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Aric Babbitt was not just a teacher to some of his former students; he was also a mentor. To at least one of them, he was a father figure. But authorities believe Babbitt used his position of authority to not only gain his students’ trust but also to exploit it. Newly released police documents state that Babbitt, a 40-year-old elementary school teacher from Minnesota, and his 36-year-old husband, Matthew Deyo, sexually abused eight underage boys over the course several years, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. The South St. Paul residents did not live to see any criminal charges against...

Minneapolis — Target cut its profit and comparable-store sales outlook amid stiffer competition and its own stumbles in areas like grocery sales. The discounter’s second-quarter net income fell nearly 10%, though that was better than what most had expected. Sales at stores open at least a year fell 1.1%, reversing seven straight quarters of gains. Target shares were down more than 6% in mid-morning trading Wednesday. The quarter underscores challenges that Target and other retailers face from Amazon.com and shoppers who remain cautious about spending.

<p>A homosexual in Georgia raped and sodomized an 18 month old boy.</p> <p>An 18-month-old baby boy was allegedly sexually assaulted by a male suspect last month.</p> <p>The case was only recently reported to authorities after the little boy’s grandmother took him to hospital for an examination.</p>

The conflict between religious freedom and gay rights has a new battleground — California's religious colleges and universities. A bill moving through the Legislare would remove a longstanding exemption from anti-discrimination laws for religious institutions, potentially exposing the schools to civil rights lawsuits from students and employees.

The Republican senator who once campaigned against gays serving openly in the military is now the civil rights community's greatest bulwark against undoing LGBT protections in this year’s defense policy bill. Democrats and LGBT rights advocates will be keeping a close eye on Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) during upcoming negotiations on the defense measure. House and Senate leaders could clash over language concerning whether religious organizations with federal contracts should be exempt from nondiscrimination orders covering gender identity and sexual orientation. The shooting incident Sunday that killed 50 people in a popular Orlando gay bar and...

To the casual observer, it would seem that gay rights falls neatly on the political spectrum. Democrats champion bills that aim to protect LGBT people from discrimination, and Republicans increasingly propose and pass ones aimed to protect the religiously devout. But there's growing evidence that Republicans in Congress and across the country are sidestepping the more controversial religious protection and bathroom bills and, in some cases, embracing LGBT non-discrimination laws instead.... And more broadly, Republicans in Congress, Southern-state governors and a business community that usually aligns with the GOP seem to be eschewing some of the more controversial religious freedom...

New York’s iconic Stonewall Inn, where the modern gay-rights movement took root, will become the first national monument honoring the history of gays and lesbians in the U.S. under a proposal President Obama is preparing to approve.

President Obama is poised to declare the first-ever national monument recognizing the struggle for gay rights, singling out a sliver of green space and part of the surrounding Greenwich Village neighborhood as the birthplace of America’s modern gay liberation movement... Protests at the site, which lasted for six days, began in the early morning of June 28, 1969 after police raided the Stonewall Inn, which was frequented by gay men. While patrons of the bar, which is still in operation today in half of its original space, had complied in the past with these crackdowns, that time it sparked a...

President Obama will reportedly mark Pride Month by designating a part of the Greenwich neighborhood surrounding the Stonewall Inn as the nation’s first gay-rights national monument.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a candidate for president of the United States, appeared on a live town hall on Good Morning America on ABC. Among the various issues that the senator discussed, a caller brought up the subject of same-sex marriage and religious liberty. The caller, a gay man named Todd Calogne, who identified himself as a registered Republican, owner of a pizza parlor, and married to his partner asked Cruz how he proposed to protect the rights of gay Americans from so-called religious liberty laws that he suggested discriminate against gay people.

More than 60 businesses including some of Missouri's biggest corporate names joined a coalition opposed to state legislation that would protect businesses objecting on religious grounds to same-sex marriages, the latest sign of a backlash against such proposals across the country. Agricultural giant Monsanto, prescription drug benefits manager Express Scripts, and pet food maker Nestle Purina are among employers to join the recently formed Missouri Competes, according to gay rights advocacy group PROMO, which released the list just hours before a House committee heard testimony from business, sports and religious groups. Dozens crammed in the Capitol basement for the late-night...

Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina, whose state has been the subject of withering criticism since he signed legislation limiting bathroom access for transgender people and eliminating anti-discrimination ordinances based on sexual orientation, announced Tuesday that he would strengthen workplace protections for state employees and urge the General Assembly to modify part of the law.... He also said he would urge lawmakers to reverse course and allow people to bring discrimination cases in state court.... Since the measure became law, North Carolina has faced a barrage of criticism from business interests and warnings of boycotts and canceled investments. PayPal, an...

Just as it seemed America was resigned to -- if not applauding -- gay and lesbian marriages, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has rocked the LGBT boat by ordering his state's probate judges to not honor same-sex marriage licenses. "Alabama probate judges have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act," Moore wrote in his order that was issued Jan. 6. The phrase "ministerial duty" refers to a July 2015 directive in which Moore argued "public officials are ministers of God assigned the duty of...

Hillary Clinton, speaking at ABC presidential primary debate in New Hampshire Saturday night, warned that gay rights, funding for Planned Parenthood and "Obamacare" would be reversed if the Republican Party takes the White House. She also attacked GOP frontrunner Donald Trump over his remarks against Muslims. "This is a watershed election. I know how important it is that we have a Democrat succeed President Obama in the White House," Clinton said in the debate at St. Anselm College, in which Democratic candidates Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley also participated. "From my perspective, we have to...

Tim Cook accepting an RFK award yesterday: "Today, more than half the states in this country still don’t offer basic protections to gay or transgendered people, leaving millions of people vulnerable of being fired or evicted because of who they are or who they love. Today some in our country would turn away innocent men, women, and children seeking refuge from prosecution and violence regardless of how many background checks they submit to, simply based on where they were born. Victims of a war, and now victims of fear and misunderstanding." Full Speech: http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2015/12/09/what-tim-cook-had-to-say-about-rfk-and-human.html Am I supposed to feel good...

American Christians have become a lot more tolerant of homosexuality over the past eight years, according to a landmark study released by the Pew Research Center on Tuesday that showed big gains in acceptance since the last time the study was conducted in 2007. The 2014 Religious Landscape Study, a survey of more than 35,000 Americans, examined a vast array of religious and social issues, including immigration. The study concluded that nearly all major religious groups have become significantly more accepting of homosexuality -- and almost all Christian groups are more accepting than they were in 2007. It holds true...

BOSTON (Reuters) - Ben Carson, frontrunner in the struggle to become Republican presidential candidate, said on Wednesday that his support for gay rights initiatives when he was a director at major companies does not clash with his opposition to gay marriage. But some leaders in the social conservative movement that has backed Carson say his more than 15-year record on the boards of retailer Costco Wholesale and food manufacturer Kellogg could pose a challenge for him as he seeks the nomination. Carson supported various initiatives at both companies, such as barring discrimination based on gender identity, providing health insurance for...

Tim Cook: I think that ... the business has the responsibility ... of within the communities that they operate ... to be ... a ... great service ... and then we're global company and so I think we have a responsibility to be of great global service ... and so it as I look it that when we don't ... we don't get into ... the whole ... set of issues that we ... don't bring and expertise or ... for a i am ... or have had some knowledge of or write whoa the things that that we're focused...

Powerful and well funded, 1199 SEIU has unprecedented reach into city and state government. ... Medicaid is one of the primary sources of funding for the hospitals employing workers from 1199 SEIU, the powerful hospital and nursing-home employees’ union. ... The union’s clout can be assessed by several measures: the sheer size of its membership, its spending on campaigns and lobbying, and the depth and breadth of its connections with New York’s ruling elite. With well over 300,000 members in Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, Washington, D.C., and New York (where over half of that total resides), 1199SEIU is the largest union...

After a month of deliberation following a vote by the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America to allow openly gay Scout leaders, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that they will go forward with the faith's 102-year association with Scouting, according to a statement released Wednesday morning. The statement came from the church's Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who said the BSA assured the church it would be able to appoint Scout leaders based on the faith's values. "In the resolution adopted on July 27, 2015, and in...