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Reason Foundation Issues Commentary: Federal Agencies' Next Moves to Accelerate the Availability of Psychedelic Therapies
LOS ANGELES, California, April 30 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary on April 29, 2026, by Research Director Geoffrey Lawrence:
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Federal agencies' next moves to accelerate the availability of psychedelic therapies
Federal agencies have responded to Trump's executive order on psychedelic therapies with a series of related announcements.
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In the wake of President Donald Trump's historic executive order on April 18 to accelerate access to psychedelic therapies, federal agencies have quickly responded with a series of related announcements. On April 24, the U.S. Food
... Show Full Article
LOS ANGELES, California, April 30 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary on April 29, 2026, by Research Director Geoffrey Lawrence:
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Federal agencies' next moves to accelerate the availability of psychedelic therapies
Federal agencies have responded to Trump's executive order on psychedelic therapies with a series of related announcements.
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In the wake of President Donald Trump's historic executive order on April 18 to accelerate access to psychedelic therapies, federal agencies have quickly responded with a series of related announcements. On April 24, the U.S. Foodand Drug Administration (FDA) issued priority vouchers for psilocybin and methylone as treatments for serious forms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), respectively. The agency also approved a Phase I study design for an ibogaine derivative as a treatment for alcoholism. So, what happens next?
Separate formulations of psilocybin made by Compass Pathways and the Usona Institute, along with methylone, a compound similar to MDMA, face the fastest track. The FDA has moved these substances into a new pilot program called the Commissioner's National Priority Vouchers. These vouchers essentially move recipients to the front of the line for agency review, which means applications for study and final drug approval can be reviewed in 1 to 2 months rather than 6 to 12 months. These substances are all in Phase 3 clinical trials, which is the final stage prior to submitting a new drug application that would allow the drugs to be marketed. Each one has also benefitted from a "Breakthrough Therapy" designation, which allows trial design and results to be evaluated by the FDA on a rolling basis rather than forcing the developer to complete an expensive trial and face the risk of subsequent agency rejection.
In theory, the FDA could also revisit an application it rejected in 2024 that proposed to make MDMA available to treat PTSD.
Assuming the FDA approves some or all of these drugs, the cost of accessing them will become a barrier for most people. Although the drugs themselves are inexpensive to make, psychedelic treatments would only be made available in supervised medical settings with trained facilitators and would be followed with intensive psychotherapy. As FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said this week, "If [the drugs] do get approved, these are not the medications you'll just pick up at a pharmacy. These are given in a controlled, supervised setting in a hospital." All of the related medical services could cost tens of thousands of dollars. Because these therapies are highly effective, however, they can often displace a lifetime of treatment through existing drugs and counseling that add to far greater expense.
Still, most patients would be unable to afford these therapies on their own, which means coverage by third-party payor networks like Medicaid or private insurance would be necessary to make them accessible. That means agencies like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must create or clarify appropriate billing codes that properly reimburse preparation, administration, and integration sessions. CMS is responsible for establishing these codes, and the private medical establishment generally follows suit.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) also must establish clear policies for formulary inclusion and veteran access programs. Trump's executive order expressly directs the VA to sign a data-sharing agreement with the FDA to report on the results of clinical studies, which implies the VA intends to make these therapies available to veterans on an experimental basis prior to full FDA approval. The order recognizes that mental health problems are acutely concentrated within the veteran population, noting that "the current veteran suicide rate is more than twice as much as the non-veteran adult population."
Ibogaine analogs face a much longer timeline. Although the FDA will allow drug developer DemeRx NB to begin an initial clinical trial, it has specified alcohol use disorder as the condition for which it is evaluating treatment. Alcoholism affects millions of people, and ibogaine might be an effective therapy, but that's not the condition that has generated interest from notable media personalities like Joe Rogan or Shawn Ryan. Ibogaine shows unique promise to help people rapidly overcome opioid addiction and to heal traumatic brain injuries. Nearly 80,000 Americans die each year from opioid overdose, according to statistics maintained by the Centers for Disease Control.
Frustrated by the epidemic-level proportion of these deaths, several states have begun exploring a partnership to advance clinical trials of ibogaine on their own, with Texas, Arizona, and Mississippi having appropriated money for ibogaine research. The Trump executive order also commits $50 million to "support and partner with State governments" involved in this effort. Although this multi-jurisdictional public-private partnership is still taking shape, Reason Foundation has helped shape the effort by crafting model legislation that allows new states to join. Several states are currently considering some version of this legislation so they can join the consortium.
Trump's executive order initiated a series of actions that federal agencies must complete before psychedelic therapy realistically becomes available for members of the public suffering from mental health conditions. Quick announcements from the FDA provide an encouraging sign that government agencies intend to fast-track this effort, but much remains to be done.
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Geoffrey Lawrence is research director at Reason Foundation.
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Original text here: https://reason.org/commentary/federal-agencies-next-moves-to-accelerate-the-availability-of-psychedelic-therapies/
Reason Foundation Issues Commentary: Congress Doesn't Need to Abandon the "Actual Knowledge" Standard to Keep Kids Safe Online
LOS ANGELES, California, April 30 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary on April 29, 2026, by technology policy analyst Nicole Shekhovtsova:
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Congress doesn't need to abandon the "actual knowledge" standard to keep kids safe online
Broadening COPPA's "actual knowledge" standard would create legal uncertainty that pushes companies to increase privacy risks for everyone.
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As Congress debates new legislation intended to protect kids online, it is considering changing a core standard governing when a platform or website is responsible for knowing that a user is a child.
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LOS ANGELES, California, April 30 -- The Reason Foundation issued the following commentary on April 29, 2026, by technology policy analyst Nicole Shekhovtsova:
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Congress doesn't need to abandon the "actual knowledge" standard to keep kids safe online
Broadening COPPA's "actual knowledge" standard would create legal uncertainty that pushes companies to increase privacy risks for everyone.
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As Congress debates new legislation intended to protect kids online, it is considering changing a core standard governing when a platform or website is responsible for knowing that a user is a child.In broadening this standard, Congress risks creating legal uncertainty that will push companies toward more data collection and age-checking methods that appear least risky from an enforcement perspective, even when those methods impose higher privacy costs on users of all ages.
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the main federal children's privacy law since 1998, makes it illegal for commercial websites and online services to collect personal information from children under the age of 13 without verifiable parental consent. The law uses an "actual knowledge" standard, which means a platform, such as Instagram or TikTok, is responsible only when it is directly informed that a particular user is under 13.
Congress is considering abandoning this standard in two bills currently under consideration. The Senate versions of COPPA 2.0 and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) instead state that an operator should know a user is a minor when age is "fairly implied" based on what a "reasonable and prudent person" would understand. That is an open-ended standard, applied in hindsight, with no clear threshold for what counts. Each bill also states that the law should not be read as an express requirement to collect new data or to build age-gating or age-verification systems.
Taken together, these two provisions leave companies without a clear answer on how to comply. If age-gating is not required but self-attestation--just asking users to enter their age or confirm that they are above a certain age--is not enough, the obvious question is how much age-determination a platform must implement to avoid liability. KOSA points platforms toward data they already have, such as account data and age-related signals, but it never says what that actually looks like in practice or how much is enough to satisfy the standard. Instead, KOSA directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue guidance on "indicia or inferences of age," and orders a federal study of device and operating-system-level age verification, but makes the future guidance expressly nonbinding.
That makes compliance both harder and riskier, because the bills are clear about the cost of doing too little but silent on what counts as doing enough. A company that fails to recognize a minor under these vague new standards risks enforcement action and litigation, with the possibility of large fines and lengthy court battles. Companies will seek to reduce this risk by overcomplying with the vague standard, collecting more personal data from all users.
The FTC clears the path to verification
The FTC has long said that general-audience platforms are not required to investigate the ages of their users. In its 2011 COPPA Rule review, the FTC explained that Congress deliberately rejected a broader standard that would have made platforms liable for what they should have known from circumstantial evidence, such as browsing patterns, content preferences, or friend networks, because that approach would push platforms toward guessing about age or blocking access far more broadly than Congress intended. In its most recent COPPA rulemaking, the FTC revisited the question and again declined to adopt "constructive knowledge" as a standard, a liability based on what a platform should have inferred. The FTC noted that only Congress could make that change.
But in February 2026, the FTC took a significant step toward making direct age verification permissible under the existing COPPA standard. It announced that it will not bring certain COPPA enforcement actions against general-audience and mixed-audience operators that collect, use, or disclose personal information solely to determine a user's age, so long as they handle that data responsibly--using it only for age determination, deleting it promptly, and not repurposing it.
