SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (AP) — The Latest on the church shooting in Texas (all times local): 8:35 a.m. Officials in Texas have confirmed the identity of the man suspected of killing 26 people at a South Texas church. The Texas Department of Public Safety on Monday morning said 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley is the suspect. … Continue reading
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (AP) — A gunman dressed in black tactical-style gear and armed with an assault rifle opened fire inside a small South Texas church, killing 26 people in an attack that claimed tight-knit neighbors and multiple family members ranging in age from 5 to 72 years old. Once the shooting started Sunday at … Continue reading
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — The pastor of the South Carolina church where nine members were killed more than two years ago says he worries race relations in the country are getting worse. News outlets report the Rev. Eric Manning of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston told students at the University of South Carolina Upstate … Continue reading
SPINDALE, N.C. (AP) — When Randy Fields’ construction company faced potential ruin because of the cratering economy, he pleaded with his pastor at Word of Faith Fellowship church to reduce the amount of money he was required to tithe every week. To his shock, Fields said church founder Jane Whaley proposed a divine plan that … Continue reading
RUTHERFORDTON, N.C. (AP) — Jury selection began Tuesday for a North Carolina church minister accused of beating a man to expel his “homosexual demons.” Brooke Covington, 58, a longtime minister at Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, North Carolina, is the first of five church members to face trial in the case. Each defendant will … Continue reading
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis embraced weeping mothers, fathers and children with Huntington’s Disease on Thursday as he sought to remove the stigma of an incurable genetic disorder that causes such devastating physical and psychiatric effects that its sufferers are often shunned and abandoned. One by one, Francis blessed and greeted each of the … Continue reading
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — During a night of vodka, cocaine, marijuana and video games, Joey Meek listened as a childhood buddy confided that he hated blacks so much he was going to kill them at a South Carolina church. Meek said he thought his friend was all talk until a week later, when news broke … Continue reading
HONOLULU (AP) — A church in Hawaii looking to address the state’s ongoing homelessness crisis has settled on a solution that on first look appears better suited for the frigid winters of Alaska than the islands’ tropical climate: igloos. There’s no risk of the dome-shaped structures melting. They are made of fiberglass and their construction … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — As Poland’s Catholic Church prepares to celebrate 1,050 years as the national faith, a call by its bishops for a total ban on abortion has embroiled the church in a divisive and potentially harmful debate. The church that was crucial in preserving the nation’s spirit and identity in World War II … Continue reading
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s prime minister on Monday vowed to eliminate perpetrators of terror attacks such as the massive suicide bombing that targeted Christians gathered for Easter the previous day in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 70 people. The attack underscored both the militants’ ability to stage large-scale attacks despite a months-long government … Continue reading
The faith-based community in and around the campus of Norfolk State is part of a deep tradition at NSU dating back to its founding. Mahogany Waldon of Spartan Echo TV takes a look at how the campus’ neighboring churches are an integral part of our Norfolk State Spartan community. Continue reading
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A former Norfolk pastor is going to prison for secretly videotaping another clergyman’s wife and daughter while they were naked. The Virginian-Pilot reports (http://bit.ly/1OKHTHj ) that 45-year-old Michael Rodney Jones was sentenced Friday, Jan 22, to two years for taking nude video without the subject’s consent. A judge suspended a three-year … Continue reading
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted three Virginia men accused of plotting to shoot up or bomb synagogues and black churches. The Richmond-area men were originally charged last month. A federal magistrate found probable cause to send the case to a grand jury, which returned a three-count indictment Tuesday. Court records … Continue reading
NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Parents charged with beating their teenage son to death inside a church are giving diverging versions of what happened, though lawyers for both said Thursday the couple hadn’t intended the brutality that unfolded. An attorney for the mother, Deborah Leonard, said she felt helpless to stop an “intervention” that spiraled … Continue reading
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A friend of the suspect in the Charleston church shooting is being investigated for lying to police and not reporting everything he may have known about the crime, a federal law enforcement official has told The Associated Press. Separately, a judge said he will reconsider his ban on publication of some … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — As vespers drew to a close at the St. Egidio Catholic community center, a dozen homeless men in threadbare pants and rumpled T-shirts shuffled into a side room where volunteers handed out cups of soda and soft yellow rolls spread with mayonnaise. “This is like my home,” said Ernesto Gutierrez, a 66-year-old … Continue reading
SUFFOLK, Va. (AP) — Authorities say a pastor died after a tractor he was operating overturned in Suffolk. Suffolk police tell media outlets that 44-year-old Adam Thourogood Sr. of Chesapeake was pronounced dead at the scene. The accident occurred on Tuesday, April 21st in the Whaleyville section of Suffolk. Thourogood was senior pastor at … Continue reading
PARIS (AP) — An Islamic extremist with an arsenal of loaded guns was only prevented from opening fire on churchgoers because he accidentally shot himself in the leg, French officials said Wednesday. The 24-year-old computer science student, who was also suspected in the death of a young woman whose body was found on Sunday just … Continue reading
