FBI reassessing past look at Fort Hood suspect
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a year before Maj. Nidal Hasan allegedly went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, terrorism investigators conducted an "assessment" of him before deciding he did not pose a threat. After the shooting, the FBI is doing a new assessment — of its own conduct.
White House communications chief to step down
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House's top communications aide is stepping down at the end of the month and will be replaced by her deputy. White House officials say Anita Dunn will leave her West Wing office but remain an adviser to President Barack Obama. Dan Pfeiffer will become communications director for the White House.
Obama pressed into role as healer, inevitably
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents get elected to run the nation. Some days that means knowing how to heal it. For the first time since winning the White House, President Barack Obama faces such a moment Tuesday at Fort Hood. It his job to offer comfort, if not answers, after the shooting that left 13 people dead and 29 wounded on the bustling Texas Army post five days ago.
AP sources: Bill Clinton to speak to Dem senators
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton plans to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to discuss health care legislation with Senate Democrats. Officials says the former president is scheduled to speak during the Democrats' weekly caucus. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity late Monday because they were not authorized to discuss the former president's schedule.
CAPITAL CULTURE: Obama pastry chef the Crustmaster
WASHINGTON (AP) — Poor Bill Yosses. He's the White House pastry chef. He makes desserts for a living. He works for Barack and Michelle Obama. They talk about healthy eating. All the time.
Sources: Obama near decision on Afghanistan troops
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is nearing a decision to add tens of thousands more forces to Afghanistan, though probably not quite the 40,000 sought by his top general there. The White House emphasized that the president hasn't made a decision yet about troop levels or other aspects of the revised U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.
Obama says he wants to visit Hiroshima in future
TOKYO (AP) — President Barack Obama says he wants to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki sometime during his presidency but won't have time during this week's trip to Japan to go to the cities devastated by U.S. atomic bombs at the end of World War II. No sitting U.S. president has visited the two cities largely because of the controversy it could raise at home.
Scanning invisible damage of PTSD, brain blasts
WASHINGTON (AP) — Powerful scans are letting doctors watch just how the brain changes in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and concussion-like brain injuries — signature damage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. It's work that one day may allow far easier diagnosis for patients — civilian or military — who today struggle to get help for these largely invisible disorders. For now it brings a powerful message: Problems too often shrugged off as "just in your head" in fact do have physical signs, now that scientists are learning where and how to look for them.
Bill Clinton meets with Senate Dems on health care
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are looking to former President Bill Clinton to jump-start their push to overhaul America's health care system, hoping a battle-scarred veteran of past health care fights can motivate their ranks to finish the politically tricky job this time. Clinton, whose failed attempt to revamp the delivery of medical care contributed to the Republican takeover of the House and Senate in 1994, is scheduled to speak to Senate Democrats about health care legislation during their weekly caucus Tuesday.
Obama encourages federal hiring of veterans
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House launched an effort Monday that it says will turn the government into a model employer of military veterans and possibly provide encouragement for private employers to do the same. President Barack Obama signed an executive order creating the Council on Veterans Employment, part of an initiative to encourage federal agencies to recruit and train military veterans. The effort also aims to bring more veterans into the federal work force and help newly hired veterans adjust to working in a civilian environment.
