Editor’s note: At DARPA, working to change the world

trendsetter. She’s a woman in an industry where women are far too rare. She’s an Indian American, having arrived in this country at age 3, and grown up in Lubbock, Tex. And she was a young tech maven before being a young tech maven was cool: In 1993, at age 34, she was appointed to lead the National Institutes of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg. Prabhakar recently spoke at a Northern Virginia Technology Council breakfast, where she detailed DARPA’s role as an innovation engine. The Arlington-based agency, she said, got its start after the nation was caught by surprise in 1957 by the then-Soviet Union’s success in putting the Sputnik satellite in orbit. Ever since, DARPA has worked to help America regain its technological superiority, and it seeded research on many of the advances shaping society today, from the Internet to tiny GPS receivers and night vision equipment that allowed U.S. warfighters to “own the night.” Now the rules of the game are changing. America’s wealth once allowed us to outspend our adversaries, creating extremely complex systems that were the envy of the world. But the nation’s rivals and adversaries are beginning to make headway in deploying simpler, cheaper alternatives that allow them to be more nimble. “If we don’t figure this out, we are doomed to a future where we are building PowerPoints instead of real systems, and that’s not where the nation needs to be,” she warned. An example: Space. A commercial market is forming, and other nations are putting up their own satellites. “Space is becoming a congested and competitive environment,” she said. In response, DARPA is looking at what it might take to launch gear into space on a 24-hour notice, from airport runways, for less than $1 million a mission. Here on Earth, she sees biology as the new technology. DARPA is developing diagnostic tests for diseases and infections that even a child can manage. “Our thinking is if a 6-year-old kid can do it, then a soldier under stressful conditions should also be able to manage it,” she explained. Another promising line of research? Artificial limbs that actually respond to signals from the brain. Prototypes have been developed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Howard County. “DARPA is still a place where deeply committed people run to work every morning because they are on a mission to change the world,” she said.


Grocery stores remain a strong proposition in the Washington area retail scene

With the holiday season in full swing, many people are stocking up for upcoming parties and gatherings. From traditional grocers, such as Safeway, Giant and Harris Teeter, to trendy organic options such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, to numerous mom-and-pop markets, the D.C. region is awash in grocery options. Like gas station owners, grocers know the importance of location; although people may prefer a specific store brand, they tend to patronize stores that are close to where they live. Residents in the District are quite familiar with Safeway. With 13 stores right now, and more on the way, Safeway is the largest grocer in the city. Considering all the major grocery retailers in the District, Safeway leases about 45 percent of the grocery space. Giant is the giant in the suburbs. While the mammoth grocer just opened its sixth store within the District, it has a dominating presence in suburbs, comprising almost half of the square footage leased by major grocers in Maryland and Virginia. More recently, grocery chains have been focusing their expansion efforts in the District after nearly saturating Northern Virginia, where they have battled to stake claims in some of the wealthiest counties in the country. The total square footage of major grocers per resident is 11 percent higher in Northern Virginia than it is in the District, while D.C.’s total square footage per resident is 2.5 percent higher than Maryland’s. While consumers come to pick up their turkeys, investors are looking to major grocery stores to bring home the bacon. National grocery chains are generally stable, attractive tenants, and many investors are eager to pay up for grocery-anchored shopping centers. In fact, one grocery-anchored retail location was the object of one of the region’s most valuable retail deals in recent history. Last year, the retail portion of Wisconsin Place in Chevy Chase sold for just over $110 million, with Whole Foods accounting for almost half of the rented space. Look for grocers to continue adding stores in the metropolitan area, especially in the District, where the supermarket tax exemption and the recent FEED D.C. Act are providing new incentives for grocers to open stores as the D.C. government looks to eliminate so-called food deserts in less affluent neighborhoods. Connor Bevans is a real estate economist and Jeff Myers is a senior real estate economist with CoStar Group. Please see www.costar.com for more information.


Paul Salopek seeks to retrace the path of modern mankind

police jail. One account says you nearly starved. That’s an exaggeration. All three of us went without food for several days. I went on a hunger strike for nine days. Why risk going through that again? You’re out there, on foot in remote and difficult places, crossing sometimes hostile terrain. You get in trouble, nobody’s coming to the rescue. Well, the risk is always there. We’re in the business of risk management. You can take steps to minimize it. Now, on this trip, there’s no crossing borders without permission. That’s just basic. I’m walking. To walk across an entire country without a visa doesn’t make any sense. My main media partner is National Geographic, and they supply a letter for me, that I’m a fellow and I’m working on this project, and we’d like official permission to do it. If a government says no, then we don’t go in. And it’s not like I’m just going to go walk into a war zone. I think those days are over. Was being a foreign correspondent for a decade good training? I think in some ways I’ve been preparing for this since I was 6, and my dad dragged me across that first border. I grew up in Mexican schools. . . . My neighbors were still plowing with mules. I basically had a 19th-century upbringing. It informs the practical nature of this project. How much can you plan out in advance? It depends on the human topography. It took a lot of specialty spade work to get Ethiopia to let me walk through their hinterlands. The other practical stuff was pretty easy. It actually simplified things not to have a car, a hotel or plane tickets. You’re living off the economy in ways that foreign correspondents don’t. When I bump into people doing that now, I see how cocooned by money it is. It insulates you from the society you’re covering. The complicated other side of that coin, though, is to walk through the Afar triangle of Ethiopia, a pretty rough neighborhood. It’s a whole other level of concerns. Like water Like water. Like respecting boundaries between people, in this case the Afar and the Issa. There are flash points, and they take potshots at each other. When you’re driving through, you don't even notice this. But when you’re leading a camel in the distance, you could be anyone. How did


Tech entrepreneur’s renovation of Hickory Hill signals new business guard remaking D.C.

and titillation and intellectual bravado about it,” Stephen Schlesinger said. After her husband’s death, Ethel Kennedy stayed in Hickory Hill to raise her children, but like the Kennedy myth itself, the house began to fray around the edges. Neighbors could always tell when warmer weather was on the way because air-conditioning units appeared in all the windows. As Washington changed — morphing from a town in which most of the people were employed by the federal government to a world capital that many businesses fed off of — so did McLean. “The whole neighborhood has literally transformed in the last 15 years,” said William A. Delphos, a neighbor who heads a firm that helps clients get government money for overseas development projects. The new guard — featuring “technology players, hedge fund players, Internet security,” as Delphos describes it — moved into the modest ranchers where association heads and former CIA officers had lived, tore them down and built larger houses. In 2003, Ethel Kennedy put the house up for sale — for a reported $25 million, five times its assessed value. It lingered on the market and underwent several price reductions before Dabbiere bought it in 2009 and began a near-total transformation, leaving little more than its recognizable facade, irking some who felt it should have been preserved as a museum. “From a historian’s viewpoint, it’s sad,” said Sioux Oliva, a historian who archived the house’s contents in 2003 and 2004. “It would have been an incredible tourist attraction.” Dabbiere is reluctant to discuss the four-year project in detail, and indeed, in its early days, he went to great lengths to conceal his association with the property. The deed lists Marshall, his colleague, as the grantee and head of the Hickory Hill Trust. Hickory Hill, the former residence of Robert and Ethel Kennedy at 1147 Chain Bridge Rd., has been under renovation after being purchased by Atlanta businessman Alan J. Dabbiere, in McLean, Va. The extensive renovations were necessary, Dabbiere said, because the home had not been maintained and had no central air, no garage and a kitchen that was used by a cook to serve formal meals in a dining room. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Dabbiere said he was attracted at first to the wide, expansive lawn — unusual in the built-up Washington suburbs — but said the Kennedy association was “a negative.” The extensive renovations were necessary, he


Peace through pandas

Cui Tiankai is China’s ambassador to the United States. Many people don’t realize it, but there are actually two Chinese ambassadors in Washington: me and the panda cub at the National Zoo. The cub, which on Sunday was named Bao Bao, is the first baby panda blessed by the first ladies of China and the United States on the 100th day of its birth. First ladies Peng Liyuan and Michelle Obama sent video remarks for the 100-day celebration party. Several generations of giant pandas have been a part of China-U.S. relations for the past four decades. During President Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking trip to China in February 1972, first lady Pat Nixon was seated next to Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai at the state banquet. Our premier pointed to a cigarette pack decorated with pandas on the table in front of them and asked, “Do you like it?” Mrs. Nixon, a bit confused, replied: “Well, I don’t smoke.” “I mean giant pandas,” said Premier Zhou. Mrs. Nixon said, “Of course! They are so cute!” Two months later, two pandas arrived at Washington’s National Zoo, where they were greeted by Mrs. Nixon. Since then, pandas have been sent and loaned to the United States as gesture of good will. Forty years on, China and the United States collaborate closely in scientific research about and conservation of giant pandas. China has more pandas than any other country, followed by the United States, which has 15 pandas in zoos in Washington, Atlanta, San Diego and Memphis. Because it’s very difficult for giant pandas to breed naturally, Chinese and Americans have been working on breeding them through artificial insemination; thanks to joint efforts, 12 panda cubs besides Bao Bao have been born in the United States. Bao Bao’s brother Tai Shan is the first panda born in Washington that survived infancy. When he and Mei Lan departed for China in February 2010, thousands of people braved heavy snow in Washington to say goodbye. Tai Shan is in very good condition at Wolong Panda Base in Sichuan province, where scientists are trying to determine whether he has fathered a cub. Bao Bao, a clear envoy of China-U.S. friendship, is so popular that more than 123,000 people voted online to pick her name. Bao Bao was born at a time when our two countries are determined to build a new model of win-win cooperation. Pandas are a daily


