Friday News Roundup - Domestic

Just a week ago, 12 people died in Virginia Beach. They were victims of a workplace shooting.

Gov. Ralph Northam called members of the Virginia legislature back to Richmond for a special session to address potential gun control measures. He said the time for “thoughts and prayers” was past.

The shooter used a silencer for his weapon — which some survivors say lengthened the response time of victims to understand what was happening, so reports say the governor will attempt to pass a ban on noise suppressants and assault weapons, in addition to implementing universal background checks.

Will the Virginia legislature be able to pass these measures — more than 10 years after they declined to do so after the shooting at Virginia Tech?

Earlier this week, we talked about how to prevent workplace shootings.

President Donald Trump visited Europe this week, meeting the British royal family and other officials in the U.K, before heading to Ireland and France. But some of his late-night Twitter activity suggested that his mind was back home.

Here’s one example:

Can you imagine Cryin' Chuck Schumer saying out loud, for all to hear, that I am bluffing with respect to putting Tariffs on Mexico. What a Creep. He would rather have our Country fail with drugs & Immigration than give Republicans a win. But he gave Mexico bad advice, no bluff!

And a New York Times investigation into Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao catalyzed ethical questions about her relationship with her family’s business.

Their story begins with an urgent ethics question from a government official to the State Department, regarding meetings that were being set up on behalf of the secretary.

From their report:

Ms. Chao has no formal affiliation or stake in her family's shipping business, Foremost Group. But she and her husband, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, have received millions of dollars in gifts from her father, James, who ran the company until last year. And Mr. McConnell's re-election campaigns have received more than $1 million in contributions from Ms. Chao's extended family, including from her father and her sister Angela, now Foremost's chief executive, who were both subjects of the State Department's ethics question.

Chao released a statement, saying that her parents “embody the American dream,” and the press secretary for the Department went further: “The department spokesman said The Times's reporting wove ‘together a web of innuendos and baseless inferences’ in linking Ms. Chao's work at Transportation to her family's business operations.”

A new report further demonstrated the Trump administration’s bungled efforts to reunify families after last year’s “zero tolerance” policy. NBC reported 37 children were held in vans during the reunification process. Most spent 23 hours straight in a vehicle. Some were held for up to 39 hours.

We talked about the latest on the Trump administration’s immigration policy on Thursday.

We wrap up the national news from around the country.

GUESTS

David Gura, Correspondent, NBC News; host, “Up with David Gura” on MSNBC; @davidgura

Emma Green, Senior associate editor at ​The Atlantic, covering politics, policy and religion; @emmaogreen

Sabri Ben-Achour, Correspondent and host, Marketplace; @Sabritree

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

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