Montgomery County Animal Watch

These cases were received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. A bad fall: Akita incident: Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Adopt or foster rescue dogs: Rockville Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: Rockville — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


U.S. honeybee colony die-off continues — even during the summer

The past year was unusual because more bees died in the summer than in the winter. (Andy Duback/Associated Press) More than 2 out of 5 American honeybee colonies died in the past year — and, surprisingly, the worst die-off was in the summer, according to a new survey. Since April 2014, beekeepers have lost 42.1 percent of their colonies, the second-highest loss rate in nine years, according to an annual survey conducted by a bee partnership that includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “What we’re seeing with this bee problem is just a loud signal that there’s some bad things happening with our agro ecosystems,” said study co-author Keith Delaplane at the University of Georgia. “We just happen to notice it with the honeybee because they are so easy to count.” But it’s not as dire as it sounds. After a colony dies, beekeepers split their surviving colonies and start new ones, and the numbers go up, said Delaplane and co-author Dennis vanEngelsdorp of the University of Maryland. What shocked them is that this is the first time they’ve noticed bees dying more in summer than winter. The scientists said mites, poor nutrition and pesticides are to blame for the bee deaths. — Associated Press


Japan’s three biggest automakers widen global recall of air bags

will arrive in three days or less. Wal-Mart offers a grocery delivery and pickup service in five markets. Ravi Jariwala, a company spokesman, said the unlimited shipping service will be available by invitation only for now, and it will offer more than 1 million top-selling items, from toys to electronic gadgets. ● Cereal maker Post Holdings said the Midwest’s deadly outbreak of bird flu has affected about 20 percent of its egg supply, up from 14 percent only days ago. The outbreak has led to the loss of more than 32 million turkeys and chickens. More than 26 million of those were egg-laying chickens from Iowa flocks. Neighboring Nebraska reported its first case of bird flu Tuesday, affecting 1.7 million egg-laying chickens. ● Shares of Shake Shack jumped in after-hours trading after the burger chain raised its outlook for revenue for the year. The New York company said its revenue grew 56 percent, to $37.8 million. Shake Shack is forecasting $161 million to $165 million in annual revenue, up from $159 million to $163 million. Shake Shack’s stock has more than tripled in value since its initial public offering in January, and it rose an additional $4.39, or 6.4 percent, to $72.75, after the market close. ● U.S. shoppers kept their spending in check in April. The Commerce Department said retail sales were unchanged last month after rising 1.1 percent in March. Sales have risen only 0.9 percent over the past 12 months. The retail sales report raises the possibility that nasty winter weather cannot entirely explain the recent lackluster consumer spending in prior months, since the anticipated spring rebound has not materialized. ● Macy’s is feeling a big chill from international tourists because their money isn’t going as far as it used to. The strong dollar has crimped spending by overseas visitors at Macy’s stores in big cities such New York, Las Vegas and Chicago. That contributed to a 13 percent decline in profit in the first quarter, the company said. Sales from international tourists account for 5 percent of Macy’s business and fell by a double-digit percentage in the latest quarter, Macy’s Chief Financial Officer Karen Hoguet said. The company reported first-quarter net income of $193 million, missing Wall Street expectations. — From news services Coming Today ● 8:30 a.m.: Weekly jobless claims and producer price index for April. ● 10 a.m.: Weekly mortgage rates. ● Earnings: Nordstrom.


John Price: Applying space technology to rescue earthquake victims buried beneath the rubble

invested in this deep space exploration technology and people wonder, ‘Why are we doing that?’” said Jeri Buchholz, the chief human capital officer at NASA. “This is an example of how the very challenging technical problems we solve in space can actually have real-life implications on our planet.” Buchholz said Price “pulled people from different areas, different agencies, different levels of government, from first responders and the military to scientists and engineers, to work together to find a practical solution to a very difficult problem.” Although extensive tests showed that the FINDER worked, it had never been used in a real-life disaster until a couple of weeks ago. After the Nepal earthquake hit, the device was brought to Nepal and used by rescue teams to locate and rescue four men from a small village who had been buried for several days in two separate 10-foot piles of rubble and debris. Officials said the device was able to detect the heartbeats of the four victims. The technology, a waterproof box weighing about 20 pounds, contains sensors, receivers, a computer with GPS and a camera to photograph rubble piles. It takes 30 seconds to scan for heartbeats, and another 30 seconds to figure out if the heartbeat is human or animal. The device can detect a heartbeat buried beneath 30 feet of crushed materials, hidden behind 20 feet of solid concrete, and from a distance of 100 feet, and it can be mounted on a helicopter, allowing first responders to hover over destroyed buildings to scan for heartbeats. The technology, which has been licensed to a private-sector firm, now complements and allows more efficient use of current tools for detecting living victims buried in rubble, such as search-and-rescue dogs, listening devices and video cameras. Price—a federal employee for 39 years—trained as a first responder with the Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group and the Prince William County Fire and Rescue Association, both in Virginia, and fully understands the needs of the people involved in rescue missions. James Lux, an engineer who helped create the FINDER at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said Price “understood what the engineers were doing and what the users really needed, and then he was great at communicating back and forth between the two parties to create a strong product.” Price said staff members from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory came to DHS to explain a number of different technologies to see


Israeli government to refugees: Go back to Africa or go to prison

“Israel should do more,” she said. Rozen said the Sudanese, who fled genocide and war, “are now waiting in line to go back,” having concluded there is no future for them in Israel. Eritreans are more fearful. They fled a dictatorship that conscripts men and women into years of military service that human rights groups compare to virtual slavery. If the Eritreans return, the advocates say, they are jailed and tortured. Even so, according to Israeli authorities, about 1,500 asylum seekers have volunteered to leave to unnamed third countries in Africa. In letters to Eritrean refugees at the Holot detention center, the Israeli government promises that “money will be given to you at the airport in a secure manner. When you arrive at the third country, people will receive you at the airport and give you information about life in the country and other important information.” Eritrean activists in Israel say Israel is reportedly in negotiations for African nations to accept more refugees and for the creation of a more transparent process — instead of the secretive one pursued today, in which Israeli officials decline to discuss the voluntary returns with the media and do not tell the refugees where they are going until they are handed a plane ticket on the day of departure. The model of paying a third country to accept unwanted refugees is a new idea. Israeli media have speculated that Israel could offer technology, favorable contracts, arms or other assistance, including cash, to countries that would accept the Africans and give them temporary visas. Meseret Fisahaie was born in Israel to Eritrean refugees who came here in the 1970s. She works as a translator and interviewer with the Hotline group. Her relative Kidane was beheaded by ISIS. “He was a quiet man, a gentle man,” she remembered. Kidane worked for seven years cleaning hotel rooms and washing dishes in Tel Aviv, jobs many Israelis shun. “I couldn’t stop him from going,” she said. “I had a bad feeling about this. People ask me now, what should they do? I tell them try to stay. Maybe things will change.” Read more: Israel’s new justice minister considers all Palestinians to be ‘the enemy’ How the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is playing out on the soccer pitch Violence erupts as thousands of Ethiopian Israelis protest racism Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world Ruth Eglash contributed to this report.


Key West with kids — some explanations and exceptions required

warnings because they often crush the delicate creatures in their hands. “Butterflies only live for 10 days,” she added, “so we need to be careful and give them a chance.” Inside the sealed flight chamber, hundreds of butterflies fluttered around us like falling petals. Dozens of residents sidled up to the flower bar to drink up the sweet nectar. Platters of tropical fruit attracted blue morphos, the sapphire color peeking out from brown outer coats. I had purchased an identification guide at the gift shop, and Kate and I knelt close to the butterflies to match their markings to the pictures. We recognized the insomniac eye of the owl butterfly and the tiger stripes of the longwing, the saturated Rothko hues of the cattle heart and the stained-glass design of the atlas moth. Around us, we heard a persistent honking. In a small pool of water, we discovered the source of the ruckus: Rhett the Caribbean flamingo was courting Scarlett with his Barry White moves. Kate read the sign explaining the birds’ behavior and asked the obvious first-grader question: “What is mating?” In my head, I was thinking, “Too soon, too soon.” But in a soft teacher tone, my sister answered, “Mating is like having babies,” Kate’s eyes widened. Lisa quickly added, “But not right now.” (The lesson didn’t stick too well. Later, Kate explained how the birds were “dating.”) A flamingo. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) On the way out, a worker presented us all with blue morpho stickers. We slapped them on our shirts, hats and bags, proof that we had finally exited the pool. Not surprisingly, we made mistakes in Key West. They weren’t so big that the kids were destined for years of psychoanalysis, but they forced us to reevaluate our approach to certain necessities. The evening meal, for one. The kids eat early (about 6 or so); I dine late (9 or so). My parents are more easygoing about the hour. Say anytime between lunch and breakfast the following day. The first night we improvised, reviewing menus door-to-door. We discovered the enchanting al fresco garden of BlackFin Bistro and toasted the start of vacation with water in plastic cups and beer. The following evening, we didn’t plan, and the pre-dinner scene fractured. We ended up with a divided meal of hot dogs and beans and takeout from a Mediterranean-Uzbekistani cafe. We eventually figured out the


