Senator Sanders

Charleston Church Shooting Sen. Bernie Sanders called the shooting of nine people at a prayer meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, a "horrific reminder" that racism still exists in the United States, The Associated Press, CBS News, Newsweek and The Guardian reported. Sanders postponed a trip to Charleston planned for Sunday and urged supporters to donate to the Emanuel AME Church, The (Charleston) Post and Courier and MSNBC reported. LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, VIDEO

Guns Missing from Sanders response was any call for gun control, Policy Mic noted. Sen. Sanders is a liberal standard bearer on nearly every issue except gun control, according to Politico. Sanders' gun votes put him "in line with his home state's political norms," Rolling Stone said. The NRA has given Sanders D- and F grades. MSNBC's Steve Benen noted that "it's important to realize that Vermont has some of the most lax gun laws in the nation, in large part because gun violence in the Green Mountain State is so low." Democrats “with the exception of Bernie Sanders” are unified on gun violence, Democratic operative Stephanie Cutter said on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. LINK LINK, VIDEO 

Immigration Sen. Sanders speaks Friday in Las Vegas at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ annual conference. Sanders' supporters say he has a record of backing issues of concern to the Latino community, including the 2013 immigration reform bill, the "DREAM Act" and President Barack Obama's executive action to protect millions of undocumented immigrants, the Burlington Free Press reported. LINK 

Global Warming Sen. Sanders on Thursday praised Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change. "Pope Francis’ powerful message on climate change should change the debate around the world and become a catalyst for the bold actions needed to reverse global warming," Sanders said in a statement published by the Burlington Free Press. LINK

Trade Deal Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton says she would vote against the fast-track trade bill were she in the Senate today. Clinton remains noncommittal on whether she supports the overall trade deal Obama seeks, AP reported. Sen. Sanders has been a leading voice against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to the National Journal. LINK  

Pensions The International Brotherhood of Teamsters endorsed legislation introduced Thursday to protect the pensions of millions of retirees from the threat of deep cuts. The Teamsters union represents 1.4 million members. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers also endorsed the bill introduced in the Senate by Sanders, The New York Times and Pensions and Investments reported. LINK, LINK

National 

Church Massacre Suspect Held as Charleston Grieves  The mass murder of nine people who gathered Wednesday night for Bible study at a landmark black church has shaken a city whose history from slavery to the Civil War to the present is inseparable from the nation’s anguished struggle with race. Fourteen hours after the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in which the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, the church pastor and a prominent state senator, was among the dead, the police in Shelby, N.C., acting on a tip from a motorist, on Thursday arrested Dylann Storm Roof, a 21-year-old white man with an unsettled personal life and a recent history of anti-black views, The New York Times reported. LINK

House Passes Fast-Track Trade Bill The House on Thursday passed legislation to ease trade pacts through Congress, as Republicans and some Democrats revived hopes for President Barack Obama’s trade agenda less than a week after liberals sank a similar bill. The House’s 218-208 vote sends the measure to the Senate where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to pass the bill as soon as next week, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK

Senate Democrats Stall Defense Spending Bill The Senate passed its annual defense policy bill on Thursday before opening a broader fight about military and domestic spending that is likely to intensify as Congress nears the expiration of the government’s current funding this fall. That became clear when every Democrat except one voted to block a related defense-spending bill—the first appropriation bill to come up this year in the Senate—on a procedural vote, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK                                                                                                                                                   

Vermont

Vermont Tech Dairy Farm Students at Vermont Technical College will get a chance to be fully immersed in the ins and out of life as a dairy farmer after the donation of a 350-acre dairy farm. Andrew Sigler donated the $1.5 million Norwich Farms, which is a 40-stall operating farm with three residential buildings and multiple barns, AP reported. LINK