NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Memorial Day is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers.Auto club AAA said in a travel forecast that this holiday weekend could be “one for the record books, especially at airports,” with more than 42 million Americans projected to travel 50 miles (80 kilometers) or more. Federal officials said Friday that the number of air travelers had already hit a pandemic-era high.But for Manuel Castañeda Jr., 58, the day will be a quiet one in Durand, Illinois, outside Rockford. He lost his father, a U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam, in an accident in California while training other Marines in 1966.“Memorial Day is very personal,” said Castañeda, who also served in the Marines and Army National Guard, from which he knew men who died in combat. “It isn’t just the specials. It isn’t just the barbecue.”But he tries not to judge others who spend the holiday differently: “How can I expect them to understand the depth of what I feel when they haven’t experienced anything like that?"1. WHAT IS THE OFFICIAL PURPOSE OF MEMORIAL DAY?It’s a day of reflection and remembrance of those who died while serving in the U.S. military, according to the Congressional Research Service. The holiday is observed in part by the National Moment of Remembrance, which encourages all Americans to pause at 3 p.m. for a moment of silence.2. WHAT ARE THE HOLIDAY'S ORIGINS?The holiday stems from the American Civil War, which killed more than 600,000 service members — both Union and Confederate — between 1861 and 1865.There’s little controversy over the first national observance of what was then called Decoration Day. It occurred May 30, 1868, after an organization of Union veterans called for decorating war graves with flowers, which were in bloom.The practice was already widespread on a local level. Waterloo, New York, began a formal observance on May 5, 1866, and was later proclaimed to be the holiday's birthplace.Yet Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, traced its first observance to October 1864, according to the Library of Congress. And women in some Confederate states were decorating graves before the war’s end.But David Blight, a Yale history professor, points to May 1, 1865, when as many as 10,000 people, many of them Black, held a parade, heard speeches and dedicated the graves of Union dead in Charleston, South Carolina.A total of 267 Union troops had died at a Confederate prison and were buried in a mass grave. After the war, members of Black churches buried them in individual graves.“What happened in Charleston does have the right to claim to be first, if that matters,” Blight told The Associated Press in 2011.In 2021, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel cited the story in a Memorial Day speech in Hudson, Ohio. The ceremony’s organizers turned off his microphone because they said it wasn’t relevant to honoring the city’s veterans. The event’s organizers later resigned.3. HAS MEMORIAL DAY ALWAYS BEEN A SOURCE OF CONTENTION?Someone has always lamented the holiday’s drift from its original meaning.As early as 1869, The New York Times wrote that the holiday could become “sacrilegious” and no longer “sacred” if it focuses more on pomp, dinners and oratory.In 1871, abolitionist Frederick Douglass feared Americans were forgetting the Civil War’s impetus — enslavement — when he gave a Decoration Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery.“We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation’s destroyers,” Douglass said.His concerns were well-founded, said Ben Railton, a professor of English and American studies at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts. Even though roughly 180,000 Black men served in the Union Army, the holiday in many communities would essentially become “white Memorial Day,” especially after the rise of the Jim Crow South, Railton said.Meanwhile, how the day was spent — at least by the nation’s elected officials — could draw scrutiny for years after the Civil War. In the 1880s, then-President Grover Cleveland was said to have gone fishing — and “people were appalled,” said Matthew Dennis, an emeritus history professor at the University of Oregon.By 1911, the Indianapolis 500 held its inaugural race on May 30, drawing 85,000 spectators. A report from The Associated Press made no mention of the holiday — or any controversy.4. HOW HAS MEMORIAL DAY CHANGED?Dennis said Memorial Day's potency diminished somewhat with the addition of Armistice Day, which marked World War I's end on Nov. 11, 1918. Armistice Day became a national holiday by 1938 and was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.An act of Congress changed Memorial Day from every May 30th to the last Monday in May in 1971. Dennis said the creation of the three-day weekend recognized that Memorial Day had long been transformed into a more generic remembrance of the dead, as well as a day of leisure.In 1972, Time Magazine said the holiday had become “a three-day nationwide hootenanny that seems to have lost much of its original purpose.”5. WHY IS MEMORIAL DAY TIED TO SALES AND TRAVEL?Even in the 19th century, grave ceremonies were followed by leisure activities such as picnicking and foot races, Dennis said.The holiday also evolved alongside baseball and the automobile, the five-day work week and summer vacation, according to the 2002 book “A History of Memorial Day: Unity, Discord and the Pursuit of Happiness.”In the mid-20th century, a small number of businesses began to open defiantly on the holiday.Once the holiday moved to Monday, “the traditional barriers against doing business began to crumble,” authors Richard Harmond and Thomas Curran wrote.These days, Memorial Day sales and traveling are deeply woven into the nation's muscle memory. This weekend, 2.7 million more people will travel for the unofficial start of summer compared to last year — despite inflation, according to AAA.The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 2.66 million people at airport checkpoints on Thursday, about 2,500 more than last Friday, and the highest number since the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2019. The Federal Aviation Administration had predicted that Thursday would be the busiest travel day of the holiday period, with more than 51,000 airline flights.Meanwhile, Jason Redman, 48, a retired Navy SEAL who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he'll be thinking of friends he's lost. Thirty names are tattooed on his arm “for every guy that I personally knew that died.”He wants Americans to remember the fallen — but also to enjoy themselves, knowing lives were sacrificed to forge the holiday.

