skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Judge temporarily blocks effort to deport Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia student protests; Power of rural organizing reflected in SD carbon pipeline law; Safety at risk as budget cuts hit Indiana Dunes National Park; Barriers to tracking bird flu mount amid federal changes.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

House Democrats won't back the GOP budget bill. Ontario reacts to Trump trade moves by enacting energy export tariffs, and a new report finds mass deportations don t help the labor market.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Immigrant communities are getting advice from advocates as the reach of ICE expands, experts in rural America urge lawmakers to ramp up protections against elder abuse, and a multi-state arts projects seeks to close the urban-rural divide.

Rights Group Opposes Bill to Keep Gays From Adoptions

play audio
Play

Monday, February 8, 2016   

SALT LAKE CITY - A Utah gay-rights group is fighting with a conservative state representative over proposed legislation that would give heterosexual couples preference in adoptions.

State Rep. Kraig Powell, a Republican from Heber City, is pushing the measure despite last year's Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage. Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, says any such law would be blatantly unconstitutional.

"I point-blank asked him, 'Does your piece of legislation give the state the power to privilege heterosexual parents over same-sex parents in both adoption and foster cases?' At which point he said yes," he says.

Williams says his group plans to work to keep the bill from passing in the Utah Legislature, but says if it does become law, Equality Utah would immediately file suit to strike it down. Powell did not return phone calls requesting comment on his proposed bill.

Williams says he does not believe Powell has any support for his proposal among legislative leaders, and may be pushing it as a "show bill" for his supporters.

"He's also facing a primary challenger, and we have a delegate system where you have to win over your delegates in order to win at the convention," says Williams. "And the delegates can often be more to the extreme right, so I think this is more of a play to them."

Williams says he believes some conservatives are still angry over a 2015 case in which a Utah judge ordered a foster child taken from a lesbian couple and placed with a heterosexual couple. He later reversed that decision after a public outcry over the case.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A solar project in Dayton was made possible through a solar-power purchase agreement with IGS Energy, approved by the Dayton City Commission last Wednesday after a four-year evaluation process, including a feasibility study to ensure sufficient power capacity. (Yeivaz/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Ohio is seeing a growing number of solar energy projects, including the first utility-scale installation in Dayton, which will help power a key water …


Environment

play sound

By Nina B. Elkadi for Sentient.Broadcast version by Judith Ruiz-Branch for Illinois News Connection reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service …

Environment

play sound

Researchers at Colorado State University have found the state's nearly 23 million acres of forests are currently releasing more carbon dioxide into th…


Polluted, acidic water leaving KD #1 Surface Mine on Lens Creek near Marmet. (Kanawha Forest Coalition)

Environment

play sound

Watchdog groups said the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection seems poised to allow coal company Keystone West Virginia to walk away f…

Social Issues

play sound

A Missouri children's advocate is urging the justice system to focus on healing for youths, noting trauma and broken relationships often drive their …

Conservation experts would like to see more farms use drip or sprinkler systems, which are more efficient than flooding for irrigation. (Deyan Georgiev/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

By Gabriella Sotelo for Sentient.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collab…

play sound

New research finds Black working women still face rampant discrimination in the Golden State. The California Black Women's Collective Empowerment …

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Nina B. Elkadi for Sentient.Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan for Kentucky News Connection reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021