Nigeria’s historic election just proved the world wrong

Opposition candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari holds his ballot paper in the air before casting his vote in his home town of Daura on Saturday. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press) Nigeria just threw the world a curveball. For months, there were doubts that Nigeria would survive 2015. Headlines fixated on the winds of Boko Haram’s terrorism combining with the ethnic and religious tensions that divide the north and the south to create a storm of rampant violence that would tear the country apart. There was the expectation that Nigeria would burst into flames as a result of bullets being used to force political change instead of ballots, especially considering the massive election violence that erupted four years ago. But over the weekend, Nigeria, a country of 170 million, gave the world a largely peaceful and credible election, with its most transparent vote to date. Retired Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the presidency. To Jonathan’s credit, he called the 72-year-old Buhari on Tuesday to concede. No doubt it is the mark of a functioning democracy when a losing candidate respects the results of a democratic election. Buhari’s victory was decisive: He won 54 percent of the vote to Jonathan’s 45 percent. Nigerians took to social media to congratulate Buhari and express relief at holding a vote without violence. Some took the opportunity to take Western reporters to task for their skepticism: Congratulations to #Nigeria for sending the Western media away with no news! Oya go back home with your bullet proof vests. #NigeriaDecides" This election represents the first time since 1999, when Nigeria returned to civilian democracy, that an opposition party has defeated a sitting government party. Jonathan, whose party had never lost an election under civilian democracy, has seen his national popularity and international image plummet over his administration’s struggles to contain Boko Haram as well as his failures on tackling corruption and the economy. There were expectations that Jonathan and his party would not give up power so easily, especially considering that it spent staggering amounts of money for this election, touted as the most expensive in African history. This is is also the first time that Nigeria used biometric card-reading technology, to help cut back on vote fraud and rigging. Though there were hiccups and malfunctions — even Jonathan couldn’t get accredited electronically at first,


Jim Webb’s inaccurate comparison of chief executive salaries in U.S., Germany and Japan

Japan are beginning to adopt a U.S.-like corporate structure. That means the gap between the ratios in those countries and the United States could decrease in the coming years. Pedro Matos, a University of Virginia Darden School of Business finance professor who studies international corporate governance structures, is critical of comparing the ratios between countries. While the numbers in his 2009 study are now outdated, the research notes interesting factors that could skew the comparison. He found U.S. executives are much more likely to receive incentive pay and equity-based pay than executives in other countries. When those factors were controlled, the U.S. executives’ base salary pay was comparable to counterparts in other countries. Matos added that the same trend would apply in other fields: “If you’re going to do the same for top lawyers, or for athletes, or top entertainers, pretty much any top talent in a profession you can think of, that would be true. That ratio is much higher in the U.S. than in other countries.” There is a point of consensus between countries, however. Global perception of the gap between average worker and chief executive pay is much narrower than reality, according to a study by Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton. The Pinocchio Test Webb’s larger point that the ratio of chief executives’ pay to average workers’ pay has increased since 1968 is correct, and so does his comparison that the U.S. ratio is higher than other countries’. But the figures he uses for Japan and Germany are suspiciously low, and we have not found any reliable source that reported those figures. The most recent figure that is widely used by academics and researchers is the calculation by AFL-CIO. Those numbers are much higher than Webb claimed, at 67-to-1 in Japan and 147-to-1 in Germany. There are many ways to calculate this ratio, but the responsible thing to do would be to cite that one with caveats, rather than the alarmingly low figures Webb used in his speech. We wavered between Two and Three Pinocchios. But the comparisons between countries are misleading. There are so many cultural and traditional differences between corporate structures that have nothing to do with income inequality in the United States. That, and the stark difference between Webb’s version of Japan and Germany statistics and the generally accepted numbers, tipped the rating to Three. Three Pinocchios (About our rating scale) Send us


Muhammadu Buhari vs. Fela Kuti: Nigeria’s new president-elect once jailed a music icon

government forces even raided his compound — which the singer had declared independent of Nigeria — with a 1,000-man force, resulting in the death of his mother. And the singer was on his way to the United States seven years later for a tour when he was arrested for what the Guardian called “sham currency smuggling charges.” Nigeria’s leader at the time: Muhammadu Buhari, who the country just put back in power. Buhari was elected this week in what The Washington Post’s Karen Attiah called “a largely peaceful and credible election, with its most transparent vote to date.” [Nigeria opposition candidate wins presidency in historic race] [Nigeria’s historic election just proved the world wrong] Buhari in December. (PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images) Elected amid his nation’s ongoing war against the terrorist group Boko Haram, Buhari doesn’t just have radical Islamists to worry about. Though he proved victorious in a free and fair vote, Nigeria’s new leader also has his dictatorial past to overcome. After all, this is the man who engineered a coup in 1983 and put himself in charge of Africa’s most populous country. “A lot of people will tell you that they have their reservations about Buhari for many reasons — some because he was a military dictator and they worry whether he can uphold democratic principles and create democratic space,” Kadaria Ahmed, a Nigerian journalist and political analyst, told the Associated Press. Celebrations broke out in Muhammadu Buhari’s home town after the opposition leader won the presidential election by more than 2 million votes, according to a Reuters tally. When it came to Fela Kuti, democratic principles didn’t seem get in Buhari’s way 30 years ago. Buhari’s government was behind Kuti’s arrest, and the singer was quickly sentenced to five years amid allegations reported by Amnesty International that witnesses were prevented from testifying on his behalf. There were even reports that the judge who sentenced Kuti later apologized to him. [The brutal reason Boko Haram just took 500 “young women and children"] “He went and declared to Fela that, ‘Man, you were not guilty, I was under pressure, I was instructed to put you behind bars,’ ” Rilwan “Showboy” Fagbemi, Kuti’s former saxophonist, claimed in 2012. “‘And as a judge, if I don’t tell you the truth, I will never forgive myself. I came for your forgiveness, forgive me. You did not commit any offense. You were jailed


Marlon James wins Anisfield-Wolf fiction prize

(Courtesy of Riverhead Books. Photo credit Jeffrey Skemp) Marlon James’s explosive novel about Jamaica, “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” has won this year’s Anisfield-Wolf fiction prize. Billed as “the only national juried prize for literature that confronts racism and examines diversity,” the Anisfield-Wolf book awards in fiction, nonfiction and poetry are sponsored by the Cleveland Foundation. James, who teaches at Macalester College in St. Paul, described himself as “stunned and seriously humbled” when he heard that he’d won the $10,000 prize. “It’s strange when you win an award that your heroes have won,” he said via e-mail. “You’re tempted to think that it means you’ve arrived, but it really means that you have so much more work to do.” (Courtesy of Riverhead) Last month, “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” which involves the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in 1976, was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award. At the end of 2014, The Washington Post named it one of the top 10 books of the year. In a statement released Wednesday morning, the Anisfield-Wolf judges praised the novel’s “scalding yet musical language” and its “superb risk-taking.” “Many of my characters are Jamaicans living in the States and stunned by a racial and economic landscape that is not their own,” James said. “In the book, the Bronx is still burning, and residents of Bushwick burn their houses down because they can’t sell them. That’s an outcome of a racist system even if nobody in the novel has the wisdom to call it out.” The response from his Jamaican readers has been reassuring. “Younger Jamaicans have taken ownership of [the novel],” James said, “glad that they have something to start a real conversation about where the country is going, for once. Older audiences tend to be split between loving the scope and hating the occasional vulgarity of it.” James is currently working on a fantasy novel based on African myths and legends. He describes it as “a Yoruba Game of Thrones.” Long a fan of fantasy and sci-fi, he once wondered if all the significant myths belonged to the Norse, Celts and Greeks. He’s since discovered that “we have our own gods, demons, monsters, mad kings, ambitious queens and court intrigue. We even have our own Vikings, who raided West African villages by sea.” The Anisfield-Wolf prize for nonfiction was awarded to historian Richard S. Dunn for “A


The poor are treated like criminals everywhere, even at the grocery store

windowsills, walls, soil, flooring and water, and found…nothing. Upon recheck, my daughter’s lead levels were perfectly normal and deemed a false positive. What if they had had discovered metabolites consistent with drug exposure? Poppyseeds metabolize like opiates. Had I been living in Section 8 housing, that would have resulted in a search of my home for drugs, the loss of my home and quite probably the loss of my children. [ Laws in several states that attempt to drug-test applicants for TANF (“welfare”) or SNAP (“food stamps”) operate on the presumption that all people living under the poverty line use drugs. Court challenges have ruled Florida’s and Michigan’s unconstitutional. In Utah, 4,730 people applied for TANF; 466 people were tested, turning up 12 positives. Turns out only a small minority of folks receiving benefits actually abuse drugs or alcohol. Believe me, it’s a thrill to pee in a cup after relinquishing my purse, wallet, keys and shoes (I might be carrying a “clean” baggie of urine), just so I can get a Scheduled Drug sleeping medication. There are many lives I would rather lead, and poverty is not my choice. As a child, I lived in a lovely family neighborhood in Connecticut, where we had horses and a barn, competed in horse shows, and went to Maine on vacation. Illness stole any dreams of emulating my upbringing, or of raising my children in the comfort that I had growing up. [ My disability is invisible, which means I draw stares when I park in the blue-lined spots up front. I’ve even been challenged verbally: “You don’t look disabled.” The invisibility also means I hear opinions from people who don’t know me well — opinions on poor people. I don’t sound poor; I don’t look poor. I want to ask, “What does poor look like, anyway?” In public housing, 50 percent of the residents are elderly or disabled, or both. According to the Social Security Administration, as of 2013, the average retiree gets $1,294 per month to subsist on, and the average disabled person gets $1,146; both are around the monthly paycheck of a minimum-wage job-holder before taxes. It’s as if middle-class and wealthy Americans think poor people live under the poverty line by choice, as if a sensible person would choose to subsist on so little. We’re barely getting by. Don’t tell us what to buy at the grocery store.


