halala690 : Obama likely is to name Steven Chu, a physicist who runs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as his energy secretary, three Democratic officials close to the transition team said last week.
Chu won the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics and is highly respected in energy circles.
Obama also is expected to name Carol Browner, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Clinton administration, as the newly created "climate czar" inside the White House.
Energy is one aspect of the president-elect's goal to create 2.5 million jobs by 2011. The plan aims to put Americans to work updating the country's infrastructure, making public buildings more energy-efficient and implementing environmentally friendly technologies, including alternative energy sources.
During his campaign, Obama said he would invest $150 billion over 10 years in clean energy. He proposed increasing fuel economy standards and requiring that 10 percent of electricity in the United States comes from renewable sources by 2012.
The news conference, expected to take place at 5 p.m. ET, comes as the Obama team is trying get out from underneath the shadow of the Blagojevich scandal. The Illinois governor was arrested last week on federal charges related in part to scheming to sell Obama's vacant Senate seat.
At the president-elect's last news conference, three of the four questions from reporters were about Blagojevich.
There are no allegations of wrongdoing on Obama's part, but there are still unanswered questions about communications between Obama's and the governor's staffs.
Obama said last week that he would be getting information about those conversations and would release it in the next few days. Illinois law gives the governor the sole power to appointment interim senators. Many of the state's political leaders -- and Obama -- have called on the governor to resign.
Also Monday, Obama is expected to meet with his national security team, which includes Sen. Hillary Clinton, his pick for secretary of state, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. iReport.com: What do you think of Obama's cabinet picks?
An aide to Obama said the meeting will cover a "range of topics" and the focus will be on "international opportunities and challenges."
Monday's event is part of a series of gatherings that will make sure the team is ready to "hit the ground running on January 20," the aide said.
Other expected participants of the meeting include retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones, Obama's pick for national security adviser; Vice President-elect Joe Biden; U.N. Ambassador nominee Susan Rice; Attorney General nominee Eric Holder; Homeland Security Secretary nominee Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona; and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Over the weekend, Obama announced Shaun Donovan, New York City's housing commissioner, as his pick for the secretary of housing and urban development.
Obama has been steadily fleshing out his Cabinet, but several key positions remain open, including CIA director, director of national intelligence and labor, interior, education, agriculture and transportation
I could treat readers in each book to some new aspect that they wouldn't be familiar with," Cornwell said.
Now the author is bombarded with "CSI"-like information from every side -- from "Bones" to "Forensic Files" to, well, "CSI."
"It's like you create this monster and find out it's living in the house with you, and it's banished you to a room because it has more power than you," she said.
Cornwell knew she had to adapt to the changing entertainment climate. "One of the questions I really did ask myself was, 'What's the one thing I have no one else does?' "
The answer was chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell's heroine. Scarpetta is independent, feisty and someone Cornwell knows better than she knows herself. To honor that close relationship, Cornwell decided to name her 16th book in the series after its main character, titling it simply "Scarpetta."
"I realized, here it is 2008. I finished my first book 20 years ago in 1988. This is a really big anniversary," Cornwell said.
In the novel, Scarpetta leaves South Carolina for New York, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured psychiatric patient. The patient has a graphic tale to tell -- one of paranoia and murder.
The novelist said her books all have two things in common: First, of course, is a plot twist that allows Scarpetta to make a Sherlock Holmes-like deduction.
The second is intriguing character interaction.
"What's going on with them in this book? What are they doing with or to each other? Who's in love? Who isn't? Who's on the outs with whom? Because I hope, in the end, [my books] are like high-level, crime soap operas."
With two decades of character history, Cornwell has a lot to work with in that area. But her books are also full of intellectual fodder. Scarpetta is a disciplined academic -- a scientist with a law degree.
Cornwell spent six years working in a medical examiner's office before writing her first book, and she continues to spend time with professionals to keep up on new forensic technology.
In recent weeks she has researched an autopsy in Florida and worked with the National Forensic Academy. If she's going to write about trace evidence, she believes, she's going to go to a trace evidence lab.
"I was never a scientific person," Cornwell said. "When I got interested in science I had to learn it after the fact... and that was good because I had already learned how to describe things, how to ask questions the audience would want answered. I was much better able to translate things into a language someone else could grasp."
Her dedication to understanding her subject translates into other areas as well. Cornwell became a helicopter pilot, a certified scuba diver and qualified for a motorcycle license, all because she was writing about characters who were doing those things.
Fans appreciate Cornwell's enthusiasm and writing style, pushing 12 of her novels onto USA Today's best-seller lists.
