Inside Politics

Obama still considering tapping petroleum bank

The White House says President Obama is keeping open the option of tapping the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve if necessary.

Obama spokesman Jay Carney says no decision on whether to open the reserve has been made. Mr. Obama said earlier this year that a plan to open the reserve is ready and could happen quickly if he called for it.

The White House says the reserve is designed to deal with disruptions, not short-term fluctuations.

Conflict in Libya has accounted for the daily loss of 1.6 million barrels of oil from the market. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries unexpectedly decided Wednesday to leave its production levels unchanged, causing oil prices to jump.

TEXAS

Giffords turns 41, gets framed cartoon

HOUSTON — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords turned 41 Wednesday, five months to the day after she was shot in the head in a shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., that killed six people.

Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin says the Arizona lawmaker’s staff sang her “Happy Birthday” over the phone and sent her a framed cartoon that shows her and astronaut husband Mark Kelly in space.

The drawing, by syndicated Omaha cartoonist Jeff Koterba, was published in April, and shows Mr. Kelly and Ms. Giffords holding hands, wearing space suits.

The cartoon reads: “Mark Kelly, Endeavor. Gabrielle Giffords, courage.”

Mr. Kelly returned June 1 to Earth on Space Shuttle Endeavor after about two weeks in space in NASA’s second-to-last shuttle mission.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports