Venga on path to growth after two years of change,

Winston Bao Lord, center, Sam von Pollaro, right, and Karl Johnson, of District-based Venga. (Astrid Riecken/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) Several desks in Venga’s single-suite headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue NW have yet to be filled. If the company’s current trajectory holds, they may serve as a sign of growth to come. Co-founder Winston Bao Lord said the nine-person company is looking to bulk up its sales staff — adding as many as one or two employees a month — to its office in D.C. and other cities around the country where Venga is selling software that allows restaurants to track patrons’ dining habits. It’s a substantive change for a company where just two years ago the co-founders and a group of contract employees and interns were huddled in a shared office space in Chinatown. But Venga is, in many ways, a very different company today compared with the day it launched. It’s a narrative common among start-ups: The founders began with one idea, then kept tweaking and overhauling until the business takes off or the cash runs out. “Start-ups are not for everyone. You’re either born with an innate desire to build something or you’re not,” Lord said. “For the trials and tribulations we’ve faced over the years, you need to have a certain level of stomach to handle that.” Venga came to market at the height of the daily deal craze. District-based LivingSocial and its main rival, Groupon, were attracting gobs of attention and investment dollars as they added hundreds of employees and broke into new geographic markets. Many were eager to get in on the business. Venga, however, fancied itself the anti-daily deal. It was a smartphone app for upscale restaurants to pull in new clients by advertising unique experiences or special dishes rather than steep discounts. The response from consumers was tepid. “One of the lessons we’ve learned, and you always hear this in start-up world, is don’t build something you think people want, but build something you know people need,” Lord said. That’s what Lord and co-founder Sam von Pollaro think they’ve got now. Their software allows restaurateurs to monitor how often patrons visit, what they order, how much they spend and how they rate their experience. The restaurant can then use that information to target groups of patrons with specific advertisements or correct a negative experience by contacting the customer who penned a bad review. “It’s


A vegan office: How one workplace has moved to get healthier together

Carrie Clyne’s last job was in an office that feasted on a steady supply of junk food. Donuts in the mornings and cupcakes for staffers’ birthdays were the familiar routine. But in January, when she took a position with nonprofit organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, she was pleasantly surprised by her new employer’s decidedly different attitude toward food. PCRM has an office policy mandating that only vegan food may be eaten in its office. The organization, which advocates for healthy eating, preventive medicine and ethical clinical research, is so committed to the rule that it notifies prospective employees of the policy when they receive an offer letter for a job. PCRM decided to go vegan for a simple reason. “We want to practice what we preach,” said Susan Levin, the group’s director of nutrition education. For Clyne, it was a relatively easy transition because she was already a vegan. But she still appreciated how devoted the whole team was to a plant-based diet. “I feel like we all motivate and encourage each other,” Clyne said. The staff at the District-based organization help one another enjoy the diet in a variety of ways: They exchange recipes, share their finds for tasty vegan dishes at lunch spots near the office, and take turns making breakfast smoothies for each other in the mornings. PCRM’s strategy is a different twist on a familiar approach to workplace wellness. In recent years, many employers have been using team challenges or social activities to create incentives for exercising. At PCRM, the built-in community of co-workers is being leveraged to encourage staffers to improve the way they eat. Adapting to a vegan office environment required varied levels of adjustment for PCRM’s 64 employees. Levin said about one-third of staffers were already eating a fully vegan diet before coming to PCRM. Another third, Levin estimates, were “some of the way there,” perhaps eating a vegetarian diet. For the rest, the diet was likely a big lifestyle change. The notification employees get when they’re hired is the only direct messaging they receive about the vegan dietary policy. “There’s no proselytizing,” Levin said. And if someone chooses not to eat vegan at home, there’s no pressure to change that. (Levin described their approach on this as “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”) Several employees say they have noticed positive health changes since they began working at PCRM and embracing the group’s approach


NSO’s strengths, weaknesses, identity issues on display at Spring for Music

Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra. (Scott Suchman) NEW YORK — The concert was a big deal. It was the NSO’s first concert at Carnegie since 2008 and its first there under its current music director, Christoph Eschenbach. And it was the final concert of the Spring for Music festival, a celebration of American orchestras and contemporary programming. All week long, orchestras large and small from around the country offered American works; the night before the NSO concert, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performed all four of Charles Ives’s symphonies back to back, perhaps the first time the feat has ever been attempted. (Detroit’s music director happens to be the NSO’s former music director, Leonard Slatkin, a stout champion of American music.) Spring for Music is also about hometown pride. Each orchestra was supposed to bring hometown fans; each fan got a banner in the orchestra’s assigned color to wave at appropriate moments; each concert was preceded by remarks by local luminaries — the Baltimore Symphony was introduced by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. The Buffalo Philharmonic brought more than 1,500 people; the Detroit Symphony musicians draped their chairs with their red banners. The NSO didn’t seem to be interested in any of this. Although the orchestra has done a lot of American programming over the years — since 1984, the Hechinger Commissioning Fund has been responsible for the creation of more than 60 new works — it opted to offer Spring for Music an all-Soviet program dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, who ended his 17-year tenure as the NSO’s music director almost 20 years ago. This was introduced not by a political figure but by Ted Libbey, the former NPR commentator, who, in lieu of uplifting platitudes about the importance of classical music, told personal anecdotes about “Slava” (Rostropovich’s nickname). There were only around 250 hometown fans in the audience; and onstage, though the women of the orchestra wore bright shawls, there wasn’t a hometown banner in sight. The Kennedy Center, one surmises, is not that interested in playing with others. You could also say, though, that some of the Spring for Music shtick is a little cheesy, and that the NSO found a way to give a very good concert without toeing the party line. In which case its refusal to join in the game is less about cluelessness than arrogance. And the concert was good enough to support at


Pentagon grapples with sex crimes by military recruiters

fixture in high schools everywhere and critical to the nation’s all-volunteer military. Only a tiny percentage of recruiters engage in sexual misconduct, officials said, and there is no tolerance for those who do. The extent of the problem is hard to ascertain because the Defense Department does not keep figures on recruiters accused of sex crimes. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps track incidents separately, but there is no uniform standard, which makes statistical comparisons difficult. In most cases, the victims are teenagers or young adults who have expressed an interest in a military career but have not yet enlisted. As a result, they are excluded from Pentagon surveys that show an alarming rise in the number of active-duty military personnel who say they have been sexually assaulted. “Anecdotally, we absolutely hear that this is a problem,” said Anu Bhagwati, a former Marine captain who is executive director of the Service Women’s Action Network, an advocacy group. “There certainly is a power dynamic there that makes it a target-rich environment for a predator.” In response to an outcry from the public, lawmakers and the White House, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week announced several initiatives to prevent sexual abuse and impose accountability for commanders who do not take the problem seriously. Hagel included a directive to “improve the effectiveness” of sexual-assault prevention and response programs in the armed services’ recruiting commands, though the Pentagon did not provide details. “The secretary has made it clear that we will spare no effort to rid our military of sexual abuse,” said George Little, the Pentagon press secretary. “The fact that there have been problems of sexual abuse during the recruiting process is simply intolerable.” Strict rules violated In several cases over the past year, recruiters have been charged with or convicted of having sex with underage girls whom they were trying to recruit, despite strict rules against fraternization or even spending time alone with youths of high school age. In Oregon, an Army staff sergeant pleaded guilty in March to having sex with a 17-year-old girl in a recruiting office. In Arizona, an Army staff sergeant was charged in November with having a sexual relationship with a minor after he allegedly took a 16-year-old student to a park on multiple occasions and exchanged nude photos with her. In Oklahoma, an Air Force staff sergeant was convicted of dereliction of duty by


The Army expanded its definition of misconduct in 2011 to include such transgressions as sending inappropriate text messages to recruits or failing to observe the Army’s new “buddy system,” which requires two recruiters to be together at all times in the presence of an applicant of the opposite sex. The Army did not provide an annual breakdown for its sexual misconduct figures. Platt said allegations have dropped since the service adopted the buddy system and began stricter screening of recruiters last year. Of the Navy’s 6,200 recruiters, two dozen have been accused of sexual assault since 2010, according to the Navy Recruiting Command in Millington, Tenn., which did not provide further details. The Marine Corps Recruiting Command at Quantico, Va., did not provide figures, though a Marine spokesman said the number of recruiters who are found guilty each year of sexual assault or nonconsensual sex was in “the single digits.” The Marine Corps adopted a “campaign plan” in December to refine and improve its sexual-assault prevention programs. Steve Wittle, deputy operations officer for the recruiting command, said recruiters have always been heavily exposed to ethics training but that more emphasis has been given to sexual assault in recent years. In Alaska, however, civilian authorities are questioning whether the Marine Corps takes sex crimes seriously enough. On May 3, a military court convicted Marine Gunnery Sgt. Nicholas Howard, 33, of first-degree sexual assault and adultery in the rape of a 23-year-old woman during a get-together with friends at his Anchorage home. Howard was sentenced to a dishonorable discharge but was not given any jail time. Alaska law enforcement officials ceded jurisdiction to the Marine Corps after military investigators offered to speed up crime-lab testing of a DNA sample that became crucial evidence in the case. Two Anchorage police detectives and a forensic nurse testified against Howard during his court-martial and said they were stunned by the light sentence. “The outcome was certainly a surprise to us,” said John B. Skidmore, chief of the criminal division for the Alaska Attorney General’s Office. “For almost any sexual assault case that is prosecuted in the state of Alaska, there is an expectation that there will be some jail time associated with it.” Skidmore said his office was reviewing the case to determine whether state authorities would press their own charges against the Marine recruiter. “We attempt to prosecute these cases fairly aggressively,” he said.


