Meet the CDC’s Swat Team

of health care" -- is the Epidemic Intelligence Service, which you've surely seen sprinkled through dozens of articles about the government's response to the Ebola outbreak. That's not the only reason they might sound familiar. Kate Winslet played an EIS officer in Contagion. In 2004, there was an NBC show called "Medical Investigation," which the Washington Post described as "Part ER, part CSI." They get out a lot; the EIS calls its members "shoe leather epidemiologists" for a reason. The service brags that it can send out agents, anywhere in the world, in hours. The EIS program is a postdoctoral fellowship that lasts two years -- any more contact with infectious diseases seems to be tempting fate -- and is usually a launching pad to big gigs in public health and medical thought. The CDC's current director, Tom Frieden, began his career with EIS. Lawrence Altman, who writes about medicine for the New York Times, described his former gig as an EIS officer on the program's 50th anniversary. As epidemiologists, we acted as part scientists, historians, sleuths, statisticians and journalists, relying on people's willingness and memories to tell what happened to them, their relatives and friends. They've been on the edge of our discussion of public health and mass illness-induced hysteria for a long time. For the past 63 years, in fact. In 1951, the United States Public Health Service, the CDC's former title, set up a staff of 21 medical officers in 21 states, assigned to play defense if the Cold War downgraded from detente to biological warfare. Military leaders were worried that biological weapons would be used against American soldiers in the Korean War. Source: The New York Times, 1951 In the next 20 years, EIS officer investigated a case of a child contracting polio after getting a polio vaccination, and the mysterious cause of an entire building sick with an unknown illness -- which then infected the government officials sent to solve the problem. It took a decade before the EIS figured out the illness was Legionnaire's disease. In 1969, a team of disease detectives was dispatched to Houston, assigned to identify every single illness that NASA employees might come down with for a period of three weeks. The first astronauts has just returned from the moon. Government officials were worried they might have brought back moon germs too. EVEN THE SNIFFLES WILL BE WATCHED. Source: The


Meet the CDC’s Swat Team

them elude the elaborate quarantine precautions already in effect. It is far more likely that some worker in the building will fall ill from a natural earthly cause. Luckily, a moon germ pandemic did not extinguish humanity, and the EIS continued to identify those more pernicious natural earthly causes. They warned Americans about the dangers of eating bear meat and helped the government figure out the proper reaction to the post-9/11 anthrax scare. They helped diagnose the first five men to get AIDS in the United States, researched the spread of Hepatitis A at jam band concerts and track annual flu outbreaks. When a man "playfully " threw a dead squirrel at his wife in 1981, the EIS determined that a flea on the rodent was probably what gave him the bubonic plague. They helped fill the pages of the CDC's magazine of sorts, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The disease detectives even star in a new iPad game, Solve the Outbreak. Source: iTunes The game's description on the CDC Web site reads, "As soon as a new outbreak is suspected, you race to the scene to figure out what's happening, why, how it started, and how it's spread. Act fast and you can save a whole town, state, or even a country. Come up with the wrong answers and, well…you can always try again!" The same isn't true of Ebola, the outbreak the EIS is currently trying to stop. For now, Americans are confident the CDC will be able to do so, as the Fix reported earlier this week. The EIS has covered this ground before too; they investigated the Ebola outbreak of 1976. And given the current debate about CDC funding during the 2014 midterms, you can be sure disease detectives will soon take their place in political debates as well as medical ones. Want to read more about the Epidemic Intelligence Service? Lucky for you, a lot has been written (as you might have noticed, they're kind of fascinating). Here's a few places to start. - "Inside the work of Ebola 'Disease Detectives,'" Dan Gorenstein, Marketplace - "Beating Back the Devil," Maryn McKenna: A former CDC reporter follows around the first EIS class after 9/11 - "Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service," Mark Pendergast - "A Correspondent Recalls His Days as a Medical Sleuth," Lawrence Altman," The New York Times


Take a Mosaic District food and drink tour

703-676-3550. www.redapronbutcher.com. GYPSY SOUL Steak Tartare with grilled romaine and a parmesan crisp at Gypsy Soul in the Mosaic District. (Maura Judkis/The Washington Post) Gypsy Soul is more casual than chef R.J. Cooper’s Shaw restaurant, the multicoursed Rogue 24. And when you take your seat at the bar, you might think how, if this restaurant were on 14th Street, you’d have to surrender an entire night just to get in. Instead, you’re in Virginia, where there’s plenty of elbow room. Start with the fried chicken skins. Nearly everyone does, a bartender says, and it’s not hard to see why: Salty and crunchy, with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce, they check all of the right boxes, especially when paired with one of the restaurant’s complex, smoky drinks. The cocktails are as praiseworthy as the cooking. Aromatic green tea, sharp green apples and sage join citrusy gin and mezcal in the lightly fruity Ancient Remedy, which works as an aperitif or with the saltier small plates. The more full-bodied Dreaming of Snakes, with VSOP brandy as a base, has espresso and orange notes. And don’t overlook the 16 wines by the glass, priced from $8 to $14, or the deep selection of rare and strong bottled beer. 8296 Glass Alley, Fairfax. 703-992-0933. www.gypsysoul-va.com. TRUE FOOD KITCHEN Shiitake-tofu lettuce wraps at True Food Kitchen in the Mosaic District. (Maura Judkis/The Washington Post) The profligacy of your last three stops will come back to haunt you at True Food Kitchen, the health food cafe inspired by the teachings of frequent Oprah guest Andrew Weil. Upon entering, you’re greeted by an enormous sign that reads: “Every time you eat or drink, you are either feeding disease or fighting it.” We’re pretty sure those fried chicken skins fall into the former category. The restaurant was packed last week, so we squeezed into a tiny corner of the bar, where bartenders were pouring shots of Kale-Aid juice and Hangover RX (coconut water, pineapple, vanilla and orange juice). We chose a Thai grapefruit martini, alive with fresh flavors of basil and grapefruit over the organic vodka base, and Spontaneous Happiness, a fruity-sweet concoction of house-infused ginger and vanilla shochu, flowery St. Germain and fresh lime. Keeping with the theme, the menu is packed with wines from sustainable and organic vineyards, and the beer list includes gluten-free and organic options. With a large illustration of Dr. Weil’s anti-inflammatory


Synthetic weed is sending more kids to the E.R. You can thank federal drug policy for that.

in the past year. This represents a significant number, but it's well behind alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and prescription drug use in that age group. The survey also shows that use of synthetics among high schoolers dropped sharply between 2012 and 2013. There's a bigger lag on SAMHSA's emergency department data, which is why we're only seeing the 2011 figures now. Those numbers show that men are twice as likely as women to go to the ER for synthetic weed, and that young people are much more likely than older people to do the same. But it's important to note that synthetics only account for a small fraction of total emergency department visits involving drugs: they made up a little over 1 percent of the roughly 2.5 million drug-related visits in 2011. Because we don't currently have good numbers on how many people are using synthetics, it's not clear what proportion of synthetic users are ending up in the hospital, or how that proportion compares to other drugs. Jacob Sullum argues that prohibitionist policies on real marijuana are driving people to try the more dangerous synthetic stuff: Thanks to our drug laws, Cloud 9 [one brand of synthetic marijuana] has certain advantages over marijuana: You can buy it cheaply in convenience stores without risking arrest, for instance, and it will not get you thrown out of school or fired from a job because of a positive drug test. To the extent that marijuana prohibition creates a niche for products like Cloud 9, it is driving people away from a well-researched drug that humans have been consuming for thousands of years and toward experimental compounds with unpredictable hazards. There's a certain logic to this. I'd also add that humans are generally novelty-seeking creatures. If a new psychoactive experience presents itself and it's easy to obtain (as with synthetic weed), a certain percentage of people will be tempted to try it out regardless of the availability of other drugs. Still, there's little doubt that one of the primary draws of synthetic weed is its alleged similarity to real marijuana. Many of the use accounts at erowid.org assess synthetics according to how well they do or don't mimc the effects of real weed. It stands to reason, then, that more widespread and safer access to real marijuana would eliminate one of the main factors driving kids to try out the more dangerous fake stuff.


How the Fed is trying to fill in the gaps of monetary policy

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen tours a work training facility Thursday in Chelsea, Mass. She spoke with community leaders and residents of the economically hard-hit area. REUTERS/Dominick Reuter When Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen visits the hardscrabble suburb of Chelsea, Mass., today, she will encounter a litany of problems that even the world’s most powerful financial institution cannot solve. A quarter of the roughly 35,000 residents in the city just 10 minutes outside of Boston live in poverty. Community groups estimate that there may be as many as 10,000 additional people living there who are undocumented. The median household income is $43,919 — one-third lower than the state average. Only 14 percent of the population has a college degree. The nation’s broader economic recovery has struggled to reach many working-class cities like Chelsea, despite historically low interest rates and the trillions of dollars the Fed has pumped into the economy. Indeed, the central bank’s actions have come under fire for exacerbating inequality as Wall Street quickly regained ground after the financial crisis, while hiring has only recently picked up. But the Fed in recent years has made a concerted effort to incorporate Main Street concerns into their considerations of macroeconomic policy. On Thursday, Yellen will meet with nonprofits and community developers in Chelsea that have received funding through an initiative at the Boston Fed to address some of the economy’s most intractable problems — from long-term unemployment to access to credit — on the ground level. “When you think about maximum employment, monetary policy can deal with the cyclical," Boston Fed President Eric S. Rosengren said in an interview Thursday. "If we were able to change the mindset in some of these cities, the employment picture in these cities would clearly be better.” In Chelsea, Yellen will tour a program called Connect, which focuses on financial security. The program includes support groups for those with credit problems to veterans returning to the workforce, individual financial counseling and job skills training. About a third of participants do not have a high school diploma. The three-year-old program seems to be gaining traction where monetary policy cannot. Ann Houston, executive director of the Neighborhood Developers, one of the organizations involved in the project, said those in the program see a $400 median increase in monthly net income. The median increase in credit score is 35 points. “Increasingly, there’s this recognition that monetary policy


Can Lockheed Martin’s nuclear fusion reactor work? Some scientists doubt it.

