Stars and Barred: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley yesterday called for the Confederate flag to be taken down from its mast on the capitol grounds. “We are not going to allow this symbol to divide us any longer. The fact that people are choosing to use it as a sign of hate is something we cannot stand,” Haley said as she stood in the company of both her state’s US senators.

The young man accused of killing nine people in a Charleston church embraced the Confederate flag as a symbol of white supremacy, bringing immediate calls to drop the flag over the capitol grounds. It will require a two-thirds vote of the legislature.

A Republican, Haley is standing against members of her own party who have defended the flag as a symbol of the state’s history. She said, “Today, we are here in a moment of unity in our state, without ill will, to say it’s time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds.”

Acting ahead of everyone, Walmart announced it’s getting rid of Confederate flags and merchandise in all of its stores.

Nation: New York State investigators say they found the DNA and other traces of two escaped murderers in a hunting cabin just 15 miles west of the prison they broke out of nearly three weeks ago. They found a pair of prison-issue underwear.

A man who went to check on his hunting cabin Saturday said he saw a man running away as he approached. He found an open jug of water and a jar of peanut butter on the table. The search has skipped around, even drifting 350 miles away, but this seems to be the most solid lead.

>James Horner, 61, who wrote the Oscar-winning score for “Titanic,” has died in the crash of his single engine plane in the Los Padres National Forest, north of Santa Barbara.

The Sports Page: The US women beat Colombia 2-0 yesterday to enter the final eight of the Women’s World Cup. Colombia’s goalie was red-carded — thrown out of the game — for taking out a US player and the Americans scored twice after that.

>ESPN reports that it has turned up evidence that baseball great Pete Rose placed bets on baseball games while he was still a player. Rose has always denied it. He was banned from baseball, and denied entry to the Hall of Fame, for betting while he was a manager. Whether to allow him into the Hall has fed sports arguments for 15 years.

The Podcast Prez: President Obama walked into comedian Marc Maron’s Los Angeles garage last Friday and said, “This is pretty cool, I like this, man.” Although he noted there was some artwork on the walls the two couldn’t talk about.

Obama was interviewed for the popular comedian’s podcast “WTF,” released yesterday. It was a relaxed conversation that demonstrated Obama’s thoughtfulness and intelligence. “Progress in a democracy is never instantaneous and always partial.”

He spoke bluntly about guns, violence, and race, and in particular, racial prejudice. He used a word he has not previously uttered publicly while discussing race. “We’re not cured of it. And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not.”

In the wake of the Charleston church massacre, the President said, “Societies don’t overnight completely erase everything that happened two to 300 years prior.”

While Maron confessed to being terribly nervous about interviewing the president, Obama said that with all he has to deal with, coming to visit Maron was the least of his worries. “That would be a problem if the president was nervous about coming to your garage.”

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