Officials in Nome, Alaska, have shelved a proposal to end sales tax exemptions for local non-profit organizations, including houses of worship. The move would have raised an estimated $300,000 for the cash-strapped town, but opponents worried it would affect important services.
An Alaskan city may strip local houses of worship of their sales tax exemptions. The measure, proposed by officials in Nome as a response to a projected budget shortfall, would also apply to all non-profits within city limits. It could raise $300,000 per year for the city.
KNOM Radio Mission reports that if passed, the measure could be temporary.
Let’s say you work as a teacher in a Catholic school in Cincinnati and your old friend, who is gay, invites you to New York to attend his same-sex wedding. You attend and snap some photos of this happy event, which you post on Facebook.
The school can fire you for that.
Let’s say you have another friend who, along with her husband, has struggled to conceive. The couple uses in vitro fertilization and gets good news: They’re going to have a baby. You use Twitter to send a message of congratulations to your friend.
The school can fire you for that.
Yesterday's newspapers were reminiscent of those heady days of fall 2008 – a time when the media and public obsessed over a little-known Alaska politician named Sarah Palin.
Palin stepped down from her position as governor of Alaska on Sunday. As I read news accounts of her resignation speech, it seemed her reasons for leaving the position were vague – but what's even more unclear are her plans for the future.
