The big news story of the week was the shooting death of Stephan Tyrone Johns, a security guard at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The suspect in the shooting, James Von Brunn, is a Holocaust denier and white supremacist. This is the third politically-driven shooting death in the recent weeks following the cases of Army private William Andrew Long and Dr. George Tiller.
National:
- Last week, the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2009 passed in the House of Representatives by a 235 to187 vote as a part of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. This act would help to end child marriage in developing countries. This issue is a very dire matter as the number of child brides is expected to be at a staggering height in the next ten years.
- The Healthy Families Act was discussed at a congressional hearing in the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee last Thursday. This bill would require business that had 15 or more employees to give workers 7 sick days per year to be used to recover from illness or to help a family member who was ill.
- The Florida High School Athletic Association is in danger of being handed a Title IX lawsuit in response to its plan to save school districts money by reducing the number of scheduled games. The Florida Parents for Athletic Equity is upset by this because female athletes would be disproportionately affected: 36,000 boys to 4,600 girls.
- Virginia’s largest women's correctional facility allegedly segregated inmates on the basis of actual or assumed sexual orientation over the past year.
- Virginia's Democratic primary election last Tuesday ended in the nomination of two pro-choice candidates, Creigh Deeds for governor and Jody Wagner for lieutenant governor.
- In Arizona, the Senate Public Safety and Human Services Committee suggested that the Arizona Senate pass two-anti choice bills last Wednesday. Currently, there are five anti-choice bills under consideration in the Arizona legislature.
- The Tiller family, of Dr. George Tiller, announced last Tuesday that the Women's Health Care Services clinic in Wichita, Kansas will be permanently closed following the shooting death of Dr. Tiller on May 31.
- Women's rights has been a hot topic in Iran's presidential race. Since women make up more than half of the electorate, their votes, views, and opinions matter more than ever to candidates in this election. Iranian women are increasingly involved in voting and campaigning, and their political activity has been really interesting to follow.
And just for fun...Arts and Media!:
- Disney is finally adding some diversity to its classic princess fairy tales. It has been announced that Disney will be releasing a new animated movie called The Princess and the Frog, which will feature their first African American princess, named Tiana, in the history of the media company. The release date has been announced for the 2009 Holiday Season. However, women in general, as well as racial diversity still have a long way to come to creating equality in its representations in TV and movies.
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