• White House: Sequester won't stop Easter Egg Roll

    TODAY

    White House spokesman Jay Carney has assured that the 135th annual White House Easter Egg Roll on April 1 will go on as planned despite a memo last week indicating it could possible be cancelled due to looming spending cuts.

    By Scott Stump, TODAY contributor

    The looming sequester crisis will not stop the Easter Bunny from visiting the White House for the 135th straight year. 

    The annual White House Easter Egg Roll, hosted by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, will go on as planned on April 1 this year after a memo sent out by the White House last week indicated it could potentially be cancelled due to spending cuts. White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday that the event is still on. 

    "I just want to be clear that we are currently planning to proceed with the Easter Egg Roll," he said. "Because we distributed tickets to the Easter Egg Roll far in advance of the actual event, we alerted all ticket holders that this event is subject to cancellation due to funding uncertainty, including the possibility of a government shutdown." 

    The event on the White House's South Lawn is expected to attract 35,000 people who won tickets via a lottery system. In the White House invitation sent out last week, it notes that “by using these tickets, guests are acknowledging that this event is subject to cancellation due to funding uncertainty surrounding the Executive Office of the President and other federal agencies. If cancelled, the event will not be re-scheduled.  We will notify you if there are any modifications to this event.”

    "Again, the language that got attention on the Hill and was reported duly by the press was prepared well in advance, and it had to do with the potential for at least the possibility of a government shutdown should there not be a resolution on the continuing resolution,'' Carney said. "It was not about sequester principally.

    "So having said that, I want to be clear that because it certainly looks like there is progress being made, and nobody expects a government shutdown, that we have every expectation that the Easter Egg Roll will proceed as planned.  I hope that settles the matter."

    That led to speculation that the event would be a victim of spending cuts if a resolution is not reached to prevent a federal government shutdown. Carney had previously reassured a crowd last week that the Easter Egg Roll would go off as planned. 

    The White House seemed certain that the event would survive when it released a promotional video on Monday of the Obamas' dog, Bo, prowling for Easter eggs on the White House lawn. 

    More: 

    Could sequester shut down White House Easter Egg Roll? 

    Bo hunts for White House Easter Eggs

    Kid President helps Obama spread the word about Easter Egg Roll

     

     

     

    This story was originally published on Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:53 PM EDT

  • Best wines under $15 for Easter, Passover

    Ray Isle from Food & Wine magazine shows off a collection of affordable wines you can pair with your Easter and Passover meals.

    Here, Ray Isle, executive wine editor of Food & Wine, names his top picks for wines under $15 to celebrate Easter and Passover.

    Passover Wines under $15
    2011 Barkan Classic Chardonnay ($12.99)
    Barkan, Israel's second largest winery, makes this Chardonnay in a lighter, more Chablis-like style. It's crisp and citrusy, making it an ideal accompaniment to lighter dishes like soups—like Passover matzo ball soup.

    2012 Segal's Fusion ($14.99)
    This Merlot-based blend from Israel is full of lively berry and currant notes.

    Baron Herzog Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel California ($14.99)
    A lot of people suggest Cabernet with chocolate but personally I think if you are serving a dry wines with chocolate, red Zinfandel is a better answer; its juicy dark fruit and plush texture work well with the bitter-sweetness of chocolate. This one is from a prominent kosher wine producer in California, Baron Herzog—it's great with kosher for Passover chocolate macaroons. 

    Easter Wines under $15
    NV Sciarpa Prosecco ($12.99)
    Easter dinner is usually either ham or lamb (at least here in the US), and for my part, with ham—which is salty—I think an affordable sparkling wine is a great choice. Prosecco is hugely popular these days; there are a lot of good ones out there for under $15. One example is this wine from Sciarpa, which is crisp and citrusy, and awfully good for $13.

    2011 Yalumba Y Series Shiraz ($11.99)
    If you're headed towards Easter lamb on your menu, go for red—particularly Syrah (or Shiraz, as the Australians call it). The gaminess of lamb and the peppery richness of Syrah were made to go with one another. Yalumba, an Australian producer that's been making wine since 1849, makes this terrific Shiraz—really juicy and delicious, with lots of blackberry fruit—that's ideal.

