In the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Obama pledged continuing support for veterans as they make the transition to civilian life.

“This is the first Veterans Day in a decade in which there are no American troops fighting and dying in Iraq,” the president said at the cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, where soldiers’ graves are marked with row upon row of simple white stones.

“After a decade of war, our heroes are coming home,” he said. “Over the next few years more than a million service members will transition back to civilian life.”

The president touted the work of first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, for their work in the Joining Forces campaign, which urges businesses to hire veterans. He also reaffirmed his commitment to continuing the post-9/11 GI Bill program, which provides college education funding for those who have served, and said soldiers suffering war-related health problems will get the care they need.

“No one who fights for this country overseas should ever have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care that they have earned when they come home,” he said.

After the ceremony, Obama visited with people in an area of the cemetery known as Section 60, where many of the solders who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are buried.

The Democratic president won re-election to a second four-year term on Tuesday and now faces tough negotiations with Republican congressional leaders to avoid sharp spending cuts that loom at the end of the year. A big chunk of those reductions would come through a decline in defense spending.

During the campaign, Obama and Biden regularly pledged their commitment to bringing troops home from Afghanistan and taking care of American veterans. Obama criticized his opponent, Republican Mitt Romney, for failing to mention the war in Afghanistan during his speech to the Republican National Convention.

(Reporting by Samson Reiny, writing by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

The so-called Master Teacher Corps program calls for recruiting 2,500 such educators at the outset and increasing that to 10,000 over four years, paying them $20,000 stipends on top of their base salaries. Each teacher would be required to serve at least four years.

To help launch the program, the Obama administration has pledged to release $100 million already available to school districts that have made plans to develop and retain effective teachers of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the plan would raise the prestige of the profession and increase teacher retention.

“This is a chance to look across the entire pipeline, from attracting better talent, to better mentoring that talent, to having folks stay in the profession for a much longer time,” Duncan told reporters on Tuesday in remarks embargoed until Wednesday.

“We’re not just fighting for better education here. We’re fighting for our country. If we want to keep good jobs in this country, we know we need a much better educated workforce, and so many of the skills that are in demand right now are in the STEM areas,” Duncan said.

Obama, facing a tough re-election bid in November amid a balky economy, has said he wants to prepare 100,000 additional STEM teachers over the next decade.

(Reporting By Samson Reiny; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Vicki Allen)

The new mandate gave temporary firefighters and their
families access to the same health insurance offered to
full-time federal employees, with the option of continuing
coverage at their own expense when the firefighting season
ended.

“Each day, these Americans put themselves in grave danger to
save the lives of people they never met,” Obama said in a
statement. “Their heroism in battling the deadly fires that have
impacted states across the country this summer inspires us all.”

Firefighters in mostly Western states, including Colorado,
have battled for weeks to contain a spree of wildfires that have
killed at least six people, displaced tens of thousands of
others and destroyed hundreds of homes.

Some 15,000 firefighters are on the federal government
payroll, but 8,000 of them are classified as temporary, seasonal
employees, making them ineligible for federal benefits such as
health insurance.

The move to give them the temporary coverage capped a
two-month-old online drive started by a member of a U.S. Forest
Service elite “hot-shot” crew, based in South Dakota, that had
drawn more than 125,000 signatures.

Obama traveled to Colorado last month where he toured damage
caused by that state’s most destructive wildfire on record. It
reduced more than 346 homes to ash, and at one point, forced the
evacuation of more than 30,000 people in and around Colorado
Springs.

(Reporting by Samson Reiny; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Paul
Simao)

One of the nation’s biggest fireworks parties went off without a hitch Wednesday night on Washington’s National Mall, while many communities canceled annual displays due to dry conditions or a weak economy.

Storm-ravaged states from Indiana to Virginia carried on Independence Day celebrations on Day 5 of a power outage caused by deadly winds ripping through the region.

More than 1 million homes and businesses remained affected and thousands of utility workers stayed on the job in a scramble to restore electricity.

“We still have a tree on the garage. It’s been one of those weeks,” said Gary Belniak, 57, of Wheaton, Illinois, who has been without power since Sunday when another destructive storm struck, forcing his town to cancel its parade and fireworks display.

Exhausted by three sleepless nights in a house where temperatures hover at about 90 Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius), Belniak said he had all but given up on the holiday.

Sizzling heat gripped much of the nation, with the National Weather Service reporting temperatures from 90 F to more than 100 F (37.7 C)from the Midwest to the Atlantic Coast.

“I’m going to go look for ice, cold gold is what it is. It’s very scarce,” Karen Allen, 43, of Charleston, West Virginia, said when asked how she planned to spend her holiday.

Even sweltering temperatures couldn’t wilt the patriotic spirit that drew crowds to hometown parades of marching bands, shiny fire trucks and children riding red, white and blue bedecked bicycles.

“America to me is small towns, kids, lollipops thrown from fire engines, balloons, dogs in the parade and hot dogs,” said E.B. Kelly, 73, as she watched the 10-minute long procession in tiny Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.

In Washington, President Barack Obama addressed two dozen foreign-born U.S. military personnel who were sworn in as citizens at the White House under a program that offers citizenship in return for service.

“What a perfect way to celebrate America’s birthday – the world’s oldest democracy – with some of our newest citizens,” he told the members, who came from countries including Mexico, Ghana, the Philippines, Bolivia, Guatemala and Russia.

Out West, extreme warmth coupled with dry conditions snuffed out annual fireworks displays in scores of towns and cities, which are reeling from deadly wildfires that charred hundreds of homes and displaced tens of thousands of people.

Along the East Coast, tragedy struck when a cache of fireworks apparently accidentally exploded on the back porch of a house in Pelham, New Hampshire, on Tuesday night, injuring more than 11 people, including two young children whose wounds were life threatening, fire and police officials said.

In Boston, rain disrupted the city’s nationally televised concert by the Boston Pops Orchestra. Thunderstorms and lightning forced hundreds of thousands of concertgoers to seek shelter, local media reported.

BALD EAGLES

Elsewhere in the country, the traditional Fourth of July razzle dazzle fell victim to a tepid economy with communities either scaling back fireworks shows or canceling them altogether.

But it was the very symbol of American independence – the bald eagle – that halted the show in the small New York hamlet of Narrowsburg on the Pennsylvania border. The local fire department canceled its fireworks display after being warned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that it could face enormous fines and even prison if any nearby bald eagles were harmed.

“We decided we’re not going to take the gamble,” said Fire Chief George Strumpfler, cancelling the show that began more than 100 years ago. “It doesn’t look like it’s ever going to happen again.”

Bald eagles, the national bird of the United States, were nearly extinct before the government banned the pesticide DDT in 1972 and later brought the bird under federal protections.

The National Archives celebrated the signing of the Declaration of Independence and later one of the biggest fireworks shows went ahead as planned despite the threat of a thunderstorm.

Although the heat index again topped 100 F, the National Mall was crowded with holiday revelers in festive hats and holding umbrellas and fans. They milled about the parched grounds and flocked to stations offering free filtered water.

“It’s a little unbearable, but we do have the shade. We have water. Just try not to think about it,” Ella Van Nort of Hyattsville, Maryland, said with a slight giggle.

A gentle breeze only slightly eased the heat-related discomfort in the capital as visitors to the Mall looked at the AIDS Memorial quilt and strolled through the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

“When it’s hotter, not as many people come out, and we’ve certainly had a lot of hot weather this year,” said Folklife Festival spokeswoman Becky Haberacker, who said about 220,000 people attended the festival on July 4 last year.

With the sun setting and clouds beginning to gather, visitors lay on blankets near their pitched flags and coolers filled with icy beverages.

