ABCDE
Thundershower. 73/63 • Tomorrow: Partly sunny. 78/65 • details, B8
Increases in Metro fares will hit all riders
20-cent surcharge approved for top peak rush-hour times; no service cuts are planned
by Ann Scott Tyson and Lisa Rein
Metro’s board of directors on Thursday unanimously approved the most expan- sive fare hike in the history of the transit agency: nearly $109 million worth of rail, bus and paratransit increases, including a new 20-cent “peak-of-the-peak” sur- charge for some rush-hour riders. Rail fares will increase about 18 per- cent overall, with the peak rail boarding fare going from $1.65 to $1.95. The bus boarding charge will go up 20 percent, from $1.25 to $1.50 for SmarTrip users and from $1.35 to $1.70 for cash custom- ers. The maximum peak fare on Metrorail will rise from $4.50 to $5.45 for cash cus- tomers riding during the busiest periods, the “peak of the peak”: weekdays from 7:30 to 9 a.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m. SmarTrip users will see their maximum fare in- crease to $5.20. This is the first time a differential has been applied between cash and SmarTrip rail fares, said Peter Benjamin, chairman of Metro’s board of directors. Bus custom- ers who used cash were already paying a surcharge. Metro wants to encourage people to use the SmarTrip system, which officials have described as more efficient. The plastic card, which riders can add more funds to, costs $5. Concerned that riders should not pay more for reduced service, the board elimi- nated all proposed service cuts. A revised budget submitted to the board by Interim General Manager Richard Sarles last month contained $8 million in such cuts. “People would find intolerable the idea
that there would be a fare increase and also less service provided,” said board
metro continued on A10
Metro’s new
top fare: $5.45
What else can you buy for that amount?
A 1.2-mile D.C. cab ride, plus wait charges About 1.85 gallons of gas
A Starbucks venti vanilla latte (with extra shot of espresso)
A Double Quarter Pounder at McDonald’s
FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010
Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington.
MD DC VASV1V2V3V4
washingtonpost.com • 75¢
Oil-leak gush hits record levels
U.S. OFFICIAL RESIGNS
Obama pulls drilling permits for 33 deepwater rigs in gulf
by Joel Achenbach
and David A. Fahrenthold
With mud continuing to battle oil in
an attempted “top kill” of the leaking well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the historic scale of the disaster became clearer Thursday when scientists said the mile-deep well has been spewing 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil a day, far more than previously estimated. The new figure supports what many
ANN MARIE GORDEN/U.S. COAST GUARD VIA BLOOMBERG
The mobile offshore drilling unit Q4000, foreground left, holds position directly over the damaged Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer in the Gulf of Mexico as crews work to plug the wellhead using a technique known as “top kill.”
ANALYSIS
by Karen Tumulty
Obama struggling to show he’s in control
Time means money,
plagued government agency that over- sees offshore drilling “weren’t happen- ing fast enough.”
A defensive President Obama sought
Thursday to quell doubts about his han- dling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, in- sisting that his administration has been “in charge” from the moment it began and bristling that critics who accuse it of being sluggish to react “don’t know the facts.”
But at times during a 63-minute news conference in the East Room of the White House, the president seemed to undercut his own argument. He enu- merated a litany of fumbles and lapses: that the government lacks resources and “superior technology” to respond to the disaster; that he personally had as- sumed oil companies “had their act to- gether when it came to worst-case sce- narios”; that his administration “fell short” with its acceptance of BP’s in- accurate estimate of the size of the gush- er; that reforms of the corruption-
At one point, Obama said he did not know whether Elizabeth Birnbaum — the director of the Minerals Manage- ment Service he blamed for allowing the oil industry to overrule environmental and safety concerns — had resigned or been fired hours before. The news conference marked a sharp
departure in tone from the first days af- ter an oil rig explosion caused the spill, when the White House seemed deter- mined to fix the blame and keep the pub- lic outrage directed at the oil company involved. “In case you were wondering who’s responsible, I take responsibility,” Obama said Thursday. “It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down.” This is the familiar Obama: resolute and in charge. But six weeks after the
obama continued on A8
Looking for the money behind the protest mob
Thai authorities freeze assets and demand answers of dozens of millionaires
By Andrew Higgins
in bangkok
V
ictorious over rice farmers in flip- flops and riffraff with slingshots, molotov cocktails and a few guns, the commander in chief of the Royal Thai Army has moved swiftly to contain an- other menace: a golf-loving steel tycoon and maker of Nestle instant coffee. Multimillionaire businessman Prayudh
Mahagitsiri is now No. 21 on the latest in- stallment of an expanding financial black- list issued by the Center for the Resolu- tion of the Emergency Situation, a body handling Thailand’s gravest political cri- sis since the founding of the modern Thai state in 1932. Prayudh, along with 151 other business- men, politicians, lawyers and other al- leged financiers of “red shirt” protests, has seen his bank accounts frozen and been ordered to report details of all finan- cial transactions since September to au- thorities. The aim, said an emergency de-
cree signed by Gen. Anupong Paochinda, is to root out threats to “national security and the safety of citizens” and “get rid of this problem effectively and immediately.” Last week, the Thai military forcibly ended a nine-week protest that had para- lyzed central Bangkok, resulting in a fren- zy of arson and looting. In all, more than 85 people died in the mayhem and earlier violence. One of Asia’s most vibrant economies is
now getting cleaned up and back in busi- ness, but the government’s campaign to rip out the roots of the protests once and for all has turned on some of Thailand’s wealthiest businesspeople. This economic assault has highlighted
a curious and highly volatile feature of a raucous struggle often seen as a battle be- tween Thailand’s haves and have-nots. Al- though many rank-and-file red shirts are relatively poor and many of their most strident critics — “yellow shirts” — are fairly well-to-do, Thailand’s far-from-re-
thailand continued on A17
MANISH SWARUP/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Women talk from their boats as they sell vegetables at a floating market in Damnoen Saduak, 50 miles west of Bangkok. Life has returned to normal for many Thais.
INSIDE
POLITICS & THE NATION
A vote to end ‘don’t ask’
A Senate committee sets in motion a repeal of the military gay ban. A2
OPINIONS
Kirk Adams:
Dispelling myths on Arizona’s bill. A23
BUSINESS NEWS.......A18-21 CLASSIFIEDS.....................E1 COMICS..........................C5-6
EDITORIALS/LETTERS...A24 FED PAGE ........................A22 GOING OUT GUIDEWeekend
LOTTERIES.........................B4 MOVIES..................Weekend OBITUARIES...................B6-7
2 WEEKEND
Summer concert guide
Your guide to summer online
From free concerts in the park to Rihanna and Tom Petty stadium events, get our picks for not-to-be-missed shows.
Who has the best ice cream? What summer blockbuster opens this weekend? Where should you stay at the beach? Get answers to all questions at
goingoutguide.com.
6
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
A global rally
Stocks roar back as China says it won’t unload euro debt. A18
STOCKS............................A21 TELEVISION.......................C4 WORLD NEWS............A14-17
Printed using recycled fiber
METRO
U-Va. vs. Cuccinelli
The university fights the attorney general’s demand for a climate scientist’s papers. B1
DAILY CODE
Details, B2
1253
BASEBALL
GIANTS
5
NATIONALS
4
Washington falls back to .500 with a loss on the road. D1
1
The Washington Post Year 133, No. 174
CONTENTS© 2010
observers have assumed from the images of oil slicking the gulf surface, slathering beaches and spurting from a pipe on the sea floor: This is the worst oil spill in U.S. history. President Obama, feeling pressure to
and a whole lot of it
Operating the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was costing BP $2 million a day, and drilling went about three months longer than expected. A8
Virginia’s McDonnell
needs a new plan
President Obama’s decision to shut down offshore drilling has left Virginia searching for another source for transportation funding and jobs. A9
Steven Pearlstein
BP made a litany of errors, but its executives are taking responsibility. A18
Opinions
Charles Krauthammer and Eugene Robinson on who’s responsible. A25
act in a crisis now in its sixth week, yanked the exploratory drilling permits for 33 deepwater rigs in the gulf and sus- pended planned exploration in two areas off the coast of Alaska. He an- nounced the moves at a news conference carried on cable TV channels that simul- taneously showed the live video feed of effluent billowing from the cracked riser pipe at the bottom of the gulf. Obama pushed back on suggestions
that, as he put it, “BP is off running around doing whatever it wants and no- body is minding the store.” He said that his administration is doing all it can, but that, when it comes to plugging the leak, “the federal government does not pos- sess superior technology to BP.” The eventful day included the first prominent administrative casualty of the crisis. Elizabeth Birnbaum, head of Minerals Management Service, which is- sues permits for offshore drilling, re- signed. The political developments continue to be overshadowed by a technological struggle that has no precedent. Whether the top kill is going to work remains highly uncertain. The maneuver is a brute-force, yet del-
oil spill continued on A9
Kagan pursued two paths on ‘don’t ask’ at Harvard
As law dean, she opposed military recruiters while asking students to fill the role
by Amy Goldstein
Elena Kagan picked up her phone just
before Christmas 2004 and, in an unchar- acteristic moment as Harvard Law School dean, dialed the home number of a third-year student. She asked him, a leader of a tiny club of military veterans, to come by her office, where she broached the touchy matter of military recruiting on campus and made a surprising re- quest.
Because the law school had just stopped sponsoring recruiters from the armed services, Kagan said, she hoped the veterans club would arrange recruit- ing interviews to fill the gap. But the re- quest was more than the few veterans on
campus would embrace. After an intense debate, the Harvard Law School Veterans Association turned her down, according to three people who were in the room, de- ciding that — as one put it — “we are basi- cally students, not recruiters.” The little-known episode illustrates
that, at the time when the issue was most feverish, Kagan was pursuing two cours- es at once: While staking out a tough stance against the recruiting, because of the military’s ban on gay men and lesbi- ans serving openly, she simultaneously maneuvered to facilitate it behind the scenes. Those watching her up close were divided over whether she was hedging on hard choices or simply trying not to an- tagonize rival campus factions. Now that President Obama has nom-
inated Kagan to the Supreme Court, her attitudes about the military while dean have emerged as a prominent issue, which her conservative critics are wield-
kagan continued on A7
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