Water levels continue to rise across Kentucky and other parts of the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic regions, which are already reeling from a deadly coast-to-coast winter storm. Now, the situation is set to worsen as another major storm threatens snow and dangerously cold weather.

The storm, which hammered several states with severe weather and heavy rainfall over the weekend, has claimed at least 13 lives-one person died when a tree fell on a home in Atlanta, another in West Virginia, and 11 in Kentucky including a mother and a 7-year-old child who were in a car stuck in high water.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.aol.com/weather/death-toll-climbs-13-rescues-181730393.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAB6VQaGlLzpxopJ-mxOJtKxdlhCOcoQnzSOWVeEHqKAvS_EcLT9Rm5vgxBBDgWqb75M0LdqWoQAzAy0Td1shHBaJVQ7dY7o9DOyuc-fPi89-66x2iJMBarNHOdNzwJoWJurLIWU4-1KXCcCfgsbhrtDShqrBD1g8Rvf8KRIi2ch6

The post Death toll climbs to 13, rescues ongoing in hard-hit Kentucky amid devastating flooding first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Louisville Metro Police officers responded to reports of an active shooter at about 8:30 Monday morning. Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said during a media briefing that officers were on the scene at the Preston Pointe building within minutes and killed the shooter.

Four bank employees who were killed were identified by police Monday afternoon: Josh Barrick, Tommy Elliott, Juliana Farmer and Jim Tutt Jr. Police said late Monday that another employee − Deana Eckert − also died.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/crime/2023/04/11/what-we-know-louisville-old-national-bank-shooting/70099734007/

__________________________________________________________________

[Disclaimer]

The post What we know about the mass shooting at Old National Bank in Louisville first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Kentucky and neighboring West Virginia on Wednesday became the latest states to enact laws restricting individuals under the age of 18 from accessing transgender medical treatments.

After lopsided votes in both houses of the Kentucky legislature, Republican super-majorities overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of legislation that prohibits cross-sex hormone therapies and sex-reassignment surgeries for minors, as well as restricts bathroom use by biological sex. The law also bans instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools and permits teachers to decline to use a student’s preferred pronouns.

The Senate voted 29-8 to override Beshear’s veto. Shortly afterward, the House voted 76-23 to complete the override and enact the bill into law.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kentucky-west-virginia-enact-bans-transgender-medical-treatments-minors

__________________________________________________________________

[Disclaimer]

The post Kentucky, West Virginia enact bans on transgender medical treatments for minors first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Death toll rises after string of tornadoes first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Andy Beshear said the figure could rise to as many as 100 in what he called the worst tornadoes in the state’s history.

He said the number was “probably closer to somewhere between 70 and 100, it’s devastating”.

Tornadoes are wreaking havoc across several US states, with workers trapped in an Amazon warehouse in Illinois.

More than 100 people were inside a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, when the tornado hit, the New York Times reported.

“We believe we’ll lose at least dozens of those individuals,” Mr Beshear said.

The Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville in southern Illinois was damaged during a tornado on Friday night, the authorities said.

It is not yet clear how many people were hurt by the roof collapse, but local emergency services have called it a “mass casualty incident” on Facebook.

Sarah Bierman said her partner was still missing.

“I talked to him about 8 o’clock tonight, a little before I texted him, and he was returning to the warehouse to drop his van off. And I haven’t heard from him since,” she told the Reuters news agency.

“I decided to come down here to see what was going on. I had no idea the building looked that bad. And I’m just … I’m worried sick. I just want to know if he’s okay,” she added.

“My prayers are with the people of Edwardsville tonight, and I’ve reached out to the mayor to provide any needed state resources,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker tweeted.

Amazon was assessing the situation and damage, a spokesperson said in a statement.

A state of emergency has been announced in Kentucky.

Police said the tornado caused “significant damage” across the western parts of the state. A train was derailed during extreme winds in Hopkins County, Sheriff Matt Sanderson told WKYT-TV.

