Dogs are man’s best friend — but one of wildlife’s worst foes

— an elusive and beautiful goat-antelope — were lost to dogs. Globally, dogs have caused about 10 extinctions and continue to threaten another 150 species. In the United States alone, some 78,000 dogs roam habitats close to urban and suburban development. From marine shores and grasslands to woodlands and coniferous forests, dogs chase and attack wild birds and deer and terrorize native predators such as gray foxes and even pumas. Even the scent of a dog is enough to compel wildlife to flee and hide. The presence of dogs accelerates heartbeats in bighorn sheep and causes marmots to be more hesitant to reemerge from their burrows. Some animals will abandon living in an area altogether if dogs visit frequently, forcing them to give up precious opportunities to feed and travel. Elsewhere, dogs serve as reservoirs for a host of diseases — such as rabies, canine parvovirus and leishmaniasis (also known as black or dumdum fever). Studies from Brazil reveal that wildlife and livestock in proximity to dogs are particularly at risk of leishmaniasis, which infects roughly 1.6 million people a year. In China’s Wolong Reserve, free-roaming dogs share at least four microparasites with the reserve’s giant pandas, threatening Wolong’s precious pandas with several pathogens. In poor countries such as Nepal, dog populations — originally used to ward off snow leopards — have exploded. Unwanted dogs are left roaming villages, living on food scraps or hunting wildlife in forest habitats. Inevitably, conflicts mount. In the Annapurna Conservation Area, villagers routinely poison dogs with strychnine, a readily available poison that induces a long, painful death. It’s not uncommon to find dog carcasses in rivers and landfills. Sadly, when vultures and other scavengers eat the carrion, they are poisoned, too. But dogs are not the main problem. We are. It’s our responsibility to manage dog populations and to protect wildlife and vulnerable humans. In too many developing countries, dog management remains a reactive rather than a proactive strategy. Poisoning dogs has no lasting impact, and while culls are often touted as effective population control, they simply free up space for new dogs to claim. Many communities lack the capacity and capital to manage their dog populations. Managing the threat of dogs has yet to be addressed as a conservation problem for wildlife. While the impacts of habitat loss and climate change may be better appreciated, their solutions require a complex web of diverse


Bao Bao makes public debut in China

When celebrities leave our area permanently, it would be easy for us to turn our backs on them, make a clean break and go on to other things. But after her wildly popular stay here, and after the enormous affection she evoked, it is not so simple to let go. So it seems only proper to report that Bao Bao, the young giant panda who was born at the National Zoo, and achieved creature stardom there, has made her first public appearance in her new home in China. After a month in quarantine, Bao Bao “made her public debut” Friday, said the website of China Global Television Network (CGTN). CGTN describes itself as China’s new international media organization. In its account, CGTN said fans were already on hand for Bao Bao’s appearance at a panda center outside Chengdu in Sichuan province. It was unclear whether any were from Washington, where she was born Aug. 23, 2013, to panda parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian. Most of the world’s giant pandas are on loan from China, and cubs born abroad go back for breeding before turning 4. On Feb. 21, after fond farewells, sheltered in a white shipping crate, Bao Bao, as she was bound to be, was FedExed off to China. Now, according to CGTN, she seems to be having the same effect there as here. Her debut was made, CGTN said, “under the eyes of an adoring crowd.”


Howard University Hospital shows symptoms of a severe crisis

doctor to remove them “at least once per shift” for at least 30 minutes, according to records. But health department documents show that the nurses failed to remove the stockings for three days at a time on three separate occasions, and they didn’t document problems with Barnes’s feet during the weekly skin assessment. It was only after Barnes’s family entered her hospital room and noticed “an extremely foul smell” that they learned of the sores, recalled Sandra Ford, one of Barnes’s eight children. “I took her sock off and there the sores were on her foot,” Ford said. “They were big and black. I was shocked.” The sores spread so fast that doctors had to amputate Barnes’s leg below the knee, Ford said. Barnes’s granddaughter, Shelly Ford-Jackson, filed a complaint against the hospital, questioning the quality of Barnes’s care. Ford-Jackson is a supervisory health licensing specialist for the D.C. Department of Health. Shelly Ford-Jackson stands on the porch of her home in Landover, Md. She filed a complaint against the hospital, questioning the quality of the care her grandmother received. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) “I kept a journal and noted everything that was going on,” she said. “I saw so many things that were done inappropriately.” The health department found that the hospital’s nursing staff “failed to follow the standard of care” in treating Barnes, city records show. “Final analysis determined that a violation of law was found and a deficiency was cited,” according to a health department letter to the family. The hospital agreed to devise a plan of correction that included developing written guidelines on managing patients with anti-embolism stockings and random monitoring of those patients three times a week for 90 days. Barnes died on Feb. 2, 2009. Her family sued Howard University Hospital the following year and settled the case in 2011 for an undisclosed amount, court records show. Hospital officials declined to comment on the case. Julio Palma Sr. went to Howard University Hospital after several days of having a fever and vomiting. The father of six, who emigrated from Guatemala City 20 years earlier, was being taken for tests when a hospital worker pushed Palma’s wheelchair too close to the wall. Palma, a diabetic, wasn’t wearing shoes. His big toe was cut and bruised, but he didn’t notice because diabetes often robbed him of feeling in his extremities. Julio Palma Sr. (Family photo) “There


Prince William County news in brief

Animal control gives tips for bear season Bears are emerging from hibernation and have been spotted in western Prince William County. The Prince William County Police Department’s Animal Control Bureau offers several bear safety tips: • Virginia bears are primarily active and hungry in the spring and early summer, so move food sources that might attract them, including bird feeders, trash receptacles, pet or livestock food, outdoor grills, compost, and beehives. • Do not store trash or anything that smells of food in vehicles or on porches or decks. Keep trash receptacles secured in a garage, shed or basement. If you do not have a trash collection service, take your garbage to the landfill at least twice a week. If you do have a trash collection service, put your garbage out the morning of pickup rather than the night before. • Install electric fencing around dumpsters, gardens, fruit trees, beehives or other potential food sources. According to Animal Control, bears generally avoid humans but might wander into suburban areas in search of food. It is illegal in Virginia to feed bears. If you see a bear, put your pets inside and keep a safe distance. For information, visit dgif.virginia.gov . River cleanup needs volunteers in April The Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition — in partnership with the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District; Prince William County Parks and Recreation; Prince William County Public Works; and several homeowners associations, civic associations, businesses, and volunteer groups — is organizing its eighth annual cleanup of the upper Occoquan River. Volunteers are needed to clean up more than 25 miles of the Occoquan River at nine sites from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 22. The rain date is April 29. The cleanup is part of the Alice Ferguson Foundation’s Potomac River Watershed cleanup. Experienced kayakers, canoeists and boaters are needed. Some kayaks and canoes will be available. For information or to register, call 703-791-6158, email Ed Dandar at efdandar@verizon.net or visit pwtsc.org. Clinic for homeowners who use well water The Prince William County office of the Virginia Cooperative Extension, along with the Virginia Household Water Quality Program, is hosting a well water clinic from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Prince William County Board Chambers, McCoart Government Center, 1 County Complex Ct., Woodbridge. The kickoff meeting will introduce homeowners to water quality concerns and provide water sample test kits for


The critical questions on Russia

Paul Manafort talks to reporters on the floor of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 17, 2016. (Matt Rourke/Associated Press) There is nothing new about a Russian government seeking to exert influence in Western countries. For many decades, the Soviet Union supported Western communist parties and ran disinformation campaigns (Operation Infektion, the campaign to convince the world that the United States invented AIDS, was one of the most famous). The KGB slipped money and guns into the hands of terrorists and extremists, the Red Army Faction and the Irish Republican Army among them. After the demise of the Soviet Union, these games stopped. The KGB was in disarray; more important, a large part of the Russian establishment then wanted to join the West, not undermine it. But now we live in a different era. Russia is run not by “reformers” but by very rich men who believe that Western institutions, and Western democratic ideals, threaten their power and their stolen money. They have returned to their old tactics — but with some new twists. We already know that social media makes it much easier for the Russian state to spread disinformation. Less attention has been paid to the Russian private businessmen who make it much easier for the Russian state to win friends and buy influence than their Soviet counterparts did. Most “independent” Russian oligarchs are nothing of the sort: Their money came originally from the Russian state, through manipulated “privatizations” and money laundering. They depend upon the state in order to keep it, and if asked they will use it to do the state’s bidding. Yet much of what they do on the state’s behalf looks like ordinary business: buying and selling companies, investing in property, hiring consultants. That context helps explain the career of Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign manager and longtime affiliate. According to the Associated Press, Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire, hired Manafort in 2005, both to help his company and to “influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and former Soviet republics to benefit President Vladimir Putin’s government.” Manafort does not deny working for Deripaska, who hired him legally. But he says he did not work on behalf of the Russian state. Technically, he is right. In practice there is no difference. In practice, Manafort was working for the Russian state in at least one other capacity


