Borders clearance sale: Everything must go

Posted at 3:13 PM ET, 02/22/2011
By Elizabeth Flock
Read it at the Washington Post 

After the news that Borders filed for bankruptcy last week, bibliophiles across the nation mourned its departure while the sarcastic asked who didn't see this coming.

Borders stores in the Washington region prepared to close, putting up garish red and yellow signs that read:"STORE CLOSING", "EVERYTHING ON SALE" and "EVERYTHING MUST GO" as their wares went on deep discount.

At the 18th and K St. NW store location, which stretches an entire city block, the sales drew a hungry crowd. At lunch hour, the line stretched the entire length of the store. One customer remarked "Oh my god are they giving this [expletive] away?!" And another: "This is worse than a book signing."

The deals at this Borders are a bookworm's dream. All new books, bargain books and regular books are 20 percent off. (So are DVDs.) I picked up the newish novel "Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao" for just $12. The travel bookshelves look ransacked. Magazines are a cool 40 percent off. Calendars are going for just a dollar.

The whole scene was sad, of course. The Borders cafe in which customers so often sat and lovingly opened the first pages of their new purchases over a cup of coffee now has chairs stacked upon tables, for good. Moleskin notebooks lay hanging off the racks in disarray. The employees told me they had nowhere to go from here--they'd all been let go. And the signs that papered the walls screamed its store's unhappy fate.

But in some ways, looking at the line that stretched from 18th to 17th streets inside the store, two women talking about how much they loved a certain Dr. Seuss novel, a man holding a three-foot-high stack of "Mystery Science Theater", it gave me hope, too.

Everything must go, but at least for many of the books, they are finding another home.

Egypt protests: Reports and audio from the ground, Days 12 and 13

Posted at 9:45 AM ET, 02/ 5/2011
By Elizabeth Flock
Read it at the Washington Post

Thousands of protesters still fill the streets of Egypt, demanding the immediate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. However, tentative signs emerged Friday that a solution may be found in Egypt. We'll continue to update you with reports from our correspondents in the field. 

Read the live blog here. 

"Demand Al-Jazeera in the USA" campaign

Posted at 10:19 AM ET, 02/ 4/2011
By Elizabeth Flock
Read it at the Washington Post

Over the past 11 days, major U.S. cable news networks repeatedly began their breaking news reports with the words "al-Jazeera reports."

The international news network headquartered in Doha, Qatar, and broadcasting to 190 million households around the world, has been the only media outlet with uninterrupted live video of the demonstrations. Al-Jazeera continued broadcasting even after Egyptian authorities stormed their Cairo office and detained several al-Jazeera reporters.

Americans huddled around their computer screens to watch low-resolution video on the al-Jazeera site or saw the video replayed on American networks, because other than a few pockets across the U.S., including Ohio, Vermont, and Washington D.C., American cable carriers don't offer viewers the choice of al-Jazeera.

Via Mondoweiss (Alexa.com)

Now, al-Jazeera is trying to change that. On Feb. 10, al-Jazeera is encouraging a meet up in 224 communities for viewers to demand the network on U.S. television. "This past month has shown us something that America can no longer ignore: millions of Americans want to watch our channel and better understand our region," Wadah Khanfar, director general of the network, wrote on the site.

SPLAT! Snowball fight!

By Elizabeth Flock
Read it at the Washington Post

The Capital Weather Gang is predicting a “snow thump" later tonight, with 4 to 8 inches or more of snowfall in the District and northern and western suburbs.

With those kind of predictions come sledding plans, pleas for days off from school and … a giant snowball fight!

The Washington DC Snowball Fight Association, the group that was responsible for the 2,000-strong flash mob snowball fight in Dupont Circle last February, has announced a massive snowball fight for 8 tonight in Dupont Circle.

People love pelting the videographer with snowballs. Check it out at 20 seconds in:

Library of Congress hawk captured

By Elizabeth Flock
Read it at the Washington Post 




Updated, 10:12 a.m. Jefferson the hawk was safely captured at around 8:30 a.m. this morning by experts from the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Service. They laid a trap with two starling birds inside to bait the hungry hawk, which hadn't eaten since the frozen quail bait on Sunday. Jefferson swooped down to eat the starlings, and her talons quickly caught on to the trap's hooks. It took only 25 minutes for her to be captured.

