IRS Warns About Fake ‘Amended Tax Return’ Scams Against Elderly

ERIE, Pa. (CBS) - The Internal Revenue Service is issuing a warning about a tax scam aimed at senior citizens.

IRS spokesman David Stewart says scam artists operating in the southeastern part of the US recently struck in northwestern Pennsylvania, and are believed to be on the move again — possibly headed this way.

Stewart says the bogus accountants offer to set up operations in churches or senior centers, and come equipped with official IRS forms, posters and signs, and even their own business cards.

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Feds Bust Montco Doctor, Philadelphia Pharmacist For Dealing Pills

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A family physician and a pharmacist are among dozens of people arrested in connection with a 498-count indictment alleging drug dealing and health care fraud.

The way US attorney Zane Memeger tells it, this was an oxycodone “triple play” in which alleged drug dealer William Stukes lined up fake patients to go to the Montgomery County office of Dr. Norman Werther.

“These fake patients paid an office-visit fee,” explains Memeger. “Dr. Werther would then write prescriptions for these fake patients to obtain oxycodone-based drugs. Members of the Stukes drug trafficking organization would then drive the fake patients to various pharmacies to have their prescriptions filled.”

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Military killed Taliban who downed US helicopter

Military killed Taliban who downed US helicopter

A Marine carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Sgt. Adan Gonzales Jr. Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to the Department of Defense, Gonzales, 28, of Bakersfield, Calif., died Aug. 7, 2011 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- International forces killed the Taliban insurgents responsible for shooting down a U.S. helicopter and killing 38 U.S. and Afghan forces over the weekend, but they are still seeking the top insurgent leader they were going after in Saturday's mission, the top American commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday.

Marine Corps Gen. John Allen told a Pentagon news conference that an F-16 airstrike Monday took out fewer than 10 insurgents involved in the attack on the Chinook helicopter.

In a separate statement Wednesday, the military said the Monday strike killed Taliban leader Mullah Mohibullah and the insurgent who fired the rocket-propelled grenade at the helicopter. The military said intelligence gained on the ground provided a high degree of confidence that the insurgent who fired the grenade was the person killed. It did not provide further details.

Allen defended the decision to send in the Chinook loaded with special operations forces to pursue insurgents escaping from the weekend firefight with Army Rangers in a dangerous region of Wardak province of eastern Afghanistan.

"We've run more than a couple of thousand of these night operations over the last year, and this is the only occasion where this has occurred," said Allen. "The fact that we lost this aircraft is not ... a decision point as to whether we'll use this aircraft in the future. It's not uncommon at all to use this aircraft on our special missions."

While officials believe the helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade, Allen said the military's investigation into the crash will also review whether small arms fire or other causes contributed to the crash.

Questions remain about why the troops were called in to aid other U.S. combatants engaged in a firefight, what they knew about the situation on the ground and what role the flight path or altitude may have played in the disastrous crash.

Allen and other officials would not discuss the details of the probe, but it no doubt will include a look at the insurgent threat and the instructions given to the special operations team that crowded into a big Chinook helicopter as it raced to assist other U.S. forces.

According to officials, the team included 17 SEALs, five Navy special operations troops who support the SEALs, three Air Force airmen, a five-member Army air crew and a military dog, along with seven Afghan commandos and an Afghan interpreter.

Gen. James Mattis, head of U.S. Central Command, appointed Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Colt to lead the investigation. Colt is deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky.

The investigation comes as the remains of the troops killed in the crash were returned Tuesday in an operation shrouded in secrecy by a Defense Department that has refused so far to release the names of the fallen and denied media coverage of the arrival at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Two C-17 aircraft carrying the remains were met by President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Joint Chiefs chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, and a number of other military leaders.

The investigation will review a number of basic crash questions, which will probably rule out such factors as the weather, terrain and mechanical issues, since military officials believe the helicopter was shot down. It also will look at the flight of the Chinook as it moved into the fighting zone. Chinooks are heavy cargo helicopters that do not have the agility of smaller, more maneuverable aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said Wednesday that it will release the names of the troops killed - after days of debate and delay.

The release had been in question because the dead were mostly covert special operations forces from the Navy and Air Force. Though some of their names had been made public by loved ones, the Special Operations Command asked the Pentagon not to release them, arguing it was a security risk.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said Wednesday Defense Secretary Leon Panetta considered the issue and decided to release the names. Lapan said the names should be made public within 24 hours.

Obama and other officials at Dover boarded the two C-17 aircraft to pay tribute to the fallen troops and then watched as 30 transfer cases draped in American flags and eight draped in Afghan flags were taken off the planes. There were several additional transfer cases on the planes, also carrying unidentified remains from the crash.

President Obama Honors Fallen Troops At Dover Air Force Base

DOVER (CBS) – President Barack Obama flew on Marine One to Dover Air Force Base today to honor the U.S. forces killed over the weekend in Afghanistan. Two transport planes brought their remains home Tuesday morning.

The president made the private trip to pay tribute to the 30 Americans killed Saturday when their helicopter was shot down by insurgents using a rocket-propelled grenade—the deadliest single loss for U.S. since the start of the war.

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Group Of Teens Randomly Attack Man On Kelly Drive

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – On the same weekend that two men were beaten by violent mobs of teenagers in Center City spurring a police crackdown, another man now says he was randomly attacked on Kelly Drive.

Christopher Dean says he was biking along the drive around 6 p.m. on Sunday evening, July 31. It was a sunny day and plenty of people were out. He was between Boathouse Row and the Girard Avenue bridge heading west, he says, when he saw a group of four or five teenage boys standing by the side of the path. Suddenly, one of them stepped out toward his bicycle and punched him in the face.

Dean was hit so hard, he says he blacked out. Dean says the teens appeared to be between 15 and 18.

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6 Republican senators face recall in Wisconsin

6 Republican senators face recall in Wisconsin

CORRECTS SECOND SENTENCE TO SAY ELECTION IS TARGETING KAPANKE, NOT BUERGER -- FILE - In this April 1, 2011 file photo, David Buerger, an elections specialist with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, inspects recall petitions filed against Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-LaCrosse, in his Madison, Wis. office. Tuesday's election targeting Kapanke and five other Republicans could swing majority control of the state Senate to the Democrats, giving them the power to block the GOP agenda.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Six Wisconsin senators fought Tuesday to keep their jobs in a recall election, trying to beat back Democratic challengers who stoked a political backlash against Republican Gov. Scott Walker for his efforts to strip public employees of most union rights.

Fueled by millions of dollars from national labor groups, the attempt to remove GOP incumbents could shift control of the Wisconsin Senate to Democrats and provide a new gauge of the public mood less than a year after Republicans made sweeping gains in this state and many others.

Turnout was strong in the morning and steady in the afternoon in communities like Whitefish Bay, Menomonee Falls and Shorewood, where Sen. Alberta Darling was one of six Republicans trying to hold onto her seat.

Tony Spencer, a 36-year-old laid-off carpenter from Shorewood, voted for Darling's challenger, Democratic state Rep. Sandy Pasch.

"I'm in a private union, so they haven't necessarily come after me," Spencer said. "But everybody should have the right to be in a union. I came out to stop all the union-bashing stuff."

John Gill, 45, of Menomonee Falls, voted for Darling and questioned the opposition's anti-GOP rhetoric, which went far beyond collective bargaining.

"This was all supposed to be about the workers' rights, so to speak. But that has not been brought up one time. It's all been misleading, the attack ads, things like that," Gill said. "The one reason they started this recall, they didn't bring up once."

Besides the six Republicans on Tuesday's ballot, two Democratic incumbents face recalls next week. A third Democrat survived a recall attempt last month.

Republicans hold a 19-14 advantage in the Senate, so Democrats need to win five of the eight elections to take control.

If the Democrats win only one or two on Tuesday, they cannot take control. If they win three or four, control hinges on the outcome of next week's recalls. If they win at least five, they will take control of the Senate no matter what happens next week.

Until this year, there had been only 20 attempts nationally since 1913 to recall state lawmakers from office. Just 13 of them were successful.

The stakes were clearly much larger than control of the Senate. The recall election will also help determine whether the Republican revolution led by Walker regains momentum or suffers a major setback. Both parties also were testing messages ahead of the 2012 presidential race, in which Wisconsin was expected to be an important swing state.

Republican and Democratic strategists were leery of reading too much into the results heading into next year's campaign.

The recall effort helped stir passions in the Democratic base "in ways we might never have been able to achieve on our own," said Roy Temple, a Democratic political consultant with extensive experience in the Midwest. But, he said, that doesn't mean the recall can offer much more than hints about broader trends.

"Wisconsin was a swing state before, and it will be after," Temple said. "Maybe (the recall) is a sign of strong intensity, and that's not meaningless, but it's not predictive."

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said the party was "all in" to win the races. A coalition of national unions spent millions on attack ads and other campaign activity to wrest seats from the Republicans. Conservative groups also spent millions.

It all amounted to a summer unlike any other in Wisconsin. More than $31 million was estimated to have been spent on the nine recall efforts, rivaling the $37 million spent on last year's governor's race.

"I feel that a lot of people didn't get their way, threw a crybaby fit and decided to have a recall. The majority of Wisconsin already voted," said 43-year-old Ross Birkigt of Menomonee Falls. "It's a shame that all of sudden this happens and that a lot of special-interest money gets poured into it. I'm kind getting sick of seeing this stuff on TV every single minute.

Republicans won control of both houses of the Legislature and the governor's office in the 2010 election just nine months ago.

The Legislature that had been approving Republican-backed bills in rapid succession and with great ease will likely grind to a halt if Democrats win back the Senate. They would then be able to block anything from passage without a bipartisan agreement.

Any newly elected senator will take office within 15 days, a brief window in which Republican Senate leaders could call a lame-duck session if they are about to lose control.

The five other Republican incumbents facing recalls on Tuesday are Sens. Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac, Luther Olsen of Ripon, Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls, Rob Cowles of Allouez and Dan Kapanke of La Crosse.

The races next Tuesday target Sens. Bob Wirch of Pleasant Prairie and Jim Holperin of Conover.

Phillies Finally Stopped, Lose To Giants

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tim Lincecum stayed sharp until getting hit in the right knee by Chase Utley’s bounding bat and the San Francisco Giants ended Philadelphia’s season-high nine-game winning streak, tagging Roy Oswalt and beating the Phillies 3-1 on Sunday.

Jeff Keppinger had four hits as the Giants spoiled Oswalt’s return from the disabled list. San Francisco avoided a four-game sweep in a matchup of NL division leaders.

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Local Workers Picket Outside Verizon Building In Chinatown

Verizon workers strike outside the Verizon building on Race Street.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Hundreds of union employees blocked a portion of Race Street outside the Verizon building this morning, demanding a new labor agreement.

The collective bargaining agreement between Verizon and its unionized workers expired Saturday at midnight. Now, 45,000 Verizon employees are on strike after negotiations over a new union contract stalled.

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Nutter Sets 9 PM Weekend Curfew For Minors In Center City, University City

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Mayor Michael Nutter today announced a tighter weekend curfew in the Center City and University City regions of the city, as he continues grappling with the threat of “flash mobs” in Philadelphia.

Nutter today described those engaging in flash mob rampages as “a tiny minority of ignorant, reckless fools.”

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NAACP Gets City Council To Hold 2 Additional Hearings On Philadelphia Redistricting

(Philadelphia NAACP president Jerome Mondesire, in 2010 file photo.)

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - After threat of a lawsuit by the local branch of the NAACP, Philadelphia City Council has agreed to expand the number of hearings into how the city will be redistricted in accordance with the latest census.

Jerry Mondesire, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP, says he was dismayed to learn that there would only be one redistricting hearing — and it would be held in Council chambers .

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Eagles WR DeSean Jackson Ends Holdout, Reports To Camp

(DeSean Jackson, number 10, at this afternoon’s walkthrough at Eagles training camp. Credit: Ed Benkin)

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (CBS) — Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson has ended his holdout and reported to training camp.

Jackson arrived at Lehigh University this morning and took his team physical when he arrived at the team’s facilities.

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Lionsgate announces 'Dirty Dancing' remake

Lionsgate announces 'Dirty Dancing' remake

FILE - In this image provided by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, Patrick Swayze, portraying Johnny Castle, and Jennifer Grey, portraying Baby Houseman, are shown in a scene from the film, "Dirty Dancing." Lionsgate is set to produce a remake of the film directed by Kenny Ortega.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Dirty Dancing" is coming back to the big screen.

Lionsgate says it is remaking the 1987 film that starred Jennifer Grey as a naive dance student and Patrick Swayze as her teacher and lover.

The studio said Monday that Kenny Ortega, who choreographed the original film, will direct the remake.

Ortega says he is eager to discover and cast "the next breakout triple-threats" to define dancing for a generation, the way Swayze did in the original "Dirty Dancing."

Family, friends remember fallen fighters as heroes

Family, friends remember fallen fighters as heroes

This undated family photo shows Sgt. Patrick Hamburger, 30, of Grand Island, Neb. Hamburger was among 30 Americans killed when a U.S. military helicopter was shot down Friday, Aug. 5, 2011. Military officials have not released the names of those killed, but Hamburger's family confirmed his death.

Just three months after the nation lauded the anonymous Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden, it is getting to know in poignant detail about their colleagues who died aboard a downed helicopter in Afghanistan.

They came to the special forces from far-flung corners of the country - some of them motivated by the 9/11 attacks that bin Laden masterminded. They were intensely patriotic and talented young men with a love of physical challenges and a passion for the high-risk job they chose.

Brian Bill, for example, had seemingly boundless ambitions, according to those who knew him as a high school student-athlete in Stamford, Conn.

A skier, mountaineer, pilot and triathlete, he hoped to complete graduate school after his military service and then become an astronaut.

"He loved life; he loved a challenge; and he was passionate about being a SEAL," his family said in a statement Monday.

Aaron Vaughn, a 30-year-old father of two from Virginia Beach, Va., met his wife, Kimberly, when she was a Washington Redskins cheerleader on a USO tour in Guam. Vaughn had aspired to a military career since childhood and told his parents after 9/11 that he wanted to become a SEAL.

"He felt, and so did the other members of his team, that the very existence of our republic is at stake," his father, Billy Vaughn, told NBC's "Today." "Because of that, Aaron was willing to give his life."

Jason Workman, 32, of Blanding, Utah, also cited 9/11 as his motive for aspiring to join the special forces, childhood friend Tate Bennett told The Deseret News. He completed his Mormon mission to Brazil and Philadelphia, attended college, then joined the Navy with the specific goal of becoming a SEAL.

"Not making it just wasn't an option," Bennett said of his friend, who leaves behind a wife and 21-month-old son.

Workman, Vaughn, Bill and 19 other SEALS were among 30 Americans and eight Afghans killed Saturday when a rocket-propelled grenade fired by a Taliban insurgent downed their Chinook helicopter en route to a combat mission. All but two of the SEALs were from SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed bin Laden, although military officials said none of the crash victims was on that mission in Pakistan against the al-Qaida leader.

The crash was a somber counterpoint to the national jubilation that greeted news of bin Laden's death. Yet families and friends of the SEALs killed aboard the Chinook spoke of the dedication and tight-knit camaraderie that tided them through all sorts of ups and downs.

