Parents cannot be required to pull their children from private schools in New York that fail to meet state-designated standards, a judge decided, striking down a key provision of rules recently passed to strengthen oversight of such schools, including those specializing in religious education.

The ruling in a state trial court in Albany came in response to a lawsuit brought by ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools, called yeshivas, and related advocacy groups over education rules enacted last fall. Under the rules, the state’s 1,800 private and religious schools must provide an education that is ‘substantially equivalent’ to that of a public school.

Opponents in the ultra-Orthodox community say the rules improperly target yeshivas, some of which focus intently on religious instruction with far less teaching in secular subjects such as English, math and science.

Judge Christina Ryba on Thursday rejected an argument that the state regulations were unconstitutional. But she said state officials overstepped their authority in setting penalties for schools that don’t adhere to them.

Specifically, she said education officials lack legal authority to make parents take their children out of schools that fall short of the requirements, and they don’t have the authority to order that those schools be closed.

Ryba said parents of those children could still receive required instruction in combination with sources, such as home schooling.

A co-plaintiff cheered the judge’s rejection of the ‘draconian penalties.’

‘In striking those provisions of the regulations, the Court agreed with parents and non-public schools across New York State who opposed these regulations,’ read a prepared statement from the group Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools.

The state Education Department said the decision validates its commitment to improving the educational experience for all students.

‘We remain committed to ensuring students who attend school in settings consistent with their religious and cultural beliefs and values receive the education to which they are legally entitled,’ read the prepared statement.

It was not clear if any aspects of the ruling would be appealed.

The Florida House of Representatives has passed a bill eliminating the requirement for an individual to obtain a permit in order to carry a concealed firearm in the state. 

The bill, referred to by supporters as a constitutional carry law, passed the Republican-controlled House with 76 yes votes and 32 no votes on Friday afternoon, Click Orlando reported.

House Bill 543 would allow lawful gun owners in the state to carry without asking the government for a permit and without paying a fee. Those who wish to still obtain a permit can do so if the bill becomes law. The bill would also not change who can and cannot carry a firearm.

‘The NRA would like to thank the Florida House for passing NRA-spearheaded constitutional carry,’ Art Thomm, the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) Florida state director, told Fox News Digital in a statement on Friday. ‘This vital legislation guarantees that law-abiding Floridians will not need government permission or pay any fees to protect themselves and their loved ones.

‘Lead sponsor Representative Chuck Brannan and Speaker Paul Renner played key roles and we thank them for their outstanding leadership throughout the process. The NRA, our millions of committed members, and Florida gun owners eagerly anticipate Florida joining the ranks as America’s twenty-sixth constitutional carry state.’

Brannan, the Republican sponsor of the bill, has referred to the measure as a ‘public safety’ bill.

‘This bill is a big step, a big step to help the average law-abiding citizen, to keep them from having to go through the hoops of getting a permit from the government to carry their weapon,’ said Brannan, Fox 13 Tampa reported. 

‘It is also not going to change who can and who cannot carry a gun. People that are prohibited now are still going to be prohibited.’ 

Constitutional carry laws, the NRA said, strengthen ‘the right to self-defense in Florida by recognizing the right of any law-abiding adult who is at least 21 years old and legally eligible to obtain a carry permit, to carry a handgun without first having to obtain government permission.’

Critics argue that easier access to concealed carry will lead to more gun violence.

‘America has seen a devastating increase in gun deaths every year and more mass shootings than days this year,’ Katie Hathaway of Moms Demand Action said during a public comment session earlier this month.

‘This legislation will not make us safer, it’s a threat to everyone’s right to feel safe from gun violence and not be shot.’

The bill will now head to the Senate where it is expected to pass and then be sent to the desk of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis has previously signaled his support of a constitutional carry bill if it lands on his desk. His office hasn’t yet publicly commented on the bill.

There are currently 25 states that have constitutional carry or permitless carry laws on the books, meaning Florida could tip the U.S. into becoming a constitutional carry-majority nation.

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Both Democrats and Republicans in Connecticut are backing a proposal to move up the date of Connecticut’s presidential primary in hopes of giving the small state a bigger say in choosing presidential candidates.

The bill, which unanimously cleared a key committee on Friday, would move the date of the primary from the last Tuesday in April of each presidential election year to the first. The legislation now awaits further action in the House of Representatives.

