Shock and silence: US honours shooting victims

Obamas to attend Tucson memorial service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will attend a memorial service in Tucson Wednesday for the Shooting Spree Victims, the White House said. The Obamas will attend a service at the University of Arizona where the president will deliver remarks in support and remembrance of the six people killed, including U.S. District Judge John Roll, and 14 wounded, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., in Saturday's massacre outside a Tucson Supermarket where ...

Gun law lobbyists call for action as Obama heads to Arizona
Barack Obama will fly to Tucson for a memorial service today for the fallen from last Saturday's shooting rampage just as Democrats start a push on Capitol Hill for a reintroduction of at least one element of an anti-gun package that was allowed to lapse in the first George W Bush Administration. Efforts to comfort those traumatised by the attack, which left Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded and killed six, including a Federal Judge, were set to begin here last night with a f...

In Arizona, Obama to honor memories, speak of hope
WASHINGTON—Under high expectations to provide healing, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will try to convert the horror of the Arizona shootings into a moment of national unity, centering his memorial Speech in Tucson on the lives of the Victims and the heroism of those who rushed to stop the madness. The president was crafting his Speech on Tuesday, and his aides were reluctant to discuss it even broadly in its unfinished form, other than to say it will emphasize the memories of those ...

Obama to offer thoughts and prayers to Tucson victims
President Obama has been out of public sight today, thinking about what he wants to say Wednesday night in memory of the Arizona Shooting Victims. The president and First Lady Michelle Obama will attend "Together We Thrive: Tucson and America," a service to be held at the University of Arizona Basketball arena. The service is scheduled to run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tucson time (8-10 p.m. in the east). "The President thought it was important to visit the Tucson community since this tragedy touch...

In Arizona, Obama to honor memories, speak of hope
Speaking in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy, President Barack Obama said the nation is still in shock over the shooting rampage in Arizona that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords fighting for her life, but he commended the courage of the people on the scene who rushed to help, saying their actions reflect the "best of America." Under high expectations to provide healing, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will try to...

Holder, Kennedy accompany Obama to Tucson
Attorney General Eric Holder and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will join President Barack Obama’s entourage headed to Tuscon on Wednesday for the memorial service honoring Victims of the weekend Shooting Spree, according to a White House spokesman. Obama and Michelle Obama are leading the trip to southern Arizona for the event to recognize the six people who were killed in the Shooting Spree, including U.S. District Court Judge John Roll and a 9-year-old girl. The free event &md...;

Systematic assassinations not part of our politics
Charles Dharapak/AP A book of condolences is laid out for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and other Shooting Victims, Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington. Giffords was shot Saturday in a Tucson shooting rampage that left six people dead. The steam seems to be going out of the move to "deftly pin this" -- the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 13 others -- "on the Tea Partiers," as one unidentified senior Democratic operative put...

Doctor: Giffords Breathing on Her Own
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has started to breathe on her own and doctors at the Tucson University Medical Center said Tuesday they continue to be optimistic about her recovery. UMC Chief of Neurosurgery Dr. Michael Lemole said on NBC’s “Today” show that Giffords had given doctors a “thumbs up” in response to questions, and that at one point she attempted to reach for her breathing tube. That, Lemole said, suggests the Arizona Democrat is in some Discomfort which, medic...

Arizona shooting: Colorado man 'threatened to shoot Senator's staff' two days before Giffords shooting
A Colorado man has been arrested for allegedly threatening Democratic Senator Michael Bennet's staff two days before a gunman went on a Shooting Spree in Arizona that gravely injured a member of Congress, authorities said....

A Tale of Two Sheriffs
The Tucson massacre that left six dead and injured 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, brought into sharp public focus the local sheriff, Clarence Dupnik. He’s been the sheriff of Pima County, which includes Tucson, Arizona’s second-largest city, for 30 years. For the 20 years before that, he was a police officer. Dupnik has gained attention this week for linking the shooting to the vitriolic political climate in the U.S., and in particular, Arizona. Speaking at a Press Conference...

In Arizona, Obama to honor memories, speak of hope (AP)
WASHINGTON – Under high expectations to provide healing, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will try to convert the horror of the Arizona shootings into a moment of national unity, centering his memorial Speech in Tucson on the lives of the Victims and the heroism of those who rushed to stop the madness. The president was crafting his Speech on Tuesday, and his aides were reluctant to discuss it even broadly in its unfinished form, other than to say it will emphasize the memories of tho...

The Consequences of Inflamed Rhetoric
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard about what happened in Arizona over the weekend.  In case you’ve managed to avoid the news for the past few days, though, Rep. Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords (D-Arizona), U.S. District Judge John Roll, and eighteen others were shot by a lone gunman at a “Congress on your Corner” event held by Rep. Giffords. A medical Helicopter evacuates Victims from a “Congress on Your Corner” event in Tucson, Arizona, where U....

Pelosi heading to Arizona with Obama
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will travel with President Barack Obama to Tucson Wednesday afternoon for a memorial service for the Victims of Saturday's shooting rampage. With the presidential visit, the service was already shaping up to be a dignitary-packed event. Pelosi's office also announced Tuesday evening she would be signing the public condolence book for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), at the Cannon Rotunda next door to the Capitol. ...