Now that companies face less risk in collecting age-related information for verification, they face greater pressure to ensure their age-determination systems are sufficiently accurate to withstand scrutiny if enforcement comes later.
Platforms are already moving beyond self-attestation
Major platforms have already begun testing age-inference and age-estimation tools. Meta has publicly explained that it uses artificial intelligence (AI) to place suspected teens into "teen account" settings, even when those users claim to be adults. YouTube says it uses an age-estimation model to determine whether a user is over or under 18, regardless of the birth date listed on the account, and further explains that a user who is incorrectly classified can verify age by submitting a government ID, credit card, or selfie.
These examples do not prove that every platform will make the same choices, but they show that age inference, age estimation, and escalation to stronger forms of age determination are already part of the ordinary compliance and product landscape. Right now, companies have room to experiment with what works best. They can test age-estimation and age-assurance tools and try to improve accuracy without defaulting immediately to the most intrusive option. The goal can still be to identify age in a way that protects both child safety and user privacy. When a vague liability rule enters the picture, the company's objective shifts from balancing privacy and accuracy to using a method that is easiest to defend if regulators later say the company failed to identify minors effectively enough. And once companies move in that direction, they can justify the resulting loss of privacy as something Congress forced on them.
What's at stake
The FTC can seek substantial civil penalties in COPPA cases, and its recent enforcement history shows that companies have strong incentives to choose the compliance path that will be easiest to defend. Google and YouTube paid $170 million in 2019 to resolve allegations that YouTube collected tracking information from children watching child-directed channels without first obtaining parental consent. Epic Games paid $275 million in COPPA penalties in 2022 over allegations that video game Fortnite collected children's personal information without proper parental notice or consent. In the same matter, Epic also agreed to a separate $245 million settlement over billing and interface practices that allegedly made it too easy for users, including children, to make unwanted purchases without meaningful parental involvement.
Disney agreed in 2025 to pay $10 million over allegations that it mislabeled some child-directed YouTube videos as not made for kids, which allowed YouTube to collect and monetize personal information from child viewers without the parental consent required by COPPA and exposed those viewers to age-inappropriate features such as autoplay. In the same matter, the FTC required Disney to review whether its YouTube uploads should be marked as made for kids, but allowed that review to be phased out if YouTube implements technology capable of determining users' ages, age ranges, or age categories in a way that ensures COPPA compliance.
When penalties are this large and the standard for liability is open to interpretation, companies will focus first on protecting themselves rather than on preserving user privacy.
That is why lawmakers should be careful about expanding the knowledge standard. In an environment where companies are already developing age-assurance tools and moving toward more responsible practices, the government should use narrower, more carefully calibrated tools rather than vague standards that create pressure to move from privacy-conscious innovation toward more intrusive verification.
Before Congress rewrites the knowledge standard, the FTC should evaluate the age-determination tools American companies are already deploying: how accurate they are, what data they collect, how they handle errors, and whether they create new privacy risks. That evaluation should also account for differences across service types and company sizes. That information would give lawmakers a factual basis for deciding whether broadening the actual knowledge standard is necessary. As it stands, abandoning "actual knowledge" of a user's age in favor of vague notions of that age being "fairly implied" will only push tech companies toward invading all users' privacy to reduce their own liability.
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Nicole Shekhovtsova is a technology policy analyst at Reason Foundation.
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Original text here: https://reason.org/commentary/congress-doesnt-need-to-abandon-the-actual-knowledge-standard-to-keep-kids-safe-online/
Health Foundation: Landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill Becomes Law, Marking Major Win for Public Health
LONDON, England, April 30 -- The Health Foundation issued the following statement on April 29, 2026, by senior fellow in prevention Samantha Field:
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Landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill becomes law, marking major win for public health
Responding to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill gaining Royal Assent, Samantha Field, Senior Fellow (Prevention) at the Health Foundation, said:
'Today marks a major step towards protecting future generations from nicotine addiction and the long-term harms of tobacco. It represents a real shift in the UK's public health strategy, but the job is far from done.