Jefferson was then put into a box with breathing holes for safe transport to raptor rehab at the Raptor Conservancy. The bird experts estimated that Jefferson is now the size of a male hawk--females are usually larger than males--so it was likely she had lost weight and is emaciated. They transported her out of the library quickly to get her to food and drink.

America's Favorite Cities? Not D.C.

The District didn't get a rousing vote of approval from the nation in Travel and Leisure's annual survey "America's Favorite Cities," released in T and L's last issue.

Both visitors and residents ranked 35 U.S. cities on their culture, shopping, restaurants, nightlife, and other factors, and it's safe to say the two groups' feelings don't always jibe. This year, D.C. fell behind on everything but culture -- in the ratings by both groups.

Here's the worst of it: We are now the fifth-rudest city in the nation, and we fell to 31st in friendliness. A former intern in D.C. told T & L about a time she passed out on the Metro and no one came to her aid.

But it's OK, because we're pretty, right? No. Our attractiveness has fallen to No. 30, according to both residents and visitors -- 30 out of 35.

America reCycled: cross-country by bicycle

By Elizabeth Flock
Read it at the Washington Post

At this very moment, two brothers are pedaling their way across America on bicycles recycled from trash, documenting Americans who are trying in bold ways to relocalize their culture and communities. In some ways, they're documenting the search for America's lost communities.

The brothers are Tim Hussin, a young award-winning photojournalist, and Noah Hussin, a Fulbright scholar. For this year-long journey, they're "digital hobos," as they call it, who will be eating out of dumpsters and sleeping under bridges and pulling out a notebook computer or microphone when they have something to say.

They were funded by raising money on Kickstarter, a nonprofit organization that helps fund entrepreneurs. Since they hit the road on Nov. 6, the Hussin brothers have populated the America reCycled blog with stories about people who say America has been losing communities for 60 years to subdivisions and strip malls and the country needs to get those communities back. 

Byte cop

Brett Goldstein maps out Chicago’s crime-ridden spots with his predictive-analysis system.

By Elizabeth Flock

Read it at the University of Chicago Magazine

When Brett Goldstein was six years old, he started writing programs on his parents’ single-circuit-board computer. In fifth grade he was teaching himself programming languages. At Connecticut College a professor told him he’d “maxed out” the curriculum.

In his early 30s Goldstein, SM’05, became IT director at OpenTable, an online restaurant-reservation company. He had been an early employee at the start-up, founded in 1998 in San Francisco. By 2006 he had moved to Chicago, completed his computer-science master’s at the University, and was making six figures at OpenTable, when he surprised colleagues and friends by leaving the company to join the Chicago Police Academy.

D.C. wins popularity contest

United Van Lines, the United States' largest moving and relocation company, has ranked Washington D.C. as the most popular place to move in 2010, NBC reported today.

The District has been bestowed the dubious title of “highest inbound” city, with 64.3 percent of people moving in rather than out.

So, to what can we owe these laurels?

Could it be the torpid millennial youths flocking to a city where they can expect a good deal of their work week canceled whenever there's a flurry of snow? Or to the rise of Capital Bikeshare, which calls to mind an insouciant city like Amsterdam, free of political discussions and full of other highs?

It's got to be more obvious that that. The influx of people to our city must have been in tandem with the arrival of Mayor Vincent Gray. And let's not forget that well-known art form that came with him: hand dancing.

Well, Mr. Gray, UVL says don't break out the champagne yet. Because it's the third consecutive year the District has won the popularity contest, and everyone knows you were more concerned with your fence in the first two years UVL dished out this prize.

Here's the real question: Why doesn't UVL talk about the people who've moved out of our city? Really, less than 33 percent have fled the snowmageddons? Less than 33 percent left with Tai Shan the panda? Doubtful.

Let's face it, in anticipation of the coming pay freeze, we have no idea how many federal workers exited the District using just two guys and a truck. I know I would.

Robbery at White Oak credit union

By Elizabeth Flock

Read it at the Washington Post

Montgomery County police are investigating a robbery at the Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union in White Oak on Jan. 8, authorities said Tuesday.

