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    United Methodist delegates have repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate. They removed a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers. Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference — the first such legislative gathering in five years. That overwhelming margin contrasts sharply with the decades of controversy around the issue. Past General Conferences of the United Methodist Church had steadily reinforced the ban and related penalties amid debate and protests. But many of the conservatives who had previously upheld the ban have left the denomination in recent years, and this General Conference has moved in a solidly progressive direction.

      Duane Eddy, a pioneering guitar hero whose reverberating electric sound on instrumentals such as “Rebel Rouser,” “Forty Miles of Bad Road" and “Cannonball” helped put the twang in early rock ‘n’ roll and influenced George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and countless other musicians, has died at age 86. With his raucous rhythms, and backing hollers and hand claps, Eddy sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and mastered a distinctive sound based on the premise that a guitar’s bass strings sounded better on tape than the high ones.

        Florida’s ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy has gone into effect, and some doctors are concerned that women in the state will no longer have access to needed health care. Fertility specialist Dr. Leah Roberts says the anti-abortion laws being enacted by Florida and other red states are being vaguely written by people who don’t understand medical science. Many women don’t even know they are pregnant by six weeks. The ban went into effect Wednesday and affects not just women who want to terminate viable pregnancies because of personal choice, but also nonviable pregnancies for women who want to have babies.

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        About a week after legislators brushed off his amendments to bills ensuring the right to contraception and requiring insurance coverage, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he’s still thinking about what do.

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