At the top of her game, Katie Ledecky wades into pool of potential endorsements

With her college swimming career behind her, Katie Ledecky stands to make a splash as a professional athlete well ahead of the next Olympics and will likely carry several big-name sponsors into the Tokyo pool with her in 2020. But Ledecky’s strategy will be a deliberate one, her new agent said, and she doesn’t need to race to build a huge business portfolio right away. Ledecky announced her decision to turn pro last week and has signed with Dan Levy, head of a Wasserman team that represents several high-profile female athletes. Levy said his new client is unique and can afford to be selective and patient as she considers which brands to endorse. “It’s rare that an athlete turns pro and they have a business on Day 1,” Levy said. “We feel we have the luxury — and Katie feels this way, too — in being very strategic and trying to put together a plan first and then find the right partner companies that fit what she wants to do moving forward.” In other words, Ledecky won’t race into partnerships for a quick paycheck. She’ll have some leverage and can seek long-term deals, perhaps looking for companies that might want to stick with her for the next Olympic cycle as well. “My goal when it comes to endorsements is to take a balanced approach to my business,” the 21-year-old Ledecky said. “I will be seeking the support of sponsors who understand my commitment to training, to my education and to my growth as a person. I also am excited to work with people and companies who understand that they are also investing in my journey to have success in the pool.” Most Olympic athletes embark on a professional career with much less name recognition and a significantly shorter résumé. Ledecky, already a five-time Olympic champion, hits the market at the top of her game, almost guaranteed to be one of the faces of the U.S. team in two years and likely competing in prime time on NBC for several nights in Tokyo. “She’s accomplished so much prior to turning professional that she is in a position to influence a lot of the decisions that will be made going forward,” Levy said, “whereas if she was another athlete just turning pro, sometimes you have to compromise a little bit more just to earn a living.” Bob Dorfman, a longtime sports marketing


Washington Post digital and video projects receive Shorty Award honors

The Washington Post received a number of honors from the 10th annual Shorty Awards, which recognize innovation and creative excellence in digital, social and video work. In addition to formal awards decided on by judges, an Audience Honor is also given to the project that receives the most votes in its respective category from the public during the open voting period. The Post’s interactive map of solar eclipse pathways ahead of the 2017 total solar eclipse won both the Gold prize and the Audience Honor in the Data Visualization category. The interactive graphic allowed readers to enter their birth year to see how many more total solar eclipses would appear in their lifetime and the exact path each would take. In the Emerging Platform category, The Post’s presence on Reddit received the Audience Honor. The Post’s Reddit presence aims to have meaningful, fun conversations with readers, explain journalism in a way that promotes media literacy and trust, seed story ideas directly from users in a way that makes them feel part of the process, and promote The Post as a digital-first organization that is willing to listen and engage with its audience. The Post’s comprehensive video, digital and social live coverage of the 2017 total solar eclipse was also awarded the Audience Honor in the Live News Coverage category. Video crews in Washington D.C. and across the country captured the excitement of the event while explaining the science behind it, ultimately generating over 1.4 million views on YouTube and Facebook. The awards will be held on April 15th, 2018 in New York City. See the full list of winners here.


NTSB ‘unhappy’ with Tesla release of investigative information in fatal crash

Federal investigators said Sunday they were “unhappy” that Tesla had released information related to a fatal crash involving one of its Model X vehicles late last month. Tesla announced late Friday that the Tesla Model X had its semiautonomous “Autopilot” mode activated moments before it slammed into a highway barrier on U.S. 101 in California on March 23, killing driver Walter Huang, 38. In the lead-up to the crash, shortly before 9:30 a.m., “Autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum,” Tesla said in a blog post on its website. Autopilot is a semiautonomous mode that can automatically change lanes and speeds based on conditions, along with maintaining the proper distance between cars and proper lane positioning. Tesla says drivers should remain attentive and keep their hands on the wheel at all times, with warning cues if they are not detected, so they do not become too dependent on the technology. Tesla indicated in its statement that Huang had not been following those steps, and it blamed the severity of the crash on a highway barrier known as a “crash attenuator” meant to insulate vehicles from the effects of a collision. But the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, expressed concerns with Tesla’s preliminary explanation, pointing to the ongoing investigation. “At this time the NTSB needs the assistance of Tesla to decode the data the vehicle recorded. In each of our investigations involving a Tesla vehicle, Tesla has been extremely cooperative on assisting with the vehicle data. However, the NTSB is unhappy with the release of investigative information by Tesla,” NTSB spokesman Chris O’Neil said Sunday. The NTSB investigation was focused on the damaged collision barrier and the post-crash fire that complicated the response, according to the agency. But in the wake of revelations that Huang had previously complained about the Autopilot feature on his SUV, the NTSB said it was investigating “all aspects of this crash including the driver’s previous concerns about the autopilot.” “We will work to determine the probable cause of the crash and our next update of information about our investigation will likely be when we publish a preliminary report, which generally occurs within a few weeks of completion of field work,” O’Neil said. Huang’s relatives told San Francisco ABC affiliate KGO-TV that he had previously complained to the Tesla dealership about the vehicle swerving toward the median where


Afghan air force faces criticism after reports that airstrike killed civilians

KABUL — The Afghan military faced a wave of criticism Tuesday as citizens, human rights groups and government officials took stock of an airstrike carried out by the Afghan air force in the northern province of Kunduz, killing dozens of people. A spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, Gen. Mohammad Radmanish, said Afghan helicopters attacked a Taliban stronghold in a location that was being used as a training camp for the group in Dashti Archi district, near Kunduz city and the Tajikistan border. Foreign fighters from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were among the people killed in the strike, the general added. But other Afghan officials disputed that point. Abdullah Qarloq, a senator from the district, said the Afghan military struck the Akhundzada Gojor madrassa, or religious school, during a graduation ceremony. Several hundred people were present at the time, and those killed included both civilians and Taliban members, he said. “What I know and have heard is that 200 people have been killed and wounded, both civilians who were studying there and armed Taliban,” the senator said. Monday’s airstrike underscores a potential pitfall in the latest U.S. strategy in the 16-year war in Afghanistan, which calls for significant investment in the Afghan air force. The confusion and carnage after Monday’s strike was enough for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan to launch an investigation. The mission called reports about the airstrikes “disturbing” and said Tuesday in a tweet that it had a human rights team on the ground researching the strike. “All parties reminded of obligations to protect civilians from impact of armed conflict,” the tweet said. Safiullah Amiri, a member of the Kunduz provincial council, said that there may have been Taliban members present when the strike occurred, but many more civilians also were there. Religious scholars and students had gathered from nine districts in Kunduz province, and others had come from Badakhshan province, he said. “We will raise our voice,” he said. “Local and central government should take the issue seriously. Why are civilians bombarded?” The U.S. military was not involved in the strike, U.S. and Afghan military officials said. The United States has been training Afghans for years to fly both armed helicopters and small planes armed with bombs, and in some cases, Afghans are carrying out airstrikes without U.S. involvement. U.S. and Afghan officials say that the Afghan military is concerned about civilian casualties and


Pakistan’s 114 degrees is just one of many all-time March records toppled in Asia

former record of 108.3 degrees, set in 2010. At least seven countries set March high-temperature records late last week. Pakistan — 113.9 degrees (old record 113 degrees in 2010) Iraq — 110.8 degrees (old record 108.3 degrees in 2010) Qatar — 104 degrees (old record 102.2 degrees in 1998) Turkmenistan — 104.4 degrees (old record 102.4 degrees in 2010) Uzbekistan — 99 degrees (old record 97.5 degrees in 2000) Tajikistan — 95.5 degrees (old record 92 degrees in 1971) The World Meteorological Organization does not track monthly records, but it does investigate and confirm more significant records, like continental high and low temperatures. Even so, Randall Cerveny, the WMO’s chief rapporteur of weather and climate extremes, says he will be watching this region carefully in the next few months. “The recent huge North African and European dust storms are indicative in part of how hot and dry some parts of North Africa and the Middle East have already become,” Cerveny told The Washington Post. “We will definitely be keeping an eye on those areas for potential record-breaking continental or perhaps even global temperatures as we move into summer.” At the very least, these records are a reminder that — by the laws of thermodynamics — when one part of the world is exceptionally cool, another part must be exceptionally hot. Cerveny says these pronounced variations suggest the weather pattern will remain interesting for potential all-time records. As parts of Asia roast in triple-digit springtime heat, the Eastern United States is in a very cold pattern. The month of March was colder than February across much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. In the first full weekend of April, temperatures will be 15 to 20 degrees below normal from the Upper Midwest to the Southeast. A chance of snow remains in the forecast during the first days of April, despite longer daylight hours and higher sun angle. These records were first brought to our attention over the weekend by Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at Meteo France. In June 2015, a deadly heat wave struck southern Pakistan that pushed temperatures to 120 degrees. More than 2,000 people died during the heat wave from dehydration and heat stroke, mainly in Karachi. The late-March heat wave continues the trend of major global weather events linked to climate change in the past decade. You can read more of the Capital Weather Gang’s global weather coverage here.


