The Washington Post - USA (2021-10-26)

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26 , 2021. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/LOCAL EZ SU B

JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON

Readersshare their

“magnetometer

moments,” false alarms at

airportsecurity lines.B3

THE REGION

Twomen accused of

plottinga“racewar” may

be sentenced as domestic

terrorists,ajudge rules.B6

OBITUARIES

JoséLuís “Chito” Gascón,

Philippine activist,shined

li ght onRodrigo Duterte’s

61 ° 64 ° 59 ° 54 ° brutal drug crackdown.B8

8a.m. Noon 4p.m. 8p.m.

High todayat

approx. 12 a.m.

65

°

Precip:40%

Wind:NW

12-25 mph

Newcases inregion

Through5p.m. Monday, 4,748new

coronavirus cases werereported in

Maryland,Virg inia and the District,

bringingthe total number of cases

in theregion to 1,539,174.

D.C.** MD. VA.**

+291+512 +3,945

63,879 556,595 918, 700

Coronavirus-related deaths

As of5p.m. Monday:

D.C.** MD.* VA.**

+0 +5 +77

1,186 10,811 13, 745

*Includesprobable covid-19deaths.

**D.C.andVirginia’sweekend datahas

beenincorporated intoMonday’s

reportedcases.

Straybullets.

Theykilled a6-

year-oldcrossing

thestreet,aPeace

Corpsofficialout

withhi swifefo ra

nicedinnerina

buzzypartof

town, aproud

moth erintowntoseeherson ’s

startatt heU.S.NavalAcadem y.

Andthi swasjus tinourarea,

andinjustamatterofmonths.

Themostrecentvictimofstray

bulletshereinD.C.wasabeloved

52-year-oldmotherofthreeboys,

AngelaWhite-Hooks.Sh ewasin

the5400blockofJStreetNEon

Saturd aynigh twhensh ewashit

byabulletnotmeantforher.

Shehadaboywhohadjust

graduatedfromcollegeandgot

SEEDVORAKONB3

Stray bullets

bring epidemic

of senseless

casualties

Petula

Dvorak

NationalPark

Service

conservators

determined that

special lasers

couldremove

the biofilm

without damaging

the marble.

These lasers–similar

to the ones used toremove

tattoos–reduced

the microbial gunk

to afine ash.

Finally,special ists went to

work withagentle,

low-volumesteam cleaning

to remove the ashresidue

and anyother dirtand grime

from the monument’s

marble surfaces.

When they

werefinished,

the Jefferson

Memorial once

again looked

almost likenew.

Acommunity of algae, fungi and bacteria bound together

in glue-likeslime, biofilm has been around invarious

forms since the earliest days of lifeonEarth.

Reclaimingmarble from biofilm

Sources:NationalPark Service;

Center for BiofilmEngineering

at MontanaStateUniversity;

EverGreene Architectural Arts WILLIAM NEFF/THEWASHINGTON POST

Marble

Eroded

marble

Ash

residue

Ash

residue

Steam

power

wash

Laser

Biofilm

Biofilm

Biofilm likely

began forming

on the Jefferson

Memorial’s

Vermont marble

almost as soon

as the building

wascompleted

in 1943.

Several factors

mayhavecaused

thebiofilm to

change:

■Natural

erosionof the

marble, givingthe

gunk morepits and

cracks in which to grow

and thicken

■Jet fuelfrom passing

aircraft

■Moreultraviolet lightas

the city’sair got cleaner.

Whatever the cause, the film

began to darken, discoloring

the monument.

BYWILLIAMNEFF

A

searly as 2015, anyone viewingthe

JeffersonMemorial fromadistance

—say,from IndependenceAvenue

acrossthe Tidal Basinoranaircraft

window on approach to ReaganNational

Airpor t—could see that something was

wrong .One of the capital’s signature monu-

ments, apriceless piece of thenation’s

heritage, was starting to look downright

shabby. Dark splotches were growing on the

iconicwhitedome.Growin gfast.

