Arizona Gets Help In Defense From Federal Lawsuit, Congressman Harper Among Critics of Obama Lawsuit

One News Now has a story on a Christian law firm that will assist Arizona in its defense against the Obama Justice Department's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of The Grand Canyon State's immigration enforcement statute.

The lawsuit argues that Arizona's new measure, which requires state and local police to question and possibly arrest illegal aliens during the enforcement of other laws, like traffic stops, usurps federal authority.

President Barack Obama has called the state law "misguided," but Jordan Sekulow, director of international operations with the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), contends that Obama's grievance is what is misguided.

"For President Obama to invoke race in this, which he did in that speech -- calling this divisive, saying this may lead to people being pulled over because of how they talk or what color their skin is, and then, of course, invoking religion -- is totally misguided," Sekulow argues

Not missing an opportunity to cry wolf, Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, cheered the lawsuit. Maybe he was "Jealous" that Obama was stealing some of his "poor me" mojo, and wanted to ride the President's coat tails. At any rate, he had the following statement

“In filing this lawsuit, the Obama administration has taken a strong and principled stand against Arizona’s discriminatory law," said Jealous. "African-Americans have the misfortune of being all too familiar with the pernicious effects of racial profiling, and we welcome the addition of the administration to the broad spectrum of organizations already challenging this unconstitutional law.”

Sekulow says that while a crackdown on illegal immigration has the support of the majority of Americans, many Christian groups "have bought into President Obama's propaganda."

The international operations director adds challenging the constitutionality of Arizona's border enforcement law is not going to do anything to solve the root problem: the continued failure of the federal government to protect the United States from the illegal alien invasion.

"You have drug wars going on 12 miles from the Arizona border where 21 people are killed, and this is creeping right into the state," he notes. "So what our leaders have done here in our country is made it a political issue."

Sekulow says the ACLJ is going to file an amicus brief supporting the border state's law.

Mississippi Congressman Gregg Harper joined other conservative members of the House condemning the adminstrations decision to follow through with the lawsuit.

"It is illegal to be in the United States without proper documentation, plain and simple. Those who are here illegally should have to face consequences," said Harper. "Arizona had taken a reasonable and constitutional approach to end this decades-old problem that has continuously been ignored by the Obama Administration. Illegal immigration is a matter of national security."

Madison County DA: Baby was alive when dumped in Flora

Suspected mother of dumped infant treated

FLORA — Authorities believe the newborn boy found in a suitcase left in weeds behind a church was alive when his mother disposed of him, Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest said.

Shelia Ealey, 41, who already had five children, is charged with murder.

"The baby was not born at a hospital," Guest said Tuesday. "Based on the investigation, it appears the child was alive when she abandoned it, which appears to be a short time after she gave birth - less than 24 hours."

On Tuesday, Ealey, of Flora, was treated at a hospital for complications related to childbirth. Officials still are awaiting DNA tests to determine if Ealey is the baby's mother.

Ealey is expected to have her initial appearance today in Madison County Justice Court. She is being held in the Madison County jail without bond.

Guest said evidence in the case points to murder but a grand jury will determine whether Ealey will be indicted on murder, manslaughter or capital murder. He said the investigation is ongoing.

Madison County Coroner Alex Breeland said an autopsy has been completed but the cause of death is pending further results.

The infant was found Friday behind Smith Chapel Baptist Church by a church member clearing weeds around the property. The boy was wrapped in a garbage bag and blanket inside the suitcase.

The church, where Ealey attended, is on rural Livingston-Vernon Road, east of U.S. 49 in the Kearney Park community, and about a mile from Ealey's home.

Hours after the baby was discovered, Ealey turned herself in to deputies.

Ealey's neighbors Belinda Walker and Clara Cowan said they never knew she was pregnant.

"We couldn't tell," said Walker, who lives next door to Ealey on Magnolia Street.

Walker said Ealey lived alone with her five children and they appeared to be a normal family.

Cowan, 59, said she's known Ealey since Ealey was a toddler. Ealey grew up in the Magnolia Street home across from Cowan's.

Cowan said she would see Ealey go to work, come home and cook for her children every day.

"None of us thought she was the one who did this. Everybody's shocked," Cowan said.

Cowan said Ealey's oldest child is in his early 20s and the youngest is about 9 years old.

