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  • Obituaries of note: Marty Springstead, Raymond Shonholtz

    Obituaries
    19 Jan 2012 | 3:28 pm
    Marty Springstead baseball umpire Marty Springstead, 74, a baseball umpire who worked 20 years in the major leagues and was the youngest umpire crew chief in World Series history, died Jan. 17 at his home in Sarasota, Fla. The New York Times reported that he had a heart attack. Read full article >>

  • Wizards vs. Rockets: Sloppy play stops Washington’s momentum vs. Houston

    Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis
    Michael Lee
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:19 pm
    HOUSTON — John Wall trailed Nick Young on a fast break, watched Young miss an uncontested layup, and came soaring from behind to catch the ball and dunk with both hands. Wall screamed so loudly that the boom microphones near the rim ensured all 13,894 fans at Toyota Center could hear him. Read full article >>

  • Potomac robber carries pistol, umbrella

    Post Local: Washington, DC Area News, Traffic, Weather, Sports & More - The Washington Post
    Martin Weil
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:10 pm
    The rain falls, according to the Bible, “on the just and on the unjust, ” and a man who robbed a bank in Montgomery County on Friday may have taken that idea into account. The M&T Bank in Potomac was held up about 9:40 a.m. by a robber who seemed specially prepared for the wet weather conditions prevailing in the Washington area at that time. Read full article >>

  • Potomac robber carries pistol, umbrella

    Crime: Washington DC Area Crime News & Crime Reports - Washington Post
    Martin Weil
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:10 pm
    The rain falls, according to the Bible, “on the just and on the unjust, ” and a man who robbed a bank in Montgomery County on Friday may have taken that idea into account. The M&T Bank in Potomac was held up about 9:40 a.m. by a robber who seemed specially prepared for the wet weather conditions prevailing in the Washington area at that time. Read full article >>

  • Obama ally suggests administration is undermining Endangered Species Act

    National: Breaking National News & Headlines - Washington Post
    Juliet Eilperin
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:52 pm
    The Obama administration is setting too high a threshold for listing an imperiled plant or animal under the Endangered Species Act, according to Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass). Markey, one of the White House’s closest congressional allies, late Thursday sent a letter to Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, questioning a draft policy the agency issued last month with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Read full article >>
 
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    Post Local: Washington, DC Area News, Traffic, Weather, Sports & More - The Washington Post

  • Potomac robber carries pistol, umbrella

    Martin Weil
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:10 pm
    The rain falls, according to the Bible, “on the just and on the unjust, ” and a man who robbed a bank in Montgomery County on Friday may have taken that idea into account. The M&T Bank in Potomac was held up about 9:40 a.m. by a robber who seemed specially prepared for the wet weather conditions prevailing in the Washington area at that time. Read full article >>

  • Md. first lady, Catherine Curran O’Malley, regrets ‘cowards’ remark

    John Wagner, Ovetta Wiggins
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:37 pm
    A day after she called opponents of last year’s failed same-sex marriage bill “cowards,” Maryland first lady Catherine Curran O’Malley said Friday that she regrets her choice of words. In welcoming remarks Thursday night at a national conference of gay-rights advocates in Baltimore, O’Malley blamed the bill’s demise in the General Assembly on “some cowards that prevented it from passing.” Read full article >>

  • Brittany Norwood receives life, no parole, for killing Jayna Murray in Lululemon yoga store

    Paul Duggan
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:36 pm
    A Montgomery County judge, his voice rising in anger at times, sentenced Brittany Norwood to life in prison without the chance of parole Friday for the savage killing of co-worker Jayna Murray in a Bethesda yoga store last year. Read full article >>

  • DeEvening Links: The educated embezzler

    Mike DeBonis
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:04 pm
    Turns out that former advisory neighborhood commissioner William C. Shelton, who pleaded guilty today to misusing ANC funds, was an educated consumer — he spent $105.94 worth of taxpayer money at the late, lamented Syms. Read full article >>

  • In sentencing Norwood, a judge shows a community’s anger

    Michael S. Rosenwald
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:04 pm
    They spoke of their rage. They spoke of the sleepless nights, the despair, their private thoughts that God should just take them now, so they could reunite in heaven with their daughter, their sister, their sister-in-law, their girlfriend — Jayna Troxel Murray. Read full article >>
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    Crime: Washington DC Area Crime News & Crime Reports - Washington Post

  • Potomac robber carries pistol, umbrella

    Martin Weil
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:10 pm
    The rain falls, according to the Bible, “on the just and on the unjust, ” and a man who robbed a bank in Montgomery County on Friday may have taken that idea into account. The M&T Bank in Potomac was held up about 9:40 a.m. by a robber who seemed specially prepared for the wet weather conditions prevailing in the Washington area at that time. Read full article >>

  • Brittany Norwood receives life, no parole, for killing Jayna Murray in Lululemon yoga store

    Paul Duggan
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:36 pm
    A Montgomery County judge, his voice rising in anger at times, sentenced Brittany Norwood to life in prison without the chance of parole Friday for the savage killing of co-worker Jayna Murray in a Bethesda yoga store last year. Read full article >>

  • D.C. man pleads guilty in 2007 killing

    David Marino-Nachison
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:11 pm
    A D.C. man pleaded guilty Friday to the killing of a 56-year-old man in 2007, authorities said. Ronnell James, 39, pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court to second-degree murder while armed in the April 7, 2007, slaying of Robert Beidleman in his Northeast Washington apartment, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Read full article >>

  • Massage parlor owners charged in prostitution investigation

    Katherine Driessen
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:52 pm
    Four Rockville massage parlor operators have been charged with using their businesses as fronts to conduct prostitution or human trafficking, according to Montgomery County Police. The investigation was launched in September after authorities noticed an increase in advertisements for acupressure businesses and massage parlors on websites, Montgomery County Police said. Police said they conducted searches of six Rockville businesses and filed charges against operators of four of those establishments. Read full article >>

  • Mistrial in case of Pr. George’s detective accused of selling guns

    Matt Zapotosky
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:57 pm
    A Prince George’s County Circuit Court judge declared a mistrial Friday in the case of a police narcotics detective accused of stealing and selling guns that he had seized from criminals, authorities said. Read full article >>
 
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    National: Breaking National News & Headlines - Washington Post

  • Obama ally suggests administration is undermining Endangered Species Act

    Juliet Eilperin
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:52 pm
    The Obama administration is setting too high a threshold for listing an imperiled plant or animal under the Endangered Species Act, according to Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass). Markey, one of the White House’s closest congressional allies, late Thursday sent a letter to Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, questioning a draft policy the agency issued last month with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Read full article >>

  • How the war on teachers is changing the profession

    Valerie Strauss
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:41 pm
    This was written by educator Anthony Cody, who worked for 24 years in the Oakland schools, 18 years teaching science at a high-needs school and six years as a mentor and coach of teachers. He is a National Board-certified teacher. A version of this post appeared on his Education Week Teacher blog, Living in Dialogue . Read full article >>

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    27 Jan 2012 | 5:41 pm

  • College leaders question Obama’s tuition plan

    Daniel de Vise
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:25 pm
    Update: I have added comments from Education Secretary Arne Duncan and University of Texas at Austin President William Powers. President Obama on Friday proposed that the federal government take the lead in curbing the rising cost of college by rewarding colleges that keep tuition down and punishing those that do not. Read full article >>

  • At Joe Paterno memorial service, Phil Knight shows true leadership

    Jena McGregor
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:38 am
    Nike co-founder and chairman Phil Knight has long been known for being unconventional. The man whose company is perhaps best known for its advertising once told his ad agency he doesn’t believe in advertising. When he handed the reins over to a lieutenant in 1983, he disappeared to China (before returning the next year), saying, “I’m splitting from this turkey farm.” Legend holds that few, if any, employees have ever seen his office at Nike’s headquarters, an inner sanctum decked out in Japanese style where no shoes (not even Nikes) are allowed. Read full article >>
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    National Security: National Security, Pentagon & Defense Department News - The Washington Post

  • Navy wants commando ‘mothership’ in Middle East

    Craig Whitlock
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:57 pm
    The Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats. In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs, procurement documents show. Read full article…

  • Clinton: Done with the ‘high wire’ of politics. Really.

    Karen DeYoung
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:49 pm
    Like President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she hasn’t been watching the Republican primary debates. But at least Clinton has an excuse for tuning out — she says she’s quitting government after the election no matter who wins. Read full article >>

  • Pentagon budget set to shrink next year

    Craig Whitlock
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:12 pm
    The Pentagon budget will shrink slightly next year for the first time since 1998, the Obama administration said Thurs­day, in an attempt to chip away at the federal deficit while reorienting the armed forces toward Asia. Read full article >>

  • Advice to presidential hopefuls: Details matter

    Walter Pincus
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:33 pm
    Of all people, presidential candidates should check their facts before making accusations or promises on the campaign trail, particularly when dealing with sensitive foreign policy or defense spending issues. Read full article >>

  • Navy SEALs rescue kidnapped aid workers Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted in Somalia

    Karen DeYoung, Greg Jaffe
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    U.S. Special Operations forces rescued an American hostage and her Danish colleague in Somalia early Wednesday in the kind of daring raid that the Obama administration has said will be the hallmark of future U.S. military missions. Read full article >>
 
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    Homeland Security: Latest News and Headlines

  • Increased airport security opens up contracting opportunities

    Marjorie Censer
    15 Jan 2012 | 3:55 pm
    Since the Department of Homeland Security was founded and traveler security ramped up, local contractors have found new opportunities in biometric technology used for airport screenings and at border crossings. Read full article >>

  • Cyber defense effort is mixed, study finds

    Ellen Nakashima
    12 Jan 2012 | 10:12 am
    A Pentagon pilot program that uses classified National Security Agency data to protect the computer networks of defense contractors has had some success but also has failed to meet some expectations, according to a study commissioned by the Defense Department. Read full article >>

  • Deltek: Spending deal for 2012 is mixed bag for contractors

    Kevin Plexico
    25 Dec 2011 | 1:24 pm
    The last-minute deal made earlier this month to fund government operations through the end of fiscal 2012 means one thing for contractors: certainty. Through most of fiscal 2011 and the beginning of 2012, the government lived off a series of short-term continuing resolutions — essentially stop-gap measures that left agency heads unsure about how much money they could spend and when. Read full article >>

  • Cyber-intruder sparks massive federal response — and debate over dealing with threats

    Ellen Nakashima
    8 Dec 2011 | 6:06 pm
    The first sign of trouble was a mysterious signal emanating from deep within the U.S. military’s classified computer network. Like a human spy, a piece of covert software in the supposedly secure system was “beaconing” — trying to send coded messages back to its creator. Read full article >>

  • Protecting the public from bioterrorism

    The Partnership for Public Service
    27 Nov 2011 | 3:23 pm
    In response to the 2001 anthrax attacks and the continuing threat of bioterrorism, the federal government in 2003 launched an environmental monitoring system in 30 major urban areas to detect the intentional release of harmful biological agents. Read full article >>
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    World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post

  • Violence surges in Syria as U.N. Security Council meets

    Alice Fordham, Colum Lynch
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:25 pm
    BEIRUT — Violence surged in Syria on Friday, with government forces using heavy artillery to bombard several towns, while the United Nations debated a resolution on ways to end the bloodshed, intensifying the diplomatic pressure on Damascus. Read full article >>

  • Navy wants commando ‘mothership’ in Middle East

    Craig Whitlock
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:57 pm
    The Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats. In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs, procurement documents show. Read full article…

  • France will speed up troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by one year

    Edward Cody, Karen DeYoung
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    PARIS — France announced Friday that it will pull its combat forces out of Afghanistan one year ahead of the scheduled NATO withdrawal and said it would urge the rest of the alliance to do the same. President Nicolas Sarkozy made the unexpected proposal in concert with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a news conference here. “We have decided to ask NATO to consider a total handing of NATO combat missions to the Afghan army over the course of 2013,” Sarkozy said. Read full article >>

  • India: From banning homosexuality to gay tourism destination in two years

    Cara Kelly
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:31 pm
    Only two years ago, same-sex couples in India lived under a 148-year-old law that banned homosexual relations. Now, their country is rated “one of the hottest new destinations” for gay and lesbian travellers. Read full article >>

  • Europe’s debt crisis stretches on

    Edward Cody
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:13 am
    PARIS — Despite months of urgent summits, repeated rescue plans and merciless budget cuts, European governments remain on the edge of a financial abyss, struggling to meet mountainous debts accumulated over four decades of living beyond their means. Read full article >>
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    Health & Science: Science News, Health News, Scientific Developments, Healthcare & Nutrition - The Washington Post

  • Long-term-care insurance offers protection, but it’s not right for everyone

    Caroline E. Mayer
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:48 pm
    In the last years of Martin Privot’s life, his family had to start selling his assets to pay for his nursing home costs. “He needed 24-hour care and couldn’t be left alone,” recalls his daughter Toni Footer. “My biggest fear was we would run [through his money] and wouldn’t be able to provide the care that he needed.” Read full article >>

  • To spy a black hole, astronomers will build a virtual globe-spanning telescope

    Brian Vastag
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:43 pm
    It’s time for a black hole to shine. A dozing monster of a black hole lies at the heart of our galaxy, and a global group of astronomers wants to snap its picture. They expect to see a ring of hot plasma swirling around a blank spot, the death dance of gas clouds getting sucked into a sphere of no return, the so-called event horizon. Read full article >>

  • Readers’ views on deep vein thrombosis and prices of generic and brand-name drugs

    23 Jan 2012 | 3:15 pm
    More about deep vein thrombosis The article on deep vein thrombosis [“Long, strange trip,” Jan. 17] was very informative, but it omitted other information that readers might want to have. DVTs and pulmonary embolisms can also signal the presence of undiagnosed cancer. As the author notes, he will have to wait until he finishes a prescribed period of anticoagulation therapy before he can be tested for the genetic disorders that may account for his clotting. In the meantime, I hope his doctors are ruling out various forms of cancer that could have triggered his clotting episodes. Read full…

  • Traditional Chinese medicine technique uses heated glass cups to heal ills

    Debra Bruno
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:11 pm
    BEIJING — Not long after I moved to China, I learned I had a case of blocked qi. A practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine squeezed the top of my ear and informed me that the obstruction of my qi, or life force, was caused in part by my tendency to overthink. She also said I had some liver stagnation and a weak heart. Until that moment, I had thought I was just fine. Read full article >>

  • Global warming would harm the Earth, but some areas might find it beneficial

    Brian Palmer
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:10 pm
    “Global warming” and “climate change” succinctly describe a complicated phenomenon, and in just a few decades they have become common descriptors. But while global warming would be bad for the Earth as a whole, the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would affect different areas in different ways, and local climate change is what matters to many people. So let’s look at the relative winners and losers. Read full article >>
 
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    World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post

  • Violence surges in Syria as U.N. Security Council meets

    Alice Fordham, Colum Lynch
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:25 pm
    BEIRUT — Violence surged in Syria on Friday, with government forces using heavy artillery to bombard several towns, while the United Nations debated a resolution on ways to end the bloodshed, intensifying the diplomatic pressure on Damascus. Read full article >>

  • Navy wants commando ‘mothership’ in Middle East

    Craig Whitlock
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:57 pm
    The Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats. In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs, procurement documents show. Read full article…

  • France will speed up troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by one year

    Edward Cody, Karen DeYoung
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    PARIS — France announced Friday that it will pull its combat forces out of Afghanistan one year ahead of the scheduled NATO withdrawal and said it would urge the rest of the alliance to do the same. President Nicolas Sarkozy made the unexpected proposal in concert with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a news conference here. “We have decided to ask NATO to consider a total handing of NATO combat missions to the Afghan army over the course of 2013,” Sarkozy said. Read full article >>

  • India: From banning homosexuality to gay tourism destination in two years

    Cara Kelly
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:31 pm
    Only two years ago, same-sex couples in India lived under a 148-year-old law that banned homosexual relations. Now, their country is rated “one of the hottest new destinations” for gay and lesbian travellers. Read full article >>

  • Europe’s debt crisis stretches on

    Edward Cody
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:13 am
    PARIS — Despite months of urgent summits, repeated rescue plans and merciless budget cuts, European governments remain on the edge of a financial abyss, struggling to meet mountainous debts accumulated over four decades of living beyond their means. Read full article >>
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    Asia News: News and Headlines China, Japan, Korea & More - The Washington Post

  • Japan losing hope for its pricey “dream reactor”

    Chico Harlan
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:42 pm
    TSURUGA, Japan — Japan’s long and expensive pursuit of a super-efficient nuclear reactor — a model once touted as the key to its energy future — now teeters on the brink of failure amid new government concerns about its runaway costs. Read full article >>

