John M. Rosson, restaurant critic, food editor

John M. Rosson, who as restaurant critic at the Washington Evening Star wrote one of the first rave reviews for the Inn at Little Washington, a rural Virginia restaurant that soon became widely known as one of the country’s finest, died Dec. 7 at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, Md. He was 86. He had end-stage dementia and coronary artery disease, said a niece, Rita Rosson. From 1961 until the Star folded in 1981, Mr. Rosson wrote a column titled “Dining Out.” Phyllis C. Richman, the former Washington Post restaurant reviewer, once called Mr. Rosson “the Southern gentleman of Washington critics [who] contributed particular warmth and humanity to the reviewing process. “Rosson,” she added, “discovered innumerable family-run restaurants, he encouraged countless chefs with his understanding, he knew more local lore and history than anyone will ever again, and he played a strong hand in turning this town from a gastronomic backwater to a thriving environment for more than 50 cuisines.” Mr. Rosson reviewed the Inn at Little Washington, in the Rappahannock County town of Washington, four months after the restaurant’s debut. He called the experience “a tour de force” and “one of the finest restaurants in a 150-mile radius.” It helped make the owners, Patrick O’Connell and Reinhardt Lynch, culinary celebrities. John MacNair Rosson was born in Coopersburg, Pa., and he grew up in Culpeper, Va. He was a 1951 journalism graduate of the University of Maryland, where he served as managing editor of the school newspaper. He was a Navy veteran of World War II. Mr. Rosson, a Washington resident, joined the Evening Star as a police reporter in 1953. During his 28-year career at the Evening Star, he held many titles, including education reporter, editor of the weekly teen section and photo editor. He joined the newly formed Washington Times as a food columnist in 1982 and became the food editor before retiring in 1990. He published dining guides including “It’s Fun to Eat Out!” (1976). He judged Miss Maryland and Miss District of Columbia pageants. His partner of 50 years, retired Army Capt. Malcolm McEwen Semple, died in 1999. He had no immediate survivors. — Megan McDonough


Reports hit Agriculture Dept. for ‘serious weaknesses’ in bacteria safety measures

Recent salmonella outbreaks that sickened at least 523 people and sent dozens to the hospital underscore “serious weaknesses” in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s oversight of poultry plants, according to a study released Thursday by the Pew Charitable Trusts, which also criticized the government’s failure to push more aggressively for recalls of contaminated meat. A separate investigation by Consumer Reports, also published Thursday, suggested that those lapses have contributed to the prevalence of potentially harmful bacteria that lurk in store-bought chicken. The magazine independently tested more than 300 raw chicken breasts purchased from stores across the country and found that every major brand contained “worrisome amounts” of pathogens such as salmonella and E.coli, including some strains resistant to treatment with antibiotics. “When more than 500 people get sick from a food-borne illness outbreak, that means the system we have in place wasn’t working to protect public health,” said Sandra Eskin, director of Pew’s Food Safety Campaign. “This many people should not be getting sick.” The USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service said in a statement that the reports “confirm the need for measures already underway at FSIS to prevent food-borne illness,” including proposals to change how meat is inspected and another to help drive down salmonella rates. National Chicken Council President Mike Brown said pathogen testing shows rates of both salmonella and E.coli declining over the past 10 years in poultry plants, adding in a statement, “Eliminating bacteria entirely is always the goal, but in reality, it’s simply not feasible.” The Consumer Reports investigation, which was funded by Pew, found plenty of problematic bacteria in American grocery aisles. More than half the chicken breasts it tested were tainted with fecal contaminants, which can cause problems such as urinary tract infections in humans. Half the samples contained at least one multidrug-resistant bacterium. In addition, researchers found no significant difference in the presence of troublesome bacteria between conventional chicken breasts and those labeled “organic” or “no antibiotics.” The Pew study was prompted by two salmonella outbreaks linked to chicken produced by California-based Foster Farms, which did not respond to calls and e-mails Wednesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified hundreds of victims across the country, but the agency said that because salmonella cases largely go undiagnosed, as many as 15,000 people could have been sickened by the contaminated meat. The Pew study includes sharp criticisms of the response by the


Majority of Americans say Afghan war has not been worth fighting, Post-ABC News poll finds

In thisDec. 9, photo provided by the Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, center, arrives at Kandahar Regional Medical Hospital in Afghanistan. (D. Myles Cullen/AP) Americans express near-record discontent and regret over the 13-year war in Afghanistan, during which 2,289 U.S. troops have died and more than 19,000 have been wounded, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Fully 66 percent of Americans say the battle, which began with nearly unanimous support, has not been worth fighting. A majority of respondents have doubted the war’s value in each Post-ABC poll since 2010, with current disapproval only one percentage point below July’s record mark. A record 50 percent now “strongly” believe the war is not worth its costs. Despite the skepticism, a 55 percent majority favors keeping some U.S. forces in Afghanistan for anti-insurgency operations and training, while just over four in 10 prefer removing all troops. The U.S. military role remains in limbo because Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign a bilateral security agreement that would keep an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 troops in the country after 2014. The United States is rapidly drawing down forces in Afghanistan, shrinking its 47,000-troop commitment to 32,000 in February. The Obama administration had said a delay in signing the agreement could lead to a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces, as happened in Iraq when the governments in Baghdad and Washington did not sign a security agreement. The White House last week softened its demand that the security agreement be signed by the end of the year but insists that quick approval is necessary for planning the U.S. role. Support for a contingency training and anti-insurgency force also crosses party lines, with most Democrats, Republicans and independents preferring to keep a small number of troops in Afghanistan. The large majority who consider the Afghan war not worth fighting are split on whether to maintain an anti-insurgency force, while those who view the war as worthwhile overwhelmingly support the idea. In a separate Associated Press-GfK poll released Wednesday, 57 percent of Americans said the United States did “the wrong thing” in going to war with Afghanistan, with mixed feelings toward keeping troops in the country past 2014. Obama received negative marks for his handling of the situation, with 53 percent disapproving and 45 percent approving. The public’s war weariness stands in stark contrast to its extraordinary support for


Lives: Hedy Marque, long-distance runner through her 80s

per mile — than many runners a quarter her age. She was 81. As they sloshed back to the car, Hedy, a woman of few words, turned to Marjorie and in her heavily German-accented English said only: “I was better last year.” The previous year, running 5 minutes 48 seconds faster, she had set the American masters road record for 80-to-84-year-old women in the Cherry Blossom race. That record still stands. As does her under-two-hour finish in her final Cherry Blossom race in 2005, when she was 87. Hedy still holds seven USA Track & Field masters records. She was named USATF’s Masters Athlete of the Year 13 times for her age group. Some of her age-graded performances put her in the top five finishers ever recorded by women of any age anywhere in the world. In 2012, just a few months before she died at age 95, Hedy was inducted into the USATF Masters Hall of Fame. The German immigrant of Polish descent, born Hedwig Falkowski in Berlin, didn’t start running races until she was 64. And only then because her daughter asked her to. Hedy hadn’t run since she was a girl before the war in Germany and belonged to a sports club. That’s where she, a Catholic, met Gerard Marque, a Jewish man who would become her husband for 52 years until he died in 1999. Until that first race, Hedy’s only exercise had been using a push mower around the family home in Novi, Mich., that she and Gerard, who had worked in the Jewish resistance, immigrated to in 1947. Hedy won her age group in that first race, the Diet Pepsi 10K in Wichita, where Marjorie lived at the time, and qualified for nationals. The barely 5-foot, 100-pound Hedy and the economical way she ran “like a tank” soon became a well-known fixture on the local racing circuit. But ask people what drove her, or what she was like, and no one can say. She had no close friends. A hearing problem kept her isolated from others, Marjorie said. At races, she would dutifully appear on stages to collect her medals, but would say little or deflect praise. Then she and Marjorie would go home. Hedy ran because it was something Marjorie wanted to do. “She never let you know what she wanted. But if it was something I wanted, she’d do it,” Marjorie said.


Congress approves reforms to address sexual assault, rape in military

that was passed 84 to 15 late Thursday in the Senate. The legislation would end the statute of limitations for cases of sexual assault or rape; bar military commanders from overturning jury convictions in sexual assault and rape cases; make it a crime to retaliate against people who report such crimes; mandate the dishonorable discharge or dismissal of anyone convicted of such crimes; and give civilian defense officials more control over prosecutions. Although significant, the changes would stop short of what some advocates want. Gillibrand is pushing to remove military commanders from any involvement in assault and rape cases and have them instead assigned to specialized, independent military prosecutors. For months, she has met with nearly every other senator to lobby them to support her plan, which the Senate is expected to vote on next year. But supporters say the reforms are the most extensive rewrite of the Uniform Code of Military Justice since the armed forces were integrated — and the most notable change since lawmakers agreed to end the ban on openly gay troops three years ago. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation. Once the changes are implemented, “we will have the most victim-friendly criminal justice system in the world,” McCaskill said in a recent interview. “We’re going to have competent outside investigations, we’re going to have trained outside prosecutors, we’re going to have the victims with their own lawyers and we’re going to have a check on the commanders — not only in the way they’re evaluated but also in the way their decisions are reviewed and we’re removing from the commanders any ability to screw around after the courts have found their verdicts. It’s remarkable what we’re going to get done,” she said. The annual defense spending bill sets Pentagon policy and military pay levels. After months of delay, House and Senate leaders agreed last week to rush approval of the National Defense Authorization Act to ensure that military paychecks would be distributed on time in the new year. The measure authorizes about $552 billion in defense spending and $81 billion for overseas operations, including the ongoing drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The legislation also authorizes a 1 percent pay increase for service members and sets other combat pay and benefits. The bill seeks once again to block the Obama administration from transferring terrorism suspects to the United States from the detention facility


