In brief: Hundreds march over police violence
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Hundreds of protesters denounced recent fatal police shootings and issued a call for peace in the community even as police arrested at least nine people in separate marches Sunday.
Some 200 vocal protesters rallied in front of police headquarters, while a separate group of about 100 people marched silently along a two-mile stretch of a main thoroughfare, the Orange County Register reported.
Chanting “Whose streets? Our streets!,” the vocal group started marching toward Disneyland, but a police line stopped the group a half-mile away.
The other group was dressed in white and remained silent as part of their call for peace. They walked shoulder to shoulder, five people across, some carrying messages such as “We are Anaheim” and “Peace begins with us.” City Councilwoman Kris Murray and state Sen. Lou Correa, a Democrat who represents Anaheim, were among the marchers.
Biden addresses teachers union
DETROIT – Vice President Joe Biden, in a speech Sunday to the nation’s second-largest teachers union, said Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney doesn’t treat public education as a priority and distrusts the hard-working teachers who struggle to create opportunity for the nation’s young people.
Biden addressed 2,500 delegates at the American Federation of Teachers national convention in Detroit on Sunday.
Biden painted Romney as planning to gut education funding to finance tax breaks for the wealthy.
From what Romney and his GOP rivals said during the primary debates, “it looks like they don’t think public education is worth the investment,” Biden said.
A spokesman for Romney’s campaign accused Biden – and President Barack Obama – of kowtowing to teachers unions. “Instead of putting students first, this administration has put the union bosses that fund their political campaigns ahead of what’s best for our children,” spokesman Sean Fitzpatrick said.
“Mitt Romney has the plan and record to put students first and make sure that they have a job waiting for them when they graduate,” Fitzpatrick said.
Cheney calls Palin selection a mistake
WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Dick Cheney says it was a mistake for Republican Sen. John McCain to pick Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee.
Cheney said he liked Palin, but that she didn’t pass the test of being ready to be president and that McCain’s campaign didn’t handle the vetting process well.
Republican challenger Mitt Romney is expected to announce a running mate in August. He is widely expected to choose someone perceived as competent but safe.
Cheney, whose own unpopularity was a flashpoint for the Bush administration, said there are two lists that candidates maintain. The bigger list includes politicians who want to be viewed as under consideration to boost their standing; a second, much shorter list contains those who are actually being considered.