Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v Supreme Court is poised to decide whether states that allow secular charter schools must also allow charter schools that are religious in their mission and curriculum an upstart virtual Catholic school based in Oklahoma City How would it impact the way reform advocates and the broader public view charter schools And what would it mean for the private education sector In 2012, I wrote an essay called “Are Charters Enough Choice School Choice and the Future of Catholic Schools.” At the time charter schools were ascendant and growing exponentially and private-school choice faced formidable political hurdles to expansion parental-choice advocates should embrace both charter schools and private-school choice for many reasons including the fact that charter school laws universally prohibit religious charter schools Private-school choice is now ascendant and growing exponentially and charter schools face formidable political hurdles to expansion Supreme Court decisions call into question the constitutionality of laws banning religious charter schools The court is currently considering that question in a case concerning what would be the nation’s first religious charter school Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School a joint project of the two Roman Catholic dioceses in Oklahoma wants to use charter school funds to make a high-quality authentically Catholic education available to students across a large rural state where many underserved communities lack access to options other than traditional public schools But the Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered the Oklahoma Charter School Board to rescind its contract with St The school argues that this exclusion amounts to unconstitutional religious discrimination I focus not on the legal arguments in that case but on its policy consequences Would a decision requiring Oklahoma to permit a religious charter school be a net positive for school choice My answer—yes—flows from three principles: First religious freedom is good for parental choice It would advance religious freedom and expand options for families it would not fundamentally reshape the parental-choice landscape were created within a few months of one another—in 1990 and 1991 Few observers foresaw that charter schools would eclipse vouchers as the preferred parental-choice mechanism Conservatives had promoted vouchers for decades; charter schools were an entirely novel idea Vouchers would expand access to existing schools including religious schools with a long record of excellence; charter school programs necessitated the creation of new schools elite opinion had coalesced on the view that charters were enough choice They offered a politically palatable alternative to vouchers Charter schools would be privately operated and freed from regulations governing traditional public schools but they would be called “public,” and they would be secular Because of the support for charters on the political left many on the right redirected their energies away from private-school choice and toward charters the overall results of which dishearteningly demonstrate that kids have not recovered from learning losses incurred during the Covid-induced school closures Why does it make any sense to foreclose the option of some of these schools participating in charter school programs but that’s hardly a reason to ban religious charter schools in Oklahoma more is at stake here than the continuity of charter schools’ funding the question before the court turns on whether charter schools are private actors or government actors the argument about the legal status of Oklahoma charter schools has focused on the so-called state action doctrine which recognizes the right of private organizations to participate in government work without losing their status as nongovernmental entities a private entity is only bound by the federal Constitution in the very rare cases when the entity is so closely controlled that its actions are attributable to the government he pivoted to a slightly different argument asserting that all charter schools in Oklahoma are actually government entities because they are created by the chartering process A private nonprofit doesn’t automatically become a government entity just because it is engaged in work alongside a state or local government or all corporations are created by the corporate chartering process Oklahoma charter operators ought to be considered private their employees don’t work for the government and they are statutorily guaranteed many freedoms from the rules covering government-run public schools Many states now reject the “charters are enough choice” compromise. Thirty-four states have at least one private-school choice program and 13 states extend eligibility to participate in those programs to all or most families Most of the latter group of states have chosen to create Education Savings Account (ESA) programs that permit parents to spend public funds on a range of education expenses concerns about regulatory threats to religious liberty are real But these concerns are hardly limited to charter school programs While the regulation of private-school choice has thus far been minimal these programs are not equipped with magical anti-regulation invincibility shields advocates must vigilantly attend to the risk of regulatory creep (which has occurred in charter schools) which funding mechanisms will most benefit religious schools is a prudential question most religious schools will choose that path rather than hassle with charter authorization even though per-pupil funding in an ESA program is significantly lower some charter schools might opt to become private schools and charter school operators might open private schools in order to participate in ESA programs Bradford suggests that charter school regulations might threaten the independence and religious identity of faith-based schools Isidore has not asked to open a school that is Catholic in name only; its argument in the Supreme Court is that the First Amendment prohibits Oklahoma from precluding St And I assume that if Oklahoma’s charter law deprived schools of the operational autonomy necessary to do that pass on the option of opening a charter school for the reasons articulated in Bradford’s essay operational autonomy is critical to the success of secular charter schools as well the growth of private-school choice exposes the incongruity of prohibiting religious charter schools States increasingly use a range of funding mechanisms to subsidize a variety of private education services but only the charter school option takes religious instruction off the table that Catholic schools may succeed because they are “Catholic on the inside.” That is they don’t just act Catholic but actually are Catholic teachers and administrators believe that all children are made in the image and likeness of a loving God a belief that obliges them to form their students’ minds and souls in ways that will help them achieve their God-given potential It is a shame—morally and pedagogically—to force schools to excise these types of invaluable principles if they want to participate in chartering Beyond being unwise, this may well be impossible. For schools in many faith traditions, religious instruction and secular pedagogy cannot be disentangled Jewish or Islamic schools to stop teaching Catholicism or Islam is tantamount to telling them to stop being Catholic we should not expect that stripping them of the religious mission that animates their very being won’t negatively affect their success The freedom to be religious on the inside is key to that success Many people mistakenly believe that the Supreme Court is poised to open the floodgates for religious charter schools. Michael Petrilli stated recently “Religious charter schools would become legal overnight in the forty-six states with charter school laws” and predicted that “we’ll see thousands of Catholic and other religious schools turn into charter schools in every corner of the country in the next year or two.” that would be terrible for charter schools and parental choice more broadly “thousands” of religious schools are not about to become charter schools Private-school choice represents an attractive alternative and path of least resistance for religious schools in a growing number of states the court’s decision will have no effect on aspects of the charter school authorization process unrelated to religion including laws prohibiting existing private schools from becoming charter schools charter authorizations have slowed to a trickle in many states making it difficult for any new charter schools to open Isidore would be a victory for pluralism and religious liberty and those things are good for parental choice Religious charter schools would be a salutary addition to an expanding menu of publicly funded education options Apparently some Oklahoma families are drawn to virtual online Catholic education Isidore before its charter contract was rescinded Many other families will have no interest in that kind of school That is the whole point of school choice—empowering parents to choose among a range of education options to best serve their children’s unique learning needs despite their record of operating excellent schools that serve a diversity of students the Oklahoma dioceses have been told that they may not open St Isidore’s (virtual) doors for one reason and one reason only: St And that’s not only bad for parental choice it is also not how the First Amendment works Murphy Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame was the vicar for education in the Archdiocese of Newark and an upbeat and cheerful ally in the fight to expand educational opportunity in a state that sorely needed it Though I struggle to remember the exact year of the conversation I recall a particular exchange we had with surprising clarity The organization I worked for was supportive of private-school choice but also of charter schools we had all watched the city of Trenton close roughly one Catholic school a year during the 2000s Our team saw this loss as an existential supply-side threat: If we prevailed in our efforts we might well see private-school-choice legislation enacted for students in underperforming schools only for them to have no place to go It was at this meeting with Monsignor Hanbury that our team floated the idea of Catholic schools converting to charter schools as a stopgap measure while we continued to push for tax-credit scholarships Because the state would have to fund the students who attended these converted schools we even believed this move might help advance the tax-credit effort We suggested that our Catholic partners should “just take the crosses down during the day” and do religious instruction before or after school to make the charter school conversions possible I would be worried about the Catholicity of the schools.” To which I responded—not flippantly but directly—“The least Catholic school in the world is a closed one.” I have reflected on this conversation a lot lately because of St Isidore of Seville (the patron saint of the Internet) Catholic Virtual School whose application to become a charter school was ruled unconstitutional in Oklahoma touches upon some of the underlying tension in the room that day in New Jersey I cannot make the establishment clause or free exercise arguments that Nicole Stelle Garnett makes so persuasively and eloquently And I now understand that I was asking Monsignor Hanbury to do to schools that were “Catholic by design” something akin to removing the “No Excuses” ethos from many of the best charter networks in an effort to stay their execution—a measure that likely would have corrupted the thing beyond recognition I support both charter and private schools as well as other options on the growing continuum of education choice but I would be dissembling if I said this case does not concern me And while I respect the precedent of Trinity Lutheran v Makin and consider the anti-Catholic Blaine amendments that still soil many state constitutions deeply problematic most education policy actors like myself will view St Drummond through the lens of charter schools and what a ruling in the affirmative might mean for the sector which found that public employees could not be forced to pay union fees as a condition of employment The effect of Janus was blunted substantially by at-the-ready laws passed in public-sector union strongholds like New York and California that made it harder for union members to opt out gave unions the exclusive chance to “make their case” to prospective employees and locked down employee data to insulate union members from campaigns that explained their newly bestowed rights unions and blue state elected leaders locked arms to stem the flood before the dam could crack that the legal significance of the case is being overstated but the political significance of the ruling should not be underestimated which sought to determine whether a North Carolina charter school was a state actor and which was denied a hearing by the Supreme Court Isidore has an inherently religious nature as Garnett notes when citing the role religious discrimination plays in the case and the frequency of teachers-union-led anti-charter legislation across the country in both blue states and red Isidore would almost certainly catalyze a deluge of clever and destructive legislation aimed at existing charter schools and networks The existence of a “religious charter school” would seemingly confound the secular definition of public schools and the debate over that could halt charter authorizing in some states Injunctions on charter contracts could see schools not allowed to open or forced to close while the dispute plays out in local legislatures Teachers union heads and anti-charter progressives might well argue that the existence or even possibility of a religious charter school should mean a halt to current charter-school funding Some states may preemptively amend their charter laws to make it clearer that charter schools are public schools but this tightening of the charter definition could present its own problems inviting greater regulation and eroding the “different by design” spirit of the sector particularly when we consider the recent experience of some states with strong charter sectors has seen glacially slow charter-sector growth adding just 23 new seats in the last five years according to a report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Expansion in the Bay State has been held back by politics And a Pandora’s Box of novel political threats sits on the verge of opening while the concerns for charter schools are considerable the stakes and tradeoffs are equally great for independent and religious schools and there has been little examination of their fate if St Isidore’s challenge is affirmed by the court It is essential that those who support private schools Independent School Governance Is Indispensable While most parents in pursuit of the right fit for their child may not care about a school’s model of governance the positioning of that model on a continuum from state control to educational autonomy does matter and has a substantial impact on what is created One could allow that elected–school board governance—the model by which most public schools are run—may quench a thirst for “democracy,” but it is quite poor at creating new schools or improving existing ones the most powerful policy in an elected school board’s tool box may be exclusivity as these boards often use a new test-in magnet school (I write this as a supporter of magnets) or a tightened attendance zone as their preferred strategies to create new public schools or make existing ones more desirable Well-meaning board members may want to pursue other improvement strategies charter commitments and timelines for renewal provide a very different set of incentives and motivations to bring excellent and varied schooling options into the world While independent school governance may come with its own political crosswinds its existence principally outside of elected and governmental bureaucracies is essential to the kinds of schools and educational institutions it produces the ability to define clear missions grounded in a range of principles—from spiritual to secular current to timeless—are vital to the American education landscape Notre Dame (where I serve as an advisory board member for the Alliance for Catholic Education) could only have been created by an independent entity whose values and beliefs are distinct even among Catholic orders the affirmative ability to match school mission and culture with parent and student expectations in the admissions process is unique to independent private schools This mix is so powerful that many school districts use housing wealth as a proxy to achieve it and many of the nation’s best charter schools have worked to adopt it insomuch as they are allowed What are the plaid skirts of many charter schools if not a signal that they share many values with Catholic schools What was the original KIPP slogan “Work Hard Paul’s timeless “I have fought the good fight one could argue that the independence of private schools provides a critical reference point by which charter schools gauge their own freedom and recognize regulation that erodes it Isidore could be viewed as a victory for religious liberty or as an expansion of state control under the charter banner And to the extent the ruling allows or incentivizes the creation of a subsector of schools that significantly ablates essential elements of the private-school sector’s independence Families Need Schools the Government Doesn’t Run having given a speech at the Georgia Charter Schools Association’s annual conference There were signs that the world was unraveling around me but I did not know the extent to which these omens—empty streets and elbow bumps—were harbingers of the future we embarked on the initially well-intentioned but later deeply political journey of Covid-induced school closings in America A journey that saw some of the nation’s poorest students locked out of consistent in-person learning for almost two years A journey that saw teachers unions and public school bureaucracies handsomely rewarded with $190 billion in federal funds for their intransigence A journey that sacrificed a generation of young Americans in the process with two-thirds of the nation’s 8th graders now unable to read proficiently as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress a moral and policy failure of the highest order whose tuition-funded models required them to be open and educating students in order to stay afloat While the Archdiocese of Chicago continued its work accused anyone broaching the idea of reopening schools as sexist Private schools in California sued to remain open amidst Governor Gavin Newsom’s blanket shutdown order overrode a Montgomery County executive order that would have closed the area’s private and parochial schools State executives knew the obvious: Public school closings would only be tolerated if there were no counter examples demonstrating that schools could safely re-open for in-person learning large urban Catholic school systems provided both the greatest contrast to public school closings and the best rationale for the reopening of schools in cities and elsewhere One could say that the discontent sown during this moment germinated into the tree of education pluralism we see growing across the country today There are many reasons that private and Catholic schools were able to serve as exemplars during the pandemic but the most important is that they are not governed or run by the state both a shield against political overreach and a safety valve for parents when our allegedly egalitarian education system is captured by corrosive and self-serving politics A sector of schools the government does not run isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity We should be thankful that such a sector exists And to the extent private schools sacrifice this freedom by joining the charter community I have worked to create systems of education finance that not only expand educational opportunity but also help sustain private schools that have long histories of educating low-income and working-class students these same schools educated many of today’s political elites who oppose these methods of education finance It is understandable that the two Catholic dioceses in Oklahoma would want to launch a virtual school that could reach far-flung students in a rural state given the school funding landscape before 2020—which often included rural Republicans hostile to private-school choice—and echoing my exchange with the monsignor in the 2010s it is also understandable that a private or religious institution might look to charter-like flexibility and charter finance as a way to accomplish this goal New Jersey policy allows the state to “cream” strong private schools especially in low-performing school districts The financial windfall for the school is significant but so is the loss of independence when big decisions such as expansion or renewal now belong to the state The head of the state’s teachers union is currently running for governor and his administration would control charter authorizing Need more be written about this perilous deal have adopted flexible education financing that lets families choose the education that’s right for them The policy environment is growing into one that allows families—and private schools—to maintain their independence That’s being accomplished through the expansion of existing tax-credit or voucher programs the creation of Education Savings Accounts refundable tax credits (which Idaho implemented this year) and potentially congressional action on the Educational Choice for Children Act which could provide private-school scholarships to two million students across the country These are the policy tools needed to support a long-awaited “confluence of pluralism,” where private and charter schools and other fast-growing sectors of the education choice movement work together to meet family needs in an environment where families have real financial power to choose These are the tools that protect “the Catholicity” of Catholic schools They are the tools that allow independent school governance to do what it does best They are the tools that preserve the complementary distinction between traditional public And they are the tools I hope the justices of the U.S Supreme Court will affirm when they rule on religious charter schools a national nonprofit that advocates for equal opportunity in K–12 education Spring 2025 Education Next is a journal of opinion and research about education policy Subscribe Today Sign Up Today Program on Education Policy and GovernanceHarvard Kennedy School79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138Phone (617) 496-5488Email Education_Next@hks.harvard.edu Vino con Stelle Gateway for Cancer Research’s premier philanthropic event The star-studded evening will be hosted by Dr. Stacie J Gateway’s Founders and Vice Chairman and Chairman and provide an amazing opportunity to further vital cancer research guests will experience a spectacular celebration with musical direction by 16-time GRAMMY® award winner David Foster and exciting entertainment from the Village People and Katharine McPhee I knew this was an area in which I wanted to make a difference and drive change The work done by Gateway for Cancer Research is so important because we are always and only about the patient Signature events like Vino con Stelle help raise funding to invest exclusively in early-phase clinical trials which are often overlooked but vital to breakthroughs,” Richard said I know firsthand that giving promotes health and happiness in the giver as well as the receiver; it’s one of the best ways to live a vibrant life,” Dr “I am immensely proud of the philanthropic work we do through Gateway for Cancer Research Our dedication to funding often overlooked trials combined with the generosity of others are driving transformative progress in cancer care.” The event will be emceed by Joey Fatone of *NSYNC who is returning for a third year in a row attendees will enjoy a citrus-sunshine-inspired menu with Italian touches and I’m particularly drawn to supporting cancer-related causes,” Fatone said I’m truly impressed by Gateway for Cancer Research’s dedication to helping those affected.” Vino con Stelle aims to provide better, safer treatment options, giving patients more time, improved quality of life and the healing power of hope while honoring the visionary scientists and brave patients who make progress possible. For more information, visit gatewaycr.com and website in this browser for the next time I comment Vino con Stelle Gateway for Cancer Research’s premier Arizona philanthropic event of the year Richard J Guests will enjoy an evening of finding funding and furthering vital cancer research designed to provide better improved quality of life and the healing power of hope The signature evening will be held at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess and promises to be a spectacular celebration with musical direction by 16-time Grammy Award winner David Foster and engaging entertainment including Katharine McPhee and the Village People international entertainer and pop icon from NSYNC will serve as emcee for the third year in a row. The event will also feature a citrus-sunshine inspired menu with some lovely Italian touches and carefully curated wines. The evening will honor the visionary scientists who dare to dream bigger and the brave patients whose courage inspires all. Purchase your tickets here The Law School Notre Dame Law School Professor Nicole Stelle Garnett was recently elected to be a member of the American Law Institute Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and associate dean for external engagement Her teaching and research focus on education law and policy and topics related to property law–especially land use and urban development policies She has published extensively on these subjects and is the author of two books Lost Community: Catholic Schools' Importance in Urban America” and “Ordering the City: Land Use Policing and the Restoration of Urban America.” She serves as the director of the Notre Dame Education Law Project and is a faculty fellow at the Institute for Educational Initiatives the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and the deNicola Center for Ethics and Culture She is also a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute Before joining the Law School faculty in 1999 Garnett worked as a staff attorney at the Institute for Justice a non-profit public-interest law firm in Washington where she helped to defend the constitutionality of the nation's first private-school-choice programs She also clerked for the Honorable Morris S Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S "I'm incredibly honored by my election to the American Law Institute I look forward to working together with my fellow ALI members to address needed legal reforms and advance the common good,” said Garnett The American Law Institute is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify and Principles of Law that are influential in the courts and legislatures as well as in legal scholarship and education its distinguished members have the opportunity to influence the development of the law in both existing and emerging areas to support the rule of law and the legal system This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page During his budget address, Gov. Josh Shapiro claimed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) “is working for Pennsylvanians.” So even the governor may doubt the ACA truly works for Pennsylvanians If it’s working, why do rural hospitals need cash infusions? Shapiro proposes $10 million for rural hospitals and another $20 million for “hospital partners” for patient safety and services. Meanwhile, no evidence exists the ACA has slowed rural hospital closures If it’s working, why is there a statewide care provider shortage? A fact Shapiro acknowledged in his address. Notably, his budget adds $10 million above the existing $8 million to repay loans for primary care medical professionals If it’s working, why would the state deny competing insurance models? Association Health Plans (AHPs) allow companies to pool funds and reduce employee health insurance costs. Yet, Pennsylvania ostensibly banned AHPs. In 2019, Pennsylvania joined 10 other states and the District of Colombia to sue the U.S. Department of Labor to reverse the agency’s new rule expanding AHPs ACA isn’t working for Pennsylvanians—full stop Shapiro’s calls for so many added subsidies and mandates to prop up our health care system prove its shortcomings Moreover, ACA is costly. Nationally, exchange premiums doubled between 2013 and 2017. The same holds true in Pennsylvania: Premiums increased 6 percent statewide this year Possessing an insurance card doesn’t guarantee affordable This is especially true with publicly subsidized programs Public insurance programs increase the amount of health care used; however Meanwhile, families continue to struggle with soaring insurance premiums. From 2019 to 2024, KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, found the average premium for family coverage increased 24 percent. About half of insured adults say it’s difficult to afford coverage One in four Americans skip or postpone treatment because of cost Shapiro was “right” about two policies to make health care more affordable The first is price transparency. Only 30 percent of Pennsylvania hospitals comply with a federal mandate to publish service prices Holding providers accountable would empower patients to shop around and avoid the sticker shock of unexpected medical bills these plans can cover everything from preventative care to emergency care Shapiro’s proposal to codify ACA into state law is another bait-and-switch maneuver. The ACA’s start in 2010 may have fooled some. But after more than two decades, Pennsylvanians want a more personal, affordable, higher-quality level of care—things the ACA has failed to provide Harrisburg must stop subsidizing failed programs and enact laws that empower Pennsylvanians to personalize their care For Comments, Questions, Or Complaints aboutour articles please contact us and one of the most unexpected moments to go down in cinematic history.. Puccini’s ‘E lucevan le stelle’ (And the stars were shining brightly) is one of the most heart-wrenching arias in the Italian tenor repertoire Sung by the doomed painter Cavaradossi in the opera Tosca filled with longing and despair as he awaits execution Puccini: Tosca: "E lucevan le stelle" (Live) It’s not exactly what you’d expect to hear in an animated film about dancing penguins… and yet Happy Feet Two delivers an unexpectedly operatic moment belts out a reimagined version of Puccini’s aria in a scene that is both charming and surprisingly poignant Erik shows his deep admiration for his father and proves that courage and heart matter more than size… and that even a tiny penguin can channel the spirit of a great tenor While Puccini’s original aria is a sorrowful farewell Happy Feet Two transforms it into a moment of triumph – from a prisoner’s lament to a young penguin’s operatic debut Read more: Evil penguin plays Bach’s Organ Toccata in Wallace and Gromit Happy Feet 2 Erik's Opera in English and English lyrics!! proving that opera’s power knows no bounds – even in the Antarctic See more Puccini latest Discover Music See more Best classical music After his studies at the Accademia d’arte drammatica debuted onstage in 1970 with Ronconi and in 1974 on the silver screen in Romanzo popolare by Monicelli including Marcia trionfale by Bellocchio (1976) Famous for his portrayal of Commissario Cattani