Two male suspects entered the Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union at 11140 New Hampshire Avenue at 10:42 a.m. wielding handguns and announcing a robbery, police said.

Montgomery County Police detectives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI are investigating the robbery.

The suspects attacked the bank's manager, throwing him over a counter, according to police. The suspects obtained an undisclosed amount of cash and fled the scene in a small dark-colored sedan.

Police describe the first suspect as a clean-shaven black male in his early-to-mid 20's, standing 6' to 6' 3" tall, and weighing between 180 and 210 pounds. He was dressed in all black and was armed with a handgun during the robbery, police said.

They describe the second suspect as a black male between 35 and 45 years old, standing 5'10" to 6'01" tall, with a heavy build and goatee. He was wearing blue jeans, a dark jacket, sunglasses, and was armed with a handgun during the robbery.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 240-773-5100. Callers wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Anonymous tips can also be provided by texting "MCPD" and a tip to 274637 (CRIMES).

The Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union in White Oak is is offering up to $10,000, and Crime Solvers up to $1,000, for information related the robbery that leads to an arrest or indictment.
This item has been updated since it was first published.

New Va. prison has no prisoners

By Elizabeth Flock 

Read it at the Washington Post

A brand-new, $105 million prison in Grayson County, Va., has zero prisoners four months after its completion, the Roanoke Times reported Sunday.

The state budget crunch has kept the 1,024-bed complex empty, said Larry Traylor, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Corrections.

After the General Assembly did not appropriate money that the agency expected last year, the Corrections Department trimmed its $1 billion budget and got rid of almost 2,500 prison beds. Traylor estimates that the department is facing a fiscal 2012 budget reduction of $10.9 million.

Virginia's inmate population nearly doubled after the state passed Truth in Sentencing/no parole legislation in 1995, leading to tougher sentences. Last year, however, the state saw its first drop in inmates, losing 195 prisoners for a total of about 38,000.

Traylor said that the new prison could remain empty for two years or longer. Taxpayers will have to pay $715,000 this year to keep it running.

New Year's resolutions public figures did and didn't keep in 2010

Read it at the Washington Post 

By Elizabeth Flock and Sam Sanders

From the enduring fame of Jersey Shore's Mike "The Situation" to West Coast Chopper's Jesse James dropping Sandra Bullock for a tattoo model, this year was full of surprises from actors, musicians, pundits and political figures. But if the mania over Glee's covers teaches us anything, it's that as much as some things change, they also stay the same.
We got to wondering what kind of resolutions folks would have made, and came up with a list of "resolutions" kept and broken in 2010.

The five resolutions they kept:
1. Miley Cyrus, of salvia bong and racy video fame:
Become trashy.
2. Bill and Hillary Clinton, power couple:
Rule the world.
3. Joaquin Phoenix, who may or may not have faked his documentary:                 Become a method actor.
4. Snooki, the mascot of Jersey Shore:
Get famous, become BFFs with John McCain.
5. Glenn Beck, pundit, author, rally-holder:
Bring the word "nazi" back into the national discourse

The five they didn't keep:
1. John Boehner, new speaker of the house:
Don't cry.
2. Willow Smith, soon to usurp her father as coolest member of the Smith brood:
Get Malia and Sasha to whip their hair.
3. Wyclef Jean, musician, record producer, politician?:
Become president of Haiti.
4. Tiger Woods, professional golfer and scamster:
Be a role model.
5. Paula Abdul, nicest American Idol judge:
Continue to convince America of my relevance.

Masked 'Hillary Clinton' robs Va. bank

A gun-toting man in a Halloween-style mask robbed a Sterling bank on Dec. 27, authorities said.
It appeared that the man wore a Hillary Clinton mask, according to Kraig Troxell, spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. 

Shortly after 9 a.m., the man walked into the Wachovia bank in Community Plaza, approached a teller, brandished a firearm, and demanded cash, according to Loudoun County sheriff’s office reports.


The robber, who authorities described as a black male around 6 feet tall, then fled in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount of cash. He was seen wearing a black jacket with a red shirt underneath.

No injuries were reported, says Kraig Troxell, spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, which distributed a surveillance image from the robbery.

