” Fumio Mukaidono, 37, said. “The economy is going so fast. It almost makes me concerned. It’s ingrained in me that things won’t go well — that it won’t be easy — because that’s all I’ve known.” Yuki Oda contributed to this report.


Walter Barrera’s 12-million step recovery program

When Walter Barrera chose ultra long-distance running over crack cocaine, he was able to slowly start putting his life back together. Walter Barrera fills a bottle with tap water and electrolyte powder, shaking the solution as he walks down the stairs of his porch. Cold raindrops are falling, and he looks at the gray sky. “Not good,” the 32-year-old Northeast Washington resident says, shaking his head because rain threatening a long run is more than just bad luck. It could disrupt the rhythm of his day and his week, and if that happens, what comes next? A few years ago, Barrera was addicted to drugs. He used crystal methamphetamine, and then he discovered crack cocaine. He was homeless for a time, and then he was a thief. He lived in doubt and fear, in paranoia and darkness, until one morning in 2010, when he went for a run. Barrera believes it was that experience, when he needed a break after only one block, that he replaced drugs with running. Three years later, its hold is as strong as any narcotic. Instead of waking each morning in search of the next high, he tried going a little farther than the previous day, a few more seconds without stopping. After a few weeks, he ran a 5K, and the feeling afterward was familiar. “Everything just feels perfect, feels right,” he says. Walter Barrera was addicted to crystal meth and crack cocaine until one morning in 2010 when he went for a run. Soon he was running marathons, but eventually that wasn’t enough. Barrera ran a 50-mile race last June, and three months from now — if the rain holds off often enough, if his legs stop sending pain through his body, and his old life spares his new one of surprises, such as last year’s jail term — he will run a 100-mile race in the mountains of Colorado. Understanding the body is difficult, but explaining the mind is impossible. Some who work in drug rehabilitation suggest that many people have a predisposition to addiction; that something causes an itch in the brain that must continually be scratched. Some think there are healthier dependencies than others, including exercise. Others believe that any unchecked addiction is destructive, no matter the activity. “It’s like a merry-go-round; it’s the same thing,” says Gabrielle McCraney, program director at La Casa, a drug rehabilitation shelter where Barrera


Why the military needs to recruit and promote more women

than gender — the military will gradually transform into an actual meritocracy. Women — and men — have benefited from the increase in female leaders at the highest echelons of all fields and industries. It took the election of women to Congress, and their collective leadership on the Senate and House Armed Services committees, to make military sexual assault against women and men a congressional priority. Some will rightly ask whether women are inherently better suited for military leadership, less likely to commit sexual assault and less likely to let criminals in the ranks go unpunished. The few women who have survived the harassment and hostility of a military career and reached the top can sometimes become part of the problem. For example, if we’ve learned anything from the high-profile case of Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan Helms — whose promotion Sen. Claire McCaskill has stalled because she questions Helms’s decision to overturn a sexual assault conviction — it’s that women who rise to the upper ranks of the military are often mired in the same culture as their male peers. But we aren’t likely to see much change in military culture until there’s a critical mass of women at the top. In addition to ending formal discrimination against women, the military needs to recruit, train and mentor women at the earliest stages of their service to guarantee that they will be encouraged to pursue long-term careers. The military ought to set a goal of 25 to 33 percent women’s presence among students at the service academies and troops in the operating forces to expect any significant shifts toward a meritocracy, where good order and discipline are the norm, not just Pentagon rhetoric. One needs only to look at West Point, where just 15 percent of cadets are women, or at the Marine Corps, where only 6 to 7 percent of the force is female, to get an idea of how far we have to go. Even with the deference and trust of elected officials and the public, the armed forces’ leadership must prove that it cares about our sons and daughters. It can start by ensuring that young women not just join, but stay in and thrive. outlook@washpost.com Read more from Outlook: Five myths about women in combat Why are the Marines the biggest backers of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’? Friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.