A safe, smart approach to genetic testing

have every right to know their genetic code, what it says about their ancestry and what it indicates about their predisposition to develop certain illnesses. They should be able to get that information without having to consult someone with a medical degree. At best, the information would encourage people to change bad behaviors, get needed tests and tailor drug regimens. If testing and reporting is done improperly, though, it could lead to wild misunderstandings, unnecessary anxiety and excessive medical spending. Genetic testing should not become like the Wild West of the dietary supplement industry into which Americans pour billions annually even though quality varies massively and dubious claims go unchecked. That’s why it’s good that the FDA stepped in and appears determined to assure the integrity of the many new medical applications that personal genetic testing is poised to produce. The agency wants to make sure that 23andMe’s testing is reasonably accurate and the results it provides customers contain enough of the right information for laypeople to understand and act on the findings. Just because a person has a gene associated with breast and ovarian cancer, for example, doesn’t mean she will definitely develop either disease. The agency’s letter indicates that 23andMe failed to provide enough evidence that its genetic testing, its analysis and its reporting are up to reasonable standards. There’s a lot going on in genetic medicine that will result in breakthroughs new to doctors and other health-care experts. The most promising new tests are likely to be clinical, not mail-in. Researchers are tantalizingly close to matching anti-cancer therapies to particular tumors, tailoring doctors’ attack to the genetics of individual masses. Scientists once thought that most of the human genetic code was useless “junk DNA.” Now they are finding that the junk actually controls the circuitry of human cells, which creates a world of new medical understandings and treatments. Even as it slapped 23andMe, the FDA last month approved a new gene sequencer, another step in bringing down the cost and time associated with genetic analysis. As the field advances, the government’s role is to continue funding basic scientific research and to provide a regulatory environment in which entrepreneurial companies will have the incentive to bring novel medical services of high quality directly to patients. Congress is going in the wrong direction on the first. The FDA, though, is so far doing a reasonable job on the second.


Co-working space Cove competes with Starbucks for students and entrepreneurs

WASHINGTON, DC. NOV. 20, 2013: Adam Segal, (standing) cofounder of Cove, a co-working space, talks to members in Dupont. Members can use a smartphone app to see if desks are available before showing up. (Jeffrey MacMillan/Jeffrey MacMillan) Marine scientist David Guggenheim used to run his ocean preservation nonprofit out of his home in Northwest Washington, but loud neighbors, barking dogs and constant construction were driving him crazy. He tried working at Starbucks or Caribou Coffee, but found the music too loud and other patrons distracting. So in September, Guggenheim joined Cove, a new shared office space near Dupont Circle with WiFi, electrical outlets, desks and a conference room open to members. He spends a few hours a week there answering e-mails and writing proposals, and checks Cove’s iPhone app to see which desks are available before he walks there. After entering Cove, Guggenheim uses his phone to scan a QR code — a square-shaped black and white image — which then notifies other Cove members that Guggenheim will be joining them. (Members can opt to make their profiles private.) Cove is “essentially a compelling alternative to working from a living room or a coffee shop — you no longer need to search for an outlet,” founder Adam Segal said. Members pay a monthly fee depending on how frequently they use it, ranging from $24 a month for eight desk hours and one conference room hour (the price of five lattes, the site notes) and $124 for 50 desk hours and four in the conference room. Cove also provides coffee and other snacks for members. Funded by early-stage investors primarily in Boston, the Cove team plans to open several other locations, starting with a site near Logan Circle next month, Segal said. He declined to share the number of members, but noted the majority are satisfied enough to transition to higher membership levels after their first few weeks, and that they’re mostly comprised of freelancers, graduate students and entrepreneurs. Segal, who spent a year at Howard University while an undergraduate at Amherst College, founded Cove in Washington because of its distinct neighborhoods, which he thought might create a need for flexible work-spaces close to residents’ homes. He considers Starbucks and other WiFi-equipped coffee shops to be Cove’s biggest competitors. The Cove team also aims to support small businesses in each neighborhood, Segal said. Located above art studio ArtJamz, the Dupont Circle


Osteria Morini, with great views inside and out

Executive chef Matt Adler helms the kitchen at Osteria Morini in Southeast Washington’s Capital Riverfront neighborhood. (Dayna Smith/For The Washington Post) There’s a lot to like about a juicy cut of swordfish invigorated with broccoli rabe pesto, eaten in a window-wrapped room with a view. But perhaps an even bigger charge comes from where I’m enjoying the food and the scenery: between Nationals Park and Navy Yard, in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood, at the breezy Osteria Morini. The 130-seat Italian restaurant is a branch of the New York original opened in 2010 by veteran chef Michael White of the Altamarea Group, a collection of 13 establishments. The newcomer, under the watch of executive chef Matt Adler, made the neighborhood more enticing the moment it started serving pasta and pouring vino on Nov. 19 (at a user-friendly 20 percent discount on the food, since discontinued). Order scallops capped with salsa verde and arranged on carrot-sweetened lentils, or rosy lamb and fried bell peppers sharpened with an aged balsamic vinegar, and you, too, are likely to wish you lived closer. Pastas are all rolled out in-house. An early favorite brings together broad lengths of stracci with sauteed porcini, cremini and oyster mushrooms, everything linked with rosemary oil. The space, which includes a private dining room for 30, is big and rustic, set off with brick and wood and amber lighting. Adler, who previously cooked at the Morini in New York’s SoHo, says the chief differences between the two venues give him an edge in Washington, where he and his wife both have family: The chef’s new roost counts a wood-burning grill and an exhibition kitchen. “We like being part of” the dining room, he says of his more visible role here. Complaints? As at too many places in the city of late, servers spend way too much time detailing the menu and telling you how to order. That pasta is promised as an “Italian” portion — small enough, in other words, to consider as a bridge between appetizer and main course — but the bowls we were served were so big, they canceled our appetites for a third savory course. And perhaps the owner didn’t get the memo that Washington already has a surplus of noisy dining rooms and doesn’t need another one. That said, the sound of a joyful crowd must be music to the boss’s ears. 301 Water St. SE.


National Zoo’s baby panda has a name: Bao Bao

Bao Bao, who is now more than 3 months old, gets measured before her naming day event. (Abby Wood/Smithsonian Institution) Few people would dispute that the National Zoo’s baby panda is precious. But now it’s official. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian’s cub on Sunday was named Bao Bao (pronounced bow-BOW), which means “precious” or “treasure” in Mandarin Chinese. The zoo’s naming ceremony was held 100 days after the cub’s birth, to follow a Chinese tradition. The event featured music, dancing, VIPs (such as the Chinese ambassador) and video wishes from first lady Michelle Obama and China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan. The name-day girl was not in attendance, however. She stayed in the den she shares with Mei Xiang and was seen only on the Panda Cam. Bao Bao, who took her first steps about two weeks ago, is scheduled to go on public view in January. The name was picked in an online vote. More than 123,000 votes were cast for one of five names chosen by panda keepers, the Chinese and U.S. ambassadors and the group Friends of the National Zoo. — Staff reports


School suspends parties in response to second U.S. meningitis outbreak

The University of California Santa Barbara is suspending some social and fraternity events to prevent the further spread of a strain of meningitis that has now infected four students, one of whom lost his feet to the disease. The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department confirmed the fourth case on Monday. Meningitis, which causes the membranes in the brain and spine to swell, can be fatal. Those who survive can be permanently paralyzed or mentally impaired. The disease is spread through proximity and contact. Hundreds of students have been given prophylactic antibiotics, and the university is also cleaning dormitories and athletic facilities more thoroughly to ensure that more people aren’t infected. The outbreak is the second at a U.S. college this year. Eight people have fallen ill at Princeton since March with the same illness, type B meningococcal disease. Authorities say they don’t believe the two outbreaks are related, however, because of genetic differences in the bacteria at the two schools, according to ABC. Although no vaccine for type B meningitis has been approved for use in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration is permitting Princeton to import a vaccine that is available in Europe and Australia. Students who choose to do so will be able to receive the vaccine starting next week. Aaron Loy, a freshman lacrosse player at UCSB, lost circulation in his limbs because of the disease, and doctors were forced to amputate his lower legs. He remains hospitalized, according to the Associated Press. Symptoms include ache, fever, rash, nausea and stiffness in the neck.


Craft breweries move past flagship beers to embrace diversity

The conventional wisdom in the brewing industry is that you need a strong flagship brand to prosper. The flagship is the beer you churn out year-round, the one on which the bulk of your sales and marketing resources are bestowed. It’s the beer that pays the bills. (Think Bud Light, Pabst, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.) But with a new breed of drinker demanding unceasing variety, the conventional wisdom is being questioned. Adroit Theory Brewing in Purcellville intends to torpedo the idea of a flagship altogether. “I can’t imagine cranking out 5,000 barrels of the same beer,” says owner Mark Osborne. “We’ll do maybe 48 beers during the coming year.” Even when he reissues a popular beer, he plans to tweak the recipe so his output “is always fresh and new.” His marketing plan is unconventional as well. You won’t be able to find his beers at bars or retail stores, at least initially. Osborne will sell out of the brewery tasting room (it’s in a warehouse at 404 Browning Ct.), at special events and via a beer club named the Black Heart Society. Adroit Theory is a nanobrewery, an operation that’s tiny even by the standards of microbrewing. It’s equipped with a half-barrel Sabco brewing system and one-barrel fermenters. “I know that it’s shocking, but that’s what we’re opening up with,” laughs Osborne. In anticipation of his soft opening on Dec. 28, he has already made 27 test brews. They include B/A/Y/S (Black as Your Soul), an imperial stout aged on chestnut; G/I/A/A (God Is an American), a double IPA conditioned on vodka-infused ash spirals; and Tenebris, a fruity, English-style barleywine that comes in gin- and bourbon-barrel-aged varieties. Possibly unique is T/P/D (The Perfect Drug), a saison seasoned with wormwood and basil. (A sample arrived in a cork-and-wire-cage bottle with a specially treated sugar cube attached. You’re supposed to place the sugar on a slotted spoon and pour the beer over it, in the manner of absinthe drinkers; the sugar dyes the beer the classic absinthe green.) So that he will have enough liquid for his debut, Osborne is contract-brewing a batch of B/A/Y/S at Beltway Brewing, a brewery-for-hire in Sterling not far from Dulles Airport. On Dec. 13, the public will be able to preview the beer during Beltway’s tasting hours, 4 to 7 p.m. When phoned shortly before Thanksgiving, Osborne and assistant brewer Greg


