when arlington began. during the war, things were so desperate that there wasn't any time for tombstones. they had headboards. they were made out of pine or walnut. painted white with black lettering. does, of course, had to be maintained or they fell apart. in the years after the civil wars, we begin to clean up, we begin to make sense of things, someone came up with a design in the 18 '70s, late 18 '70s, early 1800s for the white marble tombstones you see in arlington today. uniform designed. anyone who qualified for burial here, qualify for one of these tombstones. the earliest stones were like these you see here which have the name of the company, the state, and the date of burial and incised shield. later, the design is simplified just to include the name of the person, the date of birth, the date of burial. that's the modern tombstone you see in other sections of the cemetery today. the first military of burial here, william chrisman, was typical in that like many soldiers who died in the civil war,

arlington cemetery. up the hill in mrs. lee's garden. we are now up on the hill overlooking washington d.c. at the lee mansion. >> the highest point at arlington national cemetery, this was home, this was the home of robert e. lee before the civil war. at the height of the civil war in 1864 the first military burials were made in the cemetery, out of sight of the mansion. quartermaster general didn't think the graves were close enough to the mansion. he found officers who died in service and he had them buried here around mrs. lee's garden to make it more difficult for them to return after the war. >> as we walk along here we see these tombstones and circled the garden. >> they don't go all the way around but they form a border around part of the garden. there is something like at the end of the war, 40 graves of officers. we don't know exactly what montgomery meigs's thinking was but i suspect he chose to bury officers here rather than privates and enlisted men because it would make it more difficult to

arlington back to the lee family. it took awhile but by 1883, the lees have arlington back. of course the bad news for the lees is there were 16,000 tombs, such as a practical matter they couldn't come back to live here. so they settled with the government for fair market dalia. $150,000, 1100 acres of prime real estate and 16,000 tombs on the banks of the potomac river. the great irony is when custis leaves signed the estate over, the title over to the federal government, custis lee on one side assigning the title and all the other side was the secretary of the war, robert todd lincoln, the son of abraham lincoln, you had a son of lee and some of lincoln agreeing on something and i would say that that was the beginning of some hope that we could reunite to the north and south again. it took awhile, but that was the beginning of the reunion. >> so we are going to walk back here to the first tomb of the unknown soldiers? >> yes. one of the great traditions of arlington is honoring the unknown soldiers, the lost in the

you see a lot of things like that at arlington. to their credit the department of the army which is jurisdiction over arlington national cemetery people from all different services are buried there, but control of the cemetery is under the department of the army, civilian section of the army. the army got control of arlington, robert e. lee this state in 1861 and never gave up control. that is the reason for that. they haven't yielded to veterans administration, they still want to run -- to their credit the army center for military history had historians, archivists going through section 6 for the past four five years a couple times a month gathering artifacts cataloging everything, adding to the archive in fort belmar where the repository is for such archivists. some future historian will come back and see what was important to people at the time, what do people bring. in many ways it is universal. you go back -- achilles's friend killed in action, what does he do? he takes a goblet of wine and tours bit on the ground on his grave

it arlington north or south or whatever. whether it's an annex or not, i praise the department of defense and veterans, department of veterans affairs for what they do currently. the cemeteries are all, you know, well maintained and accessible to veterans and they honor the veterans. i have had this personal discussion, about i'm eligible also for burial at the air force academy and my kids said i would rather dad be buried at arlington national cemetery. because we visit them more often. but i don't think you could match the iconic nature of arlington cemetery. i think it's one of the all of the above solution ideas we have to come up with. >> thank you. we will now take a brief recess in order to set the witness table for the second panel. i want to thank everybody for your testimony today. really appreciate it. thank you. second panel. we would like to respectfully remind the second panel to summarize to the greatest extent possible the high points of your written testimony in five minutes or less. your written comments a

