News Briefs for February 15, 2019
News reports from Pocatello, Idaho; Jamaica, Loma Linda University, the Bahamas and Paradise, California.
According to Idaho State Journal, the Adventist church in Pocatello, Idaho, has, for the past year, benefited from seven volunteer organists from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who take turns playing the organ for Sabbath services. “It’s been wonderful. The organ would be silent without them,” said Adventist Pastor Marvin Humbert. Former organists at the Adventist church had either died or moved away. The LDS volunteers are students at Idaho State University who stepped up to help when they heard that the Adventist congregation needed assistance.
The Jamaica Information Service reported that General Conference President, Ted Wilson, visited Jamaican Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, in the country’s King’s House on Tuesday, February 5. Wilson is in Jamaica for the Adventist-run Global Leadership Summit 2019.
According to a news report on the Loma Linda University Health website, the National Heart, Blood & Lung Institute recently awarded $3.7 million in grant funds to Hongyu Qiu, MD, PhD, a professor of Basic Sciences in the School of Medicine. The funds come from two grants, one for $2.6 million and the other for $1.1 million, which will be distributed over a period of four and three years, respectively. According to the report, the first grant will examine the role of the newly identified molecule, called valosin-containing protein (VCP), in preventing coronary artery heart disease. The second grant will facilitate study of pressure overload-induced heart failure as a result of chronic hypertension.
The Bahamas’ Eyewitness News reports that three women were arraigned in magistrate’s court on Thursday, February 7, after being accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a local Adventist congregation. The accused were named as Shandera Knowles, 28, Nikia Anderson-Sands, 28, and 21-year-old Shawnta Adderley. The women denied the accusations, pleading not guilty to numerous charges of fraud. They were remanded to the Department of Corrections until an April 8 trial.
According to the Paradise Post, Adventist Health has laid off over 1,300 employees that used to work for Adventist Health Feather River, a hospital in Paradise, California, that suffered substantial damage in the Camp Fire last November. The main hospital building will likely remain closed for at least a year according to Adventist Health. Hospital employees were paid until February 5. Adventist Health submitted a mandatory Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter to the state of California, describing the plan affecting Feather River employees as well as related contract personnel.