WASHINGTON — Attorneys for the man who shot President Ronald Reagan will be asking a judge to let him spend more time away from a Washington mental hospital with the goal of eventually allowing him to live outside the facility full-time.

John Hinckley, who was found by a jury to be insane when he shot and wounded Reagan outside a Washington hotel in 1981, has for years been able to spend days at his mother's home in Virginia. Today, a Washington judge was to begin hearing arguments that Hinckley should be allowed additional visits of 17 and 24 days. The city's St. Elizabeths Hospital also wants the ability to decide if Hinckley should live away from the facility full-time according to a court document.

Government lawyers oppose the plan, calling it “premature and ill conceived.” They say Hinckley is “a man capable of great violence” and that he is not “sufficiently well to alleviate the concern that this violence may be repeated.”

LEESBURG, Va. — Two zebras from a zoo in a Washington, D.C., suburb escaped and briefly wandered through a residential neighborhood before being captured.No one was injured.The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office says it received calls Monday afternoon from residents of the Leesburg-area neighborhood reporting zebras on the loose.Sheriff's deputies worked to keep the animals safe from traffic until control officers could safely capture them using tranquilizers.The owner of the Leesburg Animal Park says the zebras got loose when two workers not affiliated with the park accidentally left a gate open.This is the second time animals have escaped from the petting zoo. Last year, a serval — a type of African cat — escaped and was hit by a car.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The governor said Tuesday that lawmakers upset with his decision to call the blue spruce erected in the Statehouse a holiday tree instead of a Christmas tree should focus their energy on feeding the poor.Calling the 17-foot-tall spruce a holiday tree is in keeping with Rhode Island's founding in 1636 by religious dissident Roger Williams as a haven for tolerance, where government and religion were kept separate, independent Gov. Lincoln Chafee said.“I would encourage all those engaged in this discussion — whatever their opinion on the matter — to use their energy and enthusiasm to make a positive difference in the lives of their fellow Rhode Islanders,” Chafee said.