A spring season of theater takes young audiences from China to the Land of Oz

fairy tale, in which a great Chinese emperor learns to be humble and grateful toward the nightingale that sings so beautifully in his garden. Chua’s adaptation, set in early-18th-century China and based on historical research, takes a kind of realpolitik approach. The hero, 10-year-old Prince Bao, seems disconnected from the plight of the people until his mother, the Empress Consort, and the Nightingale teach him how to listen. His rival and half-brother, Prince Hongshi, conspires with the conniving Minister Wu to grab power instead. “It’s really a tale of understanding what is important and what is of value. It is also a tale of rivalry between a good person and a bad person,” says Chua, who grew up in Singapore and came to the United States at age 30. “I decided to set it during the reign of Emperor Qianglong, which is early 18th century, because there was, first of all, a real rivalry between him and his siblings . . . and also because it was an interesting time of Chinese history.” Prince Bao triumphs, he says, “by learning a lesson along the way and realizing what he needs to be to become a good leader.” “It’s children’s political theater, kind of,” says the show’s director, Natsu Onoda Power. “It lays out what a good leader should do.” This would seem like a good fit for Power, who often does highly kinetic, visual pieces, among them her own “Astro Boy and the God of Comics” at Studio Theatre in 2012. She also designed the eye-popping sets for Imagination Stage’s “Anime Momotaro” in 2013. Power, who grew up in Japan, says she feels a special responsibility here, given the history of Japan’s aggression toward China in the 20th century. “I am honored to be directing this play, and I think I have to treat it delicately,” she says. “I’m really honored that David [Chua] trusts me with his play.” The Emperor’s Nightingale Austin Tichenor, from left, Reed Martin and Teddy Spencer in Reduced Shakespeare Company's "William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged)” at Folger Theatre. (Jeff Thomas) The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s Austin Tichenor has no qualms about older kids being exposed to the bits of bawdy humor in William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), premiering at the Folger Theatre later this month. An actor and writer with the traveling troupe since 1992, Tichenor has helped “reduce” the Bible, American


WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 19: Sea Scallop Ceviche - avocado salsa, pickled jalapeño, scallions, cilantro, at Espita Mezcaleria. (Photo by Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post) (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post) Espita Mezcaleria owner Josh Phillips. Executive Chef Alexis Samayoa in kitchen. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post) GOOD/EXCELLENT This review appeared in The Washington Post’s 2016 Spring Dining Guide as No. 6 on a list of the year’s 10 best new restaurants. Evangelist Josh Phillips is on a mission to get Washington to drink more (and better) mezcal. Belly up to his bar, stocked with 90-plus artisanal spirits, and soak up his sermon. Better yet, pair a flight of something special with the handiwork of Alexis Samayoa, whose Mexican menu pays particular attention to the region of Oaxaca. That’s a prompt to spend time with one of the chef’s seven moles, my favorite of which is green with pumpkin seeds, kicky with serrano and lavished on pork ribs. There’s more: sparkling seviches, tacos that rely on heirloom corn for their savor and a staff that’s eager to help you navigate the intoxicating sips and sups. Sidestepping design cliches, Espita treats diners to the brushstrokes of the Oaxacan guerrilla artist known as Yescka on its walls. Depending on your seat, you might be facing a swarm of butterflies or Frida Kahlo. Previous: More of Tom Sietsema’s top 10 new restaurants: 10. Hank’s Pasta Bar 9. Nazca Mochica 8. The Dabney 7. Tail Up Goat 6. Espita Mezcaleria 5. Masseria 4. Bad Saint 3. Convivial 2. Kinship 1. Pineapple and Pearls -- Espita Mezcaleria review: A new contender for D.C.’s best Mexican restaurant? This review was originally published April 6, 2016. Novice restaurateur Josh Phillips is on a spirited crusade to change the way diners think about mezcal, stocking his bar with 90-plus varieties of the firewater distilled from the agave plant. But the visionary behind the new Espita Mezcaleria in where-else-but-Shaw is focused more on winning converts than in touting numbers, as any conversation with the missionary or his staff demonstrates. Above all, Phillips, a master mezcalier, wants us to stop thinking of his drink of choice as a smoky cousin to tequila and surprise us with mezcal’s range. Mezcal, Phillips says — and a flight of samples attests — is “more akin to wine than it is to tequila.” (One brand, La Venenosa Sierra del Tigre, smells of


NSO wraps a fine new piece in competent but uninspiring chestnuts

Cristian Măcelaru (Sorin Popa/Sorin Popa) This week’s National Symphony Orchestra program employs the commonplace strategy of nesting a new work amidst chestnuts so it will go down easier. It was unnecessary in this case: Pierre Jalbert’s “In Aeternam” was wholly digestible, even enjoyable, and needed no counterbalancing. But with the hackneyed programming that occurs too often, the NSO filled out the evening with Debussy’s “La Mer,” the Brahms Violin Concerto and Fauré’s “Pavane” (a staple of youth orchestras). Wasted opportunity. The guest conductor was Cristian Macelaru, in his second NSO engagement. Macelaru is assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and has made appearances with top orchestras around the country. He has youth, energy and solid training going for him, but I have trouble gauging his musical personality beyond that. Everything sounded middle-of-the-road and competent. His musical profile is somewhat opaque. The orchestra played well, but certainly no better than usual. In the Brahms, there wasn’t much architecture in the opening tutti beyond the obvious points, and the Adagio lacked repose — the oboe didn’t sound completely comfortable, and internal balances were haphazard. Some of the phrases in “La Mer” sagged as Macelaru turned his attention too quickly to the next thing. On the other hand, ensemble was tight, shifts in gear were clean, the brass and percussion held their fire and let the rest of the orchestra be heard for a change, and there was high energy much of the time. The second movement of “La Mer” was particularly fine. I would like to hear this young artist’s take on some deeper repertoire, but he planted his flag solidly. In the Brahms, Nikolaj Znaider disdained any reduction in the size of the orchestra (standard practice for concertos), and more than held his own against the full NSO. Pumping out a huge sound on his del Gesù violin, he dominated the proceedings. I’ve heard violinists with a more ravishing tone up high, and those who put more of a personal stamp on the piece, but everything was laid out with taste and clarity. He knew when he could fool around and when he couldn’t. It was a magisterial performance, marred only in the first movement when he tried to play too fast in the cadenza and too slowly in the coda. Macelaru was previously a professional violinist, and Znaider is an active conductor as well, so there was a whiff of


A war interrogator racked by conscience

record of what happened. He describes, for example, the use by 82nd Airborne soldiers of a brutal device known as the Palestinian chair. The interrogators say the Israeli military taught them how to use it during a joint training exercise. Sitting in the specially built chair, a detainee is pitched forward with his head thrust onto his chest and his hands zip-tied near the bottom of the legs. The device forces all of the detainee’s weight onto his thighs. Fair and a friend tried it out for themselves: “Maybe it’s not as bad as we’ve made it out to be. We experiment with different positions and tell each other what hurts the most. We agree that having your hands secured to the lowest part of the chair puts the most strain on our legs. What begins as a searing burn in the calves and quads evolves into a tearing sensation in the hamstrings and lower back. You sweat, you shake, you can’t breathe. It is a violent and frightening pain. It’s torture.” Once your legs give out, Fair writes, “you basically start to suffocate. They say everyone breaks in the chair.” A mayor of Fallujah was subjected to the chair, to devastating effect. Fair observed this interrogation but did not try to stop it: “This is a sin. I know it as soon as I see it. There will be no atonement for it.” In some cases, harsh interrogations got detainees to talk. Fair witnessed an Army linguist slap an Iraqi youth “one solid open-handed strike to the face. It is loud and violent. . . . The young brother provides information about the men who store bomb-making materials out in their fields.” But Fair makes a much stronger case that less-severe tactics were a lot more effective. One detainee, he writes, “does not want to go to Abu Ghraib. In English he says, ‘Give me food, I have information.’ I return with grape juice and a piece of birthday cake from the common room. He devours them and asks for more. . . . I spend the next six hours delivering food while struggling to record all of the information he provides. It is my most productive interrogation in Iraq. . . . I have discovered weapons caches, located a mechanic’s shop that builds car bombs, and obtained information on the downing of an American helicopter over Fallujah.” Returning


RFK Stadium site offered as home for Redskins or maybe Wizards and Capitals

A proposed rendering for the future land now occupied by RFK stadium in Washington DC. 2016 (OMA/Robota/Events DC/OMA/Robota/Events DC) D.C. officials plan to unveil an array of possibilities for the future of the RFK Stadium property Monday night, among them a new 65,000-seat Redskins stadium and a basketball and hockey venue capable of replacing Verizon Center. All the proposals include a raft of suggested recreation facilities for a city with a booming population, among them playing fields, a field house, a water park and a sports-and-entertainment complex that officials likened to Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. Two of the six proposals, outlined by Events DC, the District’s sports-and-entertainment arm, lay out a path for the Redskins to return to the District, though serious obstacles remain should Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and the D.C. Council move to reach a deal with owner Daniel M. Snyder. Officials also said for the first time that they are considering the 190-acre riverfront property as a possible location for a 20,000-seat arena equipped to serve the Washington Wizards and Capitals. Ted Leonsis, majority owner of those teams, has in recent years raised the prospect of relocating when their Verizon Center lease expires in 2027 — the same year Snyder’s lease expires at FedEx Field, where the Redskins began play in 1997. A rendering showing one of six proposals for what could be next for the land around RFK Stadium. (Events DC/OMA/Events DC/OMA) Still, a major professional sports venue is the furthest off and the most expensive option among the ideas envisioned for the site. In the meantime, officials said they were focused on providing residents and neighbors with something more than parking lots, an aging stadium and the 75-year-old D.C. Armory. In the next three to five years, Gregory A. O’Dell, president and chief executive of Events DC, said he would like to build public athletic fields, a market and a family sports-and-entertainment complex regardless of whether a major sports venue is ultimately added in the area. “We want to make sure that we get reaction from the community and understand what they want to see and what they’d like on this site,” O’Dell said. Architects from Dutch design firm OMA produced two broad design concepts for reconfiguring the property, which slopes down toward the Anacostia River and is covered mostly with irregularly used parking lots. In both concepts, the architects envision tearing down 55-year