This robbery is not the first for the Wachovia bank in Sterling’s Community Plaza this year. On Nov. 20, authorities said the bank was robbed at gunpoint by Benjamin L. Sebastian, 32, of Inwood, W.Va.
Sebastian was arrested Dec. 11 and charged with six regional bank robberies, including the Sterling Wachovia bank and an Oct. 6 armed robbery of the Bank of America in Sterling’s Regal Plaza.
He remains in police custody.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact Investigator K. Poland of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office at 703-777-0475.

Even with missed storm, cleanup is pricey

Read it at the Washington Post's local breaking news blog, Post Now.

After criticism over slow response times to snowmageddon last winter, local jurisdictions and state transportation agencies weren't going to be caught unaware this time.

A number of weather services predicted the first major snowstorm of the year over Christmas weekend. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) both issued preemptive state of emergency declarations.

And then the storm never came. D.C. was left with only a dusting of snow. A Capital Weather Gang map shows how close we were to getting pummeled.

Preparation for the no-show snow didn't come cheap.

The Virginia Department of Transportation spent "well over a million dollars" in Northern Virginia over the weekend, spokeswoman Joan Morris told TBD. The department had about 1,700 trucks on the road.

But with $33 million to spend on snow removal in Northern Virginia this year, according to the Washington Examiner, the Virginia Department of Transportation should be just fine. Both Maryland and Virginia increased their snow removal budgets this year.

Karyn LeBlanc, a spokeswoman for the District Department of Transportation says the department estimated it spent more than $500,000 over the weekend, according to TBD.

Montgomery County had 400 people and 375 trucks ready to go at 2 a.m. Sunday, though they went home 14 hours later. Arlington County had about 150 employees out over a 24-hour period.

Dear Metro, I hate that I love you so (#metroloveletter)

By Elizabeth Flock

Read it at the Washington Post

I didn't know you three months ago when I moved to Washington from Chicago. I knew the El, which runs on time, doesn't do random searches, and would never, ever tell me not to eat my breakfast on the train.

I have to tell you something, Metro. You're late. All the time. This morning you stood me up when I had a meeting at work to get to. For half an hour I stood on the platform. You kept me hanging when the "Mad Men" finale was starting and my roommate disabled TiVo. I've fallen in your potholes you call construction one too many times. I've broken a sweat on the way to a date when the Woodley Park escalator was broken, again. And that thing you call a SmarTrip card? I'm onto you. I figured out pretty fast that that card charges me just the same.

What about when I want to get home late at night, after getting better acquainted with your city's watering holes, and I need you the most? You're not there at all. You're shut, with cold metal bars blocking your entrance. Should you really expect me to keep coming back?

But that's the problem, Metro. I will come back, because I love you.

Ever since I met you, Metro, I can't get enough. I'm there every morning from Woodley Park to Farragut North, and every night I take you home.

I could get to work another way. Capital Bike Share looks pretty tempting some mornings, with those glistening red bikes all lined up in a pretty row. I could walk, try the bus or drive. I don't. I take you.
Because you're easy. And you're there. Your yawning ceilings make me feel small, but in a good way. Your SmarTrip card makes me feel important. Your scary octopus Metro map has tentacles that go everywhere I want to go. I've read countless Express newspapers while hanging on to the overhead rail for dear life. And it turns out, by forcing me to eat breakfast at home, you make me a better person. These days, my dress stays coffee-free all day.

I hate that I love you, Metro. But I do.

A lot of us do. We're taking you more every day.

This is my love letter to the Metro. What's yours? Tell me why -- despite the delays, the broken escalators, the constant problems -- you still love the Metro. Write it in the comments or send a tweet using the hashtag #metroloveletter.

Minerals in consumer electronic devices help finance civil war in Congo

By Elizabeth Flock 
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 13, 2010; 6:21 PM 

Read it at The Washington Post. 

As you arm yourself with electronic gifts over the next few weeks, you probably won't think about the minerals your new cellphone, laptop or digital camera runs on. But no matter which company made the gadget, it's likely to be powered using tin, tantalum, tungsten or gold, all of which are mined in Eastern Congo, where profits contribute to financing the country's bloody war.

