Latest news with #CenterforChristianVirtue
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Ohio law to require adult websites to verify users' ages
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Adult websites will soon be required to confirm that Ohio users are over 18 years old before granting them access to explicit content. A provision in the state's two-year operating budget, signed by Gov. Mike DeWine in June, will require pornography platforms and any website that hosts content that is 'obscene or harmful to juveniles' to verify their visitors are adults. How a typo could mean Ohio's state tree isn't the buckeye Users in Ohio will have to prove their age by uploading a copy of a government-issued photo ID or other personal identification, such as proof of a mortgage or employment. Purveyors of online pornography would be required to 'immediately' delete such documents after the verification is complete, unless a user maintains an account or subscription. To ensure Ohio users' ages are verified, adult websites will be responsible for using technology to monitor the location of their visitors. The Ohio Attorney General will hold the sole authority to enforce the new law, which takes effect in late September, by filing civil lawsuits against companies that do not comply. The provision in the state budget follows multiple similar legislative efforts, including a bill introduced in 2024 and another earlier this year called 'The Innocence Act.' 40+ cars in Columbus for car show broken into Rep. Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Twp.), who introduced both previous bills, argued at a hearing earlier this year that age-verification measures would protect minors from 'harmful' content. 'In Ohio, businesses that primarily sell or rent adult content are legally required to verify the age of their customers,' Demetriou said. 'The Innocence Act brings this commonsense safeguard into the 21st century.' The lawmaker cited multiple studies, including a 2010 study in the scientific journal Aggressive Behavior, that found exposure to violent X-rated content led to an increase in self-reported sexually aggressive behavior. He also pointed to studies that linked pornography to heightened feelings of social isolation and sexist attitudes toward women. The bill drew support from the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the Center for Christian Virtue, Catholic Conference of Ohio and Collaborative to End Human Trafficking. While the age-verification bill introduced this year did not progress to the point of receiving opponent testimony before the state's new law was passed as part of the budget, the 2024 bill did. Central Ohio organization on edge after 'big, beautiful bill' passes Gary Daniels, a lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union, was the only person to speak out against the bill. He said historically such laws have been weaponized against movies, magazines, video games, sex education and more. 'There is something to be said about parental control and not involving government, law enforcement, courts, and incarceration,' Daniels said. 'Software that filters and/or blocks online content is widely available and inexpensive, much of it free. This allows parents to limit or block access for their own children without requiring the same be done for all minors and without burdening adults.' Currently, 21 states have laws in effect that require age verification to access online pornography, according to the Free Speech Coalition. Four more states – including Ohio, Missouri, Arizona and North Dakota – have passed laws that are set to go into effect in the future. Some adult websites, including PornHub, have completely blocked access to regions with age-verification laws on the books. While the Free Speech Coalition filed lawsuits against multiple states with age-verification laws, the United States Supreme Court ruled in June that a Texas age-verification law could stand. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
25-06-2025
- Politics
Ohio plans swift appeal as court declares private school voucher system unconstitutional
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio signaled on Wednesday that it will swiftly appeal a court ruling declaring the state's private school voucher system unconstitutional, a decision celebrated by public school advocates and condemned by a prominent Christian education organization. Republican Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement that he is confident the state will ultimately win. He assured Ohio families that the judge's order allows the program to remain operational as the lawsuit is argued, "so parents don't have to panic or worry about other options while the court process plays out.' Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page granted summary judgment Tuesday in a 2022 lawsuit joined by hundreds of public school districts, known collectively as Vouchers Hurt Ohio, as well as some parents, students and a fair school funding group. The plaintiffs had argued that Ohio's 28-year-old school voucher plan, known as EdChoice, has over time created an unconstitutional system of separately funded private schools and led to resegregation of some districts because mostly nonminority students take advantage of the program. Page, a Democrat, agreed that the program violates a provision of the Ohio Constitution requiring 'a thorough and efficient system of common schools," but rejected claims that it violated the equal protection clause. She used her 47-page decision to recount Ohio's history of funding schools, noting that evidence presented in the case spanned from before statehood to the 2023 state budget bill that established a universal voucher program providing tuition to nonpublic schools, including religious ones, to any family in the state. Page notably rejected the widely used 'school choice' legal argument, which says that voucher programs involve spending decisions made by individual parents, not by the state. The judge found that argument failed in this case. She said families aren't the EdChoice program's final decision-makers: 'The ultimate decision to accept prospective students, and by doing so receive EdChoice funds, lies with the private school.' The Ohio Christian Education Network, the rapidly expanding education arm of the Center for Christian Virtue, expressed strong disagreement with the ruling. 'This decision is poorly reasoned and ignores mountains of previous school choice jurisprudence at both (the) state and federal levels,' Troy McIntosh, the network's executive director, said in a statement. 'The fact is that this decision is not only an improper legal decision, but it could result in almost 100,000 Ohio students being tossed out of the school they have chosen to attend." The Ohio Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, praised the ruling as a win for the nearly 90% of K-12 students who attend Ohio's public schools. "Although this legal victory is likely the first step in a much longer process through the appeals courts, the ruling Tuesday represents a huge victory for Ohio's public school educators, school communities, and students who have seen critical resources diverted from our public schools for years to fund private school tuition payments for mostly-wealthy families whose children had never attended their local public schools in the first place,' OEA President Scott DiMauro said in a statement.