How the White House garden became a political football

this garden would help begin a conversation […] about the food we eat, the lives we lead, and how all of that affects our children.” But her seemingly reasonable effort to start a conversation about childhood nutrition sparked a political firestorm. Conservative media launched an immediate attack, focusing on well-trod partisan claims of elitism. The decision to keep the garden free of pesticides and other chemicals sparked particular outrage, perceived as a slight to American farmers, and therefore the entirety of middle America. The Mid America CropLife Association, a representative of companies such as DuPont Crop Protection, Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences, sent a letter of protest to the White House within a week of the garden’s opening. After Michelle Obama’s garden-based vision helped drive the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA), outrage from supporters of conventional food systems peaked again. The act mandated comprehensive nutrition standards for school meals and encouraged school gardens under farm-to-school initiatives. Initial bipartisan support for the bill’s passage evaporated as implementation loomed. Early opponents such as food processors and the American Farm Bureau were later joined by the far-right House Freedom Caucus, which ranked HHFKA first on a December 2016 list of legislation to revoke or reform. Conservative critics derided how they said HHFKA increased government intervention in local affairs, burdened schools with red tape and demanded compliance with unworkable regulations. Pundits railed against it for expanding the sphere of the nanny state and usurping parental authority over children’s diets. But this rhetoric often obscured the true issue: The bill threatened the financial well being of traditional agriculture. In 2009, the American Farm Bureau spent $5.1 million lobbying against the Food Safety Enhancement Act, an early forerunner of the HHFKA. Agribusinesses have fiercely lobbied against the HHFKA and employed food processors and elected officials as proxies. In 2011, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), backed by the potato lobby, successfully fought back against the Institute of Medicine’s proposed restrictions on potatoes in school meals, clearing the way for daily “vegetable” sides of french fries. In tandem with growing opposition to the HHFKA, congressional consensus on farm policy faltered under public anxieties over corporate agriculture’s impact on public health and the environment. The 2008 Farm Bill had been expired for two years by the time Congress passed the Agricultural Act of 2014. The final budget allocated 79.1 percent of funds to nutrition programs, wherein school lunch funding is


This star is the farthest ever seen. It’s 9 billion light-years away.

any other lone star previously detected, according to Patrick L. Kelly, an astrophysicist at the University of Minnesota. Normally only phenomena such as supernovas — catastrophic stellar explosions — or entire galaxies are detectable at such vast distances. Kelly had not set out to spy on record-breaking stars. No other individual star had been seen in such a distance. The astrophysicist and his colleagues were studying Hubble images of a supernova called SN Refsdal. But in 2016, they found a blip that appeared in the same galaxy that housed the supernova. This blip, as Kelly and his co-authors wrote in a report published recently in the journal Nature Astronomy, was not another supernova but a blue supergiant star. About halfway between Icarus's spiral galaxy and our own was a third object, a massive cluster of galaxies that acted as the lens of the magnifying glass. It just so happened that Icarus passed “along the critical curve” of the cluster, Kelly said, which warped the starlight in our direction — a process called gravitational lensing. The effect was like “a natural telescope, much more powerful than anything we could build.” The authors of the new study identified Icarus as a stable star and not an explosion because its temperature did not appear to fluctuate. Supernovas “start out very hot and cool down. We saw no evidence of a change in temperature,” Kelly said. Still, Icarus was massive, hotter than the Sun, and possibly thousands of times as luminous. It also no longer exists, Kelly said. Blue supergiant stars do not have life spans of nine billion years. He suspected Icarus either collapsed into a black hole or wound up as a neutron star. Icarus burned bright and early. The universe is 13.8 billion years old; to view Icarus's starlight is to look back through three-quarters of the universe's age. If astrophysicists look sufficiently deep enough, Kelly said, they should be able to learn about some of the universe's first stars. Kelly said this technique, coupling nature's magnifying glass with future machines like the James Webb Telescope, could yield additional discoveries — stars older and more distant, even, than Icarus. Read more: An alien star sideswiped our solar system and sent comets reeling, scientists say Scientists may have discovered the first planets outside the Milky Way A space rock from another star is spotted in our solar system — a cosmic first


The Health 202: Half of Americans think Obamacare marketplaces are crumbling

controlled substances as part of a nationwide crackdown on opioid use and distribution, our colleague Lenny Bernstein reports. “Over the last 45 days, the DEA has surged resources and personnel to prevent the diversion of opioids, arresting dozens of people and taking away drug dispensing authority from nearly 150 medical professionals,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said yesterday in a news release about the efforts. The enforcement surge followed a review of 80 million drug transactions that revealed dispensers who sold disproportionately large amounts of drugs -- particularly opioid painkillers -- and sparked 188 investigations. —Making medical and recreational marijuana available may be one way to help fight the opioid epidemic. Two new studies published yesterday found availability of marijuana is linked with lower rates of opioid prescription rates, “The studies are the latest in a long line of research showing that marijuana availability is associated with reductions in opiate use and misuse,” "There is widespread agreement among doctors and public-health experts that marijuana is effective at treating chronic pain," “Marijuana is one of the potential alternative drugs that can provide relief from pain at a relatively lower risk of addiction and virtually no risk of overdose,” Wen and Hockenberry wrote. “These findings suggest that medical and adult-use marijuana laws have the potential to reduce opioid prescribing for Medicaid enrollees, a segment of population with disproportionately high risk for chronic pain, opioid use disorder, and opioid overdose.” —The confusion continues over whether former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin resigned or was fired. But our colleague Aaron Blake points out that if Shulkin decided to step down from his role, as the White House says, they should be able to prove it by producing a resignation letter. Why does it matter? — Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is making sure he has good eyes and ears at the agency's major operating divisions. According to an email Redfield sent to agency staff yesterday afternoon, McGowan “worked in the Immediate Office of the Secretary and across HHS operating divisions to coordinate with external groups, and this included working closely with the secretary’s public affairs team to amplify messages about HHS priorities.” The email said McGowan worked directly on “many of the department’s priority issues, including the opioid epidemic, drug pricing and health reform.” McGowan joined HHS a year ago. Before that, he had worked for then-Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) for nearly six


Justice official authorized Mueller to investigate whether Trump campaign chair colluded with Russia

May to examine whether Trump associates participated in a Russian effort to swing the election. But his team has not previously identified Manafort, who was intimately involved in the campaign’s operation, as a specific target of that inquiry. Manafort, 69, served as Trump’s campaign chief for five months. He resigned in August 2016 amid news reports about his activities in Ukraine. He has been charged with felony counts related to financial offenses — including money laundering, and fraud and tax evasion, as well as with not registering as a foreign lobbyist — in connection with his decade of work on behalf of a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party before joining Trump’s campaign. He has pleaded not guilty and is seeking to have the case dismissed. Manafort’s longtime deputy, Rick Gates, 45, was charged jointly with Manafort but pleaded guilty to reduced charges last month and is cooperating with Mueller’s inquiry. Mueller’s team revealed the existence of the Aug. 2, 2017, memo in filings that seek to counter arguments by Manafort’s attorneys that the special counsel investigation has exceeded its legal authority. Manafort’s legal team has argued that Rosenstein inappropriately gave the special counsel’s office a “blank check” when he authorized Mueller in May to investigate any matter that “arose or may arise” from an examination of the Trump team’s ties to Russia. In particular, they argued that prosecutors’ knowledge of Manafort’s work in Ukraine did not arise directly from Mueller’s inquiry but instead grew out of separate Justice Department inquiries dating to 2014. Manafort’s lawyers have alleged in court documents that Mueller’s investigation has become an “unbounded exercise of prosecutorial authority [that] is wholly incompatible with our constitutional tradition.” In a detailed, 53-page defense, Mueller’s team countered late Monday that an investigation of possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia would “naturally cover ties” between the campaign’s chairman and “Russian associated political operatives, Russian-backed politicians and Russian oligarchs.” In Ukraine, Manafort worked on behalf of then-President Viktor Yanukovych, who was backed by Russia, and had personal business dealings with Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska. Prosecutors argued that their investigation would only “naturally follow the money trail from Manafort’s Ukrainian consulting activities,” work that resulted in the criminal charges. What’s more, they said that although Rosenstein’s public order appointing Mueller did not name individual subjects, Rosenstein specifically authorized the Manafort probe in the follow-up August memo. They also noted that Rosenstein


Tesla may have violated federal rules by releasing information about fatal California crash

Tesla may have run afoul of federal rules governing safety investigations when it released information over the weekend about a fatal crash involving one of its Model X SUVs in California last month. The release of investigative information was the latest instance of Silicon Valley bucking long-standing norms in dealing with government officials. The National Transportation Safety Board voiced its displeasure Sunday, saying it was “unhappy” that Tesla had released information about the March 23 crash that killed 38-year-old Walter Huang when his Tesla slammed into a highway barrier on U.S. 101. In a blog post Friday, Tesla attributed the severity of the crash to a missing crash “attenuator,” a barrier meant to act as a sort of shock absorber during collisions. It also said the Tesla was operating in semiautonomous “Autopilot” mode, but that Huang had not followed guidelines intended to make sure drivers are fully attentive while the vehicle is in Autopilot. The statements appear to place at least some of the blame on the driver. However, both the attenuator and Autopilot remain central to the NTSB investigation, which also is examining reports from Huang’s family members that he had complained previously about the performance of Autopilot on the same stretch of highway. Federal investigators have not drawn any conclusions, but said a preliminary report is expected in a few weeks. Meanwhile, Tesla’s decision to disclose its findings could have further implications — up to being removed as a party to the investigation — according to the rules governing investigations. The NTSB did not say Monday whether it was considering such a punishment for Tesla. “We take each unauthorized release of information seriously,” NTSB spokesman Chris O’Neil said. Tesla, through a spokeswoman, declined to explain why it felt compelled to share the information, or why it did not inform the NTSB beforehand. But chief executive Elon Musk hinted at his thinking in a Monday morning tweet responding to a story about the NTSB’s concerns. “Lot of respect for NTSB, but NHTSA regulates cars, not NTSB, which is an advisory body,” he said, referring to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “Tesla releases critical crash data affecting public safety immediately & always will. To do otherwise would be unsafe.” Removal from an NTSB investigation is rare but not unprecedented. In 2014, the safety body booted United Parcel Service and its pilots union as parties to a probe after, NTSB


