United Methodist Church moves closer to enabling regional decisions, paving the way for LGBTQ rights within church
CBSN
United Methodist delegates have overwhelmingly endorsed a constitutional amendment seen by advocates as a way of defusing debates over the role of LGBTQ people in the church by giving rule-making autonomy to each region of the international church.
Delegates voted 586-164 on Thursday for the "regionalization" proposal on the third day of their 11-day General Conference, the legislative body of the United Methodist Church, meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The plan would create multiple regional conferences — one for the United States and others covering areas ranging from the Philippines to Europe to Africa.
The Trump administration hopes to upgrade and replace the nation's entire air traffic control system, with President Trump saying Thursday morning that he'll work with Congress on a bill to that end.
The United States does not plan to stop distributing foreign aid around the world but needs to do a better job explaining and defending programs receiving assistance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S. diplomats behind closed doors Wednesday.
Police in Sierra Leone have said they are hunting a Dutch drug trafficker who is one of Europe's most-wanted fugitives and believed to be hiding out in the west African country.
More than 2 million federal employees face a looming deadline: By midnight on Thursday, they must decide whether to accept a "deferred resignation" offer from the Trump administration. If workers accept, according to a White House plan, they would continue getting paid through September but would be excused from reporting for duty. But if they opt to keep their jobs, they could get fired.
The CIA confirmed Wednesday that it offered buyouts to employees who volunteer to resign, the latest group of federal workers to receive such a proposal as President Trump pushes to transform the federal government.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
Democrats on Capitol Hill, and sources familiar with the situation, said the White House's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been inside the offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
At least four cattle herds in Nevada have tested positive for a strain of H5N1 bird flu never before seen in cows, state agriculture officials confirmed Wednesday, and respiratory symptoms like coughing and sneezing have been reported.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
Blake Lively faces a second defamation lawsuit after the actor alleged she was sexually harassed while making the movie "It Ends With Us" and subsequently targeted by a coordinated smear campaign.
Foodborne illness kills hundreds of Americans a year, sickens tens of millions annually, and costs billions in medical care, lost productivity and premature deaths, federal researchers said in a report.
Washington — Senate Republicans said Wednesday that they intend to move forward with their own plan to approve key components of President Trump's agenda beginning next week, as the House efforts to start the budget reconciliation process have stalled.
Washington — A federal judge in Maryland on Wednesday temporarily blocked President Trump's executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship from taking effect nationwide, becoming the second to rule against the president amid a rush of legal challenges to his directive.