Fox News
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
We replaced families with Uncle Sam. DOGE must make the right choices when cutting
If we want a smaller government, we need stronger families. President Donald Trump's efforts to shrink the size and scope of government through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has the potential to change the trajectory of the nation. But Trump can't deliver this promise only by cutting wasteful spending. American taxpayers have been forced to fund DEI programs in Europe, drag shows in Ecuador, and electric vehicle experiments in Asia — turning off this tap won't be enough. Soon, the path to restoring fiscal health in America is going to lead the administration down much more politically treacherous paths – ones that may include trimming government programs that millions of Americans use. If this causes us to panic, we ought to ask the obvious question: why are so many millions of Americans reliant on programs like housing assistance, food stamps and government-funded healthcare? In fact, a big part of the answer is that the decline of marriage and the collapse of families has fueled much of our nation's large-scale dependence on government to meet too many of our basic needs. In order for DOGE to navigate these waters and accomplish its massive ambition, it will have to think along deeper lines than trimming staff and wasteful programs from the federal government. It will have to relinquish government power back to smaller units: families, communities and states. The Center for Christian Virtue and the Institute for Family Studies recently collaborated on a new study called "The Hope and a Future Report." This report takes a deep dive into how decreasing marriage rates, especially among the low-income Ohioans, are driving poverty, academic failure and violence in our communities – all of which drive the growth of government. Consider child poverty: In Youngstown Ohio, 68% of children are living in homes without a married father. Fifty percent of Youngstown children are in poverty. From there, the data tracks on nearly a straight line down: in Vice President JD Vance's hometown of Middletown, Ohio, 51% of children are living in unmarried homes, with 26% of kids in poverty. Then you have New Albany, Ohio, where 91% of children are being raised in a married home, and a mere 4% child poverty rate. More broadly, what we see is that children in single-mother families are four times more likely to be poor in Ohio than children in married families. For DOGE, and any leader interested in scaling back the size of government at the federal or state level, child poverty is their scourge. Children in poverty are far more likely to rely on government services not just today, but long into the future. Again, look to Ohio for a case study. In Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's projected 2025 budget, the state Office of Budget and Management says Ohio is expecting to receive $25.5 billion dollars from the federal government – the majority of this for Medicaid, a program specifically for low-income children, families and adults. In fact, family breakdown is deeply tied to the three biggest items in state spending. Typical state budgets do three things: education, health and human services and law and order. They educate, they medicate and they incarcerate. A staggering 88.4% of Ohio's budget is spent on these three areas and all three are more expensive for taxpayers when kids aren't born into the ideal and most stable environment. That's because school failure, child poverty and antisocial behavior are significantly more common for children and families in non-intact families. Children from non-intact families in Ohio are 72% more likely to have their parents contacted by a teacher or principal at their school for behavioral or learning problems, compared to children from intact, married families, according to an IFS-CCV analysis of the National Survey of Children's Health. Included in the Hope and a Future Report is a first-ever Family Structure Index which ranks all 50 states according to the health of their family culture. The Index analyzes demographic and fertility data to investigate which states are home to the strongest, most stable and most sustainable families. Unsurprisingly, we see a connection between healthy and stable families and the economic well-being of a state. Seven of the top 10 states in the Family Structure Index are also in the top 10 in the American Legislative Exchange Commissions Laffer State Economic Outlook Rankings of 2024, which analyzes the states with the lowest tax and regulatory policies. In other words, one reason states like Utah, Idaho and South Dakota are doing so well economically and fiscally is that they also have some of the strongest families in the nation. For DOGE, and any leader interested in scaling back the size of government at the federal or state level, child poverty is their scourge. Children in poverty are far more likely to rely on government services not just today, but long into the future. Elon Musk, who is currently overseeing Trump's DOGE, has been a great advocate for half of the family solution here: that we should celebrate children. But, judging by his own approach to family formation, he doesn't seem to appreciate how much marriage matters for our kids and our country. In order to protect these children from poverty and to keep them from ultimately becoming dependent on the government, we first need to encourage marriage. This not only best serves the kids, but over the coming years will make federal and state government far more efficient than even Musk's wildest dreams. Brad Wilcox is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Virginia, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of "Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization." Aaron Baer is the president of the Center for Christian Virtue.
