World War II veterans stormed past the gates holding them back from their own memorial during the government shutdown, and a U.S. Capitol car chase ended with 34-year-old suspect Miriam Carey, of Stamford, Conn., dead.
On the international stage, Russian President Vladimir Putin was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Here’s a recap, or wrap, of the week that was from The Washington Times.
• Hillary Clinton film is scrubbed as sources go mum
You can scrap the CNN documentary on Hillary Rodham Clinton: Nobody — absolutely nobody — would agree to speak on record about the former secretary of state and potential 2016 White House candidate, the film director said.
Film director Charles Ferguson said in The Guardian that he pulled the plug on his planned documentary after receiving a solid wall of silence from the 100 or so he approached to interview for the film.
• Atheist students use federal law to pursue same rights as Christians for ‘secular safe zones’
A 30-year-old federal law created to protect the right of Christian students to gather now is being used to protect the rights of students with opposite beliefs.
PHOTOS: U.S. Capitol Hill chase
This school year, the Secular Student Alliance, a national organization advocating the rights of nonreligious students, has created “secular safe zones” on 26 college and high school campuses throughout the country.
“Christianity is so prevalent in society that it’s taken as the norm and to many atheists it’s off-putting,” said the alliance’s spokesman Jesse Galef. Mr. Galef said the safe zones — rooms or areas set aside specifically for nonreligious students — can help build community, foster service projects and educate individuals about atheism. The safe zones are overseen primarily by student leaders and faculty member allies.
• Obama now says Obamacare will bring months of ‘glitches’
President Obama said in comments broadcast Tuesday, on the cusp of enrollment in Obamacare’s exchanges, that of course there will be “glitches” in the implementation of the health reform — months of glitches, he added.
He made the remarks to NPR, while expressing confidence that his signature law will provide “the prospect that any American out there who does not currently have health insurance can get high-quality health insurance.”
• Russia’s Putin nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
PHOTOS: Famous quitters: Those who bailed rather than face scandal, scrutiny or stress
Russian President Vladimir Putin was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by an advocacy group that credits him with bringing about a peaceful resolution to the Syrian-U.S. dispute over chemical weapons.
The Russian advocacy group International Academy of Spiritual Unity and Cooperation of Peoples of the World nominated Mr. Putin, characterizing his forged agreement with Syrian President Bashar Assad — to turn over admitted chemical weapons cache to international authorities — a world-class and prize-worthy piece of diplomacy, United Press International reported.
• World War II veterans make one more victory raid — push way into Mall memorial
When elderly veterans pushed their way through police barricades Tuesday to get to the World War II memorial on the Mall, they not only became an instant online sensation, but also a symbolic protest against the government shutdown.
• California grants driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants
California’s governor signed a bill Thursday granting illegal immigrants driver’s licenses, in a decision immigrant rights groups hailed as a major step forward for their movement.
The country’s largest state becomes the latest to reverse course and grant legal driving privileges to illegal immigrants.
• The long line of conservatives targeted by the IRS
Tea party groups, Franklin Graham, Christine O’Donnell, a pro-marriage group. And now Dr. Ben Carson.
The list of conservatives targeted by the Internal Revenue Service for audits, tax-exempt reviews or tax privacy breaches keeps growing, raising fresh questions in Washington about whether a scandal the Obama administration has blamed on bureaucratic incompetence and coincidence may in fact involve something more nefarious.
• Police chase near White House, Capitol ends with crash, fatal shooting
A woman with a year-old child attempted to crash through the White House perimeter with her car, then led Secret Service and police on a harrowing chase down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol before she was fatally shot Thursday in an incident that rattled nerves and tested Washington’s security during the government shutdown.
The midday drama sent bystanders scurrying for cover as gunshots rang out and heavily armed officers ran toward the scene where the woman’s car smashed a police cruiser before crashing. An officer pulled a child from the wreckage, apparently unharmed by the accident and gunfire. The child was taken to a hospital and was in protective custody Thursday night.
• Fund-raising Blues: DNC remains in debt as it competes with Obama group for donors
Barely more than a year before the 2014 midterm elections, the Democratic National Committee is struggling to pay off debt and rebuild its war chest while competing for donations with Organizing for America, the Web-based political group created from the remnants of President Obama’s re-election organization.
Since the 2012 presidential campaign, which cost almost $7 billion and was the most expensive in history, the DNC has been struggling with a debt load that stands at more than $18 million.
• Golden Hammer: Federal spending that stinks: The Park Service’s $98,000 outhouse
The latest example of misguided government spending smells a little funny — and it might not be just because of the cost to taxpayers.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management is taking heat for spending $98,670 to install a single outhouse at a trailhead in Alaska, the most recent example of federal agencies making questionable purchases in September.
• Reports: Woman in Capitol chase had history of mental illness
A Connecticut woman who was shot to death after leading police on a harrowing car chase around the U.S. Capitol had a history of mental illness and several months before the ordeal believed she was being electronically monitored by authorities, according to reports.
Police contacted 34-year-old Miriam Carey, of Stamford, Conn., last year after her boyfriend called authorities to report that she had been acting delusional and thought her home was being monitored, and he believed the couple’s infant daughter was at risk, CNN reported Friday.
• Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker defies NPS order to shut parks
National parks facing federal furlough orders may be shutting down around the nation, but not so in Wisconsin.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker said he’s not closing the federal lands to visitors, in blatant defiance of the National Park Service’s demand, Breitbart.com reported. The federal agency had specifically ordered park officials in Wisconsin to close doors on Kettle Moraine, Devil’s Lake and Interstate parks, as well as sections of Horicon Marsh — sections that were owned by the state, no less — but Wisconsin authorities shunned the demand.
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