By David Nakamura and Michael Birnbaum

Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 10, 2008; Page C01

It did not take long for Summer Spencer to learn how highly her boss, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, valued the D.C. summer youth jobs program.

Shortly after she was hired last year to run the city's employment agency, Fenty (D) gave her a directive: Turn no student away. To the mayor, the work-training program was a linchpin in his bid to improve the education system and decrease crime.

"Regardless of when they sign up . . . they get a job," Spencer, in an address to business leaders several months ago, recalled the mayor telling her.

Fenty's enthusiasm was based on personal experience: He scored a summer job from Mayor Marion Barry (D) as a teenager in the 1980s. It was also based on political opportunism: The jobs program has been a sacred cow for D.C. mayors, a way to offer opportunity to young people while hoping to reap goodwill from parents and students.

But over the past several weeks, Fenty's push to rapidly expand the program has backfired, with a $31 million cost overrun and organizational chaos resulting in one of the most high-profile stumbles of the administration. Instead of building Fenty's popularity, the program has raised questions about his management. In addition to D.C. Council members' calls for investigations of the program, some business leaders are concerned. Even administration officials say they worry about losing the hard-earned support of the private sector.

"In order to run a successful program, you've got to have parameters," said Barbara Lang, president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce. "You can't continue to add to the program and expect it to go off like clockwork."

Since the program began June 16, Spencer's agency, the Department of Employment Services, has been flooded by more than 21,000 students signing up. That figure, at least 7,000 more than last year's and far above projections, caught agency employees off guard. It also overwhelmed the new computer system, which had been installed to avoid the pay problems of years past.

Within weeks, as still more youths signed on, hundreds complained of being underpaid. Others were paid too much, and many were sent to the wrong job sites or had nowhere to report.

The chaos has busted the program's $21 million budget so badly that Fenty requested an additional $31 million last month to cover the payroll, a total of $52 million. It did not help that minimum wage rose to $6.55 on July 24, which was not factored into the estimates. Neither was a pay rate of up to $10 an hour for college students.

"The idea of enrolling as many teens as possible and then figuring out how to pay for it violates the basic principles of budgeting: deciding how much to spend and then sticking with it," said Ed Lazere, executive director of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, which studies budget and tax issues.

Yesterday, the mayor said in a statement, "We wanted to give every young person who wanted a summer job the opportunity to work and when we had an increased interest, the directive was given to accommodate them. We welcome any and all analysis that can help [the employment department] and the administration do a better job next year."

The preliminary findings of the internal probe, based on visits to dozens of work sites, show that the Employment Services Department did not know how many youths were enrolled, a Fenty administration official said. Open enrollment was also the policy last year, but Spencer had just come aboard and the program had not been as widely publicized. And although many participants quit or never showed up this year, their names remained on the payroll, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the review is not complete.

By this week, the administration will have a firm head count, the official said, and money could be saved once the payroll is scrubbed.

"In many ways, we're kind of victims of our ambition here," City Administrator Dan Tangherlini said in an interview late last month.

The summer jobs program began more than three decades ago as a federally funded initiative. When Marion Barry became mayor in 1979, he pledged to make it a hallmark of his administration, and enrollment reached 25,000 at its peak. Barry, now the Ward 8 council member, is still beloved by residents who thank him for their first paycheck.

Mayors have continued to support the effort. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), while dealing with the mid-1990s fiscal crisis, instructed his budget team to make sure the program was funded, although participation dropped to between 5,000 and 12,000 a year.

In January, Fenty and Spencer met with 80 business leaders at the Hogan & Hartson law firm to launch a campaign named "Just Take One," pressing the businesses to accept summer workers. Historically, most young people have worked at city agencies or nonprofit groups because businesses have complained about poor work habits among the students, ages 14 to 21.

"So many young people can get into trouble when they're not challenged, when they're not busy," Fenty told the business crowd.

Some business leaders responded to Fenty's call this year. Lang, of the Chamber of Commerce, agreed to place 300 students at area firms.

The recruiting efforts among youths went even better. At a May 15 oversight hearing before council member Carol Schwartz's Committee on Workforce Development and Government Operations, Spencer said 15,500 youths had signed up.

Schwartz (R-At Large) was impressed. The council and mayor, she told Spencer, had been in "a contest about who can fund more jobs for young people. I like this contest."

"It's a good contest," Spencer agreed.

Inside the Employment Services Department, however, chaos ruled. The new computer system, installed to permit electronic timecards, was not tested thoroughly, according to administration officials. Contracts with employers were not in place when the program began.

And hundreds of young people continued to stream in looking for work. Fenty ordered the enrollment to remain open, although he and Tangherlini had been briefed about the high participation.

After the first pay period, 19,482 students were paid. Although businesses reported students failing to show up -- Lang said 122 of the chamber's 300 interns did not report the first day -- the payroll continued to increase. By the second pay period, 20,149 youths were paid, and the number reached 21,018 by the third period, according to city financial records.

