Secrecy surrounding ‘zero-day exploits’ industry spurs calls for government oversight

no way available for private companies.” Some U.S. exploit brokers offer more qualified defenses of their trade. Netragard, like several other U.S. firms, acts as a middleman, sending out a list of sought-after exploits it would be willing to buy at prices ranging from $20,000 to $100,000. The list is delivered to researchers who have signed up for its program and are willing to abide by confidentiality requirements. Adriel T. Desautels, Netragard’s chief executive, said his business will sell only to U.S. companies and organizations and only when he can verify an end-use. Zero-days, he said, can be used to help companies develop defensive software or simulate attacks on their systems. He said that he wished his company could work more with software vendors but that they have never approached him. To make the first move, he said, would cause problems. “If we approached a vendor and said, “Hey guys, we’ve got this awesome zero-day and we want you to buy it,’ that’s either borderline extortion, or it’s extortion,” Desautels said. “I can’t do that.” Definition of the product Regulating a trade such as zero-days is not unprecedented. The U.S. Commerce Department, which experts suggest would be responsible for any export controls on zero-days, regulates the sale of software and exploits related to cryptography as well as some penetration-testing software, which is used to evaluate security vulnerabilities. Germany, meanwhile, is one of the few countries to stringently regulate exploits The debate over regulation turns in part on whether computer code can be classified as free speech and thus be excluded from restrictions. “The Supreme Court has never explained to us exactly where software and code fall in the spectrum of protected speech, and when code becomes a product that’s easily regulable,’’ said Andrea M. Matwyshyn, an assistant professor of legal studies and business ethics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “It’s a hole — something the Supreme Court will definitely need to take up.’’ Some are skeptical that regulating the industry is possible or even desirable. “It’s like trying to regulate guns,” said Richard Schaeffer Jr., a former senior cybersecurity official at NSA. “We’ve got so many gun laws on the books, and yet criminals still have guns. There will always be mean, wrong, illegitimate things that human beings do for a price. So instead of trying to regulate things away, we need to accept it’s a fact of


Training suspended for new Afghan recruits

In this Saturday, March 3, 2012 file photo, Maj. Gen. David Quantock salutes Army Sgt. Timothy John Conrad, 22, who was killed in Afghanistan last week, at Conrad's funeral in Roanoke, Va. The 22-year-old Conrad was one of two U.S. military police officers killed Feb. 23 by an Afghan soldier amid anti-American sentiment over the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base. (Rebecca Barnett/AP) KABUL — The move comes as NATO officials struggle to stem the tide of attacks on NATO forces by their Afghan colleagues. The attacks, which have killed 45 troops this year, have forced NATO officials to acknowledge a painful truth: Many of the incidents might have been prevented if existing security measures had been applied correctly. But numerous military guidelines were not followed — by Afghans or Americans — because of concerns that they might slow the growth of the Afghan army and police, according to NATO officials. Special Operations officials said that the current process for vetting recruits is effective but that a lack of follow-up has allowed Afghan troops who fell under the sway of the insurgency or grew disillusioned with the Afghan government to remain in the force. “We have a very good vetting process,” a senior Special Operations official said. “What we learned is that you just can’t take it for granted. We probably should have had a mechanism to follow up with recruits from the beginning.” In other instances, the vetting process for Afghan soldiers and police was never properly implemented, and NATO officials say they knew it. But they looked the other way, worried that extensive background checks could hinder the recruitment process. Also ignored were requirements that Afghans display proper credentials while on base. “Everyone admits there was a lot of international pressure to grow these forces, and the vetting of these individuals was cast aside as an inhibitor,” said a U.S. official who, like other officials, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. The move last week by Maj. Gen. Tony Thomas, who oversees Special Operations forces in Afghanistan,to suspend the training 1,000 new recruits followed the Aug. 17 shooting of two American Special Forces members by a new Afghan Local Police recruit at a small outpost in western Afghanistan. The local police initiative places Special Forces teams in remote villages where they work with Afghan elders


ba Shohna” — shoulder to shoulder. NATO leaders say they have no plans to distance themselves from their partners. But inevitably, aspects of the relationship are being called into question. “We remain convinced that the closer our relationship with the Afghans, the more secure we are. But there’s no question we must work together to understand and reduce the insider threat,” said Maj. Lori Hodge, a spokeswoman for NATO forces. “We’re examining every aspect of the relationship to ensure our interaction makes sense, not just culturally but in terms of force protection, as well.” The most recent insider attack occurred Wednesday night. Three Australian troops were relaxing at their base in southern Uruzgan province when they were shot at close range by a man wearing an Afghan army uniform, the vice chief of Australia’s defense force, Mark Binskin, told reporters in Sydney. For a decade, coalition officials watched as Afghan security services overlooked key elements of the vetting process — sometimes for the sake of expediency and sometimes because of corruption. Many Afghans, even those who were vetted, were never issued official badges, making it impossible to tell who was supposed to have access to any particular facility. In Helmand province, thousands of Afghan police officers lack identification cards, according to U.S. officials. “For years, there have been thousands of guys without proper identification. Our troops had no way of knowing who they were, or if they picked up their uniform in a bazaar,” said a U.S. official, one of several charged with making recommendations on ways to reduce the number of insider attacks. An acceptance of that flawed system meant that Western troops rarely questioned Afghans on base who lacked credentials. The 15-year-old civilian who shot three Marines in Helmand last month had lived on a U.S. base for weeks, despite not being a member of the security forces. “They made a fatal assumption that he was part of the staff,” said a U.S. official familiar with the incident. “They didn’t require the district police chief to prove that he belonged there. They didn’t want to push. They wanted to build a relationship.” “Now there is a real effort to make sure people are adhering to orders they are supposed to be adhering to,” the U.S. official said. “We don’t need a lot of new laws, we just need to make sure people follow the ones that are already


Washington area bankruptcy filings for the week of Sept. 3

These firms recently filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s local court clerk’s offices. Under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code, a company is protected from claims by creditors while it attempts to reorganize its finances under a plan approved by the court. In a Chapter 7 liquidation, a court trustee sells assets to pay creditors’ claims. The company then ceases operations. Eastern Virginia District Alexandria Division Artisan Remodeling Construction LLC 3214 Burgundy Rd., Alexandria, Va. 22303 Type of filing: Chapter 7 liquidation Case number: 12-15194-RGM Date filed: Aug. 24 Attorney: Richard G. Hall, 703-256-7159 Assets: zero to $50,000 Liabilities: $500,001 to $1 million Largest unsecured creditor: Not disclosed Maryland District Greenbelt Magill Food Services Inc. 19209-P Chennault Way, Gaithersburg, Md. 20879 Type of filing: Chapter 7 liquidation Case number: 12-25588 Date filed: Aug. 24 Attorney: Robert K. Goren, 301-984-6266 Assets: $100,000 to $500,000 Liabilities: $500,001 to $1 million Largest unsecured creditor: Zarpas, $43,008 G W Floor Covering Inc. 6410 Trust Pl., Hughesville, Md. 20637 Type of filing: Chapter 7 liquidation Case number: 12-25709 Date filed: Aug. 27 Attorney: Richard M. McGill, 301-627-5222 Assets: zero to $50,000 Liabilities: $100,001 to $500,000 Largest unsecured creditor: Robert E. Graham Sr., $125,000 AMF Facility Services Inc. 14757 Main St., Ste. 103, Upper Marlboro, Md. 20772 Type of filing: Chapter 7 liquidation Case number: 12-25710 Date filed: Aug. 27 Attorney: Richard M. McGill, 301-627-5222 Assets: zero to $50,000 Liabilities: zero to $50,000 Largest unsecured creditor: Craig Hauer, amount unknown — Compiled by Vanessa Small


Report: FAA should improve control of birds, wildlife near airports

number of deaths might have grown sixfold in an instant. It is a problem that exemplifies the law of unintended consequences. “Most of the large birds that represent strike threats have been increasing in number,” said Carol Bannerman of the wildlife service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “It’s a conservation success story.” Many of the birds that were endangered 50 years ago by the pesticide DDT have rebounded beautifully. They include Canada geese, pelicans, sandhill cranes, wild turkeys, eagles and other raptors. “All of which could cause catastrophic failure if ingested into an aircraft engine,” said the report by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s inspector general, which made 10 recommendations to the FAA . “Increases in the populations of hazardous wildlife species continue to challenge the airports’ ability to provide a safe operating environment.” A federal aviation expert put it more bluntly: “It’s definitely a real hazard.” In many instances, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the subject, aircraft from the era when hitting big birds was a rarity were not built to sustain those impacts. “The threat to big airplanes is jet engine outages,” he said. “The threat to smaller planes and helicopters is even greater.” Five people died in 2008 when the wing of a small passenger jet struck a pelican near Oklahoma City. Eight people died in 2009 when a red-tailed hawk crashed through the windshield of a helicopter carrying passengers to an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. A red-tailed hawk also was blamed for the crash last year in California of a Marine AH-1 attack helicopter that killed two Marines. Managing wildlife is a particular problem at Washington’s three major airports because they are situated in the Atlantic flyway, the aerial path on which birds migrate. To passing birds, National Airport looks like a relatively quiet oasis amid the urban roar. Dulles and BWI appear as vast spreads of mostly empty acres in the East Coast sprawl of suburbia. To seagulls, Canada geese, pigeons, starlings, foxes and terrapin, they provide a haven relatively safe from most predators. On March 6, Dulles reported that a plane had an encounter with a mink. The USDA, working on behalf of the FAA, has done a variety of creative things to reduce airport wildlife. At Dulles, for example, fences extend two feet underground to foil small animals. At BWI, the wildlife