Faced wit hthe speed of changeand the

increasing number of visitors and residents

askin gwhatwasgoingonwiththememorial,

National Park Serviceanalysts concluded

theycouldn ’t fight whattheydidn’t fully

understand. They took apatientapproach,

calling in scientistsand their ownconser va-

tionexper ts an dembarking onayears-long

analysi stod eterminewhatwasattackingthe

memorial’s now-78-year-oldmarbledome.

“Itwas maybe 15 yearsbetweenthe time

we firstrealized theproblem andwhen we

finallyactedonit, ”saidAudreyTepper,aPark

ServicehistoricalarchitectwiththeNational

Malland Memoria lParks.“There’sareallogic

innotactingtooquickly.”

Theculprit, the yeventual ly determined,

was something thatprobably had been pre-

sentont he monument, and nearlyevery

other outdoorstructure in most cities, for

decades :biofilm.

“It’samicrobialcommunityofb acteria,

fungi and algae,”Tepper said. “Itoccurs all

overtheplace.It’s existedforeternity,butit ’s

morevisibleonwhitemarblebuildings.”

It’s usuall ybarely visible, andinf actno

one knows for sure howlongit’sbeen

growing on theJefferson Memoria ldome. It

becameapressing problemonly when—for

reason sscienti stsare still workingtou nder-

stand—itb egantodarken.

In collaboration with commercial restora-

tionexperts,Park Se rvice analystsdeter-

minedthat,asbadasitalllooked,thebiofilm

infestation was superficial. If it couldbe

cleaned off, it would leave the underlying

marbleundamaged.But ther ewas acatch.

“Mos tpeopleinthepreser vationindustryuse

essentially antimicrobial agents, chemical

cleaning agents pri marily developed for the

healthindustr yand the food industry,”said

Judy Jacob, National Park Service senior

conservator and an in-houseexpert on bio-

film. But theJefferson Memorial sits inthe

sensitiv ebiomeoft heTi dalBasin.Underthe

constraintsoft he 197 2CleanWater Act, the

riskoft oxicrunof fmadean yuseofchemicals

toclea nthedomelooklikeaverybadidea.

Thecenterpiece of therestor ation project

has been the use of high-tech lasers to

vaporizethethickeningbiofilmwithoutrisk-

ingthesurroundingenvironment.

Somebiofilmprobablyhasbeenpresenton

the memorial’s marblesurface from its early

years. But when the marble was newand

smooth,thiswouldbarelyhavebeenvisible.

Over the years, natural erosion and

weathering wore pits and grooves in the

relatively softstonesurface; this happens

SEEMEMORIALONB2

Monumental restoration

Aftermysterysplotches spreadovertheJeffersonMemorial,scientistsbroughtinlasers

MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST

TheJefferso nMemorial ’s domeshineson

Oct.19.Cleaning itwithou tpollutingthe

TidalBasinrequiredahigh-techsolution.

BYSARAHPULLIAMBAILEY

ANDSUSANSVRLUGA

TheformerspokesmanforLib-

ertyUniversi tyfiledafederallaw-

suit Mondayalleging the school

fired him after he opposed its

handling ofaseries of sexual as-

saultandharassmentcomplaints.

Liberty,one o fthe largest

Christian universities in the

world andamajor hub for con-

servativepolitics,wassuedinJuly

by 12 women who said thatthey

were victims of sexual assault or

othersexualmisconductandthat

the Lynchburg,Va., university

failedtohelpthemandmadethe

campusmoredangerousthrough

itspolicies.

ScottLamb, whowas the

SEELIBERTY ONB7

Ex-Liberty

spokesman

files suit

after firing

He alleges he was ousted

for opposing how school

handled assault claims

BYJUSTINJOUVENAL

In acase tha thas generated a

politicalfirestorm,aVirginia ju-

venile courtjudgefound suffi-

cientevidenceduringatrialMon-

daytos ustainchargesthatateen

sexually assaultedaclassmate in

thegirls’bathroomofaLoudoun

Cou ntyhighschoolinMay.

Theteenager ,now 15, isalso

chargedwiththesexualassaultof

another student thatoccurred

months laterat adifferentLou-

dounschool.LoudounCountyju-

venile courtChiefJudgePamela

L. Brook ssaid she would wait to

sentence the teen until thatcase

isdecidedinNovember.