in the TV series La piovra (1984-1989) he debuted as a director with Pummarò (1990) and then alternated his directing and acting careers including eight David di Donatello awards and five Silver Ribbons for Romanzo criminale and a David of the Youth award in 2023 for L’ombra di Caravaggio He will present Romanzo popolare at the TFF she debuted in 1970 with La moglie più bellaby Damiani (who asked her to change her name from Francesca Ravelli to the stage name she later adopted) and has worked with famous Italian directors such as Monicelli as well as international filmmakers like Allen she has received a Golden Plate at the David di Donatello awards At the TFFshe will present Romanzo popolareby Monicelli she studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London and debuted in film in 1993 with The Baby of Mâcon by Greenaway She then began her Hollywood career with Legends of the Fall (1994) performing alongside stars such as Brad Pitt After returning to Europe for Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1997) she began working in Hollywood again (for Lynch Soderbergh) and in 2010 won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress for the TV series Temple Grandin She will present Here’s Yianni!by Christina Eliopoulos at the TFF Privacy | Cookie Policy | Receive updates from the Museo Nazionale del Cinema @TorinoFilmFestival #torinofilmfest torinofilmfestival @TorinoFilmFestival TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need The new year is always a great opportunity to shed vices like smoking and binge eating their guilty pleasure tends to involve overspending and sticking taxpayers with the bill If Pennsylvania lawmakers thought to quit this dirty habit in 2025 Four of Pennsylvania’s five most populous counties can expect increased property taxes From Cumberland County’s modest 4% hike to Lackawanna’s whopping 33% tax increase more than 5 million Pennsylvanians will pay higher county taxes in 2025 but public officials must do better than double-digit tax hikes One Allegheny County Council member argued Pittsburgh is better off than other major cities, such as Atlanta and Jacksonville, which raised taxes by more than 50%. There’s just one problem, though: Those cities are growing, each adding more than 100,000 residents since 2020 creating pressure for more services the Pittsburgh metro area continues to shrink Census Bureau reports population is down nearly 32,600 state spending grows faster than state revenue — all without any real plans to cut spending The signs are the deficit could be larger than previously calculated Data from the first half of fiscal year 2024-25 show monthly revenue collections fell below official estimates three times while demand for costly government services collections were $87.2 million below the official estimate Another worrisome pattern is where state and local spending priorities intersect: education. Last June, Harrisburg passed a whopping $1.3 billion increase in education funding lawmakers have boosted education funding $4.1 billion in just four years dozens of Pennsylvania school districts still raised property taxes There’s one possible solution to this problem: the Taxpayer Protection Act (TPA) The TPA would create a legal guardrail — called an index — that pegs government spending to annual population growth and inflation if Pennsylvania’s population grows 2% and the inflation rate is 2% The TPA would force state and local governments to limit spending protecting taxpayers from future tax hikes Pennsylvania wouldn’t be in this current fiscal mess lawmakers and the governor kept spending growth within the TPA index only once we’d be facing a $2.8 billion surplus instead of a $3.6 billion deficit the governor and state lawmakers will negotiate a new budget That budget will determine if Pennsylvanians will face another spike in their cost of living or if state politicians can turn over a new leaf and rein in spending Lawmakers have many tools at their disposal to save Pennsylvanians from another round of tax hikes allowing education funding to follow students reforming our state’s burdensome regulatory environment and instituting effective tax policy can balance the budget and eliminate the threat of even more tax hikes on Pennsylvania families Only then will lawmakers kick their tax-and-spend habits Elizabeth Stelle is director of policy analysis of the Commonwealth Foundation Stay up-to-date on important news from TribLIVE 1-800-909-8742 © 2025 Trib Total Media | All Rights Reserved About Us Advertise Career Opportunities Contact Advertising Contact Circulation Contact Newsroom Contact Us Feedback Request Correction Resource Center Scholarship Opportunities Send Letter to the Editor Send News Tip Subscribe Subscriber Services Blog eFeatures Email Newsletters eTrib Facebook Home Delivery Instagram LinkedIn Marketing Minute Store Locations TribLIVE App - App Store TribLIVE App - Google Play X (formerly Twitter) Arts & Entertainment Best of the Best Business Directory Circulars Contests Coronavirus Lifestyles Local News YaJagOff Obituaries Opinion Our Publications Photos Real Estate Sports Video Weather Cookie Settings Privacy Policy Terms of Service America's Education News Source This story was co-published with The Guardian. In 2020, when Amy Coney Barrett came before the Senate for confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, one of her closest friends told a story on TV about their year together working as law clerks in the nation’s capital that’s about the coolest thing that’s ever going to happen to me,’” said Nicole Stelle Garnett She assisted Justice Clarence Thomas during the 1998 term the same year Barrett worked under Justice Antonin Scalia to see my friend testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee to walk back up the steps 21 years later is really Fast forward another five years. Garnett, now a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, is about to have her own Supreme Court moment. “This could be an earthquake for American public education,” said Samuel Abrams who directs the International Partnership for the Study of Educational Privatization at the University of Colorado As the country experiences a rise in Christian nationalism a favorable ruling could invite the encroachment of religion not only into education but other areas of civic life that have traditionally been non-sectarian “If the Supreme Court rules in favor of overturning that decision That’s a dramatic development for the First Amendment.” In a sign of the case’s gravity, the Trump administration filed a brief in support of St parents or students to the choice of forgoing religious exercise or forgoing government funds.” who handed President Donald Trump a conservative 6-3 supermajority when she was confirmed to the court leaving no explanation for sitting out what could be the most significant legal decision to affect schools in decades. the longtime friendship between the two women forged in Catholic faith and a conservative approach to jurisprudence now threatens to tip the scales away from a cause Garnett has spent her career defending The recusal increases the chances that the vote could end in a 4-4 tie which would leave the Oklahoma court’s decision intact Isidore from receiving public funds and likely send proponents of religious charters looking for a new test case. Justices typically do not offer reasons for recusing themselves A spokesperson for the Supreme Court said Barrett had no comment on the matter “I feel bad for Nicole,” said Josh Blackman an associate professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston “Amy knows what Nicole did for this case,” he said “The case is so significant because it’s an application of both [the Garnetts’] Catholic faith and their views on constitutional law.” The friendship between Garnett and Barrett developed long before the legal clash over St. Isidore. When Trump nominated Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Garnett relayed how the two first met at a coffee shop the spring before they became high court clerks in the late 1990s. “I walked away thinking I had just met a remarkable woman,” she wrote in a commentary for USA Today “It’s a heady experience and really hard work,” Garnett told The 74 When Trump nominated Barrett in 2017 to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, all 34 clerks from the Supreme Court class of ‘99 — Democrats, Republicans and independents — wrote a letter of support to the Senate judiciary committee. Their personal and professional lives have been intertwined for more than two decades she wrote that the article portrayed Barrett as “an almost robotic product of her male mentors … rather than as an accomplished and talented jurist in her own right.” Garnett and Barrett overlapped as faculty members for roughly 17 years Aside from her focus on religious liberty and education Barrett’s courses focused on constitutional law and the federal courts. “She became a lifelong friend,” Garnett said “She lived around the corner from us and we raised our kids together.” And when Trump introduced the mother of seven to the nation Garnett was seated in the Rose Garden along with senators White House officials and other dignitaries Given their intersecting interests, it’s very likely that school vouchers came up in conversation. Until 2017, Barrett served as a trustee at Trinity School at Greenlawn, a classical Christian academy in South Bend, Indiana, that participates in the state’s private school choice program Garnett, meanwhile, was honing legal arguments in favor of expanding such programs. Before joining the faculty at Notre Dame, she worked as a staff attorney for the Institute for Justice, a right-leaning law firm that has led efforts to open school choice programs to religious schools. In one case, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the expansion of Milwaukee’s voucher program to include faith-based schools. While at the institute, Garnett also worked on Bagley v. Raymond, which challenged Maine’s exclusion of religious schools from a private school choice program. The state won that case, but lost when a subsequent case about the program, Carson v. Makin Barrett joined the other five conservative justices in ruling that it was unconstitutional to keep those schools out. said she cried when the family at its center won. But even with this victory, Garnett viewed aspects of school choice as unfriendly to religious freedom. She found it troubling that to keep their doors open, many Catholic schools in Indiana were converting to charters which required them to remove all evidence of their faith “Religion has been stripped from the schools’ curricula and religious iconography from their walls,” she wrote in a 2012 paper “There is little doubt that the declining enrollments in Catholic schools are at least partially attributable to the rise of charter schools.” That view is belied by state laws that prohibit public funds from directly supporting religious schools and that define charters as public schools open to all students Some critics predict that religious groups running charters would not have to uphold the civil rights protections of LGBTQ students Garnett warned that attempts to create religious charters would face litigation for years Republicans and Catholic church leaders were ready for a fight At a time when schools remained shuttered due to COVID, Catholic school leaders in Oklahoma City and Tulsa wanted to expand virtual options and “reach more kids in a big rural state,” she said. A widely-circulated 2020 paper she wrote for the right-wing Manhattan Institute offered a legal path to get there. “I think that we found each other,” she told The 74 “I didn’t go looking for a client here It’s very organic how the whole thing unfolded.” If other recent school choice cases are any indication there’s still a good chance the court will overturn the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s opinion Such a precedent-setting development would have a huge impact on the nation’s educational landscape The court could say that “a charter school authorizer can’t turn down an otherwise qualified applicant just because it is religious “That would apply immediately to all states with charter laws on the books.” Garnett dismissed the idea that a victory for St Isidore will open the floodgates to thousands of religious schools becoming charters Applicants would still have to meet state criteria for approval The ruling “may shed light on other state’s arrangements but it definitely will not require all states to allow religious charter schools,” she said “That’s not on the table — and it’s not how the court works.” “The implications for education and society could be profound,” said Preston Green a University of Connecticut education professor. “It would mean that the government cannot exclude religious groups from any public benefits program.” Notre Dame law students who have worked with Garnett over the past two years have already asked if she can get them a seat in the courtroom for such “a hot ticket,” she said. She won’t talk about why her friend recused herself from the case “My hope is that it won’t go to a 4-4,” Garnett said “My hope is that they wouldn’t have granted [a hearing] if they thought it might But I know you don’t make assumptions about anything.” Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Linda Jacobson is a senior writer at The 74 We want our stories to be shared as widely as possible — for free Please view The 74's republishing terms. By Linda Jacobson This story first appeared at The 74, a nonprofit news site covering education. Sign up for free newsletters from The 74 to get more like this in your inbox Recusal from case with huge implications for education could tilt scales in cause her friend spent a career defending In 2020, when Amy Coney Barrett came before the Senate for confirmation to the US supreme court, one of her closest friends told a story on TV about their year together working as law clerks in the nation’s capital “That last day when you leave the court you think that’s about the coolest thing that’s ever going to happen to me,’” said Nicole Stelle Garnett to see my friend testifying before the Senate judiciary committee now a law professor at the University of Notre Dame is about to have her own supreme court moment “This could be an earthquake for American public education,” said Samuel Abrams who directs the International Partnership for the Study of Educational Privatization at University of Colorado “If the supreme court rules in favor of overturning that decision That’s a dramatic development for the first amendment.” In a sign of the case’s gravity, the Trump administration filed a brief in support of St Isidore last week who handed Donald Trump a conservative 6-3 supermajority when she was confirmed to the court leaving no explanation for sitting out what could be the most significant legal decision to affect schools in decades A spokesperson for the supreme court said Barrett had no comment on the matter an associate professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston and a proponent of religious charter schools The friendship between Garnett and Barrett developed long before the legal clash over St Isidore. When Trump nominated Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Garnett relayed how the two first met at a coffee shop the spring before they became high court clerks in the late 1990s “It’s a heady experience and really hard work,” Garnett told the 74 When Trump nominated Barrett in 2017 to serve on the US court of appeals for the seventh circuit, all 34 clerks from the supreme court class of 99 – Democrats, Republicans and independents – wrote a letter of support to the Senate judiciary committee Amy Coney Barrett and Nicole Stelle Garnett met as supreme court law clerks in the late 1990s Photograph: Courtesy of Nicole Stelle GarnettBut none knew Barrett like Garnett was honing