Can the US grid handle ‘Simpsons’ creator talks Decade of

surge of electric vehicles? Apu, fans, 700th episode the Woman

Automakers are charging forth with plans for Matt Groening avoids spoilers but doesn’t shy
more EVs, and they use a lot of power. In Money away from recent controversies. In Life These powerhouses
are the best among those

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breaking boundaries.
In Sports

FROM LEFT: KIM NG, BECKY

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K1 E2

SHOOTING IN BOULDER, COLORADO

‘IT WAS JUST TERROR’

People recount
chaos of attack,
mourn 10 killed

Biden calls on
Congress to ban
assault weapons
John Bacon and Trevor Hughes
USA TODAY

BOULDER, Colo. – Yellow crime-scene

tape ringed a parking lot filled Tuesday
with Subarus, Jeeps and other vehicles
abandoned by their owners after a deadly
shooting rampage Monday that stunned
this Colorado college town once de-
scribed as America’s happiest city.
A 21-year-old suspect faces murder
charges, accused of killing 10 people at a
Boulder supermarket in a chaotic scene
as panicked shoppers fled to safety
amid the hail of bullets.

“We all ran. ... I saw a lot

of very wide eyes.” Tristan Masterson, 9, places flowers on a memorial Tuesday outside the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo.,
Ryan Borowski where a day earlier 10 people were fatally shot. MICHAEL CIAGLO FOR USA TODAY
Shopper at King Sooper at time of attack

The victims ranged in age from 20 to REACTION IN CONGRESS

65 and included Boulder police Officer
Eric Talley, 51, a father of seven children
who was the first responder to what
Police Chief Maris Herold described as a
“barrage” of 911 calls.
“Today our city is grieving the sense-
less loss of 10 lives in our community,”
Mayor Sam Weaver said Tuesday. “A
man with a gun monstrously struck
them down.”
The shooting Monday came less than
a week after eight people were killed by
a gunman at three massage spas in and
around Atlanta. The Boulder attack was
the seventh mass killing this year in the
U.S., according to a database compiled
by USA TODAY, The Associated Press
See BOULDER, Page 4A
More inside
Columbine, Aurora and now Boulder:
Colorado once again suffers public
mass shooting. 5A
In Senate, a plea for ‘moment of action’
“Prayer leaders have their important place in this, but we are Senate
leaders. What are we doing?” Judiciary Committee chairman Dick
Durbin, D-Ill., asked colleagues Tuesday. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP
Matthew Brown and Savannah Behrmann
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Senators debated with new urgen-
cy Tuesday how to address gun violence in America af-
ter a string of mass shootings in the past week, includ-
ing one Monday that killed 10 people in Colorado.
Dick Durbin, D-Ill., opened the Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing by calling gun violence in the
United States a “public health crisis” and asked for “a
moment of action. A moment of real caring.”
“Prayer leaders have their important place in this,
but we are Senate leaders. What are we doing?” asked
Durbin, the committee’s chairman. “We won’t solve
this crisis with prosecutions after funerals. We need
prevention before shooting.”
On Monday evening, a gunman opened fire at a
grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, killing 10 people,
including one police officer. A 21-year-old Colorado
See SENATE, Page 4A

QIJFAF-03005x(b)c OSU president resigns Chauvin

©COPYRIGHT 2021 trial jury
amid LSU scandal fallout
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offer to resign amid a cascade of out- after Chauvin, who is
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79% April 1, but he will be on administrative had voted Miles, according to a report by law firm
leave until then. His resignation comes last week Husch Blackwell that was publicly re- The jury includes three
63% with a settlement agreement that will not to fire leased this month by LSU. Black men, one Black
pay him an additional year’s salary, F. King LSU hired Husch Blackwell in No- woman and two mixed-
around $600,000. Alexander. vember after an investigation by USA race women.
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Alexander was president of LSU SCOTT TODAY found that officials in the uni- Arguments in the trial
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2A ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ USA TODAY NEWS

NATION

A-list assembles to push voting rights bill

Obama, Hanks, J. Lo and
Miranda lend their voices
Deborah Barfield Berry
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – A national civic en-
gagement group led by former first lady
Michelle Obama and others is sending
an open letter to Americans Tuesday
urging them to press members of Con-
gress to support sweeping voting rights
legislation that would set more federal
standards and expand access to the
polls.
The open letter from When We All
Vote, first obtained by USA TODAY, calls
for support of the voting rights bill being
debated in the U.S. Senate. It is signed
by more than 60 high-profile people, in-
cluding celebrities, athletes and civil
rights activists.
“This bill is not about choosing one
party or one issue over another,’’ Obama
and others wrote in the letter. “It is
about commonsense reforms and best
practices that make our democracy
more open, more fair, and more inclu-
sive. It is about reaffirming our founding
principle that we can chart our own
course as a nation.”
The letter is part of a national cam-
paign by When We All Vote to ramp up
pressure on Congress to pass S.1, or the
“For the People Act.” The legislation
would, among other things, expand
same-day voter registration and early
voting.
Former first lady Michelle Obama
speaks during a When We All Vote rally
at the University of Miami.
JOHNNY LOUIS/FILMMAGIC
When We All Vote, co-chaired by
Obama, Tom Hanks and Lin Manuel-
Miranda, among others, has launched
voter outreach campaigns in the past,
including get-out-the-vote efforts last
year targeting battleground states.
“Our democracy continues to be un-
der attack and lawmakers in at least 43
states are pushing to pass bills designed
to further restrict voting and disenfran-
chise voters, mostly Black, brown and
young people,’’ said Valerie Jarrett,
chairwoman of Civic Nation, a civic en-
gagement group, and a former adviser to
former President Barack Obama. “That
is a threat to the core foundation of our
democracy.”
When we all Vote is a program under
Civic Nation, whose board includes sev-
eral former staffers from the Obama ad-
ministration.
The group hopes to use the star pow-
er of celebrities and influencers to rally
support and persuade their millions of
social media followers to tweet, call and
email lawmakers. Celebrities who have
signed the letter, include Stephen Curry,
Whoopi Goldberg, Jennifer Lopez, Billie
Eilish and John Legend.
The move comes after many states
adopting mostly Republican-sponsored
measures that restrict access to voting.
More than 253 bills in 43 states have
been introduced that would restrict ac-
cess to voting, including reducing early
voting hours, according to the Brennan
Center for Justice at New York Univer-
sity’s School of Law in New York City.
Opponents of those laws say they
limit voter registration, early voting
days, mail balloting and other provi-
sions that disproportionately affect
young voters, low-income voters and
voters of color. Those groups historical-
ly tend to vote for Democrats.
“The notion that the only way you
can win an election is to suppress the
votes of those who you think will not
support you is un-American,’’ Jarrett
said.
Many states adopted changes last
year to accommodate voters during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Supporters of the GOP proposals say
their voter security measures help
guard against voter fraud and that
states should be allowed to continue to
run their own elections. Republican
lawmakers have called the congression-
al voting rights bill an attempt at a pow-
er grab by Democrats.
GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah dubbed it
the “Illegal Voting Act’’ in an opinion
piece published by USA TODAY last
week.
“The ‘Illegal Voting Act’ is not about
strengthening democracy; it’s about
strengthening Democrats,’’ he wrote.
This month, the House passed the
voting rights bill, 220-210.
The measure is a priority for Senate
Democrats, but has no Republican co-
sponsors and faces hurdles, including
the prospect of a GOP filibuster, a con-
gressional tactic that essentially re-
quires 60 Senate votes to overcome.
The first hearing on the bill in the
Senate is scheduled for Wednesday be-
fore the Senate Rules Committee.
“The For the People Act is about
strengthening our democracy by re-
turning it to the hands of the American
people,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.,
chairwoman of the Rules Committee,
said in a statement. “This legislation is
essential to protecting every American’s
right to vote, getting dark money out of
our elections, and making sweeping an-
ti-corruption reforms.”
Jarrett said When We All Vote aims to
take advantage of activism around vot-
ing rights. More Americans than ever
voted in the 2020 elections.
“We call on Americans of conscience
and goodwill to join us in taking a stand
for voting rights and to put the power
more firmly in the hands of the people,”
the letter says.

UFO report difficult to explain, former intelligence official says

Dustin Barnes
USA TODAY
A former top national intelligence of-
ficial hinted that an upcoming govern-
ment report on UFOs will include infor-
mation that cannot easily be explained.
“There are instances where we don’t
have good explanations for some of the
things that we’ve seen, and when that
information becomes declassified, I’ll
be able to talk a little bit more about
that,” former Director of National In-
telligence John Ratcliffe told Fox News’
Maria Bartiromo on Friday.
Ratfcliffe said some UFO sightings
have been declassified in the past, but a
report to be released by the Pentagon
and other federal agencies will present
more information to Americans.
“There have been sightings all over
the world,” Ratcliffe said. “And when we
talk about sightings, the other thing I
will tell you, it’s not just a pilot or just a
satellite or some intelligence collection.
Usually, we have multiple sensors that
are picking up these things.”
Ratcliffe said elements that are hard
to explain in the unreleased sightings
include movements that are hard to rep-
licate or traveling at speeds that exceed
the sound barrier without creating a
sonic boom.
The report is expected to be released
on June 1, Bartiromo said later in the
program.

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NEWS
WASHINGTON
Legislation awaits action by the Senate
Key Democratic priorities
now face GOP opposition
Savannah Behrmann
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., lauded all the
bills the Democratic-led House passed
in the first few months of 2021 as “just
wonderful” on Friday.
“We were very pleased this week we
were able to pass legislation,” Pelosi re-
iterated during a news conference.
Since the new Congress started in
January, the House has passed at least
two dozen bills that now await Senate
action. A number of these provisions
address major Democratic aims on im-
migration, elections, women’s rights
and gun control.
“As a freshman, it is marvelous to be
able to come to Congress and get stuff
done with the Democrats,” Rep. Teresa
Leger-Fernandez, D-N.M., said at the
news conference.
But despite the celebratory feeling
from some House Democrats, the bills
face grim odds as they continue to accu-
mulate at the Senate doors.
When Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., was majority leader,
he proudly called himself the Grim
Reaper – the one who held the scythe in
the chamber where the desires of Pelo-
si’s House majority go to die – for this
very reason.
And though he is no longer the most
powerful man in the Senate, and the
GOP is in the minority, McConnell and
Republicans have cast much doubt
about the future of the legislation
passed by the House.
Why?
Most of the legislation passed in the
House was done largely along party
lines and now faces a 50-50 Senate and
a legislative hurdle called the filibuster,
which requires 60 votes to overcome.
This means that without at least 10 Sen-
ate Republicans joining all 50 Demo-
crats, legislation will not make it to
President Joe Biden’s desk to become
law.
Schumer said on “The Late Show
With Stephen Colbert” that he prefers
“Republicans join us” in passing the leg-
islation.
“And we will give them a chance, we’ll
put things on the floor. Because there
are a number of my colleagues that say
let’s give them a chance,” he continued.
But he said “failure is not an option”
when asked about the filibuster.
Slamming McConnell’s “legislative
graveyard” and calling the minority
leader’s warnings “blustery threat cre-
dence” Schumer said: “We’re not going
to be diverted. We’re not going to be de-
terred... Mitch McConnell can do all the
threatening and bluster he wants. It’s
not going to stop us.”
Here’s some of the legislation the
House has passed that now awaits ac-
tion in the Senate.
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., prepares for votes in the House on
the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021 on March 18. On Friday she praised
the two dozen bills passed by the Democratic-led House. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP
Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., walks to his office
after speaking on the Senate floor at
the U.S. Capitol on Monday.
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
Farm Workforce Modernization
Act
The legislation would create a path-
way for undocumented farmworkers to
earn a green card.
It would also create a process to earn
temporary status as Certified Agricul-
tural Workers for people who have
worked at least 180 days in agriculture
over the past two years. Spouses and
children could also apply for temporary
status under the act.
The bill cleared the chamber in a bi-
partisan 247-174 vote. Thirty Republi-
cans joined Democrats in voting for the
bill. One Democrat, Rep Jared Golden of
Maine, voted against the legislation.
The American Dream and Promise
Act
The legislation would create a path-
way to citizenship for millions of
“Dreamers,” undocumented immi-
grants brought to the U.S. as children.
It would grant conditional perma-
nent resident status for 10 years and
cancel removal proceedings if people
meet certain requirements. Those re-
quirements include being physically
present in the U.S. on or before Jan. 1,
2021, being 18 years old or younger on
the initial date of entry into the U.S., and
not having been convicted of crimes
such as domestic violence, sexual as-
sault or human trafficking.
The American Dream and Promise
Act passed 228-197.
Remove deadline for the ERA
The House voted largely along party
lines to remove the expired deadline for
ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment
for women: the proposal to enshrine
equality for women in the U.S. Constitu-
tion.
The ERA states, in part, “Equality of
rights under the law shall not be denied
or abridged by the United States or by
any State on account of sex.”
The protections guaranteed by the
ERA – providing specific protection for
women as a class – are designed to end
gender discrimination in broad seg-
ments, including employment, property
rights and divorce.
The ERA was passed by a majority-
Democratic Congress on March 22,
1972, under President Richard Nixon.
However, it failed to achieve ratification
after it was sent to the states.
To be added to the Constitution, the
ERA needed approval by legislatures in
three-fourths – or 38 of the 50 – states
by March 1979. It received approval in
only 35 states by that date.
Recently, more states have approved
the ERA – Nevada in 2017, Illinois in 2018
and Virginia in 2020 – reaching the
minimum of 38 states required by Con-
gress for addition to the Constitution.
USA TODAY ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ 3A
Violence Against Women Act
The 26-year-old law is aimed at re-
ducing domestic and sexual violence,
and expired in 2018 after Democrats and
Republicans could not agree on
changes.
The latest version of the Violence
Against Women Act passed the House
by a vote of 244-172, with 29 Republi-
cans joining their Democratic col-
leagues in voting for its passage.
However, passage remains impeded
by gun control politics, and the “boy-
friend loophole” prevention measure in
the legislation.
Bipartisan Background Checks Act
H.R. 8 would expand background
checks on individuals seeking to pur-
chase or transfer firearms. It would not
create a registry or other federal mecha-
nisms for review.
Instead, the legislation would ex-
pand the cases in which a background
check is required for the sale or transfer
of a firearm, including for private indi-
viduals and groups, closing the “gun
show loophole.” The requirements
would apply to online sales.
The Bipartisan Background Checks
Act of 2021, passed 227-203. It received
eight Republican votes, and one Demo-
crat voted against it.
Enhanced Background Checks Act
The Enhanced Background Checks
Act of 2021 would close the “Charleston
loophole,” a gap in federal law that lets
gun sales proceed without a completed
background check if three businesses
days have passed.
It is linked to a shooting in 2015 in
Charleston, South Carolina, where a
white supremacist used the loophole to
obtain firearms he used to kill nine
Black people during a Bible study at
Mother Emanuel AME Church. The bill
would extend the initial background
check review period from three to 10
days.
The legislation passed 219-210, with
two Democrats opposed and two Re-
publicans in support.
For the People Act
The House passed a sweeping anti-
corruption and government ethics
package that would fundamentally re-
shape how campaigns are run, how
elections are conducted and how office-
holders conduct themselves.
The bill passed 220-210, with one
Democrat joining all voting Republicans
to oppose the bill. Two Republicans did
not vote.
George Floyd Justice in Policing
Act
The policing reform bill aims to bol-
ster police accountability and prevent
problem officers from moving from one
department to another by creating a na-
tional registry to track those with check-
ered records.
It also would end certain police prac-
tices that have been under scrutiny after
the deaths of Black Americans in the
last year.
It passed the House on a 220-212
vote.
Equality Act
The Equality Act would amend exist-
ing federal civil rights laws to extend
protections for LGBTQ Americans in
what Democratic lawmakers and advo-
cates say would make significant pro-
gress toward legal protections for all
Americans.
The sweeping legislation, which pro-
hibits discrimination on the basis of
sex, sexual orientation and gender iden-
tity, is one of Biden’s top legislative pri-
orities.
The final vote was 224-206, with
three Republicans joining Democrats in
voting for the bill.
Would any of the legislation get
Republican support in the Senate?
Much of the legislation passed by the
House has opposition from Senate Re-
publicans. and several plan on intro-
ducing their own alternative legislation
to some of the House-passed measures.
For example, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa,
who is working on a GOP alternative to
the VAWA in the Senate, said she hopes
to show there’s a significant group of
Republicans willing to work with Demo-
crats to come up with a “good, modern-
ized bill” that can overcome a filibuster.
Additionally, many Republicans ar-
gue that adding the ERA to the Constitu-
tion is unnecessary and will rollback an-
ti-abortion policies.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who
announced in January that she support-
ed removing the deadline to ratify the
amendment, has stressed she is wary of
gathering the necessary Republican
support, reiterating the concerns her
colleagues voiced in the House.
“On the Equal Rights Amendment, I
wish that I could tell you that we had
more Republicans support for that at
this point in time. We continue to work
on that,” she said Tuesday.
On immigration, Senate Majority
Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told CNN on
Sunday that he believes he is “close” to
securing the necessary votes to surpass
the filibuster.
“I think I’ll have some support.
Whether it’s enough remains to be
seen,” he said regarding the American
Dream and Promise Act.
But McConnell slammed the Biden
administration and House Democrats
for “taking up an amnesty plan” with the
current situation on the border.
Over the past several weeks, the Bi-
den administration has seen an in-
crease in unaccompanied migrant chil-
dren at the border and has struggled to
quickly move the children from short-
term holding facilities to temporary fa-
cilities run by the Department of Health
and Human Services.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who has been
working on competing legislation on
police reform, characterized the George
Floyd Justice in Policing Act as a “parti-
san bill in an attempt to fix a non-parti-
san issue.”
House Democrats have expressed
frustration with Senate Republicans,
and have called for the elimination of
the filibuster so they can move Demo-
cratic legislation with a simple majority
vote.
House Majority Whip Rep. Jim Cly-
burn, D-S.C., criticized McConnell and
Senate Republicans who “seem to be
hellbent on using archaic Senate proce-
dural rules to allow the minority in the
Senate to block any legislation designed
to protect the voting and civil rights of
our country’s minority citizens as we
continue our pursuit toward the fulfill-
ment of our vision of ‘liberty and justice
for all.’”
Here’s what’s coming up in the
House
House Democrats are not planning
on slowing down anytime soon. They
have reintroduced the Raise the Wage
Act in the House to raise the federal
minimum wage to $15 per hour. The
House passed the bill in 2019 that aimed
to raise the federal minimum wage, but
it was not taken up in the Republican-
controlled Senate at the time.
Advocates of a $15-an-hour federal
minimum wage scored a temporary vic-
tory when the House approved the in-
crease in its vote to advance Biden’s CO-
VID-19 relief bill, but the Senate parlia-
mentarian ruled the provision had to be
considered as a standalone bill or as
part of other legislation.
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said pro-
gressive lawmakers had met with White
House officials and said the officials
were “very committed” to raising the
minimum wage to $15 an hour and to se-
cure the votes in the Senate to do so.
Pelosi also said Friday that the House
would soon be taking up legislation to
prevent future Muslim bans, such as the
one that was implemented during the
Trump administration.
Contributing: Associated Press;
Nicholas Wu, Rebecca Morin, Matthew
Brown, Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY
4A ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ USA TODAY
NATION
Evanston, Ill., OKs reparations for Black residents
ASSOCIATED PRESS
EVANSTON, Ill. – Evanston, Illinois,
has become the first U.S. city to make
reparations available to its Black resi-
dents for past discrimination and the
lingering effects of slavery.
The Chicago suburb’s City Council
voted 8-1 on Monday to distribute
$400,000 to eligible Black households.
Each qualifying household would re-
ceive $25,000 for home repairs or down
payments on property.
The program is being funded through
donations and revenue from a 3% tax on
the sale of recreational marijuana. The
city has pledged to distribute $10 million
Boulder
Continued from Page 1A
and Northeastern University.
President Joe Biden called on Con-
gress to pass legislation closing back-
ground check loopholes and banning
purchase of assault weapons.
“This is not and should not be a parti-
san issue,” Biden said. “This is an Amer-
ican issue that will save lives, American
lives. And we have to act.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse,
whose district includes Boulder, said
the loss of life “is truly heartbreaking
and unimaginable.” He expressed con-
dolences to the victims but added that
“enough is enough.”
“If we are truly invested in saving
lives, then we must have the willpower
to act and to pass meaningful gun re-
form,” Neguse said in a statement. “The
time for inaction is over.”
Boulder, about 25 miles northwest of
Denver, is home to the University of
Colorado. A few years ago it topped the
Gallup-Sharecare Well Being Index as
the nation’s happiest city. College stu-
dents frequent the King Soopers super-
market, where on Tuesday one car trunk
remained open, as if deserted while its
owner was loading groceries when the
carnage began.
Police officers from neighboring cit-
ies helped secure the area, and evidence
markers dotted the parking lot, along
with two black tents erected where bod-
ies once lay. A small memorial of flowers
and signs was growing outside the hast-
ily erected fence keeping the public
away. Broken glass lay on the pavement
in several areas, from the store’s win-
dows, but also from the front windows
of a Ford Transit delivery van.
The shooting began at about 2:30
p.m. local time Monday. Multiple wit-
nesses said the gunman opened fire in
the parking lot before moving inside.
Officers responding to the 911 calls ex-
changed gunfire with the suspect in the
store, police said.
Anna Haynes said she was in her
Senate
Continued from Page 1A
man faces murder charges. The shoot-
ing comes less than a week after a gun-
man opened fire on local businesses in
the Atlanta area, killing eight people, six
of whom were women of Asian descent.
The attacks sparked outrage over hate
crimes, misogyny and gun violence.
More than 41,000 people were killed
in 2020 by gun violence, a record ex-
perts say was driven by the public
health, economic and social fallout from
the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans and Democrats on the
committee agreed that prevention was
the best way to stop mass shootings.
But they disagreed on how to do so and
how far to go.
Democrats called for action, specifi-
cally on passing legislation that would
expand background checks for firearms
purchases. Some also called for banning
assault rifles.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.,
echoed Durbin’s call to do something
beyond thoughts and prayers, saying
“inaction has made this horror com-
pletely predictable. Inaction by this
Congress makes us complicit.”
Blumenthal, saying his Republican
colleagues haven’t been willing to offer
more than thoughts and prayers, said,
“We need to end this epidemic with a
comprehensive nationwide approach:
expanded background checks.
“Without access to the weapon, the
Atlanta shooter is just a racist and
misogynist. But armed with a firearm,
purchased that very day, he is a mon-
E2
over 10 years.
Qualifying residents must either
have lived in or been a direct descend-
ant of a Black person who lived in Ev-
anston between 1919 to 1969 and who
suffered discrimination in housing be-
cause of city ordinances, policies or
practices.
Alderman Rue Simmons, who pro-
posed the program that was adopted in
2019, said pro-reparations groups have
offered pro bono legal assistance if the
program is challenged in court.
“This is set aside for an injured com-
munity that happens to be Black, that
was injured by the city of Evanston for
anti-Black housing policies,” Simmons
Jill Hollingsworth hands flowers to police Officer Frank Lehye at a road block
near the Boulder, Colo., police station Tuesday. Boulder police Officer Eric Talley
was one of the 10 people killed in the mass shooting at King Soopers on Monday.
BETHANY BAKER/USA TODAY NETWORK
apartment across the street from the
store when she heard noises outside she
assumed were firecrackers or a car
backfiring. She told CNN she looked out-
side to see a body on the ground and a
man, armed with a semiautomatic rifle,
shoot at someone.
He then went inside the store, and
moments later people were running out.
“It devolved into chaos in just a cou-
ple of minutes,” she said.
Logan Smith was working at the
Starbucks kiosk in the store when a cus-
tomer alerted him that there was an ac-
tive shooter in the parking lot. Smith
told NBC’s “Today” show he ran outside
briefly and then back inside and called
911. He helped hide a co-worker behind
some trash cans behind the kiosk, then
tried to hide himself.
“I was definitely in a life-threatening
situation if the shooter came to the
kiosk,” he said. When it was over, at
least two friends and co-workers had
been killed, he said.
“It’s definitely been rough,” he said.
ster. A mass murderer. A disturbed man
going into a grocery store yesterday,
armed with a weapon of war, can kill
with the brutal efficiency and speed
meant for combat.”
Republicans said expanded back-
ground checks would not have played a
role in the shootings but would infringe
on Second Amendment rights.
“Like many Americans, I cherish my
right to bear arms,” said Iowa Sen.
Chuck Grassley, top Republican on the
committee. “In the dialogue about gun
control, we rarely consider how many
Americans are united in their advocacy
and enjoyment of this right.”
Republicans instead pointed to dif-
ferent means to prevent criminals from
gaining access to firearms and alterna-
tive legislation that would create a task
force to prosecute those who fail crimi-
nal background checks, among others.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, agreed dur-
ing Tuesday’s hearing that there have
been “far too many tragedies in our
country” and something must be done.
But, he said, “every time there’s a shoot-
ing, we play this ridiculous theater
where this committee gets together and
proposes a bunch of laws that would do
nothing to stop these murders.”
The hearing follows House passage
this month of two pieces of gun legisla-
tion, which now face battles in the even-
ly divided Senate.
The Bipartisan Background Checks
Act would expand background checks
on people seeking to purchase or trans-
fer firearms. It would not create a regis-
try or other federal mechanisms for re-
view but would expand the cases in
which a background check is required
for the sale or transfer of a firearm, in-
said.
The City Council acted after dozens
of citizens addressed the body and the
plan received some pushback.
Alderman Cicely Fleming, the lone
vote against the plan, said she supports
reparations, but what the City Council
was debating is a housing plan that is
being called reparations. She said the
people should dictate the terms of how
their grievances are repaired. Fleming
described the program as paternalistic,
and it assumes Black people can’t man-
age their own money.
Hundreds of communities and or-
ganizations across the country are con-
sidering providing reparations to Black
“It’s harder than it was yesterday, just
thinking about the friends that I lost.”
Ryan Borowski was shopping for
chips and a Cherry Coke when the
shooting began. Borowski told CNN he
was near the front of the store when he
heard the first shot.
The store went quiet, he said, like a
restaurant does when a waiter drops a
tray of plates.
By the third shot, he was running to
the back of the store. He never saw the
gunman or the victims.
“What I saw was a terrified face run-
ning toward me,” he said. “We all ran. ... I
saw a lot of very wide eyes.”
Hundreds of police officers and a
SWAT team descended on the area, and
video from the scene showed an officer
with a megaphone urging the shooter to
surrender.
Police identified the suspect as Ah-
mad Al Aliwi Alissa of nearby Arvada.
He was shot in the leg and taken by
ambulance to a hospital. He was ex-
pected to be released later Tuesday and
cluding for private individuals and
groups, closing the “gun show loophole.”
The requirements would apply to online
sales. The bill passed the House 227-
203. Eight Republicans voted for it, and
one Democrat voted against it.
The Enhanced Background Checks
Act of 2021 would similarly close the
“Charleston loophole,” a gap in federal
law that lets gun sales proceed without
a completed background check if three
business days have passed. It is linked
to a 2015 shooting in Charleston, South
Carolina, in which a white supremacist
used the loophole to obtain firearms and
killed nine Black worshippersy at Moth-
er Emanuel AME Church. The bill would
extend the initial background check re-
view period from three to 10 days.
The legislation was passed 219-210,
with two Democrats opposed and two
Republicans in favor.
President Joe Biden called on the
Senate Tuesday to pass the two pieces
of legislation and went further in urging
Congress to ban assault weapons.
“We can ban assault weapons and
high-capacity magazines in this coun-
try once again. I got that done when I
was a senator. It passed, it was the law
for the longest time, and it brought
down these mass killings. We should do
it again,” Biden said.
The Violence Against Women Act,
which passed the House last week, also
includes a provision that would close
the “boyfriend loophole” that allows
previously convicted abusive partners,
spouses and stalkers to access firearms.
It’s that section of the bill that has mired
the rest of the package and its chances
of passing. Republicans have decried
the “boyfriend loophole,” saying it is too
NEWS
people. They include the state of Cali-
fornia and such cities as Amherst, Mas-
sachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island,
Asheville, North Carolina, and Iowa
City, Iowa; religious denominations
such as the Episcopal Church; and
prominent colleges including George-
town University in Washington, D.C.
The efforts, some of which have been
underway for years, have gained mo-
mentum since the death of George Floyd
in police custody last May in Minneapo-
lis. President Joe Biden has expressed
support for creating a federal commis-
sion to study Black reparations, a pro-
posal that has languished for decades in
Congress.
taken to jail.
A law enforcement official briefed on
the shooting told The Associated Press
that Alissa used a lightweight semiauto-
matic AR-15 rifle. The official was not
authorized to speak publicly.
The victims were identified as Talley;
Rikki Olds, 25; Teri Leiker, 51; Denny
Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Tralona
Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59;
Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62;
and Jody Waters, 65.
Boulder County District Attorney Mi-
chael Dougherty said Talley was “by all
accounts one of the outstanding officers
of the Boulder Police Department, and
his life was cut too short.”
Olds and Leiker worked in the store.
The arrest affidavit paints a picture of
confusion as gunshots began ringing
out, and some workers inside the store
at first thought the shooter was on the
roof, said Kim Cordova, the president of
union local. Local 7 represents 32 work-
ers at the store’s meat department, and
about 27,000 workers in Colorado and
Wyoming.
“It was just terror,” said Cordova, re-
laying the conversations she had with
members inside the store. “They
grabbed co-workers and customers and
either hid or led them to hiding spaces,
got them out the back of the store. They
started hearing shots and their first in-
stincts was to grab customers and co-
workers and try to get to safety.”
Citing the ongoing investigation,
Cordova declined to offer additional
specifics from the shooting. But she said
the violence is the latest challenge gro-
cery store workers have faced in the past
year, from robberies to customers angry
at having to wear masks.
“They have not felt safe though this
whole pandemic,” she said. “They have
been through absolute hell already. ...
They really have been heroes.”
Bacon reported from Arlington, Vir-
ginia. Contributing: Dennis Wagner,
Jorge L. Ortiz, Mike James, Dan Wolken
and Elinor Aspegren, USA TODAY; Sady
Swanson, The Coloradoan; Alexander
Coolidge, Cincinnati Enquirer; The As-
sociated Press
broad and would ensnare people for mi-
nor offenses.
While the Second Amendment and
gun control is perceived as a politically
divisive issue, many measures have
support from Americans on both sides,
according to a 2019 survey by the non-
partisan Pew Research Center.
Those who favor background checks
for private gun sales and sales at gun
shows:
h 93% of Democrats
h 82% of Republicans
Who favor banning high-capacity
magazines:
h 87% of Democrats
h 54% of Republicans
Who favor banning assault-style
weapons:
h 88% of Democrats
h 50% of Republicans
With Democrats having unified con-
trol of Congress and the White House for
the first time in a decade, many lawmak-
ers insist now is the time for change.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a long-
time gun control advocate, declared
Monday night that “this is the moment
to make our stand” on gun control legis-
lation in Congress, arguing that a politi-
cal moment favorable to stronger gun
control legislation had finally come.
Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., who repre-
sents Boulder in Congress, said in a
statement Monday: “While there is still
a lot we do not yet know, one thing is
very clear – tragic incidents of gun
violence have plagued our country for
far too long. It doesn’t have to be this
way. There are steps we can take – and
must take – to protect our community;
common-sense, broadly supported pro-
posals that will save lives.”
NEWS USA TODAY ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ 5A

NATION

Colo. suffers another public mass shooting

More gun deaths than
many states, despite laws
Ryan W. Miller
USA TODAY
Colorado was once again thrust into
the national spotlight Monday as the
scene of a mass shooting when 10 peo-
ple, including a police officer, were
killed at a King Soopers grocery store in
Boulder.
Some of the nation’s most high-pro-
file acts of gun violence have occurred in
Colorado, which has taken a toll on its
residents and leaders.
h In 1999 at Columbine High School,
two students killed 12 others and a
teacher before dying by suicide.
h In 2012 at a movie theater in Aurora,
a gunman killed 12 and injured 58. The
gunman, who had sealed off doors and
used tear gas, was sentenced to life in
prison.
h In 2015 at a Planned Parenthood
clinic in Colorado Springs, a shooting
left three dead and nine injured.
According to a database compiled by
USA TODAY, Northeastern University
and The Associated Press, Colorado had
the sixth-highest rate of public mass
killings out of the 50 states.
Such incidents are rare, making it
hard to pinpoint why they occur in one
place and not another, according to
James Alan Fox, a professor of criminol-
ogy, law and public policy at Northeast-
ern University in Boston.
Colorado’s rate of overall mass kill-
ings is among the nation’s lowest, and
its gun laws are stricter than many other
states’, gun control advocates say.
Robin Lloyd, managing director of
Giffords, a group that seeks to combat
gun violence, said Colorado is not
unique in terms of overall incidents of
gun violence.
“It does feel that this happens far too
frequently, but I don’t think Colorado is
an exception,” Lloyd said.
Gun violence occurs in a variety of
ways, most frequently as suicides,
Lloyd said. Though mass shootings grab
Police officers salute as emergency vehicles escort the body of a slain police
officer from the scene of a shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder,
Colo., on Monday. MICHAEL CIAGLO/DENVER GAZETTE
news headlines, they account for fewer
deaths overall in terms of gun violence
in the country.
The shooting Monday was the sec-
ond mass shooting in the USA in less
than a week. A gunman killed eight peo-
ple at three spas in the Atlanta area.
Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., whose dis-
trict includes Boulder, said in a state-
ment that “tragic incidents of gun vio-
lence have plagued our country for far
too long.”
Neguse said he went to a high school
near Columbine High School when the
shooting occurred. In 2019, he said, he
felt a similar fear when his niece was in
kindergarten and in lockdown at the
STEM School in Highlands Ranch,
where two gunmen killed one student
and injured eight.
“Americans should feel safe in their
grocery stores. They should feel safe in
their schools, their movie theaters and
in their communities. While Congress
dithers on enacting meaningful gun vio-
lence prevention measures, Americans
– and Coloradans – are being murdered
before our very eyes – day after day, year
after year,” Neguse said.
Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., told
CNN that the shooting Monday “takes
you right back to Aurora.”
“You know, they say you’re heavy-
hearted. And what it really means is you
can’t breathe. I just feel so deeply for the
people that are worried about their
loved ones, those who know that
they’ve lost a loved one or they’ve been
injured,” Hickenlooper said.
Asked how Colorado “deals with”
having multiple shootings in such a
short period of time, Hickenlooper re-
plied, “In a way you can’t deal with it.
You have to kind of get through it.”
“It really is an assault in a way on the
whole community,” he said. “Especially
once you’ve been through it a couple of
times, again, your heart is just even
heavier. It’s just harder to think and to
breathe and to function when you feel
so deeply for the people that have lost
their lives, and their families.”
The Giffords Law Center to Prevent
Gun Violence rated Colorado’s gun laws
a C+ in its most recent annual ranking of
gun laws.
That score placed it as the state with
the 15th-strongest gun law, according to
the group’s ranking.
“Colorado has stronger gun laws than
many states, but still has significant
room for improvement. The state has
the 18th-highest gun death rate,” the
group said.
Among the gun control laws in the
state are a “red flag” law to allow a judge
to seize firearms from anyone deemed to
be a risk to themselves or others, back-
ground checks and a ban on magazines
that hold more than 15 rounds.
“Colorado has taken steps, particu-
larly in recent years, to more meaning-
fully address gun violence, but it’s not
like any one law will solve gun violence,”
Lloyd said.
According to the Denver Post, a judge
in Boulder last week blocked enforce-
ment of a city law banning certain fire-
arms and magazines that hold more
than 10 rounds. The judge cited a state
law that prohibits localities from en-
forcing gun control measures stricter
than state or federal law.
Lloyd said such preemption laws “in-
terfere with a basic duty of local officials
to protect their constituents.”
Boulder, for example, has a large col-
lege campus, so it’s possible that law-
makers there wanted to take stronger
action to protect students, Lloyd said.
“Local communities should be able to
address whatever unique issue and
dangers they may face,” she said.
According to the Giffords Law Center,
Colorado does not prohibit the open car-
ry of firearms, does not have a waiting
period for buying a firearm and does not
require gun owners or purchasers to ob-
tain a license.
Contributing: Mike James

