Story highlights  —  (CNN)[Breaking news update at 7:27 a.m. ET]  —  Dylann Roof has confessed to authorities to shooting and killing nine people this week at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, two law enforcement officials said Friday.

Jeb Bush: 'I Don't Know' If Charleston Shooting Was Racially Motivated  —  As more becomes clear about the motives of the man believed to be behind the Charleston church shooting, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was hesitant to connect Dylann Storm Roof's alleged actions to any racial prejudice.

Hillary Clinton Suggests Donald Trump-Like Comments Can ‘Trigger’ Events Like Charleston … Hillary Clinton didn't call The Donald out by name, but she suggested in an interview Thursday that comments like ones the real estate tycoon-turned-Republican presidential candidate made during …

The Conversation We Won't Have  —  Dylann Roof appears more evil than disturbed.  Perhaps he had mental health issues.  But at some point we just need to call him evil.  White supremacy and segregation are evils.  He appears to have believed in both.  People who believe in white supremacy …

Lindsey Graham defends Confederate flag: ‘It works here’  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican presidential candidate, on Friday said the Confederate flag is part of the heritage of his home state of South Carolina, rebuffing calls for it to be taken down after a mass shooting in the state.

Charleston and the Age of Obama  —  Between 1882 and 1968, the year Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, three thousand four hundred and forty-six black men, women, and children were lynched in this country—a practice so vicious and frequent that Mark Twain was moved, in 1901 …

Despite mourning, statehouse Confederate battle flag remains at full staff  —  The Confederate flag flying at the Statehouse in Columbia became part of the Charleston church shooting story Thursday after the U.S. and South Carolina flags were lowered in mourning but the rebel banner was left flying at its full height.

Rick Perry: Charleston Shooting An ‘Accident’ Due To Drug Use, Manipulated By Obama To Ban Guns  —  In an interview today with Steve Malzberg of Newsmax, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry described the mass shooting at an African American church in Charleston earlier this week as an “accident” …

Why South Carolina's Confederate flag isn't at half-mast after church shooting  —  After Dylann Storm Roof allegedly shot up an AME church in Charleston, S.C., killing nine people, two flags were lowered more than 100 miles away in Columbia, the state's capital.