  • Bomber targets NATO convoy in Afghanistan; 3 killed

    Sayed Salahuddin
    26 Jan 2012 | 3:31 am
    KABUL — Three Afghan civilians were killed Thursday when a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, according to officials. A female civilian official from the coalition and 30 Afghan civilians were hurt in the attack, in which the bomber used a vehicle outside the governor’s compound in Lashkar Gah, Helmand’s provincial capital. Read full article >>

  • After earthquake, Japan can’t agree on the future of nuclear power

    Chico Harlan
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:10 pm
    TOKYO — The hulking system that once guided Japan’s pro-nuclear-power stance worked just fine when everybody moved in lock step. But in the wake of a nuclear accident that changed the way this country thinks about energy, the system has proved ill-suited for resolving conflict. Its very size and complexity have become a problem. Read full article >>

  • For export-dependent Japan, a trade deficit

    Chico Harlan
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:02 pm
    TOKYO — After years of using exports to power its economy, Japan has reported its first trade deficit in more than three decades, underscoring the mounting challenges for an economy already slowed by natural and nuclear disasters. Read full article >>

  • Pakistani report rejects U.S. account of fatal NATO airstrike

    Karin Brulliard
    23 Jan 2012 | 11:47 am
    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan —Pakistan on Monday sternly rejected a U.S. account of a deadly NATO airstrike in November, an incident that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at a post near the Afghan border and severely strained ties between the long-wary allies. Read full article >>
 
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    Europe News: News and Headlines from Europe - The Washington Post

  • France will speed up troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by one year

    Edward Cody, Karen DeYoung
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    PARIS — France announced Friday that it will pull its combat forces out of Afghanistan one year ahead of the scheduled NATO withdrawal and said it would urge the rest of the alliance to do the same. President Nicolas Sarkozy made the unexpected proposal in concert with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a news conference here. “We have decided to ask NATO to consider a total handing of NATO combat missions to the Afghan army over the course of 2013,” Sarkozy said. Read full article >>

  • In Germany, attitudes toward ‘Mein Kampf’ slowly changing

    Michael Birnbaum
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:11 am
    The city that was the center of Adolf Hitler’s empire is littered with reminders of the Nazi past, from the bullet holes that pit the fronts of many buildings to the hulking Luftwaffe headquarters that now house the Finance Ministry. Read full article >>

  • Russian TV veers back to familiar ground

    Will Englund
    26 Jan 2012 | 5:30 am
    As thousands of protesters pushed toward Bolotnaya Square, crews from mainstream Russian television fanned out. Satellite trucks were ranged curbside, their engines running. For six days after the parliamentary elections last month, TV ignored the street protests that were starting to shake the nation. Now the reporters and cameramen were ready. But still, not a peep. Read full article >>

  • Europe bans Iranian oil imports in push to curtail nuclear program

    Edward Cody
    23 Jan 2012 | 2:45 pm
    BRUSSELS — Europe banned the import of Iranian oil Monday and froze Europe-based assets of the Central Bank of Iran, intensifying an international campaign to choke Iran’s economy and force the radical Islamic government to dispel fears that it is working to develop nuclear weapons. Read full article >>

  • Russia’s Communist Party finds itself at a familiar crossroads

    Kathy Lally
    21 Jan 2012 | 9:18 am
    Russia’s restless electorate bestowed a big bouquet of votes on the country’s Communists last month, putting the party of Lenin in position to either rally a new generation behind its red banners or stay reliably on the sidelines, repeating the old slogans and mourning the past. Read full article >>
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    Middle East News: News and Headlines from Iraq, Iran, Israel, Lebanon & More - The Washington Post

  • Bomb kills dozens in Baghdad Shiite district

    Dan Morse, Aziz Alwan
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:48 am
    BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives near a funeral procession here Friday morning, killing at least 31 people and injuring at least 60, a security official said. Mourners had gathered outside a hospital to receive the bodies of three people killed the night before, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The blast occurred in the Shiite neighborhood of Zafaraniyah, in the city’s southeast. Read full article >>

  • In Libya, rebels still dominate Tripoli streets

    Alice Fordham
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:30 am
    Despite repeated pledges by Libya’s transitional government to find jobs for the rebel fighters who forced Moammar Gaddafi from power, tens of thousands of them are still operating in armed militia groups, patrolling streets and guarding buildings in Tripoli and other cities. Read full article >>

  • Son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood barred from leaving Egypt

    Leila Fadel
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:30 pm
    CAIRO — A top U.S. official’s son who is working for a pro-democracy group in Egypt has been barred from leaving the country, along with at least five other Americans, escalating a crackdown on such groups by Egypt’s military government that has outraged the United States. Read full article >>

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    26 Jan 2012 | 3:00 am

  • Bombs kill 2 policemen and their families south of Baghdad

    Dan Morse, Asaad Majeed
    26 Jan 2012 | 3:00 am
    BAGHDAD — Three bombs exploded around the home of two policemen south of Baghdad on Thursday morning, killing nine people inside, including two babies less than 6 months old, an Iraqi security official said. Read full article >>
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    World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post

  • Violence surges in Syria as U.N. Security Council meets

    Alice Fordham, Colum Lynch
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:25 pm
    BEIRUT — Violence surged in Syria on Friday, with government forces using heavy artillery to bombard several towns, while the United Nations debated a resolution on ways to end the bloodshed, intensifying the diplomatic pressure on Damascus. Read full article >>

  • Navy wants commando ‘mothership’ in Middle East

    Craig Whitlock
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:57 pm
    The Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats. In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs, procurement documents show. Read full article…

  • France will speed up troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by one year

    Edward Cody, Karen DeYoung
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    PARIS — France announced Friday that it will pull its combat forces out of Afghanistan one year ahead of the scheduled NATO withdrawal and said it would urge the rest of the alliance to do the same. President Nicolas Sarkozy made the unexpected proposal in concert with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a news conference here. “We have decided to ask NATO to consider a total handing of NATO combat missions to the Afghan army over the course of 2013,” Sarkozy said. Read full article >>

  • India: From banning homosexuality to gay tourism destination in two years

    Cara Kelly
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:31 pm
    Only two years ago, same-sex couples in India lived under a 148-year-old law that banned homosexual relations. Now, their country is rated “one of the hottest new destinations” for gay and lesbian travellers. Read full article >>

  • Europe’s debt crisis stretches on

    Edward Cody
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:13 am
    PARIS — Despite months of urgent summits, repeated rescue plans and merciless budget cuts, European governments remain on the edge of a financial abyss, struggling to meet mountainous debts accumulated over four decades of living beyond their means. Read full article >>
 
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    World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post

  • Violence surges in Syria as U.N. Security Council meets

    Alice Fordham, Colum Lynch
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:25 pm
    BEIRUT — Violence surged in Syria on Friday, with government forces using heavy artillery to bombard several towns, while the United Nations debated a resolution on ways to end the bloodshed, intensifying the diplomatic pressure on Damascus. Read full article >>

  • Navy wants commando ‘mothership’ in Middle East

    Craig Whitlock
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:57 pm
    The Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats. In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs, procurement documents show. Read full article…

  • France will speed up troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by one year

    Edward Cody, Karen DeYoung
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    PARIS — France announced Friday that it will pull its combat forces out of Afghanistan one year ahead of the scheduled NATO withdrawal and said it would urge the rest of the alliance to do the same. President Nicolas Sarkozy made the unexpected proposal in concert with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a news conference here. “We have decided to ask NATO to consider a total handing of NATO combat missions to the Afghan army over the course of 2013,” Sarkozy said. Read full article >>

  • India: From banning homosexuality to gay tourism destination in two years

    Cara Kelly
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:31 pm
    Only two years ago, same-sex couples in India lived under a 148-year-old law that banned homosexual relations. Now, their country is rated “one of the hottest new destinations” for gay and lesbian travellers. Read full article >>

  • Europe’s debt crisis stretches on

    Edward Cody
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:13 am
    PARIS — Despite months of urgent summits, repeated rescue plans and merciless budget cuts, European governments remain on the edge of a financial abyss, struggling to meet mountainous debts accumulated over four decades of living beyond their means. Read full article >>
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    Education: DC Area Education News, Education Policy, School Information - The Washington Post

  • Fairfax County School Board expands honors courses

    Emma Brown
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:16 pm
    The Fairfax County School Board voted Thursday night to expand high school honors courses, reversing a policy that was championed by Superintendent Jack D. Dale and that became a central issue during fall’s School Board campaign. Read full article >>

  • How the war on teachers is changing the profession

    Valerie Strauss
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:41 pm
    This was written by educator Anthony Cody, who worked for 24 years in the Oakland schools, 18 years teaching science at a high-needs school and six years as a mentor and coach of teachers. He is a National Board-certified teacher. A version of this post appeared on his Education Week Teacher blog, Living in Dialogue . Read full article >> Featured Advertiser The next level in education with NEC   We bring you tailor-made solutions built on an in-depth understanding of your unique needs. Learn how NEC’s solutions and expertise in voice and data communications, networks and…

  • College leaders question Obama’s tuition plan

    Daniel de Vise
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:25 pm
    Update: I have added comments from Education Secretary Arne Duncan and University of Texas at Austin President William Powers. President Obama on Friday proposed that the federal government take the lead in curbing the rising cost of college by rewarding colleges that keep tuition down and punishing those that do not. Read full article >>

  • Prince George’s takes first step toward year-round schooling

    Ovetta Wiggins
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:39 pm
    Prince George’s County Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. wants to add year-round calendars to his arsenal to turn around underperforming schools. Hite asked the Prince George’s County House delegation to support legislation that gives the district the authority to create year-round calendars for certain schools. The bill would make the county the seventh jurisdiction in the state that allows year-round schools. The delegation voted 19 to 2 in favor of the measure. The bill still requires additional approvals in the General Assembly. Read full article >>

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    27 Jan 2012 | 8:48 am
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    DC Politics: Breaking Washington, DC Political News & Headlines

  • New Hampshire gives D.C. the cold shoulder on statehood push

    Tim Craig
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:04 pm
    Concord, N.H. — It was supposed to be a field trip to kick-start the District’s latest push for statehood, the first stop of a nationwide tour to seek out legislators sympathetic to the cause. But Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and much of the city’s elected leadership didn’t last long in Concord. Read full article >>

  • DeEvening Links: The educated embezzler

    Mike DeBonis
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:04 pm
    Turns out that former advisory neighborhood commissioner William C. Shelton, who pleaded guilty today to misusing ANC funds, was an educated consumer — he spent $105.94 worth of taxpayer money at the late, lamented Syms. Read full article >>

  • Featured Advertiser

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:05 pm

  • Sign up for summer jobs soon, D.C. officials urge

    Mike DeBonis
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:05 pm
    Today’s unseasonably warm weather is somewhat appropriate: It’s summer-jobs time already. Enrollment in the 2012 Summer Youth Employment Program began today with a “midnight madness” event at Department of Employment Services headquarters at 4058 Minnesota Ave. NE. Applications are also now being accepted online. Read full article >>

  • Tim Day will run for Ward 5 seat after all

    Mike DeBonis
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:03 pm
    Tim Day — the Brookland accountant who was first to publicly raise questions about former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr.’s private fundraising, sparking a series of investigations that culminated in his resignation and guilty pleas to federal felonies — will seek the seat that Thomas vacated. Read full article >>
 
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    Post Politics: Breaking Politics News, Political Analysis & More - The Washington Post

  • Gingrich professes shock at Romney’s ‘dishonest’ debate performance

    Amy Gardner, Philip Rucker
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:30 pm
    MIAMI — Former House speaker Newt Gingrich spent Friday struggling to fend off the perception that his presidential campaign has stalled after a flat debate performance on Thursday and fresh polling data showing his support slipping in Florida. Read full article >>

  • Romney says Gingrich is ‘like Goldilocks’

    Philip Rucker
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:47 pm
    ORLANDO – After getting the better of Newt Gingrich in Thursday night’s debate, Mitt Romney is trying to rub it in.  The increasingly confident, and increasingly punchy, former Massachusetts governor took a fresh swipe at the former House speaker at a campaign rally here Friday night, likening him to the fairy tale character “Goldilocks.” Read full article >>

  • Obama ally suggests administration is undermining Endangered Species Act

    Juliet Eilperin
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:52 pm
    The Obama administration is setting too high a threshold for listing an imperiled plant or animal under the Endangered Species Act, according to Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass). Markey, one of the White House’s closest congressional allies, late Thursday sent a letter to Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, questioning a draft policy the agency issued last month with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Read full article >>

  • Rick Perry’s back in Texas, and some wonder if he’s lost political power there

    Melinda Henneberger
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:44 pm
    Yes, to the non-Texan eye, it looks like Republican Gov. Rick Perry has slunk home from his last rodeo, having humiliated himself and his home state with a presidential run that will go down in history as one big “Oops.” Read full article >>

  • Obama, Biden rally Democrats at annual retreat

    Felicia Sonmez
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:23 pm
    CAMBRIDGE, Md. — President Obama and Vice President Biden on Friday worked to rally congressional Democrats preparing to do battle with Republicans leading into the 2012 election. In remarks at the annual House Democratic retreat near the shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Obama rallied the House Democrats with a campaign-style speech in which he defended Democrats’ legislative accomplishments over the past three years, acknowledged that lawmakers have had to make some “tough decisions” and reprised many of the arguments he made in Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Read full article…
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    Post Politics: Breaking Politics News, Political Analysis & More - The Washington Post

  • Gingrich professes shock at Romney’s ‘dishonest’ debate performance

    Amy Gardner, Philip Rucker
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:30 pm
    MIAMI — Former House speaker Newt Gingrich spent Friday struggling to fend off the perception that his presidential campaign has stalled after a flat debate performance on Thursday and fresh polling data showing his support slipping in Florida. Read full article >>

  • Romney says Gingrich is ‘like Goldilocks’

    Philip Rucker
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:47 pm
    ORLANDO – After getting the better of Newt Gingrich in Thursday night’s debate, Mitt Romney is trying to rub it in.  The increasingly confident, and increasingly punchy, former Massachusetts governor took a fresh swipe at the former House speaker at a campaign rally here Friday night, likening him to the fairy tale character “Goldilocks.” Read full article >>

  • Obama ally suggests administration is undermining Endangered Species Act

    Juliet Eilperin
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:52 pm
    The Obama administration is setting too high a threshold for listing an imperiled plant or animal under the Endangered Species Act, according to Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass). Markey, one of the White House’s closest congressional allies, late Thursday sent a letter to Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, questioning a draft policy the agency issued last month with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Read full article >>

  • Rick Perry’s back in Texas, and some wonder if he’s lost political power there

    Melinda Henneberger
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:44 pm
    Yes, to the non-Texan eye, it looks like Republican Gov. Rick Perry has slunk home from his last rodeo, having humiliated himself and his home state with a presidential run that will go down in history as one big “Oops.” Read full article >>

  • Obama, Biden rally Democrats at annual retreat

    Felicia Sonmez
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:23 pm
    CAMBRIDGE, Md. — President Obama and Vice President Biden on Friday worked to rally congressional Democrats preparing to do battle with Republicans leading into the 2012 election. In remarks at the annual House Democratic retreat near the shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Obama rallied the House Democrats with a campaign-style speech in which he defended Democrats’ legislative accomplishments over the past three years, acknowledged that lawmakers have had to make some “tough decisions” and reprised many of the arguments he made in Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Read full article…
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    Congress: Congressional News, Schedule, Votes & More - The Washington Post

  • Obama, Biden rally Democrats at annual retreat

    Felicia Sonmez
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:23 pm
    CAMBRIDGE, Md. — President Obama and Vice President Biden on Friday worked to rally congressional Democrats preparing to do battle with Republicans leading into the 2012 election. In remarks at the annual House Democratic retreat near the shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Obama rallied the House Democrats with a campaign-style speech in which he defended Democrats’ legislative accomplishments over the past three years, acknowledged that lawmakers have had to make some “tough decisions” and reprised many of the arguments he made in Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Read full article…

  • Greg Sargent: Happy Hour Roundup

    Greg Sargent
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:06 pm
    High crimes and misdemeanors? Fun times as Grover Norquist seems to suggest that letting the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire, as signed into law by Bush himself, could constitute an impeachable offense for Obama: Read full article >>

  • 7 former lawmakers lobbied for groups that received earmarks, report says

    T.W. Farnam
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:20 pm
    Sometimes earmarking government money pays off for U.S. lawmakers — even after they’ve left office. A new report has found seven former lawmakers who have lobbied Congress on behalf of organizations that they funded while in office. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington found that former lawmakers have received $1.9 million in revenue from lobbying clients that they funded with taxpayer dollars when sitting in Congress. Read full article >>

  • Greg Sargent: Senate Dems should force GOP to hold vote on Buffett Rule

    Greg Sargent
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:36 pm
    Picture this scenario. The Senate holds a high-profile vote on a proposal focused directly on implementing the Buffett Rule, one that would bring the current tax rate for millionaires paying lower rates on investments up to 30 percent. This, at at exactly the moment when the GOP is picking a nominee who is worth $250 million and is personally benefitting to an enormous degree from the current rate — one that’s lower than many middle class taxpayers pay. Read full article >>

  • Two GOP revolutions, two different outcomes

    David A. Fahrenthold, and Paul Kane
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:28 pm
    The first Republican revolution had a short, sharp battle plan: the “Contract with America.” Ten big ideas. Three pages of text. The second Republican revolution — the one now struggling for oxygen on Capitol Hill — did it differently. Its “Pledge to America” noodled on for 48 pages. It contained less ambitious ideas, but glossy photos of 42 GOP congressmen. Read full article >>
 
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    The Fix

  • Mike Huckabee: Newt Gingrich ad ‘not authorized’

    Rachel Weiner
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:11 pm
    Mike Huckabee doesn’t want to be in ads, the DCCC outraised the NRCC, Gingrich is still up in national Gallup polling and Rick Santorum’s biggest backer has an open checkbook. Make sure to sign up to get “Afternoon Fix” in your e-mail inbox every day by 5 (ish) p.m! Read full article >>

  • It’s Mitt Romney’s race to lose ... again

    Aaron Blake
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:42 pm
    A lot can happen in four days, but as of today, the Florida primary and the GOP presidential race are again Mitt Romney’s to lose. After a brief diversion in the South Carolina primary, Romney is once again the clear favorite in Florida, having taken a 9-point lead in the latest Florida poll. And if he wins there, it’s hard to see where he might slip up again. Read full article >>

  • Newt Gingrich plans brutal Mitt Romney attack

    Rachel Weiner
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:51 am
    UPDATE: This ad is now up, at least in web version: Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee said in a statement that “any use of an out of context quote from the Republican Presidential primary 4 years ago in a political ad to advocate for the election or defeat of another candidate not authorized, approved, or known in advance by me.” He does not plan to endorse a candidate. Read full article >>

  • Florida primary playlist: A Fix List!