SBA Deputy Administrator Johns tours District small businesses before departure

have any choice but to buy it.” So the two took out a loan for more than $1 million in 2010, which helped them purchase the building where they had already installed a Japanese “noh” stage, built specifically for a style of Japanese therapeutic musical drama. But funding for treatment programs such as ADTI is becoming scarce, Hiltunen said. While loans were helpful in securing the building, “our focus now is on the program and maintaining it. We have to find funding for services, and a loan wouldn’t help that.” Peregrine Espresso Since opening the first Peregrine Espresso coffee shop on Capitol Hill in 2008, Ryan Jensen and his wife have expanded to three locations, the most recent opened in Northeast’s Union Market. The deputy visited their second location, on 14th Street Northwest, for which the couple took out a $165,000 SBA-backed loan in 2010. Jensen used the loan to transform the space, which used to belong to a flower shop, into a coffee shop, a process taking almost a year. Jensen said he hopes to expand to more locations in the District, but slowly. “I’m sort of scouting for the next community we fit in.” Cork Market Diane Gross and her husband operate Cork Market on 14th Street NW, a specialty wine, cheese and grocery store across the street from Cork Wine Bar, their wine bar and restaurant. Gross said she likes to buy wines, cheese and meats from other small-business owners like herself. The store specializes in small estate wines, “meaning the person growing the grapes is making the wine,” Gross said, but added, “Unfortunately sometimes we run out of wine because of it.” They took out a $546,000 loan in 2009 to purchase and renovate the space for the market, installing a special humidity-controlled room for wine storage, and clearing a room upstairs for events such as wine tastings. Wagshal’s Bill Fuchs bought Wagshal’s — a delicatessen and specialty grocery store with an 80-year history in the District — from owner Ben Wagshal in 1990, using a $775,000 loan to make the purchase. “When you buy Wagshal’s, what are you buying? Goodwill? A brand? You don’t have a lot of tangible assets .. .banks are looking for collateral,” Fuchs said, nothing that he put up his residence as collateral. Since then, Fuchs has grown Wagshal’s to three locations, including the newest deli, on New Mexico Avenue NW.


Female lawmakers leading push to crack down on military sex crimes

fear retaliation or ostracism if they press charges. Although there is a consensus among female legislators that more laws are needed to tackle the problem, there is a divergence over which proposals would be most effective. Gillibrand, with several co-sponsors, is pushing a bill that would make sweeping changes in military law so that prosecutors, instead of commanders, would have the authority to decide whether to investigate or try sexual assault cases and other serious crimes. Other lawmakers are reluctant to go that far, preferring to focus on ensuring that victims receive lawyers and additional forms of support. The Senate Armed Services Committee has scheduled a rare hearing June 4 devoted exclusively to the subject of sexual assault in the military. Leaders of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are scheduled to testify, along with the judge advocate general for each branch of the armed forces. Two female combat veterans of the Iraq war were elected to the House in November — Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) — and both have been critical of how the military handles sexual assault cases. Other women in Congress said they recognized early on that sex crimes were a serious problem, but that it has taken longer to familiarize themselves with military bureaucracy and come up with possible solutions. Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) said she was “taken aback” after she took office in 2007 and began hearing horror stories from female veterans. She has since become co-chairman of the House’s Military Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus and is sponsoring a bill that would, among other measures, mandate dismissal or dishonorable discharge for service members convicted of sex crimes. “There’s no denying women are playing a very significant role on this on both sides of the aisle,” she said. “We don’t know all the ways of the culture of the military, but we’re learning as we go.” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), a freshman on the Armed Services Committee, said it is no coincidence that the panel’s female members are the ones who usually raise questions about sexual harassment or assault during hearings. “I have found in my time in politics that when you have a significant number of women sitting in a decision-maker’s chair, that it can move the discussion and focus in ways that would not have happened before,” Hirono said in an interview. “And I’m hopeful that this is one of those instances.”


