JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.
I'm Judy Woodruff.
Gwen Ifill is away.
On the "NewsHour" tonight:
BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States: Every time I think about those kids.
it gets me mad.
And, by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago everyday.
JUDY WOODRUFF: President Obama makes an emotional appeal for background checks and outlines
other actions to curb gun violence.
Also ahead this Tuesday: how New Hampshire is grappling with a heroin epidemic.
TED GATSAS (R), Mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire: We need to do something about it.
If we don't, we're not going to have to worry about building more beds to try and treat
people.
We're going to have to start building more coffins.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And photographer and MacArthur grant winner LaToya Ruby Frazier on why she
documents her struggling hometown.
LATOYA RUBY FRAZIER, Photographer: I'm not saying that it's a dying town.
I'm saying that we survived.
Like, look at all of the damage, all the abuse we have endured, and we're still steadfast
and existing.
JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: The president was by turns tearful and tough today, as he pushed a plan
to regulate more gun sales.
He said he's targeting transactions at shows and flea markets because Congress is afraid
to cross the gun lobby.
The National Rifle Association answered that the proposals are -- quote -- "ripe for abuse."
We will have the story in full after the news summary.
In the day's other news, an American soldier died in a firefight in Southern Afghanistan.
Two other U.S. service members were wounded, along with several Afghan soldiers.
Pentagon officials said it happened in Helmand Province, and the fighting continued for hours.
PETER COOK, Pentagon Press Secretary: There is fighting on the ground as we speak, which
is why it's hard for us to have every single detail as to what's transpired, and there's
been an effort once again, as I mentioned before, to make sure that everything's being
done to secure the safety of those Americans and the Afghan forces that they're accompanying
in this particular situation in Helmand.
JUDY WOODRUFF: U.S. special operations forces have been working with Afghan troops in Helmand
in recent weeks to repel new Taliban attacks.
Fighting in Yemen returned to full pitch today, just days after a shaky truce ended.
Shiite rebels blasted the city of Marib with a rocket barrage, while Saudi Arabia launched
new airstrikes in a series of cities, including Sanaa.
Residents of the capital surveyed the damage today.
Some accused the Saudis of hitting civilian targets, including a health center for the
blind, but there were no casualties.
In Turkey, an all-too-familiar scene today, as the bodies of dozens more migrants washed
up on shore.
Authorities say at least 36 people drowned when their boats capsized in the Aegean Sea
trying to reach Greece.
Turkish crews found the victims strewn along beaches.
They also managed to rescue at least 12 others from the choppy waters, but a mass migration
agency said the danger has not deterred people.
JOEL MILLMAN, International Organization for Migration: Migrants and refugees continue
to enter Greece at a rate of over 2,500 a day from Turkey, which is very close to the
average through December, so we see the migrant flows are continuing through the winter, and,
obviously, the fatalities are continuing as well.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Last year, nearly 3,800 migrants died trying to reach Europe by sea.
Back in this country, the gun control debate dominated presidential politics today, with
one exception.
Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders went after Wall Street, calling it an industry fueled
by greed, fraud and arrogance.
He told a crowd in New York that he'd break up the nation's big banks in his first year
in office.
The armed men occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon now say that they will stay
until federal officials let locals manage the land.
They made that demand today at the site they have occupied since Saturday night.
Their leader also dismissed a sheriff's appeal that they go home.
He said local people welcome their presence.
AMMON BUNDY, Armed Protester: We also appreciate the advice that the community members have
given us about how to reach out and how to share our message, so that other community
members will know that we are not about fear.
We're not about force.
We're not about intimidation.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So far, federal agents have made no move to physically force the group
to leave.
2015, it turns out, was a banner year for U.S. automakers, the best ever, in fact.
Industry officials projected today that nearly 17.5 million vehicles were sold through December.
That tops the old record set in 2000.
General Motors led the pack with more than three million cars and trucks sold.
The stock market struggled to make any headway today, after Monday's big losses.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained nine points to close at 17158.
The Nasdaq rose 11 points, and the S&P 500 added four.
And West Point now has its first female commandant of cadets.
Brigadier General Diana Holland was sworn in today at the United States Military Academy.
She's a West Point graduate herself and a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Holland's appointment comes one month after the military opened all combat roles to women,
and 40 years since West Point admitted women as cadets.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": the president's order on guns, too far or not far enough?;
a view from Tehran as tensions with Saudi Arabia escalate; tracing Benjamin Netanyahu's
path to power; what can be done to loosen heroin's grip on New Hampshire; and much more.