Three journalists are kidnapped in Ecuador, signaling the violence spilling over from Colombia

across Colombia, including the state of Narino, which borders Ecuador. Almost 3,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in 2018 alone, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. Now the conflict is moving south across the border. In the Ecuadoran province of Esmeraldas, where the kidnapped journalists were reporting on the rise in violence, the situation has been deteriorating since January, when a bomb exploded at police headquarters in the city of San Lorenzo and injured two officers. Since then, five other attacks have occurred in the province, mainly targeting police and military headquarters, killing three men and injuring several others. Ortega, Rivas and Segarra were reporting on that violence when they were kidnapped. On Tuesday, the three men appeared in chains in a proof-of-life video obtained by RCN, a Colombian television network. They listed their kidnappers' demands that Ecuador's government "release three unidentified combatants and end anti-narcotics cooperation with Colombia in exchange for their freedom," according to the Associated Press. “President Lenin Moreno, our life is in your hands,” Ortega said. Authorities say both the kidnappings and the violence have been the work of FARC dissident groups, led by a former guerrilla known as “El Guacho.” But FARC dissidents are not the only ones operating in the area. Local media recently reported there are up to 12 armed groups in Colombia’s southern state of Narino, on the border with Esmeraldas, where violence has also increased since FARC laid down its weapons. According to Saltos, these include violent paramilitary groups and even Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel. Even before Colombia’s peace process, armed groups used Ecuador as a transit hub, trafficking narcotics and gold, weapons and people. This has been especially true in Esmeraldas, where there is direct access to the Pacific Ocean and little government presence. Esmeraldas, whose population is over 50 percent Afro-Ecuadoran, has long been one of the country’s poorest provinces. It has few roads, little infrastructure, lacks schools and hospitals, and has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. According to Saltos, this has made it easier for traffickers to both recruit and remain undetected. Paco Moncayo, a former army general and left-wing presidential candidate in last year’s election, blamed the border problems on “inactivity on the part of the government” during an interview with Quito’s El Comercio newspaper on March 28. “This is a state issue, not a security issue,” he said. The


After a dramatic failure, effort to diversify Maryland’s medical marijuana industry moves closer to passage

A bill to diversify Maryland’s medical marijuana industry received final approval in the state Senate on Wednesday — after a similar effort to bring in more minority-owned businesses faced a bitter defeat in the final minutes of last year’s session. About one-third of Maryland residents are African American, but none of the 14 companies that have lucrative licenses to grow medical marijuana are led by black executives. The bill would increase the number of licenses for growers and processors, and it specifies that those licenses will be awarded in a process that gives preference to minority-owned businesses. “For generations, African Americans have been disproportionately affected by marijuana laws,” said Del. Cheryl D. Glenn (D-Baltimore City), the bill’s sponsor. “To have this industry up and running without African Americans and other minorities involved as owners is shameful.” But the bill — which was amended by the Senate Finance Committee last week — would also designate new processing licenses for several companies that already have growing licenses, a provision the bill’s critics say provides an unnecessary boon to wealthy companies. It would also award licenses to the two companies that sued the state because they say regulators illegally rejected them in favor of lower-ranking applicants — that provision is opposed by some lawmakers who say legislation should not be used to settle legal matters. “It does what it set out to do in terms of trying to increase diversity, but, like any good Christmas tree, it has a lot of other ornaments on it,” said longtime lobbyist Gerry Evans, who represents Holistic Industries, one of the two lower-ranking companies that were awarded licenses instead of the pair that filed suit. Members of both chambers will have to agree to changes made in the Senate before the bill is sent to Gov. Larry Hogan’s desk. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) told reporters Wednesday that he discussed the bill with House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and thinks it will pass. A spokeswoman for Busch confirmed he supports the legislation. “We both determined that what happened last year, the bill died on the last night of the session in the House, is not going to happen,” Miller told reporters. Senate Minority Leader J.B. Jennings (R-Baltimore County), who voted against the bill, said there should be an investigation into why the two companies that are suing Maryland were bumped. He also


H. R. McMaster delivers a parting shot to Russia as he prepares to bow out as national security adviser

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, in his last public remarks as President Trump’s national security adviser, strongly denounced Russia for its increased aggression around the world and declared: “We have failed to impose sufficient costs.” His comments come a little more than a week after he was ousted by Trump, who is replacing him with conservative firebrand and former U.N. ambassador John Bolton. They came hours after Trump, in a White House news conference with Baltic state leaders, stated, “Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have.” Despite a series of recent actions taken by the Trump administration against Russia over its alleged role in poisoning a former Russian spy in Britain, interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and global cyberattacks, Trump has been criticized by Russia policy experts and Democrats for refraining from forcefully condemning Moscow for such actions. His outgoing national security adviser had no such qualms. “Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies and the foundations of international peace and stability,” McMaster said Tuesday evening at the Atlantic Council. “We are now engaged in a fundamental contest between our free and open societies and closed and repressive systems,” he said, alluding to Russia, among other countries. “Revisionist and repressive powers are attempting to undermine our values, our institutions and way of life.” He spoke in the presence of the presidents of Estonia and Latvia and the foreign minister of Lithuania, who met with Trump at the White House earlier Tuesday. The summit was held to reinforce ties between the United States and the Baltic nations and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their independence following World War I. McMaster noted “Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have all been targeted by Russia’s so-called hybrid warfare, a pernicious form of aggression that combines political, economic, informational and cyber-assaults against sovereign nations.” He lauded the Baltic states, which lie west of Russia, for their role in countering Moscow’s malicious acts. He criticized Russia for employing strategies “deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target state’s threshold for military response.” Tactics include infiltrating social media, spreading propaganda and using other forms of subversion and espionage — all without rising to the level of an armed attack that would merit military retaliation. For too long, McMaster said, “some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats. Russia brazenly, and


James Harden dances all over the Wizards as Rockets cruise to an easy win

first round, who you play in the second round, it’s going to be a tough matchup because it’s the playoffs.” On Tuesday, the Wizards proved to be no match for Houston, the team with the best record in the NBA at 63-15. Although Bradley Beal finished with a team-high 27 points and the Wizards shot 52.8 percent, Washington’s offense could not keep up with the offensively potent Rockets — or with a player who arguably should earn the league’s top individual award. Ahead of Harden’s bench-dancing and his Wizard-tormenting, Brooks viewed his former protege as this season’s most valuable player. “Yeah, he’s definitely an MVP this year. He’s played well, and his team is playing the best in basketball. But you can always argue LeBron [James] can get it every year. Just like Michael Jordan should have had 12 of them. LeBron is the same type of player,” Brooks said. “But James is deserving. He’s put in a lot of work. He’s gotten better every year, and sometimes it’s hard to do that when you’re at a high level. He’s been at an MVP level for the last three years or so, but every year he’s come back and played better. Harden found creative and varied ways to score and score and score. In the first half, Harden drew two fouls against Wall — punishing him for reaching in on a three-point attempt, then blowing by him to the rim. Harden also lured Wizards forward Markieff Morris into hacking on a three-point attempt before drilling the shot that no defender wants to face — his step-back triple. Harden even got Kelly Oubre Jr. with a step-back three, and in the garbage minutes of the fourth quarter he did the same against Tim Frazier. “I was just being aggressive,” Harden said, summing up his near triple-double night. The Rockets collectively shot 51.2 percent from the field, results that should not have been surprising. In his second year with the team, Coach Mike D’Antoni has added more fuel to an already-potent Rockets offense that attempts 42.3 three-pointers per game, by far the most in the NBA. True to character, the Rockets launched 46 shots from beyond the arc but they made only 16. Neither Harden nor the three-point attack could be blamed for the Wizards’ early defensive struggles. Washington lost footing early in the game by meekly defending the interior. The Rockets


Mortgage applicants beware: Audit says IRS ‘tax transcript’ program lacks adequate security protections

access to tax information.” The current audit targeted, in part, a specialized IRS service — one that provides lenders and others transcripts of loan-applicants’ tax filings. Mortgage borrowers routinely fill out an IRS Form 4506-T, which grants permission for third-party vendors to access their tax records and send them to banks and mortgage companies. Lenders use the service to verify applicants’ income. Following a home-loan-related request, mortgage companies and banks generally receive tax transcripts within two to five business days. The overall transcript delivery system (TDS) — which includes services for lenders, tax professionals and others — is massive: According to auditors, nearly 169 million transcripts were issued during calendar years 2014 through 2016. A key security issue in the mortgage-related portion of the program is whether the third-party “requester” of a transcript has been properly vetted by the IRS and found eligible to receive transcripts. Some third-party players are giant corporations serving banks and the mortgage industry, and they order vast numbers of transcripts a year; others are small entities that order far fewer. After criticism about poor vetting, the IRS tightened its procedures in 2016 and required third-party entities to resubmit basic qualifying information. But auditors found the IRS still allowed more than 29,000 transcripts to be sent to parties that had not complied with the revised rules by its deadline and whose permission to participate should have been revoked. Auditors also noted the intersection of transcript issues with identity theft and fraudulent requests for tax refunds using stolen consumer information. During tax years 2013 through 2016, they found that 222,534 taxpayer accounts “had a total of 647,208 tax transcripts requested for the same tax year” of a confirmed identity theft. Investigators also highlighted the current transcript system’s absence of limits on the numbers of transcripts that can be obtained on an individual taxpayer. Among the recommendations by auditors: Suspend the transcript service until better controls are established. The IRS declined to do so. But in a statement for this column, the IRS noted that it has now initiated the stricter controls sought by the audit, including multifactor authentication. This better enables the IRS to know “who is accessing its system and why and helps prevent account takeovers.” Auditors say they will monitor the recent changes to assess their effectiveness. Asked what a shutdown of the transcript program would mean, Brandon Brahms, senior product manager for CoreLogic, one


