Bishop Steven Parrott, the former pastor of Lighthouse Temple in Newark, NJ., pleaded guilty to misconduct by a corporate official. Parrot stole around $158,000 from church parishioners and community members.

Under the plea agreement, Parrott must pay restitution and serve at least three years in state prison.

At least one of Parrott’s victims is homeless, according to the Star-Ledger and the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith, of which Lighthouse Temple is a member, could also be sued.

The accused N.J. church shooter is captured. Police captured the man police say shot and killed his wife at a Clifton, N.J., church on Sunday.  Joseph M. Pallipurath was arrested around midnight Monday in Monroe, Ga., east of Atlanta, New Jersey district U.S. Marshal James Plousis told The Associated Press. Read more here.

It marks the first time in 50 years a U.S. leader goes to the North African nation.
Secretary Rice will visit ex-enemy Libya. When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to Libya this, it will mark the first time a U.S. secretary of state has visited the former enemy in more than a half-century. It’s a historic stop,” spokesman Sean McCormack said, noting that Rice will be the first secretary of state to visit Libya since John Foster Dulles in 1953 and the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit since then-Vice President Richard Nixon in 1957. “In that period of time, we’ve had a man land on the moon, the Internet, the Berlin Wall fall, and we’ve had 10 U.S. presidents.” The trip to the oil-rich North African nation is designed to open a new era of U.S.-Libyan relations at a time when the United States is desperate for new sources of petroleum. The State Department removed Libya, once dubbed by President Ronald Reagan the “Mad Dog of the Middle East,” from the international terrorist list after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi began renouncing terrorism and owning up to the infamous bombings, such as that of Pan Am Flight 103, for which he compensated the families of victims $3 billion. While in Tripoli, Rice is expected to raise the case of Fathi al-Jahmi, 67, a seriously ill political prisoner, who has been jailed or held in a hospital for the past six years. His brother, Mohammed, lives in Boston and has been prodding Bush administration to get involved in securing his release.  Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights have sent Rice a deluge of recent letters urging her to raise Jahmi’s case and other human rights issues when she meets with Gadhafi, The Washington Post reports. “We have followed this case,” said Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch. “We have been discussing it for some time with the Libyan government. We expect it to be discussed [by Rice] in forthcoming meetings in Tripoli.”

One in four Americans struggles with health care costs. Roughly one in four Americans (24 percent) continues to struggle with health care costs, according to the latest Kaiser election 2008 tracking poll. Health care ranks as a “serious problem,” above paying for food (18 percent), problems with debt (16 percent) and paying the rent or mortgage (15 percent), and below paying for gas (37 percent) or getting a good-paying job or raise in pay (26 percent). Half of the people who were uninsured say that paying for health care is a serious concern. Members of two minority groups, Hispanics (39 percent) and African Americans (35 percent), say problems paying for care are particularly a concern.

Mercer University gets $3.1 million to fight diabetes. The National Institutes of Health awarded Dr. John Boltri, a physician at the Mercer University School of Medicine, $3.1 million for church-based diabetes-prevention and education programs. Mercer medical professors will be working with The Medical Center of Central Georgia in a five-year study that will launch next spring, said Boltri, who conducted earlier research showing that the rate of diabetes was 50 percent higher in Blacks than in Whites. “We’re going into African-American churches and doing screenings for diabetes,” said Boltri, a physician at the Family Health Center in Macon. “We’re looking to see who has pre-diabetes.” Boltri said his research started a few years ago when he was looking at ways to prevent diabetes. His studies showed a higher risk in Blacks. Working with researchers from the University of Connecticut-Hartford, Boltri and his team developed a detailed program, which will use a combination of education and religion to try to reduce the risk of the disease. The educational component involves improving diets, reducing fat, increasing physical activity and making the participants more aware of the complications diabetics face. “We’re going to ask people to keep a diary of the foods they eat and switch to lower-fat foods,” he said. Monique Davis-Smith, another researcher from Mercer’s Department of Family Medicine, said religion will also play a part in the program. “We’re going to encourage prayer as part of the program and bringing knowledge of one’s own faith [to the program],” she said. “We’re encouraging people to lean on their faith.”

One in four Americans struggles with health care costs. Roughly one in four Americans (24 percent) continues to struggle with health care costs, according to the latest Kaiser election 2008 tracking poll. Health care ranks as a “serious problem,” above paying for food (18 percent), problems with debt (16 percent) and paying the rent or mortgage (15 percent), and below paying for gas (37 percent) or getting a good-paying job or raise in pay (26 percent). Half of the people who were uninsured say that paying for health care is a serious concern. Members of two minority groups, Hispanics (39 percent) and African Americans (35 percent), say problems paying for care are particularly a concern.

