In 2009, a study commissioned by the Center for the Future of Arizona found that only 12 percent of surveyed residents in the state agreed that "people in our communities care about each other."That all changed, at least for a while, on January 8th, 2011, when 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner stepped out of a taxi in front of a Safeway supermarket on the northwest suburban edge of the city and unloaded an estimated 32-rounds of bullets from an extended magazine clip once banned under the Violent Crime and Control Law Enforcement Act.  The story of his derangement is well known now.  His target was 41-year-old US Rep. Gabby Giffords, who he managed to shoot in the head; Loughner killed six people and injured 18 other citizens before he was wrestled to the ground and disarmed.

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Both Democrats and Republicans jumped to their feet to welcome the congresswoman with a standing ovation. Although still recovering, Giffords says she felt compelled to return and vote "yes" on the debt deal (which passed the House with 269 votes).

In an official statement, Giffords emphasized the importance of the vote, while criticizing the partisan rancor that reaching a debt deal at all has involved:

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ABC News reported on its website Monday night that Giffords stood up from her wheelchair to hug and kiss her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, after he received the Spaceflight Medal.

ABC News says the 41-year-old Democrat from Tucson, Ariz., entered the auditorium at Space Center Houston while being pushed in the wheelchair. She smiled and waved at the crowd and received a standing ovation.

Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin confirmed that Giffords attended the ceremony.

Giffords has been in the Houston area undergoing rehabilitation since several weeks after the Jan. 8 shooting in Tucson that left her and 12 others wounded and six people dead.

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The Arizona Democrat and her husband, astronaut and Navy captain Mark Kelly, are working on a memoir that Scribner will publish at a date to be determined. The book, currently untitled, will be an intimate chronicle of everything from their careers and courtship to the Jan. 8 tragedy when a gunman shot Giffords in the head during a political event in Tucson, Ariz. Six people were killed in the attack and 12 others besides the congresswoman were wounded.

"Since Jan. 8, it's been really touching to us to see how much support there is for Gabby and her recovery, and how much interest there is in how she's doing and her story," Kelly, who on Tuesday announced his retirement from the Navy and NASA, told The Associated Press during a recent interview from Texas.

"After thinking about it, and talking about it, we decided it was the right thing to do to put our words and our voices on paper and tell our story from our point of view."

The 47-year-old Kelly most recently was commander of the space shuttle Endeavour's final mission, which ended June 1. His retirement, which comes as NASA ends its space shuttle program, is effective Oct. 1.

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Giffords' departure Wednesday from Houston's TIRR Memorial Hermann marks a new phase in her rehabilitation.

She struggles to speak and walk, and will need daily, intensive therapy. Whether she will ever recover enough to resume her congressional duties is still unknown.

But doctors, her astronaut husband Mark Kelly and experts who have been observing Giffords' recovery emphasize that going home is a key milestone and could help stimulate her progress.

"Anyone who knows Gabby knows that she loves being outside," Kelly said in a statement released by the hospital. "Living and working in a rehab facility for five months straight has been especially challenging for her."

Giffords will still go to the hospital each day where she will participate in speech, music, physical and occupational therapy with the same team that has treated her since she arrived in Houston in late January.

Now, however, at the end of each day "she will be with her family," Kelly said.

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The Facebook photos, taken May 17 outside her Houston hospital, are the first clear snapshots of Giffords since the shooting five months ago during a constituent meet-and-greet in a Safeway parking lot in Tucson.

The photos showed how far she has come since she was wounded in the left side of her forehead, but her spokeswoman, Pia Carusone, has cautioned that Giffords still has a long way to go in her recovery.

They show the congresswoman outside, the greenery of the hospital lawn in the background. She smiled directly into the camera in one, while in the other she smiled downward as she sat next to her mother, Gloria Giffords.

Giffords has been in a Houston rehab facility since two weeks after the Jan. 8 shooting. Six people were killed and 13 were injured, including Giffords.

Carusone said Friday that Giffords could be released sometime this month.

She said doctors and family are considering "many factors" while making the critical next-step decision to release Giffords from TIRR Memorial Hermann, the hospital where she has been undergoing intensive daily rehabilitation since late January.