'Smoking
... Show Full Article
LONDON, England, April 30 -- The Health Foundation issued the following statement on April 29, 2026, by senior fellow in prevention Samantha Field:
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Landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill becomes law, marking major win for public health
Responding to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill gaining Royal Assent, Samantha Field, Senior Fellow (Prevention) at the Health Foundation, said:
'Today marks a major step towards protecting future generations from nicotine addiction and the long-term harms of tobacco. It represents a real shift in the UK's public health strategy, but the job is far from done.
'Smokingremains the leading cause of preventable death, disability and ill health. In England's most deprived communities, around 1 in 5 people still smoke, compared with just 1 in 20 in the least deprived areas.
'As our new analysis published this week shows, these inequalities drive a stark gap in healthy life expectancy between rich and poor areas, which has widened to around 20 years. Targeted stop smoking support for those most at risk is therefore essential.
'Children also need stronger protection from second-hand smoke, and more robust smoke free places legislation alongside effective implementation will be key to closing that gap.
'Youth vaping is creating a new route into nicotine addiction. The strength of regulations on flavours, packaging and display and how effectively they are enforced will determine whether the bill truly protects children or continues to leave them at risk of nicotine addiction.
'Royal Assent is an important milestone, but the focus must now shift to ensuring this legislation delivers the healthier future it promises.'
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Original text here: https://www.health.org.uk/press-office/press-releases/landmark-tobacco-and-vapes-bill-becomes-law-marking-major-win-for-public-health
Foundation for Economic Education Posts Commentary: Europe's Shrinking Feeling
DETROIT, Michigan, April 30 -- The Foundation for Economic Education posted the following commentary on April 29, 2026, by political theorist Jake Scott:
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Europe's Shrinking Feeling
The region's economy is contracting.
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The news broke recently that after 15 months of growth, Europe's economy has "unexpectedly contracted," despite being forecast to remain the same, or even grow.
According to Politico, "S&P Global's composite purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 48.6 in April from 50.7 in March. Analysts had expected it to stay above the key 50-point mark, below which activity is considered
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DETROIT, Michigan, April 30 -- The Foundation for Economic Education posted the following commentary on April 29, 2026, by political theorist Jake Scott:
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Europe's Shrinking Feeling
The region's economy is contracting.
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The news broke recently that after 15 months of growth, Europe's economy has "unexpectedly contracted," despite being forecast to remain the same, or even grow.
According to Politico, "S&P Global's composite purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 48.6 in April from 50.7 in March. Analysts had expected it to stay above the key 50-point mark, below which activity is consideredto be contracting."
And this is only the beginning. Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at S&P Global, says, "Increasingly widespread supply shortages meanwhile threaten to dampen growth further while adding upward pressure to prices in the coming weeks."
It was thought by some analysts that the economic lessons of the invasion of Ukraine had been learned, and that Europe had taken steps to ensure that it would not be held hostage again to an energy shock caused by events beyond its control. The main lesson, however, of structural vulnerability appears to have been ignored.
Europe's current situation cannot be attributed entirely to events in the Middle East, either: while these have acted as a catalyst, they have exposed underlying problems with the European Union's energy policies, and the disjointed nature of the member nations' own energy sectors. The green transition, spearheaded by the European Green Deal and pursued with regulatory intensity and considerable haste, systematically dismantled the continent's baseload capacity for energy provision and production long before replacement infrastructure was ready.
Coal plants have been shuttered on political schedules rather than economic ones. Nuclear programs, despite being reliable and domestically-controlled, were wound down in Germany and elsewhere on the presumption that alternatives would be available--a presumption that now looks like fantastical hope rather than prudential policymaking, especially as Bagger 288 quite literally rips the country apart. What remained in the absence of Germany's renewable energy industry was a grid increasingly dependent on weather and global interconnection.
Atop the national problem, the regulatory layer has become a compounding factor: European energy markets are among the most regulated in the world, with carbon pricing mechanisms, emission trading schemes, and capacity market rules, all of which might be reasonable in the abstract, but collectively and in reality produce a cost structure that inevitably gets passed downstream. Germany's BASF, one of the largest chemical manufacturers in the world, has raised prices as high as 30%.
