Organic food stores in Prince George’s are at ease with planned Whole Foods

A Whole Foods Market could be opening up a few miles away, and Judy Davis could hardly be less worried. The natural-foods store in Mount Rainier where she works has been in business for 43 years, and Davis doesn’t think the arrival of the nation’s best-known premium grocery chain would do anything to drive Glut Food Co-op from Prince George’s County. “We have our dedicated customers that have been coming here for years,” said Davis, one of the store’s managers. “They like our prices, they like the atmosphere here, and they are going to continue to come here.” For years, the county has been trying to lure Whole Foods — and its attendant cachet — to Prince George’s. After repeated delays, plans for the store and a surrounding development project in Riverdale Park could be approved in the coming weeks, over the objections of opponents who say it will spoil the area. The natural-foods stores in that corner of the county say they aren’t anxious about the prospect of a Whole Foods in their midst. They say they have cultivated a special place in their communities that will keep their customers loyal. At least three organic grocery stores thrive along the Route 1 corridor, from Mount Rainier, on the border with the District, to College Park, just inside the Beltway. Glut has made itself a gathering place where funky music is always in the background and whole grains and medical herbs are in demand. Workers greet customers by name and see them come back for the fresh produce and the expansive selection of incense. Customers, who often help bag their groceries, leave with weeks’ worth of rice, beans and nuts. Whole Foods, with 16 stores in the Washington region, has set its sights on the area. But not everyone sees the chain as competition. Although Whole Foods has helped popularize organic foods, it sells lots of conventional products. By contrast, the smaller stores like Glut say that almost all of their products are organic. And some of its would-be competitors say that Whole Foods would serve Prince George’s well. “There really is not an upscale grocer in the area,” said Scott Nash, owner of MOM’s Organic Market in College Park, about four miles from where the Whole Foods is planned. “Competition is to be expected, and it’s really probably good for the community. They might take a few customers, but


Obama marks Memorial Day at Arlington Cemetery

President Barack Obama attended Memorial Day services at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday where he gave a speech and laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Honoring the nation’s fallen amid the longest war in U.S. history, President Obama laid a wreath near the Tomb of the Unknowns on Monday and spoke of troops in Afghanistan, asking that the country “not forget our nation is still at war.” Obama recalled several recent deaths in the Afghan conflict and a mother’s recent plea that those serving not fade from the public mind. “We must remember our countrymen are still serving, still fighting, still putting their lives on the lines for us,” he said, speaking beneath a marble arch in the amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery. For Obama, the occasion marked the first Memorial Day of his second term. It was a sunny May morning that warmed as noon approached, without the sweltering heat that has attended some years. Thousands of people walked the cemetery’s solemn grounds, many bearing roses and small American flags. Some waited to see the president’s tribute, and others sought out quiet remembrances at grave sites. Many spoke of the importance of not forgetting. After Obama’s remarks, he was expected to stop at Section 60, where many service members from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. Patrick Minihan, 40, a teacher from Massachusetts who deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq during service in the Army, was spending his 11th Memorial Day at the cemetery. He listened to Obama’s remarks and intended to go to Section 60 with a friend afterward. A look at how the nation’s fallen have been honored across the United States during the Memorial Day weekend. “For me, it’s important to see the faces there to recognize these are not just numbers, but there is a specific human cost,” he said.


Running can help the homeless and others turn their lives around

permanent homes and jobs. Fighting drugs and alcohol Run to Recover, an online community and resource for people recovering from emotional and physical pain, was founded by Matt Klein. Like Mahlum, he used running to deal with his own problems, in his case drug and alcohol addiction. The group now counts more than 600 members. Newcomers who sign onto the group’s Facebook page find themselves quickly tapped with welcome messages from other members of the group. “A run, no matter how long, has a beginning, middle and end. A start and a finish. Each run is a mini-battle and a major accomplishment,” says Klein, who regularly runs marathons and Ironman races. “That’s a great feeling and a true victory. It doesn’t matter if you are recovering from a terrible storm, the loss of a loved one, the death of a pet, depression, postpartum depression, a traumatic injury, post-traumatic stress or a chemical dependency.” Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, named for Alex Scott, who received a diagnosis of brain cancer at age 4 and died when she was 8, sponsors and supports races for family members of kids with cancer. The races help family members cope with stress as well as raise money for research. The organization has raised $60 million and holds a top ranking from Charity Navigator, which vets charities. To help runners, it has hired trainers for one-on-one or virtual training sessions and has found that the benefits go far beyond raising funds. “Especially for parents of kids with cancer, running gives them an outlet for their pent-up energy and anger,” says Jay Scott, Alex’s father, a runner and co-executive director of the foundation. Running partners Achilles International partners able-bodied runners with disabled ones. Katie Sweeney, 53, and her son, Dusty, 15, who is autistic, run every week in New York’s Central Park with volunteer Paula Sen, 25. Dusty will be running his fifth race, the Achilles Hope & Possibility 5-Miler, in June. Sweeney ticks off a list of benefits the program has brought her and her son, including the opportunity to share her passion for running, something she hadn’t even dreamed of before she was introduced to Achilles. She says other advantages for Dusty include increased fitness — important because some of the drugs he takes can lead to weight gain — and the “proud face” that Dusty, who has low communications skills, sports when he’s running. Achilles,


Maryland boat explosion injures at least 6 people, including children

At least six people, including at least five children, were hospitalized with burns and other injuries Monday after an explosion on board the boat they were riding in near Edgewater, Md., authorities said. Police and fire officials gave varying information on those hurt, though they said all were expected to survive. Anne Arundel County Fire Department Division Chief Keith Swindle said six of nine people on board the boat were injured — a 9-year-old boy, a 9-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl the most seriously. He said another 9-year-old boy, 13-year-old girl and a woman also were hospitalized with injuries, and three other people on board the boat were unhurt. But Sgt. Brian Albert, a Natural Resources Police spokesman, said in an e-mail that eight of the nine on board were injured, including six children. He said a 9-year-old boy and a girl whose age he did not know were the most seriously hurt, though two 13-year-old girls, a 12-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy and two women were also taken to hospitals with injuries. The incident occurred about noon, soon after the group had refueled its 32-foot Wellcraft boat at the Oak Grove Marina and headed out into the South River, Swindle said. He said the boat’s engine stalled and, as those on board tried to restart it, the explosion occurred. He said those who were injured sustained mostly burns from the explosion and ensuing fire. Albert said that when the group left the dock, only one of the boat’s twin engines seemed to be functioning. He said the boat made it about 100 feet into the river before the explosion. Albert said investigators were exploring precisely what sparked the blast, but preliminarily, they thought the case to be “most likely an accident.” He said it was possible that the boat’s blower system, designed to expel fumes from the engine compartment, had malfunctioned or that there was some sort of problem during the refueling.


For the cicada-obsessed, a place to watch them in action around the clock

area have yet to spot one of the critters. But bug enthusiasts now have a place to get their Brood II fix. The Science Channel has launched “Cicada Cam,” a Web channel devoted to live, round-the-clock coverage of the animals. But don’t worry, these particular bugs won’t be landing in your hair, molting on your doorstep or waking you from a deep sleep with their signature roar. Science Channel producers found their cicadas this month when the insects began to emerge from their underground lairs to the south and west of the District. They dropped the insects into a terrarium decorated with Washington landmarks. On a recent day, a gang of them seemed to be trying to tear the top off a model of the Capitol. But mostly they can be seen crawling, flying and mating en masse. It’s both riveting and revolting. The site’s creators hope the streaming video will give people a better understanding of the life cycles of these insects. Be forewarned, though: Sudden close-ups of cicadas are not for the faint of heart. CONSERVATION Looking at people who look at animals “Wild Ones” by Jon Mooallem How far would you go to save a polar bear? Would you dress up as a giant bird to teach a whooping crane to fly? Or set up drones to monitor pygmy rabbits? “Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America” “I didn’t realize the lengths to which humankind now has to go to keep some semblance of actual wildlife in the world,” writes the author, Jon Mooallem. “Wild Ones” focuses on efforts to save the polar bear, the metalmark butterfly and the whooping crane. The stories of these North American species, the book says, represent the reliance of animals on the humans who disrupted “the machinery of their wildness.” Mooallem meets a colorful cast of characters that includes aging biologists, amateur scientists, an actor-turned-butterfly-enthusiast, a woman who counts fish and a flock of pilots who dress as birds and teach real birds how to fly. Even Martha Stewart has a cameo, chasing polar bears across the Canadian tundra to shoot a segment for her daytime TV show. Despite these preservation efforts, the author admits, many animals are in danger. There are no quick fixes for these at-risk bears, butterflies and birds — even with costumes or drones to protect them.


