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Last WWI Veteran Honored in Maryland
Stephanie Kaye

December 25, 2008 - Corporal Frank Buckles enlisted in "The Great War" when he was 16. And at the age of 107, Buckles is recognized as the last living American veteran from World War I. This Charles Town, West Virginia, resident was recently honored with a concert in Williamsport, Maryland.

Stephanie Kaye was there...

"Art Beat" with Stephanie Kaye - Thursday, December 25, 2008
Stephanie Kaye

December 25, 2008 - (Dec 27) SLICKEE BOYS AT THE SURF CLUB The legendary local band Slickee Boys perform at Surf Club Live in Hyattsville, Maryland this Saturday at 9pm. This D.C.-area punk-psychedelic-garage rock band makes a reunion tour through town every holiday, reviving their underground roots. On Sunday, the Surf Club stage is taken up by one of the best blues groups, the Kelly Bell Band, and American roots rockers The Nighthawks.

(Through Jan 4) GUTENBERG! Showing in the DC Arts Center blackbox theater, Gutenberg! The Musical as performed by Landless Theatre Company is on stage through January 4th, Saturday nights at 7:30pm and Sunday afternoons at 3pm. Two writers who think they've written the Greatest Musical of All Time, based on the life of the inventor of the printing press, try to get their masterpiece to Broadway.

(Through Jan 4) FLOW The work of artist Pat Goslee takes to the walls in the show Flow, at the DCAC in Adams Morgan through January 4th. Representing her most recent work, this intuitive artist seeks to part the curtain that separates the physical world from the spiritual, with multi-media layers of colors and shapes.

Commentary: A Little Less 'Ho Ho Ho'

December 25, 2008 - With unemployment rising and existing home sales and prices falling, WAMU Senior Commentator Fred Fiske takes a break from opening presents to offer some reflections on the season.

Wildlife Service Seeks Proof of Eastern Cougar in Virginia

December 25, 2008 - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to find proof that the eastern cougar still exists in Virginia and surrounding states. As Beverly Amsler reports, the agency is updating its 1982 recovery plan...

Virginia Records Nearly 1,400 MRSA Infections In Last Year

December 25, 2008 - Virginia's Health Department is releasing data about MRSA, a staph bacteria that's resistant to some antibiotics. There were almost 1,400 cases in the first year the state tracked the infections, and the state says at least 35 people have died from MRSA infections since December 1, 2007. Only about 30 percent of the cases reported in the last year listed a known outcome, so the number of deaths could be even higher.

Governor Tim Kaine ordered medical labs across Virginia to report the more serious cases to the Health Department last year, following the death of a 17-year-old boy from Bedford County.

Christopher Novak, an epidemiologist with the Virginia Department of Health, says the data will be more helpful in tracking trends as more time passes.

Novak said Virginia's numbers appear to be similar to what's going on nationally. There were more than 94,000 invasive MRSA infections in the United States in 2005, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That included 18,000 deaths.

Rebecca Blatt reports...

Internet Helps Seniors Combat Crime
Jessica Forres

December 25, 2008 - Cindy Libby-Green sits in front of her computer, opens the Senior Checked Web site and searches for "home care providers" in zip code 20852.

The search pulls up 388 companies but only six of them, including the company she works for Premiere Homecare, have been Senior Checked. That means those companies are legitimate, licensed, insured and their employees crime-free.

"Up until the Web site was developed there was no entity that seniors could go to that gave the stamp of approval to companies," she said.

Silver Nation is the company behind Senior Checked and Mark Hansan is the CEO. The Web site, he says, will help seniors in the D.C. area combat crime.

Jessica Forres has more...