South Carolina student becomes face of stimulus package

Her school has become a symbol of the kind of crumbling infrastructure that President Obama hopes his stimulus bill will improve.

But on Tuesday, Ty'Sheoma Bethea became the face of the issue, when she joined first lady Michelle Obama as her guest for the president's first speech to a joint session of Congress.

South Carolina student Ty'Sheoma Bethea was invited to the speech after she wrote a letter to lawmakers.
The White House invited Ty'Sheoma, a student at the J.V. Martin Junior High School in Dillon, South Carolina, after a letter she sent lawmakers appealing for help rebuilding her school made its way to the president.
The eighth-grader reportedly boarded her first plane with her mother, Dina Leach, from South Carolina to Washington to attend the speech.
The eighth-grader was inspired to write the letter by Obama, who mentioned her school in his first presidential news conference on February 9. After visiting the school, he referenced J.V. Martin as evidence of educational institutions that would benefit from school construction funding in his $787 billion stimulus package.

In her letter, Ty'Sheoma described the dilapidated conditions plaguing her school, which was built in 1896, claiming the funds would improve the building and the quality of education.
"We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself, and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina, but also the world. We are not quitters." Watch Obama quote Ty'Sheoma in speech »
Poorly maintained and ill-equipped schools in South Carolina's "corridor of shame" were an issue during the Democratic primary as evidence that education reform had to be an imperative for the next president.
The schools became an issue again last week when South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, said he might turn down some of the money in the stimulus. And South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, said turning down money was an "insult" to blacks.

"We have legislation here now with the money to do something about the schools, do something about water and sewage along that corridor in these 12 counties. And now the governor says, 'I don't want to accept the money.' That's why I called this an insult, that's why I said this is a slap in the face, because a majority of those counties are, in fact, inhabited by African-Americans," Clyburn said on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.
In his speech Tuesday, Obama vowed that education is among the top priorities of his administration and urged Americans to take advantage of the promise of an education. Watch Obama discuss education »

"In a global economy, where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity. It is a prerequisite," he said.

"It is our responsibility as lawmakers and as educators to make this system work, but it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it." he said.
"So tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be a community college or a four-year school, vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma." (CNN)

Controller thought Hudson landing would be 'death sentence'

For three minutes, the most frightened people in the world may have been the crew and passengers aboard US Airways Flight 1549 as the plane headed for a splashdown in the Hudson River.

But for the next half-hour, that unwelcome distinction may have gone to Patrick Harten, the air traffic controller who communicated with Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and then watched Flight 1549 disappear from his radar screen.
"It was the lowest low I had ever felt," Harten, a controller of 10 years, said in testimony prepared for a congressional hearing Tuesday. It is Harten's first public appearance since the crash. He will appear alongside the Flight 1549 crew.

Surveillance video shows passengers of US Airways Flight 1549 hurrying onto the plane's wings on January 15.
Industry officials have praised Harten's cool demeanor during the January 15 incident, including the way he gave options to Sullenberger, how he cleared another airport for an emergency landing and how he did not overburden the crew by requesting unnecessary information.

But Harten said the "hardest and most traumatic part of the entire event was when it was over." "During the emergency itself, I was hyper-focused. I had no choice but to think and act quickly and remain calm," he said.
"But when it was over, it hit me hard. It felt like hours before I learned about the heroic water landing that Capt. Sullenberger and his crew had managed," he said. "Even after I learned the truth, I could not shake the image of tragedy in my mind. Every time I saw the survivors on the television, I imagined grieving widows."

Air traffic controller Patrick Harten stands between US Airways pilots Chesley Sullenberger, left, and Jeff Skiles.

Sullenberger, who was hailed as a hero for successfully landing the flight, also testified Tuesday before a House subcommittee, telling lawmakers the state of the airline industry is in disarray.
"Americans have experienced huge economic difficulties in recent months, but airline employees have been experiencing those challenges and more for eight years," Sullenberger said. "We've been hit by an economic tsunami, September 11, bankruptcies, fluctuating fuel prices, mergers, loss of pensions and revolving door management teams who have used airline employees as an ATM."
Sullenberger expressed concern the economic decline has hit the airline industry so hard that "the airline piloting profession will not be able to continue to attract the best and the brightest."
Last month's emergency occurred about three hours into controller Harten's eight-hour shift, but only 15 minutes after he was assigned to handle departures from New York's LaGuardia Airport. Harten said he instructed Flight 1549 -- which used the call sign Cactus 1549 -- to climb to 15,000 feet, then turned his attention to another aircraft.
When he turned back to 1549 to instruct it to turn west, Sullenberger advised him he had lost power in both engines because of a bird strike and needed to return to LaGuardia for an emergency landing.

A feather was found inside one of the engines of the plane that crashed into the Hudson River.
"While I have worked 10 or 12 emergencies over the course of my career, I have never worked an aircraft with zero thrust capabilities," Harten's testimony says. "I understood how grave this situation was."
Harten says he "made a split-second decision" to offer Sullenberger Runway 13, the closest runway, and contacted LaGuardia tower to clear the runways for an emergency.
When Sullenberger radioed, "We're unable," he directed the plane to Runway 31. Sullenberger again said, "Unable."
Sullenberger suggested Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, Harten said.
Harten said that after coordinating with controllers in Teterboro, they determined that Runway 1 was the best option and cleared it for an emergency landing.
But Sullenberger said, "We can't do it," adding, "We're going to be in the Hudson."
"I asked him to repeat himself, even though I heard him just fine. I simply could not wrap my mind around those words," Harten said. "People don't survive landings on the Hudson River; I thought it was his own death sentence. I believed at that moment, I was going to be the last person to talk to anyone on that plane alive."
Harten said he lost radio contact with Flight 1549 and the plane disappeared from his radar screen as it dropped below New York's skyscrapers. View photos from the dramatic landing »
"I was in shock. I was sure the plane had gone down," he said.
But 1549 flickered back onto his radar screen, suggesting the plane had regained use of one of its engines.
Harten told the pilot he could land at Newark, seven miles away, but he got no response.
"I then lost radar contact again, this time for good."
Soon thereafter, Harten was relieved of his radar position, a routine move following a major incident.
"I was in no position to continue to work air traffic. It was the lowest low I had ever felt. I wanted to talk to my wife. But I knew if I tried to speak or even heard her voice, I would fall apart completely."
Instead, he sent her a text message: "Had a crash. Not OK. Can't talk now."
His wife thought he had been in a car accident.
"Truth was, I felt like I'd been hit by a bus," he said.
Harten said it was six hours before he could leave work after reviewing the tapes, filling out paperwork and making an official statement. All five crew members and 150 passengers survived the crash.

"It has taken over a month for me to be able to see that I did a good job: I was flexible and responsive, I listened to what the pilot said and made sure to give him the tools he needed. I stayed calm and in control."
He said, "I returned to work this week, and while it may take time for me to regain my old confidence, I know I will get there." (CNN)

Banker in Obama speech recognized for his generosity

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than two dozen guests joined first lady Michelle Obama at the president's speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night.