As North Korea fires missiles, some in Japan want the ability to launch strikes

to bolster his case. It has been firing missiles at a steady clip into the Sea of Japan between the two countries, and three of the most recent salvo have landed inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The regime in Pyongyang said it was practicing to hit American military bases in Japan. Japan is now upgrading its PAC-3 Patriot missile batteries to double their range, and is considering other defensive measures. At a forum in Washington last year, defense minister Tomomi Inada said that Japan was considering acquiring the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense antimissile system recently deployed to South Korea — she even went to Guam to see it — and the Aegis Ashore, a land-based version of the SM-3 interceptors that Japan already has mounted on its Aegis destroyers. With North Korea’s increasingly threatening tone and its clear progress in missile technology, talk of military action against Pyongyang is becoming more prevalent. Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, said on a recent trip to Asia that “all options are on the table,” a stance that his South Korean counterpart appeared to support, despite the prospect of a conventional artillery attack on Seoul in retaliation for any strike against North Korea. Appetite for action is growing in Tokyo, too. “We know that North Korea’s missile capability has improved considerably,” said Itsunori Onodera, another former defense minister in the Abe administration and the chairman of an LDP committee on responding to the North Korean missile threat. “Right now, we are discussing how we can make sure to prevent them,” he said, adding that the committee could make a proposal as soon as this week. Onodera was particularly concerned by North Korea’s recent launch of missiles simultaneously, a move apparently designed to outsmart interception systems. “In that case, we would come under attack one missile after another unless we strike the enemy base and stop them,” he said. “So the discussion is around the need to neutralize the missile launch base.” Acquiring strike capability might be legally permissible under international law, but it will be difficult to sell to the Japanese public, the majority of whom have been resistant to the small changes Abe has made so far. Analysts say that senior politicians could be floating a trial balloon to test public reaction to the idea. “This discussion is not random,” said Brad Glosserman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’


In Shakespeare’s home town, a house divided as the U.K. plunges unto the Brexit breach

national tally — 52 percent opted to leave, 48 percent chose to stay — and if anything, the battle lines have only hardened as the departure draws near. Britain remains a house divided as it prepares to leap into the unknown of a first-ever E.U. defection. To Brexit opponents in this charming tourist magnet of a town, the country is making an epic mistake, a misguided turn away from the world after centuries of looking outward. The internationally minded Bard, they insist, would have cringed. “My daughter lives in Madrid, she’s married to a Mexican, her children were born in Amsterdam. That’s the nature of the world now,” said Meg Gain, a retired librarian who is campaigning for Britain to somehow pull back from the Brexit brink. “And all I can see is borders being enclosed and walls being put up.” But to supporters, British liberation is nearly at hand after decades under the thumb of unelected Brussels bureaucrats. Shakespeare’s English heroes, they insist, would have approved. “The country is ready,” said Kate Himmens, an enthusiastic Brexit backer, former civil servant and local guide. “We’re ready to have our freedom back.” Standing on the site of Shakespeare’s final home in Stratford — it was torn down long ago, although the grounds were opened last year as the town’s newest tourist attraction — she was seized by a verse from Henry V in which the English king orders his men into battle against the French at Agincourt midway through the Hundred Years’ War. “Follow your spirit, and upon this charge cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’ ” she crowed, punching the air for emphasis. Then she stopped and suggested a modern twist: “It should be, I suppose, ‘For Harry, England and Brexit!’ ” Shakespeare gets no say in Brexit, of course, having died 401 years ago — long before the United Kingdom existed, much less the still-in-its-infancy experiment that is the European Union. But that hasn’t stopped both sides from periodically attempting to enlist the services of the Bard of Avon, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. During last year’s campaign, politicians, columnists and scholars all pondered what the Bard might have made of it all. Brexit backers point to his patriotic verse — “This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England” — and his often unflattering depictions of continental Europeans. Plus, they note,


Run out of beer by halftime? This app delivers it in an hour.

With the help of Alexa and a service called Drizly, there’s no need to go to the store for beer. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Note to couch potatoes: You can stay right there and buy that six-pack of beer to fuel your Final Four viewing. No need to run to the store. MillerCoors announced last week that you can now order your cold one with a single push of a button or a voice command on Alexa, the Amazon-produced voice assistant. For a $5 delivery fee, the beer will arrive within the hour thanks to Drizly, an app that links liquor retailers with customers. On-demand customers pay the same amount as walk-ins, except for the delivery charge. “They are trying to make buying their beer as easy as possible, and Alexa is one way to do that,” said Bart Watson, chief economist with the Brewers Association, a trade association that represents small and independent craft brewers. The Miller Lite beer button is available to a test group of 500 of its most loyal drinkers who had bought through Drizly. The Alexa group is much wider and available an the Amazon devices Echo, Echo Dot and Tap. The Alexa device owners can summon the beer-delivery option with the words, “Start Miller time.” MillerCoors launched the tests in December as a way to gauge interest from its customers. The company will not know the results until the tests end next month. Companies are piling in to the on-demand space for fear they may miss the next big business opportunity. According to the Harvard Business Review in April 2016, the on-demand economy accounts for $57.6 billion in spending. “With the on-demand economy growing, and the need for convenience, we think providing a more frictionless shopping experience is the wave of the future,” said Jorie Sax, a marketer at Chicago-based MillerCoors who is working on the project. “This is very, very new technology, so we had to work out the kinks.” The U.S. e-commerce market for alcohol is around $1.2 billion, a Drizly spokesman said. On-demand is a fraction of that. Amazon, maker of Alexa, is also using its voice activated helper to deliver alcohol to the home. (Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post.) It announced last week that its Prime subscribers can tap into the voice assistant and receive a delivery within two hours. As a facilitator, Drizly


D.C. police locate car owned by artist slain on Capitol Hill

that was missing from the Capitol Hill residence of an artist who was found tied up and fatally stabbed last week in her basement apartment, according to authorities. The discovery comes as police continue to search for a person of interest captured in two surveillance videos that surfaced in the investigation of the killing of Corrina Mehiel, 34, who was living in the District temporarily while working on a project at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. “We’re making a lot of progress in the investigation,” said acting police chief Peter Newsham. Noting last week’s shooting of a college student, 18-year-old Ayana McAllister, home on spring break, Newsham said both killings “shocked our community.” Mehiel was found dead the afternoon of March 21 in her rented apartment in the 600 block of 14th Street NE, near the H Street corridor. Police said she had been tied up. A police report made public Monday indicates that she was found in her bedroom, in the back of the rowhouse, and that she was “bound by various pieces of clothing and bedding.” A person of interest in the killing of Corrina Mehiel. (D.C. police) Mehiel, whose permanent residence was in North Carolina, had been in the District for the past several months working with well-known artist Mel Chin on a Corcoran exhibit called “The Fundred Reserve.” It consists of hand-drawn $100 bills that visitors create and are used to highlight the dangers of lead poisoning and “remind us that every child’s future has value.” Police said Mehiel was last seen March 19 at the Corcoran, although Chin said she had dinner with friends at his apartment in Foggy Bottom that evening. Chin said Monday by email that he does not recognize the person being sought by police. “I have been looking at gatherings of people at the Reserve openings and pushing my thoughts to anyone who might resemble the person in the photo,” he said, adding, “We are still grieving and remain deeply unsettled.” Police have not said where the woman’s car was found. And although two sets of photos of the person of interest appear dissimilar, Newsham said detectives are confident that the photos show the same person. In one picture, the person appears to be wearing a white shirt; in another, a dark shirt. And his complexion appears lighter in one picture. Newsham attributed the differences to poor lighting.


Some Maryland watermen hope for new rules to strengthen their crab harvest

A blue crab is seen in a container at Janes Island State Park in Crisfield, Md. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) Joel Hayden’s investment, tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of yellow-painted wire cages, is spread across his lawn in neat stacks. Just beyond the water’s edge, his paycheck is burrowed in the mud. It’s the eve of blue crab season for watermen like the 28-year-old Hoopers Island native, and he is sparing no expense to prepare. After all, here at the southern edge of Maryland’s share of the Chesapeake Bay, there is only a short springtime window before the biggest crabs head north to fresher waters. Next month, Hayden will begin scattering hundreds of the handmade crab pots around nearby creeks. If there are as many of the blue-legged crustaceans as watermen and scientists expect, it will be a busy start to the season. A decade ago, the bay’s blue crab population was on the brink of collapsing when Maryland and Virginia agreed to dramatically reduce the harvest of young and female crabs. Biologists credit the rules with helping the crab population rebound and stabilize, and mild weather this winter portends a third-straight year of gains in crab numbers. But the rules could become a victim of their own success. Officials in Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration said this month that they are willing to consider changes to the harvest limits if crab population growth remains strong, just as they are exploring opening some prosperous oyster sanctuaries to harvest. For years, watermen from the lower Eastern Shore have begged state officials to ease crab-catch limits. They are hoping changes may be coming from an administration that recently fired a veteran crab scientist and pledged a “customer service”-oriented approach to fishery management. But other watermen and conservationists fear that a less aggressive management style could set back recent progress. And they are worried that a change could spur Virginia — where most of the famed Maryland crabs are born — to loosen its own harvest restrictions, as officials are already discussing. “That’s just a scary thing for me,” said Richard Young, a crabber who sells his harvest at Coveside Crabs in Dundalk. “I look at it as a long-term thing. I want to be able to go out and catch crabs for the rest of my life.” Biologists say any changes to crab harvest policies would come at a still-critical time for


As Brexit begins, the British face a Europe with far more at stake

spoke in the House of Commons, March 29, formally filing Brexit papers. She said it's "a day of celebration for some and disappointment for others." Analysts think the downside costs of a bad deal — or, perhaps even worse, no deal — would be considerable. About half of Britain’s international trade runs through the European Union, and its trading relationships outside the bloc are governed by the body’s rules. Economists have warned that an unfavorable outcome for Britain could seriously harm the world’s fifth-largest economy. But if Britons’ concerns are focused largely on their pocketbooks, Europeans are facing a more existential threat: the possibility that the E.U. breakup doesn’t stop with Britain. The imbalance creates all the more incentive for European leaders to take a tough line. “This free-trade agreement cannot be equivalent to what exists today. And we should all prepare ourselves for that situation,” Michel Barnier, a French former politician who has served as the European Union’s lead negotiator, told regional officials last week. Barnier said he plans to insist on finalizing the terms of the split before beginning talks on a new trade deal. Given the speedy negotiating timeline, that stance will put intense pressure on the British. E.U. leaders will meet April 29 to finalize Barnier’s negotiating guidelines. “If Brexit leads to a bright, prosperous future in the U.K., that is something that could lead to a domino effect,” said Janis Emmanouilidis, the director of studies at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre, an influential think tank that often advises E.U. policymakers. “It clearly will have to be something which is not better than when they were inside the club. The red lines we have drawn, I think we will clearly stick to them,” he said. Despite the risks, British leaders have emphasized the benefits of coming out from under the thumb of an E.U. bureaucracy that Brexit advocates regard as an intolerable infringement on U.K. sovereignty. Prime Minister Theresa May outlined her negotiating aims in a January speech that identified control over immigration levels, an exemption from the European Court of Justice and freedom to negotiate Britain’s own trade deals as her red-line demands. “We seek a new and equal partnership — between an independent, self-governing, global Britain and our friends and allies in the E.U. Not partial membership of the E.U., associate membership of the E.U., or anything that leaves us half in, half out,”


