Maggots could revolutionize the global food supply. Here’s how.

tubs. Each container holds thousands of grubs in various stages of development, happily munching their way through piles of specially formulated grain mash. Because soldier fly cultivation is so new, there was much trial and error to get the company to where it is today, Taranow said. Researchers had to calculate the right combination of food and moisture (cricket production, by contrast, is so well-established that you can purchase commercial cricket chow in 40-pound bags). They had to lock down the proper grub-to-feed ratio, as well as the precise temperature, lighting and humidity, needed to ensure larvae reached the desired size. If any variable is out of whack, the entire colony can crash. Another challenge for soldier fly farmers is that larvae are surprisingly mischievous. A wet grub can scale any surface, from wood to glass, so growers have to maintain specific humidity levels to prevent them from getting damp, escaping their confines and generally running amok. A group of dry larvae left alone in an enclosure without food will congregate in a corner, piling up “World War Z”-style until they’re tall enough to allow their compatriots to escape. Symton solved this problem, in part, by piling wet mash in the center of their bins with a moat of dry material along the edges to prevent escape. After they reach the desired size, the larvae are sifted out, weighed and poured into plastic containers and then shipped all over the country. One byproduct of the process is frass — the scientific term for bug excrement. Symton produces scads of the stuff, which it piles up outside the facility and donates to local landscapers for use as compost. An acre of land used to raise soldier fly colonies can produce more than 130,000 pounds of protein per year, according to various peer-reviewed estimates. That’s several orders of magnitude greater than the per-acre protein yield of cattle (about 40 pounds), soybeans (950 pounds) or chickens (1,800 pounds). “Black soldier fly larvae can make thousand-folds more protein than terrestrial animals or other plants,” said Liz Koutsos, chief executive of Kentucky-based EnviroFlight, which raises soldier fly larvae used in protein meal for commercial fish and poultry operations. The yields are so high because soldier fly colonies can be stacked vertically, five to 10 per floor, in a way that isn’t possible with cattle or field crops. The fast-growing larvae also can be harvested dozens


These are the local beers you should be drinking this summer

off and consider — shows a subtle floral, spicy, earthy flavor combo that’s mesmerizing. — Greg Engert, beer director, Neighborhood Restaurant Group Ocelot Brewing’s Sunnyside Dweller*. DC Brau Pilsner Union’s Old Pro Gose Normally I like my sours to be a little more aggressive, but for a day of pool drinking, I’d go with the Atlas Blood Orange Gose. Slightly tart with hints of fruit, it’s refreshing, which is what I want when drinking by the pool. And only 4.4 percent. — Erika Goedrich, owner, Craft Beer Cellar Crooked Run Coast 3 Stars Trouble in Paradise Some people claim, "I don't drink IPAs/stouts/dark beers during the summer because they're too heavy." Do you have a favorite lighter version of a "traditionally heavy style" that you enjoy, or switch to, in warmer weather? I’m always down for Sun’s Out Hops Out* from Solace; this is the quintessential crushable IPA for me, with not too much sweetness or viscosity. It’s purebred crispy deliciousness, through and through. — Aislin Kavaldjian, general manager of B Side bar Union Blackwing* Yeah, I love IPAs, but they just taste really bad when they get warm. So less IPAs. But a can of Orange Starfish IPA from Aslin would be an exception. — Jake Endres, brewer and founder, Crooked Run Brewing Old Ox Black Ox Rye Porter* I’m a “drink what you want when you want” guy, so personally I tend to just go by mood rather than weather, though of course it factors in. There’s been a run of lower ABV IPAs that I’ve been digging lately; specifically DC Brau’s Joint Resolution and Reason’s Collaboration 29, both of which are also 5.5 percent. — Nick Anderson, “beermonger,” Arrowine DC Brau’s Penn Quarter Porter* Bluejacket Lost Weekend An IPL! The India Pale Lager “style” is one of my favorite hybrids. Solace Mugatu is now available in (very cool) cans, and ideal for something light, crisp, and still perfectly hoppy. — Erin Gilbert, assistant beer director at Pizzeria Paradiso Where's the best place to buy these beers? Although none of the beers recommended here are difficult to find — some are regularly found in the beer aisle of local supermarkets — it’s easiest to stock up at a beer shop known for having the most interesting new releases. Here are four of the region’s best. Arrowine The Brew Shop Craft Beer Cellar Downtown Crown Wine and Beer fritz.hahn@washpost.com


Returning from suspension, pro golfer hoping to change PGA Tour’s stance on marijuana

Marijuana is fully legal in 10 states plus the District of Columbia, with another (Illinois) adding itself to the list come Jan. 1. In another 22 states, it’s legal for medical use. Nevertheless, marijuana remains a prohibited substance for players in nearly all of the country’s professional sports leagues, the NHL excepted. The PGA Tour is no different. Its Anti-Doping Program Manual bans the use of marijuana, and golfers who test positive are subject to sanction. Robert Garrigus knows this full well: The longtime tour pro was suspended in March after testing positive for elevated levels of THC, one of marijuana’s active ingredients. Garrigus returns to the main PGA Tour from his suspension at this week’s 3M Open in Minnesota, and he is taking a strong stance on the tour’s anti-marijuana policy. The 22-year pro lives in Washington state, where marijuana is fully legal, and he owns a farm where it’s grown. He says he had been prescribed marijuana to treat knee and back pain when he fell afoul of the tour’s drug policy and tested positive. “I wasn’t trying to degrade the PGA Tour in any way, my fellow professionals in any way. I don’t cheat the game,” Garrigus said, per the Golf Channel. “I understand HGH [Human Growth Hormone], anything you are trying to do to cheat the game, you should be suspended for 100 percent. Everything else should be a discussion.” Garrigus, 41, said marijuana “doesn’t help you get it in the hole,” and the PGA Tour’s anti-drug policy seems to acknowledge that it isn’t much of a performance enhancer, saying, “It’s more likely to be used as a recreational drug.” But it also claims that marijuana can be used “to decrease anxiety before a competition.” Garrigus says the benefits outweigh any negatives. “If you have some sort of pain and CBD or THC may help that, and you feel like it can help you and be prescribed by a doctor, then what are we doing?” Garrigus said. “If you are doing marijuana then we should be testing for alcohol, too. If you can buy it in a store, then why are we testing for it? That’s my opinion.” According to the Golf Channel, Garrigus will meet with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan at next week’s John Deere Classic. Read more: D.C. United’s baby boom has players balancing soccer with the ups and downs of fatherhood The


Washington owes Mongolia an apology

to be done in Mongolia. There is a trade relationship that Congress has been pushing to deepen. Mongolia is a NATO partner country, the same as Japan and South Korea. The Mongolians deployed troops in Iraq and have troops serving in Afghanistan together with U.S. forces now. It’s an open society struggling to maintain its sovereignty and identity while surrounded by the world’s two greatest authoritarian powers. Bolton could have canceled last minute and joined the party at the demilitarized zone. That surely wouldn’t have prevented the rampant speculation that the Trump-Kim meeting signaled a defeat for Bolton’s drive to push a harder line vis-à-vis Pyongyang. But serious, honest analysts should give the Trump administration officials credit when they do something right. And here, the right move was for Bolton to honor his commitment and pay Mongolia’s leaders the basic respect they deserved. That’s not to say he did everything right. On the way back, Bolton couldn’t resist tweeting about a New York Times story that claimed unnamed administration officials were considering a plan to accept a freeze of North Korea’s nuclear programs as an interim step toward denuclearization. Bolton’s call for “consequences” for the leakers overwhelmed his Mongolia message and fed the notion that he came down with a serious case of FOMO, or the fear of missing out. All administrations are torn between the urgent and the important. But five years from now, it’s very likely that Trump’s handshake with Kim, like his entire North Korea diplomacy, will have amounted to little more than some great television moments. Mongolia’s importance to the United States will certainly be even greater than it is now. Bolton was investing in something substantial rather than attending something superficial. Of course, the leaders of Mongolia just wanted to show the world that the U.S.-Mongolia relationship is strong. Instead, they became collateral damage and the butt of jokes because Bolton is an easy target and something else happened that day in another country that was deemed bigger news. To our Mongolian friends, on behalf of those Americans who believe the U.S.-Mongolian partnership is worth showing up for, please accept our apologies. Read more Max Boot: Trump has appointed the worst people. No wonder his foreign policy is a mess. Jennifer Rubin: What about the advisers who tried to goad Trump into war? Josh Rogin: Bolton moves to promote loyalists at the National Security Council


At church, on Easter, the Sri Lanka attackers destroyed families. Now survivors must learn to live alone.

built by his grandfather when he migrated to Colombo six decades ago. In the days after the attacks, the neighbors — Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim — brought food and tea and hosted relatives visiting for the funerals in their own homes. “To lose one person is difficult,” said Kamala Sinniah, Naresh’s aunt. “But to lose three in the same family . . .” Her voice trailed off and she began to weep. On a recent humid afternoon, she sat close to Naresh, rubbing his shoulder, touching his head, asking whether he was hungry. For Naresh, the hours after lunchtime were the most difficult. His extended family would scatter to their own tasks and he would lie down in bed, lifting his injured leg. The dense neighborhood was never quiet. There was always a television on, a phone ringing. Those were the moments when he found himself alone with his thoughts: Waking up dazed after the blast, his left leg shattered, the limb useless. The man whose name he still does not know who carried him to an auto rickshaw, holding Naresh in his arms as both wept on the way to the hospital. Three weeks later, the most difficult memory of all. A psychologist who knew the family sitting by his bedside telling him that his family was gone. Naresh had begun to suspect that something had happened to his parents — the relatives gave conflicting accounts of where they were — but he believed his sister, Kirubashini, had survived. She had 67 pieces of shrapnel in her body, and she slipped into a coma and died on April 27. Kirubashini loved fashion and worked as a cashier at a tailor shop. To her mother’s dismay, years ago she had fallen in love with a cousin on her father’s side, Kirubaraj Vithusan, and they planned to marry. After work, the couple would often stroll toward her home together, stopping for a cup of tea. After the attack, Vithusan became Naresh’s constant caregiver. He slept next to Naresh each night and took him to doctors to check on his burns and his leg. For Naresh, the future was a blank page. His aunt Kamala, who lives in Britain, hoped to bring him back with her for a few months. Naresh agreed because he believes it is what his mother would have wanted. All of his earlier plans — his work


