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 

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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

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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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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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.

Twelve people were slightly injured on Friday after he opened the door of the Asiana Airlines Airbus A321-200

Man Arrested For Opening Emergency Exit Door, Faces Up To 10 Years In Prison

Ed Ames, the youngest member of the popular 1950s singing group the Ames Brothers, who later became a successful actor in television and musical theater, has died. He was 95.The last survivor of the four singing brothers, Ames died on May 21 from Alzheimer's disease, his wife Jeanne Ames said on Saturday.“He had a wonderful life,” she said.On television, Ames was likely best known for his role as Mingo, the Oxford-educated Native American in the 1960s adventure series "Daniel Boone" that starred Fess Parker as the famous frontiersman. He also was the center of a bit on "The Tonight Show" that — thanks to his painfully uncanny aim with a hatchet — became one of the show's most memorable surprise moments.Ames had guest roles in TV series such as "Murder, She Wrote" and "In the Heat of the Night," and toured frequently in musicals, performing such popular songs as "Try to Remember" and the song that became his biggest hit single, "My Cup Runneth Over."As part of the 1950s music scene, he and his brothers were one of numerous pop quartets that included the Four Aces, Four Lads, Gaylords, Hilltoppers, Lancers, Four Knights, Ink Spots and, still around from a previous era, the Mills Brothers. But the Ames Brothers — Ed, Joe, Gene and Vic — had a unique tone: they were basses and baritones, not tenors.Their recordings of "Rag Mop," "Sentimental Me" and "Undecided" became big hits, and they launched a busy career appearing on TV variety shows, recording 40 albums and playing in night clubs and auditoriums across the country.By the end of the 1950s, rock 'n' roll had overtaken the pop charts and singing quartets were on the decline. The Ameses, meanwhile, had tired of the constant travel and absence from their growing families. The finale for Ed came when he arrived home unexpectedly and his wife called to their 3-year-old daughter: "Who is it?" The girl replied, "One of the Ames Brothers.""That did it," he told a reporter. "My brothers and I agreed that we had all had it and should go our separate ways." The group, which was earning $20,000 a week, played its last engagement at the Sahara in Las Vegas on New Year's 1961.Ed's efforts to establish himself as a solo singer were not immediately successful and he turned to acting. He almost lost his house before he found a role in a production of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible."In the long-running musical "The Fantasticks" he sang "Try to Remember," which became one of his theme songs. He joined the traveling company of Gower Champion's "Carnival" and transferred to the New York company until the show's final performance.In a role that presaged his future role on "Daniel Boone," he then won attention as the stoic Native American in the 1963 Broadway play "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" with Kirk Douglas and Gene Wilder in the adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel.Ames earned top money at Las Vegas casinos and in hotel supper clubs and toured extensively in the musicals "Man of La Mancha," "Fiddler on the Roof," "South Pacific" and "I Do, I Do.""I Do, I Do" provided his biggest hit single, "My Cup Runneth Over," a gold record winner in 1967. He had another hit in 1968 with "Who Will Answer?"Ames was born Edmund Dantes Urick in Malden, Massachusetts, the youngest of 11 children, four who died in childhood. Their parents were Ukrainian immigrants and their mother taught the children to read Shakespeare and to appreciate music they heard every Saturday on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.The four youngest boys began singing at local events as the Urick Brothers. Ed was still in high school when they moved to night clubs, but as a husky six-footer with a deep voice, he was able to pass for 21.In New York, comedy writer Abe Burrows advised a name change because Urick was hard to remember. Ames was the brothers' choice.After the four brothers split up, the other brothers also continued performing and recording, but gained less notice than Ed. Vic died in 1978, Gene in 1997 and Joe in December 2007.Ames and his first wife, Sara Cacheiro, had three children: Sonja, Ronald and Linda. The couple divorced in 1978, and in 1998 he married Jeanne Arnold.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/57780.jpg" alt="The Ames Brothers, from left, Vic, Joe, Gene and Ed, pose before boarding an airplane in New York City en route to Canada in Oct. 1955"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: AP] The Ames Brothers, from left, Vic, Joe, Gene and Ed, pose before boarding an airplane in New York City en route to Canada in Oct. 1955</figcaption></figure>___The late Associated Press writer Bob Thomas was a contributor to this report from Los Angeles.___

