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Ms. Solis, a former congresswoman from California, told colleagues in an e-mail that she had submitted her resignation letter to Mr. Obama Wednesday afternoon.

She said she had decided to step down after consulting family members and friends. Associates of Ms. Solis, who is 55 and was born in Los Angeles, said she was likely to run for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

In a statement, Mr. Obama said, "Secretary Solis has been a critical member of my economic team as we have worked to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and strengthen the economy for the middle class."

Ms. Solis was praised by labor unions for working to enforce workplace regulations and occasionally criticized for not being responsive to business interests. Among her biggest campaigns was cracking down on farmers who employ children or underpaid workers.

Ms. Solis, who was never viewed as part of Mr. Obama's inner core of advisers, prided herself on going to bat for the nation's recession-battered workers, especially those on the lower end. Many Hispanic workers looked to her as their champion – she focused, for instance, on the high fatality rate for Hispanic workers.

She made the department more aggressive in ferreting out rules violations involving the minimum wage, overtime and other issues. Last year the Labor Department collected more back pay for wage violations than in any previous year, more than $280 million on behalf of 300,000 workers.

Under her, the Labor Department incurred the coal industry's wrath by focusing on mine safety violations after the Upper Big Branch disaster, a West Virginia coal mine explosion in 2010 that killed 29 workers.

She is one of two Hispanic members of the cabinet, with Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, and was one of a handful of women, along with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Lisa P. Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security; and Susan E. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, who has cabinet status.

Ms. Jackson has announced her resignation, and Mrs. Clinton is to be succeeded by Senator John Kerry..

Months of punishing drought and grass fires have pushed the price of hay, grain and other animal feed to near records, making the golden bales an increasingly irresistible target for thieves. Some steal them for profit. Others are fellow farmers acting out of desperation, their fields too brown to graze animals and their finances too wrecked to afford enough feed for their cattle.

"It's the economics of the times," said Jack McGrath, the undersheriff in Colorado's Weld County, where hay thefts rose to 15 last year from 7 in 2011.

At Mark Reifenrath's farm in northern Colorado, the thieves struck at night. Two men driving a stolen pickup opened an unguarded farm gate by the side of the road, rolled into Mr. Reifenrath's alfalfa field and headed toward their quarry: 800-pound square bundles of freshly cut hay.

They set to work that October night, hefting two bales onto a flatbed trailer. They might have gotten more, but an employee happened by and noticed flashlight beams bouncing around in the darkness. Something was up. He yelled out, and the men disappeared into a patch of cattails, leaving behind a half-loaded trailer.

"Maybe it's not the crime of the century, but it affects us," Mr. Reifenrath said.

Sheriffs in rural counties in Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas say the spike in hay thefts is part of a broader rise in agricultural crime.

California's farmers have grappled recently with growing thefts of grapes, beehives and avocados, and sheriffs say high prices of scrap metal have made agricultural machinery — whether it works or not — an appealing target. Dubious online merchants are selling feed to farmers but never delivering. On the range, wire fences are being clipped to allow interloping herds to poach grazing land.

Most thieves make off with less than a ton of hay — about $200 to $300 worth, depending on the quality. But on Labor Day in Wellington, Colo., thieves hot-wired a front-end loader and stole enough hay from Conrad T. Swanson's ranch to fill the flatbed trailer of a semi.

"It's not like someone was just driving by and took enough to feed a horse," Mr. Swanson said.

Law enforcement officials said they could do little to prevent the thefts or catch the culprits. Most of the hay is nipped at night along remote roads, from fields and barns hundreds of yards from the nearest home. Because one bundle of hay tends to look like every other one, once a bale is stolen, reclaiming it is harder than finding a needle in a — well, never mind.

To ward off the hay thieves, farmers are padlocking their gates and painting their bales with their brands. Some are splicing their hay with ribbons that mark their ownership.

In Tillman County, Okla., hay thefts became so rampant that Sheriff Bobby Whittington decided to lay a trap. He bugged a bale in a particularly theft-prone field with a GPS unit and set to waiting, sure that thieves would strike. Sure enough, his phone rang one night last March with the news that the tracking device was on the move.

The sheriff hopped into his car and headed toward the signal. When he reached it, he found his culprits, and the bugged bale. Pulling them over, he said, he told the driver, "We need to talk about that hay bale you've got there."