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6A ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ USA TODAY
NATION
USA TODAY EXPLAINS
Jury in Derek Chauvin trial shows diversity
Christal Hayes, Clairissa Baker,
Kevin McCoy and N’dea Yancey-Bragg
USA TODAY
MINNEAPOLIS – A jury has been
chosen to determine the fate of a former
Minneapolis police officer who knelt on
George Floyd’s neck for more than nine
minutes, with nine women and six men
deciding a case that forced a renewed
reckoning over racial inequality.
After 11 days of questioning by de-
fense and prosecution attorneys, jury
selection wrapped up Tuesday when
the 15th juror was selected. Twelve of
the jurors will deliberate, two will serve
as alternates and one will be dismissed
if all the others show up for opening
statements Monday.
The panel includes six jurors of color,
including three Black men, one Black
woman and two mixed-race women.
Nine jurors are white.
Floyd, a Black man, died in police
custody on May 25, 2020, after Derek
Chauvin, who is white, pinned his knee
against Floyd’s neck after a confronta-
tion. Lying on a Minneapolis street un-
der Chauvin, Floyd cried out “I can’t
breathe” more than 20 times.
His death sparked protests world-
wide and calls for change in the nation’s
criminal justice system. Hundreds of
protesters were arrested in the Twin Cit-
ies. Some of the protests escalated into
rioting; in Minneapolis, businesses and
buildings were looted and burned, in-
cluding a police precinct building.
Chauvin is charged with second-de-
gree murder, third-degree murder and
second-degree manslaughter. If con-
victed of the most serious charge, he
could face 101⁄2 years to 15 years in prison
under sentencing guidelines for first-
time offenders.
The court proceedings have drawn
heavy news coverage in Minnesota and
nationally.
Most of the jurors have seen at least
portions of a video of the tragic episode,
which was captured by a bystander and
posted to Facebook. But the jurors said
they could set their opinions aside and
assess the case solely on the evidence
introduced in court.
That evidence is expected to include
some details of Floyd’s drug-related ar-
rest by Minneapolis police in 2019. Pros-
ecutors plan to introduce two incidents
involving Chauvin to demonstrate that
the former officer “did intentionally as-
sault Mr. Floyd in a manner inconsistent
with training.”
The 11 days of jury selection were dra-
matic at times as some potential jurors
became emotional. Some told the judge
they were worried about their safety if
they were chosen. Others said they
couldn’t handle the stress and trauma of
serving on the jury.
The defense tried to delay or move
the proceedings after the city of Minne-
apolis agreed to pay Floyd’s family $27
million to settle a lawsuit over his death.
OSU
Continued from Page 1A
broader administration repeatedly ig-
nored complaints against abusers, de-
nied victims’ requests for protections
and subjected them to further harm by
known perpetrators.
Alexander began his tenure at Ore-
gon State University in July 2020. He
spoke briefly at the meeting Tuesday
and offered his apology to survivors for
any pain they may have suffered.
Several board members also apolo-
gized to survivors and others who were
angered by what they saw as indiffer-
ence to their feelings last week by the
board. Lamar Hurd, a Portland Trail
Blazers TV analyst who holds an at-
large position on the OSU board, spoke
through tears.
“I know people have been hurting,”
said Hurd, who had to stop several times
to compose himself. “In cases of sexual
assault and misconduct and violence
and things of that nature, I know that
triggers a lot. I know all too often it gets
overlooked. I just want to make sure you
guys know it wasn’t overlooked.
“I’m just sorry for the pain people
have had to endure,” Hurd added. “This
isn’t what Oregon State is about or
wants to be about.”
OSU Provost Edward Feser will hold
presidential powers until the board is
able to appoint an interim president.
The OSU board chair will begin a search
for an interim president by soliciting di-
A protester carries a portrait of
George Floyd during a protest march
around the Hennepin County
Government Center on March 15 in
Minneapolis. JIM MONE/AP
Hennepin County District Court
Judge Peter Cahill denied those mo-
tions. But he dismissed two jurors who
had been chosen already and excused
three prospective jurors when they said
they were swayed by the settlement.
Alternate jurors will step in if any of
the 12 jurors required for the trial be-
come ill or have an emergency that re-
quires them to leave during delibera-
tions. However, which jurors are alter-
nates won’t be known until Cahill dis-
misses them, the court said last week.
The jurors
The jurors come from a wide array of
backgrounds. Some are well-versed in
the case; others haven’t followed the
months of developments.
The panel includes a chemist, a
nurse, a retiree and a social worker. Sev-
en are in their 20s or 30s, three in their
40s, four in their 50s and one in her 60s.
Given the circumstances of Floyd’s
death – a Black man dying under the
knee of a white police officer – the racial
makeup of the jury is a key concern.
Nine of the jurors self-identify as white,
two as multiracial and four as Black, ac-
cording to the court.
Here’s a look at who’s on the jury:
h A white man in his 20s who works
as an accountant, has a 6-month-old
Bernese Mountain Dog and plans to
move out of state at the end of May.
h A white woman in her 20s who
works as a social worker and recently
was married.
h A white woman in her 50s who de-
scribed herself as an animal lover with a
passion for affordable housing.
h A white woman in her 40s who
works in insurance and said she loves
verse, well-qualified candidates and
consulting with a number of groups in-
cluding faculty leadership and others.
Alexander’s resignation comes less
than one week after the OSU board vot-
ed 12-2 to put him on probation rather
than fire him, after the Husch Blackwell
report became public and implicated
him in LSU’s institutional failings.
The board also said it would hire an
outside consultant to further investi-
gate the problems at LSU, and asked Al-
exander to come up with an “action
plan” to rebuild trust with the Oregon
State community.
But that decision only escalated an-
ger at Alexander, who was criticized by
people both at Oregon State and in the
Oregon statehouse for refusing to take
accountability for the failings at LSU.
Immediately after the board decision,
the OSU Faculty Senate issued a vote of
no confidence, and Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown, who appoints board members,
also expressed her displeasure.
“When we adjourned last week, we
thought it was possible for President Al-
exander to repair the broken confidence
and trust in his ability to lead OSU,” OSU
board chair Rani Borkar said Tuesday
before the board’s executive session to
consider whether to accept Alexander’s
resignation, which he offered Sunday.
“After listening to and hearing impor-
tant input from diverse members of our
community, we now know that rebuild-
ing trust is no longer possible. Simply
stated, Dr. Alexander no longer has the
confidence of the OSU community.”
Alexander is the fifth person to face
the state of Minnesota.
h A Black woman in her 60s who re-
tired from marketing and said she loves
spending time with her grandkids and
volunteering at a youth organization.
h A white nurse in her 50s who works
with ventilated COVID-19 patients.
h A mixed-race woman in her 40s
who works in company reorganization.
h A Black man in his 40s who works
in management and has lived in Henne-
pin County for two decades.
h A white woman in her 50s who
works in health care and likes to ride her
motorcycle.
h A Black man in his 30s who works
in banking and coaches youth sports.
h A white woman in her 50s who
works at a nonprofit and is the single
mother of two teenage sons.
h A Black man in his 30s who works
in tech and emigrated from Africa.
h A white business auditor in his 30s.
h A mixed-race woman in her 20s
who said she registered to vote in hope
of getting a jury summons for the Chau-
vin case.
h A white chemist in his 20s who
works in environmental testing and
plays Ultimate Frisbee.
More diverse than Minneapolis
The 15-member panel is more racially
diverse than Hennepin County, where
the jurors reside, and Minneapolis,
where Floyd died. The group of jurors
and alternates is 60% white and 40%
people of color, according to informa-
tion released by the court.
Hennepin County is about 74% white
and 14% Black, according to 2019 U.S.
Census Bureau data. Minneapolis is
about 64% white and 19% Black.
The racial makeup of the jury will
shift Monday. Cahill said he would dis-
miss one of the people selected if the 12
jurors and two alternates arrive as
planned. The courtroom does not have
enough space to seat 15 jurors, he said.
Key questions to jurors
Dozens of potential jurors were vet-
ted by prosecution and defense lawyers,
including whether they could put aside
their opinions on the case, their
thoughts on social movements, and
their opinions about the protests that
defined last summer. The vetting in at
least one case included a review of a po-
tential juror’s social media activity.
All the jurors, including those who
were selected, were asked about the
video showing Chauvin pressing his
knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine
minutes. Some said they were struck by
the footage; others had seen only short
clips. Only a few said they hadn’t seen
any video of the fatal encounter.
“It was emotional. I decided I didn’t
want to watch it,” one juror said.Anoth-
er said it was “too disturbing” to watch
the full video.
consequences in the aftermath of USA
TODAY reporting that revealed wide-
spread failings in the way LSU handled
sexual misconduct and gender violence
complaints.
The University of Kansas announced
March 8 that it was parting ways with
football coach Les Miles, who outside
investigators found had inappropriate
relationships with female student work-
ers while he was at LSU. The departure
of Kansas athletic director Jeff Long,
who said he didn’t know about the alle-
gations against Miles when he hired him
in 2018, was announced two days later.
Two administrators in LSU’s athlet-
ics department who Husch Blackwell
found did not properly report Title IX
complaints also have been disciplined.
Executive deputy athletic director Verge
Ausberry and senior associate athletic
director Miriam Segar were suspended,
Ausberry for 30 days and Segar for 21.
Alexander has insisted he did nothing
wrong when he was at LSU, and de-
fended himself vigorously during last
week’s public meeting. But on Monday,
the chairman of the Louisiana State Uni-
versity Board of Supervisors sent a letter
to OSU’s board, saying that Alexander
had not been truthful in his testimony.
Alexander had misled OSU about his
willingness to be interviewed for an in-
vestigation into LSU’s handling of sexu-
al misconduct allegations under his
watch, LSU Board Chairman Robert
Dampf wrote.
Alexander told the board last week
that the law firm Husch Blackwell never
interviewed him for its investigation into
NEWS
All were asked about the Black Lives
Matter and Blue Lives Matter move-
ments. They offered a variety of opin-
ions, from offering strong support to
saying both have become marketing
schemes for politicians and businesses.
One said Black Lives Matter hasn’t al-
ways taken “the best actions, but I do
believe that Black lives matter.” Another
said he thought Blue Lives Matter was
only “a thing” to counter the Black Lives
Matter movement.
Many potential jurors expressed un-
favorable attitudes toward Chauvin,
and many said their opinion stemmed
from the video of Floyd’s arrest. But the
jurors chosen said they would presume
Chauvin innocent and make their deci-
sion solely on the evidence presented.
Some of the interviews with jurors
hinted at what could shape their verdict.
One noted he wanted to hear Chauvin to
offer his side of what happened. Anoth-
er said she wanted to better understand
police training and whether placing a
knee on someone’s neck was allowed.
Settlement was a flashpoint
As attorneys were trying to ferret out
potential jurors who were swayed by
news coverage of Floyd’s death, the city
of Minneapolis approved a settlement
with Floyd’s family.
News of the settlement broke over a
lunch break on the fourth day of jury se-
lection. Ben Crump, lead attorney for
Floyd’s family, called it the largest pretri-
al settlement in a wrongful death case.
The next week, seven jurors who had
been chosen before the announcement
were called back and questioned over
whether it threatened their impartiality.
Two were dismissed after saying it did.
Three other potential jurors were dis-
missed because they said they couldn’t
be impartial given the settlement. Oth-
ers said they had heard of the settle-
ment but it wouldn’t influence them.
The announcement “was incredibly
bad timing and extremely damaging to
the defense and maybe the state,” said
Mary Moriarty, former chief public de-
fender of Hennepin County.
Minnesota on alert
While people have protested nearly
every day of Chauvin’s trial, officials
said Monday afternoon that there have
been no arrests related to the trial or re-
ports of property damage.
Police officials said they will increase
their presence next week as opening
statements begin.
“It will not be a dramatic increase,”
Minnesota Department of Public Safety
Commissioner John Harrington said at
a news conference. “At this time, there is
no information or intelligence that
would justify a major increase in our
posture.” He added that there have been
no credible threats to the trial or the
Twin Cities area.
LSU’s handling of sexual misconduct
and dating violence, which finished in
March and focused on systemic failures
that occurred on Alexander’s watch.
Dampf pointed out that Husch Black-
well asked to interview Alexander
twice. Oregon State’s general counsel,
however, responded on Alexander’s be-
half and said he would only take written
questions.
“In the pursuit of truth, Husch Black-
well diligently collected information
amounting to 2,500 documents totaling
75,000 pages and more than 60 inter-
views with LSU employees plus 27 com-
munity outreach interview sessions with
10 participants per session,” Dampf
wrote. “But they had only one and a half
pages of responses from Dr. Alexander.”
Alexander also claimed at last week’s
hearing that he had built LSU’s Title IX
office from nothing to having seven Title
IX coordinators, one for each LSU cam-
pus. And he took credit for shutting
down a problematic fraternity due to Ti-
tle IX violations.
Dampf noted in his letter, however,
that the Title IX coordinators were hired
before Alexander’s arrival in 2013, and
the fraternity was shut down because a
pledge died during a hazing ritual, not
because of Title IX issues.
Prior to his tenure at LSU, Alexander
was the president of the University of
California, Long Beach from 2006-2013.
Before that, he served as president of
Murray State University in Kentucky from
2001-2005, replacing his father, Kern Al-
exander, who had led school for seven
years before stepping down in 2001.
NEWS
OPINION
TODAY'S TOPIC: GUN VIOLENCE
Our View: Shootings remind
U.S. of lessons never learned
T
he perpetual tragedy of mass
shootings such as those in the
Atlanta area last week and in
Boulder, Colorado, on Monday
— aside from the broken lives and fam-
ilies left in their wake — are the lessons
never learned.
The pandemic lockdown of the past
year granted a reprieve in America from
public mass shootings — but not from
gun violence overall.
Before COVID-19 quarantines, there
were 245 mass shootings since 2009,
according to the Everytown for Gun
Safety Support Fund. And so many of
them offered a simple instruction —
commonsense changes in the law that,
if enacted, could have saved lives with-
out violating individual Second
Amendment rights to gun ownership.
These latest mass killings were no
exception.
Cooling off period
The man charged in the Atlanta-area
shootings, Robert Aaron Long, 21,
bought a 9mm handgun just hours be-
fore he went on a shooting spree at
three spas, killing eight people, includ-
ing six Asian women, according to po-
lice. He walked into a firearms dealer-
ship in Cherokee County and walked
out in a matter of minutes. (A Slate
analysis points out that it takes at least
24 hours to obtain an abortion in Geor-
gia, the delay designed at least in part
to dissuade the applicant.)
Police have released details that
Long struggled with feelings of guilt in
association with religious tenets.
Whether any decision to get a gun and
begin to kill was a factor of impulse re-
mains to be seen.
But research has shown that a legal-
ly mandated “cooling off ” period before
gun purchases (up to 10 days in Califor-
nia), leads to a drop in firearm homi-
cides by 17%. And there’s a similar im-
pact on suicide.
Gun-rights advocates will complain
that rights delayed are rights denied.
That fits on a bumper sticker. But it
Other Views: America, we must
decide what is status quo
The Denver Post, editorial:
“The Columbine High School massa-
cre in 1999 was an anomaly of such his-
toric proportions that the entire world
watched in horror as the death toll
climbed. Too much evil has occurred
since then, and Colorado has received
more than its fair share of senseless vi-
olence. On Monday when shoppers
heard gunfire in the King Soopers in
south Boulder, it was as though the in-
evitable had occurred. ‘It seemed like
all of us had imagined we’d be in a situ-
ation like this at some point in our
lives,’ James Bentz, a survivor of the
tragedy, told Denver Post reporters.
And so, Americans must decide if we
are OK living with the fear that some-
day we too might lose someone we hold
dear at the hands of a mass killer. Most
decidedly, The Post’s editorial board is
not willing to accept the status quo. Be-
cause while we cannot prevent every
mass shooting, or drive-by, or suicide,
or accident, we can implement policies
that would make these tragedies rarer
and less deadly.”
Elvia Díaz, The Arizona Republic:
“Spare me the sermon about motive
or that guns don’t kill or that the Sec-
ond Amendment is Americans’ bible.
No civilian needs an AR-15-style rifle
for self-defense. They just don’t. Amer-
icans are simply obsessed with guns,
and especially the AR-15. ... Millions of
AR-15-style rifles have been sold in the
United States since they first hit the
market, according to various reports.
Why do civilians need a semi-automat-
ic rifle? They don’t. They just want it.
And what America wants, America
gets. Count on the National Rifle Asso-
“USA TODAY hopes to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation.” – Allen H. Neuharth, Founder, Sept. 15, 1982
Chairman and CEO USA TODAY Publisher
Gannett Co. President of News
MICHAEL MARIBEL
REED PEREZ WADSWORTH
doesn’t make true sense if someone ac-
quires a purchased firearm a few days
after paying for it. There’s no practical
difference.
Assault-style rifle ban
Colorado authorities say a gunman
shot 10 people in a King Soopers super-
market in Boulder on Tuesday and
killed every single one of them.
No one was left alive with bullet
wounds, according to initial reports.
This might seem shocking but for the
fact that the assault-style rifle used is
one of the most efficient killing weap-
ons available to purchase in most
states. Police identified the weapon in
this shooting as a Ruger AR-556 and the
suspect as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21,
the only person injured.
Assault-style rifles can be fired
quickly and steadily with minimal re-
coil, launching a high-velocity round
that can cut a broad corridor of destruc-
tion through the human body, leaving
eviscerated organs and massive hem-
orrhaging. There’s no constitutional
right to own such weaponry.
The late Justice Antonin Scalia fam-
ously wrote in 2008 the the freedom
granted under the Second Amendment
is “not unlimited. It is not a right to keep
and carry any weapon whatsoever.”
Gun-rights advocates will say as-
sault-style rifles are fun and popular,
vital for target practice, self-defense
and hunting. Any and all of that is out-
weighed by their potent capacity as a
killing tool. (A citywide ban on the sales
of assault-style weapons in Boulder
was lifted by a judge 10 days before the
shooting, about the time the gun used
at the King Sooper was bought. It’s not
clear in what jurisdiction the weapon
was purchased.)
With a nation awash in firearms,
mass shootings won’t end. And they
won’t stop teaching all of us lessons on
how to prevent or at least reduce fire-
arm deaths.
That is, they won’t stop until we as a
society begin to listen.
ciation and all the pro-gun advocates to
be out in force shouting about the Sec-
ond Amendment, which gives Ameri-
cans the right to bear arms. But where
in that constitutional amendment does
it say that Americans have the right to
bear an AR-15 or any other semi-auto-
matic rifle?”
Jay Evensen, Deseret News
(Salt Lake City) :
“Thirty-six years have passed since
murder was a part of my daily life. ...
Back then, I was a cub reporter at the
Review-Journal in Las Vegas. ... I didn’t
worry much about mass shootings
(then) because they rarely happened. I
didn’t worry about a pandemic because
the world hadn’t seen one of those
since the end of World War I. Now we
have both — a pandemic involving a vi-
rus and one involving mass killings. ...
We almost forgot about the latter. Until
last week, the United States hadn’t
seen a large-scale multiple-death
shooting in public — the kind that riv-
ets national attention — in a year, since
about the time everyone was told to
stay inside and to wear masks if they
went out. Some people thought we
might have cured the urge to kill lots of
people at once. ... The Gun Violence Ar-
chive, which collects such data from
law enforcement, media, government
and commercial sources, says there
were 611 mass shootings involving four
or more victims in 2020. This was a lot
more than the 417 recorded in 2019. It’s
just that many of those involved people
who knew each other, who lived in the
same home, got into fights or were
members of gangs. They didn’t grab the
headlines, but that doesn’t mean they
didn’t matter.”
USA TODAY Chief Revenue Officer,
Editor in Chief sales and service: Kevin Gentzel
NICOLE Vice President/Local News and
CARROLL Audience Development: Amalie Nash
USA TODAY ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ 7A
A return to ‘normal’
isn’t good enough
After COVID and the
Boulder and Atlanta
shootings, resolve to
make America better
Matthew Dowd
A constant refrain in the news these
days is the wish to “return to normal,”
or questions to doctors or leaders about
“when are we are going to return to nor-
mal?” Underlying this desire for the
“normal” is to return to the way things
were before COVID-19, a longing for the
way things were before March 2020.
I for one do not want to return to
“normal.” I don’t long for the way things
were before the coronavirus disrupted
all our lives in some pretty profound
ways. Beyond that, this constant dis-
cussion of a return to normal really
misses the opportunity to honor all the
sacrifices that have been made in the
past year as well as all the losses we
have suffered.
In order to give meaning to the sacri-
fice and make it more than just pain,
loss and struggle, it must have purpose.
This meaning and purpose is found in
change and finding a new way of being
in this world.
Bring back truth
Yes, of course, I want to be able to
gather with friends, hug my loved ones,
go out without having to wear a mask
and social distance, and behave in nat-
ural human ways without worry. But
our country before COVID-19 wasn’t
even close to perfect, our leaders were
not all ones of integrity and pursuing
the common good, and the way we act-
ed toward one another wasn’t consis-
tently the best we can be.
The tragic loss of life in the shootings
in the Atlanta area and in Boulder, Col-
orado, shows us the “normal”that none
of us should want. These shootings had
become all too common before the pan-
demic and are once again reminding us
of the lack of leadership that had and
has become the norm in America. Long
before COVID-19, we watched as many
Republican politicians refused to make
lessening gun violence a priority and
shine light on the hate that exists to-
ward others in America. And today we
see the same.
Racism and gun violence
Before the pandemic came to our
country, we saw truth as a casualty in
our political and policy debates. We
watched as many leaders disparaged
science, knowledge and data in order to
accomplish some political aim, wheth-
er it was on climate change, economic
policy or gun reform. Before COVID-19,
equal justice for all was a collection of
words used in speeches but not fol-
lowed through by way too many people
in leadership positions.
The norm before the coronavirus
was for some in this country the senti-
Vice President & Executive
Editor/Investigations: Chris Davis
Executive Editor/Audience: Patty Michalski
Opinion Editor: Kristen DelGuzzi
MIKE THOMPSON/USA TODAY NETWORK
ment that white people had a higher
place of importance in the day-to-day
ways we gathered as a country. The
white supremacy movement was build-
ing in overt actions well before last
March, and ballot access for every citi-
zen was not only not a priority, but im-
pediments erected to some was a nor-
mal operating procedure in some juris-
dictions. And we see this again today in
those using the mythic idea of wide-
spread voter fraud to put in place re-
strictions on voting.
As we begin to return to what some
call the “norm,” here’s another reason
none of us should want to return to the
way things were before. Approximately
1.5 million people have died from gun
violence in the past five decades, and in
that same period there have been about
1,500 documented proven instances of
voter fraud out of more than 3 billion
votes cast.
Myth of voter fraud
And what is the “norm” for GOP poli-
ticians to concentrate on and priori-
tize? They are focusing exclusively on
policies related to the myth of voter
fraud, and ignoring the truth of gun vi-
olence and standing in the way of com-
monsense gun reform.
Let us all resolve to not return to the
norm. Let us use what we have experi-
enced in the past year to make our lives
and our country better. Let us under-
stand the common humanity we all
have and how we each suffer if we don’t
pursue policies that help the common
good. Let us make truth and science
and facts a central part of our political
debates. Let us demand integrity in
each other and our leaders. Let us fight
for equality and justice for all no matter
sex, color, creed or any other way we
differ from one another. Let us fight
against the scourge of nativism and
white supremacy. Let us reform our in-
stitutions and structures to make them
more democratic.
In this way, we won’t return to nor-
mal. And by not returning to the normal
before COVID-19 we can purposely use
in a positive meaningful way the strug-
gle of the past year, and once again
make concrete steps to forming “a more
perfect union.” We should all be willing
to have the courage and wisdom to
navigate into the future with compas-
sion for each other, and not long for the
past just because it is predictable,
known and normal.
Matthew Dowd, a political indepen-
dent, was chief strategist for President
George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection cam-
paign. He is the former chief political
analyst for ABC News and author of “A
New Way: Embracing the Paradox as
We Lead and Serve.”
WANT TO COMMENT? Have Your Say at
letters@usatoday.com, @usatodayopinion on
Twitter and facebook.com/usatodayopinion.
Comments are edited for length and clarity. Con-
tent submitted to USA TODAY may appear in print,
digital or other forms. For letters, include name,
address and phone number. Letters may be mailed
to 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA, 22108.
Executive Editor/News and
Network Enterprise: Jeff Taylor
Executive Editor/News
and Initiatives: Kristen Go
8A ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ USA TODAY NEWS
MONEY+LIFE
USA TODAY | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 | SECTION B
MONEYLINE
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
LEGO MARKS DISCOVERY’S
40TH ANNIVERSARY
Lego’s latest space-themed set is
ready to take flight. The toymaker
announced Monday it will launch a
NASA Space Shuttle Discovery set on
April 1. The 2,354-piece set commem-
orates the 40th anniversary since the
space shuttle’s first flight. The Lego
set will include both a Discovery orbi-
ter with functional landing gear, pay-
load bay doors, elevons and rudder, as
well as the Hubble Telescope. The set
is priced at $199.99.The set will be
available on Lego’s website and at
Lego retail stores, the company said.
FINALLY, A JOB WHERE
WINING IS ENCOURAGED
For people looking for a job or pos-
sible career shift, there’s an open
position with unique benefits that
could be worth checking out. The
main requirement: Must love wine. A
job posting by Murphy-Goode Winery
advertises a $10,000 monthly salary,
free rent and 30 cases of wine in So-
noma County, California. Qualified
Applicants 21 and older must submit a
video entry by June 30 detailing why
they would be a good fit for this
dream job, the announcement reads.
The first 90 days of the job will be
spent “shadowing winemaker Dave
Ready Jr. and exploring all aspects of
harvest,” the company’s website read.
CITIGROUP TACKLES ZOOM
FATIGUE AMONG EMPLOYEES
Citigroup employees will get a weekly
break from Zoom, and a day off in May
in a bid to battle the fatigue plaguing
many workers. Citigroup’s CEO Jane
Fraser said in a staff memo that there
would no longer be Zoom meetings on
Fridays “to combat the ‘Zoom fatigue’
that many of us feel.” “There still will
be client and regulator meetings that
need to happen via Zoom, but any
internal meetings occurring on Fridays
... should happen as audio-only calls,”
Fraser said in the memo.
Dow Jones Industrial Avg.
34,000
32,000 308.05
30,000
28,000
26,000
SEPT.
AP
TUESDAY MARKETS
INDEX
Dow Jones Industrial Avg.
S&P 500
Nasdaq composite
T-note, 10-year yield
SOURCES USA TODAY RESEARCH, BLOOMBERG
USA TODAY SNAPSHOTS ©
Treasury rates
Rates as of Monday market close.
Rate Week ago
1 mo. T-bill 0.02%
3 mo. T-bill 0.03%
5-yr. T-note 0.87%
10-yr. T-note 1.69%
30-yr. T-bond 2.38%
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chinese-owned Swedish automaker Volvo announced that it will produce only electric vehicles by 2030 and sell them all
exclusively online. TOLGA AKMEN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Can the grid handle a
boom in electric cars?
Experts say advances in tech make power a ‘nonissue’
Mark Phelan
Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY NETWORK
Do we have enough electricity to
power the coming flood of electric ve-
hicles?
Yes, but the details matter.
First, don’t be snowed by automak-
ers’ seemingly daily announcements
of new EVs. The vast majority of vehi-
cles built, sold, and especially driven
in the United States will continue to
use internal combustion engines for
years to come.
EVs are growing fast, though, and
the technology improves every day. If
you don’t see them on the road regular-
ly now, odds are you will soon.
And they use a lot of electricity. The
88 kWh battery that can carry a rear-
drive Ford Mustang Mach-E 300 miles
32,423 could power a modest house for sever-
al days, depending on the time of year
and other variables.
A single commercial DC fast-char-
ger – the kind that uses 400-800 volts
and can charge a vehicle in 20-40 min-
utes – can draw as much power as 50
MARCH
CLOSE
32,423.15 y
CHG
308.05
Is it time to
turn off our
3,910.52 y 30.07
13,227.70 y 149.84
1.627 y 0.071
Zoom feed?
Sara M Moniuszko
USA TODAY
Chances are, if you’re someone who
began working at home due to the cor-
onavirus pandemic, you’ve found
yourself sitting on a Zoom video call
when you didn’t want to be on camera.
People have been voicing their frus-
trations with video conferences on so-
cial media throughout the pandemic.
Writer Roxane Gay tweeted, “I miss
calls where I don’t need to show my
face. It doesn’t need to be a Zoom. It
just doesn’t.”
0.03% “Nothing makes me happier than
0.04%
hopping in a Zoom meeting and seeing
everyone with their cameras off,” Twit-
0.85% ter user @hnkwaku wrote.
1.63% There are even web tools, such as
2.40%
Zoom Escaper, that allow users to self-
See ZOOM, Page 2B
Social media punishes Kylie
Jenner for her good deed
Her GoFundMe request and donation to a friend
leads to debate on charity and privilege. Page 5B
E2
homes, according to the Department of
Energy.
That worries some people, and not
without reason. They fear we’re trading
a reasonably reliable supply of petro-
leum for uncertain availability and un-
known cost with electricity.
Nighttime’s the right time
Relax, the experts, say. The U.S. has
Ford Mustang Mach-E uses a lot of more than enough electric generating
electricity. USA TODAY NETWORK capacity to power every EV expected to
hit the road through 2028, according to
a recent study by the Department of En-
ergy.
“The (electric) grid is well equipped
The 88 kWh battery that can to supply EVs today and in the near
term,” said Samantha Houston, vehicles
carry a rear-drive Ford analyst at the Union of Concerned Sci-
Mustang Mach-E 300 miles entists.
“It’s a nonissue.”
could power a modest house A 2020 report by the Department of
Energy concludes, “through 2028, the
for several days, depending
overall power system, from generating
on the time of year and through transmission, looks healthy up
to about 24 million EVs.” That’s sixteen
other variables.
See ELECTRIC, Page 2B
“I miss
calls
where
I don’t
need to
show my
face.
It doesn’t
need to
be a Zoom.
It just
doesn’t.”
Roxane
Gay writer
2B ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ USA TODAY
Disney CEO says cruises are
not likely to return until fall
Dave Berman
Florida Today
USA TODAY NETWORK
Disney Cruise Line continues to pub-
licly hold out hope that its sailings can
resume as early as June.
But Bob Chapek, chief executive offi-
cer of the Walt Disney Co., indicated to
stockholders this month that this time-
line probably is unrealistic. He said that
“with some luck,” Disney may be able to
resume limited sailings in the fall.
In responding to a question from a
stockholder and Walt Disney World em-
ployee during the company’s annual
shareholders’ meeting, Chapek said:
“We’re anticipating that, with some luck
and the increase of the number of vacci-
nations out there and the encouraging
trends that we’re seeing, that maybe by
this fall, we might be able to have some
limited operations of our cruise ships.
But that’s all going to depend on the in-
cidence of the virus and the vaccination
of the general public.”
Disney and other major cruise lines
have not sailed out of U.S. ports since
March 2020 because of the coronavirus
pandemic, which triggered a Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention no-sail
order. Cruise lines are working on re-
start plans that will meet the CDC’s ex-
tensive “framework for conditional sail-
ing” announced in October that re-
placed the no-sail order.
Separately, Disney Cruise Line last
week announced its planned itineraries
for summer 2022.
But it did not detail its plans for its
new ship, the Disney Wish, which is
now under construction at the Meyer-
Werft shipyard in Germany and is ex-
pected to begin sailing out of Port Ca-
naveral, Florida, in summer 2022. Dis-
ney said information on itineraries and
bookings for the Wish “will be released
at a later date.”
Scott Sanders, founder and operator
of the Disney Cruise Line Blog, which is
not affiliated with the cruise line, said he
expects the Wish initially will sail three-
and four-night cruises out of Port Ca-
naveral to the Bahamas. That would fill
the gap being created in summer 2022
by the Disney Dream moving its home
port from Port Canaveral to Miami.
Here are the announced plans for
Disney’s ships for summer 2022, from
mid-May to late-September:
h Disney Dream: Disney said it was
Zoom
Continued from Page 1B
sabotage their call, giving them the per-
fect excuse to leave their virtual meet-
ing.
Melissa Dowd, a therapist at virtual
mental health and primary care compa-
ny PlushCare, says it’s normal for people
to feel an “added pressure” to be in front
of the camera throughout the day.
“Unlike in-person meetings where
the focus might be on one speaker, dur-
ing Zoom calls everyone is looking at ev-
eryone,” she says. “This can be intimi-
dating for some people and cause social
anxiety.”
One user, @mdb2, summed up how a
lot of people are feeling: “Normalize let-
ting people keep their camera off during
zoom calls so that they can maintain
one personal boundary while work in-
vades our home lives,” the tweet read. It
has garnered more than 140,000 likes.
Amy Nicole Baker, professor and as-
sistant chair of psychology and sociol-
ogy at the University of New Haven,
says this blurring of work and home
boundaries is one reason it’s important
to disengage from video when you can.
“People need time to disengage from
work, it is healthy, it actually makes you
more productive and actually improves
worker well-being,” she says. “The as-
sumption that we’re working from
home on Zoom and we’re available any
time encroaches on that ability to dis-
engage, and I think that may be part of
the reason we’re seeing such Zoom fa-
tigue.”
The pressure for women to ‘be on’
For women, the pressure to look put
together during video calls can be even
greater, which can have lasting negative
effects, experts say.
“Normalize women getting on Zoom
calls and not having to apologize for the
having the same disheveled, working-
their-butts-off-from-home appearance
that men do,” user @daniellamyoung
tweeted.
Baker explains, “Generally speaking,
Disney Wonder will sail to Alaska in 2022. PROVIDED BY CANAVERAL PORT AUTHORITY
moving its Disney Dream from Port Ca-
naveral to Miami in summer 2022. The
Dream has been been based at Port Ca-
naveral since it joined the fleet in 2011.
The Dream will offer three-, four- and
five-night sailings to the Bahamas, as
well as five-night cruises to the western
Caribbean.
h Disney Fantasy: The Disney
Fantasy will remain based at Port
Canaveral, offering primarily seven-
night cruises to the eastern and western
Caribbean, as well as one five-night
voyage and one nine-night voyage that
will include a stop at Roseau, Dominica.
It will be the Disney Cruise Line’s first-
ever stop at that destination.
h Disney Wonder: The Disney Won-
der will offer seven-night Alaskan
cruises, sailing out of Vancouver, British
Columbia.
h Disney Magic: The Disney Magic
will offer a range of European itinerar-
ies. They include five-, six-and seven-
night Mediterranean sailings from
Barcelona, Spain; and eight- nine- and
12-night cruises from Rome to Greece.
The ship also will have sailings from
Dover, England, and from Copenhagen,
Denmark.
Disney is introducing five new ports
of call in Europe for its passengers: Cha-
nia, Greece; Maloy, Norway; Nynash-
amn, Sweden, near Stockholm; Porto,
Portugal; and Riga, Latvia.
Adventures by Disney plans to offer
two- to three-night pre-cruise vaca-
tions for Magic passengers in Barcelo-
women tend to be evaluated on their ap-
pearance in different ways than men are
and one of those evaluations does cen-
ter around norms for professional
makeup in the workplace – that’s only
heightened on being on Zoom because
the camera is pretty much on your face
and that’s all that you see.”
The pressure to look good can lead
people to look at – and critique – them-
selves during these meetings.
User @jamjamfong explained,
“When I have my camera on during
Zoom I am 1000% only looking at my-
self.”
“The assumption that we’re working
from home on Zoom and we’re
available any time encroaches
on that ability to disengage.”
Amy Nicole Baker
Professor, University of New Haven
“Just looked at my camera while on a
Zoom call and scared myself (because)
my eye bags are so awful, my heart is
still racing,” user @maryhmcdaniel
wrote.
Dowd says staring at ourselves for
hours at a time can have a negative im-
pact.
“We might find ourselves comparing
how we look to others, or constantly
checking to see how we look versus fo-
cusing on the topic of the Zoom meet-
ing,” she says. “This might lead to feel-
ings of anxiety, jealousy or sadness.”
‘The Zoom Boom’
Plastic surgeons say they’ve seen an
increase in treatment requests for face
and neck treatments during the pan-
demic.
Dr. Norman Rowe, a board-certified
plastic surgeon with Rowe Plastic Sur-
gery, says he’s seen a “dramatic increase
in men and women – of all ages, I might
add – seeking to improve their Zoom ap-
pearance.”
This trend has been dubbed the
“Zoom Boom.”
“Most patients specifically men-
na, Copenhagen, London and Rome.
Bookings of Disney’s summer 2022
cruises will open to the public on
Thursday.
During the shareholders’ meeting,
Chapek said Disney is “very anxious to
get our Disney Cruise Line business
back up and running. As you know, the
cruise industry had been quite hit hard
by COVID, and, as of right now, we
don’t have any definitive information
in terms of when we’ll be able to re-
open up our cruise lines.”
Sanders said Chapek – with his
prediction of no Disney sailings until
the fall – may have been providing rel-
atively pessimistic but realistic as-
sessment to shareholders because the
annual meeting venue required such a
statement, as investment decisions
are made based on the CEO’s com-
ments.
Chapek’s assessment went signifi-
cantly beyond the cruise line’s Feb. 24
“coronavirus travel alert” to potential
passengers that said: “As we continue
to refine our protocols and await fur-
ther technical guidance from the CDC,
we are canceling all sailings departing
through May 2021.”
When it begins sailing, the Disney
Wish will become Disney’s biggest
ship, at about 144,000 gross tons and
1,250 guest staterooms, making it
slightly larger than the Disney Dream
and Disney Fantasy.
It will be Disney’s first ship powered
by liquefied natural gas.
tioned their Zoom appearance as the
driving factor since they are basically
looking in a mirror all day on video
calls,” Rowe says, adding that some
want to “feel better about their appear-
ance during this difficult time.”
Rowe says patients have been look-
ing for quick fixes for a range of things,
including looking tired, nose size and
complexion.
Dr. Gabriel Chiu, founder and plas-
tic surgeon at Beverly Hills Plastic Sur-
gery Inc., has also seen an increase in
appointments. He believes more avail-
ability in people’s schedules for recov-
ery time has contributed to the in-
crease.
His patients’ most common Zoom-
visible requests include treatments for
bags or lines under the eyes, acne
scars, wrinkle lines and large pores.
He also doesn’t see the trend chang-
ing anytime soon, saying he thinks it’s
because video conferencing is “likely
here to stay.”
This can be seen in workers wishing
to continue remote work as well as
new technology that could make virtu-
al meetings even more life-like. ARHT
Media, for example, has developed a
HoloPresence technology that aims to
beam someone’s presence directly in
front of you.
How to combat Zoom fatigue
Baker says “it is difficult” to disen-
gage from Zooming, especially de-
pending on the nature of your work-
place and position.
“Some people won’t have the auton-
omy to do that, but for those of us that
do have at least some autonomy... do
set specific time to block that off in
your calendar,” she advises. “Because
it does matter the time to disconnect –
especially for people who are introver-
ted – to have a break from being on.”
For managers, Baker suggests ask-
ing, “Does this really need to be on
Zoom? Do we really need to have a
meeting about this?” Dowd adds that
managers can also consider making
camera use optional and ending a few
minutes early so people can have a
break between meetings.
MONEY
Electric
Continued from Page 1B
times the roughly 1.5 million EVs oper-
ating in the U.S. today.
“The transition to electric vehicles
will take place over many years,” said
Rob Threlkeld, General Motors global
manager of sustainable energy, supply
and reliability. “Automakers are work-
ing with utilities to optimize it.”
The key is for EV owners to do most
of their charging at night when a lot of
the electricity generating capacity that
already exists is idle.
Detroit-based utility DTE Energy
customers charge about 15,000 elec-
tric vehicles in southeast Michigan
and 22,000 throughout the state.
About 90% of charging takes place
outside peak hours, generally between
11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Residential users can
sign up for a discounted rate during
that period, 11 cents a kWh under
DTE’s EV plan, compared with 24
cents/kWh the rest of the day.
Charging at roadside commercial
facilities will cost more than the dis-
counted off-peak rate for homes. How
much varies, depending on location,
charging company and more.
Fueling an EV can save you 60%
Off-peak electric demand can fall
50% from midday peaks, Threlkeld
said. “There are thousands of mega-
watts that are online during the day
and offline at night. That can charge a
lot of EVs.
“Optimizing the time of charging is
the key to making use of existing gen-
eration capacity,” Threlkeld said.
Off-peak charging is part of the rea-
son EVs should be less expensive to
operate than gasoline or diesel.
That’s because huge power plants
that can handle midday surges operate
less efficiently off-peak.
The electric grid was built to accom-
modate high demand like air condi-
tioning in high-rise offices and fac-
tories on a hot afternoon. That capac-
ity is essentially wasted the rest of the
time, but EV charging can level the
peaks and valleys.
The EPA assumes off-peak charging
in projections that electricity for a
Mach-E will cost $650 annually, com-
pared with $1,800 in gasoline for an
Edge, the closest gasoline-powered
competitor in Ford’s lineup.
Similarly, Volkswagen’s new ID.4
electric SUV should use $700 worth of
electricity a year, versus $1,700 in gas-
oline for the Tiguan, the closest inter-
nal combustion comparison from VW.
Both projections assume 15,000 miles
driven annually, 55% of it on the high-
way.
‘Things get dicey' at 30 million
EVs
Some drivers worry about grid-
busting peaks on holiday weekends
when huge numbers of people drive to
family events or vacation getaways.
However, many factories and offices
close during that period, freeing up
charging capacity for trips to grand-
ma’s house or the cottage, Threlkeld
said.
In addition, as solar generation be-
comes more common, some areas now
offer bargain rates in the middle of the
day, during maximum sunlight.
Armed with that information, a
business fleet manager could tell her
drivers to pull over and charge when
prices dropped, and resume driving.
XL Fleet, a company specializing in
hybrid commercial vehicles, said its
customers have logged 145 million
miles, charging mostly at night. XL de-
veloped plug-in hybrid versions of
Ford F-series pickups and other hy-
brids. The company just opened an en-
gineering center in suburban Detroit.
It has about 4,000 vehicles in service.
“Things get dicey” at about 30 mil-
lion EVs on U.S. roads, a study by the
Department of Energy says. To that
end, utilities are upgrading generat-
ing, transmission and delivery capac-
ity now for demand in the 2030s.
DTE expects about 300,000 EVs on
the road in Michigan in 2030. It as-
sumes nearly all will have at least 200
miles range – a modest assumption,
given how fast technology is improv-
ing. With the average daily commute
around 40 miles, the utility thinks
some may charge once every 2-3 days.
Upgrades to the electric grid may
even allow EV owners to sell electricity
back to the utility during peak use or to
use vehicle batteries to power their
homes during protracted outages.
“Utilities will need to make invest-
ments, but there’s time,” Houston
said. “The change won’t happen over-
night. Renewable power and electric
vehicle technology reinforce each oth-
er.”
MONEY USA TODAY ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ 3B

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these are the only State Restricted Bank just $585 and that’s a real steal because all other state residents must pay $1,770 for each state restricted bank roll.
Rolls known to exist,” said Lynne. just be sure to call the State toll free hotlines before the deadline ends two days from today’s publication date.
“We’re guessing thousands of U.S. resi-
dents will be taking the maximum limit
of 4 Bank Rolls because they make such
amazing gifts for any occasion for children,
parents, grandparents, friends and loved
ones,” Lynne continued.
“We know the phones will be ringing off
the hook. That’s why hundreds of Hotline
Operators are standing by to answer the
phones beginning at 8:30am this morning.
We’re going to do our best, but with just 2
days to answer all the calls it won’t be easy.
So make sure to tell everyone to keep call-
ing if all operators are busy. We’ll do our
best to answer them all,” Lynne said.
“That’s why the private National Mint
and Treasury set up the State Toll-Free ■ GOING, GOING, GONE: Hotline operators are bracing for all the calls because shown above are the last remaining
Hotlines in order to make sure U.S. resi- State Restricted Bank Rolls known to exist and when they’re gone, they’re gone. And here’s the best part. If you are
dents get the State Restricted Bank Rolls a resident of one of the states listed in today’s newspaper publication you cover only the $39 per coin state minimum
before they’re all gone,” she said. set by the National Mint and Treasury, that’s fifteen rarely seen U. S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberties worth up to
The only thing readers of today’s 100 times their face value for just $585 which is a real steal because all other state residents must pay $118 per coin
newspaper publication need to do is make which totals $1,770 if any coins remain after the 2-day deadline.
sure they are a resident of one of the states
listed in bold in today’s newspaper publica- NATIONAL MINT AND TREASURY, LLC IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE U.S. MINT, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, A BANK OR ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY.
IF FOR ANY REASON WITHIN 30 DAYS FROM SHIPMENT YOU ARE DISSATISFIED, RETURN THE PRODUCT FOR A REFUND LESS SHIPPING AND
tion and call the State Toll-Free Hotlines RETURN POSTAGE. THIS SAME OFFER MAY BE MADE AVAILABLE AT A LATER DATE OR IN A DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. OH RESIDENTS
before the 2-day deadline ends midnight ADD 6.5% SALES TAX. NATIONAL MINT AND TREASURY, PO BOX 35609, CANTON, OH 44735 ©2021 NATIONAL MINT AND TREASURY. R1018-NR-2
tomorrow. ■
4B ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ USA TODAY E2 MONEY

AMERICA’S MARKETS ALL THE MARKET ACTION IN REAL TIME

MARKETS.USATODAY.COM

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE
-308.05
S&P 500 • STANDARD & POOR’S NASDAQ COMPOSITE RUSSELL 2000
Closing: 32,423.15 Closing: 3,910.52 Closing: 13,227.70 Closing: 2,185.69
Change: -.9%
YTD % Chg: +5.9% -30.07 Change: -.8%
YTD % Chg: +4.1% -149.84 Change: -1.1%
YTD % Chg: +2.6% -81.15 Change: -3.6%
YTD % Chg: +10.7%

MARKET PERFORMANCE BY SECTOR MARKET NOTEBOOK TOP 10 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS COMMODITIES
Sector Close Chg. 4wk 1 YTD 1 Issues NYSE NASDAQ ETF, ranked by volume Ticker Close Chg. % Chg %YTD Commodities Close Prev. Chg. % Chg. % YTD
Energy 47.83 -0.71 -1.5% +26.2% Advancing 562 436 ProShs UltPro ShtQQQ SQQQ 13.43 +0.18 +1.4% -11.5% Cattle (lb.) 1.19 1.19 unch. +0.3% +5.5%
Declining 1,915 2,906 SPDR S&P500 ETF Tr SPY 389.50 -3.09 -0.8% +4.2% Corn (bushel) 5.51 5.49 +0.02 +0.4% +13.9%
Financials 33.16 -0.47 +0.8% +12.5%
Unchanged 57 81 SPDR Financial XLF 33.16 -0.47 -1.4% +12.5% Gold (troy oz.) 1,724.70 1,737.80 -13.10 -0.8% -8.9%
Telecom 81.44 -0.39 +0.6% +9.7%
Total 2,534 3,423 iPath Sh Term Fut VXX 12.50 +0.56 +4.7% -25.6% Hogs, lean (lb.) .96 .95 +0.01 +1.5% +37.3%
Industrials 94.44 -1.68 +3.2% +6.7% 58 Natural Gas (Btu.) 2.51 2.58 -0.07 -2.9% -1.2%
Issues at Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ 317.22 -1.39 -0.4% +1.1%
Materials 76.10 -1.62 +0.7% +5.1% 85 SPDR Energy XLE 47.83 -0.71 -1.5% +26.2% Oil, heating (gal.) 1.75 1.83 -0.08 -4.4% +17.9%
New 52 Week High 45
Consumer discret. 165.71 -1.57 +0.5% +3.1% ProShs UltraPro QQQ TQQQ 89.90 -1.19 -1.3% -1.1% Oil, lt. swt. crude (bar.) 57.76 61.56 -3.80 -6.2% +19.0%
New 52 Week Low 11
Health care 114.50 -1.17 +0.5% +0.9% iShares Rus 2000 IWM 217.06 -8.17 -3.6% +10.7% Silver (troy oz.) 25.20 25.74 -0.54 -2.1% -4.3%
Share Volume
Technology 131.05 -0.82 -1.2% +0.8% Total 4,120,322,801 4,936,685,565 iShares US Energy IYE 25.73 -0.35 -1.3% +27.1% Soybeans (bushel) 14.23 14.18 +0.05 +0.4% +8.2%
1,239,386,431 iShs Emerg Mkts EEM 52.89 -1.03 -1.9% +2.4% Wheat (bushel) 6.35 6.27 +0.08 +1.2% -0.9%
Utilities 62.57 +0.92 +3.1% -0.2% Advancing 509,838,483
Declining 3,590,927,375 3,668,723,949
Consumer staples 67.00 +0.28 +2.9% -0.7%
Unchanged 19,556,943 28,575,185
FOREIGN CURRENCIES FOREIGN MARKETS
Currency per dollar Close Prev. 6 mo. ago Yr. ago
S&P 500’S BIGGEST GAINERS S&P 500’S BIGGEST LOSERS British pound .7269 .7213 .7864 .8677
Country Close Prev. Change %Chg. %YTD
Frankfurt 14,662.02 14,645.58 +16.44 +0.1% +6.9%
Company (ticker) Price $ Chg . % Chg. YTD Company (ticker) Price $ Chg . % Chg. YTD Canadian dollar 1.2571 1.2509 1.3380 1.4523 Hong Kong 28,497.38 28,885.34 -387.96 -1.3% +4.7%
WEC Energy Group (WEC) 92.37 +3.61 +4.1 +.4 CBS Corp B (VIAC) 91.25 -9.09 -9.1 +144.9 Japan (Nikkei) 28,995.92 29,174.15 -178.23 -0.6% +5.7%
Chinese yuan 6.5164 6.5078 6.8104 7.0920
CMS Engy (CMS) 60.53 +2.03 +3.5 -.8 PVH Corp (PVH) 94.94 -8.53 -8.2 +1.1 London 6,699.19 6,726.10 -26.91 -0.4% +3.7%
BorgWarner Inc (BWA) 44.30 -3.83 -8.0 +14.6 Euro .8437 .8374 .8578 .9318
NextEra Energy (NEE) 74.02 +2.33 +3.3 -4.1 Mexico City 46,659.18 47,225.44 -566.26 -1.2% +5.9%
Alliant Energy (LNT) 53.07 +1.56 +3.0 +3.0 Freeport McMoRan (FCX) 32.20 -2.81 -8.0 +23.8 Japanese yen 108.75 108.80 105.42 111.51
Amer Water Works (AWK) 144.15 +4.10 +2.9 -6.1 Carnival Corp (CCL) 25.33 -2.15 -7.8 +16.9 Mexican peso 20.7706 20.5474 22.3135 25.1405 SOURCE Morningstar, Dow Jones Indexes, The Associated Press

Don’t let stimulus cash spark bad habits

Avoid the temptation
of creating new debts
Pete the Planner
Peter Dunn
USA TODAY
Dear Pete.
I'm feeling very positive about the
direction of the economy, especially
with the stimulus payments hitting
bank accounts again soon and vac-
cines going into people's arms. Do you
think the average American is in the
clear? Or do you think there's more
trouble financial trouble ahead? Per-
sonally, I'm feeling rather optimistic.
– Robert, Columbus, Ohio
Without a doubt, my hope for the
economy turned to optimism too some-
time in the past six weeks or so. But un-
fortunately, my optimism feels con-
tained to the year 2021, as I fear the pen-
dulum might swing too far back in the
direction of abundance. The real ques-
tion is how many Americans will be able
to use the stimulus and advance child
tax credit to move themselves forward
as opposed to creating new spending
habits that can easily introduce insta-
bility once again.
To understand the risk of what's
ahead, you have to think back to both
the math and emotions of 2020, and I'm
just talking about money. The year was
difficult enough without the financial
considerations, but the financial reali-
ties of 2020 were nothing short of crip-
pling. Yes, tens of millions of people lost
opportunities, hours, and jobs, but tens
of millions of other people voluntarily
reduced their spending as the economy
shutdown, thus tearing our consumer-
based economy to shreds. Fear led to
Use cash flow from stimulus checks to get back to solid ground. GETTY IMAGES
pain, but fear also led to increased sta-
bility.
And while 2020 was financially awful
for many from an income perspective, it
proved to be a rather healthy year, finan-
cially. The threat and/or reality of scar-
city led to reduced debt levels, increased
focus on emergency funds, and re-
newed financial discretion. Scarcity
does that. It makes a person consider
both current and potential resources
and then influences the person's re-
sourcefulness. And despite the fact the
beginning of that phenomenon is a
painful one, the end result of renewed
resourcefulness is quite healthy.
I'm thrilled Americans' pockets are
getting filled with tax refunds, stimulus
payments and, soon, advanced child tax
credits, but the switch from scarcity to
abundance can be a wild one, especially
when the abundance is artificial. The
word "artificial" feels very negative
ican consumers are going to overcorrect
financially in 2021, thus compromising
the very stability their increased scarci-
ty provided. While about a third of
Americans are struggling and are un-
likely to overcorrect because they need
every dime of the increased cash flow, I
believe somewhere between 55% to
60% of Americans are at great risk of
forming or re-forming financial habits
that are unsustainable once this period
of artificial cash flow ends. I'm not
suggesting the stimulus and advanced
child tax credits shouldn't happen. In-
stead, I'm asserting a sudden increase
in resources put incredible strain on a
person's ability to make objectively wise
decisions.
Don't believe me? Imagine your ulti-
mate treat food showed up at your home
in abundance, without warning. For me,
that's a huge tray of homemade Rice
Krispies treats. I don't keep them
around, because if I did, they wouldn't
be around for long. And if for some rea-
son they were legitimately habit-form-
ing, or they created a long-term obliga-
The threat and/or reality tion to continue to consume them, I'd be
in big trouble. That's what artificially in-
of scarcity led to reduced creased cash flow can do, and that's
debt levels, increased focus what gives me pause about Americans'
personal finances in 2022 and beyond.
on emergency funds, and If people use all of this money to cre-
ate new habits or obligations, financial
renewed financial discretion. pain will be the result when that supple-
mental income dries up. The key is for
here, but it's not meant to be. I simply people to use the temporary increased
mean the increased cash flow of 2021 is cash flow to get back to solid ground or
a byproduct of government interven- to make self-contained purchases
tion, not the natural ebbs and flows of which don't create future payments or
economic output. This intervention will unsustainable habits.
be great for the economy over the next If you happen to receive any of the
few years and great for Americans' per- additional funds just discussed, get cur-
sonal finances in 2021. rent on your bills, set a little to the side
It's what happens next that scares for the future, and support your local
me. small businesses. But do everything you
The emotions of 2020 were so in- can to make sure you aren't creating a
tense and painful that I believe Amer- payment plan or future obligation.

Navigate the tax rules for Social Security benefits

Robert Powell
Columnist
USA TODAY
Roughly 1 in every 2 older adults will
pay federal income taxes on a portion of
their Social Security benefits for the
2020 tax year.
This usually happens only if you have
other substantial income in addition to
your Social Security benefits, such as
wages, self-employment, interest, divi-
dends and other taxable income that
must be reported on your tax return.
Will you owe? Here’s how to know
If you file a federal tax return as an
“individual” and your income is:
h Between $25,000 and $34,000:
You may have to pay income tax on up to
50% of your benefits
h More than $34,000: Up to 85% of
your benefits may be taxable.
If you file a joint return, and you and
your spouse have a income that is:
h Between $32,000 and $44,000:
You may have to pay income tax on up to
50% of your benefits.
h More than $44,000: Up to 85% of
your benefits may be taxable.
And if you are married and file a sep-
arate tax return, you probably will pay
taxes on your benefits.
What is ‘combined income’
and how is it calculated?
It’s your adjusted gross income or
AGI plus your nontaxable interest plus
half of your Social Security benefits.
Now the thing about these taxes is
this: No one should really be surprised
by them. These taxes on Social Security
have been with us since the Greenspan
Commission created them in 1983, ac-
cording to David Freitag, a financial
planning consultant with MassMutual.
But you might be surprised by the fol-
lowing details:
The thresholds are not indexed for
inflation. “So as income in retirement
has increased, more and more people
are paying more and more income tax
on their Social Security benefits,” Frei-
tag explains.
Others see the same trend. “Be-
cause the thresholds that determine
whether or not Social Security benefits
are taxable were never adjusted for in-
flation, it is pretty hard today to avoid
paying taxes on Social Security bene-
fits,” says Elaine Floyd of Horsesmouth.
How to reduce
Social Security taxes
It’s hard to reduce those taxes but it’s
not impossible.
If you can lower your adjusted gross
income or AGI, you can reduce the
amount of tax created on your Social Se-
curity benefit, Freitag explains.
There are two common ways to lower
your AGI – and another, which which is
less common: Take distributions from
your Roth IRA, which are generally tax-
free, vs. your traditional IRA.
Or take certain distributions from
your cash-value life insurance policy, if
you have one. Taking money from a re-
verse mortgage, if you have one, is yet
another way to create a cash flow that
could help reduce how much income tax
you might pay on your Social Security
benefits.
How to plan for
Social Security taxes
A balanced approach to distribution
is the best way to plan for Social Securi-
ty taxes, says Freitag. Keep in mind that
too much emphasis on one type of dis-
tribution or another is not the way to go.
“It is better to have a mix of income
streams in retirement,” he says. “As an
example, if all your income is taxable,
then adding Social Security just makes
it worse across the board.”
Don’t procrastinate, estimate
People need to plan for these taxes
when they first start receiving Social
Security, stresses Floyd. “Don’t wait un-
til the year is over and you are doing
your taxes to discover that you owe tax-
es on the Social Security income you re-
ceived the prior year,” she says.
“At the time you start benefits, esti-
mate how much income you will receive
during the rest of the year and pay the
taxes as the income is received.”
There are two ways to do this, Floyd
notes.
Change your withholding rate. File
Form W-4V with the Social Security Ad-
ministration requesting an amount to
be withheld for taxes. The choices are
7%, 10%, 12%, and 22%. These percent-
ages, she notes, apply to the full income,
not the 85% that is taxable.
Don’t pay all at once. If you already
file quarterly estimated tax payments,
then tack on your social security in-
come.
Will I owe on my state taxes, too?
It’s worth noting too that most states
– 37 at last count, don’t tax Social Secu-
rity – but a baker’s dozen do.
According to AARP, those states are:
Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Minne-
sota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska,
New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Is-
land, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia
Maintain perspective
It’s wise to maintain the proper per-
spective about these taxes, Floyd says.
After all, 15% of Social Security income
is tax-free.
Freitag concurs: “Social Security
benefits are always tax-advantaged
over distributions from traditional
IRAs,” he says. “The traditional IRA dis-
tribution is always reported at 100%
while the maximum reporting rate for
Social Security is capped at 85%. In re-
tirement Social Security dollars always
go farther than dollars taken from a tra-
ditional IRA.”
And remember, income taxes are the
price we pay to live in society.
“The taxes the U.S. government col-
lects on Social Security benefits go into
the Old Age, Survivors and Disability In-
surance or OASDI trust fund to help
keep the system going,” Floyd points
out. “In 2020, the trust fund collected
$39 billion taxes, representing about 4%
of the trust fund’s total income.”


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SPORTS
Months after rift, Fitzpatrick
now picking Bryson’s brain
Golfer had called out DeChambeau’s distance
USA TODAY | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 | SECTION C gains tied to body transformation. Page 6C
Latest news, results, opinion
24/7 at sports.usatoday.com
See who won in the NHL, NBA and Women’s NCAA
Tournament, plus news from MLB spring camps

Pro athletes becoming vaccine priority

Gabe Lacques USA TODAY
After a year of external criticism and
internal debate over draining resources
from at-risk and essential members of
society amid a global pandemic, North
America’s sports industry might soon
arrive at a point where the notion of
“skipping the line” for COVID-19 vac-
cines is no longer a concern.
It’s even possible, public health ex-
perts say, that they should assemble at
the front.
With three vaccinations in distribu-
tion, a fourth awaiting approval and the
USA now vaccinating residents at a rate
of 3 million a day, states are increasingly
loosening requirements for COVID-19
vaccinations. Monday, the state of Ari-
zona announced any resident 16 or older
will be eligible for vaccination at state-
run sites beginning Wednesday in Yu-
ma, Pima and Maricopa counties.
Fifteen of 30 Major League Baseball
franchises are currently decamped
throughout Maricopa County for spring
training, and hundreds of ballplayers
live year-round in the Phoenix area. In
one week, they’ll break camp in Arizona
and Florida and embark on a six-month,
162-game regular season that will take
them across the country, coming into
contact with hundreds of bus drivers,
airline workers and hotel personnel and
others.
Meanwhile, the NBA and NHL’s in-
door seasons – both significantly up-
ended by COVID-19 cases in the absence
of a bubble – are warily lurching toward
their playoffs.
While the vast majority of these ath-
letes are young and healthy, and the es-
sentiality of their work – they’re just
games, albeit ones that distract and en-
tertain – is up for debate, there’s no de-
nying the jobs can’t be performed while
staying at home.
And the point on the axis where
available vaccine and vaccinating those
whose work requires frequent contact is
drawing closer to professional athletes.
“We’re getting to where we’re past
the point of discussing high-risk groups
and instead, let’s vaccinate everyone we
can,” says Dr. Jill Roberts, an infectious
disease expert and professor at the Uni-
versity of South Florida. “And let’s hit
the groups that are more likely to spread
that than those most likely to die from it.
I think we’ve done a pretty good job on
at-risk groups.
“We should be at the point of remov-
ing those barriers. It doesn’t really come
down to what the profession of the play-
ers is at all. It comes down to, ‘Will they
likely be spreaders?’
“I don’t think they should have to skip
a line. I think the line should go away.”
If that’s the case, where, exactly, do
the athletes line up?
See VACCINE, Page 7C

Left to right: Megan Rapinoe, Becky Hammon, Simone Manuel and Naomi Osaka ILLUSTRATION BY JAKE LOVETT/USA TODAY NETWORK; AND GETTY IMAGES AND USA TODAY SPORTS PHOTOS

DECADE OF THE WOMAN

These women will dominate sports over next 10 years
Analis Bailey USA TODAY
Her name is Nicole Lynn. If you don’t
already know about her, it’s likely you
will soon.
Lynn is an agent and attorney and in
2019 she became only the third woman,
and the first Black woman, to represent
a top-three NFL draft pick when Ala-
bama defensive lineman Quinnen Wil-
liams was picked third by the New York
Jets. Lynn represents NFL players, foot-
ball coaches, professional softball play-
ers, broadcasters and entertainers.
“I wanted to do this but I never knew
it was called a sports agent,” Lynn told
USA TODAY Sports. “I wanted to work
with athletes, I wanted to help them re-
tain their wealth but I didn’t know that
that was the name of a sports agent. I
feel like this job is meant for the boys’
club, specifically white males, and it is
mostly because we didn’t know about it.
“The boundaries to entry are huge. I
wanted to make sure everybody knew
this is what I do, this is how I do it, and
give them the steps to do it ... my biggest
goal is that when I look back in 20 years
on my career, people can say, ‘I became a
sports agent because of you, because I
saw it was possible.’ ”
In 2020, across all of sports, women
broke barriers.
Sarah Fuller became the first woman
to score in a major-college football
game. Becky Hammon became the first
woman to serve as head coach during an
NBA game. The WNBA and its players
union announced a groundbreaking
eight-year labor deal that raised salaries
and guaranteed benefits to players on
maternity leave. Kim Ng became MLB’s
first woman general manager.
What’s become clear is that last year
was a launching point for a significant
movement. In 2021, and perhaps for the
next 10 years, and beyond, women will
likely continue what they began.
In some ways that’s already started.
The NFL announced this month that
Maia Chaka was added to the roster of
game officials for the upcoming season,
making her the first Black woman in
league history named to the league’s of-
ficiating staff.
“I am honored to be selected as an
NFL official,” Chaka said in a statement.
“But this moment is bigger than a per-
sonal accomplishment. It is an accom-
plishment for all women, my communi-
ty, and my culture.”
This list was narrowed, and of course
there are other worthy candidates, like
South Carolina women’s basketball
coach Dawn Staley, who turned the
Gamecocks into a national power,
reaching nine NCAA Tournaments and
winning a national title. She’s only the
second Black female coach to win a title
after Purdue’s Carolyn Peck.
Yes, there are other key women, but
these are our best.
Early in her career Lynn admired Kelli
Masters, an agent and a practicing at-
torney, and wants to positively impact
them the way Masters did her.
See DECADE, Page 8C

Pac-12 men’s play in NCAA has opened sleepy eyes

Erick Smith USA TODAY
The answer to the trivia question is
not the Big Ten, which had the most
teams in the men’s basketball NCAA
Tournament. It’s also not the Atlantic
Coast Conference nor the Big 12, which
tied for the second most.
The answer to the question about
which league has the biggest represen-
tation in the Sweet 16 is the Pac-12 with
four. Making the success even more im-
pressive is the league’s batting average,
with only five teams receiving bids.
The Big Ten had nine spots and only
advanced one while losing three No. 1 or
No. 2 seeds.
The ACC and Big 12 each were repre-
sented by seven schools and have two
and one team left, respectively.
That means just four of the 23
schools in the tournament from the per-
ceived “big dogs” are still alive.
Perhaps that is a surprise to observ-
ers of men’s college basketball, where
much of the season’s attention has been
paid to the three biggest leagues. Air-
time on ESPN focuses on those games or
talking about those games.
It’s created a burning desire for re-
spect inside the Pac-12. The coaches
have been asked repeatedly what their
wins mean for the perception of the
league. Each has been adamant that not
enough attention is paid to the quality of
play and depth of the conference. Its
success this tournament provides some
tangible evidence beyond the platitudes
from coaches.
“The Pac-12, when I got the job, peo-
ple would say, ‘Oh, you go out there, your
teams will play hard, you’ll win,’ ” said
UCLA coach Mick Cronin, who is in his
second year with the Bruins after 13 sea-
sons at Cincinnati.
“I’ve got news for you: Teams in the
Pac-12 play hard. We have excellent
coaching in the Pac-12, and I mean that. Southern Cal’s Chevez Goodwin (1)
Teams – it’s way more competitive celebrated with Isaiah Mobley in the
second half against Kansas.
See PAC-12, Page 7C PATRICK GORSKI/USA TODAY SPORTS
NATION’S HEALTH
USA TODAY | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 | SECTION D
Officials: Trial data may be outdated
Group wants review of
AstraZeneca vaccine info
Karen Weintraub
USA TODAY
Hours after COVID-19 vaccine collab-
orators AstraZeneca and Oxford Univer-
sity released data on their large clinical
trial, federal officials said that informa-
tion may have been missing a month’s
worth of data.
The pair touted their vaccine trial re-
sults Monday in a news release and
news conference, saying the two-dose
shot would prevent 79% of symptomat-
ic cases of COVID-19 and 100% of all se-
vere cases and hospitalizations.
But a few minutes after midnight, the
federal government took the unusual
A YEAR WITH NEW SCHOOLING MODELS
MARY ANN LAWRENCE/USA TODAY NETWORK
A look at lessons learned
What surprised, shook
teachers and students
Erin Richards, Chris Quintana,
Lindsay Schnell and Alia Wong
USA TODAY
From grade school to graduate
school, developing young minds in close
physical proximity halted abruptly in
mid-March 2020.
What happened next to schools and
families was devastating and electrify-
ing, thought-provoking and quieting,
unifying and isolating. Homes became
entire worlds. Working parents juggled
daytime teaching. College students
studied from childhood bedrooms. Mil-
lions of kindergartners started school in
a format previously unfathomable:
Zoom.
Teachers shifted to nurturing and en-
couraging through screens – with little
Digital tools track COVID-19 vaccination locations
Coral Murphy Marcos
USA TODAY
As COVID-19 vaccines continue to be
distributed across the country and its
territories, more digital tools are becom-
ing available to help Americans get their
shots.
The U.S. is distributing vaccines
made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna,
and Johnson & Johnson in hospitals,
pharmacies and other locations in all 50
states.
Many state health department web-
sites offer information about where eli-
gible groups can get the vaccine in their
state, as well as each state’s vaccination
plan. Big retail and pharmaceutical
companies also have the information
step of issuing its own news release say-
ing the data may have been based on
“outdated information.”
According to the statement, an inde-
pendent review board that examined
the AstraZeneca-Oxford data told the
government and the company “that it
was concerned by information released
by AstraZeneca on initial data from its
COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.”
That independent group, called the
Data Safety Monitoring Board, or
DSMB, “expressed concern that Astra-
Zeneca may have included outdated in-
formation from that trial, which may
have provided an incomplete view of the
efficacy data. We urge the company to
work with the DSMB to review the effi-
cacy data and ensure the most accurate,
See ASTRAZENECA, Page 3D
training. Many hunted down students
in person to ensure they were safe, fed
and outfitted with resources to learn.
The COVID-19 pandemic has pre-
sented a set of real-world lessons too
close and too fresh to be captured by
textbooks: How does one manage lives
lost? Calculate the damage of lost in-
come? Measure new levels of mental fa-
tigue? We interviewed more than 30
students and educators, of all ages and
experience, about how they grew and
changed in 2020 – or just made it to the
next day.
Over the course of an extraordinary
year, here’s what they learned.
Question: What surprised you
the most about virtual or hybrid
learning?
“The mask environment – having to
teach through that, having to work with
students through that and communi-
readily available on their websites. Tech
giants such as Apple and Facebook have
also developed digital tools to help users
find vaccinations.
As language barriers thwart efforts to
vaccinate Latinos and other communi-
ties, government entities, as well as cor-
porations and nonprofit groups, are
publishing content in Spanish and other
languages.
Roughly 22.2% of people in the U.S.
have received at least one COVID-19
shot as of March 18, and around 12% of
people are fully vaccinated, according to
USA TODAY’S COVID-19 vaccine track-
er.
Here’s a list of online sources to help
users find places where they can get a
COVID-19 vaccine:
Early Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the government agency that released
the information, said AstraZeneca released data available only through Feb. 17
while presenting it as if it were current information. MATTHIAS SCHRADER/AP
cate through this barrier
was a struggle. I couldn’t
quite tell if they were get-
ting it. My dad jokes just
didn’t land.” – Josh
Montgomery, 43, asso-
Montgomery ciate professor of com-
puter science at South-
ern State Community College in Hills-
boro, Ohio
When personal protective equipment
was scarce at the beginning of the pan-
demic, Montgomery organized about
200 volunteers, most of them educators,
to create and assemble face shields for
first responders. With the help of 3D
printers, the educators distributed more
than 4,000 face masks to 51 medical or-
ganizations.
“Being at home and not in person
made it more difficult to manage my
schoolwork and my personal life, which
brought a lot of stress and anxiety. Hav-
More digital tools are available to help
people get their shots. GETTY IMAGES
Your one-stop portal
for the news you need
For all the latest developments,
visit coronavirus.usatoday.com.
ing someone guide me is
the way I learn best.” –
Cristina Alvizo, 17, Mid-
dle College High School,
Santa Ana, California
Alvizo attended school
Alvizo remotely all year from the
three-bedroom, one bath-
room home she shares with 10 family
members. Her father and grandmother
got very sick with COVID-19, but both re-
covered. Alvizo, the first in her family to
attend college, participates in the Boys
& Girls Clubs’ College Bound program.
She’ll graduate high school with two as-
sociate degrees and plans to continue
studying to be a physician’s assistant.
“The convenience of being able to
wake up and log into class was one of
the most surprising things about virtual
learning. It allowed me to expand the
See LESSONS, Page 2D
VaccineFinder
VaccineFinder is a free, online ser-
vice where users can search for loca-
tions that offer vaccinations. The ser-
vice is operated by epidemiologists and
software developers at Boston Chil-
dren’s Hospital.
Apple Maps
Apple announced Tuesday that it
would display on its Apple Mapsplaces
where users can go to get a COVID-19
vaccine. Apple product users can search
for a nearby site by asking Siri or typing
in the search bar within Maps.
See LOCATIONS, Page 3D
2D ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ USA TODAY
NATION’S HEALTH
Lessons
Continued from Page 1D
number of activities I was involved in
because it totally removes the travel
time. I ended up picking up an extra job.
But this also meant I
would be online for 12
hours a day. That was
really difficult for me.” –
Denis Alvarez, 22, a sen-
ior at Arizona State Uni-
versity
Alvarez Alvarez, a recipient of
Deferred Action for Child-
hood Arrivals, a program that allows
people brought into the USA illegally as
children to stay in the country, said nei-
ther she nor her family received money
from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and
Economic Security Act passed last
March. Undocumented communities
were not eligible, but organizations at
the university raised funds for them, Al-
varez said.
“Serving two student populations at
the same time. I have people joining on-
line and joining from the classroom.
Learning to work with
both groups simulta-
neously – that was pretty
difficult.” – Orion Smith,
41, computer science
teacher, Arlington
Heights High School, Fort
Smith Worth, Texas
“What surprised me most about vir-
tual learning is probably how exhaust-
ing it is. And I don’t just mean exhaust-
ing in the physical sense or your eye-
strain sense, which are all very real. I
also mean exhausting in
the sense that you are rei-
magining yourself every
day, and you are sitting in
this place trying to figure
out how to really teach
this material to students
Persad who sometimes don’t
have their cameras on.” –
Joellen Persad, 29, physics teacher,
Madison Park Technical Vocational
High School, Boston
What was the most difficult part
of the past year?
“The uncertainty of everything.
Would I have the opportunity to return
to campus or have a bas-
ketball season?” – Temi
Carda, 22, senior at
Creighton University in
Omaha
Carda and the
Creighton Blue Jays were
Carda in the middle of the Big
East conference tourna-
ment when COVID-19 shut down college
sports. She flew home to Minnesota,
where she stayed for six months. Carda
played all season wearing a mask.
“I’m fueled by being around people,
by touching them – like, I’m going to
physically demonstrate my affection to-
wards you. When I’m with my kids, I’m
like, ‘Let’s hug!’ ” I have seen some of my
students who have come into the build-
ing, but I feel this pause, like, ‘Oh, I need
to make sure I keep my space and stay
over here.’ And that’s been really, really
tough.” – Persad
“When my wife got sick, that was
very scary. I had four
members of my family
die from COVID.” – Aar-
on Jemison, 54, custodi-
an, Peterson Elementary
School, Chicago
Jemison contracted
Jemison the virus and was hospi-
talized March 22 last
year. He and his wife recovered, and Je-
mison is back at work. About 300 stu-
dents at Peterson receive in-person in-
struction, he said.
“The reverted sleep schedule. I’m
very much an early bird, and I can’t do
this if my classes start at
6 p.m. (local time) and
end at a quarter to 2 a.m.”
– Elisabeth Koch, 25,
first-year student doctor-
al student in Egyptology
and Iranian studies at the
Koch University of California,
Los Angeles
Koch studies online from Frieda, Ger-
many. Without access to university li-
braries for studying, Koch said she feels
like she’s lost at least a year of her Ph.D.
work.
“Families want a pre-pandemic edu-
cation, and not being able to give them
exactly what they want has been really
hard. For the first time, I
felt like I couldn’t meet
their needs fully.” – Da-
vid Miyashiro, 49, su-
perintendent, Cajon Val-
ley Union School District,
Miyashiro California
“Doing the same repetitive tasks ev-
ery day with little variation can be so
boring.” – Evelyn Lund, 16, sophomore,
Arlington Heights High
School, Fort Worth, Texas
“In my first year of
teaching, I taught a group
of students on Sept. 11,
and I thought for years
Lund and years that would be
the hardest day. I’m in
Littleton, Colorado, so we have experi-
enced a couple of local school shootings
since that, and I thought those would be
the hardest days. Those days were very
hard, but in some ways,
they were contained.
This has been 12 months
of crisis.” – Monica Fu-
glei, 44, community col-
lege instructor and Eng-
lish Department chair,
Fuglei Arapahoe Community
College, Littleton, Colora-
do
What was the most challenging
part of your home or social life?
“My friend dying. And me going to
jail. And my friend getting life. It was
challenging for me. They’re my friends.
These dudes I kick it with every other
day. Some of my friends
who died really believed
in me, they thought I
could really be success-
ful.” – Tariq Miles, 18,
youth ambassador, Eight
Million Stories, Houston
Miles Miles was released
from Texas Youth Com-
mission, a juvenile correctional facility,
at the end of March 2020. He served time
for having drugs on a school campus.
Eight Million Stories, a nonprofit group
that helps disadvantaged youth, helped
him finish his education. He plans to at-
tend Alabama A&M University this fall.
“I found out I was going to be a dad. It
just amplified any emotional struggles
and battles I was already having. And
certainly it doesn’t help the financial
worries. It’s been hard for me to get
through college already. I want to be able
to provide for her, but I
just don’t know if I’m
ready.” – JT Fillingim, 21,
junior at Eastern Wash-
ington University in Che-
ney, Washington
Fillingin’s wife, also a
Fillingim student at Eastern Wash-
ington University, is due
in July. They attend classes online from
her family’s home in Tacoma, Washing-
ton. Their wedding last summer was re-
duced to five guests. Fillingin said he
lost several thousand dollars in depos-
its.
“The most difficult part of my home
or social life was having no privacy. Usu-
ally during the year, I could go out and
find my own space. Being home all day
with 10 other family members is stress-
ful. There’s a lot of arguments. You’re
together all the time and then you start
to feel unappreciated, which is ironic.” –
Alvizo
When Alvizo’s father came back from
the hospital to recover from COVID-19,
Alvizo, her mom and her sister had to
sleep on the living room floor for several
weeks. Alvizo continued to attend class
from home and help her little sister at-
tend kindergarten on Zoom.
How did you find strength?
“I got strong when I realized that
home school is learning at your own
pace. I think it was the end of the quar-
ter when I got good
grades for the entire
quarter. I was like, ‘OK, I
can do this’ because I was
really afraid (that I was)
going to have to repeat a
grade.” – Victoria Brad-
Bradley ley, 17, senior, Arts Acad-
emy in the Woods, Fraser,
Michigan
Bradley chose to home-school this
year, but she feared missing all the ritu-
als that would make her feel like a sen-
ior. In the end, she said, it turned out to
be a good decision.
“I prayed a lot. My salvation was
when I started collaborating with other
superintendents.” – Robert Gregory,
47, superintendent, Hill-
side Public Schools, Hill-
side, New Jersey
Gregory was on the
50th day of his new job
leading Hillside when
Gregory schools shut down. Ini-
tially, many students
lacked internet and computers at home,
but as those needs were addressed, and
as COVID-19 transmission rates re-
mained high, Gregory announced the
district would operate online for the en-
tire 2020-21 school year.
How did you maintain
relationships?
“By going on Zoom at my own time,
playing ‘Minecraft’ with my friends.
And also by having discussions with my
class, because they usually will put us in
breakout rooms, and we’ll be able to talk
together – not just about
the work but our personal
lives as well.” – Gwynnie
Poutasse, 11, sixth grade,
Harvard Public Schools,
Boston-area
Poutasse “Initially, it was diffi-
cult – I couldn’t find
words for it, and I didn’t want to seem
like I was complaining. I started seeing a
counselor, someone that
I could talk to myself just
to kind of release and un-
load my stress.” – Winnie
Williams-Hall, 45,
eighth grade special edu-
cation teacher, Nicholson
Williams- STEM Academy, Chicago
Hall Williams-Hall’s son
just went to college. She
normally would have dealt with the
loneliness and isolation by chatting
with colleagues at school in the hall-
ways or at lunchtime, she said.
“I didn’t really maintain the same re-
lationships, I built new ones. Seeing
how everyone responded to the pan-
demic made me pay at-
tention to who I call my
friends.” – Korea Mi
Amour Rankin, 16, ju-
nior, Cabrillo High
School, Long Beach, Cali-
fornia
Rankin
“My friends at the
Teachers College and I would hold Zoom
calls where we would work on our as-
signments together. This became more
frequent during the finals and all of our
projects due. It was the moral support
that we felt from having another per-
son’s presence, even though it was vir-
tual. I remember staying up till 3 a.m.
working on a final project with one of
my other friends.” – Alvarez
What did you learn this year that
you wouldn’t have learned without
living through this pandemic?
“I learned more about American his-
tory and how America became America
today. These are some of
the best times I’ve had,
being with my family,
learning about myself.” –
Patrick Green, 14, eighth
grade, University Prep
Science and Math, De-
Green troit
Green learned a diffi-
cult truth this year: His great-great-
grandfather was a slave. Still, he appre-
ciated the time at home to discuss his
family’s history with loved ones, he said.
“(The pandemic) made that superin-
tendent/ed-leader network stronger,
because we didn’t have mandates and
guidance. I have colleagues that are su-
perintendents out in Washington state,
who were a few weeks ahead of me
when we were talking about shutting
down here in Ohio. I said, ‘What am I not
thinking of?’ ‘What don’t I know?’ ‘What
do you wish you would
have known when you
started down this path a
couple of weeks ago?’ ” –
Matt Miller, 49, superin-
tendent and CEO, Lakota
Local Schools, Ohio
Miller
“I learned the skill of
time management. It’s so tempting to be
on your phone during class time when
you’re at home. But it ultimately kicks
you in the butt.” – Lund
“It’s not that parents don’t want to be
involved – it’s that parents are not being
educated about education … and don’t
know how to be involved.” – Janet Hug-
er-Johnson, 54, principal, East New
York Elementary School of Excellence,
Brooklyn, New York
NEWS
“I never realized how
big of a disparity the digi-
tal divide is in certain
communities. Things we
take for granted, like ac-
Huger- cess to the internet isn’t
Johnson there for everyone. Or if
there’s an older sibling in
the home, they have to watch a younger
sibling and at times have to share a de-
vice. It was that digital divide that I was
not anticipating. It destroyed us last
spring.” – Robert Gregory, 47, Hillside
Public Schools, Hillside, New Jersey
How do you think the pandemic
will permanently change
education?
“Everything is not pencil, paper, rote
memorization and writing on the dry-
erase board. Also, sadly for the kiddos, it
will take away snow days.” – Williams-
Hall
“We’ve learned the power of digital
tools is only as good as the buy-in teach-
ers and students develop to include
them. With hard-to-reach students,
we’ve been gobsmacked with how true
that is.” – Smith
“We’re already talking about ensur-
ing that virtual classes continue to be an
option for our students because we
might have students who are single par-
ents who can’t come to a night class
physically but might be able to attend a
night class virtually.” – Fuglei
What stories do you think you’ll be
retelling 10 or 20 years from now?
“Students were really able to engage
in the real world. We did this research
project that got published, and those
compounds are now being synthesized
by our collaborator to be tested against
coronavirus. All of that is
just chemistry in real
form. It’s like, ‘What am I
supposed to do with all
this stuff in these books?
Well, you should save
lives.’” – Shana Stod-
Stoddard dard, 37, chemistry pro-
fessor, Rhodes College,
Memphis, Tennessee
“I’m going to describe (the pandemic)
as kind of a challenging time. But it’s
time that we got through and we got
through it together. And I
think that it’s brought out
really good things in a lot
of people – like support
and friendliness.” – Rus-
sell Poutasse, 13, eighth
grade, Harvard Public
Poutasse Schools, Massachusetts
“I’m going to tell them how you do
virtual stuff and how you do Zoom and
how you do Special
Olympics with your kids
(virtually).” – Emma
Burkhalter, 21, senior at
Vaughn Occupational
High School in Chicago
Vaughn, a school for
Burkhalter students with special
needs, was the first Chi-
cago school to shut down last March af-
ter a classroom assistant had one of the
earliest known cases of the virus in the
state. Burkhalter and many of her peers
are back to attending school in person.
“We will look back at this and recog-
nize it for what it is: a period where we
made the best use of an unsettling time.
It was a time that my daughter, who is 6,
and I were able to bond in a way I hope
lasts a lifetime. With my
son (10), it continues to
give us a chance to create
this special man camp re-
lationship we have. And
it gives me a chance ev-
ery day to slow down and
Sorrell smile at my wife even
more.” – Michael Sorrell,
54, president of Paul Quinn College,
Dallas
“Even though the world is at a stand-
still, I got to keep on moving and pro-
gressing and evolving as
a human being. Twenty
years from now, I hope to
tell my children that
there can be good things
that can come out of
times of darkness.” –
Broussard Alanis Broussard, 18,
freshman at Boston Uni-
versity from Atlanta
Broussard lived on campus and at-
tended a mix of in-person and virtual
classes this year. She’s double-majoring
in journalism and public relations.
NEWS USA TODAY ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ 3D