Local chain Cava Grill is going national with plans to dip into Los Angeles and Chicago

Thanks to a big influx of cash, Cava Grill is going bicoastal. The fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant, which was founded in Rockville, is expanding after receiving $16 million in funding, which will broaden the market for its line of dips and spreads, as well as open two restaurants in Los Angeles. Cava Grill in Tenleytown (Jeffrey MacMillan/TWP) "When we say Los Angeles, some people look at us crosseyed," said CEO Brett Schulman. "We really love Los Angeles and how we can be a fit there." He and co-founders Ike Grigoropoulos, chef Dimitri Moshovitis and Ted Xenohristos, who is moving to L.A., chose the city for its large market of health-conscious diners. The L.A. restaurants will open in the fall, after Cava opens three more D.C. locations: Fairfax in May, National Airport in late June/early July, and Ashburn in August. A full-service Cava Mezze restaurant is also planned for Baltimore's Harbor East neighborhood. The investment will help Cava expand its line of prepared foods and dips to the Midwest, where they'll now be carried in Chicago-area Whole Foods stores. About 15 percent of Cava's business comes from its prepared foods, and Schulman says they'll open another production facility in L.A. As for comparisons to that fast-casual giant, Chipotle? "I think it’s incredibly high praise when you look at what they’ve built as a business and changed the paradigm of fast food," said Schulman. "But we want to continue to create a unique proposition." Related:


Quiz: Actual Japanese invention, or April Fools’ Day prank?

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West Virginia and Rhode Island use the most drugs. They have very little else in common.

No state's residents are as likely to use drugs or medication to alter their mood as frequently as residents of West Virginia, according to new research from Gallup. That fits a certain stereotype -- a stereotype which itself doesn't really match the state. Then an unexpected twist: The state that's second-most likely to report that it using mood-altering drugs daily is Rhode Island -- which is nearly as different a state as you might imagine. So what gives? As you can see from the map above, there's not a clear pattern. States in the Southeast seem to be more likely to report frequent drug and medication use (including cigarette smoking), but not uniformly. Out West, they seem less likely to, except Oregon. This being The Fix, I first plotted the usage data against 2012 election results (yolo, etc.). The thing that jumps out the most is that West Virginia and Rhode Island are on near opposite sides of his graph. There's really no correlation between politics and drug use, although, perhaps surprisingly, more liberal states have slightly lower percentages of people reporting daily usage. (Near the bottom of the rankings: California and Colorado. You figure that out.) Thinking back to the stereotype above, I plotted against the percentage of the state's population that is rural. Still no strong correlation -- and still Rhode Island and West Virginia are on opposite sides of the graph. Given the inclusion of medication in Gallup's questions, I looked at the state's median age. This was a slightly closer fit, with the strongest correlation of the three. What's more, Rhode Island and West Virginia have at least that in common: An older-than-average population. But it's still not clearly linked. I considered unemployment levels and poverty levels as well; but Rhode Island and West Virginia again weren't very close. Gallup offers only a loose explanation, noting that states which rate high on its index of well-being tend to use drugs and medication to relax less frequently. Why that well-being is presumably lower in two very different states is, it seems, a mystery.


Rider stabbed by group of people on Baltimore Light Rail

Maryland Transit Administration Police are seeking seven people after a passenger was stabbed while riding a Light Rail train in Baltimore on Tuesday. In a statement, the transit administration police department said that the victim got into an argument with a group of people on a train on Tuesday. At about 3:30 p.m., when the train was near the Cultural Center-State Center stop, the victim was stabbed. MTA spokesman Paul Shepard said on Wednesday morning that the victim had been released from the hospital. Anyone who recognizes the suspects in the photos distributed by MTA Police is asked to call police at 410-454-7720. MTA Police are seeking information about these seven people. (MTA Police)


West Virginia is the capital of mind-altering drug use

drug use states are in the South. At the other end of the spectrum, Alaska had the lowest rate of frequent use at 13.5 percent, followed by Wyoming, California, Illinois and North Dakota. Nationally, 18.9 percent of Americans say they take drugs to relax almost every day, while 62.2 percent say they never do. But before we draw any broad conclusions let's go back to that question wording, because it's really important here. It's almost certain that a large number of respondents didn't consider alcohol or tobacco when answering the survey. We know, from the most recent National Survey of Drug Use and Health, that at least 71 percent of American adults drank in the past year, and 56 percent drank in the past month. So that 62.2 percent abstinence number doesn't jibe with what we already know about American drinking -- to say nothing about tobacco or illicit drug use. So if the question doesn't measure drinking, exactly what kind of behavior is it measuring? That's harder to say. Over at the Fix, Philip Bump notes that there's some correlation between state drug use and median age, although the linkage isn't particularly tight. Gallup found that high rates of drug use are linked to lower measures of happiness, as measured in its Well-Being Index. The most likely explanation there? Americans who are less happy are more likely to be taking drugs -- prescription or otherwise -- to address that problem. But illicit drugs like marijuana clearly aren't driving these numbers. Colorado and Alaska have some of the highest marijuana use rates, but among the lowest percentages on this question. And the Southern States scoring the highest on the Gallup question have some of the lowest overall illicit substance use rates. My best guess is that the question is capturing some combination of prescription anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication use, along with a fair share of recreational drug use. But that's only a guess, and it's impossible to tell for certain. One quirk of our national drug policy is that it treats alcohol and tobacco as separate from "drugs." Hence we have a "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms," and a "Drug Enforcement Administration." From a scientific and public health perspective, this is questionable: Alcohol and tobacco interact with your brain chemistry just like pot, heroin and oxycodone do. If crack-cocaine is a drug, so is an appletini. It would be


Main Street Morning: Stephen Curry, tech entrepreneur

says that the Fed should be prepared to tighten policy faster than expected once it starts to raise short-term interest rates. - Consumer confidence rebounds in March. - What the Great Recession taught us about long-term unemployment. - Small business employment growth was strong in the first quarter of 2015, according to a report from Paychex. Social Media - A webinar on April 2 will provide a guide to using LinkedIn. - A home-based cake business gets an unexpected Twitter shoutout from Bret Michaels. Management - A plan to salvage RadioShack Corp.’s business by co-branding most of its 1,740 surviving stores with cellular phone provider Sprint Corp earns U.S. bankruptcy court approval. Finance - The crowdfunding market grew 167 percent in 2014 and crowdfunding platforms raised $16.2 billion, according to a research firm. - U.S. small-business borrowing slipped in February but is still up over last year. - Website provider GoDaddy is seeking investors as it pursues small business customers. Start-up - NBA star Stephen Curry joins a tech start-up (oh, and he’s pretty good at the whole basketball thing, too). - An algae-to-animal-feed start-up gets a $7 million funding boost. People - Why the creator of Employee Appreciation Day says it’s silly. - More than two-thirds of Americans who find new jobs weren’t actively seeking work, according to Labor Department data. - Why wage growth is so slow even in a hiring boom (psst…blame AirBnB). Strategies - Comcast creates a new investment company led by its Chief Financial Officer. - Supply challenges and climate changes are forcing the U.S. seafood industry to adapt. Scofflaws - Authorities in five states file a lawsuit against a magazine and newspaper subscription service they accuse of charging highly inflated prices for publications they weren’t authorized to sell. Entrepreneurs - Why this Grand Rapids entrepreneur got a call from Carrie Underwood’s drummer. Online - How Yelp’s incentivized check-ins will help local businesses. - You’ve got until April 21st to get your website optimized for mobile. Retail - Amazon is completely redefining one click buying. - Amazon’s Internet-of-Things strategy takes shape. - How grocery stores plan to win their customers back. - A business owner launches an appeal after a ten foot tall metal rooster goes missing from her storefront. Opportunities - Goldman Sachs warns that the world has 20 years left of minable gold. Technology - A survey finds that payment problems are stifling


Have you made Easter brunch plans yet? No? Time to get on that.

So you haven't made a reservation yet for Sunday's Easter brunch. But fear not. There are still tables available at area restaurants. Here is a small sampling as of Wednesday afternoon, based on spot checks for tables of 4 conducted via OpenTable. (Availability may depend on the size of your party and is, of course, subject to change.) Curry Mantra Daikaya Izakaya DBGB [DBGB review: Daniel Boulud’s CityCenterDC restaurant bests the New York original] There's still plenty of availability at area restaurants for Easter brunch, including DBGB in CityCenterDC. (Dixie D. Vereen for The Washington Post) Del Campo Jackie's Jaleo Kapnos Taverna Oval Room's beet tartare comes from the kitchen of new chef John Miele. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post) Oval Room [Oval Room review: Under a new chef, it tastes as vibrant as ever] The Partisan Vidalia, Ripple Volt Water Wall Related items: Fall Dining Guide 2014 A world of D.C. brunch options, no passport required Where to find Passover menus at D.C. restaurants For Easter color, crunch and flavor, look to the sides


What is fake on the Internet today: a comprehensive, updating list of April Fool’s pranks and hoaxes

claims to have developed the world’s “first autonomous delivery vehicle,” in which a Wall-E like creature, affixed to a bike, brings your pizza to you. Driverless technology is, of course, neither that advanced nor that cheap. Also, the Domino’s “division” that developed the vehicle doesn’t exist. - Jimmy John’s drone delivery: Not to be outdone, the sandwich chain tweeted its own futuristic delivery promotion, slated for April 2015. Later, @jimmyjohns followed-up: “I love #AprilFoolsDay, drone you?” - Uber for Tinder/Tinder for Uber: a rare cross-company collaborative prank that claims to match interested riders with single Uber drivers, who will split their fare with them. They call it “an innovative disruptive way of emotional commuting,” a phrase with so many buzzwords it simply has to be fake. This stunt also notably looks a whole lot like “UberSex,” a fake app created by a disgruntled Uber driver in early March. - Uber for Lions (… and Elephants and Planes and Boats): Maybe Uber’s various global offices could coordinate next year to save us this glut of pranks. Someone may specifically want to check in on Uber Thailand, which faux-promised on-demand boats to help people caught in that country’s severe, often fatal, floods. (Promo code: “HELPIDONTLIVEONAHILL”) - The so-called “selfie shoe”: USA Today was one of several outlets to fall for this promotion from shoe-maker Miz Mooz, which improbably promised to transform your outstretched leg into a selfie stick via a slot in your shoe. For starters: How many people can hold their leg that high for that long…? (“USA Today has confirmed that this is an early April Fool’s Day joke,” the paper clarified later on.) - Whole Foods’ tattoo parlors: America’s most overpriced grocery chain is really getting into the April Fool’s game, announcing a conventional-to-organic food converter, in-aisle TVs, plant-based underwear, and “flavored oxygen” recipes. The store’s most believable stunt, however, might be the new tattoo parlors coming to “select stores,” where customers can get inked with “vegan-friendly cold-pressed beet and kale inks.” At least Whole Foods knows its audience! - A bookmark that wakes you up when you doze off while reading: A British bookseller claims to have invented this genius device, called the boo!mark, to sound an alarm for readers whose breathing slows. In a clever wink to the skeptics in the audience, promo photos of the boo!mark are taken in front of Raymond Chandler’s “Big Sleep.” -


murder


National Zoo plays April Fools’ joke

The National Zoo produces plenty of links to watch its animals on Web cameras. Usually, the animals are cute, fluffy and busy — like, say, Bao Bao the panda. This time, the zoo put up one of an animal that doesn’t seem well suited to constant camera coverage — a sloth. .@NationalZoo launches new action-packed two-toed sloth cam #DropItLikeASloth https://t.co/wC27C45cwP In a Twitter message, the zoo said Wednesday that it launched a “new action-packed two-toed sloth cam.” With the hashtag #DropItLikeASloth — a play on words to the popular song “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by American rapper Snoop Dogg. Happy April Fools’ Day! The video shows a sloth doing, well, nothing. Okay — it appears to be breathing. The zoo put up on its Facebook page a detailed description of the sloth, describing the two-toed animals as being native to Central and South America. Their description went on, “their brownish-gray fur curves from the stomach to the back, unlike most mammals, allowing rain to run off.” “The fur is usually home to algae, which help camouflage these rainforest canopy animals.” Many people had comments. John Caron described it as “Perfect meditative serenity. Like watching grass grow.” Ingrid Reinert said, “action packed LOL.” Mary Ann McIntosh wrote, “Not sure I can handle the action. Nope. Too much stress for me.” DCist first wrote about the sloth camera April Fools’ prank.


Wal-Mart’s plan to boost business without changing what it sells

Shoppers load up on cookware during Wal-Mart’s Black Friday sale in Bentonville, Ark. (AP) Foot traffic to Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores has been sluggish for about two years, as the retail giant faces increased competition from e-commerce sites, dollar stores and discount grocers. The big-box chain is attacking this challenge from several angles, including by plowing millions of dollars into its online business and testing smaller-format stores that could give it more of a presence in urban areas. But on Wednesday, Wal-Mart U.S. President Greg Foran added a new strategic push to the retailer’s revitalization efforts: Its stores, Foran said, simply have to be more pleasant places to shop. “We want this year to be the year of improving our stores, so by the time we hit holiday season, our stores are clean, tidy, well-merchandised and run by engaged associates,” Foran said. “Today, in the main, they’re not.” At an informal meeting in New York with investors, Foran said Wal-Mart’s 4,500 stores could stand to improve on a wide range of characteristics: The merchandising often isn’t tailored to the local community’s tastes. In some cases, sightlines and store layout make it hard to navigate. Even the lighting and the temperature didn’t seem right, he said, in some of the stores he visited across the country since stepping into his role eight months ago. “The three things that matter most to customer are clean, fast and friendly, and we’re adjusting the way we operate to make sure we make those real priorities,” Foran said. To make the stores look and feel more inviting, Wal-Mart will be working to improve its processes so that inventory makes its way from the back room to the sales floor more quickly. Of course, they hope this will cut down on the frustration associated with finding that an item on your shopping list is out of stock. But they believe it will be especially beneficial for the produce department, where constant restocking will help ensure that customers are consistently finding fresh food. Wal-Mart is also aiming to improve the in-store shopping experience by making it faster. During last year’s holiday season, the company experimented with a gambit it called the “checkout promise,” which meant that all checkout lanes were guaranteed to be open at peak shopping times. Based on feedback from customers and workers, the company said it is looking to keep that commitment in place this


D.C. area forecast: Spring warmth rules for now, Easter weekend not as much

TODAY’S DAILY DIGIT 9/10: EXPRESS FORECAST Today: FORECAST IN DETAIL Despite a cool start, today is a dandy. At last coats can go back in the closet – at least until the weekend. Another cold front descends on the area Friday night with a thunderstorm or two likely. Colder air settles in for the weekend and suburbs could see some frost for those sunrise service goers and outdoor Easter egg hunts Sunday, so go grab that coat again. The full “Paschal” moon on Saturday morning sets in a partial eclipse, but sadly clouds may not break in time for early risers to witness. Today (Thursday): Tonight: For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend… Tomorrow (Friday): Tomorrow night: Extension of florets seen on cherry blossom buds on April 1 (John Sonderman via Flickr) A LOOK AHEAD Saturday Easter Sunday Monday


Our booze is too cheap and it’s literally killing us

federal beer tax has fallen about fivefold over the same period, with a more modest drop for wine. From a public health perspective, alcohol taxes are important. "Quite simply, alcohol taxation and other measures that increase the price of ethanol are effective in promoting the public health and safety, " writes Duke University's Philip J. Cook in his 2007 book Paying the Tab. "Higher prices are conducive to lower rates of underage drinking, traffic fatalities, and sexually transmitted disease." The logic here is simple. Higher taxes make alcohol more expensive. More expensive alcohol makes people drink less of it. And when people are drinking less, they're less likely to suffer costly health problems or do stupid things like drive drunk. "The qualitative conclusion -- that higher alcohol taxes save lives -- is well established in studies by economists and public health researchers," Cook said in an email. New research just published in the American Journal of Public Health adds to that body of evidence. In 2009, Illinois raised its excise taxes on beer, wine and liquor. The tax rate for wine and liquor nearly doubled, while the beer rate rose by a more modest 25 percent. While steep in and of themselves, the tax hikes had a modest impact on retail prices of alcohol. Assuming that the full cost of the increase was passed to consumers, they would have raised the price of a standard drink of beer or wine by about a half cent, and of a shot of liquor by roughly 5 cents. But when University of Florida researchers crunched these numbers along with federal traffic statistics, they found that even these modest price increases were enough to cause a significant drop in drunk driving fatalities. "Fatal alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes declined 9.9 per month after the tax increase, a 26 percent reduction," the conclude. The effect was even larger -- a 37 percent reduction -- for drivers under 30. In looking at the data, the researchers controlled for other factors that affect crashes -- weather, traffic law enforcement, safety policies, etc. They also controlled for the economic effects of the Great Recession, and compared Illinois' numbers to Wisconsin's to ensure their results weren't confounded by broader regional factors. Overall, if their numbers are right, Illinois' modest alcohol tax increases saved more than 120 lives per year from September 2009 through December 2011. Duke's Philip Cook is somewhat


9 things to do in the D.C. area on the weekend of April 3-5

The weekend's best in nightlife, music, movies, art and more around the Washington area. For more, check out the Going Out Guide's list of National Cherry Blossom Festival events. Paul Walker rides with Vin Diesel one last time in "Furious 7," in theaters Friday. (Photo by Scott Garfield/Universal Pictures) Friday: [Fast, furious and so much better than you think. Really.] Friday-Aug. 30: Saturday: Saturday: [How to do the National Cherry Blossom Festival for real] Saturday: The FreshFarm Market at Dupont Circle will be open on Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washigton Post) Saturday-Thursday: Saturday: Saturday: Sunday: More from the Going Out Guide - April's cant-miss concerts in Washington - 40 Eats: The most essential dishes in D.C.


Before and after shots show scientists how a massive young star is growing up

Artist's conception of the development of W75N(B)-VLA-2. At left, a hot wind from the young star expands nearly spherically, as seen in 1996. At right, as seen in 2014, the hot wind has been shaped by encountering a dusty, doughnut-shaped torus around the star and appears elongated.(Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF) The star called W75N(B)-VLA 2 is 4,200 light years away from Earth and 300 times more luminous (and eight times more massive) than the sun. It's also young, and it's changing fast. By comparing images taken 18 years apart -- one from 1996 and one from last year -- astronomers are seeing just how massive stars like this one mosey on through their awkward teen years. [Astronomers spot the birth of ‘Sparky,’ a massive star factory] Their findings are reported in a study published Thursday in Science. The actual VLA images of the star. 1996 is on top, 2014 is shown below. (Carrasco-Gonzalez, et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF) "We're seeing this dramatic change in real time, so this object is providing us an exciting opportunity to watch over the next few years as a very young star goes through the early stages of its formation," lead researcher Carrasco-Gonzalez of the Center of Radioastronomy and Astrophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico said in a statement. Carrasco-Gonzalez and his team are using images created by the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). In 1996, this network of large radio antennas painted a picture of the star as surrounded by the hot, dense ionized gas it spewed. [A single exploding star could build 7,000 Earths] But in 2014, less than two decades later, it had already lost that spherical halo of wind. A dusty, doughnut-shaped ring of gas called a torus begins to interfere with wind outflow from the star, creating a more elongated look as wind rushes up through it instead of edging its way around. The researchers are excited to have caught such a massive star at this developmental crossroad. It fits with previous observations of really young and slightly older stars of this size. They seem to go from having spherical wind outflows in their earliest days, then transition into blowing more of a column of wind. We know a lot about stars like our sun and how they form, but we have more to learn about bigger ones like W75N(B)-VLA 2. "Our understanding of how massive


Cherry blossoms transition from bud to bloom in D.C. (Photos)

the trees to produce florets (or swollen buds) and the National Park Service forecasts peak bloom to occur between April 11 and 14. The Capital Weather Gang forecasts peak bloom to occur between April 9 and 13. In an average year, the peak bloom would occur in five days, on April 4. Based on the current status of the buds, we’d favor the latter half of those bloom windows for this year’s peak. The vast majority of the Tidal Basin trees are the beautifully popular, pale pink Somei-Yoshino variety, the same species that were first planted by first lady Helen Taft and the wife of the Japanese ambassador Iwa Chinda in 1912. According to the National Park Service, the rest of the Yoshino as well as the other 11 varieties were planted in East Potomac Park — 3,020 in all at the time. Cherry blossom florets in West Potomac Park on April 1. (John Sonderman via Flickr) Though the Yoshino at the Tidal Basin were only just budding last week, it seems they’ve at least progressed to some larger florets after a few warmer days. The National Park Service marked Wednesday, April 1, as “florets visible,” though we think they’ve probably progressed beyond that to “extension of florets” based on the photos we’ve seen. [How to watch the “breakfast" lunar eclipse on Saturday] Photos shared with us on Flickr and Twitter show the progress of the cherry trees around the D.C. area over the past few weeks, including some of the varieties already in full bloom.. March 16, West Potomac Park (John Sonderman via Flickr) March 18, 15th Street, NW (Erin via Flickr) March 19, Tidal Basin (Joe Flood via Flickr) March 24, Tidal Basin (John Sonderman via Flickr) March 24, National Mall (John Sonderman via Flickr) March 27, National Mall (John Sonderman via Flickr) March 27, Congressional Cemetery (Jim Havard via Flickr) March 28, Near the National Mall (Erin via Flickr) March 29, near the D.C. War Memorial (Joe Flood via Flickr) March 31, Arlington, Va. The cherry blossoms in Arlington are beginning to bloom, shown here on March 31, with the Washington Monument in the background. (Joseph Gruber via Flickr) March 31, 15th Street NW (Erin via Flickr) April 1, 16th Street NW (Erin via Flickr)


Should Bowser be increasing the D.C. sales tax?

the forefront of former mayor Vincent Gray’s administration, and Bowser released a plan last month on how she would end chronic homelessness in the city. But is a sales tax the way to do it? As my colleague Aaron C. Davis notes, the D.C. Council rejected a recommendation to hike the sales tax last year in part because it was a flat tax that could disproportionately affect the city’s low-income residents. Still, the sales tax would be in line with some neighboring jurisdictions. Maryland has a 6 percent sales tax. Virginia has a sales tax rate of 5.3 percent, although municipalities in Northern Virginia pay an extra 0.7 percent — a total of 6 percent — to help fund regional transportation. Bowser also proposed to increase taxes at downtown parking garages — a tax that would probably impact more Virginia and Maryland commuters than D.C. residents — from 18 to 22 percent, bringing an estimated additional $10 million to city coffers. The mayor says this money would go to cover Metro costs. Here’s a sampling of the social media responses to the proposal: Props to @MayorBowser for proposing more revenue for homeless services, but why via sales tax that hits poorest? http://t.co/9BJ3iCBuXg Re DC budget: I love the parking tax. It's among the most rational ways to fund & incentivize public transit. > than sales tax. #policytakes Sales tax = a regressive tax RT @drgridlock: D.C. Mayor proposes tax increase to confront homeless crisis, Metro woes http://t.co/A0RTKZRYLo Because what's wrong with DC is that taxes aren't high enough. RT @SegravesNBC4: DC @MayorBowser proposes raising sales tax & parking tax. Sigh, so we're leaving the massive estate tax cut in place, but reverting the cut in the regressive sales tax. Crazy ol' "liberal" DC folks! So what do you think? What do you think of the mayor's proposal to increase the sales tax? User Poll Results: Voting is closed on this poll What do you think of the mayor's proposal to increase the sales tax? Good idea, Bowser! Bad idea, Bowser! Pardon the interruption! We need to verify that you are an actual person. Good idea, Bowser! Bad idea, Bowser! View Results This is a non-scientific user poll. Results are not statistically valid and cannot be assumed to reflect the views of Washington Post users as a group or the general population. Share this poll: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter


Nightlife Agenda: New beers, baseball and Weird Al burlesque

This week's essential DJ events, bands, dance nights and parties. Northeast Grooves mark 30 years in the go-go game with a special Saturday night concert at the Howard Theatre. (Image courtesy of Northeast Groovers.) Thursday, April 2 If you're a vinyl obsessive who stacks rare treats to obsess over in the privacy of your music lair, you're doing it wrong. Sir Ramases of Afro Ritmo Records and Neville C of Som Records travel the world finding holy grails of international roots music, but then they share them for folks looking for a serious dance experience as well as a musical education. For Ritmos Raros del Mundo, these two selectors will be throwing down from their deep crates of vintage Latin, Arab, Caribbean, African, Indian and Brazilian plates at Haydee's. Born in South Africa and based in Switzerland, Nora en Pure makes dance music that feels at home on dance floors all over the world. Most of her original material is funky house that's heavy on pop melody, but she can also do deep and sexy. (Take a listen to the mix from her Purified series for a sample.) Nora en Pure takes over Flash's upstairs with Danny House and Khaleel kicking off the show. Doors open at 9 p.m., and all ladies receive free champagne before midnight. When Phase 1 closed "temporarily" in January, longtime fans and employees wondered if the country's oldest continuously operating lesbian bar would ever return. Surprise: Phase reopened last Friday with barely any notice. Come give the place a proper welcome back – and check out the new decor – at the return of its popular karaoke night. There's no cover charge, and the music begins at 8:30 p.m. [A Washington weekend filled with fun events] Friday, April 3 For 11 years, We Fought the Big One has brought a monthly dose of post-punk, shoegaze, synth-pop and other obscure and interesting aural treats to Marx Cafe. The night is more John Peel than Mousetrap, and that's okay with us. To celebrate their anniversary, DJs Rick Taylor and Brandon Glover welcome guest DJs and offer happy hour prices on Belgian beers, starting at 10 p.m. There's no cover. Saturday, April 4 [What's your favorite go-go song? Northeast Groovers have an answer.] Washington's homegrown beer scene has exploded in recent years, and the vanguard of the brew-it-here movement is DC Brau. To celebrate its fourth anniversary, the


Army sets court date in desertion case against Bowe Bergdahl

pages of documents to Bergdahl’s lawyers; those documents were assembled last year as part of an investigation into Bergdahl’s disappearance conducted by Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, Fidell said. They figure to be central to Bergdahl’s case. Bergdahl was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy on March 25, nearly 10 months after he was turned over to a U.S. Special Operations team in Afghanistan on May 31, 2014, as part of the prisoner swap. He is accused of slipping away from his patrol base June 30, 2009, in Paktika province under cover of darkness. His motivation for doing so has never been made clear. [For first time, Bowe Bergdahl speaks about his harsh treatment while a prisoner] The desertion charge carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison, along with a possible reduction in rank and loss of pay and allowances. But the charge of misbehavior before the enemy carries a maximum punishment of confinement for life, a dishonorable discharge, a reduction to private and total forfeiture of pay and allowances since the time of his disappearance, Army officials said. U.S. Army officials announced that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured and spent five years in captivity in Afghanistan after leaving his post, has been charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. Shortly after charges against Bergdahl were announced, Fidell released the soldier’s first public account of his captivity, saying he endured beatings, severe hunger and threats of execution. He also describes his failed attempts to escape. “I was kept in constant isolation during the entire 5 years, with little to no understanding of time, through constant periods of constant darkness, periods of constant light, and periods of completely random flickering of light,” he wrote at one point. He added that he had “absolutely no understanding of anything that was happening beyond the door I was held behind.” Bergdahl has come under fire repeatedly for leaving his base and the subsequent manhunt for him that it caused. The search for him put lives in danger and diverted resources that could have been used on other missions, critics say. Related on Checkpoint: War-zone deserter? If so, Bowe Bergdahl joins a fascinating and bizarre club. Taliban official swapped for Bowe Bergdahl could return to the battlefield, general says Why the ‘Black Hawk Down’ prisoner release is different than Bowe Bergdahl’s Susan Rice compares Bowe Bergdahl furor to Benghazi uproar


The long fight over military tattoos just hit a new phase

prospective officers to no more than four tattoos that appear while wearing a T-shirt and shorts. The Army policy, updated last year, went even farther in some ways. It restricted future enlisted soldiers and officers alike from having no more than four tattoos below the knee or elbow, and said those tattoos could be no larger than the soldier’s hand. Like the other services, tattoos on the face, neck, hands and anything considered extremist, sexist or racist also were prohibited. Army officials said this week that the plan has been revised to allow soldiers to have tattoos on their arms and legs as long as they aren’t visible in the long-sleeve camouflage service uniform. Sgt. Maj. Dan Dailey, the top enlisted soldier in the Army, said it was an issue of morale. “I don’t want this to be the deciding factor for a good soldier to get out,” he told Army Times. The top enlisted Marine, Sgt. Maj. Ronald L. Green, was asked recently by Dunford to discuss the issue with other enlisted Marine leaders during a meeting this week, said Gunnery Sgt. Chanin Nuntavong, a spokesman for Green. Nuntavong said he did not know when the issue will come up with Dunford, who has final say on policy changes as the Marine Corps commandant. The Army loosening its tattoo restrictions should help in at least one regard beyond morale: recruiting. After the tougher new guidelines were adopted last year, the service acknowledged turning away prospective soldiers as a result. One recruiter suggested as much online: Jason Deitch, a former Army sergeant and co-creator of War Ink, said the service easing tattoo guidelines also could help those who have served in combat because many of them use tattoos as a mode of expression. He works in a rehabilitative neuroscience program that is run jointly by the University of California, Berkeley, and Department of Veterans Affairs centers in California. “Military culture, warfighter culture, is not an emotive culture by any means,” Deitch said. “There’s no place for a dialogue for the emotions of loss or fear or [traumatic brain injury] or post traumatic stress disorder, and tattoos present a way for active-duty soldiers to have a journal, a way to express these things. There’s a real good chance that the repealing of this and the beginning of this dialogue about what tattoos say could do some real good for active-duty guys.”


