Daughter Given Up for Adoption Reunites With Mom After Decades of Searching

Teresa Stinson said she had spent her whole life wondering who her birth mother was and why she was given up for adoption 47 years ago. But what she didn’t know until recently was that her birth mother had been searching for her for decades.

Christine “Chris” Shirley, now 66 years old, had often wondered what had happened to her baby girl.

“I gave up hope as the years went on, because I thought, ‘well, when she was in her 30s surely she would want to know ... who her birth parents were,’” Shirley told ABC News' “Nightline.” “And in her 40s ... I was giving up hope.”

But it was her daughter, Teresa, who found her first.

Woman Reunites With Daughter She Gave Up for Adoption 47 Years Ago

'Who Am I?' The Choice to Find Biological Parents

In December 2013, a bill was passed in Ohio that opened adoption records between 1964 and 1996, allowing 400,000 adoptees born in the state a chance to request their birth certificate for the first time ever. The new bill made Ohio the newest state to allow adoptees to have access to their original birth certificates. Birth parents were given a one year period to request that their name be redacted from the birth certificate. Once the period expired, adoptees could request their birth certificates. Currently, only 12 states have open adoption records laws.

Betsie Norris of the Adoption Network Cleveland fought for over two decades to unseal the adoption records in Ohio.

“It’s been surreal,” Norris told “Nightline.” “When the bill finally passed after it having so many times that it went down in flames ... it finally sunk in that this is actually really, really, really happening.”

Two of those adoptees were Teresa Stinson, 47, and her sister Vanessa Navis, 44, who were both adopted by the same couple and grew up in Middlebranch, Ohio. Both came from different birth parents and said they had a happy childhood, but always knew they were adopted and had questions.

“Just millions of questions,” Teresa said. “Where did I come from? Did my birth mother ever think about me?”

When her adopted mother told Teresa that her birth mother loved her but couldn’t take care of her, Teresa said it was difficult for her to take in.

“Even as a young child ... I so internalized that and it became a point that I had a really bad self-image, and I was never good enough,” she said.

But it wasn’t until last month after the new law in Ohio went into effect that she had the first opportunity to find her birth mother because the records were sealed before.

Teresa, now married with two kids, also never thought that her birth mother would be looking for her all these years.

“It was easier for me to believe that I wasn’t good enough,” she said. “It would almost be too painful for me to hope, to have that hope that, ‘gosh, she might be out there looking for me.’”

When the law passed, Teresa applied for her original birth certificate -- she was issued a new one when she was adopted that included her birth date but not who her birth parents were. Meanwhile, her sister Vanessa started looking online and found the first clue to Teresa’s past in a post on an adoption registry website for birth mothers looking for daughter given up for adoption.

“I came across this adoption registry website and I thought ... ‘I’ll type in Teresa’s birth date,’” Vanessa said. “And then on that registry was her birth mother’s name and that she had registered in 2001. ... I just said, ‘hey, I think I found your birth mother,’ and she’s like, ‘what?’”

The post revealed that Teresa’s birth mother had attended Lake High School more than 40 years ago -- the same school where Teresa’s son was now a student.

So, Teresa and her husband went to Lake High School to look through old yearbooks from 1964 to 1967, hoping to find an old portrait of her birth mother.

“The first thing I wanted to do is look at pictures and see kind of what their lives were like in high school and see if I can glean anything from that, see if I was maybe really ... like her, if we had anything in common,” Teresa said.

