


Largest test score drops in 50 years reported
Last week the National Center for Education Statistics released test scores showing the biggest drops in national average scores in math and reading in the last 50 years. “It’s clear that COVID-19 shocked American education and stunted the academic growth of this age group of students,” NCES

After Covid: unhappiness is worse among single and non-religious Americans
The last two years have been hard on everyone, with numerous disruptions to life of many kinds leading many of us to feel, as the General Social Survey (GSS) might put it, “not too happy.” Pandemic disease, lockdowns, protests, riots, crime, divisive politics, shootings, deaths

Two diseases, one judgment
Consider the world’s two most novel diseases. When the first, Covid-19, traversed the globe with record alacrity, people were both required by law and urged by society to “stop the spread.” Lockdowns. Remote work. Shuttered schools. Masks. Social distancing. Hospitals and nursing homes sealed off

Health care workers denied religious exemption to COVID-19 vaccine mandate settle lawsuit for $10.3M
A Christian litigation nonprofit announced Friday that it settled the “first classwide lawsuit for health care workers over a COVID shot mandate” in the United States. The settlement awards those workers more than $10.3 million. Liberty Counsel brought the lawsuit against NorthShore University HealthSystem, located in the

Arrested for Praying Silently on a UK Street?
On Feb. 24, 2021, Rosa Lalor left her home in Liverpool, England, to go for a walk. By the end of that walk, the 76-year-old grandmother found herself apprehended and then questioned by police officers — before eventually being fined. Her crime: praying silently on

Kentucky to treat churches as ‘essential services’ during pandemics, emergencies
Kentucky has passed a law that requires the government to treat houses of worship the same as essential services whenever a state of emergency is declared after many states and municipalities enacted emergency orders during the pandemic limiting the size and scope of religious gatherings.

The latest on Sister Dede: D.C. has given her a religious exemption from vaccination mandate
Sister Deirdre Byrne, perhaps better known as “Sister Dede,” says that Washington, D.C. officials have accepted her religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for health care workers, allowing her to resume her work as a physician and surgeon until 2023. The Catholic sister learned

Sister Dede’s Medical License Restored, After Temporary Religious Exemption From Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers
The religious sister who sued Washington, D.C., for denying her a religious exemption to its COVID-19 vaccination mandate for health care workers has received a temporary reprieve. Sister Dierdre Byrne, a nun who is also a physician-surgeon and a retired U.S. Army colonel, told the Register the

Trudeau Lifts Emergencies Act Just after Extension
The Canadian government announced Wednesday it will revoke the Emergencies Act after invoking it only nine days ago, acknowledging that there is no longer a crisis of civil disobedience with truckers protesting the cross-border vaccine mandate that requires such sweeping federal intervention. “Today, after careful consideration, we’re