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Fess Parker (r), star of the NBC-TV "Daniel Boone" show, lights the cigar of singer-actor Ed Ames (l), Oct. 23, 1964. Parker was passing out cigars between takes on the set, celebrating the birth of a daughter

Ames was best known for his role as Mingo, the Oxford-educated Native American in the 1960s adventure series

Co-Star Of 'Daniel Boone' TV Series, Ed Ames Has Passed Away At 95

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Launched in 2019, VLM displays individual veteran profile pages with military service and cemetery information.

I never met U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Kerry D. Songer, but I can tell you a lot about him.

Behind Friendly Lines: A New Way To Honor Veterans' Legacies

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It’s a traveling memorial that has been seen by many throughout the state.

“It’s said that a person dies twice. The first time is when they stop breathing, and the second time is when their name is no longer spoken. And that’s why we do this. So that nobody who served our country is ever forgotten.”

Pictorial Display In Lodi Honors Hundreds Of Fallen Service Members Ahead Of Memorial Day

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an “agreement in principle” to raise the nation's legal debt ceiling late Saturday as they raced to strike a deal to limit federal spending and avert a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/debt-ceiling-biden-mccarthy-default-negotiations-cb0646c6301f1df97211896897df3723">potentially disastrous U.S. default</a>.However, the agreement risks angering both Democratic and Republican sides with the concessions made to reach it. Negotiators agreed to some Republican demands for increased work requirements for recipients of food stamps that had sparked an uproar from House Democrats as a nonstarter.Support from both parties will be needed to win congressional approval next week before a June 5 deadline.The Democratic president and Republican speaker reached the agreement after the two spoke earlier Saturday evening by phone, said McCarthy. The country and the world have been watching and waiting for a resolution to a political standoff that threatened the U.S. and global economies.“The agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want,” Biden said in a statement late Saturday night. “That’s the responsibility of governing,” he said.Biden called the agreement “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.”McCarthy in brief remarks at the Capitol, said that "we still have a lot of work to do.”But the Republican speaker said: “I believe this is an agreement in principle that’s worthy of the American people.”With the outlines of a deal in place, the legislative package could be drafted and shared with lawmakers in time for votes early next week in the House and later in the Senate.<blockquote>Central to the package is a two-year budget deal that would hold spending flat for 2024 and impose limits for 2025 in exchange for raising the debt limit for two years, pushing the volatile political issue past the next presidential election.</blockquote>The agreement would limit food stamp eligibility for able-bodied adults up to age 54, but Biden was able to secure waivers for veterans and the homeless.The two sides had also reached for an ambitious overhaul of federal permitting to ease development of energy projects and transmission lines. Instead, the agreement puts in place changes in the the National Environmental Policy Act that will designate “a single lead agency” to develop economic reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process.The deal came together after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 — four days later than previously estimated — if lawmakers did not act in time to raise the federal debt ceiling. The extended “X-date” gave the two sides a bit of extra time as they scrambled for a deal.Biden also spoke earlier in the day with Democratic leaders in Congress to discuss the status of the talks.The Republican House speaker had gathered top allies behind closed doors at the Capitol as negotiators pushed for a deal that would avoid a first-ever government default while also making spending cuts that House Republicans are demanding.But as another day dragged on with financial disaster looming closer, it had appeared some of the problems over policy issues that dogged talks all week remained unresolved.Both sides have suggested one of the main holdups was a GOP effort to expand work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a longtime Republican goal that Democrats have strenuously opposed. The White House said the Republican proposals were “cruel and senseless.”Biden has said the work requirements for Medicaid would be a nonstarter. He seemed potentially open to negotiating minor changes on food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, despite objections from rank-and-file Democrats.McCarthy, who dashed out before the lunch hour Saturday and arrived back at the Capitol with a big box of takeout, declined to elaborate on those discussions. One of his negotiators, Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, said there was “not a chance” that Republicans might relent on the work requirements issue.Americans and the world were uneasily watching the negotiating brinkmanship that could throw the U.S. economy into chaos and sap world confidence in the nation’s leadership.Anxious retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due next week.Yellen said failure to act by the new date would “cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests.”The president, spending part of the weekend at Camp David, continued to talk with his negotiating team multiple times a day, signing off on offers and counteroffers.Any deal would need to be a political compromise in a divided Congress. Many of the hard-right Trump-aligned Republicans in Congress have long been skeptical of the Treasury’s projections, and they are pressing McCarthy to hold out.Lawmakers are not expected to return to work from the Memorial Day weekend before Tuesday, at the earliest, and McCarthy has promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting.The Democratic-held Senate has largely stayed out of the negotiations, leaving the talks to Biden and McCarthy. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has pledged to move quickly to send a compromise package to Biden’s desk.Weeks of talks have failed to produce a deal in part because the Biden administration resisted for months on negotiating with McCarthy, arguing that the country’s full faith and credit should not be used as leverage to extract other partisan priorities.But House Republicans united behind a plan to cut spending, narrowly passing legislation in late April that would raise the debt ceiling in exchange for the spending reductions.___Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Stephen Groves, Fatima Hussein, Farnoush Amiri, Seung Min Kim and videojournalist Rick Gentilo contributed to this report.