Md: ‘No deficiencies’ found in care of woman who died after abortion

them about three weeks later after the facilities fixed the problems, which related to preparing for and responding to emergencies, including the cardiac arrest of one patient. This month, health department officials suspended the licenses of all four clinics after they found additional “serious deficiencies in the medical oversight of patient care.” An unlicensed technician at the Baltimore clinic had given an abortion-inducing medication, misoprostol, to a woman without a doctor present and before any doctor or licensed health-care professional had any contact with her, in violation of state regulations, investigators found. When a doctor arrived, the doctor declined to complete a surgical abortion because the “facility is not equipped to do this procedure safely.” The woman was 13 to 14 weeks pregnant with triplets, the clinic’s operator said. The woman eventually went to another of the operator’s clinics, where a surgical abortion was completed with no complications, health officials said. Investigators later determined that it was standard, unwritten protocol at all four clinics to give misoprostol to all patients who were at least 11 weeks pregnant, even if the patient had not been evaluated by a doctor and even if no physician was present. After an administrative hearing Tuesday, the health department’s chief regulator ordered the suspensions to continue. Among the reasons, she noted, was that the clinics’ operator ”did not accept responsibility” for the unwritten protocol and blamed it on a single doctor. In a statement, Associates in OB/GYN Care said it was disappointed with the suspension. ”We think it’s unfair,” said Bridget Wilson, communications outreach coordinator. She said the suspension was based on actions of a single independent contractor physician and not part of the facilities’ overall procedures. “When we learned of the issue, we forbade the office staff from following this physician’s request,” she said. The suspensions were among the first actions taken by the state health department since Maryland adopted new regulations last year requiring all surgical abortion facilities to be licensed. They were established in part after a botched abortion at an Elkton clinic in 2010. “We will suspend licenses when we feel like they pose a risk to patients,” said Joshua Sharfstein, Maryland’s health secretary. In the case of the Germantown clinic, the health department began an investigation shortly after the woman’s death Feb. 7. Officials interviewed clinic staff, reviewed medical records and the clinic’s policies and procedures, and consulted with the state


Sebastian Junger: U.S. veterans need to share the moral burden of war

as a journalist has been ended by armed Western intervention. I approved of all of it, including our entry into Afghanistan. (In 2001, U.S. forces effectively ended a civil war that had killed as many as 400,000 Afghans during the previous decade and forced the exodus of millions more. The situation there today is the lowest level of civilian suffering in Afghanistan in 30 years.) But the obscenity of war is not diminished when that conflict is righteous or necessary or noble. And when soldiers come home spiritually polluted by the killing that they committed, or even just witnessed, many hope that their country will share the moral responsibility of such a grave event. Their country doesn’t. Liberals often say that it’s not their problem because they opposed the war. Conservatives tend to call soldiers “heroes” and pat them on the back. Neither response is honest or helpful. Neither addresses the epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder afflicting our veterans. Rates of suicide, alcoholism, fatal car accidents and incarceration are far higher for veterans than for most of the civilian population. One study predicted that in the next decade 400,000 to 500,000 veterans will have criminal cases in the courts. Our collective avoidance of this problem is unjust and hypocritical. It is also going to be very costly. Civilians tend to do things that make them, not the veterans, feel better. Yellow ribbons and parades do little to help with the emotional aftermath of combat. War has been part of human culture for tens of thousands of years, and most tribal societies were engaged in some form of warfare when encountered by Western explorers. It might be productive to study how some societies reintegrated their young fighters after the intimate carnage of Stone Age combat. It is striking, in fact, how rarely combat trauma is mentioned in ethnographic studies of cultures. Typically, warriors were welcomed home by their entire community and underwent rituals to spiritually cleanse them of the effect of killing. Otherwise, they were considered too polluted to be around women and children. Often there was a celebration in which the fighters described the battle in great, bloody detail. Every man knew he was fighting for his community, and every person in the community knew that their lives depended on these young men. These gatherings must have been enormously cathartic for both the fighters and the people they were defending.


