Boy Scouts of America

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After 'Incredibly Fun' Deliberations, a New Name for Boy Scouts

Coming in February: Scouts BSA

(Newser) - For 108 years, the Boy Scouts of America's flagship program has been known simply as the Boy Scouts. With girls soon entering the ranks, the group announced a new name: Scouts BSA. The change will take effect next February, reports the AP . Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh said many...

Boy Scouts Shakes Head at Suit on Teen With Down Syndrome

Logan Blythe's dad says son was stripped of merit badges, Eagle Scout opportunity; BSA says no

(Newser) - The Boy Scouts of America is pushing back after a lawsuit filed on behalf of a 15-year-old Utah boy. The complaint filed by Logan Blythe's father, Chad Blythe, alleges the BSA nixed a project Logan needed to complete to become an Eagle Scout because the organization decided Logan couldn'...

Boy Scouts Voids Badges of Teen With Down Syndrome

Family sues, says national organization's decision is discriminatory

(Newser) - The father of a boy who has Down syndrome is suing the Boys Scouts of America for blocking his son from becoming an Eagle scout and revoking his merit badges. Logan Blythe has been a scout through the National Parks Council in Utah. His father, Chad, says the 15-year-old has...

Cub Scout's Questions for Lawmaker Get Him Kicked Out of Den

His mom says den leader was not a fan of 11-year-old's line of questioning

(Newser) - A Colorado state senator was visiting, and Ames Mayfield had questions for her. Specifically, questions about gun control, as well as comments the lawmaker made back in 2013 regarding black people. As a result, Ames was kicked out of the organization that Sen. Vicki Marble was visiting. That organization is...

Boy Scouts Will Start Accepting Girls

Historic change starts with Cub Scouts, will ultimately allow girls to become Eagle Scouts

(Newser) - In a historic change, the Boy Scouts are announcing plans to admit girls into the Cub Scouts starting next year and to establish a new program for older girls using the same curriculum as the Boy Scouts, the AP reports. Under the plan announced Wednesday, Cub Scout dens—the smallest...

Family Sues After Son Dies on 'Aggressive' Boy Scouts Hike

'He wasn't prepared' for advanced hike, parents say

(Newser) - The grieving parents of 15-year-old Reid Comita say he died after going on a hike the Boy Scouts should never have sent him on. The Texas teenager died from heat stroke in June while on an "Intro to Backpacking" course that would have been his final task to become...

Girl Scouts Accuse Boy Scouts of Underhanded Behavior

They claim the boys are covertly recruiting girls

(Newser) - Inflaming a century-old and mostly cordial rivalry, the president of the Girl Scouts of the USA is accusing the Boy Scouts of seeking to covertly recruit girls into their programs while disparaging the Girl Scouts' operations. "I formally request that your organization stay focused on serving the 90% of...

2 Eagle Scouts Dead in Sailing Electrocution

Another boy, 11, is hospitalized in Texas

(Newser) - Two Eagle Scouts were fatally electrocuted over the weekend while teaching a younger Boy Scout how to sail. Authorities in East Texas say the mast of their catamaran apparently struck a power line on a lake Saturday afternoon, reports NBC News . The older boys, ages 16, and 18, were found...

Boy Scouts Denies Trump's Claim of Phone Call

Organization says top leaders did not call president to praise controversial speech

(Newser) - The Boy Scouts are denying a claim by President Donald Trump that the head of the youth organization called the president to praise his politically aggressive speech to the Scouts' national jamboree, the AP reports. Trump told the Wall Street Journal, "I got a call from the head of...

After Trump's Boy Scout Speech, an Apology

'We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program'

(Newser) - "I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree," Boy Scouts of America Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh said in a statement Thursday in the wake of outrage over President Trump'...

Trump Gave a Boy Scouts Speech Like No Other
Trump Gave a Boy Scouts
Speech Like No Other
the rundown

Trump Gave a Boy Scouts Speech Like No Other

Dips heavily into politics after asking 'who the hell wants to speak about politics?'

(Newser) - President Trump addressed the 19th national Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia on Monday and extolled the values of working hard and never giving up. But he also strayed from those Scout-like subjects into the realm of politics, hitting on familiar topics such as "horrible ObamaCare," the "...

In Reversal, Boy Scouts Will Accept Transgender Kids

Will no longer go by gender listed on birth certificate

(Newser) - The Boy Scouts of America says it will allow transgender children who identify as boys to enroll in its boys-only programs, reports AP . The organization announced Monday that it had made the decision to base enrollment in such programs on the gender a child or parent lists on the application...

19 Accuse Former Scoutmaster of Sexual Abuse

One plaintiff claims he was molested more than 1,000 times

(Newser) - In a potentially historic lawsuit, 17 former scouts and two women have sued the Boy Scouts of America claiming a Connecticut scoutmaster sexually abused them hundreds of times over a period of 12 years in the 1960s and 1970s, the Hartford Courant reports. “Our nationwide search shows it was...

Scouts Survive Worst Aviation Badge Attempt Ever

It involved a plane crash

(Newser) - Three Boy Scouts and their pilot are alive after their four-seat 1952 Beechcraft crashed yesterday morning in Belen, NM, about two miles from its final destination. Scouts Levi Jensen, Talon Bennett, and Jacob Brooks were flying with a pilot they knew from church as part of the work required for...

Boy Scouts Change Policy on Gay Leaders

Religious and LGBT groups alike criticize the decision

(Newser) - The Boy Scouts of America has lifted its long-standing ban against adult leaders who are openly gay—with one big exception, the New York Times reports. Today's vote by the Scouts' national executive board will also allow religious-sponsored units to choose leaders they prefer. Yet the Mormon Church, America'...

Boy Scouts of America Votes to Allow Gay Leaders

Units will be allowed to set their own policies

(Newser) - The executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America has unanimously approved a resolution that would end the organization's blanket ban on gay adult leaders and let individual Scout units set their own policy on the long-divisive issue. Units sponsored by churches opposed to the change could maintain the...

Bob Gates to Boy Scouts: End Ban on Gay Leaders

Group's president says 'status quo cannot be sustained'

(Newser) - Former secretary of Defense and current president of the Boy Scouts of America Robert Gates had some tough talk for his organization today, USA Today reports, telling the Scouts' annual meeting that it was time to set aside the group's controversial ban on gay leaders. "I must speak...

Boy Scouts Chapter Flouts Ban, Hires Gay Adult Leader

National organization is 'looking into the matter'

(Newser) - In what advocates are calling a "watershed moment," the Boy Scouts' New York chapter said yesterday that it has hired the nation's first openly gay Eagle Scout as a summer camp leader, a direct and public challenge to the national Scouting organization's ban on openly gay...

After Scout's Death, Friends Helping Him Get Eagle Rank

Pennsylvania teen died suddenly last month

(Newser) - Scores of friends, family members, and fellow Boy Scouts have joined forces to help a Pennsylvania Boy Scout win his Eagle badge weeks after his sudden death. Noah Cornuet, 16, collapsed and died after football practice last month from what turned out to be a rare heart tumor, the Pittsburgh ...

Border Official Points Gun... at Boy Scout: Troop Leader

Another scout gets threatened with 10 years in prison

(Newser) - A couple weeks ago, a US border patrol official held a gun to the head of ... a Boy Scout. A troop leader explains what happened now that the scouts and adult volunteers from Mid-Iowa Scout Troop 111 have returned from their 23-day trip: Ten days into the trip, their four...

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