Birders should return to observation instead of ‘collecting’

interest in wildlife? It’s not just high-profile species such as snowy owls that can suffer from human harassment. This past winter, one birding scientist described online how he had walked through a Virginia field where pipits were feeding. Because the pipits were hidden by high corn stubble, he reported, he “only found them when [he] flushed them,” which he did “repeatedly, hoping to see a longspur or bunting.” When I expressed shock that he would deliberately bother these animals, he angrily explained that he hadn’t been chasing after the birds but simply walking through the field to see what was there. His point was that such disruption is simply a fact of life for the animals in our midst. That’s true, but there’s a difference between inadvertently disturbing wildlife and doing so on purpose. This birder was hindering the pipits’ ability to get food while causing them to expend energy needlessly, a potentially devastating combination during the winter of the polar vortex. The birder also excused his behavior by suggesting he was doing “research” on the birds. But with many songbirds in decline, any research with the potential to further reduce their numbers is not helpful. It is for this reason that the U.S. Geological Survey should stop allowing migratory birds to be banded every fall as they move south. Birds are severely stressed by the banding process itself, with many birds suffering injuries or even dying at banding stations. Such stress can also drain the energy reserves (in fat deposits) that a bird spent weeks building up in order to make its journey of perhaps a thousand miles. While ornithologists argue that banding provides knowledge that can be used to maintain avian populations into the future, we already know that the primary factor in declining bird (and other wildlife) populations is habitat loss. It would be far better to work on habitat preservation than to put a band on a bird. In a world where natural habitat is disappearing at an alarming rate, humans have a responsibility to avoid deliberately intruding on the lives of animals that are barely hanging on as it is. For the love of birds, let’s stop birding and return to bird-watching — thereby putting the welfare of wildlife ahead of human desires. Read more about this issue: Joel Achenbach: Can’t stop birding! John W. Fitzpatrick: Bad for the birds, bad for all of us


Saturday night’s moon will be a ‘supermoon’

Supermoons are making headlines, as the first of three visible in 2014 rose on July 12. The moon that rises over Washington on Saturday night will be what has come to be called a “supermoon” — only hours from being perfectly full and hours from one of the year’s closest approaches to Earth. The combination makes for a moon that appears bigger and brighter than usual, even for a full moon. In addition, because the moon always looks larger as it rises, moonrise Saturday night may show off a moon that appears about as big, bright and round as the moon can get. The moon will rise in the southeast at 8:36 p.m. Saturday. The silvery orb will sail west across the dark heavens through the night and early morning before setting in the southwest at 7:20 a.m. Sunday. Experts warn that without special equipment it may be difficult for the average skywatcher to assess the moon’s brightness or size. But a supermoon last year was reported to be about 15 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the year’s run-of-the-mill full moons, and many people may consider themselves capable of spotting a 30 percent boost in brightness. Of course, the brightness of the moon, as seen from earth, will depend, in part, on the sky’s clarity and the amount of cloud cover. If clouds do intervene, the next supermoon is not far off. There will be one in August and another in September.


An unlikely friendship blossoms across the front lines in Israel and Gaza

pleas. Israel escalated its air assault Saturday, raising the death toll in Gaza to 151, including many women and children. More than 960 people have been wounded, according to the Gazan Health Ministry. An early-morning airstrike by Israel leveled one of the oldest mosques in central Gaza, which the Israeli military alleges was being used to store rockets. (The Washington Post) The Israeli air force also destroyed a small treatment center for the disabled, killing two women with severe disabilities and sending two others into intensive care. Standing among charred wheelchairs in the wreckage, the center’s director, Jamilah Eliwa, said, “Can anyone in the world explain to me why you would kill my patients?” Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said authorities were looking into what he called a “clearly tragic’’ incident. Israel said 18 Israelis were injured by rocket fire Saturday, including several people who were treated for shock. More than 85 rockets were fired toward Israel, though many were knocked down by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system. Israel reported rocket fire from across its northern border with Lebanon late Saturday night and responded with artillery fire. Constant text messages Keidar, who describes herself as a proud Zionist, has lived in a cooperative farming community on a leafy bluff about 800 yards from the Gaza border for more than 30 years. For much of that time, Keidar could travel freely to the occupied Gaza Strip — she learned to drive there — and Palestinians ventured to Israel to work the farms, including one run by Keidar’s husband, Ovadia. But recent years have brought little but separation and war. As an Israeli, Keidar is now forbidden from visiting Gaza. Mehanna can only come to Israel with a special waiver to get medical treatment for her nephews, who suffer from a rare immune disorder. It was on one such trip three years ago that Mehanna met Keidar, who was escorting Palestinians as part of her volunteer work with Other Voice, an organization that promotes Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. The two hit it off and have maintained their friendship through many rounds of fighting. They’ve bonded over their shared fate: to live with the constant threat of death from above. “When I’m out walking with my grandchildren, the entire time I’m thinking, ‘Where are we going to run if there’s an alert?’ ” said Keidar, a youthful-looking 70-year-old who, despite nearly a


IT Digest: IBM to invest $3 billion in cloud computing, big data research

Big data and Cloud IBM to put $3 billion into research IBM is investing $3 billion in research that could benefit its cloud computing and big data services, the company announced Thursday. While chip manufacturers have been rapidly reducing the size of their silicon chip transistors to make them cheaper and more efficient, silicon has physical limitations, IBM said — meaning that at some point, shrinking the technology will no longer reduce cost or power consumption. So the company is looking for new materials or structures as alternatives to silicon, IBM said. These might include, among others, carbon nanotubes, quantum computing (a system that relies on atomic particles called “qubits”) and neurosynaptic computing, a field of computing that simulates the human brain. — Mohana Ravindranath Supercomputing Los Alamos getting new Trinity system Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is getting a next-generation supercomputer to help maintain the safety and effectiveness of the nation’s nuclear weapons. The National Nuclear Security Administration announced Thursday that it is contracting with Cray Inc. to help develop the supercomputer, called Trinity. Trinity will be used by Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories and will be housed at Los Alamos’ Metropolis Computing Center. Officials say Trinity will be sized to run the largest and most demanding simulations of stockpile stewardship, assuring the safety, security, and effectiveness of the country’s nuclear stockpile without underground testing. Trinity is scheduled for delivery in mid-2015. — Associated Press


After three decades of war, an Afghan radio program offers a chance to find the missing

the Soviet Union some 20 years earlier, when he was a child. “Khan Agha, my son. My heart has been in pain without you,” Bibi Fatima said through tears in a live broadcast of the latter reunion. “I'm so happy to hear your voice, mother,” Khan Agha responded. Because there is no organized Afghan effort to catalogue or locate the missing, many Afghans call the radio program rather than the Afghan government, preferring to place their trust in the program’s many listeners. Last year, Dutch investigators published a list of 5,000 missing men and women who were killed by the Afghan communist government in 1978 and 1979. The list, originally compiled by the Afghan government but not previously made public, provided closure to a fraction of the families on decades-long quests to locate relatives. “There are thousands of people who have no proof. Maybe they think their relatives were killed, but they can’t be sure,” said Hafiz Rasikh, the head of political affairs for the Solidarity Party of Afghanistan, a group that has demanded clarity from the government on the issue of missing persons. Mass graves have been unearthed accidentally during construction projects across Afghanistan over the past 10 years, but the government has done little to catalogue the victims or their killers. A report on the graves from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission has not been released because of government concerns that it could implicate top officials and prompt civil strife. Ziauddin, a farmer in rural Badakhshan province who, like many Afghans, goes by one name, tried Radio Azadi because he knew of no other option. His brother, Din Mohammad, was last seen about 15 years ago in the middle of the civil war, when he was fighting for the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. Since then, Ziauddin has relied on word of mouth to try to find his brother. It’s the only option for many here, given the lack of Internet access. “We don’t know if he’s dead or alive or anything about him,” Ziauddin said in a telephone interview. “Don’t have money or time to go to big cities to search.” A few years ago, he started listening to “In Search of the Missing.” After hearing dozens of messages that described men like his brother, he called Radio Azadi to leave one himself. “I still hope that if he is alive, he will hear our message,” Ziauddin said.


Metro digest: Police arrest suspect in fatal shooting near North Capitol Street

THE DISTRICT Police arrest suspect in fatal NW shooting A Montgomery County man was killed and two other people were wounded early Sunday in a shooting at North Capitol and T streets NW, D.C. police said. The slain man was identified by police as Donchell Thomas, 21, of Montgomery Village. After gunfire was reported at the intersection about 1:15 a.m., three people were found shot in a car, said Officer Paul Metcalf, a D.C. police spokesman. All were taken to hospitals, where Thomas died, police said. Police said they arrested Jimmie Fleming, 36, of Northwest Washington and charged him with murder and assault with intent to kill. Of the two other people who were shot, one was described as an adult and the other as a juvenile. No other information about them was available immediately. It was not clear what led to the gunfire. The intersection is just south of Rhode Island Avenue NW. — Antonio Olivo and Martin Weil VIRGINIA Democratic candidate calls for streetcar vote Richard “Rip” Sullivan, the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s 48th House District, on Saturday joined a small group of other Arlington politicians calling for a voter referendum on the Columbia Pike streetcar. Sullivan, who is running in a special election Aug. 19 against Republican David Foster for the seat vacated by Del. Robert Brink (D), said that if elected, he would seek General Assembly authorization to put an advisory referendum on the Columbia Pike streetcar on the ballot. Foster made an identical declaration July 6 when he announced his nomination, although Foster added that he’s against the project. Sullivan called the streetcar “an important driver of revitalization and redevelopment” in the region but added that it is not up to him to decide its merits. “It will be decided by the county board, but I think voters should have the opportunity to weigh in and have their voices heard, which is why I support a General Assembly-authorized advisory referendum.” — Patricia Sullivan THE REGION Flight exercises are set for early this week The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will conduct flight exercises late Monday night through Wednesday morning in the Washington region, authorities said. The flights, which are scheduled between midnight and 5:30 a.m. each day, are meant to test NORAD’s intercept capabilities and readiness in the event of intruding aircraft, the agency said. — Elizabeth Koh