Butterflies don’t go hungry

An eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly at the Dow Gardens' Butterflies in Bloom exhibit in Midland, Mich., in March. (Jacob Hamilton/Associated Press) Brad Leithauser started his review of “Fine Lines” [“Before ‘Lolita,’ lepidoptera,” Book World, March 20] with “A butterfly’s prime and imperative job is to mate. Nature even arranged for butterflies to be born without mouths, as if in reminder that their task mustn’t be confused with other appetites.” One might have gotten the impression that butterflies don’t eat. A butterfly uses its proboscis to sip nectar. Marie McCarren, Arnold


Palestine Marathon sparks a growing push for movement over politics

many foreign entrants and ex-pats. (Ashton Songer Ferguson/For The Washington Post) Sadak Iqbal holds her medal up for local press and friends to see. This year, nearly half the participants are women. (Ashton Songer Ferguson/For The Washington Post) Steenkamp, a South African, ran as part of Team Palestine, a group of 55 made up mostly of Americans who raised money for pediatric healthcare in the West Bank and Gaza. He finished in 2:35.36 in his first international marathon. Teams from northern Ireland, Save the Children, UN agencies, Denmark and France raced alongside locals, and the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities issued a statement in support of the race. For hours after the start, modern running practices clashed with local tradition around the square, which is bordered by the Church of the Nativity and the Bethlehem Peace Center. Runners opted for kebabs grilled in stone ovens built into the limestone of buildings instead of post-race granola bars and bread, or clutched paper cups of steamed corn purchased from vendors with metal carts. The Friday call to prayer echoed out from the mosque opposite the finish line. The square swarmed with females dressed in everything from burkas to running shorts. Female participation jumped from 39 percent of the field last year to 45 percent this year, an unprecedented statistic given that women running in public is still uncommon in conservative communities. The second-place female finisher in the half marathon, Fatima Aweisat, trained by walking two miles every day in east Jerusalem, briskly, and running when it was appropriate. She wore a white headscarf and slightly flared black running pants for the race, and even hours after finishing in 1:27.43, she was ecstatic. Thirteen members of the Aweisat family came to compete in the 10k and half-marathon distances. Aweisat sister walked the 10 kilometers in a floor-length, thick black skirt, and grinned while pulling back the fabric to reveal athletic pants and bright running shoes underneath. When the sisters were younger, running in public would have never been acceptable. Nowadays, people are more open, Aweisat said. This race is helping. “It was tiring,” she said, surrounded by her family, which had ducked inside the Peace Center by the start to find shade as the temperature climbed into the upper 70s. “And exciting, and amazing.” Correction: A previous version of this story provided an inaccurate description of the West Bank barrier.


Death of District man in Northwest is ruled a homicide

A man whose body was found inside a Northwest Washington residence in January died of blunt force trauma, and his death has been ruled a homicide, D.C. police said Friday. Sheldon Scott Gordy, 55, was found Jan. 5 in the 1300 block of Nicholson Street NW, just off Georgia Avenue in the Brightwood neighborhood. On Friday, police said the D.C. medical examiner had ruled that Gordy died of compression to the neck. Gordy is from Northwest. No other details of the case have been made public. No arrests have been made.


January death of man found in NW Washington residence ruled a homicide

THE DISTRICT January death has been ruled a homicide A man whose body was found in a home Jan. 5 died of blunt force trauma, and his death has been ruled a homicide, D.C. police said Friday. Sheldon Scott Gordy, 55, of Northwest was found in the 1300 block of Nicholson Street NW. Police said Friday that the medical examiner had ruled that he died of neck compression. — Peter Hermann 15-year-old arrested in robbery on NE trail D.C. police on Friday arrested a 15-year-old boy and charged him with Tuesday’s robbery of a man who authorities said was attacked by 14 youths along the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Northeast. Police said the youth, from Northeast, was charged with robbery by force and violence. Police said they are looking for additional suspects. The attack occurred about 4:50 p.m. near Fifth and T streets NE. The victim’s injuries were described as not life-threatening. Police said that the attackers, on bicycles, took the man’s cellphone and assaulted him. It was not known whether the incident was connected to a trail robbery in March. — Peter Hermann VIRGINIA Man died in domestic dispute, police say A 46-year-old man who was fatally stabbed Friday night during what police at first thought was a street fight in Arlington was actually attacked during a domestic dispute inside a residence, police said Saturday. The victim was identified as Dennis Adams, of Arlington. He was stabbed on South Glebe Road near Arlington Boulevard. A juvenile suffered minor injuries. An Arlington police spokesman said a 17-year-old relative of the victim has been arrested and charged with murder and stabbing while committing a felony. — Peter Hermann Woman slain in domestic quarrel A Leesburg woman was shot and killed in a house there, in what police think was a domestic-related dispute, authorities said. Christina Fisher, 34, was found fatally shot shortly after 6 p.m. in the 300 block of Nansemond Street SE, a town police spokesman said. He said a “person of interest” had been located. — Clarence Williamsand Martin Weil


Beer of the Week: Heavy Seas + Maine Beer Partner Ships Red IPA

(Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) (Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) Collaborations are all the rage in the beer world. In February, Devils Backbone released a 12-pack of beers brewed in conjunction with breweries from across the country. This month, DC Brau marks its fifth anniversary with five beers created in partnership with Austin Beerworks, Cigar City and other craft brewers. Earlier this year, Baltimore’s Heavy Seas Beer announced it was launching a new quarterly series of collaborations called Partner Ships. The first one, available now in stores and bars, finds Heavy Seas paired with Maine Beer, the winner of this year’s Beer Madness competition. Wisely, and a bit predictably, the two breweries crafted a copper-colored Red IPA that shows off the best-known sides of each brewery: Maine’s hop-forward ales and Heavy Seas’ love of traditional malty, more English-style ales. The resulting beer has plenty of grapefruit peel and orange hop notes, but those are balanced by a toasty, toffeelike body and lingering citrus in the finish. Spring is a busy time for local breweries; find more new releases at goingoutguide.com/bars. Heavy Seas + Maine Beer Partner Ships Red IPA. hsbeer.com. Expect to pay around $8 for a 22-ounce bottle. More from Food: Beer Column


Are your homemade cocktails lacking? Maybe the problem is coming out of your tap.

the water into a clean, residue-free wineglass, then give it three short sniffs. Taste it, noting flavor, mouth feel and any aftereffects (a taste or residue left in your mouth). What do you think? Do you want more of it? Does it taste saline, chemical? Does it taste like fish have been spawning in it? (You think I’m kidding, but “guppy water” was among the terms that we learned might apply to bad water.) Judges at the 26th Annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting named Clearbrook, B.C.’s water the best municipal water in the world; H2O from Eldorado Springs, Colo., was the best in the United States. (Jeanne Mozier) Even if your tap water tastes like the dew on an angel’s wing, that will mean nothing if you freeze it and it picks up stale or off-notes from the food it’s sitting next to. Fetherston says he regularly advises home bartenders to fill their ice molds and then seal them in airtight containers to protect them from scent invasion. In the wake of what has happened in Flint, Mich., I’ve found this brief hydrological education galling. I actively resist the idea of becoming a snob over the very substance that enables existence — that makes up more than half of my own body — when people in our own country can’t safely drink out of their taps and when people in other parts of the world face deadly parasites in their water supply or long journeys to acquire the water they need for their families, crops and herds. Nonetheless, you can’t un-know something, as Fetherston understands all too well. He’s getting married soon, and the venue is a restaurant on the Rappahannock River. And for some reason, the water they serve there is super salty. “I assume it’s because it’s coming from the Rappahannock, and it’s kind of interesting because you’re like, ‘Oh, I can kind of taste the oysters in this glass of water,’” he says. “But it’s very brackish. And now I’m worried: Is that the water that’ll be in our punches?” Thankfully, Fetherston is marrying someone in the industry who knows good drinks. So if he has to be the guy who shows up at his wedding announcing that he has brought his own ice, she’ll probably understand. Allan is a Hyattsville, Md., writer and editor. Follow her on Twitter: @Carrie_the_Red. More from Food: Spirits Column archive


In Maryland, new efforts to fight drug addiction are taking shape

Greg and Carin Miller, shown in their kitchen in Mt. Airy, Md., have four grown children, including one who has battled an addiction to heroin and is 17 months clean. Greg has also be battling an addiction to pain killers. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and the Democratic-controlled legislature are weighing options for tackling the fast-growing heroin epidemic that has taken root across the state and throughout the country. Many of the solutions focus on loosening criminal penalties for drug offenses and shifting more money — including the potential prison savings — to treatment and rehabilitation programs. The efforts have drawn praise from experts, including Joshua Sharfstein, the physician who served as state health director under Hogan’s predecessor, Martin O’Malley (D). But they are viewed with skepticism by some advocates, who want the state to immediately and significantly expand long-term residential treatment. The debate comes as the White House and Congress are taking steps to address opioid addiction, which has also been a nagging theme on the presidential campaign trail. In March, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to create grants to expand drug-abuse treatment and awareness programs; encourage medical providers to reduce unnecessary prescriptions; and expand access to overdose-reversal drugs. President Obama said last week that he would propose $1.1 billion in his 2017 budget to boost treatment at community health centers. “There are steps that can be taken that will help people battle through addiction and get on to the other side,” he said at an Atlanta summit on prescription drug and heroin abuse. “And right now that’s under-resourced.” Greg Miller shows the anti-withdraw medication he takes to manage his painkiller addiction. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Heroin-related deaths in Maryland climbed to 527 through September of last year, more than triple the total from the same period in 2010, according to the latest data available from the state health department. By comparison, there were a combined 378 cocaine- and alcohol-related deaths during the first three quarters of 2015. Unlike in the past, when heroin was largely isolated to the inner city, the drug has steadily crept into the suburbs as a cheaper and sometimes more accessible alternative to prescription painkillers that offer a similar high. Heroin-related deaths increased to 33 in Montgomery County and 27 in Prince George’s County through September 2015, roughly doubling in both cases compared with 2010. The spikes aren’t limited


Are all these animal diseases linked?

