Friday, March 28, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – TOP FIVE STORIES AT 11:59 p.m. March 27, 2014
CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries
News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – TOP FIVE STORIES AT 11:59 pm CT
March 27, 2014
1. ONE IN EVERY 68 AMERICAN CHILDREN ARE BORN WITH AUTISM
(CNN) – One in 68 U.S. children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a 30% increase from 1 in 88 two years ago, according to a new report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This newest estimate is based on the CDC’s evaluation of health and educational records of all 8-year-old children in 11 states: Alabama, Wisconsin, Colorado, Missouri, Georgia, Arkansas, Arizona, Maryland, North Carolina, Utah and New Jersey.
The incidence of autism ranged from a low of 1 in 175 children in Alabama to a high of 1 in 45 in New Jersey, according to the CDC.
Children with autism continue to be overwhelmingly male. According to the new report, the CDC estimates 1 in 42 boys has autism, 4.5 times as many as girls (1 in 189.)
“We look at all of the characteristics of autism,” says Coleen Boyle, the director of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. “So we look at the age in which they’re identified. We look at their earliest diagnosis. We look at co-occuring conditions that these children might have, other developmental disabilities, whether or not they have intellectual disability, so essentially their IQ.”
The largest increase was seen in children who have average or above-average intellectual ability, according to the CDC. The study found nearly half of children with an autism spectrum disorder have average or above-average intellectual ability — an IQ above 85 — compared with one-third of children a decade ago.
The report is not designed to say why more children are being diagnosed with autism, Boyle says. But she believes increased awareness in identifying and more than 5,300 children are represented in the data contained in the new report.
“We comb through records. We accumulate all that information and then each one of those records is reviewed by a specialist to make sure that that child meets our autism case definition,” says Boyle. The definition of autism is unchanged from the 2012 report.
One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is that children are still being diagnosed late. According to the report, the average age of diagnosis is still over age 4, even though autism can be diagnosed by age 2. The earlier a child is diagnosed with autism, the better their chances of overcoming the difficulties that come with the disorder. “It’s not a cure, but it changes the trajectory,” says Dr. Gary Goldstein, president and CEO of the Kennedy Krieger Institute and professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University.
The study warns of higher risk of autism for kids born two men over the age of 45. The doctors still don’t know why.
“We need to continue our efforts to educate the health care community and general public to recognize the developmental problems associated with ASD and other developmental disorders at earliest age possible, so that intervention can be initiated, bad habits can be avoided and families will know why their child is acting like they are,” says Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland who diagnoses and treats children with autism.
Since 2000, the CDC has based its autism estimates on surveillance reports from its Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. Every two years, researchers count how many 8-year-olds have autism in about a dozen communities across the nation. (The number of sites had ranged from six to 14 over the years, depending on the available funding in a given year.)
In 2000 and 2002, the autism estimate was about 1 in 150 children. Two years later 1 in 125 8-year-olds were believed to have autism. In 2006, the number grew to 1 in 110, and then the number went up to 1 in 88 based on 2008 data.
Boyle acknowledges these statistics are not necessarily representative of the entire United States because the information is drawn from 11 states, not a national cross-section. But she adds that the 11 areas represent 9% of all 8-year old children in the United States in 2010, which Boyle says gives the CDC a “good picture of what’s going on in those communities with regards to autism.”
However, experts such as Wiznitzer and Goldstein are concerned that the new CDC report is not describing the same autism that was present and diagnosed 20 years ago, when the numbers first shot up. “Twenty years ago we thought of autism as an intellectual disability. We never looked at children who had normal intelligence” — doctors never considered that high-functioning children had autism too, says Goldstein. Wiznitzer believes written reports can’t definitively determine whether a child has autism. You need to see the child to complete a diagnosis, which the CDC experts did not have the opportunity to do.
“This report tells us that there’s a significant number of children in the states where they were assessed that have social differences and a pattern of behaviors that can be represented by ASD, but may also be due to other conditions that superficially can have similar features, such as social anxiety, ADHD with social immaturity and intelligence problems,” he says.
And while the CDC reports it is still seeing a higher prevalence of autism in white children relative to African-American and Hispanic children, “there’s a greater percentage of people of color and in females being diagnosed now,” says Scott Badesch, president and CEO of the Autism Society of America. “We’re also seeing a great increase of diagnosis above the age of 8 in girls.”
The new statistics raise significant concerns about access to care, because autism is a lifelong disorder and the need for services only begins at diagnosis, says Robert Ring, chief science officer for the advocacy group Autism Speaks. “Behind these numbers are real people,” he says. “Every one of these numbers is a family that’s coming to terms with the implications of the diagnosis for the lifespan of their loved one. We need a plan to respond to these numbers, a national strategy for autism, and leadership has to come from Washington because every congressional district is affected.”
There are still disparities in awareness and access to care among minorities and poorer families, which can have a direct impact on a child’s outcome, he says.
In the end, it’s not so much about the final number. As Goldstein puts it, 1 in 68 or 1 in 70 doesn’t really matter. What matters, he says, is that we now know this is not a rare disorder, and it’s important that each individual gets the help they need to have the best quality of life.
All agree that a comprehensive national strategy that includes the research community, policy makers, educators and caregivers is necessary to find solutions for people who live with autism. One of the biggest problems, in Goldstein’s eyes: “We don’t have enough trained professionals to do this.” He adds, “it’s hard to get paid to do this.”
In many cases, insurance does not pay, even in states that have passed laws requiring health insurance to cover autism, he says. When poorer parents are told their child has autism, Badesch says, they realize that to get services they must get on a waiting list or get Medicaid. In many states, he says, Medicaid doesn’t cover autism therapy for young children during the most critical developmental period, which is essential to a better outcome.
Autism is definitely a “have and have-not” disorder, he says, and the new numbers show even more people will need services that are lacking.
2. NINE U.S. AIR FORCE COMMANDERS ARE FIRED IN DISGRACE
(CNN)– Nine Air Force commanders lost their jobs today in the wake of a cheating scandal involving systemic cheating on tests by officers in the U.S. nuclear missile program. The fired officers were in “leadership positions” at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said. Though not directly involved in cheating, “they failed to provide adequate oversight of their crew force,” according to James.
In addition, Col. Robert Stanley — head of the 341st Missile Wing and a 25-year veteran — “relinquished command” and submitted his resignation Thursday morning, said Lt. General Stephen Wilson, the commander of the Air Force’s Global Strike Command.
“Leadership’s focus on perfection led commanders to micromanage their people,” said Wilson, pointing to pressure to get 100% scores on monthly proficiency exams when only 90% was necessary to pass. “… Leaders lost sight of the fact that execution in the field is more important than what happens in the classroom.”
Col. Robert Stanley
James said Thursday that 100 lower-level officers were at one point implicated in the ordeal — having either been accused directly of cheating or having looked the other way. Nine of those have been cleared and will be allowed to return to duty, while others could face punishments ranging from letters of counseling to courts-martial on various charges.
These disciplinary measures are only part of the response, however. James and Wilson both referred to a number of changes to address this incident as well as far-reaching issues with morale, micromanagement and more among those in the Air Force’s intercontinental ballistic missile program. “The issues that we have before us today are tough, and they didn’t come overnight,” said James. “… While we have progress in certain areas in recent years, there is more work to be done.”
Military investigators stumbled into the cheating scandal while looking into alleged drug activity involving airmen. Three of their targets in the drug probe happened to work as missile crew members at Malmstrom, which is how investigators got access to their cell phones — and “found test material on them,” according to Wilson. Authorities have previously said the cheating took place last August and September at the Montana base, with officers using texts and pictures to cheat on their proficiency exams. But Wilson said Thursday that such behavior actually went well beyond that, having occurred as far back as November 2011 and as recently as November 2013.
The whole Malmstrom scheme centered on four individuals, three of whom were being investigated in the drug probe, according to Wilson. “If we would have removed those, then this incident probably would never have happened,” he added.
About 190 officers oversee the readiness of nuclear weapons systems at the Montana base, meaning the episode tainted a large percentage of that force in some way. James said she found worrisome not just that airmen cheated directly, but that no one — whether or not they were directly involved — spoke up.
The Air Force officials said investigators didn’t find any indication of similar cheating on other bases tied to the missile program, though they pointed to common issues elsewhere when it comes to the program’s management. To that end, Wilson said he has a list of “400 action items” to possibly address those issues. Some are simple, like grading the monthly proficiency on a simple pass/fail metric. Others are more complicated, though all have a common aim of ensuring the nuclear weapons program is run smartly and effectively by satisfied, capable military personnel with high integrity.
“Our nation demands and deserves the higher standards of accountability from the force entrusted with the most powerful weapon on the planet,” Wilson said. “We are committed to living up to those standards.”
CNN’s Shirley Henry and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
3. UKRAINIAN HERO MURDERED AND BURIED
RIVNE, Ukraine (CNN) — Camouflage-clad militiamen hoist AK-47 assault rifles to their shoulders and blast off a 21-shot salute. As the muzzles flash, another squad of ultra-nationalist fighters chants, “Our hero is not dead. Glory to him.”
A few yards away, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest swings an incense burner. A mother and father weep over the coffin of their dead son.
The killing of radical nationalist leader will, also known by his nickname “Sasha the White” was enough to make shaven-headed, hardened paramilitary men cry.
“He was like a brother to me and my comrades. But that bastard Putin murdered him,” said Anatoly Valsyuk, as he choked back tears. Valsyuk served under Muzychko, who was commander in western Ukraine for the “Right Sector,” a recently formed alliance of right-wing and nationalist political parties and militia forces. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said its special agents killed Muzychko Monday night here in the western city of Rivne as he resisted arrest. The Interior Ministry says he was a gangster.
But Right Sector leaders are calling for the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov to resign and face murder charges over Muzychko’s death. They say the Avakov is one of Ukraine’s corrupt old-guard politicians and that he and his men may even have been taking orders from Moscow.
Whatever the true details of his Muzychko’s death, it is a sign that political partners in the new Ukraine may have old scores to settle — divisions that Moscow may be poised to exploit.
Muzychko and the Right Sector are credited with playing a lead role in this winter’s protests that toppled Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovitch. The nationalist paramilitary militias won admiration from many ordinary Ukrainians for their stiff discipline and determined street-fighting tactics.
Mourner Svetlana Bilyus, an English-speaking interpreter, had made the three-and-a-half hour drive from the capital to Rivne to be at the funeral Wednesday.
She said she met Muzychko only once, at the barricades around Kiev’s emblematic Independence Square or “Maidan,” the scene of the deadliest clashes between anti-government protestors and Yanukovitch’s security forces in January and February. “He was a national hero. He’s an inspiration for millions of Ukrainian people, especially young people. He’s a local Robin Hood,” Bilyus said
Paramilitary units under the umbrella of the Right Sector have sparked the alarm of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin says he fears that these nationalist groups, which he refers to as “fascists,” will hunt down and attack ethnic-Russians living in Ukraine. In the wake of the overthrow of the Yanukovitch regime, no such widespread incidents have been reported. But Putin used this as a pretext to forcibly annex the Ukrainian region of Crimea.
Now, according to the Pentagon, there are an estimated 30,000 Russian troops, armed with heavy artillery and tanks, massing along Ukraine’s eastern border. The Ukrainian government puts the figure even higher. U.S. and NATO officials say the Russians could roll into Ukraine any time, without warning in a bid to annex Russian-speaking areas of eastern Ukraine including Trans-Nistria, a “non– country” in the former Soviet republic of Moldova.
Ukrainian troops in Crimea opted not to defend their bases in the face of advancing Russian forces. Instead they surrendered naval, air and army facilities one by one or waited until they were overrun. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry estimates up to 75% of the approximately 15,000 troops based there may have defected to the Russians. But in an interview with CNN, the top national leader of Right Sector, Dmitry Yarosh, said fighters under his command would not stand by if Putin ordered the Russian army into other parts of Ukraine.
“The Right Sector will do its best to launch a partisan, guerrilla war. The land will literally burn under the feet of the invaders. We will not be lambs to the slaughter. We will defend our independence by any means necessary,” he said.
Despite fears Ukrainian government security forces could target other Right Sector leaders, Yarosh made the trip to Rivne to march alongside Muzychko’s coffin. He was flanked by black-clad bodyguards, one brandishing a Russian-made machine-pistol, the other a high-powered sniper rifle. Yarosh, too, blamed Russian sympathizers within the Interior Ministry for killing Muzychko.
