Nation

WASHINGTON (RNS) — In an unsealed affidavit this week charging 29-year-old Mariia Butina with “conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation” was buried a peculiar detail: Butina, a Russian citizen living in the U.S., allegedly sought to influence U.S. officials not only through organizations such as the National Rifle Association, but also by exploiting the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event in Washington, D.C.

(RNS) — President Trump has nominated U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be his Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, setting the stage for a heated confirmation battle that will likely focus on his views regarding both law and religion.

(RNS) — The three judges have been on the legal world's radar since they appeared in November on a White House list of potential Supreme Court nominees. And they are all "really incredible people in so many different ways, academically and in every other way," according to President Trump.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Most Americans likely know of Francis Scott Key's passion for the United States, expressed in his writing of the national anthem. Far fewer know he also was a passionate advocate of Sunday School whose leadership in the Sunday School movement helped evangelize the West.

(RNS) — As the summer heat waxes and state legislative sessions wane, the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation has scored a few small but significant victories.

Laws passed in six states during 2017 and 2018, mostly sponsored by legislative prayer caucuses in about 30 states, were inspired by the foundation’s 2017 manual known as Project Blitz, a 116-page guide for state legislators listing 20 model bills that sponsors claim will protect religious liberty.

WASHINGTON (USA Today) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday dealt a major blow to a California law requiring anti-abortion pregnancy centers to inform women about publicly funded abortion and contraception services.

WASHINGTON (RNS) — A multiracial, intergenerational crowd of social justice activists, union workers and people of faith gathered on the National Mall over the weekend to get marching orders for their next steps in a new Poor People’s Campaign.

DALLAS (BP) -- Personal belongings are confiscated, and a participant is stripped of his or her individuality. They become a number. Government workers with stern faces instruct them to face forward. No talking.

During this refugee camp simulation, participants are to grab three items from buckets. They haven't been told why. No one tells them where they're going.

Eighty-three percent of U.S. inmates were arrested at least once within the nine years following their release from incarceration, according to a U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report released on May 23.