Little brown bats in Washington state, like those shown above in Tennessee in 2011, have just been found to have white-nose syndrome. (Amy Smotherman Burgess/Knoxville News Sentinel/Associated Press) The April 3 news article “Disease preying on bats in Northwest” discussed the millions of bat deaths from a mysterious fungus and its ominous potential impact on humans. Might there be a common thread with the colony collapse disorder killing bees (with a similarly ominous potential human impact), the sudden rise and rapid geographical spread of the Zika virus and even the strange facial cancer threatening the Tasmanian devil with extinction? Ron Thompson, Fairfax


New tool allows paralyzed to speak — using their eyes

LC Technologies, based in Fairfax, is the maker of Eyegaze Edge, a communication system for people with disabilities. (Jamal Yusuf/ LC Technologies) Cathy Manner once worked up to 18 hours a day caring for Ecuador’s sickest children, running from cot to cot and hauling bulky medical shipments into a mobile hospital. Before and after her seven overseas missions, the pediatric nurse worked with very ill children at several Baltimore hospitals, then hopped in her car on weekends to drive from her Anne Arundel County home to the Eastern Shore to babysit her grandchild. But her life changed abruptly early in 2012, beginning one day when she was assessing a young patient in Baltimore. “I went to tell her mother my name and could hardly say it,” Manner said. “I was slurring, and so badly my words weren’t recognizable.” Still, she took off for another mission, despite another alarming change. “I was getting weak, even needing help putting carry-on luggage overhead,” said Manner, who is now 64. But she does not vocalize these words. She can no longer speak. She can only nod and move her eyes. She gazes at letters on a keyboard that is connected to an assistive device. With her eyes serving as her cursor, she uses the device to compose messages. Months after her first symptoms, Manner was diagnosed with ALS — amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The neuromuscular disease led to full-body paralysis that has left her locked in— fully aware of everything around her but unable to respond other than to nod or use her eye-gaze machine. Manner is one of about 6 million people in the United States with paralysis, about 16 percent of whom are severely affected, according to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. The leading causes are stroke, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and ALS. “Many of the people I see [with degenerative conditions] are homebound, and often on ventilators. And communicating has become a challenge for them,” said Erin Swann, manager of the assistive-technology program for the ALS Association’s chapter that serves the Washington area. But equipment such as Manner’s, which can convert typing to spoken words, is giving people their voices back, enabling some to work full time, go to school, surf the Internet, listen to music and bond with family and friends. The voice, Manner said, sounds deliberate and somewhat like a


Middle East peace activist wants to take fight to Republicans in Congress

State Department’s liaison to the House helped protect the Obama administration’s Iranian nuclear agreement, making him the only candidate who has worked with the opposition on a high-stakes policy matter. The House voted 269 to 162 against the pact, with every Republican in the nay column. But Rubin and his colleagues cobbled together enough Democratic support to avoid a veto-proof resolution of disapproval, which would have certainly scuttled the deal. “That means that we beat the Rs in Congress on behalf of a progressive agenda. A rare and unique victory,” Rubin said. He has drawn on some deeply personal events as he attempts to break through before the April 26 primary, highlighting women’s health as a policy priority. Rubin produced what might be the most harrowing ad of the campaign, recounting the forced sterilization of his Sri Lankan mother-in-law, Mithra Ratne, in 1972 by a doctor in Washington state who said “this country has too many colored babies already.” When he discusses the need for affordable health care, Rubin often mentions his own health crisis, which began one morning in 2013 when he woke up with ringing in his right ear. He was diagnosed with a tumor on the nerves controlling balance and hearing on his right side. It was benign and successfully removed. Rubin, the Pittsburgh-born son of an architect and a college English professor, said two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica set him on the path toward public service. He worked at the Agency for International Development and the Energy Department before his first stint at the State Department. He was a fellow in the office of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and an aide to Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) before becoming founding political and government affairs director for J Street, the liberal advocacy group that promotes diplomatic solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He also worked at the Ploughshares Fund, an anti-proliferation group. Rubin’s bipartisan experience extends to his off hours at home in Chevy Chase. His wife, Nilmini Gunaratne Rubin, is a senior policy adviser to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She is also a Republican. “We talk. We have differences,” he said. “It’s good to have difference.” Next: Sen. Jamie Raskin. Read more about the race: For David Trone, run for political office is unfinished childhood business Tensions escalate in 8th district primary race Md. congressional race: incumbency vs. gender vs. entrepreneurial success


Suspected Islamist militants down Syrian aircraft near Aleppo battle front

Rebel fighters near the wreckage of a Syrian aircraft downed Tuesday by a surface-to-air missile near Aleppo. An activist group says Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate, carried out the attack. (Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images) BEIRUT — The aircraft was hit near the city of Aleppo, a front line in the fighting. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra took the pilot captive. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, citing an unnamed military source, reported later that an aircraft on a surveillance mission was brought down with a surface-to-air missile and that the pilot ejected. Jabhat al-Nusra fighters have been suspected of using such missiles in past attacks. The reports of the plane downing suggest that Jabhat al-Nusra, which is seeking to claim new territory as it remains excluded from the truce, has an edge in firepower compared with other forces fighting the government, including some factions backed by the West. The incident could amplify calls from these rebel groups, which have heavy machine guns and other arms, to expand their arsenal to include such advanced weaponry as antiaircraft systems. It is unclear what type of plane was shot down or how it was hit, but rebels claim to have downed the plane near the city of Aleppo. A fragile ceasefire has reduced some of the violence in Syria, but a recent uptick in fighting could threaten peace talks in Geneva. A video posted on Facebook purported to show the plane’s wreckage and a mob around the pilot, who apparently survived. The video’s authenticity could not be independently verified. In November, Turkey shot down a Russian warplane over Syria, an incident that escalated tensions in what has become a volatile proxy conflict involving world powers — with the West and its allies backing the rebels, while Russia and Iran support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Around Aleppo, a major northwestern city, opposition groups have attempted to seize areas from forces aligned with Assad. In the northwestern province of Latakia, which borders Turkey, rebels and Jabhat al-Nusra militants have carried out attacks in recent days. Government forces, in turn, have been accused of numerous violations of the cease-fire, which took hold Feb. 27. “Our attacks are a response to ongoing regime violations of the truce,” said Ahmed Haj Ali, a spokesman for the 1st Coastal Division, a rebel outfit affiliated with the umbrella Free Syrian Army


Financial digest: Wednesday, April 6, 2016

The company said the board will conduct a search for a new chief executive and president. Directors asked Maya Strelar-Migotti and Pantelis Alexopoulos, two executive vice presidents, to be co-chief executives in the interim. — Bloomberg News Also in Business ● The U.S. trade deficit rose in February to the highest level in six months as the growth in imports outpaced a modest rise in exports. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the trade gap widened to $47.1 billion, up 2.6 percent from January. Exports rose 1 percent to $178.1 billion, boosted by increased sales of U.S.-made autos. It was the first climb since September. Imports were up 1.3 percent to $225.1 billion, despite a drop in oil imports which fell to the lowest level in 13 years. ● Starbucks is opening a sprawling new Roastery-branded store in Manhattan, part of a push to bolster growth with larger locations that offer experiences to customers. The cafe will be its biggest ever: a 20,000-square-foot store at 61 Ninth Ave., Starbucks said in a statement Tuesday. The location, near Chelsea Market, won’t be ready until 2018. Chief executive Howard Schultz has said that he wants to bring the Roastery model — a combination of a roasting facility and cafe that tries to teach customers about coffee brewing and bean origins — to cities globally. ● U.S. hiring jumped to a nine-year high in February, a sign of robust business demand for new workers, while the number of open positions slipped. The Labor Department says 5.4 million people found jobs, a 5.8 percent jump from January and the most since November 2006. More workers also quit their jobs. Tuesday’s figures track total hiring. The monthly jobs report calculates a net total of job gains after subtracting those who quit, retired or were laid off. ● Walgreens beat earnings expectations for its fiscal second quarter as sales rose nearly 14 percent, but the nation’s largest drugstore chain remained conservative with its outlook for the year. The company said Tuesday that it would raise the low end of its fiscal 2016 forecast by 5 cents per share and that it now expects fiscal 2016 earnings to range between $4.35 and $4.55 per share. In its fiscal second quarter, revenue from established stores increased 2.2 percent. Overall, Walgreens Boots Alliance earned $930 million in the three months that ended Feb. 29. Adjusted earnings came to $1.31


David Baker, jazz scholar, composer and conductor, dies at 84

settled on the cello, an unusual instrument in jazz. (He briefly returned to the trombone in the early 1970s, but soon abandoned it for good.) “If it hadn’t been for the accident, I’m not sure I would have ever become a teacher,” he said in 2011. “When one door closes, another door opens.” Mr. Baker taught at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., in the mid-1950s, but after he married a white opera singer, Eugenia “Jeannie” Jones, he was forced to resign because of the state’s laws prohibiting interracial marriage. In 1966, Mr. Baker joined the faculty at his alma mater, where he stayed for the rest of his career, teaching thousands of students. In addition to his influential study of jazz improvisation, he wrote “David Baker’s Jazz Pedagogy” (1989), which is considered a standard text. As a composer, Mr. Baker wrote blues-based jazz tunes, symphonic works and compositions blending the two styles. His “Jazz Suite for Clarinet and Symphony Orchestra: Three Ethnic Dances” (1992) is widely performed by orchestras, and his whimsical 2006 work, “Concertino for Cellular Phones and Symphony Orchestra,” has become something of a sensation, calling on audience members to activate the ring tones of their cellphones at various points. Mr. Baker was also a consultant to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, assisting in acquisitions related to jazz, and he edited the Essential Jazz Editions series of jazz scores in a joint project of the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Warner Bros. Publications. He stepped down as musical director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra in 2012 and retired from IU the following year. His first marriage ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 36 years, flutist Lida Belt Baker of Bloomington; and a daughter from his first marriage. At concerts, Mr. Baker encouraged audiences to be expressive, often urging them to snap their fingers and clap their hands to the music. “When people just sit there and don’t respond, I say, ‘No, no!’ ” he said in 1996. “Don’t listen to us as though we are an artifact. Listen to us and react.” Read more Washington Post obituaries : Frank Sinatra Jr., who lived in the shadow of his famous father, dies at 72 Gunther Schuller, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who bridged jazz and classical music, dies at 89 Paul Bley, innovative pianist in modern jazz, dies at 83


America’s next president must continue Obama’s progress on clean energy

reduction. Moniz describes three ARPA-E projects he thinks are especially promising. One company is building an advanced photovoltaic cell that could, by 2020, reduce the cost of installed solar energy by 50 percent from its 2009 level. Another company is creating new systems that could significantly cut power use by electric motors, which currently consume about 30 percent of America’s electricity. A third company is building a new kind of airborne turbine that could capture wind energy from 85 percent of America’s land mass, compared with 15 percent today. Wandering through the ARPA-E exhibition hall with Moniz — looking at a few of the more than 200 presentations — you get a sense of how fast new technology is being applied to big, real-world problems. A company called Rebellion Photonics demonstrates a system for chemical imaging that can spot gas leaks and other potential problems before disaster strikes. A consortium of universities and private companies, dubbed TERRA, shows off robots that can assess biofuel crops and select the best genetic traits, doing in four hours what now takes seven days. A company called Local Motors pitches a car built with 3-D printing. And yes, you’ll be able to make a copy of the Mustang you drove back in high school, if you want. This intense interaction between technology and the marketplace is what powers innovation in the United States. Contrary to right-wing myth, the government in modern times has been a key incubator and facilitator for business. DARPA’s research spawned the Internet and its world-transforming networks, and it is now helping to drive the astonishing progress of machine learning and autonomous systems. Thanks to Moniz, ARPA-E is having a similar catalytic effect with energy-related technologies. This political season has been a horror show, making even those who are optimistic about America’s future begin to wonder. Moniz’s innovation summit was a bracing reminder of why, as Warren Buffett likes to say, people have never gone wrong betting on America. It also illustrates the importance of having world-class scientists such as Moniz oversee the intersection of government and technology. Read more from David Ignatius’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Read more on this topic: John F. Kerry and Ernest Moniz: The case for the nuclear deal with Iran Ernest Moniz: A nuclear deal that offers a safer world Matthew Stepp: Better clean-energy choices for America


Montgomery Animal Watch

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


Financial digest: Thursday, April 7, 2016

Washington-based lender said in a report Wednesday. “The removal of economic sanctions is projected to boost investment, though this will have a relatively modest impact during the forecast horizon due to Russia’s limited growth potential.” The economy of the world’s largest energy exporter will shrink 1.9 percent this year with oil prices averaging $37 a barrel, according to the lender’s baseline scenario, which assumes sanctions remaining until 2018. If the European Union and the United States roll back penalties earlier, gross domestic product probably will increase 2 percent in 2017, compared with the baseline forecast for 1.1 percent growth. Russia is combating a second year of recession after oil prices slumped and U.S. and E.U. sanctions over the Ukrainian crisis limited access to international capital markets. A currency collapse and inflation have choked domestic demand., while partially shielding the budget from a drop in energy prices — Bloomberg News Also in Business ● Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives approved a bill Wednesday that would allow the U.S. territory’s governor to declare a fiscal emergency and implement a debt moratorium. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla is expected to sign the bill, in part to help protect the island’s Government Development Bank. The bank that issues loans and oversees debt transactions is running out of money and could face insolvency amid a decade-long economic crisis. The bill would allow the bank to enter into receivership if needed. ● Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, posted a decline in fiscal second-quarter profit after a global slump in agricultural commodities depressed demand for crop inputs. Net income was $2.41 a share for the three months ended Feb. 29, compared with $2.92 a year earlier, Monsanto said Wednesday. Profit excluding one-time items was $2.42, matching the average of 20 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales fell to $4.53 billion from $5.2 billion a year earlier. The company reiterated its full-year profit forecast of $4.40 to $5.10 a share. ●Johnson Johnson will pay $85 million for the rights to develop and sell Tesaro’s experimental pill for prostate cancer. The company will invest $50 million in Tesaro stock, at $44.24 a share, and will pay $35 million in cash up front for rights to the cancer drug niraparib, according to a statement Wednesday. Tesaro may also get as much as $415 million in potential milestone payments from the company. Prostate cancer has become a more competitive market for


D.C. cultural and community events calendar

Thursday, April 7 Ikebana Exhibit Memorials of the Reflecting Pool Spring garden tours Washington Cathedral Behind the Scenes Garden tour with parents and kids in snugglers Memorials of the Tidal Basin National Cherry Blossom Festival tour: Au Naturel National Museum of Women in the Arts tour Angels: high and low, close up tour Income tax preparation help Richard and Mildred Loving story Game night at the library Kids and teens, ages 7-16, may play competitive games from video games to card games to board games. Thursdays at 5 p.m.Parklands-Turner Library, 1547 Alabama Ave. SE. 202-645-4532. parklandsturnerlibrary@dc.gov. Free. Learn to play chess Music students concert “Trafficking in Cultural Materials” Yoga at Northwest One Art opening reception “The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord” “110 in the Shade” “Moment” Green Day’s “American Idiot” “The Nether” “Art When All Is Lost” Friday, April 8 Spring garden tours Children’s safety seats and belts inspection Move, Learn, Create Afternoon garden tour A Photographer’s Quest for North America’s Wild Orchids Pipe organ concert Classical music “Cooking Up History: The Mexican-American Table” “What’s the Buzz? The Science of Fermentation and Mead” The Paint Ball Music students concert Into the Mind of Adoor Gopalakrishnan: Indian Cinema Pioneer “Josephine”/ “After Life” Music of the Fairy Queen and other works Ritmo y Sabor Spring Showcase Saturday, April 9 Zion Baptist health fair Dress for Success spring tag sale Home Buying 101 Workshop LEGO time Saturdays from 10 a.m. to Noon. Mount Pleasant Library, 3160 16th St. NW. 202-671-3121. pleasantlibrary@dc.gov. Free. “Serenity by Design: Simplicity, Sanctuary and Delight” Fitness event: practice with love yoga gatherings Tudor tots weekend - Cherry Blossoms Ages 2-4 may read, sing and play in picturesque gardens to celebrate the blooming of the mansion’s cherry blossoms and participate in a craft activity, parents/caregivers will remain with the children. 10:30-11:15 a.m. Tudor Place, 1644 31st St. NW. 202-965-0400. www.tudorplace.org. $5, child/adult pair, registration required. Family story time Family story time STEM Storytime for toddlers and preschoolers Slow art day Yoga at your library Family Afternoon: Newspaper Fort Challenge Cherry Blossom celebration Income tax preparation help Trading card meetup Restoring foods for recovery and healing Portrait Story Days: Winston Churchill Saturday from 1-4 p.m. and Sunday from 2-5 p.m. National Portrait Gallery, Education Center, Eighth and F streets NW. 202-633-1000. Free. Slow Art Day Spring Sing Local groups perform a cappella. 7:30 p.m.


Want to snag a home in Maryland? The hunt is fierce.

same period in 2015. The 1,849-square-foot three bedroom, two-bathroom rambler at 4505 Oakview Lane in Bowie, Md., is listed at $299,000. (By HomeVisit) According to MRIS, from March 2015 to March 2016 inventory in suburban Maryland rose 1.8 percent. During that same time, the median sales prices increased 1.7 percent from $284,250 to $289,000. The market in Maryland has picked up slightly, with the average number of days it takes a home to sell decreasing by 1.4 percent, to 69 days in March 2016 from 70 days in March 2015. These statistics cover two large counties with many submarkets where some homes sell in less than a week. “The category of homes with the most available listings [386] in Montgomery County is detached single-family homes priced from $1 million to $2.5 million,” says Jonathan Hill, vice president of marketing and communications for MRIS in Rockville. “The second largest group of listings [385] is in Prince George’s County for detached single-family homes priced from $200,000 to $300,000.” Shifting housing markets Prince George’s County suffered more from foreclosures than other suburban Maryland counties and for a few years had significantly more homes for sale (distressed and non-distressed) than Montgomery County. But since spring 2013, Montgomery County has averaged almost 30 percent more active listings compared with Prince George’s County, Hill says. “The Maryland market is strong, with a higher percentage of growth in closed sales than D.C. and Northern Virginia,” Hill says. “Northern Virginia had a year-to-date increase of 2.6 percent while D.C. had a 4.3 percent increase. However, the Maryland suburbs had a 9.9 percent jump over the same period last year. One-third of all sales in March were detached single-family homes with four bedrooms. Maryland, especially Prince George’s County, has a bigger supply of affordable homes than the other jurisdictions.” Richardson says Redfin agents continue to see buyers moving from Alexandria or other parts of Northern Virginia into Prince George’s County to look for affordability. Levitch says he sees an eastern migration pattern for buyers looking for affordability. “Often, buyers will start looking at Bethesda and then move north to Rockville, but they find that everything priced under $650,000 is extremely competitive,” Levitch says. “They move toward Kensington, Wheaton and Silver Spring, where their dollar goes further. Many are deciding to move to Hyattsville, College Park and Mount Rainier because they can find walkable communities, their money goes further and