Missouri man arrested in slaying of student selling car through Craigslist

© GoFundMe Taylor Clark

A Missouri man has been arrested on suspicion of shooting dead an Illinois college student looking to sell his car to the suspect during a meeting arranged through online classified website Craigslist, police said.
Michael Gordon, a 24-year-old St. Louis resident, was arrested on Tuesday and was being held in a county jail on $1 million bond, Florissant Police Department spokesman Tim Fagen told a news conference late on Wednesday.
The body of Taylor Clark, a civil engineering student at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, according to his Twitter page, was found at the truck driver training center where Gordon worked.
"The victim and the suspect did connect through Craigslist after the victim listed a vehicle for sale," Fagen told reporters. "They were going to meet and the vehicle was going to be looked at and test-driven."
Gordon shot Taylor one time and took his body to a nearby wooded area and attempted to hide it, Fagen said.
© St. Louis County Jail/AP This undated booking photo released by the St. Louis County Jail, shows Michael Gordon. Gordon is due in court Thursday, May 7, 2015, and is being held in jail in lieu of $1… Police departments nationwide, responding to rising alarm over violent crimes linked to online classified websites, are urging buyers and sellers to use building lobbies and parking lots to safely meet strangers and exchange cash for goods.
Craigslist did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In March, a pregnant 26-year-old Colorado woman responding to an online advertisement went to a private home to buy baby clothes and had her fetus cut from her womb. She survived but her baby died.
A suburban Atlanta couple were killed in January after seeking to buy a non-existent 1966 Mustang convertible, and a Pennsylvania man was lured to his death last year after responding to an ad seeking "companionship."
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Baltimore Protests: What Smacked Baltimore Teen Has to Say About His Mom

The teenage boy publicly shamed when his mom smacked him around at the Baltimore riots this week said he knows she "really cares about me."

A video shows Michael Singleton being dragged from the protests and whacked by his mother, Toya Graham, after she saw him on television and recognized a key piece of clothing.

"What caught my eye was his sweatpants," she told ABC News. "Even though he had on all black, I knew those sweatpants he had on, they had a stripe on the side of it and then his eye contact met mine. And I knew that was my son."

Though he was visibly annoyed and tried brushing off his mom in the video that has now gone viral, the 16-year-old recognizes that she was just looking out for him.

"I’m like, 'Oh man! What is my momma doing down here?'" Michael told ABC News, laughing while thinking back to the moment his mom nabbed him Monday afternoon.

"All my friends know my mother. Every time they see her they’re like, 'Toya coming.' Oh, yeah she’s coming. Everybody better get straight," he said.

Man Leaves 7,000 Percent Tip for Waitress Because of Middle School Teacher's Pay It Forward Movement

It’s becoming more and more common to leave at least a 20 percent tip when dining out, but one man left his waitress a pretty unheard of gratuity: nearly 7,000 percent.

Mike from New York City left his server $3,000 on a bill for $43.50 last week.

“This woman had been serving us for almost a year now. She’s a lovely individual, and she talked about how she was served an eviction notice last month,” Mike, who asked to remain anonymous, told ABC News. "I just had also been constantly thinking about for quite some time my teacher’s project and this foundation, and I thought it was an appropriate time.”

The foundation he is referring to is “ReesSpecht Life,” a pay-it-forward movement started by his eighth grade science teacher Rich Specht after Specht’s 22-month-old son died in a tragic drowning accident.

In response to his death, Specht and his wife started a pay-it-forward foundation to thank everyone who helped them after their son Richard Edwin-Ehmer Specht’s (nicknamed Rees) funeral.

"We wanted to pay them back, and no one would take anything in return. We thought, ‘if no one will let us pay it back, we’ll pay it forward,’” Specht told ABC News.

He and his wife printed up business cards that encouraged others to pay it forward, initially ordering 5,000 cards. They’ve since distributed more than 100,000 cards worldwide.

"It keeps growing. People keep doing these things. We made our website and we get people to share their stories of what they’ve done,” he explained. “We unofficially call people who do things ‘Rees’ Pieces,’ and I get excited even when someone buys a coffee for someone else and shares it with us.”

Mike took his act a little further to honor his former teacher.

“I met Mr. Specht in eighth grade -- I was his science student – and he’s an incredible human being. To see something so horrible happen to him ... it doesn’t surprise me that he would start a foundation out of something so horrible that would juts continue to keep good around and to keep wonderful things going,” Mike said. “It was heartwrenching for me to see it happen. I had been trying to pay it forward and this was just a big opportunity for me to be able to honor someone that’s so wonderful.”

To help the waitress with her rent, Mike settled on $3,000 since Manhattan rents are so high.

