Washington Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib will not seek re-election in order to join the Jesuits

Cyrus Habib, the lieutenant governor of Washington, will not seek re-election and is entering the Society of Jesus this fall, the lieutenant governor and the Society of Jesus confirmed to America on March 19.

“I’ve felt a calling to dedicate my life in a more direct and personal way to serving the marginalized, empowering the vulnerable, healing those suffering from spiritual wounds, and accompanying those discerning their own futures,” Mr. Habib wrote in an essay published in America, explaining his announcement.

Mr. Habib, 38, interrupts what had been a rapid political ascent, from his election as a state representative in 2012, an election to state senator in 2014 and finally to lieutenant governor in 2016. Born to Iranian immigrants in Maryland, he is the first and only Iranian-American to hold statewide elected office.

Mr. Habib is also a three-time cancer survivor and has been blind since the age of 8.

Louisiana driver pulled over with expired 1997 license plate tags

A Slidell Police Department officer pulled over a man for an expired license plate that hadn't been renewed since 1997, they said on Facebook.

When the officer asked the man why, the driver replied, "Sorry, officer. I've been busy lately and totally forgot to renew my vehicle registration. I will take care of it as soon as I get home," police said.

Louisiana drivers are required to renew their tags every two years.

Former UAW President Owen Bieber dies at 90

Source: WOOD TV8

Owen Bieber, who led the United Auto Workers union from the auto industry’s dark days of the early 1980s to the prosperity of the mid-1990s, has died. He was 90.

Neither as charismatic as his predecessor, Douglas Fraser, nor as confrontational as his successor, Stephen Yokich, the low-key Bieber had an easygoing manner that belied his 6-foot-4, 265-pound frame and the results he produced at the bargaining table.

Taking over as its president in 1983, Bieber shepherded the UAW through a recession, the Reagan era, industry downsizing and rapidly expanding global competition. Bieber led the UAW through contract talks that won its members wages, benefits and job and income security that were unmatched in other major U.S. industries.

Under Bieber, the UAW also actively supported the Solidarity labor movement, which challenged Poland’s Communist government, and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Bieber traveled to South Africa twice, raising the alarm about the imprisonment of labor activists and smuggling images of torture out of the country. In 1986, he was arrested while marching at the South African embassy in Washington D.C.

Read more: https://www.woodtv.com/news/michigan/former-uaw-president-owen-bieber-dies-aged-90/?fbclid=IwAR25y-2z6f3SnHl9B3FmRwR8NTtgHOdWqW8faMs4OIkJNBfBd5yiUW4lF18

37 years after immigrating from Poland, Wasthenaw County lawyer becomes judge

Anna Frushour arrived in the United States 37 years ago, after her family fled Poland as a Communist regime instituted martial law.

Flash forward to 2020: The law is now in her hands.

In a court room packed with family, colleagues and political figures, the former Ann Arbor public defender was sworn in as a judge of Washtenaw County’s 14A District Court on Friday, Jan. 31.

Pope Francis remakes the American hierarchy, one bishop at a time

But if change is slow, the direction is clear, and Francis, like popes before him, is slowly filling the American hierarchy with bishops who reflect his values and priorities.

That's what happened last week when Francis accepted the resignation of Chaput, the conservative culture warrior who turned 75 in September, and appointed Nelson Perez to be the next archbishop of Philadelphia. Since 2017, Perez has been bishop of Cleveland, where he had succeeded an unpopular bishop who had been tainted by his association with disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston.

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Rather, the most noticeable change between Perez and Chaput will be one of style. Chaput saw himself as an intellectual who had to take on American culture and politics when he thought it was out of line with church teaching. If he had not been a priest, he would have been happy as a conservative academic, commentator or talk radio host.

With Chaput's retirement, the conservative bishops in the U.S. have lost their intellectual leader and the American church has reached a turning point. Chaput and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, who died in 2015, had been the most forceful conservative voices in the American hierarchy for a generation. With both of them gone, we will see a more pastoral vision of Catholicism promoted by the bishops.

Michigan teen beats cancer, smashes 3-D replica of his tumor

Henry Dai, 17, found out he beat cancer and celebrated by beating his cancer - with a sledgehammer on Friday, Jan. 24.

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For the past eight months, the East Kentwood High School junior has undergone chemotherapy for a tumor in his chest. After successful treatment, Dai is now in remission. His oncologist, Dr. David Hogstra, had the idea for Dai to destroy a print of his tumor and even brought the hammer from home.

Des Moines Register Endorses Warren!

Each of the remaining candidates campaigning across Iowa ahead of the caucuses could make a fine president. Each would be more inclusive and thoughtful than the current occupant of the White House. Each would treat truth as something that matters. Each would conduct foreign policy by coalition building rather than by whim and tweet.

The outstanding caliber of Democratic candidates makes it difficult to choose just one.

But ultimately Iowa caucusgoers need to do that. Who would make the best president at this point in the country’s history? At a time when the economic deck has become so stacked against working Americans that the gap between rich and poor is the highest in more than 50 years? At a time when a generation of war has stressed military families and sapped the treasury?

The Des Moines Register editorial board endorses Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses as the best leader for these times.

'Lolita' star Sue Lyon dies at 73

Source: NBC

Sue Lyon, who was cast in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" at the age of 14, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 73.

Lyon's longtime friend Phil Syracopoulos told the New York Times she had been experiencing poor health for some time.

Lyon's acting career lasted from 1959 to 1980, with her most significant role as the title character in the 1962 Kubrick film based on Vladimir Nabokov's novel about a middle-aged man who becomes sexually obsessed with a young girl. Lyon earned the part over 800 girls that auditioned; Nabokov described her as "the perfect nymphet."

While Nabokov's 1955 novel was seen as scandalous, the film was less so due in part to the restrictive Motion Picture Production Code.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/lolita-star-sue-lyon-dies-73-n1108126

Thousands of koalas feared dead in wildfire-ravaged area north of Sydney

Source: CBS

Thousands of koalas are feared to have died in a wildfire-ravaged area north of Sydney, further diminishing Australia's iconic marsupial, while the fire danger increased in the country's east on Saturday as temperatures soared.

The mid-northern coast of New South Wales was home to up to 28,000 koalas, but wildfires have significantly reduced their population. Koalas are native to Australia and are one of the country's most beloved animals, but they've been under threat due to a loss of habitat.

"Up to 30% of their habitat has been destroyed," Australia's environment minister, Sussan Ley, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "We'll know more when the fires are calmed down and a proper assessment can be made."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wildfires-in-australia-thousands-of-koalas-feared-dead-north-of-sydney-2019-12-28/

German bishops commit to 'newly assessing' Catholic doctrine on homosexuality and sexual morality

The German bishops’ conference has committed to “newly assessing” the universal Church’s teaching on homosexuality, sexual morality in general, as well as the sacraments of ordination and marriage. The commitment comes at the beginning of a controversial two-year “Synodal Process” by the German hierarchy.

Following consultations in Berlin last week, the chairman of the Marriage and Family Commission of the German bishops’ conference declared that the bishops agreed that homosexuality is a “normal form” of human sexual identity.

“The sexual preference of man expresses itself in puberty and assumes a hetero- or homosexual orientation,” Berlin’s Archbishop Heiner Koch asserted in a statement released by the bishops’ conference.


“Both belong to the normal forms of sexual predisposition, which cannot or should be be changed with the help of a specific socialization”.