Olympia, Wash.
Same-sex marriage: Washington became the seventh state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage this week, striking down a state law limiting marriage to one man and one woman. Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Catholic Democrat who declared her support for same-sex marriage in January 2011, signed the measure into law less than a week after it won approval from state lawmakers. This is “a day historians will mark as a milestone for equal rights,” she said. “I’m proud of who and what we are as a state.” Same-sex couples in Washington won’t be able to marry until June 7, when the law takes effect, but opponents are already organizing a repeal effort, announcing that they will collect signatures for a referendum to be placed on the ballot in November. “I think in the end, people are going to preserve marriage,” said Joe Fuiten, senior pastor at Cedar Park church, a proponent of the referendum.
Salt Lake City
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LDS apology: Mormon church leaders apologized to the family of Holocaust survivor and Jewish-rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal this week after his parents were posthumously baptized in a Mormon ceremony last month. “We are outraged that such insensitive actions continue in the Mormon temples,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which carries on the work of the famed Nazi hunter, who died in 2005. Posthumous baptism is a controversial Mormon ritual that offends members of other religions, especially Jews and Roman Catholics. The baptism of Holocaust victims was supposed to be barred by a 1995 agreement between the church and Jews, although some church members have continued the practice. “We consider this a serious breach of our protocol,” said Michael Purdy, a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “We have suspended indefinitely this person’s ability to access our genealogy records.”
Richmond, Va.
‘Personhood’ bill advances: Virginia took a step this week toward becoming the first state to define a fertilized egg as a human being, when a Republican supermajority in the House of Delegates easily passed a controversial “personhood” bill. Delegate Robert Marshall’s House Bill 1 passed by a 66–32 vote and will now move to the Senate, where a conservative majority is expected to pass it as well. The bill, which would all but outlaw abortion by declaring that the legal rights of personhood apply from the moment sperm and egg unite, will be sent to Gov. Bob McDonnell, a conservative Republican and a Roman Catholic. McDonnell has not declared his position on the bill, but pro-choice advocates fear his decision. “The General Assembly is dangerously close to making Virginia the first state in the country to grant personhood rights to fertilized eggs,” said Tarina Keene of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia.
Washington, D.C.
China’s VP begins tour: Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was met with protests and criticism this week as he began his official state visit. Xi, who is expected to become China’s next leader, was welcomed by President Obama with a 19-gun salute and a private meeting at the White House, but his reception then turned chilly. At a State Department lunch, Vice President Joe Biden bluntly criticized China’s economic policies. “Competition can only be mutually beneficial if the rules of the game are understood, agreed upon, and followed,” Biden said. The vice president then spoke about “areas of concern” for the U.S., including China’s exchange rate and the rebalancing of the Chinese economy toward domestic consumption. After a meeting at the Pentagon, Xi attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting, while outside, protesters shouted for the Chinese to end their “repressive policies” in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Harrisburg, Pa.
Sandusky can see grandkids: A judge ruled this week that former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who is accused of 52 counts of sexual abuse, could have supervised contact with his grandchildren at his home in State College. Judge John Cleland said prosecutors had offered no evidence that the children wouldn’t be safe as long as their parents were present. He also ruled that Sandusky could continue to use his outside deck while under house arrest, despite complaints from parents of pupils at a nearby elementary school. Cleland acknowledged that jury selection for Sandusky’s trial, scheduled to begin in May, could be difficult, given the pretrial publicity in the case and the importance of Penn State to the State College area. But he rejected requests by prosecutors that jurors be brought in from outside the area to hear the case.
New York City
Rash of NYPD suicides: A New York City police officer shot himself to death this week, marking the fourth suicide committed by an NYPD officer this year and the second in just eight days. Matthew Schindler, 39, was found dead in his car on the side of the Long Island Expressway; he had shot himself. A 14-year veteran of the force, Schindler left behind a wife and three children. Upon hearing the news of Schindler’s suicide, Bill Genet of the Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance volunteer group said, “Oh, God, not another one.” The other police suicides include an officer who shot himself in the head with his service weapon while at the scene of a Queens car burglary, in front of both his partner and the car’s owner. “He got out of his [patrol] car and he’s on the phone with somebody,” said a witness. “He puts the gun in his mouth and fires.”
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