Montgomery delays launch of zoning overhaul

Montgomery County is putting the brakes on revising its 1,200-page zoning ordinance, heeding objections from both developers and neighborhood activists that they have had insufficient time to study the proposed overhaul’s implications. The recasting of the ordinance, in the works for more than two years, was designed by county planners to meet two objectives. One goal is to clean up and simplify an antiquated document with more than 120 zoning categories and 400 footnotes. The broader intent is to encourage more compact, mixed-use development on certain types of commercial property, including older shopping centers, where some surface parking could be used for residential or office buildings. As proposed, the revisions make only minor changes in zoning for residential neighborhoods. The process has spawned confusion over new zoning categories and anxiety among some commercial property owners worried that their land is being earmarked for uses they have no interest in pursuing. Neighborhood groups are leery of new development on the edges of their communities. The County Council was scheduled to act on the revisions in January. But Nancy Floreen (D-At Large), chairwoman of the committee examining the new code, said Tuesday that the panel will recommend that no changes take effect until next fall. Floreen said she will ask the council to approve the text of changes to the code early next year but delay its effective date for at least six months while a new county zoning map — necessary to implement the new system — is drafted. She said that would give interested parties an opportunity to learn more about the zoning of their property and work out any errors or anomalies in the mapping process. “The wordsmithing will be done, and then the focus will be on the implementation with the maps,” Floreen said before the council’s legislative session. She added that despite scores of hearings, community meetings and open houses, many residents are only now focusing on the zoning reboot. “It’s hard to get people’s attention,” she said. Meredith Wellington, a former planning board member and founder of Neighborhood Montgomery, a watchdog group, said that separating consideration of the text from the map was “a step in the right direction.” “It gives more time to look at the translation [from text to map], which is problematic,” she said. The next county zoning map will also be electronic, a quantum leap for a system that still requires residents


Meningitis outbreaks at Princeton, UC Santa Barbara prompt concern, vaccine efforts

The threat of meningitis has long been a concern on college campuses, where the cramped living quarters, crowded classrooms and teeming party scene create an environment where it can spread more easily. (EDUARDO MUNOZ/REUTERS) At Princeton University, where eight cases of bacterial meningitis have surfaced this year , officials have put up posters and e-mailed students warning them to guard against spreading the potentially fatal disease. Federal officials have taken the rare step of allowing the university to vaccinate thousands of students beginning next week using a drug not yet approved in the United States. At the University of California at Santa Barbara, where a fourth bacterial meningitis case was confirmed this week, a freshman lacrosse player had both feet amputated. Campus leaders have suspended fraternity parties and other social events and ramped up cleaning in residence halls and recreation facilities. The threat of meningitis has long been a concern on college campuses, where the cramped living quarters, crowded classrooms and teeming party scene create an environment where it can spread more easily. The disease has largely vanished from colleges and universities in recent years, as dozens of states required students to be vaccinated against it before arriving on campus. But officials who monitor the disease are troubled by the recent outbreaks in California and New Jersey, in part because of the number of cases but also because each involves the uncommon “serogroup B” type of bacterial meningitis, for which the country has no approved vaccine. “This is a very, very serious infection,” said James Turner, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Virginia who oversees the College Health Surveillance Network, which tracks student health trends. “It’s rare and it’s unpredictable.” Still, Turner and other public health officials say there is not yet cause for panic. For starters, although the type of meningitis popping up on both campuses is the same, DNA testing has shown that they are not identical. “It’s one strain at Princeton, and it’s a different strain at Santa Barbara,” said Tom Clark, chief of the meningitis branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who is leading the response to the outbreaks. In addition, Clark said, meningitis doesn’t spread through casual contact or merely breathing the air near an infected person, but rather through sustained contact or exchange of saliva, such as kissing. In addition, outbreaks seldom spread rapidly or widely. “It’s pretty


Wal-Mart opens first two District stores

The retail giant’s registers ring up their first sales in the District after development delays and months of debate over wages. The first Wal-Marts in the nation’s capital opened for business Wednesday, drawing a handful of protesters and many more customers, who lined up to buy discount groceries, electronics and household items. The ribbon-cuttings eclipsed, for now, a lengthy civic debate over how best to serve the District’s middle- and working-class residents in an ever-more-expensive city. One view was to force large retailers to pay higher wages, even if it drove them away. Another was to lure the world’s largest retailer and take advantage of its low prices for everyday goods, which had previously been available only in the suburbs. City leaders ultimately chose the latter, joining Chicago and Philadelphia in embracing the new wave of urban Wal-Marts and parting with New York and Boston, where strong unions and their demands for higher wages have kept the giant retailer away. The lines that formed early Wednesday outside the stores allowed the politicians and executives who had gathered for the festivities to claim instant vindication. “I will never go to a Wal-Mart in Maryland again,” said Pamela Scott Washington, 56, who pushed a cart with two tomatoes and a head of lettuce around the H Street NW store. “I live in D.C., and that’s where I want to shop. . . . I’m going to be here at least three or four times a week, as often as I can.” Washington's new Wal-Mart on H Street caused a stir on opening day, as D.C. residents flocked to take a look at the store's new digs. The Post's Clinton Yates takes us there. Whether the city’s decision to embrace Wal-Mart was the right one is a question that will play out over months and years, as the stores’ effect on jobs, local businesses and community development is scrutinized. A small group of protesters demonstrated early in the morning outside the other store, on Georgia Avenue NW in the Brightwood neighborhood. Their primary beef was the chain’s historically low wages and its role in income inequality generally. Inside, a high-ranking Wal-Mart executive hailed his company’s new employees for passing through a process arguably as selective as admission to an Ivy League college. “Twenty-three thousand applications for about 800 jobs,” said Senior Vice President Henry Jordan, manager of nearly 900 East Coast stores. “You


D.C. news in brief

call 202-727-7925. City offers kids day camp during holiday season The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation will host Winter Wondercamp, day-long activity camps for children ages 6 to 12, in two sessions at parks throughout the city. Session one will take place Dec. 23 and Dec. 26 and 27. Session two will take place Dec. 30 and 31 and Jan. 2 and 3. Camp is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with before- and after-camp care from 8 to 9 a.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. Registration is $30 for session one and $40 for session two for each child. There is an additional $10 fee for before- or after-camp care. Camps are divided into groups of children ages 3 to 5, 6 to 12 and 8 to 13. For information, camp locations or to register, go to www.dpr.dc.gov or call 202-671-0372. DDOT to hold meeting on Canal Road improvements The D.C. Department of Transportation is having the first public meeting on a planning study for safety improvements to Canal Road NW between Chain Bridge and M Street from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Lab School of Washington, 4759 Reservoir Road NW. A presentation of the study — which examines safety, traffic operations, drainage, erosion and slope stability — will be followed by public feedback. For information, go to ddot.dc.gov. Hazardous waste disposal offered Thursday and Saturday The Fort Totten Transfer Station, 4900 John F. McCormack Rd. NE, will offer household hazardous waste disposal and e-cycling from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The service is offered first Thursdays and and first Saturdays. Paper shredding is also offered first Saturdays. For a list of accepted household hazardous waste and e-cyclables, go to dpw.dc.gov. The station is open from 1 to 5 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays for non-harzadous bulk items. Comments extended to Dec. 30 for Twining Square road proposals The Federal Highway Administration has extended the public comment period on the environmental assessment of proposed improvements to Twining Square (at Pennsylvania and Minnesota avenues SE) by 30 days. Comments, due Dec. 30, can be sent by e-mail to austina.casey@dc.gov or by mail to District Department of Transportation, Penn/Minn Avenues Improvement Project, Attn.: Austina Casey, 55 M St. SE, Fourth Floor, Washington, D.C. 20003. To view the report, go to www.ddot.dc.gov/pennminnavesproject. — Compiled by Terence McArdle


Full transcript: President Obama’s December 4 remarks on the economy

have less to spend that means businesses have fewer customers and households rack up greater mortgage and credit card debt. Meanwhile, concentrated wealth at the top is less likely to result in the kind of broadly-based consumer spending that drives our economy and, together with lax regulation, may contribute to risky, speculative bubbles. And rising inequality and declining mobility are also bad for our families and social cohesion, not just because we tend to trust our institutions less but studies show we actually tend to trust each other less when there’s greater inequality. And greater inequality is associated with less mobility between generations. That means it’s not just temporary. The effects last. It creates a vicious cycle. For example, by the time she turns three-years old, a child born into a low-income home hears 30 million fewer words than a child from a well-off family, which means by the time she starts school, she’s already behind. And that deficit can compound itself over time. And finally, rising inequality and declining mobility are bad for our democracy. Ordinary folks can’t write massive campaign checks or hire high-priced lobbyists and lawyers to secure policies that tilt the playing field in their favor at everyone else’s expense. And so people get the bad taste that the system’s rigged. And that increases cynicism and polarization and it decreases the political participation that is a requisite part of our system of self-government. So this is an issue that we have to tackle head-on. And if, in fact, the majority of Americans agree that our number one priority is to restore opportunity and broad-based growth for all Americans, the question is, why has Washington consistently failed to act? And I think a big reason is the myths that have developed around the issue of inequality. First, there is the myth that this is a problem restricted to a small share of predominantly minority poor. This isn’t a broad-based problem; this is a black problem or Hispanic problem or a Native American problem. Now, it’s true that the painful legacy of discrimination means that African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans are far more likely to suffer from a lack of opportunity -- higher unemployment, higher poverty rates. It’s also true that women still make 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. So we’re going to need strong application of anti-discrimination laws. We’re going to need immigration reform that


