The US Navy christens a combat ship named after former US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona.
Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, broke a bottle of sparkling wine across the ship’s bow during the naming ceremony Saturday at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.
Giffords stepped down from her congressional seat in January 2012 to recover from being shot in the head a year earlier at a political event in Tucson, Arizona. Six people were killed in the shooting by a lone gunman, including a 9-year-old girl.
Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, September 6, 2012 (AP/Charles Dharapak)
She and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, founded an organization that lobbies in support of gun control. Giffords was the first Jewish woman elected to statewide office in Arizona.
“The christening of the future USS Gabrielle Giffords marks the beginning of what is certain to be a long life for this great ship,” says Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. “It is also a celebration of the skill and dedication of the men and women who have built LCS 10 and the courage of her namesake. This ship truly embodies the Navy motto of Semper Fortis — Always Courageous.”
—JTA
Discover Israel's most beloved poet
She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel’s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.
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From the Liveblog of
Sunday, June 14, 2015
