Breweries find spaces — and a welcome — in D.C.

As brew lovers celebrated the growing popularity of craft beer during last week’s fifth annual D.C. Beer Week, real estate observers are marveling over the market changes that have seen the return of the first production breweries to the District since the Christian Heurich Brewing Co. shut down its Foggy Bottom brewing operations in 1956. Back when D.C. Beer Week first started in 2008, there were no production breweries in the District proper. Now there are three, and two more breweries are planning to open. The growing popularity of craft beer in the region dates back to 1992 when Capitol City Brewing Co. became the first “brewpub” to open in the city since Prohibition. Since then, numerous brewpubs have opened throughout the region. The chief distinction between these establishments and breweries is that brewpubs primarily brew beer for sale on site in their restaurant and bar locations, and as such they generally occupy retail/restaurant spaces. Production breweries, on the other hand, primarily produce beer sold off-site in local bars, restaurants and other outlets. As production facilities, they generally occupy industrial-quality space, with high ceilings and reinforced flooring to accommodate the brewing, bottling and distribution equipment. These days, the trend appears to be favoring more of a hybrid approach with the newest breweries serving their wares on site as well as having the production capacity for distribution. DC Brau Brewing Co. became the first production brewery inside the District lines since the Heurichs closed up shop. Originally operating in a modest 6,600-square-foot space at 3178 Bladensburg Rd. NE, the operation has since doubled in size (as of 2012) and currently operates out of 13,150 square feet. Next to follow suit was Chocolate City Beer, opening at 2801 8th S.t NE in 2011. Working out of a two-story brick industrial building, this operation now serves its brews at more than 40 different local restaurants. The most recently opened D.C. brewery is 3 Stars Brewing Co., which leased more than 15,000 square feet to open the largest of the D.C. breweries, at 6400 Chillum Pl. NW. This property has 22-foot-high ceilings, which provide ample room for the brewing equipment. On the horizon, there are at least two more players hoping to quench the thirst of D.C. beer aficionados. Atlas Brew Works has leased close to 14,000 square feet at 2052 West Virginia Ave. NE and plans to open this quarter. The soon-to-open BlueJacket


numerous brewpubs have opened throughout the region. The chief distinction between these establishments and breweries is that brewpubs primarily brew beer for sale on site in their restaurant and bar locations, and as such they generally occupy retail/restaurant spaces. Production breweries, on the other hand, primarily produce beer sold off-site in local bars, restaurants and other outlets. As production facilities, they generally occupy industrial-quality space, with high ceilings and reinforced flooring to accommodate the brewing, bottling and distribution equipment. These days, the trend appears to be favoring more of a hybrid approach with the newest breweries serving their wares on site as well as having the production capacity for distribution. DC Brau Brewing Co. became the first production brewery inside the District lines since the Heurichs closed up shop. Originally operating in a modest 6,600-square-foot space at 3178 Bladensburg Rd. NE, the operation has since doubled in size (as of 2012) and currently operates out of 13,150 square feet. Next to follow suit was Chocolate City Beer, opening at 2801 8th S.t NE in 2011. Working out of a two-story brick industrial building, this operation now serves its brews at more than 40 different local restaurants. The most recently opened D.C. brewery is 3 Stars Brewing Co., which leased more than 15,000 square feet to open the largest of the D.C. breweries, at 6400 Chillum Pl. NW. This property has 22-foot-high ceilings, which provide ample room for the brewing equipment. On the horizon, there are at least two more players hoping to quench the thirst of D.C. beer aficionados. Atlas Brew Works has leased close to 14,000 square feet at 2052 West Virginia Ave. NE and plans to open this quarter. The soon-to-open BlueJacket Brewery took a slightly more upscale approach than its predecessors. It converted a historic boilermaker building on the D.C. waterfront into a full production brewery, tasting room and restaurant housed in the 8,159-square-foot glass-enclosed space at 300 Tingey St. SE, near Washington Nationals stadium. The growing popularity for craft beer and the “buy local” trend appears to favor the possibility of more brewers making moves into the city, creating new demand for this kind of retail/industrial space. If the rapid growth in the D.C. brewery scene over the past five years is any sign, the future is looking pretty hoppy. Kirstie Boatright is a research manager with CoStar Group in Washington. More information available at www.costar.com.


Robert Samuelson: Housing, from bubble to bottleneck

on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages; now they’re about 4.4 percent. Affordability is high, as low rates and low home prices keep monthly payments down. And, finally, there’s this: About 90 percent of new mortgages are sold to government entities (Fannie, Freddie, the Federal Housing Administration and the Veterans Affairs Department). The originating lenders don’t seem to bear much risk if mortgages default. Appearances, though, are deceiving. Originating lenders (often large banks — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo) can still be forced to absorb the costs of default. After the housing bubble, Fannie and Freddie sued banks, claiming the lenders should take back bad loans that reflected negligence or fraud. Banks have repurchased or negotiated settlements on $95 billion of Fannie and Freddie mortgages, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. “On this point, the banks are right,” says Laurie Goodman, an analyst at Amherst Securities Group and the Urban Institute, a think tank. “They feel they have residual risk [for defaults] even though they’re paying Fannie and Freddie to take the risk” through fees. Defaults pose other potential costs, including damage to banks’ reputations. To avoid these costs, banks have embraced a simple strategy: Lend only to super-strong borrowers unlikely to default. Heavily dependent on credit, housing is straining to get it. The whole sector has moved from bubble to bottleneck. Its contribution to the recovery may disappoint. First-time and minority buyers especially struggle to borrow. “We all agree that credit was way too loose” in the bubble, says Goodman. “But credit is way, way tighter now than it was in 2002 and 2003” before the bubble, she says. Maybe falling unemployment and rising house prices — both credit pluses — will ease the anti-lending bias. Maybe regulatory changes involving Fannie and Freddie will encourage lending. Or maybe not. Public policy faces a contradiction. There’s a powerful impulse to blame banks for the financial crisis and to “make them pay.” Just recently, the Obama administration sued Bank of America, charging it with fraud in selling $850 million worth of mortgage-backed bonds. (The bank denied the charge.) These attacks remind banks of mortgage lending’s perils. “Every time a lender is publicly sued or flogged,” says Cecala, “makes it less likely they’ll loosen standards.” What’s politically convenient is economically damaging. Which do we favor? Read more on this topic: Charles Lane: The showdown over Freddie and Fannie profits Katrina vanden Heuvel: The


Russia’s anti-gay law brings controversy ahead of 2014 Sochi Olympics

deciding whether or when to speak out — particularly at the precise moment they have devoted years of training toward — can be difficult. Six years after competing in Beijing, his third and final Olympics, kayaker Scott Parsons of Bethesda says he still feels remorse for averting his eyes when he saw ancient homes being razed and entire blocks covered in tarpaulins as Chinese residents were displaced to make way for the Games. “I felt bad because I honestly, in a sense, turned my back on myself and what I was feeling about that stuff in order to prepare for the race,” recalled Parsons, 34. He finished 16th, out of the medals. “I was a little down after that race — not only because I kind of choked in the race but because of swallowing some of my morality.” As Parsons sees it, almost everything about the Olympics is political — particularly the selection of host cities. Given that, he thinks it’s both unfair and hypocritical to expect athletes to remain apolitical. “I think the athletes have a platform they should use as long as it’s respectful and nonviolent,” Parsons said. Swimmer Glenn Mills never got the chance to compete or speak on an Olympic stage, his opportunity scuttled by the 1980 boycott. Trained to refocus the moment anything went wrong in a meet, Mills immediately threw himself into preparing for the 1984 Games only to miss the cut by five-tenths of a second. Still, he believes that the 1980 U.S. Olympic team succeeded despite missing the Games. “It took 17 years of focus and work to accomplish that goal” of making the team, he said. “The reason we did it wasn’t for fame or glory but to prove that we had the potential to be the best at something.” Mills found the platform for making his political statement four years later, joining nine other American swimmers, many from the 1980 Olympic team, in defying a ban on competing in South Africa because of the nation’s policy of apartheid. They chose to go, Mills said, not to endorse apartheid but to support the South African swimmers who were barred from competing outside their country because of their government’s repugnant racial policy. After staging four meets around the country and a swimming clinic in a Zulu township, the Americans returned home to find USA Swimming had banned them for two years,


Training aims to help college police understand mental illness

held at Towson University on Monday for campus police and security personnel from nine Maryland schools. It was led by the Maryland chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness to help college law enforcement officials recognize — and appropriately respond to — mental illness in the wake of several high-profile incidents. Last year, Morgan State University student Alexander Kinyua brutally beat a young man on campus and weeks later killed, dismembered and partially consumed a family friend. Kinyua, 22, pleaded guilty to the murder Monday, but a judge found him not criminally responsible because of mental illness. And in February, a University of Maryland at College Park student shot and killed himself after murdering one of his roommates and wounding another, luring the young men outside by setting a series of fires. Mental illnesses typically manifest in people ages 16 to 24, with some college students experiencing their first episodes while away from home, mental health professionals said. They’re often scared, confused and don’t know where to turn for help. And sometimes, they attract the attention of police, who may not know how to react to irrational behavior. “Police are called in to provide safety, and ever increasing understanding of how to interpret the behavior of people is really key to their function. The police are not there on campus just to deal with people who are breaking the law,” said Greg Reising, director of Towson’s counseling center. Kate Farinholt, executive director of Maryland’s National Alliance on Mental Illness, said the training was the first time the organization had focused on campus police. It came about after Towson approached the alliance about setting up a program and invited other schools to participate. Eight signed up: Community colleges from Anne Arundel, Carroll and Baltimore counties; Loyola and Salisbury universities; Washington College in Chestertown; the University of Maryland at College Park, and the University of Baltimore. The training was a scaled-down version of a program the alliance offers for other law enforcement agencies. Farinholt stressed that it was “really an introduction” and said she hoped that individual agencies would coordinate with their campus counselors and others to seek more instruction. “This is only the toe in the water,” she said. Tyrell, the Washington College officer, called the session “huge.” “Issues [students] may have had at home are amplified [at school] because they’ve lost their support systems,” she said. — Baltimore Sun


Washington Post food calendar

AUG. 21 METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON RESTAURANT WEEK: AUG. 23 FARM-TO-FORK FREDERICK: WINE DINNER: AUG. 24 OYSTER TASTING: UNCORKED WINE AND MUSIC FESTIVAL: VIETFEST: AUG. 25 GOSPEL BRUNCH: OLD-FASHIONED SHOWDOWN: AUG. 26 COMPETITION DINNER: AUG. 27 CHEFS’ TASTING DINNER: COOKING CLASS: MASON DIXON MASTER CHEF TOURNAMENT: AUG. 28 BEER TASTING AND COOKING DEMO: — Becky Krystal SEND NOTICES to: To Do, Food, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071, or e-mail food@washpost.com, 14 days in advance. To find more calendar items, go to www.washingtonpost.com/gog/dc-events.html and click on "Food Events."


National Zoo to get three new Asian elephants, boosting herd

the zoo suffered $50 million in damage. The National Zoo examines Bozie, an elephant who developed an unknown illness but now seems healthier. Much of the zoo, including its elephant exhibit, remains closed. But the decision to relocate its elephants had been made before the flood, officials said. The Washington-bound elephants are Kamala, 38, Swarna, 38, and Maharani, 23. They will join the National Zoo’s females, Bozie, 37, Ambika, 65 — the second oldest Asian elephant in the country — and Shanthi, 38. The zoo also has a male, Kandula, 11. But a bigger herd means more mouths to feed. The zoo offers each elephant about 200 pounds of hay a day, Director Dennis Kelly said. That means daily consumption could go from about 800 pounds a day to 1,400 pounds day. Fortunately, he said, the zoo grows its own hay. The Calgary Zoo said in a statement that it will retain ownership of its elephants “for a period of time to ensure that their long-term needs continue to be met.” Kelly said that the transfer is likely to later become permanent. “Calgary has no intention of taking them back,” he said. David Rubenstein The Calgary Zoo’s male elephant, Ganesh, nicknamed Spike, is being sent to Busch Gardens in Tampa. The acquisition of the new elephants is the latest step in the National Zoo’s push to become a state-of-the-art center for elephant research and home to a large Asian elephant herd. Asian elephants are endangered. “It is completely in line with our strategic and scientific plan to grow a long-term, stable, matriarchal herd,” Kelly said. “We’ll see some aspects of this herd at the National Zoo 100 years from now.” In March, the zoo opened a new elephant community center, which resembles a sunny, indoor elephant sandbox. It was the second phase of the zoo’s $56 million Elephant Trails exhibit. The first part, which included a 5,700-square-foot barn, two new yards, a pool and a quarter-mile walkway through woods, opened in 2010. The zoo can now accommodate at least 10 elephants. “Once we made the commitment to Asian elephants and to renovate the facility, building a bigger facility, we knew that we needed to increase the size of our herd,” said Brandie Smith, the National Zoo’s senior curator. “And one of our top priorities has been to bring more elephants to the National Zoo,” she said. The Washington zoo knew


Warm bread and the future of independent restaurants

high-quality places including Chipotle, which uses naturally raised, antibiotic-free pork, and Sweetgreen, the salad purveyor committed to buying ingredients in season and from local farmers. “Everybody is going after the same very small discretionary budget,” says Kathy Hayden, a food service analyst with Mintel, another leading market research firm. Appreciated for their consistency but mindful of the need to stay fresh, casual chain restaurants are responding by “pulling out all the stops,” says Riggs. This summer, Olive Garden rolled out Tastes of Italy Small Plates, a promotion of snacks including grilled chicken spiedini and risotto “bites” at $3.99 each. The selections address a nation that’s still hungry for small plates. “People like something new,” says Jay Spenchian, Olive Garden’s vice president of marketing. For its part, the 700-unit Red Lobster revamped its menu last October so that 60 percent of its list is priced under $15 and a quarter of the choices are non-seafood, helping eliminate the dreaded “veto vote” by consumers who don’t like surf. In January, the chain reached out to Hispanic diners with an advertising campaign inviting them to try “La Experiencia de Red Lobster.” Watching your weight? Casual chain restaurants are eager to help you monitor any dieting, with Applebee’s serving lemon Parmesan shrimp over rice at under 550 calories and Olive Garden devoting a section of its menu to Lighter Italian Fare: lasagna primavera with grilled chicken and other entrees at under 575 calories. All this, even though only 24 percent of U.S. consumers say they eat healthfully when they dine out, the NPD Group reported this month. In an attempt to attract more patrons, many chains are extending their hours or “day parts.” Applebee’s stays open at least until midnight where permitted, and Outback Steakhouse now serves lunch seven days a week. A quarter of casual chain customers are known as “deal seekers” looking for the best price. “Meal deals get in traffic,” says Hayden, the food service analyst, “but not loyalty.” Ultimately, “it’s the food that matters.” Bret Thorn, senior food editor at the trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News, says the changes in casual chain restaurants are “driven by a more discerning public, and that’s driven by an increased interest in food” — thank you, “Top Chef” and not-so-top chefs on TV and elsewhere. Even basic dishes are being rethought. One of the first things Mike Archer, a former executive with Morton’s the


Fire chief denies confrontation with firefighter over picture of burning ambulance

The alleged confrontation over the picture is the latest chapter in what has become a bitter feud between the firefighters union and department leaders over equipment failures, poor response times, vacancies and stalled labor negotiations. An ambulance caught fire on a call earlier this month on Benning Road in Southeast Washington. The cause of the fire is under investigation. (Courtesy of D.C. firefighters Local union #36) The photo showing flames leaping from the engine of the ambulance provided an unflattering image of the department as the upkeep and viability of its fleet were being questioned. It was posted on the union’s Twitter page 23 minutes after the first fire engine arrived and was republished repeatedly by the news media, including The Washington Post. To the union, that fire and another in an ambulance the same day served as opportune metaphors for what it calls an ailing department. To city leaders, the occurrence of two ambulance fires hours apart was suspicious, prompting a Speaking on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt on NewsChannel 8 on Tuesday, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the investigation is continuing. She called the fires “a little suspicious.” The union says its members are not sabotaging vehicles to prove a larger point. The Post reported Sunday that fire investigators determined that the blaze in the photograph was accidental, possibly caused from rubber being too close to the air conditioner. That fire was the most severe of the two, causing $25,000 in damage to Medic 27, a 2006 Ford in the department’s reserve fleet with what one internal report described as a long history of maintenance problems. The crew was in an apartment helping a patient in the 4700 block of Benning Road SE when the fire was reported at 9:51 a.m. Engine 27, from Deanwood, where the crew is known as the “Deanwood Demons,” arrived at 9:56 a.m. The picture showing flames was first posted on the union’s Twitter page at 10:19 a.m. Engine 27 left the scene at 11:55 a.m. Edward C. Smith, president of Local 36, said the firefighter told him that Ellerbe “seemed very irate and wanted to know who had shot what on the phone.” Smith said the firefighter told him that the chief grabbed the phone from his hand but then gave it back. “The department should have a zero tolerance for workplace harassment or violence,” Smith said. Ellerbe said he responded


Harold Meyerson: For retailers, low wages aren’t working out

This Wal-Mart low-prices, low-wages thing isn’t working out so well — even for Wal-Mart. The company released its quarterly numbers last week, and they weren’t pretty. Same-store sales declined by 0.3 percent, and the company lowered its earnings-per-share forecast. Bad news wasn’t limited to Wal-Mart. At the low end of the retail consumer market, Kohl’s reported similarly bad news; Macy’s, a little higher up the food chain, lowered its earnings forecast as well. While Americans with money are boosting both the housing and auto markets, the growing number of Americans without are curtailing their shopping. As Douglas McMillon, chief executive of Wal-Mart International, noted last week, “When we do see good things in the economy, sometimes they don’t immediately flow through to a paycheck. Remember how the average American lives.” And who signs more paychecks than any private-sector employer on the planet? Ah, yes: Wal-Mart. But let’s not single out the Bentonville, Ark., behemoth unduly. The good things in the economy aren’t flowing through to paychecks anyplace else in the U.S. economy, either. Corporate profits — which comprise a larger share of the nation’s economy than at any time since World War II — are being plowed into share buybacks or dividend payments, but decidedly not into wage increases. Worse yet, a steadily higher share of the jobs created in the current “recovery” are low-wage positions in retail and restaurants, while wages for the new generation of auto workers are half that of their predecessors. The United States leads the industrial world in the percentage of its jobs that are low-wage. Fully 25 percent of the workforce makes less than two-thirds of the nation’s median wage — ahead of Britain (where just 21 percent hold such low-paying jobs), Germany (20 percent) and Japan (15 percent). This is not what the “We’re Number One!” chant presumably refers to, but it could. This is not the first time U.S. mass retailers have faced the problem of under-consumption. In the 1920s, as U.S. cities swelled, the low incomes of the new urban consumers posed a constant challenge to merchants. In contrast to today’s Walton family heirs, however, some of those merchants realized that the solution was to raise workers’ incomes. In the ’20s, Edward Filene, whose family owned both its eponymous chain and the Federated Department stores, called for the establishment of a minimum wage, unemployment insurance, a five-day workweek, legalized unions and


Marine Corps Marathon changes to flatter course

Augustus Maiyo won the 37th Marine Corps Marathon. The 38th running will present a flatter course. (Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press) When runners embark on the 2013 Marine Corps Marathon in late October, they will have a flatter course to traverse than they did the past six years. On Tuesday, race organizers released the map for the 38th running of the marathon, which, most notably, does not include the 150-foot grade that challenged runners as they made their way around the Georgetown Reservoir. It’s a change veterans of the marathon like Fort Washington’s George Banker welcome. “I won’t miss Reservoir Road. I will not stay awake at night wishing they bring it back,” said Banker, 63, who will run the Marine Corps Marathon for the 29th time this fall. “The average runner doesn’t like doing hills much anyway. Most don’t train on a lot of hills. If it were short and over with, it would be one thing, but that was just long enough to make you think about it.” Instead of turning left on to Canal Road after crossing the Key Bridge, then following it up the hill and making a hairpin turn where it meets Reservoir Road, runners will turn right onto M Street, head through Georgetown and then enter Rock Creek Parkway. The course, which turns at Beach and Shoreham Road, will mark the first time the marathon has ventured that far north along Rock Creek Park since 2006. Tami Faram, public relations coordinator for the marathon, explained that safety concerns about the congestion coming off the bridge and at the tight turn at the top of Canal Road led to removing that portion of the course. “For the safety of all our participants — runners and both the wheelchair and hand-cycle participants as well — we wanted to rethink the course,” Faram said. “To find a way to keep the major section in Georgetown still available to all the runners and spectators while eliminating that [segment] for safety reasons.” There is another slight alteration to the course that will take runners up Third Street to Constitution Avenue before crossing in front of the U.S. Capitol that was needed to ensure the marathon was still a 26.2-mile course. This year’s Marine Corps Marathon, which will be held Oct. 27, sold out in a record 2 hours 27 minutes. While a different course awaits those participants, it’s unlikely the


Syrian activists accuse government of deadly chemical attack near Damascus

asleep.” More than 130 videos were posted online showing the victims. In some, children lay on tiled floors, vomiting, convulsing and struggling to breathe as they were treated with hand-held respirators or as medics desperately administered chest compressions. In others, men sprawled on the floor of a makeshift hospital were hosed down with water in what appeared to be a desperate attempt to wash off the remnants of the poisonous gases. Majed Abu Ali, a medic in nearby Douma, said his team had treated 600 patients with symptoms that included reddened eyes with constricted pupils, vomiting, skin rashes, loose bowels and extreme difficulty in breathing. He said 65 people had died and that the “overwhelmed” medical staff had little to protect themselves from toxins. Some experts questioned the video evidence. “It strikes me as odd that the people who are treating the infected victims are not undressing them,” said Raymond Zilinskas, a biologist and former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq. “When you’re dealing with a chemical event, there is always a ‘red zone’ and a ‘green zone’ — always,” to protect medical providers. But others said the symptoms exhibited by victims were far more convincing than in any of the previous alleged chemical incidents. Amy Smithson, a senior fellow at the James C. Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said the photographic evidence “clearly indicates exposure to a toxic chemical,” citing a combination of telltale symptoms such as respiratory problems and twitching, and the near-absence of wounds that would be associated with conventional explosives. But she acknowledged that it was impossible to tell whether the apparent poisoning was caused by sarin or one of the other known toxins in Syria’s arsenal. “Regardless of whether this was a classic warfare agent like sarin, the Chemical Weapons Convention outlaws use of any toxic chemical for military purposes,” Smithson said. Jean Pascal Zanders, an expert on chemical and biological weapons at the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris, said in a blog posting that the photographs appeared to confirm “exposure to toxin,” but not necessarily nerve gas. He added, “It is clear that something terrible has happened. These scenes could not have been stage-managed.” Even the more-conservative opposition casualty estimates of Wednesday’s attack would make it the most extensive use of chemical weapons since 1988, when thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed in the Kurdish village of Halabja in an attack launched


D.C. news in brief

D.C. schools will host beautification day Saturday To help prepare for the first day of school, D.C. public schools will host a beautification day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The annual event, which began in 2005, will include landscaping, trash pickup, planting flowers and other jobs at more than 100 schools. Supplies are needed. During the event, schools will accept donations of new books, school supplies and beautification items. For information or to volunteer, go to www.dcps.dc.gov. Technology office launches mapping app The D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer has released DC Atlas Plus, an app designed as an all-inclusive reference tool for D.C. mapping and geographic information. Users can search more than 300 types of city data for addresses, intersections and place names; analyze and identify data; and create maps. The app improves on an earlier tool, Atlas All-in-One, by offering continuous data updates and a “My Maps” function, which allows users to bookmark, share and print the maps they have created, according to the office. The app is available at atlasplus.dcgis.dc.gov for personal computer or iPad. It is designed for use with Chrome, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox and Safari browsers. Nominations sought for historic preservation awards The D.C. Historic Preservation Office is seeking nominations for its 11th annual Excellence in Historic Preservation Awards. The six award categories are archaeology; design and construction; education; lifetime achievement (more than 20 years in historic preservation work); stewardship (efforts on behalf of a resource listed in the D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites or the National Register of Historic Places); and volunteerism and community involvement. Individuals, initiatives and specific completed projects are eligible for the awards. A ceremony in May will honor the winners. The nomination deadline is Oct. 11. To make a nomination, go to tinyurl.com/mulgyqk. For information, call 202-442-8835 or e-mail bruce.yarnall@dc.gov. — Compiled by Terence McArdle


At Etto, simple pleasures abound

The team behind Etto in Logan Circle is known for its pizza, but don’t limit yourself to pies. Everything is done well. One of the saddest things I hear from chefs, budding talents in particular, is that they need a rave review to fulfill their dream of appearing on TV or getting an award from a magazine so they can rub shoulders with Joséand Mario for a week in Aspen. I don’t begrudge anyone wanting to be a success; what bothers me is that celebrity has become the end goal, the brass ring. What happened to putting out consistently great food and making patrons happy? When did that become secondary to fame for celebrity’s sake? I ponder those questions every time I dine at Etto, the new restaurant in Logan Circle from the owners of 2 Amys and Garden District (formerly Standard). The collective pedigree of the Neapolitan pizzeria and the outdoor barbecue joint means tables are filled quickly once the door opens at Etto, which gives patrons a preview of its menu by displaying close-up-ready bowls of salads and vegetables on a front counter and by hanging photographs of sausages on its cream-colored walls. The newcomer’s chef is Cagla Onal-Urel, 37, whose name might not register even with insiders but whose work food devotees may have enjoyed at the three-star Obelisk in Dupont Circle, where she cooked for owner Peter Pastan for several years before returning to her native Turkey and hotel kitchens. Pastan invited Onal-Urel back to the United States to open Etto; her RSVP in the affirmative makes Washington a better place to eat. There’s a simplicity, a purity and a restraint to her cooking that I find irresistible — and that I wish more chefs took to heart. Given the 2 Amys connection, your mission at Etto is probably pizza. I suggest you slow down, and smell the sausages first. The chef and company make some luscious links, among them a racy chorizo, a rugged wild boar and a pork sausage seasoned with fennel pollen and sweetened with orange peel. Together with some dense brown bread, loaves of which line the shelves near the oak-fired pizza oven, and maybe a syrah on tap, per the current fashion, the charcuterie makes a strong case for simple pleasures. A salad or two should also find their way to your table. Shaved celery and toasted walnuts in a gloss


U.N. chief dispatches top official to Syria, seeks access to alleged chemical attack site

some recent success in repelling government forces. Sama Masoud, an opposition activist who lives in one of the targeted neighborhoods, said panicked residents did not know whether to stay in their homes or flee. “The fiance of my sister has died,” she said. “My friend, her husband and her husband’s uncle — all dead while asleep.” More than 130 videos were posted online showing the victims. In some, children lay on tiled floors, vomiting, convulsing and struggling to breathe as they were treated with hand-held respirators or as medics desperately administered chest compressions. In others, men sprawled on the floor of a makeshift hospital were hosed down with water in what appeared to be a desperate attempt to wash off the remnants of the poisonous gases. Majed Abu Ali, a medic in nearby Douma, said his team had treated 600 patients with symptoms that included reddened eyes with constricted pupils, vomiting, skin rashes, loose bowels and extreme difficulty in breathing. He said 65 people had died and that the “overwhelmed” medical staff had little to protect themselves from toxins. Some experts questioned the video evidence. “It strikes me as odd that the people who are treating the infected victims are not undressing them,” said Raymond Zilinskas, a biologist and former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq. “When you’re dealing with a chemical event, there is always a ‘red zone’ and a ‘green zone’ — always,” to protect medical providers. But others said the symptoms exhibited by victims were far more convincing than in any of the previous alleged chemical incidents. Amy Smithson, a senior fellow at the James C. Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said the photographic evidence “clearly indicates exposure to a toxic chemical,” citing a combination of telltale symptoms such as respiratory problems and twitching, and the near-absence of wounds that would be associated with conventional explosives. But she acknowledged that it was impossible to tell whether the apparent poisoning was caused by sarin or one of the other known toxins in Syria’s arsenal. “Regardless of whether this was a classic warfare agent like sarin, the Chemical Weapons Convention outlaws use of any toxic chemical for military purposes,” Smithson said. Jean Pascal Zanders, an expert on chemical and biological weapons at the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris, said in a blog posting that the photographs appeared to confirm “exposure to toxin,” but not necessarily nerve gas.


Study finds ‘incomplete’ employer support, knowledge of USERRA

support for and knowledge of the law but says no substantial revisions are needed to the legislation. The study finds that one-quarter of employers of citizen-soldiers admit to not knowing all they need to, including their obligations to the employee or where to go for assistance, in order to comply with the law. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act is meant to ensure that National Guard and reserve troops returning to their civilian jobs are not penalized for their military service and that active-duty troops are not denied jobs because of their service. The Washington Post reported last year that the federal government, the largest employer of citizen soldiers, is the biggest offender of the law. In fiscal 2011, more than 18 percent of the 1,548 violation complaints involved federal agencies. The analysis found no evidence that federal agencies are “less supportive” of citizen-soldiers than private-sector employers. But two of the eight senior reserve component chiefs interviewed for the study pointed to problems with federal agencies in their support for the National Guard and the reserves. “The federal government is in the bottom tier of employers that understand that the folks they have are also members of the military,” one of the reserve component chiefs told the study authors. Another reserve component chief said that the “biggest challenge we have is the [federal] government.” He also said that “the problems seem to stem from a failure on the part of central offices to communicate USERRA-related policies to lower levels of the organization,” according to the report. USERRA, which was enacted in 1994 to ensure that members of the military do not face a disadvantage in their civilian careers because of their service, calls on the government to be “a model employer” for service members. Following the Post’s story, President Obama issued a memorandum in July 2012 directing the leaders of federal agencies to ensure “robust compliance” with USERRA across the federal government, and the Office of Personnel Management instructed senior federal executives to show “zero tolerance” for violations of the law in the federal workforce. Members of the National Guard and the reserves working for the federal government were the most likely to rate their employers as supportive, according to the Rand study. The study recommends continued efforts by the Department of Defense to promote awareness of the protections afforded to current and former members of the military.


Troubled veterans may suffer from something other than PTSD

this problem, it might be helpful to distinguish the experience of fighting a war from the experience of serving in the military during wartime. The looming threat of year-on, year-off deployments places a psychological burden on all service members — regardless of whether one is ever deployed — and may encourage risk-taking behavior or a live-for-the-day mentality that develops in response to a highly uncertain future. Compounding this phenomenon, young people who seek danger are perhaps more likely to join the military in times of war than in peacetime. People with a genetic predisposition to thrill-seekingmight also be more likely to drink, to use drugs, to suffer financial ruin, to get divorced — in short, to act in ways that have been shown to correlate strongly with suicide. In thinking about this problem, combat-related trauma should be a factor, but so should the character of military recruits before they see action. Other considerations are the structural character of the military, which is capable of rendering draconian shades of misery at a strength, if not intensity, that rivals the better-documented horrors of the battlefield. In 2003, I received stop-loss orders. They meant that instead of getting out of the Army after two years, as I had expected, I would instead be deployed to Iraq. Eighteen months later, when the stop-loss order was finally lifted, I had spent almost twice as much time on active duty as I had signed up for. After I was discharged, I remained a member of the Individual Ready Reserve but thought I was finished with the Army. Then one day, years later, I received a letter ordering me to report for “muster duty” at a mobilization center. There, after considering whether I wanted to chance being called back to active duty, I signed an addendum to my enlistment contract that obligated me to attend weekend drill once a month but that also guaranteed I could not be deployed for the remainder of my time in service. Combat brings its own long-lasting privations — most notably to the civilians who live in places where wars are fought — but the institution of the Army caused me as much sustained mental hardship as any traumatic thing I saw or did while fighting overseas. A collection of Tom Toles cartoons about international news. I know I am lucky to be able to make that statement. I am also lucky


Seeing stars in Tucson’s brilliant night sky

using sparkling-green lasers, point out stars and planets to a handful of guests. The air is filled with the futile hum of fans and an occasional deep rumble as one of the docents rotates the dome to point the telescope at something new. Two young couples from Honduras take turns climbing the two steps to look through the eyepiece. “Wow,” says one of the women. “We like ‘wow,’ ” says docent David Acklam with a smile. When it’s my turn, I see what the woman means. The moon looks so close that only a slice is visible at a time. You can see craters within craters, everything as bright and sharp as glass. Acklam explains that with telescopes, it’s not about length, it’s about diameter; the larger the mirror inside, the more light it collects and the more detail it reveals. The Cassegrain is a 16-inch (diameter) telescope, which means that its main mirror is just over 200 square inches. The next afternoon, I’m back at the university, or more accurately, under it. The Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, one of the few facilities that can make mirrors for the world’s largest telescopes, fills most of the space beneath Arizona Stadium, the 50,000-seat home of the Wildcats football team. A guide leads our tour group down a set of steel stairs to a cavernous space filled with ultra-high technology on an industrial scale. We look down on a round mirror the size of a modest living room. It’s just part of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, destined for a mountaintop in northern Chile. Astronomers will stitch together images from its 3,200-megapixel camera to create unparalleled images of the night sky and eventually a 3-D map of the universe. A spinning machine is slowly polishing the mirror like a Zamboni on the world’s most expensive hockey rink. There’s no room for error: The surface needs to be almost perfectly smooth, no imperfections larger than 20 billionths of a meter. Another mirror being polished, this one 27 feet across, is one of seven that will make up the Giant Magellan Telescope, also planned for Chile. (The country’s mountainous, bone-dry northern desert is the current hot spot for large-scale astronomy.) When it’s operational in about a decade, the GMT will probably be the most advanced telescope on Earth. The next room holds the lab’s famous rotating oven, where bricks of borosilicate glass are melted


Domestic briefs: U.S. soldier apologizes for Afghan murders

MILITARY Soldier apologizes for Afghan murders A decorated U.S. soldier who gunned down 16 unarmed Afghan civilians in a nighttime rampage apologized Thursday at a sentencing hearing to determine his fate, calling the killings “an act of cowardice.” Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 40, a veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has admitted to shooting the villagers, mostly women and children, in attacks on their compounds in Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. “Sorry just isn’t good enough, but I am sorry,” Bales told a jury in a military courtroom in Washington state. “What I did is an act of cowardice.” The father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., pleaded guilty to the killings in June in a deal that will spare him the death penalty. The jury of six military personnel is tasked with deciding whether he will spend the rest of his life in prison or if he will be eligible for parole after 20 years. — From news services NEW YORK City council rejects stop-and-frisk vetoes The New York City Council on Thursday overrode Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s vetoes to create a watchdog for the nation’s biggest police department and make it easier to file profiling claims against officers, amid applause from supporters and angry warnings from opponents. Bloomberg said the new oversight will make it harder for police officers to fight crime. But proponents see it as a check on a police force that has come under scrutiny for its heavy use of a tactic known as “stop and frisk” and its extensive surveillance of Muslims. The vote came less than two weeks after a federal judge ordered an outside monitor to reform stop-and-frisk. — Associated Press GEORGIA Obama calls woman who calmed gunman President Obama on Thursday called to thank the woman who prevented a potential mass shooting at an Atlanta area school by befriending a man with an AK-47 rifle and convincing him to surrender to police, the White House said. Antoinette Tuff was sitting in the front office of the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy when Michael Brandon Hill, 20, walked in brandishing his gun. On a recording of a 911 call, Tuff can be heard calmly talking Hill out of causing harm and reassuring him that giving up was the right thing to do. Hill exchanged gunfire with police, but no students were injured. — Reuters MERS virus found


At Sochi Olympics, the podium can be a platform

Protestors hold graphic images of Russian President Vladimir Putin wearing lipstick during a protest against Russian anti-gay laws opposite the Russian embassy Friday in Madrid. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images) Any young athletes out there wondering what to do about the Sochi Olympics, don’t listen to the spine-caved International Olympic Committee. Instead listen to the plain voice of Martin Luther King Jr. He wasn’t an athlete, unless pool-sharking counted, but he was more observant of sports than you would suppose, and he was especially interested in the Olympics as a stage for disobedience. There is no question he would tell today’s athletes, “Protest.” The Olympics have become a direct cause of human rights abuses: In three of the last four venues selected by the IOC, we’ve had detention and torture of anti-Olympic protestors in Beijing; tear gas and rubber bullets for similar protestors in Rio; and forced evictions, labor exploitation and the threat of arrest for anyone who happens to be too visibly homosexual in Sochi. The IOC would have us think these are delicate moral matrices and none of its affair and insists that athletes be apolitical. To which King would have replied, in that piercingly truthful alto, that any organization that “continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.” This isn’t speculation. We have evidence that King viewed the Olympics as a platform for protest. Fifty years ago, King gave his most famous speech, but 45 years ago this summer, he was involved in a lesser-known episode, when he urged John Carlos and Tommie Smith to take the action that became their immortal black-gloved salute at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City. King’s influence on them — and what he had to say about the Olympics — is worth reexamining in light of the Sochi Games and the questions athletes might have about sanctioning them. Smith, Carlos and other black amateur athletes led by Harry Edwards attempted to organize a boycott of Mexico City based on a range of racial injustices and formed an organization called the Olympic Project for Human Rights. “Why should we run in Mexico only to crawl home?” they asked. In early 1968, King met with them in New York and told them he would publicly support the group’s boycott. When Carlos asked him why, this was his answer, as recounted by Carlos in his memoir co-written with Dave


Md. LGBT group to protest band’s anti-gay lyrics at Fillmore Silver Spring

LGBT activists will stage an “educational picket” at the Fillmore Silver Spring on Monday evening to protest homophobic lyrics used by the Mexican rap-metal band Molotov, which is scheduled to perform. “We’re going to be talking to fans and ask them to sign a petition to encourage Molotov not to use anti-gay phrases,” said Carrie Evans, executive director of Equality Maryland. Evans said there would be no attempt to encourage ticket holders to boycott the performance. “We really want to just have a conversation with them as they go in to enjoy the concert and talk about why words matter and why some words are hurtful to the LGBT community,” she said. The title of one of the band’s songs is a Spanish slur against gay men. Last month, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett asked Live Nation, the concert promoting company that rents the building from the county, to cancel the booking. Live Nation officials declined, citing other U.S. performances, including a 2011 appearance at the 9:30 Club, that went ahead without protest.