Jon Tumilson, 35, of Rockford, Iowa, was remembered as a feisty high school wrestler who later competed in marathons and triathlons as part of his preparation for a special forces career.

"He was willing to do whatever it took. He wanted to be there," neighbor Mark Biggs told the Mason City Globe Gazette. "That was his second family."

Former SEAL Howard Wasdin, author of the book "SEAL Team 6," said on CBS's "The Early Show" that elected officials in Washington could take a lesson from the fallen SEALs.

"We got our politicians pointing the fingers about who's to blame for our credit rating, and in the meantime, you've got the best and the brightest out there giving their lives," he said. "Our leaders need to take a play from the playback of the Navy SEALS: Be a team and quit all the infighting."

Here are the stories of some of the fallen:

---(equals)

A severe arm injury during fighting in Fallujah in 2004 didn't keep Matthew Mason off the Iraq War battlefield. Nor did it dull the competitive fire of the avid runner and former high school athlete from outside Kansas City.

Within five months of losing part of his left arm, absorbing shrapnel and suffering a collapsed lung, Mason competed in a triathlon. He soon returned to his SEAL unit.

"He could have gotten out of combat," said family friend Elizabeth Frogge. "He just insisted on going back."

Mason, the father of two toddler sons, grew up in Holt, Mo., and played football and baseball at Kearney High School. He graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 1998. His wife, who is expecting their third child - another boy - also attended Northwest Missouri.

Mason returned to Missouri in May to compete in a Kansas City triathlon, and took his family to Walt Disney World for the first time this summer, Frogge said.

"He loved doing what he did," she said. "He was the type of guy who thought he was invincible."

---(equals)

Jason Workman had his sights set on becoming a SEAL as a young teenager. He was about 14 when his older brother graduated from West Point. That's when he knew he wanted to be an elite soldier, friend Tate Bennett told The Deseret News. Then came the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and Workman's calling grew even stronger.

"He didn't become a Navy SEAL by chance," Bennett said. "He knew that's what he wanted at a young age and made it happen."

After returning from his Mormon mission, Bennett said, Workman went to Southern Utah University and later joined the Navy.

Across his small hometown of Blanding in southern Utah, flags were flown at half-staff as residents mourned the loss of one of their own.

Even as a SEAL, Workman came home periodically. During his last trip, he led training sessions with local law enforcement, sharing his military skills, and planned to provide more training during a trip home this fall, Mayor Toni Turk told the Salt Lake City Tribune.

---(equals)

Jon Tumilson got an early start on his preparation to join the SEALS. He had been a wrestler in high school and competed in marathons and triathlons.

Neighbors remembered the Rockford, Iowa, man as a warrior committed to the SEALs, no matter the pain he endured in training or the risks he ran on each mission.

"When he did something, he put his all into it," Jan Stowe, a neighbor of the Tumilsons for more than 30 years, told the Des Moines Register.

Tumilson, who was 35 when he died, "was going to be a Navy SEAL since I can't remember when," Stowe said. "He's like a hero to everyone here."

Another neighbor, Mark Biggs, said people were shocked by his death.

"You just never thought it would happen to Jon," Biggs told the Mason City Globe Gazette. "He's done so many dangerous things."

Friend Justin Schriever remembered Tumilson as "a die-hard at everything. He'd always go the extra mile on everything. He wouldn't let anything stop him from accomplishing something."

---

Brian Bill had plans for when he finished his military service. He wanted to return to graduate school and hoped one day to become an astronaut.

For those who knew him, such lofty goals were not out of reach.

"He set his standards high. He was that kind of person," Kimberly Hess, a friend who graduated with him in 2001 from Vermont's Norwich University, told The Advocate newspaper. "He was remarkably gifted and very thoughtful. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for you no matter the time or day."

Diane Warzoha, who had Bill as a student at Trinity Catholic High School in Stamford, said it was no surprise that he fulfilled his goal of joining the SEALs.

"Brian just wanted to do his best, to protect other people ... Challenge did not deter him, ever."

---

Three of the crew members aboard the downed Chinook were from the same Army reserve unit - Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment - based at New Century AirCenter in Gardner, Kan.

Spc. Spencer Duncan, 21, of Olathe, Kan., had written to friends about how much he loved working as a door gunner on a Chinook helicopter. But The Kansas City Star reported that he also told friends that he missed Kansas sunsets and lying in a truck bed listening to the radio and cuddling with his sweetie.

He joined the military in 2008 and had been in Afghanistan since late May.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bryan Nichols, 31, a pilot from Kansas City, Mo., was eager to get back to flying after a stint handling paperwork as a unit administrator. So when the word went out that people were needed to train for a mobilization, Nichols volunteered.

Lt. Col. Richard Sherman, former commander of Nichols' unit, said one of his favorite memories is flying a pace car with Nichols to the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.

"My happiest and saddest memories are now tied to him," said Sherman, who was in command and working as an instructional pilot when Nichols joined his unit.

"He had no enemies. He was one everyone wanted to be around. You just liked flying with him because you knew he was going to improve as a young pilot and get better every time you flew with him."

Specialist Alexander Bennett, 23, couldn't wait to deploy again after returning from spending a year in Iraq in 2009. So the reservist moved on his own from the Tacoma, Wash., area to Overland Park, Kan., to join Bravo Company.

"He wanted to be part of our unit when it deployed," said Sherman. "He was a typical young kid and liked to go out and have a good time with the guys."

---(equals)

Patrick Hamburger planned to propose to his girlfriend, but had a job to do first: a mission in Afghanistan.

The 30-year-old sergeant from Grand Island, Neb., joined the Nebraska National Guard when he was a senior at Lincoln Southeast High School, but this was his first deployment, his brother Chris Hamburger told The Associated Press.

"He didn't have to go, and he wanted to go because his group was getting deployed. He wanted to be there for them. That's him for you," Chris Hamburger said, adding that Patrick always looked out for his two younger brothers and friends.

He was also the kind of guy who helped his girlfriend raise her 13-year-old daughter from another relationship, as well as the couple's own 2-year-old daughter, and planned to propose marriage when he got home, Chris Hamburger said.

Patrick Hamburger had been in Afghanistan less than two weeks and had arrived at Forward Operating Base Shank a few days before climbing aboard the helicopter to rush to the aid of an Army Ranger unit under fire from insurgents.

"It doesn't come as a total surprise that he was trying to help people and that's how it all ended up happening," Chris Hamburger said.

---

If someone was sad, Michael Strange tried to make them smile. He loved snowboarding, surfing, scuba diving, running, and shooting guns on the range.

"He loved his friends, his family, his country; he loved making people laugh. He was one of a kind," Strange's brother, Charles Strange III, said outside the family's Philadelphia home, where American flags were planted throughout the neighborhood.

Strange, 25, decided to join the military when he was still in high school, and had been in the Navy for about six years, first stationed in Hawaii and for the last two in Virginia Beach, where he became a SEAL about two years ago, his mother, Elizabeth Strange, told The Associated Press.

But he always told his family not to worry.

"He wasn't supposed to die this young. He was supposed to be safe," Elizabeth Strange said. "And he told me that, and I believed him. I shouldn't have believed him because I know better. He would say `Mom, don't be ridiculous and worry so much. I'm safe.'"

Charles Strange said his brother loved the SEALS, especially "the competitiveness, getting in shape and running and swimming and all of that."

He also had two sisters and recently became an uncle. The family last saw him in June, when he came for a weeklong visit for his birthday, his mother said. He was supposed to be back for Thanksgiving.

"It was going to be such a good time," his mother said.