The men were belligerent at first, Mr. Whittington said, until he explained how he had tracked them down. Before being arrested, the driver offered a plea.

"He just hung his old head and said, 'Can I take it back?'" Mr. Whittington said. "And I said, 'No.'"

For the first time, researchers have found genetic material from uterine or ovarian cancers in Pap smears, meaning that it may become possible to detect three diseases with just one routine test.

But the research is early, years away from being used in medical practice, and there are caveats. The women studied were already known to have cancer, and while the Pap test found 100 percent of the uterine cancers, it detected only 41 percent of the ovarian cancers. And the approach has not yet been tried in women who appear healthy, to determine whether it can find early signs of uterine or ovarian cancer.

On the other hand, even a 41 percent detection rate would be better than the status quo in ovarian cancer, particularly if the detection extends to early stages. The disease is usually advanced by the time it is found, and survival is poor. About 22,280 new cases were expected in the United States in 2012, and 15,500 deaths. Improved tests are urgently needed.

Uterine cancer has a better prognosis, but still kills around 8,000 women a year in the United States.

These innovative applications of the Pap test are part of a new era in which advances in genetics are being applied to the detection of a wide variety of cancers or precancerous conditions. Scientists are learning to find minute bits of mutant DNA in tissue samples or bodily fluids that may signal the presence of hidden or incipient cancers. Ideally, the new techniques would find the abnormalities early enough to cure the disease or even prevent it entirely. But it is too soon to tell.

"Is this the harbinger of things to come? I would answer yes," said Dr. Bert Vogelstein, director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University, and a senior author of a report on the Pap test study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine. He said the genomes of more than 50 types of tumors had been sequenced, and researchers were trying to take advantage of the information.

Similar studies are under way or are being considered to look for mutant DNA in blood, stool, urine and sputum, both to detect cancer and also to monitor the response to treatment in people who already have the disease.

But researchers warn that such tests, used for screening, can be a double-edged sword if they give false positive results that send patients down a rabbit hole of invasive tests and needless treatments. Even a test that finds only real cancers may be unable to tell aggressive, dangerous ones apart from indolent ones that might never do any harm, leaving patients to decide whether to watch and wait or to go through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation with all the associated risks and side effects.

"Will they start recovering mutations that are not cancer-related?" asked Dr. Christopher P. Crum, a professor at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the research.

But he also called the study a "great proof of principle," and said, "Any whisper of hope to women who suffer from endometrial or ovarian cancer would be most welcome."

DNA testing is already performed on samples from Pap tests, to look for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes cervical cancer. Dr. Vogelstein and his team decided to try DNA testing for cancer. They theorized that cells or DNA shed from cancers of the ovaries and the uterine lining, or endometrium, might reach the cervix and turn up in Pap smears.

The team picked common mutations found in these cancers, and looked for them in tumor samples from 24 women with endometrial cancer and 22 with ovarian cancer. All the cancers had one or more of the common mutations.

Then, the researchers performed Pap tests on the same women, and looked for the same DNA mutations in the Pap specimens. They found the mutations in 100 percent of the women with endometrial cancer, but in only 9 of the 22 with ovarian cancer. The test identified two of the four ovarian cancers that had been diagnosed at an early stage.

"The president and I are determined to take action. This is not an exercise in photo opportunities," Mr. Biden said as photographers were given a chance to take pictures before the closed-door meeting.

During the two-hour meeting, participants said, Mr. Biden and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told the group that President Obama was planning a comprehensive effort to pass legislation and use executive orders to prevent gun violence.

"Clearly they are not talking about just having a conversation with the American people," said John Feinblatt, who attended the meeting on behalf of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, an outspoken advocate for greater gun control measures.

Mr. Feinblatt, a top aide to Mr. Bloomberg, said Mr. Biden promised both a "legislative plan that could be achieved and a plan for executive actions."

"Both those things are going to be pursued," he said.

The meeting was part of Mr. Biden's effort to develop proposals for Mr. Obama and Congress in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., last month. A panel led by Mr. Biden is scheduled to offer recommendations this month.

Offering a glimpse of the approach that he might take, Mr. Biden hinted that his group was not likely to recommend an all-or-nothing approach to the issue of gun violence.

"We are not going to get caught up in the notion unless we can do everything, we're not going to do anything," Mr. Biden said.

