NASA’s Kepler telescope doubles number of known planets outside solar system

in which five of the six planets are closer to the star than Mercury is to our sun. It’s unclear whether the planets formed in those tight orbits or migrated there over time. The Kepler team has previously announced several thousand possible exoplanets outside our solar system, but most have yet to be confirmed by subsequent observation. This new batch of planets has been verified — or “validated to substantially better than the 99 percent confidence level,” as one of the new papers puts it — through a technique that calculates the number of “false positives” in multi-planet systems. The scientists concluded that the “candidate” planets in those systems are almost always bona fide planets. The search for exoplanets is intrinsically difficult because they’re very far away — many tens of trillions of miles at least — and the light reflecting from the planet is overwhelmed by the brilliance of the parent star. Someday, a new generation of space telescopes may be able to occlude the starlight and see only the planet. For now, planet hunters look for quirks in the starlight that might reveal a planetary companion. If the starlight wobbles, that can be the signature of the gravitational tug of a planet. If the starlight dims in a regular pattern, that can be from a planet passing in front of the star as seen from the telescope. The latter technique is the one that Kepler employs. No instrument has been as adept at finding large batches of exoplanets as the $600 million Kepler telescope, which is about to celebrate the fifth anniversary of its launch on March 7, 2009. The Kepler telescope suffered a malfunction in its pointing system last year, hampering its observational abilities. But scientists continue to examine the massive amount of data accumulated over its first four years of operation. In November, scientists working with Kepler’s data announced that, extrapolating from what has been seen in one small patch of the sky, they infer that one out of five sunlike stars has a roughly Earth-size planet in a “habitable zone” orbit. That would suggest there are tens of billions of potentially habitable, roughly Earth-size worlds in this galaxy alone. Whether there is actually life out there, in any shape or form, is unknown. Related: Kepler finds Earth-size planets are common Destination Unknown: A space exploration series Astronomer uses Kepler’s data to hunt for alien spacecraft


McFaul leaves Moscow and two dramatic years in relations between U.S. and Russia

adviser on Russia — clearly exasperated him. “I didn’t want to do that meeting,” he said. “It was organized for Deputy Secretary Burns, one of the most experienced diplomats in our government. It was organized by experienced diplomats at our embassy. ‘Can I not go?’ I said. ‘No, your job is to accompany all senior diplomats.’ That was a mistake. I should have put my foot down.” McFaul encountered serious diplomatic challenges. In September 2012, Russia expelled the U.S. Agency for International Development, an escalation of Putin’s effort to prevent what he saw as U.S. financing of Russian organizations that opposed him. After the U.S. Congress enacted the Magnitsky law in December 2012, imposing sanctions on Russians implicated in human rights abuses, Moscow retaliated by banning U.S. adoptions of Russian orphans. “I expected a reaction,” McFaul said. “We expected a similar law. Not in a million years would I have thought there would be a ban on adoption. For me personally, it had a major and negative effect on our relations.” As Obama’s Russia adviser before becoming ambassador, McFaul was the author of the administration’s “reset” policy, an effort to find agreement with Moscow in areas in which interests overlapped. “We’ve had a pretty solid level of achievement,” he said, “not as ambitious as we hoped, but when I look at what we got done compared to other administrations, it’s a pretty good record of achievement.” Among the achievements, he lists Russian cooperation on supply routes to Afghanistan, joint efforts on Iran and North Korea, and resolution of trade issues. McFaul said he decided to leave the job because his family had returned to California for school reasons last fall and he had been apart from them too long. Even as he left, he was talking about human rights, criticizing the sentencing Monday of seven anti-Putin protesters to up to four years in prison. The State Department called the trial politically motivated and said it lacked due process. McFaul was given a fond farewell in the world of Twitter, where he had engaged individual Russians by sending out 10,300 tweets in his two years here. “How sad there are so few open and soulful people in Russian political life,” one tweeter wrote to McFaul. “Thanks for strengthening U.S.-Russian ties,” another wrote. “Don’t pay attention to all the disinformation,” a third advised. And then McFaul flew off, leaving behind 61,200 followers.


Encouraging a climate of scientific research on global warming

In his Feb. 21 op-ed column, “The myth of ‘settled science,’ ” Charles Krauthammer raised points about the ambiguity of climate research that should not be ignored. His arguments led to an obvious conclusion: We should significantly and immediately increase investment in science and climate research to improve our understanding of this complex and vital planet. It is unfortunate that Mr. Krauthammer chose to spend his final three paragraphs entrenched in the slander of the culture wars by characterizing climate-change proponents in severely derogatory terms rather than spending those precious published words on suggestions for how to proceed with policy, investment and experiments to support the arduous and honorable pursuit of understanding the human influence on planet Earth. Jeffrey Shainline, Boulder, Colo. More Letters to the Editor: The right mayor for D.C. Susan Rice and President Obama need a do-something attitude Military promotion system isn’t flawless, but it is evolving When a parent’s advice to a young woman sounds like victim-blaming West Point’s football focus is a sign of the military’s difficult priority-setting How far does religious protection go?


Food labels to get first makeover in 20 years with new emphasis on calories, sugar

The nutrition labels on your food are getting an overhaul for the first time in 20 years as the FDA plans to make them easier to read. Here's what you need to know. The ubiquitous nutrition label on food packages is about to get its first overhaul in 20 years, a change that is likely to have a dramatic effect on what people choose to eat and drink and what products sell in supermarkets. Obama administration officials say the update, unveiled Thursday at a White House event, is necessary to keep pace with the science of nutrition and to reduce confusion about what qualifies as healthful food. The new label, which could take a year or more to appear on store shelves, includes more than half a dozen significant changes — such as more prominent calorie counts and more realistic serving sizes — that advocates see as key in fighting the country’s obesity epidemic. Years of research show that tracking calories may be more important than tracking fat consumption when it comes to your health. The nutrition facts panel, found on roughly 700,000 products, is one of the most valuable pieces of real estate for the food industry. More than half of Americans use it regularly to decipher what’s in the packaged food they are buying. Michelle Obama, joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, announced the release of a proposed rule for revised nutrition labels on Thursday. Consumers who want to eat better were often stumped by the complicated labels, Obama said. “Unless you had a thesaurus, a microscope, a calculator or a degree in nutrition, you were out of luck,” she said. “So you felt defeated, and you just went back to buying the same stuff. As parents and as consumers, we have a right to understand what’s in the food we’re feeding our families.” Hamburg said she hopes the change will prompt the food industry to reformulate many of its products. “We know that as a nation we eat too much sugar,” she said. “While some of those sugars occur naturally in foods, much of it is additive. Added sugar contributed to a substantial portion of American calories but don’t provide much else in the way of nutrients. This has major implications for maintaining a healthy body weight.” The Grocery Manufacturers Association and other industry groups


Maryland Senate engages in debate over who should pay in dog-bite cases

the Court of Appeals, in its April 2012 Tracey v. Solesky decision, held that pet owners and landlords could be held liable for injuries inflicted by a dog that they knew or should have known was vicious. The high court, after sifting through medical and veterinary literature, also held that pit bulls posed an inherent danger because of their combative instincts and their powerful ability to inflict damage. Critics of the ruling said the decision cast a stigma over pit bulls, which started turning up in shelters in greater numbers, and caused some landlords to order pit bull owners to give up pets or move out. On Wednesday, the debate was renewed as the Senate considered a bill sponsored by Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery). Frosh, who chairs the Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee, said he had previously leaned toward the stricter terms of liability. But after the Senate passed similar measures that later died in the House of Delegates, Frosh said that this time he was sponsoring a bill that he characterized as a compromise. Under Frosh’s bill, the owner of a dog that bit someone would be presumed to be responsible for damages because he or she knew or should have known the dog was dangerous, regardless of the dog’s breed. But Frosh’s bill would also allow the owner to neutralize that presumption by presenting evidence that the dog had been docile. “It shifts the burden to the dog owner,” Frosh said. But critics said that in practice, Frosh’s bill would still force victims to try to prove that a dog was vicious. Some argued that if an owner should be held liable for the dog’s behavior under almost any circumstances. “This is not a bill that’s good for victims,” said Sen. Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County), who attempted to amend Frosh’s bill to shift the responsibility to the dog’s owner for any bite. He also read some testimony from the mother of Dominic Salesky, who sustained life-threatening injuries from the pit bull attack considered by Maryland’s highest court. Under Zirkin’s initial amendment, an owner could escape responsibility if he could show that the victim had been attacked while trespassing, committing another crime, or provoking the animal. Otherwise, the owner could be held liable and, he said, the state eliminate the “one free bite rule.” But the amendment was defeated. Zirkin then offered a second amendment, which would place


In parting speech, U.S. ambassador urges China to improve human rights record

U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke was the first Chinese-American ambassador to Beijing and presided over huge growth in economic ties and rise in Chinese visitors to the United States. Locke, who is leaving China on Saturday, also has guided the U.S.-China relationship through some fraught incidents. (Ng Han Guan/AP) BEIJING — “We very much are concerned about the arrests and detentions of people who are engaged in peaceful advocacy,” Locke said in a farewell news conference, mentioning by name an outspoken ethnic-minority scholar who was arrested and charged Tuesday with “separatism” by Chinese authorities. U.S. officials are “very concerned” about professor Ilham Tohti, a known advocate among China’s Uighur Muslim minority. The Chinese government has not reacted well to Locke’s parting criticism. Responding to similar words by Locke in a farewell speech Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, “We oppose any person using these so-called issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs and make thoughtless remarks and criticize summarily.” Hua argued that human rights in China have greatly improved when compared with previous decades. “There’s been great prosperity and an increase in the quality of life and the standard of living here in China,” Locke responded Thursday. But, he added, “human rights is more than just economic prosperity and economic conditions of people, but also fundamental universal rights of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, the ability to practice one’s own religion.” Locke was asked about why China’s super-rich are increasingly hedging against sudden arrests and asset seizures by seeking shelter in foreign countries such as the United States through visas and children born abroad. Locke said the development highlights the need for rule of law and a neutral judicial system. Voicing concern about increasing Japan-China tensions, which threaten to entangle the United States, Locke said, “It’s important that both sides lower the temperature and focus on diplomacy.” During his 21 / 2 years as ambassador, Locke, who is departing China on Saturday, has guided the U.S.-China relationship through some of its most fraught incidents in recent memory. He touched on them Thursday, recalling the high-stakes negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials over a blind dissident — Chen Guangcheng — who took shelter at the U.S. Embassy, as well as the attempted defection of a Communist Party insider that triggered fallout among party leaders. Locke has been one of the most publicly recognized and popular U.S. ambassadors in Chinese history


Going Out Guide for the District of Columbia, Feb. 27-March 5, 2014

The National Symphony Orchestra with conductor Christoph Eschenbach. ( Margot Ingoldsby Schulman) National Symphony Orchestra 3Led by Christoph Eschenbach, the orchestra plays Beethoven’s first two symphonies and accompanies Christian Tetzlaff in Widmann’s Violin Concerto. Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m. Kennedy Center, Concert Hall, 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600. www.kennedy-center.org. $10-$85. THU 27 “Game Changer” Leslie Nolan exhibits her paintings that offer up-close-and-personal looks at mood and emotions. Public reception Thursday 6-8:30 p.m., closes Sunday. Touchstone, 901 New York Ave. NW. 202-347-2787. www.touchstonegallery.com. RSVP required for reception. Snugglers Denyse Pearson and the Gentlemen of Distinction Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen National Symphony Orchestra Washington National Opera: Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Concert “Rent” Hopsin FRI 28 “Under the Canopy” Randy Rogers Band Slick Rick, Rakim Bob Marley Tribute: Junior Marvin of the Wailers SAT 01 Listening Party: The Music of Betty Carter All Points West Sheila Blake, Bonnie Ferguson Butler, Michael Francis “The Powerful Strokes of Robert Freeman” SUN 02 “Blue Moon/Red River” A new work by dancer Jane Franklin, percussionist Tom Teasley and visual artist Howard Connelly is inspired by the vastness of the Southwest. Part of the Intersections Festival. 2 p.m. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. 202-399-7993. intersectionsdc.org. $22, seniors and youth $16.50. Julia Bullock “Rock of Ages” Touche Amore Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch and NaVon Smith “Bound for Freedom’s Light: African Americans and the Civil War” “The Importance of Being Earnest” “Tribes” MON 03 Mayer Hawthorne Weekend TUE 04 Mike Gordon “Mamma Mia!” WED 05 “Water by the Spoonful” — Compiled by Jillian S. Jarrett and Carrie Donovan from staff reports


Chinese President Xi Jinping takes charge of new cyber effort

power,” the news agency quoted Xi as saying. The government released sparse details about the group. Premier Li Keqiang and Liu Yunshan, both members of the Communist Party’s Standing Committee, China’s most powerful body, were named as the cyber group’s deputy heads. State-run CCTV outlined several goals of the group, including the drafting of a comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy and coordination of cybersecurity across sectors. According to CCTV, Xi tied the importance of government work on securing the Internet to long-term priorities, such as maintaining control over public opinion in China. The state-run TV station said Xi sounded notes of alarm, saying China lags behind in innovation and faces a widening digital gap between its rural and urban areas. He also noted that the average bandwidth available to most Chinese residents is lower than in many developed countries. Xi compared the twin goals of developing China’s information technology and its cybersecurity capabilities to “two wings of a bird and two wheels of an engine.” A report last year by an American security firm, Alexandria-based Mandiant, linked a Chinese military unit to several cyberattacks on companies. U.S. officials have taken a tough stance on Chinese cyberattacks, saying the government was even using them to steal commercial data from private U.S. companies. But some say the U.S. position has been undermined by revelations from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that the American government carried out sophisticated and large-scale cyber-surveillance of other countries, including China. And as more disclosures of U.S. cyber-surveillance have come to light, Chinese officials have expressed mounting worries about their vulnerabilities, and many have called for avoiding U.S. hardware in sensitive sectors of government and industry. The fallout has put a significant dent in major U.S. tech companies’ business here. Cisco’s revenue in China has dropped because of the backlash after the Snowden revelations, company officials say. This month, Chinese anti-monopoly regulators revealed that they were investigating the U.S. chip company Qualcomm on allegations of overcharging. While neither China nor the company have publicly linked the investigation to tensions overcybersecurity, Qualcomm chief executive Paul Jacobs told the Wall Street Journal in November that “we are definitely seeing increased pressure. All U.S. tech companies are seeing pressure. . . . You have to be very cautious. We are always very careful with whatever steps we take. How we sell. How we interact.” Liu Liu contributed to this report.


At vegan Loving Hut, a carnivore’s search for inner peace

vegan banh mi struggles even more to channel the Vietnamese original. My sandwich was served on dense, multi-grain bread, not a crusty baguette, a questionable substitution that buried the other ingredients under an avalanche of poppy and sesame-seed flavors. The textured vegetable protein used as a meat analog only served to remind me that I need to check the tread on my tires. Time and again, I found myself taking issue with the mock meats, these pre-fab cutlets that only baffle me when it comes to a certain segment of vegan psychology: If the goal is to avoid animal products, why maintain little reminders of the poor creatures on your plate? The mock meat in my “non-beef and broccoli” looked genuine enough to confuse friends when I shared a photo on Facebook. The illusion would quickly be dispelled, however, with one bite: The non-beef had a gaseous flavor, as if soybeans could barf. Largely, I enjoyed the dishes that relied on ingredients that could be prepared in a kitchen, not in a lab, with the notable exceptions of the fried wontons (nice and chewy, with a ginger-heavy dipping sauce) and the “golden nuggets,” these processed rounds with an extraterrestrial crunch (think McNuggets without the pandering to children). None of the ingredients in the lemongrass tofu with mixed vegetables would require a chemist to explain them, and its vegetarian-based “oyster sauce” tied the components together in simple harmony. Conversely, I struggled to find harmonic convergence with the golden vermicelli with shredded soy protein, a take on a Vietnamese rice noodle dish with pork spring rolls. Loving Hut’s interpretation relies on crisp-but-starchy rolls stuffed with shredded taro root. The flavors don’t combine as well with the sweet soy-based sauce, a stand-in for the umami-rich nuoc mam that typically brings order to the dish. But a generous application of tabletop hot sauce at least provides an all-consuming heat, if not cohesion. As a counter to my meat-based bias, I asked a vegan colleague to join me on my last visit to Loving Hut. We were quite a pair: I longed for the unctuousness of bovine fat; she wanted a fresh dish not drowning in sodium. We reached consensus on that Loving Hut salad, apparently the only dish here that brings a Supreme Master-like peacefulness to carnivores and vegans alike. Loving Hut 2842 Rogers Dr., Falls Church. 703-942-5622. www.lovinghut.us . Hours: Nearest Metro: Prices:


Margie F. Fry, Montgomery County employee, dies at 81

Margie F. Fry, a Montgomery County health department employee who was assigned to the public school system for nearly two decades, died Jan. 31 at Potomac Valley Nursing & Wellness Center in Rockville, Md. She was 81. The cause was pneumonia, said her daughter Bonnie Sparks. From 1975 until her retirement in 1994, Mrs. Fry worked as a health room aide at Glenallan and Weller Road elementary schools in Silver Spring. Margie Marie Freeman was born in Madison Heights, Va., and settled in the Washington area in the early 1950s. She lived in Rockville for many years and was a longtime member of Viers Mill Baptist Church in Silver Spring, where she taught Sunday school and worked in the church nursery. Her husband of 49 years, Charles Fry, died in 2002. Survivors include two daughters, Susan Witt of Richmond and Bonnie Sparks of Damascus, Md.; a brother; a sister; four grandchildren; and one great-grandson. — Megan McDonough


Johns Hopkins vs. MoCo farm: Whose wishes should prevail?

had received good medical treatment there and because Steiner and others had suggested that the university might some day cure cancer on Banks’s land. At every turn, said Banks’s nephew, Tim Newell, his aunt received assurances from everyone that Hopkins would protect her land. No one said the university planned to develop the property for business, Newell said. The university paid Banks $5 million: a tenth of what she could have fetched on the commercial market. And that was fine with her. “She felt that she owed it to her family to really take care of the farm, that her parents had left this legacy and it was incumbent on her to protect this farm,” Steiner said. “She had a vision that this would be a low-key research campus.” Hopkins built Banks a white ranch house behind the old farmhouse where she could live until she died. Neighbors heard the news and were pleased. “When I first heard about it, I thought, ‘Oh, that is great, having a Hopkins campus there,” said Donna Baron, a neighbor. “I could not wait to see what they were doing.” Tentative plan for Belward Farm showing the proposed road configuration (white) and conceptual buildings (purple). Building heights are recommended to be a maximum of 50 feet at the edges of the property and up to 150 feet at the center. Johns Hopkins has not submitted final plans. (Gene Thorp/The Washington Post) Before the deal was done, “Eventually, it was agreed that a wooded section of approximately 30 to 35 acres could be developed commercially by the University if the University would be willing to restrict the remainder ... to ‘academic and related purposes.’ ” (A few years later, Hopkins donated the 30-acre parcel to Montgomery County, angering Banks, who had never wanted the county to get any part of Belward. It became the home for Human Genome Sciences.) On the remaining 108 acres of Belward, the county approved in 1996 a development that would have low-rise buildings and 28 acres of open space spread among them. But no bulldozers came; nothing was built. Hopkins started rethinking its plans, according to the county planning agency. Banks died in 2005. Three years later, Hopkins and the county unveiled their ambitious proposal for the “science city,” saying they wanted to triple the density from the 1.8 million square feet of commercial space the county had approved while


