(CNN) — U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords made a public appearance Monday evening in Houston with her astronaut husband at a NASA function, a spokesman said.

The Arizona congresswoman appeared alongside Mark Kelly, who received a Spaceflight Medal during an awards ceremony at Space Center Houston.

“Personally, I was not surprised at all,” Giffords’ spokesman C.J. Karamargin said. “For us it is clear the congresswoman’s physical strength is improving as well as her cognitive and verbal abilities.”

PORTLAND, Ore. — Senior staffers of U.S. Rep. David Wu were so alarmed over the Oregon Democrat’s erratic behavior just days before the November election that they demanded he enter a hospital for psychiatric treatment, a newspaper reported Friday evening.

The Oregonian, citing interviews with a number of anonymous staff members, reported on its website that Wu was increasingly unpredictable on the campaign trial and in private last fall, and had several angry and loud outbursts and sometimes said “kooky” things to staff around potential voters and donors.

HOUSTON — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords got a dramatic send-off from her hometown Friday as throngs of sign-carrying well-wishers lined the streets to wave at the ambulance taking the wounded congresswoman from the hospital to the airport, where she was flown to Houston just two weeks after she was shot.

The trip by ambulance, jet and helicopter took her to a Houston hospital where she will undergo weeks of rigorous rehabilitation.

The White House shifted into Christmas mode on Friday as Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha accepted the gift of an 18½-foot Douglas fir from Pennsylvania as the official White House Christmas Tree.

A military band played “Oh Christmas Tree” during the ceremony.
Story: Obama needs 12 stitches after being hit on lip during basketball game

CLEVELAND — Former President Jimmy Carter, on a trip promoting his new book, developed an upset stomach on a flight to Cleveland on Tuesday and was staying at a hospital overnight at his doctor’s recommendation.

Carter’s grandson, Georgia state Sen. Jason Carter, said his 85-year-old grandfather was doing fine.

“He’s definitely resting comfortably and expected to continue his book tour this week,” Jason Carter said. “I haven’t talked to him, but nobody in the family is concerned.”

WASHINGTON – Republicans are promising to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul if they win control of Congress. But with what?

Not even they know.

Some have proposed major changes to workplace coverage, even turning Medicare into a voucher plan. Many prefer small steps that tiptoe around political land mines. Others want a clean start.

New York (CNN) — Former President Bill Clinton has shown “no evidence of heart attack or damage to his heart,” and his prognosis is excellent after undergoing a procedure Thursday to restore blood flow in one of his coronary arteries, according to his doctor.

Clinton, 63, was hospitalized at New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s Columbia campus after experiencing brief periods of discomfort in his chest over several days, according to Dr. Allan Schwartz, the hospital’s chief of cardiology.

A little more than a week ago, few Americans had heard of Rep. Alan Grayson, who represents the Orlando area, and more than a handful of his congressional colleagues may not have been able to pick the 6-foot-4, 51-year-old out of a lineup.

But that was before the combative Bronx-born congressman and Harvard-educated lawyer took to the floor of the House of Representatives last week, shocking the few Republicans within earshot when he dramatically declared the GOP health care plan is “Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.”

The after-hours tirade quickly made the rounds online and on television the next morning, energizing Republicans and Democrats alike — many of whom from both parties appear eager to keep the rhetoric surrounding the health care debate at a fever pitch. Video Watch the congressman on the House floor »

In the midst of perhaps the most contentious national debate since the Vietnam War, President Obama has nominated a paid consultant for Burger King to be the nation’s top doctor.

Can you spell tone-deaf?

Dr. Regina Benjamin has been paid 10-thousand dollars since last year to serve on a scientific advisory board for the company that brings us the Whopper and the B-K Triple Stacker.

According to the Washington Times, Burger King says the doctor was on the company’s nutritional advisory panel… which is meant to “promote balanced diets and active lifestyle choices.”

WASHINGTON – The stubborn yet false rumor that President Obama’s health care proposals would create government-sponsored “death panels” to decide which patients were worthy of living seemed to arise from nowhere in recent weeks.

Advanced even this week by Republican stalwarts including the party’s last vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, and Charles E. Grassley, the veteran Iowa senator, the nature of the assertion nonetheless seemed reminiscent of the modern-day viral Internet campaigns that dogged Mr. Obama last year, falsely calling him a Muslim and questioning his nationality.