Dawn Hochsprung, the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School, was killed in the shootings in Connecticut Friday. In her two years at the school, Hochsprung had become a favorite of students and parents for her charismatic leadership and warm personality. She died trying to overpower the gunman.
Host Guy Raz talks to The Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the National Cathedral, who is calling for stricter gun control in the wake of the mass shooting in Connecticut. In his sermon Sunday, Hall said the National Cathedral would become a focal point for taking on the gun lobby.
Originally published on Thu December 20, 2012 1:26 pm
Update at 12:43 p.m. ET, Dec. 20: After we published this post, Shannon Hicks of The Newtown Bee got in touch to clarify details from the day of the Sandy Hook shooting. The text below now reflects those clarifications. For details of the revisions, please see the bottom of the post.
On a hillside in Newtown, Conn., art teacher Eric Mueller sets up wooden angels in memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Details about the lives of the slain are showing the depths of the community's loss.
Credit Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images
On a hillside in Newtown, Conn., art teacher Eric Mueller sets up wooden angels in memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Details about the lives of the slain are showing the depths of the community's loss.
Originally published on Mon December 17, 2012 12:17 pm
A day after the names of children and educators killed by a gunman at a Connecticut elementary school were released by law enforcement officials, details about the victims and their lives are emerging. In the wake of Friday's depraved attack in which 20 students and 6 adults were murdered, family members and friends have made public statements about their loss. And some have chosen to mourn in private.
A woman kisses a stuffed animal before placing it on the memorial.
Credit Mike Segar / Reuters/Landov
A memorial near the entrance to the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Credit Peter Foley / EPA/Landov
A sign reading "Pray for Newtown" hangs from a stone bridge over Hawley Pond in Newtown.
Credit Jason DeCrow / AP
Firefighters and other volunteers organize a memorial near Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Credit Evan Vucci / AP
At Newtown High School, residents greet each other before an interfaith vigil for the victims of the shooting.
Credit Mario Tama / Getty Images
Rachel Pullen (center) kisses her son, Landon DeCecco, at a memorial near Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Credit Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
President Obama speaks at a memorial service for the victims of the shooting in Newtown.
Credit David Goldman / AP
Mourners outside Newtown High School listen to a memorial service over a loudspeaker, on Sunday evening.
Credit Mary Altaffer / AP
Manuel Moreno walks his daughter Jady, 6, to the Morris Street Elementary School in Danbury, Conn. Teachers and parents across the country were wrestling with how best to quell children's fears about returning to school.
Credit Mike Segar / Reuters/Landov
Mourners embrace as they leave the Honan Funeral Home, where the family of Jack Pinto was holding his funeral service on Monday.
Credit Spencer Platt / Getty Images
People arrive for the funeral services of Noah Pozner in Fairfield.
Credit David Goldman / AP
Mourners gather outside the funeral service of Jack Pinto, 6, in Newtown. Monday was the first day of funerals for the victims.
Credit Jason DeCrow / AP
Veronique Pozner waves to the members of the press as she leaves after a funeral service for her son, 6-year-old Noah Pozner in Fairfield, Conn. Noah was one of 20 students killed in the shootings on Friday.
Credit Mary Altaffer / AP
A mourner pays his respects at one of the makeshift memorials in Newtown.
Credit Mario Tama / Getty Images
Candles are lit among mementos at a memorial for victims of the shooting on Monday night in Newtown.
Credit Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images
A student looks for a place to leave flowers at a makeshift memorial for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting at the entrance of Newtown High School on Tuesday in Newtown, Conn.
Credit Mary Altaffer / AP
A mourner pays his respects at one of the makeshift memorials for the Sandy Hook elementary shooting on Monday in Newtown, Conn.
Originally published on Mon December 17, 2012 4:26 am
Police on Sunday said 20-year-old Adam Lanza was armed with a high-powered rifle, two handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition when he forcibly entered a Newtown, Conn., elementary school and proceeded to gun down 20 young students and six faculty members.
The latest information on the tragedy, the worst violence at an elementary school in U.S. history, came ahead of President Obama's arrival in the town where Friday's mass shooting took place. The president met with families of the victims and planned to attend an evening vigil, where he will speak.
Sunday morning could see a pants revolution at church, at least if you're Mormon. A group of women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is inviting all sisters to shed their skirts and dresses, and wear slacks or pantsuits in an attempt to change the conservative dress code.
Robbie Parker's 6-year-old daughter, Emilie Parker, was killed in Friday's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. He spoke to the media Saturday in Newtown. Here is an excerpt of his tribute to his daughter.
Shop owners Tamara Doherty (left) and Jackie Gaudet meet outside their stores for the first time since becoming neighbors, just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Originally published on Sun December 16, 2012 7:33 am
Many of us following the news out of Newtown, Conn., do not have a personal relationship with those murdered Friday. Some of us may not have children whom we need to guide as they see images from the scene.
Yet even without these connections, many people are looking for ways to process their grief and mourn the victims.
Then-Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., observe voting in parliamentary elections in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2008. President Obama is reportedly considering Hagel as his next defense secretary, and Kerry for secretary of state.
Credit Getty Images
Michele Flournoy is reportedly among those President Obama is considering for defense secretary.
Originally published on Tue December 18, 2012 10:50 am
In the category of unintended consequences, Susan Rice's announcement about her future could — under one scenario — mean a Republican in President Obama's inner circle, decorated Vietnam veterans overseeing the nation's military and its foreign policy, and another special election for Senate in Massachusetts.
It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.
In front of the White House today, the flag flies at half-staff. And across the country, Americans are expressing their grief and their sense of despair. This morning, in his weekly address, the president spoke out about the tragedy.
Today and tomorrow, many people around the country will turn to their spiritual leaders for answers or at least for comfort. For nearly 30 years, Eugene Peterson served as the pastor for Christ our King Presbyterian Church near Baltimore. In the early 1990s, he began to translate the Bible into modern-day English. It became the best-selling book called "The Message." It's a book millions of Christians and non-Christians have come to rely on.
It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.
The nation is reeling from yesterday's deadly shooting, nowhere more than in the community of Newtown, Connecticut. What happened at Sandy Hook Elementary is now considered the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. We now know the gunman forced his way into the school. We also know that three weapons were recovered at the scene. And we now know that all of the children killed were between the ages of 6 and 7.
This evening in Newtown, Connecticut, Robbie Parker, the father of 6-year-old Emilie Parker who was killed in yesterday's shooting spoke publicly about the tragedy.
ROBBIE PARKER: It's a horrific tragedy. And we want everybody to know that our hearts and our prayers go out to them. This includes the family of the shooter. I can imagine how hard this experience must be for you, and I want you to know that our family and our love and our support goes out to you as well.
Law enforcement authorities are trying to paint a picture of the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, and what may have led him on that deadly rampage. NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson is here to talk about the investigation. Carrie, what more do we know about Adam Lanza at this point?
And as police begin to piece together a picture of the gunman, Adam Lanza, they will also be looking at possible motives. Here in the studio with me is NPR science correspondent Shankar Vedantam.
And, Shankar, you have reported in the past about building profiles of these kinds of assailants. I mean, usually, we're talking about men. We're talking about often about white men. Does what we know about Lanza fit that profile of a mass shooter?
It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz. Fred Rogers, better known as Mr. Rogers, was often asked by parents how to explain death to children. And so on his program one day, he decided to try and deal with that challenge. And here's how he started:
FRED ROGERS: When I was very young, I had a dog that I loved very much. Her name was Mitzi. And she got to be old, and she died. I was very sad when she died, because she and I were good pals. And when she died, I cried.
Originally published on Mon December 17, 2012 8:49 am
At a news conference Saturday afternoon, Connecticut's Chief Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver II released a list of the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Chicago's $1.6 billion "Plan for Transformation" envisioned public housing in a way that would deconstruct an image of the city's poor all concentrated in huge housing silos.
The idea was to mix public-housing residents with market-rate condos and subsidized rentals or homes, with one-third of each in these new communities.
Mourners gather for a vigil service for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Conn., on Friday night.
