Jeff Bezos launches and lands again in another first for booming space industry

pushed slightly off course, the software would allow it to land "at a position of convenience" instead of forcing a correction that could ultimately doom the landing. "It’s like a pilot lining up a plane with the centerline of the runway," Bezos wrote. "If the plane is a few feet off center as you get close, you don’t swerve at the last minute to ensure hitting the exact mid-point. You just land a few feet left or right of the centerline." To achieve his vision of opening up space to the masses, he wrote that Blue Origin plans building much larger rockets, including an orbital vehicle that is already three years in development. He wrote that landing bigger rockets would ultimately be easier because their size increases stability. "Try balancing a pencil on the tip of your finger," he wrote. "Now try it with a broomstick. The broomstick is simpler because its greater moment of inertia makes it easier to balance. ... And since New Shepard is the smallest booster we will ever build, this carefully choreographed dance atop our plume will just get easier from here." In December, Musk’s SpaceX topped Bezos by launching its Falcon 9 rocket on an orbital mission, and then landing the first stage of the larger, more powerful rocket at a landing site at Cape Canaveral. Earlier this month, Musk said the company refired the engines of that rocket, showing that it could be reused. But SpaceX decided not to fly it again, saying it should be preserved for history. Then, earlier this month, it attempted to land another Falcon 9 rocket on a floating platform off the California coast. The rocket landed, but one of the rocket’s legs didn’t properly lock into place and the stage tipped over and blew up. But in a tweet, Musk said it would continue to try. My best guess for 2016: ~70% landing success rate (so still a few more RUDs to go), then hopefully improving to ~90% in 2017 While their companies launched and tried to land rockets, Musk and Bezos squared off in a Twitter skirmish, trading one-upmanship barbs in a new kind of space race. While perhaps petty, the competition between the two billionaires has illustrated how far the industry has come in just a few years. Fueled by NASA’s decision to invest in commercial space companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, as


What you have to do to forecast the weather (and do it well)

aircraft and satellites also are used to collect data on what is happening in the atmosphere. This information is transmitted to world weather centers in the United States, the UK, Russia, and Australia, where computers produce analyses of global weather. National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists in Washington, D.C., use these data as a starting point to produce guidance forecasts for the United States with sophisticated computer models. These guidance forecasts go to local offices where NWS meteorologists apply their skill and experience to fine-tune the predictions for their regions and specific towns and cities. What specialized education? Again, from the society’s website: This education usually includes a bachelor’s or higher degree from a college or university. Many meteorologists have degrees in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and other fields. The broader term “atmospheric science” often is used to describe the combination of meteorology and other branches of physical science that are involved in studying the atmosphere. Samenow says he has been interested in weather since he was 10 years old and was fascinated by big snow storms in his native Washington D.C. Before graduating from high school, he interned for a renowned meteorologist named Bob Ryan on NBC4. He earned a degree in environmental science at the University of Virginia, focusing in atmospheric science, and a master’s degree in atmospheric science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2000. Samenow worked for 10 years as a climate change science analyst for the federal government, is a past chairman of the D.C. Chapter of the American Meteorological Society, and holds the National Weather Association Digital Seal of Approval. In 2004, he founded CapitalWeather.com, the weather blog that was absorbed by the Post eight years ago, and he became the head of what is now the Capital Weather Gang, a team of meteorologists who keep the Post audience well informed on every aspect of the weather. I asked Samenow — who is engrossed at the moment in monitoring the massive snowstorm hitting part of the East Coast — how young people who are interested in pursuing meteorology as a profession should proceed in school. The answer: concentrate on math and science. In high school, he said, students can take Earth Science, and high-level science and math courses. In college, students can find meteorological programs at a number of schools, or take math and science courses that will get them into a graduate program. Three semesters


Can the cannabis ‘nuns’ of California save medical marijuana?

The Sisters of the Valley harvest some of their cannabis plants to make cannabidiol for their medicinal products, which they sell on Etsy. Sister Kate calls herself an “accidental nun.” At age 16, she tried marijuana for the first time inside a friend’s car during a cold Wisconsin winter. But that was when she was a “good mid-western Catholic girl,” and the drug did nothing for her. Years later, after her first marriage had come and gone, after she moved to Atlanta to work for General Electric, Kate tried weed again (not to mention cocaine.) This time was different, she wrote on her blog: “I learned that weed goes better with wine, that weed is calming, that weed left me with no side effects. … I gave up the powder and partying, but kept the weed and the wine, in moderation, like medicine.” Cannabis became the beginning and end of Kate’s prescription list. It was not just her “drug of choice” — it was the only drug she used, according to her blog. Thirty years later, she sells her favorite kind of medicine under the brand “Sisters of the Valley,” an Etsy business devoted to medicinal products infused with cannabidiol, one of two main extracts from marijuana plants. Although the venture is just a year old, all of the sisters’ offerings — from tonics to salves — have sold out already, and Kate has recently become one of the loudest voices opposing California’s Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act. [California marijuana growers face new crop of local bans] Enacted in October, the law gives cities a choice: develop local marijuana regulations by March 1 or yield control to the state. The city of Merced, where Sisters of the Valley is based, voted last week to ban medical marijuana cultivation pending further deliberation. The decision has prompted Kate to start a Change.org petition. A video shows Kate in a uniform closely resembling a Catholic nun’s habit and condemning the Central Valley legislators, whom she says have “their heads up their butt” and who have reacted to the regulations pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D) by prohibiting medical marijuana cultivation in their jurisdictions. “We believe that one day science will prove that there’s actually a transference of energy where we do our prayers with the medicine, and that travels with the medicine to the people,” Kate says, ending her video spot with


The many reasons to be excited about America’s future

Things are only going to get better. (Tsering Topgyal/AP) Every 30 or 40 years, Americans become incredibly pessimistic. They begin to believe the nation is falling behind in competitiveness and innovation, that their children will not be as well off as they themselves have been, and that some other country will own the future. They fear that the United States will go the way of the British Empire in the 20th century. This may be the country’s greatest advantage, because it causes it to maintain a level of humility and to constantly reinvent itself. But the fears are completely unfounded. The United States is in fact in the middle of a dramatic revival and rejuvenation, propelled by an amazing wave of technological innovations. These breakthroughs are delivering the enormous productivity gains and dramatic cost savings needed to sustain economic growth and prosperity. And they are enabling entrepreneurs to solve the grand challenges of humanity, the problems that have always bedeviled the human race: disease, hunger, clean water, energy, education, and security. Through advances in computing whose rate of acceleration Moore’s Law describes, faster computers are being used to design faster computers. And these faster computers, in turn, are making it possible to design new forms of energy, smaller and more powerful sensors, artificial-intelligence software that can interpret the massive amounts of information that we are gathering, and robots that can do the mundane work of humans. It is even becoming possible to redesign human cells and other organisms. Almost all fields of science are becoming digitized, enabling them to start advancing at exponential rates. The really good news is that the world will share in the prosperity that this American reinvention is creating. There are 1.2 billion people with no connection to a power grid, for example, and another 2.5 billion who can get power only intermittently and so use fuels such as kerosene for lamps. Kerosene is a dirty fuel that, Desalination plants have so far struggled to get funded, because they are power hungry. This makes water production through desalination prohibitively expensive. When power costs decline by 30 to 40 percent, desalination will become an economical option; when they approach zero, which will happen, coastal zones will become water-rich regions. We will be able to remove environmentally damaging dams and transport water everywhere. Despite the recent El Niño, California is still suffering from an extreme drought. Farmers and


The Daily 202: Iowa leaders, worried about the credibility of the caucuses, tip the scale for Trump over Cruz

VISUAL: Meanwhile, four of the most-shared stories about Clinton over the past week are negative: This photo of Demi Lovato with Clinton in Iowa:(#4) is the only one of the five links that is positive: (hillaryclinton) Cruz, meanwhile, is consistently able to drive his own message, with his own campaign site routinely at the top of the most circulated Cruz-related items Our analytics partners at Zignal Labs note the types of content circulated on social media reflects the candidates’ differing appeals. –Everything you missed from Snowzilla: Spotted in downtown Washington (not really): (@capitalweather) The most famous video from the blizzard, starring Tian Tian: (@NationalZoo) Sledders took advantage of the fresh snow on Capitol Hill: (senatorheitkamp) At 3 a.m., crews were working to clear snow from the East Front: (@atsinha) The storm was even visible from space, where astronaut Scott Kelly took these photos: (@StationCDRKelly) (@StationCDRKelly) A staffer for Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) took this photo on Capitol Hill: (sentimscott) Here’s another evening shot from Rock Creek Park: (@cassy_kane) Bo and Sunny Obama enjoyed the opportunity to play: (petesouza) This wannabe panda challenged Tian Tian to a snow battle: (jperez501) It was a big weekend for pandas on social media. Here’s Bao Bao: (@NationalZoo) And one of the National Zoo’s red pandas: (@NationalZoo) Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) took time to shovel her sidewalk: (senatorsusancollins) Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) went skiing with her dad: (elisestefanik) Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) needed “coffee and ibuprofen” after doing this: (senlisamurkowski) Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) took a walk with husband Charlie: (sencapito) Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) got shoveling assistance from his son: Greta Van Susteren’s dogs enjoyed frolicking: (greta) And The Post’s video team recorded a 360-degree view of a huge snowball fight in Meridian Hill Park: (Washington Post) –Everything you missed that wasn’t Snowzilla: Mitt Romney called on candidates to release their tax returns before the Iowa caucuses: (@MittRomney) Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) had a string of questions for Trump on Twitter, including about marital infidelity: (@BenSasse) (@BenSasse) (@BenSasse) Read all six of Sasse’s questions here. After Trump taunted Jeb for using his mother in a new campaign video, Bush tweeted this: (@JebBush) Clinton generated some Trump-style lines in West Des Moines: (@PhilipRucker) Michael Moore welcomed the idea of


