Midday Roundup: Slain reporter's dad pledges to fight for gun control

Survivor. The third victim in a shooting this week in Virginia appears to be on the road to recovery after emergency surgery. Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, was being interviewed by Alison Parker for a live TV report when the shots rang out. She was hit in the back but survived. “She’s a champion. She’s a fighter. She’s positive, and that’s going to help her,” said Troy Keaton, chairman of the chamber of commerce. Alison Parker’s father, Andy Parker, said Thursday he would dedicate the rest of his life to ending gun violence in memory of his slain daughter: “This not the last you’ve heard of me. I’ve got to, this is something that is Alison’s legacy that I want to make happen.”

Human toll. Austrian authorities now say they found 71 people dead in an abandoned truck on a highway in Vienna. They are believed to have been refugees from conflict zones in the Middle East and Northern Africa who suffocated in the back of the poorly ventilated truck. Three children were among the dead. At least another 150 refugees drowned off the coast of western Libya on Thursday when the fishing boat they were in sank.

Unpopular agreement. The Obama administration remains locked in a tug-of-war with opponents of the Iran nuclear pact. Among those pulling in the other direction is a large group of former top military commanders. Nearly 200 retired generals and admirals penned a letter to Congress this week, urging its members to kill the Iran nuclear deal. They said the agreement would “threaten the national security and vital interests of the United States.” Their letter was an apparent response to one written earlier this month by a few dozen former military leaders in supportof the deal.

Bad debt. Despite rising government revenues, the U.S. annual deficit will double in 10 years to roughly $1 trillion, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office. As a percentage of the gross national product, deficits have declined in recent years, but Heritage Foundation’s Romina Boccia said Washington can’t take credit for it. “The reason that the deficit is falling is not that they are spending less but, in fact, it’s because we are taxing people more.” The national debt is hovering around 74 percent of GDP, the highest since 1950.

His, hers, or theirs? A Missouri school district’s decision to open restrooms to the opposite sex is drawing a sharp reaction. “And so the ACLU is just pushing a very radical agenda here and schools should take a strong stance in defending every student’s rights to dignity, and privacy, and safety,” said Matt Sharp of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). ADF sent a letter to the Hillsboro, Mo., R-3 school district board this week, explaining that current law does not require unisex bathrooms or locker rooms. The American Civil Liberties Union sent an earlier letter to the district advising that Title IX’s prohibition against sex discrimination meant boys who identify as girls and vice-versa must be allowed to used the restrooms of their choice. The school district so far has not responded to a request for comment.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry and Mary Reichard contributed to this report.