The Great Egg Crisis hits Mexico

A city worker sells eggs at government subsidized prices as people line up outside the truck in Mexico City, Aug. 24, 2012. The Mexican government is battling an egg shortage and hoarding that have caused prices to spike in a country. (Alexandre Meneghini/AP) MEXICO CITY — But seriously: The public here is faced with an extreme shortage of eggs in a country that has the highest-per-capita egg consumption on the planet. Highest being 22.4 kilograms (about 50 pounds) per person in 2011, or more than 400 eggs a year, depending on the size of the egg, according to Mexico’s National Poultry Industry. There has been hoarding, price spikes and two-hour lines to buy eggs. Some retail outlets have been forced to limit how many cartons a day a customer can buy. American hens have been called to the rescue. An outbreak of AH7N3 avian flu virus is partly responsible. The deadly bird flu was detected in June on poultry farms in the Pacific coast state of Jalisco, and Mexican farmers and the government acted with lethal authority and slaughtered 11 million chickens to prevent its spread. Within weeks of the outbreak, 90 additional million hens were vaccinated against the virus, with a second round of inoculation now underway. Because of the mass culling, and stoked by price gouging and the soaring cost of chicken feed, the price of eggs has doubled this summer in Mexico, on average from less than 20 pesos to more than 40 pesos a kilo, or from $1.50 to $3. There’s about 16 or so eggs in a kilo. This might not sound like much (unless you’re a family of five eating 2,000 eggs a year), but the rapid rise for a basic commodity and the attempts by the government at the highest level to calm the storm expose Mexico’s greatest vulnerability, a stubborn, punishing poverty. While the nation is steadily becoming more prosperous, competitive and middle class, about half of all Mexicans still live in poverty — and the slightest change, just a few pennies in the cost of tortillas, beans, cooking oil, gasoline and eggs — can send shudders through the population. “This is no joke, because Mexicans like their eggs, and the price of eggs is the price of breakfast, and it is breakfast that gets children to school, people to work,” said Carmen Moreno, who tends a food stall at the municipal


Hillary Clinton’s China visit a balancing act

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waves as she departs the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia. Clinton arrived in China on Tuesday. (Reuters) BEIJING — Throughout her tenure, Clinton has been one of the principal forces shaping and carrying out the administration’s sometimes controversial Asia policy. And with the looming presidential election and Clinton’s planned departure afterward, leaders throughout the region have been asking one key question: What happens next? “You hear this everywhere in Asia now, not just about what will come after these guys but whether U.S. presence will persevere and how that presence will be directed,” said Christopher Johnson, a former top China analyst for the CIA who is now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. When it comes to China, much of the U.S. struggle for the past four years has been with a Goldilocks-type conundrum: how to continue strengthening partnerships with other Asian nations without angering the Chinese or prompting accusations of interference. “It’s a careful balance you’re juggling at all times,” said a former Obama administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities. Many countries in the region, uneasy with China’s growing economic and military clout, have clamored for an increased U.S. presence in Asia. U.S. officials have tried hard to project such an increase in the past year with their new policy of “pivoting,” or “rebalancing,” American focus from the Middle East. At the same time, they have tried to convince the Chinese government that the increased presence is not an attempt to contain China’s rise. Those attempts have not entirely been successful, as was made clear in blistering editorials and stories in China’s state-run media ahead of Clinton’s one-night visit. One report claimed that the Chinese people dislike Clinton personally. Another called her “a person who deeply reinforces U.S.-China mutual suspicion.” And a column published by China’s official news agency called the United States a “sneaky troublemaker sitting behind some nations in the region and pulling strings.” Among the thorniest topics Clinton will have to tackle in meetings Wednesday are various territorial disputes that have become flash points between China and its neighbors. On the South China Sea especially, China has been the most aggressive actor, claiming almost the entire disputed area and threatening other claimants diplomatically, economically and militarily. China has insisted that disputes be handled in a series of


Chefs are the new diplomats

China made by Pickard is one of several patterns in use at the State Department. (Linda Davidson/THE WASHINGTON POST) Mike Isabella originally intended to leave for Greece and Turkey last week for 15 days of research in anticipation of his forthcoming restaurant, Kapnos. But when his country called, the former “Top Chef” contestant and creator of Graffiato and Bandolero in Washington added some embassy stops and restaurant and vendor meetings to his overseas itinerary. Isabella is one of the first chefs to be tapped by the State Department to serve as a culinary ambassador abroad, part of an ambitious new undertaking to use food as a diplomatic tool. Initiated by the U.S. Chief of Protocol Capricia Penavic Marshall and blessed by her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership aims to “elevate the role of culinary engagement in America’s formal and public diplomacy efforts,” according to a mission statement. The initiative, in partnership with the James Beard Foundation, named for the late dean of American cooking, will be officially announced at the State Department on Sept. 7 at a reception featuring some of the nation’s premiere chefs and pedigreed products. “James used to say, ‘Food is our common ground,’” says foundation president Susan Ungaro. “He would be thrilled” by chefs “getting recognition in ways they never have before.” The wide-ranging effort creates an American Chef Corps, a network of culinary leaders who could be deployed to promote U.S. cooking and agricultural products abroad. “They might meet with an embassy, cook a lunch, post blogs or [write] articles, speak at events,” says Marshall, listing the many ways participants might engage. American chefs who aspire to medals from the James Beard Foundation and to stars from Michelin now have something else to aim for: navy-blue jackets set off with an American flag, the seal of the State Department and their names embroidered in gold on the front. The State Chef designation will be reserved for industry members who have distinguished themselves by, say, serving a meal for the State Department or hosting a foreign delegation. Rock Harper is proof that chefs don’t need a passport to earn the honor. The director of kitchen operations at DC Central Kitchen plans to introduce chefs, teachers and journalists from around the world to his culinary job training and food recycling operation Sept. 7. “This is not just a photo op,” says


Packing a school lunch, Trabocchi style

of them to be able to get on to wash the food. One would wash and the other would dry and put it in containers or bowls or whatever. With the fruit, I already have Ziploc packages ready for snacks, so I don’t have to do that in the morning. The kids would sit there, I would cut the melon, they would say, “I want this one.” They would feel like a part of it. The same thing with fish. They look at fish and they get extremely scared when they see a whole fish, with a head and everything. They say, “Ew, that’s ugly.” And I say, “Yeah, but that ugly one is really good.” And then we clean it together, we cook it together. And they feel special by helping. So then eating is not as bad. My daughter used to hate chickpeas. She would look at a chickpea and be like, “I don’t like that.” But then I discovered she liked hummus. So I would make chickpeas in different variations, until she would get the taste for it. Now when she sees chickpeas, she still has the “ugh,” and then she remembers, “Ah, I like them.” So that’s how I made her change, is through different looks. It’s like trying shoes with different outfits. You’ve said that you make sure that the kids have fish three times a week. Fish is lean, with no fat. Obviously salmon, arctic char, some of the red fish can have more fat to it. But it’s very good protein. I’ve always thought that fish, with all the omegas [polyunsaturated fatty acids thought to have a number of health benefits], is really good for brain development. So fish is my priority. And here, we’re so lucky. We find amazing fish, so much better than in other places. Obviously, I have the best buyer here [at the restaurant]. . . . Arctic char, skate, Dover sole, all those. And they’re soft to eat, so they can eat it fast. And if you mix it with fruit, it’s kind of interesting and it’s not heavy. So when they go back to class, they don’t feel like they ate a hamburger and they have to take a nap. How well does fish hold up in a lunchbox? It holds up well, because here people eat very early. If we were in Europe, I think I


Running a marathon on a high school track

Sixty-two-year-old organizer Jay Jacob Wind, left, runs a full marathon on the Falls Church High School track. (Dayna Smith/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) If misery could be measured in meters, surely the place to do it, with agonizing precision, was the outdoor track at Falls Church High School on Saturday afternoon. That’s where 10 hardy masochists decided to run a marathon, covering 26.2 miles 400 meters at a time, 1051 / 2 laps in all, around and around like human stock cars at Daytona. There was a good reason for this madness, which I’ll get to. But what drew me to the inaugural “Last Track to Boston” event was the idea that anyone would choose to do this when he or she could sign up for one of the hundreds of marathons held throughout the United States and the rest of the world. Those runs would take you up mountains and down river valleys, past famous monuments, through urban neighborhoods, along trails in the woods — pretty much anywhere except the baked black rubber surface of a high school track. It is 89 degrees when I arrive shortly before 4:30 p.m., less than an hour into the race, with 54 percent humidity that makes it feel like 95 degrees. Ideally, marathons should start near dawn and be run in 40- or 50-degree weather. The runners already are drenched in their own sweat, which drips from their hats and runs down their legs into their squishy shoes. A couple of older guys are already plodding. If there is a circle in hell for marathoners, it undoubtedly resembles this oval. At least, that’s how I feel about it. The runners mostly disagree. In July, several of them ran an indoor marathon, which is held on a 200-meter track and takes 211 laps to complete. “It’s to do something different and see how your body responds to this,” says Tammy Bagdasarian, 44, of Herndon, one of two women to finish the race (Bagdasarian was second in 5:25:43). The course doesn’t bother Bagdasarian much, though she prefers ultramarathons, which tax a variety of muscles because the terrain varies. “It’s not bad, except the heat,” she says. Jay Jacob Wind and about 10 other runners, in a last ditch effort to qualify for the historic Boston Marathon, ran a full 26.2 mile marathon. (Dayna Smith/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) Eugene Fritzel, 62, of Lutherville, Md., is running