National Zoo’s panda Mei Xiang gives birth

Xiang has delivered two surviving cubs since 2005, Tai Shan in July 2005 and Bao Bao in August 2013. She gave birth to a stillborn cub about 26 hours after Bao Bao. In Septempter 2012, she gave birth to a cub with liver abnormalities that died days later. “We feel incredible,” said Dennis Kelly, the zoo’s director. “The team is just ecstatic. But we’re also very cautious at this point. We look like we have a healthy cub. It’s squawking appropriately. . . . It looks like it’s a good size. So all that is so far, so good.” The zoo said it was watching to see whether a second cub might be born because giant pandas frequently bear twins. “There’s a window that runs from two to six hours after the first birth, where we are watching carefully for a twin,” Kelly said. As of 8 p.m., Mei Xiang was still having contractions. But as of only a few minutes before midnight, no second birth was reported. “In the next couple of hours, we’re looking for Mom to take care” of the newborn, Kelly said shortly after the birth. “If it were premature, we would see the lungs begin to shut down. So far, none of that’s indicated. What we’re looking for is continued squealing. We’re looking for evidence that it’s nursing.” “It’s just a very anxious time for us,” he said. “But Mei’s a good mom.” Kelly said he witnessed the birth on the panda cam, which faltered because so many people were tuning in, he said. Take a look at some of the animals born at the National Zoo. The zoo said it planned a quick physical examination of the cub Saturday. One keeper will distract the mother with food, while another, wearing Kevlar gloves, will take the cub to a nearby examination table. The zoo has not done that before, to avoid interfering with the mother-cub bonding. But panda experts in China do it regularly, and other zoos are starting to do it to make certain the cubs are in good health, zoo officials said. Two of the zoo’s panda keepers have been studying the procedure in China for the past two weeks. Experts will check the cub’s size, weight and body temperature and go over the body for any abnormalities. In September, Mei Xiang gave birth to a four-ounce girl, but it died six days


to shut down. So far, none of that’s indicated. What we’re looking for is continued squealing. We’re looking for evidence that it’s nursing.” “It’s just a very anxious time for us,” he said. “But Mei’s a good mom.” Kelly said he witnessed the birth on the panda cam, which faltered because so many people were tuning in, he said. Take a look at some of the animals born at the National Zoo. The zoo said it planned a quick physical examination of the cub Saturday. One keeper will distract the mother with food, while another, wearing Kevlar gloves, will take the cub to a nearby examination table. The zoo has not done that before, to avoid interfering with the mother-cub bonding. But panda experts in China do it regularly, and other zoos are starting to do it to make certain the cubs are in good health, zoo officials said. Two of the zoo’s panda keepers have been studying the procedure in China for the past two weeks. Experts will check the cub’s size, weight and body temperature and go over the body for any abnormalities. In September, Mei Xiang gave birth to a four-ounce girl, but it died six days later. The cub had underdeveloped lungs that led to liver problems. The zoo’s new cameras were activated just several weeks ago. As word spread that Mei Xiang had gone into labor, zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson said: “We’re thrilled! . . . Everybody’s watching!” The zoo had gone on a round-the-clock pregnancy watch Aug. 7 and closed the panda house the next day after announcing that Mei Xiang was starting the closing phase of her gestation period. It is difficult to determine if a giant panda is pregnant, because it goes through the same physiological stages whether it is bearing a cub or not. The conclusive evidence is the arrival of a cub or the close of the period with no cub. Mei Xiang gave birth to the much-loved Tai Shan in 2005, who was sent to a breeding program in China in 2010. After his birth, Mei Xiang had five false pregnancies between 2007 and 2012. And before last year’s pregnancy, the zoo had been talking to Chinese officials about the possibility of replacing her. China owns all giant pandas in U.S. zoos. But her pregnancy changed things. On March 30, Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated twice after natural breeding


As Syrian rebels’ losses mount, teenagers begin filling ranks

attempting to use Zaatari as a recruitment center, and we are doing everything in our power to make sure it stays a refugee camp and not a military camp,” Andrew Harper, the U.N. refugee agency’s representative in Jordan, said in an interview. After more than two years of conflict that has already claimed more than 100,000 lives, some rebel commanders defend the use of teenage fighters as inevitable. “Many of these young men’s fathers and older brothers have died before them,” said Abu Diyaa al-Hourani, commander of a Free Syrian Army battalion outside the Syrian border town of Sheikh al-Maskin. He said that Syrians as young as 15 serve in his 800-man unit, whose average age has plunged to 19, down from 25 not long ago. “It is only natural for the next generation to carry on the fight,” he said. Conscription in the Syrian army is compulsory for all males once they reach the age of 18, according to the military. At the camp, rebel officials say that theirs remains an all-volunteer force and that prospective recruits are carefully vetted. But the officials acknowledged that verifying birth dates may be all but impossible in camps where few refugees have access to birth documents. “At the end of the day, if they can carry a gun and are willing to fight, who are we to say they can’t?” said Ayman al-Hariri, a member of the Syrian National Council, an umbrella opposition group, who coordinates repatriation from Zaatari, home to more than 100,000 Syrians. The families of the young fighters receive monthly benefits from the Free Syrian Army, including salaries and even priority in the distribution of food aid and cash assistance within the camp, refugee officials said. In interviews, several parents — some of whom arrived in Zaatari with little more than the clothes on their backs — said those incentives had influenced their family’s decision. Um Majed al-Homsawi, 45, said she allowed her 17-year-old son, Ahmed, to return to Syria to fight only after recruiters agreed to provide her family with a fully furnished trailer complete with air conditioning, an upgrade from their standard-issue U.N. canvas tent. “My daughter has asthma and my husband has had three heart operations — we couldn’t survive in a tent in the desert,” Homsawi said as she placed a kettle atop a propane stove in her recently delivered trailer. “My son decided to


Zoo grabs at chance for checkup of newborn giant panda cub

The National Zoo’s giant female panda Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub on Friday. The National Zoo’s female giant panda gave birth Saturday night to a second cub, but it was stillborn, the zoo said. The stillbirth occurred about 26 hours after Mei Xiang had given birth to a live cub. The zoo said keepers watching Mei Xiang on a panda cam saw her groom the stillborn cub for 17 minutes. But after the grooming stopped, the stillborn cub fell from the mother’s body onto the floor of the den, where it lay, without sound or movement. Through this period, the zoo said, staff members could see the silent second cub, and hear the squeals of the cub that was born Friday. That cub “continues to do well,” a zoo spokeswoman said by e-mail about 11 p.m. Saturday. Equipment described as a “grabbing device” was used to retrieve the second cub. The zoo said it was evident at once that the cub had developmental abnormalities. Mei Xiang has delivered two surviving cubs since 2005, Tai Shan in July 2005 and Bao Bao in August 2013. She gave birth to a stillborn cub about 26 hours after Bao Bao. In Septempter 2012, she gave birth to a cub with liver abnormalities that died days later. It was not fully formed and was never alive, the zoo said. A necropsy, similar to an autopsy, was under way Saturday night, according to t he zoo. Earlier Saturday, panda keepers had tried to take the first cub from its mother’s grasp for a brief but crucial physical exam. They call it the grab, a gently choreographed and dangerous procedure. It’s never been done at the Smithsonian National Zoo. On Saturday, a team of keepers, curators and veterinarians tried it for the first time. The plan was for one keeper to distract Mei with honey, sugar cane and a pear while another keeper took the cub from her and handed it to a veterinarian. After a quick once-over — a check of weight, length and general health — the cub would be returned to its mother. Take a look at some of the animals born at the National Zoo. The team tried once Saturday morning but couldn’t distract Mei. She sniffed at the pear but stayed focused on the cub, which she kept cradled under her chin. “It’s not in a position where we


At National Zoo, ‘five minutes of pure terror’

The National Zoo’s giant female panda Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub on Friday. For a few terrifying minutes Saturday night, keepers at the National Zoo thought their precious day-old giant panda cub might be dead. The zoo’s panda cameras appeared to show the vibrant, squirming cub of Friday now lying silent and unresponsive on the abdomen of its mother, Mei Xiang. Memories of the death of the zoo’s 6-day-old panda cub last September came flooding back. Then the keepers heard robust squealing coming from elsewhere. They realized — to their joy and sorrow — that what they were seeing on camera wasn’t the first cub, but the stillborn body of a second cub. “In the circle of life there are always joys and sadnesses,” Don Moore, the zoo’s associate director of animal care sciences, said Sunday. Mei Xiang has delivered two surviving cubs since 2005, Tai Shan in July 2005 and Bao Bao in August 2013. She gave birth to a stillborn cub about 26 hours after Bao Bao. In Septempter 2012, she gave birth to a cub with liver abnormalities that died days later. As zoo officials recounted the tense moments of Saturday night, senior curator Brandie Smith teared up as she told of the “five minutes of pure terror,” followed by relief when they realized what had happened. When the dead cub was first spotted, “there was full-blown panic,” Smith said. Keepers had not seen the second cub’s birth. “All we saw was a cub that was not moving,” she said. “I know a lot of people that are very sad about the stillbirth of the second cub,” she said at a Sunday morning news briefing at the zoo. “But I have to say that [after] those moments of pure sorrow and panic, especially after last year, I have nothing but joy that we have one cub that is very healthy and doing well.” “I am full of joy and happiness this morning,” Smith said Sunday. The whole time, Mei Xiang had the first cub tucked under her arm where keepers didn’t notice it until it squealed. Sunday, the zoo released photos of the surviving cub, which showed a small, palm-size animal with pink skin that is already covered in short, white fur. Zoo chief veterinarian Suzan Murray, who examined the cub, said it felt like a strong kitten, “much stronger than I had anticipated,” she


Smith teared up as she told of the “five minutes of pure terror,” followed by relief when they realized what had happened. When the dead cub was first spotted, “there was full-blown panic,” Smith said. Keepers had not seen the second cub’s birth. “All we saw was a cub that was not moving,” she said. “I know a lot of people that are very sad about the stillbirth of the second cub,” she said at a Sunday morning news briefing at the zoo. “But I have to say that [after] those moments of pure sorrow and panic, especially after last year, I have nothing but joy that we have one cub that is very healthy and doing well.” “I am full of joy and happiness this morning,” Smith said Sunday. The whole time, Mei Xiang had the first cub tucked under her arm where keepers didn’t notice it until it squealed. Sunday, the zoo released photos of the surviving cub, which showed a small, palm-size animal with pink skin that is already covered in short, white fur. Zoo chief veterinarian Suzan Murray, who examined the cub, said it felt like a strong kitten, “much stronger than I had anticipated,” she said. She said this was the first time she had held such a young giant panda. The animal weighs 4.8 ounces, and its eyes are still closed. The zoo was able to get a mouth swab, from which DNA may be extracted and used to establish paternity. Mei, 15, was inseminated in March with semen from two giant pandas. The photos were taken during a physical examination after the cub was taken from its mother Sunday morning. In a delicate maneuver, one keeper distracted Mei Xiang with food, while another removed the squealing cub from under her arm. The examination was conducted immediately outside the den. Biologist and keeper Laurie Thompson had the unenviable task of returning the cub to a visibly agitated 240-pound bear that was standing up and “vocalizing” unhappily. “So I knew I had to be very careful about putting the cub in,” Thompson said. Her only protection was a pair of rubber gloves. Giant pandas have very powerful jaws and claws. “I didn’t want to stick my hands right near her.” Thompson said she waited until Mei Xiang backed away from the bars of the enclosure. The keeper said she then squatted down, placed the cub


