In Other News: United Methodists are breaking up in a slow-motion schism; To hold House, Democrats eye GOP-held districts won by Biden

Published 12:00 am Saturday, October 15, 2022

United Methodists are breaking up in a slow-motion schism

The United Methodist Church, long a mainstay of the American religious scene, is beginning to fracture. Hundreds of churches have already disaffiliated from the denomination this year, with hundreds more moving toward the exits. Many plan to join the newly created Global Methodist Church, formed by conservatives frustrated by continued defiance of denominational bans on same-sex marriages and the ordaining of openly LGBTQ pastors. So far the majority of congregations are staying, but several of the largest are planning to leave. The breakup comes amid mutual accusations of hardball tactics and spreading falsehoods.

Will to live, life jackets: Boaters survive 28 hours, sharksTwo anglers whose boat sank over the weekend in the Gulf of Mexico clung to an improvised float and fought off sharks while the third swam to search for help. Swimmer Phong Le tells ABC News he found a cellphone signal, and sent a Google map of his location just before his battery died. The three had been in the water since about 10 a.m. Saturday. Luan Nguyen tells the network that sharks showed up Sunday morning, and one bit the front of his life vest. He says he jabbed his thumbs into its eyes. A Coast Guard crewman tells The Associated Press that even as the two men were pulled from the water, sharks were circling and harassing them.

To hold House, Democrats eye GOP-held districts won by BidenGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — While preparing to march in a Saturday morning parade through this fast-growing city’s westside, Democratic congressional candidate Hillary Scholten warned her staff that the area was traditionally very conservative and they should brace for possible booing. But the crowd lining Fulton Street to mark the region’s Polish pride was friendly. Only one man bellowed what sounded to the candidate like “Go to hell, Hillary!” as she passed. But he also grinned and flashed a thumbs-up later. He’d actually cried, “Give ‘em hell, Hillary!” It’s been 32 years since a Democrat won the House seat where Scholten is competing against Republican John Gibbs. But, its largest city, Grand Rapids, has turned steadily bluer lately, and redrawn congressional maps have converted it from a district that backed Donald Trump for president in 2020 to one that Joe Biden would have carried instead. It’s one of 14 U.S. House seats nationwide that are held by Republicans but that Biden would have won under new maps. As Democrats brace for midterm defeats that could erase their narrow, five-seat control of the House, a chance to limit the damage may lie in flipping Republican-held seats that voted for Biden to stanch the effect of losses elsewhere around the country.