Fact-checking Hillary’s mileage

by Runner’s World magazine’s Newswire Web site, when its news editor, author Scott Douglas , came across the Hewitt interview. Douglas thought Ryan’s time seemed mighty fast. It didn’t take long to find out Ryan’s real time was a bit over four hours, not under three. The Aug. 31 debunking propelled the 40-some-year-old niche magazine, circulation around 700,000, out of the world of avid runners and into the political discussion. “It’s the highest-profile thing we’ve run,” Douglas, who used to live in Bethesda, told In the Loop. The article itself got 230 comments, he said, “which is a lot for us, a whole lot,” and 1,324 comments on its Facebook page. Runners, it seems, are a bipartisan group. While a small number of comments included the words “cancel my subscription” and others questioned whether the magazine should report on these things, most simply didn’t believe it was possible that a marathoner, any marathoner, would ever forget his or her times. Many comments joked about it. Our favorite came from “Wheat Farmer,” who wrote: “Paul Ryan ran a sub 3 hour marathon?? He must be Kenyan. Check his birth certificate!” Well, you could say, as former GOP congressman Henry Hyde (Ill.) said in 1998 of his sexual affair 30 or so years earlier — when he was 41 — that it was a “youthful indiscretion.” Ryan is, after all, only 42. And the GOP need not worry: The Runner’s World scoop is unlikely ever to run in the magazine — the November issue is already at the printer, Douglas told us. Is there an app for that? Contest alert — $10,000 in prizes! No, not an In the Loop contest. It’s the State Department’s “Innovation in Arms Control Challenge.” There are, believe it or not, countries that “may be motivated to violate” various “treaties or international agreements on arms control,” an announcement last week explained. This, the department explains, is “commonly understood as ‘cheating.’ ” Who knew? So, in this age of Twitter and Facebook and other social media, the department wants “creative ideas from the general public to use commonly available devices” — like smartphones, iPads, high-powered binoculars, Nats tickets? — to catch cheaters. “Cash awards may vary with a guaranteed payout totaling up to $10,000,” the news release says. So be creative. Deadline is Oct. 26. Remember: See something, tweet something. With Emily Heil The blog: washingtonpost.com/intheloop. Twitter: @InTheLoopWP.


America’s wars, military feature prominently at Democratic convention

to that conflict helped define his candidacy four years ago. Speakers this week will also talk about the health and well-being of the men and women who have fought in the nation’s recent wars. At the Republican National Convention last week, these issues were largely ignored. Not only did Romney avoid talking about Afghanistan, but veterans issues, including their health and employment prospects, were hardly mentioned during the three-day event. The staggering economy was the convention’s primary topic. The absence of a strong military focus at the Tampa gathering was a noticeable departure from the Republicans’ two previous conventions. The 2004 GOP convention was held in New York City days before the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes, and George W. Bush used the setting to highlight his response to the attacks. One speaker after another questioned whether Kerry, the Democratic nominee and a decorated Vietnam veteran, could keep the country safe. Four years ago, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) emphasized his national security credentials and history as a Vietnam veteran who, after being shot down over North Vietnam, spent years in a Hanoi prison camp. McCain’s record stood in contrast to that of Obama, who has never served in the military. But neither has Romney. That, in part, undermines his ability to make a case for his somewhat vaguely defined national security policy against a president who scores high in most polls for his handling of foreign affairs, if not the Afghanistan war itself. Obama has outlined a plan to pull U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, leaving behind units to carry out counterterrorism operations and train Afghan national forces. “The president’s plan is about where the country is on the war — a gradual withdrawal — and the fact we have drones and developed other ways of battling terrorism makes a difference,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an interview Tuesday. Speaking to troops at Fort Bliss, Tex., last week, Obama said he would protect the military budget from unnecessary cuts and pledged to strengthen mental health services for service members, in the hopes of reducing the high suicide rates among those returning from war to a difficult job market. “I know that you join me in saying to everyone who’s ever worn the uniform: If you’re hurting, it’s not a sign of weakness to seek help; it’s a sign of strength,” Obama


India steps up TB fight as fears of drug-resistant strains mount

21st century, tuberculosis is again on the advance in Africa, dealing out death hand in hand with HIV/AIDS, but it is in gradual retreat elsewhere. Nevertheless, India is home to more than 1.2 billion people, and its sheer scale, its poverty and its shaky health-care system mean tuberculosis remains a significant concern here. One in six of the world’s population lives in India, and one in five of global tuberculosis patients are found here. For the past two decades, India has slowly come to grips with regular strains of TB under a World Health Organization program known as DOTS, or Directly Observed Treatment Short Course, in which patients are given free drugs but have to take them three times a week, in the presence of a health worker or volunteer, for at least two months. It involved a monumental effort — perhaps bettered only by the country’s successful program to eradicate polio — but India now meets global targets by detecting more than 70 percent of TB cases and curing more than 85 percent of those detected. Udwadia calls that program a “triumph” but says India’s health-care system, in which doctors often lack basic training and pharmacists dispense almost any drug without prescription, allowed drug resistance to grow. In the past year, he has identified 15 patients with “totally drug-resistant TB,” all people who have seen multiple doctors, have taken multiple drugs but have never had the disease properly diagnosed or treated. Five have died. The government, he said, has “moved up a gear” in the race against TB, although he worries it is “too late and too little.” Despite his findings and the discovery of similar strains in Italy and Iran in recent years, the World Health Organization says there is not enough proof to justify the label “totally drug-resistant.” In any case, there are several new drugs and vaccines in advanced stages of clinical trials. ‘It will grow’ Although drug-resistant TB can be transmitted from patient to patient, regular strains of TB still dominate. Just 2 percent of new TB cases in India are found to be multi-drug-resistant; the majority of cases are in patients where the disease has recurred after unsatisfactory treatment. Perhaps spurred by Udwadia, the government made it mandatory in May for private-sector physicians to report every case they detect. More than 60 laboratories are being established to test for drug-resistant strains, while controls over


Japan reportedly agrees to buy disputed islands from private landowner

stationing members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces on the islands and building harbors for fishing boats; such moves would raise the risk of confrontation with Chinese vessels that often roam the waters. The central government, which has rented and administered the islands even before this purchase, prefers a hands-off approach. It keeps them uninhabited and almost always denies requests for permission for boats to land. Japan would maintain that no-development policy after the purchase, which should be finalized by the end of this month, the Japanese news reports said. “Our basic approach is to continue to maintain and manage the islands peacefully and stably,” Noda said at a news conference last month. The islands — supposedly rich grounds for fishing and natural resources — have turned into a flash point in recent months, part of a regionwide escalation of territorial disputes that drew the attention of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during her trip to Asia this week. This summer, China sent three ships to the area. In response, Japan asked its ambassador to briefly return from Beijing. There were landings by activists from both sides. Anti-Japanese demonstrations broke out in numerous Chinese cities, with thousands taking to the streets. And last weekend, a group of Tokyo city officials and experts surveyed the islands without landing on them, measuring water depth, scouting locations for a dock anddeclaring that Japan’s territorial claim is “undeniable.” Japan formally incorporated Japan says China offered no objections at that time and raised its claim only several years later, amid news that the islands could have rich fossil-fuel reserves. But a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said the islands have been “China’s inherent territory since ancient times.” In a Wednesday editorial in the China Daily, Jin Yongming, a maritime law expert with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, wrote that Japan’s actions have “infringed on China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime interests and poisoned bilateral relations.” “Japan is worried that China’s continued rise and the change in the regional power balance will end its illegal possession of the Diaoyu Islands,” Jin wrote, “and is thus eager to get an upper hand in the dispute.” Liu Liu in Beijing contributed to this report. More world news coverage: - Hints of reform in authoritarian North Korea - In Iran, sanctions take toll on the sick - Hollande’s family troubles in spotlight - Read more headlines from around the world


Afghanistan acknowledges wider causes of ‘insider’ attacks on NATO troops

reviews of the insider incidents, have found that numerous military guidelines were not followed on both sides because of concerns that they might slow the growth of the Afghan army and police, whose numbers now total about 350,000. The recent jump in the number of attacks prompted the U.S. military to announce Sunday that its Special Forces have suspended training of 1,000 new Afghan local police recruits so that current members can be vetted. Officials estimate that the militant infiltrators into the army’s ranks are responsible for only a quarter of the fatal incidents. They say the rest appear to be motivated by a desire to avenge civilian casualties or to retaliate for perceived personal insults by coalition troops or more serious missteps, such as the burning of copies of the Koran and the desecration of enemy corpses. The Afghan National Security Council acknowledged in August the role of cursory troop vetting and U.S. forces’ “inhumane acts” in insider attacks. But its months-long investigation pinned most blame on Pakistani and Iranian intelligence organizations, accusing them of recruiting young Afghans to join the army and police and brainwashing them to target coalition troops. Karimi, addressing participants in an army literacy program Wednesday, said unspecified regional intelligence agencies were indeed working to undermine the nation: “Our enemies don’t want Afghanistan to be a self-sufficient country, our enemies don’t want Afghanistan to be an educated country, our enemies don’t want Afghanistan to be a united country,” he said. But he also took his commanders to task for not educating the rank and file on the goals of the battle against Islamist extremism, including education for women and constitutional rights. Officers should also do more to help foreign troops understand Islamic traditions and values, he said, to reduce the possibility of violent responses to cultural slights. “It is our duty to teach this to them. . . . Our indifference about these issues causes the incident,” he said, referring to an insider attack. Some Afghan lawmakers expressed surprise at the Defense Ministry’s announcement about the expulsion and detention of troops. “They should have shared this idea with us,” said Lalai Hamidzai, a member of the parliament’s internal security commission. “They should have asked our opinion.” If the army had asked, it would have heard a familiar refrain: “We have told them many times in the past that intelligence networks of Iran and Pakistan have


