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| TOP STORIES |
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| NBC probing Brian Williams’s reports on Iraq, Hurricane Katrina |
| NBC News launched an internal investigation Friday into statements made by its lead anchor, Brian Williams, about his reporting from Iraq in 2003, as well as stories he told about his award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Read full article » |
| Djamel Beghal, the charming and chilling mentor of Paris jihadist attackers |
| PARIS — Those who have met him say he is alternately charming and chilling. He is the man who stoked the friendship between two of last month’s Paris attackers — and he has been sitting in a French prison for years. Read full article » |
| Healthy economy forces Republicans to rethink Obama-skewering strategy |
| A robust economy marked by a boom in jobs and a plunge in gas prices is threatening the longtime Republican strategy of criticizing President Obama for holding back growth and hiring, forcing the GOP to overhaul its messaging at the beginnings of a presidential campaign. Read full article » |
| Official or not, Hillary Clinton builds a massive 2016 team-in-waiting |
| Hillary Rodham Clinton, who won’t yet say whether she is running for president, is assembling a massive campaign team-in-waiting that outstrips anything on a Republican side that remains factionalized and focused on knocking off one another. Read full article » |
| Dutch police reveal a simple way to tell if your neighbor is illegally growing pot |
| What's the biggest problem for illicit marijuana cultivators? In the Netherlands, it might be snow. According to local police, dwellers whose houses are oddly snow-free despite precipitation are being closely monitored and suspected of illegally cultivating marijuana. Read full article » |
| Rep. Schock's former senior aide featured in film about 'saving' Jews |
| It turns out that the Facebook comments that led to congressional staffer Benjamin Cole’s resignation Thursday weren’t the only series of eyebrow-raising remarks from his past floating around online. Read full article » |
| U.S., European leaders to try again with Moscow for cease-fire in Ukraine |
| MUNICH — U.S. and European leaders scrambled on Saturday to broker a break in the violence in Ukraine, putting pressure on Russia to restrain pro-Moscow separatists even as the Europeans ruled out support for any effort to provide weapons to the beleaguered government in Kiev. Read full article » |
| At some start-ups, Friday is so casual that it’s not even a workday |
| PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s Friday afternoon, and the funky, open floor office of Treehouse LLC, a fast-growing tech company, is empty. The lights are off. Rows of computers are silent. The food in the well-stocked pantry, the ping-pong table and video-game consoles untouched. And gone is Monty, the Great Dane that typically lounges on the couch. Read full article » |
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| POLITICS |
| Everybody hates Donald Trump |
| If there was a master class in how not to conduct yourself as a politician, it would look a lot like Donald Trump.Trump, who fashions himself a potential 2016 presidential candidate and ally to the tea party, has turned himself into little more than a punchline these days. What’s amazing is that he keeps getting invited to gatherings like the Iowa Freedom Summit two weeks ago — an opportunity he used to rag on Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney. Read full article » |
| In 11th-hour move, D.C. finds more hotel rooms for homeless families |
| The D.C. government’s struggle to house hundreds of homeless families faced a new crisis this week as city officials announced that they were just one day away from running out of room for those seeking shelter during the peak of winter. Read full article » |
| Va. House panel picks a state song (and vote has partisan note, of course) |
| RICHMOND — A House committee on Friday brought Virginia one step closer to having a state song again after years without — and brought a disappointed songwriter to tears.The House Rules Committee listened to recordings of two tunes in the running to replace “Carry Me Back to Old Virginia,” the longtime state song that was retired in 1997 after the state’s first African American governor objected to its references to “massa” and “darkey.” Read full article » |
| ‘Humans of New York’ goes to the White House |
| A few weeks ago, the popular blog 'Humans of New York' featured a photo of a Vidal Chastanet, teenager who said his life had been most influenced by the principal at his school.The blog spent two weeks profiling the school and the principal, Nadia Lopez. The blog's founder, Brandon Stanton, along with Lopez and another teacher at Mott Hall Bridges Academy decided to start a fundraiser to bring the school's students on a visit to Harvard University. The campaign raised more than $1 million -- and caught the attention of the White House, which invited Vidal and Lopez to meet President Obama. Read full article » |
