ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A teenage boy fatally shot two adults and three children at a home near Albuquerque, authorities said Sunday.
The boy, who police believe to be about 15 years old, was arrested and booked on murder and other charges in connection with the shootings Saturday night at the home in an unincorporated area 10 miles southwest of downtown Albuquerque, Bernalillo County sheriff's spokesman Aaron Williamson said.
The victims' identities haven't been released, and the boy's motive and connection to the five victims weren't immediately known. Williamson said investigators were trying to determine if the victims were related.
"We are trying to identify the victims," Williamson said.
Each victim suffered more than one gunshot wound.
Investigators also were seeking to determine who owned several guns that were found at the home, one of which was a semi-automatic military-style rifle.
Authorities weren't releasing the name or age of the teenager accused in the attack or details of any conversation that he had with investigators.
He was booked on two counts of murder and three counts of child abuse resulting in death.
Hundreds of people gathered in state capitals nationwide Saturday to rally against stricter gun control measures.
An estimated 600 people turned out so far for Saturday speeches in Austin, Texas. Many carried signs with messages such as, "An Armed Society is a Polite Society," and "The Second Amendment Comes from God."
Meanwhile, police say hundreds more joined rallies in New England, while organizers also have plans to gather in capital cites to the west.
Organized by the Washington D.C.-based group Political Media, the "Guns Across America" rallies have been promoted by activists via social media, and come days after President Barack Obama unveiled a sweeping package of gun-control proposals.
Larry Ward, president of Political Media, says the "Gun Appreciation Day" is modeled after last summer's "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day." That's when supporters of the fast food chain were asked to rally outside restaurants after the company came under fire for its stance on gay marriage.
Ward says the rallies are a chance for the public to see that gun owners aren't scary people.
First-term Texas state Rep. Steve Toth was among attendees in Austin. He's one of several state officials nationwide who have proposed trying to curb federal gun restrictions in states.
In Hartford, Conn. -- less than 50 miles from the site of the December 14 mass school shooting in Newtown -- police say about 1,000 people showed up on the Capitol grounds Saturday, urging state and federal authorities not to introduce new restrictions on gun ownership, saying such moves would erode their Second Amendment rights.
Task forces created by the legislature and Gov. Dannel Malloy are considering changes to state gun laws.
In Maryland, where Gov. Martin O'Malley is backing a comprehensive measure that includes a ban on assault weapons and new licensing requirements for handguns, a demonstration in Annapolis drew a large crowd to Lawyer's Mall in front the state capitol, where demonstrators carried signs reading, "Guns Save Lives," and "It's not about Guns, It's about Control."
A demonstration was also held in Albany, N.Y., where the nation's toughest assault weapon and magazine restrictions were passed and signed into law last week.
Demonstrators rally outside the Capitol in Albany, N.Y., Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, to assert their right to own firearms and to denounce recent gun-control efforts.
/ AP Photo/Tim Roske
In Frankfort, Ky., tea party leader David Adams spoke to the crowd, saying that the "government is out of control."
In Augusta, Me., dozens of gun-rights advocates gathered in front of the Maine State House, many standing in the snow and some holding flags and placards during Saturday's mid-day rally.
One demonstrator, Joe Getchell of Pittsfield, said every law-abiding citizen has a right to bear arms, and it's a constitutional right no one can take away.
Another demonstrator held a sign that said, "Educate Not Legislate."
A TSA officer views images from the Advanced Imaging Technology unit at John F. Kennedy International Airport in this October 22, 2010 file photo. The backscatter X-ray full-body scanners can see through clothing, and screen passengers for metallic and non-metallic threats, including explosives. /Michael Nagle/Getty Images
WASHINGTON The last of the so-called "naked image" body scanners will soon be removed from U.S. airports.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is severing its $5 million software contract with OSI Systems Inc. for Rapiscan "Secure 1000" units, after the company couldn't produce less revealing images in time to meet a congressional deadline, reports CBS News aviation and transportation correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.
Seventy-six of the machines have already been removed from U.S. airports; there are currently 174 left.
But body scanners are not being removed from airports entirely. Still in use are machines made by L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc., which produce less-detailed images that comply with congressional mandates to better protect passenger privacy.
Use of advanced imaging body scanners at airports was accelerated after the so-called "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas 2009. That was followed by an outcry from privacy advocates and members of Congress who argued the naked images produced by the machine were too invasive.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) likened a scan by the machines to a "physically invasive strip search."
In August, 2010 the TSA asked the makers of the body scanners to make the images less revealing. L-3 accomplished the goal in 2011, but Rapiscan recently said it would not be ready with its fix until 2014.
That's beyond a June deadline mandated by Congress.
The airline showed off the first plane bearing a new logo and paint job at Dallas--Fort Worth International Airport on Thursday.
American's new look
/ American Airlines/AP
The familiar red, white and blue stripes along the side of the fuselage are gone, replaced by a new logo and "American" in large letters on the silver body. Red and blue horizontal bars are emblazoned on the tail.
"We thought it was time to update the look - it's been 40 years," Thomas Horton, CEO of American's parent, AMR Corp., said in an interview.
The new livery was painted on a Boeing (BA) 777-300 that was flown into Fort Worth, Texas, overnight and was to be shown to the public later Thursday. The plane goes into service Jan. 31.
American expects about one-third of its fleet, or roughly 200 planes, will sport the new look by the end of the year with the rest to be repainted within five years. The makeover will extend to airport signs, self-help kiosks and American's website.
American declined to say how much the "rebranding" campaign will cost.
Horton said planning for the redesign began in the summer of 2011, when American announced it would buy hundreds of new planes from Boeing and Airbus, many of which will be made of composite material that can't easily be painted in American's traditional polished-aluminum look.
That means American was thinking of a makeover even before it filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2011. Horton said bankruptcy creditors were kept informed about the redesign. The desire to cut costs didn't derail the effort.
"We're very much coming to the end of the restructuring, and really all the cost-reduction initiatives have been bolted down," Horton said. "We really are at that moment now to turn the page and set the course for a new American."
Under pressure from creditors, AMR is studying whether to embrace a merger with US Airways (LCC) or remain on its own. A decision is expected soon, and Horton said the redesign doesn't tilt the company toward either outcome.
