BOSTON – Acknowledging a sudden erosion in the state budget's fiscal underpinnings just before the budget is due, House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Wednesday said policy differences between the House and Senate loom as an even larger obstacle to a budget accord that's due in two weeks.
Talking to reporters after a closed Democratic caucus, DeLeo said the House budget (H 4201) included close to 100 outside sections while the Senate's spending plan (S 2305) featured nearly 300 budget riders, including many calling for policy changes unrelated to appropriations.
The Southern Baptist Convention, born in 1845 in a split over its support for slavery, has passed a resolution calling for Christians to quit using the Confederate flag.
"We call our brothers and sisters in Christ to discontinue the display of the Confederate battle flag as a sign of solidarity of the whole Body of Christ, including our African-American brothers and sisters," reads the resolution adopted Tuesday (June 14) at the convention's annual meeting in St. Louis.