Germany has become a case study in the dangerous effects of both leaving your energy economy exposed to global shocks and failing to invest in reliable energy creation industries that actually work. The decision to leave nuclear behind removed roughly 12% of its generating capacity, while becoming dangerously dependent on imported gas. Berlin has halved its economic growth forecast for 2026 from 1% to 0.5%, and for 2027 from 1.3% to 0.9% (though even these look optimistic). Some forecasts are putting the chances of Germany entering a recession in Q2 2026 at 33%.
It's no surprise, then, that the PMI data confirmed what the indicators were showing. Services which carried the Eurozone through the Ukraine war and were "the engine of the bloc's 2025 recovery" are now at the point of weakness--and while manufacturing has ticked up gently, this is actually due to stockpiling ahead of expected shortages rather than genuine demand.
But the key point is that input costs have risen drastically, to the point where there is a genuine fear of stagflation, as rising prices alongside declining economic activity have led to a doom spiral. Energy costs in Europe are astronomical: they are typically twice those in the United States on average, and nearly 50% above those in China. The cost of natural gas for Europeans is five times the cost for Americans.
And as it becomes more expensive to make things, those costs are passed downstream. First, it will be the energy sector itself as gas rises, but then it will be manufactured goods, then fertilizer, and eventually food. But it won't matter if people can't afford to buy things, if they won't have a job anyway: there is a clear, established, positive correlation between electricity prices and unemployment.
The private sector is finally paying the price for the vulnerability of the bloc's energy policies. This is not a sudden shock that can be waited out; it is a structural problem that is being compounded by political decisions rather than economic logic. Europe is regulating itself to be cold, hungry, and poor--while America and China pull ahead.
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Dr Jake Scott is a political theorist specialising in populism and its relationship to political constitutionality. He has taught at multiple British universities and produced research reports for several think tanks.
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Original text here: https://fee.org/articles/europes-shrinking-feeling/
FFRF Gets Prayer Box Removed From Maryland High School
MADISON, Wisconsin, April 30 -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following news release on April 29, 2026:
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FFRF gets prayer box removed from Maryland high school
The Freedom From Religion Foundation's efforts persuaded Maryland's Calvert County Public Schools to remove a box for religious prayers from one of its schools.
A concerned community member informed the state/church watchdog that Patuxent High School had a prayer box in the front office. The box had the verse from Matthew 11:28 written on top, along with a Latin cross.
FFRF took action to align the district with
... Show Full Article
MADISON, Wisconsin, April 30 -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following news release on April 29, 2026:
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FFRF gets prayer box removed from Maryland high school
The Freedom From Religion Foundation's efforts persuaded Maryland's Calvert County Public Schools to remove a box for religious prayers from one of its schools.
A concerned community member informed the state/church watchdog that Patuxent High School had a prayer box in the front office. The box had the verse from Matthew 11:28 written on top, along with a Latin cross.
FFRF took action to align the district withthe Constitution.
"The district has a duty to ensure that its teachers and administrators are not using their positions to promote their personal religious beliefs to students," FFRF Patrick O'Reiley Fellow Charlotte R. Gude wrote to the district.
FFRF pointed out that public schools may not show favoritism toward or coerce belief or participation in religion. Parents, not public school staff, have the constitutional right to guide their children's religious or nonreligious upbringing. Teachers and administrators may not encourage students to pray. By having an official, school-sponsored prayer box, Patuxent High School, and thus the district, abridged that duty and needlessly marginalized those students and community members among the 38 percent of Americans who are non-Christian, including the 43 percent of Generation Z that is nonreligious.
FFRF is happy to report that the district did the right thing. Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome emailed FFRF after receiving the letter to confirm that the prayer box has been removed.
Whenever a school district makes the mistake of proselytizing students, FFRF will be sure to stand up for students' right to freedom of conscience.
"Public high schools are not churches where 'prayer boxes' belong," says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "Our public schools exist to educate, not to indoctrinate in religion or to promote religious rituals such as prayer. We're glad this school has taken corrective action to make it an inclusive and welcoming place for all students, regardless of their views on religion."
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The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 41,000 members across the country, including more than 800 members in Maryland. FFRF's purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
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Original text here: https://ffrf.org/news/releases/ffrf-gets-prayer-box-removed-from-maryland-high-school/
[Category: Religion]
FFRF Calls Out Trump's Lies About Shooter Being 'Anti-Christian'
MADISON, Wisconsin, April 30 -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following news release on April 28, 2026:
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FFRF calls out Trump's lies about shooter being 'anti-Christian'
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is denouncing President Trump's lie that the suspect in custody for attacking the White House Correspondents' Dinner is "anti-Christian."
