Can you teach businessmen to be ethical?

why people behave unethically, even when they think of themselves as virtuous. A metaphor I developed for this purpose is that the mind is divided into two parts that sometimes conflict, like a small rider sitting on the back of a very large elephant. The rider is our conscious reasoning. It’s the part of us that learns facts and formulates arguments. The elephant, in contrast, is the other 99 percent of what goes on in our minds. It’s the automatic and unconscious processes like intuition, emotion and habit. In a mature person, the rider and the elephant work together harmoniously, but sometimes—as in the case of many ethical transgressions—our rational sense of right and wrong isn’t enough to steer the unconscious beast. As goes Medea’s lament, from Ovid’s poem Metamorphoses: “I see the right way and approve it, but alas! I follow the wrong.” When the rider and elephant disagree, the elephant is a lot stronger. Ethics classes are aimed at the rider. You can teach a student all you want about utilitarianism, Immanuel Kant or stakeholder theory, but five years later, when her colleagues are competing to sell worthless securities to unsuspecting retirees, her conscious reasoning is unlikely to be strong enough to stop her from running with the herd. Actually, it’s even worse than that because the rider tends to be a willing accomplice, rather than a weak but upright voice of conscience. Research by Dan Ariely, Francesca Gino and Nina Mazar shows that most people cheat when cheating can earn them more money in a lab game, but they rarely cheat by the maximum amount they can get away with. They only cheat up to the point at which they can find excuses and justifications that maintain their belief in their own virtue. In an interesting twist, creative people cheat more than others, because they are better at finding self-serving justifications. Moreover, research on “motivated cognition” increasingly suggests that our reasoning abilities evolved not to help us find the truth but to help us influence other people. That’s why people can be so bad at solving simple logic problems, yet resourceful and eloquent when they argue for a self-serving position. What do these studies tell us? It’s the elephant that first decides which way to go. The rider then dutifully prepares the appropriate arguments, in case anyone raises questions. For business schools, this means there is no


D.C. Restaurant Week: 13 critic-approved spots where you can still book a table

It's D.C. Restaurant Week, which means $20.14 three-course lunches and $35.14 three-course dinners at more than 200 restaurants through Jan. 19. That's a lot of options to sift through, so we've put together a list of participating restaurants from Tom Sietsema's most recent dining guide. As of noon Monday, all had reservations available -- better luck next time if you were hoping for Rasika -- though you'll need to be willing to dine late in some cases. You can book through OpenTable and CityEats. Ambar House vegetable salad (Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg/For the Wahington Post) Daikaya Vegetarian Ramen at Daikaya. (Photo by Scott Suchman/For the Washington Post) Del Campo The beef short ribs with charred red peppers and bone marrow and chimichurri sauce at DelCampo Restaurant, Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Suchman/For the Washington Post) DGS Delicatessen Hot pastrami sandwich (Photo by Scott Suchman/For the Washington Post) Jaleo Pan De Crystal (Photo by Greg Powers/For The Washington Post) Kapnos Beet salad (Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg/For the Wahington Post) Mintwood Place Bacon and onion flammekueche, or flaming tart, is an Alsatian favorite at Mintwood Place. (Matt McClain/For The Washington Post) Oval Room Kazu marinated duck (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanchik for The Washington Post) Oyamel Tacos de Hongos ((Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) Range Venison with spaetzle (Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg/For the Wahington Post) Trummer’s on Main Scallop Carpaccio: Snap peas, candied ginger, sorrel and kefir lime broth Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanchik for The Washington Post) Vermilion Soup-sandwich combo at Vermilion is made of a butternut squash soup with a roasted squash sandwich (Photo by Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post) Vidalia The Bread Basket, with potato roll, Vidalia's corn bread, onion foccacia, onion marmalade and sweet cream butter with sea salt (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanchik for The Washington Post)


India has eradicated polio

More than 50 years since Jonas Salk discovered the first successful polio vaccine, the disease persists in developing countries. According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, 372 cases were reported in 2013, up from 223 in 2012. So it's encouraging that India — which had 741 cases as recently as 2009 — appears to have finally eradicated the illness, with the last reported case occurring three years ago. Patralekha Chatterjee at the BBC News explains how it happened: Children who suffered from severe bouts of diarrhoea did not fully benefit from the oral polio vaccine. So, community mobilisers started talking about the need for hand-washing, hygiene and sanitation, exclusive breastfeeding up to the age of six months, diarrhoea management with zinc and oral rehydration therapy, and routine immunisation, necessary to sustain the success of polio eradication. This holistic approach has paid off. India's polio campaign gathered momentum when it focused on marginalised and mobile people, and began working in earnest with religious leaders in Muslim communities to urge parents to immunise their children. India's success puts us one big step closer to completely eradicating polio — something that seems, finally, achievable. Read the rest here.


Is teacher education a disaster?

a Champion,” a distillation of 49 techniques, from bringing a classroom to order, to asking questions, to correcting bad behavior. “Teach Like a Champion” is endorsed by some of the major players in the alternative credentialing movement, and Lemov was a member of the National Council on Teacher Quality’s technical panel. The book’s value lies in the detail with which Lemov describes the techniques, down to counting the seconds saved by phrasing a question one way rather than another. Though I would want to modify some of the techniques and augment the behavior management approach that informs them, I think “Teach Like a Champion” is a useful and thought-provoking taxonomy (Lemov’s word) of pedagogical techniques for classroom practice. The problem with the book to my mind is that it reaches beyond its taxonomy to become a philosophical and definitional statement. Lemov ends up equating good teaching with technique. “Artists, athletes, musicians, surgeons…achieve greatness only by their attention to the details of their technique…This focus on technique and its constant refinement is also the path to excellence for teachers.” Furthermore, the techniques, Lemov claims, have a direct causal link to achievement and “put students on the path to college.” Techniques are vitally important, but don’t work in isolation. The sequencing of questions, for example, is a crucial skill, but is dependent on the teacher’s knowledge of the material being taught and knowledge of how children typically respond to it, the kinds of misconceptions and errors they make, the alternative explanations, illustrations, metaphors and analogies that might help them. A teacher can’t ask meaningful questions for long without this kind of knowledge. In equal measure, the effectiveness of techniques, particularly for classroom management, will be influenced by students’ sense of a teacher’s concern for them and understanding of them. The touchstone of school reform for over a decade has been the need for high expectations for all students. If we’re serious about addressing “the soft bigotry of low expectations,” then there has to be room in teacher education for novice teachers to investigate and reflect on the limiting beliefs about cognition and ability that they, that all of us, inhale in the cultural air we breathe. To be sure, the quality of teacher ed courses on the sociology of schooling, on culture, on linguistic diversity, and the like vary widely, from the imaginative and dynamic to the routine and disconnected. What I


New photos of Bao Bao as her public debut approaches

Bao Bao, the National Zoo’s giant panda cub, is finally making her public debut this weekend. The cub, nearly five months old, has been visible on the ever-popular Panda Cam for some time (though the camera did go dark during the government shutdown). Routine visitors to the zoo haven’t been able to see her just yet, something that will finally change on Saturday. But maybe you don’t want to wait until Saturday. Maybe you want to see new panda photos now. Maybe you want to see her playing with some toys. As it turns out, the zoo posted some new photos online Monday, noting that as Bao Bao gets older and more mobile, the animal care team is working to train her more and offer her a wider variety of toys: Bao Bao explores. (Photo by Annalisa Meyer for Smithsonian’s National Zoo) The zoo also noted that members of the public who want to donate money to help buy the cub (or any other animal) a gift should head here. These gifts include art supplies, balls, tractor tires and other things meant to provide an enriching environment for the animals, according to the zoo. Bao Bao the contemplative. (Photo by Annalisa Meyer for Smithsonian’s National Zoo) Bao Bao greeted the media for the first time last week, spawning this life-changing GIF: ! RT @washingtonpost: National Zoo panda cub Bao Bao greeted media for the first time today http://t.co/kINxojacxJ http://t.co/7xQIpynb89 Oh, that GIF isn’t enough? You’d like an entire video of the cub clambering about? Fine, twist our arms, here’s a video: Bao Bao, the giant panda cub at the Smithsonian's National Zoo, mugs for the cameras as she greets the media for the first time. Then, Bao Bao went back to sleep as mom Mei Xiang munched on bamboo. The public gets their first look at the cub on Jan. 18. (If you feel like strolling down memory lane, here’s a video showing the panda cub last September, some photos released shortly thereafter, footage of the cub taking her first steps and photos showing the panda after she got her first vaccination.)


Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: A Q&A with Peter Singer

to revelations of a program to spy on Chinese military research or Pakistani terror activities. The irony is that NSA should almost be glad that he disclosed all three categories, [since] if it was just the latter two, the present mess would be even uglier but more focused. You take a nuanced position on the degree to which cybersecurity issues demand involvement by governments (they do) and can be controlled by governments (they cannot, at least not fully). A point you make that I had not fully appreciated before reading the book is that the distribution of labor productivity in this area is highly skewed: A few extremely skilled programmers can achieve more than many programmers with average skills. Governments have advantages in that they can employ many but they may not be able to compete for the very best. What are the consequences of this? Will governments become more dependent on the private sector for sensitive security tasks? Yes, this is a space where quality matters. As the Silicon Valley firms can attest, the best programmers aren’t just elite but can give you gains an order of magnitude greater than the average. But it doesn’t mean that scale doesn’t matter. The so-called 人肉搜索, which roughly translates as “Human flesh search engine” in China, has been very effective for its purpose of chilling public debate and online news that might not be regime friendly. For states, they have to understand that they are, as Joe Nye put it, still the “top dogs on the Internet,” but that there are now many, many smaller dogs that can bite. Like the Internet itself, cybersecurity involves everything from states large and small to non-state organizations that range from Google to the Syrian Electronic Army to collectives of people who link up to share cat videos or conduct Anonymous campaigns to you and I. We all have both concerns, interests and powers. To your question of hiring, it’s a good way of connecting to how at the end of the day both the problems and answers of cybersecurity are not about the software or hardware, but the wetware, the people behind the systems. Part of this is expanding our awareness, but it also goes to issues of workforce. For instance, we’re finding only about 10 percent of the cybersecurity specialists that we need in the U.S. right now. Of the ones they’re finding, hiring


Marjorie Meek-Bradley previews Roofers Union at Ripple

Marjorie Meek-Bradley's Roofers Union is the new restaurant coming in late January to the Adams Morgan space vacated by the Reef. If you're eager to try it, make a reservation at Meek-Bradley's Ripple in Cleveland Park on Jan. 22 or 23, when Meek-Bradley will preview the new menu with a three-course tryout. Marjorie Meek-Bradley (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanchik for The Washington Post) The pop-up menu, which will be served alongside Ripple's regular fare, will include a choice of snack, entree and dessert. Expect dishes such as trotter arancini, an andouille corndog with whiz and a pretzel hot fudge sundae, along with a 3 Stars beer for $25. Make a reservation at 202-244-7995. Meek-Bradley, formerly chef de cuisine at Graffiato, was nominated for Rising Culinary Star of the Year at the 2013 RAMMY Awards, and was recently featured in The Post Food section's list of Roofers Union, 2446 18th St. NW. Opening late January.