Lorin Maazel, child prodigy turned brilliant conductor and festival founder: 1930-2014

where he converted the initially skeptical players with, among other things, a sense of hearing that would later earn him the sobriquet of “best ears in the business.” “Little Lorin,” as he was christened in the press, became so popular that his parents had to limit his appearances to 15 a year — though, unlike many prodigies, he attended regular public school throughout his childhood. Once Mr. Maazel hit adolescence, the child-prodigy renown melted away, and he had a few years of relative anonymity, enrolling in courses at the University of Pittsburgh (he studied languages, math and philosophy), becoming a violinist with the Pittsburgh Fine Arts Quartet and starting as a second violinist and putative apprentice conductor with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Although mentored by Victor De Sabata and invited to make a Tanglewood debut in 1951 by Serge Koussevitzky, his conducting career was relatively stagnant until he got a Fulbright scholarship to study baroque music in Rome in 1953. That eventually led to conducting opportunities in Italy that paved the way to the Maggio Musicale in Florence, La Scala in Milan and ultimate success. His adult career in the States lagged considerably behind his European one. Yet by 1972, he was named music director of the Cleveland Orchestra. His 10-year tenure in Cleveland, after the reign of the legendary George Szell, was controversial and ultimately, amid some high-profile tours and a catalogue of recordings, even acrimonious. His leadership of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, from 1986 to 1996, was also uneven. During that period, he was passed over for the top spot at the Berlin Philharmonic, leading him to call a news conference to announce that he was much happier in Pittsburgh. At the same time, he was music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, one of the best orchestras in Europe (where his salary drew considerable criticism in the press). Several times in the later stages of his career, Mr. Maazel announced that he was eschewing any further music directorships to devote himself more to composing, only to have his resolution overturned by an offer he couldn’t refuse. The clearest instance of this was when the New York Philharmonic — having ditched the 73-year-old Kurt Masur because they wanted a younger conductor — came calling for Mr. Maazel, who was 71. When Mr. Maazel’s father — by then 98 and a committed New Yorker — heard


Bethesda’s Brain Sentry helps Arena Football League tackle head injuries

he said. He and his brother, who was finishing medical school, talked about the difficulty would-be physicians experienced in learning how to perform minimally invasive surgeries like endoscopies, in which a tube with a camera is inserted down the throat to photograph the stomach. He teamed up with Silicon Graphics, one of the hot technology companies of the ’90s, to put together a demonstration of a machine that simulated surgery using 3-D computer models. His team assembled and shipped the simulators from a 20,000-square-foot facility in Montgomery County. High Techsplanations became HT Medical Systems, which built surgical simulators that cost between $10,000 and $30,000. Thousands have been sold. The company grew to 70 employees, including a sales force in Europe and the United States. HT eventually became part of San Jose, Calif.-based Immersion Medical in 2000 in a $42 million transaction. Merril walked away with $12 million. “I got rich on that,” he said. He bought a house in Montgomery County and indulged his interest in sports car racing. He bought a Porsche GT3. He stayed with Immersion until 2002, but he quit auto racing after his first child was born in 2001. His next big thing was to put some exercise into sedentary video games. He and an HT engineer created a four-foot joystick that allows a gamer to control their virtual character by using their whole body. “We positioned the product as an exercise machine that was fun,” Merril said. “We ended up building these human-size joy sticks to measure how hard you push and pull.” That company did well until funding dried up in the financial crisis of 2008. After a couple of years working in management at local companies, Merril heard about firms that were helping with brain injury assessments of soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. A light went off — again. “I started to realize that everyone is talking about concussions,” Merril said. “I thought it would be great if we could improve diagnostics on the sidelines for football. Then I started looking at what has to happen with these injuries. It doesn’t matter how good you are at diagnosing a concussion. . . unless you know who to assess.” Because many players — including kids — are reluctant to self-report after getting their bell rung, “we needed to figure out which kids got hit really hard in the head, and see which need to


Nadine Gordimer, Nobel laureate, exposed toll of South Africa’s apartheid

purchased a large farm outside Johannesburg, in part to be a rendezvous spot for him and his married, politically radical mistress. Former South African President and Nobel Peace Laureate Nelson Mandela (R) smiling as he receives the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award from Nobel Literature Laureate Nadine Gordimer in 2006. (Jon Hrusa/EPA) Another acclaimed novel, “Burger’s Daughter,” published in 1979, follows the personal and political struggles of Rosa Burger, the daughter of a charismatic Afrikaner doctor and anti-apartheid activist who died in prison. In a country defined by its political intensity, Rosa explores whether “the real definition of loneliness” is to “live without social responsibility.” Ms. Gordimer’s 1981 novel “July’s People” tells the story of a liberal white family fleeing an imagined, violent revolution against apartheid and ending up in the village of — and beholden to — their former servant, July. From her 1958 novel, “A World of Strangers,” which details the futile attempts of a young English businessman to maintain ties among whites and blacks in South Africa, to the 2012 “No Time Like the Present,” which follows an interracial couple struggling to navigate their troubled post-apartheid society, Ms. Gordimer wrote unsparingly of race, identity and place, and of how repressive political systems etched themselves onto the lives and relationships of individuals. Exploring secrets “She makes visible the extremely complicated and utterly inhuman living conditions in the world of racial segregation,” Sture Allen, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said while awarding Ms. Gordimer the Nobel Prize for literature in 1991. “In this way, artistry and morality fuse.” Ms. Gordimer noted that “politics is character” in South Africa, said Stephen Clingman, an English professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an authority on the novelist’s work. “She knew that if you wanted to understand any character, black or white, you needed to understand the way politics entered into the very individual.” The apartheid government, which imposed censorship laws capriciously, banned four of her novels — “A World of Strangers,” “The Late Bourgeois World,” “Burger’s Daughter” and “July’s People” — with various claims of subversiveness. “This aesthetic venture of ours becomes subversive when the shameful secrets of our times are explored deeply, with the artist’s rebellious integrity to the state of being manifest in life around her or him,” Ms. Gordimer said in her Nobel lecture. “Then the writer’s themes and characters inevitably are formed by


Man fatally shot Sunday night, becoming the third slaying victim of the day in D.C.

according to a police affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court. The vehicle crashed into a barrier wall about 1:15 a.m. at North Capitol and T streets in Northwest. A third person who was wounded was being treated at an area hospital Monday. Authorities said they weren’t sure whether the shootings are related to an incident Sunday night in which four people were wounded by gunfire two blocks away, in the 1700 block of Lincoln Road NE, in neighboring Eckington. Another fatal shooting Sunday night, in Southeast, brought the day’s death toll to three in the District. The North Capitol Street shooting claimed the lives of Donchell Thomas, 21, of Montgomery Village, and Derek Price, 20, of District Heights. Police said they died at two District hospitals — one Sunday morning, the other Sunday night. D.C. police said they arrested Jimmie Fleming, 36, of Northwest, and charged him with two counts of first-degree murder. He lives in Bloomingdale, about three blocks from where the car crashed. Police said he was arrested at his home, where they found a Redskins jersey and a leg brace a witness said he was wearing in the car. Police said they also found a bag of ammunition. The police affidavit supporting the arrest says the witness told detectives that “no one was talking prior to the gun being fired.” The witness said one person who was not shot passed out, and another passenger was crying over his mortally wounded friend, the driver. D.C. police said they have not learned a possible motive. Teri Janine Quinn, president of the Bloomingdale Civic Association, said she is pleased with the police presence in the area and that police made a quick arrest. She said she doesn’t believe the shootings are related to the neighborhood, which is several blocks north of Truxton Circle, where there have been several shootings this year. “The two victims who died both had addresses in Maryland,” Quinn said. “That gives you a sense that they might know each other and just happened to be here when they got caught up with something. Still, it’s really concerning, but I don’t think people are just coming here shooting at Bloomingdale residents.” The other fatal shooting Sunday occurred about 10:30 p.m. in the 3500 block of Sixth Street SE in Congress Heights. Police identified the victim as Delonte Hemphill, 22, of Southeast. No other information was immediately released.


‘A rising tide’ of craft breweries in Loudoun and beyond

this land gets scooped up and developed, we lose the opportunity to build these wonderful businesses.” County officials are also in the process of considering zoning amendments that would make it easier for breweries to open on farms, and the Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on those amendments this year. Zurschmeide said she is optimistic that there will be no additional county-level hurdles; the only reason there was a legal issue to begin with, she said, is because no one had envisioned the possibility of farm-based breweries and wineries when the zoning rules were first written. “But now, we all know that our customers are educated, they want to know where their food and drink is coming from, they want to see it sourced locally and made fresh,” she said. Loudoun tourism officials are interested in learning even more about those customers, Jenkins said: who they are, where they’re coming from, how much they spend when they visit, what food or activities they’d like to accompany a hoppy IPA or pumpkin ale. “We see these breweries popping up, and naturally we need some marketing information to be able to market to these folks,” he said. “Our breweries didn’t have big e-newsletter lists or big followings yet, so I spoke to our tourism counterparts at the state, and they didn’t have a whole lot of information on it, either.” With the help of a state tourism grant, officials are conducting a “beer traveler survey” to compile information about the patrons of local breweries, he said. “We’re finding that it’s basically the male version of the female wine connoisseur that we see at a lot of our wineries,” he said. “Craft beer people are usually foodies, they’re highly educated, they have high incomes. They’re different consumers than your regular domestic beer drinkers.” And they keep coming in droves. Even the newest breweries are often shocked at how quickly their product is in demand, Jenkins said. Burns said the mounting attention, and competition, is welcome news. “A saying that you keep hearing in the craft brew business is, ‘a rising tide lifts all ships,’ and that’s absolutely true,” he said. “As long as we’re all producing high-quality beers, and we can maintain that positive collaborative nature, it’s really going to increase the amount for agro-tourism that we get to the area. I think that’s going to be great for all breweries.”