In a moment of political comity, the chairpersons of the state Democratic and Republican parties recently appeared together to testify in favor of the legislation.

‘For too many presidential elections, Connecticut voters have been shortchanged in the primaries by being scheduled on the last Tuesday in April,’ Connecticut Democratic Party Chair Nancy DiNardo told legislators. She noted that presidential candidates in both parties have often been selected by the time Connecticut primary voters cast their ballots.

Benjamin Proto, chair of the Connecticut Republican Party, predicted that changing the primary date could encourage more voters to engage in the primary process and possibly encourage candidate visits. That, he said, would be an ‘economic boon’ to the state.

‘We know that when the candidates come to a state, they spend a lot of money; not only on their media buys, but also within our hospitality industry, on salaries, on staff,’ he said. ‘So there’s a tangential benefit to do this, to making us a competitive state that candidates want to come to.’

Connecticut, which leans Democratic, has seven electoral votes.

On the (last) first Tuesday in April of each year in which the President 4 of the United States is to be elected, each party shall conduct a primary 5 in each town if the names of two or more candidates are to be placed on 6 such party’s ballot in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

Democratic House Speaker Ronald Mariano said Friday that the House won’t meet with state Auditor Diana DiZoglio about an audit DiZoglio has launched into the Legislature.

DiZoglio, a Democrat who served as both a state representative and senator, said she is forging ahead anyway, She has described the audit as the first such review in a century of the Legislature that she hopes will ‘increase transparency, accountability and equity in an area of state government that has been completely ignored.’

Mariano said in a letter to DiZoglio Friday that the House’s financial accounts are already public.

Any ‘performance assessment’ by DiZoglio of House actions including ‘active and pending legislation, committee appointments, legislative rules, and its policies and procedures’ would violate basic separation-of-powers principles, he said.

Any such assessment is the sole responsibility of the House, he said, adding that voters are the final decision-makers of the performance of elected officials.

‘Therefore, given that your attempt to conduct a performance audit of the House of Representatives exeeds your legal authority and is unconsitutional, your request to meet to begin such an audit is respectfully denied,’ he wrote.

DiZoglio said she is moving forward with her review.

‘I find it disappointing that the Speaker is fighting an audit of what is happening in the people’s house, where the people’s business is conducted, using the people’s money,’ she said in a written statement. ‘We are not asking for permission and will continue conducting our audit as planned to help increase transparency, accountability and equity for everyday families.’

DiZoglio had earlier said the audit is critical, given how much legislative work is conducted out of sight.

The 200-member Legislature is exempt from the state’s open meeting law. Democrats — who hold overwhelming majorities in both chambers — routinely hold closed-door caucuses to discuss legislation away from the ears of the press and public.

‘Historically, the Legislature has been a closed-door operation, where committee votes have been hidden from the general public, and legislation has been voted on in the dark of night,’ DiZoglio said when she announced the audit.

Democratic Senate President Karen Spilka has also cited the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.

Under Senate rules, the chamber undergoes an audit every fiscal year by a public accounting firm experienced in auditing governmental entities and makes that audit public, she said.

Senate business is also made public through journals, calendars and recordings of each session, Spilka said.

President Biden joked with Canada’s Conservative leader Friday, saying the United States ‘unfortunately’ believes that having differing political views is an act of loyalty. 

The remark came as Biden was escorted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau into the House of Commons where he greeted dignitaries, senators, other party leaders and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. 

‘Pierre Poilievre, leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition,’ Poilievre said to Biden as they shook hands. 

‘Loyal opposition?’ Biden asks.  

‘We believe that opposition is an act of loyalty in our system,’ Poilievre.

‘We do too, unfortunately,’ the president responded before moving on to meet the next person.

Some online criticized Biden, saying while the remark may have been a joke, it reflects poorly on him. 

Biden met with Trudeau on Thursday for the first of two days of discussions on several topics. The U.S. and Canada secured a deal to return illegal migrants crossing the northern border that was slated to be announced Friday. 

President Biden accidentally commended China instead of Canada while praising the nation’s stance on migration on Friday.

Biden made the gaffe during a speech at the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa while he was discussing U.S. immigration policies.

‘In the United States, we’re expanding legal pathways for migration, to seek safety and humanitarian…humanitarian basis, while discouraging unlawful migration that feeds exploitation and human trafficking,’ the president began.

