ABCDE Sunny 84/62 • Mostly sunny 86/64 • details, B10
Economic growth slowed by
BY HOWARD SCHNEIDER A widening U.S. trade deficit has
become a substantial drag on economic growth as the country’s exports struggle to keep pacewith the swelling sums that Americans are again spending on im- ported goods. The rise in the trade deficit, including
an abrupt 16 percent jump in June, is a chief reason economists are downgrad- ing estimates for recent U.S. economic growth. Statistics to be released Friday are expected to show that the economy grew more slowly from April to June than initially thought, with a group of analysts polled by Bloomberg cutting their growth estimates to an annualized rate of 1.4 percent, down from 2.4 percent as reported by the government late lastmonth. The June trade shortfall of almost
$50 billionwas the largest in 19months. Analysts say it could be an anomaly, narrowing in coming months if a global economic recovery fuels heightened de- mand for U.S. exports. But the spike does raise fresh con-
cerns about whether some of the same factors that led to the economic crisis, including U.S. overconsumption, are beginning to reemerge. The yawning deficitmay also prove frustrating for the Obama administration as it seeks to create jobs by boosting U.S. exports. Companies at the center of the trade
debate portray an economy still in transition fromrecession to growth.U.S. oil imports are up and businesses are restocking their shelves with consumer goods — signs of recovery. But the rebound in global economic activity has yet to benefit U.S. exports. At U.S. firms with operations around
the globe, executives say they’re stoking production, but that increase often hasn’t translated intomore exports.
trade continued on A15
U.S. trade deficit In billions
50 100 150 200 $250
0 2008 SOURCE:Commerce Department 2009 2010 THE WASHINGTON POST
$200.3 billion
BY MICHAEL A. FLETCHER IN NEW ORLEANS
Imports Deficit Exports $150.5 billion Balance of trade, June: –$49.8 billion T
he massive government effort to repair the damage from Hurricane Katrina is fostering a stark divide
as the state governments in Louisiana and Mississippi structured the rebuild- ing programs in ways that often offered the most help to the most affluent resi- dents. The result, advocates say, has been an
uneven recovery, with whites and mid- dle-class people more likely than blacks and low-income people to have rebuilt their lives in the five years since the horrific storm.
LINDA DAVIDSON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Workers reskin the exterior of the Superdome in the final phase of a $185 million restoration project. Five years ago, manyHurricane Katrina survivors retreated to the squalor of the dome to escape the deadly floodwaters.
A tale of two recoveries
washingtonpost.com/katrina
Five years after the storm, a video report, photo gallery and interactive map chart the progress of the recovery. Also, former FEMA director Michael Brown defends his actions during the hurricane.
“The recovery is really the tale of two recoveries,” said James Perry, executive director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center. “For people who were well off before the storm, they are more likely to be back in their homes, back in their jobs and to have access to good health care. For those who were
poor or struggling to get by before the storm, the opposite is true.” Louisiana’s program to distribute
grants to property owners whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Katrina was found by a federal judge this month to discriminate against black homeown- ers.
Meanwhile, in Mississippi, state offi-
cials refused to offer rebuilding grants to propertyownerswhosufferedwinddam- age, explaining that the property owners should have carried private insurance. That rule hit low-income and black homeowners particularly hard, advo- cates say, because many of them were
katrina continued on A13
Iowa foes of same-sex marriage seek to oust judges who legalized it U.S. trade deficit
Conservatives’ unusual effort is new front in national battle over issue
In billions $
des moines — Politics is as much a mainstay of the Iowa State Fair as the deep-fried food and the cows sculpted out of butter. But the crowds searching for a remote corner under the grand-
50 100 150 200 250
BY SANDHYA SOMASHEKHAR Imports
Deficit Exports $150.5 billion Balance of trade, June: –$49.9 billion
STYLE 0
2WEEKEND
The sherpas of fashion
2008
Coming soon to the Web: Style for Hire, an online agency that promises to point us to experts qualified to steer us mere mortals away from sartorial embarrassment. C1
SOURCE:Commerce Department
BUSINESS NEWS..............A14 CLASSIFIEDS......................E1 COMICS.............................C6
2009 2010 THE WASHINGTON POST
Trade26.AAA PROOF1
Topic: Nat/Econ/Biz
RunDate: 08. 26. 2010 Size: 11p0 x3.75inches Artist: Tobey
FPO
EDITORIALS/LETTERS.....A19 FED PAGE.........................A18 RELIABLE SOURCE.............C2
LOTTERIES.........................B4 SPORTS.............................D1 OBITUARIES.......................B6
Comeback OPINIONS
Eugene Robinson: The dream lives—even with Glenn Beck around. A21
WEEKEND...........................T1 TELEVISION.......................C5 WORLD NEWS..................A10
corridor It took several decades after the 1968 riots, but H Street NE is back in a big way. A profile of the neighborhood.
INSIDE
BASEBALL Baby boomer
Before meeting the media at Nationals Park, 17-year-old rookie catcher Bryce Harper litters the
stands in batting practice, blasting a dozen home runs— including one to the seldom- reached top deck. D1, D5
Printed using recycled fiber
DAILY CODE Details, B2
1 8 4 0
2HIGHSCHOOLFOOTBALL A little help from her friends
Natalie Randolph knew she’d draw national attention when she became the boys’ football coach at Coolidge High School, so she assembled an able staff of 10 assistants. D1
ALLMETSPORTS.COM
The high school football season kicks off tonight, so stay updated at
AllMetSports.com, your home for Washington area sports.
The Washington Post Year 133, No. 265
CONTENT © 2010
$200.3 billion
stand thisweekwere not headed for one of the presidential hopefuls who rou- tinely drop by. They were interested in a normally low-key judicial election that has suddenly taken center stage in the national fight over same-sexmarriage. Conservative activists are trying to
oust three judges on the state Supreme Court whose unanimous ruling last year legalized same-sex unions. Their deci- sion stunned opponents nationwide and delighted advocates who were eager for
a victory in the heartland. Now, conservatives are staging an
unusual campaign that aims to defeat the judges in November. “We need to vote them off the bench
to send a message across Iowa that we, the people, still have the power,” said Bob Vander Plaats, a Republican politi- cian who is spearheading the campaign. “Not only will it send a message here in Iowa, but it will send a message in California, in Arizona and across the
l The GOP’s unexpected advocate for gay marriage. A6 BY GREG MILLER AND JOSHUA PARTLOW
The CIA is making secret payments to multiple members of President Hamid Karzai’s administration, in part to main- tain sources of information in a govern- ment in which the Afghan leader is often seen as having a limited grasp of develop- ments, according to current and former U.S. officials. The payments are long-standing in
many cases and designed to help the agency maintain a deep roster of allies within the presidential palace. Some aides function as CIA informants, but others collect stipends under more infor- mal arrangements meant to ensure their accessibility, a U.S. official said. The CIA has continued the payments
despite concerns that it is backing cor- rupt officials and undermining efforts to wean Afghans’ dependence on secret sources of income and graft. The U.S. official, speaking on condi-
tion of anonymity, said a significant number of officials in Karzai’s adminis- tration are on the payroll. Paul Gimiglia- no, a CIA spokesman, disputed that characterization, saying, “This anony- mous source appears driven by igno- rance, malice or both.” A former agency official said the
payments were necessary because “the head of state is not going to tell you
afghanistan continued on A12 No trial in USS Cole case?
The Justice Department says it has no current plans to prosecute Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, alleged coordinator of the USS Cole attack. A2
Progress stalls in closing gaps in D.C. schools
BY BILL TURQUE After twoyears of progress,Chancellor
Michelle A. Rhee’s effort to narrow the vast achievement gap separating white and African American students in D.C. public schools has stalled, an analysis of 2010 test score data shows. The slowed pace of improvement
comes as Mayor Adrian M. Fenty makes transformation of the city’s long-strug- gling school system a signature issue in his tightly contestedDemocratic primary race withD.C. CouncilChairman Vincent C. Gray. It is also a setback for Rhee, who
country that the courts have really taken on toomuch power.” The Iowa campaign is a new front in
the fight over same-sex marriage, a hot-button issue this year after a federal judge in California invalidated Proposi- tion 8, that state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex unions. This week, former Republican National Committee chair- man Ken Mehlman disclosed that he is gay and that he supports the federal court’s action in California, a case that
iowa continued on A6
established closure of the gap as an imperative when she accepted Fenty’s appointment as chancellor in 2007. She called the disparity “unacceptable” and pledged to eliminate it as a matter of educational and social justice. Data that Rhee released this week
showthatthedifference inthepercentag- es of white and black students who score at proficiency levels on the annual D.C. ComprehensiveAssessment System tests had narrowed from 2007 to this year.The most significant improvement was in secondary schools, where the spread in math achievement droppedmorethan 18
schools continued on A8 FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010
5 years after Katrina, themost obvious scars fromthe catastrophe are healing, but a big disparity persists in the aid given to poor and affluent to rebuild their lives
trade gap U.S. shortfall for June was largest in 19 months at nearly $50 billion
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CIA pays officials close to Karzai
Agency concerned Afghan leader not always in the know, officials say
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