Two American truck drivers will embark on a cross-country journey in honor of a special Yuletide delivery.

Alaska natives John Schank and Fred Austin will bring holiday cheer to Washington, D.C., by transporting the annual Christmas Tree to the U.S. Capitol.

This year’s tree was selected from Alaska’s National Forests, traveling 4,000 miles from Tongass National Forest near Wrangell, making 11 stops along the way, so Americans can get a chance to see the People’s Tree.

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The tree will be carried by Lynden Transport in an 80-foot flatbed truck covered with protective wrapping and a plexiglass window at the rear.

The drive could take roughly three weeks to complete.

“My favorite part of this trip is the show-and-tell time, not the driving time,” Austin told Fox News Digital.

Austin of North Pole, Alaska, has been driving with Lynden Transport for 50 years and says it’s “pretty cool” to be transporting the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.

Schank said this will be his second time transporting the tree.

“I moved it back in 2015. I came out to Chugiak National Forest near Seward, Alaska, and I’m looking forward to doing it here,” he told Fox News Digital.

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Between the men, they’ve safely driven for a combined estimate of 100 years stretching around 10 million miles.

Schank has also been driving big rigs for 50 years and said the route that he and Austin are taking is all mapped out.

The Capitol Christmas Tree will be carried by Lynden Transport, an Anchorage, Alaska-based trucking company. The tree will travel on an 80-foot flatbed truck covered with protective wrapping and a plexiglass window at the rear. (U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree)

“The trailer is 80 feet long and the tree just barely fits inside of it … We will take care of the precious cargo we’ve got, and we will drive accordingly,” said Schank.

Banners adorn the 74-foot tree, giving Americans a chance to leave their name and a message with a marker at selected stops. 

“You can actually look in and see the tree … and when we’re stopped, they turn the Christmas tree lights on,” said Austin.

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“John and Fred are a dynamic duo of driving experience, leadership, and positive energy, which will make the cross-country trip memorable,” Paul Grimaldi, president of Lynden Transport, said in a statement.

This year’s tree was selected from Alaska’s national forests, traveling 4,000 miles from Tongass National Forest near Wrangell. (U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree)

The 54-year tradition of the Capitol Christmas Tree began when Speaker of the House John McCormack, D-Mass., placed a live Christmas tree on the Capitol lawn, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“This tree lived three years before succumbing to wind and root damage. In 1970, the Capitol Architect asked the U.S. Forest Service to provide a Christmas tree,” a news release said.

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Each year a different national forest is selected to provide “the People’s Tree” in an annual campaign to celebrate national forests.

The Capitol Christmas Tree will make 11 stops on the way to Washington, D.C. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The tree will be making stops in Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio and Maryland before arrival at the Capitol’s West Lawn.

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Americans can track the People’s Tree at kenworth.com/tree-tracker/.

The Washington Post has ordered employees to return to the office five days a week, according to a memo from Publisher Will Lewis. Managers will have to return beginning February 3, 2025, and all other employees will be expected in the office beginning June 2.

“I want that great office energy for us every day,” Lewis writes. “I am reliably informed that is how it used to be here before Covid, and it’s important we get this back.”

The Post sent employees home on March 10, 2020, as the magnitude of the Covid pandemic became clear. Employees have been required to be in office at least three days per week since spring of 2022.

There is a carve-out: If you’re out reporting, that counts as being in-office, as does making a sales call for the ad folks. “The change is that there is a presumption that between those key work or personal appointments, you will be office based,” Lewis writes,  “the same arrangements as you have had with the three day a week rule, but now for five days.”

In response, the Washington Post Guild, the union that represents many employees at the publication, sent an email to members with the subject line “RTO (Return to Organizing).” In the note, the union’s leaders say “Guild leadership sees this for what it is: a change that stands to further disrupt our work than to improve our productivity or collaboration.” The long time frame before Guild members are required to report five days a week, they say, “means we have time to organize a response.”

Here’s Lewis’s memo:

Hello,

Thank you all very much for your hard work and dedication in this significant week for America and the world.