| OPINIONS |
| Republicans cut and pasted their ‘new’ Obamacare alternative |
| Congressional Republicans took a novel approach to announcing their Obamacare alternative this week: out with the old and… well, back in with the old.On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee put out a news release announcing “Burr, Hatch, Upton Unveil Obamacare Replacement Plan.” The three men, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (Utah), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (Mich.) and Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.), are well-regarded legislators, and the press went along with this “news.” Read full article » |
| The right’s crusade against Obama |
| Such is the daggers-drawn state of political discourse in Washington these days that President Obama could go to the National Prayer Breakfast, call the Islamic State a “brutal, vicious death cult” — and still end up being assailed by conservatives. Read full article » |
| Trust the dissidents, not the diplomats |
| Recently leaders of the free world flocked to Saudi Arabia to meet with the new king, where they praised the country as a partner for peace and center of stability. But many dissidents disagreed. As Mansour Al-Hadj, a liberal activist who lived in Saudi Arabia for 20 years, said: “Saudi Arabia is not stable. Deep down, people are not happy. Sooner or later, the winds of change will come to Saudi Arabia. The regime will fall.” Read full article » |
| Revoke the license of any doctor who opposes vaccination |
| Amateurs and hucksters are not the only people telling parents not to vaccinate their children. Unfortunately some doctors — men and women sworn to the Hippocratic Oath — are purveying junk science. They say that vaccines cause autism, as in the famous case of Andrew Wakefield, whose study drawing the link has been retracted. Or that measles isn’t that bad, so your child can skip the shots, as Jack Wolfson, a cardiologist in Arizona, says, adding that “the facts” show vaccines to be full of “harmful things” like “chemicals.” Or that, according to some parents, vaccines cause “profound mental disorders,” as Sen. Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, warned before he walked the statement back. Or that vaccines cause “permanent disability or death,” in the words of Bob Sears, a pediatrician in California. Read full article » |
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| LOCAL |
| D.C. area forecast: Increasingly warmer this weekend, then back to winter next week |
| A break in the chill is here for now. Rain returns on Monday and then more cold. Read full article » |
| District embarks on plan to bring more quality teachers to poor schools |
| District officials are developing a plan to bring more effective teachers to schools in poor neighborhoods, part of their response to a federal mandate to address the historically short supply of talent in schools where children have the greatest needs. Read full article » |
| Student opinions: ‘Let Yale fail,’ an atheist’s wish for God, a letter to Gov. Walker |
| Newspapers write a lot about the worst of student life — the benders, the hazing, the student who set fire to the bed with another student asleep on it. It’s the day-to-day life that, all too often, gets missed — all the thinking going on. Read full article » |
| SPORTS |
| Wizards blow 11-point lead, fall to Hornets for fifth straight loss |
| CHARLOTTE — The Washington Wizards’ list of maladies, already long, continued expanding Thursday night at Time Warner Cable Arena. A few minutes before they even stepped on the court against the Charlotte Hornets, backup center Kevin Seraphin surprisingly notified Coach Randy Wittman that he couldn’t play because of a sprained right ankle, the same injury John Wall has played through for more than a week. Near the end of the first quarter, Bradley Beal walked off to the locker room with a big toe injury and did not return. Read full article » |
| TV and radio listings: February 7 |
| NBA7 p.m. Brooklyn at Washington » Comcast SportsNet, WNEW (99.1 FM), WFED (1500 AM)7 p.m. Chicago at New Orleans » NBA TVNHL7 p.m. New York Islanders at Boston » NHL Network Read full article » |
| Postgame: After move-filled pregame and win over Ducks, Capitals expect return to normal |
| Twenty active skaters and two goaltenders stepped onto the ice at Verizon Center for pregame warmups, a recently recalled minor-leaguer and an injured, soon-to-be scratched defenseman among them. The Washington Capitals had spent Friday afternoon shuffling pieces and making moves, and their eventual 3-2 win over Anaheim nudged each tinkered spot into the limelight. And now, as they welcomed a much-needed day of rest following their seventh game in 11 days, everything was expected to return to normal. Read full article » |
| Joseph Pittman and Broad Run handle Tuscarora’s pressure; Tuscarora’s girls win |