13 critic-approved spots where you won’t see a Restaurant Week menu

It's D.C. Restaurant Week, and as any experienced diner knows, it's one of the worst times of the year to go out to eat. Restaurants are filled to capacity. Servers are harried. The whole atmosphere is stressful. So leave the promotion and upselling behind and visit one of these 13 stellar dining spots, none of which will ask you if you'd like to see the Restaurant Week menu. Baby Wale Whole roast chicken with arugula. (Photo by Scott Suchman/For the Washington Post) Le Diplomate Small seafood platter. (Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg/For the Wahington Post) Doi Moi Curry Tofu. (Photo by Amanda Voisard for The Washington Post) Eat the Rich "Beach and Beans" with seafood and vegetables (Photo by Mark Gail/For The Washington Post) Iron Gate Mezze served before the tasting menu. (Photo by Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post) Izakaya Seki Tonjiru (Pork Belly Miso Soup). (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanchik for The Washington Post) Little Serow Khao Tod (crispy rice with mint and peanuts) . (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanchik for The Washington Post) Palena Lobster roe and saffron pasta. (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanchik for The Washington Post) The Red Hen Gnocchi with hazelnut pesto. (Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg/For the Washington Post) Ripple Seared halibut with morel mushrooms, fava beans and spring onion. (Photo by Joseph Victor Stefanchik for The Washington Post) Rose's Luxury Spicy pork and lychee salad. (Photo by Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post) Silo Mussels in vermouth leek sun-dried tomato sauce at Silo (Photo by Reza Mohaddes). Water and Wall Duck confit with caramelized brussels sprouts. (Photo by Scott Suchman/For the Washington Post)


Minnesota Orchestra lockout is over

salary of $96,824 in the first year of the contract, going up to $102,284 by the third year. “Keeping our salaries in the top ten was a critical issue for us,” the cellist Marcia Peck, one of the musicians on the negotiating team, said in a statement in the press release, “as it allows us to attract and retain the finest musicians in the country.” In the same release, the orchestra’s board chair, Jon Campbell — who had remained in office throughout the negotiations, and who will step down now that the situation is resolved, called on the public to help keep the orchestra afloat. “Now more than ever,” he said, “we will need members of our community who voiced strong support for world-class orchestral music in our state to help us achieve long-term fiscal responsibility through increased concert attendance and financial support.” This could be construed as a tacit appeal to members of the community who had sided with the musicians, who had started to form, in effect, an organization of their own during the lockout. As “the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra,” they raised some $600,000 during the lockout and gave a number of concerts in the community — including two under Osmo Vänskä, last October. Vänskä will remain one of the greatest losses as the orchestra tries to rebuild. In his 10 years as music director, he kept the 111-year-old orchestra squarely on the radar of the classical music world with vital, engaging performances and a string of recordings. He resigned in October, after the orchestra’s inability to reach a contract settlement meant the cancellation of its long-planned trip to Carnegie Hall. Another casualty was the head of the orchestra’s Composer Institute, Aaron Jay Kernis, who resigned — after a 15-year tenure — shortly after Vänskä did. A whole string of the orchestra’s prominent players — among them the clarinetist Burt Hara, violinists Peter McGuire and Sarah Kwak, and violist Thomas Turner — also departed for other jobs during the lockout. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is likely to be frequently cited in the coming days and weeks as a hopeful model; after a six-month strike in the 2010-11 season, the orchestra has managed to stay on a positive course. The scars in Minnesota may run deeper, but the relief that this long tragedy has ended will, one hopes, buoy musicians and audiences for some time to come.


Weather Service proposes more severe weather risk categories in 2014

Here we present a succinct comparison of the existing, and proposed new, risk classification system for severe weather from the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC). These were introduced at the 2014 Weather and Climate Summit being held at Breckenridge, Colorado this week. We also discuss the pros and cons of the changes. What is SPC? The Storm Prediction Center is one of several weather and climate specialty centers run by NOAA’s National Weather Service. Located in Norman, Oklahoma, SPC’s forecast experts monitor severe weather across the United States. Among other responsibilities, including issuing severe thunderstorm watches, it prepares convective outlooks, which show specific geographic regions having a potential for severe thunderstorms up to three days in advance (and in more general terms, out to 8 days). What are the criteria used in current convective outlooks? The current convective outlooks describe risk in four categories or three risk levels: General Thunderstorms (green), Slight Risk (yellow), Moderate Risk (red) and High Risk (magenta). An example of the how these categories are used in the context of geographical coverage and a specific weather event is shown below. SPC Day 1 Convective Outlook issued at 8 a.m., November 13, 2013. Note the use of rare “High Risk” category (magenta). Changes In 2014 SPC is proposing to shift from three risk levels (four overall categories) to five (six overall categories) for Day 1-3 Outlooks (except no high risk on Day 3). In short, the risk spectrum will evolve from slight to moderate to high, to marginal to slight to enhanced to moderate to high. As shown in the tables below, the changes will take place at the level of General Thunderstorm and Slight Risk. General Thunderstorms will be split into two new categories: General Thunderstorms (blue) and Marginal Risk (green). Slight Risk will be divided into Slight Risk (yellow) and Enhanced Risk (orange). The Moderate and High Risk categories will remain unchanged. SPC is doing this to better delineate low-end severe weather threats, in response to numerous requests for more specific guidance. In the existing system, areas highlighted “green” can convey either garden-variety storms, or strong thunderstorms (albeit sub-severe i.e. wind gusts below 58 mph, hail less than ¾” diameter). Strong storms just below severe criteria are still capable of minor damage e.g. small limbs broken, crops damaged from wind-blown, small hail. But to divine this information currently, one has to jump to


WaPo-ABC poll: Little rise in support for marijuana legalization

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows very little rise in support for the legalization of recreational marijuana. Several polls in recent months have shown a spike in support for the drug, which they show a clear majority of Americans supporting. The Post-ABC poll, however, shows that support remains slightly below a majority at 49 percent, with 48 percent opposing. That's virtually unchanged from the 48 percent who supported legalization in November 2012 and the 46 percent who said the same in both 2010 and 2009. Support remains up significantly from previous decades, though, when only about one-quarter of Americans supported legalization. Support for marijuana legalization is higher among younger people, but also among wealthier and more educated people. Fifty-seven percent of Democrats and 50 percent of independents support it, while only 37 percent of Republicans do.


Morning Links: Debunking the myths of mass shootings

• Mass shootings are not occurring more frequently. And the policy proposals offered to prevent them aren’t going to work. Here’s the paper Gene Healy cites in his piece. • Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments on whether the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down mandatory life without parole for juveniles should be applied retroactively. More on the topic here. • Earlier this month, two of the last victims of the satanic ritual abuse panic of the 1980s and early 1990s were released from prison. The “satanic ritual” part of the problem may now be a thing of the past, but there’s still a lot of work to be done with wrongful sex abuse convictions. • • DEA Chief of Operations James L. Capra says that DEA agents are worried about marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington. I’d imagine so. Their livelihoods are at stake. • Meanwhile, Washington, D.C. moves closer to decriminalizing the drug.


The public’s problem with government, in one chart

The country faces a host of problems, say Americans in a new poll from Gallup. But none bigger than the government. A plurality (21 percent) cite dissatisfaction with the government -- including Congress and politicians -- as the most important problem facing the country today. The economy places second with 18 percent, followed by jobs and unemployment and health care, each cited by 16 percent. So, when did government become such a big problem in the minds of Americans? It was consistently a top concern throughout 2013. But the government shutdown in October sent worries skyrocketing, as the following chart shows. Thirty-three percent named government the top problem in an early October poll, up big from 16 percent in September. The shutdown may seem like a distant memory for many Americans, especially as the debate over health care has moved to the forefront of the national conversation. But the public's feelings about government as a problem have not returned to pre-shutdown levels. It's all a reminder of 1) how quickly a big event like the shutdown can make Americans lose faith in government and 2) how it hasn't disappeared totally from the public's consciousness.


Rusty vs. Bao Bao … in song!