legal arguments in favor of expanding such programs she worked as a staff attorney for the Institute for Justice a right-leaning law firm that has led efforts to open school choice programs to religious schools While at the institute, Garnett worked on Bagley v Raymond, which challenged Maine’s exclusion of religious schools from a private school choice program. The state won that case, but lost when a subsequent case about the program, Carson v Makin Barrett joined the other five conservative justices in ruling that it was unconstitutional to keep those schools out Nicole Stelle Garnett and Justice Amy Coney Barrett taught together at the University of Notre Dame for nearly 17 years Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty ImagesGarnett But even with this victory, Garnett viewed aspects of school choice as unfriendly to religious freedom. She found it troubling that to keep their doors open, many Catholic schools in Indiana were converting to charters “Religion has been stripped from the schools’ curricula and religious iconography from their walls,” she wrote in a 2012 paper Garnett warned that attempts to create faith-based charters would face litigation for years given the longstanding prohibition against using public funds for explicitly religious instruction At a time when schools remained shuttered due to Covid, Catholic school leaders in Oklahoma City and Tulsa wanted to expand virtual options and “reach more kids in a big rural state,” she said. A widely-circulated 2020 paper she wrote for the rightwing Manhattan Institute offered a legal path to get there “I think that we found each other,” she said It’s very organic how the whole thing unfolded there’s still a good chance the court will overturn the Oklahoma supreme court’s opinion Such a precedent-setting development would have a seismic impact on the nation’s educational landscape president of the conservative Thomas B Fordham Institute The court could say that “a charter school authorizer can’t turn down an otherwise qualified applicant just because it is religious could affect all 46 states with charter school laws But ripple effects could stretch beyond the classroom a University of Connecticut education professor “It would mean that the government cannot exclude religious groups from any public benefits program.” Notre Dame law students who have worked with Garnett over the past two years have already asked if she can get them a seat in the courtroom for such “a hot ticket” “My hope is that it won’t go to a 4-4,” Garnett said “My hope is that they wouldn’t have granted [a hearing] if they thought it might But I know you don’t make assumptions about anything.” This story was produced by the 74 independent news organization focused on education in the US tips and exclusive itineraries in Florence Calici di Stelle returns to Tuscany with a new edition the event promoted by Movimento Turismo del Vino Toscana it takes place with initiatives in the many wineries of the region from July 27 to August 25 A month in the heart of the hottest nights of the year to be enjoyed in good company discovering the territory and its excellences starting right from the wineries and their wines this year the MTV Toscana companies have created a program of initiatives with a common theme: a treasure hunt The treasure is the suggestion of a starry night sky The treasure hunt takes place among the vineyards you can enjoy the sunset among the vineyards and wait to observe the stars to discover the wonders of the starry sky with a "box" designed for dining among the vines and some even offer a real escape from the city with a sunset dip in the pool there are night-time yoga and pilates activities in the vineyard as well as the opportunity to enjoy cult films dedicated to space or immerse oneself in cozy crime books and scripts GLI APPUNTAMENTI DA NON PERDERE IN TOSCANA AREZZO 52100 ARINFO@BUCCIANERA.IT – BUCCIANERAWINERY@GMAIL.COM05751696461 - +393492419716Event: With Eyes to the Sky: Not Just Stars An Experience with Birds of Prey.Date: Sunday we will once again turn our eyes to the sky but this time the amphitheater of our vineyards will host Falconer Davide and his beloved birds of prey It will be a unique show for both adults and children it will be an "Educational Experience" that will enthuse and enrich us by teaching something about the life and training of birds of prey.From 17:00 to 18:30 will be the time dedicated to Davide The Birds Man and his birds of prey Cost: €25 for adults (2 glasses of wine and 2 tortelli) €15 for children (a glass of wine/apple juice and one tortello)• Entry for Experience with birds of prey with mandatory consumption €15.00 from 16:30 to 22:00• Experience with birds of prey 17:00-18:30• Apericena from 18:30 to 22:00Mandatory reservation: Office 05751696461 – Roberta 3492419716 – Anastasia 3474065645Cost per person: €25 for adults (2 glasses of wine and 2 tortelli) €15 for children (apple juice and one tortello)4o Considera di verificare le informazioni importanti 38B – Località Ferretto - 52044 Cortona ARGPS Coordinates: 43.175788 N or 338.8629569 - 345.7677125Date: Saturday August 10 from 18:30 to 21:30Event: Apericena Calici di Stelle Wine lovers will be accompanied on a guided tour of the vineyard and cellar by the owner the various stages of production will be illustrated enriched with a historical and cultural insight into the magical world of wine.A welcome toast will follow with our Rosato di Syrah – Arengario Toscana IGP.Apericena menu: • Rich appetizer of Tuscan delicacies.• Rolled wild pork.All accompanied by our wines: Arengario Rosso Toscana IGP and Laudario Cabernet Sauvignon Cortona DOP.The event will conclude with our excellence: Laudario Syrah Nero Cortona DOP paired with dark chocolate cantucci.Mandatory reservation by 16:00 on Thursday or 338.8629569 - 345.7677125Cost per person: €25.00 the cost is €10.00.Other useful information: In case of bad weather the Apericena will be held indoors in our tasting room.During the event wines produced by us can be purchased with a 10% discount off the cellar price list.4o TENUTA DI FRASSINETOSTRADA VICINALE DEL DUCA 14 LOC FRASSINETO 52100 AREZZO371 4956539 SHOP@TENUTADIFRASSINETO.COMwww.tenutadifrassineto.com Event: Calici di Stelle – Tuscan ApericenaDate: Friday come and experience an evening of pure magic at Tenuta di Frassineto The evening is organized in collaboration with the Movimento del Turismo del Vino Toscana and will be a night spent looking up at the stars who will help us recognize the constellations and their mythology while naturally admiring the shooting stars All this will be accompanied by a rich and tasty apericena paired with a glass of our best wine of your choice The atmosphere becomes magical thanks to the lights adorning the estate's garden making every sip and bite a celebration of life and the region Reservation: Don't miss the chance to create unforgettable memories! Visit our website at https://www.tenutadifrassineto.com/calendario-eventi/ please indicate the number of children or teenagers at the time of booking by contacting us via email at shop@tenutadifrassineto.com or via WhatsApp at +39 371 4956539 For information on allergies or intolerances Don’t miss this opportunity for taste and relaxation in the heart of Tuscan food and wine culture Cost per person: €27Mandatory reservation: +39 371 4956530 / shop@tenutadifrassineto.com Fattoria di Poggiopiano di Mauro GalardiVia dei bassi 7 – 50061 - Girone – Fiesole (FI)info@poggiopiano.it _3384342483 Date: July 27 to August 25Events:- Escape from the city Tasting with pool entry- Escape from the city CRUnch with pool entrance- Escape from the city.. under the stars!Summer is hot but just a few miles from Florence there is a cool and scenic solution relaxation and calm to live under the sun or under the stars!Escape from the city Tasting with pool entrance Every day except Mondays with daily admission (10h00-19h00) that includes a board of local products and a glass of wine38€/personMonday to Friday weekdays also with afternoon entrance (14h30-19h00) that includes a glass of wine and a taste of our extra virgin on bread20€/personEscape from the city daily admission (10h00-19h00) to the pool and CRU's Sunday Brunch served with a glass of our wines49€/personEscape from the city...under the stars!Special opening from sunset to the stars with evening entrance to the pool (18h00-22h00) Pic-Nic in the olive grove and tasting of wines and evo oil of our organic production60€/person Find out all the details AT THIS LINKReservation required: online or agriturismo@poggiopiano.itCost per person: from 20€/person depending on the event chosenOther useful information: All events take place at the Agriturismo: Via dei bassi 7 - Girone - FiesoleOur pool is a relaxation area where we ask that you respect the quiet A swimming cap is mandatory.If you want to bring your 4-legged friend with you we have an area reserved for you Extra: 5€/dogLimited places 50022 GREVE IN CHIANTI3420912853 – VISIT@LAMOLE.COMDate: Dal 15 al 18 AgostoEvent: The Stars of LamoleAt 7:00 pm after a welcome toast with Chianti Classico “Duelame” the tour of the estate will begin from the Historic and Experimental Vineyards then continue to the Winemaking Cellar and the Historic Cellar where our wines rest during aging and here it will be possible to taste Chianti Classico Riserva “Lareale” The tour ends with a tasting of Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Vigneto di Campolungo” in the panoramic terrace overlooking the hills of Lamole and Chianti.This will be followed by a Pic Nic at sunset in the Historic Vineyard with a selection of typical local products and it will be possible to stay and watch the shooting stars surrounded by nature.Reservation required: visit@lamole.comCost per person: €55 Fiano (Certaldo)0571/669032 / reception@tenutadisticciano.itwww.tenutadisticciano.it Date: Sabato 10 Agosto 2024FROM 19.30 INIZIO CENA A BUFFET ACCOMPAGNATA DA MUSICA NELLA NOSTRA BELLISSIMA SALA RISTORANTE ALL'APERTO CON PANORAMA MOZZAFIATO SULLA VALDELSA AL TERMINE DELLA CENA I NOSTRI OSPITI VERRANNO INVITATI AD ACCOMODARSI NELL'OLIVETA E DOTATI DI COMODA COPERTA PER DISTENDERSI ED OSSERVARE LE STELLE CADENTI SEMPRE AL SUONO DI MUSICA JAZZ E SOUL.Costo a persona: 38€Prenotazione obbligatoria: 0571/669032 / reception@tenutadisticciano.it FATTORIA LA MALIOSALocalità podere Monte Cavallo Saturnia (GR)3271860416 – info@fattorialamaliosa.itwww.fattorialamaliosa.it Event: Goblets of Stars at Fattoria La Maliosa: from sunset to the starsDates: August 9 at 18:00For Goblets of Stars at Fattoria La Maliosa we have thought of a special night under the stars offering a 360-degree panoramic view of the beautiful landscape of the Tuscan Maremma.The event will begin at 6 pm with the tasting of our natural wines accompanied by delicious local delicacies This will be enhanced by a breathtaking view of the Maremma hills under one of the most starry skies in Italy accompanied by the sweet musical notes of Rachele who will guide us in the transition from sunset to the arrival of the stars.Cost per person: €40 per personReservation required: info@fattorialamaliosa.it GAVORRANO (GR)333 268 4670 | visite@roccadifrassinello.itwww.roccadifrassinello.itDate: August 2 2024Event : The Nights of Archaeology at Rocca di FrassinelloJourney into the world of the Etruscans among historical re-enactments games and wine tastings tanned in the unique winery designed by Renzo PianoRocca di Frassinello is participating again this year in “Le Notti dell'Archeologia,” an initiative promoted by the Region of Tuscany that involves the network of Maremma Museums to embark on a journey into the world of the Etruscans amid historical re-enactments led by the hand by Etruscologist Giuditta Pesenti After a visit to the winery designed by Renzo Piano and to the Etruscan Documentation Center which displays the precious artifacts found inside the tombs of the San Germano Necropolis discovered within the estate visitors will be able to watch the re-enactment of an Etruscan symposium by the Associazione Culturale Antichi Popoli and will be able to taste the tanned wine; there will also be an opportunity to learn about the game of Kottabos This will be followed by an aperitif on the panoramic terrace with wines from Rocca di Frassinello and a night tour of the Necropolis of San Germano guided by the ethruscologist An immersive experience in the world of the Etruscans between archaeology and contemporary art.Reservation required: https://rb.gy/8gadyl | +39 333 268 4670 | visite@roccadifrassinello.itCost per person: 35€How to reach us: https://maps.app.goo.gl/N4hFJKBwWa8irqDK7 GAVORRANO (GR)333 268 4670 | visite@roccadifrassinello.itwww.roccadifrassinello.itDate: August 19 2024Event: The Supermoon at Rocca di FrassinelloA magical evening to toast Rocca di Frassinello wines under the light of the giant moon on the panoramic terrace of the unique winery designed by Renzo PianoOn Monday everyone will turn their noses up to admire the Supermoon from the panoramic terrace of Rocca di Frassinello which occurs when the full moon is at a shorter distance from the earth creating the effect of an apparent increase in size will offer an unforgettable spectacle starting at 8:30 pm guests will be able to visit the unique winery designed by Renzo Piano with its evocative barrique cellar and the Etruscan Documentation Center which displays the precious artifacts found within the tombs of the San Germano Necropolis discovered within the estate everyone on the terrace for an aperitif with Rocca di Frassinello wines while waiting for the Supermoon The event is promoted by the Tuscan Wine Tourism Movement as part of Goblets of Stars.Reservations required: +39 333 268 4670 | visite@roccadifrassinello.itCost per person: €35 with 3 tasting glasses per personHow to reach us: https://maps.app.goo.gl/N4hFJKBwWa8irqDK7 SOCIETÀ AGRICOLA IL PONTEStrada Carige Alta Grosseto+39 333 4843966 capalbio@agricolailponte.comwww.agricolailponte.comEvent: Goblets of StarsDate: August 2 and 3 2024The summer fixture at Il Ponte: nights with friends from Astronomitaly!What stayed the same:🍷You'll be able to taste our products ITALY+39 0565 766056; +39 334 6374611; INFO@CAMPOALLECOMETE.ITwww.campoallecomete.itDates:- Thursday 2024Events:- Yoga in the Vineyard: August 1,- Pilates in the Vineyard: August 11,- Magical Aperitif: Every Thursday from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m Donoratico (LI)+39 0565 775246 – enoteca@tenutalecolonne.itwww.tenutalecolonne.comDate: Saturday 2024Event: Goblets of Stars at Tenuta Le Colonne An evening dedicated to the stars our wines and the unique atmosphere of Bolgheri It will feature the flavors of our Tuscan Bistro which we will watch together with a group of passionate astrophiles.Reservations required: +39 0565 775246 - enoteca@tenutalecolonne.it / +39 348 9946725 (Whatsapp)Cost per person: €60 259/ B Castagneto Carducci (LI)0565 763200 - info@tenutacampoalsignore.itwww.tenutacampoalsignore.comEvent: 007 in the Vineyard - Summer on the EstateDates: July 28 - August 10 - August 17From James Bond to Ethan Hunt the impossible missions of two great spies at the Campo al Signore Estate.On the 60th anniversary of Ian Fleming's death we couldn't help but dedicate part of our “Summer on the Estate” a special series of screenings dedicated to the world of secret agents.Telling curiosities about the imaginary James Bond will be Edward Coffrini Dell'Orto one of Europe's top 007 collectors who for the occasion will compare the skills of this incredible secret agent with those of the no less famous Ethan Hunt protagonist of the “Mission Impossible” series.With the participation of Luca Crovi and Valeria Corciolani during these meetings we will discover the background and secrets behind the world's most famous spies accompanied by a Bolgheri DOC from the estate.At the end of each evening of 4 films dedicated to the world of espionage.28/07 at 20.30 “Mission