Top Stories

This Sunday is Day of Prayer for Persecuted Church

This Sunday, besides being Veteran’s Day, is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.  A lot of churches here in the states will be praying for Christians in other parts of the world.  In North Korea, the underground church is praying for us, and when asked why they said “because Western Christians often put so much faith in their prosperity and political freedoms that most don’t know what it’s like to have to be completely dependent on God.”  Ouch.

Giffords Shooter—And Murderer of Six—Gets Life Without Parole

Tucson shooter Jared Loughner will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.  Yesterday was the official sentencing, and maybe a little closure for the families of the victims.  Loughner was convicted of killing six people and wounding thirteen others, most notably Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.  Cameras were not allowed inside the courthouse, but reports say that Gabby’s husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, addressed Loughner, saying “You may have put a bullet in her head, but you haven’t put a dent in her spirit.”  Kelly then went on to say “(we’re) done thinking about you.”

Veteran’s Day To See Restoration of Mojave Cross

November’s a pretty full month.  Time change, the election, and of course Thanksgiving coming up.  Sandwiched in between those is this Sunday’s celebration of Veteran’s Day.  Some folks in California are getting to celebrate that a little early, with the news that the Mohave Cross will be restored. It was built in 1934 to honor WWI vets and has been the center of controversy, court battles and vandalism over the years.  It is the only WWI Memorial designated by Congress as a National Memorial.

New Jersey Church Steps Up to Serve Storm Victims

Some churches in the northeast are stepping up to help give displaced Sandy victims a nice Thanksgiving dinner - among them Liquid Church, which has 3 campuses in New Jersey.  They’ll have about 25-hundred people serving that weekend.  Afterwards they’ll be fanning out and helping these folks get their homes cleaned up from all the mess.

Navy SEALs Face Punishment

Seven members of the Navy SEAL Team 6 that killed Osama bin laden, have been punished for allegedly disclosing classified information.  The breach reportedly happened as they worked as paid consultants for a video game company that produced “Medal of Honor: Warfighter.”  They’ve all been given what the military calls “non-judicial” punishment, including letters of reprimand, which can be career ending.

Will Puerto Rico Become a State Soon?

The next time we vote for president, there may be 51 states.  Puerto Rico wants to make it official, voting this past week to approve a measure to apply for U-S Statehood.  Congress has to vote on it now, and President Obama says he would respect the outcome of that vote.

Samsung Beats Apple for Smart Phone Market Share

For all of the attention the iPhone gets, Samsung’s Galaxy 3 is now the number one Smartphone on the market.  18 million of them were shipped in the summer months alone.  What’s really nuts is when you combine the Galaxy 3, and the iPhone 4s and iPhone 5 – that’s still less than one-quarter of the Smartphone market.

Some Black Friday Sales Announced

Walmart has released their promotions list for Black Friday, including a 75-dollar Walmart gift card if you buy a new iPad 2.  However that’s only on Thanksgiving Day.  They say they’re going to have enough for everybody that wants one.

Church Around the World

Evangelistic Team Released from Chinese Prison

An evangelistic team that had been detained in China has been released now.  The six people were from a house church there.  They were taken into custody by police a couple of weeks ago for handing out tracts and preaching.  China Aid says they were released on October 31st.

Work

Unemployment Filings Slightly Down

A slight decrease this week in the number of new people filing for unemployment, but it’s still well above the 300-thousand mark.  That’s kind of a magic number that analysts look at to determine recovery.  The latest figures show 355-thousand first time claims, down 8-thousand from the week before.  However, the number filing for extended benefits is up.

Does Overweight Equal Bad Job Risk?

We hear all about America’s jobs problem and the fact that we’re overweight, but could the two be related?  Maybe, if new research out of Sweden is correct.  A study shows employers there often rule out job candidates who are overweight, because of concerns about their discipline and productivity.  Overweight job seekers had an 83-percent lower chance of landing a job than somebody of normal weight.

Finances & Economy

Senate Majority Leader Not Concerned about Raising Debt Ceiling

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says he’s not worried about raising the debt ceiling.  The Nevada Democrat this week said “If we have to raise it, we’ll raise it by another 2.4 trillion dollars.”  The Treasury Department this week announced we’ll probably hit that limit before the end of the year.

Apple Stock Drops

After several months of record high stock prices, Apple has taken a big hit this week, falling almost 4-percent to a five month low.  Some analysts don’t expect them to regain those shares because of greater competition, especially in the tablet market, which is expected to impact Apple sales.

Health

Does Looking Old Mean Shorter Life?

Those extra wrinkles you see in the mirror may be a sign of more problems on the inside.  Danish researchers say they’ve found that people who look old have a greater chance of developing heart disease than younger looking people.  However, one of the criteria they use for “looking old” is people who are bald.

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Super Storm Sandy

Clothed in Compassion

Nick Sippl is from Northern Michigan. He is in New York helping victims of Super Storm Sandy through his job.  Seeing the need first hand, he has organized a clothing drive. He says The police and the National guard were literally not knocking on doors, but kicking in doors to see if anyone was home. They had to be evacuated the water was rising so much. This lady I talked to was about five and a half feet tall. She told me when she came out of the house they were holding their children over their heads. When she came down to the street level, the water was up to her neck. They had pretty much lost everything. When they came in, we got them dried off. "That’s what got me thinking, these people have nothing." If you live in the area, please drop clothing off at Ogemaw Hills Free Methodist Church. Click here for their address and phone number. There's a trailer parked outside where you can place your donation.

Salvation Style

Pearl Foy is using one of the talents God has given her to raise money for Super Storm Sandy victims. She will give it to the victims by way of the Salvation Army. She's organizing a Hair Cut-A-Thon. It will be held on Sunday November 11th from 10am-5pm in the Phoenix Arizona area. There are two locations. One is located at the Turning Point Beauty College in Mesa. The other will be held at Kor Beauty Academy in Peoria. 

Help Salvation Army Relief Efforts with A Simple Text

Text the word "STORM" to 80888. Then respond with a "yes" when the text response comes to you.
 

Give Blood and Money Through Red Cross

Because many blood donation centers on the east coast are closed, it is even more important for we who are out of harm’s way to donate. www.RedCross.org has all you need to know. You may also give money via that web site, or you can give $10 via text message by texting the word “RedCross” to 90999.

Slice of Family Life Nation reaches Out to Sandy victims

Nick Sippl is from Northern Michigan, but he’s in New York right now helping the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  Nick has gone the extra mile to organize a clothing drive after seeing one family’s struggle. Nick told FLR News, “The police and the National guard were literally not knocking on doors, but kicking in doors to see if anyone was home. They had to be evacuated the water was rising so much. This lady I talked to was about five and a half feet tall. She told me when she came out of the house they were holding their children over their heads. When she came down to the street level, the water was up to her neck. They had pretty much lost everything. When they came in, we got them dried off. That’s what got me thinking, these people have nothing.” Nick says the National Guard had to literally kick in some people’s doors to see if they were home.  We’ve got more stories and links up on this page.