    Rachel Weiner
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:12 am
    If you ever read this blog, you know that we love lists. And primaries, and music. We’re trying to bring that all together by making playlists for every primary state. But we need your help. Suggest your Florida-related songs using the hashtag #fixplaylist, and we’ll come up with a playlist to listen to while we wait for the returns on Tuesday night. Read full article >>

  • Newt Gingrich still badly outspent in Florida ads

    Rachel Weiner
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:57 am
    Despite new infusions of cash, former House speaker Newt Gingrich is still being crushed in Florida television ad spending by former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. With the primary coming up on Jan. 31, Gingrich and his supporters are being outspent 5-to-1 by Romney and his supporters as total spending in the state approached $20 million. Read full article >>
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    44

  • President Obama talks about Jan Brewer exchange with Diane Sawyer

    Natalie Jennings
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:50 am
    In an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer to air Friday night, President Obama downplayed the exchange between him and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) earlier this week that distracted attention from his post-State of the Union tour of swing states. Read full article >>

  • Obama proposes plan to reduce college costs

    David Nakamura
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:13 am
    Here is an updated version of this story. ANN ARBOR, Mich. – President Obama offered a plan Friday to reduce the costs of higher education by increasing the amount of federal grant money available in low-interest loans and tying it directly to colleges’ ability to reduce tuition. Read full article >>

  • Why is there no video of Obama-Brewer tiff?

    David Nakamura
    26 Jan 2012 | 12:09 pm
    LAS VEGAS — It’s a picture that’s gone viral on the Internet: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) pointing a finger at President Obama as they argued on the tarmac in Phoenix on Wednesday. But why is there no video footage of the heated exchange? Read full article >>

  • Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer calls Obama ‘thin-skinned’ after airport argument

    David Nakamura
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:06 am
    Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is calling President Obama “a little thin-skinned” after their heated exchange at the airport in Phoenix on Wednesday. Read full article >>

  • Obama tangles with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer over immigration book

    David Nakamura
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:26 pm
    PHOENIX — President Obama and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) appeared to exchange heated words in front of reporters and other public officials on Wednesday as Obama arrived in this Southwestern city for the second stop of his post-State of the Union tour. Read full article >>
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    Business News, Financial News, Business Headlines & Analysis - The Washington Post

  • Aneesh Chopra, White House technology chief, expected to run for Va. lieutenant governor

    Anita Kumarand Ed O’Keefe
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:12 pm
    RICHMOND —Aneesh Chopra, the first White House chief technology officer, will step down and return to Virginia, where he is expected to run for lieutenant governor next year, according to Democrats familiar with his plans. Read full article >>

  • Iceland sharply divided on joining E.U. amid debt crisis

    Brady Dennis
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:22 pm
    In a handful of countries applying to join the European Union, the European debt crisis has raised an urgent question: Why would we want to be part of that mess? The answer offered in places such as Iceland could have profound effects on the health and shape of the E.U. Read full article >>

  • Report: Facebook to file IPO next Wednesday

    Hayley Tsukayama
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:06 pm
    Facebook is planning to file its initial public offering next Wednesday, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The exact timing is reportedly still being discussed. The newspaper reported that Morgan Stanley is close to being picked as the underwriter for the company’s IPO, which is expected to have a valuation between $75 and $100 billion dollars. Read full article >>

  • How a search for the cheapest price on drugs led to a business idea

    Olga Khazan
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:55 pm
    They say there are markets for everything, but health care has historically been a tough one to navigate. Prices for services and drugs vary widely among providers, and it’s often impossible to know the final cost of a medication until the prescription has already been filled. Read full article >>

  • Washington auto dealers see sales pick up

    Danielle Douglas
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:31 pm
    V ince Sheehy can recall his disappointment in having to close his Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge   dealership in Upper Marlboro in 2009. At the time, it had been more than 30 years since  Fairfax-based Sheehy Auto Stores shuttered a location because of slumping sales. ¶ But closing  the store was just the half of it. ¶ Sluggish demand left Sheehy saddled with excess inventory of trucks that took six months to clear off the lots, which meant high carrying costs. The company also laid off more than 50 employees across its network of 14 dealerships in the Washington area. And the remaining staff…
 
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    Business Policy and Regulation News - The Washington Post

  • Reconciliation

    Suzy Khimm
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    —The big business of swindling people who trust you. —The energy industry thinks the word “fracking” has become a slur. —Is brain-boosting ethical? —A leading actress from “The Wire” is now working to help troubled youth in Baltimore. Read full article >>

  • Mining the moon isn't as easy as it sounds

    Brad Plumer
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:39 pm
    My colleague Joel Achenbach has a great piece assessing Newt Gingrich’s proposal to mobilize the private sector for space exploration — and colonizing the moon. But why would we want a moon colony anyway? Mining? Joshua Keating ponders whether moon mining is all it’s hyped up to be: Read full article >>

  • Insurance companies push to delay labeling regs

    Sarah Kliff
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:18 pm
    See that label above? That’s what a health insurance policy looks like — or is supposed to look like. Under the health reform law, insurance companies are required to summarize each benefit plan in a four-page, easy-to-read document (you can see the full thing here). The Obama administration rolled out a draft format for the summaries this past summer, and they were supposed to roll out this coming March, on the health reform law’s two-year anniversary. Read full article >>

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    27 Jan 2012 | 10:57 am
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  • Chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra to step down

    Ed O’Keefe
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:57 am
    This is an excerpt from a post by the Post’s Ed O’Keefe, who reports on The Federal Eye that Aneesh Chopra, the nation’s first chief technology officer, will step down: The nation’s first chief technology officer plans to step down from his White House job, according to administration officials. Read full article >>
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    DC Politics: Breaking Washington, DC Political News & Headlines

  • New Hampshire gives D.C. the cold shoulder on statehood push

    Tim Craig
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:04 pm
    Concord, N.H. — It was supposed to be a field trip to kick-start the District’s latest push for statehood, the first stop of a nationwide tour to seek out legislators sympathetic to the cause. But Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and much of the city’s elected leadership didn’t last long in Concord. Read full article >>

  • DeEvening Links: The educated embezzler

    Mike DeBonis
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:04 pm
    Turns out that former advisory neighborhood commissioner William C. Shelton, who pleaded guilty today to misusing ANC funds, was an educated consumer — he spent $105.94 worth of taxpayer money at the late, lamented Syms. Read full article >>

  • Featured Advertiser

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:05 pm

  • Sign up for summer jobs soon, D.C. officials urge

    Mike DeBonis
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:05 pm
    Today’s unseasonably warm weather is somewhat appropriate: It’s summer-jobs time already. Enrollment in the 2012 Summer Youth Employment Program began today with a “midnight madness” event at Department of Employment Services headquarters at 4058 Minnesota Ave. NE. Applications are also now being accepted online. Read full article >>

  • Tim Day will run for Ward 5 seat after all

    Mike DeBonis
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:03 pm
    Tim Day — the Brookland accountant who was first to publicly raise questions about former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr.’s private fundraising, sparking a series of investigations that culminated in his resignation and guilty pleas to federal felonies — will seek the seat that Thomas vacated. Read full article >>
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    On Wheels by Warren Brown: Latest On Wheels Column and Archive

  • 2012 Mazda3: It’s light, not lite

    Warren Brown
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:20 pm
    Automobile manufacturers doing business in the United States once designed small cars to lose money. That “loss leader” strategy was meant to meet government demands for higher sales-fleet fuel economy while satisfying consumer desires for the pickup trucks, sport-utility vehicles and high-performance machines that produced profits. Read full article >>

  • 2012 Honda CR-V: It simply works

    Warren Brown
    20 Jan 2012 | 1:11 pm
    Honda is putting the “personal” back in personal transportation. In doing so, it has turned the 2012 Honda CR-V into a motorized purse, equipping the compact wagon/crossover-utility vehicle with storage compartments in every conceivable place — front and overhead consoles, front and rear door pockets, behind the front seats. Read full article >>

  • 2012 Cadillac SRX: When might feels right

    Warren Brown
    13 Jan 2012 | 1:35 pm
    DETROIT — The second time around was better. The whining noises that marred a previous drive through the Allegheny Mountains were gone. The weight that once seemed more albatross than potentially protective benefit was mitigated by an increase in power — 308 horsepower in the 2012 Cadillac SRX wagon driven for this column, up from 265 horsepower in last year’s SRX V-6. Read full article >>

  • 2012 Nissan Juke SL AWD: Bulbous, cramped — and fast

    Warren Brown
    6 Jan 2012 | 12:43 pm
    The all-wheel-drive 2012 version of the Nissan Juke, like the front-wheel-drive version I drove last year, is uglier than ugly. It has a space-restricted cabin — tight for four people with luggage. Its designers were so taken with froglike shapes and curves, they put them everywhere — even in the styling of the headlamp enclosures and front fenders, effectively obstructing front peripheral vision. Read full article >>

  • Prius V: The iconic hybrid as a station wagon

    Warren Brown
    30 Dec 2011 | 10:12 am
    CORNWALL, N.Y. It was brilliant in the city, where it moved easily through crowded streets, including roads obstructed by construction and careless double-parking. It was not the kind of auto­mobile anyone would take to a speedway or run in a street race. But it accelerated well enough to get out of the way of impatient Manhattan drivers without engendering honking or ignoble digital salutes. Read full article >>
 
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    On Wheels by Warren Brown: Latest On Wheels Column and Archive

  • 2012 Mazda3: It’s light, not lite

    Warren Brown
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:20 pm
    Automobile manufacturers doing business in the United States once designed small cars to lose money. That “loss leader” strategy was meant to meet government demands for higher sales-fleet fuel economy while satisfying consumer desires for the pickup trucks, sport-utility vehicles and high-performance machines that produced profits. Read full article >>

  • 2012 Honda CR-V: It simply works

    Warren Brown
    20 Jan 2012 | 1:11 pm
    Honda is putting the “personal” back in personal transportation. In doing so, it has turned the 2012 Honda CR-V into a motorized purse, equipping the compact wagon/crossover-utility vehicle with storage compartments in every conceivable place — front and overhead consoles, front and rear door pockets, behind the front seats. Read full article >>

  • 2012 Cadillac SRX: When might feels right

    Warren Brown
    13 Jan 2012 | 1:35 pm
    DETROIT — The second time around was better. The whining noises that marred a previous drive through the Allegheny Mountains were gone. The weight that once seemed more albatross than potentially protective benefit was mitigated by an increase in power — 308 horsepower in the 2012 Cadillac SRX wagon driven for this column, up from 265 horsepower in last year’s SRX V-6. Read full article >>

  • 2012 Nissan Juke SL AWD: Bulbous, cramped — and fast

    Warren Brown
    6 Jan 2012 | 12:43 pm
    The all-wheel-drive 2012 version of the Nissan Juke, like the front-wheel-drive version I drove last year, is uglier than ugly. It has a space-restricted cabin — tight for four people with luggage. Its designers were so taken with froglike shapes and curves, they put them everywhere — even in the styling of the headlamp enclosures and front fenders, effectively obstructing front peripheral vision. Read full article >>

  • Prius V: The iconic hybrid as a station wagon

    Warren Brown
    30 Dec 2011 | 10:12 am
    CORNWALL, N.Y. It was brilliant in the city, where it moved easily through crowded streets, including roads obstructed by construction and careless double-parking. It was not the kind of auto­mobile anyone would take to a speedway or run in a street race. But it accelerated well enough to get out of the way of impatient Manhattan drivers without engendering honking or ignoble digital salutes. Read full article >>
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    Business News, Financial News, Business Headlines & Analysis - The Washington Post

  • Aneesh Chopra, White House technology chief, expected to run for Va. lieutenant governor

    Anita Kumarand Ed O’Keefe
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:12 pm
    RICHMOND —Aneesh Chopra, the first White House chief technology officer, will step down and return to Virginia, where he is expected to run for lieutenant governor next year, according to Democrats familiar with his plans. Read full article >>

  • Iceland sharply divided on joining E.U. amid debt crisis

    Brady Dennis
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:22 pm
    In a handful of countries applying to join the European Union, the European debt crisis has raised an urgent question: Why would we want to be part of that mess? The answer offered in places such as Iceland could have profound effects on the health and shape of the E.U. Read full article >>

  • Report: Facebook to file IPO next Wednesday

    Hayley Tsukayama
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:06 pm
    Facebook is planning to file its initial public offering next Wednesday, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The exact timing is reportedly still being discussed. The newspaper reported that Morgan Stanley is close to being picked as the underwriter for the company’s IPO, which is expected to have a valuation between $75 and $100 billion dollars. Read full article >>

  • How a search for the cheapest price on drugs led to a business idea

    Olga Khazan
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:55 pm
    They say there are markets for everything, but health care has historically been a tough one to navigate. Prices for services and drugs vary widely among providers, and it’s often impossible to know the final cost of a medication until the prescription has already been filled. Read full article >>

  • Washington auto dealers see sales pick up

    Danielle Douglas
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:31 pm
    V ince Sheehy can recall his disappointment in having to close his Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge   dealership in Upper Marlboro in 2009. At the time, it had been more than 30 years since  Fairfax-based Sheehy Auto Stores shuttered a location because of slumping sales. ¶ But closing  the store was just the half of it. ¶ Sluggish demand left Sheehy saddled with excess inventory of trucks that took six months to clear off the lots, which meant high carrying costs. The company also laid off more than 50 employees across its network of 14 dealerships in the Washington area. And the remaining staff…
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    Business News, Financial News, Business Headlines & Analysis - The Washington Post

  • Aneesh Chopra, White House technology chief, expected to run for Va. lieutenant governor

    Anita Kumarand Ed O’Keefe
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:12 pm
    RICHMOND —Aneesh Chopra, the first White House chief technology officer, will step down and return to Virginia, where he is expected to run for lieutenant governor next year, according to Democrats familiar with his plans. Read full article >>

  • Iceland sharply divided on joining E.U. amid debt crisis

    Brady Dennis
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:22 pm
    In a handful of countries applying to join the European Union, the European debt crisis has raised an urgent question: Why would we want to be part of that mess? The answer offered in places such as Iceland could have profound effects on the health and shape of the E.U. Read full article >>

