DALLAS — Dallas Diocese Bishop Edward Burns informed parishioners at St. Cecilia Catholic Church this weekend about allegations of sexual abuse by their former pastor, Reverend Edmundo Paredes.

According to the Diocese, the allegations came from three adults, who said the criminal sexual acts occurred when they were in their mid teens, more than a decade ago.

The accusers are all male.

Officials also said that they have not been able to locate Paredes. He is from the Philippines and takes yearly trips there, Diocese spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor said.

Bishop Edward Burns said that they have hired two private investigators to try and track the man down.

“Now that we know of his criminal sexual acts, we want to get a handle on him,” said Burns.

Upon learning of the allegations in February, Diocese officials immediately filed a report with law enforcement agencies to launch a criminal investigation.

“The allegations were found to be credible,” said Burns.

Paredes has been suspended and is no longer is allowed to function or represent himself as a priest. He left St. Cecilia last year, before the sex abuse allegations surfaced.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, issued a statement Sunday criticizing the Dallas Diocese, questioning why Burns didn’t notify parishioners of the abuse allegations until Saturday.

Burns “failed to notify parishioners in a timely manner” that Paredes was under investigation, the SNAP DFW chapter’s statement said.

“Why would Bishop burns suppress this crucial information?” SNAP said. “Was it to protect the diocese from scandal? What about concern for the safety of children and the need to comfort any survivors?”

Burns said that he had to consult with his Diocese review board before he could release the information. He said it became apparent after the Pennsylvania report that it was necessary.

“There are tears, disbelief, dismay, frustration,” he said of the reaction from the congregation.

In addition to the abuse allegations, the Diocese was also informed that theft had occurred at the parish while Paredes was pastor. Paredes has admitted to financial misconduct with certain parish funds, the Diocese said. The missing funds were an estimated $60,000-$80,000 in cash.

The funds from St. Cecilia Catholic School and the funds donated for the rebuilding of the church following a 2007 fire had not been affected.

Bishop Burns told parishioners Saturday evening that the Diocese’s “priority was to determine the truth and protect the victims who showed courage by coming forward. With the utmost sensitivity to victims, I have pledged to continue efforts of transparency and need to make you aware of this atrocious and sad event.”

“I want to assure the entire community that we are working to find solutions to create a safer environment,” Bishop Burns told the parishioners. “I offer my heartfelt apologies that these crimes have happened in your parish and please know I am praying for all victims of sexual abuse and for all of you here in the St. Cecilia community.”

The Diocese of Dallas has asked anyone who has suffered abuse by church personnel to report it to law enforcement and contact Victims Assistance Coordinator Mary Edlund at medlund@cathdal.org or 214379-2819.

© 2018 WFAA

President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Federal Reserve took the reins just six months ago, and the president is already feeling buyer’s remorse. 

Trump told a crowd of wealthy donors Friday that when he nominated Jerome Powell to replace Janet Yellen as Fed chair last November, he thought Powell was in favor of “cheap money” and was disappointed to see him embrace interest rates hikes, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News reported. 

“That can only happen to Trump,” the president said, according to the Journal. 

Trump has often expressed concerns that rising interest rates could stifle economic growth but the Fed has raised rates five times since Trump took office, two of them since Powell took charge, Bloomberg reported. 

On Monday, Trump told Reuters that he was “not thrilled” with his appointee, repeating a criticism he voiced to CNBC last month. 

“I don’t have an accommodating Fed,” Trump told Reuters. “Am I happy with my choice? I’ll let you know in four years.”

Though the president appoints the Federal Reserve chairman the central bank is supposed to act independently of political concerns. The last president to publicly call for lower rates was George H.W. Bush during his 1992 re-election campaign, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

A Republican National Committee representative told Bloomberg that Friday’s fundraiser raised $3 million for the Trump Victory Committee. 

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British teenager Lando Norris will make his Friday practice debut for McLaren at this week’s Belgium Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old will deputise for Fernando Alonso after the double world champion announced he would retire from Formula One at the end of the season.

Norris, from Glastonbury in Somerset, is the reserve driver for McLaren.