The weird intersection of alcohol and fitness could be big business for both sides

the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon and the first IPA 10K, coming up in April in Northern California, highlight wineries and breweries as the focal point of the event. A new Michelob Ultra commercial is part of the brand’s effort to position itself as the beer for those engaged in an active lifestyle. (FCB Chicago) As the lines between working out and drinking while socializing blur, businesses on both sides of the spectrum are looking to capitalize. The ‘third place’ Social psychologists speak of a “third place” as a location besides home and work where individuals feel a welcoming sense of comfort and community. Religious places often fit that category, as do pubs, coffeehouses and barbershops. And fitness facilities, with visions of becoming a lucrative third place, are recognizing that alcohol is a strong adhesive for social bonding. Jeff Shapiro, owner of Spindle Fitness in Chicago, said via email that he views alcohol as a business-retention mechanism. “If a Spindler (our name for our members) knows the other people in the facility, they become comfortable here and show up more. The deeper these relationships grow, the more their basic psychological need for belonging is met and the more motivated they become. For us, alcohol accelerates the process of creating and deepening these relationships. Also, we are normal humans who like to have fun, so a party here or there makes us all happy.” That intimacy works well in smaller gyms, but some larger facilities want to offer that same experience. Amy Williams, a Life Time Fitness spokeswoman, said much of the gym’s intention in offering beer and wine options is to create a space for members inclined to what she called “happy-hour fitness.” “They do a hard Warrior Sculpt class and they find people in that class who want to go out and have a glass of wine or a beer afterwards,” Williams said. “So, they were doing it all along, and bringing it into our place just allows them to do it without having to get into their car and drive somewhere else.” A social draw Regardless of where it’s done, drinking as a form of reward is nothing new, says Susan Whitbourne, a psychology professor at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Whitbourne said she has seen this activity in millennials — and especially millennial women — who are more likely to exercise so they feel more freedom to


This stuffed, fried, syrup-drizzled sandwich is quintessentially American

publication. While its origin story and the source of the name are unknown, historians generally agree that the dish comes from California. Despite its murky beginnings, the hefty sandwich continues to be popular, especially for brunch. When the Diner in Adams Morgan briefly took it off the menu, people demanded its return, says Wilfredo Canales, a manager at the 24/7 eatery. 1. Bread According to a recipe in the 1949 “Brown Derby Cookbook,” three slices of white bread are to be used to make a double-decker sandwich. Locally, we’ve found it’s more common to use two slices and a single layer of filling. The Diner uses challah, while the Airedale on 14th Street NW makes the sandwich with sourdough. Slim’s Diner in Petworth uses a soft white bread from Lyon Bakery. In Virginia, Lost Dog Cafe stacks three layers in its Pound Hound, a sandwich inspired by the Monte Cristo. K Town Bistro in Kensington prefers whole grain. 2. Batter You’re likely to find the sandwich battered and deep-fried, as at the Airedale (beer batter) and Slim’s (a “beerlike” batter, minus the beer). The Diner’s version is more like French toast, with challah coated in an egg batter and griddled. Lost Dog Cafe also uses layers of French toast. 3. Cheese Swiss cheese is traditional, though cheddar, Monterey Jack and Gruyere are sometimes used. The Airedale boosts the filling with bechamel and whole-grain mustard; K Town Bistro adds a whole-grain mustard sauce, tomatoes and caramelized onions. 4. Meat As with a croque monsieur, the meat of choice is sliced ham. Turkey is often added. (Swap in tongue as the meat — we assume beef tongue, but it’s not specified — and you’ve got a Monte Carlo, writes Helen Brown in her 1991 “West Coast Cook Book.”) 5. Sweet Strawberry or raspberry jam is a typical accompaniment, for dipping. The Airedale serves its sandwich with a side of grape jelly, while the Diner keeps it in the realm of French toast with breakfast syrup. A dusting of confectioner’s sugar is another frequent addition. Find the sandwich in the District at Slim’s Diner (4201 Georgia Ave. NW, 202-783-0699), the Airedale (3605 14th St. NW, 202-722-1212) and the Diner (2453 18th St. NW, 202-232-8800); in Virginia at Lost Dog Cafe in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax and McLean; and in Maryland on the lunch menu at K Town Bistro in Kensington (3784 Howard Ave., 301-933-1211).


Beyond birds and butterflies, this garden welcomes all critters — even raccoons

and loved nature. But over her 17 years here, she has come to see her garden as a place that is no longer territory to be defended against the deer, the squirrels, the moles and other invading critters, but a place to be extended to them. Lawson, a nature editor who worked for more than 15 years at the Humane Society of the United States, based in Gaithersburg, has written a book about gardening with wild animals, to be published April 18 — “The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife.” The book is something of a guide to dealing with nuisance species — how to humanely remove squirrels from your attic, for example — but it is, at its heart, a plea to rethink our mentality about other species on our patch. “The main goal for me is to try to break down this framework of fear we have, both toward plants and animals, the idea that plants are weedy, our animals are aggressive,” she said. Feeding songbirds has always been trendy, and this helping hand has morphed in recent years to the idea of wildlife habitat gardening with native plants. The aim has been to shelter and sustain, along with the birds, such creatures as frogs, turtles and dragonflies and, most of all, butterflies, bees and other pollinators. This isn’t just fashionable; it has become something of an expectation. This is all to the good, except Lawson points out that this biophilia generally extends to some animals and not others. Ironically, our fellow mammals seem least welcome. A praying mantis is adored while a rabbit is reviled. “There are lots of books on welcoming wildlife focused on birds and butterflies, which is important,” Lawson said. “But then you have the other half of it: Wildlife rehabilitation centers and biologists who are a lot of the time trying to get people not to kill mammal species.” She speaks of a friend who has a butterfly garden “but gets freaked out when she sees trees that have been chewed on by beavers.” A newly hatched monarch butterfly knows where to dry its wings in Nancy Lawson’s garden. (Nancy Lawson) But the property is more than just a pollinator garden. Lawson and her husband, Will Heinz, welcome less popular creatures, such as this young raccoon. (Will Heinz) The problem, as Lawson sees it, is that we see the garden as


On the prowl with a trapper who works to keep D.C.’s feral-cat population in check

malodorous mush from a can of Friskies beef and gravy. And just like that . . . “Oh, okay, here’s one already,” she says, as a black cat appears, squeezing out through a tiny opening in the foundation of the house and pausing to stare, eyes glowing yellow in the early light. In a moment, it darts 10 feet, goes low to the ground and wiggles under the lattice below the porch, bypassing one of Robinson’s traps. “Kitty, kitty, kitty . . . ” The TNR program, begun in 2008, has sterilized about 16,000 feral cats and returned them to the mean streets with the tips of their left ears snipped off, precisely three-eighths of an inch, marking them as fixed. Robinson was hired by the Humane Rescue Alliance in October to oversee the effort. She has been working in animal welfare since graduating from Wake Forest University in 2009 with a degree in anthropology. Previously, she had been in charge of the “national cat help desk” at the headquarters of Alley Cat Allies, an advocacy group in Bethesda, Md., that bills itself as “the national engine of change for cats.” She says: “The majority of calls we got, it was like: ‘Hey, I have all these cats. What do I do?’ And I’d be like, ‘Trap, neuter and return,’ if they were outdoor cats. But if you have a lot of cats indoors, I would be like, ‘All right, maybe you need some resources.’ ” Now another feral feline, this one pale gray, tiptoes into view and bolts across Nicholson Street, stopping beneath a parked car to paw at something only it can see. Once ensconced in a neighborhood, alley cats rarely venture far as long as there is ample food around, usually in rubbish barrels or in bowls left out by kindhearted residents. “I would bet these cats here don’t go beyond the end of the block,” Robinson says of the clowder at Seventh and Nicholson. The woman who called the Humane Alliance makes sure that the cats are fed. “So they think, ‘Hey, why go anywhere else?’ ” And if you happen to live next door and don’t like it, too bad. In 2008, after lobbying by Alley Cat Allies and other groups, the D.C. Council passed the Animal Protection Amendment Act, formally endorsing the trap-neuter-return concept. If a neighbor wants to support a colony of homeless


We’re about to find out exactly how populist Britain really is

about $60 billion — roughly what Britain spends annually on defense. Even this extraordinary price tag has failed to ruffle the prime minister as she has trundled serenely toward this week’s announcement. Leaving the European Union after more than four decades involves excruciating trade-offs. But, rather than confront these, May’s government offers anesthetic waffle. How might the British economy function without millions of E.U. workers? David Davis, the Brexit minister, explained this week that “from time to time we’ll need more, from time to time we’ll need less migrants,” adding that “you’ve got industry dependent on migrants. You’ve got social welfare, the National Health Service — you have to make sure they continue to work.” But if Britain really means to remain open, why sacrifice Single Market membership on the altar of border control? The same obfuscation applies to the deep questions concerning Britain’s internal cohesion. May’s government simultaneously promises a rigorously hard border with Europe and a friendly soft border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; this is a bit like walling off Mexico while furnishing comfortable tunnel facilities between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. Meanwhile, May is stalling Scotland’s loud demands for another independence referendum. But the Scots, who voted to remain in the European Union, will not be reconciled to Brexit if they are denied a say in whether it applies to them. May’s tactic of prevarication has been assisted by several lucky breaks. A surprise recovery in the world economy has concealed the economic cost of Brexit; for the moment, British industry benefits from the post-referendum collapse in the exchange rate but has yet to pay the price of lost Single Market access. President Trump’s election has given geo-strategists something bigger to worry about: If the West’s cohesion is indeed unraveling, the chief culprit is in Washington. And May is in the extraordinary position of not facing a coherent domestic opponent. The Labour Party is under the sway of hang-dog neo-Marxist Jeremy Corbyn. Article 50 is the legislation that sets out how a member state can leave the E.U. But, with this week’s initiation of the Brexit talks, May will face a harder time. Trade-offs that could be pushed aside, on the argument that they were matters for future negotiation, will come more clearly into focus. The foolish bravado of the Brexiteers, who assured voters that negotiating with 27 other countries would be a


On the eve of an Oprah movie about Henrietta Lacks, an ugly feud consumes the family

Victoria Baptiste, as “imposters” and said they were “posing as Lacks family members to make money.” Appalled, Spencer said she and other family members began questioning Campbell’s role — and her financial motive — in driving a wedge through their family. “Is my grandfather really saying all of these things?” Veronica wondered. “This entity came into our life claiming to speak for the entire Lacks family.” Asked to respond, Campbell issued a statement accusing The Washington Post of “writing a sensationalized story focusing on the backgrounds and personal lives of volunteers discouraging them from helping the Lacks family.” Ron said he met Campbell through a lawyer he contacted to help with their claims, including a possible lawsuit against Johns Hopkins. Campbell had an agreement with the lawyer for a percentage of any money they gained, he said, but the lawyer no longer represents them, and Campbell has continued to work at no charge. Ron and his father said they are pleased with her efforts. “She’s the first one to get us any attention,” he said. He looked over at his father with a smile. “We need somebody to push. My dad, he ain’t got no fight in him.” But asked specifically about the decision to release the DNA testing, which was done five years ago during a different dispute and was a closely held family secret, they hesitated. Lawrence said he didn’t like the idea of the clan’s “dirty laundry being out there.” Ron shook his head. “What other choice did we have?” he asked. “We asked them to stop doing these speeches, and they didn’t.” The fallout isn’t finished. While the DNA testing showed that Lawrence is not Spencer’s grandfather, a second test suggested that another Lacks man might be, something family gossip had hinted at for years. A geneticist who reviewed both test results this week at the family’s request said additional testing would be needed to establish whether Spencer and her sister are Lacks descendants. “It’s really close either way,” said Gonçalo Abecasis, chair of the biostatistics department at the University of Michigan. “We’d need a little more data.” But no one needs more data to recognize the damage that’s been done. “I let all this stuff get out of hand,” Ron acknowledged this week. “I just hope my family can get back together.” His father had already reached the same conclusion. “Those girls are family,” Lawrence


In historic break, Britain plunges into Brexit with hard negotiations still to come

“remain” during the campaign, she pivoted quickly in the aftermath of the vote and adamantly maintained that she would make good on the public will. “Brexit means Brexit,” she repeatedly declared. It was not until January, however, that May gave true shape to what Brexit might mean. In a speech at London’s Lancaster House, May made the case for a clean break from the European Union, saying she did not want a deal that would leave Britain “half-in, half-out.” But May’s pitch has done little to bring the country together. Of the four nations that make up the United Kingdom, only two — England and Wales — voted for Brexit. The other two, Scotland and Northern Ireland, came down against it. Scotland’s semiautonomous Parliament voted Tuesday to seek another independence referendum. Advocates argue that an E.U. departure against the will of Scottish voters has sufficiently changed the calculus since the last independence vote, in 2014, that a new one is justified. Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland have also used Brexit to renew their decades-long efforts to break away from Britain. Amid British divisions, Europe has taken an unusually united stand in asserting that Britain will not get a better deal than the one it has today. If it does, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other stalwart defenders of the E.U. fear that Britain’s departure could be just the start of a broader splintering. Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, said his side would hold firm in negotiations over the coming two years and that the interests of the bloc’s remaining 440 million citizens would take priority over concessions to Britain. A first statement of the E.U.’s bargaining positions is expected Friday. “Our goal is clear,” Tusk said. “To minimize the costs for the E.U. citizens, businesses and member states.” Because of French elections this spring and then German elections in the fall, Britain’s E.U. divorce talks are likely to get off to a slow start. Once the negotiations begin in earnest, there will be little time to finish. The talks are capped at two years, meaning they must be completed by March 2019. The real deadline is likely to be sooner, given that all E.U. parliaments will have to approve any new trade agreement. Despite the risks, Britain’s impending exit was celebrated Wednesday by the country’s staunchly pro-Brexit tabloids. “Freedom!” exulted the front page of the Daily Mail. The mood


Westinghouse files for bankruptcy, in a blow to nuclear power industry

Toshiba's U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse files for Chapter 11 protection from creditors as its Japanese parent seeks to limit losses, already estimated at around $9 billlion, that could threaten its future. Westinghouse, one of the most storied names in the nuclear energy business, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, dealing a blow to the nuclear power industry and raising questions about the fate of four reactors under construction in the United States. The filing also ends the marriage of Toshiba and Westinghouse, one of a handful of nuclear contractors left worldwide. When the Japanese giant — maker of products as diverse as medical devices and home appliances — bought the Westinghouse nuclear business in October 2006, it declared “the dawn of a new era for nuclear energy.” Together, the companies would make a “powerful combination,” Toshiba said. A decade later, that combination has melted down. Toshiba has written off more than $6 billion in losses connected to its U.S. nuclear business, citing accounting problems, delays and cost overruns. And it has pulled back from new nuclear projects under discussion in India and Britain. The crisis for Westinghouse and Toshiba coincides with President Trump’s effort to scrap former president Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan and with continuing apathy in Congress and the administration toward adopting a carbon tax. Either of those measures would have been likely to improve nuclear power’s competitiveness with renewables or cheap natural gas, which have been gaining domestic market share. The bankruptcy filing will trigger legal questions about whether Toshiba remains responsible for losses at Westinghouse and whether the utilities that own the reactors under construction will have to eat more of the cost of completing them. That could mean higher rates for consumers in those areas. In seeking protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy act, Westinghouse could still finish building those plants. Westinghouse said it has arranged $800 million in financing so that it can continue to serve customers while restructuring its business. The collapse of Westinghouse also reverberates through the global nuclear business. The company supplied the world’s first commercial pressurized water reactor 60 years ago, and half the world’s 430 nuclear power reactors have Westinghouse technology. Westinghouse had claimed that its new AP1000 model reactor had passive technology and modular design that was safer, cheaper and faster to build. Many U.S. lawmakers and nuclear industry boosters said the AP1000 could augur in a “nuclear renaissance”


With aerialists, ribbons and Copland, the Shift festival begins

The Frequent Flyers troupe performs at the Kennedy Center. (Jati Lindsay) The Kennedy Center and Washington Performing Arts have been going all out to promote the Shift festival, a week-long survey of the state of American orchestral life. There are advertisements in the Metro and on buses, and last night the Kennedy Center Concert Hall was packed with a diverse audience, many of them sporting green bandannas given out before the concert to support the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, the first group in the spotlight. The theme of Tuesday’s concert was the natural world, and it included the East Coast premiere of a piece written to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, a mandolin concerto redolent of Appalachia, a tone poem inspired by prairie grasses and Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.” Conductor Michael Butterman introduced the music from the stage, bantering with composer Stephen Lias and Nancy Smith, artistic director of a troupe of aerialists who accompanied the Copland suite with a highflying, death-defying dance routine suspended from ribbons and a hoop many feet above the concert hall stage. The Shift festival explores a canonical belief in the professional orchestra world: that survival of the form requires diversifying the concert experience, collaborating with artists and groups outside the orchestra mainstream, and introducing new entertainment elements into the concert hall. This has been orthodoxy among thought leaders in the music world for at least 30 years, though it has taken a long time to filter down to the level where music is actually made and consumed, in cities across the country. So the first Shift concert felt like a community-building exercise, a celebration of some basic ideas around which the orchestral world seeks to organize and rebuild. It didn’t, unfortunately, give one a sense of the full musical capabilities of the Boulder Philharmonic, which played a mostly subordinate role to a slide show and dance routine, and presented music that was new but familiar, following conventional patterns of concert repertoire that have been pretty much stable for a generation now. The most exciting moments came during Jeff Midkiff’s Mandolin Concerto, especially in the last movement where the composer (who was also the soloist) throws off the yoke of an orchestral piece and indulges in a smaller-scale but more free-form jam session with the principal violin and a solo percussionist. The playing was delightful, virtuosic and exuberant, but like many pieces


The vote was held last summer, but ‘Brexit’ officially starts now

A protester flies a European Union flag with one of the stars cut out, representing Britain’s departure from the political and economic organization. Britain formally triggered a two-year divorce process Wednesday, following last summer’s “Brexit” vote. (Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Britain filed for divorce from the European Union on Wednesday, overturning four decades of political and economic cooperation with its neighbors. Britain’s representative at the E.U., Tim Barrow, hand-delivered a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk formally triggering a two-year countdown to the final split. The council includes the political heads of the E.U.’s 28 member states. To Britain, Tusk said: “We already miss you.” But for Britons who voted 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the bloc in the “Brexit” referendum nine months ago, it was time to celebrate. The two sides now have until March 2019 to agree on a divorce settlement and, if possible, to establish a new relationship. That includes determining whether Britain will be able to trade freely with E.U. states. Newspapers in London displayed a mix of emotions Wednesday after Prime Minister Theresa May signed a letter that formally kicked off Britain’s departure from the E.U. (Daniel Sorabji/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) The first area of conflict will probably be money. The E.U. wants Britain to pay a hefty bill — one E.U. leader put it at around $63 billion — to cover retirement payments for E.U. staff and other commitments Britain has agreed to. Britain agrees it will have to pay something but is sure to argue about the size of the tab. Britain wants to trade with the E.U. without new rules or fees but says it will control immigration, ending the right of E.U. citizens to live and work in Britain. The E.U. says Britain can’t have free trade without free movement of people. Brexit has serious implications for Britain’s economy, society and even unity. The controversial decision to leave the E.U. has encouraged supporters of Scottish independence and those who would like to undo Northern Ireland’s peace settlement. Both Scotland and Northern Ireland are part of Britain. Losing Britain, its third-largest member, is a major blow to the E.U., which began with six nations seeking to discourage war and expand trade after World War II.


