The Justice Department has moved to dismiss a criminal case charging a former Olympian with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Government lawyers said in a 20-page court filing Friday evening that information provided since the indictment of David Hearn shows that the damage was the result of a “flawed installation by the contractor” as well as “the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.” Hearn’s lawyers say the case against him should never have been brought.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans outside the nation's capital will soon be able to get limited-edition U.S. passports that feature a picture of Pre…
FILE - A sample of a limited release of a commemorative U.S. passport that celebrates America's 250th birthday and features a picture of President Donald Trump, is photographed, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
FILE - A sample of a limited release of a commemorative U.S. passport that celebrates America's 250th birthday and features a picture of President Donald Trump, is photographed, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
FILE - A U.S. Army soldier walks past a Bradley fighting vehicle staged in West Potomac Park ahead of an upcoming military parade commemorating the Army's 250th anniversary and coinciding with Donald Trump's 79th birthday, June 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ezra Jin Mingri was inside a detention center in southern China on the morning of July 3, worrying that he would likely spen…
The director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History is pushing back against a White House report labeling the institution's leadership as radical activists. Anthea M. Hartig told a House Oversight subcommittee on Tuesday the report does not fairly represent the museum's work. The report was released on July Fourth and criticized the museum as not telling history in an inspiring and unifying way. Republicans echoed these concerns, accusing the museum of presenting history as a power struggle. Hartig emphasizes the museum aims to add voices to the narrative, not erase history. Hartig says the museum does not take sides in political debates.
FILE- In this image released by NASA, Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., a lunar module pilot, stands on the lunar surface after the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. The Lunar Module is seen in the background. (NASA via AP, File)
This image, taken by the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) Chandrayaan2 Orbiter and provided by Marty McGuire, shows the Apollo 11 landing site with the lunar descent stage visible on the moon on April 2, 2021. (ISRO image processed by Marty McGuire/BackyardAstronomyGuy.com via AP)
Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., a lunar module pilot, prepares to deploy the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP) during the Apollo 11 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA), July 20, 1969. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong took this picture with a 70mm lunar surface camera. (NASA via AP)