Human Race

Mobilized

LGBT forces and corporate titans in March aggressively fought conscience and discrimination laws in North Carolina and Georgia, successfully pressuring Georgia’s Republican governor, Nathan Deal, to announce on March 28 that he would veto a religious liberty bill that passed Georgia’s legislature. The bill would have protected pastors and religious nonprofits that didn’t want to participate in same-sex marriages and included modest protections to individuals and businesses. North Carolina’s law, responding to Charlotte’s opening of restrooms to both sexes, prevents localities from making restroom rules and reserves all nondiscrimination powers to the state. National corporations expressed displeasure with the law, but North Carolina’s governor and Republican legislative majority appear unfazed. Elsewhere, the NCAA refused demands from the LGBT community to cut ties with schools requesting Title IX waivers.

Fired

After news broke of a previously unrevealed affair in 2014, Willow Creek Presbyterian Church in Winter Springs, Fla., fired Tullian Tchividjian, 43, in March. Citing his repentance, the church had hired Tchividjian in a non-pastoral role in September, three months after a separate affair forced him to resign from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale. Two former elders at Coral Ridge had hidden the 2014 affair, the church announced. The now-divorced Tchividjian, who is Billy Graham’s grandson, apologized for the pain he caused the churches. Tchividjian’s Liberate Network, which had recently announced its relaunch, again folded after five of nine board members resigned.

Died

Rob Ford, the notorious former Toronto mayor, died of cancer March 22. He was 46. A populist who won a cult following by pledging to cut taxes and spending, Ford became mayor in 2010. The popular mayor, though, embarrassed the city with repeated public intoxication, use of illegal drugs, profanity, and crudity. Cancer kept him from seeking a second term in 2014, but he retained his old City Council seat until his death.

Returned

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., returned to Capitol Hill March 14 after three weeks of cancer treatment. McCaskill said she has a good prognosis after having surgery to remove a lump following a regular mammogram. Upon her return to Washington, McCaskill co-sponsored a successful resolution holding Backpage.com in contempt for rebuffing a subpoena regarding the sex-trafficking on Backpage and similar sites.

Found

Nearly 95 years after it disappeared with 56 sailors aboard, the USS Conestoga has been found, the Navy announced March 23. The former World War I tugboat left San Francisco for Pearl Harbor on March 25, 1921. When it didn’t arrive, a massive search and rescue operation began, surpassed only by that for Amelia Earhart. Ocean floor imaging in 2009 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)revealed the wreck, now confirmed. Likely encountering high winds and waves, the ship sank near the Farallon Islands, just 30 miles from San Francisco. NOAA found no human remains at the site.

Nominated

Defense Secretary Ash Carter on March 18 nominated Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson to head the U.S. Northern Command. If confirmed by the Senate, Robinson would be the first woman to lead a U.S. combatant command. She currently leads the Air Force in the Pacific. Created after Sept. 11, the Colorado-based “Northcom” secures the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Carter also nominated Gen. Vincent Brooks to head U.S. Forces Korea.

Confirmed

In a narrow vote March 14, the Senate confirmed President Barack Obama’s nominee for Education Secretary, 49-40. The Senate promptly confirmed John King Jr. to implement the bipartisan education law passed in December. Originally a New York teacher and educational leader, King has served as acting secretary since December, when Arne Duncan stepped down.

Died

Bob Adelman, whose photos of segregation and the civil rights movement immortalized the era, died March 19. He was 85. Some of his most famous photos include the “I Have a Dream” speech and a group of young black people struggling under the blast of water cannons. He began his photography career shooting jazz musicians after sneaking into jazz clubs as a boy in the 1940s. But increasingly drawn to the civil rights movement, he volunteered to document it, often traveling with Martin Luther King Jr., whom he called “Doc.”

Died

Mother Mary Angelica, founder of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), a Roman Catholic television ministry, died on March 27 in Alabama. Born Rita Rizzo in Canton, Ohio, in 1923, “Mother Angelica” in 1981 began a religious talk show in a monastery garage that grew into the EWTN empire broadcasting in 145 countries and territories. Mother Angelica’s health slowly declined after she suffered a stroke in 2001.

By the numbers

147 | The number of FBI agents, according to The Hill, helping investigate presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information when she was secretary of state.

$176 million | The total wages the federal government garnished from Americans’ paychecks because of unpaid student loans during the last three months of 2015.

$27,357 | The amount World Vision and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spent to send U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., to Kenya in March. It was the most expensive privately financed trip by a member of Congress so far this year.

$3.48 million | The amount in taxes Oregon collected from recreational marijuana sales in January alone, according to Oregon officials.

65 | The square footage of a room at Pod 51, a New York City microhotel that is part of a trend in compact overnight quarters.