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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Gun Violence Against Children: A "Virginia Tech Toll" Every Four Days

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008   

Blacksburg, VA - Deaths by firearms among Virginia children have been increasing again. So says a new report from the Children's Defense Fund, which finds that gun deaths among kids were up nationwide in 2005 for the first time since 1994.

There were 3,000 such deaths across the country, and Susan Gates of the CDF says that's just too many children lost.

"It is absolutely unacceptable that in this country, we lose eight children every day to gun violence. And that's the same as a tragedy like the Virginia Tech shooting occurring every four days."

The CDF argues the solution lies in new laws that would limit children's access to firearms, and in ending what it calls a "culture of violence" that desensitizes people to the value of life. Gates believes it's time for people to demand action to stop the killing.

"It's time that we step up and take action to stop the thousands of senseless firearms deaths of children and teens. The problem is solvable."

According to the latest figures, Virginia lost 79 children to guns in 2005, including 54 to homicide and 22 to self-inflicted wounds.

The CDF report, "Protect Children, Not Guns," is based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The full analysis is online at www.childrensdefense.org.




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