Update – Family Council

Arkansas Continues to Put Its Money Where Its Moms Are — Plus More Stories From This Week

Jul 24, 2026Jerry CoxCurrent EventsCurrent Events, Update

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Arkansas Gave $1.7M+ to Pregnancy Resource Centers in FY 2026. Arkansas’ financial records show the State awarded a total of $1,735,585 in grants to more than three dozen different pregnancy help organizations before the 2026 fiscal year ended on June 30. Keep Reading.

Women and Children Deserve Better than Mail-Order Abortion. Our friends at the Center for Christian Virtue recently released a video highlighting the dangers of mail-order abortion drugs — and what Americans can do to stop them. Keep Reading.

Here’s a Look at How Arkansas’ Laws Properly Safeguard Religious Liberty. One of the questions that comes up about religious liberty is how to protect the free exercise of religion without letting someone use that freedom to commit crimes or harm innocent people. Arkansas has at least two laws that navigate that issue very well. Keep Reading.

Nearly One in Four Likely Voters “Not at All Concerned” About Socialist Candidates Getting Elected to Congress. Rasmussen reports half of likely voters in the U.S. are concerned about socialist candidates becoming members of Congress next year. Nearly one in three (32%) told Rasmussen that they are actually “very concerned.” However, 23% of likely voters told Rasmussen they are “not at all concerned.” Keep Reading.

Grant Funding Pushes for Better Research on Dangers of Sports Gambling. CNBC reports billionaires John and Laura Arnold are offering more than $2 million in research grants to universities to study the risks of online sports betting. Keep Reading.

Arkansas State Police Seize More Marijuana from Out-of-State. On July 15, Arkansas State Police seized 150 pounds of illegal marijuana during a routine traffic stop on I-40 near Van Buren. The driver — who was taken into custody — reportedly was travelling from California to White Hall, Arkansas. The incident underscores how marijuana’s legalization in other states is actually fueling the black market. Keep Reading.

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

Looking at Liberty in the Lead, Gambling Gone Wrong, and Other Stories from This Week

Jul 17, 2026Jerry CoxCurrent EventsUpdate

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

From Family Council

⛪ Family Council Celebrates Arkansas Being Named Number One in America on Religious Liberty. On Tuesday, First Liberty Institute’s Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy announced Arkansas is leading the nation in its Religious Liberty in the States index. In a statement, Family Council President Jerry Cox said, “This is something Arkansans can celebrate. First Liberty is one of our country’s leading supporters of religious freedom. Their index looks at laws and protections for religious liberty in all 50 states. If they say Arkansas is leading the nation, you can believe it.” Keep Reading.

🗽 America Flirts with Democratic Socialism. Recently, in primary elections in both New York and Colorado, self-professed Communist and Democratic Socialist candidates beat even progressive-wing candidates to claim Democratic nominations for office. Keep Reading.

🪪 Texas Lawmakers Look at Prohibiting Foreign Surrogacy Contracts, Protecting Children. In commercial surrogacy contacts, corporate agencies hire women to carry children for paying customers. But recent news stories and congressional testimony have highlighted how some of these paying customers may actually be from foreign countries. Because the children are born on U.S. soil, they are American citizens, but they may be immediately taken from the U.S. to be raised in China or another country. As a result, policymakers have begun voicing serious concerns about this issue. Keep Reading.

🪙 Polymarket Used Deceptive Social Media Ads, Fake Wins to Promote Platform: WSJ. A recent investigation by The Wall Street Journal alleges that the prediction market platform Polymarket hired social media influencers to record deceptive videos appealing to young adults. Keep Reading.

📵 Most Americans Want to Keep Kids Off Social Media. Between Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, and other platforms, most teens and young adults are on some form of social media. The U.S. Surgeon General says 95% of American teenagers use social media, and about one-third say they use it “almost constantly.” But parents, policymakers, and pundits have raised concerns about the harm that social media can cause to kids. Keep Reading.

💊 Doctors Allege Planned Parenthood May Be Committing Fraud to Cover Up Sex-Change Procedures. According to a report from the Washington Examiner, Planned Parenthood facilities in Pennsylvania have been using a billing code for “endocrine disorder, unspecified” when prescribing cross-sex hormones, rather than using the accurate billing code for gender identity disorder. Multiple physicians say this practice could amount to fraud. Keep Reading.

From Our Friends

Turning Children into Commodities. From World News Group.

Male Athletes Dismiss Lawsuit Challenging New Hampshire Women’s Sports Law. From Daily Citizen.

IVF Action: Clarity Sought to Safeguard Human Dignity. From The Washington Stand.

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

From Abortion Pill “Scumbags” to Biblical Studies, Here is a Look Back at the Week’s Headlines

Jul 10, 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

💊 Pro-Life Group Highlights Abortion Pill Horror Stories. 40 Days for Life has produced a summary of some of the horror stories surrounding mail-order abortion pills. For example, the group says a Kansas man “was sentenced to nearly a decade in prison for conspiracy to commit murder following allegations that he sprinkled a crushed abortion pill on his girlfriend’s pancakes to cause an abortion.” Keep Reading.

💰 Trump Administration Cuts Millions of Dollars to Planned Parenthood Sex-Education Programs. Late last month the Trump administration moved to eliminate millions of dollars in grant money to Planned Parenthood and other organizations teaching comprehensive sex-education to teens. Keep Reading.

🧑‍⚖️ U.S. Department of Justice Memo Directs Prosecutors to Address Fraudulent “Birth Tourism.” U.S. citizenship is guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment for “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” and courts have held that nearly everyone born within the country’s boundaries is a U.S. citizen. But testimony before members of Congress has shown that foreign nationals are using fraudulent tourist visas and international surrogacy contracts to have children born on American soil with U.S. citizenship — a practice commonly referred to as “birth tourism.” Keep Reading.

📝 Story Underscores How Commercial Surrogacy Hurts Women and Unborn Children. A recent story from the pro-life group Live Action underscores how commercial surrogacy contracts turn women and unborn children into commodities. Keep Reading.

🚌 Texas Brings the Bible to the Classroom. The Texas State Board of Education’s new reading list requirements for public school students will include Bible stories alongside literary classics likes Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. The new curriculum takes effect in 2030. Keep Reading.