Humanitarian workers must be allowed to help in Ethiopia without fear of attack

delivering babies or providing dialysis treatment. We have also received reports of women dying during childbirth — preventable deaths — due to the lack of adequate services and supplies. The conflict is escalating and threatens to spiral out of control. There are reports that militias from non-Tigrayan backgrounds, armed with competing agendas, are now involved in the fighting. The last thing needed is external agitators pouring fuel on the fire. So what can be done? The United Nations and other humanitarian agencies need immediate and unfettered access so we can scale up urgently needed assistance and protection for vulnerable civilians, and get supplies to our teams on the ground. We’re talking to the federal government of Ethiopia and others on a daily basis to grant safe passage to humanitarian workers and supplies to the affected region, in line with the globally agreed principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence. Access needs to go hand in hand with security for aid workers. Humanitarian workers must be able to deliver aid without fear of attack. Tragically, we have received reports of aid workers, who courageously stayed behind to support their communities, being killed during the course of this conflict. The government of Ethiopia has confirmed that a U.N. convoy was shot at on Dec. 6 as it carried out security assessments in Tigray. What’s happening in Tigray right now is fundamentally a political problem. It won’t be resolved by violence. In the meantime, it is civilians who are bearing the brunt of the conflict. This must stop. There’s a lot at stake. People should not be sanguine about the risks. Chaos in the Horn of Africa is in no one’s interest. The United Nations strongly urges all parties to the Tigray crisis to seize the initiative led by the chairperson of the African Union, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, to facilitate peaceful solutions and de-escalate tensions. Conflicts like this are hard to stop once they get out of control — the lives they extinguish cannot be brought back, and the grievances they create are long-lasting. Read more: Samuel Getachew: Ethiopia sees reminders of its dark days as ‘Abiy-mania’ fades Michelle Gulino and Malaak Jamal: Ethiopia’s leader won the Nobel Prize. But he’s got a long way to go for peace. The Post’s View: Abiy Ahmed’s Nobel Peace Prize is deserved, but he still has work to do in his country


The Daily 202: Taylor Swift’s new album ends on a hopeful note – with echoes of Emily Dickinson

widely respected lawyer in El Paso, always wanted to be a judge. She was expected to achieve her goal on Saturday in a runoff election, in which she was the favorite,” the Times reports. “Ms. Blancas died at a hospital in the city on Monday. She was 47. The cause was Covid-19, her brother Moises Blancas said. … Her death came too late to remove her name from the ballot. If she wins, the City Council would appoint a replacement. … Among her many friends, who called her Lila, was her opponent in the runoff, Enrique A. Holguin, who met her in 2013 when he joined the district attorney’s office. … Ms. Blancas tested positive for Covid on Halloween; three days later, she won 40 percent of the vote in the election, sending her and Mr. Holguin to a runoff. … After the election, Mr. Holguin, her opponent, texted her his congratulations. “You’re going to have a head start, because I have Covid,’ Mr. Holguin said she responded. ‘I was ready to lose this election,’ he said, ‘but I wasn’t ready to lose a friend.’” "Stephanie Lynn Smith and Jamie Bassett were looking forward to getting married Nov. 13. They had planned for Smith's older brother to officiate the wedding in front of their parents at a scaled-down ceremony in a field in Lubbock, Texas, where Bassett had proposed,” NBC News reports. “But the couple did not marry. Smith spent her wedding day in a hospital where she had tested positive for the coronavirus and was diagnosed with pneumonia. … Five days later, Bassett and Smith's family would rush to the hospital, only to learn that she had died. She was 29.” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) imposed a statewide curfew to keep residents home late at night and an extended mask mandate. The measures, which will take effect on Monday, lower the number of people allowed in social gatherings but do not change rules for restaurants, stores or houses of worship. (Laura Vozzella, Rachel Chason, Erin Cox and Michael Brice-Saddler) D.C. says it is being shortchanged on vaccines for health-care workers, but federal officials are sticking with their decision to allocate doses based on a jurisdiction’s population instead of its workforce. Around 75 percent of the District’s 85,000 health-care workers commute in from Maryland and Virginia. As a result, the District expects to receive just 6,825 doses of the


Air travel was down significantly this year. Climate activists hope it stays this way.

it’s less stressful,” she said. “It’s something that I think will not jump back to previous levels.” Climate scientist Peter Kalmus, founder of the site NoFlyClimateSci, said he has urged the American Geophysical Union in the past to hold its big fall meeting at least in part virtually. “Now it’s a completely virtual meeting by force,” he said — and he thinks there’s potential to do the same in the future, maybe even a hybrid with regional groups meeting in person and others joining remotely. “I think we can even do virtual meetings better than this,” Kalmus said. “This is a place where technology really should be shining.” As hard-hit airlines continue to seek help from governments after receiving billions of dollars in aid earlier in the pandemic, Heuwieser cautioned that bailouts should come with climate change in mind. “We worry that this will jump back to pollution as usual if structural changes are not imposed right now — if we don’t rather use this bailout money for recovery packages to finance living wage basic income for workers who are losing their jobs, social protection, retraining programs, creation of jobs in climate safe sectors and foster safe alternatives to flying,” said Heuwieser, who is based in Germany. She said governments should be investing in better, more comfortable and attractive train services, for example. Once the pandemic is over, the fly-less community hopes trains and other forms of slower travel will appeal to those who are eager to get out and explore again. “This is not the optimal situation for flying less,” said Kalmus, who lives in Southern California and hasn’t flown since 2012. “Hopefully we can fly less in a more joyful way than this because we’ll still be able to travel, we’ll still be able to meet in groups. This is flying less superimposed onto all this other stuff that makes life so difficult for us.” Travel during the pandemic: Tips: Coronavirus testing | Sanitizing your hotel | Using Uber and Airbnb | Traveling tools Flying: Pandemic packing | Airport protocol | Staying healthy on plane | Fly or drive | Best days to fly Road trips: Tips | Rental cars | Best snacks | Long-haul trains Holidays: Parades and light shows | Safe holiday travel | Planning a ski trip | Canceling flights Destinations: Hawaii | Dubrovnik | Private islands | 10 covid-free spots | Caribbean | Mexico


Three D.C. area private school leagues scuttle plans to begin sports in January

Three of the Washington area’s largest private school athletic conferences announced Friday that they will not hold a winter sports season in January. The Independent School League and the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference released similar statements saying they will not provide league-sanctioned competition at all this winter, while the Interstate Athletic Conference said it will not begin league competition in January as proposed and will “reassess conditions in the new year.” This leaves the door open to member schools to participate in some kind of outside competition. The potential for fall and spring sports will be reevaluated by the ISL and the MAC in February. “The pandemic has created a need for flexibility for all schools both academically and athletically,” the MAC statement reads. “It is our hope that this decision will provide that flexibility for schools under these very difficult circumstances.” The three leagues comprise 20 private institutions across D.C., Maryland and Virginia. They took a unified approach to athletics in late July, when the conferences issued statements saying they would adopt a condensed, second-semester athletics calendar that would begin in January. But implied in that proposal was a wait-and-see caveat dependent upon the area’s battle against the coronavirus. Cases and deaths have spiked again this month, prompting state officials to impose increased restrictions. Governing bodies across the D.C.-area sports landscape are sending mixed signals about the viability and safety of holding a winter sports season in the face of ever-worsening coronavirus metrics. On Monday morning, the D.C. State Athletic Association pushed its winter sports season to February at the earliest. That afternoon, school districts in Virginia and Maryland held their first winter practices. On Tuesday, Prince George’s County canceled its winter season. Thursday brought news that the Virginia High School League would require all athletes to wear masks during competition. Exceptions will be made for cheerleading, gymnastics, wrestling, and swimming and diving. Read more: Excitement and uncertainty on the first day of high school sports practice High school sports in D.C. will not begin before February A local hockey team endures the complications of high school sports during a pandemic After one player’s assault of a referee, a Texas high school team wonders why it was sidelined


Chinese national held in global $2.2 million turtle smuggling scheme

“typically college students from China seeking to make extra money on the side,” court documents said. One of those students, Haixi Sheng, pleaded guilty to smuggling native turtles under Kang’s guidance while enrolled at Pennsylvania State University. He is in federal prison. Kang’s extradition marks the culmination of a multiyear international investigation that traced the path of turtles from American marshes to Asian markets and included undercover work by agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The work was made more complex because the United States and China do not have an extradition agreement, officials said. “This was our lunar landing,” said Connors, referring to what it took to intercept Kang outside of China’s jurisdiction. “We cleared a lot of hurdles early. We coordinated extensively with police departments and even airlines.” U.S. authorities surveilled Kang to track his vacation plans to travel from China to Indonesia and then Malaysia, where an American extradition request had already been processed, Connors said. In January 2019, the Royal Malaysian Police, assisted by U.S. federal agents, intercepted Kang at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where he had landed with his girlfriend for a vacation. After nearly two years in Malaysian custody, Kang was flown to the United States. “The difficulty we have is that a lot of these illegal wildlife shipments are going to people in China and Hong Kong. And we don’t have direct extradition treaties with those places,” said assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday, who is not involved in the Kang case but has prosecuted domestic poachers of protected turtles from America’s wetlands. “The top criminals can be out of reach sometimes,” said Holliday, “so we do what we can on U.S. soil.” Once in custody in Malaysia, Kang told investigators that his turtle business had helped him pay for medical school and the beach-hopping vacation through Southeast Asia, which is how authorities were able to intercept him. Kang first came to the attention of authorities several years ago when a herpetologist tipped off a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent. The agent, Ryan Bessey, posed undercover as a middleman, buying and shipping endangered turtles at Kang’s direction. Between June 2017 and December 2018, Bessey shipped more than 300 turtles, most from a supplier in North Carolina, to Asia on behalf of Kang, according to Bessey’s affidavit. In return, Kang sent Bessey 40 payments totaling about $80,000 over two years, including