holds the key to self management.” But that’s the same as writing that self-management is the key to self-management. His “look, this part of the brain is lighting up” approach to explaining human behavior can at times be just crude. It often adds little or no value. ‘FOCUS: The Hidden Driver of Excellence’ by Daniel Goleman (HarperCollins) Goleman keeps returning to brain circuits to make the point that we don’t have a natural ability to stay focused on complex systems and long-term problems. That’s why, he says, folks don’t want to think about the effects of climate change or overpopulation. But why is saying “it’s our brains” a better explanation than saying that people don’t often think about the long term because that makes it harder to think about the short term? Anxiety over punishment, Goleman writes, “actually hampers the child’s prefrontal cortex while he is trying to concentrate and learn,” as if it’s the cortex and not the child that is doing the trying. Why not just say that anxiety hampers the child? Be that as it may, the book has many interesting points to make about the relationships among focus, empathy, learning and even leadership. Goleman writes about cognitive and emotional empathy, the former as seeing things from another person’s perspective, and the latter as a feeling of compassion and attachment for another. He associates the intellectual aspects of empathy with the highly developed parts of the brain, while the emotional aspects are tied to the deep, primitive brain. Whether this localization of functions helps us understand fellow feeling or not, Goleman’s main point is crucial: “Empathy depends on a muscle of attention.” Exercising this muscle requires self-awareness: “We read other people by tuning in to ourselves.” So self-awareness helps expand our capacity to be aware of the perspectives, experiences and feelings of others. And this is where Goleman is at his best, describing techniques that expand our comprehension of ourselves and others. Positive reinforcement tends to work better than dire warnings of disaster. For example, there are Web-based apps, such as Handprinter, that emphasize what we can do about climate change, rather than just reminding us how dire the situation is. In schools, there are smart modes of practicing that increase a child’s ability to learn, combining mindfulness and emotional intelligence training with traditional academic subjects. Here the neuroscience does seem to make the presentation more compelling.


No names added to blacklist of Russian officials

estimate of when any names might be added. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the omission of new names “a strange decision” and demanded an explanation in a letter to Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Friday. The new report comes at a delicate time. The United States and Russia are partners in fragile diplomatic gambits involving the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons and the temporary freezing of Iran’s nuclear program. There is already friction between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s housing of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and over American suggestions that Russia is forcing its will on neighboring Ukraine. “We have a multifaceted relationship with Russia that involves important cooperation in areas of mutual interest,” Corker wrote. “I understand the administration may be concerned that an expansion of the Magnitsky list could undermine that cooperation,” but that doesn’t change the fact that the law was passed and must be followed, Corker concluded. The administration opposed the sanctions review backed by a bipartisan slate of human rights advocates in Congress but went along with it as part of a larger legislative bargain a year ago. Infuriated, Russia retaliated with sanctions of its own and a ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian children. Russian lawmakers described the U.S. legislation as interference in its internal affairs. “The lack of new names on the list is very disappointing,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass), a sponsor of the Magnitsky law. “I am looking forward to the day when the Magnitsky law will become obsolete because the climate of impunity no longer prevails inside Russia. But today is not that day.” The Obama administration insists it maintains pressure on Russia to improve human rights and answer questions about Magnitsky’s death. The White House announced this week that the U.S. delegation to the February Olympics in Sochi, Russia, will include no high-ranking officials but will include several openly gay athletes and activists. The snub’s connection to recent anti-gay laws in Russia was obvious. “I think the delegation speaks for itself,” President Obama said at a news conference Friday. “We judge people on how they perform, both on the court and off the court, on the field and off the field. And that’s a value that I think is at the heart of not just America but American sports.” Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.


There is a price to cross China’s borders

a price. After student demonstrations for democracy ended in massacre in Beijing on June 4, 1989, several dozen student leaders, intellectuals and government advisers wanted for arrest fled to the West. As years passed, many wanted to go home, often to see aging parents. Wu’er Kaixi, a student leader at Tiananmen Square, became so desperate to see his parents before they died that he flew to Hong Kong last month and gave himself up. He was willing to risk prison. But his plan did not have the expected outcome: Hong Kong authorities, evidently on instructions from Beijing, barred him. Article 13 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” Not Chinese people. In other cases reentry has been permitted, but there is always a toll. Chen Yizi, formerly a top adviser to the disgraced leader Zhao Ziyang, was allowed to return for his father’s funeral on the condition that he say nothing and leave quickly. Su Xiaokang, a distinguished journalist, was allowed into China for his father’s funeral but was not allowed to speak at it, send a wreath or even to attend. He was permitted to see the body only when no one else was there. One Tiananmen activist who became a reporter for a U.S. news organization was allowed home, provided that plainclothes police accompany her everywhere and that she keep the trip secret. Su Shaozhi, who had been director of Beijing’s Marxism-Leninism Research Institute when he fled in 1989 — the Chinese government doesn’t like serious political thinkers of any kind — grew old in the United States and negotiated the right to return, provided he keep quiet. Most poignant, perhaps, is the case of Liu Binyan, whose exposés of corruption made him probably China’s most beloved writer as of 1985. Expelled from the Communist Party in 1987 and exiled in 1988, Liu died in New Jersey in 2005. Chinese consular officials in New York had, While certain Chinese are barred from entering China, far more are prevented, on political grounds, from leaving. Wu’er Kaixi was desperate to enter China because his parents could not get passports to leave. Passport denial is the most common way for the government to block exit, but there are others: Every year the United Nations sponsors workshops in human rights principles, and


A Russian human rights victory that shouldn't be the last

step — though, as the human rights group Freedom House pointed out, Mr. Khodorkovsky never should have been jailed in the first place, much less confined for a decade to a Soviet-style penal colony. At the time of his arrest in 2003, Mr. Khodorkovsky was attempting to turn his Yukos oil company into the first major Russian corporation to adopt Western standards of transparency, and he was nourishing moderate opposition parties and civil-society groups. Mr. Putin’s response was to prosecute the magnate on trumped-up charges and to confiscate his company. When Mr. Khodorkovsky’s sentence ended three years ago, he was subjected to a new and even more Orwellian prosecution. The release of the prisoners reflects not only Mr. Putin’s anxiety about Sochi but also his strutting confidence that he has succeeded in crushing his opposition. Eighteen months of relentless repression have silenced a broad opposition movement and driven many of its members out of the country. Meanwhile, Mr. Putin has used a toxic campaign against gay rights to position Russia as a conservative power that stands against “so-called tolerance, genderless and infertile,” as he put it in a recent speech. Until this week, the Obama administration had barely reacted to these offenses. So it must have been a shock to Mr. Putin when the White House, to its credit, announced that the U.S. delegation to Sochi would not be led by Mr. Obama or Vice President Biden but would include tennis legend Billie Jean King, a lesbian. More pressure on human rights might do still more good, particularly before the Olympics. But the Obama administration is still pulling its punches. This week it was due to report to Congress on the implementation of the Magnitsky Act, which sanctions Russian human rights abusers by withholding U.S. visas and freezing their assets. Administration officials told Congress that they were preparing to add up to 20 officials to the sanctions list, but when the report was issued Friday none was named. A White House spokesperson told us that “the administration is determined to fully implement the Act by making further designations as appropriate.” If that’s the case, why not issue the list already prepared by the State and Treasury departments? Read more on this issue: The Post’s View: Mr. Putin’s czarist courts The Post's View: A Russian farce over a punk rock band Fred Hiatt: Obama’s broken commitment to human rights in Russia


Israel says it won’t forcibly deport illegal African migrants, but it wants them to leave

who would like to move here, providing generous subsidies and language training to ease their way. Israel absorbed tens of thousands of Jews from Ethiopia over the past three decades, spending billions to integrate people who had been living an agrarian lifestyle into this fast-paced, high-tech society. But the Africans who have poured into Israel in recent years are Muslim and Christian. They arrived in a land already engulfed in a struggle between two peoples, Arabs and Jews. Israel is especially attractive to migrants from Eritrea, Sudan and other African countries, officials here say, because Israel is the only Western-style democracy with a thriving economy that Africans can reach on foot. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the influx could imperil Israel’s ability to remain both a Jewish and a democratic state. “There are currently around 30 million people moving around Africa, people who have left their home countries and are looking for a place to be,” Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar said at a hearing in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. “We can all understand that pressure, but if we are too liberal, then we will lose the country. We will lose the only Jewish country that exists.” Legislation that would have allowed illegal migrants to be held up to three years in detention centers was struck down in September by Israel’s Supreme Court. In response, lawmakers this month passed a law that calls for one-year detentions in the open facilities and other punitive measures. It, too, is being challenged in court. The cabinet also approved increasing, from $1,500 to $3,500, what Israel is willing to pay illegal migrants who leave voluntarily. But it is not clear where the migrants should go. The government is seeking third-party countries in Africa to accept them, and negotiations with Uganda are ongoing, according to Israeli news media. The Israeli government has not explained exactly who will be sent to the new facility in Ktsiot, except to say its first residents will be men who have been in Israel in the longest. Critics say that a facility designed to hold fewer than 10 percent of the illegal migrants already here will not solve the problem. Supporters say it is a first phase, a necessary deterrent that will show the Africans there is no permanent home for them in Israel. Several hundred of the first migrants sent to the facility have fled, marching across the


George F. Will: The fusion in our future

PRINCETON, N.J. In a scientific complex on 88 bucolic acres near here, some astonishingly talented people are advancing a decades-long project to create a sun on Earth. When — not if; when — decades hence they and collaborators around the world succeed, their achievement will be more transformative of human life than any prior scientific achievement. The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory’s (PPPL) focus — magnetic fusion research — began at the university in 1951. It was grounded in the earlier work of a European scientist then living in Princeton. Einstein’s theory that mass could be converted into energy had been demonstrated six years earlier near Alamogordo, N.M., by fission — the splitting of atoms, which released the energy that held the atoms together. By the 1950s, however, attention was turning to an unimaginably more promising method of releasing energy from transforming matter — the way the sun does, by fusion. Every second The sun is a huge sphere of plasma, which is a hot, electrically charged gas. The production and confinement of plasma in laboratories is now routine. The task now is to solve the problem of “net energy” — producing more electrical power than is required for the production of it. Magnets produce a field sufficient to prevent particles heated beyond the sun’s temperature — more than 100 million degrees Celsius — from hitting the walls of the containment vessel. Understanding plasma’s behavior requires the assistance of Titan, one of the world’s fastest computers, which is located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and can perform more than 17 quadrillion — a million billion — calculations a second. As in today’s coal-fired power plants, the ultimate object is heat — to turn water into steam that drives generators. Fusion, however, produces no greenhouse gases, no long-lived nuclear waste and no risk of the sort of runaway reaction that occurred at Fukushima. Fusion research here and elsewhere is supported by nations with half the world’s population — China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the European Union. The current domestic spending pace would cost $2.5 billion over 10 years — about one-thirtieth of what may be squandered in California on a 19th-century technology (a train). By one estimate, to bring about a working fusion reactor in 20 years would cost $30 billion — approximately the cost of one week of U.S. energy consumption. Given the societal will, commercially feasible


Storm brings wintry and spring weather; Target shoppers face lower cash limits

is just 35 miles southwest of Memphis. And David Cox, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Jackson, Miss., said a second suspected tornado touched down near Dermott in far southeastern Arkansas, injuring two people and damaging about 20 homes. In the upper Midwest, forecasters were expecting 6-8 inches of snow north and west of Chicago and in Wisconsin. It was already bringing significant ice accumulations to Oklahoma, southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, splitting trees and snapping power lines. That was expected to change over to snow by Saturday night. Northern New England was bracing for an ice storm Saturday night and into Sunday that forecasters said could bring more than a half-inch of ice to parts Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, which would make roads treacherous and cause widespread power outages. The weather service issued a flash flood watch from Arkansas northeastward through parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, with up to 4 inches of rain projected. — Associated Press NEW YORK Target shoppers face lower cash limits At least 2 million shoppers who used bank debit cards at Target stores during its recent data breach are facing lower limits on how much cash they can take out of teller machines and spend at stores. JPMorgan Chase said Saturday it is notifying customers who used Chase-brand debit cards at Target from Nov. 27 through Dec. 15 that they are limited to $100 a day of cash withdrawals and $300 a day of purchases with their cards. The new limit effects roughly 2 million accounts, or 10 percent of Chase debit cards, according to a spokeswoman for Chase, the consumer banking business of JPMorgan, the biggest U.S. bank by assets. Chase said it acted as a precaution to prevent criminals from taking money from customer accounts. Chase and other banks say they will cover unauthorized transactions that customers report. Representatives of other major banks, including Bank of America and Citigroup, said Saturday their institutions had taken steps to protect accounts, but none of the banks described specific actions that were as broadly limiting to card holders as those of Chase. A Target spokeswoman said that for the debit card called Redcard that it issues, the company has activated a “deeper fraud monitoring protocol.” She did not describe the new steps. — Reuters Confusion in Utah after same-sex marriage ruling: Denver student shot by classmate dies: — From news services


Shooting leaves one dead, one injured in NE Washington

One man died and another man was injured from gunshot wounds early Sunday morning in Northeast Washington, according to D.C. police. Police responded to reports of gunshots at 4:13 a.m. on the 1300 block of Saratoga Avenue NE, near Rhode Island Avenue. The two men were transported to a local hospital, where 24 year-old Michael Davis of Northeast was pronounced dead, said Officer Paul Metcalf, a police spokesman. The other man, who was not identified, was treated for non-life threatening injuries, he said. Police are investigating the shooting as a homicide. They are asking anyone with information about the crime to call the police at (202) 727-9099 or send an anonymous message to the department’s “text tip line” by text messaging 50411. The department offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone that provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of people involved in homicides within the District. Get updates on your area delivered via e-mail.


Federal agencies to hire more cyber defenders in 2014

deficits, legislative impasse and sequestration, all signs point to fiscal constraints in 2014. But while some agencies may see staffing reductions to cut costs, one area of federal growth is cybersecurity. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security — charged with protecting the federal civilian “.gov” domain — can’t seem to hire quickly enough, as illustrated by some recent legislation. The latest proposed amendment to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 would require the DHS secretary to regularly assess the readiness and capacity of the agency’s cyber workforce to meet its cybersecurity mission and develop a comprehensive strategy to enhance readiness, capacity, training, recruitment and retention of the cyber workforce, including a five-year recruitment plan and 10-year projection of workforce needs. By contrast, the Pentagon seems to be having more success staffing the U.S. Cyber Command and uniformed services cyber commands, primarily because they can commandeer uniformed personnel. The Army is building a new cyber command center at Fort Meade to eventually house 1,500, leading a worldwide cyber corps of 21,000 soldiers and civilians. By 2017, the Air Force will add more than 1,000 uniformed cyber forces to its 6,000 experts now working at the Air Force Space Command. The Navy had 800 cybersecurity staffers in 2013 and will reach nearly 1,000 by 2017, working toward a mix of 80 percent uniformed personnel and 20 percent civilian employees and contractors. The Marines currently have 300 uniformed personnel, civilians and contractors at work, and plan to increase that number to just under 1,000 by 2017. The Department of Homeland Security’s challenges in recruiting and retaining cybersecurity personnel are not breaking news. Even with multiple agency efforts to improve recruitment and retention, the Government Accountability Office reported this year that over 20 percent of the cybersecurity positions are vacant at the National Protection and Programs Directorate, the primary DHS cyber-division. Agencies beyond DHS have also continued to supplement their internal workforces with contracted personnel. Office of Management and Budget reports show that up to 90 percent of federal IT security spending is on personnel costs, so beefing up the cyber ranks will add costs. However, given the demand for an improved national cybersecurity posture, cyber spending will likely continue to buck the belt-tightening trend. John Slye is an advisory research analyst in federal industry analysis at Herndon-based Deltek, which conducts research on the government contracting market and can be found at www.deltek.com.


Fresh & Green’s stores to close this month

statement. “We’ve reached the point at which continuing to operate these stores does not make financial sense for the company.” The six locations, formerly SuperFresh stores owned by A&P, were bought by Toronto-based private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group in bankruptcy proceedings in 2011. In the two years since, Fresh & Green’s stores have languished, failing to turn a profit, according to industry experts. “It was a doomed experiment from the start,” said Jeffrey Metzger, publisher of Food World, a trade publication based in Columbia. Catalyst Capital “bought substandard stores that were significantly underperforming and unprofitable. And they spent absolutely no money improving them.” Other SuperFresh stores — those purchased by Village ShopRite and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy at the same time — were renovated and updated, making them more viable in today’s market, Metzger said. “Every other retailer freshened the stores and put significant capital investments into them,” he added. “Fresh & Green’s chose to do the opposite, and the results have been pitiful.” The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents Fresh & Green’s employees, declined to comment for the story. On a recent Friday, days before the store was to close (although employees said they were not exactly sure when that would be), the shelves of the Fresh & Green’s in American University Park were largely empty. Signs advertised 30 percent off bottles of water and jars of spaghetti sauce. Apple pies had been marked down to $1.99. A handful of local residents walked through the aisles, stocking up on discounted goods. Myron Norquist said he had been shopping at the store since 1970, when he first moved into the neighborhood. “I’m very sad and somewhat puzzled,” Norquist said of the closing. “I’ll especially miss their bargains on wine.” Longtime shoppers stopped to chat with employees, asking them what the future would hold. For Barrington Marsh, 60, who has been working in the store’s seafood department for 15 years, the closing raises more questions than it answers. “How am I going to have something to eat? How am I going to pay all of my bills?” he said as he stocked bottles during his last day of work Dec. 13. “It’s a terrible, terrible time, right before Christmas,” the 60-year-old said. “I don’t know how I’m going to get another job right now.” 240 employees will lose their jobs when Fresh & Green’s closes this year.


EPA’s system of tracking pesticides harmful to honeybees, critics say

said Alfredo Gomez, director of the GAO’s natural resources and environment division. As a result, the GAO found that the EPA is unable to provide accurate information on the number of conditionally registered products. (The NRDC and the EPA have said that about two-thirds of pesticides are conditionally registered, although the flawed record keeping makes it difficult to confirm that number.) In response to the most recent GAO report, the EPA has again promised to better track conditional registrations. But experts at top environmental watchdog groups say they are worried about the EPA’s ability to follow through on those promises, and they also believe that the EPA has overused conditional registration altogether in approving pesticides. When questioned about conditional registration, the EPA said that its internal 2012 analysis “did not show the agency’s past use of conditional registrations was inappropriate,” only that its “tracking system was inefficient and confusing.” Environmental advocates aren’t convinced, especially in light of the honeybee crisis, termed colony collapse disorder. In 2003, Bayer CropScience received conditional registration for clothianidin, a type of neonicotinoid. Neonicotinoids are insecticides that target the central nervous system in insects; they were introduced as an alternative to other pesticides that are more toxic to humans and wildlife, according to the EPA. Bayer followed up with more data in 2007 about how clothianidin affects pollinators — three years late, according to the NRDC. EPA reviewers determined that Bayer’s study had structural flaws but classified it as “supplemental,” meaning they thought it provided some scientifically sound information but did not follow testing protocol, according to a 2011 letter posted on the EPA’s Web site from the director of the Office of Pesticide Programs, which responds to concerns about clothianidin. Still, clothianidin was switched to full registration in 2010. “The EPA is not aware of any data demonstrating that bee colonies are subject to elevated losses due to long-term exposure to this compound,” the agency says on its Web site. The USDA said that the science on colony collapse disorder is unclear and could be because of several factors, and that neonicotinoids are only one possibility. It said that the students who “reported a negative impact on honeybees by neonicotinoids relied on large, unrealistic doses and gave bees no other choice for pollen, and therefore did not reflect risk to honeybees under real-world conditions. “ In a statement, Bayer said: “There has been no demonstrated