Americans aim to set a record as the first trio of siblings to cross the English Channel

Dustin, left, Danielle and Devin Wahl plan to become the first sibling trio to swim across the British channel on July 22. Success will mean overcoming cold water and strong currents. (Courtesy of Devin Wahl) F A person’s chance of swimming across the English Channel is roughly 50-50, and that’s if you have the discipline and tolerance for pain of yoga masters and pillar saints. The chance of three people accomplishing the task simultaneously is considerably smaller, 12.5 percent. One in eight. The Wahl siblings are hoping to beat those odds on July 22. Of course, they have other things going for them, such as genes and training. Age 19 to 24 and the children of endurance athletes, they have shown they have more than just potential. Danielle has swum the Channel once already. Devin has finished two Ironman-distance triathlons: 11 hours of nonstop exertion. Dustin, the youngest, is training five hours a day. They are each swimming 28 miles a week, lifting weights and taking ice baths to condition themselves to frigid water. Devin Wahl trains for the swim of a lifetime at Gunpowder Falls State Park in Chase, Md. Wahl is planning to swim the English Channel this month along with a brother and a sister. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) Although sibling pairs, and even twins, have swum the Channel together, three siblings never have. The feat is one of the few “firsts” still unclaimed since Matthew Webb, a captain in Britain’s merchant marine, became the first documented Channel crosser in 1875. Since then, about 1,400 people have done it. The Wahls are also raising money for research on Alzheimer’s disease, which killed one of their grandfathers and afflicts an uncle. “We want to raise consciousness in the younger generation, first and foremost,” Devin said. “Sometimes you have to do something incredible, and near impossible, to do that.” “Incredible” is one word for swimming the English Channel. “Hellish” might be another. The Channel is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, with 500 ships a day passing through its narrowest part, Dover Strait, where swimmers cross. The tides range from 17 to 22 feet in height, depending on the phase of the moon. As a consequence, the currents are strong and most swimmers are forced to take an S-shaped route whose distance is far longer than the 21 miles separating England and France at the narrowest


Why sanctions against Russia won’t work

U.S. sanctions against Russia will not solve any political problems [“Going it alone,” editorial, July 11]. U.S. history shows that sanctions fail because they don’t change political behavior; sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis will similarly prove ineffective. The United States has placed economic sanctions on Cuba, Iran and North Korea, among other nations. Sanctions on Cuba have lasted 54 years — has that country now democratized? Has Iran ended its nuclear program? Has North Korea liberalized? The answer to each of these questions is no. If one desires to change Russia’s political behavior, sanctions are not the solution. Christian Rice, Silver Spring


Farm camp introduces students to food at its source

they pull it out of the ground themselves.” Thirty elementary students attend farm camp on the Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria on July 10. (Cheryl Diaz Meyer/For The Washington Post) That transformation doesn’t always happen right away. By midmorning last week, campers were chopping up squash and tomatoes from their early harvest and beating eggs for a snack. The smell of frying onions floated into the air as a counselor used a propane stove. “Can we not have the squash in there?” asked 7-year-old Oren Staniorski. “I don’t like it.” He wasn’t the only one who wanted his eggs plain, so the vegetables stayed on the side. What Oren and a lot of the other children did like were bugs. And the farm is full of them. During the week, the campers learned about pests such as Japanese beetles and cucumber beetles that harm crops. They were given permission to squish the pests. They also learned about “good” insects such as honeybees, ladybugs and butterflies that pollinate the plants or eat pests. They encountered many more friendly bugs, including scores of wood-burrowing beetles that were living in old logs. Some campers adopted the insects as pets, setting them up with wood chips and moss in glass jars, and organizing races or watching them crawl up and down their arms. Others advocated for freeing the bugs. Oren found a caterpillar and named it Catty. The campers also learned how to tend the egg-laying hens that live at the farm, and on Thursday they met some broiler chickens brought over by Deborah “Farmer Deb” Dramby from Willowsford Farm in Ashburn. Dramby talked about different breeds of chickens, and introduced the children to 4-month-old Pop Corn, who had been pardoned on processing day because he was too small. She also brought a younger, white chicken that she invited the children to name. “Snowflake,” they said. Campers talked about some of their favorite parts of farm camp: digging worms out of the compost, catching insects, petting chickens and making bouquets of fresh flowers. They also said that farm camp has some discomfort. “There was a bug on my skin and it hurt!” one camper said. Another lamented: “How do these rocks keep getting in my shoes?” A third said his parents told him farm camp would be an adventure, but he wasn’t sure. Tired and sweaty by 10 a.m., he concluded: “This is hard work.”


Corrupting citizens for fun and profit

one of nine cases (more like one in six when use starts in the teens); that it can make structural changes in portions of the brain controlling emotion and motivation; and that regular use undermines memory, attention span, problem-solving skills and the ability to complete complex tasks. What possible use could these attributes be in a modern economy? There is also little doubt that an expanded legal market in pot also expands the illegal market for reselling (or giving) to children and teens. And the product — especially Colorado’s ingestible pot lollipops and gummy bears — is particularly suitable. The social message of normalization, of banalization, is intended — and received by young people. The first $40 million of Colorado’s pot revenue is slated for public school construction. What were once “drug-free school zones” are becoming drug-funded schools. Will there be a celebratory plaque in seventh-grade classrooms: “Brought to you by the potheads of the Centennial State”? Parents no longer expect much help from government in reinforcing the cultural and moral norms necessary to the raising of responsible, successful children. But now some states are profiting from actively undermining those norms. Apparently, only consenting adults matter. Libertarian utopias are always childless. For the strongest ideological advocates of this approach, the outcomes are largely irrelevant. It ultimately doesn’t matter if teen drug use increases by X percent or gambling addiction rises Y percent. Ending “consensual crimes” is a matter of principle — not just on pot and slots but on heroin and meth. The idea of a political community upholding standards, in order to help other institutions (such as families) pass healthy cultural norms between generations, is anathema. But libertarians are now, paradoxically, providing ideological cover for irresponsible government. State officials just want the money, however it is blessed, without requesting it through the normal democratic process. Rather than building social competence and capital, politicians increasingly benefit when citizens are addicted, exploited, impoverished and stoned. And that deserves contempt, not applause. Read more from Michael Gerson’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook Read more about this topic: Ruth Marcus: The myths of smoking pot The Post’s View: Congress’s blunt interference in D.C. laws should stop Ruth Marcus: The perils of legalized pot E.J. Dionne Jr.: Marijuana injustices need to end The Post’s View: Marijuana’s foot in the door Doug Fine: Five myths about legalizing marijuana


In Taliban heartland where U.S. once fought, Afghan forces triumph — for now

family,” said Jan Mohammad, 25, one of many young men recruited by the Taliban. He fought on their side for two years before being detained by U.S. forces. He was later released and left the insurgency. One American unit after the next waged war on the insurgents, defusing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that were then replaced, and dropping bombs on a Taliban leadership that seemed to regenerate every year. U.S. forces failed to gain the trust of the district’s population. And then Bales walked off his base in the middle of the night March 11, 2012, and gunned down the 16 civilians, most of them women and children. Aktar Mohammad, a resident of Panjwai, stands in a house where U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales murdered numerous civilians, most of them women and children. (Kevin Sieff/The Washington Post) “That’s when the Taliban preaching really increased,” said Aktar Mohammad, who lives a few yards from one of the homes targeted by Bales. “They told us the Americans were here to kill our children and our women.” Bales was sentenced last year to life in prison. The families of the victims left Panjwai; their homes are still pocked with bullet holes. In one, where several children were killed, a tattered first-grade textbook lies on the floor. The victims were part of a larger exodus out of the district during years of unremitting violence. Vulnerable Afghan troops By last summer, responsibility for combat operations shifted from U.S. to Afghan troops, dozens of whom were killed, mostly by roadside bombs. Without modern body armor or bomb-proof vehicles, the Afghans were particularly vulnerable. Around that time, a group of Afghan elders declared their opposition to the Taliban. For years, Panjwai residents had offered hospitality to insurgents and Americans, afraid that shutting out either group would make them targets. But the elders said they would no longer offer the same degree of assistance to the Taliban. “We were tired of living between two countries — one controlled by the government and the Americans, and the other controlled by the Taliban,” said Mohammad Osman, 75, an elder. Afghan troops continued to die throughout the summer fighting season. The Afghan brigade commander, Gen. Ghulam Murtaza, said his unit lost count of how many of its vehicles were destroyed by roadside bombs. Everyone wondered: What would happen in 2014, when the Taliban pledged a brutal campaign to disrupt Afghan


Drugmakers seek tax edges overseas with mergers; VW to build new SUV in Tennessee

MERGERS Drugmakers seektax edges overseas Several U.S. companies are looking to trim their tax bills by combining operations with foreign businesses in a trend that may eventually cost the federal government billions of dollars in revenue. Generic-drug maker Mylan said Monday that it will become part of a new company organized in the Netherlands in a $5.3 billion deal to acquire some of Abbott Laboratories’ generic-drugs business. The deal is expected to lower Mylan’s tax rate to about 20 to 21 percent in the first full year and to the high teens after that. The drugmaker AbbVie has entered talks with Shire over a roughly $53.68 billion deal that would lead to a lower tax rate and produce a company organized on the British island of Jersey. Last month, U.S. medical device maker Medtronic said it agreed to buy Ireland-based competitor Covidien for $42.9 billion in cash and stock. The combined company would have executive offices in Ireland, which has a 12.5 percent corporate income tax rate. Drugstore chain Walgreen, which bills itself as “America’s premier pharmacy,” is considering a similar move with Swiss health and beauty retailer Alliance Boots. These tax-lowering overseas deals, called “inversions,” have raised concerns among some U.S. lawmakers over the potential for lost tax revenue. — Associated Press Also in Business ● Volkswagen will spend $900 million to build a midsize SUV at its plant in Tennessee, nearly doubling the factory’s workforce, in an effort to revitalize sales in the United States. VW said it had chosen its factory in Chattanooga instead of a plant in Puebla, Mexico, to produce a seven-passenger SUV starting in late 2016, creating up to 2,000 jobs at the site that now has almost 2,500 workers. Sales of the VW brand in the United States fell 7 percent last year and 13 percent in the first half of 2014. ● Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Sprüngli said it is buying U.S. manufacturer Russell Stover Candies for an undisclosed sum. Lindt chief executive Ernst Tanner said the purchase provides “a unique opportunity for us to expand our North American chocolate business.” The company said the deal will make it the No. 3 chocolate manufacturer in North America. Russell Stover, which also owns the Whitman’s brand, is based in Kansas City, Mo., and has four factories in Kansas, Texas and Colorado. It has about 2,700 employees and annual sales of about $500


Brazil pulled off the World Cup. But an even higher hurdle looms: the 2016 Olympics.

