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WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing to introduce more Christianity to public school classrooms, testing the separation of church and state by inserting Bible references into reading lessons and requiring teachers to post the Ten Commandments.

The efforts come as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office pledging to champion the First Amendment right to pray and read the Bible in school, practices that are already allowed as long as they are not government-sponsored.

While the federal government is explicitly barred from directing states on what to teach, Trump can indirectly influence what is taught in public schools and his election may embolden state-level activists.

Trump and his fellow Republicans support school choice, hoping to expand the practice of using taxpayer-funded vouchers to help parents send their children to religious schools.

But there is a parallel push to incorporate more Christianity into the mainstream public schools that serve the overwhelming majority of students, including those of other faiths. And with the help of judicial appointees from Trump’s first presidential term, courts have begun to bless the notion of more religion in the public sphere, including in schools.

“The effect of even Trump being the president-elect, let alone the president again, is Christian nationalists are emboldened like never before,” said Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Large numbers of Americans believe the founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian nation. A smaller group, part of a movement widely called Christian nationalism, champions a fusion of American and Christian identity and believes the U.S. has a mandate to build an explicitly Christian society.

Many historians argue the opposite, claiming the framers created the United States as an alternative to European monarchies with official state churches and oppression of religious minorities.

Efforts to introduce more Christianity into classrooms have taken hold in several states.

In Louisiana, Republicans passed a law requiring every public school classroom to post the Ten Commandments, which begin with “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Families have sued.

In Texas, officials in November approved a curriculum intertwining language arts with biblical lessons. And in Oklahoma, the state superintendent of education has called for lessons to incorporate the Bible from grades 5 through 12, a requirement schools have declined to follow.

Utah state lawmakers designated the Ten Commandments as a historic document, in the same category as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, so teachers could post it in their classrooms. Many other states have seen legislation that would put them in more classrooms. And attorneys general from 17 GOP-led states recently filed a brief supporting Louisiana’s Ten Commandments mandate.

Schools are permitted — and even encouraged — to teach about religion and to expose students to religious texts. But some say the new measures are indoctrinating students, not educating them.

Critics have raised concerns also about proliferating lesson plans. Some states have allowed teachers to use videos from Prager U, a nonprofit founded by a conservative talk show host, despite criticism that the videos positively highlight the spread of Christianity and include Christian nationalist talking points.

During his first administration, Trump commissioned the 1776 Project, a report that attempted to promote a more patriotic version of American history. It was panned by historians and scholars who said it credited Christianity for many of the positive turns in U.S. history without mentioning the religion’s role in perpetuating slavery, for example.

The project was developed into a curriculum by the conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan and is now taught in a network of publicly funded charter schools supported by the college. It also has influenced state standards in South Dakota.

Challenges to some state measures are now working their way through the courts, which have grown friendlier to religious interests thanks to Trump’s judicial appointments.

In 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a football coach in Washington state who was fired for praying with players at midfield after a game, saying the school district infringed on his rights to religious expression. Dissenting justices noted some players felt pressure to join the coach. But the high court said a public school can’t restrict an employee’s religious activity just because it could be construed as an endorsement of religion, reversing a five-decade precedent.

The ruling could pave the way for conservatives to introduce more Christianity in public schools, said Derek Black, a law professor at the University of South Carolina.

“Donald Trump’s judicial appointees have emboldened states” to test the separation of church and state, he said.

In the wake of the football coach’s case, courts now analyze church-state separation through the lens of history, said Joseph Davis of Becket, a public interest law firm focused on religious freedom that is defending Louisiana over its Ten Commandments mandate.

The Supreme Court has endorsed the idea that “it’s OK to have religious expression in the public spaces,” Davis said, “and that we should sort of expect that … if it’s a big part of our history.”

Critics say some measures to introduce more historical references to Christianity in classrooms have taken things too far, inserting biblical references gratuitously, while erasing the role Christianity played in justifying atrocities perpetuated by Americans, like genocide of Native people.

These are among the criticisms facing the new reading curriculum in Texas. Created by the state, districts aren’t required to use it, but they receive financial incentives for adopting it.

“The authors appear to go out of their way to work detailed Bible lessons into the curriculum even when they are both unnecessary and unwarranted,” religious studies scholar David R. Brockman wrote in a report on the material. “Though religious freedom is vital to American democracy, the curriculum distorts its role in the nation’s founding while underplaying the importance of other fundamental liberties cherished by Americans.”

