The anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation is suing another municipality to try and remove any trace of Christianity from any public area.
The FFRF sent a letter to Pinellas Park officials saying that the existence of the Bible on a podium inside the city council chamber means the city is endorsing Christianity over every other religion. According to Fox News, their letter cites court cases that resulted in the removal of Bibles from public facilities.
“Not only is the city council sending a message of endorsement for Christianity over other religions and nonreligion,” the letter says, “but display of this King James Bible sends a message of endorsement of one particular Christian sect over all others.”
Incoming city manager Doug Lewis says they are reviewing the FFRF’s most recent letter but they believe because the Bible was given to the city during the dedication of the building by the city’s Kiwanis Club, it’s part of the history of the building.
The United States has fallen from the top 10 of economically free countries according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom.
The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal released the results of the report that evaluated countries in 10 categories including fiscal soundness, property rights, government size and freedom from corruption.
The United States has peaked in 2006 when it was considered economically free but has fallen into the “mostly free” category of the report. The U.S. tumbled to 12th behind Denmark and Estonia. The drop was attributed to the Obama administration’s continuing shackling of large parts of the economy with regulations and the onerous health care law. Runaway government spending was also cited as a big reason for the decline of the U.S.
Hong Kong continued their run at #1 on the list followed by five other countries that are considered “economically free”: Singapore, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand and Canada.
The bottom five in the rankings were Eritrea, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Cuba and North Korea.
A new report from the Commerce Department shows that half of the nation’s counties have still not recovered from the economic depression despite the overall nationwide economy indicating a recovery.
The Wall Street Journal reports that despite the good nationwide number the economic recovery is uneven at best.
One of the report’s authors said that the report shows why many Americans feel like the economy is not improving. Emilia Istrate said that Americans feel the economy locally and that if there’s no recovery in their area they don’t believe overall conditions are improving.
The report examined GDP, total number of jobs, unemployment rates and home prices.
The Centers for Disease Control is noticing a disturbing trend in the current flu season.
The CDC says that significantly more adults between 18 and 64 have been hospitalized because of the flu than in previous years. According to their weekly survey of the flu, more than 61.5 percent of hospitalized patients were between the 18 to 64 age group, an 80 percent increase from last year.
Almost 2,500 specimens sent to the CDC for testing that showed positive for the flu. Of that group, almost 96% tested positive for the H1N1 swine flu.
The alarm from the CDC is echoing among medical providers who are seeing deaths among previously healthy young adults. Last week a 29-year-old mother of three died just a few days after exhibiting flu symptoms. A 41-year-old man also died from the flu.
The CDC says the country has not yet reached epidemic level but the number of states showing widespread influenza rose from 25 to 35 last week.
The U.S. State Department has officially named specific groups as being responsible for the 2012 Benghazi attack.
According to State Department officials, Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi and Darnah are now officially terrorist organizations designated in part because of their roles in the Benghazi attacks. The heads of the two organizations, Sufian bin Qumu and Ahmed Abu Khattalah, were also designated as most wanted terrorists.
Both groups have been accused of also attacking civilian targets, frequent assassinations and attempted assassinations of security officials.
The State Department tried to downplay any connection with Al-Qaeda saying the groups acted alone but Fox News was able to confirm that the leaders have been trained in al-Qaeda camps.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning Friday that over the counter laxatives could be a threat to health.
The release from the FDA said that laxatives are potentially dangerous if consumers don’t follow dosing instructions.
At least 13 deaths have been reported to the FDA because of laxative use.
The FDA said that adults over 55 or anyone with kidney disease should be very careful to use laxatives without a doctor’s approval.
“The bottom line is that these products are safe for otherwise healthy adults and older children for whom dosing instructions are provided on the Drug Facts label as long as they follow these dosing instructions and don’t take the product more often, or in greater amounts, than the label instructs,” Dr. Mona Khurana of the FDA said.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 6.7% but the number off set some darker information regarding job creation and employment levels.
The economy only generated 74,000 jobs in December with a significant number of Americans deciding to give up looking for work. Those who say they are giving up looking for work are removed from the rolls for unemployment and can cause a drop in the overall number.
The labor force participation rate fell to 62.8% which is close to a 35 year low.
The report showed the leisure, manufacturing and services sectors added jobs but construction fell 16,000, the biggest drop in 20 months.
A economic expert with the BBC says the weakness of the report throws into question other reports that said the American economy was growing.
Amid a resurgence of the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda in his country, Iraqi ambassador to the United States LukmanFaily is taking aim at the administration.
Faily told the Washington Times that the current U.S. administration does not understand the danger coming from Al-Qaeda and that they need to step up and provide more help to the Iraqi government.
Al-Qaeda seized control of the city of Fallujah last week and controls parts of the city of Ramadi. The group has said that Iraq is now an Islamic state under their control. Iraqi government forces along with Sunni Muslim groups throughout the region are fighting to dislodge the terrorists before they can fortify strongholds.
Faily said leaders in both U.S. political parties need to stop holding up much needed military and nation-building support as part of domestic political infighting.
“I personally think that it’s tragic that the issue of the whole American project in Iraq is now becoming a ball in relations to the party politics within D.C.,”Failysaid. “I don’t think it’s beneficial for the United States. It’s definitely not beneficial for Iraq to become a tool in Republican versus Democrat or whomever. This is not helpful for U.S. security, it is not helpful for us, it is not helpful for the region.”
A report from the Centers for Disease Control says that in 2012 just over 40% of babies were born to unwed mothers.
The news was included in a report that showed the United States’ birth rate fell to a record low in 2012. The number of births per 1,000 women aged 15-44 was 63.0, down from 63.2 in 2011, the previous record low.
The number of babies born to unwed mothers was 40.7 percent, down from 2009 when it peaked at 41.0 percent.
The percentage of American children born to unmarried mothers has more than doubled since the 1980s. In 1980, the same report showed that only 18.4 percent of babies were born to unmarried mothers.
The BBC reports that during Tuesday’s 24 hour time period every single U.S. state had one location posting a temperature below freezing.
Temperatures ranged from -31 degrees in International Falls, Minnesota to 25 at the top of Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii.
Schools throughout the Midwest from Minnesota to Texas closed because of cold weather conditions. Communities not used to severe freezing such as Memphis, Tennessee saw a wave of homeowners scrambling to deal with pipes broken by the extreme cold.
Over 7,000 flights have now been cancelled across the United States through Tuesday evening.
There are indications of a significant warm-up approaching most of the Midwest, however a severe winter storm in the Rocky Mountains could bring up to a foot of snow across Oklahoma, Kansas and the central Midwest this weekend.