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PHOENIX (Reuters) - A federal judge blocked Arizona on Wednesday from enforcing a part of its immigration law that prohibits occupants of vehicles from stopping traffic to pick up day laborers.
In a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled that plaintiffs seeking to overturn the law were "likely to succeed on the merits of their claim" that the rules violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"Plaintiffs have also shown that they are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction ... and that the public interest favors injunctive relief," Bolton said in the ruling.
Arizona's Republican Governor Jan Brewer signed the state's tough immigration law in April 2010, seeking to clamp down on illegal immigrants in the Mexico border state.
According to CNN, the Pentagon comptroller said during a congressional budgetmeeting that it cost "about $850,000 per soldier" per year in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments reached a more expensive conclusion: $1.2 million per soldier per year. The estimate is supposed to increase for 2012.
The Pentagon comptroller, Department of Defense undersecretary Robert Hale, said higher weapons operating costs were "a good part that's probably 50 percent of the budget" when explaining the $850,000 per-soldier statistic.
Something is wrong when the U.S. is spending around $1 million per soldier per year to fight in Afghanistan. It's more wrong when we're getting "probably" and "a good part" and other ambiguous terminology. While I'm struggling to pay my rent on a public school teacher's salary, I want to know why the Department of Defense lacks hard-and-fast figures on its overseas spending.
(CNSNews.com) –The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday will take up a bipartisan resolution calling on Iran to spare the life of an Iranian Christian pastor sentenced to death for “apostasy.”
Sponsored by a conservative Christian Republican and a liberal Muslim Democrat, the list of bipartisan co-sponsors for the resolution – introduced on Feb. 17 by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) -- has climbed to 46.
The resolution condemns the Iranian government for the “state-sponsored persecution of religious minorities” in violation of international covenants, and it calls on Iran “to exonerate and immediately and unconditionally release Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani and all other individuals held or charged on account of their religious or political beliefs.”
A Georgetown co-ed told Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s hearing that the women in her law school program are having so much sex that they’re going broke, so you and I should pay for their birth control.
Speaking at a hearing held by Pelosi to tout Pres. Obama’s mandate that virtually every health insurance plan cover the full cost of contraception and abortion-inducing products, Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke said that it’s too expensive to have sex in law school without mandated insurance coverage.
Apparently, four out of every ten co-eds are having so much sex that it's hard to make ends meet if they have to pay for their own contraception, Fluke's research shows.
(CNSNews.com) – About 77 percent of the 327,577 illegal aliens caught along the Mexican border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during fiscal 2011 were not prosecuted, according to government data analyzed by the office of Rep. John Culberson.
The Texas Republican, whose district includes parts of Houston, submitted a document containing the data for the record at a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. The hearing focused on the budget for CBP.Culberson gave CNSNews.com a copy of the document, which contains prosecution rate figures for illegal aliens apprehended by CBP between FY2007 and FY2011.
According to figures made public by CBP, 327,577 illegal aliens were caught along the southwest border during fiscal year 2011 (Oct. 1, 2010 thru Sept. 30, 2011)Rep. Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, is seeking to expand a 2006 law that already permits the passage from the Old Testament to be displayed in judicial buildings and courthouses when accompanied by other historical documents deemed to have influenced the U.S. legal system.
Georgia lawmakers passed that original law one year after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 struck down Commandment displays in two Kentucky courthouses, ruling they appeared to be a government endorsement of Christianity.
His latest bill passed by a vote of 161-0 and now heads to the state Senate. It has few vocal opponents and a strong chance of passing in the Legislature.
Homeschooling families will soon be forbidden from teaching that homosexual sex is sinful as part of their schooling program, according to the government of Alberta, Canada.
Under the province’s Education Act, homeschoolers and religious schools will be banned from “disrespecting” people’s differences, Alberta Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk’s office told LifeSiteNews just last week.
“Whatever the nature of schooling – homeschool, private school, Catholic school – we do not tolerate disrespect for differences,” said Donna McColl, Lukaszuk’s assistant director of communications. “You can affirm the family’s ideology in your family life, you just can’t do it as part of your educational study and instruction.”
(Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is spending millions of dollars on consultants to streamline the agency, but SEC insiders and at least one lawmaker are questioning whether the SEC is getting its money's worth.
At a time when the SEC is fighting Congress for more funds, some agency employees are concerned that the SEC has spent over $8.5 million in just under a year on dozens of consultants from Booz Allen Hamilton to advise on reforming workflows and back-office operations, according to documents and people familiar with the matter.
Booz Allen consultants are costing the SEC anywhere between around $100 an hour to over $300 an hour depending on the person's position, according to internal documents reviewed by Reuters. The number of consultants on site fluctuates each month, but it has ranged from four to 77.
The posse says it has identified at least one person of interest in the alleged forgery of Obama’s birth certificate.
Arapaio, known for his strict enforcement of immigration laws,commissioned the investigative team after local citizens presented him with a petition expressing concern that Obama might not be eligible for Arizona’s presidential ballot.
In addition to the live-streaming, WND is making available to the public a report distributed to media today by Arpaio’s investigators.
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FREDERICK — A century and a half ago, many of Frederick’s downtown buildings served as hospitals to care for wounded soldiers from both sides of the Civil War.
Downtown merchants were urged recently to use that historic connection to bring in tourists.
“Profit From the Past” was presented by George Wunderlich, executive director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, and Amy Benton of Want 2 Dish, a marketing business.
Wunderlich, a historian who has appeared on television and at national conferences about the Civil War, said the museum on East Patrick Street has more than 35,000 visitors a year.
He said he expects that number to soar with the anniversary of various battles in the area and the overall interest in the Civil War. Wunderlich said that most people don’t think of a museum as a business, but it has a gift shop
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Poll after poll in recent months has indicated that Americans have a high level of concern over Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president, with one poll showing fully half of the nation wants Congress to investigate the question.
But reporters for the traditional media – networks, major newspapers, major news corporations and conglomerates – mostly have giggled when talk turns to the serious question of just what the U.S. Constitution requires of presidents.
Nevertheless, media organizations from all political persuasions are seeking admittance to a news conference to be held by Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz.
The event is tomorrow at 1 p.m. Mountain Standard Time in Phoenix, 3 p.m. Eastern, and will be live-streamed by WND.
Editors note. This event is Today at 3 p.m.
Western spy agencies for years have kept watch on a craggy peak in northwest Iran that houses one of the world’s most unusual nuclear sites. Known as Fordow, the facility is built into mountain bunkers designed to withstand an aerial attack. Iran’s civil defense chief has declared the site “impregnable.”
But impregnable it is not, say U.S. military planners, who are increasingly confident about their ability to deliver a serious blow against Fordow should the president ever order an attack.
U.S. officials say they have no imminent plan to bombard the site, and they have cautioned that an American attack — or one by its closest Middle Eastern ally, Israel — risks devastating consequences such as soaring oil prices, Iranian retaliation and dramatically heightened tension in a fragile region.
NEW YORK (AP) - Messages from brands such as Walmart and Starbucks may soon be mixed in with your Facebook status updates and baby photos from friends and family.
Facebook unveiled new advertising opportunities Wednesday to help the world's biggest brands spread their messages on the world's largest online social network.
Brands you've endorsed by hitting the "like" button will now be able to push deals and other updates right into the news feeds that show your friends' updates, photos and links. These marketing messages could also show up if one of your friends has interacted with a brand, such as by liking it or commenting on a photo.
Chuck and Stephanie Fromm already have been fined $300 for holding Bible studies for their friends at their home, and they face the potential for additional fines of $500 for each study held, according to a legal team taking their case to court.
The newest conflict over Bible studies in homes in America arose in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., where city officials say city code section 9-3.301 prohibits religious organizations in residential neighborhoods without a conditional-use permit, a sometimes very expensive procedure.
The code cites “churches, temples, synagogues, monasteries, religious retreats, and other places of religious worship and other fraternal and community service organizations.”
SHALIMAR, Fla. – When people think of winter golfing in Florida, they often think of a calm, restful experience enjoying the lush, green scenery and balmy breezes of the Sunshine State.
What usually does not come to mind is a sudden blast from an air horn by mischief-minded teenagers.
But such a situation took place over the weekend, prompting a pair of elderly golfers to go ballistic with a metal golf-ball finderWASHINGTON - A Prince George's County councilmember stopped for speeding released a second statement Wednesday after receiving some public criticism.
"I take full responsibility for my actions and I apologize to my constituents, my County Council colleagues, and Prince George's County," Karen Toles wrote. "In addition to paying the appropriate fine, I will not be driving a county owned vehicle until voluntarily completing a driver improvement course to ensure my safety and the safety of others."
Toles was issued a warning for the speeding infraction last week, but did receive a $90 violation for an unsafe lane change. Police said Tuesday that a warning is consistent with the discretion officers have in handling speeding motorists.
To save the imperiled spotted owl, the Obama administration is moving forward with a controversial plan to shoot barred owls, rival birds that have shoved their smaller cousins aside.
The plan is the latest federal attempt to protect the northern spotted owl, the passive, 1-pound bird that sparked an epic battle over logging in the Pacific Northwest two decades ago. The government set aside millions of acres of forest to protect the owl, but the bird's population continues to decline - a 40 percent slide in 25 years.
A plan announced Tuesday would designate habitat considered critical for the bird's survival, while allowing logging to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and to create jobs. Habitat loss and competition from barred owls are the biggest threats to the spotted owl.
