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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Matthew Shepard Act Arrives in Congress

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Thursday, April 19, 2007   


The Matthew Shepard story is in the news again, this time as part of the push for positive change in protecting people from hate-motivated violence. Clergy from Wyo. have just returned from Washington, D.C. where they talked about the recently-introduced "Matthew Shepard Act," which would help local law enforcement investigate and prosecute hate crimes. Retired hospital chaplain Bob Spencer is with Wyoming Equality. He just returned from the capitol, where he has been promoting the bill, and he likes how it helps local law enforcement deal with hate crimes.

"It would open up the FBI and federal laboratories, and also some funding for local governments."

The bill would also allow the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute certain bias-motivated crimes based on the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or a disability. Current law only includes race, color, religion or national origin.

Spencer adds that there's pending legislation that would update federal laws on workplace discrimination, a type of discrimination he calls subtle but powerful.

"There's already an Employment Non-Discrimination Act, but it doesn't cover GLBT people, and it doesn't cover a lot of people with disabilities."


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