Tag Archives: State: Minnesota

The Austin Daily Herald: A Hollandale man has been charged with marrying a woman even though he is already married to another. Wayne Allen DeMay, 41, faces one felony count of bigamy in Freeborn County District Court.

CBS News: The former Pennsylvania senator came out on top in the voting in all three contests Tuesday night, including an unexpected five-point victory in Colorado’s caucuses. Santorum also won the Minnesota caucuses, by an 18-point margin, and he won by 30 points in the Missouri primary.

Minnesota Public Radio News: he largest group working to defeat a proposed state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage said it has raised more than $1.2 million in cash and in-kind contributions.

OneNewsNow.com: “No provision of the Minnesota Constitution gives individuals the right to redefine marriage and force that definition on everyone else,” says Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney Jim Campbell. “The union between husband and wife benefits society, especially children, in unique and special ways that could not be duplicated by any other relationship.”

Washington Times: “Voters can make sure that this courts ruling is not the final word. The final word belongs to the people of Minnesota, not judges,” said Jordan Lorence, senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the Minnesota Family Council in a friend-of-the-court brief in support of traditional marriage.

Eagan, MN Patch: On Tuesday night, the council is expected to hold a discussion on a proposed domestic partner registry ordinance, among other items. The Eagan City Council is holding a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday night in the Eagan City Hall.

Crosswalk Religion Today News (12/28): The city backed up the event organizers, but the federal court ruled in favor of the men’s First Amendment rights. Alliance Defense Fund litigation staff counsel Jonathan Scruggs applauded the ruling: “The court made the right decision in suspending the ban so that people can share their faith in a nondisruptive manner.”

Norman Transcript (AP) (12/25): The preachers’ attorney, Jonathan Scruggs, of Memphis, Tenn., had argued that the public retains its rights to free speech and freedom of religion while attending a public event on public property. But he acknowledged that the city and the Bentleyville group could alter the contract to try to get around Davis’ ruling. “We would then evaluate that,” said Scruggs, who works with the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious freedom. “We take them as they come.”

StarTribune.com: In a church-state dispute with echoes across the country, a Wayzata congregation has won its battle to build a new church in a residential neighborhood.

MPR News: Attorney Jonathan Scruggs with the Christian group Alliance Defense Fund says the judge upheld the plaintiffs’ main complaint. “And that is, the city cannot ban the First Amendment in a public park just because event officials don’t like the message that a person is sharing.”

Religion Clause Blog: In Jankowski v. City of Duluth, (D MN, Dec. 20, 2011), a Minnesota federal district court granted a preliminary injunction to prevent city of Duluth police officers from interfering with activities of two street preachers at the Bentleyville Tour of Lights . . . An Alliance Defense Fund press release reports on the court’s decision.

Duluth News Tribune: Attorney Jonathan Scruggs of the Alliance Defense Fund represented Jankowski and Scott. “We’re thrilled with the ruling,” Scruggs said in a phone interview from Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday. “We believe that the decision correctly applied First Amendment principles and returned free speech to Bayfront Festival Park.”

Bellingham Herald: The preachers’ attorney, Jonathan Scruggs, of Memphis, Tenn., had argued that the public retains its rights to free speech and freedom of religion while attending a public event on public property. But he acknowledged that the city and the Bentleyville group could alter the contract to try to get around Davis’ ruling. “We would then evaluate that,” said Scruggs, who works with the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious freedom. “We take them as they come.”

A federal court issued an order Tuesday that prevents the city of Duluth from enforcing a First Amendment ban on people desiring to share their faith at a city park during the “Bentleyville Tour of Lights” event.

Duluth News Tribune: The Duluth City Council has weighed in against a proposed constitutional amendment that would make same-sex marriage illegal in Minnesota.

Duluth News Tribune: Jonathan Scruggs, the Alliance Defense Fund lawyer representing Jankowski and Scott, said he had told the court he wouldn’t file a response. “We are happy to rest on our prior arguments,” Scruggs said. “We continue to believe that the city’s policy violates the First Amendment.” His clients are hopeful the judge will act to “return free speech to Bayfront Festival Park,” Scruggs said. He and the plaintiffs see the issue differently than the city, Scruggs said, and, “I think every single federal court to address this situation sees it differently as well. City police officers are threatening to remove my clients from the park, so clearly there’s state action here.”

The Volokh Conspiracy: That’s what one Hamline University business school professor said, in opposing the hiring of another prospective business school professor, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press . . .