First sentence handed down in Mueller probe

Zwaan turned over secret recordings to Mueller’s investigators that he had made of his conversations with Gates, the associate and a senior partner at his law firm. Van der Zwaan was a lawyer in the London office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom from 2007 to 2017, when the firm worked with Manafort during a decade when he served as a political consultant in Ukraine. Manafort, 68, has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, money laundering and tax and bank fraud related to his lobbying work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. He has asked a judge to toss out charges, saying prosecutors are pursuing conduct that predate his work for Trump. Gates, 45, who was deputy campaign manager for Trump and worked with Manafort in Ukraine, pleaded guilty Feb. 23 to conspiracy and lying to the FBI in a cooperation deal with Mueller’s probe. Van der Zwaan admitted lying and withholding documents about information prosecutors said was “pertinent” to their investigation — that he had been in direct contact in September and October of 2016 with Gates and with the Manafort associate, identified in court documents as “Person A,” an individual who “has ties to a Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016.” The defendant also admitted that Gates had informed him that Person A was a former officer of the Russian military intelligence service known as the GRU, prosecutors said. Prosecutors charged that when van der Zwaan was initially interviewed by the FBI on Nov. 3, he falsely told investigators that he last communicated with Gates in mid-August 2016 through an innocuous text message. Prosecutors made the allegation without naming the Manafort associate but described his role with Manafort in detail. The description matches Konstantin Kilimnik, the Russian manager of Manafort’s lobbying office in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Kilimnik ran Manafort’s office in Kiev during the 10 years he did consulting work there, The Washington Post reported in 2017. Kilimnik worked as a liaison to the Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, with whom Manafort had done business. Emails previously described to The Post show Manafort asked Kilimnik during the campaign to offer Deripaska “private briefings” about Trump’s effort. A Deripaska spokeswoman has said the billionaire, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was not offered and did not receive briefings. Kilimnik has previously denied intelligence ties,


As Trump talks of leaving Syria, his top commander in the Middle East emphasizes the need to stay

calculation that apparently included the Afghanistan war against the Taliban in South Asia, where he last year approved a U.S. troop increase. “So, it’s time. It’s time. We were very successful against ISIS,” Trump said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. “But sometimes it’s time to come back home, and we’re thinking about that very seriously, okay?” Trump has used the $7 trillion figure many times, including during his campaign, although numerous experts put the figure at about half that, beginning in Afghanistan in 2001 and continuing through U.S. military operations in Pakistan, Iraq and Syria. The figure also would include substantial costs tied to veterans’ care and disability benefits, and war-related domestic and diplomatic security measures. Many military officials were taken aback by Trump’s stated intent, first mentioned last week, to withdraw from Syria. In a speech ostensibly devoted to his domestic infrastructure plans, Trump told a rally in Ohio on Thursday that U.S. forces would “be coming out of Syria, like, very soon.” Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats told reporters Wednesday that the National Security Council had reached a decision on the U.S. military in Syria, but declined to give details about the decision. “I think shortly there will be a release about what was determined yesterday,” Coats said after an “all hands on deck” meeting Tuesday at the White House. He also said he couldn’t release any information about the intelligence community’s assessment regarding the likelihood of an Islamic State resurgence in Syria in the near future if U.S. troops leave now. In a lengthy January speech outlining administration policy in Syria, since-ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that “it is crucial to our national defense to maintain a military and diplomatic presence in Syria, to help bring an end to that conflict and assist the Syrian people as they chart a course to achieve a new political future.” The speech, as of this week, has been removed from the active part of the State Department website, along with transcripts of all other speeches, remarks and travels by Tillerson during his tenure. Votel, along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, also has repeatedly said in recent months that U.S. troops would be staying in Syria for the foreseeable future to guarantee stability and a political resolution to the civil war, which initially created space for the Islamic State to advance. There are about 2,000 U.S.


Beijing’s mysterious visitor, and 6 other global stories you might have missed

New jeans, new schools, new worries: North Korean family settles into South Korea Anna Fifield, The Washington Post's Tokyo bureau chief, first met the family on the banks of the Mekong River last August, just 12 days after they escaped from North Korea. Now, just a few weeks after emerging from the South Korean government’s resettlement program for North Korean refugees, they are settling into everyday life and preparing to send their children to school. Fifield describes the journey of one family that fled the regime in Pyongyang and is now adjusting to their new life abroad. 2. After U.S. expels 60 diplomats, Russia does what it’s best at: Trolling About two dozen nations decided to expel more than 100 Russian spies and diplomats this week, a development that may pose practical challenges to the Kremlin’s ability to gather intelligence overseas. Russia, however, mostly appeared unfazed. The diplomatic sanctions prompted cheekiness, ridicule and trolling in response — all seemingly intended to reduce the gravity of the situation. Read the full story. 3. As diplomats are expelled, flowers are laid outside Russian embassies for fire victims At least 64 people, most of them children, were killed in a fire at a mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on Sunday. In the same week that Western countries were punishing Russia with diplomatic expulsions, flowers and other expressions of tribute were being left outside Russian embassies around the world. Read the full story by Adam Taylor. 4. Stop and search? This poor community in Rio says yes, please. Brazilians want security, and they are backing heavy-handed tactics to get it. To the chagrin of critics — but cheers from much of the public — one of those tactics is deploying the military to fight crime. Rather than view the move as an invasion, violence-weary residents of the favelas, or shantytowns, hailed it as a liberation. Read the full story by Anthony Faiola and Marina Lopes. 5. Egypt’s farcical election and the long Arab winter However long it takes to tabulate the result of this week's presidential election in Egypt, the winner is not in doubt. President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi will secure a fresh mandate after his government detained, intimidated or otherwise sidelined any real challengers ahead of the vote. Read the full analysis by Ishaan Tharoor. 6. Berlin had some of the world’s most restrictive rules for Airbnb rentals. Now it’s loosening


One of America’s most popular drugs — first aimed at schizophrenia — reveals the issues of ‘off-label’ use

homes.) Many doctors turned to the drug for reasons other than its FDA-approved uses, which have expanded to bipolar disorder and as an adjunct to the treatment of major depression. A Post review of data provided last year by SERMO, a social network for physicians, found that of 764 non-psychiatrists who said they had prescribed Seroquel or quetiapine, 84 percent did so for off-label uses. Insomnia was one of the top reasons cited, despite the lack of clinical studies on its efficacy. Other reasons doctors cited for giving patients Seroquel ran the gamut: obsessive compulsive disorder and autism, nausea and poor appetite, even erectile dysfunction. Critics such as Aaron Kesselheim of Harvard Medical School, an expert on pharmaceutical development and policy, raise a host of concerns about the proliferation of off-label use generally and about the issues surrounding Seroquel specifically. “It has to do with pharmaceutical promotion, not enough data, not enough research into the comparative effectiveness of the drugs already approved,” Kesselheim said of Seroquel’s popularity. “I think there are physicians who are cavalier about products they can use. And there are patients who are demanding and expecting medication.” Initially, Seroquel seemed to have few side effects or complications, making it appealing as an alternative to the highly addictive benzodiazepines approved for insomnia and anxiety, among other conditions. But expert opinion has shifted. “The risks are far greater than I think has been represented,” said Mark Olfson, a research psychiatrist at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Facebook, Instagram, message boards and blogs are replete with warnings from people who described serious side effects after they started taking Seroquel or its generic equivalent. And though the website askapatient.com rates the average patient opinion of Seroquel as “satisfied” across a range of FDA-approved and nonapproved uses — “This is the only medication that has ever truly helped me sleep,” a 42-year-old woman posted in 2016 — many other comments reveal distress sometimes bordering on despair. ●From a 58-year-old man, after taking Seroquel for four months for insomnia: “Severe ringing in the ears, raised cholesterol, blood pressure, heart rate, and sugar levels. Serious memory loss.” ●From a 29-year-old woman, after taking Seroquel for one year for anxiety: “Memory loss, shortness of breath, unbeatable fatigue, twitches.” ●From a 36-year-old man, after taking Seroquel for 10 years for insomnia and anxiety: “Was told by psychiatrists for 10 years that 100


Even where it’s legal to sell marijuana, it’s hard to advertise it

targeted ads. That can include engaging people with wide followings on social media, or even a marijuana-themed Emoji keyboard that feature cannabis products and brands. “You really need to be strategic and creative to get followers because you can’t just put an ad out to get followers,” Mannix said. Smith said Facebook has rejected or taken down cannabis-related ads and posts inconsistently and that requests for an updated advertising policy have gone unanswered. In one instance, Smith said the Facebook blocked an advertisement for an event in which members of the National Cannabis Industry would lobby politicians in the District on marijuana-related issues. Facebook did not return a request for comment. A number of trade publications cater directly to the marijuana industry, like High Times and Marijuana Business Magazine. But broader online, television or radio restrictions often relegate marijuana advertising to outlets like billboards, said Mark Bartholomew, a professor at the University at Buffalo who focuses on advertising law. But even that approach carries certain contradictions. For example, billboards often carry their own laws as to images that can’t be featured, or what percentage of viewers must be adults. “It’s like if 71 percent of viewers have to be of adult age, which is really hard to figure out in contrast to the digital world where you can figure this out pretty quickly,” Bartholomew said. “It’s interesting that dispensaries are being forced to use these traditional forms of advertising.” Bartholomew said there’s reason to expect advertising norms will change as the marijuana industry becomes more mainstream. After all, ads including sex and violence were much less common 20 or 30 years ago, he said. The cannabis company MedMen recently debuted a new campaign, “Forget Stoner,” that photographs figures from athletes to grandmothers to tear down the “stoner” stigma of marijuana users. BJ Carretta, MedMen’s chief marketing officer, said the reach of such campaigns would only be magnified with access to radio or video platforms that are now off-limits. “Imagine the first company to come out creatively with a really impactful 30-second commercial nationally on a prime-time television show or a Sunday major sports program,” Carretta said. “There’d be a lot of buzz about that.” Read more: Two new studies show how marijuana can help fight the opioid epidemic Many doctors are wary of medical marijuana. And Jeff Sessions hasn’t helped. Following marijuana legalization, teen drug use is down in Colorado


