A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – Labor Party leaders lamented the faction’s apparently poor showing in Tuesday’s national elections, with exit polls predicting it would fall to historic lows.

The party, which led Israel for its first 30 years, was given between six and eight seats in three exit polls.

Party head Avi Gabbay called the exit poll results “a huge disappointment” and “a real blow to our electoral power,” but did not address calls for him to step down. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – It appears winter isn’t finished quite yet. A major blizzard is expected to dump heavy snow on parts of the Midwest in the coming days, possibly setting new records for the month of April.

Forecasters say the low-pressure system could break the all-time pressure record for April in parts of the Great Plains.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologist David Roth said the storm could be a “bomb cyclone,” in which the pressure drops 24 millibars in 24 hours. A bomb cyclone hit Colorado and Nebraska last month as part of a storm system that killed several people. Forecasters have issued another bomb cyclone warning as part of this new storm system. [ Source: UPI (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clinched a clear electoral victory Wednesday morning, with some 97 percent of votes showing his Likud party tied with Blue and White, but the right-wing bloc with a decisive lead and Netanyahu possessing a clear path to forming a governing coalition.

With more than four million votes counted as of 9 a.m., Likud had snagged 26.27% of the vote, or 35 seats in the 120-seat legislature — the party’s best result since the 2003 election (when it won 38 seats under Ariel Sharon), and its best under Netanyahu.

Meanwhile Likud’s main rival in the election, the Blue and White party led by Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, won 25.94% of the vote, which would also give them 35 seats. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Headed toward his largest-ever election victory as leader of the Likud party, and with the Knesset’s right-wing bloc holding a clear lead, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was widely seen Wednesday morning as having secured a fifth term in office.

But after a grueling campaign, Netanyahu now faces a new task — that of attempting to form a functioning governing coalition.

With around 95 percent of ballots counted, Netanyahu’s Likud appeared to have won 35 seats in the Knesset, tied with the Benny Gantz-led Blue and White. But the bloc of right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties held 65 seats, and Netanyahu is expected to secure a majority of recommendations when faction leaders meet the president in the coming days. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Evangelical churches and ministries saw an increase in giving in 2017, the highest increase since 2014, according to a new report by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

ECFA-accredited organizations received approximately $13.3 billion in cash donations in 2017, a 5.9 percent increase compared to 2016, which contrasts with a 2.2 percent increase seen for 2015–2016 and 2014–2015, and the 6.1 percent increase reported between 2013–2014.

The 5.9 percent increase in giving to ECFA’s approximately 1,700 member organizations is also higher than the 3.5 percent average increase between 2007–2017. [ Source: Christian Post (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Several parties were eagerly awaiting the tally of the soldiers’, diplomats’ and prisoners’ votes Wednesday morning, as a count of some 97 percent of the votes in Tuesday’s elections revealed they were very close to the 3.25-percent electoral threshold.

The number of votes cast by IDF soldiers, police officers, diplomats and their families, prisoners and hospital patients and staff is normally around 200,000. Those votes have led to minor changes in the distribution of Knesset seats, but could potentially have a more fateful role this time.

In a shock development, Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked’s New Right party appeared to fail to enter the Knesset, garnering 3.14% of the vote, just some 4,300 votes under the electoral threshold. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Oregon is on the way to joining a group of states looking to overhaul the Electoral College system.

In a 17-12 vote, the Oregon Senate passed a bill that would award Oregon’s seven electoral votes to the winner of the U.S. popular vote instead of the candidate who won the state. It now goes to the state House, which has passed it several times already, and then head to Gov. Kate Brown, who says she supports it.

If approved, Oregon would join 14 other states and the District of Columbia in the National Popular Vote Compact, an agreement to allocate participating states’ electors to whoever wins the popular vote for the presidency. To be effective, the compact would need to have enough states to comprise 270 electoral votes. Should Oregon join, it would bring the count to 196 total votes. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

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