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Members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment also known as The Old Guard, place flags in front of each headstone for "Flags-In" at sunrise at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Thursday, May 25, 2023, to honor the Nation's fallen military heroes ahead of Memorial Day

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The holiday is observed in part by the National Moment of Remembrance, which encourages all Americans to pause at 3 p.m. for a moment of silence.

 Memorial Day: A Day Of Reflection And Remembrance, Unofficial Start Of Summer 

<a href="https://www.klove.com/news/positive-people">K-LOVE’s Positive People</a> – by Rafael Sierra, Jr. (complete podcast available) (more <a href="https://www.klove.com/news/positive-people">Positive People</a> stories)David Droll from Houston, Texas is committed to helping individuals experiencing homelessness get ahead in life. So, he co-founded <a href="https://hopebeyondbridges.org/">Hope Beyond Bridges</a>, caring for people who are not able to care for themselves.<blockquote>“To build trust, to build safety, to hear their story, to learn their name, and ultimately to be able to share the Gospel with them.”</blockquote><figure class="image text-center"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/56971.jpg" alt="Hope Beyond Bridges volunteer feeding man experiencing homelessness"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: Hope Beyond Bridges Volunteer] Hope Beyond Bridges</figcaption></figure>For years, Dave didn’t think much or care for people in need. Until one day, while driving around the streets of Houston, God got his attention.<figure class="image text-center"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/56972.jpg" alt="Hope Beyond Bridges volunteer feeding person in a wheelchair"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: Hope Beyond Bridges Volunteer] Hope Beyond Bridges</figcaption></figure>“God literally just changed my eyes to see the homeless and changed my heart to have a heart of compassion toward them,” says Dave. He believes “it was only God that could change my hard heart toward them,” to have a heart of compassion and a heart to love them the way God loves them.<figure class="image text-center"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/56973.jpg" alt="Hope Beyond Bridges volunteers delivering food, supplies"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: Hope Beyond Bridges Volunteer] Hope Beyond Bridges</figcaption></figure>Hope Beyond Bridges works to reach the chronic homeless living under bridges, at intersections, in their camps, each week. Once they contact them, they “love on them, minister to them, bring them a warm meal,” and give them hygiene kits.<figure class="image text-center"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/56974.jpg" alt="Dave Droll Hope, Beyond Bridges"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: Hope Beyond Bridges Volunteer] Dave Droll Hope Beyond Bridges</figcaption></figure>Click the full interview below<figure class="media"><oembed url="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/56976.wav"></oembed></figure>

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Hope Beyond Bridges works to reach the chronic homeless living under bridges, at intersections, in their camps

Droll leads Hope Beyond Bridges, feeding and ministering to people living in the streets of Houston 

David Droll – Restoring Hope To People Experiencing Homelessness (+Podcast)

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It's a labor of love for William Bray as one by one he works to restore headstones at a Westminster County veterans cemetary.

His passion and patriotism have fueled his mission to restore the headstones, many of them veterans from the Revolutionary and Civil wars. 

