Supreme Court Sides with Religious Liberty

Abortion, Religious Freedom, ,

Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued a good ruling upholding Americans’ religious liberties.

As we have written before, the federal Department of Health and Human Services promulgated rules under Obamacare requiring businesses to pay for sterilization, contraceptives, and abortion-inducing drugs1. The problem is many Americans–and American business owners–have strong, religious objections to paying for these services.

The issue has never been whether or not an employer can bar an employee from using contraceptives or abortion-inducing drugs, but whether or not the federal government can force an employer to pay for those drugs. For instance, Hobby Lobby–one of the plaintiffs in today’s ruling–does not, to our knowledge, fire employees for using contraceptives or abortifacients; the owners simply do not want to be required to pay for these drugs, because doing so violates their deeply-held religious convictions.

The Supreme Court ruled, today, that Hobby Lobby, Conestoga, Mardel, and other “closely held, for-profit corporations” can and do have religious liberties under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This ruling makes sense for the following reasons:  (more…)

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Call Arkansas Lawmakers to Ban Video Lottery by 5 p.m. Today

Arkansas Lottery, ,

CrowdA special session of the Arkansas Legislature will be held Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Lawmakers will vote on a bill that would keep the Arkansas Lottery from installing video lottery games in businesses around the state. This bill is being blocked by a few lawmakers on the House Rules Committee. Please call the members of the House Rules Committee by 8 p.m. Monday. Ask each member to vote for a law to ban video lottery games.

Below is a list of every member of the House Rules Committee and their phone numbers. Most of these numbers are cell phones, so you can Text as well.

Representative’s Name and Phone Number:

Chair: Stephanie Malone – 479-629-5119
Vice-Chair: Andy Davis – 501-837-5109
Tommy Thompson – 501-208-2007
Darrin Williams – 501-952-6733
John Edwards – 501-680-5248
James McLean – 870-613-0617
Deborah Ferguson – 901-486-8786
Ann Clemmer – 501-912-4892
John Vines – 501-624-1252
Kelley Linck – 870-404-2741
Andrea Lea – 479-967-4922
Duncan Baird – 479-263-9449
John Burris – 870-688-6181
Mary Broadway – 870-239-1747
Jeremy Gillam – 501-940-5757

The Lottery Commission has announced plans to allow businesses to install TV monitors where patrons could gamble on Keno and other games every few minutes. Currently the games could run 24 hours a day, and there is no limit on how much a person could wager and lose.

The Arkansas Lottery Commission will install these video gambling devices in communities across the state unless the Arkansas Legislature passes a law to prevent it. Companies that make money from the lottery are lobbying hard to keep lawmakers on the House Rules Committee from allowing a vote on this important law. Your call is vital to offset these powerful moneyed gambling interests. Please call the members of the House Rules Committee today, and ask them to vote for a law to ban video lottery games.

For more information, contact Jerry Cox at Family Council: 501-375-7000.

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Arkansas Lottery Lowers Scholarships, Approves New Hires, Advertising

Arkansas Lottery

Yesterday, the Arkansas Lottery Commission revised its projections for college scholarships, indicating that, with only days remaining in the state’s fiscal year, scholarship totals would come in around $80.5 million–roughly $9 million less than originally projected.

Lottery officials continue to say the goal is to “raise” as much money as possible for college students, but the Lottery’s actions tell a different story. For instance, at yesterday’s meeting the Arkansas Lottery Commission:

  • Hired an $89,000 public relations aid;
  • Authorized an extra $500,000 in lottery advertising;
  • Hired a security director with a salary of $98,500; and
  • Lowered scholarship projections for the year.

The Arkansas Lottery continues to cut scholarship projections, and yet it also manages to find money to hire employees and pay for advertisements the Lottery has done without for the past several months. I don’t think anyone really believes the lagging ticket sales the Lottery is experiencing are the result of not having a public relations person.

Additionally, the Arkansas Lottery Commission seems dead-set on implementing “monitor games” in Arkansas–despite objections from state legislators and the Lottery Commission’s own projections showing monitor games will not make the Arkansas Lottery a booming success.

So what is really going on down at the Lottery Commission?

Why Are Scholarship Funds Dropping at the Arkansas Lottery?

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