Handpicked news Briefs: ‘News Of The World’ Signs Off, Dirty Dancing, Quake Hits Off Japan’s Coast, Pot No Medical Use

Hidden Camera Finds Reparative Therapy at Bachmann’s Clinics New evidence has surfaced that Marcus Bachmann’s Christian counseling clinics are actually in the business of reparative therapy for gay people – a claim that he had denied.  

Dirty Dancing Abe Sylvia remembers very clearly the first time he saw Dirty Debbie. The handsome 36-year-old Broadway dancer turned screenwriter-director was then a self-described “friendless, fat gay kid” standing by himself in the parking lot of the middle school he attended in Norman, Okla. “Out of nowhere came this girl running across the quad with her top open, and her huge breasts were bouncing up and down,” Sylvia recalls, laughing in between bites of an egg white and asparagus omelet at an al fresco French bistro in West Hollywood. “She looked so free and happy that that image stayed with me for a long time.”

NOM Not Invited to NY Weddings, But They’ll Be There Protesting When gay couples in New York start legally getting hitched on July 24, the National Organization for Marriage plans to crash their weddings with a series of protests. The group, which lobbied against passage of the marriage equality bill signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, announced the rallies Friday on its website. Protests are so far being planned in Albany, Rochester, Buffalo and New York City.

Feds Rule Pot Has No Accepted Medical Use The federal government ruled on Friday that marijuana has no accepted medical use and should remain in the same class of drugs as heroin. The decision comes nearly nine years after marijuana supporters asked the government to reclassify the drug to take into account the growing body of research conducted across the globe that proves it’s effective in treating certain diseases,reports The Los Angeles Times.

BREAKING 7.1 Quake Hits Off Japan’s Coast A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck offJapan’s northeastern coast on Sunday. Tsunami advisories were issued following the Japan earthquake, Tokyo Breaking News reported. According to Reuters, Fukushima nuclear plant workers evacuated to higher ground following theearthquake, with no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Tokyo Electric Power said that there did not appear to be any further damage at the nuclear plant.

News Of The World’ Signs Off: THANK YOU & GOODBYE LONDON — Britain’s best-selling Sunday tabloid the News of the World signed

 off with a simple front page message – “THANK YOU & GOODBYE” – leaving the media establishment here reeling from the expanding phone-hacking scandal that brought down the muckraking newspaper after 168 years. Journalists crafted the newspaper’s own obituary before sending the tabloid’s final edition to the printing presses Saturday night, apologizing for letting its readers down but stopping short of acknowledging recent allegations that staff paid police for information.

Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Good Morning America, National Organization for Marriage, New York, Politics, Same-sex marriage, Twitter, United States