CES: Tech firms, lawmaker slam patent trolls, push for copyright reforms

Annual Vegas gadget show was touted as being bigger than ever, featuring sharper TVs and acrobatic PCs. Hundreds of new gadgets come out of the Consumer Electronics Show every year -- but to hear some inventors and tech companies talk, thousands of baseless patent suits come out of it, too. “Patent trolling,” the practice of buying up scores of little-known patents solely to sue others for infringement, is hardly a new phenomenon. By some accounts, patent litigation has been on a steady upward slope for nearly 20 years. But 2013 marks the first year that the issue has been taken up at CES, according to Ars Technica, perhaps because litigators have begun chasing after small start-ups and companies well outside the tech field. That’s costing businesses dearly, argued Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and representatives from several tech companies on a panel Tuesday. Companies lost $29 billion to patent litigation in 2011, DeFazio said. Forbes reports that Google’s senior patent counsel, Suzanne Michel, estimated that an additional $80 billion is “indirectly” wasted when executives and engineers become distracted by the lawsuits. Many defenders argue that so-called trolls defend the legitimate interests of inventors. Earlier this year, a jury awarded $1 billion to Apple after Samsung released a smartphone with an overwhelming number of software and design similarities to Apple’s iPhone. But even that case is in dispute, and tech companies regularly face more frivolous ones. Lee Cheng, the general counsel for online retailer Newegg, said his company was sued for infringing on the concepts of “search,” “shopping carts” and “dropdown menus.” DeFazio name-checked the recent “Project Paperless” suits, which demanded licensing fees of $1,000 per employee for all companies using scanners and e-mail on the same network. In 2011, two of the Consumer Electronics Association’s marquee members -- Apple and Google -- spent more on patent lawsuits than they did on research and development, according to the New York Times. In November, one company even sued Apple for packaging earbuds with its phones, pointing to a vague patent on “wireless mobile phone including a headset.” Also on the intellectual property front, another CES panel tackled copyright infringement on the Internet, with reformers vowing to push for more freedom and shorter copyright terms in 2013, according to Ars Technica. For now, however Congress has yet to successfully legislate on either patent or copyright issues. The federal SOPA and PIPA proposals, both aimed


D.C. community calendar, Jan. 10 to 17, 2013

Thursday, JAN. 10 Woodridge chess club, instruction for children and teenagers. 10 a.m. Thursdays, Woodridge Library, 1801 Hamlin St. NE. Free. 202-541-6226. Computer class: Microsoft Word, Behind the scenes cathedral tour, Internet/computer instruction, “Martin’s Dream: My Journey and the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.,” Renwick Sit ’n’ Stitch, Edvard Munch: The Scream Heard Round the World, Mitten and sock drive, Library Scrabble, Teen game night, Embroidering History: The Bayeux Tapestry and the Norman Conquest, “Capturing Camelot: Stanley Tretick’s Iconic Images of the Kennedys,” An evening of monuments, The state of professional basketball, “Shear Madness,” performance of a comedy-mystery set in Georgetown; with audience participation to help solve a mock murder. 8 p.m. Thursday-Fridays, 6 and 9 p.m. Saturdays, 3 and 7 p.m. Sundays, 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, Kennedy Center, Family Theater, 2700 F St. NW. $48. 202-467-4600. Friday, JAN. 11 “Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery,” Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer use photos from the 1850s through the 1930s and discuss the seismic impact of emancipation on African Americans born before and after the Emancipation Proclamation. Noon, National Archives, McGowan Theater, Constitution Avenue and Ninth Street NW. Free. 202-357-5000. Congress and Slavery, Kneebody music performance, Sip and paint, “Elvis: Return to Tupelo,” “Paris: Music for the City of Light,” “Qingming Riverside,” Saturday, JAN. 12 Sewing with Samira, for beginners age 13 and older, male and female, to study with local designer Samira “Mira” Thompson. 9:30 a.m., Woodridge Library, 1801 Hamlin St. NE. Free. 202-541-6226. Used book sale, Harmonica I, NSO Kinderkonzert, Farm-to-Table Family Day, Gilbert and Sullivan opera workshop, Walk with a National Park Service ranger, Flowers galore!, Gallery360: Rob Mathews, Knit and Lit, La Santa Cecilia in concert, Deep Vision Dance Company withhart.dance.projects, Sunday, JAN. 13 Inaugural history tour, a National Park Service ranger leads a one-hour walking tour and discusses presidential inaugurations and the accompanying celebrations, parades and protests. 10:30 a.m., meet at the Old Post Office Plaza, Benjamin Franklin statue, 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Free. Contact Shunda Yates, 202-606-8691. Cathedral architecture, Kennedy Center Chamber Players in concert, Portrait story days: Keith Haring, Cathedral organ recital, Singer-songwriter-pianist Daniel Knox, The Axelrod String Quartet concert series, Monday, JAN. 14 Botanic garden tour, museum volunteers lead a tour of plants and discuss what manila folders, Chanel No. 5, vanilla and fossil fuels have in common. Also, a discussion of possible breakthroughs in medicinal plant research. Noon, Mondays


Flu vaccine supplies are low as severe season gets underway

the upcoming season. The three viruses that commonly circulate among people today are influenza B, influenza A (H1N1) and influenza A (H3N2). Each year, one flu virus of each kind is used to produce seasonal influenza vaccine. The maker of Tamiflu is also reporting shortages of its liquid formulation, which is used mainly to treat symptoms in children. Roche Holding AG said it informed wholesalers and distributors in recent weeks that they would face temporary delays in shipments, Reuters reported. Pharmacists can create a substitute by dissolving Tamiflu capsules into a sweet liquid. The Food and Drug Administration on Dec. 21 expanded the approved use of Tamiflu to treat children as young as 2 weeks old who have shown symptoms of the flu. The drug was previously approved to treat adults and children at least 1 year old. The dose for children younger than 1 must be based on their exact weight. Flu is extremely unpredictable. Last winter’s flu season, for example, began late and was unusually mild. It set a record for the lowest and shortest peak of influenza-like illness. The last time a regular flu season started this early was the winter of 2003-04, which proved to be one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 fatalities. The dominant type of flu then was the same one seen this year. But experts said there is a critical difference: In 2003-04, the vaccine was poorly matched to the predominant flu strain. Also, health officials said more vaccine was available this year, and vaccination rates have risen for the general public and for key groups such as children, pregnant women and health-care workers. Flu symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches, and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications. A novel strain of H1N1 influenza caused an unusual wave of cases in spring 2009 and again in the early fall, eventually causing a worldwide epidemic. Called “swine flu” by the media, it was the product of a reshuffling of genes from pig, bird and human flu viruses. The combination was sufficiently different that a new vaccine had to be made specifically to protect against it. That so-called pandemic H1N1 strain has been part of the flu vaccine for the past three years. Debbi Wilgoren and David Brown contributed to this report.


In Arlington, new abuse incident reported at Army day-care facility

A worldwide review of personnel screening at military day-care centers — an inquiry sparked by alleged misconduct by caregivers at a facility near the Pentagon — has led the Army to bar seven employees at other bases from unsupervised contact with children, officials said Thursday. The new cases came to light a day after a staff member at the Cody Child Development Center at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall was suspended for slapping a child. The Army has suspended 38 employees at the Arlington County base, known as Fort Myer, while it reviews unspecified “derogatory” information found during background checks last fall. Army officials were unable to explain Thursday why so many employees with red flags in their records were hired to take care of children at the largest military day-care center in the world. Army spokesman George Wright, who confirmed the suspensions elsewhere, could not say whether Cody employees underwent background checks or whether red flags that should have barred applicants from child-care jobs went unheeded. “The investigation will answer those questions,” he said. Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta instructed all services to review personnel screening practices at day-care facilities worldwide after learning in December about the alleged assault cases at Fort Myer. He has asked for a report, which is due Jan. 21. The Cody Child Development Center at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall is used by parents who work at the Pentagon and other nearby facilities. (Staff/Getty Images) In a statement last month, Panetta said he was “deeply disappointed and angry” about the lapses. President Obama took the unusual step of calling the secretary of the Army when he was briefed about the situation in December and called for a swift and thorough probe. Parents with children at the center — including some currently deployed in Afghanistan — have been pleading for additional details about the suspended employees, but the Army, citing privacy concerns, has disclosed little. Several parents said they are dismayed that no one has been held accountable for the lapses so far. Some have sought alternative child-care arrangements, even though Cody is heavily subsidized and private facilities in the region have waiting lists. “It is unbelievable to me that the people running this center still have their jobs,” said a mother who removed her daughter from the center this week. She spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying that she feared adverse career repercussions for