Two of our more musically inclined employees got extra creative this week and penned a song that pits Rusty, the National Zoo‘s red panda, who famously escaped his enclosure last summer, against Bao Bao, the Zoo’s latest edition to its panda realm, who will go on public view this weekend for the first time. No matter which panda camp you prefer, however, we’re sure everyone will get a kick out of the original Panda Smackdown Duet. Play Panda Smackdown Duet LYRICS Rusty: Why does everyone love that Bao Bao? I’m pretty sure she’ll bite I wish we’d named her Mulan instead And infringed on Disney’s copyright A red panda like me Would make a much better pet You could fit me in a cat carrier And take me to the vet Giant Pandas, they will make you a sad sack You fall in love, then China takes ’em back Bao Bao: Rusty’s famous for hating humans He scorned your admiration He took off into Rock Creek Park So why do you have this strange fixation? I’m a Chinese mystery I nobly poop bamboo I’m polite, chaste and awe-inspiring I make the tourists coo Red panda, you’re a faker, you’re just a cut-rate fox I’m the zoo’s rainmaker and we all know money talks. Rusty: Bao Bao: Rusty: Bao Bao: Together: Why are we fighting? We’re both hella-cute If we join forces We can give the naked mole rats the boot


Here’s why you don’t actually want to cuddle a panda

Bao Bao may look cuddly, but her fur is a bit scratchy. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Not even National Zoo staff are allowed to sneak a snuzzle with Bao Bao. “As tempting as that would be, that’s not our role here. Our role is to be as true to what their wild counterparts are doing,” giant panda keeper Nicole MacCorkle says. Plus, if you DID get to pet her, it might be a letdown. Panda hair isn’t as soft as it looks, especially as a panda gets older; it feels kind of like a scratchy wool sweater. MORE PANDA FACTS - Giant pandas, such as Bao Bao, and red pandas, such as Rusty, who rose to fame last summer when he escaped to Adams Morgan, share a name but are not related. Red pandas were the first animals named “panda.” (Want to take part in some giant vs. red rivalry? We have a song for you here.) - Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, Bao Bao’s mom and dad, love snow and are more active in winter. They even like to do somersaults sometimes. - There are 1,600 giant pandas in the wild and 346 in captivity. - Once thought to be marsupials, giant pandas are actually true bears. - Though giant pandas mostly eat bamboo, they are actually carnivores. Want to know more about Bao Bao and her big year ahead? Get the full scoop here.


Bao Bao’s going to be big in 2014

like dogs, pandas “are very food-motivated,” MacCorkle says. “When she starts to orient toward us, we call her name and say ‘good girl’ and she can have a little taste of apple juice.” JANUARY/FEBRUARY Bao Bao Starts Acting Cute, Like, Really Cute China’s wild giant pandas are accustomed to snowy weather, MacCorkle says. She hopes the forecast cooperates to give Bao Bao a taste of her motherland — but without the arctic chill of a polar vortex. Bao Bao has seen and felt snow before (zookeepers brought some inside for her to play with in a bucket), but she has yet to see it outside. Few things are cuter than an adult panda frolicking in the snow, MacCorkle says. “But seeing a cub? That is an experience that definitely all Washingtonians should make time for.” Bao Bao’s First Tree Climb Much like a parent would baby-proof a home, zookeepers will cub-proof Bao Bao and Mei Xiang’s outdoor enclosure before Bao Bao gets her paws on the trees. Those with branches that overhang dad Tian Tian’s yard are a no-no; others are just too high for Bao Bao to safely scale at her age — stumps are more her speed right now. Zookeepers will also secure the fence lines and cushion some of the rocky areas with hay. Papa Tian Tian will meet his cub through a mesh window. (Bill O’Leary / The Washington Post) Bao Bao Meets Dad A panda family is sweet to imagine, but in reality, Tian Tian is an absentee father. (And maybe a dangerous one: “The potential exists that the cub could get killed” if she were housed in the same yard, MacCorkle says.) Unlike pandas in the wild, Bao Bao will get a chance to look at, smell and hear Tian Tian through a mesh window. Zookeepers look forward to this moment because they’ve never seen a female cub meet her father. “Who knows who’s going to vocalize first? Some lucky visitor might get to see that,” MacCorkle says. FEBRUARY/MARCH Bao Bao’s First Grown-Up Foods Around her six-month birthday, Bao Bao will start eating bamboo, just like Mom and Dad. She will also get her first fruitsicle, a frozen apple juice and fruit concoction. “We’ll do a little mini one,” MacCorkle says. “Mei is not very sharing when it comes to those.” One treat Bao Bao won’t taste until she’s a year old is honey,


PM Update: Cold overnight, dry and chilly Friday; the full wolf moon

- Temperature Map - Temperatures: Latest D.C. area temperature map. See interactive map on our Weather Wall. The chill in the air today was fitting for the season. Reagan National topped out at 42, which within a degree of exactly “normal.” Overnight temperatures are also “normal” – dropping into the 20s most spots. Friday’s a decent looking winter day, as the mercury edges modestly above normal levels before a chance of a bit of light snow at night. Through Tonight: Tomorrow (Friday): See David Streit’s forecast through the weekend. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter Full “wolf” moon: The nearly full “wolf” moon rises above the District (Richard Barnhill via Flickr) Excellent read on global warming slowdown:


Walgreen’s plan to achieve global drugstore dominance

SAN FRANCISCO -- Walgreen's would like to be your go-to drugstore. Yes, you -- assuming you're a person who lives on Earth. "We have a global footprint of 11,000 drug stores, 370 distribution centers operating in 25 countries with a pharmacy supply chain unmatched in the world," Walgreen's chief executive Gregory Wasson told investors earlier this week at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. Here is where things stand right now. Over the past five years, Walgreen's has acquired four local drugstore chains, most notably Duane Reade's massive network in New York City. The drugstore has also struck up a partnerships with international pharmacy chains, buying a 45 percent share in British-based pharmacy chain Alliance Boots, with the option to buy the rest of the company in 2016. Walgreen's flat-out bought drugstore.com in 2011 and has contracted with a major drug supplier for their thousands of locations. So, what exactly does a globally dominant drugstore look like? Wasson outlined a bit of that vision. First off, their stores are changing -- not rapidly growing in number, but growing in the types of services and products they offer. "Our goal was to step out of the drugstore format and create something completely new and unique," he said. "These flagship stores: They allow us to push the needle in retail health-care innovations, and they elevate our brand in every market we have opened in." To that end, Walgreen's has opened up 13 "flagship" stores that sell everything from fresh food, to flu shots in their on-site clinics (Matt Yglesias has done a very, very thorough post on what, exactly, a flagship Walgeen's store looks like). Approximately 600 of Walgreen's 8,200 stores in the United States have been converted into "Well Experience" pharmacies, which puts pharmacists outside the counter to encourage more interaction with patients. There's also a focus on delivering more health care, particularly at a time when there is a shortage of primary-care doctors. Some of that means opening more primary-care clinics that offer visits during the weekend and in the evening. But there's also a play to adapt to how the health-care system is changing. Walgreen's announced last January that it would participate in three of the health law's Accountable Care Organizations, new partnerships where health-care providers' reimbursements get tethered to the health of their patients. "I see this as a natural evolution," Walgreen's Senior Vice President Jeffrey Kang, who leads


Free and Easy: ‘Let Freedom Ring,’ Chinese New Year Family Day, Community Wellness Fair

quality posters or have a little fun with digital art. Interested participants can stay after the class to practice what they've learned. 6 p.m. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW. 202-727-0321. www.dclibrary.org/mlk. THURSDAY Civil War espionage Learn about the role D.C. area African Americans played in Civil War espionage in this lecture by Hari Jones, curator of the African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation and Museum. In his lecture, titled "For Light and Liberty: African Americans and Civil War Espionage in Washington and Beyond," Jones will focus on the "Loyal League," a secret organization of African Americans whose covert operations helped the Union Army win the Civil War. This is the first installment in a two-part lecture series that continues Jan. 30. 6:30 to 8 p.m. Historical Society of Washington, D.C., Roosevelt Studio, 801 K St. NW. 202-249-3955. www.historydc.org. FRIDAY Miranda Cuckson The American violinist and violist performs at the Embassy of France as a part of its new FUSION concert series, in which an American artist performs at the embassy, followed by a French artist performing at the Phillips Collection. Cuckson's program will feature works by Samuel Barber, Pierre Boulez, Aaron Copland and more. 7:30 p.m. Embassy of France, 4101 Reservoir Rd. NW. 202-944-6000. www.frenchculture.org. SATURDAY Chinese New Year Family Day The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Chinese Embassy host a morning of family-friendly activities to celebrate the start of the Year of the Horse. The event will include puppetry from the Tianjin Arts Troupe, traditional Chinese music from the Washington Guzheng Society and a performance by the Johns Hopkins University Yong Han Lion Dance group. Guests also can check out a display about giant pandas (and send a message to Bao Bao at the National Zoo), learn calligraphy and make red paper lanterns. Skilled dough sculptors, painters and paper cutters also will demonstrate their crafts. 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Kogod Courtyard, Eighth and G streets NW. 202-633-1000. www.americanart.si.edu. SUNDAY Community Wellness Fair Don’t let the dream of seeing your fitness resolutions die. Joe’s Movement Emporium is hosting its annual community wellness fair. Try out acupuncture, enjoy mini massages and explore MELT Yoga. Guests can also learn about the Alexander Technique and the Feldenkrais Method to help avoid unnecessary pain and get the most out of your workouts. 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Joe’s Movement Emporium, 3309 Bunker


Fairfax City deer sterilization approved, Humane Society donates $3,000

Two spayed deer near Phoenix, Md., after being sterilized and tagged by a veterinarian with White Buffalo Inc. (Wildlife Rescue Inc.) The Commonwealth of Virginia has approved a plan by Fairfax City to humanely reduce its deer population by sterilizing the does, making the city the first jurisdiction in Virginia to try such an approach. The initial cost of the program has been provided by donors to Wildlife Rescue, a Maryland animal rights group, and on Friday the Humane Society of the United States added its endorsement and chipped in another $3,000. Fairfax City felt its deer population slowly infringing on its six square miles, and Mayor Scott Silverthorne looked for an alternative to killing the deer. Deer hunts in the District and Fairfax County “aren’t working,” he said. Wildlife Rescue heard of Silverthorne’s interest in an alternative to killing and connected him with Anthony J. DeNicola, a wildlife ecologist who has begun spaying female deer in Baltimore County, San Jose, Calif., Town and Country, Mo., and Cayuga Heights, N.Y. The early results in each of those areas has been promising, showing about a 10 percent annual reduction in the herds. The process involves shooting does with tranquilizer darts, then taking them to the police station and surgically removing their ovaries. The deer are back in the woods within 90 minutes, DeNicola said. Volunteers help with the tranquilizing and transporting and a police officer monitors the safety of participants and residents. Police Chief Rick Rappoport is on board, saying the cost to the city would be minimal, since Wildlife Rescue has agreed to pay for the first two years of the program, when most or all of the does will be located and sterilized. Does are targeted because they are polygamous, zoologically speaking, and they’re the ones who have the babies. The Fairfax City Council voted for the program in December, and last week the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries approved it as a research mission. “We’re going to provide a lot of data,” Silverthorne said, ” to find out if this program will work. There’s very little downside to this.” Hearing that the program would move ahead, the Humane Society on Friday decided to put its money where its philosophy is and donated $3,000. “We’re hopeful this will be a model that will be replicated in the state of Virginia,” said Stephanie Boyles Griffin of the Human


Who can break from the pack?

