Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Holiday decorations unveiled Monday for Joe and Jill Biden's first White House Christmas honor frontline workers who persevered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nurses, doctors, teachers, grocery store workers and others are recognized in this year's gigantic Gingerbread White House, which was made into a 350-pound (158.76 kilograms) gingerbread village with the addition of a school and police, fire and gas stations as well as a hospital, a post office, a grocery store and a warehouse to honor workers who stayed on the job.
Fewer people are likely to see the decked-out mansion in person this year, with public tours still suspended because of the continuing threat from COVID-19. But videos, photos and other details about the decorations are available for viewing at WhiteHouse.gov/Holidays.
“Gifts from the Heart” is the theme.
“The things we hold sacred unite us and transcend distance, time, and even the constraints of a pandemic: faith, family, and friendship; a love of the arts, learning, and nature; gratitude, service, and community; unity and peace,” the Bidens say in a commemorative 2021 White House holiday guidebook. “These are the gifts that tie together the heart strings of our lives. These are the gifts from the heart.”
The first lady, a longtime community college professor, invited Maryland second graders to help her unveil decorations matching the theme Monday afternoon. The decorations were inspired by people the couple met while traveling around the country this year, according to the White House.
Frontline workers are also represented in the iridescent doves and shooting stars that illuminate the East Colonnade hallway, “representing the peace and light brought to us by all the front-line workers and first responders during the pandemic,” the guidebook says.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the White House holiday season in other ways, though it's unclear how parties and receptions may be tweaked to compensate for it.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said parties will be held, but that they'll “different” than in years past. Some indication will come Wednesday when the president and first lady and Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, light a menorah to celebrate Hanukkah. Emhoff, who is Jewish, helped light the National Menorah on the Ellipse on Sunday.
Volunteers who decorate the White House came only from the surrounding area, instead of from all over the United States as in past years, because of COVID-19 concerns.
The White House also wasn't spared the supply shortages that many Americans are contending with. Some topiary trees took a little longer to arrive, said social secretary Carlos Elizondo.
The other showstopper of holidays at the White House is the official Christmas tree, an 18-foot-tall (5.5-meter tall) Fraser fir that commands the Blue Room and is trimmed with white doves and ribbon bearing the names of all U.S. states and territories to celebrate peace and unity.
More than 100 volunteers decorated the White House, including the Oval Office, while the Bidens spent Thanksgiving week in Nantucket, Massachusetts. They trimmed 41 Christmas trees and hung some 6,000 feet (2,000 yards) of ribbon and more than 10,000 ornaments.
Twenty-five wreaths adorn the exterior of the White House, and nearly 79,000 lights illuminate the Christmas trees, garlands, wreaths and other holiday displays.
Christmas stockings for each of the Biden grandchildren - Naomi, Finnegan, Maisy, Natalie, Hunter and baby Beau - hang from the fireplace mantel in the State Dining Room, which celebrates family, while two trees in that stately room are decorated with framed Biden family photos and photos of other first families during the holiday season.
Many of the photos are personal favorites of Jill Biden, who picked them out of old family albums on trips home to Delaware, said Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady's communications director.
The decorations are the product of months of work by the first lady and her staff in the White House East Wing, starting as far back as June.
A second grade class from Malcolm Elementary School in Waldorf, Maryland, was invited to the White House and bantered with PBS KIDS characters Martin and Chris Kratt from “Wild Kratts” and costumed characters Ms. Elaina, Daniel Tiger, Molly of Denali, Arthur and Rosita from “Sesame Street.”
The first lady then read her children's book, “Don't Forget, God Bless Our Troops.”
“Let's move on to happier things,” she said after stopping to ask the kids about their pets and one boy started talking about his dogs that had died.
She invited a local National Guard family whose daughter was among the second graders to highlight the role the Guard has played in the U.S. response to COVID-19, and military families spending the holidays away from loved ones.
“As we celebrate our first holiday season in the White House, we are inspired by the Americans we have met across the country, time and again reminding us that our differences are precious and our similarities infinite,” the Bidens wrote. “We wish you a happy, healthy, and joyous holiday season. As we look to a new year full of possibility, may gifts from the heart light our path forward.”
Still to come will be various interactive viewing experiences on Instagram, Google Maps Street View, Snapchat and other platforms, the White House said.
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.