NATIONAL BRIEFS

VIRGINIA: Anti-abortion bills protested

Hundreds of women locked arms and stood mute Monday outside the state Capitol in Richmond to protest a wave of anti-abortion legislation coursing through the General Assembly. Legislators had to walk through a human cordon to attend sessions of the Republican-controlled legislature. The silent protest was over bills that would define embryos as humans and criminalize their destruction, require "transvaginal" ultrasounds of women seeking abortions, and cut state aid to poor women seeking abortions. Molly Vick of Richmond, in her first-ever protest, wore a sticker on her shirt that said "Say No to State-Mandated Rape." Just beneath the beltline of her blue jeans was a strip of yellow tape that read "Private Property: Keep Out."

TENNESSEE: Dropping 'Southern' debated

The nation's largest Protestant denomination will remain "Baptist," but leaders are thinking about whether it will be "Southern" for much longer. Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright was to present the recommendation of a task force assigned to study a name change to the denomination's executive committee at a meeting Monday night in Nashville. A name change would have to be approved at the SBC's annual conventions the next two years.

NEBRASKA: Ruling on immigrant laws

U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp on Monday rejected a portion of the city of Fremont's ordinance that would have denied housing permits to illegal immigrants, but upheld a requirement that employers verify the citizenship status of people they hire. Camp found some of the housing provisions in the ordinance, approved by voters in 2010, are discriminatory, in violation of federal law. Both sides in the contentious debate claimed victory after the ruling. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund had sued.