Jr., is indicted by federal grand jury on theft, fraud charges (Post, Loose Lips, Washingtonian) 88-year-old Georgetown man is stabbed to death; mentally ill son is suspected (Post, AP) Proposal to make Dunbar High application-only stirs debate about “cream-skimming” (Post) Remembering Dunbar’s pre-desegregation glory days (Post review) Gray tells neighbors concerned about rail tunnel project there’s “no way that we are going to allow people’s safety and security concerns to be compromised” (Post, City Desk, DCist, WJLA-TV, ThinkProgress) Congress continues to short DHS consolidation funding, driven by Republican spending concerns (Post) Gray, Bowser lead inaugural mayoral primary power rankings (Loose Lips) Rich folks pony up for Hizzoner (Loose Lips) Tommy Wells is the man who would be mayor of PoPville (PoPville) Today: MLK Parade in Congress Heights, no street parking enforcement (WRC-TV) New D.C. jail clinic should help keep cops on the street, not guarding ailing inmates (WRC-TV) Adam Kokesh, arrested and held for videotaped shotgun-racking, is a free man (Post, City Desk) Kenneth Ellerbe says he’s “disappointed” with firefighter arrests (WTTG-TV) Filomena blames Obamacare for discontinued lunch buffet (PoPville) Federal spending bill includes provision imposing permanent federal oversight on MWAA (Dr. Gridlock) Spring Valley homeowner rents apartment to house children during weapons excavation (Washingtonian) Let the Mall be the Mall (Post op-ed) Forest Hills sidewalk illustrates Gordian knot of bureaucracy (Forest Hill Connection) Taxi Commission is accepting new limo applications (DCist) Kevin L. James, 48, is shot to death Thursday in Petworth (Post) Infant’s September death is ruled a homicide; mother is suspected (Post, AP) Pedestrian struck by garbage truck downtown dies (AP) Inside the latest regional transportation plan (Dr. Gridlock) Intelsat headquarters a historic landmark? (WBJ) Nine of 37 new D.C. cops are “noble” reserve officers (AP) “Operational skill set” sought in next LivingSocial CEO (Capital Business) Fort Lincoln: Homes on a hill (Post) Is National Zoo’s preference for FONZ members “elitism”? (Post letter) Streetcar will start acting like a streetcar this week (Washingtonian, DCist) H Street NE church sells its building, moves to Prince George’s (Housing Complex) Time for open primaries in D.C.? (Post letter) Charter school advocate: Franklin School should be a charter school (Post letter) HVAC unit drops from downtown construction site, crushes truck (WRC-TV) How Marion Barry’s arrest, 24 years ago, made a Post photographer’s career (NPR) The secret to Racing President success: “A lot of jazz hands” (Post, Post gallery) BAO BAO! (Post)


Wonkbook: How Americans feel about inequality

Welcome to Wonkbook, Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas's morning policy news primer. To subscribe by e-mail, click here. Send comments, criticism, or ideas to Wonkbook at Washpost dot com. To read more by Ezra and his team, go to Wonkblog. (Photo by Linda Davidson / The Washington Post) Wonkbook's Number of the Day: 3. That's how many times more expensive it is for Medicaid to pay for a nursing home rather than in-home care. The average month in a nursing home cost over $6,000 in 2010. Wonkbook's Graph of the Day: Wonkbook's Top 5 Stories: 1. Top story: Is America turning against the 1 percent? Two thirds of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the distribution of income and wealth. IMF warns that inequality is a big threat. @JohnJHarwood Oxfam: 85 richest people as wealthy as poorest half of the world. Explainer: Will tech keep helping labor? Or could it start to hurt? Marriage has its limits as a path out of poverty. What happens when the poor receive a stipend? POLK: For the love of money. @markknoller KRUGMAN: The undeserving rich. SUROWIECKI: The cult of overwork. Music recommendations interlude: Top opinion PONNURU: Stop Obamacare's outrageous bailouts. FRYE: We need to fix our disability court system. Interview: Longread: PETHOKOUKIS: America, not economically free. SKIDELSKY: Free trade and costly love. DOUTHAT: At last, conservative reform. LUCE: The rise of a new American federalism. Over there, I bet that Road Runner actually runs fast interlude: 2. NSA reform begins in earnest NSA phone program led to 1,000 terror tips a year for FBI. Primary source: What Obama said on Friday about the NSA. Obama confronts challenges of reforming collection of Americans’ phone records. Poll: Speech had little impact on public's view of NSA. NSA program defenders question Snowden’s motives. Medical interlude: 3. Fed about to cut bond-buying again Taper Two has arrived. ...Bernanke proved his doubters wrong. Gap between U.S. and Chinese economies continues to shrink. Foreign interlude: 4. How Obamacare is changing long-term care Obamacare is spurring a shift in the way states do long-term healthcare. Charts: Less than one third of those insured on Obamacare exchanges were previously uninsured. Peace of mind is first benefit for many getting Medicaid. How qualified is your doctor? Animals interlude: 5. Wonkbook's primer on the latest Christie news Christie camp held Sandy relief money hostage, mayor alleges. Hoboken, N.J. mayor questioned by prosecutors. N.J.'s


Bluejacket and head brewer Megan Parisi part ways

would say, best) brewery in America." The team will display some of that experimentalism this week when it rolls out four new beers, Engert says. Three of them are inspired by doughnuts created by Neighborhood Restaurant Group executive pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac for GBD, the fried chicken and doughnuts shop near Dupont Circle. The Dalmatian, a strong blonde ale, takes its cues from MacIsaac's Oreo doughnut, Engert says. The beer, with 9 percent alcohol by volume, is made with cocoa nibs and vanilla beans. Another beer, Nu Order, also includes cocoa nibs as well as roasted hazelnuts and sea salt; this imperial brown ale, with 9 percent alcohol by volume, is based on MacIsaac's Nutella doughnut, Engert says. The third beer is Sticky Situation, and Engert describes it as a brown ale, with 7 percent alcohol by volume. About 30 percent of its grains were smoked by Nathan Anda at Red Apron Butchery. The beer includes rye whiskey barrel-aged maple syrup and a bacon-reduction jus. The ale is a nod to MacIsaac's maple-bacon-bourbon doughnuts. The three doughnut-based brews should roll out Wednesday evening, Engert says. If you want to compare beer against original doughnut, you have only a limited window: The neighboring Buzz Bakery, where the doughnuts may be found, remains open only until 5 p.m. The fourth new release, a Belgian-style saison, is expected to debut at the end of the week. What makes this last beer unique, Engert says, is that it features a minute amount of mastic, a potent oil extracted from the resin of a Mediterranean tree. Originally used in chewing gum, mastic has been incorporated into all kinds of food and drinks in Greece, Engert says. It tastes like, he adds, mint, lemon balm and anise. A little goes a long way. The future for Parisi is not certain yet, she says, but she has some "irons in the fire." Her husband took a job recently that allows him to work remotely, so Parisi is not tied to brewing gigs in the D.C. area only. Not that she's looking to flee the local market. "I really love the brewing community here," she says. "The moment I arrived here I couldn't have felt a warmer welcome." At the same time, Parisi says she's in no rush to find employment. She's willing to invest more time to make sure her next gig is a lasting one. Correction


Why you’ll be able to pay for things on your phone in lots of ways for a long time

One of the biggest themes at last week's retail confab in New York City -- besides the intense gravitational force of Amazon.com ripping the industry from its moorings -- concerned mobile payments. In the future, everyone will just pay for stuff on their phones, right? What does that mean for how retail is set up? And whose payment system will ultimately triumph? And that's exactly how the question is usually framed: as a war of digital wallets, in which one winner must eventually take all. Indeed, the modern Internet economy tends to function that way, with some services gaining widespread adoption through network effects -- see Twitter, Facebook -- and crowding out the rest. It's not clear, however, that mobile payments will work the same way. The space is big enough, the market is fragmented enough, and the barriers to entry low enough that a huge number of options might stick around for some time to come. Let's break this down. 1. The market is still wide open. Even though digital wallets have been around for years, consumers have been slow to start using them, for many reasons. That leaves a huge chunk of commerce that could be converted from cash and cards to phones -- especially if they can be used in physical stores and restaurants, as well, since that's where most purchases are likely to take place for some time. It's going to take a lot of marketing to reach all those consumers, and it's unlikely that one or even a few big players will be able to do it on their own. According to Forrester Research: We still don't buy much online, and mobile payments can be used in physical stores, too. (Forrester) 2. No one mobile payments operator can give consumers everything. There are three kinds of entities that offer ways to pay for things with a smartphone: tech companies, financial institutions and the merchants themselves. Each of them has different interests and capabilities. Tech companies like Google, for example, can integrate their wallet with all the other services you might use -- like sending special offers for locations you might search on Google Maps, or allowing you to send money to your Gmail contacts. The advantage of Google Wallet and others, like Dwolla, PayPal, Paydiant and LevelUp, comes in removing friction from the commercial experience and integrating payments with the rest of your digital life.