    Fonseca Fine Tawny Port ($14.99)
    Finally, you need something sweet for the adults to go with all the candy the kids are eating, or else they'll never be able to keep up with them. My suggestion is tawny port—it has a nutty, candied citrus character, and is ideal for sipping after a big Easter dinner, with or without Peeps or Cadbury eggs. Serve it a little bit chilled.

    More from Food & Wine

  • Could sequester shut down White House Easter Egg Roll?

    In light of ongoing budget battles, the White House released a memo suggesting the sequester could shut down the 135 annual Easter Egg Roll. NBC's Kristen Welker reports.

    By Tracy Saelinger, TODAY contributor

    Could politics shut down the White House Easter Egg Roll?

    The annual event, along the same lines as the hokey White House tradition of the Thanksgiving Turkey pardon, will celebrate its 135th anniversary this year — unless the partisan battle over the sequester gets in the way.

    A memo released by the White House last week is causing a stir, as it seems to hint that the sequester could shut down the Egg Roll.

    The White House invitation to the event, which went out to all members of Congress, notes that “by using these tickets, guests are acknowledging that this event is subject to cancellation due to funding uncertainty surrounding the Executive Office of the President and other federal agencies. If cancelled, the event will not be re-scheduled.  We will notify you if there are any modifications to this event.”

    More than 35,000 people are expected at the festivities on the South Lawn. The 2013 souvenir eggs come in purple, blue, yellow and pink and include the stamped figures of the president and first lady, according to the White House website. The five-pack "Collector’s Egg Set" also includes a commemorative “Bo” egg; commemorative eggs become part of the tradition in 1981, under President Reagan.  

    But if you’re a Congressperson — or one of the lucky regular folks who won a ticket via the lottery system to the 2013 Easter Egg Roll on April 1 — you can breathe a sigh of relief.

    A staffer at the White House Office of Legislative Affairs told TODAY.com on Monday that a cancellation of the event is unlikely.

    “I wouldn’t worry about it,” he said.

    On Monday, the White House seemed to anticipate that the Egg Roll would go off without a hitch, as it released a promotional video of Bo Obama hunting for Easter eggs on the White House lawn.

    Press Secretary Jay Carney also reassured a crowd last week that the event would happen as scheduled.

    More: Bo hunts for White House Easter Eggs

    Kid President helps Obama spread the word about Easter Egg Roll

    This story was originally published on Mon Mar 18, 2013 6:52 PM EDT

  • Bo hunts Easter eggs for White House Egg Roll

    Follow the youngest member of the Obama family in his search for official 2013 White House Easter Eggs on the South Lawn.

    By Lauren Sullivan, TODAY

    The Obamas' youngest family member is on an important mission — to find Easter eggs!

    To get folks into the pastel-hued spirit, the White House has released a video of America's favorite pup, Bo, scouring the South Lawn for official White House eggs in honor of the upcoming White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, April 1.

    More than 35,000 attendees will get the chance to join the first family in search of blue, purple, pink and yellow souvenir eggs tagged with the president and first lady's signatures.

    Also on the agenda: Games, stories, recipes and exercises to celebrate Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign. 

    White House / YouTube

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  • Love on Facebook: Women more prone to jealousy

    NBC News

    By Rachael Rettner, MyHealthNewsDaily

    Women are more prone to romantic jealousy spurred by Facebook posts than men, particularly if they think other people can see that their relationship may be in trouble, a new study suggests.

    During the study, 226 heterosexual college-age men and women were asked to imagine that they had discovered a photo of their significant other with a person of the opposite sex on Facebook. In the hypothetical scenario, the study participants could view the privacy settings of their boyfriend's or girlfriend's Facebook account (which was still logged in) — and thus could see whether the photo was visible to others on Facebook.

