Mediaboss Marketing

Here is a status report on some bills being considered by Iowa lawmakers

Boost next fiscal years state K-12 education funding by $36.5 million (SF269*)

Require K-12 schools offer in-person classroom instruction option (SF160*)

Revamp early-voting/absentee-balloting election laws (SF413*)

Appropriate $21 million in state supplement to finance Workday contract (SF284*)

Exempt business PPP loans/federal jobless benefits from state taxation (SF364)

Accelerate income tax triggers/phase out inheritance tax (SF576)

Revamp mental health financing/cut property taxes (SF587)

Enact permit-less constitutional carry gun laws (HF756)

Ban hand-held electronic devices while driving (SF330/HF392)

Amend Iowa Constitution to clarify no right to abortion (SJR2)

Amend Iowa Constitution with gun rights protection (SJR7)

Halt high-tech state incentives due to social-media censorship (SF580/HF633)

Add new method for creating charter schools (HF813)

Enact back the blue police protections/enhanced crime penalties (SF534)

Supplement K-12 schools for COVID-19 costs (SF532)

Governors ethanol expansion proposal (SF481/HSB185)

Governors plan to expand broadband grant program (SF390/HF848)

Governors plan to expand affordable housing options (SSB1142/HF178)

Bar interference with transportation of agricultural animal (HF655/SF421)

Require amusement ride attendants be at least age 16 (SF114/HF558)

Create crime for assisted reproduction fraud (SF529)

Cap medical malpractice/trucking mishap awards at $1 million (SF537/HF772)

Crack down on businesses selling glass/metal pipes used to smoke meth (SF363)

Allow parental request for child to retake grade due to COVID-19 progress concerns (SF90)

Provide legal immunity for firearms makers/dealers (HF621)

Make multiple traffic changes/shield police liability in vehicle pursuits (SF333)

Allow licensed cosmetologists/barbers to work at wedding venues (HF760)

Toughen criminal penalties for drivers causing death/injury due to excessive speed (HF753)

Create crime for failing to assist someone in imminent danger of death (SF243)

Designate county flood mitigation as an essential purpose (HF523)

Criminalize sexual exploitation of a minor by adult providing training/instruction (SF562)

Create crime for defrauding employment drug/alcohol test using synthetic urine (SF329/HSB22)

Change number of children allowed at day care centers (HF260)

Bar cities/counties from regulating sale of natural gas/propane (HF555)

Establish lifetime trout fishing license for seniors (HF234)

Allocate state money to K-12 schools to offset cost of COVID-19 in-person learning (HF439)

Clarify deceptive/unfair rental car practices (HF730)

Phase out state tax gambling casinos pay on marketing promotions (SF169)

Establish liability Immunity for agricultural tourism (SF356)

Expand child care opportunities for Iowa families (HF301/HF302)

Allow grocery stores to opt out of bottle-deposit law (SF470)

Bar businesses from requiring employee microchip implants (HF259)

Eliminate diversity plans affecting open enrollment in five school districts (HF282)

Allow 5-year-olds to participate in voluntary preschool for a two-year period (HF318)

Regulate low-speed electric bikes (HF493)

Remove preference for Iowa coal (SF468)

Set Iowa residency requirements at UI medical/dental schools (HF468)

Allow expungement of some non-violent Class D felony convictions (HF831)

Create unauthorized sampling criminal offense for trespassers (HF775)

Allow home-schooling parents to teach drivers education (SF546)

Expand Teach Iowa scholars program (SF547)

Change regulations for highway billboards (SF548)

Enhance penalties for drivers who leave accident scene (HF524)

Enhance penalty for caretakers involved in dependent adult death (SF450)

Exempt legislative pages from some educational requirements (SF517)

Ban sexist/racist stereotyping in diversity training (HF802)

Require regents universities to protect First Amendment rights (HF744)

Ban city ordinances preventing landlords from rejecting federal housing vouchers (SF252)

Allow counties to collect drivers license fees (HF419)

Modify lighting devices on snow plows (HF654)

Create public safety equipment fund (HF708/SF489)

Create civil remedy when sexually explicit images disclosed without consent (SF324/HSB31)

Grant liability immunity for veterinarians aiding authorities in a civil/criminal case (HF746/SF340)

Beef up criminal/civil enforcement of massage therapy activities (SF388/HF452)

Implements process for collection/tracking of sexual abuse evidence collection kits (HF426/SF451)