The economics of credit card security

is not necessary to invest in as elaborate security protections as elsewhere. As an analogy, consider that in the U.S. very few restaurants, stores, or hotels routinely post visible armed guards at their front door, whereas this precaution is not uncommon in other countries. With that background in mind, the WSJ article contains some interesting numbers relative to the optimal level of credit card security. First, consider the size of the potential dollar size: But if the chip cards were used in the U.S., fraud losses could be halved, Aite Group estimates. U.S. merchants and banks had 2012 losses of $11.3 billion due to credit-card fraud, or 5 cents on every $100 spent, according to the Nilson Report, a payment-industry newsletter based in Carpinteria, Calif. So, if that is correct, this obviously means that card issuers would save about $5.65 billion per year from adopting more secure technologies. So there is a strong incentive there to do so. According to the Washington Post, however, the amount saved from adopting more secure payments technologies is only $1.1 billion. But this doesn’t include a whole bunch of excluded costs, especially the costs to consumers in the time, aggravation, and any out-of-pocket expense of dealing with security breaches and potential follow-on effects such as identity theft. But there are costs on the other side as well: A typical large issuer will spend about $1.30 to buy a chip card, compared with 10 cents for a traditional magnetic-stripe card, according to Aite Group. And according to the article there are “5.6 billion credit and debit cards in circulation in the U.S., only an estimated 15 million to 20 million are chip cards–issued mainly to people who travel overseas frequently.” So, holding all else constant, this would mean that the card issuers would have to replace some 5.4 billion cards at an increased cost of $1.20 per card for a one-time cost of $6.48 billion. So, in the short-run, this is a one-time $6.48 billion expenditure to save some $5.65 billion per year. And so it seems like it would be recovered in a year and a half. The Post story estimates the cost at $8 billion to switch over. But according to this article by Bankrate, these the cost to produce and distribute a traditional magnetic card to a customer is “under $2.” By contrast, the “cost to make and distribute a chip card


Charles County bus system makes weather-related service changes

VanGO Buses, which regularly run until 10 p.m., will stop service earlier because of the weather conditions, county officials said. “The last departures from the Waldorf transfer point will be at 5 p.m. with the exception of the Business A and B routes, which will end at 4:30 p.m.,” a county advisory said. “The last departure from the La Plata Transfer Point will be at 4:30 p.m. with the exception of Nanjemoy route, which will depart at 5:30 p.m. for requested drop-offs only.” For more information commuters can call the VanGO Inclement Weather Hotline at 301-934-9305, ext. 5179.


Updated: Snow day specials and cancellations

Club. Virginia • Fuego Cocina is offering an all-day happy hour (though the bar can't tell you what it's pouring). • Because schools are closed for the snow day, kids eat free (until 7 p.m.) at Ireland's Four Courts. • Happy hour at Bracket Room is already underway, and will continue until 9 p.m. Maryland • Quench in Rockville is giving adults happy hour drink prices all day, and free mocktails for the kids. • Quarry House Tavern has half-price burgers and $3 PBR tallboys. • Jackie's and Sidebar both offer $3 mulled wine and Natty Boh all day. • Tonight, head over to the snow day bar party that Redwood is throwing, featuring happy hour all night. The entree and pizza menu will be limited. • At Brickside, the snow day special is $12 burgers and beer and $10 pitchers. Sorry, they're closed • Black Jack is closed. • Dino is closed. • The newly opened Flight wine bar is closed tonight, with normal service resuming tomorrow. • Trummer's on Main is closed. • Doner Bistro in Leesburg is closed. • Fire Works Pizza in Leesburg is closed. • The Exchange is closed. • Science Club is closed. • Tonight's concert with Skypunch and Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots at DC9 has been cancelled. • Tonight's concert with In This Moment, Butcher Babies, Devour The Day and All Hail The Yeti at the Fillmore has been postponed until Feb. 2. All tickets will be honored for the new date, and refunds are available at the place of purchase. • Casa Luca is closed. • Fiola is closed. • The Pig is closed. • Tallula is closed (but EatBar is open). • Iron Gate is closed. Arts and entertainment closings and cancellations • The National Zoo is closed, so you can't visit Bao Bao on your day off. (UPDATE: All Smithsonian museums are closing at 4 p.m.) • Strathmore will be closed at noon. • The U.S. Botanic Garden is closed. • The National Gallery of Art is closed, which means the Sculpture Garden and ice rink are also closed. • The Phillips Collection is closed. • The Holocaust Museum is closed. • The National Museum of Women in the Arts is closed. • AFI Silver Theatre will close early, with no screenings tonight in the 9 p.m. hour. • The Montgomery County Mall will be closing at 5 p.m.


Bill Gates: ‘Capitalism did not eradicate smallpox’

a real turn towards quantifying what we get for each dollar in aid spent in recent years, driven in large part by your organization. Are you confident we get more for our aid dollar than we did 50 years ago? BG: Aid didn’t used to be so focused on improving humanitarian goals. When you gave money during the Cold War it wasn’t focused on humanitarian goals. When you spent in war zones you had a very tough time achieving any type of humanitarian goal. But today we’re certainly cutting child mortality faster than we ever have. We’re raising agricultural productivity faster than we ever have. We’re finally seeing reasonable economic growth in Africa. The understanding that the capitalistic system is the way to organize your economy has also been beneficial. What Deng Xiaoping did in China alone was a huge change. It brought China from being even poorer than India to a middle-income country. In Africa aid hasn’t helped as much because you have diseases like malaria lock them into a poverty trap. EK: It sounds a bit like the model of aid you’re laying out here is one in which aid does the work of getting a society to be healthy enough and stable enough that economic and political best practices can take over. BG: Technological advance is also a big part of it. For a disease like malaria it’s hard to overstate what a problem that is for Africa. It’s such a drain on young children there. But in 20 years, because of science and aid, if we don’t have malaria down to zero, we’ll have it down to a very tiny number. Same with diarrheal and respiratory deaths. The lack of awareness in the progress to date is amazing to me. People who are very well educated, if they just read headlines they know a lot about setbacks -- about the two percent spent corruptly -- but they don’t know anything about the progress made day by day. You’d think that people would be celebrating and talking about good news. I EK: Your letter talks a lot about the myth that aid will just lead to new problems through overpopulation. I was a bit surprised to read you focusing on it. Are fears around overpopulation an impediment in your day-to-day work? BG: It’s a huge impediment in convincing rich-world donors that they should feel good about these


NTSB wants stronger scrutiny of dangerous rail cargo

into town, killing 47 after an explosion and fire. Some of the six train cars that derailed in Philadelphia on a bridge over the Schuylkill on Monday carried the same type of crude oil that exploded in Lac Megantic. There were no injuries and no oil spilled, but the incident above a river and a major expressway, and close to three hospitals and the University of Pennsylvania, renewed questions about the safety of hauling such material through populated areas. The Association of American Railroad’s Annual Report of Hazardous Materials says crude oil shipments by rail have increased by more than 400 percent since 2005 . “The large-scale shipment of crude oil by rail simply didn’t exist 10 years ago, and our safety regulations need to catch up with this new reality,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “While this energy boom is good for business, the people and the environment along rail corridors must be protected from harm.” The NTSB, an independent federal agency that must rely on Congress and the Transportation Department to implement its recommendations, issued three recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The first would require expanded hazardous materials route planning for railroads to avoid populated and other sensitive areas. The second is for the establishment of an audit program to ensure rail companies transporting petroleum have response capabilities to handle worst-case accidents. The third recommendation is to ensure that hazardous materials are being properly classified and rail carriers have adequate safety and security plans in place. “If unit trains of flammable liquids are going to be part of our nation’s energy future, we need to make sure the hazardous materials classification is accurate, the route is well planned and the tank cars are as robust as possible,” Hersman said. Accidents involving flammable liquids that the NTSB has investigated include a Dec. 30 derailment in Casselton, N.D., and a June 2009, derailment in Cherry Valley, Ill. After the 2009 accident, the NTSB issued several safety recommendations to PHMSA that included making tank cars more puncture resistant and requiring that bottom outlet valves remain closed during accidents. The agency began the rule-making process but has not issued any new rules. The recommendations that came out Thursday were issued jointly by the NTSB and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada because railroads operate crude oil trains across the U.S-Canada border.


This is how Wal-Mart is bringing jobs back to the U.S.

For the past few months, Wal-Mart has been pushing its new face of corporate responsibility: After decades of sending work overseas through ruthless price competition, it's bringing them back to America, by committing to purchase hundreds of billions of dollars more in U.S.-made goods. But those manufacturing jobs, once they return, aren't going to look quite like they did in the past. Soon to be made in the U.S.A. (Kent Bicycles) Consider the case of Kent Bicycles, which Wal-Mart announced on Thursday would be building a new plant in South Carolina. Kent's story is the story of American manufacturing: It started out making bicycles in New Jersey back in the 1970's, but by the 1990's, the imbalance between labor costs in America and China had grown to great to ignore, and the company completely outsourced production. "By that time, the whole mystique of 'made in the USA' was disappearing, and nobody would pay a premium of 2 percent for a U.S. product compared to an import," says Arnold Kamler, the company's CEO. "We always hoped that we could start back up again." That didn't happen, though, until Wal-Mart's beginning of the year meeting last March. The giant retailer had favored Kent with one of its "supplier of the quarter" awards, and reached out about the possibility of moving some production to the U.S. Kent currently imports 2.8 million bikes a year, but its international business is doing well enough that it could sell all those bikes abroad, and bring a new plant online to satisfy U.S. demand. Meanwhile, the fundamentals of the labor market were shifting in a way that it started to make economic sense. "One of the things we're seeing now in China is not only is the cost of labor going higher, but the workers' attitude is getting more apathetic," Kamler says. "The factories in China are fighting with workers to make sure they don't take cellphones to the assembly line. This texting thing is crazy. You can't be concentrating on your job in a factory if you're sending text messages to your buddies." So Kamler started looking for a place to site a new plant, starting in the company's home state of New Jersey. Ultimately, though, he became leery of the state's lack of a right-to-work law, which would make it easier for unions to organize the staff. "New Jersey gave us really nice incentives, and


You got some nerve, Madame Ambassador

year 2013 neared its end, the world stepped back from ordinary affairs of state to signal its deep respect for a true giant of the freedom struggle, Nelson Mandela. Praise for Mandela’s qualities as dissident, statesman, and humanitarian came from every part of the globe and from people of all stations in life. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton tellingly described Mandela as “a man of uncommon grace and compassion, for whom abandoning bitterness and embracing adversaries was not just a political strategy but a way of life.” But the praise bestowed on the father of post-apartheid South Africa was often delivered with more than a note of wistfulness. For it was apparent to many that the defining convictions of Mandela’s career—commitment to the rule of law and democratic choice, rejection of score settling and vengeance seeking, recognition that regarding politics as a zero-sum game was an invitation to authoritarianism and civil strife — are in decidedly short supply among today’s roster of political leaders. The report continues: “In an earlier period, it was the United States and its allies that were the guarantors of political change in the world. Self-assured and optimistic, they provided the material resources and diplomatic muscle that tipped the balance in favor of freedom movements and struggling new democracies. . . . Unfortunately, the American government has failed to recognize the historic moment that presents itself in the region. It is true that there have been setbacks, that democratic forces have made mistakes, and that rigid geostrategic priorities sometimes conflict with the goals of democratic change. But there is a real danger that policymakers will become locked into a defeatist loop, seeing validation for their inaction in the very problems it produces.” It’s the sort of attitude that manifests itself in President Obama’s blithe retort that he couldn’t imagine having done anything different in Syria. At least Bill Clinton had the decency to articulate regret for his failure to act in Rwanda. So, Ambassador Power, it is not enough to tweet your disapproval of celebrity journalism. The administration in which you serve is the most indifferent to human rights of any in memory. You’ve been part of it, defending and excusing its moral sloth. In a better world, you’d resign, give back the Pulitzer and do something more constructive. Write a sequel, perhaps, about the age of genocide. You’ve been there, every step of the way.