so that current members can be vetted. Officials estimate that the militant infiltrators into the army’s ranks are responsible for only a quarter of the fatal incidents. They say the rest appear to be motivated by a desire to avenge civilian casualties or to retaliate for perceived personal insults by coalition troops or more serious missteps, such as the burning of copies of the Koran and the desecration of enemy corpses. The Afghan National Security Council acknowledged in August the role of cursory troop vetting and U.S. forces’ “inhumane acts” in insider attacks. But its months-long investigation pinned most blame on Pakistani and Iranian intelligence organizations, accusing them of recruiting young Afghans to join the army and police and brainwashing them to target coalition troops. Karimi, addressing participants in an army literacy program Wednesday, said unspecified regional intelligence agencies were indeed working to undermine the nation: “Our enemies don’t want Afghanistan to be a self-sufficient country, our enemies don’t want Afghanistan to be an educated country, our enemies don’t want Afghanistan to be a united country,” he said. But he also took his commanders to task for not educating the rank and file on the goals of the battle against Islamist extremism, including education for women and constitutional rights. Officers should also do more to help foreign troops understand Islamic traditions and values, he said, to reduce the possibility of violent responses to cultural slights. “It is our duty to teach this to them. . . . Our indifference about these issues causes the incident,” he said, referring to an insider attack. Some Afghan lawmakers expressed surprise at the Defense Ministry’s announcement about the expulsion and detention of troops. “They should have shared this idea with us,” said Lalai Hamidzai, a member of the parliament’s internal security commission. “They should have asked our opinion.” If the army had asked, it would have heard a familiar refrain: “We have told them many times in the past that intelligence networks of Iran and Pakistan have infiltrated into the ranks of the security forces,” Hamidzai said. “And that does not only involve the rank and file, but the leadership.” Sayed Salahuddin and Javed Hamdard contributed to this report. More world news coverage: - Hints of reform in authoritarian North Korea - In Iran, sanctions take toll on the sick - Hollande’s family troubles in spotlight - Read more headlines from around the world


Wang Lijun, key figure in Bo Xilai scandal, charged in China

last one.” News of the charges against Wang broke hours before Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was scheduled to leave Beijing after a quick trip this week to meet with Chinese leaders. U.S. officials said they were not told ahead of time that the charges were coming, though they broadly expected that Wang would face judicial action at some point. Officials also said they could sense some anxiety during their visit over the upcoming transfer of leadership. After the Xinhua report emerged, Clinton departed for the airport a half hour earlier than scheduled. The timing raised the possibility that Chinese authorities wanted to send a message to the U.S. government about what they perceive as meddling in their internal affairs. One diplomat in Beijing, however, cautioned against reading too much into the timing of the charges against Wang. “If the Chinese really wanted to send a strong message, they could have done it at the beginning or during Clinton’s meetings, not at the end,” the diplomat said. It was not the first time that bumpy internal Chinese politics surfaced during a visit by a U.S. government leader. In early 2011, just before Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates met with Chinese President Hu Jintao, the Chinese military undertook the first test flight of its J-20 stealth fighter prototype. Gates later said it seemed the Chinese military had kept the test a secret from even the country’s civilian leaders. Hu assured him it had nothing to do with the U.S. visit. The name “Wang Lijun” in Chinese was censored on Weibo microblogging sites late Wednesday. Said one commenter: “I can’t figure it out! The ‘da hei’ hero of yesterday became the suspect with four charges today. Politics is not something ordinary people will understand.” Li Zhuang, a former lawyer who defended people accused during Wang’s “da hei” campaign in Chongqing, was thrown into prison by Wang for two and a half years. He said his feelings about the latest turn for Wang were summarized by a Chinese saying: “The more evil you do, the more likely you will be destroyed.” Staff researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report. More world news coverage: - Afghan military says it has expelled ‘hundreds’ of its troops - Hillary Clinton, top Chinese officials air some differences - Reports: Japan agrees to buy disputed islands from private landowner - Read more headlines from around the world


D.C. news in brief

holds forum on emergency preparedness Serve DC, the city’s office on volunteerism, is having a public forum for National Preparedness Month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Renaissance Washington Hotel, 999 Ninth Street NW. The program will include discussions with access and functional needs experts and emergency management professionals on how to ensure all people, particularly the disabled, are accommodated during a crisis. Invited speakers include D.C. Fire Chief Kenneth B. Ellerbe; Richard Devylder, the senior adviser for accessible transportation in the U.S. Department of Transportation; and two federal Homeland Security officials, civil rights policy adviser Margaret Schaefer and disability integration and coordination director Marcie Roth. For information, e-mail jason.williamson@dc.gov. To register, go to http://bit.ly/npmforum2012 or www.serve.dc.gov. Summit to address issues confronting renters The Office of the Tenant Advocate has scheduled its annual Tenant Summit to discuss issues confronting District renters. The day-long program is recommended for tenants; tenant associations; housing attorneys, advocates and organizations; and anyone who wants to learn more about tenant rights. The event is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 22 at Gallaudet University’s Kellogg Conference Center, 800 Florida Ave. NE. To attend the summit, go to http://ota.dc.gov or call 202-719-6560. D.C. Walk for the Animals fundraiser is Sept. 29 The D.C. Walk for the Animals, a fundraiser for the Washington Humane Society, will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Marie Reed Elementary School, 2200 Champlain St. NW. Registration is $20 for adults and youths 13 and older, $15 for children 4 to 12 and free for children younger than 3. Walkers are asked to raise money through pledges. Those unable to walk can participate as a “virtual walker.” Other activities include on-site pet adoptions, family-oriented games and pet contests. For information or to create a fundraising page, go to www.dclovesdcanimals.org. Museum’s Big Build offers hands-on events for kids The annual Big Build, a hands-on introduction to the building trades for children and families, will be from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 22 at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. The event will include workshops with tradespeople on brick masonry, stone carving, landscape architecture, plumbing and electrical work; a nail-driving contest; a class in decorative light-switch design; and activities for children 4 to 12. The event is free; a $5 donation is suggested. For information, go to www.nbm.org. — Compiled by Terence McArdle


Protecting coalition soldiers in Afghanistan

and perhaps the Afghan army itself. Though the Taliban benefits most from this bloodshed, and often claims credit for it, U.S. commanders say that at most a quarter of green-on-blue killings can be blamed directly or indirectly on the enemy. The Afghan government, for its part, has offered no evidence to support its claim that “foreign intelligence services” — by which it means Pakistan and Iran — are behind the slayings. The more difficult truth is that the shootings are a byproduct of a complex of factors, including the sometimes slipshod race to expand Afghan security forces from 100,000 in 2007 to 350,000 this year; cultural and personal tensions between Afghans and Westerners, exacerbated by the stress of war; and the creeping Afghan disenchantment with foreign armies that have remained in the country more than a decade but failed to bring peace. These are not problems that can be entirely fixed, except by a total withdrawal of Western forces — something that would do far more harm than good to Afghanistan as well as its allies. There nevertheless are ways to significantly increase the security of U.S. and other Western troops. One has already been adopted: a re-vetting of Afghan forces to screen out personnel who may have grown hostile or come under pressure from the Taliban. Training of a particularly vulnerable force, the Afghan Local Police, has been suspended until the rescreening is completed; the 16,000-member force is a quasi-militia used to defend remote villages and is guided by U.S. Special Forces. U.S. and allied forces also must begin following their own security procedures. As The Post’s Greg Jaffe and Kevin Sieff reported Sunday, numerous guidelines were ignored by both Afghan and U.S. officers and troops because they slowed the training mission or complicated other operations. Their story reported that thousands of Afghan police lack proper identification and that a 15-year-old civilian who shot three Marines last month was neither a soldier nor policeman yet had lived for weeks on a U.S. base. While it may not be possible to eliminate green-on-blue killings, such dangerous laxity on basic security procedures security can and must be ended. Read more from Opinions John R. Allen: We can build a durable peace in Afghanistan The Post’s View: Despite the deepening crisis, the Afghan strategy is worth saving David Ignatius: In Afghanistan, soccer or civil war? Michael O’Hanlon: Picking a winner in Afghanistan


D.C. West Nile victim was elderly man

District officials said Thursday that the person who died from West Nile virus was an elderly man. D.C. health officials confirmed the fatality Wednesday but provided no details. The number of West Nile virus cases reported in the United States this year through early September is the highest year-to-date total since the mosquito-borne disease was first detected in this country in 1999, federal officials said this week. The number of fatalities had increased by nearly a third from the previous week, they said. The mid-Atlantic region has not been heavily affected, although local officials are monitoring the situation. The number of cases reported in the Washington area this year is about the same or fewer than in other years. In Maryland, 21 cases and one adult death have been reported this year, as of Thursday. Virginia has five confirmed cases and no fatalities. D.C. health officials have confirmed at least one other case, but there is often a lag between the time someone gets sick and when the case is reported to health authorities. Federal and state health officials say the mild winter, heat waves and rain patterns may be factors in this year’s outbreak, which is hitting Texas and several other states particularly hard. The virus lives in the blood of birds, and mosquitoes spread it to people and horses. There is no vaccine for humans and no specific treatment for West Nile virus infection. Seniors and children are the most vulnerable, but the virus is life-threatening and has the potential to affect all people. West Nile disease can vary in severity. The onset of symptoms can take from a few days to two weeks. People age 50 and older have the highest risk of severe illness. About 80 percent of people who are infected will not develop any illness. About 20 percent will develop West Nile fever. Symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness and body aches. Occasionally, patients will develop a rash and swollen lymph glands. The most severe type of infection causes inflammation of the brain or of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord. In those cases, symptoms include headache, fever, stiff neck, muscle weakness and paralysis. Health officials say people should use insect repellent when outdoors, especially at dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active. They also should eliminate mosquito-breeding areas by emptying birdbaths, flowerpots, buckets and barrels where rainwater collects.