But his Spa-Francorchamps drive will be his first behind the wheel during a full grand prix weekend and a chance to stake a claim for a 2019 race seat.

Alonso will return for the second and third practice sessions, qualifying and the race itself but his departure has created created a vacancy at McLaren next year.

One of those seats has already been filled by Carlos Sainz, but the identity of his team-mate is unclear, with the British outfit seemingly not certain to retain their current driver Stoffel Vandoorne.

Norris was approached by Toro Rosso in June to replace Brendon Hartley for the rest of this season, but McLaren said no.

McLaren sporting director Gil de Ferran said: “This weekend will be the first time that our reserve driver Lando will drive the MCL33 during a race weekend, as he steps into Fernando’s car for FP1 on Friday.

“This is not only part of his ongoing development, but also the evaluation and performance evolution of the car. We’ll be taking a strategic view race-by-race at where else this might be beneficial for us over the coming grands prix.”

Norris emulated Lewis Hamilton by winning the European Formula Three championship last year and is second in the Formula Two championship, the feeder series to F1.

The F1 season resumes in Belgium following its one-month summer break with Hamilton holding a 24-point lead over Sebastian Vettel.

Better Call Saul

type

TV Show

creator

Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould

performer

Bob Odenkirk, Michael McKean

broadcaster

AMC

seasons

3

Current Status

On Hiatus

Genre

Crime, Drama

We gave it an A-

Let’s just get this out of the way: the best thing about Better Call Saul is not, and has never been, its Breaking Bad callback moments. The tragicomic dramas of Jimmy McGill are damn good television on their own, even without the dark-hatted specter of Walter White lurking on the horizon! But with that said, a character from Breaking Bad makes an epic crossover appearance in this week’s episode (no, not that character, but still, a significant one) — and if you let out a little squealing noise when you saw him, well, hey. Me too, buddy. Me too.

But we’ll get to that in a minute. The first order of business in this episode is to clean up the mess from the last one, which left Arturo dead and Nacho in deep, deep trouble with Gus Fring. To cover up the first murder, Gus’ men stage a fake roadside ambush, making it look like Arturo was shot while transporting the Salamanca gang’s drugs. (Sidenote: RIP Arturo, but RIP also to the gorgeous Chevelle that took approximately 7,000 bullets in the making of this scene. Cruel!)

The twist: Arturo wouldn’t have been making this trip alone, which means that Nacho has to take a seat in the destroyed car — and he has to take a bullet, too. He’s shot in the shoulder, gets out wincing, and turns to Victor and Tyrus.

“Can I make the call now?” he asks, but his last words are cut off as Tyrus shoots him again — this time in the midsection.

“Gotta make it look real,” Tyrus says, shrugging like he doesn’t care one way or another if Nacho survives the wound.

By the time the twins find Nacho, he’s in bad shape — and the doctor on call (our old friend the veterinarian) isn’t exactly pleased to be summoned by the Salamanca twins to rescue him. After performing surgery and a sniff test on the wound (to check for a perforated bowel! The more you know!), he leaves Nacho with a warning to never, ever contact him again… which is probably why he wasn’t featured in the cast of Breaking Bad.

But hey, speaking of Breaking Bad! After reporting the “theft” of the drugs to Varga, Gus receives an order that should pique the interest of any self-respecting fan: to find a supplier on this (the U.S.) side of the border. His next stop is a lab, where he finds a helpful, loyal chemist with a gift for tricky lyrics that we’ve all seen before: ladies and gentlemen, it’s Gale Boetticher! (Singing Tom Lehrer’s “Elements” song, because of course he is. Aw, Gale. We missed you, ya big nerd.) This Gale, however, is younger, bearded, and not yet involved in Gus Fring’s criminal enterprise except to test the purity of other people’s meth — which, he points out, is far from quality and riddled with contaminants. (Like chili powder, perhaps? Eh???) But when he offers to cook the product himself, Gus declines.

“You were meant for better things,” Gus says. Knowing what we know about how things end for Gale, this line feels awfully sad.