Montgomery County Animal Watch

This was among the cases received recently by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5054. That number provides recorded information on such topics as the Montgomery County Animal Shelter hours and location, adoption and licensing procedures, rabies clinics and low-cost neutering. Risk of a rabid raccoon Shelter has adoptable cats: Cats and kittens will be available through the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County no-kill shelter at the following location. For information, call 301-740-2511 or visit www.awlmc.org. Gaithersburg Cats available for adoption Germantown Montgomery County Rockville PetSmart Rockville 5154 Nicholson Lane Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday Aspen Hill Unleashed 13685 Connecticut Ave. #11 Noon to 3 p.m. Sunday — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Decide on the mission in Afghanistan before setting troop levels

are connected, but not in ways clearly explained. Al-Qaeda is a regenerative movement. Afghanistan lacks a reasonably firm state that can manage the large war that will continue after our combat forces are withdrawn. Without some continuing U.S. support, civil war and fragmentation are likely to engulf Afghanistan, destabilizing Central Asia as neighboring powers are drawn to safeguard their own interests and providing a breeding ground for extremism. Acknowledging the cohesion between what we have been doing and defeating al-Qaeda is fundamental to clear decisions. Do the goals still hold, or are we changing them? The different troop numbers are not about “risk” but about different policies. A presence of 3,000 to 6,000 troops is a counterterrorist policy that gives up on serious support for the Afghan military and focuses on killing our enemies. It offers nothing to Afghans except endless killing and, hence, will face increasing Afghan rejection. Further, since our forces will need local allies for intelligence and logistical support, such a tiny presence is likely to further empower the very warlords who have done so much to foment corruption. If the Afghan state collapses without our support, our presence will be unsustainable. In sum, a counterterrorist strategy is superficially attractive but a bankrupt strategic choice. Stabilizing Afghanistan, the policy we have actually pursued, will not require the massive troop commitment in place today but will require three missions besides counterterrorism. One is training. Traveling throughout southern and eastern Afghanistan last year, I saw that Afghan forces have made significant progress. But much will remain to be accomplished in higher staff and institutional development if these forces are to stand on their own in a long war. How many trainers are needed can be debated, but the function should not be ignored. Another mission is to build logistical, air and medical evacuation services (“enablers”). I was told during a visit to Afghanistan in 2010 that we could not complete required enabler training and equipment delivery before 2016 because we delayed starting the program in order to devote our efforts to rapidly forming infantry units. U.S. legal wranglings and contractual problems have caused further delays. Yet without these capabilities, Afghan forces will be confined mostly to garrisons, ceding the countryside to others, including insurgents. We need to fill the gap for a few years to succeed and because we share responsibility for the situation. Enablers can be steadily ramped


Eugene Robinson: Climate-change evidence before our eyes

degree there might not sound like much, but these are impressively scary numbers. To put it in context, breaking the record for hottest year by a full degree is like breaking the world record for the long jump not by an inch or two, but by nearly two feet, as Bob Beamon did at the 1968 Olympics. To update the track-and-field metaphor, if all the years were sprinters, 2012 would be Usain Bolt. In some parts of the world — Alaska, for example — it was a bit cooler than usual. But preliminary indications are that in terms of global temperatures, 2012 fits the overall pattern of a warming world. Of the 10 hottest years on record, all have come since 1998. The consensus among climate scientists is that this is happening because the concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is nearly 40 percent greater than at the time of the Industrial Revolution, when humankind began burning fossil fuels on a grand scale. Rich nations bear historic responsibility for putting carbon dioxide into the air, but are they doing enough to help poor countries steel themselves against emissions’ effects? Most scientists also agree that their predictions were conservative about how fast temperatures would climb, glaciers would melt and sea levels would rise. This may all be happening more quickly and inexorably than anyone thought. So we’re going to deal with climate change whether we like it or not. We’re going to spend many billions of dollars over the coming years providing disaster relief in the wake of hurricanes and other destructive weather events. If we’re a bit smarter, we’ll spend even more to protect our coastal cities from storm surges of the kind that devastated parts of New York. Investment in barriers and floodwalls will ultimately save both money and lives. But if we were really smart, we’d be talking about how to mitigate the ultimate damage by weaning ourselves from coal, oil and other energy sources that produce carbon emissions. We see what looks like disaster looming but don’t even talk about it, because the politics of climate change are inconvenient. Future generations will curse our silence. Read more about this issue: Bill McKibben: What Obama should do now — tackle climate change Katrina vanden Heuvel: Avoiding a climate change apocalypse The Post’s View: California’s bold climate change experiment Eugene Robinson: Will Hurricane Sandy be our wake-up


FDA should revamp nutrition labels

in sodium and saturated fat? Katherine Tallmadge, a registered dietitian and the author of “Diet Simple: 195 Mental Tricks, Substitutions, Habits & Inspirations,” busts some of the myths that surround the world of nutrition. Here is her advice. Some problems could be easily fixed. The labels should display calorie content more prominently. “Sugars” should include only refined sugars added to food and not the naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables and milk. Since — and partly because — trans fat was added to nutrition labels, most artificial trans fat, from partially hydrogenated oil, has been eliminated from foods. The FDA should protect consumers’ health and simply ban partially hydrogenated oil, obviating the need for a “trans fat” line. And consumers would be helped tremendously if the labels highlighted high amounts of saturated fat, sodium and added sugars. But those changes still would not address label complexity, which can leave many shoppers mystified. What consumers need is easy-to-comprehend information on the front of food packages. Perhaps the smartest approaches rate foods by giving them credit for the nutrients we should be eating more of and subtracting credit for the bad stuff. The Hannaford Brothers and Food Lion supermarket chains give all foods zero to three gold stars, depending on the balance of nutrients. Everyone can understand these simple ratings, which are printed on shelf tags rather than on labels. The NuVal system, which is used on shelf tags by Raley’s, Hy-Vee and two dozen other supermarket chains, rates all foods on a scale of 1 to 100. That approach allows people to scan dozens of salad dressings, breakfast cereals or frozen dinners to see which have the highest, or best, numbers. For several years, the FDA has studied updating food labels to ensure they reflect the latest nutrition science and dietary trends. New regulations might be proposed this year, followed by a period for public comment. The agency has also explored approaches for presenting information on the front of packages. Let’s hope that, in a few years, food packages will have second-generation labels that really will move our population toward healthier diets. But let’s also hope that Americans eat a lot of foods that don’t have labels and are the healthiest: fresh fruits and vegetables. Read more at PostOpinions: The Post’s View: Safer food is on its way David W. Schab and Michael F. Jacobson: The dark side of food dyes


Smaller lenders could get bigger slice of mortgage market thanks to new rules

unions did not cause the financial crisis,” Richard Cordray, the director of the consumer bureau, said Thursday during a speech in Baltimore. “Their traditional model of relationship lending has been beneficial for many people in rural areas and small towns across this country.” In order to get this exemption, small banks with less than $2 billion in assets would have to keep the loans on their books, rather than sell them to investors around the world. The practice of packaging mortgages and trading them on financial markets has become common over the past decade and allowed banks to make a lot of money. But this method also encouraged risky lending because banks didn’t have to worry about facing losses if homeowners defaulted on their loans, analysts say. A majority of community banks keep their mortgages in-house anyway. “A long-term consquence of this rule is it could shift at least a certain class of borrowers toward community banks and away from the big national players because community banks will have more flexibility,” said Camden Fine, president and chief executive of the Independent Community Bankers of America. The industry trade group fought hard to exempt banks with less than $10 billion in assets, but Fine said he was nonetheless pleased that the consumer bureau accomodated so many of his members. Smaller lenders have started to chip away at their bigger cousins’ market share. Behemoths such as Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America hold nearly half of the mortgage market. But credit unions posted $88.5 billion in mortgage loans through September 2012, compared with $53.9 billion a year earlier, according to the National Association of Federal Credit Unions. In Oakland, Md., mortgage business has picked up at First United Bank & Trust in the past year, though most of the activity is on the refinancing side. Chief executive Bill Grant said he is encouraged that regulators recognized that community banks have long been conservative in their lending standards. The CFPB is also giving small lenders flexibility with a more exotic type of mortgage called “balloon-payment loans.” These products, which require borrowers to pay lower amounts initially and save some of the biggest principal payments for the end of the life of the loan, tend to be popular in rural communities and small towns. These loans are also not subject to the 43 percent requirement but can still be considered qualified mortgages.


Baltimore to pay new speed camera vendor $11.20 per $40 ticket

BALTIMORE — “Talking to our attorneys here, we’re within state law,” said Adrienne Barnes, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Transportation. She said no contract has yet been signed with the new vendor, Brekford of Hanover, Md. The city paid its previous contractor, Xerox State and Local Solutions, up to $19.20 of each $40 ticket, amounting to about $13 million since late 2009. Xerox’s contract ended Dec. 31. The city’s plan for how to pay Brekford had been unclear until Thursday. Last month, the Transportation Department’s director, Khalil A. Zaied, publicly called it “our goal” to abandon a pay-by-citation model, which critics say gives contractors a financial incentive to process dubious citations. Officials with the city and Xerox have said profits never played a role in the citation approval process. The city’s speed camera program has been dogged in recent months by revelations of erroneous tickets being sent to drivers. The city announced Monday that it would replace all of its cameras with newer models, and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) on Wednesday reiterated calls for “zero errors.” The state’s 2009 speed camera law prohibits jurisdictions from paying contractors based on ticket volume if a contractor “operates” the program. The city and several Maryland counties contend that the government — not the contractor — is the operator. But a sponsor of the 2009 law, Sen. James N. Robey (D-Howard), has said his aim was to bar any contracts that paid vendors a cut of each ticket. The approach has been called a “bounty system” by opponents in court. Robey said he thinks governments should pay a set fee, regardless of how many citations are generated, to remove any incentive to issue questionable tickets. O’Malley said last month that arrangements such as the city’s violate the law: “The law says you’re not supposed to charge by volume. I don’t think we should charge by volume. If any county is, they need to change their program.” Howard and Baltimore counties also pay their vendor — Xerox — based on the number of tickets. Baltimore County switched from a flat-fee model last year, saying it was better financially for the county to pay Xerox about $19 per ticket. Howard officials say they control so much of the process that Xerox cannot affect the number of tickets issued to drivers. Baltimore has yet to finalize a five-year deal with Brekford. Its Board of Estimates