Cockroaches are gross, but not all need to be squished

is that we have already beaten back bedbugs once, at least in the United States. When international travel increased in the 1990s, Potter notes, these insects returned to our shores from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. We’re partially culpable for their return. People used to prophylactically treat their mattresses and checked hotel beds when they traveled, but those habits faded. We also stopped developing new treatments to poison them, and bedbugs have become resistant to established methods. Like the German cockroach, the common bedbug lives almost entirely among humans, and the entomologists I surveyed all agreed with Potter that, if they could, they would wave a magic wand and eliminate bedbugs. (“I’d wave it twice, just to be sure,” says Micky Eubanks, an insect ecologist at Texas A&M University.) When asked the more general question about which pests could safely be destroyed, Eubanks developed a theory: Species living in their natural ranges at normal concentrations must be tolerated. Those living outside their ranges at excess abundance can at least be reduced if not discarded. (The German cockroach, for example, has no native range aside from our homes.) In between, there is a balancing act to be done. He points to the Colorado potato beetle as an example. This insect is native to the New World and used to feed on a wild relative of the cultivated potato. When potato agriculture entered into the bug’s natural range, the population exploded. It would be nice to reduce them, but take away too many and other creatures, such as parasitoid wasps that feast on them, would clearly suffer. You may not like wasps, but the loss of them would affect other predators, and a chain reaction would begin. Mosquitoes are another tricky case. No creature is more dangerous to humans: Mosquito-borne illnesses kill more than a million people annually. But they are an important part of the ecosystem. “Mosquitoes represent a significant biomass of food for other species,” Potter says. “In places like Alaska, you get a huge emergence of adult mosquitoes when the temperature rises, and they are an important source of food for migratory birds and other critters.” Destroying mosquitoes might be risky, but I’m feeling much better about my willingness to get rid of German cockroaches and common bedbugs. It seems that some branches of the tree of life can be trimmed back a bit.


A destructive beetle threatens trees — and people who live near them

— an additional 24 deaths per 100,000 people every year, a 10 percent increase in mortality for those diseases. Although the authors did not detail any direct cause-and-effect relationships, they did cite previous studies demonstrating the health benefits of trees: They improve air quality, moderate temperature and provide opportunities for physical activity; trees are psychologically soothing and act as buffers for stress; a walk through the woods reduces heart rates and lowers cortisol levels; children living on tree-lined streets are less likely to have asthma. Ash is the most common tree in Baltimore, comprising more than 10 percent of the metro area’s canopy: 6.5 million ash trees. In the District, the urban canopy is only about 2 percent ash — but that still adds up to more than 51,000 trees, according to the nonprofit organization Casey Trees. This month, half-inch-long adult EABs will emerge from D-shaped holes in infested ash trees. They will feed on ash leaves and then lay eggs in crevices of the tree’s bark. Larvae will hatch to burrow under the bark, carving out meandering tunnels that will girdle and inevitably kill the tree. Although Manchurian ashes from the beetle’s native range in East Asia have evolved chemical defenses against the borer, most American ashes are defenseless. However, the blue ash, a species from the Midwest, appears to be attacked much less frequently than other native ash species and might be able to persist in what researchers call “aftermath forests,” where other ash species have disappeared so completely that even the beetle is absent. People finding EABs are encouraged to report the sighting. In Maryland, call 410-841-5920; in D.C, call 301-313-9327; in Virginia, 804-786-3515. An entomologist might be dispatched to confirm the sighting, but it’s up to the property owner to decide the fate of the tree. Relatively healthy trees can be protected from beetles with expensive systemic pesticides applied every two years. But extensive infestations can prevent trees from transporting the chemicals up through the trunk and out into the limbs. Cutting down dead or dying trees is the responsibility of property owners, but wood cannot be transported outside of quarantined areas, which locally includes Maryland counties west of the Chesapeake Bay, all Virginia counties and the District. Biological-control measures In Michigan, two of the three stingless wasps are now widely established, parasitizing about a third of all EABs, said USDA research entomologist Jian J. Duan.


They improve air quality, moderate temperature and provide opportunities for physical activity; trees are psychologically soothing and act as buffers for stress; a walk through the woods reduces heart rates and lowers cortisol levels; children living on tree-lined streets are less likely to have asthma. Ash is the most common tree in Baltimore, comprising more than 10 percent of the metro area’s canopy: 6.5 million ash trees. In the District, the urban canopy is only about 2 percent ash — but that still adds up to more than 51,000 trees, according to the nonprofit organization Casey Trees. This month, half-inch-long adult EABs will emerge from D-shaped holes in infested ash trees. They will feed on ash leaves and then lay eggs in crevices of the tree’s bark. Larvae will hatch to burrow under the bark, carving out meandering tunnels that will girdle and inevitably kill the tree. Although Manchurian ashes from the beetle’s native range in East Asia have evolved chemical defenses against the borer, most American ashes are defenseless. However, the blue ash, a species from the Midwest, appears to be attacked much less frequently than other native ash species and might be able to persist in what researchers call “aftermath forests,” where other ash species have disappeared so completely that even the beetle is absent. People finding EABs are encouraged to report the sighting. In Maryland, call 410-841-5920; in D.C, call 301-313-9327; in Virginia, 804-786-3515. An entomologist might be dispatched to confirm the sighting, but it’s up to the property owner to decide the fate of the tree. Relatively healthy trees can be protected from beetles with expensive systemic pesticides applied every two years. But extensive infestations can prevent trees from transporting the chemicals up through the trunk and out into the limbs. Cutting down dead or dying trees is the responsibility of property owners, but wood cannot be transported outside of quarantined areas, which locally includes Maryland counties west of the Chesapeake Bay, all Virginia counties and the District. Biological-control measures In Michigan, two of the three stingless wasps are now widely established, parasitizing about a third of all EABs, said USDA research entomologist Jian J. Duan. In Maryland, where wasps have been released for the past two years, parasitism rates are at about 10 percent. “More releases and additional time are still needed to allow those introduced parasitoids to establish an expanding population,” Duan said. patterson.clark@washpost.com


U.S.-trained Congolese troops committed rapes and other atrocities, U.N. says

the U.N. Joint Human Rights Office. The attacks occurred as Congolese forces were chased out of Goma, a key provincial capital, by a rebel group known as M23. On Monday, the State Department acknowledged that some U.S.-trained soldiers “may be implicated in these rapes,” according to an e-mailed statement from a spokeswoman, Hilary Renner. “We condemn these crimes unequivocally and call for a full and credible investigation” by the Congolese government, she added. Officials with the Africa Command, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, declined to comment. The U.N. findings represent another setback in the U.S. military’s efforts to train and equip troops in Third World countries, many of which have poor human rights records. In March 2012, a Malian army captain who had received extensive training in the United States led a coup that toppled his country’s democratically elected president. In the aftermath, France and neighboring African countries intervened militarily — with U.S. aid — to prevent Islamist fighters from taking over much of the country. The Pentagon is ramping up its training in irregular warfare and counterterrorism with friendly countries as part of a broader strategy to combat extremist groups and stabilize war-torn regions. At any given time, U.S. Special Operations forces are deployed on training or liaison missions to as many as 80 countries. U.S. law requires that individual foreign troops be vetted for human rights abuses before they can receive training. But some U.S. military leaders have said that those rules can be too restrictive and prevent Special Operations forces from training units that need the most help. The U.N. report accused the Congolese military of “gross human rights violations” and documented 135 cases of sexual assault by Congolese soldiers in Minova. The report also accused M23 rebels of sexually assaulting 59 civilians in Minova. The leadership of the Congolese armed forces is investigating the allegations. The commander and deputy commander of the 391st Battalion are among 12 officers who have been suspended, according to the United Nations. While Operation Olympic Chase was underway in 2010, State Department and U.S. military officials said they were fully aware of the Congolese military’s troubled history. The training program, they said, emphasized respect for human rights and the need to protect civilians, particularly from sexual violence. “You have enhanced your moral understanding of how a professional military operates effectively within a democratic society to provide security, to protect the


U.S. Special Operations forces are deployed on training or liaison missions to as many as 80 countries. U.S. law requires that individual foreign troops be vetted for human rights abuses before they can receive training. But some U.S. military leaders have said that those rules can be too restrictive and prevent Special Operations forces from training units that need the most help. The U.N. report accused the Congolese military of “gross human rights violations” and documented 135 cases of sexual assault by Congolese soldiers in Minova. The report also accused M23 rebels of sexually assaulting 59 civilians in Minova. The leadership of the Congolese armed forces is investigating the allegations. The commander and deputy commander of the 391st Battalion are among 12 officers who have been suspended, according to the United Nations. While Operation Olympic Chase was underway in 2010, State Department and U.S. military officials said they were fully aware of the Congolese military’s troubled history. The training program, they said, emphasized respect for human rights and the need to protect civilians, particularly from sexual violence. “You have enhanced your moral understanding of how a professional military operates effectively within a democratic society to provide security, to protect the civilian population and to contribute to greater stability,” Samuel Laeuchli, the ranking U.S. diplomat in the Congo at the time, said in a speech at the 391st Battalion’s graduation. Thierry Vircoulon, Central Africa project director for the International Crisis Group, said the U.S. government underestimated what it would take to reform the Congolese armed forces. “The state of the army in itself is a disaster, so you train people and you send them back to a dysfunctional army,” he said. “You are trained, but you still have a very low wage, no logistics, a very poor command system and no sense of belonging and cohesion because the Congolese army is still a patchwork of very different groups. Even if you’re trained, at the end of the day, you’re still an hungry and unpaid soldier.” A senior U.S. official familiar with the training program said the Obama administration was aware of the risks but faced “tremendous political pressure to do something for Congo.” “There were a lot of criticisms at the time that this would just make them [the troops] better able to oppress their own people,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized


afghanistan Truck bomb kills 3 coalition troops A truck bombing Monday killed three coalition service members in southern Afghanistan, NATO said in a statement. A local official said the attack targeted a base operated by troops from Georgia. Omer Zawak, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand province, said the truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the Georgian outpost in the Musa Qala district. The deaths brought the number of Georgian troops killed in Afghanistan to 22. The former Soviet republic has about 1,600 troops in the country, the largest non-NATO contingent there. They are under NATO’s command. Also in southern Afghanistan on Monday, a roadside bomb ripped through a bus, killing 10 civilians, most of them women and children, officials said. Kandahar province’s police chief said the blast also wounded 12 in the Maruf district, about 36 miles northeast of Kandahar city. — Associated Press libya 3 die in blast near Benghazi hospital A car bomb killed at least three people outside a hospital in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, doctors said, in a further sign of the growing disorder that threatens to unhinge the country’s already creaking transition to democratic rule. Hundreds of angry people gathered at the scene, blaming the armed militias that hold sway on the streets and calling for them to be driven from Benghazi, cradle of the uprising that ended Moammar Gaddafi’s dictatorship in late 2011. On Sunday night, the police in Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, were bombed for the third time in four days. — Reuters italy Six-year prison term sought for Berlusconi Milan prosecutors on Monday demanded a prison sentence of six years and a lifetime ban from public office for former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in his sex-for-hire trial. The request came days after an appeals court upheld a four-year sentence and five-year ban on public office in a tax fraud case against Berlusconi. The two cases, coming to a head at a delicate moment for Italy, raise questions about his political future. Berlusconi, who has dominated Italy’s political scene for two decades, headed the center-right coalition that finished second in February elections and that is in an uneasy coalition with the center left. He has no cabinet post, but he serves in Parliament. In the prostitution case, Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with an underage Moroccan girl at lavish parties he hosted as premier,


Families in the midst of adopting Russian orphans urge officials to release children

A group of American families who were in the final stages of adopting children from Russia when that country banned adoptions by Americans recently came to Washington on Tuesday, offering new proposals to address Russian lawmakers’ concerns. “This group of families is dedicated to these children,” said Sabrina Dickenson Turri of Florida, who has one adopted son from Russia and was on the cusp of adopting a Russian girl when the ban was enacted in December. On the verge of tears, Turri said she spoke for 230 “pipeline” families who were offering Russian officials increased access, oversight and transparency around adopted children once they are in the United States, including visits from Russian officials to check on their welfare. She called on President Obama to address the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding, “Don’t let our children be abandoned again due to politics.” The families, speaking at the National Press Club, said they had presented their offer to U.S. lawmakers and offered it to the Russian ambassador later in the day. The ban has been criticized as a political move in retaliation for the Magnitsky Act, which imposed visa and financial sanctions on Russian officials accused of human rights abuses. Russian lawmakers, however, said it was in response to bad outcomes for Russian children adopted by Americans, including a Virginia toddler who was mistakenly left to die in a hot car and a 7-year-old boy who was sent back to Russia alone on a plane by an adoptive mother who said she could not handle him. Signed into law by Putin, the ban devastated American families who were in the process of adopting, particularly those who had met and bonded with children they had been approved to adopt. The ban also caused furor among many Russians, who marched in protest, accusing their leaders of playing politics with children’s lives. Maria Kroupina, a Russian child psychologist and professor at the University of Minnesota, urged U.S. and Russian lawmakers to act quickly on resolving the cases, saying that for children who have bonded with their American adoptive parents, the ban was “damaging to a child’s life.” “These parents are really committed to post-adoption services,” she said. Although the families said they have bonded with their children and consider themselves to be their parents, some have heard informally through lawyers or agencies in Russia that the children have since been adopted or


Keeping diseases in check

Thank you for the excellent May 9 editorial “Global flu,” about the importance of transparency and collective action during influenza outbreaks. It is true that China has responded better to H7N9 than it did to the SARS outbreak in 2003. One reason is that the international rules for disease outbreaks are stronger now than they were then. Since the revised International Health Regulations took effect in 2007, countries have been obligated to tell and to share. China met its obligation. Others have, too. In September, Saudi Arabia told about the novel coronavirus that has killed about three-fifths of the 33 people it is known to have infected. And Cambodia did likewise in July about an outbreak of what turned out to be hand, foot and mouth disease. China’s capacity to respond also is better now. This is due in part to its participation in the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases, which was created in 2005 and updated in 2010, also under the auspices of the World Health Organization. The international mechanism for global health security may fly under most people’s radar. But it is there, and it is working. Timothy A. O’Leary, Manila The writer is public information officer for the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Western Pacific.


Washington Post food calendar

Correction: MAY 16 STRATFORD DINING SERIES: WINE DINNER: ZOOFARI: MAY 18 GREEK FESTIVAL: MARYLAND CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL: MAY 19 INTERNATIONAL VEGETARIAN FOOD FAIR: A TASTE OF HAITI: FARM DINNER: MAY 20 WINE DINNER: MAY 21 PORK AND PINOT WINE DINNER: WINE DINNER: — Becky Krystal SEND NOTICES to: To Do, Food, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071, or e-mail food@washpost.com, 14 days in advance.To find more calendar items, go to www.washingtonpost.com/gog/dc-events.html and click on “Food Events” at the bottom of the page.


Hirshhorn ‘Bubble’ risks operating at a loss, internal Smithsonian report says

there would be “significant impact on current Hirshhorn programming, fundraising and staff.” In a second scenario, it loses slightly more than $450,000 as a “Special Events Venue,” hosting a dozen daytime events and 20 evening events, with installation and de-installation being the biggest costs. Potential revenue in this scenario was limited by a lack of restroom access and kitchen facilities, which could be added. But this vision was seen as having little connection to the missions of the Hirshhorn or the Smithsonian. Finally, as a free “Public Program Venue, ” a mix of public dialogues, art installations and performances, the project would lose roughly $960,000 and would affect current Hirshhorn programming, fundraising and staff. Hirshhorn board members either did not return phone calls or messages, or declined to comment on the project assessment. The report concludes by raising larger questions about whether Bubble programs could compete in the highly competitive “ideas market,” and the impact of the project’s fundraising on other Hirshhorn exhibits and programs. Last year the Hirshhorn had about 130,000 more visitors than the year before on the heels of hugely successful exhibitions by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, Barbara Kruger and the multimedia Song I project by Doug Aitken. The debate comes at a time when the Smithsonian and other federal institutions are operating under the congressionally mandated across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester. The $41 million in Smithsonian cuts have closed sections of the Hirshhorn’s third floor, housing some permanent exhibit items, until the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30. Uncertainty about the Bubble has affected staff morale, according to the report. And it contextualizes the museum as “facing budgetary challenges, including the erosion of its trust accounts, declining federal appropriations, decreased board giving, and base fundraising results below historical levels.” The Bubble idea “shows that art is alive on the Mall and that’s a great thing to show,” Kurin said. “All we’re doing is saying, how do we pay the bills to create that experience, and I think it’s a responsible thing to do.” Kurin calls the next week critical in terms of project funding. “Will we be biting off more than we can chew in a risky environment? I think we’re looking for board The report lays out serious challenges, Kurin said, but “we’ve had it in the past where somebody comes through and all of a sudden, it changes the game.”


Shandies, where beer meets lemon

off-flavors.” An exception is Mike’s Shandy, a blend of Mike’s Hard Lemonade and a proprietary golden lager brewed at the City Brewery in LaCrosse, Wis. Packaged in bottles and cans (no draft), it’s aimed at drinkers who prefer a more beerlike taste than what the company’s alcoholic lemonade can provide, says Kevin Kotecki, president of Mike’s Hard Beverage. He calls it a “more traditional shandy” than the Leinenkugel or Shock Top versions, which he describes as “wheat beers flavored with lemon.” Coastal Brewing in Dover, Del., brewer of the Dominion and Fordham lines, offered a one-off called the Real Slim Shandy at its recent R2Hop2 beer and music fest. Brewer Chris Gordon blended his Beach House Pilsner with a store-bought lemonade in a 60:40 ratio, according to Casey Hollingsworth, vice president for sales and marketing. Coastal also offered a variant with a raspberry-flavored lemonade. The shandies were the first two kegs to run dry, said Hollingsworth. “Maybe a sign of the times,” he adds. Indeed, the growing popularity of shandies might be part of a trend away from high-octane imperial beers and toward the lighter but flavorful session beers that won’t make you fall off your bike (or bar stool). The Traveler shandies measure a non-punishing 4.2 percent alcohol by volume. Most of the brands mentioned here clock in under 5 percent. This potentially lucrative market has lured another craft beer expatriate out of retirement: Pete Slosberg, whose Pete’s Wicked Ale was once the second-leading craft brand after Sam Adams. Slosberg is working with a California brewpub called Half Moon Bay Brewing to formulate a Mavericks line of low-alcohol (under 4 percent) beers that eventually will be canned and offered to outdoors-oriented drinkers. So far he has a witbier, a rye pale ale and a chocolate porter in the works. Newman says he’d like to branch out into other low-alcohol styles, which is one reason he changed the name of his company from House of Shandy to Traveler Beer. He says “the consumer will decide” how far he takes his venture, but he says he firmly believes there is a market for beers that will allow you “to sit at the bar all night and not get stupid.” Kitsock is the editor of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News. More from Food: Beer Madness finale: Hops rule The beer with a Levant slant Brewed on the mild side Beer’s hoppyness gets a yardstick


The military is working to solve sexual assault problem

In her May 12 op-ed column “It takes some brass to say things like these,” Ruth Marcus, while correct about the problem, missed the point of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh’s comments before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Our military, by design, is a microcosm of U.S. society. The recruiting base is representative of our society, with all its associated shortcomings. Compared to decades ago, today our society has a much different moral culture brought on by a complicated set of social influences, all of which have an impact on how men and women interact. While the services attempt to screen out the negative during the recruiting process, some bad actors get through and become part of the closed military society. Those bad actors cause the cancer known as sexual assault. The military services have identified the problem, albeit far too late, and are working to cure it. That was Gen. Welsh’s point — not blaming victims, but explaining that cultural values that lead to sexual assault are imported into the services. Better screening, leadership at the unit level and education of our service members on what is and is not acceptable in military society are required to solve the problem. Labeling senior military leaders as clueless and uncaring only undermines their credibility and the confidence of service members in leadership’s ability to solve the problem. Richard Platt, Alexandria The writer is a retired Air Force major general.