Montgomery County Adopt-A-Pet

This was 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. German shepherds kill sheep: Old Columbia Pike, 16100 block, Burtonsville, Nov. 21. Two German shepherd dogs attacked several sheep, killing one of them. The sheep’s owner removed the dogs from the sheep pen and chained them to a fence until animal services arrived. With information from tags, the officer contacted the dogs’ owner, who lived in adjacent Howard County and said he had brought them to work with him. The officer issued citations for the dogs being loose and for unwanted contact, along with an order requiring them to be muzzled when outside. The dogs’ owner made restitution to the sheep’s owner for the attack. Howard County animal services was notified of the incident and was to enforce Montgomery County’s order when the dogs are at the owner’s home. Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Montgomery County Humane Society Burtonsville No-kill shelter has adoptable cats: Gaithersburg 12 Park Ave. 6 to 8 p.m. FridayNoon to 3 p.m. Saturday6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday Puppy trainers needed Volunteers to help adoptable animals needed — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


The draft is just one possibility for universal service

Dana Milbank had it almost right in his Dec. 1 Sunday Opinion column, “How to save America,” but he erred in focusing almost exclusively on the military option for national service. The United States needs the service of young people in our cities, schools and around the world. The Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, City Year, Teach for America and other such programs spread enormous benefits. They also provide personal and professional growth opportunities for hundreds of thousands of young Americans and project a positive image of this nation to the world. National service should be an integral part of a great nation, but it should serve not just war but larger goals of peace, justice and equity at home and abroad. It is time again to act on John F. Kennedy’s appeal: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Malcolm Odell, Washington ● Dana Milbank offered a political opinion on which my father-in-law (a veteran and a Republican) and I (an independent) instantly recognized common ground during our customary post-Thanksgiving breakfast table tête-à-tête. My father-in-law enlisted in the Marines after high school; my father joined the Navy. The Vietnam War ended two years before I was eligible for the draft, so my generation had a choice: Relish the bountiful freedoms found in the United States without a thought of responsibility to service, or voluntarily enlist in the armed services or an institution such as VISTA or the Peace Corps. While I had my sights set on law school, an overriding feeling of obligation to recycle the gifts that I enjoy, as well as gratitude to my slightly older neighborhood friends who had served in Vietnam, some of whom never returned, led me to choose to serve my country as a VISTA volunteer. Leaving the table, my father-in-law and I agreed that either approach to service is a noble way to say, “Thank you.” Michael R. Marsh, Chevy Chase ● Vietnam put an end to the draft, and Iraq and Afghanistan made it politically impossible to revive. Still, we need a way for the young to serve, as Dana Milbank said, a “cause greater than self.” This could be a system of national — not necessarily military — service for all young people. A lottery would assign an individual to a national forest or national park, hospital or hospice, inner-city school or


There’s a nonviolent way to control the deer population

The Dec. 1 front-page article “As deer encroach on suburbs, views on kills shift ” made the point that people are getting tired of problems with deer. But this does not mean that sharpshooting is an effective way to deal with these problems. Both Maryland and Virginia have been killing deer for years — including in suburban areas. Yet the problem of deer overcrowding seems to be getting worse. Isn’t it time to try something else? Contraception has worked The nation’s capital should be leading the trend away from violence, not promoting it as the universal solution to wildlife problems. In the meantime, the National Park Service could promote solutions to human-deer conflicts such as vehicle collisions. Anne Barton, Washington The writer is a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to stop the National Park Service from killing deer in Rock Creek Park.


Some big banks are still violating the national mortgage settlement, report says

A government report said three of the nation’s biggest banks have again violated the terms of the $25 billion national mortgage settlement , a charge that mirrors an earlier study on the landmark agreement to clean up shoddy foreclosure practices. On Wednesday, the court-appointed monitor of the settlement said in a report that Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup continued to mishandle homeowners’ requests for lower monthly loan payments through the first half of the year. The report, filed in federal court, raised many of the same concerns that settlement monitor Joseph A. Smith Jr. made in his June report. It also illustrates that Americans still face hurdles in hanging onto their homes, despite government efforts to help them. Of the 29 metrics that the monitor used to measure compliance with the 304 servicing standards outlined in the settlement, Bank of America failed three, and JPMorgan and Citigroup failed two. All three institutions provided inaccurate information to borrowers before beginning a foreclosure, according to the monitor. Bank of America and Citigroup also were cited for failure to notify homeowners of missing documents in their modification requests within five days of receipt. Bank of America spokesman Richard Simon noted that “none of the three failed metrics resulted in inaccurate foreclosures or improper loan modification denials.” He added that the “errors were not widespread.” Officials at Citigroup and JPMorgan said the banks took immediate action to fix flaws once they were made aware of them. “We proactively addressed the monitor’s findings and are pleased that he determined that our corrective action plan is complete,” said Amy Bonitatibus, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan. Each institution cited in the report must put in place a plan approved by the monitor to correct the problems. The report said all of the banks are complying. If the problems recur within six months, the monitor can take legal action and seek fines of up to $5 million. “The banks still have additional work to do in their efforts to fully comply and to regain their customers’ trust,” Smith said in a statement. “However, I am hopeful that the corrective action plans . . . will result in meaningful improvement in how the servicers treat their customers.” An objective of the settlement was to improve the way servicers interact with struggling homeowners. In some respects, the banks have accomplished that goal. There were, for instance, no reports of


Forestville Plaza Shopping Center gets a makeover

and adds 83 jobs to the workforce in the county. North Carolina-based Roses is a regional discount store owned by Variety Wholesalers, which has about 400 stores across the country. The Prince George’s store, which opened Nov. 21, is the chain’s first in the Washington region and will be the company’s largest store in the country, according to its chief executive. Janai Ball, 21, fills out an application for work at Roses Discount Store in Forestville, Md., on Nov. 27. The store has reinvigorated the depressed Forestville Plaza Shopping Center, bringing some life to the strip mall that was vacant for more than a decade. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post) “It has been empty for way too long,” said Taylor, a longtime Forestville area resident. “We needed this. We needed these jobs.” Prince George’s “Some of these shopping centers have struggled over the years,” said David Iannucci, a top economic development official in the county. And residents, he said, are tired of seeing them being neglected. Larry Hentz, a business development specialist with the Prince George’s Economic Development Corp., said one of the challenges facing strip malls across the county has been that grocery chains such as Safeway and Giant Food have left empty spaces as they’ve moved on to pursue larger stores. Over the past three years, Prince George’s officials have been working with mall owners to reverse the trend, Hentz said, by wooing smaller, independent grocers and retailers such as Roses to fill those spaces. Some cases are more challenging than others. At Hillcrest Heights Shopping Center, the county worked to bring in a grocery store but the independent grocer who ended up leasing the space closed after less than a year. Now the county is again working with the owner to bring in a new tenant, Hentz said. Officials said they also are working with owners of other struggling strip malls that have high vacancy rates to determine whether there is a need for more diversity in retailers or to simply improve the appearance. The county recently approved a subsidy package — including a $1.1 million tax deal and a $2 million conditional loan — for the construction of a Safeway store at University Town Center. In that case, the county aims to boost activity at the entertainment, office and housing community that has struggled with vacancies and foreclosures since the recession. Officials said the Safeway will be


Groups call for federal regulations to curb methane leaks

and gas exploration equipment and the industry practice of burning excess methane, known as “flaring.” The groups are also concerned about leaks of natural gas — whose major component is methane — during transport. “Climate scientists agree we cannot reach our greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal without curbing methane from the oil and gas industry,” said Sarah Uhl, organizer of the Clean Air Task Force’s Stop the Leaks Campaign. “From the wellhead to customers’ meters, there is leakage all along the system, and it all matters, and it can all be cleaned up cost-effectively.” Although it comprised only about 9 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2011, according to the EPA, and breaks down more rapidly, methane is a much more potent heat-trapping substance than carbon dioxide. Its impact on climate change is more than 20 times greater than carbon dioxide’s over 100 years. A study by climate scientists published last month showed that the government may be seriously underestimating the amount of methane discharged into the atmosphere by oil and gas exploration and livestock. It called into question a decision by the EPA this year to reduce its estimate of natural gas emissions nationwide. But a September study led by University of Texas researchers concluded that methane gas leaks at 190 onshore natural gas production sites were small and that total emissions were in line with EPA estimates. The Obama administration is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent over 2005 levels by 2020, and world leaders want to hold the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius in the hope of avoiding irreversible climate effects. With current methane emissions largely unregulated, even by states, the groups asked the EPA and Interior to step in. They said Interior’s policies are 33 years old and need updating to reflect the boom in natural gas exploration brought on by hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. It also called on Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to develop rules for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic. An EPA spokeswoman said the agency would review the groups’ letter. An Interior Department spokesman said in an e-mail: “As part of the President’s Climate Action Plan, Secretary [Sally] Jewell is committed to continuing to work collaboratively with state governments, as well as the private sector, to reduce emissions across multiple sectors, improve air quality, and achieve public health and economic benefits.”


