News

the Web Editors 1-26-2018


Victim Rachael Denhollander (L) embraces prosecutor Angela Povilaitis at the sentencing hearing for Larry Nassar, a former team USA Gymnastics doctor who pleaded guilty in November 2017 to sexual assault charges, in Lansing, Michigan, U.S., January 24, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
 

"As we were being sexually violated even as very young children, as young as 6 years old, Larry was sexually aroused by our humiliation and our pain. He asked us how it felt because he wanted to know. What was done to myself and these other women and little girls and the fact that our sexual violation was enjoyed by Larry matters."

Image via RNS/Creative Commons

Supreme Court

In the days before the election, evangelist Franklin Graham told RNS that he wasn’t focused “on his potty mouth or her missing emails,” referring to Trump’s language and his Democratic rival’s trouble over an email server. Rather, Graham said, “It comes down to the Supreme Court, and who do you trust to appoint to the Supreme Court?”

Sandi Villarreal 1-26-2018

Youth Initiates from the United Church of Santa Fe walk the trails along the Arizona-Sonora border. Photo courtesy Rev. Talitha Arnold

People of faith and other advocates across the country are calling for a permanent fix for the 800,000 young people at risk of losing their DACA status if Congress doesn’t reach a deal soon. In one Santa Fe, N.M., congregation, those calls are coming from the youth group.

Students attend a prayer vigil for students killed and injured after a 15-year-old boy opened fire with a handgun at MarshallCounty High School, at Life in Christ Church in Marion, Kentucky, U.S., January 23, 2018. REUTERS/Harrison McClary

How does this happen in our hometown? We read about it and see it all too frequently on the news in other parts of the nation. But not here, not in our home. What are we to do with a tragedy of this magnitude in our community?

Image via Roger Newton/ Youth Today 

Paul Cuadras, who co-founded NC Sli in 2002, said DACA isn’t perfect. North Carolina, like some other states, doesn’t provide in-state tuition for its Dreamers. That means DACA recipients like Rodas would have to spend $34,588 for a year at UNC-Chapel Hill — as opposed to in-state tuition at a fraction of the cost at $8,898. Dreamers aren’t eligible for federal financial aid, so it is understandably a high barrier for Dreamers to access higher education in the state.

Eugenia Ji 1-25-2018

Image via benketaro / Flickr

The charges come in the wake of the publication of a report by No More Deaths and La Coalición de Derechos Humanos that indicated at least 3,586 gallon jugs of water destroyed in the desert region near Arivaca, Ariz., by U.S. Border Patrol agents between 2012-2015.

“Yes. I saw water bottles stabbed," Miguel, a migrant from Sinaloa, Mexico, said in the report. "They break the bottles so you can’t even use them to fill up at the tanks. I needed water, some of the other people in the group needed water, but we found them destroyed."

the Web Editors 1-25-2018

Through a spokesman, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signaled he will veto the measure if it reaches his desk. “The governor is ready to work with the General Assembly to promote responsible gun ownership, but he does not believe more guns in more locations is a solution to the real problem of gun violence,” Northam spokesman Brian Coy said.

Victim Kaylee Lorincz (center-R) is embraced after speaking at the sentencing hearing for Larry Nassar. Jan. 24, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
 

The disgraced long-time USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced on Wednesday to up to 175 years in prison for molesting young female gymnasts, following days of wrenching testimony in a Michigan courtroom from about 160 of his victims, including Olympic gold medalists.

Tom Heneghan 1-24-2018

Image via Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters

“Dog, cats, and motorcycles get blessings, but we’re not worth one?” Mayor Peter Hinze complained. “It can hardly be made clearer that we’re second-class people.”

Image via J. Stephen Conn / Flickr

The plaintiff, now in his 50s, claims he was abused by Pressler, now in his 80s, starting when the plaintiff was around 14. Rollins alleges that the abuse continued when he was hired as a “boy Friday” in the judge’s home office and ended around 2004 when Rollins was rearrested and imprisoned for driving while intoxicated.

Today, Lopez-Marquez is at Presbyterian Medical Services, Santa Fe Family Wellness Center, where he’s the only male social worker on staff who’s also bilingual. He is also an after-school folklorico dance instructor for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. Between counseling and dance, Lopez-Marquez works with 180 youth in New Mexico; his work permit through DACA makes all that possible.

Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead his Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's square. Jan. 24, 2018. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned the "evil" of fake news, saying journalists and social media users should shun and unmask manipulative "snake tactics" that foment division to serve political and economic interests.

the Web Editors 1-23-2018

Solar installers from Baker Electric place solar panels on the roof of a residential home in Scripps Ranch, San Diego, California, U.S. October 14, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

The majority of the American solar industry has opposed the tariffs, saying that it would be detrimental to the industry. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) predicted the loss of approximately 23,000 jobs within the sector due to the imposed tariffs in a press release. 

 

Since the Trump administration announced in September that it was bringing DACA to an end, nearly 16,000 DACA recipients have already lost their protections. DACA is set to formally expire on March 5, but the process has already shortchanged benefits for many, with up to 122 more young adults losing their protections each day. While Democrats and Republicans go back to the drawing board on DACA, here are eight stories to catch you up on the fate of Dreamers and DACA recipients.

Image via RNS/Jerome Socolovsky

 

“I really feel like activism is a form of sharing that love that God has given you,” she said. “Realizing that this world is made for all of us is something that’s transcending, and we have to inspire each other.”

the Web Editors 1-22-2018

"The president has an extramarital affair with a porn star, right after his wife gives birth to a son, then he pays the porn star to shut up! Does it even matter to, say, his evangelical base?" 

Kenan Thompson, playing a contestant, clicks his buzzer and says, "To evangelicals, of course it matters, it's against everything that they stand for." 

ENH.

"You'd think so, but no," says a beleauged Chastain. "They say he's just repented, and they forgive him. And Mike Pence is like, 'This my dude!'" 

Pope Francis waves as he arrives to celebrate a mass at Huanchaco beach in Trujillo, Peru Jan. 20, 2018. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares
 

Pope Francis, visiting an area of Peru that was devastated last year by heavy rains linked to climate change and plagued by gang violence, urged people not to lose hope.

Clarissa Jones 1-20-2018

Nuns watch as President Donald Trump remotely addresses the March for Life rally by satellite from the nearby White House Jan. 19, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

Thousands of pro-life activists gathered Friday for the annual March for Life on the National Mall. The event was heavily attended by members of religious institutions, Catholic school children, and evangelical Christians — but politics took center stage.

Dhanya Addanki 1-20-2018

On Jan. 20, one year since President Donald Trump's inauguration and nearly a year since the world's largest protest in history, thousands gathered in cities across the nation for the Women's March — this year focused on driving people to the polls in 2018. These are photos from the march in Washington, D.C.

Participants attend the annual March for Life anti-abortion rally in front of the Washington Monument in Washington, U.S. January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Thayer
 

The Rose Garden event was part of a deliberate strategy to raise the visibility of anti-abortion protesters, who have complained they haven’t gotten as much attention as other Washington protests, including last year’s Women’s March — which specifically excluded women opposed to abortion.