“She really needed it and has been so happy since then, so I feel I did the right thing,” he said. “She said she was going to devote herself to the foundation and continue to pay it forward.”

It’s a scenario Specht and his wife never imagined when they started the foundation.

“All we ever want is to make a difference in the world. My son only had 22 months and didn’t really have a chance, and that’s all I wanted for him: to know he inspired someone he never met to do something,” Specht said. “I don’t know if there is a word that fits it because I can’t describe the feeling. It restores something that was missing."

Where Is Aaron Schock? Lawsuit Lawyer Says He Doesn't Know

Where is Aaron Schock? An attorney for a campaign donor suing the formerIllinois congressman has told a federal judge he can't locate the Republican who resigned in March amid questions about his spending.

Daniel Kurowski filed the lawsuit April 15 for Chicagoan Howard Foster. Foster donated $500 to Schock's campaign and wants him to repay millions of campaign dollars on grounds the Peoria politician tricked contributors into believing him.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports ( http://bit.ly/1JbTV8C ) Kurowski told a hearing in Chicago Wednesday he hasn't been able to inform Schock about the lawsuit. Kurowski tried a Peoria address for Schock, but the property is now vacant.

Amid media scrutiny, Schock quit in March and a federal criminal investigation began.

An email message seeking comment Thursday from a Schock spokesman wasn't returned.

'American Sniper' Chris Kyle’s Widow Taya Kyle on What He Was Like as Husband, Father

American Sniper' Chris Kyle’s Widow Taya Kyle on What He Was Like as Husband, Father (ABC News)

While the public has come to know former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle as the most lethal sniper in U.S history, his wife, Taya Kyle, says there was another side to him that hasn’t yet been seen.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts, Taya Kyle described the intimate world she shared with her husband and their children.

“There is so much more to him,” Taya Kyle told Roberts. “It was my chance to share some of that side too, ‘cause I think ... he's earned it.”

In the wake of her husband's death, Taya Kyle wrote a memoir, "American Wife: A Memoir of Love, War, Faith and Renewal," which details their story, how she dealt with her husband's death, and her life as a military spouse. The book will be released on Monday, May 4, in collaboration with Jim DeFelice and published by William Morrow Publishers.

Watch Taya Kyle’s story on a special edition of ABC News’ “20/20” Friday, May 1, at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

Chris Kyle and his friend, Chad Littlefield, were murdered at a gun range by former Marine Eddie Ray Routh in 2013. On Feb. 24, 2015, Routh was convicted of capital murder in their shooting deaths.

View gallery

.

Courtesy Taya Kyle

For Taya Kyle, Chris Kyle was the love of her life and her cowboy in shining armor.

“He just had this softness and this tenderness and genuine caring heart for us. And, you know, I just, I continue to look back and be in awe of how he managed it all so well, honestly,” she said. “I've gotten to experience more of what it's like to be in great pain and try to manage a family, and he did a great job.”Taya Kyle, who grew up in Portland, Oregon, was working as a pharmaceutical sales representative in Southern California when she met Chris during a night out at a bar.

“I mean, we're in a bar, you know, and he was so genuine and had a depth to him and this really hot body with a cute face and then an interesting career path,” she recalled. “I was intrigued, but I didn't think that it would ever be anything serious.”

'American Sniper' Widow Taya Kyle Recalls Moment She Told Kids Chris Kyle Was Dead

Taya Kyle said the portrayal of their first meeting by Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller in the Oscar-winning film “American Sniper,” which was based on Chris Kyle's book of the same title, was true to life.

“The funny thing is, in the movie, you see Bradley's hand, or at least I did, where he just gently has his hand on Sienna's head, and it's such a gentle, tender exchange even though he had just met her,” Taya Kyle said. “And I feel like that was so incredibly true with Chris.”

Though she never wanted to marry a Navy SEAL, Taya Kyle said, she later knew he was the one.

“Life was just life to him, and he didn't hide anything. He didn't pull any punches. He made me feel like he was excited to talk to me, to see me, and he was just this simple, fun, deep person,” she said.

The two married on March 16, 2002, exchanging inscribed wedding bands. Taya Kyle wrote, “My life, my love,” on Chris Kyle's ring, and he wrote, “All of me,” on hers.

While their commitment to each other grew stronger after their wedding, he was torn between his love for his country and love for his family. After their wedding, he was called up for duty.

But when he was home, Chris Kyle was committed to their two children: a son, whom he immediately nicknamed Bubba, and a daughter nicknamed Angel.

“I truly don't think there's a better example of what a father should be than him, and I don't say that lightly. And I don't even think it's all that biased,” Taya Kyle said.

She added that she can barely recall a day when her husband was not laughing with their children, no matter what kind of day he had.

“He expected them to look him in his eye, and be polite, and have good manners and do what they're told. And then he cuddled them, you know. He was always available for hugs and, you know, big hugs and a lot of love,” she said.

As a SEAL sniper, Chris Kyle was sent to the worst areas with the heaviest combat. He accepted the possibility he could be killed, Taya Kyle said, but was also mindful of every precious moment he shared with his children as each of his deployments drew closer.

In between kill shots, Chris Kyle sent emails to his wife showing his soft side and writing, “Just counting down the days, waiting for that big bird to take me home,” and, “Smoooooooooch!!!!! I can’t wait to give you a real one.”

However, Chris Kyle spent more and more time in Iraq than at home with his family. He called home when he could, but Taya Kyle, raising both kids on her own, was reaching the breaking point.

“I mean that simultaneously angry and thinking, like, ‘I love him so much, and I don't want to ever make him carry that burden when he's over there, so I can't really let him know that I'm angry,’” Taya Kyle said. “But you also know: How are you supposed to be mad at somebody who's serving their country and putting their life on the line every day?”

By the end of Chris Kyle's fourth tour, Taya Kyle put her foot down, making him choose between family and the SEALs. After 1,000 days in Iraq, he came home for good.

View gallery

.

Courtesy Taya Kyle

“It wasn't just for me, and it wasn't just for the kids,” Taya Kyle said. “This is a guy who would go until there was nothing left, and I felt like he was kind of on the precipice of not having much left.”

Although his family was happy to have him back, war changed Chris Kyle, and he had a hard time adjusting to civilian life. He moved the family to Texas.

Tensions rose between Chris and Taya Kyle, and even worse, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and was shutting her out. The couple came close a number of times to not working it out, she said.

Chris Kyle couldn’t tell Taya Kyle about everything that happened to him while he was in Iraq, but he had no trouble chronicling his war experience in “American Sniper,” an instant best seller, which was later turned into the Clint Eastwood-directed film.

Nearly three years after he had come home, he finally turned his life around. As a bestselling author, he had the means to support his family and conquered his demons.

View gallery

.

William Morrow Publishers

Chris Kyle even began helping fellow veterans adjust to civilian life by taking them to the hunting resort, Rough Creek Lodge. He found that hunting and target shooting helped veterans relax and open up.

“Chris had so many good times down here. And you know, I love that this guy also felt this was a good place to do it,” Taya Kyle said. “And it's something that's, you know, it's a good thing for people.”

Taya Kyle has continued to move forward with her life since her husband's death, keeping his legacy alive by writing her memoir.

“I still feel like I see him in the kitchen, you know? I still feel like he's everywhere. It's somewhere in between knowing that we have to move forward and always knowing he's there,” she said.

“I think I'm OK," she added. "I'm surrounded by really good people, and I have amazing kids and friends. And I have work that I think is fulfilling and important.

Ben Carson on the Baltimore Protests: If You Wouldn't Protest a Bad Plumber, You Shouldn't Protest Police

Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Before Ben Carson was a hero to Tea Partiers, he was a hero to African-Americans—nowhere more so than in his adopted hometown of Baltimore. When he wasn't in the operating room at Johns Hopkins, Carson, a retired Pediatric neurosurgeon, could often be found at Baltimore inner-city schools telling the remarkable story of how he rose from dire poverty to become a world-renowned doctor. He waseven immortalized in an episode of The Wire. Earlier today, Carson—who is expected to officially announce that he's running for president next Monday—spoke to me about the unrest in Baltimore. A condensed and edited transcript of our conversation is below.

