Heart joins select class with Rock Hall induction

NEW YORK (AP) — The journey to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can be a long and winding road for some acts. For Heart, it took more than a decade, and sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson admitted they were losing hope.

"(The) running joke in the band was (we) would never get in," Ann said.

But all that changed when the group made the class of 2013, announced this month.

"Well, it just goes to show you that just when you think you know the shape of rock 'n' roll, it changes shape on you," Ann said. "This is really more than thrilling."

Her younger sister, Nancy, was glad the speculation over whether they'd make it was finally put to rest.

"We feel like we deserve it, so we're happy to be here," Nancy said.

Since their seminal 1976 release "Dreamboat Annie" that spawned the classic hits "Magic Man," and "Crazy on You," the band went on the sell more than 30 million albums worldwide. They took time off in the 1990s so Nancy, then married to director Cameron Crowe, could raise her family, but have been performing and touring for the last several years. This year, they released their 14th studio album, "Heart Fanatic," and also released the book "Kicking and Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll." Their most recent tour resumes on Jan. 25 in Worcester, Mass.

With their induction, they are part of only a few rock bands in the hall fronted by women (others include Jefferson Airplane with lead singer Grace Slick. Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie with Fleetwood Mac, and Chrissie Hynde with the Pretenders).

Neither sister feels she was an inspiration to other women that eventually played in rock 'n' roll bands.

"Boys invented rock to get girls, so when girls came into it they had to make a new universe," Ann joked, before adding: "I'm just looking forward to the time when we don't have to have a gender designation on music. To me, that will really be the time when we've done something."

The 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on April 18. Other acts who will be part of the 2013 class are Rush, Donna Summer, Randy Newman, Public Enemy and Albert King.

They're proud to be among the more senior rock acts still touring today (Ann is 62; Nancy is 58).

"Rock 'n' roll does not have an age limit as long as it's authentic. Rock and roll is just as beautiful as when Keith Richards plays it as jazz would be when Thelonious Monk would play it," said Ann. "But the key to all that is that it has to be the real deal. It can't be some old washed up dudes thinking ... 'Let's go out and do it some more.' No. It has to still be vital."

____

Online:

www.heart-music.com

www.rockhall.com

____

Derrik J. Lang contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

__

John Carucci covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at —http://www.twitter.com/jcarucci_ap

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U.N. Suspends Polio Campaign in Pakistan After Killings of Workers

B.K. Bangash/Associated Press

A Pakistani woman administered polio vaccine to an infant on Wednesday in the slums of Islamabad. Militants have killed nine polio workers this week.

LAHORE, Pakistan — The front-line heroes of Pakistan’s war on polio are its volunteers: young women who tread fearlessly from door to door, in slums and highland villages, administering precious drops of vaccine to children in places where their immunization campaign is often viewed with suspicion.

Now, those workers have become quarry. After militants stalked and killed eight of them over the course of a three-day, nationwide vaccination drive, the United Nations suspended its anti-polio work in Pakistan on Wednesday, and one of Pakistan’s most crucial public health campaigns has been plunged into crisis.

The World Health Organization and Unicef ordered their staff members off the streets, while government officials reported that some polio volunteers — especially women — were afraid to show up for work.

At the ground level, it is those female health workers who are essential, allowed privileged entrance into private homes to meet and help children in situations denied to men because of conservative rural culture. “They are on the front line; they are the backbone,” said Imtiaz Ali Shah, a polio coordinator in Peshawar.

The killings started in the port city of Karachi on Monday, the first day of a vaccination drive aimed at the worst affected areas, with the shooting of a male health worker. On Tuesday four female polio workers were killed, all gunned down by men on motorcycles in what appeared to be closely coordinated attacks.

The hit jobs then moved to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, which, along with the adjoining tribal belt, constitutes Pakistan’s main reservoir of new polio infections. The first victim there was one of two sisters who had volunteered as polio vaccinators. Men on motorcycles shadowed them as they walked from house to house. Once the sisters entered a quiet street, the gunmen opened fire. One of the sisters, Farzana, died instantly; the other was uninjured.

