US Capitol’s Confederate statues prompt renewed debate

WASHINGTON (AP) – The debate over the Confederate flag in South Carolina has prompted a new look at Confederate statues in the U.S. Capitol. Around 10 of the figures in the National Statuary Hall Collection are of Confederate leaders or people who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Democratic Congressman John Lewis of Georgia says he wants at least one of those figures removed. He’s referring to a statue of Alexander H. Stephens, who was once governor of Georgia _ and also vice president of the Confederacy. But Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia disagrees. He says Stephens did a lot of other good things, and that a statue of him doesn’t equate to the divisive symbolism of the Confederate flag.