The popularity of Right Sector and Ukraine’s radical nationalist groups was bolstered so significantly in the anti-government protests that Yarosh thinks he has a real chance at winning the presidency in elections in May. But he stresses personal power is not his main ambition. “The presidential post is not the goal in itself. We understand we may win or we may lose. This post offers the possibility to bring quality and systematic changes to the country as well as the possibility to ‘reload’ the power structure so there is the change of elites and not just a change of faces,” Yarosh said.
But the rise of Right Sector is not only worrying Moscow but also some Western government officials. Some believe Right Sector is a safe haven for right-wing extremists and even Ukrainian neo-Nazis. Such charges stem back partly to the legacy of Ukraine’s nationalist, partisan forces before and during World War II. While it is true that Ukrainian nationalists sought the help of Nazi Germany to drive the Soviets out of Ukrainian territory, some later fell afoul of the Nazis and ended up in German concentration camps.
It’s hard to argue with Yarosh as you meet the stare of his ice-green eyes.
But it’s also easy to worry about Right Sector’s true ideological leanings when you see the red-and-black flags, stylized insignia and other paraphernalia of its militiamen.
As an afternoon drizzle came down on Muzychko’s funeral, tears snaked along the wrinkles of his father Ivan’s face. His mother Olena lowered a loaf of wholemeal bread into the grave — a local tradition to ensure her son would not go hungry in the afterlife. And dozens of men who once marched to Muzychko’s command now filed past his grave, tossing handfuls of damp earth onto his coffin. In unison they vowed — no surrender to the Russia.
4. LONGEST-SERVING DEATH ROW INMATE IS MOST LIKELY NOT GUILTY
(CNN)– Iwao Hakamada holds the most dubious of records: Convicted of a 1966 quadruple murder, he is the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, according to Amnesty International. That record was capped Thursday when, after almost 48 years, a local court reopened Hakamada’s case, Amnesty and Japanese media reported. The Shizuoka District Court suspended his death sentence and released Hakamada after DNA testing indicated key evidence against him may have been fabricated, reported NHK, the Japanese public broadcasting organization. The court said keeping him detained any longer would be unjust, NHK reported
Prosecutors have four days to appeal the court’s ruling, but Amnesty International’s East Asia research director said it would be “most callous and unfair” to challenge the court’s decision.
“Time is running out for Hakamada to receive the fair trial he was denied more than four decades ago,” Roseann Rife said. “If ever there was a case that merits a retrial, this is it. Hakamada was convicted on the basis of a forced confession, and there remain unanswered questions over recent DNA evidence.”
Hunched forward and wearing a yellow, short-sleeved button-down, Hakamada entered a silver van. He was accompanied by his sister, Hideko Hakamada, who earlier attended a rally outside the court in which several dozen supporters broke into emphatic applause when a man unfurled a sign saying, “Retrial granted.” An emotional Hideko told the crowd, “Thank you very much. I am very pleased. I am very thankful with everyone’s support.”
Iwao Hakamada was convicted in 1966 of killing his boss at a soybean processing company, along with the boss’s wife and two children, Amnesty said. “Hakamada ‘confessed’ after 20 days of interrogation by police. He retracted the confession during the trial and told the court that police had beaten and threatened him,”
Amnesty said. “According to his lawyers, recent forensic tests show no match between Hakamada’s DNA and samples taken from clothing the prosecution alleges was worn by the murderer.”
District Court Judge Hiroaki Murayama, who handled the retrial proceeding, said DNA test results indicated blood found on five items of clothing allegedly worn by the culprit was not Hakamada’s, according to Kyodo News.
Like most death row inmates in Japan, Hakamada was largely held in solitary confinement during his 48 years in prison. His mental health has deteriorated as a result of the decades he spent isolated, Amnesty said.
Hakamada’s case marks the sixth time a death row inmate in Japan has earned a retrial, and courts overturned death sentences in four of the five previous cases, NHK reported. Hakamada’s case comes just weeks after Louisiana’s longest-serving inmate, Glenn Ford, left the State Penitentiary at Angola after almost 30 years in prison.
CNN’s Aliza Kassim contributed to this report.
5. WIFE FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERING HER NEWLYWED HUSBAND
(CNN) — Less than nine months after she shoved her husband off a steep cliff just days into their marriage, a federal judge sentenced Jordan Linn Graham to 30 years in prison today.
Graham, 22, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in December, admitting to luring her new husband, Cody Johnson, to Glacier National Park and pushing him off a cliff. “After providing several false statements to law enforcement officers and impeding the investigation by providing false information, Graham ultimately admitted pushing Cody from behind with both hands,” prosecutors said in a statement today.
Graham filed a motion to withdraw her guilty plea on Wednesday, arguing that prosecutors had negotiated the plea deal in bad faith by pushing the judge toward a harsher sentence despite agreeing to drop a first-degree murder charge.
Prosecutors denied that claim and argued that Graham was trying to delay sentencing.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy denied Graham’s motion to withdraw her guilty plea at Thursday’s hearing, accepting the plea deal and sentencing her to 365 months in prison. The judge’s ruling came after several members of Johnson’s family asked the judge to sentence Graham to life in prison, CNN affiliate KPAX reported.
The sentencing comes months after Graham’s surprise guilty plea in the middle of the high-profile murder trial. “It was a reckless act,” Graham told the judge in December. “I just pushed.” When Graham declared her guilt, the victim’s mother in the gallery crumpled in her seat.
Another relative of Johnson, who was 25, threw her head back and cried, whispering “she said guilty.” His friends held hands and appeared satisfied.
When the judge first asked what happened the day her husband was killed, Graham responded, “I wasn’t thinking of where we were.” Then she spoke of a deadly argument at the park and how she had misgivings about the marriage.
“I wasn’t really happy,” she said.
Before her guilty plea, Graham’s defense lawyers had argued that the death plunge was an accident resulting from an argument. Graham initially lied to police, they said, because she was afraid she wouldn’t be allowed to explain what happened on the cliff’s edge.
CNN’s Michael Martinez, Kyung Lah and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this article.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Hate blows out the candle of the mind.
Ingersoll
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CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – TOP FIVE STORIES AT 11:59 p.m. March 27, 2014
CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – TOP FIVE STORIES UNTIL 10 am CT March 27, 2014
CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries
News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – TOP FIVE STORIES UNTIL 10 am CT
March 27, 2014
1. WORLD VISION CHANGES ITS MIND
Only two days after announcing it would hire Christians in same-sex marriages, World Vision U.S. has reversed its ground-breaking decision after weathering intense criticism from evangelical leaders.
