LAST SEAT ON THE BUS: Breaking-news morning

Photo by Donna Cronk -- This mother-daughter duo from Pittsburgh awaited friends and family to join them in the Bethesda Hyatt lobby Saturday morning. Sister Women's Marches are taking place around the U.S. today. Left, daughter Mary Coryea and mom, Dee Seiffer.

by Donna Cronk
Things sure happen fast around here. Some of you have been waiting on my blog updates. I am so sorry it has taken me a while to get back to all of you. You don't know how much I want to tell you about this week! I've been on the run.

I will have to unpack one subject at a time. The last two days I was up at 4:15 and 5:15 respectively, on the go every moment the rest of both days, and to bed close to midnight both nights. And in between, it's been nonstop. My first priority has necessarily been writing stories for Paxton Media Group's news products. By the time everything has been reported, photographed, uploaded and downloaded, my brain was mush and I didn't want to fill you in with a mushy brain.

So. Before we head off to "the hill" for a Congressional luncheon in a bit, I wanted to catch you up with today's breaking news, the Women's March. I had hoped to see some of the women once we got to DC this morning, but I did not have to wait!

I went down to the lobby to get coffee and there they were, the women above. I did an interview on the spot, and then when I went for coffee at the nearby Bethesda Metro station, the place was loaded with women waiting to board the Metro. So I did a little more picture taking.

I'm excited that the story will break in New Castle and at other Paxton Media products today! Here's the scoop for all of you, as well as more photos at the end. Read on:

Women's March is today

by Donna Cronk

BETHESDA, Maryland - Women and men from across the country are filing into Washington, DC Saturday morning for the Women's March.

At 8 a.m. Saturday, people were gathering in the Bethesda Hyatt as well as hotels no doubt throughout the area, preparing to leave for the march. Dee Seiffer of Pittsburgh said the last report she heard was that 1,200 buses filled with marchers had permits.

Seiffer, her daughter Mary Coryea, Seiffer's husband, son and a variety of friends and family members assembled in the Hyatt lobby to head toward the district early Saturday.

Seiffer explained her reason for marching. "To rally with other women and feminists to show Donald Trump that we are not going to go away quietly."

When Seiffer heard about the march, which began with a social media post by a grandmother in Hawaii and immediately took off across the nation, she booked reservations and made plans to march.

The Seiffers and Coryea left their home at 4 a.m. Saturday, bound for their hotel in Bethesda.

As with many other women marching, they wore the "pussycat" stocking-style hats to show their solidarity. Seiffer's was made by a friend and Coryea made hers during the ride to the march.

The women said they passed many buses headed for the capital, and that restrooms at stops along the way were jammed with women.

The Bethesda Metro station was full of lines of people donning pink hats and signs, waiting to board and head to DC.

Photo by Donna Cronk -- The man in the middle struck up a conversation in line with me at the coffee shop at the Bethesda Metro station before Saturday's Women's March. Turns out he is a former resident of Portage, Indiana, in northern Indiana. Two women from New York posed with him but of course, he is really "with them," as his sign says.

Photo by Donna Cronk -- The "pussycat" hats are the signature style today for marchers in the Women's March in Washington. Women and men supporters gather at the Bethesda Metro station this morning.

Photo by Donna Cronk -- These signs were handed out in Bethesda as women prepared to march on Washington.