Obama announces reduced U.S. role in Afghanistan this spring

to reach an immunity agreement, which protects U.S. forces from foreign prosecution, prevented him from keeping any troops in Iraq. Although Obama did not say explicitly that the accelerated transition would allow him to more quickly pull the remaining 66,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan, he made clear that the “nature of our work” in the country after nearly a dozen years of war would soon change. As President Obama announces a shift in the U.S. role in Afghanistan, we talk to the Woodrow Wilson Center's Michael Kugelman about a potential economy booster lying under the surface of the embattled country. “We achieved our central goal, or have come very close to achieving our central goal, which is to de-capacitate al-Qaeda, to dismantle them, to make sure that they can’t attack us again,” Obama said. “At the end of this conflict, we are going to be able to say that the sacrifices that were made by those men and women in uniform has brought about the goal that we sought.” The faster shift to a mostly advisory and training role will likely energize those within the White House, particularly among Obama’s civilian advisers, who have argued for a faster drawdown than some generals have recommended. Obama will soon receive from Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, a recommended schedule for troop reductions over the next two years. The U.S. president’s meetings with Karzai came as he prepares to set the final withdrawal timeline in the coming weeks and to discuss with the Afghan leader how he intends to do so. Obama has ranked ending the war in Iraq and winding down the even-longer conflict in Afghanistan as key foreign policy achievements during his first term. Senior administration officials say bringing the war to a “responsible end,” as Obama said several times on Friday, is a top priority as he begins his second term. His recent selection of former Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican and Vietnam veteran, as defense secretary underscores Obama’s intention to focus less on fighting new battles in Afghanistan than on bringing home and caring for U.S. troops, many of whom have served several tours. Asked Friday whether the human and financial cost of the Afghanistan war had been worth it, Obama recalled the 3,000 Americans who were “viciously murdered” by al-Qaeda, as well as the Afghans who were “brutalized” by the Taliban that


Defiant villagers lead Irish debt resistance

bond markets. “There is no doubt a failure to get a deal on bank debt would hit the credibility of the government hard, as a lot of expectations have been raised on this issue,” said David Farrell, professor of politics at University College Dublin. “The government has really nailed its colors to the mast on the issue,” he said. Enda Kenny, Ireland’s prime minister, has made getting a deal on Ireland’s bank debt his top priority during Ireland’s presidency of the European Union for the next six months — normally a neutral arbiter role. Dublin argues that it was forced by the European Central Bank (ECB) to pay back unsecured senior bank bondholders in its failed banks in order to protect the wider euro-zone banking system — but exposing Irish taxpayers to billions of euros in losses. It has been lobbying Frankfurt for more than a year to reschedule most of the $41 billionin outstanding promissory notes over a 40-year period, rather than 10 years under the current schedule. Dublin also wants the European Union’s new $667 million bailout fund to take stakes in its existing banks, which it was forced to recapitalize at huge cost during the crisis. So far, the ECB has balked at rescheduling the promissory notes, over fears this may be interpreted as illegal monetary financing of governments. But Dublin hopes that its rigid adherence to its bailout program — and its need for some relief to facilitate a smooth program exit and help it become the euro zone’s success story — ill be rewarded. The Ballyhea protesters have already made their case in Frankfurt. “We Blu-Tacked our 40-point thesis on bank debt on the door of the ECB during a recent protest in Frankfurt, in much the same way as Martin Luther nailed his 95-point thesis on the door of the church in Wittenberg,” said O’Flynn, the protest leader. “We are due in Brussels shortly.” As the protesters assembled opposite the former school of Ireland’s revolutionary hero and first president, Eamon de Valera, in Charleville, a few weeks before their 100th demonstration, many said it was vital to keep marching. “I don’t want anyone to think I was a sheep and just rolled over,” said Breda McCarthy. Her eldest daughter recently emigrated to Australia and her youngest daughter is set to leave within months. “I owe it to my family,” she said. — Financial Times


Grocery-anchored centers ended 2012 with lower vacancies, higher rents

No matter how the economy is doing, we all have to eat. As a result, grocery-anchored shopping centers tend to maintain greater stability than other retail property types during the economy’s ups and downs. In the Washington area, 55.8 million square feet of grocery-anchored retail space — almost half of the total retail inventory — is located in 317 shopping centers. Based on Delta Associates’ annual survey of the region’s grocery-anchored shopping center owners, vacancies declined and rents rose in 2012. Vacancies: Rates lower, especially inside Beltway The metro-wide vacancy rate for grocery-anchored shopping centers fell to 4.9 percent at year-end 2012, from 5.5 percent at year-end 2011. The grocery-anchored shopping center vacancy rate in suburban Maryland declined to 4.5 percent at year-end 2012, from 5.6 percent the year before. Northern Virginia posted a 5.3 percent vacancy rate at year-end 2012, slightly down from 5.5 percent in 2011. The core submarkets (the District, Arlington and Alexandria) and inner ring (Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties) experienced a 70-basis-point decline in vacancies over the past year. The vacancy rates for the core (at 4.3 percent) and inner ring (at 4.1 percent) each were below the metropolitan rate of 4.9 percent at year-end 2012. This compares to the outer ring (Loudoun and Prince William counties), which experienced a 60-basis-point decline in vacancy to 7.3 percent at year-end 2012. Rents: Edging higher Rental rates at grocery-anchored centers increased 1.2 percent in 2012, after rising 2.1 percent in 2011. Rents averaged $32.04 per square foot at the end of 2012, compared with $31.65 per square foot at the end of 2011. Suburban Maryland rents were $32.30 per square foot, a 1.4 percent rise from the end of 2011. Northern Virginia rents were $31.47 a square foot, up 1.0 percent from year-end 2011. The core submarkets experienced a 2.3 percent rise in asking rents during 2012, as shopkeepers sought to remain in the core. Also, this area has limited availability, with just under 200,000 square feet of available space on the market. The inner and outer rings experienced rent increases at a less robust pace, 0.9 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, as these submarkets have less demand and a greater amount of available space. Of note, despite steady demand, the inner ring still has the most available space at 1.6 million square feet. Overall, newer grocery-anchored shopping centers outperformed market averages during 2012. Centers built


‘The Famine Plot: England’s Role in Ireland’s Greatest Tragedy ’ by Tim Pat Coogan and ‘The Graves are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People’ by John Kelly

The Celtic Tiger is still a sick kitty. Ireland’s economic takeoff, which began accelerating in the 1980s, spun out of control early in the new millennium and was crashing even before the near-meltdown of the global financial system in 2008. Back in the late purple stage of the property boom, a nation besotted with an insanely over-confident real estate market seemed willing, even eager, to finally forget its history of subjugation, oppression, theft, poverty, famine and emigration. Who had time to brood over the potato famine when the aged parents’ wee house happened to be worth four times what it was five years ago? Those days are gone. And these days, as Tim Pat Coogan writes in “The Famine Plot,” “poverty and emigration [have] remained continuing themes in Ireland,” and the country has been learning all over again that “its defenses were too fragile to cope with the longstanding Irish vices such as clientalism and corruption.” What Coogan suggests — and this is just one of many intriguing points made in his book — is a linkage between the recent Irish collapse, Irish feelings of helplessness and that demographic and moral disaster of the Irish 1840s: the potato famine, otherwise known as the Great Hunger. What happened in 1840s Ireland, and why, and who was responsible, is also the subject of John Kelly’s cogent and forceful popular history, “The Graves Are Walking.” Kelly and Coogan have both written polemics against the British government of the day and its inadequate response to Ireland’s nightmare. They sustain their arguments with sound materials. Kelly, an American, is cool and prosecutorial in tone. He has the facts, ma’am, and his book is an accessible, engrossing history of horror. Coogan, the Irish author of controversial popular biographies of Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera, as well as a history of the Irish Republican Army, is fiercer and angrier. He sounds like the witness who saw the crime. The Irish potato crop failed during a series of seasons in the 1840s. By 1851, Coogan writes, “the population of the country [had] been reduced by death and emigration from 8,175,000 to 6,552,000.” The country was changed. The changes were deep and sustained, and are felt to this day. Ireland’s population is smaller now than it was in 1845. ’The Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People’ by John Kelly (Henry Holt)


Dyer Brainerd Holmes, former NASA manned flight director, dies at 91

a great nation is faced with a technological challenge, it has to accept or go backward,” Mr. Holmes said in a 1962 cover story in Time magazine. “Space is the future of man, and the U.S. must keep ahead in space.” Mr. Holmes was considered both a brilliant thinker and a strong administrator who could organize complex engineering and construction programs. While at RCA in the 1950s, he had a major role in developing the Talos antiaircraft missile and the electronic systems of the Atlas missile. He also managed a federally sponsored project to design and install the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, which was intended to detect Soviet missiles launched toward the United States. The monumental enterprise included the installation of football field-sized radar reflectors in Alaska, Greenland and England. At NASA, Mr. Holmes oversaw the Mercury program when Glenn captivated the nation by circling the Earth on Feb. 20, 1962. There were also space flights by other astronauts in the original “Mercury Seven”: Alan B. Shepard Jr., Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. (The seventh member, Donald K. “Deke” Slayton, was grounded at the time by a heart condition.) Perhaps the greatest challenge facing Mr. Holmes was figuring how to accomplish Kennedy’s goal of reaching the moon. Three kinds of spacecraft were considered before NASA officials decided on a three-man mission in which a lunar module would fly around the moon while two astronauts descended to the surface in a smaller landing craft. “We have to choose some plan,” Mr. Holmes told Time magazine in 1962, “or we’d better pack up and go home.” In 1963, long before the first moon launch, Mr. Holmes abruptly resigned his position, reportedly because of meddling by NASA administrator James E. Webb. His departure was seen as a serious blow, but the Apollo program continued without him. A look at those who died last year. By the time Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, Mr. Holmes looked on as something of a proud father. “Perhaps when we hear the tired old cliche that America is getting soft,” he wrote in an essay in the New York Times, “we should remember such endeavors as these, and know that when given a challenge Americans today can be as hard, as aggressive and as brave as the men who founded this land.” Dyer Brainerd Holmes


Suspect in D.C. killing caught after car crash

The sound of a car crashing into a fence Friday night in the District meant the end of a search for a homicide suspect. A resident of Gales Street NE saw someone “get out running.” Soon, she said, D.C. police emerged from an alley with a man in handcuffs. It all began Friday morning when Prince George’s County police were called to a house in the 2200 block of Wyngate Road in Suitland, where a fight had been reported. Police said they found Jamal Rami Martin, 34, strangled. They said they circulated a name and the description of a car. D.C police spotted the car, which then crashed in the 2000 block of Gales Street. County police said Leon Antauwn Wynn, 43, of the Wyngate Road address, who knew the victim, was picked up and charged with second-degree murder.