“The last couple of days have been painful,” president Richard Stearns told reporters this evening. “We feel pain and a broken heart for the confusion we caused for many friends who saw this policy change as a strong reversal of World Vision’s commitment to biblical authority, which it was not intended to be.”
“Rather than creating more unity [among Christians], we created more division, and that was not the intent,” said Stearns. “Our board acknowledged that the policy change we made was a mistake … and we believe that [World Vision supporters] helped us to see that with more clarity … and we’re asking you to forgive us for that mistake.”
“We listened to [our] friends, we listened to their counsel. They tried to point out in loving ways that the conduct policy change was simply not consistent … with the authority of Scripture and how we apply Scripture to our lives,” said Stearns. “We did inadequate consultation with our supporters. If I could have a do-over on one thing, I would have done much more consultation with Christian leaders.”
“What we are affirming today is there are certain beliefs that are so core to our Trinitarian faith that we must take a strong stand on those beliefs,” said Stearns. “We cannot defer to a small minority of churches and denominations that have taken a different position.”
“Yes, we will certainly defer on many issues that are not so central to our understanding of the Christian faith,” he said. “But on the authority of Scripture in our organization’s work [and employee conduct] … and on marriage as an institution ordained by God between a man and a woman—those are age-old and fundamental Christian beliefs. We cannot defer on things that are that central to the faith.”
Stearns expects the board to continue to deal with questions about employment and same-sex relationships. “I think every Christian organization will continue to deal with this sensitive issue,” he said. “The board will continue to talk about this issue for many board meetings to come. … We need to have a process to do further and wider consultation with key Christian leaders around the country, and we will be discussing how that can happen.”
Today’s letter explaining the reversal (posted in full below) was approved by the entire board, Stearns said. [Editor"s Note: All references to "World Vision" refer to its U.S. branch only, not its international umbrella organization.]
The initial decision faced heavy backlash from the evangelical community with only some voicing support for the decision. The day after the announcement was made, the Assemblies of God, one of America’s largest and fastest-growing denominations, urged its members to consider dropping their financial support from World Vision and instead “gradually shifting” it to “Pentecostal and evangelical charities that maintain biblical standards of sexual morality.”
“The U.S. branch of World Vision has placed Pentecostal and evangelical churches in a difficult position,” said George O. Wood, general superintendent of the 3-million-member AG. “On the one hand, we applaud the work they do among the poor in America and around the world, and many churches have supported that work financially for some time. On the other hand, World Vision’s policy change now puts them at odds with our beliefs regarding sexual morality.”
On Wednesday night, Wood encourage “Pentecostals and evangelicals who hastily canceled their sponsorship of children in World Vision programs to immediately reinstate that support in order to ensure continuity of care for the poor children whom Christ loves.”
Stearns acknowledged Wednesday [March 26] that “a number” of child sponsors canceled their sponsorship in the past 48 hours in protest of the change to World Vision’s conduct policy. “That grieves us, because the children we serve will suffer because of that,” he told reporters. “But our choice is not about money or income. It’s a sincere desire for us to do the right thing. To be consistent with our core values, and to respond to the legitimate feedback and counsel we have received from supporters and friends of World Vision.”
World Vision had hoped to take what it described as a neutral position in the gay marriage debate by deferring to the local church. The changed policy had still required singles to remain abstinent and married couples to maintain fidelity, but no longer limited marriage to heterosexuals.
2. JOSH HARDY STILL NEEDS YOUR PRAYERS BUT HAS TAKEN HIS
FIRST STEP OF HEALING
Seven-year-old cancer survivor Josh Hardy was moved out of the intensive care unit Tuesday, just two weeks after receiving the lifesaving medication he needed to treat his adenovirus, according to a Facebook post from his mother, Aimee Hardy, wrote on Facebook that Josh has made significant progress towards recovery in the last week.
“Praise GOD in Heaven. Two great things today! Josh was moved out of the ICU on to the transplant floor, which is huge!!!! Also the adenovirus blood results came back less than 100 log copies. Pretty much gone!” Hardy wrote on Facebook. “We are still waiting for Josh’s kidney function to return but we are definitely on the right path. Josh has made tremendous strides in the last week.”
Josh’s predicament entered the national spotlight after his mother launched a grassroots campaign to get her son access to the drug brincidofovir – an unapproved medication proven to clear up adenovirus in children with two weeks. Adenovirus is an infection that can be deadly in people, like Josh, with compromised immune systems.
Because brincidofovir has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Hardy’s appealed to the drug’s manufacturer, Chimerix, for compassionate use access to the drug. Under the FDA’s compassionate use program, a drug company can supply patients not eligible for clinical trials with investigational drugs in order to treat serious or life threatening diseases.
However, Chimerix initially refused to release the drug to Josh, citing cost issues and concerns that giving the drug to Josh might slow down the drug’s FDA approval process. “Don’t you people realize there is an FDA? We have done what we can. Say a prayer for Josh,” Chimerix board member Tim Wollaeger wrote in an email to FoxNews.com.
After facing intense criticism for their refusal to give Josh the medication, Chimerix eventually reversed their decision and launched a new clinical trial with Josh as the first patient. Josh received the drug on Wednesday, March 12.
“We have so much to be thankful for and I just want to thank you all for your prayers and support,” Hardy wrote in her Facebook post.
3. COLLEGE SPORTS COULD BE DRAMATICALLY CHANGED
In a ruling that could revolutionize college athletics, a federal agency ruled Wednesday that college football players at Northwestern University can unionize. The decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board means it agrees football players at the Big Ten school qualify as employees under federal law and therefore can create the nation’s first college athlete’s union.
The Evanston, Illinois-based university argued college athletes, as students, don’t fit in the same category as factory workers, truck drivers and other unionized workers. The school plans to appeal to labor authorities in Washington, D.C.
“While we respect the NLRB process and the regional director’s opinion, we disagree with it,” a statement from Northwestern University read. “Northwestern believes strongly that our student-athletes are not employees, but students. Unionization and collective bargaining are not the appropriate methods to address the concerns raised by student-athletes.”
Outgoing Wildcats quarterback Kain Colter took a leading role in establishing the College Athletes Players Association, or CAPA, which would take the lead in organizing the players. The United Steelworkers union has been footing the legal bills.
Colter, whose eligibility has been exhausted and who has entered the NFL draft, said nearly all of the 85 scholarship players on the Wildcats roster backed the union bid, though only he expressed his support publicly.
