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Articles by Steve West
Street preacher challenges Christmas festival’s ban on gospel
Arizona resident David Hoffman has shared his faith in Jesus at an annual Tucson neighborhood Christmas celebration for around a decade. But last year, police banished him and others with religious messages to a designated “free expression zone” outside the festival grounds. On Thursday, Hoffman asked a federal judge to block the city’s policy and declare it unconstitutional. In the Oct.
Tanner 1st in U.S. to use PMcardio for heart attacks
Patients with suspected heart attacks across west Georgia and east Alabama will now have access to artificial intelligence-powered electrocardiogram (ECG) assessment whether their first medical contact occurs in a 911 ambulance, a community hospital or a cardiac center, following Tanner Health's deployment of Powerful Medical's PMcardio platform.
Legal Docket: First Monday in October
Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above. NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s The World and Everything in It from WORLD Radio, celebrating 15 years. Today is October 5th, thanks for making us part of your morning routine. Good morning! I’m Nick Eicher. MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.
Tanner Health First in US to Use PMcardio AI Platform for Heart Attack Care
Patients with suspected heart attacks across west Georgia and east Alabama will now have access to artificial intelligence-powered electrocardiogram (ECG) assessment whether their first medical contact occurs in a 911 ambulance, a community hospital or a cardiac center, following Tanner Health’s deployment of Powerful Medical’s PMcardio platform.
Tanner Health First in US to Use PMcardio AI Platform for Heart Attack Care Original
Tanner Health First in US to Use PMcardio AI Platform for Heart Attack Care The first commercial U.S. deployment of Powerful Medical's FDA-authorized PMcardio platform brings Queen of Hearts™ AI ECG model to EMS, emergency departments and cardiology workflows CARROLLTON, Ga--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Patients with suspected heart attacks across west Georgia and east Alabama will now have access to artificial intelligence-powered electrocardiogram (ECG) assessment whether their first medical contact...
Fellowship of Christian Athletes goes to bat for volunteers
Liberties by Steve West Post Date: August 14, 2026 Fellowship of Christian Athletes goes to bat for volunteers The offices of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District in Pennington New Jersey Creative Commons / Wikimedia Commons / Photo by Mr. Matté When New Jersey mom Jennifer DiDonato took to the podium at a Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education meeting last October, she likely didn’t expect the issue she brought up would lead to a monthslong dispute—and ultimately a lawsuit in...
Seeking court clarity on parental rights
Serena Wailes couldn’t believe her fifth grade daughter was assigned to share a bed with a male student on a school trip. Her daughter had called her from the restroom, unsure what to do. “I thought, maybe I’m not hearing you right,” Wailes said.
Washington rescue mission will return to court for a do-over
Washington rescue mission will return to court for a do-over Employees prepare meals at Yakima Union Gospel Mission. Photo courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom Scott Thielen likely thought he’d won a three-year legal fight after a federal appeals court earlier this year upheld his ministry’s right to hire only applicants who subscribed to its statement of faith. But after the full appeals court set aside that ruling last Thursday, it’s not clear what comes next for the ministry.
Tanner Introduces New AI Voice Chat Assistant to Reduce Call Center Hold Times Original
Tanner Introduces New AI Voice Chat Assistant to Reduce Call Center Hold Times The new voice chat AI assistant, Clara, provides 24/7 bilingual support to streamline inbound calls, handle common questions and reduce on-hold times.
Foster parents fight government-mandated gender ideology
Shane DeGross was at lunch when he received the email. It informed him of a court win that could affect his and his wife Jennifer’s ability to foster children.
Jury’s in on social media
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Judges school lower court on first grader free speech
Everyone agrees that the little girl meant no harm. But when the girl—a first grader known in court documents as B.B.—drew a picture that included the slightly misspelled words “Black Lives Mater any life” and gave it to M.C., a black classmate, it ignited a free speech controversy. Five years later, it’s still not over. Chelsea Boyle, B.B.’s mother, sued in 2023, claiming that officials at Viejo Elementary School punished her daughter for her drawing after M.C.’s mother complained.
The Ten Commandments go back to court
Inside a New Orleans federal courthouse Tuesday, 17 black-robed circuit judges assembled to consider the constitutionality of Louisiana and Texas laws that require schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The court consolidated the two lawsuits since their minor differences probably won’t matter in settling the main issue: Does requiring schools to post the Ten Commandments violate the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution? So far, lower courts have said yes.
Hiring the like-minded
In a unanimous decision Tuesday, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that a Washington state homeless ministry has a constitutional right to employ only like-minded individuals. Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay wrote the opinion for the three-judge panel, which included appointees of President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton.
Liberties Year in Review: First Amendment victories
In 2025, courts more often than not protected the autonomy of religious organizations, the freedom of speech, and the right of parents to make decisions about their children’s education and health. If you prefer to listen to the highlights, you can also hear them on today’s edition of The World and Everything in It podcast. Here are a few top stories from the year. Respect for religious liberty Several cases this year upheld the religious rights of individuals and organizations.
It's All Over But the Shouting
“Sucks. Totally lame. This will never catch on. And my leg hurts!” That was me. The Way Back Machine is set to 2007. I'm trying out my girlfriend's new 12-foot Laird stand up board for my first SUP experience. We are at a North Coast beach break. The waves are head high, punchy and mostly closeouts. Even though the board is as new as the sport, it's still old school, at least as old school as a new fad like stand up paddling can get.
A case of subpoena threats
Attorneys for New Jersey pro-life pregnancy resource centers argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, challenging a state subpoena that would require the centers to divulge their donors’ names and information to New Jersey officials.
Supreme Court scrutinizes one-way LGBTQ counseling ban
Fresh off its summer recess, the U.S. Supreme Court took up a smoldering controversy Tuesday over so-called gender-affirming care—this time in the context of counseling. During oral arguments, a majority of the court seemed to question Colorado’s position that a licensed counselor’s talk therapy is not constitutionally protected speech but conduct that the state can regulate. Kaley Chiles is a state-licensed counselor.
Tanner Health and Healthliant Ventures to Partner with Robbie AI’s Smart Fall-Prevention Technology Original
CARROLLTON, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tanner Health and Healthliant Ventures are pleased to announce a partnership with Robbie AI. Robbie AI’s innovative, smart fall-prevention technology is bringing cutting-edge, real-time patient monitoring to Tanner’s facilities. The partnership will allow Robbie AI’s product to predict and prevent patient harm events through hands-free, 24/7 monitoring that integrates seamlessly into clinical workflows while maintaining the highest privacy standards.
Legal Docket: From dreadlocks to donor lists
Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above. NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Monday the 6th of October. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher. MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. This is not just any old Monday. This is the first Monday in October, when the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court return to the bench for a new term.
Tanner Health Partners With Briya to Develop an Advanced Data-sharing Platform and Improve Patient Care Original
CARROLLTON, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tanner Health, a leading nonprofit healthcare system serving west Georgia and east Alabama, today announced a strategic partnership with Briya, a health technology company redefining healthcare research and innovation with AI and data. "We are delighted to partner with Briya on this initiative that will further establish Tanner as a leader in data-driven health care,” said Loy Howard, president and CEO of Tanner Health.
Tanner Health and Healthliant Ventures Partner with Incision USA on Innovative OR Solutions Original
CARROLLTON, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tanner Health and Healthliant Ventures are pleased to announce a partnership with Incision USA, a healthcare technology company dedicated to supporting surgical teams with intuitive, clinician-designed tools that foster confidence, well-being and efficiency.
A matter of speech or conduct?
Licensed professional counselor Kaley Chiles wants to help young people who struggle with unwanted sexual feelings and seek out her help. But while a Colorado state law allows her to support kids’ same-sex attraction or gender transition, it bans counseling that supports a Biblical understanding of sex. Penalties for breaking the law are severe—a $5,000 fine for each violation, and even loss of her license. On Oct. 7, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Chiles’ lawsuit challenging the law.
A KY Supreme Court ruling could finally bring public charter schools to our kids | Opinion
Kentucky is one of six states without public charter schools due to a legal challenge against a 2022 law. Charter schools are a constitutional, publicly-funded option to complement the existing "common school" system. The state has missed out on federal funding for charter school development because the law has been blocked by courts. The argument declares that House Bill 9, which allows for charter schools, is constitutional and complements the existing public school system.
Healthliant Ventures and Kent Imaging Partner to Bring Real-Time Tissue Oxygenation Imaging to Tanner Health Original
CARROLLTON, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Healthliant Ventures, the innovation arm of Tanner Health, today announced Tanner’s new pilot partnership with Kent Imaging to integrate the SnapshotNIR near-infrared tissue oxygenation imaging device into clinical workflows. This two-phase project will first focus on a pilot phase aimed at demonstrating to Tanner clinical staff how SnapshotNIR enhances clinical workflows and supports wound treatment.
