Bullying has long been a problem for school children and it seems that the level of violence is both increasing and spreading beyond the schoolyard on to the Internet. On Monday, charges for "unrelenting bullying" were filed against nine teenagers in the case of Phoebe Prince. The 15-year-old girl hanged herself in January after being tormented for months by other students at her high school. Two teenage boys were charged with statutory rape and a clique of girls were charged with stalking, criminal harassment and violating Phoebe's civil rights.
The passage of the health care reform bill is controversial for many reasons, but a main argument among critics is that it will cost more money than it will save. If signed into law as expected, the legislation would cost about $938 billion dollars. But, the Congressional Budget Office has said the bill will reduce federal deficits by an estimated $138 billion dollars in the next decade. We hear from one critic, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and former economic advisor for Sen. John McCain when he was the Republican presidential candidate.
A new demographic study from the University of New Hampshire finds that the demographic makeup of the U.S. is changing most rapidly among babies and young children, with 2010 on track to see more babies of color born than white babies. The study cites immigration, high fertility rates among recent immigrant communities (and comparatively lower fertility rates among non-Hispanic whites) and details the counties that have already become so-called "majority-minority" areas.
Can First Lady Michelle Obama help America become a cultural haven for healthy food lovers? The first lady announced her fight against childhood obesity at the White House yesterday. Will Allen, urban farmer and CEO of Milwaukee based Growing Power believes that urban farms can help in the effort to create a healthier nation.
Our weekly look ahead at the news for the next seven days with Marcus Mabry, international business editor for The New York Times, and Rob Watson, BBC political correspondent.
We talk to Amanda Lee, whose husband is stationed at Fort Hood in Texas. She gives us an insider's view on how the story of this tragic shooting is being heard by military families.
Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan is in custody in the hospital after allegedly opening fire on the Army base in Fort Hood, Texas. He killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and injured at least 30 others. The reasons behind the attack are still unknown, but the tragedy will undoubtedly have a lasting affect on the families stationed at Fort Hood.
We speak to Olga Peña, managing editor of the Killeen Daily Herald, for local reactions to the shooting. Andrew Pomerantz, associate professor psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School, who works with soldiers recovering from post-traumatic stress, also joins us, along with Angela Huebner, associate professor in the Department of Human Development's Marriage and Family program at Virginia Tech. The three discuss the psychological effects of stress on military personnel and their families.
As the nation learns the details of the shooting on the Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, reactions are pouring in. To sort through the reactions we speak with Kate Dailey, health and lifestyle editor for Newsweek.com; our own Ibrahim Abdul-Matin on local Muslim reaction to the shooting allegedly by a Muslim soldier; and Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Here is President Obama's reaction to the tragedy:
Chris Haug is the chief of media relations at Fort Hood, Texas. He tells us how the Army base is trying to recover a degree of normalcy after yesterday's tragic shooting. The base will be marking the event with a moment of silence while the details of the tragedy continue to emerge.
A press conference at Fort Hood Army Base in Texas answers some of the questions stemming from yesterday's tragic shooting on the base. Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist, is suspected of gunning down his colleagues, killing 13 and wounding at least 30. Officials say Hasan walked into a military compound with two guns and opened fire yesterday afternoon. He was shot and is in critical condition. We also speak with Dr. Brian Aldred, the medical director at the Emergency Center at the Seton Hospital near Fort Hood, Texas, about his hospital's response to the tragedy. Finally, we speak with Olga Pena, the managing editor of the Killeen Daily Herald, who has been following this story.
New details are emerging this morning out of Fort Hood, in Texas, where an army psychiatrist has allegedly killed 13 people and injured 31 during a shooting rampage. Major Nidal Malik Hasan is alive but injured after being shot by a civilian officer. We're joined by Ericka Aguilar, KUT reporter in Fort Hood. Matthew Cassese was stationed at Fort Hood in 2007 and 2008. He remembers a base that was safe, but says soldiers were frequently in trouble for drunken driving. We also talk to Detective First Grade Nick Casale, a former director of counterterrorism for New York City's subway system, about what is involved in a complex criminal investigation.