Newtown, Conn., is a white-collar community an hour and a half northeast of New York City. It's the kind of place where crime is rare and the biggest thing that happens each year is the Labor Day parade.
Now the peace and quiet has been shattered, and residents are trying to make sense of what's happened.
Hours after the shootings that left so many people dead, St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church opened its doors for a prayer vigil. People filed through the streets and past houses decorated with Christmas lights.
President Obama wipes his eye as he speaks during a press conference at the White House following the shooting in a Connecticut elementary school that left several dead, including children.
Originally published on Fri December 14, 2012 4:32 pm
Transcript of President Obama's speech on Dec. 14 following a deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Source: White House
This afternoon, I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel their families.
Gov. Bill Haslam speaks to reporters after announcing in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday that that he had decided against creating a state-run health insurance exchange. The Republican governor said he will leave it to the federal government to run the marketplace.
Originally published on Fri December 14, 2012 2:48 pm
Few people expected that the Obama administration would be running health exchanges in more than 30 states when the federal health law was signed two years ago.
But with the deadline for states to decide just hours away, only 18 states and the District of Columbia have proposed operating their own insurance marketplaces. The exchanges are a key tool under the law to expand health coverage to an estimated 23 million people over the next four years.
Great Basin's Mayan Maybe? beer has been a fast seller, the company's brewmaster says.
Credit Elysian Brewing Company
Elysian released its Mortis Sour Persimmon Ale in November as part of its Twelve Beers of the Apocalypse. The label artwork features imagery from comic artist Charles Burns' "Black Hole" series.
Originally published on Fri December 14, 2012 11:50 am
The world isn't going to end next Friday, but Dec. 21, 2012, has come to be known as the Mayan apocalypse because that's when the Mayan calendar ends. As scientists have told us repeatedly, the end of the calendar year was actually a time for celebration and renewal — the equivalent of an ancient New Year's Eve. So breweries around the country have decided to celebrate with — what else? — beer.
Lawrence Guyot spent his life fighting for civil rights - but often at great personal cost. He was jailed and beaten regularly by police in the Deep South while helping black people get involved in politics. Host Michel Martin speaks with Washington, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who worked alongside Guyot, about his life and activism.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., speaks Tuesday at a news conference calling for no reduction in the Medicare and Medicaid budgets, as part of the year-end budget talks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Waxman said he does not support means testing for Medicare.
When it comes to reducing Medicare spending, asking wealthier seniors to pay more is one of the few areas where Democrats have shown a willingness to even consider the subject.
"I do believe there should be means testing. And those of us with higher income in retirement should pay more," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on last Sunday's Meet the Press. "That could be part of the solution."
Parents leading a revolt to take over an elementary school say it has failed their children. From left: Cynthia Ramirez with her son, Mason; Doreen Diaz; Bartola DelVillar; and Kathy Duncan.
Credit Claudio Sanchez / NPR
Chrissy Alvarado and Lori Yuan both have two children at Desert Trails Elementary. They say that if kids are failing, it's because they're poor, transient and already behind when they arrive.
Parents in one small California community have used a "parent-trigger" law for the first time to shut down and take over an elementary school. It's a revolt led by parents who say the school has failed their children, but others say it's not the school's fault.
The school is in tiny Adelanto, Calif., home to several prisons connected by desolate stretches of highway on the fringes of the Mojave Desert.
Jeff Ingram, 46, suffers from a rare condition that wipes his memory. Whenever he has an attack, his wife, Penny, fears he won't regain his love for her.
Credit Courtesy of Penny and Jeff Ingram
The couple got married on New Year's Eve of 2006 after Jeff proposed to Penny — twice.
Forty-six-year-old Jeff Ingram has a rare type of amnesia called dissociative fugue. When he has an attack, his memory is wiped clean and he doesn't remember who he is or where he's from.
To chronicle their memories in case he forgets again, Jeff and his wife, Penny, came to StoryCorps in Olympia, Wash.
"You and I were talking on the phone," Penny recalls. "You said, 'Well, I have a medical condition that I probably should share with you.' "