Corporate irresponsibility over GMOs

MIAMI, FL - APRIL 27: Chipotle restaurant workers fill orders for customers on the day that the company announced it will only use non-GMO ingredients in its food on April 27, 2015. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Pass any Chipotle these days — and it is my gastronomic preference to pass rather than enter — and you will see signs claiming credit for removing ingredients that contain GMOs (genetically modified organisms) from the menu. It is the first big chain to do so, and probably not the last. The business press has pronounced it “a savvy move to impress millennials” and a “bet on the younger generations in America.” This milestone in the history of fast-food scruples (and of advertising) is also a noteworthy cultural development: the systematic incorporation of anti-scientific attitudes into corporate branding strategies. There is no credible evidence that ingesting a plant that has been swiftly genetically modified in a lab has a different health outcome than ingesting a plant that has been slowly genetically modified through selective breeding. The National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the World Health Organization have concluded that GMOs are safe to eat. This scientific consensus is at least as strong as the one on human-caused climate change. Yet Whole Foods promises “full GMO transparency” by 2018. Its Web site emphasizes “your right to know.” But you will search the site in vain for any explanation of how or why GMOs are harmful, because an actual assertion would not withstand scrutiny. Evidently your right to know does not include serious scientific arguments. Chipotle co-chief executive Steve Ells set out his rationale this way: “They say these ingredients are safe, but I think we all know we’d rather have food that doesn’t contain them.” “They” say. “We” know. It brought to mind an argument made by Dan Kahan of Yale in the journal Nature concerning global warming. If you are, say, a Republican in the Deep South, your capacity to confront global climate disruption directly is vanishingly small (assuming that you think it is a problem). And the cost of bucking your neighbors on the issue may be considerable. They are likely to view you as an oddity or a turncoat, and to question your judgment on other matters. So the decision to conform to the views of your cultural group or team, while


Kavakos ends two-week NSO residency by taking up the baton

those conductors now for their playing, and that is why one has to separate the dabblers from those who have made the permanent leap to the podium. Kavakos belongs in the former category, where he is in good company with violinists including Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Bell, who remain, for most listeners, attached to their instrument. Judging by the competent but mediocre results Kavakos elicited from the NSO, conducting is not among his many musical gifts, at least not yet. He began the evening demonstrating the historical conducting role of violinists who were orchestra leaders, playing the solo part of Bach’s Violin Concerto in A Minor, BWV 1041. Here, Kavakos could conduct with his bow and body, and the results were not always perfectly synchronized but at least were musically animated because of the leadership in his sound. As more evidence of the impact of the historically informed performance practice movement, the strings were reduced to 19 players plus a harpsichord brought in just for the occasion, and Kavakos added some charming minor embellishments. This was not quite the one-on-a-part approach favored by early music ensembles, like the performance of the work by Café Zimmerman at the Library of Congress several years ago, but it was a strikingly intimate way to begin a symphony orchestra concert. Kavakos actually took the podium with the NSO’s first performance of Sibelius’s incidental music for Maurice Maeterlinck’s play “Pelléas et Mélisande,” in the purely orchestral suite version with one movement and the vocal part omitted from the original score. It is an admittedly gloomy piece, and the somber English horn solos, representing Mélisande’s forlorn voice, were poignant. Still, Kavakos seemed intent on restraining the orchestra, in both dynamics and tempo, and the results were, not surprisingly, constrained. He obtained a similar effect with Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” draining much of the mercurial color and interest from Ravel’s extravagant orchestration. With stately tempos, sometimes dragged out, it was a rather dull affair, akin to the experience of hearing a metronomic run-through rather than a living, breathing performance. A large part of what makes a great conductor comes down to magnetism and personality, which Kavakos has in spades. The musicians, who so obviously relished playing with him last week, obeyed his gestures dutifully, but the spark of a great conductor’s ideas, even the sometimes chaotic touch of Eschenbach, was lacking. Downey is a freelance writer.


Police identify man shot and killed in Southeast D.C.

D.C. Police have identified a man who was shot and killed in what detectives are calling a homicide. Jermaine Jordan, 23, of Southeast Washington, was shot and killed, police said, Wednesday near the 500 block of Newcomb Street SE. Police responded to the area around 4 p.m. for the report of a shooting. When they arrived, they found Jordan who was suffering from gunshot wounds. Jordan was transported to a local hospital where authorities said he later died from his injuries. The case is under investigation, and police said there is a reward of up to $25,000. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call 202-727-9099.


Todd Marcus brings his Jazz Orchestra to Bohemian Caverns

Todd Marcus and his 10-piece Jazz Orchestra will perform his “Blues for Tahrir” piece in two shows at Bohemian Caverns. (Dawn Whitmore) Todd Marcus Jazz Orchestra Shows: Not long ago, Baltimore-based bass clarinetist Todd Marcus began writing a piece of music inspired by the tumultuous post-Arab Spring protests in Cairo. It slowly evolved into a larger work, a richly textured, emotionally charged, four-part orchestral suite dubbed “Blues for Tahrir.” Now the title and focus of a new CD, “Blues for Tahrir” will be performed Friday at Bohemian Caverns by Marcus’s 10-piece Jazz Orchestra, featuring some of the area’s finest musicians. The 39-year-old bandleader has strong ties to Egypt; his father was born there, and he still has relatives living in the country. But as a prominent community activist who lives in West Baltimore’s blighted Sandtown neighborhood, and as someone who has spent much of his life addressing poverty-related issues, Marcus knows first-hand the kind of social despair that can tear a city apart. Perhaps he’ll write a blues suite for Baltimore, he says, one that will evoke both the outrage and optimism he’s felt in the past few weeks. If it turns out to be anything like “Blues for Tahrir,” listeners won’t have any trouble recognizing Marcus’s compelling gifts for composing and arranging. A bass clarinetist/bandleader is a rare bird in jazz — or anywhere else, for that matter. Yet what ultimately distinguishes a Jazz Orchestra performance is its harmonic richness. While Marcus draws inspiration from his bass clarinet heroes, his interests in classical music and Middle Eastern motifs, plus his admiration for pianist McCoy Tyner and other trailblazers in modern jazz harmony, help account for the Jazz Orchestra’s soulful resonance, beauty and power. — Mike Joyce


Chasing a leader: The great music director search

back and do it all over again — sometime within the next year. The National Symphony Orchestra’s current music director search won’t be conducted quite so theatrically. But the Berlin case offers pertinent information for the NSO — and all the other orchestras, including the Philharmonic, hoping to welcome a new music director in 2017. For one thing, the drama in Berlin demonstrates that in today’s conducting world, rife with talent, there aren’t clear front-runners. It is widely supposed that Nelsons and Christian Thielemann, the polarizing 56-year-old conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle whose music-making is as authoritative as his politics are conservative, were the two favored candidates behind Berlin’s closed doors, but other possibilities abound. Could some Berlin musicians have opted for Riccardo Chailly, the highly regarded 62-year-old conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig; or Kirill Petrenko, 43, the music director of the Bavarian State Opera; or Daniel Barenboim, 72, the veteran star who was under serious consideration last time round but lost out to Simon Rattle? For another, it shows that some of the most exciting candidates are young and still unproven: such as the 36-year-old Nelsons; or Yannick Nézet-Séguin, 40, already beloved but still developing as music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra; or the 34-year-old wunderkind Gustavo Dudamel, subject of worldwide hype for years already and ensconced at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Marin Alsop was rumored to have been called the model of today’s music director by a prominent New York Philharmonic leader. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) And it shows that even one of the world’s top orchestras isn’t sure exactly what it wants. Is anybody? In today’s world, the role of a music director has become ever more elusive and ever more important. Is a great music director the person who can make the orchestra play the best or the person who has the most charisma and the innovative ideas the field so desperately needs? The answer is different for every ensemble: A conductor who flourishes with the Houston Symphony may bomb with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as Christoph Eschenbach, the NSO’s current music director, demonstrates. But it seems more and more that the music director everyone wants is energetic, exciting, preferably young, and brings a new perspective to his or her work: from Dudamel and Nézet-Séguin and Nelsons to the 58-year-old Marin Alsop of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, who, according to


How lamb necks and veal cheeks lost their ‘cheap cut’ status

perspective: “Quite frankly, we don’t have a culinary culture that values the entire animal, and, true to form, our cuisine doesn’t appropriately revere the animal. “It’s shown not only in our food but also in our approach to agriculture. Our priorities are very short-term. I don’t think there ever was a truly broad demand for [such] cuts . . . in modern, post-WWII America.” When we as a major-chain-grocery-store-shopping nation ring the little buzzer back in the meat department, we most likely interact with cutters, not butchers. Almost all the meat these days comes broken down and vacuum-packed, not in carcasses that can be dispatched into many parts. Our inquisitive reader might find those lamb necks at Harris Teeter stores, according to corporate communications manager Danna Robinson, because HT cutters receive “chucks” of lamb to which some necks are still attached. But if no customers are requesting them, they probably won’t be put out for sale. The necks are fresh and sold daily at halal butchers. At Halal Meat and Seafood in Hyattsville, they go for $4.99 per pound. Wegmans carries a wide assortment of so-called “variety meats,” including beef tongue and hearts, frozen/cut-up goat, turkey tails, veal brains, pig tails, knuckles and tripe. But they’re rarely considered regular-enough items to be in the case on any given day. The stores can turn around your special orders in a week’s time, says Jo Natale, the company’s vice president for media relations. “The industry has shifted,” she says. “The cost of transporting whole carcasses and considerations of food safety, handling them multiple times, are all factors.” Lots of those kinds of cuts are more readily available at ethnic markets. Gary Pavoni, a longtime wholesale buyer/seller at Spectrum Foods in Landover, says large-scale packers such as Cargill and National Beef sell directly to Hispanic and Asian chains, where the demand is greater and prices are kept fairly low. The Americana Grocery stores in Northern Virginia and Maryland carry a good selection of our inquisitive reader’s “poor-man delicious” foods. “The demand comes from communities where the culinary culture reflects a zero-waste approach to eating animals,” author Danforth says. “It’s not always based on reverence, but it’s certainly based on wasting as little as possible. “These cultures also know what the most flavorful parts of the animal are, and that older animals are more flavorful. They can turn ‘cheaper’ cuts into delicious food, because