Horton said AMR did not tell US Airways in advance about the new livery - "That wouldn't have been appropriate; they're a competitor" - but he gave US Airways Group Inc. CEO Doug Parker a courtesy heads-up on Wednesday night.
US Airways praised the "compelling result" of the redesign, as spokesman Ed Stewart put it.
The pilots' union at American, which has long fought with AMR and wants company management replaced, was less enthusiastic.
"A new paint job is fine but it does not fix American's network deficiencies and toxic culture," said Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association. His and other unions at American support a merger that would put US Airways executives in charge of the combined airline.
(MoneyWatch) Although housing prices started to rebound last year and are expected to continue rising in 2013, it's still a buyer's market. Prices remain 30 percent below their peak before the housing crash and mortgage rates hovering at all-time lows. If you are ready to jump in to the real estate market, here are 13 house-hunting tips for 2013.
1. Run the numbers. Put together a financial plan to determine whether you can really afford to buy. After all, just because it's a good time to purchase a home doesn't mean it's a good time for YOU to buy. It's important to understand how much home you can afford and whether home ownership might preclude you from addressing other important financial issues in your life.
2. Save 20 percent for a down payment. I'm not a huge fan of putting down less than that amount (although the Federal Housing Administration allows it). Keep your downpayment fund in cash or cash equivalent accounts, so that market movements don't thwart your plans.
3. Use this great "rent vs. buy" calculator from the New York Times. Renting might still be the better deal in your area.
4. Be an informed buyer. You're not going to buy a house simply because there's a pretty photo posted online, but you can conduct a lot of price research. That said, there's nothing better than talking to people in the neighborhood for "on the ground" intelligence.
5. Obtain a copy of your credit report. If you haven't done so in a while, go to AnnualCreditReport.com and request your free copy. It's important that you correct any errors on the report before you start the mortgage process.
6. Get pre-approved for a mortgage. Pre-approval is a good gut check on your price range for a home. Gone are the days that banks will fork over cash to anyone with a heartbeat. The best way to start is to ask friends for referrals from mortgage brokers and to shop around with banks and credit unions. Make sure to compare apples to apples and to ask the broker about your total costs to you at closing. You should also know that once you actually find a home, the mortgage process is on the same pain level as a root canal, only it requires more patience and there's no Novocain. You'll need to dig up tons of paperwork and fair warning -- there will be multiple requests for even more documents as you move toward closing. Eventually, you will need "commitment letter," which details the terms of your loan approval.
7. Find an agent. As much as everyone complains about realtors, I still think that it's tough to go through the home buying process alone. In some markets, buyers' brokers are available, but the most important qualities in brokers are honesty, experience, good connections with other agents, and good referrals from buyers like you. Remember that most agents represent the seller, not the buyer.
8. Hire a real estate attorney. This is a major transaction in your life, so don't try to save money when it comes to legal fees. Even if your mortgage company provides a lawyer, hire your own to help draft all documents and to ensure that your interests are being represented at every step of the process.
9. Get an appraisal. An appraisal will determine the market value of the property and ultimately will be used by your lender to determine the amount of your loan. You have a legal right to get a copy of this and will want a copy for your records.
10. Schedule a home inspection. Think you've found your dream house? Maybe, but unless you have an engineer walk through the premises with you, you might be buying a new roof in a couple of years. Don't get freaked out if a problem arises during the inspection; it can often be addressed with a simple adjustment in price. It's imperative to protect yourself, so don't blow off this important step.
11. Start with a fair offer. The offer should be based on similar houses sold in the neighborhood in the past six months. Your agent will help you with the process, but the offer should include the price you're willing to pay for the house, your financing terms and contingencies such as specifying what will happen if any problems come up during the inspection.
12. Purchase homeowners insurance. If you are a life-long renter, this can be an eye-opener in terms of cost. Make sure that you understand the difference between insuring the structure and insuring the contents. And if you are buying property that is close to water, make sure that you have an agent who can help you enroll in the national flood insurance program.
13. Review your HUD statement BEFORE closing. The government document provides basic details about the involved parties and a lot of numbers. Mistakes do occur, which is why it is vital that you review the statement and confirm that everything is correct.
That's the recommendation being urged by federal health officials, local doctors and most experts who are commenting on this year's flu epidemic. But what exactly is in the flu vaccine, what forms does it come in, and why should we get vaccinated if there's still a chance we can get sick?
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Flu hits epidemic levels
Last week, the flu reached "epidemic levels," with 7.3 percent of all U.S. deaths caused by flu and pneumonia. Government estimates show 47 states are reporting widespread illness -- meaning at least 50 percent of its counties or subregions are reporting infections -- and high activity of influenza-like illness has been reported in 24 states and New York City. Officials expressed hope the flu may have peaked in some regions, but noted the severity of flu season is unpredictable.
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Calif. stockpiles flu vaccine to prevent epidemic
That's why people are being urged to get the flu vaccine, which the government calls the best way to prevent flu.
A new flu vaccine is developed every year in an attempt to provide the best chances to reduce risk of getting the flu or spreading the illness to others. So even for those who feel they won't get sick from the flu, experts note they should still get vaccinated because they may pass flu on to other people who are more at risk, such as young children, the elderly or persons with other medical conditions that weaken immunity.
The vaccines protect against infection and illness caused by the three influenza viruses -- or strains -- that a panel selects each year based on research that indicates which will be most common this season.
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Flu vaccine: Does it work?
This year's vaccine contains two influenza A strains and one influenza B strain, Dr. William Schaffner, the chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University who was immediate-past president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, told CBSNews.com Tuesday. The A strains include an H1N1 strain similar to the one that caused a 2009 "swine flu" pandemic and a new H3N2 strain that is actually the strain that is causing most of the damage now, according to Schaffner, who served on the CDC panel that helped pick which strains would go into this year's vaccine.
"So that was a bull's-eye hit," he said.
The influenza B strain included in the vaccine is similar to a 2010 strain, but Schaffner said there is typically more than one B strain "smoldering" during flu season. While this vaccine targets one of them, he said, there's another strain out there causing about 6 to 8 percent of the disease, and this year's vaccine won't protect flu caused by that virus.
However, just because you get vaccinated doesn't mean you'll evade the flu.
A recent CDC study found this year's vaccine is about 62 percent effective, meaning it will prevent disease completely 62 percent of the time, according to Schaffner.
"It means that the glass is more than half full," he said. "It's not a perfect vaccine, but a good vaccine."
Even when the flu vaccine does not prevent a person from getting sick, it can lead to milder illness or prevent complications including pneumonia and even death.
Once vaccinated, the body takes about two weeks to develop flu-fighting antibodies, meaning people are still at risk for flu after they get the vaccine. That's why experts recommend vaccination early in the fall before flu season -- which typically peaks in late January or February -- gets under way. The vaccine's protection lasts through the spring, according to the CDC, so people need to get it every year. People who already got vaccinated this fall should not try to get another flu shot amid the reports of a flu epidemic.
There are two types of flu vaccines available for Americans, according to the CDC: the "flu shot" and the nasal spray vaccine. A flu shot contains a killed flu virus that is given with a needle, typically in the arm. All people ages 6 months and older, including healthy people, those with chronic medical conditions and pregnant women are recommended to get a flu shot.
This year, there are three different types of flu shots available. A regular flu shot approved for people ages 6 months and older, a high-dose flu shot designed for people 65 and older (the higher dose is meant to give the elderly better protection because immunity weakens with age) and an intradermal flu shot approved for people 18 to 64 years of age that is injected into the skin, rather than the muscle as is typical for the other shot formulations. The latter shot has a needle 90 percent smaller than those used for typical flu shots, and may cause redness but not the soreness that may accompany the regular flu shot's deeper muscle injections.
As for FluMist nasal sprays, these vaccines are made with live, weakened flu viruses that enter the body by being pumped through the nose. The viruses in the nasal spray vaccine do not actually cause the flu even though they are "live," because they are designed to only work in cooler temperatures of the nose and not warmer areas like the lungs. This vaccine is approved for use in healthy people ages 2 through 49 who are not pregnant and don't suffer from egg allergies or other chronic medical conditions. Schaffner noted children sometimes prefer these vaccines because doctors don't have to bring out needles; some adults prefer the sprays for that same reason, he said.
Generally, people who should not get vaccinated include those who are allergic to chicken eggs or have had a severe reaction to influenza vaccination in the past, children younger than 6 months of age and people who are already sick with a fever, who should wait to recover before they are vaccinated. People with Guillain-Barr? Syndrome, a severe illness that could lead to muscle weakness and paralysis, should also speak to a doctor to help decide whether to take the vaccine.
Some critics have taken issue with the vaccine being only 62 percent effective, or the fact that many people who have taken it are still getting sick.
Dr. Adam Stracher, director of the primary care division of the Weill Cornell Physician Organization at Weill Cornell Medical College, told CBSNews.com that the vaccine is safe, and a much better option than not getting any vaccine.
"While it may not be 100 percent effective, even in those patients who get the flu after getting the flu vaccine, they tend to have a milder illness than patients who haven't gotten the flu vaccine," he said.
Stracher adds that despite some common fears it's impossible to get the actual flu from the vaccine because it's only made of a component of the virus, but people can feel aches or a low-grade fever following vaccination as a response to a foreign protein being injected into the body.
Schaffner adds that less than 1 percent of people get a fever from the shot, and the nasal spray vaccine may lead to a runny nose or sore throat, but none of these things are considered a serious flu infection. He was blunt when assessing the common fears that the flu shot can cause the flu:
"That's malarkey," he said.
Improvements to the vaccine may also be on the horizon to improve future formulations.
18 Photos
Widespread flu found in 47 states
CDC officials have discussed some potential improvements coming down the pike, including a quadrivalent vaccine that protects against four flu strains instead of three, and new cell-based flu vaccines, Flucelvax, which recently became FDA-approved in November.
The traditional method to create a vaccine involves virus samples being injected into specialized chicken eggs which are then incubated. Egg fluids are later harvested and purified into the vaccine. The new technology involves small amounts of virus which is placed into fermenting tanks with nutrients and animal cells. The virus is then deactivated, purified and put into vaccine vials, a method officials believe is faster than egg-based production and could speed up manufacturing in the event of a pandemic.
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Report: Flu vaccine production slow, outdated
In December, Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease specialist who has studied medical records and flu studies dating back to the 1930s, told CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano that growing viruses in chicken eggs is slow, inexact and outdated.
"If we don't change our current vaccines, we will have some protection, but we will in two ways miss two very important goals: one, protecting old people at the highest risk of death and two, when the next pandemic emerges, we will miss the opportunity to protect against pandemic," he said at the time. Despite his concerns, he recommended people get the vaccine because it's safe, and some protection is better than none.
Schaffner also mentioned that doctors are investigating "universal" flu vaccines that would be capable of preventing all flu strains that people would only need to get once every 10 years. Dr. Francis Collins, chief of the National Institutes of Health, confirmed the vaccine's development in Dec. 2011.
However, until then, people should get the current vaccine which is safe, said Schaffner, who paraphrased Voltaire for his message:
"Waiting for perfection is the greatest enemy of the current good," he said.
The CDC noted during a conference call last week that there are spot shortages of this year's vaccine based on some reports it has received. The agency's website directs people to the HealthMap Vaccine Finder where people can plug in their zip code. Users are also asked to report any vaccine shortages they may experience through this website or tweet @vaccinefinder on Twitter with the hashtag #vaxshortage.
AUSTIN, Texas Lance Armstrong apologized to the staff at his Livestrong cancer foundation before heading to an interview with Oprah Winfrey, a person with direct knowledge of the meeting told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussion was private.
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Lance Armstrong to "speak candidly" to Oprah Winfrey
38 Photos
Lance Armstrong
Stripped last year of his seven Tour de France titles because of doping charges, Armstrong addressed the staff Monday and said, "I'm sorry." The person said the disgraced cyclist choked up and several employees cried during the session.
The person also said Armstrong apologized for letting the staff down and putting Livestrong at risk but he did not make a direct confession to the group about using banned drugs. He said he would try to restore the foundation's reputation, and urged the group to continue fighting for the charity's mission of helping cancer patients and their families.
After the meeting, Armstrong, his legal team and close advisers gathered at a downtown Austin hotel for the interview.
