LITTLE ROCK — Judge blocks quasi-health plan
FRANKFORT, Ky. - A Kentucky judge is shutting down a Christians-only quasi-health-care plan in his state.
Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate found that Medi-Share doesn’t comply with Department of Insurance regulations and won’t be allowed to operate in Kentucky.
A typical family pays $282 a month to enroll, and much of the money is distributed to other Christians who have medical costs.
Medi-Share’s website states “Medi-Share is not insurance” and the company says it does not guarantee that it will pay all participants’ medical bills.
- The Associated Press
Pastor healing after attack
RIO DE JANEIRO - An American pastor is in “stable but serious” condition after a savage beating in this famous tourist city.
The Copa D’Or Hospital says in a statement that Louisiana native Renee Murdoch is beginning to show “signs of neurological recovery.”
Murdoch, 44, is a pastor of the Rio de Janeiro-based Light to the Nations, a church that she and her husband Philip founded 12 years ago.
Police say a homeless man attacked Renee Murdoch while she was jogging in an upscale neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro and beat her repeatedly with a piece of wood.
- The Associated Press
Woman charged in church fraud
TWIN FALLS, Idaho - A Buhl woman who is charged with holding a fundraiser while falsely claiming her daughter had cancer is now also charged with faking a pregnancy.
Twin Falls County prosecutors allege Lisa Holley, 44, told a church pastor in December that she needed money because she was pregnant with triplets. Church officials subsequently gave her $1,400 in cash and merchandise.
In January, the church pastor received a call from someone claiming to be a midwife at St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center asking if the pastor or church could help Holley. But the pastor called St. Luke’s and learned it did not have a midwife program. Holley later said she’d miscarried the triplets.
She faces a charge of felony theft by deception.
- The Associated Press
Workers discover ancient temple
BALI, Indonesia - An archaeologist says a structure that is believed to be the remains of an ancient Hindu temple has been unearthed on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali.
Wayan Swantika of the local archaeology agency says workers digging a drainage basin last week in eastern Denpasar, Bali’s capital, at first discovered a large stone about 3 feet underground.
Excavation teams have since uncovered a 62-yard-long structure that is believed to be the temple’s foundation.
The find is still being analyzed, but given the shape and characteristics of the materials used, Swantika says he believes it was built sometime between the 13th and 15th centuries. He added that it is also thought to be the largest ancient temple ever discovered in Bali.
Religion, Pages 12 on 11/03/2012