The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
BACK IN THE USA
A Virginia man whose time in Yemen earned FBI scrutiny and left him stuck in the Middle East for nearly two months on a no-fly list is back on U.S. soil. Yahya Wehelie (weh-HEEL'-ee) said Saturday evening that he's looking forward to eating his mom's lasagna now that he's back with his family. Wehelie's flight landed in New York on Saturday afternoon. His family met him there and planned to drive him back to the Washington area. Wehelie, a 26-year-old U.S. citizen of Somali descent, went to Yemen nearly two years ago at his parents' urging to learn Arabic. When he tried to return, FBI agents questioned him for days. He was placed on a no-fly list, leaving him stuck in Cairo until recently, when his no-fly status was removed
(WTOP/AP)
FIRST FAMILY OUTDOOR VACATION
President Barack Obama and his family managed to make it through a couple of days of family vacation time without a crisis forcing a change in plans. The first family was to head home to the White House on Sunday after two days of nearly nonstop recreation at this upscale resort on the northern Maine coast. From the moment they arrived Friday, it was clear the Obamas were determined to make the most of their time here, much of it in Acadia National Park. The president, his wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha set the tone right away, motorcading straight from the airport to a park bike trail for an hour of cycling. What followed was a whirl of outings, as their motorcade crisscrossed Mount Desert Island.
(WASHINGTON EXAMINER.COM)
PUSH TO PRIVATIZE VA LIQUOR STORES
For months, aides to Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell have been meeting behind closed doors with alcohol retailers and wholesalers, public safety officials and faith-based groups to come up with a way to fulfill one of the governor's most notable campaign promises: privatizing the state's liquor stores. The consequences of what they come up with are potentially enormous and would amount to one of the most noticeable changes in the relationship between Virginians and their government in years, if not decades. For the drinking-age public, a privatized system could mean many more liquor stores, a much wider variety of libations and lower prices. Like beer and wine, liquor could be sold in grocery stores, big-box stores such as Wal-Mart or anywhere else a licensed dealer chooses to locate.
(WASHINGTON POST)
FIVE THOUSAND EGG OMELET
It was a feat to inspire awe: More than a dozen white-coated French and American chefs created a gigantic omelet and fed hundreds in downtown Fredericksburg yesterday. At the city's Riverfront Park, the chefs used long-handled paddles to stir gallons of seasoned eggs in a massive steel pan over a wood fire. It was just a happy coincidence that this hottest of outdoor culinary feats occurred on one of the hottest days of summer. But members of the Fredericksburg Sister City Association and several dozen visitors from sister city Frejus, France, weren't about to wilt in the face of a challenge. It was the second such omelet ever cooked in Fredericksburg; the first took shape during 20th-anniversary festivities in 2000. Yesterday's chefs used the same 800-pound custom-crafted stainless-steel pan, brought out of storage and thoroughly scrubbed and sanitized.
(FREDERICKSBURG.COM)