CAPA attorneys argued that college football is, for all practical purposes, a commercial enterprise that relies on players’ labor to generate billions of dollars in profits. That, they contend, makes the relationship of schools to players one of employers to employees.
In its endeavor to have college football players be recognized as essential workers, CAPA likened scholarships to employment pay — too little pay from its point of view. Northwestern balked at that claim, describing scholarship as grants.
Giving college athletes employee status and allowing them to unionize, critics have argued, could hurt college sports in numerous ways — including by raising the prospects of strikes by disgruntled players or lockouts by athletic departments.
The NCAA has been under increasing scrutiny over its amateurism rules and is fighting a class-action federal lawsuit by former players seeking a cut of the billions of dollars earned from live broadcasts, memorabilia sales and video games. Other lawsuits allege the NCAA failed to protect players from debilitating head injuries.
NCAA President Mark Emmert has pushed for a $2,000-per-player stipend to help athletes defray some of expenses. Critics say that isn’t nearly enough, considering players help bring in millions of dollars to their schools and conferences.
CAPA’s specific goals include guaranteeing coverage of sports-related medical expenses for current and former players, ensuring better procedures to reduce head injuries and potentially letting players pursue commercial sponsorships.
For now, the push is to unionize athletes at private schools, such as Northwestern, because the federal labor agency does not have jurisdiction over public universities.
During the NLRB’s five days of hearings in February, Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald took the stand for union opponents, and his testimony sometimes was at odds with Colter’s.
Colter told the hearing that players’ performance on the field was more important to Northwestern than their in-class performance, saying, “You fulfill the football requirement and, if you can, you fit in academics.” Asked why Northwestern gave him a scholarship of $75,000 a year, he responded: “To play football. To perform an athletic service.”
The athletes have said they’re seeking better medical coverage, concussion testing, four-year scholarships and the possibility of being paid.
Last week, Northwestern University’s president emeritus said that if the players are successful forming a union, he could see the prestigious private institution giving up Division I football. He further said that if the players won their fight, private institutions with high academic standards — he specifically cited Duke and Stanford — could abandon the current model in order to preserve academic integrity. He compared it to the pullback of the Ivy League schools decades ago, when the Ivy League conference decided to opt out of postseason play and to end athletic scholarships, preserving the emphasis on academics for the players.
“In the 1950s, the ‘Ivies’ had some of the highest-ranked football teams in the country. The Princeton teams were ranked in the top 5 or 10 at that time. They continue periodically to have ranked basketball teams, but they’ve given up a certain kind of model of sports,” he said, adding that “under certain conditions” the same could happen at other private elite universities that “continue to play big time sports.”
Jerry Price, senior associate athletic director at Princeton, said that change for the Ivy League allowed those schools to maintain academic integrity in the sports where, at other schools, academics can often be compromised in the name of the game.
“It was sort of a breaking point moment,” Price said, saying the Ivy League schools made the decision not to move forward like the bigger conferences — to “draw the line with the commercialization of what football was becoming. And the results have been that Ivy football is not what it was in the first half of the 20th century,” Price said. “Certainly not like Big Ten football, SEC football. Its crowds are generally less than 10,000 people. They play only 10 games a year. … Certainly not what is going on at BCS level.”
Bienen, who was president of Northwestern from 1995 to 2009, made his comments during a panel discussion that included a presentation from Ramogi Huma, the president of the National College Players Association (NCPA) and the man who helped organize former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter to lead a unionization attempt. Huma talked, as he has for months, about the issues his organization sees as great flaws in the current NCAA model. The NCPA believes that athletes in the revenue-generating sports of college football and men’s basketball are taken advantage of by universities, conferences and the NCAA, making billions from games, while the players sometimes struggle with basic needs like medical care, concussion testing and guaranteed scholarships.
During his daylong testimony last week, Colter talked about year-round time requirements, at times 50 hours a week devoted to football. Colter said he had to give up his major related to pre-med studies because he couldn’t fit the classes into his schedule. The university countered that they brought in students who were able to stay in rigorous classes, but Colter’s sentiment was echoed by the NCAA itself in a 2012 survey that asked athletes what they would change about their college experience. About 15% of men’s football, baseball and basketball players said they would have had different majors had they not been athletes. Twelve percent of Division I football players said athletics prevented them from majoring in what they wanted.
The average time spent on athletics in-season hovered around 40 hours per week for all three sports, according to the survey. That flies in the face of the NCAA 20-hour rule, which states that, no matter the sport, coaches can’t take up more than 20 hours of their players’ time
But Fitzgerald said he tells players academics come first, saying, “We want them to be the best they can be … to be a champion in life.”
An attorney representing the university, Alex Barbour, noted Northwestern has one of the highest graduation rates for college football players in the nation, around 97 percent. Barbour insisted, “Northwestern is not a football factory.”
In March, the NCPA took its fight before the NLRB in Chicago and presented a case during a five-day hearing. Both sides recently submitted court briefs.
Northwestern’s appeal could go as far as the U.S. Supreme Court, and it could take years before there is a definitive decision.
The NCAA promptly said that while it wasn’t party to the proceeding, it was “disappointed” with the board’s ruling and disagreed “with the notion that student-athletes are employees. We frequently hear from student-athletes, across all sports, that they participate to enhance their overall college experience and for the love of their sport – not to be paid,” said the statement from NCAA chief legal officer Donald Remy. “While improvements need to be made, we do not need to completely throw away a system that has helped literally millions of students over the past decade alone attend college. We want student-athletes — 99 percent of whom will never make it to the professional leagues — focused on what matters most — finding success in the classroom, on the field, and in life.”
4. MAYOR OF CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, RESIGNS AND IS ARRESTED
The mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina — the state’s largest city and the site of the 2012 Democratic National Convention — resigned Wednesday hours after he was charged with federal public corruption and accused of taking bribes in an FBI sting.
Patrick Cannon, who rose from public housing to one of the highest offices in his state is accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes – including $20,000 in cash delivered in a briefcase last month to the mayor’s office.
Cannon, a 49-year-old Democrat who took office only four months ago, was scheduled to show up at a luxury apartment in SouthPark for yet another payoff from what he thought were businessmen needing his influence in city matters, the affidavit says. But after arriving, Cannon learned who they really were, a source confirmed: undercover FBI agents who’d been recording their meetings over the past three years, long before he launched a campaign for mayor in 2013.