House members want added security after Giffords shooting
House members will return to the Capitol on Wednesday for the first time since the Tucson, Ariz., shooting rampage that nearly killed colleague Gabrielle Giffords, and they are demanding improved protection ranging from office security cameras to the installation of a plexiglass barrier over the House floor. Members will meet Wednesday with the U.S. Capitol Police and the sergeant-at-arms to discuss security issues in the Capitol and at home in their own districts, which is where Giffords, a De...

Shot US lawmaker improves; gunman's family sorry
The US lawmaker shot in the head in an attack killing six in Tucson can now breathe unaided, doctors said Tuesday as the gunman's family broke their silence to say they were "so very sorry." Surgeons gave an upbeat outlook for Representative Gabrielle Giffords' condition, as President Barack Obama prepared to travel to Arizona and a harrowing account emerged about the youngest Victim in Saturday's Shooting Spree. "She's holding her own," said Michael Lemole, the head neurosurgeon who operated on...

Inside the Beltway
POST-TUCSON Sensible America has spoken. The nation does not think "harsh political tone" had anything to do with Saturday's deadly shootings in Arizona, where a Democratic lawmaker was severely injured, this according to a nimble CBS News survey revealing that 57 percent of respondents agreed that Rhetoric and the terrible events were unrelated. About a third felt there was a connection. Naturally, there's a partisan divide: 69 percent of Republicans don't equate the two, compared with 49 per...

In Arizona, Obama to honor memories, speak of hope
WASHINGTON (AP) — Under high expectations to provide healing, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will try to convert the horror of the Arizona shootings into a moment of national unity centering his memorial Speech in Tucson on the lives of the Victims and the heroism of those who rushed to stop the madness. The president was crafting his Speech on Tuesday, and his aides were reluctant to discuss it even broadly in its unfinished form, other than to say it will emphasize the memories of t...

Obama Leads Moment of Silence after Shooting
Monday, January 10, 2011 By Lou Kesten, Associated Press In this March, 2010 photo provided by the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Giffords poses for a photo. Giffords was critically wounded during a shooting at a political event Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords) Washington (AP) - A somber President Barack Obama led a moment of silence on Monday for a nation stunned by an attempted Assassination against an Arizona congresswoman that left...

Obamas observe silence for Arizona shooting victims
The President and the First Lady hold a minute's silence outside the White House in memory of those killed in Tuscon, Arizona....

Tighter Gun-control Laws A Long Shot
(NewsCore) - The Tucson shootings have renewed an effort among Northeast lawmakers to strengthen federal gun-control laws, but a partisan climate and an influential gun lobby mean that talk may be as far as it gets, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. On Tuesday, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), whose husband was killed by a lone gunman in a 1993 Shooting Spree, said she would introduce Legislation to reinstate a ban on high-capacity magazines like the one used by the Tucson shooter. Rep. P...

Brewer: Arizona is a place of 'heroes'
Tucson, Ariz. — Gov. Jan Brewer made an impassioned defense of her state Tuesday in the same city where a local sheriff decried Arizona as a “mecca of intolerance and Bigotry.” “Since Saturday, all of us have read and heard a lot about the state of Arizona,” she said. “I want to speak to you about the Arizona I know, the place we saw again even on such an awful Saturday,” Brewer told nearly 700 civil and business leaders who had gathered for her Speech...

New Shooting Details: Loughner's Angry Note
With all the evidence against the suspected Tucson shooter Jared Loughner, a Guilty verdict could still prove very difficult. Jan Crawford reports on the latest details of the case. (CBA/AP) The 22-year-old man accused of trying to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a deadly shooting rampage wrote "Die, bitch" in a note found at his home, a sheriff's official told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Investigators believe the handwritten message was a reference to Giffords, Pima County Chief Ri...

Obama to give State of the Union Jan 25 (AFP)
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama will deliver his annual agenda-setting "State of the Union" Speech on January 25, his first in a tense new era of divided US government, officials confirmed Tuesday. "As many great challenges lie ahead for our nation, we welcome an opportunity to hear your proposals," Republican US House Speaker John Boehner said in a letter formally inviting the president to make the yearly address. The Speech will come after Republicans form...

Brewer visits victims, medical heroes
TUCSON, Ariz. — Gov. Jan Brewer on Tuesday afternoon visited University Medical Center, meeting with the survivors of last weekend’s Mass Shooting, as well as the doctors and nurses who heroically worked to save their lives. “I think, like most people, we have this vision of this horrible incident taking place, people being shot with bullets that you almost feel hopeless,” Brewer told reporters outside the trauma Hospital where a makeshift memorial has sprung up. Contin...

Next on the AZ Target List: Rep. Raul Grijalva?
I have some concern right now (in addition to the Victims of Sat’s shooting) for Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ). He had to close his local offices in Yuma and Tucson back in April 2010 because of threats arising from Racists over Immigration and the infamous S.B. 1070 law. From HuffPo: Grijalva Staffer Ruben Reyes said the office has been flooded with calls all week about Senate Bill 1070. About 25 percent are “very racist” in nature, Reyes said, characterizing some as “t...