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via Diane Anderson-Minshall, The Advocate Gay travelers just got another reason to head to the Caribbean. According to Fox News Latino, Cancun, Cozumel, and other resort areas in the Mexican Caribbean will soon allow same-sex couples to legally marry, thanks largely to a recently discovered quirk in the local civil code. The area is already … Continue reading
via Christina Boyle, NY Daily News Same-sex pairs in Hawaii and Delaware began the new year as officially recognized couples as historic laws allowing civil unions in the two states took effect. The long-awaited moment brings the number of states that grant civil unions or marriages to gay and lesbian couples to 11, in addition … Continue reading
via Laura Bassett, The Huffington Post In the competition for the toughest anti-abortion stance in Iowa, GOP candidates this week have adopted more extreme positions on abortion than they have previously ever held. But their shift toward extremity for the sake of Iowa’s evangelical base could come back to haunt the eventual nominee in the … Continue reading
via Jonathan Turley, The Guardian President Barack Obama rang in the New Year by signing the NDAA law with its provision allowing him to indefinitely detain citizens. It was a symbolic moment, to say the least. With Americans distracted with drinking and celebrating, Obama signed one of the greatest rollbacks of civil liberties in the … Continue reading
via Kate Sosin, Windy City Times In a move shocking LGBT rights groups in Illinois, Springfield’s city government has voted not to extend health benefits to civil union spouses. The Joint Labor/Management Health Care Committee, a Springfield committee comprised of staffers from various city positions as well as retirees, voted to keep its current eligibility … Continue reading
via Chicago Tribune Organizers with Chicago’s annual gay pride parade have agreed to a later start time after one of Chicago’s oldest Roman Catholic churches objected to a newly-proposed route they claimed would block access to Sunday Masses. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church leaders said the new route — which would go by the … Continue reading
via Monica Hesse, The Washington Post The scent inside this squat federal building is not fir or cinnamon, but it does have its own particular holiday aroma: cardboard Priority Mail envelopes and packing tape. Christmas at the post office. Possibly the one time of year when everybody still makes a pilgrimage here. Over a lunch … Continue reading
via Luke Johnson, The Huffington Post Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum explained how he would win support from gay voters despite his long opposition to same-sex marriage Tuesday night on Fox News’ “On The Record” with Greta Van Susteren. Van Susteren asked how he could get votes from “the gay citizens of Iowa” despite being … Continue reading
via Kevin Drum, Mother Jones In theory, any woman 17 or older can buy the Plan B emergency contraceptive over the counter. Younger teens can’t, and the Obama administration’s recent decision on Plan B keeps it that way despite the unanimous recommendation of an FDA panel. But at least 17-year-olds have easy access to Plan B, … Continue reading
via Declan McCullagh, CNET News A marathon congressional hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act, which detoured through discussions of Twitter-borne insults and the popular meme “The Internet is for Porn,” was expected to resume sometime in 2012. But Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, said Friday on Twitter that the hearing will continue Wednesday … Continue reading
via Igor Volsky, ThinkProgress During an interview with the Boston Herald on Wednesday, Mitt Romney reiterated his support for a federal amendment to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, but also said that he would establish three different tiers of marriage specifically for gay people: Expressed support for a constitutional … Continue reading
via Marie Diamond, ThinkProgress Federal imprisonment for unpaid debt has been illegal in the U.S. since 1833. It’s a practice people associate more with the age of Dickens than modern-day America. But as more Americans struggle to pay their bills in the wake of the recession, collection agencies are using harsher methods to get their … Continue reading
via Beth Duff-Brown and Nigel Duara, AP, The Washington Post West Coast ports tried to get back to business as usual Tuesday as they tallied their losses after anti-Wall Street protests that blocked trucks and curbed business along busy waterfronts. Long lines of trucks waited outside port gates and some workers reported early to clear … Continue reading
via Rosalind Rossi, Chicago Sun-Times Chicago Public Schools should begin the school day with clubs or extracurricular activities to encourage kids to show up on time. It should double the physical education students get — even if it means merely having kids climb stairs or take a brisk walk through the halls. And to ensure … Continue reading
via Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune Home-improvement giant Lowe’s may need to do a fix-it job on its own image after pulling its advertisements from a new reality TV show about American Muslim families. Lowe’s stopped running commercials on TLC’s “All-American Muslim,” bowing to pressure from a conservative Florida group that threatened to boycott the retailer … Continue reading
via Arthur Delaney, The Huffington Post Since Republicans proposed drug testing the unemployed last week, both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington have been quiet on the controversial proposal. Spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have repeatedly referred questions on specific parts of a broader Republican jobs … Continue reading
via Hindustan Times With the profile of HIV-AIDS undergoing transformation from a life-threatening emergency to a manageable chronic infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged South-East Asian countries to focus on eliminating the infection, particularly among children, by 2015. “We are coming out of a transformative decade for the HIV-AIDS epidemic. With innovative treatment regimens, improved … Continue reading
via E.D. Kain, Forbes In 2008, during the aftershocks of the housing market and financial collapse and the fall of Lehman Brothers, and amidst the increasingly frightening din of anti-Obama sentiment that was coming to define the presidential campaign between him and rival John McCain, it was nevertheless difficult to not feel a swell of … Continue reading
via E.D. Kain, Forbes If Obama does one thing for the remainder of his presidency let it be a veto of the National Defense Authorization Act – a law recently passed by the Senate currently which would place domestic terror investigations and interrogations into the hands of the military and which would open the door … Continue reading
via Margaret Talev and Nicole Gaouette, Bloomberg The Obama administration will weigh how countries treat gays and lesbians in making decisions about foreign aid, according to a presidential memorandum released by the White House. Laws prohibit same-sex sexual activity in many nations in the Middle East and Africa, and in two of the largest recipients … Continue reading
via ABC 7 News After asking the judge for mercy, former governor Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 168 months in prison on Wednesday. Judge James Zagel handed down the sentence after hearing from Blagojevich, himself, during the second day of hearings. He will surrender to officials on February 16. Blagojevich was also fined $20,000, a … Continue reading
via Joel Hood, Chicago Tribune A new national study shows that while Chicago public school 4th- and 8th-graders have improved in reading and math proficiency over the last decade, they still trail their peers in other large urban districts. Results released Wednesday from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, indicate CPS students … Continue reading
via The Huffington Post Illinois Governor Pat Quinn finally has some political ammunition to use the next time Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker mocks the Land of Lincoln’s economy. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Illinois added the most jobs in the nation in October, while Wisconsin saw a “significant decline” in employment. As … Continue reading
via Monica Davey, The New York Times For Rod R. Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, it may be the final campaign. On Tuesday, he is expected to testify at a hearing that will decide his sentence for 18 felony corruption convictions, including trying to sell or trade for his own benefit the United States … Continue reading
via The AP, WBEZ Leaders of one of Chicago’s oldest Roman Catholic churches are objecting to a newly-proposed route for the city’s annual gay pride parade, saying the event will draw large crowds outside the church entrance and block access to Sunday Masses. The parade that has run through parts of Chicago’s North Side for … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard 