Boston, MA
Boston-area school board approves church’s private school after accusation of ‘religious discrimination’
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FIRST ON FOX: A Boston-area college board on Monday permitted a Hispanic church’s software to open a non-public college after beforehand denying it on account of what legal professionals claimed was animus in opposition to the church’s non secular beliefs.
The board reversed its denial after the church threatened a lawsuit to cease the board’s “non secular discrimination.”
“We’re grateful that Somerville officers acknowledged that the federal government can not ban a spiritual college as a result of they disagree with its non secular beliefs,” Ryan Gardner, counsel for First Liberty Institute, advised Fox Information Digital early Tuesday. “Due to the college board’s choice, extra households will have the ability to present the schooling they need for his or her kids.”
First Liberty Institute and the Massachusetts Household Institute had despatched a letter final month urging Somerville Superintendent Mary Skipper and the Somerville Public College Committee to permit Vida Actual Church, a largely Hispanic immigrant church within the Boston-area suburb, to open a spiritual personal college referred to as the Actual Life Studying Middle (RLLC). The church first sought permission to open the college in September 2021, however the college committee blocked it, and members expressed opposition to the church’s beliefs, significantly on creation and sexuality points.
Neither Skipper nor members of the committee responded to requests for remark from Fox Information Digital.
BOSTON-AREA SCHOOL BOARD BLOCKED CHURCH’S PRIVATE SCHOOL DUE TO CHRISTIAN BELIEFS, LAWYERS CLAIM
“It’s unlawful and unconstitutional for metropolis officers to query the non secular beliefs of Vida Actual, not to mention use these beliefs to cease the church from opening a faculty,” Andrew Beckwith, the president of the Massachusetts Household Institute, advised Fox Information Digital on the time. “That is blatant non secular discrimination. It’s time for Somerville officers to cease treating Vida Actual unfairly and permit it to pursue the opening of a faculty.”
“The hostility displayed by the Somerville Public College Committee is outrageous,” Justin Butterfield, deputy normal counsel at First Liberty, mentioned. “The federal government can not ban a spiritual college as a result of they disagree with its non secular beliefs. Doing so violates federal constitutional and statutory legislation.”
In response to the letter, Vida Actual submitted an in depth software to open RLLC for the college committee’s consideration in September 2021. But the committee imposed a number of roadblocks on the applying, delaying consideration for months and claiming that the applying was incomplete when it was not. The committee additionally despatched church officers 35 questions – questions the church considers “hostile” – together with questions on whether or not RLLC may adequately educate college students on account of its non secular beliefs.
VIRGINIA ACLU USES SPLC ‘HATE GROUP’ ATTACK TO BLOCK SCHOOL BOARD’S TRANSGENDER POLICY REVIEW
A committee report on the proposal advised that the church’s non secular beliefs would hamper its academic efforts.
“The varsity’s place on homosexuality and creationism make it troublesome to see how an intensive science and well being curriculum is feasible,” the doc learn. “The varsity’s method to pupil companies and counseling seems to devalue evidence-based psychology and its emphasis on approaches rooted within the perception that psychological sickness is brought on by sin and demons is unscientific and dangerous. … Total, the college was solely opposite to the values of SPS and the thought of teaching the entire youngster as being inclusive.”
The letter claimed that the committee had a transparent “overt hostility” to the applying. It quoted Sara Dion as stating that denying the applying was the “morally proper factor to do,” and that spending cash on expensive litigation to stop or delay the college’s opening can be “properly value it.”
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Vida Actual’s legal professionals additionally claimed that the church has confronted discrimination from native officers earlier than.
In March 2021, law enforcement officials disrupted the church’s companies in Medford, Massachusetts, when a public well being official demanded an investigation into whether or not the church violated COVID-19 capability restrictions. Native officers later apologized for the intrusion.
Boston, MA
‘Absolutely looked real’: Text scam about unpaid parking ticket saturates Boston area codes
Boston Police are issuing an alert regarding a text message scam about an ‘unpaid parking invoice’ that’s been saturating Boston area codes since Saturday.
The fraudulent message from a Montreal area code, which uses the city’s logo, instructs people to pay $4.35 to avoid ‘late fees of 35$’.
It provides a link to a deceptive .com website that is not the boston.gov website.
At-large City Councilor Erin Murphy is among the growing list of people targeted by the scam over the weekend.
“At first glance, absolutely looked real. Could easily scam people,” said Murphy. “Almost everyone I talked to, they got it or someone in their household got it.”
Murphy said she’s heard directly from people who were tricked by the message and compromised their banking information.
“It’s scary to know that someone was able to send that many text messages out, and they were targeting Boston phone numbers,” she said.
Boston police are still trying to figure out what phone database the scammers accessed and exactly how many people received the text message scam.
“They definitely got a lot of people, and the amount, $4.35, a few people said that was the fee they paid at a parking meter,” said Murphy. “It directed them to a website that looked very similar to the city of Boston website.”
Boston 25 News spoke with a handful of people who received the fraudulent message.
Some said they too almost fell for it.
One person said they didn’t own a vehicle and knew it was a scam right away.
The message has some grammatical errors and uses a ‘$’ sign after the number 35.
Boston 25 News called the phone number it came from, and it went directly to a voice message in French.
“Don’t feel embarrassed if you did pay it,” added Murphy. “Let us know so we can help track to make sure there’s no fraud going on or no money taken.”
While city officials recently announced a significant drop in violent crime and other serious crimes, one of the crimes that remain on the rise is financial fraud.
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Boston, MA
Army Drops Second Conference Game in Hard-Fought Contest Against Boston
The Army Black Knights (6-8, 0-2 conference) went east to try and record their first conference win of the season when facing off against a perennial Patriot League powerhouse Boston University (7-8,1-1), but they dropped their second contest in as many games, losing 71-63.
It’s been an up-and-down campaign for Army.
They have dominated some of the lesser opponents on their schedule, while also getting blown out when stepping up in class, and losing some shootouts to teams who are roughly on the same level as them.
That brought Army into their first Patriot League matchup against Colgate (4-10, 1-0) with a 6-6 record, but after dropping that contest and now losing to Boston, they now sit two games under .500.
The first half against the Terriers was a shootout.
Army got out to a hot start, taking an 8-2 lead just under three minutes after tip, but once Boston found their footing a bit, it started to turn into a back-and-forth affair.
The Black Knights were able to take control during the middle portion of the first half, getting out to a double-digit lead at the 9:37 mark. But a strong four-minute stretch to close things out saw the Terriers erase a six-point deficit and head into the locker room up, 40-35.
This was a lead Boston never relinquished.
Army tried to nudge back in front at multiple points during the second half, going on a 9-0 run to make it a three-point game with roughly 14 minutes left and fighting back to get within one point with 7:14 remaining.
But, it wasn’t enough for them to win their first conference game of the year.
Senior guard Jalen Rucker led the way for Army in the scoring department, putting up 17 points on 7-for-18 shooting from the field and 2-for-5 from deep. He was joined in double figures by fellow starters Ryan Curry and Josh Scovens, who both had 13.
Michael McNair led Boston with 17 points of his own. Miles Brewster was the only other starter for the Terriers to score double-digits, but Ben Roy and Ben Palacios added 12 and 10 off the bench respectively.
Army was dynamic from deep, shooting 42.3% (11-26), but they struggled from the floor overall in comparison by going 40.7% (24-59).
Boston was able to outlast the Black Knights by shotting 50.9% (27-53) from the field and 39.1% from 3-point range (9-23).
Army will try to secure their first Patriot League win of the season when they welcome Loyola MD (6-7, 1-1) to Christl Arena on Jan. 8 at 6 p.m. EST with the game broadcasted on ESPN+.
Boston, MA
Death investigation in Charlestown after man found shot in 7-Eleven parking lot
A man was found dead in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood late Saturday night, according to police, who say he had been shot.
Boston police announced Sunday that there is a death investigation underway at 140 Main Street after officers responded around 10:33 p.m. the night before to a report of a pedestrian struck there and found an adult male lying on the ground in the convenience store’s parking lot.
Further investigation revealed the victim had been shot, police said, and he was pronounced dead on scene by Boston EMS. His name has not been released.
Police haven’t shared more information about the incident at this time.
The Boston Police Department’s homicide unit is actively investigating what happened, and anyone with information is strongly urged to contact detectives at 617-343-4470. Anonymous tips can also be called into the CrimeStoppers tip line at 1-800-494-TIPS, or texted to CRIME (27463) with the word “TIP.”
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