On a more cheerful note, there’s also a con afoot — and yet another familiar face coming into play. When Mike declines to be part of Jimmy’s Hummel heist, Jimmy reaches out to his criminal veterinarian friend for an alternative lock-picker, who turns out to be none other than Ira of Vamanos Pest. As Jimmy describes it, the heist is supposed to be a straightforward affair: ten minutes to get in, switch the fancy figurine for a cheap knockoff, and get out. But as with so many of Jimmy McGill’s best-laid plans, this one goes awry — in this case, when it turns out that one of the owners of the copy shop is camping out in his office overnight. Ira dives under the desk as the man emerges from the bathroom and calls his wife, leading to the best laugh of the episode as we discover that he’s in the doghouse for the most classic of marital blunders.

“You’re saying I’m thoughtless, that I don’t care,” he moans. “But it is a very, very expensive vacuum!”

Yep, that’s right: photocopier guy is that jackass who bought his wife a vacuum cleaner and tried to pass it off as a present. (And frankly, sleeping in his office is no less than he deserves.) Trapped under the desk, Ira has no choice but to wait until he’s alone again and then phone Jimmy to come help him — which he does, using some sort of magic carjacking technique to send Mr. Photocopier’s sedan rolling away, alarm blaring, as he frantically chases after it. Hummel heist complete!

It’s a sweet little moment of levity — the only one in an episode that both begins and ends on a much darker note. Because after a visit to Mesa Verde, where the sheer scope of the firm’s upcoming expansion seems to leave her unnerved, Kim returns home and reveals to Jimmy what she’d been holding back: Chuck’s letter. She offers to leave him alone while he reads it; instead, he reads it aloud while eating a bowl of cereal at the same time, chomping and smacking his way through his brother’s last words. Contrary to what Kim anticipated, the letter isn’t hateful at all; clearly written before their most recent falling-out (and possibly before Jimmy got his law degree), it’s understated but kind, with Chuck writing that he’s proud of Jimmy and will always be in his corner. Jimmy, still chewing, doesn’t cry.

But Kim does, and can’t stop.

“I need a minute,” she says, as Jimmy rises to follow her — and the hairline fracture in their relationship opens just a little wider. She doesn’t want him to comfort her.

She closes the door in his face.

Did former President Barack Obama just throw a little shade with his summer reading list? 

As President Donald Trump’s personal attorney argues that “truth isn’t truth” and that facts are “in the eye of the beholder,” Obama said in a Facebook post that among the titles he picked up this summer were “Factfulness” by Hans Rosling and “Educated” by Tara Westover. 

“One of my favorite parts of summer is deciding what to read when things slow down just a bit, whether it’s on a vacation with family or just a quiet afternoon,” Obama said. “This summer I’ve been absorbed by new novels, revisited an old classic, and reaffirmed my faith in our ability to move forward together when we seek the truth.” 

The 44th president described “Factfulness” as “an outstanding international public health expert, is a hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases.” 

He called “Educated” is a “remarkable memoir of a young woman raised in a survivalist family in Idaho who strives for education while still showing great understanding and love for the world she leaves behind.” 

Among the other titles Obama said he was reading this summer were “Warlight” by Michael Ondaatje, about a family in the aftermath of World War II, and “An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones, about the wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple. He also reread “A House for Mr Biswas” after Nobel-Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul died earlier this month. 

Trump has not shared a reading list, but he has recommended several titles on Twitter, including “Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy” by Jeanine Pirro, “The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump” by Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett, “The Briefing: Politics, The Press, and The President” by Sean Spicer, “Spygate: The Attempted Sabotage of Donald J. Trump” by Dan Bongino and D.C. McAllister and “The Case Against Impeaching Trump,” by Alan Dershowitz. 

 

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None

AJ McLean, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, Howie Dorough, and Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys speak onstage during the show.

Getty Images for MTV

The English Football League will stream matches live online in the UK and Ireland for the first time on Tuesday, with 31 games shown in all in midweek.

The service, for midweek games outside of bank holidays and not shown live on Sky Sports, will cost £10 per match.

Fans will be able to view a game via their team’s digital platform iFollow, used by 58 of the 72 EFL clubs.

