Blog Posts by Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News

What does the political wrangling over a one-lane gravel road through 10 miles of a remote Alaskan wildlife refuge tell us about President Barack Obama’s influence with Congress? Plenty, as it turns out.

Inside the Beltway, reporters and political players have been consumed with trying to gauge the prospects for Obama's second-term agenda in light of his defeat in the fight over a bipartisan bill to enhance background checks of would-be gun buyers. Can he twist arms? Can he cut deals? Is Congress immune to his charms and his threats?

On Monday, the New York Times' analysis was that the president lacks “an appetite for ruthless politics that instills fear in lawmakers.” Exhibit A, the Times said: Democratic Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska asked Obama to send newly minted Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to his home state to help get the road approved. Begich voted against the gun bill, but Jewell is still going. The rebellious senator still gets what he wants from the wobbly White House.

Case closed? Not so much. A closer look at Jewell’s trip also teaches a very different lesson, providing evidence of a president cutting deals with recalcitrant lawmakers to get what he wants. And then keeping his end of the bargain.

President Barack Obama on Monday telephoned FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers and Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis to praise them and their teams' work in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, the White House said in a statement.

Obama called "to express his appreciation to the men and women of the Boston Field Office, Boston Police Department, and all the members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force," according to the statement.

"The president hailed the professionalism and bravery demonstrated by officers since Monday, and praised the impressive coordination between these federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies who together were able to bring this chapter of this tragedy to a close," it said. "While the president acknowledged there is still much work ahead, he thanked Special Agent in Charge DesLauriers and Commissioner Davis for their leadership and told them that the law enforcement officials, the citizens of Boston, and all affected by this

President Barack Obama has invited all 20 women senators to dinner at the White House on Tuesday night for a wide-ranging conversation about his legislative priorities and second-term goals, according to a source familiar with the plans.

The meal is the latest in Obama's newly assertive outreach to lawmakers—he has dined with Republican and Democratic senators in the past few weeks. His schedule sets dinnertime on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the State Dining Room of the White House.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted her appreciation for the invitation.

Thank you Pres. Obama for inviting all the women Senators to the White House for dinner tomw night. Looking forward to it! #offthesidelines

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) April 22, 2013

Vice President Joe Biden (Rick OsentoskiAP)Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, will travel to Cambridge, Mass., on Wednesday to attend the memorial service for an MIT police officer allegedly killed by the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings.

A White House official said the Bidens will attend the ceremony for Sean Collier, 26.

The noon event will be open to the MIT community and law-enforcement officers from around the country, the institution announced. It is expected to attract 10,000 attendees.

In his remarks after the manhunt for the suspects ended on Friday, Obama publicly sent prayers to Collier's family.

"He was just 26 years old. And as his family has said, he died bravely in the line of duty, doing what he committed his life to doing—serving and protecting others. So we're grateful to him," the president said.

President Barack Obama (Jason Reed/Reuters)The White House announced Monday that the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, will be tried in federal court for his alleged crimes. Press secretary Jay Carney flatly rebuffed demands from many Republicans that Tsarnaev be designated an "enemy combatant" in order to interrogate him without constitutional safeguards like access to a lawyer.

"He will not be treated as an enemy combatant. We will prosecute this terrorist through our civilian system of justice," Carney told reporters at his daily briefing.

Carney pointed to the convictions and life sentences handed down in other high-profile terror cases like the so-called Times Square Bomber, Faisal Shahzad, and the so-called Underwear Bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. "The system has repeatedly proved that it can successfully handle the threat that we continue to face," Carney said.

Carney said the decision fell to the Department of Justice and especially Attorney General Eric Holder, but stressed that “the whole national security team supports this decision.”

Tsarnaev is a a U.S. citizen of Chechen heritage.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has led calls for the government to hold the suspect as an enemy combatant in order to question him unhindered. Graham and other lawmakers argue that failing to do so could hamper investigators' ability to detect and disrupt potential threats that Tsarnaev might know about.

But Carney said doing so would be illegal.

President Barack Obama leaves after speaking in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Friday, April 19, 2013. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)President Barack Obama will observe a moment of silence at 2:50 p.m. Monday in honor of the victims of the Boston bombings, the White House announced. That's the time exactly one week ago when twin explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed 3 people and injured 180.

Obama's solemn tribute to those victims of the attack comes amid a debate in Washington about whether to hold the surviving suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, as an enemy combatant.

That status would deny Tsarnaev, a U.S. citizen of Chechen heritage, access to a lawyer and other constitutional protections. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has led calls for the government to hold the suspect as an enemy combatant in order to able to question him unhindered.

Obama has not yet disclosed explicitly where he stands on that question, but he praised America's courts in his statement after the manhunt ended on Friday.

"When a tragedy like this happens, with public safety at risk and the

President Barack Obama late Friday praised Boston police and law enforcement cooperation for their week-long response to the Boston Marathon bombings and acknowledged "many unanswered questions" about what drove the suspects to violence. But he emphasized that the alleged terrorists have "already failed" if they sought to divide America.

"Tonight, our nation is in debt to the people of Boston and the people of Massachusetts," Obama said in hastily arranged public remarks in the White House briefing room. "After a vicious attack on their city, Bostonians responded with resolve and determination. They did their part as citizens and partners in this investigation.

"Obviously, tonight, there are still many unanswered questions. Among them: Why did young men who grew up and studied here as part of our communities and our country resort to such violence? How did they plan and carry out these attacks? And did they receive any help?" he said, in the clearest-yet suggestion that violence might have had roots overseas. The families of those killed and those who were wounded "deserve answers," he said, and federal law-enforcement agencies will deploy "all the necessary resources" to give them that satisfaction.

"We will determine what happened. We will investigate any associations that these terrorists may have had. And we’ll continue to do whatever we have to do to keep our people safe," Obama said.

"One thing we do know is that whatever hateful agenda drove these men to such heinous acts will not, cannot prevail. Whatever they thought they could ultimately achieve, they’ve already failed," the president said.

A City of Corinth police car prevents access to a house in the West Hills Subdivision in Corinth, Miss. on Thursday morning, April 18, 2013. Law enforcement officials were blocking off the dwelling after taking Paul Kevin Curtis of Corinth, Mississippi into custody Wednesday. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)He's reportedly an Elvis impersonator, he was apparently writing a novel about black-market body parts, and now he's definitely in big trouble.

Federal authorities announced Thursday that Paul Kevin Curtis, arrested on suspicion that he sent potentially poisoned letters to President Barack Obama and Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, has been charged with threatening the life of the president. Curtis, 45, appeared in court Thursday.

“If convicted on these charges, Curtis faces maximum possible penalties of 15 years in prison, $500,000 in fines and three years of supervised release,” said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi Felicia Adams and Daniel McMullen, special agent in charge of the FBI in Mississippi, in a joint statement.

Authorities arrested the Corinth, Miss., resident on Wednesday. Letters he allegedly sent to Obama and Wicker tested positive for ricin, a deadly substance for which there is no known antidote. The letters were intercepted at off-site mail facilities. The Clarion-Ledger of nearby Jackson, Miss., posted photos of a man it said was Curtis in the throes of passion—as an Elvis Presley impersonator.

Curtis, 45, faces charges of “knowingly depositing for conveyance in the mail and for delivery from any post office any letter, paper, writing or document containing threats to take the life of or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States” and of “knowingly depositing and causing to be delivered by the Postal Service according to the directions thereon, communications addressed to other persons, and containing a threat to injure the person of others.”

But you want to read about the body parts thing, right?