Anne Frank’s chestnut tree gets a reprieve
Update
The chestnut tree that gave Anne Frank a link to the outside world while she hid from the Nazis won a reprieve Tuesday when a judge ordered Amsterdam to reconsider whether the diseased tree can be saved. Judge Jurjen Bade adjourned a hearing and took witnesses and court officials with him to inspect the tree, which the city ruled last year was in danger of toppling and causing serious injury or damage. The judge ruled that the city had given insufficient consideration to alternative plans, such as anchoring the tree with cables.
Discoveries
Grotto unveiled
Archaeologists Tuesday unveiled an underground grotto believed to have been revered by ancient Romans as the place where a wolf nursed the city’s legendary founder, Romulus, and his twin brother, Remus. Decorated with seashells and colored marble, the vaulted sanctuary is buried 52 feet inside the Palatine hill, the palatial center of power in imperial Rome.
Critters
Bush pardons 2 turkeys
President Bush on Tuesday granted his traditional pardon to the national Thanksgiving turkey, named May, and a backup turkey, Flower. The names were chosen in an online poll that drew more than 28,000 votes. “They’re certainly better than the names the vice president suggested, which was ‘Lunch’ and ‘Dinner,’ ” Bush joked. From the White House, the two birds, nestled in personal turkey kennels, were driven in a police-escorted motorcade to Dulles airport, where they were whisked to the United Airlines Red Carpet Club, before boarding a United flight to Orlando to act as grand marshals of a Disney parade. According to their first-class boarding tickets, “Turkey One” received seats 3B and 3C, while “Turkey Two” got 1A and 1B. The plane, packed with paying customers in coach, was renamed “United Turkey One, Flight 6519.”
People
“Sweet” memory
Neil Diamond, 66, revealed that President Kennedy’s daughter was the inspiration for his smash hit “Sweet Caroline.” “I’ve never discussed it with anybody before, intentionally,” the singer-songwriter said Monday. “I thought maybe I would tell it to Caroline when I met her someday.” He got his chance last week, when he performed the song via satellite at Caroline Kennedy’s 50th-birthday party.
Report: Twins harmed
The California Department of Public Health said Tuesday it was investigating an incident involving newborn twins at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, reportedly an accidental overdose involving the children of actor Dennis Quaid. According to TMZ.com, Quaid’s children, Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace, were given 1,000 times the proper dosage of heparin, which is used to prevent clots. Quaid’s children were born Nov. 8 to a surrogate. Quaid, 53, and his wife, Kimberly, are the biological parents.
Passages
Milo Radulovich, 81, the Air Force Reserve lieutenant championed by Edward Murrow when the military threatened to decommission him during the anti-communist crackdown of the 1950s, died Monday in Vallejo, Calif., of complications from a stroke. His story inspired the 2005 movie “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
Today in History
1973: President Nixon’s attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, revealed the existence of an 18 ½-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate.
1979: A mob attacked the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing two Americans.
Today’s Birthdays
Actress Marlo Thomas, 70. Actress Goldie Hawn, 62. Baseball player Ken Griffey Jr., 38. Rapper Pretty Lou, 36. Actress Jena Malone, 23.
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