FlashMobOfOne

In a reversal of decades of legal precedent, the Internal Revenue Service said in court filings on July 7 that churches and other religious 501 c(3) organizations can endorse political candidates in certain circumstances.

The new position, which was made in a joint filing intended to end a lawsuit brought by a group of high-profile Christian organizations last year, carves out a narrow exception to the Johnson Amendment, which has banned political activity by churches since 1954.

The rule was introduced by former President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1954 when he was serving as the U.S. Senate Majority Leader. It banned all tax-exempt organizations like churches and charities from “directly or indirectly” participating in politics, specifically in endorsement or opposition of candidates.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge blocked many of the state’s abortion restrictions Thursday, reimposing a preliminary injunction against them just a little over a month after the state’s highest court had lifted a previous hold.

The order by Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang said the abortion restrictions likely violate a state constitutional right to abortion that was approved by voters last year.

Planned Parenthood said the order clears the way for it to again provide procedural abortions in Missouri.

Six years after her son was killed by a Seattle police officer involved in multiple deadly encounters, a federal judge cleared the way for Rose Johnson’s excessive force lawsuit to move forward.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly set a tentative trial date of Sept. 15 after an appeals court this year rejected the officer’s claim of qualified immunity, the much-debated legal doctrine that can shield police officers from civil rights claims.

The ruling on March 3 by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a sign of the incremental change unfolding in courts and statehouses across the country as legislative efforts to reform qualified immunity in Congress have stalled.

Hamas said it is “seriously ready to enter immediately into a round of negotiations” for a new ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian militant group said in a statement late Friday that it had given a “positive response” to a U.S.-brokered proposal for a 60-day ceasefire. If successful, a truce deal would pause the war between Hamas and Israel that has devastated Gaza and escalated tensions in the wider Middle East since October 2023.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that there could be a ceasefire deal next week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit Washington on Monday, where he is expected to discuss the terms of the ceasefire deal with Trump.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority struck down the state’s 176-year-old abortion ban on Wednesday, ruling 4-3 that it was superseded by newer state laws regulating the procedure, including statutes that criminalize abortions only after a fetus can survive outside the womb.

The ruling came as no surprise given that liberal justices control the court. One of them went so far as to promise to uphold abortion rights during her campaign two years ago, and they blasted the ban during oral arguments in November.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A proposal to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade was soundly defeated in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, thwarting attempts to insert the measure into President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts.

The Senate voted 99-1 to strike the AI provision from the legislation after weeks of criticism from both Republican and Democratic governors and state officials.

An investigation is underway after authorities say a lone gunman started a fire and ambushed firefighters who responded to it in north-west Idaho on Sunday, allegedly shooting and killing two and seriously injuring another.

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told a news conference that the third firefighter was stable but "fighting for his life" in the Kootenai Health campus in Coeur d'Alene, about 30 miles east of Spokane, Washington.

Details were scarce on what was described as a "heinous act" that has shocked the local community.

"We do believe...that the suspect started the fire, and we do believe that it was an ambush, and it was intentional," Norris said. "This was a total ambush. These firefighters did not have a chance."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking at a moment when threats against judges are on the rise, warned on Saturday that elected officials’ heated words about judges can lead to threats or acts of violence by others.

Without identifying anyone by name, Roberts clearly referenced Republican President Donald Trump and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York when he said he has felt compelled to issue public rebukes of figures in both parties in recent years.

NEW YORK (AP) — Famed investor Warren Buffett is donating $6 billion worth of his company’s stock to five foundations, bringing the total he has given to them since 2006 to roughly $60 billion, based on their value when received.

Buffett said late Friday that the shares of Berkshire Hathaway will be delivered on Monday. Berkshire Hathaway owns Geico, Dairy Queen and a range of other businesses, and Buffett is donating nearly 12.4 million of the Class B shares of its stock. Those shares have a lower and easier-to-digest price tag than the company’s original Class A shares, and each of the B shares was worth $485.68 at their most recent close on Friday.

The largest tranche is going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, which will receive 9.4 million shares. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation will receive 943,384 shares, and the Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation will each receive 660,366 shares.

It was supposed to be a golfer’s paradise.

Now, with a do-or-die deadline to approve a massive 300% water rate hike or face going completely dry, the Central California community of Diablo Grande is at a crossroads.

Now you can add water woes to the list of issues facing Diablo Grande. The community’s residents must approve a jaw-dropping water rate increase from $145 to $569 monthly — nearly a 300% jump — or watch their taps run dry on June 30.

Residents took over management of the water service in 2020, along with its mountain of debt. They face a June 30 deadline to approve the rate hike; otherwise, the agency says, water service to the development will be shut off.

Update: The Supremes voted to limit nationwide injunctions.

Among the cases still pending: the court will decide whether a school district in suburban Washington, DC, burdened the religious rights of parents by declining to allow them to opt their elementary-school children out of reading LGBTQ books in the classroom.

The court will also decide the fate of a government task force that recommends which preventive health care services must be covered at no cost under Obamacare. And it will decide a challenge over Louisiana’s congressional districts that questions how far states may go in considering race when they draw maps to fix a violation of the Voting Rights Act.

But by far the most significant decision is likely to be the one dealing with Trump’s birthright citizenship order.

WAYNE, Mich. (AP) — A man who opened fire outside a Michigan church filled with worshippers on Sunday was struck by a vehicle and then fatally shot by security staff who averted a potential mass shooting, police said.

Churchgoers attending a morning service at CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne spotted the gunman driving recklessly and then saw him exit his car wearing a tactical vest and carrying a rifle and a handgun, police Chief Ryan Strong said at an evening news conference.