Libya: The quintessential Obama-Clinton-Kerry debacle

The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, is seen in flames on Sept. 11, 2012. (Esam Al-Fetori/Reuters) The New York Times reports In recent weeks, military commanders have intensified their warnings about the threat from the Islamic State in Libya, where Western officials believe the group now has about 3,000 fighters. Recruits are pouring into Libya weekly, as the journey to Iraq and Syria has become more difficult with Turkey tightening its border with Syria, intelligence officials said. ￼ [Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph F.] Dunford said the United States, France, Italy and Britain are looking with urgency at how to stem the growth in the power of the Islamic State in Libya before it spreads throughout North Africa and the sub-Saharan countries. In particular, he said it was important to “put a firewall” between the Islamic State in Libya and other militant Islamic extremist groups on the African continent, while working to strengthen the ability of African militaries and governments to fight those groups themselves. Libya, you may recall, was the great success, the quintessential example of “leading from behind,” and Hillary Clinton’s policy achievement. Instead it contains virtually every element of an Obama-Clinton-Kerry foreign policy blunder. First, we delayed and eschewed any interest until a humanitarian disaster unfolded during a chaotic civil war. Second, when we did act, we played a trivial role (airpower only) and then pushed the problem onto our allies’ plate. Then, we lost interest and put forth no effort to stabilize the central government and ward off the influx of jihadis. Blindness to the unfolding disaster left us unprepared for the attack on Sept. 11, 2012. Facing a PR crisis six weeks before the election, the White House was obsessed with painting this as a peculiar isolated event so as not to underscore its policy flub and false promise that al-Qaeda was on the run. The administration would then mislead the public (fog of war!) about misleading the public. Meanwhile, the administration treated the murder of four Americans as a legal issue, dispatching the FBI. And still the administration ignored Libya, failing to see it as one more haven for jihadists. Now, it is such a security catastrophe that we are again forced to take military action, although it is far from clear that planned airstrikes will resolve the problem. Contrary to the dishonest historical rewrite undertaken by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and


Zika virus outbreak will likely spread across Americas, WHO says

virus was found in two newborns who had microcephaly and later died, as well as in the placentas of two women who miscarried children with microcephaly. A female Aedes mosquito acquires a blood meal from a human host. (James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP) The CDC is now also working with Brazil to study a potential link between the virus and a rare syndrome known as Guillain-Barré, in which the immune system attacks the nerves and can lead to paralysis. To try to combat the virus, several countries — including Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador and Jamaica — have asked women to postpone their pregnancies when possible. In the United States, the CDC has advised pregnant women to delay their travel to nearly two-dozen countries that have been hit with the virus. The WHO has urged people to help prevent the virus's spread by eliminating mosquitos' breeding sites — such as containers that can collect water — as well as using repellents. According to WHO-affiliated Pan American Health Organization, to prevent the Zika virus spread: Mosquito populations should be reduced and controlled by eliminating breeding sites. Containers that can hold even small amounts of water where mosquitoes can breed, such as buckets, flowerpots or tires, should be emptied, cleaned or covered to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in them. This will also help to control dengue and chikungunya, which are also transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Other measures include using larvicide to treat standing water. All people living in or visiting areas with Aedes mosquitoes should protect themselves from mosquito bites by using insect repellent; wearing clothes (preferably light-colored) that cover as much of the body as possible; using physical barriers such as screens, closed doors and windows; and sleeping under mosquito nets, especially during the day when Aedes mosquitoes are most active. Pregnant women should be especially careful to avoid mosquito bites. Although Zika typically causes only mild symptoms, outbreaks in Brazil have coincided with a marked increase in microcephaly — or unusually small head size — in newborns. Women planning to travel to areas where Zika is circulating should consult a health-care provider before traveling and upon return. Women who think they have been exposed to Zika virus should consult with their health-care provider for close monitoring of their pregnancy. Any decision to defer pregnancy is an individual one between a woman, her partner and her health-care provider.


For area’s small businesses, snowstorm means thousands in lost sales

liquor shops and hardware stores fared somewhat better since they benefited from a surge in purchases in the run-up to the blizzard. At Ye Old Spirit Shop in Frederick, booming sales earlier in the week more than made up for lost weekend business, according to owner Paul Throne. “Thursday and Friday were more than triple the sales of a regular day,” he said as he restocked shelves Monday morning. “It’s similar to what happens every winter — although I can’t say we’ve ever been closed three days in a row before.” Glen’s Garden Market, which has locations in Dupont Circle and Shaw, racked up record sales on Thursday and Friday as customers doubled-down on basics such as milk and eggs, according to owner Danielle Vogel. When she saw the piles of snow Saturday morning, Vogel emailed her employees and told them it’d be a company-wide snow day. She planned to quietly open the Dupont Circle store to sell groceries by herself. But when she showed up at 8:15, the the store’s chef and another hourly employee were already there, shoveling snow. Later, she found out that the chef at her Shaw location had arrived at 6 a.m. Saturday to begin preparing brunch. “Saturday was super fun. It felt like a party in a ski lodge,” she said. “Some people came in for groceries, but most people were here to eat brunch and drink beer.” Ben’s Chili Bowl stayed open on U Street NW throughout the storm, but business was a sliver of what it usually is on the weekends, said Vida Ali, a member of the family who owns the iconic District-based restaurant. The company’s other two locations, on H Street NE and in Arlington, were closed. “I honestly think it was a big loss — tens of thousands of dollars,”Ali said. “Two of our stores were shut down for three of our busiest days.” Many of the people who stopped by at the U Street restaurant were first-responders stopping in for coffee or locals looking for a reprieve from shoveling, Ali said. The restaurant also got a crowd of locals following Sunday morning’s neighborhood snowball fight in Dupont Circle. Employees who lived nearby staffed the store. Since delivery trucks weren’t able to make it in, staffers stopped by nearby grocery stores to pick up produce, including lettuce, tomatoes and carrots. “There was a real community feeling out there,” she


Why you’ll now be able to buy freshly brewed coffee at the Dupont FreshFarm Market

For years, the founders of FreshFarm Markets resisted including local coffee roasters at their farmers markets. The logic was sound: Roasters rely on an agricultural product grown along an equatorial belt, in countries far from the local fields and pastures where animals and vegetables are raised for FreshFarms' producer-only markets. John Kepner, owner of the D.C. location of Zeke's Coffee, will launch the pilot coffee program at Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market on Sunday. (Photo by Lavanya Ramanathan/The Washington Post) But since FreshFarm was founded in 1997, both the market and the coffee industry have changed dramatically. Markets such as those run by FreshFarm at Dupont Circle and near the White House are packed with "value-added" vendors who may use only a percentage of raw local ingredients in their products. At the same time, local roasters such as Qualia, Compass and Vigilante take pains not only to source quality coffees from around the world but also to roast them to exacting specifications, based on what brings out the best flavors in each bean. [In winter, farmers markets turn into value (added) villages] “I think that’s very much in our wheelhouse" to add roasters, says Mike Koch, FreshFarm's fresh new face as executive director. "It adds value to the industry around us.” [FreshFarm hires a new executive director from its family of vendors] Starting Sunday at the Dupont Circle market, FreshFarm will introduce its pilot coffee program. Zeke's Coffee on Rhode Island Avenue NE will lead the way. The small-batch roaster, known for its wide variety of blends, will sell beans and cups of fresh brewed coffee. Zeke's will set up shop on Dupont every other Sunday through the end of March. Qualia Coffee "We will use the winter months as a vetting process" to decide if the coffee program will be continued through the full season at Dupont, notes Nony Dutton, deputy director of markets for FreshFarm. Other FreshFarm markets could then follow suit. FreshFarm's change of heart about coffee roasters coincides with a change in leadership at the nonprofit: Last year, FreshFarm founders Ann Harvey Yonkers and Bernadine “Bernie” Prince retired after building what's widely considered the gold standard of farmers markets in the D.C. area. Still, the founders held the line against adding local roasters into the mix of their markets, even though they experimented with coffee pop-ups as a holiday fundraising tool. [FreshFarm founders to retire to their


This is how bad the situation is in Afghanistan

An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier stands guard outside Jalalabad airport. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images) The U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan officially ended in 2014. Bases were shuttered, flags were lowered. The war, to some, was officially over. And yet, it goes on. Just a few months ago, top U.S. military commanders “were planning to pull the last American troops out of Afghanistan by year’s end.” Now, it is possible that thousands of troops could remain in the country for decades. Daily, Afghan forces battle Taliban insurgents all over the country. Explosions in the country’s capital, Kabul, are a regular occurrence. The Islamic State, the extremist group that has seized territory in Iraq and Syria, has established an affiliate in eastern Afghanistan. As Afghanistan creeps back into the news, here are some stories from the past year that provide a glimpse of what has happened in the war-torn land since combat operations officially ended, and how the Afghan people are adapting to a country that will likely be without peace for years to come. 1. In Afghanistan, a series of attacks on Americans during ‘non-combat’ operations “The death of Davis highlights the complicated nature of the Afghanistan war as its 15th year begins. While U.S. officials debate the merit of expanding the war against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria, Washington keeps three times as many service members in Afghanistan, with an even larger force of contractors and civilian employees assisting.” 2. A year of Taliban gains shows that ‘we haven’t delivered,’ top Afghan official says “’We have not met the people’s expectations. We haven’t delivered,’ Abdullah Abdullah, the country’s chief executive, told the high-level gathering. ‘Our forces lack discipline. They lack rotation opportunities. We haven’t taken care of our own policemen and soldiers. They continue to absorb enormous casualties.'” 3. This map explains why Obama decided to leave thousands of troops in Afghanistan “President Obama announced a significant shift to his Afghanistan exit plan…: Instead of exiting, there will now be up to 5,500 U.S troops staying in Afghanistan through at least 2017.” 4. After Kunduz, Taliban is now targeting other Afghan cities “The Taliban is focusing on two provincial centers in the south, Qalat and Ghazni, according to government officials and residents in those cities. Clashes have erupted in recent days in areas surrounding Ghazni, capital of the province of the same name, and Qalat, capital


