Author Archives: Jim Bakker Show News

Oklahoma hit by more than 400 earthquakes in first two months of 2016

Oklahoma was shaken by more than 400 earthquakes in the first two months of 2016, the latest in a state that has experienced a marked increase in seismic activity in recent years.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data shows the Sooner State experienced about 430 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or greater in January and February, an average of more than seven per day.

About 240 quakes of that magnitude occurred elsewhere in the continental United States during the same time frame, according to a searchable earthquake archive on the USGS website.

Magnitude 2.5 is the minimum strength reported on the USGS’s earthquake tracker.

Oklahoma rarely experienced earthquakes of that size before 2009, when the state’s seismic activity began to surge. USGS data shows the state was hit by about nine earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or greater in 2008, and that number rose to more than 2,700 last year.

The uptick has been linked to wastewater produced by the oil and gas industries, and state officials have taken steps to limit the amount of wastewater that can be disposed in wells.

Both the USGS and Oklahoma Geological Survey have issued warnings about the increase in earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater, saying the rise in quakes of that size increases the odds that Oklahoma will experience a larger, potentially more damaging earthquake in the future.

USGS data shows Oklahoma felt about 169 quakes of that size in January and February. The rate, an average of more than two per day, places it on pace to break the 2015 total of about 900.

The agency has said that Oklahoma’s average was about two per year between 1978 and 2008.

This year’s events include a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that occurred on Feb. 13 near Fairview. That is the state’s third-largest quake on record, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey.

Three days later, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission announced it was implementing its biggest plan to reduce wastewater disposal yet, affecting 245 disposal wells across more than 5,200 square miles. Researchers recommended the plan should be implemented gradually over the next two months to avoid sudden pressure changes, the commission said in a news release.

In late January, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin announced that $1.4 million would be withdrawn from the state’s emergency fund and given to earthquake researchers and regulators.

Michigan couple blessed with 2nd Leap Day baby

Since Leap Days only occur once every four years, the odds of giving birth to a child on Feb. 29 are relatively small to begin with. So what are the odds of parents having two Leap Day babies?

That’s exactly what happened to one Michigan couple.

Columbus residents Chad and Melissa Croff welcomed their daughter, Evelyn Joy, into the world at 3:06 a.m. Monday, the Henry Ford Health System announced in a news release.

The 6-pound, 9-ounce girl was born four years to the day after her big sister, Eliana Adaya.

Henry Ford officials said both sisters were natural births. Evelyn was born at the system’s Macomb Hospital, while Eliana was born at the system’s hospital in West Bloomfield.

“It’s quite the miracle,” Maureen Heinz, the nurse midwife who delivered Evelyn, said in a statement. “It’s not something they tried or planned to do, and she wasn’t induced. It was all by chance.”

The hospital said Evelyn was due on Feb. 19, but arrived 10 days late.

In a statement, Melissa Croff said she went into labor while attending church on Sunday.

“I didn’t expect the possibility of them being born on the same day, let alone on Leap Day, until I went into labor,” the mother said.

Civil war fuels ‘dire’ food situation in Central African Republic

Millions of people in the war-torn Central African Republic are at risk of going hungry because the three-year conflict has disrupted food supplies, two United Nations agencies said Tuesday.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued a joint statement about their newly released report on food security in the African nation, where a civil war erupted in December 2012 and triggered an economic collapse the following year.

The report found that 58 percent of the country’s 4.6 million residents needed immediate humanitarian assistance, as crop production had improved last year but levels were still less than half of what they were before the crisis began. Prices of groundnuts, wheat flour, beef and fish had surged, and two-thirds of people surveyed reported they had less food than in 2014.

“The situation is dire. Half of the population faces hunger,” Bienvenu Djossa, the WFP’s country director in the Central African Republic, said in a statement. “It is crucial that we continue helping the most vulnerable, who need emergency food assistance to survive.”

Total crop production stood at 838,671 metric tons last year, the agencies said in a news release, about 54 percent below its pre-civil-war average. The agencies added killings and lootings have cut the country’s cattle population in half in three years, and goat and sheep populations fell 57 percent in that time. Fishermen are also catching about 60 percent fewer fish than in past years.