  • Report: Facebook to file IPO next Wednesday

    Hayley Tsukayama
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:06 pm
    Facebook is planning to file its initial public offering next Wednesday, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The exact timing is reportedly still being discussed. The newspaper reported that Morgan Stanley is close to being picked as the underwriter for the company’s IPO, which is expected to have a valuation between $75 and $100 billion dollars. Read full article >>

  • How a search for the cheapest price on drugs led to a business idea

    Olga Khazan
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:55 pm
    They say there are markets for everything, but health care has historically been a tough one to navigate. Prices for services and drugs vary widely among providers, and it’s often impossible to know the final cost of a medication until the prescription has already been filled. Read full article >>

  • Washington auto dealers see sales pick up

    Danielle Douglas
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:31 pm
    V ince Sheehy can recall his disappointment in having to close his Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge   dealership in Upper Marlboro in 2009. At the time, it had been more than 30 years since  Fairfax-based Sheehy Auto Stores shuttered a location because of slumping sales. ¶ But closing  the store was just the half of it. ¶ Sluggish demand left Sheehy saddled with excess inventory of trucks that took six months to clear off the lots, which meant high carrying costs. The company also laid off more than 50 employees across its network of 14 dealerships in the Washington area. And the remaining staff…
 
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    Local Business: DC Area Business News and Analysis - The Washington Post

  • Contractors brace for federal spending cuts

    Marjorie Censer
    22 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    Even if sequestration, or a reduction of about $1 trillion in federal spending from fiscal 2013 to 2021, were to occur, companies shouldn’t expect government contracting to come to a complete halt. But they should be readying for a more difficult scenario in which the government is likely to negotiate more and may be less willing to start new projects or extend existing initiatives, according to industry experts. The Professional Services Council, an industry association, last week convened member companies to help them prepare. Read full article >>

  • Costco Wholesale drives deeper into Washington area

    Danielle Douglas
    22 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    Discount retailer Costco Wholesale is making greater inroads into the Washington area with plans for a new store on a 12-acre tract in Alexandria, one of three locations in the works in the region. Costco stands to gain grocery market share, albeit marginal, at a time when traditional players, like Food Lion and Superfresh, struggle to compete in a changing industry. Drug stores and big-box chains are muscling in on supermarkets with a wider selection of groceries. Value-oriented merchants, such as Costco, still hold a profitable stake in the industry and are finding room for growth. Read…

  • $10 million tennis facility to open in Marshall Heights in September

    Catherine Ho
    22 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    Construction on a new seven-acre tennis facility in Marshall Heights is to begin next week, after a seven-year fundraising campaign by the the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation to bring its youth development program to Southeast D.C. Read full article >>

  • Maryland creates online database of business incentives

    Steven Overly
    22 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    Maryland’s business and economic development arm has begun to publish an online database of the financial incentives that the state provides to companies when they promise to create jobs, open new facilities or otherwise contribute to the economy. 2011 recipients Below is a list of companies that received financial incentives from Maryland’s Department of Business and Economic Development in 2011, according to the agency’s Maryland Finance Tracker. Companies that show $0 in all three columns were approved by the department for a tax credit, the size of which is later determined by the…

  • Forty years of dressing Washington

    Abha Bhattarai
    22 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    Don’t let the drab workwear fool you, Felix Alonso says. D.C.’s fashion scene comes alive at night — but it’s almost always behind closed doors. “In Washington, you don’t see fashion in the streets,” Alonso said. “But when you go out at night, oh my goodness, the ladies really sparkle. Privately, Washington is as high-fashion as any city in the world.” Read full article >>
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    Steven Pearlstein: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • Steven Pearlstein: A call of action to Washington’s business elite. Do not fail to come.

    Steven Pearlstein
    21 Jan 2012 | 4:19 pm
    Every month, a group of Northern Virginia’s top business executives meets for cocktails, dinner and private conversation at — where else? — the Tower Club in Tysons Corner. A lot has changed in the decades since George Johnson, then the president of the small, struggling George Mason University, first convened the 123 Club, in large part because of the efforts of the men gathered around Johnson’s dining room table. Read full article >>

  • Steven Pearlstein: For development, all signs point inward

    Steven Pearlstein
    14 Jan 2012 | 8:48 pm
    Decades of rapid growth have made Washington real estate some of the most valuable in the country, particularly when it is close to the city center, along major roads and highways or near Metro stops. Read full article >>

  • “Civilization: The West and the Rest,” by Niall Ferguson

    Steven Pearlstein
    13 Jan 2012 | 4:01 pm
    Niall Ferguson doesn’t hide the fact that he means for his latest work of meta-history to take its place on the global bookshelf next to the rise-and-fall works of Edward Gibbon, Kenneth Clark, Francis Fukuyama, Jared Diamond, Samuel P. Huntington and Paul Kennedy. “Civilization” tackles the big questions: What is a civilization? Why do they decline? Why, for the past 500 years, have Europe and the United States dominated everyone else? And — here’s the payoff — is the West now destined to take a back seat to Asia? Read full article >>

  • Steven Pearlstein: Steering the region from .gov to .com

    Steven Pearlstein
    6 Jan 2012 | 8:05 pm
    Local economic boosters love to remind anyone who will listen that the Washington region boasts the greatest concentration of technical or knowledge workers in the country. The implication, of course, is that we’re right out there on the technological edge alongside Silicon Valley, Austin and Boston. Read full article >>

  • As federal gravy train ends for D.C. area’s economy, it’s time to plan ahead

    Steven Pearlstein
    31 Dec 2011 | 4:25 pm
    Washington has a lot to be thankful for as we enter the new year. Since 2007, the region’s economy has grown by about 14 percent at a time when the national economy has expanded by about 3 percent. According to Stephen Fuller, my colleague at George Mason University and the go-to guy for statistics on the regional economy, growth here has exceeded that of every other metropolitan region. Read full article >>
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    The Color of Money: Personal Finance Advice Column from Michelle Singletary

  • Hefty down payments not the answer to fixing mortgage mess

    Michelle Singletary
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:30 pm
    During a recent financial workshop I conducted at my church, I met a single mother who couldn’t afford her mortgage. She and I talked about her options, which included selling her two-bedroom townhouse and moving into an affordable apartment or getting a roommate. But while speaking with her, I had to suppress my anger. Read full article >>

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    21 Jan 2012 | 4:57 pm

  • Supreme Court backs binding arbitration agreements

    Michelle Singletary
    21 Jan 2012 | 4:57 pm
    If you look carefully — and you probably haven’t — at the fine print in your credit card agreement or in many of the consumer contracts you sign, you’ll probably find a provision that says if you have a dispute and want your day in court, you’re out of luck. Instead, you are forced to go to binding arbitration. Read full article >>

  • Report: Young adults making gains under health-care law

    Michelle Singletary
    17 Jan 2012 | 5:00 pm
    A report released by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute notes what could be really good news: The health-care reform signed into law by President Obama, which has been criticized by Republicans and challenged in court, appears to be improving the health insurance coverage of young adults. Read full article >>

  • Not all college majors are created equal

    Michelle Singletary
    14 Jan 2012 | 7:58 pm
    I have this game I play when I meet college students. “What’s your major?” I ask. The student might say, “English,” “psychology,” “political science” or “engineering.” And then, in my mind, after factoring in some other information, I say to myself “job” or “no job,” depending on the major. Read full article >>
 
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    Post Politics: Breaking Politics News, Political Analysis & More - The Washington Post

  • Gingrich professes shock at Romney’s ‘dishonest’ debate performance

    Amy Gardner, Philip Rucker
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:30 pm
    MIAMI — Former House speaker Newt Gingrich spent Friday struggling to fend off the perception that his presidential campaign has stalled after a flat debate performance on Thursday and fresh polling data showing his support slipping in Florida. Read full article >>

  • Romney says Gingrich is ‘like Goldilocks’

    Philip Rucker
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:47 pm
    ORLANDO – After getting the better of Newt Gingrich in Thursday night’s debate, Mitt Romney is trying to rub it in.  The increasingly confident, and increasingly punchy, former Massachusetts governor took a fresh swipe at the former House speaker at a campaign rally here Friday night, likening him to the fairy tale character “Goldilocks.” Read full article >>

  • Obama ally suggests administration is undermining Endangered Species Act

    Juliet Eilperin
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:52 pm
    The Obama administration is setting too high a threshold for listing an imperiled plant or animal under the Endangered Species Act, according to Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass). Markey, one of the White House’s closest congressional allies, late Thursday sent a letter to Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, questioning a draft policy the agency issued last month with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Read full article >>

  • Rick Perry’s back in Texas, and some wonder if he’s lost political power there

    Melinda Henneberger
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:44 pm
    Yes, to the non-Texan eye, it looks like Republican Gov. Rick Perry has slunk home from his last rodeo, having humiliated himself and his home state with a presidential run that will go down in history as one big “Oops.” Read full article >>

  • Obama, Biden rally Democrats at annual retreat

    Felicia Sonmez
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:23 pm
    CAMBRIDGE, Md. — President Obama and Vice President Biden on Friday worked to rally congressional Democrats preparing to do battle with Republicans leading into the 2012 election. In remarks at the annual House Democratic retreat near the shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Obama rallied the House Democrats with a campaign-style speech in which he defended Democrats’ legislative accomplishments over the past three years, acknowledged that lawmakers have had to make some “tough decisions” and reprised many of the arguments he made in Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Read full article…
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    Wellness: Health, Fitness, Nutrition & More - The Washington Post

  • Ways to get kids to eat quinoa

    Casey Seidenberg
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:49 am
    When people ask me to list my favorite healthy foods, quinoa always tops the list. And not just because the National Restaurant Association named it the hottest trend in side dishes in 2010. My boys think I like quinoa because when it was first discovered it was named “the mother grain.” Yes, I am proud to be a mother myself, but check out all the real reasons I love quinoa (pronounced “KEEN-wah”). Read full article >>

  • Keep your New Year’s fitness resolution without hitting the gym

    18 Jan 2012 | 2:00 pm
    This is it. This is the year you finally get in shape, shed those pounds or meet that fitness pledge you made at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31. But do you have to build the new you in a hot, stuffy gym, cheek by jiggly jowl with a dozen other sweaty resolutionaries awaiting their turn on the elliptical machine? Read full article >>

  • D.C. health events for Jan. 19-26

    18 Jan 2012 | 7:25 am
    Breast cancer support group For patients and survivors to share their thoughts, feelings and ideas for better quality of life. Thursday at 5 p.m. and the third Thursday of each month, Providence Hospital, Wellness Institute, 1150 Varnum St. NE. 202-269-7543. Free. Read full article >>

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    18 Jan 2012 | 7:23 am

  • Blood drive and other Fairfax County health events for Jan. 19-26

    18 Jan 2012 | 7:23 am
    Parkinson’s aquatics exercise class Thursdays and Tuesdays 10:30-11:30 a.m., Woodlands Retirement Community, 4320 Forest Hill Dr., Fairfax area. 703-378-7221. www.parkinsonfoundation.org. $10; care partners, $5; registration required. Read full article >>
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    Home & Garden - Household Tips, Home Improvement Advice & More - The Washington Post

  • Get organized in 20 minutes

    Terri Sapienza
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    Whether your home is 700 square feet or 7,000, having organized spaces will make your life easier and less stressful, says professional organizer Rachel Strisik, who is based in Bethesda. Here, she offers three household projects that should each take about 20 minutes to accomplish. Read full article >>

  • How to shop smart when buying a television

    Jura Koncius
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:32 pm
    Read full article >>

  • Why you should grow garlic chives

    Barbara Damrosch
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:26 am
    I sometimes wonder why garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are not as commonly grown as regular chives (Allium schoenoprasum). They are hardy perennials and just as easy to grow. Like regular chives, they can spread and become too much of a good thing. But more likely, they’re just less familiar and slower to creep into our kitchens. Read full article >>

  • Garden journal Hortus marks 25 years

    Adrian Higgins
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:20 am
    A curious throwback to the analog age landed in my mailbox the other day. Hortus, a journal of garden writing, is the size of a slim paperback but printed on heavy, ivory colored stock and illustrated with line drawings and wood engravings. Read full article >>

  • How To: Clean antique fabric

    Jeanne Huber
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:15 am
    Q. Where can I go to get a radiator cover? Not the 1950s style, but just something that looks good? Washington A. A good carpenter or cabinet maker can probably help you, or you can go to a company that advertises its expertise in this area, such as SMK Enterprises (877-768-8072, www.smkenterprises.org) or Lloyd Pitts Custom Cabinetry (301-599-1616, www.lloydpitts.com). Both make regular deliveries to Washington and surrounding areas. Have a problem in your home? Send questions to localliving@washpost.com . Put “How To” in the subject line, tell us where you live and try to include a…
 
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    The Nation's Housing by Kenneth R. Harney: Latest Column & Archive

  • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau scrutinizes appraisals and other realty fees

    Kenneth R. Harney
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:55 am
    The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, is working on a real estate issue that gets to the core of the agency’s purpose: the often opaque and costly fees that buyers, sellers and refinancers are hit with at closings. The bureau is reviewing ways to bring more clarity and better disclosure to this process. Read full article >>

  • Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac give mortgage servicers power to aid jobless homeowners

    Kenneth R. Harney
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:02 am
    If you or someone you know has lost a job and are in danger of falling behind on mortgage payments, here’s some potentially important news: The two largest players in home mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are revising their policies on forbearance when unemployment interferes with a borrower’s ability to stay current on a loan. Read full article >>

  • As consumer credit scores plunged in 2008-2009, lenders raised their standards

    Kenneth R. Harney
    7 Jan 2012 | 11:10 am
    How big a whack did your credit score take during the grim years of economic distress following the housing bust? Was it 20 points, 50 points, 100 points — or maybe no drop at all? These are key questions affecting millions of potential home buyers who hope to qualify for mortgages as well as current owners looking to refinance. New research from a major credit-risk evaluation company suggests that the drop in huge numbers of Americans’ scores was dramatic. Read full article >>

  • Our post-Iraq obligation

    1 Jan 2012 | 6:27 pm
    As a combat veteran of World War II, I was moved by the Dec. 28 letter from an Iraq veteran who wrote of being disheartened by the Obama administration’s “hardly concealed rush” from Iraq. The writer has earned the right to question our current course, which appeared to be based on our conclusion that the Iraqis have no legitimate call for our continued presence. We removed them from the threatening bonds of a dictatorship and helped them reach a level of self-government which, whether or not they succeed in maintaining it, they would not likely have achieved on their own. Read full…

  • Gloomy ideas about mortgage terms may be deterring qualified people from applying

    23 Dec 2011 | 10:11 am
    Could gloomy popular assumptions about how tough it is to get a mortgage be deterring large numbers of qualified people from even applying? Could the same worries — I can’t come up with the big down payment I need, my credit scores are too low, my bank account has almost none of the reserves that lenders want to see — put a needless damper on a housing recovery in the new year? Read full article >>
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    Home & Garden - Household Tips, Home Improvement Advice & More - The Washington Post

  • Get organized in 20 minutes

    Terri Sapienza
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    Whether your home is 700 square feet or 7,000, having organized spaces will make your life easier and less stressful, says professional organizer Rachel Strisik, who is based in Bethesda. Here, she offers three household projects that should each take about 20 minutes to accomplish. Read full article >>

  • How to shop smart when buying a television

    Jura Koncius
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:32 pm
    Read full article >>

  • Why you should grow garlic chives

    Barbara Damrosch
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:26 am
    I sometimes wonder why garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are not as commonly grown as regular chives (Allium schoenoprasum). They are hardy perennials and just as easy to grow. Like regular chives, they can spread and become too much of a good thing. But more likely, they’re just less familiar and slower to creep into our kitchens. Read full article >>

  • Garden journal Hortus marks 25 years

    Adrian Higgins
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:20 am
    A curious throwback to the analog age landed in my mailbox the other day. Hortus, a journal of garden writing, is the size of a slim paperback but printed on heavy, ivory colored stock and illustrated with line drawings and wood engravings. Read full article >>

  • How To: Clean antique fabric

    Jeanne Huber
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:15 am
    Q. Where can I go to get a radiator cover? Not the 1950s style, but just something that looks good? Washington A. A good carpenter or cabinet maker can probably help you, or you can go to a company that advertises its expertise in this area, such as SMK Enterprises (877-768-8072, www.smkenterprises.org) or Lloyd Pitts Custom Cabinetry (301-599-1616, www.lloydpitts.com). Both make regular deliveries to Washington and surrounding areas. Have a problem in your home? Send questions to localliving@washpost.com . Put “How To” in the subject line, tell us where you live and try to include a…
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    Home & Garden - Household Tips, Home Improvement Advice & More - The Washington Post

