Obama administration announces measures to punish Russia for 2016 election interference

the interests of President Obama.” The harassment, the official said, “has been escalating steadily for some time” and is “a direct threat to the ability of the United States to conduct diplomacy.” Both U.S. allies and American businesses were concerned about Russian activities, the official said, and “if [Trump transition officials] aren’t, then they should explain why.” The Obama administration also released a document providing some details about the cyber operation U.S. officials have labeled “Grizzly Steppe,” including a list of names the hackers used. These groups have conducted campaigns against think tanks, universities and corporations, as well as government agencies, according to the administration. In foreign countries, they have carried out damaging and disruptive cyberattacks, including on electrical utilities. John Carlin, former head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said the measures announced Thursday were significant. “It’s important to show that we can do attribution and are willing to impose a deterrent — not just for the Russians, but for the world, as we’re figuring out what the norms should be in cyberspace,” he said. “It’s not a world of free passes.” Identifying the malware that was used, imposing sanctions and affecting the Russians’ ability to hack for intelligence purposes all “raise the cost” of conducting such activities, Carlin said. The Obama administration has already imposed sanctions on Russia for its activities in Ukraine, but those measures do not appear to have deterred Russia’s actions there. Congressional Republicans welcomed the crackdown but said it was overdue. “It is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia,” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said in a statement. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said the measures were inadequate and promised to fight for stronger sanctions. Despite the Obama administration’s efforts to deliver an 11th-hour blow against Russia, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the international affairs committee of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, suggested the measures would not inflict lasting damage. “None of this will change the results of the election of the American president, and in January, the rightful owner of the White House will be Donald Trump,” Slutsky said. “I expect that with his arrival the dialogue between Russia and the United States will be conducted in a more healthy political atmosphere.” David Filipov and Andrew Roth in Moscow and John Wagner in Washington contributed to this report.


‘Sometimes the baby dies, sometimes the mother’: Life and death in Yemen’s hospitals

sections and 15 abortions a month, most for reasons related to the war. On this morning, Mudwahi had just delivered a baby girl named Dina. She weighed 4.4 pounds and was placed in an incubator near Muhammad. Her mother, Rugiah Ahmed, had spent five hours in a 1987 Land Cruiser on a bumpy road to reach the hospital. Last year, she miscarried after an airstrike struck close to her home, and this time, her blood pressure was high when she arrived, threatening her unborn child. It is a condition doctors attribute to the stress of living under relentless airstrikes and shelling. “Sometimes the baby dies, sometimes the mother dies,” Mudwahi said matter-of-factly, adding that in recent weeks three pregnant women had bled to death. Food or treatment? In the kidney dialysis unit, only five of the 12 machines are working. With 360 patients needing dialysis each month, the machines run round-the-clock. “All the cases are chronic,” said Sultan Masood, the nursing supervisor. “If these machines stop, it will be like a mass death.” Every Saturday and Thursday, Yahya Saleh struggles to find $20 to cover the four-hour trip for his treatment. His life revolves around it. He used to work at construction sites, but no one is building anything these days. His relatives and neighbors donate money when they can. Mostly, though, he begs on the streets. “Sometimes I don’t eat in order to have money to come here,” Saleh said, his arm hooked up to a machine. When Masood sees that a patient missed an appointment, he calls to find out why. There are usually two reasons: The road has been cut by airstrikes, or the person can’t afford to come anymore. “They end up dying in their homes,” he said. Between August and October, 16 of his patients died. A doctor helps a child in the emergency room, which is run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders. (Sudarsan Raghavan/The Washington Post) The scourge of disease Recently, Tarik Nasser felt dizzy. Then the fever and headaches came, followed by vomiting. Before the war, doctors might have been surprised by his ailment — but they had seen four other cases in the past month. Nasser, 21, had dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease. The hospital is also seeing more cases of measles, malaria and skin diseases, mostly affecting the more than 3 million people displaced by the war. Many live


Putin says he won’t deport U.S. diplomats as he looks to cultivate relations with Trump

The Post's Karen DeYoung looks at the implications of the latest measures taken by the Obama administration against Russia and its interference in the U.S. election. MOSCOW — In a rare, and calculated, break from the diplomatic tradition of reciprocal punishment, Putin opted to do nothing after the United States said it would expel 35 Russian diplomats and close a pair of Russian-owned properties in retaliation for Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Putin said he would wait to see how U.S.-Russian relations develop under the new Trump administration before planning “any further steps” on the issue. Until Putin’s surprise decision Friday, all signs pointed toward the familiar, hard-nosed Kremlin response of years past. In 2012, when Russia was slapped with U.S. sanctions over the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, Putin shot back by signing a ban on all foreign adoptions of Russian children, just days after Christmas, sparking outrage. But this time, with the Kremlin bidding farewell to Obama and betting that a friendly Trump administration will bring fresh opportunities to escape sanctions and make a grab for greater power status, Putin waxed magnanimous. The announcement culminates months of vigorous internal debate over whether and how to respond to Russia’s unprecedented election-year provocations, ranging from the hacks of the Democratic National Committee to the targeting of state electoral systems. “We will not create any problems for U.S. diplomats,” Putin said in a statement late Friday afternoon. “We will not expel anyone. We will not prevent their families and children from using their traditional leisure sites during the New Year’s holidays.” Instead of sending the U.S. diplomats home, Putin invited their kids over for “the New Year and Christmas children’s parties in the Kremlin.” Then he wished the Obamas a happy new year and bid season’s greetings to “Donald Trump and the American people.” One person in particular appreciated that approach. “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) — I always knew he was very smart!” Trump wrote in a tweet Friday afternoon, his latest public expression of admiration for the Russian leader. Russia has denied and ridiculed accusations by Obama and the U.S. intelligence community that it sponsored hackers to steal and then leak sensitive information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton to sway the election in favor of Trump. Putin on Friday accused the United States of engaging in “irresponsible ‘kitchen’ diplomacy” and said Russia would retain its


The dirty secret about your clothes

own, new seeds have to be bought each season. Furthermore, expensive chemical pesticides are used on the GMO cotton fields. Since 2004, however, a cooperative that now numbers more than 35,000 organic-cotton and fair-trade Indian farmers is forgoing chemicals, and building a new seed bank of non-GMO cotton seeds. The Chetna Co-op connects these farmers to buyers, trains them with better farming practices and educates them on how to manage their finances. Today it sells its textiles to 16 small to midsize brands, mostly in the United States and in Europe. Denver-based PACT apparel, for instance, makes its T-shirts, underwear and loungewear entirely of the co-op’s organic cotton. In May of this year, the label landed in 460 Target stores across the United States. “We want to challenge . . . Hanes, Fruit of the Loom and Jockey,” chief executive Brendan Synnott said in a telephone interview from Colorado. “Because the first thing you do in the morning is put on underwear and it sits on your skin all day long.” Other U.S. and European brands such as Nudie Jeans, houseware start-up Boll and Branch and apparel company Loomstate buy from Chetna, too. Payments are sent to the farmers through a cooperative bank account, says Vipul Kulkarni, marketing head for Chetna. A crucial element is that these brands commit to buying a certain amount of organic cotton from the farmers at the beginning of the season. “For farmers, their finances are already stretched to the limit by the time they harvest the crop,” Kulkarni said, “and they will be ready to sell their organic cotton even at lower conventional rates, as they are desperate for cash by then.” Synnott predicts that movement toward natural, sustainable practices will spread faster in the fashion world than the parallel movement that has made organic produce a staple of Western groceries “The organic-food movement started around 1980,” he says. “It’s taken over 30 years. But now we have technology, which means we can get the stories out quicker, and we can sell directly to customers. Fashion is next.” And it doesn’t have to be a boutique industry, he says: Big-box retailers are ready. “I put in one phone call to Target and we were in,” he said. “When we make such mass-market moves, that’s when we’re going to make change happen in fashion.” This reporting was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.


Where you live can have a lot to say about your health

health,” said Jay Butler, Alaska’s chief medical officer and its director of public health. The truth of that observation is evident in a single comparison from a recent report from the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Urban Institute: On average, a newborn in Mississippi will live to age 75. One born in Hawaii will make it beyond 81. The VCU center and the Urban Institute recently released the first of nine reports examining the states according to 39 health outcomes, including heart disease mortality, cancer mortality and suicide. The project also seeks to correlate those outcomes with 123 social and economic factors such as government spending, proficiency in reading and rates of incarceration. (The report doesn’t offer explanations for the correlations.) For example, the report finds a strong correlation between lower spending on public transportation and higher instances of car accidents, and between adult obesity and deaths related to pneumonia. It also links a shortage of primary-care services to higher rates of deaths related to diabetes, heart disease, stroke and pneumonia and to shorter life expectancy. Others have also compared geographic locations by various health measures. For example, the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute does health rankings of counties in every state. A collaboration between the University of Southern California and PolicyLink, a nonprofit focused on issues of equity, compared the health of 150 metropolitan areas using several indicators, including rates of asthma, diabetes and obesity. Even smaller geographic comparisons are coming. Later this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation plan to unveil health data from the country’s largest 500 cities broken down by census tract or neighborhood. The goal, according to the CDC, is to help cities and local health departments “better understand the geographic distribution of health-related variables” to “help them plan public health interventions.” In many places, health interventions based on geographic data are already happening. Steve Woolf, director of the VCU center, said that in many states, tobacco control policies and cigarette taxes “are the direct result of health-disparities information related to smoking.” Woolf also noted that traffic fatalities have informed state decisions on motorcycle helmets, car-seat restraints and speed limits. Maryland tackled diabetes in the southern part of the state by linking more patients to primary-care doctors, and it improved behavioral health on the Eastern Shore by creating mental health


