Washington

Washington -- Democratic leaders, and the White House, rallied around dozens of family members and friends of the victims of the Newtown tragedy Thursday.

Some Newtown families met privately with President Obama and Vice President Biden.

“As we approach the six-month anniversary of that terrible day, we will never forget and we will continue to fight alongside them,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

Washington –- A wide-ranging and ambitious immigration bill that would provide 11 million undocumented people with legal status easily overcame its first hurdle Tuesday.

The Senate voted 82-15 to begin debate on the bill. Connecticut's two senators, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both Democrats, were in the majority that voted to move the bill forward.

Tuesday’s overwhelming, bipartisan vote belies the problems the bill faces, both in escaping major revisions on the Senate floor and rejection by the GOP-led House.

Washington -- Howard Permut, president of Metro-North, said the railroad has taken several steps in reaction to last month’s derailment near Bridgeport.

Those included retaining the Transportation Technology Center, a railroad testing and training facility located near Pueblo, Colo.

A faulty joint bar -- which holds two sections of track together -- was discovered near the site of the collision, and a section of the track was brought to Washington, D.C., for testing by the National Transportation Safety Board.