The U.S. should use its ability to pressure Russia to end orphan trafficking

Holly Burkhalter is vice president for government relations at International Justice Mission, a nongovernmental organization focused on human rights. When Russian President Vladimir Putin banned U.S. adoptions of his country’s orphans in December, he consigned thousands of children who might have had families to institutions where they are abused, neglected and all too frequently trafficked into sexual exploitation. The U.S. government now has a choice: It can pressure Russian authorities to end orphan trafficking by giving Russia the lowest possible ranking in the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons(TIP) report due out next month. Or it can reward Russia with an undeserved passing grade. When Congress created the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in 2000, it authorized a global report on trafficking and slavery and a tiered ranking process that provides diplomats with an effective tool for encouraging foreign governments to rescue children, women and men in bondage and to punish traffickers and slave owners. The report has contributed to substantial improvements in dozens of countries. Ten years ago, Cambodia was a disaster. Prepubescent children were easily purchased for sex, and the country was a haven for foreign pedophiles. Facing the likely loss of U.S. foreign aid because of its designation as Tier III, the lowest ranking, Cambodia changed course. Its national anti-trafficking police unit has rescued hundreds of children from sex establishments, and its courts have convicted scores of perpetrators. International Justice Mission, the human rights nongovernmental organization for which I work, recently conducted a prevalance survey in three Cambodian cities. It showed that there are virtually no young children to be found in the bar, brothel or other establishment-based sex industry, and there are dramatically fewer older teenagers. The achievement is Cambodia’s, but the TIP office, with its fearless reporting and strong diplomacy, deserves some praise. When assigned honestly, the TIP tier rankings have encouraged significant reforms. The office’s candor on labor trafficking in Gulf Cooperation Council countries contributed to Middle Eastern governments acknowledging problems and, beginning in 2009, widening political space for nongovernmental organizations, unions and migrant-worker associations. The Philippines, which stood a real chance of losing U.S. foreign aid in 2011 if it fell to Tier III, cracked down on sex traffickers, creating effective anti-trafficking units and adopting victim-friendly court procedures. But while other countries are improving, Russia is moving backward. By Russian police estimates, there were 50,000 sex-trafficking victims —


Traffic management plan could expand use of I-66 shoulders when demand is high

project that should deliver what Martin is hoping for, once the new system opens, perhaps by the end of 2014. Sensors and monitors will feed information about traffic conditions to a management center that can send messages back to drivers via electronic lane markers and message boards. The overall project will affect traffic on I-66 from inside the Beltway out to Haymarket, but here’s the part Martin will find most interesting: Between Route 50 and the Beltway, the active monitoring system can regulate use of the shoulders at all hours, based on travel demand. Highway marketing A report from Transurban, the company operating the 495 Express Lanes, noted a survey finding that almost half of Beltway drivers — potential customers for these new E-ZPass-only lanes — don’t have E-ZPass transponders. This letter writer saw that as a marketing problem. Dear Dr. Gridlock: Tysons Corner mall, for instance, has many large banners advertising the lanes, but not even a kiosk where one could set up an account and walk away with the device. This situation seems to be the case across Northern Virginia. A lesson for retailers: Make buying easy. — Terence Kuch, I’ve heard from many drivers who say they don’t want to go to the trouble of getting transponders. Transurban doesn’t sell them, but Pierce Coffee, the company’s director of marketing, would like as many people as possible to have them: “You can also pick up an E-ZPass or E-ZPass Flex at many retail locations in the area and begin using it right away. Next time you do some grocery shopping, grab your E-ZPass on the way out of the store. VDOT has E-ZPass On-the-Go kits available for sale, and that includes an E-ZPass transponder, mounting strips, installation instructions and a $15 prepaid toll balance to use as soon as you want.” Joan Morris, a spokeswoman for VDOT, said Virginia E-ZPass is adding 22 Giant store outlets this spring. Passes also are available at some Wegmans and AAA Mid-Atlantic retail stores. People who want them can also go to www.ezpassva.com or call 877-762-7824. Morris said VDOT will continue to monitor sales and review locations. Dr. Gridlock also appears Thursday in Local Living. Comments and questions are welcome and may be used in a column, along with the writer’s name and home community. Write Dr. Gridlock at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 or e-mail drgridlock@washpost.com.