What's your reaction to what's going on in Baltimore right now?
Obviously I'm sad to see what's going on there. I recognize that people are angry because they feel that they're not getting a full explanation of what occurred under suspicious circumstances, but I can speak from experience that reacting out of anger seldom leads to anything helpful. And these kinds of reactions will only increase the antagonism between police and communities throughout the country and result in militarization and more aggression. These are not helpful things.

I spent 36 years in Baltimore and had a lot of interactions with the police there, in the emergency rooms and lots of other places, and the vast majority are wonderful, very fine people. You certainly can't characterize all policemen by what happens in an incident like this. Perhaps something bad was done. I don't think there's any way it's going to be swept under the rug. And people just have to realize that it takes time. And the other thing is you look in these neighborhoods, a lot of those people have spent their whole lives building up their businesses, and to see them destroyed in a matter of minutes, frequently by outside agitators who have no concern whatsoever for the neighborhood or for the people there. I would just ask people not to let themselves be so easily manipulated and to have your future destroyed in a matter of minutes. And this is a message that really should be coming from the parents, the grandparents, and the guardians.

What about the politicians in Baltimore? What do you think of their response so far?
There are variable responses. There are some who feel that things have been done too slowly. But there's always going to be Monday morning quarterbacking. There's no question that people need to be thinking, when you have an incident like this, at a time of hyper-sensitivity that we live in right now, you need to be prepared for it, you need to actually think about these things ahead of time. What are you going to do? How are you going to be prepared? The other things is, leadership needs to be having conversations with the community, with the young people, in anticipation of problems occurring, and letting them know that destroying your own neighborhood, destroying the hard work of people who are trying to make a living, is not in any way going to speed up or improve what you perceive as injustice.

You said earlier that you had a lot of experiences with police in Baltimore. Did you ever have any bad experiences with police in Baltimore?
No. No I didn't.

Did you see the Baltimore Sun investigation from last year into police brutality that reported that the city has $5.7 million in lawsuit settlements for excessive force?
I'm familiar with the large number of suits and payouts, yes.

Do you think that's indicative of a larger problem?
It's certainly indicative of some problems. In no way am I saying that all the police are righteous, by no stretch of the imagination. And clearly we need to be dealing with that. But recognize that we're dealing with a people problem. When you look at the Baltimore police force, it's about as diverse as any police force you're going to find in a big city. There may even be more minorities on that police force than there are non-minorities. The point being that inappropriate behavior comes in all colors, it's not specific. And just because it comes by one color or another color doesn't mean it should be ignored. It needs to be dealt with.

We need to get to the bottom of any problems of discrimination. But the larger issue here is, how do you react when something is wrong? If you have an unpleasant experience with a plumber, do you go out and declare a war on all plumbers? Or teachers or doctors? Of course not. And it makes no sense to do that with police either.

I saw that Al Sharpton was going to Baltimore. Do you think that's helpful or not helpful?
It certainly doesn't surprise me. I guess we'll determine whether it's helpful based on what he says.

What would you like to see him say?
I would like to see him talk about the fact there are ways to redress grievances that are appropriate, and there are ways that are inappropriate. And destroying the lives of your fellow citizens is probably not an appropriate way to deal with it. And perhaps he can offer some constructive ways that people can deal with this.

What are those constructive ways? Assuming these riots will be over at some point, what should happen after that? What are the constructive ways to address what seems to be a problem?
Clearly the only way that you're ever going to resolve grievances is to engage in conversations, civil conversations. Laying out what your grievances are, what your perception is of what the other side is doing, and having each side do that, and very often when you're having those kinds of discussions, you're able to see that you're not as far apart from each other as you actually think you are. The other thing is, if there are specific grievances in terms of police actions, discuss those, bring out the facts and ask the city officials to help resolve these issues.