Penny Fuchs, journalism teacher at U-Md., dies at 50

Editor’s note: Because of an editing error, the Sept. 7 obituary of University of Maryland journalism teacher Penny B. Fuchs incorrectly reported that she received a diagnosis of brain cancer in 2005. It was breast cancer. Penny B. Fuchs, 50, who practiced journalism in Virginia and Washington and then taught it at the University of Maryland at College Park, where she became a highly honored instructor and faculty member, died of breast cancer Aug. 31 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. The death was confirmed by her husband, Michael Fuchs. Since 2003 Mrs. Fuchs had been a full-time faculty member at Maryland’s journalism school, where she was cited regularly by top students as their favorite faculty mentor. She became interim associate dean of academic affairs last spring. She was known as a hard-line grader of students’ papers but did so with a wry sense of humor. She was one of the few teachers “who could give me an F and make me laugh . . . at the same time,” one of her former students wrote in a comment on Facebook after Mrs. Fuchs’s death. Mrs. Fuchs was said to have been a vigorous guardian and enforcer of a long-standing policy that misspelling a proper noun in a student’s paper meant an automatic failing grade, even when the rest of the paper was superior. Her husband attributed this to an early journalistic experience when an editor of a small-town newspaper where she worked would throw a dictionary at the head of any reporter who misspelled a word. To salve the egos of students she had flunked for bad spelling, Mrs. Fuchs nevertheless wrote extensive and detailed comments on the remainder of their work. Penny Ann Bender was born in Dallas and raised in Chesapeake, Va. She was a 1984 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and in 2000 received a master’s degree in journalism at U-Md. She worked for Virginia newspapers, including the Daily Press in Newport News, before relocating to the Washington area in 1990. She became an assistant managing editor for States News Service and then Washington correspondent for Gannett News Service. She opted for graduate study at Maryland and a career in teaching journalism in 1999, when increasing demands on her time by Gannett interfered with time she wished to spend with her two young children. After receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2005,


For violin maker Howard Needham, a rarefied world

that waiting list dissipated. And as an independent without any sort of pension, Needham needs to ensure a steady income. A big part of his sales problem is the economy, which has heavily affected the music world. “The large nonprofit organizations that employ musicians have been especially hard-hit by declining ticket sales and flat, if not falling, donations,” said Gerald Klickstein, director of the Music Entrepreneurship and Career Center at Johns Hopkins’s Peabody Institute in Baltimore. “I expect that [instrument makers and technicians] are having to cut margins, let go of staff and squeak by.” Middle-range makers such as Needham are particularly feeling the pinch. So Needham has been brainstorming marketing schemes and considering traveling to Asia, one of the few booming markets. But few of his propositions come to fruition. “About 40 percent of my time is non-bench-related stuff like marketing, e-mails, shopping and mailing,” says Needham — and he simply prefers to spend his time making instruments. When the doorbell rings, Needham greets Martin Monnett, an amateur violinist who plays in the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra . He’s coming to pick up his violin, on which Needham has put a new neck. Monnett lifts the repaired instrument to his shoulder and plays. He’s happy with the sound, but both Needham and Truscott furrow their brows. “It’s very loud under my ear,” Needham says. Truscott nods. “The bridge pitch is high.” The two work to adjust the instrument. Truscott, a gifted violinist, plays and makes further observations; Needham responds by shifting the bridge and sound post. Then they repeat the process several times. Finally, they agree that the violin has popped into focus, its sound clear and full. Monnett himself can’t really distinguish the changed sound, but he leaves satisfied, certain that Needham knows what he’s doing. More quiet weeks go by, and Needham, increasingly desperate about the lull in business, has to lay off Truscott. The younger man soon gets a job doing adjustments and some violin making at the Potter Violin Company in Bethesda. It’s a place Needham considered selling his own instruments after the owners reached out to him, but with Truscott working as an in-house luthier, it’s unlikely the company will want to buy Needham’s instruments as well. “I’ve shot myself in the foot this time, big-time,” Needham says. *** A vintage Gibson Les Paul guitar, the object of more than


Value Added: Investment opportunities through the eyes of a Carlyle Group co-founder

behind the focus on factories. He also talked about other sectors he likes and ones he doesn’t, the current mess in Europe and what keeps him up at night. Carlyle’s stock price isn’t keeping him awake. The shares have marched 19 percent upward since their initial public offering in May. The bottom line for Conway, and for closely watched Carlyle, is that the firm’s vast portfolio of companies serves as a sort of instant heart monitor of the U.S. economy, and, far from flat-lining, the numbers are telling him that the United States is the most attractive market in the world in which to invest. “We track that growth through data in our portfolio companies, which helps us make smart new investments and best manage current investments,” said Conway, a data hound who scrounges through obscure metrics in search of “ahas.” “We, in some ways, have better data than economists and some government people. That data tells us things like cargo-shipping rates, leisure-car rentals from Hertz and commercial building-supply sales. Based on that data, we continue to see real growth. We have real growth on the order of 2 percent.” Not exactly robust, but Conway said the United States is riding big business advantages that may create lots of future wealth — if the decision-makers on Capitol Hill ever get their act together. He cited two big reasons to back up his thinking. “One is the domestic energy revolution, which you could call shale gas,” he said, adding that it is cheap, plentiful and used to heat homes as well as power industry. “It’s going to make our lives a lot better and a lot better for the rest of the world. “The second big thing we have going on that makes the U.S. attractive and doing deals is reindustrialization, which has two big parts. The first part is the operating costs, which includes cheap energy. The second is increasingly competitive labor costs, due in part to the weaker dollar. Japan and parts of Europe and China are very competitive, but perhaps a little less competitive because of the dollar’s relative weakness.” Conway said the United States continues to have the strongest, deepest and most flexible financial markets in the world, which also makes it a magnet for investment and creates the climate for growth. “The U.S. is still the center of technological innovation. We have the best university system


‘The Shadow Scholar’ by Dave Tomar and ‘Conning Harvard’ by Julie Zauzmer

an alarming tactic known as “guerrilla registration,” by which academic advisers enroll students in classes they never take, without their consent, and even after they have sought to withdraw. “In any given month,” Tomar reports, “the admissions manager might find himself five reenrolled students away from meeting his recruitment quota. Therefore, ten of those fifteen students would be granted their withdrawal. The other five withdrawal requests would be ignored. . . . They would accrue fines for failure to attend classes and accumulate debt for the classes from which they had attempted to withdraw. On the bright side, the admissions manager would meet his recruitment quota.” Between these two books and the flurry of headlines sparked by the recent Harvard scandal, it’s tempting to endorse theses about how modern technology, increased pressure on the college admissions process and a shrinking job market may have unleashed an epidemic of cheating. Tomar pins the culture of cheating he inhabits on the Internet and Gen Y culture. He cites a Pew Research Center study that concluded, “Unlike the Silent Generation, Boomers and Gen X . . . Gen Y is the only generational cohort that doesn’t cite ‘work ethnic’ as a defining characteristic.” Yet such sweeping generalizations ignore the fact that cheating has always gone on; in the pre-Internet days, paper mills used to advertise in the backs of magazines. Zauzmer’s book, too, offers what feel like boilerplate statistics on cheating. Perhaps they were tacked on to lend the book some gravitas, which it does not need. “As many as 14 percent of essays are plagiarized,” she writes in her introduction, “50 percent of transcripts are faked, and 90 percent of recommendation letters are forged among some groups of college applicants.” These are alarming numbers, but the author doesn’t make clear their context or their meaning. Even if the connection between cheating and some broader corruption in higher education is tenuous, these two books make excellent sidebar reading. They are best understood not as harbingers of a trend but as anomalies, traffic accidents of human behavior, shocking and compelling enough to justify rubbernecking. bookworld@washpost.com Susan Coll CONNING HARVARD Adam Wheeler, the Con Artist Who Faked His Way Into the Ivy League By Julie Zauzmer with additional reporting by Xi Yu Lyons. 230 pp. $21.95 THE SHADOW SCHOLAR How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat By Dave Tomar Bloomsbury. 251 pp. $25


Five myths about the euro crisis

voters will revolt and extremists will take over. One of the most amazing aspects of the euro crisis so far is that the political center has held in every debtor country. Incumbent governments have been rejected in all of them, but radical alternatives from both the left and the right have been rejected even more soundly. Portugal and Ireland have stuck to the austerity commitments required as part of their bailouts, while Spain and Italy have gone beyond, with more spending cuts, higher taxes and major labor-market reforms. Only Greek voters flirted with a rejectionist party, but a bank run quickly forced them to reverse course. The Europeans have now added a crucial growth dimension to their emphasis on austerity, adopting jointly financed infrastructure investments and pro-growth reforms that will further solidify political support. 5. The euro crisis will tank the U.S. economy and could even swing the presidential election. No doubt, the downturn in Europe has dampened exports and corporate profits in the United States, weakened employment and investor confidence, and cut perhaps 1 percent off our gross domestic product. Macroeconomic Advisers estimates that a collapse of the euro would produce a renewed recession here over the next year and an unemployment rate above 9 percent at least through 2013. But the world’s emerging economies, led by China and India, account for half of the global economy and will continue to expand at about 6 percent annually for the foreseeable future. This is slower than before, but such growth will keep the global economy — including the United States — churning for some time. In addition, the United States derives important benefits from Europe’s troubles because the crisis diverts global capital into the dollar, especially Treasury securities, keeping our interest rates low and thus fueling at least a gradual recovery of housing and consumer demand. The likelihood that Europe will continue to muddle through will protect us — and our election — from major economic repercussions. outlook@washpost.com C. Fred Bergsten Read more from Outlook, friend us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. Europe’s financial turmoil and the impact it could have on the rest of the world are the overriding focus of international financial markets. Will the euro survive? Would its failure spark a deep global recession? How would the fallout affect the United States — even the coming presidential election? To understand Europe’s prospects, we must debunk


