LIBERTY STUDENT NEWS

Liberty University School of Law recently launched an internship program with MOVIEGUIDE® ministry, a Christian family guide to movies and entertainment designed to redeem the values of the mass media.

The MOVIEGUIDE® family guide and ministry is dedicated to redeeming the values of the entertainment industry by influencing industry executives and informing the public about the influence of the entertainment media.

When Dr. Baehr founded the MOVIEGUIDE® ministry in 1985, the major studios in Hollywood released few movies with any positive Christian content, less than 1%! By the time the ministry started the Annual MOVEIGUIDE® Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry, there were less than 30 movies with any Christian content among the major movies, or about 10% of the market share. Last year in 2007, however, 142, or 47.8%, of the movies released by Hollywood contained some positive Christian content!

Also before it started, Hollywood produced only about six movies every year aimed at families; in the past several years, movies marketed to families have increased up to 40% of the market sha re. Finally, about 80% of the top Hollywood movies used to be R rated before the MOVIEGUIDE® family guide to movies, entertainment and culture started, but, now, less than 44% are R rated.

One big issue at Wednesday night’s Obama Lynchburg rally — parking. Originally, the Obama campaign said people could park at the nearby Plaza. It seems the Obama campaign didn’t check with Liberty University first and they own the Plaza here. LU police are making sure that only Plaza shoppers are using this space, the entrances are blocked off. Liberty can’t help out because they’re a tax-exempt organization and the IRS says they can’t help a campaign in any way.

LU’s Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. is taking the Department of Environmental Quality to court after fining LU $9,200 for wetland and stream damage caused by dorm construction in East Campus. Originally DEQ fined $30,000, but LU was able to negotiate to $9,200.

The Patriots yesterday signed rookie Stephen Sene, a 6-foot-6, 310-pound offensive lineman from Colombia, S.C. The 24-year-old — who was originally signed by St. Louis as an undrafted free agent on May 1 but was then released by the Rams on July 28 — played at Liberty University.

Playing left tackle, he was part of an offensive line last season that helped Liberty rank No. 3 nationally in scoring offense (42.64 points per game), No. 9 with 32 rushing touchdowns, No. 15 in total offense (429.64 yards per game) and No. 18 nationally in team rushing yards per game (215.91 yards per game).

Remember when LU had a deal to buy a tv station in Roanoke? If you did, they pulled out of the deal and Living Ministries has taken over the deal. The group has agreed to pay about $5.3-million for WDRL-TV, pending approval by federal officials. Liberty had a deal going on back in 2007.