Midday Roundup: New Kentucky governor pledges marriage license change

No baloney. Kentucky’s newly elected governor, who takes office Dec. 8, said yesterday one of his first acts would be to issue an executive order removing county clerks’ names from marriage licenses. Matt Bevin said any argument that such a decision can’t be made by the governor is “baloney.” Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who objected to having her name placed on marriage licenses for same-sex couples, had asked outgoing Gov. Steve Beshear to modify the license to protect clerks who oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds. Beshear refused, saying only the state legislature could modify the form. But Bevin noted the state had already changed the form three times. The clerk’s name “doesn’t even need to be there,” Bevin said. Davis became the face of the religious liberty fight earlier this year when she went to jail after refusing a judge’s order to issue same-sex marriage licenses. She maintains having her name on the form makes her complicit in something she believes is wrong.

Just the beginning. African-American students at the University of Missouri are pledging to fight for more change less than 24 hours after a weeks-long protest led to the ouster of the university system’s president, Tim Wolfe, and the Columbia campus’ chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin. The two men stepped down yesterday amid accusations they mishandled the response to growing frustrations over racist incidents on campus. “This is just a beginning in dismantling systems of oppression in higher education, specifically the U.M. system,” said Marshall Allen, a member of the protest group Concerned Student 1950. The students are now calling for a more diverse faculty. While African-American students make up about 8 percent of undergraduates at the University of Missouri, only about 3 percent of faculty members are black.

Chilly reception. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making the rounds of Washington, D.C., think tanks after meeting yesterday with President Barack Obama. During their meeting at the White House, the two leaders discussed ongoing clashes in Israel with Palestinian militants. “We’ll never give up our hope for peace,” Netanyahu told reporters. “And I remain committed to a vision for peace—of two states for two peoples, a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state.” An already cool relationship between Netanyahu and Obama turned ice cold during the build up to the U.S.-backed nuclear deal with Iran. But at a press conference Monday, both leaders said the bond between the U.S. and Israel remains strong. Obama claimed Israel’s security is a “top foreign security priority.”

List of demands. A campaign in the U.K. to sever ties with the European Union is gaining steam. But Prime Minister David Cameron isn’t on board. At the CBI Business Conference yesterday, Cameron expressed frustration with Europe’s current state, alluding to several foreign policy and business changes he says are vital. If Cameron can get the changes he wants, he pledged to campaign vigorously for Britain to stay in the EU. Cameron will reveal his proposed changes in a speech later today. He says it’s in the best interest of his nation’s economy and security to work with the EU, but if his requests are not met, he rules nothing out. And he’s adamant Britain could survive easily outside the European umbrella.

Died. Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt died today. He was 96. Schmidt led West Germany between 1974 and 1982, the height of the Cold War. He tried to walk a fine line of conciliatory gestures toward East Germany and its communist Russian overlords while strengthening ties with the West. He was a strong proponent of European integration. Schmidt had a reputation as a tough leader, in part because of his handling of the homegrown terror group the Red Army Faction. He refused to release some of the group’s leaders from prison, even after they kidnapped the head of the country’s industry federation. When the group hijacked a Lufthansa plane in Somalia, Schmidt sent a group of antiterrorist commandos to storm the plane. They rescued 86 hostages, but the kidnapped federation leader was later found murdered. After leaving office, Schmidt devoted his time to being co-publisher of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard and Christina Darnell contributed to this report.