Tag Archives: State: Florida

Christian Post: Ron Baker, pastor at Russell Baptist Church in Green Cove Springs, said that he would continue to pray no matter what happens. The flagpole, which is the site where the prayers have been taken place, is at the center of an ideological standoff between the school board and those who wish to pray.

Arizona News from USA Today: Five students, all born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant parents, sued the state last month for denying them in-state tuition rates even though they’d lived in Florida, graduated from state high schools and were entering state colleges and universities.

Huffington Post (includes video): Although newlyweds Rachel and Charlotte Lambert-Jolley say they were told they would be able to change their names in Florida with the appropriate documentation, authorities at a Pinellas County DMV ultimately rejected their request after an hour-long wait, Saint Petersburg 10 News is reporting.

The News-Press: A proposal to permit students to pray or deliver “inspirational messages” at school events was approved by a Senate committee Wednesday, over strong objections from groups dedicated to protecting religious freedoms.

Religion Clause: According to yesterday’s Jacksonville Times-Union, in Clay County, Florida, the attorney for the county school board last week sent the board a Legal Memorandum (full text) concluding . . .

OneNewsNow.com: “In fact, the Freedom From Religion Foundation turns the constitution on its head,” Cortman contends. “It basically argues that because someone is employed by the government, they somehow forfeit all their constitutional rights — and that is simply not true.”

Miami Herald: Republican Rep. Charles Van Zant will introduce his twice-failed “Florida for Life Act” during the 2012 legislative session, a proposal that bans abortion in nearly every circumstance.

MiamiHerald.com: The school district is withholding more than $185,000 from the Academy of Arts & Minds charter school in Coconut Grove because the school has failed to provide some services for children with special needs — a violation of state and federal law. Last month, the school, which has 460 students, was also slapped for illegally charging fees to students for basic classes.

The debate was sponsored by the Federalist Society and is here. The video runs just over 80 minutes.

Religion Clause: UPI reported yesterday that a Florida state appeals court has affirmed without opinion a decision of a state trial court that Islamic law can be used in deciding whether to enforce an arbitration award between a mosque and certain trustees of the mosque who had been removed from office.

News-Journal Online: By a 6-1 vote Monday, the City Commission said, “Let us pray.”

The Independent Florida Alligator [includes photo]: Speakers included Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel for a group of Christian attorneys called the Alliance Defense Fund, and professor Danaya C. Wright, of the Levin College of Law, who each took a stance on DOMA . . . “The thrust of this debate is over the Equal Protection Clause,” Nimocks said. “The Equal Protection Clause has never required that different things should be treated the same … and marriage therefore does not violate that.” Nimocks went on to relate the involvement of federal government in marital matters to the issues of bankruptcy, military and immigration. “I think there is a solid history and a right and a reason for federal government to take up the right of marriage,” Nimocks said. [includes photo]

NBC Miami: “In this case, music or a religious message amplified so as to be heard twenty-five feet away from a vehicle would violate the statute, while a sound truck blaring ‘Eat at Joe’s’ or ‘Vote for Smith’ plainly audible at a great distance, would be authorized,” wrote Chief Judge Richard B. Orfinger.

MiamiHerald.com: Gov. Rick Scott has approved a $45.6 million loan so Florida’s court system can avoid an impending deficit due mainly to a decline in mortgage foreclosure filing fees.

CNN.com: Florida is now expected to hold its presidential primary on the last day in January 2012, a move likely to throw the carefully arranged Republican nominating calendar into disarray and jumpstart the nominating process a month earlier than party leaders had hoped.

Love Your Neighbor ministry seeks used cookbook donations – St. Petersburg Times: Brooksville Wesleyan Church, 8168 Jasmine Drive, will recognize Pulpit Freedom Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 2. The Alliance Defense Fund created the day in 2008 to encourage pastors to preach boldly and biblically about current events. Visit pulpitfreedom.com

The Advocate: A bill to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act now has bipartisan support after Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida announced Friday that she would cosponsor the legislation, becoming the first Republican to do so.