Madison County Sheriff Toby Trowbridge said Ealey's children would most likely be placed in the care of relatives.

Clarion Ledger

Arrest made in dead baby case

An arrest has been made in the case of a baby who's body was found in a suitcase behind a church near Flora.

Madison County Sheriff Toby Trowbridge says 41-year-old Sheila Ealey, of Flora, turned herself in to authorities late Friday night between 9 and 10pm.

An autopsy has been performed on the infant's body and Sheriff Trowbridge says DNA testing will confirm whether Ealey is the mother of the newborn.

Ealey is being held in the Madison County Detention Center without bond and will appear in court Tuesday.

WLBT

Rock solid reputation: Forest near Flora a real gem

FLORA — This year's guest book at the Mississippi Petrified Forest boasts the signatures of visitors from Iceland, Italy, Australia, Cuba, England, India and Turkey.

As of Wednesday, it also gained the signature of Susie Crommett, 64, of Madison, who made her first trip here.

"Yes, I hate to admit it, but I've never taken the time to stop and see it - which was a mistake because this place is beautiful," she says. "And to make matters worse, I'm originally from Yazoo City. I've driven past the sign about the petrified forest on (U. S. 49) a million times."

Crommett came at the urging of her granddaughter, whose brother had visited here. "It's a shame, really," Crommett says. "We go all over creation - to Disneyland and the like - but never stop to look at the things in our own backyard. But this place isn't hyped a lot. You don't hear a lot about it."

The Mississippi Petrified Forest, located about two miles southwest of Flora just off U.S. 49, is the only one of its kind in the nation east of the Mississippi River. Here, you can see and touch logs and pieces of wood that are roughly 36 million years old. They are everywhere along a shady, clean walking path in the middle of about eight acres.

One should allow about 45 minutes to cover the half-mile trail. Points of interest are numbered and information about each is included in a pamphlet.

And, yes, that figure is correct: 36 million years old. Bob Dellar, resident expert who helps run the place, has done the math to put it in perspective.

"Scientists say the age of the earth is about 4.5 billion years old," he says. "If you put that in reference to a football field - 300 feet - the average human life span would be about the width of a human hair, or 12 millionths of an inch. These petrified logs, or 36 million years, would represent 2.4 feet."

Petrified wood is a tree that turned to stone beneath sediment, which was originally carried by wind, water or ice. All its organic material has been replaced by minerals. Over time, erosion causes the petrified wood to surface.

The petrified forest here was believed to have been first publicly recognized in an 1845 article written by a state geologist. National Geographic magazine featured the forest in a story about Mississippi in its September 1937 edition.


"In 1955, the Schabilion family - Bob and Shirl - came across the forest and felt it was something that needed to be preserved. Bob Schabilion had a keen interest in rocks and minerals," Dellar says. "Only problem was, it wasn't for sale. They were finally able to buy it in 1962 - mortgaging about everything they owned - and the forest opened to the public in 1963."

It is still owned by the Schabilion family.

In 1966, it became a Registered National Natural Landmark. The Legislature made petrified wood the official state stone in 1976.

"I really do believe we're one of the best-kept secrets in the state -even though there are signs along Highway 49 that direct people here," he says. "I continue to be amazed by the people in this part of the state who don't even know it's here. But once they visit, they're usually repeat customers."

A campground with spots for 11 RVs and four or more tents is also available. A gift shop is stocked full of jewelry made of petrified wood.

Visitors are welcomed to try their hand at fluming, which is similar to panning for gold except the prizes are gems and minerals. One recent visitor came away with colorful blue calcite, Mexican opal, peacock ore and a piece of quartz.

"I have driven past the petrified forest in Arizona but was never able to stop and go in," says Jim Wirshing, 54, of Montgomery, Ala., standing in the gift shop. "So when my wife and I came across this place a while back, we stopped and really enjoyed it. We were back in the area, so I decided to come out again.

"The petrified wood is beautiful and nice to see. But one of the things I love about this place is the trail you walk. You feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. You can't hear vehicles on the highway. I totally just let my brain rest when I'm out there. It's really a neat, relaxing thing."

Clarion Ledger

Coroner: Baby Found Dead In Suitcase Behind Flora Church

Body Found Off Livingston Vernon Road In Flora

The body of a baby was found stuffed in a suitcase on Friday, the Madison County coroner said.

Coroner Alex Breeland said the body was found behind a church in the 3200 block of Livingston Vernon Road in Flora at about 2:30 p.m.

Breeland said the baby was a newborn boy, but he said he's not sure how the baby died.

WAPT

Thompson Wants Answers On FEMA Trailers

Congressman Seeks Inquiry on Trailers

A Mississippi congressman asked the Justice Department on Thursday to investigate the use of potentially contaminated FEMAtrailers to house cleanup workers involved with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The request, by Representative Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, followed an article about the trailers Thursday in The New York Times.

In his letter, Mr. Thompson, a Democrat who was one of the most vocal opponents of the public sale of the trailers, also demanded that the General Services Administration and FEMA provide documents by July 15 indicating how each agency has enforced the legally binding requirements on the buyers of the trailers.

More than 100,000 of the trailers were publicly auctioned this year by the federal government on the condition that they not be used for long-term housing and with the requirement that placards be posted warning of the trailers’ potential hazards from high levels of formaldehyde, a carcinogen. Buyers were required to sign a legally binding waiver agreeing to these terms.

Before the auction, Congressional opponents of the sale said there would be no way to enforce these rules. New evidence emerged this week indicating the validity of those concerns.

In a separate letter, Representative Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee, asked the G.S.A. for documentation relating to the trailers’ sale and oversight of their use.

On Friday, Mr. Markey also said that he had asked for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the sales of the trailers constituted an unfair or deceptive practice under the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Laura J. Gerdes, a spokeswoman with the Louisiana attorney general's office, said there office has opened an investigation into the matter as well.

The New York Times

Hasn't Steele Crammed His Foot Far Enough Down His Throat, Yet? Apparently, Not.

Latest Steele Gaffe Prompts Fresh Calls for His Resignation

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s recent comments that the war in Afghanistan is “a war of Obama’s choosing” released on YouTube have led prominent Republican columnist William Kristol to ask him to step down.

And some Republicans on Capitol Hill wouldn’t mind if he took that advice.

"Exhibit 2,345 as to why Steele should not be chairman," one GOP aide said. "The question is, who does he fire this time? Mr. Chairman, Please listen to Mr. Kristol."

Steele’s comments, captured in a poor-quality video at a fundraiser, had Democrats in attack mode and had Republicans cringing, even as Gen. David Petraeus arrived in Afghanistan to oversee the war effort.

“This was a war of Obama’s choosing,” Steele said in the video. “This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.”

The former Maryland lieutenant governor later added, “It was the president who was trying to be cute by half by flipping a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan. Well, if he’s such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that’s the one thing you don’t do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.”

The gaffe-prone RNC chairman also called the situation involving the dismissal of Gen. Stanley McChrystal “comical” during his talk, which appeared to be an attempt at giving messaging advice to Republican candidates for Congress.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse ripped Steele for calling the war in Afghanistan unwinnable.

“The American people will be interested to hear that the leader of the Republican Party thinks recent events related to the war are 'comical' and that he is betting against our troops and rooting for failure in Afghanistan,” Woodhouse said.

“It’s simply unconscionable that Michael Steele would undermine the morale of our troops when what they need is our support and encouragement. Michael Steele would do well to remember that we are not in Afghanistan by our own choosing, that we were attacked and that his words have consequences.”

Roll Call

Justices Say Gun Rights Apply Locally

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Second Amendment, which forbids Congress from infringing the right to keep and bear arms, applies to state and local governments as well.

WASHINGTON — The Second Amendment’s guarantee of an individual right to bear arms applies to state and local gun control laws, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in 5-to-4 decision.

Justices Will Weigh Challenges to Gun Laws (October 1, 2009) The ruling came almost exactly two years after the court first ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own guns in District of Columbia v. Heller, another 5-4 decision.

But the Heller case addressed only federal laws; it left open the question of whether Second Amendment rights protect gun owners from overreaching by state and local governments.

The ruling is an enormous symbolic victory for supporters of gun rights, but its short-term practical impact is unclear. As in the Heller decision, the justices left for another day the question of just what kinds of gun control laws can be reconciled with Second Amendment protection.

The majority said only that the right to keep handguns for self-protection at home is constitutionally protected. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the majority, reiterated the caveats in the Heller decision, saying the court did not mean to cast doubt on laws prohibiting possession of guns by felons or the mentally ill, those forbidding carrying guns in sensitive places like schools and government buildings or those regulating the commercial sale of firearms.

Read more at The New York Times

Byrd Dead at 92

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest-serving Member in history, died at 3 a.m. Monday after a brief hospital stay. He was 92.

“I am saddened that the family of U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., tearfully announces the passing of the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history,” Byrd’s office said in a statement.

In a separate statement Sunday afternoon, his office said Byrd had been hospitalized after suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration. He was described as being “seriously ill."

Byrd, who was first elected to the Senate in 1958, was President Pro Tem, a largely ceremonial post but one that put him third in succession to the presidency.

Read more at Roll Call

Thought Provoking Thursday: June 24, 2010

It's an open question. What's your answer?

Scary Stuff In Dearborn Michigan: Sharia Law (Video)

Democrats Refuse To Produce A Budget For 2010, Harper Says Move Lacks Priorities

The Hill is reporting:

House Democrats will not pass a budget blueprint in 2010, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will confirm in a speech on Tuesday.

But Hoyer will vow to crack down on government spending, saying Democrats will enforce spending limits that are lower than what President Barack Obama has called for.

In the scheduled address to the progressive think tank The Third Way, Hoyer will acknowledge that the lower chamber will do things differently this election year.

“It isn’t possible to debate and pass a realistic, long-term budget until we’ve considered the bipartisan commission’s deficit-reduction plan, which is expected in December,” according to Hoyer’s prepared remarks that were provided to The Hill.

The House has never failed to pass an annual budget resolution since the current budget rules were put into place in 1974. Hoyer this spring noted that the GOP-led Congress didn’t pass a final resolution in 1998, 2004 and 2006.

The House will put forth a “budget enforcement resolution” rather than a budget blueprint that looks beyond next year and calculates five or 10 years’ worth of deficit figures.

The House’s “enforcement” — or deeming — resolution will endorse the goals of the president’s fiscal commission and reiterate the commitment to vote on its recommendations after the midterm elections. And it will also set limits on discretionary spending “that require further cuts below the president’s budget,” according to the speech.

“This budget enforcement resolution will enforce fiscal discipline in the near term while the fiscal commission works on a long-term plan to get our country back to fiscal health,” Hoyer’s remarks state.

Mississippi Congressman Gregg Harper was not pleased with the announcement.

“The Democratic leadership in Washington has no budget for the federal government and this is because they are unwilling to take ownership of the massive budget gaps they have created," Harper said in a statement.

“Last year, the leadership spent $11,988 per household, money that we did not have. Now the President and the Democratic-led Congress continue to spend nearly $4.8 billion per day and our country has yet to see many optimistic shifts in unemployment.

"Taxpayers deserve a fiscally responsible budget that spends less, cuts taxes and reduces our national debt.”

No Surprise: Arizona Law Is Working

Immigrant families leave Arizona and tough new law

PHOENIX -- "Cuanto?" asks a young man pointing to four bottles of car polish at a recent garage sale in an east Phoenix neighborhood.

The question, Spanish for "How much?" sends Minerva Ruiz and Claudia Suriano scrambling and calling out to their friend, Silvia Arias, who's selling the polish. "Silvia!"

Arias is out of earshot, so Suriano improvises.

"Cinco dolares," she says. "Five dollars." And another sale is made.

As the women await their next customer in the rising heat of an Arizona morning, they talk quietly about food and clothes, about their children and husbands. They are best friends, all mothers who are viewed as pillars of parental support at the neighborhood elementary school.

All three are illegal immigrants from Mexico.

They're holding the garage sale to raise money to leave Arizona, along with many others, and to escape the state's tough new law that cracks down on people just like them.

The law's stated intention is unambiguous: It seeks to drive illegal immigrants out of Arizona and to discourage them from coming here.

There is no official data tracking how many are leaving because of the new law. "It's something that's really tough to get a handle on numerically," said Bill Schooling, Arizona's state demographer. "It's not just the immigration bill. It's also employer sanctions and the economy. How do you separate out the motivating factors?"

But anecdotal evidence provided by schools and businesses in heavily Hispanic neighborhoods and by healthcare clinics suggest that sizable numbers are departing. Ignacio Rodriguez, associate director for the Phoenix Roman Catholic diocese's Office of Hispanic Ministries, said churches in the area are also seeing families leave.

Priests are "seeing some people approach them and ask for a blessing because they're leaving the state to go back to their country of origin or another state," he said. "Unless they approach and ask for a sending-off blessing, we wouldn't have any idea they're leaving or why."

Ruiz and Suriano and their families plan to move this month. Arias and her family are considering leaving, but are waiting to see if the law will go into effect as scheduled July 29, and, if so, how it will be enforced.

The law requires police investigating another incident or crime to ask people about their immigration status if there's a "reasonable suspicion" they're in the country illegally. It also makes being in Arizona illegally a misdemeanor, and it prohibits seeking day-labor work along the state's streets.

Read more at the Sun Herald

Ariz. lawmaker takes aim at automatic citizenship

PHOENIX – Emboldened by passage of the nation's toughest law against illegal immigration, the Arizona politician who sponsored the measure now wants to deny U.S. citizenship to children born in this country to undocumented parents.

Legal scholars laugh out loud at Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce's proposal and warn that it would be blatantly unconstitutional, since the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the U.S.

But Pearce brushes aside such concerns. And given the charged political atmosphere in Arizona, and public anger over what many regard as a failure by the federal government to secure the border, some politicians think the idea has a chance of passage.

"I think the time is right," said state Rep. John Kavanagh, a Republican from suburban Phoenix who is chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. "Federal inaction is unacceptable, so the states have to start the process."

Earlier this year, the Legislature set off a storm of protests around the country when it passed a law that directs police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. The law also makes it a state crime to be an illegal immigrant. The measure, which takes effect July 29 unless blocked in court, has inflamed the national debate over immigration and led to boycotts against the state.

An estimated 10.8 million illegal immigrants were living in the U.S. as of January 2009, according to the Homeland Security Department. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that as of 2008, there were 3.8 million illegal immigrants in this country whose children are U.S. citizens.

Pearce, who has yet to draft the legislation, proposes that the state of Arizona no longer issue birth certificates unless at least one parent can prove legal status. He contends that the practice of granting citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. encourages illegal immigrants to come to this country to give birth and secure full rights for their children.

"We create the greatest inducement for breaking our laws," he said.

The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War, reads: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." But Pearce argues that the amendment was meant to protect black people.

"It's been hijacked and abused," he said. "There is no provision in the 14th Amendment for the declaration of citizenship to children born here to illegal aliens."

John McGinnis, a conservative law professor at Northwestern University, said Pearce's interpretation is "just completely wrong." The "plain meaning" of the amendment is clear, he said.

Senate candidate Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican and darling of the tea party movement, made headlines last month after he told a Russian TV station that he favors denying citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.

A similar bill was introduced at the federal level in 2009 by former Rep. Nathan Deal, a Georgia Republican, but it has gone nowhere.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, based in Washington, said Pearce's idea would stop immigrants from traveling to the U.S. to give birth.

"Essentially we are talking about people who have absolutely no connection whatever with this country," spokesman Ira Mehlman said. "The whole idea of citizenship means that you have some connection other than mere happenstance that you were born on U.S. soil."

Citizenship as a birthright is rare elsewhere in the world. Many countries require at least one parent to be a citizen or legal resident.

Adopting such a practice in the U.S. would be not only unconstitutional but also impractical and expensive, said Michele Waslin, a policy analyst with the pro-immigrant Immigration Policy Center in Washington.

"Every single parent who has a child would have to go through this bureaucratic process of proving their own citizenship and therefore proving their child's citizenship," she said.

Araceli Viveros, 27, and her husband, Saul, 34, are illegal immigrants from the Mexican state of Guerrero. He has been in Phoenix for 20 years, she for 10, and their 2- and 9-year-old children are U.S. citizens.

"I am so proud my children were born here. They can learn English and keep studying," Viveros said in Spanish.

She said her husband has been working hard in Phoenix as a landscaper, and their children deserve to be citizens. The lawmaker's proposal "is very bad," she said. "It's changing the Constitution, and some children won't have the same rights as other children."

