Yolanda Vargas Barba’s dream of becoming a doctor begins with education. The 18-year-old Bolivian immigrant fears that dream might be out of reach unless Maryland provides in-state tuition rates for high school students regardless of their immigration status.Read More

A bill that would more tightly regulate Maryland abortion clinics appears stalled in the General Assembly. Lawmakers are instead relying on the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to review how clinics are regulated.Read More

DUBLIN – Ireland’s Catholic leaders have pledged a further 10 million euros ($14.2 million) to provide support services for victims of clerical abuse and announced plans for spiritual support to people whose faith has been damaged by the abuse.Read More

PHOENIX – The Arizona Senate voted down five immigration bills March 17 that proponents argued would crack down on illegal immigration even further than last year’s S.B. 1070, which is still hung up by court challenges.Read More

Federal Hill’s historic Holy Cross church, part of the Catholic Community of South Baltimore, is hosting a stealth cell phone tower in its steeple.Read More

WASHINGTON – The publication of a recent booklet about a “Catholic approach” to same-sex marriage by New Ways Ministry prompted the chairmen of two bishops’ committees to reaffirm a year-old statement that the organization cannot be considered a Catholic group.Read More

ANNAPOLIS – More than 200 students from Catholic and other nonpublic schools left shiny apples for their state lawmakers March 16 – not the edible kind, but symbolic paper cutouts meant to garner support for a long-sought business tax credit benefitting public and nonpublic schools.Read More

YAMAGATA, Japan – Kazuhiro Kikuchi, his wife, Kazuki, and two of their three children were staying at a large sports center-turned-evacuation center about 40 miles north of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, where officials were struggling to contain a potential nuclear disaster.Read More