In national news:
"It's fitting that we honor his service and his courage and his vision," Bush said during a visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library with first lady Laura Bush. His comments came on the federal holiday honoring the birthday of King, who would have been 79 on Jan. 15. An advocate of peaceful resistance and equality for people of all races, King was assassinated in April 1968.
The president said that the federal holiday in King's memory is "an opportunity to renew our deep desire for America to be a land of promise to everybody." Bush spoke after watching a small group of children at the library listen to a story about King's life.
The library is the main building of the District of Columbia's public library system. Its lobby features a colorful mural that depicts scenes from King's life and celebrates his role in the march toward social justice.
Bush has marked the King holiday in different ways during his presidency. Among other events, he has viewed the Emancipation Proclamation at a special showing at the National Archives, placed a wreath at King's grave, spoken at a predominantly black Baptist church and offered a volunteer hand at a high school.
- The Associated Press