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VIDEO: Today's Headline News from Associated Press

INTERROGATORS WAIT TO QUESTION BOMBING SUSPECT

BOSTON (AP) -- As the lone surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing lay hospitalized under heavy guard, the American Civil Liberties Union and a federal public defender raised concerns about investigators' plan to question 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev without reading him his Miranda rights.

What Tsarnaev will say and when are unclear. He remained in serious condition Sunday and apparently in no shape for interrogation after being pulled bloodied and wounded from a tarp-covered boat in a Watertown backyard. The capture came at the end of a tense Friday that began with his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, dying in a gunbattle with police.

U.S. officials said an elite interrogation team would question the Massachusetts college student without reading him his Miranda rights, something that is allowed on a limited basis when the public may be in immediate danger, such as when bombs are planted and ready to go off.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said the legal exception applies only when there is a continued threat to public safety and is "not an open-ended exception" to the Miranda rule, which guarantees the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.

The federal public defender's office in Massachusetts said it has agreed to represent Tsarnaev once he is charged. Miriam Conrad, public defender for Massachusetts, said he should have a lawyer appointed as soon as possible because there are "serious issues regarding possible interrogation."

FOR OBAMA, A TESTING, TRYING AND EMOTIONAL WEEK

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For President Barack Obama, one of his most wrenching White House weeks saw the fresh specter of terrorism and the first crushing political defeat of his new term, and the more emotional side of a leader often criticized for appearing clinical or detached.

The events presented sharp tests for a president committed to an ambitious agenda in the limited window offered by a second term.

There was the challenge to reassure a nervous nation about threats at home and to keep the rest of his legislative goals on track after the Senate rejected gun control measures that had become his top priority.

"This was a tough week," Obama said late Friday, shortly after authorities captured the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

The Boston Marathon explosions and the gun votes overshadowed other events that would have captivated the country and consumed the White House during almost any other week.

An explosion leveled a Texas fertilizer plant, killing at least 14 people. Letters addressed to Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., were found to contain traces of poisonous ricin in tests, evoking parallels to the anthrax attacks after Sept. 11, 2001.

"It's not new," David Axelrod, the president's former senior adviser, said of the White House balancing act. "It's never welcome, but it's not entirely unexpected."

BELEAGUERED CAREGIVERS GETTING HELP FROM APPS

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- As her mother and father edged toward dementia, Nancy D'Auria kept a piece of paper in her wallet listing their medications.

 

It had the dosages, the time of day each should be taken and a check mark when her folks, who live 10 miles away, assured her the pills had been swallowed.

 

"I work full time so it was very challenging," said D'Auria, 63, of West Nyack.

 

Now she has an app for that. With a tap or two on her iPhone, D'Auria can access a "pillbox" program that keeps it all organized for her and other relatives who share in the caregiving and subscribe to the app.

 

"I love the feature that others can see this," D'Auria said. "I'm usually the one who takes care of this, but if I get stuck, they're all up to date."

 

From GPS devices and computer programs that help relatives track a wandering Alzheimer's patient to iPad apps that help an autistic child communicate, a growing number of tools for the smartphone, the tablet and the laptop are catering to beleaguered caregivers. With the baby boom generation getting older, the market for such technology is expected to increase.

 

The pillbox program is just one feature of a $3.99 app called Balance that was launched last month by the National Alzheimer Center, a division of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale in the Bronx.