National Notes
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Most Americans don't give to poor. Four out of 10 Americans contribute neither money nor time to helping the poor, according to a new survey, even though most Americans agree that society has a moral obligation to help the poor. The survey by Barna Research Group found more than 70 percent of American adults agreed society has a moral obligation to aid those suffering through poverty. But only 42 percent said they have donated money to non-profit groups serving the poor. And only 33 percent said they volunteered time in the past year to help the poor.
___ Drug & alcohol use linked to teen sex. Teenagers who take drugs or drink alcohol are far more likely to have sex at a younger age with several partners than are teens who abstain from drugs and alcohol, a study has found. Teen drinkers who are 14 and younger are twice as likely to have sex than other teens in that age group. The risk of sexual activity is doubled for teens 14 and younger who use drugs, said the report from the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. The study also found that older teens who use drugs are five times as likely to have intercourse than non-users and three times as likely to have it with four or more partners.
___ Court avoids voucher issue. The U.S. Supreme Court sidestepped a dispute over tuition payments to religious schools Dec. 13 when it left standing Vermont's policy of excluding religious schools from its tuition-reimbursement program. For students living in small school districts that do not operate high schools, the state reimburses tuition to attend other public schools or approved private schools.
___ District bans Boy Scout support. A Northern California school district has prohibited the Boy Scouts from using its schools to distribute notices, saying the organization's policies violate district policy by excluding atheists and gays. David Murphy, superintendent of the Davis Joint Unified School District, wrote the Scouts to say they cannot use Parent-Teacher Association newsletters, school bulletin boards and student folders to recruit and communicate with students or parents. He said the free speech rights of the Boy Scouts are not being violated because communication through the schools is a privilege that can be legally rescinded.___
___ Exxon revokes benefits for live-in partners. The recently merged Exxon Mobil Corp. has bucked a trend in American business by rolling back benefits for the live-in partners of its employees. The corporation rescinded Mobil's domestic-partner policy, becoming only the second major American company known to do so. It also rejected Mobil's employment policy prohibiting discrimination based on "sexual orientation," which includes homosexuality, according to Associated Press and the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest homosexual political organization. The corporation will continue to provide benefits to domestic partners accepted previously under Mobil's policy, but it will not extend such benefits to anyone else.
___ Cleveland voucher program ruled out. A federal judge ruled Dec. 20 that Cleveland's school voucher program violates the constitutionally required separation of church and state. But Judge Soloman Oliver Jr. delayed the effect of his 61-page opinion, pending an appeal of_the case to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Cleveland dispute is but one example of a growing national debate over the use of
___tax-funded vouchers to pay tuition at religious schools. Church-state observers say the issue will ultimately have to be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which in the past year has declined to review several voucher cases.
___ Vermont rules in favor of gay benefits. The Vermont Supreme Court ruled Dec. 20 that gay couples are entitled to the same benefits and protections the state provides heterosexual married couples. The court said it is up to the state's legislature to determine whether benefits will come through a system of domestic partnerships or_through formal marriage. The state decision cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court because the Vermont court based its decision on the state Constitution.
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