Pass the jelly: How to watch the ‘breakfast’ lunar eclipse Saturday morning

Hollywood, about 1,134 feet above sea level, the Griffith Observatory presents the eclipse. Find the Griffith Observatory webcast here starting at 2 a.m. Pacific time (5 a.m. Eastern) when the penumbral phase starts. The umbral, or partial, phase – that is when Earth’s shadow bites chunks from the moon – starts at 3:15 a.m. (6:15 a.m. Eastern). Timing of Saturday’s total lunar eclipse in Pacific time. (Griffith Observatory) Have a hearty ‘Breakfast on the Moon’ Over at Slooh.com, they’re calling their webcast “Breakfast on the Moon,” where you will see the eclipse from eastern Australia – and from their feed partners from other locations around the Pacific Rim. The Slooh webcast starts at 3 a.m. Pacific time (6 a.m. Eastern) just before the partial, umbral phase. Conducting the cosmic play-by-play will be host Eric Edelman and astronomer-journalists Bob Berman and Will Gater. Ask them questions via Twitter while they are live by using the hashtag #Breakfasteclipse. “Total lunar eclipses, like the one we’re looking forward to … are a slow, ethereal affair and, as usual, [Slooh will] have cameras around the world bringing us live views,” Gater said. “What better way to start the day than tuning in to watch this wonderful event.” All in the family Over the centuries, eclipses fall into families of related events that astronomers call “saros.” Tomorrow’s total lunar eclipse is part of Saros 132, a series that started on May 12, 1492 (months before Christopher Columbus set sail) and it will end June 26, 2754. Saturday’s eclipse is the shortest total eclipse in the series, officially clocked at 4 minutes and 43 seconds, according to NASA. The longest total eclipse in this series – a little over a century from now – will be June 9, 2123, at 1 hour, 46 minutes. The Fab Four This total lunar eclipse is the third of four-in-a-row, and that – to astronomers – is known as a “tetrad.” Last year, we enjoyed two lunar eclipses on April 15 and Oct. 8. In addition to tomorrow’s eclipse, our next one: Sept. 28, 2015. A total lunar eclipse on April 15, 2014, marked the beginning of a remarkable series of eclipses all visible from North America. Between 1582 and 1908, there were no tetrads, as they are part of a 565-year cycle and they tend to be feast or famine. For this 21st century, we get eight of them.


Mutant, drug-resistant stomach bug is spreading in the U.S., CDC warns

Shigella bacteria. (CDC) Recent outbreaks of an unpleasant intestinal illness in Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania are due to a drug-resistant version of a bacteria that causes travelers' diarrhea, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned this week. Since May 2014, Shigella sonnei bacteria that have shown resistance to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin have sickened 243 people across 32 states and Puerto Rico, the federal agency said. "Research by the CDC found that the drug-resistant illness was being repeatedly introduced as ill travelers returned and was then infecting other people in a series of outbreaks around the country," the CDC explained. Shigellosis is often associated with illnesses contracted while abroad. Although the bacteria isn't the only culprit responsible for travel-related stomach problems, its symptoms fall under the umbrella of illnesses known colloquially by several names, including "Montezuma's revenge," "Delhi belly" and "wilderness diarrhea." Its symptoms are, well ... highly unpleasant. They include watery or bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and malaise. The illness usually goes away on its own -- eventually. But doctors often prescribe antibiotics to speed the process along, the CDC notes. The trend of U.S. outbreaks are "troubling," CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a statement. "Drug-resistant infections are harder to treat and because Shigellosis spreads so easily between people, the potential for more – and larger – outbreaks is a real concern," Frieden said. The CDC is working on a response to the broader problem of drug-resistant bacteria, because "we can’t take for granted that we’ll always have the drugs we need to fight common infections," Frieden added. Ciprofloxacin, or Cipro, is the go-to antibiotic for treating Shigella infections in the United States. In the Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania clusters tested by the CDC, about 90 percent of the tested cases were resistant to the medicine. Usually, the CDC said, resistance to Cipro is present in just 2 percent of the 500,000 cases of diarrhea caused by the bacteria each year. Half of the recent cases showing resistance to Cipro were linked to international travel, particularly from the Dominican Republic and India. Overall, domestic circulation rates for the illness are higher than they have been previously. In the past, the CDC has identified several populations -- including "children in childcare facilities, homeless people and gay and bisexual men" -- where the illness can spread quickly. That was true in the outbreaks documented recently, the agency said. There


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If you cheat to escape a corrupt accountability system, who is really to blame?

homes and punish bad ones by directing patients to those of the highest (“five star”) quality. The system includes indicators like staffing levels and quality—how many patients develop bedsores, for example. Both legal corruption and fraudulent cheating has resulted. Nursing homes add staff before scheduled inspections, and reduce staff once the inspectors leave. That’s legal. They also self-report inaccurate quality information. That’s fraudulent. There have been no show trials, however, of nursing home staff, and no nurses have been led off before the cameras in handcuffs because they purposely failed to report bedsores. On Tuesday, Chicago voters will decide whether to re-elect Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has boasted about the miraculous drop in crime during his first term. The drop in crime statistics, however, was achieved at least in part by police administrators who classified more serious crimes as lesser crimes, or as no crimes at all. There have been no show trials either of Chicago police administrators who cheated on their crime reports. The most widely reported recent instance of this corruption was the Department of Veterans Affairs’s requirement that its staff schedule appointments within 14 days of a veteran’s request for one. That it was impossible to meet this standard because there were insufficient doctors to see patients within that time frame did not influence the department to change its standard. So, systematically, nationwide, intake staff cheated, for example by reporting that patients had only called for an appointment 14 days before they received one, not the months that may have transpired. Many staff members also lied to federal investigators looking into the cheating; lying to investigators is a crime for which Atlanta educators were convicted, department employees have not been similarly prosecuted. Instead of being put on trial, supervisors who permitted such practices have been allowed to resign. There is another respect in which the veterans department’s scandal differed from the one in the Atlanta school district. Department supervisors permitted to resign did not take the fall for those ultimately responsible for enforcing the corruption-inducing standard. Last May, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, who had ordered that appointments be scheduled within 14 days, himself resigned because of the scandal. I offer no opinion about whether similar accountability would be appropriate in the Department of Education. (Correction: An earlier division called the Department of Veterans Affairs by its previous name, the Veterans Administrations. It has been corrected.)


Would GMO labeling requirement cost $500 more in groceries per family a year?

(Erich Schlegel/AP Images for GMO Answers) “Having a series of different and conflicting state and local GMO labeling mandates will increase grocery prices for consumers by hundreds of dollars per year. Grocery costs for a family could increase by an average of $500 per year under GMO labeling mandates, according to a Cornell University study.” — Coalition for Safe Affordable Food, news release on Web site, March 25, 2015 There’s a lot of buzz over “GMO labeling,” though polls consistently have shown that consumers don’t know much about it. Genetically modified organisms, also called GMO, genetically modified food, genetically engineered food, are crops whose genes are altered using biotechnical techniques. Plants are bred to have certain characteristics, such as being more resistant to herbicides or pests, or to better withstand drought. Food and food ingredients made from such crops have been in the food supply since the 1990s. A huge portion of commonly grown crops in the United States are modified this way, especially corn, soybeans and cotton. For the most part, genetically modified crops are considered safe. But the debate is over whether food products should be required to be labeled as genetically modified. Last year, Vermont became the first state to require food makers to label products that include GMOs. The requirement goes into effect in July 2016. There are efforts in more than 20 states to require GMO labels. The debate is picking up steam on a national level as Congress debates a bill that would trump states’ decisions to mandate GMO labeling. The Coalition for Safe Affordable Food is one of the bill’s proponents, which include many food industry groups, who want to see a voluntary labeling system. Would mandating GMO labels really cost an additional $500 per year for a family of four? The Facts A bipartisan bill Those who want labeling say they want a nonjudgmental, back-of-package wording. The point, advocates say, is to allow consumers to make informed decisions, if they care about whether foods contain GMOs. Just as people look for the amount of trans fats, sodium, sugar or any other ingredient they care about, consumers would be able to see that the product may contain GMO ingredients. Both sides largely agree that simply adding the wording would not drive up consumer costs. Companies regularly update their food packaging as they come up with new designs or marketing strategies. But those who


Studly panda breaks mating records with 18-minute marathon session

years ago, for instance, were so desperate to solve their male panda's fertility problems that they put him through a strict regimen of workouts to strengthen his hind legs and improve his technique. Amid all this angst over the panda performance issues, comes the record-setting feats of Lu Lu. [For those requiring visual confirmation of Lu Lu's prowess, Chinese zoo officials released a video here of his record-breaking session. A (perhaps) obvious warning: Some hot and heavy panda action ensues.] Lu Lu -- a bear Chinese scientists rescued from the wild in 1999 -- set the first of his two recent records late last month. His passionate encounter with a female named Zhen Zhen lasted 7 minutes and 45 seconds, according to experts at the China Research and Conservation Center of the Giant Panda in Sichuan. (By comparison, the usual panda mating, ranges from 30 seconds to five minutes, experts say.) Lu Lu's accomplishment was hailed far and wide, including the Communist Party's flagship paper People's Daily. But that was all just prelude, it turns out, to his even greater record-shattering performance just a few days later. This time around it was with a female named Xi Mei. Xi Mei has a good record as mate, having given birth to eight cubs since 2005. At first, scientists on Saturday tried to set her up with another male panda named Yi Bao because the two on paper shared such genetic compatibility. But when the time came, Yi Bao couldn't be less interested. They brought in a second male, named Bai Yang, who turned out even worse, outright attacking Xi Mei. A zookeeper had to pour cold water simply to separate the two. So in the end, scientists turned to their stud-in-residence: Lu Lu. “Like humans, animals have feelings too," the scientists noted in a surprisingly animated live posting on Chinese social media as Lu Lu's session began. "Xi Mei is a bit timid and seems to be avoiding," they posted, as if still traumatized by the earlier attack. "Lu Lu is very respectful, although hesitant. After calming down for a while, he finally decided to stay by Xi Mei's side! Applause for the brave Xi Mei and the gentle Lu Lu!” The two soon launched into an 18-minute marathon that Chinese officials would later describe in restrained terms simply as "quite successful." And because the zoo officials Zoo officials in China's