But Cornwell said "Scarpetta" is actually more uplifting than her last couple of books, which took on a more twisted aura. "I'm glad because I think we live in very dark times and no one wants to read a depressing book now."
Still, Cornwell has been delving deeper into her characters' minds with each new book, and "Scarpetta" won't alter that trend.
"I'm very interested in what motivates people, why they do what they do, how they do it," she said. "It probably has something to do with where I am in life. I'm 52 years old and I think differently than I did at 42."
Fans have asked if this is Cornwell's last book in the series -- noting that the title "Scarpetta" is very ominous-sounding. But she promises to keep writing as long as the characters let her.
It's certainly not by intention to be the last book," she said. "I wanted to make this a very special book. I decided that early in the writing process. I wanted to make it longer, a richer book, a feast for the fans. So no, this isn't the last book about Scarpetta."
Muntadhar al-Zaidi, a reporter for the TV channel Al-Baghdadia, faced testing for alcohol and drugs to determine his state of mind, said a government official, who requested anonymity.
At Sunday's news conference, the journalist whipped off his shoes and hurled them at Bush during the president's unannounced stop in Baghdad. The reporter called his shoe-throwing, a traditional insult in Arab culture, a "farewell kiss" to a "dog" who launched the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Bush swiftly ducked the flying footwear and later told reporters aboard Air Force One that the "bizarre" incident was not a sign of popular opinion in Iraq.  Watch Bush duck to avoid flying footwear »
"I don't know what the guy said, but I saw his sole," the president joked.
Meanwhile, Al-Baghdadia is devoting round-the-clock coverage to the incident and calling for the immediate release of the reporter whose co-workers describe as usually "calm and polite."
In a statement read on the air, Al-Baghdadia said that al-Zaidi should be freed "in accordance with democracy and freedom of expression Iraqis were promised by the new era and American authorities."
The channel also ran the reporter's image with what it said were messages of support from viewers in a crawl at the bottom of the screen and called on Arabs, Muslims and Iraqis to support "your brother."
The network is fielding viewer phone calls about the action, with many people expressing support for al-Zaidi and others saying his behavior was inappropriate.
"What Muntadhar did represents the biggest test for the United States and the Iraqi government -- if they release him or continue detaining him," said Abdul Hamid al-Saeh, a spokesman for the Iraq-owned, Egypt-based network.
The reporter has worked for the channel since 2005.
Al-Baghdadia said any actions taken against the reporter would be reminiscent of the "violent acts, random arrests, mass graves and personal and public freedoms taken away" during the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. It called on other Arab countries and journalists to support al-Zaidi's release.
It's unclear what motivated the journalist, but reports suggest that al-Zaidi knows firsthand the anguish of the Iraq war. Al-Zaidi was kidnapped in November 2007 and released three days later, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Al-Zaidi is from Baghdad's Sadr City, one of the country's biggest slums and the site of some of the conflict's bloodiest battles.
His arrest drew an angry protest Monday in Sadr City by followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. In the Shiite neighborhood, angry people marched to demand the journalist's release, protest the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement and urge the withdrawal of American troops.
Hurling any object is a form of hostility, but in Arab culture, throwing a shoe or striking someone with one is the ultimate form of contempt.
And at Monday's demonstration, the imagery of the shoe-throwing incident conjured anger and pride.
Calling Bush the devil, a Sadrist cleric addressing the crowd condemned the visit of "the leader of evil and terror" and said the president was humiliated in a visit that was meant to celebrate achievements.
Protesters placed a shoe atop a pole with a note saying, "Go Out USA."
Demonstrators chanted: "Listen Bush, we got you out with a pair of shoes," "If we run out of ammunition, we will hit them with shoes," and "America out now."
They carried banners calling for al-Zaidi's release and hoisted flags and posters of Shiite clerics.
One demonstrator described Bush as a "terrorist ... whose hands are covered in children and women's blood. Another pounded a U.S. flag with his shoe, and the flag was torched by protesters. A third pretended to auction the shoe that hit Bush.
After his visit to Iraq, Bush traveled to Afghanistan, where he said U.S.-led forces would maintain their pursuit of Taliban militants, but warned there would be no quick victory.
"They can hide, but we can stay on the hunt," Bush said. "We will keep the pressure on them, because it's in the peaceful people of Afghanistan's interest just like it's in the interest of this country.
"Are there still difficult days ahead? Absolutely," he said. "But are conditions a lot better than they were than they were in 2001? Unquestionably, undoubtedly they're better."
Afghanistan was the original front in the war on the al Qaeda network launched after the September 11, 2001, attacks. A U.S. invasion swiftly deposed the Taliban, the Islamic militia that had harbored al Qaeda, but the leaders of both movements escaped and remain on the run.
Nearly 40,000 U.S. and NATO troops are still in Afghanistan, with the Pentagon expected to shift another three U.S. brigades into the fight by summer. The war has cost the coalition 1,018 dead to date, including 624 Americans.
Iraq has been far more costly to the United States, with more than 4,200 Americans killed and costs estimates of more than $600 billion.
The demonstrators -- holding signs reading "No more hate crimes" -- walked a half-mile in the neighborhood where police say Jose Sucuzhanay was hit in the head with a bottle and beaten with an aluminum baseball bat on December 7.
Sucuzhanay died of his injuries Friday at Elmhurst Hospital, hours before his mother arrived in New York from Ecuador, his family said.
Police said Sucuzhanay's attackers yelled racial slurs; no arrests have been made in the case. One of his brothers, Diego Sucuzhanay, said Sunday he is convinced the attack was a hate crime.
"Nothing was taken from him," said Diego Sucuzhanay, who didn't join the demonstration, opting instead to help his mother make arrangements to return the body to Ecuador. Watch marchers protest against hate crimes »
Police said Jose Sucuzhanay and his brother Romel had left a party at a church when several men approached them in a car in Brooklyn's Bushwick section, about a block from the brothers' home. The men shouted anti-gay and anti-Latino vulgarities and attacked the brothers, police said.
Romel, 34, escaped with minor scrapes and has talked with detectives. Police have released a sketch of one possible suspect in the case.
Police are offering a $22,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the attack.
In a statement, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the attack "a pointless and gutless crime." He promised authorities would find and prosecute those responsible.
Family spokesman Francisco Moya said Jose Sucuzhanay had lived in the United States for more than a decade and was a legal resident.
Diego Sucuzhanay said Jose set up a successful real estate business in a low-income area, thinking he could make a difference there.
He said his brother wanted to help everyone and hired a diverse team, including four African-Americans and two Latinos. He was raising two children: a 9-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.
"We were proud of him," Diego Sucuzhanay said.
He said the family had wanted Jose's mother to get to his bedside before he died. Doctors told them Jose was brain dead since the attack, and that machines kept him alive until his heart failed Friday.
At a press conference Sunday outside the hospital, Diego Sucuzhanay touched his chest and said: "My heart is broken, but my brother's [memory] will live on. "
Asked in an interview with CNN how his brother would be remembered, he paused several seconds and answered: "For being the victim of a hate crime."
Speaking to ABC's "This Week," McCain was asked whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could count on his support.
"I can't say something like that. We've got some great other young governors. I think you're going to see the governors assume a greater leadership role in our Republican Party," he said.
He then mentioned governors Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Jon Huntsman of Utah.
McCain said he has "the greatest appreciation for Gov. Palin and her family, and it was a great joy to know them."
"She invigorated our campaign" against Barack Obama for the presidency, he said.
McCain was pressed on why he can't promise support for the woman who, just months ago, he named as the second best person to lead the nation.
"Have no doubt of my admiration and respect for her and my view of her viability, but at this stage, again ... my corpse is still warm, you know?" he replied.
In his first Sunday political TV appearance since November 4, McCain also promised to work to build consensus in tackling America's challenges, and criticized his own party for its latest attack on Obama.
McCain rejected complaints from the Republican National Committee that Obama has not been transparent about his contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
"I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary," McCain told ABC's "This Week."
"You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody -- right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy, stimulus package, reforms that are necessary."
McCain's answer came in response to a question about comments from RNC Chairman Mike Duncan. The RNC also released an Internet ad last week, titled "Questions Remain," suggesting Obama is failing to provide important information about potential links between his associates and Blagojevich.
Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday and charged with trying to trade Obama's Senate seat for campaign contributions and other favors.
"I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois," McCain told ABC. "But I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me."
McCain said he, like Obama and many other lawmakers, believes Blagojevich should resign.
Despite the heated nature of the race and attacks both former candidates lobbed at each other, McCain emphasized that he plans to focus on pushing lawmakers past partisan politics.
"I think my job is, of course, to be a part of, and hopefully exert some leadership, in the loyal opposition. But I emphasize the word loyal," McCain said.
"We haven't seen economic times like this in my lifetime. We haven't seen challenges abroad at the level that we are experiencing, certainly since the end of the Cold War, and you could argue in some respects that they're certainly more complex, many of these challenges. So let's have our first priority where we can work together...
"Will there be areas of disagreement? Of course. We are different parties and different philosophy. But the nation wants us to unite and work together."
McCain said he wouldn't comment on whether he thought he had a good chance of winning the presidency, given the Bush administration and the GOP were perceived to be responsible for the economy's problems. McCain said he would "leave that question" for others "to make that kind of judgment."
He pointed out that his poll numbers dropped along with the Dow.
"That would sound like I am detracting from President-elect Obama's campaign. I don't want to do that... Nobody likes a sore loser."
The key to moving past the stinging defeat, he said, is to, "Get busy and move on. That's the best cure for it. I spent a period of time feeling sorry for myself. It's wonderful. It's one of the most enjoyable experiences that you can have.
Sleepy teenagers may not be able to help it, researchers say. Blame it on the early school start time and their circadian rhythms: the mental and physical changes that occur in a day.
Teenagers need eight to 10 hours of sleep, compared with the six to eight hours recommended for adults. Teenagers also tend to go to bed and wake later than adults. These biological tendencies clash with early morning high school schedules, leaving them sleepy in class.
Research conducted at the University of Kentucky in Lexington found that when Fayette County high schools delayed their start time by an hour, the percentage of students getting at least eight hours of sleep per night jumped from 35.7 to 50 percent.
The study, published Monday in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, surveyed 10,000 students in the Kentucky county before and after their schools changed the start time from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.
Students have the most difficulty staying awake and functioning during early morning classes.
"It's as if they are jet lagged, like they've just flown into Atlanta from San Diego," said Dr. Barbara Phillips, a co-author in the study. "For people who live in Atlanta, it might be 8 a.m. For a teenager, it feels like it's 5 o'clock in the morning. They're sleepy and don't do well."
Sleep deprivation can compromise immune systems, ruin moods and decrease focus, said the lead author, Dr. Fred Danner.
"A mistake we make is [thinking] that sleep is optional," he said. People assume they can just toughen up or take caffeine. "It may be that's the modern world, but we have old bodies. You can't fool Mother Nature."
Danner and Phillips said there are even more dangerous consequences of sleep deprivation for students: car accidents.
They found that two years after the change in Fayette County's school start time, the crash rate for teen drivers dropped 16.5 percent. Meanwhile, crash rates increased 7.8 percent in the rest of the state, where the school schedules had not been adjusted.
"Sleep deprivation increases chances of a crash because it decreases vigilance," Phillips said.
Research conducted in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, school district in August 2001 found that when the system changed its starting time from 7:15 to 8:40 a.m., attendance improved and students reported getting an extra hour of sleep per weeknight.
Based on years of teenage sleep research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is encouraging districts to start high schools later.
Citing a "deleterious impact of school times on our teenagers," Dr. Janet B. Croft, a senior epidemiologist at the CDC, called high school start times "an unrealistic burden on children and their families."
"It's not problems with concentration," she said. "It can change lives to change school start times. They can't concentrate that early when driving that early in the dark. They stay sleepy all the day."
Going to bed earlier is not effective, because a teenager's melatonin levels, hypothalamus and internal clock are changing during puberty.
"Teenagers are going through physiological changes that make it physically difficult to fall asleep before 11," Croft said.
Constant text messaging, Web surfing and digital distractions could also be keeping teenagers up into the wee hours of the night.
Cells in the hypothalamus respond to light and dark signals. The bright lights inside homes and the glow of monitors are sending more light signals, which might be why some teenagers are unable to sleep before 11 p.m.
"We know their core circadian rhythm changes when they hit puberty," Phillips said. "Biologically, their circadian rhythm changes when they go through adolescence, just as it changes when we age. I do know it's biological, mediated by melatonin."
The National Sleep Foundation suggests using dimmer lights in the house at night to help teenagers get to sleep earlier and using bright lights when trying to wake them
Teenagers can't sleep in the same way they did as children, when they fell asleep between 8:30 and 10 p.m. and woke after eight or nine hours of continuous sleep.
Younger children are better able to handle waking earlier than teenagers, prompting some sleep experts to recommend that younger children go to school earlier and teenagers go later to accommodate staggered bus schedules and biological needs.
Though high schools in cities such as Tulsa, Oklahoma; Denver, Colorado; and Minneapolis have adopted later start times, there are no statistics to track the number of schools pulling back their start times.
Neither the National School Boards Association nor the National Association of Secondary School Principals has taken a position on adjusting high school schedules; they have recommended a localized approach.
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