Impossible II”10/08 8:30 p.m “Mission Impossible IV: Ghost Protocol.”The Lucarelli Bookstore in Cecina will be present during the events to sell books dedicated to the evening Cost per person: 30€ Reservations required: 0565 763200 or info@tenutacampoalsignore.itOther useful information: In case of bad weather Check the winery's social channels and website to stay up to date 56040 Pomaia (PI)enoteca@giannimoscardini.com / +39 3476948938www.giannimoscardini.comDates: Friday to 9:30 p.m.Event: Apericena in Vigna “Wine and Arrosticini”Save the date for the third event of this summer - dedicated to the excellence of the territory and Tuscan culinary tradition August 2 starting at 6:30 pm on the beautiful terrace of the Gianni Moscardini winery.Savor the sunset paired with some meat delicacies expertly paired with the winery's wines:Trio of Beef TartareVermentino PENTEO Costa Toscana IGT 2023PorchettaCiliegiolo PENTEO Costa Toscana IGT Rosato 2023Arrosticini with bruschetta oil and saltCiliegiolo SILENO Toscana IGT 2020Mascarpone creamTo conclude the evening a toast and a photo-remembrance in front of the candle-lit vineyard.Reservations required: enoteca@giannimoscardini.com / +39 3476948937Cost per person: €30.00 laregola.comEvent: Goblets of Stars 2024Date: August 8 2024Dinner served in our garden overlooking vineyards paired with our Top Organic Wines and live music with Etruria Jazz Orchestra conducted by Maestro Stefano Franceschini.7:30 p.m start of dinnerCost per person: Children €20 (5- 10years old) €40 (11-17 years old) Adults €80 (over 18years)Reservations required: eventi@laregola.com or through our websiteOther useful directions: https://wineclub.laregola.com/it/eventi/calici-di-stelle/ AZIENDA AGRICOLA CASTELVECCHIO - TERRICCIOLAVia di Badia 56030 Terricciola (PI)+39 0587 658505 / E-mail: clienti@badiadimorrona.itwww.badiadimorrona.itEvent: DINNER UNDER THE STARS AT BADIA DI MORRONA🍷Date: THURSDAY 🍷DINNER UNDER THE STARS AT BADIA DI MORRONA🍷An exceptional event to celebrate the stars.A unique experience to immerse yourself in the origins and fascinating history of Badia di Morrona.Discover the Beauty of Tuscany and the Lands of Pisa.Join us for an unforgettable visit of the Abbey and the Historic Barrique in the beautiful Tuscan landscape of the Terre di Pisa: its natural beauty and timeless charm will enchant you.Aperitif in the Historic BarriccaiaThe historic barrique cellar will be the setting for your exclusive aperitif Opened again to the public a few years ago August 1 will be an opportunity to visit it and discover the historic winemaking tradition of the area Dinner in the ParkEnjoy a magical dinner in the park of the Abbey a food and wine journey through the authentic flavors of Tuscany a succulent main course and a refined dessert all accompanied by the best wines of Badia di Morrona.Evening Entertainment and StargazingRelax to the jazz music of Duo Pindarico and end the evening by stargazing from our vantage point.You will enjoy a fascinating and educational experience guided by the experts of the Associazione Astrofili Alta Valdera.Embrace the serenity and beauty of the landscape for a perfect ending to an unforgettable eveningCost per person: €90Reservations required: +39 0587 658505 / E-mail: clienti@badiadimorrona.it Sestini 274 - 51100 Pistoia0573 451162 – info@marinifarm.itwww.marinifarm.itEvent: Aperitivo di San LorenzoDate: Thursday invites you for a summer tasting of their wines along with a rich buffet of local products It will be an opportunity for an evening in the cool of the countryside and to toast to the snowy stars with the new vintage of Fioras.The evening will be enriched by the sports experience of Archery under the guidance of champions Fedele Soria,Esterina Giannini and Pino Basile of the City of Pescia Archery Company.The best will receive a prize.The wines for tasting will be:- Fioras Spumante Brut Vin Santo del Chianti DOC and the Vin Santo del Chianti Occhio di Pernice.- Price per person € 28.00 including:Glass in deposit (if you bring back your glass you get 1 bottle of wine for free)Tasting of Marine Wines with rich buffet of typical products.Cost per person: € 28.Reservation required: 0573 451162 - 3929587997 Monsummano Terme - Pistoia+39 376 0360630 - info@querciamatta.itwww.querciamatta.comDate: Wednesday August 7Event: GlamHour Under the StarsThe GlamHour is an Aperitivo among the enchanting Tuscan hills of Monsummano Terme far from the sultry heat and chaos of the city.The evening begins at 8:02 p.m with Aperi*FINGER or Aperi*GOURMET from 12€: drink of your choice + finger food chef's fantasies.The evening continues with Aperi*CHEF: the 35€ dinner formula featuring 4 courses prepared by the chef + a drink of your choice.During the evening it is possible to choose one of the two proposals or both it will also be possible just to sip a drink to the rhythm of music.We ask to report any allergies so that we can create unique dishes based on specific requests.Reservations required: Whatsapp: 376 / 036.0.630 / Tel 0572 / 179.0.971 / Mail: info@querciamatta.itCost per person:- Aperi*FINGER CARPINETOStrada Provinciale della Chiana 62 53042 Montepulciano - (Siena)tour@carpineto.com - +39 3477603727www.carpineto.comDate: August 2 2024Event: The “Etruscan treasure” of the Carpineto estate in Montepulciano: searching for the two tombs among the Appodiato vineyards.Guests will be welcomed to the Carpineto estate where they will be introduced to the company's reality.Next an expert in archaeology and geology will guide them on a treasure hunt through the vineyards in search of the two Etruscan tombs that insist on the Carpineto property.At the end of the walk the story begins about the Etruscans in the area and in particular their great culture of wine and agriculture.It will be experts from the Archaeological Group of the most important Etruscan museum in the area who will reveal secrets and techniques of wine cultivation and production in ancient times.This will be accompanied by a convivial moment with an apericena where it will be possible to taste typical local products and some Carpineto production wines.Reservation required: https://www.carpineto.com/shop/wine-experience/ - tour@carpineto.com - +39 3477603727Cost per person: €35.00 per person for adults | €20 under 16Other useful information: The event will start at 7 pm at Carpineto winery FATTORIA DEL COLLELOCALITA COLLE 53020 TREQUANDA (SI)0577 662108 info@cinellicolombini.itwww.cinellicolombini.itDate: August 5 to 11:00 p.m.Event: CHIMBS OF STARS 2024 CAN YOU TASTE THE MUSIC?A must-attend evening for those who love music It allows you to rediscover flavors thanks to music and different locations with a play of emotions that will surprise the less experienced but also the most demanding wine lovers.The festival will take place in the Farm's parks winery and vineyard.Mode of participation: reserved for a maximum of 40 people (over 18 years of age) by reservation onlyDress code: country elegance i.e with shoes suitable for dancing and for going to the vineyard An evening dedicated to music and dance and the rediscovery of one's senses: taste sight and touch awaits youLive music with Andrea Pinsuti composer and in the vineyard hunting for shooting stars and romantic hugs.- Vin Santo with semifreddo of mantovana and traditional mantovanaReservations required:+39 0577662108Cost per person: € 47.00 VECCHIA CANTINA DI MONTEPULCIANOVia Provinciale 7 Montepulciano 53045 (Siena)+ 39 335 5212004 / accoglienza@vecchiacantinadimontepulciano.comDates: Thursday August 9Event: Wine and Stars on the TerraceTasting event at the Terrace of Vecchia Cantina Wine Shop in Montepulciano accompanied by live music and local products (August 1 Swing & Bossanova - August 9 Dj Set) We look forward to seeing you at sunset from 7 p.m.Reservation not required for more information: 0578 716092 / + 39 335 5212004 / accoglienza@vecchiacantinadimontepulciano.comCost per person: Aperitif buffet and live music entertainment Euro 15.00.00 exhibitions and must-see events from 17 to 23 July 2023 The memory of the great Florentine actor and director through his most iconic films and the words of journalist Piero Ceccatelli Magical places to enjoy the full flavour of the sea along the coast all the art appointments to mark in your diary Addresses to remember for an atmospheric sunset happy hour For lunch and dinner accompanied by magnificent views A plunge into beauty through these addresses surrounded by greenery Our suggestions for spending hot summer evenings outdoors with good food "Springy Banks" by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects "Springy Banks" by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects "Ocean Bluff" by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects won two Archi Awards one for a residential single-family home over $3 million and one for interiors The East Hampton Library Young Adult Room expansion earned Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership a commendation in the institutional division COURTESY SKOLNICK ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN PARTNERSHIP The Lexington Children's Museum design by Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership won the President's Award in the unbuilt projects category Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership won the Color Award for the headquarters of New York Edge in Woodside "Tumbling Walls" in East Hampton earned Lynne Breslin Architects an Archi Award in the small firm/solo practitioner category and a commendation in the residential single-family from $1 million to $3 million category "Springy Banks" earned Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects an Archi in the residential single family over $3 million category "Ocean Bluff" in Montauk by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects won two Archi Awards one for single-family residences over $3 million and one for residential interiors "Seaside" in Wainscott by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects won an Archi in the single-family residence over $3 million category Numerous South Fork architects took home honors when AIA Long Island a chapter of the American Institute of Architects held its 60th annual Archi Awards Gala at the Garden City Hotel on November 7 The South Fork’s strong showing in the competition also included many projects that were completed here by architects based elsewhere on Long Island or in New York City Paul Masi of Bates Masi + Architects in East Hampton was presented with the Architectural Achievement Honor Award which AIA Long Island presents to an architectural firm or individual architect that has produced distinguished architecture consistently for at least 10 years Bates Masi + Architects won an Archi Award as well as a Best Use of Wood in Architecture Award for the residence “Mohegan Trail” on Block Island “The design for this home is derived from the challenges of building on a remote island with limited access to tradespeople and building materials,” the project synopsis states all equipment and materials arrive by passenger ferry within strict size and weight limits The home on a coastal bluff must also be durable to withstand violent storms The design called for common dimensional lumber in short spans and close spacing of studs rafters and joists so they could be easily assembled by hand the design is a return to core design principles and proven materials,” the synopsis states allowing the owners to focus on enjoying the island’s natural beauty and one another’s company.” the 2024 Wood Design & Building Awards presented by the Canadian Wood Council in October the firm additionally earned a commendation for “Shinnecock,” a Southampton residence Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects won five Archi Awards Three were for residences: “Ocean Bluff” in Montauk “Seaside” in Wainscott” and “Springy Banks” in East Hampton The other two were for residential interiors: “Ocean Bluff,” again Ocean Bluff emits an overall feeling of permanence similar to an excavated archeological site,” the firm says of its double-Archi-winning project Sag Harbor architect Lee Skolnick’s Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership won AIA Long Island’s President’s Award and recognition in the Unbuilt Projects category for the Lexington Children’s Museum planned for Lexington The firm also won the Color Award and nonresidential interiors honors for the headquarters of New York Edge in Woodside The Young Adult area expansion at the East Hampton Library earned the firm a commendation in the institutional category Martin Architects in Bridgehampton earned two Archi Awards for residences: one for “Azurest Legacy” in Sag Harbor and the other for “Surfside” in Montauk Barnes Coy Architects in Bridgehampton earned an Archi for “Treasure Coast,” a residence in Treasure Coast won an Archi in the small firm/sole practitioner division for “Casa Noir” in Sag Harbor Lower Manhattan’s Lynne Breslin Architects earned both a small firm/sole practitioner Archi and a residential commendation for “Tumbling Walls,” in East Hampton “The house appears to float,” the project synopsis states the expansive curtain wall windows extend across multiple floors and culminates in a razor-thin roof The floor plates are disengaged from the exterior non-load-bearing walls This creates the illusion of walls dissolving allowing occupants to feel as if they are living in an open-air environment The large swathes of glass offer breathtaking views making the home feel more like a natural extension of the landscape than a traditional wood frame structure.” Oza Sabbeth Architects in Bridgehampton took home two commendations once each for “Sandpiper” in Bridgehampton and “Great Oak” in East Hampton Sag Harbor and Manhattan firm Garnett.DePasquale received a commendation for “Meadowlark” in Sag Harbor Narofsky Architecture in Queens earned a commendation for “Bergstein Residence” in East Hampton got a commendation for “New Beach Home” on Dune Road in Westhampton Beach earned a commendation for a project titled “Amagansett Addition and Renovation.” earned the Window Award for “Long Island Waterside Retreat” in Southampton and its accompanying pool house You've read 4 of your 7 free articles this month Please log in or create an account to continue reading Gov. Josh Shapiro and his administration chide the Pennsylvania legislature for hoarding cash with spending sights aimed at draining the commonwealth’s $7 billion Rainy Day Fund Harrisburg’s budget “two-step” tends to forget others sitting on large reserves Pennsylvania school districts continue to stockpile massive reserves while lobbying for more tax dollars. Recent data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) shows district reserve funds reached an all-time high of $6.8 billion in 2022–23 PDE also reported the total amount of tax dollars held outside reserves in special funds for capital expenditures Pennsylvania school districts stockpiled $12 billion Meanwhile, the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) expects school property tax collections to rise. In its annual analysis, the IFO estimates property taxes will increase by 3.2 percent this year to almost $17.2 billion with faster increases projected in 2024 and 2025—4.8 percent and 4 percent While maintaining reasonable reserves is wise, most school district reserves are excessive. State recommendations vary between 8 percent and 20 percent of a district’s annual spending more than half of school districts exceed the latter Some districts, such as West Chester Area, have a history of padding reserves while raising taxes. In a January 2023 audit the state found the district “raised taxes twice during the audit period despite having sufficient funds in its General Fund for anticipated annual expenditures.” West Chester Area reported $66,334,097 in reserves—more than 20 percent of expenditures West Chester Area still maintains a large reserve fund totaling $86.6 million—more than 30 percent of expenditures almost half of Chester County schools carry reserves above 20 percent calls for more education dollars from Harrisburg continue and the end of pandemic-related aid to justify tax increases However, education spending is growing. When factoring in expanding reserve funds, the $1.4 billion in unused pandemic-related aid and three years of record-breaking basic education spending hikes PDE’s latest data shows Pennsylvania’s per-pupil spending at $21,985, which, if compared to all 50 states is the seventh-highest in the nation This flood of spending coincides with a declining student population. Statewide, public schools educate 72,500 fewer kids than a decade ago Something doesn’t add up—just like Pennsylvania students. More than half of Pennsylvania’s fourth graders and nearly 75 percent of the state’s eighth graders cannot perform math at grade level. Moreover, math proficiency remains below pre-pandemic test scores from 2019 the lie fed to us is that schools underperform because they lack funds And the lie seems to work. Pennsylvanians woefully underestimate how much we spend on education. Voters estimate that Pennsylvania spends $4,300 per student (roughly one-fourth of actual spending) 82 percent said spending is “about right” or “too high.” The 2024–25 budget negotiations present a unique opportunity for Pennsylvania: Lawmakers can continue to support public schools at historic rates and give children more education choices Right now, lawmakers are again debating Lifeline Scholarships, which Senate Bill 795 currently codifies as the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) Scholarship Program Last year’s state budget negotiations stalled over its then-proposed $100 million (less than 1 percent of education funding) for children assigned to failing schools to choose a private alternative failing schools include every Coatesville Area middle school Lifeline Scholarships are not a partisan issue: 77 percent of voters support this idea 50 percent of parents say they would send their child to private school if costs weren’t a factor Public school leaders, who know better than anyone that not every school can serve every child, should support Lifeline Scholarships, too. EdChoice found 26 of 29 studies concluding that school choice programs improved the academic outcomes of public school students school choice programs benefit participants and public school students Pennsylvania public education doesn’t need more money it needs fundamental change that empowers kids and families Please follow DVJournal on social media: Twitter@DVJournal or Facebook.com/DelawareValleyJournal By Craig Kellogg Photographs by Ashok Sinha new houses were awash in shingles and classical columns to the dismay of the architect Fred Stelle He took modest architectural jobs expanding old houses with contemporary extensions and bided his time a Manhattan creative director requested a fully modern 2,500-square-foot new house sprinkling stardust on a firm that is housed in a converted potato barn in Bridgehampton quietly became known for a brand of beach modernism that sits lightly in nature with million-dollar water views of sea grass and open skies This East Hampton home overlooking the Three Mile Harbor is one of the creations by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects This place to relax in solitude sits near one of the houses designed by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects where the pleasures of a sunny day can dissolve into a roiling superstorm in the course of an afternoon a confluence of laws and constraints point away from traditional architecture Flood maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency dictate construction low-lying structures must sit atop steel posts to let rushing water surge safely underneath and local height restrictions leave scant room for an attic A FLAT ROOF maximizes living space below and can host a 13-kilowatt solar array planters thick with sedum or a mahogany sun deck Atop a 4,900-square-foot house on Mecox Bay — with interiors by the designer Shawn Henderson — the partners gave a Manhattan real estate executive and his wife all three ON A SPIT OF LAND between the ocean and a pond gossamer floor-to-ceiling white curtains by the interior designer Julie Hillman billow at open Fleetwood sliding doors in high-performance glass crystalline rather than tinted “like very dark sunglasses,” Mr “MY HOUSES ARE ALL GLASS WITH WATER VISTAS TO FEED YOUR SOUL,” said Deborra-Lee Furness Jackman She worked with the firm for more than six years to completely replace an unremarkable two-story tear-down in the East Hampton woods She also acquired and remade a modest midcentury house next door its lot folded into her waterfront compound and the feeling of a museum gallery in tune with her artistic aspirations Furness Jackman admits that she is not good at compromise but she listened whenever the architects and the designers said “That won’t work.” An early version of the layout had two stories Stelle lopped off the top to produce an unexpectedly elegant single-story pavilion at ground level above a tall walkout basement with a screening room said she developed the plan “to incorporate this idea of drama” casual enough for family life.A visitor might nominate the 15-foot asymmetrical pedestal dining table that Ms and then carved full-size in blue foam.After 18 months of development with a steel interior structure reinforcing its 11-foot cantilever arrived by crane at one end of the sprawling great room AT A PROPERTY IN WATER MILL Rouhani started from scratch and fortified a new design with disastrous weather in mind Concerned that a beach cottage that once belonged to Christie Brinkley would not survive another storm like Hurricane Sandy the architects shifted the replacement house back from the ocean as a further precaution and LaGuardia Design Group restored the dunes.When new owners bought the property for $11.7 million in 2017 they also tapped Stelle Lomont Rouhani and got a free-standing garage topped with a pool house though the décor pops with pink and orange accessories “There’s no rainbow of fruit flavors in our architectural palette,” Ms though she quickly added that color was possible at request A CEDAR HOUSE IN AMAGANSETT for George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg added exterior zinc-wall panels that are nontoxic recyclable and reflect heat from the sun.The couple owns homes in other places Yabu said they considered this one their “effortless” primary residence from late spring through October and this time of year we yearn for it,” he said The upper level thrusts daringly toward the dunes while maintaining a respectful distance of five feet The men wanted to step out of the lower level directly onto sand Stelle advised them to move fast and get grandfathered by the building department to keep the new structure “off stilts.”They designed their own interiors in a creative conversation with the architects that Mr Stelle still brings colorful eggs freshly laid by his Araucana hens as a thank you when he arrives to show the house to prospective new clients As we enter its Closed Beta release, The Bazaar heroes that are currently playable are Vanessa and Stelle that have been teased but won’t be playable available until a later time we’ll give a TLDR description of each hero to help you understand which to play and unlock Be sure to check back for more in-depth explanations after we get a chance to learn the game along with specific guides for each character Vanessa is a swashbuckling outlaw with explosive gameplay. Out of the three playable heroes of the Open Beta, she is the most aggressive by nature. She is the starting character that you get for free. .css-1an63ph{position:relative;overflow:hidden;width:100%;height:auto;aspect-ratio:16/9;} Pygmalien is a merchant who thrives on building up his economy and income He can be unlocked with the Founder’s Pack or with Gems Dooley is the cute robot that has been featured in many of The Bazaar’s trailers He can be a powerhouse with his friends and unique Core that he builds around Dooley can be unlocked with the Founder’s Pack or with Gems According to the Presskit The Bazaar is aiming to release new heroes every three months Jules is one of the most unique as she is a multi-armed chef Mak is an alchemist who focuses on using an array of potions and other trinkets Stelle is a mechanic and pilot whose playstyle is based on Vehicles that rely on “Altitude” Trace and Ascension materials for the Remembrance Trailblazer The Remembrance Trailblazer is the Ice version of our dear trash-loving Stelle and Caelus who debuted in Honkai: Star Rail during version 3.0 The Trailblazer works differently than other 5-Stars in Honkai: Star Rail as you unlock their different Paths by clearing story content with the Remembrance Trailblazer unlocking early in Amphoreus' main story If you want to prepare for when you get them we've detailed the Remembrance Trailblazer's Ascension materials and Trace materials so you can level them up to their full potential right away we've also detailed the Remembrance Trailblazer's kit and Eidolons The Remembrance Trailblazer is a 5-Star Ice character of The Remembrance path and keeping in mind that all of the percentages mentioned below are based on Level 1 Traces here's a summary of the Remembrance Trailblazer's kit in Honkai Star Rail: You need to use Trailblazer Ascension materials to upgrade stats like their health They're the same across all Paths for the Trailblazer so you only need to get these materials if you haven't brought up your Trailblazer yet the the Remembrance Trailblazer Ascension Materials in Honkai: Star Rail are: You can't farm Profound Ectostella. Instead, you earn them by completing story content and climbing Trailblaze Levels here's what the Trailblazer Ascension materials you need per level: To get the most out of using the Remembrance Trailblazer you will have to level-up their attacks and passive abilities by using Trace materials which change with each version of the Trailblazer you'll need to use a lot of Bīja of Consciousness and Thief's Instinct-based materials to fully upgrade their capabilities the the Remembrance Trailblazer Trace Materials you need are: By getting Shadow of Remembrance materials you will unlock the Remembrance Trailblazer's Eidolons and unlocking Eidolons improves an existing attack or passive ability Here are all of Remembrance Trailblazer's Eidolons in Honkai: Star Rail: Good luck levelling up the Remembrance Trailblazer in Honkai Star Rail © 2025 Eurogamer.net a brand of IGN Entertainment No part of this website or its content may be reproduced without the copyright owner's permission Eurogamer is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited BLOOMINGTON— Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington has hired Elizabeth Stelle as the new Department Chair of Education She took over on May 28 as Marjie Risen retires this summer after 25 years of service “Building connections and relationships with my students and fellow educators brings me the most joy in my career,” Stelle said “I have this overall feeling of contentment and that this [Ivy Tech] is where I am meant to be.” Stelle has a deep background in education in the community She attended Bloomington High School South and earned her bachelor’s in Elementary Education from Indiana University where she served as director and was instrumental in the program’s growth Stelle holds a master’s degree in Elementary Education focusing on Early Childhood Education and a certificate in Early Childhood Leadership and Language Education at Indiana University and has taught and supervised pre-service teachers at IU since 2020 “We feel very lucky to have found someone with Liz’s rich community connections and first-hand experience,” Annie Gray and Education and Teaching and Learning at Ivy Tech Bloomington “With her background in the classroom and program leadership she brings a wealth of knowledge to the position.” Serving Lawrence and surrounding counties since 1948 This content references scientific studies and academic research Our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians strives to be objective We are committed to bringing you researched expert-driven content to help you make more informed decisions around food We know how important making choices about your overall health is and we strive to provide you with the best information possible Nara shared a post on her Instagram story of herself rehearsing for the show's finale she shared a set of photos on Instagram of herself in Rome and shared highlights from the day on Instagram Read on to see 5 ways Wanda Nara stays in shape and the photos that prove they work A post shared by Wanda Nara (@wanda_nara) Nara's recent dancing is giving her a lot of health benefits. Better Health states "It has a wide range of physical and mental benefits including: improved condition of your heart and lungs A post shared by Wanda Nara (@wanda_nara) Nara makes sure to eat healthy. According to this post on Instagram a banana supplies nearly 10% of what you need in a day Department of Agriculture (USDA) dietary guidelines." A post shared by Wanda Nara (@wanda_nara) Nara likes to bike ride to stay in shape. She shared these photos on Instagram of herself biking on the beach in the Maldives. Nara captioned the post, "How far can you go on a bike?" A Healthier Michigan states that biking has a lot of benefits These are all big muscles and working these out regularly can have big benefits not only for calorie counting A post shared by Wanda Nara (@wanda_nara) Nara loves to swim to stay in shape. She shares a lot of posts on Instagram of herself by the beach. Nara posted this photo on Instagram of herself in the pool. According to The Cleveland Clinic "Cardio activity is one of the keys to a healthy heart and swimming's cardiovascular benefits are clear It's been shown to: Improve cholesterol levels Nara opened up about her decision to appear on the show in an interview She says that she wanted to inspire her kids to push through things "When they invited me to be on 'Dancing with the Stars' I asked the doctors whether I could accept while receiving treatment especially the younger ones who did not understand what was happening to their mum Copyright 2025 Galvanized Media Celebwell is part of the Dotdash Meredith Publishing Family 2009) as well as numerous articles on education policy Garnett is the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame, where she is also a fellow of the Institute for Educational Initiatives and the senior policy advisor for the Alliance for Catholic Education, a program engaged in a wide array of efforts to strengthen and sustain K-12 Catholic schools. In 2024, she was elected to the American Law Institute Prior to joining the faculty at Notre Dame in 1999 Garnett served as a law clerk for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Morris S She also practiced law at the Institute for Justice where she helped to defend the inclusion of faith-based schools in private-school choice programs Photo by Barbara Johnston/University of Notre Dame Copyright © 2025 Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Weather forecasts are hopeful this year with a small crescent moon and many swarms brightening the summer sky which astronomers predict will be a must-see show of the beloved Perseids music accompanies the most romantic event of the summer starts at 9:30 pm and then all night long until past midnight the Walls of Lucca will be the exceptional stage for opera concerts on the ramparts as well as choral music and tango to listen to and dance to The barracks and castles of the gates will host exhibitions and even the two civic towers will be open to admire the starry sky and the lights of the city from above 2 castles of the Walls and the city's Civic Towers with many cultural and historical reenactment associations involved Info Point Mura di Lucca of the castle of Porta San Donato Info Point City of lucca - old Gate San Donato, piazzale Verdi opening 21 march to 30 september h 10:00am - 6:00pmopening 1 october to 31 decemberWe - h 10:00am / 1:00pmTu-Thu-Fri-Sat-Sun; h 10:00am - 1:00am and 2:00pm - 5:00pmtel. (+39) 0583 583150 turismolucca@metrosrl.it Info Point Lucca and Piana di Lucca Piazza Curtatone temporarily closedtel. (+39) 0583 4422 info@turismo.lucca.it Infopoint Mura di LuccaCastello di porta San Donato - City Walls Promenadeopening5 november - 20 marchtu/fr h 11:00am / 4:00pmsa/su h 10:30am / 4:30pm21 march - 4 novembermo/fr h 11:00am / 5:00pmsa/su h 10:00am / 6:00pmtel. (+39) 0583 442213 info@turismo.lucca.it Infopoint Porta ElisaFormer Customs Barracks at Porta Elisatemporarily closed Bus Check pointParking Palatucci - Viale Carlo del Prete temporarily closedcheckpointbus@metrosrl.it VIVILUCCAEVENTS TURISMO.LUCCA LUCCATURISMO © 2022 Città di Lucca - Via Santa Giustina 6 - Palazzo Orsetti 55100 Lucca LU - CF: 00378210462 Sicily confirms itself as an island of culinary excellence maintaining 23 starred restaurants in the Michelin Guide 2025 let’s discover together the places where you can enjoy unforgettable gastronomic experiences The pearl of the Ionian Sea gains a new jewel: the Vineria Modì by Dalila Grillo an oasis of flavors a few steps from luxury hotels Taormina thus confirms itself as an unmissable destination for lovers of good food Palermo had to say goodbye to the Michelin Star of the Gagini restaurant somewhat in the air after the farewell of chef Mauricio Zillo does not however cancel the gourmet soul of the Sicilian capital But Palermo does not stop and continues to offer top-level taste experiences The baton of the Michelin Star passes to the Mec Restaurant a leading name in the Sicilian gastronomic scene His refined and creative cuisine is a point of reference for gourmets looking for a memorable culinary experience And let’s not forget the excellence of the province I Pupi by Tony Lo Coco and Laura Codogno continue to enchant with their revisitation of Sicilian tradition while Limu by Nino Ferreri offers innovative cuisine that enhances local products Without forgetting Il Bavaglino in Terrasini where chef Giuseppe Costa delights the palate with his dishes based on fresh fish confirms itself as a fundamental stop for lovers of good food continues to amaze with its energy and its passion for taste The Therasia Resort in Vulcano wins a double record: two Michelin Stars and two Green Stars a symbol of sustainability and respect for the environment the result of the vision of director Umberto Trani who has been able to enhance the talent of these young chefs The journey through Sicilian flavors continues with the confirmation of the other starred restaurants: Sicily confirms itself as an ideal destination for food and wine tourists and wine lovers offering a wide choice of starred restaurants breathtaking landscapes and ancient traditions For more information on the Michelin Guide: https://guide.michelin.com/it/it/ristoranti Copyright © Winery Tasting Sicily, testata giornalistica online - Autorizzazione del Tribunale di Catania - Reg. Stampa nr. 6/2020 del 30/10/2020 Num. Reg. 4140/2020 - P.IVA: IT05530160877 - Editore: Dario Costanzo - Direttore responsabile: Santa Di Mauro. Send help right to the people and causes you care about Your donation is protected by the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee Andy Carlo has written about the lumber and building material industry, along with hardware and home improvement retail markets, since 2001. Carlo wrote for HBSDealer's predecessors, National Home Center News and Home Channel News from 2001 until 2007. The LBM and Social Media Editor has written for a number of industry publications prior to joining HBSDealer in October 2017. Prior to writing about the industry, Carlo worked for DM Construction, a New York-based residential custom home builder and remodeler in addition to writing for and managing several regional newspapers. president of International Wood Products (IWP) has been preparing for full retirement. serving as president for many of those years. mentor and friend to many and will be missed,” IWP said in a statement issued by the company we are happy that Dave will have time to spend with his family and friends and working toward a 2nd Tualatin Country Club Grand Championship!” Stelle’s 45 years of industry experience and leadership were an essential factor in building IWP into the company it is today. Following his decision to retire,Stelle’s commitment to the success of the organization led him to spend the past year dedicated to transitioning the role of president into the capable hands of Josh Hamilton “Dave has always viewed our customers and supplier partners as a part of the IWP family,” the company said “He is emphatic about our industry being relationship-based and has helped so many to grow into new roles across the industry through sharing his knowledge IWP's CEO said "Sometimes in life you're lucky enough to have a friend and partner like Dave Stelle And I was lucky to have Dave; he was good luck And that is just one reason Dave has been such a strong leader for us at IWP!" International Wood Products is an independent full-service stocking distributor and manufacturer of building materials providing service to building materials suppliers in the Western United States The company also operates locations in Cloverdale was elected national commander of The American Legion in November 1945 he had already compiled an illustrious record of military service As chairman of the blue-ribbon American Legion special committee that wrote and fought for passage of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 – the GI Bill of Rights – his contribution to veterans and their futures was destined to long outlive him economic course from prewar Depression to postwar prosperity A graduate of the Western Military Academy at Alton starting a family and even played one season of professional baseball in Owensboro before the United States joined the western allies in Europe declaration to enter the Great War in April 1917 Army and went on to serve in France with the 115th Machine Gun Battalion rising to the rank of captain through battlefield commissions Louis Caucus of The American Legion in May 1919 Stelle helped organize Post 106 in McLeansboro and several others in Illinois farmer and oil producer in his civilian career lieutenant governor in 1936 and stepped in for a short stint as governor in October 1940 following the death of Gov The United States entered World War II less than a year after Stelle’s service ended as governor of Illinois he shifted his focus to the new generation of veterans who were soon coming home medically discharged due to their wounds at a clip of about 75,000 per month Two of Stelle’s sons – John Albert and Russell – were soon “following in the footsteps of their father,” as May 1946 American Legion Magazine recounted John Albert Stelle came ashore in the D-Day landings of Normandy and was later wounded at St Russell Stelle was a P-51 pilot in the Army Air Corps and flew 77 missions in Europe during the war their father was leading The American Legion’s monumental effort to draft revise and push to passage the original GI Bill health care and home-ownership opportunities for World War II veterans Hayes presented the unanimously elected Stelle his colors and recapped his dedication to the organization: “I have watched you throughout the period of your Legion activities from the very beginning of our organization I watched you as you helped organize the great Department of Illinois I have watched you as you have formulated the plans for taking care of the disabled when they were in trouble I have watched you while you went to Washington and on behalf of things involving the GI Bill of Rights and I have watched you as a citizen throughout all of your career “I know that you … gave part of your own blood and that your two sons in World War II gave part of their blood for the things which are significant of the United States of America.” Stelle captured the essence of the GI Bill’s spirit: “I say that the man or woman who was specially taken by law from his home his job or his education in order to serve his country is entitled to be specially restored by law to that home He told the convention that “we will not – cannot – compromise” in the need to support disabled veterans “The sacrifice made by our disabled and wounded is a debt which the nation cannot count in terms of material repayment We can only humbly offer our best in care and devotion We will not tolerate any neglect of this obligation.” World War II veterans surpassed World War I veterans as members of The American Legion Stelle urged departments and posts to welcome the new generation honor their service and offer them opportunities to continue serving they are enrolling as American Legionnaires,” Stelle wrote six months after his election “Already these men and women of World War II are in the majority in our two-war organization … It is one thing to enroll these new veterans “We can hold them by giving them proper recognition of their importance in our organization We must push them ahead into positions of greater and greater leadership.” after a year of such words and encouragement from Stelle membership in The American Legion hit its all-time high of 3,326,556 The American Legion National Headquarters: Subscribe to The American Legion's e-newsletters to receive important updates and special offers tailored for veterans and their families Time-traveling RPG Reverse: 1999 is in for a new update! Version 1.7: E lucevan le stelle lands on July 11 and mobile and PC, bringing new characters and a plethora of new content. To celebrate the occasion, developer Bluepoch shared the special version trailer that you can find above it gives players a nice glimpse at what awaits them soon Version 1.7 will take players through the early 1910s Vienna You will get a chance to meet new characters Isolde and Marcus and learn more about them through their chapters: The Small Room & The Tall Lighthouse respectively People from all around the world and from all walks of life visited the Ring Road with its parties and theaters When the boundary between stage and reality gradually blurs A mysterious phenomenon known as the “Storm” hit the world on the last day of 1999 causing anything it touched to be reversed and the time to stop progressing Palvov organization that seeks to protect humanity The only person immune to the effects of the “Storm” Vertin travels through different eras and recruits a cast of diverse Arcanists to aid her in understanding this phenomenon Y"},"category":false,"taxonomy":{"active":false,"name":"category"}},"markup":{"custom_html":true,"wpp-start":"","wpp-end":"<\/ul>","title-start":"","title-end":"<\/h2>","post-html":"{thumb} {title} {stats}<\/span><\/li>"},"theme":{"name":""}} GameSpace aims to be a one-stop shop for all your gaming news We aim to cover not only the games and the people who make them but also the culture and trends around the industry chances are we're all here writing about it Please enter your username or email address You will receive a link to create a new password via email A 9,000-strong audience is estimated to have attended the Una Notte Con Le Stelle event a celebration of Italian music held last night at the Floriana Granaries Singers taking part included legendary Italian names The event was presented by Lorella Cuccarini and Keith Demicoli The audience was regaled with a nostalgic journey through a repertoire of some of Italy’s most popular melodies the Ministry for Tourism and LatteMiele supported the concert emphasising the long-standing cultural links between Malta and Italy The organisers said the evening event continued to affirm Malta’s status as a high-level entertainment and cultural event destination Luigi Sghendo qed jistudja il-Baċċellerat fil-Ġurnaliżmu We have the address for the funeral home & the family on file If you're not happy with your card we'll send a replacement or refund your money John H. “Jack” Stelle, 79, of Syracuse, passed away on May 24th at Frances House surrounded by his loving daughter and son-in-law, as well as the amazingly compassionate family of Francis House. He was born in Neptune, New Jersey... View Obituary & Service Information The family of John "Jack" Stelle created this Life Tributes page to make it easy to share your memories has been touched by the opioid crisis as many Americans have and has released a poignant song about its effects on family and friends The title doesn't beat around the bush which is "Fentanyl Fight" Stelle was inspired to write the song while in the bargaining stage of grief or the "what if" cycle after losing a loved one to an overdose She called upon her trusted Nashville co-writers Tony Zavitson “We had all been affected by the opiate crisis it was therapy mixing pieces of everyone's stories and heartbreak into one song.” says Stelle really took the song to the next level with his musical touch After losing former band member and friend Barter understood all too well the pain of these kinds of tragedies He was able to match the emotional intensity of the lyrics and melodies with epic musical production Together this musical team wanted to connect to other broken hearts and offer something to those who have been affected by this terrible crisis Over 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl (cdc.gov) but I sing it for the ones I’ve lost too young It’s taken me a long time to release it because it's painful to talk about these things but I know there are people in the world that relate to my pain and need to know they aren’t alone Louisville Public Media depends on donations from members – generous people like you – for the majority of our funding You can help make the next story possible with a donation of $10 or $20 We'll put your gift to work providing news and music for our diverse community Surfside by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects Casa Larga by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects Casa Lama by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects House on Point by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects House on Bluff by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects "Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architecture and Interiors" from Rizzoli New York the firm’s approach is not about a particular style — it’s about solutions one of the Bridgehampton architecture firm’s four principals explained during a recent interview that the firm aims for “inevitable resolutions we’re always striving to make the correct solution for that specific area.” “Warm modernism” is how Rouhani describes it “We do appreciate so much of what early modern architecture taught us,” she said making the most out of space “rather than space just for the sake of space,” and the integration into the landscape plus a pictorial chronology of the firm’s work are featured in the new book “Stelle Lomont Rouhani: Architecture and Interiors,” published by Rizzoli New York The featured projects date from about 2000 forward and the chronology goes back as far as 1989 to the initial design of North Haven Village Hall As founder Frederick Stelle notes in a preface he personally started practicing architecture in 1976 and his earlier work laid the foundation for the firm’s 21st century designs seen in the book He opened Stelle Architects on the South Fork in 1985 and the firm took on its current name in 2012 when Rouhani and Michael Lomont became partners Architecture critic and author Paul Goldberger penned the introduction and conducted an interview with the firm’s four principals — Stelle Rouhani and interior design lead Eleanor Donnelly — which runs several pages interspersed with full-page photos of their work