Commentary: A to-do list for the Virginia General Assembly

Virginia is well known as a top state to start and grow a technology business, thanks in part to policies, investments and incentives promoting research, entrepreneurship and job creation as well as science, technology, engineering and math education. The commonwealth’s angel investor tax credit, research and development tax credit, research commercialization fund, capital gains tax exemption and Center for Innovative Technology GAP Funds program are vital to efforts to diversify our technology economy and grow next- generation technology businesses across the commonwealth. As Virginia’s General Assembly convenes for the 2013 legislative session this month, policymakers must provide predictability and certainty to Virginia’s innovation community by maintaining stable funding levels for these important programs. The Northern Virginia Technology Council is encouraging policymakers to boost funding for Virginia’s technology-focused angel investor tax credit, which is currently funded at $4 million a year. The number of investor applications for this credit has grown by more than 60 percent from 2010 to 2011 and the amount claimed has grown to $8 million from $3.65 million, which is a positive indicator that the credit is succeeding. Virginia must meet this growing demand and maintain investor confidence in the credit by ensuring current and future investors receive the value of the incentive they are expecting. Particularly in the face of federal spending cuts, now is also the time for renewed effort on diversifying our state-level economy. Building on our previous successful investments, we must leverage Virginia’s federal, state and private sector assets to position and market the commonwealth as the go-to location for cybersecurity, data centers and cloud-focused businesses, big data and other sectors where Virginia has a competitive advantage and great prospects for growth. Cybersecurity, in particular, presents a clear opportunity for Virginia companies. Total federal spending on cybersecurity is set to grow by almost 9 percent a year over the next five years, and private sector commercial demand for cybersecurity products and services is strong and expanding. In order to capitalize on this opportunity, NVTC is proposing that Gov. Bob McDonnell provide $4.6 million to start the nation’s first cybersecurity accelerator at the Center for Innovative Technology to focus on the development of new cybersecurity capabilities, including defensible cloud technologies to support the growing data center presence in Virginia. In addition, we believe that an additional $5 million should be invested to support multi-university and industry research projects focused on developing new cybersecurity solutions


With ‘Alexander Nevsky,’ BSO channels medieval bombast

Members of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society perform. (Courtesy of the BSO) When foreigners watch patriotic American films, they must find them obnoxious. This was one of my reactions to Sergei Eisenstein’s 1938 epic “Alexander Nevsky,” a glorification of the medieval prince who routed the Teutonic knights in the 13th century, meant rather transparently to flatter Joseph Stalin. The film was screened at Strathmore on Saturday night, with Sergei Prokofiev’s bombastic and chilling score performed live by Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. These musical screenings have been one of the great successes of Alsop’s tenure in Baltimore, able to pack the hall and providing a thrill for both eyes and ears. The musical contributions were all fine, with a robust orchestral sound, particularly in the heraldic brass, moody tenor saxophone and clanging bells of the heroic town of Novgorod. The Baltimore Choral Arts Society, admirably directed by Tom Hall, had a big, beefy sound, channeling a Russian chorus. Mezzo-soprano Irina Tchistjakova, spotlighted in the balcony, gave a warm finish to the girl’s lament in the “Field of the Dead” scene. The overall effect of vast symphonic sound puts to shame the best cinematic sound system. The overall cohesion of the score, when performed live, is better in Prokofiev’s cantata arrangement, because the feat of timing the sections of music to the film is considerably difficult. Alsop, coordinating with the aid of a small screen in front of her podium, hit all the cues well, but some stretching and contracting diminished the driving menace of the “Battle of the Ice” scenes. One of the few faults of the Music Center at Strathmore is that it has no concert organ, and the canned, electronic one used here gave a pathetically hokey sound for the scenes with the medieval organ hauled around by the Germans.


Hemp legalization effort gathers steam

An old press oil extraction system. (Hemp Oil Canada) In the cannabis plant family, hemp is the good seed. Marijuana, the evil weed. Michael Bowman, a gregarious Colorado farmer who grows corn and wheat, has been working his contacts in Congress in an attempt to persuade lawmakers that hemp has been framed, unfairly lumped with the stuff people smoke to get high. Somehow over time, as Bowman’s pitch goes, hemp, which is used to make paper, oils and a variety of useful products, was mistaken for its twin, marijuana — a.k.a pot, chronic, blunt and weed — a medicinal drug loaded with tetrahydrocannabinol that buzzes the mind. Hemp got caught up in the legendary crusade against pot popularized by the movie “Reefer Madness.” All varieties of cannabis ended up on the most-wanted list, outlawed by Congress as well as lawmakers in other nations, inspiring people to kill it on sight. Bowman’s message is simple: Be sensible. “Can we just stop being stupid? Can we just talk about how things need to change?” While the United States ranks as the world’s leading consumer of hemp products — with total sales of food and body-care products exceeding $43 million in 2011 — it is the only major industrialized country that bans growing it, even though 11 states have passed measures removing barriers to hemp production and research. Ninety percent of the U.S. supply comes from Canada. Since Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana by ballot initiatives last fall, a group of farmers and activists have been pushing to revive a crop they say offers a solution to vexing environmental, health and economic challenges. A crowd took to their bongs and joints under the iconic Space Needle after a legalization measure approved by voters took effect in Washington state, although federal law still prohibits the drug. Proponents value hemp both for how it grows — quickly and in a wide geographic range, without requiring much in terms of water, pesticides and fertilizers — and what it can produce. Its seeds and oil are fodder for health and beauty products, while the strength of its natural fiber makes it a good candidate to be used as a building composite. Combine hemp with water and lime and you get “hempcrete,” which can help construct a house; process it differently and it can make up a BMW’s interior door panel. But Bowman’s project to plant 100 acres


E.J. Dionne: America is not in decline or retreat

We are about to have a major foreign policy debate in the guise of a confirmation battle over Chuck Hagel’s nomination as secretary of defense and the related argument over how long American troops should stay in Afghanistan. President Obama should use this opportunity to stand up for his broader vision of how American power can be sustained and used, even if that doesn’t come naturally to a pragmatist who likes making decisions one at a time. Underlying this clash will be another over whether the United States is in long-term decline. We are not, and the decline discussion should not scare us. We seem to have it every few decades. We had it in 1960 when John F. Kennedy promised to “get the country moving again.” We had it in 1980 after Vietnam, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the taking of American hostages in Iran. Ronald Reagan pledged to “make America great again.” And in 2008, with China rising, our country bogged down in a dispiriting war in Iraq and an economy in free-fall, Obama came along touting “hope” and “change we can believe in.” The operative verb was “believe,” and in 2012, Mitt Romney paid Obama the compliment of using the very same word in his “Believe in America” slogan. We desperately want to believe in ourselves. Obama’s harshest critics are essentially charging that he has accepted American decline. They are convinced he wants to pull back from the world and slash the Pentagon budget to make room for more domestic spending. He’s often accused of making the Western European choice: less for the military, more for the welfare state. Hagel, a critic of Pentagon bloat and of America’s engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, is seen as Obama’s nominally Republican agent in achieving this transformation. Let’s look first at the partial truths embodied in a critique that otherwise misreads Obama’s intentions. The president always considered our intervention in Iraq a distracting mistake. Most Americans are happy our troops are out. He’s been far more ambivalent about Afghanistan, for political as well as substantive reasons. Like many Democrats, he saw the war in Afghanistan as justified by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, in a way Iraq was not. But time and conditions on the ground have convinced him that there are limits to what the United States can accomplish there. He’s trying to extract our troops in


Sour U.S.-Russia relations threaten Obama’s foreign policy agenda

diplomatic clubs confers outsize international clout to the former superpower. By saying no, Putin can stymie U.S. goals in matters far beyond his own shores — and far removed from Russia’s long-standing beef with the United States over the latter’s plans to erect a missile defense shield in Europe. U.S. leverage is limited. Obama is unlikely to either drop the missile defense plan or revisit steps that have eased commercial trade between both nations. Russia appears less swayed by the prospect of arms-control concessions than in the past. From Russia’s perspective, Obama has ignored or overridden its concerns on two major issues — missile defense and the military intervention in Libya. Both instances contributed to the Russian perception that the United States’ main leverage is its ability to roll over friends and foes alike. No U.S. president since Ronald Reagan has had a better relationship with Russia in his second term than in the first, Sestanovich said. But none has started the second with as deep and recent a setback as the harsh exchanges of December. Congress issued a broad denunciation of Russian human rights practices, applying new travel and financial restrictions on Russians accused of rights abuses. The law is named for a Russian lawyer who died in prison in 2009. Obama signed off on the measure, dropping objections he had voiced earlier. Moscow called the legislation “odious.” “We certainly understand the hidden agenda of this political game started by those who are against the improvement of Russian-American relations,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said. “They are eager to use any pretext to punish Russia for its independent and principled position in international affairs.” Russia retaliated by enacting the law banning American adoptions of Russian children, leaving hundreds of waiting families in limbo. The Dima Yakovlev law is named for a Russian-born toddler who died in 2008 after being left alone in a hot car by his adoptive American father. The Kremlin eased its position slightly Thursday, saying the law would not go into effect until next year. Downward spiral The Obama administration knew Putin would not be easy to deal with, but the rapid decline in relations was a surprise, according to officials and analysts. The United States says that a new Russian law requiring organizations and journalists receiving international funding to register as foreign agents is intended to quash criticism of Putin’s government. Putin expelled the U.S. Agency for