, arlington county, are connected. because of this movement of these newly freed people. at arlington there was also a freed man's village that was created after the war by the u.s. government where over the course of 35 years, thousands of former slaves would live and find freedom, work, and protection, and many of them once the village was closed in 1900 would also move out to the community and are actually four local churches that originated at freed man's village, and we are busy developing relationships and working with descendents of the enslaved people here at arlington to get their story, to do more research, and to include their per perspectives in the interpretation of this site. we at arlington house are very excited that our recent donation and our ability to restore the mansion and create new exhibits is not only possible, but that it coincides with the centennial of the national park service. it gives us an opportunity to examine and re-examine what this place meant over the last several decades

here they are buried at arlington. so my thought what i set out on this book was to not to try to tell the story of all the people buried there. more than 900 men and women killed in iraq and afghanistan who were buried there. i had to pick and choose who am i going to focus on, what am i going to write about, what stories will they tell us about our most recent wars. so that was the approach i took with this book. basically, the idea was to see what's different about our most recent wars, how do they compare to the earlier conflicts represented in our history. and how do you see that played out in this one little postage stamp of earth. yes? [inaudible] >> section 60 such a different part because it's more alive and current and active. i visit arlington fairly frequent. i find section 60 what a difficult to get through, especially if it into time when they have not cleared out a lot of the artifacts. it is not the place i'd like to visit a law. i find it difficult to visit even in friendly. how did you sustain yoursel

he gave arlington back to the lee family. it took a while but i had arlington back. the bad news is that there were 16,000 tunes here. they could not come back to live here. they settled with the government for fair market value. 1100 acres of prime real estate in 16,000 tunes on the banks of the potomac river. the great irony is that when he signed the estate over to the federal government, just as lee on one side signing the title and the other side was the secretary of war robert todd lincoln. you had the son of lee and the son of lincoln. i would say that is the beginning of some help that we could reunite north and south again. that was the beginning of the reunion. one of the great traditions at arlington is honoring the unknown soldiers. the first instance came after the civil war and the quartermaster general sent recovery teams out onto the battlefields around washington. to recover unknown soldiers from the war. he brought them here to this part of arlington. after the war, these teams recover the dead, the unknowns from the other great battlefields. they h

next he leads a tour of arlington house. the 19th century mansion situated on the hill above president john f. kennedy's grave in arlington national cemetery. today it is the most visited historic home in the national park service system which is marking it's centennial this year. arlington house will close at the end of 2016 for a yearlong restoration made possible by a $12.35 million gift. >> i am a park service ranger. i have been here many years. i sometimes joke i spent more time in this house than robert e. lee did. although it was his home for 30 years. it's perhaps the most unique place in the entire national park service and perhaps in regards to historic houses one of the most in the entire country because what we have here is a place that truly represents the entire history of this country from its earliest founding with the original colonists that came in the early 1600s through the revolutionary period. leaders of the american revolution. signers of the declaration of independent and representing in many ways on

arlington director ms. catherine. >> chairman wilson, chairman whitman and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the progress we've made at the arlington national cemetery. as both of the chairmen and ranking member davis and cooper both know from our monthly updates we still have a lot of work we have to do at arlington. the army and the entire cemetery are prepared to address the challenges that remain. but today significant progress has been made. progress as a result of our focus on establishing for the standards, measures and operating procedures that emphasize safety, proficiency, professionalism and accountability. the implementation of the starting of the technology now makes the grounds of burlington one of the most technologically advanced cemeteries in the country. a different perspective than 19 months ago when the summit to reflect fiscal stewardship, was a peter based operation using a typewriter and having only one fax m

arlington is unique. arlington national cemetery conducts over 3,000 ceremonies, has dignitaries, heads of state around the world to pay respects to the america's fallen, service men and women. arlington also provides graveside service which va cemeteries do not. and additionally washington, d.c. and the cemetery is one of the most visited tourist spot in the country. there is no other va cemetery like that. these complexities are challenging. and they're very real. one thing i would like to add for the record. s that the families that miss condon and i have dealt with, because we do get feedback on a daily basis from the families that come in and out, and they encourage us. through difficult times for us they're encouraging us to correct and fix the problems. the families we have met and spoke with and specifically the goldstar parents we met with, their feelings on that issue, mr. congressman, i was on the defense as a va employee and felt quite passionately and that the arlington should be under the va