15 things to do in the D.C. area this weekend

Friday, April 6 Pictures of the Year: 75 Years of the World’s Best Photography at the Newseum Cooking Up History: Exploring the Mid-Atlantic at the National Museum of American History ‘Diane Arbus: A box of ten photographs’ at the Smithsonian American Art Museum [13 things to see, drink and do around Washington in April] Rashomon at the Black Cat DMV Springfest at the Fillmore Silver Spring Saturday, April 7 2001: A Space Party at the National Air and Space Museum: Fifty years ago, Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” premiered at the Uptown Theater. The National Air and Space Museum marks this golden anniversary with “The Barmecide Feast,” an immersive art installation that re-creates the strange hotel room seen in the film’s penultimate scene. Your first chance to see it is during “2001: A Space Party,” an after-hours affair featuring open bars, a DJ set by chillwave performer Washed Out and a performance by Baltimore rapper DDm, paper airplane contests, an Imax screening of “Ready Player One,” TED-style talks about space by Smithsonian scientists, and other galactic surprises. 8:30 p.m. $60-$65. Petalpalooza at the Wharf: One of the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s signature events has a new name (Petalpalooza, instead of the Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival) and location (the new Wharf development), but it’s still packed with activities. Entertainment includes eight hours of music on three stages, a beer garden, a free roller skating rink and selfie opportunities such as an interactive “flower-by-numbers” wall. The day ends with a fireworks show at 8:30 p.m. (weather permitting). 1 p.m. Free. The Sovereign’s second-anniversary party [11 new restaurants and bars to check out around Washington] Hopfest at DC Brau Union Market District Streetfest Fatback 10 Year Anniversary Party at Ten Tigers Parlour USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center Sunday, April 8 Lorde at the Anthem E.U. Featuring Sugar Bear at U Street Music Hall Fourth Annual Cocktail Queen Competition at Bourbon — Fritz Hahn, Jennifer Abella, Adele Chapin, Hau Chu, Macy Freeman, Chris Kelly, Lori McCue and Savannah Stephens Read more: This exhibit brings the spirit of Burning Man to D.C. Well, minus the drugs, sex and desert. Moh Moh Licious takes an unorthodox approach to Nepali cuisine


At the 2018 Shift festival, maestros reign supreme

If musical talent had gravitational pull, the Kennedy Center would be in danger of collapsing in on itself during next week’s Shift festival. Organized by the venue and Washington Performing Arts, the festival is bringing three full symphony orchestras to D.C. That adds up to about 300 world-class musicians who — along with the 96 players of the National Symphony Orchestra — will be showing off for one another and for those who buy tickets to the four main performances (there are also several free off-site events from Monday through April 15). How do you choose which to attend? Here’s a guide. TUESDAYFort Worth Symphony Orchestra The maestro: The music: Perfect for: WEDNESDAYAlbany Symphony The maestro: APRIL 13Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra The maestro: APRIL 14National Symphony Orchestra The maestro:


Trump administration to impose fresh sanctions against Russia

The United States is expected to impose additional sanctions against Russia by Friday, according to U.S. officials. The sanctions are economic and designed to target oligarchs with ties to President Vladimir Putin, the officials said. The final number of Russians facing punitive action remains fluid, the U.S. officials said, but is expected to include at least a half-dozen people. In recent weeks, Trump’s national security advisers have pushed for more sanctions after the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England, interference in the U.S. 2016 elections and a cyberattack described as the most destructive and costly in history. Officials spoke about the sanctions on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss pending actions. On Tuesday night, outgoing national security adviser H.R. McMaster called on the United States to take a tougher line against Moscow, saying, “We have failed to impose sufficient costs.” The remark came hours after President Trump said in a White House news conference that “nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have.” Russian officials, meanwhile, have expressed exasperation with the United States. Moscow’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said the “atmosphere in Washington is poison.” “It’s a toxic atmosphere,” he told NBC News. The United States is expected to target individuals on a list of influential Russian political and business leaders that the Treasury Department released in January, officials said. The United States could also impose sanctions based on powers granted by Congress to target anyone conducting significant business with Russian intelligence and defense sectors. “If they do something tough like this, it may go some distance in reassuring angry members of Congress and the public who are looking at the midterms and wondering if this administration is focused on the Russian threat and taking moves to address it,” said Liz Rosenberg, a former Treasury official who is at the Center for a New American Security. White House and State Department spokesmen declined to comment. The pending move from Treasury comes as the Trump administration takes an increasingly tough posture toward Moscow at the urging of the president’s senior aides and top U.S. allies. Last week, the United States expelled 60 Russian spies and diplomats in response to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy, and his daughter, the largest expulsion of Russians in U.S. history. In early March, the administration also slapped fresh sanctions on Russian


On his way out, McMaster tells the truth

OUTGOING NATIONAL security adviser H.R. McMaster on Tuesday became the latest senior Trump administration official to publicly warn that Western governments, including his own, are not doing enough to deter Russian aggression. “Some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats,” Mr. McMaster said in a speech to the Atlantic Council. “Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions, and we have failed to impose sufficient costs.” Though Mr. McMaster did not say so explicitly, the critique easily fits President Trump. The Kremlin must be deterred from more interfering in this year’s midterm elections, not to mention violations of democracies in Europe. But Mr. McMaster, the country’s intelligence chiefs and experienced Russia hands agree that Russian President Vladimir Putin feels too little pressure. “The Kremlin’s confidence is growing,” Mr. McMaster said. To be sure, the outgoing national security adviser argued that Mr. Trump has responded to the Russian threat, highlighting the recent expulsion of 60 Russian officials who might otherwise have helped “orchestrate Russia’s sustained campaign of propaganda, disinformation and political subversion.” But Mr. McMaster described a determined adversary that cannily exploits both traditional and nontraditional methods of disruption, from dangerous intercepts of NATO aircraft to the sowing of internal U.S. political divisions via Russian-backed social media accounts. All of it is designed to create trouble without eliciting a punishing response — and so far, the strategy has worked. The danger of further interference is clear: It would take the tainting of only one ballot tally or election roll to inspire doubt about every election result this November — particularly on the losing sides. At the least, the United States appears destined to see another election in which Russian Internet trolls encourage Americans to distrust their democratic institutions — and each other. Congress made a down payment on a more effective response in the omnibus funding bill it passed last month, setting aside money for hardening election infrastructure against Russian intrusion, upgrading voting machines and investing in the FBI’s mission to counter Kremlin plots. But while these sorts of defensive measures might foil some interference operations, they do little to arrest the source of the meddling, imposing no costs on Mr. Putin or his circle. The Treasury Department last month announced sanctions against a handful of Russian hackers and organizations. Yet this move mostly targeted entities that were already facing indictment or other penalties. Treasury Secretary Steven


FDA commissioner calls on Internet providers to help police opioid offerings

opioids, heroin or fentanyl. States have widely increased its availability in response to the drug crisis, but Adams said more of the antidote needs to be in the hands of private citizens. A private company, kaleo, said it would provide people in six states who have private insurance with its two-pack of naloxone injectors free of charge and without a prescription. The program will start in Arizona, California, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada and Ohio and will be expanded, the company said. More than 115 people die of opioid overdoses every day and more than half of those deaths occur at home, statistics show. Also at heightened risk are people who have recently been in a treatment program or in jail, because their tolerance for the drug declines in those settings. But when they relapse, they may take the same dose they were consuming before getting clean. With 2.1 million Americans suffering from opioid use disorder, “we just want you to think through who’s in your orbit and whether they may be at risk,” Adams said. Advisories from the surgeon general are reserved for significant public health problems. The last one, in 2005, warned against the dangers of drinking alcohol during pregnancy. At the Wednesday summit, Gottlieb suggested that it may be time to require mandatory drug prescription and pain management training for medical personnel who provide prescription opioids. The idea of the government requiring training for those who dispense controlled substances remains controversial because physicians have traditionally resisted it. The American Medical Association, which represents the nation's doctors, is against mandatory training. But there is ample evidence that the need for analgesics varies widely from patient to patient and that physicians aren't sure how many pills to prescribe in different cases. Overprescribing of pain medication is widely considered one of the causes of the epidemic and continues to fuel it, although the number of prescriptions authorized in the United States has begun to fall in the past few years. To assess the extent of overprescribing, the FDA looked at nearly 1 million surgical procedures and found a wide variation in the number of pills offered for the same operation. Other researchers have found the same thing. The FDA also found that the average number of pills provided for an appendix or gall bladder removal is 30. But its analysis showed that just one day of pain relief is required on average.