A popular wild Christmas tree, Canaan fir, is imperiled because of a ravenous bug

Balsam and Hemlock Woolly Adelgid are killing wild Christmas trees in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Mountains. Lush evergreens morph into frail, barren trees as the invasive insects asexually reproduce along the needles and suck the fir dry. Park rangers are releasing biological controls in the form of predator beetles who eat the eggs of the tiny pests. In West Virginia’s scenic Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, with its gently sloping mountains and emerald acres of timber, Mike Powell relishes the perks of his job as a caretaker of the land: the sounds of a gurgling stream and the fresh pine scent of evergreens. But one sight deeply troubles him — the haggard look of the valley’s fabled Christmas trees. Some are bent like old men. The eye-popping green hue that makes people want to adorn them with ornaments had yellowed. A few were covered with hideous waxy balls, a telltale sign that they were under siege by the balsam woolly adelgid, a tiny insect with a notorious reputation among entomologists, who call it “the bug that ate Christmas.” Along the southern Appalachian range, they are eating two of the nation’s most popular wild Christmas trees — Canaan and Fraser firs — to death. People who buy Christmas trees at farms need not worry. Farmers who grow Christmas trees control the pest with a potent and costly insecticide, two-man crews spraying one to two acres a day. They work with agricultural extension agents to develop the most efficient pest management strategy because, said Rick Dungey of the National Christmas Tree Association, “it’s very expensive.” But there’s no stopping adelgids in the wild, where applying chemicals might take out far more organisms than the target. Dead Fraser Firs cover the mountain faces near Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tenn. The Firs are being decimated by the Balsam Woolly Adelgid, a nonnative species. (Travis Long/The News & Observer) “We’ve seen a tremendous decline” in the Canaan fir in its native area, said Powell, who manages a tract of woods for the Nature Conservancy. “We’re concerned that it’ll decline to the point that you’ll only see it on tree farms. These trees will survive on tree farms, but in the wild . . . we could lose that tree.” Fraser firs, North Carolina’s best-selling Christmas tree, have been all but wiped out on Mount


Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of AK-47, dies at 94

worked. Jim Supica, director of the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax County, called Mr. Kalashnikov a “giant of firearms design. Kalashnikov’s genius was in designing a military rifle that was cheap to manufacture, rugged and reliable.” Mr. Kalashnikov headed the design team that produced the AK-47 — standing for automatic by Kalashnikov, model of 1947 — as the assault rifle for the newly retitled Soviet Army. It went into service two years later and then was provided to the Soviet Union’s allies and clients, as well as many other countries Moscow was trying to influence during the Cold War and after. A totemic weapon The AK first went into action to put down East Berlin riots in 1953 and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Egyptian soldiers used it to assassinate President Anwar Sadat in 1981. Troops on both sides in the Iran-Iraq war carried it. The al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden used a modernized one as a prop in his recruiting videos. From its earliest days, the Kalashnikov has been judged a superior weapon because of its simplicity and reliability. In a compact, 10-pound package, a single fighter holds the fully automatic firepower of a machine gun. It has only eight moving parts, can be broken down and reassembled in 30 seconds and will fire when very dirty. During the war in Vietnam, the rifle was used by the North Vietnamese army, Viet Cong insurgents and, sometimes, U.S. forces. Marines would often put down their standard-issue M-16s and pick up AK-47s from fallen North Vietnamese soldiers because they found the AK to be more reliable. Over the years, two dozen nations have produced the rifle, including Warsaw Pact members, China, North Korea, Egypt, Iraq and Finland. Before his death in 2013, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was planning to open a factory to manufacture the gun, and the AK is wielded in battle today by al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Taliban in Afghanistan and anti-government rebels in Syria. No exact count is possible, but experts think there are about 100 million AKs, modernizations and derivatives around the world, with as many as 1 million more being made each year. In the United States, the AK and all other fully automatic weapons are illegal for most civilians. As a weapon designed for military use, an authentic AK can be switched between automatic and single-shot modes with the flip of a lever. The


Kohl’s offers round-the-clock shopping in dash to boost a tepid holiday season

came in at 11 [p.m.], it was busy. But now everybody has gone home.” Kohl’s, founded in 1962 in Menomonee Falls, Wis., has carved out a niche catering to Middle America. The company expanded rapidly during the early 2000s, opening more than 700 stores in 10 years and forging partnerships with designers such as Vera Wang and Dana Buchman. Many of its stores were built in new strip malls that attract young crowds. But eventually the pace of store openings slowed, and customers grew tired of the growing number of private brands by the likes of reality TV personality Lauren Conrad and Food Network chef Bobby Flay. (The company is rethinking its approach and plans to add more national brands, such as Juicy Couture and IZOD, to its mix next year.) “The problem is, once you [tick] people off, it’s hard to get them back,” Swinand said. “The only thing saving them now is that Sears and J.C. Penney are on the same boat.” Sears and J.C. Penney, among Kohl’s largest competitors, posted more than $1 billion in combined losses during the third quarter. Revenue, meanwhile, fell 6.6 percent at Sears and 5.12 percent at J.C. Penney during that period. “Kohl’s and its competitors have certainly had a less-than-robust year, and the economy has got to be the bugaboo,” said John Collopy, a retail analyst for the brokerage firm Carl M. Hennig. Analysts say it is too soon to tell whether the strategy employed by Kohl’s will pay off, and a company spokesman declined to comment. Even if Kohl’s racks up healthy sales in the middle of the night, the cost of keeping its stores open could cut into its profit margin. But Hank and Kay Griffith aren’t complaining. The couple said they knocked out all of their Christmas shopping early Sunday.They left their Olney home at 2:30 a.m., stopped at a Toys R Us — where they were the only shoppers — and then spent three hours at Kohl’s. “It’s the perfect time to shop. There’s nobody here,” Hank said as they entered the Aspen Hill store at 4:45 a.m. By the time the Griffiths left with a dozen gifts in tow, Hank said he had seen only two, maybe three, other shoppers. “We accomplished everything we needed to,” he said. “And we were back home in time for breakfast.” Related: Last-second gifts: Forget someone? The Internet can help.


The Internet of beer: new venture senses how much is left in a keg

In technologists’ vision of the Internet of Things, every day objects, appliances, and mobile devices are connected through a wireless network. A new venture is trying to add beer kegs to that network. SteadyServ Backed by about $6.5 million in early-stage funding from investors mostly in the Midwest, iKeg aims to help bars manage beer supply, said Patrick Stewart, SteadyServ’s director of support services. Often bartenders check inventory by shaking kegs, which weigh about 170 pounds, he said. Without a precise record, they request too few kegs of popular beers and too many of unpopular ones from distributors. Ryan Kellerman, director of beverage hospitality at Scotty’s Brewhouse, a chain of bar-restaurants in Indiana, has been testing iKeg for about a month. “When I pick up a keg and I say ‘oh, that’s 70 percent full,’ but you might think it’s 50 percent full. There’s a lot of room for error,” he said. When the app notifies him he’s running out, Kellerman is quick to order new inventory from distributors in between delivery days. “Since the system has been in place, we’ve been able to pinpoint what products are moving. . .Before we always had an idea, but we weren’t sure.” The system would be more useful if it integrated with the restaurant’s point-of-sale system, Kellerman added — a feature SteadyServ is developing. “[If a] keg has 124 pints of beer, and that keg’s gone and I only sold 100, I’m going to be able to pinpoint those issues. In our business you’re going to have some theft, but it’s probably bad pouring by the bartenders, or the draft system the pressure’s too high, or too much foam.”


DC Noodles: Back, and bigger than ever

A menu standout: DC Noodles’ steamed buns stuffed with spiced beef and fiery wasabi cream. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) If any good comes from closing your business so a developer can do its thing, it’s the chance for an operator to rethink his brand. Just ask Sak Pollert. He’s the owner of DC Noodles, which closed in July 2012 in anticipation of the nine-story mix of residences and retail stores called Louis at 14th. The restaurateur’s Asian draw reopened just after Thanksgiving this year. The cartoon mural that used to greet diners as they entered DC Noodles? It’s been painted over. Meanwhile, some whimsical new art reveals Pollert’s inner Martha Stewart. What appear to be a flock of black birds near the entrance are actually clusters of metal candle holders; five little rock climbers ascending a rear wall turn out to be sculptures picked up in Thailand. DC Noodles also got bigger in the transition. Pollert closed his adjoining boutique and transformed the 600-square-foot space into a 28-seat dining room. Dig the acid-washed steel tables inside. Dig (some of) the food, too. Of the fresh ideas on the still-brief menu, I particularly like the steamed buns stuffed with spiced beef and moistened with wasabi cream, a nice interplay of soft textures and hot flavors. The pork buns, in contrast, prove dry. A noodle soup based on a rousing ginger broth, with beef and rice vermicelli in the mix, warmed up a recent cold day. Hangers-on from the original menu, executed by chef Ztang Ruangsangwatana, include decent chicken satay, flaky pumpkin empanadas and gently zesty Burmese curry noodles bolstered with a choice of meat, chicken, seafood or tofu. (Avoid the option of tired shrimp.) Neighbors can enjoy DC Noodles from the comfort of home: As before, the restaurant delivers daily, from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., with a minimum $17 purchase. 1412 U St. NW. 202-232-8424. dcnoodles.com. Dinner entrees, $12 to $17. More from Food: First Bite Other Tom Sietsema reviews/Ask Tom Smoke Signals Spirits Column Beer Column