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Chief of Staff Pia Carusone tells the Arizona Republic that Giffords uses hand gestures and facial expressions to communicate because she still struggles to find words and put together sentences. She says it is too early to say whether she will resume her position in Congress. She says they have until May 2012 to decide.

An interview with Carusone published in the Republic on Thursday provides the most up-to-date details on Giffords' condition.

Giffords survived a Tucson shooting rampage in January that killed six people and wounded 12 others.

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Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

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Endeavour touched down on the runway a final time under the cover of darkness, just as Atlantis, the last shuttle bound for space, arrived at the launch pad for the grand finale in five weeks.

Commander Mark Kelly -- whose wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, remained behind at her rehab center in Houston -- brought Endeavour to a stop before hundreds of onlookers that included the four Atlantis astronauts who will take flight in July.

The museum-bound Endeavour, the youngest of the shuttles, logged nearly 123 million miles over 25 spaceflights.

"Your landing ends a vibrant legacy for this amazing vehicle that will long be remembered. Welcome home, Endeavour," Mission Control told Kelly and his crewmates, who wrapped up U.S. construction at the International Space Station.

"It's sad to see her land for the last time," Kelly replied, "but she really has a great legacy."

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The decision by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns means Jared Lee Loughner, 21, will be sent to a federal facility for up to four months in a bid to restore his competency.

Loughner, dressed in a khaki prison suit and sporting bushy, reddish sideburns, was removed from the hearing after an outburst and had to watch part of the proceeding on a TV screen in another room. Burns had Loughner escorted from the courtroom after Loughner lowered his head and said what sounded like: "Thank you for the freak show. She died in front of me." His head was inches from the table in front of him.

Loughner was later brought back into the courtroom, and the judged told him he had a right to watch the hearing. Burns asked Loughner if he wanted to stay in the courtroom and behave or view the proceeding on a screen in another room.

Loughner responded: "I want to watch the TV screen."

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Still recovering from a devastating wound to the head, the Arizona congresswoman was at Kennedy Space Center on Monday to witness Mark Kelly and his five crewmates blast off and head to the International Space Station. She watched in private -- as do all crew families.

What had already been a historic event -- the second-to-last space shuttle flight and the last for Endeavour itself -- had become the Gabrielle Giffords-Mark Kelly saga after the Jan. 8 shooting.

Since the assassination attempt in her Tucson, Ariz., hometown, Giffords has been shielded from public view: during her two weeks in intensive care, her transfer to Houston, and the weeks since at a rehab hospital. Her doctors last spoke publicly about her progress in early March, and the only recent details have come from select interviews granted by her husband, staff, and those caring for her.

The night before launch, Kelly bid Giffords goodbye at the exclusive beachfront house the crew uses before launch.

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Giffords' arrival Sunday afternoon included a quick fly-by of Endeavour on the launch pad, ready to go.

"Gabrielle is excited for tomorrow's launch. Do you plan to see history in the making?" her staff tweeted:

NASA officials said conditions -- from weather to technical issues -- couldn't look much better for the scheduled 8:56 a.m. launch Monday.

Giffords, traveling on a NASA jet with the family of pilot Gregory Johnson, arrived shortly after the protective structure that surrounds Endeavour was moved out of the way -- a milestone in launch preparations that allows fueling to begin late Sunday night.

NASA was so ready to get the flight off the ground that they moved the protective scaffolding 15 minutes earlier than planned.

There was only a 30 percent chance of a weather delay, mostly because of crosswinds.

The conditions were far different from last month's futile launch attempt. The protective cover wasn't removed for five hours because of storms, and the launch was scrubbed because of an electrical problem.

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Mission managers gave the green light Saturday for the final voyage of Endeavour. Forecasters put the odds of acceptable weather at 70 percent.

Endeavour will fly to the International Space Station under the command of astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of recuperating U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. She will be at Cape Canaveral for this second launch attempt.

Late last month, an electrical problem in Endeavour's engine compartment halted the initial countdown. A switch box and faulty thermostat were replaced.

Six veteran spacemen are assigned to the 16-day flight.

Only one other shuttle mission remains. Atlantis will soar one last time in July.

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The six crewmen -- led by the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday morning.

Shuttle Endeavour is due to blast off Monday morning. The first launch attempt on April 29 was halted by electrical trouble. A switch box was replaced, and new wiring installed.