Free food, staff in hotels, closed doors and other restaurant tales from Snowzilla

To stay open or to close? That was the biggest question facing Washington area restaurants in the days and hours leading up to Snowzilla, the snowstorm that buried the nation's capital. Scenes like this meant many restaurants didn't open in Washington this weekend. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) And the answer wasn't the same across the board. Chef-owner Aaron Silverman said he made the decision Thursday that his Rose's Luxury on Capitol Hill would be closed Friday and Saturday (it's not open on Sundays). The call was based on "solely staff," he said. [This D.C. bar had its best weekend ever thanks to the blizzard] "There's definitely business to go around" during a storm, Silverman said, "especially in this neighborhood." But with employees spread around the area and Metro completely shut down, the closure was a no-brainer. Others took a more incremental approach to the decision to shutter. David Guas closed up shop at his two Bayou Bakery locations in Arlington and Capitol Hill on Friday as the weather worsened and business dropped off. At that point, he knew both shops would stay closed on Saturday. Sunday was a bit more up in the air. "I kind of waited and rode it out," Guas said. On Sunday, he was able to make his way out of his McLean neighborhood in his four-wheel-drive truck to check out the scene around each bakery. He reached the D.C. location by early afternoon, when people were just starting to emerge from their homes and asking whether he was going to open. [These bars are open Tuesday with snow day specials] With no staff and snow to shovel, Guas decided against it. At most, maybe he could have brewed some coffee. "We would have done it as more of a community effort," he said. "Could we have been open Sunday? Yes, I guess. But it would have been limited and so not worth it." Guas's friend, Jeff Black, ended up opening Pearl Dive and Black Jack almost by accident after he wandered over to check things out on Saturday at the 14th Street establishments near where he lives. He left the door open and people started to come in. "Then I started to panic," because while a few non-restaurant-industry friends were with him, none of his staff was. He quickly called in reinforcements who had volunteered to work the weekend, including his general manager who had


Zika virus: WHO says outbreak in U.S. likely imminent, CDC issues interim guidelines for testing infants

Zika, a mosquito-borne virus, is spreading at an alarming rate, with cases now reported in the U.S. Brazil is trying to bring the virus under control by fumigating to destroy mosquitoes carrying the disease. This post has been updated. As the mosquito-borne Zika virus moves northward, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued interim guidelines for evaluating and testing infants in the United States suspected of being infected. Although only a dozen or so cases have been identified in the United States -- none involving people who were bitten locally -- infectious-disease experts think it's only a matter of time before infected mosquitoes make their way here. Health officials in Arkansas said Tuesday that they had identified a case in a resident who had recently been out of the country, but they described the case as "mild." Virginia health officials also said Tuesday they had received confirmation of infection in a resident in the northwest part of the state who'd recently traveled to a country where Zika transmission is ongoing. Neither case poses a public health risk because the virus isn't spread by casual person-to-person contact. The World Health Organization has said that it expects Zika to spread to all of the Americas except for Canada and Chile — the two places where type of mosquito that carries the virus doesn't live. The CDC's new guidelines, which were developed in conjunction with the American Academy of Pediatrics, apply to a broad group of newborns: any baby whose mother during pregnancy traveled to or resided in an area with Zika virus transmission. As of late Tuesday, those countries are Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Samoa and Venezuela; the French overseas regions of French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique; the island of Saint Martin; the Dominican Republic; the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. But the list is likely to grow in the coming weeks. Zika, first discovered in Africa more than 70 years ago, has become a major concern for global health authorities in recent months after Brazilian officials reported it may be the cause for thousands of infants born with brain damage. The CDC is also working with Brazil to investigate a possible link to a rare nerve disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome that can lead to paralysis. The associations between Zika and Guillain-Barré are alarming because Zika


A famous physicist’s simple experiment showed the inevitability of the Challenger disaster

The space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center in 1986. (AP) On Jan. 28, 1986, the world watched in horror as NASA's Challenger shuttle disintegrated just 73 seconds into its flight. The disaster, which claimed the lives of five astronauts and two payload specialists, remains one of the deadiest accidents in the history of spaceflight, matched only by the 2003 explosion that precipitated the end of NASA's shuttle program. With every step that humankind takes toward the stars, we remember the sacrifice of those seven individuals — Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe — who gave their lives to the spirit of exploration and scientific inquiry. We remember them, and their bravery, and the bravery of others who still decided to dedicate their own lives to spaceflight. Every man and woman donning a spacesuit today has the memory of Challenger on their shoulders, and yet they fly — and push forward in hopes of visiting Mars and beyond. But on the eve of the tragedy's 30th anniversary, there are other scientists who should come to mind as well: The ones who worked tirelessly to figure out what had gone wrong so that changes would ensure it would never happen again. Perhaps the loudest of these was Richard Feynman, a Nobel Laureate in physics who contributed to the Rogers Commission Report. Feynman didn't need to devote hours to calculations about the structural integrity of the shuttle in order to reach any conclusions about the cause of its disintegration. His brutally simple explanation is shown in the video below: Richard Feynman talks about the O ring An old man, an O ring and a cup of ice water. A cup of ice water, representing the conditions in which the shuttle had been launched. They were colder temperatures than any in which the craft had ever been tested. And what may have seemed like a trivial few degrees spelled inevitable disaster for the crew once the Challenger lifted off. Feynman was not a perfect man, and he remains one of the more problematic "heroes" of scientific history. But his work on the Rogers Commission Report — just two years before his death — was arguably his crowning achievement. He reportedly distanced himself from the government-affiliated authors involved, choosing instead to interview as many engineers involved in the


A dog accidentally ran a half-marathon and, adorably, isn’t the first to do so

(Courtesy We Run Huntsville via Ari Mason on Twitter) Something caught the attention of Ludivine, a 2 1/2-year-old bloodhound living in Alabama, on the morning of Jan. 16 and the dog was off and running. And running. And running. She didn’t stop until she’d finished the Elkmont Train Trek Half-Marathon, finishing seventh among the pack of runners in 1:32:56. It’s a truly amazing feat on a number of levels. For one thing, her owner, April Hamlin, had just let her out for a quick bathroom break. For another, Ludivine is a bit of a sloth. “She’s laid-back and friendly, so I can’t believe she ran the whole half-marathon because she’s actually really lazy,” Hamlin told Runner’s World. Dog runs entire half marathon, finishes in 7th place https://t.co/EVAok689Pl (photo from WeRunHuntsville) https://t.co/J4FFSi2bF5 Maybe Hamlin shouldn’t have been surprised, though, because this is what dogs do and Ludivine, named for a character in the Russell Crowe movie “A Good Year,” is not the first to complete a race. It’s happened at least two other times. Brett Evill, a reader from Australia, writes to say that his family’s Labrador, Minnie, ran a half-marathon with her owner in 1969. Minnie finished fifth with a quick stop to sniff at a tree, a newspaper clipping from the day reports. Minnie also needed medical attention because her paws were rubbed raw, but was otherwise fine. In 2011, Dozer, a goldendoodle from Fulton, Md., ran about seven of the 13.1 miles in the Maryland Half-Marathon. “This is a very sweet dog,” Karen Warmkessel, spokeswoman for the University of Maryland Medical Center, said at the time. “When I saw him today, he looked great.” Two years later, Boogie, a 100-pound dog, escaped his leash and crashed a half-marathon in Evansville, Ind. Boogie finished in 2 hours 15 minutes — faster than half the human runners — and, for his trouble, got a medal and a microchip so his owner can keep track of him. Working on results…Wanted to share this photo of that was sent to me after the race. This is Ludivane – she ran the entire half marathon and finished 7th overall with a time of 1:32.56 Posted by Elkmont Half Marathon – The Trackless Train Trek on Sunday, January 17, 2016 Although her owner worried that her pup might have been a distraction for the field of 165 runners, Ludivine seemed to make friends along


Space warfare with Russia and China? Pentagon urged to prepare for it.