NATION’S HEALTH

AstraZeneca
Continued from Page 1D

up-to-date efficacy data be made pub-

lic as quickly as possible.”
Early Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci,
head of the government agency that
released the information, said on
ABC’s “Good Morning America” that
the company released data available
only through Feb. 17 while presenting it
as if it were current information.
It’s unclear how much the up-to-
date information may change the re-
ported effectiveness rate.
“It really is unfortunate that this
happened,” said Fauci, head of the Na-
tional Institute of Allergy and Infec-
tious Diseases. “This is very likely a
very good vaccine.”
He said such missteps can contrib-
ute to hesitancy about vaccination. “It
was not necessary,” he said. “If you
look at it, the data really are quite
good, but when they put it into the
press release, the data wasn’t quite ac-
curate.”
Fauci also praised the monitoring
board’s decision to go public when it
saw the information AstraZeneca and
Oxford had put out.
That body is one of many “safe-
guards” in place to ensure the public it
is getting transparent, accurate infor-
mation about vaccines, he said. “The
DSMB picking up this discrepancy was
an example of a safeguard.” Another,
he said, is the Food and Drug Admini-
stration, which will review the data
again, as will an independent advisory
committee to the FDA.
For its part, AstraZeneca said Tues- The travel industry is pushing the White House to draw up a plan in the next five weeks to help boost international travel
day that it had released a “pre-speci- and eliminate COVID-19 restrictions. RICK BOWMER/AP
fied interim analysis with a data cut-
off of 17 February.” In its previous news

Travel industry pushes US

release, the company had referred to
the data as “interim” but did not ex-
plain that it was out of date.
“We have reviewed the preliminary

assessment of the primary analysis
and the results were consistent with
the interim analysis. We are now com-
pleting the validation of the statistical
analysis,” the company said in a state-
ment. It said it intended to release
results of that analysis within 48
hours.
Vaccine experts reacted to the news
Tuesday with confusion and exas-
peration at a company that already has
made several missteps in the vaccine
development process.
“I just can’t quite understand the
story, it’s so confusing,” said Dr. Peter
Hotez, dean of the National School of
Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of
Medicine in Houston.
“I worry about the vaccine’s reputa-
tion and acceptance, especially in low
and middle income countries,” he said
via email. “We don’t have much to offer
Africa and Latin America in terms of
COVID-19 vaccines and this was sup-
posed to be one of our workhorse vac-
cines in resource poor settings.”
The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine
has been considered the least-expen-
sive COVID-19 vaccine and easiest to
distribute across the world.
But its development and distribu-
tion have been riddled with problems,
unlike the other COVID-19 vaccines,
which have sailed through research
trials and early production.
Most recently, the AstraZeneca-Ox-
ford vaccine was put on hold in many
European countries after reports that
a small number of the 20 million peo-
ple who received the shot developed a
rare form of blood clot.
Last week, European drug regula-
tors determined that the vaccine was
safe and effective but could not rule
out that the vaccine contributed to the
blood clots. Regulators are now mon-
itoring vaccine recipients to see
whether more clots occur.
The company also has had produc-
tion problems, made a dosing error in a
global trial and was forced to pause its
trials last fall after a vaccine recipient
suffered an unusual neurological con-
dition.
The study released Monday includ-
ed more than 30,000 participants
from the U.S., Peru and Chile and
showed strong protection against
COVID-19 in all age groups and across
health status, ethnicity and race. The
study reported no severe safety issues,
including no blood clots, and side
effects comparable with other vac-
cines’.
Health and patient safety coverage
at USA TODAY is made possible in part
by a grant from the Masimo Founda-
tion for Ethics, Innovation and Com-
petition in Healthcare. The Masimo
Foundation does not provide editorial
input.
to eliminate restrictions
Groups say steps will
speed up recovery
David Koenig
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Airlines and other tourism-related
businesses are pushing the White
House to draw up a plan in the next five
weeks to boost international travel
and eliminate restrictions that were
imposed early in the coronavirus pan-
demic.
More than two dozen groups made
their request in a letter to the White
House on Monday.
They want people who have been
vaccinated against COVID-19 to be ex-
empt from testing requirements be-
fore entering the United States. They
also want the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention to say that
vaccinated people can travel safely.
The groups say those and other
steps will speed up the recovery of the
travel and airline industries, which
have been devastated by a plunge in
travel amid the pandemic.
U.S. air travel is already picking up.
More than 1 million people have passed
through airport checkpoints each of
the past 11 days, and Sunday’s total
topped more than 1.5 million for the
Locations
Continued from Page 1D
Facebook
Facebook launched a tool in its CO-
VID Information Center that shows
when and where users can get vacci-
nated. The update also gives users a
link to make an appointment. The tool
is still rolling out.
CVS Pharmacy
CVS Pharmacy has a map on its CO-
VID-19 page where users can select
their state and find the nearest CVS of-
fering vaccinations. Eligible users can
schedule their first and second doses
of the vaccine online.
Rite Aid
Users can visit the Rite Aid CO-
VID-19 website to find out where they
can get the vaccination against the vi-
rus. Visitors must click on their state to
first time in more than a year. Passenger
traffic is still below 2019 levels, however.
The organizations calling for relaxing
international restrictions include the
chief trade group for the nation’s largest
carriers, Airlines for America, the U.S.
Travel Association and the U.S. Cham-
ber of Commerce. They set a May 1 tar-
get for the government “to partner with
us” on a plan to rescind year-old restric-
tions on international travel.
The groups cited a decline in reported
new cases, hospitalizations and deaths
related to COVID-19 in the United
States. Nearly 45 million Americans,
more than 13% of the population, have
been fully vaccinated against COVID-19,
according to CDC figures.
“The time to plan for and chart a de-
fined roadmap to reopen international
travel is now,” they wrote in a letter to
White House virus response coordina-
tor Jeffrey Zients.
The White House did not comment
but referred to remarks by CDC Director
Rochelle Walensky on Monday. Walen-
sky said the health agency was working
on new guidance for people who are
vaccinated but raised concern about in-
creases in new reported coronavirus
cases in many European countries.
“If we look at our European friends,
we just don’t want to be at this rapid up-
tick of cases again, and that is very pos-
find out whether they’re eligible for the
vaccine and can schedule their appoint-
ment at the nearest Rite Aid.
Albertsons
Albertsons is part of the federal pro-
gram to receive vaccines from the CDC.
Users can visit the chain’s website to lo-
cate the nearest Albertsons offering CO-
VID-19 vaccinations. Visitors must en-
ter their ZIP code and confirm they are
eligible for vaccination.
Hy-Vee
Hy-Vee’s pharmacy page offers a tool
where users can enter their ZIP code
and find the nearest Hy-Vee offering the
vaccination. Due to limited supply, ap-
pointments may not be available at all
locations, according to the web page.
Walgreens
The Walgreens COVID-19 vaccine lo-
cator tool helps residents in New Mexico
and New Hampshire find a Walgreens
providing vaccination against the coro-
sible that that could happen,” she said.
“We are so close to vaccinating so many
more people. ... Now is not the time to
travel.”
The airline industry hopes to see the
lifting of broad restrictions on travel be-
tween the United States and Europe,
China and other regions that former
President Donald Trump imposed last
spring to curb spread of the virus. Most
non-U.S. citizens who have been in
Europe are barred from entering the
country.
The airlines have been lobbying the
Biden administration to take a leading
role in developing standards for so-
called vaccine passports that would al-
low people to travel freely if they are
vaccinated and take a coronavirus test.
The European Union last week pro-
posed a digital health certificate, but the
U.S. administration has demurred, say-
ing it’s up to the private sector.
In the past year, the federal govern-
ment has approved $65 billion to help
airlines cover most of their payroll costs
in exchange for keeping workers em-
ployed, plus billions more in low-inter-
est loans. Most recently, President Joe
Biden signed a $1.9 trillion relief pack-
age that included $15 billion for airlines.
Contributing: Zeke Miller, The Asso-
ciated Press
navirus. Users must enter their ZIP code
to find the nearest location.
Costco
Costco pharmacies are administering
COVID-19 vaccines at locations in Cali-
fornia, Mississippi, New York, Oregon,
Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Vermont
and Washington. Residents seeking the
vaccine can visit Costco’s COVID-19
vaccine page and select their state and
county, and book an appointment.
Kroger
Through Kroger’s general vaccina-
tion website, users can can enter their
ZIP code to locate the nearest Kroger of-
fering vaccinations. The vaccine is
available only in select locations.
Walmart
Walmart designed an interactive
map to show which locations are offer-
ing COVID-19 vaccinations. Users can
zoom in on their state and find the near-
est location.
 n 

 
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8D ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 ❚ USA TODAY NEWS

TRAVEL

Sweet celebrations back on tap

Festivities in
Northeast welcome
maple syrup season
Lisa Rathke
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Maple season is a time-honored tra-

dition in the Northeast, when sap starts
to flow in maple trees and is collected
and boiled into syrup, with visitors com-
ing to sugar houses to see the operations
firsthand.
But the COVID-19 pandemic forced
some states to cancel or postpone their
annual sweet celebrations last year, and
now some producers are welcoming
back the public with safety precautions
in place.
Maple weekends are happening Sat-
urday and Sunday in Massachusetts
and Connecticut, and Maine's annual
celebration is being held March 27-28
with precautions recommended by the
Maine Center for Disease Control and
Prevention. But those statewide events
are off for a second year in a row in Ver-
mont, the country's top maple producer,
and New York.
Maine Maple Sunday was postponed
last spring, which was a disappoint-
ment for syrup producers, some of
whom counted on it for 50% of their an-
nual sales.
“It was a huge loss last year,” said Jo- Beverly Thurber, of Lilac Ridge Farm in Brattleboro, Vt., checks the density of the sap that is being boiled for maple syrup
Ann Merrifield, who said the event nor- on March 5, 2020. KRISTOPHER RADDER/AP
mally accounts for 75% of sales at Mer-
rifield Farm in Gorham, Maine. That in-
cluded valued added products like nuts restaurants that they supply shut down.
and candy, in addition to syrup. Sales are down slightly for Turkey
Her farm normally would have about Street Maples, in Chocorua, New
4,000 to 5,000 visitors over the week- Hampshire, because restaurants we-
end. This year, the event is scaled back. ren't using as much syrup, but grocery
Gone are the free samples of maple ice stores are still taking their syrup, which
cream, the pancake breakfast, black- they also sell online and curbside, said
smith demonstration and animals, she Kate Stanley.
said. But people can still purchase prod- New Hampshire is having a maple
ucts as well as enjoy coffee and a pastry, month, with some producers allowing
she said. limited visitors, with social distancing,
Despite the loss of the maple open face masks and other requirements.
house weekends in Vermont, some pro- Normally about 600 people visit Tur-
ducers say sales have been up with more key Street Maples during their maple
people staying home and cooking for weekend. They usually have two or
themselves. three other businesses come and sell
“I just think people are staying home their products but this year, their event
more and using more syrup,” said Jim next weekend will be smaller, she said.
Wells, of Olde Carriage Sugarwoods in The sugarhouse is too small to have
Charlotte, Vermont, who said his sales other people inside and maintain a safe
increased at a local market, online and distance but French doors built into it
to people stopping by the house. “I al- allow people to see the process from
most ran out of syrup, which is unusu- outside, Stanley said.
al.” Despite the loss of the maple open house weekends, some producers say sales “We’ve pared it back to just us and
Others reported a drop in sales after have been up with more people cooking for themselves. ROBERT F. BUKATY/AP FILE another local farm,” she said.

Majority of
Miami Beach
arrests from
out of state
Mayor sees ‘too many
people’ looking to act out
Dustin Barnes and Morgan Hines
USA TODAY

Slightly more than half of those ar-

rested in Miami Beach over a period in-
cluding spring break live outside of Flor-
ida, city data show. Additionally, more
than a third of the citywide arrests were
for felony charges.
According to the Miami Beach Police
Department, 1,050 arrests were made
over the past six weeks, starting Feb. 3,
shortly before the city ramped up its po-
lice presence to account for the popular
spring break period that starts in mid-
February. A man is arrested while out a few hours past curfew in Miami Beach, Fla., on Sunday. DANIEL A. VARELA/MIAMI HERALD VIA AP
On Saturday, the city declared a state
of emergency in its entertainment dis-
trict, establishing an 8 p.m. curfew due were made in the city’s Art Deco Cultur- h 102 firearms were seized; Lauderdale despite conditions chang-
to the spring breakers who inundated al District, also the same area where h 278 of those arrested involved pub- ing for spring breakers in Miami.
the city. A crowd on Ocean Drive refused most of the felony arrests were made – lic consumption of drugs; “We expect a certain amount of
to submit to the curfew later that eve- 236. h 126 of those arrested involved pub- young vacationers to come up to Fort
ning, and that was when officers in bul- There is simply too much disorder for lic consumption of alcohol; Lauderdale since the bar and restaurant
letproof vests released pepper spray the police department to handle, Gelber h 182 of those arrested involved ob- scene is under an 8 p.m. curfew (in Mi-
balls to break up the party, according to told USA TODAY on Saturday. struction and resisting arrest; ami Beach) and a lot of people have
The Associated Press. A curfew-defying “We’ve got too many people and too h 438 misdemeanor arrests occurred come down here expecting to enjoy
crowd showed up again Sunday night. many looking to act out while there’s a citywide. themselves later into the night,” Tranta-
Of the overall citywide arrests, 542 pandemic going on,” he said. Less than an hour from Miami Beach, lis said. “Fort Lauderdale has no curfew.
were for individuals who reside outside The city has implemented “zero tol- people are taking spring break in Fort However, our spring break scene has
of Florida, and 398 were felony arrests, erance for all of our ordinances,” Gelber Lauderdale. But they aren’t having the been well-behaved; people come down
according to a Sunday letter from in- said, which means Miami Beach Police same experience as vacationers visiting here knowing we have strict COVID re-
terim city manager Raul Aquila to Mayor are making arrests for having open con- their South Florida neighbor. strictions.”
Dan Gelber and the Miami Beach City tainers and more. Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Tranta- Trantalis added that they’ve seen
Commission. Other Miami Beach arrest break- lis told USA TODAY that he doesn’t ex- “nothing but good behavior,” apart from
A majority of the arrests – 636 total – downs for the past six weeks: pect “hoards of people” to flock to Fort a few outliers.
 ABCDE
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Netanyahu
party leads
Massacre leaves another city grieving
but is short 21-YEAR-OLD CHARGED IN BOULDER RAMPAGE

of majority Biden calls on Senate to act after Ga., Colo. killings

BY A RI S CHNEIDER, old told reporters at a news con-
A MANDA M ILLER, ference Tuesday morning that au-
M ARK B ERMAN thorities were doing “everything
Fourth Israeli election in AND A NNIE G OWEN in our power to make sure this
under 2 years fails to suspect has a thorough trial and
yield a clear mandate boulder, colo. — A 21-year-old we do a thorough investigation.”
Colorado man was charged with The probe is ongoing, she said,
10 counts of first-degree murder asking anyone who knows any-
Tuesday after authorities said he thing about the tragedy to come
BYS TEVE H ENDRIX, walked into a King Soopers gro- forward.
S HIRA R UBIN cery store on a quiet Monday af- “Nothing can replace, nothing
AND M IRIAM B ERGER ternoon and gunned down 10 peo- can fill the void of the victims and
ple, including police officer Eric their loved ones,” said Boulder
jerusalem — Prime Minister Talley, a father of seven who re- County District Attorney Michael
Benjamin Netanyahu’s party won sponded to the rampage. Dougherty, “but I promise you we
the most parliamentary seats in In a news conference Tuesday, will hold him accountable.”
Israel’s election Tuesday, accord- authorities identified the suspect Speaking at the White House at
ing to exit polls, putting him with- as Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa of Ar- midday, President Biden lament-
in sight of securing a governing vada, Colo., who was shot in the ed the mass shooting, saying he
coalition and extending his tenure leg during the attack and later was devastated that “another
as the country’s longest- serving filmed being taken into custody. American city has been scarred by
leader. He was charged with 10 counts of gun violence and the resulting
Netanyahu’s Likud party far murder in the first degree and one trauma.” Biden called on the Sen-
outpolled its main challengers but count of attempted first-degree ate to pass two background-check
still fell well short of a parliamen- murder. bills already approved by the
tary majority, and the exit poll The mass shooting — the sec- House and for Congress to reenact
results, which continued to shift ond in the country in less than a an assault-weapons ban.
in the wee hours of Wednesday, week — has reignited the debate Later in Ohio, Biden said that
suggested that a majority might on gun violence, even as investiga- he had spoken to the attorney
remain out of reach. tors struggle to identify a motive general as well as FBI director
The exit poll results show that for this latest, horrific event. Christopher A. Wray, and “the in-
Israeli politics remain stalemated Boulder Police Chief Maris Her- SEE SHOOTING ON A9
by a profound divide. Three previ-
ous elections in the past two years
each failed to produce a functional
government, and lawmakers From all walks Suspect known
again face a period of intense
horse-trading as pro- and anti-Ne- of life, they left as reserved
tanyahu forces try to cobble to-
gether a majority in the 120-seat their marks but mercurial
parliament, or Knesset.
If Netanyahu again beats back a BY W ASHINGTON P OST STAFF BY A RI S CHNEIDER,
furious political challenge, he will L ENNY B ERNSTEIN,
still face an ongoing legal chal- The 10 people who died when a K IM B ELLWARE
lenge in the courts, where he is gunman opened fire Monday in a AND C RAIG T IMBERG
being tried on charges of bribery, grocery store in Boulder, Colo.,
fraud and corruption. ranged in age from 20 to 65 and arvada, colo. — Maybe he
Netanyahu’s alliance garnered came from all walks of life. But all didn’t quite fit in at his midsize
53 seats, according to an average died together in one of the most high school in this Denver sub-
of early television exit polls, while communal of places. urb, but Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa
a disparate collection of There was Eric Talley, 51, the certainly didn’t stand out. One of
anti-Netanyahu parties won 57. If police officer who joined the force 11 siblings in a family that emi-
Netanyahu’s alliance of right-wing late but threw himself whole- grated from Raqqa, Syria, two
and religious parties is to retain heartedly into the job that would decades ago, Alissa seemed to get
power, that could depend on ultimately cost him his life. Rikki along with others in his early
whether he can persuade one of Olds was a 25-year-old store man- teens — a moon-faced boy who
his former coalition partners, for- ager whose infectious laugh and wrestled but perhaps wanted for
mer defense minister Naftali Ben- silly dances cheered up her col- friends.
nett, to join him. Bennett, a right- leagues. There was Kevin Mahon- “He was a pretty chill kid from
wing leader who broke with Ne- ey, 61, a beloved father who died what I can remember,” said Mark
tanyahu to form his own party, RACHEL WOOLF FOR THE WASHINGTON POST before he could meet his grand- Dorokhov, who said he often ate
might be able to give Netanyahu Boulder residents hold each other Tuesday at a grocery store where 10 people were gunned down. daughter, and Teri Leiker, 51, a lunch with Alissa during the
the margin he needs to secure a longtime grocer who loved at- short period that Dorokhov at-
On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Democrats would “keep fighting” to end
bare majority in the Knesset. tending sporting events and sing- tended Arvada West High School.
Bennett has not ruled out serv- gun violence, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) called the debate over gun control “ridiculous theater.” ing songs from “Frozen.” “He wasn’t like a popular kid or
ing in a new Netanyahu govern- Suzanne Fountain, 59, was a anything. And he wasn’t like the
ment, even though the two former community actress and “bright high school loser, either. He was
allies are said to dislike each other. light.” Lynn Murray, 62, was a just kind of in-between. He was
And Bennett’s Knesset seats, per- More coverage former photo editor whose work like me, I guess.”
haps as many as eight, would give had appeared in the nation’s top That mild persona soon unrav-
him significant power in the coali- Columbine to Boulder Eric Talley Biden urges change fashion magazines. Denny Stong eled. In November 2017, his senior
tion negotiations that will begin Colorado has been Officer’s loved ones The president issues was the youngest to die. At just 20 year, the man accused of killing 10
SEE ISRAEL ON A15 disproportionately remember a civic- a direct call for the years old, he was stocking shelves people in a Boulder grocery store
plagued by the gun minded and family- tightening of U.S. gun while training to become a pilot. this week stood up in class and
Political ‘wizard’: Time and again, violence epidemic. A10 focused man. A12 laws. A13 SEE VICTIMS ON A12 SEE SUSPECT ON A11
Netanyahu has held on. A15

AstraZeneca shot’s U.S. fate cast into doubt over data Delayed by Trump, agency watchdogs try to finish probes
BY C AROLYN Y . J OHNSON, vaccine in the United States. academic scientists trumpeted a BY L ISA R EIN, HUD demanded that its attor- gators found that Trump inap-
L AURIE M C G INLEY In a memo sent to company vaccine that was 79 percent effec- T OM H AMBURGER, neys sit in on witness interviews, propriately held up federal disas-
AND W ILLIAM B OOTH and government officials, ob- tive in its large U.S. clinical trial. M ICHAEL L ARIS a tactic inspectors general said ter aid from an island reeling
tained by The Washington Post, That news release triggered con- AND J OHN H UDSON was unusual and could shape from a brutal hurricane.
The long-running saga behind experts who have been oversee- cern among independent moni- witness testimony. White House It’s far from the only politically
the coronavirus vaccine devel- ing the vaccine trial expressed tors who had seen more recent Almost as soon as she opened a officials told top agency appoin- sensitive work by government
oped by the drugmaker AstraZen- concern and disappointment that data, because when an additional politically charged investigation tees to withhold their communi- watchdogs — mandated by Con-
eca and the University of Oxford the drugmaker had presented month was taken into account, in 2019 into whether the Trump cations, documents and inter- gress to monitor federal agencies
made another dramatic turn “outdated and potentially mis- the effectiveness ranged from 69 White House blocked hurricane views show. Other records took for waste, fraud and misconduct
Tuesday as independent moni- leading” data on its coronavirus to 75 percent. relief to a devastated Puerto Rico, months to obtain. — that faced roadblocks or was
tors took the extraordinary step vaccine, making the shots appear SEE VACCINE ON A8 the internal watchdog at the Four months after Donald otherwise dragged out during the
of questioning the company’s more effective than shown by Department of Housing and Ur- Trump’s defeat, Inspector Gener- Trump era.
portrayal of its data — a move fuller data. Race and policing: Handling of ban Development ran into obsta- al Rae Oliver Davis still hasn’t Across the government, at
that cast into doubt the fate of the On Monday, AstraZeneca and spring break crowds at issue. A7 cles. announced whether her investi- SEE WATCHDOGS ON A23

In the News under control, the

Federal Reserve chair
On Wednesday, Gov.
Ralph Northam (D) will Inside
and the treasury secre- sign a bill to abolish it. B1
THE NATION THE WORLD tary told lawmakers. A20 A review of four deadly FOOD
Jury selection conclud- For an Italian mother Postmaster General incidents involving D.C.
ed in the trial of Derek who tested positive for Savoring Seder
Louis DeJoy unveiled his police found official
Chauvin, the former the coronavirus, isola- There’s room for
long-awaited strategic follow-up lacking but
Minneapolis police tion and anxiety awaited creativity at the Passover
plan for the U.S. Postal supported departmental
officer charged in after giving birth. A14 table with the sweet —
Service, which includes findings that cleared
George Floyd’s death. A3 NATO is set to make and symbolic —
slower mail, reduced the officers. B1
Congressional Repub- climate change a major condiment haroset. E1
hours and higher post- Northam announced
licans voiced early oppo- focus of its strategy and age prices. A21 Virginia will ease some ST YLE
sition to Biden’s still- planning, centering Cinemark, the nation’s restrictions, while Mary- Food for the soul
forming plans for an in- environmental issues as third-largest theater land Gov. Larry Hogan Even if you’re fed up with
frastructure package. A4 a security threat. A16 chain, may hold a post- (R) revealed that six new cooking, the shows
KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY/ASSOCIATED PRESS HHS Secretary Xavier Prince Harry will serve reopening advantage mass vaccination sites “Waffles + Mochi” and
Becerra said the as “chief impact officer” thanks to its emphasis will open in April. B1 “Nadiya Bakes” are
North Korean missile tests The short-range government must at BetterUp, a Silicon on restraint and stability, Potomac businessman worth a watch. C1
missiles fired Sunday mark Kim Jong Un’s go to work sites and Valley start-up. A17 analysts say. A25 David Blair, who lost the
disadvantaged commu-

1
2018 Democratic
first direct challenge to President Biden. A18 nities to surmount vacci- THE ECONOMY THE REGION primary for Montgom- BUSINESS NEWS ....................... A20 CONTENT © 2021
nation inequities. A6 The U.S. economy is on In Virginia, for cen- COMICS ....................................... C6 The Washington Post / Year 144, No. 109
Room to bloom Cherry blossom access will The Senate confirmed track for a strong recov- turies the only real issue
ery County executive to OPINION PAGES.........................A27
Marc Elrich, said he will LOTTERIES...................................B3
be limited this year, and the Tidal Basin could Vivek H. Murthy as sur- ery, but it all depends on about the death penalty challenge the incumbent OBITUARIES ................................ B6
getting the pandemic was how to expand it.
be closed if crowds swell, officials said. B1 geon general. A19 in 2022. B2
TELEVISION ................................. C5
WORLD NEWS............................A14
A2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST . WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021

H A P P EN I N G T O DA Y
For the latest updates all day, visit washingtonpost.com.

All day | Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visits Athens

through Thursday. Visit washingtonpost.com/world for details.
8:30 a.m. | The Commerce Department issues durable-goods orders for
February, which are expected to rise 0.9 percent. For developments, visit
washingtonpost.com/business.
10 a.m. | Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Fed Chair Jerome H.
Powell testify online before a Senate committee. For details, visit
washingtonpost.com/business.
10 a.m. | The Supreme Court hears arguments in Caniglia v. Strom, a case
regarding whether the “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth
Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the home. Visit
washingtonpost.com/national for details.
10 a.m. | The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee holds a hearing on the nomination of Cynthia Minette Marten
to be deputy education secretary. For developments, visit
washingtonpost.com/politics.

KLMNO CO RREC TI O NS

NEWSPAPER DELIVERY
l A March 20 Page One article
For home delivery comments
or concerns contact us at about the Atlanta area spa
washingtonpost.com/subscriberservices or shootings misstated the location
send us an email at of the church attended by the
homedelivery@washpost.com or call shooting suspect and his family.
202-334-6100 or 800-477-4679 Crabapple First Baptist Church
TO SUBSCRIBE is in Milton, Ga., not Woodstock,
800-753-POST (7678) Ga.
TO ADVERTISE l A March 20 A-section article
washingtonpost.com/mediakit
Classified: 202-334-6200
about changes to Centers for RACHEL WOOLF FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Display: 202-334-7642 Disease Control and Prevention A balloon floats by a memorial at the King Soopers in Boulder, Colo., where 10 people were killed Monday. The images that follow mass
guidance on school reopening shootings can be gut-wrenching — yet the deaths don’t spur action to make the guns harder to get, to make the guns less efficient.
MAIN PHONE NUMBER incorrectly described the

Americans are stubbornly unmoved by death

202-334-6000
agency’s definition of a region
TO REACH THE NEWSROOM with high community
Metro: 202-334-7300; transmission. It is 100 or more
metro@washpost.com total new cases per 100,000
National: 202-334-7410; people over the previous seven The scene looked consequences of all this are enormity. This is one of the still nothing happens. Nothing.
national@washpost.com days, not a seven-day average of heartbreakingly deeper than I suspect we know. explanations for why people have We have not gone numb to
Business: 202-334-7320; 100 or more daily cases per familiar: the By that, I mean the mental continued to engage in risky death. To “go numb” suggests that
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Free to download on the App Store and Play speaks. Joe Biden, a man who is someone else’s child. The self is better? Is it 58 — the number of stubbornly, selfishly dismiss it.
Store, subscribers enjoy unlimited access. expert at consoling, did the best everything. It’s freedom and people a man killed at a Las Vegas We shake it off. But there is
that he could to say something liberty, whims and desires. country music festival in 2017? Is always an assault that has the
true that did not sound like a Community doesn’t extend it 49 — the number killed in a capacity to bring an individual
cliche. beyond one’s front door. shooting at Orlando’s Pulse low. Some bracing gut punch that
“I even hate to say it because Everything else is someone else’s nightclub in 2016? Or perhaps the stings and startles. The pain
we’re saying it so often: My heart concern. motivating number is nine, which might finally register in a way
goes out. Our hearts go out for the Studies have shown that the accounts for those who were that is deep and lasting. And that
survivors, the — who had to — human brain can lose the fatally shot in Charleston during person begins to feel something.
had to flee for their lives and who capacity to process death, to a prayer meeting. Is it eight — the But that may require death
hid, terrified, unsure if they absorb the meaning of it, when number who were killed in coming directly to their own
would ever see their families the numbers of the dead begin to Georgia just last week? It surely doorstep, because that’s the only
again, their friends again,” Biden reach staggering levels. We have can’t be one, because there are one that, for many of us, seems to

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State Dining Room. “The numb in response to such communities all too often and robin.givhan@washpost.com

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politics & the Nation

Chauvin jury is seated, with trial set to get underway Monday
he was “gravely concerned” that
news of the Floyd family settle-
Minneapolis officer will ment had tainted the jury pool.
face panel more diverse But Cahill agreed with prosecu-
tors who pointed to the steady
than surrounding county pace of jury selection as proof
that pretrial publicity, including
news of the settlement, had not
BY H OLLY B AILEY harmed Chauvin’s right to a fair
trial.
minneapolis — Jury selection Nelson has argued that jurors
was completed Tuesday in the won’t be able to put the news out
trial of Derek Chauvin, the former of their minds, even if they swear
Minneapolis police officer under oath that they are able to
charged in George Floyd’s death. do so, because most already view
One final juror — a White man Chauvin in a negative light.
in his 20s — was picked Tuesday, In a court filing made public
bringing the total to 15 jurors Friday, Nelson said two-thirds of
seated and paving the way for the 326 potential jurors sum-
opening statements in the land- moned in the case said they had a
mark trial to begin Monday. “negative” opinion of his client on
But Hennepin County District a questionnaire the court distrib-
Judge Peter A. Cahill said he uted months before the settle-
planned to dismiss the final juror ment announcement. He said
Monday to move forward with a more than half the jury pool ex-
panel of 12 jurors and two alter- pressed a “neutral” view of Floyd.
nates, describing the extra alter- Of the 15 jurors seated in the
nate as an insurance policy to case so far, only one said he had
make sure the court has enough not seen all or some of the viral
jurors in place to begin testimony. video of Chauvin kneeling on
“The whole point of this 15th Floyd’s neck. Nine of the 15 said
juror was to make sure that we they had heard about the $27 mil-
have 14 people show up on Mon- lion settlement. All said they
day,” Cahill said. “Nevertheless, could put what they knew of the
I’m still not going to release the case aside and judge Chauvin
jury pool until the jury is sworn, based on facts presented in court.
on the off chance that we still Cahill had originally indicated
have to pick some alternates.” he had the option of picking 12
The court recessed until Mon- KEREM YUCEL/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
jurors and up to four alternates —
day, when opening statements are National Guard members stand outside a government building in Minneapolis on March 11 amid jury selection for Derek Chauvin’s trial. adding up to a panel of 16. But
scheduled to begin. The final pick covid-19 precautions has limited
comes after two weeks of jury Floyd’s neck for more than nine pool of prospective jurors — the case. But like many jurors factor” to the civil unrest that the number of people allowed
selection, which began March 9 minutes during a police investi- about 326 people, according to questioned during the grueling erupted here after Floyd’s death, inside the courtroom — including
— a day later than scheduled gation last May as the Black man numbers Chauvin’s defense team and often intense process, the leaving hundreds of buildings jurors. “Fourteen, that’s all we
because of a legal dispute over a complained of struggling to provided in a court filing last man had nuanced views on issues damaged or destroyed. Asked have room for,” Cahill said Tues-
third-degree murder charge. The breathe and ultimately died. week. of policing and race. about the decision of professional day. “We could seat at 15 if we had
charge was later reinstated. Just days into jury selection, The seated jury is more diverse Under defense questioning, athletes who have knelt during room.”
Just over 70 people were ques- Minneapolis officials announced than many expected from Henne- the man said he held a “somewhat the national anthem to protest Floyd was killed May 25 after
tioned during the process of seat- a record $27 million settlement pin County, where the population negative” view of Chauvin, saying racial injustice in the United being handcuffed and restrained
ing a jury in a case that has drawn with Floyd’s family — a develop- is about 80 percent White. The 15 he felt the officer had used “un- States, the juror said he under- facedown on a south Minneapolis
national attention and continues ment that led Cahill to dismiss seated jurors include one Black necessary” force on Floyd. He stood why they did it but wishes street during a police investiga-
to inspire intense and conflicted two jurors after they said they woman, two multiracial women, generally agreed that police offi- they wouldn’t. tion of a counterfeit $20 bill that
emotions in a city where many could no longer be impartial be- three White men, three Black cers tend to use more force on Standing during the national allegedly had been passed at a
remain traumatized by Floyd’s cause they had read or heard men and six White women. Four people who are Black. But he also anthem shows “respect of those local market.
death and the civil unrest that media coverage of the deal. jurors are in their 20s, three are in said he had respect for law en- that have come before us and the Chauvin faces charges of sec-
followed. But the court quickly replaced their 30s, three are in their 40s, forcement, saying police officers system that we have in the United ond- and third-degree murder
Few jurors summoned in the them and went on to pick seven four are in their 50s, and one is in perform a dangerous job and pro- States,” the man said, adding he and second-degree manslaugh-
case arrived without some knowl- more — a faster pace than many their 60s. vide a “valuable” service to the preferred a “different method” for ter. Three other officers charged
edge of the events surrounding involved in the case had expected. The man seated Tuesday — community. protesting athletes to “get their in the case — J. Alexander Kueng,
Floyd’s death. And almost all ad- Cahill had set aside three identified in court as Juror While the man expressed a message across.” Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao —
mitted to having a “negative” view weeks for jury selection, with the No. 131 — described himself as a “somewhat favorable” view of Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attor- are set to be tried separately in
of Chauvin, the White police offi- option to extend it. The court also married accountant who would Black Lives Matter, he felt the ney, asked the judge last week to August.
cer filmed with his knee on summoned a larger-than-usual bring an analytical approach to movement was a “contributing delay and move the trial, saying holly.bailey@washpost.com

DI GEST

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT Forces, Pacific, a statement said. of the landing team of the 1st NEW YORK rescue dog. But hope for his Man accused of holding
The amphibious assault Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, survival faded as the crew was National Guard members at
Marine commander vehicle had 16 people aboard 15th MEU, based on “a One is killed in fire; seen backing off so firefighters gunpoint: An Arizona man is
fired over accident when it sank rapidly in 385 feet of substantial amount of firefighter is missing could continue to hose down the accused of forcing off the road a
water off the coast of San information and data,” according smoldering wreckage throughout National Guard convoy that was
A U.S. Marine Corps Clemente Island on July 30, 2020, to a statement. A fire swept through a the afternoon. transporting covid-19 vaccine
commander was fired Tuesday while it was returning to a Navy A report on the cause of the suburban New York assisted Two other firefighters and doses in West Texas and then
following an investigation into ship. sinking has yet to be released. living home and caused a partial multiple other residents were holding 11 members at gunpoint.
the sinking of an amphibious Seven Marines were rescued. Col. Fridrik Fridriksson was collapse early Tuesday, killing one sent to hospitals. Larry Harris, 66, of Wilcox, Ariz.,
assault vehicle in the ocean off One Marine was pronounced named to take over command of resident and touching off a grim Flames gutted the Evergreen told police he stopped three vans
Southern California that killed dead at the scene, and the bodies the 15th MEU, which is based at search for a firefighter last heard Court Home for Adults in the because he believed people inside
nine service members last year. of seven Marines and a Navy Camp Pendleton, Calif., and is from when he was trapped in the Rockland County community of them had kidnapped a woman
Col. Christopher J. Bronzi was hospital corpsman were later currently deployed in the U.S. flames, officials said. Spring Valley, about 30 miles and child, authorities said. None
relieved of command of the 15th recovered by an underwater Central Command area of Late in the day, officials were north of New York City, that its of the 11 Guard members were
Marine Expeditionary Unit by Lt. team. responsibility, the Marine Corps still listing the unidentified operator said housed 112 injured, and Harris was arrested
Gen. Steven R. Rudder, In October, Lt. Col. Michael J. said. firefighter as missing after residents. Tuesday morning.
commander of U.S. Marine Corps Regner was relieved of command — Associated Press bringing in a search crew with a — Associated Press — Associated Press

