Monday, June 27 top stories
It is Monday, June 27. Here are today’s top stories.
Supreme Court sides with praying coach
Today the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of a high school football coach who lost his job due to his habit of kneeling in the middle of the football field after games to pray. The coach’s name is Joseph Kennedy. He sued his school district alleging that his First Amendment rights to free speech were violated.
The school district argued that they placed the coach on administrative leave because his prayers violated the school’s policy and the Constitution because it seemed like a public school was endorsing a particular religion.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the court’s majority opinion. He said the school was misguided in its thinking because the First Amendment protects the coach’s ability to freely pray on the field and that it was not the school’s job to single out a person.
Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote in a dissent that this decision is not in line with America’s commitment to the separation of church and state. She said players felt pressure to join the prayers so they could get favor from the coach.
NPR said “the 6-to-3 decision was the latest example of the court’s conservative supermajority requiring more accommodation for religion in public schools and less separation between church and state.” NPR said “the current court is the most pro-religion of any court in almost 70 years…”
Ukrainian shopping center hit by missiles
In central Ukraine, a shopping center was hit by a missile while at least 1,000 civilians were inside. Videos on the internet showed a large blaze. The city’s name is Kremenchuk.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said the missile came from Russia. News reports said there are at least 10 dead and 40 wounded. The shopping center was over 100,000 square feet.
An official in the U.S. military said Russia fired over 60 missiles across Ukraine over the weekend. The official said it is possible that Russia is responding to the G7 and NATO summits in Europe this week or to new weapons shipments from the U.S.
Brittney Griner to stand trial on July 1 in Russia
U.S. women’s basketball star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia since February on a drug charge, will go on trial starting July 1. She made a brief appearance in court today.
Griner’s attorney said her trial could last two months. If she is convicted, she may get a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
The U.S. government said Griner is wrongfully detained but is limited in what it can do largely because diplomatic relations is at an all-time low due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At least 22 young people found dead in South African bar
In South Africa’s Eastern Cape, at least 22 young people were found dead in a bar. The victims were between 13 and 20 years old.
A witness told Al Jazeera news that many people attended the bar because there was an announcement that there would be two celebrities. The bar became overcrowded and people were asked to leave, but many remained. A security guard then closed a door and sprayed a substance into the crowd that smelled like tear gas or pepper spray. The witness said people couldn’t breathe and suffocated and pushed one another and people were dying.
A local police station said it received several emergency calls around 4 a.m. on Sunday.
The bar is now closed and is under investigation. South African President Ramaphosa said this is a tragedy and that he is concerned because many victims were young.
———
[Sponsored Video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
—---------------
Alligator kills South Carolina man
An alligator killed a man near a pond in a gated community called the Myrtle Beach Golf & Yacht Club in South Carolina.
It is not yet known who the victim is. A news report said the alligator was 11 feet long.
Local police said the alligator took hold of a man near the edge of a pond on Friday and returned to the pond. Police said the victims body was recovered from the pond and the alligator was removed and euthanized.
Jan. 6 Committee to hold surprise session on Tuesday
The Jan 6. House Committee made a surprise announcement today that it would hold a hearing on Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. on evidence that it recently obtained. It is not known what this evidence is. The committee said there would be testimony from witnesses, and it’s also not known who they will be. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
Updates after Supreme Court ruling on abortion
On Friday the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, which gave the constitutional right for women or pregnant people to have an abortion and as a result, individual states are allowed to determine whether they will allow or restrict or ban abortions. There were many protests nationwide over the Supreme Court’s decision. Here are a few updates.
NPR said “abortion is now illegal or heavily restricted in at least 11 states” and that “twelve other states have laws in place that pave the way to quickly ban or severely restrict access.” Many of the abortion laws predate Roe v. Wade.
Wisconsin is one of the states that now bans abortions, which is based on a 1849 law. However its Democratic governor Tony Evers said he wouldn’t enforce the law and vowed to grant clemency to anyone who is charged with a felony for performing an abortion. NBC News explained that Wisconsin is in a gray area because “it remains possible that other officials — such as other district attorneys and newly elected state lawmakers — could enforce (the law) now or in the future.”
South Dakota’s Republican Gov. Kristi Noem said the state would prosecute doctors who perform abortions, but not mothers. Noem also said she wants to bar women from getting abortion pills.
This kind of scenario with laws and elected officials either supporting or opposing them is happening across the U.S. right now.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said it would do whatever it could to make sure states don’t bar women from traveling across state lines to perform abortions and that they can still get access to abortion pills.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/27/religion-prayer-public-school-supreme-court-ruling
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/27/ukraine-shopping-center-kremenchuk
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/06/27/brittney-griner-trial-date/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/27/africa/south-africa-tavern-tragedy-intl/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/26/us/myrtle-beach-alligator-attack-trnd/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/27/us/politics/jan-6-hearing.html