Gov. Hogan says he will divert funds from arts center to Md. state police

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (John Taggart/EPA) Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced Friday that he would reopen a state police barrack in Annapolis and add 100 troopers to the law-enforcement agency despite the legislature refusing to fund those moves as part of a budget amendment. Hogan said he would pay for the actions by vetoing $2 million from the capital budget that is dedicated to renovating the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis. “I am a huge proponent of the arts, and the first lady is a former member of the Anne Arundel County Arts Council,” Hogan said. “But in the current environment, a State Police barrack in our state capital and adequate funding for public safety in Annapolis must be the priority.” Aides to Democratic lawmakers said the governor’s plan is impossible, because capital funds cannot be shifted for operational expenses. David Juppe, a senior budget official with the Department of Legislative Services agreed. “It’s not like that money can be used for any purpose – it’s gone,” he said. “Maybe it’s an aspirational statement, but the parameters of the budget are such that you can’t do it.” The Maryland State Police facility in Annapolis, known as Barrack J, was closed during in 2008, during the tenure of then-Gov. Martin O’Malley. Hogan said the facility is scheduled to reopen in the fall. To do that, Juppe said, the governor must find money for the barracks within the State Police budget. Noting that the budget passed by the legislature earlier this year requires the agency to trim $5 million in spending, he added: “It would be a tall order.” With the planned expansion of troopers, the number of uniformed personnel for the state police would grow to 1,656, reaching the highest level in more than a dozen years, according to the governor’s office. Hogan’s veto would not affect other parts of the capital budget, which will pass into law without the governor’s signature.


John Hemming follows three British scientists who made significant discoveries in the Amazon

who had been developing the same concept, and their papers were published together in 1858 in what is considered the founding document of the science of evolutionary biology. Much of Wallace’s thinking had been shaped by the work of and his interaction with his friend Bates. While the range of Wallace’s research interest was quite broad, Bates focused almost solely on insects. Like Wallace, he was an autodidact, as higher education was neither very available nor very affordable then for middle-class youth. By concentrating so closely on one group of organisms, Bates was able to observe phenomena that supported Wallace’s theory — for example, how the coloration of unpalatable butterflies is mimicked by more tasty species, a process now known as Batesian mimicry. A third member of this triumvirate was botanist Richard Spruce, a Yorkshireman who arrived in Brazil a year after Bates and Wallace and who eventually traveled all the way north into Venezuela and west into Ecuador. All in all, Spruce lived 14 years in South America, spending some of his time with Bates and Wallace but traveling mostly on his own. He made the first scientific description of the then-legendary hallucinogen ayahuasca and played a vital role in the collection of cinchona trees — whose bark was the source of the antimalarial quinine — and their shipment to the Asian corners of the British empire. The success of the ensuing cinchona plantations made quinine available to much of the world and, in so doing, saved millions of lives. The author of this most intriguing “triography” of Bates, Spruce and Wallace is the person best qualified to write it: John Hemming, former director of the Royal Geographical Society. He has previously written more than 10 books on South America, several of which are regarded as classics, but — much more important — has probably traversed more of the Brazilian Amazon in the 20th century than any other Englishman. He has traveled in his subjects’ footsteps in some of the Amazon’s most exceedingly remote locales, such as the bizarre Casiquiare Canal in southernmost Venezuela, visited separately by Spruce and Wallace. Hemming’s first-hand knowledge gives his new book special precision and a gratifying immediacy. Another unanticipated benefit is the care the author has taken to provide modern scientific names for the plants and animals discussed in the story, greatly enriching the experience for the reader. When Bates, Spruce and Wallace


FBI probes report that projectile hit Amtrak train that derailed

offering to help her with her job. The crash also renewed debate about efforts to increase safety of the nation’s rail system by installing technology that automatically slows speeding locomotives, including those heading too quickly into curves as occurred with Amtrak 188. A 2008 federal law requires nationwide safety upgrades, but federal railroad officials and industry representatives said only a fraction of the required safety improvements, known as “positive train control,” will be in operation across the country by the year-end deadline. The Association of American Railroads, which represents the nation’s much larger freight rail network, said just 18 percent of the more then 60,000 miles of required improvements will be in place by the end of the year. Federal rail officials said they would use “prosecutorial discretion when it comes to enforcement.” Dueling approaches to dealing with the slow implementation are being debated on Capitol Hill, with some calling for a longer-term deadline extension and others advocating shorter, case-by-case extensions. On various message boards, a poster believed to be Bostian too, was outspoken about rail safety and concerns about human error, expressing support for the safety system that would have prevented the crash, and often criticizing railroad companies for not doing enough to prevent accidents. In some posts, he has criticized railroad companies for not doing enough to prevent crashes. He wrote of the 2008 Metrolink train crash that killed 25 people after an engineer failed to stop at a red light signal, “It shouldn’t take an act of Congress to get industry to adopt common-sense safety systems on their own.” The crash also has reignited a debate about Amtrak funding, with some lawmakers viewing the tragedy as an opportunity to attack what they see as dangerously insufficient federal support for the beleaguered railroad. But when House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) was asked about it at a news conference one day after the Appropriations Committee voted to slash Amtrak’s budget by 18 percent, he called it “a stupid question.” “Obviously it’s not about funding. The train was going twice the speed limit,” Boehner said. On Friday, Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, announced he will schedule a hearing on issues related to the crash. “It’s also important for Congress to assess and understand the related safety and infrastructure policies currently in place in order to determine what next steps may be


Flowers bring joy, not pesticides

I take issue with Jennifer Grayson’s May 10 Outlook commentary, “Save those roses for Mother Earth.” I have been to dozens of flower farms in Colombia, Ecuador, the Netherlands and the United States. Flower-growers work hard to make environmental and social responsibility a priority. Where are the facts? For instance, Ms. Grayson’s claim that flowers “are saturated with a toxic cocktail of chemicals” is inaccurate. Not only are pesticides costly, but their overuse would harm the product. Pesticide use in the floral industry has decreased dramatically over the past 15 years, as growers implement natural ways to control bugs — such as good bugs eating bad bugs. It was good to see a mention of certification programs such as Florverde. The majority of Colombian flower growers who export flowers to the United States are certified by Florverde, which has strict regulations on environmental and social responsibility. Furthermore, Florverde does not work with agricultural chemicals prohibited or restricted by the Colombian Agricultural Authority, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Union, among others. Colombia bans use of methyl parathion — one of the two pesticides Ms. Grayson mentioned — and effectively bans use of the other, aldicarb, on flowers, as well. I hope all of the mothers who were fortunate enough to receive flowers for Mother’s Day are enjoying the powerful mood-enhancing effects on happiness and well-being that these beautiful products bring. Peter J. Moran, Alexandria The writer is chief executive of the Society of American Florists.


Amtrak ordered to make fixes at dangerous curves

Amtrak 188 when it barreled into the curve at twice the speed limit before derailing, killing eight and injuring more than 200. Federal railroad officials also ordered Amtrak to analyze risks at all curves along the route and immediately make technological fixes to prevent accidents in the most dangerous ones. The officials also instructed Amtrak to erect more speed limit signs along the corridor, which runs from Washington to Boston. “Increasing the amount and frequency of signage provides a redundant means to remind engineers and conductors of the authorized speed,” according to a statement from the railroad administration. Although the precise cause of the Tuesday derailment has not been determined, the new safety requirements stem from initial findings, federal officials said. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement that officials are working with the National Transportation Safety Board “to understand exactly what happened on Tuesday so we can prevent this type of devastating accident from ever happening again.” Foxx said the latest government mandates, which will be formalized in an emergency order within days, “are aimed at improving safety on this corridor immediately, but we won’t hesitate to require the railroad to do more to improve safety as the accident’s causes become clearer.” The NTSB, with technical assistance from the FBI, is also investigating a report that a projectile may have hit the train shortly before the crash. Sarah Feinberg, the acting Federal Railroad administrator, called the measures “initial steps.” Feinberg said in a statement that although the full implementation of broad computerized safety improvements — which are known as “positive train control” and have a year-end deadline — is the “most important step to improve safety . . . it is not the only action that we will require of Amtrak and other railroads.” Amtrak said safe travel is its “overarching goal.” “We will immediately implement the Federal Railroad Administration’s directives to further improve passenger train safety along the Northeast Corridor,” Amtrak said in a statement. Amtrak officials also said they are trying to determine whether they can “partially activate some of the capabilities” of the automated brake components that have already been installed but are not yet operational. “Amtrak will evaluate whether such an option can be undertaken without delaying the complete activation” of the automated safety system later this year, according to the statement. There are many areas where that speed control system, known as the


Ireland could be first nation to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote

Correction: An earlier version of this video incorrectly reported that Ireland decriminalized homosexuality in 1933. If Ireland approves a referendum legalizing same-sex marriage, it will be the first country in the world to do so by a popular vote. DUBLIN — But now Ireland may be preparing for its coming-out party, with a referendum on Friday that could make it the world’s first country to approve same-sex marriage in a popular vote. That such a momentous event in the gay rights struggle could happen here, of all places, reflects the breathtaking social change that has swept Ireland in recent years — and the weakening hold of the scandal-scarred Catholic Church. The church has come down firmly against the referendum. But in a country where priests once held unquestioned sway and where 85 percent of the nation still identifies as Catholic, a large majority of Ireland appears ready to defy church teachings and vote to give same-sex partners the same right to marry as heterosexual couples. “It’s a different era,” said Pat Carey, a former government minister who came out as gay in February, at age 67, and is campaigning for a yes vote. “There’s a whole new demographic out there that has a vision of an Ireland that’s kinder, more inclusive and more tolerant.” A referendum on Friday could make it the world’s first country to approve same-sex marriage in a popular vote. The change to Ireland’s constitution could reverberate well beyond this island nation’s borders as other countries, the United States among them, are wrestling with the issue in legislation and in the courts. Unlike in the United States, where nine Supreme Court justices will soon give their ruling, Ireland has placed the choice in the hands of its 4.5 million people — leading to a passionate and colorful campaign that has made a once-taboo subject the focus of a national debate. Supporters say a yes vote could inspire popular movements in other countries where same-sex rights had once seemed inconceivable. “It will show that if this society can change in that way — so quickly, so radically — then other places, places that seem very conservative at the moment, that they can also change,” said Colm Toibin, one of Ireland’s foremost writers, who left the country as a young man in part because of rampant homophobia. “It would be an example to the world.” But to referendum opponents,


Housekeeper of D.C. couple found dead wondered if something was amiss

D.C. police have released video images of a person of interest in the deaths of four people in a house in an upscale neighborhood in Northwest Washington. D.C. police said Saturday night that they are seeking a person of interest in the deaths of four people in a house in an upscale neighborhood in Northwest Washington. Police said the individual may have been operating a Porsche automobile linked to the house. They also provided video footage that appeared to show a man wearing a hoodie moving rapidly behind a building. The announcement came in the deaths of Savvas and Amy Savopoulos and two others, believed to be their son and one of their housekeepers. The Savopoulos family had been having a busy week. The husband was trying to get a new martial arts center in Chantilly, Va., ready for a grand opening, and he enlisted the help of one of his housekeepers. His wife was ill, and their 10-year-old son was recovering from injuries suffered in a go-kart crash. Savvas Savopoulos and Amy Savopoulos at the Starlight Children’s Foundation MidAtlantic’s Wine Dinner in 2008. (Tony Powell/Washington Life Magazine) Before the late night police announcement, the days and hours leading up to the deaths of the husband and wife and the two others had come into sharper focus Saturday with new details from police records. They show attempts by friends and relatives to reach the victims Thursday morning, before they were found dead that afternoon in a burning home in Northwest Washington. These records show a series of text messages and voice mails from both Savopouloses to the housekeeper who had been helping in Chantilly, telling her not to come clean at their D.C. home Thursday, as was her normal routine. Savvas Savopoulos also let her know in a Wednesday night voicemail that the housekeeper who was later found dead had planned to stay overnight at the family’s home and asked that she inform the woman’s family because her cellphone battery had died. Nelitza Gutierrez, the housekeeper who received the messages and has worked for the family for 20 years, said in an interview Saturday that the series of messages left her with the impression that something was amiss with her employers. She said Savvas Savopoulos told her in person Wednesday that his wife had plans to go out, but said in the voice mail left that night that Amy Savopoulos


D.C.’s Great Noise Ensemble reprises favorites as celebrates 10th season

The Great Noise Ensemble celebrated its 10th anniversary Friday. (Erik Sharar) In celebration of its 10th season, the District’s home-grown Great Noise Ensemble reprised some of its first-decade favorites Friday at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. Both Sean Doyle’s “Letters From Zelda” and Tom Schnauber’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” hits in the ensemble’s earlier performances, proved their durability this time around. And the song cycle “Sacred Cows,” a crisis-of-faith statement by GNE artistic director and conductor Armando Bayolo that opened its inaugural program, closed this one powerfully. All three of these works are scored for voice (in the case of “Sacred Cows,” for two voices and a “chorus” of three women) and various combinations of the instruments GNE regularly fields — a string quartet plus bass, one each of the regular orchestral winds plus saxophone, percussion, harp and piano and, for this concert, a banjo. All three works, though quite different in style and intensity, are beautifully crafted, and under Bayolo’s sure leadership Friday, all three got the kind of focused, intelligent performances a composer dreams of. “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” a spoof on the Baroque in four “arias” and three recitatives, sports a sea chantey, a disheveled march, a broadly seedy tango and, on the words “I weep for you, the Walrus said, I deeply sympathize” (after the two ate their oyster friends), a “lament,” blatantly but delightfully lifted from Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.” Mezzo-soprano Tracy Elizabeth Cowart took this on with unaffected sweetness, and only occasional vibrato, and the delicate instrumental score, with its birdlike sounds and gentle sea noises, featured an exceptionally well-balanced flute-clarinet-string ensemble. The four of Zelda’s letters to her estranged husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, which are the texts for Doyle’s cycle, document her decline into madness, and the music, calm and introspective at first, goes through its own disintegrating process. Soprano Lucy Perry handled the set with just enough operatic drama to add extra shape to the character and navigated its vocal demands with a broad range of emotion. And “Sacred Cows,” built on nine texts that range from Aristotle to Frank Zappa, and music as enigmatic as Aristotle and as nasty as Zappa, got an amplified, chic, pop-star reading by mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen and baritone Andrew Sauvageau that distanced itself miles from orthodoxy. Reinthaler is a freelance writer.


Conductor Mario Venzago energizes Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Swiss conductor Mario Venzago has been a regular guest of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for 20 years, and its concert Saturday at Strathmore was full of affection and camaraderie. Venzago, in his late 60s, is an elfin, spirited presence who conducts like a kid in a candy shop, darting this way and that, always finding something more interesting around the corner. Although this can be tiring after a while to those of us who admire music’s architecture and broader outlines, the energy is admirable. Since I so regularly complain about conductors who permit the brass to overplay, let me praise Venzago in this regard: In Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony and Strauss’s “Don Juan” — both notorious black holes for the strings because of the heavy brass component — he maintained balances admirably, certainly far better than the BSO’s music director does. And the orchestra played well overall; Venzago’s continual stream of (sometimes odd) ideas about pacing and melodic shaping might have thrown the orchestra in less-familiar repertoire, but in these standards (plus Debussy’s “La Mer”), the players went on his journey with goodwill, and mostly solid playing. The exception would be the woodwinds in the Schubert, a different lineup than in the rest of the program, who struggled to play in tune with one another throughout the first movement. Things improved somewhat in the Andante, but this outing fell below professional standards. The evening’s soloist, Swiss pianist Oliver Schnyder, took a risk that paid off handsomely. This was his BSO debut, and rather than perform some big romantic showpiece, he chose the Haydn Concerto in D (H. XVIII: 11), a work that I’d previously heard in performance only from children, some quite young. But Schnyder (in his 40s and well into an international career) showed that real artistry can be applied to technically simple music just as well as in knuckle-busters. His phrasing and touch in the Un poco adagio opened up worlds of expression, and his bumptious, off-kilter accents in the Hungarian-themed Rondo never disturbed the flowing, propulsive stream of notes. When was the last time you saw a standing ovation for a Haydn concerto? Battey is a freelance writer.


Food companies tout new ingredients, but are they really good for you?

(iStock) For years you’ve seen health claims such as “low fat,” “heart healthy” and “high fiber” on foods. Now there’s a new twist. In addition to advertising nutrients, food labels are touting ingredients that sound as though they’re good for you. But in the case of products containing ancient grains, grass-fed beef and bean chips, are they as healthful as they seem? Consumer Reports’ nutrition experts clear up the confusion. Ancient grains. But ancient-grain breads, cereals and other packaged foods may not boost your whole-grain intake all that much. Some have only a sprinkling of those grains. And they may contain more sugar, salt and preservatives than you’ve bargained for. Take the new Cheerios + Ancient Grains cereal, for instance. It has five grams of sugar per serving. That’s fairly low, but original Cheerios, made from oats, has just one gram of sugar. The original also has six grams more of whole grains than the new product has. So look for foods that have whole grains high on the ingredients list, and don’t worry too much about whether they are ancient or not. Matcha. But those benefits are likely to diminish when matcha is in snack bars, ice cream and lattes, because those foods probably have less of it than a cup of tea does. And they may have more sugars and fat. For instance, one bonbonlike piece of Mikawaya Matcha Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream (1 1/ 2 ounces) has 3 1 / 2 teaspoons of sugars. Chia seeds. And packaged products may not contain very many of the seeds, anyway. In Kashi Crunchy Granola & Seed Chocolate Chip Chia bars, for instance, chia is fairly low on the ingredients list. And a two-bar serving has 180 calories, nine grams of sugars and three grams of fiber. Bottom line: If you like the texture, mix chia seeds into salad dressings, smoothies, soup and yogurt. Just don’t depend on it as a weight-loss aid. Grass-fed beef. And expect to pay twice as much for grass-fed beef. To save money, stick to three to four ounces per serving, and round out your dish with whole grains and vegetables. Copyright 2015. Consumers Union of United States Inc. For further guidance, go to www.ConsumerReports.org/Health, where more detailed information, including CR’s ratings of prescription drugs, treatments, hospitals and healthy-living products, is available to subscribers.