One person on the first lady's guest list was Leonard Abess Jr., a Miami banker who received a $60 million bonus from the proceeds from the sale of shares of City National Bank in Florida and gave it out to his 399 workers and 72 former workers.

Leonard Abess Jr. was recognized by President Obama during Tuesday's State of the Nation speech.
During his speech, President Obama said Abess didn't tell anyone about his generosity, but when the local newspaper found out, Abess simply said, "I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn't feel right getting the money myself."
Abess demonstrates the kind of "responsibility" the president has called for from high-profile financial CEOs, the White House said.
Obama contrasted Abess' story with the greed that he said got the country into the problems it faces now.
"CEOs won't be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks, or buy fancy drapes, or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over," Obama said.
Obama also referenced in his speech an eighth-grader who wrote a letter to members of Congress appealing for help in rebuilding her deteriorating school.

Ty'Sheoma Bethea, a student at the J.V. Martin Junior High School in Dillon, South Carolina, was invited after a letter she sent lawmakers appealing for help rebuilding her school made its way to President Obama.
Obama talked about the school during his first news conference earlier in February as evidence of crumbling schools across the country.
Other guests of the first lady Tuesday night included injured Afghanistan veteran Spc. Jonathan N. James, equal pay advocate Lilly Ledbetter and Blake Jones, the co-founder and president of a solar electric company.
The president and first lady also invited Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas -- one of the president's key Republican allies among the nation's governors in passing the massive $787 billion stimulus bill -- and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a key Democratic governor whose state is among the hardest hit by the economic downturn.
The practice of inviting guests to sit in the House Gallery is a tradition dating back to 1982 when president Ronald Reagan recognized Lenny Skutnick -- a good Samaritan who pulled a survivor out of the frozen Potomac River in Washington after an Air Florida plane crashed into the 14th Street Bridge.
Since then, presidential administrations steadily increased the number of invitees to the first lady box, often including prominent athletes and celebrities, citizen heroes, members of the military, and individuals likely to benefit from policies proposed by the president.
It has also become customary for the president to acknowledge a handful of guests sitting in the box during his speech, especially those who have a particularly compelling story or illustrate a point he is trying to make.
Earlier Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced an expansive guest list of her own, including hero-U.S. Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and several other crew members of flight 1549.

Turkish plane crashes at Amsterdam airport

A passenger jet carrying more than 130 people crashed into a field as it was coming into land in Amsterdam Wednesday. The Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 broke into three pieces on impact, but fatalities were initially thought to be minimal.

There were conflicting reports about whether anyone was killed on the plane, which had 127 passengers and seven crew members.

Images from the scene of the Amsterdam crash show the plane broken into three pieces.
The airline spokesman and Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said no one had died, but an airline official told CNN sister station CNN-Turk that at least one person was confirmed dead.
Twenty people were injured, the airline spokesman said.
A passenger on the plane who spoke to Turkish network DHA said he saw injured people trapped and squeezed between the seats when he walked off the plane.
Journalist Ivan Watson in Istanbul said Turkish media quoted one crash survivor as saying that the back of the plane hit the ground first. "He said it was not an extremely horrible situation, it was like being in turbulence. He said it was more like a sudden impact, then we stopped." Watch reports on Turkish plane crash »The Boeing 737-800, which originated from Istanbul, Turkey, was trying to land at Schiphol International Airport when it went down at about 10:40 a.m. local time, Dutch airport officials said.
Pictures from the scene showed the plane broken in three pieces. One tear was in front of the wing, splitting the "Turkish" logo in two, and a larger tear was farther back along he fuselage.
Most of the injured were seated toward the back of the plane, which sustained the most damage, a passenger on the plane told Turkish station NTV. Many of the passengers simply walked off the plane through the cracks in the fuselage, witnesses told NTV.

Images from the scene showed medics treating passengers on the ground next to the buckled hulk of the plane, while firefighters and police examined the aircraft.
Emergency exits were wide open and there was no signs of fire damage to the fuselage. Also visible was one of the aircraft's engines, apparently separated from the shattered remains of one of the wings.
The plane landed in a flat farmer's field near the airport, RTL journalist Greg Crouch told CNN. He said the weather at the time was partly sunny with no wind or rain.
A bank manager who was a passenger on the plane told NTV that there were no emergency announcements. The crew's last word to the cabin was an announcement to fasten seatbelts and prepare for landing, the bank manager said.
He said he felt the pilot giving more power to the engines before a sudden drop and then the crash. He described the crash as similar to a sudden impact that was over in a matter of seconds.
Kieran Daly, of Air Transport Intelligence said the impact had been severe but it could have been survivable because of the lack of fire. He added that there had been vast improvements in the materials used to build airplanes, meaning they did not burn as easily.
Daly also said that the Boeing 737-800 is a reliable aircraft that has been successful and safe in service.
"They really are pretty much state-of-the-art airlines with every imaginable technical benefit the industry has come up with over the years," Daly told CNN.
"You would be optimistic that they would be quite survivable in an accident." Daly said the Turkish aviation industry has a "pretty good record" of safety, and that Turkish Airlines, the national carrier, has a "very good record."
The airline's last accident was of a small commuter jet in 2003, he said. It was a fatal crash that happened at a remote airfield in eastern Turkey, he said. "Their mainline operation is safe," Daly said. "Their pilots are well thought of."
The last accident at Schiphol Airport happened in December 2003 when an EasyJet flight carrying 103 passengers to London collided on takeoff with a lamppost during icy conditions, according to Aviation Safety Network's Web site. The crash caused significant damage to the aircraft, but no one was killed.
The other two most recent accidents at Schiphol -- in 1998 and 1997 -- also resulted in no fatalities, according to the network.
The last fatal incident at the Amsterdam airport happened in April 1994 when a KLM aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff as it tried to return to Schiphol. Three of the 24 passengers and crew members on board were killed.

Obama outlines ambitious agenda for 'lasting prosperity'