We produced wonderful journalism for our customers and the office was a vibrant place to be. I want that great office energy for us every day. I am reliably informed that is how it used to be here before Covid, and it’s important we get this back.

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You know how much we all must do to improve our company, and I do not believe we can do that successfully via zoom. We are really good when we are working together in person.

It is in this spirit that we will be returning to the office five days a week in the coming months.

By February 3, 2025, we want all managers to return to the office (that’s all people managers at all levels companywide). All other colleagues will be required to return to the office five days a week by June 2, 2025. These return-to-office plans also apply to those remote colleagues within commuting distance of either our DC or New York offices.

All other remote working arrangements, either continuing or new, will require departmental approval, and will be based on business needs, the nature of the role and related factors.

We know for some people this shift from three to five days in the office will be welcomed and a straightforward transition. For others, we know it will be an adjustment – you may need to adapt routines and rediscover old ways of managing work-life balance. This is why we are giving more than six months for many of our colleagues to work it through.

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When we say return to the office, there is a lot that won’t change. If you are a reporter out on a story, a salesperson out selling, or a colleague going to a medical appointment – carry on as normal. The change is that there is a presumption that between those key work or personal appointments, you will be office based – the same arrangements as you have had with the three day a week rule, but now for five days.

You will likely have questions and will hear more from your own department heads soon. In the meantime, please direct any specific questions to wayne.connell@washpost.com or our HR team.

William

And here’s the Guild’s note:

Hi all-

Like many of you, we are distressed to learn that after four years of successful flexible work arrangements, The Post plans to institute an inflexible and outdated work-from-the-office policy that does not reflect the reality of our jobs or lives. Guild leadership sees this for what it is: a change that stands to further disrupt our work than to improve our productivity or collaboration.

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Here’s the good news: The contract you all voted to approve in December includes a side letter for ample notice and management is readily conceding Guild-covered employees do not have to make any changes until June 2nd at the earliest. That means we have time to organize a response.

Disclosure: Washingtonian’s editorial staff, like the Post Guild, is represented by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. 

An NFL player turned award-winning celebrity chef and his companion were viciously attacked in Hyattsville, Maryland, on Tuesday as they were returning home from a night out.

Both were shot multiple times by four gunmen who opened fire with automatic weapons, police said. They were hospitalized and are expected to survive.

Tobias Dorzon, who was named Chef of the Year in Maryland last year, was one of the victims, a Prince George’s County Council Member said. Dorzon played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tennessee Titans, WTOP reported. He now owns two Hyattsville restaurants and hosts a cooking show.

Barrage of gunfire, scream heard on surveillance video

Just after 10 p.m. Tuesday, police say Dorzon and his female companion were returning home. They had just gotten out of an Uber when four gunmen jumped out of a white SUV and opened fire.

“Three of the males were armed with handguns, one was armed with what we believe is a short rifle of some sort,” Hyattsville police chief Jarod J. Towers said.

Multiple cameras mounted on homes near Kirkwood Place captured the barrage of rapid gunfire. Someone can be heard screaming on the recording.

Towers said the gunfire began before the suspects made any sort of demands.

“They just shot them?” News4 asked.

“Absolutely. No question,” Towers said.

In surveillance video obtained by News4, you can see the gunman then robbing Dorzon, who was lying in the street, as his companion limps to hide behind a nearby car.

Dorzon can be heard begging for his life.

Anna Valdez was watching election night returns when she heard the gunfire and looked out to see two people on the ground.

“I didn’t even think. I just ran out,” Valdez said. “I don’t know if I was going to help him because I don’t have any medical training, but I just wanted him to hear that, like, somebody was on the way, you know?”

Valdez said she told the woman to sit down because she was injured.

Dozens of shots were fired and multiple cars were hit.

“This is barbarous activity and conduct by violent criminals,” Towers said.

Towers says investigators are now looking for the white SUV seen on video leaving Kirkwood Place after the shooting.

Durzon owns two restaurants in Prince George’s County, Huncho House and 1123 By Chef Tobias.

Dorzon has appeared on the Food Network and hosts a cooking show called “Timeout with Tobias” on ESPN and Hulu.

News4 has so far been unable to reach the chef or members of his family.