When a beer cooler rolls up to your doorstep, the future has arrived

a social experiment started by two Canadian professors. It looked like a cartoon human and was designed to be picked up on the side of the road voluntarily by drivers, like a hitchhiker. Poor HitchBOT! It posted photos of its adventures to its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram profiles, and it appeared to be well received. But after just two weeks in the United States, the HitchBOT’s world trip ended when it was found dismembered in Philadelphia’s historic Old City neighborhood. Starship Technologies has tested robots in 58 cities in 16 countries, Martinson said. More than 1.7 million people have encountered the robots on sidewalks or used their services — without incident, he said. “We took a video in London showing that 3,000 people passed by our robots without even noticing them,” he said. Ralston said test units rolling around Redwood City haven’t caused any issues so far. “People enjoy seeing the little robots. Or they completely ignore them, they don’t even take a glance,” she said. In Northwest Washington recently, a Starship robot drew some attention as it scooted around pedestrians and bicyclists on a busy sidewalk. Timothy Sanders stopped his bike to watch it weave in and out of human traffic, avoiding pedestrians and cyclists. “It’s amazing. It’s very futuristic,” he said. But Missy Cummings, director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab at Duke University, worries that new technologies such as drones and sidewalk robots are being developed without enough attention paid to how they will interact with people or to how people will react. “It’s a huge problem in robotics, which are developed by engineers” who know little about human interaction, she said. “Look at Google Glass,” she said. The eyeglasses had tiny screens that allowed Internet access, and wearers could take photos and videos using voice commands. “It wasn’t weird to geeky engineers,” she said. But real people didn’t want to use or wear the glasses — or have their photos taken by people wearing them, she said. Will they know too much? The presence of high-definition video cameras in the robots is a potential privacy issue, too, said Jeramie Scott, director of the Domestic Surveillance Project of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Who controls the images they make, he asks, and how can they be used? “You can imagine when we get to the place where we have these autonomous drones, on the ground or in


China’s vow to shut down its ivory trade by the end of 2017 is a ‘game changer’ for elephants

An assistant arranges a carved ivory tusk in the window of a Hong Kong store in October 2015. (Simon Denyer/The Washington Post) BEIJING — “China’s announcement is a game changer for elephant conservation,” Carter Roberts, president of the World Wildlife Fund, said in a statement. “The large-scale trade of ivory now faces its twilight years, and the future is brighter for wild elephants.” China said it would begin phasing out the ivory trade in March and cease processing and trading completely by Dec. 31, 2017. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental advocacy group, said the news “may be the biggest sign of hope for elephants since the current poaching crisis began,” while Grace Ge Gabriel, Asia director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said she was “overwhelmed with joy.” “This is great news that will shut down the world’s largest market for elephant ivory,” said Aili Kang, Asia director at the Wildlife Conservation Society. “Ivory traffickers have just lost one of their biggest markets.” Customs officers seize ivory tusks, rhino horn and leopard skins at the Hong Kong customs headquarters in 2013. (Alex Hofford) It is a huge step for a country that had previously argued that ivory carving was part of its cultural heritage and where intricately carved ivory items had become popular gifts to grease the wheels of government and business. The government was moved not just by international pressure but also by changing attitudes among ordinary Chinese. Celebrities such as former NBA star Yao Ming have led campaigns to “stop the buying” of ivory — and simply to educate people that elephants had to die for the ivory to be taken. There was also a realization that China’s key role in the illicit ivory trade was damaging its image in Africa. After the market is shuttered, the Chinese Ministry of Culture will help ivory sector employees find other jobs, for example, encouraging “master carvers” to work in museums to help repair and maintain significant ivory works of art, the statement said. The government also pledged to ramp up law enforcement, and educate the public to reject ivory. Peter Knights, chief executive of WildAid, a San Francisco-based group at the forefront of efforts to change Chinese attitudes toward the ivory trade, called it the “best possible news for Africa’s elephants” and congratulated President Xi Jinping for his leadership on the issue. Although poaching may


Beer of the week: Tastes like pecan pie, but delivers a wallop

Southern Pecan Pie from Evolution Craft Brewing. (Evolution Craft Brewing) Steven Petrow’s recent essay in Food about the proper pronunciation of “pecan” got me thinking about . . . beer, naturally, because the South’s favorite nut adds flavor to far more than pie. For liquid proof, look no further than Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where Evolution Craft Brewing’s latest seasonal offering is Southern Pecan Pie, an imperial brown ale brewed with pecans, brown sugar and maple syrup. The nose smells like dessert: roasted pecans and caramelized brown sugar. A sip reveals a full, nutty body, sticky with molasses and raisin, leading to a dry and boozy finish. Let that lingering warmth serve as a reminder: This beer may be sweet upfront, but it never really lets you forget that it’s 10 percent alcohol by volume. The strength, as much as its flavor, is a reason to save Southern Pecan Pie until after a meal, when you’re ready to ease back in your chair. — Fritz Hahn Evolution Craft Brewing Southern Pecan Pie. evolutioncraftbrewing.com. About $12.99 for a 750-milliliter bottle. More from Food: Beer Column archive


Homicides remain steady in the Washington region

Students and staff unveil murals dedicated to Bradbury Heights Elementary School teacher NeShante Davis and her 2-year-old daughter, Chloe Davis-Green. They were among the Washington region’s 2016 homicide victims. (Lynh Bui/The Washington Post) The District ended 2016 with 135 homicides, down 17 percent from the previous year, but the annual total for the Washington region held steady because the number of killings rose in several suburbs. Prince William County, in Northern Virginia, marked its deadliest year on record. It had 22 killings — more than double the 10 recorded in 2015. The 97 homicides investigated by Prince George’s County police in 2016 marks the second year in a row that the Maryland jurisdiction saw its homicide count rise, with an increase of 20 over the previous year. Counting a handful of cases that emerged Friday and Saturday in the District and Prince George’s, there were at least 301 homicides last year in Washington and its surrounding cities and counties, compared with 305 the year before. The upward trend in many local jurisdictions echoes the pattern in big cities nationwide, according to surveys and analyses from law enforcement experts. The numbers, however, are generally not as alarming as the surge in 2015 that prompted police chiefs from major cities to gather in the District for a summit on the violence. Mary Rich, mother of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich, appeared at a news conference in the District’s Bloomingdale neighborhood in August. The 2016 homicide remains unsolved. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) “They’re up again [in 2016], but maybe not quite as bad as the year before,” said Darrel Stephens, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association. As of Sept. 30, 37 of 65 agencies the association surveyed reported an increase in homicides compared with 2015. But only five or six major cities are responsible for driving up homicide figures nationally, Stephens said. Most notable is Chicago, where the city’s 700-plus slayings are more than double the combined total in the Washington region. The District was among the major U.S. cities where killings spiked in 2015, leaving frightened residents to cite crime as one of their top concerns for the first time in many years. But in 2016, the District was in the minority of large cities that saw a reversal: Its homicide total fell to 135, from 162 in 2015. Montgomery County had half as many homicides in 2016 as


Man wanted in Dec. 26 killing in Takoma is arrested, D.C. police say

D.C. police arrested one of two suspects Saturday in the Dec. 26 fatal shooting of a man outside a 7-Eleven store in the District’s Takoma neighborhood. Shawn J. Brown, 28, of Northwest Washington, was charged with second-degree murder while armed, police said Sunday. He was arrested on a warrant by members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force. Police said the shooting happened about 7:45 p.m. in the 200 block of Cedar Street NW. The victim, James Dorsey Jr., 37, of no fixed address, died at a hospital. Police have not commented on a possible motive. The arrest comes several days after police released a surveillance video that shows men arguing inside the store, then a group of men outside in the store’s parking lot. A man in a green sweatshirt is seen confronting two men with what appears to be a chain. The men back away, and then others converge and fight. The video does not show the shooting.


D.C.-area briefs: 10-story fall kills Herndon man at hotel

or convicted of low-level offenses. — Peter Hermann Suspect arrested in fatal shooting D.C. police on Saturday arrested one of two suspects in the Dec. 26 fatal shooting of a man outside a 7-Eleven store in the Takoma neighborhood. Shawn James Brown, 28, of Northwest, was charged with second-degree murder while armed, police said Sunday. He was arrested on a warrant by members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force. Police said the shooting occurred about 7:45 p.m. in the 200 block of Cedar Street NW. The victim, James Dorsey Jr., 37, of no fixed address, died at an area hospital. Police have not commented on a possible motive. The arrest comes several days after police released a surveillance video that shows men arguing inside the store and then shows a group of men in the store’s parking lot. A man in a green sweatshirt is seen confronting two men with what appears to be a chain. The men back away, and then others converge and fight. The video does not show the shooting. — Peter Hermann MARYLAND Teenager is killed in Howard County A 16-year-old girl was fatally shot and her mother was wounded early Sunday inside a home in Howard County, according to police. Authorities said the suspected gunman shot himself in the head and was critically wounded. Police did not immediately describe a connection between the victims and the alleged gunman. Police said his identity remained unknown as of late Sunday morning. They identified the 16-year-old as Charlotte Zaremba, and her mother as Suzanne Zaremba, 52. The mother was treated and released from Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Police said the alleged assailant appears to be between 16 and 20 years old. He was also taken to the trauma center, and police described his condition as life-threatening. The shooting happened about 2 a.m. in a home in the 4800 block of Knoll Glen Road in Ellicott City, about midway between Baltimore and Washington. Police said another relative was home at the time of the shooting but was in another part of the house and was not hurt. Howard County police said in a statement that the mother heard a scuffle in her daughter’s bedroom and walked inside. Police said the suspected gunman “fired a shot at her, and then the girl, and then himself.” Police said they did not know a motive. — Peter Hermann