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A4
White House weighs tax hikes to fund huge infrastructure, jobs bill
Levies would target
businesses, the wealthy,
setting up fight with GOP
BY J EFF S TEIN
AND T ONY R OMM
White House officials are ex-
ploring tax increases on business-
es, investors and rich Americans
to fund the president’s multitril-
lion-dollar infrastructure and
jobs package, according to two
people briefed on internal con-
versations.
The centerpiece of the tax in-
creases would probably be a high-
er corporate tax rate — reversing
part of President Donald Trump’s
steep corporate tax cut in 2017 —
as well as higher levies on invest-
ment income and a higher top
marginal tax rate.
President Biden’s tax increases
may prove among the most con-
troversial elements of the admin-
istration’s coming “Build Back
Better” agenda, setting up a ma-
GOP skeptical
of $3 trillion plan
for infrastructure
Lawmakers take issue
with Biden’s proposal
before release of details
BY T ONY R OMM
Congressional Republicans on
Tuesday sounded off in early
opposition to President Biden’s
still-forming plans to push a
roughly $3 trillion infrastructure
and social welfare reform pack-
age, signaling a tough political
slog on the horizon for Demo-
crats hoping to deliver the White
House another legislative win.
Even before Biden had formal-
ly debuted his proposal, GOP
lawmakers took issue with the
scope of the president’s blueprint
— and the tax increases the
administration is eyeing to pay
for it — injecting new uncertain-
ty into a debate that some on
both sides initially hoped might
be bipartisan.
The backlash on Capitol Hill
came as White House officials
prepared to present Biden with a
plan to proceed on infrastructure
spending in potentially two
parts. The first would be focused
on traditional investments in
roads, bridges and broadband
Internet access, as well as spend-
ing for green-energy initiatives.
The second would focus on Dem-
ocrats’ longtime domestic priori-
ties, including free community
college, universal pre-K and new
programs to help low-income
families and children.
The approach miffed Republi-
can lawmakers, including those
in the Senate who had met with
Biden and top White House offi-
cials in recent days to discuss the
In letter to Congress, businesses advocate for paid family leave
BY H AMZA S HABAN
AND E LI R OSENBERG
Nearly 200 businesses are
pressing Congress for paid and
more expansive family leave, a
sign of the shifting political mo-
mentum over U.S. labor policy
after the overlapping crises of the
coronavirus pandemic exposed
workers’ vulnerabilities.
In a letter sent Tuesday, execu-
tives for such brands as Patago-
nia, Etsy, Levi Strauss and
Danone urged congressional
leaders to extend comprehensive
paid family and medical leave to
all working people.
Annie Sartor, a senior director
at the advocacy group PL+US
(Paid Leave for the United
States), said the pandemic may
have helped turn the tide of pub-
lic opinion — and shift political
will — to address the need for
additional protections for work-
ers.
When the group started in
2016, “it was pretty unheard of to
see these really generous paid
leave policies that are more com-
mon among employers now,” she
said. “And then the pandemic hit
and everything changed,” said
Sartor, whose organization draft-
jor confrontation with business
groups and congressional Repub-
licans.
The president has said that his
tax increases will not affect peo-
ple earning less than $400,000
per year. He and his advisers have
called for funding the next major
domestic priority with higher lev-
ies on wealthy Americans, citing
the relative success enjoyed by
the affluent during a pandemic
that has pummeled the economic
fortunes of the working class.
Almost all of the president’s
$1.9 trillion stimulus plan was
financed by adding to the federal
debt.
“Folks at the top who’ve been
able to benefit from this economy
and haven’t been this hard hit,
there’s a lot of room there to think
about what kinds of revenue we
can raise,” White House econo-
mist Heather Boushey told
Bloomberg News this month.
The White House’s legislative
effort is expected to be broken up
into two main components — one
focused primarily on infrastruc-
ture and clean energy invest-
ments, and a second focused on
matter. Some in the GOP sig-
naled they might be disinclined
to try to broker a deal on infra-
structure reform if Democrats
put consensus items in one bill
and then sought to shepherd
more-
contentious policies, including
tax hikes, in another shortly
after.
“It’s a pretty cynical ploy to try
and appeal to Republicans to
vote for all that stuff, and then do
reconciliation to do all the other
hard stuff,” said Sen. John Thune
(S.D.), the chamber’s Republican
whip, referring to a legislative
maneuver that requires Demo-
crats to secure only a simple
majority to pass bills in the
Senate.
Democrats relied on reconcili-
ation to advance the $1.9 trillion
coronavirus relief law known as
the American Rescue Plan over
GOP objections this month. With
infrastructure, though, Thune
said the GOP is unlikely to “take
the bait on that.”
Other Republicans said they
staunchly opposed early reports
that Biden may seek to finance
the total $3 trillion in new infra-
structure spending through a
slew of tax increases mostly tar-
geting the most profitable corpo-
rations and highest-earning
American families.
“I suspect, based on some of
President Biden’s comments, he
wants a massive tax increase, and
he wants to allocate the tax
responsibility in this country on
the basis of class,” said Sen. John
Neely Kennedy (R-La.). “That’s a
hell of a way to make tax policy.
You don’t make tax policy on the
basis of class.”
The early burst of Republican
opposition highlights the tough
legislative wrangling on the hori-
ed the letter and coordinated the
signature-gathering.
“This is the closest we’ve ever
been to winning paid family and
medical leave,” she said. “We have
a White House that is embracing
paid leave and knows it’s critical.
We have a Congress that’s ready
to act, and this is why frankly
businesses are acting now. To
have almost 200 companies come
out and go on the record in
support of a public policy posi-
tion like paid leave is really un-
precedented.”
On Tuesday, Tom Manatos, vice
president of government rela-
tions at Spotify, took to Twitter to
voice support for paid leave. The
streaming service was one of sev-
eral tech companies that joined
the campaign, including Sales-
force, Pinterest and Discord. Tech
luminaries and celebrity business
owners were among the endors-
ers. J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot Pro-
ductions, Gwyneth Paltrow of
Goop and Alexis Ohanian, the
co-founder of Reddit and the
husband of tennis champion Ser-
ena Williams, also signed on.
The letter calls for Congress to
create a “permanent paid family
and medical leave policy,” but it
does not offer specifics. Sartor
EZ RE
domestic priorities including
child care and prekindergarten
that the administration has la-
beled part of the “caring econo-
my.”
The tax increases in the plan
are similarly divided between
those two parts. The infrastruc-
ture section of the legislation is
expected to be funded primarily
by taxes on businesses, according
to the officials.
The key measures under dis-
cussion include raising the corpo-
rate tax rate from 21 percent to
28 percent; increasing the global
minimum tax paid from about
13 percent to 21 percent; ending
federal subsidies for fossil fuel
companies; and forcing multina-
tional corporations to pay the U.S.
tax rate rather than the lower
rates paid by their foreign subsid-
iaries, according to the officials,
who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to discuss internal
matters not yet public.
The part of the legislation fo-
cused on other domestic priori-
ties, by contrast, is expected to be
funded by taxes on rich people
and investors. Those measures,
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) is one of several Republicans to voice early opposition to a legislative proposal the White House is
working on around infrastructure and social welfare reform. Their issues include its scope and the potential tax increases to pay for it.
zon for Biden as he seeks to
deliver on some of his most
ambitious promises, many dat-
ing back to the days of the 2020
presidential campaign.
Biden has pledged to upgrade
the country’s aging innards, un-
wind generations of economic
inequality and make the tax code
more fair — all the while trying to
restore political unity. But his
legislative agenda quickly has
collided with the reality of the
policymaking process in Wash-
ington, where Democrats’ nar-
row majorities make Republican
opposition all the more potent.
Even some Democrats remain
steadfastly opposed to changing
Senate rules to make Biden’s
legislative priorities, including
infrastructure reform, easier to
said that it was intentionally left
broad but that the group wanted
paid leave to address three key
areas: leave for parents surround-
ing the birth of a child or an
adoption; for people taking time
to care for a sick family member;
and personal sick and medical
leave.
“Making paid leave a reality for
all Americans is an economic
necessity,” Senate Majority Lead-
er Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.)
said in a statement to The Wash-
ington Post. “Not having to
choose between your job and
taking care of a new child or a sick
family member would be a real
breakthrough for everyday Amer-
icans.”
Previous efforts on Capitol Hill
to advance more robust paid
leave aimed to grant workers as
much as 12 weeks of paid time off
to recover from illness or child-
birth, or to provide care for a
loved one. Advocates also have
pointed to the ability of paid leave
programs to address inequality in
the workforce, as women, people
of color and low-wage earners are
disproportionately locked out of
existing paid leave programs.
“We don’t see it as a political
issue. We see it as an equality
according to officials, include in-
creasing the highest income tax
rate from 37 percent to 39.6 per-
cent; significantly increasing tax-
es on wealthy investors; and lim-
iting deductions that rich taxpay-
ers can claim annually, among
other measures, the officials said.
There would be two parts to the
higher taxes on investors. Biden’s
plan would tax gains on capital
income — such as stocks and
dividends — as normal income
for those earning more than
$1 million. Currently, the maxi-
mum tax on capital gains is slight-
ly more than 20 percent, far below
the nearly 40 percent top rate
Biden is seeking. The plan is also
likely to include a Biden cam-
paign pledge to increase taxes on
assets passed down to heirs, the
officials said.
Both sets of tax increases mir-
ror what Biden proposed in 2020
as a presidential candidate. Ad-
ministration officials also are
considering paying for the pack-
age in part through a plan that
would lower the cost of prescrip-
tion drugs. That would allow the
government to spend less on pub-
pass. Others have insisted Biden
must obtain GOP support, and
pay for the package at least in
part, if it is to prevail.
“As long as it’s paid for,” said
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), a
centrist swing vote in the cham-
ber, when asked Tuesday about
the potential $3 trillion price tag
of a new infrastructure bill. “This
country needs to rebuild itself.”
For now, the White House has
offered little formally about the
president’s infrastructure agen-
da. White House spokeswoman
Jen Psaki tweeted late Tuesday
that any speculation about the
plan’s contents is “premature.”
Some Democrats still ap-
peared to encourage the Biden
administration Tuesday to forge
ahead with a sweeping vision for
issue,” said Laura Watt, an execu-
tive vice president at beverage
producer Diageo North America,
one of the letter’s signatories. “We
just believe it’s the right thing to
do: It levels the playing field and
gives everyone the same opportu-
nities.”
The company offers its employ-
ees six months of parental leave
and has given employees time off
to vote, care for family members
during the pandemic and get
vaccinated.
PL+US representatives say
leave protections should be in-
cluded in infrastructure legisla-
tion because “care infrastructure”
supports a person’s ability to
work and be productive, much as
subways and roads do.
This week, White House offi-
cials moved closer to unveiling a
roughly $3 trillion infrastructure
and jobs bill to advance President
Biden’s “Build Back Better” agen-
da, according to three people
familiar with internal discus-
sions, who spoke on the condition
of anonymity to describe private
conversations. On the heels of the
coronavirus relief package, the
next major legislative initiative
grapples with sweeping domestic
policy issues. Split into two parts,
THE WASHINGTON POST
lic health programs such as Medi-
care. Similar measures have been
estimated to save the government
$500 billion over 10 years, the
officials said.
A White House spokesman de-
clined to comment.
The tax plans being considered
probably will spur opposition
from congressional Republicans
as well as members of the presi-
dent’s party. Republicans have
said the Democratic president’s
tax plans will hurt businesses at a
fragile moment for the U.S. econ-
omy.
“There’s no good case for any-
thing like the kind of tax increases
they’re advocating,” said Sen. Pat-
rick J. Toomey (Pa.), who helped
craft the 2017 GOP tax legislation.
“The idea we should agree to
some huge economy-crushing tax
increase so the government can
go on yet another spending binge
is a nonstarter for me.”
Rep. Kevin Brady (Tex.), the
ranking Republican on the tax-fo-
cused House Ways and Means
Committee, also blasted the pros-
pect of “partisan tax hikes.”
The plan also is set to exclude
infrastructure reform, offering
early support a day after the
president sought to rally party
lawmakers at a private retreat
around the next signature el-
ement of his economic agenda.
“All I can say is this country
faces enormous structural crises
facing the working families of
our country,” said Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.). “And we’ve got to
figure out the most effective way
to accomplish that goal.”
Among Republicans, however,
the president’s potential path-
way for infrastructure reform
stirred fresh unease.
On Tuesday morning, House
Republicans boycotted the
House Ways and Means Commit-
tee’s standard “members’ day”
hearing out of concern about the
the bill is expected to focus on
infrastructure and an array of
Biden’s domestic priorities, in-
cluding universal prekindergar-
ten, national child care and free
community college tuition.
White House press secretary
Jen Psaki said in a statement
Monday that the administration
had not decided on its next step
for future economic proposals.
Congressional Republicans are
unlikely to get behind trillions in
additional spending or the tax
increases that the administration
is considering to fund its domes-
tic priorities.
The United States is an outlier
among developed and wealthy
countries for its lack of a paid
leave requirement for workers.
About 25 percent of American
workers do not have paid sick
leave, and the proportion is larger
among lower-wage workers.
But following public outcry
and heightened attention on the
issue at the start of the pandemic,
Congress passed guaranteed sick-
and family-leave provisions.
The legislation provided work-
ers with two weeks of fully paid
sick leave and an additional
12 weeks at two-thirds of pay to
take care of a child whose school
. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
measures pushed by some liber-
als, particularly the annual tax on
wealth pushed by Sens. Elizabeth
Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.), among others.
Biden’s proposal is also expected
to leave out a Democratic push to
reverse the GOP tax law’s limit on
state and local tax deductions.
Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
said that he is working on “a
number of proposals” on targeted
tax changes, including one timed
for shortly after a scheduled
Thursday hearing on multina-
tional companies that seek to
shield their profits using tax ha-
vens and other complicated
schemes abroad.
“What I can tell you is, if you
look at recent history, Donald
Trump’s standing was lowest
when he was working so hard to
take health care away from mil-
lions of people while he was
showering billionaires and mega-
corporations with billions and
billions of dollars of tax write-
offs,” Wyden said.
jeffrey.stein@washpost.com
tony.romm@washpost.com
STEFANI REYNOLDS/BLOOMBERG NEWS
future of an infrastructure pack-
age. The session, where lawmak-
ers in the chamber typically pre-
sent their spending priorities,
raised fears among the panel’s
GOP leaders that it was merely a
“check the box” exercise — allow-
ing Democrats to move a conten-
tious infrastructure package
without having to hold a fuller
hearing.
“This is just another example
of Speaker Pelosi’s partisan
gamesmanship to produce legis-
lation that will have enormous
consequences for taxpayers,”
wrote Rep. Kevin Brady (Tex.), its
top GOP member, along with
other panel Republicans, refer-
ring to House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.).
tony.romm@washpost.com
or care facility was closed. But the
policy was riddled with restric-
tions — it did not apply to work-
ers at most medical providers, for
example, or companies with few-
er than 50 or more than 500
employees. Still, the policy was by
many accounts effective.
A study released in October by
a team of public policy research-
ers found that it significantly
reduced coronavirus cases; they
found that states saw about 400
fewer confirmed cases per day by
gaining access to the paid sick
leave provisions, or about one
fewer case per 1,300 workers
made eligible for the leave.
The policy also turned out to be
significantly less costly for the
government than initially pro-
jected.
But the provisions were largely
sloughed off from the stimulus
measure passed in December af-
ter months of partisan battles
over the legislation. Republicans,
including former senator Lamar
Alexander of Tennessee, had ex-
pressed opposition to the sick-
pay provision, with Alexander
saying he did not agree with the
way it was funded.
hamza.shaban@washpost.com
eli.rosenberg@washpost.com
A6
U.S. will go mobile to address vaccination inequity, Becerra says
BY A MY G OLDSTEIN
Health and Human Services
Secretary Xavier Becerra said the
federal campaign to vaccinate
Americans against the coronavi-
rus must “reach people where
they are,” bringing vaccine-filled
syringes into farm fields and onto
construction sites to ease pro-
found racial and ethnic dispari-
ties in who has been receiving the
protective shots.
“We’re not going to say, ‘Now,
just come get your vaccine,’ which
is a very different model than
we’ve done in the past,” Becerra
said in his first interview since
being sworn in as the nation’s top
health official late last week. Too
often, he said, Black and Latino
Americans in low-wage jobs be-
lieve “their government thinks
they are invisible.”
Becerra also said federal health
officials will work more intensely
to address behavioral health
problems exacerbated by the year-
old coronavirus pandemic. He
said the problems include addic-
tions, mental illnesses and a spike
in suicides — all fostered by the
isolation that has been a pandem-
ic side effect and has, in turn,
often lessened treatment for be-
havioral health issues.
In addition, the new health sec-
retary foreshadowed steps the
Biden administration is likely to
take, reversing policies written by
President Donald Trump’s health
aides that weakened the Afford-
able Care Act.
Becerra noted that President
Biden has ordered HHS to pause
pending federal rules left by the
previous administration, and to
evaluate whether they would
make health care more available
and affordable. Already, he said,
administration officials have re-
viewed completed Trump-era
rules that made it easier for con-
sumers to buy two types of
skimpy, inexpensive health plans
that can bypass the ACA’s insur-
ance protections.
“In this particular case,” Becer-
ra said, “we don’t want to under-
mine, especially in an era of pan-
demic, Americans’ ability to ac-
cess the care they need. . . . Any
policy that is going to make it
tougher for Americans to afford
health care, to access good health
care, you can be assured we are
going to take a look at.” The types
of insurance are known as short-
term health plans and association
Half of schools in
federal survey open
for full-time learning
White students far more
likely to be getting
in-person instruction
BY L AURA M ECKLER
The first federal data on educa-
tion during the pandemic finds
nearly half of public schools were
open for full-time, face-to-face
classes, with White children far
more likely than Black, Hispanic
or Asian American students to be
attending in person.
The data suggests the nation is
both close to a goal set by Presi-
dent Biden for a return to school
and a considerable distance to a
full return to normalcy.
The survey also raised ques-
tions about the quality of educa-
tion being delivered to those
learning from home. About one-
third of schools offer two hours
or less of live instruction per day
for those learning either full or
part time at home. Some offer
none.
The survey results include a
representative sample of schools
serving fourth- and eighth-grade
students, the first attempt by the
federal government to assess the
state of education since schools
closed en masse a year ago. The
report also offers the first demo-
graphic and regional breakdown
of in-person learning.
Biden has made reopening
schools a key goal for his early
presidency and says he wants a
majority of K-8 schools open for
full-time, in-person classes by his
100th day in office, at the end of
April. The survey, which covered
January and, in some cases, Feb-
ruary, suggests he’s likely to hit
that target. It found 47 percent of
schools serving fourth-graders
and 46 percent serving eighth-
graders were open for full in-per-
son instruction.
But the survey also found mil-
A farmworker received his coronavirus shot during a mobile vaccine distribution last month in
Thermal, Calif. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra wants to ramp up such efforts.
health plans.
Becerra, a Democratic con-
gressman for 24 years and, most
recently, California’s attorney
general, gave the interview to The
Washington Post on the evening
of his first full day in office. The
interview fell on the eve of the 11th
anniversary of the ACA, a sprawl-
ing health-care law that he helped
write when he was a member of
the House Ways and Means Com-
mittee — and that he worked to
preserve as leader of a coalition of
Democratic state attorneys gener-
al fighting a Republican effort to
invalidate the law in a case now
before the Supreme Court.
Biden pointed to Becerra’s role
in championing the ACA and oth-
er health-care legislation when
nominating him in December to
lead HHS, the largest federal de-
partment in terms of spending
and the one at the core of the
president’s most urgent priority
of bringing the pandemic under
control.
Biden emphasized his upbring-
ing as the working-class son of
Mexican immigrants. Becerra, 63,
is the first Latino to be HHS secre-
lions of students still don’t have
full-time school available while
others opted for remote educa-
tion.
Overall, 60 percent of fourth-
graders and 68 percent of eighth-
graders were at home at least
part of the school week, either
fully remote or in hybrid pro-
grams that combine time in the
classroom — often just a day or
two each week — with distance
learning.
“We’re a long way from nor-
mal,” said Dennis Roche of Bur-
bio, a data firm that has been
tracking school reopenings
through its own survey. “Offering
in-person education is not the
only step. It’s a major step, but it’s
not the end. You’ve got to get
students in the classroom taking
advantage of it.”
Educators, parents and policy-
makers all fear the prolonged
period of remote schooling is
taking a significant toll on stu-
dents’ academic and emotional
well-being. Some school districts
have been open since last August,
but others have struggled for
months to craft plans that teach-
ers and parents will accept as
safe.
Most striking is a wide racial
gap. About half of all White
students were attending school
in person full-time in January,
the survey found. But that was
true for just 28 percent of Black
students and 33 percent of His-
panic students.
Rates were lowest among
Asian American students, at just
15 percent.
The gap reflects differences in
what is offered by schools serving
students of different races as well
as decisions by families.
Big-city districts, which serve
more students of color, have been
slower to reopen and in many
cases do not offer a full-time
face-to-face option. Officials said
they had not yet analyzed how
much offerings vs. family prefer-
ences influenced the results.
EZ RE
the coronavirus pandemic
tary.
Public health experts had ar-
gued that, in the midst of the
pandemic, the job should go to
someone with on-the-ground
medical or public health experi-
ence. For their part, congressional
Republicans derided the fact that
Becerra lacks medical training,
even though few HHS secretaries
over the years have been physi-
cians. Several came from gover-
norships, while Trump’s two HHS
secretaries came from the House
and the pharmaceutical industry,
respectively.
Becerra won Senate confirma-
tion Thursday by the closest mar-
gin of any Biden Cabinet member
approved so far. The vote was 50 to
49, with a single Republican, Sen.
Susan Collins (Maine), joining
with every Democrat present. On
and off Capitol Hill, conservatives
castigated Becerra as a radical
and a “culture warrior,” emphasiz-
ing his defense of abortion rights
and his previous support — re-
nounced since his nomination —
of a single-payer health-care sys-
tem for the United States.
In starting his new role, Becer-
Wide racial gap in return to school
Share of students enrolled in remote, hybrid or full-time in-person instruction
Remote
All students 43%
White 27%
Black 58%
Hispanic 56%
Asian 68%
American Indian
37%
and Alaska Native
Native Hawaiian and
Pacific Islander
48%
Two or more races 47%
Students with
38%
a disability
Not all groups sum to 100% due to rounding.
Source: Institute of Education Sciences
Asian American families have
said they worry about elderly
parents in cramped, multigener-
ational households, distrust
promises of safety measures and
fear their children will face racist
harassment at school. Some are
pleased with the online learning.
And many live on the coasts,
where their districts are less like-
ly to offer full-time options.
Black and Hispanic families,
who have seen their communities
ravaged by the pandemic, also
have been more likely to choose
remote instruction.
“The world told Black and
Brown people they were three
times more likely to die from
coronavirus ... (that) Black and
Brown people needed to be more
afraid of coronavirus than other
people,” said Krystal Barnett, ex-
ecutive director of Bridge 2 Hope
in St. Louis, a parent advocacy
group. She said many parents
heard these statistics and con-
cluded: “Of course I’m not bring-
ing my child back, because in my
mind, they’re still three times
more likely to die than their
counterparts.”
Rates of in-person enrollment
also vary dramatically by school
location.
More than half of fourth-grad-
ers living in rural areas or towns
ALLISON ZAUCHA FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
ra is joining a pandemic-fighting
leadership at the White House
and at HHS’s Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention that has
been in place for the two months
since Biden became president.
Asked how he regarded his niche
within that group, Becerra said: “I
sort of see myself as the weaver,
the person who brings everything
together to get things done.”
He said his legislative experi-
ence meshed with the substantive
knowledge he acquired from his
years on Capitol Hill and as attor-
ney general since 2017 of the na-
tion’s most populous state. “I’m
not a stranger to the ACA, Medic-
aid or 1115 waivers,” he said, refer-
ring to the process by which states
can request federal permission to
experiment with Medicaid, the
safety-net coverage that is the na-
tion’s largest public insurance
program.
“I’ve been there, done that,” he
said.
Asked when the administra-
tion will fill a vacancy critical to
combating the pandemic — com-
missioner of HHS’s Food and
Drug Administration, which de-
Hybrid Full-time in-person
17% 38%
23% 49%
14% 28%
10% 33%
16% 15%
16% 43%
25% 25%
18% 34%
17% 42%
KATE RABINOWITZ/THE WASHINGTON POST
were enrolled in full-time, in-per-
son programs. In suburbs, it was
36 percent, and in cities, just
25 percent.
It also found students in the
South and the Midwest were
more likely to be attending full-
time in-person school than those
in the Northeast or the West.
About one in four districts
offered no in-person classes at all.
On the flip side, about 1 in 5
districts offered no remote edu-
cation at all. In these districts, all
students were attending in per-
son all the time. The report did
not break down where these dis-
tricts were located.
The new data come as admin-
istration officials convene on
Wednesday for a virtual summit
promoting the reopening of
schools. The summit is to include
remarks from first lady Jill Biden
and Education Secretary Miguel
Cardona, as well as conversations
intended to showcase best prac-
tices by districts that are operat-
ing in person.
Also appearing will be Ro-
chelle Walensky, director of the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, which last week
cleared the way for more in-per-
son school by saying three feet of
space between students, down
from six, was sufficient to pre-
THE WASHINGTON POST
termines which coronavirus vac-
cines may be given to the public —
Becerra chuckled and said he
thought he would ask that ques-
tion of the White House.
Without identifying possible
candidates, he added, “I think you
will see the administration try to
move quickly. I’m glad I’m now in
place to have input.”
In the interview, Becerra was
careful not to get ahead of Biden’s
public statements about the pan-
demic or access to insurance and
health care. Like the longtime pol-
itician he has been, the secretary
credited Biden and Congress for
passing the American Rescue
Plan. The $1.9 trillion coronavirus
relief law contains substantial
funding for the largest mass vacci-
nation campaign in U.S. history,
increased federal subsidies for
consumers eligible to buy ACA
health plans, and extra incentives
for a dozen states that have not
expanded Medicaid under the
2010 health-care law to change
their minds.
“Obviously, covid-19 has made
us really think hard now about
what we do for health security,” he
said.
Becerra praised the idea of a
government insurance alterna-
tive that would compete against
private health plans sold in ACA
marketplaces, open to people who
cannot get affordable health ben-
efits through a job. He did not hint
at when he or Biden, who made
this public option part of his cam-
paign’s health-care plan, might
begin urging Congress to embrace
the approach — a possibility that
was considered when the ACA
was adopted and rejected as too
liberal at the time.
Becerra said a public option
“will require a robust conversa-
tion” with state and local leaders,
as well as members of Congress, to
get a sense of how much receptivi-
ty exists to the approach now. “It’s
all part of the menu of tools we
have available to make health care
more affordable and accessible,”
he said.
For places where insurance op-
tions are scarce, he said, “the pub-
lic option presents families an-
other way to . . . know they have
something in their reach.”
Becerra declined to say wheth-
er he favors asking Congress to
make permanent the temporary
increases in subsidies for ACA in-
surance premiums that are part of
the coronavirus relief law. The
New coronavirus cases, deaths and
vaccine doses in the U.S., by day
As of 8 p.m. Tuesday
CASES
Total 29,902,394 Yesterday 57,548
7-day avg.
Feb. 29 April May June July Aug.
DEATHS
Total 544,563 Yesterday 794
7-day avg.
Feb. 29 April May June July Aug.
VACCINE DOSES ADMINISTERED
Total 128,217,029 Yesterday 1,707,293
Feb. 29 April May June July Aug.
Note: Last Thursday’s spike in deaths is due to the addition of 2,856 deaths
not previously reported by the state of Oklahoma.
vent spread of the virus. One
panel will cover technical assis-
tance and seek to clarify federal
guidance on reopening.
Biden and Vice President Har-
ris will also deliver pretaped
remarks.
The survey also offered a first
national look at how much live
instruction students are getting,
an important metric given the
large number of students still
learning from home. About a
third received more than five
hours a day, about a third were
offered three to four hours per
day, and about a third got two
hours or less.
Those figures surprised Peggy
Carr, associate commissioner at
the National Center for Educa-
tion Statistics.
“I knew it was going to be low
but not quite that low,” she said.
Scant live instruction was
most common in the Midwest
and in towns, and less common
in the Northeast and in cities.
But Carr said she was encour-
aged by the number of schools
that were open for at least some
in-person learning in January. A
number of districts have re-
. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
subsidy changes, to take effect
April 1, are the first since 2014, the
year the ACA coverage began.
The changes will raise the tax
credits for people already eligible
for the subsidies and, for the first
time, enable people to get some
subsidy if their incomes are more
than 400 percent of the federal
poverty line — about $51,000 for
an individual and $106,000 for a
family of four. Until now, middle-
class people ineligible for subsi-
dies have been among the groups
finding ACA health plans unaf-
fordable.
The subsidy expansion “is go-
ing to be a blessing for some fami-
lies” whose incomes excluded
them from the tax credits, Becerra
said.
In the campaign to vaccinate
Americans against the coronavi-
rus, Becerra said, “for African
Americans and Latinos, the injec-
tion rate is far lower than it is for
White Americans. We know that,
in rural communities, it’s tougher
to get vaccines to where we need
them.”
A report last month by the CDC
showed that, during the first
month of the vaccine rollout, from
mid-December to mid-January,
11.5 percent of the people nation-
ally who received at least a first
shot were categorized as Latino,
while 6 percent were Asian, and 5
percent were Black. The CDC re-
port found, however, that race
and ethnicity data was missing
from nearly half of the vaccina-
tion reports.
Becerra said federal plans will
send vaccinators into disadvan-
taged communities, using mobile
clinics and other means.
“All those people who do the
domestic work in homes, all the
people who have to go in and do
the construction work or the farm
work, they have never really been
accustomed to having our govern-
ment say, hey, we’re going to come
to the fields to vaccinate you, we’re
going to go to your work site,” the
secretary said. For workers who
need to take a bus — or three buses
— to get to a job, he said, “we are
going to make sure the driver is
vaccinated, [so] you are safe.”
Becerra, who is working for
now from both California and
D.C., is making his first trip Tues-
day as HHS secretary. He is visit-
ing a Carson City, Nev., health
center in the afternoon to talk up
the ACA on its anniversary.
amy.goldstein@washpost.com
300k
250k
200k
150k
100k
50k
0k
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. March 23
4k
2k
0k
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. March 23
4m
3m
7-day avg.
2m
1m
0
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. March 23
opened since then, so the current
total is likely to be higher. The
Education Department plans to
report results from the same set
of schools once a month.
Throughout the pandemic, ed-
ucators have talked about a need
to prioritize certain students for
in-person instruction. The survey
found for fourth grade, 44 per-
cent of schools prioritized stu-
dents with disabilities, with
about 1 in 4 prioritizing English
language learners, students with
lower grades, students without
Internet access at home and stu-
dents experiencing homeless-
ness. Those percentages were
higher across the board for
eighth grade.
Nonetheless, the survey found
that children with disabilities
and those learning English at-
tended in-person school at simi-
lar rates to other students.
The survey was conducted by
the National Center for Educa-
tion Statistics, part of the federal
Institute for Education Sciences.
It included 3,500 schools serving
fourth-graders and 3,500 schools
serving eighth-graders.
laura.meckler@washpost.com
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021 . THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A7

the coronavirus pandemic

Black leaders say Miami Beach overreacting with curfew

BY L ORI R OZSA,
B RITTANY S HAMMAS
AND T IM C RAIG
miami beach — City leaders
here were on the defensive Tues-
day amid charges from Black ac-
tivists that authorities were being
too heavy-handed with college
students who flocked to the city’s
beaches for spring break, reignit-
ing the nationwide debate over
how police respond to crowds
involving predominantly young
African Americans.
After being overwhelmed by
what city leaders described as
exceptionally large and violent
crowds, Miami Beach officials im-
plemented an 8 p.m. curfew over
the weekend and drew police
units from across Miami-Dade
County to enforce it.
On Saturday night, less than an
hour after the curfew took effect,
officers used chemical irritants
and high-pitched noises to dis-
perse crowds along Miami
Beach’s famous entertainment
zone on South Beach. Some offi-
cers were outfitted in tactical gear
and rode in an armored SWAT
vehicle.
Miami Beach commissioners
voted Sunday to potentially ex-
tend the curfew on weekends in
the city’s Art Deco District
through April 11, unnerving Black
leaders who worry that the city is
punishing tourists who in some
cases are just out to have fun.
“You create a police state, and
where you think you’re fixing a
problem you might be creating
more problems,” said Valerie
Crawford, a member of the city’s
newly created Black Affairs Com-
mittee. “You almost corralled
them into a cage.”
Miami Beach police did not
respond Tuesday to a list of
emailed questions.
But Miami Beach Commission-
er David Richardson said accusa-
tions that town leaders are treat-
ing Black visitors unfairly are
unfounded. Miami Beach, Rich-
ardson said, simply has more visi-
tors than it can safely manage.
“We are not passing ordinances
or laws here based on demo-
graphics or skin color,” said Rich-
ardson, a former Democratic
state legislator. “We are merely
looking at the conduct of the
people visiting the city. This has
nothing to do with who is visiting
— it has to deal with the sheer
number of people visiting.”
This year’s crackdown was not
the first, but it was the most
drastic in the town’s years-long
battle over how to manage the
sometimes unruly spring break
tourists. The debate is accelerat-
ing discussions here about what
the world-famous island city
Florida beaches such as this one in Fort Lauderdale are accustomed to bracing for a crush of spring break visitors. But officials in Miami
Beach say they have been overwhelmed by large and violent crowds, and their 8 p.m. curfew and police response have drawn criticism.
streets, stomping on vehicles,
storming into businesses and
throwing objects at police.
In one especially violent inci-
dent, two visitors have been
charged with drugging and rap-
ing a woman in her hotel room
and then stealing her credit
cards. The woman was later
found dead inside her room; the
cause of death remains under
investigation.
“We can't ignore the violence
that we are seeing,” Miami Beach
Commissioner Ricky Arriola said.
Commissioner Steven Meiner
added the crowds had been so
unruly that police resources are
strained and Miami Beach resi-
dents had become increasingly
fearful for their safety. Residents
treatment of Black visitors has
remained divisive, especially dur-
ing big events that have tended to
attract mostly non-White visitors.
In 2011, the Miami Beach Police
Department came under espe-
cially intense criticism during
“Urban Beach Week,” which for
the past two decades has been
held over Memorial Day week-
end. That year a dozen Miami
Beach police officers fired 116
rounds at a Black motorist, who
was intoxicated and allegedly had
been driving recklessly.
Raymond Herisse, 22, was
killed, and police bullets also
struck four bystanders.
Although Miami Beach has
previously implemented curfews
during spring break, this year’s
was especially early, and it was
announced just four hours before
it was scheduled to go into effect.
Pearson and Johnson both ar-
gue that implementation of the
curfew could even exacerbate
tensions over spring break, and
runs counter to the policing
changes that many Miami-area
leaders said they wanted to work
toward in the aftermath of last
year’s Black Lives Matter protests.
But some business owners and
beach residents say the scene on
Miami Beach has been scary for
weeks, and things last weekend
reached an unacceptable level.
CALLA KESSLER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
“I’m afraid to walk to my car,”
said an assistant manager at a
popular night club who declined
to give her name. “I look out the
have bombarded city leaders with tive to society,” Crawford said. County who lives in South Beach, front door of our club and I see
phone calls and emails demand- “But on the other hand, I think said race and policing have been fighting and screaming and peo-
ing additional steps be taken into there should be a pull back to say, fraught issues here for genera- ple just acting crazy. The curfew is
rein in the vacationers, Meiner okay, what could we have done tions. helping, but it’s a bad situation.”
said. differently?” Throughout the first half of the Although he voted to extend
“On so many issues we deal Once known as a laid-back des- 20th century, Miami Beach was the curfew, Arriola said Miami
with, you hear both sides and as tination for seasonal residents known as a “sundown town” Beach needs to do a better job
an elected official you’ve got to and retirees, Miami Beach has where only Whites were allowed embracing its Black tourists and
kind of weigh, which way is best,” grown and evolved in recent dec- to reside. making them feel welcome. He
Meiner said. “On this one, it was ades as new high-rise condomin- Black Americans were allowed noted during Pride, an annual
literally very one-sided; it was a iums continue to be built along onto the beach only if they were celebration of the city's vibrant
very loud chorus of residents.” the shores of the Atlantic Ocean employed there, and then were LGBT community, city leaders
Some Black leaders said they and Biscayne Bay. The 15-square- expected to promptly leave when “roll out the red carpet” by host-
shared the concern about reports mile city is home to about 90,000 their shift ended. Even famous ing parades and other events.
of unlawful behavior, but ques- residents, but African Americans Black musicians and sports stars “We do not do that for the Black
tioned whether the city’s lack of account for just 4 percent of the had to abide by the rules. community, and I have chal-
planning and militarized re- population, according to the Cen- After integration, Pearson not- lenged us to do that,” Arriola said.
sponse had exacerbated the situa- sus Bureau. ed, Miami Beach gradually be- “I have not been very successful.
tion. Melba Pearson, a Black civil came more accepting and wel- That frustrates me.”
“I’m saying you can’t let people rights attorney and former homi- coming of non-White visitors. But tim.craig@washpost.com
do what they want and be disrup- cide prosecutor for Miami-Dade the debate over Miami Beach's brittany.shammas@washpost.com

Savings?
wants to be, how it is viewed and
whether it can move past its grim
history of racial division.
Miami Beach officials say they
had no choice but to seek ways to
control crowds that had become
violent and unmanageable, but
some Black leaders in South Flor-
ida note that the Miami area hosts
all kinds of rowdy events, includ-

Affirmative.
ing large music festivals where
drug use is common, champion-
ship sporting events, around-the-
clock dance parties during Miami
Beach Pride celebrations, and
gatherings of bikers.
But although police have devel-
oped targeted strategies for iso-
lating troublemakers during such
events, authorities this time em- GEICO, the Government Employees Insurance Company,
braced a curfew that appears to
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category, which Black leaders say
is a telltale sign of discrimination. needs of federal employees. In fact, GEICO insures nearly
“It's like we have learned noth-
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Johnson, a Miami attorney and
the past president of 100 Black We stand ready to serve you.
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police. “Drinking, fighting on a
beach and twerking on a car is not
new in Miami Beach, and not new
to spring break in general . . . But
yet here we are, again, having to
be concerned about how our town
is treating Black visitors.”
But city leaders contend that
the spring break crowd this year
was indeed different.
After quickly organizing on so-
cial media, tens of thousands of
young visitors flocked here,
drawn by cheap hotel rates and
frustration over the year-long
lockdown in their home states.
Authorities said many of the visi-
tors are not enrolled in college,
which has further complicated
group dynamics.
Between Feb. 3 and March 21,
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arrests, including nearly 400 for
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of drugs, in a state where marijua-
na is not legal.
Videos on social media also
show crowds brawling in the
A8
Biden extends ACA health insurance enrollment to mid-August
Move doubles unusual
extra sign-up period
launched last month
BY A MY G OLDSTEIN
AND S EUNG M IN K IM
President Biden announced
Tuesday that the federal insur-
ance marketplace will remain
open for consumers to buy Afford-
able Care Act health plans
through mid-August, doubling
the length of an unprecedented
extra enrollment period that
launched last month.
Speaking at a cancer hospital
and research institute at Ohio
State University, Biden made the
announcement as part of a recog-
nition of the ACA’s 11th anniversa-
ry. The sprawling health-care law
AstraZeneca shot’s
U.S. prospects
called into question
VACCINE FROM A1
The letter came from 11 leading
statisticians, infectious-disease
physicians and ethics experts ap-
pointed by the National Insti-
tutes of Health to review trial
data for all the major coronavirus
vaccines supported by the federal
government. It says the compa-
ny’s decision to use early data
that puts the vaccine in the most
favorable light is a scientific mis-
step that could erode trust in the
shot.
The letter, sent late Monday,
opens a rare window into the
typically confidential interac-
tions between a company and the
Data and Safety Monitoring
Board that polices patient safety
and the scientific validity of clini-
cal trials. These monitors aren’t
distant observers or whistleblow-
ers; they are independent experts
granted inside access to the As-
traZeneca results for months,
seeing the full data before even
the company has access.
“The DSMB is concerned that
AstraZeneca chose to use data
that was already outdated and
potentially misleading in their
press release,” the letter states.
The data “they chose to release
was the most favorable for the
study as opposed to the most
recent and most complete. Deci-
sions like this are what erode
public trust in the scientific proc-
ess.”
In other circumstances, this
turmoil might be seen as a techni-
cal issue, because the additional
data doesn’t appear to overturn
the fundamental finding that the
vaccine works. AstraZeneca re-
leased a statement Tuesday
promising that the full analysis of
its data would be available within
48 hours and indicated the re-
sults would be consistent with
the analysis released Monday.
“We will immediately engage
with the independent data safety
monitoring board to share our
primary analysis with the most
up to date efficacy data,” the
statement said.
But it appears to be the latest
in a series of self-inflicted
wounds from the team behind
the vaccine, which has had
months of stumbles involving
messy science and bungled com-
munication.
Federal officials were taken
aback by the board’s allegations.
One said the way that AstraZene-
ca handled the results was the
equivalent of “telling your moth-
er you got an A in a course, when
you got an A in the first quiz but a
C in the overall course.” Another
said the disclosure by the board
would inevitably hurt the compa-
ny’s credibility with U.S. regula-
tors.
The officials spoke on the con-
dition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to talk pub-
licly about the issue.
On Sunday, company officials
shared with U.S. government offi-
cials the results they would pre-
sent to the world Monday. A
person familiar with the matter,
who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak publicly, said
they also shared a preliminary
analysis that suggested the result
would hold up when more data
was considered.
But Anthony S. Fauci, director
of the National Institute of Aller-
gy and Infectious Diseases, said
in an interview that he was
has helped more than 20 million
Americans gain coverage through
marketplace health plans and
Medicaid, and it has altered many
other aspects of the U.S. health-
care system, even as it has re-
mained a target of vehement Re-
publican opposition.
“We have a duty not just to
protect it but to make it better,”
the president said before an audi-
ence that included oncologists
and cancer researchers.
The lengthening of the special
enrollment time reflects Biden’s
determination to use the 2010
health-care law as a fulcrum to
expand the number of Americans
who have access to affordable in-
surance and, as a result, to care.
The extension of the deadline,
from May 15 to Aug. 15, also re-
flects the administration’s hopes
that an imminent increase in fed-
eral subsidies for ACA health
plans will be a potent magnet to
“shocked” by the letter and the
serious concerns it brought to
light. On Monday, before receiv-
ing news of the letter, Fauci had
said that “numbers don’t lie” and
that the vaccine appeared effec-
tive.
“The irony of this is that it’s
very likely a very good vaccine,
and this sort of thing does noth-
ing but cloud the picture. I don’t
think it reflects on the vaccine,”
Fauci said. “I think it reflects on
how the data has rolled out.”
Outside experts, who were
stunned by the turn of events,
said the vaccine might still get
Food and Drug Administration
clearance, only to be shunned by
a public spooked by the string of
controversies involving Astra-
Zeneca and Oxford.
“The whole thing has been a
giant debacle, and it is entirely on
AstraZeneca,” said Angela Ras-
mussen, a virologist with George-
town University’s Center for
Global Health Science and Secu-
rity. “Are people going to want to
take the vaccine? People may
think, ‘There’s too much going on
with this vaccine, and I want
something that is more reliable.’ ”
She said she would take the
AstraZeneca vaccine today if it
were available. But she worries
that the data dispute will fuel
vaccine hesitancy, with people
becoming more suspicious of all
coronavirus vaccines. “People
might decide not to take any
covid-19 vaccine at all,” she said.
The episode may be a sign of
how fraught the relationship be-
tween the company and the U.S.
government has become. Early
Tuesday, the National Institutes
of Health took the unheard-of
step of disclosing that the data
board, a typically obscure part of
the clinical trials process, had
raised concerns that the news
release Monday was “an incom-
plete view of the data.”
Companies, scientists and par-
ticipants are typically “blinded”
to the data, unable to see who
received a vaccine and who re-
ceived a placebo. The data board
can see past that firewall and
make recommendations to the
company about when to “un-
blind” and analyze the data.
David L. DeMets, a University
of Wisconsin at Madison biosta-
tistics expert, said that while he
has no specific information on
what occurred in this case, his
experience serving on data safety
and monitoring committees for
nearly half a century was that it
would be “very uncommon” for
those experts to challenge a com-
pany or scientists on the content
of a news release.
“Investigators and sponsors
rarely present results that are in
contradiction to the DSMB’s in-
terpretation of the results,”
DeMets said.
For weeks, the data board and
the company had been going back
and forth over how AstraZeneca
was handling the data. When the
experts initially saw the data
supporting the 79 percent effica-
cy with data gathered through
Feb. 17, they deemed that the
vaccine efficacy number was “un-
stable” because of a large number
of possible and probable cases
that still needed to be adjudicat-
ed and might have changed the
level of efficacy “enough to erode
confidence in the results of the
study.”
At a later meeting, with figures
through March 16 that showed a
EZ RE
the coronavirus pandemic
attract more Americans to this
type of insurance.
The $1.9 trillion coronavirus
relief plan that Biden signed into
law this month contains the first
increase since the law’s passage of
the subsidies that already help
nearly 9 in 10 people with ACA
health plans pay for monthly pre-
miums.
Starting April 1, subsidies will
become larger for people who al-
ready qualify. Those tax credits
would fully cover premiums for
people with incomes of up to
about $19,000 for an individual
and nearly $40,000 for a family of
four — that is, 150 percent of the
federal poverty level.
And for the first time, the subsi-
dies would reach many in the
middle class, who have been
among the groups finding ACA
health plans unaffordable. The
new law ends a rule that had set a
ceiling on the premium subsidies,
People wait Monday at a vaccination center in Seixal, Portugal, after the country resumed vaccinations with the AstraZeneca shot after a
temporary suspension. Other European countries also paused the use of the vaccine, which has been afflicted by missteps in its rollout.
AstraZeneca’s North America headquarters in Wilmington, Del. After the company reported favorable
clinical trial results on Monday, an expert panel expressed concern about the scope of the data used.
vaccine efficacy of 75 percent, the
data board advised that the data
be released to the company but
“strongly recommended” the
drugmaker go through 33 re-
maining cases that were possible
or probable cases of illness be-
cause the effectiveness could
“The irony of this is that
it’s very likely a very
good vaccine, and this
sort of thing does
nothing but cloud the
picture.”
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the
National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases
slide down to 69 percent.
Adrian Hill, one of the scien-
tists at Oxford who developed the
vaccine, said in an email that the
episode illustrated “extraordi-
nary behavior” by a data and
safety monitoring board.
“Talk about efforts to maintain
confidence in vaccines,” Hill
wrote. “What is going on?!”
making them unavailable to con-
sumers with incomes of more
than about $51,000 for an individ-
ual and $106,000 for a family of
four — 400 percent of the poverty
line.
Starting in July, people who
receive unemployment benefits —
or have filed an unemployment
claim any time this year — may
qualify for additional reductions
of their ACA insurance premium.
According to data released
Tuesday by the Department of
Health and Human Services, an
estimated 11 million non-elderly
Americans who are uninsured
could qualify for discounted or
premium-free coverage through
the ACA marketplace.
The ACA health plans are in-
tended for a niche of people who
historically had a difficult time
finding affordable health insur-
ance before the health plans cre-
ated under the law started in
On Monday, Oxford and Astra-
Zeneca appeared to have re-
deemed months of scientific mis-
steps and poor communication
when the company announced
through news releases and inter-
views that its 32,000-person clin-
ical trials in the United States,
Chile and Peru showed the vac-
cine was 79 percent effective in
protecting volunteers from symp-
tomatic covid-19, the illness
caused by the coronavirus — and
that it was 100 percent effective
against severe illness.
The 79 percent efficacy figure
in the AstraZeneca trials was
higher than earlier clinical trials
run by Oxford in Brazil, Britain
and South Africa for the same
vaccine, which found the shots
62 percent effective. The vaccine
has been approved for use in
ongoing inoculation campaigns
in Britain and Europe. Millions of
people have gotten their first
dose.
Even before the trial results
were released Monday, some fed-
eral officials were concerned
about the efficacy of the two-dose
AstraZeneca shot because a pre-
vious trial showed the effective-
ness was lower than the efficacy
for the one-dose Johnson & John-
son vaccine. That sparked debate
about how the AstraZeneca vac-
THE WASHINGTON POST
2014: those who cannot get afford-
able health benefits through a job.
Last year, about 11 million peo-
ple signed up for the marketplace
coverage.
During the first two weeks after
HealthCare.gov was reopened,
more than 200,000 people signed
up, according to federal figures.
The special enrollment is for
consumers in three dozen states
that rely on HealthCare.gov, the
online enrollment system for buy-
ing ACA health plans. The other
states run their own ACA market-
places, and most of them have
kept their enrollment open, par-
ticularly because the economic
fallout from the coronavirus pan-
demic has cost millions of Ameri-
cans their jobs — and the health
benefits that came with them.
In the three dozen states, con-
sumers can apply for ACA cover-
age for the first time. Or they can
update the health plan choice
RACHEL WISNIEWSKI/REUTERS
cine would fit into the U.S. vac-
cine strategy, especially with sup-
plies of the Johnson & Johnson,
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna
products becoming more plenti-
ful.
AstraZeneca said Monday that
it would apply for emergency use
authorization by the FDA in com-
ing weeks. The U.S. government
has preordered 300 million doses
of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but
with three other vaccines already
authorized, it is not clear what
role the AstraZeneca shot will
play in the United States.
Some researchers described
the reaction by the U.S. scientists
— and the public controversy
over the meaning of the Astra-
Zeneca data — as highly unusual.
Stephen Evans, a professor of
pharmacoepidemiology at the
London School of Hygiene &
Tropical Medicine, told reporters
Tuesday that it is not unknown
for a data monitoring board to
disagree with investigators over
the interpretation of trial results.
However, Evans said, “it is
usually done in private, so this is
unprecedented in my opinion.”
Others speculated it may be a
technical issue that can be re-
solved quickly.
AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vac-
cine was designed to be a cheap,
. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
they made during the most recent
regular enrollment season late
last year to claim a larger subsidy.
Biden has long been an ACA
loyalist, He was vice president to
President Barack Obama, for
whom the ACA’s creation was a
central domestic policy achieve-
ment of his eight years in the
White House. In his remarks Tues-
day, Biden recalled riding with
Obama to the signing ceremony
for the law.
At Ohio State, he urged con-
sumers eligible for ACA health
plans to take advantage of the
unusual sign-up period, remind-
ing them that they could go to
HealthCare.gov or phone a federal
call center.
“A few clicks and a short con-
versation,” Biden said, “and that’s
all it takes to start seeing those
benefits.”
amy.goldstein@washpost.com
seung-min.kim@washpost.com
PEDRO NUNES/REUTERS
easy-to-administer dose that
would protect not just citizens of
wealthy nations but also those in
the most vulnerable countries.
But collaboration between Ox-
ford researchers and one of the
world’s biggest drug companies
has been plagued with missteps
as other vaccine rollouts gain
speed.
First, there was confusing ba-
sic science, then missed delivery
targets. Last week, a confidence-
sapping pause in Europe fol-
lowed reports of rare blood clots
among a handful of the vaccinat-
ed.
And now comes pushback
from independent monitors over
AstraZeneca’s interpretation —
and claims — of effectiveness in
the U.S. clinical trials.
The Data and Safety Monitor-
ing Board’s memo did not suggest
that AstraZeneca had played
down possible side effects.
The European Medicines
Agency, which regulates drugs in
the European Union, declared
the vaccine safe and effective and
said it was not linked to a rise in
the overall risk of blood clots. But
the European agency did not rule
out a possible link to rare cases of
clotting in the brain, known as
cerebral venous sinus thrombo-
sis.
Jason L. Schwartz, assistant
professor of health policy and
management at the Yale School of
Public Health, said the vaccine is
sure to receive heightened scruti-
ny from the FDA and its outside
advisers and that it could face
public skepticism even if it clears
regulatory hurdles.
“One of the key moments yes-
terday was that it seemed to stop
the bleeding on a string of mis-
steps around this vaccine as it is
being rolled out in Europe,” he
said. “Now that is being thrown
into doubt and the hill to build
public confidence has gotten that
much steeper.”
And if the FDA doesn’t author-
ize the vaccine, he said, “that
could be interpreted by the rest of
the world as a lack of confidence,
so we have to be sensitive to the
global implications of how the
U.S. reviews the data.”
carolyn.johnson@washpost.com
laurie.mcginley@washpost.com
william.booth@washpost.com
Erin Cunningham in Washington and
Loveday Morris in Berlin contributed
to this report.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
Officers investigate Monday’s shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo. A call to dispatchers shed light on the gruesome and chaotic scene of the attack: “We’re in a gunfight,” one officer said.
After another rampage, lawmakers take familiar positions
SHOOTING FROM A1
vestigation is still ongoing. My
heart goes out to the families.”
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D)
told CNN on Tuesday that regard-
less of what the investigation con-
cludes, the tragic events “won’t
make sense to anybody.” “There is
no good motive; it is evil,” he said.
“We will learn the dimensions of
it; everybody is asking now why
that site, why those people, none
of us know that.”
In Washington, politicians on
Capitol Hill debated next steps,
each side taking their familiar
positions. House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Democrats
would “keep fighting” to end gun
violence, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-
Tex.) called the talk about gun
control “ridiculous theater.”
The 10 victims — who ranged in
age from 20 to 65 — were identi-
fied as Denny Stong, 20; Neven
Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralo-
na Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne
Fountain, 59; Eric Talley, 51; Teri
Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61;
Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Wa-
ters, 65.
Three worked at the store:
Stong dreamed of becoming a pi-
lot, Olds was a King Soopers man-
ager who often danced in the
aisles to make colleagues laugh,
and Leiker was a longtime em-
ployee and sports fan, friends and
family said. Fountain was a moth-
er who loved community theater.
Bartkowiak ran a clothing and
accessories shop in downtown
Boulder called Umba, and Waters
also worked in fashion. Mahoney
was expecting a granddaughter.
Murray was a retired photo editor.
Stanisic was a Bosnian refugee
who had been helping support his
family since he was a teen, a mem-
ber of his church said. He was at
the Soopers store to fix the coffee
machines.
Meanwhile, new witness ac-
counts, police tapes and the Boul-
der police affidavit in support of
Alissa’s arrest paint a clearer pic-
ture of the chaotic events of Mon-
day afternoon, when the sound of
gunfire pierced the scene at the
local grocery, as those killed went
about their daily business without
realizing their “dreams of tomor-
rows” would “no longer come,” as
Boulder Mayor Sam Weaver put it
Tuesday.
A 2:30 p.m. call to dispatchers
provided a window into the chaos
and terror of the day, according to
. THE WASHINGTON POST
“I know why he flew in there first, because he was thinking, ‘There are families in that store.’ ”
police radio traffic obtained by a
local television station, KUSA, or
9News.
“We have multiple calls coming
from people that have barricaded
themselves inside,” a dispatcher
told officers. “I just had another
party that’s upstairs, second floor,
hearing shots.”
Officers on the scene counted
one person down, later identified
as officer Talley.
Shots were fired between the
gunman and responding officers,
adding to the uncertainty.
“We’re in a gunfight,” one offi-
cer said, according to the tape.
Witnesses gave police grue-
some accounts of the attack, de-
scribing a gunman they said
opened fire inside and in the park-
ing lot, at one point standing over
an elderly victim and firing re-
peatedly, according to an affidavit
from the Boulder police Tuesday.
In the affidavit, Detective Sarah
Cantu says officers were dis-
patched about 2:40 p.m.
She wrote that Alissa walked
backward to SWAT officers to be
taken into custody, by that point
stripped down to shorts, leaving a
pile behind that included a vest,
jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and two
guns. He had blood on his thigh
from what police later deter-
mined was a gunshot wound.
He was hospitalized after he
was taken into custody.
When asked by police whether
there were any other attackers,
Cantu wrote, the shooting suspect
did not directly answer, asking
only to speak with his mother. He
had apparently driven to the
scene in a black Mercedes-Benz
C-Class registered to his brother,
and a discarded rifle case was in
the passenger seat, authorities
said.
Cantu said investigators deter-
mined Alissa bought a Ruger AR-
556 rifle on March 16, six days
before the shooting. At his home
later, detectives tracked down a
woman described as Alissa’s sis-
ter-in-law. She mentioned seeing
Alissa playing with a gun that she
described as looking like a “ma-
chine gun” two days earlier.
No one answered the door
Tuesday at the Arvada home be-
lieved to be Alissa’s residence. A
neighbor confirmed that FBI
agents descended on the resi-
dence around 9:30 p.m. Monday
and used a bullhorn to order occu-
pants out of the house.
Monday’s arrest was not Alis-
EZ M2
Mass shootings in america
Kirstin Brooks, sister of slain officer Eric Talley
Boulder residents Jessica Adams and her daughter Ruby Lopez talk to an officer at the site of the
shooting Monday. Witnesses told police a gunman opened fire inside the store and in the parking lot.
sa’s first brush with the law. He analysis Tuesday by SITE Intelli- Four other major shootings have
was charged with misdemeanor gence Group, which monitors on- occurred within 20 miles of the
assault after hitting another stu- line extremism. Analysts there re- high school.
dent at Arvada West High School viewed an archived version of the In 2012, when a 25-year-old
in 2017, records show. He was Facebook page, which has been shooter opened fire on a packed
convicted the following year and removed from the platform. theater in Aurora screening the
sentenced to probation and com- The North Central region of latest “Batman” movie, killing 12
munity service. Colorado — abutting the snow- and injuring 58, it was at that
A Facebook profile for Alissa capped mountains of the Front point among the deadliest mass
showed him posting about mar- Range — has seen as many as nine shootings in modern American
tial arts and Islam, and it did not school shootings since the Colum- history. That toll has since been
show evidence of “any radical or bine massacre in 1999, which left surpassed several times.
extremist views,” according to an 12 students and a teacher dead. On Tuesday, investigators con-
tinued to search for evidence. A
news helicopter flew wide circles
over the crime scene, and video
crews set up in yards across the
divided boulevard. An uneven
barrier of wire fencing and police
tape surrounded the store and its
parking lot. Cars left behind over-
night were covered in a dusting of
snow and frost.
Dog walkers stepped over
downed police tape. A couple
walking hand in hand left a bou-
quet on the sidewalk.
Noting the three employees
killed at the store, the union for
Colorado grocery workers said in
a statement that “every day of this
pandemic, grocery workers have
been bravely putting their health
RACHEL WOOLF FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
at risk on the frontlines of COVID-
People brought flowers to the Boulder Police Department in honor 19 to keep our families fed. This
of officer Eric Talley, who was killed while trying to protect others. shooting is a tragic reminder that
A9
PHOTOS BY JIM URQUHART/REUTERS
the pandemic is not the only
threat our communities face.”
A fourth worker, Logan Smith,
survived and helped save the lives
of multiple customers, many of
them elderly, the United Food and
Commercial Workers union said.
Authorities said they began
making plans for the funeral of
the fallen officer, Talley, whose
body was draped in an American
flag and escorted to the coroner’s
office Monday night by hundreds
of officers, their lights flashing.
Talley once had a stable job in
information technology that pro-
vided for his children and his wife.
The couple educated their seven
children in their Colorado home.
But in 2010, after one of his
closest friends died in a DUI
crash, he quit, left behind his mas-
ter’s degree and enrolled in the
police academy at age 40, accord-
ing to his friends and family.
As an officer, Talley first made
headlines when he and others res-
cued 11 small ducklings and their
mother trapped in a drainage
ditch, the Daily Camera reported.
His sister, Kirstin Brooks, told
The Washington Post that Talley
was very protective, “everything a
big brother was supposed to be.”
“If I got in trouble as a kid, he
always took it — he said, ‘No, no,
no, it was me,” Brooks said.
That protectiveness carried
into their relationship as adults.
He would often call and check in
with Brooks, reminding her to
take care of herself and her family
and to be safe. She said he also
watched closely over his big fam-
ily, with kids as young as 7 and as
old as 20.
So when she heard about what
happened Monday, she had a
sense of what had gone through
her brother’s mind.
“I honestly know my brother,
when he heard there was a shoot-
ing in a supermarket, I know his
first thought was ‘There are kids
in there,’ ” Brooks said. “I know
why he flew in there first, because
he was thinking, ‘There are fami-
lies in that store.’ ”
mark.berman@washpost.com
annie.gowen@washpost.com
Miller, Schneider and Jennifer
Oldham also reported from Denver.
Julie Tate, Jennifer Jenkins, Lateshia
Beachum, Timothy Bella, Teo Armus,
Keith McMillan, Craig Timberg, Colby
Itkowitz, Marisa Iati, Hannah
Knowles, Paulina Firozi and Michael
E. Miller contributed to this report.
A10 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST . WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021

Mass shootings in america

RETROPOLIS

For Colorado, another chapter in an all-too-familiar story

Columbine wasn’t the first. But since that 1999 tragedy, the state has witnessed a disproportionate share of similar attacks.
BY G ILLIAN B ROCKELL

Colorado is known for its gor-

geous mountain views, but its
history of violence is as ugly as
that of any other place in Ameri-
ca: the Sand Creek Massacre, the
Denver Anti-Chinese Riot, the
Ludlow Massacre.
In more recent times, Colorado
has been disproportionately
plagued by the gun violence epi-
demic. Here is a look at its history
of mass shootings.
Chuck E. Cheese: 1993
Four employees at a Chuck E.
Cheese in Aurora were killed and
another was injured when a gun-
man shot them on Dec. 14, 1993,
to “get even” for being fired
months earlier. Three of the vic-
tims in the attack were teenagers.
The shooter, who had a long
criminal history, was sentenced
to death — a sentence later com-
muted to life in prison without
parole when Colorado abolished
the death penalty.
Columbine High: 1999
Two students attempted to
blow up their high school in
Littleton. When their homemade
bombs failed, they entered the
school on April 20, 1999, with
guns and began shooting. They
killed 12 students and a teacher
and injured more than 20 others
before killing themselves.
Though school shootings had
been happening throughout the
1990s, the Columbine High
School shooting was a turning
point. Afterward, schools nation-
wide began organizing safety pro- JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

tocols for active shooters. A memorial set up in July 2012 across the street from the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., where a shooter killed 12 people and injured 58 a few days before.

Bookcliff RV Park: 2001 Mass

A 42-year-old gunman with a
history of schizophrenia opened
fire on an RV park and a grocery
store frequented by Mexican im-
migrants in Rifle on July 3, 2001.
He killed four people and injured
three before surrendering to po-
lice. He was later found not guilty
by reason of insanity and commit-
ted to a state mental hospital. By
2012, he was being regularly re-
leased for camping trips and oth-
er excursions, according to the
Denver Post.
Mission and church: 2007
A 24-year-old gunman killed
four people and injured five oth-
ers in two separate shootings on
Dec. 9, 2007. He first opened fire
at Youth with a Mission, a Chris-
tian missionary training center in
Arvada, from which he had been
let go years earlier. About 12
hours later, he opened fire at New
Life Church, a Colorado Springs
megachurch, killing two teenage
sisters before being shot by a
volunteer security guard. He then
killed himself.
s shootiings in centra
al Colo
orado
Boulder
2021
King Soopers
10 killed
70 Denver
1999
Columbine High School
13 killed, 24 injured
C O L O R A D O
Note: The Post defines a mass
shooting as one that happens in
a public place and in which 4 or
more people, not including the
shooter, are killed.
Sources: Washington Post
reporting; Nextzen; USGS
TIM MEKO/THE WASHINGTON POST
Aurora movie theater: 2012
A 24-year-old shooter opened
25 fire on a packed theater screening
10 MILES
76 the latest Batman movie, killing
12 and injuring 58 on July 20,
2012. Twelve others were injured
1993 in the ensuing chaos. The gun-
Chuck E. Cheese man surrendered to police and
4 killed, 1 injured
was later convicted and sen-
2012 tenced to more than 3,000 years
Century 16 movie theater in prison. At the time, the Aurora
12 killed, 58 injured 70 theater shooting had the largest
number of casualties of any mass
shooting; it has now been sur-
passed by the 2016 Orlando night-
club shooting and the 2017 Las
Vegas shooting at a country music
festival.
Planned Parenthood: 2015
25 86
A shooter with a history of
mental illness targeted a women’s
health clinic where abortions
were performed, killing three, in-
2007 cluding a police officer, and injur-
Youth With a Mission ing nine others on Nov. 27, 2015.
and New Life Church The gunman was found incompe-
4 killed, 5 injured tent to stand trial and has been
committed ever since. It was the
Colorado Springs second burst of deadly gun vio-
lence in Colorado Springs in less
than a month. The other incident,
during which three people were
fatally shot, is generally not in-
cluded in mass-shooting databas-
es, because of the comparatively
low number of casualties.
One fed-up Coloradan on Twit-
ter noted other attempted mass
shootings near his community,
including a 2017 incident at Deer
Creek Middle School, where two
students were shot before a
teacher wrestled the gunman to
the ground, and a 2017 incident at
a Thornton Walmart, where a
gunman shot and killed three.
Although methodologies vary,
most mass-shooting trackers do
not include domestic violence in-
cidents or incidents in which few-
er than four people are shot.
King Soopers: 2021
On Monday afternoon, a gun-
man began shooting outside a
Boulder King Soopers grocery
store before entering the store
and continuing his attack. He
killed 10, including a police offi-
cer. A 21-year-old suspect is in
custody.
A 2019 analysis by the Denver
Post found that Colorado had
more mass shootings per capita
than all but four states and that
the Denver metropolitan area has
had more school shootings per
capita since 1999 than any of the
nation’s 24 other largest metro-
politan areas.
Frank DeAngelis, the principal
of Columbine High School at the
time of the 1999 shooting, told the
Denver Post on Tuesday that after
the latest incident, “the feelings
are the same. We’ve seen this
happen in Colorado way too
many ways.”
DeAngelis is now on the board
of the Colorado Healing Fund, a
nonprofit that provides a perma-
nent and secure way to donate to
victims and families and support
communities after mass-casualty
incidents in Colorado. The fund is
now collecting donations for the
latest tragedy.
gillian.brockell@washpost.com
From Retropolis, a blog about the
past, rediscovered, at
washingtonpost.com/retropolis.

Days after reversal of 2018 ban on assault weapons, a community grieves

BY T EO A RMUS,
T IMOTHY B ELLA
AND A LEX H ORTON
The city of Boulder, Colo.,
barred assault weapons in 2018 as
a way to prevent mass shootings
like the one that killed 17 at a high
school in Parkland., Fla., earlier
that year.
But 10 days after that ban was
blocked in court this month, the
city was rocked by its own trag-
edy: Ten people were killed at a
supermarket Monday after a gun-
man opened fire, law enforce-
ment officials said.
In announcing the arrest Tues-
day of the suspected 21-year-old
gunman — who has been charged
with 10 counts of first-degree
murder — investigators deter-
mined that the suspect had pur-
chased a Ruger AR-556 pistol on
March 16, according to the arrest
affidavit.
No other details were released
as to when or how the suspect
obtained the AR-15-style firearm
six days before the shooting, or
whether the gun was used at the
King Soopers grocery store. Po-
lice have yet to say whether the
ordinance would have prevented
him from buying or possessing
the weapon within city limits.
Boulder City Attorney Tom
Carr declined to comment to The
Washington Post, but pointed to
language in the city’s code on
assault weapons suggesting that
the AR-556 pistol linked to the
suspected shooter would have
been included in the ban that was
recently overturned.
Rachel Friend, a city council
member, said the events that led
to a mass shooting unfolding
shortly after a judge blocked the
weapons ban left her frustrated
and overwhelmed with sadness.
“I am still too numb or in shock
to say how this happened so
quickly on the heels of it being
struck down — except to say this
is why we wanted to pass the ban
in the first place,” Friend told The
Post. “It hurts.”
The Colorado State Shooting
Association, one of the plaintiffs
that sued Boulder over the assault
weapons ban, rejected that senti-
ment, arguing in a statement that
“emotional sensationalism”
about gun laws would cloud re-
membrance of the victims.
“There will be a time for the
debate on gun laws,” the group
said in a statement. “But today is
not the time.”
Though the weapon linked to
the suspected gunman is mod-
eled after AR-15-style semiauto-
matic rifles and includes similar
mechanisms, ammunition and
magazines, there are some key
differences, such as how quickly
and easily they can be purchased.
AR-15-style pistols have much
shorter barrels than their rifle
counterparts and don’t use tradi-
tional stocks. The barrel length
for the weapon implicated in
Boulder is around 10 inches, or
about six inches shorter than its
rifle cousin.
The National Firearms Act reg-
ulates short-barrel rifles differ-
ently than regular rifles because
they can be concealed in a bag or
under a coat easier than a long
rifle, according to a former spe-
cial agent with the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives.
Buying a short-barrel rifle re-
quires a lengthy background
check that could take months and
includes fingerprints, a photo,
purchase from a specialized deal-
The memorial at the King Soopers grocery store. A suspect in the
shooting has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder.
er and a $200 tax, according to
the former agent, who spoke on
the condition of anonymity be-
cause of the issue’s sensitivity.
But AR-15 pistols aren’t de-
fined as short-barrel rifles after
gun manufacturers made specific
designs to skirt definitions of
what makes a rifle a rifle, he said.
AR-15 pistols are also deadlier
than a typical handgun because
they fire more powerful rifle
rounds at a higher velocity than
slower pistol rounds, such as
9mm bullets.
“It’s treated just like a Glock,”
he said. “But it’s not just a Glock.”
According to the affidavit, wit-
nesses interviewed by authorities
said that the suspect had been
talking about and playing around
with a gun in the days before the
shooting.
Weapons like the Ruger AR-
556 pistol include a stabilizing
brace that helps the operator
RACHEL WOOLF FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
secure the weapon to their fore-
arm for one-handed firing, like a
typical pistol. But the brace can
also just be used to shoulder the
rifle like a regular stock, as shown
in videos, making the pistol func-
tionally identical to the rifle.
The ATF in December sought
to examine how a brace affects
the classification of a firearm.
The agency abandoned its pro-
posal days later after public out-
cry from gun advocates.
The three-year court fight over
Boulder’s ordinance seems likely
to preview a similar public debate
over whether new gun-control
measures are warranted after the
latest attack in a part of the
country that has seen many such
incidents.
The North Central region of
Colorado has seen as many as
nine school shootings since the
Columbine massacre in 1999,
which left 12 students and a
teacher dead. Four other major
shootings have occurred within
20 miles of the high school, in-
cluding a 2012 shooting at a
movie theater in Aurora that left
12 dead.
The earliest of those incidents,
as well as the shooting at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School
in Florida in 2018, pushed Boul-
der officials to take action. Some
said they wanted to prevent a
similar massacre from occurring
again.
“I hope and pray we never have
a mass shooting in Boulder,” Carr
told the Daily Camera in March
2018. “What this ordinance is
about is reducing, on the mar-
gins, the ease with which some-
body could do that.”
With unanimous support from
the council, the law banned the
possession, transfer and sale of
most shotguns and certain pistols
and semiautomatic rifles with
pistol grips, a thumbhole stock,
or any protruding grip that allows
a weapon to be stabilized with the
non-trigger hand.
It also established a permit
system for people who had previ-
ously owned any of those guns
and banned large-capacity maga-
zines, which it defined as “any
ammunition-feeding device with
the capacity to accept more than
10 rounds.”
“If you look at most of the mass
shootings, the guns were pur-
chased legally,” Carr said. “I see
this as an ordinance that throws
in one more barrier to someone
who’s contemplating such a hor-
rible act.”
While city officials had ac-
knowledged the law faced likely
legal challenges, they pointed to
the city’s home-rule provisions as
well as its history of trailblazing
on liberal issues, like the issuance
of same-sex marriage licenses.
The ordinance generated vig-
orous opposition from gun-rights
activists across the state. On the
day of the vote, advocates from
around Colorado descended on
Boulder, many of them carrying
concealed rifles with them into
city government buildings.
A month after it passed, the
law was challenged in state dis-
trict court by two Boulder resi-
dents, a local gun shop and the
Colorado State Shooting Associa-
tion, according to the Denver
Post.
On March 12, Boulder County
District Judge Andrew Hartman
sided with the plaintiffs, saying
that, according to a 2003 Colora-
do state law, cities and counties
cannot restrict guns that are oth-
erwise legal under federal and
state law.
The “need for statewide unifor-
mity favors the state’s interest in
regulating assault weapons,”
Hartman wrote. He said Boul-
der’s ordinance “could create a
ripple effect across the state” by
encouraging other municipalities
to pass their own bans.
The day after Hartman’s rul-
ing, city officials instructed Boul-
der police to stop enforcing the
ban. Carr declined to comment
on whether he planned to appeal
the decision.
But in the wake of the Boulder
shooting, gun violence preven-
tion advocates said the impor-
tance of preserving such a ban
had only become more evident.
teo.armus@washpost.com
timothy.bella@washpost.com
alex.horton@washpost.com
Annie Gowen contributed to this
report.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021 . THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A11

Mass shootings in america

Suspect was quiet, prone tinted his windows were.”