'My Way Of Paying Back': Effort Underway To Restore Veterans' Headstones In Westmoreland County

WASHINGTON (AP) — After weeks of negotiations, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have announced an “ agreement in principle ” to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and avoid a potentially catastrophic default.The agreement includes spending cuts demanded by Republicans, but it is short of the reductions in the sweeping legislation passed by the Republican-led House last month.To reduce spending, as Republicans had insisted, the package includes a two-year budget deal that would hold spending flat for 2024 and impose limits for 2025. That's in exchange for raising the debt limit for two years, until after the next election.It also expands some work requirements for food-stamp recipients and tweaks an environmental law to try to streamline reviews to build new energy projects.Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 if lawmakers do not act in time to raise the federal debt ceiling.A look at what’s next as Congress rushes to pass an agreement:FINALIZING THE DEALSpeaking to reporters in the Capitol late Saturday, McCarthy said the bill has “historic reductions in spending, consequential reforms that will lift people out of poverty into the workforce and rein in government overreach. There are no new taxes and no new government programs.”Still, he said, “we still have more work to do tonight to finish all the writing of it.” The speaker and his lead negotiators were still holed up in his office as midnight approached.McCarthy said he would speak to Biden again on Sunday.Biden said in a statement that “over the next day, our negotiating teams will finalize legislative text and the agreement will go to the United States House and Senate. I strongly urge both chambers to pass the agreement right away.”The agreement is “an important step forward that reduces spending while protecting critical programs for working people and growing the economy for everyone,” Biden said.SELLING THE BILLTo pass the bill, both McCarthy and Biden will now have to sell it to their respective parties. While both sides are expected to lose some votes, they have to make sure that the deal is popular enough to pass both chambers without a revolt on either side.McCarthy held a call Saturday evening with the Republican caucus, fulfilling a promise he made to show the agreement to them before revealing the legislation to the public. He said he expects to release the text of the bill publicly Sunday afternoon.Reaction was mixed. Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina tweeted a vomit emoji, complaining that some Republicans on the call were praising the speaker for getting what he said is “almost zippo in exchange” for the debt ceiling hike.South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson, an ally of McCarthy, said people he was talking to are “incredibly supportive” of the deal, though he acknowledged they will lose some votes.White House officials will give their own briefing to House Democrats on Sunday at 5 p.m., according to a House Democratic aide.CONGRESS RETURNSBoth the House and Senate are expected to return on Tuesday, after Memorial Day. McCarthy said the House will vote Wednesday, which would then send the bill to the Senate.Once the bill reaches the Senate, where Democrats have the majority, the pace of action will largely depend on whether any senators try to hold up the bill, possibly with amendment votes. That could tie up the legislation for a few days.Still, the Senate can move quickly when they have agreement from all 100 senators. The bill could be passed by the end of the week, with a quick Biden signature to make it law.If all goes according to McCarthy’s plan -- and both chambers are able to pass the legislation -- the potential crisis should be resolved by June 5, which is when the Treasury Department projects the U.S. would be at risk of default."This agreement is good news for the American people, because it prevents what could have been a catastrophic default and would have led to an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, and millions of jobs lost,” Biden said in his Saturday evening statement.

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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Calif., speaks to reporters, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, as returns to his office from the House floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, as debt limit negotiations continue.

“We still have more work to do tonight to finish all the writing of it.”

What's Next On The Debt Ceiling: Selling The Plan

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Workers at Taste by Spellbound in the town of Avon were loading cakes into a van for delivery on Wednesday when the bear showed up.

A hungry bear barged into the garage of a Connecticut bakery, scared several employees. 