Russia expels a U.S. diplomat accused of spying

said that the handling of Fogle’s arrest would have required approval from Putin and that the former chief of the KGB, which preceded the FSB, may have viewed the case as a chance to send a signal that limits to U.S.-Russia cooperation remain. Despite the melodrama, the episode was not expected to damage bilateral relations. Alexei Pushkov, head of the international affairs committee of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said on Twitter that “the spy scandal around the U.S. diplomat will, I think, be fleeting. . . . But the atmosphere is not improving.” A case with many oddities The case is the latest in a long history of tit-for-tat expulsions between U.S. and Russian spy agencies. The most recent occurred three years ago, when the FBI announced arrests of a network of 10 alleged Russian “sleeper spies” in the United States. They were sent back to Russia as part of a swap in which the United States secured the release of four alleged spies who had been held by Moscow. Public records indicate that Fogle is a native of Missouri and a graduate of Colgate University in New York. A woman who answered the phone at his parents’ residence in St. Louis declined to comment. Images of Fogle released by Russia show a youthful American wearing a blue-checked shirt and a grim countenance seated at a table in an FSB office, as well his diplomatic identity card, a stack of 500-euro notes and a cellphone. The paraphernalia prompted comparisons to the 1960s spy spoofs on television. “Who uses a compass these days?” asked Mark Galeotti, a New York University professor who studies Russian security affairs. The oddest artifact was the letter, which CIA veterans said reminded them of missives they used to draft in disappearing ink. “Dear friend,” it begins, according to a translation, and goes on to promise an initial payment of $100,000 and annual payments of up to $1 million “for long-term cooperation, with extra bonuses if we receive some helpful information.” The sums seem excessive for an agency accused of offering as little as $400 to a Russian official in a 2001 case. The letter explains how to open a Gmail account and provides an address for sending messages before concluding with “Your friends.” Miller reported from Washington. Kathy Lally in Moscow and Anne Gearan and Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.


Hagel orders retraining of sex-assault prevention officers; Army sergeant investigated

said the noncommissioned officer had been suspended from duties as an “equal-opportunity adviser” and sexual-harassment and assault prevention officer at Fort Hood, one of the Army’s biggest installations. The Pentagon did not disclose when the allegations first came to light or how many victims may have been involved. Reaction from lawmakers was swift and livid. “Tragically, the depth of the sexual-assault problem in our military was already overwhelmingly clear before this latest highly disturbing report,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said lawmakers would push ahead with a number of measures to address sexual assault in the armed forces, including changes to military law. Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, called the Fort Hood revelations “utterly abhorrent.” She added that “it has become painfully evident that saying the military has a cultural problem in regard to sexual assault and sexual misconduct is a glaring understatement.” Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said that he was “outraged and disgusted” and that his faith in the military to police sex crimes was “deeply shaken.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said she would introduce legislation Thursday to change military law so that independent prosecutors, not commanders, would be responsible for handling sex crimes and other serious offenses. Military leaders have strenuously resisted such proposals. “It is time to get serious and get to work reforming the military justice system that clearly isn’t working,” Gillibrand said. In addition to directing that hundreds of sexual-assault prevention coordinators be retrained and rescreened, Hagel ordered the same treatment for all military recruiters. That move alone would affect an estimated 20,000 recruiters for the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The Washington Post reported Monday that military recruiters across the country have been caught in a string of sexual-assault scandals over the past year. The Pentagon, however, does not have a grasp on the extent of the problem because it does not track sex crimes committed by its personnel against civilians before they enlist. Last week, the Pentagon released a report estimating that the number of military personnel victimized by sexual assault and related crimes had surged by about 35 percent over the past two years despite intensive efforts to confront the problem. The Pentagon survey estimated that


police sex crimes was “deeply shaken.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said she would introduce legislation Thursday to change military law so that independent prosecutors, not commanders, would be responsible for handling sex crimes and other serious offenses. Military leaders have strenuously resisted such proposals. “It is time to get serious and get to work reforming the military justice system that clearly isn’t working,” Gillibrand said. In addition to directing that hundreds of sexual-assault prevention coordinators be retrained and rescreened, Hagel ordered the same treatment for all military recruiters. That move alone would affect an estimated 20,000 recruiters for the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The Washington Post reported Monday that military recruiters across the country have been caught in a string of sexual-assault scandals over the past year. The Pentagon, however, does not have a grasp on the extent of the problem because it does not track sex crimes committed by its personnel against civilians before they enlist. Last week, the Pentagon released a report estimating that the number of military personnel victimized by sexual assault and related crimes had surged by about 35 percent over the past two years despite intensive efforts to confront the problem. The Pentagon survey estimated that 26,000 troops experienced “unwanted sexual contact” last year. Yet only a fraction of that number — 3,374 — filed sexual-assault reports with military police or prosecutors. Military officials said most victims are reluctant to press charges because they fear retaliation from their superiors or ostracism from their units, or that investigators won’t take their cases seriously. Lawmakers and victim advocates also blame an unwillingness among many commanders to deal with the problem forthrightly. Members of Congress said they were outraged to learn about two cases in which Air Force generals granted clemency to convicted sex offenders, adding that the decisions would discourage other victims from reporting rape or sexual abuse. “It is abundantly clear that the military cannot adequately handle its sexual violence crisis from within,” said Anu Bhagwati, a former Marine captain and executive director of the Service Women’s Action Network, an advocacy group. “If military culture is to transform in any meaningful way, we need to break down the doors of silence and make sure our troops who are harmed have access to the same legal remedies as all civilians whom they protect and defend.”


D.C news in brief

craftspersons and cooks. Other programs include “One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage,” an exploration of how language embodies cultural knowledge and identity, and “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity,” which examines the history and culture of African American aesthetics. For information, go to www.festival.si.edu, e-mail cfch-volunteer@si.edu or call 202-633-7477. Parade of Homes will highlight affordable housing communities The Communications Action Network, a coalition of businesses, nonprofit groups, faith-based organizations and individuals promoting affordable housing, is having the Parade of Homes, an open house for 17 affordable communities in the District, suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Six communities in the District will be represented: Bedford Falls, 350-360 50th St. SE; the Overlook at Oxon Run, 3700 Ninth St. SE; Bexhill Condominiums, 1840-1849 Kendall St. NE and 1920-1927 Capital Ave. NE; the Selma Apartments, 21 Kennedy St. NW; the apartment building at 1415 Girard St. NW; and a single-family home at 1868 Corcoran St. NE that is part of a larger redevelopment project in Ivy City. Several properties offer energy-efficiency measures and provide on-site resident services such as job placement programs, first-time home buyer programs, on-site child care and after-school tutoring, medical and mental health assistance, and adult education. For information, go to www.caninitiative.org. Agency to hold reentry summit for ex-offenders in the District The D.C. Public Defender Service has scheduled the annual Community Reentry and Expungement Summit from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 4 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Pl. NW. At the event, District residents with criminal records can receive consultations on record sealing, having records expunged, federal pardons, parole, child support and other legal matters. Participation does not establish an attorney-client relationship with the Public Defender Service. Registration is free. To register, call 202-824-2835 or go to www.pdsdc.org by May 31. Arts commission seeks musicians and poets The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities is seeking acoustic musicians and poets from the District for Music on the Mall, a program of lunchtime performances near the Smithsonian Metro station, from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesdays, between May 28 and Aug. 29. The program is a cooperative venture between the D.C. arts commission, WMATA, the National Park Service and the office of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). To apply, go to dcarts.dc.gov/page/zoomgrants before May 17. — Compiled by Terence McArdle


