Local News Bites

Anti-evolution bill introduced in the Missouri House.
House Bill 656, introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives on February 10, 2009, and not yet referred to a committee, is the latest anti-evolution "academic freedom" bill.

See http://ncseweb.org/news/2009/02/antievolution-legislation-missouri-004615

The concept of academic freedom is abused when it is used in a way that results in children becoming less educated. Evolution is the cornerstone of modern biology. Students who don’t understand sound science, including evolution, may have a harder time entering college. Such students would not be able to pursue science careers . They could not compete academically and professionally with students in other countries.

There could also be economic consequences. The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, which attracts 2,000 scientists to its annual meetings, boycotted New Orleans for their 2011 conference after Gov. Bobby Jindal signed an anti-evolution bill into law. The Louisiana Coalition for Science said the boycott was, “negative for the state’s economy and national reputation.” (Church & State, April 2009, Vol. 62, No. 4, p. 3) Don't let that happen to Missouri!

====
Supporters of “In God We Trust” license plates got a $10,000 fee break from the Kansas House on Friday.

House Bill 2134 would allow the “In God We Trust” license plate to be produced without the required upfront fee of $10,000 paid to the Division of Vehicles of the Kansas Department of Revenue. Americans United is not opposed to the license plate itself, but believes that all groups seeking religious message license plates should have to follow the same rules. In other words, there should be no favoritism.
This legislation singles out one particular license plate, and in doing so displays favoritism toward religious messages in general and one religious message in particular. This is unfair to other groups who are still required to pay the fee upfront.

It also violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment in that it helps spread one particular religious message without providing similar aid for promoters of competing views. It is also improper use of taxpayer money because Kansas citizens of all religions (or none) pay taxes.


See http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/feb/20/backers-god-we-trust-license-plate-get-10000-break/?city_local
Summary of the bill:
http://www.kslegislature.org/supplemental/2010/SN2134.pdf
The full text of the bill can be found here:
http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2010/2134.pdf