Ohio

The six adults that helped the Muslim teen girl who converted to Christianity run away from her Ohio home will not be charged.

Prosecutors in the states of Ohio and Florida have decided to not file charges against the adults, including two Orlando pastors, for helping Rifqa Bary leave her Columbus, Ohio, Muslim family to hideout in Florida, according to an investigation of police reports by The Associated Press. Police had recommended filing charges against the six adults who aided the then underage Bary run away from home.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said his decision was due to “a combination of things,” including the difficulty of re-interviewing some of the adults involved, AP reported Sunday. And the Orange and Osceola County State Attorney Lawson Lamar had already closed the Florida case months ago. more >>

The proposed Ohio budget may be the model of the fiscal frugality and compassionate action Christians are asking Congress to display in the national budget.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s proposed two-year budget closes up an $8 billion gap by minding tenets that concerned Christians believe could save the federal government.

The state 2011-2013 spending plan adopts waste-cutting measures by restructuring government agencies. Kasich’s budget reduces 250 of the 371 general fund spending line items, totaling $2.3 billion in cuts. He also combined some medical agencies. more >>

Pro-life Ohioans are planning to release 99 heart-shaped helium balloons into the sky this Valentine’s Day to drum up support for a bill that would protect babies and threaten Roe v. Wade.

Faith2Action will send the red balloons up into the sky at the state House in an effort to sway House members to support the so-called “heartbeat bill” that was introduced Wednesday.

The pro-life measure would ban abortion on any fetus once a heartbeat is detected. The legislation, if signed into law, would pose a challenge to the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, under which a woman can have an abortion until the fetus is “viable” or can live outside the mother’s womb. more >>

A Ten Commandments display in an Ohio courtroom violates the Constitution, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court decision and ruled that the display is an explicit endorsement of religion, and thus unconstitutional.

The case dates back to 2000, when James DeWeese, a judge of the Richland County Court of Common Pleas, hung two posters – one of the Bill of Rights and the other of the Ten Commandment – in his courtroom. more >>

Ohio University will allow male, female, gay and straight students to cohabitate in the same room during a one-year trial of gender-neutral dormitories.

Starting in the fall, the state university will become the 56th university in America to offer the chance to live in Gender Neutral Housing. Other schools such as Princeton University, Columbia University and George Washington University also have gender neutral campus living quarters.

GNH means that students can live in the same room with any student regardless of sex, gender, gender identity/expression, or sexual orientation, the university website states. more >>

An Ohio court judge ruled on Tuesday that a Planned Parenthood clinic failed to follow informed consent laws in the case of a teenage girl who was being sexually assaulted by her 22-year-old coach.

Hamilton County Court Judge Jody Luebbers ruled in a 2005 lawsuit that a Cincinnati Planned Parenthood clinic violated a state statute requiring that patients be briefed about the potential risks associated with an abortion and about other options in an informed consent meeting 24 hours before performing an abortion.

Prior to the Tuesday ruling, Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio disputed whether it was legally bound to uphold the 1998 statute and another requiring abortion clinics to obtain written parental consent. The operator cited a ‘90s lawsuit challenging the laws’ constitutionality. more >>