Mexican drug cartel activity in U.S. said to be exaggerated in widely cited federal report

“war on drugs” of promoting questionable statistics in an attempt to quantify the drug problem in the United States and justify budgets. “Washington loves mythical numbers,” said John Carnevale, a former drug policy and budget official who served three presidents and four “drug czars” at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “Once the number is out there and it comes from a source perceived to be credible, it becomes hard to disprove, almost impossible, even when it’s wrong.” NDIC closed in June 2012 after 19 years of operation and more than $690 million in taxpayers’ money spent. But the NDIC number lives on, cited in congressional reports on security along the Southwest border and in testimony by high-ranking members of the military and key lawmakers on Capitol Hill. “The cartels now have a presence in more than 1,000 U. S. cities,” said a 2012 report by the House Homeland Security oversight subcommittee on violence and terrorism on the Southwest border. “A terrorist insurgency is being waged along our Southern border,” then-House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Connie Mack (R-Fla.) said during a 2011 hearing on combating international criminal organizations. He cited “the operations across Mexico and Central America, as well as in over 1,000 U.S. cities.” Drug policy analysts called NDIC’s definitions of what constitutes a Mexican drug organization murky and not particularly useful, paving the way for confusion and misinterpretation. In its 2010 report, the center used the phrase “Mexican drug trafficking organizations,” defining them as being based in Mexico or the United States, with Mexican nationals serving as their leaders. The report’s definition of “presence” in a U.S. city was met if at least one member of the organization was engaged in “some type of trafficking activity.” In its 2011 report, the center used the phrase “transnational criminal organizations,” and said they included seven cartels based in Mexico, the well-known Sinaloa and Zetas syndicates among them. The report broadened the definition in a footnote to include traffickers who purchased drugs from cartel associates. Under such definitions, the analysts said, anyone from Mexico caught selling a small amount of marijuana in a U.S. city could be counted as a Mexican drug organization or cartel presence. “These definitions are interchangeable and indistinguishable,” said Peter Andreas, a drug policy analyst at Brown University who has written a book about the politics of drug policy called “Border Games: Policing the


Delta Associates: More grocery stores are coming, but they face online competition

2.8 million square feet, under construction or renovation in the area as of June. There are additional grocery-anchored shopping centers in the planning stages, some of which may be ready by late 2014 or early 2015. As lending continues to loosen, groundbreakings should gain momentum. In additional to traditional stores, many alternatives are popping up. In 2005, specialty and high-end grocery stores captured just 6 percent of the market in the Washington area. However, in 2013, these types of stores represent 11 percent of market share. Trader Joe’s, an example of this type of store, will open its second location in the District – in the U Street corridor – in late 2013 or early 2014. Clarendon added a Trader Joe’s in 2011. Online grocery shopping is also becoming more popular, particularly in crowded urban areas. In the Washington and Baltimore markets, the grocery delivery start-up Relay Foods received an $8.25 billion investment to expand its business. Meanwhile, shoppers who do not want to pay for delivery service can still order groceries online through Peapod (owned by Giant Food) and pick them up at a Giant Food store. New pickup locations are opening in Montgomery County and Centreville. Harris Teeter offers a similar in-store pickup service with a fee for online ordering. Of note, this approach turns a potential negative for traditional grocers (consumers migrating to online options) into a net gain (additional revenue from online shopping fees). Many shoppers are likely to continue to value in-store shopping, but it should reflect a quality experience that competes effectively with the convenience and personalized nature of shopping online or at specialty retailers. Retail market outlook With substantial demand for high-quality retail space, property owners are likely to continue to invest, where the cash is available, in repositioning existing under-performing assets — either upgrading or transforming shopping centers. Currently, tenants seeking space are interested in newer space with significant foot traffic. Centers that focus on everyday needs, such as groceries and other necessities, remain successful during slow-growth periods. While the region’s low vacancy rate allows for new projects at this time, developers should be mindful of the competition presented by big-box retailers and online shopping. Consumers who venture to new centers are seeking an experience they cannot find elsewhere. Sandy Paul is executive vice president at Delta Associates. Staff at Delta Associates contributed to this article. For more information, please visit www.deltaassociates.com.


Wallops Island to launch rocket to moon

For the first time, a spacecraft is to be launched from Virginia to the moon. The launch is scheduled for Sept. 6 from NASA’s facility at Wallops Island on Virginia’s Atlantic coast. If all follows the plan, and the clouds cooperate, the 11:27 p.m. launch should be visible in Washington and in much of the Northeast. The mission will not land on the moon, but it is intended to go into orbit around it. The robotic mission is to collect detailed information about the moon’s thin atmosphere. Sometimes thought to be nonexistent, the lunar atmosphere has been described as extremely tenuous and fragile, but present. According to the space agency, the launch will record many firsts. One will be the first launch beyond Earth orbit from the Virginia facility. It also will be the first flight for the Minotaur V rocket, NASA said. NASA said the five-stage Air Force rocket is an excess ballistic missile that was transformed into a space-launch vehicle. It will boost the space probe into position for it to reach lunar orbit. Illustrating the expansion of space-related activities in the Washington region, it will be operated by a Virginia corporation: Orbital Sciences of Dulles. The probe that is to actually orbit the moon on a 100-day mission is the size of a small automobile, NASA said. Its name is the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE. Besides studying the lunar atmosphere, the mission is to find out whether dust is lofting from the lunar surface into the sky. According to NASA, information about the moon’s atmosphere and about the behavior of lunar dust will contribute to the understanding of other celestial bodies, including Mercury, large asteroids and the moons of other planets.


Park Service proposes culling deer at Manassas battlefield

Doe-eyed interlopers are eating everything in sight on the hallowed Civil War ground of Manassas National Battlefield Park. The deer population has exploded in recent years, and the effect on battleground land and its large forested areas has been drastic, National Park Service officials said. Jurisdictions elsewhere in Virginia, and across the country have responded by sponsoring hunts to reduce the deer’s numbers. The National Park Service has offered several ideas for dealing with the problem at the battlefield, including birth control and building huge fences. But battlefield officials say the only feasible short-term option is to hunt the deer and quickly reduce their number over the next few years. “The idea would be to preserve this area in as natural a state as we can,” said Bryan Gorsira, a Park Service manager who has studied the deer issue in Manassas for more than a decade. There are about 165 deer per square mile in the eight-square-mile park, he said. A public feedback session on the proposed Manassas Battlefield cull has been scheduled for Thursday. The decision will apply to battlefields in Maryland — Antietam, in Sharpsburg, and Monocacy in Frederick, both of which have scheduled public meetings on the issue. Manassas officials plan to assess the public feedback this fall and make a final decision by next fall. The deer carry disease, eat as much as they can of the vegetation in the forests and are often hit by cars on the roads through the battlefield park, park Superintendent Ed W. Clark said. There is a marked browse line along the park’s wooded periphery, because the deer have eaten all the vegetation from the ground up. The browse line has affected the forest’s ecology and visitors’ experience of the park, Clark said. The National Park Service knows that the prospect of killing animals can be contentious. “People have an affinity for large furry animals, so we certainly expect some interest,” Clark said. “But looking at a way to manage the herd is a smart thing to undertake, and it’s us doing our job to be good stewards of the Manassas National Battlefield Park.” Deer “harvests,” as the agency calls them, are in place across the country, including the District. The plan for sharpshooting deer on Park Service land around Rock Creek Park caused an uproar, including protests and an unsuccessful lawsuit. Nonetheless, sharpshooters killed about 20 deer over three


Cosmic portraits and out-of-this-world sweet treats

Sergio Albiac’s “Stardust” portraits merge personal photographs with images taken from the Hubble Space Telescope. (Sergio Albiac/Imagery from STScI) Culture Outer space gets artist’s treatment, and a baker makes out-of-this-world treats Stardust portraits by Sergio Albiac, Planetary cakes by Cakecrumbs Though we may not always feel it, we are all a part of the cosmos. Artist Sergio Albiac has found a way to make us see that connection more literally. His project, “ If you’d like to see how you look fused with a star formation, for example, you can send a picture of yourself to Albiac at www.sergioalbiac.com. Using an automated software program, he’ll blend your selfie with an ethereal image taken by NASA. (The result gives a whole new meaning to the idea of having your head in the clouds.) The images will be displayed online in a Flickr gallery, and each participant will receive three cosmic portraits uploaded to a Google Drive account. Albiac says the project was inspired by nucleosynthesis, the process by which matter combines to form new atomic nuclei. “We humans are believed to be novel combinations of cosmic stardust. It could be argued that the whole universe is the biggest running generative art installation today,” Albiac writes on his site. (Albiac’s non-cosmically inspired work will go on display at Artisphere in Arlington next month.) If you prefer the idea of eating your science projects, the Australian cook behind the food blog Cakecrumbs has created an online tutorial on how to make cakes that look literally out of this world. The baker, known to her fans as Rhiannon, drew some attention — among both foodies and space geeks — creating spherical layer cakes based on planetary structures. The idea started as a response to a challenge from her sister, who was looking for a novel way of teaching elementary school students about the Earth’s structure. Rhiannon used hemispherical baking tins of various sizes to bake a cake within a cake within a cake to represent the Earth’s inner core, outer core and mantle. Chocolate buttercream filled the role of the Earth’s crust; oceans and continents were concocted out of marshmallow fondant. Her next project was Jupiter, which also made good use of marshmallow fondant. She sketched the sugary whip with ivory, brown and maroon edible ink to represent Jupiter’s gaseous atmosphere. Numerous spheres illustrated the giant planet’s rock-and-ice core, which is believed to be


