We are already well into one of the most wide-open presidential races in history, even though it's still 19 months before the big day in 2008. This will be the first time in 80 years without an incumbent president or vice president in the primaries. But an even more critical uncertainty is the new primary calendar. It imposes a major change in our democracy that many consider reckless.
A tortured young mind went on a deadly rampage two weeks ago, leaving families forever devastated, a campus weeping, and a nation mourning. In the aftermath, it is only natural, if not obligatory, to seek explanations and look for ways we can prevent or mitigate such tragedy. The problem is complex. But at the center is a human being desperate for psychiatric intervention. This catastrophic event, though rare, should be a wake-up call that we need to incorporate routine mental-health screening and prevention programs into adolescent medical care and school counseling. Such efforts could potentially thwart at least some of the psychopathy that underlies school shootings, since medicine now can help even the most severely ill. And they would also benefit the many young people struggling with far less extreme brain disorders.
The latest news on depression and diabetes adds credence to the notion of a link between the mind's health and the body's. In a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers found that older adults with strong symptoms of depression were about 60 percent more likely to develop diabetes than happier peers. The association held up when risk factors for diabetes-smoking, excess weight, and lack of exercise-were taken into account. One theory: Depression leads to an elevation in the stress hormone cortisol, which increases blood glucose levels. The finding, along with evidence from about a dozen other studies, suggests that depression is an independent risk factor for diabetes, says Richard Rubin, president of the American Diabetes Association and an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University. Bottom line: Seniors might want to be sure their annual physical includes a depression screening. - Deborah Kotz
AP - A gasoline tanker crashed and burst into flames near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Sunday, creating such intense heat that a stretch of highway melted and collapsed. Officials predicted a traffic nightmare for Bay Area commuters for weeks or months to come.
AP - A man driving a dead woman's car shot a police officer, then opened fire in a parking lot and a mall Sunday, authorities said. By the end of the day, four people, including the gunman, were dead.
AP - Iran agreed Sunday to join the U.S. and other countries at a conference on Iraq this week, raising hopes the government in Tehran would help stabilize its violent neighbor and stem the flow of guns and bombs over the border.
Police are investigating whether a gunman who allegedly killed two people and wounded at least two more at a mall in Kansas City, Missouri, may have been involved in two other incidents on Sunday. A police officer was shot during a traffic stop and an elderly woman was found dead in her home.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today said the administration did not use former CIA Director George Tenet's "slam dunk" comment as the reason to invade Iraq, disputing his complaints. "We all thought that the intelligence case was strong." Rice said.
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