why couldn't that be adapted to arlington cemetery? >> well, we did work on it for two and a half years, we tried it. we worked it daily into our scheduling system and we just kept coming up with one flaw after the next. and the scheduling was the biggest challenge that we had. at arlington sem tae, we use all five branches of the military to assist us in providing military honors, each branch of service have different requirements each day so they're not always available to arlington cemetery. all that information was put into a manual system, we are now trying to automate that so when we put in a burial request for our system who kuld in today that it would tell us automatically if an element was available or not available for the military to support that funeral. the b.o.s.s. system couldn't accomplish that and when we asked the va to try to maude fay phi that part of the scheduling system, they were reluctant to change their system that was supporting 130 cemeteries to change it just for arlington. that was the critical element, if

they should be in arlington now. i urge my colleagues to pass this bill unanimously, urge the senate to act quickly in urge president obama to sign this and the law. it is simply the right thing to do. we have just got to do it. >> thank you. in closing, let me say that in recent hearings, many service organizations indicated that this was a top priority. i want to close by mentioning the fact that women have served in every single war in this country and they deserve the same benefits and recognition of men. i would urge my colleagues to support this important and timely bill to honor those brief -- brave women and others whose efforts was essential in the victory in world war ii. i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from florida is recognized. >> thank you very much again. i encourage my colleagues to 3336 hasr 33 -- amended. >> the gentleman yields back. those in favor? those opposed? in the opinion of the chair -- >> mr. speaker, i asked for the days and days. nays.s and a sufficient number havin

taking a walk to arlington national cemetery with the most revered patriots. the veterans, service members and eligible family members to rest with dignity, respect and honor there is a foundation of the mission of this hollowed ground called arlington national cemetery. the hollowed grounds of arlington which is good since the civil war has a reference for the fallen men and women who serve this nation during peace and wartime at the crossroads and proud history. sure ma'am kaufman, ranking members of the subcommittee on military personnel, on behalf of the national command and the 2 million members of the american legion, thank you for the opportunity to testify regarding the future of the arlington national cemetery. the likelihood with this 150 year history can cease to operate in the next three decades is a real possibility. there are 71 medal of honor recipients with conflicts and lifted the average life expectancy will not have the option to be buried at arlington due to the lack of capacity. extending life as an active cemetery will require difficult d

in whichhis legacy this community at arlington, arlington county, are connected. ofause of this movement these newly freed people. at arlington there was also a friedmans village that was created during the war by the u.s. government where over the course of 35 years thousands of former slaves would live and find freedom on the work and protection. many of them, once the village was closed in 1900, would also move out to the community. there are four lurker churches -- local churches that originated at freedman's village. descendentsng with of the enslaved people here at arlington to get their story, to do more research, and to include their perspectives in the interpretation of this site. house are very donationhat our recent and ability to restore the mansion and create new exhibits is not only possible, but it coincides with the centennial of the national park service. it gives us an opportunity to examine and re-examine what this place meant over the last several decades since the national park service first took it over in 1933. and what it means moving into

condon may be in a better position to answer that than i am. >> sir, arlington -- the management of arlington, as you do your resource, has to report to the department of the army. >> so -- but it's just gross numbers. we had this many ceremonies, not specifics? >> it would be, you know, from a resource standpoint, it will be the resources required to run the cemetery. >> right. going through the grave site accountability study findings, obviously this is a complex issue. as you read through subsections that, you know, sections within and then subsections within, if they're not clearly marked, there's going to be issues. do we have any recollection of anywhere before 2008, any report of we have some issues because we're finding sections that have people in them that aren't supposed to have them or we're finding grave markers that have no people there? is there anything prior to this 2008, sort of, disaster? i guess the question would be, how long have you folks been involved in this other than just since we started this process? >> sir, i can start with that one. my first day was on june 10th

to arlington and what we now know as fort meyer, especially, on the hill adjacent to arlington just to north and west you know that the union army would never allow that land to fall into confederate hands because it occupies strategic lands and on the night of may 24, 1861 the union army crossed the potomac and occupied arlington and held their ground every single day since then. that is not the end of the story of arlington. it became it became the base for the union army in 1864 it became a cemetery as well the cemeteries of the capital region had to make a decision about so many soldiers who had fallen in the line of duty. senior union army leaders look very unfavorably on lee as a traitor to his nation and had hundreds of acres of land just across the river began to enter union soldiers there. now, they knew the claim the united states government had at arlington was somewhat dubious as a legal matter because they had taken in attack and refusing to take a tax payment from eight meet relative who showed up to pay it. they started to into her soldiers first in the backyard of ar

and for your oversight of arlington. we know it's a new challenge for you, but know one that you're ready and up to the task. ms. condon, i thank you you and your team who have met with us on a monthly basis to keep us apprised of progress. we appreciate your dedication. we know it's been a long ar are duous journey with more steps to come. i'd like to also highlight my appreciation for what you do in total for the army, what you've done through your career and what you've done to this point. army leadership has done a lot to change the culture and climate at arlington and i also want to thank secretary mchugh. he is a person of steadfast devotion on getting this issue served. he is a man of his word. he said this was going to be his focus. i admire him for are that focus, for his commitment, for his dedication to make sure that arlington, again, goes back to its rightful place in honoring this nation's heroes. so i want to thank the secretary for that. this was an organization that was characterized by deficiencies and

arlington executive director, ms. kathryn condon. >> chairman wilson, chairman wittman and distinguished members ofhsubcommittees, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the progress that we have made at arlington national cemetery. as both of the chairmen and ranking member davis and cooper both know from our monthly updates, there still is a lot of work left that we have to do at arlington. but the army and the entire cemetery are prepared to address the challenges that remain. but today significant congress has been made. progress as a result of our concerted focus on establishing repeatable standards, measures and operating procedures that emphasize safety, proficiency, professionalism and accountability. the implementation of state of the art technology now make the hay -- hallowed grounds of arlington one of the most technologically advanced in the country. a different perspective than 19 months ago when the cemetery lacked stewardship was a paper-based operation using a typewriter a

there is no more premier location than arlington. and no reprimand, no punishment, to accountability. we haven't even, in this hearing, at least, identified folks to be held accountable. i love looking forward and i love optimism and i do think great progress has been made by the current folks. but how do i look folks in the eye back home and said there's been accountability? when you talk about whether it should be an army or a va facility, who in the army was in char charge? and this is way beyond the realm of gao and folks like that and your excellent witnesses and i appreciate the limits on your supervision, but this hearing is about accountability at arlington. and the best i can tell, there is none, at least in terms of holding the wrongdoers accountable. so what are we going to do about this? this is years into the investigation. members of congress have run for office hoping to hold hearings on cemetery accountability. presumably this will be handled responsibly, but i'm getting tired of waiting years into the investigation.

, that then turned to arlington cemetery, arlington city and everything we call arlington here. >> a thriving area across the river from washington, d.c. we will go back to touring this place. matt will tell us more about the interpretation of robert e. lee's life here. let's listen. >> here we also have the one portrait of robert e. lee in the ma mansion. it shows him as a young officer. it's not the version most people expect. most think of robert e. lee at the great general. what arlington house represents is his life before the civil war. his family life, that he married his wife here, that six of their seven children were born here. that this was the place he sacrificed to make the choice he did at the beginning of the civil war to side with virginia. to fight for a larger concept of what he considered to be his home and family. and that was virginia. but it came with a very knowing sacrifice. and while robert e. lee would be in the minds of many during that war and the years to follow, somewhat of a villain in history, labeled a traitor to his country by the u.s. government and

arlington was -- it was no year funds. but one of the first things that i did without of our secretary of the congo is to put in an accounting system and that arlington is part of the general fund enterprise business system, we're not going to be fully transparent. the community can now see how we spend each and every dollar. the benefit of having no year money was one of the benefits of being able to recoup those unliquidated obligations from prior years. is able to apply them to the project and we have ongoing right now but because of those unlimited obligation were able to start and finance, that was one and were able to put in all of those i.t. issues. were able to address and put into technology and by the right equipment to get arlington to where it is today. so having no year money from that perspective has been a benefit for myself and mr. hallinan to truly put in the changes we need it but now that we are under congress transgressor doesn't matter if we're one year money or no year money. every dollar is now an ac

of course, that means telling the full story of the enslaved people here at arlington arlington national cemetery was once a plantation. a lot of visitors are surprised by that. over 4 million visitors to our arlington national cemetery every year and very few, it seems, are aware of that aspect of the history before they get here. and to see how this place changed and evolved from a plantation to the national cemetery during the war and what it is now is a great part of the story here that we interpret daily. well, slavery is a big part of that. and for visitors to washington -- and we get so many of the same visitors that visit the lincoln memorial, jefferson m memorial, washington monument, this may be the one chance they have a chance to actually step inside a historic slave quarters as part of their visit to washington and to learn about this painful aspect of our country's history. so, part of our restoration project that is upcoming is to enhance and expand our interpretation of african-american history here and that means fully restoring both of the historic slave quarters, creat

lee, and now arlington house. and that is what overlooks and is lit up at night, that is what overlooks the kennedy burial site. j. winick you are a historian, you are paid to be able to put this in perspective. your thoughts about the kennedy family and whether it can regenerate itself. >> i'm not sure it can regenerate itself and i'm not sure the american people wanted to regenerate itself, which is it to say that isn't a great deal of love or affection are reverent for them but america is not a land of dynastic families. on the other side of the aisle have the bushes. in a sense they're kind of creating their own dynasty. if you remember the narrative during the election, with the clintons it was often said we don't want the clintons because we don't want a third dynastic family in america. but if a young kennedy decides to throw his or her hat into the ring i have no doubt they will be welcomed with open arms. they will probably have to fight and claw for it, but there is a kind of dynamism and almost magic to

for 30 years, arlington was his home. robert was an engineer, one of the top students were he would later return. that meant he spent a lot of time on hampton roads for new york city. almost every winter they would return to arlington for christmas and he would cross the river and work at the chief of engineers office while mary was with their grandkids at home. that continued for 30 years. . south carolina seceded and the other states followed. by then, general in chief mind, the finest soldier ever on the field, they asked if war would break out, what steps they should take, they should have an insurance policy on robert e lee. we probably knew what was in store when he returned. he was summoned to cross the river. first he went to blair house. it called that because it belonged to the blair family. abraham lincoln was asked to offer me the command of the army. robert now stood at a cusp where only washington stood in history. that would forge a nation's future, he never said what he would do for fame. he believed it wa

i believe people in arlington. thank you. -- i believe they belong in arlington. thank you. yield oneeld one -- i minute. >> thank you for this opportunity to stand up here as part of women's history month to say that this is a bipartisan piece of legislation that .epresents something overdue i am packed to be able to say that there were women who went before me who were brave and courageous and it all the jobs that were asked of them in a manner that was of high standard and that they gave and sacrificed on my behalf and now we have the opportunity to eliminate some of the last vestiges of disparate treatment. i rise in support of this legislation. i congratulate my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for bringing this to our attention. thank you. i yield three minutes. thank you. i am here to urge my colleagues to support this legislation recognizing the services of certain groups of men and women who have valiantly served their country. when the g.i. bill improvement act became law it contained language championed by berry goldwater that deemed certain groups of women a

i thought about arlington because of that trip. and so we took those wreaths to arlington. it made such an impact. i can't believe, you know, how that looked and how it was so well received and so on. that i said you know, we're never going to stop doing that. we're going to give those 5,000 wreaths away every year. it was just our family's personal gift to the military. no fanfare, nothing. >> we overdo christmas. >> his wife karen and their kids continue to bring 5,000 wreaths to arlington national cemetery every year for 15 years until one day a photographer snapped an iconic image that changed everything. >> and he stumbled on the area that we had just placed the wreaths. and he took the photograph. and put it on the internet. with a poem, and it just went around the world. we literally had millions of people that saw that worldwide. i'm not great on computers, that's for sure but i had like 6,000, 7,000 e-mails of people sending us money and everything else. and we sent it all back because we weren't able to take it. that's how wreaths across america started. >> the ph

what is interesting here is he is buried in arlington, right in front of the arlington house overlooking the city that he designed. this is the map of the permanent system of highways for the district of columbia. it was dated 1914. you will notice that the arlington reservation is right here -- fort meyer is right here. one of the items not on the inventory, but we knew was here, is a list of confederate dead. people ask me why is this list included? 1915 was the 50th anniversary of the civil war. and you had these civil war union and confederate veterans reconciling. there was a big push to reconcile between the north and the south, and arlington was a centerpiece of the reconciliation. the public buildings act of the 1950's added a confederate, fred beale. he placed the list of confederate dead as the union veterans placed their program. another thing i point out is that, if you look at the original drawings, there was a statue planned. but all of that went by the wayside in november of 1920. just months after this building was dedicated, the british and french interred their soldiers

right now arlington county police are calling this a death investigation on arlington boulevard/route 50, for the exit for north queen street. eastbound 50 is closed at pershing drive near fort myer. drivers can take clarendon boulevard, washington boulevard to 395. local drivers can use fairfax drive. westbound lanes are open. drivers occasionally slowdown out of curiosity. a dozen officers and detectives are still on the scene from arlington county police. if they have been taking pictures in the last few minutes of the body that is still on the scene. they have been combing the area for evidence and clues. it is not clear if this was just a car accident or how the body ended up on the roadway. police of being very tight- lipped and it's not clear how long the investigation will continue this morning, but we are told that police and detectives will likely be here up to the next three hours. so this will certainly impact rush-hour. drivers are advised to avoid this area. reporting live in arlington mike conneen, abc 7 news. >> 66 might be a good alternative. >>> fairfax county police

arlington looked like this in 1865. these are wooden planks painted white and stenciled with black paint. the upkeep was going to be horrendous. 1873, congress authorized the use of marble headstones. they are buried mostly in a segregated section. a few are integrated with white in listed men. -- enlisted men. this is a mass grave. to seal the deal, to make sure they would not wish to come back, he dug a hole and put the bones of unknown soldiers gathered after the war. the remains could not be identified. is jessica in the room? there you are. would you come and touch my hand? i will meet you in the middle. thank you. jessica touched my hand. this hand held the hand of a man who was born that year and i called him grandpa. i do this with school kids and they cannot believe i am standing here talking, that i am only three generations from the date in my family. history. ancient to school kids, vietnam is ancient history. world war ii, they do not know when it was fought. i take personal pride in taking that message and

setting a different set of rules for arlington contributed to the lack of accountability at arlington for many years. if a worker brave whistleblowers, we still wouldn't be where we need to be. people who worked at arlington new things were going badly and nothing was happening. part of that was this no year and 98. is there a recommendation that should be made that we should end the notion that arlington should not a fiscal year appropriation and caning videos with? >> well, senator, we did not look at that as a part of our audit. the gao is on record as saying when you have no year funds, obviously there's more accountability involved in that. so from the do for me or from gao and contracting going forward, i would say it is the insight and the oversight in terms of contracting important. there are still some things that need to be done. senator tester talks about the importance of looking to see, can i consolidate ms. condon and her staff is certainly done that. she mentioned having several contract for landscaping and now they have fewer contract. all of that is important. leverag

this person was in arlington cemetery. arlington cemetery is closed after dark. why the person was being investigated. the person was taken into custody and in the course of interviewing this person the united states park police thought it was appropriate to look for a vehicle that this person may have been operating. a vehicle was located by the arlington county police department. this vehicle was located near the pentagon. because of the proximity of the vehicle towards the pentagon it was thought to be appropriate to handle this as a more suspicious-type situation. because of that the arlington county fire department has sent their bomb disposele people there to look at the vehicle. i'm not sure where they are in that investigation but right now they are wrapping up that part and we'll have a little more detail on that. so at this point we have something that was considered suspicious by being in the arlington cemetery overnight. we have one person in custody, we're talking to about that. and we have a vehicle that is being looked into. i'm joined with detecti

