NEW ORLEANS (Baptist Press) — “Hope for the best; plan for the worst” was the warning the hospice doctor gave Joyce Harrington, 93, at a New Orleans hospital when she was admitted with COVID-19 symptoms March 25. The doctor delivered the same dire warning over the phone to Harrington’s daughters — Rhonda Harrington Kelley, wife […]

TOPEKA, Kan. — A federal judge has indicated that Kansas Governor Laura Kelly’s order limiting in-person attendance at religious services or activities to 10 people is likely unconstitutional, blocking its enforcement against two churches. Kelly’s order, which was issued in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, was prevented from being enforced against a church in Dodge […]

(Fox News) — Recently-unsealed documents reveal Planned Parenthood charged a biospecimen company nearly $25,000 for fetal tissue and maternal blood samples in 2012, fueling accusations from opponents that the nation’s largest abortion provider violated federal law while exchanging fetal body parts. The invoices were unsealed as part of Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit with David Daleiden, the […]

(Christian Solidarity Worldwide) — Iranian Christian Fatemeh Bakhteri (Aylar) was released from prison on April 12. Bakhteri, 35, from the city of Rasht, is from a Muslim background and is a member of the Church of Iran denomination. She was sentenced to 12 months in prison on Sept. 22, 2018 after being found guilty of […]

(Microsoft News/CNN) — Professional sports in Florida are getting the green light to resume production after the Florida [Division of Emergency Management] deemed them “essential services.” This is being added to the same list that includes services such as grocery stores, hospitals, banks, utility companies and restaurants. The order that was signed on Thursday states […]

 Grand Blanc, Mich. (The Detroit News) — Sandy Brown tried to calm her son, Freddie, alone and scared in a hospital intensive care unit. His father had died a few days earlier. Freddie, just 20, was worried he would die, too. Talking on FaceTime throughout the night, Sandy recited Scripture and tried to slow […]

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP (NJ.com) — A controversial leader from New Jersey, who was sentenced to serve 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to stealing from his group’s funds, died from coronavirus earlier this month. Jermaine Grant of Burlington Township, who led the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ in Harlem, was 44. He […]

 (USA Today) — Severe weather walloped the East Coast Monday after a harrowing Easter night that saw people huddled in basements, closets and tubs as tornadoes raged across the South, leaving at least 22 dead. Destructive winds were reported across the East Monday, the Weather Channel said, a day after at least 40 reported […]

HILLVIEW, Ky. (Louisville Courier Journal/USA Today) — As hymns sang out Easter Sunday from a large outdoor speaker overlooking the Maryville Baptist Church parking lot, two Kentucky State troopers placed quarantine notices on parishioners’ cars and wrote down their license numbers. Inside the church, roughly 50 worshipers ignored Gov. Andy Beshear’s order against mass gatherings during the […]

DOUGLAS, Ga. (WALB) — A South Georgia family is celebrating after their loved one survived COVID-19. Barbara Killiebrew, 60, got a hero’s escort home from the hospital by the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office. Even though she was not able to see her family, Barbara said she did not feel as if she was alone. “The sheriff […]