On Wednesday, defense giant Lockheed Martin’s claim that it would try to build a compact nuclear fusion reactor in the next decade sounded like a science fiction dream coming true. If it works, the company’s reactor would re-create the same nuclear reaction that heats the sun and use it to power cities. Although the potential of nuclear fusion has been studied for decades, Lockheed said it is hoping to build a reactor small enough to fit on the back of a truck and ship. But is this a realistic goal? Scientists are skeptical, mainly because of the compact size of Lockheed’s experiment. “As far as I can tell, they haven’t paid attention to the underlying physics of nuclear fusion,” said Ian Hutchinson, a professor of nuclear science and engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The basis of Lockheed’s experiment, which involves building a small reactor in a space 10 meters x 7 meters wide, is not practical because it doesn’t follow the commonly-accepted techniques used to build reactors around the world, Hutchinson said. The general design of fusion experiments on Earth involve huge doughnut-shaped structures, about as large as a gymnasium. The National Ignition Facility at California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is an example. The single largest piece of equipment at the National Ignition Facility is its 130-ton target chamber. (Courtesy Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) The world’s biggest nuclear fusion reactor, called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, is under construction in France.The facility will be as big as 60 soccer fields and generate 500 megawatts of energy, while the reactor itself will be 90 meters x 130 meters. The ITER nuclear fusion reactor under construction in France. (ITER Organization) The compact nature of Lockheed’s reactor is what makes the company’s experiment unique and more likely to develop quickly, according to Tom McGuire, compact fusion lead for Lockheed’s California-based “Skunk Works” team. “The smaller the size of the device, the easier it is to build up momentum and develop it faster. Instead of taking five years to design and build a concept, it takes only a few months,” the company’s Web site says. But fusion has been a very elusive goal for close to 60 years, said Harald Griesshammer, an associate professor of nuclear physics at George Washington University. Greisshammer said he is concerned about the risks associated with any nuclear reaction, which are complicated by Lockheed’s small design. To understand


Why Whole Foods wants to change the way people buy fruits and vegetables

These apples are the best. (Ha Lam/AP Photo) Whole Foods' new produce rating system is about transparency, sure. But let's be clear: it's also about marketing. The program, which is called "Responsibly Grown" and was announced on Wednesday, will rate fruits, vegetables, and flowers "good," "better," and "best" based on suppliers' farming practices. It's meant to empower consumers with more information about the relative environmental impact of the tomatoes, avocados, and other organic goodies available at its stores, according to the company. And it will — shoppers purchasing produce will encounter a good deal more information about the difference between two otherwise indistinguishable fruits or vegetables. The rankings will speak to everything from air, energy, and climate impact, to waste reduction, water usage, and preservation of ecosystems and biodiversity (with a focus on dwindling bee populations). Here's the full list of qualifications Whole Foods has delineated for each ranking: The move is consistent with other programs Whole Foods already operates that promote transparency, including a rating system for meat, which is based on animal welfare, and another for seafood, which is based on sustainability. But it's also borne from a growing need to distinguish the high-end supermarket from a quickly expanding pool of competitors, including the likes of Walmart, that allows consumers to buy eco-friendly foods at cheaperprices. So far this year, the company's stock has dropped more than 35 percent, despite consistently impressive earnings. Like any luxury brand, Whole Foods has to figure out how to balance the exclusiveness of its brand with its desire to expand. Earlier this year in an earnings call, co-CEO Walter Robb said the company was adding "high-grade conventional offerings" in addition to its organic food to give customers "a broader range of choices." In other words, lower-priced options for a more mass audience. Helping consumers make more informed decisions about the foods they buy is a way for Whole Foods to separate itself from new organic food sellers (ahem, Walmart) that don't offer that level of transparency. On some level, it's a clever way to promote the identity that has long allowed the supermarket to succeed — just as Whole Foods might be trying to broaden the kind of customers who walk through its doors.


Ebola is scarier when you don’t know how it’s spread

The driver of an ambulance wears protective clothing while transporting a health-care worker who contracted Ebola to a Dallas airport. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade) As Americans are becoming increasingly fearful of Ebola, there's still some pretty notable confusion about how the deadly virus is spread, according to new polling. Even though 70 percent of U.S. adults say they're closely following news about Ebola, just 36 percent know that a person infected with the deadly virus must be showing symptoms to transmit the infection to others, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation Tracking Poll. Still, some basic information is getting through to the public. The Kaiser poll found an overwhelming majority of people (97 percent) do know that direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of a symptomatic person can transmit Ebola. But only 55 percent correctly knew that you can't get the virus by shaking hands with someone who had been exposed to Ebola but didn't show symptoms. A Harvard School of Public Health poll released Wednesday night found that 85 percent of people think they can get Ebola if a symptomatic person sneezes or coughs on them. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it's possible the disease could be spread this way, but WHO said it's "not aware of any studies that actually document this mode of transmission." Also, coughing and sneezing aren't common Ebola symptoms. A Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this week found about two-thirds of Americans are concerned about a widespread Ebola outbreak in the United States. Those concerns could also explain why most people in the Kaiser poll (56 percent) said the media have provided the right amount of coverage on the Ebola cases in the United States. Despite those fears, people are pretty optimistic about the ability to fight the disease in the United States. About 80 percent in the Harvard poll said a person in their community would be likely to survive Ebola if it was caught immediately.


Ebola infections with no symptoms are possible. And they could help fight the West Africa epidemic.

Doctors Without Borders health workers talk with patients in the high-risk area of the ELWA 3 Ebola treatment center in Paynesville, Liberia on Oct. 16. (John Moore/Getty Images) Thomas Eric Duncan had chills and a fever and was using the bathroom often on Sept. 28. They were all symptoms of the Ebola virus that Duncan was eventually diagnosed with at Texas Presbyterian Hospital. At the time, however, he was staying in a small, two-bedroom apartment in Dallas with four other people. In the process of cleaning that apartment after Duncan was hospitalized, Dallas officials said that there were three mattresses in the home. And family members reported that Duncan, who died Oct. 8, had contact with all of them. Yet two-thirds of the way through their quarantine period, all of the people who were living in that apartment -- Duncan's fiancee Louise Troh; her 13-year-old son; Duncan's nephew; and another man -- have shown no symptoms of the Ebola virus. And at this stage in the incubation period, they are unlikely to, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Tom Frieden said. So how could all the people who spent days in close quarters with a man sickened with Ebola manage to evade illness? One possible explanation that has rarely been discussed is that people could be infected with Ebola without ever showing symptoms. The phenomenon is called "asymptomatic infection," and it is an unusual but potentially very real feature of the Ebola virus in humans. "Asymptomatic cases are likely to have a little bit of virus for a little bit of time then fight it off," said Steve Bellan, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. Asymptomatic individuals aren't contagious, as Ebola is only transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected and symptomatic person. Studies conducted in previous outbreaks have found that between 20 and 60 percent of people in a population can exhibit signs of asymptomatic infection, Bellan said. These people can come in close contact with the virus and show an immune response in blood tests, but they do not experience typical Ebola symptoms such as fever, diarrhea or vomiting. The virus never progresses to its extreme -- and often deadly -- lengths. No one knows yet whether people with asymptomatic infections are immune to the virus in some or all cases. But if they are, those people could be recruited


Chart: Here is what else the world is worried about, apart from Ebola

As panic over the spread of Ebola persists, a new report from the Pew Global Attitudes Project offers a bit of perspective. It explores the larger threats people in different regions of the world fear. Unsurprisingly, concerns vary across continents. Respondents to the poll were asked to cite what they believed was the top global threat out of five categories. The 48,643 respondents came from 44 countries. It is worth noting that the latest iteration of the survey was conducted between March 17 and June 5 — that is, before much of the world was paying attention to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. In countries in the Middle East and North Africa, closely affected by ongoing bloody sectarian conflicts in Syria and Iraq, a majority said "religious and ethnic hatred" was the gravest danger. In Asia, many cited scares over pollution. And in Europe and the United States, a majority pointed to the economic inequities that have come to define many of their societies. According to the survey, the spread of AIDS and other diseases was still the dominant concern in Africa. A full country-by-country breakdown follows. Pew also contrasts data collected in 2007 with the present. In the Middle East, fears over sectarian bloodshed has grown markedly, particularly in Lebanon, which has a long history of conflict and is coping with the spillover of Syria's civil war. In Europe and the West, the trauma of the recession remains, with widespread anger about austerity measures, youth unemployment and frustration with increasingly detached political and business elites.