"He had a lot of hatred in his heart for quite a while," the president said during an appearance on Fox News' "The Sunday Briefing." "And he just, I don't know. He just, it was a religious thing. It was strongly anti, anti-Christian."
Au
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MADISON, Wisconsin, April 30 -- The Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following news release on April 28, 2026:
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FFRF calls out Trump's lies about shooter being 'anti-Christian'
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is denouncing President Trump's lie that the suspect in custody for attacking the White House Correspondents' Dinner is "anti-Christian."
"He had a lot of hatred in his heart for quite a while," the president said during an appearance on Fox News' "The Sunday Briefing." "And he just, I don't know. He just, it was a religious thing. It was strongly anti, anti-Christian."
Aucontraire, notes the largest association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) in North America. Cole Allen is Christian, was active in a Christian campus organization and even cites his Christian beliefs in a manifesto that Trump also falsely mischaracterizes, saying, "When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians." Yet Allen even thanked his church and cited the bible in the writing.
CNN states, "Allen attended the California Institute of Technology from 2013-17, according to his LinkedIn profile, where he participated in the school's Christian Fellowship organization and its Nerf Club, in which members armed with foam toys organized campus battles. Facebook photos from 2016 also show Allen at Christian Fellowship events at the school."
The New York Times says, "Another fellowship member recalled that while Mr. Allen was generally quiet and studious, he was not shy about defending his own interpretation of his faith." The Times quotes fellowship member Elizabeth Terlinden: "He was definitely a strong believer in evangelical Christianity at the time that I knew him."
Newsweek reports that Allen "had deep roots in the Christian community," was active in the Caltech Christian fellowships and even served as a large-group coordinator of discussions on the Apostles' Creed. "His father, Thomas Allen, is a ruling elder at Grace United Reformed Church in Torrance, a congregation in the United Reformed Churches of North America," the magazine adds.
We also know already that in his manifesto of more than 1,000 words, Allen gave what Newsweek calls "religious reasoning." Newsweek writes, "He cited Scripture throughout and argued that Christians have a moral obligation to resist unjust authority through force." Newsweek cites a theologian quick to deny there are any germs of violence in Christian teaching, but quotes Drew University Ethics Professor Darrell Cole saying that Allen's interpretation, in asserting that one doesn't have to "turn the other cheek" in the face of injustice, contains a kernel of legitimate Christian teaching. Allen also contends in his manifesto that the counsel to "render unto Caesar" applies to obeying legitimate civil authority rather than unlawful orders. Theological debates aside, as Newsweek writer Jesus Mesa notes, "What remains clear to the theologians interviewed is that Allen was not foreign to Christianity. He drew on real Christian traditions, misapplied them, and acted in isolation from the very communities those traditions require."
Unfortunately, some media are casually repeating Trump's assertions as gospel truth, such as this news story out of Utah reporting as a "key takeaway" that "suspect Cole Tomas Allen ... wrote anti-Christian manifesto." It's now all over the internet and social media that an "anti-Christian manifesto" was found, when, in fact, the suspect explicitly cited his Christian beliefs as a rationale for his attack.
"Trump isn't just distorting the facts, he's lying about them," says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "Given the White House's national security directive from last year falsely blaming terrorism on 'anti-Christianity' and 'hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion and morality,' such a perversion of the truth seems calculated to scapegoat nonbelievers and non-Christians."