| Broad Run typically dismisses students at 3:48 p.m. On game days, that means Joseph Pittman isn’t absent from the building for long. The senior guard enters the gym an hour before the Spartans’ slated report time (60 minutes before tip-off) to drill free throws and play a veritable game of around the world with himself, jacking up shots at every juncture along the key. Read full article » |
| FEDERAL GOVERNMENT |
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| Postal Service reports $754 million loss for first quarter |
| Record-high volume in holiday package deliveries wasn’t enough for the U.S. Postal Service to overcome its financial troubles last quarter, as the agency more than doubled its net loss from the same period in 2014. Read full article » |
| Feds seek better pay, benefits |
| Like kids before Christmas, federal employee organizations are preparing wish lists — also known as their legislative priorities. But these folks don’t confuse hope with optimism. They know Congress is not a generous Santa: Much of what they want, they won’t get. Read full article » |
| NATIONAL |
| I’m addicted to Facebook. And I’m okay with that. |
| This article originally appeared on Role Reboot.We are obsessed with Facebook, and obsessed with why we’re so obsessed with it. “There is something undeniably totalitarian about the combination of mass media, Web, and social media,” that great social networking grouch Jonathan Franzen once (or 20 times) intoned ominously. Read full article » |
| Islamic poets wrote their own crude irreverent satire, centuries before Charlie Hebdo |
| In the weeks since the Charlie Hebdo attacks, friends keep asking me why Muslims are so easily offended. They aren’t referring to the people who commit violence in the name of Islam, but rather figures like Tariq Ramadan, an Egyptian-born academic who condemns violence, but also the publication of inciting images. What it is about Islam, they wonder, that leaves people unable to take a joke? Read full article » |
| Scott Walker thinks my university has fat to trim. Yet my department is barely scraping by. |
| You might think that one of the nation’s leading academic communication programs would be a good place to make a long-distance phone call.Yet there I was on a cold January morning, the interview I needed to get less than 15 minutes away, panic mounting as each attempt to dial out on my department-issued speakerphone produced an electronic wail rather than a ring tone. I’m writing my dissertation on how Web sites owned by sports teams and leagues challenge our society’s most deeply held values about journalism. I collect my data by talking to the people who work for these sites. I need a working phone. My cell was acting as my voice recorder, so I couldn’t use it to make calls — not that the reception in my office is good enough to be trusted. Read full article » |
| WORLD |
| Houthi rebels in Yemen shut down parliament, tightening their control |
| SANAA, Yemen — Shiite insurgents moved to consolidate full control over Yemen’s leadership Friday, announcing the disbanding of parliament and plans to form a transitional authority to run the conflict-racked country that hosts a powerful al-Qaeda affiliate. Read full article » |
| Germany is battling a measles outbreak that is 10 times worse than the one in the U.S. |
| The United States has been shocked by a surge in measles cases with more than 100 incidents in January alone.This, however, is much less worrisome than a current outbreak in Germany.While authorities there had hoped to completely eliminate the disease this year, 254 new cases emerged in January, primarily in Berlin. If we consider that the German population is only one fourth of the United States', the German measles surge was about 10 times worse than the one in the United States in January, relative to the total population. Read full article » |
| Obama talked about the Crusades. Maybe he should talk about the Mongols. |
| Remarks made by President Obama at Friday's National Prayer Breakfast proved divisive to some. In a bid to make clear that violence is no more inherent to one religion than it is in another, Obama pointed out how Christianity has been invoked in the past to justify hideous deeds. Read full article » |
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| BUSINESS |
| TurboTax resumes processing state returns after fraud reports prompt halt |
| TurboTax temporarily stopped processing state tax returns after noticing an increase in suspicious filings, the tax preparation software company said Friday.The company resumed e-filing of state returns at 6 p.m. Friday after halting the transmission of returns late Thursday to investigate reports of fraudulent state tax returns being filed through its software. The firm noticed an increase in “suspicious filings” and attempts from scam artists to use stolen personal information to file fraudulent state returns, giving them the ability to steal state tax refunds. Read full article » |