----

If Elizabeth Newlun wanted to have a serious conversation with her son, John Brown, she had to shoot baskets with him.

"There's nothing athletic about me, but I realized that you have to get into other people's comfort zone to get information," said Newlun, of Rogers, Ark., explaining that her son, an Air Force technical sergeant, was a "gentle giant" who "just loved anything physical, anything athletic."

Newlun said her son played football and basketball in high school and went to John Brown University on a swimming scholarship. He had wanted to go into the medical field and become a nurse anesthetist, but decided to join the military after seeing a video of a special tactical unit, she said.

The airman was a paramedic and ready to attend to the medical needs of anyone who was rescued, his mother said.

Arkansas state Rep. Jon Woods went to high school with Brown in Siloam Springs and remembered playing basketball and watching "Saturday Night Live" on the weekends.

"When you think of what the ideal model of a soldier would be, he would be it," said Woods. "He could run all day."

---

Aaron Carson Vaughn was a man of deep faith, insisting to his family that he didn't fear his job as a Navy SEAL "because he knew where he was going" when he died.

"Aaron was a Christian and he's with Jesus today," Geneva Vaughn of Union City, Tenn., told The Associated Press on Saturday. "He told us when we saw him last November that he wasn't afraid ... he said, `Granny, don't worry about me.'"

"He was a tough warrior, but he was a gentle man."

Geneva Vaughn said her grandson, 30, joined the SEALS straight out of boot camp and was already a decorated fighter when he was asked by the Navy to return stateside to become an instructor. But he applied to SEAL Team 6 after two years, earning his way onto the squad in 2010.

He asked the military to return him to combat and shipped out just six weeks before he was killed, Vaughn said.

"He was doing what he loved to do and he was a true warrior," Geneva Vaughn said.

Aaron Vaughn leaves behind his wife, Kimberly, and two children, 2-year-old son Reagan and 2-month-old daughter Chamberlyn.

"They will take away his love for Christ. They will take his dream and his love for the country, and they will know what an amazing man he is," Kimberly said about the children in an interview on NBC's "Today" show Monday.

---

Robert James Reeves and Jonas Kelsall had been childhood friends in Shreveport, La., where they played soccer together and graduated from Caddo Magnet High School, Kelsall's father, John, told The Times of Shreveport and KLSA-TV.

Both joined the military after graduation, though the 32-year-old Reeves spent a year at Louisiana State University first, his father, Jim Reeves, told the newspaper.

Reeves became a SEAL in 1999 and served on SEAL Team 6, his father said. During his many deployments, he earned four Bronze Stars and other honors.

Kelsall, 33, was one of the first members of SEAL Team 7, his father said.

He trained in San Diego and met his wife of three years, Victoria, when he was attending the University of Texas out of Basic Underwater Demolition training, his father said.

Reeves placed several American flags outside his home and his neighbors joined in, many decorating their homes in red, white and blue in support of the families.

---

When he was a Maui High School football player, no one could match Kraig Vickers' intensity on the field.

But off the field? "You couldn't find a nicer guy," his former coach remembers.

"He played middle linebacker, so he was really smart, the quarterback of the defense; and when he put on his helmet, no one could match his intensity and aggressiveness," coach Curtis Lee told the Maui News.

Vickers, who would have turned 37 on Thursday, graduated from high school in 1992 and attended Evangel College in Missouri on a football scholarship. "He decided college wasn't for him," and returned home, his father, Robert Vickers, said. After stints in tree trimming and working as a hotel security guard, he became a certified scuba diver and decided to join the Navy in 1996.

He lived in Virginia Beach, Va., with his wife Nani, who is seven months' pregnant with their third child. Robert Vickers said she is making plans to return to Hawaii because she only has a small window of time before doctors won't allow her to fly.

"He wanted to be buried near the ocean," his father said, adding that the family is awaiting details on when the body will arrive on Maui.

Stocks plunge _ Dow posts 6th-biggest point loss

Stocks plunge _ Dow posts 6th-biggest point loss

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, Aug. 8, 2011 in New York.

The stock market buckled Monday under the weight of a crisis in Europe and danger of recession at home. Reeling from a downgrade of American debt, the Dow Jones industrials plunged 634 points.

It was the worst day for the market since the financial crisis in the fall of 2008 and extended Wall Street's sudden, sharp decline. Stocks have lost 15 percent of their value in just two and a half weeks.

Monday was the first trading day since Standard and Poor's downgraded the United States' risk-free credit rating, and the selling started at the opening bell. The Dow dropped 250 points in minutes. For the rest of the day, investors looked for safer places for their money. With few buyers left for stocks, the market could only drift lower.

The Dow finished the day down 5.5 percent. The point decline was the worst since Dec. 1, 2008, and the sixth-steepest ever. The average ended at 10,809.85, its first close under 11,000 since November.

In a bit of irony following the S&P downgrade, investors decided U.S. debt was one of the safest places to be. They also sought refuge in gold, which set a record price.

"The S&P downgrade of U.S. government debt is the least of our problems," said economist Scott Brown at Raymond James & Associates. "The bigger worry is subpar economic growth and the threat of a new recession."

Economists at Goldman Sachs peg the chances of another recession at one in three, most likely in the next six to nine months. The threat was barely talked about earlier this summer.

The U.S. economy grew at a feeble 0.8 percent annual pace the first half of 2011, its slowest since the end of the Great Recession in June 2009. Manufacturing and consumer spending have slowed dramatically.

Oil prices plunged 6 percent to the lowest price of the year Monday - $81.31 a barrel. Investors predict a weakening economy means that consumers and businesses will buy less gasoline.

The turmoil in the U.S. markets was the end of a daylong rout that swept the world. Stocks lost 4 percent in South Korea and 2 percent in Japan, then 5 percent in Germany and 4 percent in France.

In the U.S., stocks fell even though Moody's, another major credit rating agency, stood by its top rating of Aaa for the United States. It said it could downgrade the U.S. if it did not cut its deficit, "but it is early to conclude that such measures will not be forthcoming."

Financial markets were not comforted by an afternoon statement by President Barack Obama, who said Washington needs more "common sense and compromise" to tame its debt.

"Markets will rise and fall," he said. "But this is the United States of America. No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-A country."

Across the Atlantic, policymakers struggled to contain a debt crisis of their own. The threat of default has spread from relatively small countries like Greece and Portugal to bigger ones - Italy and Spain.

If those countries failed to meet their debt payments, Italian and Spanish banks would absorb losses on their holdings of their countries' government bonds.

Then the pain could spread outward - to foreign banks that made loans to Spanish or Italian banks and beyond.

The European Central Bank stepped in Monday, buying billions of euros' worth of Italian and Spanish bonds to drive down dangerously high interest rates. But the move does nothing to address the underlying problem: huge Italian and Spanish debts that could require a bailout and strain the resources of the European Union.

S&P added to the anxieties Friday night by downgrading long-term U.S. government debt - Treasury securities with maturities of more than a year - by one notch, from AAA to AA+.

Then on Monday, it downgraded the credit ratings of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other government agencies that rely on the creditworthiness of the federal government.

In withdrawing the top credit rating, S&P blamed political paralysis in Washington. Republicans and Democrats agree on the need to reduce massive annual budget deficits that have left the United States holding $14.3 trillion in debt. But they can't agree how to do it. Republicans refuse to raise tax revenues, and Democrats resist cuts to social programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

But in their first opportunity to buy long-term Treasurys after S&P declared them riskier, investors paid a premium for them. The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds fell to 2.34 percent Monday from 2.56 percent Friday as investors bid prices up.

