Conservative Papers Blossom on Campuses

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, May 7 — In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Operation Iraqi Freedom, conservative college students are battling for the hearts and minds of their peers, primarily by starting alternative campus newspapers.

There are now more than 80 right-leaning newspapers on campuses — 50% more than two years ago, the Los Angeles daily reported. Conservative students are appalled that liberal professors and student leaders blame the United States for the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq.

At the University of California at Santa Barbara, Nicholas Romero and Gretchen Pfaff edit the Gaucho Free Press. They had no interest in writing for the main campus paper, the Daily Nexus, which they say too often glamorizes drug use and promiscuity.

At least two organizations give seminars on how to start a newspaper. One is the Collegiate Network; the other is the Leadership Institute in Virginia, whose director of student publications is Joshua Mercer, also a Register correspondent.

His approach to transforming popular culture has a familiar, apostolic ring: “People complain about the media,” Mercer told the Times. “Our philosophy is, ‘Be the media.’"

Nevada Committee Okays ‘Pill’ Bill

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 29 — The Nevada State Senate moved one step closer on April 24 to passing a bill that would require pharmacists to fill prescriptions for every drug — including birth-control pills and abortifacient “emergency contraception" — regardless of their personal and religious objections.

The AP reported the bill would empower the state pharmacy board to punish any pharmacist who refuses. But the bill does not require a pharmacist to stock a given drug.

The first version of the bill protected pharmacists who had conscientious objections to certain drugs, but, AP reported, it was amended because lawmakers feared it “interfered with business management.”

New Bill Targets Internet Porn

THE WASHINGTON POST, April 30 — President Bush signed a bill April 30 that would punish online pornographers — at least those who mask their Web sites behind innocuous domain names.

The bill also toughens penalties for the abuse or exploitation of children, offers federal money to provide a national-alert system for abducted children and strengthens laws against child pornography — including the “virtual" variety, which is digitally composed.

The law's sponsor, Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., explained the anti-masking law will help protect kids from blundering into a “fraudulent storefront on the Internet … and find themselves in the adult section — triple X — when they came in looking for Hardy Boys.”

Legislators Try to Stop Contraceptive Project

ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, May 1 — A committee in the Wisconsin Legislature voted on April 30 to suspend the rules for a federally sponsored family planning program in order to close down the controversial program, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

But one state official suggested that Wisconsin law mandates the program's continuation.

The Family Planning Demonstration Project, which began in January, offers $29.3 million in federal money to fund family planning along with noncontroversial services such as cancer screening.

One opponent of the project, Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, pointed out that the project allows girls 15 and older to seek contraceptives without parental consent.