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The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 42,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
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Original text here: https://ffrf.org/news/releases/ffrf-calls-out-trumps-lies-about-shooter-being-anti-christian/
[Category: Religion]
Boston Foundation: Asian Community Fund to Honor Takeda CEO-Elect Julie Kim and MIT Provost Dr. Anantha Chandrakasan at 2026 Gala
BOSTON, Massachusetts, April 30 -- The Boston Foundation issued the following news release on April 29, 2026:
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Asian Community Fund to honor Takeda CEO-elect Julie Kim and MIT Provost Dr. Anantha Chandrakasan at 2026 Gala
Third annual gala, "Rising Together," expected to draw 700 to Westin Copley Place on October 2
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The Asian Community Fund at the Boston Foundation (ACF), the first and only fund exclusively dedicated to supporting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in Massachusetts, today announced that Takeda CEO-elect Julie Kim and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
... Show Full Article
BOSTON, Massachusetts, April 30 -- The Boston Foundation issued the following news release on April 29, 2026:
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Asian Community Fund to honor Takeda CEO-elect Julie Kim and MIT Provost Dr. Anantha Chandrakasan at 2026 Gala
Third annual gala, "Rising Together," expected to draw 700 to Westin Copley Place on October 2
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The Asian Community Fund at the Boston Foundation (ACF), the first and only fund exclusively dedicated to supporting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in Massachusetts, today announced that Takeda CEO-elect Julie Kim and Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyProvost Dr. Anantha Chandrakasan will be the honorees when the Fund hosts its Third Annual "Rising Together" Gala at the Westin Copley Plaza this October.
Kim, who will become president & CEO of Takeda in June, will receive the Paul W. Lee AAPI Leadership Award, which is given to leaders whose contributions have opened doors and charted new paths for AAPI communities in Massachusetts and beyond. This award celebrates individuals who lead by action and example, while lifting others up and opening pathways for future generations.
Dr. Chandrakasan, who also serves as the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and served as dean of MIT's School of Engineering from July 2017 to June 2025, is being awarded the Helen Chin Schlichte Community Builder Award, which honors leaders who uplift solidarity with other communities and promote connection, mutual understanding, and collective progress.
Named for ACF's two co-founders, these signature awards will be presented before an expected audience of 700 at the Gala on October 2.
"We are excited to celebrate Julie and Anantha this fall for their outstanding accomplishments in advancing innovation, strengthening collaboration, and addressing society's most pressing challenges," said Paul W. Lee, Co-Founder and Chair of the Asian Community Fund. "Their impact speaks for itself, but what sets these two leaders apart is their belief that a stronger, more inclusive region is something worth building together."
Now in its third year, the Annual Gala amplifies AAPI visibility, representation, and narrative change, featuring a slate of AAPI cultural performances and culinary delights, while recognizing some of the region's most impactful leaders. Last year's Gala raised more than $800,000 to support the ACF's programs and grantmaking.
"There has never been a more important moment to invest in AAPI leadership and representation, and the Asian Community Fund is meeting that moment with intention and impact. Throughout my career I have been focused on improving health and that is achieved through people and communities, a conviction shared by ACF," said Julie Kim. "It is a tremendous honor to receive this award, and I am grateful to be part of this shared mission to ensure that AAPI communities are seen, celebrated, and empowered to lead."
"Greater Boston's future as a global leader in innovation, discovery, and human progress depends on our ability to draw and keep talented, ambitious people here, and make sure this is a place where everyone feels welcome and able to contribute to the very best of their abilities," said Dr. Chandrakasan. "The Asian Community Fund reminds us that the most powerful investments we can make are in people--people who push boundaries, try new things, and work to make our communities and the world better. I am proud and honored to receive this wonderful award from the Fund."
The Asian Community Fund's 2026 Gala will be co-chaired by Anu Chitrapu, Senior Vice President and Technology Executive at Bank of America; Rushika Fernandopulle, Chief Executive Officer at Liza Health; and Chinh Pham, Principal Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
In addition, the award winners from the first two Galas--Geeta Aiyer, Founder of Boston Common Asset Management, Bob Rivers, Executive Chair and Chair of the Board of Directors at Eastern Bank, Flagship Pioneering Chief Operating Officer and General Partner Yvonne Hao, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals CEO and President Reshma Kewalramani, M.D., FASN--will serve as honorary co-chairs.
"We are honored to welcome back our past awardees as honorary co-chairs for our third annual event, as we work together to strengthen our local AAPI nonprofit, business, and cultural sectors," said Danielle Kim, Executive Director of the Asian Community Fund. "The Gala's success underscores what so many of us already know: that AAPI and immigrant communities are at the heart of what makes our region so remarkable. We invite you to join us this October to celebrate this strength and help carry it forward."
Last year's Gala featured remarks from both Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. Program details, as well as ticket and sponsorship information, will be shared at https://www.tbf.org/acfgala2026.
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Original text here: https://www.tbf.org/news-and-insights/press-releases/2026/april/acf-gala-co-chairs-and-honorees-announcement
