Violence

I HAD a very good Mother's Day weekend. I got some unexpected presents and spent time with my husband and kids, my parents and my grandmother. But I also spent important time with some mothers who are not as lucky, who no longer have their kids to celebrate with. I stood with these mothers, who lost their children to gun violence, as well as with survivors of gun violence, and called for change that will spare others the tragedies they have suffered. Together we sent a clear message: We are not going away; we are here for the long haul.

NEW ORLEANS - Police hope that a $10,000 reward and blurry surveillance camera images will lead to arrests in a Mother's Day shooting that wounded 19 people and showed again how far the city has to go to shake a persistent culture of violence that belies the city's festive image. Monday night, police identified Akein Scott, 19, as a suspect, saying several people had identified him. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said it was too early to say whether Scott was the only suspect and that police were looking for him. Angry residents said gun violence - which has flared at two other city celebrations this year - goes hand-in-hand with the city's other deeply rooted problems such as poverty and urban blight.

Addressing urban violence as a problem that grips cities large and small, the Philadelphia-based organization Mothers in Charge hosted its first national conference on the impact of violence this week. The two-day conference at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel, which concluded Tuesday, featured grassroots activists, law enforcement officials, medical experts, and others. Dorothy Johnson-Speight, founder and executive director of the group, said her organization was hosting a national conference "because violence is a national problem.

By Jim McGovern The 10th annual Interfaith Walk for Peace and Reconciliation is scheduled for Sunday. When I heard the news about the attack in Boston, I wondered if we would still walk. Of course we will. In fact, everything we stand for is in direct opposition to the shameless act of hate and violence that rocked the world last week. On Sunday, walking together will be Muslims and Jews, Christians and Sikhs, Buddhists and seculars, and on and on. We will honor and celebrate our fellowship and the messages of peace and connectedness found in all these great religions, but even more so in the deepest crevices of our hearts.

DURING HIS 2012 campaign for re-election, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey was mysteriously absent from the headlines - so much so that Ed Rendell said he was running a "noncampaign. " Now, after cruising to victory, Casey seems to be all over the news. In December, the Democrat sacrificed his NRA-approved standing to rally behind new gun laws. And earlier this month, he announced that he is jumping the fence to support same-sex marriage. Daily News reporter Sean Collins Walsh sat down with Casey last week in his Washington office (the same one John F. Kennedy occupied during his brief Senate career)

TRENTON - Nearly two months after the Assembly passed 22 bills aimed at curbing gun violence, the Senate is hashing out details for a separate package that so far does not include the lower chamber's controversial bill to further restrict the number of bullets in a magazine. Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester), who had planned to introduce his chamber's final bills Monday, said some of the measures were still being revised. Although no draft bills were available, Sweeney said the centerpiece would create a state electronic database that would encode handgun and hunting rifle permits on a gun owner's license or state-issued identification card, allowing for instant background checks.

Sports and games serve as peaceful proxies for war, made possible by the absence of actual hostilities; think the Olympics or the Fischer-Spassky Cold War chess championship. That is part of what makes an act of violence against an athletic event so deeply sickening: It shows the best impulses of humans undone by their worst. Monday's apparent attack on the Boston Marathon was replete with such distressing juxtapositions. Participants were photographed running toward an explosion in the moment that the glorious sight of the finish line was transformed into a savage crime scene that people fled.

WHEN IT comes to cracking down on gun violence, New York has become America's model city. Word is out that police and prosecutors in the Big Apple don't mess around when they catch people who carry or use illegal weapons. It is unlawful to carry a gun without a New York license, even if the owner has a permit from another municipality. Hunters avoid driving through the city, fearing they could get nabbed. And punishment is swift and harsh. In 2007, New York passed a 3 1/2-year mandatory-minimum sentence for illegal gun possession.

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber blew himself up Saturday at a lunch hosted by a Sunni candidate in Iraq's regional elections, killing 20 people, officials said. The blast ripped through a hospitality tent pitched next to the house of Muthana al-Jourani, who is running for the provincial council and held the lunch rally for supporters, councilman Sadiq al-Huseini said. The attack took place in Baqouba, a mixed Sunni-Shiite city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Insurgent attacks and sectarian bloodletting have been rampant there in the decade since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Two years ago, two friends at a Philadelphia high school turned on each other and began a hallway fight sparked by a rumor on Twitter and Facebook. As the fight escalated, onlookers pulled out their smartphones and began recording the action. Shortly thereafter, the "winner" of this school brawl posted the unsettling video on Facebook for all to see. This incident spurred a debate at Constitution High about what role social media have, if any, in conflict resolution. "Social media is funny, in that we can see fights from across the country from somewhere like Los Angeles," said Kathleen Melville, an English teacher at Constitution High.