The defense appropriations shuffle

to funding for general and flag officers,” and wants the defense secretary to report on how the reduction is being applied 90 days after the spending bill is approved. A continuing problem in the development and procurement of new weapons and equipment in the technologically changing world is a tendency on the part of the services to begin production before their internal systems or prototypes are fully tested. The committee’s report shows that concurrency problem in different ways. Take the Army’s plan to modernize the Patriot air-missile defense system. The Army wants $70 million next year to continue research and development, along with $256 million for procurement. However, the panel notes that while the Army has updated requirements for the modernized system, it only vaguely describes “specific technologies required, development and fielding schedules.” Costs are estimated at near $2 billion over the next five years, plus an additional $800 million in the years beyond. Yet the committee says the Army doesn’t have plans to “harvest developed technologies from programs terminated by the Army for use in the Patriot Modernization program.” Those were ended after spending roughly $6 billion. The committee’s solution is to withhold half the Army’s Patriot 2014 funding until the service comes up with an organized program. When it comes to the F-35 Lightning II joint-strike fighter, the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program, the committee recognized its concurrency problems with new aircraft in production while problems continue with developing software to go into the plane, along with reliability issues with systems already in place. Yet the panel actually increased funding for aircraft in the current Air Force production plan. But looking forward, it called “unaffordable” the next major block of aircraft, which is projected after 2015 to cost $3.8 billion. Instead, the committee called on the Defense Department to review the future Air Force tactical fighter mix and see whether the planned 1,763F-35s are needed, where “less capable aircraft may be effective and more cost-effective to operate and maintain in other less contentious scenarios.” The committee report is not all criticism. The panel praised the Air Force for hiring people with severe disabilities to scan and digitalize millions of personnel records. Since they might otherwise be receiving Social Security disability benefits, the panel said, this allows them “to find sustainable employment and achieve self-sufficiency, while ultimately achieving substantial taxpayer savings.” For previous Fine Print columns, go to washingtonpost.com/fedpage.


Britain weighs joining U.S. in possible strikes against Syria

and gathering evidence, despite its convoy briefly coming under sniper fire earlier in the day. Following the incident, a second day of investigations was postponed Tuesday. Moualem said the team was not able to visit a second site because rebel groups could not guarantee security. Khalid Saleh, a spokesman for the Syrian Opposition Coalition, blamed the Syrian government, saying it had not allowed the U.N. team to leave its hotel, citing “security reasons.” The United Nations declined to comment on why the team was delayed, saying that casting blame could jeopardize negotiations over safely reaching the areas struck by the attack. “I’m not going to point fingers,” said U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq. “There is a complex situation on the ground, and we are trying our best to secure access.” He said he expected progress in the “next few hours.” Moualem said the government of President Bashar al-Assad was cooperating fully with the probe and that the United Nations had requested access to the sites in question only on Saturday. However, Haq said the initial request was sent to the Syrian government on Thursday, the day after the alleged attack. In retaliation for the “massacre” in the Damascus suburbs, al-Qaeda-linked rebels said Tuesday they would strike Assad’s security branches and infrastructure in an operation called “Volcano of Revenge,” according to a statement distributed by the jihadist Baqiya Media Foundation. “It has become proven to us that this enemy only knows the language of force, and we will discuss with it with rocket launchers and shells and make them to be lava over its head,” said the statement, which was signed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the recently expanded al-Qaeda in Iraq, the hard-line Islamist Ahrar al-Sham rebel group and seven other rebel factions. Jabhat al-Nusra, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, has also vowed “vengeance” through attacks on villages inhabited by Alawites, a Syrian religious minority to which Assad belongs. The British, along with the French, have led the calls in Europe to boost efforts to aid the Syrian opposition in its fight against Assad. France said Tuesday that its forces were ready. “France is ready to punish those who took the decision to gas the innocent,” Hollande said. Cameron, however, is facing mounting pressure — including from within his own Conservative Party — to win support in Parliament before taking any action. Cameron


Fighting Rim Fire at Yosemite, officials protect sequoias, turtles

The Rim Fire on the northern side of Yosemite National Park in California continued to grow, but firefighters were able to make significant progress against the blaze for the first time since it began 10 days ago. The fire has blackened about 280 square miles and is 20 percent contained. What ignited the flames is unknown. They are burning near several mountain communities, as well as the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the famous Yosemite Valley. While the fire is not currently threatening the valley and most of the park remains open to visitors, firefighters are working to protect flora and fauna there: Park officials cleared brush and set sprinklers on two groves of giant sequoias that were less than 10 miles away from the fire’s front lines, said park spokesman Scott Gediman. While sequoias have a chemical in their bark to help them resist fire, they can be damaged when flames move through slowly with such intense heat. . . . Officials are worried about the sequoias because of the fire’s unusual intensity: The fire is burning hotter and faster than any in modern Sierra Nevada history, firefighters say. Officials say it is the California wildfire they have warned about for years, as modern firefighting techniques have snuffed out forest fires, allowing fuel to build up on the mountain floor. Fires in the Western states are more destructive than in the past, for a number of reasons: Climate change has heated up and dried out the region, making forests more flammable. Certain forest management and fire-suppression techniques over the past century have also made forests more susceptible to truly gigantic blazes. As the Rim Fire keeps burning, the federal government has already exhausted its dedicated funds for fighting wildfires. It is the second consecutive year that the budget has been depleted in the middle of the season. For past coverage of the Rim Fire, continue reading here. For the most recent official information, visit this page.


New effort to examine baby panda at National Zoo thwarted by mom Mei Xiang

The National Zoo’s giant female panda Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub on Friday. Keepers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo attempted to examine the newborn giant panda cub Tuesday morning, but had to abandon their efforts after protective mama Mei Xiang intervened. “Mei Xiang was more alert and more aware of the keepers’ presence today,” positioning her body so that keepers couldn’t reach the cub, zoo officials said in a statement after the failed neonatal exam. “When they attempted to distract her and retrieve the cub, she persistently moved out of reach. It’s clear she was holding tight to the cub and did not want to give it up.” The team stopped its attempt to avoid upsetting Mei Xiang. The cub was initially examined on Sunday, two days after its long-awaited birth. Keepers distracted Mei Xiang with honey water and pieces of food, panda keeper Marty Dearie said. Zoo vets were then able to determine that the cub was healthy, noting that it was feeding and defecating normally. Mei Xiang has delivered two surviving cubs since 2005, Tai Shan in July 2005 and Bao Bao in August 2013. She gave birth to a stillborn cub about 26 hours after Bao Bao. In Septempter 2012, she gave birth to a cub with liver abnormalities that died days later. “All signs are that we have a very healthy, active, vibrant cub,” the zoo said Sunday. This was welcome news after Mei Xiang gave birth to a second, stillborn cub over the weekend. While they were unable to distract Mei Xiang as easily on Tuesday, officials said the panda keepers are continuing to monitor both mom and baby using the zoo’s Giant Panda Cam.


Wine recommendations

Shab Row Bistro in Frederick. Available in Virginia at Arrowine and Cheese in Arlington, Balducci’s (Alexandria, McLean), Fern Street Gourmet in Alexandria, all area Whole Foods Market locations; on the list at Can Can in Richmond, Willow in Arlington. Domaine de Viranel Trilogie 2011 ★1 / 2 Herault, France, $10 This bargain wine is an unusual blend of syrah, Alicante bouschet and cabernet sauvignon, yet it has the traditional southern French aromas and flavors of lavender, violets and blackberries. It’s light-bodied, which makes it suitable for sipping by itself, but I wouldn’t hesitate to pair it with pizza or a burger from the grill. The plain white label with the simple script shows that the winery is putting its effort into the wine rather than the marketing. Kudos for that! 13.5 percent. Dionysus: Available in the District at Rodman’s, Wagshal’s Deli, Whole Foods Market (Tenleytown). Available in Maryland at Bradley Food & Beverage in Bethesda, Iron Bridge Wine in Columbia, Wine Cellar in Annapolis. Available in Virginia at Unwined (Alexandria, Belleview), Whole Foods Market (Alexandria, Vienna); on the list at Elmwood at Sparks in Orange. Avalon Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 ★1 / 2 California, $20 This popular label delivers on classic cabernet flavors of blackberries with a dollop of oaky vanilla. It’s a bit sweet on the finish, so pair it with grilled meats and a hint of spicy heat for balance. 13.8 percent. Bacchus: Available in the District at A-1 Wines & Liquors, Calvert Woodley, Paul’s of Chevy Chase, Potomac Wine & Spirits, Safeway (Palisades, Southeast), Sherry’s Fine Wine & Spirits, S&S Liquors. Widely available in Maryland, including at Beltway Fine Wine & Spirits in Towson; Cranbrook Liquors and Hunt Valley Wine, Liquor & Beer in Cockeysville; Total Wine & More (Laurel, formerly Corridor Wine & Spirits). Garnacha de Fuego Old Vines 2012 ★1 / 2 Aragon, Spain, $9 It’s spicy and rich, with some grip, as if the wine were still clinging to the steep hillsides at 3,000 feet elevation in Spain’s Aragon region. A delicious red for casual cookouts. 14.5 percent. Country Vintner: Available in the District at Cairo Wine & Liquor, Calvert Woodley, Rodman’s. Available in Maryland at Pine Orchard Wine in Ellicott City, Rodman’s (Wheaton, White Flint), Silesia Liquors in Fort Washington. Available in Virginia at Arrowine and Cheese in Arlington, Wine Cabinet in Reston, various Wegmans and Whole Foods Market locations. More from Food: Wine


