Statue Of Liberty

Vandals in Bordeaux, France, scorched a replica of the Statue of Liberty and cracked the pedestal of a plaque honoring victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, officials said. The crowned head of the 8-foot-tall statue was blackened by fire and its eyes were marked with red paint, apparently to symbolize tears of blood, an official at the mayor's office said. Mayor Alain Juppe condemned the attack. The Lady Liberty standing in New York Harbor was a gift from France.

[ Updated, 1:45 p.m. March 19: The National Park Service announced Tuesday that it plans to reopen the Statue of Liberty to visitors by July 4. Repairs to the docks where visitors disembark would be fixed with federal transportation funds, the announcement said.] The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island received $59 million to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in October, but how to fix them remains up in the air. "Should the island be patched up quickly and reopened at the risk of further flooding or should longer repairs be made to relocate infrastructure up higher, with the hopes of minimizing further flooding?

A nonprofit group is looking for private donations to fund security improvements needed to reopen the Statue of Liberty, which has been off-limits to the public since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The federal government has spent millions of dollars on upgrades, but about $5 million worth of security measures still are needed before visitors can go inside the 151-foot-high statue, National Park Service spokesman Brian Feeney said.

NEW YORK -- The Statue of Liberty, whose feet remained dry but whose home was badly damaged by Superstorm Sandy, will reopen July 4 after extensive work to repair the infrastructure on her perch in New York Harbor is completed, officials announced Tuesday. "What a fitting day for Lady Liberty's return," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. From Washington, he joined Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the National Park Service's northeast regional director, Dennis R. Reidenbach, in making the announcement during a conference call with reporters.

Lady Luck or Lady Liberty? Las Vegas edged out the Big Apple on a postage stamp that bears the likeness of Sin City's diminutive replica of the New York City landmark instead of the original. It wasn't intentional, U.S. Postal Service officials said, but there are no plans to correct the mistake. Though 2 billion of the stamps were issued Dec. 1 -- and 3 billion were printed -- the agency learned of the discrepancy only last month. "A stamp collector looked at the image and noticed that's not the original, that's the replica, the Las Vegas version," said Roy Betts, manager of community relations for the Postal Service in Washington.

Employees of 43 Orange County corporations raised about $25,000 Saturday for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty by running a 16-mile relay in Irvine, a race sponsor said. The five-person team of Iliff Thorn Co., an Orange brokerage firm, won the relay. Each member ran 3.2 miles in William Mason Regional Park, said Gloria Chingren, an organizer of the event.

French stamps honoring the centennial of the Statue of Liberty will be sold in New York City, starting July 4.

A judge ordered in federal marshals Monday to enforce his order that abortion opponents not block an abortion clinic, after two weeks of demonstrations in which 1,000 people have been arrested. Police officers arrested an additional 94 protesters Monday on loitering charges for blocking the clinic's entrance, Lt. Jack Arnold said.

The lofty crown of the Statue of Liberty, closed to the public since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, will reopen July 4, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Friday. Salazar made the announcement on NBC's "Today" show in an appearance standing inside the statue's crown, which he said gave him "goose bumps." Admission will be "egalitarian," the secretary said.

New postage stamps honoring the Statue of Liberty and Norman Rockwell will be released in the coming weeks. The 29-cent self-adhesive Statue of Liberty stamps will be issued June 24, the Postal Service announced. On July 1, five Norman Rockwell stamps will be issued.