The athletes village, shown here on June 27, is under construction ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In April, International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates called the city's preparations the "worst" in memory. (Leo Correa/AP) Against the odds, Brazil pulled off a successful World Cup. Stadiums were ready, if only just. Huge protests failed to materialize. Airports functioned, and the hospitality of the Brazilian people enchanted foreigners. But can the country do the same for the 2016 Summer Olympics? This is a significantly more complicated event: over 10,500 athletes from 200 nations competing in 28 sports, all in one city — followed days later by the Paralympic Games. But construction work is running late. Sewage fouls Guanabara Bay, where sailing events will be staged. Traffic and logistics are a concern. Already, there are complaints that the new facilities will mainly benefit Rio’s wealthier areas. “There are 28 world championships at the same time, in the same city,” said Bruno Souza, a former professional handball player who until recently worked on the Olympic Village. He is now secretary of sports for Niteroi, a city just across the bay from Rio. Souza competed in both the Athens and Beijing Olympic games for Brazil. Beijing was a smooth-running triumph. But Athens was plagued by problems and was so expensive that the cost was even blamed by some for Greece’s subsequent economic crash. “The Games in Rio de Janeiro are very similar to Athens,” Souza said. The site of Rio's planned Olympic Park, shown here on June 26. (Dom Phillips/For the Washington Post) He said athletes may face delays in getting to venues through Rio’s snarled traffic, despite being aboard buses in special Olympic lanes, and it could be a struggle to even wash all the towels for the 18,000 people staying in the Olympic Village. “I am very scared of the logistics, as much the logistics of transport as the logistics of providing services,” he said. Brazilian officials are confident things will go well. President Dilma Rousseff told reporters Friday that the World Cup’s success “was a big lesson for us,” showing that “Brazil is a country with the capacity to organize.” But Brazil is also a country that suffers from a relaxed attitude about deadlines and an occasional lack of attention to detail. That was obvious on July 3, when Rio’s city hall organized an event


Local digest: A roundup of D.C.-area news briefs

A 25-year-old D.C. man died days after a single-car crash in Chevy Chase, Md., police said Tuesday. Authorities said Malcolm Lawrence Gardner succumbed Monday to injuries from a July 11 accident. Gardner, who was being treated in a Maryland hospital, was seriously injured in an 8:40 p.m. crash at Beach Drive and Wyndale Road. Investigators from the police department’s collision reconstruction unit believe Gardner’s 2005 Mini Cooper was traveling south on Beach Drive when it crossed a double yellow line, according to a news release. The car struck a tree near the westbound shoulder, the release said. — Victoria St. Martin Montgomery cancels CashKey program If you use CashKey to pay for parking in Montgomery County, you need to start thinking about an alternative. The county is discontinuing the system that allows customers to add money to a key and use it to pay for parking at electronic meters in county-owned garages, lots and on-street locations. CashKey maker, Duncan Solutions, recently announced that it will stop manufacturing the keys and developing the supporting software and hardware, Montgomery County officials said. The payment system has been around since 2000, and tens of thousands of keys were sold. It is unclear how many are still active. County officials say CashKey holders can continue to use their keys until they run out of money. CashKey users can return the keys to parking sales stores in Bethesda and Silver Spring to receive their $15 refunds for the keys. They also will receive any balance left in their accounts. — Luz Lazo VIRGINIA Probe continues for Alexandria slayings A man Alexandria police say is the focus of their investigation into three high-profile homicides will face trial this fall on an unrelated gun charge out of Loudoun County. Charles Severance, 53, was indicted by a Loudoun grand jury Monday on a single count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. A date was set Tuesday for Oct. 27 for the trial, which is expected to last two days. At a preliminary D.C. court hearing in June, Severance’s girlfriend, Linda Robra, testified that he encouraged her to buy two .22-caliber revolvers for her own protection and showed her how to load them. Police in Alexandria have said Severance was the “primary focus” of their investigation of the slayings of Nancy Dunning in 2003, Ronald Kirby in 2013 and Ruthanne Lodato in February. — Rachel Weiner


Pre-Civil War shotgun house in the hands of D.C. preservation board

The shotgun-style house at 1229 E St. SE is seen in the Capitol Hill Historic District. (Ileana Najarro/The Washington Post) A shotgun house is so named, according to lore, because a shotgun blast will pass straight through all the rooms, from the front door to the back. Commonly found in the Deep South, the structure’s roots are traced in some accounts to the west coast of Africa. To some people, the one-story house at 1229 E. St. SE on Capitol Hill is a classic example of the form. To others, the boarded-up, rectangular shack with the cracked wooden frame is an eyesore worthy of replacement. This disagreement has led to a tug of war between an owner ready to demolish the place and a preservation group demanding that it be restored. Bordered on its right and left by two-story rowhouses — brightly painted in pastels with neat wood paneling and railed stairs — the brown shotgun house on E Street seems out of place. The wooden walls look as if chunks have been bitten out of them, and the brick foundation is exposed in front for the world to see. The house is barely half as tall as its bigger neighbors, and it is just 14 feet wide and three rooms deep. It has a single long window and a door in front. There is no longer a porch for the dilapidated roof to cover. Though the origins of this particular specimen are unclear, the story goes that the owner of a local store built the house some time before 1853. A German immigrant peddler bought it and lived there with his family for 40 years, according to the Capitol Hill Restoration Society, and the house may have been owned by a bricklayer who occupied it until the 1940s. The current owner, Larry Quillian, bought the property in 1985. Quillian, a 74-year-old former contractor and developer, thought he could tear down the derelict house and build a bigger one. He quickly discovered, however, that in the Capitol Hill Historic District, it wouldn’t be that easy. Quillian applied for demolition permit in 2002, but the Historic Preservation Review Board recommended that the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs deny the request. He’s trying again, but with no guarantee of success. The review board is scheduled to hear his application at the end of the month. The local Advisory Neighborhood Commission has


Alzheimer’s findings seen as a possible new window to understanding the disease

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic have discovered a possible new link between an abnormal protein in the brain and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, a breakthrough that could open new avenues to understanding the disease and finding effective treatments. Abnormal forms of the protein, which assists DNA in coding and building new proteins inside the cell, appear to increase the atrophy of regions of the brain important to memory. And it could be a trigger of some kind, perhaps independently initiating the onset of Alzheimer’s-related dementia when combined with two other proteins whose abnormalities have long been implicated in the disease. The findings are to be presented Wednesday during the six-day Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Copenhagen. Scientists were also expected to unveil other research, such as the results of a Massachusetts study that used sophisticated brain scans to identify the disease in its earliest stages, and a Scandinavian study showing that people at risk of getting Alzheimer’s can improve their odds of staying healthy through lifestyle changes, including exercise, nutrition and mentally stimulating activities. Alzheimer’s is an incurable, progressive, brain-killing disease and the leading cause of dementia. It affects 1 in 9 Americans 65 or older and 1 in 3 among those 85 or older. The conference is unfolding as the United States and other nations step up efforts to fight a disease that is on pace to spread as populations age. Until now, scientists have focused almost entirely on beta-amyloid, whose fragments create sticky plaques found inside the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, and tau, which forms tangles. Both proteins are believed to damage and kill brain cells in ways that are not fully understood. The discovery that a third protein may contribute to Alzheimer’s came about through the Mayo Clinic team’s investigation of a biological agent that had been identified several years ago as having a role in two other neurodegenerative diseases. The abnormal protein was first linked to the development of prefrontal lobe dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Both diseases involve progressive nerve damage in the brain. Keith A. Josephs, a physician who led the research, said his team examined the brains of 342 cadavers of people who were determined to have Alzheimer’s based on the extent of tau tangles and beta-amyloid plaques in their brains. They searched for the presence, amount and distribution of the TAR


