Despite an administrator’s attempt to get prayer removed from the Pima Unified School District’s graduation, students made sure that God was given praise during the event.
Superintendent Sean Rickert had ordered the removal of prayer from the graduation event because he wanted to make sure he wasn’t violating the rights of any student who didn’t want to participate in or hear a prayer at the event. He said that he made the decision on his own without any threats of legal action against the school.
Community members and students were outraged at Rickert’s actions, and when the Superintendent and other school officials refused to change their mind on the matter, students took the matter into their own hands.
Not only did students present prayers as part of the ceremony, many graduates made a silent protest by handing a marble to the superintendent as they graduated, an indication they believed he had “lost his marbles” with his actions.
“My class wanted God in our graduation and we weren’t going to take no for an answer,” said Esperanza Gonzalez, one of the students who prayed at the event. “The world keeps saying ‘no to God, no to God’ unless you’re in prison, so we said yes to God because He has helped us throughout our entire high school career.”
A popular scenic canyon in Arizona is burning bright as a wind-driven wildfire is threatening to destroy hundreds of homes.
The “Slide Fire” in Oak Creek Canyon 120 miles north of Phoenix is being fought by over 500 firefighters trying to stop the flames from consuming more than the 4,500 acres already burning.
Over 3,000 residents of the area are on alert for immediate evacuation should the winds continue to drive the flames into their housing developments. Officials say that residents along a two-mile stretch along the canyon have already been forced to leave and it’s likely they will lose their homes to the flames.
“The fire has really been active and very aggressive,” Coconino Forest Service spokesman Brady Smith told Reuters. “We really have a big job on our hands.”
Firefighters say the fire is zero percent contained and at one point covered the entire rim of the canyon. Sustained winds of 35 miles per hour are driving the flames.
The fire is believed to have been human-caused but they do not know if the fire was arson. The Red Cross has set up shelters in anticipation of major evacuations.
A dying Arizona church made one of their last acts a blessing to keep the gospel moving in their community.
First Southern Baptist Church of Payson, Arizona, sold their church campus to church plant Expedition Church for $1. The dwindling congregation of the church who had been serving Payson for 51 years could no longer maintain the campus, worth over $1 million dollars.
The church also gave their North Annex to Payson Community Kids, a non-profit group that serves needy children in the community.
“It is a very hard thing when a church closes, but there is great joy in being able to share our legacy with Expedition Church and Payson Community Kids, and to know that the lives, the love, the hard work and the generosity of those who had been part of Payson First Southern Baptist Church will continue to reach people for His Kingdom,” former Payson First Southern Baptist Pastor Rick Hatch wrote on the church’s website.
Expedition Church reported they had been trying to rent space from Payson Southern Baptist and were trying to finalize another offer to rent space when Pastor Hatch called to offer the deal to buy the campus.
“My jaw dropped…We said we would absolutely take it,” Expedition Church’s Lead Pastor Donovan Christian said. “I am not a real mystical guy, but we really felt like God was just blessing us.”
In a society where Christians are receiving increasing amount of condemnation for publicly standing on their faith, one church is providing compelling evidence for the power of witnessing outside of abortion clinics.
Pastor Jeff Durbin and his witnessing team from Apologia Church in Tempe, Arizona, shared a story at the opening of the 2014 Ignite Conference talking about a couple that they had approached heading into an abortion clinic. They didn’t yell at the couple but rather calmly presented the gospel and spoke about the value that God places on all lives, including that of the couple’s unborn child.
At the conclusion of the story, a young woman walked on stage with a baby.
It was Tina, the woman who ended up walking away from the abortionist’s table and giving life to the child she was holding in her arms.
“We’re very, very grateful for them saving our baby’s life and opening our eyes,” Tina said. “They’ve really helped us so much and changed our point of view. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have my baby.”
Pastor Durbin said Tina and her son were living testimony of the importance of bringing the Gospel into hard places and not being concerned about what the world thinks about it.
“I have an irrefutable argument about bringing the Gospel to hard places despite all the conflict,” Pastor Durbin said, pointing to Tina as she left the stage.
