In the Nation
Jill Biden to have surgery in Phila.
WASHINGTON - Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Biden, will have orthopedic surgery today in Philadelphia to relieve shoulder pain. She will have the outpatient procedure performed at Thomas Jefferson Hospital, the White House said yesterday.
The vice president will accompany her to the hospital, and they plan to spend the rest of today and tomorrow at home in Delaware. - AP
Health overhaul seen off schedule
WASHINGTON - President Obama's overhaul of the nation's health systems is unlikely to be completed by the White House's August deadline, lawmakers said yesterday, as Congress turns its attention to other priorities.
Democrats and Republicans on Sunday talk shows said the sweeping health-care proposals are moving forward on Capitol Hill but cautioned against rushing into a spending plan that could cost trillions over the next decade.
Kathleen Sebelius, who heads the Department of Health and Human Services, said she remains optimistic Congress will complete legislation before the year ends. - AP
Palin says she has lots planned
WASHINGTON - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she is not only staying involved in national politics, but is also planning to jump back into the national scrum when she leaves office at the end of the month.
The former Republican vice presidential nominee, in an interview with the Washington Times, said she plans to write a book, campaign for political candidates from coast to coast - even Democrats who share her views on limited government - and build a right-of-center coalition. - AP
Miss. bus crash kills 1, injures 23
MERIDIAN, Miss. - A bus carrying a church youth group from Louisiana to Georgia flipped yesterday on Interstate 20 in Mississippi, killing one person and injuring 23 others, a coroner said.
The bus, from First Baptist Church in Shreveport, La., overturned three times around 10:20 a.m. near Meridian, Lauderdale County Coroner Clayton Cobler 3d said.
At least two passengers were trapped beneath the bus. A group of National Guard soldiers on the highway at the time helped extricate the injured. Three people were airlifted to a medical center in Jackson and the others were taken to three hospitals in Meridian. - AP
Elsewhere:
California's top lawmakers yesterday focused on cost-saving reforms to social welfare programs and how deeply to cut state services as they dove into the task of closing the state's $26 billion deficit. Lawmakers on both sides warned that severe cuts to many state programs were unavoidable.