Gun-control bill clears first hurdle in Senate
WASHINGTON Congress most serious gun-control effort in years cleared its first hurdle Thursday as the Senate pushed past conservatives attempted blockade under the teary gaze of families of victims of Decembers Connecticut school shootings.
The bipartisan 68-31 vote rebuffed an effort to keep debate from even starting, giving an early victory and perhaps political momentum to President Barack Obama and his gun-control allies. Four months after 20 first-graders and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown were killed, relatives watching the vote from a gallery overlooking the Senate floor dabbed at tears and clasped hands, some seeming to pray.
Even so, few supporters of the legislation are confident of victory. Several weeks of emotional, unpredictable Senate debate lie ahead, and a mix of gun-rights amendments, opposition from the National Rifle Association and skepticism from House Republican leaders leave big questions about what will emerge from Congress. Foes of the proposed new restrictions say they would penalize law-abiding citizens and do nothing to curb gun violence.
3 die in spring storm packing snow, tornadoes
SHUQUALAK, Miss. A strong spring storm that socked the Midwest with ice and heavy, wet snow made its way east, raking the South with tornadoes Thursday, with three deaths blamed on the rough weather and thousands of people without power.
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn said Thursday one person died and several people were injured after a reported tornado struck Kemper County in the far-eastern part of the state.
The T-shaped system first swept across the nations midsection Wednesday night and pummeled portions of Missouri, where the National Weather Service said Thursday that an EF-2 tornado appears to have damaged dozens of homes in the St. Louis suburb of Hazelwood. That category of tornado generally packs winds of 113 to 157 mph.
As the system was moving through the Southeast, high winds knocked over trees and power lines in rural west Alabama and eastern Mississippi. About 50 school systems in central and north Alabama sent students home early, and a few government offices and businesses also closed early.
Associated Press