Drug cops want open access to your medical records

In response to a spike in overdoses on prescription painkillers, and a rash of media scare stories about ADHD drugs like Ritalin and Adderall, a number of politicians, pundits, and public health activists have demanded better monitoring of doctors and patients. The thinking is that by creating databases of patients taking controlled substances, we’ll be able to catch drug-dealing doctors and intervene on behalf of drug addicted patients. I think many of the reports about accidental addicts and overdose deaths are either exaggerated or don’t tell the whole story, but that’s too much to get into here. (See the series I wrote on this issue for Huffington Post.) But this column by Christopher Moraff in central Pennsylvania’s Patriot-News warns of the consequences letting the government see what medication you’re taking: With America united in collective outrage over revelations of widespread domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency, another federal branch – the Drug Enforcement Agency – has quietly set about dismantling the Fourth Amendment when it comes to accessing our private medical data. Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union joined the State of Oregon in federal court in Portland to challenge the DEA’s attempt to use warrantless “administrative subpoenas” to obtain information on patients from the state’s prescription drug monitoring database. It’s unlikely the plaintiffs will prevail; while Oregon law prohibits state police from digging into patient prescription data without a search warrant, thanks to the gradual erosion of civil liberties under the “war on drugs,” the DEA does not require a court order to request such information in the course of an open investigation. But at least Oregon is fighting for the privacy rights of its citizens. Pennsylvania, on the other hand, seems intent on giving them away. Since September, three bills have been introduced in Harrisburg designed to expand the commonwealth’s own prescription monitoring system by establishing a database listing all prescriptions of controlled medications and the identities of the citizens who receive them. The latest proposal was introduced in November by Sen. Pat Vance, R-Cumberland, and, unlike Oregon, would give state and federal law enforcement officials virtually unimpeded access to the prescription records of millions of Pennsylvanians who take Schedule II drugs. These include not only narcotic painkillers like hydrocodone, oxycodone and morphine, but drugs like Ritalin and Adderall that are used to treat childhood ADHD. Reggie Shuford, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union


5 of our favorite strip mall restaurants, including Bangkok Golden, China Bistro, Taco Bamba and more

Who would have thought you’d find some of the most authentic Lao food in the Washington area in a restaurant flanked by a tobacco shop and a nail salon? Or that one of the city’s best taquerias is a few doors down from a karate studio where little kids practice snap kicks? Strip malls are most commonly home to a hodgepodge of tanning salons, tax prep offices and discount-mattress outlets, which may be why you’re overlooking the acclaim-worthy restaurants next door to those places. Because rents are lower than they would be in a stand-alone restaurant location, strip-mall spaces often appeal to first-time restaurateurs. Many of the ones who made this list are first- or second-generation immigrants with a passion for recipes that reflect their culture. “People want to bring [their recipes] to their new home and share food from their country,” says Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University and author of “An Economist Gets Lunch.” Even better, Cowen says the savings from these no-frills spots can get passed on to diners. We shine a spotlight on a few of our favorite eateries, chosen for their selection of fine-tuned dishes steeped in authenticity. Bangkok Golden specializes in food from Laos. Photo by Sean McCormick. Bangkok Golden 6395 Seven Corners Center, Falls Church; 703-533-9480, bangkokgolden7corners.com. There’s no shortage of stellar Thai food in the area. But Lao food? Not as much. You can get both at Bangkok Golden, where you’ll find a separate menu for each cuisine. (Combined, the menus contain more than 80 dishes.) Though it shares its western border with Thailand, Laos has developed its own style of cooking. “We use the same kind of herbs [as Thailand], like lemon grass and ginger and fish sauce, but the matter of cooking it is different,” says Seng Luangrath, who opened the 50-seat restaurant in March 2010. Of note is the Nam Khao (crispy rice salad) served with shredded coconut, lime juice, onion and ham ($9) and the beef larb served in a spicy sauce with lime leaves, rice powder, shallots and sticky rice ($11). Bangkok Golden’s success has come mostly from word of mouth, and Toki Underground chef Erik Bruner-Yang (no stranger to standout Southeast Asian food) is a fan. Try the carnitas (shredded pork) filling. Photo by Greg Powers. Taco Bamba 2190 Pimmit Drive, Falls Church; 703-639-0505, tacobambarestaurant.com. Chef Victor Albisu’s position in Idylwood Plaza


Robert Leider argues that the Constitution originally divided military power between the federal and state governments

In my earlier exchange with David Bernstein about originalism and precedent, he asked me if I could name any prominent originalists who are in favor of “compensating adjustments” — i.e., thinking holistically about the effect that non-originalist precedents can have on other aspects of the constitutional structure. He’s not as prominent as he ought to be, but one good example that came to my mind was this recent paper by Robert Leider, Federalism and the Military Power of the United States. Leider argues: the Framers carefully divided the military power between the federal and state governments to provide a reciprocal system of checks on both federal and state-based oppression. These checks have been compromised by the acceptance of conscription into the national army, the creation of the U.S. Army Reserve, and dual enlistment of National Guard officers and soldiers — all of which have enhanced the federal military power beyond its original constitutional limits. Leider then suggests that this may have implications for contemporary controversies over the “Constitution’s division of war powers between the President and Congress, where a greater congressional role may be a legitimate compensating adjustment for the abolition of the originally contemplated vertical checks.” The article is quite long, as historically-focused legal scholarship often is, but I learned a great deal from it.


Sochi 2014: Security concerns extend to U.S. uniforms, rattle athletes and families

Russia is getting ready to showcase the resort town of Sochi, host of the next Winter Olympics. Appearances notwithstanding, most of the Olympic venues have been declared ready. View Photo Gallery —Russia is getting ready to showcase the resort town of Sochi, host of the next Winter Olympics. Appearances notwithstanding, most of the Olympic venues have been declared ready. The Winter Games are fast approaching and the nearer they get, the fewer the assurances about safety and the greater the unease some are feeling about the very idea of going to Sochi. Relatives of members of Team U.S.A., who have trained for years for this event, are skittish about going, with some either deciding to stay home or to curtail their activities inside Russia because of the possibility of terrorist attacks. It is a measure of just how sobering, rather than celebratory, these Games are that last week American athletes and their supporters are cautioned about wearing their uniforms and gear outside venues and it has nothing to do with the reviews of Ralph Lauren’s designs. “The U.S. Department of State has advised that wearing conspicuous Team USA clothing in non-accredited areas may put your personal safety at greater risk,” the U.S. Olympic Committee wrote athletes in a memo that was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. According to the Journal, the memo encourages athletes to help ensure their safety by enrolling in a State Department traveler program. U.S. Olympic officials, snowboarder Greg Betz told the Journal, “have told us not to wear our USA gear outside of the venues, [but] I have so much faith in the United States and our safety that I’m not too worried about it.” Every Olympics brings precautionary advice for athletes, but the Sochi Games are different, taking place, as The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins puts it, “on the edge of a war zone.” The United States takes safety so seriously that it will, CNN reports, have two Navy warships in the Black Sea during the Games in case “something happens like a major terrorist attack and we need to get Americans out,” an official told CNN. And that’s apart from the crackdown on gay rights under a law prohibiting “propaganda of nontraditional sexual practices” among minors. Just recently President Vladimir Putin told reporters that gays had nothing to fear in Sochi as long as they “just leave kids alone, please.” So much for


Fire and ice: A spectacular D.C. sunrise and the frozen Potomac River (PHOTOS)

The sky appears to be on fire as the ice-covered Tidal Basin reflects the bright and vivid color of sunrise, January 25, 2014. The Jefferson Memorial is in the background. Select the photo to see a larger view of the cloud structure and color. It was a unique and “crazy” weather scene not often viewed in Washington. Note, there was no color manipulation of the photo. (Kevin Ambrose) Did you see the sunrise Saturday morning? It was one of those rare, surreal sunrises in which the sky appears to be on fire. The fiery colors reflected brilliantly off of the frozen Tidal Basin. It was a rather unique weather scene. It’s also not every winter that large expanses of ice cover area waterholes like the Potomac while we have snow on the ground. A relatively mild Saturday afternoon provided a few-hour respite from four days below freezing, and a great opportunity to take in a mid-winter dusk. An icy Potomac river at dusk with D.C. in the background, January 25. (Ian Livingston) A wide view of the crazy sky over the Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial on January 25, 2014. (Kevin Ambrose) To cover our unique weekend of Washington’s “fire and ice,” we divided our photographic efforts to shoot a sunrise at the Tidal Basin and to photograph the icy Potomac River at dusk. In addition, we have included details on how to forecast the “perfect sunrise” as well as a brief look at why we’re getting an ice-covered Potomac. Chasing the perfect sunrise Approaching clipper storms often produce the most colorful sunrises because they are typically dry storm systems that occur in clear, clean winter air. In addition, there is usually no fog, dense overcast, and overrunning precipitation in advance of clippers. Thus, the rising sun’s light is unobstructed and can shine strongly underneath the cloud structure of the approaching storm. Timing is everything, however. The storms need to approach at sunrise. Here’s a Capital Weather Gang article describing how to predict a good sunrise using satellite imagery. Weather ingredients that help predict a good sunrise in Washington, D.C., January 25, 2014. (Maps by Unisys and Wunderground) It doesn’t always end so good. Last weekend’s clipper chase was a complete fail, as the storm dissipated crossing the Appalachian Mountains just before sunrise. There are many weather-related spoilers that can ruin a colorful sunrise. A few include: too many clouds,