    Women reported greater feelings of jealousy when they imagined the scenario than did men. Women rated their level of jealousy as a six out of a possible nine, compared to a four out of nine for men.

    Both women and men reported the greatest level of jealousy if the photo's privacy settings meant that  the photo could not be viewed by other people on Facebook — an indication that their romantic interest was trying to hide something. If the photo could be seen by other people on Facebook, men's level of jealousy dropped, while women's remained high.

    Women were also more hurt by the scenario than men if there were relatively few photos of them with their partner on Facebook.

    Together "these findings suggest that the public nature of potential infidelity may influence emotions differently for men and women," the researchers wrote in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. "Women may experience more negative [emotions] when they believe that others are able to view lack of evidence of being in a committed relationship," they said.

    However, because the scenario was imagined, it's impossible to know whether the findings would translate into the real world, or actually cause a couple to break up. Future research should examine whether a situation on Facebook, similar to the one used in this study, would hurt a real relationship, the researchers, from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, said.

    Previous studies have found that people who spend more time on Facebook report greater levels of romantic jealously, and more frequent viewing of their partner's Facebook profile, than people who spend less time on the social networking site.

    Facebook also presents people with opportunities to misinterpret information, the researchers said. For instance, the scenario described in the current study did not necessarily provide evidence of infidelity, but it was interpreted that way. "Facebook can be a place where individuals interpret ambiguous information in a non-ambiguous way, producing negative emotions," the researchers said.

    Pass it on: Facebook posts that suggest infidelity are more likely to incite jealousy in women than men.

    Follow Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner, or MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND. We're also onFacebook & Google+.

    Copyright 2013 MyHealthNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Hoda: I met (and divorced) my husband on Valentine's Day

    By Meena Hart Duerson, TODAY

    It’s Valentine’s Day, and KLG and Hoda are feeling the love! Well, kind of.

    “Valentine’s Day is such a wonderful holiday,” Hoda said, before quickly clarifying: “Not!”

    TODAY

     

    After joking around about how much fun (read: how awful) it is to watch other people get flowers on Valentine’s Day, Hoda started to reveal the real reason she doesn’t love the holiday of love.

    “Valentine’s Day, I’ll be honest with you, is not my favorite holiday of the year, because—”

    “Get out the Kleenex, this is sad,” KLG interrupted, leaving Hoda wishing for some liquid courage.

    “I wish we had a drink — I'll explain why, then the drinks hopefully will come. I met my first husband on Valentine’s Day,” Hoda revealed.

    As the crowd began to “awwww,” Hoda added: “Wait — it gets worse. And we signed our divorce papers on Valentine’s Day.”

    Hoping a cocktail would appear to ease the heartache, Hoda looked around for some Fourth Hour-style love. “Do we have drinks?" she asked a little frantically. "Seriously? Are there any? There are none? There are no drinks?"

    Luckily, two kind gentlemen showed up on cue with a “healthy” vodka cocktail for the ladies, making this year's Valentine's Day cheerier for Hoda than some in the past.

    Meena Hart Duerson is a TODAY.com senior editor who would rather have a "healthy" cocktail than a dozen roses.

     

  • George Clooney, making women's Valentine's dreams come true

    By Courtney Hazlett, TODAY

     

    Facundo Arrizabalaga / EPA

    Feeling like George Clooney is the only thing missing from your Valentine's Day? If you're in London -- and don't mind your Clooney a little waxy -- you're in luck.

    Ahead of the holiday, Madame Tussauds' Wax Museum placed a statue of Clooney on Carnaby Street. Sitting atop a settee, the actor is poised in perfect position to welcome passersby who want to snap a photo. And we have to say, that rose he's clutching s a nice touch, too.

    As far as the real Clooney is concerned, it's likely you'll next see him at the Oscars on Feb. 24. He's a producer for "Argo," which is nominated in a total of 7 categories, including best picture, adapted screenplay, and actor in a supporting role, for Alan Arkin.

    Clooney's rep didn't respond to comment regarding the actor's alter, waxy ego.

    Related content: 

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