715 additional planets are discovered outside our solar system

This artist conception depicts multiple-transiting planet systems, stars with more than one planet. The Kepler telescope nearly doubled the number of planets scientists have discovered in the galaxy. (NASA illustration/Associated Press) Our galaxy is looking far more crowded and hospitable. NASA last week confirmed a bonanza of 715 newly discovered planets outside our solar system. Scientists using the planet-hunting Kepler telescope pushed the number of planets discovered in the galaxy to about 1,700. Twenty years ago, astronomers had not found any planets circling stars other than the ones revolving around our sun. “We almost doubled just today the number of planets known to humanity,” NASA planetary scientist Jack Lissauer said in a Wednesday teleconference. Astronomers used a new confirmation technique to come up with the largest single announcement of a batch of exoplanets — what planets outside our solar system are called. While Wednesday’s announcements were about big numbers, they also were about the possibility of life connected to those big numbers. All the new planets are in systems like ours, where multiple planets circle a star. The 715 planets came from looking at just 305 stars. They were nearly all in size closer to Earth than to gigantic Jupiter. Four of those new exoplanets orbit their stars in “habitable zones,” where it is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water, which is crucial for life to exist. Douglas Hudgins, a NASA exoplanet scientist, called Wednesday’s announcement a major step toward Kepler’s ultimate goal: “finding Earth 2.0.” The four new habitable-zone planets are at least twice as big as Earth, so that makes them more likely to be gas planets instead of rocky ones like Earth — and less likely to harbor life. Astronomers expect to find more exoplanets when they look at more data from the now-malfunctioning telescope. — Associated Press


Dell to build private cloud for nuclear regulatory commission

A visitor passes by the Dell stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 25, 2014. (REUTERS/Albert Gea) The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has selected Dell to build a private Internet cloud for the agency, the company announced Wednesday. The NRC is responsible for regulating nuclear power and materials, as well as inspecting nuclear facilities and licensing. The cloud will help the NRC reduce IT costs and satisfy requirements from the Office of Management and Budget to set up cloud computing infrastructure, according to Dell. Dell’s federal government division will also help the NRC consolidate its data centers. Dell has won a few other major federal contracts recently, including an indefinite quantity contract for IT services with the Homeland Security Department, with a ceiling value of more than $20 billion, Dell announced Wednesday. It also secured a five-year, $37.1 million contract through prime contractor AAC to provide IT services to the General Services Administration. Much of this work will be in Dell’s Nashville and Oklahoma City service centers.


New Center for Urban Entrepreneurship at UDC

Dr. Wayne Curtis, an professor at the University of the District of Columbia, is starting an entrepreneurship center on campus to teach undergraduate and graduate students business skills. Photo taken in Washington, DC. on Feb.27, 2014.( Photo by Jeffrey MacMillan) Even start-up hubs need to start somewhere. Professor Wayne Curtis is trying to get his own venture off the ground: a physical location where students at the University of the District of Columbia can learn about and discuss entrepreneurship. Right now, UDC’s Center for Urban Entrepreneurship is modest — just a room in the campus’s Building 38, where Curtis and a couple other faculty members hold office hours. He and a small staff operate the school’s certificate of entrepreneurship program, teaching basic business principles, accounting, finance, management and marketing, among other skills. Full-time students can complete the program in two semesters; about 20 undergraduate and 30 graduate students are currently enrolled. Curtis started the center to spur economic activity in the District since “we’re not going to get a manufacturing plant moving into the District of Columbia” to provide jobs, he said. Many job openings he sees in the Washington area are within small businesses, but owners he talks to often struggle to find qualified staff to fill those positions. “That’s where the university is really starting to take a greater role in job creation.” High-tech start-up hubs are cropping up elsewhere in the District; for instance business incubator 1776 in Northwest Washington is home to several new tech ventures. But the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship is meant to help UDC students — underrepresented at these kinds of hubs — move into Washington’s start-up scene. Curtis is pursuing partnerships with local business incubators and co-working spaces, such as Affinity Labs, hoping to reserve spots for UDC students. Many of his students use what they learn at the center to benefit Wards 7 and 8, Curtis noted. One such group is creating a business plan for District-based nonprofit Green Scheme, which promotes urban agriculture and teaches District residents about nutrition. Others work on international ventures — a group of students from Gambia designed a system for migrant farmers there to distribute produce. “When we look at international students, most of them are taking on entrepreneurial ventures. Most domestically are basically trying to get jobs,” he said. Though he hopes the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship encourages more UDC students to start businesses,


DANCING THROUGH IT My Journey in the Ballet By Jenifer Ringer

memoirs, particularly by City Ballet dancers, come out at a fairly steady clip. “Dancing Through It” will not take its place among the best-written (Jock Soto’s lively “Every Step You Take”) or the most revealing (Suzanne Farrell and Toni Bentley’s “Holding on to the Air”), but it does provide a glimpse into the fragile psyche of a dancer. Ringer credits religious faith with helping bring her back to the top of a field where, as she puts it, “ballet is god.” For local readers, her memoir offers a look at her pivotal years as a teenage ballerina in Northern Virginia. “Dancing Through It” opens with a five-page reminiscence of Ringer’s first professional performance: dancing Balanchine’s “Serenade” with the Washington Ballet at the Kennedy Center. “If I were to distill into one event what made me want to dance, I would say that dancing in ‘Serenade’ was what ultimately led me to a career in ballet. . . . The moment I heard the music and began to learn steps that fit the music so well that they seemed inevitable, I knew my life had been changed.” ’Dancing Through It’ by Jenifer Ringer (Viking) Ringer was born in New Bern, N.C., to a nurse and a marine biologist, who in 1985 went to work for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Washington. Ringer was 12 when her family settled in West Springfield, and she says that, until that point, ballet was just “an after school activity”; neither she nor her parents knew if she was any good. For a while, she took classes at both the Virginia and Washington ballets. In Fairfax, she experienced the thrill of learning lifts under Oleg Tupin, a former dancer with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but she ultimately preferred the more rigorous Washington Ballet, even though that meant her terrified mother had to drive her from Fairfax County to Tenleytown. Ringer’s local instructors included Patricia Berrend, Julio de Bittencourt and Suzanne Erlon, but she writes most fondly of the late choreographer Choo San Goh. Ringer describes Choo San as a “quiet and gentle” teacher who was unable to understand her Southern accent. Company founder Mary Day lived up to her tyrannical reputation; Ringer says she was “cause for extra nerves and more attention to how our hair was fixed.” Nonetheless, Day picked Ringer as one of three students to join that memorable 1987 “Serenade”


Making educated bets

The Feb. 23 front-page article “Casino security always looking for the next cheat” reported that “Casino cheats include card counters and people who try to steal chips from distracted dealers and players.” There are plenty of cheats in casinos, but card counters are not among them. Casinos are thrilled that this sham continues to be perpetuated, but quite simply, it is a falsehood, according to numerous court cases, as well as the Maryland state gambling law. That law defines cheating as “engaging in conduct including . . . placing, cancelling, increasing, or decreasing a bet based on knowledge that is not available to other players.” Card counters at a blackjack table use the same information that is available to everyone to make educated, informed betting and playing decisions. While card counting may be the road less traveled, that fact makes all the difference. Dan Morris, Rockville


District’s homicide total in 2014 rises to 25

included a stabbing and an apparent beating in addition to shootings. In the year’s first 60 days, the city has had almost one-quarter as many homicides as in all of 2013, when 104 were recorded. In the most recent of the six recent killings , Billy Andre Harris of Northwest was fatally shot about 3 a.m. Saturday in the 4800 block of Ninth Street NW, police said. A lifelong resident of the neighborhood, Harris, 51, lived near where he was killed, said his younger brother, Marcus Jerkins. “He knew everybody,” Jerkins said. “Everyone who knew him loved him and loved being around him,” Jerkins said. Harris, the father of two and a veteran of D.C. National Guard service, had recently completed a job training program and was looking for work, Jerkins said. He was “just getting his life back together,” his brother said. About three hours before Harris’s death, police found Andre McIntyre, 46, unconscious about 12:20 a.m. in the 3700 block of D Street SE. The cause of his death was blunt-force trauma to the head and neck, police said. Someone who knew McIntyre said he had “two beautiful daughters he loved very much” and who “loved him very much.” He also had three grandsons and was called “a nice guy and very friendly.” In Friday night’s double shooting, Khalid Jamal Bryant, 34, and Jason Emmanuel Bryant, 26, were shot multiple times outside Antioch Baptist Church at 50th Street and Lee Street NE, in the Deanwood area. “They were good guys, very good guys,” a relative said. “They would do anything for you.” Pastor William H. Gibbs said more than 15 adults and almost twice as many children were in the church at the time. Some were members of the junior choir, but several children were practicing a play to be staged at a wedding. Residents of the area, a section of single-family houses, said they heard as many as 10 gunshots. No shots were heard in the church. Church members saw the flashing lights of police vehicles and saw that crime-scene tape had been strung. But none of the church members had to pass a fallen body as they left, Gibbs said. The brothers were not members, he said. In the first two of the six slayings, two teenagers were killed Thursday. One was stabbed and the other shot. An arrest was made in the stabbing, police said.


U.S. foreign policy comes home to roost with Russia’s action in Ukraine

David J. Kramer is president of Freedom House and a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Russia and Ukraine in the George W. Bush administration. President Obama faces the gravest challenge of his presidency in figuring out how to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. How he responds will define his two terms in office, as well as determine the future of Ukraine, Russia and U.S. standing in the world. After all, if the authoritarian tyrant Vladimir Putin is allowed to get away with his unprovoked attack against his neighbor, a blatant violation of that country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, then U.S. credibility, already damaged by Obama’s poor handling of Syria, will be down to zero. Allies won’t believe in us, enemies won’t fear us and the world will be a much more dangerous place. The White House statement issued late Saturday afternoon expressing “deep concern over Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty” was woefully inadequate. There are things Obama needs to do immediately, some in collaboration with our European and NATO allies, others on our own. They include: ●Imposing sanctions against Russian state-owned banks and financial institutions; ●Widening application of the 2012 Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act against an array of Kremlin officials, including Putin; ●Terminating all negotiations with Russia on a possible trade agreement or promoting business; ●Calling an emergency NATO meeting to reassure NATO allies that border Ukraine and initiate mobilization of forces to be ready for any developments (Article 4 of the NATO Treaty, invoked by Latvia and Lithuania, calls for consultations about security concerns); ●Sending U.S. military ships to the Black Sea for any contingencies; ●Pushing for a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Russia’s aggression against its neighbor, even though Russia will obviously veto it; and ●Joining other Group of Eight members in expelling Russia and announcing the cancellation of Obama’s plans to visit Sochi, where Putin was to host this year’s G-8 meeting in June. There may well be other things Obama should do: Some have called for deploying U.S. forces to western Ukraine and the capital, Kiev; others have said we should immediately offer NATO membership to Ukraine. The United States should aim for realistic responses, ones that will not lead to divisions within NATO. But Obama should also not telegraph to Putin what U.S. limits are in responding to Russia’s aggression, as he and Secretary of State John F.


Spell out the consequences for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

offer Mr. Putin a face-saving way out of the crisis he has triggered. But Mr. Obama needs to be prepared for the very real possibility that, as in his previous invasion of Georgia, Mr. Putin will ignore international condemnations and press ahead. Mr. Obama has been vague about the consequences of continued Russian aggression. Saturday’s statement spoke only of the suspension of U.S. participation in preparatory meetings for an upcoming G-8 summit in Sochi. Mr. Obama should make clear that its aggression will comprehensively damage all aspects of Russia’s relations with the United States. Such a policy would start with cancellation of Mr. Obama’s attendance at the Sochi summit and suspension of talks with Russia on trade issues. Mr. Obama should convoke a meeting of the seven industrial democracies that excludes Russia. Mr. Putin should get the message that he will henceforth be a pariah to the democratic world. Mr. Obama should make clear that he will no longer shrink from applying sanctions to Russian leaders and businesses complicit in aggression or human rights violations. An expanded list of Russian officials subject to visa denials and asset freezes that was drawn up by the State Department late last year should be immediately approved by the White House. Russian officials in the chain of command of the Ukraine invasion, as well as Russian companies and banks operating in Crimea, should be the next targets of financial sanctions. The most powerful non-military tool the United States possesses is exclusion from its banking system. Mr. Obama should make clear that if Russia does not retreat from Ukraine, it will expose itself to this sanction, which could sink its financial system. Russia’s economy, unlike that of the Soviet Union, is heavily dependent on Western trade and investment. It must be made clear to the Kremlin that the Ukraine invasion will put that at risk. Many in the West did not believe Mr. Putin would dare attempt a military intervention in Ukraine because of the steep potential consequences. That the Russian ruler plunged ahead shows that he doubts Western leaders will respond forcefully. If he does not quickly retreat, the United States must prove him wrong. Read more about this top: The Post’s View: Condemnation is not enough Jim Hoagland: ‘A world awash in change’ Anne Applebaum: The pressure is on Ukraine Jennifer Rubin: Obama let the Russian bear out Charles Krauthammer: Putin’s Ukraine gambit


Recalls, lawsuits, traffic tickets — wearable tech is starting to get attention from legal system

Libbie Canter, from left, of Covington and Burling, Lisa Adelson of DesignLaw Group and patent lawyer Joseph Murphy during a discussion that took place last month at Fashion Law Week DC at Howard Law School. Below, Todd Blatt of Custom 3D Stuff with a wearable device during Fashion Law Week DC. In the past year, legal issues resulting from wearable technology have ended up in court, as well as in front of law enforcement officials. (Jeffrey MacMillan/Jeffrey MacMillan) When Adidas sued Under Armour last month — accusing the Baltimore athletic retailer of infringing on patents used in its fitness tracker app, MapMyFitness — it wasn’t just the sports apparel world that took notice. Lawyers did, too. Since last year, legal issues surrounding wearable technology — any technology that can be worn on the body, such as clothes, watches or glasses — have started creeping into the courts and under the purview of law enforcement. The suit against Under Armour is one of the first known commercial cases involving wearable technology and patent law. But it is not the first time wearable devices have prompted questions about the liability of the companies that make — and the consumers who use — them. In February, San Francisco-based Fitbit recalled its Force wristband activity tracker after some users complained it caused skin irritation. In October, a California woman was pulled over for speeding while wearing Google Glass and cited for having a video screen on while driving — the closest existing violation because California vehicle code does not specifically mention computer-in-eyeglasses technology. It is believed to be the first-ever citation over Google Glass. The laws that serve as the basis for these actions — patent law, tort law — have been around for centuries. But increasingly, they are being applied to new and fast-growing technology found in products ranging from smart watches that monitor your heartbeat, to devices that track calorie intake and sleep patterns. “Any area of the law will be impacted by these new technologies,”said Lisa Adelson, a patent attorney at Saidman DesignLaw Group, a boutique Silver Spring law firm that represents companies, including Apple and Toyota, in defending and procuring patents for computers, car parts, furniture and other products. Adelson spoke last week at Fashion Law Week DC, a week-long event held at Howard Law School that addresses legal issues in the fashion industry. “It’s a wearable technology item, but


Kerry to visit Ukraine on Tuesday, threatens sanctions if Russia doesn’t pull forces back

The Obama administration called Russia’s advances in Ukraine “a brazen act of aggression” Sunday and threatened sanctions but skirted questions about whether the United States might use force to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin. The State Department announced Sunday that Secretary of State John F. Kerry will visit Kiev on Tuesday to show support for the new leadership there in the face of the Russian military intervention. Kerry on Sunday called the rapid movement of Russian troops across the border into Ukraine’s Crimea region unwarranted and outside international law and said Russia would suffer economic and political consequences. “He’s going to lose on the international stage,” Kerry said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” referring to Putin. “Russia is going to lose, the Russian people are going to lose, and he’s going to lose all of the glow that came out of the Olympics, his $60 billion extravaganza.” Economic sanctions and travel restrictions on individual Russians are one possibility, as is a U.S. and European boycott of planning meetings this week for the upcoming summit of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations in Russia. The United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia are members of the G-8. “There are visa bans, asset freezes, isolation with respect to trade, investment,” Kerry said on CBS’s “Face The Nation.” “American businesses may well want to start thinking twice about whether they want to do business with a country that behaves like this. These are serious implications.” Kerry also said that the administration was ready to provide economic assistance “of a major sort” to Ukraine. President Obama discussed Ukraine on Sunday with the leaders of Germany, Britain and Poland. Administration officials said the trade and economic penalties being considered would target Russia’s prized economic position abroad. Actions against Russian banks are a possible avenue, one administration official said, while another said the potential actions would be significant and would leave Russia weaker. “This will have a cost on the Russian economy,” one senior administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the unfolding international diplomacy. “Some of those costs will be imposed by the United States; some of that Russia has already invited on itself,” the official added. The official acknowledged that efforts are “focused on political and economic options.” The situation in Ukraine escalated rapidly over the weekend, with thousands of Russian troops entering Crimea and capturing


Winter’s freeze stopped ash borers and stink bugs cold, but they’re primed for a comeback

and the Appalachian Mountains. (AP/Wade Payne) Adult hemlock woolly adelgids lay eggs in the white woolly sacs on the needles of eastern and Carolina hemlocks. (Michael Montgomery/USDA Forest Service/Bugwood.org) Across the country, other destructive pests are dropping dead, including the hemlock woolly adelgid, which preys on Christmas trees in the Appalachian Mountains; the kernel-munching corn earworm, found in nearly every state; the citrus-destroying cottony cushion scale that migrated to Maryland from Florida; and the gypsy moth, which chomps on 80 species of trees and is spreading from the Northeast to the Midwest. The bugs found their way to the United States from all over the world and thrived in the relatively warm winters of recent years. At least two of the pests mounted great migrations from the Deep South to Virginia and Maryland. A gypsy moth caterpillar eats a leaf on a tree in Trenton, N.J. (AP/Mel Evans) For now, at least, the freeze has stopped them in their tracks. Researchers in the Appalachians of West Virginia and Maryland found hemlock adelgids whose little, straw-like mouths were stuck to the pine needles from which they suck nectar. “If you poke them with a stick, they’ll normally move their little microscopic legs,” said Patrick Tobin, a research entomologist for the Forest Service in Morgantown, W.Va. But not this winter. Based on surveillance, researchers believe more than 95 percent of hemlock adelgids were killed in the northern Appalachians and at least 70 percent died in their southernmost range, Georgia. At first blush, this appears to be great news, Tobin said. Important trees, including ash, birch and oak, and such vital crops as soybeans, corn and oranges will probably get a break from millions of gnawing mouths. But invasive bugs are a breed apart. Built to last, they almost never experience extinction. An icerya purchasi, also known as a cottony cushion scale, crawls on a limb. Many bugs that migrated north due to warmer temperatures won’t make it through this year’s colder winter. (Division of Plant Industry/Florida Department of Agriculture) Female adelgids and cottony cushion scales, for example, are asexual creatures that produce nymphs without copulation. Three generations or more will spring to life between March and October. As for emerald ash borers, that Minnesota deep freeze affected only a limited number. Chicago also has ash borers, but temperatures there fell only to 17 degrees below zero and likely didn’t faze the insects.