Free and Easy: Cellist Yvonne Caruthers, Jazz Film Fridays and U.S. Air Force Band Concert

The Going Out Guide recommends free things to do for every day of the week. On Monday, Jan. 27, former National Symphony Orchestra cellist Yvonne Caruthers performs "In Search of the Perfect G-String" at the Kennedy Center. The piece, which first debuted at the Capital Fringe Festival last year, is a depiction of Caruthers's journey that led her to the NSO. (Photo by William Haroutounian) MONDAY The former National Symphony Orchestra cellist performs a piece that combines music and storytelling. "In Search of the Perfect G-String" is a depiction of Caruthers's life and the journey that led her to the NSO. Caruthers will portray different characters and play the cello. Tickets will be distributed in the States Gallery around 5:30 p.m. 6 p.m. Kennedy Center, Millennium Stage, 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600. www.kennedy-center.org. TUESDAY In conjunction with the "Cultural Exchanges" exhibit at Betty Mae Kramer Gallery, a panel discussion featuring Maryland Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery) and artists Shanye Huang and Pauline Jakobsberg will focus on cultural identity in American society. Susan Jenkins, chief executive of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, will moderate the discussion. "Cultural Exchanges" closes Feb. 7. 6 p.m. Silver Spring Civic Building, Betty Mae Kramer Gallery, One Veterans Place, Silver Spring. www.creativemoco.com/kramer-gallery. WEDNESDAY Members of the American Art Museum's conservation team present a gallery talk and tour of the "Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art" exhibit with commentary on some of the pieces. The exhibit, which features work by Carmen Herrera, Ruben Trejo and others, closes March 2. Noon. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Eighth and F streets NW. 202-633-1000. www.americanart.si.edu. THURSDAY At the National Museum of Natural History, Chris Scholz, professor of earth sciences at Syracuse University, discusses his research in Africa and how climate change has affected east Africa's Great Rift Valley. 4 p.m. National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. 202-633-1000. www.mnh.si.edu. FRIDAY The Library of Congress hosts a screening of the 2001 film "Inside Out in the Open," a documentary exploring free jazz with appearances from musicians Alan Silva, Joseph Jarman and Roswell Rudd. Visitors also can watch the 2013 film "The Breath Courses Through Us," a documentary featuring the 1960s jazz group "The New York Art Quartet," which featured Rudd, John Tchicai, Milford Graves and Reggie Workman, with the late poet Amiri Baraka joining them. Both films were directed by Alan Roth. 7


Here’s the deal with the Obamacare ‘bailout’

subscribers who run up at least $60,000 in claims. There is a cap on reinsurance payments, too: Above $250,000, the health plan would once again be responsible for covering its subscribers' costs. More charts please! Okay! Here's a great one from Kaiser Family Foundation that puts all three of these programs onto one page, comparing their main features. What's the precedent for these types of programs, or do they just exist because the health-care law is going so badly? There is indeed precedent: Medicare Part D has existed for nearly a decade and still uses these type of policies to make the market for selling drugs to seniors a friendly one for insurers to enter. The risk corridors were part of the Affordable Care Act well before the health-care law roll out went so poorly. Will Republicans repeal the risk corridors? Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has introduced legislation that would repeal the risk corridor program, although its unlikely that the Democratic-controlled chamber will bring up the legislation for a vote. Like many other parts of the health-care law, its possible that the Republican-run House could pass this type of legislation but it would fail in the Senate and near-certainly be vetoed by the President. In early February, the Congressional Budget Office put another kink in the Republicans' repeal plan: It estimated that the risk corridors will actually save the federal government $8 billion, because insurance companies will pay more money into the program than they take out of it. More specifically, the CBO projects that the federal government will collect $16 billion from health insurers who have premiums outpace claims--but only distribute $8 billion to the plans who don't have enough premiums to cover medical costs. That leaves over $8 billion in savings for the federal government. And insurance companies are okay with that? They're essentially handing $8 billion over to the federal government. Health plans are, in fact, supporters of the risk corridors, which they essentially see as limiting the risk of entering a new insurance market. Yes, they might end up paying for that limited risk. But it also makes it much easier to test out the exchanges, and reduces the possibility of catastrophic losses in the early years. This is the part where there's an animal video, right? You guys know me too well. Here's Bao Bao the baby panda. Bao Bao the panda cub: Hello, world!


PM Update: Wind chill advisory overnight into the morning, and very cold Tuesday

* Wind chill advisory 1 a.m. to 10 a.m. overnight into Tuesday morning * - Temperature Map - Temperatures: Latest D.C. area temperature map. See interactive map on our Weather Wall. Highs this morning made the mid-40s to mid-50s. D.C. got all the way to 54! As you step out to go home, all signs of that are gone. Winds whipping out of the northwest are pumping in much colder air. We should all be as much as 20-30 degrees colder than our high as we get into the evening. Through Tonight: Tomorrow (Tuesday): See Jason Samenow’s forecast through the weekend. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter Potomac ice on January 25. (John Sonderman via Flickr) Tinderbox: SchoolCast: D.C. schools: 1 apple, expect to report on time Elsewhere: 1.5 apples: 50/50 chance of a delayed opening Fiery sunset #sunset #OccoquanRiver #Manassas @StormWatch7 @SteveRudinABC7 @DevonLucie @EileenABC7 @DougHillABC7 @capitalweather http://t.co/VxKgns5Ixw Tonight's Arctic sunset from downtown DC http://t.co/3iQYUCvNkz @capitalweather @SteveRudinABC7 @dougkammerer #dcwx #sunset @capitalweather Sunset in Clifton http://t.co/42UfNR67ps


The best sentences we read today

-- "Most physicists foolhardy enough to write a paper claiming that 'there are no black holes' — at least not in the sense we usually imagine — would probably be dismissed as cranks. But when the call to redefine these cosmic crunchers comes from Stephen Hawking, it’s worth taking notice." -- "You might think that a bar fight is most commonly started between two guys fighting over a woman. That’s not so, at least not in my experience." -- "Groom a three-toed sloth and more than a hundred moths may fly out." -- "The main change in marijuana-related slang over the past decade or so, though, has been in the great flowering of strain names, the colorful, self-promotional tags invented by breeders and growers for their varietals of cannabis indica or sativa: Purple Haze, Northern Lights, White Widow, Super Silver Haze, O.G. Kush, Sour Diesel, and so on."


Hemp, farm-raised fish, food labels and food stamps: What’s in the farm bill?

of the farm bill outlines "Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling of Beef, Pork, Lamb, Chicken, Goat Meat, Wild and Farm-raised Fish and Shellfish, Perishable Agricultural Commodities, Peanuts, Pecans, Ginseng and Macadamia Nuts." It's a mouthful (no pun intended), and the new bill didn't do anything to reverse new "country of origin labeling" rules established by the Obama administration last year. The rules require labels explaining where a meat product was born, raised and slaughtered. The labels are favored by the "farm-to-fork" community and other consumer groups, but the livestock industry — especially meat-packing companies like Tysons Foods — have challenged the new rules in federal court. They argue that the new rules are too burdensome and could upset trade relations with Canada, Mexico and other countries. Ripened hemp plants prior to harvest. (Washington Post via Hemp Oil Canada) Industrial hemp Want to study the effects of industrial hemp? Now you can do it, so long as your state permits it. For the first time, the farm bill will authorize colleges and universities to grow industrial hemp for research purposes in states that permit growth and cultivation of the plant. Currently nine states — Colorado, California, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, and West Virginia — have such laws. Aides noted that the new hemp-themed provisions are among hundreds of policy and spending details buried in the legislation, but the decision is likely to contribute to a growing national debate about the legalization of marijuana both for medicinal and recreational purposes. And what exactly is "industrial hemp?" Glad you asked. According to the bill, "the term 'industrial hemp' means the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of such plant, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis." Makes sense, right? Farm-raised salmon from Chile. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) What is "farm-raised fish?" A big deal for the Whole Foods crowd. According to the bill, "The term 'farm-raised fish' means any aquatic species that is propagated and reared in a controlled environment." And what is "livestock?" The bill says that "The term 'livestock' includes (A) cattle (including dairy cattle); (B) bison; (C) poultry; (D) sheep; (E) swine; (F) horses and; (G) other livestock, as determined by the Secretary" of agriculture. Halal and Kosher foods "As soon as practicable," the USDA is instructed to "increase the purchase" of


Rousseff, Mayer, Lagarde: Davos women on democracy, the NSA and the economy

in on the theme of how to reduce economic inequality, Rousseff boasted that 42 million Brazilians have climbed into the middle class in the past decade. With the middle class now making up more than half of Brazil’s population, Rousseff proudly noted: “Brazil is becoming a mostly middle-class economy.” Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who became Africa’s first elected female president in 2006, highlighted an anti-poverty program that has had a rather unexpectedly large beneficial impact. Liberia has a program that gives at-risk people — the elderly, people living with disabilities and chronic illness, single mothers with dependents — about $20 in cash each month. This program has markedly improved the lives of those receiving the cash aid. South Korea’s first woman to be elected president, Park Geun-Hye, talked about how entrepreneurship is “the driving force of stable, inclusive growth,” while Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway said that, “When you invest in a girl’s education, she feeds herself, her children, her community and her nation.” Unlike many of today’s female leaders, Solberg isn’t the first woman to lead her country. That distinction goes to Gro Harlem Brundtland, who became Norway’s first female prime minister in 1981. The benefits of schooling are undeniable. As Solberg said in remarks co-written with Hannah Godefa, a 16-year-old Ethiopian-born UNICEF ambassador of human rights, “The numbers don’t lie. For every year a girl stays in school and learns, her future earnings increase hugely. An extra year of primary school education, for example, boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. A one percentage point increase in female secondary education raises the average level of GDP by 0.3 percentage points.” Investing in girls is the “ultimate investment in positive change,” Solberg stressed. Godefa is a remarkable young woman whose Pencil Mountain Project has sent nearly 500 million pencils to school children in Ethiopia. The world’s leading woman in finance, the International Monetary Fund’s director Christine Lagarde said she was optimistic about the global economic outlook. Yet, she worried as much about the “old risks” of financial instability, massive unemployment — some 200 million people are out of work around the world — and slow and uneven economic growth as the “new risks” from the spillover effects to emerging markets that might arise when America ends its economic stimulus. The businesswomen at Davos also made their mark. Indra Nooyi, the chief executive of PepsiCo and