Cicadas and their threat to trees

Shrubs may take a hit, but their twigginess works in their favor. The greater threat is to young ornamental trees that have been planted in the past two years or so because they are full of optimally sized branches important to the tree’s future shape and growth. Fruit trees are also prime targets. Frank Gouin, who planted a peach orchard at his farm near Deale, recalls the effects of the cicadas the last time this cohort, called Brood II, appeared in 1996. “The branches would just fall off,” he said. This included branches with developing fruit. Experts say that insecticides will not significantly reduce cicada populations, and who wants to spray poison all over the place? The two-inch insects don’t sting or bite and have a grotesque beauty about them, with red eyes and orange wing veins. Some people call them locusts, which they are not. The males make a racket, calling for a mate. For egg-laying, the females seem to prefer oaks, maples, redbuds and cherry trees, though they will damage scores of other species, and they are drawn particularly to trees at the edge of a woodland, said Michael Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland. If you are worried about precious, small trees, you can put three-eighths or finer netting over the tree, but do this before the cicadas appear in number around Memorial Day. Raupp has co-written a guide for netting, available online at www.bugoftheweek.com. I have a redbud beneath an oak tree that may well take a hit, but it is too big to net. I am more worried about a young, slender paperbark maple that I planted in the fall. I got it from Tom Moseley, a nurseryman in Potomac, and told him of my plan to shroud the tree in netting. “Has to be all the way around, and secure the bottom,” said Moseley, of Maryland Gardens Tree and Shrub Farm. “They just swarm.” This will be his fourth Brood II encounter. The first was in junior high school when he and others offered a classmate a dollar to eat one. “He ate about half of it before he threw up,” he said. “We gave him the dollar anyway.” If you are planning to install a new landscape with lots of young trees and shrubs, you may want to wait until early fall to plant it. This would be a better time,


World’s fish have been moving to cooler waters for decades, study finds

industry. In less-developed nations and the tropics, the movements could threaten a critical source of food. In places such as Chatham, Mass., and the Gulf of Maine, fishermen who use small boats already are suffering severe economic consequences as cod and haddock that once lived close to the coast move north. While larger boats can reach those fish populations in cooler, deeper water farther offshore, smaller boats cannot, said Richard Merrick, director of scientific programs and chief science adviser for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service. “We’re seeing significant declines in the number of boats that can fish, for example,” he said. “The crews that go along with that, they’re out of work.” Closer to home, the population of Atlantic surf clams has declined in the warmer and shallower waters off Maryland, Virginia and Delaware but thrived in cooler water off New England. The shift has caused the closure of a Virginia-based processing plant and forced fishing boats to move, according to a summary of the research prepared by the Pew Charitable Trusts, which helped fund it. Glen Spain, northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, said investment in boats, equipment and infrastructure are difficult to make when entire populations of fish move in a decade or two. Spain’s organization represents 1,000 fishing boats along the Pacific coast. “Everything depends on some minimal level of predictability, and everything is becoming less and less predictable because of climate change,” Spain said. He called for more spending on fisheries management that would allow a “real-time” model of fish locations and populations. “The biggest problem we have with fishery management is it assumes the future will look like the past,” he said. “That’s no longer the case.” William Cheung, Daniel Pauly and their colleagues at the University of British Columbia looked at 52 distinct marine ecosystems that cover most of the world’s coastal and shelf areas. Even after accounting for the impact of fishing and wide variations in the oceans that cover 71 percent of the planet, water temperatures rose steadily each decade between 1970 and 2006. The researchers used the fish themselves as a kind of thermometer to demonstrate the increase in water temperature. By looking at the size of the catch in species’ new habitats and comparing it with their preferred locations in 1970, the researchers calculated the “mean temperature of the catch,”


Afghans voice wariness of Pakistan’s Sharif

Afghan protesters set fire to a Pakistan flag during a demonstration against recent border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many Afghans voice distrust of incoming Pakistani premier who once supported the Taliban. (PARWIZ/REUTERS) KABUL — But across Afghan society, many people scoffed at the notions that Nawaz Sharif, a former two-time prime minister, might feel any goodwill toward Pakistan’s fellow Muslim neighbor or seek to improve a relationship long dogged by mutual charges of bad faith, political interference and militant skulduggery. In interviews in the Afghan capital, political figures, experts and residents expressed strong negative opinions about Pakistan’s trustworthiness and Sharif’s political record and religious views, especially his support for the Afghan Taliban while he was prime minister in the late 1990s and his continued tolerance of armed religious groups in Pakistan. “It is a mistake to test someone who has already been tested and failed you,” said Atiqullah Amarkhel, a retired Afghan army general. “Nawaz Sharif did his utmost to fan the civil war in Afghanistan. He was the main figure behind the disintegration of our army, and then he helped the Taliban.” Sharif’s goals, Amarkhel said, will be “the same as previous Pakistani regimes — to keep Afghanistan unstable, weak and dependent.” Nawaz Sharif, following his victory in the historic election, will become the new leader of Pakistan. (DAMIR SAGOLJ/REUTERS) Sharif has said little about his intended approach to Afghanistan, in contrast with his numerous assertions that he wants to mend fences with Pakistan’s other problematic neighbor, India. Some analysts here said he will probably wait to see how events in Afghanistan play out in 2014, when national elections and the final pullout of NATO troops are scheduled to take place. Afghan analysts also noted that other actors in Pakistan may have as much of a say in Afghanistan policy as Sharif, especially the powerful military and intelligence establishment that dominates foreign policy and appears inclined to support Islamist militant groups as long as they focus their crusade across the border. Asked to comment on Sharif’s election, several Afghan residents and political leaders accused Pakistan’s major spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, of working to interfere in and harm their country, and they suggested that Sharif would be either unwilling or unable to challenge it. “The ISI is the biggest enemy of Afghanistan, and they have had a key role in our deteriorating situation in recent decades,” said Mozhda


Palestinians curb Israeli reporters’ access to West Bank

regularly covers Palestinian affairs face being ejected from news conferences and questioned by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. Palestinian journalists who are friendly with their Israeli colleagues have had their photographs taken, posted on social media sites and labeled “collaborators.” Organizations that once brought Palestinian and Israeli journalists together for professional conferences no longer sponsor such events, because Palestinian reporters say it will hurt their careers to participate. “There’s now a generation of Israelis and Palestinians who don’t even know what the other looks like, except for the stereotypes,” said Suheir Rasul, co-director of the group Search for Common Ground, which focuses on media in conflict zones. “All Israelis are soldiers or Orthodox Jews in black hats, and all Palestinians are construction workers or terrorists.” She said the obstacles faced by Israeli and Palestinian reporters will only make the situation worse. For the first time, Palestinian authorities say they will require all Israeli journalists to apply for press credentials; those without may be escorted away by police. A petition endorsed by 200 Palestinian journalists and circulated in April urges officials to limit access for Israeli reporters in the West Bank, noting that the Israeli government restricts the Palestinians’ access in Israel. “These are journalists fighting for their press freedom by denying us press freedom,” said a veteran Israeli journalist, fluent in Arabic, who has covered the West Bank daily for a decade and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. About 50 Palestinian journalists have Government Press Office cards issued by Israel, but almost all of them work for international organizations. Only a handful of Palestinian journalists working for West Bank or Gaza media can report in Israel, and their movements can be severely restricted. Some Palestinians accuse their Israeli colleagues of providing a false picture of the West Bank. “We have noticed that 95 percent of the Israeli journalists present a line that is aligned with the Israeli military and intelligence services,” said Omar Nazzal, a documentary film maker and member of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, a union representing 1,500 reporters. The Israeli journalists who cover the West Bank say that is not true. “I felt myself an ambassador to the Palestinian people. I wanted a solution. For us, for them. I wrote stories; I was crying when I wrote them,” said an Israeli journalist and author with decades of experience


NASA’s Kepler space telescope malfunction may end hunt for planets

Here’s a look back at some of the space telescope’s discoveries. The Kepler Space Telescope, the celebrated discoverer of worlds around distant stars, may have found its last planet. NASA announced Wednesday that the telescope, which to date has cost $600 million to build and operate, has lost the ability to point accurately. It’s not dead, but by going wobbly it can’t do the precision observations necessary for spotting signs of “exoplanets.” Kepler is 40 million miles from Earth, too far away to be fixed even if NASA still had a space shuttle and could throw together a repair mission. “Kepler’s not in a place where I can go up and rescue it, or any other astronaut,” said John Grunsfeld, the head of science at NASA who became famous as an astronaut for his missions to fix the Hubble Space Telescope. The Kepler telescope, launched in 2009, seemed fine when NASA technicians and scientists communicated with it last Thursday. But on Sunday, the telescope signaled that it had gone into “safe” mode, as it is programmed to do when it has a problem. Although NASA didn’t know conclusively why that happened, on Tuesday engineers discovered that one of the reaction wheels used for steering wouldn’t spin. The spacecraft has four such wheels. One had failed previously. Now two were inoperative. There is no way to control the pitch, roll and yaw of a spacecraft with just two reaction wheels. Over the past 12 months, scientists have captured stunning images of the planets, a galaxy, a planetary nebula and more from space. That doesn’t necessarily mean Kepler is permanently crippled. NASA officials vowed in their news conference to try to restart the wheel or find a workaround to allow Kepler to resume planet-hunting. But they admitted that they were saddened by the malfunction, which may bring to an end a planet-hunting mission that, although it already has lived up to its promise and then some, could potentially have continued for a number of years. In addition to finding 132 planets that have been confirmed by telescopes on the ground, Kepler has found more than 2,700 other candidate planets. The telescope uses the transit method, looking for the very slight dimming of starlight when a planet passes in front of the star when seen from the telescope. Earlier this year, Kepler’s team of scientists announced that it had found three new planets,