World Vision scores win on LGBTQ firing
A federal appeals court panel late Tuesday vindicated the right of Christian relief agency World Vision to rescind an employment offer to an applicant who was in a same-sex relationship. The nonprofit argued that the applicant’s action violated World Vision’s statement of belief and standards of conduct. In a unanimous ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld the ministry’s withdrawal of a customer service representative (CSR) offer to Aubry McMahon.
Supreme Court gives parents more sway over schooling
In a term-ending blockbuster ruling Friday, the Supreme Court delivered a resounding endorsement of religious liberty. The court’s decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor vindicates the right of Maryland parents to pull their elementary-age children out of classes with LGBTQ-themed storybooks that are offensive to parents’ religious beliefs. Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice Samuel Alito upheld the primacy of parents in determining the religious upbringing of their children.
Surf’s up: Remembering Brian Wilson
I first met Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson in 2002, backstage at Royce Hall on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles. He was headlining a lung cancer benefit concert in tribute to his younger brother and fellow Beach Boy Carl, who died of the disease in 1998. He was propped against a wall, alone. I thrust my hand out, and when he clasped it I was surprised by its size and his stature.
Mining an exception
For most people, Oak Flat’s cactuses, rock formations, and pine and old-growth oak trees may look like any other stretch of Southwest desert. But for Apache and other Native American groups, the federal land near Superior, Ariz., is a place where “god touched the world,” where “a deity resides,” as one Apache member has said.
Free speech, faith, and family
MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: parental rights and free speech collide. MARY REICHARD, HOST: Two dads wanted to quietly protest a high school’s decision to let a male student identifying as female to play on their daughters’ soccer team. What happened next raises constitutional questions. BROWN: Joining us now with the details is Steve West—attorney, former federal prosecutor, and writer on religious liberty for WORLD Digital. REICHARD: Good morning, Steve.
Church school, state school, or both?
At the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, justices considered a Roman Catholic charter school’s claim that it is entitled to public funding in the same manner as nonreligious schools. The school’s supporters say a favorable ruling would increase educational opportunities and promote the free exercise of religion, while opponents say it would involve the government in religious indoctrination and run afoul of the separation of church and state.
Story time at the Supreme Court
A religiously diverse group of Montgomery County, Md., parents took their case against so-called “gender-affirming” books in public elementary classrooms to the Supreme Court Tuesday morning. The case will affect not only what is taught in public schools but also who has primary control over public education.
Mahmoud Khalil and the limits of liberty
Hundreds of protesters gathered on Wednesday morning outside Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse in New York City, many wearing keffiyehs, a traditional Arab headdress for men that has become synonymous with pro-Palestinian causes. Others wore masks to conceal their identity.
Just make the cake, appeals court tells Christian baker
A Bakersfield, Calif., baker vowed to press on after a state appeals court panel Tuesday rejected her claim that the First Amendment protects her right not to design a custom cake for a same-sex wedding. Tastries Bakery owner Cathy Miller describes all of her wedding cakes as custom-designed. But in a 74-page opinion, judges concluded that her refusal to provide a “pre-designed, multipurpose white cake” was not protected expression under the Constitution’s free speech guarantee.
No refunds for tithes
In late January, a federal appeals court ruled the Salt Lake City–based Latter-day Saints religious organization doesn’t have to return over $5 million in tithes to a Utah businessman who claimed his donations were improperly used. In a 2021 lawsuit, James Huntsman, a brother of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., claimed the Mormon group committed fraud by using his funds to revitalize the area surrounding its headquarters, known as Temple Square.
A lifetime of music and faith
LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Friday, February 7th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast. MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Charlie Peacock is a musician and music producer based in Nashville. He’s a 40 year veteran of the music industry—working with a variety of musical styles. But few artists have wrestled with the intersection of faith and art as he has.
An autodidact reckons with his past
Tension between grace and the need to prove himself runs through Roots & Rhythm: A Life in Music (Eerdmans, 389 pp.), the memoir of Nashville music producer Charlie Peacock. Peacock, a self-described autodidact, mines the meaning of place and providence in a dizzying trip through the people, venues, and artistic projects he has touched. Some may quibble with Peacock’s decision not to make chapters chronological.
A reckoning for woke workplace training
On Wednesday morning, Brooke Henderson, a Springfield, Mo., special education teacher, waited in a St. Louis hotel for the full 11 judges of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear her case. In a rare move last year, the court threw out its own panel’s unanimous ruling in the lawsuit that Henderson and her colleague Jennifer Lumley filed over three years ago contesting controversial “anti-racist” training mandated by their school district.
Supreme Court considers TikTok’s fate
A chilly, wintry wind blew outside the Supreme Court Friday morning, as TikTok attorney Noel Francisco, who served as U.S. solicitor general during the first Trump administration, faced stiff questioning from justices inside the court. TikTok sued the Biden administration over a law that a bipartisan majority in Congress passed last year. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law in April.
On a Sunday Afternoon
"There are enough waves out here for you too, brah!" My friend Dean welcomes me to the lineup where he is already out and surfing solo. He surfs a stand up board and is as South Shore Hawaiian as spam musubi. He's perpetually cold here on the mainland and wears more rubber than the rest of us. Dean likes to park it way out the back and wait for set waves, island style. The waves are small and inconsistent. The sun is out and the sky a bright blue. There is no wind.
Jilted church sues University of Maine over rescinded bid
Churches sometimes field complaints from their communities about additional traffic and noise from worship and other activities. But in one small Maine town, a significant number of residents say a church, at least one that supports Biblical teaching on marriage and sexuality, has no place in the community.
Religious liberty and hiring rights
MARY REICHARD, HOST:It’s Tuesday the 12th of November. You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re glad to have you along today. Good morning! I’m Mary Reichard. NICK EICHER, HOST:And I’m Nick Eicher. First up on The World and Everything in It: Good news for Christian nonprofits. This month, a federal district court in Washington state ruled in favor of a Christian ministry to the homeless. Yakima Union Gospel Mission has operated there for almost 90 years.
Judge blocks state from enforcing hiring law against religious…
As many as 14 job positions lay vacant when Scott Thielen came on board as CEO of Washington state’s Yakima Union Gospel Mission in July. Since 2021, the ministry—which provides a homeless shelter, addiction-recovery program, outreach efforts, meal services, and medical and dental clinics—has been unable to fill open positions because of threats by state regulators to enforce a state anti-discrimination law.
Fire chief’s religious discrimination suit reaches Supreme Court
Stockton, Calif., fire chief Ronald Hittle didn’t think he was doing anything wrong when he attended a leadership conference hosted by a local church in August 2010. The veteran firefighter’s supervisor had told him to obtain leadership training.
Supreme Court considers attorneys’ fees awards in civil rights cases
During its second day of arguments in its new session, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case brought by a group of Virginia drivers asking for the state to pay attorneys’ fees in an earlier case. The hearing on Tuesday may have seemed like a technical argument about civil rights lawsuits. But attorneys for both sides say the stakes are high for those seeking to vindicate civil rights—including litigants claiming religious discrimination—and for governmental entities facing lawsuits.
Nonprofits in Michigan score victory for religious liberty
On Friday, a federal appeals court panel in Cincinnati greenlighted an effort by a religious medical nonprofit and a Roman Catholic parish and school to challenge a Michigan public accommodation law interpreted by courts to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. Michigan’s Christian Healthcare Centers filed a complaint against the law in August 2022. Grand Rapids–based Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish and St. Joseph Parish later filed separate cases against the law.
Western land lock
Around two-thirds of the land within the state of Utah is under federal ownership and control. That’s far too much, says Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. In an Aug. 20 press conference, the Republican governor announced the state had filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for unconstitutionally holding and not disposing of unappropriated federal lands. “For many years—decades even—the question of how to best manage Utah’s lands has been at the forefront of our state’s critical issues,” Cox said.
Legal Docket: Utah sues the federal government
MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Monday the 2nd of September. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown. NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Legal Docket. Today, legal reporter Steve West joins us to talk about a land dispute between Utah and the federal government. At stake are issues of state sovereignty versus federal power. And of course, at the end of the day how resources are divvied up. So that’s coming in a few minutes.
Religious discrimination disguised as anti-discrimination
Sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth | Donate WORLD Radio - Religious discrimination disguised as anti-discrimination Parents in Maine are fighting the state’s attack on Christian education NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: blocking benefits. Back in 2022, the Supreme Court struck down a law in the state of Maine. It specifically barred sectarian schools from a state program that provided tuition assistance.
Washington church continues fight to protect pro-life beliefs
An attorney for a Seattle-area church was in a San Francisco federal appeals courtroom Thursday to defend the church’s right not to offer employee group health insurance plans that cover abortion. The dispute between Cedar Park Assembly of God of Kirkland and the state of Washington has gone on for over five years since the state enacted a law that mandates that employee health plans offered by most businesses include abortion coverage.
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