Commander Mark Kelly's wife was critically wounded in the head four months ago. The Arizona congresswoman recovered well enough to travel for her husband's first launch effort. She will return to Kennedy later this week.

Astronaut Gregory Chamitoff commended Kelly for giving the mission his all, and called him "truly an amazing commander."

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The six astronauts -- led by commander Mark Kelly -- wasted no time heading back to Houston.

Kelly's wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, did not join the astronauts in flying back. The timing of her return to Houston, to resume rehab after being wounded in a shooting rampage four months ago, was uncertain.

As late as Saturday, the astronauts and their families were still hoping for a possible launch attempt on Monday. But NASA gave up on that once it became clear extensive repair work would be needed to fix a faulty heater system aboard Endeavour. The trouble prevented the shuttle from blasting off Friday; President Barack Obama and his family were among those missing out.

"We all had our fingers crossed looking forward to a quick rescheduling of the launch," said C.J. Karamargin, a Giffords spokesman.

Said Endeavour's pilot, Gregory Johnson, in a Sunday morning tweet: "Things happen fast. We are now all aboard (a plane) for return to Houston. Be back in a few days. More to follow."

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Giffords is "medically able" to attend but will return to Houston "shortly after the launch" at Cape Canaveral to continue rehabilitation, said Dr. Gerard Francisco, the lead physician of the brain injury rehabilitation team and chief medical officer, TIRR Memorial Hermann and chairman, department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School.

It will be the Endeavour's final flight and the next-to-last shuttle mission.

Giffords was shot in the head on Jan. 8 while at a meet-and-greet with constituents in Tucson, Ariz. This would be her first trip since she was flown from Arizona to the Houston rehabilitation hospital where she has been in therapy.

The launch is scheduled for 3:47 p.m. Friday. Giffords' husband, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly is the commander of the mission.

"I've met with her doctors, her neurosurgeon and her doctors, and ... they've given us permission to take her down to the launch," Kelly said in an interview with CBS' Katie Couric in Houston. The network statement did not specify when the interview occurred.

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The evaluation will be videotaped and provided to prosecutors and defense attorneys, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said late Monday. The judge also ordered that it be conducted no later than April 29.

Prosecutors had argued that Jared Lee Loughner's exam should be conducted at a so-called medical referral center that provides forensic services and has increased resources, and recommended the federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Springfield, Mo.

Loughner's lawyers have said the exam should be done by an outside expert at a Tucson prison and wanted assurances that the evaluation doesn't expand into a review of their client's sanity. Lead defense attorney Judy Clark wrote in a court filing last week that moving Loughner would harm the defense team's efforts to develop an attorney-client relationship.

Loughner has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the Jan. 8 attack that killed six and wounded 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. She remains at a rehabilitation center in Houston as she recovers from a bullet wound to the brain.

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After the Tucson, Ariz., massacre, when, in Sarah Palin's imagination, people were accusing her of literally murdering everyone with word-bullets, Ailes advised the former governor to "lie low." Instead she released a weird video statement in which she accused the liberal media of committing "blood libel" against her.

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Doctors held a news conference in Houston where they provided an update on the congresswoman's progress. They say her memory and speech are improving, and she is walking with assistance. She also speaks in full sentences, such as "I'm tired and want to go to bed."

While her memory is improving, she does not recall the shooting that wounded her and 12 others and killed six people.

Dr. Dong Kim says doctors still want her to improve enough to attend her husband's space shuttle launch, but it's too early to tell. He says they expect to reattach her skull at some point in May. She now wears a helmet that covers her head.

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The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the family and doctors have not yet publicized the decision. A news conference was scheduled for Friday morning at the Houston hospital where Giffords is undergoing rehabilitation.

Giffords was shot in the head Jan. 8 at a political event outside a Tucson, Ariz., grocery store. Six people died in the rampage, and 12 others were wounded. Giffords has been slowly recovering from a traumatic brain injury.

Her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, will be the commander of Endeavour when it launches in April, and his identical twin brother Scott is the current leader of the International Space Station crew. Mark Kelly has been training for the mission and said earlier he hoped his wife would be able to see him off.

But despite seemingly steady improvements -- the latest include singing with her husband and chanting Hebrew healing prayers -- doctors have been cautious.

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