Beer: Sour German ales find a new homeland in America

A pour of the passionfruit-dragonfruit Berliner weisse, an example of the beer style sometimes known as Florida weisse, developed by the Miami homebrewer Johnathan Wakefield. (Courtesy of Johnathan Wakefield) Correction: The two beers on the picnic table could hardly have seemed more different. To my left, as I sat in a beer garden during a recent trip to California, was a bottle of Russian River Brewing’s Blind Pig: piney, citrusy and a popular example of the most popular craft-beer style in America, the India pale ale. On the right was a glass of a style defined largely by its obscurity. Its aromas and flavors were just as mysterious: It smelled of sourdough bread and coriander, and it tasted fruity and tart, like lemons and nectarines with a hint of salinity. But the beer on the right, Almanac Beer’s Flowering Gose, did have one thing in common with its counterpart. For decades, American brewers have infused foreign beer traditions with boldness and innovation — by reimagining the moderately bitter English IPA as the hop-saturated Titan of the U.S. craft-beer pantheon, for example. Now they’re doing it again with Germany’s little-known sour ales — its goses and Berliner weisses, primarily — reviving their characteristic lemony acidity and often pairing it with other ingredients, from fresh coriander flowers (in Almanac’s case) to passion fruit. The result: low-alcohol beers whose intensity of flavors are matched only by their ability to refresh. Like their most famous sour brethren, the lambic beers of Belgium, Germany’s sour ales arose during the centuries before modern sanitation, when naturally occurring bacteria and yeasts made beers throughout Europe at least slightly tart. Two principal styles, made with added wheat and fermented by lactic-acid bacteria, eventually emerged: gose, associated with the city of Leipzig and usually spiked with coriander and salt, and Berliner weisse, associated with Berlin, usually unflavored but sometimes served with herbal or fruit-flavored syrup. The irony is that the de facto homeland of these styles is now America. “People expect, in Germany, that beer can taste bitter, sweet, malty, whatever — but not sour,” says the appropriately named Sebastian Sauer of the Cologne-based sour-beer brand Freigeist Bierkultur. “But in the U.S., people are really interested in that kind of beer, so we now have a chance to revive those beers from a past German age and give people a chance to drink it.” The revival he speaks of


Smarter Food: Does big farming mean bad farming?

a bird. It is, maybe, less exciting to talk about. My only opportunity to make change is with the tools I have on the farm.” Thompson’s farm is not organic as he once dreamed it would be. Indeed, after studying the scientific literature, he finds himself mostly comfortable using genetically modified seeds. The rewards inherent in herbicide-tolerant soybeans outweigh the risks, he says. While he does have some concerns about GM corn, he says, “the prevailing technology is a good path, maybe the best available at the moment. This will change. We will learn.” Still, Thompson has many tools to improve his farm’s environmental sustainability. He uses a technique called ridge tilling, which works like this: Instead of plowing the fields with a big tractor, he builds a narrow, elevated bed for his crops. That allows him to turn over smaller stretches of earth, keeping carbon dioxide embedded in the soil rather than releasing it into the air. The ridges also allow Thompson to precisely apply fertilizer to the plants, which means he can use 10 percent less fertilizer and still get the same yield. And the ridges keep the chemicals from running off and entering the groundwater, where they can endanger streams and rivers. To further deter water and fertilizer runoff, Thompson has built wide buffers between his fields. In them he has planted flowers, such as the gray-headed coneflower, and native prairie grasses. The plants keep the water from reaching the river: “If the grass wasn’t there, the soil would flow directly into the river and remain suspended all the way to the Gulf of Mexico,” Thompson says. Those buffers also attract pollinators such as butterflies, bees and birds. Neither soybeans nor corn need the pollinators, explains Victoria Wojcik, research program manager at the nonprofit Pollinator Partnership in San Francisco. As a result, especially when the price of corn is as high as it is now, it is difficult to incentivize commodity farmers to grow the plants that sustain pollinators: “What is unique is that Tony creates this landscape with no benefit for himself or his bottom line.” Thompson also has experimented with diversifying what he grows on the farm. Over the years, as the price of corn and soybeans rose and fell, he tried growing specialty grains for the Japanese that are made into tempeh and natto; popcorn, which he packaged on the farm; and specialty wheat,


Taxing issues with the Affordable Care Act

people will pay a penalty tax for being uninsured in 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. Surely the government will be watching to see whether people figure out how to game the system by changing the amount they instruct their employers to withhold from their paychecks, which would result in their not getting a refund. It’s through the federal income tax form that you will have to indicate if you have health insurance or are eligible for an exemption. But this doesn’t go into effect until you file your 2014 federal return in 2015. The health-insurance marketplace will provide certificates of exemption, the IRS says. There are a number of ways to avoid paying a penalty, including coverage through an employer, a veterans’ plan, Medicare or Medicaid. If you don’t fall into the various categories to avoid a fee, you can still request an exemption. Some individuals may qualify for an exemption on religious grounds or because they have very low income and coverage is considered unaffordable. You won’t face a penalty if you are not required to file a tax return because your income is too low. The IRS says information will be made available later about how tax returns will change to allow people to report their health insurance coverage or an exemption. Health insurers will be required to provide everyone they cover each year with information that will help them demonstrate that they have coverage, the IRS says. So you may have to attach to your tax return a form much like you do now when you include your W-2 or a 1099 that reports other sources of income. If you have more questions about tax issues regarding the Affordable Care Act, go to www.irs.gov. Search for “Questions and Answers on the Individual Shared Responsibility Provision.” You can also find answers at www.healthcare.gov. As it is with so much concerning the Affordable Care Act, find out how it affects you especially because it will be linked to information you provide on your tax return. Readers may write to Michelle Singletary at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 or singletarym@washpost.com. Personal responses may not be possible, and comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer’s name, unless otherwise requested. To read previous Color of Money columns, go to postbusiness.com.


Crude oil prices reach 18-month high

newsletter Petroleum Argus. Saudi Arabia, for most of the past century considered one of the pillars of American oil diplomacy, has recently defied the United States over Egypt, pledging to make up for whatever aid the United States withdraws from the new military regime. If the United States relies less on Saudi Arabia because of rising domestic production, Saudi Arabia relies less on American markets for its oil, although it still overwhelmingly buys U.S.-made military equipment. This summer’s run-up in crude-oil prices flies in the face of widespread optimism about oil supplies in the United States, where domestic production has surged as a result of shale drilling. Yet global oil supplies remain somewhat tight in large part because of disruptions in Iraq and Libya. In Iraq, persistent attacks on the pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan sliced about 290,000 barrels a day off Iraqi exports, according to the Energy Information Administration. In Libya, labor protests at several oil production facilities cut production to 1 million barrels a day in July, down from 1.5 million barrels a day in April. It has now slumped to 200,000 barrels a day, according to a Bloomberg News report. In Nigeria, crude exports were reduced during July and August because of work on key pipelines. Further disruptions in Yemen, Sudan and South Sudan have trimmed global oil output. But Greg Priddy, global oil director at the Eurasia Group consulting firm, expects that the run-up in oil prices may be temporary. He expects a limited attack on Syria and notes that the summer peak oil consumption period is ending and that demand eases during the fall. Moreover, he added in an e-mail, Saudi Arabia has increased its oil production to 9.8 million barrels a day in an effort to moderate prices. The kingdom added 150,000 barrels a day to calm markets after the Egyptian military toppled the elected president, Mohamed Morsi. One factor driving up the price of the West Texas Intermediate benchmark has been the addition or reversal of pipelines to alleviate the bottleneck in Cushing, Okla., where the price is set. Oil flowing to Cushing from Canada, North Dakota and other areas can now be transported more easily to the Gulf Coast, where there are more buyers. But the price of the more widely used international benchmark called Brent crude also jumped on Tuesday, to $113.95 a barrel. It has risen sharply since late June.


Shanahan of the Anne Arundel County police. All three who died were in the same vehicle, Shanahan said. A total of six people were injured, the police said. — Marty Weil Two dogs die of flu in Montgomery Maryland officials are warning dog owners in Montgomery County to watch out for canine influenza after the deaths of two dogs. The Agriculture Department alerted veterinarians that the illness was identified in six dogs in Montgomery County last week, and two of the sick dogs have died. Officials say the virus can cause an acute respiratory infection and is highly contagious. Montgomery Parks officials are warning dog owners to contact their veterinarians if they notice symptoms including cough, runny nose and fever. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says dog flu can be spread by direct contact with infected dogs, by contaminated objects and through people moving between infected and uninfected dogs. — Associated Press Gallaudet studentsin assault probe Anne Arundel County police are investigating an alleged assault involving two students from Gallaudet University’s secondary school during a school trip to Annapolis. Police spokesman Justin Mulcahy said Tuesday that police are conducting a criminal investigation into the alleged incident Saturday morning on a bus in the county. He says police were notified Sunday night. University spokeswoman Kaitlin Luna says the students are enrolled in the school’s Model Secondary School for the Deaf, a program for high-school-age students at the university’s D.C. campus. She says the incident occurred during a chaperoned, school-sponsored trip but referred questions to police. — Associated Press VIRGINIA Officials identify teen found dead in Vienna A 16-year-old girl found dead in Vienna on Friday has been identified as Emylee Lonczak, a student at McLean High School, according to a letter from the principal. Fairfax County police are awaiting the medical examiner to determine the cause and manner of the McLean girl’s death, but spokesman Bud Walker said they “are confident . . . there is no threat to the neighborhood or public at large.” Officers found Lonczak’s body in the 8200 block of Madrillon Estates Drive about 11 a.m. Friday. She had been reported as a runaway. “Emylee Lonczak was a rising 11th-grader at our school,” McLean High School Principal Ellen T. Reilly wrote in her letter to school families. “She was a cherished student who will be greatly missed by all who knew her.” — Justin Jouvenal