The United States must join Europe to resist Russia’s meddling

to undermine established international norms of behavior, and interfere with democratic governance,” he said. But Obama’s response, to sanction Russian intelligence officials in Moscow and expel them from the United States, hardly begins to address that larger issue. Russian intelligence leaders don’t have many U.S. assets to freeze. Moscow’s need to replace 35 intelligence officers will amount to a speed bump in its collection and espionage efforts. Congressional leaders are promising to follow up Obama’s actions with further sanctions, including measures that go beyond punishing specific actors for the recent hacking and political interference. “Russia is trying to break the backs of democracies all over the world,” Graham told reporters in Latvia, where he promised that more sanctions would get bipartisan support. “You can expect some economic pain. It will be true in America. But freedom is worth suffering pain. It is now time for Russia to understand, enough is enough.” The Obama administration appears intent on educating Americans about the Russian threat before it leaves office. It released a blizzard of statements by multiple agencies on the election interference Thursday and has promised a more detailed report on Moscow’s hacking activities. What’s not clear is whether the American most in need of education on the issue, President-elect Donald Trump, is ready to listen. Even some Republicans worry that he intends to reach an understanding with Russia that would grant Putin greater freedom of action in Europe, allow Russia’s military invasion and annexation of Crimea to stand, and endorse Russia’s role as major power in the Middle East. Adding to concern in Washington, Trump and his top advisers have been meeting with representatives of the pro-Russia far-right parties in Europe while snubbing the governments of major European countries. Trump’s potential strategy amounts to appeasement of an aggressive dictator and abandonment of U.S. leadership on issues such as human rights, democracy promotion, the rule of law and media freedom. For a self-described dealmaker, it sounds like a terrible bargain. Read more from Josh Rogins’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Read more on this issue: The Post’s View: Trump refuses to face reality about Russia Dana Milbank: As Trump prepares his kissy face for Putin, a look into the dictator’s soul Fareed Zakaria: Putin wants a new world order. Why would Trump help him? The Post’s View: A bipartisan committee should investigate Russia’s election hacking


Start-up IonQ sees opportunity in still-developing area of quantum computers

Chris Monroe, seen March 12, 2014 in the Joint Quantum Institute Laboratory at the University of Maryland, helped found IonQ. (Jeffrey MacMillan) The District’s technology community woke to a shock in November when Harry Weller, a rising star at esteemed Maryland venture firm New Enterprise Associates, died in his sleep at 46. Weller was fascinated by peculiarities in how fast-changing scientific advances can reshape the world, and he rose to prominence by shepherding successful businesses in murky fields such as cybersecurity and e-commerce. One of his last projects was a start-up called IonQ, and it may have been one of the most unorthodox investments of his career. IonQ includes academics from the University of Maryland and Duke University who want to sell quantum computing capabilities to giant technology companies within a few years. Quantum computing is a still-aspirational field of computer science that envisions impossibly fast computers built on the laws of particle physics. Mainstream scientists theorize that a quantum computer could perform tasks unattainable to even the most advanced traditional computers, such as seamlessly breaking data encryption or rapidly analyzing the human genome. IonQ’s real goal is to find commercial applications that have not yet been imagined. Harry Weller. (New Enterprise Associates/New Enterprise Associates) “What excites us is not what we already know it’s good for, but what we don’t yet know it’s good for,” IonQ chief executive David Moehring said. The problem is that the capability has not arrived yet. IonQ’s founders admit they are a long way from even having a prototype of what they will sell to companies. “Quantum computers don’t exist today, and therefore there is not a big commercial market based on quantum computers,” co-founder Jungsang Kim said. In an email sent weeks before his death, Weller likened IonQ to a “discovery stage” biotechnology company, essentially a drug company in the earliest phases of development. Such investments are considered highly risky and often do not yield returns for more than a decade. But the people running IonQ have industry heavyweights taking notice, and the firm’s founders have received about $64 million in government research funding to date. After years of badgering the IonQ founders to step into the venture capital space, Weller helped put together a team from some of the highest reaches of government and business. At Weller’s urging, New Enterprise Associates made a $2 million investment to help the firm develop a


Israeli settlements grew on Obama’s watch. They may be poised for a boom on Trump’s.

combination has delighted settlers here and across the West Bank who express hope for an unparalleled building boom that would kill off notions of a Palestinian state once and for all. “If America interferes less, everything will be much easier,” said Shivi Drori, 43, who runs a West Bank winery in a Jewish outpost that the Israeli government considers officially off-limits to building but has tacitly backed. “I’d like to see bigger settlements. Major cities.” Trump, Drori predicts, will help make that a reality simply by looking the other way. President Obama “was very confrontational,” Drori said. “The Trump administration seems much more sympathetic.” U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has signaled he could break with decades of U.S. policy and end American objections to Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Israel’s military conquered the West Bank in a matter of days 50 years ago this June in a war against neighboring Arab states. But settling the land has been the work of generations, accomplished hilltop by hilltop as temporary encampments and caravans have given way to suburban-style homes rooted firmly in the bedrock. All the while, much of the world has opposed the settlements as an illegal infringement on occupied land. U.S. governments — Democratic and Republican alike — have urged Israel to halt the project and allow negotiations to dictate control of land that Palestinians say is vital to the viability of a future state. Today, about 400,000 Israelis live in approximately 150 settlements scattered across the West Bank. That’s up from fewer than 300,000 when Barack Obama was elected. An additional 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as their future capital. Unable to halt settlement growth, a frustrated Obama administration lashed out late last month with a twin-barreled diplomatic assault. First, Washington abstained in a U.N. Security Council vote that demanded Israel end all settlement activity — enabling the resolution’s passage. Days later, Secretary of State John F. Kerry delivered an impassioned speech accusing Israel of putting the two-state solution “in serious jeopardy” by building “in the middle of what, by any reasonable definition, would be the future Palestinian state.” Rather than be chastened by the criticism from the nation that has long been its closest ally, Israel’s government was furious. Settlers, meanwhile, brush it off as an irrelevance. “There’s no implication,” said Oded Revivi, chief foreign envoy for the Yesha Council, which represents settlers. Kerry,


The frightening issue that could destroy Colombia’s peace deal

trial balloon by the guerrillas when they were weighing a peace deal in the 1980s. The experiment ended in disaster: So many Unión Patriótica members were assassinated that the party was essentially wiped out. The extermination campaign was often cited by the FARC as evidence that the only safe way to be a leftist in Colombia was with an AK-47 rifle in hand. Although the government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos acknowledges an uptick in violence, it says there is no evidence of a systematic, coordinated assassination campaign like the one in the 1980s. Rather, said Juan Carlos Restrepo, Santos’s top security official, Colombia has entered a bumpy transitional phase in which leftist groups and community leaders are becoming more outspoken and therefore more vulnerable. Protecting them, said Restrepo, “is a top priority for us,” but he said the government doesn’t have the resources to assign bodyguards and armored cars to everyone who feels threatened. As FARC units pull out of areas such as Cauca, where they earned millions from the drug trade, illegal mining and extortion schemes, new criminal actors are rushing to fill the void and may attempt to kill or silence anyone who gets in their way, Restrepo and others say. But Restrepo also said the government needs to push back against perceptions that the violence is spinning out of control or that every killing in notorious trafficking areas like northern Cauca has a clear political motive. The reality is often muddier. After Jhon Jairo Rodríguez, a 33-year-old father of four, was fatally shot on the side of the road outside Caloto on Nov. 1, Marcha Patriótica claimed that yet another of its community leaders had been slain. But his father, Manuel Rodríguez, said in an interview that his son rarely attended political meetings and was a lot more interested in motorcycles than land reform. He acknowledged it was possible the gunmen had targeted his son simply to intimidate the community but said he didn’t want to put more of his family at risk. “I don’t know who killed him, but I’m not going to try to find out because I don’t want any more problems,” Rodríguez said. Todd Howland, a Minnesotan who has directed the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia for the past five years, said it will take time for police and prosecutors to develop the kind of


Montgomery County Animal Watch

Montgomery county These cases were received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Rockville Sparring Derwood Unleashed Cats at no-kill shelter Cats and kittens will be available for adoption through the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County’s no-kill shelter at the following location. For information, call 301-740-2511 or visit awlmc.org.Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County no-kill shelter, 12 Park Ave., Gaithersburg. Hours: 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Humane Society adoptions The Montgomery County Humane Society’s private rescue shelter has dogs, puppies, cats and kittens available for adoption. Call 240-252-2555 or visit mchumane.org.MCHS Adoptions and Education Center, 601 S. Stonestreet Ave., Rockville. Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except holidays. Reduced FEES FOR CATS Cats and kittens will be available for adoption at the next open house of Friends of Montgomery County Animals at the following location. Call 301-977-4833 or visit fmca.org or facebook.com/fmcainfo.PetSmart at Milestone Center, 20924 Frederick Rd., Germantown. Hours: 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday. — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


The surprisingly cutthroat race to build the world’s fastest elevator

on one of the elevators in Shanghai Tower, snatching the record back from Hitachi shortly after it was lost. Mitsubishi representatives said that the demands of the client, a consortium with links to the Shanghai municipal government, had prompted the decision. Workers inside the Shanghai Tower, at the financial district in Shanghai in 2015. (Aly Song/Reuters) The race for speed The world’s first safety elevator was installed by the American company Otis in 1857 in a hotel in New York City. It traveled five floors at a speed of less than half a mile per hour. According to Lee Gray, an associate professor of architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, speeds improved as elevators moved from potentially explosive steam engines to more-efficient hydraulic systems and on to electric traction systems. Visiting Europeans were soon unnerved by the speed of the elevators across the Atlantic. “The Brits would visit the United States and they would say, ‘God, why is it going so fast?’ ” Gray said. For much of the 20th century, the fastest elevators were installed in American cities. Then the speed race moved to Asia. Why Japanese firms have dominated high-speed elevators is a matter of debate. Some have reasoned that it is because of the technology shared with high-speed “bullet” trains, which Hitachi and Toshiba also make. Others have suggested that it may be because Japanese consumers are notorious for insisting upon smooth elevator rides. (Comfort and noise issues with ultrafast elevators are considerable; the elevators in Pan Am Building in New York were infamous for “howling.”) What is certain is that these elevators can cost fantastic amounts of money. They need to be tested in enormous, custom-built towers. They have to be pressurized to make their rapid ascent comfortable. According to Mitsubishi, 40 people worked exclusively on the Shanghai Tower elevators. Mitsubishi and Hitachi would not say how much their elevators cost, but Jim Fortune, an American elevator consultant, estimated each installation at up to $3 million. It would be hard for any elevator company to make any profit on installing these showstopper elevators, Fortune suggested: “It’s all for . . . bragging rights or to get that maintenance contract.” Many in the elevator industry say that while the technology is impressive, faster speeds do not serve a real purpose. But high speeds may be valuable as marketing tools, turning elevators into unlikely tourist


In search of the Chibok girls and the meaning of their kidnapping

President Buhari declared victory, “technically,” over the terrorist group on the BBC; his information minister led 33 journalists to areas retaken by the military, boasting that Boko Haram had been so diminished by military might “that the terrorists can no longer hold on to any territory just as they can no longer carry out any spectacular attack.” Days later, Boko Haram countered with suicide bombings in Madagali and Maiduguri that killed dozens and injured more than 100. Habila offers a short history of Boko Haram, illuminating the regional, religious and ethnic divisions that help explain its rise. But the author is most concerned with the pain the terrorist organization has inflicted on the country. Chibok, a poor place made miserable by Boko Haram, lacks electricity and running water; soldiers dominate the marketplace, and the town is a target for suicide bombings. The staff of the girls’ school has been questioned by authorities and even accused in editorials of conspiring with the kidnappers. Grief hangs in the air. “It was like going to Hamelin and feeling the weight of the absent boys taken by the Pied Piper,” Habila writes. The terrorist devastation extends far beyond Chibok. Habila passes through ghost towns of burned schools, destroyed bridges and roofless houses with nothing inside but tall grass. He reflects on the 2009 Boko Haram uprising in Maiduguri that left “so many bodies in the streets they had to be brought by dumpster trucks to the mortuary.” When the mortuary was filled, the dead were piled up in the yard. “The decomposing bodies smelled so bad,” Habila writes, “that people in the neighborhood deserted their homes.” The roundup of the Chibok girls has had a profound psychological impact on the community. Since the kidnappings, at least 18 parents have died of stress-related illnesses. A local woman tells Habila that one father said he couldn’t live anymore, knowing that his daughter was a Boko Haram prisoner; he died soon after of heart failure. Another father went missing and was found days later, wandering in the hills, shouting his daughter’s name. The woman tells Habila that the parents walk through the village “as if there was no blood in their bodies.” Near the end of the book, Habila finally meets with a few of the escapees. But the conversations, which were anticipated through the entire story, leave the tragedy unresolved. If we hoped to discover the


Ghost Ship warehouse fire is tragic reminder of building codes’ importance

fires from starting is the first line of defense, and it requires minimizing potential ignition sources. Electrical malfunctions are among the most frequent causes. Improperly shielded or monitored open flames associated with heating or cooking also can lead to a fire, as can natural gas leaks and improper use and storage of volatile flammable liquids. Using noncombustible materials or materials that resist ignition and the spread of flames is also part of the defense. Based on use, occupancy and size, codes limit combustibility characteristics for certain building types and construction materials. When a fire breaks out, the second line of defense is containing and extinguishing the fire, minimizing the generation and the spread of smoke, and warning occupants with audible alarms. A very small fire can release thousands of cubic feet of smoke in a matter of seconds, and people in a burning building often succumb to smoke inhalation before flames reach them. Automatic overhead sprinklers are by far the most effective way to quickly control and suppress an incipient fire, reduce smoke production, limit fire’s spread and, ideally, put it out. Functioning sprinklers give occupants time to trigger fire alarms, perhaps make use of fire extinguishers and, most important, safely reach building exits. Indeed, egress from a burning building is the third fire safety goal and strategy. Safe evacuation requires at least two separate — horizontal and vertical — exit pathways from an apartment, office, place of assembly or room within a building. The greater the allowable occupancy of a building, the more exit pathways must be provided. Consisting of fire-protected corridors, at all levels, and stairways from all upper levels, such pathways must lead directly outside or to a fully fire-safe haven. And all required exit doors and pathways must have readily visible, illuminated exit signs. Walls and floors enclosing fire-protected corridors and stairs must be fire-rated. Ratings indicate the amount of time — one, two or three hours — during which a fire burning in an adjacent space cannot penetrate the exit pathways. Assemblies of concrete, masonry and layers of gypsum or other fire-insulating materials are rated through approved tests. According to reports, none of the above fire-safety measures were in place at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland. We can only hope that people in Oakland and cities throughout the United States will take action to prevent such a disaster from happening again. Roger K. Lewis


Grocery shopping in person or online: Which is best?

price,” Merzbacher said. “That’s a little cumbersome to do in-store, looking up and down the shelves, but it’s easy to do online.” Personally, when I have time, I enjoy going to the grocery store to see what’s new and what’s in season. I think of this as “inspiration” for my cooking. Others would call it by another I-word: “impulse buying.” Shopping online short-circuits those unplanned purchases. “For us, it’s kind of challenging, because we may be losing some of the impulse buys,” Merzbacher said. Bottom line for your bottom line: If you’re a super shopper with the time and discipline to stack coupons, price match and shop in-person, that’s how you will save more money. But if you’re more of a frazzled shopper, you could well do better by shopping online, sidestepping impulse buys and watching that running total so you stay on budget. More tips for grocery savings Online: •Some stores allow you to use paper coupons for online orders by presenting them to your driver. Others have virtual coupons right on their websites. •Look for tools that list products you have purchased in the past that are currently on sale. •Some grocers have coupon codes for free delivery or offer free delivery for orders over a certain dollar amount. Manufacturers will sometimes pay for your delivery if you buy a certain amount of their products. •When certain delivery time slots are not filling up, stores often discount them. In-store: •As I compared in-store and online prices, I saw several in-store deals that were not available online. Keep an eye out. •Advanced couponers know that you can usually “stack” manufacturer and store coupons. •To save the most, try stocking up on nonperishables when they are at their cheapest, rather than when you need them. •Scan all the store circulars in your area, then cherry-pick the best deals all at one store that price matches. This usually works in-store only. Elisabeth Leamy is a 13-time Emmy winner and 25-year consumer advocate for programs such as “Good Morning America” and “The Dr. Oz Show.” Connect with her at leamy.com and on Twitter: @ElisabethLeamy. More from The Washington Post: How Walmart plans to transform the way we buy groceries The best way to lower your cable bill may be to have somebody else do it Coming to a Metro station near you: grocery delivery The staggering challenges of the online grocery business


Style Conversational Week 1209: We stick it to you once again

All 24 of Bob Staake’s designs for our honorable-mention prizes I’m always excited to introduce our new pair of Style Invitational Loser magnets each year, as we do in this week’s contest. Actually, our supply of 500 of each magnet stretched this past year into January — but JUST into January: I mailed out the last of the “Falling Jest Short” design yesterday — in fact, I forgot to save one for the archive! — and have only two or three of the “Magna Dum Laude” model left. For several years now I haven’t run a new contest for magnet slogans; instead, I’ve used runner-up and honorable-mention entries from our numerous contests over the years for not just magnets, but also T-shirts, Loser mugs and Grossery Bags. (I don’t think I’ve used any bumper sticker ideas from back in the Czarist era.) One slogan I considered this time around was one by Drew Bennett, “Me Write Pretty One Day.” But I was concerned that the allusion to the 2000 David Sedaris bestseller wouldn’t be as obvious in 2017; sure enough, when I polled the Style Invitational Devotees group — a generally overeducated bunch — on Facebook this week, a number of people had no clue. I don’t want the Loser magnet to puzzle anyone who might win it. The two new designs are now in production by the promo-stuff company run by Julianne Weiner, who happens to be an Invite fan, and she expects to deliver them by the end of next week. So, magnet winners of Week 1205, you’ll have to wait a few days more than usual — unless you’d like one of the classic designs shown above in the photo gallery: I have a few extra copies of many (but not all) of the old models. If you got ink in Week 1205 and want an vintage magnet, e-mail me with your preference (and perhaps second and third choices). And ahem, I think I have to trade with someone to get one or two “Falling Jest Short” magnets back. A NEW LEASE ON LAUGH*: PART 1 OF THE 2016 RETROSPECTIVE CONTEST It’s like judging 50 contests at once! Actually, I think it’s probably more fun to see entries for dozens of different contests rather than thousand upon thousand for a single type of joke. And I’m even eager to do it all over again this weekend for