‘So today, I applaud China for stepping out…excuse me, I applaud Canada,’ Biden stumbled while Canadian Members of Parliament laughed.

‘You can tell what I’m thinking…about China. I won’t get into that yet,’ Biden said. ‘I applaud Canada’s stepping up of similar programs.’

Biden did not reference China again during his address to Parliament, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted China’s competitive edge before Biden began speaking.

‘Economic policy is climate policy is security policy, with growing competition, including from an increasingly assertive China,’ Trudeau said. ‘There’s no doubt why it matters that we turn to each other now to build up a North American market on everything from semiconductors to solar panel batteries.’

Biden’s speech comes as tensions between the U.S. and China continue to escalate. Chinese officials threatened the U.S. Navy with ‘serious consequences’ on Friday after an American warship was spotted in the South China Sea.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a statement, but has not heard back.

A factory farm has agreed to pay the Wisconsin Department of Justice $215,000 to settle pollution allegations.

The Legislature’s finance committee is slated to approve the deal during a meeting Tuesday. According to an analysis of the deal by the Legislature’s attorneys, the deal will settle allegations that Kinnard Farms improperly spread manure in Kewaunee and Door counties between 2018 and 2022, failed to timely submit an engineering evaluation for a feed storage area and failed to timely submit annual nutrient management plan updates.

The settlement also calls for Kinnard Farms to upgrade two waste storage facilities and a feed storage area.

The Kinnard operation includes 16 industrial farms with about 8,000 cows. The company has struggled with agricultural pollution for years as contaminants began showing up in private wells.

Kinnard Farms owner/operator Lee Kinnard said in a statement that the farms decided to settle rather than face a lengthy and costly dispute. He said the farms ‘look forward to pursuing state-of-the-art manure management technology.’

Kinnard Farms sued the state Department of Natural Resources in April 2022 over permitting changes that require the operators to limit the size of their herd and monitor groundwater for contamination. That lawsuit is still pending.

The wife of a now-former Connecticut state lawmaker was sentenced Thursday to six months in federal prison in connection with her role in the alleged theft of federal coronavirus relief funds from the city of West Haven.

Lauren DiMassa, one of several people arrested with former state Rep. Michael DiMassa in the investigation, had pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

Federal prosecutors said the city of West Haven paid Lauren DiMassa nearly $148,000 for services she never provided to the city. She and her husband were accused of submitting fraudulent invoices to the city for coronavirus-related services including youth violence prevention, but instead they used the money for their own benefit, prosecutors said.

‘I am embarrassed and appalled at my own actions and simply wish to pay my debts and live out a quiet life with my family,’ she wrote in a letter of apology to the judge.

Her lawyer argued for a more lenient sentence, pointing out that DiMassa is 23 weeks pregnant.

District Judge Omar Williams noted the child was conceived after DiMassa was arrested and knew she was facing prison time. He ordered Lauren DiMassa to report to prison by May 23. He also sentenced her to serve five years of supervised release, the first six months of which must be spent in home confinement. She also was ordered to pay $147,776 in restitution.

DiMassa’s lawyer, Francis O’Reilly, said during her plea hearing last July that it was important to note that DiMassa turned over most of the money she received from the city to her husband.

Michael DiMassa, a Democrat, served as an aide to the city, with authority to approve reimbursement of COVID-19 expenditures.

He resigned from that job and the state legislature after his 2021 arrest. He has pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy charges related to the total theft of more than $1.2 million in virus relief funds from the city and is set to be sentenced next month.

Another former city employee, John Bernardo, 66, was sentenced Wednesday to 13 months in prison for his role in the scheme.

Maine’s backlog of criminal court cases remains about 60% to 65% higher than pre-pandemic levels, a stubborn figure the state has been unable to reduce over two years, the state’s chief justice said Thursday.

The primary cause is the inability to hold jury trials early in the pandemic, but other factors include the opioid epidemic and mental health disorders, child protective cases, and a big increase in felony crimes, the most serious criminal cases that take longer to resolve, Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill told lawmakers.

‘Judicial branch employees are feeling the weight of the realization that seems no matter what we do, we can’t catch up. We can’t address our backlog. Frankly, it hurts my heart,’ she said.

Stanfill used her State of the Judiciary address to the Maine Legislature to promote the governor’s budget proposal that includes four new judges and more clerks and marshals.