According to the arrest war-
rant affidavit, police found a

to outbursts, some say black Mercedes sedan in the park-

SUSPECT FROM A1
assaulted an unsuspecting stu-
dent, pummeling him in the head
and face for an alleged ethnic slur.
He pleaded guilty to misdemean-
or assault and was sentenced to
probation and community serv-
ice.
About the same time, Alissa
threatened his wrestling team-
mates after losing a match. “He
got super mad and started throw-
ing his head gear. He was saying,
‘I’m going to kill you guys’ and
walked out,” Angel Hernandez
said. His teammates were
stunned.
“We were kind of quiet about it.
We kind of went ahead and went
along with practice. Coach was
like, ‘What the heck just hap-
pened?’” Hernandez said.
Alissa never returned to the
team.
Less than three years later, a
month shy of his 22nd birthday,
the anonymous high school wres-
tler became the short, shirtless,
bearded suspect in the second
mass shooting in the United
States in less than a week.
“Are they seriously saying he
killed 10 people? This doesn’t
make sense,” said a cousin in
Syria who spoke on the condition
that he be identified by only his
first name, Abdullah. “How can
this be true?
“Ahmad’s whole family are
good people. They never had
problems, not in Syria or in the
U.S.”
The Alissa family appeared to
prosper after arriving in the Unit-
ed States, opening and acquiring
several restaurants that served
Middle Eastern food, according
to a video on a local news channel.
The family lives in a suburban
neighborhood in this town of
more than 100,000 people just
northwest of Denver, with well-
kept homes and upscale cars in
the driveways. According to the
affidavit released by police, Alissa
lives on the top floor of a large
two-story house. On Tuesday, the
occupants covered the windows
and occasionally peeked out at
the media gathered on the street
ing lot of the King Soopers market
where the shooting occurred. The
vehicle was registered to one of
outside. No one answered the Alissa’s brothers.
door. Hernandez, the wrestler, said
Steve Weber, a neighbor two Alissa became increasingly anti-
houses down, said the suspect’s social each of the three years that
family moved in about a year and he knew him in high school. One
a half ago and has many visitors of Alissa’s brothers, Ali Aliwi Alis-
but little interaction with the sa, 34, told the Daily Beast in a
people nearby. He described the phone interview that his brother
community as crime-free. was mentally ill and paranoid,
The police affidavit said that adding that in high school he
Alissa bought a gun on March 16 would talk about being chased, or
— the same day the Georgia that someone was looking for
shooting left eight people dead — him. He added that his brother
that another resident of the home was bullied in high school.
described as a “machine gun.” Hernandez was a year behind
The document said the weapon the suspect in high school. The
was a Ruger AR-556 pistol. two competed on the same team
“Alissa had been talking about for three years. Hernandez, who
having a bullet stuck in the gun graduated in 2019, said the team
and was playing with the gun,” was like a family. He was not close
according to the affidavit. Others to Alissa, he said, but bonded with
in the home were “upset with him through the sport, as team-
Alissa for playing with the gun in mates often do. He struggled to
the house and took the gun,” RACHEL WOOLF FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
reconcile the teenager he remem-
according to the woman cited by Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder in Monday’s shooting at the bered as “genuine and super nice”
police in the affidavit. She told King Soopers supermarket, pictured Tuesday, in Boulder, Colo. with the man accused of slaying
police she believed Alissa had 10 people.
retrieved the weapon. ist, but social media posts they down dramatically after October “In high school, he didn’t really He recalled, however, that Alis-
A Facebook profile that ap- cite as evidence don’t really back 2019. There were only three pub- have a lot of friends, and that’s sa’s mood could grow dark in an
pears to be Alissa’s contains posts it up.” licly accessible posts in 2020, why [the other student] and I instant. Hernandez was aware
about martial arts and Islam, Alissa did complain about hos- with the last in September. tried to reach out and make him Alissa had “some problems with
with no evidence of “any radical tility toward refugees and Mus- In Merrill Middle School, one welcome,” said the classmate, anger.”
or extremist views,” according to lims. In sharing a PBS link about woman said Alissa “was the who spoke on the condition of “If something made him mad,
an analysis Tuesday by the SITE the impact of immigration on the sweetest kid ever. Really quiet anonymity for fear of harassment within a split second, he’d
Intelligence Group, which moni- U.S. economy, he wrote, “Why and respectful. He got along with on social media. “He was alone change,” Hernandez said. “When
tors online extremism. Analysts refugees and immigrants are everyone. And he talked to every- and he was just kind of shy.” he got mad, it was scary, I won’t
there reviewed an archived ver- good for America.” body. He would play with every- Dorokhov and other students lie.”
sion of the Facebook page, which One post by Alissa said, “God one.” She spoke on the condition remembered having lunch occa- About a month ago, Hernandez
has been removed from the plat- created Adam and Eve not Adam of anonymity, fearing for her own sionally at one of the Alissa fam- ran into Alissa at a restaurant and
form. and Steve just saying.” safety. ily’s restaurants, the Sultan Grill, said he seemed “100 percent fine.”
The profile shows that Alissa Another post said “What Islam “He never got bullied,” the not far from Arvada West High The two spoke for a few minutes
“was born in Syria and came to is really about” and listed virtues woman recalled. “He was a good School. But little about Alissa and Hernandez asked how Alissa
the U.S. as a toddler in 2002. He such as decency, humility and kid. I just don’t know what hap- himself stood out. was doing.
studied computer science and ex- forgiveness. pened.” “I had a Volkswagen; we talked “He said, ‘Yeah, I’m doing pret-
pressed an interest in wrestling In September 2019, when Alis- A classmate in a 10th-grade about my car,” said Dorokhov, an ty good.’ He said life was tough
and mixed martial arts (MMA). sa was 20, he posted “#NeedAGirl- English class remembered Alissa immigrant from Ukraine who with the covid situation, but that
Alissa also frequently discussed friend.” The cousin in Syria said as almost painfully anonymous, said he works as a mechanic. “I was pretty much it. He seemed
PlayStation 4, Islam, and his Alissa’s family was trying to find a alone enough that he and another know he talked about his parents’ happy.”
stance against same-sex mar- wife for him, but without success. student went out of their way to restaurant. Also, I remember a That interaction makes events
riage.” The Facebook account slowed include him. black Mercedes, he told me how even more difficult to under-
“We still don’t know what his stand, he said.
motive was, or if he had one at all. “I’m in shock,” he said, “and I’m
But what I can say is that based on sad about it.”
what I’ve seen of his social media “Based on what I’ve seen of his social media presence, leonard.bernstein@washpost.com
presence, he didn’t even remotely
suggest having radical Islamist he didn’t even remotely suggest having radical Islamist leanings, kim.bellware@washpost.com
craig.timberg@washpost.com
leanings, or really radical lean-
ings of any kind,” said Rita Katz, or really radical leanings of any kind.” Jennifer Oldham in Denver and
executive director of SITE. “There Rita Katz, executive director of SITE Intelligence Group, which conducted Souad Mekhennet, Julie Tate and
are already some suggesting he Ahmad Al an analysis of Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa’s social media presence after the shooting Alice Crites in Washington
was a jihadi or anti-Trump terror- Aliwi Alissa contributed to this report.

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A12
Slain o∞cer’s loved ones remember civic-minded and devoted family man
BY A NDREA S ALCEDO
AND P AULINA F IROZI
As an older brother, Eric Talley
was always protective.
If his sister ever got into trouble
when they were young, he would
take the blame. If she was picked
on at school, he would make sure
people knew not to mess with her,
Kirstin Brooks said of her brother,
the 51-year-old police officer who
was one of 10 people killed on
Monday when a gunman attacked
a King Soopers grocery store in
Boulder, Colo.
That protectiveness continued
in adulthood. Talley would often
call and check in with Brooks, 49,
reminding her to take care of
herself. He was the same way with
his wife and seven children ages 7
to 20. Brooks described them as “a
good, sweet, tight, close family.”
Brooks said she had a sense of
what had gone through her broth-
er’s mind on Monday.
“I honestly know my brother;
when he heard there was a shoot-
ing in a supermarket, I know his
first thought was, ‘There are kids
in there,’ ” Brooks said. “He loved
his kids. His family shopped at
King Soopers.”
“I know Eric would have want-
ed to save every single one of
those lives. I know why he flew in
there first — because he was
thinking there are families in that
Diverse
walks of life
converged
in tragedy
VICTIMS FROM A1
Jody Waters was the oldest at 65.
Also killed were Neven Stanisic,
23, and Tralona Bartkowiak, 49.
Lynn Murray
Age 62
Lynn Murray’s husband de-
scribed her as a brilliant comet who
streaked through everyone’s life —
but also the anchor of his family,
whose grace and beauty seemed to
hold everyone in her sway.
“She was very much the center,”
John R. Mackenzie said Tuesday.
“She was the spiritual guide. She
was the awareness and conscious-
ness for all of us.”
Murray, an Ohio native, was a
former photo producer and editor
for Condé Nast and Hearst, super-
vising shoots that appeared in Cos-
mopolitan, Marie Claire and other
fashion magazines, before she left
to raise her children. She was so
likable and good with people that
she befriended New York’s “Soup
Nazi,” the famously cantankerous
vendor who became the subject of
a “Seinfeld” episode.
“It’s like the comet that goes
across the sky for 62 years,” said
Mackenzie, 59. “We recognized
how blessed we were. I’m standing
here talking to you and waiting for
her to come through the door, and
it’s not going to happen.”
Mackenzie said he met his fu-
ture wife at a photography studio
in the late 1980s while she was
supervising a shoot involving
French photographer Jacques Ma-
lignon and he was working for an
apparel firm. Mackenzie said they
took advantage of everything the
city had to offer by way of culture
or social life, including dinners
with their friend, the late Anthony
Bourdain. Mackenzie and Murray
married in 1995 in Mauritius and
moved to Long Island. While their
two children, Pierce and Olivia,
were still young, but their own
lives were still built around end-
less work days, nannies and long
commutes to Long Island, Mac-
kenzie said they decided to step
back. They moved to Florida,
where Murray quit her job to de-
vote herself to parenting. Even-
tually they moved to Colorado to
be near Olivia.
Mackenzie, in a lengthy inter-
view by phone, ranged over many
of the conflicting emotions and
thoughts that have occupied him
and his family since they learned
that his wife died inside the store.
“I walked around screaming at
the world for two hours, you
know? And I tried to talk to my
wife,” Mackenzie said. “God you
have no idea. I’m never going to
see her again.”
— Freddy Kunkle
Eric Talley
Age 51
As an older brother, Eric Talley
was always protective.
If his sister ever got in trouble
when they were kids, he would
take the blame. If she was picked
on in school, he would make sure
store.”
Talley was among the first re-
sponders to run into the super-
market, and he was fatally shot
along with nine others. The vic-
tims ranged in age from 20 to 65.
More than a decade ago, Talley
had a job in information technol-
ogy that provided for his wife and
the children, who were home-
schooled.
But in 2010, after one of his
closest friends died in a DUI
crash, he quit and enrolled in the
police academy at age 40, accord-
ing to his friends and family.
“It was remarkable to me that
somebody would go to law en-
forcement from IT,” Jeremy
Herko, a lieutenant with the Arap-
ahoe County Sheriff’s Office, told
The Washington Post. “He lost
pay. He lost time away from his
family. He joined the police acad-
emy without a guaranteed job.”
Brooks, while detailing the
things in which her brother ex-
celled — he had a black belt in
karate, he was an “extremely fast”
runner, he “once made a little
engine out of a racecar” — said he
was “just talented and gifted and
loved.”
In remarks after the shooting,
President Biden spoke about Tall-
ey and shared his “deepest condo-
lences to his family, his close,
close family.”
“When he pinned on that badge
people knew not to mess with his
little sister, Kirstin Brooks said of
her brother.
That protectiveness carried into
their relationship as adults. Talley
would often call and check in with
Brooks, 49, reminding her to take
care of herself. He was the same
way with his own family — his wife
and his seven children, ages 7 to 20.
Brooks described them as “a good,
sweet, tight, close family.”
In 2010, after one of his closest
friends died in a DUI crash, Talley
quit his job in information technol-
ogy, left behind his master’s degree
and enrolled in the police academy
at age 40, according to his friends
and family. He would join the Boul-
der Police Department.
“It was remarkable to me that
somebody would go to law enforce-
ment from IT,” said Jeremy Herko,
a lieutenant with the Arapahoe
County Sheriff’s Office. “He lost
pay. He lost time away from his
family. He joined the police acad-
emy without a guaranteed job.”
Brooks, detailing all the things
she said her brother excelled at —
he had a black belt in karate, he
was an “extremely fast” runner, he
“once made a little engine out of a
racecar” — said he was “just tal-
ented and gifted and loved.”
— Andrea Salcedo
and Paulina Firozi
Rikki Olds
Age 25
Rikki Olds was a vibrant and
strong-willed woman who had
shrugged off a covid scare while
working at King Soopers, only to
be killed in Monday’s shooting.
Olds had worked for Kroger gro-
cery stores for about six years, said
her uncle, Robert Olds. She was
working as a manager Monday.
“Rikki was a very strong, inde-
pendent, bubbly, outgoing per-
son,” Robert Olds said.
Olds had been raised by her
grandparents after a rough child-
hood, Robert Olds said. Her grand-
father died a few years ago, but her
grandmother is “absolutely devas-
tated.” The last time the two spoke
was on Saturday. It was her grand-
ma’s birthday, but Rikki called to
say she was sorry she couldn’t be
EZ M2
Mass shootings in america
BOULDER POLICE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Biden called Eric
Talley an American hero for his
actions at the supermarket.
[Monday] morning, he didn’t
know what the day would bring,”
Biden said. “Every time an officer
walks out of his or her home, pins
that badge on, the family member
that they just said goodbye to
wonders whether, subconscious-
ly, will they get that call, the call
that his wife got.
“But when the moment to act
came, Officer Talley did not hesi-
tate in his duty, making the ulti-
mate sacrifice in his effort to save
lives. That’s the definition of an
American hero.”
At a news conference late Mon-
day, Boulder Police Chief Maris
Lynn Murray
Rikki Olds
there. She had to work.
“Rikki was the one who always
said, ‘Okay, somebody’s not show-
ing up to work, I gotta go to work, I
gotta take care of it,” he said. “I
cannot believe the adult that she
was from her childhood.”
Olds grew up in nearby Lafa-
yette, Colo., where she attended
Centarus High School, her uncle
said. Facebook photos show she
often changed her hair color, occa-
sionally rocking bright colors. It
was a sign of her strong personal-
ity, he said.
The pandemic had transformed
the grocery store into an uncer-
tain place to work at times, said
Carlee Lough, a co-worker. But
Olds had always lightened the
mood with a joke, her infectious
laugh or what everyone called her
“gorilla dance.”
Olds would walk around,
Herold held back tears and called
Talley’s actions “heroic.”
“I am so sorry about the loss of
Officer Talley,” Herold said.
Boulder Mayor Sam Weaver on
Tuesday called Talley a “truly he-
roic public servant” who “joins
the ranks of six other Boulder
police officers who have laid
down their lives for the people of
our city.”
Herko said he and Talley bond-
ed almost instantly after meeting.
“He is drawn to people, and
people are drawn to him,” Herko
said. “It’s easy to be drawn to a guy
like that. I was fortunate that he
liked me as well.”
At the academy, Talley shared
how his friend’s death had moti-
vated him to become an officer.
“He was pretty driven to join law
enforcement,” Herko said.
After Talley obtained his certi-
fication, he joined the Boulder
Police Department in 2010 and
eventually took on “numerous
roles,” Herold said.
As an officer, Talley first made
headlines with a heartwarming
animal rescue. Brooks, who called
her brother a peaceful and good
man who rejected violence, said
he supported various animal wel-
fare organizations.
In 2013, he was part of a trio of
officers who rescued 11 ducklings
and their mother from a drainage
ditch, Boulder’s Daily Camera re-
RACHEL WOOLF FOR THE WASHINGTON POST (ABOVE); FAMILY PHOTOS
Police tape marks off the crime scene Tuesday at the King Soopers
grocery store in Boulder, Colo., where a gunman had killed 10
people ranging in age from 20 to 65 the afternoon before.
throwing her arms, making funny
sounds as pop music played over
the store’s speakers, Lough re-
called with a laugh. “She was a
fun-loving spirit. . . . She would do
anything to make you smile.”
— Michael E. Miller
Denny Stong
Age 20
Denny Stong was training to
become a professional pilot. He
had worked long hours stocking
shelves at King Soopers since late
2018 to earn money for airplane
fuel, said Laura Spicer, the mother
of Stong’s close friend.
When the coronavirus pandem-
ic began last March, Stong added a
border to his Facebook picture
that read: “I can’t stay home, I am a
grocery store worker” — an hom-
age to essential workers who have
risked their health throughout the
crisis.
One day, Spicer said, she saw
Stong at the store and asked him
how he was doing.”
He gestured his hand like a
plane coming off a runway and
said, ‘I’m flying!’” Spicer said. “And
my son said today, 'I guess he
really is now.’”
Stong was gregarious, gener-
ous, confident and loyal. He was
drawn to anything fast, including
old muscle cars, motorcycles, dirt
bikes and airplanes.
He participated in the Boulder
Aeromodeling Society, a club of
about 77 people who design, build
and fly model planes, said the
group’s president, Aidan Sesnic.
Stong was also passionate about
the Second Amendment and re-
quested donations to the National
Foundation for Gun Rights this
month for his birthday. “I’ve cho-
sen this nonprofit because their
mission means a lot to me, and I
hope you’ll consider contributing
as a way to celebrate with me,” he
wrote on Facebook.
Stong’s Facebook page is full of
photos of him making goofy faces
and sporting different hair colors.
In his most recent profile picture,
THE WASHINGTON POST
ported. During the nearly one-
hour operation, the paper report-
ed, officers first used a net to try to
catch the ducks.
When that did not work, Talley
trudged through the water to
round up the ducks by hand as
another officer grabbed them one
by one.
“He was drenched after this,”
Boulder police Sgt. Jack Walker
said of Talley at the time. “They
would go into these little pipes,
and he would have to try and fish
them out.”
Talley worked for a time in the
Martin Acres neighborhood,
where he met with residents and
helped set up a “community-
based” police initiative, the neigh-
borhood newsletter reported in
2015.
When Talley was not patrolling
the streets, Herko said, he was the
type of father who bought a 15-
passenger van so his family would
be more comfortable on the road.
“That was his life,” Herko said.
“He absolutely loved his job and
wanted to serve the community.”
Herko said he spoke to Talley
on Sunday. Herko had sent him a
picture of his family playing a
board game that Talley had rec-
ommended. Soon after learning
about the shooting on Monday,
Herko said, he texted Talley to
make sure he was okay.
“But of course, he did not re-
his hair is bushy and red.
“He occupied a space in the
room,” Spicer said. “And now it’s
like oxygen has left the room be-
cause he’s not there.”
— Marisa Iati
Kevin Mahoney
Age 61
Erika Mahoney tweeted a photo
from her wedding day, her arm
laced through her dad’s, her face
looking up at him adoringly as he
appears to be holding back tears
before he walks her down the aisle.
The moment captured on a
bright, happy day makes the news
she shares with it that much more
devastating.
“I am heartbroken to announce
that my Dad, my hero, Kevin Ma-
honey, was killed in the King Soop-
ers shooting in my hometown of
Boulder, CO,” she wrote. “My dad
represents all things Love. I’m so
thankful he could walk me down
the aisle last summer.”
Mahoney, a news director at
KAZU, a public radio station in
Monterey Bay, Calif., then shared in
a second tweet that she’s pregnant.
“I am now pregnant,” she wrote.
“I know he wants me to be strong
for his granddaughter.”
She thanked Boulder law en-
forcement for their kindness and
in a final tweet wrote: “I love you
forever Dad. You are always with
me.”
— Colby Itkowitz
Suzanne Fountain
Age 59
Helen Forster met Suzanne
Fountain in the late 1980s when
they were in a community play
together. Forster and her hus-
band, Nick, own a live music ven-
ue, eTown Hall, in downtown
Boulder where Fountain worked
for many years as the front house
manager, Forster said.
“She was just a bright light,” For-
ster said. “Just a delightful person to
be around, her smile lit up the room.
It’s a big loss. She was one of the
kindest people I’ve ever known,”
. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
spond,” Herko said.
Outside the grocery store late
Monday, a procession of police
cars escorted the ambulance car-
rying Talley’s body as officers and
first responders stood along the
road saluting and holding an
American flag, according to local
news reports.
Talley’s father, Homer Talley,
told Denver TV station KMGH in
a statement that his son was
working to become a drone opera-
tor, a job he thought would be
safer.
“He loved his kids and his fam-
ily more than anything,” the offi-
cer’s father wrote. “He didn’t want
to put his family through some-
thing like this and he believed in
Jesus Christ.”
Brooks said she urged her
brother to be careful at work. “I
am careful,” Talley would insist,
telling his sister that he thought
Boulder was relatively safe.
Above all, she said, he “loved
his family. He was just a good
man.”
“Everybody in that grocery
store has a sweet family member,
sweet people that miss them and
that are aching,” she said. “That’s
what Eric was trying to prevent —
that grief. He would be heartbro-
ken for those families. We are too.
My whole family is heartbroken.”
andrea.salcedo@washpost.com
paulina.firozi@washpost.com
Forster said through tears.
Forster said she didn’t feel com-
fortable discussing anything out-
side her own relationship with
Fountain.
“A lot of people love her. So many
people, I couldn’t even begin to
fathom. She’s touched a lot of peo-
ple in her short life,” she said.
— Colby Itkowitz
Jody Waters
Age 65
Jody Waters brought Beanie Ba-
bies to Boulder.
Waters used to co-own a bou-
tique called Applause, then part of
Boulder’s downtown Pearl Street
Mall pedestrian district, where
the plush animals were first sold
in Boulder in the 1990s.
Jenn Haney said friends gath-
ered Tuesday at her clothing store,
Island Farm, to remember Waters,
who worked at the store for six
years until recently taking time off
to care for her new grandson.
“She just brought such a bright,
sparkly energy, and the world’s
just dimmer with her gone,”
Haney said. “She loved retail, and
she loved the customers.”
Lily Rood met Waters when
Rood started working at Island
Farm two years ago. Rood said
Waters helped her get through a
tough breakup.
“She told me to move into her
neighborhood so she could look
over me and be a mother figure to
me,” Rood said. The two lived close
to each other in a neighborhood
across from King Soopers.
“We went out for margaritas
one night, and we went straight
back to my apartment, across the
street from her, and we built my
bed and my dresser. And to this
day,” she fondly joked, referring to
the margarita-laced, assembly, “I
don’t want to jump on my bed, and
a screw is definitely loose in my
dresser.”
— Amanda Miller
Teri Leiker
Age 51
Teri Leiker was a longtime King
Soopers employee who enjoyed
attending sporting events and
singing songs from the movie
“Frozen,” according to friends on
social media.
“I am absolutely heartbroken to
share the loss of my friend Teri
Leiker,” wrote Katie
Rinderknecht, a recent graduate
of the University of Colorado at
Boulder. She said she met Leiker
through Best Buddies, which con-
nects students with members of
the community with intellectual
and developmental disabilities.
“All she knew was how to love
and support those that meant a lot
to her,” wrote Rinderknecht, who
could not be reached for com-
ment. Another friend wrote that
she would never forget Leiker
singing songs from Frozen “on re-
peat.”
Leiker had worked at King
Soopers for around 30 years and
loved the job, a third friend, Alexis
Knutson, wrote on Instagram,
adding that she had met the older
woman through the Best Buddies
program in 2017.
“Teri was the most selfless, in-
nocent, amazing person I have
had the honor of meeting,” wrote
Knutson, who could not be
reached for comment. “Her shy
friendship toward me turned into
a sort of sisterhood.”
— Michael E. Miller
Julie Tate, Jennifer Jenkins and Alice
Crites contributed to this report.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
Events compel Biden to advocate for tightened gun laws
Democrats mindful
of legislative hurdles
that remain in Senate
BYS EAN S ULLIVAN,
P AUL K ANE
AND S EUNG M IN K IM
President Biden on Tuesday
called for tightening of the na-
tion’s gun laws, plunging him
into an impassioned debate that
he largely tiptoed around until it
erupted anew after two mass
shootings.
But Biden and Democratic
leaders tempered their push for
swift action with some doubt
about their ability to enact new
restrictions, even with party con-
trol of the White House and
Congress, underlining the politi-
cal volatility that has long sur-
rounded efforts to overhaul gun
laws.
In hastily arranged remarks
less than 24 hours after a shoot-
ing rampage in Boulder, Colo.,
that left 10 people dead, Biden
proposed a ban on assault weap-
ons and high-capacity ammuni-
tion magazines, as well as an
expansion of background checks
during gun sales. Gun-control
advocates have tried to push
through all these initiatives over
the past decade, but strong cul-
tural and political divisions have
stymied their efforts.
“I don’t need to wait another
minute, let alone an hour, to take
common-sense steps that will
save lives in the future and to
urge my colleagues in the House
and Senate to act,” Biden said. He
suggested that he might offer
new legislation to complement
bills that have already passed the
House.
Any gun legislation is expected
to face major hurdles in the
Senate, which is evenly divided
between Democrats and Republi-
cans. Asked during a trip to Ohio
later Tuesday whether he had the
political capital to shepherd a
gun measure, Biden crossed his
fingers and replied, “I hope so. I
don’t know. I haven’t done any
counting yet.”
Still, his comments were the
most detailed of his presidency
on gun control, an issue that has
been eclipsed by the coronavirus
pandemic and other crises. Biden
engaged in a flurry of executive
actions after he was sworn in, but
none of them touched on fire-
arms.
And he did not fulfill a cam-
paign promise to send a bill to
Congress on his first day in office
repealing liability protections for
gun manufacturers and closing
background-check loopholes.
But the grocery store shooting
Justice Dept. is pressed
on hate-crime charges
Atlanta case illustrates
difficulty in prosecuting,
winning convictions
BY D AVID N AKAMURA
The Justice Department is fac-
ing mounting pressure to file
federal hate-crime charges in the
Atlanta spa shootings, setting up
a test for the Biden administra-
tion in managing public expecta-
tions in a case that experts said
illustrates the difficulty in pros-
ecuting and winning a convic-
tion.
In the decade since Congress
most recently expanded hate-
crime protections in 2009, the
number of referrals to federal
prosecutors under all five exist-
ing federal statutes was signifi-
cantly lower than it had been over
the previous 25 years, according
to data compiled by Syracuse
University’s Transactional Rec-
ords Access Clearinghouse
(TRAC) program.
And of the nearly 2,000 cases
investigators referred through
mid-2019, only about 15 percent
resulted in prosecutions, the
study found.
Among the cases that went
forward were high-profile attacks
by Dylann Roof, convicted of 33
federal hate crimes for gunning
down nine black parishioners in
Charleston, S.C., in 2015; Robert
Gregory Bowers, indicted on 44
federal counts for the shooting
deaths of 11 worshipers at a Pitts-
burgh synagogue in 2018; and
James Alex Fields Jr., sentenced
to life in prison after pleading
guilty to federal hate crimes for
. THE WASHINGTON POST
“I don’t need to wait another minute . . . to take common-sense steps that will save lives in the future
and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act,” President Biden said about gun control.
in Boulder — coming less than a
week after a shooting rampage in
Atlanta left eight people dead,
including six Asian women — has
quickly increased pressure on
Biden to use the power of his
office to secure new gun laws.
“Now is the time to act — not
next week, not next month, but
today,” said John Feinblatt, presi-
dent of Everytown for Gun Safety.
“It’s time for the Senate and the
administration to do something
about it.”
Feinblatt, who said he is in
touch with the White House, also
urged Biden to use his executive
powers. “I think it’s past time for
them to act,” he added.
For weeks, the White House
has been privately exploring vari-
ous executive orders related to
firearms, such as strengthening
background checks and commu-
nity anti-violence funding, ac-
cording to people familiar with
the conversations.
White House officials con-
firmed on Tuesday that they are
considering potential executive
actions, but they declined to pro-
vide a timeline.
Also under discussion is regu-
lating “ghost guns,” which are
devices assembled at home and
lacking serial numbers, making
them more difficult to track. The
people describing the talks spoke
on the condition of anonymity to
discuss plans that were not pub-
lic.
The White House focused
heavily Tuesday on promoting
legislation that has already
passed the House to toughen
background checks. And admin-
istration officials rejected the
driving a car into a crowd and
killing a counterprotester at a
white-supremacist rally in Char-
lottesville in 2019.
But experts said law enforce-
ment officials’ handling of the
killings of eight people, including
six women of Asian descent, at
three spas in the Atlanta area last
week has demonstrated flaws in
how federal and local authorities
are collaborating on the investi-
gation of whether the alleged
shooter, Robert Aaron Long, 21,
was motivated by race or gender
or national origin.
Authorities said Long, who is
White, told them that he was
seeking to eliminate sexual temp-
tation in carrying out the killings.
A sheriff ’s deputy in Cherokee
County, north of Atlanta, where
one of the spas was located, ap-
peared to discount potential hate-
crime charges, saying Long was
having a “really bad day” when he
attacked the Asian-owned busi-
nesses at which police said he had
been a patron. The deputy was
reassigned from the case amid
public outrage at his remarks.
Federal investigators also ap-
pear to have leaked information
to news organizations, including
the Associated Press, which re-
ported over the weekend that the
inquiry has yet to turn up evi-
dence that would constitute a
hate crime.
“The disconnect is that law
enforcement seemed to downplay
bias, particularly racial and eth-
nic bias, as a motivation for a
crime very quickly,” said former
FBI agent Michael German, a
fellow at the Brennan Center for
Justice who has written critically
of how his former employer in-
vestigates white supremacy and
hate crimes.
Mass shootings in america
idea that they have not focused
on gun control, pointing to meet-
ings they have had with advo-
cates.
“We are certainly considering a
range of levers, including work-
ing through legislation, includ-
ing executive actions to address
not just gun safety measures, but
violence in communities,” White
House press secretary Jen Psaki
told reporters traveling on Air
Force One. “So that is — has been
under discussion and will contin-
ue to be under discussion.”
Along with a surge of immi-
grants at the U.S.-Mexico border,
the shootings have jolted a highly
choreographed opening to the
Biden presidency, forcing the
president to confront polarizing
issues he trod over lightly as a
candidate. Biden during the cam-
paign portrayed himself as a uni-
fier, emphasizing noncontrover-
sial topics such as pandemic re-
lief and job creation.
Few issues in recent decades
have been as contentious as guns.
Republicans have used the topic
to galvanize their base, warning
that Democrats are trying to take
away firearms. The attacks have
caused Democrats to navigate the
issue warily, worried they would
pay a political price especially
among rural voters if they cham-
pioned gun-control measures too
aggressively.
Biden had a firsthand view of
this reality as vice president un-
der President Barack Obama,
who made an unsuccessful at-
tempt in 2013 to pass new legisla-
tion after the Newtown, Conn.,
school shooting that left six
adults and 20 children dead in
Demonstrators march Saturday in Atlanta. Eight people, including
six women of Asian descent, were killed at three spas March 16.
German said the Justice De-
partment has long followed a
policy of deferring to local au-
thorities in handling potential
hate-crime cases. But he said
states have inconsistent and
weak laws that local prosecutors
often choose not to pursue be-
cause they fear that doing so
could complicate efforts to win a
conviction.
“Whether substantial evidence
can prove it beyond a reasonable
doubt, the fact that law enforce-
ment would forfeit those claims
in public statements is terribly
inappropriate,” German said. He
added that doing so “reinforces
the belief among many communi-
ties who are targeted in these
kind of crimes that police don’t
care as much when they’re the
victims of crime rather than the
suspects.”
U.S. officials said the FBI is
assisting local authorities in the
investigation, while lawyers in
the Justice Department’s civil
rights division are involved in
determining whether the crime
meets federal hate-crime stat-
utes. Police in Georgia have
charged Long with eight counts
of murder.
EZ RE
DEMETRIUS FREEMAN/THE WASHINGTON POST
December 2012.
Obama on Tuesday also urged
the passage of gun-control mea-
sures. “We can overcome opposi-
tion by cowardly politicians and
the pressure of a gun lobby that
opposes any limit on the avail-
ability of anyone to assemble an
arsenal,” he said. “We can, and we
must.” But a statement by Sen.
Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) at a Senate
committee hearing on gun vio-
lence made it clear that Republi-
cans are not about to reconsider.
“Every time there’s a shooting, we
play this ridiculous theater where
this committee gets together and
proposes a bunch of laws that
would do nothing to stop these
murders,” Cruz said.
“We’re having
preliminary
conversations and I
hope we can get
something across the
goal line. But it’s very
difficult.”
Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.)
After a February 2018 shooting
at a high school in Parkland, Fla.,
students launched a wave of ac-
tivism that propelled gun-control
issues to the front of the Demo-
cratic agenda, including Biden’s.
But since taking office, the presi-
dent has been swamped by other
DUSTIN CHAMBERS/THE WASHINGTON POST
The officials cautioned that
such an assessment can be a slow
and arduous process, and that it
is expected to go well beyond
what Long told local police about
his motives. Investigators will
seek to examine Long’s emails
and social media, and interview
his family and friends. They could
potentially convene a grand jury
to hear evidence.
Yet Asian American leaders
have begun explicitly calling for
hate-crime charges, arguing that
Long clearly knew his targets
would be Asian women, some
who immigrated from Korea, giv-
en his familiarity with the spas.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), chair
of the Congressional Asian Pacific
American Caucus, noted that
Long drove more than 25 miles
between the businesses, suggest-
ing that he could have attacked
other establishments had he not
been motivated to attack a specif-
ic set of workers.
A White handyman working at
one of the spas and a White
female customer also were killed
in the shootings.
“I feel very, very strongly that
this is a hate crime,” Chu said.
“The law may have its own stan-
crises, from the pandemic to the
economy to immigration.
Meanwhile, there is little evi-
dence that Congress has become
any more hospitable to gun con-
trol. While there are fewer Demo-
crats representing rural areas,
there are fewer moderate Repub-
licans, leading to even greater
polarization.
Still, gun-control activists say
there are some reasons for hope.
They cite the enduring popularity
of expanding background
checks; they point to the internal
problems that have roiled the
National Rifle Association, their
most powerful opponent; they
reflect on the success Democrats
have had running on gun issues
in the suburban areas where
their congressional majorities
were built; and they point to a
recently successful push to place
new restrictions on guns in Vir-
ginia.
But those were afterthoughts
Tuesday on Capitol Hill. While
Democrats spoke of an aggressive
push to bring gun legislation to
the Senate floor, they carefully
calibrated expectations to make
clear that the likely outcome was
simply a debate and perhaps a
vote on some version of a bill
introduced previously by Sens.
Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and
Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.).
The bills passed by the House
are aimed at closing loopholes in
the requirement that gun buyers
undergo criminal background
checks. The “Charleston loop-
hole,” for example, allows some-
one to buy a gun if a background
check is not concluded after three
days, and that would be extended
to 10.
The second bill would close the
“gun show loophole,” which al-
lows private individuals who are
not licensed dealers to buy and
sell guns without background
checks.
Manchin opposes the two
House bills as too far-reaching,
effectively dooming their pros-
pects in the 50-50 Senate. “No, I
don’t support what the House
passed — no, not at all,” he told
reporters.
Senate Majority Leader
Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) re-
minded reporters of an unsuc-
cessful attempt in 2019 to push
gun legislation after two massa-
cres just hours apart in Dayton,
Ohio, and El Paso, and said: “This
Democratic Senate will be differ-
ent.”
But when pressed, Schumer
declined to promise that any
particular legislation would pass.
With a 60-vote threshold on
legislation in the Senate because
of the filibuster, Democrats
would need to not only consoli-
date all of their own supporters,
but persuade 10 Republicans to
come along.
dards that need to be met. But we
don’t have to wait for the shooter
to tell us he was targeting a
specific race and gender. His ac-
tions clearly show what’s on his
mind.”
Since President Lyndon B.
Johnson signed the first hate-
crime legislation in 1968, law-
makers have approved five feder-
al statutes covering race, sex, reli-
gion and national origin. The
most recent came in 2009 when
Congress passed the Matthew
Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate
Crimes Prevention Act, which ex-
panded protections to cover gen-
der, sexual orientation and dis-
abilities.
The Syracuse University study
found that, despite the beefed-up
legal tool kit, prosecutors pur-
sued a diminishing number of
cases under the Shepard-Byrd
Act. Under the Trump adminis-
tration, the government brought
six cases in both 2017 and 2018
and four in the first three quar-
ters of 2019, according to the
study.
Federal officials said investi-
gating hate crimes is challenging
because although some perpetra-
tors make their intentions clear
through manifestos or deliver
threats or slurs while carrying out
the attacks, others say little about
their motivations.
Jeannine Bell, a law professor
at Indiana University who has
studied hate crimes, criticized au-
thorities for leaking information
in the middle of an investigation
that cast doubt on hate-crime
charges. Doing so “creates the
idea that it’s impossible to find”
such evidence, she said, when in
fact “perps don’t spend all sorts of
time hiding their motives.”
In her research, Bell added,
police told her that evidence “is
there if you’re willing to look for
it. That’s one of the biggest issues
with prosecutors and the cult of
difficulty around hate-crime cas-
es. They’re difficult because you
have to do something that you
A13
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.),
a chief backer of gun-control
legislation since the school mas-
sacre in his state, said that he and
Schumer plan to sit down soon to
map out a strategy.
“I’m a bit loath to compromise
on a bill that is so wildly popular,
but I obviously would love as big
a vote as we can get and for the
time being we need 60 votes,”
Murphy said.
Toomey, who is retiring at the
end of the current Congress, was
blunt about the challenges to
passing gun-control measures.
“We’re having preliminary
conversations and I hope we can
get something across the goal
line. But it’s very difficult,” Toom-
ey told reporters in the Capitol.
Eight years ago, Toomey had
three other Senate Republican
allies on his efforts — Susan
Collins of Maine, who reiterated
her support Tuesday for the legis-
lation, Mark Kirk of Illinois, who
lost his seat in the 2016 elections,
and John McCain of Arizona, who
died in 2018. Of the Republicans
who have joined the Senate since,
none have indicated centrist
views on gun control.
In recent years, Republican
candidates have touted their
guns in campaign commercials.
Far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert
(Colo.) stoked controversy this
year with a digital ad in which
she vowed to carry a handgun in
Washington.
While Democrats face chal-
lenges building support for their
gun agenda, the opposition also
faces a moment of reckoning. The
renewed calls for banning assault
weapons will test the power of
the once seemingly unstoppable
NRA. The group has been weak-
ened in recent years, plagued by
infighting, allegations of self-
dealing among top leaders and a
sweeping probe of alleged viola-
tions of its nonprofit status by the
New York State attorney general.
“Regrettably, gun-control ad-
vocates have already rushed to
politicize this horrific situation —
even as most of the salient facts
remain unknown,” the NRA said
Tuesday.
For Biden, the moment is the
latest in a long series of legisla-
tive battles over guns that have
ended with mixed results. As a
senator, he played a leading role
in passing a 1994 crime bill that
included a ban on certain semi-
automatic weapons. It expired 10
years later.
“I got that done when I was a
senator. It passed,” Biden said
Tuesday. “We should do it again.”
sean.sullivan@washpost.com
paul.kane@washpost.com
seung-min.kim@washpost.com
Kim reported from Columbus, Ohio.
Tom Hamburger contributed to this
report.
don’t normally have to do.”
In Georgia, the state supreme
court in 2004 struck down a
hate-crimes law passed four years
earlier, calling it too vague and
too broad. Last year, months after
Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man,
was fatally shot by White assail-
ants while jogging, Gov. Brian
Kemp (R) signed a hate-crimes
provision that would impose up
to an additional year in prison
and a fine of up to $5,000 for one
of five misdemeanor offenses,
and at least two years in prison
for a felony offense.
German, the former FBI agent,
said prosecutors at times choose
to forgo hate-crime charges be-
cause they think they would make
it more difficult to win a convic-
tion and are not worth the effort,
especially in a felony case involv-
ing murder, which already in-
cludes severe punishments. He
said states and municipalities,
many without sufficient funding
and training, do not adequately
track hate crimes.
The Atlanta case “highlights
the failure of the Justice Depart-
ment’s policy of deferring on in-
vestigations to state and local
authorities,” German said.
Justin Levitt, a professor at
Loyola Law School who served as
a civil rights lawyer in the Obama
administration, said career law-
yers in the department will want
to carry out a thorough hate-
crimes investigation.
Levitt said that Asian Ameri-
can leaders are justified in calling
the case a hate crime that has
frightened the local community.
By contrast, he said, “DOJ is there
not to decide whether this is or is
not a hate crime, but whether the
facts can establish beyond a rea-
sonable doubt whether this is a
hate crime — which is different.
These can be the kinds of cases
that leave a community more
distraught if they do not get what
they feel is the right intuitive
answer.”
david.nakamura@washpost.com
A14 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST . WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021

The World

PHOTOS BY ANDREA CARRUBBA

W ‘They give birth, and

hen her baby was placed in her arms, would ever let her partner inside the delivery
she anxiously wondered: Was he room.
negative? “It was one of the first The morning of her scheduled childbirth, she

they’re alone’: An Italian

things I hoped for him,” says Marta took a positives-only lift to the third floor of the
Di Pietra, 28, who tested positive for the corona- hospital in Varese and was ushered into a wait-
virus three days before her Caesarean section. Di ing room. Fully suited nurses asked whether
Pietra was one of several mothers photographed additional covid-related research could be con-

mother’s covid isolation

by Italian photojournalist Andrea Carrubba.
Welcome to childbirth in the time of covid-19,
when even mothers without the coronavirus
face new worries and restrictions, while ones
with positive results are forced to deal with
loneliness, fear for their newborns, and the
inability to so much as kiss them — because of
the masks they need to wear.
Some mothers transmit the virus to their
children. Others do not. The Del Ponte hospital,
in the Northern Italian town of Varese, has
remade itself for all these complications, even
when it means swabbing newborns minutes
after they are born.
Especially for positive mothers, head obste-
trician Nella Iovino said, the underlying anxiety
is “unmistakable.”
“They’re in a delicate moment in their lives;
they would require the embrace of families and
loved ones. But because of the pandemic, that’s
no longer possible. They give birth, and they’re
alone.”
Di Pietra said she is unsure of whether she
would have wanted a pregnancy had she known
about the pandemic. But she got pregnant in
February. Then the outbreak exploded around
her, in the famously hard-stricken region of
Lombardy.
She kept dreading she would catch the coro-
navirus and infect the fetus, as part of a new
subset of worries that had just joined the tradi-
tional ones in the early months of childbearing.
By late October, Di Pietra was on maternity
leave, already feeling safer at home. One month
later, though, she was routinely asked to test for
the coronavirus before the delivery and had
positive results.
“Though I was asymptomatic, I was scared.”
Along with fear, a sense of loneliness crept in,
as any shred of hope vanished that health staff
ducted on the child, and on milk and urine, to
which she consented.
Ciro Pinelli, 32, one of the OB/GYNs who
helped her deliver, says that during the second
wave of the virus the hospital finally found its
BY S TEFANO P ITRELLI IN ROME footing with covid births, even though the sheer
number of cases had actually increased. “In
time, it has become normalized,” he says.
Still, the need to be covered from head to toe
during surgery never helps: “We’re wearing two
sets of gloves and two layers of clothes over our
uniform, plus a hood, a mask and a face shield.
Breath can sometimes fog up the screen and
reduce visibility,” says Pinelli.
Once her newborn son had been wiped clean,
Di Pietra had but a couple of minutes with him
before he was spirited away to the nursery. She
would only get to be with her baby again much
later in the afternoon. “Meanwhile, I wouldn’t
see anybody, except for nurses. I couldn’t leave
the room. I was isolated.”
When nurses finally brought back her son, Di
Pietra was greatly relieved to hear that he had
tested negative. But until she did, too, she would
have to keep wearing a mask at all times.
Carefully sanitized breastfeeding wasn’t
deemed risky, but breathing could very well still
be.
“How can you ask a mother not to kiss her
child? It’s heartbreaking,” says Iovino. “The fear
of infecting your own child is a terrible feeling.”
But Di Pietra had already started to mull over
that at home, as soon as she found out about the
test. She then texted her own OB/GYN: “Hope I
turn negative soon, so that I may kiss my baby.”
“Dear Marta,” her doctor replied with three
TOP: A Caesarean section is performed on Marta Di Pietra, who had tested positive for the heart emoji, “he’ll hear your voice and know
coronavirus, in a special area of the Del Ponte hospital, in the Northern Italian town of Varese. you’re there.”
ABOVE: After the delivery, Di Pietra is taken back to her room. She was later reunited with her “You’ll have the rest of your life to kiss him.”
newborn son but could not kiss him because of her positive test and the mask she had to wear. stefano.pitrelli@washpost.com

DI GEST

ETHIOPIA
Atrocities reported in
Tigray war, Abiy says
Ethiopia’s leader said Tuesday
that atrocities have been reported
in Tigray, his first public
acknowledgment of possible war
crimes in the country’s northern
region, where fighting persists as
troops hunt down its fugitive
leaders.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
also admitted, after repeated
denials by authorities, that troops
from neighboring Eritrea have
gone into Tigray, where their
presence has inflicted “damage”
on the region’s residents.
“Reports indicate that
atrocities have been committed in
Tigray region,” Abiy said in an
address Tuesday before
lawmakers in the capital, Addis
Ababa.
War is “a nasty thing,” he said,
speaking the local Amharic
language. “We know the
destruction this war has caused.”
He said soldiers who raped
women or committed other
crimes will be held responsible,
even though he alleged
“propaganda of exaggeration” by
the Tigray People’s Liberation
Front, the once-dominant party
whose leaders challenged Abiy’s
legitimacy after the
postponement of elections last
year.
The United States has
characterized some abuses in the
Tigray war as “ethnic cleansing,”
charges that Ethiopian
authorities have dismissed as
unfounded.
The Tigray conflict began in
November, when Abiy sent troops
into the region after an attack
there on federal military facilities.
— Associated Press
POLAND
Writer facing prison for
calling leader ‘moron’
Polish writer Jakub Zulczyk
said this week that he is facing up
to three years in prison after he
called Poland’s president a
“moron” for saying he did not
understand the U.S. electoral
college system.
Writing Monday on Facebook,
Zulczyk said that a district
prosecutor in Warsaw had filed
an indictment, using an article in
Poland’s penal code that prohibits
insults against the head of state.
Zulczyk is accused of insulting
President Andrzej Duda after the
U.S. election in November. Duda,
a right-wing ally of former
president Donald Trump, had
said Joe Biden’s team had a
“successful presidential
campaign” but stopped short of
recognizing him as the winner of
the election.
“As we await the nomination by
the Electoral College, Poland is
determined to upkeep high-level
and high-quality PL-US strategic
partnership for an even stronger
alliance,” Duda wrote in his Nov. 7
tweet.
According to accounts in the
Polish press, Zulczyk wrote that
Duda was mistaken and that
“everything that takes place from
today — adding the rest of the
votes, electoral votes — is pure
formality.”
“Joe Biden is the 46th
president of the United States,” he
concluded. “Andrzej Duda is a
moron.”
Rights groups have accused
Duda’s Law and Justice party of
clamping down on the freedom of
speech and an independent
judiciary.
— Adam Taylor
Turkey arrests 150 in probe over
Gulen links: Turkish police
detained 150 people in raids
targeting members of the military
accused of links to a Muslim cleric
who Ankara says was behind a
2016 coup attempt, the state-
owned Anadolu news agency
said. The operation, across 53
provinces, was part of a sustained
crackdown on the network of
U.S.-based preacher Fethullah
Gulen. More than 250 people
were killed in the failed putsch in
July 2016. Gulen denies any
involvement.
Maoist rebels kill 4 Indian
police officers: At least four police
officers were killed and 14
wounded in a roadside bombing
by Maoist rebels in their
stronghold in eastern India, police
said. A senior officer told the Press
Trust of India news agency that the
officers were returning from an
anti-Maoist operation when the
bus in which they were traveling
was targeted in Chhattisgarh state.
The rebels, who say they are
inspired by Chinese revolutionary
leader Mao Zedong, have been
fighting for more than five decades
in central and eastern India.
Uganda detains American man,
alleges subversion: Police in
Uganda said a U.S. man has been
detained over alleged involvement
in “subversive activities” against
the government. Police said the
man, identified as Guy Smith, was
arrested in a western town and is
being detained in the capital,
Kampala. Uganda increasingly
accuses foreigners of meddling in
its internal affairs, charges that
have raised tensions between
President Yoweri Museveni and
the nation’s development
partners.
— From news services
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021 . THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU A15

Short of majority, Netanyahu may again court the far right

ISRAEL FROM A1
immediately. Some observers
dubbed him “the kingmaker.”
“It is unlikely that Bennett will
go with the alternative coalition”
and make common cause with the
anti-Netanyahu parties, said Is-
raeli political scientist Emmanuel
Navon. “It would make little sense
for Bennett to do it for his political
future.”
Addressing a jubilant crowd at
his Yamina party headquarters
outside Tel Aviv, Bennett gave no
clue to his intentions but called for
unity. “The power you’ve given me,
I’ll use it for one, and only one,
purpose,” he said. “What is best for
Israel. What is best for all Israelis.”
If Bennett delivers the seats Ne-
tanyahu needs, Israel’s govern-
ment would move even further to
the right. Exit polls also showed
that the Religious Zionist Party,
which includes far-right elements
with roots in an overtly racist anti-
Arab party, would win seats in
parliament, providing crucial sup-
port for the prime minister.
Political analysts cautioned
that exit polls have been wrong
before and that final results may
not be released for several days.
But at the Jerusalem headquar-
ters of Netanyahu’s Likud party,
supporters bounced up and down
and waved banners at projections
showing that the prime minister
might be able to extend his record
14 years in Israel’s top job.
When Netanyahu finally ad-
dressed his supporters after 2 a.m.
Wednesday, he said he had spoken
with Bennett and told him, “Let’s
do the responsible thing and to-
gether form a stable government
— a right-wing government that
will care for all citizens of Israel.”
The prime minister called for an
end to Israel’s political deadlock,
saying, “We cannot in any way
drag the country to a fifth election.
We must form a stable govern-
ment now.”
The mood was far more sub-
dued at the camp of opposition
leader Yair Lapid as exit polls
showed that he and his potential
partners may have fallen short of
ousting Netanyahu.
This is the fourth time Israelis
have voted in national elections in
23 months, a time of unprecedent-
Covid-19 patient Rahamim Havura casts his ballot Tuesday in Israel’s parliamentary elections — the country’s fourth in less than two years
— while in intensive care at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. Exit poll results show that Israeli politics remain stalemated by a profound divide.
ed political paralysis as the coun-
try has been buffeted by the coro-
navirus pandemic.
“It’s frustrating,” said Avraham,
a 59-year-old lawyer after voting
at a Jerusalem school. He agreed
to comment on the political situa-
tion on the condition that his last
name not be used. “The stalemate
is bad for the country’s internal
cohesion. I only have limited hope
that this time will be any better.”
Israelis were skeptical that the
vote would end the stalemate, as
previous bargaining has failed to
produce working coalitions ex-
cept for a short-lived — and dys-
functional — emergency “unity”
government that was formed last
spring as the pandemic erupted.
“It is unclear if four rounds of
election have resolved the longest
political crisis in Israel’s history,
with the country remaining as di-
vided as it has been over the past
two years, and fifth elections re-
main a very real option,” said Yo-
hanan Plesner, the president of
the Israel Democracy Institute.
The ongoing health crisis and a
steep economic downturn formed
a backdrop to Tuesday’s vote, the
second conducted in pandemic
conditions. Election workers in
hazmat suits collected ballots in
hospital wards, and buses were
parked outside some polling plac-
es to serve as remote ballot drops
for coronavirus-positive or quar-
antined voters.
The unease may have benefited
Netanyahu, who has been both
blamed for the ravages of the virus
and hailed for one of the world’s
fastest vaccination campaigns.
“I’m not really surprised by
these results,” said Yonatan Free-
man, a political science professor
at Hebrew University. “When you
look at times of emergency, times
of challenge, that’s something that
benefits the incumbent.”
Netanyahu seems to have
turned back a challenge from his
right flank. Former Likud educa-
tion minister Gideon Saar left the
party to take on his former men-
tor. His bid initially attracted sig-
nificant interest as an option for
conservatives looking to elect a
right-wing leader without the
prime minister’s ethics taint. “Li-
kud without Netanyahu,” said
Jonathan Rynhold, a professor of
politics at Bar-Ilan University.
In the end, Saar finished with
ODED BALILTY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
only six to eight seats, according to
the exit polls, as significant num-
bers of Likud voters stayed with
Netanyahu. Even some non-Likud
voters supported the party in the
hopes of finally bringing the elec-
tions loop to a decisive end.
“At this point, I’m voting stra-
tegically and not 100 percent on
my ideology,” said Efrat Lev, a
CrossFit coach and competitive
powerlifter who was casting an
afternoon vote in Efrat, a Jewish
settlement near Bethlehem in the
occupied West Bank. Even though
she said her first choice was the
right-wing Religious Zionist Party
and has qualms about Netanya-
hu’s ethics, she voted for Likud in
hopes of giving him a decisive
majority once and for all.
“At this point, I’m not looking to
vote for an angel,” Lev said.
The challenge led Netanyahu to
seek new pockets of support. He
surprised many in the political
establishment by inviting Itamar
Ben Gvir, an extremist politician
with roots in the banned Kahanist
movement, to join his coalition.
Gvir’s partnership with another
right-wing party in Netanyahu’s
coalition was projected to win sev-
en seats. If this result is confirmed,
he would be the first Kahanist
politician in the Knesset since the
movement’s Kach Party was
banned as a terrorist group in
1994 after one of its leaders massa-
cred Palestinian worshipers in a
West Bank mosque.
At the other end of the spec-
trum, Netanyahu sought votes in
Israel’s Arab communities. In a
turnaround from past campaigns
in which he portrayed Israeli Ar-
abs and their politicians as a
threat, he sought out members of
Israel’s Arab community and
promised to boost spending on
police and infrastructure in some
of the country’s poorest towns.
The outreach to Arabs helped
splinter the Joint List, the coali-
tion of Arab parties that had made
record gains in recent elections.
And polls indicated that overall
Arab turnout was down markedly.
Ehab Jabareen, a media strat-
egist who voted in the northern
Israeli village of Fureidis, said
many of his friends stayed home.
“The campaign that happened
throughout the Arab society was
very difficult,” he said. “All the
extremism of the campaign has
only increased the feeling of apa-
thy.”
Liberal and centrist voters
found little to cheer in the exit
polls, although the Labor Party,
long in decline, made a stronger
showing than expected under its
leader, former news anchor Merav
Michaeli.
And Benny Gantz, the former
army chief who infuriated sup-
porters when he joined Netanya-
hu’s emergency unity government
last year, defied predictions of his
political collapse and appeared to
secure more seats than expected
for his Blue and White party.
steve.hendrix@washpost.com
shira.rubin@washpost.com
miriam.berger@washpost.com

