Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He's written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology's harassment of Paulette Cooper titled 'The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.' He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world from an undisclosed location in an underground bunker he shares with four cats and one of them wrinkly Shar Pei dogs. Despite his super-secret security protections, you can still reach him pretty easily by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you'd like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.) [Header image courtesy John Rickard]
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Trial set in New York on April 7 over Narconon drug rehab hiding connection to Scientology

 In September 2014, we told you about a lawsuit against a Scientology “Narconon” drug rehab facility in Florida that was filed by a New York couple, Heidi and Nathaniel Gore. At that time, the lawsuit had survived a challenge by Narconon’s attorneys, who said it didn’t make sense for the Florida rehab to be sued []

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No longer working for Monique Rathbun to sue Scientology, Ray Jeffrey opens up

 Once it became official that Ray Jeffrey and his colleagues — Marc Wiegand, Elliott Cappuccio, and Leslie Hyman — were no longer working for Monique Rathbun in her harassment lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, we called up Ray to see if he’d be interested in an interview. We’re glad to say he accepted. And []

Got a war wound? Scientology can help you with that, and more in our social media review

 Time again for Rod Keller’s Scientology Social Media Review! Rod goes way back, having kept a meticulous eye on the church since 1992. He’s well known for his indispensable “ARS Week in Review,” which ran for nine years when ARS — the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.scientology — was the most important daily source for Scientology news. []

A Scientology spy comes forward: Now he’s ready for ‘war’ with David Miscavige

[San Diego Police Lt. Skip Young, left, in 1976.]

 Skip Young’s involvement in the Church of Scientology’s notorious “Snow White Program” was only a footnote, but it was a memorable one. It was the summer of 1976, and Scientology’s chief Washington DC spy, Michael Meisner, was in hiding after he’d been discovered that June using a []

Monique Rathbun waives a response: Will the TX Supreme Court take up Scientology’s appeal?

 Monique Rathbun has waived her right to respond to the Church of Scientology’s petition to the Texas Supreme Court just a couple of days before the initial deadline for her to respond had []

Scientology’s ‘personality test’ taken apart like never before, and by a former member

 Chris Shelton has a nice treat for us today. He took a very detailed look at the history and use of Scientology’s “Oxford Capacity Analysis,” the fancy (and fraudulent) name for its famous personality test. []

Ron Miscavige book out in May: ‘Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me’

Ron Miscavige’s book has a new title and a publication date. What was originally announced as “If He Dies, He Dies” has been renamed “Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me,” and St. Martin’s Press is publishing it on May 3. []

Regency Outdoor caves to Scientology, cancels ‘disconnection’ billboard

[Brian Kennedy of Regency Outdoor]

Another billboard company has caved from the pressure applied by the Church of Scientology. Phil Jones learned this afternoon that Regency Outdoor Advertising, which had planned to put up Phil’s billboard this weekend for Tuesday’s unveiling, has now cancelled on []

Scientology disconnection rips apart another family, this time affecting a familiar face

[Ramana Dienes-Browning and her daughter, Iyana]

We recently received a message from Ramana Dienes-Browning that, sadly, was all too familiar.

“Well, it finally happened,” she said to us over Facebook. “My mum has disconnected from me so she can continue []

Turns out at least FOUR employees sued Pasadena firm that forced Scientology on them

The WISE logo

In December, we told you about a lawsuit filed by a woman named Annie R. Lee against a Pasadena company, Lusida Rubber Products, after she claimed she was fired for refusing to take Scientology courses forced on her by her employer.

Last week, an L.A. website reported that Lusida had filed a []