Stanfill said she’s also requesting a pay increase for judges beyond a 3% cost of living adjustment, telling lawmakers that the state’s judges are among the nation’s lowest.

She told lawmakers that there are many factors behind the backlog and noted that the judicial system was strained before the pandemic exacerbated the number of pending cases. Furthermore, court officials are spending a greater amount of time trying to find lawyers willing to represent indigent clients, she said.

‘The pandemic was the tipping point that unmasked the reality that even before 2020, the courts and judicial system were straining to keep up with the demand of cases,’ she said.

On other topics, the chief justice said the rollout of an e-filing system that was supposed to be implemented statewide last year has been delayed because of ‘hitches and issues’ including the fact that Maine has nation’s only court system using an Apple-based computer system, which must be swapped.

The Business and Consumer Court in Portland and the civil and family docket in Bangor are the only courts using the system, but the family and civil dockets in the Lewiston District Court and Androscoggin Superior Court in Auburn will be brought online later this year, she said.

Eighteen Republican state attorneys general warned the Senate this week to reject the nomination of Nancy G. Abudu to a judgeship on the 11th circuit court, citing her self-proclamation as a radical movement legal activist.

The state top cops, led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a letter that Abudu needs to be rejected because of her ‘dishonest and divisive record.’

‘She is an activist. She has repeatedly used misrepresentations and hateful rhetoric to advance her political goals. And she has thus shown herself unfit for this lifetime appointment,’ they wrote.

‘We are familiar with Ms. Abudu’s work and her willingness to demonize those with whom she disagrees, and we know well the importance of the seat on the Eleventh Circuit that she would fill,’ the AGs wrote.

President Biden nominated Abudu was nominated for the 11th circuit spot – which presides over districts in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, in 2022. Her nomination expired at the end of last Congress, prompting Biden to renominate her again earlier this year.

‘She has compared her fellow Americans to Jim-Crow-era racists. She has aligned herself with self-proclaimed ‘radical movement legal activists’ who view ‘policing’ as ‘the true threat to our collective safety.’ And she has proclaimed that our criminal justice system is ‘practically the same system as during slavery,’’ the AGs wrote.

‘These spurious and outrageous statements vividly demonstrate that she lacks the judgment, fair-mindedness, and integrity required of a federal judge,’ they said.

Abudu has been the Director of Strategic Litigation for the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center since 2019, a widely discredited organization the AGs point out ‘is infamous for leveling unfounded charges of ‘hate’ against political opponents.’

‘Since becoming a leader in that organization, Ms. Abudu has engaged in those same deplorable tactics by disparaging those in her way,’ they wrote.

The letter notes a ‘report’ to Congress that Abudu and her team submitted about Alabama’s supposed ‘unyielding record of racial discrimination in voting.’

‘The Alabama Attorney General’s Office set the record straight in a follow-up report that went claim-by-claim, documenting the SPLC’s many misrepresentations. Each misrepresentation served the overarching theme of Ms. Abudu’s report—that any disagreement over policy is proof that her political opponents are evil,’ the AG’s wrote.

‘Indeed, according to Ms. Abudu, things in Alabama are the same or worse today than they were in 1965. As she tells it, Alabama’s goal — today — is to ‘establish white supremacy in this State,’’they wrote.

Abudu’s assertions are ‘as offensive as they are baseless,’ the AGs said.

Last month an SPLC attorney was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia as part of a violent protest and charged with domestic terrorism. The arrested attorney worked in the same office that Abudu lists as her work address, the AGs noted.

‘In response to the arrest, the SPLC tacitly approved its employee’s alleged terrorism, choosing instead to put out a joint statement with the radical National Lawyers Guild criticizing the supposed ‘heavy-handed law enforcement intervention against protesters.’’

‘It’s not clear whether Ms. Abudu was involved with that attorney or the SPLC’s response to his arrest, but the SPLC’s response shows the culture of its office and its attitude toward the rule of law and law enforcement,’ the AGs wrote.

‘It would be hard to overstate the importance of federal circuit courts of appeals. Nearly every federal appeal ends at the circuit court. Attorneys in our offices regularly practice before these courts, and we have great respect for these judges who dedicate their lives to the rule of law and to ensuring that all litigants before them are fairly heard,’ the AGs said.

Abudu was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee 12-11 last month. It’s now up to the full Senate to determine her final fate.