Hearings: Senate panel to examine military pension cut

age 62. The provision will not affect disabled retirees, due to an amendment tacked onto the $1.1 trillion spending bill enacted this month. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America will join Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) to call for a repeal of the pension cut during a pre-hearing news conference set to take place at 8:30 a.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has proposed an omnibus Veterans Affairs bill that would eliminate the pension reduction, in addition to expanding certain veterans benefits such as dental and medical care, education and caretaker stipends. He said he is open to paying for the measure’s estimated $30 billion cost with savings from the military’s overseas contingency operations, formerly known as the global war on terror. Hearing notice HealthCare.gov security testing: House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (10 a.m.) The hearing will examine the adequacy of testing for the federal government’s online health-insurance exchange. The site launched in October with myriad glitches. Enrollment numbers have increased drastically after a series of fixes, but questions remain about site security and the Obama administration’s planning. Hearing notice Hiring military veterans: House Veterans’ Affairs Committee (10 a.m.) The panel will take a look at private-sector strategies for hiring and retaining veterans, with input from company executives. The committee will also try to gauge the success of various government programs to promote hiring of veterans. The unemployment rate for that demographic has declined from 8.3 percent in December 2010 to 5.5 percent in December 2013, while the current unemployment rate for nonveterans is 6.4 percent. Hearing notice TSA’s “cadre of criminal investigators”: House Homeland Security Committee (2 p.m.) The panel will investigate misclassifications of criminal investigators with the Transportation Security Administration, an issue exposed in an audit from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general. The review revealed that TSA was classifying employees as “criminal investigators” without ensuring that they met the criteria under federal law and regulations. “These employees received premium pay and other benefits, although other employees could have performed the same work at a lower cost,” the inspector general said, adding that the agency could save as much as $17.5 million by classifying those workers properly. Live video feed Follow Josh Hicks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+. Connect by e-mail at josh.hicks@washpost.com. Visit The Federal Eye, The Fed Page and Post Politics for more federal news.


Another blown streetcar deadline

self-imposed deadline from Mayor Vincent C. Gray, who said the following in November: “We’ll have passenger service probably starting in January, not later than early February when we get an additional car.” In other news: Marion Barry leaves hospital after 16 days (DofD) The DCPS boundary and feeder review continues apace; first draft expected in March (Post, WRC-TV) At least two voucher-taking D.C. schools teach creationism (Slate, DCist) Foundation studay says D.C.’s achievement gap by income is larger than any state’s (Post) In a world of infographics and listicles, the District is being dissed (WaTimes) Park Service says it will start installing parking meters at National Mall spaces and lots (WRC-TV) Newfangled traffic cameras go live Saturday (Post) Daughter of heart-attack victim says nearby firefighter watched as father was stricken (WTTG-TV) D.C.’s economic disparities “have grown even more stark with the surge of young, highly educated workers, an unequal economic recovery, and the growing barriers facing the lifelong residents of a majority-black city” (MSNBC) What the D.C. United fan should know about the soccer-stadium poll (Soccer Insider) Gray administration response: Proposed $150 million land deal isn’t really “using city funds to help finance a new soccer stadium” (Housing Complex) Ed Lazere: “For us, it’s encouraging to know that residents want to make sure that the city is getting a good deal when we work to bring a new soccer stadium to the city” (Washingtonian) Pepco Holdings CEO Joseph Rigby is retiring (Capital Business, WBJ) DCPS teacher of the year is “grateful and thankful” for SOTU invite (Post) Exactly what Doug Jemal plans for the Hecht’s warehouse (WBJ) Deborah Simmons remembers Virginia Williams (WaTimes) Muriel Bowser christens Anacostia field office (Loose Lips) No, Christian Carter isn’t running for mayor again (Loose Lips) St. Elizabeths chapel eyed for “interim innovation hub” (WBJ) CSX swears it won’t be shipping (much) crude oil through Virginia Avenue Tunnel (Post) EPA explains why it didn’t show up at Saturday tunnel meeting (@dcistsarah, ThinkProgress) Will D.C.’s Portland-style streetcar create Portland-style development? (Capital Business) It’s tough to be a Georgetown antique shop these days (Capital Business) Is casual dining dying on M Street? (G’town Metropolitan) Trial lawyer and former Adrian Fenty employer is now in the grilled cheese business (GOG) Bike plans aren’t getting plowed so well (DaveBikes) Adams Morgan nightclub remains closed after New Year’s stabbing (PoPville) “Why is D.C. so” … black, liberal and expensive (ComPost)


PM Update: Light snow tonight, continued very cold Wednesday

* Winter weather advisories for D.C.’s south and east suburbs this evening through 6 a.m. Wednesday * 12:40 a.m. update: @capitalweather the view outside the White House complex http://t.co/C9jqM4uwuW Radar lightning: 12:14 a.m. update: 11:45 p.m. update @capitalweather....this is what it looks like in Woodbridge. http://t.co/12HfmCVNql 11:20 p.m. update: 11:05 p.m. update: Temps are very cold – in the teens – so everything is sticking. We’ll continue update until at least midnight and possibly a bit longer. @capitalweather Looks like about half an inch in Kingstowne, VA from my bedroom window. http://t.co/J0EUfDhSJZ 10:05 p.m. update: 9:05 p.m. update: Band SW trying to organize. Radar looking slightly more promising. http://t.co/VFHBSABTlw 8:10 p.m. update: @capitalweather Light snow in Hollywood, MD. Beginning to stick to the roads. @capitalweather few flurries in Woodbridge VA @capitalweather light snow in St. Leonard, Calvert County. 6:30 p.m. update: From 5:05 p.m. … Temperatures struggled big time today, holding in the teens to near 20 in much of the metro region – more than 20 degrees below average. The big storm in the South tries to graze us overnight with some light snow on its way out into the Atlantic. For most of the metro region – with the exception of Southern Maryland – this looks to be a sweepable rather than shovelable snow. Some spots just see flurries. Through Tonight: The most likely timing for the onset of snow is between 5 and 8 p.m. in southern Maryland, between 7 and 10 p.m. in Stafford, Prince William, Prince George’s, Charles, and Anne Arundel counties, and between 9 p.m. and midnight over the rest of the region. Snow tapers off between 2 and 5 a.m., northwest to southeast. In terms of accumulations, it’s possible locations north and west of Fairfax and Montgomery counties just see flurries – and even into the District if dry air wins out. There will be a sharp cutoff in accumulating snow, and it’s very difficult to nail that down. Inside the Beltway, a dusting of snow or so is most likely, but areas east of I-95 could get an inch or so, and even more into southern Maryland. The latest GFS model and short-term models don’t show a lot of precipitation, so – despite the NAM model suggesting 1-2″ in D.C. – we’re reluctant to increase our forecast totals in the map below (prepared earlier today). Capital Weather Gang snowfall forecast Tuesday night,


Medical marijuana will be on Florida ballot

ballot summary was sufficiently clear. Republicans, led by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R), had challenged the language as misleading. Justices debated whether the language made clear that medical marijuana could only be used to treat “debilitating” diseases, like cancer, AIDS and Parkinson’s. The three justices who dissented said the ballot summary was “seriously deceptive” and would do voters “a severe disservice.” “Today’s ruling leaves the issue of medical marijuana in the hands of Florida’s voters. I encourage every Floridian to read the full amendment in order to understand the impact it could have on Floridians,” Bondi said in a statement after the court’s ruling. The proposed amendment will share the ballot with a heated race between Gov. Rick Scott (R) and his predecessor, former Gov. Charlie Crist, who last won office as a Republican but is now a Democrat. Crist, once dubbed “Chain Gang Charlie” for his tough-on-crime stands, says he supports legalizing marijuana for medical uses; Scott opposes the bill. Crist is heavily favored over former state Sen. Nan Rich in the Democratic primary. Some Republicans worry the proposed amendment will drive turnout among younger voters, who disproportionately vote Democratic. Several Republicans recently voiced fears that the amendment was little more than a Trojan horse for the Crist campaign. Opposition to the medical marijuana push is likely to come from Save Our Society from Drugs, a group run in part by Betty Sembler. Sembler’s husband, Mel, is a former ambassador and major Republican donor. The group’s executive director told the Tampa Tribune that the loopholes in the proposed amendment would create “de-facto marijuana legalization.” In an interview earlier this month, Ben Pollara, who is running the pro-amendment campaign, said his group would aim to raise and spend at least $10 million. If the amendment passes, Florida would join 18 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing medical patients to use marijuana. Two states, Washington and Colorado, allow legal purchases for non-medical use. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in November showed a huge majority of Florida voters, 82 percent, backed allowing adults to use marijuana for medical purposes if their doctor prescribes the drug. Just 16 percent of voters said they opposed marijuana for medical use. The same poll showed a slim plurality — 48 percent — supported allowing adults to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Forty-six percent said they opposed recreational marijuana use.


The Switchboard: Obama calls for patent reform in State of the Union

(Mark Lennihan / AP) Published every weekday, the Switchboard highlights five tech policy stories you need to read. President calls for patent reform in SOTU. New York ponders “BitLicense” for virtual currency. GOP senators to feds: Leave the Internet alone. Court: Google infringed patents, must pay 1.36 percent of AdWords revenue. The airwaves are getting so crowded, TV channels have started doubling up.