The Air Force’s 45th Space Wing launches a rocket carrying a satellite for the U.S. Navy from a space launch complex in July 2013. (Courtesy photo by Pat Corkery/Released) Picture this: A Chinese fighter jet accidentally crashes into a Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance plane while attempting to buzz it over the South China Sea, killing all on board both aircraft. Fearing U.S. retaliation, China goes a relatively unexpected route: It uses surface-to-air missiles to shoot numerous U.S. satellites out of the heavens in quick succession. Very quickly, the Navy is forced to navigate the Pacific with little use of GPS and degraded communications, causing chaos and uncertainty. The Chinese strikes also have knocked out some of the Pentagon’s ability to control its arsenal of precision-guided weapons. None of this has happened. But the hypothetical scenario points out the reliance the Pentagon has on space and the military technology it keeps in it. Satellites have soared over the earth’s atmosphere for decades, providing the United States with a huge advantage militarily, even at a time when the conventional weapons U.S. rivals have are formidable. [U.S. military wants help to launch satellite-fixing robots into space] A new report released on Wednesday by the Center for a New American Security highlights the vulnerabilities the Pentagon has in space, and calls for a shift in strategy to safeguard it and prepare for conflict there. It’s written by senior fellow Elbridge Colby, a former member of the presidential campaign staff of Gov. W. Mitt Romney (R.-Mass.), and argues that potential adversaries like China and Russia have noticed the degree to which the United States is reliant on its “space architecture,” and begun to seek ways to threaten it. “Indeed, many observers have noted that these potential opponents judge the U.S. space architecture to be the Achilles’ heel’ of U.S. military power, in light of the depth of American reliance on theses systems and the vulnerability of the U.S. military satellite architecture,” the report said. Threats to satellites include not only missiles, but also cyber and electronic attacks that could disable them. In effect, Colby argues, “space is becoming a domain like any other — air, sea, land, and electromagnetic — in which the United States will have to compete and fight the ability to access and exploit the domain rather assume safe and uncontested passage within and use of it.” The Pentagon already has begun


The problem with Ben Carson’s ‘cyber space race’ analogy

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson in Glenwood, Iowa, last week. (AP/Andrew Harnik) Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says he has a plan to fend off malicious hackers taking aim at America's data and digital infrastructure: "A new space race for the 21st century; a cyber space race." He extended the metaphor in an op-ed posted on technology news site Re/code. This is not the first time the United States has faced so daunting a challenge. In the early 1960s, due to Soviet advances in space and rocketry science, America was in danger of losing the space race, ceding a potential tactical and military advantage to the USSR. President Kennedy boldly proclaimed that by the end of the decade, the U.S. would put a man on the surface of the moon. But there's one big problem with this analogy: When America beat the Soviet Union to the moon, it was a feat of engineering — an impressive feat, but one built on established principles of physics and mathematics. "People knew that it was possible," said Tom Cross, chief technology officer of cybersecurity firm Drawbridge Networks. "The great thing about the space race, and one of the reasons why it was so successful, was that it had a clearly defined goal." Securing America's computers is different. "This isn't an engineering problem; it's a political and a policy problem," said James Andrew Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "We've created this thing, and we still have a very primitive approach to securing and governing it." The reality is that "you can't build perfect cybersecurity," he said. Every piece of software harbors the risk of bugs that could be leveraged by an attacker — one who needs only to penetrate networks or devices once to win, while defenders need to defeat every attempt to keep them safe. And human user error can inject just as much weakness as can problems within the underlying systems. America has to grapple with the fact that it now relies on a digital infrastructure that was not designed to be secure. "We're still struggling with how to fix the problem," Cross said. In Carson's defense, his main point in bringing up the space race seems to be to unify the American people "behind a common purpose." And the details of his plan focus less on technical solutions and more on the creation of


Michael Schlow’s D.C. takeover continues with Italian spot Alta Strada

Chef Michael Schlow is adding a third restaurant to his growing Washington portfolio. Michael Schlow's empire in Washington is expanding. (Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post) Joining Tico on 14th Street and the Riggsby near Dupont Circle will be Italian restaurant Alta Strada, set to open in March in the City Vista development. It will be the third Alta Strada under Schlow's belt, with siblings located outside of Boston and in Connecticut's Foxwoods Resort Casino. [The Riggsby review: Old Hollywood meets New Washington] Boston chef Michael Zentner has been tapped to lead the kitchen at the Washington outpost, where diners can expect a menu that includes antipasti, thin crust pizzas, house-made pastas and seasonal main courses. In a press release, Schlow said Alta Strada's fare draws on the time he has spent in the Tuscany, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna and Campania regions of Italy. "These are the dishes I learned in Italy; they are simple, incredibly satisfying, and have become classics for a reason," Schlow said in the release. "This kind of cooking doesn't need any of my 'creativity' to make them better." Beverages will follow the theme as well, with an all-Italian wine list, plus cocktails, Italian liqueurs and beers. The 3,900-square-foot restaurant will seat 80 diners amid an interior designed by -- nope, not surprised -- Brian Miller of Edit Lab at Streetsense. Also part of the project will be a separate, to-be-named crudo (Italian for "raw") bar. The space will seat 25 diners and is expected to open after Alta Strada. Alta Strada, 465 K St. NW. Opening in March for dinner, with lunch and Sunday brunch to follow. altastradarestaurant.com. Related items: The Riggsby review: Old Hollywood meets New Washington With Tico, chef Michael Schlow makes trek from Boston to D.C.


Thirty years ago, a TV critic watched the Challenger explosion. This is what he saw.

was killed in the Challenger explosion, was a central figure in the news coverage of the disaster that day. (Jim Cole/AP) In the scramble to cover the tragedy, each network showed some evidence of resourcefulness on the air. NBC News brought in a child psychologist to advise parents on how they might help children adjust to the traumatic news of the day. ABC had former astronaut Gene Cernan live from Houston to narrate slow-motion replays of the explosion and explain as much as possible what might have caused it. CBS had test pilot Leo Krupp brought in for the same chore. “The CBS Morning News” was already in Miami Beach for a week of special broadcasts from that city. After yesterday’s broadcast, which ended before the launch, anchors Forrest Sawyer and Maria Shriver and five vans full of equipment were transported to the cape for today’s follow-up coverage, with all previously planned segments of the program scrubbed for now. All three networks planned late prime-time reports on the explosion last night, and ABC News expanded “Nightline” to an hour. Not every word or gesture was well-considered during the coverage. ABC News correspondent Lynn Sherr, at the jet propulsion lab in Pasadena, Calif., for coverage of the Voyager 2 Uranus probe, appeared incongruously jolly and smiley on the air. A sour wrong note. Jennings kept talking during live coverage of reaction from former space traveler Sen. Jake Garn (R-Utah), telling viewers “we don’t need to hear him” to know what he was saying; but then Jennings stopped talking and we did hear him. Brokaw may have been out in left field when he speculated that critics of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative project would use the shuttle calamity as evidence of “just how wrong things can go in space.” Rather, alerting viewers to the upcoming statement from the White House, said “President Nixon” would be making it, then quickly corrected himself. Earlier, though, Rather more than once achieved the kind of common-man eloquence that makes him not only a valued source of information at a time like this, but a valued companion, someone of authority and yet camaraderie. At one point, he quoted what he said was an old sailor’s expression: “Thy sea is so great, and my boat so small.” He later read a poem by a former astronaut over footage of the Challenger crew on tape, preparing for the


‘We’ve lost ’em, God bless ’em’: What it was like to witness the Challenger disaster

explosion. . . . Tracking crews have reported that the vehicle had exploded.” Shortly, there was the announcement that an “impact point” had been located in the ocean. The rumbling sounds from the sky gradually died away. The scattered screams and shouts died. The immediate families of the astronauts were escorted quickly away to the crew quarters. Other relatives and visitors were urged onto the buses that had brought them to the scene. Then this stretch of Kennedy Space Center along an Atlantic Ocean beach was overwhelmed in silence. The beanstalk of cloud, ending in a large blossom, hung in the air for hours, breaking lazily into smaller puffs. The debris from the explosion, which occurred 18 miles downrange from the space center, continued to fall into the ocean for nearly an hour, the loudspeaker voice explained later, and thwarted the search teams on helicopters, planes and ships that were converging on the spot. The closed-circuit television monitors scattered everywhere in the press area, which had recorded the bustle of launch activity, the suiting up of the astronauts, one by one, now showed an empty picture of Atlantic horizon. Some of the crustier observers here compared their feelings to the aftershock of combat, others to the day President John F. Kennedy was shot. Some people sobbed. Most had red eyes. Spectators at the Kennedy Space Center react to seeing the shuttle explode. (AP) “I was just standing, looking up, watching for the shuttle to come out of the cloud,” said Brian Ballard, 16, editor of a student newspaper. Christa McAuliffe, 37, a social studies teacher from his school, Concord High in Concord, N.H., was in the middeck section of the spacecraft, part of the seven-member crew. She had been officially designated by the White House as the “first private citizen in space.” Officials had hoped her participation would rekindle interest in the space program among schoolchildren. “My stomach turned over,” Ballard said quietly a little while after the explosion, recalling the moment of realization. “I felt sick right that minute.” McAuliffe’s parents and other relatives were standing in the VIP grandstand area surrounded by a white picket fence, a parking lot between them and the press stands. They were with the visiting third-grade class of about 20 children that had traveled here with McAuliffe’s son, Scott, 9, last week. Scott, McAuliffe’s daughter, Caroline, 6, and the teacher’s husband, Steven, were


Facebook gets even closer to moving beyond the Like

Facebook is planning a new feature to allow users to mark their "Reactions," a range of emotions, on posts. The feature has been tested in Spain and several other countries. (Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images) If you feel limited by Facebook's emotional range, then you're really going to like what's coming next. The company announced that it would expand its set of in-network emotions in October, after many years of user requests to add a "dislike" button to the platform. At that time, Facebook said that users would eventually be able to choose between a few emotions apart from Like: namely Love, Yay, Haha, Wow, Angry, Sad. A report from Bloomberg, however, says that Yay has been nixed. On Facebook's earnings call Wednesday, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said that the feature, Facebook Reactions, will be rolling out to the full network "pretty soon" on every Facebook platform. He added that he thinks adding more emotions helps make the network a more empathetic and more open place. "The philosophy behind it is that when you only have a like button, if you share a sad piece of content or something that makes you angry, people may not have the tool to react to it," Zuckerberg explained. The addition of Reactions, he said, should increase engagement, sharing and openness. In a post on Facebook earlier this month, product manager Chris Cox showed off how the emoticons look in Japan, birthplace of the emoji and the sixth country to get the more expressive options: I'm in Tokyo today to announce the rollout of Reactions in Japan, our sixth country, along with six new Japanese publishing partners for Instant Articles. We're excited to see how these features get used in Japan, a culture we all learn from in how to communicate visually. Posted by Chris Cox on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 The faces have captions that say "Good!" -- the standard Japanese "Like" -- "Super," "Funny," "Great," "Sad," and "Terrible." In other words, not that far off from what we'll expect in English. Zuckerberg said that Facebook has been testing the feature in a handful of countries first to make sure it works smoothly before it goes live for everyone.