Fine Print: Military sexual assault crisis cuts deep

The Joint Chiefs of Staff are preparing for a battle on Capitol Hill, but they’ll be playing defense. The growing crisis of military sexual assaults and the failure to deal seriously with the issue over the past decade are going to lead to legislation that threatens to break the chain of command. Anyone who has served in the military in wartime learns to respect the importance of the chain-of-command concept and the need to obey orders. Soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen do what they are told and must be able to trust that their superiors know what they are doing. As an Army draftee at the end of the Korean War, I came to understand this. There was no going to someone else to argue against an order or direction. In a battle or a firefight, everyone must work together. Of course, this requires everyone be treated fairly and honestly so the whole system has integrity. That hasn’t been the case regarding sexual assault, and in the current atmosphere, it’s all but guaranteed that the number of examples will grow. Tuesday’s newest allegation about a non-commissioned officer assigned to the sexual assault prevention office at Fort Hood, Tex., being investigated for sexual misconduct, abuse and maltreatment of soldiers has caused more legislators to speak up. Bet on more congressional hearings. For example, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) has announced he will use his Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee hearing next Wednesday, when Army leaders come to defend their fiscal 2014 budget request, to ask questions about the Fort Hood sergeant. A new chapter will open in a military trial set for next month at Fort Bragg, N.C. Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair, former deputy commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, is charged with forcible sodomy and indecent acts involving three female officers. The military judge presiding over a pretrial hearing Tuesday ordered the testimony of two Army generals after the defense alleged that Pentagon officials may have placed improper pressure on Gen. Dan Allyn, Sinclair’s boss, to bring the charges. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a commanding officer should not be influenced by his superiors in making such a decision. Military sexual assault isn’t new. In February 2004, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ordered a 90-day review of sexual assaults after allegations of crimes committed against female soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait. One of the review’s eventual findings sounds


familiar: “Sexual assault risk factors in the military do not appear to be significantly different from those reported in civilian literature.” The programs set up eight years ago haven’t worked. The Pentagon’s own report last week estimated the number of military women and men victimized was up by 35 percent over the past two years. More signs of the crisis: ■■ ●While 96 percent of women and 97 percent of men said they had participated in Pentagon sexual assault training in the past 12 months, only 16 percent of the women and 25 percent of the men responding to a survey “indicated sexual assault in the military is less of a problem today than four years ago.” ●While 70 percent of women and 83 percent of men said they “would feel free to report sexual assault without fear of reprisals to a large extent,” only 44 percent of those women who reported assaults were satisfied with their commanders’ handling of their cases; 33 percent said they were dissatisfied. ●In fact, only 3,374 reports of sexual assault were filed in fiscal 2012, last week’s report said, while the Pentagon survey said some 26,000 troops told the survey they had experienced “unwanted sexual contact.” ●Women who had been sexually harassed said that more than half of the offenders were military co-workers, 28 percent were military personnel and 27 percent were “in their military chain of command.” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has taken some steps in reaction to the disclosures, but they are too late. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services military personnel subcommittee, along with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and others, will introduce legislation Thursday that would take decision making on sexual offenses out of the chain of command. Under the bill, an experienced military prosecutor, grade colonel or higher, would decide whether a matter goes to a court-martial. Commanders would continue to deal out nonjudicial punishment under Article 15 of the Military Code for offenses not sent to trial by the prosecutors. Whether that will satisfy the Joint Chiefs is unclear. One thing appears certain: Their leadership neglect in the face of this problem has given Congress the upper hand. Whatever bill arrives at the White House is bound to get President Obama’s signature because he, too, sees military sexual assaults as an outrage. On May 8, Obama said what should have been done in 2004: “I


Prince George’s County community calendar, May 16 to 22, 2013

Thursday, May 16 Temple Hills computer class, learn how to use a mouse and keyboard and work with Windows. 9:30 a.m., Hillcrest Heights Library, 2398 Iverson St., Temple Hills. Free, registration required. 301-630-4900. Bladensburg computer class, NARFE 1747 chapter meeting, USDA Farmers Market, Teddy bear parade, Bowie Senior Chorale, Geico family night, Bowie book talk, Friday, May 17 Bike to Work Day, SAGE on piano, performances by members of the Seasoned Adults Growing Educationally program. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Marlboro Gallery, Prince George’s Community College, 301 Largo Rd., Largo. Free. 301-322-0965. Suitland bog tour, Pool trip, Space and beyond, Community Action’s Homecoming Gala, College Park book club, Social media safety class, Upper Marlboro campfire, Saturday, May 18 Mission Uganda, Brandywine flea market, Upper Marlboro community yard sale, Laurel bird walk, Breakfast and birding on the boardwalk, Building Women through Collaboration and Partnerships, Big Bubba’s fishing rodeo, Branch Avenue Farmers Market, American Market, fresh produce and meats, specialty foods, handmade crafts, jewelry and more. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., through Oct. 26, National Harbor, American Way between Waterfront and Fleet Streets. 301-910-8076 or phyproductions123@gmail.com. College Park arts drop-in, Greenbelt gardening program, learn about bees, butterflies, bats and more that help pollinate a garden. 11 a.m., Greenbelt Library, 11 Crescent Rd. Free. 301-345-5800. Mount Rainier Day, Jewelry-making workshop, Dance showcase, Herp search, War of 1812 on the Patuxent, Laurel youth reading program, Hyattsville book talk, Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, Mis Quince program, New Hope Youth Dance Company, Washington Eagles arena football, Show Time at the Potomac, Collage craft workshop, Fashion show, Hyattsville open forum, Terrapin Murder Mystery, Laurel night hike, Chesapeake Chorale, Sunday, May 19 Delaware Bay trip, Astrophotography class, College Park Farmers Market, Seasonal Selections program, Beltsville Day, The War in our Back Yard, Cool facts about box turtles, Monday, May 20 Fabulous farm feet, Basketball open gym, for girls ages 10-17. 5:30-6:30 p.m. Mondays, Prince George’s Plaza Community Center, 6600 Adelphi Rd., Hyattsville. Free. 301-864-1611. College Park game night, Tuesday, May 21 “It’s All About Me” Business and Wellness Conference, Brandywine gardening workshop, Teen book talk, Bowie chess club, learn to play or improve your skills. 6 p.m., Bowie Library, 15210 Annapolis Rd. Free. 301-262-7000. Black literature discussion, a librarian leads a talk about Beverly Jenkins’s “A Second Helping: A Blessings Novel.” 6:30 p.m., Surratts-Clinton Library, 9400 Piscataway Rd., Clinton. Free. 301-868-9200. “Silver Sparrow” book talk, a librarian leads a discussion


For pop-up shops, compromise is key

WASHINGTON, DC. MAY 15, 2013: Adding the liquid nitrogen, while the line of customers grows, Sandra Tran, is a co-owner of Nice Cream Factory a pop-up ice cream shop at Science Club, a bar and restaurant on 19th St in Washington, DC. (Jeffrey MacMillan/JEFFREY MACMILLAN) Sandra Tran and Gil Welsford might have attracted stares as they unloaded a sink from Tran’s Toyota Forerunner, and placed it on the patio of Science Club, a bar and restaurant in Dupont. The sink was followed by a small fridge, a few standing mixers, two 80-pound jugs of liquid nitrogen, and an assortment of ingredients. The two entrepreneurs were setting up their fledgling ice cream business, the Nicecream Factory, which uses liquid nitrogen to quickly produce fresh ice cream. Through an agreement with Science Club owner Steve Maguire, the Nicecream Factory will pop up outside the restaurant during off-hours on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons this summer. An increasingly common phenomenon in Washington, pop-ups allow entrepreneurs to test out concepts at other, often more established businesses. A nascent coffee business might set up shop every so often in a brick-and-mortar book store, for instance, feeding off an established client base and gathering feedback. While pop-up agreements may give entrepreneurs an opportunity to refine their products, the logistics of inhabiting another business’s space can proving challenging, as Tran and Welsford have discovered in their first few trials. As customers lined up on the stairs of Science Club, Welsford and Tran, assisted by a couple of friends, were rapidly taking orders, blending ingredients, and rushing to refill a pitcher of liquid nitrogen from behind a small countertop they’d brought. They make the ice cream by combining sweet cream and other ingredients in a stand mixer — strawberry puree or pistachio butter, for example — and pouring in about half a liter of liquid nitrogen per serving to instantly freeze the mixture. The nitrogen produces a thick white steam as it evaporates almost instantly, and Tran and Welsford are quick to assure customers it’s completely safe to consume — after all, Welsford said, “nitrogen is 78 percent of the air." They sell small servings for $4.72 plus tax, and large for $5.66. When the two recent graduates of James Madison University founded the Nicecream Factory a couple months ago, they couldn’t yet afford retail space, which might set them back hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.


Maryland legislative hearing on prisons moved up to June 6

The Baltimore City Detention Center. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) Maryland lawmakers have rescheduled a hearing prompted by problems at a Baltimore jail for June 6, two weeks earlier than previously announced. The meeting of the Legislative Policy Committee, made up of leading House and Senate members, will be the first formal public hearing since last month’s federal indictments of 25 inmates and corrections guards on racketeering and other charges. Lawmakers have said they want to take a broader look at challenges facing Maryland prisons beyond troubles at the state-run Baltimore City Detention Center. Prosecutors said the Black Guerilla Family gang essentially took over that institution. Officers smuggled in cellphones and drugs for gang members and had sex with them. Legislative aides said the change in the hearing date was a result of key lawmakers becoming available to meet in Annapolis earlier than previously thought.