Japan gives green light to restart pair of nuclear reactors

government presses ahead with other plants, he said. But opponents of nuclear energy in earthquake-prone Japan are likely to become even more vociferous in the next month. In Tokyo’s government district, where protesters have been voicing opposition to nuclear power at a tent encampment since the Fukushima accident, there was dismay Wednesday. “This decision is stupid,” said Kyoko Minoguchi, who has been spending two or three days at the protest site for almost three years. “Sendai is in a volcano and earthquake area, so it’s really dangerous,” she added, cooling herself with a paper fan that read “no nuclear waste, no energy shift.” Sakurajima, an active volcano, is about 30 miles from the Sendai plant. It carries a Level 3 warning from the Japan Meteorological Agency, meaning that people are advised against going near the volcano. But Yoshihide Suga, Abe’s chief cabinet secretary, said the regulators are enforcing what are now the toughest nuclear safety regulations in the world. Sendai Nuclear reactor (The Washington Post/Sources: Staff reports) “We believe the regulator will conduct thorough safety checks,” he told reporters in Tokyo. The Fukushima disaster led to a sharp slide in public support for nuclear power. A survey conducted by Kyodo News last month found that more than half of the respondents remained opposed to restarting the nuclear plants. The issue threatens Abe’s popularity ratings, which recently dipped below 50 percent for the first time, although this is also linked to his decision to revise Japan’s pacifist defense policy. Just last weekend, Taizo Mikazuki, running on a promise to break Japan’s dependence on nuclear energy, beat a candidate backed by Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party to become governor of the Western prefecture of Shiga. The neighboring prefecture of Fukui is home to 13 nuclear reactors, and Mikazuki is demanding that Abe’s government seek his approval before allowing any of the Fukui reactors to be restarted. Exit polls showed that nuclear power and energy policy issues influenced 70 percent of voters who backed Mikazuki, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported. Still, Wednesday’s ruling is viewed as a crucial step toward reigniting the nuclear power industry — and toward helping Abe revive the Japanese economy. Before the 2011 disaster, Japan relied on nuclear energy for about 30 percent of its electricity needs. Since the accident, electricity prices have surged, straining household budgets, while the cost of importing expensive fossil fuels has led to sustained


D.C. news in brief

can be for sale and artists may replace works that sell. The theater will also feature continuous performances. After the 25 hours ends, on Saturday night, the party will continue with an open house with DJs, videos and drinks. The arts space has collected an anniversary Tumblr archive at archivedcart.tumblr.com, with news clips, recollections and photos. For information, e-mail info@dcartscenter.org, call 202-462-7833 or visit www.dcartscenter.org. Home energy-saving class offered at D.C. libraries The D.C. Public Library system and the electric utility Pepco are offering a free, one-hour course on ways that residents can save energy and reduce electric costs. The program, developed by Pepco and George Washington University, explains how home electricity use works and introduces online tools to offset costs. The classes are from 7 to 8 p.m. on the following dates at various libraries: Wednesday, July 23 — Dorothy I. Height/Benning Rd., 3935 Benning Rd. NE Tuesday, July 29 — Mt. Pleasant, 3160 16th St. NW Thursday, Aug. 14 — Petworth, 4200 Kansas Ave. NW Thursday, Aug. 28 — Northeast, 330 Seventh St. NE Thursday, Sept. 11 — Chevy Chase, 5625 Connecticut Ave. NW Wednesday, Sept. 17 — Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, 901 G St. NW Wednesday, Sept. 24 — Lamond-Riggs, 5401 South Dakota Ave. NE Attendees will receive a free reusable gift bag. Free children’s activity books are also available to parents. Get a Logan Circle history tour and scavenger hunt in one Cultural Tourism DC, a nonprofit group that promotes awareness of District history, has collaborated with the company Stray Boots to create an app that is part walking tour, part scavenger hunt. The app guides players around Logan Circle to solve a series of challenges and trivia questions while earning points, taking photos and learning the neighborhood’s history. The tour is self-paced but has a scoring system. When a player answers incorrectly, the app provides a hint for a possible second response. Though designed for groups, it can also be played by an individual. The content introduces players to the poets, ministers and politicians who lived and worked in Logan Circle. They can chart the area’s rise, fall and revitalization while stopping by Civil War camps and artistic havens that shaped the District’s arts and entertainment district. The tour costs $12 and is available for Android or iOS. For information, go to www.strayboots.com and download the Stray Boots app. — Compiled by Terence McArdle


Prince George’s County Animal Watch

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY These were among cases received recently by the Prince George’s County Animal Management Division. Call 301-780-7200 for directions to the county animal shelter, hours of operation and adoption and licensing procedures. The department Web site is www.princegeorgespets4us.com. Shaggy dog held by police: Growling dog under car: Injured fawn on highway: Stray dog by playground: Annapolis pet adoption showcase: Upper Marlboro low-cost animal clinic: Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind The Prince George’s County SPCA/Humane Society The Partnership for Animal Welfare — Compiled by Jillian S. Jarrett


U.S. expanding sanctions against Russia for its support of separatists in Ukraine

adding that the United States should “stay patient and determined.” After President Obama announced the toughest sanctions yet on Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning the measures will “have a boomerang effect” against the U.S. The new U.S. sanctions against Russia came as European Union leaders unveiled their own list of more modest measures that cut European investment in Russia and set the stage for possible further action in the coming weeks. In meetings among diplomats and in White House calls in recent days, administration officials had pressed for stronger European sanctions. Russians reacted with fury to the new U.S. measures, with President Vladimir Putin telling journalists in Brasilia, where he is visiting, that “sanctions are driving Russian-American relations into a dead end,” the Interfax news service reported. In Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov vowed that Russia would take similar measures against the United States that would be “quite painful and serious.” “The new decision by the U.S. administration to lodge sanctions under false pretenses against a number of Russian businesses and individuals can’t be called anything other than outrageous and totally unacceptable,” Ryabkov told Interfax. The new U.S. sanctions fall short of action against entire sectors of the Russian economy, which Obama said would be imposed if Russia did not halt its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine and withdraw its troops from the border area. The measures targeted equity financing and debt financing due in more than 90 days for two Russian banks — Gazprombank, the banking arm of Russia’s largest energy company, and state-owned Vnesheconombank, or VEB — and prohibited new debt with more than 90 days maturity from U.S. institutions for OAO Novatek, Russia largest independent producer of natural gas, and Rosneft, the largest petroleum company. The new measures also froze all U.S. assets of eight Russian defense firms and prohibited U.S. persons or anyone in the United States from dealing with them. Additional sanctions were applied to political entities and individuals in separatist regions of Ukraine. Four senior Russian officials were also targeted, including a senior figure in the country’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, and the deputy chairman of the Russian Duma, the lower house of parliament. A senior administration official said the new measures not only would “have a direct impact on the entities themselves” but also would have a “broader impact in the Russian economy . . .


FDA found more than smallpox vials in storage room

The administrative building of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md: Hundreds of other potentially dangerous pathogens were in forgotten boxes on NIH campus. (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press) Federal officials found more than just long-forgotten smallpox samples recently in a storage room on the National Institutes for Health campus in Bethesda, Md. The discovery included 12 boxes and 327 vials holding an array of pathogens, including the virus behind the tropical disease dengue and the bacteria that can cause spotted fever, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees the lab in question. “The fact that these materials were not discovered until now is unacceptable,” Karen Midthun, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), told reporters Wednesday. “We take this matter very seriously, and we’re working to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.” The disclosure came hours after Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified on Capitol Hill that researchers at the agency mishandled live anthrax and other deadly pathogens in a string of mishaps in recent years. “We missed a critical pattern,” he told lawmakers. “And the pattern is an insufficient culture of safety.” Both the smallpox discovery and the previously undisclosed safety lapses at the CDC have sowed doubt about how the nation’s premier public health and research institutions are safeguarding some of the most lethal organisms on Earth. The vials of smallpox, a scourge that was eradicated decades ago after killing hundreds of millions of people in the 20th century alone, remain the most disturbing find this month inside the third-floor cold storage room in Building 29A. Those samples were flown to the CDC in Atlanta, and at least two have shown growth in tissue cultures, meaning they are viable, or alive. A magnified human skin-tissue sample from the site of a smallpox lesion. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/AP) On Wednesday, the FDA said that along with dengue and rickettsia, the bacteria that can cause spotted fever, the additional vials contained microbes such as influenza and Q fever, a bacteria that can cause complications with the heart, lungs and liver. The samples were in well-packed, heat-sealed vials and showed no signs of leakage. No evidence exists that anyone has been exposed to the pathogens, the agency said. “The reasons why these samples went unnoticed for this long is something that we’re actively trying to understand,”


Prince William County news in brief

Mosquitoes in Woodbridge carrying West Nile virus Mosquitoes collected earlier this month in Woodbridge have tested positive for West Nile virus, county health officials said. The Prince William mosquito control program treated the mosquito pools and will continue to monitor the area. To reduce exposure to mosquitoes, the Prince William Health District recommends the following: →Wear long, loose and light-color clothing. →Use insect repellent with no more than 50 percent DEET for adults and less than 10 percent for children. → Turn over or remove containers where water might collect, such as old tires, potted plant trays, buckets and toys. → Eliminate standing water in yards, on tarps and on flat roofs. → Chlorinate or clean birdbaths and wading pools every three to five days. → Clean roof gutters and downspout screens regularly. For information on West Nile virus, visit www.vdh.virginia.gov. For questions about mosquito-control spraying, contact Prince William Gypsy Moth & Mosquito Control at 703-792-6279. Local track team heads to Junior Olympics in Iowa Ten members of the Mustangs Track Club have qualified to compete in the 2014 Amateur Athletes Union Junior Olympics, scheduled to begin July 27 at Drake University in Des Moines. Led by coaches Raymond Gee and Damian King, the team includes: Jynira Boxley of Manassas; Ashton King of Culpeper; Sydney Radford of Haymarket; Sheldon Robinson of Orange; Koven Smith of Gainesville; Evan Thornton of Culpeper; Isaiah Vick of Manassas; Dimitrius Walters of Woodbridge; Jordan Washington of Haymarket; and Malachi Williams of Manassas. Each advanced to the national level after attending the AAU Region 5 Qualifier Meet in Suffolk, Va. “This is an awesome accomplishment for our athletes,” Gee said in a release. “This is our first year competing at the AAU level and our kids did an amazing job!” Competing at the national level is expensive. The team is fundraising and seeking sponsorships to cover the estimated $15,000 cost to compete in Iowa. For information, visit www.mustangstrackclub.org. ACTS begins search for new executive director Barbara DeChene recently assumed the role of Interim Executive Director of Action in Community Through Service following Frances Harris’s resignation in June. Harris served as the organization’s executive director for six years. During that time, she oversaw the completion of the Family Services Center, acquired two townhomes for the ACTS Housing Services Program and worked with her team to initiate a nurse assistant jobs program for unskilled low-income workers that leads