The Finance 202: U.S. wealth just hit a new record, even as more people steal in order to eat

spending bill Wednesday to fund the government for one week and avoid a shutdown deadline Friday night. The Senate must pass an identical bill — and have Trump sign it — to avoid a shutdown, but as of Thursday afternoon, lawmakers still weren’t sure how to do that with unanimous consent.” Checking in on the leaders: Meanwhile, the bipartisan group of lawmakers still doesn't have an actual bill: States Try to Rescue Small Businesses as U.S. Aid Is Snarled (NYT) Traders continue to weigh stimulus negotiations: “Verizon and IBM each fell at least 1 percent to lead the Dow lower. Industrials dragged down the S&P 500, pulling back by 0.9 percent.” Airbnb is shining in its debut: “Airbnb’s soaring stock market debut comes at the tail end of a year that has been both disastrous and triumphant for the short-term-rental company.” Corporate America’s Borrowing Binge May Be Ending (WSJ) The first Americans could start receiving inoculations as soon as next week: “The committee voted yes, 17 in favor, four against and one absention. Panel members did not have an opportunity to explain their votes, but at least two dissenters objected to inclusion of 16- and 17-year-olds, given what they described as the low risk of severe disease in that age group and how few had participated in the trial.” The president-elect encounters his first major fight with the party “More than 200 organizations — including the American Federation of Teachers, the N.A.A.C.P. and others that were integral to his campaign — have joined the push … Many economists, including liberals, say higher education debt forgiveness is an inefficient way to help struggling Americans who face foreclosure, evictions and hunger.” SEC and CFTC to lose top officials: Biden named Susan E. Rice and Denis McDonough to top jobs: Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are named TIME's 2020 Person of the Year: Criminal charges could await the president “The interviews with people who work for the lender, Deutsche Bank, and the insurance brokerage, Aon, are the latest indication that once Mr. Trump leaves office, he still faces the potential threat of criminal charges that would be beyond the reach of federal pardons. It remains unclear whether the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., will ultimately bring charges. The prosecutors have been fighting in court for more than a year to obtain Mr. Trump’s personal and corporate tax


New Mexico activates ‘crisis care’ standards for hospitals overwhelmed by covid

New Mexico on Thursday suspended all nonessential surgeries and activated “crisis care” standards, a move that clears the way for a system of rationing amid a coronavirus surge that has overwhelmed the state’s capacities. Under the twin orders by the state’s health department, elective surgeries will be banned until Jan. 4. Health-care providers, meanwhile, will be permitted to begin implementation of a statewide plan for stretching the state’s increasingly scarce health-care resources. The system ultimately could allow doctors to determine which patients receive care, depending on who is likeliest to survive. The crisis-standards measure announced Thursday, which was deemed necessary by the “unsustainable strain on health care providers and hospitals,” will allow physicians and other health-care providers to treat covid-19 patients even if it is outside their practice area. Leaders of the state’s largest hospitals have said that the system is a last resort but will probably be needed given an acute shortage of intensive care unit beds. Nearly 1,000 New Mexicans are hospitalized for coronavirus treatment, triple the total from the start of November. Officials expressed confidence Thursday that standards will not suffer as a result of the shift. But they also warned that the state’s health-care system is operating on the brink and that relief is desperately needed. “We are serving every New Mexican who needs us,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said at a news briefing Thursday. “But we are getting to a place where it’s really dire, and we have to do better.” Lujan Grisham had told The Washington Post of plans to activate crisis care in an interview last week. New Mexico’s move came as hospitals nationwide face the extreme pressures of a pandemic that is spreading from coast to coast at unprecedented levels, with cases hitting new highs almost daily. Since the pandemic began, New Mexico’s governor has taken dramatic action to try to limit the spread of the virus in her state, implementing some of the most restrictive measures in the country. Last month, she shut down nonessential businesses, ended in-person dining and implemented a host of other measures as part of an attempt to “reset” the virus’s then-accelerating transmission across New Mexico. Lujan Grisham on Thursday said that two-week effort had been a success: While cases had been growing exponentially at the time of her order, they have fallen by a third in the past two weeks. The state’s positivity rate has


restrictive measures in the country. Last month, she shut down nonessential businesses, ended in-person dining and implemented a host of other measures as part of an attempt to “reset” the virus’s then-accelerating transmission across New Mexico. Lujan Grisham on Thursday said that two-week effort had been a success: While cases had been growing exponentially at the time of her order, they have fallen by a third in the past two weeks. The state’s positivity rate has also declined significantly, while the growth in hospital admissions has slowed. “All of this is exactly what we were looking for in a reset,” she said. But she emphasized that the state remained vulnerable: New Mexico has fewer hospital beds per capita than nearly any other state in the country, as well as an unusually large population of elderly and low-income residents among its 2 million citizens. “We are still in an extreme risk situation,” she said. “That’s true in New Mexico. That’s true in the rest of the country.” Lujan Grisham said the strains on the system could affect not only covid patients but anyone needing health care, including expecting mothers, accident victims and cancer patients. She urged residents to stay home for Christmas, and to wear masks and maintain social distancing. New Mexico reported an additional 23 covid deaths Thursday, bringing its total since the start of the pandemic to more than 1,800. The state had nearly 1,800 new cases on Thursday, with 916 people in the hospital. Lujan Grisham called that “a frightening number.” Statewide, there were only 33 ICU beds available in hospital covid wards. The state’s decision to activate crisis standards was welcomed by hospital leaders Thursday. But it remained unclear how far they would go in using the more flexible rules to meet surging demand. “Our team continues to be flexible and creative in creating capacity to treat those in need of care,” said Alexandria Sanchez, public information officer for University of New Mexico Health, one of the state’s largest health-care providers. “We appreciate the governor’s declaration, and will continue to do our best to care for our community.” Lujan Grisham said the expected launch of a vaccination campaign next week represented a “huge bright spot in our fight against the pandemic.” But she said spikes from Thanksgiving and Christmas travel could mean the worst stretch of the pandemic could still lie ahead. “We are bracing,” she said.


Surging coronavirus cases in D.C. region shut down libraries, museum and football viewing

The Washington region ended a week that included new restrictions meant to confront the surging coronavirus pandemic with additional closures and cancellations. In Prince George’s County, where officials on Thursday halted indoor dining and ordered new caps on crowds in retail businesses and casinos, the library system said Friday it too would shut down. The National Museum of the U.S. Army is temporarily closing, while NFL games at FedEx Field will be without spectators the rest of the season. The greater Washington region added to its growing list of restrictions and closures this week — days that also coincided with the largest number of coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic. The seven-day average of new cases across Virginia, Maryland and D.C. stood Friday at 6,887, down slightly from Thursday’s record high. In Prince George’s, library staff members who had been working in buildings to check out books to customers via curbside pickup service will work at home from Dec. 21 to Jan. 12, the library system announced. “The public health conditions right now require that we adjust operations to keep staff and customers safe during the surge,” the county said in a statement. Patrons can still check out e-books and audiobooks virtually, but cannot check out or return printed books or other physical materials. The Prince George’s County library system, like others in the region, has offered curbside pickup but has not allowed patrons into buildings during the pandemic. D.C. is an exception: Many of its library branches have been open for limited book pickups and computer use since the summer, although librarians have expressed concern about their safety. Infections have risen sharply across the region throughout the fall and as temperatures have turned colder. As of Friday, the steepest weekly caseload rise was in Virginia, where 60 percent more infections were reported than the week before. The state’s average new daily case rate per 100,000 residents hit an all-time high of 46, with Maryland recording the same rate of spread. The District’s rate per 100,000 residents was 39 on Friday. Virginia reported 3,395 new daily cases and 35 deaths from the virus Friday. Maryland reported 2,616 cases and 52 deaths, and D.C. reported 259 cases and one death. The region’s leaders have responded to the surge in infections by introducing new restrictions throughout the week. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced a nighttime curfew Thursday. D.C. Mayor


Prince George’s County library system, like others in the region, has offered curbside pickup but has not allowed patrons into buildings during the pandemic. D.C. is an exception: Many of its library branches have been open for limited book pickups and computer use since the summer, although librarians have expressed concern about their safety. Infections have risen sharply across the region throughout the fall and as temperatures have turned colder. As of Friday, the steepest weekly caseload rise was in Virginia, where 60 percent more infections were reported than the week before. The state’s average new daily case rate per 100,000 residents hit an all-time high of 46, with Maryland recording the same rate of spread. The District’s rate per 100,000 residents was 39 on Friday. Virginia reported 3,395 new daily cases and 35 deaths from the virus Friday. Maryland reported 2,616 cases and 52 deaths, and D.C. reported 259 cases and one death. The region’s leaders have responded to the surge in infections by introducing new restrictions throughout the week. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced a nighttime curfew Thursday. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) banned high school sports and recreational contact sports Monday. Some Maryland jurisdictions announced bans on indoor dining and lower caps at retail establishments in a week that included a joint call with leaders of the state’s eight most populous localities. In Virginia, Army officials announced Friday that a coronavirus outbreak at the National Museum of the U.S. Army at Fort Belvoir will force it to temporarily close the facility, starting Monday. In a statement, the Army said “a small number” of museum employees recently have tested positive. The museum sees as many as 560 visitors daily, officials said. The museum will remain open Saturday and Sunday, with precautions that include timed entry tickets to reduce capacity. A museum guard, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for his job security, said he is one of four guards who have tested positive since late November. His symptoms, including a fever and chills, have begun to subside. “I’m in constant contact with the public,” said the guard. The Washington Football Team also joined the parade of cancellations Friday, announcing that after discussing the safety of allowing fans in the stadium with the Prince George’s County Health Department, the team decided to play its remaining two home games in front of empty seats.


The Washington Post names Gerry Shih its India bureau chief

Announcement from Foreign Editor Douglas Jehl, Deputy Foreign Editor Eva Rodriguez, and South Asia and Africa Editor Jennifer Amur: We’re thrilled to announce that Gerry Shih will become our next India bureau chief, effective in June. From New Delhi, Gerry will operate across a massive canvas as India is projected to become the world’s most populous country within a few years. He will chronicle the paths Indian leaders take to confront climate change, poverty, intolerance, a rivalry with China, and other challenges that will carry enormous weight in shaping the world over the next decade. Gerry has already demonstrated his ability to tackle big stories that play out on a staggering scale, having reported from China for the past six years, including two with The Post. He won the Asia Society’s Osborn Elliott Prize in 2019 for work that captured how China’s breakneck-speed growth had upended ordinary lives through accidents, injuries and disease. He reported widely across China, including courageous on-the-ground work at the height of the coronavirus outbreak in February. He even ventured to Tajikistan to reveal the existence of a previously unknown Chinese military base. After effectively being expelled from China in March, when Gerry was among a dozen U.S. correspondents who were stripped of accreditation because of tensions between Beijing and Washington, he has been covering China from a base elsewhere in Asia while serving as interim Beijing bureau chief. In his new role in Delhi, Gerry will work closely with Niha Masih, our India-based reporter. In addition to India, the bureau is responsible for Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Gerry began his career as a James Reston reporting fellow at The New York Times. He later worked for the Bay Citizen and then Reuters, covering California politics and Silicon Valley. He moved to China, reporting for Reuters and then the Associated Press. He speaks Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.


This isn’t the first time Army played Navy in a moment of crisis

students and cemented the loyalty of alumni, who displayed their “old school spirit” with fat donations. The outbreak of war, however, threatened the cozy arrangement. Hundreds of thousands of healthy male undergraduates raced off and enlisted. Millions more were ultimately drafted. By the beginning of the spring 1942 semester, college campuses were noticeably short on men, and football faced a moral and numbers crisis. If an undergrad was strong and healthy enough to run, block and tackle, shouldn’t he be in uniform toting a rifle? And if this was the case, where were all the boys needed to play a football game going to come from? A partial solution to the football manpower dilemma actually came from the armed services. The Army, Navy and Marines desperately needed junior commissioned officers, and what better place to teach and train thousands of them than on college campuses? After all, schools like Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan and Purdue had instruction and training at the core of their mission. As a result, throughout the nation men returned to campuses, and universities and colleges began to grind out ensigns and lieutenants in the thousands. Just having men on campus, however, didn’t solve the player shortage for teams. Under Gen. George Marshall and Secretary of War Henry Stimson, in November 1942 the War Department established the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), which eventually included 241 schools. A lean, focused, no-nonsense program, it prohibited trainees from playing any intercollegiate sports, a decision that effectively sounded a death knell for schools such as Alabama. (The Crimson Tide didn’t even field a team in 1943.) Americans interested in the fate of football expected Navy Secretary Frank Knox similarly to bar his service’s trainees from participation in varsity sports. But after a vigorous internal debate, naval authorities decided that football was too important to put on the scrap heap of the war. Cmdr. Thomas J. Hamilton, the driving force behind Navy’s decision, argued, “Competition is as old as the Navy itself and it is just as traditionally Navy as John Paul Jones.” For Hamilton, the holy trinity was: “Football! Navy! War! At no time in history have these words been more intermeshed than they now are.” And so, while ASTPs banned participation in intercollegiate sports, their Navy counterparts embraced football as an instructive, even vital part of their training program. The Navy established “V-Programs” at 131 schools. The V-12


Uncovering the cause of a baffling illness can require tenacity and toil

a retired administrative assistant who lives in Maryland, learned in her six-year search for the cause of intractable hip pain. Her internist and two orthopedists she consulted had diagnosed bursitis, osteoarthritis and sciatica. But in 2017 after Holland tripped over a dog and landed on her affected hip, the pain suddenly vanished. When an X-ray revealed a mass the size of a robin’s egg, a third orthopedist told her it might be malignant. Holland, a breast cancer survivor, was terrified. A few weeks later an orthopedic oncologist in Maryland diagnosed synovial chondromatosis, a benign disorder caused by small nodules of cartilage that become unmoored and can result in severe disability. Holland’s fall had dislodged a large calcified body that was pressing on her sciatic nerve. She subsequently underwent successful surgery to remove the nodules and the egg-sized body. Buried in records Holland took to the fourth specialist was an MRI report from 2013 that noted the presence of “calcified/ossified bodies,” also spotted on an earlier CT scan, that the radiologist said were “suspicious for an underlying synovitis.” Sipos had a similar experience. Among the records he obtained from the oncologist who erroneously told him he didn’t need treatment was an old pathology report that had mentioned his unusual cancer as the possible cause of his symptoms. Some people are reluctant to seek treatment at an academic medical center sometimes called a major teaching hospital fearing it is too big or impersonal or that their problem isn’t serious enough to warrant it. But anyone who’s not improving, isn’t sure what’s wrong or wants a second opinion should consider a visit. Large teaching hospitals are referral centers with expertise treating people with uncommon or unusual diagnoses that community physicians may never see. And teaching hospitals employ teams of experts in multiple specialties. While not a requirement, it may be faster and more efficient if a doctor makes a referral. “When patients call a referral center now they are asked ‘What’s your diagnosis?’ and ‘What specialty do you want to see?’ ” Fajgenbaum said. People whose diagnosis is unclear or incorrect may be stymied. “We like to group people into whether you should see rheumatology or immunology or oncology. But it’s clear more and more that the old silos really don’t work” well, he added. Diagnosis and treatment can involve multiple specialties. That was the case for Pennsylvania software engineer Ram Gajavelli, who


Covid-19 is spreading wildly in prisons like mine. We should get the vaccine early.

but we have not been sentenced to suffer or die from a virus. If the standard for vaccine distribution involves helping the most vulnerable, as officials insist, then we ought to be near the top of the list. A recent study found that prisoners were nearly four times as likely than the average citizen to get the coronavirus and — adjusting for age, sex and ethnicity — twice as likely to die from it. (The discrepancy was even higher earlier in the pandemic, narrowing only as the virus spread aggressively in the general population.) One of the largest coronavirus clusters of any kind occurred at Avenal State Prison, in California’s San Joaquin Valley, with more than 2,800 infected incarcerated people. Nationally, there have been nearly 230,000 covid cases in prisons, and more than 1,500 people have died, according to the Marshall Project, a nonprofit criminal justice news outlet. Recognizing that the virus can rip through crowded prisons, officials have taken modest steps to shrink prison populations and reduce density: In April, in my state, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) ordered prisoners who had not committed violent crimes, and who were nearing the end of their sentences, to be released. Other governors have issued similar edicts, and several states have reduced jail populations by cutting or eliminating bail, among other measures. But many prisons were wildly overcrowded to begin with: Nebraska's were at 150 percent capacity in July, when the state accelerated its parole program. Everything about prison life makes social distancing difficult, and protections are paltry. Masks are required, but the last time my unit received any was Sept. 1. We’ve each gotten six masks during the entire pandemic. And while all prisoners are required to wear our ragged masks or risk getting an infraction, guards often wear theirs improperly. Our temperatures are taken twice daily, but that is an ineffectual measure against asymptomatic spread. This past week, my unit entered its third quarantine since March, because two prisoners tested positive — meaning classes and other activities are canceled. Still, to retrieve meals from the chow hall — which is closed for in-person eating — I must walk shoulder to shoulder with 20 to 50 other men up and down two stairwells that are about five feet across. For a half-hour a day, I am let out of my cell with 20 other prisoners to make a phone call. If I’m


Geminid meteor shower, among most prolific of the year, to dazzle this weekend

the night sky every hour, a spattering of interstellar pebbles raining down and burning up in the upper atmosphere. There’s no specific time or place you need to look, although viewing will be favored from midnight into the predawn hours of Monday morning. That’s when the constellation Gemini, the meteor shower’s radiant point, or where they appear to be emanating from, is high in the sky. Beaches, ballfields, parks and other wide-open spaces with panoramic views are ideal. The less light pollution you encounter from city lights, the better your chances of catching a meteor. You can access a map of satellite-derived light pollution to plot viewing opportunities near your area here. You won’t need telescopes or binoculars to see the Geminids. In fact, there’s nothing better than the naked eye. That’s because your eyes cover a broader field of view compared to a telescope. Don’t bother trying to capture the show with your cellphone; their cameras are not sensitive enough to detect the pinpricks of light commonplace with meteors. A DSLR-style camera would be better suited for the task, and it would require a long exposure. Meteor showers result when pieces of debris left in the wake of comets or asteroids burn up due to friction upon entry into Earth’s outer atmosphere. In the case of the Geminids, the source of the light show is a 3.6-mile-wide asteroid called 3200 Phaethon. A trail of pebbles deposited by the comet during its 1 year and 5 month elliptical orbit through the solar system provides the necessary material to spark the annual display. Most of these granules of debris are only the size of a grain of rice. As Earth plows through the debris stream, the small pieces of debris enter the atmosphere at speeds as high as 37 miles per second. Extreme friction against air molecules ignites the compounds in the meteor, heating them up and producing a brilliant spark of light. Geminid meteors are composed largely of magnesium, sodium and iron, yielding shades of white, orange-yellow and green-blue. During some years, a bright moon spoils much of the show by outshining fainter meteors, but not this year. The new moon occurs on Monday morning, meaning the sky will be nice and dark. The Geminids are a skywatcher favorite, reliably putting on a good show year after year. Others, like the Leonids, feature a few sporadic shooting stars most years,