Duluth News Tribune: “I think it’s important to bring a caveat to the table,” said Scruggs, who is based in Memphis, Tenn. “The opinion was just from a magistrate judge. All it was was a recommendation. The district court judge can accept, reject, revise it any way he wants. At this point, everything is a bit premature. … There’s nothing too much to celebrate.” . . . The Alliance Defense Fund is a nonprofit dedicated to defending religious freedom and doesn’t charge for services, Scruggs said.

MinnPost: The state should be protecting its citizens, rather than encouraging them to do something not in their best interest, Prichard adds.

Minnesota Public Radio News (includes audio): People in the Anoka-Hennepin School District who have spent months divided over a so-called neutrality policy on sexual orientation now appear united in opposition to a new policy being proposed to replace it.

MN Star Tribune: Jonathan Scruggs, an attorney with the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious freedom, argued Monday that the city stepped on the First Amendment when it threatened to arrest anyone who violates Bentleyville rules against political campaigning and preaching.

LifeNews: The Minnesota affiliate of Planned Parenthood is slated to open a $16 million new abortion business and headquarters near University Avenue in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood later this month.

Religion Clause: The St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press reports that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Nancy Dreher yesterday issued show-cause orders to attorney Rebekah Nett and her client Naomi Isaacson threatening to impose sanctions on them for bigoted anti-Catholic statements contained in a legal memorandum they filed with the court last month.

Education News: More Minnesota students are signing on for free or reduced-price meals, as middle-class families coping with cutbacks and foreclosures are becoming first-time users of the subsidized National School Lunch Program.

The New American: Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, has announced that it will cease performing abortions in December, becoming the first abortion clinic to close in the state in two decades.

StarTribune.com (includes video): Despite opposition at City Hall, a St. Paul resident said he hasn’t been officially told to remove the monument from its river-bluff perch.

Post Bulletin: “Our clients simply want to be able to walk through this event and exercise their right to expression,” said Jonathan Scruggs, an attorney for the Alliance. “The key factor here is that the city owns the park and operates the park and does not abdicate authority of it being a public place simply because they have given a permit to a private entity.”

Duluth News Tribune: The men have support from two national Christian groups, the Thomas Moore Society and the Alliance Defense Fund. “Our clients simply want to be able to walk through this event and exercise their right to expression,” said Jonathan Scruggs, attorney for the Alliance. “The key factor here is that the city owns the park and operates the park and does not abdicate authority of it being a public place simply because they have given a permit to a private entity.”

StarTribune.com: “Our concern is with the city because it’s the city that has the power to kick us out of the park,” said Jonathan Scruggs, a staff attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund.
“We’ve litigated similar cases along these lines elsewhere,” he said. “A private individual technically can’t violate your First Amendment Rights.”

St. Cloud Times: Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday ordered Minnesota’s home-based child care providers to vote on whether to form a union, putting him on a union-rights collision course with Republican lawmakers who immediately vowed to sue in order to prevent the vote.

The Washington Independent: The influential lobby for the environment said Friday that it was jumping into the same-sex marriage debate because of its commitment to social justice.

Jason Adkins StarTribune.com: It is not surprising to see the Star Tribune continue to beat the drum in opposition to the marriage protection amendment that will appear on the November 2012 ballot (“On gay marriage, state is out of step,” Oct. 1). What is troubling is the paper’s attack on the Catholic Church’s participation in the public debate

StarTribune.com: Members of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, which held its annual convention over the weekend in Minneapolis, passed a resolution opposing the marriage amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage.

St. Cloud Times: The Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Minneapolis group that asked the Department of Education in March 2010 to investigate a series of incidents and complaints from Somali students in St. Cloud schools, said the district had much to lose by not agreeing to a settlement and that it is a big victory for the students.

The legal institution of marriage exists primarily to encourage lifelong monogamous sexual unions of men and women, where we expect that children will result as often as not.

StarTribune.com: Minnesota’s Roman Catholic bishops are taking the unusual step of urging parish priests across the state to form committees to help get the proposed marriage amendment passed by voters in 2012.

“The state board that regulates political spending in Minnesota finalized new reporting guidelines Tuesday for private donations to ballot measure campaigns, a decision with implications for next year’s statewide vote on a gay marriage amendment.”

Jason Adkins at StarTribune.com: But what animates the Star Tribune and other purveyors of a false secularism is a politically correct rewriting of the First Amendment, in which the newfangled concept of “freedom of worship” is substituted in place of “religious freedom” — a move that seeks to “protect the public” by enclosing religious people and their evangelical witness within their own walls. Our state and our nation cannot afford this naked public square.

Politics in Minnesota: In a news release, the Minnesota for Marriage campaign fired back against new proposed guidelines for disclosure that would require not only the campaigns to release detailed income and expenditure reports, but also the release of any donors who support nonprofits that eventually contribute to campaigns.

Kare11.com: The ACLU of Minnesota released hundreds of documents Monday from its ongoing lawsuit against an Inver Grove Heights charter school, based on the legal claim that school used taxpayer money to promote Islam.

Politics in Minnesota: Supporters of marriage ban amendment hope to continue an unbroken string of victories nationwide

StarTribune.com: Anoka-Hennepin’s push to deter bullying and to clarify the district’s GLBT policy shows signs of working but has raised concerns from teachers.

Minnesota Independent: Some teachers at Anoka-Hennepin School District have failed a teachers test because they refused to affirm that the district’s policy limiting discussions of LGBT issues in the district’s schools is intended to make “students feel safe.”

Minnesota Public Radio News (includes audio): Angered that a 2009 ban on spending state funds on human cloning was dropped from state spending bills during final budget hearings, the state’s largest anti-abortion group is targeting some of its traditional allies.

Christian Post: Yet Erik Stanley of the Alliance Defense Fund believes the guidelines should be discarded. “Pastors have a right to speak about Biblical truths from the pulpit without fear of punishment,” he said in a statement. Referring to the enforcement of federal tax regulation, Stanley continued, “No one should be able to use the government to intimidate pastors into giving up their constitutional rights.”

NYTimes.com: But conservative parents have organized to lobby against change. “Saying that you should accept two moms as a normal family — that would be advocacy,” said Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council. “There should be no tolerance of bullying, but these groups are using the issue to try to press a social agenda.”

Carwash.com: Carwash owner Tim Murphy released a message on the Facebook page saying that the You Can Run But You Cannot Hide organization would no longer be allowed to use the carwash facility. | The LezGet Real, a lesbian’s blog, offers more information: Bradlee Dean Connected Fundraiser Lands Car Wash In Hot Water

Minnesota Public Radio: The Independence Party of Minnesota, one of three political parties in Minnesota with major party status, announced on Tuesday that it is joining the campaign to defeat a ballot measure that would place a ban on marriage for same-sex couples in the Minnesota Constitution if passed by the voters in 2012 (Minnesota Independent).

Minnesota Independent: . . . “[T[he Minnesota Supreme Court’s Baker decision is undoubtedly binding and controlling here,” MFC’s attorneys wrote. Those attorneys are from the Alliance Defense Fund, a group founded by prominent religious right groups including James Dobson’s Focus on the Family and the American Family Association, an organization that has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

StarTribune.com: Both sides in the fight over Minnesota’s proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage face major challenges.

Brief explains that judge’s dismissal of attack on Minn. marriage laws rightly cited previous Minn., U.S. high court decisions

StarTribune.com: United Methodist leaders have filed a complaint against a Minneapolis pastor, calling for an investigation into whether he conducted ceremonies to bless same-sex unions during Gay Pride Week last month.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life is an association of citizens that wants to support candidates who agree with the pro-life position. And The Taxpayers League of Minnesota is an association of citizens that wants to support candidates that favor limited taxes. Both groups want to make general-fund contributions to their chosen candidates.

StarTribune.com: The number of abortions in Minnesota took a dive last year to the lowest levels since 1975, and the rate of abortions among females of childbearing years may be the smallest on record, according to new data from the Minnesota Department of Health.

OneNewsNow.com: But Tedesco contends there is no cause-and-effect factor to blame. “But what these outside groups want to do, [what] the pro-homosexual groups want to do is they want the bullying policies and the curriculum policies to all advance their pro-homosexual agenda in schools,” the ADF legal counsel explains. “I don’t think there’s any link at all between the neutrality policy and the bullying that goes on at the schools.”

LifeNews.com: The state of Minnesota is now paying scientists to engage in the grisly practice of human cloning. After the state legislature failed to re-authorize a ban on state funded human cloning during the special session, it is now legal to use taxpayer dollars to create cloned human embryos.

ADF attorney David Cortman on the Janet Mefferd Show to discuss the topic. | MP3 audio 19:17 mins | Update and related post.

AP: Several current and former students are suing Minnesota’s largest school district over its policy requiring staff to remain neutral when the topic of sexual orientation is raised in the classroom. | Related ADF Media.

MyFoxTwinCities: Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton sent a letter Thursday to House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, saying he “reluctantly” agrees to accept the Republican budget proposal from June 30 if it will end the government shutdown .

LifeNews.com: ublic funding of human cloning became legal on in Minnesota on July 1 without reauthorization of the state’s current ban on such funding. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life helped to pass the ban on taxpayer funding of human cloning during the 2009 legislative session.

The New American: Following the threats from the two liberal groups, Jeremy Tedesco of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a pro-family legal advocacy organization, wrote a letter to Carlson encouraging him and district officials to stand firm in the policy. “School districts should not be bullied into taking the side of homosexual activists,” wrote Tedesco. “Parents rightly believe that public schools are a place for education, not sexual indoctrination. The Anoka-Hennepin School District’s policy is entirely appropriate and legally sound.” Tedesco noted that SPLC/NCLR letter “plainly misinterprets the District’s Policy, is inaccurate as to the law, and is heavy on hyperbole,” adding that the two homosexual legal groups seemed “more concerned with pushing their agenda than with offering real solutions to the problems of bullying….”
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Religion Clause: Minnesota federal district court yesterday refused to issue a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction to allow the Tarek ibn Ziyad Acedmy to continue to operate after the July 1 expiration of the contract with its current sponsor.

StarTribune.com: Talks imploded Thursday between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders in the final hours before a midnight deadline, and Minnesota began a historic government shutdown.

Minnesota Independent (6/30): Lawyers for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a national conservative Christian legal organization, sent a letter to the Anoka-Hennepin School District this week urging it to maintain its “neutrality policy” on sexual orientation. The letter (PDF) comes in response to a possible lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the National Council for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), two groups that have accused the district of creating an unsafe environment for LGBT students. The ADF argues that no changes are needed in the district.

Charisma (6/30): The question is, who is bullying who? The Alliance Defense Fund is getting in the middle. The ADF on Monday sent a letter to the district explaining that these threats “have no basis in law” and that demands made by these groups rely primarily on “appeals to emotion.” So far as the ADF is concerned, “the district should not be swayed by these unfortunate tactics.”
“School districts should not be bullied into taking the side of homosexual activists,” says ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “Parents rightly believe that public schools are a place for education, not sexual indoctrination. The Anoka-Hennepin School District’s policy is entirely appropriate and legally sound.” . . .

Minnesota Public Radio News: he Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian attorneys who have worked in several states on efforts to ban same-sex marriage, sent a letter to the school district on Tuesday. In it, Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco said the civil rights groups’ arguments have “no basis in law.” “The district should not allow SPLC and NCLR to browbeat them into abandoning its sensible policy of requiring district personnel to remain neutral on issues regarding sexual orientation,” Tedesco wrote. “Neutrality does not equal hostility. Rather, neutrality respects all sides of a controversial issue, and advocates none.”

ADF letter rebuts threats made by groups seeking to force pro-homosexual curricula within Anoka County schools

AP: Gay-marriage supporters in the Land of 10,000 Lakes will be working fervently to end a 31-state losing streak at the polls and defeat a proposed amendment on the 2012 ballot that would limit marriage to one-man, one-woman unions.

LifeNews.com: The Minnesota affiliate of the Planned Parenthood abortion business says it will close six locations on August 1 thanks to the Title X budget cuts Congress approved in its most recent budget this past Spring.

OneNewsNow.com: “School officials here did the right thing by finally granting the ALIV Club official status and no longer assuming they have the authority to jump the Constitution,” notes David Cortman, senior counsel for ADF. “The United States Supreme Court has said decades ago students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.”

The Albert Lea Tribune: Attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund filed the lawsuit on behalf of the group in federal court in April. The lawsuit alleged the high school denied the club the same benefits and access it provides to other groups.

StamfordAdvocate: Attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund filed the lawsuit on behalf of the group in federal court in April. The lawsuit alleged the high school denied the club the same benefits and access it provides to other groups.

LifeNews.com: “Pro-life students should not be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “School officials did the right thing by finally granting the ALIV Club official status and no longer assuming the authority to trump the constitutionally protected rights of students. As the U.S. Supreme Court has noted, students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.”

The essential public purpose of marriage is to attach mothers and fathers to their children and to one another. To see the importance of this purpose, we must take the perspective of the child: What is owed to the child?

In the wake of a federal lawsuit filed by Alliance Defense Fund attorneys on behalf of a student-led pro-life club, Independent School District #885 has granted the club official status at St. Michael-Albertville High School.