Gabrielle Giffords stands with help for first time; Loughner formally indicted
 

USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...ds-rehab_N.htm

Propped up by medical staffers, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords stood for the first time Wednesday, sat in a chair and spent some time flipping through personal photos on an iPad with her husband Mark Kelly, her doctor said.


"She's doing very well, still progressing," says Peter Rhee, chief trauma surgeon at University Medical Center (UMC) in Tucson. "We've been able to get her up in her chair. She was able to look out the window today. It seems like she recognizes more and more people every day."


If all continues to go well, Giffords will be transferred Friday to TIRR Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital in Houston, according to a statement released by C.J. Karamargin, a spokesman for the Arizona Democrat. The family considered rehabilitation hospitals in New York City, Chicago, Houston and Washington, D.C., the statement said.

Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47868.html

A federal grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday indicted Jared Lee Loughner on charges of attempting to kill U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and two of her aides, Ron Barber and Pamela Simon, during a shooting rampage Jan. 8 in Tucson.


Notably absent from the indictment were any charges relating to the two federal officials who were actually killed that day, U.S. District Judge John Roll and Giffords staffer Gabriel Zimmerman. Their deaths were charged as murders in the criminal complaint used to take Loughner into federal custody.


A statement from U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke stressed that the charges filed Wednesday were “the initial indictment” in the case and suggested that further charges would be forthcoming.


“We are in the early stages of this ongoing investigation. We have made considerable progress in a short period of time,” Burke said. “This case also involves potential death-penalty charges, and department rules require us to pursue a deliberate and thorough process. Today’s charges are just the beginning of our legal action, and we are working diligently to ensure that our investigation is thorough and that justice is done for the victims and their families.”

I read somewhere that the President may have messed up when he indicated that the Federal Judge just stopped by to say hi, rather than the original Justice statement that said the Judge was there on official business, to discuss something with the Congesswoman.

The Huffington Post makes a much better case than I could about the incident as reported by Politico. Link