Thousands of Southern Baptists have voted overwhelmingly to advance a formal ban on churches with women pastors in the nation’s largest conservative evangelical denomination. The vote at their annual meeting sent a clear message that men alone should preach to congregations. They easily exceeded the two-thirds majority required to amend the Southern Baptist Convention’s constitution. The ban will require a similar vote at next year’s annual meeting to gain final approval. The amendment would tighten existing restrictions in the Southern Baptist Convention, which already has a faith statement opposing women pastors.

The November race to determine California’s next governor will pit a Democrat promising to cement the state’s status as a stronghold of liberal policies against a Republican pledging to dramatically reverse course. Democrat Xavier Becerra is a former state attorney general and U.S. health secretary. He says he is prepared to take on big challenges, including fights with President Donald Trump. Republican Steve Hilton is a conservative commentator backed by Trump. Hilton says he would bring much-needed change after more than 15 years of Democratic governance.

Southern Baptists elected a new leader who has decried a “decline and drift” within the denomination. His supporters include an outspoken faction seeking to move the solidly conservative body even further to the right. Delegates elected Florida pastor Willy Rice to be its next president by a decisive margin over South Carolina pastor Josh Powell. The vote happened on the opening day of the Southern Baptist Convention's two-day annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. Delegates from across the nation's largest Protestant denomination are expected to vote on a constitutional amendment to formally ban churches with women pastors. The meeting will also address resolutions on antisemitism and immigration.

June is Pride Month across the U.S. But in some Republican-controlled states it's now officially Fidelity, Nuclear Family or Strong Families Month. Some of the proclamations for the newly branded months define families in a ways that exclude LGBTQ+ people. Some critics of LGBTQ+ rights present the latest proclamations as a way to counter-program against Pride events. Pride organizations say the efforts to rename the month won't affect their parades and other celebrations. The festivities were born out of protest more than 50 years ago and organizers say that remains essential to their purpose.

Former Colorado elections clerk and conspiracy theorist Tina Peters has been released from state prison. She served less than a quarter of her nine-year sentence for her role in a scheme to copy her county's election system. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence last month after pressure from President Donald Trump. Peters was released Monday and then appeared on right-wing podcaster Steve Bannon's program. Polis had said he would shorten Peters’ sentence if she expressed regret about her actions. But in her interview with Bannon, Peters repeated the debunked conspiracy theory that voting machines cheated Trump out of reelection in 2020.

Attorneys say a woman fired by an Indiana university over her Facebook post criticizing Charlie Kirk will receive $225,000 in a legal settlement. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana says Tuesday that Ball State University agreed to the payout to settle a First Amendment lawsuit by Suzanne Swierc. She was fired last September from her administrative job at Ball State. She was among many American public and private workers targeted by Kirk's supporters for making critical social media posts following Kirk's assassination last year. The president of Ball State defended the woman's firing in a statement, saying her post caused extraordinary damage to the school's reputation.

Tennessee officials will pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was jailed for more than a month over a Facebook post he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Retired police officer Larry Bushart spent 37 days in jail last year before authorities dropped the felony charge against him. He was arrested after he refused to remove memes joking about Kirk's death. The Perry County sheriff said one of Bushart's posts alarmed residents because it referenced a school shooting. Bushart says he was exercising his free speech rights and never should have been arrested.