Do you think the system worked in the case of Eric Garner, the black man who died in Staten Island last year after police arrested him and placed him in a chokehold?
In what sense? It certainly brought a lot of things to light. It was very sad that two policemen lost their lives [in an attack thought to be retaliatory], that property was destroyed, so in that sense it did not work in an appropriate way. But hopefully all of these things lead to the gathering of knowledge that will help us to be able to resolve these problems. In South Carolina [where an unarmed black man was shot and killed following a traffic stop], obviously that was a travesty. You can't indict the whole police department on the basis of a rogue cop who committed a murder. And they acted swiftly and that was an appropriate response.

In the Eric Garner case, I meant that there was no indictment. Some people were upset about that, that there was incident caught on videotape, and no one actually is indicted for it. Is that an instance of the system working, the fact that there was no indictment?
I think sometimes the outcome may not be what everybody wants it to be. Some people say whether it was accidental or not, it certainly appears that it was accidental, but whether it was or not, heads should roll, and that's the way some people feel. And I understand that feeling. But at some point we have to be objective. There was little in the way of objectivity in Ferguson, even after the evidence became very, very clear. And so a lot of what's going on really needs a calming influence by leadership to really put things in perspective for people, so that raw emotions are not stirred and actions are not taken on the basis of raw emotions as opposed to facts.

Is there anything you'd like to see President Obama do in response to what's happening in Baltimore?
I would love for him to come out and say to not only the Baltimore community but to communities across the nation that we cannot judge our police departments by incidents that sometimes do not appear to portray justice. Let the system ferret those things out, and I would like for him to say we will be looking into the situation if it is not apparent that justice has been served, but let's give the system a chance to work. And let us definitely not be destroying our own neighborhoods. Let's think about those people who have put so much time and effort into building a business and who actually improve the quality of your life so that you don't have to go ten miles out of the way to get a prescription filled. He needs to be putting that into perspective for people.

Kentucky man launches blog in fight for fathers' same-sex marriage

Tevin Johnson-Campion with his parents, Paul Campion (left) and Randy Johnson. (Photo: Courtesy of Tevin Johnson-Campion)

Tevin Johnson-Campion is hoping to make history with his two dads.

The young Kentucky man’s fathers are plaintiffs in the historic marriage-equality case that went before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, and the family traveled together to Washington, D.C., to witness the historic proceedings, which could change their lives.

Ahead of that journey, Johnson-Campion, 20, launched a blog, Making History With My Two Dads, to document the family’s trip. The blog offers intimate shots of his family, and he hopes the portraits will show the love his family shares.

“Without my parents, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. They’ve influenced me in a way that’s been beneficial to my life,” he said in an interview with Yahoo News.

The blog’s following picked up steadily, especially over the past few days, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive, he said.

“I’m very thankful that they’ve been able to go on this journey and that I’ve been able to go on it with them,” he said.

Families from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee — four of the 14 states that do not recognize same-sex marriages — arrived in Washington to bring cases for the constitutionality of marriage equality before the nation’s high court.

His fathers, Randy Johnson and Paul Campion, got married in California in 2008 because same-sex marriages are not legally recognized in their home state of Kentucky. The family lives in Louisville.

From left to right, Johnson, Tyler Johnson-Campion, Tevin Johnson-Campion and Campion. (Photo: Courtesy of Tevin Johnson-Campion)

Johnson-Campion, a sophomore at the University of Louisville, says he has confronted more intolerance in his life as a result of being raised by gay parents. But he says the experience has also taught him a lot about how humans judge each other — a lesson he would not trade.

“I’ve been taught that there are different people out there and to accept people for who they are, not what they are,” he said. “And to judge people based on the content of their character.”

The American Civil Liberties Union is providing co-counsel for six families from Kentucky appearing before the Supreme Court – some seeking marriage licenses, others requesting recognition for out-of-state weddings.

Joshua Block, a staff attorney with the national ACLU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & AIDS Project, says that they are “cautiously optimistic that the court will strike down the marriage ban and affirm that all same-sex couples and families have the same dignity under the Constitution.”