Gov. O’Malley’s inaction on Baltimore jail scandal

TAVON WHITE But the revelations (and an indictment) related to Mr. White’s alleged jailhouse criminal enterprise continue to embarrass the administration of Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and the state’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Repairing their reputation will depend largely on how seriously they undertake muscular reforms. So far the signs are mixed. Despite Mr. O’Malley’s insistence that he has “zero tolerance for corruption,” he has called for nothing beyond a “review” of an elaborate code of workplace protections for corrections officers that the FBI says shielded crooked officers from being disciplined, transferred or fired at the Baltimore jail. The so-called corrections officers’ “bill of rights,” enshrined in legislation pushed by the guards’ union and backed by Mr. O’Malley, was enacted in 2010. Nor has the governor ordered the state police to replace corrections officers at the entrances to the jail in Baltimore. Those entrances have proved exceptionally porous in recent years as corrupt guards, acting at the behest of inmates, turned a blind eye to cellphones, narcotics and other contraband being smuggled into the facility. Other moves, both symbolic and practical, appear more promising. Gary D. Maynard, Maryland’s corrections chief, has been working out of the jail for the last month, theoretically giving him a closer look at the Baltimore facility’s operations. Corrections officials have also studied technological means to tighten their grip on contraband, especially cellphones. Cellphones, allegedly used by Mr. White and his gang, the Black Guerrilla Family, to run a narcotics ring, are as subversive as they are pervasive in jails and prisons. In the fiscal year that ended last July, officials seized more than 1,300 of them from inmates at various facilities — and probably only scraped the surface of the problem. They are now looking to expand a pilot project that enables authorities to block cellphone service unless devices are on an approved list. Lawmakers should also toughen penalties on inmates caught with phones; bills to do just that have failed in recent years in Annapolis. At the Baltimore facility, the chief of security has been removed from her job — and has said she will fight to regain it — but no other heads have rolled since the federal indictment was unsealed last month. Given the scale of the rot at the jail, that seems an anemic response. Mr. O’Malley has cultivated an image as a wonkish technocrat intent on fine-tuning


Obama joins thousands on Memorial Day to honor the nation’s fallen troops

Unknowns. The president paid respects to Korean War veterans, noting that it was the 60th anniversary of the end of fighting in Korea, but mostly dwelled on continuing sacrifices as more than 60,000 troops remain in Afghanistan. More than 6,700 troops have died in U.S. conflicts over the past decade. Obama talked about three service members who recently lost their lives in the conflict and a mother’s plea that her child’s service in Afghanistan, now the nation’s longest war, not fade from memory. “As we go about our daily lives, we must remember that our countrymen are still serving, still fighting, still putting their lives on the line for all of us,” he said. When the ceremonies ended, Obama stopped at Section 60. Families crowded around the president and his wife, who were joined by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. “Can I give you a hug?” one woman asked Obama. “Of course you can,” he replied. He turned to another young woman, who gave her name as Taylor. “Who are you remembering here, Taylor?” Obama asked. “My brother’s in Afghanistan,” she said. “Well, we’re so proud of him,” Obama said. The cemetery brought together others honoring the day’s larger meaning. Marine Capt. Clarence Loomis, 36, was there with his family to see the grave of Marine Sgt. Maj. Joseph J. Ellis, who died in Iraq in 2007 and, he said, “was one of those guys that made you want to be a better person.” Patrick Minihan, 40, a Massachusetts teacher who served in the Army, with deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, was marking his 11th Memorial Day at Arlington. The former staff sergeant had a seat in the amphitheater for the president’s remarks and intended to walk the grounds . “For me, it’s important to see the faces there to recognize these are not just numbers, but there is a specific human cost,” he said. Elsewhere, six family members and a friend had pulled up chairs in Section 60 beside the headstone of Sgt. First Class Brenda Arrindell, who was 44 and had been awarded a Bronze Star for service in Iraq when she died unexpectedly in 2011 after physical training exercises. They had been sitting for hours — praying, reflecting, “thinking about the good times, joking, laughing, crying, all the emotions,” said Lt. Col. Karlotta Richards, a friend. Not far away, the son and wife of Navy Cmdr. William Thomas


Maryland’s prison system struggles to police guards and inmates

investigation into corruption and gang activity. Using cellphones smuggled in by corrupt officers, Black Guerilla Family leader Eric Brown orchestrated drug deals and initiated violent attacks on adversaries from behind bars. He spent some of the profits on crab imperial and Grey Goose vodka, which he had delivered to his cell at the Metropolitan Transition Center in Baltimore with room service-like ease. In the wake of that scandal, the unit hired two technicians to collect evidence from cellphones recovered from the state’s prisons. They also stepped up their partnerships with federal and local law enforcement agencies. As cellphone cases have taken up more of the investigators’ time, current and former officers said the department has been less focused on fraternization and other misconduct by officers that allegedly fed the criminal activity inside the detention center. Inmates at the Baltimore jail reported the second-highest rate of sexual contact with guards of any jail in the country, according to a federal survey released this month. Nearly 7 percent reported having sexual contact with officers. Nationwide, the rate was less than 2 percent. Black Guerilla Family members at the detention center allegedly used sex to secure the allegiance of some of the 13 indicted corrections officers, all of whom were women. Allison is not among the corrections officers accused of having sex with inmates. But her name was added to a confidential list of officers suspected of gang ties after she allegedly let members of the Bloods stab McFadden on July 6, 2006, according to court documents that contain the internal memo prepared for the warden. She resigned in the middle of an internal investigation. McFadden, who was serving jail time for a drug-dealing conviction, sued her in federal court in 2008, seeking damages for his injuries. In a court deposition she gave in 2009 in connection with the lawsuit, she said a prison system investigator interviewed her about the incident shortly after she returned to work and read her her rights. She invoked her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, she said, because “I didn’t know what he was talking about.” The prison system’s investigative unit then sent the case on to the state’s attorney’s office, but nothing happened, according to court records. In the 2009 deposition, Allison denied being part of the attack or being a member of a gang, maintaining that she resigned from her job because of injuries to


Weeknight Vegetarian: Going vegan, for the day, with Mark Bittman

Best-selling author Mark Bittman prepares a lunch inspired by fresh ingredients in Washington, D.C. Bittman’s new book, "VB6," advocates a vegan diet before 6 p.m. (Nikki Kahn/THE WASHINGTON POST) It’s the first day of the season at the 14th and U Farmers Market in the District, and I'm looking at asparagus, turnips, herbs, kale, arugula, strawberries and more with Mark Bittman. We’re doing what so many shoppers do at markets like this one across the country, week in and week out: comparing one farmer’s produce with another’s, and trying to decide what would make a good lunch and maybe an even better dinner. When I tell Bittman I have carrots and kale at home, he proposes a stir-fry. “Is your kale nicer than this guy’s kale, or not as nice, or about as nice?” he asks. I try to envision the crisper drawer of my refrigerator back in my apartment, where we’re headed next, and feel comfortable in choosing Option 3. Even though it’s several days old, it’s just about as nice, I figure. He asks because he knows that for any cooking, but especially the kind of off-the-cuff dishes that helped make him famous, the key is to start with excellent ingredients — a strategy that bears repeating for those of us who take it for granted. And for the kind of lunch we’re going to make, one without any animal products, the tactic might be even more important. The stir-fry won’t have, say, the smoky fat of bacon to hide any blandness in those vegetables. If the turnips he wants to mash don’t have enough flavor, cream and butter won’t be able to rescue them. But he’s not worried. Bittman, 63, describes himself as a cross between Larry David and Julia Child, but his mood at the market is decidedly Julia-esque, not cranky in the least. At the beginning of a busy book tour that mostly involves talking, and signing, and appearing on TV and radio shows, he’s grateful for a change of pace. “A train ride followed by a walk on a nice day, and then shopping and cooking? That’s fine with me,” he says. “Other times it’ll get a little grueling.” In case you haven’t noticed (although how could you have missed it?), Bittman, the bestselling author of “How to Cook Everything” among many others, has a new book out. The subtitle of “VB6” explains the


Washington Post food calendar

SATURDAY COOKING CLASS: COOKING CLASS: TASTE OF GEORGETOWN: VINTAGE VIRGINIA WINE AND FOOD FESTIVAL: SUNDAY LOCO EATS: OLIVE OIL DINNER: THE WHOLE HOG: WEDNESDAY WINE DINNER: RESERVE NOW JUNE 6 BEER DINNER: GARDEN STROLL AND TEA: WINE CLASS: WINE CLASS: WINE DINNER: JUNE 8 COOKING CLASS: JUNE 9 TASTE OF WHEATON: JUNE 11 COOKING CLASS: — Becky Krystal SEND NOTICES to: To Do, Food, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071, or e-mail food@washpost.com, 14 days in advance. For more events, go to www.washingtonpost.com/gog/dc-events.html and click “Food Events.”


Gov. O’Malley’s task force idea fails to quiet criticism in Md. jail scandal

Maryland lawmakers reacted coolly Tuesday to news that Gov. Martin O’Malley named a task force to weed out corruption and gang problems at the state’s jail in Baltimore, saying the legislature had not been consulted and would take cues about reforms from its own probe, beginning next week. The task force is the second initiative announced by O’Malley (D) since a federal indictment unsealed last month alleged that a violent prison gang had all but taken over Maryland’s largest state-run jail. With a steady stream of cellphones and drugs smuggled into the facility by state corrections officers, members of the Black Guerilla Family ran a vast criminal conspiracy inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, the indictment alleged. It also alleged that one incarcerated gang member fathered five children with four female guards. O’Malley’s 10-member task force — composed of corrections investigators, Maryland State Police and a Baltimore prosecutor — would increase sweeps of prison cells for contraband, review jail correspondence and phone calls, and step up more complex investigations, including wiretaps, stings and grand jury investigations. Previously, O’Malley said the state would accelerate a pilot program to block cellphone calls inside the facility. Plans for the task force, however, became public the same day The Washington Post reported that the state has fewer than one full-fledged investigator per corrections facility and no investigators on site with arrest powers. The Post also reported that the department has relied heavily on forced resignations to push out allegedly corrupt officers and that one of the 13 guards indicted last month had been allowed to resign during a previous investigation into her role in a prison stabbing by gang members. She returned to work in 2007 with no mark on her personnel record. “It’s ugly, and the deeper you get, the worse it gets,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery), a member of the rarely used Legislative Policy Committee, which is scheduled to convene next week to hold a hearing on the jail issue. Alexandra Hughes, spokeswoman for House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said in an e-mail that the corrections department’s disciplinary and hiring processes would be addressed next week at the hearing. She stressed that the hearing is the first step. After the hearing, the legislature will set up a task force of its own to determine policy and budgetary fixes that can be put into motion during next