Thejudge’sfindingisthejuve-

nile courtequivalent ofaguilty

verdictino thercourts.

Thecase generated local and

nationalattention after the par-

ents of the girl assaulted inMay

said the charged youth was “gen-

der fluid,”prompting renewed

backlash againstapolicyinL ou-

doun Countyschools thatallows

transgenderstudentstousebath-

rooms thatmatch their gender

identities.Thatpolicywasadopt-

edaftertheMayassault.

Authoritieshavenotcomment-

edontheyouth’s genderidentity,

and it did not become an issue

Mondayinc ourt. During the

hearing,the15-y ear-oldvictimin

the firstcase testified she had

consensual sexual encounters

with the defendant ontwoocca-

sionsinagirls’bathroomatStone

BridgeHigh School inAshburn.

On May28, she said, thetwo

arranged to meetagain, and the

youth threwher to the floor and

forcedhertoperformsexacts.

Thecase also has sparked an-

gerfrom parents who have ques-

tioned whythe teen was allowed

to attend another school while

awaiting trial in theMayassault.

IthaspromptedtheheadofLou-

doun Countyschools to embark

onmajorchangestothedistrict’s

disciplinaryprocedures aimedat

preventingasimila roccurrence.

It also has become an issue in

the Vi rgi niagoverno r’srace,

where in recent days Republican

candidate GlennYoungkin has

called for an investigation of the

Loudoun CountySchool Board

and demanded more police in

schools in response to the inci-

dents.

On Monday, the tee nage vic-

tim of theStone Bridge assault

testifiedthatsheandherattack-

er ha dagreed to meetupi na

school bathroom around12:15

SEELOUDOUNONB6

Judge finds teen committed sexual assault in Va. school

INCIDENT OCCURRED IN GIRLS’ BATHROOM

Case sparked parent anger and political firestorm

BYJIMMORRISON

portsmouth, va. —Gov. Ralph

Northam(D)andexecutivesfrom

Dominion Energyand Siemens

Gamesa Renewable Energyon

Mondayannounceda$200 mil-

lion projectto finish building

turbine blades thatwould har-

ness offshore wind on 80 acres

ofthe PortsmouthMarineTermi-

nal.

Alineup of local, stateand

federal leaders said the project,

the largestinthe United States,

positioned Virginiaat the fore-

front of developing wind energy.

“Thisputsusavita lstepcloserto

bein gthe lea der in offshore

wind,”Northamsaid,addingthat

inafewshortyearsthestatehad

pivoted fromexploring offshore

drilling,which would harm the

environment, to offshore wind.

“Virginia,”he said, “is all in for

offshorewind.”

Thefacility, combined with its

operations and maintenance ac-

tivities, will create 310 newjobs,

including 50 service positions to

supportDomi nion’s Coastal Vir-

SEEPORTSMOUTHONB7

$200 million

wind turbine

facility set

forVirginia

Portsmouth terminal

project to supply blades

for Dominion wind farm

BYLUZLAZO

Metro’s top executive said

Mondayhee xpects the transit

agenc ytos ubmit atesting plan

this weekthatwould beastep

toward bringingtroubled rail

carsbackintoservice.

Metro General Manager Paul

J. Wiede feld said the transit

agenc yexpects to provideapro-

posal to theWashingto nMetro-

rail Saf etyCommission—the

agenc ythatmonitor sMetrosafe-

ty —laying out how it will

overseethereturnofits7000-se-

riescars. Thesafety panelneeds

to approve the testingpro-

cedures beforeMetro followsup

withamitigatio nplanforhowto

safely return thetrainstos erv-

ice.

Wiedefeld’scommentscame

asth etransitagencycontinuesto

facequestions over the Oct.12

derailment and problems with

wheel assemblies of arail-car

series thatentered service be-

SEEMETROONB4

Metro to

submit plan

fortroubled

rail fleet

Agency is also working

to bring back older cars

to alleviate crowding

Transit alternative:D.C. residents

can get free Bikesharerides.B5