The agencies said food prices in the Central African Republic surged even higher after the capital city of Bangui saw an uptick in violence last September. Groundnut prices in the city were up 74 percent from their 2012 levels, while fish prices were up 70 percent and the cost of beef doubled.

The prices of maize and cassava either dropped or remained steady, the report found, but that was largely because the violence disrupted trade activities and kept the products close to Bangui.

The U.N. Refugee Agency says more than 1 million people have been displaced in the conflict.

The WFP and FAO appealed for $175 million for humanitarian efforts in the Central African Republic, as well as nearby countries that are hosting some of the republic’s 470,000 refugees.

Religion met with growing hostility in America, new report finds

The United States is seeing a growing number of cases of religious discrimination and persecution, according to a new report from an religious freedom advocacy group.

The First Liberty Institute, formerly known as the Liberty Institute, released its annual look into the state of religious freedoms in the United States on Friday.

The 376-page report titled “Undeniable: The Survey of Hostility to Religion In America” contains 1,285 of what the nonprofit calls “attacks on religion in America.”

In a news release, the organization claims that number has doubled since it first published the annual report in 2012. But the most recent report includes older cases, some of which date back to the 1980s, that were not among the 600 cases that were published in the group’s first report.

Still, the new report contains dozens of cases that worked their way through the legal system or were mentioned in media reports in 2015. The organization has said it handled more than 400 religious liberty cases last year, a record total, and was bracing to eclipse that number in 2016.

“Hostility to religion in America is rising like floodwaters, as proven by the increased numbers of cases and attacks documented in this report,” First Liberty Institute President, CEO and Chief Counsel Kelly Shackelford wrote in the report. “This flood is engulfing ordinary citizens who simply try to live normal lives according to their faith and conscience.”

The report details cases in schools, churches, ministries, the military and the public arena.

In his introduction to the report, Shackelford argues that the hostility is a “national problem” that should concern all Americans — not just those of faith — because of its broad impacts.

“Religious freedom is in the First Amendment because all other freedoms rest upon it. Without the concept of a higher authority to make government accountable to unchanging principles of justice, all other freedoms are at risk of being violated, redefined, or revoked by government,” he wrote.

The report contains a broad range of allegations of religious discrimination against people of a variety of faiths. Notably, they include a high school football coach in Washington State who was suspended after he prayed on the 50-yard line, a substitute teacher in New Jersey who was fired after he gave a student a Bible, a Jewish prisoner who was denied Kosher meals and a Muslim woman who said a clothing store did not hire her because of her religious headscarf.

Shackelford concluded his introduction on a positive note, writing “the vast majority” of challenges to religious freedoms in the report were illegal and would not hold up in court.

“It succeeds only because of its own bluff and the passivity of its victims,” he wrote. “Hostility to religion can be defeated in the legal system—but only if challenged by Americans like you.”

Officials in Mexico investigating theft of radioactive material iridium-192

Mexican authorities are investigating the theft of a pickup truck that was transporting potentially dangerous radioactive material, the country’s interior ministry said Sunday.

Officials were notified of the vehicle’s theft on Saturday, according to a news release.

The ministry said the truck was transporting a container of iridium-192, a radioactive material used in industrial radiography. Officials say the material does not pose a threat to anyone if it remains in its container, but it “represents a major health risk” if it were to be removed.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), iridium-192 gives off strong gamma radiation, and exposure can be deadly. It could also cause burns or radiation sickness.

In its news release, Mexico’s interior ministry said anyone who does not handle the material properly could experience “permanent or serious injury” in a matter of minutes or hours.

It encouraged anyone who locates the material to stay at least 30 meters away from it.

The theft was reported by an industrial maintenance center in San Juan del Rio, according to the ministry, a city about 130 miles northwest of Mexico City in the country’s Queretaro district.

Authorities in Queretaro and five other nearby districts have been notified of its disappearance.

