| Welcome to the Family Beacon, your source for news and commentary on life, family, and religious freedom in Minnesota and beyond! This week: If this message was forwarded to you, sign up here to get pro-life, pro-family news every week. The Family Beacon podcast will return next week! |
|
|
| Blog: Crime Prevention May be Fall Election’s Biggest Issue in Minnesota |
|  | On February 14th of this year, an unknown male suspect stole a shopper’s vehicle after allegedly pulling a gun on the victim. Two days later at around 12:30 p.m., two men demanded keys from another shopper at gun point. Both crimes occurred at the Rosedale Mall on Snelling Avenue. I live less than three minutes away from where these crimes took place, and like many local residents, I became more concerned for my safety. 73% of Minneapolis residents believe that crime has increased steadily over the last couple of years—and this perception is not limited to the Twin Cities. As Minnesotans start to realize this, political candidates are scrambling to find solutions ahead of the 2022 election. This week marks the anniversary of the George Floyd’s death and the riots and violence that followed. In 2020, Minnesota experienced a violent crime surge of nearly 17% compared to 2019. Motor vehicle thefts rose by 20%, the most since 2005 according to MPR. While the Twin Cities see the most crime by far, reports from the Center for the American Experiment and Fox News have found that violent crimes are up dramatically in suburbs like Woodbury, Oakdale, and Edina. Regardless of what steps you think should be taken, we can all agree that many Minnesotans have been personally affected by the rise in crime and that this will be an election-defining issue. With this feeling of insecurity most Minnesotans believing crime is on the rise, politicians in both parties are looking towards reform. At the State Capitol, legislators were working to yield results before the November election, although the divided legislature did not agree on any major public safety bill before the end of the regular session. Both Democrats and Republicans have voiced their desire to construct a bi-partisan public safety bill. The bill, which would need to be passed in a special session to become law this year, containedattempts by the Democrats to “modernize how we do public safety” by finding alternatives to incarceration and police accountability reforms. Republican amendments focused on providing new technology to outdated police forces and levying harsher sentences for possession of illegal drugs like fentanyl. |
| | |
|
| Mohler: Horror and Broken Hearts in Uvalde (WORLD Magazine) |
|  | By Albert Mohler, WORLD Magazine Uvalde, Texas, is about as Texas as you can get. Less than a hundred miles from the Mexican border, it is considered to be the southernmost reach of the Texas Hill Country. The town is named for a Spanish governor, Juan de Ugalde, and it has something like 16,000 residents. Uvalde’s most famous citizen was John Nance Garner, vice president of the United States from 1933 to 1941. “Cactus Jack” famously described the vice presidency as “not worth a bucket of warm spit.” He didn’t like being vice president, but he knew Uvalde and he loved it. Now, all Americans know of Uvalde. Yesterday, a lone teenage gunman entered Robb Elementary School and unleashed death. At least 19 precious children are dead, along with two adults. Others are wounded. Law enforcement officers killed the 18-year-old gunman as they rushed into the school to stop his rampage. We now know that before heading to the school, the gunman had shot his grandmother. Police were already seeking him when he abandoned his car near the school. At this point, it is not clear whether he intended to head for the school or if he had to abandon the vehicle he was driving and the school was a target chosen at the last minute. The shooter is dead, and some of these questions may never be answered. The first response of Christians to this news is surely grief. As the Apostle Paul instructed us, we are to “mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). Can we even begin to imagine the mourning in Uvalde? At least 19 little children, each immeasurably loved by family, had their lives ended by a teenage murderer. They went to school and will never come home. An entire community is convulsed in pain and grief. How can such grief be borne? We surely pray for all those who grieve in Uvalde, as in Buffalo, as in Sandy Hook, as in Charleston—everywhere these mass murderers turn themselves into agents of death. We pray for parents and brothers and sisters and entire extended families, for teachers and school workers whose lives are forever changed, for classmates who must be scared to death, their lives forever altered. |
| | |
|
| Blog: MFC Joins Appeal for SCOTUS to Crack Down on Medicaid-Funded Abortion |
|  | By Luke Mueller Minnesota Family Council joined Family Policy Alliance, along with the Independence Law Center and 31 state organizations, in filing an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of Kerr v. Planned Parenthood. This case centers on a 2018 Executive Order issued by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster that removed abortion clinics from the state’s list of “qualified” Medicaid providers. Instead of appealing this decision through the established Medicaid process set up by Congress, Planned Parenthood challenged the South Carolina policy in federal court. Unfortunately, lower courts have agreed with the plaintiffs that abortion coverage should be required under Medicaid, meaning South Carolina cannot implement its ban on Medicaid funding for abortion clinics for the time being. Hence the appeal to the nation’s highest court. In this amicus brief, Minnesota Family Council and its allies argue that the U.S. Supreme Court should reject the abortion providers’ suit because “Medicaid is a federal-state cooperative program that must be run according to uniform standards, remedies, and enforcement mechanisms to promote the intent of Congress. Permitting private litigants to sue every time a state terminates a provider’s ability to administer Medicaid services undermines this uniformity…” “We are pleased to join with our friends at Family Policy Alliance and other Family Policy Councils to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the procedural requirements of the law,” said Minnesota Family Council CEO John Helmberger, “which in this case will protect innocent unborn lives. States should retain the right to determine which providers they cover and should not be forced by the court to allocate public funds for abortion services.” |