Afghan generals face charges in crackdown on military corruption

Afghan army special forces recruits eat lunch after exercises in the Rishkhur district outside Kabul on Feb. 25. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters) KABUL — The officials said Maj. Gen. Mohammad Moeen Faqir, the former commander of an Afghan army corps in the volatile south, was arrested recently on charges of embezzlement and abuse of authority. More than 300 people have been prosecuted, including military officers and civilian administrators, the officials added. Lt. Gen. Helaluddin Helal, a deputy defense minister, told a news conference that the ministry has “taken significant steps to tackle corruption” and is “trying to bring changes and reform” to the security forces, which have been heavily criticized for graft, resale of supplies meant for troops and other financial abuses. The top military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Dawlat Waziri, said eight generals, 11 commanders of detachments and 296 other officers are among those suspected of crimes, including bribery, theft and murder. The officials did not describe any cases in detail. The announcement of these actions came shortly after the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, John F. Sopko, sharply criticized widespread corruption in the Afghan military in speeches and comments in the United States. Sopko said that despite U.S. appropriations totaling $115 billion for reconstruction, much of it used to train Afghan security forces and support the civilian government, the effort remains “tenuous and incomplete.” In a speech at Duke University, Sopko said corruption and mismanagement are the main factors behind military failure in the country. He said that some Afghan military commanders are selling military fuel to the Taliban and stealing food supplies and forcing troops to buy them back. A new report issued by the inspector general found that “the questionable capabilities” of Afghan security forces and “pervasive corruption” are the two most critical problems. “Without capable security forces, Afghanistan will never be able to stand on its own,” he said. “If these two risk areas are not addressed, I fear that our reconstruction efforts could ultimately fail.” An editorial in the Afghanistan Times newspaper Wednesday called such massive corruption “a deadly disease” that has turned into a “cultural practice” and mocks the bravery of Afghan troops. Meanwhile, domestic concern over corruption and ineffective protection by the security forces led the Afghan parliament to summon the defense minister, interior minister and national intelligence chief this week. They were grilled about a terrorist attack on Kabul’s military hospital two


Is bail on its deathbed in Maryland? Not if bail bondsmen have a say.

assessment of every defendant,” he said. Del. Cheryl D. Glenn (D-Baltimore), the head of the Black Caucus, said this week that she had not made a decision on whether to support Muse’s bill. But she said it has some merit, given the support it has received from some in the legal community, including J. Wyndal Gordon, a Baltimore City lawyer. Anti-bail advocates have fought for a decade in Maryland to keep judges from setting bond at levels defendants cannot afford, potentially leaving them behind bars for days or weeks before trial. Such situations can lead to jobs lost and children uncared for, advocates say, and also drive up jail costs for taxpayers. Maryland’s bail system “has constitutional problems,” Barron said, adding that the Muse bill “doesn’t take us back to where we were. It takes us even further back.” Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) ( Jonathan Newton /The Washington Post) Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D), who sought the court rule change, said other states that have taken similar actions have not seen drastic increases in defendants failing to show up for trial. “The purpose of the rule is to let people out when they’re not a threat. Why do you need a bill to fix that?” said Frosh, a former state senator. He said Muse’s bill will only result in “lining the pockets of bondsmen.” Nicholas J. Wachinski, the chief executive of Lexington National Insurance Corp., a bond surety company that is heading the campaign for the bail bill, did not return calls seeking comment. The industry has hired some of the state’s top lobbyists, including Gerard Evans, who got his start in Annapolis 40 years ago working as an intern to now-Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), then a freshman senator. It poured $87,000 into the campaign coffers of state politicians, with nearly a quarter of the contributions — $21,000 — going to Sen. Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County), the chairman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, which first approved Muse’s bill in early March. Just days before the start of the session, Lexington National gave $5,000 to Muse and $3,000 each to Miller and House Majority Whip Talmadge Branch (D-Baltimore). Miller helped shepherd Muse’s bill through the full Senate after a companion bill was pulled in the House, and he says that he believes bail bondsmen have “a role to play.” Bail bondsmen charge


Who is ‘Source D’? The man said to be behind the Trump-Russia dossier’s most salacious claim.

responsible actor and potential partner,” according to a column in the Jerusalem Post, while later he met with a British Foreign Office representative in London, an embassy spokesman said. He also criticized U.S. sanctions on Russia in an interview with the Russian news outlet Interfax. Papadopoulos did not respond to questions about contacts with Millian. But Papadopoulos said by email that his public comments during the campaign reflected his own opinions and that some of his energy policy views run counter to Russian interests. “No one from the campaign ever directed me to discuss ‘talking points,’ ” he said. In a separate email, he accused The Post of relying on “innuendo” and “unsubstantiated claims by irrelevant sources.” Neither Millian nor a White House spokeswoman responded to questions about Papadopoulos. The person familiar with the contacts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not provide details. Over the summer, as Trump prepared to accept the Republican presidential nomination, Millian traveled to Russia. He posted pictures on his Facebook page showing that he attended a Russian government-sponsored summit in St. Petersburg in June. One photograph shows him with Russia’s minister for energy. Another shows him chatting with Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, who is close to Putin. A spokeswoman for Deripaska declined to comment. A spokesman for the Russian Embassy did not respond to questions about Millian. Later in the summer, Millian continued boasting of his Trump connections. He told ABC News that he had been the “official broker” for the Trump-branded condo building and described Trump’s affinity for working with Russians. He pointed to “hundreds of millions of dollars that [Trump] received from interactions with Russian businessmen.” Millian added that Trump “likes Russia because he likes beautiful Russian ladies — talking to them, of course. And he likes to be able to make lots of money with Russians.” Millian told ABC that he was “absolutely not” involved with Russian intelligence. But when asked whether he had heard rumors to that effect, Millian replied, “Yes, of course.” Millian also said that, at times, he talked about U.S. politics with top Russian officials. “Usually if I meet top people in the Russian government, they invite me, say, to the Kremlin for the reception, of course I have a chance to talk to some presidential advisers and some top people,” Millian said. While Cohen has said he has never met Millian, the two


D.C. community calendar, March 30-April 6

Thursday, March 30 “Mother Earth and Me” Gentle yoga classes Toxic plants: friend or foe? Age-friendly D.C.: senior smartphone help Washington Cathedral behind the scenes Garden tour with parents and kids in snugglers Income tax assistance Children’s program: kites and pollinators take flight Afterschool Lounge Lego Club Homework help After-school workshops with Asian American LEAD “One Destiny” The Words Beats Life Academy “Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead” “Everyone” yoga “Shear Madness” “The Doctrine of Papal Infallibility” “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber” Yoga at Northwest One Concert performance: “Galileo’s Torch” unCHAMBERed, featuring the North Carolina Symphony “Ragtime” “Parade” Friday, March 31 Income tax assistance Preschool Story Time Children’s safety seat and belt inspections Preschool story time Children’s program “Strike a Prose: Searching for Understanding” Move, dance, create “Edible Flowers: Culinary Flower Power in America and Beyond” Income tax assistance Classical pipe organ recital Global Kids “The Tunnels and Trap Doors of Tudor Place” Workshop: Make your own bitters Women in Jazz: “Argonautika” “A Raisin in the Sun” “Starry Messenger” Saturday, April 1 Library used book sale Citizenship classes Saturday morning yoga “Ulysses S. Grant: The President and Washington’s Cherry Blossoms Fitness event: Practice With Love yoga gatherings “Strike a Prose: Searching for Understanding” Family story time Yoga at Your Library Lego Club D.C.’s Symbols of Peace Portrait story days: Artists Spring opening reception and gallery talk Sunday, April 2 Palisades farmers market Museum Community Day Family Funday Sunday “Enter the Dragon” Shaw knitting and crochet circle The Meaning of the Cherry Blossom Festival: Readings from the Masters Huje jam Howard University Jazz Ensemble performance “The Ultimate Measure of a Man: The Life and Death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.” Monday, April 3 “The Ultimate Measure of a Man: The Life and Death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.” Cherry Trees and the Overlooked Trees of the Mall and Tidal Basin Children’s safety seat and belt inspections English conversation group Yoga Mondays Income tax assistance After-school program Reader’s Theatre Mandala Mondays Wii game night “Everyone” yoga Zumba Tuesday, April 4 Toddler story time Firefighter story time – meet real firefighters Pop of the tots Tudor tots: dancing Toddler story time at All Souls Episcopal Church Children’s safety seat and belt inspections Chair yoga classes Classical music concert Washington Bach Consort acting artistic director Todd Fickley leads organist Paul Skevington and the Consort in a selection of works by Bach.