Sex assaults in the military: An epidemic that is being ignored

they come in from a society where this occurs. SOME OF IT IS THE HOOK-UP MENTALITY OF JUNIOR HIGH, EVEN, AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS NOW, WHICH MY CHILDREN CAN TELL YOU ABOUT FROM WATCHING THEIR FRIENDS AND BEING FRUSTRATED BY IT.” (Capitalization added by Gillibrand’s office in an e-mail sent to me.) “The same demographic group moves into the military,” Welsh said. “We have got to change the culture once they arrive. The way they behave, the way they treat each other, cannot be outside the bounds of what is, we consider, inclusive and respectful.” Let’s see if I understand this correctly: The military, which has an estimated 26,000 cases of abuse each year, is blaming high school kids it has recruited for the sexual assault culture? Maybe that’s why only about 3,000 cases are reported each year. People are terrified that they will lose their jobs, be demoted, marginalized or killed if they report assault or rape. Gillibrand introduced a bill Thursday that would allow service members to report cases to a trained prosecutor and not their commanding officers, who could, in fact, be guilty of sexual assault themselves or could be protecting others who have committed it. “The issue of sexual violence in the military is not new,” Gillibrand said. “And it has been allowed to go on in the shadows for far too long. Due to a number of hard-to-fathom events, this issue has been raised to the national consciousness. We must seize the opportunity and act so we can get closer to a true zero-tolerance reality in the armed forces.” That is not going to be a cakewalk. Take the Cadets for Christ, a religious group at the Air Force Academy. According to Mikey Weinstein, head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, it espouses the idea of “the shepherding movement for female cadets. [The women] must be shepherded by males, even lower-ranking males. They are told that their value is that they have eggs. They are asked, ‘What are you doing here? This is not want Jesus wants.’ ” Weinstein has letters from parents of female cadets testifying to these accounts. Years ago, even Pat Robertson denounced this group’s tactics. If this is a tolerated group at the Air Force Academy (and the other military academies are not much better), how can anybody, even the president, demand zero tolerance overnight? The fact is, he can try.


Obama deplores sex crimes in military, says there’s ‘no silver bullet’

trained and certified since October. Defense officials said those officers might have to go through it all again, although it was unclear if the process would be different. The Army said Thursday that its investigation at Fort Hood was continuing and that no charges had been filed. Authorities have not identified the suspect except to describe him as a sergeant first class at III Corps. According to soldiers at Fort Hood who know the suspect, however, Army officials in recent days have scoured Web sites and office bulletin boards to remove any photographs and documents containing the sergeant’s name or image. The Army did the same thing in March 2012 before it publicly identified Staff Sgt. Robert Bales as the suspect in the fatal shootings of 16 Afghan civilians, the worst atrocity of the war. Despite the lurid allegations at Fort Hood, one female soldier in the same battalion as the suspect said she wasn’t surprised by the news, citing a pattern of intimidation against sex-crime victims. The 25-year-old soldier, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared retaliation, said she was sexually assaulted at Fort Hood in December 2011. When she reported the attack, her commander tried to blame her for provoking the incident, she said, and a sexual-assault-prevention coordinator “kind of swept it under the rug and told me, ‘You just took it the wrong way.’ ” The assault was only properly investigated, the soldier said, after she made an appeal to Eric Shinseki, the retired general who is secretary of veterans affairs, when he visited Fort Hood. Her assailant was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison. “I’m one of the few lucky ones who got justice,” she said. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, a split was emerging among lawmakers who have pledged legislative action to combat sex crimes in the military. One group, led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), is pushing to overhaul the military justice system so that prosecutors, instead of commanders without legal training, have the authority to decide whether to investigate serious crimes and bring defendants to trial. Other lawmakers, however, said it was more important to hold commanders accountable for how they respond than to change the legal system. “It’s far too soon to take a hatchet to the judicial system,” said Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio), a member of the House Armed Services Committee. “The problem is a cultural issue.”


U.S. military has a long history of abuse at basic training

Regarding the May 10 editorial “Disorder in the ranks”: Soon after arriving at Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas for technical training school, I was called into a meeting with two officers investigating charges of physical and mental abuse by drill instructors at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. For nearly an hour, I answered their questions and provided my own descriptions of noncommissioned officers who seemed “disturbed,” who bullied and berated young airmen who had been left in their charge on “temporary duty” status while they awaited orders for their next assignment. I described the actions of two NCOs knocking over bunk beds, flinging our gear all over the room, slamming fists into shoulders to knock airmen around while leaving no bruises or other signs of abuse — all of this for no apparent reason. These “tantrums” erupted at all times, day and night. The most memorable occurred at 3 a.m. and ended only after a fellow NCO convinced the rampaging sergeant that he had gone too far. The officers I spoke with thanked me for my testimony and promised action in response to similar testimony they had heard from others. Feeling relieved, I went on to complete my technical training in West Texas during the summer of 1966. Here we are, 47 years later, getting word of sexual abuse of Air Force recruits in basic training at Lackland. Pardon me if I am not shocked. I am simply disgusted. We never change, do we? Frank Herzog, Wilmington, N.C. The writer is a former play-by-play announcer for the Washington Redskins.


The basics of chip-and-PIN credit cards

unattended kiosks, such as at train stations or gas pumps. Merchants on a chip-and-PIN system can still process our dowdy strip cards, but you may need to press them to do so. Why have American cards been slow to adopt chip-and-PIN technology? There are costs — new cards, new equipment, etc. — associated with implementing the chip system, for both companies and merchants. Also, priorities have been different over the past few decades, credit card companies say. Europe invested in chip technology early on so that transactions could be approved at the point of purchase instead of over telecommunications networks. Using those networks is cheaper in the United States. Why does it seem as if American chip-and-PIN cards are targeted to more elite customers? Credit card companies figure that their top-tier cardholders are the ones mostly likely to be traveling abroad, where chip-and-PIN technology is widespread. If you’re not sure whether your card has a chip, it never hurts to ask. Sekar says that Citi MasterCard will offer customers a chip card upon request. Some Bank of America cards offer chip-and-signature technology. Wait, what? Now there’s chip-and-signature? You bet. It has the same embedded chip, but instead of entering a PIN on a machine to verify your purchase, you sign a receipt, just as you’re accustomed to doing here. Of course, this may not be much better than a traditional magnetic strip card if the terminal you’re at is PIN-only. How are chip-and-PIN cards different from RFID credit cards? RFID, or radio-frequency identification, cards are contactless. They have a chip and radio antenna that transmit account information, raising concerns (which people are still arguing about years after the cards were introduced) that criminals may use readers to skim consumer details. Chip-and-PIN cards work only when inserted into a merchant’s reader. So when will we see more American cards with chips? American Express, Discover, Visa and MasterCard plan to introduce widespread chip technology in the next two to three years, Sekar says. “All of them will hold merchants liable for fraudulent transactions if the merchant doesn’t accept EMV technology beginning in 2015-2017, depending on the card network and the type of transaction.” What should we do in the meantime? Check with your credit card company to see if you can get a chip card. If you travel a lot, you might consider applying for a new one with the technology. The


The basics of chip-and-PIN credit cards

traveling abroad, where chip-and-PIN technology is widespread. If you’re not sure whether your card has a chip, it never hurts to ask. Sekar says that Citi MasterCard will offer customers a chip card upon request. Some Bank of America cards offer chip-and-signature technology. Wait, what? Now there’s chip-and-signature? You bet. It has the same embedded chip, but instead of entering a PIN on a machine to verify your purchase, you sign a receipt, just as you’re accustomed to doing here. Of course, this may not be much better than a traditional magnetic strip card if the terminal you’re at is PIN-only. How are chip-and-PIN cards different from RFID credit cards? RFID, or radio-frequency identification, cards are contactless. They have a chip and radio antenna that transmit account information, raising concerns (which people are still arguing about years after the cards were introduced) that criminals may use readers to skim consumer details. Chip-and-PIN cards work only when inserted into a merchant’s reader. So when will we see more American cards with chips? American Express, Discover, Visa and MasterCard plan to introduce widespread chip technology in the next two to three years, Sekar says. “All of them will hold merchants liable for fraudulent transactions if the merchant doesn’t accept EMV technology beginning in 2015-2017, depending on the card network and the type of transaction.” What should we do in the meantime? Check with your credit card company to see if you can get a chip card. If you travel a lot, you might consider applying for a new one with the technology. The State Department Federal Credit Union, which anyone can join through its partnership with the American Consumer Council, is a good option. (Bonus: The SDFCU cards also have no foreign transaction fees.) In addition to credit cards, SDFCU offers chip-enabled prepaid cards. And be prepared to gently insist that foreign merchants swipe your magnetic-strip card. Do your research, because it’s not just chips that you need to worry about. Certain cards aren’t accepted in certain parts of the world, period. Sekar says that Africa, for example, is a dark zone when it comes to Discover cards. One reader reported to us that she hasn’t been able to use her Visa card at some locations in Germany, where she has moved for six months. When in doubt, carry a little extra cash. More from Travel: Travel Guide Ski Guide Caribbean Guide


$475,000 Frederick County home can be yours for a Benjamin

and Schwat went into mediation at the end of 2012 and settled the matter. Schwat says he regrets the time and money spent on the litigation but adds,“On the positive side, we’ll be delivering the building in a strong market.” The building, called the Victoria, will have four floors with four units per floor. An elevator will reach all the levels, as well as an underground parking area for nine cars. Sales will start within the next month or two, and residents will move in about March. “The top four units each have a roof deck, eight other homes have balconies, two have patios,” Schwat says. “They all have big windows, and you can see all the way downtown because this is on a hill.” The building will have one- and two-bedroom homes priced from the low $400,000s to the upper $600,000s. The homes will range from 627 to 1,354 square feet and will feature hardwood flooring, Quartz kitchen countertops, deep soaking bathtubs, 91 / 2-foot-high ceilings and large kitchen islands. 11 Median days on market Curtain to rise on Ontario Theatre plan The old Ontario Theatre at 17th Street and Columbia Road NW in Adams Morgan will be razed, but parts of the structure will live on. Those elements will be incorporated into a mixed-use development on the site. The Peterson Cos. , one of the region’s largest privately owned real estate development companies, plans to build 80 condominium units and 9,000 square feet of retail space. The Eisen Group is designing the development, which will have studios, one- and two-bedroom homes with hardwood floors, private balconies, walk-in closets, granite kitchen countertops and underground parking for 35 cars. “We think these will appeal to young professionals who are looking for a small, low-maintenance home with low condo fees,” says Stuart Prince, senior vice president, residential, at Peterson. “Our smaller units will sell from the upper $200,000s to the low $300,000s, and then the larger units will likely be priced in the $600,000s to the low $700,000s.” The building will have a private roof deck. Prince says demolition has started, and construction will begin in the fall. Sales will begin early in 2014, and the building should be complete in spring 2015. — Michele Lerner Lerner is a freelance writer. To pass on a tip or news item, contact us at realestate@washpost.com and put “Town Square” in the subject line.