Netanyahu, a ‘wizard’ Scandals dismissed as

conspiracies
As early as the 1993 “Bibi-gate,” a
In 2013, a weakened Netanyahu
begrudgingly joined a coalition
government with his centrist ri-

at holding on to power sex, lies and videotape scandal in

BY S HIRA R UBIN
AND S TEVE H ENDRIX
tel aviv — To critics and support-
ers alike, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu is known as
the “magician,” the “wizard” and a
slew of other nicknames that
speak to his unique ability to ma-
neuver his way out of political
jams. Decade after decade, he has
exploited opportunities that few
else saw and made spectacle part
of his political brand.
This is how he did it.
Blamed for anti-Rabin
incitement, yet thrives
In the prelude to the 1995 assas-
sination of Prime Minister Yit-
zhak Rabin by an ultranationalist
Israeli settler, many blamed then-
opposition leader Netanyahu for
contributing to — or at least fail-
ing to quell — violence and hate
among his right-wing base.
Weeks before the killing, Ne-
tanyahu stood on a balcony above
Jerusalem’s Zion Square, where
thousands of right-wing protest-
ers vowed to “get rid of” Rabin,
whom they called a “traitor” and a
“Nazi” for signing a peace agree-
ment with the Palestinians.
In 1996, Netanyahu won the
general elections by a razor-thin
majority in what was seen by
many as a referendum on the very
idea of Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Netanyahu served a single term
before being defeated in 1999 by
Ehud Barak’s One Israel Party.
After his return to premiership in
2009, he would usher in a reality
in which the Palestinian issue was
no longer considered relevant.
Clashes with Sharon, wins out
In 2005, Netanyahu quit Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon’s cabinet in
protest of his decision to with-
draw Israeli settlers from the
Gaza Strip, after publicly an-
nouncing he would not have. The
move was seen as a bid to reposi-
tion himself as Likud leader after,
as predicted, Sharon would step
down to form a new centrist party
known as Kadima.
Although Likud finished sec-
ond in the 2009 vote, Netanyahu
managed to create a coalition
MENAHEM KAHANA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, campaigns in
a Jerusalem market this week ahead of national elections.
with other right-wing parties and
was sworn in, for the second time,
as prime minister.
Working-class hero
Instead of addressing peace
with the Palestinians, when Ne-
tanyahu returned to power, he fo-
cused the discourse inward: to the
decades-old domestic conflict be-
tween Ashkenazim (Jews who had
originally arrived to Israel from
Europe) and Mizrahim (from Arab
countries and historically subject
to state discrimination).
Though Netanyahu was him-
self the picture of Ashkenazi elite,
he fashioned himself a warrior for
the Mizrahi working class and
championed its goals of promot-
ing Israel’s Jewish character and
preventing the establishment of a
Palestinian state.
“From 2009 until now, Netan-
yahu’s ‘deep state’ argument is
that the elites, the Ashkenazis, are
still the strongholds of power, and
that ‘we’ are the ‘real’ Jewish peo-
ple, and ‘we’ need to defend the
Jewish state,” said Gayil Talshir, a
political scientist at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem.
which Netanyahu confessed to an
extramarital affair, the Israeli lead-
er has maintained that his rivals are
committed to toppling him from
power with trumped-up scandals.
Throughout a decade and a half
in the premiership, the Netanya-
hu family has been repeatedly un-
der investigation as their domes-
tic finances increasingly became
public: $1,600 for Netanyahu’s
hairstyling, $1,750 for makeup on
a 2015 New York trip, $127,000 for
a bed installed on an El Al plane
for a five-hour flight to London; a
$2,700 ice cream budget.
Many Israelis view the spend-
ing as indicative of a more funda-
mental culture of shameless cor-
ruption in the prime minister’s
residence.
In his most recent corruption
probe, in which Netanyahu is on
trial for bribery, fraud and breach
of trust, he has accused the courts
of participating in a “witch hunt”
against him.
Hugging his opponents to death
Whenever faced with rivals,
Netanyahu has offered them jobs,
alliances and support, which they
mostly don’t survive. In the mean-
time, he pulls off another escape.
val, Yair Lapid, who delivered him
the more than 61-seat majority he
needed to rule the Knesset.
Netanyahu assigned Lapid the
role of finance minister, a role that
Lapid himself said he did not
want, and gave another competi-
tor, Tzipi Livni, the role of justice
minister. Netanyahu fired them
both in 2014, claiming he would
“no longer tolerate opposition
within the government.” He called
for a dissolution of the Knesset
and new elections.
In 2020, Netanyahu convinced
Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue
and White party, which had re-
ceived more votes than Netanya-
hu in all three past elections, to
join forces in a “national unity
government.” The agreement was
that Netanyahu would hand over
his position as prime minister to
Gantz after 18 months.
Netanyahu ultimately refused
to step aside, spurring a dizzying
series of events that led to the
dissolution of the government, the
eventual call for fourth elections
and, to many political observers,
further proof that Netanyahu was
destined to come out on top, no
matter what the circumstances.
shira.rubin@washpost.com
steve.hendrix@washpost.com

(703) 650-9337 (202) 919-9209 (301) 778-4222

A16
NATO focus on climate change marks a shift in strategy
BY M ICHAEL B IRNBAUM
AND M ISSY R YAN
Hotter summers in Iraq are
blasting soldiers sitting inside
armored vehicles. Flooding is
threatening the world’s largest
navy base. Russian submarines
are prowling the melting Arctic.
Now NATO Secretary General
Jens Stoltenberg wants to make
global warming a major focus of
the military alliance’s strategy
and planning, pushing environ-
mental issues to the center as a
security threat.
The new push at NATO, which
was approved Tuesday by alliance
foreign ministers at a gathering
at the headquarters in Brussels,
signals a significant shift for the
organization, which has tradi-
tionally guarded against threats
from Russia and other political
actors around the world.
Now, NATO will also try to
incorporate a different sort of
danger into its work, as climate
change upends old security as-
sumptions and creates new risks
for democratic societies. Stolten-
berg, a former U.N. special envoy
on climate change, said he hopes
leaders will use a summit later
this year to pledge to make their
militaries carbon-neutral by
2050.
“Climate change is a crisis
multiplier,” Stoltenberg said in an
interview. “Climate change will
lead to more extreme weather, to
droughts and to flooding, force
people to move, to more fierce
competition about scarce re-
sources, water, land.”
For some time, militaries have
incorporated thinking about cli-
mate change into their planning,
mainly in terms of how it will
create new security risks and
threaten their physical infra-
structure. But a truly broad-rang-
ing focus on a full range of
climate and security issues has
been rarer, especially a push that
incorporates an effort to elimi-
nate their emissions.
The gap is partly a reflection of
competing cultures. Climate
change activists and experts tend
not to be deeply steeped in mili-
tary issues. And military officers
usually focus on operational
readiness above all else. That can
lead to blind spots: Militaries
control vast swaths of territory,
for example, but lag in thinking
The future starts here.
2021 Guide to Graduate Education
A SPECIAL PULLOUT SECTION
Norfolk, home the largest naval installation in the world, experiences tidal flooding along the
Lafayette River. The Biden administration has elevated climate change as a national security priority.
about sustainable land manage-
ment.
Stoltenberg, a former Norwe-
gian prime minister, is in some
ways an unusual person who
bridges both worlds. Early in his
career he was the second-in-com-
mand at his country’s environ-
ment ministry. Much of Norway
lies above the Arctic Circle, and
some of the glaciers that Stolten-
berg visited in his youth have now
largely dripped away.
“You see the melting of the ice,”
he said.
His focus on climate issues has
been enabled by President
Biden’s ascent to office after four
years of President Donald Trump,
who had called climate change a
“hoax” and threatened to pull the
United States out of NATO alto-
gether.
In the United States, the Biden
administration has elevated cli-
mate change as a national secu-
rity priority, resurrecting an
Obama-era focus on the impact of
man-made changes to the envi-
ronment.
Already at the Pentagon, De-
fense Secretary Lloyd Austin has
established a high-level climate
change working group and said
the Defense Department will in-
Sunday, March 28
EZ RE
VIRGINIA MAYO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to media during
a meeting of foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
corporate climate change into
military planning and war-gam-
ing. In another shift, the Penta-
gon appears likely to incorporate
climate change into its updated
national defense strategy.
The effects of climate change
pose special challenges for the
U.S. military, with its sprawling
global footprint and security mis-
sion which is sometimes linked to
climate-related instability.
21-0156-01
TIMOTHY C. WRIGHT FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Military installations world-
wide, including Virginia’s Naval
Station Norfolk, Maryland’s U.S.
Naval Academy, and Alaska’s
Cape Lisburne Long Range Radar
Station, are already being im-
pacted by flooding, drought and
extreme temperatures that scien-
tists have linked to climate
change. Other facilities, such as
Langley Air Force Base in Vir-
ginia and Peterson Air Force Base
Addressing sex scandals in Australia,
Morrison fans flames with outburst
BY R ACHEL P ANNETT
sydney — Engulfed by sex scan-
dals that have shaken the highest
levels of office in Australia, the
country’s leader sought to calm
public anger on Tuesday — but
ended up digging a deeper politi-
cal hole after a disastrous news
conference.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison
summoned reporters to discuss
the latest incident in which a gov-
ernment adviser was fired after
reportedly sharing an image of
himself performing a sexual act
on a female lawmaker’s desk. Mor-
rison appeared to fight back tears
as he said it had been a “traumatic
month” in Parliament.
In February, a former govern-
ment staff member filed a police
complaint alleging she was raped
by a colleague nearly two years
ago. Since then, four other women
have come forward with similar
claims. The country’s top law offi-
cial identified himself as the sub-
ject of a rape allegation dating
back three decades, which he has
strenuously denied. Thousands of
women took to the streets in pro-
test across Australian cities last
Monday. This week, local news
outlets reported that a prayer
room in Parliament House had
been used for sexual encounters.
“These events have triggered,
right across this building and in-
deed right across the country,
women who have put up with this
rubbish and this crap for their
entire lives, as their mothers did,
as their grandmothers did,” Mor-
rison told reporters in Canberra.
“We must get this house in order.”
During a question-and-answer
session, however, Morrison hit
back at a reporter who asked
whether his job would be in jeop-
ardy if he were the boss of a busi-
ness facing similar complaints.
Seeming to go off script, the prime
minister responded by divulging
details of a supposed case involv-
ing harassment of a woman in a
bathroom by someone in the re-
porter’s news organization.
“And that matter is being pur-
sued by your own HR depart-
ment,” Morrison said, adding that
“all of us who sit in glass houses”
should not “start getting into
that.”
The reporter, Andrew Clennell,
said he was not aware of any such
investigation at his employer, Sky
THE WASHINGTON POST
in Colorado, have been hit hard
by hurricanes or wildfires.
Norfolk — home the largest
naval installation in the world —
is a particularly dramatic exam-
ple. Thanks to rising sea levels
and changing ocean tides, floods
are a constant feature of life
there, even when it is not raining.
Residents sometimes cannot
move around because roads are
covered in water. Seawater regu-
larly seeps into pipes and other
infrastructure.
The former president’s hostili-
ty to environmental issues put
Pentagon leaders in a conundrum
as they sought to respond to the
effects of a warming climate,
while steering clear of a political-
ly charged discussion about its
causes.
Most often, they did so by
avoiding explicit references that
could draw White House ire. One
Defense Department report
drafted during the Obama ad-
ministration, for instance, was
altered under Trump to remove
most mentions of climate change,
instead making reference to “ex-
treme weather” or just “climate,”
before it was submitted to Con-
gress in 2018.
At the same time, officials con-
tinued to make plans under
Trump to address the impact of
rising sea levels on military facili-
ties, while uniformed leaders
talked about the need to respond
to insecurity fueled in part by
climate change in places like
Syria.
Stoltenberg notes that green-
ing militaries can also create
opportunities. For instance, the
fuel-filled tanker trucks that lum-
ber along perilous roads toward
military installations in Afghani-
stan and Iraq are among the most
dangerous vulnerabilities in de-
ployments in those countries. In-
stalling solar panels, reducing
dependence on fossil fuels and
increasing the autonomy of those
bases as much as possible could
save lives, he said.
Biden’s climate envoy, John F.
Kerry, met with Stoltenberg in
Brussels earlier this month.
And Secretary of State Antony
Blinken embraced Stoltenberg’s
climate push on Tuesday, saying
that “we share the Secretary Gen-
eral’s vision of the NATO that has
the capabilities to deter and de-
fend against all manner of threats
Chastises reporter with
meritless ‘glass houses’
barb and later apologizes
News Australia.
“Why is the prime minister tell-
ing me to be careful? Is he threat-
ening me?” Clennell said in a live
broadcast following the news con-
ference. “I think the PM has got a
bit of explaining to do.”
Sky News Australia is con-
trolled by Rupert Murdoch’s News
Corporation. In a statement Tues-
day, the media company said the
prime minister was wrong to
claim an investigation was under-
way into a complaint of the type
he described.
News Corp said that following
the reports of sexually inappro-
priate behavior at Parliament
House, it gave staff the opportu-
nity to talk in confidence, and
learned of a verbal exchange be-
tween two employees in Canberra
last year. The exchange was not of
a sexual nature, it did not take
place in a bathroom and neither
person made a complaint.
“The prime minister appears to
have joined these two matters and
conflated them into an episode of
harassment in a toilet that is un-
der current investigation,” said
News Corp Australasia Executive
Chairman Michael Miller. “This is
simply untrue.”
Sparring so publicly with a
News Corp reporter was all the
more extraordinary because Mur-
doch has long been seen as a
supporter of Morrison. The prime
minister’s predecessor, Malcolm
Turnbull, has suspected the me-
dia mogul of helping unseat him
in one of the many internal coups
that have characterized Austral-
ian politics in recent years.
Lachlan Murdoch, the CEO of Fox
Corp., landed in Australia this
month.
In a statement on Facebook lat-
er Tuesday, Morrison said he ac-
cepted the publisher’s account
and added that he deeply regret-
ted his “insensitive response” ear-
lier during the news conference.
“I was wrong to raise it, the emo-
tion of the moment is no excuse,”
he said, apologizing for his ac-
tions.
Michael Bradley, a lawyer who
. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
to our collective security, includ-
ing threats like climate change.”
Even the basic discussions
could spark a cultural shift. His-
torically, militaries have been a
major driver of technological
change, with the Pentagon’s re-
search arm famously inventing
the precursor to the Internet. On
adaptation to climate change,
that has been less the case, ex-
perts said.
One basic challenge: The car-
bon footprints of national mili-
taries tend not to be public,
making it difficult even to diag-
nose the scale of that aspect of the
work.
One recent analysis by the
Conflict and Environment Ob-
servatory, a British-based advoca-
cy group, found that the military
and defense industry formed
about 1.6 percent of Britain’s
national carbon footprint, 1 per-
cent of France’s, 0.8 percent of
Spain’s, and 0.5 percent of Ger-
many and Italy’s. The report,
commissioned by a European po-
litical party that favors disarma-
ment and reduced defense spend-
ing, acknowledged the difficulty
of making the estimate. It did not
include figures for the United
States.
“This is a sector that was really
kept off the hook so far” on
climate issues, said Louise van
Schaik, the head of the E.U. and
global affairs unit at Clingendael,
a Dutch international affairs
think tank. “In the climate
change community, there has not
been much awareness about the
size of emissions from the mili-
tary.”
Stoltenberg said NATO’s cli-
mate efforts needed to stretch
everywhere from reducing emis-
sions to preparing for more chal-
lenges in the Arctic to designing
uniforms to help soldiers with-
stand 120-degree heat in Iraq. It
could even, he said, lead to fossil
fuel-driven engines slowly being
phased out of military vehicles.
“We have to be radical in the
way we think,” he said. “It will be
very strange if we end up with a
world where we hardly have any
fossil-driven vehicles in civilian
society and that we have fossil-fu-
eled vehicles in the armed forces.”
michael.birnbaum@washpost.com
Birnbaum reported from Riga, Latvia.
Ryan reported from Washington.
has acted for sexual assault vic-
tims, said that whether he intend-
ed to or not, the prime minister
had divulged the erroneous ex-
perience of harassment “as a
weapon for purely political pur-
poses.”
“Once he went off script, things
went very badly, very quickly,”
Bradley said. “I think the govern-
ment is in deep trouble on this
subject. The issue is not going
away. Every time it starts to quiet
down, fresh revelations emerge.”
Bradley was the lawyer for a
now-deceased woman who had
said she was sexually assaulted by
the country’s top law official in
January 1988, when she was 16.
Christian Porter, the attorney gen-
eral, who would have been 17 at
the time, has strenuously denied
the allegation. His lawyers last
week launched a defamation ac-
tion against the state broadcaster,
saying that he had been subject to
“trial by media.”
Support for the ruling Liberal
Party — the main conservative
party in Australia — has been
slowly declining among women
for years, even before the assault
allegations emerged, said Sarah
Cameron, a lecturer in politics at
the University of Sydney. At the
last election in 2019, the party had
a 10-point advantage among men
— the biggest gender gap for the
party on record.
“The Liberal Party has long
been perceived as having a ‘wom-
en problem,’ ” Cameron said, add-
ing that it “ignores this trend at
their peril.”
The conservatives are govern-
ing with a wafer-thin majority
and must hold an election by
2022. The latest Newspoll of vot-
ing intentions showed Morrison’s
party trailing center-left Labor by
52-48 percent on a two-party pre-
ferred basis.
Kirstin Ferguson, a leadership
and culture specialist who advises
the leaders of large corporations,
said that companies have long
been told to hold leaders to ac-
count.
“The fish rots from the head.
Boards are holding CEOs to ac-
count, they’re sacking them,
they’re reducing their pay,” she
said. “I just can’t imagine what
would happen if there was a board
responsible for Parliament
House.”
foreign@washpost.com
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
In Mexico, Biden team seeks more help on migrant surge
Show of troop increase
does little to stem flow
from Central America
BY M ARY B ETH S HERIDAN
AND G ABRIELA M ARTÍNEZ
As a growing number of mi-
grants head for the U.S. border,
Mexico is taking a series of high-
profile actions to show it’s trying
to stop them: Restricting travel
across its southern border, tout-
ing the deployment of nearly
9,000 troops, even organizing a
parade of migration officers
through a southern city.
And yet, as Biden administra-
tion officials visited the country
Tuesday, it was unclear whether
those actions were having much
effect.
The Biden administration is
desperate for help from Mexico to
contain what’s on track to be the
biggest surge in irregular migra-
tion in 20 years. When President
Donald Trump faced a similar
scenario, in 2019, he threatened
to slap tariffs on Mexican goods
unless its government throttled
the migrant traffic. President An-
drés Manuel López Obrador
promptly did so.
Prince Harry takes a job
at Silicon Valley start-up
BY A NTONIA N OORI F ARZAN,
J ENNIFER H ASSAN
AND H AMZA S HABAN
Prince Harry has a new title:
tech executive.
The Duke of Sussex is the new-
est employee of BetterUp, a Sili-
con Valley start-up, the Wall
Street Journal reported Tuesday.
No longer a working member of
the British royal family, Harry will
serve as “chief impact officer” for
the company.
BetterUp “brings together
world-class coaching, AI technol-
ogy, and behavioral science ex-
perts” to help people “live more
meaningful, vibrant lives,” ac-
A Conversation with
Sacha Baron Cohen
Academy Award®-nominated
Actor & Screenwriter
Thursday, March 25 at 6:00pm ET
To register, visit: wapo.st/sachabaroncohen
Sacha Baron Cohen discusses
his new movie, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
and his wide-ranging career.
. THE WASHINGTON POST
The U.S. delegation, led by
Roberta Jacobson, Biden’s coor-
dinator for the southwest border,
was seeking to “develop an effec-
tive and humane plan of action to
manage migration” during its
meetings with Foreign Minister
Marcelo Ebrard and other offi-
cials, according to Emily Horne, a
National Security Council
spokeswoman.
Mexican Defense Secretary
Luis Crescencio Sandoval an-
nounced Monday that 8,715 army
and National Guard troops were
deployed at the country’s north-
ern and southern borders to
detain unauthorized migrants.
But while the number made
headlines, it’s barely more than
the average of 8,058 troops post-
ed at the borders during 2020,
according to Sam Storr, a consul-
tant to the citizen security pro-
gram at Ibero-American Univer-
sity who studies the Mexican
military.
In contrast, about 15,000
troops were dispatched to Mexi-
co’s northern border alone after
Trump’s 2019 ultimatum. A Mexi-
can National Guard spokesman
confirmed Tuesday there had
been no significant recent in-
crease in border deployments.
Mexico last week announced it
was closing its southern border
to nonessential travel, citing risks
cording to the company’s website.
It works with corporations to
identify employees who could
benefit from coaching and gives
them “a personalized path to
growth — so you’re able to tap into
the employees most prepared to
transform your business.”
Harry, who has been vocal
about his struggles with mental
health, has been working with one
of BetterUp’s coaches and using
the app himself. But his unusual
background apparently made fill-
ing out the initial multiple-choice
questionnaire a bit of a challenge.
“I realize I’m an outlier so
there’s no need to get the engi-
neers on it!” he told the Wall Street
Mexican agents review a Guatemalan’s papers at the countries’
border Sunday. Mexico hyped a troop deployment, but its size is
just over the 2020 average, and the flood of migrants continues.
posed by the coronavirus pan-
demic. The move was widely seen
as a concession to the Biden
administration, which agreed to
provide Mexico sorely needed
coronavirus vaccines as the coun-
tries held talks on border control.
(The two sides denied there was a
quid pro quo).
Yet migrants continue to
stream through informal cross-
ings in rural parts of the Mexi-
Journal, adding, “I was matched
with my coach who, quite frankly,
is truly awesome and has always
given me sound advice and a fresh
perspective, which is so valuable.”
Harry’s role within the compa-
ny doesn’t involve supervising di-
rect reports, according to the pa-
per. He is set to provide input on
product strategy and corporate
giving. It also means that the
Duke of Sussex will serve as a
public face of the company.
Harry joins the executive team
as BetterUp continues its rapid
growth. Founded in 2013, the
company touts a network of more
than 2,000 coaches, with several
big-name businesses among its
clients, including Hilton, Warner
Media and Chevron. The compa-
ny claims it has served over
100,000 members since its found-
ing and has more than 270 em-
ployees.
As organizations and the
EZ RE
EDUARDO VERDUGO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
can-Guatemalan border, accord-
ing to advocates.
Brenda Ochoa, director of the
Fray Matias de Cordova human
rights center in the southern
Mexican city of Tapachula, said
National Guard forces had taken
up prominent positions along the
river separating the country from
Guatemala, discouraging pas-
sage. But she said the show of
force could simply prompt mi-
broader public have become more
attuned to mental health and
wellness, employers have turned
to a variety of resources to offer up
to their staff, including online
mentoring and counseling. Last
month, BetterUp raised $125 mil-
lion from investors, valuing the
company at $1.73 billion. The lat-
est financing round was led by
Iconiq Growth and included exist-
ing and new investors Lightspeed
Venture Partners and Salesforce
Ventures.
All told, BetterUp has raised
$300 million, which investors
have said the company will use to
fuel its international growth. In a
recent interview with Bloomberg
News, chief executive Alexi Ro-
bichaux said the company is eye-
ing an initial public offering but
did not provide a timeline.
The company did not immedi-
ately respond to a request for com-
ment on Harry’s new role.
grants and asylum seekers to try
their luck in more remote — and
more dangerous — areas.
“They will look for other ways
to get in and take more risks,” she
said.
Migrant advocates in other
border areas said the security
presence did not seem much
different this week. “We haven’t
seen changes up until now; there
isn’t an increased presence of
officials or the army,” said Rubén
Figueroa, an activist with the
Mesoamerican Migrant Move-
ment, based in the southeastern
city of Palenque.
Mexican officials have at-
tempted to show they are crack-
ing down on migrant smuggling,
with shows of force and deten-
tions. On Friday, authorities
stopped 95 migrants without le-
gal papers at the airport in the
northern city of Monterrey. A day
earlier, they discovered three
trucks packed with 329 migrants
— including 114 unaccompanied
children — in the southern state
of Chiapas.
Hundreds of migration agents,
soldiers and National Guard
members paraded through the
streets of that state’s capital,
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, in what was
billed as part of an effort to
protect children from exploita-
tion by traffickers.
The duke has long campaigned
for mental health awareness and
has spoken openly about his
struggles following the death of
his mother, Princess Diana, when
he was 12. In an interview with the
Telegraph in 2017, he said he
sought therapy after he “shut
down all emotions” during two
decades of grief, and also took up
boxing in an attempt to help man-
age his anxiety.
In recent years, he has called
out the British tabloids for relent-
less negative coverage of his wife,
Meghan, who said in a recent
interview with Oprah Winfrey
that she had experienced suicidal
feelings as a result of unfounded
reports in the media and from life
in the royal spotlight.
Since relocating to California,
the pair have embarked on a num-
ber of commercial ventures, in-
cluding a podcast deal with Spoti-
fy valued at an estimated $25 mil-
A17
Tonatiuh Guillén, the former
head of Mexico’s migration sys-
tem, said he was seeing signs of “a
notable effort” to step up deten-
tions in the southern part of the
country. But in the past few
months, he said, that “hasn’t had
a significant impact because the
irregular movement [of mi-
grants] involves relatively small
groups,” rather than the giant
migrant caravans Mexican au-
thorities had halted in 2019 and
2020.
Irregular migration dropped
sharply after Trump’s showdown
with Mexico in June 2019 and
remained low during 2020 as the
pandemic closed borders and
forced people to stay home. But
it’s shot up recently because of a
combination of factors: pandem-
ic-induced economic crises, two
hurricanes that ravaged Central
America, the end of strict corona-
virus lockdowns, and a percep-
tion that the Biden administra-
tion will be more tolerant of
migration.
Biden and his administration
have appealed to migrants not to
rush to the border. “Don’t come
over,” Biden told ABC News last
week. “Don’t leave your town or
city or community.” But the mes-
sage appears to have had little
effect.
mary.sheridan@washpost.com
lion and a partnership with Net-
flix rumored to be worth $100 mil-
lion. It is not known how much
Harry is being compensated by
BetterUp.
Harry’s new corporate job “is a
business move,” royal commenta-
tor Richard Fitzwilliams told The
Washington Post, but one that is
consistent with the duke’s focus
on mental wellness.
“The response in Britain, where
the response to his and Meghan’s
‘bombshell’ interview on Oprah
divided the generations, is likely
to claim that he is cashing in on
his royal status,” Fitzwilliams
said. While anything the Sussexes
do is likely to be met with hostility
in the British media, he added,
“their main aim is to enhance
their brand in the United States
and the wider world.”
antonia.farszan@washpost.com
jennifer.hassan@washpost.com
hamza.shaban@washpost.com
A18
China’s vaccine outreach
hits a stumbling block
Hesitancy abounds
as other countries await
clinical data, peer review
BY E VA D OU
AND S HIBANI M AHTANI
Last month, a shipment of
Sinovac coronavirus vaccine dos-
es arrived without fanfare in
Singapore from China.
Today, the vaccine sits unused
in a storage facility. The wealthy
city-state is moving ahead with
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna
shots for its coronavirus immuni-
zation program, with officials
saying Sinovac needs to provide
more data before they will con-
sider rolling out its doses.
The case highlights the limita-
tions of Beijing’s vaccine diplo-
macy. China’s lack of transparen-
cy in its clinical trials has hurt
public confidence, even as na-
tional leaders from Indonesia to
Sierra Leone have gotten the
shots to rally their populations to
do the same.
China’s coronavirus vaccine
makers Sinovac and Sinopharm
were among the earliest in the
world to begin clinical trials last
year. It remains unclear why they
still have not published the data
from the studies, even after doz-
ens of governments have green-
lighted their vaccines for emer-
gency use.
“It’s extremely unusual,” said
Peter English, a British expert in
communicable-disease control,
of the widespread use of these
vaccines before the publication of
peer-reviewed data. “It leaves a
lot of questions.”
Author takes on sexism
in Japan’s o∞ce culture
BY S IMON D ENYER
AND J ULIA M IO I NUMA
tokyo — The heroine of Hotate
Shinkawa’s first mystery novel
isn’t unfamiliar to many Western
readers: a strong and outspoken
female lawyer who succeeds in a
man’s world.
But in Japan — notorious for its
misogynist culture — she’s down-
right shocking and unappealing
to some and a fantasy to those
who share her dreams.
Shinkawa’s debut novel comes
at a time when Japan’s widening
gender gap is once again in the
spotlight and when growing
numbers of women are calling for
change.
Published in January, “My Ex-
Boyfriend’s Last Will and Testa-
ment” has won a prestigious mys-
tery-novel award but has generat-
ed mixed reactions.
The 30-year-old Shinkawa, a
full-time lawyer herself, said
many male readers said they
couldn’t relate to the main char-
acter and wouldn’t want to date
her, which shows the lens
through which many Japanese
men view women: “whether they
are girlfriend material or not.”
Many female readers said they
looked up to the novel’s heroine,
she said.
“What happens in the book is a
fantasy because such a strong-
willed woman wouldn’t be able to
excel in this way in the real
world,” she said.
Shinkawa had dreamed of be-
ing a writer since she was 16 but
decided that first she needed a
firm financial base — and that
meant a career in the law.
“I personally faced a lot of
obstacles in my career as a lawyer,
barriers I wouldn’t have faced as a
man,” she said, citing hurdles that
began right at the hiring process.
Many law firms limit the num-
ber of women they employ be-
cause they figure women will
want time off for maternity leave
or to care for children — discrimi-
nation that is perfectly legal in
Japan, which ranks 121st out of
153 countries for gender equality,
according to the World Economic
Forum, the lowest of any major
developed nation.
Women make up less than 19
percent of the lawyers in Japan
and are paid around 75 percent of
what men earn, on average, partly
because they tend to be shunted
into less-remunerative family law
cases, Shinkawa said.
“I often felt gender inequality
when I grew up, but I always
thought that if I studied hard and
became successful, this would be
resolved. But actually going into
society, I realized this wasn’t true,
and the same gender inequalities
exist,” she said. “As a result, I felt
many times like I just wanted to
give up and couldn’t work any
harder.”
At one point, Shinkawa was
There have been signs the
Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines
are less effective than hoped,
even as Beijing is pushing for
foreigners to use them and enjoy
streamlined access to resume
travel to China. This week, Sinop-
harm’s distributor in the United
Arab Emirates said a “very small
number” of people are being in-
vited to take a third dose of the
vaccine after insufficient anti-
body response from the first two
doses.
State-owned pharma giant
Sinopharm has self-reported a 79
percent efficacy rate. Smaller ri-
val Sinovac’s efficacy rate has
varied in trials from 50.4 percent
in Brazil — barely above the 50
percent threshold that govern-
ments find usable — to over 80
percent in Turkey.
The Chinese Center for Disease
Control and Prevention, Sinop-
harm and Sinovac did not re-
spond to requests for comment.
China’s coronavirus vaccines
remain oversubscribed by devel-
oping countries, as wealthier na-
tions hoard the most effective
vaccines made by U.S. biotech
company Moderna and U.S. phar-
maceutical firm Pfizer with its
German partner BioNTech.
In Singapore’s case, the gov-
ernment has the luxury of a small
population of 5.7 million people
to immunize and more effective
vaccines at hand.
Chong Ja Ian, an associate
professor of political science at
the National University of Singa-
pore, said Singapore’s govern-
ment did not turn down the
Sinovac vaccine, which would be
an affront to Beijing, but regula-
tors also couldn’t approve its use
on such limited data.
“Singapore has options, unlike
clocking 150 to 160 hours of over-
time a month and collapsed be-
cause of overwork. At that point,
she decided it was time to take a
step back and carve out time to
realize her ambition to write a
novel.
“So I wrote this book, wanting
to cheer and empower women
who were in a similar situation,”
she said.
The main character in her nov-
el is Reiko Kenmochi, a 28-year-
old lawyer who has ambitions for
success and wealth. It begins
when she learns that her ex-boy-
friend, who recently died, has left
behind a mysterious will that
gives his entire inheritance to
“the person who murdered me.”
Kenmochi decides to represent
a friend of the dead man who
wants to be proved as the murder-
er.
“The book is a fantasy
because such a strong-
willed woman wouldn’t
be able to excel in this
way in the real world.
. . . I personally faced a
lot of obstacles in my
career as a lawyer,
barriers I wouldn’t have
faced as a man.”
Hotate Shinkawa, debut novelist
As a girlfriend and a lawyer,
Kenmochi isn’t afraid to speak
her mind: She tells her boyfriend
off for giving her an “average”
engagement ring and confronts
her boss when her bonus is un-
fairly cut, only to be told she is
“too aggressive and scary”; she
submits her resignation.
Mystery novels in Japan are
usually written by men and fea-
ture men as the protagonists,
with women relegated to stereo-
typical, secondary roles.
Shinkawa said she didn’t want
to come home from a hard day of
work to read about female char-
acters she couldn’t relate to and
decided to write a novel with a
female protagonist who can be a
good role model for women.
Shinkawa, who was born in
Dallas and moved to Japan as a
6-month-old, chose to work at a
law firm that seemed to be fairer
to women, but she still experi-
enced discrimination: For exam-
ple, when the firm introduced an
option to work shorter hours to
take care of children, the email
was sent only to women, “imply-
ing it was the women’s job to look
after children and do the house-
EZ RE
Health workers administer doses of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine in Bangkok. The Chinese vaccine
maker was among the earliest to begin clinical trials but still has not published data from studies.
some of the countries who have
received Sinovac,” Chong said.
Other countries with larger
populations and fewer options
have accepted China’s vaccines,
sometimes after considerable
griping from top leaders.
Brazil, South America’s most
populous country, has adopted
Sinovac’s vaccine after initial re-
sistance from President Jair Bol-
sonaro. The Philippines accepted
a donation of Sinovac vaccines
from China last month, despite
President Rodrigo Duterte saying
he personally wants to take a
different Chinese vaccine, ac-
cording to Reuters.
Vaccine makers usually release
details of their Phase 3 clinical
trials in peer-reviewed journals
before the vaccines gain regulato-
ry approval. Pfizer-BioNTech and
Moderna published theirs in the
SIMON DENYER/THE WASHINGTON POST
Hotate Shinkawa’s first novel
draws from sexist treatment she
endured at a Japanese law firm.
work.”
Female lawyers tended to be
married to fellow lawyers: Nearly
half the men had wives who
didn’t work and took care of all
the household duties.
“We were competing with
these men, who have an advan-
tage, so I often felt it was harder
for women,” she said.
“When we go drinking, we
would often end up in hostess
bars [where women are paid to
entertain male clients], with no
consideration for the women who
were forced to be there,” she
added. “And there were plenty of
sexual harassment remarks from
my bosses. Even when I was
praised for my work, my male
colleagues would brush it off that
it was because I buttered up to the
men.”
Shinkawa has now left that
firm and works as in-house legal
counsel for a corporation.
She lives with her husband, a
“wonderful man . . . who has
openheartedly welcomed and ac-
cepted my success,” she said, and
with whom she shares the house-
work equally. But the two aren’t
legally married, because in Japan
couples by law have to share the
same surname, and Shinkawa
didn’t want to change her name.
She says a real change won’t
come until there are more women
in executive or decision-making
roles in Japan.
Still, she was encouraged by
the backlash after the head of the
Tokyo Olympics organizing com-
mittee, Yoshiro Mori, made re-
marks trying to justify the lack of
women in senior roles by claim-
ing they talked too much during
meetings. Mori was subsequently
forced to resign.
A few weeks later, the Olym-
pics’ creative director also re-
signed after suggesting that a
plus-size female comedian should
appear at the opening ceremony
dressed as an “Olympig.”
“There are many people who
say similar things to Mori, but in
reality, I’ve rarely seen people
being ousted for it,” Shinkawa
said. “But seeing the public back-
lash, I was really happy to see that
society was changing and these
remarks are not just being
brushed off.”
simon.denyer@washpost.com
New England Journal of Medi-
cine in December.
Sinopharm and Sinovac have
self-reported some key results,
but they have not published the
underlying data in a journal,
which would require vetting by
third-party experts.
Chinese government officials
and industry executives have
largely deflected questions about
when they will release the data.
In an interview with state-run
tabloid Global Times this month,
Shao Yiming, a vaccine expert
with China’s CDC, claimed that
the countries where Sinovac and
Sinopharm ran trials — including
Brazil and the UAE — must be the
ones to release it.
“Whether to release the clini-
cal trial data, when and how,
must be decided by the foreign
institutions,” Shao said. “China
N. Korea fires short-range missiles
BY J OHN H UDSON
AND E LLEN N AKASHIMA
North Korea fired off multiple
short-range missiles this past
weekend after denouncing Wash-
ington for going forward with
joint military exercises with
South Korea, according to people
familiar with the situation.
The missile tests, which had
not previously been reported,
represent North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un’s first direct chal-
lenge to President Biden, whose
aides have not yet outlined their
approach to the regime’s nuclear
threat amid an ongoing review of
U.S.-North Korea policy.
For weeks, U.S. defense offi-
cials warned that intelligence in-
dicated that North Korea might
carry out missile tests. The re-
gime elevated its complaints
about U.S. military exercises last
week, with Kim’s sister, Kim Yo
Jong, warning that if the Biden
administration “wants to sleep in
peace for the coming four years, it
had better refrain from causing a
stink.”
The tests put renewed pres-
sure on the United States to
develop a strategy to address a
nuclear threat that has bedeviled
successive Republican and Dem-
ocratic administrations for dec-
ades.
State Department spokesman
Ned Price has said the Biden
administration wants to develop
a “new approach” to North Korea,
but he has offered few details.
U.S. diplomats have informed al-
lies in Asia in recent weeks that
the strategy will differ from Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s top-down
approach of meeting directly
with Kim Jong Un and President
Barack Obama’s bottom-up for-
mulation, which swore off en-
gagement until Pyongyang
changed its behavior.
Both policies failed to stop
North Korea from advancing its
weapons systems and repressing
its citizens through a combina-
tion of mass surveillance, torture
and political-prisoner camps
condemned by human rights
groups around the world.
The remaining benefit of
Trump’s summit diplomacy is
that the regime has refrained
from detonating a nuclear device
or launching a long-range missile
since Trump met with Kim in
Singapore in 2018.
The Biden administration was
mindful that it could be criticized
as dithering in the event that
North Korea were to restart its
nuclear provocations. Those con-
cerns became more urgent this
month when U.S. intelligence de-
tected signals that North Korea
may resume its testing, said three
people familiar with the situa-
tion. Satellite imagery suggesting
an uptick in activity at North
Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear re-
search center published by the 38
North website also worried U.S.
officials.
In an effort to inoculate the
THE WASHINGTON POST
ANDRE MALERBA/BLOOMBERG
has no power to decide.”
At a Beijing news conference
on March 15, health regulators
ignored a question on when data
will be released, according to the
transcript. Sinopharm and Sino-
vac executives also have not ad-
dressed the question.
More than 60 countries have
approved one of China’s corona-
virus vaccines for market use or
emergency use, according to the
China International Develop-
ment Cooperation Agency.
Malaysia began using Sinovac’s
vaccine this month, after kicking
off its vaccination drive with
limited supplies of vaccines from
Pfizer-BioNTech and British-
Swedish firm AstraZeneca, which
developed a shot with Oxford
University. Malaysia’s science
minister, Khairy Jamaluddin,
took the first shot of the Sinovac
Tests represent
Kim’s first challenge to
the Biden administration
administration from potential
criticism, Biden administration
officials disclosed to a Reuters
reporter that U.S. officials
reached out to North Korea
through several channels start-
ing in mid-February but did not
receive a response, said people
familiar with the authorized leak.
White House press secretary Jen
Psaki later confirmed that at-
tempted outreach during a press
briefing.
At the time, two constituencies
were pushing the administration
to engage with North Korea.
Arms-control organizations
based in Washington, some that
have a close working rapport
with the Biden administration,
worried that more North Korean
testing could be days away.
“There is an urgent need to reen-
gage with the North, because
Pyongyang continues to amass
more plutonium for nuclear
weapons,” said Daryl Kimball,
executive director of the Arms
Control Association. “The sooner
the better.”
That concern was shared by
South Korea. The country’s for-
eign minister, Chung Eui-yong,
called for an “early resumption of
dialogue” between the United
States and North Korea.
U.S. officials disclosed the out-
reach efforts to demonstrate that
the administration had heard the
concerns, the people said.
“The South very much wants
diplomacy with the North,” said
one person familiar with the mat-
ter, who like others spoke on the
condition of anonymity because
of the matter’s sensitivity. “They
are incredibly worried that the
Biden administration is going to
repeat the problems of 2009 in
which, for a variety of reasons,
the United States was slow.”
U.S. officials did not say wheth-
er the United States made any
substantive or significant propos-
als to North Korea in the out-
reach. North Korea’s first vice
foreign minister, Choe Son Hui,
made clear that the regime was
not satisfied with what was com-
municated.
“We don’t think there is a need
to respond to the U.S. delaying-
time trick again,” Choe said in a
statement carried by North Ko-
rean state media. “We will disre-
gard such an attempt of the U.S.
in the future, too.”
North Korea has not comment-
ed on its Sunday missile launch-
es, puzzling U.S. and South Ko-
rean officials. The isolated re-
gime typically hails such develop-
ments to underscore its technical
prowess.
The State Department did not
respond to a request for comment
about the tests, which were dis-
. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
vaccine to shore up confidence.
“I want to say, it is safe,” he
wrote in Chinese on Twitter after
receiving the first dose. “I feel
great. And my Chinese has sud-
denly gotten better.”
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has
yet to publicly take a vaccine.
Sinopharm said this month more
than 5,000 senior officials attend-
ing the country’s annual legisla-
tive session had been vaccinated.
In Hong Kong, vaccine mis-
trust has jumped after seven
people died following Sinovac
doses and one after receiving the
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, al-
though no causation has been
established.
The Chinese territory has ex-
panded its vaccine program to
include anyone over 30, who can
choose from either the Pfizer-Bio-
NTech vaccine or Sinovac’s, after
priority groups were reluctant to
take up the shots. That is a
situation Singapore is trying to
avoid, experts say, as it could
delay the reopening of borders
and the economy.
English, the communicable-
disease expert, said vaccine mak-
ers typically publish clinical trial
results transparently to build
public trust. This is especially
critical during a pandemic, where
public indecision about whether
to get a vaccine costs lives.
Singapore’s ministry of health
said that it received its first ship-
ment of Sinovac doses on Feb. 23.
The country’s Health Sciences
Authority said this week it has
begun reviewing the data that
Sinovac had submitted, but it
needs more information from the
company.
Regulators are “still waiting
for the company to submit the
data,” the Health Sciences Au-
thority said.
eva.dou@washpost.com
shibani.mahtani@washpost.com
Alicia Chen in Taipei, Taiwan, and
Lyric Li in Seoul contributed to this
report.
covered by U.S. officials through
intelligence collection efforts
outside the country.
Trump downplayed North Ko-
rea’s launch of short-range mis-
siles during his administration,
noting that they did not violate
an agreement with Kim in Singa-
pore, even though they did vio-
late U.N. resolutions. South Korea
also downplayed the moves, in
the hopes of nurturing dialogue
with the North.
Victor Cha, a professor at
Georgetown University, said if
missile tests were to become pub-
lic, the Biden administration
might take a more confrontation-
al approach, given the threat
short-range missiles pose to U.S.
troops in South Korea and Japan
and to U.S. civilians in the region.
Regardless, the Biden adminis-
tration will be under more pres-
sure to complete its policy review
as dangers on the Korean Penin-
sula become more apparent.
South Korean and Japanese offi-
cials have advised the Biden ad-
ministration against reestablish-
ing six-party talks, a multilateral
framework developed during the
George W. Bush administration
that included China, Japan,
North Korea, Russia, South Korea
and the United States.
Officials from Tokyo and Seoul
told their U.S. counterparts that
dealing with North Korea direct-
ly would be the most productive
format, advice that U.S. officials
have taken seriously, according to
people familiar with the discus-
sions.
One of the challenges U.S. offi-
cials are facing in the review
process is how to get countries in
the region to cooperate on pres-
suring North Korea to denuclear-
ize, they said.
“What is becoming clear to the
architects of the new policy is
how much the ground has shifted
in a very short while. China is less
interested in playing an active
diplomatic role in the way it did
during six-party talks,” said a
person familiar with the discus-
sions. “Japan and South Korea
are at daggers drawn and find it
difficult to even sit in the same
room together, and Russia’s un-
dermining of the American de-
mocracy has complicated any
positive role with the United
States in this regional endeavor.”
U.S. officials say North Korean
diplomacy is also difficult be-
cause the approach must be de-
signed so that other countries in
the region support it.
“The cardinal rule of dealing
with North Korea is you don’t
negotiate over the heads of our
allies, as Trump did when he
unilaterally promised to suspend
military exercises with South Ko-
rea,” said Cha, a top adviser to the
Bush administration on North
Korea. “You probably will get very
little from North Korea. And in
the bigger picture, you’re hurting
our alliances in Asia.”
john.hudson@washpost.com
ellen.nakashima@washpost.com
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
White House pulls nominee for Interior Dept. No. 2 post
Move follows opposition
from centrist senators
over liberal positions
BY J ULIET E ILPERIN
AND J OSHUA P ARTLOW
The White House is withdraw-
ing its nominee for deputy secre-
tary of the Interior Department
two months after touting Eliza-
beth Klein as one of several wom-
en President Biden had selected
for top department posts, a con-
cession to centrist senators un-
happy about her advocacy to curb
fossil fuels.
The move, which came after
Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.)
and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
raised objections, shows the chal-
lenge the Biden administration
faces in advancing its environ-
mental agenda in a closely divid-
ed Congress. Four individuals
briefed on the matter discussed it
on the condition of anonymity to
talk frankly.
Both Manchin and Murkowski
represent states that are closely
tied to the fossil fuel industry —
coal in West Virginia and oil in
Alaska — and they have emerged
as pivotal votes in Congress on
issues related to energy and cli-
mate change. The Interior De-
partment represents a central
battleground in climate policy, as
nearly a quarter of the country’s
greenhouse gas emissions stem
from oil and gas drilled on public
lands it controls.
The department declined to
comment on the move, which was
first reported by Politico. The
decision to sideline Klein was
made before Murkowski and
Senate confirms Murthy as surgeon general, a role Biden hopes to expand
Presidential ally returns
as ‘nation’s doctor’ after
serving in Obama years
BY D AN D IAMOND
The Senate on Tuesday voted 57
to 43 to confirm Vivek H. Murthy
as United States surgeon general,
ensuring that a top ally of Presi-
dent Biden will play a visible role
in responding to the coronavirus
pandemic.
All 50 Senate Democrats and
independents voted to support
Murthy, joined by seven Republi-
cans.
“Glad he was confirmed today
— and I’m looking forward to
working with him to address this
pandemic and the underlying
health inequities it has made way
worse,” tweeted Sen. Patty Murray
(D-Wash.), who chairs the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee, calling
Murthy a “highly experienced,
crisis-tested leader.”
The surgeon general, also
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three other Republican senators
voted to confirm Interior Secre-
tary Deb Haaland, an outspoken
liberal, last week.
Biden’s transition team had
flagged Klein early on, identifying
her as its pick for Interior’s No. 2
position before Biden was inau-
gurated, and had been preparing
her for interviews with senators.
Klein, who worked at Interior
during both the Clinton and
Obama administrations, helped
challenge several Trump admin-
istration environmental rules as
deputy director of New York Uni-
versity School of Law’s State En-
ergy & Environmental Impact
Center. She also worked at the
D.C. office of the firm Latham &
Watkins.
Asked about the apparent re-
versal, a White House official who
spoke on the condition of ano-
nymity to discuss a personnel
matter said, “Liz Klein’s nomina-
tion was never formally submit-
ted to the United States and will
not be nominated to this posi-
tion.”
White House officials are now
eyeing Tommy Beaudreau, a part-
ner at Latham & Watkins, accord-
ing to several individuals familiar
with the nominations process.
Beaudreau, who joined Interior
in June 2010 to help handle the
BP oil spill, headed the depart-
ment’s Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management and served as In-
terior chief of staff during Presi-
dent Barack Obama’s second
term.
Neither Klein nor Beaudreau
could be reached for comment
Tuesday.
One person familiar with
Klein’s nomination said that op-
ponents — including Murkowski
and Manchin — felt that Haaland
and Klein would be a difficult
known as the “nation’s doctor,”
typically serves as a prominent
spokesperson on public health
issues but has a limited role in
policymaking. But Biden has
pledged that Murthy — who ad-
vised him in the Obama White
House, on the board of the Biden
Institute at the University of Dela-
ware and, most recently, during
the presidential campaign and
transition — will have an expand-
ed role in his administration.
“He will be a key public voice on
the covid response to restore pub-
lic trust and faith in science and
medicine,” Biden said when he
nominated Murthy in December.
“One of the reasons, doc, I asked
you to do this, when you speak,
people listen. They trust you. You
have a way of communicating.”
The surgeon general also over-
sees the U.S. Public Health Service
commissioned corps, a uni-
formed service of about 6,000
public health workers who have
helped staff the coronavirus re-
sponse and administer vaccines
but struggled earlier this year to
get vaccinations of their own.
Murthy, 43, first served as sur-
geon general during the Obama
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Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), seen last week, and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) had expressed
concern over Interior Department nominee Elizabeth Klein, who previously served at the agency.
team for the oil and gas industry
to work with, as both have priori-
tized fighting climate change. The
person added that the sprawling
and complicated Interior Depart-
ment would also benefit from a
deputy secretary with more man-
agement experience.
The senators were more in-
clined to approve Beaudreau, ac-
cording to this person, who spoke
on the condition of anonymity to
discuss private conversations.
“There was pretty universally a
feeling that whether you agreed
with him or not on an issue or
whether you were winning your
argument or not, he was thought-
Vivek H. Murthy during his confirmation hearing before the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last month.
administration, working on pub-
lic health issues such as the opioid
crisis. He also pursued his own
work combating loneliness and
the stigma of mental illness. He
was the nation’s first Senate-con-
firmed Asian American surgeon
general.
His original 2013 nomination
was stalled in the Senate for more
than a year, in part because gun
VA: 703.691.5500
MD: 301.388.5959
DC: 202.770.3131
ScheduleFRED.com
S0108 3x1.5
EZ RE
ful,” the person said. “He listened
to what you had to say, would
work with you, and all sides got a
fair shake.”
Murkowski has emerged as a
critical vote for the administra-
tion on a range of policy and
personnel issues. While her sup-
port for oil and gas drilling and
other types of land development
often puts her at odds with
Biden’s agenda, she’s more willing
to cross party lines than many of
her colleagues, especially on the
question of nominations.
Beaudreau, who moved with
his family to Alaska in 1979 when
his father got a job working on the
CAROLINE BREHMAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
rights organizations faulted Mur-
thy for saying gun violence was a
public health problem — a stance
Murthy has continued to espouse.
Murthy’s nomination to return
as surgeon general under Biden
drew scrutiny from watchdogs
who flagged that Murthy was paid
more than $2 million in coronavi-
rus-related consulting fees last
year by companies in the cruise,
Payments
as low as
$
149
STRICTLY
FOLLOWING
CDC
GUIDELINES
MHIC #125450 | DC #67004413 | VA #2705 108835A | WVA #036832
SUSAN WALSH/POOL/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
North Slope, worked extensively
on Alaska issues during Obama’s
second term. Obama’s Interior
Department frequently sparred
with the Alaska congressional
delegation, on matters such as
whether to build a road through
the Izembek National Wildlife
Refuge and what sort of drilling
could take place on the National
Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
Adam Kolton, executive direc-
tor of the Alaska Wilderness
League, said he considered Klein
an “exceptional pick” and did not
like to see her nomination “torpe-
doed” by senators from fossil fuel
states.
travel and other industries, set-
ting up a potential conflict in his
role as public health spokesper-
son. Senate Democrats side-
stepped the issue, and Senate Re-
publicans said they generally sup-
port nominees with industry ex-
perience. Murthy has pledged to
recuse himself from any conflicts
as surgeon general.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
earlier Tuesday pledged to with-
hold her votes for Biden’s nomi-
nees until the president put for-
ward a more diverse slate, fault-
ing the White House for failing to
have a single Asian American or
Pacific Islander member of the
Cabinet. Duckworth said she
would support Murthy and other
nominees who were racial minor-
ities or LGBTQ.
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Su-
san Collins (R-Maine) and Mitt
Romney (R-Utah) were among
the Senate Republicans who
crossed the aisle to support Mur-
thy.
Advocates for Asian Americans
and Pacific Islanders had been
pushing for Murthy’s confirma-
tion, seeking representation
across the Biden administration.
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But he added that Beaudreau
“got an enormous amount done
for wild Alaska” when he served
at Interior.
“Time and time again he
proved himself to be an excep-
tional conservationist: seasoned,
experienced, competent, ran a
strong process, listened to all
players,” Kolton said, adding that
if Klein’s opponents think that
Beaudreau will be better for
them, “they may have buyer’s re-
morse.”
“Because Tommy Beaudreau is
a strong conservationist and
someone who fully understands
the climate and biodiversity chal-
lenges we’re facing and the kind
of actions that need to be taken,”
he said.
Asked about Beaudreau’s pos-
sible nomination, a White House
official said, “I don’t have any
additional personnel announce-
ments at the moment, but we are
eager to announce additional ap-
pointments within the Depart-
ment of Interior and look forward
to doing so in the weeks ahead.”
Even without a confirmed No.
2, however, Interior is advancing
Biden’s goals to curb greenhouse
gas emissions and scrutinize any
new development on public lands
and waters. On Friday, according
to a memo obtained by The Wash-
ington Post, the department is-
sued guidance that requires offi-
cials to clear any new major deci-
sions, such as lease sales and land
management plans, with the Of-
fice of the Assistant Secretary of
Land and Minerals Management.
Asked about the matter, an
Interior official said the policy
was consistent with how past
administrations have handled
similar issues.
juliet.eilperin@washpost.com
joshua.partlow@washpost.com
The surgeon general is a sub-Cab-
inet-level position. Katherine Tai,
an Asian American woman, earli-
er this month won Senate confir-
mation as U.S. trade representa-
tive, a Cabinet-level position.
Murthy briefly served in the
Trump administration, although
Trump fired Murthy in early 2017,
about halfway through Murthy’s
four-year term. Trump replaced
Murthy with Jerome Adams, a
former Indiana health official and
longtime ally of former vice presi-
dent Mike Pence. Biden asked for
Adams’s resignation in January,
clearing the way for Murthy to
return to his prior role.
“The most important job of a
doctor is to help patients heal,”
Murthy testified to the Senate
health committee in his confir-
mation hearing last month. “And
if confirmed, that will be my mis-
sion as surgeon general — to do
whatever I can to help heal our
communities and our nation.”
Susan Orsega, a rear admiral in
the U.S. Public Health Service
commissioned corps and a nurse
practitioner, has served as acting
surgeon general since January.
dan.diamond@washpost.com
SPECIAL
%off
installation
A20
○ DOW 32,423.15
DOWN 308.05, 0.9% ○ NASDAQ 13,227.70
DOWN 149.84, 1.1%
A pedestrian on Broadway in New York’s Financial District on Tuesday. Wall Street investors are among those voicing inflation concerns.
Powell, Yellen: On track, not in clear
Fed chair, treasury secretary tell lawmakers an economic boom is ahead but many are still suffering
BY R ACHEL S IEGEL
A year into the coronavirus
pandemic, after the loss of mil-
lions of jobs and the closure of
thousands of small businesses,
the Federal Reserve and Treas-
ury Department have a message
for Congress: It could have been
worse, and there’s still a long way
to go.
Testifying before the House
Financial Services Committee on
Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair
Jerome H. Powell and Treasury
Secretary Janet Yellen told law-
makers that the economy is slat-
ed for booming growth this year.
But their sunny forecast was
paired with reminders that at
least 9.5 million jobs are still
missing from the labor force and
that fully healing the economy
depends on getting the pandem-
ic under control.
“We welcome this progress but
will not lose sight of the millions
of Americans who are still hurt-
ing, including lower-wage work-
ers in the services sector, African
Americans, Hispanics and other
minority groups that have been
especially hard hit,” Powell said
Tuesday.
The economic outlook has sig-
nificantly improved over the past
few months and been buoyed by
the recent passage of President
Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus
relief package and more-wide-
spread vaccinations. Millions of
Americans have started to see
$1,400 stimulus payments hit
their bank accounts. The Fed
projects the U.S. economy will
HOUSING
New-home sales
sank in February
Sales of new homes plunged
18.2 percent in February as
severe winter weather in many
parts of the country and a lack of
supply took a toll on the housing
industry.
Sales of single-family homes
dropped to a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of 775,000 last
month, the Commerce
Department reported Tuesday,
the slowest sales pace since May
of last year.
Every region of the country
experienced a drop-off in sales.
The median price of a new
home sold in February was
$349,400, up 5.3 percent from a
year ago.
The report Tuesday marked
the first decline in sales of new
homes in two months. Housing
continues to be one of the few
bright spots during the
coronavirus pandemic. New-
home sales last year advanced to
levels not seen since the housing
boom of the mid-2000s.
Despite the hiccup,
economists don’t believe even
skyrocketing prices will cool the
Economy & Business
○ S&P 500 3,910.52
DOWN 30.07, 0.8%
grow at its fastest pace in four
decades this year, with the unem-
ployment rate falling to 4.5 per-
cent.
Still, there are plenty of chal-
lenges to getting the elements of
the sprawling stimulus law out
the door, along with many unre-
solved questions about how hun-
dreds of billions of dollars allo-
cated by the American Rescue
Plan will actually be disbursed.
On Tuesday, a number of law-
makers pushed for more regular
oversight of the $1.9 trillion bill,
noting mechanisms put in place
after Congress passed the Cares
Act last spring.
“Now that we have an addi-
tional $1.9 trillion to track, I
would ask for your commitment
along those same lines,” Rep.
Patrick T. McHenry of North
Carolina, the top Republican on
the House Financial Services
Committee, told Yellen, adding,
“That would be encouraging that
you’d continue the practice of
your predecessor . . . to ensure
appropriate oversight.”
Yellen agreed to work with the
committee and other oversight
groups and laid out some of the
challenges to implementing the
new stimulus law. Yellen said
earlier rounds of the Paycheck
Protection Program often did not
reach the country’s smallest
businesses, especially those in
rural and low-income areas.
Rental assistance was frequently
tied up in red tape. Many Ameri-
cans still have not received their
stimulus payments.
“And all this is just a fraction
U.S. housing market. High
lumber costs, rising mortgage
rates, though they remain near
record lows, along with few
properties available for sale, are
pushing homeownership out of
range for many.
— Associated Press
BANKING
Goldman cleared in
discrimination review
Goldman Sachs didn’t use
discriminatory practices when
deciding whether to extend
credit to prospective customers
of its Apple Card, the New York
State Department of Financial
Services said.
A review by the regulator
found no evidence of intentional
bias against women, the
department said in a statement
Tuesday. It also found no
evidence that the lender’s credit
decisions had a disparate impact
on certain groups of people.
Goldman’s credit card, a
venture with Apple unveiled
with much fanfare in 2019, came
under fire months after its
launch, with customers
complaining on Twitter that
women were granted lower
EZ RE
○ GOLD $1,727.50
DOWN $12.90, 0.7%
of Treasury’s work,” Yellen told
the committee. “There is so many
more relief programs, including
one that will provide $350 billion
in aid to state and local govern-
ments. Implementing all of it is
more complicated than it
sounds.”
Many Republican lawmakers,
Wall Street investors and econo-
mists are worried that the econo-
my will not be able to absorb a
massive stimulus package and
post-pandemic consumer spend-
ing, pushing prices rapidly up-
ward. Their worry is that danger-
ous cycles of inflation will force
the Fed to hike interest rates,
triggering a new recession.
“Economic projections are in-
creasingly positive,” McHenry
said. But, he added, “with the
addition of $1.9 trillion, there’s
been a great deal of debate about
what will happen with this
amount of liquidity in our finan-
cial markets.”
The Fed and White House
argue that inflation is not a
pressing concern. Powell has
said that there would have to be
substantial progress in the labor
market before the Fed considers
raising rates. Any price increases
resulting from the economy re-
opening and people spending big
on vacations or concert tickets
will be temporary, he has said.
“Our best view is that . . . the
effect on inflation will be neither
particularly large nor persis-
tent,” Powell said Tuesday.
Lawmakers pressed Powell
and Yellen on a range of other
issues, including banking regula-
DI GEST
credit limits than men. Married
couples also complained that
husbands were granted far
higher spending limits than
their wives. The viral tweets
prompted the review.
“While we found no fair
lending violations, our inquiry
stands as a reminder of
disparities in access to credit
that continue nearly 50 years
after the passage of the Equal
Credit Opportunity Act,”
Superintendent of Financial
Services Linda A. Lacewell said
in the statement.
— Bloomberg News
ALSO IN BUSINESS
Frontier Airlines said Tuesday
that it expects to raise about
$630 million from an initial
public offering of a small portion
of its stock, a deal that it hopes
will value the budget airline at
about $4.5 billion. Frontier’s
parent company and its current
owners hope to sell 30 million
shares at between $19 and $21
per share. Frontier Group
Holdings said in the filing that it
is well-positioned to recover
from the pandemic because of its
focus on domestic leisure travel,
which is expected to rebound
○ CRUDE OIL $57.76
DOWN $3.80, 6.2%
MARY ALTAFFER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
tions and their research on digi-
tal currencies. Of particular fo-
cus was climate policy, which the
Biden White House has made
core to its agenda. The Fed
increasingly points to climate
risks as a threat to the financial
system and financial stability.
Republicans in Congress have
warned the Fed not to delve too
deeply into climate issues. They
argue that climate policy is part
of a liberal political agenda and
not the purview of the central
bank, which is independent and
aims for price stability and maxi-
mum employment.
“There’s concern in my district
that the financial regulators may
be moving towards regulation
and supervision with environ-
mental policy objectives, poten-
tially discouraging banks from
doing business with entire sec-
tors of the economy,” Rep. Frank
D. Lucas (R-Okla.) said at Tues-
day’s hearing.
Yellen said that even as cli-
mate issues are a top priority for
the Biden administration, the
Treasury Department does not
plan to regulate specific invest-
ments that banks can or cannot
make.
Powell said that it is the Fed’s
job to better understand the
risks climate change poses to the
financial system, noting that
many large banks are already
making similar assessments
themselves.
Yellen and Powell will appear
before the Senate Banking Com-
mittee on Wednesday.
rachel.siegel@washpost.com
Farmers harvest large green onions on Imja Island in Sinan, south
of Seoul, on Wednesday. The price of green onions recently rose to
four times higher than the cost in 2020. Production of green onions
has dropped because of extreme cold and snow storms.
more quickly than business or
international flying. After the
IPO, the company will have
215 million shares and trade
under the ticker symbol “ULCC.”
Facebook faces a criminal
complaint in France from a
press-freedom group that
THE WASHINGTON POST
○ 10-YEAR TREASURY YIELD 1.62%
DOWN 4.1%
Disney move banks on
moviegoers’ slow return
‘Black Widow’ will have
same-day July release in
theaters, on Disney Plus
BY S TEVEN Z EITCHIK
Even as pandemic restrictions
ease, Disney on Tuesday signaled
it does not believe that theatrical
moviegoing around the world
will be back in force this spring
and early summer, and it moved
the anticipated Marvel film
“Black Widow” to a simultaneous
release on Disney Plus.
The movie starring Scarlett Jo-
hansson, originally scheduled for
an exclusive theatrical release on
May 7, will now be made available
on July 9 for $30 to consumers as
part of the service’s “Premier Ac-
cess” program. “Black Widow”
will also be made available to
theaters on that date, though it
remains to be seen how many will
play it.
It was not the only shift away
from a theater-centric strategy in
the coming months. The compa-
ny also moved when “Cruella,” an
Emma Stone movie about a rene-
gade in 1970s London who origi-
nally appeared in the “One Hun-
dred and One Dalmatians” mov-
ies, will be available for purchase
on Disney Plus simultaneous to
its release in theaters May 28.
Another film, the animated
“Luca,” will move exclusively to
Disney Plus on June 18.
Other titles for later in 2021
remain theatrical, including
“Eternals,” a Marvel movie sched-
uled for November, and “The
King’s Man,” though the action
comedy will move from August to
December, reinforcing Disney’s
belief that normalcy will not re-
turn until the fall.
Disney appears to have made a
calculation amid uncertainty
over pandemic restrictions and
vaccine distribution. While much
of the United States is likely to be
open by May as vaccine distribu-
tion increases, many theaters in
Europe, where “Black Widow”
and other titles are expected to do
big business, will not be, as coun-
tries grapple with lockdowns,
surges and vaccine-rollout chal-
lenges.
“Today’s announcement re-
flects our focus on providing con-
sumer choice and serving the
evolving preferences of audienc-
es. By leveraging a flexible distri-
bution strategy in a dynamic mar-
ketplace that is beginning to re-
cover from the global pandemic,
we will continue to employ the
best options to deliver the Walt
Disney Company’s unparalleled
storytelling to fans and families
around the world,” Kareem Dan-
iel, who runs the company’s me-
dia and entertainment distribu-
tion division, said in a statement.
The news was not all grim for
theaters, however: It followed a
development earlier in the day in
which Warner Bros. signaled that,
beginning in 2022, all of its films
will have a 45-day exclusive win-
dow in U.S. theaters, as the com-
pany sharply changed course
YONHAP/EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
accuses the social network of
illegally allowing the spread of
disinformation and hate speech
on its platform. Reporters
Without Borders, known as RSF,
said it filed the case with the
Paris public prosecutor on
March 22, alleging that Facebook
. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
CURRENCIES
$1= 108.59 YEN, 0.84 EUROS
from a decision to release all its
2021 movies on HBO Max simul-
taneously.
The moves offer a surprising
reversal. WB had shown it was
not eager to favor theaters as long
as the coronavirus was spreading,
in December moving “Wonder
Woman” and then a host of other
films to HBO Max simultaneous-
ly. That announcement angered
many executives and creators in
Hollywood, who said the decision
was a breach of their relationship.
The WB announcement came
from Cineworld, parent company
of Regal, the United States’ sec-
ond-largest theater chain. Under
the agreement, the company’s
theaters will begin showing all
WB movies in 2022 for a 45-day
exclusive window in the United
States and at least a 31-day win-
dow in the United Kingdom. As
part of the deal, the company will
show all 2021 movies released
simultaneously to HBO Max, a
Disney had continually
postponed “Black
Widow” from last May,
and the film had been
heralded as the kind of
splashy release that
could bring people
back to theaters.
move some theaters had previ-
ously been reluctant to make.
With the Regal deal, WB is
expected to make pacts with oth-
er companies for at least as long.
Disney had continually post-
poned “Black Widow,” a high-pro-
file title in its Marvel Cinematic
Universe, from last May, and the
film had been heralded as the
kind of splashy release that could
bring people back to theaters
after more than a year of staying
away. But now Disney will hold
off on theatrical exclusivity and
put much of its hope in Disney
Plus.
Disney has previously released
other movies to Disney Plus si-
multaneous to theaters, such as
the family adventure “Raya and
the Last Dragon,” which is avail-
able for $30 on the service in
addition to appearing in theaters.
Though it has been cast as a
pandemic-era decision, the
“Black Widow” move could be
seen as a test case for the compa-
ny to try to double down on its
Disney Plus service, which has
drawn 100 million subscribers
since launching in late 2019. The
company has already generated
what it says are large numbers
from two Marvel series, “Wanda-
Vision” and “The Falcon and the
Winter Soldier,” on Disney Plus. If
“Black Widow” succeeds in its
hybrid release, it could mark a
new way for the company to
release its films even after the
pandemic ends.
steven.zeitchik@washpost.com
allows “the large-scale
proliferation of hate speech and
false information on its
networks” despite its promise of
a “safe” and “error-free” online
environment. Facebook and
Alphabet’s Google have come
under intense scrutiny for the
dissemination of hate speech
and terror propaganda.
GoPuff, a venture-backed
delivery app and owner of
BevMo!, more than doubled its
valuation from five months ago
to $8.9 billion, a bet by investors
that habits formed during the
pandemic will stick. The
investment round brought in
$1.15 billion, triple the amount
GoPuff raised in October, the
company said in a statement
Tuesday. A pair of college
buddies in Philadelphia started
GoPuff in 2013 to deliver late-
night snacks to their classmates
at Drexel University. Now the
company offers a bevy of
convenience store items in
dozens of U.S. cities.
— From news reports
COMING TODAY
8:30 a.m.: Commerce
Department releases durable
goods for February.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
USPS chief’s plan for Postal Service: Slower mail, fewer hours, price hikes
BY J ACOB B OGAGE
Postmaster General Louis De-
Joy on Tuesday unveiled the larg-
est rollback of consumer mail ser-
vices in a generation, part of a
10-year plan that includes longer
first-class delivery windows, re-
duced post office hours and high-
er postage prices.
DeJoy presented his long-
awaited strategic vision for the
U.S. Postal Service during a Tues-
day webinar. Portions of the ini-
tiative already made public have
raised alarms from postal advo-
cates, who say they could further
erode agency performance. Mail-
ing industry officials warn that
substantial service cuts could
drive away business and worsen
its already battered finances.
But DeJoy has cited the need
for austerity to ensure more con-
sistent delivery and rein in losses.
The agency is weighed down by
$188.4 billion in liabilities, and
DeJoy told a House panel last
month that he expects the Postal
Service to lose $160 billion over
the next 10 years. Without the
plan, Postal Service Board of Gov-
ernors Chairman Ron Bloom said,
the agency’s future was “pro-
foundly threatened.”
DeJoy’s plan to make up that
projected shortfall largely de-
pends on Congress repealing a
retiree health care pre-funding
mandate and allowing postal
workers to enroll in Medicare.
The agency also will ask President
Biden to order a review of how
much the Postal Service should
have paid into its pension funds,
and credit the mail agency with
any overpayments.
DeJoy projected these steps
would save the agency $58 billion
over the next decade, and the
agency could make up the rest
through postage rate increases
($44 billion in new revenue),
“self-help” cost-cutting in mail
processing, transportation and
administrative efficiencies
($34 billion), and revenue from
package volume and price in-
creases ($24 billion).
“We respect, embrace and be-
lieve that we can become self-sus-
taining again,” DeJoy said, “not
only because it is the law, but also
because it can act as our North
Star and set parameters around
our decision-making.”
The plan, which he told law-
makers was eight months in the
making, is meant to reset expecta-
CORONAVIRUS
Leadership
During Crisis
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R)
Thursday, March 25 at 4:00pm ET
We’ll hear from Ohio’s governor on how the
Buckeye State continues to make significant
progress against the COVID-19 pandemic,
and his plans for reopening.
Watch Live: wapo.st/dewine
. THE WASHINGTON POST
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, center, has presented a 10-year plan of service cuts to stem the Postal
Service’s ongoing losses. Postal advocates say those cuts could drive away business.
tions for the Postal Service and its
place in the express-shipping
market. It is couched in the view
that the historically high package
volumes of the pandemic era will
persist, and reorients the agency
around consumers who don’t rely
on the mail service for letters,
advertisements or business trans-
actions as much as they once did.
The blueprint would have first-
class mail ferried cross-country
on trucks instead of airplanes,
and introduces new products to
help commercial shippers move
packages more efficiently.
The agency projects its package
business will grow by 6 to 11 per-
cent through 2025 as consumers
maintain online shopping habits
built during the pandemic. The
Postal Service plans to open 45
package processing annexes na-
tionwide to expedite shipping and
will look to replace mail sorting
machines with package sorters,
infrastructure the agency has
needed desperately for years.
“We believe that consumer be-
haviors fundamentally changed
and expect continued long-term
growth for package delivery,”
Kristin Seaver, the Postal Service’s
executive vice president and chief
retail and delivery officer, said
during the webinar.
“I’m not out to capture the
whole market. We’re out to fill our
network. We’re out to get more
packages on our carriers, get
more packages in our trucks,” De-
Joy said later Tuesday in an inter-
view with The Washington Post.
“We are the most trusted brand. I
just want to become the most
used brand.”
The postmaster general also
acknowledged in the interview
the long-term declines in first-
class mail volume, the agency’s
most profitable product, but one
that has been increasingly over-
taken by more convenient forms
of communication.
Between the price increases
and slowing service standards,
mailing industry officials have
warned the Postal Service that
they’re prepared to find other
ways to do business. When deliv-
ery times hit their worst marks in
decades over the holiday season,
banks, utilities and credit card
companies began encouraging
customers to switch to paperless
billing and statements, moves
that could have long-term conse-
quences on the Postal Service’s
bottom line.
Little in DeJoy’s plan seeks to
stem those losses, and the plan
codifies slowdowns for nonlocal
first-class mail, adding as many as
two days to delivery timetables for
EZ RE
AL DRAGO/GETTY IMAGES
items sent further than 930 miles.
“I’m not competing for a
change in medium,” he said in the
interview. “I can’t stop electronic
communications. What I can do is
recognize that I can’t stop that.
That’s kind of what we’ve done
here. So, we’re moving forward.
I’m not chasing mail volume
down because I’m going where we
see growth.”
DeJoy rolled out his plan as
Democrats have renewed calls for
his ouster and the removal of the
agency’s governing board, which
backs him and the proposals.
More than 50 House Democrats
last week asked Biden to fire the
board’s six sitting members for
cause — citing “gross mismanage-
ment,” “self-inflicted” nationwide
mail delays and “rampant con-
flicts of interest” — and to allow a
new slate of nominees to consider
DeJoy’s fitness for office.
Biden already has nominated
two Democrats and a voting
rights advocate to fill three of four
vacancies (Bloom, the board
chairman and a Democrat, is serv-
ing in a one-year holdover term)
on the board. If confirmed by the
Senate, Democrats and Biden ap-
pointees would hold a 5-to-4 ma-
jority with the votes to remove
DeJoy, if desired.
Biden cannot fire DeJoy; postal
operations are purposefully insu-
lated from the presidency and
Congress to prevent politicians
from tinkering with the mail sys-
tem for political gain. The post-
master general answers only to
the board of governors. Bloom
told the House panel in February
that the board “believes the post-
master general in very difficult
circumstances is doing a good
job.”
Congressional Democrats re-
acted harshly to DeJoy’s propos-
als. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney
(N.Y.), who chairs the powerful
House Oversight Committee, said
in a statement that DeJoy’s plan
should not be implemented until
Congress can review it. Rep. Ger-
ald E. Connolly (Va.), who chairs
the subcommittee responsible for
postal issues, said the plan “guar-
antees the death spiral of the
United States Postal Service.”
“While I understand Postal
Service leadership’s desire to set
long-term goals, I am concerned
that several of the initiatives in
this plan will harm service for
folks across the country who rely
on the Postal Service for prescrip-
tion drugs, financial documents,
running their small businesses,
and more. Cuts to service stan-
dards for first-class mail, limiting
hours at local post offices, and
making it more difficult for peo-
ple to access postal products
would adversely impact USPS
customers across the nation, in-
cluding in rural and underserved
communities,” said Sen. Gary Pe-
ters (D-Mich.), who chairs the
Senate committee in charge of the
agency.
Republicans were slower to re-
act. GOP members of the House
Oversight Committee wrote to
DeJoy last week that they could
not support a restructuring bill
that they’d spent months negoti-
ating with both DeJoy and Malo-
ney without incorporating el-
ements of DeJoy’s plan. Sen. Rob
Portman (Ohio), the top Republi-
can on Peters’s committee and a
key vote on postal policies, tweet-
ed that he was “closely reviewing
the plan proposed today & will
continue to work on bipartisan
postal reform.”
Most of DeJoy’s changes will
not face regulatory roadblocks.
The postmaster general unilater-
ally controls operating hours at
post offices, and the board of gov-
ernors appears to back DeJoy’s
changes to delivery times.
A21
The Postal Service must con-
sult the Postal Regulatory Com-
mission on price increases, but
the regulator issues only a non-
binding advisory opinion. A
group of mailers is suing the com-
mission to block the new pricing
regimen, but DeJoy has signaled
he plans to forge ahead.
Over the holiday season, postal
performance sank: 71 percent on-
time delivery for two-day mail
and 38 percent for three-day mail
during the last week of December.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.)
compared those scores to unfa-
vorable odds in a Las Vegas casi-
no.
“Sending a letter should not be
a game of chance,” he said during
last month’s hearing.
The Postal Service’s delivery
scores have rebounded in recent
weeks to nearly 83.7 percent for
first-class mail the week of
March 12. The agency attributed
the improvement to more capac-
ity in the air transportation net-
work and the end of winter storms
that delayed operations in much
of the country.
The metrics remain well short
of the agency’s marks from before
DeJoy took over in June. The week
before DeJoy implemented his
midsummer changes, the Postal
Service delivered 90.6 percent of
first-class mail on time. It hasn’t
reached 90 percent in the eight
months since.
DeJoy also will cut retail post
office hours, resurrecting one of
the changes he first implemented.
The Postal Service’s Office of In-
spector General found that the
agency expanded lunch breaks in
certain post offices beginning
July 22 and often sought to match
consumer demand with operat-
ing hours by closing post offices
early. DeJoy suspended the policy
after a public uproar and after
members of Congress accused
him of shuttering postal facilities
in the run-up to the election.
DeJoy also has discussed an
“imminent” postage rate increase
with industry officials tied to a
new ruling from the Postal Regu-
latory Commission that created a
new pricing system. Industry offi-
cials said that increase could
come as soon as this summer and
be as large as 9 percent, a cost
many say will be passed on to
customers. DeJoy refused in the
webinar to say how much the
agency planned to raise prices.
jacob.bogage@washpost.com
A22 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST . WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021