"What you're seeing amply demonstrated today is that, should there be any question about the stability of the global economic backdrop, the U.S. dollar rises in value, and Treasurys are still the pre-eminent flight-to-quality security in the world markets," said Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist with Prudential Fixed Income.

The drop in Treasury yields signals that investors are more worried about slowing growth than they are about the credit risk posed by the U.S. government. Investors showed Monday that nothing has shaken their confidence that the U.S. will pay its creditors.

Many investors flee to Treasurys when there are signs economic growth is deteriorating. Steven Major, a strategist at HSBC Bank, said 10-year yields could drop as low as 2 percent if the U.S. stumbles back into recession. It fell as low as 2.06 percent during the financial crisis in 2008.

S&P's decision does pose one risk, said Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs' chief economist: It could force the U.S. government to cut spending and reduce its budget deficit faster than it would otherwise.

Hatzius is already forecasting that cuts in government spending could reduce U.S. growth by 1 percentage point in 2012. Overall, the U.S. economy is likely to grow a meager 2 percent to 2.5 percent through next year, Hatzius said in a conference call Monday.

But the pressure on policymakers to reduce government deficits could lead to additional steps that will slow growth. For example, the White House and Congress could allow a cut in Social Security taxes to expire at the end of this year, as scheduled. That could subtract another one-half percentage point from the economy's growth rate, Hatzius said, and raise the risk of a recession.

Government spending cuts, especially at the state and local level, are already a drag on economic growth. From April through June, public cuts lowered economic growth, which was running at a weak 1.3 percent annual rate, by 0.23 percentage points.

Since the federal government seems unlikely to do much to stimulate the economy, attention is turning again to the Federal Reserve, which meets Tuesday.

Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at Channel Capital Research, said the weakening economy and international turmoil mean the odds have "increased substantially" that the Fed will ultimately announce a new round of bond purchases designed to jolt the economy by pushing down long-term interest rates. The Fed ended a $600 billion bond-buying program in June.

"What's rocking the market is a growth scare," said Kathleen Gaffney, co-manager of the $20 billion Loomis Sayles bond fund.

She said the market is worried not about the downgrade but about how the U.S. and Europe will grow their way out of their debt problems.

"The gravity of the situation won't be dealt with until the market continues to riot to get their attention," she said.

Family, friends remember fallen fighters as heroes

Family, friends remember fallen fighters as heroes

This undated family photo shows Sgt. Patrick Hamburger, 30, of Grand Island, Neb. Hamburger was among 30 Americans killed when a U.S. military helicopter was shot down Friday, Aug. 5, 2011. Military officials have not released the names of those killed, but Hamburger's family confirmed his death.

One relied on his deep faith. Another was planning a marriage proposal. And yet another would shoot baskets with his mom when they had something serious to discuss.

But the brothers, fathers, sons and uncles who died when a U.S. military helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan all had something in common: a love of family and country, according to friends and family members. Those who knew them said the soldiers were aware of the dangers they faced but were dedicated to their mission - even if it meant giving their lives.

Here are the stories of some of the fallen:

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Patrick Hamburger planned to propose to his girlfriend, but had a job to do first: a mission in Afghanistan.

The 30-year-old sergeant from Grand Island, Neb., had joined the Nebraska National Guard when he was a senior at Lincoln High School but had never been deployed, his brother Chris Hamburger told The Associated Press on Sunday.

"He didn't have to go, and he wanted to go because his group was getting deployed. He wanted to be there for them. That's him for you," Chris Hamburger said, adding that Patrick always looked out for his two younger brothers and friends.

He was also the kind of guy who helped his girlfriend raise her 13-year-old daughter from another relationship as well as the couple's own 2-year-old daughter, and planned to propose marriage when he got home, Chris Hamburger said.

Patrick Hamburger had been in Afghanistan less than two weeks and had arrived at Forward Operating Base Shank a few days before climbing aboard the helicopter with U.S. Navy SEALs and other troops to rush to the aid of a U.S. Army Ranger unit under fire from insurgents.

"It doesn't come as a total surprise that he was trying to help people and that's how it all ended up happening," Chris Hamburger said.

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If someone was sad, Michael Strange tried to make them smile. He loved snowboarding, surfing, scuba diving, running, and shooting guns on the range.

"He loved his friends, his family, his country; he loved making people laugh. He was one of a kind," Strange's brother, Charles Strange III, 22, said Sunday outside the family's Philadelphia home, where American flags were planted throughout the neighborhood.

Strange, 25, decided to join the military when he was still in high school, and had been in the Navy for about six years, first stationed in Hawaii and for the last two in Virginia Beach, where he became a SEAL about two years ago, his mother, Elizabeth Strange, told The Associated Press.

But he always told his family not to worry.

"He wasn't supposed to die this young. He was supposed to be safe," Elizabeth Strange said. "And he told me that and I believed him. I shouldn't have believed him because I know better. He would say `Mom, don't be ridiculous and worry so much. I'm safe.'"

Charles Strange said his brother loved the SEALS, especially "the competitiveness, getting in shape and running and swimming and all of that."

He also had two sisters, 21-year-old Katelyn and 7-year-old Carly, and recently became an uncle. The family last saw him in June, when he came for a weeklong visit for his birthday, his mother said. He was supposed to be back for Thanksgiving.

"It was going to be such a good time," his mother said.

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If Elizabeth Newlun wanted to have a serious conversation with her son, John Brown, she had to shoot baskets with him.

"There's nothing athletic about me, but I realized that you have to get into other people's comfort zone to get information," said Newlun, of Rogers, Ark., explaining that her son, an Air Force technical sergeant, was a "gentle giant" who "just loved anything physical, anything athletic."

Newlun said her son played football and basketball in high school and went to John Brown University on a swimming scholarship. He had wanted to go into the medical field and become a nurse anesthetist, but decided to join the military after seeing a video of a special tactical unit, she said.

The airman was a paramedic and ready to attend to the medical needs of anyone who was rescued, his mother said.

Arkansas state Rep. Jon Woods went to high school with Brown in Siloam Springs and remembered playing basketball and watching "Saturday Night Live" on the weekends.

"When you think of what the ideal model of a soldier would be, he would be it," said Woods. "He could run all day."

---

Aaron Carson Vaughn was a man of deep faith, insisting to his family that he didn't fear his job as a Navy SEAL "because he knew where he was going" when he died.

"Aaron was a Christian and he's with Jesus today," Geneva Vaughn of Union City, Tenn., told The Associated Press on Saturday. "He told us when we saw him last November that he wasn't afraid ... he said, `Granny, don't worry about me.'"

"He was a tough warrior, but he was a gentle man."

Geneva Vaughn said her grandson, 30, joined the SEALS straight out of boot camp and was already a decorated fighter when he was asked by the Navy to return stateside to become an instructor. But he applied to SEAL Team 6 after two years, earning his way onto the squad in 2010.

He asked the military to return him to combat and shipped out just six weeks before he was killed, Vaughn said.

"He was doing what he loved to do and he was a true warrior," Geneva Vaughn said.

Aaron Vaughn leaves behind his wife, Kimberly, and two children, 2-year-old son Reagan and 2-month-old daughter Chamberlyn.

"They will take away his love for Christ. They will take his dream and his love for the country and they will know what an amazing man he is," Kimberly said about the children in an interview on NBC's "Today" show Monday.

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Robert James Reeves and Jonas Kelsall had been childhood friends in Shreveport, La., where they played soccer together and graduated from Caddo Magnet High School, Kelsall's father, John, told The Times of Shreveport and KLSA-TV.

Both joined the military after graduation, though the 32-year-old Reeves spent a year at Louisiana State University first, his father, Jim Reeves, told the newspaper.

Reeves became a SEAL in 1999 and served on SEAL Team 6, his father said. During his many deployments, he earned four Bronze Stars and other honors.