Stolen cobalt-60 found in Mexico; thieves may be doomed

MEXICO CITY — As officials worked on the material, federal police and soldiers formed a cordon of several hundred yards around the field in Hueypoxtla where a container of highly radioactive cobalt-60 was abandoned after it was stolen from truck drivers transporting it to a storage facility in central Mexico. UPDATE: Police block access to Mexican hospital; 6 reported to have been admitted with radiation exposure The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the “extremely dangerous” cargo of pellets used in hospital radiotherapy machines had been removed from its protective casing, but “there is no indication that it has been damaged or broken up” and there is “no sign of contamination to the area.” Mexican authorities estimated it could take a couple of days to safely contain and remove the cobalt-60 and that it does not pose a health risk to the public. “At this moment the situation is not that serious, because the source has been located and it’s being protected,” said Benjamin Ruiz Loyola, a chemistry professor and hazardous substance expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The theft of the material sparked international concern because of the possibility that the cobalt-60 could be used in a “dirty bomb.” But by Wednesday afternoon, authorities had found the stolen Volkswagen cargo truck and the radioactive material. President Obama’s national security team monitored the situation in Mexico “very closely” Wednesday, and there is no reason to believe the stolen truck posed a threat to the United States, White House press secretary Jay Carney said. “What's most important is that the vehicle and equipment were recovered and the situation was resolved,” Carney said. The drivers of the cargo truck were sleeping at a gas station this week when gunmen assaulted them and stole their truck. Mexican nuclear safety officials said they believed the carjackers did not know what they were stealing and that they may die from exposure to the radioactive material. The IAEA said in its statement that it “would probably be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period in the range of a few minutes to an hour.” It is unclear how long the material was handled by the carjackers or others who found it later. Mexican officials said members of one family who came across the container were checked for contamination but appeared to be fine.


‘Narco Cultura’ movie review

In Shaul Schwarz’s “Narco Cultura,” Buknas de Culiacan celebrate drug violence from its base in California, while in Juarez, Mexico, the body count skyrockets. (Shaul Schwarz) The documentary “Narco Cultura” tells two stories. Or, more accurately, it plays two contrapuntal melodies. One tune is set to the polkalike beat of the narcocorrido — a jaunty, accordion-based Mexican folk song that has been updated for a contemporary audience with lyrics drawn from the thug lifestyle of Mexican drug cartels. Director Shaul Schwarz’s film focuses on one of the narcocorrido genre’s young, rising stars: Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Edgar Quintero of the popular band Buknas de Culiacan. A characteristic snippet of the group’s Spanish lyrics translates as, “We’re bloodthirsty, crazy and we like to kill.” One particularly disturbing shot shows Quintero singing these words, almost like a lullaby, to his young child. Both seem oblivious to their meaning, let alone to the deeper implications they hold about society. The second melody spun by the film is more funereal. Schwarz’s film cuts back and forth between Quintero — who seems to have a pretty nice life in California — and the depressing world of Richi Soto, a busy crime-scene investigator in the Mexican border town of Juarez. As Soto tells it, in a somber, almost dirgelike recitation of statistics, the number of drug-related killings in Juarez keeps climbing, now reaching well over 10,000. By the end of this troubling film, the cognitive dissonance that it highlights — between the theoretical glorification of the illegal Mexican drug industry and its actual cost in blood — is jarring. It’s an important film, but “Narco Cultura” is also maddeningly hard to watch. Quintero compares narcocorrido music, aptly, to gangster rap. The fact that some places in Mexico have tried to ban the genre only seems to have made it more popular. One delicious irony is the fact that American Wal-Marts carry narcocorrido CDs, despite the chain’s occasional practice of banning music by acts it deems offensive, such as Marilyn Manson. It’s easy, the film argues, to imagine that a Mexican drug lord is like Robin Hood, when the only evidence you have is his musical legend. Quintero is shown composing a song, on commission, to honor a criminal. It becomes not so easy to see things this way when you spend a little time with Soto, who’s kept so busy — and who solves so few cases


Nelson Mandela, ex-president of South Africa, dies at 95

Nelson Mandela, the former political prisoner who became the first president of a post-apartheid South Africa and whose heroic life and towering moral stature made him one of history’s most influential statesmen, died Thursday, the government announced. He was 95. The death was announced in a televised address by South African President Jacob Zuma, who noted, “We’ve lost our greatest son.” No cause was provided. To a country torn apart by racial divisions, Mr. Mandela became its most potent symbol of national unity, using the power of forgiveness and reconciliation to heal deep-rooted wounds and usher in an era of peace after decades of conflict between blacks and whites. To a continent rife with leaders who cling to power for life, Mr. Mandela became a role model for democracy, stepping down from the presidency after one term and holding out the promise of a new Africa. And to a world roiled by war, poverty and oppression, Mr. Mandela became its conscience, fighting to overcome some of its most vexing problems. He was a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who spent 27 years in prison as part of his lifelong struggle against racial oppression. Throughout this moral and political fight, Mr. Mandela evoked a steely resolve, discipline and quiet dignity, coupled with a trademark big, charismatic smile. He ultimately carried them into office as South Africa’s first black president. Timeline Nelson Mandela, also known as Madiba, led the struggle to replace South Africa's apartheid regime with a multi-racial democracy. See key moments in his life. Audio Listen to an excerpt of Mandela's famous speech. His victory capped decades of epic struggle by the African National Congress and other liberation groups against South Africa’s brutal white rulers, first under British colonialism and then under a white-run system called “apartheid,” or racial separation. On the day of his inauguration — May 10, 1994 — Mr. Mandela stood at the podium near South Africa’s last apartheid-era president, F.W. de Klerk. A year earlier, they had shared the Nobel Prize for what the Nobel committee called “their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new, democratic South Africa.” “We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation,” Mr. Mandela, then 75, declared. “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another . . . the sun


Director Shaul Schwarz explores drug war subculture in new film “Narco Cultura”

how, for anyone with the right papers, a short stroll over a bridge connects two such vastly different worlds: In Juarez, in 2010, the film notes, 3,622 people were murdered. In El Paso, five. Each contrasting reality has a protagonist in the film. Riccardo “Richi” Soto is a soft-spoken forensic crime scene investigator in his native Juarez. “The only way I can help this city is through my work,” Soto says in the film, though he knows most murders won’t be solved. Edgar Quintero, born and raised in Los Angeles, is the brash lead singer and songwriter for Buknas de Culiacan, an ascendant narcocorrido band. Corridos are a type of Mexican folk song featuring picaresque ballad-stories. Narcocorridos cast drug traffickers as outlaw heroes and macho Robin Hoods. The band’s name is derived from Buchanan’s Scotch, said to be favored by drug lords, according to Schwarz, and refers to the city Culiacan, near the Pacific Coast. Culiacan is the home base of the savage Sinaloa Cartel, whose takeover of the drug trade in Juarez was a cause of the killing in Soto’s city. Schwarz and soundman Juan Bertran spent years following the characters, over multiple visits, building trust and gaining extraordinary access. To remain unobtrusive in potentially risky situations — the aftermath of shootouts, social gatherings in the presence of guns and drugs — they used a high-quality camera the size and shape of an ordinary still camera and either a portable microphone or a wireless mike on their protagonists. Schwarz had served in the Israeli Air Force and as a photojournalist had covered conflict in Israeli-occupied territories, Kenya, Haiti and Afghanistan. The atmosphere of coiled menace in Juarez and Culiacan had a different quality to him. “I saw more gunfights in a day in Gaza or in Afghanistan than I saw in those four years in Mexico,” he says. “But it’s so clear that it’s everywhere. You could kill on the bridge to the U.S. You could kill in the middle of the day. You could do whatever you want. You could bury 70 people in a grave in Durango that I visited that is smack in the middle of the city. How come nobody said anything?” Knowing when to turn the camera off was a survival skill. It was safer not to probe any specific killing — a local crime reporter was gunned down early in the project, and


Mandela’s cause shaped Obama’s political awakening

scale, even if the outlines of their lives trace similar lines. Mandela became one of his country’s first black lawyers, while Obama, decades later, became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After negotiating the end of apartheid, Mandela was elected the first black president of South Africa. Obama became the first black president of his country a century and a half after the end of slavery. Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for helping ensure a democratic transition through a plea for racial forgiveness. Obama was awarded the same prize 16 years later, acknowledging in his Nobel Lecture that “compared to some of the giants of history who’ve received this prize — Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela — my accomplishments are slight.” In an extraordinary life that spanned the rural hills where he was groomed for tribal leadership, anti-apartheid activism, guerrilla warfare, 27 years of political imprisonment and, ultimately, the South African presidency, Mandela held a unique cachet that engendered respect and awe in capitals around the globe. Obama never met with Mandela as president. Out of respect for a frail Mandela, he avoided his sickbed during a summer stop in South Africa earlier this year. His homage came tacitly, during a visit, accompanied by his family, to the damp cells on Robben Island where Mandela spent nearly two decades. In the guest book, Obama wrote, “We’re deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield. The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit.” Obama did meet Mandela as a U.S. senator in Washington in 2005 and kept a photograph commemorating the encounter in his Capitol Hill office. Last month, Obama screened “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” the new film based on Mandela’s 1994 biography, at the White House. Mandela spoke of Obama as an example of American resilience and, as the son of a Kenyan, a symbol of possibility for many on his continent. In a letter to Obama delivered on the day of his January 2009 inauguration, Mandela described the new president as “something truly historic not only in the political annals of your great nation, the United States of America, but of the world.” “We are in some ways reminded today of the excitement and enthusiasm