September Shock: Commuters need to look sharp for problems and pluses

The unpleasant commuting experience that goes by the name of September Shock isn’t a sudden blow that arrives right after Labor Day. For many drivers and transit users, the summer slumber begins to lift in late August, as students begin to return to school, and continues into the early fall. Nonetheless, many travelers in the D.C. area will notice some unwelcome thing — more trouble finding a space in a Metro garage, a little longer time getting through an intersection, a bus that’s impossible to board — that tells them they need to have their wits about them again, looking for little advantages and avoiding certain annoyances. Here are some things — including good things — to be aware of during the fall commute. Northwest Branch bridge Drivers will encounter a new traffic pattern this month at the Capital Beltway bridge over the Northwest Branch in Silver Spring. Three lanes will go to the right of a work zone barrier, and the fourth will go to the left of it. To keep all lanes open during rush hours, the pattern has shifted periodically during the lengthy rehabilitation project. With or without construction, this stretch near the Beltway’s interchange with Interstate 95 is one of the region’s traditional trouble spots, particularly on the outer loop. Last week, this area was one of the early warning signs of September Shock, as traffic steadily worsened during the morning rush. HOT lanes construction Construction workers will be busy on both the Beltway and I-95 in Virginia this fall. The high-occupancy-toll lanes on the Beltway probably will open before winter, and many stretches of pavement look done. But the most complicated parts of the project are the interchanges at I-66 and at the Dulles Toll Road, and there’s work to be done there. All lanes are scheduled to remain open at rush hours, but drivers should watch for slow-moving construction equipment on the left sides of the inner and outer loops. The I-95 HOT lanes project just got underway this summer and isn’t scheduled to be done until 2014, but drivers will notice the impact this fall. They may include slower travel times in the high-occupancy-vehicle lanes. Full closings of the HOV lanes may occur from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. every night, and one lane may be closed until 5 a.m. Rush Plus Metro began its rush-hour service realignment on the Blue, Orange and


Movie Listings

at the Freer Gallery. --> 20 AFI Latin American Film Festival showcases filmmaking from across Latin America, Portugal and Spain. Highlights include the LA hip-hop drama “Filly Brown” and the Mexico-U.S. immigration drama “The Girl.” 21 “10 Years.” A group of friends at a high school reunion find that they still have a long way to go before they really grow up. Starring Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Rosario Dawson, Chris Pratt and Justin Long in this ensemble comedy. 21 “Dredd.” Karl Urban stars as Dredd, an urban cop, or “Judge,” challenged with the duty of ridding his city of a dangerous drug epidemic. With Olivia Thirlby. 21 “End of Watch” takes a look at the intense violence in LA’s most dangerous neighborhoods through the eyes of two young police officers (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena). 21 “House at the End of the Street” is a horror thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence, Max Theriot and Elisabeth Shue. 21 “Keep the Lights On” chronicles a decade-long relationship between a New York filmmaker (Thure Lindhardt) and his partner, a closeted lawyer (Zachary Booth). 21 “Liberal Arts.” Jesse, a mid-30s university admissions counselor (Josh Radnor), returns to his alma mater to celebrate the retirement of his favorite English professor (Richard Jenkins). While on campus, Jesse meets a precocious 19-year-old undergrad (Elizabeth Olsen) who awakens feelings of connection and possibility. --> 21 “The Master.” A Navy veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) returns home unsettled and uncertain of his future until he meets the charismatic leader of a radical religious group played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. 21 “Step Up to the Plate” offers a view into the intriguing French culinary process by following renowned chef Michel Bras as he hands over his 3-Michelin-star restaurant to his son Sebastien. 21 “Trouble With the Curve.” Clint Eastwood plays an aging, eagle-eyed baseball scout who makes a great effort to hide his deteriorating judgment. With Justin Timberlake, Amy Adams and John Goodman. 24 “ Last Call for Planet Earth” introduces 12 contemporary architects as they question their environmental efforts and urban planning methods around the world. At the Goethe Institut. 28 “Backwards” takes an intimate look at the sacrifices Olympic-level athletes make in pursuit of their dreams. Olympic alternate Abigail Brooks retires from rowing without participating in the Games and reinvents herself as a high school rowing coach. 28 “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel” paints an intimate portrait of the


Washington’s classical music season for fall 2012

by Washington National Opera. 29 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Soprano Kelley Nassief makes her BSO debut, led by Music Director Marin Alsop, in an all-American program of John Adams, Dave and Chris Brubeck, and Bernstein’s “Kaddish” symphony. Claire Bloom, narrator. At Music Center at Strathmore. 30 Catholic University Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Murry Sidlin presents Mozart’s Requiem. At National Gallery of Art, West Building. 30 National Symphony Orchestra. The season-opening gala is led by Music Director Christoph Eschenbach and features Anne-Sophie Mutter in the Mendelssohn violin concert. At Kennedy Center, Concert Hall. OCTOBER --> 4 National Symphony Orchestra. Led by Christoph Eschenbach, mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor performs with the NSO in Peter Lieberson’s shattering “Neruda Songs,” written as a love offering to his wife, mezzo Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. At Kennedy Center, Concert Hall. Through Oct. 6. 4 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Markus Stenz and violinist Kolja Blacher make their BSO debuts, with works by Rebel, Schumann and Beethoven. At Music Center at Strathmore. 4 Eliza Garth. The pianist celebrates the John Cage centennial with a performance of his Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano. At Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Gildenhorn Recital Hall. 5 University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra. Led by James Ross, the orchestra begins its season with Ravel, Lutoslawski, Rachmaninoff and Barber. At Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Dekelboum Concert Hall. 5 Friday Morning Music Club. Amateur and semiprofessional musicians perform in recital at this weekly event. At Calvary Baptist Church. Through Jan. 25. 5 PostClassical Ensemble: Interpreting Shostakovich. The violinist Oleg Rylatko gives a lecture and demonstration in advance of the November Shostakovich festival. At Georgetown University. 6 Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir. The choir presents sacred music from the Orthodox liturgy. At Library of Congress, Jefferson Building, Coolidge Auditorium. 6 Cantate Chamber Singers . “Chips Off the Old Bach,” a concert exploring the legacy of Bach’s many composing progeny. At St. John’s Norwood Parish, Chevy Chase. 7 Phillips Camerata. Works by Debussy and Ravel. At Phillips Collection. 7 Mak Grgic. The guitarist performs works by Isaac, Kohaut, Weiss and Hagen. At National Gallery of Art, West Building Garden Court. 8 Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir. The a cappella choir performs works from the Russian sacred and folk repertoire. At Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater. 10 Sphinx Virtuosi with the Catalyst Quartet. Music of the Americas. At Kennedy Center, Terrace Theater. 10 Pamela Frank and Friends. The violinist performs Dvorak, Schoenberg and


Maryland suburbs lag Virginia, District in job growth

said Anirban Basu, chairman of Sage Policy Group, an economic consulting firm in Baltimore. For instance, Maryland’s corporate tax rate is 8.25 percent, compared with 6 percent in Virginia. Maryland also recently raised state income taxes on individuals earning more than $100,000 a year. Basu said higher taxes in Maryland have offered the state undeniable advantages, such as protecting education funding. But he said there’s been a cost in employment, at least in the short term. “It has hurt business confidence in Maryland and has rendered Virginia as a more attractive place to do business,” Basu said. The contrast in jobs performance is dramatic. Here are the figures on how many full-time jobs each jurisdiction added in the 12 months ended in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Northern Virginia: 32,200 jobs (a 2.4 percent increase); District of Columbia: 10,000 (up 1.4 percent); Suburban Maryland: 1,400 (up less than one-fifth of 1 percent). These raw numbers exaggerate the disparity somewhat. In particular, according to the BLS definition, suburban Maryland doesn’t include Howard and Anne Arundel counties. Those counties are gaining jobs as military intelligence facilities expand in and around Fort Meade, just 28 miles from the White House — but they’re counted as part of greater Baltimore. Northern Virginia includes counties such as Spotsylvania, more than 50 miles away. Still, the trend within the region is undeniable. Even economic development officials in Prince George’s and Montgomery, who are most dismayed by the data, concede that Northern Virginia has performed better. “At the end of the day, I’ll acknowledge the basic point,” said David S. Iannucci, a top adviser to Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker. The District’s performance is especially noteworthy, given its past reputation as being unfriendly to business. The city suffered a decline in government jobs in the past year, but that loss was more than offset by creation of private-sector positions. “The District of Columbia is emerging as the sleeping giant. Maryland had better watch out, because they’re going to turn around and find they’re the odd man out,” said James Dinegar, chief executive of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. What about the politics? Which party gets to crow? That’s harder to sort out that one might think. Suburban Maryland is overwhelmingly Democratic, and Republicans blame the anemic job growth on liberal tax and regulatory policies. Maryland also has strong labor unions, whereas Virginia


