Washington Whispers

Last month's cuts at the Washington Times were much worse than first reported, as the ownership slashed the editorial staff from about 160 to 60 and hit the business and support staff by even more, according to remaining staffers. And now, as the conservative paper struggles for a new business and editorial model, the ownership is giving up the lavish headquarters building on New York Avenue in northeastern D.C.

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By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Despite the public's dissatisfaction with the emerging healthcare reform plan, that issue isn't the biggest drag on President Obama's popularity. As it is during every recession, the public's biggest problem with the president is unemployment and spending.

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By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Over 46 years have passed since John F. Kennedy's eternal flame at Arlington National Cemetery was lit, and yet there are still new stories emerging about the nation's most publicized burial. Robert Poole, who's penned an authoritative history of the renowned graveyard of American war heroes, On Hallowed Ground, says that Jacqueline Kennedy's vision of the eternal flame wasn't just based on the one she and JFK had seen at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Poole reveals that the couple had visited Gettysburg for the centennial of the tide-turning 1863 battle and that the imposing Eternal Light Peace Memorial had wowed Jackie. And there's this tidbit about the flame from the former National Geographic executive editor: We knew that the day after the burial a woman accidentally extinguished the fire with holy water. But it was a Zippo from an Old Guard soldier that relit the flame. Then there's the story about Black Jack, the unruly riderless cavalry horse that followed Kennedy's caisson. Poole quotes the horse handler, saying that he wanted to "hit that sonofabitch with a very big board right over the head" for acting up all the way to Arlington.

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