Billionaire Helps Finance Washington Monument Repairs

A billionaire history buff has stepped forward to help finance repairs to the Washington Monument. Businessman David Rubenstein made a $7.5 million matching gift needed to start repairing cracks near the top of the Monument. He says he was inspired to help by how severely the monument was damaged by a 5.8-magnitude quake last summer. Congress allocated $7.5 million in December on the condition that private donations would match that amount. The National Park Service is expected to announce the gift this afternoon. Park Service says it hopes to have a contractor begin work by the end of August. The repairs are expected to take a year to complete, likely keeping the monument closed for up to two years.