It's not what Fenty had in mind when he and Spencer were wooing business leaders.

"This city is headed toward unparalleled greatness," Fenty told them then. "But we have a few things we need to work harder on, and most of those things deal with young people."

Worries Over E. Coli Contamination Prompt Recall Of Beef Sold Between June 2 and Aug. 6
(AP) Whole Foods Market is recalling fresh ground beef sold between June 2 through Aug. 6, including beef possibly sold in Ohio, because of worries over E. coli bacteria contamination.

The company has received reports that seven people in Massachusetts and two people in Pennsylvania who shopped at Whole Foods Market became ill, spokeswoman Libba Letton said.

The company's recalled beef was processed at the Nebraska Beef plant linked to the E. coli outbreak this summer, she said. Federal health authorities say there have been 49 confirmed illnesses tied to that outbreak.

The recalled beef might have been sold at Whole Foods Market stores in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D. C., Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Canada.

Whole Foods Market of Austin, Texas, is asking customers who may have purchased ground beef from June 2 though Aug. 6 to dispose of the product and return it to the store with the packaging or receipt for a refund. For more information, consumers can call 512-542-0878.

By Alex Nicholson and Torrey Clark

Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Georgia accused Russia of waging ``full-scale war,'' as Russian troops took control of the capital of the separatist South Ossetia region, rejecting calls by the international community for an immediate cease-fire.

``It's all going to hell,'' Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said today in an interview on CNN in which he appealed for international help. ``We are willing to do cease- fire immediately providing the other side stops to shoot and to bomb.''

Russia has received no official communication from Georgia about Saakashvili's offer, the Kremlin press office said by telephone. Ships of Russia's Black Sea Fleet moved toward Abkhazia, another separatist region, and Georgia's largest port, Poti, while Russian jets crossed the border every 15 minutes to attack military and civilian targets in as many as six locations simultaneously, Georgian Security Council secretary Kakha Lomaia said. Russia's actions amounted to ``full-scale war,'' he said.

President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia's actions were a response to Georgia's assault on its citizens as well as the peacekeepers Russia has had in South Ossetia since the disputed region broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s. South Ossetia exists now as a de facto independent state with Russian economic support.

Putin's Visit

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin flew to Russia's North Ossetia region to oversee a ``humanitarian operation'' as refugees fled from the violence. Putin made the unannounced visit on his return from Beijing, where he had attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the former president's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said by phone.

Putin said Russia's actions were ``absolutely justified and legitimate and more important, necessary,'' in a meeting with regional leaders in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, broadcast on state television.

Putin's ``visit has no military component,'' and will be short, Peskov said, declining to elaborate. Putin said 34,000 refugees had crossed the border into Russia.

Russia will discuss a cease-fire ``only if Georgia withdraws all armed forces from the conflict zone and immediately signs a non-aggression pact with South Ossetia,'' Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on state television today.

Seeking Support

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has sought support from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and his counterparts in France and Germany, according to an interview with BBC television that was published on the ministry's Web site. He and Rice spoke three times yesterday, the ministry said.

President George W. Bush said the fighting represented ``a dangerous escalation.'' The U.S. president, in Beijing at the Olympic Games, called for an ``immediate halt to violence'' and ``an end to the Russian bombings.''

Lavrov said 1,500 civilians and 15 Russian peacekeepers have been killed so far, while Deputy Chief of the General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn said that two Russian aircraft had been shot down. Georgia has shot down 12 planes, three pilots were captured alive and a fourth was found dead, Lomaia said.

Georgia must withdraw its forces from South Ossetia and sign a non-aggression pact with the region and then ``the situation can calm down,'' Lavrov said.

State of War

Saakashvili today signed a decree declaring a state of war, Lomaia said. At least 55 Georgians, both civilian and military, have been killed, he said.

EU foreign ministers will meet early next week to discuss ways to resolve the crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in an e-mailed statement from Paris today.

Sarkozy proposed that a solution involve an immediate cease- fire, ``full respect'' for the territorial integrity of Georgia and a return to the situation on the ground that existed before hostilities erupted.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will go the region ``as soon as possible'' to discuss the proposals with all parties, the Elysee Palace statement said. France, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, earlier called on behalf of the EU for negotiations to end the fighting.

The Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has a peacekeeping mission in Georgia, is also sending an emissary to seek a cease-fire, Kouchner said late yesterday.

Challenge to Russia

Saakashvili, a U.S.-educated lawyer, came to power in the 2003 ``Rose Revolution'' backed by the U.S. He vowed to bring South Ossetia and two other separatist regions under central control in a challenge to Russia.

South Ossetia has a population of about 70,000 and is connected to Russia's North Ossetia region by a tunnel through the Caucasus Mountains. Most residents hold Russian passports.

