National Parks waive entrance fees for August weekend

By The Post's Lisa Rein

The National Park Service will waive entrance fees on Aug. 14 and 15, one of the busiest travel weekends of the summer, to encourage people to come visit a park, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Wednesday.

There are 391 national parks across the country, in 49 states. Many will also hold free events on Aug. 14 and 15. See a complete list by park or state at www.nps.gov.

Stories worth checking out this morning:

• Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki says his agency has no time to spare in beefing up services for female vets, whose numbers are growing with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan;
• An unfolding investigation into the conduct of FBI agents;
• More on the WikiLeaks release of classified battlefield reports;
• And controversy continues over a Postal Service proposal to move to five-day mail service.

Question of the Week: A report by the Center for American Progress says confidence in the federal government is at an all-time low. What can federal workers do to improve the view of the government in the eyes of the American public?

E-mail your answer to federalworker@washpost.com, and include your full name, home town and the agency for which you work. We may include your response in Friday"s Washington Post.