He also described how two children were reported missing during a tornado but were then found in a bathtub that had been pulled outside by the force of the wind.

“There were two children in the Barnsley area that were missing and they were actually found in a bathtub not where the house was originally standing,” he said.

In Arkansas, one person died and 20 people were trapped inside in a nursing home after it partly collapsed, Craighead county judge Marvin Day told the Associated Press.

The building was cleared around 90 minutes later but searches are continuing, he said, adding that some residents had been hiding in the basement as the tornado approached.

The US National Weather Service has issued tornado warnings for areas in states including Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and Illinois.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59620091

The post More than 50 feared dead in Kentucky’s worst ever tornadoes first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Attorney General William P. Barr – (Barcroft Media / Getty Images)

The Justice Department signaled Saturday night it may intervene against local governments that are cracking down on religious ceremonies during the pandemic, warning that action could come as early as next week.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec used her Twitter account on the eve of Easter to announce that Attorney General William Barr was monitoring efforts to stop Easter religious ceremonies.

“During this sacred week for many Americans, AG Barr is monitoring govt regulation of religious services,” Kupec tweeted. “While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency, they must be applied evenhandedly & not single out religious orgs. Expect action from DOJ next week!”

The statement comes as numerous municipalities across the country have been reportedly taking actions to stop churchgoers from celebrating Easter together, including in Louisville where the mayor threatened to track license plates and fine anyone who attends a public ceremony.

A federal judge Saturday actually blocked Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer from enforcing his ban on drive-in church services on Easter, calling it unconstitutional.

“An American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter,” U.S. District Judge Justin Walker wrote while issuing a temporary restraining order. “That sentence is one that this Court never expected to see outside the pages of a dystopian novel, or perhaps the pages of The Onion.

”The Mayor’s decision is stunning. And it is, ‘beyond all reason,’ unconstitutional,” the judge added.

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/doj-signals-possible-intervention-pandemic-crackdowns-religious-ceremonies-m

The post DOJ threatens to take action against pandemic crackdowns on religious ceremonies first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

For the second time in days, a federal judge issued an order temporarily blocking a new Kentucky law aimed at imposing more abortion restrictions. The latest order temporarily stopped a measure that would ban abortion if a woman wants to end her pregnancy because of race or gender as well as the diagnosis of a disability in the fetus.

U.S. District Judge David J. Hale granted the second temporary restraining order Wednesday. The order was sought by the American Civil Liberties Union in its legal feud with the state over abortion.

Republican Gov. Matt Bevin signed the bill Tuesday.

“The notion that Roe v. Wade protects race-based, gender-based, and disability-based abortions is disturbing. This is but the opening salvo of this legal battle,” said Bevin’s spokesman.

MISSISSIPPI GOV. BRYANT SIGNS ‘HEARTBEAT BILL,’ ENACTING ONE OF THE STRICTEST ABORTION LAWS IN NATION 

According to the bill, doctors performing abortions would have to verify in writing that, to their knowledge, their patient did not want to end her pregnancy because of concern over her unborn child’s sex, race, color, national origin or disability.

The pregnant women would not face penalties but doctors violating the measure would face felony prosecution and the loss of their medical license. Any clinic where a violation occurred would lose its license as well.

The federal judge temporarily blocked another new Kentucky law last week that would ban abortions in the state after a fetal heartbeat is detected which can happen as early as 6 weeks into pregnancy.

The measure, which was poised to become one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, was signed into law Friday by Bevin and was set to take effect immediately.

A few hours later, Hale halted enforcement for at least two weeks to “prevent irreparable harm” until he could hold a hearing, according to the New York Times.

Attorneys with The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of EMW Women’s Surgical Center, the only remaining abortion clinic in Kentucky. The lawsuit was filed in an attempt to block both measures passed by Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature.

Kentucky is just the latest in a growing list of Republican-led states considering similar actions, known as heartbeat bills.

