WALKERSVILLE — A Maryland town is making it harder for groups like the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church to protest at funerals. The town of Walkersville on Wednesday approved an ordinance that requires demonstrators to stay 1,000 feet away from funerals, ...

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Kansas-based group that has used inflammatory language to protest military funerals nationwide prompted California senators to approve a bill Wednesday restricting how close such protesters can get to funeral services and religious observances. The bill by ...

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By now there likely are few Americans who don’t recognize the names of a tiny Topeka, Kan., church and of the family that makes up most of its members — Westboro Baptist Church and the Phelps family. For years, various ...

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Sen. Lisa Gladden, D-Baltimore, introduced a bill Wednesday that would force picketers farther away from funerals. The legislation comes in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that grew from a  protest at a Marine’s funeral in Westminster. The court ...

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WASHINGTON — The father of a Marine killed in Iraq won’t pay the nearly $100,000 in court costs charged by Westboro Baptist Church, which picketed his son’s 2006 funeral, in the wake of his unsuccessful lawsuit against the group, his ...

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It would be very easy to avoid wasting my time howling in the wilderness and not bother stating why I agree with other lone wolves (namely, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and the members of the jury that returned a ...

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WASHINGTON — Emboldened by last week’s Supreme Court decision, Westboro Baptist Church attorney Margie Phelps said she will challenge statutes all over the country that restrict picketing at funerals. The court decided 8-1, with Justice Samuel Alito dissenting, that the ...

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A few notes I couldn’t fit into my story today about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Snyder v. Phelps. – While the underlying case is emotional and brings out strong reactions, the court’s actual ruling “doesn’t break any new ...

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the First Amendment protects fundamentalist church members who mount anti-gay protests outside military funerals, despite the pain they cause grieving families. The court voted 8-1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of ...

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COLLEGE PARK — Residents of University Park and the surrounding community plan to counterprotest the Westboro Baptist Church picket planned for Northwestern High School on Tuesday. “For [the Westboro Baptist Church] to say they know God’s mind and say he ...

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