Despite outward calm, Ethiopia extends state of emergency

Protesters kneel at a cultural festival after police tear gassed the crowd, prompting widespread riots, in Ethiopia’s Oromo region on Oct. 2. (AP) ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country and a regional power house, declared the state of emergency in October after widespread rioting broke out and foreign factories were attacked following the death of dozens at a cultural festival. Ethiopia is a close U.S. ally in the fight against extremism in the unstable Horn of Africa region and has also become a magnet for foreign investment, especially in manufacturing. Defense Minister Siraj Fegessa, the point man for the state of emergency, said there were still “some people who occasionally strive to disrupt peace and security,” according to the state-owned Fana Broadcasting. The extension was needed, he said, to ensure the prevailing peace reached “the point of no return.” The state of emergency imposed broad restrictions on freedom of assembly and gave security forces wide powers to arrest people and search premises. According to government figures, more than 26,000 people were detained under the state of emergency, and most have been released. Opposition figures have said the number detained was much higher. Parts of the state of emergency have since been modified. Police are now required to have warrants to arrest suspects or search their homes, and some restrictions on media had been lifted, as well. For more than a year and a half, Ethiopia’s Oromo people, the country’s largest ethnic group, have been protesting against their economic marginalization, corrupt local officials and what they say are attempts to confiscate their land for the country’s rapid development. In October, police responded to protests at the Irreecha cultural festival with tear gas, triggering a stampede that killed more than 50 people by the official count. Activists say many more died. In the aftermath, there were attacks against government- and foreign-owned factories, prompting the declaration of the state of emergency. There were also antigovernment protests in the northern Amhara region. Ethiopia has blamed its neighbor Eritrea, as well as Egypt, for being behind the unrest. The government investment bureau said in February said that there was a 20 percent drop in foreign investment during the latter half of 2016 compared with the first six months of the year. Since the emergency was declared, however, protests have dropped off dramatically, though with social media blocked, it is often difficult


‘There’s still high culture in America’: Why the National Symphony Orchestra went to Moscow

hand, saying he remembered her as a child, and was so overwhelmed with memories that he choked up. “I wasn’t looking forward to this tour,” he said later. “It wasn’t until we got here that I really realized what we were doing here.” Later on Tuesday afternoon, Steven Honigberg, one of many talented cellists whom Rostropovich drew to the NSO, gave a master class to young string players. Outreach is a buzzword for American orchestras, and this kind of exchange is a popular tool of cultural diplomacy as well, but that wasn’t what motivated Honigberg. “It’s the least I can do,” he said, “for the man who was so important in my life.” Art doesn’t offer neat answers. Indeed, performing during times of crisis underlines the messy way that crisis plays out. When the NSO was here in 1993, Daniel Foster, William’s son and the orchestra’s current principal viola, felt a sense of irony at learning what was happening by watching CNN, from Atlanta, in his Moscow hotel room. Maestro Christoph Eschenbach. (Scott Suchman/National Symphony Orchestra) It would be nice to say that the NSO had a triumphant return. But the reality wasn’t so clear cut, as the orchestra faced the challenge of trying to live up to its own past glory, in a somewhat diminished present. Although there was brisk scalper activity around the ticket lines, the hall wasn’t quite sold out. And Eschenbach’s cerebral approach to musical emotion didn’t seem to fully connect with an audience primed for a more vital, Rostropovich-like approach. Eschenbach, like Rostropovich, is a soloist turned conductor, with lots of ideas about music and spotty conducting ability, but Rostropovich conducted with such commitment and energy that it was easy not to notice. “There was never a concert that was just tossed off,” said Alice Kogan Weinreb, a flutist with the NSO since 1979. “It always felt like a matter of life and death whenever we performed, no matter how big or small the venue.” Today, the NSO does not always communicate the same sense of urgency, though it sounded unusually full and warm in the beautiful acoustics of this iconic hall. The tired truism that classical music is a universal language gets trotted out, like a dusty diplomatic ritual, for such occasions. If that were really true, it wouldn’t matter how well or badly any piece was played. And in fact, Wednesday’s concert got


Md. black caucus opposes pro-bail bill, a blow to its chances in the House

their attention to the House Rules Committee, which would have to approve the bill in order for it to be considered by the full chamber before the legislature adjourns April 10. Del. Cheryl D. Glenn, who heads the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus, came out against the bill. (Doug Kapustin/For The Washington Post) “There is a lot of time left and many things can happen,” said Alexandra Hughes, chief of staff to House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel), who has not taken a position on the bill. Among those who attended the caucus meeting was Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D), who last year sought the rule change that prohibits judges from setting bail at levels that poor defendants cannot pay. He said he is optimistic the new rule will stand, keeping Maryland in the vanguard of states that in recent years have limited or eliminated bail. “I think this is a very positive sign,” he said. Even as progressives campaigned in recent weeks against the bill to restore bail, the bail bond industry pressed hard for it, hiring well-connected lobbyists, hosting steak dinners for lawmakers and pouring tens of thousands of dollars into politicians’ campaign coffers. The industry said the issue was not equity for poor defendants but how to keep bad guys locked up and ensure that suspects who are released from jail return to court for their hearings and trials. “What can I say? What I want to say, I can’t,” Vinnie Magliano, president of EastCoast Bailbonds, quipped in an interview after the caucus made its decision. “My thing is it is unfortunate for the people in Baltimore, having to live in the crime, a killing a day,” he said. Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George’s), the bill’s sponsor and a member of the caucus, told his colleagues that he proposed the legislation because he thinks judges should have the option to set bail, which might be less of a financial burden for a poor defendant than other pretrial conditions, such as paying the monthly cost for ankle monitors. “It’s absolutely true that all of us want to make sure that no poor person sits in jail,” Muse said. “I did not see where this bill did that.” He said limiting the use of bail is like “taking the coat off one monster and putting it on another.” Del. Cheryl D. Glenn (D-Baltimore), chairman of the Black


Britain’s next Brexit challenge: Retooling E.U. laws to fit into British system

London’s Big Ben is framed by British flags on March 30. (Andy Rain/European Pressphoto Agency) LONDON — The law-changing blueprint landed a day after British Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50, officially serving the European Union divorce papers and beginning exit negotiations expected to last two years. The swift release of the government’s plans for the “Great Repeal Bill” reflects just how split Britain remains as divorce talks loom with the European Union. British leaders now sense a greater urgency to calm Brexit opponents, including many businesses worried about Britain’s new legal structure. The repeal bill will see thousands of E.U. laws — covering such topics as workers’ rights, environmental rules and finance regulations — transposed into British codes to provide legal certainty and a “smooth and orderly” departure from the European Union. The bill seeks to show workers, consumers and businesses that the “rules have not changed overnight,” David Davis, the Brexit secretary, told the House of Commons. He also said it signaled the end of the supremacy of E.U. law in Britain. “Our laws will then be made in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast,” he said, referring to the capitals of the four members of the United Kingdom. The plans, published in a policy paper, have been described as a gigantic “cut and paste” job, repatriating 40 years of powers from Brussels to London. From there, Britain will decide which laws to keep and which to scrap — with the government granted new authority to make the changes. But officials insist that the powers — dubbed “Henry VIII powers” by critics after the imperious monarch — are needed to make “corrections” to E.U. laws once they are taken onto the books. Some opposition lawmakers called it a “government power grab” and said that the plans give the government too much authority to change laws without parliamentary oversight. Keir Starmer, the opposition Labour Party’s Brexit spokesman, said that the plans give “sweeping powers” to the executive and that “rigorous safeguards” are needed. Some Brexit proponents see this as a golden opportunity to scrap E.U. regulations that they consider an infringement on businesses. The Daily Telegraph, a right-leaning British newspaper, urged the Conservative Party to “promise a bonfire of E.U. red tape in its 2020 manifesto to put Britain on a radically different course.” Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, told the Commons earlier this week that Brexit “will be


Schumer: ‘Virtually impossible’ to avoid a filibuster fight on Gorsuch next week

else so far this year. On Thursday, two moderate Democrats facing GOP pressure to support Gorsuch, Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), said that they would back him. But an additional 32 Democrats oppose Gorsuch and plan to filibuster him, according to a Washington Post whip count — meaning that the judge will need 60 votes to clear a procedural hurdle before a final confirmation vote scheduled for later next week. Republicans hold 52 seats in the Senate, not enough votes to defeat a filibuster but enough to invoke the “nuclear option” that would change Senate rules and allow Gorsuch’s confirmation — and others after it — to proceed on a simple majority vote. Senators fearful of ending long-standing traditions tried in recent days to ward off a bitter floor fight but failed to launch talks on a compromise. In the interview, Schumer said he doubted that an agreement could be reached. “The deal would be, ‘We won’t change the rules on the next one,’ but the nuclear option is always available,” he said. “So how do you solve that?” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other Republicans have said that Gorsuch will be confirmed “no matter what” — a threat to change Senate rules to do so. But Schumer said it is “absurd” that Republicans believe they need to change the chamber’s rules to confirm Gorsuch. Schumer warned that Republicans face an “uphill slog” that became more difficult after Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing. Over three days last week, Gorsuch spent nearly 20 hours answering approximately 1,200 questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to aides helping him with his confirmation. He has also provided 70 pages of written responses to questions from senators of both parties, those aides said. As of Thursday, Gorsuch had met with nearly 80 senators — including seven this week, but aides declined to specify with whom he met with in recent days. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he thinks Democrats will attempt to filibuster the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch, but that Gorsuch will be confirmed regardless, on March 28 at the Capitol. Regardless, Gorsuch “did not convince people he was independent and thoughtful and down the middle,” Schumer said — a sentiment echoed by other Democrats in recent days. Throughout history, the overwhelming majority of Supreme Court nominees have received a substantial majority of


Fifty years ago, Kathrine Switzer broke a Boston Marathon barrier. Today, more women run than men.

On April 19, 1967, Kathrine Switzer — registered as K. Switzer — found herself about to be thrown out what was then the all-male Boston Marathon before a husky companion, Thomas Miller of Syracuse, threw a block that tossed a race official out of the running instead. (Associated Press) Thousands of runners will fill the streets of Washington on Sunday morning for the 45th annual Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run, likely unaware of how one woman running among them has impacted so many of their lives. More women are expected to participate in Sunday’s race than men, but when Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to formally enter and complete the Boston Marathon in 1967, won the women’s division of the inaugural Cherry Blossom race in 1973, she was one of only 12 female finishers. Comparatively, more than 60 percent of the 16,279 finishers in last year’s race were women, and according to data collected by not-for-profit organization Running USA, female finishers annually have outnumbered males at all U.S. running events combined since 2010. Switzer, 70, has been at the forefront of this revolution. “It’s incredible it’s happened so quickly,” Switzer said earlier this week from her home in New York’s Hudson Valley. “I always knew women’s running would be popular and publicizable, and I said it’s as popular and publicizable as men’s, but I had no idea it would become almost a women’s sport now. Women are driving the sport, and it’s because of the empowerment and self esteem from running.” Kathrine Switzer training in Wellington, New Zealand in March 2017 in preparation for the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler. (Courtesy of Hagen Hopkins) In a few weeks, Switzer will celebrate the 50th anniversary of her life-defining moment at the Boston Marathon by running the race for the first time since 1976. Sunday in the District will be part training run and part meet-and-greet for Switzer, who still runs regularly while splitting time between New York and New Zealand. To prepare for Boston, she has averaged 35 to 40 miles a week. Switzer’s desire to use the sport as a force for social change began shortly after Boston Marathon co-director Jock Semple attempted to physically remove from her from the 1967 race. National newspapers printed the photographs showing Semple lunging at Switzer’s bib number a few miles into the race, which immediately brought public attention to the plights of female runners


The clock’s ticking for all of us, but nobody has a clue what it means

have too much to do, whereas when I have all the time in the world, I seem to get nothing done? Is there a clock in us that counts the seconds, hours, days, like the clock in a computer? "Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation," by Alan Burdick (Simon & Schuster ) Burdick ultimately is less concerned with external time — with the physics and math of cosmology — than with the biology, neuroscience and psychology of time. An award-winning science writer rather than a scientist, he feels emboldened by the current limits of scientific understanding. “If scientists agree on anything, it’s that nobody knows enough about time and that this lack of knowledge is surprising given how pervasive and integral time is to our lives.” Burdick begins by demolishing the idea of one single, uniform and “true” time for the world. He visits the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris where input from about 50 master atomic clocks representing 58 member nations is continuously processed, analyzed, compared and weighted to produce monthly a retrospective average world time known as Universal Coordinated Time (UCT). And UCT is a modification of International Atomic Time (IAT) based on a cesium atom that undergoes more than 9 billion quantum vibrations per second. When atomic clocks became the world standard in the 1960s, they revealed that the Earth’s 24-hour rotation is marginally slowing. This means that the length of each day is increasing by a second every few years and that “leap seconds” must be periodically added to IAT to sync it with the planet. Meanwhile, our cellphones and computer clocks in the United States are constantly receiving updated times from a dozen atomic clocks in two laboratories in Maryland and Colorado run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, itself linked to GPS satellites synchronized to the U.S. Naval Observatory and its ensemble of 70 atomic clocks. Even ultraprecise American time is only a “fancy average.” Arriving at Universal Coordinated Time for the world is a matter of consensus. “The world’s best time . . . is produced by a committee,” Burdick writes. “Time is what everyone agrees the time is.” Having shown that official time is a social construction, Burdick demonstrates the deep biological roots of timekeeping that go back to microbes and the origin of life on Earth. The circadian clock, the 24-hour oscillation linked to the


Would you take the test if you knew you potentially carried a deadly gene?

for several decades, a few researchers had been focusing on rare diseases that cause progressive brain degeneration with symptoms like those seen in the Baxley family. In two early chapters interwoven with the beginning of the Baxleys’ saga, Kolata recounts the discovery of kuru, a fatal disease found only in the Fore, an isolated group of people in the mountains of eastern New Guinea. In the late 1950s, American scientist Daniel Carleton Gajdusek — “grandiose, driven, a visionary”— trekked to remote villages to find and study kuru cases. The disease predominantly struck women and children, who customarily handled the brains and organs of dead kuru victims during Fore funerals. Gajdusek deduced that the disease was transmitted during these rituals — but how? The microscopic holes seen in the brains of kuru patients resembled those found in another rare disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and both illnesses began with trembling and loss of muscle control. He eventually proved that brain tissue from human victims of both diseases could transmit the disorders to chimpanzees, but the symptoms took years to appear. Lacking an infectious agent, Gajdusek proposed that each might be caused by a “slow virus.” In 1976, Gajdusek received the Nobel Prize for discovering a new family of human diseases. Next, another scientist with an outsize ego, neurologist Stanley B. Prusiner, having found no evidence of viruses in the affected brains, suggested in 1982 that these bizarre ailments might instead be caused by an abnormally contorted brain protein molecule that behaved somewhat like a virus, gumming up the interior of cells by inducing similar contortions in healthy protein molecules it contacted. He dubbed these “infectious proteins” prions. Derided by many in the scientific community for believing that a protein could transmit a disease, Prusiner and a colleague, Karen Hsiao, eventually identified a mutation in the gene coding for the prion protein in the blood of a man with another of these brain disorders, known as GSS (short for Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease). Unlike kuru, GSS runs in families. In blood samples taken from members of one such family, a scientific colleague detected a mutated prion gene in every living member affected by the disease, while in those relatives who had escaped it, the mutation was absent. Prusiner’s once-outlandish theory had been proven true: A genetic mutation had been linked to an inherited brain disorder, caused by a defective protein. In 1997, after an FBI investigation,


This is what L.A. restaurants do better than any other city’s

Tomato — you get his drift.) Broccoli toast with labneh, pumpkin seed and seasonal citrus at Kismet. (Oriana Koren/For The Washington Post) Proof that toast can accommodate more than the ubiquitous avocado is the sesame whole-wheat bread spread with house-made labneh and plancha-warmed broccoli at Kismet. One of two chefs there, Sara Kramer attributes L.A.’s passion for vegetables to people who are “focused on feeling good” and “a rich bounty available all year long, as long as it rains.” But the local sentiment goes deeper. Vegetable-centric diets, she says, “are better for us and better for the planet.” Consumer demand helped shape the scene. “People who eat a plant-based diet are very loyal,” says former film producer Ash Shah, a co-owner of Trejo’s Tacos on La Brea Avenue. “Once people start catering to them, they keep coming back.” Sharing the menu with tacos dressed with steak asada and fried chicken are organic tortillas scattered with seared carrots and tofu, spiced like chorizo, as well as young jackfruit, refreshing in combination with tomatillo slaw (and, if you like, kombucha on tap). Three more taquerias are planned for this summer, near the University of Southern California, Silver Lake and Pasadena. Trend trackers trace the contemporary vegetable focus trend to five-year-old Sqirl, a neighborhood restaurant with national impact, whose owner, Jessica Koslow, is “practically vegan except she has a soft spot for bacon,” jokes Kuh of Los Angles Magazine. Besha Rodell, the restaurant critic at LA Weekly, says Koslow, a promoter of breakfast salads and grain bowls, was among the early chefs to mix vegetarian, vegan and meaty dishes on her menu, and to do so without calling attention to the practice. Sqirl, says the critic, “broke vegan food out of its hippie prison a bit.” Kismet co-chefs Sarah Hymanson, left, and Sara Kramer. Vegetable-centric diets, Kramer says, “are better for us and better for the planet.” (Oriana Koren/For The Washington Post) From nutritious to delicious For her part, Koslow attributes the outsize interest in vegetables to L.A.’s reputation as “a driving city.” Unlike in other parts of the country, she says, L.A. chefs tend to jump in their cars to shop at produce-endowed farm markets (as opposed to farmers dropping off their wares at restaurants). To appeal to the many customers at Sqirl who order her food to go, Koslow now features sturdy bok choy as her “major leaf” in salads. Once


Cats are not the answer to D.C.’s rat problem

it were legal, the program would be a bad idea. Contrary to popular opinion, cats do not effectively control urban rat populations. A 2009 study led by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health scientists evaluated cat-rat interactions in Baltimore. The researchers concluded that cat predation on rats was “sporadic” and had “relatively little impact on size of the rat population.” The study also found that when cats did chase rats, they largely ignored the frequently aggressive adult rats. And even though cats kill rats, cats also kill beneficial native animals. Cats are opportunistic predators and kill a wide variety of native species, some of which may be threatened or endangered and all of which are already struggling to survive in a human-modified environment. The costs to wildlife are enormous. Outdoor cats kill 1.3 billion to 4 billion birds and 6.3 billion to 22.3 billion mammals in the United States annually and have contributed to the extinction of 63 species worldwide. Introducing cats as “green” rodent control undermines the work of conservation agencies fighting feverishly to protect ecosystems for current and future generations. For example, many of the District Department of Energy and the Environment’s species of greatest concern, such as the wood thrush and Eastern cottontail, are threatened by cats. Free-roaming cats also increase rather than diminish public-health risks. Like rats, cats can carry and transmit a variety of parasites and diseases to humans and wildlife, including rabies, hookworms, cat-scratch disease, typhus and plague. One-off rabies immunization, a frequent hallmark of programs that intentionally release cats, is insufficient. The National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians has declared that a cat must be vaccinated initially, given a booster at one year and then given boosters at recommended intervals, usually one to three years, to be safely immunized. Anything less puts the cat and the public at risk. And then there is toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which requires felines to complete its life cycle. The parasite’s infectious eggs, called oocysts, are excreted via cat feces; a single cat can excrete hundreds of millions of oocysts, which remain infectious and persist in the environment long after the feces have disappeared. Accidental ingestion or inhalation of an oocyst causes infection, and a growing body of evidence consistently points to widespread environmental contamination with T. gondii from free-roaming cats. T. gondii Rat control is an important component