A total solar eclipse Tuesday will plunge a 6,800-mile path into midday darkness

decreases. In Chile and Argentina, the moon’s shadow will sweep in at speeds topping 6,000 mph — much faster than the “Great American Eclipse” in 2017. That means the premature nightfall will be faster; the transition from day to night could take as little as 30 seconds. And then? Totality. The swiftly moving shadow will scream across South America in just four minutes coast to coast, plunging below the horizon as the sun sets near Buenos Aires. While the potential for cloudy skies characteristic of Southern Hemisphere winters sparked initial concerns, Tuesday’s forecast looks to be purely stellar. Models originally prognosticated that a wave of low pressure would throw a deck of cloud cover over the coastline. The sun hovering just above the water could easily be blotted out by stubborn coastal overcast. But forecasts favor sunshine in most of the Chilean zone of totality, even though dropping temperatures instigated by the eclipse could build clouds near the water. Otherwise, the forecast is virtually ideal. I’ll be east of La Higuera, Chile, on Tuesday to experience totality, and we’ll be sharing the experience Wednesday in a Capital Weather Gang post. Joining me is Dan Satterfield, chief meteorologist at WBOC-TV in Salisbury, Md. “I’m a bit worried clouds may flirt with the coast in northern stretches of the path,” Satterfield said, “but otherwise this is looking really good.” As of Tuesday morning, skies near the coast of Chile and just inland had cleared - a promising sign for viewing prospects later in the day. The forecast is equally optimistic across Argentina, where the sky promises to be largely clear — save for a few thin, wispy clouds carried in by the jet stream. In fact, a wafer-thin veil might actually boost the eclipse experience, serving as a subtle backdrop upon which the moon’s 90-mile-wide shadow may fall. That would make it easier to see the umbra sweeping in from the ground. After totality, partial phases of the eclipse will last from just before to until sunset across most of South America. Partial phases won’t be visible north of Guatemala in Central America, leaving the United States waiting until its turn in 2024. Link Chileans find themselves at ground zero for total eclipses three times this decade — once in 2010, again Tuesday and a third time on Dec. 14, 2020. An annular or “ring of fire” eclipse also occurred in 2017.


PM Update: Diminishing storm threat as showers linger; very muggy for fireworks

7:25 p.m. - Light to moderate showers at times through the evening Areas of light to moderate rain continue rather steady across a large portion of the D.C. area. Expect showers to continue on and off through much of the evening, dampening but perhaps not disrupting fireworks displays. Small chance we see an isolated thundershower or two. 6:40 p.m. - Storm threat waning as lighter showers continue for some The storm threat is diminishing across the greater D.C. area and the flash flood watch has been cancelled. However, we are seeing lingering areas of light to moderate showers, especially across the southern and eastern parts of the DMV. And can’t rule out an isolated thundershower into the evening. 5:20 p.m. - Storms pounding some areas south of D.C., with lighter showers elsewhere The focus of storm activity has shifted to the south of D.C. this late afternoon, with areas of heavy rain and dangerous lightning. This includes a severe thunderstorm warning in Prince William County until 6 p.m., including Manassas and near Dale City, where damaging wind gusts past 60 mph are possible along with small hail. In the District, we’ve seen light to moderate rain near the Mall at times, but fortunately not much lightning. As mentioned below, we’re still seeing signs that storm activity will decrease after 7 p.m. or so, but not a sure bet. Original post It has been a stormy afternoon around the north and east sides of the District, especially toward upper Montgomery County, Howard County, and northeast Prince George’s County to the Bay. Closer to and inside the Beltway, storms were fewer and farther between, allowing the heat and humidity to combine for heat indexes in the mid-90s to near 100 despite plenty of clouds. But storms were starting to pick up downtown near the Mall and to the south of D.C. as of publication time, with cooler temperatures just about everywhere. Listen to our daily D.C. forecasts: Through tonight: As for temperatures, the rain has helped drop most spots to the mid-70s to mid-80s. Look for late-afternoon and evening readings mainly in the mid-80s to mid-70s with very high humidity. View the Tomorrow (Friday): See David Streit’s Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox?


Russian state-run media took Trump’s July 4 event as an opportunity to ‘troll’ the U.S.

any opportunity to troll the United States,” Kofman said. “From their perspective, what they’re going to see [in Washington] is a fairly neat, static military display rather than a parade approaching their scale, or even parades held in Europe." The scathing sarcasm by the Russian media adds to criticism of the vitriol the president is facing for his event back home. Trump has long hoped to throw a military parade in the nation’s capital, The Washington Post has reported, and had been impressed by a Bastille Day display while on a visit to France in 2017. The focus on military technology and the addition of a VIP section for Republican donors and supporters of the president has led to accusations that the White House is politicizing the holiday. It also comes with a steep price tag. A typical Fourth of July celebration on the Mall usually costs the National Park Service about $2 million, according to former Park Service deputy director Denis P. Galvin. To throw the “Salute to America,” the department has diverted at least $2.5 million to cover the cost, The Post reported, and that transfer may only cover a fraction of the full expense. A much more forceful critique of U.S. policy toward Russia took place on July 4, as U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. held a lavish reception at his Moscow residence to celebrate American independence. About 50 people gathered to protest U.S. sanctions outside the front gates. Their chants could be heard as Huntsman delivered his speech to a large crowd of taco- and burger-munching guests, lauding American values and “recognizing the rights of all voices, including those with dissenting opinions.” The protesters are workers at automaker GAZ, owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Hoisting signs saying “The Americans have taken us hostage” and “We are friends not enemies,” the workers shouted “Save GAZ!” The tycoon was sanctioned last year by the U.S. Treasury for actions that “advanced Russia’s malign activities," allegations he denies. “American Independence Day celebrates people fighting for their freedom. We are also fighting, for our right to work, and for our company to survive,” said Evgeniy Morozov, chairman of the GAZ Workers’ Council. Read more: Scenes from the Mall Fourth of July celebration draws thousands to the nation’s capital In reversal, U.S. seeks to add citizenship question to 2020 Census Rep. Amash, lone GOP critic of Trump, leaves Republican Party


Trump is funding his Fourth of July stunt at the expense of our national parks

million being spent on this spectacle. Not only that, every one of these projects directly contributes to the long-term health of the United States’ national parks, which is the intent of these fees. Can the same be said for this ticketed and seemingly partisan event? For 100 years, my organization has pushed the government to remember that national parks belong to all of us and must be preserved and protected for all to experience and enjoy. Every time a presidential administration or Congress has tried to cut funding or reduce protections for parks, we’ve been there to hold them accountable. This is no different. Unfortunately, this is the second time in just seven months that this administration has taken park fees for shortsighted and frankly inappropriate purposes. During the longest-ever government shutdown, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt directed some parks to use fee money to keep their gates open. Those funds weren’t enough to keep park resources and visitors safe, and Bernhardt knew it. The only reason for that decision was to quell the national outcry over the shutdown’s impact on parks such as Joshua Tree National Park, where vandals literally cut down some of the namesake trees. And now this. Once is bad judgment. Twice is a pattern. And as we have for a century, regardless of who is in power, we will stand up for national parks and the need to protect them. Every American should be worried that parks are being called upon to make sacrifices for a short-term purpose — especially one that’s little more than a public stunt. I grew up visiting national parks and took my children to them. I still remember my first trip to the Mall. But millions of Americans, not to mention the generations of Americans yet to come, haven’t yet had the chance to experience our parks. We all have a responsibility and a part to play in making sure that parks are preserved and protected for those future generations. Read more: Greg Sargent: Trump’s hijacking of the Fourth of July just got a lot uglier Eric Wemple: ‘Fox & Friends’ treads on dumb terrain: What if Obama had called in the tanks? Max Boot: Trump’s Fourth of July salute to himself will only hurt him David Von Drehle: Visit some national parks, Trump — and hurry Donna F. Edwards: National parks are both a treasure and challenge. There’s a solution.