Wine prices and the small specialty stores

2 times wholesale, or 50 percent; a wine that costs the store $10 a bottle from the distributor might retail for $15. But if you buy a case at a 10 percent discount, that’s $13.50 a bottle. The store then pays credit card fees, including your “cash back” incentives (plus a portion of the profits if you use an American Express card). Those costs eat further into the profit margin. Many small stores today mark up their wines more than 50 percent to help cover the cost of doing business: rent, electricity, employee salaries and benefits. The profit margin can be extremely tight. That’s why small specialty retailers do not usually carry national brands. “This is a very corporate-dominated industry,” Carney says. “It’s difficult to make a profit on those national brands.” For example, a national brand such as Woodbridge or Barefoot might sell at wholesale for $6.66 a bottle. But if a store buys 25 or more cases, the price could drop to $4.66, allowing the store to sell it for $6.99 retail. Grocery stores and big-box retailers have the capacity to buy large lots and sell them at low prices, and if they advertise in The Post or elsewhere, they might even shave a little more off the price. Meanwhile, the specialty retailer who can purchase only a few cases at a time is stuck trying to justify charging $10 a bottle. Competition has increased in recent years, especially in the District, where Trader Joe’s and Costco have joined other grocery stores in selling wines. Their selections might not be great, but they offer one-stop convenience that wine stores cannot match. Small stores therefore favor small importers and distributors, such as Oslo Enterprises, which imports the Pigoudet rosé. They also put a lot of care into their selections. “I taste every wine before I buy them, and I reject 80 percent of the wines I taste,” Carney says. Other retailers are just as picky about what they put on their shelves or into your shopping carts. Some travel to wine regions to select wines or welcome visiting winemakers to their stores to meet with customers. Supporting our local wine retailer is like buying coffee from a local roaster or produce from a local farmer.We might pay a little more, but the quality and experience are worth it. McIntyre blogs at dmwineline.com. On Twitter: @dmwine. More from Food: Wine


Apple agrees to $450 million settlement in e-book suits

after a similar treatment from Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson called bapineuzumab, and solanezumab, a drug from Eli Lilly, failed in late-stage trials. All three drugs work by blocking the toxic protein beta-amyloid that forms plaques in the brain believed to signal the onset of the disease. — Reuters Also in Business ● Yum Brands reported a 19 percent increase in second-quarter profits, boosted by rebounding business at KFC in China, where worries about food safety have eased. The Louisville-based company, which also operates Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, said sales at established locations in China surged 15 percent. But in the United States, KFC and Pizza Hut continued to face sluggish sales. KFC reported that sales at established restaurants were down 2 percent, while that figure fell 4 percent at Pizza Hut. Taco Bell sales at established restaurants rose 2 percent. ● Bank of America said its second-quarter earnings were hit by higher litigation expenses. The Charlotte-based bank earned $2 billion in the second quarter after payments to preferred shareholders, compared with $3.6 billion in the same period a year earlier, a decline of 43 percent. Revenue fell 4 percent to $21.9 billion from $22.9 billion. Per share, the bank’s earnings worked out to 19 cents, compared with 32 cents a year ago. The bank’s litigation costs of $4 billion crimped earnings by 22 cents a share. ● EBay said its second-quarter net income rose 6 percent, as strong growth from its PayPal business offset lower-than-expected revenue that was hampered by a global password reset after a cyberattack in May. PayPal, which eBay bought for $1.3 billion in late 2002, gained 4 million new active registered accounts to end the quarter up 15 percent to 152 million. The San Jose-based company said net income increased to $676 million from $640 million in the same quarter a year ago. ● Industrial production climbed in June to cap the strongest quarter in almost four years. A 0.2 percent increase in output at factories, mines and utilities last month followed a revised 0.5 percent advance in May, figures from the Federal Reserve showed. ● The economy kept expanding in all regions of the country in June and early July, helped by strength in consumer spending, according to a Federal Reserve survey, known as the Beige Book. All 12 of the Fed’s regions reported growth, with five — New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas


Russia warns of grave consequences from new U.S. sanctions

Russia,” Sechin told journalists in Brasilia, where he was traveling with Russian President Vladimir Putin, ITAR-TASS reported. “Therefore, Russia’s sovereign and independent policy, and the company itself, is a target of these sanctions.” Although the measures did not altogether ban U.S. firms from doing business with the target companies, the threat of a further escalation in sanctions would probably freeze any new cooperation, analysts said. “This is painful damage for the Russian economy,” said Evgeny Gontmakher, a former economic adviser to Medvedev. “What will be next, nobody knows, and Western businesses of course now will be very careful about common projects with these companies. “Maybe this is the most painful, more than the sanctions themselves,” he said. The measures froze the U.S. assets of eight Russian defense firms, including the Kalashnikov gun manufacturer, and prohibited U.S. persons or anyone in the United States from dealing with them. Additional sanctions were applied to political entities and individuals in separatist regions of Ukraine and to top Putin aides. Although the strike against the defense firms hit a less central area of Russia’s economy than the banks and energy companies, it will make life difficult for a key Putin constituency, one analyst said. “Putin’s electorate is located directly in the military industry. So indirectly, all these sanctions will lower the level of life of all of these people,” said Alexander Golts, a defense expert and journalist. The conflict in Ukraine, meanwhile, showed no sign of abating Thursday, with a Ukrainian security official charging that a Russian fighter jet had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 close-air-support jet in the east of the country. Ukraine offered no evidence to back up the assertion, the most serious charge of direct Russian military intervention that it has leveled so far. A spokesman for Ukraine’s Analytic Center of the National Security and Defense Council, Andriy Lysenko, said Thursday that the pilot ejected after the Wednesday evening attack and safely reached friendly soil. A Russian Defense Ministry official denied the accusation, the Interfax news service reported. Lysenko also said that Russia has fired Grad rockets into Ukrainian territory, and he offered a blurry YouTube video as proof. Russia also denied that allegation. The commander of NATO forces in Europe, Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, said Thursday on Twitter on that he was “deeply concerned by this latest video that appears to show Russia engaging in military action against Ukraine.”


Missile downs Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine, killing 298; Kiev blames rebels

flight operations in the airspace over eastern Ukraine until further notice. The restriction expands an FAA order issued in April barring U.S. flights from operating over the Crimean region and near the Black Sea “due to the continuing potential for instability.” The April notice did not cover the airspace where the Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down. In recent months, the rebels have shot down numerous Ukrainian military aircraft using short-range surface-to-air missiles. Experts said such rockets could probably not reach a plane flying at 33,000 feet, as Flight 17 was said to be. But Ukrainian authorities have said the rebels recently obtained Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missiles — a complex system using ground radar to guide a missile to its target and which, experts said, requires expertise and training to operate. Rebel spokesmen denied responsibility, saying they did not have weapons capable of downing the plane and shifting blame to the Ukrainian government. The Ukrainian government said it had nothing to do with downing the plane. “We are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible,” Poroshenko said in a statement. A spokesman for Poroshenko later said: “We call it neither an incident, nor a disaster, but a terrorist act.” Sergei Kavtaradze, a representative of the militias, told Interfax on Friday that the purported recording of intercepted phone calls that Ukrainian officials allege depicts pro-Russian rebels admitting to shooting down the Malaysian airliner was “unprofessional propaganda.” European nations have been more reluctant than the United States to impose tougher sanctions on Russia over its role in the Ukrainian crisis. But analysts said the missile attack — if proven to be the act of pro-Russian rebels — could spur European nations to action. “If it is proven that the rebels did this, Putin will have to find a way to distance himself from them, remove [Russia’s] intelligence services from the ground and find a way to have a cease-fire,” said Robin Niblett, director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. In response to a question, Gorter, the Malaysia Airlines senior vice president, said that eastern Ukraine was not regarded as a war zone in air-traffic terms. “Had it been, then we would not have been able to fly over it,” he said. Ukrainian military aircraft — including two over the past two days — have been shot down in eastern Ukraine. Yet commercial aircraft have routinely


Montgomery County Animal Watch

These cases were received recently by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on such topics as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Unwanted visitor: 16500 block, Walnut Hill Road, Gaithersburg, July 1. A raccoon entered a residence and chased one of the homeowner’s three cats. Captured and euthanized, the raccoon was found to have rabies. The three cats were placed under 45-day isolation. Biting incident Rabies clinic: Montgomery County Humane Society: Damascus Silver Spring Aspen Hill Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Reduced fees for cat adoption: Cats and kittens will be available for adoption at the next open house of Friends of Montgomery County Animals at the following location. Call 301-977-4833 or visit www.fmca.org or facebook.com/fmcainfo. Germantown — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