Hungry Bear Helps Itself To 60 Cupcakes From Bakery

PARIS (AP) — Unable to sleep the night before her first-round match at the French Open against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the Grand Slam tournament's No. 2 seed, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine checked her phone at 5 a.m. Sunday and saw disturbing news back home in Kyiv.At least one person was killed when the capital of Kostyuk's country was subjected to the largest drone attack by Russia since the start of its war, launched with an invasion assisted by Belarus in February 2022.“It’s something I cannot describe, probably. I try to put my emotions aside any time I go out on court. I think I’m better than before, and I don’t think it affects me as much on a daily basis, but yeah, it’s just — I don’t know,” Kostyuk said, shaking her head. “There is not much to say, really. It’s just part of my life.”That, then, is why Kostyuk has decided she will not exchange the usual postmatch pleasantries with opponents from Russia or Belarus. And that is why she avoided a handshake — avoided any eye contact, even — after losing to Australian Open champion Sabalenka 6-3, 6-2 on Day 1 at Roland Garros.What surprised the 20-year-old, 39th-ranked Kostyuk on Sunday was the reaction she received from the spectators in Court Philippe Chatrier: They loudly booed and derisively whistled at her as she walked directly over to acknowledge the chair umpire instead of congratulating the winner after the lopsided result. The negative response grew louder as she gathered her belongings and walked off the court toward the locker room.“I have to say," Kostyuk said, "I didn’t expect it. ... People should be, honestly, embarrassed.”Kostyuk is based now in Monaco, and her mother and sister are there, too, but her father and grandfather are still in Kyiv. Perhaps the fans on hand at the clay-court event's main stadium were unaware of the backstory and figured Kostyuk simply failed to follow usual tennis etiquette.Initially, Sabalenka — who had approached the net as if anticipating some sort of exchange with Kostyuk — thought the noise was directed at her.“At first, I thought they were booing me,” Sabalenka said. “I was a little confused, and I was, like, 'OK, what should I do?”Sabalenka tried to ask the chair umpire what was going on. She looked up at her entourage in the stands, too. Then she realized that while she is aware Kostyuk and other Ukrainian tennis players have been declining to greet opponents from Russia or Belarus after a match, the spectators might not have known — and so responded in a way Sabalenka didn't think was deserved.“They saw it,” she surmised, “as disrespect (for) me.”All in all, if the tennis itself was not particularly memorable, the whole scene, including the lack of the customary prematch photo of the players following the coin toss, became the most noteworthy development on Day 1 in Paris.The highest-seeded player to go home was No. 7 Maria Sakkari, who lost 7-6 (5), 7-5 to 42nd-ranked Karolina Muchova in what wasn't necessarily that momentous of an upset. Both have been major semifinalists, and Muchova has won her past four Slam matches against players ranked in the top 10 — including beating Sakkari at the French Open last year. Also out: No. 21 Magda Linette, a semifinalist at the Australian Open, who lost 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to 2021 U.S. Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez, and No. 29 Zhang Shuai.The first seeded men to bow out were No. 20 Dan Evans and No. 30 Ben Shelton, an Australian Open quarterfinalist and 2022 NCAA champion from Florida making his French Open debut. No. 11 Karen Khachanov, a semifinalist at the past two majors, came all the way back after dropping the opening two sets to beat Constant Lestienne, a French player once banned for gambling, by a 3-6, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 score in front of a boisterous crowd at Court Suzanne Lenglen. Two-time Slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas came within a point of being forced to a fifth set, too, but got past Jiri Vesely 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7). No. 24 Sebastian Korda, who missed three months after hurting his wrist at the Australian Open, was a straight-set winner in an all-American matchup against Mackenzie McDonald, the last player to face — and beat — Rafael Nadal. The 14-time French Open champion has been sidelined with a hip injury since that match in January.Sabalenka called Sunday “emotionally tough” — because of mundane, tennis-related reasons, such as the nerves that come with any first-round match, but more significantly because of the unusual circumstances involving the war.“You’re playing against (a) Ukrainian and you never know what’s going to happen. You never know how people will — will they support you or not?” explained Sabalenka, who went down an early break and trailed 3-2 before reeling off six consecutive games with powerful first-strike hitting. “I was worried, like, people will be against me, and I don’t like to play when people (are) so much against me.”A journalist from Ukraine asked Sabalenka what her message to the world is with regard to the war, particularly in this context: She can overtake Iga Swiatek at No. 1 in the rankings based on results over the next two weeks and, therefore, serves as a role model.“Nobody in this world, Russian athletes or Belarusian athletes, support the war. Nobody. How can we support the war? Nobody — normal people — will never support it. Why (do) we have to go loud and say that things? This is like: ‘One plus one (is) two.’ Of course we don’t support war," Sabalenka said. "If it could affect anyhow the war, if it could like stop it, we would do it. But unfortunately, it’s not in our hands.”When a portion of those comments was read to Kostyuk by a reporter, she responded in calm, measured tones that she doesn't get why Sabalenka does not come out and say that “she personally doesn't support this war.”Kostyuk also rejected the notion that players from Russia or Belarus could be in a tough spot upon returning to those countries if they were to speak out about what is happening in Ukraine.“I don’t know why it’s a difficult situation,” Kostyuk said with a chuckle.“I don’t know what other players are afraid of," she said. "I go back to Ukraine, where I can die any second from drones or missiles or whatever it is.”

