Washington motorcycle ride honors vets
WASHINGTON -- The roar of motorcycle engines filled the air in the nation's capital Sunday as thousands of bikers saluted military veterans with the Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom.
The bikers and spectators thronged to the area, as they do each Memorial Day weekend for the annual ride. The event got its start in 1988, and it honors military veterans and members of the military missing in action.
Bikers rallied at the Pentagon all morning Sunday, then crossed the Memorial Bridge at midday before cruising around the National Mall.
Some of the bikers rode with large American flags trailing behind them. Marines in uniform and white gloves saluted as the bikers roared passed monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial.
Hawaiians stage anti-Monsanto rallies
HONOLULU -- Demonstrators planted coconut trees and waved signs in rallies across the Hawaiian Islands as part of an international day of protests against agriculture business Monsanto.
The protesters Saturday complained about the effects that companies like St. Louis-based Monsato Co. have on communities when they spray fields with chemical pesticides. They say they want agribusiness companies to stop using Hawaii as a testing ground for pesticides and genetically modified foods.
In Waikiki, a man wore a gas mask in front of a statue of surfer Duke Kahanamoku to demonstrate the dangers of pesticides. Others in bikinis talked with tourists about why they don't want genetically modified goods to be grown in Hawaii.
"What's cool about doing it in Waikiki with the tourists is it's kind of giving them a light on what the issues are in Hawaii -- that it's more than just paradise," said Nathaniel Whittaker, 28, of Honolulu.
Mom jailed in circumcision case freed
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A Florida woman jailed in a long-running dispute over her son's circumcision has been released after nine nights behind bars.
Heather Hironimus, 31, posted bond and was released at 10:18 p.m. Saturday, jail records show.
Hironimus and her 4-year-old-son's father, Dennis Nebus, have been warring for years over whether to have the boy's foreskin removed. She initially agreed in a parenting agreement filed in court, then changed her mind, leading to a long legal fight. Circuit and appellate judges have sided with the father.
With her legal options dwindling, Hironimus disappeared in February and ignored a judge's order that she appear in court to give her consent for the surgery to be performed. A warrant was issued, but she wasn't located until May 14 at a Broward County shelter where she was staying with her son.
Taken before Judge Jeffrey Gillen on Friday, Hironimus again declined to sign a consent form for the surgery, and she was advised that she would remain jailed indefinitely. After the hearing recessed and she reconsidered, she reluctantly agreed to sign, sobbing as she put pen to paper.
Though the signature solved a contempt charge against her, she still faces a criminal charge of interference with child custody.
Navy divers to raise Civil War shipwreck
NORFOLK, Va. -- The Navy is preparing to send one if its premier diving teams to Georgia to salvage a Confederate warship from the depths of the Savannah River.
Before it ever fired a shot, the 1,200 ton ironclad CSS Georgia was scuttled by its own crew to prevent its capture by Gen. William T. Sherman when his Union army took Savannah in December 1864. Today, it's considered a captured enemy vessel and is property of the U.S. Navy.
The shipwreck is being removed as part of a $703 million project to deepen the river channel so larger cargo ships can reach the Port of Savannah. Before the harbor can be deepened, the CSS Georgia has to be raised.
After years of planning, archaeologists began tagging and recording the locations of thousands of pieces from the shipwreck in January. They've been able to bring smaller artifacts to the surface, but the Navy is being called in to raise the 120-foot-long ship's larger sections and weapons. Navy divers are scheduled to arrive at the site, about 100 yards from shore near downtown Savannah, on June 1.
A Section on 05/25/2015