Catering to the growing trend of mixing social media with politics, President Obama on Monday will participate in a video chat room known as a "Hangout" as part of Google's social networking site Google Plus.

The presidential first -- a chat room to answer questions about State of the Union address he delivered last week -- brings Obama virtually closer to the people -- but only those people hand-selected after submitting questions before Saturday's midnight deadline.

"I'll walk into the Roosevelt Room across the hall from the Oval Office, take a seat, and kick-off the first-ever completely virtual town hall from the White House," the president wrote in an email to whitehouse.gov subscribers

The president will answer the most popular questions submitted by the YouTube community and selected by Google. He will also chat live with a group of questioners during the 45-minute open forum, giving the participants an opportunity to interact directly with Obama.

The post-State of the Union interview takes place Monday at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on Google Plus, the White House YouTube channel and on the whitehouse.gov website. (read more)

Mitt Romney was dealing with a different kind of dirty laundry this South Carolina primary day, offering up a display of the mundane Saturday and earning a blistering retort from the Obama campaign for his effort.

Tagg Romney, son of the GOP candidate, tweeted a photo of his parents doing laundry with the caption: "Nothing like glamorous life on road."

The photo showed the presidential hopeful casually dressed in jeans and putting powdered laundry detergent into a washing machine while wife, Ann, removed clothes from another washing machine

The release of the photo coincided with voters heading to the polls in the Palmetto State and displayed a touch of the commonplace in a week in which his rivals criticized the multimillionaire for being out of touch for his reticence to release his tax records.

David Axelrod, top political strategist for President Obama, responded to the photo with his own suggestive tweet: "Those wouldn't be tax returns in the machine, by any chance ... Should be dry by April!" (read more)

The nation's capital is officially in the Christmas spirit.

President Obama and his family lit the National Christmas Tree Thursday night. Celebrating the 89th annual lighting of the tree, the Obama's were joined by TV host Carson Daly, boy band Big Time Rush, country singer Rodney Atkins and Kermit the Frog.

But this year, the first family lit up a brand new tree. The 42-foot tree that once stood at the Ellipse for more than 30 years was toppled over by heavy winds earlier this year. "But we all know that this tradition is much larger than any single tree, Obama said. "And tonight, once again, we gather here not simply to light some decorations, but to honor a story that lights the world."

During brief remarks, Obama reflected on the teachings of Christmas. He talked about the birth of Christ saying He was not just any child. "He was a manifestation of God's love for us," Obama said. "That teaching has come to encircle the globe...And today, it lies at the heart of my Christian faith and that of millions of Americans. No matter who we are, or where we come from, or how we worship, it's a message that can unite all of us on this holiday season."

The president urged the crowd to make this a season of giving by helping the homeless, the hungry and the sick and reaching out to those families who are struggling to work and provide for their families. (read more)

WASHINGTON -- An early morning gunshot that closed off Northwest D.C. streets for several hours ended up not being quite the scare neighbors expected.

It turns out a U.S. Secret Service officer accidentally fired off his gun near the Russian Embassy. Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin told Fox News there were no known injuries.

The inadvertent discharge occurred just before 4 a.m. ET. Officers were on the scene all morning as the investigation took place.

The officer who is with the Foreign Missions branch of the Secret Service was in a marked vehicle at the time of the shooting.

As part of standard protocol, the case has been turned over to the Secret Service's Office of Professional Responsibility to determine if there was any wrongdoing.

You've heard the beeps and the warnings of the Emergency Alert Systems (EAS) on your televisions. State and local tests pop up on the airwaves all the time, when you least expect them.

But on Wednesday, November 9 at 2:00 p.m. ET, the federal government will conduct its first-ever nationwide evaluation of the system and the White House wants to get the word out and remind everyone that it is only a test.

"The National Emergency Alert System is an alert and warning system that can be activated by the president if needed to provide information to the American public during emergencies," White House press secretary Jay Carney told a gaggle of reporters Tuesday. The test will only last about 30 seconds and will be broadcast on television and radio stations across the country. "Just wanted to make sure everybody knows that it's just a test," Carney added.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), along with many other agencies are teaming up to help spread the word so people know what to expect and are not caught off guard when the test occurs. (read more)

When President Obama held a news conference Thursday to push his jobs plan, he told an anecdote about a teacher from Boston he met recently to really drive the point home that Congress needs to act immediately on the American Jobs Act and put teachers back to work. But the tale the president told may have been a bit embellished.