Mold growing in flooded basements or other damp spots can cause allergic reactions

wheezing or have a full-blown asthma attack. In people with compromised respiratory function — such as those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cystic fibrosis — or immune systems that have been compromised by chemotherapy or AIDS, mold may cause more-severe symptoms, such as a pneumonia-like inflammation of the lungs. About 10 to 20 percent of the population worldwide is allergic to mold. “So it’s relatively common,” says Robert Wood, chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. By comparison, he says, the percentages affected by tree pollen and dust mite allergies are more like 25 to 35 percent. Perhaps a musty smell in your basement conjures up memories of news reports about toxic molds that force people to move out of their homes. It’s true that molds can produce mycotoxins that include a hugely diverse group of chemicals, including penicillin and the poisons in some mushrooms. And those toxins can be life-threatening when ingested, such as by eating moldy food or poisonous mushrooms. But there’s no strong evidence for severely toxic effects in humans from inhaling or touching mold, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the early 1990s, reports of infants who were bleeding from their lungs were linked to housing contaminated with a toxin-producing mold, but no one could prove that this was the causal agent. Further, Wood says, it’s unlikely that someone could inhale enough to receive a toxic dose. Mold growing out of sight — inside walls, for instance — can still release spores into room air. “The very small mold spores move through cracks, behind baseboards . . . areas like that,” Schulingkamp says. Mold lives outdoors, too, and there’s always a little mold everywhere, according to the CDC. So people allergic to mold can suffer from spores that originated from molds growing outside even when they’re indoors. Following the advice for pollen allergies can help: Limit time outdoors, keep windows closed and take allergy meds as needed. Mold may be the quintessential “usual suspect” when things get wet, but other perpetrators of sneeze, wheeze and cough may be to blame. “Other indoor allergens, such as dust mites, also thrive in humid environments,” Wood says — as do a host of potential bacterial villians. What can you do to avoid mold problems? If your basement floods, the most important thing is quick action — drying


Insecticide prompts death by sexual frustration; thinking like Sherlock Holmes

Earth, Winter 2012/2013 A new breed of insecticides is taking a novel approach to controlling disease-carrying, crop-destroying pests: sexually frustrating the bugs to death. While previous efforts have focused on annihilation via poison, success is usually short-lived as the animals become resistant to even the strongest insecticides. “While [the pests] wait for us to develop even stronger poisons, surely they must chuckle to themselves as all the evidence of negative environmental and health consequences pile up,” according to the current issue of On Earth. The magazine, published by the Natural Resources Defense Council, reports that scientists can now replicate insects’ sex pheromones, chemicals that convey messages related to mating. The synthetic pheromones, called semiochemicals, can alter or interrupt the mating messages, bewildering a male tomato pinworm “to the point of impotence,” for example. “He doesn’t know with whom to mate and he dies a bachelor — whereupon the pinworm population quickly subsides, and the tomato harvest flourishes.” This “cold shower” approach is believed to be safer than chemical-laden assaults, according to Allard Cosse, an entomologist at the Department of Agriculture. The synthetic pheromones are being tested by commercial developers such as ISCA Technologies, which has developed a system it calls Specialized Pheromone and Lure Application Technology — or SPLAT. Book How to think like Sherlock Holmes “Mastermind” by Maria Konnikova “You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.” Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional character renowned for his powers of thought and observation, spoke these words in “A Scandal in Bohemia.” Sure, Holmes had a keen intellect, but his success as a detective was more than just a gift of imaginary genetics or luck. Holmes practiced mindfulness — a psychological state that involves purposefully paying attention with all one’s senses to a specific moment, person, object or situation. In “Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes,” psychologist Maria Konnikova writes that anyone can tap into Holmes’s abilities. Based on modern neuroscience and psychology, the book explores Holmes’s aptitude for mindfulness, logical thinking and observation. Konnikova shares strategies that can lead to clearer thinking and habits that can help people become more self-aware and engaged with others. She suggests taking off the headphones while walking to work, for example, or putting your phone away while eating dinner. Elementary, right? New type of insecticides aims to control pests by frustrating their sexual impulses. (Bigstock/Bigstock) — Maggie Fazeli Fard


Afghans want withdrawal of U.S. village police trainers

coming days with our Afghan friends and allies,” a senior U.S. official said. “The ALP plays a vital role in protecting the villages of Afghanistan, and its role will be worked out in the near future.” Karzai has made clear that he would link his demand for a withdrawal of Western forces from Afghan villages to any discussions about the larger issue of a long-term U.S. military presence in Afghanistan — and to his government’s willingness to grant American troops diplomatic immunity beyond 2014. “We understand that the issue of immunity is of very specific importance for the United States, as was for us the issue of sovereignty and detentions and the continued presence of international forces in Afghan villages,” Karzai said at a news conference with Obama at the White House last week. At the event, Karzai mentioned the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghan villages three times. After returning to Afghanistan, he told Kabul-based reporters, “When foreigners leave, Afghanistan will never become unsafe; it will become safer.” Frustration over local police Karzai initially opposed the formation of the local police program, fearing that it would give rise to lawless militias. He came to accept the force, largely at the urging of U.S. military commanders, but remained skeptical of the ALP’s recruits and their ability to protect Afghan civilians. Some Afghan officials said Karzai’s current objection to village-level trainers is based largely on his perception of the ALP, a force with which he has grown increasingly frustrated. In recent months, Karzai has met with a number of civilians who accused the local police of rape, murder and theft in their villages, Faizi said. “People from every corner of Afghanistan have complained to him about the ALP’s abuse of power,” Faizi said. “Looking at the number of complaints . . . it’s definitely the viewpoint at the palace that the ALP is not a long-term solution.” Many Western human rights organizations share that assessment. “The creation of the ALP is a high-risk strategy to achieve short-term goals in which local groups are again being armed without adequate oversight or accountability,” a 2011 Human Rights Watch report said. Since the program began in 2010, there have been at least three instances of ALP recruits turning their guns on their U.S. counterparts. But American officials stand by the program, calling it a sustainable solution to one of Afghanistan’s most complicated problems: securing far-flung


Lance Armstrong admits doping in Oprah Winfrey interview, AP reports

and camera technicians. Video of the proceedings was sent to other rooms, where advisers and staff of Armstrong and Winfrey each monitored. Cycling legend admits he doped to win all seven Tour de France races but said at the time he “viewed it as a level playing field.” While a partial confession, at the least, had been expected, it remains to be seen whether Armstrong’s manner and delivery in fielding Winfrey’s questions and providing his version of events will evoke skepticism or empathy. It’s also unclear whether there is anyone left among the viewing public to be persuaded, one way or the other, about Armstrong’s misdeeds and contrition. One professional cyclist, British road-racing champion Nicole Cooke, made her position unequivocally clear during an interview with the BBC on Monday in which she discussed her decision to retire from the sport. Cooke, 29, said that she had felt pressure to take performance-enhancing drugs during her career but had steadfastly refused. She lamented her bad fortune to have competed in an era when “cheats and liars” had corrupted her sport. Citing Armstrong by name, Cooke said: “When Lance cries on Oprah later this week, and she passes him the tissue, spare a thought for all those genuine people who walked away with no rewards — just shattered dreams. Each one of them is worth a thousand Lances.” Armstrong’s decision to break his silence has generated tremendous buzz. In Britain, the bookmaker Ladbrokes has been soliciting wagers on specific words and phrases Armstrong might use in the Winfrey interview. The so-called “Buzzword Bingo Game” lists various options, with odds for each, on a grid. Among them: “Sorry,” 1:4; “Witch hunt,” 2:1; “Confess,” even odds; and “Never tested positive,” even odds. Journalists stateside and abroad weighed in on what questions Winfrey should ask and whether Armstrong should be forgiven if his televised confession were complete and convincing. In addition to being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, Armstrong, 41, has been banned from competition for life by cycling’s international governing body. He also faces a whistleblower lawsuit that could potentially cost him tens of millions of dollars, which claims that he defrauded the federal government by doping under the banner of the U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team. Filed by former teammate Floyd Landis, that suit would gain considerable momentum if the U.S. Justice Department sees sufficient merit to join the action.