Vegan chain HipCityVeg is putting down roots in Washington

The vegetable revolution -- evolution? -- of Washington continues. HipCityVeg, a Philadelphia-based chain, has announced plans to arrive this spring in the nation's capital. It will be the company's first location outside of the City of Brotherly Love. [What D.C. restaurants have finally changed about the way they treat vegetables] The restaurant's thing? Giving fast food a vegan makeover. HipCityVeg's Chick'n Nuggets with sweet potato fries. (Rodrigo Corral) Founder and chief executive Nicole Marquis debuted HipCityVeg in 2012 near Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square, to crowds that lined up out the door for such fare as the Crispy HipCity Ranch, a battered "chick'n" sandwich, and the Groothie, a green smoothie with apples, leafy greens and fruit. Other items in the fast-food genre include the Ziggy Burger with smoked tempeh and sweet potato fries. The salad portion of the menu -- Asian-accented udon noodles, a Mediterranean riff with marinated tofu, etc. -- won't be too much of a stretch for D.C. diners accustomed to the fast-casual Beefsteaks and Sweetgreens of the world. It's worth noting that HipCityVeg's arrival comes not long after fellow vegan chain Native Foods Cafe gave up on the Washington scene. After about a year in business, Native Foods, which specializes in animal-product-free pub- and global-inspired dishes, closed its two city locations in December. A Falls Church location shut down in October. HipCityVeg, though, is poised for expansion. In addition to the Washington location, the company is preparing to open a third Philadelphia shop, with "plans to expand on a national scale," according to a press release. HipCityVeg, 712 Seventh St. NW. Opening this spring. hipcityveg.com. Related items: What D.C. restaurants have finally changed about the way they treat vegetables Native Foods Cafe is closing its Washington locations Vegetables: Are they the new bacon? José Andrés and other chefs think so. Can vegetarians dine in meat-centric D.C. restaurants?


Duke’s Grocery team to open Duke’s Counter in former Zoo Bar Cafe space

Photo of Proper Burger by Holley Simmons Duke’s Grocery, the beloved Dupont hang with an East London twist, is opening a second iteration in Woodley Park to be called Duke’s Counter. The new business will be located at 3000 Connecticut Ave. NW in the space that formerly held Zoo Bar Cafe, which served the neighborhood for decades before shuttering last year. “We’re going to maintain that welcoming fun vibe,” managing partner Daniel Kramer says of the space, located directly across from the National Zoo. “We’re excited to join the Woodley Park community and to have a super, super cute neighbor named Bei Bei.” The menu at Duke’s Counter will be similar to the one at Duke’s Grocery, with the addition of a few items and a children’s menu. And don’t worry — the Proper Burger will be available. “A larger kitchen allows for more flexibility,” Kramer says. “We’ll have a fryer and will be able to do things like fish and chips.” Kramer anticipates the new spot will open sometime this year after an interior rehab.


U.S. general tapped to take over in Afghanistan open to keeping more troops, boosting air war

Army Lt. General John W. Nicholson Jr. speaks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) The general nominated to take over as the new top commander of the U.S. war in Afghanistan said on Thursday that security there has deteriorated, and he promised a detailed assessment, within 90 days of taking the job, of how many American troops will be needed. Army Lt. Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., who has been nominated to take over the war and pin on a fourth star, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that if confirmed he will “re-look at” what U.S. military presence is needed. That leaves the window open to keeping more military advisers and Special Operations troops in Afghanistan as part of a generational approach in which Americans troops remain for years to come. There are currently about 9,800 service members in Afghanistan, with most focused on advising Afghan police and military units and some hunting down members of al-Qaeda and — more recently — the Islamic State militant group. Plans call for Obama to halve that force by the time he leaves office, but he could defer the decision to the next president. [The U.S. was supposed to leave Afghanistan by 2017. Now it might take decades.] Nicholson testified on Thursday that he supports basing the number of troops deployed on the conditions on the ground, adding that the calculus “perhaps changed” in 2015 as the Islamic State emerged in the eastern province of Nangahar and a branch of al-Qaeda formed a sprawling training camp in the southern province of Kandahar. Afghan forces and U.S. Special Operations troops combined to destroy the camp in a multi-day operation in October. “We’re not trying to create a Western-style society here,” Nicholson said. “We’re looking at an adequate level of security to prevent the re-emergence of transnational terrorist threats.” He later called the efforts by the Islamic State and al-Qaeda in 2015 “clear attempts by transnational terrorist organizations to establish sanctuary inside Afghanistan.” The general, seated before the committee in his dress blues, was broadly praised by members of the committee for his breadth of experience in Afghanistan. He has served there for a combined three and a half years, more than any other U.S. general, said Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). Kirk was allowed to testify in Nicholson’s favor at the outset of the hearing


‘Courage is contagious’: NASA remembers astronauts on Challenger explosion anniversary

In this series of file photos from Jan. 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP) Barbara Morgan remembers. She remembers Mike Smith, the pilot who taught her barrel rolls — whose trust, she said, set her free. She remembers Francis R. Scobee, the "deep and poetic thinker" who showed her how a true leader behaves. And she remembers Christa McAuliffe, the schoolteacher astronaut, who made time to write college recommendations for students, even as the space shuttle Challenger launch approached. "Courage is contagious," Morgan told a crowd that gathered in Florida on Thursday, as she recalled what she had learned from the Challenger crew. "Courage is shared. Courage is much more than bravery and boldness, because courage lives in the heart." Morgan, the teacher chosen as McAuliffe's backup for the ill-fated space flight, was among the speakers at a ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center on the 30th anniversary of the Challenger explosion. The event was part of NASA's annual day of remembrance, which honors all of the agency's fallen astronauts, a group that also includes the crews of Apollo 1 and the Columbia shuttle. Five astronauts and two payload specialists were killed in the Challenger tragedy. The shuttle exploded less than two minutes into its Jan. 28, 1986, flight — a disaster that was captured on television. "The Challenger crew were wonderful, wonderful people," Morgan said. "Wonderful human beings." In this 1985 photo, teacher Christa McAuliffe rides with her children Caroline and Scott in a parade down Main Street in Concord, N.H. (Jim Cole/AP) Family members of some of the astronauts attended Thursday's ceremony in Florida, including McAuliffe's son, who was just 9 when the explosion occurred. Other finalists for the Teacher in Space program were also in the audience. Events were also scheduled at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the Johnson Space Center in Houston. 30 years ago, the Shuttle Challenger exploded during launch while CNN broadcasted on live television. All seven crew members were killed. Three NASA astronauts — Roger Chaffee, Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Ed White — were killed in a launchpad fire during testing of the Apollo 1 capsule on Jan. 27, 1967. Day of Remembrance -- Apollo 1 Seven astronauts were killed Feb. 1, 2003, when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated above the


Afternoon links: A spotlight on solitary confinement

- Congress is holding hearings on potential abuses by federal spying agencies . . . in secret, of course. - Meet James Ridgeway, the journalist who has dedicated his career to exposing the widespread use and effects of solitary confinement. - Speaking of solitary confinement, Obama’s order to cease the practice for juveniles in federal prisons isn’t really all that bold, mostly because there are fewer than 30 juveniles in federal prison. - The sheriff in Oakland County, Mich., doesn’t want to give his bayonets back to the Defense Department. - The D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) has filed ethics charges against Thomas Tamm, 12 years after he leaked information about warrantless wiretapping to the New York Times. Oddly, one common criticism of the ODC is that it operates in secret. That practice apparently doesn’t apply when the office is sanctioning whistleblowers. - A private company called Vigilant Solutions has taken more than 2 billion photos of license plates all over America. It’s now selling that information, including the location of the plates, to police agencies. - Philadelphia is considering a new law that would require musicians to register with the police. - Photo of the day: Nashville


Transcript: Fox News undercard GOP debate

their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out ISIS. And I think Rick Santorum is exactly right. You take away their land. But one of the things we have to do is a comprehensive strategy to get ISIS. First of all, take away their access to social media platforms. They are using the same social media platforms to recruit, and to train, and to direct people as I use to see pictures of my grandkids. That's ridiculous. The second thing, go after them financially. Wage war with them. Make it so nobody can do commerce with ISIS. Not a nickel of transfer. Any company, any country, that even gets close to dealing with them, absolutely put sanctions on them. Make them pay. And finally, you have got to go after them militarily. And that means we send the land, the sea, the air forces, the A-10 Warthogs dropping ordnances on every truck and every tank, and we obliterate them. But we have to understand that they are a force that's getting bigger. And with any kind of cancer, you don't contain it, you eradicate it. And that's how we have to fight ISIS, comprehensively. That's what I would suggest we do. (APPLAUSE) MACCALLUM: Thank you. HEMMER: Governor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? GILMORE: First of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years.


