Liberty University has agreed to pay an unprecedented $14 million fine for the Christian school’s failure to disclose information about crimes on its campus and for its treatment of sexual assault survivors, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday. The fine is by far the largest ever levied under the Clery Act, a law that requires colleges and universities that receive federal funding to collect data on campus crime and notify students of threats. (Finley, AP News)
Read MoreOpill, the first oral contraceptive pill to be available without a prescription in the U.S., has shipped to retailers nationwide. It will be sold online and in the family planning aisle of drugstores, convenience stores and supermarkets later this month, the manufacturer announced Monday. The drug itself has been around for decades, but manufacturers have been working nine years toward making it available over the counter. (Lupkin, NPR)
Read MoreFrench lawmakers on Monday overwhelmingly approved a bill that will enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in their nation’s constitution, a historic move designed to prevent the kind of rollback of abortion rights seen in the U.S. in recent years. In an exceptional joint session of Parliament convened at the Palace of Versailles, the bill was approved in a 780-72 vote. Abortion is widely supported in France across most of the political spectrum, and has been legal since 1975. (Surk & Garriga, Los Angeles Times)
Read MoreAmerica is a riven society. Political divisions have been on the rise for years. The gap between the Republican and Democratic Parties has grown in Congress, and the share of Americans who interact with people from the opposing party has plummeted. Studies tell us, “Democrats and Republicans both say that the other party’s members are hypocritical, selfish, and closed-minded, and they are unwilling to socialize across party lines.” (Wehner, The Atlantic)
Read MoreWith around 2 billion active users on the Meta platform, everyday people can become stars and potentially expand their reach, garnering attention and a strong following. The most-followed account on Instagram is the platform's official account, according to Social Blade, a social media analytics site. Instagram's brand account has around 669 million followers. (Munson, USA Today)
Read More“Being pro-life does not mean ‘have babies through whatever means necessary’,” a Christian influencer had written of the recent ruling by Alabama’s Supreme Court that frozen embryos are children — a decision invoking God that quickly upended IVF treatment in the state, panicked many women there and elsewhere and sent legislators scrambling to respond. Nelson, who conceived her son through IVF, is not normally political online. But that post by Allie Beth Stuckey, who has more than a half-million followers, shocked and saddened her, and she felt compelled to push back. (Hennessy-Fiske, The Washington Post)
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