Smithfield Foods to be bought by Chinese firm Shuanghui International

A Smithfield ham at a grocery store in Richardson, Texas. Chinese meat processor Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. agreed Wednesday to buy Smithfield Foods for approximately $4.7 billion in a deal that will take the world's biggest pork producer private. (LM Otero/AP) Smithfield Foods, whose signature hams helped make it the world’s largest pork producer, is being bought by a Chinese firm in a deal that marks China’s largest takeover of an American consumer brand. The $4.7 billion purchase by Shuanghui International touches several sensitive fronts at once — the quick rise of Chinese investment in the United States, China’s troubled record on the environment and the acquisition of Smithfield’s animal gene technology by a country considered to be America’s chief global competitor. What’s more, the deal puts a major company from a Chinese industry with a history of food-safety problems in charge of a U.S. firm with past environmental problems of its own. Separately, U.S. government and business officials often complain that China uses strict control of its market of 1.6 billion people to force American companies that want to do business there to surrender intellectual property. The deal may become a test of U.S. attitudes toward China as it moves through likely reviews by the Justice Department and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. With no obvious national security concerns stemming from the production of ham, bacon and sausage, Smithfield chief executive C. Larry Pope said he expects approval. He emphasized that the deal wasn’t about bringing Chinese pork products or management standards to the United States but about sending U.S. products and expertise the other way. The deal will leave intact Smithfield’s management, workforce and 70-year presence in Virginia, he said. “I know how people react — that we are selling out to the Chinese. This is not selling out to the Chinese. This is Smithfield being part of a global organization,” Pope said at a media briefing after the deal was announced. “There will be no impact on how we do business in America and around the world. . . . This is about America exporting.” Concerns in Tidewater The acquisition puts under Chinese ownership a prominent American brand and one of Virginia’s best-known companies. The tidewater town of Smithfield has been synonymous with ham production for decades. With roots in a local packing plant, the parent company grew into a conglomerate that includes


moves through likely reviews by the Justice Department and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. With no obvious national security concerns stemming from the production of ham, bacon and sausage, Smithfield chief executive C. Larry Pope said he expects approval. He emphasized that the deal wasn’t about bringing Chinese pork products or management standards to the United States but about sending U.S. products and expertise the other way. The deal will leave intact Smithfield’s management, workforce and 70-year presence in Virginia, he said. “I know how people react — that we are selling out to the Chinese. This is not selling out to the Chinese. This is Smithfield being part of a global organization,” Pope said at a media briefing after the deal was announced. “There will be no impact on how we do business in America and around the world. . . . This is about America exporting.” Concerns in Tidewater The acquisition puts under Chinese ownership a prominent American brand and one of Virginia’s best-known companies. The tidewater town of Smithfield has been synonymous with ham production for decades. With roots in a local packing plant, the parent company grew into a conglomerate that includes popular brands such as Armour, sponsors the Richard Petty Motorsports NASCAR team, and has developed genetic strains that the company’s annual report promotes as “the leanest hogs commercially available.” In the largest single Chinese purchase in the United States, that history and know-how will be absorbed into a firm that has its own global ambitions. Officials of Shuanghui, already the largest pork producer in a nation where pork consumption has exploded in tandem with national income, have said that they want to make their company one of the premier meat producers in the world. The takeover comes as a surprise, said Ron Pack, president of Smithfield Station, a hotel on the town’s Pagan River waterfront that serves many Smithfield products, including sausages, bacon and pork chops. “I’m a little apprehensive, but I think everything will be fine,” Pack said. Smithfield Mayor Carter Williams said people in town have expressed concerns about whether jobs might eventually disappear. “I don’t like to see it,” Williams said. “I don’t think a lot of people do. We’re a little hometown place here.” A top Virginia official said the deal is expected to help the state’s economy. “We’re looking at this as a really good


Advances in the old fashioned iris

from five or six species and 300 years of hybridizing,” said Don Spoon, taking me on a tour of the couple’s three-acre iris garden near Cross Junction, Va., a few miles north of Winchester. How many irises can you raise in such an area? The last time they counted, a decade ago, they had 7,000 varieties, with tens of thousands of individual clumps. Each has several stalks, each stalk has as many as a dozen iris blooms. In sum, the couple has spent the past 19 years creating one of the richest collections of modern iris cultivars out there. When you first step into their garden, to keep sane, it is better to subordinate all these choice specimens as blobs of color. You’re in a field of irises. Don’t observe. Luxuriate. The Spoons, active in the Chesapeake and Potomac Iris Society for years, operate an iris nursery at their property, Winterberry Gardens, selling varieties bred by them and others. (www.winterberryirises.com) When you do get around to actually seeing the iris, you have to deconstruct so intricate a bloom. Each flower has a cluster of three vertical petals — standards — that sit atop three outward petals named falls. Each fall is marked by a furry ridge — the beard — which is designed to entice a bee pollinator to land for a sugary reward while spreading pollen. Hybridizers take the place of the bee and make crosses they think will produce a variety that is an advance in some regard. Discerning breeders cull the vast majority of their seedlings, but a few of the offspring are considered keepers, adding something new to the iris world. The most obvious differences are in color — the iris gets its name from the Greek goddess who walked on rainbows — and the results, Don Spoon explains, depend on which latent pigments come to the fore. The expressions and permutations are so varied that an iris beloved by one gardener is bound to be rejected by another. I am not drawn to bicolors that mix yellows with magenta purples, or bright pinks with darker purples, though I understand why some people would. I find solid hues — “selfs” — or subdued bicolors tastier. I wonder whether white and yellow — beloved by many — are too light to sustain such bold architecture. But I like salmons, apricots and oranges. Hybridizers have been working to


U.S. military launches probe into deadly assault in Afghanistan

lax security at a large coalition base in southwestern Afghanistan where a Taliban ambush killed two Marines and destroyed a half-dozen U.S. fighter jets. Although the attack last year resulted in the largest loss of allied materiel in the Afghanistan war, Maj. Gen. Charles Gurganus, the top U.S. commander on the base at the time, did not order a formal U.S. military investigation into the security lapses. The Washington Post reported last month that British forces, who were responsible for security on the side of the base that was attacked, handed off the job of manning watchtowers to Tongan soldiers, who left several of the towers unmanned. Security patrols of the perimeter, which were conducted by the Marines, also had been scaled back substantially in the months leading up to the attack. Several officials with direct knowledge of the assault told The Post that those staff decisions made it easier for the Taliban to reconnoiter the compound and then enter without resistance. Once inside, 15 insurgents used grenades to destroy almost an entire squadron of Marine AV-8B Harrier jets, a loss estimated by military officials at about $200 million. Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, concluded this month that a formal investigation was needed. “Important questions remained unanswered,” he wrote in a May 9 letter to Army Gen. Lloyd Austin III, head of the U.S. Central Command, which will conduct the investigation. Amos wrote that he is seeking to “determine accountability of the senior Marines involved” and to “prevent this type of tragedy in the future.” The NATO regional headquarters that Gurganus commanded conducted two examinations of the attack, but neither were formal investigations that could have led to sanctions against U.S. personnel. Gurganus told The Post in April that he was unable to order a U.S. investigation because the base, Camp Bastion, is a NATO facility. But Amos disagreed, concluding that a formal investigation was warranted because of the loss of American lives and materiel. The Marines killed in the attack were Lt. Col. Christopher Raible, 40, and Sgt. Bradley Atwell, 27. Raible commanded the squadron of decimated Harriers. Gurganus was nominated by the Defense Department in March to receive a third star and serve as the Marine Corps staff director, a senior job in the service . A senior military official said the promotion has been “placed on hold pending the outcome of the investigation.”


Wrestling put on International Olympics Committee short list for 2020 Games

Wrestling survived the first round in its bid to win reinstatement as an Olympic sport, but its battle isn’t over. The International Olympic Committee’s executive board Wednesday placed wrestling, squash and baseball/softball on a short list of sports from which only one will be chosen for inclusion in the 2020 Games. That’s the same 15-member panel that three months ago voted to drop wrestling, one of the oldest Olympic sports, from the Summer Games starting in 2020 — a decision that confounded casual sports fans and caught wrestling’s international governing body off guard. Wednesday’s closed-door vote in St. Petersburg, Russia, was only one step — but a critical step — toward preserving wrestling’s Olympic status. It reflects the fruits of a furious lobbying blitz by the sport’s international leaders and grassroots supporters to demonstrate wrestling’s global reach and its willingness to change to appeal to TV audiences, a top priority of the IOC. Wrestling was vying with seven other sports for a single spot as a so-called “provisional” sport in the 2020 Olympics after it was dropped as one of the Olympics’ 25 core sports Feb. 12. On Wednesday, wrestling emerged the hands-down winner, the only sport to get eight of the 14 votes cast and thus secure a short-list spot in the first round of deliberations. Squash and a combined bid by baseball and softball, which were dropped following the 2008 Beijing Games, joined wrestling in subsequent rounds of voting. The five sports that missed the cut: karate, rock climbing, roller sports, wakeboarding and wushu. “It’s not finished,” Nenad Lalovic, the recently elected president of FILA, wrestling’s international governing body, said in a telephone interview from St. Petersburg. “But I think we impressed them because we have changed in such a short time.” The final decision will be made by the 101-member IOC general assembly in a vote scheduled for Sept. 8 in Buenos Aires. As of now, wrestling will be not contested at the Olympics after the 2016 Rio Games. “Obviously we feel incredibly passionate about the fact that wrestling is the greatest sport known to man,” said Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling, during a conference call after the vote. “And we will not rest until every one of the IOC members at least hears our story.” Following wrestling’s surprising ouster from the Games, the tradition-steeped sport simplified its Olympic rules, making them easier to understand


Prince George’s County Animal Watch

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY These were among cases received recently by the Prince George’s County Animal Management Division. Call 301-780-7200 for directions to the county animal shelter, hours of operation and adoption and licensing procedures. The department Web site is www.princegeorgespets4us.com. Dog reported limping and bleeding: Police pickup: Dog chase: Baby raccoon: Deer in road: Bird in vents: Redhead Ct., 1500 block, Upper Marlboro, May 15. A man reported seeing a bird inside a vent in the kitchen of his home. An animal control officer removed the vent cover and picked up a healthy black bird and returned it to the wild. Vaccination clinic Sunday: — Compiled by Jillian S. Jarrett


