WASHINGTON (AP) – After two weeks of sunshine and 10 rounds of golf, President Barack Obama is preparing for the busy fall awaiting him.
The glow from his vacation on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard may fade sooner than expected, though. Obama gets back on the road Tuesday to comfort residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a city hard-hit in recent weeks by natural and man-made tragedies.
Heavy flooding this month killed at least 13 people and displaced thousands more after murky water engulfed their homes.
In July, the fatal police shooting of a black man outside of a convenience store sparked protests and mass arrests. Police say the death of 37-year-old Alton Sterling apparently led a gunman to train his weapon on law enforcement officers, killing three.
Obama was criticized for not visiting Baton Rouge after Sterling’s death or the killings of two Baton Rouge police officers and a sheriff’s deputy. He went instead to Dallas to eulogize five police officers who were killed by a gunman who similarly targeted law enforcement.