Cannon resigned as mayor Wednesday night, capping an extraordinary day that included allegations of an illicit trip to Las Vegas and payoff negotiations at the Capital Grille – the same uptown steakhouse that figured in the region’s last major political scandal. It was there that former North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black of Matthews, also a Democrat, took bribes from a group of chiropractors seeking help with legislation.
Cannon was charged with theft and bribery, accused of taking cash payoffs at least five times. He was brought before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Keesler, required to surrender his passport and was released on $25,000 unsecured bond pending an indictment that could come as early as next week. Prominent Charlotte attorney James Ferguson has been hired to represent him.
Historian Jack Claiborne, who has researched Charlotte’s mayors, said such corruption charges are unprecedented in the city’s history. FBI agents with search warrants swept into the mayor’s office Wednesday, his home on Cumnor Lane in Ballantyne and his offices at E-Z Parking Inc. They seized financial records, phones, computers and other electronic devices. They were also searching for a leather briefcase that agents say they stuffed with cash for the February visit to the mayor’s office.
Cannon was born in Charlotte and often referred to having to overcome hardship. He was 5 when his father was found shot to death outside a vacant westside school. He was raised by his mother, who worked on a truck assembly line in south Charlotte. They lived in public housing.
Through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, he met future mayor and governor Pat McCrory, whose brother, Phil McCrory, was mentoring Cannon in the program. Pat McCrory helped teach Cannon to swim at age 13.
Cannon and McCrory talked for about an hour Wednesday, right before Cannon went to his appointment with the agents. They talked about the ongoing airport commission saga, said McCrory, a Republican who helped Cannon’s star rise in Charlotte politics.
Cannon was the longest-serving elected official in Charlotte, having joined the City Council in 1993. (He was out of office from 2005 to 2009.) “He was very close to me and my family,” McCrory said in Raleigh. “I’m just extremely disappointed and angry. I never for a moment thought he would do something like this. If these allegations are true, he’ll have to pay for what he’s done. This kind of thing simply can’t be allowed”
According to U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins, a federal corruption investigation began in 2010 aimed at other Charlotte targets, but Cannon, then a City Council member and mayor pro tem, became a primary subject of the probe in 2011.
FBI agents began an “American Hustle”-type operation against Cannon, beginning with a meeting with an undercover agent passing himself off as business manager for a venture capital company based in Chicago, according to a detailed affidavit written by FBI Special Agent Eric Davis:
The agent met Cannon in November 2010, saying he and his investors wanted to open a nightclub in Charlotte. Ultimately, the agent chose a property in uptown that had parking problems and required zoning changes. In subsequent meetings, Cannon described his relationship and influence over certain city departments and employees, including the zoning board.
On December 12, 2012, Cannon met an undercover agent at Capital Grille. Cannon asked the agent if he’d be interested in investing in a business Cannon planned to start called HERS, which would sell a feminine hygiene product nationally, the affidavit says. There was no evidence in the affidavit whether HERS exists. The agent agreed to give Cannon a $12,500 “zero-percent return on investment” loan in return for his assistance in getting approval for the zoning needed for the nightclub. But, the agent claims, Cannon said he needed $40,000. “I can do something for around $12,500. Any ideas how I can close the gap and get me some of that capital to get me started to pull this thing off?” In exchange for the money, the agent asked Cannon to “make sure I don’t run into any problems,” the affidavit said.
Cannon allegedly replied: “I will definitely help you out.”
On January 17, 2013, agents say they met Cannon at a SouthPark apartment rented by agents for $2,100 a month. It was outfitted with secret recording equipment.
That day, the undercover agent gave Cannon the $12,500 in cash by putting it on a coffee table in front of him. Cannon, according to the affidavit, looked nervously toward a window and covered the cash with a folder.
After the agent shut the blinds, Cannon put the bills to his ear, then fanned them. The next day, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was indicted in Louisiana on bribery and money laundering charges. After the news broke, Cannon called the undercover agent and tried to characterize his acceptance of the money as a business investment unrelated to his public office, the affidavit says.
In laying out his philosophy as a public official, Cannon told the agent that he would have helped him even without the $12,500. “I’m not one of those Chicago- or Detroit-type folk. … That’s not how I flow.”
In an ironic aside during that same meeting, Cannon said that he looked good “in an orange necktie, but not in an orange suit,” the affidavit says.
In 2013, Cannon’s political ascendency began to run parallel to the feds’ sting, which had been running more than two years.
When Cannon announced his candidacy for mayor May 21, he invited an undercover agent to attend, the affidavit says. That month the City Council approved a streetcar line to west Charlotte. Weeks later, a second undercover agent approached Cannon and said his company was interested in investing along its path. He told Cannon he needed his help persuading potential investors, and he’d fly Cannon to Las Vegas to do it.
As part of the Las Vegas trip with the agent, Cannon agreed to create “the false impression with the investors” that Cannon had had a long relationship with the undercover agents, the affidavit says.
In June, during discussions before the trip, Cannon raised the question of how he would be compensated for his role. When the agent replied, “I want to take care of you on this,” Cannon allegedly suggested a contribution to his mayoral campaign. But the agent refused to pay Cannon before they took the trip. Cannon, according to the affidavit, continued to press for the money up front.
In the end, the agent flew Cannon and his wife to Las Vegas on July 1 and paid for a luxury hotel room. He also says he gave Cannon $1,000 in cash at the hotel.
During the subsequent meeting, four FBI agents posing as businessmen promised to invest up to $25 million each for commercial property along the streetcar line.
Again, the agent reported Cannon boasted of his ability and willingness to make things happen. “Being around for 20 years has helped me a little bit, I think. I’ve gone through probably four police chiefs, five city managers, three mayors, something like that.” Asked by one of the investors how long and often Cannon could assist with the project, Cannon replied: “As long as I’m elected.”
Afterward, the second undercover agent had a private meeting with Cannon in Las Vegas. The affidavit says they reached Cannon’s wife, Trenna, by speakerphone, and she personally thanked the agent for the $1,000 from the day before. After the call, the agent said he paid Cannon another $5,000 in cash for his presentation to the investors. Cannon tucked the envelope containing the bills in the breast pocket of his suit.
Then Cannon asked whether he could work with the second agent “on some private deals,” the affidavit says. “Your value to us, obviously, is the position that you’re in and that you can pick up the phone and make things happen for us … that, from our perspective, is absolutely invaluable. … There’s no reason why it can’t be a win-win relationship for both of us,” the agent told him.
After returning to Charlotte, Cannon met with an undercover agent in the SouthPark apartment rented by the FBI. There, agents say, they gave Cannon an extra $10,000 for his work in Las Vegas.
Cannon wanted access to the apartment himself. He asked for keys at least six times. An unidentified campaign aide also texted an undercover agent on behalf of Cannon for the key. When Cannon finally got his own his key, he told the agent excitedly, “Aw, man!”
On February 21 this year, an undercover agent brought one of the phony Las Vegas investors to Cannon’s office in the Government Center. During that meeting, the affidavit says, Cannon received a leather Fossil briefcase containing $20,000 in cash. Then Cannon asked for substantially more.
“I told Trenna she has a point,” Cannon told the agents.
“She has what?” the agent responded.
“A point, 1 percent,” the mayor replied.
That meant Cannon was asking for a 1 percent payoff from the potential $125 million project, or $1.25 million in all, according to the affidavit.
Then the mayor and the agent talked about the best way to get the $20,000 out of the office. “I just got to be conscious about that kind of stuff here,” Cannon allegedly said.
The Charlotte mayor’s office declined a CNN request for comment. However, CNN obtained a copy of Cannon’s resignation letter, sent to City of Charlotte Manager Ron Carlee and City Attorney Bob Hagemann.
“I hereby give notice of my resignation from the position of the Mayor of the City of Charlotte, effective immediately. In light of the charges that have been brought against me, it is my judgment that the pendency of these charges will create too much of a distraction for the business of the City to go forward smoothly and without interruption,” Cannon wrote in the letter. “I regret that I have to take this action, but I believe that it is in the best interest of the City for me to do so.”
First elected to City Council in 1993 — when he was 26 and two years removed from graduating from North Carolina A&T State University — Cannon served through 2005, including the last four years as mayor pro tem. Cannon spent four years out of office working with his parking business until being elected to City Council again in 2009. Between 2010 and 2013, he served as both a council member and mayor pro tem until his election as mayor in November 2013.
Cannon succeeded then-Mayor Anthony Foxx, who in July 2013 was sworn in as
US Transportation Secretary by President Obama.
Cannon appeared in court Wednesday and was released on bond, the U.S. attorney’s office reported. If convicted on all charges, he could be sentenced to as many as 50 years in federal prison and pay as much as $1.5 million in fines, officials said.
Cannon was first elected to City Council in 1993. He is also been a longtime radio talkshow host who discussed local and national politics. In November, he defeated Republican challenger Edwin Peacock.
If convicted on all charges, Cannon faces up to 50 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CALIFORNIA STATE SENATOR YEE ARRESTED FOR CORRUPTION
Yee performed “official acts” in exchange for donations from undercover FBI agents, as he sought to dig himself out of a $70,000 debt incurred during a failed San Francisco mayoral bid, according to court documents. Yee is also accused of accepting $10,000 in January 2013 from an undercover agent in exchange for his making a call to the California Department of Public Health in support of a contract under consideration with the agency.
Also named in the affidavit is Raymond Chow. Chow, who is also known as “Shrimp Boy,” was the former leader of a Chinese criminal organization with ties to Hong Kong. Chow is accused of money laundering, conspiracy to receive and transport stolen property and conspiracy to traffic contraband cigarettes.
He and Yee were arrested earlier in the day during a series of raids by the FBI in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Yee was released from custody shortly before 7 p.m. on a $500,000 unsecured bond. He left the federal courthouse in San Francisco without comment. His lawyer, Paul DeMeester, said Lee plans to plead not guilty but declined to discuss the case in detail, saying it’s complex. The complaint is 137 pages long.
“The top priority was to get the senator released, and we were able to accomplish that,” DeMeester said. “The future will hold a lot of work facing this case.”
The FBI was executing numerous arrests and search warrants in the Bay Area, FBI Special Agent Michael Gimbel said outside the offices of Ghee Kung Tong, a fraternal organization in San Francisco’s Chinatown that Chow reportedly headed. It was among the sites searched. Firefighters were seen going inside with a circular saw and later said they had cracked a safe.
Yee is the third Democratic senator to face charges this year. Senator Rod Wright was convicted of perjury and voter fraud for lying about his legal residence in Los Angeles County, and Senator Ron Calderon has been indicted on federal corruption charges. Wright and Calderon are taking a voluntary leave of absence, with pay, although Republicans have called for them to be suspended or expelled from the Legislature.
Mark Hedlund, spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, confirmed that the FBI searched Yee’s office in the state capitol on Wednesday, but he said he had no knowledge of anything found there.Officers from the California Highway Patrol and Senate sergeant-at-arms details were standing guard outside Yee’s office, where a morning newspaper remained untouched. A spokesman for the senator, Dan Lieberman, said he had no comment, but the senator’s office would release a statement in the afternoon.
Yee is best known publicly for his efforts to strengthen open records, government transparency and whistleblower protection laws, including legislation to close a loophole in state public records laws after the CSU Stanislaus Foundation refused to release its $75,000 speaking contract with former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in 2010.
Chow ran a Chinese criminal organization with ties to Hong Kong and was convicted of gun charges. But he had recently been held up as an example of successful rehabilitation and was praised for his work in the community.
Yee’s arrest came as a shock to Chinese-Americans who see the senator as a pioneering leader in the community and a mainstay of San Francisco politics, said David Lee, director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee.
“People are waiting to see what happens, and they are hoping for the best, that the charges turn out not to be true,” said Lee, whose organization just held a get-out-the-vote event with Yee and other Chinese-American elected officials last week.
Yee was honored last week by the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which awarded him its public official citation for his efforts last year to maintain the requirements of the California Public Records Act.
Yee has at times clashed with fellow Democrats for casting votes of conscience, refusing to support the Democratic budget proposal in 2011 because of its deep cuts to education, social services and education. He also opposed legislation by a fellow Democrat, Assemblyman Paul Fong of Cupertino, that banned the sale of shark fins used for Chinese shark fin soup, saying that it unfairly targeted the Chinese-American community.
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Yee is among three Democrats running this year for secretary of state, the office that oversees elections and campaign finance reporting. He lost a bid for mayor of San Francisco in 2011.
