3 Things To Know Today

1 Court Rules Male-Only Draft Is Unconstitutional

A federal judge in Texas says that a male-only military draft is unconstitutional. In a ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Gray Miller says that the time for a debate on women's roles in the military has passed. As you might recall, the Supreme Court upheld the male-only draft in 1981 because at the time women weren't allowed in combat. But of course, the military removed restrictions for women in combat in 2015. Current law requires all men to register for selective service when they turn 18; they can be denied federal benefits and loans if they don't. Women, on the other hand, aren't allowed to register. The case was filed by a men's rights group called the National Coalition For Men, arguing the all-male draft was unfair. A federal commission is now reviewing the selective service system and whether women should be added or if it should even be eliminated all together.

2 Catholic Church Admits Destroying Abuse Records

Pope Francis says that sexual abuse of minors at the hands of priests is a crime that should be erased from the face of the earth. That might prove more difficult considering the comments of a German Cardinal this weekend – but more on that in a second. The Pontiff made the comments at the close of an historic Vatican conference on the problem of sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Francis said that the Church would strengthen its guidelines on how to prevent abuse and punish those responsible. He promised that the Catholic Church would spare no effort to bring abusers to justice and would no longer cover up these crimes. The problem? He – and other officials - were short on details of how they’ll achieve that. Which brings us back to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who admitted Saturday that the Church has been it’s own enemy when it comes to cleaning up the massive mess. “Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed or not even created," Marx noted. "The stipulated procedures and processes for the prosecution offenses were deliberately not complied with, but instead canceled and overridden. I assume Germany is not an isolated case.”

3 Two Bodies Recovered In Amazon Prime Air Cargo Plane Crash

Authorities say a second body has been recovered after an Amazon Prime Air cargo jet nosedived into waters just off Houston Saturday. Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne says authorities are still in active recovery mode. At least three people were on board Boeing 767 that was traveling from Miami to Houston. NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said authorities are analyzing surveillance video as they try to find out how the plane nosedived into Trinity Bay, which is a part of the larger Galveston Bay, near the town of Anahuac. All contact was lost with the flight when it was about six-thousand feet in the air and roughly 30-miles from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Sumwalt said the top priority is to obtain the plane recorders. He noted that the pilots didn't issue a distress call, even though the plane descended at a steep angle, nose-first into the shallow waters.


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