The Boy Scouts of America has affirmed its policy to exclude gay members. The decision comes after protest campaigns sparked a confidential two year review of the policy.Austin’s KTBC has more. “The 11 member special committee was formed in 2010, and says the exclusion policy is ‘absolutely the best policy’ for the organization.” The policy has frequented news headlines since… Read more →
As scrutiny intensifies over a sprawling surveillance program the Food and Drug Administration carried out against its own employees, a top Republican senator alleges the controversy goes at least as high as the chief counsel’s office. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, claimed in a letter to the FDA commissioner this week that, despite the agency’s refusal to say who authorized the… Read more →
(multimedia) Son of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, founder of American Atheists, speaks out. After becoming a Christian, his atheist mother said, “One could call this a postnatal abortion on the part of a mother, I guess; I repudiate him (her son) entirely and completely for now and all times… he is beyond human forgiveness.”
In testimony before the prosecution, George Zimmerman’s cousin accused him of molesting her repeatedly for a decade. The groping allegedly began when she was 6 years old and Zimmerman was just 8. ABC News reports in court documents released Monday, the victim, identified as “Witness Number 9”…also told investigators that the incidents often happened during family get-togethers. In her testimony, the… Read more →
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will use chemical weapons against opposition forces and may have already deployed them, Nawaf Fares, the first Syrian ambassador to defect, told the BBC on Monday. Fares, the most prominent politician to defect since the uprising against Assad began, insisted that the president’s days were numbered but warned he would be prepared “to eradicate the entire Syrian people” to remain in power. When asked… Read more →
(AP) PHOENIX – Planned Parenthood Arizona is suing to try to block enforcement of a new Arizona law that would bar abortion providers from receiving public funding for health services other than abortion. The abortion provider sued state officials Monday in federal court in Phoenix. The suit contends the new law taking effect Aug. 2 violates federal law on Medicaid… Read more →
In a Nashville, Tennessee, high- school classroom, about a dozen students watched as a woman from an AIDS prevention group demonstrated how to apply a condom using only her mouth. The scene in an elective class two years ago angered opponents of sex education, and so Tennessee in May adopted the nation’s first state law defining activities that legislators said lead… Read more →
(Reuters) – Corn and soybeans in the U.S. Midwest baked in an unrelenting heat wave on Monday with fears rising of big crop losses that will boost food and fuel prices and cut exports and aid from the world’s top shipper of the key crops. The condition of the nation’s corn and soybeans as of Sunday deteriorated even more than… Read more →