Study explores link between public transportation and spread of seasonal flu

not have the highest rates of deaths; if anything just the opposite,” William A. Petri Jr., a professor of internal medicine and associate director of microbiology at the University of Virginia Medical School, said via email. “The authors are careful to point out the limitations of the analysis, but it really argues against conventional wisdom, and suggests that with proper safeguards of masking and social distancing that public transportation could be used safely.” However, Donald Milton, an expert on aerosol transmission, who is a professor of environmental health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, questioned the research. “The value of this ecological analysis is not clear to me,” he said in an email. “The finding, after controlling for population density, that having a lot of people on public transportation isn’t associated with greater rate of people dying of influenza and pneumonia (many of whom are elderly and may not be working and riding public transportation at times when the trains and buses are congested) doesn’t help me understand the risk of public transportation.” Glied said with the current pandemic it can be hard for people to wrap their heads around the idea that personal, intimate relationships may put them more at risk than quick encounters with strangers on a subway car. Melissa Perry, an epidemiologist who chairs the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, said one of the strengths of the study was the large data set it used to draw its conclusions. “That’s very powerful,” she said. “It’s a bigger picture, rather than a snapshot.” Perry said if there is one disconnect, it’s that the data only allowed researchers to look at deaths, not actual infections. Since a variety of factors can impact the severity of an infection, deaths offer an imprecise proxy for infections, she said. (The researchers noted that limitation in their study.) Even so, Perry noted that other studies examining the connection between public transportation and disease transmission have drawn similar conclusions. Still, she emphasized the importance of following CDC recommendations when riding public transportation, such as wearing masks, using hand sanitizer or washing hands before and after arriving at a destination, and riding at low-traffic times to avoid crowding. Said Perry: “The more routine and commonplace these [behaviors] become, the more impact we can have on reducing transmission and slowing the epidemic.”


The best Christmas gift you can give: Wear a mask, avoid other covid-19 risks

we are craving something to rejoice and celebrate. Many of my colleagues have not seen their families in months. We have been deprived of so much interpersonal connection and human touch, hiding behind goggles, face shields, N95 masks and surgical masks. For many of us, those relationships and connections to our patients are the best part of working in health care. But I’m also scared. I’m scared to expose my parents, my grandmother, or my fiance to the virus. I’m scared on behalf of the families of my future patients with covid-19. I’m scared of what’s going to happen during these next few months if people gather with their extended families for the holidays. The spirit of Christmas is one that celebrates joy, love, compassion, generosity, kindness and sacrifice. Of course, we aim to demonstrate these virtues all year long, but the holiday season is an important reminder to us that we can be better. We must not falter. This holiday season, I think about my father, an internist, dropping off a pulse oximeter outside the door of one of his older patients with suspected coronavirus infection during the height of the pandemic. I thank the nurse practitioner whom I first met when we were redeployed to a newly constructed covid ICU who showed me how to care for the skin breakdown on my nose from the continuous wearing of N95 respirators. I remember the doctors and other medical staff who traveled from Georgia, Montana, California and other places to help support us in the surge in New York. At the same time, I reminisce about my long-standing patient with heart failure who never left her house and did everything right. She took all of her medications and spoke to me on the phone for her appointments. But despite her best efforts, she died in the emergency room of covid-19. I reflect on the doctors, nurses and other health-care workers of all ages and backgrounds across the country who died of covid-19 while fighting on the front lines. I recall the months I spent away from my fiance, both of us practicing medicine in two different states, trying our best to keep ourselves and our patients safe. I think about the families who were devastated by covid-19, losing multiple family members and being unable to say goodbye because of visitation policies. I think about all of the empty seats at


Explosion from ‘external source’ strikes oil tanker in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia; port shut

ISTANBUL — An explosion from an "external source" struck an oil tanker while it was in port in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, early Monday, the ship's owner said in a statement. It caused hull damage but no injuries and was the latest in a series of attacks on tankers or oil installations in and around the kingdom amid a civil war in neighboring Yemen. The Singapore-flagged ship, the BW Rhine, was conducting discharging operations when it was struck at 12:40 a.m. local time, according to Hafnia, the ship’s owner, which said it was possible that “some oil had escaped from the vessel.” A fire that broke out on board was extinguished and all 22 crew members were safe, the company said. An alert Later on Monday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted an unnamed official in the Energy Ministry as saying that the explosion was caused by a boat loaded with bombs, without saying who was responsible. The official said the incident was a criminal act and “a terrorist attack” and noted that it came shortly after an attack on another ship in Shuqaiq in northern Jiddah on Nov. 25. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have in the past claimed attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure, including a cruise missile strike on a plant in Jiddah last month operated by the Saudi oil giant Aramco. The Iranian-allied Houthis and Saudi Arabia are adversaries in Yemen’s war, which intensified in March 2015 after the intervention of a Saudi-led military coalition. The war has saddled Yemen with one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and raised concerns for the safety of ships in the Red Sea, off Yemen’s western coast. An attack last year


Scientists pinpoint genes common among people with severe coronavirus infections

interferon response could allow the virus to quickly proliferate. That, in turn, may result in a potentially deadly overcorrection when later immune defenses kick in. The study reveals “genetic variants, particularly near genes that are involved in the so-called interferon immune response play an important role in causing a life-threatening covid-19 infection,” said Lude Franke, a statistical geneticist at the University of Groningen, who was not involved in the Nature report. Experts cautioned these types of investigations rarely produce evidence for direct cause-and-effect relationships between specific genes and disease severity or susceptibility to infection. “A chunk of the answer is in our genes” but “it’s unlikely that a single element is fully responsible for the development of severe covid-19,” study author Sara Clohisey, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh, pointed out. “It’s more likely to be a combination of factors,” she said, which may include genetics as well as age, obesity, gender and other characteristics. (Although men are more likely to die of coronavirus infections than women, the scientists did not detect genetic variants linked to sex in this study.) Yet Baillie said this work provides “causal evidence,” specifically for the IFNAR2 gene, and another, called TYK2, that “the products of those genes change a person’s chance of becoming critically ill with covid.” Karlsen said “very rare, but more deleterious genetic variants in the same genes, may provide a stronger driver towards severe disease, as seen for IFNAR2.” Interferon has been tested as a possible covid-19 therapy in clinical trials, although one large trial found giving interferon to hospitalized patients did not reduce mortality. The study authors also noted that the anti-inflammatory drug baricitinib, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and being tested in covid-19 patients, can inhibit the protein encoded by the TYK2 gene. The researchers plan to continue to analyze DNA samples from coronavirus patients — not only those who were severely ill and in intensive care, but also from people who had milder symptoms. There’s no shortage of potential donors as the outbreaks continue. “The pandemic is still raging,” Clohisey said. Since they began writing this paper, she said, the researchers have tripled their DNA samples of people who have had the coronavirus. Read more: This coronavirus mutation has taken over the world. Scientists are trying to understand why. Why the coronavirus is killing more men than women How genetic science helped expose a secret coronavirus outbreak


What a fig tree taught me about the fragility of life

done things differently,” he said. “Okay, you can plant a new fig tree.” In an African household that was the closest I would get to a parental apology. Why, in this time of loss, did a damaged tree sting so much? So many thousands of people have been losing their lives. A long-time family friend of ours had died from covid-19 several weeks before. In my shock and grief over his death, the harm to my beloved tree was another blow. Life is precious and precarious. This year has taught me the power of appreciation and gratitude for the beauty in this world — and to share that with others. During this pandemic, so many of us have found refuge and healing through connecting with nature. Plant-happy friends are getting into flower arrangements, and there is a huge demand for plants. Others take hikes and photograph what they see, or have taken to planting more fruits and vegetables. I hung a hummingbird feeder on the patio during the summer and was thrilled every time one of those tiny little fighter jets came to fill up on sugar solution. When I shared this on social media, others posted photos and videos of their hummingbird friends, too. Then I noticed praying mantises close to the feeder. On #InsectTwitter people pointed out that they have been known to hunt hummingbirds — a reminder that nature, including humans, can be beautiful and vicious at once. The pandemic has shown us that we are not the earth’s masters, we are just her guests. As the season changes, and the crisp clarity of the winter sunlight sets, may we do our best to cultivate our awareness of the light and beauty in this world so that we can learn to safeguard our earthly home and each other from the darkness of ignorance and cruelty. I did eventually buy a little fig tree in a container. I named her Celeste. I’ll do my best to protect her from clueless men with power tools. Read more: Fareed Zakaria: The pandemic upended the present. But it’s given us a chance to remake the future. Daniel Willingham: We can help shape how our children remember the pandemic — and foster their future happiness Molly Roberts: The man who tried to bring us together, shoe by shoe José Andrés: What the pandemic can teach us about treating hunger Watch Opinions videos:


The United Kingdom and the United States: A comparative autopsy

of this newspaper. Upon further reflection, however, there is a clear answer: There are multiple reasons to believe that the United Kingdom is facing the darker horizon. For one thing, Brexit turned out to be the bigger self-own than the election of Trump. To be sure, the Trump administration has wreaked all kinds of policy carnage over the past four years. Its foreign economic policy was particularly boneheaded, leading to a lot of economic coercion but not a lot in the way of concessions. Plunging the United States into a pre-coronavirus industrial recession to negotiate a trade deal with China that has fallen well short of 2017 or even 2020 expectations is not a sign of winning. Trump’s post-electoral decompensation, and the stranglehold he continues to possess over much of the GOP, is extremely disconcerting. With all of that acknowledged, however, Brexit is still worse. The referendum decision triggered an exodus of the financial sector away from London and toward myriad E.U. destinations. As predicted, the United Kingdom experienced three years of reduced inward foreign direct investment as a result of Brexit. That trend reversed itself but other European countries experienced an even larger surge in FDI. A hard Brexit at the end of this month will merely add to the economic trauma. And all of this ignores Brexit’s deleterious effects on British control over Scotland and Northern Ireland. To be blunt, however, the United Kingdom is in the worse position compared with the United States for two simple reasons. The first is that the United States is the wealthier and more powerful country, which means it can afford to make serious mistakes and keep on chugging. Britain must now deal with the fact that it has much less bargaining power compared with either the United States or the European Union. The second reason is that the U.S. mistake proved to be more ephemeral in nature. A majority of British voters approved Brexit. In two subsequent elections, British voters awarded the Conservative Party with majorities — the second time by a considerable margin. The United Kingdom will continue to be governed by Boris Johnson, a human approximation of an Avenue Q muppet. In contrast, Trump won with a minority of the U.S. electorate in 2016 — and that was the high point of his popularity. His party faced a blue wave in the 2018 midterms. Polling repeatedly showed that a


Year’s only total solar eclipse swept across Chile, Argentina today

an effort to limit the crossflow of individuals. Travel on other roadways into the Lakes Region, including near Villarica and Pucón, are restricted on a case-by-case basis. Chilean officials are encouraging those partaking in eclipse viewing to enter the region early and become settled to avoid a chaotic exodus/crowding. Officials also plan to bolster random checks for “health passports” to ensure inbound travelers are complying with all health protocols and not traveling from a higher-risk region. A burn ban was implemented Thursday to discourage outdoor camping. The path of totality in Chile passes directly over rich, verdant landscapes brimming with geological landmarks, including hot springs and volcanoes. Unfortunately for astrotourists, Villarrica National Park has closed its entry to its Puesco sector, which includes a trio of volcanoes, as well as lakes, valleys and roaring rivers. A number of tour groups had originally offered hiking and climbing excursions promising breathtaking photo-ops during totality. The moon’s shadow passed overhead around 1 p.m. local time Monday, cruising east at speeds exceeding 1,500 mph. During the total solar eclipse that darkened a sliver of Chile and Argentina on July 2, 2019, the shadow propagated east at near 10,000 mph. That means this year’s show will feature a slightly less abrupt flip from day to dusky twilight. Shadow bands — or an odd, wavelike interference pattern caused by refracted, or bent, sunlight in the moments before totality — have persisted slightly longer. The path of totality this year is also slightly narrower, meaning that the sky won’t be quite as dark during the eclipse. Since the shadow is smaller, it took less time to pass overhead, cutting down the duration of totality. Last year’s eclipse in South America lasted up to 4 minutes 33 seconds over the open ocean, but closer to 2 minutes 30 seconds over land. Monday’s eclipse has been even more fleeting, lasting only 2 minutes 9 seconds. A swath of Argentina is also in the path of totality. There are no major cities in line, however. The moon’s shadow will be trekking through the northern Patagonian Desert and encountering sparsely populated territory most of the way to the coast. Much like last year’s eclipse, no other countries will enjoy the breathtaking show after the shadow lifts out of Argentina. The next total solar eclipse to visit Earth will occur over Antarctica on Dec. 4, 2021. Good luck booking a flight there.


Parasites may not be cute and cuddly, but they need saving too, scientists say

and National Museum of Natural History. “But you can’t have a healthy ecosystem without having parasites in it.” Could this be a ploy to steer precious grant dollars to parasitologists? If so, it’s a long con. Cries for conserving parasites have rung out for decades — not that a lot of folks were listening. “When a biologist sends something to an editor about being nice to parasites, the editor just figures, ‘What the hell? This guy’s a crackpot,’ ” says Donald A. Windsor, a biologist in Upstate New York who has published many seminal parasite conservation papers, such as 1997’s “Equal Rights for Parasites.” Nowadays, we know of several reasons to cherish the humble parasite. The “hygiene hypothesis,” for example, attributes healthy human immune systems to past worm infestations. Parasitoid wasps are thought to save the U.S. agricultural industry billions of dollars each year by implanting crop pests with babies that then devour the insects alive. Charles Darwin said he could not “persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created” such gruesome killers, but without them farmers would spray tons more pesticide, and who wants that? Then there’s the fact that less than 1 percent of all known parasite species infect people. The rest are just out there, doing their own freaky things in freaky ways. “They are regulators of population, they constitute a lot of the links in food webs, and they make up a lot of the biomass in ecosystems,” says Colin Carlson, an author of the plan and a global-change biologist at Georgetown University. “They’re sort of like dark matter — moving through ecosystems, connecting to things and having impacts, and we never see them.” Take the trematode preying on the California killifish, a normally secretive bait fish that hangs out in western salt marshes. The parasite creates a cyst on its brain that completely changes its behavior. “They swim close to the surface of the water, flash their shiny side upward, and make a complete spectacle of themselves,” says Chelsea Wood, a parasite ecologist at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. “Infected fish are between 10 and 30 times more likely to be eaten by a bird than uninfected fish, and that means when you scale it up across the whole salt marsh that parasites are driving fish into the beaks of these birds.” In the D.C. area,


parasite species. It’s something Phillips has firsthand knowledge of, having helped discover a new kind of leech in Southern Maryland last year after making herself bait. “You roll up your pants legs and move around a little bit, and then if the leeches come to find you, that’s a pretty easy day’s work,” she says. “These are big leeches; they will come after you.” The thought that parasites might not slither and burrow for perpetuity is painful for parasitologists. It’s not a baseless worry: These organisms are subject to increasing stress from habitat loss, climate change and co-extinctions when host animals die out and leave the parasites that depended on them stranded. “The reality is every time a Tasmanian tiger goes extinct, you’re not losing just the tiger and one species. You’re losing a suite of them,” says Kevin Lafferty, a senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey. One 2017 study predicts we could lose as much as a third of all parasitic worm species by 2070. Some scientists have toyed with the idea of fighting parasite extinctions by bringing them back from the dead. “There’s a really interesting paper that asks if we’re going to bring back mammoths, will we have to bring back mammoth parasites, as well?” says Skylar Hopkins, one of the plan’s authors and an assistant professor at North Carolina State University. “Because if you bring back mammoths but they don’t have any of the ecological interactions they had when they existed, did you really bring back mammoths?” To preserve parasites still with us, though, the plan calls for an ambitious public relations campaign. Mind you, we’re not talking about polishing the image of flesh-crawling Guinea worms, malaria-transmitting mosquitoes and other scourges of humanity. “I have no moral or scientific objection to driving the Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae mosquito to extinction. Those would be landmark victories for global health,” says Carlson. It’s all the others that could use more love, which might not be as implausible as it sounds. The “Alien” movies made blockbusters out of parasitic monstrosities, as did popular video games like “Half-Life” (headcrabs). There’s even a crabby-looking Pokémon with a parasitic mushroom on its back. “I mean, some parasite species are cute. Some have eye spots and smiley faces, and I think that’s adorable,” says Hopkins. Wood believes tapeworms in particular are ripe for prime-time TV. “To the naked eye they’re just


U.S. sanctions NATO ally Turkey over its purchase of Russian missile defense system

The Trump administration imposed sanctions Monday on NATO ally Turkey’s main military weapons procurement agency as punishment for its purchase of a Russian-made missile defense system. The sanctions were mandated under a 2017 law requiring them against any entity that engages in “significant transactions” with Russian defense or intelligence sectors. The announcement came after Congress last week overwhelmingly passed the annual defense funding bill, which includes a provision ordering that the sanctions be imposed within 30 days. President Trump has threatened to veto the bill. Lawmakers of both parties had criticized the administration for delaying the sanctions following Turkey’s $2.5 billion purchase of the S-400 system in 2019, inaction that some attributed to Trump’s disinclination to offend Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Senior State Department officials who briefed reporters denied that the administration’s hand was forced by passage of the defense measure. “Any decision to impose sanctions . . . requires a thorough, deliberative process” and had taken a long time to properly consider, said Matthew Palmer, deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. “That’s particularly the case when we’re talking about a NATO ally, one that is deeply integrated into NATO supply chains.” In a harshly worded statement, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry condemned the measures, which it called “completely senseless” and “unfair.” Turkey, it said, “will take the necessary steps against this decision, which will negatively affect our relationship,” and pledged to “retaliate in a manner and timing it deems appropriate.” It called on the United States to reconsider and to “address this issue through dialogue and diplomacy.” The sanctions, although lighter than what the law allows, include a ban on U.S. export licenses and authorizations to Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries and asset freezes and visa restrictions against the organization’s president and three other senior officials. “I would in no way underestimate the importance of cutting off the main military procurement entity of a military ally from items coming from the U.S. defense industrial base,” said Christopher Ford, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation. “I think this is a very significant, significant step.” Both Palmer and Ford emphasized that, in addition to what Ford said was the desire to “send a strong signal” to Turkey and make its defense organization “clearly feel the consequences of its choice to be involved in this transaction,” the goal was also to punish Moscow and warn