July 4 events, protests draw crowds in Washington; thousands arriving via Metro to the Mall for military flyovers and fireworks

Flight operations to be suspended at DCA, following weather-related delays (6:15 p.m.) Flight operations to and from Reagan National Airport will be suspended for more than two hours this evening, from approximately 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. for the anticipated flyover of military jets and again from 9 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. to accommodate an extended fireworks show. Air travelers should anticipate flight delays and plan accordingly. Flights to and from National have already been delayed this afternoon due to weather. The airport is experiencing departure delays of up to two hours and 15 minutes because of the storms, according to the flight-tracking service FlightAware. Inbound flights have also been delayed by an average of one hour and 40 minutes. Federal Aviation Administration officials said earlier this week that nearly 90 flights would be affected by the flight restrictions during the July 4 festivities. Sixty-one flights are scheduled during the 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. period; 26 flights are affected during the later closure. Lines growing in the Metro system as crowds head to the Mall for fireworks (5:40 p.m.) As it got closer to showtime on the Mall on Thursday evening, Metro said it was running as scheduled with no issues. Thousands of passengers — many wearing red, white and blue and carrying American flags and Trump gear — headed to the Mall for the fireworks and President Trump’s “Salute to America” program. Families with coolers and lawn chairs lined up to exit the Smithsonian station. Travelers encountered heavy police presence at some stations and lines at exits as riders unfamiliar with the system struggled to go past the fare gates. Lines also formed at station entrances as many tried to buy or reload their SmarTrip cards. But trains arriving every two to three minutes had plenty of open seats by 5 p.m. Metro officials declined to provide ridership numbers on Thursday. Metro said the Smithsonian station’s Mall entrance will be “entry only” after 9 p.m. Anyone who wants to exit at the station will be able to use the Independence Avenue entrance. If other station platforms get too crowded, Metro officials may close some stations or have people wait outside until platforms are cleared up. Metro began the day running Saturday service, switching to rush-hour service after 2 p.m. to handle the crowds. The last trains will shut down at 11:30 p.m. Vehicular traffic in the region is


Here’s how to navigate the July 4 festivities — and protests

Thousands of people are expected to be in the nation’s capital Thursday for Fourth of July celebrations — and protests — events that will present travel challenges for visitors and residents. With President Trump at the center of this year’s festivities, there are new challenges due to extra security: a larger than usual list of road closures covering much of downtown and monumental Washington, new traffic restrictions for the Potomac River and the grounding of air traffic at Reagan National Airport in the evening. Drivers should expect day-long — and rolling — street closures. If you’re planning to use Metro — and you should — plan for long waits at stations and crowded platforms and trains. “Be patient, plan ahead, anticipate the need for extra time to get around, stay alert and be courteous to one another and to law enforcement,” D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said last week. “We encourage everyone to enjoy the holiday, partake in the celebrations and have fun but we also remind folks to use safety precautions, common sense and good judgment." Officials are urging residents and visitors to use public transportation to get around the city. Metro plans to run rush-hour level service starting in the early afternoon to accommodate the crowds. Most of the impacts are near and around the Mall, but other events such as a ballgame at Nationals Park and smaller Independence Day parades and fireworks across the region will also draw crowds and complicate travel. Add to that hundreds of demonstrators expected to protest Trump’s takeover of July Fourth, traditionally a nonpartisan, nonpolitical celebration. Trump’s “Salute to America” will feature a speech by the president at the Lincoln Memorial, reserved seating for hundreds of VIPs, two fireworks displays, military tanks on the Mall and flyovers by the Blue Angels and Air Force One. As many as 500 people are expected to attend Code Pink’s protest — one of several planned Thursday by activists opposed to the president’s presence during the holiday festivities. The group will be flying the orange balloon known as “Baby Trump.” The demonstrations are expected to be relatively small by D.C. standards. Expect tight security, including bag checks to enter the events on the Mall through six designated access points. Leave large backpacks and other prohibited items such weapons and drones at home. And plan for hot weather. The Capital Weather Gang is forecasting highs in the


will be free all day, but have a plan B in case your desired lot is full. Air traffic to and from National Airport will be grounded for more than two hours Thursday, from 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. for the flyover of military jets and again from 9 to 9:45 p.m. to accommodate the extended fireworks show. Airport officials say they anticipate flight delays during the late afternoon and evening and that passengers should plan accordingly. Officials at the Federal Aviation Administration said that roughly 87 flights will be affected by the flight restrictions. There are 61 flights scheduled during the 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. period; 26 flights are affected during the latter closure, which is slated to begin at 9 p.m. and end at 9:45 p.m. Getting to the airport by car may be more difficult because of the road closures in the D.C. side. Metro may be the best option for any travelers. Construction at the airport will also affect access to Gravelly Point, a popular viewing area that many people access from the airport. The following water restrictions will be in place from 4 a.m. to midnight July 4. D.C. police and the National Park Service have a long list of road closures that will begin at about 4 a.m. Thursday. Parking will also be prohibited inside this perimeter for the duration of the closures. A few highlights to keep in mind: The Arlington Memorial Bridge will close not only to vehicular traffic this year but also pedestrian traffic, which would complicate travel for thousands of visitors arriving from Northern Virginia who would have walked from Arlington to get to the Mall. And, the closures includes the shutdown of the Ninth and 12th street tunnels. The following streets will be closed from about 4 a.m. to 11 p.m.: Closed from 11 a.m. until about 10 p.m. Closed from 3 p.m. July 4 until midnight July 5 Tunnels closed from about 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Bikes and scooters will be able to travel through areas restricted to motor vehicles, according to D.C. police. If you want to ride your bike, there are bike racks across the downtown and the Mall areas. Nationals game. Palisades Parade MacArthur Boulevard NW from Whitehaven Park to Edmunds Place NW will be closed from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Capitol Hill Parade Other parades and fireworks Lori Aratani contributed to this report.


‘We’ll be ready for it’: Officials on alert as activists plan two days of Washington protests

they expect some visitors in town for July 4 festivities to stick around for the Saturday demonstration, bolstering what may have otherwise been a small group of supporters. A coalition of more than 20 groups — including Black Lives Matter D.C., immigrants rights group Sanctuary DMV and anti-gentrification organization Keep D.C. 4 Me — will host an all-day counterdemonstration at Pershing Park. Members of the District’s communities of color will lead a dance party to go-go music for “black, brown, and indigenous joy in the face of white nationalism and supremacy.” Christopher Rodriguez, director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said the city is prepared for both the Saturday rally and Independence Day celebrations. Code Pink, which received a National Park Service permit Tuesday to bring “Baby Trump” to its Mall protest, will display the 20-foot balloon alongside another caricature dubbed “Dumping Trump,” a robot that tweets and shouts phrases like “No collusion,” while sitting atop a golden toilet. Code Pink’s permit allows the group to station the imported balloon near the Washington Monument for 15 hours during the day’s festivities, which will include an elaborate 35-minute fireworks display, concert, parade and military displays. But the agency wouldn’t allow “Baby Trump” to fly. Park Service rules forbid helium-filled blimps, effectively grounding it. “It is ironic that it is right here, in the ‘land of the free,’ the balloon is being grounded,” Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin said in a statement. Instead, the air-filled balloon will bob along the ground, where it will be tethered west of the Washington Monument. Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst cited the no-fly zone that includes downtown Washington for keeping the balloon grounded. More than a dozen other groups and individuals have requested space on the Mall for activities that include making cards for troops, leading group meditations, selling books of poetry and preaching. Gregory “Joey” Johnson, who was at the center of a 1989 Supreme Court decision protecting the right to burn the American flag, will torch a flag Thursday to encourage others to “imagine a world without America.” He called on others in Washington and around the country to join him. “When I see that flag burn, I’m not only thinking of the children who are starved and bombed by the U.S. in Yemen, or the children who are torn from their parents along the U.S.-Mexico border,” Johnson said. “This is


In Trump’s ‘Salute to America,’ the promoter in chief makes a recruiting pitch for the military

Flanked by armored vehicles and a coterie of senior military officers, President Trump made an Independence Day pitch at the Lincoln Memorial: Join the U.S. military. It was an unexpected turn in the “Salute to America,” an event he envisioned and planned. Steeped in military history and appreciation, the address lauded specific achievements in each service’s past, acknowledged the presence of Medal of Honor recipients in the crowd and urged youths to serve in uniform in the future. “They and thousands before us served with immense distinction, and they loved every minute of that service,” Trump said of the veterans decorated for valor. “To young Americans across our country, now is your chance to join our military and make a truly great statement in life. And you should do it.” The remark garnered some cheers from the crowd gathered before him. But it also hit on a reality for the Pentagon: Military officials are increasingly concerned about finding recruits. The challenges include increasing obesity across the nation, a growing economy that has provided other job opportunities and an overall declining desire among young Americans to serve. Enter Trump. While the size, scope and multimillion-dollar cost of his Fourth of July extravaganza proved controversial, it also put the military front and center. The Pentagon spent weeks fending off questions about the president’s wish to have a full air show and tanks parked in Washington, but it also will likely benefit from the exposure. In a Defense Department that spends million of dollars each year to advertise for recruits, military officials quietly carried out the White House’s directives for the event, setting aside flight hours designated for training to fly aircraft in the Salute, two defense officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. It isn’t uncommon for the Pentagon to do the same for a flyover at an event like the Super Bowl, but this was unique in that it effectively included seven flyovers — one for each of the five military services, plus Air Force One leading off the evening and the Blue Angels closing the event. It also included aircraft that are rarely seen, including the B-2 stealth bomber and the Marine Corps’ new VH-92 presidential helicopter. For months, the Pentagon was mum about how large its involvement on Independence Day would be — a symptom, defense officials said, of the president’s


One year after his victory in Mexico, AMLO has little to celebrate

On Monday, after seven months in office, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador threw himself a party to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his victory at the polls. And not just any party. Mariachi music filled the air as thousands gathered in the Zócalo, Mexico City’s massive main square. El Universal newspaper showed police officers removing street vendors who weren’t selling merchandise related to the event or the man of the hour. López Obrador himself spoke for almost an hour and a half. Some of the country’s most prominent businessmen sat near the stage, listening attentively. After the proceedings, he led the crowd in a solemn rendition of the national anthem. It was a strange affair. There was no official need for the celebration. Mexican presidents are required to produce an “informe” — a detailed account of the administration after one year in office and each year thereafter — but certainly not after just a few months in charge. For most of the 20th century, during the one-party rule of the all-powerful PRI, presidents read the report in a nationally televised address, much like the State of the Union. But even the most histrionic versions of the speech were delivered in Congress, never in front of thousands in the public square, like a campaign rally. In 2008, in an effort to lessen the disproportionate protagonism of the Mexican executive, lawmakers eliminated the ritual. López Obrador has done away with all restraint. In a way, though, the pomposity seems fitting. Mexico’s president has always fashioned himself as a revolutionary figure. He has labeled his government “Mexico’s fourth transformation” — a far-reaching regime change that will, through a combination of radical government austerity, honesty and the president’s sheer personal magnetism, usher in a new era. No institution from what the Mexican president considers the universally corrupt ancien régime seems safe. He has put in place draconian budget cuts, including throughout Mexico’s public health system, causing pharmaceutical shortages, prompting delays in surgeries and jeopardizing overall medical attention. Not surprisingly, López Obrador’s ambitious government project has faced scrutiny. The overall verdict doesn’t lend itself to any sort of raucous festivity. The administration’s first seven months in office read like a stubborn succession of perplexing choices. Mexico’s economy has entered hazardous territory. Before taking office, López Obrador organized a sham referendum to shut down construction of Mexico City’s state-of-the-art airport, a third of which had


Trump sure does want a Nobel Prize

President Trump has attempted to outdo and undo everything that his predecessor, Barack Obama, successfully accomplished or initiated [“A ratings-minded president gets the shot he wanted,” front page, July 1]. However, the Nobel Peace Prize looms large and is not easily within reach. Hence we have the growing relationship with North Korea and, in Mr. Trump’s twisted mind, a possible way to acquire the “prize.” We are on the brink of so many perils that we must consider starting impeachment hearings. If nothing more, it would distract from the scene at the demilitarized zone. Janet Nussbaum Read more letters to the editor.


