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WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama plans a brief visit near Seattle to survey damage from a recent mudslide that killed more than three dozen people.

Obama will stop while on his way to the Asia-Pacific region for a four-country trip that begins Wednesday in Tokyo.

While in Washington state, Obama will also visit with victims of the deadly March 22 disaster, emergency responders and recovery workers.

The massive mudslide killed at least 41 people and buried dozens of homes in the small town of Oso, which is about an hour northeast of Seattle.

The Snohomish County medical examiner's office has identified 39 of the victims, with two not yet identified. Four names remain on a list of missing people.

Crews continue to dig through the wreckage in a search for bodies, focusing on a small area where the final four victims are believed to be buried.

At the request of Gov. Jay Inslee, Obama earlier this month declared that a major disaster had occurred in the state, making it and affected residents eligible for various forms of financial aid, including help covering the costs of temporary housing, home repairs and the loss of uninsured property. The Homeland Security Department, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers are also helping.

Obama recently asked the nation to send its thoughts and prayers to the state and to Oso.

"We know that part of this tight-knit community has been lost," Obama said last month while attending a European summit just days after the tragedy struck. "We hope for the best, but we recognize this is a tough situation."

After the Oso visit, Obama continues on to the Asia-Pacific region, where he is scheduled to spend the rest of this week and part of next week conferring with the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines.

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Obama To Survey Deadly Washington Mudslide Damage

In this photo taken April 20, 2014 and released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, center, speaks with Syrian citizens during his visit to Ain al-Tineh village, near Damascus, Syria.AP

The Obama administration said Monday it has "indications" chemical weapons were used in Syria earlier this month, and is investigating whether the Assad regime might have been responsible.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki discussed the allegations a day after French President Francois Hollande said France also had indications the regime is still using chemical weapons.

Bashar Assad's government last year agreed to ship chemical weapons out of his country following a sarin gas attack, as part of a deal to de-escalate tensions with the United States and its allies. President Obama had declared the use of chemical weapons a "red line," but backed off threats of military force following the agreement.

The latest attack in question allegedly occurred April 11 in the rebel-held village of Kfar Zeita.

"We have indications of the use of a toxic industrial chemical -- probably chlorine -- in Syria this month in the opposition-dominated village of Kfar Zeita," Psaki said. "We're examining allegations that the government was responsible. We take all allegations of the use of chemicals in combat use very seriously."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney repeated that statement shortly afterward at the White House daily briefing. He said the matter is "being investigated."

He said that once more information is gathered, including who is responsible, the administration can discuss "what reaction, if any" there would be from the international community.He noted that under last year's deal, 65 percent of Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles have been removed for destruction, and "that process continues."

Carney said the new allegations are "of concern,"while Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., described them as "disturbing."

Whether by chemical weapons attacks or other barbaric means including barrel bombing and starvation campaigns, the Assad regime continues to carry out war crimes in its slaughter of innocent men, women, and children," McCain said in a statement. "Its breach of the chemical weapons agreement should surprise no one, and unless the Obama Administration is willing to force a price for such behavior, we should only expect more atrocities to come.

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Obama administration says there are 'indications' chemical weapons used, again, in Syria

Obama #39;s Asia Pivot, Rand Paul #39;s GOP Rise Google #39;s DC Footprint
With planned trips to Japan and South Korea, President Obama is pivoting his focus to Asia. The New York Times #39; Peter Baker discusses how previous trips to A...

By: PBS

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Obama's Asia Pivot, Rand Paul's GOP Rise & Google's DC Footprint - Video

Rand Paul The People Who Say BY GOLLY WE WILL NEVER STAND FOR THAT! THEY ARE VOTING FOR WAR!
Rand Paul 2016!

By: Rand Paul 2016

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Rand Paul The People Who Say BY GOLLY WE WILL NEVER STAND FOR THAT! THEY ARE VOTING FOR WAR! - Video

U.S. Senator Rand Paul, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, called for expanded school choice for poor and minority children while visiting President Barack Obamas Democrat-dominated hometown of Chicago.

Weve been trying the same thing in education for 50 to 100 years, Paul said today. Education, particularly in our big cities, has been a downward spiral, so I think just throwing more money at the problem hasnt fixed the problem.

Its the latest venue the Kentucky lawmaker, a favorite of the limited-government Tea Party movement, has picked in the past year to try to showcase himself as a different kind of Republican as he pushes his party to grow beyond its base.

He spoke last year at historically black Howard University in Washington, to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and at the Detroit Economic Club, where he argued for economic freedom zones for blighted urban areas. He also called for income-tax cuts to a flat 5 percent in areas with unemployment more than 1.5 times the national average.

Minority and urban voters overwhelmingly backed Obama in the 2012 election, and Republicans have been searching for ways to blunt the Democratic advantage with both blacks and Hispanics, the fastest-growing segment of the electorate.

Such outside-the-box appearances bring with them political reward and risk for the ophthalmologist and first-term lawmaker.

Paul drew groans at Howard and was later criticized after he asked one woman whether she was aware that Republicans helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nations oldest civil-rights organization. She knew that they played such a role.

The charter school expansion Paul called for during his appearance is popular among many Republicans. Whats unique is the emphasis hes placing on how it could help disadvantaged minority students in Americas urban areas.

No one in Washington really is very good at education and knows anything about education, Paul said today at Josephinum Academy, an all-female Catholic high school northwest of Chicagos downtown with a student population thats just 5 percent non-Hispanic white. They should have very little to do with your education. These decisions should be made in Chicago, in Illinois, in Kentucky, but not in Washington.

Paul wants more charter schools, which are independent of local school districts and typically free of unionized teachers. The push for such schools has also been a favorite cause for billionaires including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, homebuilding and insurance entrepreneur Eli Broad, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.s Walton family.

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Rand Paul Appeals to Democratic Base in Obamas Hometown