Monday morning news: May 21, 2018

Texas Lt Gov calls for hardening schools » Texas Governor Greg Abbott attended Sunday services in Sante Fe, Texas, where families are mourning the victims of Friday’s deadly mass shooting. Following an emotional service, Abbott laid flowers outside the high school where a gunman took the lives of eight students and two teachers.

ABBOTT: Something that no child should ever have to suffer. We pray that God heal the hearts of parents who have lost a child.

Police are still investigating what drove 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis to allegedly murder 10 people and wound 13 others.

Abbott says the state will look for solutions to help ensure this never happens again. And as gun control debates rage on, Abbott said there seems to be relative consensus that schools need better security. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick on Sunday said one simple step to that end is to reduce the number of entrances as schools. 

PATRICK: Look you need all the exits, fire exits, you need. But we should have eyes on students walking into our schools. This student walked in with a gun under a trenchcoat Friday, and no one in law enforcement stopped him. We can’t guard every entrance of the 8-thousand plus schools we have in Texas, but we can guard one or two.

Governor Abbott said the state will hold three days of roundtable discussions to determine next steps in helping to safeguard schools.

Trump demands DOJ probe of FBI » The Department of Justice has asked its Inspector General to look into any possible “impropriety or political motivation” in its investigation of Russian election meddling.

That news came mere hours after President Trump tweeted on Sunday, “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

Last week The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that the FBI sent an informant to talk to two Trump campaign advisers in the summer of 2016. That has some, including the president, speculating that the FBI may have planted a spy inside the Trump campaign.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said the Justice Department should look for answers… 

NUNES: If they ran a spy ring or an informant ring and they were paying people within the Trump campaign.

But that committee’s top Democrat Adam Schiff said President Trump is pushing fake news.

SCHIFF: You hear it in the same terms that Trump often speaks, which is people are saying or I’m hearing or we’re being told. That’s another way of saying this is patently untrue, but we would like to spread it anyway.

Volcano update » Another explosion near the summit of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano Sunday morning sent ash shooting some 7,000 feet into the air.

Meantime, lava has crossed a coastal highway on the Big Island and reached the ocean. Authorities are warning people to stay far away from the coast in those areas. When lava touches the ocean it produces what’s called “laze.” That’s a hydrochloric acid steam that pours into the air, carrying fine particles of glass. And the wind can carry that laze in any direction.

Also, the first known injury from the volcano surfaced over the weekend. A Big Island resident standing on his third-story balcony was struck with lava splatter, shattering his leg.

Venezuelan election » Another victory for Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, another sham election say his opponents. WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry has that story.

JIM HENRY, REPORTER: Voting was light in Venezuela’s presidential election Sunday. Maduro’s opponents urged voters to boycott the polls— asserting the election would be rigged.

Maduro’s win came as no surprise to international observers. The U.S. declared Maduro a dictator last year after a rubber stamp National Assembly set the stage for him to remain in office for life.

Venezuela’s economy has virtually collapsed under Maduro’s socialist policies.

Food and medical shortages, coupled with rampant inflation, have sparked often violent protests since he took office in 2013.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Jim Henry. 

Gunmen attack Russian Orthodox church in Chechnya » A deadly attack on an orthodox church in Russia over the weekend left seven people dead. Security forces killed four gunman who attacked the Archangel Michael Church in the mostly Muslim province of Chechnya Saturday. The clash also left two policemen and one churchgoer dead. Father Sergiy, the priest at the church, said worshipers heard shots and chants of “Allahu akbar” outside.

Russian police say the attackers were armed with guns and knives. Radical Islamists, some of whom have sworn allegiance to ISIS, are known to conduct sporadic raids in Chechnya.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead on Legal Docket, the IRS differs with railroad employees on the meaning of money. Plus, the United States puts punitive tariffs against China on hold. This is The World and Everything in It.

(Jennifer Reynolds/The Galveston County Daily News via AP) Gov. Greg Abbott, his wife, Cecilia, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, along with Sen. Larry Taylor and Rep. Greg Bonnen prepare to place flowers Sunday, May 20, 2018, at Santa Fe High School where a gunman opened fire Friday killing 10 people, in Santa Fe, Texas. 

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.