This past winter saw the highest honeybee colony losses on record

deal with the year’s large number of natural disasters. “When they established ELAP numbers in 2007 or 2008, they paid out for anything over 17 percent losses, which was fairly normal in the early 2000s,” Hackenberg recalled. “We might have gotten paid 60 cents on the dollar. A year ago, they changed it because they were paying out so much money — they jumped it from 17 to 23 percent losses. Beekeepers are living off our equity.” Hackenberg is convinced that pesticide, herbicide and fungicide use is the culprit — and there is a lot more fungicide sprayed in a really wet spring — while Rennich said there may be other contributing factors, such as “monocropping,” the growing of a single crop on the same plot year after year, which reduces forage for bees, and the movement of hired-pollinator bees risking the spread of disease. Dennis vanEngelsdorp, a professor of entomology at the University of Maryland and chief scientist for the Bee Informed Partnership, said that while extreme weather has worsened honeybees’ plight, the biggest threat is varroa mites. It has been hard to develop a chemical compound that will kill the mites without killing the bees. “There have been products that work, some at 95 percent," he said. "But varroa mites are increasingly resistant, and we’re trying to understand that a little better. They are acting differently than they have in the past.” Management practices can extend the health and life of bees, but vanEngelsdorp said vigilance is essential. “That’s the message we’re trying to get across," he said. "People can get their mite population down to zero, and then they stop monitoring. This requires constant monitoring.” Jim Doan’s bees winter in Florida and spend the rest of the year in New York. Last year he moved his 1,200 hives to the western part of New York’s Allegany County, an area he says is away from high-intensity agriculture. “This is dairy country, and dairy has taken a downward spiral," Doan said by phone. “And because we’ve seen a lot of rain, nobody has gotten their corn or soy in the ground, so nobody has sprayed. I think it’s about getting bees to a pesticide-free environment.” “This past year, [bee] mortality was around 70 percent, which is about average for where we’ve been,” he said. "It’s not where I’d like to see it, but it’s better than where it’s been.”


70-year-old marathon runner accused of cheating found dead in Los Angeles River

Frank Meza, the 70-year-old marathon runner whose record time in the Los Angeles Marathon recently was disqualified because of suspicions that he cheated, was found dead Thursday morning in the Los Angeles River, the Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed to The Washington Post on Friday. Although Meza’s body was found lying in shallow water northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the Cypress Park area, LAPD officials do not suspect that he drowned, ABC 13 reported. The exact cause of death has not been determined, and an autopsy will be performed. “Running was very important to my husband. He had been running marathons for the last 30 or 40 years. He was very fast, quite fast, and now unfortunately he won’t run marathons any more,” Meza’s wife, Tina, told the Daily Beast, adding that her husband told her he was going out for a run Thursday morning and never returned. Rescue workers found his body in the river below Figueroa Street around 10 a.m. and pronounced him dead at the scene. In March, Meza finished the Los Angeles Marathon in 2 hours 53 minutes 10 seconds, unofficially the fastest-ever time for a man his age. The record pace almost immediately aroused suspicion in the distance-running community, especially because Meza had twice been disqualified and eventually banned from a marathon in Sacramento, and an running journalist named Derek Murphy published a story in May that provided photographic evidence that claimed Meza had cut the course. Meza denied cheating, saying he merely left the course to use the restroom and immediately returned. But on Monday, the Los Angeles Marathon’s organizer announced that it had disqualified Meza based on video evidence and an eyewitness account that he had left the course and then reentered it in a different location. The organizer also found that he had posted a midrace five-kilometer split time that would have set the world record at that distance for the 70-to-74 age group, “an impossible feat during a marathon.” The marathon did say that Meza would be allowed to participate in the 2020 race if he allowed an observer to track his path. “That’s my only silver lining,” he said. Meza, a lifelong runner and retired physician who had worked to provide health care to low-income Southern California residents, didn’t start running marathons until later in life. He began to attract attention when his marathon times went from about 3½


After complaints from blind riders, Metro to offer travel help during shutdown

is very interested in the idea, Blake said, and began researching technologies like Aira’s several months ago. The transit agency hopes eventually to offer blind riders something like Aira all the time, not just during shutdowns, Blake said. “This type of solution would be good in that not only is it for Yellow and Blue riders right now, but it could be for next year and next year and whatever other emergencies crop up,” Sheehan said. While supportive of both motions passed Monday, Blake said at the meeting that he thinks the best solution is to double down on “travel training,” a complementary service Metro provides in which staffers or contracted employees teach blind commuters their routes to work. Travel training is available all the time, not just during shutdowns, Blake said. Blake said Metro did not conduct “special outreach” to ensure that blind travelers affected by the shutdown were aware the agency offers such training. “I think one of the things we’ve learned from this is that we should do more marketing ahead,” Blake said. “In the future, I know additional marketing of a step-by-step travel training will occur.” Still, when it comes to this shutdown, Posner said Monday that it may be too late for travel training. “Travel training would be great if it had started a year ago, or six months ago,” he said at the meeting. “But now, how many hundreds of people need the travel training during this four-month period? I just don’t think it’s possible.” Blake also promised Monday that Metro would work to ensure all its shutdown shuttles stop at the same locations. Metro replaced service between the closed stations with free buses and hired new drivers or reassigned Metrobus operators to drive them. Blind riders say the system has led to constantly shifting points for pickups and drop-offs, which they find disorienting. Blake said the shuttles are supposed to park in the same spots, though individual drivers may have stopped complying. “We need to establish a firm policy that Bus A has to stop at this bay and then let it be known that is the case,” Blake said at the meeting. “And if we’re going to change the bay that it has to stop at, for any reason, we need to have a robust dialogue.” The shutdown, which affects an estimated 17,000 daily riders, is scheduled to end Sept. 8. hannah.natanson@washpost.com


How federal investigators pieced together the deadly Flower Branch explosion

the gas company. Neither Boye nor Francisque could be reached for comment. If the explosion came from the basement room, investigators said, there could have been various potential causes. Gasoline-powered maintenance equipment was stored there. And there was the possibility of something criminal — a clandestine drug lab or arson. But ATF investigators soon ruled out these scenarios. The room had been frequented by apartment maintenance workers; they reasoned a drug lab would have been noticed. A half-full gasoline container was found after the explosion, but its cap remained in place. And a security guard for the complex had armed the basement’s alarm about 9 p.m. that evening. “Had somebody entered the meter room prior to the explosion, the alarm would have sounded and recorded the violation,” ATF investigators said in their report. Investigators concluded that escaped natural gas had built up in the room and somehow ignited. That theory meant the potential culprits were the gas meters and related equipment that lined one wall, the piping that led to those meters, and a gas-powered hot water heater that also occupied the room. The explosion had destroyed it all. Still, among the twisted and broken pipes, investigators found key evidence. They noticed that gas piping going into the hot water heater was largely intact and that a length of pipe that included the gas shut-off valve was still attached. The end of the pipe section was broken completely, but lab work confirmed the break was “consistent with an overstress separation.” In other words, it probably came apart in the explosion, not beforehand. In contrast, in piping associated with the gas meters, ATF investigators found a disconnected threaded fitting that appeared undamaged. Had the explosion torn the fitting apart, investigators theorized, the threads would have been stripped or deformed. The fitting was meant to connect a vent pipe to regulators, which reduce the pressure of gas coming into a building. If a regulator leaks or fails, the vent pipe is supposed to carry gas safely outdoors, where it can dissipate. ATF investigators surmised that the fitting had been disconnected before the blast. That meant a failed regulator could have allowed gas to accumulate inside the basement. Still, ATF investigators classified the explosion’s cause as undetermined and left further investigation to the NTSB. The disconnected vent pipe turned the regulators into prime suspects. But they had been made of metal alloys that


Russia readies S-400 missiles for Turkey amid warnings of U.S. sanctions on NATO ally