Top-ranked Good Counsel gets defensive, holds off No. 2 Ireton, 9-7

The Good Counsel girls’ lacrosse team has been so prolific scoring on attack, both this spring and over the years, that its defense often gets overlooked despite being filled with just as much Division I talent. On Friday, however, the defense rescued the Falcons during a rare offensive drought. No. 1 Good Counsel had to gut out a 9-7 win over No. 2 Bishop Ireton after netting just one goal over the final 25 minutes in a battle of nationally ranked Washington Catholic Athletic Conference teams in Alexandria. In lieu of offense, the Falcons instead forced turnovers, shut down passing lanes, collapsed on shooters and got a few clutch saves late from goalie Kiley Keating to hold off the Cardinals. “It was definitely not expected,” senior defender Abby Wilson said. “But I love it.” Indeed, it was a complete contrast to what Good Counsel (7-0, 4-0 WCAC) is accustomed to after averaging close to 20 goals through its first six games, including a victory over then-No. 2 St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes last Saturday. It entered halftime against Ireton with an 8-4 lead, but watched Ireton (8-1, 2-1) make its charge to begin the second half. On the opening possession, sophomore Madison Mote scored on a set play and senior Kelly Larkin added a free position goal less than one minute later. When Larkin (three goals, one assist) found Mote for another goal with 10 minutes 22 seconds remaining in regulation, Good Counsel’s lead had suddenly shrunk to one. But the Falcons’ stagnant offense awoke briefly to stem the tide, and junior Taylor McDaniels scored her second goal of the afternoon off the ensuing faceoff. “It really picked us up and helped us pull through the second half,” McDaniels said. “It was a reality check.” From there, neither team could dent the scoreboard and the tension rose with each dropped pass or turnover. Though Good Counsel’s attack clicked initially — sophomore Chloe Johnson had one goal and three assists in the opening 15 minutes and the Falcons scored the final three goals of the first half — their pressure defense had to close out this latest triumph. Keating noted the Falcons’ normally explosive offense actually helped prepare the defense for this moment since “having a good attack helps in practice.” But Coach Michael Haight joked those training sessions might need to be altered considering Friday’s nail-biting outcome. “A lot of people don’t


Why one of the nation’s premier beer festivals seems to have lost its luster

Savor, at the National Building Museum, features beer and food pairings. (Eddie Arrossi/Courtesy of Savor) For years, Savor has been the gold standard of beer festivals in Washington, and one of the most important beer festivals in America. Every May or June — with the exception of 2013, when it went on tour to New York — more than 70 craft breweries have descended on the great hall of the National Building Museum for the classiest such event I’ve ever seen. Most beer festivals celebrate the beers of a certain state or region, but Savor is an opportunity to sample beers from all over America, each paired with gourmet snacks. Attendees get the chance to chat with superstars such as Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione and Boston Beer’s Jim Koch, and to attend educational seminars on specific trends or styles. The week leading up to the festival is a parade of tap takeovers, dinners and meet-and-greets with visiting brewers at bars around town. Savor’s popularity has led to complaints about how hard it is to get tickets, with the 2,000 tickets for each of its two nights generally selling out in less than an hour. (In Savor’s third year, 2010, tickets for the one-night affair sold out in 10 minutes.) But some of the luster seems to have rubbed off: More than two weeks after the $135 tickets went on sale, many of the salons with brewers have sold out, but general admission is still available for both June 3 and 4. It’s a strange turn of events for what was once one of the hottest tickets on the beer calendar, especially because interest in craft beer and brewing is at an all-time high. Is Savor on a downturn, or is this just a blip? What has changed since Savor began in 2008 is the level of competition. Although Savor was once one of the few really big festivals in the D.C. area, there are now many more throughout the year — and, more important, none of them approach Savor’s price tag. For example, the DC Beer Festival at Nationals Park on Saturday includes unlimited samples from 83 breweries. Admission for a three-hour window is $40. At least 60 breweries will be in Leesburg, Va., for the Americana Beer Fest in June, which carries a $45 ticket price. The Maryland Craft Beer Festival in Frederick in May includes unlimited beers from


The Washington Post’s methodology

The Washington Post analyzed the Multiple Cause of Death data collection from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The analysis included a record for every person who is known to have died in the country from 1990 through 2014. The data is compiled from death certificates and supplemented with additional reporting by the CDC. Mortality rates were created by combining the deaths with matching population estimates from the CDC Bridged-Race Population Estimates that has breakdowns by year for each age, gender, race and ethnicity. Rates are expressed as the number of deaths for every 100,000 people in a group. All calculations for whites and blacks are for non-Hispanic people. Calculations for Hispanics include white Hispanic, black Hispanic and other Hispanics. The Post also used rates produced by the CDC’s online Wonder tabulation tool. Death rates are calculated in age ranges because adults die at significantly greater rates as they age. The back side of the baby-boom population bubble is causing population in the adult age groups to be shrinking, and to be increasingly skewed toward the older end of the age ranges over time. To avoid distortions, The Post used five-year age groups for national comparisons. For smaller geographies, The Post used 10-year age groups. For mapping small areas, The Post used 20-year age groups with age-adjusted mortality rates. The Post used single-year data except for small geographies and analysis of single causes of death. To avoid distorted calculations from one-year data variations, The Post combined 1999 through 2001 for a starting value and 2012 through 2014 as an endpoint for comparisons of change in maps and for particular causes of death. To study levels of urbanization, The Post used the National Center for Health Statistics classification codes for each county. That scheme has six levels. The most urban levels are cities and suburbs in metropolitan areas with at least 1 million people. The less urban levels are for smaller metropolitan areas and for nonmetropolitan areas. Based on patterns in analysis, The Post grouped the data into two groups: the largest cities with their suburbs, and all other areas.


Md. lawmakers poised to eliminate mandatory minimums

officers are hired, trained and disciplined. With the Senate version differing from the House bill, the legislation will probably be settled on Monday. The proposal would require officers to receive psychological evaluations after traumatic incidents; give residents more time to file brutality complaints; reduce the time given to officers accused of misconduct before they must cooperate with internal investigations; and require a new commission to develop anti-discrimination and use-of-force de-escalation training for all officers. The House and Senate disagreed over who should serve on police review boards. The Senate gave preliminary approval to a bill that would allow dentists, podiatrists, nurse midwives and nurse practitioners to write prescriptions for medical marijuana. Several lawmakers said they worried about whether that legislation went too far. But Zirkin said he saw it as an extension of the state’s approval of allowing medical marijuana, ensuring that all who are licensed to prescribe marijuana have the ability to do so. “We’re either going to treat it as medication or we’re not,” Zirkin said. The final version of the nearly 100-page criminal justice reform bill would send people charged with drug possession to treatment instead of prison; eliminate disparities in penalties for offenses involving crack and powder cocaine; make it easier to have drug-possession convictions expunged; and offer drug offenders the same number of credits to reduce their sentences that are given to other nonviolent offenders. It would also allow people who are serving mandatory minimums for drug offenses to appeal their sentences. At the same time, it would increase the penalties for second-degree murder and kidnapping. The biggest sticking point between the House and Senate revolved around the repeal of mandatory minimum sentences for mid- to low-level drug offenders. The committee agreed to do away with the mandatory sentencing requirement, which disproportionately affects African American men. It replaced it with maximum sentences that a judge could give. Under current law, the mandatory minimum for a person charged with possession with intent to distribute is 20 years. Under the proposal, a judge could give a maximum of 20 years to the defendant, but it is not mandatory.Shank called the deal “a balanced approach” that provides treatment for nonviolent drug offenders while increasing penalties for violent gangs. He said he believes Hogan will support it. Christopher B. Shank, Hogan’s deputy chief of staff, helped the lawmakers broker the deal. Shank served with Dumais and Zirkin last year


Somalia’s president says al-Qaeda-backed rebels are ‘resurgent’

men and then send them back to the battlefield?” The problem goes beyond integrating clan-based groups. The military lacks arms, vehicles and bases. Maj. Gen. Mohamed Sheik Hamud, the country’s police commissioner, described the situation facing the security forces in stark terms. “It’s like the police are in Guantanamo Bay,” he said. “We send them to these newly liberated districts, but they’re surrounded. They can’t go anywhere.” ‘We don’t have the resources’ Some foreign donors have grown frustrated with the military’s dysfunction. The United States provides a $100 monthly stipend to 7,000 Somali soldiers — in theory a supplement to their wages, but it is often their only income. “There’s now very serious rethinking in donor capitals about whether support for the army is appropriate,” said Matt Bryden, a Somalia expert and the founder of Sahan Research, a Nairobi-based research organization. “For the first two to three years of this [Mohamud’s] administration, there was almost blind support. Now there’s recognition that it’s not going to work.” As it did years ago, al-Shabab is using children to fight on its behalf. Some of them are forcibly recruited. Others join willingly because the extremists are the only ones offering education or jobs. “We don’t have the resources to provide what [young people] need,” said Mohamud, a former academic and UNICEF employee who was elected in 2012. Outside his office were pictures of Somalia’s former leaders, including Mohamed Siad Barre, a military dictator who ruled from 1969 to 1991, when he was overthrown and Somalia disintegrated. His heavy-handed rule inflamed clan and regional rivalries, leading to fractures still visible today. “When the state collapsed, people got allegiance to their clans,” Mohamud said. “Now, convincing them to realign themselves with the state, handing over their weapons . . . this is what we’re working very hard to do.” Somalia experts say that while the country improves its security forces, it must simultaneously work on reaching a political settlement with al-Shabab. That is essential because “al-Shabab’s freedom to operate depends in large measure on its ability to exploit long-standing clan dynamics, mistrust among the Somali people and the lack of economic opportunity,” said a U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. The U.S. government has been reluctant to send troops to Somalia since the “Black Hawk Down” operation that left 18 Americans dead in October