Kelsall, 33, was one of the first members of SEAL Team 7, his father said.

He trained in San Diego and met his wife of three years, Victoria, when he was attending the University of Texas out of Basic Underwater Demolition training, his father said.

Reeves placed several American flags outside his home and his neighbors joined in, many decorating their homes in red, white and blue in support of the families.

---

When he was a Maui High School football player, no one could match Kraig Vickers' intensity on the field.

But off the field? "You couldn't find a nicer guy," his former coach remembers.

"He played middle linebacker, so he was really smart, the quarterback of the defense; and when he put on his helmet, no one could match his intensity and aggressiveness," coach Curtis Lee told the Maui News (http://bit.ly/oaKsGp ).

Kraig Vickers had been a Navy Bomb Disposal Team member, his father, Robert Vickers, told the newspaper. He said his son would have turned 37 on Thursday before declining further comment on his death.

Kraig Vickers graduated high school in 1992.

He lived in Virginia Beach, Va., with his wife, Nani, who was pregnant, and their three children, his friend from childhood, Michael Labuanan, told the newspaper.

"I gravitated towards Kraig because of his easygoing personality and the drive to become the best person that he could be," said Labuanan in an email.

U.S. Rep Mazie Hirono released a statement Sunday, extending her "gratitude to Kraig Vickers for his loyal service to our country."

Police: 8 killed in Ohio, gunman among dead

Police: 8 killed in Ohio, gunman among dead

A Fairlawn, Ohio, policeman maintains traffic around a police barrier near a multiple death shooting in Copley, Ohio, Sunday, Aug. 7. 2011. A family argument in the Akron suburb ended in the shooting deaths of eight people in two places, including an 11-year-old, and two more people were wounded, authorities said Sunday

COPLEY, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio man apparently angry with his girlfriend gunned down two people outside a home and two more in a car Sunday morning, then chased down another victim in a shooting rampage that left eight dead, including the gunman, who was shot by police, authorities and witnesses said.

Two others were wounded. A child was among those shot, witnesses said, though police wouldn't confirm that. The gunman killed seven people in three places and was shot elsewhere, Copley police Chief Michael Mier said.

A neighbor, Gilbert Elie, was getting ready for church when he heard gunshots. He went outside and found a woman in a driveway who'd been shot and a man shot near a garage, and a woman and girl in a vehicle who were wounded, he told The Associated Press. Then a woman came out of the house next door and tried to talk to Elie, he said, but her boyfriend followed and shot her. Elie ran for safety behind a truck and didn't see what happened next.

The names and ages of the victims and the gunman weren't being released until police could tell family members, some of whom are out of state, said Copley police Sgt. Eric Goodwin.

The son of one victim said a child was among those shot and that the argument started between the gunman and his girlfriend, according to neighbor Kim Dietz. The gunman chased the son, who escaped by wading through a swamp and made his way to Dietz's home, she told the Plain-Dealer of Cleveland.

Goodwin did not know the conditions of the wounded. Investigators were "still putting things together" as they work the crime scenes, he said.

He gave no more details, including how the shooter and victims were related, their names or what led to the argument.

"That's still under investigation," he said.

Jeff Kirby of nearby Norton said he was visiting his mother's home a block from the shootings around 10:30 a.m. when he heard gunfire - about 15 shots with several pauses between them.

Kirby, 53, said the last gunfire he heard occurred about the same time he heard sirens in the neighborhood.

The neighborhood remained blocked off by police Sunday.

Copley Township is a town of about 14,000 people outside Akron, about 40 miles south of Cleveland in northeast Ohio.

Dutch military joins Gay Pride parade for 1st time

Dutch military joins Gay Pride parade for 1st time

Lt. Dan Choi, second right, a discharged openly gay U.S. Army veteran who has been an outspoken critic of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy takes part in the Gay Pride canal parade in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Saturday Aug. 6, 2011. The Dutch Defense Ministry is sponsoring a boat in the annual festival for the first time this year, underscoring the long-standing policy of accepting of homosexuals in the military, starkly contrasting with the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy of the US military.

AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Embracing a policy of "Do Tell," the Dutch military joined Amsterdam's annual Gay Pride parade for the first time, with uniformed men and women saluting the crowds from a boat chugging through a historic city canal.

A balloon-festooned barge bearing the standards of the service branches and sponsored by the Defense Ministry sailed among about 80 other floats, with music blaring from most of them and dancers dressed in flamboyant costumes - or very little at all.

The parade, watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators lining the Prinsengracht canal, capped a weeklong festival of around 300 parties and events. It included the popular "Drag Queen Olympics" with contests like the stiletto race and the long-distance handbag toss.

U.S. and British activists sailed with Dutch generals and other senior officers - some gay and others showing solidarity - among some 80 military and ministry civilian personnel.

Unlike the U.S. military, gays have openly served in Dutch units since 1974, and for 25 years have had a department within the ministry that minds their interests, the Foundation for Homosexuals in the Armed Forces.

Still, gay servicemen say having their own presentation in the famed floating parade marked "a huge step forward" in a country already noted for sexual equality.

The foundation had been denied permission for several years to join the event, although in the last two years soldiers were allowed to participate in military dress on other boats. "The political leaders thought it was not appropriate to wear a uniform at this kind of parade," said army Maj. Peter Kees Hamstra, a foundation spokesman.

"This shows everyone that the climate is changing," he said.

Hamstra said 6 to 8 percent of the Dutch military are gay or lesbian - about the same as in the general population.

"It's so amazing to be here. This country got it right," said former U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi, who was discharged last year after violating the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Choi applied to re-enlist after President Barack Obama signed a law last month repealing the ban.

"I intend to go back to the Army, in whatever capacity they most need," he told The Associated Press. But he'd like to be in the Army Reserve so that he can continue developing his new role as a gay-rights activist.

A West Point graduate and fluent in Arabic, Choi served in Iraq as a translator before acknowledging in a television interview that he is gay.

Also invited was British naval officer Lt. Cmdr. Mandy McBain, a human resources specialist who as a closeted junior officer had to process the papers of soldiers being dismissed because of their sexuality. Britain lifted the ban on gays in the military in 2000.

Despite its reputation for sexual liberation, harassment of gays inside and outside the military exists, and may have increased in recent years with more clashes reported.

"There are some macho units" in the Dutch military, said Hamstra. Women also are excluded from some units.

But Choi said, "The Dutch have been leaders, and Americans look up to that," while the U.S. military remains saddled with discriminatory policies.

Even after the recent legislation, "people will still be treated unfairly in the military. They just cannot get fired for being gay," he said.

He faulted Obama for deleting nondiscrimination language to win passage of the bill.

"He's not seeing gay people as legitimate and a recognized minority," Choi said. Gay soldiers have no family benefits for partners, nor can they use normal channels to complain of harassment, he said.

Job worries surge as debt-limit issue recedes

Job worries surge as debt-limit issue recedes

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2011, file photo an electronic board displays trading activity on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York. Anger at the nation’s leaders for taking so long to strike a debt-ceiling deal has turned into high anxiety over jobs and the economy and fears of a new recession. Standard & Poor's downgrading of the nation's credit rating a notch for the first time ever only added to the tension.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Anger at the nation's leaders for taking so long to strike a debt-ceiling deal has turned into high anxiety over jobs and the economy amid growing fears of a new recession.

The news that credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the nation's credit rating a notch for the first time ever only added to the tension.

The darkening clouds come in what should have been a good week for President Barack Obama. After all, he and Republican leaders finally ended a months-long game of brinkmanship with a bipartisan agreement to raise the government's debt ceiling and to trim spending.