This is at least the fourth time that radioactive material has been stolen in Mexico in the past four years, according to past news releases. The material was found in all three prior cases.

In April 2015, the ministry announced that a container of iridium-192 was stolen out of a pickup truck in Cadenas. The container was located nine days later, unopened, on a pedestrian bridge.

The previous July, Mexico’s interior ministry announced that it had located stolen radioactive material in Tlalnepantla de Baz, and the recovered material did not pose a danger to the public.

The International Atomic Energy Agency announced in early December 2013 that a pickup truck carrying cobalt-60 was stolen near Mexico City, though the undamaged material was found two days later in a field close to where the theft occurred.

IRS notifying more taxpayers about potential data breach

Hackers may have accessed the tax transcripts of approximately 724,000 United States taxpayers by using stolen personal information, the Internal Revenue Service announced Friday.

The agency also said hackers targeted another 576,000 accounts, but could not access them.

The announcement followed a nine-month investigation into its “Get Transcript” application.

The tool was launched in January 2014 and gave taxpayers a way to download or order several years of their transcripts through the IRS website.

However, the agency announced last May that “criminals” had been able to access other tax histories that were not their own by using personal information that had been stolen elsewhere.

The IRS originally announced that about 114,000 transcripts may have been improperly accessed, while hackers targeted another 111,000 but were unsuccessful in their attempts.

The tool has been offline ever since while officials searched for other suspicious activity.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has handled the investigations.

In August, the IRS announced TIGTA found about another 220,000 cases of potential breaches since “Get Transcript” debuted, and about 170,000 more unsuccessful suspicious attempts.

On Friday, the IRS announced TIGTA’s latest review found about 390,000 potential additional cases of improper access, and some 295,000 cases where tax data was targeted but not obtained.

The IRS noted that some of the attempts might not have been malicious.

“It is possible that some of those identified may be family members, tax return preparers or financial institutions using a single email address to attempt to access more than one account,” it said in a statement, though added it is notifying all of the affected taxpayers as a precaution.

The latest wave of taxpayers will be notified through the mail beginning Feb. 29, the IRS said.

“The IRS is committed to protecting taxpayers on multiple fronts against tax-related identity theft, and these mailings are part of that effort,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in Friday’s announcement. “We appreciate the work of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to identify these additional taxpayers whose accounts may have been accessed.”

The agency is offering all affected taxpayers free identity theft protection services and the chance to obtain an identity protection PIN, which helps protect Social Security numbers on returns.

Israeli archaeologists discover fabrics dating to time of David and Solomon

Archaeologists from Tel Aviv University have discovered artifacts dating back to the time of David and Solomon, the school announced this week.

Tiny pieces of fabric, seeds and leather are among the 3,000-year-old artifacts that the excavation team unearthed, the university said Wednesday in a news release.

The fabrics were a particularly important discovery, the school said, as they provide the first glimpse into what Holy Land inhabitants wore during that time period.

“No textiles have ever been found at excavation sites like Jerusalem, Megiddo and Hazor, so this provides a unique window into an entire aspect of life from which we’ve never had physical evidence before,” Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef, who led the excavation team, said in a statement.

The archaeologists were digging at copper mines in the Timna Valley, which some believe to be the location of King Solomon’s mines. The university said the desert climate of southern Israel helped preserve the artifacts, which included scraps of bags, tents, ropes and clothing.

In a statement, Ben-Yosef said the broad collection of textile fragments helped illustrate the society of the Edomites, who are believed to have worked in the mines.

The Bible says the Edomites were Esau’s descendants and often sparred with the Israelites.

Among the discoveries were intricately decorated “luxury grade fabric,” which Ben-Yosef said would have been worn by the skilled craftsmen whose duties involved smelting copper from ore.

“If a person had the exceptional knowledge to ‘create copper,’ he was considered well-versed in an extremely sophisticated technology,” Ben-Yosef said in a statement. “He would have been considered magical or supernatural, and his social status would have reflected this.”

The university said the excavation team also discovered linen, which was not produced in Timna and suggests the Edomites had likely set up trade networks. The team also discovered grain and fruit seeds, and modern advances will allow them to reconstruct wine typical of that period.