We travel, we craft bucket lists , we read about exotic destinations that will open a window on the world, but do we actually retain anything? Here's a chance to find out. Napa Valley-based freelance writer Bob Ecker created the Travel Quiz 2012 for his travel column at Examiner.com . It has 25 brain-busters that will leave you thinking, singing and maybe embarrassed about how few you can answer. The answers will be posted next week (though I've already seen them)

Among Superstorm Sandy victims still struggling to recover: Liberty Island. The Statue of Liberty remains indefinitely closed to the public due to damage on the island, joining another shuttered national icon, the Washington Monument, which has been closed due to damage from an Aug. 23, 2011, earthquake. The statue, the pedestal and base came through the storm, which made landfall Oct. 29 in southern New Jersey, without significant damage. But the docks that bring visitors to the island were seriously damaged, and more than half of the bricks in the walkway that circles the island in New York Harbor were dislodged and tossed about as water came probably within 10 to 15 feet of the statue's base, said National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst.  Security screening and concessionaire facilities also were damaged.

An Andy Warhol silkscreen depiction of the Statue of Liberty created in 1962 has sold for $43.8 million at a Christie's sale in New York. The sale was part of a larger Christie's contemporary art auction Wednesday that brought in a hefty $412.3 million. "Statue of Liberty" features multiple tiled images of the famous statue, with each image sporting a 3-D effect. (The auction house marketed the catalogue with a pair of 3-D glasses, according to reports.) Christie's said the painting was sold from a private collection but did not reveal the owner.  The sale price doesn't break any records for Warhol.

The long-awaited reopening of the Statue of Liberty went off Sunday on the landmark's 126th anniversary. But it abruptly closed, as did everything else in New York City, because of Hurricane Sandy. The public will have to wait a few days longer to see the $30-million year-long makeover -- the new 393 steps to the crown, the new wheelchair access area and other upgrades. (Visiting the crown requires advance tickets .) The statue is closed Monday and Tuesday with no word yet on plans for Wednesday.

Another birthday, another face-lift. The Statue of Libert y in New York Harbor marks its 126th year with the reopening of the inside of the landmark that's been undergoing a $27-million renovation. Public access to observation levels at the statue's pedestal and crown is set to resume Oct. 28. Tourists will be allowed to enter the monument "on a limited basis while the project moves to completion by the end of the year," David Luchsinger, superintendent of Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island , said in a statement Wednesday.

The Statue of Liberty hosted a 125th anniversary celebration Friday and then decided to take off the rest of this year and part of the next. Being a hostess, of course, can be a lot of work, but in this case, it's a lot of work that's being done to the hostess that will keep her closed for about a year. Now the party is over, although the National Park Service emphasizes that Liberty Island will remain open during the $27.25-million renovation. About 3.5 million people visit Liberty Island in a year, but only about only 2,500 tickets a day have been available for the inside tour of Lady Liberty, which means about two-thirds of the visitors don't go inside.

Is this any way to start a marriage? The groom refuses to leave Barcelona, the bride is wedded to New York, and Valentine's Day nuptials this week in Las Vegas are awash in excess. Then again, the Statue of Liberty and Barcelona's Christopher Columbus monument have been courting too long to turn back now. The couple's engagement was officially announced back in 1986 by then-New York Mayor Edward Koch--who admitted he "didn't even know they were dating"--and the partying hasn't stopped since.

The Statue of Liberty officially turns 125 on Oct. 28, when musical programs and special tours are planned to mark the event. The next day, the entire inside of the national monument will be closed for a $27.25 million renovation expected to last a year, the National Park Service announced Wednesday. The work won't affect the outside of the building on Liberty Island, however, which will remain open to visitors throughout the project. Upgrades will be made to the statue's pedestal and the "200-year-old fort base from which the statue rises," including new elevators and stairways, redone bathrooms and improved electrical and mechanical systems, the park service says.

Lady Luck or Lady Liberty? Las Vegas edged out the Big Apple on a postage stamp that bears the likeness of Sin City's diminutive replica of the New York City landmark instead of the original. It wasn't intentional, U.S. Postal Service officials said, but there are no plans to correct the mistake. Though 2 billion of the stamps were issued Dec. 1 -- and 3 billion were printed -- the agency learned of the discrepancy only last month. "A stamp collector looked at the image and noticed that's not the original, that's the replica, the Las Vegas version," said Roy Betts, manager of community relations for the Postal Service in Washington.