America Eats Tavern: Revived in Tysons, with less history on the side

Chef José Andrés’s America Eats Tavern was a pop-up concept in Penn Quarter for a year, dishing out a menu full of history lessons. The chef brings the concept back with a permanent home at the Ritz-Carlton. Two years after he closed America Eats Tavern, a Washington pop-up created to accompany a historical food exhibit at the National Archives, José Andrés has revived the flag-waving menu in a hotel in Tysons Corner where two other big brands didn’t succeed. Care to explain your thinking, chef? “They’re local!” Andrés says of his new business partner and co-host, the Ritz-Carlton, owned by the Bethesda-based Marriott. Now that Metro is poised to start whisking people there on its new Silver Line, “Tysons won’t be That Faraway Place!” he continues. Then there’s this rationale: Having invested so much time and energy in the recipes, each researched as if by a scholar, the chef behind a world of restaurants (Jaleo, Minibar, Oyamel, Zaytinya, etc.) thought America Eats deserved a permanent home. With memories of glamorous Buffalo chicken wings and refined macaroni and cheese dancing in my head, I headed to the new restaurant with my fingers crossed. The original tavern replaced the three-floor Cafe Atlantico (now Menu MBK by chef Frederik De Pue) in Penn Quarter. The new America Eats Tavern is accessed by an elevator on the ground floor of the formal Ritz-Carlton. Anyone who visited the hotel when Michel Richard was serving bistro fare or Fabio Trabocchi was cooking four-star Italian food will not recognize the latest attempt to feed customers. “We the people” is written in outsize script above the open kitchen, helmed by former Tallula chef Nate Waugaman, 38. Big wooden stars, blue leather booths and a flag on the ceiling whisper “Go, USA” without ever veering into kitsch. Like Andrés, designer Vincent Celano has a knack for having fun with the familar. Hence the vintage bike handles repurposed as wall ornaments. “It’s important to transport people,” Andrés says. His latest effort does that. Among the few signs a patron is eating in a hotel are the hours (AET serves three meals a day) and the inclusion of a hamburger and hot dog on the menu. While America Eats Tavern “2.0,” as Andrés calls the revival, serves many of the same dishes as its earlier self, the new menu is a breezier read. Gone, for instance, are the background notes, explaining


Right Proper’s beer, if not always its food, elevates the brew pub to new heights

as well as bottles and cans from the finest artisanal brewers. I’ve yet to order a single one. I’ve been too fascinated with Zeender’s experiments, which span a wide spectrum of styles, many slapped with names that showcase the brewer’s affection for puns or the arts. Some beers have long disappeared from the menu, the joy and frustration of a small-batch brewer. Zeender’s No Depression, a “country alt” beer based on Dusseldorf altbiers (hence the reference to the alt-country music genre), struck me as a particularly roasty version, with a pronounced bitter finish. The Tropicalia, available during the World Cup, was inspired by the polyrhythmic fusion sounds out of Brazil in the 1960s; as such, Zeender employed a fusion of farmhouse yeasts to create a fruity, aggressively hopped saison. His 100th batch was an open fermented dark farmhouse ale called Fausto, named after an Italian cyclist; it went down like a stout, with a robust brewed-coffee flavor with a hoppier backbone. Beer after beer, whether Wild Wolves (a variation of Zeender’s earlier IPA-like concoction, this one with wild yeast) or the Ornette (a grisette farmhouse wheat ale made from a mix of yeasts borrowed from other breweries), Zeender proves to be a beast with yeasts. He plays with them with the aggressiveness of a gamer. (Kate Patterson/For The Washington Post) As you might imagine, it’s hard for a chef to compete with this kind of sheer brewing genius. The problem is compounded by the nature of brew pubs, where experimentation is not always rewarded by diners looking for little more than grease, salt and starch. Robert Cain (who replaced opening chef Matt Richardson) does an admirable job finding the small cracks where he might shine a bright light on the dingy pub-grub menu, although his most creative work tends to be found on a separate specials page. Cain and kitchen have a tendency to overwork their snacks and sandwiches, in what sometimes smells like an attempt to match the innovation on the brewery side. They’re also battling, on many nights, the forces of sheer volume, which has led to sloppiness. I’ve dined on undercooked biscuits and a “southern fried chick-filet” sandwich that dripped with well-used fryer oil. Yet some issues are conceptual: The lamb French dip is a smart twist on the original, but the robust bite bursts with so much sharp mustard and salty gruyere that it renders the


Details, Jewish delis in New York

Details Baz Bagels 181 Grand St. 212-335-0609 www.bazbagel.com Black Seed 170 Elizabeth St. 212-730-1950 www.blackseedbagels.com Katz’s Delicatessen 205 E. Houston St. 212-254-2246 www.katzdelicatessen.com Mile End Deli 97A Hoyt St., Brooklyn 718-852-7510 www.mileenddeli.com Peck’s 455A Myrtle Ave., Brooklyn 347-689-4969 Russ and Daughters Cafe 127 Orchard St. 212-475-4881 www.russanddaughterscafe.com Shelsky’s of Brooklyn 141 Court St., Brooklyn 718-855-8817 www.shelskys.com More from Travel: Travel Guide Ski Guide Caribbean Guide


McCain, Flake, others go all OUTT on naming bills: Overdoing the Unrelated Title Thing

gun owners. The Russian Embassy tweeted a story from Russian wire service ITAR-TASS, and wrote: “Sanctions against Kalashnikov corporation run counter to interests of US customers.” The story is a brief interview with a spokesman from the gun manufacturer who says Americans are loyal customers of the popular automatic assault weapons. There are said to be 100 million of its rifles around the world. “This means that the sanctions the US Administration has imposed on Kalashnikov contravene the interests of US consumers,” the ITAR-TASS article quoted the Kalashnikov spokesman as saying. The Loop called the NRA to see if it agreed but received no response. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked about Russia’s assertion Thursday and said the U.S. government takes “into account, of course, any impact on U.S. businesses, U.S. consumers, as we make these decisions.” She said she did not know what the specific impact would be on American AK-47 buyers. Helpfully, the Treasury Department put out a FAQ on that. So if you are a worried Kalashnikov fan, Treasury promises that if you like your AK-47, you can keep your AK-47. You can even sell it privately. But you can’t buy a new one, and if you haven’t fully paid for your Kalashnikov, then call the Office of Foreign Assets Control for guidance. Say cheese, please A sticking point in the trade negotiations between the United States and the European Union is American cheese producers’ use of the traditional European names for cheeses. Bottom line: The Europeans don’t want U.S.-made feta called “feta.” Same goes for cheddar and gruyere, etc. But Michael Punke, the U.S. deputy trade representative and the ambassador to the World Trade Organization, detects some hypocrisy in all the Euro-whining. During a trade hearing Wednesday, Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), whose state is synonymous with cheese, asked Punke whether disagreements over “geographic indicators” — the technical term for the name of a product connected with a specific place — would make a trade deal with the E.U. “insurmountable.” “This will be of interest to you, I think, congressman, and that is I’ve discovered the phenomena of something called German feta cheese. And I’ve also discovered the phenomena of something called French gruyere,” Punke said, according to a transcript of the hearing. “And I’m not an expert on cheese the way that people from your state might be, but I do know that gruyere is


Former Army sex-crimes prosecutor reprimanded, plans to retire

a request for comment placed through the Army’s public affairs office. Morse acknowledged an intimate encounter with the woman but said he did not touch her without her consent, according to a sworn statement he gave to investigators. One of his defense attorneys, Lt. Col. Warren L. Wells, said that Morse “denies and has consistently denied any non-consensual conduct.” He said that Morse passed a polygraph test and that the results were shared with investigators. The case made headlines in March shortly after the Army began its investigation. The military has been grappling with a spike in reports of sexual assaults in the ranks and a number of embarrassing incidents that have cast doubt on its ability to address the problem. Last year, the head of the Air Force’s sexual-assault prevention branch was arrested on charges that he grabbed a woman’s buttocks outside a Northern Virginia bar. He was later acquitted. Since then, the armed forces have reassigned several hundred recruiters and sexual-assault counselors after finding that they were unqualified for their positions. Advocacy groups and many members of Congress are pushing for an overhaul of the military justice system, something that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have vigorously resisted. President Obama has said he will give the Pentagon until the end of the year to demonstrate progress in its handling of sexual-assault cases and then might support such changes. Army officials declined to elaborate on the specific type of misconduct for which Morse was reprimanded. Under military law, commissioned personnel can be disciplined for a wide range of behavior under the rubric of “conduct unbecoming an officer.” Morse received the reprimand from Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, commander of the Military District of Washington, Army officials said. Morse has been relieved from his position as chief of the Trial Counsel Assistance Program at Fort Belvoir, Va., where he oversaw about two dozen prosecutors who specialize in sex crimes and domestic violence. The office also provides training to Army prosecutors around the world. Until the complaint was filed, Morse had enjoyed a stellar legal career in the Army. In 2012, he was appointed lead prosecutor for the worst war-crimes case to arise from the war in Afghanistan: the killing of 16 Afghan villagers by Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The Army’s handling of the complaint against Morse caused some consternation


The world must know whose weapon destroyed a passenger plane

fault because it resumed military operations against the rebels — ignoring Russia’s supply of heavy arms to the insurgents. The United States and its allies must not allow Russia and its agents to carry out a coverup. Instead they should insist on an international investigation, sponsored by the U.N. Security Council, to determine how the plane was downed and where the weapon used against it originated. The Putin government should be challenged to support such an investigation or be seen by the world to block it. At the same time, Western governments should stop allowing special interests and their excessive caution to impede robust sanctions against Russia for its behavior in Ukraine. To its credit, the Obama administration announced new sanctions Wednesday afternoon. Targeting two Russian banks, two energy companies and a number of defense firms, they were the strongest yet taken. But the administration acted only after weeks of internal debate and negotiations with European governments that failed to produce comparable European Union action. A man gestures at a crash site of a passenger plane near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine, Thursday, July 17, 2014. Ukraine said a passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday as it flew over the country, and both the government and the pro-Russia separatists fighting in the region denied any responsibility for downing the plane. (Dmitry Lovetsky/AP) The White House continues to avoid measures that could inflict crushing damage on the Russian financial system and force Mr. Putin and the elites around him to choose between aggression in Ukraine and Russia’s economic future. Wednesday’s measures stop two banks from obtaining long-term debt financing in U.S. markets, but the treasury has not excluded those banks from the financial system nor taken measures against the largest banks. Though its bank was sanctioned, the energy operations of Gazprom, Russia’s giant, remain untouched. Even before the tragic loss of the Malaysian plane, it ought to have been clear to the West that Russia’s aggression in Ukraine could not be overlooked or wished away. It is both criminal and intolerable and should be treated accordingly. Read more on this topic: The Post’s View: The U.S. should follow Ukraine’s lead and act unilaterally on Russia sanctions The Post’s View: The West must hold Russia to a real withdrawal from Ukraine Zbigniew Brzezinski: Putin’s three choices on Ukraine Henry Kissinger: To settle the Ukraine crisis, start at the end