  • Get organized in 20 minutes

    Terri Sapienza
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    Whether your home is 700 square feet or 7,000, having organized spaces will make your life easier and less stressful, says professional organizer Rachel Strisik, who is based in Bethesda. Here, she offers three household projects that should each take about 20 minutes to accomplish. Read full article >>

  • How to shop smart when buying a television

    Jura Koncius
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:32 pm
    Read full article >>

  • Why you should grow garlic chives

    Barbara Damrosch
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:26 am
    I sometimes wonder why garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are not as commonly grown as regular chives (Allium schoenoprasum). They are hardy perennials and just as easy to grow. Like regular chives, they can spread and become too much of a good thing. But more likely, they’re just less familiar and slower to creep into our kitchens. Read full article >>

  • Garden journal Hortus marks 25 years

    Adrian Higgins
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:20 am
    A curious throwback to the analog age landed in my mailbox the other day. Hortus, a journal of garden writing, is the size of a slim paperback but printed on heavy, ivory colored stock and illustrated with line drawings and wood engravings. Read full article >>

  • How To: Clean antique fabric

    Jeanne Huber
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:15 am
    Q. Where can I go to get a radiator cover? Not the 1950s style, but just something that looks good? Washington A. A good carpenter or cabinet maker can probably help you, or you can go to a company that advertises its expertise in this area, such as SMK Enterprises (877-768-8072, www.smkenterprises.org) or Lloyd Pitts Custom Cabinetry (301-599-1616, www.lloydpitts.com). Both make regular deliveries to Washington and surrounding areas. Have a problem in your home? Send questions to localliving@washpost.com . Put “How To” in the subject line, tell us where you live and try to include a…
 
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    Washington Post Editorials: Latest Editorial and Editorial Archive

  • Editorial Board: President Obama’s hybrid approach to taxing manufacturers

    Editorial Board
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:37 pm
    AUTOMAKERS DON’T offer brand-new versions of each model every year; instead, they add a feature or two and call it a “refresh.” Similarly, President Obama’s ”blueprint” for U.S.-based manufacturing, unveiled in his State of the Union address, updated arguments he has offered before. Was this version persuasive? Read full article >>

  • Editorial Board: O’Malley and McDonnell’s entertaining rivalry

    Editorial Board
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:34 pm
    GOV. MARTIN O’MALLEY (D) unveiled his 2013 budget for Maryland the other day, accessorizing it with 38 pages of PowerPoint charts, graphs and talking points. The first slide pointed out that Maryland outstripped Virginia last year in job creation — a data point that has nothing to do with the state’s fiscal plan and everything to do with the Democratic governor’s personal rivalry with his Republican counterpart in the Old Dominion, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R). Read full article >>

  • Editorial Board: Charles Grassley crossed the line in attacking an Obama aide

    Editorial Board
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:34 pm
    PRESIDENT OBAMA’S DECISION this month to install executive-branch nominees without the advice and consent of the Senate continues to be fodder for an intense and legitimate debate. But there should be no room for the kind of personal vitriol introduced by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). Read full article >>

  • Editorial Board: Robert McDonnell’s empty promises on roads funds

    Editorial Board
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:04 pm
    RICK SNYDER, the Republican governor of Michigan, wants a major tax increase — $1.4 billion a year — to expand and maintain his state’s ailing transportation system. Terry Branstad, the Republican governor of Iowa, is eyeing a gasoline-tax hike for his state’s roads. Read full article >>

  • Editorial Board: E-mails renew questions about Jim Graham’s role in lottery contract

    Editorial Board
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:03 pm
    ON MAY 29, 2008, D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) met with representatives of a District business who were pressing their bid for the city’s lottery contract. Allegations have emerged, most recently in a report by D.C. Inspector General Charles J. Willoughby, that the council member offered to drop his opposition to the group’s bid if one of its members would agree to withdraw from a separate real estate deal with Metro, on whose board Mr. Graham sat. As this page reported Wednesday, Mr. Graham flatly denied that he ever made such an offer. Read full article >>
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    Today's Opinion Columns

  • Patrick Witt and the New York Times’ rush to judgment

    Kathleen Parker
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    A New York Times story on Friday that essentially indicted and convicted a 22-year-old star football player on an alleged sexual assault charge by an anonymous accuser should have begun as follows: “We know absolutely nothing about this rumor except what six people told us anonymously about this guy who they say sexually assaulted this girl. We don’t know who she is or what she said, or really anything, but here’s HIS name and what ‘they’ say about him.” Read full article >>

  • Davos and disconnected elites

    David Ignatius
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    DAVOS, Switzerland The organizers of the World Economic Forum were self-critical enough to organize panels this year on such dark topics as “Is Capitalism Failing?” and “Global Risks 2012: The Seeds of Dystopia.” And these were just the latest in a series of annual ruminations here on the troubles of the globalization movement the conference symbolizes. Read full article >>

  • D.C. politicians playing games

    Colbert I. King
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    The report by the D.C. Office of the Inspector General on the chief financial officer’s lottery contract award captures the amorality engulfing the District’s government. Note, I didn’t say “immorality,” which suggests a breach of moral standards. I chose “amorality,” which refers to the absence of a moral code. That applies to our government. Read full article >>

  • A special journalist

    David Ignatius
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:30 pm
    DAVOS, Switzerland It was 30 years ago that Tewfik Mishlawi confessed what might sound like a mundane ambition but which contained the sublime spark that has swept across the Middle East over the past year: He said that he wanted to create the first independent Arab news service. Read full article >>

  • The president plays small ball

    Charles Krauthammer
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:13 pm
    Once upon a time, small ball was not Barack Obama’s game. Tuesday, it was the essence of his State of the Union address. The visionary of 2008 — purveyor of hope and change, healer of the earth, tamer of the rising seas — offered an hour of little things: tax-code tweaks to encourage this or that kind of behavior (manufacturing being the flavor of the day), little watchdog agencies to round up Wall Street miscreants and Chinese DVD pirates, even a presidential demand “that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.” Under penalty of what? Jail? The…
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    Local Letters

  • Maryland schools, counties need more help from Mr. O’Malley

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:16 pm
    The Jan. 20 editorial “Mr. O’Malley’s bold budget” praised the proposal by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) to shift the obligations for teachers’ pensions to local governments as “courageous.” It would, The Post wrote, “restore some balance” by creating an incentive for localities to rein in teacher salaries and thus retirement costs. Sadly, the proposal does no such thing. Read full article >>

  • Rep. Issa needs to stand up for D.C. statehood

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:16 pm
    The Post was wrong to suggest in the Jan. 23 editorial “An olive branch for D.C.” that D.C. officials would be wasting their time taking their statehood bid to the legislatures of the 50 states. I accompanied D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) on his trip Friday to New Hampshire to lobby for the only real solution for the inequality that exists in the District: statehood.  Read full article >>

  • The cost of occupying D.C.

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:16 pm
    Regarding the Jan. 25 news story “Occupy D.C. faces crackdown on camping”: In all the hubbub and wrangling surrounding the occupying of McPherson Square by protesters, against what I’m not sure, there is something of prime importance that is not being addressed — the cost of restoring the park when the hostilities and silliness cease and everyone goes home. A few points: Read full article >>

  • On Virginia roads: Out with Lee, in with Grant?

    25 Jan 2012 | 4:30 pm
    The Jan. 22 Local Digest item“Roadways’ names could be up for sale,” which reported that Virginia is considering selling naming rights to its transportation infrastructure, brings to mind some lucrative possibilities. Route 1, now known as Jefferson Davis Highway, could become Abraham Lincoln Boulevard. Route 29, or Lee Highway, could become U.S. Grant Highway. And Route 50, or Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway, could be renamed McClellan-Meade Turnpike. To avoid the possibility of egotism being involved, the folks behind the renaming could be anonymous. I’d be willing to contribute to the…

  • Hands off D.C.’s war memorial

    25 Jan 2012 | 4:30 pm
    The dispute over the congressional effort to nationalize the District of Columbia War Memorial [“A battle over the ‘Great War,’ ” front page, Jan. 24] is, on one level, absurd because any war memorial already in existence commemorates all who fought in that war. Read full article >>
 
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    Today's Opinion Columns

  • Patrick Witt and the New York Times’ rush to judgment

    Kathleen Parker
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    A New York Times story on Friday that essentially indicted and convicted a 22-year-old star football player on an alleged sexual assault charge by an anonymous accuser should have begun as follows: “We know absolutely nothing about this rumor except what six people told us anonymously about this guy who they say sexually assaulted this girl. We don’t know who she is or what she said, or really anything, but here’s HIS name and what ‘they’ say about him.” Read full article >>

  • Davos and disconnected elites

    David Ignatius
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    DAVOS, Switzerland The organizers of the World Economic Forum were self-critical enough to organize panels this year on such dark topics as “Is Capitalism Failing?” and “Global Risks 2012: The Seeds of Dystopia.” And these were just the latest in a series of annual ruminations here on the troubles of the globalization movement the conference symbolizes. Read full article >>

  • D.C. politicians playing games

    Colbert I. King
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    The report by the D.C. Office of the Inspector General on the chief financial officer’s lottery contract award captures the amorality engulfing the District’s government. Note, I didn’t say “immorality,” which suggests a breach of moral standards. I chose “amorality,” which refers to the absence of a moral code. That applies to our government. Read full article >>

  • A special journalist

    David Ignatius
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:30 pm
    DAVOS, Switzerland It was 30 years ago that Tewfik Mishlawi confessed what might sound like a mundane ambition but which contained the sublime spark that has swept across the Middle East over the past year: He said that he wanted to create the first independent Arab news service. Read full article >>

  • The president plays small ball

    Charles Krauthammer
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:13 pm
    Once upon a time, small ball was not Barack Obama’s game. Tuesday, it was the essence of his State of the Union address. The visionary of 2008 — purveyor of hope and change, healer of the earth, tamer of the rising seas — offered an hour of little things: tax-code tweaks to encourage this or that kind of behavior (manufacturing being the flavor of the day), little watchdog agencies to round up Wall Street miscreants and Chinese DVD pirates, even a presidential demand “that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.” Under penalty of what? Jail? The…
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    Achenblog

  • Joel Achenbach: Florida: Where the voters are

    Joel Achenbach
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:15 am
    Just flew back to DC from Florida, where I criss-crossed the state and filed a few stories that were more or less about the campaign. I have to write another, and I’m not exactly sure what it will say other than that Florida is the anti-New Hampshire. In New Hampshire you can walk up to any stranger and ask about the presidential campaign and discover that this person has met all the candidates 13 times and serves in the state legislature and is a direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin. In Florida, you ask the same question and you’ll get a look as if you have two heads. It’s just weird…

  • Joel Achenbach: Florida primary: Gettin’ swampy [updated]

    Joel Achenbach
    23 Jan 2012 | 9:45 am
    Just came from the Mitt presser next to the Hillsborough River, with the onion domes of the U-Tampa in the background. Mitt wore jeans. He wears jeans a lot. Message: I am the common man. Anyway, Mitt called Newt “highly erratic” and warned that Newt is a time bomb, an “October Surprise” waiting to happen. He called on Newt to release all his documents regarding his work for Freddie Mac. Romney went so far as to say that Newt may have engaged in “potentially wrongful activity of some kind.” I asked him directly: Does he mean by that that Gingrich in his lobbying may be guilty of…

  • Joel Achenbach: South Carolina primary: Maybe this thing ain’t over yet

    Joel Achenbach
    21 Jan 2012 | 10:11 am
    Today we find out if the GOP race is over, as some twerpazoids have insisted. South Carolina could scuttle Mitt Romney’s plan to throttle the contest in its opening month. Romney has had everything going for him, including a miscount in Iowa that declared him the winner incorrectly, but he’s had a terrible week — a week of squirrelishness, if that’s a word (and even if it’s not!) — and could lose South Carolina today to Newt Gingrich, which would then put Florida in play. And Florida’s never much liked Romney. Floridians like Jeb. They like Marco Rubio. Read full article…

  • Joel Achenbach: Mitt Romney and the 0.01 percent

    Joel Achenbach
    18 Jan 2012 | 11:39 am
    I don’t resent the rich. I resent the young. I resent the good-looking and the extremely fit and the undeservedly well-cubicled. My cubicle is roughly the size of a wheelbarrow. There’s no view of the outdoors, and so I have to write weather stories by checking the Internet and eavesdropping on colleagues who have been outside or for some bizarre reason have been rewarded with a cubicle near a window. Read full article >>

  • Joel Achenbach: Jon Huntsman: Not toxic enough?

    Joel Achenbach
    16 Jan 2012 | 11:32 am
    I could never quite figure out what Jon Huntsman was up to. Huntsman’s “moderate” identity put him squarely up against the Romney juggernaut. He didn’t have a sufficiently distinct identity. His was an insurgency against a front-runner, but he acted like he was campaigning for a Cabinet position. Today he made that official. Read full article >>
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    Richard Cohen: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • How Gingrich’s unruly mind could benefit Obama

    Richard Cohen
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:53 pm
    Where is the Democratic Gingrich? I do not mean that Newt Gingrich — the one who is a virtual Michelin Man of grandiosity, pneumatically overstuffed with self-references and appeals to the political gutter. I do not mean the man whose public life has been as chaotic as his private one (and vice versa) and who is capable of the most sinister simplicities, such as the time he suggested that Susan Smith would not have murdered her two children had Republicans been in power. This Gingrich is a Rorschach test: If you don’t think he’s nuts, you are. Read full article >>

  • A defense of big money in politics

    Richard Cohen
    16 Jan 2012 | 6:40 pm
    Sheldon Adelson is supposedly a bad man. The gambling mogul gave $5 million to a Newt Gingrich-loving super PAC and this enabled Gingrich to maul Mitt Romney — a touch of opinion here — who had it coming anyway. Adelson is a good friend of Gingrich and a major player in Israeli politics. He owns a newspaper in Israel and supports politicians so far to the right I have to wonder if they are even Jewish. This is Sheldon Adelson, supposedly a bad man. But what about Howard Stein? Read full article >>

  • Romney’s aw-shucks rhetoric rings false

    Richard Cohen
    9 Jan 2012 | 6:30 pm
    Mitt Romney is starting to get on my nerves. He reminds me of Reggie, the rich, handsome, athletic and effortlessly superficial character in the “Archie” comics. He does almost everything well, and he looks like a million bucks (leveraged for much more), but he rings hollow, like the class president who would bring glee to all of Riverdale High by slipping on a banana peel. I’d kill for that. Read full article >>

  • Isolationism redux via Ron Paul

    Richard Cohen
    2 Jan 2012 | 7:38 pm
    The blogger Andrew Sullivan, typing faster than he could think, endorsed Ron Paul for the Republican presidential nomination. (He took it back, but we’ll get to that later.) Sullivan is British-born, Oxford-taught and, like so many from that sceptered isle, gifted in print and speech. Still, he somehow did not realize that if someone like Paul had been president in the 1940s, his homeland might have succumbed to Nazi Germany while America, maddeningly isolationist, sat out the war. No doubt, curriculum changes would have been made at Oxford. Read full article >>

  • A dictator, a dissident and Suzanne Hart

    Richard Cohen
    19 Dec 2011 | 7:24 pm
    It is a Monday morning, and I begin my day, as I usually do, with the obituaries. This is a particularly rich day — Vaclav Havel, the novelist, playwright and former president of Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic. He was 75. Kim Jong Il, the quite mad dictator of North Korea, has also died. He was 69, more or less — no one knows for sure. And Suzanne Hart has died as well. She stepped into a malfunctioning elevator and was crushed to death. She was a mere 41. Read full article >>
 
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    Jackson Diehl: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • Turkey’s government is the new normal in the Middle East

    Jackson Diehl
    22 Jan 2012 | 7:15 pm
    It would be nice to think that Rick Perry’s withdrawal from the GOP presidential race last week had something to do with the boneheaded remark he made about Turkey recently in the Myrtle Beach, S.C., debate. The exchange with Bret Baier of Fox News easily qualifies as the foreign policy low point of the presidential campaign so far — which is saying something. It also points to a problem in American — and in particular, Republican — understanding of the changing Middle East that is much bigger than Perry. Read full article >>

  • Obama’s foreign initiatives have been failures

    Jackson Diehl
    8 Jan 2012 | 7:30 pm
    The political writers tell us that President Obama’s foreign affairs record will be one of his strengths with voters in the 2012 campaign. The logic is pretty simple; Obama himself summed it up in 11 words at the Pentagon last week: “We’ve ended our war in Iraq. We’ve decimated al-Qaeda’s leadership.” Read full article >>

