WASHINGTON -- Willow Blossom had looked forward to stepping inside the Library of Congress. Kenzie Wendel wanted to see Ford’s Theatre. Another eighth-grader from Fort Recovery Middle School dreamed of walking through the Smithsonian museums.

Instead, on a crisp October day this week in the nation’s capital, they found themselves standing outside locked doors, their carefully planned field trip upended by a government shutdown that has closed many of Washington’s most iconic attractions.

Tour organizers turned to a congressman for help.

Rep. Bob Latta, a Bowling Green Republican whose district includes their small Mercer County town, stepped in to salvage what he could of the trip, providing a tour that most tourists never get to see

For the 63 eighth-graders from the small Mercer Coun

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