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| Mom: Capitol chase suspect had post-partum depression - USA TODAY Posted: 04 Oct 2013 08:55 AM PDT After a car chase ended in the driver's death, officials are trying to figure out who the woman behind the wheel was. The car was registered to Miriam Carey of Connecticut. VPC The 34-year-old Connecticut woman who was shot and killed by police after a harrowing high-speed chase from the White House to Capitol Hill suffered from post-partum depression, her mother told ABC News. Miriam Carey, a dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn., was identified as the driver of the black luxury sedan that first rammed a barrier at the White House, then sped to Capitol Hill, defying attempts by armed police to stop her Thursday afternoon. She was shot and killed fleeing her car near the Hart Senate Office Building Afterward, police discovered Carey's 1-year-old daughter was in the backseat of her black Infiniti throughout the ordeal. The child, who was not injured, was taken to a hospital for a precaution and placed in protective custody. Authorities who descended on Carey's condo in Stamford have not determined a motive for her bizarre behavior through downtown Washington, D.C. Her mother, Idella Carey, told ABC News on Thursday night that her daughter began suffering from post-partum depression after giving birth to her daughter, Erica, last August. "A few months later, she got sick," she said. "She was depressed. ... She was hospitalized." Idella Carey said her daughter had no history of violence and that she had no idea why she was in Washington on Thursday. The New York Daily News quoted Carey's former boss, dentist Brian Evans, as saying that she "fell down some stairs and she had a pretty significant head injury" in recent years. Evans also said that Carey, who was let go last year, had a temper and became incensed over being told to quit parking in a handicapped spot at the medical building in Hamden, Conn., where she worked. That created friction between them, he said. Carey's former employer in Connecticut, dentist Barry Weiss, told NBC Connecticut that she was a bit "headstrong" on a few occasions but was otherwise "an average employee." Weiss also that said Carey "could be a bit rough," and after complaints from patients, was fired in August 2012. "Nothing would have led us to think she would have done this," said Weiss. Another former boss, dentist Steven Oken, for whom she worked eight years, described Carey as a "non-political person" who was "always happy." Court records also show that Carey was sued last year by her condo association for failure to pay fees since 2010 on the Stamford home she owned since 2009. The lawsuit, involving $1,759 plus collection costs, was settled in February, the Associated Press reports. U.S. Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said the incident "appears to be an isolated, singular matter, with, at this point, no nexus to terrorism." Two federal officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly, told USA TODAY that all shots were fired by law enforcement officers. One official said no gun was recovered from her car. "This does not appear to be in any way an accident," Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said Thursday. She noted that Carey twice tried to breach security barriers and struck a uniformed Secret Service officer near the White House. The chaotic events began at 2:12 p.m. ET when the driver rammed a temporary barrier at 15th and E Streets NW, hitting the officer, said Secret Service chief Ed Donovan. Other Secret Service officers chased the woman east on Pennsylvania Avenue but did not shoot. Lanier said Capitol Police officers pursued the speeding car eastbound and tried to stop it in Garfield Circle, just west of the Capitol lawn. A 23-year-veteran officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries when he crashed into a barrier. Police had the woman's car surrounded but she escaped, ramming a Secret Service vehicle as she fled. Lanier said police then fired their first shots at the suspect. The driver made her way onto Constitution Avenue before eventually stopping in the 100 blocks of Maryland Avenue NE, near the Hart Senate Office Building. Contributing: The Associated Press |
| Shutdown Prompts Obama to Skip Asia Trip - Voice of America Posted: 04 Oct 2013 08:54 AM PDT President Obama has canceled an upcoming trip to Asia because of the partial U.S. government shutdown, which entered its fourth day on Friday. The White House announced late on Thursday that the president made his decision to cancel visits to Indonesia and Brunei based on the difficulty in moving forward with foreign travel in the face of the shutdown and his plans to continue pressuring Republicans to allow a vote to reopen the government. The White House said Secretary of State John Kerry will lead U.S. delegations to both countries, as well as to Malaysia and the Philippines. Kerry will attend the APEC summit in Bali in place of the president. Earlier on Thursday, Obama said a simple bill to fund the government with nothing else attached -- such as provisions regarding his signature health care plan, nicknamed "Obamacare" -- would pass the House of Representatives. Obama accused Republican House Speaker John Boehner of catering to a small group of conservative Republican extremists who want to defund or delay the health care plan as part of the next budget. Boehner says Obama is refusing to negotiate. The speaker says all he wants is a discussion on the health care law and what he calls "fairness" for the American people. Democrats say they will reject any Republican efforts to partially reopen the government. Clean funding bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told CNN television Thursday that Boehner reneged on a promise to allow a vote on a clean funding bill, even after Democrats agreed to accept Republican spending levels. Reid said Boehner is afraid Republicans would oust him as speaker and urged Boehner to remember that the country is more important than his job. The shutdown has furloughed more than 800,000 federal workers and closed down all but the most essential government services, including air traffic control, Border Patrol, and most food inspectors. The Voice of America is continuing to broadcast, but national parks and museums are closed, telephone calls for income tax help are unanswered, and some medical research projects are suspended. With the shutdown prompting Obama to cancel his Asia trip, he will be missing the second APEC summit in a row. VOA White House correspondent Dan Robinson said this throws into question the United States' commitment to the Asia Pacific region. "As you know, President Obama was not able to go to the APEC summit in Vladivostok last year because of the U.S. presidential election campaign. This is bound to raise further questions in Asia among those who are questioning U.S. commitment not only to the strategic pivot but to the whole regional focus or rebalancing of U.S. economic interests in the region," said Robinson. Robinson also said fears have been growing for some time that economic strain is causing the U.S. to lose focus on security issues. "There have been serious questions beginning at least a year ago about the U.S. budget sequestration and the fact that the United States couldn't get a budget done and concerns about the U.S.maintaining security relationships. Now, the U.S. military strategic pivot is moving forward, analysts say, but again there are these nagging questions about whether the full U.S. government has been engaged or can be engaged in this Asia rebalance," he explained. |
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The game is the same, but many of the players have changed. Congress and the president are facing off in another supreme spending showdown. If they don't agree on a funding bill by the end of September 30, much of government will shutdown. This last happened in 2011, when Congress avoided a shutdown by passing a spending measure shortly after the midnight deadline hit. Who controls what happens this time? Take a look at the key players who will determine how this fight ends: -- From CNN Capitol Hill Reporter Lisa Desjardins. CNN's Deirdre Walsh and Ted Barrett contributed to this report. 
A Park Service police officer stands guard in front of the Lincoln Memorial during a partial shutdown of the federal government in November 1995. Many government services and agencies were closed at the end of 1995 and beginning of 1996 as President Bill Clinton battled a Republican-led Congress over spending levels. 