401(k) breaches undermining retirement security for millions

the most severe circumstances is a terrible mistake,” said David C. John, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation who studies retirement policy. But millions of Americans, caught between flat wages and high expenses for everything from sending children to college to making home repairs, feel as though they have little choice. The withdrawals have grown substantially in the wake of the financial crisis. In 2010, 28 percent of participants reported having an outstanding loan against their retirement accounts, an all-time high, according to a survey of 110 large employers by Aon Hewitt, a human resources consultancy. And nearly 7 percent of employees took hardship withdrawals that year — roughly a 40 percent increase since the recession, while 42 percent of workers cashed out their plans rather than rolling them over when they changed jobs. Charlotte Knox, 62, has worked as a housekeeper at Baltimore’s Hyatt Regency hotel since 1984. She earns $13 an hour, is struggling to recover from a hip replacement and is planning to retire next month. But partly because of past withdrawals, her 401(k) balance is only $60,000, which is all she has to supplement her Social Security. “I don’t have any money,” she said. “I’m just taking it a day at a time. That’s all I can do.” Overall, about a third of American households participate in 401(k)-type accounts, which hold a combined $3.5 trillion in assets. But a large portion of that money does not make it to retirement. A recent study by Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research found that the typical household approaching retirement age has an average of $120,000 in retirement savings, enough for roughly a $7,000-a-year annuity. “401(k)s are not being used for retirement by a large and growing share of workers because they are misaligned with the very basic financial problems most workers face and must address,” said Fellowes of HelloWallet, which provides benefits advice to companies. Federal policymakers and employer retirement managers have focused little on the threat to retirement security posed by premature withdrawals from savings plans and instead have worked to devise ways to get workers to put more money into the accounts at an earlier age. In 2006, employers were given broader latitude to enroll employees in 401(k)-type plans unless workers asked not to participate. Just this year, the annual limit for 401(k)-type contributions increased from $17,000 to $17,500 for workers under age 50 and


Inova restricts hospital visits over flu fears

A patient and her nurse at Inova Fairfax Hospital in this 2010 file photo. (Dayna Smith/For The Washington Post) With this season’s flu outbreak prompting continuing concern in the Washington area, a Northern Virginia hospital system has announced new measures restricting visits as part of an effort to prevent infection. The Inova health-care system, which has more than 1,700 beds in Northern Virginia, said it is taking a series of measures aimed at protecting patients, staff and visitors from flu exposure. These include banning visitors younger than 18, as well as visitors who have “any symptoms of influenza-like illness.” At Inova Women’s Hospital in Fairfax, the health system said, “all visitors may be screened for flu-like symptoms.” “We appreciate everyone’s consideration and cooperation as, together, we work to assure the health and safety of our community during this challenging flu season,” said Inova’s chief medical officer, Loring Flint. Meanwhile, at least one flu-related death has been reported in the Maryland suburbs. A spokeswoman for Frederick Memorial Hospital said an elderly man died of flu complications last week. Spokeswoman Amanda L. Changuris said no information could be released about the man’s age or where he lived. Meanwhile, George Washington University, describing the flu season as “in full swing,” said it is holding its final flu clinic on Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. Members of the university community who would still like to get a flu shot can get one at the Student Health Service office in the 2100 block of K Street NW, the university said. It said many pharmacies in the area also can provide the vaccine. A university statement cited a professor at the GWU medical school as saying that Washington is “in the middle of an active influenza season” that has occurred earlier than usual. In advice pitched specifically to students living on campus, David Parenti said one way of lowering the risk of catching the flu is to “do your best to avoid those with respiratory illnesses.” He also recommended hand-washing or frequent use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Another suggestion, targeted at the typical student behavior patterns, was this: “Get a sufficient amount of sleep.”


Recovery center in Turkey sees growing number of paralyzed Syrians

have moved within Syria in search of safety. “I cannot provide for them,” Zier said. “A lot of times, I think it would be better if I died than to be in this situation.” Across the hall lives a 10-year-old boy with a mischievous grin who said he was hit with shrapnel during an air attack by government forces in northern Syria more than three months ago. He has been at the recovery center for two months and now races along the short hallway in a wheelchair. His roommate is a 42-year-old mother of eight who said she was shot in the back by a Syrian army sniper more than a month ago. She came to Turkey for surgery and arrived at the recovery center last week. “I just hope I can walk again after all of this,” she said through tears. “I just want to see my children.” Hopes of a miracle On the second floor, in a room painted pink, lives a 12-year-old girl named Maysa who said she was shot in the lower back by a government sniper four months ago just outside her two-room home in Kafr Rouma, a small village in Idlib. Maysa cannot feel or use her legs, but her mother sits on her bed each day and massages her feet in hopes of a miracle. Maysa’s father, a construction worker, also was shot that morning and died. Her mother carried her to a makeshift hospital near the village, but that, too, was attacked. Unable to return home, the woman and her children hid in a nearby cave. A month later, rebel fighters found the family. Maysa’s wounds had begun to smell and she had stopped talking, her mother said. The rebels agreed to watch the other seven children, who range in age from 5 to 14, while the mother smuggled her daughter into Turkey for medical treatment. That was three months ago, and the mother doesn’t know where her other children are or whether they are safe. Living at the recovery center after surgery, Maysa began to speak again. She is also starting to realize how her life has changed. The girl with inquisitive brown eyes and a short bob of dark hair now wears a diaper and is carried up and down the stairs. “I don’t know what will happen in the future,” her mother said. “She doesn’t have a father now.


Black carbon ranks as second-biggest human cause of global warming

said in a statement that reducing black carbon can help address rising temperatures. “There are exciting opportunities to cool climate by reducing soot emissions but it is not straightforward,” Forster said, adding that cutting emissions from diesel engines and domestic wood and coal fires is “a no-brainer” because it would improve public health and the climate. Fine particles cause heart and respiratory problems, leading to premature death, as well as asthma and other illnesses. These emissions cuts would produce an immediate cooling effect, the authors estimated, which would avoid a nearly 1-degree Fahrenheit temperature rise in the near term. “You save lives, and you produce really fast cooling,” said Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego, identified black carbon in 2008 as the second-biggest human contributor to climate change. But many researchers questioned his analysis because it was based on observations rather than computer modeling. “We seem to have put one major debate behind us, that black carbon is a significant contributor to the planet’s heat,” Ramanathan said in a phone interview. Although the United States has made major strides in curbing soot — Ramanathan and his colleagues recently found that black carbon concentrations in California have fallen by 50 percent in 25 years, largely because of stricter diesel emissions rules — Southeast Asia and China still suffer major pollution from diesel engines and wood- and coal-burning combustion. Just this week, Beijing experienced a string of hazardous air days, driven, in part, by soot emissions. The new study’s authors emphasized that in the long term, major cuts in carbon dioxide would be required to avert dangerous climate impacts. “Mitigating black carbon is good for curbing short-term climate change, but to really solve the long-term climate problem, carbon dioxide emissions must also be reduced,” said one of the paper’s lead authors, Tami Bond, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign atmospheric scientist. In describing last year’s temperature record, James E. Hansen, who directs NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, cautioned that just because 2012’s average was in keeping with recent years does not mean global warming has stalled. “On the decadal time scale, it’s going to get warmer, because we know the planet is out of energy balance,” Hansen told reporters. “This standstill, I think, is a temporary one.”


Lance Armstrong’s confession seems to be just another calculation

argument that some of his loyal supporters still use. That’s the argument of a teenager pushing the parental boundaries, not a debate point for a grown man who is supposed to know right from wrong.) Armstrong has been punished — banned for life from cycling and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles — for cheating, specifically for using performance-enhancing drugs. But there is no similar tangible cost to be borne for lying. Instead, a liar is punished by carrying that label for the rest of his life, for losing the respect of people who truly believe telling the truth is an important value, whether you are a prominent athlete or the those in the support car of life – those who are not famous and not going to be famous, but who manage to be honest in their lives without a spotlight to make them so. Cycling legend admits he doped to win all seven Tour de France races but said at the time he “viewed it as a level playing field.” I grew up in a time and place where people said “A man’s word is his bond” and believed it, and practiced it. After 30 years in the sports media, I’m not sure that time and place exist anymore. We see breathtaking examples of lying all the time, from baseball players who deny using steroids as they struggle to fit into last season’s hat to teams that deliberately mislead us about a player’s injury, or severity, or even location. Armstrong the cheater saddens but doesn’t surprise me. Armstrong the liar – who lied and lied and lied some more about his drug use, then fell silent when the pudding finally contained so much proof even he couldn’t think of a way to spin it — surprised me. He could have come clean immediately and helped his reputation; instead, he chose to ride at the head of a peloton of lawyers who calculated when he would — no, could — admit what he’d done without increasing his liability. That’s when he lost me completely. Americans are, by and large, a nation of forgivers, perhaps because at one time or another, all of us have had to ask for it. If you can look someone in the eye and say, “I was wrong; I’m sorry,” you don’t belittle yourself. You raise yourself in most people’s estimation, and you


New book records Virginia’s plants

wild, some of them as bullying invasives such as Japanese honeysuckle, English ivy and Japanese stilt grass. Escaped exotic plants that persist uncommonly on their own are described as “waifs” and include such things as the melon and the iconic Virginia crops of tobacco and peanuts. The rare wildlings also include marijuana, which used to be grown for rope decades ago and is now rarely found naturalized, though it is still widely cultivated illicitly. The underlying paradox of “Flora of Virginia” is that it logs plants that grow outside of cultivation, but it is often human action that has profoundly driven and changed their existence in more than 400 years of settlement. When colonists arrived, 94 percent of the state was forested (now 63 percent, much of it from logging). Vast, unchecked forest fires would allow savannas and grasslands to thrive and oaks to dominate the forest. The state still counts an impressive 58 species or forms of oak. Gastinger drew plates showing 20 oak leaves and acorns, presenting the astonishing variation within one genus. Human activity and its effects continue. Since 1980, more has been done to conserve natural areas and to protect and preserve wetlands, but much has been lost. Development, including road building, disturbs habitats and gives invasive exotics an invitation to move in. Nowhere is this more evident than in Northern Virginia and other parts of the Washington area, where the occurrence of non-native species has doubled from 18 percent in 1919 to 36 percent today. A century ago, Japanese honeysuckle was the only exotic invader of note. Now the list includes wineberry, winged euonymus, Oriental bittersweet and Japanese barberry. Globalization, which has also brought a host of unwanted plant pests and diseases, threatens more. As for global warming, “climate change is certain to have far-reaching, yet hard to predict consequences for Virginia’s flora,” contributor Gary Fleming of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation writes in the book. For Gastinger, who worries about the world that awaits her children’s generation, this substantial printed resource offers an antidote to a physical universe that is retreating and a digital one that is spreading. “I want them to have an appreciation for nature, and a respect for it,” she said of her children. “And enjoy it.” When she laid out the specimens, often in their wilted state, she would allow her fine ink pen to breathe life into


China’s high-speed rail gets back on track

BAZHOU, China — After being abandoned and left to lie dormant, the scrubby farm fields around Bazhou, in northern China, have sprouted rail bridges, elevated track beds and neat rows of workers’ dormitories. The fields are well on their way to becoming a link in the country’s rapidly expanding high-speed rail network. It is a sharp turnaround from late 2011, when China slammed the brakes on its rail program, suspending virtually all new investment after a bullet-train crash killed 40 people and raised questions about the quality of the track that had already been laid. The revival of rail investment and infrastructure spending, which started around the middle of last year, was a crucial factor in China’s economic recovery. When Beijing reports its latest growth figures Friday, the numbers are widely expected to show that the economy accelerated in the fourth quarter, breaking a run of nearly two consecutive years of slower growth. Full-year growth in 2012 probably fell short of 8 percent, the lowest in more than a decade, but the momentum in the final quarter has fueled investor optimism that China will again be the world’s strongest-performing big economy this year, helping to make up for the struggles in the United States and Europe. Take a look at some of the week’s best photographs from around the globe. “The end of 2011 was probably the worst in terms of the amount of money spent on infrastructure. It nearly came to a halt,” said Ken Peng, an economist with BNP Paribas in Beijing. “The bounce back in infrastructure investment was clearly the main driver of the rebound.” Investment accounts for nearly half of China’s gross domestic product, making it as big an engine of growth as consumption and exports combined. Railway construction is only about 2 percent of that, but its importance is far greater, stoking demand for steel and helping shape business sentiment. A small city a little more than an hour’s drive from Beijing, Bazhou was at the sharp end of the cancellation of rail projects in 2011. It was meant to serve as a station on a line connecting the cities of Tianjin and Baoding, but the workforce laying the track shrank overnight from 600 to 20. “When they stopped building rail, it led to thousands of companies, including state-run steelmakers, cutting production,” said Wang Mengshu, deputy chief engineer at the China Railway Tunnel Group. “These


Lance Armstrong interview details: denies forcing teammates to dope, confronts bullying charges

to redemption should be to simply not be viewed as a pariah. “There’s an old saying, ‘The cover-up is worse than the crime,’ and that’s where his problem comes in,” Ganis said. “Cheating in cycling was rampant. Anybody who has followed that sports understands that now. If he was simply one of those cheaters, it would be like anyone who gets stopped by a cop for speeding saying, ‘Officer, I was just going the speed of traffic!’ The impact would have been far, far less. “Instead, he held himself out to be the one honest man in a sea of dishonesty. He held himself out to be this bastion of doing things right. And anybody who fared challenge him was trashed. He lied under oath. He lied to the media. He hurt quite a few people who dared challenge the mythology of Lance Armstrong. He built himself a perch so high, that when he came down, there was no safety net.” Jim Andrews, senior vice president of IEG, a sponsorship consultant firm, sees no future for Armstrong in the marketing arena. “Even if he comes off as very contrite and apologetic, if Oprah gets him to break down in tears and say, ‘I’m sorry, this was a huge mistake,’ it doesn’t wipe away the fact there is a years-long record of cheating,” Andrews said. “If I’m controlling the marketing dollars for a corporation or a brand, there is no positive message I can attach myself to by a partnership with Lance.” Among those who’ll be watching is Daniel Coyle, author of “Lance Armstrong’s War” (2005) and co-author of Tyler Hamilton’s 2012 confessional, “The Secret Race.” Coyle expects Armstrong will be straightforward but steer away from contrition and discussions of right and wrong. “The way he approaches the world is highly strategic,” Coyle says. “He sees a goal and figures out exactly what he has to do to reach the goal, no matter what it is. That ruthlessness and clear-headedness helped him on the bike. But in this situation, it ended up being his trap. “When you say the word ‘confession,’ it’s an act of communication and emotion. It’s not something you can win. And Lance is about winning. His lack of an ability to connect with people is what helped him to succeed. Now, he needs that. And whether or not he has that ability to connect — that is


Magruder’s to sell its remaining stores in Washington region

opened its doors in 1875, quickly began offering 50 percent off remaining items, prompting a rush of bargain shoppers amid the sadness at the demise of one the region’s last local- and family-owned grocers. At the Alexandria store off Seminary Road, shoppers left with carts piled high with cartons of beer, gallon jugs of milk and several whole chickens. Packages of Starbucks coffee were sold out, the Parmesan cheese specials were gone, and the meats and orange juice were dwindling. “I’m just shocked,” said Virginia Holmes-Lacy, who lives near the Magruder’s there. “The prices are good, and it’s a family store — you get want you want, you get a little conversation, because I’m a talker.” At the Chevy Chase store, which Bortnick said would remain open under the Magruder’s name, Toni Miller, 62, said she had been going there for 25 years for the fresh produce, adult beverages, and the friendly and familiar staff. “It’s just a small-town grocery store, or a general store really, but with liquor,” she said. Magruder’s has been co-owned by two local families since 1967, when Louis H. Fanaroff and brother-in-law Stanford Steppa bought two small groceries. By the time Fanaroff died in 2005, there were 10 stores. But in the past decade, as the Washington area experienced a demographic boom driven by 20-somethings, competition to sell groceries has tightened considerably with Safeway, Giant, Wegmans, Harris Teeter, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Fresh Market all renovating old stores or opening new ones. In addition to boasting gleaming new buildings — some of them on Magruder’s turf — competitors offered more prepared foods, accepted online orders and promoted deals via social media. Magruder’s was forced to close stores in Cleveland Park, Silver Spring, Annandale and Falls Church. Bob Gorland, of New Jersey-based grocery store consulting firm Matthew P. Casey and Associates, said Magruder’s hasn’t kept up with the times. “They’ve been struggling for years, and many of the stores have had declining sales bases basically because of extensive competition,” he said. As recently as last week, Bortnick said Magruder’s would not be closing more stores. But in his statement Wednesday, Bortnick said it was time for his family to move on. He did not name the buyers of the stores. He did, however, thank Magruder’s “incredible management staff, our hardworking United Food and Commercial Unionized employees, our outstanding vendors and suppliers and, of course, the


small-town grocery store, or a general store really, but with liquor,” she said. Magruder’s has been co-owned by two local families since 1967, when Louis H. Fanaroff and brother-in-law Stanford Steppa bought two small groceries. By the time Fanaroff died in 2005, there were 10 stores. But in the past decade, as the Washington area experienced a demographic boom driven by 20-somethings, competition to sell groceries has tightened considerably with Safeway, Giant, Wegmans, Harris Teeter, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Fresh Market all renovating old stores or opening new ones. In addition to boasting gleaming new buildings — some of them on Magruder’s turf — competitors offered more prepared foods, accepted online orders and promoted deals via social media. Magruder’s was forced to close stores in Cleveland Park, Silver Spring, Annandale and Falls Church. Bob Gorland, of New Jersey-based grocery store consulting firm Matthew P. Casey and Associates, said Magruder’s hasn’t kept up with the times. “They’ve been struggling for years, and many of the stores have had declining sales bases basically because of extensive competition,” he said. As recently as last week, Bortnick said Magruder’s would not be closing more stores. But in his statement Wednesday, Bortnick said it was time for his family to move on. He did not name the buyers of the stores. He did, however, thank Magruder’s “incredible management staff, our hardworking United Food and Commercial Unionized employees, our outstanding vendors and suppliers and, of course, the most unbelievably dedicated and loyal customers that have allowed us to remain in business these past 46 years.” At least 80-85 employees are expected to lose their jobs. Among them is Denis Trana, who has worked for 14 years as a meat cutter in the Chevy Chase store. By Wednesday afternoon, Trana, a father of three, had no meat left to cut and was waiting to hear when his last day would be. “I couldn’t tell you an exact date because they haven’t told us,” he said. “We haven’t had a meeting or anything like that. We never got a notice about what was going on.” Mark Federici, president of UFCW Local 400, said the union would be assisting workers in looking for jobs. Magruder’s has “been a part of our landscape and the landscape of Washington, D.C., for a very long time,” he said. “It’s a sad day.” Patricia Sullivan and James Arkin contributed to this report.


Agency calls for fireworks disposal guidelines

have proven too costly and time-consuming for many local agencies. The fatal Hawaii explosion occurred on April 8, 2011, after Donaldson workers stacked a large quantity of fireworks components near the entrance of a storage facility during a rainstorm, the report said. The workers had disassembled the explosives by hand and soaked the empty shells in diesel fuel to burn them, the report said. The employees then placed the black powder from the shells in cardboard boxes lined with garbage bags. The board did not say how the materials ignited, though its report offered a few potential causes such as a spark from a metal handcart, friction from a rolling office chair or a static charge from the plastic liners. Donaldson did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment about the accident or the report. The Hawaii Department of Health had given Donaldson a 90-day “emergency hazardous waste permit” under Environmental Protection Agency rules, authorizing the company to burn the fireworks at a local shooting range. The permit expired before the fatal explosion occurred, and it did not relate to the disassembling of the fireworks or to their storage, the report said. The accident happened because of “insufficient federal contractor selection and safety oversight requirements” and “a significant gap in regulatory and industry standards,” according to the report. The board issued recommendations to five government organizations, including the Treasury Department’s procurement office, the EPA, the National Fire Protection Association, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The report said the EPA should conduct rigorous safety reviews before authorizing companies to dispose of explosive materials and require “the use of best available technology, safe disposal methodologies, as well as safety management practices.” The board additionally recommended that the federal procurement office consider a company’s safety record before awarding contracts, and require experts to assist prime contractors who sub out the disposal of explosive materials to other firms. “I hope the government puts these recommendations to law so no other family has to go through the pain we’ve gone through with the boys who lost their lives that day,” said Deborah Dulatre, the aunt of one of the accident victims, Justin Kelii, who was 29 when he died. “These regulations weren’t in effect at that time.” The other victims included Robert Freeman, 24, an Army veteran who served in Iraq; Bryan Cabalce, 25; Neil Sprankle, 24; and Robert Leahey, 50.