A man who calls himself a contract killer reportedly confessed to police of killing at least 40 people.
Jose Manuel Martinez, 51, told investigators that he was an enforcer for a drug cartel and carried out multiple murders at the command of the cartel leaders. Martinez is facing a trial in Alabama on a single murder charge and then a trial in California for at least nine others.
Martinez was arrested last year as he was crossing the border into Arizona.
Errek Jett, district attorney for Lawrence County, Alabama, said that he believes Martinez because he told investigators details that only the killer would be able to know.
Florida officials also say they want to question Martinez in connection with gang related murders in their states.
Police say that the possibility Martinez was the killer came to light during an investigation into a series of home invasion robberies in 2012.
A U.S. District Court judge has refused to block a new set of abortion regulations in Arizona.
The regulations now in effect will require abortionists to follow FDA guidelines for prescribing and dispensing abortion producing drugs such as RU486. The FDA guidelines prohibit the use of those drugs after the seventh week of pregnancy.
Attorneys for Planned Parenthood has sued to stop the law claiming that requiring abortionists to follow the federal government’s guidelines on the drug would harm women.
Judge David C. Bury ruled that it was still to be seen if the law is an obstacle to abortion but that based on what was presented to the court the measure did not create irreparable harm.
The pro-life Center for Arizona Policy released a statement praising the court’s action saying that the decision upheld a common sense health and safety standard and that it was a victory for anyone who truly cared about the well-being of women.
Arizona lawmakers have passed a bill in the state House of Representatives that would allow surprise inspection of abortion clinics.
The bill would delete a provision of state law that would require a judge to sign off on a warrant before an inspection of any of the nine licensed abortion clinics in the state. This would bring abortion clinics in line with other health care facilities in the state that can be inspected at any time by state health officials.
Republicans say the change has nothing to do with the issue of abortion but rather health conditions for medical facilities.
“What is it that they have to hide?” Representative Debbie Lasko asked of clinic operators and Democratic lawmakers opposed to the bill.
Those who wish to promote and increase abortions said that new law would result in harassment of providers by subjecting them to the same standards used of other health care providers in Arizona.
Those wishing to increase abortions in Arizona celebrated today when the Supreme Court refused to overturn a decision blocking the state’s law blocking abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The Court’s refusal to hear the case leaves the ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in place that said the law preserving the lives of babies after 20 weeks was unconstitutional.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the ban into law in April 2012. Abortion advocates immediately ran to court to have the law struck down.
The appeals court said that the law violated the right to kill a baby through abortion before the child is considered “viable” by the government. The court said that was generally considered to be 24 weeks.
Lawyers representing the state said the ban was not technically a law but a medical regulation because doctors could perform abortions in medical emergencies.
The large object flying through the sky in Tucson Arizona on Tuesday night wasn’t a bird, a plane or Superman.
A large meteor raced across the evening sky causing a sonic boom that shook up residents during dinner. Residents said the boom caused items on shelves to shake and NASA scientists said the meteor was an example of the “sporadic background” meteors that fly through the atmosphere daily.
Scientists did hail the timing of the large meteor because the annual Geminid meteor showers were scheduled to begin tonight. The meteor Tuesday night was identified as not being part of the Geminid meteors because it only moved at 45,000 miles per hour compared to a Geminid’s 78,000 miles per hour.
NASA estimates the meteor was at least 100 pounds and about 16 inches thick to cause the bright flash as it burned up in the atmosphere.
A US Airways Express flight from Texas to Arizona ended up being more dramatic than passengers had expected when they boarded.
First responders boarded the plane upon landing in Phoenix and removed a man who was told to put on a medical mask. A spokesman for US Airways said the airline was notified after the plane left Austin the passenger’s status had been changed to “no-fly” because of medical conditions.
Passengers told Fox News they were told to get tuberculosis tests and vaccinations by a first responder who boarded the plane while it was on the tarmac. Federal and Maricopa County health officials said they had no immediate confirmation the passenger had an infectious disease.
However, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health told ABC15 passengers “faced little risk of contagion.”
Tuberculosis can be spread through the air.