The deal kept the government from beginning to run out of cash last Tuesday, averting a first-ever U.S. default and a possible global financial meltdown.

And there was a relatively good jobs report on Friday.

But applause for the debt-limit deal or the increase in jobs never came.

In fact, stock markets around the world tumbled during the week as grim new economic figures suggested the U.S. recovery has stalled and as debt default tensions climbed in Europe.

Terms of the deal to extend the U.S. government's borrowing authority and trim federal spending contributed to investor angst. Many economists suggest the debt-limit measure could even wind up making economic problems worse if belt-tightening spending cuts coincide with a new recession.

And the Standard and Poor's downgrade late Friday cast new doubts on the value of the U.S. debt-limit deal. The credit rating agency said it was cutting the country's top AAA rating by one notch to AA-plus because the deficit reduction plan passed by Congress did not go far enough to stabilize the country's debt situation.

As to that downgrade, economists suggested it might not have much actual impact, noting that the credit ratings of Japan, Canada and Australia had also been downgraded in recent years with few economic consequences.

And in the past few days, investors have been fleeing stock and commodity markets for the perceived safety of U.S. Treasury bonds and bills.

That's a dramatic about face, since just a few days ago, global investors were worried that a U.S. default on its debt would end the longstanding status of Treasurys as the world's safest-haven investments.

"Investors have voted and are saying the U.S. is going to pay them," Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. Despite the S&P downgrade Friday night, "U.S. Treasurys are still the gold standard," he said.

Zandi noted that neither his parent organization, Moody's, nor Fitch, the other of the three major rating agencies, has downgraded U.S. debt.

"I don't think it (the S&P downgrade) is going to amount to a lot," said Peter Morici, a University of Maryland business economist. Still, Morici said, "The United States deserves to have this happen," because of its clumsy handling of economic policy.

Friday's jobs report - a net increase of 117,000 new jobs in July and an unemployment rate ticking down to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent in June - was better than expected by forecasters, but it did little to ease fears of a new recession. The jobless rate now has exceeded 9 percent in all but two months since the recession officially ended in June 2009.

Recent reports suggest the economy is slowing to a near-stall.

The U.S. gross domestic product grew at less than 1 percent in the first six months of 2011. Adding to the woes: Manufacturing has slowed and so has consumer spending. At such a sluggish pace, job creation can't even keep up with population growth. GDP growth needs to be above 3 percent to push down unemployment significantly.

After dropping more than 500 points on Thursday, the Dow industrials seesawed Friday, finally closing up 61 points, while other major U.S. stock indexes were down. And that was before the S&P downgrade.

Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University, suggested that the debt-limit issue is quickly receding into the background and becoming less relevant to consumers. "You can't eat a debt-limit extension," he said.

"I suspect that when members of Congress go back to their districts, people are going to come up to them and say, `My 401(k) has cratered. What are you doing about it?'" said Baker. And least for those who have jobs and 401(k)s.

While the public is clearly unhappy with leaders of both parties, the stalling recovery will likely hit Obama and his Democratic allies the hardest. As he prepares for next year's re-election race, the president clearly needs to be seen as doing more to help the economy and to create jobs.

"There's not a lot of precedent for an incumbent president getting re-elected in economic circumstances like this," said William A. Galston, who was President Bill Clinton's top domestic policy aide in 1993-95.

"People know the economy is bad. And there's no way even the most artful politician can convince them that it isn't," said Galston, now with the Brookings Institution. "And anybody that tries to convince them that things are getting better is going to get his head handed to him."

White House and Treasury officials reject the idea that a double-dip recession looms, insisting that the economy will continue to grow and create jobs, if slowly.

Even so, White House economist Austan Goolsbee told The Associated Press on his last day on the job Friday that "the focus has got to be on getting the growth rate up ... not arguing over things like the debt ceiling where it's just absolutism and dysfunction."

So for Obama these days, it's all jobs, jobs, jobs.

On Friday, he went to Washington's Navy Yard to announce a plan to spur the hiring of veterans. He visits a battery factory in Holland, Mich., on Thursday to talk about the economy, and plans a jobs-oriented bus tour of the Midwest from Aug. 15-17.

He has challenged Congress to act next month on stalled measures he claims will help the economy and job-creation, including extending the Social Security payroll tax break, investing in infrastructure and extending unemployment insurance.

Obama also made jobs the subjects of Saturday's weekly radio and online address.

After Friday's jobs report, Obama said his "singular focus" is now getting the unemployed back to work and helping families and communities recover "from the worse recession that any of us have ever seen."

Looking back at the debt-limit debate, Obama said the compromise was "important in terms of putting us on sounder fiscal footing," but he conceded that the "process was divisive. It was delayed."

A Pew Research Center survey found the debt-limit debate was viewed dimly throughout the country. According to Pew, 72 percent of poll respondents described the negotiations in negative terms, using words such as "disgusting," "ridiculous" and "stupid."

"Throughout the whole year, the public has been more concerned about the jobs situation and prices than they have been about the budget deficit. They want to understand what the government's going to do in that regard, and they haven't seen it," said Pew Associate Director Michael Dimock,

Many economists say the chances of a new recession have increased markedly.

Calling the economy "balanced on the edge," Harvard's Martin Feldstein, who was chairman of President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, puts chances of a new recession at 50 percent.

After S&P downgrade, WH says 'we must do better'

After S&P downgrade, WH says 'we must do better'

Sec. of Treasury Tim Geithner, left, partially blocked by his Secret Service agent, walks down the West Wing Colonnade of the White House towards the Oval Office to meet with President Barack Obama, Friday, Aug. 5, 2011 in Washington. Obama met with Geithner prior to his departure for the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's on Friday, Aug. 5, 2011 lowered the nation's AAA rating for the first time since granting it in 1917. The move came less than a week after a gridlocked Congress finally agreed to spending cuts that would reduce the debt by more than $2 trillion - a tumultuous process that contributed to convulsions in financial markets. The promised cuts were not enough to satisfy S&P.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After the first-ever downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating, the White House said on Saturday that President Barack Obama believes it's clear Washington "must do better" in tackling the deficit.

While Republicans and Democrats traded blame over Friday's move by Standard & Poor's to lower its AAA credit rating, a statement from White House press secretary Jay Carney was muted in tone and did not refer directly to the downgrade.

Administration officials privately called S&P's analysis flawed. But Obama himself refrained from comment as he spent the weekend at Camp David.

The move by the key credit agency reflected disappointment with Tuesday's pact hiking the U.S. borrowing limit, which called for roughly $2 trillion in deficit cuts over the next decade. It had previously called for cuts approaching $4 trillion.

In a statement Saturday, Carney called the hard-fought deal "an important step in the right direction." However, he said "the path to getting there took too long and was at times too divisive. We must do better to make clear our nation's will, capacity and commitment to work together to tackle our major fiscal and economic challenges."

Standard & Poor's cited "difficulties in bridging the gulf between political parties" as a major reason for the downgrade to AA+, the next level down from AAA. The rating agency has essentially lost faith in Washington's ability to work together to address its debt.

The downgrade, hours after markets closed on Friday, is a first for the United States since it was granted an AAA rating in 1917. S&P warned about a downgrade as far back as April. Its decision came just four days after fractious debate over raising the nation's debt ceiling ended in a compromise that would reduce the country's debt by more than $2 trillion. S&P said Friday the cuts did not go far enough.

Both political parties used S&P's report to buffet their policy cases and attack the other side.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he hoped the downgrade served as a wake-up call to the Democratic Party.

