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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nation in brief: Duncan will visit Alabama school

From Wire Reports

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will meet with students as planned at Montgomery’s Robert E. Lee High School, despite a state legislator’s call to cancel the appearance.

Democratic Rep. Alvin Holmes, of Montgomery, had asked Duncan to cancel the visit because in 1965 the school and its then-principal publicly opposed the Rev. Martin Luther King and the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.

Officials in Duncan’s office said the school is now majority black and the current principal was 2 years old at the time of the march.

Gunman killed outside Walmart

COMMERCE, Texas – A man walked into a Walmart in Texas carrying at least two guns before engaging in a shootout with police outside the store, authorities said. The man was killed and an off-duty officer in the store who had tried to stop him was injured.

The incident in the east Texas city of Commerce began when police received a call of shots being fired from a car in nearby Greenville, about 50 miles northeast of Dallas, said Commerce spokeswoman Marty Cunningham.

An off-duty officer from another agency tried to stop the suspect in front of the store, where the officer and Commerce police exchanged gunfire with the man.

The off-duty officer was taken to a hospital with unknown injuries, and two people inside the store at the time of the shooting were hospitalized after complaining of chest pains, Cunningham said.