Q&A with Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.)

Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va) chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, a panel at the center of the national immigration debate, declined to be interviewed for the accompanying article but sent written answers to question through his communications director, Beth Breeding. Here is the interview in its entirety. Q. Parts of your district, including Roanoke, have seen a significant surge in immigrants in the past 15 years. This includes refugees, legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. What is your general view of how this surge has affected your district, including its economy, culture, spending on services, and political climate? Has it brought both benefits and challenges? What are they? A. We are a nation of immigrants and the Sixth District is no different. In Roanoke, we have a vibrant cultural scene that celebrates the heritage and many of the traditions of the people who now call the region home. The contributions of the immigrant community are many and can be seen in nearly every industry. We are also a nation of laws and illegal immigration undermines the integrity of our immigration system. Q: As you know, Virginia’s important poultry industry has become heavily dependent on immigrant labor, and many industry leaders, including those in your district, favor immigration reforms that would make it easier to employ more immigrant laborers. What is your view on the best solution to this issue? Should adult illegal immigrants be given some limited status to be able to work legally, if they have not committed any other crimes, or should there be an expanded guest worker program? A: For far too long, American farmers have faced unnecessary hurdles and excessive red tape when hiring foreign workers under the current H-2A program. I’ve heard from farmers in the Commonwealth who want to use this program, who have tried in good faith to use the H-2A program, but have faced roadblock after roadblock. The agriculture industry needs reliable farm labor and workers who want temporary work need access to stable, legal, temporary employment. It’s in our nation’s interest to create a sensible way for workers to come in on a temporary basis, fill empty jobs, and go back to their home countries. That is precisely why I introduced the Agricultural Guestworker (AG) Act, which the House Judiciary Committee approved last year. The AG Act replaces the broken H-2A program with a new, sensible guestworker program. In contrast to the


Burkey Belser, nutrition-facts label designer, talks about the future of food information

is it different from other kinds of graphic design? It’s a very unique specialty, a special kind of skill. It’s very easy to run off the road in terms of design. . . . Every normal tool of a designer — color, photography, illustration — that’s all stripped away, and all we have is type. In this case, what we did with the original label is to use the dramatic difference between black and light fonts, between super-bold and super-light rules. Those act as organizing devices for the reader so they will slide right through that label. Michelle Obama, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius unveiled the proposed updates at the White House. What do you think? First of all, I really support the efforts of the FDA. I do have a certain fondness for the original, but I understand it’s been a long time and there have been shifts in the science. [In the new design], there are a couple of successes. It’s easier to see the calories. The consolidating of serving sizes is going to be really important. But I ask if it feels as well organized down below, particularly with the movement of percentage of daily value to the left. . . . There are also multiple super- bold rules throughout the middle of the label, which break it up in a way the old label hadn’t. It now reads in lurches instead of smoothly through the label. Now, if a label were designed by scientists, it would have no boldface. As soon as we bold something, that’s a public-policy decision. In the old label, you boldfaced fats. In the new version, calories. I believe the alternative label should not be called “nutrition facts.” It should be called “nutrition guide.” It’s moved that far along the continuum because of the design. Instead of presenting facts, it’s prescriptive. It’s telling people what we want you to do — eat more of that, avoid this. So you see, when you get down to details of label, you’ll see every single decision has an impact, has an effect on the reader. It still feels like our old friend the nutrition label, and people are fond of the label. The proof is that it’s riffed on in so many ways. And I don’t think the affection will go away with this design.


‘Mommy lobby’ emerges as a powerful advocate for medical marijuana for children

with seizure disorders who have been successfully treated with a special oil extract made from cannabis plants, mothers have become the new face of the medical marijuana movement. Similar scenes have been playing out in recent weeks in other states where medical marijuana remains illegal: Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Utah, New York, North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky. The “mommy lobby” has been successful at opening the doors to legalizing marijuana — if only a crack, in some places — where others have failed. In the 1970s and ’80s, mothers were on the other side of the issue, successfully fending off efforts to decriminalize marijuana with heartbreaking stories about how their teenage children’s lives unraveled when they began to use the drug. Mothers have long been among the most powerful constituent groups in the United States, and the reason is clear. Groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving are able to draw so much public support because they tug at a universal human emotion: the desire to protect children from harm. And while national gun-control efforts after the Sandy Hook massacre faltered, mothers’ groups worked to keep the issue on the public radar, helping to get some new measures passed at the state level. Today, mothers are fighting for access to the drug, and they have changing public attitudes on their side. For the first time, a majority of Americans in opinion polls say they support the full legalization of marijuana. Last year, Colorado and Washington state made marijuana fully legal, and there has been a groundswell of support in several states for ballot initiatives or legislation to do the same, including some in the conservative South. Medical marijuana is now legal in 20 states and the District of Columbia. The diseases and conditions for which it can legally be used are limited and vary by jurisdiction. Most states have additional requirements for children: Instead of one prescription, parents must get two from different doctors. Even in states where marijuana is available for children, the mothers say it is often a challenge to convince physicians that the potential benefits outweigh the risks. The drug the mothers are seeking is an extract that contains only trace amounts of the part of the plant responsible for the euphoric effect of the drug but is still high in cannabidiol, or CBD — a substance that scientists think may quiet the electrical and chemical activity in the


Russian LGBT athletes hold Open Games despite official harassment, cancellations

ultra-religious, but they were taken by surprise, they said, when they discovered that police and other officials were pressuring hotel and venue managers to cancel their contracts. “Now we understand clearly that this law is not about kids,” said Elvina Yuvakaeva, the other leader of the sports federation. “We face real discrimination.” The sports federation, she said, has avoided human rights activity, dedicating itself instead to athletic events. No one under 18 was allowed to register for any of the events, Yablotskiy said. “There were no political statements or protests,” he said, another effort to avoid antagonizing the authorities. But it didn’t work. “We think the authorities did not want us to send a positive message,” said Yablotskiy, who is a figure skater. “They did not want society to see that we are normal people, playing sports.” The Open Games attracted 300 Russians from across the country, along with about 30 foreigners from the United States, Netherlands, Germany, Britain and Canada. The foreign participation offered some protection, Yablotskiy said. The smoke bomb exploded just after the German team had left the building Friday. A bomb scare was called in Saturday to an indoor soccer game just after the Dutch delegation — including the ambassador and minister of sports — had left, he said. Every event but table tennis had to be rearranged at the last minute, with the organizers moving around secretly, assuming their telephones were being tapped. The table-tennis tournament apparently was not disturbed because the celebrity guest, U.S. Olympic gold-medal diver Greg Louganis, visited and signed up to play. The invitation to the U.S. Embassy offered a respite, Yuvakaeva said. “We can play without fear of dogs, police or bombs,” she said. “Right now, we can think only about sports. That’s important.” The Russian players — eight women and two men — came from Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Tatarstan and Krasnodar. They were welcomed by Sheila Gwaltney, U.S. deputy chief of mission. “It’s a great honor to have you here,” she said. “It’s very important for us that human rights are respected for all.” The diplomats, nine men and a woman, were American, Australian, German, French and British. The score was diplomats, 70, Russians, 55. But Yuvakaeva, a snowboarder, said victory lay elsewhere. “We found the power within ourselves to make these games happen,” she said. “Most of our participants were very happy, despite the bomb threats and everything else.”


Is it normal to be turned off by sex after giving birth? A book offers guidance.

over?” (It has to do with the shape of the spine.) Of course, Geddes is not the first — nor probably the last — writer to wade into this territory, but her book is refreshingly frank and often funny. It also benefits from Geddes’s constructive outrage over the misinformation and sensationalism that she says plague much of the writing about the subject. “Every week, expectant parents are given new things to worry about. Pregnant women mustn’t eat too much, as it may raise the baby’s risk of obesity or diabetes, but we mustn’t diet as that could have a similar effect. Neither can we exercise, for fear of triggering a miscarriage. It’s enough to raise your blood pressure just thinking about it, only we mustn’t get stressed, because that’s bad for the baby, too.” So Geddes, who wrote much of the book while pregnant with her second child, digs through the studies and talks to the experts and breaks down her findings into accessible, thorough explanations. As she admits, the science of pregnancy and babies — like all science — is constantly evolving. For real-time news, you can check out her blog. Drug use Better the devil you know? ‘Demons: Our Changing Attitudes to Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs’ by Virginia Berridge In 2007, scientists writing in the British medical journal the Lancet caused a stir when they ranked 20 often-abused drugs in terms of their degree of harm. Few readers had objections to the scientists’ naming heroin as the worst drug, or khat (a stimulant popular mostly in the Arab world) coming in as least dangerous. What raised hackles was their uncompromising evaluation that alcohol was worse than cannabis, which in turn was worse than LSD; and that the street version of the synthetic narcotic methadone was worse than any of them. The scientists said they were trying to “help society to engage in a more rational debate about the relative risks and harms of drugs.” In her new book, “Demons: Our Changing Attitudes to Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs,” Virginia Berridge aims to take this discussion deeper, looking at how public opinion of different substances has been affected by research, politics and social mores. The book tells a complicated tale involving opium dens and absinthe, Prohibition and medical marijuana, and offers fascinating insights for a world where teenage binge drinking, legal marijuana, anti-smoking fervor and e-cigarettes are in the headlines.