Child dies, father charged, Maryland state police say

A toddler died Friday at a hospital in Cumberland, Md., and the child’s father was arrested Saturday night and charged in the death, the Maryland state police said. They said Kyle J. Poindexter, 22, of Cresaptown, Md., was charged in the death of Avery Poindexter, a two-month-old girl. The police said medical personnel at the Western Regional Medical Center in Cumberland found bruises on her head and face. The child had been left in Kyle Poindexter’s care while the mother went to work Friday morning, the police said. Later, they said, the father contacted neighbors, saying the child had stopped breathing. An autopsy was conducted and it was determined that the girl died of a head injury, police said. They said Poindexter was charged with second degree murder. On the afternoon of April 8, 2016, investigators from the Combined County Criminal Investigation Unit, Child Protective Services, the Maryland State Police Criminal Enforcement Division and the State Police Homicide Unit were contacted about the death of Avery Poindexter. The infant had been transported to the Western Maryland Regional Health Center in Cumberland earlier that day, where she had been pronounced dead. Medical personnel observed bruises on her head and face and notified police. The preliminary investigation indicated the child’s mother went to work yesterday morning and left the child in the care of her boyfriend and father of the child, Kyle Poindexter. She was notified in the early afternoon that the baby was being transported to the hospital. Investigators learned Poindexter had contacted neighbors, saying he needed help because the baby had stopped breathing. The neighbors began CPR while the father called 911. Maryland State Police homicide investigators arrested an Allegany County man tonight and charged him with the murder of his infant child. The accused is identified as Kyle J. Poindexter, 22, of the 12000-block of 6th Avenue, Cresaptown, Md. He is charged with second degree murder, first degree assault, second degree assault, and reckless endangerment. Poindexter is currently awaiting a bond hearing before an Allegany County court commissioner. The victim is identified as Avery Poindexter, two months old, of the same address. Avery was the newborn daughter of Kyle Poindexter.


‘Porgy and Bess’ in concert at Strathmore makes for a superb evening

Laquita Mitchell (Bess). (Courtesy of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Courtesy of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra had a tiger by the tail Saturday; its performance of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” before a packed Strathmore audience received the longest, loudest ovation I have ever heard for this ensemble. Admittedly, much of it was for the singers, but still. Conductor Marin Alsop, director Kwame Kwei-Armah, the Morgan State University Choir and a dazzling cast brought the work to life in a “concert version” that lacked only stage scenery. The cast and chorus all performed “off the book,” fully acting out the parts, with costumes and props. It was a grand evening. The ambivalence verging on discomfort this work often engenders (a Jewish composer’s setting of a white man’s novel portraying the denizens of a Charleston, S.C., ghetto in rampant gambling, drug abuse and immorality, complete with Gullah dialogue) fades when one simply listens to the score, awash in feeling and color. Standouts in the cast included Larry D. Hylton (Sportin’ Life), whose sly sexiness almost distracted from a superbly flexible voice; Lester Lynch (Crown), who brought Wagnerian power to the role; Laquita Mitchell (Bess), whose rich voice seemed to grow ever more colorful as the evening went on; and Leah Hawkins (Serena), who combined pathos with a gleaming sound. Derrick Parker (Porgy) inhabited the role affectingly, but his instrument has more volume than beauty. The pleasing voice of Onadek Winan (Clara) was sound only, her diction quite indistinct. I almost hesitate to opine on the artists’ vocal power, because all had body mics, and we were hearing a sound technician’s moment-to-moment idea of how loud they should be. This technology, plus projected supertitles (now ubiquitous in virtually any performance of a musical or opera) is slowly draining away the motivation singers have to project properly. I can’t imagine Alsop permitting this technology for a similar performance of “Tosca,” and none of these singers had small voices. Back in the day, if a singer had trouble being heard, the conductor simply quieted the orchestra. But things are different now, and I wish to register a protest. No complaints, though, about the chorus, which swayed, danced, clapped and sang with real fervor; its energy was at “11” throughout the production. Alsop handled the large forces behind and in front of her with calm professionalism. This was certainly a highlight of the season.


Here’s proof that vegetarian Mexican food isn’t an oxymoron

ways and kinds. But until recently, we hadn’t called it vegetarian or vegan. If you go to the countryside, you will find that most of the homestyle, everyday food has very little meat. Has your perception of plant-based eating changed over the years? You know I eat absolutely everything, and there are few things I won’t try. But a few things that have happened of late that have made me lean more toward a less meat-based diet. One of my sisters, whom I adore, Sharon, became a vegetarian 15 years ago and then a vegan. She is one of the most fabulous cooks I know and is super healthy to the point that I am not kidding: She glows. Really. Gorgeous inside out. Anyway, she has opened my eyes to many possibilities, like using seasoned oil instead of lard, using a lot more seeds in lots of interesting ways. Then [my husband] Daniel and I decided to do a detox with a group of friends a couple years ago. For 20 days we had no coffee, no alcohol, no meat, no poultry, no fish, no gluten. We only ate vegetables, fruits, seeds and grains. It was a shock to my system. I stuck with it, and my body recalibrated: After the detox, we started adding a food group at a time, and since then I have found that I crave meat much less, my appetite for fish and seafood has increased, and I crave a lot more veggies. (One thing has remained: I absolutely adore eggs). In the past three or four years, I have gotten a lot more playful with vegetables and fruits and have really seen their sexy side. I would have never come up with these new dishes a few years ago. There are lots of recipes to try, but I immediately gravitated toward your egg and avocado sandwich, because it’s such a great mash-up of egg salad and guacamole. It couldn’t be more simple, unpretentious yet filling and downright satisfying at the same time. Plus it can be built up (add slices of tomato or cucumbers or cheese!) or dressed down (eat it as a salad on top of lettuce!). It pairs two of the things I am obsessed with: ripe avocados and eggs. But you also have got to make the roasted asparagus and baby tomato salad. It’s crazy. I take the roasted ends of


Gone from the cutting-edge bank: Tellers

84 fewer than it did in 2010, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “It was the ATM that started this spiral 25 or 30 years ago,” said Stephen Fuller, an economist and senior adviser at George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis. “We’ve just about replaced the need to have people in those spaces.” Indeed, nearly four in 10 Americans have not visited a bank or credit union branch in at least six months, according to a survey by Bankrate.com, a New York-based personal-finance information company. When customers do stop by the bank, it is generally for financial consultations or to open accounts, not routine transactions, the survey found. “The bank as it is today is becoming more interactional and less transactional,” said David M. Glaser, a vice president at District-based National Capital Bank. “When people come in, it’s with a more complex question or to open an account. If they just need to deposit a check — well, they can do that at the ATM.” At PNC, which has done away with tellers at a number of area branches, new hires are as likely to come from a tech company as from another bank, said Todd Barnhart, head of branch distribution. “The way we think about recruiting has changed pretty significantly,” he said. “Five or 10 years ago, we might have looked at employees at the bank down the street. “Today we’re looking at people from the Apple store, AT&T store and other tech-centric retailers.” The company’s “innovation branch” in Tenleytown, for example, has six employees, all of whom are trained to help customers with everything from deposits to loan applications. “We’re not building branches with teller lines but with places where customers and employees can have meaningful conversations,” he said. Instead of having separate tellers and mortgage officers, “it’s one job, one person,” Barnhart said, adding that roughly half of the bank’s deposits now come through its mobile app or ATMs. “What people are looking for in a bank is much different than it used to be,” he said. “Employees need to be prepared to answer things like, ‘How do I do this on my mobile phone?’ or ‘How do I do this online?’ ” Among Americans with smartphones, 52 percent used mobile banking in 2014, according to a Federal Reserve survey. The vast majority of users — 94 percent — use mobile apps to


Maybe this is how ‘artisanal’ foods can finally spread the wealth

Brainfood’s Francisco Rivera, center, and Paul Dahm talk with a customer at Union Market, where Brainfood sells its Homegrown line of products. (Sara Carnochan/Brainfood Homegrown) Plenty of kale fronds were scorched in pursuit of the perfect chip before Francisco Rivera got the recipe just right. Now, the 26-year-old can rip the largest leaves into uniform shards while holding a conversation about packaging. He can eyeball the right amount of blended oil and Italian spice to rub into their crevices before popping them into a convection oven to get impossibly crisp in just 20 minutes. He will tell you that after “a lot of trial and error,” he hit on the perfect blend of nutritional yeast and Parmesan to lend cheesy balance to the seasoning blend. And he will hold the recipe for that blend as close to his chest as a royal flush. The thing is, the kale chips are his. That sense of ownership is important, says Paul Dahm, executive director of Brainfood, a Washington-based nonprofit group that hired Rivera to head production of its Homegrown line of retail foods, which launched last spring. Since its founding in 1999, Brainfood has used food as the springboard for urban youth development, teaching teenagers how to chop onions and show up on time through popular after school-programs. The idea is to help them build the skills they’ll need to join the workforce — and perhaps cook a decent dinner on the side — while reducing the number of young people in the District who are neither in school nor working. As the local food economy ballooned in recent years, Brainfood decided to hitch it to a job-creation project by turning kale into chips and underemployed people into entrepreneurs. The Homegrown project’s hypothesis is this: What if the sorts of foods that have turned accountants into artisans could create careers for people who have few other prospects? “I don’t know how to make $10 pickles accessible to everyone,” said Dahm. “If there’s a market for a $10 pickle or a $5 glass of ginger beer, why can’t Francisco come up with his version of it and sell it to those folks, so that he’s at least making money off of it?” Homegrown’s $5 bags of kale chips were an early success for Rivera. Washington cookbook author Aviva Goldfarb called them “hopelessly addictive” after sampling the chips at an event this past winter