Family of slain Marine sues Marine Corps, alleging cover-up

Marines and sailors pay their respects to Staff Sgt. Scott Dickinson, Cpl. Richard Rivera Jr. and Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley during a memorial service on Oct. 29, 2012, at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. They were killed by an insider attack in Afghanistan on Aug. 10 of that year. (Kristen Wong/ Marine Corps) The family of a Marine who was killed in an on-base shooting by an Afghan teenager in 2012 has sued the Defense Department, the Marine Corps and its retiring top general, alleging that they have systematically misled them about the case. The complaint was filed Wednesday by the family of Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley, who was killed along with Staff Sgt. Scott Dickinson and Cpl. Richard Rivera Jr. in a shooting Aug. 10, 2012, in Helmand province, Afghanistan. A fourth Marine sustained five gunshot wounds but survived. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, names Gen. James F. Amos, who retires as commandant of the Marine Corps on Friday; the Corps; the Defense Department; the Navy Department; and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. It alleges that they have “inexplicably refused to conduct any investigation of the murders,” in which the shooter opened fire on the Marines with a Kalashnikov assault rifle while they were unarmed. The Marine Corps does not comment on pending litigation, said a spokesman, Maj. John Caldwell. The shooter, identified by the Marine Corps as Ainuddin Khudairaham, was convicted as a juvenile and sentenced to 7 1/2 years in confinement, the maximum under Afghan law for a minor, Marine officials said in July. That infuriated the Buckley family, who said they had been promised that the shooter, later found to be between 17 and 18 at the time of the shooting, as an adult. The shooter worked for an Afghan police chief, Sarwar Jan, who had been removed as the police chief in another district in Helmand province in 2010 after Marines suspected he was providing supplies to the Taliban. A Marine who had worked with him in 2009 and 2010, Maj. Jason Brezler, sent a warning to deployed Marines about the police chief ahead of the shooting. Nevertheless, the police chief continued in his role. Brezler sent classified information over an unclassified network to do so, and reported himself. The Marine Corps decided last year to separate Brezler from the service against his will, finding that he mishandled classified information inappropriately


Rental America: Why the poor pay $4,150 for a $1,500 sofa

an installment price, the weekly payments given the largesttype size. In Cullman, Buddy’s employees pinfliers — “Own it faster for less!” — inside the doors at trailer parks and government housing complexes. But those in the industry say they offer a legitimate service to an easy-to-overlook customer base. Customers who can’t make the payments face no penalty; because they start out as renters, not owners, they don’t face debts or credit damage if they make a return. The Cullman store is one of Buddy’s best performers, and the five employees there empathize with their customers. Derek Bland, who drives around the county repossessing items from derelict renters, just left a job at Papa John’s. Brandy Day, one of the saleswomen, winces when talking about the jewelry that Buddy’s keeps near the register. “Take away a 42-inch TV from somebody, that’s one thing,” Day says. “But a wedding ring?” Buddy’s rapid expansion was rooted in the economic crisis. As recently as 2007, Buddy’s — private, family-run — was essentially a Florida-based company. But as the first mortgages starting going bust, Buddy’s saw 6,000 products returned over several weeks, Gazzo said. The initial goal of expansion, Gazzo said, was less about domination than survival: Buddy’s wanted to get away from Florida, the epicenter of the real estate bubble. The company found itself with a thriving strategy almost by accident. On a Web site for potential franchise owners, Buddy’s says that many customers who had access to subprime loans before the recession now are “unable to obtain traditional financing and therefore remain within the [rent-to-own] customer base.” In 2008, Buddy’s had 80 stores. Now it has 204. By 2017 it wants to have 500. Gazzo said that company revenue is rising at double-digit levels annually, even as it contends with a new wave of rent-to-own Web sites. “The industry as a whole is in the biggest fight we’ve had, because we have to compete with everybody,” Gazzo said. “And the customer doesn’t have as much money as they used to.” ‘I don’t know how we’ll make it’ Abbott has spent eight months now with the sofa set, and some days, she can shrug off the costs. She’ll sink into the cushions just before her kids get out of school and say she wouldn’t trade the feeling “for a million bucks.” Normal families have sofas, she says, and you’ll do what it takes to


How America’s poor are slipping further behind — in 3 charts

1) less money to spend; 2) less opportunity to borrow and; 3) less certainty about the size of their paychecks. These three factors help explain why, as I write about today, people might pay $1,439.28 for an old iPad, in 72 weeks of payments. I spent time learning about customers who visited one a rent-to-own store in Cullman, Ala., and nearly everybody I interviewed described experiencing one of three changes in their lives, if not all of them. Below, three graphs that show how the poor have been slipping back, even as the economy has been recovering. For those at the bottom, incomes have come down since 2000. But zoom out further, and the picture becomes one of remarkable stagnation. Income averages in the lowest- and second-lowest quintiles, adjusted for inflation, remain essentially unchanged from where they were 30 years ago. There’s no perfect correlation between credit scores and income levels — indeed, some low-wage earners are great borrowers. Still, the subprime craze of the early- and mid-2000s tended to target lower income Americans, offering them loans with interest rates they often couldn’t pay back when the housing market crashed. Now, the pendulum has swung. The above data looks at mortgages loans only, but the data is a fair stand-in for major purchase lending. As you can see, people with a credit (FICO) score of less than 660 used to get two in every five mortgages in America. Now they get one in every 10. And those with credit scores less than 600 have been elbowed out of the borrowing market entirely. The tighter credit market has an upside — fewer are left with unpayable debts — but it also increases the difficulty of making big purchases. The number of people working part-time involuntarily (that is, they want full-time work and can’t find it) shot up as the economy declined six years ago. Since then, things have improved, but nowhere close to what economists say is fast enough. Many employers, it turns out, are sticking with habits they formed during tougher business times, using part-time labor that grants them more flexibility and saves money. The problem is, “risk is transferred to the employees,” said Liz Ben-Ishai, a senior policy analyst at CLASP, a nonprofit that advocates for low-income families. “A lot of employers have changed the way they operate, depending on that part-time and temporary model as a cost-saving measure.”


Syracuse University disinvites Washington Post photographer because he was in Liberia 3 weeks ago

Liberia, of the body of a 12 year-old boy being buried without ceremony near the Bong County Ebola Treatment Unit. (Photo by Michel du Cille/The Washington Post) In September, du Cille and Post reporter Lenny Bernstein went to Liberia to cover the health crisis in West Africa. Du Cille said he was there for two weeks. And although he has been around the bodies of people who died from Ebola, for the past three weeks he has shown no symptoms of the disease. Du Cille returned home exactly 21 days ago, the incubation period established by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. That entire time, he said he has been following CDC protocol, monitoring his temperature twice a day, “but I’ve been taking it almost every hour when I’m at home.” He has now reached the end of that monitoring period. But when he and his wife were preparing to travel Thursday to New York, they got a call from Syracuse University asking them not to come. “I made the decision,” Spina said. “Even though the risk of exposure is low, the fact that we’re responsible for the health and safety our students, faculty and staff gave us pause. We really don’t want to start a panic at our university or in our community. We certainly value this reporter’s work. Our faculty and students really value that relationship. We didn’t want to do this, but we thought it best to proceed with an abundance of caution.” Du Cille said in a post on his Facebook page that the university missed a teachable moment amid the Ebola hype. Michel du Cille (Post) The most disappointing part of this bad decision is the disservice to the fine journalism students at Syracuse’s Newhouse School. What a missed opportunity to teach future media professionals how to seek out accurate hard facts; backed up with full details about the Ebola crisis. I guess it is easier to pull the hysteria and xenophobia cards. “I think there’s still an opportunity to have that teachable moment when the risk to faculty and staff is lesser,” Branham said. “I know Michel was angry about it. I think the key point was that it has been exactly 21 days today. And the 21-day thing, some suggest the incubation period should be longer. We knew how parents would react. We knew how faculty and staff would react. We thought


A professor’s encounter with two Teach For America recruiters

our state. When I suggested that TFA was contributing to the displacement of veteran teachers in Chicago, Detroit and other urban centers, looks of shock and disbelief registered on their faces. They said that was not their goal. When I asked one of them to explain TFA’s goal, she said it was to improve education in urban schools. I asked her to list the factors contributing to the “problems” in those schools and explain what TFA was doing about those problems. She didn’t answer. I suggested that the teacher “shortage” in some urban schools might be the result of poor teacher working conditions and a destabilizing of teaching as a profession, causing more teachers to leave the classroom–and that TFA played a major role in creating these problems. She denied this was the case, but acknowledged that the “perception is there.” I replied: “Its not a perception. That’s your business plan, and if you aren’t doing anything to actively combat that “perception,” then you are part of the problem. When traditionally prepared teachers leave the profession, it’s a bug–when TFA recruits leave, its a feature.” She disagreed, and I asked her what the average length of service was in Detroit for TFA recruits. She “wasn’t sure.” We finished our discussion after I posed this question to one of the recruiters: “What would you say to my student teachers who decided they wanted to be teachers while they were in middle school or younger, elected a major in education, and then spent four or five years preparing to enter the profession, if they asked you why someone with no degree in education and five weeks of summer training should be competing with them for the same job?” Her response was that some people decide to become teachers at different times, and that should not preclude their entry to the profession. I agreed with her and suggested that these persons then enter a graduate program in teaching, which takes two years of coursework and includes a full student teaching placement at my institution. I said that students in high-need schools deserve nothing less. The other recruiter appeared disturbed by the conversation. She had majored in journalism and Italian, and then taught English and Social Studies for three years. I asked her what was wrong. She said, “I just wanted to get into the classroom in the worst way.” “You did,” I replied.


“Consumer Credit and the American Economy,” Part 5: Government Regulation of Consumer Credit

loans was a moral evil (usury) and therefore prohibited, ultimately based on restrictions found in its own antiquity, the ancient books of the Old Testament. Overlaps between religious and civil authority during the Middle Ages guaranteed that development of lending and borrowing relationships in western Europe remained complicated for centuries, producing legal difficulties extending even into modern times. As notions of morality based on religious principles have faded over time as a foundation for commercial restrictions, concern has developed in some quarters that individuals still need government protection in their credit relationships for two further reasons: to shield them from inability to understand fully the implications of the credit transactions they enter into and to help them avoid possible inappropriate behavior by questionable credit vendors in the marketplace. In this view, the term consumer protection in credit matters refers to various governmental means of altering prevailing conditions and practices in the credit marketplace rather than absolute prohibition of credit relationships. Today, many observers of consumer credit markets believe that they are neither perfectly competitive nor perfectly uncompetitive, and, consequently, they recommend regulatory roles for both competition and government. Whatever the influences, reasoning, and circumstances leading to current conditions, it is apparent that few areas of the American economy are as closely regulated as consumer credit. Until the late 1960s, governmental consumer protection in credit markets was mostly the province of state agencies, but today both federal and state authorities are involved. Consumer credit regulation evolved during a time when the federal system of governing left most aspects of local commerce as the province of state governments, and so early forms of regulation were at the state level. Federal activities for consumer protection began in 1968, with enactment of the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act on May 29 that year, and with its most important provision, the Truth in Lending Act, effective July 1, 1969. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act and other federal legislation followed in the 1970s. By 2010, the growth of federal regulation led to establishment of a new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), with official opening date July 21, 2011. Historically, regulation of pricing terms on consumer credit has been the province of state regulation but with federal regulators today waiting in the wings. It is possible, even likely, that federal activity in this area could increase substantially in the future. This essay examines this aspect of


apparent that few areas of the American economy are as closely regulated as consumer credit. Until the late 1960s, governmental consumer protection in credit markets was mostly the province of state agencies, but today both federal and state authorities are involved. Consumer credit regulation evolved during a time when the federal system of governing left most aspects of local commerce as the province of state governments, and so early forms of regulation were at the state level. Federal activities for consumer protection began in 1968, with enactment of the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act on May 29 that year, and with its most important provision, the Truth in Lending Act, effective July 1, 1969. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act and other federal legislation followed in the 1970s. By 2010, the growth of federal regulation led to establishment of a new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), with official opening date July 21, 2011. Historically, regulation of pricing terms on consumer credit has been the province of state regulation but with federal regulators today waiting in the wings. It is possible, even likely, that federal activity in this area could increase substantially in the future. This essay examines this aspect of government regulation of consumer credit. Usury laws in Britain served as the model for the American colonies in the eighteenth century. The colonies (and later the fledgling states) adopted a usury ceiling of 6 percent as a carryover of the prevailing 5 percent ceiling in Britain at the time, with an extra percentage point added to help raise capital. For the next century, ceilings on loan interest rates were the rule throughout the states, although with wide variance in levels. The western states, where capital was in great demand and scarce supply, generally adopted higher rate ceilings and weaker penalties for violation of the law than the eastern states, where capital was more plentiful. A lack of hard (coin) money in the west also necessitated a greater reliance on credit, making the inevitable shortages that accompanied interest rate and other lending restrictions more painful. Legal limits in the colonial period and the early republic sometimes exceeded prevailing market rates and thus were not binding. In some cases states raised or abolished rate ceilings so that they no longer placed constraints on the market. Ceilings also were commonly evaded and were difficult to enforce, although during the colonial period and the


Comet Siding Spring headed for close encounter with Mars on Sunday

agencies will orient their Earth and Mars satellite assets – and their Martian rovers – to observe Comet Siding Spring. Break away from the Sunday afternoon football games and go to Slooh.com for live coverage of the comet’s flyby. Slooh coverage starts Sunday at 2:15 p.m. “Normally you would send spacecraft to a comet and in this case, the comet is coming to the spacecraft,” said Kelly Fast, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center research scientist. Astronomers commonly describe comets as “dirty snowballs” brimming with ice, dirt and gases like carbon dioxide. Scientists estimate that Comet Siding Spring’s nucleus is about a half-mile to five miles wide, and that it has the mass of a small mountain. It’s traveling at about 126,000 mph, according to NASA. The Oort Cloud is a swarm of frosty leftovers from the beginning of the solar system, some 4.6 billion years ago. This cloud surrounds our solar system and comets occasionally get bumped out of it and head toward the sun. Comet Siding Spring’s closest approach to the sun – an event called perihelion – is Oct. 25. Comet Siding Spring will be the first Oort Cloud comet studied up close and personal by spacecraft. NASA is maneuvering the Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the newly arrived MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) to protect them from dust particles blowing off the comet. Both NASA Mars rovers – the gutsy Opportunity (which landed on the planet in 2004) and the newer rover Curiosity – are scheduled to make observations. With the local flyby of Mars, Curiosity will be heading into dusk while Opportunity will be coming out of dawn, says the space agency. The Hubble Space Telescope will observe the icy visitor, as will the other space observatories like Kepler, Swift, Spitzer and Chandra. NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, will also track it. You cannot see this comet with the naked eye. It’s a zero magnitude object from our earthly perspective and it will be about 16 degrees above the horizon at 7:30 p.m. Sunday night. To see it, try a mounted pair of binoculars or a telescope. The comet should be in the vicinity of Mars, which will be in the southwestern sky. ScienceCasts: Colliding Atmospheres - Mars vs Comet Siding Spring Above: NASA video on the possible collision between the atmosphere of Comet Siding Spring and the atmosphere of Mars


Disease detectives: Remembering another deadly virus that killed hundreds in 2003

From left, Lawrence Togbah, Moses Bryant and Abraham Saye tried to protect themselves from Ebola by covering their hands, feet and torsos with plastic bags in Monrovia, Liberia, last month. They did not have proper protective gear like gloves or masks. (Michel du Cille/The Washington Post) Stories of disease detectives trying to track down contacts of people who may have been exposed to Ebola remind me of another virus that raced across the world in 2003, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing 774 before it was finally declared contained by health officials. SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is a viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus. It was first reported in Asia in February 2003 and spread to 24 countries. In Toronto, SARS killed 44 people. (There were no SARS deaths reported in the United States.) The virus, health officials found, was transmitted by close person-to-person contact, including respiratory droplets from an infected person sneezing or coughing. (Health officials say the Ebola virus is not airborne.) The SARS virus could be spread by touching contaminated surfaces, then touching a mouth, a nose or an eye. Officials discovered that SARS may have come to Canada with a woman who likely shared an elevator in Hong Kong with a professor who did not know that he was ill with the virus. At the beginning of the SARS epidemic in Toronto, public health officials issued warnings about how to halt the spread of the virus –by telling the public to wash their hands and be vigilant looking for symptoms. SARS was finally stopped with the help of disease detectives who tracked down every person whose lives touched the people who fell ill. Here’s the story from 2003 about Toronto disease detective racing against the clock to stop the virus


First Ebola-stricken nurse at NIH is in fair, stable condition

news briefing on Friday, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told members of the media Friday that he fully intends to have nurse Nina Pham, the first person to contract Ebola in the U.S., eventually walk out of the hospital at NIH headquarters in Bethesda where she is being treated. Nina Pham, the first nurse diagnosed with Ebola after caring for a patient in Dallas, is in fair and stable condition at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, officials said Friday morning. “We are giving her the best possible care on a symptomatic and systemic basis,” Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a news conference. A 2010 photo of Pham. (Courtesy of tcu360.com/via AP) Pham, 26, was transferred to the facility, one of four in the United States with a special biocontainment unit, late Thursday night, he said. She was diagnosed with Ebola on Sunday, becoming the first person to contract the disease on U.S. soil. Pham had been part of the team that treated Thomas Duncan, a Liberian man who flew to Dallas last month before being diagnosed with Ebola. Duncan died last week, four days before it was announced that Pham had contracted the disease. “There is no specific therapy that has been proven to be effective against Ebola, and that’s why excellent medical care is critical,” he said Amber Vinson, the second nurse who cared for Duncan and contracted the virus, was transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on Wednesday. Between 50 and 75 health-care workers and other personnel at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where Duncan was hospitalized, are being monitored for possible exposure. “With many of the medical professionals who would normally staff the intensive care unit sidelined for continuous monitoring, it is in the best interest of Nina, hospital employees, nurses, physicians and the community to give the hospital an opportunity to prepare for whatever comes next,” the hospital said in a statement Thursday. The NIH said Friday that Pham would not be billed for her treatment. “We made ourselves available, and when we were called upon we accepted the responsibility,” Fauci said. Fauci also said that the facility has a capacity to treat another patient and would be happy to treat another person if necessary. [This post has been updated.]


French-inspired restaurants Mama Rouge and Chez Billy Sud open in Georgetown

Call Georgetown la rive gauche: Two new restaurants -- one French-Vietnamese and the other southern French -- opened this week within one block of each other and the Potomac River, giving the area something of a Left Bank feel. Mama Rouge A brisket banh mi on a croissant at mama Rouge (Maura Judkis/The Washington Post) Papaya salad, one of the Thai dishes on the menu at Mama Rouge (Maura Judkis/The Washington Post) The former Bangkok Joe's space has gotten a stylish revamp and a menu upgrade: Owners Aulie Bunyarataphan and Mel Oursinsiri have developed a mostly Vietnamese menu, with a heavy French influence and a little bit of Thai and Malaysian, too. Pho, curry, noodle dishes and barbecue share billing with pommes frites and daily specials of duck a l'orange and steak au poivre. The perfect combination of both cuisines, the banh mi, is a knockout, despite not entirely adhering to tradition. I've never had a banh mi with avocado on it, for instance, or one that is presented in a croissant, but in this setting, it works. Curries come with both jasmine rice and a baguette. Be sure to try the house-made sriracha and spicy mayos in bottles at each table. The drinks hew more to French tradition: There's a punch of the day, as well as two cocktails -- the Framboise Goose, with Grey Goose, curaçao and maraschino, and the Vieux Carre, with Copper Fox rye and cognac -- on tap. Vermouth, Armagnac and absinthe make appearances throughout the menu, and the beer list tilts heavily Belgian. The dining room's much-needed facelift is full of bistro accents, like iron-footed tables, but with a color scheme of red and teal that hints at warmer climes. Mama Rouge, 3000 K St. NW. 202-333-4422. www.mamarouge.com. Chez Billy Sud The interior of Chez Billy Sud (Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) The vermouth cocktail at Chez Billy Sud (Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) It's a sequel to Petworth's Chez Billy, but this restaurant is no copy. Chez Billy Sud draws its flavor from the south of France, where a hearty fish soup in tomato broth and truite Grenobloise, or trout with a traditional brown butter sauce, are among the restaurant's offerings. Of course, you'll also find classic bistro fare like duck confit, beef bourguignon and steak frites. Sud takes the place of Cafe La Ruche and will incorporate the old restaurant's crowd-pleasing patio in fair