Goldberger credits the firm for refuting the notion that modernism does not fit in the Hamptons and is mostly chaotic and disconnected “It is not only traditional architecture that has a coherent language; modernism does and how to shape modernism into buildings that are understated Most of the projects in the book are on the East End though there are also projects that were completed as far away as Florida Nearly all of the projects are residential but increasingly we’re doing more work outside the area,” Rouhani said The book is broken into five main sections: Elevated The first few sections speak to how the building sits on the land Stelle Lomont Rouhani worked with renowned landscape architects collaboration with landscape architects starts at the get-go “It’s not like the architecture comes first and then comes the landscape,” she said The architects and landscape architects get together early so the design develops at the same time Another of the firm’s concerns is sustainability demonstrated through the use of passive solar design keep heat out in summer but allow it in during the winter Because the firm often works on environmentally sensitive areas on the water the design process as well as the regulatory process can take years before breaking ground setback requirements and FEMA floodplains to consider “Even when you’re trying to do the right thing there’s a lot of people to answer to,” Rouhani said if you don’t get accepted the first go around The team behind a home’s design is quite larger than just the architects “We’re always relying on the expertise of land planners and environmental experts to really figure out what we can do at each site” that’s going to be the most correct for the site the goal is to make something that is admirable and beautiful in and of itself as an object — without the viewer having to know that the creator was trying to solve for something difficult They seek to create a rich experience in and of itself that still complies with all of the restraints She said that is a strength of their work and why certain clients come to them: the ability to solve problems in a way that still makes for good architecture She sees the monograph as more of a story book and a source of inspiration than a coffee table book “We’re really telling stories about these houses and a little bit about the people who live in them and how each one is approached,” she said “It’s a book that I think hopefully a lot of architects would like to look at in architecture in coastal areas and also in landscape architecture as well as interiors.” “Striding toward ever greater distances.” The Harmony Trailblazer in Honkai Star Rail is a path to unlock the hidden potential within your existing Trailblazer, the game’s protagonist This unique specialization transforms you into a powerhouse of support empowering your team to break through enemy defenses and unleash devastating attacks This ONE Esports guide delves deep into the Harmony Trailblazer Whether you’re a seasoned Astral Express traveler or a newcomer just setting out this guide equips you with the knowledge to unleash the true power of the Harmony Trailblazer you can customize your character by choosing different paths that focus on specific strengths specializing in supporting your team by boosting their Break Effect helps you break through enemy defenses faster this path’s ultimate ability can increase the damage your team deals to enemies whose defenses have been broken the Harmony Trailblazer is a great choice for players who want to focus on supporting their team and taking down enemies more efficiently There are two ways to unlock the Harmony path for your Trailblazer in HSR This method is for players who have progressed through the main story in Penacony Complete the sub-mission “Then Wake to Weep” within the “Beauty and Destruction” Trailblaze Mission under the “In Our Time” Penacony storyline you’ll automatically unlock this path in your account This method is for players who haven’t completed the Penacony story or want a faster way: If you already unlocked the Harmony path through the Penacony story claiming it in the event will give you a “Shadow of Harmony” instead This material is used to raise the level of your Harmony Trailblazer’s Eidolon READ MORE: All working HSR codes and how to redeem them Sign up for a free ONE Esports account and start engaging with other fans You'll also receive a monthly newsletter and other goodies « Back Josh Shapiro recognizes how government regulations come between Pennsylvanians and job opportunities In August, the governor acted again to expand opportunity by waiving college credit requirements for state troopers Now it’s time for the governor to help workers in the private sector In the same way he removed meaningless credentials for state workers Shapiro can expand job opportunities across Pennsylvania by removing excessive licensing regulations Current rules ignore work experience and prioritize hoop-jumping over competence Such reforms would benefit Pennsylvania workers like Maimouna Thiam Thiam fought in court for years for her right to braid hair without a license She learned her skills growing up in Senegal Thiam had a hair-braiding license from another state which is difficult to accomplish when working full-time She also needed to pass an English exam—an unnecessarily high bar for the French-speaking immigrant Thiam isn’t alone in dealing with excessive Pennsylvania licensing requirements Sally Ladd helped property owners in the Poconos market their short-term rental homes online The Pennsylvania Department of State investigated Ladd, claiming she operated an unlicensed real estate business The agency relied on an outdated regulation and conflated Ladd’s job with that of a traditional real estate broker Ladd would need to spend three years working for an existing broker and operate in a brick-and-mortar office space in Pennsylvania—all time-consuming and economically unviable requirements Ladd lives in New Jersey and doesn’t intend to move to Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted Thiam and Ladd the freedom to practice their talents without a license But everyday citizens shouldn’t have to go to court for the freedom to work Thiam’s and Ladd’s stories are just two examples of how Pennsylvania’s regulatory restrictions slam the door on opportunities to “earn an honest living.” Shapiro’s predecessor recognized the job-killing effects of overregulation, too. In 2018, former Gov. Tom Wolf called for eliminating 13 occupational licenses “Unnecessary and burdensome licensing requirements create barriers to employment,” said Wolf The cost of the status quo is simply too high How high? The Commonwealth Foundation report estimates reducing 36 percent of regulatory requirements could add $9.2 billion to Pennsylvania’s gross domestic product This increase equals about $1,760 per household and 183,497 new jobs in Pennsylvania would free nurse practitioners to serve patients without costly state-mandated physician contracts Shapiro should immediately work with the legislature to eliminate harmful licensing regulations that kill jobs “We’re sending a clear message to our workers whether you went to college or gained experience through work Freeing Pennsylvanians from nonsensical licensing regulations sends a powerful message that our commonwealth values all workers Elizabeth Stelle is Director of Policy Analysis of the Commonwealth Foundation By Sarah BlaskovichSenior Food Reporter a small country north of Ethiopia in East Africa despite a weekly tradition where his aunts would serve three rounds of an espresso-like drink to family members after church Each cup was poured from an East African pot called a jebena But Ghebreamlak didn’t know any Eritrean people who worked on the retail side of coffee he says: The East Africans who were involved in the industry were often involved in farming Ghebreamlak finally found a taste for coffee in college at Texas Tech when he was trying to stay up late to study learning different brewing methods and trying to roast his own beans He felt a connection to his East African roots and he felt a jolt of satisfaction that he could bring that culture to Dallas Ghebreamlak and his father opened Tre Stelle Coffee Co. part coffee shop on Preston Road in Far North Dallas The company sells its beans to a few wholesale clients and also roasts them for customers in the coffee shop While Ghebreamlak likes the taste of roasted Ethiopian coffee beans the best “African coffees tend to be more fruity and have a natural sweetness “The South American ones are more nutty and make more of a full-bodied coffee.” Restaurant NewsGet the scoop on the latest openings GoogleFacebookBy signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy At his shop, South American beans are used for cold brew and espresso. African beans are used for drip coffee. Before Ghebreamlak opened his coffee shop, he was an operations analyst at Goldman Sachs. He took some time off of work to travel to Eritrea to visit family, and his dad took him to a favorite cafe in East Africa, Tre Stelle. Ghebreamlak was already dreaming of opening a roastery and coffee shop in the U.S. but was still saving up money. “When I got to see the coffee shop, I thought, wow, I really like this place,” he says. He eventually named his shop after his dad’s favorite. Occasionally, Tre Stelle will host traditional East African coffee ceremonies, like the ones Ghebreamlak’s aunts used to have after church. “It takes a long time to go through those three rounds of coffee,” he says. He believes it sends a simple, universal message to customers: “Hey, come over, I want to hang out with you — and coffee is the reason.” Tre Stelle Coffee Co. is at 17390 Preston Road (north of Campbell Road), Dallas. Follow @sblaskovich on Twitter and ask her what to do where to eat or where to drink in your area On April 25, City Journal — a publication of the Manhattan Institute — published an op-ed written by John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law Nicole Stelle Garnett and third-year law student Elizabeth Totzke Garnett is one of the faculty members affiliated with Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Initiative and Totzke is a student fellow of the Religious Liberty Initiative The op-ed is reprinted below with City Journal’s permission The Supreme Court has a chance to make clear that the Constitution does not permit the government to discriminate against expressions of faith Religious-liberty cases have come to feature prominently on the Supreme Court’s docket the Court has rejected Covid-19 restrictions on religious worship disallowed the exclusion of Catholic Charities from Philadelphia’s foster care system reaffirmed that courts may not second-guess religious schools’ employment decisions invalidated (twice) the exclusion of religious schools from public-benefit programs and held that Colorado unconstitutionally discriminated against a baker who refused to cater same-sex weddings it is considering several important religious-liberty cases and it recently agreed to consider another next term Many of the Court’s recent religious-liberty decisions sound a similar theme: namely that the First Amendment requires government neutrality toward religion — that it prohibits the government from disfavoring religious believers or institutions So why do government actors persist in doing these things necessitating the Court’s repeated corrective action Part of the fault lies with the Supreme Court itself that the Constitution demands government neutrality toward religion the Court has stubbornly failed to clear away an undergrowth of older precedents that arguably suggest the opposite Bureaucrats and judges alike cling to these outdated precedents or outright animus toward religious believers and institutions the Court has given itself three opportunities to put a stop to all this by definitively rejecting older erroneous interpretations of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause that can be read to countenance religious discrimination challenges Maine’s exclusion of faith-based schools from a tuition-assistance program for high school students living in rural school districts Carson asks the Court to reaffirm what it has already twice made clear: the First Amendment forbids states from excluding religious schools from public-benefit programs Maine points to language in prior decisions that it argues create loopholes permitting it to discriminate against religious schools and the students who wish to attend them the Court should explicitly overrule them and close the loopholes thus eliminating the confusion that itself has created — and clearing the path for the expansion of parental choice in the U.S Though Carson is arguably the most important religious-liberty case this term the Supreme Court will hear argument in Kennedy v a case challenging a high school’s termination of a football coach for praying on the field after games The school claims that it had no choice but to fire Coach Joseph Kennedy when he refused to stop praying pointing to prior precedents that sow confusion and discrimination to justify its action Specifically at issue in Kennedy is the so-called endorsement test a doctrine that the Supreme Court invented to distinguish between constitutionally protected private religious expression and constitutionally prohibited government religious expression the constitutionality of the school’s termination decision turns on whether a “reasonable observer” would think that the district was endorsing Kennedy’s postgame prayers by permitting them The test is completely unworkable as a legal standard nobody knows what the “reasonable observer” thinks about Coach Kennedy’s praying The reasonable observer is a hypothetical person with hypothetical views — a vessel to be filled with the perceptions (or misperceptions) of government officials the reasonable observer often does the job poorly and misguided fears of endorsing religion lead hapless or hostile government actors to suppress it the Court is considering another case that turns in part on the endorsement test Boston asks whether Boston violated the First Amendment when it denied “Camp Constitution’s” request to fly its “Christian flag” (which includes a Latin cross) in front of City Hall the city flew 284 flags representing community groups as part of a program that seeks “to foster diversity and build and strengthen connections among Boston’s many communities.” Boston never rejected a request to fly a private flag until Camp Constitution asked The city points to the endorsement test to justify this decision a casual passerby might believe the city is endorsing religion (It apparently has no such concerns about flying Boston’s flag which says — in Latin — “God be with us as he was with our fathers,” or the Turkish flag which depicts the Islamic star and crescent.) Oral argument suggested that the justices were unconvinced by Boston’s endorsement concerns Even liberal justices characterized Boston’s decision as “a mistake.” And when Boston’s attorney argued that “the city did not want to be accused of having endorsed a religion,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh replied None of this has anything to do with a proper understanding of our Constitution the government to discriminate against religious expression The opposite is true: Camp Constitution has as much right to its flag as any secular community group does; Coach Kennedy has as much right to pray in public as he does in private; elementary students have as much right to read the Bible at recess as they do Harry Potter; and students participating in Maine’s parental-choice program have as much right to attend St Dominic Academy as they do Phillips Exeter Academy The Court should take advantage of the three opportunities it has given itself this term to make all these things “exactly” clear Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images