Capitol

WASHINGTON -- The acting architect of the U.S. Capitol cleared the way yesterday for the certificates that accompany flags flown over the building to include the word "God," reversing policy on an issue that was becoming the latest touchstone in the nation's culture wars. "When one of our services or policies doesn't effectively serve members of Congress or the American public, it needs to be changed immediately," architect Stephen T. Ayers said in a statement. "I appreciate the Congress bringing this important issue to my attention."

NEW YORK -- Jon Soltz rapped his pen on a conference table as he ran through plans to take on politicians who back the war in Iraq. The former U.S. Army captain and Iraq war veteran was demanding television ads. "I want a hit on Fox," he barked into a speaker phone. He wanted more e-mail blasts and more donors. "Do we have a target list?" he asked of the team gathered for a Monday morning conference call. "Let's go get those dollars." There isn't much to the nerve center of his operation: three rooms on the seventh floor of a dingy Manhattan office building.

Capitol City Brewing Company Light Street Pavilion, 301 S. Light St., Baltimore -- 410-539-7468 Hours --11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily Restaurant's estimate --5-6 minutes Ready in --8 minutes The Capitol Cobb salad, $11.55, cost the same as the salad from Southern Accents and tasted better. It had longer strips of soft chicken and more blue cheese. Both the bacon and egg came crumbled, and slices of avocado rounded out this solid salad. Know of a good carryout place? Write to sam.sessa@baltsun.

WASHINGTON -- Wilson Krahnke, 60, of Bethesda, a businessman all his life, trod down First Street in the nation's capital in dark suit and starched shirt. Under his arm he carried the day's Wall Street Journal.The last time he visited the Hart Senate Office Building, he did so to inspect the accounting and financial systems there underpinning his company's food service contract. If political things were going on, he ignored them -- that was his wife's bailiwick.Personally, though Krahnke always volunteered for church and civic groups, he found politics abominable.

The Baltimore County Council made sure last night that the county continues to buy only American-made steel and other metals, unanimously approving a resolution sponsored by Dundalk Democrat John Olszewski Sr.Olszewski, whose council district is home to many Bethlehem Steel Corp. workers, said the measure is intended to ensure that as many metalwork jobs as possible remain in the United States."If you take away livelihoods and you start importing steel and other metal products, whose jobs are you taking away?

In WashingtonInvitations mailed for Buchanan switch to Reform PartyRepublican presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan is preparing to bolt his party this month and begin a quest for the Reform Party nomination, officials close to the conservative commentator said yesterday.Buchanan's campaign mailed invitations to supporters yesterday inviting them to a "major announcement" Oct. 25 at a Falls Church, Va., hotel, the officials said. His advisers expect him to announce his Reform Party candidacy at that time, the officials said.

WASHINGTON -- In their heyday, they were the kings of Capitol Hill, but former House speakers are finding that retirement isn't what it used to be.First they lost their taxpayer-financed offices. Now the institution they once headed is trying to reclaim desks, chairs, rugs and a host of other keepsakes -- including some priceless artifacts -- that the former lawmakers took with them when they left Washington.Legendary Speaker Sam Rayburn, who dominated the House for nearly two decades until his retirement in 1961, returned to Texas with a treasure trove that included a 2,500-year-old Grecian urn, a crystal chandelier, the original marble speaker's rostrum and a fireplace mantel that came to the Capitol from the White House.

WASHINGTON -- Put aside the policy papers and pick up the phone. Everyone working on Capitol Hill has become a receptionist this week, as the pressure builds toward a House vote on impeaching President Clinton.The tension is particularly acute in the offices of the dwindling number of House lawmakers who have yet to say how they will vote at tomorrow's meeting of the House. Republican Rep. Constance A. Morella of Montgomery County is the only Marylander whose position remained in doubt, although her peers widely expect her to vote against impeachment.

WASHINGTON -- The nation mourned two fallen heroes yesterday in an extraordinary outpouring of grief, as thousands of Americans streamed through the Capitol to pay tribute to Jacob J. Chestnut and John M. Gibson.On behalf of "a grateful nation," President Clinton thanked the grieving families of the two federal police officers who were gunned down Friday in the halls of the nation's Capitol. He was joined by Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members, lawmakers and law enforcers -- and Americans from all walks of life.

WASHINGTON -- As members of Congress returned to the Capitol yesterday for the first day of business since last week's deadly violence, a pall descended -- placing partisan battles over health care and campaign finance into perspective."