Create Department of Public Safety cold case investigation unit (HF312/SF561)

Create sexual assault forensic examiner program (HF603/SF570)

Bar harassment by filing false police report (HF821)

Add crimes of assault/financial exploitation of older Iowans (SF522)

Provide state-funded students first scholarships to private-school families (SF159)

Allow student-athletes to profit from use of name/image/likeness (SF245)

Prohibit/remove most automated traffic enforcement cameras (SF516)

Bar employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations (SF555)

Establish daylight saving time as the eventual official time in Iowa (SF335)

End faculty tenure at regent universities (HF490/SF41)

Legalize e-sports wagering (HSB200)

Reduce penalty for first offense marijuana possession conviction (SF533)

Restore voting rights for eligible felons (HF818)

Post information on medication abortions at medical facilities (HF383)

Eliminate statute of limitation on criminal actions involving sexual abuse of minors (SF572)

Cut off state funds for cities/counties that defund police (SF479)

Create offense for slower drivers who camp in divided highway left lane (HF494)

Allow smoking at Iowa Veterans Home under certain circumstances (SF257)

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT

Instruct Department of Transportation to install adult changing stations in highway rest stops (HF492)

Create Department of Human Services asset/identity verification system for public assistance (SF389)

Bar employers from noncompete agreements with low-wage employees (SF496)

Place four-year limit on term of Iowa Veterans Home commandant (SSB1097)

Bar loaded firearm when operating electric scooter (HF738)

Amend Iowa Constitution guaranteeing right to hunt/fish/enjoy resources (HJR8)

Change front license plate requirement for some vehicles (SF419)

Expand protections for mobile-home owners (SF469)

Establish new remote worker grant fund/program (SF491)

Require in-person regent university graduation ceremonies (HSB246)

Amend state constitution to clarify lieutenant governor line of succession (SJR2003)

Bar employers from knowingly hiring unauthorized aliens (SF339)

Pare back state board appointees/commissioners subject to Senate confirmation (SF423)

Halt privileges to hunt/fish/camp for up to a year for Iowa convicted of littering (SF465)

Amend state constitution to restore felon voting rights (HJR11)

Go here to see the original:
Here is what's alive and dead in the Iowa Legislature - The Gazette

Over a century ago, the framers of the Michigan Constitution created an eight person Board of Regents to have general supervision of the University of Michigan.

We are emeritus members of the Board. We come from diverse personal and professional backgrounds. We havent always agreed on matters of finance and the like. We do all agree that being a Regent means having, in essence, a fiduciary responsibility for the University and its community. The Regents responsibilities include creating a community where justice, dignity, respect, anti-racism, diversity and inclusion, decency and civility are its fundamental core values. The University is deeply committed to those values. We, too, have all beenand remaincommitted to those values and that type of community.

Given the context in which we have worked for many years, we were appalled to hear Regent Ron Weisers remarks delivered in his capacity as Chair of the Michigan Republican Party. As has been widely reported, he described Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson as three witches and referred to their being burned at the stake. Showing a perverse political evenhandedness, Mr. Weiser went on to speculate that assassination could be a way to remove Republican Congressmen Fred Upton and Peter Meijer from office because of their vote to impeach President Trump. This casual incitement to violence also runs counter to UMs institutional values.

To be clear, no matter how much we find Mr. Weisers remarks to be abhorrent, he has a First Amendment right to his views. That doesnt mean that if he believes that he is free to denigrate women with whom he disagrees by calling them witches and if he encourages assassination as a way to deal with honorable men of his own party with whom he disagrees he should retain the privilege of remaining a fiduciary for a great university. That is why we are joining many others in calling for his resignation.

The University of Michigan is committed to the education and advancement of women. Here in Michigan, the voters in 2016 elected three talented women to lead our state. Over two million people voted for each of them. Despite their numerous achievements, to hear a Regent casually denigrate them as witches perpetuates gross, sexist stereotypes that are repugnant and unacceptable. Making those remarks while occupying a position of public trust dignifies and, for some, validates sentiments that we know are just plain malignant. If we dont denounce them for what they are, who will? And if the University community doesnt denounce Mr. Weisers remarks and apparent attitudes, how will we look our young women students who justifiably aspire to greatness in the eye? We must actively repair the damage he has done to our women students by his malevolent sexism in trying to brand the top three executive leaders of our state as witches.

To be clear, Mr. Weisers remarks were not taken out of context. They are apparently what he believes, and issuing an apology to those I offended is a tired clich which is customarily thrown out when a person isnt apologetic at all. They are merely in hot water!

We take, at face value, that Mr. Weiser cares about the University of Michigan. He has been a generous donor to it. That makes this unfortunate situation sad. We ask Mr. Weiser to show his ongoing commitment to the Universitys role, mission and wellbeing by resigning from the Board. We understand that may be tough for him to do, but, given his recent remarks, we believe that it is also the only honorable course of action available to him.

Paul Brown Sr. Olivia P. Maynard

Julia Donovan Darlow Philip H. Power

Laurence B. Deitch S. Martin Taylor

Shauna Ryder Diggs Nellie Varner

See the article here:
University of Michigan Regents Emeritus call for Weiser's resignation - Fox17

IOWA CITY University of Iowa administrators should have known better when they discriminated against religious student groups several years ago amid an uproar over a Christian organizations refusal to let a gay member become a leader of the group, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

Nearly four years after the Business Leaders in Christ student group sued the UI for violating its free-speech, free-association and free-exercise rights by deregistering it for barring a gay member from a leadership post, a U.S. Court of Appeals found individual UI officials can be held personally accountable.

A District Court in 2018 had ruled they could not granting them qualified immunity because the law was not clearly established. But the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed at least regarding the free-speech and free-association claims from the student group, which goes by BLinC.

We note at the outset what is not at issue in this appeal. The university defendants have not appealed the District Courts holding that they violated BLinCs First Amendment rights to free speech, expressive association, and free exercise through their disparate application of the universitys Human Rights Policy, according to a majority opinion from the three judges. Instead, the focus of this appeal is limited to whether, for purposes of qualified immunity, the law was clearly established that the individual defendants conduct violated those rights.

The majority agreed the law was clear on BLinCs free-speech and free-association claims, but not its free-exercise assertions, making UI administrators liable for two of the three issues.

In a statement, the UI said it is currently reviewing the decision and its options.

Mondays decision doesnt necessarily mean individual UI administrators will have to pay the defendants any money.

This is not a big money case, said Daniel Blomberg, senior counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, representing BLinC.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT

What was at issue was making sure this doesnt happen again, he said. Thats what makes the ruling today so significant is that it sends a message. Not only that a constitutional violation occurred but that its clearly established that this kind of selective enforcement violates the First Amendment.

That, Blomberg said, is precedent-setting.

Thats going to be very important for religious student groups across the country, and at the University of Iowa, he said.

While the appellate court judges didnt agree the law was clear on BLinCs free-exercise assertions one judge, Jonathan A. Kobes, argued it was.

I write separately because I think the law is clearly established on its free exercise claim, too, Kobes wrote. The individual defendants choice to deny BLinC an exemption from the Human Rights Policy while allowing exemptions for other secular and religious groups (that they approve of) shows that they sought to advance their interests only against specific religious conduct.

He argued BLinC should have been entitled to the benefits afforded other student groups, including secular ones allowed to limit leadership posts to those who affirm their beliefs or who meet gender or racial qualifications,

The purpose of qualified immunity is to shield good-faith actors who make mistaken judgments about unresolved issues of law, and it protects all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law, which Kobes argued describes the UI administrators who had more than fair warning that their conduct was unconstitutional.

The law is clear: state organizations may not target religious groups for differential treatment or withhold an otherwise available benefit solely because they are religious, he wrote. That is what happened here. The individual defendants may pick their poison: they are either plainly incompetent or they knowingly violated the Constitution. Either way, they should not get qualified immunity.

The decision comes amid a state legislative session rife with debate over free-speech issues across Iowas public universities including Republican bills and oversight hearings aimed at improving the campus climate for conservative students, faculty, and staff.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT

Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, is among legislators who have hammered the universities for disparate treatment of conservatives. This court ruling is more confirmation of his constituents concerns, he said Monday.

This just is further proof that on university campuses in Iowa, there seems to be two different sets of rules one for conservative students and one for everybody else, he said. This is unacceptable. It needs to stop. And it will stop.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com

Read more:
Court: University of Iowa officials can be held liable for First Amendment violations - The Gazette

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Oakland University students who took a media law class from Jane Briggs-Bunting learned quickly that homework was not optional.

As a journalist who earned a law degree, she would have them read hundreds of pages of First Amendment case law, then stand them up in class and drill them with questions, leaving no refuge for slackers.