  • Autocracy returns to Central Europe

    Jackson Diehl
    25 Dec 2011 | 4:48 pm
    The death of Vaclav Havel last week seemed to mark the passing of a special species in postwar European politics: the anti-totalitarian dissident, “living in truth,” who with petitions and samizdat nurtured a democratic revolution that made the continent “whole and free.” Read full article >>

  • Obama is lagging on Egypt

    Jackson Diehl
    11 Dec 2011 | 7:05 pm
    Early on the morning of Nov. 25, the Obama administration significantly shifted its public position in the then-ongoing standoff between Egypt’s ruling military and pro-democracy demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir square. Dropping its weak appeals for “restraint on all sides,” the White House “condemned the excessive use of force” against the protesters and sided with their main demand by asserting that “the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place as soon as possible.” Read full article >>

  • Conciliatory tones from Egypt’s Islamist leaders

    Jackson Diehl
    2 Dec 2011 | 9:13 am
    CAIRO Sitting comfortably in the lobby of a Western-owned hotel in Cairo, Nabil Naim recounts his history as a leader of Egypt’s al-Jihad organization, which assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981, waged a terrorist war in the 1990s and helped give birth to al-Qaeda. He was, he says, the personal bodyguard of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. He was “the right arm” of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the former al-Jihad leader who now heads al-Qaeda. Read full article >>
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    E.J. Dionne Columns and Blog Posts

  • Obama’s rhetorical shift from hope to teamwork

    E.J. Dionne Jr.
    25 Jan 2012 | 12:23 pm
    It was to be expected that, in the course of his State of the Union address, President Obama would mention the killing of Osama bin Laden, whose death represented the culmination of the battle against terrorism that began on Sept. 11, 2001. Read full article >>

  • E.J. Dionne Jr.: The bipartisan side of a campaign speech

    E.J. Dionne Jr.
    24 Jan 2012 | 9:17 pm
    Much will be made, and properly so, of President Obama’s State of the Union address as a campaign message challenging the Republicans on fundamental questions. But before we all get to the partisan and ideological analysis, let’s look at a number of ideas Obama offered that ought, in principle, draw a lot of support from conservatives and Republicans. Read full article >>

  • E.J. Dionne Jr.: A new Mitt meets a new Newt

    E.J. Dionne Jr.
    23 Jan 2012 | 10:22 pm
    For the first time in all of the debates, Newt Gingrich had to play serious defense tonight in Tampa. Mitt Romney seemed an entirely different candidate than the lackluster guy who appeared in last week’s two debates in South Carolina. Taking Gingrich on from the very beginning of this encounter, he attacked and attacked and attacked again. Gingrich, who seized control of last Thursday’s debate by attacking CNN moderator John King, was forced to reply over and over to Romney’s attacks. Romney set the agenda. Gingrich responded. Read full article >>

  • Newt Gingrich exploits politics of class and culture

    E.J. Dionne Jr.
    22 Jan 2012 | 12:18 pm
    Conservatives may denounce class warfare, yet by shrewdly combining the politics of class with the politics of culture, Newt Gingrich won his first election in 14 years, humbled Mitt Romney and upended the Republican Party. Read full article >>

  • E.J. Dionne Jr.: Surge, thy name is Gingrich

    E.J. Dionne Jr.
    21 Jan 2012 | 8:47 pm
    Yes, there was a Gingrich surge in South Carolina and, yes, the debates really, really mattered. According to the exit polls, more than half the voters in Saturday’s primary said they made up their minds within the last few days, and these voters went for Newt Gingrich over Mitt Romney by 2-to-1. About two-thirds of the voters said the debates were an important factor in their vote, and they went for Gingrich 5-to-2 over Romney. Read full article >>
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    Michael Gerson: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • The net tightens around Joseph Kony

    Michael Gerson
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:11 pm
    DUNGU, Congo Francoise, age 16, talks quietly, revealing a shy smile only after praise for her tight cornrows. While walking to school four years ago, she and some classmates were captured by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The girls were distributed to soldiers as “wives.” In the mornings, Francoise cooked. In the afternoons, she carried packs on the march. When she tried to escape, the soldiers melted a water container and poured the plastic on her shoulders. Once, when the fighters saw two infants along the path, they crushed them with a pestle. “I witnessed that,” she says.

  • Newt Gingrich, the man who knows too much

    Michael Gerson
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:54 pm
    Some persistence is merely doggedness. Newt Gingrich’s persistence is a form of confidence — the firm belief that, given enough time and enough debates, his skills will prevail. He knows how to probe an opponent’s weakness, how to humiliate a journalist, how to employ an applause line and how to parry an uncomfortable question. The anti-Romneys who came before him were chosen more or less at random. Gingrich has earned his surge that produced a 13-point victory in South Carolina on Saturday. Read full article >>

  • The Americans no one wants to talk about

    Michael Gerson
    19 Jan 2012 | 7:05 pm
    It is an achievement of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements to have raised large issues of economic freedom and economic inequality. It is a paradox that their arguments have generally been vague, ideological and unhelpful. Read full article >>

  • Climate and the culture war

    Michael Gerson
    16 Jan 2012 | 6:41 pm
    The attempt by Newt Gingrich to cover his tracks on climate change has been one of the shabbier little episodes of the 2012 presidential campaign. His forthcoming sequel to “A Contract with the Earth” was to feature a chapter by Katharine Hayhoe, a young professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas Tech University. Hayhoe is a scientist, an evangelical Christian and a moderate voice warning of climate disruption. Read full article >>

  • Newt Gingrich’s party of one

    Michael Gerson
    12 Jan 2012 | 6:30 pm
    A fifth-place finish in New Hampshire is not usually the slingshot into a two-way race for the Republican nomination, but Newt Gingrich can reasonably make the case. The former House speaker stands second to Mitt Romney among Republicans in national polling. He ties for second in South Carolina. He is a clear second in Florida. With Rick Perry finishing just 800 votes ahead of Buddy Roemer in New Hampshire, Gingrich can claim to be the last viable Southerner in the race. He commands money for ads. And he has secured the all-important Todd Palin endorsement. Read full article >>
 
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    Fred Hiatt: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • Where are the serious Republican candidates?

    Fred Hiatt
    15 Jan 2012 | 7:06 pm
    Why is the Republican presidential field so weak? Six months ago, that might have seemed an unfair question, or at least premature. The roster of candidates often starts out looking like the “seven dwarfs,” only to have some rise in stature while others fall away. Read full article >>

  • Obama’s missed opportunity on the debt

    Fred Hiatt
    4 Dec 2011 | 6:24 pm
    So after all the talk about fiscal balance and responsible choices, the pre-Christmas rush in Washington has come down to this: one more belly-up to the middle-class tax-cut bar. If, as seems likely, enough Republicans manage to overcome their sometime scruples and join President Obama before last call, Washington will prove once more that bipartisanship is alive and well — as long as it is in the service of digging the deficit hole deeper. Read full article >>

  • How Burma can show it’s really changed

    Fred Hiatt
    6 Nov 2011 | 7:05 pm
    Life in the new Burma: Fifteen political prisoners who embarked on a hunger strike to protest their confinement have been denied water as punishment. Eight of them, according to Amnesty International, have been sent to cells built for dogs, which have no light, no mats or bedding, and insufficient space for humans to stand. Read full article >>

  • In South Korea, too many college grads, too few jobs

    Fred Hiatt
    24 Oct 2011 | 9:51 am
    SEOUL Americans who deem South Korea’s education system a model (President Obama, among others) might be surprised at one message leaders here are delivering to their youth: Drop out, please. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration. But South Korea’s government has decided that too many people are going to college. It is working to restore the luster of a high school diploma as a stopping point for some and to establish a vocational track for others. Read full article >>

  • In South Korea, president’s ascent mirrors his country’s rise

    Fred Hiatt
    12 Oct 2011 | 10:57 am
    SEOUL Here are some things South Korean President Lee Myung-bak probably will not dwell on when he addresses a joint session of Congress on Thursday afternoon: ●How U.S. fighter jets inadvertently killed two of his siblings as the jets hunted communist infiltrators in his village during the Korean War; Read full article >>
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    David Ignatius: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • Davos and disconnected elites

    David Ignatius
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    DAVOS, Switzerland The organizers of the World Economic Forum were self-critical enough to organize panels this year on such dark topics as “Is Capitalism Failing?” and “Global Risks 2012: The Seeds of Dystopia.” And these were just the latest in a series of annual ruminations here on the troubles of the globalization movement the conference symbolizes. Read full article >>

  • A special journalist

    David Ignatius
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:30 pm
    DAVOS, Switzerland It was 30 years ago that Tewfik Mishlawi confessed what might sound like a mundane ambition but which contained the sublime spark that has swept across the Middle East over the past year: He said that he wanted to create the first independent Arab news service. Read full article >>

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    25 Jan 2012 | 7:36 pm

  • The coming debate over American ‘strength’ abroad

    David Ignatius
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:36 pm
    The foreign policy theme that should dominate this year’s presidential campaign is “American renewal.” Each candidate claims to have a strategy for halting the nation’s decline, but their versions often amount to “more of the same” — which ain’t gonna work. Read full article >>

  • Iran gets the message from Washington

    David Ignatius
    20 Jan 2012 | 6:42 pm
    The Iran nuclear crisis is far from over, but Tehran appears to have made a subtle blink — backing away from its threat a few weeks ago to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to escalating U.S. sanctions. Read full article >>
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    Colbert I. King: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • D.C. politicians playing games

    Colbert I. King
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    The report by the D.C. Office of the Inspector General on the chief financial officer’s lottery contract award captures the amorality engulfing the District’s government. Note, I didn’t say “immorality,” which suggests a breach of moral standards. I chose “amorality,” which refers to the absence of a moral code. That applies to our government. Read full article >>

  • Stephen Colbert’s unfunny run for president

    Colbert I. King
    20 Jan 2012 | 3:50 pm
    I don’t find comedian Stephen Colbert’s involvement in the Republican presidential race the least bit funny. Oh, I get the part about parodying the craziness of campaign finance and the farce that raising and spending oodles of money has made of our politics. I understand his disdain for the GOP field. It is indeed hard to decide which candidate to dislike the least. Read full article >>

  • In D.C., a mockery of campaign finance laws

    Colbert I. King
    13 Jan 2012 | 6:18 pm
    The mockery of campaign finance laws evident in fundraising and spending among the Republican presidential candidates, most notably by Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, is imitated in D.C. elections. True, the city’s politics are on a different scale. Still, when it comes to finding ways to make ethically and legally questionable contributions, national GOP operatives have nothing on their District imitators. Read full article >>

  • More money and politics in D.C.

    Colbert I. King
    6 Jan 2012 | 6:34 pm
    The District’s political process is locked in the clutches of well-connected elected officials. Unless the money-flooded system is reformed, running for office in this city will remain a fool’s errand. Read full article >>

  • Money and politics in D.C.

    Colbert I. King
    30 Dec 2011 | 7:40 pm
    The District may have a watershed year in 2012. Three politically charged cases are expected to make big news. They are the probes U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. is conducting into the alleged use of public funds for personal gain by D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5); the alleged failure of the 2008 campaign of council Chairman Kwame Brown to report contributions and expenditures of more than $270,000; and the alleged engagement of Vincent C. Gray’s mayoral campaign in a scheme in the run-up to the 2010 Democratic primary to have Sulaimon Brown, another mayoral candidate,…
 
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    Charles Krauthammer: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • The president plays small ball

    Charles Krauthammer
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:13 pm
    Once upon a time, small ball was not Barack Obama’s game. Tuesday, it was the essence of his State of the Union address. The visionary of 2008 — purveyor of hope and change, healer of the earth, tamer of the rising seas — offered an hour of little things: tax-code tweaks to encourage this or that kind of behavior (manufacturing being the flavor of the day), little watchdog agencies to round up Wall Street miscreants and Chinese DVD pirates, even a presidential demand “that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.” Under penalty of what? Jail? The…

  • The GOP’s suicide march

    Charles Krauthammer
    19 Jan 2012 | 7:04 pm
    “Are you better off today than you were $4 trillion ago?” — former presidential candidate Rick Perry It’s the campaign line of the year, and while the author won’t be carrying it into the general election, the eventual nominee will. Read full article >>

  • Ron Paul’s achievement

    Charles Krauthammer
    12 Jan 2012 | 6:38 pm
    There are two stories coming out of New Hampshire. The big story is Mitt Romney. The bigger one is Ron Paul. Romney won a major victory with nearly 40 percent of the vote, 16 points ahead of No. 2. The split among his challengers made the outcome even more decisive. Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were diminished by distant, ­lower-tier finishes. Rick Perry got less than 1 percent. And Jon Huntsman, who staked everything on New Hampshire, came in a weak third with less than half of Romney’s vote. He practically moved to the state — and then received exactly one-sixth of the vote in a…

  • A worthy challenger

    Charles Krauthammer
    5 Jan 2012 | 6:52 pm
    After every other conservative alternative to Mitt Romney crashed and burned (libertarian Ron Paul is in a category of his own), from the rubble emerges Rick Santorum. But he isn’t just the last man standing. He is the first challenger to be plausibly presidential: knowledgeable, articulate, experienced, of stable character and authentic ideology. Read full article >>

  • Are we alone in the universe?

    Charles Krauthammer
    29 Dec 2011 | 7:30 pm
    Huge excitement last week. Two Earth-size planetsfound orbiting a sun-like star less than a thousand light-years away. This comes two weeks after the stunning announcement of another planet orbiting another star at precisely the right distance — within the “habitable zone” that is not too hot and not too cold — to allow for liquid water and therefore possible life. Read full article >>
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    Ruth Marcus: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • Why Obama is trying to put Arizona in play

    Ruth Marcus
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:03 pm
    PHOENIX Presidential travel, especially in an election year, offers an insight into the favored electoral road map. So it is no surprise that President Obama’s post-State of the Union schedule includes traditional battleground states: Read full article >>

  • Newt Gingrich blames media for a mess he created

    Ruth Marcus
    20 Jan 2012 | 1:09 pm
    “By definition, if you run for president, anything is on the table. Ask Grover Cleveland. Ask Andrew Jackson. Anything is on the table. I accept that, but I don’t have to participate in the conversation.” Read full article >>

  • Mitt Romney’s miserly concern for the poor

    Ruth Marcus
    17 Jan 2012 | 4:40 pm
    “I’m concerned about the poor in this country,” Mitt Romney said the other day. “We have to make sure the safety net is strong and able to help those who can’t help themselves.” I perked up at those words, because they were something of a departure from his usual stump speech and because they happened to come on a day when I had written about the dire implications of Romney’s proposals for the social safety net. Read full article >>

  • The real battle for the soul of America

    Ruth Marcus
    12 Jan 2012 | 1:54 pm
    Mitt Romney likes to say that this election is a battle for “the soul of America.” He’s right — just not in the way that he thinks. Romney asserts that President Obama wants to “fundamentally transform America,” turning the country “into a European-style entitlement society.” In fact, Romney and his Republican presidential rivals have a far more radical transformation in mind. They envision a dramatically shrunken federal government and a dangerously unraveled social safety net. Read full article >>

  • Jon Huntsman, chameleon on the stump

    Ruth Marcus
    9 Jan 2012 | 6:29 pm
    KEENE, N.H. This is not, in all likelihood, Jon Huntsman’s break-out moment. Even if the former Utah governor manages to exceed expectations — which would amount to coming in second to Mitt Romney in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary — his path ahead is unclear. Huntsman has invested months and months of slogging from house party to diner to town hall meeting in this state, but he has little in the way of infrastructure to propel him in South Carolina and beyond. More PostOpinions Milbank: Campaign-trail secrets. vanden Heuvel: Romney — an extremist in pinstripes. Editorial: Hitting…
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    Harold Meyerson: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • A new vision for America: Restoring a country that makes things

    Harold Meyerson
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:47 pm
    So much for post-industrial America. After decades of our leaders and sages assuring us that the United States would thrive as we moved beyond manufacturing, President Obama used his State of the Union address to officially declare post-industrial America an unqualified bust. Read full article >>

  • Obama vs. Romney: Who will blue-collar Americans hate less?