Nikitia Datta, 11, did not know what to expect when she headed to San Antonio late last month for the 2009 Middle School National Debate Championship. Sure she had practiced for hours each week since September, and she knew that she had a passion for debate - especially the rebuttal - but she was still slightly intimidated by the competition. Datta, a rising seventh-grader at Lime Kiln Middle, and her partner, Viveka Advani, who just completed eighth grade at Burleigh Manor Middle, quickly got over their initial anxiety and became the first Howard County students to win the competition in its 10-year existence.

One simply wanted to be present. Freezing cold or not, a crowd of 2 million, whatever - solemn warnings about tight security, long lines, traffic jams, cell phones not working. In the end, one wanted to be there on the Mall before the Capitol on Tuesday at noon amid the jubilant throng and see the man take the oath of office - our first genuine author-president. So I hitchhiked a ride in the middle of the night on a jet heading to Baltimore and got to the train station at 5 a.m., and already the platform was packed.

We have built no national temple but the Capitol," U.S. Rep. Rufus Choate of Massachusetts said in 1833. "We consult no common oracle but the Constitution."

Gov. Martin O'Malley appeared on Capitol Hill yesterday to urge passage of legislation that would direct federal dollars to augment state efforts to deal with a growing foreclosure crisis. Congress and the Bush administration have put forward a number of competing plans to help more homeowners head off foreclosure. The Senate passed a package yesterday that includes tax breaks for homebuilders, tax credits for people who buy foreclosed properties and other steps designed to help homeowners weather the housing crisis.

WASHINGTON -- Barry C. Black was 8 when his mother returned to their West Baltimore home one day with a record album of two sermons by Peter Marshall, the famed preacher of Washington's New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. It was a gift from the family whose house she cleaned. "I learned both of those sermons," says Black. And more than half a century later, he still knows them, putting on Marshall's high Scottish brogue as he recites: "The morning sun had been up for a few hours over the city of David ... " Marshall was chaplain of the U.S. Senate when he died in 1949.

WASHINGTON -- The acting architect of the U.S. Capitol cleared the way yesterday for the certificates that accompany flags flown over the building to include the word "God," reversing policy on an issue that was becoming the latest touchstone in the nation's culture wars. "When one of our services or policies doesn't effectively serve members of Congress or the American public, it needs to be changed immediately," architect Stephen T. Ayers said in a statement. "I appreciate the Congress bringing this important issue to my attention."

WASHINGTON -- In the first major anti-war demonstration in the nation's capital since January, several thousand protesters marched from the White House to the Capitol yesterday, carrying signs and chanting slogans demanding an end to the war and the impeachment of President Bush. A smaller group who support the president and the war conducted a counter-demonstration, leading to some heated confrontations. But it was a mostly peaceful affair - until about 160 protesters were arrested on the steps of the Capitol when they jumped barriers around the base of the building.

NEW YORK -- Jon Soltz rapped his pen on a conference table as he ran through plans to take on politicians who back the war in Iraq. The former U.S. Army captain and Iraq war veteran was demanding television ads. "I want a hit on Fox," he barked into a speaker phone. He wanted more e-mail blasts and more donors. "Do we have a target list?" he asked of the team gathered for a Monday morning conference call. "Let's go get those dollars." There isn't much to the nerve center of his operation: three rooms on the seventh floor of a dingy Manhattan office building.

WASHINGTON -- By mid-afternoon yesterday, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski -- an experienced hand at Senate all-nighters -- had picked out her cot in the Capitol's ornate LBJ Room yesterday. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, a rookie preparing for his first overnight session in the upper chamber, broke out the bedding that his staff had given him for just such an occasion. Both were preparing for a long night ahead, a marathon floor debate between Democrats demanding a vote to pull U.S. soldiers out of Iraq and Republicans who have been using Senate rules to block the move.

I was intrigued to have the opportunity to photograph Michael Moore, the famed icon of a citizen trying to get answers from powerful and elusive people. Moore won his first fame as a moviemaker with a film that tracked with comic appeal his efforts to get past PR people and security men and interview then-General Motors Chairman Roger Smith. So with the Lone Ranger theme from Roger and Me playing in my head I went off to find Moore and get some photos to illustrate a cover story for an Arts and Entertainment section story pegged to his new movie, Sicko, that focuses on the failings of America's health care system.