"Despite the fact that that class had a reputation for being so difficult, her students became very loyal to her," said Garry Gilbert, a former pupil and editor of The Oakland Press, who now runs the university's journalism program. "They knew that she would work them hard, but they also knew that she cared about whether they were going to be successful."

Briggs-Bunting of Rochester died Tuesdayof complications from cancer.She was 70.

In a career that spanned more than 40 years, Briggs-Bunting was a vocal champion of open government and was an expert on media law who helped educate hundreds of journalism students. Those students remember her exacting teaching style, but also her kinder side, when she became their friends, attended their weddings and advised their careers.

"Janegave me and so many students a solid foundation in journalism, but more, a foundation for life," said Gail DeGeorge, a formerpupil who now editsthe Global Sisters Report, a website that focuses on Catholic women. "We were alwaysthe underdog at Oakland University, in the shadow of better-established and well-known journalism programs at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, but that didn't deter Jane from pushing her students to reach high.

Briggs-Bunting grew up in Fairview Park, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, and attended the nearby Magnificat High School. Her passion for journalism began there,said her husband, Robert Bunting.

"She attended ajournalism summer camp at the University of Detroit and she just loved it," he said. "She said'This is what I want to do' and it became her passion."

Briggs-Bunting later enrolled at U of D in the journalism program, where the Free Press's then-managing editor, Neal Shine, was an instructor.

Jane Briggs-Bunting hugs Neal Shine after Briggs-Bunting was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, April 12, 2003. Briggs-Bunting use to be a staff member at the Detroit Free Press and Shine is a former publisher of the paper.(Photo: Mary Schroeder, Detroit Free Press)

"Jane was my father's student at U of D and he hired her at the Freep," said Shine's son, Daniel Shine. "I think he was drawn to her commitment to right and wrong, her passion to find the truth no matter the cost or consequences."

Briggs-Buntingbegan her career at the Detroit Free Press in the early 1970s as a reporter working on Action Line,a Page One feature that promised readers it would cut red tape ... stand up for your rights.

She was "a 1970s version of Hildy Johnson from 'His Girl Friday.'" An "aggressive reporter who didnt stop until she was sure of her answers," saidPeter Gavrilovich, an Action Line colleague who went on to become a longtime reporter, editor and columnist at the Free Press.

"Jane was special," he said. "Those of us who worked with her will always remember her zeal for the profession, her love of the Free Press."

They'll remember her kindness, too, Gavrilovich said. Shine once noted his love of model trains and lamentedthat he'd never had one as a kid. That yearat Christmas, Briggs-Bunting and her Action Line colleagues bought one, set it up in their office on the fifth floor of the Free Press building and invited Shine up for a surprise.

Shine was so tickled he immediately sat down on the floor to play with it "right through deadline, as I recall," Gavrilovich said.

Briggs-Bunting was promoted from the Action Line to the police beat, where she met her future husband, Robert Bunting. They met at the old Detroit Police Headquarters at 1300 Beaubien, where Bunting worked as a detective sergeant on the staff of Police Commissioner John Nichols.

She worked in an office the Free Press kept in the building. They talked regularly and soon learned they were both law students, sheat U of D and Bunting at what was then the Detroit College of Law.

Briggs-Bunting earned her law degreein 1974 andmarried Bunting that same year. She continued reporting for the Free Press covering stories like the Oakland County Child Killer and the disappearance of former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa.

In 1978, she left the paper to teach at Oakland University. She would stay there until 2003, when she left to take over the journalism program at Michigan State University.

In those academic roles, she molded the character of future journalists, pressing them to hold public officials to account.

She assigned students to cover the Oakland University Board of Trusteesmeetings and ordered them to remain there until they were forced to leave by a board that wanted to conduct a presidential search in private.

She served as adviserto the student newspaper, which waged campaigns against the university, includingtwo lawsuitspressing for more transparency in the search.

By the early 1990s, her dictums carried so much weight, students referred to them as "Jane Says,"a nod to a then-popular Janes Addiction song by the same name. Briggs-Bunting smiled at the phrase for years.

"She was such an important influence on so many in our formative years that critical period in college when you're figuring out how to get through life," saidMark Clausen, a former pupil who's now anattorney in Seattle.

When Briggs-Bunting was inductedto the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2003, staffers ofthe school paper, The Oakland Post, published an eight-page special section with stories by current and former students describing the impact she'd had on them. The front page headline was "Jane Rocks."