Here is a press conference from yesterday outside of Fort Hood. This clip shows how confusing it can be during a criminal investigation to get the facts straight. Yesterday they thought it was up to three shooters, one of whom died. Today we know it was one shooter, who is alive, but in critical condition:
Major Nidal Malik Hasan is the alleged shooter in the rampage at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas; 13 people are dead and 31 injured. The suspected shooter is an American soldier, a psychiatrist and Muslim. He had told relatives that he had been harassed for being a Muslim during his military career. To discuss how the Muslim community is reacting to the news we speak to Ibrahim Hooper, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Thirteen people are dead and 31 injured after a soldier went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood in Texas. The Army base was locked down for much of the afternoon as authorities tried to determine the series of events that lead the suspected shooter, Army psychiatrist Major Nadal Malik Hasan, to open fire on his colleagues. Hasan was injured after being shot by another soldier.
To help unravel the story, we talk to Olga Peña, managing editor of the Killeen Daily Herald, who has been covering the story. For a soldier's perspective, we speak with Naveed Ali Shah, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Army who was stationed at Fort Hood from 2008 to 2009, and whose wife and son are still there. Shah is, himself, Muslim; he joined us from Iraq. We also spoke with Andrew Pomerantz, a professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth University, who has worked with veterans with PTSD for 35 years.
The president and first lady spend a lot of time in the public eye. The private life of Barack and Michelle Obama is, well, private. But this week's New York Times Magazine offers the public a look at the couple's off-camera relationship. New York Times national reporter Jodi Kantor joins us with an intimate portrait of one of the most powerful couples in the nation.
Jodi Kantor's profile of Barack and Michelle Obama's marriage will be in the New York Times Magazine this Sunday.
As Congress begins to debate climate change legislation, a fight between environmentalists and industry over a particular type of coal mining is ratcheting up in West Virginia. The Obama administration threatened to revoke a permit to one of Appalachia's largest mountaintop removal mines earlier this month, and all sides are bracing for pivotal policy decisions after decades of controversy. We speak to Erica Peterson, reporter at West Virginia Public Radio, along with Roger Horton, founder of the advocacy group "Citizens for Coal." Horton works at a mountaintop mine as a truck driver.
Federal officials say they're investigating whether pilot fatigue was a factor in an incident where a Northwest Airlines jet overshot its planned destination (the Minneapolis airport) by 150 miles. The plane, with 147 people aboard, landed safely yesterday evening after crew members discovered their mistake. Officials say the plane lost radio contact with controllers for about 45 minutes. The cockpit crew claim they were distracted during a discussion in the cockpit. Captain Jeffrey Skiles, a pilot for U.S. Airways who was the co-pilot with Captain Chesley Sullenberger the day they landed a plane on the Hudson River, joins us to discuss what potentially went wrong here. Skiles is also vice-president of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Association, which represents professional pilots.
In a seeming about-face, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is leaning toward adding a public option onto the Senate's health care reform bill. Reid met with President Obama yesterday to discuss the possible addition. Moderate Republicans, including Maine's moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, are not happy about the addition, even if states can opt-out of the public plan. The Takeaway's Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich has more.
The federal government has thus far not been able to make good on its promise to deliver 120 million doses of the vaccine for H1N1, commonly known as swine flu. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that only 13 million doses have so far been delivered, leaving millions of Americans — including those at elevated risk for contracting the flu — unable to obtain it. We talk to Tom Skinner, spokesperson for the CDC, and Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former deputy commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration. They tell us why the shortage is partly a chicken and an egg problem...literally. We also speak to Alison Prange, who hasn't been able to get a vaccine for her 4-year-old daughter who has asthma.
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