The National Retail Federation (NRF), Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and CBA have praised the Senate passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act late Monday. The bill, S. 743, now moves to the House, where it is expected to face opposition.

Sponsored by Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) Richard Durbin (D-IL), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), the legislation passed the Senate by a more than two to one margin.

NRF issued the following statement from NRF Chairman of the Board Stephen I. Sadove of Saks and NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay on the bill’s Senate passage:

“We applaud Senators Enzi, Durbin, Alexander and Heitkamp and the entire U.S. Senate for standing with local retailers and America’s small business owners in a strong, bipartisan vote for final passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act, despite a highly funded misinformation campaign by the legislation’s opposition,” Shay said. “Today’s action in the Senate is a significant step for sales tax fairness and we look forward to a robust debate in the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Band Angels, bandages for kids featuring healing-related scriptures, has announced a strategic partnership with Christian recording artist Jaci Velasquez. As spokesperson for the product, Velasquez will make personal appearances on behalf of the company.

Band Angels creators Tim and Tami West first met the singer a couple of years ago when Tim was a guest on “Your Family Friendly Morning Show with Doug and Jaci Velasquez” on Salem Broadcasting's nationally syndicated network 94FM The Fish.

Sex therapist Doug Weiss, rocker John Elefante and Bridgestone Multimedia Group are among those releasing new products today, May 7.

Doug Weiss calls men to a healthy sexuality with his new Thomas Nelson-published title, Clean.

“This book contains tested and tried weapons for you to get and stay clean, not for a week, month or year, but for the rest of your life,” said Weiss, president of the American Association for Sex Addiction Therapy.

Click here to see Christian Retailing Publisher Steve Strang’s blog on Clean. 

In a major victory for faith-based organizations, a federal court, at the U.S. government's own request, dismissed the Obama administration's appeal of its abortion-pill mandate case against Tyndale House Publishers on Friday, May 3. The administration's retreat marks the first total appellate victory on a preliminary injunction in such a case.

Based in Carol Stream, Ill., the world's largest privately held Christian publisher filed a lawsuit against the administration in October because the publisher specifically objects to covering abortion pills. A month later, a federal court temporarily halted the abortion pill mandate as litigation in the case continued. The government filed an appeal in January.

"The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn't religious enough to qualify as a religious employer," said Matt Bowman, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents Tyndale. "For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn't religious is outrageous, and now the Obama administration has had to retreat in court."

The administration argued that Tyndale House "isn't religious enough" for an exemption from the mandate, a component of Obamacare that forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception under threat of heavy penalties. The publisher is subject to the mandate because Obama administration rules say for-profit corporations are categorically nonreligious.

Following the government's request, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia dropped the administration's appeal, which means the preliminary injunction issued by a district court in November will stand, while the case, Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius, moves forward.

The Obama administration required most businesses to comply with the Health and Human Services mandate by August 2012. Some faith-based organizations, including hospitals and universities, have a so-called safe harbor until August, but Tyndale does not qualify for the extension.

ADF said 59 lawsuits are challenging the mandate, and courts have issued orders in 25 of the cases involving for-profit companies. Injunctions were granted to temporarily halt the mandate in all but six of those cases.

To Heaven and Back by Dr. Mary C. Neal has more than 750,000 copies in print since it was acquired and re-released in May 2012 by WaterBrook Press.

Originally self-published in November 2011, the book spent 44 weeks on the New York Times Advice & Miscellaneous best-sellers list, including 13 weeks at No. 1. The book has also received high rankings on the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, CBA and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists.

The book is a firsthand account of the orthopedic spinal surgeon's death after a kayak accident in South America, visit to heaven and return to life. Consumer demand for the book was spurred by strong national media interest in Neal's story. She has appeared on NBC's Today show, FOX News Channel's Fox and Friends and America Live with Megyn Kelly. She was also a subject in Jay Leno's monologue last year on The Tonight Show, when he made a reference to Neal's book and the possibility of life after death for NBC.

On April 18, Neal was a featured author at former First Lady Barbara Bush's Celebration of Reading, which benefits the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

For the fourth year in a row, Lion Hudson has been named Publisher of the Year at the Christian Resources Together Awards.

With its books distributed in North America by Kregel Publications, Lion Hudson won five awards at the Christian Resources Together Retailers and Suppliers Retreat, held April 29-30 in Derbyshire, England. The annual event, hosted by Christian Resources Together United Kingdom, unites Christian publishers, distributors and booksellers to acknowledge the best products and services in the industry.

Lion Hudson also won Biography of the Year for the U.K. Edition of Eric Liddell: Pure Gold by David McCasland; Fiction Book of the Year for The Hunted Hare by Fay Sampson; Children's Book of the Year for Bible Detective by Peter Martin and Peter Kent; and Youth Book of the Year for 500 Prayers for Young People by Martin Saunders.

Visit http://www.christianresourcestogether.co.uk/highleighevent.htm for a complete list of winners.

Gospel Light is offering a free online promotional video called The Gospel Changes Lives, showing the value of Sunday school.

Featuring images of children facing life challenges such as divorce, terminal illness and loneliness, the video "shows that the message of Jesus not only holds the answers, but a path to healing and restoration," company officials said.

The publisher created the video to provide inspiration and underscore the importance of Sunday school in the life of the church. Statistics show that more than 200,000 churches nationwide have some form of Sunday school.

Visit http://www.gospellight.com/partners to watch The Gospel Changes Lives and download a copy of the video.