School Suspends 1st-Grader for Cub Scout Eating Utensils

Evangelical NC church blocks parents because they're not 'real Christians'

(NEWSER) - Holy religious wars! Mormon parents have been banned as Cub Scout leaders in a North Carolina troop after they were told their views are "not consistent with Christianity." Jeremy and Jodi Stokes enrolled their two young sons in a pack operating out of an evangelical Presbyterian church near Charlotte. Their offer to volunteer as leaders was met with enthusiasm—until they identified themselves as Mormons on an application. They were told their sons could remain as Cub Scouts. "I can't believe they had the audacity to say, 'You can't be leaders but we want your boys,'" said Jodi Stokes, who has a picture of Jesus in her living room. "Do they really think I'd let my boys go there now?" More»

Board shortens punishment from 45 days to 3

(NEWSER) - The Delaware first-grader suspended for bringing a camping knife to school is welcome to return after the school board amended its zero-tolerance policy. Zachary Christie was to spend 45 days at an alternative school; now, kindergarten and 1st-grade students with a “dangerous instrument”—a blade less than 3 inches—face a 3-to-5-day suspension and counseling. “We need to recognize the cognitive level of these kids,” a school board member tells the News Journal. More»

First Columbine, now Virginia Tech: Regina Rohde has lived through both

(NEWSER) - A veteran of the Columbine massacre has now relived that high school tragedy as a graduate student at Virginia Tech. Regina Rohde, a master's candidate in the department of fisheries and science, was a freshman at Columbine in 1999. "They're strikingly similar," Rohde says of the shootings. More»

(NEWSER) - At least 32 students are dead after a gunman opened fire on a Virginia Tech dormitory and classroom building this morning. The shooter is dead; two dozen other students were wounded in the attack. “This place is in a state of panic,” one student told CNN; others report watching classmates jump from dormitory windows to escape the attack. More»