Clinton vows to seek new controls on guns
ANKENY, Iowa – Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday she was stricken by the news of two journalists shot to death on live television and promised to pursue policies that could cut down on gun violence if she is elected president.
“We’ve had so many terrible instances of it in the last two years, but it happens every day,” the 2016 Democratic front-runner said. “There is so much evidence that if guns were not so readily available, if we had universal background checks ... maybe we could prevent this kind of carnage.”
Clinton also extended condolences to the victims’ families and co-workers.
She spoke a few hours after reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward of WDBJ in Roanoke, Va., were gunned down during a live television interview by an apparently disgruntled former co-worker, who later killed himself.
Cities deny Trump’s claims about gangs
ST. LOUIS – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says gangs in places such as Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis and Ferguson, Missouri, are populated with “rough dudes” who are in the country illegally. But officials in those cities say there’s no evidence to support him.
In Iowa this week, Trump said “a lot” of the gangs in the four cities consist of people who are in the country illegally. He made similar comments on Sunday news shows.
Representatives of three of the four cities said Wednesday that Trump was wrong in his assertion. In the fourth city, Chicago, police say they don’t track the makeup of gangs.
Walker urges Obama to not visit China
DENISON, Iowa – GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker renewed his call Wednesday for President Barack Obama to cancel an official state visit with the president of China, saying the move would not hurt trade with states like Iowa, where he was spending the day campaigning, or Wisconsin where he is governor.
Walker first called for the state visit to be canceled Monday, when U.S. stocks tumbled, a reaction, in part, to China’s slumping economy. Walker defended the call Wednesday when asked about possible negative repercussions for agricultural states such as Iowa and Wisconsin that do billions of dollars of trade with Beijing.
Walker said Obama shouldn’t be offering a state visit to the leader of a country behind cyber attacks in the United States.
“If anything, we should be taking them to the woodshed,” Walker said.
He added at a campaign stop in Onawa, Iowa, that Americans are more concerned with fighting cyber attacks than working with China to combat climate change.
“I’m not intimidated to talk about China,” Walker said.
Rubio says nominee must embrace future
ORFORD, N.H. – Florida Sen. Marco Rubio says Donald Trump will not be the Republican presidential nominee because his message is not an optimistic one.
Rubio has largely shied away from taking on Trump, the billionaire businessman sitting atop polls of the Republican rivals.
In recent weeks, candidates such as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush have started to go head-to-head with Trump. Rubio’s criticisms Wednesday were measured, even when asked about Trump’s comment that Rubio is “disloyal” and “disrespectful” for running against Bush, who was Rubio’s mentor in Florida politics.
“I think our nominee is going to be someone that embraces the future, that understands the opportunities before us, that’s optimistic but realistic about the challenges before us,” Rubio told reporters after a meet-and-greet event in New Hampshire’s North Country.
“I’m running for president. I’m not running against anybody,” Rubio said. “I’ll continue to talk about my message.”
Associated Press
