At hearing, Solis vows more help for workers

WASHINGTON - Hilda Solis, President-elect Barack Obama's pick for labor secretary, told lawmakers yesterday that if confirmed she will work to expand job training programs, enforce workplace safety, health, and fair pay laws and make sure employee pension plans are secure.

The US representative from California, who would be the nation's first Hispanic labor secretary, proudly recounted her roots growing up in California's San Gabriel Valley as the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She told the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee how she would lead a department that Obama says he wants to "once again stand up for working families."

Those are comforting words for union and labor advocates, who consider the department under President Bush's labor secretary, Elaine Chao, much too business friendly and are eager to have an advocate in the Obama administration.

Solis, however, provided few policy specifics, despite repeated attempts by some GOP lawmakers to get her to take a position on hot-button issues.

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WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, is moving into the White House at least temporarily to join Michelle Obama and the two children, transition officials said yesterday.

That's good news not just for late-night comics, but for 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha. During the campaign, Robinson retired from her job as a bank executive secretary to help care for her granddaughters.

Robinson will decide "in the coming months" whether she wants to stay in D.C. permanently, said Katie McCormick Lelyveld, spokeswoman for Michelle Obama.

Michelle Obama also decided to keep the White House chef. Cristeta Comerford took the job in 2005 and is the first woman and first minority to serve as executive chef.

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Barack Obama's inaugural committee yesterday announced a new community service initiative, in keeping with Obama's call for public service.

The "Renew America Together" initiative, asking all Americans to make an ongoing commitment to serve their communities, will be launched on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Jan. 19, the day before Obama's inauguration. Obama and his family, along with Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his family, will take part in activities in the Washington area.

The inaugural committee unveiled a website, USAservice.org, to help people find ways to serve.

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WASHINGTON - Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska is questioning whether Caroline Kennedy is getting "kid gloves" treatment from the press in her bid for a Senate seat from New York, compared with the battering she says she received as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

While some Palin supporters see the issue as a liberal or Democratic bias, others see background - Palin from Alaska and Kennedy from Manhattan - as the reason for what they consider different treatment.

In an interview with conservative radio talk-show host John Ziegler that was posted on YouTube this week, Palin herself suggested class issues could be behind the differences in coverage. But in a news release yesterday, Palin said she thought Kennedy was qualified to be senator.

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