Pastor: UPS gunman was ‘troubled’ because of work
Pastor: UPS gunman was ‘troubled’ because of work
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama pastor says the man who killed two former coworkers and then himself at a UPS warehouse in Birmingham had told some people he was having problems at work but never suggested the situation might turn violent.
A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the shooter as Joe Tesney.
Bill Wilks, the pastor at NorthPark Baptist Church, said Tesney, his wife and his two children had been members at the church since 2003. Wilks described the 45-year-old Tesney as being “troubled” because of his work and financial situation.
Police said earlier Tuesday an ex-employee who was fired just a day ago entered the sorting facility through a truck dock door and opened fire, killing a supervisor and another worker.
Scientists and clergy: Climate change policies could hurt poor
DALLAS (AP) — A conservative group of more than 140 scientists, economists and faith leaders is warning that policies to combat climate change could needlessly hurt the poor.
The signed declaration, released by the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, warns that mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide emissions would likely have minimal impact on global temperatures while making it more difficult for people in developing nations to get access to basic electricity and transportation.
It also argues that natural cycles outweigh human influences in climate change, and declares “rising atmospheric CO2 benefits all life on Earth by improving plant growth and crop yields, making food more abundant and affordable, helping the poor most of all.”
Scholar behind anti-Obama film gets probation
NEW YORK (AP) — The former president of a Christian college was ordered to spend eight months in community confinement and undergo therapeutic counseling for arranging straw donors for a U.S. Senate candidate.
Dinesh D’Souza pleaded guilty in May, admitting he arranged for straw donors to contribute $20,000 to New York Republican Wendy Long’s failed U.S. Senate bid.
The charges came soon after D’Souza resigned his $600,000 job as head of The King’s College, an evangelical school in Manhattan, after World Magazine reported that he attended a conference with his fiancee while still married to his wife of 20 years.
D’Souza made the film “2016: Obama’s America.” The 2012 documentary predicted dire consequences if the president was re-elected.
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Students continue prayer tradition around school flagpoles
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Organizers of Wednesday’s “See You At The Pole” events say the students gathered around their school flagpoles aren’t protesting. They’re praying.
National coordinator Doug Clark says the annual event, now in its third decade, is an opportunity for Christian students to connect at the beginning of the school year and pray for their classmates, their schools and the nation. Some students bring guitars to lead hymns as well.
Clark says the gatherings are constitutionally permissible at public schools because they’re student-led and take place outside of class time, usually before school starts. He says the prayer circles on thousands of campuses nationwide attract more than one million students each year on the fourth Wednesday in September.
Christian musicians promoting this year’s “See You At The Pole” include Casting Crowns lead singer Mark Hall, who is a youth pastor at his church in Georgia.