Obama said he had met a young man named Robert Baroz who has two decades of teaching experience, a master's degree and and excellent track record of teaching. "He's an English teacher in Boston who came to the White House a few weeks ago," the president explained to reporters. "In the last few years, he's received three pink slips because of budget cuts. Why wouldn't we want to pass a bill that puts somebody like Robert back in the classroom teaching our kids?"

But there are two elements of Mr. Obama's story that are being questioned. According to the Boston Herald, Robert Baroz never met the president when he was at the White House. And Robert Baroz is currently employed.

Baroz tells the Herald it's true he was at a White House press conference on jobs last month, but he never actually met with Mr. Obama. Instead, he met with the president's Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

It's also true Baroz has in fact received three pink slips in four years, but he is currently employed as a literacy and data coach. (read more)

President Obama and daughter Sasha were hoping for an uneventful flight to Camp David Friday afternoon, but Mother Nature had a different plan for them.

"Due to a last-minute bad weather call made prior to the his departure, Marine One diverted to an alternate landing area," White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement.

The president and his daughter then motorcaded the rest of the way to Camp David where they arrived safe and sound.

The White House press corps who covers the president did not learn about the diversion until several hours after his departure.

Mr. Obama plans to spend most of the weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat located in the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland, before he heads to Paterson, New Jersey where he will tour the damage caused by Hurricane Irene.

Fox News' Ed Henry contributed to this report.

When the earthquake hit the DC area Tuesday afternoon, President Obama was playing golf on Martha's Vineyard.

The quake which hit just before 2 o'clock could even be felt on the island located off the coast of Cape Cod. The press corps covering Mr. Obama's vacation could a feel subtle rumble in the work area located on the first floor of a Vineyard Haven hotel.

Mr. Obama, however, did not feel the earthquake today, according to White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

The president, who hit the links for the third time since he arrived on the island last Thursday, led a conference call with members of his administration "to discuss the earthquake and status of critical infrastructure." According to a paper statement, Earnest said the president "was told that there are no initial reports of major infrastructure damage, including at airports and nuclear facilities and that there were currently no requests for assistance."

After the conference call, the president continued his game of golf with long-time pals Eric Whitaker and Vernon Jordan and White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson.

The president, who has had frequent briefings during his vacation, has asked officials for regular updates on the situation.

If you're a government worker working outdoors and you need to know the heat index, there's an app for that. That's right, with a simple click, an application will tell a worker at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration it's hot outside.

The Department of Labor has come up with a new app that allows OSHA workers and supervisors to calculate the heat index for their worksite. And based on that heat index, the "Heat Safety Tool" app provides a color-coded "risk level" scale, ranging from yellow which indicates "lower" risk to red which indicates "very high to extreme" risk.

But the problem is the workers have to be in the area they're trying to measure, which means they're already outside -- and therefore already know it's hot.

Nathan Mehrens, General Counsel of Americans for Limited Government, has criticized the "safety" application as a waste of taxpayer money. "I think it's just silly," Mehrens said. "It provides a solution that is self evident. You don't need a smart phone to tell you it's hot."

But the DOL is touting the application as a safety measure saying it provides reminders of things workers should be doing protect themselves from heat-related illnesses like drinking enough fluids, taking breaks every once in awhile and knowing what to do in the event of a heat-related emergency.

Mehrens says these are all things you really don't need an app to tell you. "It's a matter of common sense." (read more)

President Obama will return to Martha's Vineyard for vacation later this month despite the ongoing financial crisis. The Obama family will spend 10 days on the affluent island retreat off the coast of Cape Cod.

White House press secretary Jay Carney defended the respite, saying Americans wouldn't begrudge the president some time off to spend with his family.

"There's no such thing as a presidential vacation," Carney said. "He will be in constant communication and get regular briefings from his national security team, as well as his economic team." He added that since Martha's Vineyard is so close, the president would be able to travel back to Washington if required.

This will be the first family's third annual trip to Martha's Vineyard since Obama became president. (read more)