Your stimulus debit card may be in the mail — here’s how to access the cash
More stimulus
payments will hit
people’s bank
accounts today,
while other
taxpayers will
Michelle soon receive
Singletary checks and
THE COLOR prepaid debit
OF MONEY cards in their
mailboxes.
This money, a
financial lifeline for many
families, represents the third
round of economic relief tied to
the coronavirus pandemic. The
American Rescue Plan provides
payments of up to $1,400 for
eligible individuals and $2,800
for couples filing a joint federal
return. Eligible taxpayers will
receive an additional $1,400 for
dependents.
The IRS is sending most
payments by direct deposit
because it is the easiest and
fastest way to get this money to
tens of millions of Americans.
When that isn’t possible, the
agency is mailing checks and
prepaid debit cards.
About 20 million paper checks
and debit cards are expected to
start arriving soon, but the
delivery could run into
nationwide mail delays at the
U.S. Postal Service.
Here are some answers to
questions you may have about
the delivery of stimulus
payments by check or debit card.
Why am I getting a check?
Most likely you are receiving a
stimulus check because the IRS
does not have direct deposit
information for you, or your
financial institution rejected the
payment and returned the
money. This could happen
because the IRS has the wrong
bank account information, or
you’ve closed the account.
If the account was closed, your
payment will be reissued and
mailed to the most recent
address on file with the IRS.
Even if you haven’t given the
IRS banking information, it’s
possible you may still get a direct
deposit. Stimulus payments are
The IRS is sending most stimulus payments by direct deposit because it is the easiest and fastest way to get this money to tens of millions of
Americans. When that isn’t possible, the agency — whose headquarters are pictured above — is mailing checks and prepaid debit cards.
being sent out in batches. So, just
because you haven’t received
your money yet doesn’t mean it’s
not coming.
And for those without direct
deposit information on file, the
IRS says it will be using federal
records of recent payments to or
from the government, where
available, to make the payment
as a direct deposit.
How will I recognize the
check is from the IRS?
Checks will arrive in a white
envelope from the U.S.
Department of the Treasury. It
will look much like a check you
receive for a tax refund.
However, in the memo field, it
will say, “Economic Impact
Payment.”
How will I recognize the
stimulus debit card?
Many people mistook the debit
card as junk mail or thought it
was a scam and threw it out in
the first and second rounds of
the stimulus payments. There
was no indication on the
envelope that the
correspondence was coming
from the IRS or Treasury.
The IRS refers to the stimulus
payment as an “economic impact
payment” or EIP, so look for that
wording. The debit card has the
Visa logo on the front, and the
issuing bank is MetaBank, the
Treasury Department’s financial
agent. You’ll also see “Money
Network” on the back of the
card.
Treasury changed what’s on
the outside of the envelope after
the first round. Now, you’ll see
the Treasury logo and the notice:
“Not a bill or an advertisement.
Important information about
your Economic Impact Payment.”
The return address will say:
“Economic Impact Payment
Card, PO Box 247022, Omaha,
NE 68124-7022.”
How can I use the debit card?
The prepaid debit card can be
used to make purchases online
and at any retail location where
SAMUEL CORUM/BLOOMBERG NEWS
Visa is accepted. You can also get
cash back during a purchase,
transfer the funds to your
personal bank account or
withdraw money from an ATM.
However, there is a $1,000
ATM withdrawal limit per
transaction and per day. Your
bank may have an even lower
daily withdrawal or transaction
limit.
The IRS points out the limit
on ACH transfers to a bank
account is $2,500 per
transaction.
You can use the card to pay
your rent or mortgage, if your
landlord or loan servicer accepts
Visa debit card payments.
Read the instructions
carefully or go online to
EIPCard.com to find out how to
avoid fees when you use the card.
There’s no fee to withdraw cash
at in-network ATMs that carry
the “AllPoint” or “MoneyPass”
logos. But if you use an ATM out
of the network, it will cost you
$2, although the fee is waived for
the first ATM withdrawal. You
may also get dinged with a fee by
the ATM operator, MetaBank
warns.
You can find an ATM that
doesn’t charge a fee by going
online to EIPCard.com or by
downloading and using the
Money Network mobile app.
What should I do if the debit
card is lost, stolen or
discarded by accident?
If you have lost or thrown out the
stimulus debit card, you’ll have
to call (800) 240-8100 for a free
replacement.
When you call, ignore the
instructions to press Option 1 to
reach customer service. Instead,
choose Option 2 for a lost or
stolen card.
Then select Option 1 to input
the last six digits (yes, six, not the
customary four) of your Social
Security number as well as your
Zip code. You should be
transferred to a customer service
representative. You will have to
answer some security questions
before a replacement card is
mailed.
I already received an EIP
debit card. Will the latest
stimulus payment be loaded
on that card?
None of the debit cards are
reloadable, the IRS said. You will
receive a new debit card with the
latest stimulus payment.
Will the money always be
available on the card?
Once you activate the debit card,
the money will remain accessible
to you. Money on the card will
not be returned to the
government unless you return
your card to MetaBank,
according to the IRS.
michelle.singletary@washpost.com

U.S. Higher Education:

Rethinking the Possibilities
Thursday, March 25 at 12:00pm Washington, D.C.
Thought leaders and educators examine the evolving role of higher education
in America, focusing on the needed skills for the 21st century work force, as
well as creative ways to close the post-high school inequality gap.

To register, visit wapo.st/ushighered

Content from Taskforce on

Higher Education and Opportunity

ANDRÉ DUA ANNE M. KRESS, PhD JAMES B. MILLIKEN,

LESLIE FENWICK, PhD CHANCELLOR
Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company Dean Emeritus, Howard University President, Northern Virginia
School of Education Community College The University of Texas System

P RE S E N T I N G S P O N S O R

Stay one step ahead of the weather with the

snow day or school day? Capital Weather Gang
S0141 6x1

washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang • @capitalweather
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
Long-delayed probes may reveal more misconduct in Trump administration
WATCHDOGS FROM A1
least nine key oversight investi-
gations were impeded by clashes
with the White House or political
appointees, people familiar with
inspector general offices say and
public documents show.
Long-anticipated reports were
released only this month on two
senior Trump officials. One found
evidence that Transportation
Secretary Elaine Chao may have
misused her position by repeat-
edly deploying her staff on per-
sonal business. A second con-
cluded that former White House
physician Ronny Jackson bullied
his staff and drank on the job.
The timing meant their dam-
aging disclosures emerged only
after the former president left
office and Jackson, a former Navy
rear admiral, was elected to Con-
gress from Texas.
Tensions between federal
watchdogs and the administra-
tion they monitor are not uncom-
mon. But 11 inspectors general or
their senior aides who served
under Trump, many of whom
spoke on the condition of ano-
nymity to describe internal gov-
ernment deliberations, said hos-
tility to oversight reached un-
precedented levels during his
time in office.
The result, they said, was that
government hid wrongdoing
from the public and important
reforms to improve government
efficiency were ignored. With
Trump out of office, advocates for
government accountability pre-
dict other damaging revelations
may only now begin to emerge.
“IGs under Trump faced an
angry, account-settling president
who had no compunction about
removing those who threatened
to reveal bad things about him,”
said Gordon Heddell, a former
inspector general at the Defense
and Labor departments who
served under Republican and
Democratic presidents.
A spokeswoman for Trump de-
clined a request for comment.
Former Trump administration
officials who spoke on the condi-
tion of anonymity to describe
internal procedures said the ad-
ministration’s approach to in-
spector general investigations
was to be cooperative, to resolve
disputes whenever possible and
was consistent with precedent
and practice across previous ad-
ministrations. They said the ap-
proach included consultation
with the Justice Department.
Davis declined to discuss her
review of housing aid to Puerto
Rico.
Other overdue reports include
an inquiry by the Commerce
Department’s inspector general
into the Trump administration’s
controversial decision to add a
question to the U.S. Census about
citizenship.
Two long-running ethics
probes of Ryan Zinke, Trump’s
first interior secretary, remain in
limbo more than two years after
the president forced him out. The
Pentagon watchdog has not re-
leased the results of a two-year
audit of a $400 million contract
to build the border wall that was
awarded, at Trump’s urging, to a
politically connected North Da-
kota construction company.
And the General Services Ad-
ministration inspector general
has blamed slow-walking by
agency leaders for a delayed re-
view of how federal offices han-
dled the coronavirus last year.
Administration lawyers used
various maneuvers to hinder
oversight, according to docu-
ments, inspectors general and
attorneys representing federal
agencies.
Lawyers invoked the power of
the president and top agency
officials to withhold their confi-
dential communications. They
insisted on a seat at the witness
table — or blocked employee
interviews altogether. Docu-
ments were often released at the
pace of dripping faucets — or not
at all.
“There was a blatant attempt
by the Trump White House to
interfere with the work of IGs
that we had not seen before,” said
Nick Schwellenbach, an expert
on the inspector general system
at the Project on Government
Oversight, a nonpartisan advo-
cate for government reform.
Chafing under oversight
Federal watchdogs oversee
roughly 14,000 auditors and in-
vestigators across government,
with a broad mandate that rang-
es from routine audits of opera-
tions and spending to probes of
possible criminal activity.
Thirty-eight of the 75 inspec-
tors general who monitor the
government’s largest agencies
are by law appointed by the
president and confirmed by Con-
gress. President Biden has not yet
made any nominations for any of
the 13 of the jobs that are vacant
and being filled in an acting
capacity.
The offices the watchdogs
lead, created in the aftermath of
. THE WASHINGTON POST
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Robert Wilkie, center, repeatedly implored the White House to dismiss his agency’s inspector general
soon after he became secretary of veterans affairs in 2018, two people familiar with the matter said. White House physician Ronny
Jackson, at lectern, was accused in an IG report of bullying his staff and drinking at work. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, at the
White House in June, has said he requested that Trump fire his department’s veteran inspector general, who was ousted last year. Ryan
Zinke, Trump’s first interior secretary, shown in 2018, is the subject of two long-running probes. One involves a $400 million border wall
contract awarded to a politically connected firm, the other a decision to deny a petition by two Indian tribes hoping to operate a casino.
Major agency watchdogs lack permanent leaders
President Trump removed multiple inspectors general, and some of his nominees
to replace them were not confirmed by the Senate. Thirty-eight watchdogs at large
agencies are appointed by the president, and 13 agencies currently do not have
permanent leadership. All but one require Senate confirmation.
IG OFFICES WITHOUT TRUMP-INSTALLED
PERMANENT LEADERS* INSPECTORS GENERAL
Permanent IGs who left,
or were removed, under Trump.
Includes DNI, HHS, Education,
Labor, State and Treasury
*Includes FCC slot that, as of 2018, requires Senate confirmation.
Vacancies are staffed by acting agency officials until a new nominee is confirmed.
Sources: Partnership for Public Service
the Watergate scandal, have tra-
ditionally enjoyed political inde-
pendence and wide powers to
subpoena documents and inter-
view employees to root out gov-
ernment wrongdoing. Inspectors
general have no set term and
many watchdogs serve for years,
through multiple administra-
tions.
The work of these internal
monitors has led to criminal
prosecutions, forced the ouster of
corrupt officials, and identified
millions of dollars a year in
wasteful spending.
But Trump chafed under the
40-year-old oversight system,
particularly after several of his
Cabinet secretaries and top aides
came under investigation. Last
year he replaced five career
watchdogs over two months with
political appointees, starting
with the intelligence community
watchdog who had informed
Congress of a whistleblower’s
complaint about Trump’s deal-
ings with Ukraine. He also forced
out the long-serving watchdogs
at the State and Defense depart-
ments.
Trump’s agency heads fol-
lowed his lead. In a previously
unreported incident, soon after
he became secretary of veterans
affairs in 2018, Robert Wilkie
repeatedly implored the White
House to dismiss Michael Missal,
his agency’s inspector general,
two people familiar with the
communications said.
Wilkie claimed that the ag-
gressive oversight was harming
veterans who would be intimi-
dated from coming forward with
information about the agency’s
shortcomings. The White House
declined to act.
In a text message, Wilkie wrote
that “the picture that the IG’s
office consistently painted of VA
was not the reality of the Trump
VA but an effort to ignore our
reforms by saddling us with re-
sponsibility for the shortcomings
of the previous Administration.”
Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo has said he requested
that Trump fire his department’s
veteran inspector general, Steve
Linick, who was ousted last year.
At the time, Linick’s office was
investigating several allegations
related to Pompeo, including
whether he had used staffers to
perform personal tasks. Pompeo
has said he was unaware of the
probe and the firing was not
retaliatory.
Linick’s ouster stunned advo-
cates of independence for inspec-
tors general, Heddell said. “It was
NOMINATED BY
OTHER PRESIDENTS
ASHLYN STILL/THE WASHINGTON POST
devastating to the IG communi-
ty.”
The office is now on its third
acting director in 10 months and,
according to State Department
records, at least a dozen senior
positions are vacant or now filled
by acting officials. The office is
still conducting a number of in-
vestigations initiated while
Trump was in office, spokesman
Ryan Holden said.
Robert Driscoll, who repre-
sented several agency appointees
targeted by watchdogs in the
Trump era, said some inspectors
general were overly aggressive. A
veteran of tussles over inspector
general oversight, he said that
during Trump’s presidency, the
watchdogs began to act beyond
their authority, propelled by the
polarized politics of the time.
“They engaged in investiga-
tions that appeared to exceed
their mandate, delving in to po-
litical questions rather than legal
or ethical judgments,” he said.
Driscoll added that federal
watchdogs took “a Soviet-style
position” when they pushed to
limit participation of counsel in
investigative interviews. “They
were essentially arguing that tar-
gets of their investigations are
not entitled to have counsel pre-
sent,” he said.
Democrats in Congress, how-
ever, said key oversight was ig-
nored or squelched by Trump.
Three Democrats last week intro-
duced legislation to expand the
power of inspectors general, and
they have discussed new protec-
tions to shield the watchdogs
from being fired by the president.
They also are urging Biden to
rapidly fill vacancies in the in-
spector general ranks, reversing
a trend of leaving positions open
that dates to Barack Obama’s
presidency.
“It is no surprise that several
critically important reports
about the behavior and decisions
of multiple officials are only now
becoming public,” House Over-
sight and Reform Committee
Chairman Carolyn B. Maloney
(D-N.Y.) said in an email, lament-
ing that many Trump officials
“escaped accountability while in
office.”
Clashes delay work
Last spring, General Services
Administration Inspector Gener-
al Carol Ochoa launched a rou-
tine review of how federal office
buildings were handling corona-
virus cleaning and whether agen-
cies were informing employees
when their colleagues tested pos-
EZ RE
PHOTOS BY JABIN BOTSFORD/THE WASHINGTON POST
itive for the virus. It was a vital
concern for hundreds of thou-
sands of employees still report-
ing to work amid the dangerous
pandemic.
A person familiar with Ochoa’s
thinking said she hoped to move
fast to deliver quick results, while
the crisis was still underway.
But as soon as her auditors
posed questions to employees of
the agency’s Public Buildings
Service, administrator Emily
Murphy and her staff created a
committee of senior managers to
handle all responses from em-
ployees involved in covid man-
agement for thousands of build-
ings.
Auditors became alarmed that
the process was cutting out on-
the-ground information, accord-
ing to a warning Ochoa later
released on the dispute. Five days
before Trump left office, Ochoa
released a rare but little-noticed
“management alert” about the
conflict. “GSA is impeding over-
sight of its covid-19 activities,” it
was titled.
Employees were coached or
instructed to modify their re-
sponses to auditors before they
could be sent, the 14-page report
said. In one case, an employee at
first said a building had not been
inspected for cleanliness because
staff was teleworking but later
was instructed to say the building
had, in fact, been visually in-
spected.
“The [OIG] audit team has
little assurance that the respons-
es provided to our inquiries are
complete, accurate, and reliable,”
auditors wrote.
In the document, Murphy de-
nied that employees were
coached and said any delays re-
sulted from efforts to provide
audits with “complete and accu-
rate information” and a need to
“minimize the burden on front-
line officials who are working
overtime” to respond to the pan-
demic.
Ochoa declined to comment.
Murphy, through a colleague,
also declined.
Because of the delays, the au-
dit on GSA’s coronavirus re-
sponse is still underway. A
spokeswoman for the office said
it will be released when com-
plete.
Across Trump’s government,
similar clashes delayed other
oversight work.
At the Commerce Department,
an inquiry into why the agency
added a politically charged ques-
tion on citizenship status to the
U.S. Census was held up for
months by disputes over whether
senior officials could disclose in-
formation about their White
House contacts in interviews,
people familiar with the process
said. Top Trump appointees ulti-
mately were not interviewed.
The Supreme Court ruled in
June that the administration
could not include the question on
the once-a-decade population
survey. The inspector general’s
conclusions about the issue have
still not been released.
“Although there is tension in-
herent in the oversight relation-
ship, the efforts to include agency
counsel in OIG interviews repre-
sents an improper and unwar-
ranted intrusion into OIG opera-
tions and results in a chilling
effect,” Inspector General Peggy
Gustafson said in an email.
Similar disputes resulted in
the long-delayed release in July
of another politically damaging
report from the Commerce
watchdog. This one concluded
that political pressure from the
White House shaped a 2019 Na-
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration statement that
supported false claims from Pres-
ident Trump about the path of a
hurricane. The NOAA statement
backed President Trump’s erro-
neous claims that Hurricane
Dorian would probably severely
impact Alabama — an incident
known as “Sharpiegate.”
In that case, Gustafson public-
ly rebuked the agency for declar-
ing “amorphous and generalized
privileges” that prevented the
document’s dissemination. Ulti-
mately, her office ignored the
agency’s objections and issued
the report without redactions.
Another sensitive report, into
Secretary Wilbur Ross’s finances,
took 37 months to complete and
was released in December, only
weeks before Trump left office. It
found that Ross made numerous
inaccurate statements to federal
officials about his assets and
stock distributions before taking
office but that they were not
intentional.
Ross told Forbes that he was
committed to the “highest stan-
dard of ethics” and the report had
proved he did not violate con-
flict-of-interest statutes.
Gustafson said in an email that
the Ross investigation had been
“incredibly complex and time-
consuming.” Even though the fi-
nal report was published as Ross
left office, she said it should help
educate the public and Congress
about “weaknesses in the current
system” and act as a reference to
future officeholders “interested
in serving with integrity.”
Two inquiries into the conduct
of another former Cabinet mem-
ber, Zinke, are stalled because of
the involvement of the Justice
Department. Prosecutors con-
vened a grand jury in February
2019 to examine whether Zinke
made false statements to investi-
gators who were looking into his
decision not to grant a petition to
two Indian tribes hoping to oper-
ate a casino, two people briefed
on the matter have said.
Later that year, people familiar
with the matter have said that
Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey
A. Rosen, a Trump appointee,
deferred a recommendation from
line prosecutors to move forward
with charges, finding that pros-
ecutors needed to gather more
evidence. The criminal matter
remains formally open, however,
preventing Interior Inspector
General Mark Greenblatt from
releasing his report.
The inspector general’s office
declined to comment.
Complaint to Congress
At the Pentagon, the inspector
general’s office took the unusual
step of complaining to Congress
in its semiannual report last year
that the department’s process for
deciding whether to make com-
munications with the White
House confidential was slow and
had prevented the office from
concluding projects “in a timely
manner.”
The complaint to Congress re-
vealed that a contracting investi-
gation was stymied after the
White House refused to release
emails with more than a dozen
A23
key Defense officials. Two people
familiar with the matter said the
dispute related to the audit of the
border wall contract, which was
launched in December 2019 at
the request of Congress.
Pentagon investigators com-
plained in another report, pub-
lished last April, that the White
House had withheld communica-
tions that impeded their ability
to definitively determine wheth-
er administration officials played
a role in awarding a massive $10
billion cloud computing contract
to Microsoft.
The contract had been expect-
ed to go to Amazon, whose found-
er, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washing-
ton Post and was a frequent
target of Trump’s ire. Overall, the
report found no evidence of un-
due influence or pressure on
Defense Department personnel
in the awarding of the contract.
Defense Department investi-
gators also were forced to sus-
pend their field work on Jackson,
the White House physician, for
almost a year to address White
House efforts to withhold confi-
dential communications, accord-
ing to the report issued earlier
this month.
The report showed the admin-
istration also sought to place a
White House lawyer at inter-
views of personnel who worked
with Jackson. That case took
three years to complete. Jackson,
who was elected to Congress in
November with Trump’s backing,
denied allegations that he mis-
treated staff or drank on the job.
An investigation exploring for-
mer national security adviser Mi-
chael Flynn’s work for foreign
interests — long delayed by the
criminal case against him — was
completed and forwarded to
Army leadership seven days after
Trump left office.
At Transportation, Trump offi-
cials helped orchestrate an ex-
traordinary behind-the-scenes
push to remake the leadership of
the inspector general’s office,
even as it pursued the particular-
ly sensitive investigation of Chao.
When the longtime inspector
general, Calvin L. Scovel III, an-
nounced his retirement in Janu-
ary 2020, the probe of potential
ethical violations by Chao, the
powerful Cabinet secretary mar-
ried to Senate Republican leader
Mitch McConnell (Ky.), was al-
ready underway.
For a time, administration offi-
cials pursued a highly unusual
proposal to have a Trump-ap-
pointed U.S. attorney in Nash-
ville serve simultaneously as the
inspector general at Transporta-
tion. Ultimately, when other fed-
eral officials concerned about the
independence of inspectors gen-
eral objected, the White House
tabled the plan and tapped the
head of the agency’s pipeline
oversight agency instead.
A spokesman for the inspector
general’s office said no appoin-
tees in the office or wider depart-
ment tried to thwart their work,
and the Chao investigation “pro-
ceeded unimpeded with each
change in leadership throughout
the course of the last year.”
Released this month, the re-
port found evidence of potential
ethical violations by Chao, con-
cluding she asked government
employees to perform personal
tasks, some of which were meant
to aid her father, James S.C. Chao.
A spokesman for Chao said the
accusations against her were
baseless.
The deputy inspector general
in December referred the case to
the U.S. attorney’s office and the
Justice Department for prosecu-
tion, though they both declined
— each within 24 hours — to open
an investigation.
At HUD, officials said the long-
awaited report on aid to Puerto
Rico should be completed soon.
Stung by criticism from local
politicians, Trump repeatedly
said he did not want to send more
aid to the island after it was
ravaged by Hurricane Maria in
September 2017. He questioned
the storm’s death toll and deni-
grated the territory as “one of the
most corrupt places on Earth.”
In April 2019, the HUD inspec-
tor general, a Republican, shared
a memo with Congress in which
she complained that the depart-
ment had “unreasonably” de-
layed production of emails and
other records. Colleagues of Da-
vis said she told them the dispute
was resolved after a series of
acrimonious meetings and email
exchanges between her staff and
agency lawyers. A section of the
HUD report will lay out attempts
by the administration to inter-
fere with its completion, a person
familiar with its contents said.
Darryl Madden, a spokeswom-
an for the inspector general, said,
“We believe when the report is
out it will speak for itself.”
lisa.rein@washpost.com
tom.hamburger@washpost.com
michael.laris@washpost.com
john.hudson@washpost.com
Dan Lamothe and Alice Crites
contributed to this report.
 KLMNO

METRO
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021 . WASHINGTONPOST.COM/LOCAL EZ RE B
High today at THE REGION CAPITAL WEATHER GANG OBITUARIES
approx. 5 p.m.
Event planners in D.C. and With the forecast for the Chuck Lewis, 80, co-wrote
8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m.
60° Virginia feel overlooked as days ahead decidedly prizewinning stories about
Precip: 100% coronavirus restrictions springlike, we can safely “friendly fire” casualties in
54 56 59 57
° ° ° ° Wind: ENE
4-8 mph are lifted for others. B4 say winter is over. B5 the Persian Gulf War. B6

DOJ is reviewing former top prosecutor in Capitol riot cases Va. eyes
BY D EVLIN B ARRETT
AND S PENCER S . H SU

Justice Department prosecu-

Judge: Ex-U.S. attorney’s
interview remarks may
day on six hours’ notice to discuss
his concerns that comments by
Michael R. Sherwin aired on Sun-
day and a separate article pub-
judge’s displeasure are an omi-
nous development for Justice De-
partment officials trying to over-
see one of the largest criminal
In the “60 Minutes” interview,
Sherwin said he thought seditious
conspiracy charges could be filed
at some point against defendants
April 1
tors have launched an internal
review of the former interim U.S.
attorney for the District, over
comments he made recently on
threaten fair-trial rights lished Monday by the New York
Times indicated the Justice De-
partment was not following the
court’s rules or the agency’s inter-
investigations in U.S. history, in
which more than 300 defendants
have already been charged and
100 more are expected to be. Al-
in the investigation, and suggest-
ed former president Donald
Trump’s conduct was being exam-
ined. Both statements echoed
to relax
“60 Minutes” about the ongoing
Capitol riot investigation — re-
marks a federal judge warned
Tuesday may threaten the fair-tri-
al rights of some of the accused
rioters.
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Meh-
ta called a surprise hearing Tues-
nal procedures to refrain from
speaking about ongoing cases
outside of court.
The internal review and the
ready, defense lawyers are trying
to use Sherwin’s remarks to argue
their clients are being treated un-
fairly.
similar remarks Sherwin made
shortly after the Jan. 6 riot carried
out by Trump’s supporters.
SEE REVIEW ON B6
limits
MOST VENUES STAY
AT 30% CAPACITY
Md. set to double its
mass vaccination sites

BY E RIN C OX,
L AURA V OZZELLA
AND O VETTA W IGGINS

With 1 in 4 Virginians having

received at least the first dose of
the coronavirus vaccine, the state
will ease some capacity limits as
of April 1 but keep other restric-
tions in place, Gov. Ralph
Northam (D) said Tuesday.
The changes follow similar, re-
cent reopening decisions in the
District and Maryland, where
Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Tuesday
announced six new mass vaccina-
tion sites will launch in April. He
said those efforts became possible
when the federal government
promised states enhanced vac-
cine supply starting next week.
“It’s like the calvary is finally
SEE REGION ON B3

New cases in region

Through 5 p.m. Tuesday, 2,094
new coronavirus cases were
reported in the District, Maryland
and Virginia, bringing the total
number of cases to 1,052,149.
D.C. MD. VA.
+105 +722 +1,267
43,488 401,427 607,234
Coronavirus-related deaths
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday:
D.C. MD.* VA.
+1 +11 +10
BILL O'LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST
1,051 8,195 10,137

Could be bloom or bust this year

* Includes probable covid-19 deaths.

Park Service warns it will shut down Tidal Basin if crowds get too big and keep it closed till blossoms fade D.C. police
faulted on
BY M ARISSA J . L ANG

As the District’s famed cherry blossoms begin to unfold and the brief period
follow-up
of peak bloom inches nearer, officials have adopted a crowd-control strategy
similar to the posture of a fed-up parent: Behave, or lose your privileges.
On Tuesday, the National Park Service announced that it will be “limiting all
in 4 deaths
vehicular and pedestrian access” around the Tidal Basin during the period in
which most of the pink- and white-petaled trees are blossoming because of the
coronavirus pandemic. Access to parking lots and paddle boats will be shut
down when the trees begin to blossom, the Park Service said — a loose time
Report says post-incident
frame that could begin as soon as this weekend. examinations fell short
Officials said that blossom admirers will still have access to the Tidal Basin —
until crowds swell past an acceptable limit.
in cases from ’18 and ’19
Once that happens, Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst said, the agency is
prepared to close off the Tidal Basin entirely — and keep it closed until after
most of the trees have lost their blooms. BY P ETER H ERMANN
The move would be unprecedented.
SEE BLOSSOMS ON B2 An independent review of four
KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST
deadly incidents involving D.C.
police concludes that the depart-
The cherry trees are full of buds, top, and the warm weather is already drawing people to the Tidal Basin ahead of next month’s projected peak bloom. ment failed to thoroughly exam-
As hotels tout blossom season specials, officials are limiting access to avoid a repeat of last year, above, when thousands of maskless visitors gathered. ine the circumstances that led to
the encounters and evaluate
whether changes in tactics or
training are needed.
The report, commissioned by

Veteran activist: Move beyond protests The sharp turn ending the District’s auditor, agrees with
the department’s findings clear-
ing officers in the cases reviewed

As a 19-year-old
attending Howard
University in 1960,
Courtland Cox
joined with other
young civil rights
Courtland activists in a
Milloy death-defying
effort to empower
disenfranchised Black people
throughout the Jim Crow South.
The organization they started
that year was called the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC), but there was
nothing nonviolent about the
system of racial segregation,
economic oppression and voter
suppression that they wanted to
Virginia’s death penalty
dismantle.
Because of poll taxes, bogus
literacy tests and the ever-present
threat of violent retribution, only
14 percent of eligible Black people
were registered to vote in
Alabama and just 5 percent in
Mississippi. One parish in
Louisiana had not registered a
Black voter since 1900. Activists
who tried to help register Black
people were often attacked and
sometimes killed by White people
intent on maintaining the status
quo.
Today, at age 80, Cox can look
over the nation’s political
landscape and see progress that
was virtually unimaginable in his
activist days. The country has had
a two-term Black president and
now has Kamala D. Harris, a
Black and Asian woman, as vice
president. Raphael G. Warnock
(D) was recently elected as the
first Black senator from Georgia.
Nearly one-third of the nation’s
top 100 cities have Black mayors.
In 1960, there were none.
But as SNCC veterans prepare
for a belated 60th anniversary of
the group’s founding — to be held
at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in
D.C. in June — Cox’s celebratory
mood is tempered by a harsh
reality: Voting rights are under
assault like no time since the
SEE MILLOY ON B4
Northam to sign bill that
caught even longtime
advocates off guard
BY G REGORY S . S CHNEIDER
richmond — The last time the
Virginia Senate took up a propos-
al to abolish the death penalty,
two Democrats put a quick end
to the debate.
“It’s no secret what my views
are,” Senate Majority Leader
Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax)
said at a committee meeting in
2020 as he moved to table the bill
for a year. Sen. Chap Petersen
(D-Fairfax City) seconded the
motion with a terse comment:
“There are certain acts of vio-
lence which can only be recog-
nized in a certain way.”
For decades — centuries, actu-
ally — the only real issue in
Virginia related to the death
penalty was how to expand it, no
matter which party was in
SEE VIRGINIA ON B5
from 2018 and 2019, noting that
in three involving shootings, offi-
cers fired only after being fired
upon. A fourth involved a dirt
bike striking a police vehicle.
But the report, with input from
three retired police executives
from Boston and Charlotte, de-
scribes interviews of officers by
internal investigators as superfi-
cial and inadequate, and criti-
cizes the department for focusing
only on the particular moments
that deadly force was used, and
not looking more broadly at
whether police could have avoid-
ed the incidents or handled them
another way.
For example, the report says
SEE POLICE ON B5
B2
O∞cials hope virtual blossom viewing will limit crowds
BLOSSOMS FROM B1
“We tried last year to discour-
age people from coming down
and we still had thousands of
people coming to a really small
area. Around the trees at the
Tidal Basin is just very confined,”
Jeffrey Reinbold, the Park Serv-
ice’s superintendent for the Na-
tional Mall, said in an interview.
“The minute someone pauses to
take photos, you get a bottleneck,
and crowds start to form. This is
really a confined space. Last year
showed us that.”
Public messaging around the
2021 cherry blossom season has,
at times, been contradictory.
Officials emphasizing safety
amid the pandemic and echoing
pleas from the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Preven-
tion to limit crowd sizes and
refrain from traveling have
struggled to square public safety
with a battered hospitality in-
dustry whose revenue plummet-
ed 87 percent between last
March and December, according
to the city’s tourism arm, Desti-
nation DC.
Hotels and restaurants
around the District have been
offering cherry blossom specials
as the industry hopes for a bump
from one of the city’s most
popular tourist attractions.
But D.C. officials and organiz-
ers of the annual Cherry Blossom
Festival have stopped short of
inviting out-of-towners to visit
the blooming trees in person.
They haven’t disinvited them,
either.
Officials have said they hope
that by offering virtual and at-
home activities — a national
broadcast, a neighborhood pa-
rade, a kite fly and more —
people around the country will
refrain from traveling to D.C.
Elliott Ferguson, president of
Destination DC, said Tuesday
that the Park Service’s decision
probably will force some people
to alter their plans but added
MARYLAND
Potomac businessman set to challenge Elrich for Montgomery executive
Blair lost to incumbent
by 77 votes in crowded
2018 Democratic primary
BY R EBECCA T AN
Potomac businessman David
Blair is announcing his bid for
Montgomery County executive
on Wednesday, becoming the first
known challenger to incumbent
Marc Elrich (D), who plans to
seek reelection in 2022.
Blair, a Montgomery native
who built his wealth by running a
prescription drug benefits com-
pany, poured a record $5.4 mil-
lion into his campaign in 2018
and lost to Elrich by 77 votes in
the crowded Democratic primary.
In an interview Tuesday, he
said he has spent the past three
years leading a nonprofit advoca-
cy group and, more recently,
working with his wife to support
vulnerable families affected by
the coronavirus pandemic.
He said he thinks Elrich’s pop-
VIRGINIA
Fairfax adopts zoning change that will make basement units easier to rent
Another passed measure
lowers the permit cost
for home businesses
BY A NTONIO O LIVO
Fairfax County’s Board of Su-
pervisors on Tuesday made it eas-
ier for residents to rent converted
basements or “in-law” units, an
effort to create more affordable
housing that homeowners’
groups argued would ruin the
suburban character of Virginia’s
most populous jurisdiction.
In a 7-to-3 vote, the county’s
Board of Supervisors lifted re-
strictions on “accessory living
units” on properties featuring
Subscriber Exclusives
there are myriad other ways to
safely enjoy cherry blossom sea-
son.
“We understand people want
to get out and enjoy the season,
yet we also understand the need
to put safety first with the poten-
tial closure of the Tidal Basin
and other sites,” Ferguson said in
a statement. “Regardless of the
final decision, we’ll be sharing all
the information on how to enjoy
spring in the city.”
Federal and city officials have
said that, more than anything,
they want to prevent a repeat of
last year, when, as a deadly virus
was spreading worldwide, thou-
sands of maskless visitors gath-
ered around the cherry blossom
trees.
The masses prompted officials
to enlist the help of police. One
man took matters into his own
hands, driving around the Mall
with a speaker strapped to his
car to encourage social distanc-
ing.
This year, vehicles will be
diverted from streets that encir-
cle the Tidal Basin, and several
monuments will be closed.
Should the agency shut down
pedestrian access, all trails along
the basin from Ohio Drive SW to
Maine Avenue SW and along
Independence Avenue SW would
be closed off with aluminum
barricades.
The National Park Service and
Cherry Blossom Festival organiz-
ers have pointed prospective visi-
tors to a 24-hour live stream
dubbed the BloomCam. The fea-
ture was brought back after last
year’s live stream was viewed
more than 750,000 times in 160
countries.
“One of the things that we
found actually worked well last
year was the BloomCam,” Rein-
bold said. “I think it did produce
some creative ways to engage
with the cherry trees but also
with the festival.”
The BloomCam offers viewers
a “real-time look” at the Tidal
ularity has waned in recent years
because of decisions on govern-
ment spending, employee pay
and other issues, and predicted
that his campaign to restore “fi-
nancial discipline” to the county
government could gain more
traction this time.
“From a financial perspective,
we’re struggling. Our current
county executive has squandered
away millions of dollars,” Blair,
51, said in an interview Tuesday.
He referred to the county’s gener-
ous hazard pay program, which
the Office of the Inspector Gener-
al has said was misused by some
employees.
Blair said he, like Elrich, would
prioritize bridging health inequi-
ties and increasing access to af-
fordable housing. But he does not
think broad efforts to boost po-
lice accountability, which have
recently emerged as a focus for
Elrich and other elected officials,
would be high on his policy agen-
da.
“What has changed [since
2018] is the county’s recognition
that we’re desperate for new lead-
ership,” Blair said.
single-family homes that had lim-
ited the units to renters who are
either older than 55 or have a
disability.
The change, part of a series of
amendments the board adopted
Tuesday to upgrade the county’s
42-year-old zoning ordinance,
aligns Fairfax with surrounding
localities that don’t have age re-
strictions for those types of
homes.
It also streamlines the approv-
al process, lowering the cost for
would-be landlords to a few hun-
dred dollars instead of the several
thousand it took to get a special-
use permit — a process that also
involved hearings before the
county Board of Zoning Appeals.
“They are not the solution to
the severe shortage of affordable
housing in this county,” Supervi-
Tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. ET: U.S. Higher Education – Rethinking the Possibilities
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workforce. Joining Washington Post Live on March 25: André Dua, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, who works on topics related
to education, reskilling, upskilling, economic opportunity, and the distribution of opportunity among different groups within the U.S. and
Leslie Fenwick, PhD, Dean in Residence at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), who is often described as
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EZ RE
A Tidal Basin visitor enjoys a gorgeous spring day Monday as buds perk up on cherry tree branches.
Cars will be diverted from streets that encircle the area, and some monuments will close.
In a statement, Elrich said he is
“proud of the work we have been
able to do since I’ve been County
Executive.” He cited his adminis-
tration’s increased funding of
child-care programs and mental
health support services, invest-
ment in climate initiatives and
response to the pandemic.
“I was committed from the
beginning to do everything possi-
ble to minimize the impact of the
virus on the health of our resi-
dents and made decisions that
prioritized the health and safety
of residents,” he said.
With about 15 months to the
Democratic primary, several
County Council members are also
considering entering the race to
be Montgomery’s top official. In
deep-blue Montgomery, the Dem-
ocratic primary usually deter-
mines the eventual victor.
Hans Riemer (D-At Large), a
frequent Elrich critic, will not be
able to seek reelection for his
council seat because of term lim-
its. He said he is “actively explor-
ing a candidacy for the county
executive,” but is focused for now
on the county’s pandemic re-
sor Penelope A. Gross (D-Mason)
said about accessory living units
before the board voted. “But I also
don’t think that this is going to be
a massive change in some neigh-
borhoods.”
The county defines accessory
living units as rental units with
working stoves located on prop-
erties with single-family homes.
Just 222 such dwellings have been
approved for occupancy since
1983, county officials say.
Homeowners’ groups warned
that making the units more wide-
ly available would lead to prob-
lems with parking and school
crowding, despite county require-
ments that limit the units to two
unrelated tenants and require a
sufficient amount of off-street
parking to accommodate those
renters.
Tune in at washingtonpostlive.com.
With about 15
months to the
Democratic primary,
several County
Council members are
also considering
entering the race to
be Montgomery’s top
official.
Affordable housing advocates
say the change will make Fairfax
more affordable to young profes-
sionals and blue-collar workers,
many of whom may already be
living inside illegally converted
apartments that are potential
health and safety hazards.
Some supervisors sought pro-
visions that acknowledge the con-
cerns of homeowner groups.
For example, Supervisor Wal-
ter L. Alcorn (D-Hunter Mill) un-
successfully pushed for the coun-
ty to be required to alert a home-
owners’ group that someone in
their community is seeking to
rent an accessory living unit,
which would allow the groups to
check for any deed covenants that
prevent the homeowner from do-
ing so. Alcorn and supervisors
Daniel G. Storck (D-Mount Ver-
THE WASHINGTON POST
BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST
sponse and vaccine rollout.
“Exploratory is the right con-
cept for the time being. . . . I’ve
still got lots of covid stuff I’m
dealing with,” he said.
Council members Nancy Na-
varro (D-District 4) and Craig
Rice (D-District 2), who also are
term-limited, have said they are
weighing their options. Navarro
added Tuesday that she wants to
continue her work on economic
development and racial equity in
the county but has yet to decide in
what capacity.
As a political newcomer in
2018, Blair was criticized for his
lack of experience. He was able,
however, to raise his profile
against more established politi-
cians by forking out millions for
his campaign and earning key
endorsements, including from
the Apartment & Office Building
Association Maryland State PAC
and Maryland Comptroller Peter
Franchot (D), a former House
delegate from Montgomery who
is running for governor in 2022.
Following his narrow loss,
which held up after a recount,
Blair in 2019 set up the nonprofit
non) and Pat Herrity (R-Spring-
field) voted against the changes.
The Board of Supervisors also
moved to make it easier for resi-
dents to operate a business inside
their homes, a nod to the con-
straints of the coronavirus pan-
demic that has kept thousands of
people out of their offices.
That change — also opposed by
homeowners’ groups — lowers
the cost of a special permit re-
quired for home-based business-
es, such as a beauty salon or
dentist’s office, from $16,375 to
$435. It also limits customers to
two at a time, with a total of six
per day, and requires that at least
one parking space on the proper-
ty be reserved for customers.
The county’s revised zoning or-
dinance covers a host of other
land-use regulations — ranging
. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
Basin and several memorials,
including the Thomas Jefferson
Memorial, the Martin Luther
King Jr. Memorial and the
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Me-
morial, according to the Park
Service.
Diana Mayhew, president of
the National Cherry Blossom
Festival, did not respond to a
request for comment Tuesday
about the Park Service’s plans.
D.C. officials, meanwhile,
have pointed to alternative sites
to see cherry blossoms. Among
them are the National Arbo-
retum in Northeast Washing-
ton, Oxon Run Park in South-
east and around Washington
National Cathedral in North-
west.
“There are many places in D.C.
where you can still go and enjoy
the cherry blossoms, but you can
also spread out,” Deputy Mayor
John Falcicchio said. “There’s
more room for people to safely
gather and see the trees while
also exploring what the District
has to offer.”
The cherry blossom trees
reached stage three of blooming
Monday — a point at which
florets extend from buds that
have formed on the branches.
There are six phases before a
cherry blossom is considered
bloomed.
With warm weather forecast
for the rest of the week, Park
Service officials said, peak bloom
could happen earlier than ex-
pected, although as of Tuesday
morning, the agency’s projected
dates of April 2 through April 5
remained unchanged.
In the event of a total Tidal
Basin closure, federal officials
said, Park Police officers would
divert crowds and ensure that no
one hops any barricades around
the area.
Several federal and D.C. offi-
cials said they hope it doesn’t
come to that. But, they added,
that is up to the public.
marissa.lang@washpost.com
Council for Advocacy and Policy
Solutions, which he said has been
partnering with county and state
agencies on issues relating to
education and business develop-
ment. Among other goals, he said,
he wants to improve access to
health care, spur more entrepre-
neurship and bridge education
disparities in Montgomery.
He said he is not yet sure how
much of his campaign will be
self-funded.
In the wake of widespread
racial justice protests in the coun-
ty last year, Elrich recently un-
veiled an ambitious plan to re-
structure policing, including the
elimination of 25 sworn officer
positions and the removal of po-
lice from public schools.
Blair said he does not see the
need for dramatic changes to the
county’s police department.
“Are there areas for improve-
ment? Absolutely. But will it be
the main focus of my campaign?
No,” he said. “Here in Montgom-
ery County, we’ve done a great
job. . . . We’re an example for the
nation on how to police.”
rebecca.tan@washpost.com
from how high certain buildings
can be built to where smoking is
allowed and how far back from
the front property line a basket-
ball hoop should be erected.
An initially controversial
change dealt with flags flown in
residential and commercial ar-
eas.
County zoning officials had
proposed limiting the size of
those banners to 25 square feet.
But, after veterans’ groups and
some county residents protested,
the county abandoned restricting
flag sizes. The board voted to limit
the number of flags allowed to
three per lot and to restrict the
height of flagpoles in the county
to 25 feet in residential neighbor-
hoods and 60 feet in all other
areas.
antonio.olivo@washpost.com
 KLMNO

SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021 . WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

Unsung Collins finds her place with toughness
Tennessee transfer is far from a weak link after returning home to join the high-scoring Terps
BY K AREEM C OPELAND
san antonio — The hit to the
forehead that opened a gushing
wound and required eight stitch-
es wasn’t a problem for Mimi
Collins. What, she had never been
hit before? Even the polished
hardwood floor her body bounced
off wasn’t so bad.
But the blood — that was an-
other thing as it poured into her
eyes.
“I just felt my whole head, like a
headache in a sense,” Collins said.
“While the lady was doing stitch-
es, she was like, ‘Do you want to go
back into the game?’ I said, ‘Yeah!’
“It didn’t really hurt. It was just
the fact that I had blood in my
eyes and in my face — that was the
NCAA women’s second round:
Maryland vs. Alabama
Today, 1 p.m., ESPN2
Svrluga: What to expect from the
Maryland men? More than this. D4
only issue.”
The redshirt sophomore didn’t
need to return to a 32-point win
over Minnesota on Feb. 20, but
the moment was another example
of how the 6-foot-3 forward has
bullied her way into the starting
lineup in her first season playing
for the Maryland women.
Collins has turned into an un-
sung hero on a Terrapins team
that set an NCAA tournament
program record with a 53-point
first-round win over Mount
SEE TERRAPINS ON D5
More charges of inequity
prompt an NCAA review
Emmert calls for study
as additional coaches
and players join criticism
BY G LYNN A . H ILL
AND D ES B IELER
Amid mounting pressure from
players, coaches and administra-
tors over differences between the
men’s and women’s basketball
tournaments, NCAA President
Mark Emmert on Tuesday wrote
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST that he would be calling for “an
Mimi Collins averages 10.7 points and is tied for the team lead independent review” of the pro-
at 6.2 rebounds for the second-seeded Maryland women. cesses that led to the disparities.
Emmert’s letter, which was ob-
tained by The Washington Post,
arrived in the wake of sharpening
criticism that started late last
week when players took to social
media to note the differences be-
tween what men’s and women’s
participants were being provided
in terms of meals, fitness facilities
and even coronavirus testing.
NCAA officials acknowledged
those differences as an “opera-
tional miss” and sought to rem-
edy some of them, but that did
little to stem a steady tide of
outrage.
On Tuesday, Georgia Tech
women’s coach Nell Fortner
tweeted a message wryly
SEE DISPARITY ON D6

JASON THOMPSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Conrad Anker still climbs some of his favorite and familiar spots, but after decades as one of the world’s best alpinists, he now works to raise the sport’s profile by increasing its diversity.

