In Other News: Germany launches plan to relax rigid family name system; Florida fight over ‘baby boxes’ part of bigger culture war

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Germany launches plan to relax rigid family name system

Germany’s justice minister has launched plans to relax the country’s strict restrictions on family names — for example, allowing couples to take double-barreled surnames and pass them on to their children. The minister said as he published the draft legislation on Tuesday that the current system “is about as up-to-date as a coal stove and as flexible as concrete.” The legislation, which is supposed to take effect at the beginning of 2025, still requires the approval of the Cabinet and Parliament. It is one of several social reform projects that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s socially liberal three-party governing coalition agreed to embark on when it took office in December 2021.

Florida fight over ‘baby boxes’ part of bigger culture warA fight is developing in Florida’s legislature over a measure that would allow fire stations and hospitals to install boxes where distressed mothers could leave their unwanted newborns. The Indiana-based group Safe Haven Baby Boxes is pushing the measure. It passed the House recently and is now before the Senate, where there is an attempt to block it. The group says the boxes would give an extra layer of anonymity to mothers who desire it, but no agency would be required to install them. Florida already allows parents to hand over newborns to firefighters and hospital workers. Opponents say the law works as it is, and that the boxes are costly and dangerous. The vote may happen this week.

What we know about victims of the Louisville bank shootingTributes were growing Monday for the five people slain in a shooting at a Louisville bank, with friends sharing details of their lives and mourners gathering at vigils. Details were also emerging about some of the wounded, including a rookie officer who was just recently sworn in. Louisville’s former Mayor Greg Fischer said he’d known 63-year-old Tommy Elliott, one of those killed, for 40 years. He likes to tell a story about how they met: Elliott was a young banker and Fischer was a young businessman. They were both ambitious and “wet behind the ears,” Fischer said. Elliott called him up and said he wanted to be his personal banker. “I reminded him that my net worth was less than $5,000 and thought he was crazy,” Fischer said. “I said, ‘Your prospect list must be getting pretty bad, Tommy, to be calling me.’” Fischer said that story highlights Elliott’s work ethic and his ability to see things in people they might not see in themselves. “He got great joy out of helping people and seeing people succeed,” he said. They became close friends, and when Fischer launched his first bid to be mayor, Elliott signed on to be his campaign finance manager and remained with him the rest of his political career.