Due to an “expose” of sorts by the Orlando Sentinel, a public scholarship fund that seeks private donations is under attack because some of those funds are used by parents to send their children to Christian schools. The ambiguous headline reads “Anti-LGBT Florida schools getting school vouchers.”

The tax credit program run by Step Up For Students (Step Up), invites corporate donors to contribute amounts up to their state income tax liability in any given year to the scholarship fund in exchange for receiving dollar-for-dollar tax credits. The program last year assisted more than 100,000 children, approximately 70% of whom are black, Hispanic or multiracial. Children receiving a poor education in the public schools can apply for scholarships to attend private schools, including private religious ones.

Throughout the President’s State of the Union address, the tension and divide between the Republicans and Democrats was palpable. After President Donald Trump gave his speech, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made a show of ripping up his speech. It’s another sign that American politics is more divided than ever before. 

When our Founding Fathers first created the Constitution, they deliberately left out any mention of political parties. It was a way of ensuring that the bloody civil wars of the past would be avoided. Alexander Hamilton even called political parties “‘the most fatal disease’ of popular governments.” Based on the State of the Union last night, it appears like their fears are well founded.

“The Vulnerable Child Protection Act,” a bill to protect children struggling with their sexual identity, passed the South Dakota House of Representatives. House Bill 1057 (HB 1057) moved forward with 46 representatives in favor and 23 voting against.

The bill prohibits medical professionals from prescribing puberty blockers or opposite sex hormones to children and teens aged 15 and younger whose self-identity is inconsistent with their biological reality. The bill also protects minors who think they are the opposite sex from so-called “gender affirming” surgeries – including castration, mastectomies and hysterectomies.

HB 1057 has now moved to the South Dakota Senate and is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Monday, February 10. The legislation makes it a misdemeanor for physicians to perform these surgeries or offer these prescriptions to minors.