Labor Department sues Google for compensation data

AUTOMOBILES 48,000 Mercedes SUVs recalled over sensor Mercedes-Benz is recalling nearly 48,000 SUVs in the United States to fix a sensor problem that could stop the front passenger air bag from inflating in a crash. The recall covers certain GL, GLE and GLS models from the 2016 and 2017 model years. Mercedes says in documents posted by U.S. safety regulators that a sensor in the front passenger seat may be calibrated incorrectly. It can classify passengers as child seats and deactivate the air bag. The documents say drivers will get a warning message on the dashboard saying the air bag is off even though a person is in the passenger seat. It was unclear from the documents whether the problem had caused any injuries. Mercedes will notify owners, and dealers will update the sensor software free. The recall is expected to start this month. — Associated Press Also in Business ● Artisanal charcoal will become the first legal Cuban export to the United States in recent history under a deal between the Cuban government and the former attorney for Alan Gross, the U.S. government contractor who was imprisoned in Cuba for five years. Scott Gilbert, who has sought to build bilateral economic ties since Gross’s release, said a company he founded will buy 80 tons of charcoal made from the invasive woody plant marabu this month. ● The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped significantly last week. Weekly requests for jobless aid fell 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 235,000, the Labor Department said. That is barely above the 233,000 jobless claims achieved in late November, the lowest weekly total since 1973. ● After nine straight weeks of increases, long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said the rate on 30-year fixed-rate loans declined to an average 4.20 percent from 4.32 percent last week. That was still higher than a 30-year rate that averaged 3.65 percent in 2016, the lowest level recorded from records dating to 1971. The average for a 15-year mortgage eased to 3.44 percent from 3.55 percent last week. ● Jon Corzine, a former New Jersey governor and Goldman Sachs co-chairman, will pay a $5 million civil fine to settle a U.S. regulator’s lawsuit over the collapse of his commodity brokerage. The accord with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission resolves the last piece of litigation against Corzine over MF Global Holdings’ descent into


I made my son cannabis cookies. They changed his life.

range of ailments, such as Tourette’s, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, glaucoma, spasticity, Huntington’s disease, chronic pain and intractable epilepsy. And the safety concerns have turned out to be unfounded. “Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects,” a Drug Enforcement Administration administrative judge wrote in 1988. “But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality.” So even parents who might not have my penchant for methodical experimentation would have little to fear in using it to treat children like mine. For my son, not every strain of cannabis helped. When we did see positive effects, they were often accompanied by red eyes or an unwillingness to do anything (“couch lock,” it’s casually called). But eventually, we settled on White Russian, a favorite of cancer patients in pain, and we transitioned from cookies to an oil tincture that my son received orally every few hours with a dropper. (That allowed us to titrate the dosage and made it easier for the nurse to administer at school.) It left him clear-eyed and alert, without the constant pain-furrow in his brow or the off-the-wall rages. It seemed like a miracle. And seven years later, it’s still working. But unlike with other wonder drugs, we can’t just pop into the pharmacy for refills. Growers come and go, and their supplies are always just one mite infestation or robbery or legal scare away from disaster. My son’s original provider, who had put a lot of his own money into making an indoor grow-room for our son’s plants, was robbed and dropped out of Rhode Island’s medical-marijuana program. Another certified grower accidentally killed his plants. Not long after, another certified provider we used called us in a panic. He was being evicted because his landlord was getting anxious about his organic-marijuana operation. Pot is still federally illegal to grow, possess or ingest. (State-licensed medical-marijuana patients and providers have ended up in prison, even while OxyContin, a powerful Schedule 2 drug, is legally prescribable for children.) Once, when my son was late getting his cannabis oil after school, he put his head through a window and cut his face in a frenzy of pain. We gave him his medication, and he calmed down enough that we could bring him to the ER. But at the hospital, I didn’t know whether to admit that we’d


Japan’s trains are in a league of their own. Japan’s subculture of train fanatics is no different.

since I was little I’ve been attracted to trains,” said Watanabe, who does sales for a hotel, as the duo headed out on the Tokyo monorail on a recent Sunday. “My parents’ theory is that it was because my grandfather’s house was close to the tracks.” Orido even chose his current house specifically because it’s close to the tracks — he likes to open the windows and watch the trains. “When I started doing this, I was still using film,” he said. “I have the photos stored in the closet at my parents’ house. The shelves are groaning under the weight.” The friends like to go places where there are no other tori-tetsu, partly because they like to take different photos, but also because they don’t like the commotion at the most sought-after spots. “When a rare train comes along, hundreds of people camp out overnight to secure the best spots,” Watanabe said. Watanabe recalls a trainspotting melee when he was in junior high school: Hustling for the best spot to see a special train, he saw two classmates get into a fight and fall onto the train tracks. (They got up before the train came through.) The Japanese train system is a microcosm of Japan itself, says Takashi Noda, the author of books including “The Way of Tetsu: Riding, Photographing and Making Carefree Stopovers,” and a nori-tetsu of 60 years. “Trains and train systems appeal to Japanese people as trains are operated on time and accurately,” Noda said. “Train fans find joy and get excited when they can make a tightly scheduled transfer. For them, trains are not just means of transportation, but their purpose.” For Takafumi Mochizuki, a 40-year-old radio scriptwriter, it’s the precision of the lunchboxes, not the trains themselves, that is alluring. He always loved eating “ekiben” — a combination of the Japanese words for “station” and “lunchbox” — but now it’s a serious pastime. “There’s so much effort put into an ekiben. They use local ingredients, so they’re different all over Japan, and they have to figure out how to keep the ingredients good for some hours,” Mochizuki said at the gargantuan Tokyo Station after a day riding the rails. He’d been out for more than 12 hours and had eaten four ekiben in that time: There was the box containing clams he ate for breakfast; the fisherman’s meal box containing fish and squid that


U.S. used Cold War-era statute to prosecute Taiwanese American nuclear engineer

to make this assessment from the outset.” China, which tested its first nuclear bomb in 1964, has about 260 warheads and the material to make more. Its main priority has been expanding its commercial nuclear power, with about two dozen reactors under construction. The Obama administration, with the passive approval of Congress, renewed a nuclear cooperation agreement that does not prohibit China from buying reprocessing technology that would help it produce weapons-grade plutonium from spent nuclear power plant fuel of U.S. origin. Ho, who used to work for Westinghouse Electric Co., argued that he went to China not to produce plutonium to make a bomb but rather to help commercial nuclear power plants operate safely. He has said that he sought guidance on whether he needed a license from the Energy Department and received equivocal responses. He said he was told that a license was not needed for his information technology work, but that he might need one for consulting on safety-related issues. He applied for a license for the latter, but months went by without a response. During that time he continued to consult, under the apparent belief that he was permitted to do so, according to the court record. The Energy Department declined to comment. Ho’s defense team noted that in 2005, the government approved Westinghouse’s sale to China of $10 billion worth of the AP1000, one of the most advanced commercial nuclear power reactors in the world. Westinghouse, now owned by Japan’s Toshiba, was permitted to share all the associated technology as well as almost 600 tons of enriched uranium as fuel. It makes no sense that Westinghouse could sell such an advanced nuclear reactor to China, but that Ho could be punished with life in prison for advising a Chinese company on how to safely operate a less advanced plant, Ho’s defense team argued. Ho’s detention, which entails lockdown 23 hours every day, has been arduous and unnecessary, his defense team has argued. Ho has been willing to post his home and those of a relative and a friend as bail, wear an ankle monitor, give up his passport and pay for security guards to monitor him around the clock. But the government has said he is a flight risk, and an appeals court has ruled he should remain in jail. This story has been updated to describe Ho as a Taiwanese American not Chinese American.


How women at Harvard helped solve the mysteries of the stars

The Harvard Astronomical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., 1851. Its director, Edward Charles Pickering, hoped to demonstrate that women could carry out original research. (North Wind Picture Archives /via AP images) Eileen Pollack teaches on the faculty of the Helen Zell MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Michigan. She is author of “The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys’ Club” and the novel “A Perfect Life.” We forget how recently astronomers figured out what the stars are made of, what makes them shine, how distant they are, how they are born, and whether they remain immutable or evolve and die. Thanks to Dava Sobel, the author of “Longitude” and “Galileo’s Daughter,” we can now chart the illumination of these mysteries, most of which were solved not only by peering through telescopes on cold, dark nights, but also by patiently plotting the luminosity of the dots on the glass plates photographed through those lenses. As you also might glean from the title of Sobel’s most recent foray into the history of science, “The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars,” much of that labor was done by women. That Harvard employed — though didn’t always pay — female astronomers to count the stars was largely a marriage of money and convenience. Much of the funding came from female donors; Anna Draper’s husband, Henry, was an early master of stellar photography, and when he died in 1882, she funneled her inheritance to Harvard. By coincidence, the director of the observatory, Edward Charles Pickering, had inherited a staff of six female assistants. Although it was considered unseemly to subject women to the fatigue of using a telescope at night, women could, in the light of day, sometimes in their own parlors, process the data gathered by the male astronomers. "The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars," by Dava Sobel (Viking) Given that the observatory received no financial support from Harvard, the use of cheap female labor made sense. Some women needed the job. Others were so desperate to occupy their minds, they volunteered. Such work, Pickering hoped, might “justify the current proliferation of women’s colleges” and demonstrate that women, rather than following the lead of male scientists, could carry out original research. By 1886, the staff had burgeoned to


The Chesapeake watershed’s countryside is being replaced by ‘mallside’

Whitetail deer in Myersville, Md. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Sprawl in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, despite efforts at “smart growth,” continues at an unprecedented rate. Growth occurs principally along transportation corridors; the main culprit is the federal highway system, which has been the silent ally of real estate development and urban sprawl. Interstate 81 in Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania has seen the growth of exurban developments, often with populations far larger than the town or village with which they share a Zip code. Increasingly, “countryside” is being replaced by “mallside,” with homogenized stores from coast to coast. In Virginia and West Virginia, sheep and cattle farms have given way to burgeoning neighborhoods of commuters who clog country roads and drive two hours each way to their workplaces. The orchard belt of the Chesapeake that once included hundreds of peach and apple farms in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia is being swallowed by development, noticeably on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Land is worth far more than the fruit it produces. As the suburbs spread outward in all directions from Washington and Baltimore, farmland is increasingly in demand for development. But our countryside is not alone in being transformed out of existence. The U.S. Geological Survey says our rivers and seascapes are being changed by pollution and deforestation. The connectivity of wetlands, forest and wildlife habitat is being ruined through loss of vegetation and open space. Small wonder that suburbanites are surprised at finding hungry black bears foraging in their garbage and deer eating their flowers. The once-sleepy docks lined with oyster-packing houses in Crisfield, Md., give way to fancy, expensive high-rise condominiums owned by people who neither care about nor understand the local maritime culture and what is being lost. Throughout the Chesapeake watershed, collectors are scooping up the remnants of Maryland’s oyster industry: packing cans, dredges, photographs, shucking tools. What was once a vibrant industry on the Chesapeake has succumbed to disease, pollution, overharvesting and development. Hundreds of packing houses from Kent Island, Md., to Oyster, Va., have disappeared. Oysters, which sold for $1.50 a gallon in 1974, now sell for more than that each in D.C. restaurants. Soon, people will have difficulty trying to understand why a town in Maryland was named Bivalve. Economic change also adds to the ongoing transformation of our land. With tobacco fast fading from the Chesapeake landscape, the old tobacco-curing barns become relics. Tobacco reigned


Georges Prêtre, French conductor who recorded with Maria Callas, dies at 92

Georges Prêtre conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010. (Lilli Strauss/AP) Georges Prêtre, a French conductor who for seven decades led some of the world’s finest orchestras, found a second home in Vienna and forged close relationships with singer Maria Callas and composer Francis Poulenc, died Jan. 4 at his chateau in Naves, in southern France. He was 92. His death was announced by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, where Mr. Prêtre held the title of honorary conductor, and Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he was scheduled to lead concerts in March. The peripatetic conductor led orchestras in cities such as Chicago, New York, Paris and Rome — holding few permanent conducting positions, he said, to avoid overly involving himself with the business and managerial sides of classical-music performance. He was most closely associated with Vienna’s world-renowned Philharmonic Orchestra, where he had remained a formidable though itinerant presence since conducting Charles Gounod’s opera “Faust” in 1963, and the Vienna Symphony, where he was first principal conductor from 1986 to 1991. At what amounted to a farewell concert with the Vienna Symphony, Mr. Prêtre earned standing ovations for his rendition of Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” in October. Georges Prêtre leads a 2007 rehearsal on the stage of the Opéra Bastille in Paris. Beginning in the 1980s, he worked mainly in Vienna. (Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images) “Georges Prêtre was both a sound wizard and a musician with an unparalleled intensity,” Vienna Symphony Chairman Thomas Schindl wrote on Facebook. “He combined concentration and individuality in a unique way and his daring and adventurous personality always spurred us on to perform at our very best — and sometimes beyond of what we believed to be capable of.” Mr. Prêtre, whose last name means “priest,” sometimes conducted as though he were possessed, shaking his arms and writhing at the rostrum in a manner that reminded some observers of his American peer Leonard Bernstein. He considered himself a musical “interpreter,” not a hand-waving conductor, and typically sought to extract a maximum of emotion from the works he conducted — orchestral pieces as well as operas, in his native French and also in German or Italian. Reviewing his performance of “Bolero” with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1995, Philadelphia Inquirer critic Lesley Valdes noted that under Mr. Prêtre’s baton, the work’s “musical stresses . . . verged on the orgasmic. Not for him the stringencies of Ravel’s intentionally formulaic layering


Grandfather of zoo’s panda cubs dies in China

A death has occurred in one of Washington’s most prominent families, although its members are unlikely to be aware of it. The grandfather of the National Zoo’s cherished giant panda cubs Bao Bao and Bei Bei has died in China. The death of Pan Pan, the panda patriarch, in Sichuan province, was reported Dec. 28 by Xinhua, China’s official news agency. Pan Pan, 31, reportedly had cancer. A natural breeder, Pan Pan was the father of Tian Tian, the zoo’s adult male giant panda, a National Zoo spokeswoman said. Tian Tian fathered the three surviving cubs born at the zoo. These include Tai Shan, who has been returned to China. The three were produced by artificial insemination and are regarded as among more than 130 descendants of Pan Pan. The zoo said it had no details on Pan Pan’s death and does not comment on animals in the care of other institutions.


U.S. military aid is fueling big ambitions for Syria’s leftist Kurdish militia

holding Arab cities such as Raqqa, thereby diluting the influence of the Kurdish fighters. U.S. officials and military advisers in Syria declined to discuss details of the training being provided to the Arabs in the force. But they said they were unaware that the Arab recruits were receiving lessons in Kurdish political theory before their U.S. military training. “What happens to them before they come to us, we don’t know,” said one of the U.S. military advisers in Syria, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified by name or rank. Manbij Military Council recruits graduate after completing U.S. military training. (Alice Martins/For The Washington Post) U.S. officials acknowledge, however, that the Kurds constitute more than three-quarters of the SDF coalition and are leading the fight on the front lines, making them the biggest beneficiary of U.S. military assistance. And it is the Kurdish vision of a future Syria that is being extended to the Arab areas that are being conquered, despite frequent statements issued by the U.S. government opposing the Kurds’ plans to create any form of new region in Syria. “The military support has boosted the YPG’s confidence to move beyond Kurdish populated areas and grow their ambitions even beyond Syria,” said Maria Fantappie of the International Crisis Group. “It has huge political implications not only for Syria but also for neighboring countries.” ‘Democratic confederalism’ On a rare visit by foreign journalists to northern Syria, Kurds were eager to explain Ocalan’s political theory, a mix of Marxism and the utopian dreams of a dead American leftist from Vermont named Murray Bookchin. It seeks to abolish states and eliminate the need for governments by putting communities in charge of their own affairs. Referred to somewhat vaguely as “democratic confederalism” or the “democratic nation,” the theory places a heavy emphasis on egalitarianism, women’s rights and being kind to animals. SDF recruits read a book written by Abdullah Ocalan outside the school where they attend classes on ideology before going through military training. (Alice Martins/For The Washington Post) Originally envisaged by Ocalan as a way of achieving a form of autonomy for Turkish Kurds, who have historically faced severe discrimination by the Turkish government, the theories are now being adapted to the circumstances in Syria, with its diverse mix of Arabs, Kurds, Christians, Alawites, Turkmen and others. Far from seeking to redraw borders to give Kurds their own entity,


China finally takes a step to stop the slaughter of elephants

Confiscated ivory items and carvings displayed during an ivory destruction ceremony at Beijing's wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in May 2015. (Wu Hong/European Pressphoto Agency) INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL trade in ivory was banned in 1989, but that did not stop the slaughter of elephants and the poaching of their tusks. In Africa, more than 100,000 elephants were killed in the past decade. Driving the illicit trade was demand from China, so the country’s decision to shut down its domestic market — the world’s largest — is a significant development that hopefully will help prevent extinction of this magnificent animal. Environmentalists and wildlife advocates characterized China’s Dec. 30 announcement that it will ban all commerce in ivory by the end of 2017 as a game-changer. Chinese President Xi Jinping had made a joint pledge with President Obama in September 2015 to enact “nearly complete bans” on the import and export of ivory, but China’s lack of action, as the United States finalized regulations last June, had become a matter of concern. With the African elephant population in drastic decline — the most recent Great Elephant Census attributed a drop of about 30 percent from 2007 to 2014 to poaching — the need for urgency was clear. “Over recent years, many global entities have taken a crack at trying to solve this problem,” said Patrick Bergin, chief executive of African Wildlife Foundation, reeling off a list that included Interpol, the United Nations, the World Bank, the Clinton Global Initiative and the European Union. But, he said, China, as the world’s largest consumer of ivory, always held the key. Ivory is a status symbol in China, and the country’s booming economy helped fuel the illicit trade. There has been speculation about what finally prompted action from Chinese leaders, who long had argued that conservationists were exaggerating the country’s role. Whether it bowed to mounting international pressure; sought to curry favor with African countries, where it hopes to expand its influence; hoped to usurp the United States as a leader on environmental issues; or just wanted to do the right thing matters less than the result. What’s important is that there be effective enforcement in shutting down the market. The government’s announcement of a relatively fast timetable is an encouraging sign. Hopefully that will spur Hong Kong, also a significant marketplace for ivory, to speed its five-year plan to implement a ban, and prompt other


Beer of the week: Michigan delivers a true double IPA

Dark Horse Brewing’s Double Crooked Tree IPA is an intense version of its Crooked Tree IPA that uses double the malt and hops. (Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) Double IPAs are some of the most popular beers on the planet. They occupy four of the top 10 spots on Beer Advocate’s latest Top 250 Beers ratings chart. But just try to get a beer geek to explain the difference between a double or imperial IPA and a plain old IPA. The truth is, there’s no easy definition: The Beer Judge Certification Program’s style guidelines note that “the adjective ‘double’ is arbitrary and simply implies a stronger version of an IPA; ‘imperial,’ ‘extra,’ ‘extreme,’ or any other variety of adjectives would be equally valid.” I bring up this stylistic fudging because Michigan’s Dark Horse Brewing has expanded distribution of its buzzworthy beers to the District of Columbia. In addition to Crooked Tree IPA — the recipient of a perfect 100-point review in Beer Advocate magazine — the brewery is also sending its limited Double Crooked Tree IPA. According to Dark Horse, this is the perfect example of a double IPA: “We actually took the Crooked Tree recipe and doubled all of the ingredients except the water, just the way a double should be made.” Naturally, we had to try the two side by side. These are very different siblings; where the Crooked Tree makes for easy sipping (6.5 percent alcohol by volume), with blood orange and citrus hops flavors and a sweet maltiness, the Double Crooked Tree packs a wallop: It’s a viscous 12 percent ABV ale with strong caramel malt and dank, intensely bitter piney hops, plus a noticeable stickiness at the end. It’s almost overwhelming to drink them back-to-back: The Double is easily twice as dark and resinous as the basic Crooked Tree, but I’d probably drink half as much — which is handy, considering the Double Crooked Tree costs more than twice as much per ounce. Of course, these beers are for different audiences. Anyone who enjoys an IPA after work should keep an eye out for Crooked Tree. But adventurous types looking for a challenging and unusual version of a double IPA, or one that will take them far beyond the typical examples from Firestone Walker or Green Flash, should certainly seek out this beer while they can. — Fritz Hahn Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA and Double


This season, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra plays it safe, almost to a fault

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is playing it very safe (if not dull) this season, with war horses of Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Dvorak anchoring most programs. I’m sure there are patrons for whom this repertoire is fresh and new, but many of us yearn for surprises now and then. Saturday’s concert at Strathmore was a vivid illustration: a Beethoven concerto, the Tchaikovsky “Pathétique” symphony and the early Stravinsky masterpiece “Symphonies of Wind Instruments” (1920), which the BSO was playing for the very first time. What other gems has it never gotten around to? Guest conductor Dima Slobodeniouk, Russian born and Finnish trained, is quite good at his craft, beating cleanly, efficiently and just enough ahead to transmit character. He can still miscalculate, though. He tried to set a breakneck tempo in the third movement of the Tchaikovsky symphony (beating in cut time), but reality eventually took hold. The apocalyptic climax of the first movement’s development section was incoherent as he let the brass swamp the strings. The anguished finale was well paced, though; heart-on-sleeve, rather than in-mouth. In the Beethoven Concerto No. 4, he was attentive to the soloist but reticent to a fault, and he didn’t differentiate between short and long eighth-notes in the Andante movement as carefully notated by the composer. Slobodeniouk can work on his stage presentation, too; in the Stravinsky and the Tchaikovsky, the audience couldn’t figure out when the piece ended. British pianist Paul Lewis, making his BSO debut, has taken a page from his mentor, Alfred Brendel, focusing almost exclusively on the central Austro-German classics. The lovely trills and vibrant, sharply etched cadenza bespoke understated virtuosity; but it was in his simple Schubert encore — the “Allegretto in B minor” — where his haptic imagination really told. Lewis is more of a jeweler than a barnstormer, and much of his rhetoric when working against the monolith of an orchestra felt conventional. The Stravinsky was marvelous; other than for a few soft attacks on high notes, the improved BSO winds did themselves proud.


The ‘N’ in NSO stands for ‘National,’ and sometimes ‘Neighborhood’

National Symphony Orchestra musicians performed on Jan. 4 at Arena Stage. (Tracey Salazar) On Wednesday night, the National Symphony Orchestra ventured out of the Kennedy Center into the wide world of Washington. Well, its musicians ventured all the way to Arena Stage: from one cultural temple to another. But the chamber concert that the orchestra’s concertmaster, Nurit Bar-Josef, and three colleagues played that night was the official start of the sixth annual iteration of NSO in Your Neighborhood, the community initiative, continuing through Monday, that brings the orchestra to schools, coffee shops, nursing homes and community centers in the city — this year, to venues in Southeast and Southwest. Diversity and community outreach are two of orchestras’ biggest watchwords these days as they try to overturn entrenched perceptions of orchestras as a white elitist bastion. In the NSO’s case, outreach is a part of the orchestra’s tradition after several decades of an American Residency program that took the orchestra to some 30 states, from South Dakota to West Virginia. When those grew too expensive, the orchestra, perhaps more sensibly, began cultivating its own back yard — “more sensibly” because local access bears at least the possibility of some kind of continuity, of creating something more than a one-off experience, which is one of the biggest challenges for all community outreach programs. “In order to have impact, there needs to be consistency,” says Warren G. Williams, the NSO’s manager of community relations. “There are opportunities to build stronger connections if we have more points of contact during the year.” The orchestra, he said, is considering a year-round version of NSO in Your Neighborhood involving chamber concerts with some of the orchestra’s partners, such as the restaurant/coffee shop Busboys and Poets, where a small group of musicians played as part of a poetry slam last year. “We have plans to continue the format of the week-long residency, but expand it so it’s not in isolation,” Williams added. A mistake that many observers make in considering such programs is to misconstrue their point as essentially promotional, by saying, erroneously, that they only “work” to the degree to which they drum up new ticket-buyers for the orchestra’s core Kennedy Center programming. Those in charge of these programs around the country, including Williams, are aware that their function is more basic and perhaps less quantifiable: simply, in Williams’s words, “to create a new window for


How Tough Mudders and ‘Ninja Warrior’ turned primal fears into big business

that CrossFit would be a great way to support Ninja. Now, the Ninja definitely supports the CrossFit.” A competitor races through the “American Ninja Warrior” obstacle course during 2012 regional qualifying competitions in Venice, Calif. (Brandon Hickman/G4) Obstacle course racing, or OCR, is a $500 million business, with the number of races increasing by 2,300 from 2014 to 2015, according to Running USA. “American Ninja Warrior” has seen applications to compete rise from 1,000 in its first season to 70,000 in its eighth. A British man who goes by the name Mr. Mouse was the first obstacle course race creator with his Tough Guy competitions in the late 1980s. OCR caught on in the United States within the past decade. Competitors typically pay about $50 to $150 to slog through mud, climb nearly vertical walls, feel like they’re being waterboarded, wade through ice baths and even get electrocuted, all while covering several miles, often as fast as they can. “I think there are a lot of forces driving this phenomenon,” said Scott Keneally, a self-described OCR addict and writer and director of “The Rise of the Sufferfests,” a 2016 documentary that studies such races. “Part of it is the narcissism epidemic — the rise of social media, the ability to brag and look like a hero on Facebook. That, I think, is an entry point for a lot of different people, but for other people it’s an excuse to get into shape in a fun way.” But the industry didn’t grow from about 50,000 participants in 2009 to about 5 million in 2015 based purely on fun. OCR appeals to primal fears — and overcoming them. For example, participants in 2017 runnings of the Tough Mudder, which started in 2010 and attracts 10,000 to 15,000 participants per event, will tackle Augustus Gloop, which “requires participants to climb up a 12-foot vertical tube while water is pouring down on top of their head,” said Nolan Kombol, Tough Mudder’s senior director of product design. Why would someone not only willingly try that, but pay to do it? “People want to conquer their fears and do something that they maybe thought they never would have done,” said Tanya Prewitt-White, a clinical assistant professor of kinesiology and nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Janice “JJ” McClean, left, co-owner of CrossFit Loudoun and Northern Virginia Ninja, says obstacle course racing “takes a special


Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government on brink of collapse

been central to a fragile peace in Northern Ireland, where Irish nationalists opposed to British rule battled unionists who wanted to keep the region part of the United Kingdom. Under rules outlined in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which helped end decades of bloodshed, Northern Ireland’s regional legislature requires the support of both the first minister and the deputy first minister — the positions have equal power. If either one resigns and a replacement is not found, the government will fall. McGuinness has repeatedly called on Arlene Foster, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader and first minister, to temporarily step aside while investigators review her alleged mishandling of a renewable energy plan. “Sinn Fein will not tolerate the arrogance of Arlene Foster and the DUP. We now need an election to allow the people to make their own judgment,” McGuinness said in a statement. Foster has steadfastly refused to withdraw. “If Sinn Fein are playing a game of chicken and expecting me to blink in terms of stepping aside, they are wrong,” she recently told the Impartial Reporter newspaper. “If there is an election, there is an election.” The clock is ticking. Sinn Fein has seven days to nominate a replacement deputy first minister, but McGuinness has said the party has no intention of doing so. If there are new elections, it’s unclear whether McGuinness would be a candidate. McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army commander, has been at the center of the provincial government since 2007, but commentators say the 66-year-old is suffering from unspecified health problems. The main cause of the dispute between the parties stems from a botched program that was designed to encourage businesses to switch to renewable energy sources. The program, which Foster oversaw in a previous post, went several million pounds over budget and has been criticized for its inefficient subsidies. Although the scandal probably would be a big issue in new elections, Britain’s exit from the European Union could also feature prominently. The Democratic Unionist Party backed the campaign to leave the E.U., while Sinn Fein campaigned for Britain to remain in the bloc. After the Brexit vote, McGuinness called for a referendum on whether Northern Ireland should join the Republic of Ireland, which is in the E.U. Foster said Friday that she was “disappointed” by McGuinness’s resignation. She said it was “clear that Sinn Fein's actions are not principled; they are political.”


