Iowa calls for removal of slot machines
The Iowa House and Senate have called for the removal of 6,000 slot machine-like lottery devices installed at more than 2,800 retail locations, and the state’s governor has said he will sign the bill into law. The Iowa Lottery TouchPlay machines, which are common at grocery stores, taverns, convenience stores, truck stops and bowling alleys throughout the state, have generated $212 million in sales since July. Legislators argued that gambling had spread beyond what they had intended when the go-ahead was given for the lottery expansion in 2001. Observers said the machines had become more attractive to children than anticipated, drawing their attention with buttons and flashing lights. Their easy accessibility made them more tempting than other forms of gambling. Responding to a surge of public opinion against the machines, the Senate voted 40-10 to remove them, and the House voted 80-18.
Supreme Court upholds obscenity law
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld March 20 a lower court’s opinion that a federal ban on Internet obscenity is constitutional. The high court affirmed a ruling by a special panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York by issuing a summary disposition without hearing oral arguments in the case – thus providing a victory at the judiciary’s highest level for foes of online indecency and obscenity. The case, Nitke v. Gonzales, involved photographer Barbara Nitke, whose sexually explicit photos have included sadomasochistic poses. Her work has been published and displayed in galleries, but she also placed it on the Internet. Nitke and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom challenged the obscenity provision of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that prohibits the distribution of obscenity over the Internet to children less than 18 years of age.
Saddleback celebrates 20,000th baptism
Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., celebrated the 20,000th baptism in its 25-year history March 19. In an outdoor baptismal pool built of native stone, pastor Rick Warren immersed Mario Soto, 24, after the congregation’s 11:15 a.m. service. Soto was among about a dozen adults being baptized. It had been quite a weekend for Soto. On Saturday evening, he had proposed to his girlfriend. For Soto, his decision to publicly declare his faith in Jesus Christ was an important step on the road toward marriage and starting a family. Until 2004, Saddleback had averaged almost 1,300 baptisms a year since 1996. The past two years, however, the congregation has averaged more than 2,000 baptisms. In 2005, a total of 2,501 believers were baptized.
Gulfport church bids farewell to site
Members and friends of First Baptist Church in Gulfport bid farewell March 26 to their beloved beachfront facilities brought down by the wind and waves of Hurricane Katrina last year. Church members have made the decision to relocate and are searching for land several miles inland from the current location. Hurricane Camille pushed about four feet of water into the church in 1969, but Katrina gutted most of the buildings on the property and reduced the sanctuary to its steel structure. The stark photographs of the ruined church quickly became an international symbol of the fury of Hurricane Katrina and the unprecedented destruction wrought by the storm.