Tom Sietsema: Dedicate yourself to being a better diner in 2014

food lovers on Capitol Hill, home to the creative American cooking of chef Aaron Silverman at Rose’s Luxury (717 Eighth St. SE; 202-580-8889) and the Capitol Riverfront, host to a menu of housemade pastas in a rustic setting at Osteria Morini (301 Water St. SE; 202-484-0660). Shaw has witnessed an uptick in dining adventures, too. Veteran Washington chef Ron Tanaka puts a sublime spin on even comfort food at Thally (1316 Ninth St. NW; 202-733-3849), where one of the most popular dishes is braised rabbit with buttermilk dumplings, a composition lightened with celery leaves. REVISIT A VETERAN A lot of restaurant-goers chase the new at the expense of the old, sometimes for no other reason than bragging rights on Yelp. I was reminded of the folly of that strategy after dropping by New Heights (2317 Calvert St. NW; 202-234-4110) in Woodley Park recently. Twenty-eight years after it set sail, the second-story retreat remains in the gracious hands of owner Umbi Singh and his wife, Kavita. Takeshi Nishikawa, a former sous-chef at Volt in Frederick, is the most recent in a long line of talented chefs at New Heights. His best dishes nod to his Japanese heritage or personalize a classic: roasted prawns with pickled sea beans on soft polenta, and gremolata-charged veal osso bucco. (The tender meat is set on a potato puree using butter fragrant with hickory smoke.) Gingerbread cake with eggnog ice cream captures the holiday season in every bite; a warm goblet of rye-based gin — you read that right — plus apple cider, Aperol and sweet spices sings the praises of bar maven Nicole Hassoun in the ground-floor Gin Joint. Just ask for her “Flume” ($13), named for an electronic music artist. GET DESSERT Show the folks who sweeten our lives some love. Blue Duck Tavern (1201 24th St. NW; 202-419-6755) features a new pastry chef, and Naomi Gallego says she’s drawing on “feelings of nostalgia and familiarity” for inspiration with confections such as milk chocolate s’mores and a root cake sundae that pairs carrot-sweet potato cake with pineapple-ginger compote and caramel foam. I’m saving the best for last. Bowl of Cereal ($9) is a sophisticated twist on just what you think it is. Trembling panna cotta infused with toasted barley plays the role of the milk; clusters of malted milk crisps and actual Cheerios are bonded with caramelized white chocolate from Valrhona; caramel-cinnamon foam smacks


Man arrested in May fatal shooting near Petworth

A 41-year-old man was arrested Tuesday and charged in the May fatal shooting of a Takoma Park resident who was found wounded near the Petworth neighborhood of Northwest Washington, according to D.C. police. Roger St. John, of Northeast Washington,was charged with first-degree murder while armed. Police said he was arrested by members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force. Police said the victim, Rhett Gelb, 22, was found shot about 7:50 p.m. on May 27 in the first block of Hamilton Street NW. He died at an area hospital on May 29. Authorities did not describe a motive for the crime. Get updates on your area delivered via e-mail


Communist Party feeling uneasy about Mao ahead of his birthday celebrations

Bao Tong — a former aide to party leader Zhao Ziyang, who was purged during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown — penned a scathing editorial Monday decrying the creation of a false “myth of Mao” that “still haunts China today.” In his essay, Bao described Mao as a megalomaniac who sold Chinese workers on a pipe dream of equality, sacrificed millions in pursuit of vanity and ruthlessly killed all rivals. In a phone interview from his Beijing home, where he is under house arrest, Bao said he had his essay smuggled out to Radio Free Asia because he believes that how China thinks of Mao has a huge effect on its present and future. “China cannot turn a blind eye to these facts,” he said. Evolving official views Outspoken criticism of Mao remains rare in the party. But official assessments have slowly evolved. An editorial As a result, many officials this year are carefully taking their cues from China’s new top leader, President Xi Jinping. Xi’s term began last year with Maoists secretly hopeful that he shared their views. But Xi has since proved more complex and pragmatic than leftists or liberals would prefer. His actions have appeared driven not by ideology but by consolidation of power above all else, analysts and party officials say. Last month, on a visit to Mao’s home province of Hunan, Xi warned officials to tone down the Mao worship this year, calling for events that are “grand” but “simple and pragmatic.” While Xi’s message may have encouraged some to scale back their plans, local jurisdictions with historical ties to Mao have largely ignored it. Mao’s home town of Shaoshan has spent $320 million in preparation — renovating historical sites and museums, organizing galas, and building new roads and other infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pass through. Many hotels have been fully booked for days leading up to the anniversary. Merchants in town say they have stocked up on Mao tchotchkes of every kind — busts and statues, key rings, commemorative liquor, little red books of his sayings and photos from every phase of his life. Whatever else Mao may mean politically or ideologically these days, at least for a week, those in the industry hope that interest in the founder of China’s socialist state will translate into little mountains of cash. Liu Liu and Chen Guo contributed to this report.


After Bethesda boy is diagnosed with dopa-responsive dystonia, a doctor lifts him up

to make smooth, graded motions. “The response to replacement with L-dopa is so remarkably gratifying,” Dr. Lavenstein said. It worked for Colton. He still faced other challenges. He often had difficulty breathing, a condition Heather said might have been related to his dystonia. A brain cyst has needed constant monitoring. Colton also had the dubious distinction a few years ago of being one of the first area cases of the H1N1 flu virus. Because of his health problems, Colton wound up missing almost the entire third grade. But he has improved every year since then, able, as he grows, to take larger doses of L-dopa. He hasn’t had to go to the emergency room in 18 months, Heather said, rapping on the wooden table with her knuckles. “I used to call the ambulance like other people called for pizza delivery,” she said with a laugh. Contrary to the dire prognosis, Colton walks. He talks. He goes to a normal school. And he has a brother, 8-year-old Connor. “They’re inseparable,” Heather said. “He really helped Colton move up in his milestones. They learned how to ride a bike together. They learned how to swim together. They’re like twins.” Through it all, Colton has been remarkably stoic. In fact, Heather said, he came to love going to Children’s National, where he could pick the flavor of his anesthesia. (Chocolate was his favorite.) “Colton is fearless, even from a tiny little kid standpoint,” Heather said. “It didn’t matter how many times he would fall, he would get up and try again.” Helping Children’s Doctors who try again is what all parents want for their children. That’s what we have at Children’s National. By participating in our annual fundraising drive, you can help ensure that same high level of care for even the poorest kids in our community. To make a tax-deductible gift, visit childrensnational.org/washingtonpost or send a check (payable to “Children’s National”) to Washington Post Giving Campaign, c/o Children’s Hospital Foundation, 801 Roeder Rd., Suite 650, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Our deadline is Jan. 10. Your gift today can make the difference in the life of a child. Corked One of my false answers in Wednesday’s column was doubly false. The winery owned by Tareq Salahi was the Oasis Winery, not the Tarara Winery. Leesburg’s Tarara makes an award-winning assortment of varietals and blends, overseen by Jordan Harris. For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.


Local digest: Unidentified body found in educational complex

DISTRICT Unidentified body found in NW D.C. police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found Monday morning outside the Columbia Heights educational campus, a complex in Northwest Washington that includes a middle school and a high school. The school was closed for winter break on the day the body was found about 9 a.m. Police have not yet released a name or approximate age for the man, but said he appeared to have been homeless. The body was found in the 3100 block of 16th Street NW. There was no apparent cause of death or visible trauma, police said. Officials are awaiting a ruling on a cause of death from the D.C. medical examiner’s office. — Peter Hermann Woman critically injured in NW fire A woman was critically injured in a fire that broke out early Wednesday in her apartment in Northwest Washington’s Cleveland Park neighborhood, the D.C. fire department said. The victim was taken to George Washington University Hospital in critical condition, said spokesman Tim Wilson. An update on her condition was not available Wednesday afternoon. The fire was reported about 2:30 a.m. on the third floor of a five-story apartment building in the 3600 block of Connecticut Avenue NW, near the Cleveland Park Metro station. Wilson said the fire was quickly extinguished. A cause has not been determined. Walker finds body near Anacostia River A person walking in Anacostia Park on Wednesday found a dead body lying in the grass between the 11th Street Bridge and Pennsylvania Avenue SE, U.S. Park Police said. The man’s body was found about 3 p.m., said U.S. Park Police Sgt. Lelani Woods, a department spokeswoman. She said the unidentified body was of a clothed adult male. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Woods said D.C. police homicide detectives were also involved in the investigation, in case the medical examiner rules that the death occurred as a result of a criminal act. D.C. police investigate all homicides and suspicious deaths in the District, even those on federal property. The body was located just off Anacostia Drive, which runs along the Anacostia River. — Peter Hermann MARYLAND Man burned in fire in Silver Spring home A man was burned in a Christmas morning fire that heavily damaged a split-level home in Silver Spring, the Montgomery County fire department said. Five additional people were displaced by the fire, which caused


