Posted by Frank James at 8:00 am CDT

A quick guided tour of some of the day's most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related news stories.

Campus killer. The 23-year-old gunman in the Virginia Tech massacre, college student Cho Seung Hui, was described as a troubling loner who had shown numerous signs of mental problems and violent tendencies, including starting a fire in a dorm room and leaving a chilling note on a campus message board that he was going to "kill people at vtech."

Consoler-in-chief. President Bush visited the Virginia Tech campus Tuesday to comfort the grieving academic community and express the nation's sorrow: "On this terrible day of mourning, it's hard to imagine that a time will come when life at Virginia Tech will return to normal. But such a day will come," he said.

Big money. While much has been made of the Internet making it easier for presidential candidates to raise contributions from many more small, grassroots donors, campaigns still depend on big contributors for the bulk of their funds.

Debt forgiveness. Saudi Arabia agreed to forgive more than 80 percent of the $15 billion Iraq owes its neighbor state, representing a significant success for the Bush Administration efforts to get creditor nations to forego such repayments in order to strengthen the fragile Iraqi government and economy. Russia held out, however, as it sought to renegotiate favorable terms Russian companies enjoyed under Saddam Hussein.

Iranian tie. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iranian-made weapons were seized in Kandahar, Afghanistan and that they appeared bound for the Taliban. It was the first such public charge by a top U.S. official and echoed official findings that Iran-made weapons have been discovered in Iraq.

Data-mining ban. The Education Department temporarily halted lending companies' access to a database with information on 60 million students after it was revealed that some companies were improperly searching personal data within the system, perhaps for marketing purposes, in violation of federal privacy rules.

Darfur. A United Nations report charges the Sudanese government with secretly flying military equipment into that nation's stricken Darfur region in violation of Security Council resolutions. The Sudanese are accused of disguising a cargo plane as a UN craft and using it to ferry bombs to Darfur.

Border control first. The White House and Senate Democrats appear to have coalesced around an immigration-reform proposal that would make securing the border a priority before a program to give illegal immigrants a path to legal status would go into effect. But there are still many details to be worked out.

Unchecked checkoff. Only 7.3 percent of federal tax filers who submitted 2006 returns between Jan. 1 and April 14 contributed to the presidential-campaign financing fund, compared to the high of 28.7 percent in 1980, according to an Internal Revenue Service analysis done at USA Today's request.

Mortgage woes. Housing finance agencies told lawmakers of efforts to help millions of homeowners at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure but said federal laws were obstacles in many cases. Meanwhile, financial industry representatives warned against law changes that could make mortgages less attractive investments and dry up home lending.

Welcome Iraqis. Reacting to complaints from Middle Eastern allies that they are being overwhelmed by Iraqi refugees, the State Department said it may allow as many as 25,000 Iraqis to immigrate to the U.S. this year, thrice last year's number. It also said it would allow Iraqis and Afghans working for the U.S. government to immigrate to the U.S. after only three years instead of the 15 years it's been until now.

On second thought. Unlike their Senate counterparts, the House's Democratic leaders at first declined the offer of a closed-door, members-only briefing next week from Gen. David Petraeus who's in charge of all daily U.S. military operations in Iraq, citing a scheduling conflict, but then put him on their calendar after all.

Propaganda push? Gen. Petraeus has caused a stir within the Pentagon by attempting to pull down the figurative wall erected after the Vietnam War between the public-information staff within the Defense Department and the "information operations" or propaganda branch that tries to move public opinion in other countries.

Bird flu vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration approved the nation's first human vaccine against avian influenza, which though being only somewhat effective could slow an outbreak of the dangerous disease, officials hope.