Tuesday,  April 29, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 285 • 25 of 29

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Lawsuit cites religious freedom in unusual challenge to NC's gay marriage ban

• CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- A coalition of clergy members is challenging North Carolina's constitutional ban on gay marriage with an unusual approach in a federal lawsuit: They say it violates their religious freedom.
• The clergy members said in the lawsuit filed Monday that they'd like to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies in their congregations, but they can't because of the "unjust law."
• Their attorney, Jake Sussman, says it's the only case to make First Amendment religious freedom claims among the more than 60 marriage equality cases pending in the nation's state and federal courts.
• "North Carolina's marriage laws are a direct affront to freedom of religion," said the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, executive minister with the Cleveland-based United Church of Christ, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. "We feel that it is important that any person that comes into community life of a United Church of Christ congregation be afforded equal pastoral care and equal opportunity to religious services that clergy provide."
• But in North Carolina, clergy are often faced with a troubling decision -- "whether to provide those services or break the law," Guess said. "That's something no clergy member should be faced with."
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Organizers still need $1 million by Thursday to save Rosie the Riveter's plant from demolition

• YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- Loraine Osborne is a Rosie.
• She isn't THE Rosie, but she worked as a riveter at the Willow Run bomber plant in Michigan alongside Rose Will Monroe, the inspiration for a character that came to symbolize female empowerment and the we're-all-in-this-together spirit of the American homefront during World War II.
• Thousands of Rosie the Riveters were there when their country needed them. Now, Rosie is the one who needs help.
• All that stands between her old plant and the wrecking ball is two days and $1 million.
• A group trying to save a slice of the factory west of Detroit raised $7 million, but it

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