Jane Briggs-Bunting of Oakland University displays a present in 2003 from her staff at the student paper as she was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.(Photo: Mary Schroeder, Detroit Free Press)

"I remember how her eyes would sparkle when she talked about the importance of the First Amendment and the role of the press in helping to safeguard democracy," said Ann Zaniewski, who was editor-in-chief that year. "She said many times that she would put her life on the line to defend the First Amendment."

Another former pupil, Meg O'Brien, said Briggs-Bunting was fearless.

Jane didn't shy away from fights that needed to be fought, said O'Brien, who went on to work at the Chicago Tribune as associate business editor and online business editor. She emphasized that journalism wasn't a popularity contest and trained us how to challenge institutions and take on powerful people when they weren't doing the right things. The profession needs passionate, fearless watchdogs like Jane now more than ever."

Bunting said he'd seen his wife'sinfluence firsthand when he would travel the country for his law practice. Briggs-Bunting would often accompany him and make arrangements to visit with her former students.

"We're traveling around the country, and we're running into, you know, editors, top reporters, everywherefrom the Miami Herald to Bloomberg News," Bunting said. "We were always having lunch or dinner with former students."

Students were naturally drawn to Briggs-Bunting, said Ritu Sehgal, politics editor at the Free Press.

"She was smart, funny, sassy," Sehgal said."For a generation of students, she epitomized what it meant to be a journalist someone who believed in protecting what the First Amendment stood for, even when it came to the student publications she oversaw. Many students remained lifelong friends and turned to her for advice even in their professional careers.

A lifelong lover of animals and nature, Briggs-Bunting also authored three childrens books about them, Whoop For Joy: A Christmas Wish, Laddie of the Light and "Llama on the Lam."

To escape from their busy careers, the couple lived on a 48-acre farm in northern Oakland County, where they raised horses and rescued other animals.

"We really had an idyllic life," Bunting said.

Oakland University journalism professor Jane Briggs-Bunting poses with Whoop for Joy, the inspiration for her first children's book, "Whoop for Joy: A Christmas Wish," on her Addison Township farm in this 1995 file photo. The gentle brown giant was a racehorse who won his first and only race at the Detroit race track on July 19, 1975.(Photo: EDWARD NOBLE, Associated Press)

From her university position, Briggs-Bunting also was able to combine her passion for media and law, explaining and defending media rights, the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act. She also authored a handbook used by reporters titled, Legal Guidelines for Reportersin Michigan.

She was a tough and smart but also very caring person,"said Steve Byrne, who served on the board of MSUs student paper with her for six years. "With her management, legal and journalistic background, I thought she was literally the perfect board president for the State News. She really cared about journalism, and seeing young journalists grow and thrive. And she wasnt afraid to push people to help make that happen.

Through it all, she remained a journalist at heart.

"Jane was always the journalist-professor, not the professor of journalism,"Clausen said.

Throughout her career, Briggs-Bunting continued to press for governmental transparency. She was a founding member of the Michigan Coalition for Open Government, a nonprofit thateducates Michiganders about their rights to see their government work.

The group created an award for governmental transparency, naming it for Briggs-Bunting, who was its first recipient.

Even after turning to teaching, Briggs-Bunting continued to write, freelancing pieces for Life magazine and People. One of the biggest stories of her careeris one she never shared in print, Gilbert said.

Jane Briggs-Bunting(Photo: Provided by Jane Briggs-Bunting)

In August 1987, Northwest Flight 255 crashed on takeoff from Metro Airport, killing 156 people. The nation was mesmerized to learn that 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan somehow survived.

Media from around the world were competing furiously to land an interview with the girl, who became known as America's orphan. But Cecelia's extended family, who took custody of her after her parents died in the crash, insisted onprotecting her privacy, arguing she deserved a normal life.

Life magazinetasked Briggs-Bunting with getting the story to run on the six-month anniversary of the crash. She tracked down the girl in Alabama and flew there to join a photographer.

Gilbert recalled how Briggs-Bunting described the scene.

"They find Cecilia at the condos where she was living with her aunt and uncle," Gilbert said. "Jane goes up to the door and knocks. The babysitter answers the door and Cecilia is standing right behind the babysitter."

Briggs-Bunting asked to speak to the aunt or uncle. The babysitter said she expected them home soon and she invited the two journalists inside to wait.

"Janesaid 'No, we'll wait out here,'" Gilbert recalled.

