ProfNet Experts Available on Republican Party, Hobby Lobby Lawsuit, More

NEW YORK, June 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network that are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area. If you are interested in interviewing any of the experts, please contact them via the contact information at the end of the listing. To receive these updates by email, send a note to [email protected] with the industries you cover, and we'll add you to the appropriate edition.

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EXPERT ALERTS

• Republican Party's Civil War
• The Supreme Court: Hobby Lobby, Challenges to ACA Contraception Coverage
• Hobby Lobby, Conestoga Wood Cases Raise Questions About the Scope of Religious Liberty

MEDIA JOBS

• Editor - Tech Times (NY)
• Sports Writer - Daily News-Record (VA)
• Reporter, South Bay Courts - Law360 (CA)

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES

• Media 411: Most Memorable TV News Stories
• Grammar Hammer: Punctuation Saves Lives, Part 1
• Tips for Writing an About Page When You Hate Writing About Yourself

EXPERT ALERTS:

Republican Party's Civil War
Dr. Edward Hudgins
Director of Advocacy and Senior Scholar
The Atlas Society
"The Republican Party is in a civil war among three factions: establishment Republicans, who simply want to make the welfare state work efficiently, social conservatives, and limited-government Republicans, who favor freedom."
Dr. Hudgins is available to discuss the Republican Party civil war; libertarian perspective; immigration reform; true free markets vs. crony capitalism; U.S. politics; election issues; government oppression; social Issues; Ayn Rand and "Atlas Shrugged." He is the author of "The Republican Party's Civil War: Will Freedom Win?" He is former senior economist at the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress; former director of regulatory studies and editor of Regulation magazine at the Cato Institute; former deputy director for domestic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation, and director of the Center for International Economic Growth. He has his Ph.D. in political philosophy, MA in political theory and history, and a BA in government and politics. In addition to the subjects listed above he has expertise and an educated, strong (often controversial) view point on all things U.S. politics. If you've got a political story and need an enlightened expert source, don't be afraid to ask, chances are he is your guy.
Website: http://www.atlassociety.org
Media Contact: Jason Myers, [email protected] 

The Supreme Court: Hobby Lobby, Challenges to ACA Contraception Coverage
Dawn Johnsen
Professor of Law
Indiana University Maurer School of Law
"To allow for-profit employers to deny women access to the contraceptive coverage to which they otherwise are entitled would for many women result in the use of contraceptive methods that are not optimal for their health and life circumstances and that are far less effective. For example, the use of an IUD is 90 times more effective than male condoms, but can cost a woman making minimum wage a month's salary. The empirical data establishes what common sense tells us: if the court allows employers' religious objections to limit women's health care decisions in this way, women not only will suffer economic harm and an affront to their own religious and moral views, they also will experience greater numbers of unintended pregnancies, some of which will end in abortions."
Johnsen co-authored an amicus curiae brief for the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood cases on behalf of the Guttmacher Institute, detailing the harm to women, their families and the public health that would result if the court were to rule in favor of the corporations and argues that the proper interpretation of the law avoids these harms.
Bio: http://bit.ly/1smhhnJ
Website: http://www.law.indiana.edu
Contact: Brianne O'Donnell, [email protected]

Hobby Lobby, Conestoga Wood Cases Raise Questions About the Scope of Religious Liberty
Daniel Conkle
Professor of Law, Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies
Indiana University Maurer School of Law 
"These cases raise fundamental questions about the scope of religious liberty, including the right of religious objectors to special legal accommodation, even in the commercial sphere. The Court could decide the pending cases narrowly, confining its decision to the particular context of the ACA, or it could rule more broadly. For example, it could rule that for-profit corporations simply are not protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and therefore cannot invoke its provisions. Or it could rule broadly in the other direction, establishing a precedent that might permit religiously oriented corporations to object to legal requirements in a variety of settings."
According to Conkle, an expert on constitutional law, the First Amendment, and law and religion at the Maurer School, both the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood cases may have implications extending beyond the Affordable Care Act.
Bio: http://bit.ly/1f8mTrw
Website: http://www.law.indiana.edu
Contact: Brianne O'Donnell, [email protected]

MEDIA JOBS:

Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/

• Editor - Tech Times (NY)
• Sports Writer - Daily News-Record (VA)
• Reporter, South Bay Courts - Law360 (CA)

See more listings here.

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES:

Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at [email protected]

• MEDIA 411: MOST MEMORABLE TV NEWS STORIES. The dawn of television news in the 1940's brought the ability of national and international stories to enter our homes front and center with images and sound. Since then there have been several events that forever will stay in our minds and will be synonymous with the era of television news. Here are our top ten: http://prn.to/1leoah3
• GRAMMAR HAMMER: PUNCTUATION SAVES LIVES, PART 1. You've all seen the example: "Let's eat grandma!" Knowing when to properly use punctuation can change the meaning of a sentence. These are the marks that help us with sentence structure, help us clarify meaning and distinguish between different sets of ideas. In this edition of Grammar Hammer, Cathy Spicer examines the first crop of punctuation marks to master: http://prn.to/1uhNWXb
• TIPS FOR WRITING AN ABOUT PAGE WHEN YOU HATE WRITING ABOUT YOURSELF. Does anyone actually enjoy writing about themselves? An entire page about me? That's torture. For bloggers, however, an About page is essential. You can fight it all you want, but you'll eventually need to put fingers to keyboard and tell your story. Here are some tips for getting started: http://prn.to/1iUD6B0                

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