The 2009 People’s Inaugural Ball changed lives

at hospitals and at private corporations, encouraging injured soldiers and urging companies to hire returning war veterans. Retired Staff Sgt. Wesley Spaid, the soldier whose life Alvin saved in Iraq, has heard him speak to wounded veterans: “He shows there is a capability for someone who doesn’t think there is capability to progress in your life. It keeps their hopes alive.” “It’s something he probably wouldn’t have done before the ball. He didn’t think he had something to contribute,” said Ayandria Barry, advocate for the Wounded Warrior Program. “After being there and people thanking him for his service, he has been on a roll.” *** Elsewhere in the room was Janina Aubrey, who had traveled from Massachusetts with five other people from Cape Abilities, a nonprofit in Hyannis on Cape Cod that serves people with developmental and physical disabilities. Janina wore a long black ball gown. She was excited to be in Washington “and staying at the hotel and seeing a lot of people there. And seeing Obama inside the room with his picture up there. I like his wife and his two kids.” Janina, now 49, said she felt happy at the ball, “with all the people. We ate dinner, then snack, then salad, then drink coffee, then water.” She took a picture with a cutout of the newly elected president. But she was no stranger to celebrities. She knows the Kennedys, through their support of Massachusetts nonprofit groups that support people with developmental disabilities. She was a star in the Special Olympics and had recently received an award from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrickfor putting together the most informational packets during a competition sponsored by the state tourism council. After the ball, the Stafford Foundation asked the groups represented that night what could help them. Earl Stafford traveled to Massachusetts and toured one of the Cape Abilities sites. “We showed him what we were doing with the Centerville Pie operation, which was small-scale at that point. We were peeling apples and deboning the chicken to be used in chicken pies,” said Larry Thayer, 64, president of Cape Abilities. After the tour, Cape Abilities received a grant for $20,000 from the Stafford Foundation, allowing the group to expand its kitchen. Later, when Eunice Kennedy Shriver died in August 2009, Cape Abilities members were asked to serve as honor guards at her funeral. Oprah Winfrey attended the funeral. Oprah often says:


Maryland legislators reach compromise on pit bull legislation

Maryland lawmakers plan to announce legislation Thursday that would nullify an April 2012 decision by the Maryland Court of Appeals that declared pit bulls “inherently dangerous” and made their owners legally responsible for dog attacks. The bill, which has not been filed, would still hold dog owners responsible, but it would allow them to defend themselves in court instead of automatically being liable. And it would apply to all dog owners, not just owners of pit bulls. The bill, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, comes as a relief to pet owners and animal rights activists across the state. Because the April court decision included strict liability for landlords and “third parties” as well as pit bull owners, many landlords were forcing tenants to choose between vacating their homes or surrendering their pets — which in many cases meant that the dogs would have to be put down. “We had at least 40 people come in [to surrender their pets] specifically because of the ruling and several hundred more because of landlord issues,” said Jennifer Brause, executive director of the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter. The court ruling stemmed from an April 2007 incident in which a 10-year-old Towson boy was mauled by a neighbor’s pit bull. The boy’s family sued the dog’s owner and the owner’s landlord. The case ended up before the Court of Appeals, which ruled that owners of pit bulls are automatically liable for attacks by their dogs because the breed is “inherently dangerous.” The General Assembly took up the case during a special legislative session in August, but adjourned without agreeing on whether to overturn, amend or keep the law.


U.S. losing ground in global marketplace, report finds

dire economic reversal. While the engineers focused largely on the domestic impact of eroding U.S. infrastructure, Thursday’s report places the issue in the greater context of the global economy. Drawing data from a variety of sources, including a report on global competitiveness by the World Economic Forum, Thursday’s report presents an avalanche of facts that together make a case that the United States is rapidly falling behind in the world economy. Once the world leader, U.S. rail infrastructure was ranked 18th by the Economic Forum, beset with congested choke points and grade-level crossings that force trains to low speeds. The nation’s air transport system was rated 30th in the world, behind Malaysia and Panama. The Port of Shanghai, the world’s largest, handles more containers than the eight largest U.S. ports combined. Major West Coast ports are congested, and only two East Coast ports can handle a new breed of megaship, so Canada is the destination for a larger share of ships from China. The importance in a global economy of ports and airports, and the roads and rail lines that service them, is underscored, the report said, by the fact that as much as 60 percent of U.S.-made products are exported. “Other countries are building their ports and modernizing their ports, and making it so that once you get [goods] into a port you’re able to move things around the country,” said Marcia L. Hale, president of Building America’s Future. “We can’t export unless we find a way to move these goods that are made in the United States to our trading partners. You need to have good transportation and ports to be able to do that.” Citing a “striking lack of vision” in the United States, the report summarizes a collective investment in infrastructure by European nations and national strategies in other developing industrial powers. “Some countries, even in hard economic times, are still investing in their infrastructure because they see the long-term benefits of it,” Hale said. “Some of the countries that are growing so fast — China — have decided they are going to build their infrastructure to be able to compete 10, 20, 30 years from now.” By contrast, the report says, the United States spends just about what it did on infrastructure in 1968, adjusted for inflation, when the nation’s economy was smaller and less intertwined with the global marketplace. “Without a similar strategic plan


Distance runner and engineer Lou Castagnola dies at 76

Lou Castagnola, 76, an engineer who worked in sales for Hewlett-Packard for many years but who was better known as one of the Washington area’s premier distance runners in the 1960s, died Dec. 11 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. He had complications from injuries sustained in a fall at his home, said his brother-in-law James Harless. Mr. Castagnola spent 24 years working for Hewlett-Packard in Rockville in sales of computer systems. He retired in 1995. Throughout the 1960s, Mr. Castagnola was one of the finest distance runners and marathoners in the Washington region. He won the Washington’s Birthday Marathon in 1963, 1967 and 1968. His course record of 2:22:45, set in 1967, still stands. He finished fourth in the 1967 Boston Marathon with a career-best time of 2:17:17 in the 26-mile, 385-yard event. He competed throughout the country and trained for the 1968 Olympics but did not make the team. He was a member of the DC Road Runners Club, which named him to its hall of fame in 1995. Louis Craig Castagnola was born in Raleigh, N.C., and graduated from high school in Norfolk. After serving in the Army, he attended Virginia Tech, where he was a member of the track team and set a Southern Conference record for the two-mile run. He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1962. He was an engineer at Patuxent Naval Air Station, an engineering firm and at NASA in Greenbelt before joining Hewlett-Packard. Mr. Castagnola was known for his dedication to training. On weekends, he would typically run 30 miles at a stretch. He lived in Rockville and was a member of Faith United Methodist Church in Rockville. Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Jo Ann Harless Castagnola of Rockville; two children, Lynn Castagnola of Millersville and L. Craig Castagnola Jr. of Rockville; and four grandchildren. — Matt Schudel


U.S. paid to maintain inoperable Afghan police vehicles, audit finds

vehicles that had been destroyed or were out of commission, according to an inspector general report released Thursday. The report, prepared by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, cast further doubt on Afghanistan’s ability to run its nascent security forces after U.S. troops withdraw at the end of 2014. The audit of a $350 million contract awarded to the Dubai-based firm Automotive Management Services highlights the challenges of keeping meaningful oversight of the United States’ $52 billion investment in Afghanistan’s security forces — a task that is likely to become harder as the American drawdown accelerates. “The taxpayers and the success of our mission are at risk when contracts such as this are executed without proper planning and oversight,” SIGAR chief John F. Sopko said in a statement. In response to the report, the NATO training mission that awarded the contract agreed to improve the mechanism it uses to track how many of the more than 30,000 vehicles donated to the Afghan police force remain operable. Late last year, after reviewing the auditors’ preliminary conclusions, the training command removed 7,324 vehicles from its maintenance roster after confirming that they had either been destroyed or had not been serviced for more than a year. Take a look at some of the week’s best photographs from around the globe. In its written response to the findings, the training command said it expects the updated tracking system to help it save as much as $5.5 million a year. The report does not say whether investigators found evidence of willful misreporting, a common occurrence in Afghanistan, which is among the world’s most corrupt countries. It said the firm hired to service the vehicles “generally performed and billed in accordance with the contract’s terms and conditions.” Company employees, however, sometimes did not conduct site inspections as a result of logistical challenges and security concerns, auditors found. Additional U.S. money may have been siphoned because fuel allotments for Afghan police stations are based on the number of vehicles listed on the same roster, the report said. SIGAR issued a separate report last fall warning that the Afghan government will be unable to adequately maintain army and police facilities after 2014, when the U.S.-led military coalition is set to disband. That report warned that the United States and its allies will have to continue paying hundreds of millions of dollars to operate Afghan bases and equipment.