D.C. gallery shows: ‘Landscapes of Unease,’ ‘Supreme Magnetic,’ ‘Decenter NY/DC’

she contrasts traditional Nigerian geometric motifs with modernist and industrial structures. But sometimes she’s regretful or even angry: “The Past Has No Future” shows a leaning New York skyscraper that’s supported by the facades of the many 19th-century beauties demolished to make room for it. Among the most trenchant drawings are those that depict a rapidly changing China. Traditional buildings and layouts, as well as the landscapes of venerable Chinese painting, are displaced by culturally unrooted edifices such as Rem Koolhaas’s CCTV headquarters in Beijing. “Reconstruction/Deconstruction” places the CCTV oddity amid a vast archaeological dig, like the one that yielded the Terra Cotta Warriors. Wolf works mostly in pencil, rendering both modernist lines and classical curves with extraordinary precision. But occasionally she incorporates color, using gouache, acrylic and colored pencil. The astonishingly complex “Pilgrimage” contrasts old and new, specific and general: Pilgrims wander elevated causeways above skyscrapers outlined in bright hues against black, on a quest toward architectural variety rather than monomaniacal modernism. Nancy Wolf: Landscapes of Unease On view through Dec. 21 at Marsha Mateyka Gallery, 2012 R St. NW; 202-328-0088; www.marshamateykagallery.com. Ellington Robinson D.C. artist Ellington Robinson also depicts the world humans have made, but not by erecting buildings. The largely abstract paintings and combines in “Supreme Magnetic,” at Project 4 Gallery, sometimes resemble maps or open terrain as seen from far above. Many of the motifs of Robinson’s previous show recur, including lengths of audiotape that evoke lost sounds and thoughts and railroad-track patterns that suggest humans’ marks on the landscape. The artist uses record players and cassette tapes to invoke the half-forgotten past, whether he’s jutting disembodied tone arms from “Memory + Rememory” (a piece that also features a deflated punching bag) or producing a rumbling noise from a speaker attached by audiotape to the main part of “North Equatorial Coast.” The show’s centerpiece is “Oath of the Imperialists,” which features not only some of Robinson’s most inspired repurposing, but also most pointed commentary. Constructed from a tabletop with a missing center leaf, the piece is impaled by the sort of knives used to carve up other people’s lands. Ellington Robinson: Supreme Magnetic On view through Dec. 14 at Project 4 Gallery, 1353 U St. NW, 3rd floor; 202-232-4340, www.project4gallery.com. Decenter NY/DC Robinson is among the artists in the Washington edition of “Decenter NY/DC,” which marks the centenary of the Armory Show, generally considered the United


Experts weigh in on sale of Washington Post headquarters to Carr Properties

P. Bezos, continues to rent space in the building as it searched for a new home. So which big-name family came out on top in the transaction? According to a sampling of experts, both did pretty well. Before agreeing to the purchase, Carr expressed interest in redeveloping the properties with a mixed-use project that could add vitality to the block, located at the corner of 15th and L streets. Depending on zoning approvals, Carr could build around 750,000 square feet, which means he paid in the ballpark of $200 per buildable square foot. The price-per-foot approaches record levels for downtown land, said John Sikaitis, senior vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, a firm that has provided some consultation to Carr. But he said the property was so large it would give Carr the opportunity to redefine the neighborhood akin to the effect the Square 54 development has had on the area around George Washington University . Square 54, developed by Boston Properties, has a Whole Foods, office space for law firms and some of the most expensive apartments in the city. “The Post site is a little bit off the beaten path by a block or two, but you could argue that [the Carrs] have the opportunity to kind of create a Main and Main there. They will create a destination, which that area does not have right now,” Sikaitis said. Carr Properties was considered a favorite to acquire the site from the get-go because it already owns the building on the corner, at 1150 15th St., on land leased from the Post. John F. Kevill, managing director of the real estate services firm Eastdil Secured, said that likely gave Carr an inside track. “My guess is the fact that Carr controlled the leasehold gave them an opportunity to be a little more competitive than the rest of the field,” Kevill said. “So Graham gets a good market price and Carr gets a little bit of a value premium.” Jonathan Morris, a former Boston Properties vice president and current adjunct real estate professor at Georgetown University, agreed. “I think it’s fair for both sides,” Morris said. “That part of town isn’t Connecticut and K,” but the opportunity for such a large downtown development site is rare and appeared at an ideal time for Carr, which recently formed a $300 million partnership with the Israeli firm Alony Hetz Properties and Investments.


No light show expected from Comet ISON

Comet ISON, left, flew near the sun in late November, when it likely broke into smaller pieces. (NASA/Associated Press) Did Comet ISON survive its brush with the sun? Several days after the comet made its closest approach to our nearest star, the scientific consensus is “probably not.” Yes, something survived ISON’s Thanksgiving Day encounter with the sun. Most scientists believe it was not a comet with a nucleus, but rather a collection of pebbles and dust — the rocky remains of the comet from the Oort cloud. Karl Battams, an astronomer who has been chronicling ISON’s journey toward the sun for NASA, published an obituary for the comet Monday. “Tragically, on Nov. 28, 2013, ISON’s tenacious ambition outweighed its ability, and our shining green candle in the solar wind began to burn out,” he wrote. Physicist Alex Young told the Los Angeles Times that he and his colleagues were “pretty certain that it’s gone.” Young said it was likely that the ice that held the bits of rock and dust that made up ISON burned up during the comet’s closest encounter with the sun. With that ice gone, ISON is nothing more than rocky debris. Young said the rocky remnants would travel along the comet’s orbital path for a while, but much of it would spread into space, pushed away by solar particles streaming off the sun. The Hubble telescope will take a look at whatever remains of the comet in mid-December, once it has moved away from the sun a bit, and at that point astronomers should have a clearer idea. But dreams of a dazzling light show are almost certainly dashed. — MCT Information Services


Wal-Mart brings more than its stores to D.C.; it brings lessons learned from other cities

Austin. A CVS, Food 4 Less, Aldi and Menards soon followed. On a summer afternoon this year, Joy Lambert entered the Austin store armed with flyers from other retailers — Jewel-Osco, Dominick’s and Walgreens — stores she said she frequented more often before Wal-Mart opened and offered to match competitors’ prices. “Now I can just come and get everything at one store,” she said. The retail giant’s registers ring up their first sales in the District after development delays and months of debate over wages. Martha Frimpong, 21, came out with four pairs of shoes for her 3-year-old daughter’s birthday, which cost her about $43. She said she didn’t follow the debate years before in Chicago about whether Wal-Mart ought to pay higher wages — a debate D.C. officials nearly duplicated this year — but remembers paying more for shoes before the Wal-Mart opened. “Normally when I shopped at other stores, it cost like $16 for a pair,” she said. Critics argue that the selection and lower prices have come at a cost to other retailers and workers in Chicago, a troubling sign for businesses near Wal-Mart’s first D.C. stores along Georgia Avenue and North Capitol Street. When he heard that Wal-Mart was opening a superstore down the street from his carry-out restaurant in Austin, Ali Qureshi thought things were finally looking up. Candy factories nearby had laid of thousands of workers that used to buy his fish sandwiches, gyros and hot wings. That Wal-Mart had chosen a site not two blocks away seemed to be a change in fortune. “I was very, very excited,” he said. “I thought, ‘I am lucky.’ ” But when it opened, the 141,000-square-foot superstore included a popular fried chicken restaurant that sold similar items. Qureshi tried dropping his prices — four pieces of fried chicken with french fries, hot sauce and a slice of white bread goes for $3.99 — but he said business has waned. “You sit here four or five hours,” he said, “and nobody comes.” From candy land to Gotham When Chicago was at its peak as America’s candy-making king, the sweet smells of Starbrite mints, Milk Maid caramels and Maple Nut Goodies wafted down North Cicero Avenue. The Brach’s plant, first opened in 1924, grew into one of the world’s largest candy factories, home to thousands of union workers pumping out 200 varieties of chocolates and hard candies. But in


This is the shortest best-of-the-year list I’ve published in my 32 (!) years at The Washington Post, and probably the oddest. For one thing, for the first time none of the 10 books chosen is fiction, unless one counts the two memoirs, a genre highly susceptible to fabrication. The other oddity is that six of the books are English and/or Irish (Edna O’Brien being mostly the latter but in no small part the former), even though I have never been susceptible to Anglophilia — indeed have resisted it stoutly throughout my life despite my certifiable Anglo blood lines. But I do love the way the Brits write, and there is some splendid writing on a list that, in fact, I like quite a lot. Which is why O’Brien’s “Country Girl” takes pride of place. Now in her 80s, O’Brien writes as beautifully as she did when she published her first novel, “The Country Girls,” more than half a century ago. That examination of the amatory lives of Irish women caused a considerable scandal back in 1960, and O’Brien to this day retains an agreeable capacity to raise eyebrows. There’s little of shock value in her new memoir, though, but a great deal of evocative writing about her girlhood in a small town in western Ireland, her literary awakening as a young woman in Dublin and her admission into the most fashionable cultural circles of London in the Swinging Sixties and thereafter. She’s been mostly in London for years now, but this lovely memoir leaves no doubt that her heart and soul are forever Irish. The other new memoir that I liked this year is “Miracles of Life,” by J.G. Ballard. The author is well-known and greatly respected in science-fiction circles, and in the larger world of readers as the author of “Empire of the Sun” (1984), the heavily autobiographical novel about Ballard’s boyhood in Shanghai that was made into a successful movie by Steven Spielberg. The same ground is covered in the memoir as in the novel, but Ballard’s parents now assume their proper role in the story; he had left them out of the novel in order to place full emphasis on the life of the boy. His youth in Shanghai bordered on the idyllic, which cannot be said of his years in a Japanese internment camp, but even there his self-sufficiency and curiosity enabled him to make the


Odd raccoon behavior reported in Mt Vernon may be sign of canine distemper, police say

They’re lethargic, and having trouble climbing trees. A Fairfax County Police spokesman said residents are calling Mount Vernon authorities about recent sightings of raccoons behaving oddly. But it’s no joke: One raccoon just tested positive for canine distemper, the spokesman said Friday. Police spokesman Eddy Azcarate said one of five raccoons that were collected by animal control officers over the past three weeks had tested positive for the disease. He said the disease is highly contagious and potentially deadly for dogs. The raccoons were found in the area of Fort Hunt Road and Namassin Road, according to a press release. Symptoms of canine distemper include sneezing, coughing and thick mucus from the eyes and nose, the release said. Other signs include fever, lethargy, sudden vomiting and diarrhea, depression and/or loss of appetite. The release also said the virus can affect skunks, foxes and coyotes. Azcarate said police are recommending that all dog owners verify that their pets’ vaccinations are up to date and watch for symptoms.