Associated Press

Obama's Moratorium On Drilling Slapped Down By A Federal Judge

Judge block Gulf offshore drilling moratorium

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in New Orleans has blocked a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects that was imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill.

Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs had asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium.

President Barack Obama’s administration has halted the approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling at 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf.

Feldman says in his ruling that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium. He says it seems to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.


Gulf Coast Oil Spill

More Simple Speak From Governor Chris Christie: Confrontation Is Good (Video)

Locals lament second landfill

DEQ hears concerns before deciding whether to give permit

Tougaloo College student government leaders have a message for state officials: Don't approve another landfill on North County Line Road.

"They're not healthy. I'm already struggling with my asthma, and others are, too. Would you want your kids to put up with that?" student Courtney Coleman said at a community meeting last week that attracted about 150 Hinds and Madison county residents.

"A landfill is not only poisoning us, but Madison County and Mississippi," said Amber Williams, vice president of the college's student government association. "If the landfill continues, then the student body will rise. Many of us are registered to vote."

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is seeking comments from residents as it considers whether to issue a permit for the 94-acre landfill on North County Line Road.

"Before we make any decision on a permit, we want to hear the concerns of the people," said Melissa Collier, director of DEQ's office of community engagement.

The proposed landfill, NCL Waste LLC, was formerly known as the Bilberry site. It would be the second landfill on the line between Madison and Hinds counties and would sit to the north of the 165-acre Little Dixie landfill in operation since 1979.

Madison County has another landfill operated by the city of Canton, making it the only county with two solid-waste disposal sites. Seventeen other Mississippi counties have landfills.

Ridgeland resident Sylvia Thomas, president of the North Livingston Road Homeowners Association, said the stench, property depreciation, bad roads, stray animals, rodents and insects are problems caused by the existing landfill, and a second site will compound the problems.

"If you allow this landfill in the county, this will be a grave environmental injustice to this community," she said.

"We are just sick and tired of landfills and the birds, vermin and whatever that come with them," Hinds County Supervisor Doug Anderson said.

Madison County Board of Supervisors attorney Eric Hamer said in February that the board has held numerous hearings, "dating back to 1999," but Hinds County supervisors never attended or voiced their opinions in those public meetings.

Read more at The Clarion Ledger

Lesbian Teen At Center Of Prom Flap To Meet Obama

Constance McMillen Invited To White House During LGBT Pride Month

The lesbian student who waged a legal battle against her Mississippi high school after being denied permission to bring her girlfriend to the prom will meet President Barack Obama as he marks the contributions of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Americans Tuesday at the White House.

Constance McMillen made headlines months ago when her Mississippi high school canceled prom because she wanted to bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.

"The honor of being invited to join President Obama at the White House ceremony and the amazing support I've received has helped me come to terms with what happened over the prom," McMillen in a statement Monday.

"Unfortunately, I've heard from a lot of other kids who are having problems at their schools, too. I am grateful that President Obama recognizes the difficulties that LGBT youth still have, and I really hope the attention my case has generated will help encourage Congress to pass a federal law barring LGBT discrimination in schools so that no one else has to go through what I did."

A judge ruled in March that the school had violated her constitutional rights.

McMillen appeared on the CBS' "The Early Show" in March and said legal battle had been worth it.

The teen has garnered much attention since her story came out and she has appeared on the "The Early Show," "The Wanda Sykes Show" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about how she is fighting for tolerance. DeGeneres presented her with a $30,000 college scholarship from Tonic, a digital media company. A Facebook page set up by the ACLU for McMillen has over 400,000 fans.

McMillen will also serve as a Grand Marshal in the New York City Pride parade on June 27.

CBS

Reed In Stable Condition At UMC, Another Dead Following Collision

Former Mississippi Republican Party chairman Clarke Reed has been injured and another man has been killed in a two-vehicle accident in Greenville.


Police say 68-year-old Leonard Crow, identified as being from Oklahoma, died in Monday's crash after his car collided with another driven by Reed at an intersection.

Police say Crow died at Delta Regional Medical Center.

Reed, who also served as the GOP's national committee member from Mississippi, was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson where he was listed in stable condition Tuesday.

A passenger in Crow's car also taken to UMC but their condition was not available.

Police say the collision is under investigation.