Blog Posts by Rachel Rose Hartman, Yahoo! News

President Barack Obama will travel to Boston Thursday morning to attend a service for victims of the bombings at the Boston Marathon, the White House announced Tuesday.

The president will "speak at an interfaith service dedicated to those who were gravely wounded or killed in Monday’s bombing near the finish line of the Boston Marathon," the press secretary said in a statement.

As of late Tuesday, officials confirmed that three individuals had been killed as a result of the attack and over 170 had been injured.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced during a press conference Tuesday evening that the service will be scheduled for 11 a.m. ET at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End neighborhood.

"I'm very pleased that the president will join us for that to help us all heal," Patrick said.

Obama will be canceling a trip Friday to the University of Kansas. Details of that trip—including its purpose—had not been publicly released by the White House or the university.

President Barack Obama continued to receive updates from his staff overnight on Monday's deadly explosions at the Boston Marathon, according to a White House statement Tuesday morning:

Overnight, the President received updates from his Assistant for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco on the ongoing response efforts and investigation into the explosions in Boston, including the continuing federal support for those activities. The President made clear that he expects to be kept up to date on any developments and directed his team to make sure that all federal resources that can support these efforts, including the investigation being led by the FBI, be made available. Later this morning the President will receive a briefing from his Assistant for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco, FBI Director Robert Mueller and other senior members of his team.

There still is a yellow crime-tape perimeter closing the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue that runs just outside

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Monday said President Barack Obama knows about the Philadelphia murder trial of former abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, but declined to offer specific comment.

Gosnell has been charged with third-degree murder in the 2009 death of Karnamaya Mongar, who prosecutors allege was given a lethal dosage of anesthesia and pain killers during an abortion at Gosnell’s clinic. He's also charged with killing seven babies. Among other things, he has been accused of snipping some babies' spinal cords with scissors to ensure their deaths.

In response to a question about the president's reaction to the case, Carney said Obama is "aware" of it, but "the president does not and cannot take a position on an ongoing trial, so I won't as well."

Carney said, "Certainly, the things that you hear and read about this case are unsettling."

Whether you're busy putting the finishing touches on your tax return today, filing that extension or even if you finished everything ahead of time, you may be wondering how exactly all those taxes you pay are being spent.

The White House is once again offering an answer. Each tax day since 2011, the White House has published an online "Taxpayer Receipt" tool to answer that question. Enter your Social Security tax, Medicare tax and income tax into the widget, and it produces a breakdown of your tax dollars spent on national defense, health care, education and other areas. Click this link to access the 2012 tool.

Louis-Dreyfus and Biden April 12, 2013 (Lawrence Jackson/White House)

She didn't get that call from the president, but the pretend veep did get to have lunch with the real veep at the White House Friday.

Vice President Joe Biden invited actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays Vice President Selina Meyer in HBO's "Veep," to the White House for lunch Friday ahead of her show's season premiere.

"We had a lovely lunch, and it's a day I'll never forget," Louis-Dreyfus said in an audio recording accompanying a photo (above) released later Friday on the White House's "Being Biden" website.

Lauper (Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)UPDATED 2:25 p.m.

Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee claimed Friday that he sent tweets to pop singer Cyndi Lauper, including one calling her "hot," and deleted them in order to draw the attention of a website that monitors politicians' deleted tweets. The website would then publicize the tweets to Lauper, Cohen claimed, fooling the media and drawing more attention to a White House concert at which Lauper performed.

Got that?

The Tennessee Democrat earlier this week sent two tweets to Lauper, who was performing at the Memphis Soul event at the White House Tuesday night.

"@cyndilauper great night,couldn't believe how hot u were.see you again next Tuesday.try a little tenderness," read one.

"Cyndi,Wow what a night!See you next Tuesday and Try a little tenderness again!Wow!What a special night.Thanks Steve," read the other.

Cohen deleted those tweets, but not before they were picked up by the Sunlight Foundation's Politwoops website and broadcast by media outlets, many of which noted the "hot" reference.

Cohen has gotten in trouble on Twitter before. In February, Politwoops disclosed that Cohen had deleted tweets expressing love to a young woman whom the lawmaker admitted was a daughter he recently learned he had fathered.

On Friday, Cohen quickly called a press conference in his office to say the Lauper tweets were just a ruse and a form of payback to those who reported on the tweets to his daughter.

He read from the following statement:

“Two months ago, my family was personally hurt and victimized by sensationalized, fact-less speculation masquerading as journalism. I hope this serves to bring attention to the need for journalistic integrity as well as encouraging everyone to watch the spectacular and hot performances of Memphis music."

UPDATED 3:13 pm ET

Instead of delivering his weekly address to the nation, President Barack Obama has asked Francine Wheeler, whose son was killed in the Dec. 14 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., to deliver the remarks, which will air Saturday.

Obama personally tweeted the news after it was first announced by White House press secretary Jay Carney at Friday's briefing:

Francine Wheeler, a Newtown mom, will take my place in tomorrow's Weekly Address. It's a message everyone should hear: #NowIsTheTime. -bo

— The White House (@whitehouse) April 12, 2013

Family members of the 20 children and six educators killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December have been lobbying lawmakers in Washington, D.C., this week to pass legislation to reduce gun violence. Their work has been credited with preventing a bill to expand background checks for gun purchases from being blocked by a Senate filibuster.

The president "believes their voices and resolve have been critical to the continued progress we've seen in the Senate," Carney said of the families.

Gay marriage supporters outside the Supreme Court (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

As the Supreme Court debates the constitutionality of gay marriage issues and politician after politician comes out in support of same-sex marriage, a new poll (pdf) finds that a majority of Americans—53 percent—believe same sex couples should be able to marry and increasing numbers say they know someone who is gay.

Forty-two percent of respondents in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll said they oppose gay marriage, and support and opposition largely broke along partisan lines, according to NBC's analysis. Some 73 percent of Democrats said they support same-sex nuptials, while 66 percent of Republicans were opposed. Fifty-four percent of independents were in support.

Seventy-nine percent of adults surveyed said they know or work with someone who is gay or lesbian—a sharp increase from December poll figures that showed 65 percent of respondents knew someone who was gay or lesbian.

But the adults surveyed said that a personal connection doesn't influence their viewpoint. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed who said they know someone who was gay or lesbian said it doesn't influence their support or opposition to gay marriage. Fifteen percent said it did make them more likely to support it, and 4 percent said it made them less likely to support it.