MOSCOW — Russia will begin delivering its S-400 air defense system to NATO member Turkey in the coming days, a Kremlin spokesman said Friday, in a deal likely to trigger U.S. sanctions and test the bonds of the Western military alliance. But the scope of the possible response from Washington remains clouded by apparent conflicting messages. President Trump has publicly shown sympathy for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to purchase the Russian air defense system. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, has warned of tough measures, such as canceling sales of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, unless it aborts the deal with Russia. Also looming is the possibility of mandatory U.S. sanctions against Turkey under a 2017 law on cooperation with “adversaries.” On Friday, the State Department reinforced the warnings of “very real and negative consequences” for Turkey. Meanwhile, for the wider NATO alliance, the Turkish deal strikes at the heart of military coordination. NATO has expressed worry that the S-400 is incompatible with Turkey’s possession of the U.S.-made F-35s and could give Russia access to secrets of its stealth technology. The U.S. measures, if carried out, would cause an extraordinary breach in U.S.-Turkey relations and almost certainly complicate ongoing negotiations between the two countries over other issues, including military strategy in Syria. The latest crisis comes less than a year after another argument between the United States and Turkey: over the imprisonment of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor, which led both countries to impose sanctions and dealt a blow to the Turkish economy. Erdogan “has made his decision, and we are going to live through the consequences,” said Aaron Stein, the director of the Middle East program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. “If you thought Brunson was bad — this is far, far worse.” Erdogan has said that his deal with Russia is part of Turkey’s sovereign right to defend itself and denied that the purchase threatened NATO. “Turkey adds value and strength to NATO, too, and expands its vision and scope,” he said at a graduation ceremony at the National Defense University in Istanbul on Friday, according to his office. “As we defend the rights of our country and our friends in the international arena, we see that the embargoes that we are exposed to in the defense industry increase,” Erdogan said. While U.S. officials have portrayed the sanctions against Turkey as a matter


PM Update: Showers/storms likely tonight through Monday morning, with flash flooding possible

* 6 p.m. update: Original post Please be weather alert later today into tonight and Monday morning because nearly all of the area is under a Flash Flood Watch from 6 p.m. today until 6 a.m. Monday. Slow-moving showers and storms will probably develop late this afternoon and especially into mid-evening. Heavy or even torrential rain could be seen across parts of the area along with frequent lightning. Showers and an embedded storm or two remain in play through the Monday morning rush but should start to dissipate tomorrow afternoon. Listen to our daily D.C. forecasts: Through tonight: Lows will slip to around 70 or the low 70s, while winds blow from the east at around 5 mph. View the Tomorrow (Monday): See Excessive rainfall outlook for tonight into tomorrow: Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox?


Teaching global warming in a charged political climate

carbon into the atmosphere. Scientists can determine if these emissions are affecting the climate only by following patterns over time. As they scooted out of the classroom on the first day of Lau’s two-day lesson, a few of the sixth-graders said this was the first they had heard of climate change. Others said they knew a little about it. “The greenhouse gas gets trapped in our atmosphere and it’s melting ice caps,” explained Jewel Horn, who said she’d learned about the topic previously in science class. She said she didn’t worry or talk about the topic much: “It’s not that big of a problem unless we do nothing.” In teaching about climate change, Lau says she is fortunate to have support from her school’s administration. She has also learned how to choose her words carefully, especially given so many people in the state (including members of her family) earn a living from carbon-intensive industries such as farming, oil and gas. “I tell my students, just because your parents are currently working for Devon or Chesapeake, what they are doing every day is not bad and evil,” she said, mentioning two of the big Oklahoma-based energy companies. “It’s just that overall, we need to start looking for other directions.” Teaching about climate change got a boost six years ago with the release of the Next Generation Science Standards, which instruct teachers to introduce students to climate change and its human causes beginning in middle school. To date, 20 states plus the District have adopted the standards, and many other states have embraced a modified version. All told, 37 states and the District recognize human-caused climate change in their science standards, says the National Center for Science Education. Oklahoma’s standards And just because something is in the standards doesn’t mean it’s being taught universally, or effectively, especially given that textbooks take time to be updated. “We’re in a transition period right now,” said David Evans, executive director of the National Science Teaching Association, which issued a position statement in September endorsing the teaching of climate change. To teach climate change, educators are turning to a growing number of online materials that have emerged to fill the gaps. Professional development opportunities are popping up, too, although teachers often have to cover the costs to attend. Last summer, Lau spent 32 days in northern Alaska for professional training for teachers. A native of rural


10 food trends you’re about to start seeing everywhere

NEW YORK — Every year, at an event called the Summer Fancy Food Show, purveyors of specialty foods hawk their wares in New York, and try to catch the attention of buyers from major supermarket brands such as Whole Foods. But it’s also a great place to spot trends — stuff you see at Fancy Food inevitably pops up on grocery store shelves by the end of the year. (Not to mention the free samples are out of control — it’s like the world’s biggest Costco.) Plenty of trends from last year are still hot — ayurvedic and functional foods, tinned fish and moringa are still going strong. What will we be eating and drinking more of in 2020? Here are some ideas. Collagen “Evidence for their effectiveness on human skin outside of the laboratory setting is still scarce,” one dermatologist told Elle Magazine. Many of the studies citing the benefits of collagen consumption were done by the brands themselves. “Supplements are the Wild West,” another dermatologist told Self Magazine. “They are not well regulated, so you can pretty much claim a lot of things that aren’t substantiated in science or in proof.” But hey, don’t let pesky science get in the way! Collagen-infused products were one of the biggest trends at Fancy Food this year, with beautifully packaged snacks and drinks marketed toward women 30 and older. One is Coco Luxe, a line of pastel-packaged functional coconut waters, one of which contains collagen and acai, for a “daily lift to your beauty regime,” according to the product’s marketing materials. Garden of Flavor, a maker of cold-pressed juices, has a line of Energy Elixirs, which contain probiotics and guayusa leaf, a cousin of yerba mate. One of the flavors is aloe and collagen. Reneva Boozy and booze-adjacent tea Sober-curious Puffed snacks A subcategory of puffed snacks is peanut puffs, and there were a lot of them at Fancy Food. P-nuff Crunch makes protein-rich baked peanut puffs in flavors including cocoa and cinnamon. Nutibles Puffs are peanut-butter coated baked corn puffs. Mighty is another brand of puffy peanut snack. And Earth’s Best Organic makes organic peanut butter baked corn puffs that are geared toward kids, with Elmo on the bag. Popped lotus and water lily seeds Fancy Gatorade CBD Oat milk everything Cheese takes new shapes Balls! More from Voraciously: Beyond Meat’s latest plant-based burger is meatier, juicier and a big


The Finance 202: The economy is lifting Trump’s approval rating but leaving many Americans behind

under labor conditions it considered unfair and contrary to the rules in the pact. However, he said, a loophole meant Mexico could theoretically block a dispute panel from being created.” — Trump tariffs are hurting older steel mills. Bloomberg's Matthew Townsend and Joe Deaux: “Exuberance over the levies dramatically boosted U.S. output just as the global economy was cooling, undercutting demand. That dropped prices, creating a stark divide between companies like Nucor Corp., that use cheaper-to-run electric-arc furnaces to recycle scrap into steel products, and those including U.S. Steel Corp., with more costly legacy blast furnaces. “Since Trump announced the tariffs 16 months ago, U.S. Steel has lost almost 70% of its market value, or $5.5 billion, and idled two American furnaces in mid-June that couldn’t be run profitably at the lowest prices since 2016.” — U.S. clears Softbank’s investment in G.M.-backed Cruise: “Cruise, a U.S. self-driving vehicle company majority-owned by General Motors Co, told Reuters on Friday that a U.S. national security panel approved a $2.25 billion investment in the firm by Japan’s SoftBank Corp,” Reuters’s Alexandra Alper and Greg Roumeliotis report. “SoftBank has come under increasing U.S. scrutiny over its ties to Chinese firms in the face of an escalating trade and technology war between Washington and Beijing. It is in the process of raising its second $100 billion investment vehicle, dubbed Vision Fund, after deploying its first one of equal size. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews deals for potential national security concerns, approved the investment based on fresh assurances that Cruise’s technology would be completely off limits to SoftBank, a source familiar with the matter said.” — “Trump is a huge headache for Deutsche. But the bank has plenty more”: “Investigations surrounding Deutsche Bank’s more than decade-long relationship with [Trump] and his business have created a crisis for the German financial giant,” my colleague Renae Merle reports. “It’s caught in a legal tug of war between Trump and House Democrats for the president’s financial records and calls for broad investigations of its anti-money-laundering practices.” “Once a global powerhouse, catering to the U.S. elite from a tower on Wall Street, Deutsche Bank’s fortunes have waned. Sunday, it announced a sweeping restructuring, including gutting its stock and bond trading business and reducing other investment bank operations. The overhaul will mean as many as 18,000 job cuts by 2022 out of its 90,000 workers.


After helping Arlington land Amazon, Victor Hoskins to become Fairfax County’s economic development chief

previously headed economic development efforts in Prince George’s County, served as deputy mayor for planning and development under then-D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), led Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development, and was deputy commissioner of Baltimore’s Department of Housing and Community Development. “Victor has been an economic-development dynamo in our region for years,” Catherine Lange, chair of Fairfax’s economic development authority board, said in a statement. “We are thrilled he is bringing his experience and expertise to Fairfax County.” The agency declined to disclose Hoskins’s salary. Amazon’s arrival has sparked worries about a resulting increase in area housing prices, which the company has tried to offset by donating $3 million toward the creation of affordable housing in Arlington and by planning to be engaged in controlling the effects of its expansion in the Washington area. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Hoskins’s role in luring Amazon to the region marked another milestone in a 23-year economic development career that, in Arlington, includes presiding over the arrival of Nestle USA and the Gerber baby food company to Rosslyn last year and the German supermarket Lidl in 2015. He also helped keep the Drug Enforcement Administration from moving its headquarters out of Pentagon City. The county offered $11.5 million in financial incentives to the agency’s landlord, Clarion Partners, earlier this year. In the District, Hoskins helped begin the ongoing transformation of the Wharf area on the city’s southwestern waterfront, the mixed-use CityCenterDC development near downtown and the arrival of new restaurants and other businesses at Union Market. “I can’t begrudge him leaving,” Christian Dorsey, chair of the Arlington County Board, said about Hoskins’s decision to leave for Fairfax. “The nature of this business is they go where the challenge is greater and the need is greater.” Fairfax is home to 10 Fortune 500 companies and Tysons, which county officials are working to transform into an urban landscape of new restaurants, office towers and high-rise residential buildings. But the county of 1.1 million residents has had trouble shaking its bedroom community image, losing out to Arlington, Alexandria and the District in luring millennials — and their money. In hopes of leveraging Amazon’s arrival to the region, Fairfax’s economic development authority recently launched a $1 million program to attract those younger workers through digital advertising, social media and other forms of outreach — with a focus on


He was fired after being arrested, but the charges were dropped. Now he wants his job back.