He also criticized the anti-gay marriage argument that children don’t fare as well in homosexual unions as they do in families with heterosexual parents.

“You can see [Johnson-Campion’s] story that they’re just like any other family,” Block told Yahoo News. “Gay people marry for the same reason that straight people do: for love, commitment and family.”

Clinton: Baltimore shows justice system 'out of balance'

Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum in New York. (Mark Lennihan/AP Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) — Pointing to a wave of violence in Baltimore, Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that the nation’s criminal justice system has gotten “out of balance” and must be restored through steps such as the use of body cameras by every police department in the country.

“It’s time to change our approach,” Clinton said in her first major policy address since launching her presidential campaign earlier this month. “It’s time to end the era of mass incarceration.”

Clinton spoke in the days after violence and protests have swept through the streets of Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal-cord injury while in police custody. Clinton condemned those instigating further violence, saying it disrespected the Gray family and only compounded the tragedy.

“The violence has to stop,” she said.

In a speech at Columbia University, Clinton spoke of protests over policing in Ferguson, Missouri; Charleston, South Carolina; and in New York, and repudiated policies dating to her husband Bill’s presidency that lengthened prison terms while putting more officers on the streets. “We need a true national debate about how to reduce our prison population,” she said. “We don’t want to create another incarceration generation.”

She said criminal justice reform had found some bipartisan consensus in Congress, noting the work of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican seeking his party’s presidential nomination, along with that of New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat.

“It is rare to see Democrats and Republicans agree on anything today but we’re beginning to agree on this,” she said. “We need to restore balance to our criminal justice system. Of course it is not enough just to agree … we actually have to work together to get the job done. We have to deliver real reforms that can be felt on our streets.”

In December, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $263 million for police body cameras and additional law enforcement training. The request came after Obama held a series of meetings with law enforcement officials, Cabinet members and civil rights leaders following the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson.

The president’s proposal would have allocated $75 million over three years to help states purchase body cameras. The money would have paid for about 50,000 devices, though Congress never acted on the president’s request.

In her remarks at Columbia, Clinton also cited the unfairness of black men being more likely to be stopped and searched by police officers, charged with crimes and sentenced to longer prison terms.

Clinton spoke at the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum, named after the former New York mayor.

___

Thomas reported from Washington.

The Supreme Court gay marriage arguments: What the justices revealed — quote by quote

A rainbow-colored flag flies in front of the Supreme Court on Monday, the day before the court heard arguments on the constitutionality of state bans on same-sex marriage. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

In the same-sex-marriage oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, eight of the justices revealed their personalities and their very different approaches to marriage equality in particular and the Constitution in general. What follows are the most revealing quotes, in order of seniority, from each of the justices who spoke at the argument (Justice Thomas was silent), along with their central concern and contribution to the

Chief Justice Roberts has long been troubled by the idea that courts might short-circuit a democratic debate over marriage equality by imposing a constitutional right to marry by judicial fiat. In his dissent from the Windsor case in 2013, he wrote that he was reluctant to “tar the political branches with the brush of bigotry” without convincing evidence that a law’s “principal purpose was to codify malice.” He might vote to uphold same-sex-marriage bans on the grounds that the people, not judges, should decide the future of marriage.

Roberts also hinted that same-sex-marriage bans might be vulnerable as a form of sex discrimination. “I’m not sure it’s necessary to get into sexual orientation to resolve the case,” he said. “I mean, if Sue loves Joe and Tom loves Joe, Sue can marry him and Tom can’t. And the difference is based upon their different sex. Why isn’t that a straightforward question of sexual discrimination?” Still, a majority of the court seems more interested in striking down the bans as a violation of liberty, equality, and dignity, and it would be surprising if Roberts joined majority opinion emphasizing sex discrimination.

debate.

Justice Scalia was especially troubled by the possibility that ministers might be required to conduct same-sex weddings that violated their religious convictions. Some commentators seized on his question as evidence that he believes the constitutional recognition of same-sex marriage is inevitable and wants to engage in damage control. Justice Kagan responded that rabbis at the moment are not required to marry Jews and non-Jews. She spoke from experience, having had to persuade her own New York City rabbi toconduct his first bat mitzvah after she turned 12.