On Wednesday, a man working on the polio campaign was shot dead as he made a chalk mark on the door of a house in a suburb of Peshawar. Later, a female health supervisor in Charsadda, 15 miles to the north, was shot dead in a car she shared with her cousin.

Yet again, Pakistani militants are making a point of attacking women who stand for something larger. In October, it was Malala Yousafzai, a schoolgirl advocate for education who was gunned down by a Pakistani Taliban attacker in the Swat Valley. She was grievously wounded, and the militants vowed they would try again until they had killed her. The result was a tidal wave of public anger that clearly unsettled the Pakistani Taliban.

In singling out the core workers in one of Pakistan’s most crucial public health initiatives, militants seem to have resolved to harden their stance against immunization drives, and declared anew that they consider women to be legitimate targets. Until this week, vaccinators had never been targeted with such violence in such numbers.

Government officials in Peshawar said that they believe a Taliban faction in Mohmand, a tribal area near Peshawar, was behind at least some of the shootings. Still, the Pakistani Taliban have been uncharacteristically silent about the attacks, with no official claims of responsibility. In staying quiet, the militants may be trying to blunt any public backlash like the huge demonstrations over the attack on Ms. Yousafzai.

Female polio workers here make for easy targets. They wear no uniform but are readily recognizable, with clipboards and refrigerated vaccine boxes, walking door to door. They work in pairs — including at least one woman — and are paid just over $2.50 a day. Most days one team can vaccinate 150 to 200 children.

Faced with suspicious or recalcitrant parents, their only weapon is reassurance: a gentle pat on the hand, a shared cup of tea, an offer to seek religious assurances from a pro-vaccine cleric. “The whole program is dependent on them,” said Mr. Shah, in Peshawar. “If they do good work, and talk well to the parents, then they will vaccinate the children.”

That has happened with increasing frequency in Pakistan over the past year. A concerted immunization drive, involving up to 225,000 vaccination workers, drove the number of newly infected polio victims down to 52. Several high-profile groups shouldered the program forward — at the global level, donors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the United Nations and Rotary International; and at the national level, President Asif Ali Zardari and his daughter Aseefa, who have made polio eradication a “personal mission.”

On a global scale, setbacks are not unusual in polio vaccination campaigns, which, by dint of their massive scale and need to reach deep inside conservative societies, end up grappling with more than just medical challenges. In other campaigns in Africa and South Asia, vaccinators have grappled with natural disaster, virulent opposition from conservative clerics and sudden outbreaks of mysterious strains of the disease.

Declan Walsh reported from Lahore, and Donald G. McNeil Jr. from New York. Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan.

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Waiting on fiscal cliff compromise, stocks meander

Stocks are moving between small gains and losses as traders wait for news from budget negotiations in Washington. A deadline for reaching a deal is just days away.

The House planned to move ahead on what Speaker John Boehner called “Plan B,” but President Barack Obama has threatened to veto it. A deal must be made by the end of the year to avoid sweeping tax increases and government spending cuts.

The Dow Jones industrial average was off a point at 13,250 shortly before midday Thursday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up a point at 1,437. The Nasdaq slipped two to 3,042.

The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Euronext, jumped 33 percent after saying it would be acquired by IntercontinentalExchange, an Atlanta-based exchange operator.

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Robert Bork, failed Supreme Court nominee, dies at age 85

Robert H. Bork, whose failed Supreme Court nomination in 1987 infuriated conservatives and politicized the confirmation process for the ensuing decades, died Wednesday at the age of 85. 

The former Yale law professor and judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had a history of heart problems and had been in poor health for some time.

But Bork was a towering figure for an early generation of conservatives. In the 1960s and '70s, he argued that a liberal-dominated Supreme Court was abusing its power and remaking American life by ending prayers in public schools, by extending new rights to criminals, by ordering cross-town busing and by voiding the laws against abortion.

