President Barack Obama is giving a sneak peek at some of the people he's invited to this year's State of the Union address.
Obama delivers the address on Tuesday. Typically, the White House invites people whose personal stories illustrate themes in the president's speech. They sit with the first lady.
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This year, the president is inviting Americans who wrote letters about their situations in the past year.
Obama says Carolyn Reed of Colorado recently expanded her sandwich shop chain thanks to a Small Business Administration loan, and raised wages for her hourly employees.
He says Victor Fugate of Missouri is able to pay his student loans because of a new program capping monthly payments. And Jason Gibson of Ohio wrote Obama to say that after losing both legs in Afghanistan, he's making progress and has a new daughter.
Obama announced the guests in his weekly radio and Internet address.
His domestic policy adviser, Cecilia Munoz, announced a fourth guest in the White House's weekly Spanish-language address. Munoz says Dallas resident Ana Zamora was brought to the U.S. illegally as a child, but benefited from Obama's program to defer deportations for eligible immigrants. She says Zamora's parents will now be eligible for protection from deportation under Obama's recent executive actions on immigration.