Obama signs order to protect consumers from identity theft

Speaking at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday, President Obama announced the launching of a chip and PIN system called "Buy Secure." Starting in 2015, Obama said credit cards and credit card readers that the government issues would have a microchip in the card as well as a PIN. President Obama signed an executive order Friday to protect consumers from identity theft by strengthening security features in credit cards and the terminals in which they are processed. In an executive order signed at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Obama ordered that government agencies that process payments employ enhanced security features. Those measures include so-called "chip and pin" technology, meaning that secure information is embedded in a chip in a credit card and users must enter a PIN number in order to use the card, much like they currently do with a debit card. Obama announced a new federal "Buy Secure" initiative meant to spur retailers and banks toward using the chip and pin technology rather than the magnetic strips on the back of most credit cards, which are vulnerable to theft. The moves come in the wake of massive data breaches at retailers nationwide, including Home Depot. The company, along with 15,000 others including Walgreen's and Target, has promised to use machines that employ the chip and pin technology by next year. American Express will spend $10 million to replace credit card machines at small businesses and MasterCard will provide consumers with free identity theft monitoring. "The idea that somebody halfway around the world could run up thousands of dollars in charges in your name just because they stole your number or because you swiped your card at the wrong place and the wrong time, that’s infuriating. For victims, it’s heartbreaking. And as a country, we’ve got to do more to stop it," Obama said. Obama also directed law enforcement to share more information about identity theft with the private sector. The Federal Trade Commission will also work with credit bureaus to help victims recover their identities faster after they are stolen. The president said he is no stranger to the idea of identity theft - he said Friday that his credit card was declined at a New York restaurant last month because the company thought it might be a fraudulent charge.


Americans love craft beer. Pepsi hopes they’ll love craft soda too

But Pepsi's newest brand also marks a shift into an entirely new territory and experiment that the rest of the soda world is going to watch closely. Different from other offerings, which were borne from a demand for both lower calorie and naturally sweetened options, Caleb's is an attempt to answer what could prove an exciting question for the struggling industry: If Americans fell in love with craft beer, will they also go for craft soda? The rise of craft beer, after all, has been a bright spot in the otherwise challenged beer industry. And it has, rather counterintuitively, benefited some of the industry's largest players. While light beer sales continue to disappoint—sales are expected to fall to their lowest in a decade next year, according to a report in Shanken News Daily—craft beers have done just the opposite. Craft beer now accounts for more than 14 percent of beer dollar sales in the United States, according to the Brewers Association. Most of the country's fastest growing brands are now craft beers. And many of them—including the single fastest growing craft beer brand, Shock Top—happen to be owned by big beer-makers, like Anheuser Busch-Inbev. "They [Pepsi] watched what happened in the beer business, and decided it's worth a try," said John Sicher, the publisher of Beverage Digest. "It's going to be important for me and other industry watchers to see how it does." Industry experts, however, warn that there are many reasons why the appeal of craft beer might not translate to the soda industry. Beer, to begin with, can have a much more nuanced flavor profile than soda, which could put a cap on craft soda's popularity. "There just isn't as much room for flavor and quality discernment among consumers," said Jonas Feliciano, an industry analyst at market research firm Euromonitor. "With soda, you're basically putting a different type of syrup in with your sugar water." In other words, it might be hard to convince consumers that a craft soda is more premium, because they might not be able to taste a difference in quality. The soda industry is also unique in that the major brands have both a mass appeal and malleability that allows them to be served in more formal settings, a distinction that doesn't hold as true in the beer space. "If Queen Elizabeth were holding a reception at Buckingham palace, she would probably serve Russian


Syracuse University bravely saves students from exposure to journalism

One of the many photos captured by Michel du Cille of The Washington Post while covering Ebola in Liberia. Michel du Cille, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, was recently in Liberia to cover the Ebola outbreak. He is back in the United States now, and he was supposed to go to Syracuse University — home to a very prestigious journalism school — to talk about what it was like covering this public-health crisis, documenting and illuminating a horrific epidemic that has killed more than 4,000 people. However, du Cille — a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, which I should really say three times, because he has won the award three times — was not able to speak to the students, because he was told not to come to the campus, because he was in a place where there is Ebola and that freaks some people out. See, after du Cille returned from Liberia, he has been following the various self-monitoring guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That meant avoiding any potentially infectious contact with people, taking his temperature very often and watching for any symptoms during the 21-day period when it is generally accepted that Ebola symptoms, if they show up, are going to show up. He has been careful, and he has not exhibited any symptoms, which is important, because public-health officials say that people with Ebola are only contagious when they are exhibiting symptoms. Du Cille was not happy, as he explained to News Photographer magazine: I just got off the phone with the Dean [Lorraine Branham], and I am pissed off. I am disappointed in the level of journalism at Syracuse, and I am angry that they missed a great teaching opportunity. Instead they have decided to jump in with the mass hysteria. The university’s decision was a little strange, when you consider that public-health experts have said over and over and over and over and over and over and over that it is not very easy to get Ebola. You need “direct contact,” they say. The decision was somewhat weird when you consider that a day before he was scheduled to speak at Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, he was in Atlanta and wandering around inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While he was there, he helped illustrate the situation currently faced by the CDC director Tom Frieden (taking some photos


The Beijing Marathon may have been hazardous to runners’ health

Runners gather near Tiananmen Square. (Andy Wong / AP) The Beijing International Marathon went on as schedule in spite of dangerously high levels of air pollution in the city Sunday. The race drew thousands who chose to run 26.2 miles while wearing face masks after the U.S. embassy described the city’s air quality as “hazardous” and pollution estimates exceeded the World Health Organization’s recommended levels. One resident told the BBC that the air smelled like burnt coal and some runners were forced to drop out of the race. British runner Chas Pope was furious after being forced to drop out after six miles. “When I looked at the state of the mask after 10 kilometres, I decided enough was enough,” Pope, 39, said (via AFP). “It felt pretty ridiculous given we’re meant to be running for health and fitness.” Spot the difference: on the right, Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, on the left, Beijing marathon runners... http://t.co/ZfHzUQmNQX Some of the runners have given up in the 2014 Beijing Marathon due to the serious air pollution in Beijing. http://t.co/GoVpxcPcKH Before & after - smog turns #BeijingMarathon runner's mask grey: http://t.co/5Y5tQ92LP4 http://t.co/Br4kWkFwiD The race, which began in Tiananmen Square and ended in Olympic Park, wound throw a city ringed with buildings hidden in gray mist. About 30,000 runners were expected to participate and the organizing committee had sponges available at aid stations so that runners could wipe “skin that is exposed to the air,” according to the Beijing News. “Actually, on a normal day, nobody would run in such conditions,” said Liu Zhenyu, a runner and computer engineer, told the Associated Press, “but the event is happening today, so what can we do?” A runner, wearing a mask to protect herself from pollutants, looks at her smartphone at the start of the Beijing International Marathon. (Andy Wong / AP) Girmay Birhanu Gebru of Ethiopia won the men’s race in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 42 seconds; Fatuma Sado Dergo, also of Ethiopia, was the women’s winner in 2:30:3. Gong Lihua of China, who finished third in the women’s division, said the smog had little effect. “Today the smog did have a little impact on my performance,” she told the AP, “but not a major one.”


The junk ‘science’ behind the marijuana legalization movement

years of scientific literature from Wayne Hall, who advises the World Health Organization on addiction and runs the University of Queensland’s Center for Youth Substance Abuse Research. And the dangers need to be dealt with. The role of government in regulating drugs can’t be separated from what those drugs do to people. On that question, pot-libertarians have taken too many liberties — about both its medical and its recreational effects. Proponents claim Beyond the medical applications, legalization proponents argue that marijuana should be available for recreational use because it’s “harmless” and not addictive. But the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, is a powerful psychoactive ingredient that can cause hallucinations or delusions and interfere with the way the brain makes and stores memories. Hall’s study found that marijuana use doubles the risk of developing psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia. He also found that one in 10 adults who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it, and those who use it are more likely to go on to use harder drugs. His study also emphasizes the danger that marijuana use poses to teens — one in six teenagers who regularly smoke pot will become dependent. Other research backs up these warnings: A recent review of more than 120 studies found that teen marijuana use is associated with subsequent addiction to other drugs and psychosis, such as schizophrenia. And a recent study from researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee linked regular marijuana use by teens to drops in IQ points and to memory problems. While the states that have legalized marijuana completely have done so only for residents 21 and older, peer-reviewed research has linked heavy marijuana use with long-term memory problems and other health effects in adults. Marijuana also poses dangers to pregnant women, with studies linking the drug to lower birth weight, impaired brain development and behavior problems in adolescents. And while proponents of legalization point out that it’s impossible to overdose on cannabis, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any instances of marijuana-related deaths. A handful of deaths in Denver were tied to edible marijuana use this year, not to mention the increased risk of fatal car accidents due to drivers impaired by marijuana. Hall’s study analyzed epidemiological studies and laboratory evidence from a number of researchers and concluded that driving after smoking pot approximately doubles the risk of a car crash. Because marijuana has been illegal for decades,