    Harold Meyerson
    19 Jan 2012 | 7:13 pm
    If Mitt Romney becomes the Republican nominee and ­faces off against Barack Obama in November, we may finally be able to answer a question that has vexed students of American politics since the heyday of George Wallace: Which elite do white, blue-collar Americans hate more? Read full article >>

  • Republican candidates try to assert their blue-collar instincts

    Harold Meyerson
    10 Jan 2012 | 7:50 pm
    NASHUA, N.H. With attacks on Mitt Romney’s career as a venture capitalist coming fast and furious from his primary opponents, the Republican presidential campaigns have entered strange new territory for the GOP: economic reality, or, more precisely, the economy that most people experience. Read full article >>

  • No longer the land of opportunity

    Harold Meyerson
    3 Jan 2012 | 7:23 pm
    “Over the past three years, Barack Obama has been replacing our merit-based society with an Entitlement Society,” Mitt Romney wrote in USA Today last month. The coming election, Romney told Wall Street Journal editors last month, will be “a very simple choice” between Obama’s “European social democratic” vision and “a merit-based opportunity society — an American-style society — where people earn their rewards based on their education, their work, their willingness to take risks and their dreams.” Read full article >>

  • Gingrich’s miscarriage of justice

    Harold Meyerson
    20 Dec 2011 | 7:15 pm
    Between the death of Kim Jong Il and Newt Gingrich’s descent in the polls, it’s been a tough couple of days for fans of tubby megalomaniacs. But Newt, undaunted, is at least carrying on one of Kim’s legacies: He’s gone to war against the principle of an independent judiciary. Read full article >>
 
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    Eugene Robinson Columns and Blog Posts

  • Greed is good? The GOP seems to be okay with that.

    Eugene Robinson
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:59 pm
    If you heard a loud “gulp” Tuesday night after President Obama’s State of the Union address, it probably came from Republican political strategists as they realized their party’s odds of capturing the White House this fall are getting longer. Obama may be no Ronald Reagan, but he’s no Jimmy Carter, either. Read full article >>

  • Newt Gingrich’s challenge: changing Americans’ view of him

    Eugene Robinson
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:54 pm
    When the polls closed in South Carolina on Saturday, I happened to be in a Charleston hotel lobby where elegantly dressed couples were filing past on their way to a black-tie event. A woman stopped and asked whether I had heard anything about the results. Read full article >>

  • Republicans with a one-track mind

    Eugene Robinson
    19 Jan 2012 | 7:13 pm
    CHARLESTON, S.C. You know-it-alls who think unemployment is the most urgent crisis facing the nation are wrong, I’ve learned from watching a zillion Republican campaign ads on television this week. All you deficit hawks, rise-of-China worrywarts and alarmed observers of the Iranian nuclear program are wrong, too, and should stop bothering yourselves with trifles. Read full article >>

  • Reexamining the myth of no-fault capitalism

    Eugene Robinson
    16 Jan 2012 | 5:56 pm
    From all evidence, the issue of economic justice isn’t going away. Break the news gently to Mitt Romney, who seems apoplectic that the whole “rich get richer, poor get poorer” thing is being discussed out loud. In front of the children, for goodness’ sake. Read full article >>

  • Martin Luther King and the dream that came true

    Eugene Robinson
    13 Jan 2012 | 6:46 pm
    He would be an elder statesman now, a lion in winter, an American hero perhaps impatient with the fuss being made over his birthday. At 83, he’d likely still have his wits and his voice. Surely, if he were able, he would continue to preach, to pray — and to dream. Read full article >>
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    Robert Samuelson: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • A brighter energy future?

    Robert J. Samuelson
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:05 am
    A week after President Obama denied the application for the Keystone XL pipeline — which would carry oil from Canada’s tar sands deposits in Alberta to U.S. refineries along the Gulf of Mexico — it’s time for an energy reality check. What does the future hold? It may be better than you think. That’s one message from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest “Annual Energy Outlook,” which projects the supply and demand for fuels through 2035. Read full article >>

  • Why the Federal Reserve slept before the housing crisis

    Robert J. Samuelson
    22 Jan 2012 | 7:11 pm
    The recent release of the 2006 transcripts of the Federal Reserve’s main policy-making body stimulated a small media frenzy. “Little Alarm Shown at Fed at Dawn of Housing Bust,” headlined the Wall Street Journal. The Washington Post agreed: “As financial crisis brewed, Fed appeared unconcerned.” The New York Times echoed: “Inside the Fed in ’06: Coming Crisis, and Banter.” Read full article >>

  • Rejecting the Keystone pipeline is an act of insanity

    Robert J. Samuelson
    19 Jan 2012 | 11:39 am
    President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn’t often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism — won’t even advance the goals of the groups that demanded it. All it tells us is that Obama is so obsessed with his reelection that, through some sort of political calculus, he believes that placating his environmental supporters will improve his chances. Read full article >>

  • Cutting health-care spending the old-fashioned way

    Robert J. Samuelson
    16 Jan 2012 | 10:47 am
    It turns out that there is a way to control health spending: clobber the economy. When unemployment rises, people lose health insurance. They see doctors less often; they put off elective surgery; they cut back on drugs. Even people with insurance behave similarly, because their pay may be down, they worry about job security or they want to avoid out-of-pocket costs for deductibles or co-payments. Of course, almost no one advocates this as a deliberate policy. But it does seem to work. Call it the Neanderthal Cure to Health Costs. Read full article >>

  • Does Romney have the right kind of business background?

    Robert J. Samuelson
    12 Jan 2012 | 6:35 pm
    For Mitt Romney, it’s the best of times and the worst of times. While his New Hampshire win brings him closer to the Republican nomination, his campaign narrative against President Obama may be unraveling. The plot is simple: With a comatose economy and stubbornly high unemployment, Romney’s private-sector experience makes him a better job creator than Obama. There are problems. Not only does the economy seem to be strengthening, but Romney’s business background is being turned against him. By Republicans, no less. Read full article >>
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    George F. Will: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • Obama to the nation: Onward civilian soldiers

    George F. Will
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:14 pm
    War, said James Madison, is “the true nurse of executive aggrandizement.” Randolph Bourne, the radical essayist killed by the influenza unleashed by World War I, warned, “War is the health of the state.” Hence Barack Obama’s State of the Union hymn: Onward civilian soldiers, marching as to war. Read full article >>

  • Can Romney the turnaround artist do it again?

    George F. Will
    23 Jan 2012 | 1:24 pm
    An Illinois lawyer who had a way with words once characterized a particular argument as weaker than soup made from the shadow of a pigeon that died of starvation. The argument for Mitt Romney benefiting from South Carolina’s voting is almost as weak as Lincoln’s soup, but here it is: Read full article >>

  • A Supreme Obamacare test

    George F. Will
    20 Jan 2012 | 6:44 pm
    The Supreme Court can pack large portents in small details. When in late March it considers the constitutionality of Obamacare, there will be 51 2 hours of oral argument — the most in almost half a century. This is because the individual mandate (Does Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce extend to punishing the inactivity of not buying insurance?) is just one of the law’s constitutionally dubious features. Read full article >>

  • A snapshot of our times

    George F. Will
    18 Jan 2012 | 6:50 pm
    LOS ANGELES Shawn Nee, 35, works in television but hopes to publish a book of photographs. Shane Quentin, 31, repairs bicycles but enjoys photographing industrial scenes at night. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department probably wishes that both would find other hobbies. Herewith a story of today’s inevitable friction between people exercising, and others protecting, freedom. Read full article >>

  • Clogging our ports with rules

    George F. Will
    13 Jan 2012 | 6:49 pm
    CHARLESTON, S.C. Thanks to globalization, and to containerized shipping that began in 1956 and makes globalization work, commodities swiftly move vast distances around the planet. Wal-Mart alone imports 400,000 containers a year. Trade flows can, however, be deflected or even defeated by a distance of just five feet. Herewith a story of the high costs of a few feet and of too many years required for our nation’s increasingly sluggish public processes to move. Read full article >>
 
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    Redskins: Washington Redskins News, Schedule, Stats, Scores & More - The Washington Post

  • Best QB on championship weekend? Not Tom Brady or Eli Manning, but Joe Flacco

    Sean Moroney
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:05 pm
    Let’s face it, the NFL playoffs are a crapshoot. We all know that you need a great quarterback to get you to the playoffs on a consistent basis. But when it comes down to wins and losses in January, a quarterback or team simply needs a good dose of good fortune. Read full article >>

  • Greg Schiano, Chuck Pagano, Jeff Fisher: How will new NFL coaches fare?

    Brandon Benson
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:39 pm
    Coming into this offseason, there were seven NFL teams looking for a new head coach. And only one big name head coach was available. So it’s no surprise that it’s been a hiring season filled with unknowns and retreads. Read full article >>

  • Pro Bowl 2012: 10 ways to keep yourself entertained while watching

    Michael Kun
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:10 pm
    You forgot the Pro Bowl was this weekend, didn’t you? I did, too, until I was trying to come up with an excuse to get out of seeing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on Sunday. (Great novel, by the way, but no interest in spending two hours on my day off watching a tear-jerker of a movie. Sorry, Tom Hanks. Sorry, Sandra Bullock. Sorry, kid who plays their son.) Read full article >>

  • Greg Schiano, New York Jets could have made a perfect match

    Michael Kun
    26 Jan 2012 | 5:01 pm
    Hand on Bible, in a piece a few weeks ago regarding the Jets’ implosion, my original draft included the following sentence: “What the Jets should do is say goodbye to [Rex] Ryan and hire Rutgers coach Greg Schiano as their new head coach.” Read full article >>

  • Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano agrees to terms with Tampa Bay Buccaneers (updated)

    Cindy Boren
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:25 am
    Updated at 2:40 p.m. with hiring The hiring of Chuck Pagano by the Indianapolis Colts left only one NFL team searching for a head coach. And now there are none. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after losing out on Oregon’s Chip Kelly, have agreed to terms of a deal with Greg Schiano, head coach at Rutgers, according to multiple reports. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Schiano agreed to a five-year deal. Read full article >>
 
 
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    Nationals: Nationals & MLB News, Schedules, Scores and More - The Washington Post

  • Brad Lidge, Washington Nationals agree to terms

    Adam Kilgore
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:45 pm
    The Washington Nationals agreed to terms with veteran right-handed reliever Brad Lidge on a one-year deal Thursday, adding depth and leadership to a bullpen already considered one of the best in baseball. After four seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, Lidge will provide the Nationals with a devastating slider and mountains of experience, including recording the final out of the 2008 World Series. Read full article >>

  • Nationals introduce Gio Gonzalez to Washington

    Adam Kilgore
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:08 pm
    Gio Gonzalez had never been to Washington before Tuesday night, and he and his family wanted to see as much as they could. Gonzalez attended the Washington Capitals game, where an image of the Washington Nationals’ newest attraction was flashed on the Jumbotron. That caught him off guard. Read full article >>

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  • Prince Fielder signs with Detroit: Are the Tigers now the team to beat in the AL?

    Washington Post Sports Editors
    25 Jan 2012 | 3:44 pm
    All signs pointed to All-Star first baseman Prince Fielder — the biggest name free agent left on the market after Albert Pujols signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim — landing with the Washington Nationals or Texas Rangers. But Fielder’s lengthy free agent saga produced a surprising ending on Tuesday, when the 27-year-old signed a massive long-term contract with the Detroit Tigers. As the AP reported: Read full article >>

  • Nationals notes: Yoenis Cespedes, Stephen Strasburg, Debbi Taylor

    Adam Kilgore
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:14 pm
    The Nationals will introduce Gio Gonzalez at a news conference at Nationals Park later this afternoon, and a reminder of the 26-year-old lefty who can occupy the top of a rotation for the next seven years is a good way to reduce the sting of Prince Fielder signing with the Detroit Tigers. Read full article >>
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    United: D.C. United & Soccer News, Schedules, Standings, Scores, and More - The Washington Post

  • D.C. United’s Robbie Russell and his wife finally together after years apart

    Steven Goff
    26 Jan 2012 | 12:03 pm
    Robbie and Tiana Russell will be apart for most of the next five weeks — Robbie at D.C. United’s warm-weather training camps to prime for his first season with the MLS club and Tiana commuting from their Arlington apartment to her downtown law office. Read full article >>

  • D.C. United signs Argentine central defender Emiliano Dudar

    Steven Goff
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    D.C. United announced the signing of Emiliano Dudar, a 6-foot-4 Argentine center back who arrives from one of Switzerland’s top clubs, BSC Young Boys. The former Swiss defender of the year will join returning regulars Dejan Jakovic, Brandon McDonald and Ethan White in the central defending corps. United didn’t have to pay a transfer fee. Terms of the contract weren’t disclosed. Read full article >>

  • D.C. United still putting pieces together as training camp kicks off

    Steven Goff
    18 Jan 2012 | 5:22 pm
    D.C. United holds its first outdoor practice D.C. United gathered for its first outdoor practice session of training camp Wednesday morning at blustery Long Bridge Park, a new, three-field county complex tucked among Crystal City, the Pentagon, Interstate 395 and the Potomac River. The club will work out there twice this week with the Washington Monument as a northern backdrop, the Air Force Memorial to the west, the towers of Crystal City to the south and jets ascending and descending at Reagan National Airport less than a mile away. Read full article >>
 
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    Capitals: Washington Capitals & NHL News, Schedules, Scores and More - The Washington Post

  • Alex Ovechkin’s suspension was unfair; his reaction was uncool

    Tracee Hamilton
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:14 am
    Alex Ovechkin deserved a suspension for his hit on Pittsburgh’s Zbynek Michalek. Three games? Too much. But Ovechkin’s reaction — to skip the All-Star Game — is also too much. Like a petulant child, Ovechkin will take his puck and go home. He’ll hold his breath till he turns blue. He’ll show them! And all the other ridiculous things children say and do when punished. Read full article >>

  • Caps vs. Bruins: Mathieu Perreault’s first NHL hat trick sparks Washington to win

    Katie Carrera
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:48 pm
    Nine days ago, Mathieu Perreault sat in the press box as a healthy scratch watching the Washington Capitals compete. On Tuesday night at Verizon Center, the speedy center propelled them to victory against the defending Stanley Cup champions on a night when the Capitals were without three of their biggest stars. Read full article >>

  • Alex Ovechkin won’t attend NHL All-Star Game following suspension

    Katie Carrera
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:17 am
    General Manager George McPhee said Alex Ovechkin will not participate in the NHL’s All Star game, which is scheduled for later this week in Ottawa. Ovechkin was suspended for three games by the NHL on Monday for his hit on Pittsburgh’s Zbynek Michalek. The star left wing said he didn’t feel comfortable attending the All-Star game and did not want to be a distraction. McPhee said he supported Ovechkin’s decision to pull out of the All Star game. Read full article >>

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  • Alex Ovechkin suspended three games for illegal hit on Zbynek Michalek in Caps’ loss

    Tarik El-Bashir
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:37 pm
    Alex Ovechkin received his longest suspension to date Monday when the Washington Capitals’ captain was banned three games without pay for his illegal hit on the Penguins’ Zbynek Michalek, a blow the NHL ruled “recklessly” made contact with the Pittsburgh defenseman’s head. Read full article >>
 
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    Thomas Boswell: Most recent columns

  • Prince Fielder could give Nationals a Scott Boras-heavy lineup for the forseeable future

    Thomas Boswell
    13 Jan 2012 | 10:06 am
    If the Washington Nationals sign Prince Fielder, but don’t extend the contract of Ryan Zimmerman, whose deal runs out after two more seasons, then by opening day 2014 almost the entire Washington starting lineup — seven players — might be clients of agent Scott Boras. Read full article >>

  • Hall of Fame and steroids: Questions no one wants to answer

    Thomas Boswell
    10 Jan 2012 | 5:38 pm
    The election of Barry Larkin to the Hall of Fame on Monday reminds us of the clean sense of simple celebration that has surrounded such moments through most of baseball history. It illustrates an ideal of purity — the fair test of talent, the level playing field, the triumph of ability and will — that we hope to find in sports, at least sometimes. It’s exactly the way we want it. Read full article >>

  • Before the Wizards’ John Wall can lead, he needs to work on his game

    Thomas Boswell
    5 Jan 2012 | 7:07 pm
    So far into his career, John Wall is the worst shooter in the NBA. Adults have many duties to the young. One is honesty. When gifted kids grow up, their elders, including employers, should be candid about their flaws and help them fulfill their talent. Nobody knows the whole job at age 21. Read full article >>

  • Redskins and Mike Shanahan immersed in an ugly rebuilding process

    Thomas Boswell
    1 Jan 2012 | 8:10 pm
    PHILADELPHIA If the Redskins are a renovation, what does a total tear-down look like? After 33 losses in three years, the Redskins now face the reality that confronts entrenched bad teams — ones without a single player picked for the Pro Bowl, ones without a quality quarterback and ones that pack up for the offseason with a quarter left to play and lose 34-10 to a division rival. Read full article >>

  • Prince Fielder’s price is not right for Nationals right now

    Thomas Boswell
    28 Dec 2011 | 5:54 pm
    Who wants Prince Fielder? Right now, nobody does, not at Albert Pujols prices anyway. The non-pursuit of the young free agent first baseman who averages 40 homers has been the shock of the baseball offseason. Read full article >>
 
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    Mike Wise: Most recent columns

  • Maryland repays Gary Williams by attaching his name to the Comcast Center court

    Mike Wise
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:36 pm
    It’s hard to imagine at this minute — hours before the Comcast Center hardwood is to be named in his honor, 22 years after the first time he was Mike Krzyzewski’s counterpart at a Maryland-Duke game — but Gary Williams once had no way to get to College Park. Read full article >>

  • NFL playoffs 2012: Cundiff’s missed field goal is a horrible end to a game that had everything

    Mike Wise
    22 Jan 2012 | 8:35 pm
    FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It had everything. Tom Brady and Ray Lewis, the greatest players of their generation on each side of the ball, jawing at each other. Joe Flacco given chance after chance to redeem himself, finally leading his team downfield for a tying or go-ahead score in the final two minutes. Read full article >>

  • JaVale McGee ‘is not a knucklehead;’ just ask his mom

    Mike Wise
    19 Jan 2012 | 7:50 pm
    This is the night the hammer comes down, you’ve decided. This is the night to call out the brain lock and the boneheadedness — everything embodied by their starting center’s inability to understand that you don’t throw down a showboat dunk when you’re down six points and about to be 1-12 on the season. Read full article >>

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  • Sean Mosley, a link to the past — and present — for Maryland basketball

    Mike Wise
    16 Jan 2012 | 6:35 pm
    As the Mark Turgeon era peacefully putters out of the gate, winning ugly with teenagers growing up on the fly, there was a sighting from the past in College Park on Sunday. Sean Mosley. Remember that quiet, unflappable kid who started on that memorable team with Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne, who helped drop Duke that crazy night at Comcast Center almost two years ago? Read full article >>
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    Style: Culture, Arts, Ideas & More - The Washington Post

  • Drew Barrymore and proud Alaskans launch ‘Big Miracle’ in Washington

    The Reliable Source
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Once in a while, Hollywood gives Washington a big, juicy, star-studded movie premiere. Not because they think we’re fun, though. In D.C., it’s always got to be about politics. Even for Drew Barrymore, the very fun star who seems like she's up for finding the fun in Washington (more on that later). The actress dropped in Wednesday to debut “Big Miracle” — her family-friendly flick about the 1988 effort to rescue gray whales trapped in Alaskan ice — and we wondered, why here? Read full article >>

  • “The Last Nude,” by Ellis Avery

    Kathryn Lang
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:49 pm
    D uring the 1920s and '30s, the Polish-Russian painter Tamara de Lempicka was a sensation in Paris for her hyper-realistic art deco nudes, her Greta Garbo good looks and her scandalous bisexual liaisons. Her bold, stylized portraits brought her notoriety and wealth. Today, some of them are in the collections of Jack Nicholson and Madonna . Her 1927 painting of a sultry Italian American prostitute sold at auction in November for a $8.48 million Read full article >>

  • Rick Perry’s back in Texas, and some wonder if he’s lost political power there

    Melinda Henneberger
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:44 pm
    Yes, to the non-Texan eye, it looks like Republican Gov. Rick Perry has slunk home from his last rodeo, having humiliated himself and his home state with a presidential run that will go down in history as one big “Oops.” Read full article >>

  • Under Mark Morris, Handel oratorio becomes a visual feast

    Sarah Kaufman
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:07 pm
    Agreed: Mirth, with thee I mean to live. The chorus sings these words at the exultant finish of Mark Morris’s “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato,” which transforms the Handel oratorio into a visual feast with the happiest dancing you could hope to see. And as you watch the dancers join hands and circle the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, the whole cast whirling in a spin-cycle of physical joy, living by that sentiment feels entirely possible. Read full article >>

  • 27 Jan 2012 | 4:52 pm

    Dennis Drabelle
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:52 pm
    BIOGRAPHY DANGEROUS AMBITION Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson: New Women in Search of Love and Power By Susan Hertog Ballantine. 493 pp. $30 Read full article >>
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    Celebritology 2.0

  • Dried glue that kind of looks like Homer Simpson selling on eBay for over $200k

    Sarah Anne Hughes
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:52 pm
    An old piece of dried glue that sort of looks like Homer Simpson, the yellow cartoon character from the long running Fox show, is being sold on eBay, The Telegraph reports. Big deal, right? People put weird stuff — like a pizza that has the face of Jesus on it — on eBay all the time? Well, the price for this piece of dried glue currently stands at £151,000. That’s over $237,000. And there’s still over two days left before the auction closes. Read full article >>

  • Demi Moore 911 call released: actress was ‘convulsing’ and ‘burning up’

    Sarah Anne Hughes
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:16 pm
    The 911 call placed from Demi Moore’s home earlier this week has been released. An unidentified female friend of the actress can be heard telling the dispatcher that Moore — referred to as Demi — was “shaking, convulsing [and] burning up.” Read full article >>

  • Cher death hoax gives Kim Kardashian quite a scare

    Sarah Anne Hughes
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:18 am
    Poor Kim Kardashian got quite a scare last evening, as a completely false rumor about Cher’s death spread on Twitter. Yup, this is yet another celebrity death hoax story! “Did I juist hear Cher has passed away? Is this real? OMG,” Kardashian tweeted. [Ed note: Kardashian’s misspelling of “just” has been maintained to accurately depict her state of mind upon hearing the rumor.] “I hope this is a twitter joke and not true. I don't see it on the news anywhere. I'm praying its not true...” Read full article >>

  • Tom Haverford must be a fan of ‘Drive’ (Photo and video)

    Sarah Anne Hughes
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:27 am
    While the critically adored, hot dog thrower inspiring Ryan Gosling movie “Drive” was pretty much shut out by the Oscars, it at least got a little love on Thursday night’s episode of “Parks and Recreation.” Read full article >>

  • ‘Jersey Shore’ by the numbers: Boozy birthdays and a roommate rescue mission

    Katie Rogers
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:38 am
    In which The Washington Post’s Katie Rogers, blogger for The Buzz, recaps the latest Snooki and Situation antics, in semi-mathematical fashion. This week on the fourth episode of season five, our “Jersey Shore” friends are dealing with some minor work stress and the possibility that a new roommate (or, possibly two) could be taking Vinny Guadagnino’s place. Read full article >>
 
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    Going Out Gurus

  • Food in focus: Evening Star Cafe

    David Malitz
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:01 pm
    The Evening Star Cafe, in Alexandria’s Del Rey neighborhood since 1997, recently got a facelift and some new hands in the kitchen, including Jim Jeffords, a former line cook at CityZen. Tom Sietsema reviews Evening Star in his Sunday dining column in The Washington Post Magazine this week, and he finds there’s a little something for everyone on the one-page menu: “surf, turf, rabbit food and a little shout-out to vegetarians.” Check out more of Matt McClain’s photos of the restaurant. Read full article >>

  • Uncovering the artifacts of black history in D.C.

    Lavanya Ramanathan
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:41 pm
    Seek out the nation’s black history, and you’ll find it scattered across Washington, which was a magnet for African Americans practically from its inception. But the most awe-inspiring markers? They won’t always be found in memorials. Some vestiges of the African American experience require a stop, a second look, and maybe a third, to understand their resonance. Read full article >>

  • New and popular DVDs

    Stephanie Merry
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:46 am
    The Oscar nominees aren’t the only new DVDs worth your time. This weekend, catch the heart-warming “50/50” and the documentary “Revenge of the Electric Car.” Out this week 50/50 Paranormal Activity 3 Read full article >>

  • New movies: ‘Albert Nobbs,’ ‘The Grey’

    Jess Righthand
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:25 am
    In this week’s new movies, Glenn Close plays a nineteenth-century Irishwoman who disguises herself as a man and Liam Neeson leads a group of oil-rig roughnecks after their plane crashes in Alaska. Here’s what the Post critics thought: Read full article >>

  • Wammie nominations are heading in the right direction

    David Malitz
    26 Jan 2012 | 3:08 pm
    The nominees for the 26th annual Washington Area Music Awards were announced this week, which means it’s time for the annual Complaining About the Wammies critiques. Washington City Paper kicked things off this morning by listing a number of notable omissions. Sure, any local music fan in Washington could parse the dozens of categories and find some uninspiring nominations where more deserving acts should have been listed. But this is what happens when any awards show nominee list is announced. Someone is always bound to get snubbed. Read full article >>
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    Carolyn Hax: Latest Carolyn Hax Articles, Carolyn Hax Archive

  • What is unhealthy dependency in a relationship?

    Carolyn Hax
    28 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    Adapted from a recent online discussion. Dear Carolyn: How much dependency do you think is healthy in a relationship? Dependent Dunno. Since there are different ways to be dependent, you’ll need to define dependency. If you’re speaking in emotional terms, then feeling as if you couldn’t be happy without this person in your life is where I’d draw the line for unhealthy dependency. Read full article >>

  • Carolyn Hax: Debating couple’s counseling to save a relationship

    Carolyn Hax
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    Adapted from a recent online discussion. Dear Carolyn: How do you know when a relationship has become too much work? My boyfriend of three years wants to go to couple’s counseling, and while I am willing to try to work out our problems, I am not optimistic about a couple who have had problems for almost half the relationship and already need counseling. Read full article >>

  • Carolyn Hax: Hesitating to share news with Mom

    Carolyn Hax
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    Dear Carolyn: I’m in a bit of a pickle. I recently signed a deal with a large publishing house to write a technical book for them. I’m super-jazzed, and I’ve told pretty much everyone about it but I’ve left out my mother. Read full article >>

  • Carolyn Hax: A baby and a grandmother-to-be’s disappointment

    Carolyn Hax
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    Adapted from a recent online discussion . Dear Carolyn: My 26-year-old son’s girlfriend — of four months — is pregnant. I have very mixed emotions about this, mainly because he just met her, and I do not know her. They work and live across the country. Read full article >>

  • Carolyn Hax: Don’t be a queen of denial when it comes to a son who bites

    Carolyn Hax
    23 Jan 2012 | 11:01 pm
    Adapted from a recent online discussion. Dear Carolyn: Last week, I took my son to play group and was told by one of the other mothers that he has been biting, hitting and otherwise being too physical with the kids. Read full article >>
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    Tom Sietsema: Tom Sietsema Dining Articles

  • Food critic Tom Sietsema looks into his mailbag

    Tom Sietsema
    19 Jan 2012 | 8:49 am
    A periodic peek at the Post food critic’s e-mail, voice mail and inbox. “Why are restaurants that are so inventive with every other course so reluctant to offer anything interesting at dessert time?” asks Randall Reade. The Washington reader thinks “there is virtually no variety” when it comes to the last course of the meal, which inevitably includes the “usual suspects”: flourless chocolate cake, creme brulee, ice cream or sorbet, apple crumble (or a variation), bread pudding and cheesecake. Read full article >>

  • The Wine Kitchen pours on the details

    Tom Sietsema
    4 Jan 2012 | 1:19 pm
    If they introduced it to diners at all, most restaurants would probably limit their praise for the 2009 Benovia pinot noir to a few words about its bright fruit aromas and centered acidity. Not the Wine Kitchen in Frederick. “If this wine were a car, it would be a cherry red Corvette,” raves the new American bistro, which counts an older sibling with the same name in Leesburg. There are “long lines of lush cherry and red raspberry on the outside,” the Wine Kitchen gushes. “But the real magic is under the hood; with the full throttle of spiced plum jam, nutmeg and vanilla providing…

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  • 28 Dec 2011 | 11:52 am

    Tom Sietsema
    28 Dec 2011 | 11:52 am
    “Come look at the pig!” The invitation to us from Manuel Iguina, the co-owner of Mio, is so enthusiastic that my Friday night date and I don’t dare stay seated. So, up and over we go to the open kitchen to see what the fuss is about. It takes three cooks to hoist a windshield-size sheet of stainless steel from oven to counter. They beam with pride at the fruit of their labor, a 60-pound porker from Papa Weaver’s Pork in Virginia. Steam rushes from the nose of the mahogany beast; even from feet away, we sense the heat. Tom Sietsema Read full article >>

  • Tom Sietsema: Lamenting no-shows, air kisses

    23 Nov 2011 | 3:52 pm
    A periodic peek at the Post food critic’s e-mail, voice mail and inbox: Mark Medley has been in the restaurant business for almost 30 years and says he has never had so many customers fail to show up after making reservations. The general manager of the 28-seat Atlas Room on H Street NE reports that five of 15 reservation-holders “did not call and did not show” on a recent Friday night, despite phone prompts earlier in the day from the restaurant. Read full article >>
 
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    Jonathan Yardley: Most Recent Articles and Archives

  • “Justice and the Enemy: Nuremberg, 9/11, and the Trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” by William Shawcross

    Jonathan Yardley
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:44 pm
    Four years ago, the United States made ready to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and four others at a military tribunal. The case against the five men, as outlined by William Shawcross in this brief but immensely useful book, was sweeping: “They were charged with terrorism, mass murder, providing material support for terrorism, conspiracy, the hijacking of planes, attacking civilian objects, causing serious bodily injury, and destroying property in violation of the laws of war. The charges included almost 3,000 individual counts of murder —…

  • “Heinrich Himmler” by Peter Longerich

    Jonathan Yardley
    20 Jan 2012 | 3:40 pm
    This biography of one of the most evil creatures ever to walk the earth is thoughtful and perceptive, stupendously long and almost unimaginably exhausting. The first names that come to mind when the subject of 20th-century evil arises are those of the ungodly trio — Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao-Tse-tung — but surely that of Heinrich Himmler belongs among them. Himself utterly devoid of courage, decency or genuine human feeling, he caused through his manipulation of the Nazi police bureaucracy the deaths of uncountable millions of people, almost all of them innocents, and when it…

  • “Pogo Through the Wild Blue Wonder: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Volume 1” by Walt Kelly

    Jonathan Yardley
    13 Jan 2012 | 4:27 pm
    HUMOR POGO THROUGH THE WILD BLUE WONDER The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Volume 1 By Walt Kelly Fantagraphics. 290 pp. $39.99 Read full article >>

  • “A Slave in the White House,” by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor.

    Jonathan Yardley
    13 Jan 2012 | 4:25 pm
    For eight years, beginning with the inauguration of James Madison in March 1809, an African American slave named Paul Jennings lived and worked in the White House. When his service as footman there began he was about 10 years old — the exact date of his birth is unknown — and his responsibilities included “messenger, dining room servant, assistant to the coachman, and other duties” assigned by the doorkeeper.Jennings was described by one of Dolley Madison’s nieces as “a handsome mulatto boy, and a favorite page of Mrs. Madison’s.” Read full article >>

  • Year-end picks

    Jonathan Yardley
    9 Dec 2011 | 3:23 pm
    Once again this holiday season year-end review begins with the confession that my year didn’t include many memorable works of fiction. Not that I didn’t read plenty of it, but almost all of what I read were older books I’d somehow never gotten around to — J.G. Farrell’s magnificent “Empire Trilogy” (“The Siege of Krishnapur,” “Troubles” and “The Singapore Grip”), for example — or books to which I returned for the sheer pleasure of rediscovery, including a bracing dollop of P.G. Wodehouse. I still love novels, but fewer and fewer contemporary novelists (American…
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    Obituaries

  • Notable deaths

    26 Jan 2012 | 5:01 pm
    Paavo Berglund Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund, 82, a Finnish conductor who gained an international following for his numerous recordings of works of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, died Jan. 25 at his home in Helsinki. Read full article >>

  • Saud Nasir Sabah, Kuwaiti ambassador to U.S. during Iraq invasion, dies at 68

    Associated Press
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:38 pm
    Saud Nasir Sabah, who served as Kuwait’s ambassador to the United States during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of the oil-rich country and the American-led war to oust Saddam Hussein’s forces, died Jan. 21. He was 68. Read full article >>

  • Penny Jordan, author of 200 romance novels, dies at 65

    T. Rees Shapiro
    21 Jan 2012 | 4:57 pm
    Penny Jordan, a British romance novelist whose tales of beguiling women who fell breathlessly in love with handsome sheiks, Sicilian billionaires and Russian oligarchs sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, died Dec. 31 at a hospital in Cheshire, England. She was 65. Read full article >>

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  • Obituaries of note: Marty Springstead, Raymond Shonholtz

    19 Jan 2012 | 3:28 pm
    Marty Springstead baseball umpire Marty Springstead, 74, a baseball umpire who worked 20 years in the major leagues and was the youngest umpire crew chief in World Series history, died Jan. 17 at his home in Sarasota, Fla. The New York Times reported that he had a heart attack. Read full article >>
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