White House

The Lakers came in first to a standing ovation in the East Room of the White House today, all of them wearing suits for their visit to meet the president of the United States, most of them looking excited and nervous. Then President Obama came in, bounding up to the podium to an ovation that included all the Lakers' players, all of them with smiles on their faces. Obama congratulated the Lakers for winning the franchise's 15th NBA championship, a 4-1 NBA Finals victory in June over the Orlando Magic, which was their fourth in the last decade.

Continuing to spotlight the importance of the arts, First Lady Michelle Obama will host the first in a series of White House musical workshops today for 150 middle and high school jazz students, including 14 Los Angeles-area teenagers from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.

The Secret Service said a suspect potentially tied to a shooting incident near the White House on Friday has been arrested in Pennsylvania. Officials with the agency said they were not yet sure whether Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, fired the bullets that were found at the White House on Tuesday. But whoever did shoot at the presidential mansion hit a ballistic glass window on the residential level hard enough to crack it and struck another spot on the exterior on the south side, which includes the Oval Office.

When the script writers elect to kill off a popular television series character with a suicide instead of a car crash, you know that somebody needs to make an exit that's fast -- and within budget. That's exactly what Kal Penn, a member of the ensemble cast that has helped make "House" such a hit for Fox, needed this week when he announced he is putting aside acting, at least for now, to become an associate director of the White House Office of Public Liaison.

WASHINGTON - Facing questions about President Obama's experience with firearms, the White House has released a photo of the chief executive in the act of firing one. Obama, in an interview published by the New Republic, claimed that had used a gun at the Camp David presidential retreat. "We do skeet shooting all the time," the president said. "Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there. " That prompted snickering from some of the president's conservative critics and questions for the president's press secretary.

WASHINGTON - The White House has been struggling to highlight cutbacks at federal agencies now that the so-called sequester has hit. On Tuesday, it found one close to home. Tours of the executive mansion will be canceled starting March 9, the White House announced, citing “staffing reductions resulting from sequestration.” The tours will not be rescheduled and the freeze will be in effect “until further notice.” The cancellation will annoy plenty of tourists who tour the White House after securing their tickets well in advance through their elected representative's office.

This year, the vegetables served at the White House will be as locally grown as possible -- some right on the South Lawn. After a campaign by gardeners and sustainable-food activists, the first family has decided to dig up part of the White House grounds for a vegetable garden. In a ceremony today, First Lady Michelle Obama and local elementary students will break ground for the project.

In another display of adapting campaign tactics to governing, the White House posted a video on its official website Tuesday to rebut accusations that President Obama's healthcare proposals would do away with private health insurance. The video shows White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass sitting in front of a computer monitor displaying the Drudge Report website.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama will name Denis McDonough as the new White House chief of staff and announce other changes to his staff Friday afternoon, a White House official said. McDonough is deputy national security advisor and a trusted advisor to the president, particularly on matters of foreign policy. He joined the Obama team during the 2008 presidential campaign after years as a Capitol Hill aide. The new job will broaden McDonough's role in the White House beyond diplomacy and foreign affairs.

The U.S. Secret Service is working to determine whether damage to an exterior window of the White House is linked to a Friday night shooting near the Washington Monument, after bullets were discovered at the presidential mansion Tuesday. The Secret Service's Uniformed Division, Washington's Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Park Police and other law enforcement agencies continue a joint effort to locate 21-year-old Oscar Ortega-Hernandez, based on evidence recovered from a vehicle found in the 2300 block of Constitution Avenue near the National Mall on Friday night after reports of shots fired near the Washington Monument.