How to make a global climate change deal

IN THE Warsaw climate change conference last month, world representatives negotiated an agenda for further negotiations. That they did not manage to mess that up, we are told, is an achievement. The United Nations climate change proceedings are in their 22nd year. Until participants embrace some realities, they are unlikely to produce useful agreements. First, every major country must ante up. The industrialized West isn’t doing enough; the United States should put a price on carbon, preferably through a tax, which would have an impact on fossil-fuel use and set a constructive example. But the West has set about reducing its carbon footprint. China, India and other rising nations, meanwhile, are poised to pump massive and increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the air over the coming decades. Unless they put serious limits on their future emissions, the world could blow very far past the concentrations of atmospheric carbon that negotiators are aiming for. Next, negotiators need to drop the fantasy that whatever treaty they come up with will be legally binding. The size of each country’s emissions reductions and the enforcement of policies to achieve them will have to come from national governments, not from some international agreement. World negotiators tried to strike a deal with a “top-down” approach; they didn’t get close to pulling in all the major actors. Developing nations must also get real about the amount and type of climate-related money that they will get from the West. Europe and the United States are not going to fund an expensive system to compensate poor nations for effects they might ascribe to global warming. That’s because putting a price on the particular effects of climate change in one country or another is scientifically dubious. More important, Western nations are cash-strapped and their people won’t pay, anyway. Public and private financing should be mobilized for such things as stopping deforestation. But large-scale reparations are unlikely. In Warsaw, negotiators made halting progress on the legally binding issue and the reparations issue. That should help them with their new goal of striking an agreement in a major 2015 conference in Paris. Among achievable aims: an international program to fight deforestation; a system to efficiently transfer technological know-how among nations; a time and place for countries to pledge emissions reductions; and a mechanism to verify countries’ success in meeting their pledges. The future of the climate is not going to be


Business Digest: Sears to spin off Lands’ End, last-minute bid to block airline merger fails

RETAIL Sears will spin off its Lands’ End unit Sears Holdings said Friday that it will spin off its Lands’ End clothing business as a separate company by distributing stock to Sears shareholders. It’s the latest move by the struggling retailer to turn around its results as it faces wider losses and increasingly displeased investors. Sears had said in October that it was considering separating the Lands’ End and Sears Auto Center businesses from the rest of the company. It did not mention Sears Auto Center in Friday’s announcement. Belus Capital Advisors analyst Brian Sozzi said the move shows Sears was unable to get a buyer at the right price for Lands’ End and may raise questions about how much other well-known brand names Sears owns, such as Craftsman, are worth. “It makes you question the value of what Sears is sitting on,” he said. Edward Lampert, Sears’s chairman and chief executive, disclosed recently that his stake in the company has been reduced to less than 50 percent as investors pulled money out of his hedge fund. Sears continues to face losses. Last month, it reported a wider third-quarter loss as revenue declined 7 percent, to $8.27 billion. The company heavily marked down goods to move merchandise in the quarter. Lands’ End, which sells clothing and home goods on the Internet and through catalogues, began in 1963 as a sailboat hardware- and-equipment catalogue but morphed into a clothing company by 1977. Sears bought the company in 2002. — Associated Press AIRLINES Bid to block merger of AMR, US Air fails A federal judge on Friday rejected a last-ditch effort by consumers and travel agents to stop American Airlines and US Airways from merging next week, a move some fear would drive prices up and service down and make planes more crowded. The combination of American’s parent AMR Corp. and US Airways Group would create the world’s largest carrier. Last month, the companies resolved the Justice Department’s antitrust concerns. That settlement requires the airlines to shed some landing slots and gates at several airports, including in New York and Washington. The settlement was approved last week by the bankruptcy judge overseeing AMR’s Chapter 11 case. AMR has said it hopes to complete the merger Monday. In their appeal in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, plaintiffs led by California resident Carolyn Fjord urged that the bankruptcy court’s order be put on


District police investigating NW death as homicide — the city’s 100th in 2013

A District man was found dead early Saturday in the 200 block of Bates Street NW from an apparent gunshot wound in what police are investigating as a homicide. The homicide would be the 100th in the city this year, said Officer Araz Alali, a District police spokesman. The body of Lamont William Hall, 32, of Southeast was found in an alley at about 12:10 a.m. Saturday by police responding to a shooting report, District police said. The location in the Truxton Circle neighborhood is about four blocks from a corner store where a clerk was critically injured after being shot in the neck during a midmorning robbery Nov. 27. The 2013 homicide tally includes 12 people killed by a gunman at the Navy Yard in September. The mass shooting spiked the city’s homicide rate and pushed it past the pace in 2012, which ended with 88 slayings, the fewest in a half-century. Get updates on your area delivered via e-mail


Ex-sailor Graciela Saraiva cleared of mistaken drug charge, but case shows broader problem

look the other way for problems with tardiness or missing formation, or less-important instances of insubordination or alcohol abuse. Now, it’s enough to trigger a discharge. “The pendulum has swung. In 2003 [to] 2004, anyone with minor, petty stuff, units were deploying them anyway. Now, because of budgetary issues, they’re no longer good enough to serve,” said Greg Rinckey, a former Army lawyer who now practices military employment law. The dismissals often leave former service members with “general” or “other than honorable” discharges, which fall short of “honorable” ones. That typically blocks them from receiving federal veterans benefits and can cost them future jobs or security clearances. “A lot of times, the misconduct that we’re talking about is . . . not enough, in my opinion, to merit this kind of indelible mark on your record,” said Phillip Carter, director of the veterans program at the Center for a New American Security. Tom Berger, executive director of the Veterans Health Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said many veterans believe “that those kinds of [discharges] are the military’s way of downsizing without costing them any money.” Vietnam Veterans of America and others have accused the Army of discharging thousands of soldiers since 2001 for erroneous diagnoses of “adjustment disorder” and “personality disorder.” Cadets forced out of ROTC programs are asked to repay tens of thousands of dollars of scholarship money. One such victim was Alex McArthur, 25. The University of Akron ROTC program disenrolled him after three years’ study and two weeks before he was to be commissioned as an Army ordnance officer. The program said that when McArthur enrolled, he failed to disclose a minor drug incident that occurred when he was 16. It demanded that he repay about $25,000 in financial support. After a two-year battle, McArthur established that he had disclosed the legal trouble at the start but that he did not receive a waiver that should have been routine. It cost him $30,000 in legal bills to avoid repaying the $25,000. McArthur said the experience also cost him his childhood dream of following his father into the military. “It’s earth-shattering to this day,” McArthur said. “I had put so much time and effort into this.” The young men and women who volunteer to serve deserve better treatment. They shouldn’t need a news media spotlight to guarantee it. For previous Robert McCartney columns, go to washingtonpost.com/mccartney.


D.C. shooting may be year’s 100th homicide; Metro cancels Sunday track work

THE DISTRICT Shooting may be year’s 100th homicide A District man was found dead early Saturday in the 200 block of Bates Street NW from an apparent gunshot wound, in what police are investigating as a homicide. The homicide would be the 100th in the city this year, said Officer Araz Alali, a D.C. police spokesman. The body of Lamont William Hall, 32, of Southeast, was found in an alley at about 12:10 a.m. Saturday by police responding to a shooting report, District police said. The location in the Truxton Circle neighborhood is about four blocks from a corner store where a clerk was critically injured after being shot in the neck during a mid-morning robbery Nov. 27. The 2013 homicide tally includes 12 people killed by a gunman at the Navy Yard in September. The mass shooting spiked the city’s homicide rate and pushed it past the pace of 2012, which ended with 88 slayings, the fewest in a half-century. — Mary Pat Flaherty METRO Sunday track work has been canceled Metro has canceled Sunday rebuilding work on train lines to allow its crews to prepare for predicted winter weather conditions and ready the system for Monday’s rush hour. The cancellation means trains will run at regular Sunday intervals on all lines. There is no planned track work on any line, Metro announced Saturday. Previously announced bus shuttles on the Blue Line also have been canceled. — Mary Pat Flaherty


‘Civic tech’ investment hits $431 million; defense agency has mission for online gamers

VENTURE CAPITAL $431M pours in to ‘civic’ tech groups More than 100 “civic” tech organizations — businesses and nonprofit groups focused on sharing data and resources between governments and citizens, and citizens with each other — received $431 million in investments between 2011 and 2013, according to a new report. More than 80 percent of that was from private investors, the Knight Foundation found. The remaining investments were philanthropic, such as those from the Knight Foundation itself, a nonprofit that supports media efforts. The report’s definition of civic tech includes a wide scope of ventures, including such nonprofits as TurboVote, which allows voters to register online, and for-profit start-ups such as Waze, which uses crowd-sourced information to tell drivers about the best routes. (Google bought Waze this summer for about $1 billion.) — Mohana Ravindranath SOFTWARE Gamers may help DARPA find glitches Gamers could soon be doing government information-technology work while they play online. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency last week launched an experimental gaming site called Verigames, which aims to use players to do the job of the engineers who usually search software code for glitches. The site features five puzzles, which include such activities as getting robots to perform a mission and cataloguing plant species using mathematical formulas. The puzzles are linked to chunks of code, and when the puzzles are solved, it allows DARPA to determine if there are problems in the software. In software engineers’ hands, the process can be expensive and time-consuming. DARPA plans to assess whether the gaming program, Crowd Sourced Formal Verification, is more cost-effective. — Mohana Ravindranath


Demetrius Eccles found dead from apparent gunshot wounds in Northwest D.C.