Rand Paul’s claim that the White House suggested Ebola transmission is like AIDS

set of remarks from Sen. Rand Paul regarding the administration’s response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Did the administration suggest Ebola was like AIDS? Did it play down the possibility of direct contact? Before entering politics, Paul was an ophthalmologist, so his expertise in medicine might carry extra weight with some readers. The Facts First, let’s look at the warnings and cautions posted on the White House Web site. Now, here are the Centers for Disease Control exposure risk levels. Note that a “low risk” exposure is being within three feet of a patient with Ebola. The Ebola virus, as far as is known, does not circulate in tiny droplets that hover in the air, such as influenza. But an Ebola patient could cough, sneeze or spit, transmitting bodily fluids that might land on a person nearby — and then you might get Ebola if the virus finds a break in your skin or you touch your eye and it goes in through a mucous membrane. High-risk exposures A high-risk exposure includes any of the following: Percutaneous (e.g., needle stick) or mucous membrane exposure to blood or body fluids of EVD (Ebola virus disease) patient. Low-risk exposures A low-risk exposure includes any of the following Household contact with an EVD patient Being within approximately 3 feet (1 meter) of an EVD patient or within the patient’s room or care area for a prolonged period of time (e.g., health care personnel, household members) while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment (i.e., standard, droplet, and contact precautions; see Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations). Brief interactions, such as walking by a person or moving through a hospital, do not constitute close contact Low risk does mean some risk, so Paul is not entirely off base to note the three-feet caution, except that it concerns a person confirmed to have Ebola. People who are diagnosed with Ebola generally don’t circulate at cocktail parties. “Senator Paul’s portrayal of a cocktail party as a potential setting for exposure just uses another example of an event during which close contact with a sick person could occur – leading to potential exposure to bodily fluids containing the deadly virus,” a Paul aide said. “Imagine being sneezed on directly by a sick person or using a bathroom after someone sick with Ebola. In both cases, what was once just ‘close contact’ moves to direct exposure.” Here's how


New poll finds marijuana legalization enjoys strong support in Delaware, a 2016 target for advocates

Marijuana plants on display for sale at the medical marijuana farmers market at the California Heritage Market in Los Angeles. (David McNew/Reuters) Advocates of legalizing marijuana should be pleased: Legalization enjoys strong support in Delaware, a 2016 target for the movement. Legalizing marijuana for adult recreational use enjoys 56 percent support in Delaware, while just 39 percent oppose legalization, according to a new poll from the University of Delaware’s Center for Political Communication. And the breakdown was the same when the sample was limited merely to registered voters, says CPC Associate Director Paul Brewer, a professor in the Departments of Communication and Political Science & International Relations. “The results show strong support in Delaware for legalizing marijuana,” Brewer said by e-mail. “In all age groups except for those 60 years or older, a substantial majority favored legalization. The results in Delaware mirror an emerging national majority in favor of legalization.” Indeed, support for legalization reached 58 percent in a 2013 Gallup poll, the first time a clear majority backed the idea since polling began in 1969. Still, support appears to be in flux: a recent poll conducted by the well-regarded Public Religion Research Institute found that support dropped from 51 percent last year to 44 percent today. Recent polls have found support above 50 percent in Connecticut, Florida, New York and Ohio. But Delaware is among a handful of states where the Marijuana Policy Project hopes legalization can pass legislatively over the next few years, though Brewer’s take is that there’s more of an appetite for decriminalization. “My secondhand impression is that there’s a division between state legislators who favor decriminalization vs. those who favor full legalization,” he said in an e-mail. “The governor and likely next AG sound open to the former but not the latter at this point, so decriminalization seems more likely in the near future than legalization.” The survey is based on telephone interviews of 902 adult Delaware residents, 769 of whom were registered voters. The calls were roughly split between landlines and cellphones. The data were collected between Sept. 10 and 22. The results were adjusted statistically to accurately represent state demographics. The margin of error was 3.9 percentage points.


With its first TV commercials, Whole Foods wants to show you where your food comes from

A new print ad from Whole Foods’ first nationwide marketing campaign. (Courtesy of Whole Foods Market) Whole Foods Market unveiled its first national marketing campaign Monday, a series of primetime television commercials and glossy print ads that the organic grocer hopes will help revive its disappointing sales. The campaign, which the company says has a “values matter” theme, is aimed at health-conscious shoppers concerned about where their food comes from. With rivals such as Kroger and Wal-Mart now offering organic product lines, Whole Foods is trying to hang onto its core customers and position itself as the standard-bearer for quality in the organics category. “They care about themselves, our planet; they want to trust their [food] sources; they’re seeking information to make meaningful choices,” Jeannine D’Addario, Whole Foods global vice president for communications, said in an interview. One television commercial features a herd of cows grazing on a picturesque California ranch while a voice-over pledges that “all of the fresh beef we sell comes from cattle who have had room to roam.” Another ad shows workers plucking fruit from a sun-drenched orchard, with the voiceover promising that produce is “grown locally on over 1,000 U.S. farms.” Values Matter TV Commercial: Beef | Values Matter | Whole Foods Market Whole Foods says it will spend $15 million to $20 million launching the advertising campaign. The TV spots will be shown during programs such as “Modern Family,” “The Voice” and “Scandal,” while the print ads will appear in publications including Men’s Health, Rolling Stone and the New York Times. The grocery chain is hoping to reach shoppers ages to 25 to 49. The marketing blitz comes as Whole Foods y grapples with slowing sales and increasing competition. In July, Whole Foods reported sales at stores open more than a year were up 3.9 percent, a figure that disappointed investors who had been expecting stronger growth. Co-chief executive Walter E. Robb cited a variety of reasons for the slowdown, including increased competition in the organic grocery space and a sluggish economic recovery that doesn’t appear to be enticing consumers to spend again. The grocery store chain, dubbed “Whole Paycheck” by some critics, has also been trying to shed its high-cost image. It has been experimenting with tactics to go after a price-conscious consumers, such as a national price-matching program it began last year. The company has said it will continue to target bargain


D’Addario, Whole Foods global vice president for communications, said in an interview. One television commercial features a herd of cows grazing on a picturesque California ranch while a voice-over pledges that “all of the fresh beef we sell comes from cattle who have had room to roam.” Another ad shows workers plucking fruit from a sun-drenched orchard, with the voiceover promising that produce is “grown locally on over 1,000 U.S. farms.” Values Matter TV Commercial: Beef | Values Matter | Whole Foods Market Whole Foods says it will spend $15 million to $20 million launching the advertising campaign. The TV spots will be shown during programs such as “Modern Family,” “The Voice” and “Scandal,” while the print ads will appear in publications including Men’s Health, Rolling Stone and the New York Times. The grocery chain is hoping to reach shoppers ages to 25 to 49. The marketing blitz comes as Whole Foods y grapples with slowing sales and increasing competition. In July, Whole Foods reported sales at stores open more than a year were up 3.9 percent, a figure that disappointed investors who had been expecting stronger growth. Co-chief executive Walter E. Robb cited a variety of reasons for the slowdown, including increased competition in the organic grocery space and a sluggish economic recovery that doesn’t appear to be enticing consumers to spend again. The grocery store chain, dubbed “Whole Paycheck” by some critics, has also been trying to shed its high-cost image. It has been experimenting with tactics to go after a price-conscious consumers, such as a national price-matching program it began last year. The company has said it will continue to target bargain shoppers with regional and local ads, even as the national campaign aims to draw in values-driven consumers. Whole Foods says a national campaign is especially important right now because it is undertaking an ambitious expansion that will bring the brand to many new consumers. Whole Foods is on track to open 38 new stores this year and has 116 stores in its development pipeline. The company has 386 stores in the United States but believes there is long-term demand for about 1,200 Whole Foods groceries in this country. The ads will run through winter 2015, the company says. D’Addario said they will be closely watching how customers react to determine whether the marketing campaign will be the beginning of a more consistent national advertising strategy.


D.C. area forecast: Showers and clouds through midweek, then nicer weather

- Today’s Daily Digit - A somewhat subjective rating of the day’s weather, on a scale of 1 to 10. - 4 A darker day, but temperatures still pleasant at least - Express Forecast - Today: Mostly cloudy with shower chance. Highs: 64-68. - Tonight: Cloudy with showers. Lows: 44-49. - Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy with showers. Highs: 57-62. FORECAST IN DETAIL Radar lightning: Our weather deteriorates over the next few days with clouds and scattered showers thanks to a large, lumbering low pressure system. But the good news is that this business is forecast to clear out by late this week to brighten skies and lead the way to nicer weekend weather. Today (Tuesday): Tonight: For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend… Tomorrow (Wednesday): Tomorrow night: (Nathan Jones via Flickr) A LOOK AHEAD Thursday Friday The weekend


For a better run, tread(mill) carefully

For better form, David Siik says to stay a few inches away from the front of a treadmill. Runners — a group of people accustomed to bloody nipples, blackened toenails and mid-route diarrhea — seem to become embarrassed by only one thing: treadmills. “They say, ‘I can’t get on one.’ There’s this shame,” says David Siik, creator of Equinox’s new Precision Running program. He has plenty of reasons athletes should get over their hang-up: Treadmills are gentler on the joints than unforgiving sidewalks, they allow groups of different abilities to run “together,” and they make it possible for a coach to monitor an athlete for every step of a run. His absolute favorite thing about treadmills? “You can calculate anything — it’s like running on a computer,” Siik says. But to get the most out of the info and experience, you have to use the technology correctly, he adds. Here’s his list of treadmill don’ts: Don’t show up without a plan. Don’t start with a sprint. Don’t forget to up your speed before an interval. Don’t run too close to the front of a treadmill. You might also like: The best places to get fit in the D.C. area: gyms, pools, parks and more Scare up a sweat with one of these October fitness events ClassPass lets you take as many fitness classes as you want all over D.C. for $99 a month


Actor Sean Astin, a.k.a. Rudy, will run the Marine Corps Marathon this year

Jason Biggs and Sean Astin attend a function in 2012 in San Diego, California. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images for VH1 Classic) Sean Astin, the actor who starred as the title role in the film “Rudy,” is expected to run in this year’s Marine Corps Marathon, which means you now have a perfectly acceptable reason to line the streets of Georgetown and chant “Ru-dy! Ru-dy! Ru-dy!” You know, if you were looking for something to do. Astin Rudy's Victory - Rudy (8/8) Movie CLIP (1993) HD Astin will have to finish in under 6:26:49 if he wants to do better than Teddy, the Racing President who ran a few years ago. Al Gore ran the marathon in 1997, finishing in 4:54:25, and Ted Koppel had a time of 5:09:08 in 1983, according to the MCM website. The big day is upon us after 6 months of training I'm honored & grateful just 2b part of the 2014 #USMCMarathon http://t.co/O3HTohpA6X Robert D. Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center, will join Astin to start the race, the release states. I’m not sure if Cabana is actually running the marathon too, but his attendance at the event means that can probably also line the streets of Georgetown and chant “NA-SA! NA-SA! NA-SA!” if that’s more your thing. You do you.


Let’s play New York Times D.C. Dining bingo!

Look! The New York Times has plugged new keywords into its book of D.C. Dining Mad Libs for its latest assessment of how we're eating. Let's see what they came up with this time, in a piece that proclaims "the future of dining in Washington, D.C. has arrived." For decades, Washington’s dining scene has been made up mostly of two kinds of restaurants. There are the expense-account steakhouses and hushed white-tablecloth hotel dining rooms catering to the political class with money to spend. At the other end are the cheap ethnic restaurants dotting the city and its outlying suburbs. Local restaurants like those in Philadelphia or Charleston, S.C., where the stroller set settles in with the small-batch-bourbon-swilling groovesters for some solid roast chicken, were as rare as bipartisan budget bills. While those other cities were becoming known as food towns, Washington seemed to miss out. Hey, that sounds familiar! Probably because every single New York Times story that aims to compliment the "new" D.C. dining scene begins with a diss. The New York Times is like a sleazy pick-up-artist, "negging" a pretty girl at the bar before he asks for her number. 2009: "But, truth be told, restaurants are not exactly on top of the why-to-visit list." 2009: "Mr. Obama’s status as a frequent restaurant-goer is some good news for the Washington dining establishment, which has lingered in the shadows of bigger cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago." 2010: "Time was that the streets radiating out and down from K Street in Washington — hallowed ground for lobbyists and image-makers — were a fusty culinary landscape of white tablecloths, blue blazers and standard steakhouses." 2010: "Very little that occurs inside the Beltway is a genuine allegory for national passions." 2013: "The city was not, to put it mildly, recognized for its hospitality." 2014: "The coffee is meh — a problem throughout much of the city." See? With that in mind, we've created a new game. Every time the New York Times writes about D.C. dining from now on, you can pull out this D.C. Dining Story bingo card and mark off the terms, themes and phrases you'll find below. They've all made (in many cases, multiple) appearances in New York Times dining stories about D.C. throughout the years, and if history is any indication, we're pretty sure they'll be used again. The center square is the only time


The online marketplace for sex that authorities say led Indiana serial killer suspect to final victim

The Motel 6 in Hammond, Ind. (John J. Watkins/The Times via Associated Press) On the Internet, 43-year-old Darren Deon Vann went by the name “Big Boy Appetite.” On the Chicago-centric landing site for Backpage.com, which has become the king of online sex ads, he apparently thought he could be anonymous. That all changed Monday when Vann, a convicted sex offender, was charged with murdering a woman. Police said they are investigating his alleged role in the killings of six others whose bodies police say he helped find in abandoned homes dotting Gary, Ind., over the weekend. It’s unclear how many of Vann’s apparent victims were targeted using Backpage, but it was his final act — finding his victim through classifieds on the site — that led police to his doorstep, authorities said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/police-search-structures-in-suspected-serial-killer-case/2014/10/22/ceccd3e2-1e79-40ce-9af7-aff95dcd245c_video.html Like many sex-crime victims whose services were openly advertised on the Internet (sometimes unwillingly), the dead northwest Indiana women seemed to share the commonality that they “might be less likely to be reported missing,” said Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, according to the Chicago Tribune. Of the seven women found with Vann’s help — some of them long dead — only one, 35-year-old Anith Jones, had been reported missing. Police said Vann found the most recent woman, 19-year-old Afrika Hardy, on Backpage a week before he allegedly killed her. He had met her, according to police, by responding to one of the hundreds of ads for “body rubs,” “escorts” or “adult jobs” that populate the site. Hardy had just arrived in Chicago last summer and was excited about starting over in a new city, according to her mother. Online, she went by “Octavia” or “Ms. Youngin” in a prostitution business advertised on Backpage. Initially, her meeting with Vann was set for Oct. 9, but he suddenly cancelled, claiming “he couldn’t get a babysitter,” according to charging documents reported by USA Today. About a week later, the meeting was back on. Around 5:13 p.m. last Friday, Hardy texted a woman — who police called the “facilitator” — to say that Big Boy Appetite had arrived at a room at the Motel 6 in Hammond. But when the “appointment” ran long, the woman called Hardy’s cellphone eight times, according to the court documents. The only replies she received were suspicious messages, police said. Later that night, the woman drove to the motel room with a male friend to check on


That time Ben Bradlee performed with the London Symphony

wife] would come to the concerts. One evening, after having recently conducted Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” I asked Ben if he would be interested in creating a narration about Nixon that we could set to symphonic music. He quickly responded “No!” in a way that was very clear, but he said, “I might be interested in highlighting a set of quotes spoken by the presidents while I was at The Post.” So we met in Georgetown several times and he considered quotes. It was clear that many of the quotes were some of the worst things that the presidents had said. Those quotes fueled the Boston-based composer, William Thomas McKinley (a descendant of President McKinley) into a musically ironic direction. We premiered the piece to about 6,000 people in St. Mary’s with the Chesapeake Orchestra. The record company, MMC, decided to record the work in London with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studio. Ben, Sally, and [their son] Quinn, flew in from France where they had been on summer vacation. Ben’s charisma and presence were noticed immediately by members of the London Symphony, even before he was introduced. This was particularly notable because the LSO spends so much time with the world’s most famous soloists, composers, conductors, and actors. I overheard the concertmaster of the LSO lean into his stand partner to say, “We have a real person here today with us.” They were energized by his presence. Ben was very enthusiastic and amused that his particular voice was going to be immortalized as a recording artist with the London Symphony. He was completely relaxed, in good humor, but eager to do well. It was as if he had spent his life performing in front of the London Symphony. I’m sorry we didn’t give him a chance to sing, too. Jeffrey Silberschlag is the music director and conductor of the Chesapeake Orchestra and a music professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Related: Ben Bradlee and the ‘best damn job in the world’ ‘The heart and soul of The Post newsroom’: Tributes to Ben Bradlee Timeline: The life and career of Ben Bradlee For 26 years Ben Bradlee steered The Washington Post through some of the most trying and triumphant episodes in the paper’s history. Friends, colleagues and Bradlee himself talk about his legacy, including the publishing of the Pentagon Papers and the coverage of the Watergate scandal.


Paul Reubens says a new ‘Pee-wee’ movie is ‘very imminent’

that inspired the television series goes back even further (1980). Reubens was an artistic and creative visionary unique in the history of television. He was bizarre, wacky and just good plain fun — not only for the children who watched him on Saturday mornings but for the parents who joined them, possibly still sporting groggy eyes and matted hair, but bemused all the same. His show didn’t condescend; instead, it drew from a vast range of cultural references, hence its appeal. Now “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” has been remastered and released on Blu-Ray. Reubens explained the significance of the process in his interview with Rolling Stone. What a lot of people don’t realize is, the show was shot on film. But it’s never been seen on film — we’d shoot it and immediately transfer it to tape, then we’d edit it on tape and add the effects in on tape. The whole thing is then put on a “broadcast tape,” for airing. You lose information and clarity the more you dupe, so in some cases, we’re talking six generations of loss. We’ve cleaned all that up. I’ve spent over a year in a lab helping the folks putting this out with color corrections, helping them find the right source material for some of the effects — many of which they recreated from scratch for the Blu-rays. The amount of work that went into this was huge. One of the things I always loved about the show was the amount of detail we were able to pack into the show, how great everything was made to look — and so much of that got lost because of transfers and time. Someone told me that it’s basically impossible to show Playhouse re-runs on TV over the last five years, because they would just look horrible — and he was right. But we’ve rescued these episodes now. Finally, the technology exists to capture and do justice to every meticulous detail Reubens poured into the set he designed — heaven only knows what we’ll see if “Playhouse” is remastered for 4K. Not only does the Blu-ray release of “Playhouse” mean more of the original Pee-wee vibrancy, it also affords the opportunity to relive the days a young Lawrence Fishburne — now the crotchety patriarch on “Black-ish” — was the singing, guitar-playing Cowboy Curtis. Let’s reminisce a bit, shall we? Pee-wee's Playhouse Theme Song h/t Screen Rant


An accidental delivery of arms to the Islamic State and the problem with airdrops

retain control of Anbar province. “Some pilots, instead of dropping these supplies over the area of the Iraqi army, threw it over an area that is controlled by ISIS fighters,” Hakim al-Zamili said, using another name for the Islamic State. “Those soldiers were in deadly need of these supplies, but because of the wrong plans of the commanders in the Iraqi army and lack of experience of the pilots, we in a way or another helped ISIS fighters to kill our soldiers.” Another general sheepishly added: “Yes, that’s what had happened.” The embarrassing anecdotes feed into the complicated history of the airdrop, which still carries risks despite being honed over decades with technological advancements such as GPS-guided parachutes. “There’s no way you can predict who may end up with those weapons, and who is going to use them, or how they are going to use them,” Greg Myre of the Middle East Institute told the Daily Sabah. “That is one of the risks you have to take.” It was a risk Bill Clinton was willing to take in 1993. That was the year he ordered an airdrop of tens of thousands of humanitarian packages over eastern Bosnia, despite the “military consistently arguing against involving U.S. troops in airdrops in hostile zones, given the fact that the accuracy of the drops is questionable,” the Associated Press then reported. The brass turned out to be right. One major problem laid bare during that mission, military scientists later said, was what they called “wind drift.” “The problem was identified in the late ’90s,” John McGinley, a scientist who researched the topic, told The Washington Post’s Holly Watt in 2008. “The terrain in Bosnia meant that instead of landing in one valley, the cargo could drift into another valley that was held by the enemy. Wind drift was causing all the problems.” So research teams got to work, ultimately unveiling wind-forecast software that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said increased the drop’s accuracy by 70 percent. “Inaccurate wind forecasts are the main culprit in missed targets for dropping supplies and other items from high altitudes,” the report said. It almost immediately went into use in the war in Afghanistan, where far-flung military outposts were separated by stretches of roads pockmarked with insurgents and explosives. There had to be another way to get soldiers the equipment they needed, military officials thought, so they launched