Boston Marathon winner will donate medal to honor bombing victims

Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia won the men's division of the Boston Marathon on April 15. “As a gesture of my solidarity with the victims of this senseless act of violence, I will return to Boston and gift my medal to the people of Boston in honor and in memory for those who suffered and those who died on that day,” Desisa said Sunday. (CJ GUNTHER/European Pressphoto Agency) ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — “Less than two hours after I crossed the finish line as this year’s champion, my joy turned to sorrow,” Lelisa Desisa said. “This day brought pain to many families and sorrow to many homes,” the 23-year-old novice marathoner added as he announced his plan to travel to Boston to return the medal. Lelisa spoke in his native Oromiffa at a brief ceremony at the U.S. Embassy here, standing with Kerry and two other top Ethiopian competitors in this year’s Boston race. Kerry was in Ethiopia for an African Union summit. “Sport should never be used as a battleground,” Lelisa said through a translator. He said that he and his team will return to Boston to run again next year “to show the world that our commitment to sport, our commitment to our freedom will be stronger than any act of violence.” Lelisa won the April 15 marathon with a time of 2:10:22. A pair of explosions near the finish line killed three people and injured more than 200 others.


Guest BSO conductor Carlos Kalmar provides fiery Prokofiev rendition

In the battle of the area’s major orchestras, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra often outplays the National Symphony Orchestra, section for section. In the past few years, however, the BSO’s programming and leadership at the podium have sometimes been disappointing. When given a strong conductor and some meaty music to play, as it had on Saturday night in the Music Center at Strathmore, the orchestra can be a wondrous thing to hear, especially since both its regular venues have superior acoustics. The leadership last week came from guest conductor Carlos Kalmar, a biennial visitor to Baltimore who has distinguished himself in recent years as the music director of the Oregon Symphony. He led an incendiary performance of music from Prokofiev’s two “Romeo and Juliet” suites, which featured superlative playing from all quarters of the orchestra. The strings — solos and orchestra-wide — glowed radiantly in the music for the pas de deux; the brass crushed the dissonant massed chords of the “Montagues and Capulets”; and the woodwinds were in flawless tone color and intonation throughout. Kalmar’s super-fast tempos were met expertly by the ensemble in the gossamer “Madrigal” and the sinister music for “Tybalt’s Death.” “Phenomenon” was an attention-grabbing concert opener by Narong Prangcharoen, with blasts of brass and clangs of metallic percussion. The Thai composer, now based in Kansas City, Mo., has had a couple of pieces performed by the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra in recent years, and he brings a whole grab bag of cinematic effects to his scores. It was paired with an equally evocative piece by Saint-Saëns — the less-played third piano concerto — with French pianist Jean-Philippe Collard returning as soloist with the BSO for the first time in a decade. The piece requires real fireworks at the keyboard, which Collard seemed to have only at the edge of control at times. Charles T. Downey is a freelance writer. Jean Philippe Collard. (Raudel Romero)


Reston firm turns to decades-old technology to set up mobile banking in Central Asia

which even the simplest of mobile phones can access. The first outpost The small population of Kyrgyzstan — roughly 5.5 million — and the prevalence of pay-as-you-go cellphone services there made it a particularly good place to start, Feeley said. In August 2011, the company opened an outpost in Kyrgyzstan and hired nine employees to oversee the marketing and management of GeoPay. “We wanted to start in a market that was smaller so we could turn the dials and fine-tune the product, the marketing and the consumer experience before we go to the next level,” Feeley said. By the end of this year, the company plans to expand to Kazakhstan, Russia and the United States, where 20 percent of adults do not have bank accounts, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. For now, funds from all GeoPay accounts are pooled behind-the-scenes into one aggregate bank account. Eventually, Feeley said, users will be able to link individual checking accounts to their mobile phones. “That would provide a true mobile wallet for people who do have bank accounts,” Feeley said, “and also provide traditional financial institutions the ability to sell to our consumers or promote their products and graduate that consumer up into a financial facility.” The company is constantly updating its platform, Feeley said. He plans to add loyalty programs for frequent users and to partner with daily deals sites to offer location-based deals to GeoPay users. Feeley would not discuss revenue figures, but he said he and others had invested more than $1 million in the company to date. The biggest challenge The biggest challenge, he said, is marketing the system to customers and merchants who may be wary of financial institutions and traditional fee structures. There are other limitations, too. Phone lines can go down. Kiosks can stop working. “No matter how you’re trying to connect to something, there are third parties, and you’re sometimes only as good as they are,” Feeley said. “That could be a mobile operator, that could be an Internet provider, that could be a banking system or a kiosk. There are all kinds of things that can go wrong.” But, he added, there is plenty of room to grow, particularly given that one-third of the world’s population does not have bank accounts, according to the World Bank. “This is going to evolve,” Feeley said. “We’re only in the infant stages of mobile banking.”


