Ohio

Pro-life network Susan B. Anthony List is preparing to contest false statement charges in a hearing Thursday over a billboard ad that accuses an Ohio congressman of voting in favor of federally-funded abortion.

Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio) had filed a complaint with the Ohio Election Commission alleging that SBA List uses false statements in an Oct. 6 political ad characterizing his vote on health reform bill. SBA List officials say the ad accurately reflects the congressman’s voting record.

“Steve Driehaus does not want his constituents to hear that he voted for a bill that provides for tax dollars to pay for abortions, but the fact that he did is a position held by the National Right to Life Committee, Americans United for Life, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ohio Right to Life and numerous other organizations and policy experts,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement. more >>

John Freshwater, the Ohio teacher fired for allegedly burning crosses into student’s arm, dropped his 2009 lawsuit against the Mount Vernon City school district on Thursday.

Freshwater, a two-time teacher of the year award recipient, said he was a victim of a firing witch hunt because he refused to remove his Bible from his desk. He filed a million-dollar lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Columbus for lost pay and pension, and punitive damages. He argued that his rights to free speech were violated. He also wanted to be re-instated to his position as an eighth grade teacher.

Yesterday, however, Freshwater’s attorneys filed paperwork dismissing the case. more >>

The teen girl who ran away from her Muslim family for fear of being harmed for converting to Christianity is battling uterine cancer.

Rifqa Bary, 17, is scheduled to undergo her third surgery Thursday, said her former lawyer, John Stemberger.

Stemberger, who argued last year for Bary to remain in Florida, said Bary wanted the public to know about her condition so people could pray for her. more >>

The teen convert to Christianity who ran away from her Muslim family last summer is fighting to stay in the United States.

An attorney for Rifqa Bary asked an Ohio judge Monday to declare that the girl is unable to reunite with her parents by her 18th birthday. The order would allow Bary to apply for immigration status and avoid possible deportation to her homeland, Sri Lanka.

Though there is no move to deport Bary at the moment, her attorney, Angela Lloyd, said reconciliation is unlikely to happen by her client’s 18th birthday, which is Aug. 10. Lloyd said obtaining special status for Bary is urgent. It is feared that if the teen is returned to Sri Lanka she will be harmed or killed by Muslim extremists. more >>

The Ohio judge overseeing the case of Rifqa Bary, the teen who ran away from her Muslim parents citing fear that she would be harmed for converting to Christianity, has urged the broken family to continue counseling with the aim of reconciliation.

During a court hearing Tuesday, Franklin County Juvenile Court Judge Elizabeth Gill rejected Mohamed and Aysha Bary’s request to cancel a reconciliation plan developed in January, which includes counseling.

The plan was created by the county child welfare agency, which has custody of Rifqa. The parents are upset that the agency has allowed their daughter to contact the Florida pastor who sheltered her after she ran away to Orlando. The parents believe her contact with Pastor Blake and Beverly Lorenz would hurt their chances of reconciliation. more >>

The Muslim parents of a teenage girl who ran away from home because she feared they would kill her for converting to Christianity have withdrawn their consent to a deal that would allow their daughter to remain free from them.

Though the plan to allow 17-year-old Rifqa Bary to stay in a foster home under state custody until she turns 18 was approved last Tuesday, Jan. 19, a motion filed this past Thursday by the attorney of Mohamed and Aysha Bary states that Bary’s parents “now believe the entire deal should be thrown out because of misrepresentation and fraudulent inducement."

Though the Franklin County Children Services promised it would protect Bary from the people who helped her run away and are trying to exploit her, she's allowed to talk to them, the motion stated. more >>