A New York student who had been told that she could not start a Christian club called “Dare To Believe” has now been given the go ahead to start the group.
Liz Loverde was told in September that she could not start the club. Principal Carolyn Breivogel said that the club’s existence would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
The Liberty Institute contacted the school on behalf of Loverde when her family sought help to protect the girl’s constitutional rights. The group told the school the denial of the Christian group was a violation of the Equal Access Act of 1984.
The school then reversed its decision and approved the Christian group along with other student groups.
“It took a lot of courage for a 15-year-old girl to come forward to reveal that her principal said Christian clubs are illegal,” said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel of the Liberty Institute. “It is always a scary position for students to take a stand against government school authorities who hold significant power over their everyday lives. We look forward to Wantagh High School respecting Liz’s religious liberty at school.”
The school denied that they had refused to allow the group.
At least seven people are confirmed dead from the massive snowstorm that slammed several Great Lakes states.
The storm has dumped massive amounts of snow on New York including six feet of snow on the Buffalo area. A state of emergency exists for 10 counties in New York.
“This storm is an extraordinarily difficult situation, with snowfall that may break records. We are prepared, but we need residents to stay off the roads so that first responders can do their work and keep people safe,” New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said.
“Although the sun may be shining, we are using this opening to clear roads before the snow begins falling again. This is an opportunity to be a good neighbor and check on your fellow New Yorkers to see if they need assistance, but I urge everyone to stay off the road.”
One of the deaths was a 46-year-old man found inside a buried car. A Pennsylvania man was killed when a high lift attempting to free the man’s car ended up pinning him to the car.
Forecasters say that another two to three feet of snow could hit the Buffalo area.
A New York high school is denying a Christian student her right to form a student group on campus.
Elizabeth Loverde had proposed a “Dare To Believe” club to the principal of Wantagh High School and was reportedly told by Principal Carolyn Breivogel that the group would be rejected because it would violate the Constitution.
The Liberty Institute has stepped in to help Loverde protect her Constitutional rights.
“Once a secondary school such as yours creates a limited open forum, it cannot deny equal access to student groups on the basis of the religious content of the students’ speech,” read a letter to the school from the Institute. “We therefore demand that the school reconsider its position, approve Liz’s club proposal, and grant official recognition to Dare to Believe.”
The school has released a statement saying that they are now reviewing the request.
Mergers and closures are coming to New York’s Catholic churches.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan said that 112 parishes will be marged into 55 parishes this year and as many as 33 churches will be closed.
“This time of transition in the history of the archdiocese will undoubtedly be difficult for people who live in parishes that will merge,” stated Dolan. “There will be many who are hurt and upset as they experience what will be a change in their spiritual lives, and I will be one of them.”
The steps are part of a 2010 plan implemented by the church called “Making All Things New.” The plan was to encourage long term pastoral planning.
The New York Times reported that many congregants at churches slated to be closed were not happy about the move.
“There were gasps and tears at Holy Rosary Church in East Harlem. At Sacred Heart in Mount Vernon, congregants shared mournful embraces,” the Times’ Sharon Otterman wrote. “And at Our Lady of Peace on the East Side, parishioners pledged a fight … From Staten Island to the Catskills, there was anguish for congregations that learned that their churches would be effectively shuttered and relief among those whose parishes were spared.”
The closures are attributed to low regular attendance and fewer ordinations of Priests.
In what officials are calling “an abundance of caution,” 357 New Yorkers are under active monitoring for possible signs of the Ebola virus.
The New York Department of Health said the majority are people who entered the U.S. from Ebola impacted nations.
“The vast majority of these individuals are travelers arriving in New York City within the past 21 days from the three Ebola-affected countries who are being monitored post-arrival, as well as Bellevue Hospital staff caring for Dr. Spencer,” said a joint statement from the New York City Department of Health and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation Wednesday.
“The list also includes FDNY EMS staff who transported Dr. Spencer to Bellevue and the lab workers who conducted Dr. Spencer’s blood test. All of these individuals are being monitored out of an abundance of caution, and none are showing any symptoms. The number of individuals who will be actively monitored will continue to fluctuate as people arrive or depart New York City, we learn more about people’s exposures, and 21 days of monitoring has passed.”
The NYC Department of Health also said that Dr. Spencer was “stable” and beginning to show improvement in his fight with the virus.
