New England Sun-Times

(Charlotte, North Carolina) - A Charlotte-area woman says her 11-year-old grandson confessed to dropping his sibling and has now been charged by police in the infant’s death. Detectives with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department charged the young boy with felony child abuse for his involvement in the death of 6-month-old Kamdyn Barnell Johnson. The juvenile’s name is not being released due to his age. Police say “the 11 year old is in the custody of his grandparents.” Earlier this week, CMPD announced Wendy Latwann Johnson, seen below, had been charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse causing serious bodily injury in the death of her child. The warrant says that the baby suffered a “subgaleal hemorrhage and hemorrhage to the right eye, injuries to both cheeks, forehead, nose, back of the head, lip, and has a torn frenulum.” The original incident was reported on Nov. 9th. Wendy Latwann Johnson According to a release from CMPD, officers arrived at the home a...

By Leonardo Blair November 13, 2013 | 10:34 am   Pastor Who Killed Self Battled Manic Depression, Struggled to Keep It Secret; Was Taking Medication, Had 'Physical Challenges'      His family knew and were trying to help, but everyone else was in the dark about Pastor Teddy Parker's mental health struggles until he shot himself in his truck in the driveway of his home in Warner Robins, Ga., on Sunday. "Everybody is just kind of stunned right now. I think a lot of people are just trying to understand why that happened. We're just praying to the Lord for guidance on this," Russell Rowland, one of Parker's disciples at Bibb Mount Zion Baptist Church in Macon, Ga., told The Christian Post Tuesday morning. By Tuesday evening, however, the painful truth behind Parker's death began slowly coming to light. "He was suffering with Bipolar (manic depression) and he had some emotional issues...

By  Daniel Burke and Livia Borghese , CNN ROME (CNN) - Pope Francis' crusade against corruption in the Catholic Church, including an overhaul of the scandal-scarred Vatican Bank, has put the new pontiff in the Italian mafia's crosshairs, according to two organized crime experts. "The strong will of Pope Francis, aiming to disrupt the gangrene power centers, puts him at risk. He disturbs the mafia very much," Nicola Gratteri, a top anti-mafia prosecutor in Italy, told CNN on Thursday. "I don't have precise information about a plan of the mafia against Pope Francis," Gratteri continued. "But if I did, I wouldn't say." Gratteri, a deputy prosecutor in Reggio Calabria, a city in southern Italy, is a well-known foe of Calabria's notorious mafia, known as 'Ndrangheta. The mob's anger with the Pope centers on the Vatican Bank, which the new pontiff has tried to reform, according to experts on...

Pastor Teddy Parker of Bibb Mount Zion Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia, committed suicide while his congregation waited for him to arrive on Sunday. The 42-year-old Georgia pastor tragically killed himself with a "self-inflicted gunshot wound" on Nov. 10. The father-of-two's body was discovered by his wife Larrinecia Parker in the driveway of their home after he did not show up for service at his church. Russell Rowland told The Christian Post that Parker had sent his wife and children to church ahead of him on Sunday morning. His family and congregation were waiting for him to show up and preach the message. ADVERTISEMENT "When he didn't show up they went looking for him. I'm very surprised because he didn't preach that. He preached totally against it. It's something that the congregation don't really understand." His death comes as a shock to the church and family, as no one saw it coming. ...

Harvard scientists have discovered a chemical in bear bile that may slow the development of type 1 diabetes, according to a study in the journal Science Translational Medicine . The bitter, yellow-green liquid drained from the innards of a bear is a common ingredient in ma ny traditional Chinese medicines . Stored in the gallbladder of a black bear , bile is thought to cure everything from liver disease to epilepsy. It’s so precious that it costs about half as much as gold, said Gokhan Hotamisligil , a geneticist at Harvard University School of Public Health and a co-author of the study. “The gallbladder of the bear was one of the most valuable voodoo medicines that people used, especially in China,” Hotamisligil said. “It almost made the black bear extinct [in China]. It started illicit harvesting and trafficking of bear gallbladder.” (See  “Endangered Moon Bears Harvested for Bile in Vietnam.” ) The remedy has been prescribed for centu...

A PICTURE SAYS A THOUSAND WORDS... What does THIS picture say to YOU?

A PICTURE SAYS A THOUSAND WORDS: What does THIS picture say to YOU?