Christopher Vondracek

Justice Department backs Christian Fellowship Center of New York in Canton lawsuit

An evangelical Christian congregation is receiving support from the federal government in its efforts to convert a former gentlemen's club into a church in a village in upstate New York.

March 31, 2019

Kentucky enacts campus free speech law, bans ‘free speech’ zones

Free speech advocates are cheering Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's signing a campus free speech bill that will prevent public universities from "disinviting" controversial speakers and open schools to lawsuits in state court for violating a students' First Amendment freedoms.

March 27, 2019

State Department expands ban on foreign aid for pro-abortion groups

The Trump administration doubled down Tuesday on its efforts to silence the "global abortion industry," expanding an existing ban on financing nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote abortion to include foreign entities that lobby for pro-choice policies.

March 26, 2019

Education Department probes financial aid compliance at eight colleges involved in bribery scandal

The Department of Education is investigating how closely financial aid regulations have been followed at eight prestigious universities involved in the college admissions bribery scandal.

March 26, 2019

Ohio may end funding for Planned Parenthood, other health care providers for elective procedures

Ohio officials have given notice to Planned Parenthood and other health care providers that the state may soon end their funding if they "perform or promote" elective abortions, under a state law recently deemed constitutional by a federal appeals court.

March 25, 2019

Sam Brownback blasts China ‘vocational training’ schools for Uighur Muslims

Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom, said condemnation of China over 'vocational training' schools hasn't increased quickly enough.

March 25, 2019

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey sues state’s Catholic diocese

An unspecified request for monetary fines lies buried in the lawsuit West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed last week against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and retired bishop Michael J. Bransfield.

March 24, 2019

San Francisco State settles anti-Semitism lawsuits, must invest in ‘viewpoint diversity’

San Francisco State University has announced it will commission the painting of a mural that will include Zionist views and invest $200,000 in "viewpoint diversity" among other stipulations of a settlement to end multiple lawsuits filed by students and community members accusing the school's administrators of entrenched anti-Semitism.

March 22, 2019

South Dakota enacts law to bolster conservative intellectualism at colleges

South Dakota has enacted the first-of-its-kind "campus intellectual diversity" law, bolstering efforts to shore up lagging conservative intellectualism at its universities.

March 21, 2019

Donald Trump signs executive order promoting free speech on college campus

Citing examples of liberals suppressing conservatives' views on college campuses, President Trump signed an executive order Thursday requiring schools to ensure free speech or risk losing federal research grants totaling $35 billion annually.

March 21, 2019

Idaho GOP reconsiders stance on climate change science after prolonged wildfire smoke

Idahoans have long expressed skepticism — if not outright disdain — for climate change science, but the Republican-dominated Legislature has taken up the liberal cause celebre by reacting to prolonged wildfire smoke.

March 20, 2019

Ramapough Mountain Indians get Justice Department support in lawsuit against township of Mahwah

The Justice Department is backing an American Indian tribe in its fight against a New Jersey township over the use of land for prayer and ceremonies, saying the Ramapough Mountain Indians' religious liberty has been "chilled" by an overzealous zoning board.

March 19, 2019

Democrats unveil new version of gay rights bill

Democrats raucously announced Wednesday the latest version of the proposed Equality Act, which would add gay and transgender protections to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

March 13, 2019

Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin among 50 charged in college cheating scam

Two Hollywood actresses and several high-level executives are among 50 people charged Tuesday in a scam to secure their children's admissions into elite universities through bribery and other forms of fraud.

March 12, 2019

University free speech restrictions difficult to confirm, punish

President Trump has promised to end federal research grants for universities that don't "support free speech," but determining which colleges support a marketplace of ideas can present a kind of political Rorschach test.

March 11, 2019

Momo challenge inspired false panic among media organizations

Momo, a sculpture of a birdlike creature with bulging eyes and a thin hint of a smile, is the latest internet sensation to scare the daylights out of parents. The creepy mannequin supposedly exchanges messages via social media apps, telling children to harm themselves.

March 11, 2019

Stacey Abrams, rising Democratic star, hits Georgia’s ‘heartbeat’ abortion ban

Stacey Abrams, who delivered the Democrats' State of the Union response last month, had strong words Monday for Georgia's Republican-run legislature, which is on the verge of passing a so-called "heartbeat" abortion ban.

March 11, 2019

Kristi Noem, South Dakota governor, pushes bills aimed to prevent Keystone XL ‘riot boosting’

South Dakota's governor pushed through the state Legislature this week two bills that would authorize police to crack down on "riot boosting" in protests against the Keystone XL pipeline, which could start being constructed as early as this summer.

March 7, 2019

California-Berkeley police seek arrest in attack of conservative recruiter

Campus police at the University of California-Berkeley are seeking to arrest the man who punched a conservative recruiter at a makeshift "This is MAGA Country" booth -- one of several recent instances of violence over the Trump campaign's "Make America Great Again" slogan.

February 27, 2019

Missouri abortion bill 126 called strongest pro-life legislation in U.S.

Republican-led Missouri legislators on Wednesday approved a bill that would be the most restrictive abortion law in the country, in response to recent measures in East Coast states that would allow late-term procedures, the speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives said.

February 27, 2019