An ex-security guard is suing his former employer, asserting that the company inappropriately fired him after his arrest in an extortion and theft case. Craig Hymon was one of four security guards at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who were arrested and charged in 2017 amid accusations that they were demanding payouts from other guards for passing marks on their firearms certifications. Hymon had two security jobs at the time and stated in federal court documents that when he was arrested and detained for 36 hours in allegations related to his work at NOAA, he had no way of contacting his employers in an unrelated position working for Paragon Systems. Paragon suspended him without pay, saying he violated company policy by failing to notify management of his arrest within 12 hours of being taken into custody, according to the documents filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland. Hymon alleges that he was unfairly suspended and later fired, contending that other officers who have failed to notify Paragon of their arrests after the 12-hour policy window did not receive the same punishment he did. Paragon denied in court documents that Hymon was unfairly treated or retaliated against due to his union involvement or that his discipline was discriminatory. The company also denied that white workers were treated differently than minority employees. Hymon, who is black and was a union steward for the Governed United Security Professionals, was later fired, and then was unable to get his job back even after the charges against him were dropped due to insufficient evidence, his attorney Andrew Nyombi said. “He was fired for reasons based on race discrimination because comparative white workers who had criminal records were arrested but were never fired,” Nyombi said. “The charges have impacted him so much. He’s suffered so much emotional distress.” Paragon said in court documents that the company did terminate his employment but denied that Hymon was fired because of his union involvement or race. R. Scott Krause, the attorney representing Paragon, said neither he nor his client had any comment on the matter. The criminal case that led to Hymon’s suit against Paragon dates to fall 2017, when he and three others — Diamond Mabry, 27, of Capitol Heights; Chidinma Ileka, 36, of Beltsville; and Vicson Johnson, 43, of Temple Hills — were arrested. As employees for North American Security, which provides security for NOAA, they


Why the United States should sanction the mastermind of China’s crackdown on the Uighurs

against the architect of the Xinjiang camps without directly challenging Beijing. The move falls far short of the policy we ultimately need, but it would represent a step in the right direction. Chen Quanguo is the man behind China’s “reeducation centers.” He is an obvious candidate for Global Magnitsky sanctions. The original Sergei Magnitsky Act became law in December 2012. It required the administration to impose sanctions on those involved in the murder of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in prison after reportedly uncovering a tax fraud scheme. It also slapped sanctions on individuals in Russia “responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals seeking to expose illegal activity carried out by officials of the Government of the Russian Federation; or to obtain, exercise, defend, or promote internationally recognized human rights and freedoms.” Realizing that it now had a tool to combat human rights abuses by other governments, Congress in 2016 passed into law the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. When the Trump administration implemented the Global Magnitsky Act through Executive Order 13818, the law became applicable to any person around the world “responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse.” Since then, the United States has imposed Global Magnitsky sanctions on more than 100 people and entities hailing from such places as South Sudan, Russia, Belgium, Israel, Gambia, Guatemala, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Pakistan, Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The measure makes enough noise to rattle the country engaged in human rights abuses. At the same time, it is targeted enough to ensure that the fallout can be contained. In August of last year, the Trump administration used these sanctions to punish Turkish officials for their unlawful detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson for almost two years. (Ankara’s rush to release Brunson two months later is proof that targeted sanctions can work.) In November, the administration targeted 17 Saudis for the murder of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi — although critics say this did not go far enough. Chen is a perfect target for Global Magnitsky sanctions. According to a profile that appeared last year by Bloomberg News, Chen was appointed as the Chinese Communist Party’s top official in Tibet, which was then experiencing unrest. He reportedly deployed CCP loyalists to villages, Buddhist temples


Our new Saddam Hussein

called for a halt to the closed Saudi trial of 11 lower-level operatives blamed for the murder, and for an independent investigation by U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, or the FBI. The report also called for sanctions to be imposed on Mohammed bin Salman and his foreign assets “until and unless evidence is provided and corroborated that he carries no responsibility for this execution.” The official silence that has greeted the report has been deafening. Guterres, who has been a profile in timidity, did not respond to Callamard’s call for an investigation; as of last week, he had yet even to meet with her. Europe, too, has been silent. At the G-20 summit, Trump met Mohammed bin Salman for breakfast and declared he was doing “a spectacular job.” Later, the president answered a question about Khashoggi by saying there was no “finger directly” pointing at the crown prince — though both Callamard’s report and a CIA assessment have done just that. During a visit to Washington last week, Callamard appeared undeterred. “Many governments have attempted to bury it and say, ‘Let’s move on,’ but that killing is not going to disappear,” she said during an appearance at the Brookings Institution. Trump notwithstanding, she is counting on justice to come from the United States. “I think this is the only place where political accountability is going to work,” she said during a meeting at The Post. There is still some hope of that: Legislation pending in the House would require the director of national intelligence to report on those responsible for the Khashoggi murder, and would require a visa ban to be applied to them. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to consider other bills this week. But as long as Trump is president, Mohammed bin Salman is unlikely to face direct U.S. sanction; all the congressional bills either exclude him or grant Trump the power to do so. Like Saddam Hussein before him, Mohammed bin Salman has concluded that he is immune. Women he ordered tortured are still in prison. His planes are still bombing Yemen. And he is taking the first steps toward acquiring nuclear weapons. Because Western governments do not stop him now, they will have to do it later — when the cost is likely to be far higher. Read more from Jackson Diehl’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.


Fear not, parents: Your middle kids are going to be just fine.

have been paying closer attention to our preschooler and wondering how her position as a middle child is affecting her. Courtney Bolton, a clinical child psychologist and parenting coach in Nashville, helps families navigate the day-to-day challenges of raising kids. “As a psychologist, I do believe birth order influences our development in the context of family relationships, and as a mother of four, I also believe middle children are uniquely positioned within that family dynamic,” she says. Bolton’s kids range from seven months to 9 years old. But that does not necessarily mean the warnings about “middle-child syndrome” ring true. While the existence of this “condition” continues to be debated, you have probably heard of the supposed effects: That middle kids all grow up feeling lonely, neglected and bitter thanks to their birth order. “What I don’t love about middle-child syndrome,” Bolton says, “is the oversimplification and focus on negative qualities, like jealousy and neediness.” To be fair, I anticipate plenty of neediness and jealousy from each of our kids, given their ages. But I am curious about the years ahead, and I wonder what practices my husband and I should think about implementing now to help our girls — especially our middle daughter — feel seen and heard. According to Sanam Hafeez, a neuropsychologist and faculty member at Columbia University, the solution is pretty straightforward. “For many psychologists, the explanation for middle-child syndrome comes from the amount of individual time children have with their parents.” Hafeez explains a common setup for a family of five, like mine: A firstborn child gets years of one-on-one attention, which the second child will never have. Then a third kid comes along, further reducing that already shared time and potentially causing the middle child to feel overshadowed. However, she says, “It’s important to look at each family unit and observe how the wheels turn.” Not all middle children feel ignored or resentful, and the ones who do, she says, do not necessarily feel that way because of where they fall in the sibling lineup. For some, though, the experience of being a middle child is felt more acutely. This was the case for Aja Barber, a writer and stylist currently based in London, when she was growing up. Now in her mid-30s, Barber cites clear disadvantages to being the middle child of three girls. “I often felt that I had to fight to


attention and feel more like outsiders in their own families.” But overall, he says, the support for the influence of birth order is mixed. It would be wrong to say there is absolutely no influence, he says, “but a lot of people want to use it like a Zodiac — that part of it doesn’t hold up quite so much.” Susan Nason, a parent educator and interfaith minister, has spent 30 years helping parents develop more conscious parenting tactics. Trained by her aunt, the author and communication expert Adele Faber, Nason leads parenting workshops in New York centered on themes from the popular books “How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk” and “Siblings Without Rivalry.” Nason is not convinced birth order matters much. “Every single child wants your undivided attention,” she says. “They want to know they’re seen and heard. Does being a middle child impact you in different ways? It probably does, but the reality is each child, no matter where they place in their family, wants the same thing.” In advising parents, Bolton also stresses the importance of being intentional and proactive in spending time individually with each child, but she recognizes that families’ lives are busy. “Parents get overwhelmed with creating experiences for each of their children when just going to the grocery store without other siblings or snuggling while having that first cup of coffee in the morning may be all they need.” After that hectic family breakfast last week, my husband suggested I take our middle daughter with me to run errands for some special one-on-one time. My daughter and I walked unhurried through each aisle of the grocery store, talking while we searched for the items on our list. She carried around a coveted ring pop and fell in love with a pair of firefighter rain boots on clearance, which she proudly wore to the checkout. She seemed to be having fun, but I’m not sure how important that one-on-one time is to her just yet. Every few minutes she paused to tell me, “I wish my sisters were here with us.” Kirsten Clodfelter is a freelance writer in Southern Indiana. Find her online at Follow More reading: When the baby begins to drive Parents are experts at juggling. But here’s what happened the day I dropped the ball. The gifts our dying dog gave to my sons