Scientists wage war on pervasive stink bugs

down easily, certainly not this summer. “The expectation is high infestation this year,” said Ames Herbert, an extension entomologist at Virginia Tech. Brown marmorated stink bugs, which took a $37 million bite out of last year’s mid-Atlantic apple crop, have awakened from hibernation. How do researchers know? “What we can use as a rough guide is the size of the population from year to year that overwintered,” said Tracy Leskey, a research entomologist for the Agriculture Department. “In 2012, the population was 60 percent higher than 2011. If they survived the winter, we will have many bugs starting in 2013.” Unlike previous years, when scientists and farmers “kind of got caught with our pants down,” said Robert Shenot — who watched stink bugs damage more than half of his apple crop at Shenot Farm Market, a few miles north of Pittsburgh, in 2010 and 2011 — they will face an array of new weapons developed especially for them. Last year, USDA scientists and researchers pinpointed a pheromone that male brown marmorated stink bugs emit while feeding; it attracts other males, females and even babies called nymphs to the meal. They re-created the scent in a laboratory, built a trap and tested it along tree lines, on the edge of farms and in the middle of crop fields. Sure enough, the bugs crept to it and were exterminated. The triangle-shaped device is a temple of doom, luring the creatures into grooves leading to the synthetic smell that calls them to dinner. Instead of food there is a pest strip, and a pesticide vapor puts them to sleep for good, said Christopher Bergh, a professor of entomology at Virginia Tech. The traps aren’t killing enough stink bugs to make a sizable dent in the population, Bergh said, but they do give researchers and farmers an indication of how many are lurking and whether they should initiate search-and-destroy missions. Farmers have to resist “the first knee-jerk reaction . . . to get out there and spray them with chemicals,” Shenot said. “Certain chemicals they tend to take a bath in and laugh at you. They feed a quarter-inch below the surface of the fruit, and you can’t get an insecticide in there. You can spray the stink bug there on your crop, and if another set of stink bugs fly in, they’re not going to be affected at all.” After observing closely for


U.S. Park Police sheds furloughs after some ‘forensic accounting’

tourist season. Glick got a lot of sympathy from Hill staffers. But lawmakers had other constituents — defense contractors, the meat industry, cancer researchers — with high-priced lobbyists knocking on their doors looking for a way to break through the sequester. “Everyone has been very sympathetic to our situation,” Glick said a few weeks ago. But all he got was a lot of Republicans and Democrats blaming each other for the budget mess. “I told them, I don’t care about the partisan side of this,” Glick recalled. “I’m here to solve a problem.” To make matters worse, Jarvis, the park director, had assured a congressional committee in April that “the sequestration impacts are not compromising our responsibility for icon security” — as in the monuments would be safe even though officers protecting them would take a pay hit. The union started circulating a YouTube video clip of Jarvis’s testimony to the rank and file. Many were incredulous at their boss’s claim. “It’s instilled in us in the academy, ‘We’re essential personnel, you have to come to work,’ ” said Officer Matthew Manning, a rookie from Silver Spring who works nights on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. “People are going to bat for the meat inspectors and air traffic controllers,” he said from behind the wheel of his cruiser earlier this month. “But it feels like they’ve turned their backs on us.” Glick told his members that Jarvis could ask Congress for permission to shift money from the Park Service budget to the police. That’s how things had worked for air traffic controllers. Four days after furloughs started and flight delays created a political disaster, the unpaid days were history. Congress also gave the meat inspectors a reprieve after the industry and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack complained that slaughterhouses would shut down. Jarvis said he did ask — and was turned down. Glick, meanwhile, was saying on television and radio that the furloughs were jeopardizing public safety. The union found an ally in Police Chief Teresa Chambers, who kept a low profile. But 10 days ago, she issued a directive prohibiting officers from responding to nonessential calls during the last hour of their shift because the call might necessitate overtime. The only member of Congress to meet directly with Glick was Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the House’s nonvoting representative from the District of Columbia. She questioned why, fresh from the Boston bombings,