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Sun shines on the U.S. Capitol in Washington 

The agreement risks angering both Democratic and Republican sides with the concessions made to reach it. 

President Biden, GOP Reach Tentative Deal To Raise Debt Ceiling, Avoid Calamitous US Default

NEW YORK (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman to deliver a commencement speech at West Point, lauded graduating cadets Saturday for their noble sacrifice in serving their country, but noted they were entering an “unsettled world” because of Russian aggression and the rising threats from China.“The world has drastically changed,” Harris told the roughly 950 graduating cadets. She referred to the global pandemic that took millions of lives, as well as the fraught shifts in global politics in Europe and in Asia.“It is clear you graduate into an increasingly unsettled world where longstanding principles are at risk," she said.As the U.S. ended two decades of war in Afghanistan, the longest in the country's history, the vice president said, Russia soon launched the first major ground war in Europe since World War II when it invaded Ukraine.“At the same time, autocrats have become bolder, the threat of terrorism persists, and an accelerating climate crisis continues to disrupt lives and livelihoods," she added.She advised cadets to be wary of China, as it rapidly modernizes its military and muscles for control over parts of the high seas, ostensibly referring to the brewing disputes over the South China Sea.She spoke about the country's military might and its need to innovate, including the adoption of new technology to change how wars are fought — even using artificial intelligence to predict enemy movements and to guide autonomous vehicles.Harris made no mention about the ongoing skirmishing in Washington, where the White House and congressional Republicans are trying to avert a debt crisis.Harris’ visit is her first to the U.S. Army academy. Commencement speakers at the country’s military academies are usually delivered by the president, vice president or high-ranking military official — which until Harris’ election meant speakers have always been men.Harris was joined at the commencement by Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, who in 2021 became the first woman to hold the military service’s top civilian post.Harris, the first woman to serve as the country's vice president, noted the 75th anniversary of 1948's Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which gave women the right to serve as permanent members of the military. It was also 75 years ago when President Harry S. Truman signed an executive order banning segregation in the Armed Forces.Upon graduation, the cadets will be commissioned as Army second lieutenants.West Point dates to 1802. Since then, the college has educated future military leaders including Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Gen. George Patton and Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower.While Harris visited West Point, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Manhattan, President Joe Biden heads to Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday to address graduates at the U.S. Air Force Academy.Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III addressed the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Friday.Last year, Harris addressed graduates at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. &nbsp;

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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the graduation ceremony of the U.S. Military Academy class of 2023 at Michie Stadium on Saturday, May 27, 2023, in West Point, N.Y.

U.S. & World