PHOTOS: Robert Bork | March 1, 1927 - Dec. 19, 2012

He was an influential legal advisor in the Nixon administration and served as a footnote to history in the Watergate scandal. When the embattled president ordered the firing of special counsel Archibald Cox, the attorney general and his deputy resigned in protest. Bork, who was in the No. 3 post as U.S. solicitor general, then carried out Nixon’s order.

But Bork’s biggest moment came during the Reagan administration in the 1980s. He left Yale and came to Washington when Reagan appointed him to the U.S. court of appeals in the District of Columbia. The job was seen as a steppingstone to the high court.

In 1986, Bork was passed over for a younger colleague when Reagan named Judge Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court. A year later, Bork’s turn came when Justice Lewis Powell, the swing vote on the closely divided court, announced his retirement.

PHOTOS: Notable deaths of 2012

Democrats, led by Sen. Edward Kennedy, launched an all-out attack on Bork’s nomination, saying he would set back the cause of civil rights, women’s rights and civil liberties.

The summer of 1987 saw campaign-style attacks on Bork’s reputation.  In televised hearings, the bearded, heavy-set professor tried to explain his views, but he won few converts. The Senate defeated his nomination by a 58-42 vote.

In his place, Reagan eventually chose Judge Anthony Kennedy, who was confirmed unanimously. The switch proved to have lasting consequences. Kennedy cast decisive votes to uphold Roe vs. Wade and to preserve the ban on school-sponsored prayers.

Bork stepped down from the bench a year after his defeat, but wrote several books renewing his criticism of liberalism. In the past year, he served as a chairman of Mitt Romney’s advisory committee on the judiciary and the courts.

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david.savage@latimes.com

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Shooting renews argument over video-game violence

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the days since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a shell-shocked nation has looked for reasons. The list of culprits include easy access to guns, a strained mental-health system and the “culture of violence” — the entertainment industry’s embrace of violence in movies, TV shows and, especially, video games.

“The violence in the entertainment culture — particularly, with the extraordinary realism to video games, movies now, et cetera — does cause vulnerable young men to be more violent,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said.

“There might well be some direct connection between people who have some mental instability and when they go over the edge — they transport themselves, they become part of one of those video games,” said Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, where 12 people were killed in a movie theater shooting in July.

White House adviser David Axelrod tweeted, “But shouldn’t we also quit marketing murder as a game?”

And Donald Trump weighed in, tweeting, “Video game violence & glorification must be stopped — it is creating monsters!”

There have been unconfirmed media reports that 20-year-old Newtown shooter Adam Lanza enjoyed a range of video games, from the bloody “Call of Duty” series to the innocuous “Dance Dance Revolution.” But the same could be said for about 80 percent of Americans in Lanza’s age group, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Law enforcement officials haven’t made any connection between Lanza’s possible motives and his interest in games.

The video game industry has been mostly silent since Friday’s attack, in which 20 children and six adults were killed. The Entertainment Software Association, which represents game publishers in Washington, has yet to respond to politicians’ criticisms. Hal Halpin, president of the nonprofit Entertainment Consumers Association, said, “I’d simply and respectfully point to the lack of evidence to support any causal link.”

It’s unlikely that lawmakers will pursue legislation to regulate the sales of video games; such efforts were rejected again and again in a series of court cases over the last decade. Indeed, the industry seemed to have moved beyond the entire issue last year, when the Supreme Court revoked a California law criminalizing the sale of violent games to minors.

The Supreme Court decision focused on First Amendment concerns; in the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that games “are as much entitled to the protection of free speech as the best of literature.” Scalia also agreed with the ESA’s argument that researchers haven’t established a link between media violence and real-life violence. “Psychological studies purporting to show a connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children do not prove that such exposure causes minors to act aggressively,” Scalia wrote.

Still, that doesn’t make games impervious to criticism, or even some soul-searching within the gaming community. At this year’s E3 — the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the industry’s largest U.S. gathering — some attendees were stunned by the intensity of violence on display. A demo for Sony’s “The Last of Us” ended with a villain taking a shotgun blast to the face. A scene from Ubisoft’s “Splinter Cell: Blacklist” showed the hero torturing an enemy. A trailer for Square Enix’s “Hitman: Absolution” showed the protagonist slaughtering a team of lingerie-clad assassins disguised as nuns.