The cyclist will make a limited confession to Winfrey about his role as the head of a long-running scheme to dominate the Tour with the aid of performance-enhancing drugs, a person with knowledge of the situation has told the AP.
Winfrey and her crew had earlier said they would film the interview, to be broadcast Thursday, at his home but the location apparently changed to a hotel. Local and international news crews staked out positions in front of the cyclist's Spanish-style villa before dawn, hoping to catch a glimpse of Winfrey or Armstrong.
Armstrong still managed to slip away for a run Monday morning despite the crowds gathering outside his house. He returned home by cutting through a neighbor's yard and hopping a fence.
During a jog on Sunday, Armstrong talked to the AP for a few minutes saying, "I'm calm, I'm at ease and ready to speak candidly." He declined to go into specifics.
Armstrong lost all seven Tour titles following a voluminous U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report that portrayed him as a ruthless competitor, willing to go to any lengths to win the prestigious race. USADA chief executive Travis Tygart labeled the doping regimen allegedly carried out by the U.S. Postal Service team that Armstrong once led, "The most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."
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Anti-doping chief: Armstrong bullied witnesses
In a recent "60 Minutes Sports" interview, Tygart described Armstrong and his team of doctors, coaches and riders as similar to a "Mafia" that kept their secret for years and intimidated riders into silently following their illegal methods.
Yet Armstrong looked like just another runner getting in his roadwork when he talked to the AP, wearing a red jersey and black shorts, sunglasses and a white baseball cap pulled down to his eyes. Leaning into a reporter's car on the shoulder of a busy Austin road, he seemed unfazed by the attention and the news crews that made stops at his home. He cracked a few jokes about all the reporters vying for his attention, then added, "but now I want to finish my run," and took off down the road.
The interview with Winfrey will be Armstrong's first public response to the USADA report. Armstrong is not expected to provide a detailed account about his involvement, nor address in depth many of the specific allegations in the more than 1,000-page USADA report.
In a text to the AP on Saturday, Armstrong said: "I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly. That's all I can say."
After a federal investigation of the cyclist was dropped without charges being brought last year, USADA stepped in with an investigation of its own. The agency deposed 11 former teammates and accused Armstrong of masterminding a complex and brazen drug program that included steroids, blood boosters and a range of other performance-enhancers.
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Lance Armstrong offered donation to USADA during investigation
Once all the information was out and his reputation shattered, Armstrong defiantly tweeted a picture of himself on a couch at home with all seven of the yellow leader's jerseys on display in frames behind him. But the preponderance of evidence in the USADA report and pending legal challenges on several fronts apparently forced him to change tactics after more a decade of denials.
He still faces legal problems.
Former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping, has filed a federal whistle-blower lawsuit that accused Armstrong of defrauding the U.S. Postal Service. The Justice Department has yet to decide whether it will join the suit as a plaintiff.
The London-based Sunday Times also is suing Armstrong to recover about $500,000 it paid him to settle a libel lawsuit. On Sunday, the newspaper took out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune, offering Winfrey suggestions for what questions to ask Armstrong. Dallas-based SCA Promotions, which tried to deny Armstrong a promised bonus for a Tour de France win, has threatened to bring yet another lawsuit seeking to recover more than $7.5 million an arbitration panel awarded the cyclist in that dispute.
The lawsuit most likely to be influenced by a confession might be the Sunday Times case. Potential perjury charges stemming from Armstrong's sworn testimony in the 2005 arbitration fight would not apply because of the statute of limitations. Armstrong was not deposed during the federal investigation that was closed last year.
Many of his sponsors dropped Armstrong after the damning USADA report — at the cost of tens of millions of dollars — and soon after, he left the board of Livestrong, which he founded in 1997. Armstrong is still said to be worth about $100 million.
Livestrong might be one reason Armstrong has decided to come forward with an apology and limited confession. The charity supports cancer patients and still faces an image problem because of its association with Armstrong. He also may be hoping a confession would allow him to return to competition in the elite triathlon or running events he participated in after his cycling career.
World Anti-Doping Code rules state his lifetime ban cannot be reduced to less than eight years. WADA and U.S. Anti-Doping officials could agree to reduce the ban further depending on what information Armstrong provides and his level of cooperation.
(CBS News) Amid news that the White House is pushing for a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal said today on "Face the Nation" he regrets that he didn't get to finish the job there.
"I have regrets that some of the things I was responsible for, I didn't finish," he said, referring to his forced resignation in 2010 over a Rolling Stone article that quoted members of his team making disparaging remarks about President Obama. "I didn't finish the job in Afghanistan. I let down a lot of people that worked for me, 150,000 troops worked for me, the Afghan people, many of them believed deeply in me."
McChrystal said he doesn't believe the Rolling Stone piece "was particularly accurate in the way it represented my team but, you know, I was in command. And the simple elegance of command is, you assume responsibility." In his new book, "My Share of the Task," he said he chose not to devote time pointing fingers over the incident because "I'm not sure Washington needs another book like that."
Though he wouldn't comment on how many U.S. troops - if any - should remain in Afghanistan, McChrystal said while Afghan forces are "improving," they've "got a long way to go."
"When I got [to Afghanistan] in 2002, the country was physically devastated, and morally and mentally traumatized. The society was in tatters," he said. "There's been an awful lot of... progress, but Afghanistan is hard. It's always hard. If you study their history, it's complex and difficult. [Now] there are females in school, there are opportunities, there are places that are secure that were not secure just a few years ago.
"...My question on the future is what do we want in the region; this is not just a case of, al Qaeda was in Afghanistan, and now they largely are not," McChyrstal continued. "I believe Afghanistan can be stable. I think they must take responsibility for their security, the vast lion's share, but I think the strategic partnership that President Obama offered to President Karzai is critical. Not just physically. It's not how many troops and how much money, it's the idea in the minds of Afghans that they have a reliable partner."
As for former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., who will face immediate decisions about troop levels in the region if he is confirmed as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's replacement, McChyrstal said while he's only met him once, "I certainly have no problem with him."
Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran, "certainly has a great record, not just as a soldier, but as a senator," he said.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti President Michel Martelly urged Haitians to recall the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives in a devastating earthquake three years ago, marking the disaster's anniversary Saturday with a simple ceremony.
Martelly also thanked other countries and international organizations for their help after the Jan. 12, 2010 disaster.
"Haitian people, hand in hand, we remember what has gone," Martelly said as a gigantic Haitian flag flew half-mast before him on the front lawn of the former National Palace, a pile of tangled steel reinforcement bars nearby. "Hand in hand, we're remembering, we're remembering Jan. 12."
Clad in black, several dozen senior government officials gathered where the elegant white palace had stood before it collapsed in the temblor and was later demolished. Foreign diplomats and Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova, earlier named by Martelly as one of Haiti's goodwill ambassadors, were also there.
Haiti's President Michel Martelly, left, U.N. special envoy to Haiti and former President Bill Clinton (center), and Haiti's first lady Sophia Martelly attend a memorial service for victims of the 2010 earthquake, at Titanyen, a mass burial site north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013.
/ AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery
In the speech, Martelly announced a government contest seeking designs for a monument to honor those who died in the quake. He also said the government had just released a new construction code aimed at ensuring new buildings are seismically resistant but didn't provide details.
Later in the day, Martelly, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and former U.S. president Bill Clinton placed a wreath at a mass burial site north of the capital of Port-au-Prince. Crosses that once spiked the makeshift grave have since vanished.
Haiti's previous presidential administration said 316,000 people were killed but no one really knows how many died. The disaster also displaced more than a million others.
A man sweeps an exposed tiled area of the earthquake-damaged Santa Ana Catholic church, where he now lives, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013.
/ AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery
Most of the rubble created by the quake has since been carted away but more than 350,000 people still live in grim displacement camps.
Many people had hoped the reconstruction effort would have made more headway by now, but progress has been stymied by political paralysis, the scale of devastation and a trickle of aid.
Jan. 12 was observed as a national holiday the last two years to remember the quake. This year, the government said the day would no longer be a holiday but called for the Haitian flag to be flown at half-mast and for nightclubs and "similar establishments" to close.
The anniversary this year has been used by Haiti observers to criticize the reconstruction process and by foreign aid groups to promote their work and raise money.
But for some Haitians, it was just another day.
"We can't remain focused on Jan. 12th," said Asaie St. Louis, a 56-year-old teacher and devout church-goer, Bible in hand. "It's passed already."
WASHINGTON The U.S. annual budget deficit is on track to reach $1 trillion for a fifth straight year, though government revenue jumped last month as people paid some taxes early to avoid higher rates in 2013.
The Treasury Department said Friday that the federal deficit grew just $260 million in December. But for the first three months of the budget year, the deficit widened to $292 billion.
In December, tax revenue rose 12 percent to $270 billion. Spending fell 17 percent to nearly the same amount.
The budget year begins on Oct. 1. The size of the annual deficit will hinge, in part, on how Congress and the White House resolve a debate over raising the nation's borrowing limit. Republicans are demanding deep spending cuts in return for any increase.
The deficit, in simplest terms, is the amount of money the government has to borrow when revenues fall short of expenses. The monthly figures are volatile and can be affected by calendar quirks that shift payments from one month to another.
Much of the December gain in revenue occurred because some companies accelerated bonuses or other payments into 2012 to avoid the possibility of higher taxes in 2013.
And spending fell last month partly because the government provided $14 billion to the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in December 2011, after they had lost hundreds of billions from defaulted mortgages in the housing bust. The government didn't make any such payments last month.
The White House and Congress agreed last week to raise taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans this year as part of a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. That deal also allowed a Social Security tax cut to expire. But the groups also postponed for two months the implementation of spending cuts that were included in the cliff.
Those cuts are now scheduled to kick in at around the same time the borrowing limit will be reached. And funding authority for most government programs will expire at the end of March.
The government has run annual deficits for more than a decade, although President Barack Obama's presidency has coincided with four straight $1 trillion-plus deficits.
The deficit reached a record $1.41 trillion in budget year 2009, which began four months before Obama was inaugurated. That deficit was largely because of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Tax revenue plummeted, while the government spent more on stimulus programs.
The budget gaps in 2010 and 2011 were slightly lower than the 2009 deficit as a gradually strengthening economy generated more tax revenue.
President George W. Bush also ran annual deficits through most of his two terms in office after he won approval for broad tax cuts and launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The last time the government ran an annual surplus was in 2001.
TAFT, Calif. A student was shot and critically wounded at a rural California high school Thursday and a student suspect was taken into custody, officials said
The sheriff of Kern County, Calif., says the 16-year-old student who was shot is in critical but stable condition.
Sheriff Donny Youngblood says the shooter is a student who walked into a class at Taft Union High School Thursday morning and shot the teen with a shotgun, and then fired at another student but missed. A teacher suffered a minor pellet wound to the head.
Youngblood says the teacher tried to get other students out a back door, then he and another staff member engaged the shooter in conversation to distract him, and convinced him to put down the gun.
The shooting happened on the second floor of the school's science building around 9 a.m., according to CBS affiliate KBAK in Bakersfield.
As word spread, Dayna Hopper rushed to the school to pick up her son Joseph Sorensen, 16, and daughter, Cheryle Pryor, 15, who had called from Cheryle's cell phone.
"I panicked. I wanted to puke and just get here," Dayna Hopper told The Bakersfield Californian.
KERO-TV Bakersfield reported that the station received phone calls from people inside the school who hid in closets.
The bell had just rung at a nearby school when teachers began shouting for students to get inside buildings, and the principal used an intercom to tell students to stay inside, Felicity Reich, 13, a student at Lincoln Junior High School, told the newspaper.
Shaken, she held the hand of her mother, Ellie Reich, as she spoke.
The student who was shot at the high school was flown to a hospital in Bakersfield, said Ray Pruitt, spokesman for the Kern County Sheriff's Department.
It was not immediately clear how many students are enrolled at the high school, which includes 9th through 12th grades.
Masses of parents headed to the school football field to find their children, and officials at other schools took action to protect their students as well, the newspaper said.
The Taft shooting came less than a month after a gunman massacred 20 children and six women at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., then killed himself.
That shooting prompted President Barack Obama to promise new efforts to curb gun violence. Vice President Joe Biden, who was placed in charge of the initiative, said he would deliver new policy proposals to the president by next week.
At the state Capitol, Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, said the thoughts and prayers of legislators were with the people at the Taft school.