In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, Obama said it's time to act boldly not just to revive the economy, but "to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity."
"While the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater," he said.
The president struck an optimistic tone, asserting that "we will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."
Obama focused on the three priorities of the budget he will present to Congress later this week: energy, health care and education.
President Obama says the United States will overcome its current economic struggles.
The president said he sees his budget as a "vision for America -- as a blueprint for our future," but not something that will solve every problem or address every issue. Watch Obama lay out his plan to "save our children from debt" »
"It reflects the stark reality of what we've inherited -- a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession," he said.
Obama said his administration already has identified $2 trillion in government spending cuts that can be made over the next decade. See video highlights of the speech, issue by issue »
The president touted the $787 billion stimulus plan he signed into law last week, saying it will invest in areas critical to the country's economic recovery. He also made bold promises for what these investments will achieve.
Obama predicted that because of the recovery plan, the United States will double its supply of renewable energy in the next three years.
He also said the country will invest $15 billion a year to develop technology for green energy. Grade Obama's speech »
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who delivered the Republican response to Obama, blasted the Democrats' stimulus plan, saying, "while some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending." Read: Jindal calls stimulus "irresponsible"
Obama also pledged a "historic commitment" to health care and said the recovery plan could lead to a cure for cancer. He also promised the "largest investment ever" in preventive care.
On education, Obama set a goal of having the highest college graduation rate in the world by 2020.
He pointed to the billions for education -- from early childhood education expansion to college-loan programs -- in the economic stimulus package to ensure that every child has access to education "from the day they are born to the day they begin a career."
Obama also said his budget will pay for more soldiers and Marines, increase their pay and expand veterans health care and benefits. iReport.com: How are you coping with the economy?
Obama said the recovery plans already in the works are immediate steps to revive the economy in the short-term, "but the only way to fully restore America's economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world."
"Slowly, but surely, confidence will return, and our economy will recover," he said, asking Congress to join him in "doing whatever proves necessary because we cannot consign our nation to an open-ended recession."
Obama promised to reform the regulatory system to "ensure that a crisis of this magnitude never happens again."
The president also signaled that he was willing to take on entitlements, saying that Congress must take on the growing costs of Medicare and Social Security.
Obama described the nation's financial woes as a "reckoning" for poor decisions made by both government and individuals. Watch what Obama says about the "day of reckoning" »
"A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future," Obama said.
"Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day."
Noting that is easy to "become cynical and doubtful," Obama said he has learned that "hope is found in unlikely places."
Obama avoided lofty rhetoric and instead used examples of specific people to personalize his points.
He mentioned Leonard Abess and Ty'Sheoma Bethea -- two of the Obamas' invited guests. Read: Who did the Obamas invite?
Abess is a bank president from Miami, Florida, who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus and distributed it among people who had worked for him.
Bethea is an eighth-grade girl from South Carolina who, in a letter to lawmakers, asked for help for her school and said, "We are not quitters." Watch Obama talk about Bethea saying "We are not quitters" »
While the economy was the focus of the speech, Obama also touched on foreign policy.
The president said he'll soon be laying out specifics on how to win the war in Afghanistan and end the one in Iraq.
"We are now carefully reviewing our policies in both wars, and I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war," he said.

Meanwhile, he said, both Afghanistan and its border with Pakistan will remain a key focus.
Because Obama's presidency is just a month old, the speech is not technically considered a State of the Union address. The annual State of the Union speech is delivered in the House of Representatives before members of both the House and the Senate as well as the justices of the Supreme Court, the president's Cabinet and international dignitaries.

Obama's high-stakes speech to press broader agenda

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama takes center stage on Tuesday to try to sell the American people on his broader agenda for jolting the United States out of deep recession and confronting long-term economic challenges.
Riding high in opinion polls, Obama will deliver a State of the Union-style address at 9 p.m. EST in his first appearance before a joint session of Congress since he took office five weeks ago.
The primetime speech, the opening act on Capitol Hill for any new president, comes in a pivotal week for Obama. He will roll out his first budget proposal on Thursday against a backdrop of growing public anxiety over the worst economic crisis in decades.
In a stark reminder of how grim the situation has become, Wall Street slumped to a 12-year low on Monday as investors worried about the government nationalizing ailing major banks, a prospect the White House tried to play down.
Obama will be looking to trade on his popularity and personal suasion when he stands before the Senate and House of Representatives to try to reassure Americans about what he is doing -- and what he plans to do -- to halt the crisis.
The speech is sure to be his most closely watched performance since his January 20 inauguration as America's 44th president.
"It won't be enough just to look presidential," said Stephen Wayne, a political scientist at Georgetown University. "What he needs to be is explainer-in-chief."
STILL ON HONEYMOON
Seeking to build momentum, the Democratic president hosted a bipartisan summit on "fiscal responsibility" on Monday, pledging to halve the $1 trillion-plus federal deficit he inherited by the end of his term in 2013.
He is expected to hammer home that theme on Tuesday while also laying out a list of domestic priorities, ranging from overhauling healthcare to bolstering support for alternative energy -- promises he made during the presidential campaign.
While the economy will dominate Obama's speech, he is also likely to touch on foreign affairs as he keeps up efforts to roll back Republican President George W. Bush's most divisive policies and repair America's image abroad.
He is expected to stress the shift in U.S. military focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, underscored by a troop buildup he has ordered to help counter a Taliban resurgence.
Obama could also reassert his offer of direct diplomacy with U.S. foe Iran, a reversal of Bush's policy of isolating Tehran over its nuclear ambitions.
The speech comes at a time when Obama's presidential honeymoon is still going strong, despite Cabinet missteps that have strained his "no-drama Obama" image and criticism about a lack of specifics in some of his early financial initiatives.
The latest New York Times/CBS News poll gave him a job approval rating of 63 percent, about 10 points higher than either Bush or Bill Clinton at this stage. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll had 68 percent of Americans approving of Obama's job performance.

There was also strong support for the $787 billion economic stimulus package he pushed through the Democratic-controlled Congress this month despite heavy Republican opposition.
With the speech to Congress providing Obama with his most direct channel to the American people since his inaugural address, he will also take care to set the right tone.
Since taking office, he has largely ditched his campaign talk of "yes, we can" for a more sober message of bleak economic times and an outlook for even worse to come.
Reflecting misgivings among some Democrats about Obama's gloomy language, Clinton urged him last week to show more of the hope he promised as a candidate. Obama has insisted he is just painting a realistic picture.

3 out of 4 Americans optimistic about Obama's presidency: poll

A remarkably high level of optimism among . Americans about President Obama's leadership has provided him substantial political clout to counter the nation's economic challenges and opposition by nearly all the republicans in the Congress, a survey reveals.
According to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, more than three-quarters Americans polled said they were optimistic about the next four years with Obama as president, although they were patient about the economy, with most saying it would be years before significant improvement.
Just a month into Presidency, the high level of optimism enjoyed by Obama is similar to Ronald Reagan, who led the nation out of economic gloom. His of 63 percent job approval rating is about ten percent higher than both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The rating includes 88 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of Republicans.
However, the poll found that 69 percent of Americans would like the White House administration to reverse its Iraq policy. Apparently, Obama is continuing many practices of the Bush administration, including the barring of photographs of the coffins carrying soldiers killed in Iraq.
A majority of people in both parties accepted that Obama wanted to work in a bipartisan way, but Republicans had objected to the 787 billion dollar economic stimulus plan for political reasons. But 56 percent of those surveyed said Obama's priority, should be working on the policies he proposed during his, rather than working with Republicans.
The poll also captured skepticism about how effective his plans will prove to be in addressing the deep recession.
A majority of people said that Obama administration's bailout plans for financial institutions would benefit bankers, not all Americans. Even more respondents said the struggling automotive companies, which are seeking billions of dollars in additional loans from the government should not receive any more money.
"The government doesn't step up and help other industries, so why should they help the banks and the auto companies? It's not fair. Our taxpayer money is going to bail out all these corrupt people who are making millions." Margie Rowe, a Democrat from Ahoskie, N.C., said.
A total of 1,112 adults took part in the national telephone poll, which has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
The poll also found that the public was more focused on jobs than on other dimensions of the economy, like the home mortgage crisis.
A majority of Americans, 55 percent, say they are just making ends meet, with more than 6 in 10 concerned that someone in their household might lose his job in the next year, the poll revealed. (ANI)

Duke Ellington becomes first African-American on U.S. coin

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Jazz legend Duke Ellington is the first African-American to appear on an American coin, the U.S. Mint says in introducing the latest in its line of state-themed quarters.
The District of Columbia commemorative quarter showing Ellington playing the piano will be introduced by U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy at a news conference Tuesday at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
Ellington won the honor by a vote of D.C. residents, beating out abolitionist Frederick Douglass and astronomer Benjamin Banneker.
Also on the coin is the phrase "justice for all." The mint rejected the first inscription choice of D.C. voters, which was "taxation without representation," in protest of the District's lack of voting representation in Congress.
The District of Columbia coin honoring Duke Ellington will be introduced Tuesday at the Smithsonian.
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington received 13 Grammy Awards and was a pioneer in jazz, according to his official Web site.
Ellington was born in the District and composed more than 3,000 songs, including the notable "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing," a song that helped usher in the swing era of jazz.
Ellington performed with other famous artists, including John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, and he traveled around the world with his orchestras.
He died in 1974 at age 75

Analysis: Clinton's mockery of Obama proves true

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- During the most contentious stretch of the Democratic presidential primary campaign last winter, then-candidate Hillary Clinton mocked Barack Obama for his pledge to transcend Washington's entrenched partisanship."The sky will open. The lights will come down. Celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect!" Clinton bellowed.
Obama dismissed Clinton's sarcasm as overly cynical and further evidence she was a creature of Washington. But as President Obama prepares to make his first major address to Congress, Clinton's comments are borne out.
For a candidate who won the White House on a mantle of bringing the country's two political parties together, Washington could not be more divided on Obama's initial weeks in the Oval Office and the policies he has put in place.
President Obama, who won the presidency on a bipartisan platform, now faces a very divided Washington.
Depending on who you ask, in 30 days the new president has either rescued the nation's economy from financial ruin or set in motion the most liberal government in a generation, and one that's likely to prolong -- perhaps even prevent -- the country's economic recovery. Watch Obama explain the stimulus »
There have also been heated debates over a string of executive orders and bill signings that have fundamentally reversed several policies of the Bush administration -- including the closing of Guantanamo Bay, a firm decree against torture, the extension of children's health insurance, and the lifting of a ban to give funds to international groups that perform abortions. Watch highs and lows of Obama's first month »
"Clinton's earlier critique of change has quickly become very valid," said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. "The Washington of George Bush is the same Washington of Barack Obama. The promise of bipartisanship and hope in Washington is difficult to actually achieve."
It's the massive $787 billion stimulus bill that has drawn the most criticism -- and praise -- in the president's first month. To be sure, while former president Clinton famously declared an end to the "era of big government" 13 years ago, Obama will herald its return in his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
Congressional Democrats and Obama supporters argue the new president has admirably taken bold action in response to the dire conditions he inherited, swiftly accomplishing a string of dramatic reforms in a town known to operate at a sluggish pace.
Obama has also enacted dramatic Wall Street reforms, salary caps on CEO pay, and a wide-ranging plan to stem the ongoing foreclosure crisis.
"This is a presidency on steroids," wrote Eugene Robinson, a liberal columnist for the Washington Post. "Barack Obama's executive actions alone would be enough for any new administration's first month. That the White House also managed to push through Congress a spending bill of unprecedented size and scope ... is little short of astonishing."
But scorn from the right is equal to admiration from the left: He championed a new way of doing things in Washington, but Obama went about shepherding his stimulus bill in a very old-fashioned partisan way, Republicans said.

That Obama signed the historic measure into law 1,500 miles away from Washington in Denver, Colorado, was a symbol to some of just how much animosity it had stirred up in the nation's capital.
"If this is going to be bipartisanship, the country's screwed," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, declared last week. "I know bipartisanship when I see it."
Amidst the passage of Obama's major economic reforms and the country's continued economic turmoil, was a transition process that began smooth but quickly turned rocky after embarrassing revelations regarding several of the president's appointees.
Beleaguered by tax issues or charges of impropriety, three of Obama's appointees withdrew their names, including Tom Daschle who would have led the Health and Human Services Department, Nancy Killefer, nominated as a the chief government performance officer, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, tapped to head the Commerce Department.
A fourth appointee -- Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire -- also withdrew his name for Commerce last week, citing "irresolvable conflicts."
Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton each lost one cabinet appointee during their first terms. Presidents Carter, Reagan and the elder Bush lost none during their transition process. Suddenly, a vetting process that was self-proclaimed as the most thorough in history -- and included a 60-page questionnaire -- looked downright amateur.
"It raises questions about whether the Obama team did their homework," said David Gergen, an adviser to several former presidents and a CNN contributor.
Obama's approval rating stands at 67 percent in the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll -- a number any politician would envy, but still 9 points lower than it was only two weeks ago. The president saw his biggest decline among Republicans, down 19 points among members of the opposite party. The poll also said that only about half of all Americans now think Obama can put an end to partisan gridlock in Washington. Watch why Obama's approval rating dropped.

Still, when Obama addresses Congress for the first time, he's certain to highlight that in an extraordinary short amount of time, the new administration has managed to make fundamental imprints on how the government operates -- accomplishments that have taken other presidents years longer to achieve.
"Major actions have come out of such a young White House," Zelizer said, "Even though he hasn't been able to get Republicans to join him, that's still a big victory."

Obama likely to tap Locke for commerce, sources say

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Barack Obama's pick for commerce secretary is likely to be former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, two administration sources told CNN Monday. Locke, 57, was the country's first Chinese-American governor, elected to lead Washington in 1996 and re-elected in 2000.
Prior to becoming governor, the Democrat served five terms in the Washington Legislature and one term as executive of King County, Washington. He was chairman of the House Appropriations Committee from 1989 to 1994.
Locke served two terms as Washington's governor and five terms in the Washington Legislature.
A lawyer, Locke is currently in private practice with Davis Wright Tremaine in the national firm's Seattle, Washington, office.
Locke would be Obama's third choice for the post. Obama's first pick, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, withdrew from consideration in early January, citing the distraction of a federal investigation into ties to a company that has done business with his state. Democratic officials told CNN the investigation involves a California company that won municipal bond business in New Mexico after contributing money to various Richardson causes.
Richardson denies any wrongdoing.
Obama went outside his party for his second pick, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire. But Gregg withdrew on February 12, citing "irresolvable conflicts" over the administration's economic stimulus bill.

Richardson and Gregg have not been the only ones to withdraw their nominations to Obama's Cabinet. Former Sen. Tom Daschle, who was tapped for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, withdrew on February 3 after controversy erupted over his tax records and questions over his work in a field that some consider lobbying.
The former Senate majority leader apologized for a series of errors that included unreported car service and more than $80,000 in unreported income from consulting. He filed amended tax returns and paid more than $140,000 in back taxes and interest for 2005-2007.

Japan's Aso, Obama to meet

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It's a long trip -- 6,800 miles (11,000 km) -- for a short meeting, but Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is scheduled to meet President Barack Obama Tuesday morning in an hour-long summit at the White House.

The visit, announced last week, gives Aso the distinction of being the first head of state to be hosted by the Obama administration and comes hours ahead of the president's first address to a joint session of Congress.
"It clearly shows President Obama gives the Japan-U.S. relationship high priority," Takeo Kawamura, Japan's Cabinet secretary, said.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso steps off his Boeing 747 at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland Monday.
The White House says the leaders will "discuss the close and long-standing alliance between the United States and Japan" and will emphasize "the importance of consultation between leaders of the world's largest economies in the run-up to the London Economic Summit" in April.
Another topic likely to be on the agenda is Japan's Asian neighbor North Korea, which U.S. intelligence says is preparing to test a long-range missile. Pyongyang has denied the charge, instead saying it is making preparations to launch a satellite.
A test-fire by North Korea in 2006 failed 40 seconds after launch. The missile is thought to have an intended range of about 4,200 miles (6,700 kilometers), which -- if true -- could give it the capability of striking Alaska or Hawaii.
Aso's visit to Washington comes, as his approval rating stands at a meager 11 percent, the second lowest ever recorded for a Japanese prime minister. Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister, resigned after his rate bottomed out at 9 percent.

Last week his finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa announced he will step down after coming under fire for appearing intoxicated at a weekend news conference during the G-7 meeting in Rome.

President Warns Mayors Public is Watching

President Barack Obama is sternly urging mayors of U.S. cities to be careful in their spending.
President Barack Obama is sternly urging mayors of U.S. cities to be careful in their spending, saying Friday morning, "The American people are watching.” The President went on to tell the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting Washington that the $787 billion dollar economic package will help struggling cities. But, he reiterated that both Washington and the mayors have a responsibility to spend the money wisely so that the American people can regain the confidence of elected officials. "If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it, and put a stop to it. I want everyone here to be on notice that if a local government does the same – I will call them out on it as well, and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it." After the President addressed the mayors, he stepped off the stage to shake hands with the local officials.

Obama: Tax cuts will be felt by April 1

WASHINGTON (AP) — The notoriously slow Congress passed the $787 billion economic stimulus package in a matter of weeks. President Obama signed it into law less than one month into his presidency.
So, just how soon will Americans start reaping the benefits of tax cuts in it?
By April 1, according to the president.
"Never before in our history has a tax cut taken effect faster or gone to so many hardworking Americans," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address.
He said the Treasury Department has begun directing employers to reduce the amount of taxes withheld from people's paychecks in accordance with the new law, and that in six weeks, a typical family will start taking home at least $65 more every month.
Obama says his signature "Making Work Pay" tax break will affect 95% of working families.
The $400 credit for individuals is to be doled out through the rest of the year. Couples are slated to get up to $800. Most workers are to see about a $13 per week increase in their take-home pay. In 2010, the credit would be about $7.70 a week, if it is spread over the entire year.
People who do not earn enough money to owe income taxes are eligible for the credit, an attempt to offset the payroll taxes they pay.
Obama's expensive and ambitious package of federal spending and tax cuts is designed to revive the economy and save or create 3.5 million or more jobs. It will inject a sudden boost of cash into transportation, education, energy and health care, while aiming to help recession victims through tax cuts, extended unemployment benefits and short-term health insurance assistance. It also will add to a rapidly growing national debt.
The president signed the measure into law Tuesday.
In his weekly address, Obama said he was grateful to Congress, governors, mayors and everyday people who supported the measure.
Still, he added: "It is only a first step on the road to economic recovery. And we cannot fail to complete the journey." He said the country also must stem foreclosures, repair the banking system, get credit flowing again and revamp financial industry regulations.
And, even as he promoted the record-breaking spending plan, he called for doing what's necessary to control "exploding" deficits as the economy begins to improve.
Obama is holding a bipartisan "fiscal responsibility summit" at the White House on Monday to talk about ways to control the trillion-dollar budget deficit. The next day, he is to address a joint session of Congress, a speech expected to focus heavily on the economy. On Thursday, Obama will send a budget request to Congress "that's sober in its assessments, honest in its accounting, and lays out in detail my strategy for investing in what we need, cutting what we don't and restoring fiscal discipline."
Republicans are certain to hold him to that.
In the GOP's weekly address, Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said his party wants to work with Obama to solve the country's economic problems "in a responsible way that does not burden our children and grandchildren with a mountain of debt."
"We can't borrow and spend our way back to prosperity," Camp said. "If he is serious about dealing with the tough issues and getting spending under control, his budget will show it

Gitmo detainees treated humanely, U.S. report says

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new Defense Department report concludes that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, treats detainees humanely, according to a department official with knowledge of the report.

The Defense Department review also recommends that high-value and violent detainees be allowed to pray and have recreation time in groups of three, the official said.

Attorney General Eric Holder, shown earlier this week, has formed a detainee review task force.
The conclusions come in a Pentagon report prepared for President Obama, who has ordered the closing of the facility within a year.
The official declined to speak on the record because the report has not yet been delivered to the White House or publicly released.
Several detainees have claimed in court documents that they were tortured and subjected to inhumane treatment in the military prison at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay.
Most of the complaints concern the early years of the facility, after then-President Bush determined that "minimum standards for humane treatment" spelled out in the Geneva Conventions "did not apply to al Qaeda or Taliban detainees," according to a Senate Armed Services Committee report issued in December.

Guantanamo Bay's detention center is being reviewed by the Obama administration after detainees claimed abuse.
Separately, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Friday a formal structure for deciding what to do with detainees held at the military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.
Holder said the Justice Department's point man on counterterrorism, Matthew Olsen, will lead a multi-agency detainee review task force, which will be responsible for making final recommendations to a senior review panel.
"The task force will consider whether it is possible to transfer or release detained individuals consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States," a Justice Department statement said.
Holder announced earlier this week he plans to take a firsthand look at the Gitmo military facility and will take Olsen with him.

Obama administration keeps Bush view on Afghanistan detainees

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Obama administration told a federal court late Friday it will maintain the Bush administration's position that battlefield detainees held without charges by the United States in Afghanistan are not entitled to constitutional rights to challenge their detention.

Former detainees pray near Kaubul in 2005 following their release from U.S. custody at Bagram Air Base.
"Having considered the matter, the government adheres to its previously articulated position," said a Justice Department document filed in federal court in Washington.
In a controversial 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court last year ruled that detainees held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay had a right under the constitution to challenge their continued detention. However, the court did not say whether it applied to prisoners in other locations abroad, including Afghanistan.
Five prisoners held at Bagram Air Base, backed by human rights groups, have gone to court to claim the same rights as the men detained in Guantanamo Bay.