Death after late-term abortion at Germantown clinic resulted from natural causes

A 29-year-old woman who died after a late-term abortion at a controversial Montgomery County clinic suffered a rare condition in which amniotic fluid was pushed into her blood system, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday by Maryland’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Although the report says the complications arose after the procedure, it doesn’t suggest errant treatment at the clinic and specifically states that the woman had no signs of injury to her uterus. The first cause of death listed — disseminated intravascular coagulation — can occur during otherwise routine deliveries. “The manner of death is natural,” the office concluded. Amniotic fluid protects a baby inside the womb. When it enters a woman’s blood system, it can impede her ability to clot blood, said David Fowler, Maryland’s chief medical examiner. In this case, the condition caused damage to the woman’s heart, lungs, liver and other areas. The condition caused “dysfunction of multiple organs,” the report stated. The findings affirm earlier information released by the medical examiner that described the woman’s cause and manner of death in briefer terms. The woman’s death, on Feb. 7, has become a flash point of the nationwide abortion debate, just as the clinic has been since it opened more than two years ago in a nondescript office park in Germantown. At the center of the controversy is the clinic’s leader, LeRoy Carhart, one the few doctors nationwide who publicly acknowledges performing late-term abortions. Antiabortion activists regularly demonstrate outside Carhart’s clinic and try to persuade his patients not to go through with procedures. In this case, a woman from New York who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy went to Carhart’s clinic Feb. 3, according to abortion opponents who saw her arrive and tried to speak with her. She stayed in town for the multi-day procedure, developed complications and went to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, where she died, according to state and local officials. Abortion opponents quickly described the death as just the kind of tragedy they predicted would happen when Carhart opened his clinic. Some antiabortion activists said that Carhart had “killed” the woman. Family members could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The woman’s mother-in-law earlier told the Journal News in New York that relatives wanted privacy and were upset with rhetoric surrounding the case. The recent autopsy report does not provide an account of what happened to the woman at Carhart’s


‘Symphony in Step’ at Atlas Performing Arts Center

Brian Joseph and DJ RBI in Step Afrika! All Access. (Photo by The Napoleon Complex Project) Randall Fleischer is a Los Angeles-based composer and music director. But he’s also a dance dad, which means he spends a lot of time waiting in the lobby of his daughter’s ballet studio. That’s where Fleischer got the inspiration for one of his latest works. A few years back, he picked up a dance magazine in the lobby and read about Step Afrika!, the Washington company that has elevated stepping to a high art. Stepping, which originated in the fraternity and sorority system at historically black colleges, is a lively dance form featuring footwork, body percussion, clapping and chants. “The article was glowing,” Fleischer recalls, “so I went online to the company’s Web site and watched some clips. I said to myself, ‘God, these people are fantastic.’ ” He e-mailed Step Afrika’s founder and artistic director, Brian Williams, suggesting a collaboration — merging the percussive dance form with a symphonic orchestra. Williams, who founded the troupe in 1994, was game. The result, “Symphony in Step,” has its Washington premiere next week at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, with Fleischer conducting an ensemble of local musicians. The program includes a new work by Step Afrika’s artistic director, Jakari Sherman, that was inspired by the little-known Afro-Polish violin prodigy George Bridgetower, a contemporary of Beethoven’s. “I look at every artistic discipline as just another color of paint on the palette of the artist who chooses to use those colors,” says Fleischer, who was associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Williams says learning to step-dance to classical music has been an education. “The symphonic world, which we never dealt with so closely, the structure and the hierarchy of the symphony, the discipline and just the size and scope of this piece has been really encouraging,” he says. To write the symphony, Fleischer worked with videos the company sent from its repertory, among them the gospel-infused “Wade,” the contemporary “Nxt Step” and the stylized drumming and dance of a Zulu celebration. “For me, stepping is music,” the composer says. “Just the sound of it is a wonderfully complex musical journey. It was like writing a percussion concerto that has a magnificent visual dance component to it.” Traiger is a freelance writer. Symphony in Step Wednesday through June 9 at the


Chechen’s father says FBI killed son to keep him quiet

that the FBI didn’t want his son to return to Russia. “Maybe my son knew some sort of information that the police didn’t want to get out,” he said. “They shut him up. That’s my opinion.” Abdulbaki Todashev, the father of Ibragim Todashev, shows a photo of his son's body during a news conference in Moscow, Russia, 30 May 2013. Ibragim Todashev, 27, was shot dead May 22, 2013 by FBI agents reportedly during questioning about his ties with the Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnayev. (MAXIM SHIPENKOV/EPA) Ibragim Todashev was the eldest of 12 children. His father said the family fled Chechnya after the wars of secession erupted there in the 1990s, eventually finding a haven in the Volga River city of Saratov. Abdulbaki Todashev had once studied to be a veterinarian there, in the Soviet era. Ibragim Todashev studied English for three years in Saratov and then, in 2008, returned with his family to by-then more stable Chechnya and completed his fourth year of higher education at Grozny University, his father said. The elder Todashev got a job with the city. Today, he heads the administrative unit of the Grozny mayor’s office. As soon as he left the university, Ibragim Todashev went to the United States on a program that enabled him to perfect his English, his father said. Three or four months later, when it was time to return, Todashev called his father and said he wanted to stay on a while. “I wasn’t against it,” the father said. Chechnya was still struggling, and life in the United States had to be more secure. Ibragim was living in Boston and got to know Tsarnaev because they belonged to the same gym, his father said. They had each other’s phone numbers, he said, “but they were never close friends.” Ibragim Todashev applied for a green card, which meant he had to stay in the United States. He stayed active in mixed martial arts, but a knee injury and surgery on his meniscus put an end to those dreams. Two months ago, his father said, he received the green card, and that’s when he started making plans to come back to Grozny for a visit, knowing he would be able to reenter the United States. After the Boston bombing, Todashev called his father and told him that he was being watched. He said he didn’t believe that Tsarnaev and


Americans have rebuilt less than half of wealth lost to the recession, study says

zero. That has helped push stock markets to record highs, while home prices have jumped by the most in seven years. Consumer confidence is at its highest point since February 2008. Officials hope those factors will eventually result in more consumer spending power. “I think we’re at an inflection point,” said Beth Ann Bovino, senior economist at Standard & Poor’s. “We’re seeing things turn around. And that’s where the optimism comes in among households.” But research by noted economists Karl Case, John Quigley and Robert Shiller found the households were more powerful affected by declines in wealth than increases. An unexpected 1 percent drop in housing prices caused a permanent 0.1 percent decrease in spending, that study found. But a similar 1 percent rise in housing prices boosted consumer spending by only 0.03 percent. “Rising wealth is gratifying, but the loss of wealth is terrifying,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys.com. “Households spend somewhat more freely as their nest eggs grow, but they slash their spending when their nest eggs shrink.” William Emmons, chief economist for at the St. Louis Fed’s new Center for Household Financial Stability, said that many of the most vulnerable households began to treat credit as another form of income during the boom. After the bust, they were forced to dramatically rethink their finances, resulting in more cautious spending. Emmons said many families have not experienced any recovery — or are even still losing wealth. Young Americans, those with few skills or are unemployed may not have been able to rebuild any wealth. He noted that though the number of foreclosures has dropped significantly, it is still more than double the pre-crisis amount. Meanwhile, he estimated that recent gains in the stock market mean that the recovery of wealth is nearly complete for white and Asian households and older Americans. Wealth accumulation not only impacts families’ current financial status but also their prospects for future economic success. The St. Louis Fed report points to studies that connect savings to the likelihood of attending and completing college and economic mobility. “Balance sheets matter in ways that income alone does not,” said Ray Boshara, head of the center. Related Articles: Tax breaks tilt toward the rich The economy is holding up surprisingly well in a year of austerity Low-interest-rate environment exposes seniors to fraudsters Hiring slowed to 88,000 jobs in March; unemployment rate drops to 7.6 percent


India and Japan draw closer, with an eye on China

Japan and India look upon China as a threat,” said Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian diplomat and strategic affairs analyst. “The Japanese prime minister wants to redefine the Indian Ocean and the Pacific region as a community of maritime democracies. That automatically excludes China . This is an important and clever move by India, too. I think Beijing has reasons to be worried.” The message has not been lost on China. On Tuesday, the Communist Party-controlled People’s Daily newspaper described China and India as natural partners, and hailed India’s “great wisdom” in handling its ties with China “in a calm way, undisturbed by internal and international provocateurs.” It also criticized recent visits by Abe to China’s neighbors to discuss ways to contain the superpower. Indian officials have portrayed Singh’s visit to Japan as a logical extension of India’s two-decade-old “Look East” policy of seeking closer relations with countries in East and Southeast Asia. After some dithering, India also appears to support the recent U.S. emphasis on a strategic pivot toward Asia, as a response to China’s rapid rise. Abe has turned in recent times not only to India, but also to Southeast Asian countries to parry China’s influence in the region. He visited Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam during his first overseas trip in office, and this week paid the first visit to Burma by a Japanese leader in 36 years. Japan also is beginning to cooperate with countries that share concerns about China’s maritime ambitions, considering training Vietnamese submarine crews and helping bolster the Philippines coast guard. India and Japan conducted their first joint naval exercise off the coast of Tokyo last year and this week pledged to deepen the cooperation with more. “India, Japan join hands to break string of pearls,” read a headline in the Times of India newspaper Thursday, using the catchphrase for Beijing’s strategy of wooing Indian neighbors such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives by establishing commercial and strategic facilities. This week, Japan offered to lend $700 million to help build a new metro system in India’s financial capital of Mumbai, pledged to invest in India’s high-speed railway system and promised to supply advanced naval reconnaissance aircraft. “Traditional Asian rivals Japan and China are at loggerheads again, and one country stands to gain the most from the chilly ties this time round: India,” the country’s Hindustan Times newspaper commented. Harlan reported from Seoul.