Happy Hour Roundup

him a Powerpoint presentation to try to convince him that the things he’s been saying about Amazon are false, to no avail. * John Hudson and Seung Min Kim report that the administration imposed a new set of sanctions on Russian companies and business leaders, including Oleg Deripaska, the mob-connected billionaire whom Paul Manafort owes millions of dollars, and who for some reason has not had Manafort murdered. * Ariel Edwards-Levy reports on polling that shows voters are saying their top issue is health care, which bodes well for Democrats in November. * Arit John reports that Democrats are planning on using the Affordable Care Act as an issue against their Republican opponents in the fall. * Stocks slid again today, and the New York Times reports that investors are now beginning to take the prospect of a major trade war “seriously.” * A good catch by Steve Benen: Trump let slip that he realizes managing this trade war is not going to be “easy,” which is an important revelation, given his constant claims that solving problems as president will be a simple matter. * Ari Berman reports that Maryland just became the 12th state to enact automatic voter registration, a big step forward for voting rights. * Allegra Kirkland reports that Democrats in blue states are being unusually aggressive in passing legislation this year. * Yardena Schwartz reports that women who spoke out about sexual harassment at Fox News found themselves blacklisted from the news business. * Randall Eliason explains why the latest development in the Paul Manafort case is such a big deal. * ProPublica is running an interesting experiment in pairing with local news organizations to do local investigative reporting, at a time when such journalism has been badly downsized. * Kirsten Powers explains that there’s nothing pro-life about wanting to execute women who have abortions. * Tara Golshan wonders if Republicans are going to increasingly turn to race-based appeals this fall as it becomes clearer that their tax cut won’t deliver victory at the polls. * Michael Tomasky explains what we can learn about November from a Wisconsin Supreme Court race. * At The Week, I contemplated whether we’re stuck in an eternal political doom loop. * And Michelle Goldberg examines a bizarre right-wing conspiracy theory in which Trump is a genius who only pretended to collude with the Russians in order to trap his enemies.


Larry Nassar wasn’t the only abuser in Olympic sports

Kayla Harrison and August L. Wolf are former Olympic athletes. This article was adapted from a letter they sent to the U.S. Olympic Committee, which was co-signed by Olympic medalists Caroline Lind, Bode Miller and Jimmy Pedro. The strong, dedicated girls and young women of the U.S. gymnastics team who survived the assaults of their team doctor also were victims of a second kind of abuse — the negligence of the U.S. Olympic Committee. The health and safety of the athletes should have been paramount, and instead they were sacrificed to the higher priorities of reducing legal liability and protecting the USOC’s image and fundraising. The case of Larry Nassar, the doctor now effectively serving a life sentence for sexual assault amid allegations from more than 100 female gymnasts he treated, is but the most egregious instance of the USOC’s disregard for Olympic athletes. Dysfunction, neglect and out-of-whack priorities have reigned for years at the USOC, which has been blinded by huge TV contracts and sponsor fees and lulled by a lack of accountability and outside oversight. The people who allowed these conditions to fester have failed to fix it; it is time to clean house. The resignation of USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun, who learned of the allegations in 2015 and did nothing, is a first step to overhauling this insular organization. Now his boss, USOC Chairman Larry Probst, should join him. To clear the way for new leaders, senior executives and board members should offer their resignations en masse. Congress created and sanctioned the USOC as a de facto monopoly with the sole right to represent America’s Olympic athletes — and it is Congress that must get involved in reforming it. We say this as Team USA Olympians. Kayla Harrison won gold medals in judo at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Games. She founded the Fearless Foundation to support athletes who have been sexually abused. August Wolf competed in the shot put at the 1984 Summer Games and is the founder of U.S. Athletic Trust. Also, we are gathering petition signatures in support of fixing the USOC at OlympiansRising.org. The USOC and some of the 47 national governing bodies for individual sports have known of allegations of sexual abuse for decades. Since 1982, almost 300 coaches and officials in Olympic organizations, across 15 sports, have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct. As of 2010, USA Swimming banned 36


A sacrament of healing at the National Cathedral in 1968

On April 4, 1968, we learned the devastating news that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. As newspapers and television programs have testified over the past few days, the event is seared into our collective memory. I have been revisiting my own personal experience of that time. The Sunday after the assassination was designated as a national day of mourning. It was also Palm Sunday. The Cathedral Choral Society, of which I was then a member, was scheduled to perform Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” that evening in Washington National Cathedral. Because of the chaos of fires and riots, a state of emergency was declared, and a curfew set. This meant a restructuring of our timing. All performers and members of the audience would have to be home or out of the city by curfew. An afternoon starting time was announced, and part of the oratorio was cut to shorten the duration. Then, word came that the curfew was set earlier. Our starting time was readjusted, and more cuts to the program were made. The Passion customarily takes more than three hours to perform. It was cut to approximately half that. The atmosphere was tense and solemn. The concert was less of a performance than a sacrament. When it was over, there was a reverent, stunned silence throughout the building as we all, tearfully and fearfully, stepped out into the night. Bach’s achingly beautiful music lifted our grief, our suffering and despair up into the lofty spaces of the cathedral and perhaps into realms where healing could begin. Jennifer Santley


The Health 202: How a fringe idea to solve the opioid crisis turned mainstream

futures after DACA was implemented, OOF: The CDC researcher who disappeared in February has been found dead, seven weeks after he first vanished after leaving the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta. But the circumstances around Cunningham’s death are still a mystery. The Harvard-educated epidemiologist was last seen Feb. 12 when he left work saying he didn’t feel well. His disappearance prompted a weeks-long search and a $10,000 reward for information about his whereabouts. “O’Connor said that although authorities are still awaiting toxicology results and for the medical examiner’s report to be finalized, investigators believe that Cunningham drowned. However, O’Connor said that the case is still under investigation,” Lindsey and Alex write. OUCH: States are increasingly approving marijuana use for medical and recreational purposes. But for marketing agencies, marijuana dispensaries and cannabis brands, advertising the pot brings its own hurdles, “While experts say Facebook and Google — which control the lion’s share of digital advertising in the country — are unlikely to change their policies until pot is legalized at the federal level, and television and radio come with their own sets of rules, industry members are left to navigate a complex web of state-by-state regulations,” Rachel writes. “You would think that Facebook and some of these online platforms are the ideal platforms for these products because you can target only legal states, target only people over 21,” said Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association. “We would gladly follow those guidelines.” —Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) promised a prominent GOP club that Republicans can still repeal Obamacare, something they’ve tried and failed to do multiple times in the past year. But reporter Colton Lochhead notes that Heller’s own history on bills to repeal the ACA are "anything but straightforward.” —House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans are proposing lifting limits on where Medicaid can cover opioid treatment. But cost of lifting the IMD exclusion could make it hard to actually get it passed. The Post's fact-checker Glenn Kessler gives four "Pinocchios" to a White House report claiming insurers profited from the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. “Health insurer profitability in the individual market has risen due to substantial premium increases, government premium tax credits that pay for those premium increases, and the large, government-funded, Medicaid expansion. Since ACA implementation on January 1, 2014, health insurance stocks outperformed the S&P 500 by 106 percent.” The facts: The primary evidence? Comparing a value-weighted


Trump administration imposes new sweeping economic sanctions on senior Russian politicians, companies and business leaders

The new economic sanctions, the Trump administration’s most aggressive action against Kremlin-connected individuals to date, target 17 Russian government officials, a state-owned weapons trading company, and seven people known as oligarchs and 12 companies affiliated with them. In recent weeks, President Trump’s national security advisers have pushed for more sanctions after the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England, interference in the 2016 U.S. elections and a cyberattack described as the most destructive and costly in history.This is a developing story. It will be updated.


Is Russia all out of oligarchs? It says it is.

worth of $14.5 billion. He is the chairman of Renova Group, an investment fund that owns assets in Russia's energy sector. Other notable names include Kirill Shamalov, another major player in Russia's energy sector who is also reported to be Putin's son-in-law, and Oleg Deripaska, an aluminum magnate with alleged ties to President Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. These men are wealthy, yes, and powerful, but they do not hold the same position as the oligarchs of the 1990s. The first generation of Russia's tycoons not only drew their wealth largely from the state, but they were also able to influence the state dramatically, even using their vast power to save Russian President Boris Yeltsin during his flailing 1996 reelection campaign. In modern Russia, wealthy business executives hold much less influence over the state: They own Russia, but they do not rule it. In fact, they are well aware that their own fortunes can be taken away by the state with little notice. Just last week, construction tycoon Ziyavudin Magomedov — whose estimated net worth is $1.4 billion — was arrested on embezzlement charges in a move many saw as a result of political infighting. The U.S. sanctions announced Friday were designed to punish the Russian government and its economic allies for policy moves by Moscow, including interference in Western democracy and Russia's role in Ukraine and Syria. “I think it’s important to see in today’s action a message. And that message is that actions have consequences,” a senior administration official told reporters. Russia's new generation of tycoons may well benefit from the aggressive policies of Putin's Russia and may well deserve punishment. But unlike their predecessors, they do not have real power and do not hold real sway over that policy. Indeed, some analysts argue that sanctioning Russian business executives helps the Kremlin control them. Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, wrote on Twitter that the U.S. sanctions could result in a “win-win” situation for Washington and Moscow. The Trump administration gets to say it is striking a blow at the Putin regime, Trenin wrote, but “Putin sees his hand strengthened in his effort to 'nationalize' the Russian elites.” More on WorldViews 9 charts that lay out Russia’s uncertain future — with or without Putin The Russian journalist who helped uncover election interference is confounded by the Mueller indictments ‘The Kremlin list’: Why Russian oligarchs shrugged


