https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/19/world/swati-mohan-nasa-perseverance-landing-scn-trnd/index.html



(CNN)It was Swati Mohan who first delivered the news to earthlings that NASA's Perseverance rover had successfully landed on Mars.

"Touchdown confirmed," she announced to roaring applause from mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Perseverance safely on the surface of Mars, ready to begin seeking the signs of past life."
You might have seen her in the front row of the control room, bindi on her forehead, providing constant updates to the team as mission commentator for the historic landing. But before that nail-biting moment, Mohan had been working for years to make it all happen.

Mohan, an Indian American who moved to the United States when she was a year old, is the guidance and controls operations lead for the Perseverance rover mission, acting as the "eyes and ears" for NASA's most sophisticated spacecraft to date.
Not only is Mohan a pivotal player in the effort to determine whether there was ever life on the red planet; she's also a reflection of the progress NASA has made in reflecting the nation it represents.

Her passion for space started with 'Star Trek'
Mohan has been interested in space ever since she saw her first "Star Trek" television episode at age 9. It opened up her world to the beauty and expanse of the universe.

"I remember thinking 'I want to do that. I want to find new and beautiful places in the universe,'" she recalled in a Q&A on NASA's website. "The vastness of space holds so much knowledge that we have only begun to learn."
Still, she thought she would grow up to become a pediatrician. It wasn't until she took her first physics class at age 16 that she began considering a career in engineering, which would allow her to follow her childhood dreams of exploring space.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/merrick-garland-oklahoma-city-bombing/2021/02/19/a9e6adde-67f2-11eb-8468-21bc48f07fe5_story.html

The truck bomb leveled a section of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 168 and injuring hundreds more in one of the deadliest domestic terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. But as Merrick Garland huddled with the lead prosecutor on the case, he urged caution in presenting the massive amount of evidence from the wreckage.

“Do not bury the crime in the clutter,” he said.

Garland, then a top Justice Department official, was encouraging prosecutors to speed the trial along and jettison superfluous findings in their case against Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted of carrying out the 1995 attack and executed in 2001, said Joe Hartzler, the team’s lead attorney. Hartzler said he found the advice so compelling that he wrote the words on a sheet of paper and hung it on an office wall as a rallying cry for his team.

More than two decades later, Garland, 68, is preparing to lead the Justice Department as attorney general and facing a domestic terrorism threat that has metastasized, with white supremacists and conspiracy-minded anti-government types emboldened by their acknowledgment from former president Donald Trump.

Those who worked with Garland on the Oklahoma City case — and the prosecution of another notorious domestic terrorist known as the Unabomber — say the experiences shaped him, and make him well-positioned to confront the current threat.

“This almost feels like a precursor. How much more experience could you possibly have in domestic terrorism?” said Donna Bucella, a former Justice Department official who, like Garland, was sent to Oklahoma City in the attack’s aftermath to help manage law enforcement’s response. “He’ll be very methodical. I think he’ll demand it’s being done the right way.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/02/17/dc-area-forecast-accumulating-snow-early-thursday-then-changing-wintry-mix-staying-cold-through-weekend/

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for much of the region, except Calvert and St. Mary’s counties, which are under a winter weather advisory. The warning is in effect from 3 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday.

https://twitter.com/NWS_BaltWash/status/1362057234608316416

The Weather Service expects 3 to 6 inches of snow and up to a quarter inch of ice from Thursday’s storm. “Travel could be nearly impossible,” the Weather Service writes. “The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening commute.”

We’ll have a new, detailed briefing on the storm published between midday and early afternoon.

https://www.upworthy.com/biden-valentines-day-walk



This morning, Joe and Jill Biden went out for a walk with their dogs, Champ and Major, to check out the surprise the first lady had installed overnight for Valentine's Day weekend. The White House lawn has been decorated with oversized hearts that have positive words like LOVE, GRATITUDE, COMPASSION, and FAMILY on them. The one that says HEALING is signed "Love, Jill."

As they walked along with coffee cups in hand, the first couple was met by a few members of the press. The conversation that they had has gone viral—not so much because of how extraordinary it was, but rather the opposite. It was delightfully ordinary, filled with normalcy, decency, and even a random act of kindness for good measure. And the simple goodness of it all is moving people to tears.

https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1360215437427027969

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/06/usps-biden-democrats-dejoy/

The nation’s mail service is slower and more erratic than it’s been in generations, via the confluence of an abrupt reorganization and pandemic-era anomalies that has fueled demands for reform and fundamentally different ideas on how to achieve it.

On one side is Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who, with the backing of the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board, is expected as soon as next week to outline a new vision for the agency, one that includes more service cuts, higher and region-specific pricing, and lower delivery expectations.

But congressional Democrats are pressing President Biden to install new board members, creating a majority bloc that could oust DeJoy, a Trump loyalist whose aggressive cost-cutting over the summer has been singled out for much of the performance decline. The fight over the agency’s future is expected to be fraught and protracted, leaving Americans with unreliable mail delivery for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, customers are fuming on social media and to postal workers about late holiday packages and days-long delivery gaps. Only 38 percent of nonlocal first-class mail arrived on time in late December, compared with 92 percent in the year-ago period, according to data reported in federal voting lawsuits. The agency has not disclosed performance data in 2021.