The Virginia Pilot reports: When Franki Busitzky was 18 years old, she hitchhiked down Virginia Beach Boulevard and over to Sewells Point Road to visit a bar meant for people like her. She had just come out as a lesbian to her family, and they didn’t take the news as well as she had hoped. So Busitzky, looking to find …

CNBC reports: The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that non-union workers cannot be forced to pay fees to public sector unions. The case, one of the most hotly anticipated of the term, concerns whether public employees can be forced to pay fees that fund the work of public sector unions. Some experts have said that a holding in favor of …

From the website of “death to gays” Pastor Kevin Swanson: The Oregon Supreme Court upheld the lower court rulings requiring that Aaron and Melissa Klein pay $135,000 for not baking a cake for a homosexual ceremony. Now they are appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here, we interview Aaron Klein on how they lost their little family bakery …

Deadline Hollywood reports: President Donald Trump having taken time to attack CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert at a rally in his home state may have driven more viewers to the show the next night to see what the attack was all about. If so, they saw First Lady Melania Trump doppelganger Laura Benanti stopping by to help everyone figure …

The New York Daily News reports: A communications failure sparked a hijacking scare on a JetBlue flight at JFK Airport on Tuesday, setting off a frenzy from first responders over what turned out to be a false alarm. JetBlue Flight 1623, an Airbus 320 bound for Los Angeles, lost contact with the air traffic control tower while taxiing for takeoff …

Mediaite reports: Last night, the Republican Party released their newest ad, and as political campaign ads go, this one nailed it on timing, at least. The news since the weekend has been dominated by stories of confrontations with Trump officials and the comments by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) urging her supporters to harass Trump officials in public. The ad features …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Anthony Avalos came out as gay in recent weeks, and authorities are now investigating whether homophobia played a role in the death of the 10-year-old Lancaster boy, a county official said. Anthony was found mortally wounded at his home last week with severe head injuries and cigarette burns covering his body. Brandon Nichols, deputy director …

Politico reports: The federal prosecutor who has led the investigation into former Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) for more than three years is officially off the criminal corruption case, just as it appears to be finally heading for trial. Timothy Bass, a veteran prosecutor who heads the public-corruption unit for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Central Illinois, notified the federal court …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Mitt Romney hardly broke a sweat on his way to capturing the Republican nomination in Utah’s U.S. Senate race, according to unofficial results Tuesday, earning 73 percent of the vote. Romney’s opponent, state Rep. Mike Kennedy, R-Alpine, drew only about one of four votes counted by Tuesday night. Late-arriving by-mail ballots will continue to be …

The Baltimore Sun reports: Former NAACP chief Ben Jealous won Maryland’s Democratic primary for governor Tuesday, promising to deliver a progressive agenda that makes college free, legalizes marijuana and raises the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. Bolstered by support in the Baltimore region, spending from outside groups and an aggressive union-backed turnout machine, Jealous emerged from the six-way …

The Guardian reports: US immigration agents can no longer separate immigrant parents and children caught crossing the border from Mexico illegally and must work to reunite those families that had been split up in custody, a federal judge has ruled. The US district court judge Dana Sabraw late on Tuesday night granted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) a preliminary …

CBS Denver reports: Jared Polis claimed the Democratic nomination for governor in Colorado with a clear victory Tuesday after he spent $11 million of his own fortune to vanquish three rivals. The five-term Boulder congressman would become the nation’s first openly gay man elected governor if he wins in November, and his candidacy represents a sharp leftward shift that will …

CNN reports: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Latina running her first campaign, ousted 10-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in New York’s 14th congressional district on Tuesday, in the most shocking upset of a rollicking political season. An activist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Ocasio-Cortez won over voters in the minority-majority district with a ruthlessly efficient grassroots bid, even …

Billboard reports: Playing to a rapturous New York City crowd that greeted her with a loving roar of sound, Kylie Minogue reciprocated the very vocal adoration from her fans by treating them to a previously unheard song — and an unplanned second encore — at her Monday (June 25) night concert. Entitled, appropriately enough, “New York City,” it was clear …

From American Family Association president Tim Wildmon: What if I told you that you could clean your family’s laundry and help reach the next generation at the same time? That opportunity is here – through a company called Redeem Clean. The company was founded by Lynn Ingram and Jim Duncan specifically to help American Family Association. I first met Lynn …

CNN reports: White House press secretary Sarah Sanders is expected to receive Secret Service protection as soon as Wednesday, two sources familiar with the decision tell CNN, but they did not specify how long it will last. The Secret Service declined to comment, telling CNN: “For operational security purposes the Secret Service does not comment on its protective operations.” The …

Politico reports: Republicans have quietly imposed a new tax on churches, synagogues and other nonprofits, a little-noticed and surprising change that could cost some groups tens of thousands of dollars. Their recent tax-code rewrite requires churches, hospitals, colleges, orchestras and other historically tax-exempt organizations to begin paying a 21 percent tax on some types of fringe benefits they provide their …

Roanoke Times reporter Amy Friedenberger is tweeting live from a protest outside the Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia where one screaming man is holding a sign saying “LGBT: Let God Burn Them.” According to the reporter, one disorderly conduct arrest has already been made. As I noted yesterday, the restaurant’s owner, family, and employees have been hit with a deluge …

The Southern Poverty Law Center reports: A neo-Nazi who was arrested years ago for parading with a rifle through the streets of a tiny North Dakota town, threatening residents alongside white supremacist Craig Cobb, was arrested over the weekend at a Pride event in Tennessee and charged with assault. Kynan Dutton was part of an odd mix of extremists protesting …

The Associated Press reports: A federal judge in Virginia rejected a bid by President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, to throw out charges in the special counsel’s Russia investigation, clearing the way for a much-anticipated trial to start as scheduled next month. The decision Tuesday by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III was a setback for Manafort in …