Religion Clause: In Rosenberger v. Jamison, (FL App., Sept. 16, 2011), a Florida state appellate court held that deciding a dispute about governance of the First Baptist Church of Micanopy would unconstitutionally entangle the court in a religious controversy.

A Florida couple will receive $4.5 million after winning a wrongful birth lawsuit claiming their son, born with no arms and one leg, should have become a victim of abortion. They complained the doctor in the case should have detected the physical disabilities before birth and suggested an abortion

LifeNews.com: A Florida county has voted to revoke $500,000 in taxpayer funding to the Planned Parenthood abortion business. After significant pro-life lobbying, the Children’s Services Council Taxing Authority (CSC) stopped funding Planned Parenthood after sending the abortion giant millions of dollars over the years.

WESH Orlando: “Future breaches and failure to maintain the separation of church and state may lead to more serious disciplinary issues,” the superintendent said in the letter.

LaTimes.com: The strongly worded statement issued Wednesday by the Canoga Park-based Free Speech Coalition came in response to complaints filed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation with federal and Florida state health officials after the disclosure that an adult film performer tested HIV-positive.

TheStar.com: Unmarried couples who want to take the plunge and move in together, take heart. A Florida legislator is seeking to make you legal.

OneNewsNow.com: “I’m pleased to report that … both the constitution and common sense prevailed in the Lake County School District of Florida,” the attorney tells OneNewsNow. “The school board completed its — quote, unquote — ‘investigation’ and concluded that Jerry Buell has done absolutely nothing wrong, has done nothing that would warrant disciplinary action, and therefore has reinstated him effective immediately.” Buell returns to his job today.

LifeNews.com: An abortion business in Pensacola is the latest to close its doors and the closing follows a 40 Days for Life prayer campaign where local pro-life advocates prayed this would happen.

A long-time educator recently named his district’s ‘Teacher of the Year’ is under fire after he likened same-sex unions to a ‘cesspool’ on Facebook.

Three churches sue Port St. Lucie, claim zoning laws discriminate: “The law is very clear that when you allow similar uses that include assembly of people, you have to allow churches,” said the attorney for the churches Kevin Theriot. He is with the Christian nonprofit Alliance Defense Fund based in Kansas City. Theriot said the city claims the churches have to leave because they’re not allowed in areas zoned “neighborhood convenience commercial.” [more]

TCPalm: Kevin Theriot, the attorney representing the churches and senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund in Kansas City, Mo., said churches have operated in the Southport Shopping Center for at least the past nine years. He said the city began enforcing the zoning code only when it received a complaint against the churches. “Generally speaking, non-profits are allowed to locate without obtaining licensing similar to for-profit commercial enterprises, so there really hasn’t been any problems with them,” Theriot said. “Essentially, what the city told me is until somebody complains they usually don’t do anything. They are pretty much a complaint-based system. There are some definite problems with the code as a whole.”

Religion Clause: The Florida Independent reports that a group known as Citizens for National Security announced that they were filing suit yesterday in Florida state court to enjoin the effectiveness of Florida S.B. 2120 which, among other things (Sec. 21), calls for two state or national experts to review instructional materials that are up for adoption each year.

AP: Dixie County officials and residents say support for their monument is unanimous and they accuse outsiders of trampling on their way of life.

ADF attorney Greg Baylor at Speak Up Movement University Blog: Florida’s voters will decide whether to improve the state constitution’s church-state provisions — unless the ACLU and its allies get their way

Florida Gov. Rick Scott Holds Pro-Life Bill Signing Ceremony | LifeNews.com: A changing of the guard in the governor’s mansion in Florida made it so pro-life advocates could enjoy a bill signing ceremony with Governor Rick Scott — whereas pro-abortion Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed pro-life bills.

LifeNews.com: In a legal case that has received no mainstream media attention, a Florida abortion practitioner has been ordered by a court to pay the survivor of a failed abortion $36 million in damages for injuries she suffered from the abortion.

Jacksonville.com: The Florida Education Association, and religious leaders filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a proposed constitutional amendment that would remove language from the Florida constitution banning public dollars for religious groups. | Links to the complaint in Shapiro v. Browning, 2011 CA 1892 (Fla. 2nd Cir. for Leon Co.)

Jacksonville.com: Two Jacksonville nude dance clubs are running out of ways to stay at their current locations. This year, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that zoning and municipal codes approved by City Council in 2005 and 2010 legally allowed the city to evict the Doll House on Atlantic Boulevard and the New Solid Gold Club on Blanding Boulevard. Lawyers for the two clubs asked for a rehearing on some issues, but the court refused

TheLedger.com: A transgender student made University of South Florida officials stop and think. Frustrated by a hostile housing experience, Taylor McCue wanted USF to join the growing number of colleges across the country — like Rutgers and Harvard — now offering students the option to live with anyone of any gender.

WSJ.com: School may be out for the summer, but school choice is in, as states across the nation have moved to expand education opportunities for disadvantaged kids. This year is shaping up as the best for reformers in a very long time.

Liberty Counsel: Faced with an imminent trial and damning evidence of their constitutional violations, the ACLU and the Santa Rosa School District have agreed to settle Liberty Counsel’s federal lawsuit, challenging their Consent Decree on behalf of 24 students, teachers, parents and community members.

LifeNews.com: Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed two pro-life bills that would help stop abortions — including one that calls for tightening parental involvement laws on teen abortions and another that allows women to see an ultrasound of their baby before the abortion.

Orlando Sentinel: With support from Central Florida’s gay community, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said he plans to ask the City Council to consider such a registry this summer, but it’s unlikely Orange County leaders will move as quickly.

LifeNews.com: Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed the first of several bills he is expected to sign that put new limits on abortion in place. The first bill he’s signed makes it so the state doesn’t have to pay for abortions under Obamacare.

TheLedger.com: Since February, atheists from Pinellas and Hillsborough counties have made appearances before the Polk County School Board requesting that it no longer pray at its meetings.

NY Daily News: Two high schools turned tradition on its head this weekend by crowning a transgender teen and a gay young man as prom queen.

Religion Clause: Allen v. School Bord for Santa Rosa County, Florida, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56853 (ND FL, May 20, 2011), in another installment . . . In the current decision, the court concluded that under doctrines of res judicata teachers and official parent volunteers and chaperones, while acting in their official capacities, are precluded from bringing a facial attack seeking to invalidate the entire consent decree or enjoin enforcement of it in its entirety.

WJXT Jacksonville: The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the Berkeley County Jail’s book policy, because it wants inmates to have access to pornographic materials.

Daytona News Journal: Earlier Thursday, the council became one of only several in Florida to approve an ordinance barring discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It will apply to housing, accommodations in public places such as restaurants and bars, and to employers.

S. Florida Times: Blanche Ely High School principal Karlton O. Johnson, accused of “outing” a gay student and threatening to suspend her and her gay friend for holding hands on campus, is coming under fire for his actions.

McClatchy: A controversial Florida law that restricts state colleges and universities from traveling to Cuba and other “terrorist states” could be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court for review.

Religion Clause Blog: The First Apostolic Church of Milton and its pastor Larry Webb claimed that the county jail’s Interfaith Ministries Board and Sheriff Wendell Hall had excluded the church’s substance abuse treatment program from the jail because of doctrinal differences over proper baptism rites.

How Appealing reports on and links to the ruling by Florida Second District Court of Appeal

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has hired two more lawyers and is planning to add another to help handle an expected workload increase resulting from the Republican-led Legislature’s recently ended session.

St. Petersburg Times: With the passage of two abortion bills by the Senate on Thursday, three antiabortion measures are now headed to Gov. Rick Scott. Among them is a bill requiring that women be offered the opportunity to see and hear a description of ultrasound images before undergoing an abortion.

AP: More than two dozen states challenging the health care overhaul urged a U.S. appeals court on Wednesday to strike down the Obama administration’s landmark law, arguing it far exceeds the federal government’s powers.

The Palm Beach Post: Florida lawmakers are poised to make the state’s parental notification of abortion laws stricter, making it more difficult for a minor to get a judges’ approval for the procedure.