The Obama administration recently approved deploying 17,000 more troops to Afganistan.
The new administration, which was given a month by a federal judge to declare whether the government wants to change its position, has now indicated it will continue to argue that it is against its security interests to release enemy combatants in a war zone.
Barbara Olshansky, lead counsel for three of the detainee petitioners, said that the administration's decision was "deeply disappointing."
"We are trying to remain hopeful that the message being conveyed is that the new administration is still working on its position regarding the applicability of the laws of war -- the Geneva Conventions -- and international human rights treaties that apply to everyone in detention there," she said.
The air base at Bagram, located north of the city of Kabul, houses between 600 and 650 detainees. Most were picked up for suspected ties to terrorism.

U.S. officials: Hamas slipped note to Obama via senator

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas passed Sen. John Kerry a letter for President Obama while Kerry visited Gaza on Thursday, senior State Department officials said.

The letter for the president is in the hands of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, the officials said Friday.

Sen. John Kerry tours Gaza's ruins with U.N. officials Thursday, the day he reportedly got a letter from Hamas.
Kerry, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, toured the devastation in Gaza and met with officials from the U.N. Works Relief Agency, the main provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Frederick Jones, the committee's communications director, told CNN at the end of Kerry's meeting with UNRWA chief Karen Abu Zayed that "she handed [Kerry] a letter addressed to the president of the United States along with other materials."
The U.S. considers Hamas a terrorist organization and has no contact with the organization.
Kerry, D-Massachusetts, first learned that the letter was included in the materials, Jones said, after he left Gaza for meetings in Israel, when reports began to emerge that he had a letter from Hamas. Watch Kerry tour the Gaza devastation »
Without elaborating, Abu Zayed told BBC radio that Hamas had handed over a letter.
Kerry's visit was part of a delegation including Reps. Brian Baird, D-Washington, and Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Congress.
Although Kerry also visited Gaza separately from the two congressmen, according to an official who was traveling with the senator, none of the U.S. lawmakers visited representatives of Gaza's Hamas leadership.
The Gaza visit was the first by U.S. officials since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007, effectively splitting the Palestinian government.
Jones said that because the letter was not addressed to Kerry but to Obama, the senator did not open it.
"Kerry turned the letter over to the consul general in Jerusalem this morning to handle through appropriate channels," Jones said Friday.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Gaza-based spokesman for Hamas, denied that the organization had sent a letter to Obama via the United Nations and Kerry, saying that if Hamas chose to speak with the American administration, this is not the method it would employ.
But senior State Department officials told CNN that after reviewing the letter, the consulate determined that it was indeed from Hamas. Consulate officials are discussing the matter with the State Department and White House.

Consulate spokeswoman Mica Schweitzer-Bloom would say only that Kerry handed consulate officials a letter for the president and "it will be handled by the appropriate channels."
Obama has not ruled out talks with Hamas but said the group must first renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by previous agreements successive Palestinian governments have reached with the Israelis.

Obama rating slips, but still high

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A national poll indicates that two out of three Americans approve of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president of the United States.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, released Friday, also suggests that six in 10 support the economic stimulus package that Obama signed into law Tuesday.
Obama's approval rating stands at 67 percent in the new poll. That's down 9 percentage points from the most recent CNN poll, which was conducted in early February. But a breakdown by party suggests that the drop doesn't mean that the new president is in serious trouble.

A poll shows approval of President Obama slipping, but most of the loss of support is among Republicans.
"Since nearly all of the decline came among Republicans, this doesn't indicate that the honeymoon is already over," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director. "Among Democrats, Obama's approval went from 96 percent to 92 percent; among Republicans, it dropped from 50 percent in early February to 31 percent now."
Among independents, the president's approval rating now stands at 61 percent, down 6 percentage points from earlier in the month.
Sixty percent of those questioned in the poll favored the economic stimulus plan, with 39 percent opposing the package. The $787 billion law is designed to pump up the economy by increasing federal government spending, sending aid to states in fiscal trouble and by cutting taxes. Watch Obama's comments after signing the stimulus »
Do Americans think the stimulus will work?
A slight majority, 53 percent, said the plan will improve economic conditions, while 44 percent said it won't help stimulate the economy. And 31 percent of those questioned indicated the package will improve their own financial situation, with two out of three saying the stimulus won't help them personally.
"Americans often don't see a connection between big government programs and their own wallets," Holland said. "That's what makes the various bailout packages such a hard sell with the public, and why the White House might have felt that they needed to include tax cuts in the stimulus package."
Of those 53 percent who said the plan will work, 19 percent felt it will start improving the economy by the end of the year, with 16 percent saying it will make a difference by next year and another 18 percent feeling it will take longer than two years.
"It goes without saying that Democrats support the stimulus bill and Republicans oppose it," Holland added. "Nearly nine in 10 Democrats favored the plan, while three-quarters of Republicans thought it was a bad idea."
Forty-nine percent said they think the passage of the economic stimulus plan was a major victory for Obama, with 28 percent calling it a minor accomplishment and 22 percent indicating it was not a positive achievement.
The bill passed Congress less than four weeks after Obama took office. It passed the House of Representatives with no Republican support. In the Senate, three of 41 Republicans backed the bill.

The survey's release comes one month after Obama's inauguration. Fifty-eight percent of those polled said Obama has so far met their expectations, and another 16 percent suggested that he's exceeded their expectations. Nearly one in four said that the president has fallen short of what they expected.
The CNN/Opinion Research poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, with 1,046 people questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Pentagon concludes detainees treated humanely

(CNN) — A new Defense Department report concludes that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, treats detainees humanely, according to a Defense official.
The conclusion comes in a Pentagon report prepared for President Barack Obama, who has ordered the closing of the facility within a year. The Defense Department review also recommends that high value and violent detainees be allowed to pray and have recreation time in groups of three, the official said.
Several detainees have claimed in court documents that they were tortured and subjected to inhumane treatment in the military prison at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay. Most of the complaints concern the early years of the facility, after then-President George W. Bush determined that “minimum standards for humane treatment” spelled out in the Geneva Conventions “did not apply to al Qaeda or Taliban detainees,” according to a Senate Armed Services Committee report issued in December.

Who's eligible for mortgage assistance?

Helping HomeOwners
The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan is designed to offer assistance to as many as 9 million homeowners making a “good-faith effort” to stay current on their mortgage payments. See Below How the plan will help Americans avoid foreclosure.

Access to refinancing
Overview
Mortgages are at historically low rates, but millions of families can’t shed their original home loans and refinance to take advantage. That’s because home values have dropped significantly, and current rules prevent most homeowners from refinancing if they owe more than 80 percent of the value of their homes.
Getting a new loan at better rate – and perhaps getting out from under an adjustable rate mortgage that might have ballooned to a much higher percentage – could save homeowners thousands of dollars annually. Those savings translate to a monthly payment that could make the difference between

Who’s Eligible
Homeowners who sought loans through or guaranteed by Fannie Mac or Freddie Mac – two lending institutions that recently got a huge infusion of federal funds to keep them a float – will be able to refinance under this plan.

How it works
The new, refinanced loan can’t be more than 105 percent of the value of the existing home. For example, if your property is worth $200,000, you may quality as long as you owe $210,000 or less.
Homeowners with second mortgages are also eligible, but with certain restrictions. The 105 percent rule remains in effect. The lender of the second mortgage, however, needs to agree to keep the loan in the “second position” when it comes to monthly payments. And homeowners still need to prove they can meet the payment terms of the new first mortgage.
Full details of the plan will be released in the first week of March.

Example
The Obama administration gave this example of how the plan would impact a homeowner paying back a 30-year fixed rate mortgage of $207,000, with an interest rate of 6.5 percent, on a house worth $260,000 at the time of the purchase:

The drop in the home’s value makes the homeowner ineligible to refinance under current low interest rates, because most lenders generally require the borrower to have 20 percent home equity.

Under this refinancing plan, the rules are relaxed and a homeowner could refinance to a rate near 5.16 percent, reducing annual mortgage payments by more than $2,300.

Homeowner Stability Initiative
Overview
The Homeowner Stability Initiative is intended to help up to 4 million homeowners who are struggling to pay their mortgage but cannot sell their homes because their property values have dropped significantly.
It will temporarily modify mortgage terms, making monthly payments more affordable so people can stay in their homes. It also provides monetary incentives to lenders and mortgage servicers who cooperate with the plan and help homeowners avoid default.

Who’s Eligible?
The White House says anyone who is “Underwater” – when the combined mortgage balance is higher than the current market value of the home – may be eligible for a loan modification, as is anyone with high combined mortgage debt compared with income. The plan also includes borrowers who show other indications of being a default risk.
The assistance will go only to people who live in the home they are struggling to pay for. No speculators or house – flippers will be considered. Also, mortgages will not be eligible for help if they are larger than the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae conforming limits.

How it works
The government will work with financial institutions to reduce eligible homeowner monthly payment.
First, the lender aggress to bring down the mortgage rate so that the homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment is no more than 38 percent of the household’s income. After that, the government will match the lender dollar for dollar as interest payments are reduced to the point where the debt-to-income ration becomes 31 percent.
These new terms will stay in place for five years. After that, the mortgage rate can gradually revert to its size at the time of the modification.

Incentives
Both mortgage servicers and mortgage holders will be rewarded if loan modifications are made before a borrower misses a payment -- $500 for mortgage holders. And the borrower, too, can be rewarded monthly – up to $1000 for each modification and rewarded monthly – up to $1000 a year for three years – as long as the borrower continues to make payments.
The Treasury will also create a special insurance fund – of up to $10 billion – to encourage more lenders to take part in the plan. These insurance payments, linked to declines in the home price index, would compensate lenders if home price declines are higher than expected.

Example
Let’s say that in 2006, a family took out a 30-year mortgage of $220,000 on a house worth $230,000 at the time (they put $10,000 down). Their interest rate was 7.5 percent.
Today, $214,016 remains on their mortgage but the home value has dropped 18 percent to $189,000. The family is now “underwater” – their loan is worth more than their mortgage so they can’t sell the house. And, to add to their woes, household income has decreased after a parent was moved form fulltime work. Their monthly income is $3,650, and their monthly mortgage payment is $1,358 ( a debt-to-income ration of 42 percent).
Under the Homeowner Stability Initiative, the bank and the government will work together to get that ration to 31 percent. That means dropping the monthly payment from $1,538 to $1,132 (which requires a mortgage rate drop to 4.42 percent). This saves the family $406 a month, or $4,780 a year.

Drugs suspected in teen's death at Fort Lewis barracks, Army says

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- Army investigators suspect drugs played a role in the death of a 16-year-old girl found unconscious with another teenage girl at a closed barracks, a spokesman for the investigation said Wednesday.
Soldiers stand guard outside Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Washington, in 2002.
The incident happened last weekend at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington, as the girls were visiting an acquaintance at the barracks, which are closed to the public, according to Chris Grey, a spokesman for the base's Criminal Investigation Command.
Investigators have "received information that this is related to drugs," but he would not elaborate, Grey said. He would not say if toxicology reports of either girl had been completed.
Emergency personnel from the base responded to a 911 call about 3:30 a.m. Sunday and found the two girls in one of the barracks. A doctor declared one of the girls dead on the scene, and the second girl was transported to Madigan Army Hospital where she was in stable condition on Monday.
There were no signs of trauma on either of the two females, Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek said.
Investigators questioned a soldier who was "allegedly an acquaintance" of the girls, according to Piek. No arrests have been made.
Fort Lewis is not releasing the name of the soldier or the two girls, citing the ongoing investigation and the girls' ages.
The Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy, Piek said, and it will be at least a week before results are complete.
Both girls are from the nearby South Puget Sound area but were not related to anyone living on base, Piek said. Both girls' families had been notified, he said.
Although Fort Lewis is not open to civilians, they can be escorted in by a soldier living there, and if they have identification and a reason for coming onto the facility.
The circumstances of how the girls came onto the base are under investigation, Piek said, but there was no evidence that security had been compromised.
There are approximately 30,000 military personnel based at Fort Lewis. Barracks where soldiers live are usually split into rooms for up to three soldiers, Piek said. Details about the barracks where the girls were found were not released.

Republicans, analysts question Obama's foreclosure plan

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Even before President Obama unveiled his home foreclosure plan Wednesday afternoon, some Republicans and political commentators questioned how exactly it would work to stave off a crisis plaguing the country.

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, along with Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, sent a letter Wednesday to the president "seeking clarification on six important questions about [Obama's] broad housing proposal," according to a press release from Cantor's office.

Obama unveiled his $75 billion multipronged plan in Phoenix, Arizona, that seeks to help up to 9 million borrowers suffering from falling home prices and unaffordable monthly payments. The long-awaited foreclosure fix marks a sharp departure from the Bush administration, which relied mainly on having servicers voluntarily modify troubled mortgages.

In the Phoenix area, median home prices have fallen 35 percent in the past year.

Obama, according to the proposed plan, will make it easier for homeowners to afford their monthly payments either by refinancing the mortgages or having their loans modified. The president is vastly broadening the scope of the government rescue by focusing on homeowners who are still current in their payments but at risk of default. Read more on his plan

But there could be fierce resistance among Republicans and some conservative Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Already, top Republicans want several questions answered, an early sign that Obama may once again face stiff opposition to the plan when it comes before Congress. Last week, not one House Republican voted for his economic stimulus package, and only three GOP senators voted for the bill.

• What will your plan do for the over 90 percent of homeowners who are playing and paying by the rules?

• Does your plan compensate banks for bad mortgages they should have never made in the first place?

• Will individuals who misrepresented their income or assets on their original mortgage application be eligible to get the taxpayer funded assistance under your plan?

• Will you require mortgage servicers to verify income and other eligibility standards before modifying mortgages?

• What will you do to prevent the same mortgages that receive assistance and are modified from going into default three, six or eight months later?