Texas Values, a conservative think tank that backed the new reading curriculum, said in a statement that the court’s pivot toward permitting more Christianity in schools, and allowing more taxpayer money to flow to religious institutions, is corrective.

The football coach case has rightfully returned protections for religion and free speech in public school, said Jonathan Saenz, the Texas Values president.

“Voters and lawmakers (are) getting tired of the attacks on God and our heritage of being ‘One Nation Under God,’” he said.

Gary Ginstling was hired Friday as CEO of the Houston Symphony, six months following his surprise departure from the New York Philharmonic after just one year in charge.

Ginstling will start Feb. 3 and replace John Mangum, who had been Houston’s CEO since 2018 and left in September to succeed Anthony Freud as general director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

“The Houston Symphony has a really strong track record and my goal is to continue to appeal to the greatest conductors and greatest artists of the day that Houston is a place that you want to be,” Ginstling said.

Ginstling, 58, became New York’s CEO on July 1, 2023, and quit last July 11. His predecessor, Deborah Borda, had remained as executive adviser to Ginstling and the board of directors.

Ginstling has not detailed the circumstances of his departure.

“It wasn’t a good fit for him culturally. It wasn’t a good fit for him, from his style. He did a lot of good things there,” Houston Symphony board president Barbara J. Burger said. “He started, from day one with us, how important culture was and I understand that completely. No one wants to work in an environment where they feel like they either can’t be successful, or they’re not trusted or they’ve got somebody looking over their shoulder.”

New York replaced Ginstling with Philadelphia Orchestra CEO Matías Tarnopolsky, who started Jan. 1. He was boosted by his long friendship with Gustavo Dudamel, who becomes New York’s music director in the 2026-27 season.

Ginstling worked for the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony before becoming general manager of the Cleveland Orchestra (2008-13), CEO of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (2013-17) and executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra (2017-22).

Juraj Val?uha started as Houston’s music director for the 2022-23 season and is signed through 2025-26. The orchestra gives 130 concerts annually, has an operating budget of $40.7 million and includes 90 full-time musicians and 74 administrative staff.

Jones Hall, the orchestra’s home, has been undergoing a renovation over three summers that is scheduled to be finished this year ahead of its 60th anniversary in 2026.

HOUSTON (AP) – Constellation is buying natural gas and geothermal power provider Calpine for $16.4 billion, joining together two of the country’s biggest power companies.

The acquisition would create the nation’s leading retail electric supplier, serving 2.5 million customers, the companies said Friday. It’s geographic footprint will span the continental U.S. and include a significantly expanded presence in Texas, the fastest growing market for power demand, as well as other key strategic states, including California, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The buyout will also create the

Constellation will buy Calpine with 50 million of its shares and $4.5 billion in cash. It will also assume about $12.7 billion in Calpine debt. The total value of the deal will be about $26.6 billion.

The combined company will have nearly 60 gigawatts of capacity from zero- and low-emission sources, including nuclear, natural gas, geothermal, hydro, wind, solar, cogeneration and battery storage.

“By combining Constellation’s unmatched expertise in zero-emission nuclear energy with Calpine’s industry-leading, best-in-class, low-carbon natural gas and geothermal generation fleets, we will be able to offer the broadest array of energy products and services available in the industry,” Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said in a prepared statement Friday.

The deal is anticipated to add more than $2 billion of free cash flow a year, which the companies said will create strategic capital and scale to reinvest in the business.

“Together, we will be better positioned to bring accelerated investment in everything from zero-emission nuclear to battery storage that will power our economy in a way that puts people and our environment first,” Calpine CEO Andrew Novotny said.

The transaction is expected to close within a year of its signing. It will need regulatory approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Canadian Competition Bureau, the New York Public Service Commission, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and other regulatory agencies.

Privately held Calpine is based in Houston. Shares of Constellation Energy Corp., based in Baltimore, surged more than 25% Friday.

ATLANTA (AP) — Flight cancellations piled up and officials warned of continuing dangerous roads Saturday in the wake of a winter storm that brought biting cold and wet snow to the U.S. South, leading to school closures and disrupting travel.