WHO: Zika virus ‘spreading explosively,’ level of alarm ‘extremely high’

South America’s biggest country has seen a rise in cases of a disease triggered by the little-known Zika virus being linked to a spike in birth defects. The World Health Organization announced Thursday that it will convene an emergency meeting to try to find ways to stop the transmission of the Zika virus — which officials said is "spreading explosively" across the Americas. "The level of alarm is extremely high, as is the level of uncertainty. Questions abound. We need to get some answers quickly, " Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO, said in Geneva during a briefing for member countries. The WHO said the pathogen, which was virtually unheard of in the region a year ago, is spreading so fast that it could infect as many as 3 million to 4 million people within 12 months. Chan said those numbers and the severity of the possible complications being reported -- from a brain abnormality called microcephaly in children to paralysis in adults -- make the situation dramatically different than what epidemiologists have seen with past outbreaks of the virus. Health officials said 24 countries and territories are affected by mosquitoes that are transmitting Zika locally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the United States has 31 confirmed cases in 11 states and the District of Columbia. All are travel-related, said Lyle Petersen, director of CDC’s vector-borne disease division, and "this number is increasing rapidly." At least one involves a pregnant woman, New York City officials said Thursday. There also are 20 additional cases because of local transmission in U.S. territories — 19 in Puerto Rico and one in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Here's a look at the pandemics that made it to our shores. In a separate briefing with reporters Thursday, U.S. officials said all states are now required to report Zika cases. As a result, they expect to see a sharp increase in cases involving a traveler infected while abroad who becomes symptomatic after returning home. But local outbreaks are unlikely here, officials said. Global health authorities have already been criticized for not moving quickly enough to call an emergency meeting on Zika. Some public health experts accused the WHO of failing to learn lessons from the Ebola epidemic of 2014, when the organization delayed sounding the alarm for months. Lawrence O. Gostin, a global health law professor at Georgetown University, said Chan needs to


Jim McMahon quit taking painkiller pills and is now an advocate for medical marijuana

Jim McMahon speaks at a Players Against Concussions event in 2014. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images) Over a 15-year NFL career, Jim McMahon took his share of lumps, and he now has the chronic pain to prove it. In addition to the usual aches, the 56-year-old former Bears quarterback suffers from (according to the Chicago Tribune) early-onset dementia, severe headaches, depression, memory loss, and vision and speech problems. To combat the pain, if not all of his ailments, McMahon had been on a steady diet of painkillers, to the tune of 100 Percocet pills per month. But he’s kicked that habit, thanks to what he describes as a much safer and more effective remedy: medical marijuana. “They [the pills] were doing more harm than good,” McMahon told the Tribune. “This medical marijuana has been a godsend. It relieves me of the pain — or thinking about it, anyway.” After a successful referendum in Arizona, where he lives, legalized medical marijuana in 2010, McMahon switched away from a pharmaceutical regimen that he had been on since his playing days. “Back then it was painkillers. I played my whole career on painkillers,” he told ABC7 Chicago. “I’ve had 18 surgeries, so pretty much everything on me hurts.” Jim McMahon Discusses Early Dementia From Concussions McMahon was in Chicago this week as part of celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the Bears’ Super Bowl XX win. His comments on pot use, though, come at a time when Illinois is considering expanding its qualifications for medical marijuana use to include chronic pain. “I don’t smoke all day long, you know. It’s usually in the morning. Mornings are rough trying to get up out of bed,” McMahon told ABC7. “It’s been quite a few years so I don’t feel it impairs me at all. I can still function, still talk to people, do whatever I got to do.” … “It’s a lot easier on my body and I can get through the day without a problem. It doesn’t have any side effect. You don’t get constipated, you don’t get woozy and feeling weird. For me, it works,” McMahon added. The former quarterback has said in the past, such as in the video above, that his current condition leaves him with regrets about about pursuing a professional football career. But he told ABC7 that while he regrets “trying to play through some of the stuff” that he did,


Ted Cruz keeps saying that satellites don’t show global warming. Here’s the problem

up to about 6 miles) and above it. And over the years, these data have been often cited to call into question whether the globe is warming as fast as surface temperature readings would seem to suggest. The University of Alabama in Huntsville’s Christy — often dubbed a climate change “skeptic,” though he says he agrees that “humans do affect the climate” — was a witness at Cruz’s December hearing, where his testimony criticized the “failure of the scientific community to objectively approach the study of climate and climate change.” Christy also argued that satellite measurements of the troposphere show less warming than climate change models would predict, thus calling those models into question. Reached for an interview, Christy reiterated this idea — that the overall satellite record, which dates back to 1979, doesn’t show as much warming as climate models would predict. “There’s something weird here, there’s a discrepancy in our understanding of how the system is supposed to respond to greenhouse gases,” he said. In his statements about satellites and about climate models, it appears that Cruz is relying at least in part on Christy as a key expert. Artist’s rendering of a NOAA polar-orbiting satellite. (Credit: NOAA) But other scientists who focus on the satellite data, such as physicist Carl Mears of Remote Sensing Systems in Santa Rosa, Ca., take a significantly different tack. Mears agrees the satellite record shows less warming than models expect in recent years, but he also emphasizes potential problems and uncertainties with the satellite data. “Part of Sen. Cruz’s argument is that the satellite data is more accurate than the surface data. We don’t think that’s true,” Mears said. Mears and Benjamin Santer, a climate scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, recently co-authored a strong critique of Cruz’s “Data or Dogma” hearing. “Satellites are not a thermometer in space, they’re not making direct measurements of atmospheric temperature, they’re measuring the microwave emissions from oxygen molecules,” Santer said. He cites numerous types of uncertainty associated with satellite temperature data and numerous corrections to it required — such as due to satellites’ orbital drifts — making the entire endeavor a “tough job.” “There’s over a dozen satellites that you need to string together and each of them have calibration and drift issues that need to be dealt with,” added Gavin Schmidt, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA. “If there’s


Apple may owe Ireland $19 billion, but Ireland doesn’t want the money. Here’s why.

and administrative body of the European Union, has recently come up with a clever new legal argument. Even if E.U. law doesn’t really cover corporate tax laws, it does allow the E.U. to act against “state aid” — arrangements under which E.U. member states provide specific help to businesses in ways that distort market competition. If the European Commission treats tax rulings for individual firms as forms of state aid, it may be able to undermine them. This is what is happening to Apple. The European Commission is investigating whether Apple’s special tax deal with Ireland is a form of state aid. If it concludes yes, as everyone expects it to, it can make Ireland stop its special treatment for Apple and force Apple to pay whatever taxes to Ireland the commission thinks it should have paid. Ireland isn’t happy You might expect that Ireland — a country with heavy debt emerging from a serious recession — would be delighted to get its hands on up to $19 billion of unanticipated tax revenue. It isn’t. If Apple is forced to pay these taxes to Ireland, then Ireland will seem much less attractive to other footloose multinationals looking to minimize their tax liability. For example, Google too uses Ireland as a haven to minimize tax payments. The Irish government has clearly decided that the long-term economic costs of getting the money will outweigh the short term boost to revenues, and is lobbying against a large tax settlement. The U.S. isn’t happy either Every presidential election sees a lot of political rhetoric aimed at low tax jurisdictions overseas that are tempting U.S. businesses to locate their activities outside America. You might think that U.S. officials and legislators would be delighted to see these low-tax jurisdictions running into trouble. Again, you’d be wrong. The Senate Committee on Finance has just announced that it considers the European Commission’s investigation to be a “direct threat” to U.S. interests. The likely reasons are twofold. First, companies like Google and Apple have a lot of political clout on Capitol Hill. Second, and likely more important, if Europe succeeds in forcing U.S. companies to pay more taxes, Uncle Sam will probably have to foot much of the bill. The affected companies are likely to claim tax credits in the United States for taxes that they have to pay overseas, leaving the U.S. government and U.S. taxpayers worse off.


As Zika concerns mount, airlines and cruise ship companies offer refunds to pregnant women

assess the financial impact of Zika on the travel industry, Helane Becker, an analyst with Cowen and Co. who follows the airline industry, wrote in a research note this week that she believes there could be "a slowdown in bookings during this time of heightened media coverage and general fear until more information is known." Here's a roundup of what different companies have announced: American Airlines The airline initially said the refund policy would only apply to five countries, but it later expanded it to include Puerto Rico, Martinique and four others. "If you are pregnant and scheduled to travel to a destination outside the U.S. that is affected by Zika virus, you and your travel companions can request a refund. To qualify, you must provide a doctor’s note confirming your pregnancy and stating your inability to travel due to Zika virus." United Airlines Applies to all countries on CDC list. "Customers planning travel to a country that has been impacted by the Zika virus are advised to contact the United Customer Contact Center with questions or to change an itinerary. For the latest information and updates on travel recommendations, please visit the CDC Zika virus travel information page." Delta Applies to all countries on CDC list. "Customers with current reservations who are concerned about travelling to destinations reported by the CDC to be affected by Zika Viral Illness should call 1-800-221-1212 (U.S.) or your local Reservations office and speak with a Delta Representative. Customers may qualify for a change to alternate destinations, travel dates or a refund. Customers may make fee-waived changes to future reservations/tickets. However, changes need to be made by February 29, 2016." LATAM Applies to all countries on CDC list. "For pregnant passengers that have already initiated their trips to the aforementioned destinations, they can return early, subject to seat availability, at no extra charge." Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Carnival Corp. Pregnant women will be allowed to reschedule cruises or change to another itinerary in a region that is not affected by Zika. This post has been updated. Here's a look at the pandemics that made it to our shores. Read more: WHO: Zika virus ‘spreading explosively,’ level of alarm ‘extremely high’ FAQ: What is Zika, and what are the risks as it spreads? CDC issues interim Zika guidelines for testing infants Why the United States is vulnerable to the alarming spread of Zika virus


The crazy sequence of events that’s making almonds cheap again

off to the Himalayas. And so we still have cargo at foreign ports." The Financial Times, which wrote about the international backlash last week, put it even more grimly: Last year’s surge in prices depressed demand, and buyers in China, the Middle East and India, who have led consumption over the past three to four years, have disappeared. Trading has ground to a halt as prices continue to decline and the number of rejected containers by buyers refusing to honor contracts has jumped. The price is right, now With extra almonds on hand, thanks to the unexpected glut, and even fewer people to buy them, the industry has had to sell its nuts for less money, or sit on them until prices rebound. "There's a little bit of a 'hey, let's wait and see what happens to prices' attitude out there right now," said Crowder. "Especially because of El Niño, which could either hurt or help the industry." The weather pattern, which is expected to bring far more rain to the motherland of almonds than in years past, is creating some optimism ahead of the 2016 crop. If that pans out, and demand—especially abroad—doesn't rebound, it could cause an even further drop in almond prices. But there is no assurance that it will. Almonds need rain, but they also need sunshine during a particular sensitive time of the year. More than 80 percent of commercially available bee hives are used to pollinate the plants during the blooming period, and the bees won't fly if it's too wet. If El Niño strikes at the wrong time, it could mean just the opposite: a disappointing crop—and price spike. "Every year we look at the bloom period, and try to guess how big the crop will be," said Crowder. "This one coming up is going to be important." Over time, Crowder, who believes the price has bottomed out, expects the market to correct itself. Buyers, he says, have started purchasing almonds at lower prices in anticipation of an increase, and demand seems to be picking up abroad. Meanwhile, while more almond trees are being planted, there is only so much space left in California to grow the popular nut. "Land is pretty scarce here—water, too," said Crowder. "It's going to be hard to flood the market again—this was a very specific scenario, which is why everything happened so quickly and was so unexpected."


Main Street Morning: Fired Wal-Mart worker wins a $31 million discrimination suit

Facebook’s profits continue to soar. - Uber wants to be an express delivery service for everything. Entrepreneurs - A shop owned by two sisters upcycles vintage military gear for all their customers’ modern needs. - How this entrepreneur created a multi-million dollar business from her kitchen table. - A report finds that Hispanic entrepreneurship could mean a $1.4 trillion boost to the U.S. economy. Sales Marketing - This is Apple’s new $20 billion business. - An ad agency bans PowerPoint. - Congrats to Death Wish Coffee Co., who won Intuit’s contest and will air this ad during the Super Bowl. Finance - Bank of America will be entering the cardless ATM competition. Ideas and Opportunities - These are seven grant-funded robotics companies to watch in the U.S. - This microscope can detect cancer without a biopsy. - These gloves let you climb walls like Spider-Man. - Gun-toting women are giving rise to firearms fashion accessories. Technology - Samsung widens its gap over Apple in the worldwide smartphone market. Online - Google will start marking non-encrypted websites with a scarlet letter. Social Media - Facebook is now ready to broadcast live video on its iPhone app. On This Day in 1861 - Kansas became the 34th state. Around the Country - Arizona lawmakers attempt to make it easier for business owners to fight regulations. - Missouri business groups are divided on an LGBT-discrimination ban. - Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is urging small business owners to make a special effort to hire people with disabilities and individuals with a criminal record. - Florida’s new branding campaign will be unveiled Friday backed by an initial $10 million. - Tennessee business confidence is weighed down by national worries and hiring concerns, according to a survey. - Twelve businesses in a Georgia town are burglarized in one night. - More than two dozen Arizona lawmakers want to constitutionally block state and local governments from having any ties to companies that do business with the government of Iran, even as sanctions against that country are being eased. Around the World - Asian nations are pushing a courtship of Israeli tech companies. - As Russian food prices spike, some winners emerge. Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd PA consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. Follow Gene Marks and On Small Business on Twitter. News we should know about? Email us here.


How mosquitoes with ‘self-destruct’ genes could save us from Zika virus

can help gauge whether more product is needed to further suppress the pest population. This genetic approach and others — for instance, those that render insects infertile or disease-resistant — represent a new spin on the classical Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). During the 1930s and 1940s, the idea of SIT was conceived as a method of “birth control” for unwanted insect species. Males would be rendered sterile by exposing them to massive amounts of radiation, then released to mate with females. SIT was used to eradicate the screwworm, a deadly parasite of livestock, from the United States in the 1950s, and to tame pink bollworm moth populations in California's cotton fields since 1967. Oxitec's scientists have also created self-limiting versions of common agricultural pests in the hopes of minimizing crop losses. One example is the diamondback moth, an insecticide-resistant nuisance that feeds exclusively on brassicas, such as broccoli and cabbage. Oxitec and Cornell University are planning field tests to be conducted in the summer in upstate New York, which have been granted approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. One big question is whether manipulating the ecosystem in this way will have unintended, negative consequences. Oxitec has come under criticism from various environmental groups that remain concerned about the possible effects of releasing a new strain of organism into the wild. For instance, a drastic drop in mosquito population could lead to harmful insects or other animals multiplying uncontrollably. Supporters of genetically modified insects say self-limiting species target only one species, can still be eaten safely by predators, and are more effective/safe than insecticides. Also, the altered males and their offspring die off quickly due to the tTAV gene. “In that sense, we're only removing Aedes aegypti and nothing else from the environment,” Nimmo said. “It's pinpoint accuracy. It's going in with a scalpel and taking away Aedes aegypti, leaving everything untouched.” Here's a look at the pandemics that made it to our shores. Read more: Zika virus FAQ: What is it, and what are the risks as it spreads? CDC issues interim Zika guidelines for testing infants With a little blue pill, could one city’s AIDS epidemic be ending? Scientists open ‘black box’ of schizophrenia with dramatic genetic discovery Principal to give former student ultimate gift: Her kidney My nightmare didn’t end after I lost my child 8 hours after birth. The PTSD carried over to a new pregnancy.


Japan is trying to save its economy with a Jedi mind trick

lower price lead to lower wages, which makes it harder to pay back debts that don't get any lower). And just as important, a little more inflation would make its debt, which has swollen to 230 percent the size of its economy, a little more manageable. Negative interest rates really should do the trick. The idea is that banks would either lend out their money or move it out of the country rather than lose even a small fraction of it by keeping it at the central bank. Although if we're being honest, it's really that second part that matters. It's not like banks haven't been lending because they could earn 0.1 percent by not doing so. They weren't lending because they don't see a lot of good opportunities out there—which isn't going to change if they have to pay the central bank a little instead of getting paid a little by it. But that doesn't really matter. Just getting people to move their money out of the country is enough. That should weaken the currency, and, in turn, increase inflation. That's why the eurozone, Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland have all used negative interest rates of their own. And, as you can see below, that's exactly what happened when Japan announced its negative interest rates on Friday. The yen tumbled, briefly rallied, and then tumbled some more, down to 121 per dollar. Source: Bloomberg The funny thing, though, is that Japan kind of didn't cut interest rates into negative territory, not really. How is that possible? Well, the negative interest rate won't apply to the $2.5 trillion worth of excess reserves that Japanese banks already have, but only to new ones. So it didn't change anything today and will scarcely change things tomorrow. But despite that, the yen still fell quite a bit. Why? Think about it like this. Japan's central bank basically did nothing, but did it in a way that looks like it's willing to do something in the future. In other words, it's about the message it sends—that they haven't given up and are willing to try new things—more than anything else. Or, if you like, it's a Jedi mind trick. Japan's central bank is telling us that it's doing more without actually doing more to try to get us to act as if it's really doing more—which we did! This is the devaluation they're looking for.


Fox News host’s criticism of George P. Bush’s military service recalls infamous CBS report on that other George Bush

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, left, campaigned for his son, George P. Bush, during the younger Bush's successful bid for Texas land commissioner in 2014. (LM Otero/AP) Fox News host Andrea Tantaros thought she smelled hypocrisy in Jeb Bush's plan to defeat the Islamic State, which he outlined during Thursday's Republican presidential debate in Des Moines. How could the former Florida governor say the United States ought to "embed our troops with the Iraqi military" unless he was willing to send his own son to the front lines? Curious, will your son George P. be joining the fight embedded in Iraq, Jeb? Oh wait, that's right, he's also planning to run for President. I've never bought into the thinking that only veterans or parents of veterans are qualified to discuss military strategy. Americans have elected 13 presidents who never served in the armed forces, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was commander in chief during World War II. But even if you do subscribe to that philosophy, Tantaros's criticism seems wildly unfair because, as people all over the Internet quickly pointed out, George P. Bush is, in fact, a veteran who served an eight-month tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2010. He wrote all about in USA Today upon his return. Tantaros didn't exactly apologize. George P.'s service falls into realm of textbook special treatment for children of political dynasties...read more: https://t.co/924QbxybSg That link goes to her Facebook page, where she expounded, suggesting George P. Bush's service doesn't count the same: Jeb Bush wants to send U.S. troops back to Iraq. Last night he said he wants to "embed" more American troops in the country. When I asked if Bush would be willing to embed his son this time around, the campaign responded by pointing out his son, George P. Bush, served in Afghanistan. The men and women who choose to serve our great republic are to be commended, but George P. Bush's service falls into the realm of textbook special treatment for children of "political dynasties" with direct commission and online classes, not exactly standard fare in the U.S. military. His three weeks of direct commission training is far less than a plebe receives prior to entering the U.S. Naval Academy. I appreciate George P.'s service — regardless of how outside the norm it is — but it most certainly offers no inoculation against political critique. This is what you


