Monday, January 16, 2012
School Officials have not decided whether to appeal a federal judge's order for the prayer mural hanging in the auditorium at Cranston West be removed. The auditorium is now locked.
Jessica Ahlquist, the plaintiff in the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union case against the Cranston School District over a prayer mural hanging in the Cranston High School West Auditorium, said she has endured harassment, threats, and lots of "flak" over her decision to fight. "It has been a very long and difficult year for me and my family and we're just so glad it has finally been decided," the 16-year-old Ahlquist said this morning at the ACLU's offices in Providence, one day after a federal court judge ordered the banner be removed. "I've had to deal with a lot of harassment and negative flak from people who disagree with my views and opinions, but it's all worth it." Ahlquist today was dubbed "an evil little thing," a "…
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Cranston High School West
80 Metropolitan Ave, Cranston, RI
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128 Dorrance St, Providence, RI
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Friday, January 13, 2012
Cranston Police Chief Col. Marco Palombo Jr. said the threatening messages posted on Twitter and other social media sites are being investigated. Meanwhile police are patrolling Cranston West and the Ahlquist residence over the weekend.
Cranston Police are "combing through" social media networks and websites and "those messages that are construed as extremely threating in nature will be identified and their authors will be called in for questioning," said Cranston Police Chief Col. Marco Palombo Jr. In a release, Palombo said that the department is conducting a "proactive investigation" into "threatening comments being made through social media outlets directed at Cranston High School West student Jessica Ahlquist amid the court decision regarding the removal of the prayer banner from the school's auditorium." "While it is clear that some of the messages could constitute 'cyberbulling,' which is prohibited under the recently legislated Safe Schools Act, other comments …
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Video from the press conference held at the ACLU's offices in Providence this morning. Steve Brown and Lynette Labinger of the ACLU as well as plaintiff Jessica Ahlquist respond to the federal court ruling ordering the district to remove the prayer banner
Video from the press conference held at the ACLU's offices in Providence this morning. Steve Brown and Lynette Labinger of the ACLU as well as plaintiff Jessica Ahlquist respond to the federal court ruling ordering the district to remove the prayer banner at Cranston West.
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Cranston High School West
80 Metropolitan Ave, Cranston, RI
/articles/aclu-press-conference
1632508
/locations/6175780
41.822397
-71.410057
128 Dorrance St, Providence, RI
/articles/aclu-press-conference
/locations/6175781
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Attached to this article is the full 40-page decision by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux.
Attached to this article is the full 40-page decision by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux.
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Cranston High School West
80 Metropolitan Ave, Cranston, RI
/articles/full-text-of-prayer-mural-decision
1632508
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U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lagueux issued a decision in the case against the prayer banner at Cranston West in favor of the ACLU and plaintiff Jessica Ahlquist this afternoon.
The prayer banner at Cranston High School West, which sparked a citywide discussion about religious freedom and separation of church and state, has been ordered removed. U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lagueux issued a decision in the case regarding the banner, or mural, late this afternoon. The court ruling orders the prayer's removal and the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union announced it will hold a 9:30 a.m. press conference at the ACLU office on Dorrance St. in Providence tomorrow (Thursday). School Committee Chairwoman Andrea Iannazzi said in a telephone interview that she is "dissapointed in the end result" and said she hasn't had time to read the entire 40-page decision yet and planned to tonight. The …
41.77163
-71.47761
Cranston High School West
80 Metropolitan Ave, Cranston, RI
/articles/judge-orders-prayer-banner-removed
1632508
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Prof. Frederick Sweet
6:57 am on Monday, April 30, 2012
Concerning the ACLU's defense of Christians preaching in public parks; "... Students from Belmont, MTSU and Tennessee Tech who hold church services with the homeless in a Metro park will be allowed to continue conducting services after the ACLU of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) successfully negotiated with the Metro Board of Parks and Recreation to revise a policy that unfairly blocked religious groups' … more ›