next we visit arlington house, the robert e. lee memorial in arlington national cemetery to hear from descendents of one of the enslaved families on this 19th century plantation. in about ten minutes we'll hear from craig that describes his work to tell the story of community established on the plantation grounds to transition slaves into independent lives but first steven hammond talks about his research on the family. >> my name is steve hammond. i'm a retired department of interior employee. i work for the u.s. geological survey. it is sister agency to the national park service. i actually was the deputy associate director for national hazards that death with earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides and a variety of hazards that effect the united states. and my connection is an interesting one. by third great grandmother was a slave at decatur house in washington defendant c. and her brother is charles that actually was a slave here on arlington national cemetery. and go way back in materials of their connection to mt. vernon in

he will reveal the field for the arlington million. 32nd running of the arlington million. a mix of european. we have the defending champion back. postposition one smoking son for post position no. 2. up with the birds post position no. 5. defending champion real solution. side glance post position no. 7. fans can watch the on wgn. attempting to become the first back-to- back winner of the arlington million. now we'd bring on the arlington general manager to lead us in a toast. >> if you all would raise your glasses. we want to welcome the world to chicago and to arlington international racecourse. we hope the experience and warped is shared from arlington and chicago to each and every one of you. raise your glasses and wish everybody an international festival of racing as much success as possible in 2014. back to you. we will see you on wgn at 5:00 p.m. on saturday. >> there you have it. the post position lineup. watched coverage of the arlington million this saturday august 16th starting at 5:00 p.m. central. an encore on cltv at 8:00 p.m.. we have lunch break coming up n

arlington. here we have the story of slavery. and this place represents the founding ideals of this country. this home built to honor george washington and to celebrate the values and beliefs of the father of the country, the house itself built by slaves. but then you have the family as well, the family relationship. and george washington parke custis in essence had two daughters. one was white, his heiress, she married robert e. lee. one was enslaved. both great granddaughters of martha washington. so in that regard george washington mark custis as a representative of the first first family of the country who spent 55 years of his life celebrating that was in essence representative of another aspect of the history of this country. and the simple truth is the first family in this country was biracial. so we recently reenacted that wedding with descend dents of the syphax family in attendance. there was also another wedding that took place here and that was the wedding of selena norris and thorto

most of the power outages are in arlington. 10,005 under and palaces still in the dark in arlington. -- northern virginia, i should say. -- 10,500 powhoses are still in the dark. >>> the jury and will begin deliberating whether in or guandique kilduff chandra levy. >> the defense made pleas to the jury yesterday. courtney robinson of the latest from northwest. >> the jury has a lot to consider. they heard a lot of evidence, a lot of testimony from both sides. it will be in the hands of the jury this morning. they will begin deliberations. yesterday they heard closing arguments from the prosecution and defense. the prosecution said that the chandra levy family has waited almost 10 years for justice. the defense says convicting an innocent man would not be justice. they said former congressman gary condit is the one who acted guilty in the time after the disappearance. the prosecutors said that in march guandique assaulted two other women in rock creek park and there was a jail does confession from a former inmate. we will be awaiting the decision, diverted from the jury. there's no wo

arlington superintendent mr. patrick hallen nan. i hope, too, they're ready for very robust and direct questions. these officials will address ongoing discrepancies and issues relating to the 2010 army inspector general's investigation into misconduct at arlington. i anticipate a number of members from other committees may wish to participate. therefore, absent any objections i ask for unanimous consent they be allowed to participate and also be provided with an opportunity to ask questions. before he we get started with testimony, i'd like to share a story with you that highlights why i'm absolutely committed to addressing this issue. it's a story about an american hero who has dedicated his life to our nation and to others who serve. his name is paul buca. in 1970, army captain paul buca received the medal of honor in vietnam. captain buca distinguished himself by risking his life to save the lives of his fellow wounded soldiers. captain buca's story is the reminder of the thousands of other brave men and women in our nation's mil