Among those at the White House were representatives of the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, States United to Prevent Gun Violence and several state gun control organizations.

"I want to hear about your experiences," Mr. Biden, sitting next to Mr. Holder, said to the group. "I'm convinced that we can affect the well-being of millions of Americans and take thousands of people out of harm's way if we act responsibly."

Mr. Feinblatt said the consensus at the meeting was to seek broad changes to law that would include an assault weapons ban, limits on high-capacity magazines for ammunition, better enforcement measures, a gun-trafficking statute and improved data for background checks.

He said the advocates also pushed for executive actions that would not require Congressional approval, including new efforts by the Justice Department to prosecute people who lie on their background checks.

Mr. Feinblatt said that some of the people in the meeting told personal stories of grief that reminded the others around the table that "this is not some abstract exercise."

Mr. Biden made it clear that doing nothing about gun violence was not an option under consideration. But he also said that his group would meet with gun owners and gun rights groups — including the National Rifle Association — that oppose significant new gun restrictions.

"I've also invited the gun owners and the N.R.A. to come and make their case as well," Mr. Biden said. "We are reaching out to all parties on whatever side of this debate that you fall."

He added: "But the president is going to act. There is executive action that can be taken. We haven't decided what that is yet."

In addition to the N.R.A., representatives from Walmart, whose stores are the largest seller of guns in the country, will also attend a meeting with the vice president on Thursday.

A spokesman for the company initially told The Wall Street Journal that Walmart would not be sending anyone to the meeting. But David Tovar, the vice president for corporate communications, reversed himself Wednesday morning.

"We underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on Thursday in person, so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate," Mr. Tovar said in a statement. "We take this issue very seriously and are committed to staying engaged in this discussion as the administration and Congress work toward a consensus on the right path forward."

The authorities also found photos of weapons Mr. Holmes planned to use in the attack, prosecutors said, including a vest and a semiautomatic assault rifle. Another picture on Mr. Holmes' phone showed him assembling explosives that he used to booby-trap his apartment, prosecutors said.

The details about the photographs came on the final day of a preliminary hearing that will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to try Mr. Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student. He faces more than 160 counts of murder and attempted murder.

The judge, William B. Sylvester of Arapahoe County District Court, set a hearing for Friday and is expected to issue a ruling by then. If Judge Sylvester determines there is enough evidence for a trial, Mr. Holmes could be arraigned the same day.

"He picked the perfect venue for this crime," Karen Pearson, the lead prosecutor, said in court Wednesday, summing up the prosecution's case.

"He didn't care who he killed or how many he killed," she said, "because he wanted to kill all of them, and he knew what he was doing."

Daniel King, Mr. Holmes' main lawyer, did not call any witnesses during the two-and-a-half day preliminary hearing, saying it was not the appropriate proceeding. He has signaled that he plans to pursue an insanity defense.

On Tuesday, an F.B.I. agent testified that if all had gone according to Mr. Holmes's plan, someone would have tripped a nest of explosives he had woven around his Aurora apartment, luring the police there from the nearby movie theater.

Special Agent Garrett Gumbinner recounted how Mr. Holmes detailed to investigators his plot to blow up his apartment as a diversion. When the police entered the apartment after the shooting, they found a virtual death trap. A tripwire skirted five feet from the door to a thermos filled with glycerin, which tilted precariously over a pan containing another substance that could have caught fire, said Agent Gumbinner, a bomb technician.

Three jars of homemade napalm had been placed around the apartment. Firework shells filled with smokeless powder and gasoline littered the floor. The carpet was drenched with gasoline and oil, the agent testified.

"He said he had rigged his apartment to explode or catch fire in order to send resources to the apartment," Agent Gumbinner said.

According to testimony on Tuesday, Mr. Holmes told the police he had timed his computer to blare music as he prepared to begin the attack at the theater, hoping to draw someone inside his apartment who would set off the explosives and draw first responders toward his home rather than the multiplex.

A second triggering device was set up near a trash bin outside his apartment, Mr. Holmes is said to have told the police. As Agent Gumbinner described it, Mr. Holmes explained that he had placed the device in a garbage bag, along with a boom box and a remote-control car.

His plan was for a CD from the boom box to blast music, attracting a passer-by, who might then fidget with the remote-control car and inadvertently set off the triggering mechanism, Agent Gumbinner said.