"It is my hope this wake-up call will convince Washington Democrats that they can no longer afford to tinker around the edges of our long-term debt problem," Boehner said in a statement. "As S&P noted, reforming and preserving our entitlement programs is the key to long-term fiscal sustainability."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., while not calling out Republicans by name, said S&P's action showed that Democrats' preferred policy approach - a mix of raising taxes and budget cuts - was the correct way to move forward.

"The action by S&P reaffirms the need for a balanced approach to deficit reduction that combines spending cuts with revenue-raising measures like closing taxpayer-funded giveaways to billionaires, oil companies and corporate jet owners," Reid said.

At least one senator, Republican Mark Kirk of Illinois, called for the president to bring Congress back from its August recess to try and address the issues raised by S&P's report.

The debt-limit deal called for a nearly $1 trillion down payment on deficit cutting, and instructed a special congressional committee to draw up a blueprint for another $1 trillion-plus by November.

On Saturday, Carney said the president intends for lawmakers "to put our common commitment to a stronger recovery and a sounder long-term fiscal path above our political and ideological differences."

Obama met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in the Oval Office late Friday afternoon before leaving for his weekend at Camp David.

S&P's decision, though, clearly angered the Obama administration.

Officials at the Treasury Department fought the downgrade until virtually the last minute. Administration sources familiar with discussions said the S&P analysis was fundamentally flawed. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

S&P had sent the administration a draft document in the early afternoon Friday and the administration, after examining the numbers, challenged the analysis.

In a statement, the Treasury Department said, "A judgment flawed by a $2 trillion error speaks for itself."

Potential opponents of the president in 2012 pounced on S&P's announcement.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., a tea party favorite, called on Obama to fire Geithner and quickly submit a plan to balance the budget, not just reduce deficits. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said the credit downgrade was the "latest casualty" in Obama's failed economic leadership.

S&P said in its report that downgrading the U.S.'s credit rating reflected the agency's belief that the debt deal Congress pulled together was not sufficient "to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics." S&P said that in addition to the downgrade, it is issuing a negative outlook, meaning that there was a chance it will lower the rating further within the next two years.

A downgrade a notch lower, to AA, will occur if the agency sees smaller reductions in spending than Congress and the administration have agreed to make, higher interest rates or new fiscal pressures during this period.

The downgrade is a psychological blow to an economy that has struggled to recover from the financial tumult of 2008. It came hours after a rare bit of good news, when the Labor Department announced the country had added 117,000 jobs in July, exceeding analysts' expectations. Any optimism from that report was quickly outshadowed by S&P's announcement.

Whether the downgrade will have a more tangible impact on the economic outlook remains to be seen.

Though widely predicted, S&P's decision comes at a time when investors already appear spooked by U.S. economic indicators and debt troubles in Europe. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 699 points this week, the most since the height of the financial crisis in October 2008.

Regulators and the Federal Reserve issued a statement designed to calm investors, saying that the downgrade shouldn't impact U.S.-guaranteed investments. The statement sought to ensure that banks understood the downgrade would not affect the amount of money that regulators require banks to hold onto against possible losses.

If this week is any indication, S&P's decision is unlikely to have an impact on how the United States finances its borrowing, through the sale of government-backed bonds, bills and notes.

"Investors have voted and are saying the U.S. is going to pay them," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. "U.S. Treasurys are still the gold standard."

In Wake Of Flash Mob Attacks, Philadelphia Plans Weekend Curfew Enforcement

(Surveillance video captured portion of a mob attack last Friday night in center city Philadelphia.)

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - One week after flash mobs wreaked havoc in center city Philadelphia, the Nutter administration says police this weekend will clamp down by enforcing the city’s existing curfew laws.

The mayor’s office announced what it being described as “strict” enforcement this weekend of the city’s curfew. That law, which went into effect in 2007, says that anyone under age 14 must be home by 10pm, anyone under 18 must be home by midnight.

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Senate Dems give way to GOP to end FAA shutdown

Senate Dems give way to GOP to end FAA shutdown

FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2011 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. takes part in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Congress has reached a bipartisan compromise to end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration that has left 74,000 transportation and construction workers idled, Reid said Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With tens of thousands of jobs, more than $1 billion and their reputations on the line, Senate Democrats gave way Friday to a power play by House Republicans in order to end a partial two-week shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

With lawmakers scattered for Congress' August recess, the consent of only two senators was required to pass a bill restoring the FAA's operating authority through Sept. 16. President Barack Obama signed it into law hours later. But partisan differences remain, and a repeat performance of the legislative standoff could come next month.

The impasse had left hundreds of airport construction projects in limbo and idled tens of thousands of construction industry workers as well as nearly 4,000 FAA employees.

One of the biggest costs was to the hard-pressed U.S. treasury, which lost about $400 million in uncollected taxes during the two-week standoff and stood to continue losing $30 million a day - more than $1 billion in total - if there had been no solution before Congress returns from its recess.

For most of the stalemate, the nation's attention - and that of Congress - was riveted on the debt crisis finally tackled this week.

But that quickly shifted. Lawmakers were getting calls about unfinished airport towers and construction companies in dire straits at home. Some unemployed workers found their way to Capitol Hill to complain.

Democrats had been holding firm against the House legislation on FAA operations because it proposed cutting air service subsidies to 13 rural communities. In short, they feared getting steamrolled on similar legislation in the future if they gave Republicans their way. For example, spending authority for federal highway programs expires Sept. 30, another possible point of contention.

But once the focus fell away from the deal to avert a federal debt default, Democrats began to waver and finally gave up the fight.

Republicans achieved the subsidy cuts in the final law but with a major caveat. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has the authority to continue subsidized service to the 13 communities if he decides it's necessary.

Obama's signature means the nearly 4,000 furloughed FAA employees can return to work as soon as Monday. Work can also resume on more than 200 airport construction projects.

"This impasse was an unnecessary strain on local economies across the country at a time when we can't allow politics to get in the way of our economic recovery," Obama said in a statement.

Republican Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, said the FAA partial shutdown was "emblematic of the type of inaction and politics-come-first attitude we have seen from Senate Democrats all year."

Bill Samuel, the AFL-CIO's legislative director, saw the dispute differently. He said Republicans were willing to keep pushing their agenda at the expense of jobs and air safety.

"I think they're getting reckless," Samuel said in an interview. "Maybe with each victory they decide they can push a little farther."

With the standoff on the nation's radar screen so briefly, it's hard to know whether either party will suffer political damage, said Norman Ornstein, an expert on Congress with the American Enterprise Institute. It could end up as another example of the public declaring a pox on both their houses.

"Voters hate this stuff," he said. "They hate the damage...the dysfunction."

Both the House and Senate passed long-term financing bills for the FAA earlier this year, but negotiations on resolving differences and completing the legislation remain stalled. That's what made a short-term extension of spending authority necessary.

The agency has been operating under a series of 20 such extensions since 2007, when the last long-term FAA financing bill expired.

The biggest holdup is a labor provision in the House bill. Republicans want to overturn a National Mediation Board rule approved last year that allows airline and railroad employees to form a union by a simple majority of those voting. Under the old rule, workers who didn't vote were treated as "no" votes.

Airline passengers in the busy travel season hardly noticed any of the changes over the two weeks.

Airlines continued to work as normal, but were no longer authorized to collect federal ticket taxes. For a few lucky ticket buyers, prices dropped. But for most, nothing changed because airlines raised their base prices to match the tax.

Communities targeted for the proposed air service subsidy cuts are Morgantown, W.Va.; Athens, Ga.; Glendive, Mont.; Alamogordo, N.M.; Ely, Nev.; Jamestown, N.Y.; Bradford, Pa.; Hagerstown, Md.; Jonesboro, Ark.; Johnstown, Pa.; Franklin/Oil City, Pa.; Lancaster, Pa.; and Jackson, Tenn.