Kathy Lohr

Churches Reconsider Sponsoring Boy Scout Troops

Kathy Lohr — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:23:00 +0000

Some churches have said they will end their affiliation with the Boy Scouts after its decision to allow openly gay members to join. Others, including Southern Baptists, are considering their next move. Another group plans to hold a meeting in Louisville later this month with parents who say they want a more Christian organization for their children.

Boy Scouts 'Moving Forward' Vote To Allow Gay Members

Kathy Lohr — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:34:00 +0000

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene. Good morning. In a landmark move, the Boy Scouts of America has lifted its long-standing ban on gay members. The organization's national council voted yesterday to allow openly gay youth to join. But the Scouts will continue to exclude gay adults from leadership roles. Gay rights activists are calling yesterday's vote a partial victory. Those who oppose the change say it will irreparably harm the 103-year-old organization.

Boy Scots Vote To Allow Gay Members, But Not Leaders

Kathy Lohr — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:23:00 +0000

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

The Boy Scouts ban on openly gay scouts is coming to an end. That's the result of a vote held today by the leadership of the Boys Scouts of America.

WAYNE PERRY: Our vision is to serve every kid. We want every kid to have a place where they belong, to learn and grow and feel protected.

BLOCK: Today's historic vote is being celebrated by gay rights advocates as a hard-fought victory and criticized by opponents as a moral capitulation. NPR's Kathy Lohr is in Grapevine, Texas, where the vote took place, and she joins us now.

Boy Scouts To Decide Whether To Admit Gay Youth

Kathy Lohr — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:32:00 +0000

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

And I'm Linda Wertheimer.

This week, Boy Scouts of America officials will meet in Texas to consider changing the group's longstanding ban on gay members. The first round of voting starts tomorrow.

Mark Sanford Wins House Race

Kathy Lohr — Wed, 08 May 2013 02:56:00 +0000

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

In South Carolina tonight, a political comeback. Republican Mark Sanford, who was once mired in scandal as the state's governor, has won a congressional seat in a special election. He has defeated Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in a race that attracted national attention. Sanford just delivered his victory speech.

MARK SANFORD: I have a question for you all.

Democrats Have High Hopes Of Defeating Sanford In S.C.

Kathy Lohr — Fri, 03 May 2013 18:37:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERK_pExyer8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khs3U1y_XB0

50 Years Later, King's Birmingham 'Letter' Still Resonates

Kathy Lohr — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:46:00 +0000

It's been five decades since Martin Luther King Jr., began writing his famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail," a response to eight white Alabama clergymen who criticized King and worried the civil rights campaign would cause violence. They called King an "extremist" and told blacks they should be patient.

But the time for waiting was over. Birmingham was the perfect place to take a stand.

So King traveled to Alabama in 1963 to attack the culture of racism in the South and the Jim Crow laws that mandated separate facilities for blacks and whites. In January, Gov.

Abortion Opponents Gear Up For More Court Battles

Kathy Lohr — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:39:00 +0000

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Now to a debate over abortion that has escalated after some recent moves by states. The North Dakota legislature just passed a series of bills, including the strictest abortion ban in the country. And lawmakers there voted to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot next year which would end abortion entirely. Earlier this month, Arkansas passed a 12-week ban. NPR's Kathy Lohr reports that more states are debating stricter laws with hopes of getting one of them before the U.S.

Sanford Tries For Comeback In S.C. Election

Kathy Lohr — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:27:00 +0000

Two Democrats and 16 Republicans are running for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District seat in a special election Tuesday. The seat is open because former Rep. Tim Scott was tapped to replace Sen. Jim DeMint, who retired midterm.

The biggest name in the race is former Gov. Mark Sanford, whose infamous affair led to his political downfall.

New Exhibit Highlights The History Of Early Civil Rights Group

Kathy Lohr — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 12:03:00 +0000

A new exhibit on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta is bringing civil rights leaders together.

Curators have worked for more than three years to catalog roughly 1,000 boxes of historic documents that tell the story of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an early civil rights group first presided over by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

One person who shows up in several of the photographs in the exhibit is Dorothy Cotton, who was head of the SCLC's Citizens Education Program beginning in the 1960s.

In Dallas, Boy Scouts Debate Opening Membership To Gays

Kathy Lohr — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 10:27:00 +0000

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Leadership of the Boy Scouts of America may take an important vote today. The organization's executive board is wrapping up a meeting in Dallas, and they're talking about whether to drop their policy banning gay leaders and gay scouts.

States Become Battlegrounds For Nation's Deep Abortion Divide

Kathy Lohr — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:52:00 +0000

Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Thousands of activists on both sides of the issue are holding rallies marking the day at state capitals across the country.

In the decades since the decision, abortion has been one of the most debated and legislated issues in the nation. And state legislatures, which are increasingly passing laws restricting abortion, have become the debate's key battlegrounds.

South Dakota is one such state.

New Regulations Could Treat Virginia Abortion Clinics Like Hospitals

Kathy Lohr — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 23:09:00 +0000

This month marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the famed and widely cited case that legalized abortion. Yet across the country, states are continuing to approve restrictions.

With little fanfare, Virginia and Michigan Republican governors recently signed new abortion bills into law. Virginia's Bob McDonnell, in particular, quietly approved clinic regulations adopted by the state's Board of Health three months ago that hold abortion clinics to the same building standards as hospitals.

"Obviously I'm a pro-life governor," McDonnell says.

Custom Orders Build Retailers' Brand Loyalty

Kathy Lohr — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:16:00 +0000

It wasn't long ago that all consumers went to retail stores to buy things. These days, of course, you can get just about anything online. Some companies are now taking that shopping experience to the next level, allowing customers to design almost anything individually — from a trench coat to a batch of M&M's.

Lindsay Stewart, a senior at Holy Innocents' Episcopal School in Atlanta, is a Converse fan — and an avid Converse custom designer.

Georgia Town Makes Claim For Fruitcake Capital Of The World

Kathy Lohr — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:51:00 +0000

In the small town of Claxton, Ga., two bakeries make more than 4 million pounds of fruitcake each year. Both bakeries say Claxton is the fruitcake capital of the world, despite a similar claim made by a company in Corsicana, Texas.

"We actually begin with a blend of golden and natural raisins," says Dale Parker, vice president of Claxton Bakery, the larger of the town's two fruitcake companies.