A District man was found dead Saturday night in the 900 block of Sheridan Street NW from apparent gunshot wounds. Police responded to a report of gunfire at 8:58 p.m. just off Georgia Avenue in the Brightwood neighborhood and found the body of Demetrius Eccles, 31, of Northwest, according to a statement from the department. Officer Paul Metcalf, a police spokesman, said Sunday that the death is being investigated as a homicide. He could not immediately provide any additional information about the circumstances that led to the shooting. Get updates on your area delivered via e-mail


Jonathan Carney and BSO strings delight at Strathmore

With concertmaster Jonathan Carney at the helm and as violin soloist, the Baltimore Symphony, represented by about two dozen members of its string section, brought a concert of eight “Seasons” to Strathmore on Saturday. Four of them were Vivaldi’s, Italianate in their elegance and baroque in their transparency and balance, and four were Astor Piazzolla’s (in Leonid Desyatnikov’s arrangement), unabashedly sultry and sensual in their Latin American heat. The program alternated between the two sets and, since Desyatnikov reset Piazzolla’s original tango-band instrumentation to mirror Vivaldi’s baroque scoring and inserted snippets of Vivaldian flourishes into its guts, the contrasts were not as striking as they might have been. Carney’s whole body served as a baton. He danced with quick nods through the Vivaldi movements, using his bow arm and the violin itself to keep things together, but he stamped, shuffled, bent and bobbed through the tangos — not very tango-like dancing but clearly immersed in its Zen. Where such activity might have been a distraction in another program, here it was kind of fun. It didn’t achieve the almost machine-like togetherness of some Vivaldi performances I’ve heard but there was a more engaging human quality to the ensemble that, particularly in the Piazzolla pieces, was warm and emphatic. That human quality was strained to the edge of sloppiness, however, in the first movement of Vivaldi’s “Summer” and the last of his “Winter,” when Carney took off at a pace that left his colleagues scrambling to keep up — although it was this feat of technical derring-do that brought whistles and bravos from the audience. What Carney and the orchestra did so well, however, was to project baroque clarity through light, vibrato-less pianissimos and Argentinian passion with broad and boldly bowed warmth. Reinthaler is a freelance writer. Jonathan Carney (Grant Leighton)


Wal-Mart vs. Target (and wages and small businesses)

which issues about 20 fishing licenses a month, will have new competition from Wal-Mart, which not only sells hunting and fishing licenses, but also groceries, clothing and electronics. At Dollar & Beyond on Georgia Avenue NW, manager Usman Qureshi said metered parking spaces in front of the store had been removed to make way for Wal-Mart customers. “It’s affecting us already,” Qureshi said. “Of course I’m going to get hit if people can’t even park here.” But not all nearby businesses are dismayed. A manager at the Subway shop a few doors down from the H Street Wal-Mart said he expects business to improve. “More traffic, more people, more business,” said Mamun Liton. “It will be good for us because Wal-Mart employees will come here to eat.” Two-liter bottle of Coke: $1.99 at Dollar Beyond, $1 at Wal-Mart. Target There are, Tameca Herbert says, two types of people: Wal-Mart devotees and those who prefer Target. She is among the latter. “I like Target better,” said Herbert, who stopped by to check out the H Street Wal-Mart on opening day. “It’s a little more upscale.” Target, which has one location in the District and is considering opening another one downtown, has held a stronghold among big-box retailers in the District since the opening of its Columbia Heights store in 2008. But that may be changing with Wal-Mart’s arrival. More than 100 people lined up for its stores’ openings on Wednesday. Many had woken up early for the occasion, while others had taken the day off work to be there for the retailer’s arrival. Sharon “Cookie” Jackson, 65, said she sometimes shops at the Target in Columbia Heights. But most days, she would rather drive up to the Wal-Mart in Laurel or Arundel Mills. Now with the opening of the H Street Wal-Mart, she sees little reason to step foot in Target again. “Wal-Mart’s a whole lot cheaper than Target,” Jackson said as she filled her cart with Christmas gifts on opening day. “And I don’t think the selection is as cute at Target, especially with girls’ jewelry.” Across the store, Pamela Scott Washington shopped for groceries. “I feel like the queen of Wal-Mart,” the 56-year-old said. “I’m going to be here at least three or four times a week, as often as I can.” One gallon of whole milk: $3.75 at Wal-Mart, $3.89 at Target. Jonathan O’Connell contributed to this report.


Where to go with kids in cold weather

Dan Babbitt, acting manager of the Insect Zoo and Butterfly Pavilion at Natural History, shows off Nefertiti, a female Johnson Jumping Spider. (Ricky Carioti/WASHINGTON POST) We know. We know. Indoor activities. You’re sick of your fallbacks. You won’t go near Chuck E Cheese, and another Target run just isn’t going to work this time. Here are a few ideas for kids of all ages to stay sane (let’s face it, for you to stay sane) during the cold winter months. We will update this list from time to time. Let us know what your favorite things to do are when the weather is dreadful. Note: On this snowy Tuesday, check before you go! So far, it looks like the only spot on this list closed so far is Mount Vernon. College Park Aviation Museum This little gem of a museum is good for many different ages. The wide open space is light-filled, calm and features hands-on activities. (Steer a plane! Dress up like a pilot! Make a postcard and actually mail it!) Even if your little one is too small to pilot a plane, the museum itself is just a nice spot to toddle around. Oh yeah, those museums. Pretty much any free museum on the mall is good for kids in bad weather. Even if they aren’t exactly into the Hope Diamond or learning about ancient cultures, there will be something to grab their attention. And hey, it’s miles of indoor space in which to walk, toddle or crawl around. (No running please!) That said, the museums all provide plenty of activities, many of which are geared toward kids. Experience Natural History’s butterflies, watch a tarantula eat a cricket, hold a huge cockroach and more in the “Insect Zoo.” The Air and Space museum has a children’s section with interactive displays, and on Fridays, kids can watch a short movie with Big Bird in the planetarium, then sit for a story and craft afterwards. (We once made little kites during the kite festival.) The U.S. Botantic Garden is a lot of fun for different ages. I used to take my little ones when they were still in strollers — such big, pretty things to look at in the warmth. Older ones can appreciate the interesting cactii and water features. And hey, how can a kid resist the train set up for the holidays? The National Museum of the American


John Tillman, 63, stabbed to death in Truxton Circle Park; suspect Deon Thomas arrested

A 37-year-old man has been arrested in connection with fatally stabbing a man Sunday night in a small park in Northwest Washington’s Truxton Circle, according to D.C. police. Deon Anthony Thomas, of Northeast, was charged with second-degree murder while armed. The victim, John Thomas Tillman, 63, of Southeast, died at an area hospital shortly after he was stabbed about 10:10 p.m. at Florida Avenue and North Capitol Street Northwest. Police have not released a suspected motive in the attack. Thomas could make his first appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday, when more details will be made available in court documents. The killing was the District’s third over the weekend and the second in Truxton Circle, a small neighborhood roughly bordered by New York, New Jersey and Florida avenues, and North Capitol Street. On Saturday, D.C. police said a 32-year-old man was found fatally shot in an alley off the 200 block of Bates Street Northwest. Police said it does not appear the two deaths are related, but were the results of separate disputes. The neighborhood has seen an increase in violence. On Nov. 27, a clerk of a neighborhood store was shot through the neck during an apparent robbery. In October, two men were shot, one fatally, at a gas station at Florida Avenue and North Capitol Street. Police arrested two suspects in that case and charged them with second degree murder. The gas station is across the street from the park where police said Tillman was stabbed Sunday night. There have been 102 killings in the District so far this year, compared to 88 in all of last year. Get updates on your area delivered via e-mail


Sysco to buy US Foods for $3.5 billion

A US. Foods truck is shown on delivery in San Diego, California. (Mike Blake/REUTERS) Sysco will buy US Foods for about $3.5 billion from its private-equity owners in a deal that will combine the top two U.S. food distributors and create a company commanding at least a quarter of the $235 billion North American market. Sysco, whose shares jumped as much as 25 percent to a record high Monday, touted the combination of its supply-chain expertise with the strong consumer-facing technologies of US Foods as a key driver for the deal, which creates a company with revenue of $65 billion. “The purchase price seems fairly reasonable. It is less than 10 times trailing 12-month EBITDA, and there are synergies that are expected to result from the deal,” Morningstar analyst Erin Lash said. EBITDA is an abbreviation for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. United Natural Foods, the next-largest publicly-listed food distributor, trades at about 14 times trailing EBITDA. Sysco, which will assume US Foods’ debt of $4.7 billion, said it expected about $600 million in annual cost savings within three to four years. Both companies distribute food to restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools and other institutions. Shareholders of US Foods — owned by affiliates of private-equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and KKR & Co. — will own about 13 percent of Sysco after the close of the deal, expected in the third quarter 2014. Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and KKR are set to make more than 1.5 times their original investment in US Foods, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to disclose such financial details. The private-equity firms together invested about $2.25 billion as equity in 2007 to buy US Foods — then called US Foodservice — from Dutch grocer Ahold for $7.1 billion including debt. The final returns of the private-equity firms will not be known until they sell all of their Sysco shares. “KKR had the investment marked at 1.3 times [its investment cost] as of Sept. 30, so once again we see a sale at a price above marked value, indicating the general conservatism of KKR’s marks,” Oppenheimer analysts wrote in a research note. Sysco chief executive Bill DeLaney, speaking on a conference call with analysts, said Sysco has an 18 percent share of the market, while US Foods has 9 percent. DeLaney said the Federal Trade Commission, which rules on