Let’s make an effort to move more freight by rail and less by road. Trains are more efficient.

Train wheels and railroad rails deform, too, but the stiffness of steel limits the damage. As for aerodynamics, trains also trump trucks. Every vehicle has to “punch a hole in the atmosphere,” explains Christopher Barkan, executive director of the rail transportation and engineering center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Once a tractor-trailer has punched its way through, that hole closes. The next truck must punch a new hole. Trains can carry more than 100 trailer-size containers. When the locomotive punches its hole in the atmosphere, each car that follows can sneak into that same hole, saving a tremendous amount of energy. The faster a vehicle travels, the more significant these aerodynamic effects become. The train engine itself is a more efficient device than the engine of a truck. “A highway semi-tractor has a roughly 500-horsepower diesel engine, while a freight locomotive has a 4,400-horsepower diesel prime mover,” notes Tyler Dick, a research engineer at Urbana-Champaign. Nine truck engines have nine sets of parts rubbing against each other whenever they each attempt to combust a drop of diesel fuel. A single train engine can produce the same output with less rubbing. Speaking Tuesday at the Safeway distribution center in Upper Marlboro, Md., President Obama announced that the government will tighten fuel efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, part of an ongoing effort to use his executive authority to address climate change and spur domestic manufacturing. Industry consolidation also speeds implementation of new technologies. There are dozens of large trucking companies in the United States, in addition to thousands of independent truckers, which makes it difficult to broadly implement good ideas quickly. (That’s one reason President Obama is getting involved.) By contrast, a small number of companies dominate American rail freight, giving them the power and motivation to improve efficiency. In all of the areas mentioned above — friction, aerodynamics and engine efficiency — railways have made improvements over the past two decades. For example, to minimize the energy that is lost when a train comes around a curve — the squealing of the wheels is “the sound of energy being wasted,” says Dick — modern freight trains release a small amount of lubricant as they round a curve. It’s enough to cut down on the friction, but not so much that it inhibits braking. Changes in how trains are loaded can improve aerodynamics. You may have seen a


General’s court-martial could shape the future of military justice system

A sordid account involving illicit sex in uniform will be aired this week in an austere courtroom at Fort Bragg, N.C., and the results could tip the scales in a high-stakes debate in Congress over the future of the military justice system. The defendant, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, is accused of carrying on a long affair with a junior officer and sexually assaulting her on two occasions, among other crimes. He is only the third Army general to face court-martial in more than a half-century. But after two years of investigation and preparation, the prosecution is in disarray. The Army’s lead trial counsel, Lt. Col. William Helixon, abruptly stepped down last month after confiding to superiors and the general’s defense team that he had qualms about the case. The Army scrambled to replace him, attributing his departure to “personal reasons” and saying in court papers that he was in “a state of extreme emotional distress.” Meanwhile, the general’s lover-turned-accuser — an Army captain 17 years his junior — faces lingering questions about her credibility. Although she has testified that Sinclair twice forced her to perform oral sex against her will in Afghanistan, she has been unable to recall the exact dates and has given conflicting accounts to investigators and colleagues. In January, more doubts surfaced when she testified at a pretrial hearing that she had stumbled across an old iPhone in her apartment that contained messages between her and Sinclair. Although she testified she had recently found the phone and that it hadn’t been turned on in years, experts for both the prosecution and defense said forensic evidence showed that the phone had been used several times late last year, raising questions about the veracity of her account. The Washington Post generally does not identify alleged sexual-assault victims. Sinclair, a married paratrooper and former commander with the storied 82nd Airborne Division, is scheduled to return to the dock Tuesday in a small Fort Bragg courtroom. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, although his attorneys have acknowledged that he had an affair with the captain. The Army has set aside most of the month for the court-martial. The Army’s handling of the case is being watched closely in Washington, where the Senate is scheduled to soon consider a major bill that would strip military commanders of their long-standing authority to prosecute sexual assaults and other major crimes. The


In planning for the future, the Pentagon sees fewer troops and more technology

short, he will figure out how to do it without Congress. Political campaigning and just plain anti-Obamaism is behind some of the criticism of the so-called “shrinking Army.” Take the claim that the Army is headed to pre-World War II levels. In 1940, the regular Army was at 243,000 troops, the Army National Guard at 226,837 and Army Reserves at 104,228 — a total of 574,065. But with a world war looming, Congress in September 1940 passed the Selective Service and Training Act, and by July 1941, with the National Guard integrated into the regular Army and more than 600,000 draftees inducted, the overall force was near 1.4 million. That included about 150,000 members of the Army Air Corps. Since the proposed Hagel Army will be at 970,000, and with the Air Force at roughly 500,000, the numbers are roughly the same as after the 1941 draftees are counted. Those concerned about numbers might consider instituting Citizens’ Military Training Camps, a form of national service that was practiced between 1920 and 1940. It permitted qualified men — although it now should include women — to have basic military training over four summers without being called up for active duty. Those who completed the course could apply for active duty. Of course, force numbers in this age of technology are only one measure of fighting capability. Today’s soldier has far greater protection, mobility and firepower than his predecessors, and that’s why McRaven’s force is becoming a center of this country’s military planning. For example, SOCOM has a Tactical Assault Light Operator-Shooter (TALOS) development program, sometimes called “the Iron Man suit.” It’s meant to give a soldier lighter but more efficient full-body ballistic protection, with embedded antennas and computers that offer real-time battlefield information, according to a February article in Stars and Stripes. It also will have heaters and coolers to regulate temperatures and sensors to monitor heart rate, body position and hydration levels. If the soldier is wounded, the suit “may be able to administer the first oxygen or hemorrhage controls,” according to the article. McRaven is quoted as saying, “If we do TALOS right, it will be a huge comparative advantage over our enemies and give the warriors the protection they need in a very demanding environment.” That’s why smaller Army numbers won’t count as much as they have in the past. For previous Fine Print columns, go to washingtonpost.com/fedpage.


Tom Sietsema: Ostera Morini on the Capitol Riverfront

The Italian restaurant has its roots in New York and its heart in Northern Italy, and it is elevating the offerings in the Capitol Riverfront area. Aside from the trapeze school, the most fly reason to explore the emerging Capitol Riverfront in Southeast Washington right now is an Italian restaurant whipped up by a New York chef. Even riding shotgun with UberX, you may get lost on your first attempt to reach Osteria Morini, which served its first crostini and meatballs in November in a yet-to-be-zoned area whose streets don’t appear on all navigation systems. The reward for your diligence is a window-wrapped room with a view (of the Yards Park and the Anacostia River) and food inspired by Michael White of the Altamarea Group, a restaurant collection that includes the original Osteria Morini, opened in New York in 2010, and the loftier Marea on Central Park South. Think pasta made from scratch, meat warmed over a wood-fired grill and desserts that are anything but ordinary. And this in a space made merry with a stretch of a bar, columns wrapped in amber glass and a visible kitchen manned by chef Matt Adler, who comes to Washington from the Morini in SoHo. The offshoot retains a bad habit from its November debut: making its servers deliver an annoying screed about how to order. The narrative is so ingrained in the otherwise engaging staff that if anyone interrupts the script, some of them start over. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” one of the waiters launched into his spiel one night, which was news to the four guys at the table, none in drag. Morini doesn’t taste like a chain, but sometimes it acts like one. Get past the introduction, however, and the place can easily grow on you. My affection is kindled by a very good cocktail — allow me to suggest Fiori D’Arancio, based on bourbon and Madeira — and antipasti that mix the traditional with the trendy. Tender meatballs draped in tomato sauce are no match for the elite model served at Casa Luca downtown. Testa — a terrine of fried pig head, presented as a crisp bar seasoned with rosemary and lemon zest — is a delicious way to try parts of an animal that used to go to waste but now enjoy cachet among food warriors. Osteria Morini specializes in the food of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy,


Sports digest

Olympic gold medalist ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White will not compete at the world championships later this month. The Americans announced Monday they would not defend their world title in Saitama, Japan, on March 24-30. As far as their competitive future beyond worlds, White said in a news release that “we will leave our options open.” Alexandra Aldridge Davis and White became the first Americans to win Olympic gold in ice dance. The silver medalists, Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, also said Monday they wouldn’t attend worlds. The gold medalists from their home Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 are expected to retire. The three women who represented the United States in Sochi — Gracie Gold, Alexandria’s Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds — will go to worlds. Four-time U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott will skate at worlds before retiring. SOCCER The U.S. men’s soccer friendly against Ukraine is in jeopardy. The United States is scheduled to face Ukraine in Larnaca, Cyprus, on Wednesday. But the game is in doubt because of the upheaval in Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. The U.S. Soccer Federation says Monday night in a statement, “We have been in contact with the Football Federation of Ukraine and are awaiting final confirmation that the team is still planning to travel to Cyprus for the match.” Russian troops tightened their stranglehold on the peninsula Monday. . . . American midfielder Stuart Holden lasted less than a half hour in his first match since another major knee injury last year. Holden started for Bolton’s under-21s at home against Everton in his first game appearance since tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament during the United States’ 1-0 victory over Panama in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final on July 28. Holden was in discomfort when he fell to the turf in the 23rd minute and was replaced by Luke Woodland, Bolton said on its Web site. The Bolton News reported the 28-year-old held his right thigh and back of the knee early and collapsed clutching the back of the knee with no one near him. The team said Holden was able to get up and run down the tunnel to the dressing room. BOXING A former world champion boxer was arrested in Florida on a felony theft and bad check warrant stemming from unpaid IOUs at a Las Vegas Strip casino. The Florida Highway Patrol arrested Antonio Tarver on Saturday night after