Five Russians blacklisted for alleged human rights abuses

A portrait of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in jail, is held by his mother, Nataliya Magnitskaya, in 2009. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP) The Obama administration Monday added five more Russians, including a senior government official who is an underling of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to a list of people who are banned from traveling to the United States and subject to asset freezes for alleged human rights abuses. The sanctions were imposed under a 2012 law passed by Congress and named for Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer and whistleblower who revealed tax fraud by Russian officials and died after spending a year in pretrial detention. The U.S. law requires sanctions against anyone who took part in Magnitsky’s abuse and death or a subsequent coverup. It also provides for sanctions against people who took part in torture or other human rights abuses in other cases. The five names bring to 44 the number of people hit with sanctions under the Magnitsky Act. They are not allowed to obtain U.S. visas, and Americans are not permitted to have dealings with them. The freezing of their assets applies to American banks, but because most international transactions are conducted in U.S. dollars, that in effect allows banks to seize any money the people on the list may try to wire. The highest-profile name on the list is Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the federal Investigative Committee, the Russian equivalent of the FBI. He is suspected of participating in a coverup of Magnitsky’s torture and death. He also has been implicated in several other human rights abuses. When a Russian journalist wrote a story accusing Bastrykin of covering up a mass murder, Bastrykin threatened to behead and dismember the reporter, according to an open letter written by the reporter’s editor. “You can call him Putin’s chief enforcer,” said Tom Malinowski, assistant U.S. secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. The sanctions were imposed just three days after U.S. intelligence officials made public an assessment that Putin had directed the hacking of Democratic emails in an effort to sabotage the U.S. presidential election. But Malinowski said the timing is coincidental. The State and Treasury departments add new names to the list around this time every year. President-elect Donald Trump has said that when he takes office, in less than two weeks, he plans to work toward forging a warmer working relationship with Putin. One of the


Rare bird dies at Washington National Zoo

However anyone defines a rare bird, one of the feathered flyers residing at the National Zoo seemed to fit the bill. According to the zoo it was one of only 146 members of its species in the entire world. Given that small population, it was easy to believe that, as the zoo said, of all the birds and beasts in its collection, the bird, a Guam Kingfisher, belonged to the “most endangered species” there. On Saturday, the zoo said, the bird died. He was 17 years old, the zoo said, making him a survivor among survivors, a long-lived member of the small band who were his avian brethren. In the words of the announcement made Monday by the zoo, he was “geriatric for his species.” In Washington, this Guam Kingfisher made his home at the zoo’s Bird House. Before coming to the zoo in July of 2013, he had been spending his blue-backed time at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va. Members of the species often measure about 10 inches in length, with a prominent, pointed bill that is as long as two inches. Although the kingfisher had enjoyed a longer life in which to display his cinnamon- colored belly than many of his species, his death was nevertheless sad, the zoo said. He was not the only Guam kingfisher at the zoo or the Front Royal facility. A report in Smithsonian magazine a little more than five years ago, placed the population at the two places at 10. It noted that at the time of its 2011 publication, two new ones had just been born at the conservation institute. Breeding his been painstaking, and difficult. Population growth has been slow. With the 17-year-old gone, the zoo said, only 145 Guam kingfishers remain throughout the world. Even that low-three-figures number is far more than had once existed. By accident, the brown tree snake was introduced to Guam shortly after the second World War, specialists said. That brought doom to many of the island’s species. Evolution had not equipped them to elude the reptile. The kingfishers made easy prey, according to the zoo. It was estimated that by the early 1980s, their numbers had dwindled alarmingly, and only about 30 remained. The threat of extinction touched off vigorous efforts at conservation, which entailed removing the birds from their native haunts, with the hope of some day reintroducing them.


Explore nature in winter at Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary

A wooden bridge leads into Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The sanctuary offers wildlife exhibits at its visitor center and hiking paths to observe deer, ducks, groundhogs and other winter visitors. (Photos by Ann Cameron Siegal) When trees are bare and frozen ground crunches under your feet, it’s a good time to explore the wide-open spaces and scenic views of the Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary. A short drive from Route 4’s traffic in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, it’s a world away in the serenity it offers. The sights and sounds of being outdoors in nature in winter are quite different from the ones you find in warm-weather outings. Start at the visitor center — it’s open only on Saturdays and Sundays, 10 to 4, until May — to learn the history of local pirates and Piscataway Indians, to touch a snake or to study an antler and a jawbone with the teeth still attached. What animal did they belong to? This is a “please touch” kind of place, but with no buttons to push or videos to watch. The visitor center offers quiet, hands-on experiences requiring your imagination and senses. Discovery boxes challenge visitors to feel hidden objects and guess what they are. Have a seat in front of the center’s picture window and watch the antics of cardinals, blue jays and other winter birds hovering around the feeders outside. “Birdwatching is mesmerizing,” said ranger Danny Jones. Binoculars and guidebooks are provided to help you with identification. This injured screech owl has a forever home at Merkle and is now part of the sanctuary’s education program. Here, AmeriCorps volunteer Tiana Morris allows visitors to see the wee owl up close. A screech owl has a forever home at the visitor center. It lost an eye in an accident when it got too close to the road while trying to grab a piece of gum dropped by a visitor. (That is a good reminder to always discard food properly: Leave no trace.) “Visitors are often very surprised that owls can be so tiny,” said Danielle Helmes, 22, part of a Maryland Conservation Corps crew working at Merkle. Screech owls aren’t much bigger than robins. Several easy paths lead through woods to ponds and marshes and along the Patuxent River. Keep your eyes and ears alert for groundhogs, deer, ducks, foxes or large flocks of geese that frequent the park. The Paw


Hirshhorn debuts free passes for the large crowds anticipated for Kusama exhibit

the experience. We needed to be thoughtful to maximize our visitors’ experience.” The general public can access the passes for the opening weekend — Feb. 23-27 — on Feb. 13 at noon on the museum’s website (hirshhorn.si.edu/kusama). The museum’s e-news subscribers will gain access at 11 a.m., a one-time perk. Yayoi Kusama's "All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins" is one of the Infinity Mirrors featured in the upcoming Hirshhorn Museum exhibition of the artist's work. (Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore and Victoria Miro, London. © Yayoi Kusama) Then, every Monday at noon for the next 11 weeks, passes for the following week will be released. On Feb. 20, the museum will release passes for Feb. 28-March 6; on Feb. 27, it will release passes for March 7-13; and so on. The show continues through May 14. The passes are in 15-minute increments from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The museum closes at 5:30 p.m. The Hirshhorn will distribute a limited number of walk-up passes each day. The week-by-week release allows the Hirshhorn to be “nimble and flexible” in response to visitor behavior, Duggal said. “We can adjust, see how long people are staying, and how people are engaging with the art,” she said. The Hirshhorn has contracted with Tickets.com to provide the passes. It is not the same vendor that provides passes for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the newest Smithsonian branch, which has struggled with visitor demand for its free passes since it opened Sept. 24. Duggal said the Hirshhorn has worked with visitor services specialists for a year to be ready for what she expects will be a record-setting show. It will launch a temporary coffee shop and visitor facility on its plaza, and it has recruited 120 volunteers and visitor attendants to assist guests. The museum will also increase the number of free lockers it provides for coats, backpacks and other visitor items. Hirshhorn members will not need a pass but will have access to a special members’ line (as well as to the exhibition preview). And the museum will offer tours to community, school and corporate groups on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m. “Our main goal is for each visitor to enjoy their experience,” Duggal said. “People interpret the infinity rooms differently, but it’s such a positive energy. It brings a smile to people’s faces.”


To kill or not to kill. There is no question for the raccoon roaming near my home.

good points about our country’s overuse of violence to solve problems. But their solutions don’t always make sense, either. The Humane Society offers this advice for dealing with raccoons that get inside your house: “[F]ind out if your unwanted guests in your house happen to be a mother raccoon with young. If so, the best thing to do is wait a few weeks until the babies grow old enough to leave with their mother — they won’t survive without her.” But raccoons spread rabies and roundworm. They can make your babies sick. They chew up electrical wires and can cause fires. The blaze could kill the raccoons. But your house could burn down in the process. The Humane Wildlife Conflict Resolution, based in Woodbridge, Va., boasts that “we utilize humane techniques so that we may evict the critter from your home.” As if raccoons were tenants that had fallen behind in the rent. Enter the gun. I live in a quiet Fort Washington neighborhood and do not want to alarm my neighbors. Hence the so called “Whisper Silent Cat” air rifle. Our neighborhood has hawks, owls and deer. Every now and then, an eagle shows up. I do not want to scare them away. The raccoons don’t make my list of protected species. And it is fur-bearing hunting season in Maryland. A bill before Congress to legalize the sale of suppressors has outraged violence prevention advocates, who argue that the legislation will make it easier for criminals and potential mass shooters to obtain devices to conceal attacks. As with most gun-control arguments, the advocates appear to lack basic firearms knowledge. I could make a suppressor from an automotive oil filter can. Any high school metal shop student could do it. I noticed the varmint problem getting worse after Prince George’s County cut back on trash collection a few months ago. A budget deficit was the reason given for going from two-days-a-week pickup to one. I could call the county’s Animal Management Division about the raccoon, but that could result in more deficit spending if too many other rodent-plagued residents did that. And the next thing you know, the county will be installing more speed cameras to make up for the loss. The University of Maryland’s Home and Garden Information Center recommends keeping garbage cans in a garage or shed or that they “be fastened tightly with strong straps and tied


Montgomery County Animal Watch

Montgomery county These cases were received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Silver Spring Dog attack: Silver Spring Alleged neglect: Winter Blues: At-Home Activities for Your Dog Laura Sharkey, owner of Woofs! Dog Training Center, offers tips on indoor activities, mental stimulation and how to keep your dog happy and occupied all winter long. Please leave your dog at home. Visit the website for details. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 6030 Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda. 301-983-5913. yourdogsfriend.org. Free. Humane Society adoptions The Montgomery County Humane Society’s private rescue shelter has dogs, puppies, cats and kittens available for adoption. Call 240-252-2555 or visit mchumane.org.MCHS Adoptions and Education Center, 601 S. Stonestreet Ave., Rockville. Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except holidays. Reduced FEES FOR CATS Cats and kittens will be available for adoption at the next open house of Friends of Montgomery County Animals at the following location. Call 301-977-4833 or visit fmca.org or facebook.com/fmcainfo.PetSmart at Milestone Center, 20924 Frederick Rd., Germantown. Hours: 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday. Cats at no-kill shelter Cats and kittens will be available for adoption through the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County’s no-kill shelter at the following location. For information, call 301-740-2511 or visit awlmc.org.Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County no-kill shelter, 12 Park Ave., Gaithersburg. Hours: 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton