The White House Friday rebuffed questions about the cost of Michelle Obama’s trip with her mother and daughters to Italy and England next week and also wouldn’t provide the agenda for Sasha and Malia or Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson . . .

According to the White House, the four are taking their summer vacation to England and Italy to address issues including kid health and education . . .

Costs of the first families 39 lavish vacations have come under fire and a reporter Friday asked about the money involved and the agenda of the first lady’s family. She hit a stone wall.

Q — Hi. Thank you. I know a lot of times when the First Lady does these trips a lot of media outlets try to estimate the cost of the trip, and I know that the White House is usually reluctant to give a price. But a lot of times those estimates can be very high, and I think a lot of times they get that from just estimating the costs of staying in some of these places. Is there anything you can do to talk about cost and maybe whether or not those estimates are on base? I mean, is the First Lady and her mother and daughters, and everyone who goes along with her, are they paying the full price to stay at all of these hotels? Or is there anything you can give us on what a cost of a trip like this may be?

MS. TCHEN: Actually, Julie, I don’t have anything I can give you on that.

(Read more from “White House Refuses to Disclose Cost for Michelle’s Italy, London Trip” HERE)

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Photo Credit: Twitter

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and in the digital age we have ample opportunity to document and broadcast every moment, meeting and meal,” wrote Deborah Kane, the national director of the USDA Farm to School Program, in a blog post Thursday.

“We have all seen those unappetizing photos of food served at school that quickly go viral,” she said. “A lonesome whole wheat bun atop a sad fish fillet; a mysterious-looking meat mixture served next to an apple. It’s natural to ask, ‘Is this what they serve for lunch!?’”

Photo Credit: Twitter

“No, it’s really not,” Kane said . . .

“Beautiful meals like this are what’s for lunch today and every day in schools across the country,” the caption reads below a picture of a meal of broccoli, corn, some sort of rice, an apple, bun, low-fat chocolate milk, and a fish patty the size of the young child’s head. (Read more from “Feds to Use Social Media to Combat Complaints About Michelle Obama Lunches” HERE)

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Michelle Obama gave a candid view Saturday of the challenges and emotional toll of being the country’s first black first lady.

Obama, speaking to graduates at Tuskegee University in Alabama, described insensitive media questions and derogatory remarks from political pundits that she said have kept her up at night.

“You might remember the on-stage celebratory fist bump between me and my husband after a primary win that was referred to as a ‘terrorist fist jab,’ ” she said.

And over the years, folks have used plenty of interesting words to describe me. One said I exhibited ‘a little bit of uppity-ism.’ Another noted that I was one of my husband’s ‘cronies of color.’ Cable news once charmingly referred to me as ‘Obama’s Baby Mama.’ ” . . .

“But, as potentially the first African-American First Lady, I was also the focus of another set of questions and speculations; conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others. Was I too loud, or too angry, or too emasculating? Or was I too soft, too much of a mom, not enough of a career woman?” (Read more from “Michelle Obama Speaks of Emotional Toll of Being First Black First Lady” HERE)

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