How Stephen Starr made Le Diplomate the hottest table in town

lights. You just know it doesn’t feel right,” he says. Over the past 19 years, both Starr and the country got more adventurous about food thanks to cable cooking shows, celebrity chefs and food trucks. When he was in his 20s, Starr and his buddies went out for Chinese food or pizza; now millennials like his 22-year-old daughter are going out to eat instead of going to concerts. The success of Continental led to a string of other Starr restaurants that transformed Philly’s food scene. He hired top chefs, like Masaharu Morimoto, and designers who turned raw space into replicas of English pubs or Asian palaces. There were a few misses along the way, but mostly hits. Starr owns 30 restaurants in Philadelphia, New York, Atlantic City and Florida, including Parc, his $9 million French bistro on Philly’s Rittenhouse Square. It opened in 2005 but looks like it’s been there 100 years. It’s the one restaurant that Starr keeps open during snowstorms when everything else shuts down, because regulars mush through the drifts to eat there. The next big thing Starr and his restaurants have scooped up plenty of honors, but the food aristocracy has never been quite willing to embrace his showmanship. Starr and Serpico have been nominated for the prestigious James Beard Awards, but he doubts they’ll make the list of finalists announced later this month. Le Diplomate may be a big hit, but the tiny, chef-owned Rose’s Luxury on Capitol Hill was the only D.C. spot nominated in the Best New Restaurant category. Starr is gambling that this bistro, like Parc, will become a Washington institution, which is the reason he signed a 22-year lease on the building. The trick to sustainability? “We just have to keep the food consistently good.” Obvious, but true: One bad experience and customers get wary; two and they move on to the next big thing. But he wants the next big thing in Washington to be his anyway. Starr is already tossing around ideas for a second D.C. restaurant. Maybe in Georgetown, although the lack of public transportation bothers him. Maybe H Street NE. But it won’t be another French bistro. “The restaurant that we made, I think, will last forever,” he says, which is something only a guy with a restaurant empire can say without sounding silly. “I don’t think it will ever go out of style.” REVIEW: Le Diplomate


RadioShack’s back to the ’80s culture meets 2014: Company to close 1,100 stores

in 2002, according to a Web site devoted to vintage catalogues from the store. The catalogue extended 446 pages and ran the gamut from a Tasmanian Devil land-line phone to a $24.95 Morsecode practice key. That seems to raise the question: What if the culture passes you by? What if the ethic that built your business — that do-it-yourself, everyone’s-an-expert notion that made people want to match audio components in perfect ensemble and fix their headphone cord when it wore out — becomes less relevant to what people want and how they consume it? Music “devices” don’t have needles, magnetic heads or other parts to maintain, even batteries. Headphones have become earbuds with soldered joints too small and insulated to mess with; when the cord breaks they get ditched. “Electronics” now means computer code and integrated circuits — and if you are messing with that stuff, you are probably ordering parts from one of the big online warehousers. “They were the go-to store,” said Ward Silver, a technical writer and editor for the American Radio Relay League, an amateur radio broadcasters group. “When the Web came along, you had a blizzard of companies you could order through,” while RadioShack’s catalogue, however extensive, seemed among experts to be filled with “least-common denominator” items that mattered less to their pursuits. The stores, meanwhile, seem a hodgepodge in an age of specialization — iPhone sleeves on one wall and geeky soldering-iron kits on another. “They lost touch with the changing consumer dynamics, and they lost with the changing retail scene,” said Yoram Wind, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “The big issue is that in today’s environment, people look for excitement, experience. RadioShack is the same old store.” Web-based competition and shifts in technology have disrupted many other companies. And RadioShack isn’t the first — or likely the last — to help invent a business only to lose it. Magnacca, chief executive for only a year, has launched a turnaround plan. The store closures are just one piece of it. The other involves retooling the remaining stores to be more engaging, with a dedicated wall of speakers, for example, that shoppers can sample with a touch pad using their own music, display cellphones that can be used and experimented with, and a “do it yourself” consulting center for people who need advice on how to use technology.


U.S. prepared to place unilateral sanctions on Russian officials, businesses

The Obama administration is prepared to take unilateral steps to sanction Russian individuals and business entities it holds responsible for corrupt and illegal behavior in Ukraine while it moves to persuade its European partners, some more reluctant than others, to consider more substantive sanctions to directly affect the Russian economy, according to senior administration officials. The officials declined to provide a timeline but said Tuesday that Russian actions over the next few days would demonstrate whether President Vladimir Putin has any interest in an early de-escalation of the situation in the autonomous Ukrainian region of Crimea. Even as it tried to provide Putin with a face-saving way out, the administration publicly challenged his stated reasons for deploying thousands of Russian troops across Crimea, where they have surrounded government buildings and military installations. In statements of disbelief bordering on ridicule, President Obama and Secretary of State John F. Kerry dismissed Putin’s assertions that his troops are protecting ethnic Russians in Crimea threatened by pro-Western Ukrainians who took over the country last week in what Putin called a “coup.” “Mr. Putin can throw a lot of words out there,” but “facts on the ground” tell a different story, Obama said following a Putin news conference in Moscow. Russian troops and pro-Russian militants take up positions around the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, surrounding government buildings and military installations. Kerry, during a visit to Kiev, said that Russian allegations of “ultranationalists” and “Nazis” on the streets of Ukraine were a “pretext” to further expand military occupation beyond Crimea, perhaps into Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland. “Not a single piece of credible evidence supports any one of these claims,” Kerry said of Putin’s charges. “None.” Administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity about internal deliberations, outlined four steps that Russia could take to remove the alleged threat to its own interests and avoid sanctions. Any danger to ethnic Russians in Ukraine could be verified and addressed by the deployment of international monitors from the United Nations or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Charges that Ukraine’s current U.S.-backed interim government is illegitimate, they said, could be resolved with elections in Ukraine that are currently scheduled for May. Russia does not have to withdraw its troops from Crimea, officials said, just return them to bases it currently operates there under a long-standing agreement with Ukraine. Although Putin said Tuesday that no additional Russian troops


Four lion cubs born this week at National Zoo

The Smithsonian National Zoo posted a video of four lion cubs born Sunday at the zoo to 9-year-old Shera. Four new lions were added this week to the population of a city that already has more than its share of the powerful. But don’t expect to see the new lion cubs on exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo until early summer. The four lion cubs were born Sunday at the zoo to Shera, a 9-year-old African lioness. The cubs’ delivery took seven hours, ending at 3:17 p.m. The father is Luke, who has also been named as the father of two female cubs born at the zoo Jan. 24, to a second female lion, Nababiep. For Shera, it is her second litter — and the fifth for 8-year-old father Luke. Zoo staff watched Shera give birth via a closed-circuit webcam. The first cub was born at 8:27 a.m. and appeared “active and healthy,” according to a press release from the zoo. The other three cubs were born at 9:03 a.m., 11:09 a.m. and at 3:17 p.m. “All four cubs appear to be nursing, moving and vocalizing well,” the zoo said. Take a look at some of the animals born at the National Zoo. Shera raised her previous four cubs with success, so zoo officials said they are “cautiously optimistic that these cubs will thrive,” according to Kristen Clark, the animal keeper at the Great Cats exhibit at the zoo. “Like any mom, she needs some peace and quiet to bond with her cubs, so we’re giving her the solitude she needs,” Clark said. “From what we’ve observed,” she said, “her behaviors are right on point, and there’s no need for us to intervene.” The zoo said both mothers have space separated from each other and from Luke. But when the time comes, introductions will begin, the zoo said. “Our aim is to bring all nine lions together,” said animal keeper Rebecca Stites. In the wild, a lion may take up to six weeks to introduce her cubs to others, so zoo officials said they are following that same process. The zoo’s animal keepers and veterinary team will continue to watch and examine the lion cubs. They will go on exhibit to the public in early summer. Nababiep and her cubs will remain indoors until late spring. They can be seen on the lion cub camera on the zoo’s Web site.