If Britain votes to leave the E.U., Germany could be one of the biggest losers

be seen in the flags that fly from the parliament buildings in Berlin and London: Atop Germany’s Reichstag, the European Union’s circle of gold stars flaps side by side with the black, red and gold of the German national flag. At London’s Palace of Westminster, the Union Jack flutters alone. Still, Britain’s presence in the 28-member European Union has mattered — and its absence would be keenly felt. With France stuck in a deep economic and political malaise, the United Kingdom represents the European Union’s only other major power aside from Germany. It possesses Europe’s second-largest economy, its foremost financial center, a seat on the U.N. Security Council, an arsenal of nuclear weapons and the traditional bridge across the Atlantic to Washington. If Britain opts for an exit — popularly known as “Brexit” — it could embolden anti-E.U. forces in other countries. The Czech prime minister has already warned of a “Czexit,” and populist parties across the continent have said they will push for their own referenda. Concern about the possible fallout from a British decision to leave the European Union is not limited to Europe. The International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday that a British departure “could do severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships.” Schwarzer said that the day after a vote for Brexit, if it happens, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be under pressure to forcefully intervene to keep the European Union from spinning apart. “Who else would do it in that moment?” Schwarzer asked. Less than a year ago, the idea that Britain might strike out on its own seemed far-fetched. But the referendum promised by Prime Minister David Cameron has been more hotly contested than almost anyone anticipated. Polls show a virtual tie. Most analysts give “in” a slight edge but acknowledge that the chances of an “out” vote are rising. The Germans, of course, have no say in Britain’s choice. And they have been reluctant to weigh in too aggressively. Merkel has said she thinks it’s in Germany’s interest “for Great Britain to remain an active member in a strong and successful European Union” — a line similar to the one President Obama has used and is likely to use again when he visits the United Kingdom next week. But Merkel has generally been low-key on Brexit, perhaps recognizing that she has political liabilities in Britain. She’s closely associated with the continent’s


Top-performing schools with elite students

of the few elite public schools without a selective admissions system. Instead, as happens sometimes, the lottery participants self-select into an academic powerhouse. Liberal Arts and Science Academy (Austin) Derived from two separate programs born in the 1980s, the magnet called LASA became a separate school in 2007. It draws students from all over Austin based on an application process similar to that used by very selective colleges. Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts (Natchitoches, La.) Sophomores, juniors and seniors who survive the tough admissions process live at the boarding school, which was established by the state legislature in 1982. Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies (Richmond) Unlike the math-science orientation of most of the public elites, the focus of this school is on world cultures and building students’ leadership skills. North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (Durham, N.C.) This school, established in 1980 in an abandoned hospital, started the small but interesting trend of state-created boarding schools drawing bright and ambitious high-schoolers from around the state. Northside College Prep (Chicago) Opened in 1999, the selective magnet school was the first new high school in Chicago in 20 years. It has 1,100 students whose academic classes are at the honors and AP levels only. Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics (Oklahoma City) The state-funded boarding school teaches all courses at the university level. South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics (Hartsville, S.C.) Another state boarding school, this one is for 11th- and 12th-graders from around the state. Stuyvesant High School (New York) It has been teaching the city’s most academically ambitious students for several generations. It offers about 55 AP courses every semester and has many courses above that level. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (Fairfax County, Va.) It is the second-most selective public high school in the United States (after High Technology in Lincroft, N.J.) and draws mostly from the affluent households of Northern Virginia. Union County Magnet High School (Scotch Plains, N.J.) This selective-admission school focuses on science, math and technology. University of Illinois Laboratory High School (Urbana, Ill.) Admission to this day school on the University of Illinois campus is competitive. The school makes good use of its higher-education environment. Walter Payton College Prep (Chicago) Founded in 2000 shortly after the death of Chicago Bears football legend Payton, the magnet’s admission system is very competitive. The


Garden-care giant Ortho ending use of chemicals that harm bees

AGRICULTURE Ortho bans chemicals that harm bees Garden-care giant Ortho said Tuesday that it will stop using a class of chemicals widely believed to harm bees as concerns rise about the health of the insects that pollinate a big portion of plants that people eat. The company plans to phase out neonicotinoids by 2021 in eight products used to control garden pests and diseases. It will change three products for roses, flowers, trees and shrubs by 2017 and other products later, said Tim Martin, vice president and general manager of Ortho, a division of Scotts Miracle-Gro. The chemicals, called neonics for short, attack the central nervous systems of insects. Some advocates say neonics are one of several reasons behind declining populations of bees. About a third of our diets come from insect-pollinated plants, and honeybees are responsible for 80 percent of that pollination. Neonics are used in chemicals applied to food and textile crops, such as corn and cotton, as well as home gardens. Ortho’s move emerges from concern for possible threats to honeybees and other pollinators, Martin said. The change might require gardeners to apply the reformulated products more frequently, but it will be easier to target pests while reducing the chances of hurting bees, he said. — Associated Press TECHNOLOGY Official warns of risk of car hacking Internet-connected and driverless cars will be targets for hackers — including terrorists and hostile nations — so the auto industry must ensure that vehicles have built-in cybersecurity, a top U.S. Justice Department official said Tuesday. “There is no Internet-connected system where you can build a wall that’s high enough or deep enough to keep a dedicated nation-state adversary or a sophisticated criminal group out of the system,” John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security, said at an auto industry conference. U.S. agencies and regulators are trying to make the auto industry more aware of cyberthreats and how to plug security gaps, Carlin said, and agencies can share information about threats with companies. “This will be the next battlefront,” Carlin said after his keynote speech at the SAE 2016 World Congress in Detroit. He said government agencies and companies across industries are in the “early days” of dealing with rapid technological change and with laws on cybersecurity that are “very unsettled.” Hackers of all varieties could try to do harm through connected cars, Carlin said. “If you were able to do


Montgomery County Animal Watch

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


How a great orchestra started its U.S. tour: Carefully.

Power and tradition: Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, one of the most finely tuned of instrumental ensembles, offered calculated power in their Washington Performing Arts appearance. (Georg Thum/Bayerischer Rundfunk) Leonidas Kavakos, the violinist, projects the image of a disaffected graduate student: shoulder-length dark hair, slightly unconventional concert attire and almost no physical spark whatsoever. This, at least, is how he came across Tuesday night, when he played the Korngold concerto with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on the first night of their U.S. tour. Maybe he didn’t care for the work, which, although he played it with a beautiful full sound, remains a more negligible piece than its frequent programming these days would indicate — although more spark, and less restraint, would at least have helped make it into the showcase and audience-grabber that it was presumably meant to be. In any case, Kavakos wasn’t the evening’s highlight (despite his jaw-droppingly difficult encore, “Recuerdos de la Alhambra” by the Spanish guitarist Francisco Tárrega). He wasn’t even the part that the audience was most anticipating. That would be the orchestra and its conductor, Mariss Jansons, who are separately and together among the most highly regarded musicians in the world. Jansons has been to Washington a couple of times in the past decade with Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the other leading international orchestra of which he was music director until health concerns led him to cut back to a single ensemble. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra hasn’t been to this city for 13 years. Expectations were high, and the Kennedy Center Concert Hall was pretty full, which has become an exception rather than the rule for international orchestral appearances (mainly presented, like this one, by Washington Performing Arts). So the Korngold concerto, a flashy and gleefully trashy piece played here with a sedateness so marked it was ripe for caricature as an example of classical music’s primness, was an ornate and polished anticlimax. What people were waiting for was the Mahler Fifth, which has become not only a repertoire staple but also as much of a crowd-pleaser as any concerto. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra is a finely tuned instrument, a state-of-the-art group that combines the big warm sound associated with Central Europe with athletic dexterity and precision. The orchestra played beautifully, biting into the music as Jansons led them on what amounted to an emotional odyssey, a long, perhaps overly


Chesapeake’s blue crab population grows 35 percent; DNR predicts ‘robust’ season

after a careful analysis. They say people shouldn’t assume that the survey numbers mean the crab population can handle a bigger harvest. In 2012, for example, surveys showed a record number of juvenile crabs, but so many of them died that it didn’t translate into a long-term population boom. “We have to understand whether this brings the population . . . above a threshold which suggests it’s no longer overfished,” said Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. In coming weeks, state scientists will continue to analyze the data gathered in the survey. Researchers who dredged some 1,500 sites in the Maryland and Virginia portions of the bay this winter found the strongest growth in the population of adult male crabs, which more than doubled in the past year to a population of 91 million. They found that the number of female crabs that will be old enough to spawn this year nearly doubled, reaching 194 million. That’s below a target of 215 million considered key for a healthy population, but it’s nonetheless encouraging because the number of adult female crabs is considered an important barometer for population growth. It’s the fourth-highest population count in 20 years. Researchers said a relatively mild winter meant fewer crabs died than in recent seasons, when portions of the bay froze over. The results show a continuing rebound in the crab population. Last year’s survey found 38 percent growth over the previous winter, and the 2015 crab season that followed brought a 42 percent increase in the baywide harvest. “I had a hunch that we were going to have an uptick in the population from what I saw at the end of last year and the fact that we had a decent winter,” said Richard Young, co-owner of Coveside Crabs in Dundalk. Although crabs typically become scarce by October, last season they were plentiful until the season’s end in mid-December, he said. Even if the population growth translates to a larger harvest in Maryland, imported crabs still dominate the local crab economy, said Lee Carrion, who owns Coveside Crabs along with Young. If crabs from North Carolina and Louisiana are also plentiful, that could force Maryland crabbers to lower their prices, too. “Even if we have an excellent season, we’re still going to have less than they can bring in from out of state,” Carrion said. — Baltimore Sun