When the uncle arrived a few minutes later, he politely declined an interview, stressing again the family's desire to protect the child'sprivacy.

"Jane basically said 'Thank you very much' and walked away," Gilbert said. "She felt that was the right thing to do. Some reporters probably would have tried to, you know, push or to find some other way to get a story out of that. But she felt very strongly that that little girl deserved her privacy."

Cecelia maintained that silence until 2013, when at age 30, she appeared in a documentary about plane crash survivors.

In addition to her husband, Jane is survived by her sister, Sally; nieces Catherine, Eileen and Sarah; nephews David and Giles,grandnieces and -nephews, a menagerie of adopted and rescued animals and by journalists nationwide who will continue to embody her fight to defend media rights. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date after the pandemic abates.

Free Press editors Sally Tato Snell and Ritu Sehgal contributed to this report.

Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely@freepress.com. On Twitter @jwisely

Read or Share this story: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/03/24/jane-briggs-bunting-who-championed-1st-amendment-dies-70/4735934001/

See the article here:
Jane Briggs-Bunting, who championed the 1st Amendment, dies at 70 - Detroit Free Press

BALTIMORE U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.-1st, is upset with government officials for cracking down.on church services over violations of COVID-19 orders.

Harris is a Republican representing the Eastern Shore and areas near Baltimore.

He is criticizing Baltimore officials over trying to shut down and restrict services at Greater Grace World Outreach Church in northwest Baltimore over alleged violations of COVID orders. State and local mask and social distancing orders apply to churches and other houses of worship.

Regardless of what this congregation did, the government has no right to shut them down. Anything along that line is a clear and gross violation of First Amendment freedom, Harris said in a statement.

The church held in-person services on Sunday. Baltimore city allows for churches to meet at 25% capacity with plans to go to 50% on March 26.

We just are thankful we can assemble tonight, said Thomas Schaller, senior pastor for Greater Grace World Outreach Church during services on Sunday.

We want to say to the city of Baltimore that we are on the same team. That we love Baltimore, Schaller said.Baltimore is our home. So we care. We are praying for our government authorities, he said.

The church has been warned and restricted over violations of the citys COVID orders related to masks and social distancing.

Schaller said he feels the church should welcome those without masks along with those who want to wear masks. In my heart, I say you are welcome, he said of the unmasked at a recent service. He said the church has canceled or changed numerous events to abide by COVID orders.

Many of us dont care about it anymore. We are hugging and kissing. We are embracing and living, he said referring to the pandemic.

Gov. Larry Hogan has lifted statewide COVID capacity restrictions on churches including on the Eastern Shore. But six-foot social distancing rules hamper a number of churches ability to fully reopen. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has eased social distancing rules for K-12 schools to three feet for elementary schools and for middle and high schools with lower rates of the virus. Restaurants owners and churches would like to see six-foot social distancing rules revisited for them also.

Baltimore city has also kept more restrictive COVID rules than the state orders though some of those local restrictions are being eased some by Mayor Brandon Scott.

Stefanie Mavronis, deputy director of communications for Mayor Scott, said the city has been meeting with the church about its reopening plans and would continue to enforce city COVID orders including related to masks.

The mayors office and health department met with Greater Grace Church last week. Since then, the health department has received the churchs safety plan for Easter and anticipates a general reopening plan in the near future. The city will continue to enforce the mayors executive order, which is rooted in the public health data and in line with the statewide mask requirement. We remain encouraged by the vast majority of faith institutions that continue to find ways to worship safely during this pandemic, she said.

Still, Harris said government officials especially in Baltimore should not be restricting church and religious services because of COVID orders.

Its truly disturbing to hear government officials chose to completely shutdown a church in response to alleged COVID capacity or mask regulations. Irrespective of what may have been done, this is a gross and egregious violation of the First Amendment. When it says government shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, the Constitutional authors didnt say a public health emergency was an exception which the Supreme Court has made quite clear in recent rulings. said Harris. The right to practice our faith is essential, and shuttering a congregation for alleged violations of this caliber shows what those in charge really think about individuals practicing their faith. With drugs and violent crime rampant, the problem in Baltimore City is not having too many church goers.

There have been 7,999 deaths attributed to COVID in Maryland since the pandemic began. That includes 14 new deaths reported Monday, March 22 by the Maryland Department of Health.

Read the original here:
Clear and gross violation of First Amendment freedom: Andy Harris faults government over COVID battle with church - Herald-Mail Media