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<p>A Gresham man fired on a group of people leaving a party, only to be shot himself by one of the victims, a military service member with a concealed carry permit, authorities said.</p> <p>The military member and three others were leaving a party Friday night in the 11700 block of South Union Avenue in West Pullman, Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Hain said during a court hearing Sunday.</p>

A 7-foot-long shark attacked a swimmer Saturday at Manhattan Beach, causing serious injury and prompting authorities to use helicopters and boats to evacuate throngs of people taking to the water on a busy 4th of July holiday weekend. The incident happened about 9:30 Saturday morning, said photographer Eric Hartman, who saw the victim carried from a lifeguard vehicle on a backboard into an ambulance near the first lifeguard station south of the Manhattan Pier.

Children of same-sex parents enjoy better levels of health and wellbeing than their peers from traditional family units, new Australian research suggests. In what they described as the largest study of its type in the world, University of Melbourne researchers surveyed 315 same-sex parents and 500 children about their physical health and social wellbeing. Lead researcher Doctor Simon Crouch said children raised by same-sex partners scored an average of 6 per cent higher than the general population on measures of general health and family cohesion. "That's really a measure that looks at how well families get along, and it seems...

When the neighbor's dog was killed by artillery fire, it was time to go. Oksana Vasilieva was in the kitchen of her home on Comintern Street in the Ukrainian city of Slovyansk in late May as the shelling of her neighborhood began. She screamed for the children to run outside and then herded them into the cellar. When they emerged, the neighbors' house had been hit. So had their sandy-brown dog, its dead body mangled in the remnants of a destroyed metal fence. She boarded an evacuation bus and fled to Russia. "I'm not going to return," Ms. Vasilieva, 36...

Former SBC president supports convicted New Orleans mayor. The immediate past president of the Southern Baptist Convention sought leniency for former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, convicted in February on 20 criminal counts including bribery, fraud and money laundering. Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, wrote one of 31 letters of support—five written by ministers—in advance of Nagin’s sentencing on July 9. Luter, the first African-American SBC president, said he has known Nagin since high school, and Nagin wasn’t the same person after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the city in August 2005. Luter asked...

A Kentucky church that hired a pastor with full knowledge that he's a registered sex offender, is now the scene of an another alleged crime in which the minister is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy who attended the church. Roy Neal Yoakem, who leads the New Gospel Outreach Church in Scottsville, Kentucky, allegedly raped a 14-year-old boy at the church and police believe that another incident occurred in a nearby town, reported WSMV. "He's a predator and he doesn't need to be on the street. I'm glad we got him," Detective Chad Keen told WBKO. According to Keen,...

Selmon Expressway Now Eligible as Testing Ground for Automated Vehicles     The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) announced that the Selmon Expressway (Expressway) is about to make history. Approved by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) and the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), the Expressway has met the criteria to become an automated vehicle testing ground, joining a small affiliation of other testing ground locations nationwide and only the second one in Florida.The Expressway’s designation provides the capabilities for researchers to test the safety, mobility, environmental and efficiency advantages, services, standards and components of robotic cars "within...

Adventist Health System, which owns Florida Hospital, acknowledged in financial documents that its pay arrangements with some doctors broke federal law. The nonprofit health system, which owns seven hospitals in Central Florida and 44 nationwide, told the U.S. Department of Justice that it violated the federal Stark Law, which prohibits doctors and hospitals to have agreements that allow doctors to gain financially from referring patients to the hospital for tests or procedures. ... Settlement talks for the second part of the case, which alleges the hospital engaged in a pattern of unnecessary hospital admissions for more than a decade, will...

BALTIMORE, Md. – Southern Baptists elected Arkansas Pastor Ronnie Floyd on Tuesday to be the new president of the nation's largest Protestant denomination. Floyd was elected by messengers during the Southern Baptist Convention's 2014 Annual Meeting, beating out SBC presidential nominees Dennis Manpoong Kim of Maryland and Jared Moore of Kentucky. Over 3,000 messengers voted and Floyd won on the first ballot, receiving 51.6 percent of the votes. Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological seminary, had praised the Arkansas pastor, whom he nominated, as "dependable" and "faithful" and someone who will "lead all Southern Baptists...

Same sex marriages can take place in the British consulates of more than 20 countries where the ceremonies are not legal including Russia, Azerbaijan, Serbia and Hungary. The Foreign Office has opened the doors of its missions to British nationals and their partners who wish to wed but are unable to under foreign laws. Chris Bryant, the former Foreign office minister and openly gay Labour MP, said he hoped the move would be "celebrated" in countries like Russia where homosexuals face prejudice and persecution. In June last year Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, signed into law a bill punishing people...

A Baptist church in California has voted to welcome the gay community despite going against the Southern Baptist Convention's views on homosexuality. The New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, CA faced a difficult decision in early 2014 when lead pastor Danny Cortez told the congregation that his son, Drew, had come out -- and that he himself no longer agreed with the church's teachings on homosexuality.

Kentucky officials say the Drug Enforcement Administration is breaking the law in an attempt to illegally ruin the state’s industrial hemp pilot program. The Bluegrass State legalized industrial hemp in 2013 and the federal farm bill signed by President Barack Obama in February allows states to grow it for research. Industrial hemp superficially resembles marijuana, but has much lower concentrations of psychoactive THC. It’s been used for centuries for making rope, clothes and other items, but growing it was illegal for decades in the U.S. Earlier this month, the DEA seized 250 pounds of hemp seeds en route to the...

The Alliance of Baptists has expressed support for a legal challenge launched by religious leaders in North Carolina to overturn the state’s ban on gay marriage. At its annual meeting May 3 in Portland, Maine, the Alliance voted to “stand in solidarity” with a suit filed in a federal district court in Charlotte April 28 by the United Church of Christ. The UCC claims that North Carolina is unconstitutionally restricting religious freedom by barring clergy members from marrying gay couples. In a resolution, the Alliance, which has affirmed same-sex marriage since 2004, said “we rise today to stand in solidarity...

Dr. Bill Hamon, known around the world as the pioneer and father of the prophetic movement, is celebrating 60 years of ministry and 80 years of living. This will take place at Christian International's 27th annual International Gathering of Apostles & Prophets, October 21-24, 2014 in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Hamon and his wife Evelyn are celebrating their 59th year of marriage, from which they have raised three children—all in the ministry with them—and have 11 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Hamon believes his first 30 years of ministry (1954-1984) was preparation for his second 30 years of ministry (1984-2014)....

A former youth pastor has been charged with sex crimes involving young men at an Arkansas church. ... Berkley, 34, was arrested at a cemetery in Covington, Tennessee, Monday afternoon after finishing a funeral service. Police in Harrison say the investigation into the former pastor began March 28, while he was a pastor at Shiloh Baptist. They interviewed more than a dozen male victims—all between the ages of 14 and 18—through mid-April. One victim said he went to Berkley’s house believing it was a Bible study. While there, he was allowed to drink and smoke marijuana and a hookah. Several...

This week Liberty Institute continued to fight for 5-year-old Gabriella Perez, who said a school employee told her not to pray over her meal. The school purportedly apologized to the family after Liberty Institute became involved but now seems to be making unfounded public attacks on the girl and her family. As a result, Liberty Institute sent the school another letter—this time demanding corrective action—and it is continuing its defense of the young girl and her family. According to the Perez family, their 5-year-old daughter bowed her head over her food during lunch. A school employee instructed her to stop,...

Stockholm. Carl Bildt, Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and one of the architects of the EU Eastern policy, thinks Russia has changed for the worse in the past several years. While it demonstrated attachment to western values in the first decade after the Soviet Union fell apart and tried to impose them on its citizens, Russia’s current leadership takes a firm stand against the West, the Russian agency REX reported. In the words of Mr Bildt, Vladimir Putin demonstrates attachment not to world but to Eastern Orthodox values, which becomes clear from a Twitter post of his [Bildt’s]. ”The new...

Do you remember the Christian prayer rally that filled Houston’s Reliant Stadium? "The Response" made cross-denominational waves, uniting people in prayer in a massive way. So why would its organizer, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, need to be baptized? The Associated Press reports that Perry was baptized last month in Little Rocky Creek near the small town of Independence. It was the same little creek where Texas icon Sam Houston was baptized. But again, why?

The Connectional Table, one of The United Methodist Church’s governing bodies, has decided to draft legislation that could change church law “to fully include LGBTQ persons in the life and ministry of the church.” The draft would be brought back to the Connectional Table at a future meeting for consideration. The April 29 decision to draft the legislation came the same day the Connectional Table began a series of three public discussions on human sexuality. The dialogue “is an exercise of our responsibility to be a common table for the church and to confer with one another as representatives of...

A baptist church that made headlines two years ago for allowing a registered sex offender to preach is now free to allow children in worship services.