Current Events – Family Council

From Capitol Gains to Cannabis Pains: The Week in Review

Apr 24, 2026Jerry CoxCurrent EventsUpdate, Weekly Rewind

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Here’s a quick recap of the week’s top stories from Family Council and our friends:

From Family Council

🍎 Arkansas’ Educational Freedom Account Rules (What Happened and What Comes Next): Over the past several months, Arkansas homeschool families have raised serious concerns about new rules affecting homeschoolers participating in the state’s Educational Freedom Account (EFA) program. Here is a brief recap of how we got to where we are today and where things may go from here. Keep Reading.

🏛️ Bad Homeschool Measure Fails in Arkansas Senate: On Tuesday, the second of two bad homeschool Educational Freedom Account measures at the Arkansas Capitol failed. Keep Reading.

🚨 Arkansas Authorities Continue Seizing THC Products from Out of State: On April 4, a State Trooper discovered approximately 650 pounds of mushroom‑based edible gummies and 718 pounds of THC‑infused gummies during a traffic stop on I-40 in Crawford County. The driver told investigators he was traveling from California to Georgia. Keep Reading.

🚔 CA Authorities Seize 20K+ Illegal Marijuana Plants in Raids: Nationwide, states like California and Colorado have legalized marijuana believing it would help stop illegal drug trafficking, and marijuana’s supporters often claim their laws contain safeguards and oversight to stop criminals. But legalization has actually emboldened drug cartels and spread illegal marijuana on the black market. Keep Reading.

❗ DOJ Report Confirms Biden Administration Weaponized Federal Law Against Pro-Lifers: The U.S. Department of Justice released a report last week confirming what many pro-life Americans have suspected for years: the Biden Administration used the power of the federal government to target and punish people for their pro-life beliefs. Keep Reading.

💰 Louisville Pays $800K After Trying to Silence Christian Photographer: Last month a Kentucky city learned a costly lesson about the First Amendment. Keep Reading.

➡ Kansas Legislature Stands Up for Free Speech, Life, and Families with Laws Similar to Arkansas’: The Kansas Legislature made headlines recently by overriding Governor Laura Kelly’s vetoes of several important bills — such as bills protecting free speech on college campuses, defunding Planned Parenthood, strengthening women’s informed consent laws, and expanding education freedom for families. All of these measures are similar to good laws Arkansas has enacted over the years. Keep Reading.

⛪ New Poll Shows Young Men Are Growing More Religious: Gallup’s latest polling data shows 42% of men aged 18 to 29 say religion is very important to them — up sharply from just 28% in 2022-2023. Gallup draws the odd conclusion from this that “political dynamics may be playing a role in religious changes,” but that may not necessarily be what’s driving these numbers. Keep Reading

From Our Friends

DOJ Indicts SPLC for Fraud — Used Donor Money to Fund Racist Groups. From Daily Citizen.

Senator Tells HHS Secretary Kennedy to Stop Mail-Order Abortions. From LifeNews.

Washington State Receives Strong Warning that Forcing Foster Parents to Promote Gender Ideology is Unconstitutional. From ADF.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Kansas Legislature Stands Up for Free Speech, Life, and Families with Laws Similar to Arkansas’

Apr 21, 2026Jerry CoxCurrent EventsAbortion, Free Speech, Life, Pro-life, Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty, Sanctity of Human Life

The Kansas Legislature made headlines recently by overriding Governor Laura Kelly’s vetoes of several important bills — such as bills protecting free speech on college campuses, defunding Planned Parenthood, strengthening women’s informed consent laws, and expanding education freedom for families.

All of these measures are similar to good laws Arkansas has enacted over the years.

The Kansas Intellectual Rights and Knowledge Act — the KIRK Act — protects students at public colleges and universities from being censored for their beliefs. Under the law, students are free to engage in speech and expressive activities on campus without fear of punishment for holding the “wrong” viewpoint. The measure is similar to laws Arkansas has enacted in the past.