Town Square | Energy-efficient concept house opens in Bristow, Va.

from the site. For more information, go to http//brookfielddc.com/energy/pureblue.cfm. Are mortgages getting easier to obtain? Zillow The good news is that the ZMAI shows that mortgages are easier to get right now. In fact, it’s been getting easier for consumers to obtain a loan approval since May 2013. [For more information on mortgages for first-time buyers, see the upcoming Real Estate section Saturday.] For comparison purposes, the ZMAI for the end of 2007 stood at 97.8 points, a strong indicator, but below the peak of 134.6 in August 2004. By the end of 2008, after the housing and financial crisis, the ZMAI had tumbled to 28 points. Today, the ZMAI stands at 71.5 points and appears to be on a positive trajectory. The ZMAI, which Zillow used to review loan approvals going back to 2002, takes into consideration a variety of factors that impact credit conditions for mortgages. Some of the factors include credit scores, debt-to-income ratios and the use of mortgage insurance. For a deeper explanation of the ZMAI, click here. (Courtesy of Artisan Builders) 2015 DC Design House opens this week The 2015 DC Design House, a benefit for Children’s National Health System, begins this weekend at an 8,869-square-foot newly built estate in McLean. A special preview is scheduled for Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m., at the house at 956 Mackall Farms Lane. The event, which runs to May 10, showcases the work of 24 designers. For a $50 ticket, visitors can get a tour as well as samples from Chef Bryan Voltaggio’s Range restaurant in Friendship Heights. For a $250 ticket, visitors will get to dine with Voltaggio at his restaurant. The $30 tickets are available at the door or at www.dcdesignhouse.com. (Andrea Bruce Woodall/THE WASHINGTON POST) Got a home improvement idea? You could win big bucks. Redfin The two companies have come up with a suggested list of home improvements for a spring spruce-up of $3,000, not coincidentally the average tax refund. Whether you plan to sell your home or want to improve it for yourself, some of the suggestions include painting your exterior shutters and trim, hiring someone to take away your junk, repairing your gutters and getting a professional deep cleaning. To enter the sweepstakes, click here. Michele Lerner is a freelance writer. To pass on a tip or news item, contact us at realestate@washpost.com and put “Town Square” in the subject line.


An Ebola doctor’s answer to life-or-death question of who to admit for treatment

in the first place. [As Ebola fades in West Africa, residents face a new crisis: Life after Ebola] Levine “The Ebola Prediction Score,” published Friday in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, is the first proposal for such a system developed according to empirical data from an Ebola outbreak. Based on data from the 395 patients admitted during the first 16 weeks of the Bong ETU’s operations, the score is as good as the existing World Health Organization algorithm at figuring out who might have Ebola and even better at figuring out who might not. [Deep in the jungle, hunting for the next Ebola outbreak] To develop the system, Levine and his team of researchers looked at admission interviews for each of the 382 patients for which the clinic had complete data. They then cross-referenced the 14 symptoms identified during those interviews with the patients’ actual diagnoses to figure out which symptoms were the best predictors of a positive test result. The researchers found six symptoms — contact with another sick person, diarrhea, anorexia, muscle pain, difficulty swallowing and absence of abdominal pain — that corresponded most closely with an Ebola diagnosis and assigned each one a point value. The higher a patient’s score, the more likely they are to have the disease. These symptoms were useful indicators of Ebola in part because they are less associated with other diseases, Levine said in a Q&A published by Brown. “One common sign that everyone thinks about is fever. But fever is not very good at differentiating Ebola from other diseases like malaria or typhoid or even influenza that are really common in West Africa,” he said. When the Ebola virus struck Liberia, Josephine Dolley was living with her family in the capital city of Monrovia. Within weeks, she had lost almost everything and everyone, but somehow, not hope. Editor’s note: An earlier version of this video stated that the local NGO would pay Josephine Dolley $25 USD a month as a social mobilizer. The video has been changed to remove that statement and include information from the NGO stating that it initially offered Dolley a job that paid $50 USD a month rather than the $25 USD Dolley says she was offered by the local recruiter working with the NGO. The Ebola Prediction Score is just as sensitive (meaning that it rarely fails to identify a sick person as such) as the


Romo’s contract change doesn’t signal Cowboys closing in on Adrian Peterson

on Falcons, Browns Not everyone in the sport regarded McKay’s suspension from the competition committee for three months following the league meeting as significant. “That’s the equivalent of suspending a player for the month of July while nothing is in session,” agent Blake Baratz wrote on Twitter. Some within the sport held similar views about the suspension of Cleveland Browns General Manager Ray Farmer for four games without pay at the outset of the 2015 season for improper in-game texting. A general manager’s most pressing duties, after all, come during offseason roster construction, not after the season has begun. Still, the penalties against the Falcons and Browns should not be dismissed. The Falcons were fined $350,000 and stripped of a fifth-round draft choice in 2016. The front office staff member found to be directly responsible for the infraction, Roddy White (not the team’s wide receiver by the same name) no longer is with the organization but would have been suspended for eight weeks without pay if he’d been there, the league announced, and might be forced to serve some or all of that suspension if he’s hired by another team. The Browns did not lose a draft pick but they were fined $250,000. Was that enough in either case? Obviously opinion within the sport was divided on that. But even those who deemed the penalties insufficient should acknowledge that the league did not ignore the violations, and clearly made an attempt to punish not only the teams involved but the individuals that it regarded as most directly responsible for the infractions. 6. DeflateGate, illegal deals probes still pending The league declined to provide an update or timetable last week on the still-pending investigations of the New England Patriots’ alleged use of under-inflated footballs during the first half of the AFC title game and the possibility that some teams might have struck improper deals with players during the three-day negotiating period before free agency. The DeflateGate investigation of the Patriots, being led by attorney Ted Wells, reached the 10-week mark last week. But no one should be particularly surprised. Wells’s investigation of the locker room bullying allegations involving the Miami Dolphins lasted more than three months. The NFL announced on Nov. 6, 2013 that Wells had been hired to investigate the Dolphins’ matter. His report was released Feb. 14, 2014. The NFL has not said when it expects Wells’s investigation to


Photos: Pink moon turns to blood moon in brief lunar eclipse

Partial lunar eclipse viewed from Dulles Airport on April 4, 2015 (Wayward Photographer via Twitter) Saturday morning’s “blood moon” lunar eclipse lasted in totality for a mere five minutes – making it the shortest of the century. Along the East Coast, totality occurred after sunrise, allowing only a partial eclipse view while it was still dark. But from Rockies westward, skywatchers were able to witness April’s “pink” moon turn a magnificent blood red, even if only briefly. (Note: April’s full moon is not actually pink but earned the name since it coincides with spring and the emergence of flowers of that color.) [Background on Saturday’s ‘blood moon’ lunar eclipse] We’ve gathered some beautiful views of both the partial and fully eclipsed moon as well as the full “pink” moon from our readers and social media… The blood moon early Saturday morning Partial Lunar Eclipse Dulles Airport, VA @wusa9 @capitalweather @weatherchannel @washingtonian @SPACEdotcom @Discovery_Space http://t.co/uPpfCFdgIF Lunar eclipse only visible for ~3 min this morning in DC: https://t.co/AfLYS8k9FR @capitalweather @SteveRudinABC7 @ChuckBell4 #lunareclipse BEAUTIFUL! Lunar Eclipse this morning from Cochranville, Pennsylvania. Photo: Kevin Witman. #LunarEclipse #BloodMoon http://t.co/BwxZD4lTER Only had seconds between clouds in Germantown to get this. Lunar eclipse. @capitalweather @TomKierein #BloodMoon http://t.co/6HsfVnviC5 About one quarter of the way to full. #bloodmoon #eclipse http://t.co/Fd4lyMwe8q Full #Lunareclipse over Pikes Peak, #Colorado this morning. Awesome shot via Lars Leber Photography, #BloodMoon http://t.co/2PpaJ2WkzA RT @SNOCRU: Lunar Eclipse over @AltaSkiArea Saturday! PC: Noah Wetzel http://t.co/MfxkpUuNda April 4 lunar eclipse, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. Photo: Geraint Smith Thank you Geraint! http://t.co/O9tQlSKrsi The #BloodMoon setting over the @Colorado Elk Range this morning. http://t.co/QOnCMpZ2BT Tim Beauchamp shows the progress of the April 4 lunar eclipse: http://t.co/Q5F9zIW3hX http://t.co/brFrvPYwLS Time-lapse video captures a total lunar eclipse, also known as a "blood moon," which was visible from the U.S. as it dipped into Earth's shadow. Views of the full pink moon Friday to Sunday April 5, 2015 (Jim Havard via Flickr) April 5, 2015 (Kevin Wolf via Flickr) A red moon rising over @OCMaryland this evening. @wboc @wildweatherdan @JustinWeather @DeniseSawyerTV @MyDelmarvaNow http://t.co/eYLSqeYXai Close up of the #fullmoon rising over the Chesapeake this eve. Bob Green also got this tugboat 'Roanoke'. http://t.co/fPE56mFxml #BloodMoon in Columbia, MD @capitalweather http://t.co/dMZ0NosC0i April 5, 2015 (Jim Havard via Flickr)


Pakistani man guns down former fiancée and nine relatives over marriage dispute, police say

home of his uncle, who had further delayed the marriage, police told the New York Times. “He stormed the house and killed all ten family members while they were asleep,” Charsadda police chief Shafiullah Khan told AFP. Said, who fled following the massacre, had wanted to marry his 24-year-old cousin, Naveeda, who was among the dead. Also killed were Said’s uncle, Jamal, an aunt, four male cousins and three female cousins. There were two children among the dead, according to numerous reports. The root of the dispute reportedly began months ago. Said’s father wanted the marriage to wait until after the family had money to build a new room to accommodate the couple, the Times reported. Police told AFP that Said’s father turned down a dowry settlement. Authorities believe Said, who is in his 20s, shot and killed his own parents and two other relatives in November; one of the relatives was his brother, the Associated Press reported. “There was a dispute over a marriage proposal,” Khan told the Times. “Mr. Said could not wait and opened fire on his family.” [In Pakistan, 1,000 women die in ‘honor killings’ annually. Why is this happening?] Said has been wanted since. Relatives told Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper that the previous murders also led to the uncle’s refusal to allow his daughter to marry Said. “The uncle was being very indecisive about the wedding which infuriated Gul Ahmad,” police officer Mohammad Jamil told Reuters. Neighbors took the bodies to a district hospital; officials told the Times that the victims had been shot in their heads and faces. An AK-47 assault rifle was used in the attack in the conservative, mountainous region of the country, AFP reported. Police told AFP they had raided suspected hideouts and were tightening security in a neighboring region. Said may have had help, according to Reuters, and he and his possible accomplices could have fled to a Pashtun tribal area along the Afghan border. “We cannot follow anyone there since it is beyond our jurisdiction, and our security would be threatened,” Jamil told Reuters. Rejected marriage proposals periodically lead to violence in Pakistan. Last July, a man burned 20-year-old Sidra Shaukat alive in the Punjab province after her family rejected his marriage proposal. The previous year, a Pakistani actress suffered an acid attack over what her brother suspected was a rejected marriage proposal. According to the Aurat Foundation MORE READING:


Good news for middle-aged exercisers: Sudden cardiac arrest is quite rare

(AP Photo/The Winchester Star, Scott Mason) If you're middle-aged or older and you work out, it's not too long before the question crosses your mind: I wonder if this could kill me? It certainly has happened before. Jim Fixx, who helped start the fitness revolution with his book "The Complete Book of Running," famously collapsed and died on a run at age 52. Young, highly conditioned basketball players Reggie Lewis and Hank Gathers died on the court of sudden cardiac problems. And everyone seems to know a story about someone who collapsed during a friendly soccer match or touch football game. The high-profile deaths and personal anecdotes obscure the fact that numerous studies of marathoners and other athletes reveal just a small number of cardiac-related fatalities annually, and that many of the victims showed signs of undetected heart conditions. "One thing we have learned," said Sumeet Chugh, associate director of the Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, "is it’s not the exercise that’s killing people. It’s the heart condition." Chugh and his colleagues decided to look at the issue a different way. Instead of studying athletes, they examined data on all the sudden cardiac arrests among 35- to 65-year-olds between 2002 and 2013 in the Portland, Ore. metropolitan area. The results, released Monday, showed that just 63 of 1,247 (5 percent) occurred during sports activity. Men were much more likely to suffer sudden cardiac arrest than women while taking part in sports, and the events were more likely to be seen by others. As a result, survival rates were somewhat higher. "If you look at the overall burden of cardiac arrest in middle aged people...it turns out only 5 percent had it when they were doing some kind of sporting activity," Chugh said in an interview. "That is very good news and we really didn't know that before." [Seven secrets to becoming a runner and sticking with it for life] Sudden cardiac arrest is not the heart attack we typically think of--a blocked artery that cuts off the blood supply to the heart muscle. Many of those myocardial infarctions are survivable. Sudden cardiac arrest is "ventricular fibrillation," a disturbance of the electrical activity that governs the ordered, rhythmic pumping of the heart. The heart's lower chambers lose their synchronization and death occurs in 10 minutes unless someone who knows CPR or has a defibrillator intervenes quickly. About


About President Obama’s bee agenda…

Wild Things Are" to a group of children at the White House Easter Egg Roll, a single bee descended -- and with it, pandemonium. At first, the president tried to calm the screaming kids down with reason. "It’s O.K. guys. Bees are good," he told them. "They won’t land on you. They won’t sting you, they’ll be OK." When that didn't work, he urged them to buck up. "Hold on, hold on, you guys are 'Wild Things,'" Obama said. "You’re not supposed to be scared of bees." For Obama, it wasn't just a quick-thinking save -- it was a fully-fledged talking point. The kids may not have bought the pitch, but perhaps no president in history has made a stronger case for protecting pollinators than Barack Obama. [Pesky spring guest buzzes Obama's Easter egg roll] Both the president and the first lady have made pollinators like bees, bats (which also made an appearance at the Egg Roll Monday), birds and butterflies, which have experienced serious declines in recent years a high priority in both national agricultural policy and the operation of the White House itself, which now boasts a beehive as well as a small pollinator's garden. So it was no surprise that the annual White House Easter Egg Roll featured an interactive feature with four species of bats, as well as a parting gift of "Burpee's Bee Garden" seeds, inviting children to "join the national bee and butterfly brigade!" The giveaway is part of a new partnership between the Interior Department, Agriculture Department and Burpee aimed at distributing seeds for 1 million bee and butterfly gardens this summer. According to Michelle Obama's spokeswoman Joanna Rosholm, the Organization for Bat Conservation -- part of Michigan's Cranbrook Institute of Science -- brought the bats so children could see them and ask questions as "our volunteers talked about how they pollinate plants." Big brown bats, straw-colored fruit bats, Jamaican fruit bats and Malayan flying foxes were on display. While many kids are fascinated by bats, the bees were clearly a harder sell. The pint-sized guests Monday might not have listened to him, but the president’s National Pollinator Initiative will forge ahead. Last June Obama launched an inter-agency task force charged with developing a federal strategy to protect pollinators, which help sustain crops ranging from almonds to blueberries and broccoli, and it should be unveiling a detailed plan in a matter of months.


Massive plume of smoke visible in D.C. from Capitol Heights fire

Updated at 9:57 p.m. A three-alarm fire at a roofing company in Capitol Heights, which caused a huge plume of smoke visible from the District, destroyed two firetrucks, together worth about $1.5 million. Fire department spokesman Mark Brady said that it was the first time in his 40 years of experience that he had ever known a firetruck to be destroyed by a building fire. 1 of 2 fire trucks gutted during debris fire behind building in Capitol Heights MD due to wind shift. @ABC7News http://t.co/7Aoqr3P4cA At about 9:30 p.m., Brady said that the fire was still smoldering and would likely continue all night, but was controlled. One firefighter suffered a minor burn to his leg, and Brady said that there might be additional minor injuries to firefighters. But it was remarkable, he said, that no one was seriously injured. The fire took a surprising turn early on, when the first two trucks arrived on the scene at about 5:15 p.m. The trucks, operated by the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department and the West Lanham Hills Volunteer Fire Department, parked where they had a clear view of the fire, just as the firefighters had been trained, Brady said. Then the wind suddenly changed direction, sending the fire straight toward the firefighters. They tried their best to hold it off, but ultimately had to pull back, leaving their trucks to be gutted by the blaze. Brady said that both volunteer fire departments have other trucks they can use to respond to fires. The county fire department pays a portion of the insurance on the trucks and will help with the replacement cost, he said. The volunteer departments also might hold fundraisers or apply for grants. Brady said the cause of the fire was not yet known. It started in a storage area behind a warehouse owned by a company that refurbishes bathrooms and closets, he said. The storage area contained many flammable materials — wooden panels, tires, cars in disrepair waiting to be fixed, sea containers of styrofoam. It was the tires, he said, that caused the thick black smoke visible from miles away. “We’re very fortunate that no one was hurt,” he said. “You know, we can replace the firetrucks.” There is a HUGE fire visible from Nats Park somewhere in Maryland. @PoPville http://t.co/Qd0vKyRuna There is clearly a fire in SE DC right now #WTF!? http://t.co/BLva7TEkm3 http://t.co/50XzaoJq6o 2 pieces of fire


Study suggests chemical used in BP oil spill cleanup capable of injuring people and wildlife

were sprayed atop the oil spill to help break down the petroleum. But in their study, the UAB scientists found that the dispersant can seriously damage epithelial cells, such as those in the lungs of humans or the gills of marine animals. “The evidence that Corexit causes structural and functional abnormalities in airway tissue includes dispersant-induced cell detachment, edema, contraction in cell diameter and increased permeability,” Prof. Veena Antony, M.D., the paper’s senior author, said in a UAB news release. “There were some 48,000 workers involved in the cleanup operations, and it is possible that workers were exposed to Corexit via inhalation,” Antony said. “Cough, shortness of breath and sputum production were among symptoms expressed by workers.” In a statement emailed to the Washington Post, BP responded: “The paper published by the University of Alabama at Birmingham provides no data to suggest that response workers or aquatic life were exposed to harmful levels of dispersants in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon accident,” BP said. “The laboratory study focused not on whether dispersants had an impact in the Gulf, but on how a respiratory effect could occur and how any such effect could be counteracted.” George Barisich, a Louisiana fisherman who spent weeks helping to skim oil from the waters he loved and relied upon for a living, was one of those who says he developed respiratory problems while working on the oil spill that later developed into pneumonia. “After that, I found out that I couldn’t run,” he told the AP. “I couldn’t exert past a walk.” Barisich’s doctor declined to comment, according to the AP. Barisich is one of potentially 200,000 people, according to the AP, who could take advantage of a medical settlement with BP regarding future negative health effects related to assisting in the cleanup. In addition to noting that the study showed only that a respiratory effect could occur–rather than did occur–BP also said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had found no evidence dispersants caused health problems for cleanup workers. “Federal agencies and BP did extensive monitoring, including collecting 30,000 air monitoring samples, and found that response workers and the public were not exposed to dispersant compounds at levels that would be expected to result in any significant adverse health effects,” BP’s statement continued. “Also, the multi-agency Operational Science Advisory Team collected and analyzed water and sediment samples and observed none that exceeded


