The nation mourned the loss of six people killed in a shooting spree in Arizona at a public meeting with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The congresswoman showed what her doctors called remarkable signs of recovery from a gunshot wound to the head.  Amid concerns about security for members of Congress, Sen. Bernie Sanders said he already is planning more town meetings in Vermont. In his weekly radio broadcast on The Thom Hartmann Program, Sanders called interaction with constituents "the heart and soul of what our democracy is about."

Listen to the Audio Week in Review from the Hartmann Program

Tragedy in Tucson Sanders first made it clear on Thursday that he will continue to hold town meetings like the hundreds he has hosted before.  "I do not want to see, as a result of this tragedy, members of Congress retreating behind security ... and not having contact that they need with their constituents in order to hear what constituents have on their minds. That would be the worst thing that we could possibly do," Sanders said.  To read a Congressional Quarterly article on town meetings, click here.

Sanders Urges Obama to Save Social Security   Amid warning signs that Social Security faces new threats from some quarters at the White House and on Capitol Hill, Sanders on Friday announced that he had urged President Barack Obama to preserve the "strong and vibrant" system that serves more than 52 million Americans. In a letter to the president, Sanders referred to what he called "worrisome reports" that Obama is considering cuts in Social Security.  A coalition of labor unions and others on Thursday launched a campaign in advance of President Obama's State of the Union address baded on their concern about  Social Security.  To read more on Sanders's letter, click here. To read more about the coalition, click here.

Gas Prices Going Up The consumer price index rose 0.5 percent in December, mostly because the cost of gasoline went up by the largest amount since June 2009, the Labor Department reported on Friday. Responding to concerns that speculation has driven up consumer prices, federal regulators on Thursday took a step toward limiting trading of oil, food products and other commodities.  Sanders and seven other senators on Wednesday had sent the Commodity Futures Trading Commission a letter raising concerns about efforts by the financial industry to water down the proposed rules.

Steep, Lasting Drop in Wages There are 14.5 million unemployed Americans looking for work, and 6.4 million of them have been jobless for more than six months.  Beneath the surface of those statistics is another layer of trouble for America's collapsing middle class, a new analysis by the Labor Department found. Many laid-off workers who have found new jobs have had to settle for pay cuts or had to accept part-time work, often at jobs which are far below their skill levels. More than half the full-time workers who lost jobs between 2007 and 2009 and then found new full-time work had to settle for smaller paychecks. Thirty-six percent reported that their new job paid at least one-fifth less than the one they lost. A separate study found that Vermonters' median family income fell by $1,275 in 2009 or 1.9 percent to $64,900 - the lowest in a decade. A measure of family income which includes single parent families as well as married couples filing jointly showed an even greater decline to $55,241.

Health Care House Republican leaders said Thursday that they plan next week to begin their effort to repeal the new health care law.  Senate leaders have said they will block the effort and President Obama has vowed to veto the bill if it somehow reaches his desk. The law passed last year includes a Sanders provision to dramatically expand Federally Qualified Health Centers to serve 40 million patients by five years from now, twice as many as today. Sanders on Thursday visited a recently-opened dental clinic in Swanton, Vt., that the community health center in the area operates at a high school.  To read more about the dental clinic and health centers, click here.

More Fed Stonewalling Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke ducked a request from Sen. Bernie Sanders for more details about $3.3 trillion the central bank doled out in financial-crisis aid. Sanders on Tuesday said he was unhappy with Bernanke's response, arguing that Bernanke mostly avoided answering his questions. "I called for clear responses to these reasonable concerns, but got none," Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. "I find it amazing, but not surprising, that Chairman Bernanke could write a six-page letter in response to questions I had regarding the Fed's emergency lending programs without directly answering a single one of my specific questions." To read more, click here.