The Washington Post - 06.09.2019

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Shower 76/65 • Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, warmer 85/64 B8 Democracy Dies in Darkness FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 , 2019. $

A reckoning The Education Department fined

Michigan State $4.5 million for failing to

prevent sexual abuse by Larry Nassar. A

Trade talks The Dow rose nearly 400 points

on news that the U.S. and China will resume

high-level negotiations next month. A

WEEKEND

The Kennedy Center’s

ambitious new cultural

hub, the Reach, opens to

the public this weekend

by launching a 16-day

festival of the arts.

STYLE

Ethan Miller is elevating

black voices in the

fashion world as he

aims to help the industry

avoid more painful

blunders. C

In the News

THE NATION

President Trump’s

point person on Israeli-

Palestinian peace talks,

Jason D. Greenblatt, an-

nounced he will soon

leave his post. A

A staffer on Donald

Trump’s 2016 presiden-

tial campaign dropped a

lawsuit that accused

him of kissing her with-

out her consent. A

THE WORLD

The family of an

Afghan army captain

killed by the Taliban

hopes a peace deal will

make their sacrifices

worth it. A

The United States has

“delivered” on its original

military mission in Af-

ghanistan, Secretary of

State Mike Pompeo said,

as a peace deal an-

nouncement loomed. A

Deadly riots in Johan-

nesburg, stoked by

xenophobia, created

diplomatic tensions

between South Africa

and Nigeria. A

Prime Minister Boris

Johnson continued to

push for an early gener-

al election in Britain on

Thursday, despite the

public resignation of his

younger brother. A

THE ECONOMY

The Trump adminis-

tration unveiled a plan

to revamp the U.S.

housing market and end

government control

over Fannie Mae and

Freddie Mac. A

Sen. Edward J. Mar-

key (D-Mass.) requested

details from the doorbell-

camera firm Ring about

its partnerships with U.S.

police agencies. A

A tech executive’s

lament about a son’s

death and his own

work-life priorities

touched a chord with

other busy parents. A

THE REGION

The District plans to

demolish RFK Stadium

by 2021, driven by a

need to save money and

not to advance plans for

a new Redskins arena,

officials said. B

Gun control is driving

major spending — from

activists on both sides of

the issue — in Virginia’s

legislative races. B

People gathered to

honor the life of a home-

less man who lived

under a D.C. Macy’s

awning for more than

a decade. B

D.C. police released

nearly 400 images of

ATV and dirt-bike rid-

ers who were illegally

driving in Southeast

last month. B

Fines assessed to peo-

ple who evade Metro

fares go unpaid in Vir-

ginia far more often

than they are paid, court

records show. B

Inside

JEFF KOWALSKY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

BUSINESS NEWS ....................... A

COMICS ....................................... C

OPINION PAGES.........................A

LOTTERIES...................................B

OBITUARIES ................................ B

TELEVISION ................................. C

WORLD NEWS............................A

CONTENT © 2019

The Washington Post / Year 142, No. 275

BY PAUL SCHWARTZMAN

The thick, dusty ledgers were
scattered about the cluttered of-
fice, 18 of them, their pages filled
with neat script documenting the
deaths of thousands of black
Washingtonians over the course
of a half-century.
Open a volume to Page 123 and
there is Lawrence Monroe Ryles,
39, a “colored” postal worker who
on Sept. 13, 1947, was “run over by
a train.” Turn the pages and find
Melvin Bailey, of 1406 Third St.
NW, a 6-year-old who died the
same year of meningitis. Deep
inside another book is Leon An-
thony Porter Jr., 18, whose 1990

death occurred after a bullet

pierced his skull.

This compendium of fatal

heart attacks, seizures, neck frac-

tures and bullet wounds belongs

to the Hall Brothers Funeral

Home, whose owner was shutting

down the business after nearly 80

years and preparing to sell its

Florida Avenue headquarters, a

gracious Victorian rowhouse

across from the historic Howard

Theatre.

The demise of Hall Brothers —

the last of a half-dozen black-

owned funeral parlors along the

U Street-Florida Avenue NW cor-

ridor — is another marker in the

evolution of a neighborhood once

at the core of African American

life in Washington.

Now the strip embodies the

demographic and economic

shifts that have redefined the city,

with young professionals, a pre-

ponderance of them white, re-

placing black families, many of

which relied on Hall Brothers for

“sympathetic service” — as the

funeral home once advertised on

hand fans that mourners used to

cool themselves.

At its peak, from the 1950s

through the 1980s, Hall Brothers

performed as many as 140 funer-

als a year.

In 2018, it handled four.

SEE FUNERAL HOME ON A

BY REED ALBERGOTTI

Clue, a popular app women use

to track their periods, has risen to

near the top of Apple’s Health and

Fitness category.

It could be downhill from here.

Apple plans this month to in-

corporate some of Clue’s core

functionality, such as fertility and

period prediction, into its own

Health app, which comes pre-

installed in every iPhone and is

free — unlike Clue, which is free

to download but earns money by

selling subscriptions and services

within its app. Apple’s past incor-

poration of functionality includ-

ed in third-party apps has often

led to their demise.

The new threat Clue faces

shows how Apple plays a dual role

in the app economy: provider of

access to independent apps and

giant competitor to them.

“It’s a love-hate relationship, of

course. You don’t want to annoy

the milkman when you only have

one milkman,” said Clue chief

executive Ida Tin, who coined the

term “fem tech.” Though Tin said

she believes her Berlin-based

company can coexist with Apple,

she said it highlights the “skewed

power distribution” in the tech

industry.

Developers have come to ac-

cept that, without warning, Apple

can make their work obsolete by

announcing a new app or feature

that uses or incorporates their

ideas. Some apps have simply

buckled under the pressure, in

some cases shutting down. They

generally do not sue Apple, be-

cause of the difficulty and ex-

pense of fighting the tech giant —

and the consequences they might

face from being dependent on the

platform.

The imbalance of power be-

tween Apple and the apps on its

platform could turn into a rare

chink in the company’s armor as

SEE APP ON A

Funeral home dies in a changing D.C.

Black-owned Hall Brothers closes after nearly 80 years in storied part of city

In its App Store, Apple mines for gold

Developers that thrive on

tech giant’s platform can

find their ideas co-opted

BY REIS THEBAULT,

FENIT NIRAPPIL

AND TIM CRAIG

myrtle beach, s.c. — Hurricane

Dorian spawned damaging torna-

does and flooded low-lying com-

munities in the Carolinas on

Thursday, in what officials hope

will be the closing chapter of a

storm that devastated the Baha-

mas and has panicked East Coast

residents for the past 10 days.

The center of the storm, which

weakened to a Category 2 on

Thursday, crept northward just

offshore for most of the day, stick-

ing largely to its forecast track, as

it delivered heavy rain and hurri-

cane-force wind gusts to Charles-

ton and Myrtle Beach in South

Carolina. Ocean water poured

over sand dunes in some commu-

nities, but officials cautioned it

could take until Friday to assess

the damage.

As it whipped up the coast,

Dorian’s final blow was still aimed

at North Carolina, and forecasters

warned it could make landfall Fri-

day near the Outer Banks. The

trajectory was expected to pro-

duce what the National Hurricane

Center called life-threatening

storm surge in the Outer Banks,

where four to seven feet of water

could wash across the barrier is-

land from two directions.

“This will not be a brush-by,”

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper

(D) warned residents on Thurs-

day. “Whether it comes to shore or

not, the eye of the storm will be

close enough to cause extensive

damage to North Carolina.”

Even as officials warily eyed the

possible effects of Dorian in the

United States, federal officials an-

nounced Thursday that they are

marshaling additional resources

for the Bahamas, where the death

toll continues to climb. The U.S.

Agency for International Develop-

ment announced it will send “shel-

ter materials” for 35,000 people

there.