The Health 202: A judge ruled Trump administration can’t mandate drug prices in TV ads

for failing to provide adequate oversight and enforcement for those providers. In one such circumstance, a patient who was living at home under hospice care had a “maggot infestation” where a feeding tube entered his abdomen. The patient was under the care of Vitas Healthcare, the nation’s largest hospice chain, as our Post colleague Christopher Rowland reports. The chain isn’t named in the watchdog report but The Post “identified the 2016 Missouri case by reviewing state inspection records and matching them to the specific circumstances described by the inspector general.” “Other dire cases listed by the inspector general included a patient whose pressure ulcers developed gangrene, resulting in an amputation; a patient whose injuries from an apparent sexual assault were missed and discovered only at a hospital; and another who did not receive appropriate medication and died in pain,” he writes. “Despite the seriousness of the harm, the hospices in each of the dozen cases did not face serious consequences — largely because Medicare has few disciplinary tools at its disposal, the inspector general said.” The report also found Medicare does not give consumers many options to vet hospice providers or a process to report complaints. OUCH: A new study of more than 200 babies found that a third of toddlers exposed to the Zika virus in the womb experienced developmental and other problems. That was true even if the toddlers were born without microcephaly, the abnormally small head that has become one of the physical traits associated with the disease. The researchers found a very small number of the toddlers in the study who were born with microcephaly saw their symptoms improve, our Post colleague Lindsey Bever reports. “The researchers found that eight of those children had microcephaly — four developed it at birth and remained affected by it, two were born without it but fit the diagnostic criteria within the first year, and two were born with it but grew out of it, according to the study,” Lindsey writes. There was also a higher rate of autism found among the children who were exposed to Zika. The new research highlights the subtlety and complexity of the defects associated with Zika, infectious disease expert Albert Ko, who was not part of the study, told Lindsey. “Because a large number of children without microcephaly are nevertheless still suffering neurosensory and developmental problems, children who were exposed to the virus before


Unique water dragon dies at zoo; was born without male contribution

One of Washington’s small wonders, a water dragon that was born by a process that might challenge the imagination, has died at the National Zoo, according to an announcement Friday from the zoo. The wondrous creature was the Asian water dragon that was born at the zoo Aug. 24, 2016, in an event, the zoo said, that marked the first ronfirmed birth of a member of its species without any contribution from a male. The female parent did not breed with a male, and male genetic material was not provided, the zoo said. Instead, the resulting female was born through a process known as parthenogenesis, when females produce an offspring on their own. The dragon’s birth, which came during a study of fertility, was said to result from a special type of parthenogenesis, called facultative parthenogenesis. That meant it was the offspring of a species that could breed either with male input or without. The water dragon is native to Southeast Asia, and its median life expectancy is 10 to 15 years, the zoo said. But a little more than two months short of its third birthday, things went wrong for Washington’s first-of-a-kind Asian water dragon. About 1:30 p.m. June 14, the zoo said, keepers in the zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center found it lethargic with difficulty breathing. It was taken to the zoo’s animal hospital to receive fluids, oxygen, heat and antibiotics. Despite support and care into the evening, the animal was found dead in her enclosure about 9:45 p.m., the zoo said. The zoo said the dragon’s death was due to blood cancer. martin.weil@washpost.com


Readers critique The Post: Ageism, skateboarding and the International Space Station

the limit Thanks for the June 23 Sports article “Little girl with big dreams,” featuring Sky Brown, a 10-year-old girl attempting to qualify for the 2020 Olympic skateboarding event. It is admirable to see a person so young who not only has a goal but also is striving hard to achieve it, competing against adults with many more years of experience in the sport. William Steigelmann ● Calling foul on an unfair portrayal Sally Jenkins’s June 26 Sports column on the NCAA, “Emmert rules NCAA like it’s a feudal state. His time is up.,” was an excessive and unfair twofer: It combined an incomplete and misleading picture of the NCAA’s communication with the state of California over SB-206, the Fair Pay to Play Act, with an unwarranted, personal attack on NCAA President Mark Emmert. The NCAA did send a letter to the California legislature regarding that legislation, which would compensate student-athletes for the use of their image. But the letter does not take a position on the bill, much less oppose it. Rather, it “request[s] respectfully” and “humbly ask[s]” California to delay action until October, when an NCAA task force that includes university presidents, athletics directors and student-athletes will issue a report with recommendations. Jenkins failed to mention that the Pac-12, Mountain West and Big West conferences had previously sent similar letters to the California legislature with the same request. Contrary to her assertion, there is nothing in the letter that threatens or extorts the state. The letter does not, as is clearly implied, mention the Rose Bowl or the 2023 College Football Playoff championship game. Indeed, as Jenkins surely knows, the NCAA does not even oversee the College Football Playoff; that is done by a completely separate organization. The NCAA letter makes clear that it fully understands the widespread interest in allowing a student’s name, image and likeness to be monetized but is anxious to find ways to ensure that doing so does not totally erode the line that separates professional and college sports. If policymakers want to make fundamental changes in college sports, it seems well worthwhile to get it right. “Measure twice, cut once” is a good rule for carpenters and legislatures. Terry W. Hartle The writer is senior vice president of the American Council on Education. ● The emotional meltdown after Three Mile Island The June 18 Metro article “Virginia uranium ban is upheld” said the


Readers critique The Post: More sexist criticism of the U.S. women’s national soccer team

sexualized in movies. I am tired of the inequality of this and other issues in the movie industry. Several decades ago, I started reading reviews from Screen It to make sure I do not watch or promote movies that are sexually exploiting women. I am extremely happy these days that more and more movies are taking the exploitative sexual scenes out and thus giving me more of a choice of what to watch. Beth Malloy ● One woman who should be Not that the Trump administration isn’t ripe with corruption and collusion, but Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is in a major scandal. And bupkis in The Post. There can’t be that many people on vacation. The Post has a duty. Randy Stein ● Adding to the grief While I see the relevance of stating the facts of Tony Rodham’s life in his June 11 obituary, “Youngest brother of Hillary Clinton,” I do not understand why The Post published a photograph of him with his first wife when his current wife — and mother of their two young children — has been married to him for 14 years, nursed him through an extensive illness and is now going about the business of laying him to rest. An easily preventable error such as this unnecessarily added to the family’s grief. Mary Spence Smith ● The Manx cat of formalwear The June 14 Metro article “Musicians rally to save the symphony” said members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra wore tuxedos with tails to lobby the Maryland governor for funding. Tuxedos don’t have tails! Tuxedos are dinner jackets with satin lapels. They are traditionally worn with black bow ties and black vests or cummerbunds. The musicians were wearing full dress evening suits, which include a tail coat, white vest or waistcoat and a white bow tie. The article was written by a political reporter, not one who covers style or culture, so it’s not unreasonable that she wouldn’t know this. But The Post should have knowledgeable proofreaders to backstop its reporters. Joan Hartman Moore ● Wanna know more about tuxes? Regarding Robin Givhan’s June 12 Style article, “ ‘The most natural person on TV’ ”: I have no interest in fashion, fashion models or the fashion industry. I am not generally a fan of anyone or anything. One exception is the writing of Givhan. Givhan’s writing is seductive in the best way. Givhan does


Facing uproar over Khashoggi killing, Saudi Arabia invited global press freedom group for visit

ISTANBUL — Saudi Arabia, in a rare attempt to engage critics of its human rights record, privately received a delegation this spring from Reporters without Borders, the global press freedom group’s secretary general disclosed Tuesday. The four-person delegation met with senior Saudi officials during the April visit, including the public prosecutor and the minister of justice, according to Christophe Deloire, who spoke publicly about the trip for the first time. The delegation demanded a thorough investigation of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and pressed for the “unconditional and immediate release” of at least 30 journalists unfairly imprisoned in the kingdom, Deloire said. The invitation was the first from the Saudi government to RSF, he said, and the level of access the delegation was given was rare. Afterward, the group kept the visit quiet, hoping that Saudi authorities might release at least some of the journalists, perhaps during the holy month of Ramadan. But nothing happened. Ramadan came and went, weeks passed, and no journalists were released, Deloire said. “We need action,” he added, explaining the decision to publicize the visit. Saudi officials have frequently bristled at the public-shaming tactics used by advocacy groups to criticize the kingdom’s human rights record, calling such campaigns counterproductive. But RSF’s private engagement with the Saudi government suggested that alternative tactics might be fruitless, as well — at a time when the authorities, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are pursuing perceived dissidents and clamping down on free expression with a largely unprecedented vigor, according to analysts. A Saudi government media office did not respond to questions about RSF’s visit. In the meantime, efforts to publicly discredit the Saudi government’s policies have continued apace. On Tuesday, the singer Nicki Minaj announced she was canceling a scheduled appearance in Saudi Arabia after facing public pressure from human rights groups to withdraw. “I believe it is important for me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and freedom of expression,” she said in a statement provided to the Associated Press. The list of imprisoned media workers that RSF presented to Saudi officials included professional reporters and citizen journalists. One of the people on the list — Marwan al-Muraisy, a Yemeni journalist — briefly contacted his family after RSF’s visit, following months of uncertainty about his whereabouts, in what might have been the visit’s sole achievement. One person on


Congress is determined to reset the U.S.-Saudi relationship

to address the Khashoggi murder and more than 50 bills addressing Saudi Arabia overall. In May, the Senate failed to override Trump’s veto of a bill to end most U.S. military support for the Saudi war in Yemen. Late Tuesday, Risch introduced a new bill called the Saudi Arabia Diplomatic Review Act of 2019, which he hopes will be the basis for real action and a real change in policy. “The objective here is to maintain the relationship and at the same time bring [the Saudis] to the realization and change of conduct that needs to be done if the relationship is to be continued,” Risch said. “It can’t continue in the direction that it’s going. I have met with the Saudis and told them that they are only one Khashoggi-type of event away from having to find a new partner.” After several conversations with Trump about his legislation, Risch told me he is “cautiously optimistic” the president would sign it into law. Trump’s own comments on Saudi Arabia have alarmed lawmakers. Case in point: He said at the recent Group of 20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, that MBS was doing “really, a spectacular job” in reforming Saudi Arabia and there was no “finger directly” pointing at MBS for the Khashoggi murder, which is not true. The CIA and Agnes Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, have both concluded that MBS very likely ordered the murder. Risch’s legislation endorses previously passed Senate legislation that states Congress “believes Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi” and calls for accountability. But the Risch legislation does not call on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to publicly identify all Saudis involved in the murder and ban them from entering the United States, as does a House bill sponsored by Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.). His bill was approved unanimously by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month and could soon be added to the House’s version of the defense authorization bill. Risch’s bill would deny visas to all members of the Saudi royal family who serve in the Saudi government up to the minister level, until Trump is able to certify that the Saudi regime has made progress on broad human rights issues. Trump would be able to waive these visa sanctions if he determines they are in the national interest.