In Scripps National Spelling Bee, one emerges victorious with dough

scores from earlier in the week were lower than those of the other finalists. “It’s kind of heartbreaking to see for those kids,” said Kavya Shivashankar, the 2009 national champion whose 11-year-old sister, Vanya, finished sixth this year after misspelling “zenaida” five rounds into the finals. But the father of the winner applauded the new scoring system. “The tests are kind of an equalizer,” Sriniva Mahankali said before his son captured the championship. “There’s no more ‘killer round’ that leads to a bunch of eliminations in the semifinals. The test gives the better spellers an advantage.” In another twist this year, the tests included multiple-choice vocabulary questions. The day began with Christopher O’Connor at the microphone. “You ready?” the bespectacled Bailly asked. “Maybe,” the Tucson 13-year-old said. Or maybe not: With the two-minute word clock winding down, O’Connor incorrectly spelled “pultaceous,” which means having the consistency of porridge. He spelled it “pultatious” and the dreaded elimination bell rang out — and the tension on the ballroom stage ratcheted up. With the champion’s gold trophy on a stage-left pedestal, spellers wrote out words on their hands, sleeves and name cards. They asked Bailly for definitions, languages of origin, alternative pronunciations and other lifelines. “Cabotinage,” Bailly said. “Can I maybe have another word?” Eva Kitlen said. She could not. The 14-year-old eighth-grader from Niwot, Colo., misspelled the word and was eliminated. Ding. “Please give me something I know,” Born said. “Malacophilous,” Bailly said in his usual dulcet tones. The audience snickered. Born was clearly displeased with the word, which means pollinating by snails. But she nailed it, exulted and advanced. Other young spellers were tripped up by “amimia,” “laureation,” “morosoph,” “diplodocus” and even more words that look like typos. Shayley Martin — a seventh-grader from Virginia’s Montgomery County, and the only semi-local speller to survive the preliminary rounds — was eliminated near the end of the day’s first round when she stumbled over “sussultatory.” More than 11 million students participated in the competition; just 281 made it to the national championship, which is actually an international competition: Spellers at the National Harbor came from eight countries, including China, South Korea, Ghana, Jamaica and Canada. Paige Kimble, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and the 1981 national champion, hailed the contestants as “brilliant kids with high-reaching goals, truly some of the best of their generation. . . . You know they’re


Local Digest: Killer in dog-waste dispute gets 17 years

traffic lights along a major Northwest commuter route and cutting off electricity to thousands in the Logan Circle area, officials said. The incident on Rhode Island Avenue NW between 11th and North Capitol Street was sparked by the failure of at least two underground feeder lines near 11th and P streets NW about 3:30 p.m., Pepco officials said. — Clarence Williams Takoma Park man dies after shooting A Maryland man who was shot Monday in Northwest Washington’s Brightwood Park neighborhood has died of his injuries, D.C. police said, even as police investigate another shooting death on Wednesday 14 blocks away. D.C. police said preliminary information shows that the two shootings appear unrelated, though no motive was released for either. The latest shooting occurred about 6:30 p.m. in the 5300 block of 14th Street NW. Police said they found the body of a man in an alley and that he had been shot in the right side of his neck. Police have identified the victim of Nathaniel Nugent, 20, of Northwest Washington. Monday’s shooting happened about 7:50 p.m. in the first block of Hamilton Street NW, just north of Petworth. Police said the 22-year-old man, identified as Rhett Gelb of Takoma Park, died at a D.C. hospital on Wednesday. At the time of the shooting, Gelb was on probation stemming from a 2010 conviction in Charles County for possessing drugs with the intent to distribute. — Peter Hermann MARYLAND Canisters put crews on high alert Montgomery County fire crews went on high alert Thursday to deal with two quarter-sized canisters — possible military artifacts — that a woman brought to the state police’s Rockville barrack. The canisters, at least one of which contained a gassy irritant, came from the woman’s home in Olney, and she told police they might be items that her father acquired during his military service, authorities said. When one of the canisters began to leak fluid Thursday, authorities said, the woman packaged both in a metal container, put that in a cooler and brought the whole package to the barrack on Montrose Road so police could investigate. Elena Russo, a state police spokeswoman, said bomb squad-hazmat crews were called out of an abundance of caution, and the package was moved to the barrack’s back parking lot. The entrance to the barrack was shut down, though the roadways around the area remained open, Russo said. — Matt Zapotosky


Banks improving on fee disclosure, but more regulation is needed, Pew says

Survey shows ninety-seven percent of banks received high marks in at least one category, although none got a thumbs up across the board. (BOGDAN CRISTEL/REUTERS) Banks are doing a better job of informing consumers about the costs associated with their checking accounts, but more regulation is needed to ensure that the terms are fair and transparent, according to a report issued by Pew Charitable Trusts on Thursday. Pew researchers examined checking accounts offered by 36 of the nation’s biggest banks, including how effective they were in providing clear cost disclosures and reducing incidences of overdrafts in which consumers are charged a fee for spending more than they have in their accounts. Ninety-seven percent of banks received high marks in at least one category, although none got a thumbs up across the board. Ally Bank received the highest marks, followed by Charles Schwab, First Republic Bank, Citibank and Bank of America. On the low end of the scale were First Tennessee Bank, Sovereign Bank, Union Bank, KeyBank and First Niagara Bank. “While a majority of the banks [improved], there is still lots of room for improvement,” said Susan Weinstock, director of the Safe Checking Project at Pew. “The [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] can take action in a number of ways to clear up some of these problems with overdraft.” The study is the latest by the nonprofit organization to examine the transparency of checking accounts in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Banks became increasingly reliant on a variety of fees charged to consumers as the economy sputtered. Lawmakers and advocacy groups complained that some institutions were raising fees and pinching consumers while receiving taxpayer bailouts. The backlash led to changes in the way banks handle overdrafts. Banks, for example, can no longer automatically cover an overdraft deficiency and charge a fee if the customer has not opted in to such a program. The CFPB is studying the effect of overdraft services on consumers and plans to publish its initial findings this year. Overdraft revenue crept up 1.3 percent, to $32 billion, in 2012, but that was still far from the 2009 peak, according to the most recent data from Moebs Services. At the current rate of growth, the research firm projects that overdraft revenue will hit an all-time high by the end of 2016. Pew is calling on the consumer bureau to curtail banks’ ability to maximize overdraft fees. One


Unapproved genetically modified wheat from Monsanto found in Oregon field

Marches and rallies try to call attention to genetically modified organisms, food and seeds. Japan, the largest market for U.S. wheat exports, suspended imports from the United States and canceled a major purchase of white wheat on Thursday after the recent discovery of unapproved genetically modified wheat in an 80-acre field in Oregon. How the altered crop made its way to the Oregon field remains a mystery. The strain was developed by Monsanto to make wheat resistant to the company’s own industry-leading weed killer. Monsanto tested the type of altered seed in more than a dozen states, including Oregon, between 1994 and 2005, but it was never approved for commercial use. Yet the Agriculture Department reported that recent tests identified the strain after an Oregon farmer trying to clear a field sprayed Monsanto’s herbicide, Roundup, and found that the wheat could not be killed. The report rattled U.S. wheat markets. In addition to Japan’s action, the European Union, which imports more than 1 million tons of U.S. wheat a year, said that it was following developments “to ensure E.U. zero-tolerance policy is implemented.” It asked Monsanto to help detection efforts in Europe. The developments focused attention on St. Louis-based Monsanto, a $56 billion company with more than $13.5 billion in sales of seeds, services, weed killer and biotechnology to the agriculture industry. In the face of mounting protests, including a series of public demonstrations in multiple cities last weekend, the company has stood behind its other genetically modified products. Many food safety advocates and environmental groups say that more testing needs to be done to ensure that genetically modified seeds don’t harm human health. In addition, they say, the genetic engineering of crops has encouraged the more widespread use of herbicides and led to the development of weeds more resistant to those herbicides. The United States already relies heavily on genetically modified crops. Genetically engineered corn, cotton and soybeans have gone from 5 to 17 percent of the U.S. market in 1997 to between two-thirds and more than 90 percent in 2012. By some estimates, more than 70 percent of processed foods sold in the United States contain ingredients and oils from genetically engineered crops. A 2008 Government Accountability Office report estimated the value of the global market for genetically engineered seeds was $6.9 billion. Though altered seeds are made by four other leading agricultural businesses, Monsanto relies most heavily


In Smithfield, residents digest news of sale

Saunders worked for years as a pilot, shuttling Smithfield Foods executives around the country as they made acquisitions of their own. He expects the company’s operations — and local footprint — will only grow if the purchase moves ahead. “The Chinese didn’t get where they are from being dumb. And they’ve got to eat,” Saunders said. “The only thing going for this country now is a plentiful food supply. . . . Now we’ll be exporting more meat.” Already Smithfield has 46,000 employees worldwide, with operations in 25 states and several countries. But nowhere is its presence more pronounced than in Virginia, where the company is one of the biggest employers in the commonwealth’s $20 billion food processing industry, according to a 2013 report by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. For the deal to move forward, Shuanghui International needs a regulatory go-ahead from Washington officials. A host of scandals has hit China’s poorly regulated food suppliers in recent years, and concerns have been raised about some of Shuanghui’s past practices. Chinese state media reported that pork from a Shuanghui subsidiary had been tainted by the chemical clenbuterol, which can make meat leaner but sickens humans. Shuanghui promised to destroy thousands of tons of its product to allay customer concerns. At the Rushmere Food Mart just outside Smithfield, cook Teresa Agee serves ham slices and pork links to workers commuting to Smithfield’s meatpacking jobs, and she’s skeptical of Shuanghui. She’s a vegetarian, and sometimes tries to push the egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwich as an alternative when people ask for more healthful options. The nursing student still has trouble seeing the trucks roll toward the slaughterhouse down the road. “They have their little inquisitive noses sticking out,” Agee said. “That’s probably the first time they’ve actually been anywhere. They probably think they’re going someplace fun.” But she knows what people in these parts like to eat, and she gives it to them. “Smithfield is the town of pork,” Agee said. That said, she remains worried that China’s sketchy food safety and animal welfare standards could flow into Shuanghui’s American operations. “Who’s going to police them, not just here, but in all the plants they are taking over?” Agee said of the would-be Chinese owners. Saunders thinks America’s better standards will actually flow the other direction. “They’ve got meat inspectors up the yin yang in Smithfield,” Saunders said. “I’d think it would improve in


