Some Federal Dollars OK'd For California Mission Repair

The Monterey Herald reports today that California Sen. Dianne Feinstein has secured a $300,000 grant for the California Missions Foundation to help repair Mission San Miguel which has been closed since a 2003 earthquake. The money comes from Save America's Treasures, an Interior Department program to restore historically significant buildings. The action is subject to review by the Justice Department to ensure that it doesn't raise church-state problems. A pending lawsuit challenging Congress' earlier grants to California Missions on Establishment Clause grounds is pending, and Congress has failed to approve other funding for the 21 struggling Missions. (See earlier postings 1, 2.)