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Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

Barbara Bradley Hagerty

Barbara Bradley Hagerty is the religion correspondent for NPR, reporting on the intersection of faith and politics, law, science and culture. Her New York Times best-selling book, "Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality," was published by Riverhead/Penguin Group in May 2009. Among others, Barb has received the American Women in Radio and Television Award, the Headliners Award and the Religion Newswriters Association Award for radio reporting.

Before covering the religion beat, Barb was NPR's Justice Department correspondent between 1998 and 2003. Her billet included the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, Florida's disputed 2000 election, terrorism, crime, espionage, wrongful convictions and the occasional serial killer. Barbara was the lead correspondent covering the investigation into the September 11 attacks. Her reporting was part of NPR's coverage that earned the network the 2001 George Foster Peabody and Overseas Press Club awards. She has appeared on the PBS programs Washington Week and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Barb came to NPR in 1995, after attending Yale Law School on a one-year Knight Fellowship. From 1982-1993, she worked at The Christian Science Monitor as a newspaper reporter in Washington, as the Asia correspondent based in Tokyo for World Monitor (the Monitor's nightly television program on the Discovery Cable Channel) and finally as senior Washington correspondent for Monitor Radio.

Barb was graduated magna cum laude from Williams College in 1981 with a degree in economics, and has a masters in legal studies from Yale Law School.

  • From the moment Sen. Barack Obama rocked the 2004 Democratic National Convention by talking of the "awesome God" in the blue states, he has been recognized for his artful use of theological language. In the past, Democrats have shied away from talking about personal faith, but Obama has put his faith front and center.
  • Concerned that questions about his Mormon faith are hurting his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney will give a speech on "Faith in America" on Thursday. The situation recalls that faced by John F. Kennedy in 1960, when he gave a historic speech two months before he was elected the first Catholic president.
  • Father Donald McGuire was convicted last year of sexually abusing two teenaged boys in the 1960s. Jesuit leaders insist they had no knowledge of any other abuses by McGuire, but documents reveal they were alerted by concerned parents many times over the past 38 years.
  • In Los Angeles, a judge is expected to sign the largest settlement ever in a clergy sex-abuse case. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $660 million to more than 500 people who say they were abused by priests and other clerics.
  • The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to a landmark $660 million settlement that will give more than $1 million each to hundreds of people who say they were sexually abused by clergy. It's the largest payout to date in the church's sexual abuse scandal.
  • The Creation Museum opened its doors in northern Kentucky on Monday. Hundreds of people lined up for the opening of the $27 million museum, which promotes the idea that the Bible is more accurate than evolutionary science.
  • A Maryland judge has ruled that a state law that bans same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. But the judge said she won't allow couples to get married while the attorney general appeals. While the ruling is a victory for efforts to allow same-sex unions, it is certain to be challenged.
  • A Maryland circuit court judge rules that a 1973 statute that defines marriage as between a man and a woman violates the state constitution. Judge Brooke Murdock stayed the opinion until a higher court has affirmed the decision. The state attorney general is appealing to an intermediate court.
  • A federal judge rules against the teaching of intelligent design in Dover, Pa., schools. He says the concept is a "religious view" that has no place in science classrooms. The case could have important implications for the teaching of evolution in schools across the country.
  • After publishing an article by a proponent of intelligent design, scientist Richard Sternberg found himself the target of retaliation at the Smithsonian Institution. His case is probably the best-documented battle in the war between the vast majority of scientists and a tiny insurgency promoting an alternative to evolution.