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Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, left, and Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk, right, did not greet each other and refused to pose for the traditional pre-match picture with the ball children in their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Sunday, May 28, 2023.

“Nobody in this world, Russian athletes or Belarusian athletes, support the war."

Ukraine's Kostyuk Booed At French Open: "I Try To Put My Emotions Aside Any Time I Go Out On Court"

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Lives change when unreached people groups hear God’s Word in their heart language.

Occult King Meets 'The King Of Kings'

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After driver Sting Ray Robb crashed out it seems the race hasn't lost it's sting

Swarm Of Bees Attack Indianapolis 500 Race Fans Near The Finish Line

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A nonprofit marked a huge milestone—its 5,000th adoption—after helping unite three brothers at risk of separation with a new forever family.

‘Gift Of Adoption’ Marks 5,000th Child Given A Home–Covering The Fees To Keep Siblings Together

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Flags are planted in a field for Memorial Day

Taking a moment to pause and remember who Memorial Day is all about.

Honoring Servicemen And Women Who Made The Ultimate Sacrifice.

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They made this decision due to historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market.”

State Farm Stops Home Insurance Sales In California

MILAN (AP) — Police in Venice are investigating the source of a phosphorescent green liquid patch that appeared Sunday in the city’s famed Grand Canal.The governor of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, posted a photo of the green liquid that spread through the water near the arched Rialto Bridge. The patch was reported by residents.Images on social media show a bright patch of green in the canal along an embankment lined with restaurants.Zaia said that officials had requested that the police investigate to determine who was responsible. Environmental authorities were also testing the water.

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A bright patch of green is seen in the Grand Canal along an embankment lined with restaurants, in Venice, Italy, Sunday, May 28, 2023. Police in Venice are investigating the source of a phosphorescent green liquid patch that appeared Sunday in the city's famed Grand Canal.

Images on social media show a bright patch of green in the canal along an embankment lined with restaurants.

Venice Police Investigate Bright Green Liquid In Grand Canal

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A man who opened an emergency exit door during a flight in South Korea was formally arrested Sunday and faces up to 10 years in prison on a charge of violating the aviation security law, officials said.During a preliminary questioning, the 33-year-old told investigators that he felt suffocated and tried to get off the plane quickly, according to police.Twelve people were slightly injured on Friday after he opened the door of the Asiana Airlines Airbus A321-200, causing air to blast inside the cabin and terrifying passengers. Some testified they suffered severe ear pain and saw others screaming and crying. A video shared on social media shows passengers’ hair being whipped by air blowing into the cabin.Normally, the emergency exit doors cannot be opened mid-flight due to the difference in air pressure inside and outside of the aircraft. But during Friday’s incident, the man succeeded in opening the door likely because the plane was flying at a low altitude while preparing to land and there wasn’t much difference in pressure, according to Asiana Airlines officials.The Transport Ministry said the plane was at 700 feet (213 meters) when the man pulled the door open. The plane was preparing to land in Daegu on an hour-long flight from the southern island of Jeju with 200 people on board. They included teenage athletes on their way to a track and field competition, according to Asiana Airlines.On Sunday, a district court in Daegu approved a warrant to formally arrest the man. Police earlier sought the arrest warrant, citing the graveness of the crime and a possibility the man may flee, according to Daegu police.“I wanted to get off the plane soon,” the man, whose face was covered by a black hoodie, a cap and a mask, told reporters at the court ahead of its review of his arrest warrant. “I’m really sorry to kids," he said, in a likely reference to the teenage athletes.Daegu police said they have up to 20 days to investigate the man before determining whether to send him to prosecutors for a possible indictment.If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for breaching the aviation security law that bars passengers from handling entry doors, emergency exit doors and other equipment on board, according to the Transport Ministry.Daegu police said the man, surnamed Lee, told them that he was under stress after losing a job recently and that he wanted to get out of the plane soon because he was feeling suffocated just before landing.The people who were taken to hospitals were mainly treated for minor problems such as breathing difficulties.Asiana Airlines said in a statement that starting from Sunday, it stopped the sale of emergency exit seats on its 174-seat A321-200 planes and the 195-seat A321-200s as a safety precaution. Lee was seated near the emergency exit, airline officials said.

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An Asiana Airlines plane is parked as one of the plane's doors suddenly opened at Daegu International Airport in Daegu, South Korea, Friday, May 26, 2023.

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