Welcome to Week 2 of the Museums in the News roundup!

Probably the biggest museum news of the week comes from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Curators there removed a video art installation of an ant-covered crucifix after complaints from, among others, the Catholic League and members of Congress. It’s a complicated, controversial issue, and the first few links below are just the tip of the iceberg. If you know of any other good articles, drop a line in the comments.

Ant-covered Jesus video removed from Smithsonian after Catholic League complains

After the Shock is Gone

Gallery vows ongoing protest against Smithsonian

The GOP and the artist who spoiled yet another Christmas

Pulled from National Portrait Gallery, Video Emerges Elsewhere in Washington

Art or sacrilege?

Gay Portraiture Exhibit Sparks Funding Debate

Some other exciting news this week that isn’t currently related to museums, but hopefully will be soon: Picasso’s electrician reveals artist’s ‘treasure trove’

Art in the Time of Midterms: Museum as Democracy and the MCA’s New Show. Very, very good and thoughtful exhibition review.

Let’s Exhibit Interest in Troubled Museum (Jack Diem Museum of Natural History in Fort Wayne, IN)

Museum Looking for Soldiers’ Stories (Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum in Waterloo,  Iowa)

O’Keeffe Museum Hopes to Shed One “Canna” (Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Edgar Degas masterpiece stolen more than three decades ago going home to France (Malraux Museum, Normandy, France)

Noah’s Ark and Tower of Babel to be built at Kentucky Amusement Park (Creation Museum, Petersburg, Kentucky)