Jenna's Other Side: A Doting Teacher
Everyone seems to know about Jenna Bush, the blond half of the partying first twins. But, like her sister, Barbara, who's caring for AIDS-afflicted children in Africa, the 23-year-old has shelved her dancing shoes and is following in the footsteps of her mom, Laura, the former Texas school librarian. Jenna has turned her attention to Washington's Hispanic Mount Pleasant neighborhood, coteaching second graders at the highly regarded Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School. And, we're hearing, the University of Texas English major is wowing folks at the school, which teaches English along with Spanish or French. One example: Just last month, her second-grade class dropped into the neighborhood public library, marching quietly up to the second floor where there's a sprawling children's reading room. "It was great, and very sweet," recalls a librarian. "She was just a good teacher, and the kids were hanging all over her." It was the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, and Jenna was helping the kids find books and showing them how to handle the check-out. She never raised her voice or showed frustration. Friends say she even speaks a little Spanish. "We were all really impressed. It was all very positive," says the librarian. "It made me feel hopeful that even though she's been around all that power, she's a real person. And I really liked her boots."
From Harley Hogs to Heaven's Angels
The most famous Harley-Davidson rider in the Senate, John Kerry, could soon be traveling to London or Africa to help Virgin's Richard Branson launch his latest idea: using motorcycles to deliver medicines to Africa's rural areas. "It's a great idea," says Kerry of the Brit's plan. "He may force me to do it." Branson, who discussed his "Heaven's Angels" plan with the former--and likely future--Democratic presidential hopeful, said he plans to raise money at a London motorcycle parade in November that will help fund the program. When told of Kerry's semicommitment, Branson eagerly encouraged us to publish it as a way of pressuring Kerry to join him. "If he said that, write it up, write it up."
Oh, to Have Been in Joe Biden's Shoes
This week's kiss-up award has to go to Sen. Joe Biden. And who could blame him? It happened last week, when he hosted an AIDS roundtable featuring activist and film star Angelina Jolie. Halfway through the session, the Delaware Democrat went to the back of the room and grabbed a couple of club sandwiches, presenting one to the sexy Jolie. "I'm serving," he chirped. He then gave her a napkin, winning a broad smile from those famous lips. It was all for naught, though: "Angie" only sipped water.
New Troubles From a Pesky Old Case
Right as she steps up her 2006 re-election campaign, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will face new criticism stemming from a years-old event. Kathleen Willey Schwicker, who says she was groped in the Oval Office by President Clinton as she sought a job, tells us she is going to release a new book that slams Hillary for not stopping the White House spin machine from crushing her. "It's not so much about the incident but about what they would do to an ordinary American woman," she tells us. "Hillary Clinton champions herself for female workers' rights and for women, but she doesn't. She didn't support the women involved in all of Clinton's messes." Like: Retaliating for Willey Schwicker's 60 Minutes appearance by approving the release of letters Willey Schwicker sent the president, after the alleged incident, in which she calls herself his No. 1 fan. "I just want people to know what it is like to be in their cross hairs," she says. Clinton's office had no comment.
The Tangled History of the Date Palm
Lt. Gen. David Petraeus spent more than two years in Iraq, first leading the 101st Airborne into battle in the initial invasion, then overseeing Mosul, and finally as the leader of the effort to rebuild the Iraqi Army and police until stepping down last month. For his efforts, Iraq made him the first American general to receive the Golden Award of the Iraqi Order of the Date Palm, one of the nation's highest honors. Here's the rest of the story: The medal was originally presented during the Saddam Hussein era. And it was pinned on by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, the Pentagon's favorite exile before the war who was later accused of being a spy. It's just the latest example of how confusing the situation in Iraq can be.
Now for Katrina's Bright Side...
It's not all devastation for the White House in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Aides actually see some benefits, mostly to their policy agenda. Here's the inside view: More fuel refineries will be built, regulations on energy will be cut, Davis-Bacon wage requirements will be eliminated, and major tax reforms will win a receptive audience in Congress.
West Nile on the Potomac
Tourists beware: Washington's Mall can be deadly. Turns out it's a hotbed of the sometimes fatal West Nile virus. "The Mall has the highest density of mosquitoes in the region," says A. Marm Kilpatrick, a senior research scientist at the Consortium for Conservation Medicine. We ran into him last week as he pulled birds from nets rigged on the Mall; he was drawing blood in a quest to figure out how West Nile infects humans. He has made some discoveries: House sparrows and grackles spread the disease like crazy, while pigeons don't.
Pumping Iron to Save Her Bones
Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins is lifting weights, but not to fight Democrats. She tells us her enemy is osteoporosis. "I'm lifting," she says. "Free weights twice a week, which isn't enough." It's all part of her effort to keep the bone disease that strikes women at bay. How much does she lift? Collins, 52, laughs. "Eight-pound weights," she confesses, "but you've got to realize where I started."
usnews.com Katrina general ' s " Stupid " bark at reporters takes off: www.usnews.com/whispers
With Suzi Parker, Julian E. Barnes and Nancy Shute
This story appears in the October 10, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.