• How do you intend to move forward in the drafting of the legislation and who will author it?

CNN political analyst David Gergen said some aspects of the proposed bill are not going to sit well with conservatives.

"If the administration does move forward with forcing lenders to renegotiate mortgages downward, there are going to be a lot of conservatives who are going ... to say that [this] 'cram-down' is a terrible idea," he said. " What it means is, there will be risk premiums put on future sales of houses, because lenders will say, 'I have got to get a risk premium, in case the government does this to me again.'"

Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, said Obama's plan "simply shifts the debt to taxpayers."
iReport.com: Perils of house hunting in the desert

"How will borrowing more money to pay for bad loans solve the problem," Flake said in a press release Wednesday. "President Obama's talk of individual responsibility seems to be at odds with the details of the plan."

Gergen also questioned the fairness of giving help to some mortgage holders that have been delinquent compared to those who are paying on time.

"What do you do about the couple that has been paying their mortgage ... and next door there's another couple that's been delinquent, that's been out spending money, going to Las Vegas, having a lot of fun time," Gergen said. "Is it fair to the first couple when the second couple gets bailed out?"

David Walker, the former U.S. comptroller, echoed Gergen's thoughts.

"Well, we clearly have to do something on housing," Walker said. "I mean, we need to do something to try to be able to help those that are deserving help, but not to reward bad behavior. We have to end the spiraling down of prices."

Obama's response to critics: The plan will not support irresponsible homeowners.

"It will not rescue the unscrupulous or irresponsible by throwing good taxpayer money after bad loans. It will not help speculators who took risky bets on a rising market and bought homes not to live in but to sell," Obama said Wednesday. "It will not reward folks who bought homes they knew from the beginning they would never be able to afford.”

In rural Alaska villages, families struggle to survive

(CNN) -- Thousands of villagers in rural Alaska are struggling to survive, forced to choose between keeping their families warm and keeping their stomachs full, residents say.Harvested nuts and berries, small game animals, and dried fish, are the only things keeping some from starving.
To get to the nearest store, Ann Strongheart and her husband, who live in Nunam Iqua, Alaska, take an hour-and-15-minute snowmobile ride to Emmonak, Alaska. Their town does not have a store of its own.

Villagers in Emmonak, Alaska, must travel to the store and to hunt using a snowmobile now that the river has frozen over.
Normally, they would each ride a snowmobile, in case one broke down. But now, they can't afford to waste the fuel, so they just take one and hope for the best.
At the store, the Stronghearts buy groceries and supplies for the family for the week, which cost more than $400. They buy only as much as their snowmobile can carry.
In many stores, two pounds of cheese costs between $15 and $18, milk costs $10 a gallon, a five-pound bag of apples costs $15, and a dozen eggs costs $22 -- more than double the price in the area just two years ago. Watch one resident tearfully describe the challenge for his family »
Many area residents don't even bother with fruits and vegetables which can be damaged by freezing on the trip home.
After shopping, the Stronghearts pack their groceries into boxes, tie them to the snowmobile and begin the 25-mile trek home, passing moose, rabbit and fox tracks along the way. Watch how families are forced to travel in the villages »
The trip sets them back about $50 in fuel alone.
On top of high food prices, some residents are paying nearly $1,500 a month to heat their homes.
The Strongheart's live in one of a group of Native American communities along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
Strongheart and other residents of these villages of 200 to 800 residents, are feeling the impact of a devastating perfect storm of events.
Commercial fishermen couldn't make money from the seasonal king salmon harvest this year, because there was barely enough fish for subsistence. In fact, most fishermen lost money.
Then a brutal early winter brought the longest cold snap in five years. In September the temperature in many villages dropped as low as 20 degrees, a record low for many, according to the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy.
The 1,200-mile Yukon River, which the villages use as a highway, froze completely in September, at least two months earlier than usual. That left residents cut off from some basic necessities, and forced them to have pricey bulk fuel flown in.
These residents and their descendants have lived for hundreds of years in the Yukon Delta, which Emmonak resident Cindy Beans describes as something out of National Geographic.
Though they send their kids to school, many speak the native Yup'ik, and live a much simpler life than even urban Alaskans.
They have always had the comfort of food around them -- whatever they can pick, catch and hunt.
"But in order to have access to all the subsistence food, you have to be able to get out there and hunt for it," Beans said.
And that requires them to go out on their snowmobiles, which means using more fuel.
The community is always gathering food, Beans said. "All summer long we are putting away fish for the winter, by fall working on moose, then setting nets under the ice for winter time. But now, this food which used to supplement groceries, is all that people have since they can't afford to buy food at these prices."
So residents have been forced to rely more on these subsistence methods.

Nicholas Tucker said residents in his village are struggling each day to feed their families and heat their homes.
Beans said her brother walks three miles in -20 degree weather to check on nets under the ice for fish. The fish is a staple they need to keep themselves fed.
"The life out here has always been hard, it's just that its a lot harder now," she said.
Emmonak resident Nicholas Tucker wondered if others were feeling the impact, so he broadcast an inquiry via VHF radio, one of the common ways to communicate in the village.
Tucker said many of them sobbed as they radioed him back.
"His family has been out of food for quite some time now," Tucker wrote about one resident in a letter sent to legislators and the media. "Their 1-year-old child is out of milk, [he] can't get it and he has no idea when he will be able to get the next can."
"There are days without food in his house," Tucker wrote.
A single father with five children choked back tears as he told Tucker of his struggle to help his kids.
"Right now, we can't eat during the day, only at supper time," Tucker wrote of the man. "If there had been no school lunch our kids would be starving."
Many of the tribal leaders said they are begging the state and federal governments to do something to help.
George Lamont, tribal administrator in Tuluksak, Alaska, said because of the crisis and villagers' inability to pay their utilities, he fears many may have their electricity shut off.
Alaska has given many residents $1,200 energy rebate checks, but residents say it barely helps them with one month's heating costs. Aid agencies, including the Red Cross, aren't an option right now -- the Alaska Red Cross said they couldn't help until a disaster is declared.

But the state hasn't declared an emergency yet, and it can't because of a state statute that requires the average income levels in the villages to drop below $26,500 -- whatever the cost of living.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's office said the state is trying to find a way to free up government help."Local government specialists in the state Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development continue to crunch numbers and seek creative approaches to finding a statutorily acceptable way to justify a disaster declaration, which would open the door to federal aid, as well," deputy press secretary Sharon Leighow said.
Leighow said Palin is sending her new rural advisor, John Moller, to the area next week, accompanied by representatives of the Alaska Food Bank.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs to step in and help the towns most in need.
"I find it ironic, tragically ironic, that it takes an economic downturn in the rest of the country for this Congress to consider an economic stimulus for Indian Country," she said during a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs economic stimulus hearing.
The villagers hold out hope that the state or federal governments can come through.
"People have really been looking forward to some emergency assistance," Lamont said.

After hearing the stories from his neighbor, Tucker said it's clear help is needed now. "We have remained quiet, cried and suffered in silence," he said.
"So now, this is our simple cry to others for help."