Hagel visits Asia to reassure allies

SINGAPORE — “We have been undertaking more new bilateral initiatives with partners than we ever have,” Hagel told reporters en route to this city-state, which is hosting an annual security conference known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, named for the luxury resort that has hosted the event since 2002. The Obama administration’s strategy of deepening military engagements in a region where China’s military rise is causing angst has been stymied by an unprecedented fiscal squeeze, as well as a flurry of crises in Africa and the Middle East. Still, Hagel said, as the Afghan war draws to a close, the policy known as pivoting to Asia remains “on track.” The secretary said he intends to use the weekend gathering of defense officials to speak bluntly about cyber-espionage targeting the United States, a problem American officials describe as pervasive. They have accused China of being the most prolific and sophisticated culprit, a charge Beijing denies. “Cyberthreats are real,” Hagel said, noting that he sees value in raising the issue in public and private deliberations with the Chinese. “They’re terribly dangerous.” As in years past, Beijing is expected to send only a mid-level delegation to Shangri-La, a signal of the Chinese government’s displeasure with the United States’ appetite for a bigger security role in the region. Hagel is expected to meet with Chinese officials for informal discussions on the sidelines of the conference but will not hold formal bilateral talks with them because defense chiefs typically only do so with their counterparts. Hagel’s trip will end in Brussels next week, where he will meet with other NATO leaders to discuss the Afghan war and other conflicts. He said the recent string of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are drawing down, is worrisome, but not surprising. “That’s not anything that anyone did not expect,” he said. “The Taliban was quite clear about that, so that isn’t anything that is particularly new.” Before flying to Singapore, Hagel made an overnight stop in Honolulu, where he told U.S. troops that there are significant limits to the United States’ powers as the country wraps up a lengthy period of war. It is not the dominant nation it was in the second half of the 20th century, Hagel said. “The difference is the United States held most of the cards after World War II,” he told the troops, speaking in an aircraft hangar next to an


It’s all in the (biometric data) cards for CEO Ajay Banga

the wheat. They get an IOU from the agent, and the agent gets a check in their bank account from the government. They’re supposed to give that money to the farmer. Well, now the agent is in the driver’s seat. And so between the agent and all the other middlemen, people estimate in these kind of programs, somewhere between 25 and 45 percent of the money leaks out. That’s billions of dollars. Those guys are now all getting their money on prepaid cards. It’s all incremental. I’ll give you a stat: 85 percent of the world’s retail transactions are cash. 15 percent are electronic. So my approach is I’m going to fight for [a] share in the 15 because everybody fights for [a] share. But I also want to chase down the 85 percent. All the conversations you and I are having are at the 85 percent. You can’t approach the 85 percent with one approach. You can’t just say that what I did in Nigeria is what I’ll do in India and what I’ll do in Mexico and what I’ll do in the U.S. You’re going to have to adapt to what countries need and want. You can think global with the idea but you have to be local in its execution. Inside the company, I call that ‘glocal.’ Indian-English, if you wish. How much of your business is outside the U.S.? Sixty percent, roughly. Forty percent is in the U.S. So we are really a global company that’s headquartered in the U.S. We’re not a U.S. company that’s trying to be global. The majority of our revenue comes from outside the United States, but the U.S. is actually the largest market. In Nigeria, you’re staging a revolution among the elders, because the first recipients will be the pensioners. What if they don’t take to the card? Is there a trust issue with not having cash? Essentially, the government says “that’s how you’re going to get your payments.” The South African Social Security agency did a really good job of educating people of the value of having the card. In fact, most told them I feel safer because now my money cannot be taken by my children. You know the older person is the bottom of the pyramid? In the case of Nigeria with the government ID, that’ll make it even more safe for them. That card cannot be


European Union urges testing of U.S. wheat imports for unapproved strain

the United States and canceled a major purchase of white wheat on Thursday. How the altered crop made its way to the Oregon field remains a mystery. The strain was developed by Monsanto to make wheat resistant to the company’s own industry-leading weed killer. Monsanto tested the type of altered seed in more than a dozen states, including Oregon, between 1994 and 2005, but it was never approved for commercial use. Yet the Agriculture Department reported that recent tests identified the strain after an Oregon farmer trying to clear a field sprayed Monsanto’s herbicide, Roundup, and found that the wheat could not be killed. The report rattled U.S. wheat markets. The European Union asked Monsanto to help with detection efforts in Europe. The developments focused attention on St. Louis-based Monsanto, a $56 billion company with more than $13.5 billion in sales of seeds, services, weed killer and biotechnology to the agriculture industry. In the face of mounting protests, including a series of public demonstrations in multiple cities last weekend, the company has stood behind its other genetically modified products. Many food safety advocates and environmental groups say that more testing needs to be done to ensure that genetically modified seeds don’t harm human health. In addition, they say, the genetic engineering of crops has encouraged the more widespread use of herbicides and led to the development of weeds more resistant to those herbicides. The United States already relies heavily on genetically modified crops. Genetically engineered corn, cotton and soybeans have gone from 5 to 17 percent of the U.S. market in 1997 to between two-thirds and more than 90 percent in 2012. By some estimates, more than 70 percent of processed foods sold in the United States contain ingredients and oils from genetically engineered crops. A 2008 Government Accountability Office report estimated the value of the global market for genetically engineered seeds was $6.9 billion. Though altered seeds are made by four other leading agricultural businesses, Monsanto relies most heavily on such products, experts said. But Americans remain skeptical about some genetically modified foods, including current proposals to cultivate altered salmon. And big agriculture companies have avoided commercial development of genetically engineered wheat because about half of the U.S. wheat crop is exported, and governments in major markets such as the European Union, Japan and China are opposed to genetically modified wheat seed. Monsanto said in a statement But food


Book review: ‘Midnight in Mexico’ by Alfredo Corchado, on the country’s downward spiral

has suffered unspeakable losses. “By the time this book is published,” Corchado writes, “nearly one hundred thousand people will have disappeared or been killed.” It is a conservative reckoning. One Mexican journalist places the casualties at 80,000 dead and 30,000 disappeared. If so, it’s a body count that exceeds American deaths in the Vietnam War. It’s a hecatomb that has left Mexican towns numb with grief and U.S. citizens all too aware that a quick spree across the border could be fatal. There are El Paso residents who haven’t crossed the bridge to Juarez in years. Even as he tries to batten down that story, Corchado documents his own race against time with white-knuckle alarm. Searching for clues about the death threat against him, he gives readers an intimate sense of the murky alliances: the drug thugs who lunch with U.S. government officials, the cheeky prostitute who holds more valuable information than any high-level bureaucrat, the broadcast journalist who can’t tear herself away from the gore. And he tells of the ways that covering a war zone — and being a primary target — can play havoc with one’s love life and family. “You’ve stopped being a reporter,” his girlfriend tells him. “You’re part of the story now.” The portrait that Corchado paints is all the more heartrending for Mexico’s extraordinary promise. Here is a country that stands every chance to pull itself into an unprecedented era of abundance. Here is a nation known for its vast cultural heritage, a populace renowned for its national pride and work ethic. Six months ago, the Economist called Mexico Latin America’s second-largest economy, a country whose financial power outpaced Brazil’s last year and will grow twice as fast in 2013. Mexico’s net emigration is down to zero; its fertility rate is plunging to a level below that of the United States; its poverty has been mitigated by universal free health care and impressive economic remittances from its immigrants. Investment is at a peak: In Guanajuato, Mazda and Honda are building immense factories; in Puebla, Audi is constructing a $1.3 billion plant. The fashion industry, also, has found a viable home in Mexico. Growth is not a problem. It is security and the drug war that are Mexico’s largest worries. The country cannot afford for its police and military to be bought off by Zeta or Sinaloa or Gulf cartel goons. That cycle of


Elegy for the endangered D.C. aquarium

intramural (and internecine) budget battles waged within, fisheries and the interests of sportsmen were outflanked by the newly empowered environmental movement. It was clear to all (except naives like me) that the aquarium was an expense the service no longer considered much of a priority. My meeting with the senior manager had been at my initiative. Fisheries was my “beat” (no one else really wanted it), and I hoped to explain why the planned closure — slated for the day after Christmas, one of the aquarium’s busiest days of the year — made horrid public relations sense. “Do we want to make the service look like the Grinch that stole Christmas?” I asked. The official looked at me blankly. I vaguely recall that I had to explain who and what “the Grinch” was. Glumly, convinced of the worst, I left for my holiday trip to Cincinnati. Somehow — I certainly claim no credit — the service decided to continue aquarium funding “temporarily.” Eventually, however, Congress wielded the budgetary ax, and in 1982 the service got free of the National Aquarium, which became an independent, privately funded operation. The agency faced changed times and wildly expanding challenges, including the stupefying complexities of the Endangered Species Act. The aquarium soldiered on. I remained a loyal visitor. But it took a significant blow to its status in 1979, when Sen. Charles “Mac” Mathias Jr. of Maryland gained the “National” title for Baltimore’s planned new facility, and the rest, as they say, is history. Ironically, the Baltimore behemoth wound up becoming the steward for its smaller, older Washington namesake in 2003. Rereading the National Aquarium’s news release, I scanned for signs that the D.C. facility might reemerge somewhere and, for its steadfast fans (my grandchildren and me), prevail. But the announcement offered few encouraging specifics (“seeking options to maintain some kind of foothold in the District”). It left me sad. A place of awe and innocence — rarities in Washington — will soon disappear. May an earnest quest for a new venue begin at once. And I would offer the searchers these guidelines: Seek out a deep, dark grotto, where imagination and magic commingle; a subterranean setting wherein the water is the light — and in its captivating presence, finned Sibyls beckon youth to their future. The writer was a public information officer at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 1975 to 2003.