A new Trump rule could shrink protected habitat for endangered wildlife

The Trump administration adopted a rule Tuesday that could shrink the historic habitats of plants and animals threatened with extinction, an action that opponents say will make it more difficult for them to recover. On their way out of office, the directors of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service established a rule that changed the definition of what determines a habitat under the Endangered Species Act. It was the second major rollback the administration has made to the signature wildlife protection law. Under the new definition, only “critical habitat” that can sustain the species in question can be protected, as opposed to a broader habitat the plant or animal might one day occupy if it is suitable. “This action will bring greater clarity and consistency to how the Service designates critical habitat,” Rob Wallace, assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, said in a statement. “Making the Endangered Species Act more effective at conserving imperiled wildlife and more transparent and user friendly for stakeholders represents a win-win for everyone.” Conservationists immediately denounced the change as favoring developers over wildlife that has been put at risk by human activity. Under the previous rule, the immediate living space of species designated as endangered or threatened was protected. It also could include areas that species once inhabited but that became unsuitable after development or climate impacts altered the ecology — these were recognized as areas that scientists could try to restore. But the new rule will is more likely to open such areas to agriculture, logging or other development. “This is yet another blow to endangered species from an administration that subscribes to a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ approach to bedrock wildlife laws,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and chief executive of Defenders of Wildlife, a liberal conservation group. “This clearly favors developers and industry, making it easier for the most vulnerable wildlife to slip through the cracks.” Two years ago, the Interior Department made key changes to the act, including allowing officials to consider economic impacts such as losses of jobs and revenue in deciding whether a species should be classified as endangered or threatened. Clark, a director of the Fish and Wildlife Service under President Bill Clinton, said the new definition of habitat contradicts the purpose of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which seeks to save wildlife from extinction by preserving and


Xi’s China is preparing for a new world order

You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. On Sunday, runners from around the world participated in a marathon through the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou Almost a year ago, China was ground zero of the coronavirus. In the first couple of months of 2020, some American commentators argued the spike of infections and the initial bungling response by local authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan could constitute China’s “Chernobyl” — an epochal disaster that would expose the fundamental failings of Beijing’s opaque, autocratic, one-party state. But as 2020 draws to an end, it’s in the United States where the shadow of Chernobyl looms, hovering over a politically-divided nation that passed 300,000 coronavirus-related deaths on Monday amid a mammoth onslaught of new cases. Whatever China’s original sin in the emergence of the disease — and the questions that still surround its official accounting of deaths and infections — its leadership has reason to believe it handled the situation markedly better than geopolitical adversaries in the West. After the outbreak in Wuhan, Chinese authorities clamped down on the spread of the virus and curtailed further community transmission when it flared up in pockets of the country. Beijing’s relative success is not widely discussed in the rest of the world. That’s a reflection of growing concerns over Chinese President Xi Jinping as the driving force of a dangerous, emerging hegemon. His regime responded ruthlessly to perceived threats in 2020, quashing civil liberties in Hong Kong, entrenching a dystopian lockdown on ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and rattling the saber at Taiwan. Tensions exploded along China’s disputed border with India, while Chinese diplomats abroad sparred with journalists and local officials from Australia to Brazil. Shadowing all was the steady decline in U.S.-China relations Faced with such hostility and suspicion, Xi is hunkering down as he takes his country into a propitious new year. 2021 marks the centennial of the Chinese Communist Party and the advent of a new five-year economic program rolled out by Beijing’s central planners. China’s economy may have rebounded faster than any other major country during the pandemic, but its growth is getting more sluggish and Xi recognizes the need for a deeper pivot. In speeches through the year, capped by high-level meetings this past week, Xi stressed that China should beef up its domestic market and shift away from decades of export-oriented growth. That would be in keeping


Arrest made in October homicide in Anacostia, D.C. police say

A man was arrested Monday in connection with a homicide in October in the Anacostia area, D.C. police said. Police said Kevin Goggins, 20, of Southeast Washington, was charged with first-degree murder while armed in the death of Yisa Jeffcoat, 28, of Southeast. Jeffcoat was found suffering from apparent gunshot wounds on Oct. 9 in the 1600 block of W Street SE, police said. He died at a hospital, they said.


Spotted owls could go extinct without more federal protection. But they’re not going to get it, Trump officials say.

the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that reclassification of the northern spotted owl from a threatened species to an endangered species is warranted,” Fish and Wildlife said. But a lack of congressional funding and other listing considerations for other animals and plants is keeping its ecologists from devoting attention to the owls. “We will develop a proposed rule to reclassify the northern spotted owl as our priorities allow,” the agency said. Competition for food with invasive barred owls is “the stressor with the largest negative impact on northern spotted owls through competition of resources.” Barred owls are less picky eaters than spotted owls and have adapted better to the shrinking habitat. When the northern spotted owl was first listed as a threatened species in 1990, about 7 million acres mostly managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the Pacific Northwest was designated as its habitat. The habitat was revised at least three times to the frustration of loggers. In 2013, the timber industry sued, saying that not all of the territory was used by spotted owls. A court battle raged until the Trump administration, a friend of the industry, settled the case early this year. The bureau would stop managing more than 200,000 acres but would attempt to create contiguous spaces to keep spotted owls connected for mating, breeding and caring for their young. For some conservation groups, that’s not enough. “Fish and Wildlife knows what dire straits the spotted owl’s in but under Trump can’t be bothered to pull it out of its downward spiral into extinction,” said Ryan Shannon, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group. “What the owl needs is more old-forest habitat and much stronger protections for the forests that are still left after decades of logging. And neither the owls nor the people need another handout to the timber industry.” “On the one hand, you have biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledging that northern spotted owls are extremely close to extinction and more must be done to prevent the extinction of the species,” said Susan Jane Brown, attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “On the other, you have the Trump administration catering to the demands of … [the] timber industry. Placing commercial interests ahead of the continued existence of this iconic species is shameful, and … not permitted by the Endangered Species


The disturbing values driving the GOP’s handling of covid relief

supervisors “took bets on how many workers would get infected with Covid-19, even as they took measures to protect themselves and denied knowledge of the spread of the illness at work." Despite such stories, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has proposed that workers and customers be forbidden from suing businesses for allowing them to contract covid-19 unless they can prove “gross negligence." That standard is so high that almost no one would be able to reach it; you’d practically have to prove that your employer gave you covid on purpose. This is necessary, McConnell and the Republicans say, because without it there will be a wave of frivolous lawsuits that will unjustly victimize businesses and hamstring the economy. But if they were right when they contend that without a liability shield then workers and customers will begin suing businesses willy-nilly, it already would have happened. After all, there’s no liability shield in place now. So where’s the wave of frivolous lawsuits? It doesn’t exist. According to a tracker maintained by the law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth that monitors suits related to the pandemic, there have been 23 commercial personal injury complaints, 118 employment claims for things like failure to provide PPE, and 108 wrongful death claims. While I can’t vouch for how complete their data are, given that over 16 million Americans have contracted covid and 300,000 have died, if that’s the magnitude of the lawsuits we’re seeing, it’s almost nothing. In fact, lawsuits filed by people angry at public health measures — which of course wouldn’t be affected by the Republicans’ bill — seem far more numerous. But heaven forbid the family of a dead meat-packer might be able to sue his employer and get their case heard in court. Perhaps we should be thankful that Republicans may allow any aid at all to go to struggling Americans — the unemployed, the business owners on the verge of bankruptcy, the schools trying to open safely, the families desperate for food assistance, the millions in danger of being evicted, and more. But in the worst national crisis of our lifetimes, once again, Republicans have shown us who they are. Read more: Mitt Romney and Joe Manchin: How we compromised on covid-19 relief Karen Tumulty: President Trump has become a delusional character out of Monty Python Colbert I. King: I am thankful that Trump will be out of office. But


The Health 202: Some Americans will refuse coronavirus vaccines. Who and where they are matters.

public health powers. Amid the backlash, some public health leaders have retired or moved to other roles, resulting in what experts call the largest public health exodus in American history. “The departures are a further erosion of the nation’s already fragile public health infrastructure ahead of the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history," the Associated Press’s Michelle R. Smith and KHN’s Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Hannah Recht and Lauren Weber write. Amid declining spending for public health, “at least 38,000 state and local public health jobs have disappeared since the 2008 recession.” A team of scientists examining more than 2,000 covid-19 patients across Britain pinpointed spots on chromosomes where certain genetic variants were more common among covid-19 patients in intensive care. While it’s not possible to prove cause-and-effect with this study, researchers think that the genes may play a role in making people more susceptible to the virus, perhaps by interfering with the immune system’s response, The Post’s Ben Guarino reports. The researchers hope the findings, published in the journal Nature, can help develop better treatments for the virus, although they stress the identification of genetic variants is just a starting point. “Translating results from these types of investigations into successful therapies has, generally, been a struggle. The process often requires lengthy research even before drugs are ready to be tested in people,” Ben writes. The research aligns with earlier reports that also found genetic variations among patients who suffered severe illness from covid-19, but the latest report is the biggest of its kind published to date. “California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed suit against Amazon on Monday, accusing the e-commerce giant of months of foot-dragging as the state seeks information about the outbreak of coronavirus cases and safety measures at warehouses in the state,” The Post’s Jay Greene reports. The lawsuit claims that Amazon has failed to provide detailed information related to the number of warehouse workers who have contracted the virus, as well as steps the company has taken to reduce risk for its workers. Becerra, who was recently named as President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, alleges that Amazon made no mention of employees who died of covid-19 and worked in facilities in Irvine. Amazon claims that it has been working with Becerra’s office and that the lawsuit took it by surprise. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)


The Washington Post’s By The Way, Webbys 2020: Websites, General Websites, Email Newsletters

By The Way Since the pandemic started shutting down the world in March, By The Way has answered important questions about how the coronavirus will shape the way we travel. We told readers how to get tested before traveling and when Americans might be allowed into Europe again, and broke news on how covid-19 spread on cruise ships and shut down Disney parks. Each Thursday, we delivered these stories and more in a highly curated and designed newsletter. We’ve highlighted interactive tools, such as a guided quiz on how to travel as safely as possible this holiday season and a fall foliage map for travelers planning a socially distant trip. View one of our newsletters in full. When readers are ready to travel again, By The Way has more than 200 guides to nearly 70 cities around the world written by hometown journalists. Every newsletter features a selection of these guides to help travelers plan for future trips or explore their hometowns in new ways. By The Way’s newsletter has built a community, where readers share photos from their own travels, send questions to our reporters and submit their travel memories for UGC projects.