Area scientists speak out on issues of cosmic importance

detector, known as IceCube. Made of a cubic kilometer of ice, it was intended to detect what had heretofore been all but undetectable. Conventional telescopes gather light from far-off objects to provide information about the structure and behavior of the universe. But scientists think that neutrinos can provide their own information, as well as answer questions that are not easily addressed by optical telescopes. “The sources of neutrinos, and the question of what could accelerate these particles, has been a mystery for more than 100 years. Now we have an instrument that can detect astrophysical neutrinos,” Sullivan said in a statement released by the university. “It’s working beautifully,” he said in the statement, “and we expect it to run for another 20 years.” Another statement, made this month by another College Park faculty member, touches on a finding about the characteristics of planets that circle suns other than our own. L. Drake Deming headed a study of the atmospheres of some of these planets. That study found something in those atmospheres that is similar to Earth’s atmosphere and congenial to life: “It is water,” Deming said. That conclusion came from signals arriving from beyond the solar system. Signs of water have previously been seen on a few planets that far away. But these recent findings are said to be a step beyond in their detail and conclusiveness. Evidence of the atmospheres of the remote planets is extremely difficult to gather. If signals are detected at all, they can be faint, degraded, ambiguous or otherwise uninformative. But through work on the atmospheres of five far-off planets, described in recent issues of the Astrophysical Journal, Deming said “we were able to pull out a very clear signal and it is water.” The lead author of one of the papers was Avi Mandell, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. “We’re very confident that we see a water signature for multiple planets,” Mandell said. The technique involves watching the planets as they pass in front of their suns. Scientists study the light from those suns that shines through the planets’ atmospheres. They compare that with the light that is seen directly through telescopes, and from that the scientists infer the nature of the gases in the planetary atmospheres. Another Washington area scientist spoke forcefully this month about a matter far from our world but nevertheless in our solar system:


Suspect arrested in beating death of Northwest Washington man

District police on Thursday arrested a man suspected in the beating death in September of a 24-year-old in the Brightwood Park neighborhood of Northwest Washington, according to authorities. Paul Jefferies, 20, of Northwest, was charged with second-degree murder while armed. Police said members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested the suspect on Thursday. He could make an initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Friday. Jeffries is charged with killing Awele Olisemeka, of Northwest. Police said the victim was found unconscious about 6:10 p.m. on Sept. 14 in the 900 block of Madison Street NW. Police said he had suffered multiple skull fractures and died two days later at a hospital. The medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide. Police did not provide information regarding a motive. More details are expected to emerge when the suspect appears in court and documents detailing the case are made public. Get updates on your area delivered via e-mail


For military, benefits and reform are challenge

a reason some retirees like to reside near military installations, officials say. Those who enroll in TRICARE insurance for private sector care can pick between two plans, paying $274 annually for an individual or $548 for the family for the standard plan, far below civilian insurance costs. Second careers The retirement system hasn’t been changed materially in more than 100 years and was designed when people didn’t live as long, second careers were rare and military pay was low. Many military retirees have second careers, collecting their pensions as well as income from their new jobs. And once past 62, they also benefit from Social Security payments, which they contributed to while in the military, and possibly 401(k) payments and company pensions. Critics say the potential of 40 years of pension payments and other benefits for 20 years of work is overly generous, but military retirees say they deserve it for taking risky jobs that the overwhelming majority of Americans don’t volunteer for. They also say the jobs are tough on them and their families. American Legion National Commander Daniel M. Dellinger said the group was “horrified” that the Senate could pass a bill “so unfair to those Americans who have served honorably in uniform.” The Veterans of Foreign Wars predicted the change would prompt an exodus of those at mid-career once the U.S. economy rebounds, and that it will hurt efforts to recruit new people into the all-volunteer force. Retirees argue that cutting troop benefits is the last thing that should be done — and some suggest efforts to curb personnel costs should first target what they see as bloated civilian staffs as well as redundant uniformed bureaucracy in which each service branch has its own medical command, cyber assets and intelligence assets — just to mention a few complaints. By passing the pension cut now, lawmakers jumped the gun on a review panel broadly studying modernization. The nine-member Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission was mandated in the last budget year to study the full breadth of issues including regular military pay, health care, the promotion system, retirement pay and family support programs. Ideas already floated for compensation changes include earlier vesting in pensions; giving troops a lump sum on departure rather than long-term pensions; slightly increasing health care premiums; and replacing pensions with a 401(k)-type saving plan, which would be offered, not forced on current members and


Regional news roundup: Suspect in fatal D.C. beating arrested; person killed in fire

The District Suspect arrested in man’s fatal beating D.C. police on Thursday arrested a man suspected in the September beating death of a 24-year-old man in the Brightwood Park neighborhood of Northwest Washington, according to authorities. Paul Jefferies, 20, of Northwest was charged with second-degree murder while armed. Police said members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested him Thursday. He could make an initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Friday. Jefferies is charged with killing Awele Olisemeka of Northwest. Police said Olisemeka was found unconscious about 6:10 p.m. Sept. 14 in the 900 block of Madison Street. Police said he had multiple skull fractures and died two days later at a hospital. The medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide. Police did not provide information regarding a suspected motive. — Peter Hermann One person dies in fire in Adams Morgan A person died Thursday afternoon in a fire in an apartment in Adams Morgan, according to the D.C. fire department. A spokesman, Tim Wilson, said the fire was reported about 1:50 p.m. and was confined to the basement of a house in the 1600 block of Beekman Place NW. He said the victim was pronounced dead in the house, which is divided into four apartments. The person’s name and age were not immediately released. Wilson said the fire was extinguished in about 20 minutes. The cause had not been determined. Beekman Place is on the southern edge of Adams Morgan, just west of Meridian Hill Park. — Peter Hermann VIRGINIA Woman hospitalized, pets killed in blaze A fire in a McLean home Thursday afternoon left an elderly woman in the hospital and six of her eight pets dead, officials said. The small house fire occurred about 12:30 p.m. in the 1900 block of Westmoreland Street, said Capt. William Moreland, a spokesman for the Fairfax County Fire Department. It was brought under control minutes after units from Fairfax and Arlington counties arrived at the scene, he said. The woman was taken to MedStar Washington Hospital Center with injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening, Moreland said. Firefighters were able to revive one dog and one cat, who were taken to an animal hospital for care. The cause of the fire is under investigation. — Rachel Weiner Hampton attorney to be Herring’s deputy Virginia Attorney General-elect Mark R. Herring (D) has chosen Hampton city attorney Cynthia


How to deal with those darned deer

George Wolske’s tongue-in-cheek Dec. 22 Local Opinions commentary, “Solving our deer problem the natural way,” suggested that we bring wolves or cougars back to the Washington region. But a close relative of the wolf — the eastern coyote — is already on the job. Coyotes in the east have some native wolf in their DNA. While those in the mid-Atlantic have fewer such genes than the ones in the Northeast, these animals still descend from the original eastern (not gray) wolf that lived in this region historically. People should welcome the presence of coyotes, which can prey heavily on fawns in spring. It would likely take them time to help reduce deer numbers, but they have one advantage over wolves and cougars: They are better at living near people. Appreciate wild neighbors, such as eastern coyotes, that are already here. They can do their ecological service in a park near you — and they can do it for free. And it is remarkably easy to coexist with these animals, simply by keeping cats inside and leashing dogs when they are outside. Jonathan Way, Barnstable, Mass. ● George Wolske listed three ways we can approach our problem with deer: Shoot them, sterilize them and leave them alone. I would like to add a fourth solution: Herd them together and preach to them about abstinence. We see how well that works on teenagers. Philip Schachter, Montgomery Village ● Fairfax City is going to tranquilize “all the female deer” in the city, transport them to a clinic, sterilize them and release them back into the city [“Fairfax City plans to surgically sterilize deer,” Metro, Dec. 21]? This is crazy. Wouldn’t a capture-and-release program, letting the deer go in the western part of Virginia, perhaps in a national park, be less expensive and more humane? Wayne Blincoe, Annandale ● I was very happy to read about Fairfax City’s plan to sterilize the female deer in their jurisdiction. Development and ever-increasing human density have forced deer into smaller areas of land. We have an ethical responsibility to find humane solutions to human-animal conflict. Someday we will look back and realize our violent and punitive treatment of animals was unnecessary, and we will wonder why we thought our behavior was justified. Jennie Gosche, Kensington


Relocation of Marine base on Okinawa wins local approval

This April 26, 2010, photo shows a U.S. Marines CH-46E helicopter taking off from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawaprefecture. Okinawan officials on Dec. 27, 2013, approved the long-stalled relocation of the controversial U.S. military base, a breakthrough that would remove a decades-long source of friction between Tokyo and Washington. (Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images) Japan won local approval Friday to begin the relocation of a controversial U.S. Marine base on the island of Okinawa, a move that officials in Washington hailed as a major diplomatic breakthrough. Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima signed off Friday morning on plans for landfill work that will allow the Futenma Air Station to be moved to a less-populated area, according to Japan’s Kyodo News agency. A formal announcement was expected later in the day. Nakaima’s approval is significant because it breaks a seven-year stalemate in which the relocation plan — agreed upon by Tokyo and Washington — was held up by local opposition. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe persuaded Nakaima to accept the relocation by offering a major spending package aimed at infrastructure and development projects on the island. The relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is a key piece of a broader U.S. realignment of troops and resources in the Asia-Pacific region. The Obama administration is seeking to augment its presence in the region to counterbalance China’s military rise and anticipate threats from a volatile North Korea. “Reaching this milestone is a clear demonstration to the region that the alliance is capable of handling complex, difficult problems in order to deal effectively with 21st century security challenges,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said in a statement, referring to the relationship the United States and Japan forged after War World II. Completion of the new air station, which is expected to include two runways more than a mile long each, will take approximately a decade, U.S. officials said. As the new facility is built, the Pentagon expects to reduce the number of Marines based on Okinawa from 18,000 to roughly 10,000, as more are deployed to Guam, a U.S. territory, Australia and Hawaii. U.S. officials have pressed Japanese leaders for years to pave the way for the construction of a new base along the rural northern coastline. The Futenma base currently sits in the middle of dense Ginowan city, surrounded by schools and homes. Residents say the base poses safety concerns, citing


Relocation of Marine base on Okinawa wins local approval; U.S. hails step as ‘milestone’