Meditation and yoga may ease diseases that cause gut pain

(iStock) If you thought meditation was good only for your emotional well-being, think again: A new study suggests it may also alleviate the symptoms of two gut disorders. The study looked at people who had either irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or irritable bowel disease (IBD). It found that those who did yoga and meditation regularly for two months had fewer symptoms associated with the two gut disorders. This mind/body intervention seemed to work by inducing genetic changes in the body, the study authors said. The findings suggest that stress-relieving meditation can suppress the activities of genes that help cause inflammation and other immune system problems in people with IBS or IBD, the study stated. Previous research has shown that meditation can change people’s gene expression in some ways, but the new study is among the first to show an impact on gene expression in people with a specific disease, said lead researcher Braden Kuo, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The study used a mind/body technique called relaxation response, which a Harvard University doctor developed in the 1970s. The new findings are especially interesting given that researchers have established a relationship between stress and digestive problems. Research has shown that psychological trauma can contribute to IBS, a disorder that leads to abdominal pain, constipation and diarrhea. The condition is fairly common in the United States, affecting about 1 in every 10 people at some point in their lives, according to the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. Yet scientists do not exactly know what causes the disorder. Although IBS and IBD can be mistaken as the same condition, they are actually very different. Unlike IBS, IBD involves chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. The two main types of IBD are ulcerative colitis, which affects the colon, and Crohn’s disease, which mostly affects the intestines but can occur anywhere in the digestive system. However, IBS and IBD share some common factors: Both can be triggered by stress, and neither has real treatment options. The drugs currently available can only lessen the severity of symptoms and bring some temporary relief. In the new study, researchers enrolled 19 people with IBS and 29 with IBD. They all underwent a nine-week program that included breathing exercises, meditation and yoga. They met for a group session every week and practiced the activities at home for 15 to 20 minutes every day. Symptoms and


Scientists are growing anxious about genome-editing tools

crop plants as rice and wheat. “The range of possible applications is really quite broad, but translating from this very experimental science into real therapeutics — there is a lot of work to be done,” said Katrine Bosley, chief executive of Editas Medicine, a start-up in Cambridge, Mass., that is trying to develop CRISPR/Cas9-based drugs to treat genetic mutations. Perhaps the biggest issue left to solve involves off-target cuts, which occur when Cas9 gets a bit snip-happy and chops the genome in unintended places. These mistakes can cause big problems, including cell toxicity and cancer. “Sometimes Cas9 can recognize sequences that are very similar but not identical to the target sequence,” said biological engineer Feng Zhang of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a co-founder of Editas and head of a lab at the Broad Institute, a Harvard-MIT biomedical research collaborative. “Depending on the specific sequence, the off-target effect may be more severe or less of a problem.” Biomedical engineer Gang Bao of Rice University said that scientists cannot answer yet whether, even with some off-target effects, it can be used for humans. In his lab, Bao is analyzing off-target effects for his treatment of the genetic mutation that causes sickle cell disease. The idea is to take blood-cell-producing stem cells from a patient, use CRISPR to correct the mutation and then reinsert the stem cells back into the bone marrow. Every step of the process requires precision, from minimizing off-target cuts to getting the modified stem cells to survive and transform into blood cells. Stem cell trials After having initial success using CRISPR therapy with mice, he has moved on to inserting human stem cells into monkeys for his experiments. He hopes to initiate the first human clinical trials in 2018. Editas is taking a different approach, working to neatly package CRISPR/Cas9 into a virus for direct delivery into the patient’s body and letting the genome editing happen there. For certain diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, which affects the lungs and other organs, Editas researchers must figure out how to get the viruses into the right cells while avoiding others. “From the patient’s perspective, [the therapeutic] would be an injection of some sort — maybe an IV, maybe a local injection,” Bosley said. “If you’re working on a genetic disease of the eye, you might do a direct injection into the eye.” Bao and Bosley say they aren’t interested in


Funeral scheduled for family members found slain in burning D.C. home

The deaths of Savvas and Amy Savopoulos, above, along with their 10-year-old son, Philip, and a housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, are being investigated as homicides. (Tony Powell/Washington Life Magazine) A funeral has been scheduled for June 1 for members of the Savopoulos family, who were found slain inside their D.C. home last week, according to their church. Savvas and Amy Savopoulos along with their 10-year-old son, Philip, will be remembered at a service at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Northwest Washington. The funeral is scheduled for noon on June 1. Firefighters discovered the bodies of the three, along with a 57-year-old housekeeper, when they were called to battle a blaze at the home on Woodland Drive in Northwest Washington on Thursday. Police are investigating all four deaths as homicides and on Saturday released surveillance video of a person of interest. Family members of the slain housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, said they plan to send her body back to her native El Salvador and have her cremated there. D.C. police have released video images of a person of interest in the deaths of four people in a house in an upscale neighborhood in Northwest Washington.


A comprehensive study of a Nobel laureate

in the 1940s, he broke through in 1953, stylistically and commercially, with “The Adventures of Augie March,” and continued to produce well-regarded novels up to “Herzog” in 1964, which is where this first volume ends. As Leader points out, Bellow was a highly autobiographical novelist, and in the early part of the biography he connects nearly every real-life incident to its reference in Bellow’s fiction — unpublished and published. For example, at age 8, Bellow suffered an appendicitis attack and spent months recovering from it and other complications. Leader follows Bellow’s original three-page account with quotations from two novels and three unfinished works tracking all the uses Bellow made of the experience. Young Saul’s concern for his mother is followed by every reference to mothers in Bellow’s works. In nearly every instance, Bellow adjusted the facts to fit his artistic needs, a point not always appreciated by acquaintances who saw themselves depicted in his works. “The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915-1964” by Zachary Leader. (Knopf) Leader’s thoroughness extends to those acquaintances. As each new person enters Bellow’s life, a mini-biography is provided, and if they were writers — as many of them were — Leader gives accounts of their works, too. Bellow’s first three wives also receive full, evenhanded treatment. The amount of detail here is staggering. In addition to telling Bellow’s story, Leader succinctly summarizes all the cultural upheavals surrounding him in those heady days. (The biography doubles as a primer on the intellectual climate of the times.) But the details never become too dense or overwhelming, thanks largely to Leader’s clear, brisk style. I was surprised to learn how erudite Bellow was from high school onward, how much teaching he did in his early days — in Europe as well as in America — how good a musician he was, and how frequently Bellow “was called upon, from Augie onward, to advise corporations, sit on boards and committees, and interact with corporate types.” This speaks to how seriously novelists were taken in the 1950s and 1960s, when they enjoyed a cultural cachet unthinkable today. (I can’t imagine any corporation asking, say, Jonathan Franzen or William T. Vollmann to advise it or join its board.) Respectful but not hagiographic, Leader is not afraid to point out occasional flaws in Bellow’s character and in his writing: violations in point of view, uncontrolled language (especially in “Augie”),


FBI probe of alleged plane hack sparks worries over flight safety

has never been safer — 20 commercial flights crashed last year, making it one of the safest in aviation history. But a new wave of technology is raising questions about security for an industry that has long kept a tight grip on the information flowing among pilots, air-traffic controllers and top officials. The FBI is investigating Chris Roberts, a computer security expert, who told the agency he hacked into a plane's in-flight entertainment system while on board and managed to move the plane sideways. Here is an animation of how Roberts allegedly hacked the plane’s computer system according to the FBI's search warrant application. The aviation industry’s “previously centralized and controlled culture,” said Tim Erlin, a director at security software firm Tripwire, “is being forced to deal with the basic, but prevalent, security issues more open systems have been confronting for years.” In an application last month for a search warrant, an FBI agent said researcher Chris Roberts had used a simple plug, installed beneath the seats of many commercial planes, to tap into in-flight entertainment systems up to 20 times since 2011. From there, according to the FBI, Roberts said he was able to change code on a plane’s internal computers and even command a plane to climb and fly sideways. Roberts last month got agents’ attention by tweeting that he might “start playing” with his jet’s controls. Roberts defended the tweet as a joke riffing off his previous warnings to jetmakers Airbus and Boeing over their planes’ security flaws, which he said could leave control systems for the plane’s cabin and oxygen mask systems open to attack. “My only interest has been to improve aircraft security,” he tweeted Sunday. But other aviation and security experts said the claims, of tapping into flight controls via a seat outlet, stretched the imagination, because entertainment and crucial flight systems are often kept separate. Hacking a plane’s engine controls through its entertainment system, they argue, is a bit like controlling a car’s steering wheel through its CD player. Jetmakers defended their security against worries of a fleetwide flaw. In Boeing jets, entertainment systems are kept separate from flight and navigation, pilots have multiple navigational systems at their disposal, and the jet’s flight plan can’t change without pilot approval, Boeing spokesman Doug Alder said. “On every flight, there are multiple layers of security and procedures in place to protect passengers and crew,” said


