The federal ricin investigation stumbles, and a false alarm spooks Capitol Hill.
Crime
The Day the Marathon Stopped: Tragedy in Boston’s Back Bay
Marathon Runner: “You knew right away it was a bomb. There was no doubt.”
Live Video and Updates: Boston Marathon Blasts Leave 2 Dead, Dozens Injured
TIME is tracking the breaking news from the scene in downtown Boston. Follow here for constant updates.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick Responds to Boston Marathon Explosion
“This is a horrific day in Boston.”
Law Enforcement Sounds Alarm on Cell-Phone-Theft Epidemic
Law-enforcement officials are demanding that the wireless industry and lawmakers take new steps to quash a thriving black market for stolen phones
A Tragedy Like Newtown Should Be Politicized, But Changing Anything Will Take Different Politicians
I haven’t read any stories about the innocent children and teachers whose lives were cut short because they went to school at Sandy Hook Elementary on Friday. I couldn’t read about the innocent victims who died because they …
Fast and Furious Report Destroys Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories
For more than a year and a half, everyone from House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa to right-wing provocateurs on Fox News have been lobbing fiery accusations about Operation Fast and Furious, including that it was a plot conceived by the White House for a variety of nefarious purposes.
After Shooting, Social Conservatives Describe a Movement Under Siege
Washington
The Aug. 15 shooting at the headquarters of the Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy group, has provoked an outpouring of concern from social conservatives. It wasn’t just the crime, which people of all …
Mike Huckabee’s Silly Sermon
Since nobody knows what caused the Aurora gunman’s rampage, and since everyone seems fine skipping the political debate about how to prevent its recurrence, much of the commentary about the Colorado massacre has been theater criticism about how the media should cover it. Here’s Mike Huckabee, providing a valuable lesson in how not to:
‘Gunclingers’: Aurora, Assault Weapons and the Rise of Mass Shootings
Some surprising words about gun control from Bill Kristol on Sunday’s Fox News panel:
People have a right to handguns and hunting rifles … I don’t think they have a right to semiautomatic, quasi–machine guns that can shoot hundred of bullets at a time. And I actually think the Democrats are being foolish as they are being
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After Aurora, Lessons from Columbine
Thirteen years ago, I was part of the team of Dateline NBC reporters who covered the 1999 Columbine shootings not far from Aurora, Colorado, where today’s horrific shooting occurred.
Trayvon Martin: The Debate We’re Not Having
In my print column this week, which is available to TIME subscribers here, I write about the Trayvon Martin case and the debate we should be having–about guns, not race. We may never know if race was George Zimmerman’s motivation when he killed Martin, but we can be almost positive that Martin would be alive today if Zimmerman hadn’t …
Trayvon Martin’s Death Puts ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws on Trial
It’s easy to blame George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old Hispanic American who shot the unarmed boy Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26 in a gated community in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman may end up imprisoned for decades, but Florida law should also go on trial.