It’s hard not to see the traces of gambling money everywhere you turn these days: in sports broadcasts now blanketed with odds and sportsbook branding, in a podcast ecosystem underwritten by DraftKings and FanDuel ad money and, yes, in the influencer freaks rocketing to fame thanks to canny marketing spending by offshore casinos. (Read, The New York Times)
Read MoreJim Bakker, the pioneering TV evangelist who became a symbol of the glitz and greed of the 1980s when his PTL empire near Charlotte collapsed amid sex and money scandals, landing him in prison for fraud, died Monday, according to his wife, Lori, on his Instagram page. She did not say how he died or where. (Funk, The Charlotte Observer)
Read MoreColorado in recent years has landed at the court twice over wedding services for same-sex couples, defended a ban on so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth and advocated for the removal of Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot. (Romoser, The Wall Street Journal)
Read MoreThe bill, sponsored by Unchained at Last and the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, was authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin. It repealed provisions that had allowed minors to marry with parental consent and judicial approval, a system that meant California had no statutory minimum marriage age. (Thiagarajan, NPR)
Read MoreThe case arose because Colorado’s new Universal Preschool Program only provides funding to preschools that agree to abide by a nondiscrimination policy. That policy forbids, among other things, denying admission because of a student’s or parent’s sexual orientation or gender identity. (Satta, Religion News Service)
Read MoreChristian faith leaders and observers say this week’s botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee offers both an appalling illustration of the death penalty’s moral contradictions and a potential rallying point for opposition among clergy and their congregations. (Ramirez, USA Today)
Read More