"It really is just another very sad moment as we deal with the ongoing reality of gun violence that has captured so much of our attention this last year," Perez said.
CENTENNIAL, Colo. The hearing to determine whether the suspected gunman in last year's Colorado theater shooting ended Wednesday with one last detail from police: James Holmes used a cell phone to take self-portraits the night of the attack, sticking out his tongue, smiling and posing with a Glock pistol
The defense decided not to call witnesses to talk about Holmes' mental health. They are expected to present an insanity defense.
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The Aurora shooting victims
Police also showed the court photos of the theater they say Holmes took a month before the attack, which left 12 dead and at least 58 injured in one of the country's worst mass shootings.
The judge said he will rule by Friday on whether Holmes should stand trial. If the judge decides he should be tried, Holmes could enter a plea that day. Cases rarely advance to this stage without a judge agreeing to set a trial.
Prosecutors this week have argued that Holmes acted with deliberation and extreme indifference.
Defense attorneys decided not call any witnesses, saying the rules of the hearing severely limited what evidence they could present. They had been granted permission to call two people to talk about Holmes' mental state.
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The Colorado massacre suspect
His lawyers have previously stated that Holmes, 25, is mentally ill. Defense lawyer Tamara Brady pointedly asked a federal agent in court Tuesday whether any Colorado law prevented "a severely mentally ill person" from buying the 6,295 rounds of ammunition, body armor and handcuffs that Holmes purchased online.
The hearing was dominated by prosecutors' details of Holmes' preparations. Police and authorities said he spent months amassing tear gas grenades, two Glock handguns, a shotgun and an AR-15 rifle, along with the 6,295 rounds of ammunition, targets, body armor and chemicals. He also purchased chemicals including improvised napalm, as well as thermite, a substance which burns so hot that water can't extinguish the blaze.
Holmes' purchases were for two planned attacks, prosecutors said - the theater shooting and his apartment, which would have blown up if anyone had entered. The traps weren't triggered.
Holmes, clad from head to toe in body armor, was found standing by his car outside the theater. He told investigators that the apartment was an effort to pull police away from the theater. He didn't expect to see officers so quickly.
Police said he volunteered information about the apartment traps. Authorities went to the apartment and carefully dismantled them.
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Aurora 911 calls played at Holmes hearing
On Tuesday, police played a 911 call from a teenage cousin of 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, the youngest person killed. A dispatcher tried to talk her through CPR but she sounded panicked and said she couldn't hear.
"My two cousins, they are sitting on the floor," 13-year-old Kaylan told the dispatcher, according to CBS correspondent Barry Petersen. "One of them is not breathing."
If Holmes is found sane, goes to trial and is convicted, his attorneys can try to avoid a possible death penalty by arguing he is mentally ill. Prosecutors have yet to say whether they will seek the death penalty.
If he's found not guilty by reason of insanity, he would likely be sent to the state mental hospital, not prison. Such a defendant is deemed not guilty because he didn't know right from wrong and is therefore "absolved" of the crime, said former Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey.
TULSA, Okla. Four women were found shot dead inside an apartment in south Tulsa on Monday afternoon, with a three-year-old boy as the only survivor, CBS affiliate KOTV Tulsa reported.
Now a father is coming to grips with losing his twin daughters, whom police identified as Rebeika Powell, 23, and Kayetie Melchor, 23, as among the four victims.
"My life's gone. My kids are gone," said Larry Powell.
Tulsa police said the four women were discovered around noon, within an hour of being shot. Aside from Powell and Melchor, the other two victims identified by police were Misty Nunley, 33, and Julie Jackson, 55. The three-year-old boy may have witnessed his mother's death.
"The little baby, you know, he had to sit there all day and look at what they did. How could you do something like that?" asked Larry Powell.
Powell's son died from the flu in 2003 and now his remaining children are gone. "You've got nothing left," said Powell. "All I've got are my two little grand kids and what am I going to do? Their parents are gone. My granddaughter is going crazy over there right now."
Neighbor Gail Barton knew some of the women who were killed. "They were all so lively and fun and beautiful, really were beautiful girls," she said and added: "To take such beauty and life away from so many people and to harm so many family members in the process and for what? Money?"
Police are still seeking a suspect and a motive for the crime.
PHENIX CITY, Ala. An Alabama teenager teen who described himself as a white supremacist made journal entries about a plot to bomb classmates three days after the Newtown school massacre and began building small homemade explosives, a sheriff said Monday.
Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor told The Associated Press that he believed the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary was a factor because the first date in the boy's journal describing the plan was Dec. 17 — three days after the Connecticut killings.
Seventeen-year-old Derek Shrout is charged with attempted assault after authorities say he planned to use homemade explosives to attack fellow students at Russell County High School.
Taylor said the boy told investigators that he's a white supremacist and five of the six students he named in his journal are black. The journal was found by a teacher, who turned it over to authorities.
A search of Shrout's home found about 25 small tobacco cans and two larger tins, all with holes drilled in them and containing pellets similar to BB's, reported CBS affiliate WRBL. Taylor said all they needed were black powder and fuses to become explosives. The journal also allegedly mentioned using firearms. The sheriff said Shrout's father owned a few household weapons, like a hunting rifle, a shotgun and a handgun.
"He just talks about some students, he specifically named six students and one faculty member and he talked about weapons and the amounts of ammunition for each weapon that he would use if he attacked the school," Taylor said.
The sheriff said he didn't believe the teen's initial claim that the journal was a work of fiction.
"When you go to his house and you start finding the actual devices that he talked about being made, no, it's not fiction anymore," Taylor said. "Those devices were — all they needed was the black powder and the fuse — he had put a lot of time and thought into that."
The teen, who is thin and wears glasses, said little during an initial court appearance Monday. District Judge David Johnson set bond at $75,000 and the teen's attorney said the family expected to post it by the end of the day for his release.
The judge ordered the teen not to contact anyone at his school, students or teachers, and not to use the Internet without parental supervision.
His attorney, Jeremy Armstrong, declined to discuss specifics of the case, but he did say that the talk of the case he has heard so far was "blown a little out of proportion."
"Our position is that our client had no intention to harm anybody," he said.
President Barack Obama signs H.R. 41, which temporarily increases the Federal Emergency Management Agency's borrowing authority for carrying out the National Flood Insurance Program, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. /White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama has signed into law a $9.7 billion bill to pay flood insurance claims from Superstorm Sandy that devastated northeastern states last October.
The law increases the borrowing authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA had warned that it was set to run out of money without additional dollars from Congress.
The White House said more than 100,000 flood claim payments from Sandy would be delayed without the additional money.
The House has yet to act on a larger, more comprehensive Sandy aid package. Republican leaders did not bring the bill to the floor before the last session of Congress adjourned.
House Speaker John Boehner has promised a vote Jan. 15 on that $51 billion package, and Senate leaders have promised a vote the following week.
An Indian family lights candles in memory of a gang-rape victim in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. Passers-by refused to stop to help a naked, bleeding gang-rape victim after she was dumped from a bus onto a New Delhi street, and police delayed taking her to a hospital for 30 minutes, the woman's male companion said in an interview. /AP Photo/Altaf Qadri
NEW DELHI Police in New Delhi on Saturday refuted the comments made by the male companion of a gang-rape victim that police officers debated jurisdiction for 30 minutes before taking the rape victim and her friend to a hospital.
The victim's male companion said in an interview broadcast on Friday on Indian TV station Zee News that police delayed taking her to a hospital after passers-by neglected to help her, even though she was naked and bleeding.
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Gang-rape sparks rage in India
Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police Vivek Gogia, however, denied the companion's assertion.
At a news conference on Saturday, Gogia said police vans reached the spot where the rape victim and her friend were dumped within three minutes of receiving the alert.
He said the police vans left the spot for hospital with the victims within 12 minutes and that time had spent in borrowing bed sheets from a neighboring hotel to cover the naked rape victim and her friend.
"Zebra 54 (Police response vehicle) left the spot along with the victims at 10:39 (pm) (1709 GMT). This time was utilized in placing the victim in the van, after organizing a bed sheet from a neighboring hotel to cover the victims. Zebra 54 brought the victims to Safdarjung Hospital at 10: 55 p.m.(1725 GMT). These findings have been ascertained through the logs generated by the multi-computer configuration global positioning system," he said.
Meanwhile, a senior opposition figure in the Indian government asked what kind of "teachings and training the government of India has given to its police in Delhi?"
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Deputy Leader of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) condemned the Delhi police for the alleged delay in helping the victims.
"Saving the life of critically injured people is more important, or fighting over jurisdiction is more important?" Prasad asked.
Also on Saturday, a court asked police to produce five men accused of raping the student for pre-trial proceedings on Monday.
Police have charged them with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring them the death penalty.
A sixth suspect, listed as a 17-year-old, is expected to be tried in a juvenile court, where the maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility.
The 23-year-old woman died last weekend from massive internal injuries suffered during the attack.
The attack has sparked outrage and daily protests across India and led to calls for tougher rape legislation and reforms of a police culture that often blames rape victims and refuses to file charges against accused attackers.
NEW DELHI The companion of a woman who was gang-raped aboard a bus in New Delhi recounted in a television interview for the first time Friday how the pair was attacked for 2 1/2 hours before being thrown on the side of the road, where passers-by ignored them and police debated jurisdiction issues before helping them.
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Indian women protest brutality
The Dec. 16 attack has outraged Indians and led to calls for tougher rape laws and reforms of a police culture that often blames rape victims and refuses to file charges against accused attackers. The nation's top law enforcement official said the country needs to crack down on crimes against women with "an iron hand."
The 23-year-old woman died over the weekend from massive internal injuries suffered during the attack. Authorities charged five men with her murder and rape and were holding a sixth suspect believed to be a juvenile. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Saturday.
The woman and her male friend had just finished watching the movie "Life of Pi" at an upscale mall and were looking for a ride home. An autorickshaw driver declined to take them so they boarded the private bus with the six assailants inside, the companion told the Indian TV network Zee TV.
Authorities have not named the man because of the sensitivity of the case. The TV station also declined to give his name, although it did show his face during the interview. The man has a broken leg and was sitting in a wheelchair during the interview.
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Remembering an Indian gang rape victim
After a while, the men on the bus starting harassing and attacking the pair, he said.
"I gave a tough fight to three of them. I punched them hard. But then two others hit me with an iron rod," he said. The woman tried to call the police using her mobile phone, but the men took it away from her, he said. They then took her to the rear seats of the bus and raped her.
"The attack was so brutal I can't even tell you ... even animals don't behave like that," he said.
Afterward, he overheard some of the attackers saying she was dead, he said.
The men then dumped their bleeding and naked bodies under an overpass. He waved to passers-by on bikes, in autorickshaws and in cars for help.
"They slowed down, looked at our naked bodies and left," he said. After about 20 minutes, three police vans arrived and the officers began arguing over who had jurisdiction over the crime as the man pleaded for clothes and an ambulance, he said.
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Gang-rape sparks rage in India
The man said he was given no medical care. Instead, he spent four days at the police station helping them investigate the crime. He said he visited his friend in the hospital, told her the attackers were arrested and promised to fight for her.
"She has awakened us all by her courage," he said. "People should move ahead in the struggle to prevent a similar crime happening again as a tribute to her."
On Friday, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said crimes against women and marginalized sections of society are increasing, and it is the government's responsibility to stop them.
"This needs to be curbed by an iron hand," he told a conference of state officials from across India that was called to discuss how to protect women.
He called for changes in the law and the way police investigate cases so justice can be swiftly delivered. Many rape cases are bogged down in India's overburdened and sluggish court system for years.
"We need a reappraisal of the entire system," he said.
In the wake of the rape, several petitioners appealed to the Supreme Court to take an active role in the issue of women's safety.
On Friday, the court dismissed a petition asking it to suspend Indian lawmakers accused of crimes against women, saying it doesn't have jurisdiction, according to the Press Trust of India. The Association for Democratic Reforms, an organization that tracks officials' criminal records, said six state lawmakers are facing rape prosecutions and two national parliamentarians are facing charges of crimes against women that fall short of rape.
However, the court did agree to look into the widespread creation of more fast-track courts for accused rapists across the country.
Google hasn't violated any antitrust laws, the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday, but it has agreed to make some changes in how it treats its rivals as part of a settlement to end the 19-month investigation into its business practices.