The storm was moving out to sea off the East Coast on Saturday, leaving behind a forecast for snow showers in the Appalachian Mountains and New England. But temperatures were expected to plunge after sundown in the South, raising the risk that melting snow will refreeze, turning roadways treacherously glazed with ice.

“I definitely don’t think everything’s going to completely melt,” said Scott Carroll, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Atlanta. “Especially the secondary roads will probably still have some slush on them.”

Major roads are mostly clear, but tie-ups at affected airports remain

Main thoroughfares were mostly clear, but few people were venturing out early Saturday. The Atlanta Hawks postponed their scheduled afternoon game against the Houston Rockets, citing the icy conditions.

Major airports including those in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, continued to report disruptions. While flights were operating, airlines canceled and delayed more flights after Friday’s weather slowed travel to a crawl.

By Saturday afternoon about 1,000 flights in and out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were canceled or delayed, according to tracking software FlightAware.

Sarah Waithera Wanyoike, who lives in the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn, arrived at the world’s busiest airport before sunrise Friday to catch an Ethiopian Airlines flight to her job in Zimbabwe.

The plane boarded after a delay but never left, discharging passengers back to the gate after taxiing around for six hours. Wanyoike said her luggage remained on the plane and she dared not try to go home because she was told to be back at the gate before dawn.

“People slept with their babies on the floors last night,” Wanyoike said Saturday.

Delta Air Lines, the largest carrier at the airport, said late Friday that it was “working to recover” and disruptions would be worst among morning flights because of crews and airplanes that weren’t where they were supposed to be after 1,100 flights were canceled.

Richmond drops boil-water advisory after nearly a week

Virginia’s capital lifted the advisory Saturday morning, nearly a week after a snow storm cut power and caused a malfunction to the city’s water system.

Mayor Danny Avula said lab tests confirmed that the water is safe to drink, adding that boil-water advisories had been lifted for some surrounding counties as well.

The temporary halting of the system affected more than 200,000 people, some of whom lacked water in their homes because of diminished pressure.

Freezing rain pushed up electrical outages above 110,000 in Georgia on Friday night, but most had it restored by the following day. The National Weather Service reported small amounts of ice accumulation around Atlanta from the freezing rain.

Parts of mountainous western North Carolina saw as much as 4.5 inches (about 11 centimeters) of snow in a 24-hour period through 7 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. And parts of middle Tennessee saw nearly 6 inches (about 15 centimeters) by the same morning.

Earlier this week the storm brought heavy snow and slick roads to much of Texas and Oklahoma before moving east. Arkansas and North Carolina mobilized National Guard troops for tasks such as helping stranded motorists, and governors declared states of emergency.

Nashville starts digging out

Businesses and churches started digging out from under several inches of snow that fell on Nashville, Tennessee, in order to reopen for the weekend.

At Judah Temple of Praise, church members on Saturday shoveled, salted and blew snow off the sidewalks and the parking lot in advance of the next day’s services.

“We’re not going to use the excuse of a parking lot covered in snow to not show up and praise our God tomorrow,” elder Myyah Lockhart said.

Andy Atkins, co-owner of the Bad Luck Burger Club food truck in east Nashville, brushed off picnic tables with a broom and shoveled the sidewalk in front of his business. After closing down Friday, he hoped that customers would show up again.

“Having a day off is good for the soul, but is bad for the pocket, you know,” Atkins said.

Alabama schools could remain closed if ice doesn’t melt off secondary roads

School was canceled on Friday for millions of children from Texas to Georgia and as far east as South Carolina, giving them a rare snow day. On Saturday, officials in northern Alabama said schools could remain closed Monday if ice doesn’t melt off secondary roads.

The storm piled up more than a year’s worth of snowfall on some cities.

As much as a foot (about 31 centimeters) fell in parts of Arkansas, and there were reports of nearly 10 inches (about 25 centimeters) in Little Rock, which averages 3.8 inches (9.7 centimeters) a year.

More than 7 inches (about 18 centimeters) fell at Memphis International Airport in Tennessee. The city usually sees 2.7 inches (6.9 centimeters) a year.

The storm also dumped as much as 7 inches (about 18 centimeters) in some spots in central Oklahoma and northern Texas.

The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes ventures south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some experts say such events are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world.

The cold snap coincided with rare January wildfires tearing through the Los Angeles area.