Mayor says Lee statue must go as debate over U.S. slave past rages

By Brandon ShulleetaRICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - The mayor of Charlottesville called on Friday for a special session of Virginia's legislature to let localities decide the fate of Confederate monuments like the statue at the center of a far-right rally last week that turned deadly.Mayor Mike Signer issued his appeal amid an increasingly contentious debate over what to do with memorials to Confederate figures, who fought for the preservation of slavery during the U.S. Civil war, that are seen by opp