Johns Hopkins was ready to test pot as a treatment for PTSD. Then it quit the study.

large population of veterans. The decision to withdraw coincides with uncertainty within the industry about whether President Trump will continue the Obama administration’s support for institutions that conduct research using marijuana, as well as its hands-off approach to states that legalize pot for recreational or medical use. Researchers handle marijuana provided by the federal government. They say was it contaminated with mold and had traces of lead. (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) “The future of scientific research under the Trump administration generally is quite shaky,” said John Hudak, a governance-studies fellow at the Brookings Institution who tracks marijuana research. The MAPS study is meant to capture the first clinical evidence of whether marijuana can effectively treat PTSD. Favorable findings would aid endeavors to add the condition to those that are authorized for treatment in state medical cannabis programs, as well as efforts to lift a prohibition on Department of Veterans Affairs doctors from recommending or even discussing the drug as a way to alleviate anxiety and other symptoms. “We’re trying to study what cannabis does for veterans with treatment-resistant PTSD,” said Sean Kiernan, president of the Weed for Warriors Project. “These are vets who have not been helped by the traditional regimen and in many cases have been severely hurt.” MAPS Director Rick Doblin started planning the study in 2009 with co-administrator Suzanne Sisley, an Arizona psychiatrist and marijuana advocate. At the time, Sisley was a faculty member at the University of Arizona. In 2012, their research proposal was approved by that university’s scientific review board. But in 2014, the university fired Sisley and said her position as a physician educator for medical marijuana would no longer be funded. She says she was ousted because of controversy surrounding her marijuana PTSD study, an accusation the university denies. MAPS got funding from Colorado, winning a nearly $2.2 million research grant paid for with license fees from the state’s legalized-marijuana industry. Hopkins joined the study that year. Its scientific review board cleared the project in September 2015, but it took until January of this year for Hopkins to determine that the marijuana provided by the federal government was safe enough to give to veterans. The university received its first delivery of cannabis Jan. 13. Although Hopkins set up a phone line for veterans to register for clinical trials, it did not enroll anyone. Advocates say they first learned the school had withdrawn


Move your money, move society?

can to open up accounts with black banks and invest in our own community,” Akili said, recounting the recent interaction. “I talk about this almost every time I use my card.” This new card is part of a rescue effort for black banks that was launched with much fanfare last summer. But the campaign is going to need heroic measures if it is really going to save black financial institutions. The aim of the movement is clear: bolster black banks — and in the process, uplift a community that has been systematically marginalized for generations. A man enters Citizens Trust Bank during the Black Transfer Challenge, hosted by HBCU Wall Street and Bank Black organizations. (Kevin D. Liles for the Washington Post) By “banking black,” organizers say, African Americans have the power to help each other buy homes, build businesses and create jobs — markers of wealth that have eluded a disproportionate number of blacks. But many of these banks are struggling to survive in the wake of the financial collapse. And despite a spate of celebrity endorsements, the drive to deliver meaningful equality by reviving financial institutions remains a long shot. Forty-two percent of African Americans own their homes, compared with 72 percent of whites, according to 2016 Census Bureau data. Nearly a fifth of black households do not even use banks, compared with 3 percent of white households, the FDIC reports. The continued disparity in access to financial services exposes black families to loan sharks charging exorbitant interest rates and fees, which can trap borrowers in a cycle of debt. “It’s a challenge to build up the financial assets of this community,” said Russell Kashian, an economist at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater whose research focuses on minority-owned banks. “Efforts to get depositors in there will augment the profits and sustainability of these banks. But if people don’t support them, these communities can become bank deserts.” There are 23 black banks today — far fewer than during segregation, when they were the only option for many African Americans. Their combined assets total just $5.5 billion, a small fraction of the assets of banking behemoth Wells Fargo, which has $1.9 trillion. After 30 years of banking with Wells Fargo, Akili made the switch to OneUnited in February, the same month the bank announced a partnership with Black Lives Matter and debuted its debit card depicting the youth in


Restrictions on painkillers don’t solve addiction

A Palestinian employee displays seized tramadol pills at the office of Gaza Prosecutor General in Gaza City on Feb. 26. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters) Regarding the March 27 Metro article “A push in Md. on drug crisis”: We are headed for the modern-day version of the 1950s-era marijuana madness. Now, Maryland is considering a bill to limit the supply of opioids a doctor can prescribe. For a long time, opioids were easily procured from physicians, albeit sometimes for the wrong reasons by the wrong people. Usually, money or convenience was the motivation. Now, even when a patient is at death’s door, racked with pain, many physicians will not write a prescription out of fear of reprisal, not from health-care providers but from the Drug Enforcement Administration. I have been able to manage pain from my arthritic degenerative disks with tramadol, a drug a veterinarian would give a parakeet for a hangnail. In 2014, the DEA classified tramadol as too powerful to mix with marijuana. Now, I have to be tested to qualify for something I need to function. If I lived in one of the 28 states that allow medicinal marijuana or the several that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, would I have to live a life reduced by pain? Overreaction, the government’s usual response, makes it nearly impossible for hard-working, tax-paying people in pain to procure something they need. Addiction is best reversed with a sense of hope, support from family and rehabilitation centers or drug counseling — not the government crawling up everyone’s nook and cranny. J.P. Cover, Fairfax


Brexit is economic suicide

Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate on Whitehall opposite Downing Street in London, on March 29, after Britain formally invoked Article 50 to start the process of withdrawal from the E.U. (Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Regarding the March 30 front-page article “Britain triggers Brexit escape”: A hundred years ago, the British were considered “petty-minded persons” who treasure trade and business above all. But Brexit has shown how wrong this prejudice was. It is economic suicide. The European Union will grant Britain access to the European Single Market only if Britain guarantees basic freedoms, including freedom of movement, to all E.U. citizens. Without access to the European Single Market, Britain would have to trade with the E.U. under the rules of the World Trade Organization. This would be a disaster — a predicted 7.5 percent decline in the gross domestic product and a loss of 45 billion pounds in fiscal revenue. Some of the Brexit advocates probably will brand these consequences as a punishment by the E.U. But whoever thinks they are a punishment — that you cannot have rights without duties — is beyond help. Michael Pfeiffer, Neuhausen auf den Fildern, Germany


Climate change is misrepresented and misunderstood

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, surrounded by Republican members of Congress, signs an order lifting a moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands on Wednesday at the Interior Department. (Molly Riley/Associated Press) The March 29 editorial “A reckless climate reversal” and John Podesta’s Washington Forum commentary the same day, “On climate, it’s up to us now,” were correct to decry the Trump administration’s decisions to reverse U.S. policies to address the changing global climate. The science is clear that human activities are the reason the climate is changing. Business and political leaders around the world have recognized this reality and are trying to do something about it. It is a national shame that our government is headed in the opposite direction. The consequence of ignoring the threat of climate change, however, is not “an endangered planet,” as The Post and Mr. Podesta said. Planet Earth existed for billions of years before conditions allowed for life — including humans — to develop and prosper, and it will continue to exist, regardless of how high sea levels and global temperatures rise. So all who are concerned about climate change should be clear: What is at stake is not the fate of planet Earth, but, rather, the fate of humanity, in particular, and life on Earth, in general. Ken Brill, Bethesda The campaign by the For more than 65 years, the New York Academy of Sciences has been hosting STEM-education programs for students and teachers to ensure we have scientifically literate citizens prepared for the future workplace and capable of making informed decisions to benefit their communities. The point of science education is to teach students how to make evidence-based decisions using data collected by fully qualified researchers through internationally recognized practices. The Heartland Institute is within its rights to have its unscientific opinion about climate change, but opinion is not fact. Meghan Groome, New York The writer is senior vice president of education at the New York Academy of Sciences.


Shift festival illustrates a clutch shortfall in today’s symphony culture

have been presented (and well attended) here in recent seasons. The danger here is that dilution of an orchestra’s role is palmed off as “expansion.” So where does this leave us? I came away from the first and final Shift concerts more worried about the future of the core mission of a symphony orchestra than I was before. For centuries, this was the vessel for the highest achievements in Western music, and it needed no help or externalities. Audiences flocked enthusiastically to hear the latest symphony of Haydn, Mendelssohn, Sibelius and Shostakovich, but those days are apparently behind us. What lies ahead is unknown, of course, but I hope that future audiences can somehow be guided and trained to appreciate orchestras and symphonic music as the central focus of a concert rather than as a fancy backdrop. The Knights, a chamber orchestra from Brooklyn. (Tracey Salazar) Saturday’s joint performance by the San Francisco Girls Chorus and the Knights (a chamber orchestra from Brooklyn) was a confusing mélange of old and immediate. Weighty new works by Lisa Bielawa and Aaron Jay Kernis sat between a Brahms setting of Psalm 13, the Vivaldi “Gloria” and a world-music mash-up created by the Knights. The new works were quite different, but both well constructed, in an appealing quasi-tonal style somewhere between later Samuel Barber and John Harbison. The biggest problem was the lack of texts for the audience. Our program books were stuffed with a promotional insert; couldn’t they have been also stuffed with texts? There was a workingscreen behind the performers upon which the festival logo was projected throughout; couldn’t the texts have been projected there? Much was made in the programnotes about the serious subject matter of the two new works, but when an audience can’t follow the words, it becomes an exercise in frustration. The chorus was expertly drilled, delivering the two (lengthy and difficult) new works and the Brahms by memory. The (unnamed) soloists in the “Gloria” were not of professional caliber, but their guileless enthusiasm was charming. As for the Knights, I’m curious why they think it’s fine for singers and woodwind players to use a light, natural vibrato but string players can’t. Very odd. How did the concert and the festival of American orchestras end? With a pop/folk anthem sung by a member of the Knights, accompanying herself on the ukulele and backed up by a drum set.