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Obama-Turkey Pardon
WASHINGTON (AP) — After 10 months in office, President Barack Obama granted his first pardon -- to "Courage," a turkey spared the Thanksgiving table.
Accompanied by daughters Sasha and Malia, Obama honored a White House holiday tradition that dates to Harry Truman's time as president.
The president said, "Thanks to the intervention of Malia and Sasha, because I was planning to eat this sucker, Courage will also be spared this terrible and delicious fate." He said "Courage" is pardoned, "before I change my mind" and will get to live out his life in Disneyland. Obama paid tribute to the military men and women serving around the world.
Obamas-Turkey Delivery
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama family passed out turkeys, stuffing and other Thanksgiving favorites to people at a food pantry organization.
President Barack Obama tucked pumpkin pies into people's bags at Martha's Table in downtown Washington on Wednesday evening and wished them a happy holiday.
Obama's two daughters, first lady Michelle Obama and her mother, Marian Robinson, worked alongside the president, putting canned food, stuffing, and fresh vegetables into bags. Those in line also received frozen turkeys.
Children who attend educational services at the organization designed some of the bags.
State Dinner-Uninvited Guests
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Secret Service says it's looking into its own security procedures after determining that two people crashed Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says that President Barack Obama was never in any danger. Donovan says the party crashers went through the same security screening as the 300-plus people actually invited to the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Donovan says the Secret Service first learned about the security breach Wednesday morning after media inquiries prompted by the crashers' online boasts about having attended the private event.
The Washington Post reports that photos from the state dinner appear on the Facebook page of one of the dinner crashers.
Jackie's Christmas Dress
BOSTON (AP) — A deep pink silk dress worn by Jacqueline Kennedy for her second holiday season in the White House has gone on display at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.
The first lady wore the dress to the White House staff Christmas reception on Dec. 12, 1962. The sleeveless dress by designer Hubert de Givenchy (oo-BARE' duh zhee-VAWN'-she) is simple in front, with twists of drapery and a bow on the back.
The Marine Band and singing groups from the Air Force, Army and Navy entertained the 1,200 party guests. A 16-foot Christmas tree was decorated with toys, candy canes and gingerbread houses.
The dress went on display Wednesday. The museum is open year-round except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.
Plastic Kettles
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Those old-fashioned Salvation Army kettles may be getting more high-tech donations.
The charity's bell-ringers are testing red kettles that take debit and credit cards. The test of electronic payments comes at a time when people are carrying less cash.
Last year, the Salvation Army tested the credit machines in just two cities, Dallas and Colorado Springs. This year, the set-up is being tried in 30 cities.
The charity says its red kettles brought in more than $130 million nationwide last year, an increase of 17 percent from 2007. Salvation Army officials aren't sure how much of that increase came from credit or debit donations.
Anecdotal evidence shows that people who stop to make credit or debit donations make larger gifts. A spokesman says the donation sizes are similar to online donations, which average about $75.
Suspicious Santa-Evacuation
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A package for Tennessee's governor turned out not too jolly for staffers at the Capitol.
Safety Department spokesman Mike Browning says officials evacuated the building for almost two hours Wednesday when the mail room found a package addressed to Gov. Phil Bredesen that contained moving parts.
Turned out it was a mechanical Santa Claus.
The department's bomb squad and agents from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were called. The package was destroyed, revealing the Santa from a company in Georgia.
The governor was not in the building at the time.
Radio Repentance
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An anonymous letter with $500 and a plea for forgiveness sheds some light on a long-forgotten crime at an Iowa Catholic college.
The writer admitted stealing a portable radio from a teacher's lounge at Clarke College in Dubuque in 1955. The writer tried to make amends by slipping five $100 bills into the mailing sent last week to college president Sister Joanne Burrows.
It seeks forgiveness, saying the money was to be used by current faculty.
The letter bears few clues to the writer's identity: It has a fake return address and a Chicago postmark.
Burrows says no one is around at Clarke who would have remembered the theft. She says "good Catholic guilt" probably weighed on the writer's conscience all these years.
