Volunteers place wreaths at Arlington cemetery

Volunteers place wreaths at Arlington cemetery

ARLINGTON, Va.

A huge number of volunteers placed wreaths on tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery.

WTOP-FM reported the annual event drew a large crowd Saturday, with more than 245,000 wreaths placed at grave sites.

The Wreaths Across America caravan traveled earlier this month from Columbia Falls, Maine, where the wreaths were made. The caravan went through several states before arriving in Arlington.

The grand marshals were Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient Roger Donlon and his wife, Norma Donlon.

Special counsel obtains emails of Trump transition

washington

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian contacts with President Donald Trump’s campaign has gained access to thousands of emails sent and received by Trump officials before the start of his administration, according to several people familiar with Trump’s transition organization.

But the investigators did not directly request the records from Trump’s still-existing transition group, Trump for America, and instead obtained them from a separate federal agency that stored the material, according to those familiar with the Trump transition organization.

A transition attorney sent letters Saturday to two congressional committees saying the General Services Administration had improperly provided the transition records to investigators. Kory Langhofer, general counsel for the transition group, wrote to the Republican chairmen of the House Oversight committee and the Senate Homeland Security committee about what the transition contends was an “unauthorized” disclosure of its emails.

CDC ban on ‘fetus’ and ‘transgender?’ Experts alarmed

NEW YORK

Health leaders say they are alarmed about a report that officials at the nation’s top public health agency are being told not to use certain words or phrases in official budget documents, including “fetus,” “transgender” and “science-based.”

The health community was reacting to a story in The Washington Post published late Friday citing an anonymous source who said the prohibition was made at a recent meeting of senior budget officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The seven words and phrases – “diversity,” “entitlement,” “fetus,” transgender,” “vulnerable,” “evidence-based” and “science-based” – were not to be used in documents that are to be circulated within the federal government and Congress in preparation of the next presidential budget proposal, the paper reported.

Zoo officials to take Fiona the hippo off bottle feeding

CINCINNATI

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden says Fiona the baby hippopotamus will soon eat nothing but grown-up hippo food as she’s weaned from her bottles of formula.

Fiona is closing in on 650 pounds after being born in January six weeks premature and weighing just 29 pounds, far smaller than typical hippo newborns.

Fiona’s early struggles caught the world’s attention, turning her into an adored icon and star zoo attraction.

She received 24-hour care in her first months.

A zoo spokeswoman says hippos are normally weaned between eight and 10 months. Fiona dines with her mother, Bibi, on hay, fruit, lettuce, beet pulp and grain.

Associated Press