Downing of jet could escalate Ukraine crisis, tension between Russia and West

were working to retrace the path of the missile and reviewing signals intercepts for telltale reactions or admissions among separatist units. The crash site is in territory controlled by the separatists, and Putin offered assistance in investigating. The United States and its allies also offered assistance, and expressed concern that the site would be tampered with before facts are determined. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Obama emphasized during a telephone call Thursday that “all evidence from the crash site must remain in place on the territory of Ukraine until international investigators are able to examine all aspects of the tragedy,” a White House statement said. In a separate call to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia, Obama expressed condolences and “underscored that the United States stands ready to provide any assistance or support necessary,” the White House said. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called for an international investigation and proposed that it be led by the United Nations’ civil aviation organization. “We’re determined to get to the bottom of understanding what has happened here,” he said. In its statement, the White House called for “a full, credible, and unimpeded international investigation as quickly as possible” and urged all parties, including Russia, to support an immediate cease-fire to facilitate the recovery of remains. “In the meantime,” the statement said, “it is vital that no evidence be tampered with in any way and that all potential evidence and remains at the crash site are undisturbed. The United States remains prepared to contribute immediate assistance to any international investigation, including through resources provided by the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] and the FBI.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D- Calif.) said after an intelligence briefing on Capitol Hill that “we hope to have more information within the next day or so.” But, she said, “if evidence emerges that Russia was involved, that would obviously be extremely concerning.” House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said that U.S. intelligence would have a better idea of who was responsible within the next 24 hours. “Right now, they would have no way of trying to reconstruct that without any forensic evidence,” Rogers said. Collins, the former ambassador, emphasized that “nobody knows the facts yet, other than the obvious one that a plane went down with 300 people. It clearly didn’t just fall out of the sky.” Greg Miller, Ernesto Londoño and Julie Tate contributed to this report.


The risk of tougher sanctions on Russia

Energy politics underlie the explosive Ukraine crisis, as Europeans weigh U.S. calls for tougher sanctions against the ability of Russia to disrupt gas supplies this winter. The dilemma for European governments increased this week as the Obama administration announced strong new penalties against the Russian energy and financial sectors. Europe’s initial response was tepid, in a sign that many of its governments fear Moscow’s energy leverage more than U.S. displeasure. The Russians turned up the pressure valve, too. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the U.S. sanctions “evil” on Thursday and warned: “We may go back to the 1980s in our relations with the states that are declaring these sanctions.” The catastrophic risks of the Ukraine confrontation were highlighted Thursday by the shoot-down of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane near the Russia-Ukraine border. Ukrainian government officials and pro-Russian separatists initially traded blame for the disaster, which showed the potentially devastating consequences as the Ukraine confrontation escalates. Russia’s dominance as an energy supplier to Europe is its economic trump card in this fight, at least in the short run. European governments may be willing to squeeze Moscow but not so tightly that they risk a severe shortage of gas supplies. An employee walks past a pipeline at the "East Poltava" gas booster compressor station not far from Ukrainian city of Poltava. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images) A stark preview of what could be ahead was prepared last month by Total, one of Europe’s largest energy companies. The unpublished study, provided by a company official, shows that by scrambling, Europe could cope with a cutoff of Russian gas exports through Ukraine this winter. But it would be severely affected by a halt in Russian deliveries. The Total study estimated that about 30 percent of Europe’s natural gas comes from Russia and that more than half this volume is transported through Ukraine. If Russia interrupted these Ukraine flows, the study forecast that it would be “feasible” to compensate through adjustments. These would include: use of gas stored in such countries as Italy and Hungary; transport of Russian gas through two alternative corridors, the Yamal pipeline through Belarus and a Baltic line known as Nord Stream; increased gas shipments from Norway, the Netherlands and North Africa; and increased imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). This coping scenario may sound reassuring, but the Total study notes that it would be impossible without a “collective and coordinated approach” in


Business digest: GM’s Barra draws pointed questions from Senate panel

LEGAL FedEx faces charges over drug deliveries Federal authorities on Thursday charged FedEx with assisting illegal pharmacies by knowingly delivering painkillers and dangerous drugs to customers without prescriptions. The indictment, filed in federal court in San Francisco, alleges that FedEx conspired with two related online pharmacies for 10 years, ending in 2010. The Justice Department wants FedEx to forfeit $820 million the department says the company earned by assisting the illicit pharmacies. The Memphis-based delivery company is accused of shipping the powerful sleep aid Ambien, anti-anxiety medications Valium and Xanax, and other drugs to customers who had no legitimate medical need and lacked valid prescriptions. FedEx insists it did nothing wrong. The company says it handles 10 million packages a day and shouldn’t be in charge of “assuming criminal responsibility” for every delivery. “We will plead not guilty. We will defend against this attack on the integrity and good name of FedEx and its employees,” company spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement. The Justice Department alleges that federal officials have been telling FedEx since 2004 it was shipping dangerous drugs without prescriptions. The indictment also alleges that FedEx couriers in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia warned executives about suspicious drug deliveries. — Associated Press AUTO SAFETY On Hill, GM’s Barra faces tough questions Lawmakers grilled General Motors chief executive Mary Barra on Thursday about the role of her company’s legal department in GM’s failure to respond to a deadly ignition switch defect for more than a decade. An internal GM investigation made public last month found that some GM officials knew about the ignition switch problem for years before it was publicly divulged, but the probe found no wrongdoing by the company’s top executives. Barra, who took over as chief executive at the start of this year, has said she has fired 15 employees, including some company attorneys, in connection with the safety scandal. Testifying Thursday before a Senate subcommittee, Barra defended the company’s general counsel, Michael Millikin, against calls from several senators that he too should be dismissed. In his own testimony, Millikin told the Senate panel that his subordinates had not informed him about possible punitive damages the company could face as a result of the ignition switch problem. In a particularly tense exchange with Barra, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), the head of the subcommittee, demanded to know why Millikin had been allowed to keep his job, calling


Florida reports first locally acquired case of mosquito-borne virus

A Florida man has been diagnosed with the first case of chikungunya in the U.S., according to health officials. The mosquito-born virus causes high fever, severe pain, swelling in joints, as well as muscle pain and headaches. State and federal health officials reported Thursday the first locally acquired cases of a mosquito-borne virus known as chikungunya that causes intense joint pain and high fever, and has been spreading throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America. Florida officials reported two cases, one in Miami Dade County and the other in Palm Beach County. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed one of the cases, a man who had not recently traveled outside the United States. Preliminary testing for the second case also suggests infection with the virus, CDC officials said. Until now, people in the United States who have become sick with the virus have acquired the infection abroad. The confirmed Florida case represents the first time that mosquitoes in the continental United States are thought to have spread the virus to a non-traveler. “The arrival of chikungunya virus, first in the tropical Americas and now in the United States, underscores the risks posed by this and other exotic pathogens,” said Roger Nasci, chief of CDC’s Arboviral Disease Branch, which investigates mosquito-borne illnesses like West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis. The CDC and Florida health officials are assessing whether there are additional locally acquired cases. Courtesy of CDC Chikungunya is spread by bites from two kinds of mosquitoes found in the United States. It is not transmitted from person to person. If a person is infected and bitten by a mosquito, that mosquito may later spread the infection by biting another person. Similar in some ways to dengue fever, the virus, pronounced chik-en-gun-ye, causes high fever and severe pain and swelling in joints, as well as muscle pain and headaches. It is transmitted by two kinds of mosquitoes found in parts of the United States. The disease is rarely fatal, but there is no treatment other than pain relief. And while the virus tends to run its course in a week or so, it can cause debilitating arthritis that can linger for months and, in some cases, years. Infection is thought to provide lifelong immunity, according to the CDC. Unlike dengue, the percentage of people who show symptoms and become sick with chikungunya is much higher, officials said.


I got gored in Pamplona. But I will run with the bulls again.

Jim Hollander supplied pictures. Our goal was to give back to the fiesta we love so much by teaching newcomers how to run safer. One example is to be careful about where you choose to run. An Australian runner was standing in La Curva this year when a Miura bull walked to where he and many others were watching. It sliced open his thigh, from knee to hip, and then followed him as he ran the wrong way up the street and gored him again. No first-time runner should be near La Curva; it’s simply too dangerous. When doctors stuck their fingers in my leg while repairing it at the hospital in Pamplona, it felt like someone had put a live electrical wire four inches into my thigh. I was screaming in pain. Finally they gave me morphine, then an epidural, and surgically removed pieces of the horn and clothing from my leg. The wound is partially open, with rubber drains in it to allow it to heal from within. I’ve been in the hospital for more than a week. I feel good, and my doctors say the wound is under control. It will be stitched up when I’m ready to go home to Chicago, which should be soon. My wife is considering divorcing me, though she has taken great and tender care of me in the aftermath. Before anyone told her the news, she knew I’d been gored; she said she just felt it in her gut. When she saw me after the accident, I was laughing. She told me I was stupid and smacked my right foot, sending a shot of pain to my wound. I run because it is part of who I am, and she knew that when we met nine years ago. Some of my friends want to find those three Brits who got in my way. I don’t. The run has taught me that there’s no sense in revenge. But I would like to meet them, show them what happened to me and teach them how to react next time. I will keep running for another chance to lead a Spanish fighting bull up the street. When that happens, I become one with the fiercest, most majestic animal on Earth. And in those moments, I am at peace. Twitter: @bill_hillmann Read Bill Hillmann’s “Rules to run by.” Follow Outlook’s updates on Facebook and Twitter.