In the Carolinas, state and local

officials said they hoped residents

had heeded days of warnings

about Dorian’s expected arrival as

high winds snapped tree branches

and several feet of water flooded

many streets in the historic dis-

SEE DORIAN ON A

BY ANTHONY FAIOLA

marsh harbour, bahamas

— The corpse is clad in shorts,

its legs now bent at impossible

angles, its face frozen in a

bloated grimace, under what’s

left of a collapsed cement roof.

A man who knew him says his

name was Sebely, and he was

seeking shelter anywhere he

could find it, just as hundreds

of other poor residents in this

town did when Hurricane

Dorian struck.

“Six days! Six days and that

body’s still here!” shouted

Charite Alouivor, 55, a carpen-

ter of Haitian descent. “Where

are they? Where is the help?

Where is the water? Where is

the food? Where is the govern-

ment? Why are there bodies

still here?”

This port city of more than

6,000 was once home to quaint

island businesses, wood-frame

homes and one of the largest

urban slums in the Bahamas.

When Dorian struck, Marsh

Harbour was ground zero, the

point of impact of one of the

strongest cyclones on record.

The storm made landfall here

as a Category 5 hurricane, a

deadly tempest that leveled

homes, crushed cars, crumpled

boats and killed people.

On Thursday, teams in

hazmat suits were scouring

Marsh Harbour, performing

the grim, grueling duty of dig-

ging through the rubble for

remains.

“There are more bodies over

there in the Mudd,” said 12-

year-old Ville Maurin. He

SEE BAHAMAS ON A

Anguished survivors

await relief in Bahamas

Carolinas brace for

yet another storm

Some coastal areas

are still reeling from

last year’s Hurricane

Florence. A

An online search

for the missing

Some harness social

media to reunite

frantic relatives with

loved ones. A

Trump remains

fixed on Alabama

For yet another day,

he releases

statements and

outdated maps. A

Dorian grinds north, its fury unspent

CAROLYN VAN HOUTEN/THE WASHINGTON POST

Charite Alouivor, 55, a carpenter in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, a Great Abaco island town devastated by Hurricane Dorian, asked,

“Where is the help? Where is the water?” Two days after the storm smashed ashore here, U.S. officials announced a focus on relief efforts.

TOM COPELAND/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Power company employees on Thursday work to restore service

after a tornado hit Emerald Isle, N.C., as Hurricane Dorian

moved up the East Coast, bringing heavy rain and flooding.

OUTER BANKS UNDER

THREAT FROM SURGE

Wind, rain batter coast

ahead of possible landfall

BY LENA H. SUN

State and federal health offi-
cials investigating mysterious
lung illnesses linked to vaping
have found the same chemical in
samples of marijuana products
used by people sickened in differ-
ent parts of the country and who
used different brands of products
in recent weeks.
The chemical is an oil derived
from vitamin E. Investigators at
the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis-
tration shared that information
with state health officials during a
telephone briefing this week, ac-
cording to several officials who
took part in the call.
That same chemical was also
found in cannabis samples from
patients who fell ill in New York in
recent weeks, a state health de-
partment spokeswoman said.
While this is the first common
element found in samples from
across the country, health officials
say it is too early to know whether
this is causing these injuries.
Vitamin E is found naturally in
certain foods, such as canola oil,
olive oil and almonds. The oil
derived from the vitamin, known
as vitamin E acetate, is commonly
available as a nutritional supple-
ment and is used in topical skin
treatments. It is not known to
cause harm when ingested or ap-
plied to the skin. But its molecular
structure could make it hazardous
when inhaled, experts said. Its
oil-like properties could be associ-
ated with the kinds of respiratory
symptoms that many patients
have reported: cough, shortness
of breath and chest pain.
“We knew from earlier testing
by New York that they had found
vitamin E acetate, but to have FDA
talk about it from their overall
testing plan, that was the most
remarkable thing that we heard,”
said one official who listened to
the briefing but was not author-
ized to speak publicly.
The FDA also told state officials
SEE VAPING ON A

Common

thread

in vaping

illnesses

Oil made from vitamin E

is found in pot products

used by those who fell ill