Rebel groups and the national army control many of Eastern Congo's mines. Over the past decade, more than 5 million people have died, and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped in the struggle for power, according to the Raise Hope for Congo campaign. While the Congolese government has expressed interest in tackling the multimillion-dollar trade in minerals, the involvement of its own troops has led critics to question their efforts.

The West has long been aware of this problem, though hard facts are difficult to establish: A 2008 U.S. Geological Survey report found that less than 10 percent of tantalum (the mineral used to make capacitors in most cellphones and iPods) imported to the United States is from Congo. But one human rights group, the Enough Project, estimates that Congolese armed groups make $8 million per year trading in that mineral alone.

Electronics companies argue that the supply chain is nearly impossible to track: There are thousands of companies, they say, that leave little or no paperwork. Manufacturers use Congolese minerals, which cost only one-half or one-third the price of those mined in other countries - due to large quantitites of minerals close to the surface, lack of regulation and cheap labor - leaving the American consumer with no way of knowing whether their purchases are subsidizing warfare half a world away.

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed in July, seeks to change that, by requiring manufacturers to identify so-called conflict minerals and eliminate them from their supply chains.

              Image of a child miner in the Congo, via Grassroots Group's photostream on flickr.

Whole Foods' Organic Capitalism

John Mackey’s Conscious Capitalism model has its share of dissenters. But the fiery Texan isn’t about to back down

by Elizabeth Flock | Oct 9, 2010

Read it at Forbes India or at Forbes

When John Mackey dropped out of his second university, his aspirations to open a natural foods supermarket looked shaky. He had no money, no business training, and no degree. He hoped to open a vegetarian store in the carnivorous state of Texas. His mother thought he was wasting a good mind to become a grocer.

But Mackey, an unmotivated student, had suddenly found a purpose in natural foods while working at a collective, and he wasn’t going to let it go. Along with his girlfriend Renee Lawson, Mackey rustled up $45,000 from family and friends to start the business.

Mackey and Lawson opened Safer Way in 1978, knowing full well that health food was a gamble. When the couple used their apartment to store food, they were thrown out and forced to move into the second floor of Safer Way, where they showered with a hose.

But Texan customers embraced this unlikely supermarket, and Mackey soon had the confidence to merge with Clarksville Natural Grocery, partly by hinting to owners Mark Skiles and Craig Weller that he would put them out of business. Together, they opened a larger natural foods store in 1980 that would one day change the supermarket game. They called it Whole Foods.

 

(Flickr)

Starting something in the great white city.

I’m sorry for the long hiatus. Shifting cities and the end of summer can take a lot out of a girl.

**

Since the first day I arrived in Washington, I felt an itch underneath the skin, a persistent feeling of something not right.

At first I thought it was entering a world in which people lived and breathed politics, a world where people talked about the tangled web of lobbying and elections at dinner parties. Or that everyone was transitory, so no one cared to make lasting ties. Or, as my dad put it, that DC was a small town made into a city just because the most important man in the world lives here.

But that persistent itch isn’t any of those things. This morning I woke up and knew exactly what it is.

I can’t find DC’s heart.

                                          (flickr)

David Sanborn in Naperville

Kartemquin Films receiving Newberry's Altgeld Award

Documentary company Kartemquin Films to be honored for defense of free speech

By Elizabeth Flock, Special to the Tribune

July 30, 2010

Read it at The Chicago Tribune 

In the late 1970s, an unlikely mix of militant black workers, gay and lesbian activists, and women's health movement protestors gathered around a table in New York to talk about the problem they had in common: How to get their banned films on the air.

One of those filmmakers was Gordon Quinn, co-founder of Kartemquin Films, best known for the award-winning documentary, "Hoop Dreams." The film that was banned was "The Chicago Maternity Center Story," a documentary about women's health.

"Over the 45 years we've been around, we've had our battles with freedom of expression issues," said Quinn from his Chicago office. "There were films that didn't get shown on television. But we were always aggressive about pushing them."

On Saturday, Kartemquin Films (KTQ) will receive the Newberry Library's 2010 Altgeld Award for Freedom of Speech. Named for former Illinois Gov. John Altgeld, who lost an election after pardoning three men convicted of the 1886 Haymarket riot, the annual award honors defenders of free speech and ideas.