The FTC's investigation focused on allegations that Google has been abusing its dominance in Internet search. Google's rivals say the company has been highlighting its own services on its influential results page while burying the links to competing sites.
Google Inc. has fiercely defended its right to recommend the websites that it believes are the most relevant.
The FTC said it voted unanimously to close the investigation on whether Google's algorithm unfairly favored itself because there was no evidence that Google violated antitrust laws.
"Although some evidence suggested that Google was trying to eliminate competition, Google's primary reason for changing the look and feel of its search results to highlight its own products was to improve the user experience," FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said to reporters Thursday.
Google was also investigated for abusing patent protection against competitors like Apple. As part of the settlement, Google is agreeing to license patents deemed to be "essential" for rival mobile devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad, regulators said.
Regulators say Google is also promising that upon request, it will exclude snippets copied from other websites in its summaries of key information, even though the company had insisted the practice is legal under the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law.
A man waves to a child on a bus on the first day of classes after the holiday break, in Newtown, Conn.,Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. /AP Photo/Jessica Hill
Updated 1:21 p.m. ET
MONROE, Conn. The children who escaped last month's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown were welcomed Wednesday to a school in a neighboring town that was overhauled specially for them.
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Orientation day for Sandy Hook students
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Heroism of Sandy Hook teachers
The open house at the former Chalk Hill School in Monroe marks the students' first time in a formal classroom setting since the massacre on Dec. 14, when a gunman killed 20 of their fellow classmates and six educators. Classes are starting for the Sandy Hook students on Thursday.
The road leading to the school in a rural, largely residential neighborhood was lined with signs greeting the students, saying "Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary School" and "Welcome. You are in our prayers." Several police cars were parked outside the school.
Teams of workers, many of them volunteers, prepared the former Chalk Hill middle school with fresh paint and new furniture and even raised bathroom floors so the smaller elementary school students can reach the toilets. The students' desks, backpacks and other belongings that were left behind following the shooting were taken to the new school to make them feel at home. Superintendent Janet Robinson said the rooms may not look exactly the same, but the school has been renamed Sandy Hook Elemntary.
Monroe police officers said at a press conference Wednesday it was "the safest school" in the country.
Counselors say it's important for children to get back to a normal routine and for teachers and parents to offer sensitive reassurances.
When classes start on Thursday, Robinson said teachers will try to make it as normal a school day as possible for the children.
"We want to get back to teaching and learning," she said. "We will obviously take time out from the academics for any conversations that need to take place, and there will be a lot of support there. All in all, we want the kids to reconnect with their friends and classroom teachers, and I think that's going to be the healthiest thing."
Senators voted in the pre-dawn hours of New Year's Day to pass the long-sought agreement on the "fiscal cliff" and the House readies for its turn as soon as today, which, if the House passes it, would officially avert the tax hikes and spending cuts that technically took effect at midnight (the deal, when signed by the president, will make the new tax rates and spending retroactive to midnight).
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Biden advises not to predict outcome of "cliff" deal
How did the politicians involved get to their final agreement? Here's the rundown, according to officials familiar with the talks and with the White House's thinking:
Friday through Sunday: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's opening offer Friday night to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was a $750,000 income tax threshold and no jobless benefits and no extension of the earned-income tax credit and other low-income tax breaks, means-testing Medicare, and the Bush era estate tax rates. Offers bounced back and forth Saturday and on Sunday, Reid opted out and handed talks over to Vice President Joe Biden (at McConnell's suggestion). President Obama, Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi were in tandem through the talks. Delaying the federal spending cuts, or sequester, fell out of the talks on Sunday but McConnell came down to $550,000 in income tax threshold and some estate tax concessions reflected in the final deal.
Sunday, 8 p.m. ET: Mr. Obama and senior staff met in the Oval Office to discuss their final counter-offer to McConnell. The president set the $400K and $450K income threshold with one-year of jobless benefits and some delay of the sequester. Biden and McConnell talked through the night. Their last call was at 12:45 a.m.
After that, Mr. Obama and Biden met in the Oval until 2 a.m. to go over final details. Mr. Obama sent his legislative liaison Rob Nabors to Capitol Hill at 2 a.m. to begin drafting a bill with Senate Democrats. Biden and McConnell spoke again at 6:45 a.m. The rest of Monday was devoted to resolving the sequester impasse.
Monday, 9 p.m. ET: Biden and McConnell sealed the deal by telephone (Biden spoke to McConnell after clearing final details with Mr. Obama). The president then called Reid and Pelosi for one final OK and the deal was announced/leaked/confirmed.
The officials also pointed out that to get to the final deal, moving Republicans from a position of no tax increases in debt ceiling debate to tax increases through tax reform after Mr. Obama's re-election to nothing more than $1 million in higher rates and now to $400,000 and $450,000 thresholds is a significant policy and political victory (worth $620 billion over 10 years).
When the big deal talks failed before Christmas, Mr. Obama's biggest goal was to get GOP buy-in on higher tax rates for the wealthy. It is regarded as one of the most significant policy victories in two decades, the officials said.
Compromising on the two-month sequester was difficult, the officials added. The White House wanted a full year of waiving the sequester but there was no time to negotiate the difficult policy details (the sequester talks took literally all of Monday).
As for the deal's effect on the deficit, it does not cut the deficit relative to what would have occurred if all the fiscal cliff tax cuts had been erased (meaning all Bush tax cuts expired) and the sequester kicked in full force. But, relative to a baseline that assumes all existing tax policy would have continued, the deal raises $620 billion in revenue. The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) fix is not counted by the WH, for example, because its extension was assumed in the existing policy baseline (that doesn't mean it won't cost anything; just that the White House doesn't count the cost).
The jobless benefit extension for one year cost $30 billion and that is not paid for. The Medicare "doc fix" is paid for by savings that will be taken from other provider payouts in Medicare. It costs $31 billion, meaning those provider cuts will pay for protecting doctors from a 27 percent automatic cut in premiums.
And $12 billion in new revenue comes from allowing 401Ks and other retirement instruments into Roth IRAs. This is the revenue that forms half of the offset of the two-month sequester delay. The other $12 billion will come from a 50-50 split of non-defense and defense cuts.
