Human Race

Reopened

A former Iowa bistro and gallery, closed after its owners declined to host a same-sex wedding, relaunched Nov. 1 as a church. Dick and Betty Odgaard had operated the Görtz Haus Gallery, converted from a 70-year-old stone chapel, but experienced a loss in sales after the Iowa Civil Rights Commission investigated them for refusing to rent the original sanctuary for a gay wedding in 2013. The couple ultimately sold the building to their new church home, Harvest Bible Chapel. The chapel will once again host weddings, this time for church members.

Embattled

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane faced a new round of questioning Nov. 5 amid a misconduct scandal that has roiled state government. Kane, 49, faces charges of perjury and other offenses in connection with a leak in a feud with officials who investigated the Jerry Sandusky case. The state Supreme Court has suspended her law license. Claiming a conspiracy against her, Kane responded by releasing sexually explicit emails her office discovered on the email accounts of state officials. As a result, the state’s environmental secretary and a Supreme Court justice have resigned. Kane is fighting Pennsylvania press in court to shield remaining emails from open-record laws as she wages a calculated public relations war for her job.

Charged

St. Louis police have arrested a suspect in a series of seven apparent church arsons in October. Police charged David Lopez Jackson, 35, in connection with two fires, although he is a suspect in all seven. Five of the congregations were predominately black, leading to speculation the churches were racially targeted. But no early signs pointed to Jackson, who is African-American, having racial or denominational grievances. The arsonist used gas to set church doors ablaze, although most buildings sustained minimal damage.

Ordered

The federal government has given a suburban Chicago school district until November’s end to allow a transgender student unhindered access to girls’ locker rooms. Born male, the unidentified teen in Palatine, Ill., plays on girls’ athletics teams and uses the girls’ restrooms at school. In the locker room, the district wants the teen to use a privacy screen. But the U.S. Department of Education on Nov. 2 rejected the district’s argument that boys and girls should not see each other naked. The Obama administration, which has redefined Title IX to prohibit transgender “discrimination,” could withhold $6 million in federal funding from the district.

Ruled

Recreational marijuana use in Mexico may become legal after a Nov. 4 ruling from the Mexican Supreme Court. Citing a right to “free development of personality,” the court ruled 4-1 that possessing, growing, and smoking pot is a constitutional right. The majority conceded the plant is a drug and is harmful, and the ruling applied only to four plaintiffs, without approving commercial production or sales. But it opened a new regulatory chapter that could lead to full legalization.

Died

Former U.S. senator, actor, and presidential candidate Fred Thompson died of lymphoma Nov. 1. He was 73. As an attorney for the Senate Watergate Committee, Thompson’s interrogation of Alexander Butterfield, a former aide to President Richard Nixon, resulted in the disclosure of a secret Oval Office recording system. The Tennessee Republican acted in several films, including Die Hard 2, before winning Al Gore’s open U.S. Senate seat in 1994 and a full term in 1996. He later starred as District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC’s Law & Order before embarking on a short-lived 2008 presidential campaign.

Died

Günter Schabowski, the East Germany Communist Party leader who inadvertently opened the state’s border with West Berlin, died Nov. 1 at age 86. Schabowski’s press conference on Nov. 9, 1989, announced the lifting of travel restrictions on East Germans “as far as I know … immediately.” The doomed government intended to issue visas, but thousands listening to Schabowski’s faltering words overran border checkpoints and celebrated on the Berlin Wall. He later served 9½ months in prison for manslaughter connected with his government’s former policy of shooting East Germans who tried to flee to the West.

Died

Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi politician largely responsible for feeding intelligence to the United States that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, died Nov. 3 at age 71. As former head of the exiled Iraqi National Congress, Chalabi was a trusted U.S. adviser who championed claims of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. Shortly before his death, Chalabi lamented the splintered Iraqi democracy’s state in comparison with the Islamic State insurgency.

Died

Colin Welland, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, died Nov. 2 at age 81. After getting his start at the Manchester Library Theatre, Welland put British cinema on the world stage with his screenplay about 1924 Olympic runners Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams. The film and its iconic score won four Oscars and beat Raiders of the Lost Ark for best picture. It honestly portrayed Liddell’s Christian faith with a memorable line: “When I run I feel His pleasure.”

By the numbers

6,100 | The number of federal prisoners the government released between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2 because of new federal sentencing guidelines for drug trafficking crimes. The guidelines were applied retroactively to the prisoners.

11.6 | The percentage of American women on birth control who used IUDs or implants between 2011 and 2013, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. In 2002, only 2.4 percent used such devices. According to the center, about 62 percent of American women use some form of birth control.