The state of California is forcing all faith-based employers to pay for abortions.
The California Department of Managed Health Care told insurance companies in the state all abortions must be covered. Michelle Rouillard, director of DMHC, said that “abortion is a basic health care service.”
Rouillard asserts that the California constitution prohibits health plans from “discriminating against women who choose” to kill their babies via abortion.
The directive is seen as a state agent acting to penalize two Roman Catholic/Jesuit universities that said they would no longer pay for abortions in health care plans but would not stop employees from obtaining it from third parties.
The Alliance Defending Freedom and the Life Legal Defense Foundation sent rebuttal letters on Friday saying the state’s mandate is a violation of federal law. The letter says that DMHC’s action is violation of the Weldon Amendment.
A 6.0 earthquake around 3:30 a.m. rocked Northern California on Sunday morning leaving residents rushing into the streets and some older buildings no longer stable enough to live in.
The quake centered about 6 miles southwest of Napa. State Geologist John Parrish told residents the aftershocks would decrease in magnitude but that buildings that were damaged in the main quake are now susceptible to collapse from the aftershocks.
Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa reported 172 patients arrived at a triage tent set up after the quake and that 13 of the patients required immediate admittance to the hospital. Hospital spokesman Walt Mickens said that one patient is in critical condition while a 13-year-old boy was airlifted to another hospital in critical condition after his home’s fireplace fell on him.
Pacific Gas & Electric said that 2,200 customers were without power on Sunday evening. A total of 70,000 lost power at some point in the aftermath of the quake.
The quake is also a potential financial disaster for the region as many of the iconic wineries in the region were struck. One vineyard reported that their entire 2011 and 2012 vintages were destroyed in the collapse of a building.
Some analysts say the quake could foretell a more serious earthquake. There are concerns that the energy released by the Napa quake could increase pressure on other fault lines throughout the region.
A California professor who attacked a teenager that was holding a pro-life sign during a campus protest has pleaded “no contest” to the criminal charges related to the attack.
In return, she was given a slap on the wrist.
Mireille Miller-Young, a professor of feminist studies at University of California Santa Barbara, approached members of the group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust during a peaceful protest. She began to yell at them and to the students who were quietly engaging with the protesters.
“We don’t need to listen to these people!” Miller-Young yelled. “They don’t have our permission to be here. Should we tear down their sign?”
Miller-Young then ripped the sign away from a teenage girl and marched into a nearby building. When the girl followed, the professor pushed and shoved her leaving scratches all over the girl.
Miller-Young received community service, anger management classes and three years probation.
Pastor Greg Laurie hosted “2014 SoCal Harvest” at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California and over 4,000 people came forward to accept Christ as savior.
The organizers say that over 41,000 people attended the worship event’s last night. Almost 70,000 attended over the three day event.
“I know that there is emptiness deep inside you … you were born with it,” Laurie said as part of his message. “Right now, Jesus sees you; He doesn’t see a crowd. And He cares about you, and He loves you.”
The three-day event focused on Jesus within the lives of the believer and how someone who doesn’t know Christ and hasn’t accepted them as Savior has a void within them that they can’t fill no matter what the world may offer them.
The outreach was part of Greg Laurie’s 25th consecutive year of large-scale outreach events. The theme that Laurie has focused on this year is hope that can be found only in the personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
“This is something really amazing that God has done,” Laurie said. “I don’t know of another ongoing evangelistic event like this anywhere in the world that’s happened for 25 years – a large scale overt evangelistic event. I would say don’t take this for granted.”
A freak lightning storm across northeast California has resulted in nine more wildfires for an overworked California firefighting team.
The new blazes are in Lassen, Modoc and Shasta counties and are in rural areas that are not threatening any homes or outbuildings. A spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said crews are trying to contain them quickly so they can “concentrate on the large ones we still have.”
The main fire is a wildfire sparked by lightning on July 30th that has burned 13 ½ square miles of land in Mendocino County. Six communities north of San Francisco are dealing with various evacuation orders as at least 60 homes are considered in severe danger from the flames.
More than 2,000 firefighters are working in what spokeswoman Lynne Tolmachoff said are “steep, rugged terrain.” Only 35% of the Mendocino County fire has been contained by the fire crews.
