Pioneering journalist Helen Thomas dies, was an irrepressible White House correspondent

WASHINGTON - Helen Thomas, a long-time White House correspondent and a pioneer for women in journalism, has died. She was 92.

A friend, Muriel Dobbin, says Thomas died at her apartment in Washington on Saturday morning. Dobbin says Thomas had been ill for a long time, had been in and out of the hospital, and had come home Thursday.

Thomas made her name as a bulldog for United Press International in the great wire-service rivalries of old. She used her seat in the front row of history to grill nine presidents -- often to their discomfort and was not shy about sharing her opinions.

She was persistent to the point of badgering; one White House press secretary described her questioning as "torture" -- and he was one of her fans.