Climate change challenges power plant operations

for its full targeted storage capacity, which it last came close to reaching in 1999. In the Colorado River’s 100-year recorded history, 1999 through 2010 ranks as the second-driest 12-year period, yielding an average of 16 percent less energy. Scientists have just begun to study some key questions, such as the rate of evaporation off dams’ storage facilities. Predicting river flows — which can flood one year and dry up the next — is even harder. “Because of the variability of river systems, it’s a lot more difficult in modeling how climate change will affect them,” said Jenny Kehl, who directs the Center for Water Policy at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s School of Freshwater Sciences. In Nevada, water managers are adjusting to what they call “the new normal.” Patricia Mulroy, who oversees the operations of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, since 2003 has imposed watering restrictions on golf courses and homeowners and increased water reuse from golf courses while also instituting an incentive program that to date has paid residents $200 million to pull out turf and replace it with water-efficient vegetation. (Enough turf has been ripped out to lay a stripe of sod stretching three-fourths of the way across the planet; overall, she has reduced total water use by a third in 10 years.) She has raised water rates four times in less than a decade while activating long-held water rights in east-central Nevada in 2004 to ensure that the community is less dependent on the Colorado River. While some experts have suggested more ambitious measures — such as curtailing growth, making it harder for farmers to get cheap water and removing some dams to allow the Colorado River to regain some of its natural flow — federal, state and local authorities have resisted such proposals. University of Arizona law professor Robert Glennon, author of the book “Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It,” describes the Colorado River basin in blunt terms. “It’s a collision,” he said. Rising temperatures have started to affect U.S. coal plants as well. This summer’s drought disrupted the transport of coal delivered by barges on the Mississippi, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had to use dredges to deepen the navigation channel. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency granted special exceptions to four coal-fired plants and four nuclear plants this summer, allowing them to discharge water into local waterways


Food safety instructors need business-building guidance

changes this landscape by providing food service professionals with the flexibility and ease to study and test on their schedule. “Originally a one-man operation, the business has become a lean business with eight employees that have helped more than 15,000 professionals earn a certification. We are proud to have been bootstrapped since day one. “Our target market to date has been primarily under-served rural areas with small mom-and-pop operations. These clients have been great for our initial business, however they have very high service costs and require a lot of hand-holding. A lot of competitors are in the space with the online offering. We want to start going up the food chain to land larger clients. We really think our next move will be to get out of the retail offering and move more toward larger business-to-business clients or a reseller market. We are looking to scale the business more quickly and efficiently by targeting larger clients that will net us more accounts per point-of-contact. “We’re still figuring out what business-to-business clients want, but we are assuming it is going to be a bit of a different offering. We are trying to determine whether we can serve those types of clients with our existing team of great customer care representatives, or if we need to hire an additional team to specialize in this new line of business. Is it better to have a cross-functional team able to handle anything, or specific people equipped to handle specialized lines of your business so they can provide high levels of service at all times? The advice Harry Geller, entrepreneur-in residence with the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship “It seems like your initial marketing strategy was to capture the ‘low hanging fruit’ with one-off clients located in underserved areas. This enabled you to gain some market share quickly and establish a foothold in your industry. As you’ve experienced, this strategy will only get you so far when you don’t have proprietary technology and there are many competitors in your sector. “I don’t believe you are entering a new business-to-business market. You are already serving small-business clients; you are now looking to serve larger ones. I think it would be a good time to review and redirect your marketing strategy. Is it feasible to target the national chains or should you do a more localized approach. What is it that larger clients are looking for? Is


It’s time to get serious about science

invent the Google search engine. Originally, they were intrigued by a mathematical challenge, so they developed an algorithm to rank Web pages. Today, Google is one of the world’s most highly valued brands, employing more than 30,000 people. It is human nature to chuckle at a study titled “Acoustic Trauma in the Guinea Pig,” yet this research led to a treatment for hearing loss in infants. Similar examples abound. Transformative technologies such as the Internet, fiber optics, the Global Positioning System, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer touch-screens and lithium-ion batteries were all products of federally funded research. Yes, “the sex life of the screwworm” sounds funny. But a $250,000 study of this pest, which is lethal to livestock, has, over time, saved the U.S. cattle industry more than $20 billion. Remember: The United States itself is the product of serendipity: Columbus’s voyage was government-funded. Remember, too, that basic science, the seed corn of innovation, is primarily supported by the federal government — not industry, which is typically more interested in applied research and development. While some policymakers continue to mock these kinds of efforts, researchers have remained focused on improving our quality of life. Scientific know-how, the engine of American prosperity, is especially critical amid intense budgetary pressures. Federal investments in R&D have fueled half of the nation’s economic growth since World War II. This is why a bipartisan team of U.S. lawmakers joined a coalition of science, business and education leaders to launch the Golden Goose Awards. Federal support for basic science is at risk: We are already investing a smaller share of our economy in science as compared with seven other countries, including Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Since 1999, the United States has increased R&D funding, as a percentage of the economy, by 10 percent. Over the same period, the share of R&D in the economies of Finland, Germany and Israel have grown about twice as fast. In Taiwan, it has grown five times as fast; in South Korea, six times as fast; in China; 10 times. In the United States, meanwhile, additional budget cuts have been proposed to R&D spending for non-defense areas. If budget-control negotiations fail, drastic across-the-board cuts will take effect in January that could decimate entire scientific fields. Columbus thought he knew where he was going, but he didn’t know what he had found until many years later. He was searching for the


It’s time to get serious about science

for hearing loss in infants. Similar examples abound. Transformative technologies such as the Internet, fiber optics, the Global Positioning System, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer touch-screens and lithium-ion batteries were all products of federally funded research. Yes, “the sex life of the screwworm” sounds funny. But a $250,000 study of this pest, which is lethal to livestock, has, over time, saved the U.S. cattle industry more than $20 billion. Remember: The United States itself is the product of serendipity: Columbus’s voyage was government-funded. Remember, too, that basic science, the seed corn of innovation, is primarily supported by the federal government — not industry, which is typically more interested in applied research and development. While some policymakers continue to mock these kinds of efforts, researchers have remained focused on improving our quality of life. Scientific know-how, the engine of American prosperity, is especially critical amid intense budgetary pressures. Federal investments in R&D have fueled half of the nation’s economic growth since World War II. This is why a bipartisan team of U.S. lawmakers joined a coalition of science, business and education leaders to launch the Golden Goose Awards. Federal support for basic science is at risk: We are already investing a smaller share of our economy in science as compared with seven other countries, including Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Since 1999, the United States has increased R&D funding, as a percentage of the economy, by 10 percent. Over the same period, the share of R&D in the economies of Finland, Germany and Israel have grown about twice as fast. In Taiwan, it has grown five times as fast; in South Korea, six times as fast; in China; 10 times. In the United States, meanwhile, additional budget cuts have been proposed to R&D spending for non-defense areas. If budget-control negotiations fail, drastic across-the-board cuts will take effect in January that could decimate entire scientific fields. Columbus thought he knew where he was going, but he didn’t know what he had found until many years later. He was searching for the Orient, but he discovered something even better: the New World. Let’s honor our modern-day explorers. We need more of them. They deserve the last laugh. Read more about this debate: Charles Lane: Electric cars and liberals’ refusal to accept science Matt Cooper and Elizabeth Wiley: Keep the library open after graduation Charles Lane: Congress should cut funding for political science research


Middle-class Mexicans snap up more products ‘Made in U.S.A.’

shoppers browse shelves loaded with pallets of Kirkland vitamins, value packs of Nature Valley granola bars and sacks of Cape Cod kettle-cooked potato chips. From 2009 to 2011, 825 new discounters and more than 3,000 convenience stores opened for business in Mexico. The biggest growth came in modern retail chains, filled with U.S. products, that are challenging, for better or worse, the traditional mom-and-pop stores doling out soda, eggs and tortillas. Mexico bought $198 billion worth of U.S. goods last year, up from $41 billion in 1993. The United States sold more stuff to Mexico than to Brazil, India, Japan and Britain combined. At Costco, even the walls in the butcher aisle boast the “USDA Premium” and “USDA Choice” labels, in English. Sales were up 12 percent last year at the company’s 32 stores in Mexico, according to Iñigo Astier, the executive in charge of purchasing for Costco’s Mexico operations. “Costco members here in Mexico are middle class, even upper middle class,” he said. “As our economy grows, consumers are looking for quality products, and Costco is consistent in quality.” About 6 million jobs in the United States depend on trade with Mexico, according to the consulting group Trade Partnership Worldwide, which calculated the total for the Mexican government in 2008. More than 70 percent of the chickens Texas ships beyond its borders go to Mexico; New Jersey sends $1 billion in pharmaceuticals; Iowa exports $121 million in pork; Montana, $59 million in copper and molybdenum. Preferring U.S.-made goods In Mexico’s Costco stores, staples such as tortilla chips and chipotle salsa are trucked in from factories in California and Texas that produce for both sides of the border. With 32 million people of Mexican descent living in the United States and extensive travel — and shopping — up north, Mexico’s middle class has come to equate American-made products with higher quality, even if the products costly slightly more. “The Mexican consumer is less focused on price and more focused on freshness,” said Sonia Denham, a senior sales manager for California organic produce giant Earthbound Farms, which supplies Costco stores in Mexico and the United States. “A salad produced or labeled in the U.S. is a more prestigious item,” said Denham, who explained that the “USDA organic” label is sought out by the discerning Mexican salad-eater. Jim Walstrom, chief executive of Motely, Minn.-based Morey’s Seafood International, said his company’s relationship with


