In Washington, bills were being drafted to step up background checks, create no-gun zones around members of Congress and ban the big-volume magazines that allowed the Tucson gunman to shoot so many bullets so fast.
He had grown up in the same Chicago neighbourhood as Major Lance, Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield, who were a few years older but still befriended him; like them, he sang doo-wop at high school and on street corners, and stepped up from background to lead.
They are really stepping up.
Now Microsoft is stepping up.
Considering its now vital importance, must the previously "shy and retiring" background cues, step up and into the limelight, to embrace their now central and unambiguous role as lead actors?
Dudamel remained in the background during the Rachmaninoff but stepped up to the plate once more for Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra after intermission.
Qiu Jialu, an HR specialist at a real estate investment company, says her company is stepping up investigation on potential employees' background information.