U.S. realignment of troops and resources in the Asia-Pacific region, where the administration is seeking to augment the U.S. presence in the region to counterbalance China’s military rise and anticipate threats from a volatile North Korea. “Reaching this milestone is a clear demonstration to the region that the alliance is capable of handling complex, difficult problems in order to deal effectively with 21st century security challenges,” Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said in a statement, referring to the relationship the United States and Japan forged after War World II. Completion of the new air station, which is expected to include two mile-plus-long runways, will take approximately a decade, U.S. officials said. As the new facility is built, the Pentagon expects to reduce the number of Marines based in Okinawa from 18,000 to roughly 10,000, as more are deployed to Guam, a U.S. territory, Australia and Hawaii. U.S. officials have pressed Japanese leaders for years to clear the way for the construction of a new base along Okinawa’s rural northern coast. The Futenma base currently sits in the middle of densely populated Ginowan city, surrounded by schools and homes. Residents say it poses safety concerns, citing a 2004 incident in which a U.S. helicopter clipped a university administration building. Some also complain about noise pollution and the sometimes unruly behavior of U.S. troops. Washington and Tokyo have been trying to move the base for nearly two decades. Most Okinawa residents are opposed to opening a new U.S. military facility on an island that already hosts 34 of them. Okinawa makes up less than 1 percent of Japan’s total land area but hosts half of the 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in the country. In 2009, then-Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pledged to move Futenma off Okinawa, citing the prefecture’s disproportionate burden. His move failed, but in the process it hardened opposition to the internal relocation. Until Hatoyama’s pledge, Nakaima, the governor since 2006, supported the relocation plan. But he faced increasing pressure to stop it, and for several years said publicly he would never allow it. However, some officials in Tokyo believed that Nakaima was a pragmatist willing to negotiate. “He was just looking for the right bargain, and that’s what he got,” said Patrick Cronin, senior director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. Londoño reported from Washington. Yuki Oda in Tokyo contributed to this report.


President Romney, struggling markets and other spot-on predictions of 2013

year of the woman. In 2013, that finally came true. Post columnist E.J. Dionne thought it was the “longest of long shots” when he said that a nun should be the next pope. But the Vatican saw the wisdom in that idea, and when the white smoke cleared in March, Dolores Hart, mother prioress of the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in Connecticut, was named the next pontiff. In an upset, Pope Dolores was edged out for Time’s Person of the Year by Miley Cyrus — the first woman to be so honored in 27 years. Few were surprised, however, when 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, as Kristian Berg Harpviken of Oslo’s Peace Research Institute had told us to expect. In foreign affairs, 2013 was a good year for democracy, especially in the countries associated with the Arab Spring. The days of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were indeed numbered, as the White House and Washington pundits had been predicting for more than 1,000 days. Meanwhile, Egypt’s political evolution continued to be a model for the region. “The discipline of governing has exerted a moderating influence on the Muslim Brotherhood, the military has relinquished a desire to rule, the country has stuck by its peace treaty with Israel, and political violence is the exception not the rule,” Jessica Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, accurately assessed in her predictions for the world in 2013. Back in the United States, the year finished with the successful rollout of the federal and state health insurance exchanges, a key piece of Obamacare. As Dan Mendelson, chief executive of Avalere Health, foresaw a year ago, “The bureaucracy will rise to the challenge because the risk and importance to the president is so great.” Although many Americans found more affordable plans, those who liked their existing insurance were able to keep it. The implementation of the new health-care law, along with the worsening economy, have given millions of American voters reason to think more fondly of former president Barack Obama. One recent poll shows that if the presidential election were held today, Obama would win handily over Romney. Some pundits have gone so far as to predict that Obama will return to political respectability in 2014. Others say only time will tell. Read more from Outlook, including “The end of everything,” by Carlos Lozada.


Everybody wants to fix the world. Here’s how.

look like? How might I create a business to solve certain problems, rather than simply to create financial benefit for myself?” Economist Kemal Dervis is more critical of technical innovation than Eggers and Macmillan are; he worries that new technologies have “reduced the need for labor while creating a skill premium in the workforce.” And economist Joseph Stiglitz could be speaking for the group when he blames economic turmoil and income inequality on oversimplified macroeconomic models, faulty government policy and a “democratic deficit” in “global governance.” Stiglitz writes, “We have rules where we don’t need to have them and don’t have rules where we need them.” With challenges this big, what can an individual do? Eggers and Macmillan’s final chapter (“Creating Your Own Solution Revolution”) attempts an answer but falls a little short. “Forget for a moment about how you currently do things,” they advise. “Begin by asking, ‘What is my goal?’ And this time, ignore the caveats and parameters that usually filter the question. Think bigger.” They tell us to focus on outcome, not process. To risk failure. To create an environment that encourages exploration. All good advice, but I was hoping for something more specific. Maybe Gates has something I can use. He’s the one bugging me to fix the world, after all. “People often ask me, ‘What can I do? How can I help?’ ” Gates writes in a 2,200-word Wired essay reflecting on his experience and philosophy of philanthropy. His answer for how to help the poor: “Rich-world governments need to maintain or even increase foreign aid, which has saved millions of lives and helped many more people lift themselves out of poverty. It helps when policymakers hear from voters, especially in tough economic times, when they’re looking for ways to cut budgets. I hope people let their representatives know that aid works and that they care about saving lives. Bono’s group ONE.org is a great channel for getting your voice heard.” Plus this: “If you write great code or are an expert in genomics or know how to develop new seeds, I’d encourage you to learn more about the problems of the poorest and see how you can help.” So, say you live in Washington (i.e., without representation) and your coding and genomics skills are a little rusty. How do you save the world? I guess you call Bono. Twitter: @carloslozadaWP Read more from Outlook,


Skywatch: Year begins with two new moons in January

average, the distance between these bodies is about 93 million miles. Earth reaches aphelion (the farthest distance from the sun) in July. Giant, gaseous Jupiter reaches astronomical “opposition” on Jan. 5. From Earth’s perspective, Jupiter and the sun are opposite from each other — and we benefit by having bright Jupiter (-2.7 magnitude) visible all night long. Catch it early in the night loitering now in the east-northeastern sky. This big planet transits the southern sky just after midnight early in the month. By mid-January, Jupiter transits the south at about 11:30 p.m. Between Dec. 31 and Jan. 10, Washington tolerates the latest sunrises of the year at 7:27 a.m., according to data from the Naval Observatory. The month starts with 9 hours and 30 minutes of daylight. By January’s end, we get 10 hours and 13 minutes of daylight. Down to Earth events ● Jan. 3: “Spirit and Opportunity: 10 Years Roving Across Mars,” a new exhibit opens celebrating the twin Mars Exploration Rovers Opportunity and the late Spirit, which helped humanity geologically grasp the Red Planet. Exhibit runs through Sept. 14. National Air and Space Museum, National Mall. www.airandspace.si.edu. ● Jan. 5: “Aurora on Jupiter,” a lecture by astronomer Tim Livengood at the open house, University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. Catch the night heavens through telescopes afterward. 8 p.m. 301-405-6555. www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse. ● Jan. 6: To see Washington’s winter heavens, no need to shiver. Enjoy “Stars Tonight” at the David M. Brown Planetarium, 1426 N. Quincy St., Arlington. 7:30 p.m. $3. www.friendsoftheplanetarium.org. ● Jan. 6: “Sounds from Space,” musician and space-enthusiast Paul Hombach guides an acoustic tour through the universe at the Montgomery College planetarium, Takoma Park. 8 p.m. www.montgomerycollege.edu/departments/planet. ● Jan. 11: “Solar Loops: Tackling a 40-Year-Old Mystery,” astrophysicist Henry “Trae” Winter explains the spectacular loops that cover the sun’s outer atmosphere. Albert Einstein Planetarium, National Air and Space Museum, National Mall. 5:15 p.m. www.airandspace.si.edu. ● Jan. 20: Open house, University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. Examine the cosmic heavens through telescopes afterward.8 p.m. 301-405-6555. www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse. ● Jan. 25: “River Deposits on Mars,” a lecture by geologist Sharon Wilson Purdy, at the Albert Einstein Planetarium, National Air and Space Museum, National Mall. 5:15 p.m. www.airandspace.si.edu. ● Jan. 25: Learn the fantastic physical and amazing processes in how stars are born at the Montgomery College planetarium, Takoma Park. 7 p.m. www.montgomerycollege.edu/departments/planet. Blaine Friedlander can be reached at postskywatch@gmail.com.


violence. In Pakistan, you have assassination of health workers who are protecting children from paralysis. It’s almost inconceivable. In Nigeria, you have some violence in some areas; that was the big setback last year. But you also have a health system that doesn’t always reach where it’s most needed. When we began this [effort] in 1988, there were about 1,000 kids per day who were paralyzed by polio. Last year, there were just a couple hundred. So we’ve made a lot of progress. But until we get over the finish line, every kid everywhere in the world is at risk, because polio anywhere is a risk everywhere. 5. Defending against health threats that originate elsewhere in the world. We are all connected by the air we breathe, by the water we drink, by the food we eat. What we’re seeing is that it’s part of our self-interest to ensure that countries all over the world are better able to find, stop and prevent health risks. It will help them be safer, more productive, more stable. And it will help us protect Americans from threats that could end up making us sick or killing us. Ten years ago, after the SARS epidemic, the Chinese government began working with the CDC and said, “We want to create something like a CDC for China.” And they did. When it came to the flu, we helped them learn how to grow the flu virus in the lab, how to do tracking to see where flu is spreading. We helped them to become a World Health Organization collaborating center for influenza. We helped them learn how to sequence the entire genome of the flu virus. Because of that, when the H7N9 [virus] hit, they found out about it promptly, they rapidly responded and they informed the world openly about it. In fact, they posted on the Internet the genome of the H7N9 within hours of identifying it. That allowed us to make a diagnostic test so we could find out if people have flu, and to begin making a vaccine. This is a long-winded way of saying that it was a harvest of 10 years of collaboration with the Chinese, that they were able to find this faster, stop it faster and share information faster. We need to do that with many countries and many diseases, all over the world, or we won’t be safe.


South Sudan must resolve ethnic conflicts to be a nation at peace

Abdul Mohammed is the chief of staff for the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel for Sudan and South Sudan. Alex de Waal is executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University’s Fletcher School. There is an opportunity to halt South Sudan’s slide into war and state failure, but it must be seized within days or it will be lost. This requires the leaders of South Sudan to rise above narrow, tribalistic, zero-sum politics and develop a national program. President Salva Kiir and other members of the country’s political elite — in government and in opposition, inside South Sudan and in the diaspora — must respond to this challenge now or go down in history as having betrayed their people. Nine years ago, on Jan. 9, 2005, the Sudanese government and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed a historic peace accord that brought an end to more than 20 years of war between northern and southern Sudan. That agreement culminated in a referendum, held from Jan. 9 to Jan. 15, 2011, in which the southern Sudanese voted overwhelmingly for independence. Africa and the international community welcomed the new Republic of South Sudan, hopeful that it would put this history of strife and suffering behind it. But the peace agreement and the show of unity around independence masked many unhealed wounds. During those long years of civil war, the South Sudanese weren’t united, and their divisions exploded into a bloody internecine conflict in 1991 after SPLM officers challenged the leadership of Col. John Garang . The strife became a tribal war, mainly between ethnic Dinka and ethnic Nuer , involving massacres of civilians on both sides and mass starvation. The atrocities left deep scars. For the following decade, leaders of churches and civil society and friends from abroad, including U.S. representatives, undertook a painstaking effort at “people-to-people peace” among South Sudanese communities. This task was incomplete when the 2005 north-south peace agreement was signed. Amid the euphoria of that peace and the work of reconstructing a war-ravaged land, President Kiir, who took over after Garang died in a helicopter crash in July 2005 , neglected to continue the necessary work of reconciliation. Instead, the wait for independence and plentiful oil revenues maintained a semblance of unity. It is those unhealed wounds that are tearing South Sudan apart today. Two years after achieving independence, a political dispute between President


Army’s ‘Pacific Pathways’ initiative sets up turf battle with Marines

commanders have all but rejected the sorts of troop-intensive counterinsurgency campaigns waged by the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, they call for a focus on Asia to counter China’s growing influence in the region. The documents envision not a head-on war with China but the need to be able to confront Chinese efforts to control shipping lanes and seize disputed territory with a combination of air and naval power — and an agile, fast-moving ground combat force. “There is no doubt about the need for expeditionary, amphibious troops,” a senior Defense Department official said. “The question is whether we need the Army to provide that capability.” Reclaiming ground For decades, Asia was the Army’s domain. It was the first service to establish a base in Hawaii. During World War II, the Army deployed five times as many troops to the Pacific theater as the Marines, and it was the Army that took the lead in the Korean and Vietnam wars. “The Army’s history in the Pacific has been long — and unbroken,” Brooks said. But in the 1970s, the Army scaled back its presence across the Far East, save for South Korea, to focus on defending Western Europe from a Soviet invasion. It left the continent to the Navy, Air Force and Marines. The Marines have about 24,000 uniformed personnel west of the International Date Line — most of them based on Okinawa — while the Army has fewer than 2,500 outside Korea. For years, that disparity did not bother Army leaders, who regarded Asia as far less important than the Middle East. China was not a global power. There were wars to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. For much of the past decade, the Army’s troop-intensive counterinsurgency strategy was the flavor of choice in the Pentagon. No longer. As the administration began to pivot toward Asia, the other services, burned by the Army’s claim on post-Sept. 11 defense spending, saw an opening. They formulated an Asia-centric strategy called “air-sea battle,” which calls for the Navy, Air Force and Marines to play the leading role in responding to China’s rise. The strategy assumes that the United States is unlikely to need to wage a protracted ground war in East Asia; instead, it envisions the use of Air Force stealth fighter-bombers, Navy littoral ships and Marine amphibious forces to respond to crises. “Air-sea battle is an essential part of sustaining


Forget BYOB. Area bars increasingly allow patrons to bring their own food.

Board Room allows patrons to bring their own food. (Fritz Hahn) A “I scaled back today,” said Pryor, 53, who was watching a Green Bay Packers football game with friends. “Usually I also bring a sausage plate and fruit.” The bar, which opened a little over a year ago, is among a growing number of area watering holes that allow patrons to bring — or order in — their own food. The benefits, bar owners say, are two-fold: Customers save money on meals while the establishment cuts costs by eliminating the need for a kitchen, food service staff and groceries. “There are so many wonderful choices in Dupont Circle that we thought, ‘Why compete with these folks? Let’s let them shine,’” said Beth Lindsay, owner of Board Room. “Plus, with the economy the way it is, people can still have a night out without spending a lot of money.” Alcohol sales typically result in much larger profit margins than food sales do. A hamburger, for example, may be marked up 300 percent, while beer could be sold for more than 500 percent of its original cost, one bar owner said. “It’s a win-win,” said Lindsay. “It cuts back on our expenses and also allows our customers to vary it up every time they eat here.” Bars such as Board Room, along with Raven Grill in Mount Pleasant and Rocket Bar in Chinatown — none of which serve food — have thrived in the District, where establishments with tavern licenses are allowed to sell alcohol without any meal requirements. But even in Virginia and parts of Maryland, where local rules mandate that a certain percentage of a bar’s revenue come from food sales, local businesses have founds ways to allow customers to bring in their own fare. Choices for customers World of Beer in Arlington, which recently expanded its menu to include chicken wings, flat breads and tacos, still allows customers to bring in food from other restaurants for lunch or dinner. A nearby P.F. Chang’s also delivers food to patrons at the bar. “Someone can say, ‘I want a salad from Sweetgreen.’ And someone else can say, ‘Well, I want salmon from next door.’” owner Evan Matz said. “This is an easy way to make all of our customers happy.” Even so, the bar’s food sales have doubled since the restaurant expanded its menu in June, according to Matz. (Alcohol


on Dec. 4 Wal-Mart opened its first two D.C. stores, on Georgia Avenue NW and H Street NW. Shoppers flocked to the new stores, sometimes while activists protested the chain’s employment practices. But the anti-Wal-Mart crowd, which often includes advocates for low- and moderate-income workers, won their own victories as the world’s largest retailer entered the nation’s capital. Montgomery In the District, Wal-Mart has a third store under construction and two others in planning stages. It would like to build a sixth on New York Avenue NE, and if the retailer’s expansion in Chicago is any indication, the chain could begin adding smaller format and grocery-oriented stores in some of the District’s wealthier neighborhoods as well. — J.O. Snowden, contractors draw scrutiny Contractors and their security clearances were the focus of the media, the public and Congress multiple times this year. Edward Snowden, an employee of McLean-based contracting giant Booz Allen Hamilton at the time, gained notoriety by leaking government secrets he had gathered while working at the National Security Agency. Later in the year, the role of contractors again came under scrutiny when Aaron Alexis, who worked for a small company called the Experts that acted as a subcontractor to Hewlett-Packard, killed 12 people at the Navy Yard. In the fall, CGI Federal, a Fairfax-based contractor, found itself the subject of criticism following the rocky roll-out of the new health care enrollment Web site. — M.C. Trumps ink deal Donald and daughter Ivanka Trump came to terms with the General Services Administration on a 60-year lease of the Old Post Office Pavilion in June, a deal that will pave the way for their company to turn the building into a 275-room luxury hotel expected to open in late 2015 or early 2016. It was a high wattage deal for the GSA. The $200 million project means one of the city’s most revered, historic and tallest buildings will become a new standard for luxury — and priceyness — in the city. Otherwise, however, the federal agency responsible for managing and leasing federal real estate is still trying to find enough wiggle room to operate under new levels of congressional austerity, and landlords across the region are waiting. The GSA continues to push federal agencies to use less space. This year, it agreed to relocate and consolidate some agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the Fish & Wildlife Service, from


Villard Michel Richard in NYC: Pleasant, but it’s unfortunately no Citronelle

Manhattan’s Villard Michel Richard is luxuriously appointed, but the lights that shine beneath the tables at night are not a bright spot. Neither are the menu prices. (Susie Cushner) New York The best news to come out of a recent dinner at Villard Michel Richard, the sumptuous collection of dining rooms inspired by Michel Richard and ensconced in the Palace hotel, is this: The French chef who dazzled us at the late Citronelle in Georgetown is mulling over another run in Washington. And now, for the less-enticing dispatch: Early last month, I called Villard and made a reservation for what I thought was Richard’s 50-seat Gallery, which the chef likened in a pre-launch interview to “Citronelle, but lighter.” Where I actually land — after a welcome at the coat check that is as frosty as the winter air — is a nook in Siberia in Villard’s casual bistro, where a menu of salads, burgers and fried chicken channels the list at Richard’s breezy Central in the District. I didn’t come to New York to eat what I already know, however; the tasting menu at the more sophisticated Gallery had always been my aim. When I tell a manager in the bistro that there has been a mistake, that no one on the phone had suggested there might be a choice of venues when I reserved, he tells me that the Gallery is fully booked for the night, but that he’ll see what he can do. For the next 30 minutes, he avoids eye contact with me, and it is only when I am recognized as a critic that Gallery manager and former Citronelle host Jean-Jacques Retourné comes to our rescue. The restaurant, Retourné says, is working on its glitches, including its reservation system. Whereas the bistro is big, brash and loud, the Gallery is intimate, dim and hushed. Leaning against its wood-paneled walls are outsize black-and-white photographs of Hollywood stars (Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn) in gold-leafed white frames. Très luxe. Bad timing, Retourné announces as we settled in. Richard is out of town for a charity function. Stepping away from the stove less than two months after launch and before the Gray Lady weighs in with a critique? The chef is a brave man. Or maybe he’s confident in the skill set of his executive chef, Romuald Jung, a French native who last worked as a corporate chef at the