A man was charged last year for threatening Yee over legislation that he proposed to limit rapid reloading of assault weapons. The bill would have prohibited the use of devices that allow users to swiftly reload military-style assault weapons. Lee also authored legislation that that would have required the state to study safe storage of firearms.
Yee, 65, represents western San Francisco and much of San Mateo County. A longtime California politician who is currently running for California secretary of state, Yee served in the California Senate since 2006. He previously was a member of the California Assembly, and is the first Chinese American elected to the California State Senate
Raymond Chow, who was also arrested, acknowledged in an unpublished autobiography that he ran prostitution rings in the 1980s, smuggled drugs and extorted thousands from business owners as a Chinatown gang member, KGO-TV reported two years ago.
In 1992, Chow was among more than two-dozen people indicted on racketeering charges for their alleged involvement in crimes ranging from teenage prostitution to an international drug trade mostly involving heroin. He was later convicted of gun charges and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He spent 11 years in prison and was released in 2003 after he cut a deal with the government to testify against another high-ranking associate, Peter Chong. Chong was later convicted of racketeering. But Chow told KGO-TV in a 2012 interview that he had changed and was working with at-risk children in San Francisco.
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California issued a statement in 2012 recognizing Chow as a former offender who had become an asset to his community, the Sacramento Bee reported. Chow was also praised by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee for his “willingness to give back to the community,” the Bee reported.
Fox News’ Michael Lundin and The Associated Press contributed to this report
5. PRESIDENT OBAMA MEETS POPE FRANCIS
President Obama met Pope Francis at the Vatican for nearly an hour Thursday amid a complex backdrop of conflict over contraception, concern for the plight of the poor, and the pontiff’s emergence as a powerful persona on the world stage.
Obama arrived amid the pomp and tradition of the Catholic Church, making his way to greet the pope after a long, slow procession. “Wonderful meeting you, I’m a great admirer,” the president said to Pope Francis when the two met in the Small Throne Room of the papal residence. “Thank you sir, thank you.” The pontiff and the president shook hands and then sat down with their translators at a wooden table in the Papal Library for their meeting. “I bring greetings from my family,” the president said. “The last time I came here to meet your predecessor I was able to bring my wife and children.”
The two were scheduled to meet for half an hour, but their private discussion lasted 52 minutes. Obama seem buoyed by the meeting as they emerged and the pope greeted a handful of Obama’s senior advisers. Catholic Secretary of State John Kerry pronounced himself “a great admirer of everything you’ve been doing, as a Catholic, for the church.”
Obama then presented the pope with a seed chest with fruit and vegetable seeds used in the White House Garden, in honor of the pope’s announcement earlier this year that he’s opening the gardens of the papal summer residence to the public. The chest was custom-made of leather and reclaimed wood from Baltimore’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals in the U.S, and inscribed with the date of their meeting. Obama is the ninth president to make an official visit to the Vatican. His audience marked a change of pace for the president, who has devoted the past three days of a weeklong, four-country trip to securing European unity against Russia’s aggressive posture toward Ukraine.Francis is the second Pope to lead the world’s Roman Catholics during Obama’s term of office. The president visited Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, a cordial meeting that nevertheless drew attention to the differences between the church and Obama on abortion.
To be sure, the relationship between the Obama administration and the Catholic Church is a fraught one. But in Francis, the White House sees the popular pope and his emphasis on economic disparity as a form of moral validation of the president’s economic agenda. Ahead of the visit, the White House said that Obama planned to speak with Pope Francis about “their shared commitment to fighting poverty and income inequality.”
“The pope challenges us. He implores us to remember people, families, the poor,” Obama said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera published ahead of his papal visit. “He invites us to stop and reflect on the dignity of man.”
Several presidents have found comfort if not allies in the pope. President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II famously shared an antipathy for the former Soviet Union, Reagan the Cold War warrior and the pope a Polish priest who fought communism in his country and later in Europe.
“Sometimes in these meetings there are compatible personalities,” said Paul Begala, a former aide to President Bill Clinton and a Catholic himself. He recalled being with Clinton when the president met John Paul II in Denver.
“They were only supposed to meet alone for five minutes,” he said in an interview earlier this year. “Those two gregarious, charismatic men sat in that room for an hour without another soul in there.”
The Obama-Francis chemistry remains to be seen, but thematically both seem to be on some of the same pages.
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, at the Vatican this week trying to secure Francis’ attendance in Philadelphia next year, said he expected the Obama-Francis meeting to be good for both the U.S. and the Vatican. “We have the most important religious figure in the world as part of that meeting, and one of the most important political leaders, so anytime the church and politics come together is an important moment for dialogue, discussion and the commitment to the common good,” Chaput told reporters Tuesday at the Vatican.
Still, there are difficult areas of discord between U.S. bishops and the Obama administration over abortion and the administration’s health care overhaul. U.S. bishops were among the most outspoken opponents of Obamacare, objecting to its mandatory coverage of contraception. The Supreme Court this week seemed divided when hearing arguments in a case in which companies argued that they have religious rights and can object to such coverage based on such beliefs.
In a possible hint of the Vatican’s position, Vatican Radio, in an article in advance of the visit, took special note that Obama’s papal audience takes place “in the context of a complex phase of the administration’s relations with the Church of the United States.” It went on to mention implementation of the health care law and legalization of gay marriage.
On Ukraine, Francis issued an appeal for dialogue early in the month. But otherwise the Vatican has kept a low profile on the issue, a possible sign that it doesn’t want to inflame tensions with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Developments in the Middle East were also a likely topic. Obama has opposed military strikes against Syria in favor of diplomacy. And he will travel to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories at the end of May.
Francis faithfully backs church teaching on abortion — he has said he’s a “son of the church” — but his emphasis and tone are elsewhere. He has said he wants his church to be more of a missionary, welcoming place for wounded souls rather than a moralizing church. He caused a fuss in November when he decried some conservative economic theories as unproven. “The excluded are still waiting,” he wrote.
Francis’ attention to poverty has also captured the attention of Republicans, prompting some to stake out high-profile anti-poverty positions. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has extended a formal and open invitation to the pope to address Congress when he visits the United States.
No doubt there is a political dimension to Obama’s visit as well. The president won the Catholic vote in both of his elections, helped by heavy support from Hispanic Catholics. Some of that support has waned since.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Having money and friends is easy.
Having friends and no money is an accomplishment.
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CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY – TOP FIVE STORIES UNTIL 10 am CT March 27, 2014
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