A report from the Associated Press notes that syringes discarded by heroin users are showing up in parks, playgrounds, baseball dugouts, trails, and alongside beaches and rivers, creating a national public health threat due to the risk of passersby and small children accidentally being stuck. “We started seeing it last year here and there. But now, it’s […]
DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. — A school district in Pennsylvania has agreed to an out-of-court settlement to ensure that free speech is protected on the public sidewalks surrounding its schools. The district had been asked to issue an educational memo to employees of Downingtown STEM Academy after the vice president of the school yelled and cursed at two teenage […]
MOSCOW — One of the ringleaders of the “Blue Whale Suicide Challenge” in Russia has been sentenced to three years behind bars after admitting his involvement in the suicide attempts of two teenage girls. Philipp Budeikin, 22, told police following his arrest that he thought he was ridding society of those he considered to be “biological waste.” […]
(The Christian Institute) — People want churches to “keep up with modern attitudes” and carry out same-sex “weddings,” Justine Greening has claimed. The U.K. Education Secretary and equalities minister said she did not want to “prescribe” how faith groups deal with the issue, but that “it is important that the church in a way keeps […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice has filed an amicus brief declaring that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not pertain to homosexuality. “The sole question here is whether, as a matter of law, Title VII reaches sexual orientation discrimination,” it wrote. “It does not, as has been settled for […]
SEATTLE, Wash. — The King County Board of Health in Washington State has passed a rule requiring pro-life pregnancy centers to post a sign notifying visitors that they are “not a healthcare facility.” The notice must be written in ten languages and in 48-point font size. The sign itself must be at least 11 by 17 […]
RALEIGH, N.C. — A prominent humanist organization is asking a federal court to require the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the Lanesboro Correctional Institution to grant an inmate’s desire to form a humanist study group while incarcerated. The American Humanist Association (AHA) is representing Kwame Jamal Teague, who has been behind bars since 1996 […]
India (Mission Network News) — This coming Sunday, July 30, is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. The International Labor Organization estimates at least 21 million people are in forced labor and sexual exploitation today. The blight is widespread, not isolated to particular countries and communities, and is something several Christian ministries are combatting as […]
(Baptist Press) — Charlie Gard—the infant at the center of a battle over parental authority that gained international attention—has died, his parents announced today (July 28) in England. “Our beautiful little boy has gone. We are so proud of you Charlie,” his mother, Connie Yates, said in a statement, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. […]
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas man who sympathizes with the barbaric Islamic group ISIS, which identifies itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to detonate a bomb on a U.S. military base. “With this sentence, John Booker is being held accountable for […]