Last night, over 10,000 “Virginia Tech students and supporters lifted thousands of candles to a sapphire sky to remember the 32 people killed by a campus gunman.” Others across the country expressed their sympathies through online vigils and forums. See profiles of the victims here.
A CNN poll finds most Americans (72%) say they are closely following the ongoing dispute over timetables for Iraq withdrawal. “Six in ten think that they would wind up siding with the Democrats in this dispute; 37% say they are more likely to take the President’s side.”
In a speech today at the National Holocaust Memorial Museum, President Bush will “announce a new set of sanctions on Sudan in an attempt to pressure the Khartoum government to allow a peacekeeping force into the turbulent Darfur region.”
The NYT writes that the selection of comedian Rich Little as headliner for the White House Correspondents Association dinner this weekend is seen as “a symbol in the liberal blogosphere for what its members consider the proclivity of Washington reporters to give Mr. Bush and his administration a pass.”
“The World Bank’s board of directors is scheduled to convene tomorrow and may try to figure out what to do about calls that the bank’s president, Paul Wolfowitz, resign because he gave a big raise and promotion to his girlfriend, Shaha Riza.”
Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA) will name an independent panel to conduct “a very thorough after-action review” of the events surrounding Monday’s mass shooting at Virginia Tech. “The idea is to do this after any significant incident,” Kaine said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The House yesterday passed the Taxpayer Protection Act, to protect taxpayers against “identity theft, deceptive Web sites and loan sharks.” It also makes it “easier for taxpayers to retrieve property lost as a result of a wrongful Internal Revenue Service levy and directs the IRS to notify lower-income people that they qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit.”
Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq has requested changes that would break down that firewall between the military’s public affairs office and “Pentagon efforts that use deception, propaganda and other methods to influence foreign populations.”
“Under criticism for poor treatment of injured soldiers, the Pentagon announced new measures Tuesday to provide more health screenings, improve its record-keeping system and simplify an unwieldy disability claims system.”
Only 7.3% of 2006 tax returns filed from Jan. 1 to April 14 designated a $3 contribution to the public campaign-financing system, according to data the Internal Revenue Service prepared for USA Today. “It is the latest sign that taxpayer support to help pay for presidential campaigns is waning.”
And finally: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is “seriously thinking” about granting Doors singer Jim Morrison a posthumous pardon for his “1970 indecent exposure and profanity convictions stemming from a Miami concert the year before.” “He died when he was 27. That’s really a kid, when you think about it, and obviously he was having some challenges. There’s some dispute about how solid the case was,” Crist said.
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