Shortly after 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT), fireworks launched over the Washington Monument thundered skyward as the National Symphony Orchestra simultaneously delivered a signature Independence Day rendition of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.”

Earlier on the boardwalk at New York’s Coney Island, many were focused on Joey “Jaws” Chestnut as he captured his sixth straight win at the annual Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest.

Chestnut, 28, of San Jose, California, the No. 1-ranked eater in the world, scarfed down 68 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, enough to win $10,000 and the champion’s Mustard Yellow International Belt and to tie his own world record set in 2009.

Sonia “The Black Widow” Thomas of Alexandria, Virginia, won the women’s title, downing 45 hot dogs and buns to eclipse her own world record of 41 hot dogs and buns.

“I am going to be 45 years old this year. I wanted to eat my age,” Thomas said after the event.

(Additional reporting by Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Michelle Nichols in New York; Jim Wolf, Jeff Mason and John Crawley in Washington; Dave Warner in Pennsylvania; Mathew Murphy and Edith Honan in New York; Laura Zuckerman in Idaho and; Ben Berkowitz in Boston; Writing by Barbara Goldberg and David Bailey. Editing by Sandra Maler, Cynthia Osterman, Alex Dobuzinskis and Lisa Shumaker)

Over a plate of beef ribs and steamed vegetables at Kenny’s BBQ on Capitol Hill, Obama chatted with two fathers who are on active duty in the military and two neighborhood barbers about an administration initiative aimed at highlighting the importance of fatherhood.

Launched by the Department of Health and Human Services, the “Fatherhood Buzz” initiative aims to work through barber shops to connect dads with financial literacy help, job training resources and other resources.

“Barbershops are where a lot of men come, and we want to work with barbershops to figure out how we can get better information to fathers about resources that are available to them,” Obama said.

Obama spoke of the importance for fathers of being actively engaged in their children’s lives.

“It makes a huge difference,” he said. “It turns out that with the father being involved, kids are less likely to do drugs, girls are less likely to get pregnant.”

Obama, father to Malia, 13, and Sasha, 11, wrote in his memoir “Dreams of My Father” about growing up fatherless after his father left the family when he was two years old.

During a 2007 campaign stop, he described the lack of a father in his life as one of the experiences that helped shaped his life.

“What that meant was that I had to learn very early on to figure out what was important and what wasn’t, and exercise my own judgment and in some ways to raise myself.”

Obama is expected to spend time with his daughters on Father’s Day, which falls on Sunday, June 17.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden unveiled the initiative with leaders from Syracuse University, Vassar College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other institutions serving 1.4 million students, or about 5 percent of college enrollees.

Biden said that because 60 percent of jobs in the United States over the next decade will require a degree beyond high school, students and their families need a clear plan for how to pay for post-secondary education.

He told a White House event that the schools’ voluntary plan to detail financing information was “a very important step.”

“It’s going to empower students and their families to be back in the driver’s seat when they’re choosing their college and help pay for that education,” he said.

The White House has focused on college affordability as part of its outreach to young voters ahead of the November 6 election, and as Congress struggles to end a standoff over the interest rates on federal education loans, which are set to double to 6.8 percent on July 1.

Republicans in Congress say they want to keep the rates low so long as the costs are offset elsewhere in the federal budget. They have accused Democrats of playing up differences on the issue for political effect instead of working toward a solution.

But Biden said Republicans were the ones playing games with student loan rates instead of taking seriously the prospect of young peoples’ budgets coming under pressure. “This should not be that hard,” he said in his remarks to the White House forum.

The average student affected by the higher rates would rack up an additional $1,000 in debt over the course of their loan, according to White House estimates. Student loans are already the largest component of U.S. household debt after mortgages.

Obama, a Democrat campaigning for re-election in November, has said he and his wife Michelle only paid off their student loans about eight years ago, seeking to contrast himself with his likely Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, who also attended top schools but came from a wealthy family.