Bibles survive as tornado flattens 145-year-old Virginia church

Tornadoes caused widespread damage throughout the Gulf and Atlantic coasts earlier this week, though some of the most severe destruction was reported in Virginia.

Reports to the National Weather Service indicate tornadoes caused major damage to buildings throughout the state on Wednesday, and the Virginia State Police said four people were killed.

One of those tornadoes destroyed a 145-year-old church in Tappahannock, local television station WTVR reported, but about two dozen Bibles and song books survived the destruction.

The National Weather Service’s storm reports show that an EF3 tornado, a classification that is capable of producing winds from 136 to 165 mph, tore through Tappahannock on Wednesday.

WTVR reported that no one at the church was injured, as a planned bible study had been cancelled ahead of the severe weather, but at least 25 people were injured elsewhere in town.

Tappahannock is located in Essex County, about 95 miles south of Washington.

Elsewhere, local officials said tornadoes killed two people in Louisiana and another in Mississippi on Tuesday, while a falling tree killed a man in South Carolina on Wednesday.

13 bald eagles found dead in Maryland, $25,000 reward offered

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to determine who or what killed the 13 bald eagles that were recently found dead in a Maryland community.

According to a news release from the service, a citizen on Saturday discovered some of the deceased birds in a field in Federalsburg, a town in the center of the Delmarva peninsula.

Investigators searched the area and ultimately found 13 bald eagle carcasses, the service said.

The iconic eagles are the official bird of the United States and appear on the country’s Great Seal and currency. While the eagles were moved off the endangered species list in 2007, the service says the birds are still protected under federal laws that criminalize killing or wounding them.

Anyone found guilty of violating the Bald and Gold Eagle Protection Act can be fined up to $100,000 and sentenced to a year in prison, according to the service, which is teaming up with a variety of animal protection groups to offer a reward for information that leads to a conviction.

The total reward stood at $25,000 following a $15,000 pledge from the Center for Biological Diversity, the nonprofit organization said in a news release. The center added the 13 bald eagle deaths are the most that Maryland has experienced in any one incident in more than 30 years.

“For many Americans the bald eagle represents freedom and strength,” Catherine Kilduff, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “The unthinkable death of 13 birds at once stands in stark contrast to the ideals this majestic wild animal personifies.”

Authorities believe the birds might have been poisoned, according to the center.

“If they were poisoned or shot, the heartbreaking deaths of these 13 bald eagles is a crime,” Kilduff said in a statement. “Those responsible need to be caught and prosecuted.”

Officials investigating another suspected case of ISIS using chemical weapons

Officials are investigating if the Islamic State used chemical weapons in a recent attack in Iraq.

The Kurdistan Regional Security Council and officials from the United States-led coalition against the Islamic State are looking into Thursday’s events, the council tweeted on Friday.

According to the council, Islamic State militants used homemade rockets in an attack on the town of Sinjar, which is located about 80 miles west of Mosul in northern Iraq.

Dozens of civilians and Peshmerga military forces subsequently vomited, experienced nausea or had trouble breathing and received treatment, the council tweeted. It did not say if anyone died.

Officials did not specify which chemical the Islamic State is believed to have used in the attack.

If the investigation does confirm a chemical weapon was used, the council said it would be the eighth time that the Islamic State used the substances in their attacks against Peshmerga forces.

The council tweeted last March that it believed the Islamic State used chlorine in a car bomb attack in Iraq in January 2015, saying soil and clothing samples contained evidence of its use.

The council has also tweeted it has evidence the Islamic State used mustard gas in prior attacks, saying some 35 Peshmerga forces were exposed during an August 2015 shelling near Erbil, Iraq.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has also said it was concerned about chlorine gas being used in various attacks in Syrian villages in 2014.

An OPCW fact-finding mission into the attacks in Syria did not address who used the chlorine.

More than 190 countries have agreed to a 1997 United Nations treaty on chemical weapons, which prohibits their use or production and calls for nations to destroy their existing arsenals.