OHIO ‘HEARTBEAT’ ABORTION BAN PASSES SENATE AS GOVERNOR VOWS TO SIGN IT

On Thursday, Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed the “heartbeat” abortion bill, outlawing most procedures once a fetal heartbeat can be detected.

The Center for Reproductive Rights called the bill “blatantly unconstitutional,” and has threatened to sue the state to block the law from going into effect on July 1.

The Ohio legislature proposed a similar measure during former Gov. John Kasich’s term. Kasich vetoed the proposal, but the new Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, has indicated he will support the bill. The measure passed the Ohio Senate last week.

Meanwhile, states like New York, Virginia, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Washington have either passed new laws expanding abortion access, or are moving toward stripping old laws from the books that limit abortions.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/federal-judge-blocks-another-kentucky-abortion-law-within-days

The post Federal judge for second time blocks Kentucky abortion law first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A bill that would ban abortion in Kentucky once a baby’s heartbeat is detected was passed by state senators Thursday.

Kentucky’s fetal heartbeat bill comes in the wake of similar measures passed by Mississippi lawmakers in both the House and Senate Wednesday that could ban abortion as early as six weeks, a time when a baby’s heartbeat can first be detected.

The Kentucky Senate voted 31-6 to pass Senate Bill 9, which has the support of the state’s evangelical Christian Gov. Matt Bevin as well as the GOP controlled House.

A Republican who supports the bill told The Associated Press that it has an emergency clause, which means it would take effect once it has been approved by the Senate, House and Bevin.

During his annual State of the Commonwealth address a week ago, Bevin urged the legislature to continue to pass anti-abortion legislation, insisting they would prevail.

“At the end of the day we will prevail because we stand on the side of right and we stand on the side of life,” Bevin said.

Emotional testimony from pro-life and pro-abortion supporters was heard before the decision Thursday, according WAVE 3. Supporters of the bill argued that legislators had a moral duty to pass it while others saw it as an overreach of government.

“SB 9 is intended to ban almost all abortion in the Commonwealth with no exemptions for rape, no exemptions for incest or fetal anomaly,” Tamara Wieder, a Kentucky Planned Parenthood representative, noted in the report.

Abby Johnson, a supporter of the bill who used to operate a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, argued that “It is unjust to take the life of a human being.”

Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear argued — after hearing Bevin’s speech a week ago — that he has already informed state legislators that the fetal heartbeat bill is unconstitutional and would likely cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to defend it.

“Every single elected official in this room, including the governor, took an oath to support the Constitution,” Beshear told the AP. “The Constitution provides a choice that I believe is between a woman and her doctor for at least the first two trimesters of pregnancy, and I’m going to enforce that constitutional right.”

The latest push for fetal heartbeat bills comes as high profile Democrats, such as New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have claimed that President Trump wants to roll back Roe v. Wade.

New York recently passed the Reproductive Health Act, which codifies protections for abortion and allows doctors and other health care workers to perform abortions up to birth for any reason in which a pregnancy is deemed to be a risk to a woman’s mental or physical health. It also removed abortion from the state’s criminal code.

“He wants to roll back Roe v. Wade which is a Supreme Court case that guarantees a woman’s right to choose. Take us back to a time when women couldn’t get an abortion legally,” Cuomo said this week.

Abortion rights advocates have been bracing for the potential rollback of Roe v. Wade which some have said would trigger bans on abortion in as many as 22 states.

But Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric J. Scheidler has dismissed that claim as “fearmongering.”

“At most, only a couple of states with extremely conservative legislatures might even attempt something like a total ban on abortion,” Scheidler said in a previous interview with The Christian Post.

“[It’s] far more likely that states would seek to further restrict abortion, in line with the view of most Americans, with measures like banning late-term abortion and holding abortion facilities to the highest health and safety standards,” he added.

Source:  https://www.christianpost.com/news/kentucky-senate-passes-fetal-heartbeat-abortion-ban.html

The post Kentucky Senate passes bill banning abortion when baby’s heartbeat first detected first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.