Officials stressed that no one under monitoring is showing any signs of Ebola.
The New York Court of Appeals has ruled that a marriage between an uncle and niece is not a violation of restrictions against incestuous marriage.
The court ruled that “parent-child and brother-sister marriages . . . are grounded in the almost universal horror with which such marriages are viewed . . . there is no comparably strong objection to uncle-niece marriages.”
The case focused on a Vietnamese citizen who married her uncle in what the government said was an illegal marriage in an attempt to not be deported. A judge in 2000 ruled the marriage invalid and ordered deportation.
The husband in the case was the half-brother of the girl’s mother.
“This really was an all-or-nothing issue for them,” lawyer Michael Marscalkowski commented. “If this would have been denied, she would have been deported and sent back to Vietnam.”
The lawyer argued that because they were only half-siblings, they only had at maximum 1/8th of the DNA like cousins, who are allowed to legally marry.
A New York doctor who had been treating Ebola patients in Guinea has been confirmed to have contracted the virus.
Dr. Craig Spencer was rushed to isolation after reporting to the hospital with a fever on Thursday.
New York health officials are trying to calm the public after news that Dr. Spencer was seen out on the town with friends the night before the reported to the hospital, had taken a cab, visited a bowling alley and rode two subway lines.
“He did not have a stage of disease that creates a risk of contagiousness on the subway,” Dr. Mary Bassett, the city health commissioner, said. “We consider it extremely unlikely, the probability being close to nil, that there will be any problem related to his taking the subway system.”
The concern is that doctors can not say for sure that Dr. Spencer did not have a fever when he was out on the town, and if he had the fever then he could have been infectious with the virus.
At least three people have been placed into isolation because of close contact with Dr. Spencer. The subway he rode, the cab and the bowling alley are all undergoing intense sanitization.
The United States will force all flights from countries that have Ebola outbreaks to five airports to allow more through screening for the virus.
Anyone flying into the U.S. from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea will now have to travel through JFK in New York, Newark in New Jersey, Dulles in Washington, D.C., Atlanta or Chicago. The move goes into effect immediately according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“We are working closely with the airlines to implement these restrictions with minimal travel disruption,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. “If not already handled by the airlines, the few impacted travelers should contact the airlines for rebooking, as needed.”
Johnson said that 94% of passengers from those areas reportedly already come through those airports, so it should have minimal impact on the worldwide airline flight schedules.
“We currently have in place measures to identify and screen anyone at all land, sea and air ports of entry into the United States who we have reason to believe has been present in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea in the preceding 21 days,” Johnson said.
A Washington-based travel group told Reuters that an average of 150 per day come into the U.S. from those countries.
A New York high school that was caught discriminating against a Christian club last year and tried it again this year has reversed course.
Ward Melville High School in Long Island tried for the second straight year to deny the Christian group Students United in Faith permission to meet on campus. After pressure from Christian rights groups, they reversed course.
“Please be advised the district has decided to alter its position on this issue,” wrote John Sheahan, an attorney for the Three Village Central School District. “In light of this change, the district will grant SUIF recognition as a student group for the 2014-15 school year and reverses any contrary decision.”
The school denied accusations they violated the Equal Access Act.
Hiram Sasser of the Liberty Institute praised the teens who stood up to their school in a statement to Fox News.
“John Raney and Jeremy Johnson may just be high school students, but they did more for liberty than all of Washington, D.C.,” he said.
Officials with a high school in Long Island, New York that was caught discriminating against Christian students last year has been caught doing it again.
Ward Melville High School told John Raney, 17, that he could not have a Christian club as part of the clubs at the school last year. Raney had founded Students United In Faith, a service-oriented Christian group. When the Liberty Institute stepped in, the school Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich reversed the decision and apologized.
Now that the spotlight was off, the school is trying to discriminate against Christian students again.
The school’s Assistant Principal, ironically named Christian Losee, is trying to keep the Christians from having a group this year because of alleged lack of interest and “financial limitations.” However, the school approved four new clubs.
The Liberty Institute was surprised the school would try again to discriminate against Christian students and is taking action.
“This is not a complicated issue,” Sasser wrote. “Simply put, public schools cannot discriminate against religious clubs and must treat them equally, and provide them equal access to school facilities, as non-religious clubs.”