Nationals lose Adam Eaton to minor injury, then lose home opener to Mets, 8-2

bring the incident to an end, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Scott Allen posted updates from Nats Park on the @PostSports Instagram account. Follow his story. For a full series preview, click here. * * * * * Heading to a game soon? — Last month, the Nationals cut ties with Mike Isabella in the wake of news that the celebrity chef and four of his business partners were named in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former top manager at his company. While the team was already planning to replace two of Isabella’s concession concepts — Kapnos at the Park and Catchfly — at Nationals Park this season, the allegations prompted the Nationals to also remove Isabella’s popular G sandwich stand. At Thursday’s home opener against the Mets, the Nationals debuted an entirely new concept in its place. Grace’s Kitchen, named after former first lady Grace Coolidge, will offer a rotating menu of items developed by local female business owners, chefs, and restaurateurs; the featured female partners and dishes will change throughout the season. — What else is new inside Nationals Park? Try a revamped play area for kids, alcoholic juice boxes for adults and a variety of new hot dogs, for starters. Scott Allen has a full roundup of the additions to the ballpark. Outside the park, meanwhile, there are a few fresh places to pregame near the stadium, including Aslin Beer Garden and two pizza options, Declaration and All-Purpose Pizzeria. The beloved Bullpen bar and Bardo are back, as well. — Let’s talk beer. The Nationals announced they will introduce 24- and 25-ounce large-format beer options throughout Nationals Park for the first time this season, but they didn’t offer much in the way of pricing information. A tweeted photo of a concession stand advertising craft draft beer for $16 led to people freaking out. Don’t freak out, writes Scott Allen. — Gates opened at Nats Park at 11 a.m. (Here’s what you need to know about getting there this season.) There are a few changes to the park this year, including notable edits to the scoreboard — a font tweak and the addition of a mound visit tracker. — Planning to watch games this year? That could be difficult if you’re a cord cutter. * * * * * More reading: — Meet the Nationals’ new manager, Dave Martinez, who is making his players chill


Jordan Spieth’s birdie binge has him 2 up at Masters; Tiger Woods seven shots back

the par-four fifth and relinquished any momentum he’d gained at the third. Even the par 5s at Nos. 2 and 8 offered no relief: Woods, a combined 26 under par on Augusta’s longest holes for his career, could only find par on both. At the turn, Woods sat at 1 over par for the day. Another bogey followed at No. 11, when his tee shot went way right and his attempt at a recovery ended up in the gallery. Marc Leishman, Woods’s Australian playing partner, fared much better. Three birdies over the first nine holes gave him an early lead over, among others, 55-year-old Vijay Singh, the 2000 Masters champion who was at 2 under through 12 holes. None of Woods’s Augusta playing partners has ever held a lead after playing a Masters round with the four-time winner. Leishman would become the first. Woods slipped back further to 3 over after the turn with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 11 and 12, then a sloppy par on the par-five 13th. Woods bounced back to finish with a birdie on the par-three 16th and four-shot pars on Nos. 17 and 18. He finished with a one-over 73. “I definitely didn’t score as well as I played,” he told Rinaldi. “I hit the ball better than my score indicates. I feel good. This golf course will take it out of you.” Mickelson finds the trees Phil Mickelson teed off in one of the last groups of the day. After he and playing partner Rory McIlroy birdied the first hole, Mickelson found adventure on the second, winding up in the trees and finishing with a bogey on the par-5 hole. Day finds the drink Jason Day’s drive at the first hole went right into the trees and dropped down into the full beer cup of an Augusta “patron.” When Day arrived to find his ball, the fan was informed that he would have to give Day the ball — currently at the bottom of his beer — so he could identify it properly, then play it. The fan did the only logical thing — at least in Georgia, in the morning, on a golf course. He chugged the beer as the gallery cheered. It was Day who finished the hole a little tipsy, making bogey. That was followed by bogeys at the fifth and sixth holes; Day started the day 3 over par after


11 new restaurants and bars to check out around Washington

A new Israeli restaurant, the return of one of the area's most venerable dive bars and a vegetable-focused concept from lauded Philadelphia chefs lead the list of March's biggest restaurant openings. Quarry House Tavern [After surviving a fire and a flood, Quarry House Tavern has reopened in Silver Spring] Players Club Minnie The Pug Sababa Cortez Fancy Radish [Fancy Radish debuts a vegetable-driven menu on H Street. But don’t call it a vegan restaurant.] Taqueria Local Kaliwa Spoken English Church Hall Mason Dixie Biscuit Co.: After less than a year on Bladensburg Road NE, the founders of the Southern biscuit shop announced on March 4 that they are moving to an undisclosed location in Northwest D.C. In the meantime, they're popping up at Ice Cream Jubilee at the Navy Yard. (See Minnie, above.) Las Canteras: The Peruvian restaurant ended a 10-year run in Adams Morgan. Del Campo Mad Fox Tap Room Read more: This exhibit brings the spirit of Burning Man to D.C. Well, minus the drugs, sex and desert. How to spend 24 hours eating Korean food in Annandale


Practicing journalism can get you killed. Even in the world’s largest democracy.

write in local languages and must cope with limited resources and minimal national exposure, are different from those faced by big-city reporters, who usually write for the English-language press. Both communities, though, have been affected. Last September, Gauri Lankesh, a prominent reporter and critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, was shot and killed in Bangalore, one of India’s biggest cities and capital of Karnataka state. Last month, police in Karnataka finally made an arrest in the killing. Predictably, the suspect was involved with right-wing, Hindu nationalist groups — the same kind of which Lankesh had been critical. Indian journalists today face both the threat of physical violence when doing their jobs, but also the more widespread and insidious forms of intimidation — usually online — that are now commonplace around the world. There is also the issue of access, which the current government has greatly limited. Modi famously does not hold news conferences and rarely gives interviews. When he does, he tends to prefer sympathetic news outlets. “Modi the candidate, and later Modi the prime minister have relied heavily on social media to reach out to people directly,” says Sevanti Ninan, a columnist and founder of South Asian media watchdog The Hoot. “He does not feel the need to talk to the media. There is a sense that the press self-censors if they want access, and if they are owned by large business houses which do not want to incur the animosity of the government, they have added reason to self-censor.” But it’s the proliferation of hate speech that is helping to foster an atmosphere of impunity that makes killing reporters seem like a viable option. Bastard, of Reporters Without Borders, says that this repeated exposure to hate speech has had an “un-inhibiting effect on those who want to get rid of overcurious journalists.” As powerful interests around the world — both governmental and private — take an increasingly antagonistic approach to critical media, this problem will only spread. Silencing journalists — through arrests, online threats or physical violence — is an effective tool that paves the way for more-repressive agendas. This is to be expected in places such as Russia, Iran, China and Egypt. It’s what those regimes do. But when attacks against members of the press become prevalent in societies with long democratic traditions, how long can we continue to convince ourselves that we are somehow immune?


A black bank witnessed devastation after the 1968 riots. Now ‘the future is bright.’

negative impact on black neighborhoods and business districts across the country, said Robert Margo, professor of economics at Boston University who worked on the NBER report as a research associate. “It had a severe effect. We are talking about almost a 40 percent negative effect on the value of African American property values,” he said. In the aftermath of the riots, Margo said, many state and local governments directed resources toward rebuilding. “This didn’t reverse the decline,” he said. His study concluded: “If you were an African-American homeowner and had a house in the vicinity of a severe riot, it hurt your wealth. Your wealth took a hit. This was especially important for African American wealth.” 'A lot of foreclosures' The Mitchells saw the effects firsthand. By the 1990s, Patricia Mitchell said, “People didn’t want to live in the U Street area. We ended up with a lot of foreclosures. “At one point in the late ’90s, we had 13 at one time. ... People were giving us the keys.” The vacant houses were filled by “squatters and crackheads,” she said. “We had property foreclosed at 12th and V. We couldn’t give it away,” Patricia Mitchell said. “One of our employees finally bought the house and still lives there.” But, once again, Industrial Bank survived, even expanding. In 1994, the bank opened two branches in Prince George’s County — in Forestville and in Oxon Hill. That year, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., there were 54 black-owned banks across the country. More than 20 years later, there were only 21. The Industrial Bank’s deposits have grown from the $250,000 in 1934 to $337 million by the end of 2017, Doyle Mitchell said. A growing segment of that base includes millennials. In 2016, rapper Killer Mike announced in an MTV and BET town hall meeting a drive to get people to invest in black banks. The twitter hashtag #bankblack trended. “Millennials want to support black businesses,” Patricia Mitchell said. “And people want to support local businesses.” These days, Industrial Bank customers are increasingly diverse, with white newcomers making deposits alongside African Americans. When the bank opened a branch in Anacostia in 2009, the first customer to make a deposit was a white man. The bank has witnessed — and profited from — a remarkable resurgence along the U Street corridor. The houses that were once worth nothing are now worth


Bridget, a lioness famed for her majestic mane, dies at age 18

required a blood sample, and getting a blood sample from a lion is not so easy. On the rare occasions it’s done, blood is drawn under anesthesia, D’Agostino said, but that comes with risks that the zoo did not want to take with a lion of Bridget’s age. Keepers had been planning to train the zoo’s big cats to put up with blood draws, so they “brought her to the front of the line,” D’Agostino said. Over a couple months, zoo staff used a standard training technique called operant conditioning, during which an animal is rewarded for performing the desired behavior. When she lay down in a special crate, a keeper clicked a clicker and Bridget got her favorite treat of horsemeat (imported from Canada; the United States no longer has horse slaughterhouses). When she went further into the crate, she got another click and a hunk of meat. More rewards followed when she allowed staff to use a hook to pull her tail through a little opening, then hold her tail, then press it with a blunt-tipped needle, and, finally, when she permitted them to insert the needle into a vein in her tail. “She did fantastic, because she’s just so smart. She caught on really fast,” D’Agostino said earlier this year. “Once she had her meat, she had no problem.” At first, the zoo could draw only enough blood to do routine bloodwork, all of which came back normal, D’Agostino said. “Every time we do this, we don’t always get a huge volume of blood,” and it’s important not to drag out the process, she said at the time. “We don’t want it to become a negative experience.” The eventual hormone tests had surprising results: Bridget and Tia had nearly identical testosterone levels. But Bridget had much higher levels of cortisol and androstenedione, both of which are produced in the adrenal glands. That suggested a “benign hormone-secreting tumor” in one of her adrenal glands, the zoo said, adding that her overall health “is excellent for an 18-year-old.” “If it’s not going to affect her health in any way,” D’Agostino said in February, “the fact that she has a little bit of a mane is not that big a deal.” Bridget is survived by Tia and Hubert — and by two new female lions. Moto and Dunia, 2-year-old sisters, arrived at the Oklahoma City Zoo last month from Wildlife