“The ultraviolence has to stop,” designer Warren Spector told the GamesIndustry website after E3. “I do believe that we are fetishizing violence, and now in some cases actually combining it with an adolescent approach to sexuality. I just think it’s in bad taste. Ultimately I think it will cause us trouble.”

“The violence of these games can be off-putting,” Brian Crecente, news editor for the gaming website Polygon, said Monday. “The video-game industry is wrestling with the same issues as movies and TV. There’s this tension between violent games that sell really well and games like ‘Journey,’ a beautiful, artistic creation that was well received by critics but didn’t sell much.”

During November, typically the peak month for pre-holiday game releases, the two best sellers were the military shooters “Call of Duty: Black Ops II,” from Activision, and “Halo 4,” from Microsoft. But even with the dominance of the genre, Crecente said, “There has been a feeling that some of the sameness of war games is grating on people.”

Critic John Peter Grant said, “I’ve also sensed a growing degree of fatigue with ultra-violent games, but not necessarily because of the violence per se.”

The problem, Grant said, “is that violence as a mechanic gets old really fast. Games are amazing possibility spaces! And if the chief way I can interact with them is by destroying and killing? That seems like such a waste of potential.”

There are some hints of a sneaking self-awareness creeping into the gaming community. One gamer — Antwand Pearman, editor of the website GamerFitNation — has called for other players to join in a “Day of Cease-Fire for Online Shooters” this Friday, one week after the massacre.

“We are simply making a statement,” Pearman said, “that we as gamers are not going to sit back and ignore the lives that were lost.”

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A year for enduring pop culture icons to shine

NEW YORK (AP) — Marilyn Monroe. The Rolling Stones. And Bond — James Bond. What do they have in common?

Sure, one's long gone, and one's fictional. But all three marked a golden anniversary in 2012. And after a half-century in our pop-culture consciousness, they each displayed a surprisingly enduring appeal.

So even though, as a culture, we still worshiped at the fountain of youth this year, marveling at the precocious talents of a Lena Dunham, a Taylor Swift, and a slew of charming young Olympians, let's also give a shoutout to some of our most enduring icons. Turns out some things never go out of style.

Once again, our highly subjective pop-culture journey through the year:

_

JANUARY:

Here begins the incredible ascendance of LENA DUNHAM, as HBO picks up the actress-director-writer's "Girls," a meditation on the awkwardness of being female and 20-ish in New York. By year's end Dunham, at 26, will have gathered so much buzz, she'll be on her way to becoming what her character, Hannah Horvath, can only dream of being: "The voice of my generation. Or at least, A voice. Of A generation."

FEBRUARY:

Let's hear it for the adults! MERYL STREEP, 62, wins her third Oscar for "The Iron Lady." It's her 17th nomination, a record. The whole ceremony has a vintage feel: BILLY CRYSTAL is back as host a year after the rocky appearance of the "young and hip" hosts, James Franco and Anne Hathaway. The best supporting actor, Christopher Plummer, is 82, and the best picture, "The Artist," is a throwback to silent films. Meanwhile, all hail MADONNA — at 54, not only does she score at the Super Bowl with her halftime show, but by year's end, her MDNA global tour will be the highest grossing of any in 2012. (Second place? That goes to BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, age 63.)

MARCH:

Enter springtime, and youth again: Billboard's top moneymaker for 2011 is TAYLOR SWIFT, less than half Madonna's age. In 2012, Swift will have the biggest sales week for any album in a decade, for "Red." She also writes for the soundtrack of one of the year's hottest movies, THE HUNGER GAMES. Speaking of which, JENNIFER LAWRENCE, 22, becomes a breakout star this year, rocketing to fame as Katniss Everdeen in the first installment of the Suzanne Collins trilogy. In fashion, MARC JACOBS' Louis Vuitton show in Paris has models in Edwardian hats stepping off a reconstructed retro steam train, with valets carrying vintage-inspired hat boxes.

APRIL:

In technology news, FACEBOOK buys INSTAGRAM for a cool $1 billion, banking on people's insatiable desire to share photos of their most mundane moments. And oh yes, it's an election year, and it's dog eat dog: Talk focuses on SEAMUS, GOP candidate Mitt Romney's Irish setter. The pooch is long departed, but the image of him strapped to the roof of the family car, suffering gastric distress, is too much for many dog lovers to stomach (sorry) and will continue to dog Romney (sorry) for some time. Romney supporters, meanwhile, point out that Barack Obama sampled dog meat as a child.

MAY:

The weather's getting warm, and certain phrases are fast becoming ingrained into our consciousness. One of them is "Call Me Maybe"; Carly Rae Jepsen's dangerously catchy tune hits No. 1 on iTunes. Another is "Fifty Shades of Grey." The so-called "Mommy Porn" trilogy — the publishing sensation of the year — is banned by some public libraries due to its steamy content.

JUNE:

"Call Me Maybe" hits No. 1 on the Billboard chart. But let's dedicate the month to NORA EPHRON, the author, filmmaker and essayist whose searing wit put her in a class of her own. Her death at age 71 brings a flood of tributes. And rarely does a secretary of state make it onto our pop culture radar, but let's welcome HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, ever more popular, who wears green-and-purple cat-eye sunglasses this month to swear in a purple-loving public servant. (By now she's famous for her shades-wearing power texting, the subject of an Internet meme.) She apologizes for not wearing a purple pantsuit; it's the only color she doesn't own, she quips.

JULY:

Who'd have thought the cheesy words "Hey, Sexy Lady" would go so far? South Korean singer PSY's video of his song "Gangnam Style," emerges this month and the rest is history — it will become the most watched YouTube clip of all time. At the London Olympics, young athletes like the ebullient gymnast GABBY DOUGLAS and swimmer MISSY FRANKLIN, both 17, shine, but MICHAEL PHELPS — now 27 — still shows fellow swimmers how it's done, and 70-year-old SIR PAUL McCARTNEY delivers a soulful "Hey Jude" at the opening ceremony. Meanwhile, QUEEN ELIZABETH II gamely participates in a sketch in which she parachutes into the stadium.

AUGUST:

Fifty years ago this month, MARILYN MONROE died, and look how a '50s icon has become a 21st-century phenom. Her platinum locks, slightly parted ruby lips, and curvy, clinging styles are copied by actresses and singers from MADONNA to TAYLOR SWIFT to LINDSAY LOHAN to RIHANNA to NICOLE KIDMAN. And there are a slew of Marilyn-themed enterprises on the horizon. Meanwhile, crusty CLINT EASTWOOD, 82, makes our night at the GOP convention with his infamous "empty chair" chat with President Obama. It becomes one of the enduring moments of the campaign, if also the most puzzling.

SEPTEMBER:

The most uninhibited person on the planet is now officially DUNHAM, who gets naked at the Emmys — she sits naked on a toilet and eats a birthday cake, to be precise, in an opening skit. At the MTV Video Music Awards, the boy band One Direction makes its mark as a new teen-girl obsession. But look who's also making waves: BILL CLINTON, 66, who rocks the Democratic Convention with an energetic speech that shows he can still inspire the masses. As for little SASHA and MALIA OBAMA, the country does a double-take; in four years they've become two mature and fashionable young women.

OCTOBER:

Binders full of women! Big Bird! Malarkey! Debate season is on, so let the instant memes begin. This is the first election where you could have followed the debates purely via Twitter. Surprise, DUNHAM's in the news again — and let no one doubt the value of pop-culture prominence, however ephemeral: Her new book deal with Random House is reportedly worth more than $3.5 million. But let's hear it for another 50th birthday: Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is back on Broadway exactly a half-century after it first premiered, and it's getting some of the best notices of the season.