Rothschild scion’s deal with the Bakrie family to create a coal colossus goes up in smoke

co-chairman in 2005. At its 2007 peak, Atticus managed more than $20 billion. From 2005 to 2011, Rothschild also served as chairman of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s En+ Group, the holding company for the oligarch’s controlling stake in United Co. Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminum producer. His most daring financial play — the one that would come back to haunt him — came in July 2010, when he raised 707 million pounds on the London Stock Exchange for a company with no operating assets. Vallar was a blank-check company, so called because that’s what investors give the founders. In Rothschild’s case, he merely promised to use the proceeds from Vallar’s initial public offering to buy mining assets within two years, subject to the approval of the independent board. Putting his reputation and 92 million pounds of his own money on the line, Rothschild jetted around the globe in his Gulfstream G550 soliciting investors for the IPO. Many big institutions signed on, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Council. When Hannam, 57, drew his attention to the Bakries, Rothschild knew little about the family. The Bakries’ wealth dates to their days as traders starting in 1942, when Indonesia was a Dutch colony. Achmad Bakrie, who died in 1988, and later his eldest son, Aburizal, now 66, built a politically connected empire spanning steel, plantations, real estate and telecommunications. They were among the few ethnic Indonesian tycoons in a crony economy dominated by businessmen of Chinese descent. The 1997 Asian financial crisis rocked the Bakries. Laden with $1.3 billion in debt, Aburizal gave away 97.5 percent of his empire to creditors, says his son Anindya, 39. Then, as the Indonesian economy rebounded, so did the Bakrie companies. By June 12, 2008, they accounted for 15 percent of the market value of the Jakarta exchange. Aburizal also solidified his political power, holding cabinet posts from 2004 to 2009. What hadn’t changed was the Bakries’ dependence on debt or their predilection for cross-holdings and other opaque transactions that turned off many foreign investors, says Mirza Baig, founder of Hikma Governance Consulting. In October 2008, during the height of the global banking crisis, shares in PT Bumi Resources were suspended by the Jakarta stock exchange for a month after they plunged 32 percent in one day. Bumi Resources secured a $1.9 billion loan from China Investment Corp. (CIC), the Chinese sovereign wealth fund, on which it


GAO: 40 states have suspected cheating on K-12 tests

(Bigstock) In the past two school years, 40 states detected potential cheating on standardized exams given to public school students in grades 3 to 12, according to a new report released by the Government Accountability Office. Of those states, 33 confirmed at least one instance of cheating, and 32 states canceled or invalidated test results from individual students, schools or districts as a result of either suspected or confirmed cheating, the GAO found. The GAO collected data from the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 academic years. The findings come as large-scale cheating scandals play out in cities such as Atlanta, where 82 educators confessed to altering test scores in 30 schools, and cheating allegations continue to hover around Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. A majority of states report using best practices to ensure test security, yet a significant number of education officials around the country told the GAO that they still feel their standardized tests are vulnerable to cheaters. The GAO surveyed the states and relayed its findings to the U.S. Department of Education, which has given states more than $2 billion since 2002 to help them develop and administer standardized tests. Federal law requires all students in grades 3 through 8 to be tested annually in math and reading and at least once in grades 10 through 12. Students must also be tested in science at least once during grades 3 through 5, 6 through 9 and 10 through 12. Standardized test results have taken on greater weight during the Obama administration, which has prodded states to tie teacher evaluations to student test scores. As states increasingly administer tests on computers, the security risks posed by paper and pencil tests will be reduced, but will be replaced with new worries about hacking and other digital threats, the GAO said. The study


For runner infected with HIV as a baby, half-marathon is quite a challenge

Nina Martinez, right, and twin sister Marie required blood transfusions weeks after being born in 1983. Nina, who will run the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon on Sunday, contracted HIV after her transfusion, and works today as an advocate on awareness and prevention. (Sara Wendland/Courtesy photo) The athletic career of Nina Martinez began just nine short weeks ago, when the 29-year-old made a decision to begin training for Sunday’s Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon in Fredericksburg. The closest she has ever been to an athlete was in her own imagination two decades ago, when as an eight-year-old girl in 1992, she made up stories to her elementary school classmates that she was related to Los Angeles Lakers icon Magic Johnson. He was the one person who knew what she was going through, the disease she was living with. Magic has AIDS, and so do I, she would tell them. All these years later, Martinez, a Georgetown graduate now living in Atlanta, is poised to push her pain threshold to a new place on Sunday. She has never competed in a sport, and becoming physically active in just two months has taken a toll. She developed bronchitis halfway through training. She has tendinitis in her knee. And she has just recently learned how to take care of her feet, because for many weeks she was running in shoes a size too small. “Running is no joke,” Martinez said. Neither is living with HIV for 30 years. But that is exactly why Martinez is returning to the Washington area this week, to run under the flag of The Grassroot Project — a local HIV prevention nonprofit — and to show that she is not defined by an illness that crept into her life in 1983. She hopes to run as much of the half marathon as possible, having completed her training regimen without running outdoors, and her longest run clocking in at just over 11 miles on a treadmill last week. Sunday’s race is 13.1 miles long. “I have friends that run, and hear their complaints, that it’s hard on the body, this, that and the other, and you know, part of it is well, ‘I’m an HIV patient,’ ” Martinez said. “I’ve had my fair share of physical discomfort. This can’t be that bad. It’s just challenging in a different way. In some respects being a patient prepared me to be


Food for thought: Would you eat an insect?

A plate of bugs at an insect cuisine competition in the Southeast Asian country Laos. (Thomas Calame/AP) The latest weapon in the fight against hunger, global warming and pollution might be flying by you right now. Edible insects are being promoted as a low-fat, high-protein food for people, pets and feed animals (or livestock). The United Nations, an international organization that helps countries work together, says the bugs come with appetizing side benefits: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and livestock pollution, creating jobs in poor countries and feeding the millions of hungry people in the world. Some edible-insect information in bite-size form: Who eats insects? Two billion people do, mostly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said last week as it issued a report exploring edible insect potential. Some insects may already be in your food. Demand for natural food coloring instead of artificial dyes is increasing, the agency’s experts say. A red coloring produced from the cochineal, a scaled insect that lives in Peru, already is used in a popular brand of strawberry yogurt. They’re packed with protein Scientists who have studied the nutritional value of edible insects have found that red ants, small grasshoppers and some water beetles pack enough protein to rank with lean ground beef while having less fat. Are you bored with whole-wheat pasta or brown rice that your parents prepare to help you get fiber in your diet? Edible insects are fiber-filled, and they also contain useful minerals such as iron, magnesium, phosphorous, selenium and zinc. Which to choose? Beetles and caterpillars are the most common among the more than 1,900 insect species that people eat. Other popular insect foods are bees, wasps, ants, grasshoppers, locusts and crickets. Less popular are termites and flies, according to the U.N. report. They’re eco-friendly Insects don’t need to eat much before they can become food themselves. Cattle need to be fed about four times as much to produce the same amount of food. Most insects raised for food are likely to produce fewer environmentally harmful greenhouse gases than livestock, the U.N. agency says. Bugs squash poverty Edible insects are a moneymaker. In Africa, someone who gathers four big water bottles full of grasshoppers can sell them for as much as $20. Some caterpillars in southern Africa and weaver ant eggs in Southeast Asia bring even higher prices at market. As an entree,


Frederick J. Doyle, photographic mapping specialist for NASA, dies at 93

Frederick J. Doyle, a photographic mapping specialist whose work included space photography for NASA, photo reconnaissance from spy satellites and high-resolution photographs of the Earth’s surface from outer space, died April 17 at his home in McLean. He was 93. He had congestive heart failure, said his daughter Margaret Grant. In 1969, Mr. Doyle became chairman of NASA’s Apollo Orbital Science Photographic Team, and he planned the camera systems and directed orbital science photography for Apollo lunar missions 13 through 17. His efforts resulted in full-scale lunar maps, including the “mountains of the moon.” In 1971, Mr. Doyle received NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for development of the Apollo orbital photographic system. He later directed photography projects on Mariner and Viking missions to Mars, Venus and Mercury. Mr. Doyle was the principal investigator on the Landsat satellites, which for 40 years have taken continuous photographs of the Earth’s surface, allowing scientists to observe planetary phenomena such as deforestation and changes in vegetation. He was also principal investigator on Skylab, the first U.S. space station. Frederick Doyle, photo-mapping specialist for NASA whose efforts led to the mapping of the moon, poses for a portrait in July 2007. He died April 17 at age 93. (Family Photo) He was instrumental in promoting the large-format high-resolution camera first used in an October 1984 space shuttle mission, which produced more than 2,000 photos for the world’s mapping community. Mr. Doyle 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