District boutique’s new solar panels shed light on the value of renewable energy tax credits

Debbie Danielson, owner of Forecast, recently installed solar panels on the store’s roof that will generate about 70 percent of its power. (Evy Mages/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) This time of year, Debbie Danielson’s boutique is bursting with color, with bright blue skirts, pale yellow blouses and an array of sundresses hanging neatly throughout the store. These past few months, though, she has been rather preoccupied with one color in particular — green. Danielson and her husband, who have long been committed to sustainability and “green” energy, just finished installing more than two dozen solar panels on the roof of Forecast, her 35-year-old women’s clothing and home goods store near Capitol Hill. In total, the project cost about $44,000, but the couple expects to offset that expense in lower energy costs and tax incentives. “A few years ago, the payback period would have been a lot longer,” Debbie’s husband, Dana, said in an interview. “Now, it will only take us about four years, and most business people would be excited about an investment that pays itself off that quickly.” The new solar system will supply about 70 percent of the energy needed to run the boutique, trimming the power bill by an estimated $5,000 a year. The remaining savings will come from federal and local tax credits, which will reduce the company’s tax bill this year by roughly $13,000 and $10,000, respectively. “There are the environmental benefits, of course, but I’m really looking forward to four or five years down the line, when we have a little more money in our pockets,” Debbie Danielson said. Meanwhile, the up-front solar costs have come down about 50 percent in the past four years, because of cheaper technology and a flood of new products from China, according to Geoff Mirkin, owner of Elkridge-based Solar Energy World. When he first started in 2009, Mirkin’s solar business was solely residential; now, more than a third of his clients are business owners, and the numbers continue to rise. “Commercial is actually a better investment, because a solar system on a commercial building is a depreciable asset,” he added. “In addition, you have economy of scale benefits. Most businesses are ordering more material, so the equipment and labor costs come down and you get a better return on the investment.” A lot of Mirkin’s new business has come from the District, which has “some of the richest subsidies


Wrestling gets off the mat, makes move toward the future

Wrestler Kyle Dake battles for position with Hassan Tahmasebi, of Iran, during an international wrestling match at Vanderbilt Hall inside of Grand Central Terminal in New York. The event, which featured wrestling teams from the United States, Iran and Russia, was billed as 'The Rumble on the Rails', and was partially designed to gather support for wrestling as an Olympic sport. (JUSTIN LANE/EPA) Wrestling got a repechage last week — a second chance to keep its spot on the Olympic roster for 2020 after losing its “core sport” designation in February. If wrestling ultimately fails in its bid for reinstatement, 2016 might be the last time it is held at an Olympics. The sport waged a world-wide lobbying blitz during the three months since it was axed, and it seems to have paid off. Thus will one of the events held at the Ancient Olympics compete with baseball/softball and squash for the one remaining spot on the crowded Olympic calendar. The 15-member IOC executive board voted behind closed doors — naturally — in St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida; the IOC doesn’t do Florida), and wrestling got eight votes. That, in IOC parlance, is a landslide. The sports that were eliminated? Karate, rock climbing, roller sports, wakeboarding and wushu, a form of martial arts. On Sept. 8, the full IOC will determine wrestling’s fate, at the same time it chooses a host for the 2020 Games. Istanbul is in the running, and wrestling is very popular in Turkey; that may help its case considerably. Wrestling overhauled itself Those changes were designed to make the sport more exciting. They also were long overdue — 20 years overdue, according to Jim Scherr, a former CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee and a former Olympic wrestler. They should also be a cautionary tale for other longtime Olympic events: Resist modernization at your peril. The modern pentathlon used to be the most oxymoronically named sport at the Olympics; little about it was actually modern. But that sport saw the threat coming and changed its format, making it far more compelling to watch. And that’s what the IOC wants: continued boffo ratings for its Games. In fairness, that’s no different from what college and professional sports want; it’s just that the Olympics likes to tout itself as a Lollapalooza of amateur athletics (although no one really buys that anymore). But the IOC does have a unique


Washington area religion events

Religion Events Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill has announced that it has called the Rev. J. Randolph Alexander Jr. as its tenth rector. Alexander, the current rector of Christ Church in Pelham, N.Y., will join the congregation August 25 after an 11-month search. He has served the New York parish since 2000. Last year, he was one of six candidates for Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Virginia. The Episcopal Church parish is at 3606 Seminary Road, Alexandria. Saturday 8 a.m.-1 p.m.: Sunday 10:10 a.m.: “Ending U.S.-Sponsored Torture Forever” will be screened. The Rev. Richard L. Killmer, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, will lead a discussion on the film. Washington National Cathedral, Front Nave, Wisconsin and Massachusetts avenues NW. Free. 202-537-6200 or www.nationalcathedral.org. Sunday 11 a.m.: Sunday 1 p.m.: Sunday 1:30 p.m.: Sunday 2 and 7 p.m.: Sunday 5-6:30 p.m.: Sunday 7 p.m.: Sunday 7:30 p.m.: Tuesday-Wednesday 1:30 p.m.: Wednesday 12:10-12:45 p.m.: Wednesday 8 p.m.: Friday 7 p.m.: Friday 8 p.m.: Next Saturday 8 a.m.-1 p.m.: Next Saturday 7:30 p.m.: The Chalice Dancers of Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church and other local sacred dance groups, including the Erika Thimey Dance Company, 4 Dancing, Natyabhoomi School of Indian Dance and the Davis Dance Center, perform a celebration of sacred dance to honor the Chalice Dancers’ 20th anniversary. Light refreshments will be served. Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church, 3215 Powder Mill Rd., Adelphi. Free-will offering. www.pbuuc.org or 301-937-3666. For more religion events, visit www.washingtonpost.com/onfaith. Send event name, dates, times, exact address, prices and a publishable telephone number at least one week before our Saturday publication day to Religion Events, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071; or e-mail rpevents@washpost.com.


George Will: Positive train control: A mandate that is off the rails

Texting while driving is dangerous, especially if you are driving a train. A commuter train engineer was texting on Sept. 12, 2008, near Los Angeles, when he missed a stop signal and crashed into a freight train. Twenty-five people died. Congress supposedly is incapable of acting quickly, and we are supposed to regret this. In 2008, however, Congress acted with dispatch. We should regret that it did. Herewith another lesson about the costs of the regulatory state, especially when it is excited, eager to make a gesture and propelled by an uninformed consensus. On Jan. 6, 2005, nine people had been killed in Graniteville, S.C., by chlorine gas leaking from a derailed freight train, but Congress did not spring into action. In 2008, however, California’s 53-person congressional delegation was 12 percent of the House and 24 percent of a House majority. So in less than a month after the commuter train collision, Congress, with scant opposition from railroads, and without meaningful cost-benefit analyses, passed legislation requiring most railroads to implement, by 2015, positive train control (PTC), a technology to stop trains by overriding some human mistakes. So far, railroads have spent more than $2.7 billion on a system estimated to cost $10 billion to $14 billion — plus perhaps $1 billion in annual maintenance. PTC has not been installed, partly because it is not sufficiently developed. CSX Corp., which includes railroads among its assets, says the railroad industry is the nation’s most capital-intensive — and the $11 billion combined capital investments of all U.S. railroads in 2010 were approximately equal to the cost of PTC. The 2015 mandate will not be met. The Federal Railroad Administration estimates that were PTC to be installed on thousands of locomotives and tens of thousands of miles of track, it would prevent perhaps 2 percent of the approximately 2,000 collisions and derailments, preventing seven deaths and 22 injuries annually. But because a dollar spent on X cannot be spent on Y, the PTC mandate must mean the sacrifice of other investments crucial to railroad safety (and efficiency). Before returning to Harvard Law School, Cass Sunstein was Barack Obama’s administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, measuring the benefits of regulations against their costs. Testifying to a House subcommittee on Jan. 26, 2011, Sunstein was asked if he could identify an administration regulation whose “benefits have not justified the cost.” He replied: “There


Commissary plan, backlash show difficulty of cutting military personnel spending

large retailers closer to their homes, saving them from driving onto bases. “Nobody was going to have to pay more,” he said. “It was just a more efficient way to deliver the service.” The story of how the plan was developed — and how it died — is instructive, Punaro said, because “it shows just how broken the system has become.” From surplus to supermarket When Spencer was a young Marine officer in the 1970s, commissaries sold basic staples on steel racks, much of it leftovers from the mess halls. Extra bags of pork chops. Loaves of sliced white bread. “Subsistence food,” he said. The commissary at Lejeune now rivals the nicest American supermarkets. There’s filet mignon in the meat rack, wedges of Camembert in the cheese section and fresh baguettes in the bakery. Gone is the surplus feel. Every item is stocked in almost every flavor and size. There are two dozen varieties of Ocean Spray cranberry juice and 15 types of ketchup. “This is crazy,” exclaimed Michael Bayer, a corporate strategist in Washington who served as chairman of the Defense Business Board from 2007 to 2011. The 20-member advisory board, composed of private-sector executives, is charged with providing advice on business and management matters to the defense secretary. “Why,” Bayer mused aloud as he walked down the aisles of the Fort Myer commissary in Arlington, “is the federal government in the business of selling so many sizes of ketchup?” The Army opened the first commissaries in the 1820s to provide food and other basic goods to troops in frontier outposts. Items were sold to soldiers and their families at the same price it cost the government to acquire them. For decades, the stores remained a vital means of sustenance for those stationed on rural bases. Transformations in the military and civilian society over the following decades — including the expansion of large discount retailers near remote bases — obviated the original reason for commissaries. But political leaders shied away from changes. Military families didn’t want to lose their own supermarkets. Over the past 12 years, Congress has repeatedly approved increases in the allotment for commissaries. This year’s subsidy — $1.4 billion — was authorized without a single question from legislators. ‘A tremendous deal’ The gentrification of the commissaries began in the name of efficiency. In 1990, the Pentagon decided to consolidate the separate grocery stores run by the