How an ‘atmospheric river’ spoiled Monday’s total solar eclipse in Chile

TALCA, Chile — Astronomers and skywatchers alike had looked forward to Monday, Dec. 14, for years — a total solar eclipse would darken a swath of Chile and Argentina, the moon blotting out the sun for just over two minutes as the sun’s breathtaking atmosphere emerged to the naked eye. Unfortunately for many, myself included, the long-awaited celestial spectacle largely flopped. Chile, one of two countries fortunate enough to be crossed by the narrow swath of totality, was socked in beneath cloud cover thanks to a soggy “atmospheric river.” While some in Argentina were treated to the indescribable elegance and beauty of the solar corona promenading outward from behind the moon, the only thing visible in Chile was a brief night-like darkening of the ambient overcast. For those of us who had spent months of planning, forked out thousands of dollars and devised a detailed itinerary in accordance with the latest evolving health guidance from the U.S. and Chilean governments, it marked a hefty letdown that seemed consistent with the running theme of 2020. Total solar eclipses are arguably the most serene, otherworldly and scientifically spiritual scene visible on our planet. They happen once every year and a half or so, but the thin sliver of real estate they visit often carves out a track in remote or inaccessible areas. Umbraphiles, or those infatuated with basking in the moon’s shadow, go to great lengths to put themselves in position for each solar eclipse they can. I caught the eclipse bug in 2017, when my friend and meteorologist colleague, Dan Satterfield, and I drove to the vast emptiness of the Nebraska Sandhills and set up shop, not knowing what to expect. When the sky faded to twilight and the delicate, luminous solar corona, or atmosphere, appeared, we vowed to never miss another one. On July 2 last year, we traveled to La Serena, Chile, where we rendezvoused with the sun’s corona one again, perched atop a mountain for the 2 minutes 32 seconds of splendor. Dan and I knew we’d be back in South America for Monday’s total solar eclipse, and we had tossed around the idea of flying to Chile and crossing into Argentina, where the weather prospects were historically favored to be better. Our tickets were booked in early 2020. Then a global pandemic ensued, and we were forced to cancel. But in late November, the Chilean government announced


Lawsuits by U.S. victims accuse top Qatar banks and charity of financing terrorism in Israel

Rayan Bank, which the suit asserts is controlled by the government and family members on its board; and Qatar National Bank, in which Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund purportedly holds a 50 percent interest. The suits claim that the charity solicited donations worldwide and used both banks to access the U.S. financial system and dollars. Funds were distributed by Qatar Charity to its affiliates in Palestinian-controlled territories, including at least $28 million between March and September 2015, according to the lawsuit. It says money went to support Hamas and PIJ, including “martyr payments” to the families of convicted or killed militants. The complaints do not disclose the sources of information but include details such as account numbers, account opening dates, holders’ birth dates and addresses, and other identifying information. “By allowing Qatar Charity to use accounts at the banks to funnel money to Hamas and PIJ, the banks were joining a conspiracy intended to commit acts of international terrorism, including the kidnapping and murder of Americans in Israel,” states the lawsuit filed Tuesday by the family of Pinches Przewozman, an American who was among those killed in rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip on May 5, 2019. “No family should have to endure the loss we have experienced,” said Stuart and Robbi Force, the lead plaintiffs of the initial suit and parents of Taylor Force, a U.S. military veteran who was fatally stabbed near Tel Aviv in 2016. Force’s death prompted Congress to enact a law in his name in 2018 to cut some U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority until it ends its financial support to convicted terrorists and their families. “In addition to holding the banks and illegitimate ‘charities’ who enable terrorism accountable, our fervent hope is that this lawsuit serves as a deterrent to those who might engage in similar actions,” the Forces said in a statement released by a spokesman for 57 plaintiffs and 11 victims of attacks since 2014. “We believe that the best way to honor our son’s memory is to help prevent future attacks.” A spokesman for the Qatari government did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did information offices of the banks and Qatar Charity. The defendants have not yet formally responded to the June case. President Trump in 2017 criticized what he said was Qatar’s support for terrorist organizations, including the millions of dollars annually it provides


What wild animals walk through your yard? A trail cam can help you find out.

A small backyard nestled between houses on a well-used residential street in Alexandria, Virginia, seems like an unlikely spot for a wildlife “highway.” But during one evening in March, Evan Kosinski’s neighbor told the 6-year-old about seeing two foxes, two raccoons, a rabbit and one opossum between midnight and 6 a.m. His neighbor doesn’t crouch outside all night watching for critters and never leaves food to attract animals. Instead the neighbor uses a trail camera, or trail cam, as an extra pair of eyes observing wildlife activity without human interference. Trail cams — small, motion-triggered, weatherproof cameras that operate with batteries — take videos or still photos. These easily operated devices are popular with nature lovers, educators and researchers. Daytime images are in color. Night images, relying on infrared lights that minimally affect animals, are in black-and-white. Trail cams offer an amazing look at the natural world of urban wildlife. Wanting to learn more, Evan began looking for any animal signs in his fenced yard. Noticing a small hole under the steps of his family’s deck, he borrowed a cam and recorded a family of chipmunks coming and going. A “wow” moment occurred when, with permission, he put the cam facing a hole under the neighbor’s shed. “It showed a litter of raccoons living there,” Evan told KidsPost. A fox, seen passing earlier, spooked the mom into moving her five babies (called kits) that night, taking each by the scruff of the neck. Evan noticed that each move took about 10 minutes, so he figured that her next hiding place was nearby. Tempted to go hunting for the raccoons, he wisely decided not to. “The mom moved them because she was scared,” he said. “We might scare them more.” Since receiving his own trail cam last summer, Evan has seen bunnies’ ears twitching as they munch on grass, a young opossum in search of ticks and insects, and cats on nighttime prowls for mice or other prey. “It’s a great hobby for someone Evan’s age,” said his dad, Shane Kosinski. “He tries different spots and angles and thinks about where the animals might go, and then if he doesn’t catch anything, he tries again.” The use of trail cams in urban backyards provides year-round entertainment, as well as an education in animal behavior. What is creating mysterious holes in your yard, getting into your trash cans or eating your plants?


The U.S. government spent billions on a system for detecting hacks. The Russians outsmarted it.

Russian targets of U.S. sanctions. At NIH, they may be interested in information related to coronavirus vaccine research. As the investigative work continues, some lawmakers are focused on probing why and how federal cybersecurity efforts have fallen short despite years of damaging hacks by Russian and Chinese spies and major federal investments in defensive technologies. Einstein, which was developed by DHS and is now operated by CISA, was supposed to be a backbone of federal protection of civilian agency computers, but the 2018 GAO report found significant weaknesses. The capability to “identify any anomalies that may indicate a cybersecurity compromise” was planned for deployment by 2022, the report said. It also said that network monitoring by individual agencies is spotty. Of 23 federal agencies surveyed, five “were not monitoring inbound or outbound direct connections to outside entities,” and 11 “were not persistently monitoring inbound encrypted traffic.” Eight “were not persistently monitoring outbound encrypted traffic.” “DHS spent billions of taxpayer dollars on cyber defenses and all it got in return was a lemon with a catchy name,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “Despite warnings by government watchdogs, this administration failed to promptly deploy technology necessary to identify suspicious traffic and catch hackers using new tools and new servers.” It wasn’t just this administration. Bossert, who worked on the original Einstein concept in the George W. Bush administration, said the idea was to place active sensors at an agency’s Internet gateway that could recognize and neutralize malicious command-and-control traffic. “But the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations,” he said, “never designed Einstein to meet its full potential.” CISA officials told congressional staff on a Monday evening call that the system did not have the capacity to flag the malware that was signaling back to its Russian masters. The officials said federal agencies had not given CISA the information necessary to identify agency servers that should not be communicating with the outside world, said one congressional aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. “To CISA, all internal agency computers look the same, and so Einstein only flags samples of known malware or connections to ‘known bad’ IP addresses,” the aide said. Other cybersecurity experts say the breaches highlight the “desperate” need for a government board that can conduct a deep investigation of an incident such as that involving SolarWinds, whose corrupted