6 things to know about the Sovereign, opening this week in Georgetown

Neighborhood Restaurant Group beer director Greg Engert with some of the 350 Belgian beers that will be sold at the Sovereign. (Photo by Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) The Sovereign, the latest restaurant and bar from the team behind ChurchKey, the Partisan and Iron Gate, is scheduled to open in Georgetown during the first week of February. This new Belgian-themed endeavor pairs beers selected by Greg Engert with food cooked by Peter Smith, formerly of PS7's. "This place is something I've been dreaming about for years," Engert says. Here's what you can expect at the new two-story place, formerly home to Champions and Blue Gin. It's a Belgian beer bar, but not as most people know it. Belgian beers include some of the most popular styles and brands on the planet, and its traditional beers, including gueuze and kriek, are enjoying a revival among craft beer lovers. But Engert -- who is responsible for the beer lists at 14 restaurants and the annual Snallygaster beer festival as well as the Bluejacket brewery -- feels that too many people have a limited understanding or experience with them. "Belgian beer is not just this broad category of strong, fruity and often spiced beer character. There are Belgian beers that are bone dry. There are stouts, sours, dry-hopped blond ales." Spreading this knowledge, or letting people geek out over their first Cantillon gueuze, is what led Engert to move away from the American IPAs and saisons that he champions at ChurchKey and Rustico, at least for one project. "People say, 'American beer is so hot, why would you do Belgian beer now?,' Engert says. "I think American craft beer is unfortunately elbowing out everything else around the world. But until someone makes something as good as [Belgian brewery De La Senne's] Taras Boulba" – he laughs – "It's like, this farmhouse ale revolution started somewhere, and it wasn't America." "The best beers in the world should be sought out and tasted. People should not be surprised that I want to pour every drop of [Belgian breweries] De La Senne and De Ranke that I can get my hands on. In that family of beers, they're as amazing as Cantillon is their style. People will be banging down the door for Cantillon, but they haven't had XX Bitter by De Ranke." With that said, this will not be your average Belgian beer bar full of


Will the Pentagon give Gen. John Campbell, the outgoing Afghanistan war chief, another job?

Gen. John Campbell, then the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 6, 2015. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) As the Pentagon moved this week to bring in a new U.S. general to command the war in Afghanistan, a question was left hanging in the air: What will become of Army Gen. John F. Campbell, who has overseen the military campaign there since August 2014? Campbell had been seen by many as the logical next commander of U.S. Central Command, the powerful military headquarters in Tampa, Fla., that oversees operations across the Middle East and southwestern Asia. A career infantry officer, he has commanded U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan as a senior officer, and he served from March 2013 to August 2014 as the Army’s vice chief of staff, its No. 2 officer. But Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter announced this month that he has selected Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the current commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, as the next chief at Central Command. A commander of Special Operations Command has never before gone on to lead Central Command, but the move is viewed as reasonable considering Votel’s previous success as a commander and how heavily the Pentagon relies right now on Special Operations troops in its military campaign against the Islamic State militant group. Campbell led the military in Afghanistan through a trying time last year after the crew of an AC-130 gunship shelled a building in the northern province of Kunduz without realizing it was a hospital. Campbell called it a mistake within days. Following a lengthy investigation, he attributed the incident in November to a combination of human errors during the battle and faulty planning. The military has not disclosed whether any of the troops involved will face criminal or administrative charges. But there is no indication that Campbell has done anything wrong in Carter’s eyes. The defense secretary praised him for his leadership during a news conference at the Pentagon on Thursday, calling him “exceptional.” “We’ve been really lucky,” Carter said. “We’ve had an unbelievable string of commanders in Afghanistan, of which… Campbell is the latest one.” Army Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner, Campbell’s top spokesman in Afghanistan, told The Washington Post in a phone interview Saturday that the general is leaving his position as part of a normal rotation. Campbell has been deployed for “quite a while,” and it’s a natural


Without Walmart, the long wait for more groceries continues in east D.C.

that the three existing D.C. stores were underperforming and company officials didn’t feel confident the two other locations would generate enough sales. Walmart is also ending its Express concept and closing 269 stores worldwide. Walmart said Friday that it is terminating plans to build two stores on the east side of the Anacostia River in Washington D.C. This comes after the retail giant announced it was closing more than 200 stores around the world. Bowser’s anguish stems from how critical the stores were as the economic underpinning of two complex and expensive projects that have been floundering for more than a decade, leaving residents in poor communities east of the Anacostia feeling left behind while other neighborhoods enjoy a boom in new restaurants, shops and grocery stores. Since 2004, the number of grocery sellers in the District has ballooned from 36 to 55, according to the D.C. Economic Partnership, with three Whole Foods Markets and other new stores on the way. Although home to nearly 150,000 people, the two sections east of the river, Wards 7 and 8, still have just three grocery stores. The new Walmart stores would have doubled that number. One of the stores would have ended a quest launched in the late 1990s by residents of dilapidated public housing apartments on East Capitol Street near the Maryland border for a simple place to buy fresh food. In response to their pleadings, the city redeveloped their buildings as part of a federally backed project that officials said would include a grocery store and other shops. But it took until 2012 to sign a lease for a store — with Walmart — and construction didn’t begin until March of last year. To accommodate the second proposed store, at the former Skyland Shopping Center located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Alabama Ave. SE, D.C. spent 15 years and an estimated $45 million taking land there by eminent domain. D.C. committed another $40 million in tax increment financing to the project before Walmart signed a lease to open a 125,000-square-foot store there and agreed to pay a competitor, Safeway, $3.6 million beginning in 2019 to address a covenant preventing other grocers from opening nearby. Demolition and site work are well underway, with a web cam online showing up-to-the-minute progress for eager residents. But Walmart’s store was designed to have parking built atop the store — a unique


Suspected suicide of ‘world’s best chef’ highlights pressure-cooker of haute cuisine

what police think was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the BBC and other news organizations. Violier’s apparent suicide has shocked the restaurant world and sown confusion about why he would kill himself a month after being crowned the best chef in the world. Some of his closest friends offered an answer, though, speculating that the intense stress of running one of the planet’s greatest restaurants suddenly overwhelmed the young chef just as he struggled to cope with the double loss of his father and his closest culinary mentor. “I am appalled, absolutely destroyed,” Pierre Keller, a wine merchant who shared a drink with Violier 10 days ago, told Swiss newspaper 24 Heures. “It takes a lot of pressure to do that.” “I hope that the stress of this number-one ranking is not the cause,” added Pierre Gagnaire, head chef of the Paris restaurant that bears his name. Running even the smallest restaurant is often an extremely stressful business, and the industry is rife with broken dreams and bankruptcies. The rarefied world of haute cuisine can be especially cruel. Here, the margin between success and failure can be as fine as a single, powerful critic’s review. And coveted ratings, such as Michelin stars, can literally mean life or death for a chef. In 2003, for example, renowned French chef Bernard Loiseau allegedly committed suicide after the Gault & Millau guide lowered his restaurant’s rating, according to the Guardian. Last year, American celebrity chef Homaro Cantu was found hanging in his yet-to-open Chicago gastro pub. Violier’s Hotel de Ville was one of only two restaurants in Switzerland to attain Michelin’s elusive three-star rating. Worldwide, only about 100 restaurants manage the feat a year, as even the most elite find it hard to maintain culinary perfection. “For three stars you have to be scared, you have to feel the adrenaline rush,” said award-winning French chef Yannick Alléno in “Three Stars,” a documentary about the intense pressure in the industry. “That’s how it must be when you’re cooking.” “Michelin-starred chef. That very phrase seems to conjure up something. It elevates your average stove monkey to superior chefy status. It puts you in a completely new culinary class,” said British food critic and writer William Sitwell in the documentary “Michelin Stars: The Madness of Perfection.” “Most decent chefs are aiming for culinary excellence. They want to produce good, tasty plates of food,” Sitwell said.


Photos: Sun sets on a snowy January

Sunset at the Jefferson Memorial, Jan. 31, 2016. (Nathan Jones via Flickr) A snowy January closed on a springlike note Sunday, and a beautiful sunset helped mark the occasion. Temperatures reached the upper 50s to near 60 degrees thanks to sunshine and a gentle breeze from the south. As mid- and high level clouds streamed into the region towards dusk, they glowed pink and orange over the fast-shrinking snowpack. Many readers captured the beautiful scene – a tranquil one to wrap up the month that delivered the second biggest January snowstorm in D.C. on record – the Blizzard of 2016, also known as Snowzilla. Sunset, Jan. 31, 2016. (George Jiang via Flickr) Sunset over the Anacostia River, Jan. 31, 2016. (Jim Havard via Flickr) Drone view of sunset, Jan. 31, 2016. (Amy Talvac via Facebook) Sunset over the linger snowpack in Mt. Airy, Md. Jan. 31, 2016 (Momo Couture via Facebook) @capitalweather @RestonNow Dog walk sunset a few minutes ago...lovely. https://t.co/XWrzqCtfZa #Sunset over P Street, Georgetown, by @footnotesrising. @capitalweather https://t.co/6q3yanwqln @capitalweather #dramaticdcsunset https://t.co/4XU9Dd5OEF Goodbye January, you were lovely on your last day. #dupont @capitalweather https://t.co/KgAPnztHsd Sunset. #nofilter @capitalweather https://t.co/M9i9CqBWyy Sunset over #adamstownmd @ameliasegal @capitalweather https://t.co/dbluSko4eG @suepalkafox5dc @ameliasegal @VJohnsonNBC4 @ABC7Brian @TenaciousTopper @capitalweather SUNSET OVER BURKE https://t.co/VCt31wOVUx