it's a pretty quick drive across the potomac river over to arlington national cemetery. dana, this is a moment i suspect the president-elect is really looking forward to the actual beginning of the formal inauguration events? >> oh, no question about it. looking forward to it, i would imagine as any human would has trepidation, because donald trump started this out on a lark and look at where he is, about to be the 45th president of the united states. just the awesome weight of having -- there you go. he's in the doorway there now at the blair house. >> across the street from the white house. >> so he's going to be getting in the car at the white house as jake said across the street from the white house and is going to be making his way to arlington national cemetery. something certainly that donald trump ever thought for certainly the first several decades of his life as a real estate magnet an then a reality tv star that he would actually be doing, don't you think jake? >> i agree. and the weight of the office has a way of changing a person. many former presidents have

bullock also from arlington. she's just like the personality she portrayed in "miss congeniality." do you guys know who tom dolan is? >> yes! >> reporter: one of the biggest stars from arlington is doris gensler. trie to get a picture, but no such luck. she grew up around here and was able to share a lot of great tips of places to check out. and i want to give a final shout-out to the fort myers swig team. one, two, three. go swig! >> all right. looks like a fine bunch of kids. and i love that they are not having to go to swim practice this morning. >>> these folks could have been swimming yesterday. the major league home run derby is a great example of how weird the weather is in parts of the u.s. it's july, obviously, but people in minnesota were wearing jackets, sweatshirts, ponchos -- the jackets are not so weird but the upcold weather? >> it is not uncommon to see cooler weather in minnesota but this is weird because it's summertime. >> we are getting such a mess out there today. >>> we have a clash of the c

arlington estate was taken over by the u.s. army. it was considered a stronghold, a way to protect washington, d.c., and so it was overrun by a number of u.s. army soldiers. the lees, when they left, asked the slaves to attend it. they had no idea how long the war would last but felt they would return. as a result of that, several years later the u.s. government modified the tax code stating that owners of property needed to pay their taxes in person. well, mrs. lee could not pay her taxes in person and, as a result, the property was taken by the u.s. government as a result of taxes not being paid. in addition to that property being taken, the syphax property at the southern end of the estate was taken because there was no proof that the syphaxes owned that property. some years later, about 1866, the syphax's oldest son, working in the department of interior, actually had the opportunity to work with congress to make a plea to have the property returned. by 1866, the bill was taken up by the congress and to this day we know that a bi

. >> what is behind the desire to be buried here in arlington? >> duty, honor, and service. that says it all. every time i come into the cemetery, my just swells. one day i might even be buried here. it is just that reflection. it is a symbol. no another family member is accounted for, and another family member will be taken care of for eternity. i think that is a wonderful message. withgain, with the way full military honors, every time then when theynd do the 21 gun salute, it is amazing. i cannot help but to tear up every time i hear that. , howhn h. lindsley recently was he identified? >> within the last six months. then we go through the steps on what the family's wishes are. then the coordination has to be for theh arlington services. >> if you're thinking about all of the wars that this country has fought, is there a rough number of how many service people still remain unaccounted for? , nearlyve or not 83,000. -- 73,000 from world war ii. the majority of that 73,000, about 50,000 are deep-sea losses. , those areand honest going to be very

is timberview high school in arlington. about an hour and 35 minutes ago at washington liberty high school which is not far away there was also a report of an active shooter. police showed up, they cleared that scene and as soon as they cleared washington liberty high school, they got reports of an active shooter at timberview high school. the active shooter clearly at timberview that turned out to be a reality because we are now hearing that a number of people, we don't know that they are teachers or students but a number of people have been wounded. we don't know anything about don't like more than that but it gives no concept of something it was going on in arlington today because a couple of threats were turned in and one turned out to be not a threat on the other turned out to be exactly what we are seeing on the screen right now. he had these different scenarios that police are trying to work out and you can imagine that every other high school in and around the arlington area is either going to be on lock down very s