Mercer University gets $3.1 million to fight diabetes. The National Institutes of Health awarded Dr. John Boltri, a physician at the Mercer University School of Medicine, $3.1 million for church-based diabetes-prevention and education programs. Mercer medical professors will be working with The Medical Center of Central Georgia in a five-year study that will launch next spring, said Boltri, who conducted earlier research showing that the rate of diabetes was 50 percent higher in Blacks than in Whites. “We’re going into African-American churches and doing screenings for diabetes,” said Boltri, a physician at the Family Health Center in Macon. “We’re looking to see who has pre-diabetes.” Boltri said his research started a few years ago when he was looking at ways to prevent diabetes. His studies showed a higher risk in Blacks. Working with researchers from the University of Connecticut-Hartford, Boltri and his team developed a detailed program, which will use a combination of education and religion to try to reduce the risk of the disease. The educational component involves improving diets, reducing fat, increasing physical activity and making the participants more aware of the complications diabetics face. “We’re going to ask people to keep a diary of the foods they eat and switch to lower-fat foods,” he said. Monique Davis-Smith, another researcher from Mercer’s Department of Family Medicine, said religion will also play a part in the program. “We’re going to encourage prayer as part of the program and bringing knowledge of one’s own faith [to the program],” she said. “We’re encouraging people to lean on their faith.”

White man files $6 million discrimination suit. Kevin Stevens, a 46-year-old air-conditioning maintenance worker, is suing the school board in Annapolis for $6 million, saying he’s been getting passed over for manager posts because he’s White. Stevens, who has been with the county school system for the past 28 years, says that he has been trying to move up for the past year and a half. “The hiring authority won’t allow me to advance,” Stevens told The Capital newspaper. “You work so hard, and you attain all these licenses and advanced education, and when no one will allow you to move, it’s very frustrating.” Stevens fixes heating and air-conditioning systems in county schools, but a year ago, he sought a post as night quality-control manager, according to his lawsuit. In that capacity, he would have been in charge of supervising night housekeeping crews in the schools. The Black man promoted instead worked under him for the past several years, says Stevens, noting that he has received high ratings on his evaluations and “has more letters of recommendation and more experience than the man who got the job,” the Capital reports. The supervisor of the operations division is also African American, which Stevens says is the reason he was not promoted.

Black weekly ceases printing amid money woes. After 16 years, The Bay View has bottled up the ink. From now on, according to founder Mary Ratcliff, the Oakland-based African-American weekly will be available online only. “This is not a goodbye to you, our beloved readers, though,” she promised her readers. “As the headline suggests, the Bay View’s not dead; we’ll see you on the Web! We’re pouring all our energy into improving our Web site, www.sfbayview.com, which has already recovered from a bad hacking enough to draw over a million hits a month.” She said that the printed version of the newspaper has been “a labor of love and the love,” but she and husband Willie Ratcliff were never able to make it profitable – or even sustainable. “Now we’ve had to face the reality that we’re flat out of funds or any source to tap.”

She was accused of roughing up a flight attendant

It took a jury just a couple hours Thursday to kick a flight attendant to the curb who had accused the wife of mega-preacher Joel Osteen of assaulting her in a racist rant over a first-class seat. The case centered on Sharon Brown, an African-American attendant with Continental Airlines, who sued Victoria Osteen for $405,000, claiming that Osteen slammed her against a bathroom door, elbowed her in her breast and attempted to storm the cockpit during a December 2005 flight from Houston to Vail, Colo. Brown’s claims were supported by another flight attendant, Maria Johnson, who is White. Johnson testified earlier in the week that she believes race was a factor because Victoria Osteen told her that she did not want to deal with Brown or the other African-American flight attendant during the trip. But the 12 jurors didn’t buy the story, perhaps agreeing more with Victoria Osteen’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, who characterized the charges as nothing more than a money-grab. “I’m glad it’s over,” Victoria Osteen said afterward. “I expected it because it’s the truth and I know the truth always stands firm.” Brown expressed disappointment. “We gave the truth to the jury,” she said. “We are happy we had an opportunity to try our case.” Victoria and Joel Osteen co-pastor the Lakewood Church in Houston, which draws 42,000 each week at a football stadium.

A Black man now heads Zale. Jewelry giant Zale Corp. has named an African American to head the firm, saying the promotion shows the company’s commitment to a diverse workforce. Named to the post was Theo Killion, 57, who used to be the executive vice president of human resources and legal and corporate strategy. “Theo is an outstanding manager with tremendous experience and leadership skills,” said CEO Neal Goldberg in a statement. While much of the business and economic world is staggering from a shaky economy, Zale has sparkled, raking in a whopping $2 billion in sales last year. Zale has more than 2,200 stores, and operates in retail locations throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Zale’s Jewelers, Zale’s Outlet and Gordon’s Jewelers are all Zale brands.

The Rev. C.A.W. Clark was pastor at the first Black mega-church in Dallas.
The Rev. C.A.W. Clark, a renowned Dallas minister – named by Ebony magazine as one of America’s 15 greatest African-American preachers of the 20th century, has died. He was 93. For more than a half-century, Caesar Arthur Walter Clark served as pastor of Dallas’ Good Street Baptist Church, which many consider the city’s first Black mega-church. “This is the passing of an era. We won’t see his likes again,” the Rev. Gerald Britt Jr., a vice president at Central Dallas Ministries, told The Dallas Morning News. “He was a master of the pulpit. He influenced generations of preachers.” Ordained in 1933, the Shreveport, La., native got his first assignment as pastor at Israelite Baptist Church in Longstreet, La. He was 19 at the time. He took over at Good Street in 1950. “Everybody who know anything about black Baptist life is familiar with C.A.W. Clark,” said Cleophus LaRue, author of The Heart of Black Preaching, in a 2006 interview with the Dallas newspaper. “He was regarded as one of the great black preachers in the 20th century.” He was 78 in 1993 when Ebony listed him among the 15 greatest Black preachers and “the most sought-after revival preacher there is.”