LifeNews: After debating in favor of a bill that would require ultrasounds before abortions, Democrat leaders openly harassed, threatened and belittled Democratic Rep. Daphnee Campbell

The New American: A ban on public funding for religious organizations, written into Florida’s constitution in the 1880s, would be repealed under a bill now before the state’s legislature. The Associated Press reported that the bill, HJR 1471, won approval in the state House on April 27, but its companion measure, SB 1218, was stalled in the state Senate.

Orlando Sentinel: The Florida Senate voted Monday to put major reforms in the state Supreme Court before voters next year, but it stopped short of making all the changes sought by House Speaker Dean Cannon.

St. Petersburg Times: A bill to overhaul the state Supreme Court has run into steep resistance in the Florida Senate, raising doubts about whether the top priority of House Speaker Dean Cannon will pass this session.

St. Petersburg Times: The Senate passed two of the House’s antiabortion measures Thursday. Both were amended to allow exceptions in cases where the mother’s health is at risk. | HB 97 | HJR 117

CFNews13.com: A house joint resolution that would ban public funding of abortion has passed in the Florida House of Representatives. CS/HJR 1179 passed by a vote of 82 to 3

St. Petersburg Times: With budget talks between the House and Senate strained, Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander extended an olive branch to House Speaker Dean Cannon on Monday: committee passage of Cannon’s overhaul of the Florida Supreme Court.

Orlando Sentinel: Orange County leaders are poised Tuesday to extend benefits to the domestic partners and children of gay employees, a move that would mark another significant victory for local rights activists.

AP: epublicans have moved quickly to convert November election gains to legislative advances in the states. A look at some GOP successes, and setbacks, in the first months of the new order . . .

Miami Herald: The lawsuit said school officials knew Hope was the victim of “extraordinary ridicule and harassment” because of the “sexting” incident in the fall of 2009 at Beth Shields Middle School.

PNJ.com:  Legal fees in the federal prayer-in-schools fight in the Santa Rosa County School District have topped $700,000, according to School District figures. And they’re climbing. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the district in 2008 . . .

WCTV.tv: Private, faith-based organizations can often provide valuable services for less money than the public sector, therefore lowering government costs for taxpayers. However, current constitutional language prohibits the state from tapping into these potential resources, according to a Florida Senate release.

CBS: “We’ve had about 400 death threats,” he said, adding that Hezbolla, the Shia Muslim militant group, had put out a “reward out on my head for $2.4 million.”

St. Petersburg Times: Revamping the Supreme Court is a top priority for House Speaker Dean Cannon.
But the bills he backs to remake the state’s highest tribunal face resistance in the Senate.

LifeNews: A Florida state House committee is following the lead of the state Senate, where a committee has also approved legislation that would remove abortion funding from the Obamacare health care law.

National Review: Iran’s official Fars news agency reports that the Iranian Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned the recent insult to the Muslims’ holy book in the US state of Florida . . . NRO readers may remember that Iran recently suspended Hohabet News after it reported that the Iranian government itself had seized and burned 600 New Testaments in Salmas . . . ”

AsiaNews.it: In Hyderabad and Lahore, a mob of Islamic fundamentalists targeted the Christian places of worship. Desecrated several copies of the Bible. Anti-American slogans and demonstrations in different cities of Pakistan. The extremists pledge more violence, if Washington does not condemn pastor Jones to death. Bishop of Islamabad: the gesture of a “fanatic.

Bradenton.com: A proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit using public money for health insurance policies that include coverage of abortion gathered steam in a Florida Senate Judiciary committee Monday.

Miami Herald: From reviving a measure to require a woman to receive an ultrasound before undergoing an abortion to a blanket ban that would pose a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, at least 18 bills are filed.

“What’s different this year is not the raw number of anti-abortion bills, but the fact that many of the toughest, most substantive measures have a good chance of passage due to gains by conservative Republicans in last year’s legislative and gubernatorial elections.”

Newschief: “With Bibles in their hands, more than 100 people showed up at Tuesday’s School Board meeting to show their support for prayer.”