3/4/2014::Other important news

I-TEAM: Settlements for some in Bishop Eddie Long's congregation

He came into church with promises of riches for Bishop Eddie Long's congregation.

Ephren Taylor, a self-described financial guru, left with nearly a million dollars in investments.

But, according to a lawsuit, it was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme and nearly all of it was lost.

Republican Senate candidate Paul Broun vows to vote only for ‘biblical’ bills

“I am a proven conservative, consistent constitutionalist,” he said. “There are four C’s that describe who I am and what drives me: Consistent, conservative, constitutionalist, Christian.”

Broun explained that he judged legislation based on four factors. Firstly, he won’t vote for legislation that is unconstitutional.

“The second, does it fit the Judeo-Christian biblical principles our country was founded upon?” he continued.

LGBT Bible belt residents relieved after GOP ‘religious freedom’ bills take a beating

Times have changed. A gay and lesbian influx has transformed this corner of the Bible belt. They have bought homes, opened businesses and filled leadership positions. “Gays have really changed and revived this community. We have brought jobs. Locals are happy that the city is thriving again,” said Jack Morton, who runs several businesses with his partner, Michael Brunson. “I was hesitant at first but not one time have I heard anyone make a negative comment or even insinuate. It’s been inclusive.”

In addition to managing a beauty salon and design store, Morton, who has won four Emmys for his make-up work, is chairman of the county chamber of commerce’s tourism committee, sits on the economic development authority and helps organise events, including a 4 July parade which features a marching band in drag – “It’s a riot”.

Other gay and lesbian entrepreneurs have helped turn Blue Ridge’s main street into a hub of gourmet restaurants and boutique stores popular with visitors, creating an island of prosperity in a region hit by the decline of logging and the closure of a Levi’s denim factory.

Poultry workers, industry take fight to Capitol Hill over proposal to speed processing lines

Poultry workers, chicken industry lobbyists and food-safety advocates have been converging on Capitol Hill in recent weeks with dueling efforts to either boost or kill a proposal to overhaul the way the $60 billion-a-year poultry industry operates processing plants.

The latest push came Thursday when civil rights and worker-safety groups arranged for poultry workers to meet with lawmakers and administration officials to warn against the proposed acceleration of processing-line speeds and to share their accounts of injuries being caused at current speeds.

Opponents of the proposed ­changes are trying to play catch-up with the efforts of the poultry industry. The National Chicken Council has been spending an average of more than $500,000 annually lobbying Congress, according to lobbying records, five times the group’s average spending in the years before the U.S. Agriculture Department began working in earnest on the proposed plan in 2011.

Rick Scarborough Is Upset He Can't Talk About Anal Sex In Church

Last week, World Congress of Families spokesman Don Feder joined Rick Scarborough on a Tea Party Unity conference call, where Feder got to talking about how liberals “intimidate” conservative pastors into not speaking out against gay rights.

As luck would have it, Scarborough was ready with a “very fresh and very real” anecdote to illustrate that this "threat" comes not just from gay rights activists, but from parishioners who don't want to hear about anal sex in church,,,