Washington Whispers

We told you that the president's trio tasked to look into the Virginia Tech murders was planning to announce a listening tour, and today it did. The tour begins tomorrow and will touch down in states like New Mexico, Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Iowa, Tennessee, Texas, and California. Here's the release the Department of Health and Human Services planned to put out today.

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While last week's Virginia Tech murders are still in the headlines, the administration this week plans to begin a listening tour of major campuses and educational facilities to look into school safety and mental health issues and to tell state and local officials that the feds have a lot of resources they can tap. "This isn't just a four-year-college issue," says an administration official. "It also impacts K-12 and two-year colleges so every educational facility has to be included." The plan to hold education safety roundtables around the country could be announced as soon as Wednesday. President Bush last week announced plans to have three Cabinet officials—Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, and Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt—form his school safety task force. Officials said that tour dates are already being scheduled and one is set for New Mexico on Friday. There, Gov. Bill Richardson has already set up his own school safety task force, as has Virginia's governor, Tim Kaine. While the planned roundtables are the major effort by the administration to address the Virginia Tech shootings, administration officials say that the White House is also looking at forming a broader task force that would include key educators, doctors, and college administrators.

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JOE CIARDIELLO FOR USN&WR

He was 66 and just plain bored after over 40 years with NBC and the Today Show. "I'd covered four presidents," says John Palmer, "and there's a lot of 'Been there, done that' to it." So in 2002, "I went to [Washington Bureau Chief] Tim Russert and said, 'I just don't want to do this anymore.'" A bachelor until he was 46, Palmer still had three school-age daughters and worried he was missing too much time with them. "I was married to NBC all of those years. I was the guy who always had the suitcase by the door," he tells us. In retirement, a new life called: family, golf, and writing.

Then last year, with his youngest a senior in high school, he got a call from a new cable station, Retirement Living Television. "I didn't even know what it was," he laughs. He does now, hosting three shows and acting as a real-life demonstration of many in today's retirement class: working for fun, not just a paycheck. Geared for the 55-plus crowd, the network created by Maryland retirement community bigwig John Erickson is growing fast. And covering real, major issues. "We don't do shuffleboard shows," says Palmer. Now a sharp-looking 71, Palmer sounds almost giddy about his 10-day-a-month work schedule. And, he adds, "my wife has noticed a new spring in my step when I get up."

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Before forking over the $13 to $22 for one of those U.S. flags ceremoniously flown over the Capitol, consider this: Witnesses say it's being mishandled. House staffers, who can see the operation from their offices, say that the flags are being attached only by the top ring, not properly at the top and bottom. It just flaps in the breeze, hardly a scene from Iwo Jima. "If you're not going to do it right, then don't do it all," says our tipster, a senior House staffer. "When people order the flag, they want to feel like it's something special," says the aide. "This is just a way to fly it fast." A spokesperson for the House architect, who oversees the program, was unaware of the problem but said it would be fixed.

With Anna Mulrine

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