The conflict could endanger U.S. aspirations to secure an emerging energy corridor linking Central Asia to Europe and deals a blow to its plans for bringing the former Soviet republic into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's orbit.

Georgia's Ambassador to the U.S. Vasiil Sikharulidze told Bloomberg Television the conflict would make NATO entry for the country harder, ``but we are strongly convinced we have to continue this way and that we will be a NATO member.''

Georgia is a key link in a U.S.-backed ``southern energy corridor'' that connects the Caspian Sea region with world markets, bypassing Russia. The BP Plc-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline to Turkey runs about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali.

The U.S. seeks to connect Central Asia natural gas supplies with European markets, skirting Russia in an attempt to weaken the grip of Russia's state-run OAO Gazprom energy company. One planned pipeline route runs from the Georgia-Turkey border.

The ruble dropped the most against the dollar in 8 1/2 years and Russian stocks tumbled yesterday on concern the fighting would worsen.

``This could be a prolonged and bloody conflict with an unpredictable end,'' said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst in Moscow.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Nicholson in Moscow at Anicholson6@bloomberg.net. Torrey Clark in Moscow at tclark8@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 9, 2008 16:45 EDT

Sat Aug 9, 2008 5:03pm EDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - Several explosions rocked Kuqa county in China's restive Xinjiang region early on Sunday morning, Xinhua news agency reported.

It said there were sporadic sounds of gunfire after the explosions, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

An attack at a border police station in Xinjiang, China's far western region, killed 16 police on Monday.

(Editing by Chris Wilson)

Saturday, August 09, 2008

BAGHDAD — The death toll from a blast in a market in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar rose to 25 on Saturday after four of the six dozen people injured died from their wounds, a security official said.

The predominantly ethnic Turkoman town was under an indefinite curfew a day after Friday's bombing, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to the speak to the media.

The official, who was familiar with the police investigation, said the blast was carried out by a lone Sunni Turkoman suicide bomber from Tal Afar, whose identity was established after forensic tests on his remains. The bomber had been released from detention four months ago under an amnesty passed by parliament earlier this year, he added.

Initial reports said a parked car was used in the attack.

The bomber may have avoided detection at a checkpoint leading to the busy market by having a man ride with him in the passenger seat, said the official. The passenger got off soon after the car passed the checkpoint, he added, quoting witness reports.

The top U.S. diplomat and military commander in Iraq condemned the attack in Tal Afar, located 260 miles (420 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus said in a joint statement Saturday that the "senseless" attack will further unite the Iraqi people to reject al-Qaida in Iraq and the "indiscriminate" violence it inflicts on civilians.

The bombing, which bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida, is likely to stoke tensions among ethnic groups throughout northern Iraq because of a dispute over control of the oil-rich region of Kirkuk. The city is claimed by the Kurds who want to annex it to their self-ruled region, but its Arab and Turkomen residents want to remain under central government control.

Northern Iraq has been suffering most from insurgent attacks while the rest of the country has seen the lowest levels of violence in four years. That improvement has been attributed to the dispatch of additional U.S. troops last year, a cease-fire by a Shiite militia and a revolt by Sunni tribesmen and insurgents against the al-Qaida in Iraq.

The deadly Tal Afar bombing was a grim reminder that al-Qaida in Iraq and other militant groups remain capable of executing major attacks in Iraq despite the presence of about 145,000 troops and what is widely perceived as improving Iraqi security forces.

It also comes days after two Iraqi officials said the Americans had agreed to remove all U.S. troops from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, and withdraw combat units by October 2010. All American troops would be gone around 2013, the Iraqis said on condition of anonymity because the talks are ongoing. U.S. officials in Washington insisted that no firm dates have been agreed.

Meanwhile, Georgia — the third largest contributor to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq — said it is pulling out its entire 2,000-strong contingent from Iraq to join the fighting in the breakaway province of South Ossetia as soon as transport can be arranged.

A U.S. military spokesman said the departure of the Georgians will have "some impact" in the near term but no significant long-term effect on Iraq's security.

Col. Bondo Maisuradze, commander of the Georgia brigade, told The Associated Press Saturday that all his troops would be leaving, but he couldn't say when because transportation arrangements had not been finalized. "All the Georgian guys will be leaving for the homeland," he said.

The Georgians have asked the United States to provide transportation, and U.S. spokesman Capt. Charles G. Calio said all options are being considered.

In scattered violence Saturday, a bodyguard who works for Youth and Sports minister Jassim Mohammed Ja'afar was gunned down outside his home near the city of Kirkuk, according to a police source who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to disclose the information.

Also in northern Iraq, unidentified gunmen shot dead a 50-year-old woman outside her home in the al-Maamoun district in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad.

In the capital, an American soldier was killed and two others were wounded in a roadside bombing Friday night, the U.S. military said.