T twilight
housands of hours strapped to the
side of miles-high mountains, freez-
ing wind assaulting exposed skin,
the sun reflecting almost blindingly
off snow — it all shows on Conrad
Anker’s face.
The lines confirm his nearly 60 years, most
of them lived as one of the world’s elite alpin-
of the
ists. It’s a profession with an infinitesimal
margin for error: how high is too high, which
slope is too steep, where to find the edge
between adventure and foolishness, adoration
alpinist
and reproach, life and death.
The long list of friends Anker has lost to
climbing grows every year, and their absence
weighs heavy on him. He is the anomaly, the
aging patriarch who again and again has con-
fronted a grim question: Why not me?
But not on this day, which he is spending in
Hyalite Canyon, barely a half-hour south of his
home, chainsawing a storm-toppled pine tree
to clear a trail. The canyon is a special place for
him. Ancient geological oddities built it, and
each winter water seeping from cliff walls
freezes and creates a vertical playground of
icefalls the color of Caribbean waters. Adven-
turers with picks, spiked boots and sufficient
bravado come from all over, and they shower
Anker with questions about avalanche condi-
tions and requests for photos.
“Mayor of the ice slag,” he calls himself, a
title Anker embraces while considering what’s
next personally and for the sport he loves. His
Conrad Anker says he is done many first-ever ascents, his discovery of British
with epic ascents after a career mountaineer George Mallory’s body during a
trek up Everest, have brought international
filled with summits and loss fame. Climbing is pitiless, though, and his
exploits have come at a cost. Boldness can be
BY N ICK E HLI viewed as arrogance in this sport, especially
IN BOZEMAN, MONT. SEE ANKER ON D7

Castro’s start fogs Kieboom’s future Wizards o≠er no resistance in blowout

BY J ESSE D OUGHERTY
jupiter, fla. — It took one
glance at Tuesday’s lineup to
raise some obvious questions:
Why, on March 23, was Starlin
Castro starting at third base
against the St. Louis Cardinals?
And what could that spell for
Carter Kieboom?
“It doesn’t mean much,” Wash-
ington Nationals Manager Dave
Martinez said before indicating
that it does, in fact, mean some-
thing. “As you know, Carter, he’s
Martinez says he wants
to ‘cover all our bases’
as Nats opener nears
going to compete. But I want to
make sure we cover all our bases,
that we get [Castro] over there
and see what that looks like.”
When Martinez put Castro at
third, the Nationals were nine
days and six exhibitions from
opening their season. If Kieboom
is the supposed starter, it would
seem prudent to give him every
opportunity to find a rhythm. But
if he’s not, now a growing possi-
bility, the Nationals have to test
their backup plans before April 1.
That’s how Castro, the expected
everyday second baseman, winds
up at third, where he has just 45
career appearances.
The 23-year-old Kieboom has
struggled all spring. Through
Tuesday, he had only six hits in
SEE NATIONALS ON D2
BY A VA W ALLACE
Bradley Beal shook his head,
arms limply at his side, while he
took his place along the lane as
New York’s Immanuel Quickley
lined up for a free throw. The
Washington Wizards trailed by
nearly 30 as the third quarter
wound down, and Beal had
fought through triple teams for
buckets, took turns guarding the
red-hot Julius Randle and plead-
ed his case with the officials on
occasion. There was nothing left
KNICKS 131,
WIZARDS 113
Wizards at Knicks
Tomorrow, 7:30 p.m., NBCSW
to be done.
The Wizards, after strong per-
formances against the league-
leading Utah Jazz on Thursday
and the Brooklyn Nets on Sun-
day, delivered a clunker against a
mid-level Eastern Conference
team Tuesday night, resulting in
a 131-113 blowout loss to the
Knicks in Madison Square Gar-
den.
“I don’t think we even arrived
at the arena tonight, honestly,”
Beal said. “We were still in the
hotel lobby.”
Some of Washington’s worst
losses of the season have come
against those teams bunched in
the lower tier of the East, from
confounding losses against Mi-
ami and Charlotte in February to
SEE WIZARDS ON D3

PRO BASKETBALL SOCCER OLYMPICS

The line that connects LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Michael D.C. United, less than a month from its opener, adds Less than a year before the Beijing Winter Games,
Jordan and Julius Erving? It begins with Elgin Baylor. D3 Dutch forward Nigel Robertha to its mix of strikers. D6 U.S. Speedskating fires coach Wilma Boomstra. D8
D6
D.C. United brings in
Dutch striker Robertha
BY S TEVEN G OFF
D.C. United acquired Dutch
striker Nigel Robertha from Bul-
garian club Levski Sofia in a
transfer deal that will further
intensify the competition for
front-line playing time as the
MLS season nears.
The move was announced by
Levski and confirmed by United
on Tuesday morning. He will join
the team upon approval of a work
visa, which could take several
weeks.
United paid “low seven fig-
ures,” a person close to the situa-
tion said, for Robertha, 23, who
has seven goals in his past five
appearances and 20 in 44 match-
es since joining Levski in July
2019.
United began pursuing him
Hokies are happy to get back to work
BY G ENE W ANG
Around this time last year,
Virginia Tech football coach Jus-
tin Fuente and his staff were
scrambling to figure out their
options when the ACC put all
spring athletic activity on hold in
the early days of the coronavirus
pandemic.
The Hokies were one of three
teams in the conference that did
not conduct a single spring prac-
tice. With a handful of coaches,
most notably defensive coordi-
nator Justin Hamilton, entering
their first season, the spring
shutdown put Virginia Tech at an
even greater disadvantage than
what most teams faced.
The program’s first losing rec-
ord (5-6) in the regular season
since 1992 followed, and what
had been the longest active bowl
streak in major college football
ended at 27 years.
This spring, Virginia Tech al-
ready has practiced four times
and is scheduled for 11 more
sessions over the next month.
For a second straight year, how-
ever, there will not be a spring
game, according to a statement
from Athletic Director Whit Bab-
cock released Tuesday that cited
health and safety concerns.
“We need these chances to
improve and coach and experi-
ment a little bit and really just
get out on the field and practice,”
Fuente said last week during a
video conference call with re-
porters. “Last year, obviously
missing spring ball and fall camp
being what it was, we didn’t have
a lot of time to bring people
along, young players or inexperi-
enced players.”
Among those most energized
for his first spring practices with
Virginia Tech is quarterback
Braxton Burmeister. The transfer
from Oregon is in line to receive
the vast majority of reps among a
Charges of gender inequity prompt an NCAA review
DISPARITY FROM D1
thanking the NCAA for exposing
the disparities.
“Thank you for using the three
biggest weeks of your organiza-
tion’s year to expose exactly how
you feel about women’s basket-
ball — an afterthought,” she
wrote. “Thank you for showing off
the disparities between the men’s
and women’s tournament that are
on full display in San Antonio,
from coronavirus testing, to lack
of weight training facilities, to
game floors that hardly tell any-
one that it’s the NCAA Tourna-
ment and many more. But these
disparities are just a snapshot of
larger, more pervasive issues
when it come to women’s sports
and the NCAA. Shipping in a few
racks of weights, after the fact, is
not an answer. It’s a band-aid and
an afterthought.”
Later in the day, in a letter
responding to demands made Fri-
day by the NCAA Committee on
Women’s Athletics, Emmert
wrote: “I will be calling for an
independent review to closely ex-
amine the circumstances sur-
rounding the events that trans-
pired in San Antonio. This review
will also include an analysis of the
allocation of financial and human
resources, facilities, and decision-
making processes and pro-
cedures to ensure that all student-
athletes are equally supported at
our NCAA championship events.”
The controversy began Thurs-
day, when former Oregon and
current New York Liberty guard
Sabrina Ionescu shared a pair of
images juxtaposing a single
dumbbell rack and stack of yoga
mats that served as training
equipment for women’s players
inside their San Antonio tourna-
last summer, then reengaged in
talks this winter. After a setback a
few weeks ago, the sides reached
an agreement in recent days.
Robertha will not receive desig-
nated player status, leaving Unit-
ed with one high-salary slot for
future use.
Robertha came through the
Feyenoord academy in Rotter-
dam and began his career in
earnest in 2017 with second-divi-
sion Cambuur. After 16 goals in
two years, he moved to Levski.
Last season, he scored 11 goals
in 19 league appearances. This
season, he posted six goals in 19
league matches and three in two
cup matches. On March 3, he
posted a hat trick in a cup game,
then scored three goals in two
league outings. On Sunday, he
scored the lone goal in a league
An inability to conduct spring practice a year ago hindered Virginia
Tech’s football program all season, Coach Justin Fuente said.
trio of players available, Fuente
said. Burmeister was part of a
quarterback rotation last season
that included Hendon Hooker,
Quincy Patterson II and Knox
Kadum. Only Burmeister and
Kadum are back; Hooker trans-
ferred to Tennessee, and Patter-
son left for North Dakota State.
The Hokies added a third
quarterback when Connor Blum-
rick transferred from Texas
A&M. Tahj Bullock, a fourth, is a
freshman set to arrive in the
summer.
“I think that’s huge for me, and
I think it’s a blessing that they’re
going to give that to me,” Bur-
meister said of taking most of the
snaps during the spring. “I’m just
going to take advantage of every
opportunity I get and really dive
into the offense and just try to be
the best me I can be.”
Burmeister tested positive for
the coronavirus during last
ment bubble to the massive
weight facility that had been as-
sembled for men’s players in Indi-
anapolis.
In addition to complaints of
subpar facilities, meals and play-
er gifts, college officials revealed
that women’s players were being
administered a different, less ac-
curate daily coronavirus test than
players in the men’s bubble.
Those discrepancies drew
widespread condemnation from
professional players, including
the Los Angeles Sparks’ Chiney
Ogwumike and Ja Morant of the
Memphis Grizzlies. On Friday,
NCAA officials acknowledged
what they called a “blemish” in
their tournament efforts. Lynn
Holzman, the NCAA’s vice presi-
dent of women’s basketball, later
described those issues as an “op-
erational miss” and partially at-
tributed them to a breakdown in
communications within the or-
ganization.
“The issue around the weight
room came about as we became
aware that there was a difference
between what was being provid-
ed to our women’s basketball
student-athletes here at our
championship versus what was
provided at the men’s champion-
ship in Indianapolis,” Holzman
told ESPN. “So once we became
aware, we immediately started
working to rectify the issue. And
as I said, we fixed it.”
Oregon forward Sedona Prince
showcased the updated weight
room via social media Saturday.
But others around the sport have
continued to voice frustration
about persisting inequities and
the decision-making that re-
quired a “fix” in the first place.
South Carolina Coach Dawn
Staley pointed to other inconsis-
EZ M2
D.C. United, which struggled offensively last year, made a transfer
deal for Nigel Robertha, a consistent scorer for his Bulgarian club.
match against rival Slavia Sofia.
On the international level,
Robertha played regularly for
Dutch youth national teams, but
through family lineage he is eligi-
ble to represent Curaçao, the Ca-
KEITH SRAKOCIC/ASSOCIATED PRESS
year’s training camp, bumping
him down the depth chart in the
competition for the starting job
that eventually went to Hooker.
Then, during a practice in Octo-
ber an offensive lineman inad-
vertently stepped on Burmeis-
ter’s foot, breaking three toes.
The injury significantly limited
Burmeister until late November,
when Patterson announced he
would enter the transfer portal.
Still, Burmeister went 3-1 as a
starter and excelled in his final
two games against Clemson and
Virginia, completing 73.5 per-
cent of his throws and averaging
nearly 10 yards per attempt
through 61/2 quarters.
He also directed Virginia Tech
to 464 yards of offense in a 33-15
win over the Cavaliers to reclaim
the Commonwealth Cup. It was
the most production from the
offense in a month and a half,
and it provided an uplifting end
tencies in a message via social
media Friday, including the
NCAA’s exclusion of the women’s
tournament in the description of
its official March Madness
Twitter account.
Days later, there were com-
plaints about the inaccessibility
of photos from the women’s tour-
nament on the NCAA’s media site.
“How do we explain that to our
players? How can an organization
that claims to care about ALL
member institutions’ student-
athlete experiences have a copy-
righted term that only ‘repre-
sents’ one gender?” Staley said
before touching on other dispari-
ties spotlighted on social media.
“There is no answer that the
NCAA executive leadership led by
Mark Emmert can give to explain
the disparities. Mark Emmert
and his team point blank chose to
create them!”
Emmert was also called upon
Tuesday by three men’s players to
respond more quickly to concerns
expressed by them and others
about several issues relating to
what they described as the
NCAA’s inequitable approach to
its athletes.
Geo Baker of Rutgers, Jordan
Bohannon of Iowa and Michi-
gan’s Isaiah Livers have been
leading voices among players
who want to be compensated for
the use of their names, images
and likenesses. They helped
spread a hashtag,
#NotNCAAProperty, last week
and requested meetings with Em-
mert and with members of Presi-
dent Biden’s administration.
In the letter, the players ex-
pressed disappointment over
what they described as Emmert’s
decision to delay a meeting with
them “for at least two weeks.”
ULRIK PEDERSEN/NURPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK
ribbean island nation that com-
petes in Concacaf with, among
others, the United States and
Mexico. He reported to Curaçao’s
squad for two Nations League
matches in 2019 but did not play.
to a chaotic season that left
players physically and mentally
taxed from following virus proto-
cols while uncertain they would
even get to play on a week-to-
week basis.
“I think most of it was comfort
level,” Burmeister said. “Last
year with covid we didn’t really
have spring ball, so I didn’t get
reps then. Then fall camp was
kind of cut short. I really only
had two real weeks of practice in
a full year. Going into that Clem-
son and U-Va. game, I really felt
comfortable, so I think it
showed.”
With Burmeister holding
down the No. 1 job, Virginia
Tech’s offensive concerns shift to
running back and offensive line,
where several spots are available
— including at left tackle with
Christian Darrisaw, a junior, de-
claring for the NFL draft.
Virginia Tech has eight schol-
arship running backs competing
for touches following the depar-
ture of Khalil Herbert, a transfer
from Kansas who rushed for
1,182 yards and eight touch-
downs and averaged 26.9 yards
on kickoff returns.
Then there is the search for a
replacement for safety Divine
Deablo, who is set to participate
in Virginia Tech’s pro day work-
outs Friday. Also auditioning for
NFL scouts will be Herbert and
Darrisaw, but cornerback Caleb
Farley, a projected top-10 pick,
won’t be available after a back
procedure.
“We were just hanging on,”
Fuente said of last season’s prac-
tice woes. “It was kind of sad. We
got no spring ball last year. We
haven’t done it in some time. I’m
not saying it’s anybody’s fault,
but we have to recalibrate for
what’s an acceptable practice.
Hopefully things are more nor-
mal.”
gene.wang@washpost.com
They asked that he meet not only
with them but also with women’s
players and with an official from
the National College Players As-
sociation, an advocacy group.
“From our perspective,” the
players wrote to Emmert, “it’s
difficult to imagine any higher
priority you may have at this time
than addressing concerns that
are at the core of state and federal
college athletes’ rights legisla-
tion, an upcoming US Supreme
Court ruling on college athletes’
economic freedoms, and the
NCAA’s ongoing discriminatory
treatment of female basketball
players in its tournament.”
Former Notre Dame coach
Muffet McGraw, who won two
national championships in 33
seasons with the Fighting Irish,
said Saturday that the current
sources of player anger are reflec-
tive of the NCAA’s treatment of
women’s sports in the past.
“Tired of having to preface
everything we do with the word
‘Womens’ which would be fine if
the men had to do the same, but
they don’t, and when they don’t it
makes us look like the JV tourna-
ment to their event,” she said via
Twitter. “The fact that there are
inequities in facilities, food, fan
attendance, and swag bags is not
what bothers me. What bothers
me is that no one on the NCAA’s
leadership team even noticed.”
Added Stanford Coach Tara
VanDerveer later that evening: “A
lot of what we’ve seen this week is
evidence of blatant sexism. This is
purposeful and hurtful. I feel
betrayed by the NCAA.”
glynn.hill@washpost.com
desmond.bieler@washpost.com
Molly Hensley-Clancy contributed to
this report.
THE WASHINGTON POST . WEDNESDAY,
In Washington, Robertha will
compete for a starting job under
new coach Hernán Losada, who
will play with one or two for-
wards. The incumbents are Ola
Kamara, 31, who has seven goals
in 27 matches since arriving in
August 2019, and Yordy Reyna, a
27-year-old who arrived late last
season.
This preseason, United also
acquired forward Jovanny Bolí-
var, 19, on loan from Venezuelan
champion La Guaira. Erik Sorga,
a 21-year-old Estonian forward,
returns for his second season.
Last year, United was among
the league’s lowest-scoring teams
with 25 goals in 23 matches. The
regular season will begin April 17
at Audi Field against New York
City FC.
While United was able to final-
ize the Robertha deal, the club’s
chances of reacquiring midfield-
er Lucas Rodríguez from Argen-
tine club Estudiantes are fading,
two people familiar with the ne-
gotiations said.
Rodríguez, 23, starred with
Researchers: Saliva test
can detect concussions
BY A DAM K ILGORE
Researchers say they can diag-
nose concussions accurately us-
ing a biomarker in saliva, a
groundbreaking finding that
raises the possibility that doctors
and athletic trainers could rapid-
ly determine whether someone
suffered a concussion using an
objective test, according to a
peer-reviewed article published
Tuesday in the British Journal of
Sports Medicine.
The implications reach beyond
the playing field but are signifi-
cant for sports — especially foot-
ball, which for years has grappled
with how to diagnose concus-
sions and when to allow players
to return to play after potentially
suffering a brain injury. An objec-
tive test would not replace the
standard clinical assessment
based on symptoms, but it could
provide a crucial supplement for
confirming concussions or even
finding ones that went unreport-
ed.
A team of scientists and doc-
tors studied more than 150 rugby
players at England’s highest level
between 2017 and 2019, compar-
ing saliva samples collected be-
fore the season with samples
collected as players were as-
sessed for concussions or an inju-
ry to another part of their body.
The researchers found the genet-
ic markers in saliva determined
with 94 percent accuracy which
players had been diagnosed with
concussions and which had not,
co-author and University of Bir-
mingham professor Antonio Belli
said.
At present, a diagnostic test for
concussions does not exist. Doc-
tors diagnose them by interpret-
ing behavior, symptoms and, in a
hospital setting, imaging tests.
The new findings could change
how concussions are diagnosed
in sports and beyond, helping
patients that range from football
players to victims of traffic acci-
dents to soldiers on a battlefield.
“It is now possible to accurate-
ly identify concussions simply by
analyzing players’ saliva, extend-
ing the ability to safeguard the
brains of injured players outside
professional ranks,” co-author
Valentina Di Pietro said in an
email.
The University of Birmingham
team, with assistance from Rug-
by Football Union and Marker
Diagnostics, relied on recent
technological advances in gene
sequencing. They used a statisti-
cal composite of 14 small non-
coding RNAs (sncRNAs), which
provide the cellular blueprint for
certain proteins, to determine
whether a player had suffered a
concussion.
“What’s exciting about this is
we not only found a very accurate
way of identifying brain trauma,
but also we found it in saliva,
which is not invasive,” Belli said.
“Everybody, including myself,
has been looking at blood for
many years. We’ve never really
seen anything so exciting for mild
traumatic brain injury.”
Two outside experts — Concus-
sion Legacy Foundation co-
founder Chris Nowinski and New
York University director of neu-
ropsychology William Barr — re-
viewed the study at The Post’s
request before publication. Both
said it relied on sound, strong
science and represented exciting
progress.
“Everybody is looking for a
concussion test,” Barr said. “The
diagnosis of concussions is really
based on clinical findings. A lot of
that is based on what a person
reports. What we’ve always been
looking for is: Is there something
objective? Because, in a lot of
cases, they’ll deny [feeling symp-
toms]. That’s what this really
adds.”
For sports, the endpoint of the
MARCH 24 , 2021
United while on loan in 2019, but
the sides weren’t able to reach an
agreement on a permanent trans-
fer or additional loan in 2020. His
contract with Estudiantes expires
this summer, allowing him to
explore options. United, one per-
son said, has not given up hope of
signing him this summer or next
winter.
In other moves, Rodney Wal-
lace’s bid for a contract ended this
week without an offer. Wallace, a
Bullis School graduate and for-
mer University of Maryland
standout who began his pro ca-
reer with United in 2009, was
seeking to bounce back from inju-
ries that had sidelined him since
the spring of 2019.
Defender-midfielder Andy
Najar, another former D.C. player
who has battled injuries for years,
remains under consideration.
On Sunday, United returned
from a week of workouts in Cary,
N.C.; it will play its second-divi-
sion squad, Loudoun United, on
Friday at Audi Field.
steven.goff@washpost.com
study would be an instant test
that could be taken on the side-
line to validate a trainer’s concus-
sion diagnosis.
Barr outlined how it could help
in a familiar scenario: If a player
resisted a physician’s concussion
diagnosis, the physician could
use a saliva test as validation.
“Is there something you can
measure in a [sideline] time
frame?” Marker Diagnostics re-
search scientist Patrick O’Hal-
loran, one of the researchers for
the study, said during a virtual
news conference. “This research
demonstrates that, yes, you can
measure it. There is a signal you
can measure. The second compo-
nent, then, is: Do you have the
technology to actually measure it
outside of a laboratory setting?”
Right now, there is not. It takes
a working day to get test results.
But researchers could find the
technology in a handful of years
or less — benefited indirectly by
the coronavirus pandemic.
O’Halloran said Marker scien-
tists are discussing ways to make
the instant test, an effort that
may be expedited by advance-
ments created in the past year as
scientists sought more efficient
and more accurate coronavirus
tests.
Even without a sideline test,
experts could see the testing
making a major impact on the
NFL. Nowinski envisioned test-
ing every player after every game
to identify players who suffered
concussions but either did not
know or were hiding symptoms.
“We know a significant share
of concussions are not diagnosed
during the game, and players
may or may not report them after
the game,” Nowinski said. “We
could finally get to the bottom of
how many concussions are being
missed.”
A diagnostic concussion test
also could improve how NFL
teams handle players after they
suffer a potential concussion.
Nowinski pointed to the high-
profile example of Kansas City
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Ma-
homes in last season’s playoffs.
Mahomes wobbled with glassy
eyes after taking a hit around the
neck and left the game. While he
was placed in the concussion
protocol, reports indicated the
Chiefs never fully determined
whether Mahomes had suffered a
concussion. A test could have
provided a more scientific deter-
mination, clarifying Mahomes’s
recovery process.
One crucial aspect of the study
is that only male rugby players
were tested, which means more
study is required before a test
would be applicable for women,
including female athletes. Re-
search suggests women respond
to and experience concussions
differently than men, O’Halloran
said, citing the specific example
of differing inflammatory mark-
ers. Female and male athletes, he
said, may have different sncRNA
markers.
“The research we’re currently
doing in female athletes may
show us there’s some overlap, but
it’s possible we’d just need a
different modeling to diagnose
female athletes compared to
males,” O’Halloran said. “We
don’t think it would be effective
to try and transpose the markers
found in male athletes based on
what we’ve seen so far. We think
of ourselves as being a step be-
hind where we are with men’s
athletes at the moment for
female athletes.”
The Food and Drug Adminis-
tration would need to approve
any tests before they are used in
the United States. The British
researchers said they hope to
submit a test for use in hospital
settings for FDA approval in the
near future.
adam.kilgore@washpost.com
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
ANKER FROM D1
when things go wrong.
“We are born, and we struggle,
and, in the end, gravity wins,” he
says. “What we do in climbing is a
way of respecting it.”
Nearly a decade ago in the
Himalayas, Anker summited
Everest without the aid of supple-
mental oxygen and then, with
partners Jimmy Chin and Renan
Ozturk, became the first to go up
Meru via its “shark fin,” a spiteful
slab seen as unclimbable.
“Part of all that is having a high
pain threshold and knowing what
your limits are and not going over
that edge,” Anker explains. “It’s
like licking honey off a razor. If you
turn the axis the wrong way, you’re
screwed.”
Anker, 58, calls Meru the culmi-
nation of all he had accomplished
as an alpinist — a feat highlighted
by a movie bearing the mountain’s
name — and he realizes now that it
should have been enough. “In-
stead,” he says, “I went out after
more.”
That more was Lunag Ri,
among the tallest unclimbed
peaks in Nepal. On his second
attempt in 2016 with Austrian Da-
vid Lama, his heart seized at
20,000 feet as he clung to the side
of an ice-covered granite blade.
How ironic, he thought. “Cel-
ebrated mountaineer felled by
heart attack” was not the head-
line he envisioned at the end of
his life. Yet there he was.
Anker credits Lama for saving
him, for helping him rappel down
Lunag Ri and coaxing him across
a perilous ice field. The journey to
emergency surgery took nine
hours, and nine hours is a long
time to reflect on mistakes and
regret, even for an atheist like
Anker. Mostly, he thought about
his wife.
“I can’t believe I did this to
Jenni,” he remembers thinking. “I
can’t believe I made her a widow
again.”
Jenni is Jennifer Lowe-Anker,
and the “again” part can’t be ig-
nored in any account about Ank-
er. In 1999, he was with her hus-
band, Alex Lowe, and another
climber, David Bridges, when an
avalanche swept Tibet’s Mount
Shishapangma and killed both of
those men. “I ran a different di-
rection and walked away,” he says.
Anker returned to Bozeman,
where he and Jenni bonded over
their grief. Two years later, they
married. A headline in Outside
magazine summed up the situa-
tion around that time: “His friends
are gone. His life is a soap opera.
His career is in overdrive.”
Anker is still riled by the un-
signed hate mail, accusing the cou-
ple of selfishness and irresponsi-
bility, that regularly arrived dur-
ing their early years. He helped
raise the three boys of the man he
. THE WASHINGTON POST
After reaching unfathomable heights,
Anker enters the twilight of his career
calls “my brother from another
mother,” and today those boys are
men and call him Dad. He and
Jenni will celebrate their 20th an-
niversary next month.
Better than most, his wife un-
derstands all that comes with be-
ing married to a climber, both the
glorious and dark sides to their
risk-reward equations.
“We are all here for a moment in
time,” she notes. “We are a blink.
Well, what are you going to do with
your blink? Is it going to be mean-
ingful to you? What is your respon-
sibility to the Earth, to humanity,
to the people in your life you love?
We all get to make those choices.”
The spring before Anker’s heart
attack, ice melted on Shishapang-
ma, and the mountain finally gave
up Lowe and Bridges. They were
cremated there, their families pre-
sent. Gravity eventually caught up
with Lama, too. Three years after
he saved Anker — and after going
back and conquering Lunag Ri
solo — an avalanche killed him
and two other climbers in the Ca-
nadian Rockies. He was 28.
The high-altitude ascents that
landed Anker on magazine covers
are no longer an option — a post-
EZ SU
PHOTOS BY JASON THOMPSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
That’s his brain; that’s the way it
works.”
His wife still sees his excitement
each time Anker heads out, even if
it’s just up to Hyalite to navigate a
new climbing route. “Be safe,” she
tells him. “Call me from the top.”
Anker has long sought to share
his passion. He led groups of veter-
ans ice climbing in Hyalite for
several years and often instructs
local high school students there.
He freely loans equipment from
his “gear room” adorned with me-
mentos from expeditions around
the world. Stop by, and he’ll sharp-
en your ice picks in the garage.
Of late, he has been thinking
Conrad Anker gets out to “feed the rat,” meaning he has about how to make his sport more
gotten his climbing pitches in and been re-energized by the inclusive. A spark was a “climb
thrill the sport gives him. But after suffering a heart attack free” day at a nonprofit gym in
while clinging to an ice-covered slab of granite at 20,000 south Memphis, part of a national
feet in 2016, he promised his wife that he would slow down. event that outdoors outfitter
North Face holds annually. Anker
was there as a representative of
heart-attack concession to his wife Chin, his longtime climbing the company’s climbing team, and
and doctors. But he has twice been partner and close friend, says Ank- he was struck by the turnout at
on expeditions to Antarctica, er’s judgment is what still sets him Memphis Rox. Black and White
twice scaled El Capitan in Yosem- apart: “There is a reason why Con- students were side by side, tack-
ite National Park and regularly rad is still here with us. There is ling the walls and ropes. How else,
assaults Hyalite’s experts-only climbing skill, sure, but it’s the Anker wondered, might climbing
pitches with a fleet of 20-some- capacity to assess and manage risk shake its “White sport” status and
things out to test themselves. that makes him a great climber. maybe make a difference?
D7
“It comes down to the funda-
mental understanding that, when
you go climbing, you trust some-
one with your life,” he says. “You
are not going to get that connec-
tion on a golf course.”
The logical next step for Anker
was to bring some of the Tennesse-
ans to Hyalite Canyon; with fund-
ing from North Face, he did just
that. A documentary, “Black Ice,”
was made about their trip, and
now some of those climbers hope
to be part of the first all-Black
expedition to Everest. Anker, “the
sage on the side,” is only advising.
Malik Martin, 32, is one of those
climbers. He was working the
front desk at Memphis Rox that
day in 2018 when Anker walked in.
Last summer he summited with
him — “My mountain Dad,” Mar-
tin says — on Grand Teton in
Wyoming and Granite Peak, Mon-
tana’s highest point.
Anker knows that many people
question why he does what he
does. Why keep risking your life?
Why encourage others, given the
inherent danger? Get off the
mountain, old man. He struggles,
too, with how to explain his moti-
vation to those who don’t climb,
who haven’t seen the vistas he has
seen, who don’t know what it’s like
to survive what shouldn’t be sur-
vivable.
“If you are already into it, I’m
going to guide that and share what
is meaningful to me,” he says. “And
at the same time, understand . . .
you don’t get a mulligan if you
don’t tie your knot correctly.”
His adopted son Max was 11
when Alex Lowe died. As a boy, he
agonized every time Anker left on
another trip, all too aware that it
could be a destination from which
he might not return.
Now a professional filmmaker
and photographer with his own
far-off assignments, Max Lowe
says it has become easier to under-
stand Anker.
“Climbing is the thing that
brings him to life in a way that
nothing else does,” he says.
Anker cried on the peak of
Meru, but his outlook has shifted
appreciably. He doesn’t measure
success by new ascents but rather
in coming home and walking
through the door to Jenni.
By his desk in his basement
office, he keeps a 1969 copy of Life
magazine, its cover a photo of Neil
Armstrong on the moon. It re-
minds him that all things are pos-
sible, even though Anker realizes
some of them no longer are possi-
ble for him. He has no regrets, he
says, about the climbs he won’t
make.
“Eventually,” he allows, “the
bell curve of what I do will get to
the point where walking down a
path will be my personal Everest.
And I’m fine with that.”
sports@washpost.com

How do we
dine in age
of uneven
vaccination?
Restrictions are lifting.
People are getting shots.
If only it was that easy.
BY E MILY H EIL
AND T IM C ARMAN
Not for the first time in this
pandemic, the ground is shifting.
This time, the news is good: After
a slow start, more and more peo-
ple are getting vaccinated against
the coronavirus. And many res-
taurants around the country are
reopening dining rooms, bring-
ing back business to a hard-hit
industry.
That might be worth a toast at
your favorite neighborhood hang-
out — but these glad tidings also
come with a heaping side of uncer-
tainty.
Vaccine rollouts are happening
at varying paces, meaning fami-
lies and friend groups won’t all
have their shots at the same time.
Restaurant regulations still vary
widely by jurisdiction, and a few
places have pretty much lifted re-
strictions, which some have inter-
preted as permission to party like
it’s 2019.
Who can dine together? Can I
eat indoors again? Should I? Those
are just some of the questions din-
ers are considering as they think
about booking a table during this
in-between time, when millions of
Americans are getting vaccinated
daily but before we’ve reached
herd immunity.
The answers aren’t always
clear-cut.
“There’s no such thing as zero
risk, and nothing is 100 percent
risky,” says Leana Wen, a visiting
professor of health policy and
management at the George Wash-
ington University Milken Insti-
tute School of Public Health and
contributing columnist at The
Washington Post. “It’s a spec-
trum.” She has long urged people
to think about their risks as
expenditures from a “coronavirus
budget,” and says the budgets of
SEE DINING ON E6
KLMNO
Food WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 . SECTION E EZ EE
SCOTT SUCHMAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST; FOOD STYLING BY LISA CHERKASKY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Haroset has history, Uncovering
a tradition
but you can make it of potato
kugel
taste like today BY O LGA M ASSOV
You could say that potato kugel
The sweet condiment exists to be a fruity foil on the Passover table. is part of my family heritage,
There’s a lot of symbolism involved, and room for creativity. except I didn’t taste it until I was
about 12.
My family had recently arrived
H
BY B ECKY K RYSTAL in the United States from the
former Soviet Union, and my
aroset, by far, was always my favorite part of the Passover table. For a mom’s distant cousins, Lubavitch
Hasidim who lived in Crown
kid, anyway, there was no contest when stacked up against the other Heights in Brooklyn, invited us to
parts of the symbolic Seder plate: the egg (usually hard-boiled), greens stay with them for the week of
Passover.
(typically parsley), bitter herbs (horseradish), another bitter herb Their story of emigration from
(often lettuce) and shank bone (purely decorative). Russia, sometime in the mid-
20th century, is woven with equal
Haroset, which according to legend if not historical fact, represents the mortar parts pathos and tales of divine
used by enslaved Israelites in building the pharaoh’s pyramids. It was sweet, intervention. There was one
anecdote of a 90-year-old great-
familiar (made with apples and walnuts) and, again from the point of view of a kid, grandmother, wrapped in a blan-
slightly transgressive (parent-sanctioned wine consumption, albeit minuscule). ket or rug to be smuggled out of
the country. The customs guard
As I got older, I began to appreciate the symbolic and culinary value of haroset. thought the rolled up fabric
It represents hope even amid struggle, and surely, we can appreciate that during looked suspicious, and pierced it
a few times with his saber while
this pandemic. In terms of flavor, the contrast between the sharp horseradish and the family stood in mute horror
sweet haroset is a beautiful dance. Each enhances and tempers the other. convinced that blood would start
seeping through at any minute.
“The purpose of haroset is to eat with the maror,” says food writer Jake Cohen, By some strange miracle, the
referring to the Hebrew name for the bitter herbs. But there is no definitive recipe saber had just missed the woman
and she lived to tell the tale in her
for haroset, no sacred text. While many of us who grew up in the Ashkenazi new Brooklyn home.
tradition in North America have come to expect the apple, walnut, cinnamon and Whereas my mom’s family be-
came largely secular, my mother’s
Manischewitz wine combination, there’s literally a whole world of possibilities. cousins, devout followers of Men-
In “Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook,” the prolific author and Jewish food achem Mendel Schneerson, a
Ukraine-born rabbi who became
authority notes that global versions of haroset include pine nuts, peanuts, chestnuts, leader of one of modern Juda-
apricots, coconut, figs and even bananas. Nathan’s collection of recipes in the book ism’s most vibrant strains, the
movement known as Chabad-
covers such locales as Egypt, Suriname, Venice and Yemen, plus San Francisco. Lubavitch, stuck to their faith
SEE HAROSET ON E8 and followed him to America.
Along with their religious adher-
Top: You can personalize your Passover haroset by choosing from a wide variety of fruit ence, they held onto and pre-
(fresh or dried), nuts, spices and sweeteners. served recipes and rituals of prior
generations, which is how potato
kugel came into my life.
RECIPES ON E8
It was in their home that I
Dried Fruit Haroset With Cardamom and Lemon tasted my first potato kugel. It
Apple, Walnut and Fig Haroset With Mulled Wine Syrup was at once familiar and novel,
comforting and exotic. My mom,
upon receiving her piece,
exclaimed, “Oh, how long it’s
EAT VORACIOUSLY DINNER IN MINUTES MORE PASSOVER
been since I had this,” as I stared
White bean soup is Wrap your fish A simple matzoh SEE KUGEL ON E4
great, and a drizzle in a paper packet brei is nice.
of chile oil takes it and see what Mushrooms make RECIPE ON E4
someplace new. E2 steam can do. E3 it interesting. E8 Potato Kugel
E2
Fry tortillas for a crunchy, fun meal
Something
special happens
when you fry
tortillas, one at a
time, in a pot
filled with oil. As
Joe Yonan Gabrielle
WEEKNIGHT Hamilton wrote
VEGETARIAN in one of the most
memorable
similes of her 2011 memoir,
“Blood, Bones & Butter,” the
tortilla will “float and sizzle on
the surface for a moment like a
lily pad on a pond.” When
Hamilton was forming them into
edible salad bowls as a teenager
at a Pennsylvania restaurant, she
writes, the flour tortilla “came
up around the bowl like the long
dress and underskirts of a
Victorian woman who had
fallen, fully clothed, into a lake,
her skirts billowing up around
her heavy sinking body.”
I rarely fry flour tortillas, but I
think of Hamilton’s description
every time I drop a corn tortilla
into oil, which is something I do
at least once a week. I adore
tacos in soft corn tortillas, too,
but when you turn them deep
golden brown and crispy in the
frying, they become even more
compelling to eat. You can pile
them high with your favorite
toppings and pick them up for
eating — sometimes causing
some spillage, but what’s more
fun than something a little
messy?
Those toppings can be just
about anything you like: I
usually go for some combination
of beans, avocado, cilantro and
salsa on mine (and sometimes
chicken or shrimp for my
husband’s), adding leftover
roasted vegetables or greens as I
Chorizo-Spiced Squash Tostadas
4 servings
With proper frying temperature, all eight tortillas absorb barely 1
tablespoon of sunflower oil total; to save time, you can use store-bought
tostada shells.
Total time: 35 mins
The spice-coated roasted squash can be refrigerated for up to 1 week
or frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost, if needed, and rewarm in the
microwave or in a 300-degree oven. The fried tortillas can be cooled and
stored at room temperature in a zip-top bag for up to 3 days.
Based on a recipe in “Chicano Eats” by Esteban Castillo (Harper
Design, 2020).
Ingredients
l 11/2 pounds acorn squash
l 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive
oil, divided
l 2 cups sunflower oil
l 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
l 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
l 11/2 teaspoons ground ancho
chiles (may substitute chili
powder)
l 1 teaspoon garlic powder
l 1 teaspoon onion powder
l 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
l 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
l 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
l 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
l 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
l 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
l 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added
refried beans, warmed
l Flesh of 2 avocados, sliced
l 1/2 cup homemade or store-
bought salsa of your choice
(such as Frontera brand)
Matzoh-crusted cod
made in a sheet pan gets
its kick from horseradish
Playing that quick-
response word
game, if I said
“foods that go
together,” your
answer would
Ellie probably be
Krieger peanut butter and
NOURISH jelly or milk and
cookies, not
horseradish and
seafood.
But the nose-tingling
condiment and seafood make a
magical duo, and more
ubiquitous than you might
realize. Horseradish-spiked
cocktail sauce is classic with
boiled shrimp for a reason, as is
the custom of serving sushi with
wasabi (a close cousin of
horseradish).
And Passover would not be the
same without a tear-inducing
heap of horseradish on your
gefilte fish. The half jar of the
condiment I’m inevitably left
with after the holiday dinner
inspired this sheet pan meal. In it,
prepared horseradish is tossed
with breadcrumbs (or matzoh
meal) and a little olive oil, then
packed onto fish fillets and
roasted to create a crispy-golden
topping, heady and sharp-tasting,
. l Cut the carrots and parsnips
RECIPE FINDER SEARCH MORE THAN 9,300 POST-TESTED
RECIPES AT WASHINGTONPOST.COM/RECIPES
QUESTIONS? EMAIL FOOD@WASHPOST.COM
LAURA CHASE DE FORMIGNY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
FOOD STYLING BY LISA CHERKASKY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
see fit. A recent cookbook,
Esteban Castillo’s “Chicano Eats”
(Harper Design, 2020), gave me
another inspiration: Castillo
tosses roasted squash with a
combination of the spices that
typically flavor Mexican chorizo.
As someone who has explored
multiple vegan twists on chorizo,
I was hooked immediately.
Castillo suggests sandwiching
the squash in buns for tortas or
folding it into tacos. But even
l Cilantro leaves or sprigs, for
garnish (optional)
Steps
l Position a rack in the middle of
the oven and preheat to
400 degrees.
l Line a plate with a clean dish
towel.
l Halve the squash lengthwise,
scoop out and discard the seeds
(or save for another use), and cut
the unpeeled squash into 1/2-inch
half-rings.
l In a large bowl, toss the squash
with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Arrange on a large, rimmed bak-
ing sheet in a single layer, and
roast for 10 minutes. Flip the
pieces and continue roasting for
about 5 minutes, or until the
squash is cooked through and
golden brown. Let the squash
cool in the pan.
like an exclamation point on the
flaky, mild fish.
For an extra layer of flavor,
before piling the horseradish
topping on the fish, mix together
some mustard, finely chopped
shallots and dill, and spread half
onto the fillets. The other half of
that mixture is whisked with olive
oil and vinegar to make a
sumptuous drizzle for the carrot
and parsnip batons which are
roasted on the sheet pan
alongside the fish.
The result is a nourishing,
flavorful meal that’s an excellent
way to use up any leftover
horseradish and soup vegetables
you might have from Passover.
But the topping is so good, and
can be used on just about any type
of fish and roasted alongside just
about any vegetable, it’s worth
picking up a jar of the condiment
to keep the horseradish-fish
combo in regular rotation, and at
top of mind.
food@washpost.com
Krieger is a registered dietitian,
nutritionist and cookbook author who
hosts public television’s “Ellie’s Real
Good Food.” Learn more at
elliekrieger.com.
. RECIPE
EZ EE
before I tasted the tangy, spicy
squash, I knew I’d be frying up
some tortillas for this and that
I’d first smear on some refried
beans (either out of a can or
mashed from leftovers). To me,
they’re a must for the bottom
layer, not just for their flavor and
protein but for their stickiness,
which will help hold the tostadas
and their other toppings in place
as you take bite after bite.
joe.yonan@washpost.com
l Meanwhile, in a 4-quart sauce-
pan over medium-high heat,
heat the sunflower oil until it
reaches 375 degrees on an
instant-read thermometer. Fry
the corn tortillas, one at a time,
until deep golden brown and
crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Use tongs to
keep each tortilla submerged as
it fries, and flip it as needed.
When the tortilla is ready, lift it
out of the oil and gently shake to
let as much excess oil drip off as
possible. Drain on the towel-
lined plate, and repeat with the
remaining tortillas.
l In the same bowl you used for
the squash, whisk together the
remaining olive oil, lime juice,
ground ancho, garlic powder,
onion powder, salt, smoked pa-
prika, cumin, allspice, cinna-
mon and cloves. Return the
squash to the bowl and gently
toss to coat the squash in the
spice mixture.
l Smear 3 tablespoons of refried
beans on each tostada. Divide
the squash pieces among the
tostadas and top with avocado
slices, salsa and cilantro. Serve
warm.
Nutrition | Per serving (based on 4): 514
calories, 12 g protein, 67 g carbohydrates, 25
g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 655
mg sodium, 15 g dietary fiber, 4 g sugar
Recipe tested by Joe Yonan; email questions
to food@washpost.com
LAURA CHASE DE FORMIGNY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST;
FOOD STYLING BY LISA CHERKASKY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Calabrian chile oil brings fruity fire
One of my friends,
a voracious eater,
reader and writer
(see what I did
there?), talks
often about three
G. Daniela things: Movies —
Galarza especially those
EAT starring Keanu
VORACIOUSLY Reeves and
George Clooney —
cycling and Calabrian chiles.
Before I met him, I invariably
kept a jar of Calabrian chiles in
oil in my fridge, for spiking pasta
sauce, but I hadn’t really tasted
their warm, fruity flavor until I
watched him spoon the
condiment on top of … pretty
much any takeout he ordered or
dish he cooked: chicken wings;
bacon, egg and cheese
sandwiches; scallops; fish; pasta;
the list goes on.
Like all chiles, Southern Italy’s
most common chile, generically
referred to as pepperoncini —
not to be confused with pickled
pepperoncini — originated
across the Atlantic, probably in
Mexico or Brazil. The peppers
now cultivated in Calabria are
thought to be somewhat
different from similar peppers
grown elsewhere, in part because
of variations in climate and soil.
I’ve never seen them sold fresh in
the United States — only dried,
pickled or in oil — but maybe
that’s because I haven’t looked in
the right places. All I know is
that there’s something to that
taste.
It’s why I keep buying them.
The flavor of the roasted and
crushed chiles soaked in oil
reminds me a little of a Fresno
chile, but can pack a bit more
heat, though it’s not as hot as a
very spicy jalapeño. The smell of
it tickles my nose, but it’s not a
flavor that lingers on the tongue.
Like a hummingbird suckling a
blossom, it thrums in place for a
few moments, but then you blink
and it has flitted away in a blur. I
didn’t grow up with much Italian
food, so it tastes both familiar
White Bean Soup With Calabrian Chile Oil
4 servings
Active time: 10 mins; Total time: 35 mins
The leftover soup can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up
to 1 month.
Find Calabrian chiles in oil in the condiments section of well-stocked
supermarkets, Italian specialty stores and online.
From staff writer G. Daniela Galarza.
Ingredients
l 1 tablespoon olive oil
l 2 shallots, peeled and halved
l 3 cloves garlic, peeled and
smashed
l 2 to 4 cups vegetable or chicken
stock (see headnote)
l 1 to 3 (2- to 4-inch) Parmesan
rinds (optional, see NOTE)
l 3 (15-ounce) cans cannellini
beans, drained
l 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to
taste
l 1/8 teaspoon finely ground black
pepper, or to taste
l 1 to 2 tablespoons Calabrian
chile oil, or another chile oil
l Crusty bread, for serving
(optional)
THE WASHINGTON POST
REY LOPEZ FOR THE WASHINGTON POST; FOOD STYLING BY LISA CHERKASKY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
and novel to me.
The versatility of Calabrian
chiles is what make it an
essential condiment in my
pantry.
If you have it, drizzle some on
this super easy recipe for white
bean soup. But if you don’t, you
can swap in for your favorite
chile oil — chile crisp or a
straightforward Sichuan might
be nice, or salsa macha, if you’ve
got that. You can make a quick
chile oil by heating up a small
amount of neutral oil, turning
the heat off, adding ground or
crushed dried chiles and letting
it steep while you make the soup.
Or, if you don’t like heat, you can
skip it, and top the soup instead
with a drizzle of nice olive oil and
shaved Parmesan or pecorino.
The base of this soup starts
with Parmesan rinds, plus
browned shallots and garlic,
which boost the flavor of store-
bought broth; if you don’t have
l 3 ounces Parmesan cheese,
broken up into bite-size pieces
(optional)
Steps
l In a large, heavy-bottomed pot
over high heat, heat the olive oil
until it shimmers. Lay the shal-
lot halves in the oil, cut sides
down, and cook until lightly
browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the
garlic and cook just until start-
ing to brown, about 1 minute.
Add the stock — start with
2 cups, and add more to thin out
the soup, if desired — and Par-
mesan rind(s), if using. Bring to
a boil and cover; boil for 10 min-
utes. (You can simmer the stock
Horseradish-Crusted
Cod With Carrots,
Parsnips and Mustard-
Dill Drizzle
4 servings (each serving is 1 piece of
fish, about 3/4 cup of vegetables and
2 teaspoons of sauce)
Active time: 35 mins; Total
time: 40 mins
Prepared horseradish can be
found in the refrigerated section
of well-stocked supermarkets, or
Eastern European or kosher gro-
cery stores.
From cookbook author and
registered nutritionist Ellie
Krieger.
Ingredients
l 1 pound medium carrots,
peeled
l 8 ounces medium parsnips,
peeled
l 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
l 1/ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
2 side. Return the pan to the top
l 1/ teaspoon freshly ground
2 rack of the oven and cook 10 to
black pepper
l 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
l 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
l 1 tablespoon minced shallot
l 1/ cup panko or 1/ cup matzoh
2 3
meal
l 11/2 tablespoons drained
prepared horseradish
l 4 cod fillets (about 6 ounces
each)
l 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
l Water, as needed
Steps
l Position a rack in the middle of
the oven and preheat to
425 degrees.
into roughly 3-inch long,
1/ -inch thick batons. Place them
2
onto a sheet pan, drizzle with
1 tablespoon of olive oil, sprin-
. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 , 2021
aged cheese rinds on hand, omit
them. (But the next time you
finish a wedge of Parmesan, save
the rind in your freezer for
adding to stocks, soups and
stews!) Sauteed sausage might be
nice here, if you’re in the mood
for something meaty; sometimes
I use chopped onions and carrots
instead of shallots and garlic for
a slightly sweeter flavor. Use
whatever white beans you have
in your pantry: Navy, garbanzo
and cannellini all work well. For
a thicker soup, use 2 or 3 cups of
chicken stock instead of 4. I like
to serve the soup, drizzled with
plenty of chile oil, with bread for
dipping and chunks of Parmesan
to nibble on between spoonfuls.
daniela.galarza@washpost.com
This is from our Eat Voraciously
newsletter, which delivers a quick
dinner recipe four days a week,
Monday through Thursday. Sign up at
http://wapo.st/evnewsletter.
for up to 2 hours, if you’d like, but
it’s not necessary.)
l Reduce the heat to medium,
uncover and, using tongs, re-
move and discard the Parmesan
rinds. Add the beans and bring
the soup just to a simmer.
Remove from the heat.
l Using a stick blender, puree the
soup until smooth. (Or carefully
pour the hot soup into the jar of a
blender and puree, in batches.)
Season to taste with salt and
pepper. Ladle into bowls and
drizzle with the chile oil. Serve
hot, with crusty bread and piec-
es of Parmesan on the side, if
desired.
l NOTE: If you don’t have Parme-
san rinds, the rind of another
hard, long-aged cheese, such as
manchego or pecorino, will also
work. If not, omit it.
Nutrition | Per serving: 357 calories, 21 g
protein, 54 g carbohydrates, 7 g fat, 1 g
saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 413 mg
sodium, 13 g dietary fiber, 3 g sugar
Recipe tested by Joe Yonan; email questions
to food@washpost.com
kle with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt
and pepper and toss to com-
bine. Roast for 10 minutes.
l While the carrots and parsnips
are roasting, in a small bowl,
stir together the mustard, dill
and shallot. Transfer half of the
mustard mixture to another
small bowl. In a medium bowl,
toss the panko or matzoh meal,
horseradish, and the remaining
1/ teaspoon of each salt and
4
pepper. Add 2 tablespoons of oil
to the crumb mixture and use
your fingers and/or a fork to
combine well.
l Fold any thinner pieces of fish
so that all the fillets are about
the same thickness. Using one
of the small bowls of the mus-
tard mixture, brush the mixture
on top of each of the fish fillets.
Then top each piece of fish with
the breadcrumb-horseradish
mixture.
l Move the carrots and parsnips
to one side of the sheet pan and
place the fish fillets on the other
15 minutes more, or until the
fish flakes easily with a fork and
is no longer translucent, and the
topping has browned in spots.
l To make the drizzle, whisk the
remaining 2 tablespoons of oil
and the vinegar into the
reserved bowl of the mustard-
dill mixture. Add 1 teaspoon of
water to thin it out, adding
more, 1 teaspoon at a time, as
needed.
l Divide the fish and vegetables
among plates, drizzle the veg-
etables with the sauce and
serve.
Nutrition | Per serving: 418 calories, 33 g
protein, 29 g carbohydrates, 19 g fat, 3 g
saturated fat, 73 mg cholesterol, 528 mg
sodium, 7 g dietary fiber, 9 g sugar
Recipe tested by Olga Massov; email
questions to food@washpost.com