Florida Sentinel Bulletin

FOREST HILL, TEXAS  — The Rev. Danny Kirk Sr. greeted everyone walking into his Texas church on Sundays with a big hug and an “I love you.” His weekdays were spent visiting folks in the hospital or mowing lawns and doing household repairs for members in need.

Parishioners, who described Kirk as a dedicated minister with a bubbly personality and a knack for remembering the names of his church’s 800 members, are now looking for answers following his violent death.

Police in the Fort Worth suburb of Forest Hill said Kirk was killed Monday by Derrick Birdow who rammed a car into a wall at his Greater Sweethome Missionary Baptist Church, then chased Kirk and fatally beat him with an electric guitar.

Investigators said they don’t know the motive or if Kirk knew his Birdow, who police subdued by using a taser, but who died after being taken into custody. His name hasn’t been released.

GEORGIA — Pastor Creflo Dollar wants to show the world “the power of a mega-church.” He took up a $234,000 offering from World Changers Church International members to clear all the debt held by the family of Greg McDowell, the man gunned down by former church employee, Floyd Palmer, while leading a prayer service in the church.

“In my book, he’s a hero,” Dollar told his congregation of the 39-year old husband and father. “If those bullets hadn’t been turned on him, there would’ve been more people that would’ve died.”

L-R: (Victim) GREGORY MCDOWELL and (Shooter) FLOYD PALMER

TEXAS — This is not the first time we have heard rumors over Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. being a member of the GOP — especially around election time.

This go-around, a Black Republican group called Raging Elephants is leading the charge with billboards in Dallas that read, “Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. Vote Republican.”

The man behind the billboards is Claver Kamau-Imani, head of Raging Elephants. “The use of Dr. King, because of him being an icon in the community, we feel would be most effective. That’s why we used it,” says Kamau-Imani. “We have the documentation to back the claims we’re making on the billboard.”

One of the billboards is strategically placed. It looks down on the very street that bears that civil rights icon’s name. There are others mostly located in Black communities in Dallas, Houston and Austin. The hope is that the billboards will get some Blacks to consider voting Republican this November.

President Barack Obama on Thursday became the first U. S. president to cast an early vote in person. He also became the first president to hear the words: “I need an I.D.”

The president flew home to Chicago’s Kenwood neighborhood to cast his early ballot. Democrats are encouraging their supporters to vote early, to avoid the long lines and potential voter I.D. hang-ups on Election Day.

“I very much appreciate everybody here,” the President said at the early voting site. “It’s good to be home back in the neighborhood.”

But the most famous man in the world still had to prove who he was.

An early voting official looked at the president and smiled: “I need an I.D.”

That was met with laughter, including from Pres. Obama, who then joked about his license photo.

SHIP BOTTOM, NJ  — Forget distinctions like tropical storm or hurricane. Don’t get fixated on a particular track. Wherever it hits, the behemoth storm plodding up the East Coast will afflict a third of the country with sheets of rain, high winds and heavy snow, say officials who warned millions in coastal areas to get out of the way.

“We’re looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people,” said Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As Hurricane Sandy trekked north from the Caribbean – where it left nearly five dozen dead – to meet two other powerful winter storms, experts said it didn’t matter how strong the storm was when it hit land: The rare hybrid storm that follows will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes.

Governors from North Carolina, where steady rains were whipped by gusting winds Saturday night, to Connecticut declared states of emergency. Delaware ordered mandatory evacuations for coastal communities by 8 p.m. Sunday.

The FBI and U. S. Postal Service inspectors are investigating bogus official-looking letters sent to voters in at least 28 Florida counties questioning their citizenship and their eligibility to vote.

David Couvertier, a spokesman for the FBI in Tampa, said his office opened up an investigation into the possible attempt at voter intimidation on Wednesday after receiving reports that eligible voters throughout the state have received the letters.

“We’re taking it as a serious situation,” he said. “We’re looking at everything from civil rights violations to election fraud — to everything in between.”

Chris Cate, a spokesman for the Florida Secretary of State’s Office, said, “We believe these  letters appear to meet the standard of voter intimidation.” Between 50 and 100 such letters have been reported to state officials so far, “and those are only the ones we know about. We’re encouraging people to come forward.”

The fake letters, which first started showing up last Friday, have been sent under the names of real Florida county election supervisors — with some correct contact information — informing the voters that the supervisors have received “information” about their citizenship status, “bringing into doubt your eligibility as a registered voter.”

DETROIT  — A teenage boy has been sentenced to serve 25 to 50 years in prison for killing his 36-year-old mother in their Detroit home.

Joshua Smith was sentenced Friday in Wayne County Circuit Court.

The 14-year-old shot and killed his mom, Tamiko Robinson as she slept on Feb. 27. Police say the shooting followed an argument.

Smith was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in September.

In a statement to police, Smith said he was tired of being called names. His stepfather’s shotgun was used to kill Robinson.

WASHINGTON  — Racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since the United States elected its first Black President, an Associated Press poll finds, as a slight majority of Americans now express prejudice toward blacks whether they recognize those feelings or not.

Those views could cost President Barack Obama votes as he tries for re-election, the survey found, though the effects are mitigated by some Americans’ more favorable views of Blacks.

Racial prejudice has increased slightly since 2008 whether those feelings were measured using questions that explicitly asked respondents about racist attitudes, or through an experimental test that measured implicit views toward race without asking questions about that topic directly.

In all, 51 percent of Americans now express explicit anti-Black attitudes, compared with 48 percent in a similar 2008 survey. When measured by an implicit racial attitudes test, the number of Americans with anti-black sentiments jumped to 56 percent, up from 49 percent during the last presidential election. In both tests, the share of Americans expressing pro-Black attitudes fell.

As promised, Donald Trump made his “big announcement.”

The business mogul revived the birther conspiracies by offering President Barack Obama $5 million to release his college application and passport records.

Trump starts off the less than 3 minute video by calling President Obama “the least transparent president in the history of this country.”

“I have a deal for the president. A deal that I don’t believe that he can refuse and I hope he doesn’t,” said Trump. “If Pres. Barack Obama opens up and gives his college records and applications, and if he gives his passport applications and records, I will give to a charity of his choice.”