Heritage Foundation: Gender Politics Force Judge to Fight for Her Job

Marriage,

My_Trusty_GavelOur friends at the Heritage Foundation have highlighted a case unfolding in Wyoming that has a judge fighting for her job–simply because of her traditional views on marriage.

In 2014 Judge Ruth Neely was interviewed about “administrative challenges of the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in Wyoming.”

Heritage Foundation writes,

The result of the interview Dec. 5, 2014, was a relatively short newspaper story, but it sparked an investigation of Neely’s fitness for office. A year and a half later, she is asking the Wyoming Supreme Court not to remove her from two separate judgeships—nor to enforce a fine of up to $40,000.

All this without a local citizen filing a complaint against the judge, who is active in her Lutheran church, and without her ever being asked to officiate at a same-sex wedding.

You can read the full story here.

Photo Credit: By Brian Turner (Flickr: My Trusty Gavel) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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Most Americans Think Abortion Ought to Be Illegal in Some or All Cases

Abortion, , ,

According to recent polling by Gallup, a majority of Americans believe abortion ought to be illegal in some or all cases.

Last month Gallup found 19% of Americans believe abortion ought to be illegal under all circumstances and 50% believed abortion ought to be legal only under certain circumstances. Altogether, that represents 69% of American adults.

Additionally, Gallup found more Americans believe abortion is morally wrong than morally acceptable (47% vs. 43%, respectively).

Last year Gallup found an increasing percentage of Americans say they will only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion.

These poll findings come as abortion in Arkansas continues to decline. The number of abortions performed in Arkansas fell by more than 500 last year.

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AR Lottery Made More Money, But Spent Less on Scholarships in May

Arkansas Lottery

The Arkansas Lottery released its financial report for the month of May today.

According to the report, the Arkansas Lottery took in roughly $38.5 million, but paid $6.6 million to college scholarships; that comes to 17.2% of the Lottery’s gross revenue–less than half what our neighbors to the south in Louisiana allocate with their lottery, and 2.5% worse than the Lottery’s scholarship funding percentages in April.

In fact, the Arkansas Lottery spent some $786,000 less on scholarships in May than it did in April, despite the fact lottery revenue went up nearly $1 million during that same time.

These reports tell the same story every month: The Arkansas Lottery has been a disaster, as far scholarship funding is concerned, and the solutions lottery officials offer usually revolve around spending more money on advertising or rolling out new lottery games.

The Arkansas Lottery may close Fiscal Year 2016 at the end of this month with $85 million or so allocated for scholarship funding. To make that money, however, the Arkansas Lottery will have enticed Arkansans to spend–and lose–nearly half-a-billion dollars since last July.

Below is a breakdown of the Arkansas Lottery’s scholarship allocations for Fiscal Year 2016.

Month Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July, 2015 $ 31,665,651.14 $ 5,784,683.09 18.3%
August 31,265,177.55 5,490,094.00 17.6%
September 36,134,389.63 6,624,967.11 18.3%
October 35,261,533.80 6,020,642.32 17.1%
November 32,226,599.28 5,725,139.09 17.8%
December 38,670,746.09 6,425,754.66 16.6%
January, 2016 58,746,249.00 13,831,359.75 23.5%
February 40,790,144.05 4,474,356.06 11.0%
March 40,579,421.05 5,758,892.84 14.2%
April 37,516,802.47 7,392,837.00 19.7%
May 38,485,146.05 6,606,164.94 17.2%
Total $ 421,341,860.11 $ 74,134,890.86 17.6%

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