D.C. news in brief

GWU will host STEM program for families Saturday George Washington University is having STEMosphere, a free exhibition on STEM (science, technology, education and math) education, for families from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Charles E. Smith Center, 600 22nd St. NW. The event will include more than 30 exhibits designed to stimulate interest in the sciences among children and families. The exhibits will include topics such as Lego robotics, a Mars rover construction, clay modeling, moving glaciers and human brains vs. animal brains. To register, go to www.eventbrite.com/e/stemosphere-washington-dc-registration-10488584639. Traffic signal times will change in wards 6, 7 and 8 The District Department of Transportation have begun a signal optimization project to enhance traffic signal timing patterns at nearly 200 intersections in wards 6, 7 and 8. The project affects areas south and east of the Anacostia River, including roadways such as Pennsylvania Avenue, East Capitol Street, Minnesota Avenue, Alabama Avenue, Benning Road and Suitland Parkway, and areas around Nationals Park and along the M Street and South Capitol Street corridors. DDOT will be monitoring and making adjustments to traffic signal timing throughout this month. Motorists should be cautious in these areas as drivers become acclimated to the new signal timing patterns. Project goals include making signals more pedestrian friendly, improving bus running times and overall traffic flow, and reducing vehicular traffic emissions. For information, go to ddot.dc.gov. Dance DC festival seeks performers and musicians The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities is seeking musicians and dancers for its annual Dance DC Festival in August. The festival showcases a variety of folk and traditional dance styles and music. Previous festivals have included more than 2,000 dancers. Performance groups must have at least one group member from the District and must perform the repertoires for which they were invited. A standard repertoire for dancers consists of 10 minutes of performance time. Instructors are expected to provide an hour of interactive dance instruction. Technical specifications must be provided in advance. Performance lengths are subject to change by festival organizers. The application deadline is March 21. To apply, go to dcarts.dc.gov/page/dance-dc-festival. For information, call 202-724-5613 or e-mail ebony.blanks@dc.gov. DDOT releases Anacostia master plan update The D.C. Department of Transportation recently published the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative Transportation Master Plan 2014 Update, a tool for managing transportation infrastructure projects near and crossing the river in wards 5, 6, 7 and 8. The


Montgomery County Animal Watch

These were among the cases received recently by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5054. That number provides recorded information on such topics as the Montgomery County Animal Shelter hours and location, adoption and licensing procedures, rabies clinics and low-cost neutering. Dog creeps while teenagers sleep: Montgomery County Humane Society: Dogs, cats and other pets will be available through the Montgomery County Humane Society at the following locations. To confirm the schedule, call 240-793-4201 or visit www.mchumane.org. Rockville Pet Valu 14933 Shady Grove Rd.Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday Olney Unleashed3134 Olney Sandy Spring Rd.Noon to 3 p.m. Sunday Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown No-kill shelter has adoptable cats: Cats and kittens will be available for adoption through the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County no-kill shelter at the following location. For information, call 301-740-2511 or visit www.awlmc.org. Gaithersburg 6 to 8 p.m. Friday Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday Gaithersburg — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Renee’s Garden: Seeds for the home gardener

next year. It keeps a firm, tight bud, she said, offering one to her golden Lab, Eliot. He decided he liked it. The food movement is driving much of her work. Veggies once considered undesirable are now in vogue, in part because gardeners know that a home-grown turnip, for example, is not the same beast as the turnip you find at a supermarket, and partly because we are getting more flavorful and nutritious varieties. “If you told me five years ago I would be trialing rutabagas, I would have said you were nuts. But now there is such an interest in root vegetables.” Novelty drives interest. This season, she is introducing a particularly curled variety of kale, Dutch Darkibor. The world needs more kale variety — as much as I love Red Russian and Black Tuscan, it would be nice to try something else. Her new varieties also include a gourmet collard green (Green Flash), a yellow French bush bean (Roc d’Or) and a variety of scented dianthus with heavily fringed petals, in a mix of colors. Shepherd said she doesn’t expect Lace Perfume to sell particularly well — as a perennial it will take two years to put on a meaningful show — but she considered it special enough to offer. I credit Renee Shepherd with making my vegetable garden floriferous. She has developed mixes of Shirley and California poppies, sweet peas and zinnias that I return to each year. In an age of decline for honeybees and other pollinators, the flowers lure bees and butterflies into the garden in a compact with the gardener: Here’s some nectar, please pollinate something. And yet flower sales have declined. Almost half of her business used to be in annual seeds. “Now it’s probably 30 percent flowers and the rest vegetables and herbs.” She thinks that as vegetable gardening took off just in time for the Great Recession, food gardeners lost interest in flowers or considered them a luxury during hard times. For years, I might add, consumers lost interest in seed-starting in general, knowing they could pick up flats of annuals already grown for them at the garden center. But growing things such as sunflowers, zinnias and tithonias from seed is cheap and easy. Shepherd can now use the pollinator angle to pitch them, but she agrees there’s an even better reason. “It’s part of the joy of gardening,” she said.


U.S. talks to Russia but moves more warplanes to region

Syrian chemical weapons at sea in the spring. Before meeting with the Russians, alliance ambassadors traveled from NATO headquarters across town in Brussels for a rare meeting with representatives of the European Union’s policy and security committee. E.U. representatives gave preliminary approval to a $15 billion aid package of loans and grants to Ukraine over the next several years, on top of a U.S. announcement Tuesday of $1 billion in energy loan guarantees. The European package, to be approved at an E.U. summit Thursday, would be partially conditioned on reforms to Ukraine’s tanking economy. Kiev estimates that it needs $35 billion in international rescue loans over the next two years. The European Union announced Thursday morning that it was imposing sanctions on 18 Ukrainians, including former officials, accused of looting the national treasury. In Washington, a senior official said there were ongoing discussions within the administration about whether the United States should unilaterally impose sanctions on Ukrainian and Russian individuals tied to corruption and the recent violence in Ukraine. Although the administration is prepared to move forward within days, “we want to coordinate with the Europeans to be most effective,” said the senior official, who was not authorized to speak on the record about the discussions. Some European governments with significant financial equities in Russia are reluctant to move toward major sanctions against that nation’s economy and have urged the sequential approach that the administration and its partners are now taking. The Pentagon also announced, in response to what officials said were requests from Eastern European NATO members over the past week, that it would more than double the number of aircraft it has based in Lithuania as part of a regular alliance air-defense patrol. The patrols over the Baltic nations were initiated a decade ago and are rotated quarterly among NATO members that have the appropriate aircraft. The United States, by coincidence, is in charge of the patrols this quarter and is sending six F-15 fighter jets and a KC-135 tanker to add to the four F-15s already deployed at Lithuania’s Siauliai Air Base. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said his Russian counterpart told him Wednesday that the troops in Crimea “were not regular forces. They were well-trained militia forces responding to threats to ethnic Russians in the Crimea.” Dempsey said he could not “at this time”


Army general pleads guilty to adultery

An Army general being court-martialed for alleged sex crimes pleaded guilty to adultery and several other charges Thursday but will continue to fight accusations that he sexually assaulted a female captain, his attorney said. Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, a paratrooper and former deputy commander with the 82nd Airborne Division, admitted a long affair with the captain and “inappropriate relationships” with two other women. Sinclair also pleaded guilty to possessing pornography and some other minor offenses under military law. The guilty pleas are an attempt by Sinclair to focus his trial — only the third court-martial of an Army general in half a century — on the sexual-assault charges. Those charges are more serious and carry the potential for a long prison sentence, but his defense team has argued that the evidence on those counts is flimsy. Sinclair’s attorneys had acknowledged outside of court long ago that he had committed adultery and other nonviolent offenses. They worried that exposing a jury to days of sordid testimony about his porn and relationships with other women could inflame sentiments against him and influence the more consequential sexual-assault verdict. “The prosecution team no longer gets to distract us with salacious details about acts that aren’t even criminal in the civilian world,” Sinclair’s lawyer, Richard Scheff, said in a statement. “All they’re left with is a crime that never happened.” Opening arguments are set for Friday at Fort Bragg, N.C. Sinclair’s fate will be decided by a jury of five Army major generals. On Wednesday, the judge in charge of the case, Col. James L. Pohl, heard arguments from both sides on how much of the pornography from Sinclair’s computers should be shown to the jury. Prosecutors wanted to highlight the extensive porn stash that they said Sinclair kept while serving in Afghanistan; his defense team tried to limit the exposure. By pleading guilty, Sinclair will effectively prevent the jury from seeing the videos and images. Army investigators opened their case against Sinclair in March 2012 after a female captain who served on his staff in Afghanistan and Iraq reported their three-year affair. The woman also said he had forced her to perform oral sex and once threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about the relationship. Sinclair has denied those charges, and his attorneys have attacked the woman’s credibility. She has been given immunity by the prosecution and is


Obama orders sanctions against people who impeded democracy, looted assets in Ukraine

that Kerry had assured him that lists of targets do not exist. “We have made suggestions to Foreign Minister Lavrov,” Kerry said, and “we agreed to stay in close touch in order to see whether there is a way forward to try to get to the negotiating table.” The crisis in Ukraine largely overshadowed a gathering in Rome initially called to discuss strengthening the government in Libya. Senior administration officials acknowledged that they have not determined who would be subject to the asset freezes outlined in Obama’s order. Instead, an official said the prospect of sanctions “should be leading people in Russia and people in Crimea to be asking whether or not they’re going to see their names in the designation.” The administration will impose costs for what the Russians “have already done in Crimea,” an official said, but the main purpose of the measure appeared to be to pressure Russia to open talks with the Ukrainian government and refrain from expanding its troop presence into Russian-speaking areas of eastern Ukraine. “It also gives us flexibility” to expand the measures in the event of further Russian actions, the senior official said. Russian troops and pro-Russian militants take up positions around the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, surrounding government buildings and military installations. Administration officials previously said sanctions would not apply to Putin or other top Russian officials. “It is an unusual and extraordinary circumstance to sanction a head of state, and we would not begin our designations by doing so,” the official said. Officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to focus attention on public statements by Obama and Kerry. The authorized sanctions allow the Treasury Department to freeze all U.S. or U.S.-controlled assets of any person or entity who led or assisted efforts to undermine the security or territorial integrity of Ukraine, or asserted control over any part of Ukraine without the authorization of the government in Kiev. The sanctions are the toughest measure yet as the United States and its European allies took steps to show their disapproval of Russia’s military moves in Crimea. Europeans have been divided between those major countries with significant economic equities in Russia and Eastern European governments that fear a Soviet-style expansion by Russia. “The discussions were stormy,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after the E.U. meeting. “Maybe not everybody will be satisfied, but we achieved more than could have been expected just