drawn Spencer’s queries to the commissary agency for financial data aroused suspicion. Fearing attack, the agency discreetly got the word out to members of Congress whose districts are home to large numbers of veterans — and commissaries. They, in turn, sent letters to Gates, telling him to leave the commissaries alone. The commissary agency also got help from the companies with which it does business. The American Logistics Association, a Washington-based trade group representing 250 firms that sell goods on base stores, wrote to Gates. Its letter was co-signed by the leaders of two other organizations with similar purposes, the Armed Forces Marketing Council and the Coalition of Military Distributors. “Commissaries are core to the high standards of military quality of life,” the groups wrote. “They represent a reciprocal commitment from the taxpayer to the military people for their dedication and sacrifice.” The organizations noted that 12,000 military family members are employed in commissaries and that the low food prices are regarded by many military families as their second-most-important benefit after health care. The groups also lavished praise on the commissary agency, saying that customer service in commissaries exceeds “all commercial supermarket rankings.” Patrick B. Nixon, the president of the logistics association, contends that military personnel should not be forced to shop for groceries in civilian stores. “The military community is different from the rest of the nation,” Nixon said in an interview. “These stores are manned by people who are familiar with their situation, who appreciate what they’re doing for our country.” For large food producers who support the logistics association — they include Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods Group — commissaries are an attractive market, Nixon said, because they do not require the firms to compete against house-label generic goods. The shelves are stocked only with brand-name items. And the aisles are filled not just with retirees but also with young families. “A company can form brand loyalties to folks who are new to the shopping experience,” Nixon said. Nixon, who is a registered lobbyist, served as the director of the commissary agency before joining the logistics association. His prior employment, he said, provided him with “first-hand knowledge of how valuable commissaries are.” Although Spencer’s plan intrigued Gates’s senior advisers, the incoming correspondence revealed the contours of an arduous fight: They’d have to take on Congress, powerful veterans groups and some of the largest American companies.


Military salaries were supposed to rise 1.8 percent this year because of a law that requires troop pay to keep pace with changes in private-sector compensation, but Pentagon leaders contend that is too generous at a time when the budget is shrinking. Unlike the commissary discount, they don’t think limiting the pay increase will lead troops to quit. “Slowing the growth isn’t going to adversely affect our ability to recruit and retain people,” said Robert F. Hale, the Pentagon’s comptroller. Nor will raising health-care fees for retirees, he insisted. Hagel on Friday described the additional payments the Pentagon is seeking as “not very much” — less than $20 per year for the next five years to raise the annual fee to just 4 percent of a retiree’s yearly military pension. In his first months on the job, Hagel has made addressing the growth of personnel costs a key element of his overall effort to reduce defense spending. Speaking earlier this year, he cited a warning from the former chief of naval operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, who said the Defense Department risked transforming from “an agency protecting the nation to an agency administering benefit programs, capable of buying only limited quantities of irrelevant and overpriced equipment.” But Hagel, who faced a difficult confirmation battle, may find upcoming fights over pay and benefit reductions to be even tougher. Major veterans organizations — the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Military Officers Association of America — all slammed his budget. “These proposals cross the line,” said Ryan, the officers’ association president. Their opposition resonated on Capitol Hill. Last month, a House subcommittee rejected the 1 percent pay cap and the health-care fee increases. The panel’s chairman, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), said he was “choosing to keep the faith with our armed forces, who have been serving in combat for nearly 12 years.” Veterans organizations want the Defense Department to address inefficiencies within the military health system before raising fees. This year’s Pentagon proposals were only an opening bid. Those on all sides of the issue agree that keeping personnel costs from overwhelming the overall budget will require far more aggressive action, but there is no consensus on where to trim costs. To Spencer, reducing the commissary subsidy seemed the logical place to start. “If we can’t fix something this straightforward,” he said, “how are we going to tackle everything else?”


Nutritional labels may be coming on some alcoholic drinks

largest distiller and maker of such well-known brands as Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Jose Cuervo and Tanqueray. Diageo asked the TTB in 2003 to allow the company to add that information to its products as low-carbohydrate diets were gaining in popularity. Almost 10 years later, Smith said he expects Diageo gradually to put the new labels on all of its products, which include a small number of beer and wine companies. “It’s something consumers have come to expect,” Smith said. “In time, it’s going to be, why isn’t it there?” Not all alcohol companies are expected to use labels. Among those that may take a pass are beer companies, which don’t want consumers counting calories, and winemakers, which don’t want to ruin the sleek look of their bottles. The Wine Institute, which represents more than a thousand California wineries, said in a statement that it supports the ruling but “experience suggests that such information is not a key factor in consumer purchase decisions about wine.” Spokeswoman Gladys Horiuchi said the group knows of no wine companies that plan to use the new labels. The beer industry praised the agency for acknowledging that labels should take into account variations in the concentration of alcohol content in different products. The industry has opposed the idea of defining serving size by fluid ounces of pure alcohol — or as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor — on the grounds that you may get more than 1.5 ounces of liquor in a cocktail depending on what else is in the drink and the accuracy of the bartender. The ruling would allow the labels to declare alcohol content as a percentage of alcohol by volume, the approach favored by the beer industry. “We applaud the TTB’s conclusion that rules be based on how drinks are actually served and consumed,” said Joe McClain, president of the Beer Institute. McClain said the beer industry is pleased that the ruling provides “substantial flexibility” in terms of the format and placement of the disclosure on packaging. It is unclear, however, whether beer companies will use the labels. Consumer advocates criticized the regulation. “It doesn’t reflect any concern about public health,” said Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. He said the rules are too close to what the alcohol companies had sought. Consumer advocates have said that


HomeMade Gin Kit helps you make your own gin — no bathtub required

Hubbard, had originally set out to open a gin distillery. “But after a couple of days of researching and talking to attorneys, we realized it would take $100,000 and two years before we could get a bottle on the shelves,” said Maiellano, who works as director of development at the Armed Forces Foundation during the day. “We didn’t have that kind of money or time.” Instead, the pair — and their wives — decided to model their product after popular beer-brewing kits. They pulled together $20,000, ordered glass bottles from Italy and got started. This is how it works: Customers receive a package that includes a funnel, mesh strainer, juniper berries and spice mix. They then use the kit to infuse a bottle of unflavored vodka (not included) with juniper berries for 24 hours, then add in the spice mix, which includes herbs like rosemary and bay leaves. After an additional 12 hours, the alcohol is ready to strain and drink. “When people first hear about it, their responses range from skepticism to excitement,” Maiellano said. “A lot of people will say, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize making gin was so accessible.’” It took weeks for Maiellano to get the spice blend just right. He kept an Excel spreadsheet with notes and recipes. “It took me about 12 different tweaks,” he said. “It’d be like, ‘Let me add a little bit more citrus peel, take away some of the allspice.’ It really took a while.” Maiellano says specialty drinks at local bars like Columbia Room and the Gibson got him interested in making cocktails. He began creating his own bitters and syrups a few years ago. After that, he started experimenting with gin. “None of the gins I bought were the right match for my favorite small-batch tonic,” he said. “I thought, OK, maybe I’ll try this myself.” Home-brewing and micro distilleries have become popular in recent years as customers look for more personalized experiences. Last year, New Columbia Distillers opened the first gin distillery in Washington since Prohibition. HomeMade Gin Kits are currently sold on a handful of Web sites, including RedEnvelope.com and UncommonGoods.com. The company is in talks with national retailers who are interested in selling the items in stores, Maiellano said. “We had no idea how many people would be interested in making their own gin at home,” Maiellano said. “It turns out a lot of people do.”


Blue Tiger Labs creates app to compare grocery prices

Blue Tiger Labs founder and chief executive Neil Kataria, right, with some of his employees at the company’s office in the District. Kataria’s newest start-up has unveiled an app that compares grocery prices. (Jeffrey MacMillan/For The Washington Post) Serial entrepreneur Neil Kataria is out with his latest creation, a smartphone app that allows shoppers to compare prices at nearby grocery stores before ever setting foot out the door. PriceSpotting Blue Tiger Labs hopes to capitalize on the growing role that smartphones play in consumers’ buying habits, whether they use the hand-held devices to research products, locate shops or actually make a purchase. But Kataria said comparison shopping among local brick-and-mortar stores is a time-consuming, shoe-leather effort because no one has connected them effectively with mobile devices. “No one in their right mind has the time to do this,” Kataria said. “There is a tremendous amount of cost savings and a tremendous amount of time savings” as a result of the app. Kataria was most recently a co-founder of District-based NewBrandAnalytics, a firm that helps companies aggregate and analyze customer feedback on social media, and serves as founding partner of Blue Tiger Ventures, an early-stage investment firm. The inaugural version of PriceSpotting relies primarily on individual shoppers to scan items they intend to purchase and update the cost in the app’s database. As incentive, users will earn points that can be redeemed for gift cards. Kataria said the app will also pull prices from grocery store Web sites and weekly advertisements to supplement. “As we layer in more users, the real-time effect starts to happen pretty quickly,” Kataria said. “You’d be surprised at how up to date the database becomes.” Building a database of grocery stores’ inventory comes with challenges, perhaps the most obvious being the shear volume of items. Kataria said the PriceSpotting database already contains nearly 100,000 products. But PriceSpotting also has to accommodate for the fact that stores may categorize items differently or carry varying quantities. For example, you may be able to buy a 12 pack of bottled water at CVS, but only a 32-bottle pack at Costco. Thus, a side-by-side comparison could seem misleading. Blue Tiger Labs already has two upgraded versions of the app planned for this summer that will allow users to share cheap finds with their social networks and allow grocery chains to offer deals directly to users. The firm also plans to