The lost art of ideological warfare

case that the downsides of aligning with China are not worth the cheap capital. Secondly, the United States can make it more difficult for the CCP to use emerging technologies to exercise domestic political control. Taking a page from the Reagan administration’s emphasis on blocking the transfer of sensitive technologies to the Soviet Union, Congress could take up legislation that would block U.S. exports from supporting party-directed firms such as Huawei and ZTE, and deny sales of critical technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The private sector should chip in, too. Silicon Valley should exclude technology partnerships with Chinese entities that are likely to exacerbate human rights abuses and promote the party’s surveillance state. Finally, U.S. policymakers must differentiate between the Chinese people and the Chinese Communist Party. Just as Reagan sympathized with and supported Soviet citizens against the system that oppressed them, the United States must make it clear it has no quarrel with the people of China. Vice President Pence hit the right note last October when he emphasized CCP oppression, including of religious minorities. The key is to demonstrate, in ways that resonate with the Chinese people, that the party is their oppressor and not their champion. At every opportunity, U.S. policymakers should highlight the concentration camps of Xinjiang and make the case that this arbitrary mass detention and pervasive surveillance state is the logical conclusion of a corrupt regime. Discrediting the CCP in the eyes of the world and the Chinese people will not be an easy process. Neither was opening up the Soviet Union. But the million or more courageous Hong Kong residents who are standing up to the CCP in defense of their remaining freedoms should give us cause for long-term optimism. While it may be too much to hope for similar protests across the mainland anytime soon, the 30th anniversary of both Tiananmen and the fall of the Berlin Wall reminds us that totalitarians are frequently less secure than they outwardly appear. The United States may be in an earlier stage of its great power competition than Reagan was during the Moscow spring of 1988, but his road map to victory is no less relevant today. By rediscovering the lost art of ideological warfare, the United States can live up to Reagan’s legacy and ensure that the Chinese Communist Party joins the Soviet Union on the ash heap of history. Read more:


The Energy 202: Trump wants to create a Space Force. But he should perhaps be thinking harder about space weather.

On Tuesday, a pinkish, spirally wisp dangled outward from the sun. Those watching this summer's rare total solar eclipse would not have missed it. A live-feed of the celestial event passing over Chile and Argentina provided a close-up of the fetal fiery ejection as telescopes zoomed in on the dark disk closing over the sun’s edge. This was a solar flare in the making. Most such phenomena are not noteworthy. But, in recorded history, many have careened directly toward earth, carrying the power of up to 10 billion atomic bombs. “Solar eclipses are a public reminder that space weather is all around us,” said David DeVorkin a historian at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM). Last week, millions looked up to awe at the heavens as a small slice of Chile and Argentina witnessed the full eclipse. Meanwhile, many eclipse-chasing scientists worked to better predict these solar flares, and the fire balls they expel known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), so that they don’t catch us on our heels and cause mass disruptions of earth’s electric grid. “They literally fry transformers,” said Robert Leamon, a NASA-affiliated research scientist. This is exactly what happened in March 1989 when the entire province of Quebec in Canada went dark. Three days prior, scientists observed a powerful explosion from the sun. When the CME — carrying its own ball of magnetism — struck earth’s magnetic field, it created a violent electrical change in the ground. That charge, according to NASA, found a weakness in Canada’s electrical grid. A NASA rendering demonstrated how this massive blackout was visible from space. The “northern lights” extended down from the poles and was visible in Cuba. The Canadian event and last week’s developing solar flare proves the earth is at the mercy of space weather, including the sun’s burps and power-charged belches. According to scientists, future events like this can be mitigated in two major ways. And policy plays a big role in making that happen. “Sure, that’s a concern at this point in our Space Age,” says DeVorkin of NASM. But that doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon. The Trump administration’s focus on creating a Space Force largely excludes this type of solar research. Most space-related investment under Trump would be heavily channeled to activities giving the U.S. a military advantage in outer space. Understanding the mysteries of the sun — and how it interferes


World Digest: July 11, 2019

VENEZUELA Intelligence agency hit with U.S. sanctions The Trump administration imposed sanctions Thursday on Venezuela’s military intelligence agency, which is accused of torturing to death a navy captain in its custody. The latest move by the Treasury Department to pressure President Nicolás Maduro from power followed a round of talks in Barbados between Maduro’s government and opposition leaders aimed at ending Venezuela’s political crisis. Both sides said Thursday that advances had been made and that further talks would be held next week. The sanctions targeting Venezuela’s General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence appear to be largely symbolic because they prohibit American’s dealings with the agency, which probably has few already. The sanctions stem from the death of Capt. Rafael Acosta, arrested on suspicion of plotting to kill Maduro. His attorney says he showed signs of torture before dying after a court appearance. “The politically motivated arrest and tragic death . . . was unwarranted and unacceptable,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. — Associated Press SUDAN Military council says it thwarted coup plot Sudan’s military rulers said Thursday that several officers had attempted a coup in an effort to upset a deal between the military and the opposition to share power for three years ahead of elections. The thwarted coup involved retired officers as well as officers still in service, Jamal Omar Ibrahim, the head of the ruling military council’s security committee, said on Sudanese TV. He added that 12 people have been arrested and four detained. The military council and a coalition of opposition and protest groups agreed provisionally last week to share power , reviving hopes for a peaceful transition in a nation where protests led to the end of strongman Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s 30-year rule in April. — Reuters RUSSIA Putin, Ukraine's leader discuss separatist issue Russian President Vladimir Putin had his first phone call with Ukraine’s new president on Thursday, and talks centered on the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has blighted bilateral relations. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also talked about the release of prisoners. Peskov added that the two discussed the possibility of “continuing contacts in the Normandy format,” a reference to four-way talks involving the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany. They first met in 2014 on the sidelines of the 70th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy. Earlier this week,


4 events to celebrate the moon landing anniversary in D.C.

Fifty years ago this month, brave souls went where no man had gone before — the surface of the moon. Starting this weekend, celebrate one of the greatest feats in modern history, the Apollo 11 landing, with free lunar-themed events ‘By the Light of the Silvery Moon: A Century of Lunar Photographs’ National Gallery of Art, West Building, Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue NW; Sun. through Jan. 5, free. The National Gallery of Art will display a collection of cinematic lunar photographs taken during the 19th century through the 1960s. The exhibition includes images from the Lunar Orbiter missions that led up to Apollo 11 and glass stereographs taken on the moon. Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit National Air and Space Museum, Independence Avenue at Sixth Street SW; starting Tue., free. In 2015, the Smithsonian raised $500,000 through Kickstarter to preserve the spacesuit Neil Armstrong wore when he became the first man on the moon, on July 20, 1969. On Tuesday, the Air and Space Museum will put the suit on display for the first time in 13 years. The artifact will eventually be part of the museum’s “Destination Moon” gallery, set to open in 2022. ‘Apollo 50: Go for the Moon’ Washington Monument, 2 15th St. NW; Tue. through July 18, 9:30-11:30 p.m., July 19 & 20, 9:30, 10:30 & 11:30 p.m., free. For three nights beginning on Tuesday, a large-scale projection of a Saturn V rocket will be beamed onto the Washington Monument. The spectacle sets the stage for the next two nights, when a 17-minute projection show about Apollo 11 and the moon landing will be displayed on the monument and supporting screens multiple times each night. ‘The Eagle Has Landed’ late-night celebration National Air and Space Museum, Independence Avenue at Sixth Street SW; July 20, The Air and Space Museum will pull an all-nighter with this after-hours party celebrating the first moon landing. Trivia sessions, a spacesuit fashion show, an Apollo 11-themed performance from electronic music duo Quindar, scavenger hunts and other hands-on activities are among the standouts on the schedule.


Suspect arrested in fatal shooting near recreation center in Northeast D.C.

D.C. police on Wednesday arrested a suspect in a fatal shooting that occurred last month in Northeast Washington, according to authorities. Delonta Daniel, 32, of Southeast, has been charged with first-degree murder while armed. Police said in a statement that Daniel had been wanted on an arrest warrant. He is charged in the June 28 fatal shooting of Bernard Jarvis, 25, of Hyattsville, Md., in the 2400 block of 14th Street NE, near the Brentwood Recreation Center. The shooting occurred about 2:45 a.m. Police said Jarvis was found on a sidewalk suffering from several gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities did not describe a possible motive; Jarvis could make his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Thursday, at which time additional details will be made public in the arrest affidavit. peter.hermann@washpost.com