U.S. transfers control of Bagram prison to Afghan officials

KABUL — The long-demanded handoff of Parwan detention center, the facility’s official name, occurred amid tensions between Washington and Kabul over the Afghan army’s ability to guarantee security at the prison and the court system’s preparedness to competently adjudicate detainee cases. Pledges of mutual cooperation masked a behind-the-scenes dispute regarding about three dozen captives whom the United States has refused to release. The U.S.-led military coalition also held back the transfer of more than 600 more recently captured prisoners, but officials said that process would begin next week. Even some Afghan officials fear that courts will end up releasing dangerous captives from the prison, because judges here often do not accept evidence gathered from intelligence sources. The United States has held some suspected militants for years on the basis of classified, undisclosed evidence, drawing international criticism. Allegations of abuse of detainees at the prison have stoked anti-American feeling here. At Monday’s midmorning ceremony, the Afghan army formally took custody of hundreds of inmates accused of fighting for or supporting the Taliban and other Islamist militants battling Afghan and NATO forces during the 11-year-old war. The handover marked a victory for President Hamid Karzai, fulfilling an agreement he struck six months ago with the United States. Karzai did not attend the ceremony at Bagram air base, 30 miles from Kabul, but he dispatched top generals and ministers to talk glowingly of the transition. “It is a matter of great happiness and pride that a major step is being taken for the restoration of Afghanistan’s national sovereignty, the rule of law and justice,” Justice Minister Habibullah Ghalib said. Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, the country’s top military commander, also sat in the reviewing stand, overlooking hundreds of assembled troops standing at rigid attention. Afterward, he expressed confidence that his army has the capacity to operate and secure Parwan. “We may have some challenges, but gradually, we will overcome the challenges,” Karimi said. The prison handover is part of a larger transitioning of security responsibilities to Afghan forces — the linchpin of the U.S. plan to pull out its combat troops at the end of 2014. The ceremony included the hoisting of Afghanistan’s flag and exclamations of “God is great” by the Afghan troops. The Karzai government provided helicopter transport to more than 50 local and foreign journalists to chronicle the event. No high-ranking U.S. military officers or senior officials attended the ceremony. Army


Limp D.C. probe shamed by Atlanta

by Jay Mathews Those who defend the D.C. schools against charges of test tampering ignore the fact that Georgia authorities uncovered massive cheating in Atlanta, where the levels of wrong-to-right answer sheet erasures in 2009 were very similar to those in the District. The Georgia investigators identified 178 adult culprits by conducting 2,100 interviews at 56 schools and reviewing 800,000 documents. D.C., by contrast, quickly accepted the suggestions from teachers that the children were responsible for unerringly erasing wrong answers and finding right ones, a view derided by experts. To get a sense of why investigations in these two cities differed so dramatically, consider what happened at two elementary schools with nearly identical indications of test tampering, Venetian Hills in Atlanta and J.O. Wilson in the District. At the Atlanta school, the CTB/McGraw-Hill testing company found that 75 percent of the school’s classrooms had wrong-to-right erasures at levels that experts say indicate tampering by adults. At the D.C. school, the same company found 83 percent of classrooms had wrong-to-right erasures at that same high level. Within a year, then-Gov. Sonny Perdue ordered a Georgia Bureau of Investigation probe of Venetian Hills and 55 other Atlanta schools for test tampering by school officials, a state crime. In the District, however, school officials never sought a criminal investigation of the questionable scores. Instead, in 2009, they asked the Caveon consulting company to look at just eight schools, where no one confessed to cheating. J.O. Wilson was not investigated at all that year even though its percentage of classrooms flagged for high wrong-to-right erasures in 2009 topped every school but one in the city. A second Caveon investigation of 10 schools after the 2010 tests found one teacher at Noyes Education Campus who helped students pick the right answers. D.C. officials did not ask Caveon to investigate J.O. Wilson that year either, even though 100 percent of its classrooms were flagged for high wrong-to-right erasures. Instead,the D.C. schools rewarded J.O. Wilson for its high scores on the 2009 tests — 77 percent proficiency in math and 72 percent proficiency in reading. Principal Cheryl Warley got $10,000, and each teacher got $8,000. In June 2011, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation released evidence of test tampering at 44 Atlanta schools, including Venetian Hills. Armed with subpoena power and threat of criminal sanctions, the investigators secured confessions from five Venetian Hills teachers and the testing coordinator.


France Córdova

Outgoing President of Purdue University, Incoming Chair of the Smithsonian France A. Córdova became Purdue University’s eleventh president on July 16, 2007, as well as professor of physics and astronomy. She was the first woman to lead the institution. Prior to joining Purdue, Córdova served as chancellor and distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California (UC) Riverside from 2002 to 2007. At UC Riverside she was instrumental in launching a medical school and a community-university art museum complex. Under her watch, UC Riverside became a national model for the academic success of underrepresented students. An internationally recognized astrophysicist, Córdova served from 1996 to 2002 as a professor of physics and vice chancellor for research at UC Santa Barbara and initiated a "Research Across Disciplines" program that funded and encouraged both interdisciplinary and "blue sky" projects. Before joining UC Santa Barbara, she was chief scientist at NASA from 1993 to 1996, serving as the primary scientific advisor to the NASA administration and the principal interface between NASA headquarters and the broader scientific community. In that role she evaluated the science mission and budget for NASA and worked with the National Science and Technology Council, federal government agencies, and National Academies on a broad range of science policy initiatives. Córdova formerly instructed courses in astrobiology and leadership development. Córdova's scientific career contributions have been in the areas of observational and experimental astrophysics, multi-spectral research on x-ray and gamma ray sources, and space-borne instrumentation. She has published more than 200 scientific and public policy journal articles, reports, and conference abstracts. She was co-principal investigator for a telescope experiment that is currently flying on the satellite XMM-Newton, a cornerstone mission of the European Space Agency. She is the winner of NASA's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, and was recognized as a 2000 Kilby Laureate for “contributions to society through science, technology, innovation, invention, and education.” Córdova was previously included as one of "America's 100 Brightest Scientists Under 40" by Science Digest magazine and recently appeared among the 101 Top Influential Leaders in Hispanic U.S. by Latino Leaders magazine. Córdova was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008 and is a national associate of the National Academies. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). Córdova has had several presidential appointments, including


Scientists propose long-term experiments; article details exploration of asteroid

What if? To infinity and beyond Scientific American, September edition Some of the universe’s biggest puzzlers — evolution, the formation of galaxies, the life cycle of stars — take place on a time scale that dwarfs a single human being’s life span. In this month’s issue, Scientific American asks researchers in a variety of fields which studies they would conduct if they had all the time in the world. Thorne Lay, a seismologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz, says he’d try to assess the risk of megaquakes — tremors of magnitude 8.5 or greater. “Modern seismographs have been around for only slightly more than a century, too short a time to give a clear idea of the largest quakes that might strike a certain area every few centuries or more,” he says in the article. “If we could let these instruments run for thousands of years, however, we could map seismic risk much more accurately — including specifying which regions are capable of magnitude 9.0.” Katerina Harvati, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Tubingen in Germany, wonders: “Will our use of C-sections, continued for thousands of years, lead us to evolve larger brains?” As they say, only time will tell. Astronomy Space rock Discover, September edition In this month’s Discover, Tim Folger writes about the Dawn spacecraft’s sojourn to Vesta, one of the largest asteroids, which is floating in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn reached its destination in July of 2011 and has since been mapping the 311 mile-wide space-rock’s surface. There are a few notable landscape features, including a crater with a 14-mile-high peak at its center, but why fly halfway across the solar system to survey a giant hunk of cosmic dust? Because Vesta is a relic of the early days of the solar system, when huge chunks of ice and rock were drifting around the sun’s orbit. Some of this debris eventually globbed together to form terrestrial worlds, but Vesta, which was too close to Jupiter’s immense gravity, stalled out and never made it to full planethood. By surveying Vesta, scientists hope to better understand the makeup of the early solar system and how our planet came to be. Its Vesta mission completed, Dawn has moved on toward its next destination, 38 million miles away: the dwarf planet Ceres. — Aaron Leitko


Kids and needles is sometimes a good match: Acupuncture can help with pain.

performed by appropriately trained practitioners.” Officials at pediatric hospitals estimate that at least a third of U.S. pain centers for children offer acupuncture alongside traditional treatments. The federal government’s National Health Interview Survey, which last asked about acupuncture in 2007, estimated that about 150,000 children were receiving the needle treatment annually for conditions such as pain, migraine and anxiety. “People will often bring it up before I bring it up,” said Jennifer Anderson, an anesthesiologist at Children’s who is also a licensed acupuncturist. “I often treat patients with chronic issues” such as nausea and abdominal pain. “It’s very helpful.” The American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledges that more young patients are undergoing acupuncture and other alternative therapies, and an article in its journal, Pediatrics, says a growing number of pediatric generalists and subspecialists are offering these services. It also urges doctors to seek information on such practices when families express interest, evaluate them on their scientific merits and pass information to parents. Anderson and other doctors said acupuncture is an important and safe adjunct to traditional treatments for children. A 2008 review of studies published in the Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology cited evidence that acupuncture is effective for preventing nausea after surgery in children and for alleviating pain. It said there’s some evidence that it can help children with allergy symptoms but pointed out that more study is needed. Treating asthma and ADHD Anderson said she often does two to three treatments a week at first on a child, eventually tapering visits to once a month. Stephen Cowan, a New York pediatrician who is also a certified medical acupuncturist, said Western medicine is great for acute problems that often afflict kids, such as ear infections. But he said acupuncture can be extremely helpful for such chronic or difficult-to-treat problems as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and asthma. He related the case of a year-old boy who came to the hospital at 3 a.m. with an asthma attack. A nebulizer treatment wasn’t working, Cowan said, so he decided to try acupuncture. The boy reacted calmly, and his pulse-oximeter readings went up to 95 percent, which is within the normal range. “I’m not advocating replacing Western treatments. I’m asking: Where can [acupuncture] serve best in the system of medicine pervasive in our culture?” said Cowan, author of the ADHD book “Fire Child, Water Child.” “Acupuncture doesn’t cure infection. But I find it very useful in