Photojournalist Muhammed Muheisen awarded $10,000 Oliver S. Gramling Award for journalism

An Afghan refugee child chases bubbles released by other children while playing on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on Aug. 8, 2014. Chief photographer in Pakistan for the Associated Press Muhammed Muheisen was recently awarded the $10,000 Oliver S. Gramling award for journalism. His stunning coverage of refugees–with a strong focus on refugee children–in Pakistan and other conflict zones are imbued with compassion and humanity, and convey what photography has always had the power to do at its best: stir emotions within the viewer and, in some cases, compel us to act toward change. With great patience, Muheisen is able to build a level of comfort and respect for his subjects, immersing himself into their daily lives and thereby giving him the ability to capture raw moments of tragedy and likewise unfettered joy. Muheisen was born in Jerusalem, and after earning a double degree in journalism and political science from Birzeit University, he joined the Associated Press in 2001, covering myriad stories in locations that include Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, China, South Africa, France and more. He is the recipient of numerous other photo awards, including Time magazine’s Best Wire Photographer of 2013, and he was part of a team of AP photographers who were awarded a Pulitzer Prize in the same year. This is the 20th year of the Oliver S. Gramling awards, which were created in 1994 to honor AP photographers for excellence. All photos by Associated Press photographer Muhammed Muheisen. A Pakistani man who fled his village due to fighting between security forces and militants in Pakistan’s tribal area of Bajur enjoys jumping on a trampoline at a makeshift entertainment park set up in a slum area on the outskirts of Islamabad on May 11, 2012. Pakistanis watch as an acrobat rides his motorcycle around a circular track at an entertainment park set up outside a shrine in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on June 19, 2013. An Egyptian protester throws away a tear gas canister fired by security forces during clashes near the Interior Ministry in Cairo on Feb. 3, 2012. Pakistani protesters sleep on a median in front of the parliament building in Islamabad on Aug. 22, 2014, during week-long protests , from the eastern city of Lahore to the gates of parliament, calling for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ouster over alleged voting fraud. A Syrian refugee crosses illegally into Turkey at the border fence in Cilvegozu, Turkey, on


Moon “takes a bite” out of sun on Thursday in partial solar eclipse

The moon will pass in front of the sun, off-center, producing a partial solar eclipse visible in most of the United States on Oct. 23. NASA explains where and when the eclipse will be most visible. A partial eclipse will be visible across most of North America on Thursday, weather permitting. In a partial eclipse, when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, light from the sun still reaches our planet. If you didn’t know about it in advance, you may not realize that the eclipse is occurring at all. Unfortunately, the only place in the U.S. that the eclipse will not be visible is far northern New England, where the sun will have set before it starts. But for the rest of the Eastern Seaboard, including the Mid-Atlantic, the eclipse will be visible in the early evening. Sky cover forecast for Thursday at 5 p.m. (NWS) Around New York City, eclipse begins at 5:49 p.m., and maximum eclipse occurs at 6:03 p.m. In Philadelphia, it’s just five minutes later. However, the Thursday evening forecast in the Northeast is cloudy as of Wednesday morning, and there’s nothing worse than a thick cloud deck to ruin a good eclipse. In the Washington, D.C., area, the eclipse starts at 5:52 p.m., and will peak at 6:17 p.m., though the peak will coincide with sunset. At maximum eclipse, Washingtonians will see only about 33 percent partiality and the sun will be very low on the horizon, so you will need a viewing location that is not obscured by hills or trees. The cloud forecast is looking marginal on Thursday evening for D.C. — definitely a borderline case. Check back with us on Thursday morning for an update. Viewing times get earlier, and the eclipse will last longer, as you travel west across the U.S. — the peak in St. Louis will occur at 4:41 p.m., Salt Lake City’s will be at 4:26 p.m., and in San Francisco, maximum eclipse will be at 3:15 p.m. More locations and times are listed by NASA. Do not look directly at the sun with your naked eye If you weren’t able to acquire special glasses or filters to view the eclipse, an easy, safe way to watch is through a shoe box pinhole camera. If you don’t have a shoe box handy, you can also crosshatch your fingers and “project” the sun’s image on the ground


Sam’s Club to launch a private health insurance exchange

a plan of their choice. One of Sam’s Club’s chief rivals, Costco, already offers a private insurance marketplace that is geared at individual shoppers. The Sam’s Club marketplace is different in that it was designed specifically to appeal to small-business owners, although individual members could potentially sign up for it. Sam’s says that some 70 percent of its customers who hold business memberships have five or fewer employees. Consulting firm Accenture estimated in June that about 3 million Americans currently receive coverage through private exchanges. The company estimates that number will swell to 40 million by 2018, and that private exchanges will ultimately have more users than the federal and state exchanges. Some large employers, including Walgreen, Church & Dwight and IBM, have moved their massive employee populations to private exchanges from firms such as Towers Watson, Aon Hewitt and Buck Consultants. Sam’s Club said its move to offer private exchange was based on customer research. “While it’s no surprise that small business owners are strapped for time, our insights team really honed in on what causes this time crunch,” said Rosalind Brewer, chief executive of Sam’s Club, in a conference call with reporters. They found that confusion over health insurance plans was a leading issue occupying small business owners’ time. With the new exchange, they hope to provide a streamlined, simple offering. The opening of Sam’s Club’s insurance exchange comes at a time when many other retailers are testing the waters with health and wellness-related offerings. Wal-Mart, its sister brand, is offering consumers in-store assistance enrolling in an insurance plan. Wal-Mart is also opening primary-care centers in some of its outposts around the country. Still more retailers are testing other kinds of services, including Amazon.com, which is testing grocery delivery service in Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Sam’s also announced Wednesday that it was launching new services for small business owners to outsource their payroll capabilities and legal needs. Sam’s Club is under pressure to reinvigorate its appeal to small-business owners in order to boost its bottom line. In the most recent quarter, Sam’s Club’s comparable sales, or sales at stores open more than a year, were flat overall. However, among shoppers who hold a business membership, comparable sales were negative. Sam’s has been working to improve its merchandise assortment and make it more responsive to profiles of individual stores. Staff Writer Jason Millman contributed to this report.


D.C. area forecast: Wind-whipped clouds today, while another sunny, mild weekend awaits

- Today’s Daily Digit - A somewhat subjective rating of the day’s weather, on a scale of 1 to 10. - 5 While it is dry and temps are relatively mild, enough with the wind tunnel effects already! - Express Forecast - Today: Mainly cloudy, gusty winds. Highs: 61-65. - Tonight: Gradual clearing, breezy. Lows: 43-48. - Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, still breezy. Highs: 64-68. FORECAST IN DETAIL Clouds: The New England Nor’easter is no friend of mine today as it throws back wind and spins clouds over the area. I want to see the partial solar eclipse that starts at 5:52 p.m. and persists (26 minutes) until sunset. During this viewing window about a third of the solar disc will be dark. Cloud cover may decrease to 50 percent of the sky by then (or even a bit less, fingers crossed), but with the viewing angle so horizontal, glimpses are probably all we can hope for. By tomorrow and Saturday, sun domination warms us and winds die down. The winds return on Sunday as a “non-polar vortex” dips south. But with temps mild and plenty of sun there is nothing to do but get out and enjoy! Today (Thursday): Tonight: For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend… Tomorrow (Friday): Tomorrow night: October 22 (Ian Livingston) A LOOK AHEAD Saturday Sunday Monday


Shakespeare Theatre Company and developer buy land in Southwest for $6.5 million for a new campus

The building at 501 I St. SW was designed by Charles Goodman around 1964. On Monday, the Shakespeare Theatre Company and Erkiletian Development bought a roughly one-acre plot of land in Southwest D.C. for $6.5 million. The companies plan to tear down the former Southeastern University building at 501 I St. SW and construct a large campus, which will include rehearsal studios, a costume shop, administrative offices and market-rate housing, says STC managing director Chris Jennings. The campus will also include apartments for visiting actors and directors, he says. “We rent about 25 apartments all over the place, so the ability to both consolidate our housing as well as own it is a great opportunity for us,” he says. STC will sell its office space on Eighth Street SE, but will continue to operate its two stages in Penn Quarter. The deal was contingent upon the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly dropping its historic landmark application for the building, an example of Brutalist architecture from the mid-1960s. STC and the developer donated $60,000 to the assembly and promised a variety of community benefits, such as workshops for area schools, and the group dropped the application. The deal is a win for the neighborhood, even if it means tearing down a potentially historic building, says resident Marjorie Lightman. “I don’t think it’s a particularly beautiful building, and it’s in very great disrepair,” she says. “As long as the new architecture is in keeping with the neighborhood and it contributes to the community culturally, it’s a win-win situation.” Read more local news from Express: It’s ginkgo season. Watch where you step. Capital Fringe is moving: How’s the packing going? When it comes to street layout, Paris is D.C.’s closest relative