D.C. community calendar, April 14-21, 2016

Thursday, April 14 Ikebana Exhibit Memorials of the Reflecting Pool Mother Earth and Me Washington Cathedral behind the scenes Memorials of the Tidal Basin Thursdays at Noon National Cherry Blossom Festival tour: Au Naturel Income tax preparation help Qualified AARP tax aides help answer your tax questions and prepare your 2015 tax return. 1:30 p.m. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW. mlkjrlibrary@dc.gov. 202-727-0321. Free. Adult coloring corner Film: Jens Jensen The Living Green “The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord” “110 in the Shade” The Washington Ballet “Moment” “The Nether” “Twelfth Night, or What You Will” Friday, April 15 Spring garden tours Classical organ concert Bernard Herrmann: Screen, Stage and Radio Pluto lecture Scientist Alan Stern discusses new horizons at Pluto, sponsored by Philosophical Society of Washington. 8 p.m. Cosmos Club, John Wesley Powell Auditorium, 2170 Florida Ave. NW. 703-370-5282. Free. Saturday, April 16 Southwest Library spring book sale Spring floral design workshop Income tax preparation help A qualified AARP tax aide helps answer your tax questions and prepares your 2015 tax return. Noon. Mount Pleasant Library, 3160 16th St. NW. mtpleasantlibrary@dc.gov. 202-671-3121. Free. Aging gracefully: maintaining vitality Portrait Story Days: Rachel Carson Artist talk with Janet Echelman Near the River Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Georgetown “The Brain Piece” Caribbean Celebration Carmina concert, Sunday, April 17 Earth Day plant sale and picnic Income tax preparation help Zakir Hussain Masters of Percussion Luce Artist Talk; Soomin Ham Chamber music Organized rhythm Monday, April 18 Healthy Aging Forum: “New Challenges. New Possibilities” Therapeutic yoga classes Awareness through movement “A View From the Street: The Art of Lily Spandorf” Income tax preparation assistance Provided by Community Tax Aid. 4:30-8 p.m. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW. 202-727-0321. mlkjrlibrary@dc.gov. Free. Tuesday, April 19 Tudor Tots: Birds Dogs like to read, too (Paws to read) Fate of a Salesman “Pictures at an Exhibition” Moving Dialogues Young Concert Artists event Annual Henry Mitchell Lecture Eclectic Tuesdays Ziyu Shen concert Seraphic Fire Wednesday, April 20 Bio, Bio, Biodiversity Hatha Yoga with Alexis Petworth Pacers, still on the move Your Sweetheart: Diabetes PAL (People animals love) Pajama Party Tai chi class Susan Lowell teaches the flowing movements of the Chinese martial art that weaves meditation and relaxation with the wisdom of Chinese medicine, wear comfortable, free-flowing clothing for best movement. 7:15 p.m. Tenley-Friendship Library,


In Baltimore, watch these candidates try to tell stories instead of making speeches

by 8:30.” Wexler and Henkin feverishly went over their lineup, now badly wrinkled, trying to determine the order of speakers. There were big egos at play. “DeRay wants to go more in the middle,” Henkin said, referring to DeRay Mckesson, who rose to national prominence as a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement. At the mic, Alan Walden, a former anchor at WBAL radio, was artfully working the crowd with his practiced baritone and a story about trying to read commercials through his boss’s in-booth flatulence. Walden’s voice was perfect, but his ears seemed to miss one, two, three raps on the bell — DING — signaling that his time was up. The audience laughed louder each time he plowed on. “Pugh wants to go last,” Henkin said during the intermission. “Pugh wants to go last? Dixon wants to go last,” Wexler said. Pugh and Dixon had both bolted to other events, promising to rush back. Mckesson, after a polished reminiscence of his early days in the classroom, had left. “I’m deferring to you,” Henkin said. “No, you’re deciding about Dixon and Pugh,” Wexler said. In the end, the protocol puzzle solved itself when Dixon never returned. Pugh did and sat quietly as the last candidates told their tales. She hadn’t written anything. “I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to talk about,” she said. “I’ve had so many jobs.” Community organizer Joshua Harris was up, describing his first job as a janitor. Investor David Warnock told of getting fired as an event bartender at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, Del. (and parlaying it into an internship with DuPont). City Council member Carl Stokes delivered a rambling monologue that included a joke about missing pants. Finally, Pugh took the stage and described her teenaged self walking into Bonwit Teller in Philadelphia and getting hired as a stock girl. Within days, she was dispatched to the sales floor as a living mannequin. “I got to walk around the store every day for four hours dressed in clothes I wished I could buy,” she said. And then her overnight shift in a nursing home and her mile-and-a-half walk to work to pay for college. And then, with no obvious segue, she was stump speeching. “I tell you that story because this is the city that I love,” she said, revving up. “This is the city that has prepared


Departing PR director rhapsodizes on 40 years with the NSO

Patricia O'Kelly, who recently retired after 40 years with the National Symphony Orchestra, with the late music director Mstislav "Slava" Rostropovich. (Daryl Donley) [Two long-time Kennedy Center employees retired in April after a combined 95 years of service: Max Woodward and Patricia O’Kelly. Nelson Pressley profiles Max Woodward here.] For 40 years, through five music directors and 47 tours, Patricia O’Kelly, 63, was a stalwart of the National Symphony Orchestra as the orchestra’s head of publicity. But when she came on board in 1976, it was for a full-time temporary position to help put together program books. “I went into it with very few expectations,” she says, “and if anybody had told me I’d still be here now, I would have laughed maniacally.” And although when she retired April 8 it was as managing director of media relations, she points out, “I’ve never stopped working on the program book.” O’Kelly was the NSO’s institutional memory, adept at stamping out media fires before they got out of hand and always called on to do the countless thankless tasks that constitute orchestral dirty work — such as telling the great violinist Isaac Stern, before a concert in the historic amphitheater in Pompeii, that, because of the presence of feral cats, flea powder might be a good idea. All that prepared her for her job was a passionate love of music. Born to two medical professionals, a doctor and a nurse, who worked in a town of 522 in Mississippi, “there was nowhere I could even study a foreign language within a radius of 40 miles.” When she was 5, however, her parents bought her a set of recordings called “Adventures in Music,” made by Howard Mitchell and the NSO and designed for use in the classroom. “I cherished those recordings,” she says. And she became a musician, majoring in clarinet in college, and studying musicology in graduate school at the University of Maryland, where she sang with the chorus — and thus performed with the NSO. Antal Dorati, the NSO’s third music director, is, she says, “the only conductor I’ve known on the stage and backstage.” But perhaps the iconic conductor of O’Kelly’s tenure was Mstislav Rostropovich, whom she calls “a human whirlwind” and who became a close associate and friend. “It was such a brimming vitality that it infused everything around him,” she says. As a musician, she also could appreciate


Hate those blisters on your feet? A little paper tape may help.

(GAJUS/ISTOCKPHOTO) The question Blisters are the bane of hikers, runners, military recruits — even people breaking in a new pair of shoes. Might taping areas of the foot that are prone to blisters prevent these sores? This study The study included 128 men and women (average age, 39) who were participating in a six-day, 155-mile ultramarathon. None had blisters at the start of the race. The study focused on one foot. In areas where blisters typically develop, participants wrapped or covered the spot with a mildly adhesive paper tape (sold over-the-counter as surgical or medical tape). Runners could reapply tape as needed. At the end of the ultramarathon, the study found that 106 people had developed blisters, most often on the toes and heel. This included 30 people who developed blisters in areas that had been taped, compared with 81 people with blisters in untaped areas. For 98 runners (77 percent), no blisters formed where tape had been applied. Who may be affected Anyone engaged in prolonged activity on their feet — running, walking, playing sports — as well as people wearing new or ill-fitting shoes. Such common anti-blister remedies as putting petroleum jelly or an antiperspirant on the foot or wearing cotton socks is not recommended. Instead, foot experts generally suggest wearing moisture-wicking socks. Caveats Some of the data on blisters came from the participants’ responses on questionnaires. Find this study April 11 online issue of the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine (journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed; click on “Published Online First”) Learn more about Information on preventing and treating foot blisters can be found at mayoclinic.org and wta.org (search for “blisters”). The research described in Quick Study comes from credible, peer-reviewed journals.


On medication? These supplements can be dangerous.

(ISTOCKPHOTO) While picking up a prescription at the pharmacy, you’re likely to encounter shelves of dietary supplements. Is it safe to use one along with your medication? “Many supplements, including herbal remedies, vitamins and minerals, can cause dangerous side effects when combined with drugs,” says Consumer Reports’ chief medical adviser, Marvin M. Lipman. For example, St. John’s wort, often used as a mood lifter, can cause fever, heart problems, tremors, confusion and anxiety when taken with antidepressants. Ginkgo biloba, hyped as a memory aid, can increase bleeding risk when taken with blood thinners.. Yet a 2013 Consumer Reports survey found that only 28 percent of people taking dietary supplements and prescription drugs together checked with a pharmacist about the potential for interactions, which occur when a substance such as a vitamin, herb or another medication affects the activity of a drug. Supplements are readily available and often touted as natural, so consumers may not realize that combining them with medications might be harmful. It isn’t always easy to find out whether a supplement may cause problems when taken with a drug; the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t require interaction warnings on supplement labels. Take a look at this list of popular supplements and some drugs they may interact with. If you take any over-the-counter or prescription drugs, it’s crucial to consult with a doctor or pharmacist before using a supplement. And if you use any supplements, be sure to tell your doctor when he or she prescribes a medication. Copyright 2016. Consumers Union of United States Inc. For further guidance, go to www.ConsumerReports.org/Health, where more detailed information, including CR’s ratings of prescription drugs, treatments, hospitals and healthy-living products, is available to subscribers. How certain supplements can affect medication supplement May Interact With Potential Harm THE WASHINGTON POST