Obama is set to make education costs the theme of his remarks to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas later this week.

The other schools pledging more financing openness on Tuesday were Arizona State University, Miami Dade College, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, the State University System of New York, the University of Massachusetts System, the University System of Maryland and the University of Texas System.

They committed to provide clearer financial information to incoming students beginning with the 2013-14 school year.

That will include details about the cost of college for one year and a clear distinction between grants and scholarships, which do not have to be repaid, and loans, which do. The schools will provide examples of payments due for federal student loans after graduation, and give information about default rates.

(Additional reporting by John Crawley; Writing by Laura MacInnis; Editing by Jackie Frank and Paul Simao)

“What sets these men and women apart is the incredible impact they have had on so many people – not in short, blinding bursts, but steadily, over the course of a lifetime,” Obama said, presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom awards in a packed ceremony at the White House.

“They have enriched our lives and they have changed our lives for the better,” he said.

In addition to famous political figures such as former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Israeli President Shimon Peres, Obama honored several lesser-known individuals for their work in civil rights and public health.

He recalled reading about one of the award winners, labor activist Dolores Huerta, when he was starting off as a community organizer and said that honoree John Doar, a senior official at the Justice Department during the 1960s, laid the groundwork for U.S. racial equality and voting rights.

“And I think it’s fair to say that I might not be here had it not been for his work,” Obama, the first black U.S. president, told the audience in the East Room.

He also praised recently retired University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt for being an inspiration to his hoops-loving daughters as well as a brave advocate for those who, like her, are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

“Anybody who feels sorry for Pat will find themselves on the receiving end of that famous glare, or she might punch you,” he said, to laughter.

The other honorees present included William Foege, who led the successful battle to eradicate smallpox disease, Gordon Hirabayashi, who fought Japanese-American internment during World War Two, astronaut and former Senator John Glenn, and retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

Obama also gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two people who have died – Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low and Jan Karski, an officer in the Polish underground who carried his eyewitness account of Nazi atrocities to the outside world.

Peres did not attend the ceremony but will receive his award at a separate event, the White House said.

The president chooses the honorees.

“So many of these people are my heroes individually,” Obama said during the ceremony, recalling how he read Morrison’s novel “Song of Solomon” as a young man when he was “not just trying to figure out how to write, but also how to be and how to think.”

“And I remember in college listening to Bob Dylan and my world opening up because he captured something about this country that was so vital,” he said. “Everybody on this stage has marked my life in profound ways.”

A pianist from the Marine Corps Band played Dylan’s 1963 hit “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” before the ceremony started. The musician drew loud applause when he received the award in sunglasses and without showing emotion.

When it came time for Morrison to accept her medal, the acclaimed novelist smiled and embraced the president.

Past recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom include former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, South African anti-apartheid leader and former President Nelson Mandela, and slain civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.

(Reporting by Samson Reiny; Writing by Laura MacInnis; Editing by Greg McCune and Eric Beech)

“What sets these men and women apart is the incredible impact they have had on so many people,” Obama said, presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom awards at the White House.

“They have enriched our lives and they have changed our lives for the better.”

In addition to Dylan and Morrison, Obama awarded the prize to astronaut and former senator John Glenn, retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Former Israeli President Shimon Peres and Jan Karski, an officer in the Polish underground who carried his eye-witness account of the Nazi Holocaust to the outside world, also received the award.

Other honorees were John Doar, a key figure in the Justice Department during the 1960s, smallpox eradication pioneer William Foege, civil rights campaigner and community organizer Dolores Huerta, Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low, women’s basketball coach and Alzheimer’s disease advocate Pat Summitt and Gordon Hirabayashi, who fought Japanese-American internment during World War Two.

“So many of these people are my heroes individually,” Obama said during the ceremony, recalling how he read Morrison’s novel “Song of Solomon” as a young man when he was “not just trying to figure out how to write, but also how to be and how to think.”

“And I remember in college listening to Bob Dylan and my world opening up because he captured something about this country that was so vital. And I think about Dolores Huerta, reading about her when I was starting off as an organizer,” he said. “Everybody on this stage has marked my life in profound ways.”

Low died in 1927 and Karski died in 2000. Peres did not attend the ceremony and the White House said he would receive his medal at a separate event.

The president has sole discretion in choosing the honorees. `Past recipients include former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, South African anti-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, and civil rights activist the Reverend Martin Luther King.

(Reporting by Samson Reiny; Writing by Laura MacInnis; Editing by Eric Walsh and Christopher Wilson)

The sacrifice of Specialist Leslie Sabo Jr., 22, might not have been acknowledged if someone had not found the misplaced paperwork recommending him for the medal – the nation’s highest military award for valor – more than a dozen years ago.

In a solemn ceremony at the White House, attended by family, friends and Vietnam War veterans, Obama recounted the day that Sabo, the son of Hungarian refugees who settled in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, was killed.

On May 10, 1970, North Vietnamese forces in the Cambodian jungle ambushed Sabo and his platoon. In the battle that ensued, the young rifleman saved the life of a comrade by throwing away an enemy grenade that landed in a field near them.

He then charged the enemy bunker, suffering injuries on the way. Once close, he pulled out his own grenade.

“It’s said he held that grenade and didn’t throw it until the last possible moment, knowing it would take his own life, but knowing he could silence that bunker,” Obama said. “And he did. He saved his comrades, who meant more to him than life.”

Sabo’s nomination for the Medal of Honor had been misplaced and was found in 1999 by Tony Mabb, a Vietnam veteran and researcher, at the National Archives.

“Today, four decades after Sabo’s sacrifice, we set the record straight,” Obama said.

The president also honored the seven other soldiers killed that day, as well as Sabo’s own Bravo Company, some of whose members were in the audience Wednesday.

“No words will ever be truly worthy of their service and no honor can ever fully repay their sacrifice,” Obama said. “But on days such as this we can pay tribute. We can express our gratitude.”

The president has conferred nine Medal of Honor awards since taking office in 2009. More than 3,400 have been awarded since its inception in 1862.

(Reporting By Samson Reiny; Editing by Bill Trott)

In their first public appearance together since the vice president was seen to preempt Obama’s announcement of support for gay marriage, the two kept to their scripts in the sunny Rose Garden of the White House.

Obama said the 34 winners of the National Association of Police Organizations’ “TOP COP” awards were “representative of the sacrifices and that quiet courage that exists among law enforcement officers all across the country.”

“I hope that we also pledge to learn something from the example that they set. Because while most of us will never be asked to run straight into a hail of bullets, or chase down an armed suspect on foot, we also have responsibilities to meet,” the Democrat running for re-election in November said.

Among those honored at the White House event were Sergeant Don Jerome from Chicago, who overcame two assailants who had bound and gagged six people – including three children – when he responded to an armed robbery in progress at a store.

Detective Craig Marquez and Officer Kevin Cotter Sr. from Los Angeles were honored for having responded while off duty to a gunman who began shooting at passersby at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, killing one person.

The perpetrator refused the plainclothes-clad officers’ calls to drop his weapon and fired at them instead before they shot him, the White House said in a statement about the winners.

The number of police officers killed in the line of duty in the United States rose 13 percent to 173 last year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Gunfire was the number one cause, at 68 deaths.

Budget strains at the state level have also caused a rise in law enforcement layoffs across the country.

In addition to Los Angeles and Chicago, police were honored from Miami-Dade County, Florida; Las Vegas, Detroit, New York, Woburn, Massachusetts; Paramus, New Jersey; Copley, Ohio and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

After the police ceremony, Obama and Biden went golfing together.

(Editing by Laura MacInnis, Greg McCune and Todd Eastham)