Supreme Court to Hear Appeal on Affordable Care Act Preventative Care Requirements

The Archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, has removed top leaders of Second Harvest, a church-affiliated food bank, after they allegedly resisted pressure to contribute $16 million towards settling claims of child sexual abuse against clergy. The dismissals, announced on January 30, include board chairperson Bert Wilson and President Natalie Jayroe, who served for 19 years. The former leaders contend that they were forced out for refusing to allocate funds intended for anti-hunger efforts to the church’s bankruptcy settlement. According to various sources, Second Harvest is a non-profit governed independently, although tied to the archdiocese. Aymond’s letter did not detail reasons for the firings, but he assured that operations at Second Harvest would not be affected. Critics, including former committee chair James Adams, argued that Second Harvest should not be liable or expected to contribute to settlements as it does not directly engage with children in the church's context. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in May 2020 to handle over 500 abuse claims against its clergy.

A conservative U.S. appeals court in New Orleans ruled on Thursday that a federal ban on handgun sales to individuals aged 18 to 21 is unconstitutional, citing the Second Amendment. The ruling comes from a three-judge panel and follows a significant Supreme Court decision in 2022 that broadened gun rights across the nation. According to the court, “the text of the Second Amendment includes eighteen-to-twenty-year-old individuals among ‘the people’ whose right to keep and bear arms is protected.” This decision marks a notable shift, as the Fifth Circuit previously upheld the age restriction. Similar cases in states like Minnesota and Texas have seen comparable laws struck down, influenced by the Supreme Court's emphasis on historical traditions in assessing firearm regulations. The Biden administration has previously opposed such rulings, and while the Trump administration's plans regarding this ruling remain unclear, Donald Trump has expressed strong support for gun rights. Advocacy groups such as the Firearms Policy Coalition have championed the decision, while organizations like the Giffords Law Center have criticized it as reckless.

Two recent studies reveal that samples from NASA's asteroid Bennu contain essential building blocks for life, potentially shedding light on how life began on Earth. The analysis was based on 120 grams of material collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during its 2020 mission and returned in 2023. Initial studies had already indicated high-carbon content and water in the samples. Further research identified that evaporated water from Bennu's parent asteroid left behind a mix of salts and minerals, which are critical components for life, according to Tim McCoy, curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and co-lead author of one of the studies. He stated, "We have discovered that next step on a pathway to life." The studies suggest that these findings could support the theory that life on Earth might have originated from extraterrestrial sources. The results also highlight the potential existence of similar conditions on other celestial bodies like the dwarf planet Ceres and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.