How the White House plans to help the humble bee maintain its buzz

why honeybees are so important and how bees affect food prices. “What are we doing on bees?” Obama asked Holdren as they prepared to wrap up an Oval Office meeting in the summer of 2013. “Are we doing enough?” That discussion led to the launch of the White House Pollinator Health Task Force, whose recommendations are being unveiled Tuesday. The federal government has undertaken two targeted initiatives in the past: a 2007 action plan on honeybee colony collapse disorder and 2008 North American recovery strategy for monarch butterflies. But this one, which has drawn on the work of 14 agencies as well as the private sector, is more ambitious. It aims to reduce honeybee colony losses during winter to no more than 15 percent within a decade, and increase the Eastern population of the monarch butterfly so that 225 million butterflies occupy roughly 15 acres of wintering grounds in Mexico by 2020. The government and private entities will also restore or enhance 7 million acres of land for pollinators over the next five years. Environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice have been pressuring the Environmental Protection Agency to outlaw neonicotinoid pesticides, which are banned in Europe, on the grounds that they are toxic to bees. In March, the EPA issued a moratorium on approving any new use permits for these kinds of insecticides, and on Tuesday, it will announce it’s accelerating its review of their impact. The agency will issue its first assessment at the end of this year — two years earlier than scheduled — and will finalize regulatory action by the end of 2018, a year ahead of schedule. The agency will also impose new restrictions on what pesticides farmers can use when commercial honeybees are pollinating their crops. CropLife America chief executive Jay Vroom, whose group represents pesticide manufacturers and participated in the task force, said that while his members might disagree with the EPA at times, they’ve “continued to be science-based and balanced” at the agency. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Agriculture subcommittee on biotechnology, horticulture and research, said he’s “glad the administration is putting an emphasis on the pollinator issue,” even though he thinks the EPA is unduly focused on pesticides’ impact compared with the varroa mite, a deadly parasite. Davis noted that the EPA recently concluded soybean producers received little benefit from seeds coated with neonicotinoids, while


Lanier says evidence collection at home of slain family could take week

at the house in the 3200 block of Woodland Drive NW. Pronounced dead were Savvas Savopoulos, 46, his wife Amy, 47, their 10-year-old son Philip, and the housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, 57, of Silver Spring. Two Savopoulos daughters were away in boarding school at the time. Police have said little about how the victims were killed, other than that three had wounds. Authorities also have said the fire was intentionally set, and that a Porsche owned by the couple was found later on Thursday burned in a church parking lot in Prince George’s County. Savvas Savopoulos was the president and CEO of American Iron Works, which supplies metal to large scale building projects across the region. He and his wife were active in Washington social circles and with fund raising. The funeral for the Savopoulos family is June 1 at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Northwest Washington. Figueroa’s body will be flown back to El Salvador for burial. Lanier said tips are coming in as detectives painstakingly go through the house, with evidence collection challenged by the fire and the efforts by firefighters to put it out. “Detectives have made tremendous progress,” Lanier said on the call-in show. “I feel really good about the leads we’re working.” Lanier declined to discuss any possible theories, saying that at any moment scenarios can change. Police have released a video of a person of interest who may be linked to the Porsche that went missing. Police also are looking into text messages and voice mails left on a second housekeeper’s cell phone warning her as early as Wednesday to stay away from the home. Lanier said on NewsTalk that modern-day investigations take time. “A large part of what we do now is puzzle piece after puzzle piece,” she said. “There are digital images that have to be recovered. Lots of videos that have to be viewed. DNA that has to be collected and tested.. . .All that has be to be combed through before we’re in a position to charge someone.” D.C. police have released video images of a person of interest in the deaths of four people in a house in an upscale neighborhood in Northwest Washington. The chief said the detectives are “passionate about this one” particularly because there is “a child involved.” Of a possible motive or suspect, Lanier said, “We’re holding all judgement until all the evidence is in.”


With arrival of tick season, heightened efforts to prevent Lyme disease

do if you find a tick or exhibit symptoms of infection — there tends to be consensus among scientists, physicians and government officials. But other aspects of Lyme disease, such as how best to diagnose or treat it, are bitterly contested. The U.S. government, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the treatment guidelines established by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, takes the position that diagnostic testing is generally reliable, particularly for people who have been infected for some time. A course of antibiotics is given to combat the infection, and experts at the CDC maintain that the vast majority of patients make a full recovery. For those who experience lingering symptoms, the underlying cause is contested: Some think the problems are caused by a continued immune response to a treated infection, while others say the symptoms may signal an active, ongoing Lyme infection. It’s a controversy that has consumed many Lyme disease patients, including15-year-old Sydney Cox, a Loudoun girl who tested positive for Lyme disease in the eighth grade and has struggled to overcome devastating neurological symptoms. For years she has experienced unrelenting joint pain, headaches and significant cognitive impairments. Her family is raising money to pay for long-term treatment with intravenous antibiotics, a measure that the CDC says is not proven to help Lyme victims and is potentially dangerous. But Elizabeth Cox, Sydney’s mother, feels the family has little choice. “It’s worth trying, because I just don’t know what else to do,” she said. “The whole thing is so scary as a parent.” Brian Fallon, director of the Lyme and Tick-borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University, said there is a great need for more research and controlled trials to investigate the nature of ongoing Lyme symptoms, which patients often call “chronic Lyme disease” and scientists and medical experts typically refer to as “post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome.” Research indicates that the use of IV antibiotics can be helpful in some instances and harmful in others, Fallon said. “But if a person’s life is so profoundly affected [by Lyme] that they can’t function . . . then it certainly makes sense to entertain that possibility,” he said. “There are significant risks but also the potential of significant benefits.” It is a highly contentious and complex debate, he said, and more concrete information is needed to guide effective treatments. Meanwhile, local health officials say they will continue


Computer Sciences Corp. to separate government, commercial businesses

IT contractor Computer Sciences Corp. employs 74,000 people globally. (Brent Lewin/Bloomberg) Falls Church-based Computer Sciences Corp. is planning a tax-free split of its U.S. government and commercial arms into two publicly traded companies, the contractor said Tuesday. The decision comes after years of rumors that CSC would make the split, as its commercial business struggles to keep up with the company’s faster-growing government segment. The decision also fits in with chief executive Mike Lawrie’s efforts to turn the business around through cost cuts, which have saved the company $1.9 billion over the past three years, he said. The government business, valued at $4.1 billion, will focus on U.S. agencies, while the commercial arm, worth $8.1 billion, will serve both commercial and government clients in 70 countries, the company said. Executives said the timing of the split was determined by the demand for more tailored technology services by public sector and commercial clients. “This separation will allow both companies to respond to changing market dynamics with greater agility,” Lawrie told investors in an earnings call Tuesday. Even though the company is being divided, Lawrie will have a foot in both businesses. He will continue to lead the commercial company and serve as executive chairman for the public sector business. The fact that CSC’s government business is performing better than its commercial unit is “ironic,” because of cuts in defense spending over the past few years, said Robert Kipps, managing director of Kipps DeSanto, a McLean aerospace-defense investment bank. “As the government market continues to improve, CSC will be well-positioned to leverage its deep client relationships to realize its growth and leadership plans,” Lawrie said. The company’s commercial arm, made up of its Global Business Services and Global Infrastructure Services units, experienced sales declines in the quarter, CSC reported Tuesday. The public sector unit had flat sales in the quarter. Jana Partners, an activist hedge fund with a stake in CSC, applauded the move. “We strongly support CSC’s decision to separate its global commercial and U.S. public sector businesses, which we think positions both businesses for success and will unlock significant shareholder value,” the firm said in a statement. CSC’s stock jumped nearly 5 percent in after-hours trading on the news. The company employs 7,400 people in the Washington region and 74,000 globally. The transaction is expected to close in October 2015.


Proposed Russian law would designate some NGOs as ‘undesirable’

quo who support the activities of “undesirable” organizations. John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia director for Amnesty International, called the measure “the latest chapter in an unprecedented crackdown” against NGOs, in a statement after the bill passed its second reading in Russia’s Duma. He said the clampdown “is effectively criminalizing lawful activity and squeezing the life out of free speech and association.” The bill follows a 2012 law requiring NGOs receiving foreign financing to register as “foreign agents.” The term has been applied to several dozen groups in the last few years, some of which have shut down under pressure. Under the proposed law, blacklisted groups not yet operating in Russia would be prevented from working in the country, and groups already in the country could be shut down. Financial institutions would also be barred from processing transactions involving an “undesirable” organization. The approval of such stepped-up measures aimed at protecting Russia from outside interference comes after a year in which Russia has become increasingly isolated internationally overits activities supporting pro-Russian separatists fighting for control of the east of Ukraine, Russia’s neighbor and a former Soviet republic. The West has heavily sanctioned Russia over its involvement in that conflict as well as for Russia’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea, following the ouster of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych after a long series of protests in Kiev. Top American diplomats had also been keeping their distance until this month, when U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland visited Russia for face-to-face discussions with their counterparts and Putin in an effort to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end — a condition for the West to roll back sanctions. Russia has accused the United States of fomenting unrest in Ukraine, including the movement that led to Yanukovych’s ouster, through NGOs on the ground. Some Kremlin politicians fear that the United States is bent on a regime change in Russia as well, following the model of the pro-democracy “color revolutions” that took place in former Soviet republics like Ukraine and Georgia about a decade ago. An explanatory note attached to an early draft of the “undesirable organizations” bill listed “terrorist” and “extremist” threats but also “the threat of ‘color revolutions’ ” as issues the law could safeguard against by curtailing the activities of certain international organizations in Russia. Read more Visits by top U.S. officials give Russia