On Friday, 8 firefighters were reported injured in an incident connected to that fire. The fire has injured through burns or injuries eleven firefighters since the start.
“While we’ve been making some progress, this is a very stubborn fire,” Tolmachoff told Fox News. “And we’re not even close to our peak fire season.”
A wave of thunderstorms rolled through Southern California Sunday causing massive flooding and landslides that left at least one person dead.
Two towns, Oak Glen and Forest Falls, were completely cut off from surrounding areas because of mudslides that blocked all roadways. At least 2,500 people are trapped including 500 campers at a Christian campground.
A U.S. Forest Service spokesman told KNBC-TV reported that the campground was hit hard with flooding and many campers had only seconds to escape a rush of mud and debris.
San Bernardino County Fire officials confirmed one person was found dead inside a car that was swept into a flooded creek.
Authorities were making reverse 911 calls to residents of the effected areas telling them to remain in their homes until maintenance workers could clear roads and officials were able to determine it was safe to travel.
The National Weather Service said that some areas received up to 5 inches of rain.
Cartoon Network will be airing a show in its late night “adult swim” block that will feature a character who the show says is Jesus that smokes marijuana, swears and use the Lord’s name in vain.
The show is called “Black Jesus.”
The show will have the “Jesus” character living in Compton, California, participating in illegal activities with drug addicts and alcoholics and conducting other activities that mock Christians.
The character claims that he’s just about “spreading love and kindness” while participating in questionable activities.
Several groups including One Million Moms is calling for Christians to protest the show saying that the Christian faith should not be used as a source of derision in manners that would never be allowed on television for Muslims or Jews.
Supporters of the show’s creator Aaron McGruder say that the show is just satire and people need to develop a sense of humor.
A California school district has been caught lying about a project that told students to see if the Holocaust was an actual historical event or “a propaganda tool.”
Rialto United School District came under fire in May when it was revealed that around 2,000 8th grade students were given the project that the school termed an “exercise in critical thinking.” The school tried to appease community members by stating that none of the students actually argued the Holocaust did not occur.
The Los Angeles Daily News did an investigation that showed the school lied to parents and the public.
“At least 50 essays (that) denied or doubted the Holocaust occurred,” the LADN reported. “Even many students who agreed the Holocaust occurred said there were good reasons to believe it had not or that elements of the historical record were actually hoaxes.”
Some of the student deniers wrote:
The Holocaust is “a profitable hoax made by the Jews to obtain land, money and power.”
“With the evidence that was given to me, it clearly was obvious” that the Holocaust never occurred “and I wouldn’t know why anyone would think otherwise.”
If the Nazis “would have even experimented these so called gas chambers the Nazis would have died also, so I do not believe in gas chambers.”
Even more disturbing than the comments of the students was praise from some teachers to the students who denied the Holocaust. One paper obtained by the Daily News had a comment to a denying student “You did well using the evidence to support your claim.”
Even with the school district being exposed as having deceived parents and the public, they are still not revealing who created the assignment or the educators who gave out the lesson. They also won’t say if any discipline has been taken against the teachers in question.
A California school district is being defiant in its refusal to apologize for infringing on the First Amendment rights of students by censoring God or Jesus from student led functions.
Attorneys representing the Brawley Union High School District wrote a 10 page letter defending the school’s right to silence students from mentioning God or Jesus at graduation.
“It is well established in the Ninth Circuit and California that a public school salutatorian has no constitutional right to lead a prayer or include sectarian or proselytizing content in his/her graduation speech,” the document reads.
The district is the place where 18-year-old Brooks Hamby made national headlines by standing up for his Christians beliefs and his right under the First Amendment to say the name of Jesus during a graduation ceremony speech. His lawyers have been demanding the school apologize for their infringement on his religious freedom.
“The district was legally obligated to ensure prayers and other sectarian, proseltyzing content were omitted from Mr. Hamby’s speech,” the school’s attorneys wrote. “Censorship of the speech was necessary to avoid an Establishment Clause violation.”
“I was really surprised the school would deny my speech not once, twice, but three times,” Hamby told Fox News Todd Starnes. “I just wanted to say a few nice words and allow people to see the good news – which is the Gospel.”
