Arlington Cemetery opens expansion
In a few weeks, Arlington National Cemetery will host the first of an expected 27,000 funerals in its elegantly landscaped expansion, built into a hillside and designed to extend the cemetery's life for more than 30 years.
The 6,000 pre-dug graves, with their concrete crypts inches apart just under the surface, are ready. The 16,000 spaces in the new niche wall and columbaria are waiting. And the area has been decorated with new redbud, locust and magnolia trees.
The $81.7 million Millennium Project is the first geographic expansion of the cemetery in four decades.
Without the expansion, "we'd be planning to close in the mid-2020s," said Renea Yates, deputy superintendent for cemetery administration. "So this takes us out to the 2040s."
Facing dwindling space and heavy use, the 154-year-old cemetery is working to extend its life before the day when there is no room left. Since it opened in 1864, more than 400,000 people have been buried at Arlington. With the new expansion, Arlington has about 100,000 spaces left, Yates said.
The 27 new acres in the northwestern part of the cemetery were carved out of a recreation spot for an adjacent military base, a construction staging area for the cemetery and National Park Service woodland. The work involved the movement of huge amounts of earth, 1,200 feet of a historic sandstone wall, and the construction of extensive granite and concrete committal shelters and walkways.
U.S. Court rules on 'In God We Trust'
CHICAGO -- A federal court has ruled that printing "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency doesn't amount to a religious endorsement and therefore doesn't violate the U.S. Constitution.
The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reported the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago made the ruling Thursday in a lawsuit brought by a self-declared Satanist, Kenneth Mayle. He argued that the motto propagates a religious view he opposes.
A lower court tossed the suit citing a Supreme Court decision that a motto on currency isn't something people display prominently and thus that people are not forced to publicly advertise views that clash with their own.
Mayle appealed to restore the suit, but the 7th Circuit refused, describing the phrase as a "historical reminder" of the nation's heritage.
Florida students set plans for rallies
PARKLAND, Fla. -- A day after graduating, a group of Florida high school shooting survivors announced they'll spend their summer crisscrossing the country, expanding their grass-roots activism from rallies and schools walkouts to registering young voters to help accomplish their vision for stricter gun laws.
David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez, Cameron Kasky, Jaclyn Corin and about two dozen other students stood together Monday in matching black "Road to Change" T-shirts, holding placards at a park just down the street from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 were killed on Valentine's Day. The students are advocating for tighter regulations on guns, including universal background checks and training for people who own AR-15s and similar semi-automatic rifles.
In the months since the shooting, the students have rallied hundreds of thousands across the country to march for gun reform, including a massive turnout in Washington, D.C., in March.
The tour will begin June 15 in Chicago, where the Florida students will join the Peace March, led by students from St. Sabina Academy. Kasky said students are planning more than 25 stops in several states, targeting communities rocked by gun violence or where lawmakers supported by the National Rifle Association are running for office.
In addition to the national tour, the students are also planning a separate tour in Florida, targeting every congressional district in the Sunshine State.
Home being razed collapses killing one
PHILADELPHIA -- A two-story home being demolished in Philadelphia partially collapsed Monday, killing one of two contractors working on the building.
Shortly before 11 a.m., the rear of the property collapsed, trapping them, police said. One worker was able to escape, but the other, a 60-year-old, remained trapped under the rubble and was pronounced dead shortly after 11 a.m.
Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel called it "a very difficult afternoon here, for our responders as well as everybody who's affected by this incident." He said the building "is still very unstable, which is why we're not inside of it anymore."
The city Department of Licenses and Inspections was at the scene, along with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to investigate the cause of the collapse.
A Section on 06/05/2018