| | |
|
| What It Takes: Our Annual Dinner with Kayleigh McEnany (June 17th) |
|  | Join us on June 17th in Bloomington for our 2022 Annual Dinner. We’re looking forward to an exciting and inspiring evening focused on WHAT IT TAKES to transform our state by leveraging our biblical citizenship. We’re thrilled to welcome KAYLEIGH MCENANY as our keynote speaker, to share with us about faithfully fighting for life, family, and religious freedom at the highest levels of politics and beyond! Registration is open and time is limited, so get your tickets now! Contact Cheryl at 612.789.8811 x 202 or [email protected] with any questions about tickets, sponsorship, or our ministry partners program. |
| | |
|
| Sign Your Teen Up for Our Leadership Camp (July 24-29) |
|  | | Leadership begins at the end of your comfort zone. We see this every year at LEAD! Take Noah — he attended LEAD for three years and shared this reflection with us: My time at LEAD made an enormous impact on me. It showed in my driving, in how I carried myself, in how I viewed new things, and more. It was an incredible confidence booster. I never dreamed of even doing a fraction of the things I did during LEAD. Never would I have dreamed I would leave my comfort zone willingly! – Noah LEAD has ripple effects. When students step out of their comfort zone at LEAD, they find it easier to step out of their comfort zone at home, at school, and among their peers! Noah is just one example of this. Every year we see students taking what they learned at LEAD and applying it in their communities!Registration for LEAD 2022 is open through July 9th! And don’t miss our Recruiter Rewards program! You can get $35 off your LEAD registration every time you recruit a new student for LEAD 2022! Who: Highschool students ages 13–19
What: A hands-on leadership and worldview camp which equips the next generation of Christian leaders to engage the culture.
When: July 24-29, 2022
To learn more about LEAD, head to leadminnesota.org and don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and Instagram! |
| | |
|
| Dobbs Decision Day Rally! (Date TBA) |
|  | From Pro-Life Action Ministries. Minnesota Family Council is also joining the Decision Day rally. This is an urgent “heads up” message about a very important pro-life event coming soon. As you’ve probably heard, on May 2 the news website Politico published a leaked draft copy of the Supreme Court’s majority opinion on the historic Dobbs v. Jackson case, in which the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is overturned! We’re still waiting for the official ruling to be released, which may not be until July 1. But we need to come out in great numbers that on that day, at a Decision Day Rally, to mark this pro-life victory and dedicate ourselves to building a new pro-life future in Minnesota. I can think of no better place in Minnesota to hold this rally than at the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and Courthouse, named for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who brought us Roe v. Wade in 1973. It is so important for us to get out there on the day the ruling comes down! We need to show the media right here in Minnesota that America is ready to see the end of Roe and a new hopeful future for mothers and their unborn children. Here are all the details about our Dobbs Decision Day Rally: Celebrate the end of Roe v. Wade! WHERE: Warren E. Burger Federal Building and Courthouse Plaza, 316 Robert Street N St. Paul, MN 55101 WHEN: At 5:00 pm on the day the Supreme Court releases their Dobbs ruling DETAILS: Parking in ramps in the downtown St. Paul area. Good to carpool for this event. Meanwhile, please keep a close eye on your email inbox — especially once we get into the month of June, when the ruling is likely to come. Just think: if the Supreme Court does go through with overturning Roe v. Wade, the date that happens will become a new pro-life anniversary — the opposite of January 22, the day Roe was handed down in 1973. We’ll mark that day every year, as we continue our pro-life work. So come out at 5:00 pm on Decision Day — whenever it comes — and be a part of history! |
| |
|
|  | Did you know that when you shop with Amazon Smile, Amazon makes a donation to Minnesota Family Institute at no cost to you? You can support LIFE, FAMILY, and RELIGIOUS FREEDOM while you shop by clicking here (smile.amazon.com/ch/41-1439560) or with AmazonSmile ON in the Amazon Shopping app and AmazonSmile donates to Minnesota Family Institute. Bookmark Amazon Smile in your browser so that Amazon will donate every time you make a purchase! |
| | |
|
| | Get the Parent Resource Guide Responding to the transgender trend with truth and compassion starts with the Parent Resource Guide. Get your copy HERE today and invite a friend to do the same! Click to order your copy today: |
| |
|
| | Thank you for sharing Minnesota Family Council’s vision for strong families, communities and culture through Christ. As we rise to meet challenges at the state and federal level, we need your support now more than ever. Click here to give now. We are grateful for your partnership with us through prayer and financial support. For life, family, and religious freedom, |
|
|
| John Helmberger, CEO Minnesota Family Council and Institute |
|
|
| | Minnesota Family Council
2855 Anthony Lane S, Suite 150 | Minneapolis, Minnesota 55418-3265
612-789-8811 | [email protected] |
| Share The Family Beacon on social media |
|
| |
|
|