Months before U.S. raid, bin Laden considered leaving Pakistan compound

their original Arabic as well as translations by the CIA. In a statement, the DNI said U.S. intelligence agencies are “reviewing hundreds more documents in the near future for possible declassification and release.” The materials span nearly a decade during which bin Laden continued to exert a surprising degree of control over the terrorist network he founded, even as CIA drone strikes and a U.S.-led manhunt forced him to sever almost all direct contact with the outside world. Some of the most compelling messages in the collection describe the toll of that existence, including the letter that he composed in 2011 to his wife Khairiyah, who was among a contingent of family members who had taken refuge in Iran. In the three-page document, bin Laden recounts his efforts to reunite his family, but he says his proposals for doing so were rejected by Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti and his brother, who were responsible for protecting the al-Qaeda leader and whose families also lived at the compound. “They are getting exhausted — security-wise — from me staying with them and what results from that,” bin Laden wrote. “They have reached a level of exhaustion that they are shutting down, and they asked to leave us all.” Bin Laden wrote that he proposed compromises, including allowing Khairiyah to visit only temporarily, or having her replace one of the other residents so that the number of people staying at the compound would not increase. All were rejected by his protectors, bin Laden wrote, prompting him to consider the possibility that “I might have to leave them.” His willingness to contemplate a risky relocation suggests a level of desperation after years in which he had rarely ventured outside the concrete walls of the three-story compound. The Pakistani brothers appear to have relented in the end, at least in part. Bin Laden’s wife arrivedin Abbottabad at a time whenthe CIA had the site under near-constant surveillance, and just months before the May 2, 2011, raid by the SEALs. But their son, Hamza, did not come and remains at large. The letter is undated but refers to the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as approaching in “nine months.” The same document also reveals the degree of paranoia that had seeped into al-Qaeda’s leadership ranks. In another passage, bin Laden urged his wife to have a recent dental filling removed in case the CIA or another


Montgomery County Animal Watch

These cases were received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Raccoon rumble: Corgi bites sheriff’s deputy: Adopt or foster rescue dogs: Rockville Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: Rockville Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Md. man suspected in killings of four people in Northwest Washington

D.C. police have an arrest warrant for a 34-year-old man, Daron Dylon Wint from Maryland. Law enforcement sources said DNA evidence linked him to the killing of Savvas Savopoulos, his wife, young son and housekeeper. D.C. police said late Wednesday that they have identified a suspect in the killings of Savvas Savopoulos, his wife, young son and housekeeper, who authorities believe were held captive in the family’s Northwest Washington home. Police said they had obtained a warrant for the arrest of Daron Dylon Wint, who they said is 34 and is from Maryland. They said they do not know his whereabouts. The stunning break in the case came after police matched Wint to DNA found on the crust of a Domino’s pizza that had been ordered to the house the night of May 13, as the victims were being held, according to three law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation The next morning, Savvas Savopoulos’s personal assistant dropped off a package containing $40,000 in cash at the home, according to the officials and police documents. Police apprehended a man they say killed a Northwest Washington businessman, found dead with his wife, son and housekeeper. Hours later, the multimillion-dollar house was on fire, and the four occupants were dead. When firefighters arrived that afternoon, the cash was gone, as was a blue Porsche owned by the family. The vehicle was found later that day, torched in a church parking lot in Prince George’s County. Information about the money drop adds a perplexing new dimension to a case that has riveted Upper Northwest Washington as well as the District’s business and society circles with which the couple had been intimately involved. Savvas Savopoulos, 46; Amy Savopoulos, 47; their 10-year-old son, Philip; and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa, 57, all were killed. Law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said detectives think that the family and housekeeper had been held overnight in the home near the vice president’s mansion and that at one point they may have been bound. Authorities said they are investigating whether there are any links to Savvas Savopoulos’s business or personal life. Savopoulos owned or was involved in several businesses. Police documents, obtained by The Washington Post, show that the assistant had been helping Savopoulos, who was rushing to complete a martial arts studio in Chantilly, Va. It was unclear whether the


Ask Tom: Readers sound off on pet peeves, literal and figurative

in France or are French). Such people must be incapable of walking down a city street anywhere in the world if they can’t handle being in a restaurant with a dog or where a dog has been.” SPLURGING WHILE THEY STILL CAN (Golden Cosmos) “I’ve just accepted a new job in the nonprofit sector,” submitted a participant on a recent online chat. “My partner and I would like to celebrate with ‘one last’ nice meal before the major pay cut. Rose’s Luxury is the first that comes to mind, but what other places should we consider?” The participant added that restaurants with outdoor seating or locations in Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle or the Logan Circle area would be “nice bonus features.” The alfresco portion of Iron Gate in Dupont Circle leaps to mind. On a nice spring night, small plates of Mediterranean and Italian flavors under a grape arbor would be a pleasant way to toast a new chapter in one’s life. Postcard views and impressive cooking tend to be mutually exclusive. A major catch to the rule is Fiola Mare, the sweeping Italian dining room in Georgetown with a focus on seafood and windows that frame both the Potomac River and the Kennedy Center. Nearby is another fine-dining option, the Grill Room in the Capella hotel, which offers seating on a balcony hugging the C&O Canal. Finally, although there’s no distinctive view at Le Diplomate in Logan Circle, there are cafe tables parked outside — along with a seafood plateau whose freshness lets diners pretend they’re knocking back oysters, shrimp and lobster close to where they’ve been caught. The feast is a splurge, for sure, but also one for the memory books. SPECIAL AFTERS? PLAN BEFORE. Hoping to share some good news with her parents with the help of a Washington restaurant, an out-of-town participant on my weekly chat submitted the following question. It went unpublished but merits sharing, if only to give local pastry chefs a heads-up — or pass along a lovely sentiment. “When my parents found out they were expecting me, they took their parents out to dinner and ended the meal with the server bringing out a cake saying “Congrats, Grandparents!” It’s one of their favorite stories, and now that I’m pregnant, I’d like to re-create it (doesn’t have to be cake, though).” The anonymous participant asked, “What is a good restaurant, moderately priced with


Suspect in quadruple killings apprehended in District, police say

D.C. police arrested Daron Dylon Wint near 10th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NE on the night of May 21. Wint was apprehended in connection with the killing of a Washington family and their housekeeper. (Update: Suspect arrested, family thanks law enforcement) Police apprehended late Thursday night the suspect in the gruesome killings of three members of a Northwest Washington family and a housekeeper, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said. “Just got him,” Lanier said shortly before 11:30 p.m., speaking of Daron Dylon Wint, 34, who was apprehended in Northeast Washington. Federal marshals had been tracking Wint on Thursday night from College Park as he traveled in a white Chevrolet Cruze, a police official said. The suspect was traveling with two women, and one of them was driving. The Cruze was following a white box truck, which had two black males inside. At least one of the men was believed to be a relative of Wint’s, the official said. Both vehicles were stopped by marshals near 10th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NE, the official said. Police found at least $10,000 in cash in the box truck, and the women in the Cruze and the men in the box truck were taken into custody, the source said. Police apprehended a man they say killed a Northwest Washington businessman, found dead with his wife, son and housekeeper. The manhunt for Wint had extended to New York City, where authorities said he has relatives and acquaintances in Brooklyn. Wint is charged in a warrant with first-degree murder while armed in the deaths of Savvas Savopoulos, 46; his wife, Amy, 47; their 10-year-old son, Philip; and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa, 57. Wint is a former employee of an iron supply company headed by one of the victims and has a long history of alleged assaults and threatening behavior, according to law enforcement and court records. Police said they believe that the victims were held captive overnight and had been bound. At a Thursday afternoon news conference, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser described the slayings as “an act of evil.” Hours later, Wint’s father, Dennis, reached by phone, declined to comment. “I really am not in the mood to talk to any reporters,” he said before hanging up. For the first time, Lanier told residents that the suspect in the homicides that have riveted the Northwest neighborhood had targeted his victims. Wint had worked


Federal agency issues emergency order instructing Amtrak to fix curves fast

efforts to gum up work to complete the overall system, which the company believes will provide a more comprehensive and flexible solution for slowing speeding trains, the official said. The Federal Railroad Administration on Saturday instructed Amtrak to speed up implementation of its Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System where possible. Following a deadly collision of commuter and freight trains in Chatsworth, Calif., in 2008, Congress imposed a December 2015 deadline for nationwide installation and operation of positive train control. The Association of American Railroads, which represents freight railroads, said last week that more than 80 percent of the 62,364 miles of track covered by the mandate won’t be finished by the deadline. In 2012, two California senators who pushed the safety legislation warned that the 2015 deadline was in danger. “We are concerned by reports that the current pace of progress and investment is insufficient to meet the statutory deadline,” wrote Sens. Barbara Boxer (D) and Diane Feinstein (D). Moreover, “falling behind on . . . deployment could prompt attempts to extend the 2015 deadline in the future.” The railroads association, which says its members have already spent billions on the effort, has called for a deadline extension. Two competing bills are being considered. One approved by the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this year would give railroads a five-year extension, with two more years available on a case-by-case basis. An alternative supported by Boxer, Feinstein and others “would only allow one-year extensions, on a case-by-case basis, until 2018,” the California senators said in a statement. Financing is another debate. On Thursday, 23 senators sent a letter to the subcommittee that oversees appropriations for transportation, housing and urban development calling for “increased and expedited” funding for rail safety, particularly for positive train control technology. Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) is calling for $2 billion in funding for the effort, spokesman John Rizzo said. “Positive train control could have prevented that derailment,” Casey said of the crash of Amtrak No. 188. “That should cause all of us to stop and think” about what Congress should be doing. “If you look at this over time, both parties have some explaining to do,” Casey said. “Both parties need to have the sense of urgency and sense of duty the first responders had in Philadelphia last week. They didn’t sit around and have excuses or run from the problem. They ran to the problem.”