This distant galaxy looks like a flaming ring in space

emitted by carbon monoxide. (ALMA via NRAO/ESO/NAOJ/B. Saxton/NRAO/AUI/NSF) The galaxy you (sort of) see above is 12 billion light years away. But thanks to gravitational lensing -- a magnification that occurs when a massive galaxy bends the light of a smaller, less visible one behind it -- the ancient, distant galaxy called SDP.81 is in our sights. [The Hubble found a galaxy so huge, it acts like a magnifying glass] Sometimes gravitational lenses give us distorted but recognizable galaxies to gaze upon. In this case, we're seeing what's known as an Einstein Ring. This rare form of lensing (so named because Einstein predicted it in his theory of general relativity) happens when the light from the two galaxies (the magnifier and the magnified) line up perfectly and form a circle. Another recent ring took the appearance of a smiley face: In the center of this image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, is the galaxy cluster SDSS J1038+4849 — and it seems to be smiling. (NASA & ESA, acknowledgement to Judy Schmidt) The new one looks familiar, too, though it's a little less welcoming: The images were taken using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) as part of the telescope's Long Baseline Campaign. Astronomers are working on testing the upper limits of the radio telescope's resolution. By placing the antennas of the array as far apart as they can go (just over nine miles), researchers took the highest-resolution image ever captured by the array: ALMA's highest-resolution image ever reveals the dust glowing inside the distant galaxy SDP.81. The ring structure was created by a gravitational lens that distorted the view of the distant galaxy into a ring-like structure. (ALMA via NRAO/ESO/NAOJ) This image was taken with a resolution of 23 milliarcseconds. According to a statement from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, that's like seeing the rim of a basketball hoop on top of the Eiffel Tower while you're standing on the Empire State Building's observation deck. That's the kind of resolution we can look forward to from ALMA as it sets its sights on the rest of the universe. Want more science? Give these a click: This tiny animal can survive basically anything, including the vacuum of space Astronomers saw the same star explode four times in four places because of a rare cosmic phenomenon Before and after shots show scientists how a massive young star is growing up


Main Street Morning: Paul, presidents and payrolls

wonders whether “…the ratio shift is to some extent a structural change initially triggered by the Great Recession but now driven by a combination of several factors.” The Election - Rand Paul officially announces his bid for the White House. - What businesses can learn from Hillary Clinton’s email saga. - A federal election agency takes a small step toward letting voters use their smartphones. Taxes - The Affordable Care Act has bumped up tax refunds for some while others have taken a hit. Entrepreneurs - How this 25-year-old Latina aims to disrupt the beverage industry. Management - The Weather Channel is facing financial storms. - How counterfeits of well-known products and brands can impact your manufacturing process. Retail - Just months after the Supreme Court appeared to end the legal fight over swipe-fee rules, a new battle is brewing over the interplay between mobile payments like Apple Pay and the Durbin amendment. Marketing - What it costs to buy ads on the biggest shows to the smallest screens. Social Media - A coffee shop owner learns that having many local Facebook fans doesn’t necessarily turn into cash. Strategies - Immigration reform gridlock spurs overseas expansion for a tech company. Technology - These are the four best apps for sharing large files instantly. - Why all the cool kids in tech want to talk about payroll. - A Go-Pro survives a 10,000 foot fall. Around the Country - Santa Barbara, California hopes desalination will help it beat the drought. - Los Angeles city and county officials hand out checks totaling more than $66,000 to small business owners who have lost business due to construction projects. - Merchants across New Jersey are seeking to end the state’s Business Improvement District program. - A Kansas businessman’s message to a former teacher generates “a tidal wave of gratitude.” - A Kentucky city awards sixteen loans to local small businesses. Around the World - Annual inflation in Ukraine is now more than 45 percent. - Turkey blocks Twitter and YouTube. - The Cuban government will not be giving preferential treatment to U.S. companies. - Nearly 42.5 percent of private sector employees in India suffer from depression or general anxiety disorder. Gene Marks owns the Marks Group a Bala Cynwyd Pa. consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. Follow Gene Marks and On Small Business on Twitter. News we should know about? Email


Rare canine flu outbreak hits Chicago, leaving five dogs dead, sickening more than 1,000 others

“could last for several weeks before it subsides.” [With fake service dogs on the rise, Canada proposes doggie ‘driving license’] County officials noted that though canine infectious respiratory disease is “highly contagious for dogs, it is not contagious for humans or other household pets such as cats.” But the virus can live on surfaces, and it can spread from a person to another dog, if that person had touched an infected animal. “We are encouraging people to go see their veterinarian to see if they should start the canine influenza vaccine,” Alexander told the Tribune. “It’s not effective immediately, so owners must try to keep dogs away from doggy social functions. Even dog-friendly areas: You enter at your own risk (because) there is a lot of nose-to-nose contact going on there.” That includes things like dog parks, pet boarding facilities and dog training classes. Medinger told the Beacon-News that his animal hospital has a ward for dogs that vets think might have canine flu, and if a dog develops “full-blown symptoms,” it is put in isolation. Reports the newspaper Loki, a 4-year old Border collie, was placed in the Step-Down Ward for observation for suspected symptoms of canine influenza recently. “He has had some coughing episodes and a mild fever,” Medinger said. Medinger said four pitbulls from the same family were treated for a mild case of presumed canine influenza and released Friday. “Unfortunately they all got it, but recovered at about the same rate,” he said. “It can take up to 10 days before a dog shows full-blown symptoms,” Medinger told the Beacon-News. “We are taking the necessary precautions for patients showing even anything related to canine influenza, to prevent the spread and avoid having a dog get a secondary infection.” Symptoms of the disease include: • a persistent cough that lingers • lethargy • poor appetite • fever The disease is not the same thing as “kennel cough.” It is, Cook County officials noted, “distinguished … by its severity, possible consequences and diagnostic confirmation.” Dr. Anne Cohen, an emergency and critical care specialty veterinarian at Chicago Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center, told ABC News that canine flu is rare but highly contagious. More reading: Nobody knows how this dog escaped a sinking ship and survived a violent storm. But her owner is glad she did. Alexandria shelter cares for dogs rescued from South Korean meat farm Therapy dogs


Uniqlo is heading to Tysons Corner

The walkway at Tysons Corner Center. (Gerald Martineau for The Washington Post) The popular Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo announced that it will open its first store in the D.C. area next year at Tysons Corner Center. The store has long been rumored to be coming to the region. In 2013, some speculated that the store would open in CityCenterDC, but that never panned out. A spokesman for Uniqlo said in an e-mail today that it has no other announcements about other potential D.C. locations. The new Tysons Corner location, which is slated to open in spring or summer of 2016, will have 10,000 square feet of store space. Uniqlo, which is known for its trendy, moderately priced and casual clothing, opened its first U.S. store in New York in 2006 and now has 39 retail outlets throughout the country. The retailer also announced that it would open stores in Seattle and Denver, its first entries into those markets. “Having established a foothold in a number of key locations along the East and West coasts, we are very pleased to announce our plans to continue to expand our national presence further in these new markets,” Larry Meyer, CEO of Uniqlo USA, said in a statement.


Among the D.C. offices without power? The Department of Energy.

Secret Service Uniform Division officers block traffic at the intersection of 17th Street Northwest and Pennsylvania Avenue after an electrical blackout affected the White House and other government buildings in the area. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Much of Washington was without power Tuesday afternoon, including, wait for it, the U.S. Department of Energy. [Scattered power outages reported across D.C.] We didn’t get an immediate response from anyone over there, but absent official reaction we turned to Twitter where people seemed to have the same general reaction to the agency responsible for the nation’s power losing power. Here’s a picture of the DOE feds leaving the building: Yes the DC power outage has effected the Department Of Energy. http://t.co/wVvKXI6dik Some used it as an opportunity to ding the federal government: There is something wrong when the US Department of Energy suffers a power outage. #DCoutage The Department of ENERGY has a power outage? Too good # government Another blamed Rand Paul, who announced his presidential bid some hours earlier (and wants to eliminate the agency): Power Outage at DC's Department of Energy... Thanks a lot, Rand Paul. :( Most just channeled their inner Alanis Morissette: Rather ironic that the @ENERGY Department was affected by a widespread power outage in the Washington DC area? Day of irony: power outage at the Department of Energy. Not good when the department of energy is part of the mysterious power outage. #isntitironic


In Flagstaff, you can now celebrate Pluto all year long

Handwritten notes by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh on his 1930 discovery of Pluto are displayed at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. (Felicia Fonseca/AP) Years ago, way back in 2006, Pluto was demoted. It was all very sad. But just because Pluto was no longer a planet, it did not mean we stopped loving it. For proof, I'd point you in the direction of Flagstaff, Ariz., where Pluto was discovered in 1930, and where that feat will now be celebrated for an entire year. Yes! The Year of Pluto! Where is the year-long celebration of your existence, Jupiter? Yeah. Looks like Pluto's still got it, guys. Hey Mr. Tombaugh do you know what year it is? #YearOfPluto http://t.co/qI5NgZweOA And what a year it's going to be: With NASA's New Horizons spacecraft set to reach Pluto in July, we're sure to learn a ton of new stuff about the dwarf planet in the next few months. And Flagstaff is so ready for that. "The whole city of Flagstaff has a scientific bent," Paula Rice, a local artist, told the Associated Press. "And we live at 7,000 feet in altitude, so our ocean is the night sky. We naturally look up." This is so charming. Let's all move to Flagstaff. Here are the other things we can do during the Year of Pluto, according to AP: • Get a Pluto roll at a sushi place! • Go on a walking tour that "leads people to the movie theater and restaurant the astronomer visited the night of his big find"! • Visit a Lowell Observatory exhibit that displays the work of Clyde Tombaugh! Tombaugh is the guy who discovered Pluto, a job which actually does not sound like it was always a thrill-a-minute, but obviously, there were some cool parts. Like naming Pluto! Oh … wait. That wasn't him? That was an 11-year-old girl? Then fine. But he did visit a movie theater and restaurant the night he discovered Pluto, apparently, so he's got that going for him. An image made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 2005 shows Pluto and its three moons: Charon, Nix and Hydra. Pluto was stripped of its status as a planet when astronomers from around the world redefined it as a dwarf planet. (Reuters) Here's how the AP describes Tombaugh Tombaugh's fascination with astronomy landed him at Lowell Observatory in the 1920s, shoveling snow from a telescope dome