Public universities are supposed to be places where ideas are freely exchanged. But in recent years, students and faculty with traditional or Christian viewpoints have increasingly found themselves silenced. As our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom have said, this kind of viewpoint-based censorship is a clear violation of the First Amendment.

Government should not be in the business of picking which ideas are acceptable and which ones must be silenced.

The Kansas Legislature also voted to keep taxpayer dollars away from Planned Parenthood. That is exactly the right call.

Arkansans have long agreed that their tax dollars should not subsidize the abortion industry, and Arkansas law reflects that.

On education, Kansas lawmakers passed the Education Freedom Tax Credit, which lets families choose a school that reflects their values rather than being locked into a government-run school. That is a commonsense parental rights measure, and it mirrors the kind of education freedom Arkansas has worked to expand through its own Educational Freedom Account program under the 2023 LEARNS Act.

Arkansas has consistently been a leader when it comes to protecting free speech, the free exercise of religion, and the right to life. It’s good to see other state legislatures doing the same.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Bad Homeschool Rules and More: New This Week

Apr 17, 2026Jerry CoxCurrent EventsUpdate, Weekly Rewind

Here’s a quick recap of the week’s top stories from Family Council and our friends:

From Family Council

🍎 State Board of Education Unanimously Approves Rules Despite Homeschool Concerns: Last week the State Board of Education unanimously approved new rules governing Educational Freedom Account spending on athletics despite concerns voiced by homeschoolers. Keep Reading.

🏛️ Two Measures Filed to Restrict Homeschoolers Under EFA Program: Two identical non-appropriation measures — H.R. 1008 and S.R. 16 — have been filed to restrict homeschoolers participating in the Educational Freedom Account (EFA) program. Keep Reading.

☑️ Unpacking EFA Rules, Homeschool Measures at the Capitol: We are urging homeschoolers across the state to call the Arkansas House of Representatives and Arkansas Senate, and ask their lawmakers to oppose H.R. 1008, S.R. 16, and a new set of Educational Freedom Account rules from the Arkansas Department of Education. Keep Reading.

📜 One Bad Homeschool Measure Fails at Capitol: On Wednesday, H.R. 1008 failed in the House Rules Committee. After testimony from the measure’s sponsor and questions and answers from the lawmakers, the proposal failed to receive a “Do Pass” motion from the committee members. Keep Reading.

🥼 Study Links Marijuana to Lung Cancer Risk: Across the U.S., many states have legalized marijuana either for “medical” or “recreational” use, but a growing body of scientific research reveals marijuana is actually much more dangerous that many people realize. Keep Reading.

❔ Study Shows Marijuana May Trigger False Memories: A recent study shows marijuana may actually trigger false memories in users. Keep Reading.

🥼 CDC Data Shows Fertility Rate in America at an All Time Low: Public health data released last week shows the fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low last year. Keep Reading.

💉 Study Shows Mental Health Problems Surge Among Adolescents Subjected to Sex-Reassignment: A recent medical study out of Finland shows adolescents subjected to sex-reassignment face much higher risk of mental illness. Keep Reading.

🟰 How HRC’s Corporate “Equality” Index Harms Children: You may be surprised to learn that when you picked up that matte red lipstick at Ulta, you were helping fund cross-sex hormones for gender-confused kids. Or that when you ordered that chicken al pastor with extra guac at Chipotle, you were subsidizing IVF and surrogacy, which is intentionally creating children who will be separated from their mother or father. Keep Reading.

💰 FDIC Bans “Reputation Risk” Policies Used to De-Bank Conservatives: Last week the FDIC issued a final rule eliminating “reputation risk” policies that financial institutions used as an excuse to debank conservatives. Keep Reading.

📃 Family Council Joins Letter Urging DOJ to Address Abortion Drugs: On Monday, Family Council joined a coalition of pro-life leaders from around the nation in a letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice to address abortion drugs. Keep Reading.