Six Baltimore police officers indicted in death of Freddie Gray

lived in Gilmor Homes, a public housing complex in West Baltimore’s Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, was injured after he was arrested on April 12. A video of his arrest shows officers on top of him locking his legs in a brace, and then dragging his seemingly limp body to the back of a police transport van. But police believe that he was injured during the 45 minutes he spent unsecured in the back of the van, shackled at the wrists and ankles. Baltimore’s police commissioner, Anthony W. Batts, has said the officers who transported Gray violated several policies, including failing to secure him with a seat belt in the van and repeatedly failing to get him medical attention he requested. The officer who drove the van stopped a few times, including to check on Gray, to put him in leg shackles and to pick up a second prisoner at another arrest site. It was after one of these stops — at Baker and Mount streets — that prosecutors say in charging documents that “Mr. Gray suffered a severe and critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained in the back of a BPD wagon.” Gray died at a hospital April 19. The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a civil rights investigation into the death, as well as a broader review of patterns and practices of the Baltimore Police Department. The union representing Baltimore police officers and attorneys for the individual officers have lashed out against the charges and Mosby, accusing her of several conflicts of interests — her husband is a City Council member who represents the district in which Gray was arrested. They also say she rushed her investigation and charged the officers to quell the unrest, which they contend benefited her and her husband’s political ambitions. Attorneys for the officers filed a voluminous motion contending that statements such as the ones Mosby made during her May 1 announcement went beyond mere recitation of the criminal charges and laid bare biases showing that she was trying to placate hostilities and elevate her own stature. They also have noted that the lawyer for the Gray family once represented Mosby on an attorney grievance issue. Those attorneys are calling for Mosby to be removed from the case. Mosby’s office has countered in court, calling the accusations desperate and an attempt to hijack the grand jury process.


Wing tips: Bird-watching adventures high in the Andes Mountains

Several reserves in the South American country are home to a wide array of feathered species. During the summer in Cambridge, Mass., my father lies in a hammock, gin and tonic in hand, waiting for hummingbirds. He has often struggled to attract them to the back yard. Tapichalaca Reserve, in southern Ecuador, would be heaven for him. In the cloud forest here, armies of hummingbirds dart between feeders and the woods next to a nature lodge. Their beating wings are so loud they sound more like bees. When they zoom past my ears, I can feel the wind, and, in the mornings before they’ve been fed, they’ll land on your outstretched arms or search for nectar inside your nose. The scene resembles my father’s hummingbird utopia, although he might not like the cold, damp weather. But the patio has a roof, and inside there’s a fireplace and a cozy living room where lodge guests congregate after hiking through the cloud forest. The lodge belongs to the Jocotoco Foundation, named after the rare Jocotoco antpitta, a bird whose discovery in the late ’90s inspired the organization’s creation. The foundation acted quickly, purchasing land to protect threatened species found in what is now Tapichalaca, one of four Jocotoco-managed areas with a tourist lodge. A dazzling Green-crowned brilliant, a type of hummingbird, pauses momentarily at a Buenaventura Reserve feeder. (Jessie Williamson) The other six reserves are primarily used for conservation and research and can be visited during the day. My girlfriend, Jessie, has been living in Tapichalaca’s researchers’ quarters this year, studying the golden-plumed parakeet, another rare bird. Jessie met me in Quito, and we flew south to Loja, where we caught a bus that blared Spanish-language pop music as it whipped through the mountains to Tapichalaca. About 550 miles south of the equator, the reserve spans 8,600-plus acres in the Andes and reaches 11,000 feet above sea level. More than 300 bird species, 13 of which are globally threatened, live in the mountain rain forest among 130 endemic plant species. Ninety percent of these plants are threatened, and, in 2004, the rare Bomarea longipes vine was discovered after being presumed lost for 130 years. I helped Jessie with fieldwork. Every five days, she monitors newly hatched parakeet chicks in forest nest boxes. Jocotoco has participated in a widespread conservation campaign over the past seven years to protect the birds, whose primary home,


The government’s Plan Bee

deaths, straining insects and making the business increasingly difficult and expensive. Government experts blame a complex set of factors. The 1987 arrival of the varroa destructor mite, which feeds on honeybee blood, appears to have contributed, along with disease, pesticide use and a reduction in the type and variety of forage that bees need. The Obama administration wants to curtail all of these factors, lowering the rate of hive loss to no more than 15 percent within a decade, which would be economically sustainable for the bee industry. Top on the list is altering public and private lands — in national parks, roadside strips, building complexes, even the White House South Lawn — to create 7 million acres of suitable pollinator habitat. This involves, among other things, identifying plants that provide nutrition for honeybees in hopes of encouraging their cultivation. That would help, and Congress should provide the necessary funds. But to many advocates, those sorts of measures don’t face up to what they see as the real problem: a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids. The Environmental Protection Agency already has created rules restricting neonicotinoid use when bees are brought in to pollinate areas. But anti-pesticide activists insist that persistent low-level exposure to neonicotinoids can harm bees, too. Plants absorb the pesticides even when bees aren’t around, they say, which results in toxic pollen and nectar; even if contaminated bees don’t die, these compounds can interfere with bees’ capability to communicate, fly and navigate. The European Union has put a moratorium on neonicotinoid use. The EPA is being more cautious. The agency isn’t approving more uses for neonicotinoids, but it’s also not taking products off the market yet, instead just limiting their application. The agency says that the serious scientific work establishing the risk of low-level neonicotinoid exposure to bees is only just being done. Besides, the Obama administration’s strategy notes, the goal is to “balance the unintended consequences of chemical exposure with the need for pest control.” In the end, that balance might be best achieved with new biotechnology: compounds and plants that target unwanted species while leaving others alone. As with many vexing environmental and resource challenges, governments and the public must be open to the promise of these sorts of innovations to improve both the environment and human welfare. Read more on this topic: The Post’s View: Maryland farmers should report their use of hazardous pesticides


Suspect in 4 gruesome D.C. killings might not have acted alone, police say

the elaborate crime probably “required the presence and assistance of more than one person.” The document also says that police think “all four decedents were held captive by Mr. Wint and others.” Police did not elaborate, but they have said other suspects have not been ruled out. Police apprehended a man they say killed a Northwest Washington businessman, found dead with his wife, son and housekeeper. Wint was captured in Northeast Washington after a task force of federal marshals and police tracked him to New York and back to the District over two days. Wint so far is charged only in the death of the family patriarch, a wealthy socialite and business executive who ran American Iron Works, a large supplier of iron and steel to construction projects. Officials said additional charges are likely in the deaths of the wife, son and housekeeper. Wint appeared in court with his wrists and ankles shackled, escorted by three marshals. He said only his name at the hearing. At times, he shook his shoulder-length dreads out of his eyes. His attorney, Natalie Lawson of the Public Defender Service, said in court that the case was “based on speculation and guesswork.” She added: “He is innocent. There is no link to the killings or the death of the decedent. There is nothing linking him to these deaths.” Magistrate Judge Errol R. Arthur ordered Wint held until his next court appearance June 23, saying there was “a lot of circumstantial evidence here, but it all points to the defendant.” The Savopoulos family on Friday thanked law enforcement for the arrest. “While it does not abate our pain, we hope that it begins to restore a sense of calm and security to our neighborhood and to our city,” they said in a statement issued by a family spokeswoman. The police affidavit filed in court Friday offers new details about how the family and Figueroa were held and killed in the three-story home on Woodland Drive NW, near the vice president’s mansion. Police have said that Wint once worked for Savopoulos’s American Iron Works firm in Hyattsville, Md., but have not offered a motive. D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier has assured residents that the family was targeted and the crime was not random. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Miller said Wint’s DNA was found on discarded pizza left in the room where the three adults were found


Officials: Mexico shootout leaves dozens dead

More than 40 people were reportedly killed in Mexico's western state of Michoacan on Friday in a shootout between authorities and suspected gang members. MEXICO CITY — The violence unfolded in the morning near the town of Tanhuato, along Michoacan’s border with the state of Jalisco, a troubled region where two drug cartels have waged a long-running battle and where attacks against Mexican authorities have recently spiked. Mexican authorities offered few details Friday afternoon about the killings, which involved the New Generation cartel of Jalisco and a convoy of federal police and soldiers. The governor of Michoacan, Salvador Jara, said on a radio address that at least one policeman died, as well as 42 gunmen, although those numbers were not confirmed. Photographs from the scene showed authorities had recovered dozens of high-powered rifles. A federal police official confirmed that at least 40 people had died. A priest at a nearby church, Manuel Navarro, said that he and his parishioners could see black smoke rising at the scene of the violence but that the townspeople continued to work and go out in the streets. “The people must be scared,” he said. “But what are we going to do? “Everybody knows there were killings, but the people just say, ‘God help us,’ ” he added. The New Generation cartel has grown into one of the country’s most powerful drug gangs and has been involved in several large-scale attacks against authorities in recent months. In April, the group ambushed a convoy of state police officers as they drove through a rural gorge, killing 15 of them. This month, gunmen shot down a Mexican military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, killing six soldiers. Over the past two years, the gang has battled Michoacan’s dominant cartel, the Knights Templar, as well as members of the citizens militia group that emerged there to combat the drug gangs’ killing and extortion. Authorities in Jalisco have expressed concern that they are not getting enough help from the federal government to halt the expansion of the New Generation cartel. Gabriela Martinez contributed to this report. Read more: Military helicopter shot down as drug violence surges in western Mexico Is the New Generation becoming the most powerful cartel in Mexico? Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world