Browns reportedly offer 1st-round picks to Titans for No. 2 pick

The Browns reportedly extended an offer to the Titans in an effort to land Marcus Mariota in Cleveland.

The Cleveland Browns offered the No. 12 and 19 picks to the Tennessee Titans, so the team could jump to the No. 2 selection in the 2015 NFL Draft and take Oregon's Marcus Mariota, according to ESPN's Pat McManamon.

While ESPN's Paul Kuharsky refutes that a trade offer was even made, that offer might not be enough to make a deal happen though, and Cleveland may need to throw even more into the offer to grab the second selection. According to John Middlekauff of Comcast SportsNet, the Titans also want a second-round pick and Cleveland's 2016 first-round pick.

If a deal between the two teams is reached, it would be the second first-round quarterback for the Browns in as many years after the team took Johnny Manziel with the No. 22 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. That selection also came after a trade, when the Browns moved up four spots from pick No. 26 to take Manziel. Earlier in last year's draft, the Browns traded down from the No. 4 pick to No. 9 before jumping back up one spot to take cornerback Justin Gilbert at No. 8.

That totaled three trades in the first round last year, and the Browns could keep that trend going by moving up for Mariota, although it's unlikely any trade would be reached before Thursday night.

Mariota won the Heisman Trophy in 2014 by racking up 42 passing touchdowns and just four interceptions in addition to 15 rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. He is expected to be the second quarterback selected after Florida State's Jameis Winston goes off the board with the No. 1 pick.

In his rookie season, Manziel started just two games and threw just 35 passes with no touchdowns and two interceptions. After the end of the season, the former Heisman Trophy winner checked into rehab where he stayed for more than two months.

A day without fans at Camden Yards

A padlock is placed around a gate at Oriole Park at Camden Yards for the Orioles and White Sox game. Fans are not allowed to attend the game due to the current state of unrest in Baltimore.

Ford recalls over 591,000 vehicles for steering, other problems

Ford Motor said Wednesday it is recalling more than 591,000 vehicles in North America for four separate problems, including possible broken bolts that could make steering more difficult.The No. 2 U.S. automaker said it is recalling 518,313 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ sedans from model years 2013-2015 and Ford Edge crossover vehicle from 2015 model year because steering gear motor attachment bolts may break due to corrosion. In that case, the steering system would default to manual mode, making it more difficult to steer, especially at lower speeds.

While no total loss of steering would occur, the problem could increase the risk of a crash, Ford said.

Ford said it was not aware of any accidents or injuries in the recall. Of the affected vehicles, 487,301 are in the United States and its territories, and 31,012 in Canada.

Dealers will replace the bolts and any damaged steering gear at no cost, Ford said. Customers located in non-corrosion states or provinces will be covered by an extended warranty.

Ford also recalled 50,157 Ford Focus, Edge Escape and Transit Connect vehicles from 2014 model year and Fiesta cars from 2014-2015 model years because of a nickel plating issue that could cause the fuel pump to seize. That could cause the vehicle to fail to start or to stall while driving.

Ford said it was aware of one incident that may be related to this issue.

Of the recalled vehicles, 45,505 vehicles are in the United States, 4,618 are in Canada and 34 are in Mexico. Dealers will replace the fuel delivery module.

Ford recalled 22,616 Lincoln MKZ sedans from 2015 model year because the parking lamps may be brighter than regulations allow, adversely affecting the vision of oncoming drivers. Of the affected vehicles, 21,435 are in the United States, 1,066 are in Canada and 115 are in Mexico.

Dealers will update software that controls the intensity of the lamps. Ford said it was not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the issue.

Ford also recalled 91 Ford F-150 pickup trucks from model year 2015 for potential underbody heat shield issues that increase the risk of a fire. Of the affected vehicles, 73 are in the United States and 18 in Canada.

Dealers will install missing parts as needed. Ford said it was not aware of any accidents or injuries.