| Defense firm Exelis to be acquired for $4.75 billion |
| McLean-based Exelis is set to become part of communications company Harris Corp., maker of Army tactical radios, in a deal worth $4.75 billion, the companies announced Friday.The deal marks the first large acquisition of a Washington-area company in 2015 and continues a trend of merger activity among mid-sized government contractors. (On Monday, Orbital Sciences and Alliant Techsystems are set to finalize their merger in a deal worth $5 billion, the largest one of 2014.) Read full article » |
| The 10 rules a couple needs to manage their money |
| Judi and Christopher Chesley have done something very romantic and not just for Valentine’s Day.The New Hampshire couple, married for 29 years, have created rules of financial engagement.They participated in the 21-day financial fast I created and took to heart Day 10: Marrying Your Money. So now, posted on their refrigerator is a list of 10 rules to help them manage their money together. Read full article » |
| TECHNOLOGY |
| Google is serious about taking on telecom. Here’s why it’ll win. |
| First it conquered search. Then it was online video and advertising. Now Google is turning its attention toward telecom — and it’s no experiment.In recent months, Google has said it’s bringing ultra-fast Internet to at least 18 cities, including Atlanta and Nashville. It announced pilot tests of a low-cost, modular smartphone. The company’s joined an influential lobbying group for upstart telecom firms. And now Google is considering an entry into wireless service, as first reported by The Information, a technology news site founded by former Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Lessin. Read full article » |
| Why cable stocks surged after the FCC’s net neutrality proposal |
| It's the mystery of the morning.When Tom Wheeler, head of the Federal Communications Commission, announced his proposal Wednesday to regulate Internet providers, such as phone companies, shares of cable companies unexpectedly surged. Here's what happened to the stock prices of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter and Cablevision minutes after the news dropped. Read full article » |
| Why hackers are targeting the medical sector |
| A hack at Anthem, the second-largest health insurer in the country, exposed personal information about millions of employees and customers. But the attack is just the latest evidence that cybercriminals are increasingly targeting the medical sector where they can collect health information that can be sold for a premium on the black market. Read full article » |
| Yes, that 3D-printed mansion is safe to live in |
| Back in April, a team of Chinese construction workers used a 3D printer to construct houses. By day’s end, there were 10 standing. They were compact and fairly bare bones — nothing much to look at besides the “wow!” factor of there being as many as — count them — 10. But this time around, those same builders have taken the wraps off an achievement that’s roundly more impressive. Read full article » |
| LIFESTYLE |
| Signs of segregation: the singular challenges facing black, deaf families |
| It’s no secret that the stamp of historic segregation is still seared into black and white Americans’ speech.But it did surprise readers to learn a few years ago that a group of linguists and sign language experts had published a book and DVD — “The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL” (Gallaudet University Press) — describing the history and structure of a distinct form of signing they had identified among deaf African Americans. Read full article » |
| Pondering solutions to global warming in snowy Cambridge |
| Everyone needs a mission. I hope it doesn’t come off as immodest when I say that my professional mission in life is to save the world from superstition, madness and despair. It’s a heavy burden. There are times when, overcome with a sense of humility, I tell myself, “Although you are clearly the best person for this job, possibly you need help, the way Batman needed Robin.” Read full article » |
| Actor Jeffrey Wright in town to speak about Ebola |
| Hey isn’t that… Actor Jeffrey Wright, who you might remember from a ton of stuff including “The Hunger Games” franchise and HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” out at the Park Hyatt’s Blue Duck Lounge on Thursday night? Read full article » |
| Carolyn Hax: How to help a bereaved neighbor who isn’t a close friend |
| Adapted from a recent online discussion. Dear Carolyn:My neighbor, “John,” died a few weeks ago. Earlier, I had guessed from the volume of visitors that he was sick and stopped by to ask his wife, “Alice,” if there was anything we could do. She, of course, said no (because nobody keeps a list around of things for friendly neighbors to do in times of crisis), and I couldn’t really think of anything concrete that would be useful. Read full article » |
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