NOVEMBER:

BOND. JAMES BOND. Embodied by the tough and chiseled DANIEL CRAIG, the world's most famous British spy is in better shape than ever as the franchise marks its 50th anniversary with "Skyfall," regarded by many as one of the best Bond films. Another iconic image doesn't fare so well: Lohan's turn as Liz Taylor in a new TV film is pilloried. Sometimes the original just shouldn't be touched. And hail to the first statistician to achieve pop-culture cred: Blogger NATE SILVER scores with his spot-on predictions of the election's outcome. And we must mention the oldest pop-culture hero of the year: ABRAHAM LINCOLN is back, courtesy of STEVEN SPIELBERG's movie and a typically mesmerizing performance by DANIEL DAY-LEWIS.

DECEMBER:

As the year ends, the world is abuzz with news of a royal pregnancy. Soon, a baby will be one of the biggest celebrities in the world. But for now, let's give a shoutout to the ROLLING STONES, whose average age is 68-plus, slightly older than the average Supreme Court justice. In five concerts marking their 50th year as a rock band, the grizzled foursome shows the world they still have the power to rock huge arenas (at huge prices), and upstage celebrity guests like LADY GAGA with their own charisma. Along with aging rockers McCARTNEY, SPRINGSTEEN, THE WHO and PINK FLOYD, they dominate a televised benefit for storm victims. As for MICK JAGGER, who at 69 hasn't lost any of those "moves like Jagger," we can only say, to paraphrase the famous movie line: "We'll have what he's having."

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Irish Government Set to Allow Abortion in Rare Cases

DUBLIN — The Irish government said Tuesday that it was preparing to allow abortion under limited circumstances in an effort to comply with demands by the European Court of Human Rights to clarify the country’s legal position on the issue.

Cathal Mcnaughton/Reuters

A vigil was held in Dublin on Monday in memory of Dr. Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist who died after being denied an abortion.

The proposed legislative and regulatory changes would allow abortion only in cases where there is a real and substantial risk to a woman’s life — as distinct from her health.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that abortion was permissible when risk was present, but the government never passed a law to that effect.

Addressing Parliament after the announcement, Prime Minister Enda Kenny was at pains to emphasize that the proposals would allow abortion only in certain cases. He added that the threat of suicide could be among them.

The abortion debate has convulsed Ireland for decades, but calls for change reached a crescendo after the death of Dr. Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist, in October. Dr. Halappanavar arrived at a Galway hospital in severe pain and was found to be miscarrying. Her fetus had a heartbeat, making termination of the pregnancy illegal under Irish law. She died of septicemia a week after admission.

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Boeing uses potatoes to simulate humans in test of Wi-Fi signals

By Hugo Martin

December 19, 2012, 10:44 a.m.

Boeing, the Seattle-based company that has built some of the world's most sophisticated aircraft, has turned to a very basic food staple to test airplane Wi-Fi: potatoes.

About 20,000 pounds of potatoes were used as stand-ins for passengers during tests at the company's laboratories to ensure onboard Wi-Fi signals are consistent through the cabin without interrupting the navigation and communication systems, the company said Wednesday.

The sacks of potatoes replicate the way human passengers reflect and absorb electronic signals, said Boeing spokesman Adam Tischler.

Without the potatoes, Tischler said Boeing would have to employ dozens of people to sit in a grounded plane for hours while Wi-Fi signals are measured and adjusted.

The testing idea has been dubbed Synthetic Personnel Using Dialectric Substitution, or SPUDS.

ALSO:

What passenger fees will airlines think up next?

A questionable way to avoid airline bag-check fees

Fliers in December and January are more likely to lose luggage 

Follow Hugo Martin on Twitter at @hugomartin

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A search for normality as Newtown schools reopen after massacre

The Newtown tragedy was in the minds of many as schools opened as usual across the country. Lee Woodruff met with a group of teachers in Westchester County, N.Y., about getting back to work after a difficult weekend.

By Tina Susman and Michael Muskal

December 18, 2012, 9:31 a.m.

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Amid increased security, schools reopened here on Tuesday as this town searched for a road back to normality after last week’s massacre at a local elementary school.

Funerals for the 20 first-graders and six adults killed Friday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School will continue throughout the week. Two children were buried on Monday amid the cold and rain and two more funerals are scheduled for Tuesday.

Sandy Hook remained closed, however, and will likely be shuttered for months as authorities continue their investigation into the shooting spree by Adam Lanza, 20, who killed himself after invading the school, opening fire on students and staff and then turning a gun on himself.

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Photos: Massacre at elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Who they were: Connecticut school shooting victims

Full coverage: Connecticut school shooting

Transcript and video: Obama's speech

Timeline: Deadliest U.S. mass shootings

The weapons Lanza used were legally owned by his mother, Nancy, who was the first of the 28 people who died from bullets that morning.

Yellow school buses rumbled along roads Tuesday morning, some still dotted with makeshift memorials to those who were slain. Children laden with book bags waited outside their homes for the buses.

 PHOTOS: Shooting at Connecticut school

But it was clear this would not be a normal day for them despite teachers' efforts and the stepped-up presence oflawenforcement. Staffers met on Monday with psychologists and other specialists to hear how to handle their own grief and children's questions.

“It's important to try to make things feel normal for her,” a mother who would give only her first name -- Barbara -- said, explaining why she decided to have her 8-year-old daughter head back to classes.

 FULL COVERAGE: Shooting at Connecticut school

Barbara, who was driving her daughter to school, said she knew not all parents would be comfortable letting their kids go into the schools, even with extra security. “I'll be a lot more anxious than usual,” she admitted.

Newtown police Lt. George Sinko said sending children back to school is a personal choice and parents would have to make their own decisions.

“I can't imagine what it must be like being a parent with a child that young, putting them on a school bus,” Sinko said.

In addition to trying to reassure parents, the increased police presence helped keep the media from the schools. Police have also said they will severely prosecute anyone perpetrating hoaxes, such as two telephone calls saying there were bombs on the grounds of a local church, St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church.

Police have been told to act aggressively, as they did in nearby Ridgefield on Monday where they shut down schools amid reports of a suspicious man at the train station. After investigating, police told reporters there was no threat.

In addition to the investigation at Ridgefield, about 20 miles from Newtown, there have been reports across the country of closures by anxious officials. Two schools were locked down in South Burlington, Vt., and a high school in Windham, N.H., was briefly locked down. Neither case involved any threat.

Two more children will be buried on Tuesday and both funerals will be held at St. Rose, which has been a center of grief counseling and community support. Services will be held for 6-year-olds Jessica Rekos and James Mattioli.

Jessica was avid about horses and had asked Santa for new cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat this year, according to her family. “Jessica loved everything about horses,” her parents, Rich and Krista Rekos, said in a statement. “She devoted her free time to watching horse movies, reading horse books, drawing horses and writing stories about horses.”

James was described by his relatives as a “numbers guy” who loved math.

On Monday, two funeral homes were filled with mourners for Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, both 6. Pozner had a Jewish service and Pinto a Christian one.

Noah Pozner’s twin, Arielle, survived the rampage because she was assigned a different classroom.

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Who was Gossip Girl? The series finale told all

NEW YORK (AP) — "Gossip Girl" ended its six-season run with a major reveal: The identity of its tattle-tale blogger.

Known only as Gossip Girl and given narrative voice by actress Kristen Bell, she turned out to be a he. The Monday night finale revealed Gossip Girl was secretly the work of character Dan Humphrey.

Dan, played by Penn Badgley, was a budding poet and a student at Manhattan's posh St. Jude's Preparatory School for Boys. But he came from the other side of the tracks, or rather, from Brooklyn, across the East River.

His Gossip Girl blog was a sassy tell-all account of the lives of the privileged young adults who made up the CW drama. Other series stars included Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Chace Crawford.

At the end, Dan fittingly pronounced Gossip Girl dead.

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Online:

http://www.cwtv.com

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