He was wearing a vest marked ‘PRESS.’ He was shot dead covering a protest in Gaza.

military had dropped leaflets in the lead-up to the protest instructing Palestinians to stay at least 300 meters (328 yards) away from the fence and warning live ammunition would be used. On Friday, thousands of tires were set ablaze, creating a thick black fog that protesters hoped would guard them from the Israeli snipers. Shady al Assar, 35, who was with Murtaja just before he was shot, said they were about 100 meters from the border at Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, when he lost sight of his friend in the thick black smoke. Assar said he picked up his camera to photograph an injured person being carried toward him before realizing it was Murtaja. Murtaja was wearing a helmet and a protective jacket, according to multiple journalists who saw him. However, the bullet entered his side, rendering the protective plates on his front and back useless, they said. “He was kind, gentle and caring, eager to become the best journalist he could be, because his aim was always to document the Palestinian people's suffering,” said Rori Donaghy, a Middle East consultant and former news editor at the Middle East Eye website, who spent time with Murtaja in Gaza. “It’s really sad.” Of the five other journalists who the reporting syndicate said were injured Friday, several were freelancers, while one was shooting for the European Press Agency, and another worked for the Hamas-affiliated television channel Al-Aqsa. As he waited at the graveyard for Murtaja’s body to arrive, Wissam Nassar, a freelance photographer who has worked for The Washington Post and the New York Times, said he had exchanged messages with his friend Thursday night to discuss where they would be going for the next day’s demonstrations. It was the last time they were in touch. Nassar recalled how he had been photographing young men as they waited to try to get permission to cross the border with Egypt in February when he saw Murtaja. Judging it a near-impossible feat to leave through Israel, Murtaja instead focused his energy on the Egyptian border, which opens sporadically, relatives said. Murtaja made it through the Palestinian side, his passport stamped on the way out. But upon arrival at the terminal at the Egyptian side, the border had been unexpectedly closed, and he was turned back, Nassar said. “He joked that he missed Gaza so much, he came back,” said Nassar. loveday.morris@washpost.com


Local digest: Pedestrian dies after vehicle hit him in Northwest D.C.

THE DISTRICT Pedestrian dies after vehicle hit him in NW A pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle in Northwest Washington on Tuesday, D.C. police said. Kenneth Clarke, 19, of Bothell, Wash., was hit by a westbound vehicle as he attempted to cross the 5300 block of Western Avenue around 10:25 p.m., police said. The driver of the vehicle remained on the scene. Rescue crews took Clarke to a hospital, where he died Thursday. The incident was under investigation, and no charges had been filed. — Justin Jouvenal MARYLAND Officer kills wife and himself, police say A U.S. Park Police officer in Maryland fatally shot his wife before turning the gun on himself in what authorities are calling a domestic-related murder-suicide. The shooting occurred after Jose Ramon Bumbray, 46, got into an argument with his wife Thursday at their home in the 5000 block of Fallen Timber Way in Indian Head, according to a statement from the Charles County Sheriff’s Office. Bumbray shot Brenda Jenette Harrison-Bumbray, 50, with his duty weapon around 8 p.m. and then shot himself, the sheriff’s office said. The couple’s adult son found his parents after hearing the argument and gunfire, authorities said. — Lynh Bui Police captain charged with theft and forgery A Prince George’s County police captain has been suspended without pay after being charged with theft and forgery. Thomas W. Hart, 52, received a summons Friday to appear in court in connection with allegations that he forged a signature on a withdrawal check from a financial account he shares with his ex-wife, according to a statement from Prince George’s police. Hart is scheduled to appear in Queen Anne’s County District Court on two counts of forgery and one count of theft between $1,000 and $10,000, according to online court records. The charges stem from incidents on April 10, 2017, records show. Hart was already the subject of an internal investigation that police launched in January, according to a statement from the department. Officials would not disclose the nature of the case because of the ongoing investigation. Hart has worked for the department for 22 years and is assigned to patrol, police said. He could not be immediately reached for comment, and online court records did not list an attorney for him. — Lynh Bui VIRGINIA THE REGION


College student fatally injured crossing D.C. street

A freshman student at American University died Thursday after being struck by a vehicle last week while trying to cross a busy northwest Washington intersection, according to authorities. Kenneth Clarke, 19, of Bothell, Wash., was hit as he attempted to cross Western Avenue NW on March 27 about 10:25 p.m. in the 5300 block, near the Wisconsin Avenue intersection, according to the D.C. police. He died Thursday at a hospital. A university official said he suffered a severe brain injury. A freshman in the AU School of International Service, he lived on campus in Roper Hall, said Fanta Aw, vice president of campus life. Aw said he was known to friends and family for his “genuine compassion and kindness,” as well as his “deep faith and commitment to serving others” American University’s student-run newspaper quoted a university chaplain as saying that both his parents were pastors in the United Methodist Church. Police said the incident remained under investigation. martin.weil@washpost.com; justin.jouvenal@washpost.com


Why have we done so little to tackle climate change?

Meara Sharma writes about culture and the environment. A decade ago, the environmental philosopher Timothy Morton invented a new word: hyperobject. It describes something so “massively distributed in time and space relative to humans” that it eludes our understanding. The best example of a hyperobject is climate change. Its scale confounds our perception. It is everywhere—“viscous,” as Morton has it — and yet it is hard to see directly. Its implications are so great that they verge on unthinkable. William T. Vollmann’s new book, “No Immediate Danger,” tussles with the comprehension-defying nature of climate change. It is a 600-page amalgam of scientific history, cultural criticism, mathematical experiments, risk-benefit analyses of energy production and consumption, and diaristic meanderings through radiation-festooned landscapes after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011. The effect is bewildering. The first of two volumes, jointly called “The Carbon Ideologies,” the whole book is written as a letter to the future. “Someday,” it begins, “perhaps not long from now, the inhabitants of a hotter, more dangerous and biologically diminished planet than the one on which I lived may wonder what you and I were thinking, or whether we thought at all. This book is for them.” We know more today about the effects of climate change than ever before (although, as Vollmann and others have noted, we’ve really known for a half a century). We are experiencing heightened storms, record droughts, rising seas and temperatures, increased pollution. And yet we have done little to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, which are at record highs. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at a level not seen since the Pliocene era — more than 3 million years ago. Why so little action? Is it because many of us don’t care about some “ecosystem somewhere”? Because the science lacks certainty? Because of companies’ concerns about their profits? Because of data suppression? Because it is easier not to act? These questions course through the book. “No Immediate Danger” is divided in two parts, beginning with a primer. It is a kind of encyclopedia of the causes of climate change, including manufacturing, transportation, agriculture and industrial chemicals, with occasional stretches of commentary and analysis that are some of the most compelling parts of the book. In the opening section, titled “What Was the Work For?” Vollmann acerbically logs the small, seemingly routine comforts that many of us enjoy — the


The FBI is still searching for a fugitive mechanic involved in a horrific 1996 Valujet crash

When Valujet Flight 592 ascended for the last time in 1996, it was supposed to be for a routine, hour-and-a-half-long trip from Miami International Airport to Atlanta. Seven minutes after takeoff, however, flight captain Candalyn Kubeck radioed a troubling message: There had been a strange sound heard on the plane, and now the pilots were experiencing electrical problems. “We’re losing everything,” Kubeck said, seconds later. “We need, we need to go back to Miami.” In the background were shouts of “fire, fire, fire, fire” and “We’re on fire! We’re on fire!” Kubeck and her co-pilot managed to turn the aircraft back toward Miami, but it was too late. In the cargo hold a devastating blaze had erupted, filling the cabin and cockpit of the DC-9 with thick smoke and flames that were hot enough to melt aluminum. The plane careened downward, tilted to the right, on a final, uncontrolled descent. At 2:13 p.m. on May 11, 1996 — less than 10 minutes after takeoff — Valujet Flight 592 slammed into the murky waters of the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board. The impact was at once devastating and curious: A witness in a sightseeing plane would later tell investigators the jet seemed to vanish once it struck the wetlands, creating a deep crater in the muck and saw grass. Crash debris haunted investigators for months as they recovered fragments of both plane and passengers from the “River of Grass.” To this day, no complete body of any of the passengers has ever been found. “It just went to pieces,” Jacqueline Fruge, a special agent with the FBI’s Miami office, said in a statement Thursday. The devastating crash prefaced the financial demise of one of the country’s low-cost carriers. The National Transportation Safety Board spent more than a year working up an accident report that ruled the crash had been caused primarily by a contractor’s mishandling of the packaging and shipment of oxygen generators in the cargo hold. The oxygen generators had been loaded without the proper safety caps, causing them to ignite in the cargo hold and trigger the deadly fire, the report said. Investigators identified three employees of SabreTech, the maintenance contractor for Valujet at the time, who had a role in mishandling the oxygen generators, according to the FBI. Two of those employees were criminally charged but later acquitted. However, the third SabreTech employee, mechanic Mauro