LOSS TO CANADIENS FORCES CAPITALS INTO GAME 7. D1
ABCDE
Showers. 62/43 • Tomorrow: Mostly sunny. 64/46 • details, B8
Both sides in immigration fight criticize
Washington
Inaction by Congress blamed for making Arizona law possible
by Peter Slevin
phoenix — On the grounds of the Capi- tol, in a state that only days earlier had adopted the nation’s strictest anti-immi- gration law, the two sides of an angry de- bate are united on one thing: They blame Washington. Years of congressional inaction and pa-
ralysis on immigration created a vacuum that either forced the Arizona legislature to step in or allowed overzealous law- makers to trump federal authority, de- pending on whom you ask. The law is injecting new life into the
election-year debate over an issue felt strongly in the states, particularly along the Mexican border, even as Congress ap- pears to be at an impasse over whether to consider a complex immigration bill be- fore facing voters this fall. President Obama came to office prom- ising a broad overhaul of laws governing border security and how illegal immi- grants are treated after they arrive in the United States. But he must decide how far to push the issue in the face of a legis- lative calendar crowded with a pending Supreme Court nomination and fights over financial regulation and the sweep- ing energy reform policy known as cap and trade. Democrats and Republicans are torn, with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) urging action ahead of his difficult reelection fight but others unmoved. Three days after Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed the bill, the parched grass sur- rounding the Capitol remained a politi- cal staging ground for both sides. A young woman in a “Legalize Arizona” T- shirt vied for attention with a man carry- ing a sign that read “You are an Illigal Im- migrant in my Country.” The law gives local police broad au-
thority to stop and request documents from anyone they reasonably suspect is an illegal immigrant. It calls for aggres-
arizona continued on A5
Opinion: Eugene Robinson and Richard Cohen. A17
GERALD MARTINEAU FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Smithsonian Institution security officer Christopher Camper and employees Megan Byrnes and Elizabeth Gische stand guard.
mother duck and her 13 babies decided to take a short stroll up Independence Avenue on Wednesday, under the watchful eyes of Smithsonian museum employees who brought traffic to a stop for them. The ducks had wandered away from the ponds outside the National Museum of the American Indian, but after a few squawks of protest, they were all safely gathered into a bucket and returned to their pond.
A
Suburbs trail D.C. in fighting AIDS, study says
First look at Md., Va. efforts to combat disease cites lack of coordination in jurisdictions
by Darryl Fears
Suburban governments lag behind the
District in efforts to help slow the spread of AIDS even though they are home to nearly half of the Washington area resi- dents infected with the disease, accord- ing to a study released Tuesday. In what is billed as the first look at the scope of HIV/AIDS infection in suburban Washington, the study decries the lack of coordination that it says denies thou- sands of infected people the medical and support services they need and deserve,
“regardless of where they live.” The study calls on local governments to establish standards so that everyone is tested for HIV during routine medical visits, unless they opt out. The study also suggests that everyone who goes to an emergency room be offered a quick mouth swab to test for the disease. The study, funded by the Washington
AIDS Partnership, shows that 46 percent of the region’s more than 17,000 AIDS pa- tients live in the suburbs; 54 percent live in the District. In addition to those who have AIDS, about 13,000 people in the D.C. area are HIV positive. However, the infection rate in the suburbs is much lower than in the District, where 3 percent of the city’s res- idents have HIV or AIDS — considered a major epidemic. Men having sex with men is the main mode of transmission in
A neighborhood watch, with guns
Some Afghan officials fear Special Forces pilot project will create militias
by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
arghandab district, afghani-
stan — Taliban fighters used to swagger with impunity through this farming vil- lage, threatening to assassinate govern- ment collaborators. They seeded the main thoroughfare, a dirt road with moonlike craters, with land mines. They paid local men to attack U.S. and Afghan troops. Then, beginning in late February, a small detachment of U.S. Special Forces soldiers organized nearly two dozen vil- lagers into an armed Afghan-style neigh- borhood watch group. These days, the bazaar is thriving. The schoolhouse has reopened. People in the area have become confident enough to re- port Taliban activity to the village defense force and the police. As a consequence, in- surgent attacks have nearly ceased and U.S. soldiers have not hit a single roadside
Afghans who are members of a local defense force organized and trained by U.S. Special Forces soldiers plan to conduct a traffic checkpoint in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province. “Everyone feels safer now,” a tribal elder says.
RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN/ THE WASHINGTON POST
bomb in the area in two months, accord- ing to the detachment. “Everyone feels safer now,” said Nasa- rullah, one of two gray-bearded tribal el- ders in charge of the village force. “No- body worries about getting killed any- more.” The rapid and profound changes have
generated excitement among top U.S. military officials in Afghanistan, fueling
hope that such groups could reverse in- surgent gains by providing the population a degree of protection that the police, the Afghan army and even international mili- tary forces have been unable to deliver. But plans to expand the program have
been stymied by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who fears the teams could turn
forces continued on A8
INSIDE
HEALTH & SCIENCE
A cure that’s out of reach
A growing number of cancer patients can’t get access to newer chemotherapy pills or are required to pay thousands of dollars a month for the medicine. E1
BUSINESS NEWS............A10 CLASSIFIEDS .....................F1 COMICS ..........................C7-8
EDITORIALS/LETTERS...A16-17 FED PAGE.........................A15 GOING OUT GUIDE............C5
LOTTERIES.........................B4 MOVIES..............................C4 OBITUARIES...................B5-7
SPORTS
Hot goalie stays hot »
Jaroslav Halak again stymies the Capitals as the Canadiens win 4-1. The playoff series will be decided Wednesday at Verizon Center. D1
STYLE
The Blade is back
The District’s long-running gay weekly will resume publishing after former staffers acquired the assets in bankruptcy court. C1
STOCKS............................A14 TELEVISION.......................C6 WORLD NEWS...................A6
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DAILY CODE
Details, B2
5996
THE NATION
1,000 a day
That’s the number of barrels of oil still pouring into the Gulf of Mexico after last week’s offshore drilling rig explosion. A4
1
BUSINESS
Northrop picks Virginia
Maryland and the District lose out in competition for defense company’s headquarters. A14
The Washington Post Year 133, No. 143
CONTENTS© 2010
Distribution of AIDS cases in the Washington area
Maryland suburbs
Virginia suburbs
18% 28% 54%
District
both areas. “Nobody’s really looked at the sub-
urbs,” said Emily Gantz McKay, president of Mosaica: The Center for Nonprofit De- velopment and Pluralism, which wrote the study. “There tends to be a big focus on central cities.” The study suggests that the suburbs can do more to fight the disease, includ-
aids continued on A5
TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010
A lesson on Independence
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Financial overhaul blocked by GOP
VOTES LACKING TO START DEBATE
One Democrat defects; negotiations continue
by Brady Dennis
and Shailagh Murray
Republicans voted unanimously Mon-
day to block an effort to overhaul finan- cial regulations from reaching the Senate floor, pledging to hold out for significant changes to the bill even as they acknowl- edged the political risk of appearing to obstruct a popular cause. The 57 to 41 vote in favor of beginning
debate, short of the 60 needed, was ex- pected, although Democrats did suffer an unanticipated defection when Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.) joined Republicans as a no. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) was prepared to call fur- ther votes Tuesday, Wednesday and be- yond. “We need to keep the pressure on to
get a deal as quickly as possible,” Reid spokesman Jim Manley said. About two-thirds of Americans sup-
ported stricter regulations on the way banks and other financial institutions conduct their business, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Major- ities also backed two main components of pending Senate bill: greater federal oversight of consumer loans, and a pro- posed fund paid for by the financial in- dustry that would go toward dismantling failed firms that put the broader econo- my at risk.
Given the public support for tougher Wall Street rules, the unanimity that Re-
regulation continued on A13
Goldman in the hot seat
Goldman Sachs executives will face questions at a Senate hearing. A11
Small city in Italy just one of many around globe facing crushing debt
Bad investments by towns, provinces threaten to open new front in financial crisis
by Anthony Faiola
recanati, italy — This 12th-century
gem, birthplace of the poet Giacomo Leo- pardi, rests on a lyrical hilltop in the Ap- ennine Mountains. But these days, Reca- nati is also sitting on something else: a pile of financial trouble.
Concern over near- bankrupt countries forced Greece on Thursday to re- quest a huge international bailout. The plight here, however, underscores fears of a new front in the battle against global debt — at the state and local level. Recanati is one of hundreds of munici- palities around the world facing a deep- ening financial crunch from bad invest-
Presidential panel on debt convenes
Leaders of both parties agree that the problem must be addressed. A10
ments, plummeting tax revenue, high debt levels and rampant overspending. In the United States, at least six states have budget gaps bigger than Greece’s, with Hawaii shifting to a four-day school week to cope. In Spain, a substantial drop in tax revenue from a bust in construc- tion is battering budgets in the cities of Madrid and Valencia, as well as in the provinces of Catalonia and Andalusia, raising the threat that ratings agencies will downgrade their debt. The picture is particularly bleak in Ita- ly, where many cities and towns invested heavily in complex bets on interest rates. Now deep in the red, Recanati is being forced to sell off park- land, unload a public kin- dergarten, scale back aid to the elderly and scrap
costly repairs on leaking churches and ancient cobblestone streets. “We are in a financial emergency be-
cities continued on A12
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