Biden picks former EPA chief Gina McCarthy as White House climate czar

first volunteers in Barack Obama’s New Hampshire office during the 2008 presidential campaign, Zaidi rose through the ranks during the Democrat’s eight years in office. In 2014, he became the associate director for natural resources, energy, and science at the White House Office of Management and Budget, where he oversaw a portfolio of nearly $100 billion in federal programs. He also served as OMB’s lead official in implementing the administration’s climate action plan. He helped oversee a report OMB released in November 2016 outlining the risks climate change posed to the federal government, including the cost of crop insurance, wildfire suppression, flood and hurricane-related relief and health care. It projected that annual climate-related costs across four of those five programs would total $34 billion to $112 billion by late century, while simultaneously curbing the nation’s economic output by up to 4 percent. “In short, climate change is already costing taxpayers,” Zaidi wrote in a blog post. “But the costs we are incurring today will be dwarfed by the costs that lie ahead. Without action, taxpayers will face hundreds of billions of dollars in additional costs every year by late in this century as the effects of climate change accelerate.” Michael Lewis’s 2018 book “The Fifth Risk” highlights the experience of Zaidi, who emigrated to the U.S. at age 5 and was a young Republican, as an example of how the most wonkish jobs in Washington can have an enormous impact on ordinary people. In the book, Zaidi described how the Agriculture Department he helped oversee was “weird” because it encompassed so many things. “It was weird because so many Americans had no idea how much their lives depended on it,” Lewis wrote. “And it was weird because of the sheer sums of money sloshing around the place, dispensed by government employees no one had ever heard of.” Now, McCarthy and Zaidi will coordinate policies across the entire U.S. government. In an interview last month, Biden’s campaign policy director Stef Feldman told The Post, “From the very beginning of the campaign, when President-elect Biden rolled out his climate plan, he made it clear he sees this as an all-of-government agenda, domestic, economic, foreign policy.” Under Biden’s plan, Feldman said, the new climate office will “develop an ambitious climate policy and be the place where accountability resides to ensure that climate ambition is built into every agency’s plan. And that they’re executing


His staff cleans covid-19 hospital rooms. He got the vaccine to build trust in the shot.

scourge of covid that has just been taking lives, day after day,” Anita Jenkins, the chief executive of the hospital, said before getting her shot. Howard University College of Medicine, founded three years after the end of the Civil War to train doctors to care for newly freed Black people in the nation’s capital, is working alongside the nation’s three other Black medical colleges to build community confidence in the vaccine. Howard University set up coronavirus testing sites early on in the pandemic in Ward 7 and Ward 8, which have the city’s largest populations of Black Americans. And Howard’s medical school and hospital will soon be running the clinical trial of a vaccine that has yet to reach the market, spokeswoman Alonda Thomas said. “We have a legacy of leadership in science and developing insights into new science approaches to treating health, and in applying science to the benefit of people of color,” said Reed Tuckson, a doctor and Howard University trustee who is the founder of the Black Coalition Against COVID-19. Tuesday’s vaccinations, he added, were “a further example of this history.” Shelly McDonald-Pinkett, the hospital’s chief medical officer, who got vaccinated just before Dunlap, said: “We’ve all heard the statistics about what happens in the African American community and communities of color. And so it’s important for those who are in leadership roles to demonstrate our willingness to take the vaccine.” Dunlap was eager to do so. He said he decided to get the vaccine weeks ago, after Jenkins announced she was going to be vaccinated. “The early stage [of the pandemic] was really rough for me, so that’s why I felt that I had to be at the forefront to lead,” Dunlap said. The housekeeper who died of covid-19 did not contract the virus at the hospital, Dunlap said. In all, 10 of his staff members have tested positive, Dunlap said. Some workers quit, some refused to clean rooms inhabited by virus patients. His hours, and those of his remaining staff, grew longer. The virus disrupted his personal life as well; among other things, he was unable to travel to Florida for the funeral of a pastor who was one of his childhood mentors and had died of cancer. “I feel this day is historic because this is the beginning stages of making covid-19 decline,” Dunlap said after being vaccinated. “And somebody has to be the


Europe wanted to keep schools open this winter. Coronavirus surges have disrupted those plans.

BERLIN — Surging coronavirus outbreaks in a number of nations are forcing governments to close schools, despite initial promises to keep them open this winter. The latest country to change course is Germany, where most schools will move to distance learning Wednesday as part of tougher new lockdown rules. Widening outbreaks have also triggered the closure of schools in the Netherlands and in Asia, where the South Korean capital, Seoul, opted for similar measures this week. The school closures in Germany and the Netherlands mark a notable turnaround in Europe, where governments said this fall that keeping schools open would be a priority, arguing that they aren’t significant drivers of coronavirus outbreaks. Numerous studies have shown that the virus spreads less readily among children, with one recent Icelandic research project concluding that those under 15 are only half as likely as adults to become infected with the virus and to spread it. France Still, researchers warn that surging infection rates can turn schools into transmission hot spots, with secondary schools posing a particular risk. “When you look at the infection rate, it goes up linearly with age, from 10 to 20 years,” said Kari Stefansson, CEO of Icelandic biopharmaceutical company Decode Genetics, which recently concluded a large-scale analysis of coronavirus infections among children in the country. In collaboration with Iceland’s Directorate of Health, the researchers compared children’s and adults’ likelihood of catching and transmitting the virus, based on a large data set of quarantined Icelandic residents who had been exposed to the virus. Even though young children were found to be far less vulnerable, the researchers concluded that older students in particular can contribute to clusters. Stefansson said the decision by Germany and the Netherlands to close schools “is understandable” in light of those findings and given the countries’ surging outbreaks. More regions of Europe could reach a similar conclusion in the coming weeks. In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan called on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday to close the city’s secondary schools, saying students were now responsible for a “significant” share of infections in the British capital. The European closures bring the continent more in line with the United States, where schools in parts of the country postponed reopening plans or closed in recent weeks. But whereas U.S. school closures have in some areas preceded tougher restrictions on other fronts — including the closure of bars or restaurants


Happy 250th birthday to Beethoven, one of the greatest composers of all time

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (MOTE-sart), who later told friends to “keep your eye on him; someday he will give the world something to talk about.” Indeed. Over a 45-year career, Beethoven wrote more than 700 works, including nine symphonies, 32 piano sonatas and one opera. Amazingly, Beethoven continued composing even though, in his late 20s, he began losing his hearing. The ringing in his ears became so painful that he stuffed them with cotton and avoided going out in public. By his mid-40s, a decade before his death, he was deaf. But it didn’t stop his composing. He “heard” his music in his mind and wrote it down. He also reportedly cut the legs off his piano so he could feel the vibration of the notes on the floor. “It’s a pretty empowering story,” said Wesley Thompson, conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra’s string orchestra. Thompson, who also teaches in Howard County, Maryland, said classical music “gets a bad rap for being stuffy and boring. But there’s so much going on . . . all the different sounds and different instruments and energy.” Musically, Beethoven bridged the gap between two eras — classical, which featured order, simplicity and balance; and romantic, which stressed individual freedom, emotions and drama. Beethoven’s music can be difficult to play, a challenge many performers enjoy. But it also can appeal to the youngest musicians. Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” part of his Ninth Symphony, is “a great tune to teach,” Thompson said. Even third-grade students may know the gentle, five-note opening melody. “It doesn’t have to be dumbed down for them,” she said, “and they feel really cool” when they are playing Beethoven. One of Thompson’s students, Tina Battaglia, was asked at her university music audition to perform a piece without much time to prepare. “Oh no, what am I going to play?” she thought. Then she remembered an intro to “Ode to Joy” that features her instrument, the double bass, and the cello. Over the years, she has practiced it a lot. “It’s very operatic, very lyrical,” she said. Her on-the-spot performance was a success, and she is now a music performance major at James Madison University in Virginia. Battaglia urges kids to give Beethoven a try. “He’ll open your world and inspire you,” she said. “He’s going to be 250 years old. If his legacy has been around that long, he’s not going away.”


Covid-19 has created new jobs — for scammers preying on the unemployed

If the devastation of losing your job because of the coronavirus pandemic isn’t enough, imagine being conned by scammers capitalizing on the spread of covid-19 and your desperation to generate some income. Income-based scams have increased significantly because of the pandemic. In the first nine months of 2020, people looking for ways to earn money were cheated out of $150 million, according to new data from the Federal Trade Commission. “Scammers have been even bolder during the covid-19 pandemic,” said Andrew Smith, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “So many of us are unemployed or underemployed, stuck at home and badly in need of income. In fact, the number of income scams reported to the FTC reached the highest level on record in the second quarter of 2020. These scammers are taking advantage of a desperate situation to rip money from the hands of those of us least able to afford it.” In a crackdown the authorities are calling “Operation Income Illusion,” the FTC — along with 19 federal, state and local law enforcement partners — is focusing on shutting down fake employment, work-at-home, multilevel marketing and investment scams. In Maryland, Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) announced enforcement actions against several companies pitching franchise opportunities. In another scheme, promoters targeted members of the African immigrant community, promising huge returns on their investments in a cryptocurrency, a highly risky proposition even when it’s a legitimate investment. “The past year has been especially difficult for many families who’ve lost their source of income due to the covid pandemic,” Frosh said during a news conference call. “In some cases, families are desperate to make ends meet, pay for much-needed health care or simply put food on the table. And, in addition to all the other pain this pandemic has caused, it made many Americans become especially vulnerable to income scams and unwise investment opportunities.” The FTC has taken legal action against a number of bogus income cons, many of which are just preposterous. — A Florida-based scam lured people in by promising they could earn between $500 and $12,500 in commissions in a digital income scheme. People paid for various levels of membership — $1,000 to $25,000 — and in return they could “earn” the right to make money off the recruitment of other people into the program. For example, someone paying $1,000 for an entrepreneur-level membership could make $500