Overseas supporters have been able to stream every non-televised game online since the start of last season.

Seven of the 10 midweek Championship games will be available for streaming online, including Ipswich’s trip to Derby on Tuesday and Wigan’s visit to Stoke on Wednesday.

Aston Villa, Leeds and Sunderland are among the 14 EFL clubs not signed up to iFollow, but will have the opportunity to deliver a similar service.

Matches played between 14:45 and 17:15 on Saturdays will continue to be blocked from live streaming.

Which Championship games can I stream online this midweek?

Seven matches will be available to watch via club websites (kick-off 19:45 BST unless stated):

• Derby v Ipswich (Tue)
• Rotherham v Hull (Tue)
• Sheffield Wednesday v Millwall (Wed)
• Blackburn v Reading (Wed)
• Norwich v Preston (Wed)
• Bolton v Birmingham (Wed, 20:00 BST)
• Stoke v Wigan (Wed, 20:00 BST)

When are broadcasting restrictions in place in the UK?

There are three instances where EFL games can not be streamed online in the UK and Ireland:

• Between 14:45-17:15 on a Saturday
• On Bank Holidays (eg Boxing Day, Easter Monday)
• When games have been selected for live television coverage on Sky Sports

Where else can I follow EFL matches?

If you cannot get to the ground, here are some ways of following EFL games:

• Watch via Sky Sports’ red button service (midweek Championship games only – there are eight rounds of midweek fixtures during the 2018-19 season)
• BBC Sport provides live text coverage of every Championship game, while you can follow your team on your BBC local radio station

Nicki Minaj’s latest tweet about Harriet Tubman was a head-scratcher.

The 35-year-old rapper, who named her new album “Queen,” took to Twitter Monday to share her definition of a royal: “All the QUEENS I remember, SHOOK (IT) UP!!!!!!!!”

Minaj went on to laud Harriet Tubman, the abolitionist icon who helped free slaves through the Underground Railroad, as a “Queen of the week.”

“Had she just sat there & ate her rice, you (expletive) history would’ve been a lot less triumphant,” she continued, adding a unicorn emoji.

The “Barbie Dreams” rapper instantly faced backlash on Twitter for comparing herself to the famed revolutionary.

One Twitter user said Minaj’s tweet was worse than Kanye West’s bizarre comment on slavery being a choice. Back in May, West told TMZ Live: “When you hear about slavery for 400 years … like, you was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all?! It’s like we’re mentally in prison.” 

User @ASAPVick_ tweeted: “Comparing your album sales to Harriet Tubman’s fight for freedom is the most stupid commentary on slavery in 2018 and that includes Kanye saying slavery was a choice.”

Another social media user failed to see the comparison: “I’m not sure if there’s a person in the US alive today who can respectfully compare (themselves) to ‘Harriet Tubman.’”

One Twitter user called the tweet disrespectful. “What are you doing that is even remotely in correlation with Harriet Tubman? This is an actually question to not shade,” the user tweeted.

But some of Minaj’s fans jumped to her defense, saying the tweet was an attempt to pay homage to Tubman. “She was calling her a queen she wasn’t comparing (herself),” said user @PAPIITOMII.

Minaj laughed it off once she realized her comments had gone viral.

“Y’all I had no idea Harriet Tubman was now trending. I said what I said. #QueenRadio will honor her tmrw. She said she could’ve rescued more slaves had they known they were slaves. I fought for streaming services to count toward billboard when alotta (people) stayed quiet,” she tweeted.

Minaj has been on a Twitter tirade over the weekend after “Queen” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, behind Travis Scott’s “Astroworld.”

She has called out everyone from Scott and Kylie Jenner to Spotify and Drake. 

Minaj accused the youngest Jenner sister of using her social following to inflate Scott’s album sales. Jenner shared a link to her boyfriend’s website last week with her 113 million Instagram followers, along with an announcement that their six-month-old daughter Stormi would be joining them on tour.

“I put my blood sweat & tears in writing a dope album only for Travis Scott to have Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling ppl to come see her & Stormi. lol. Im actually laughing,” she tweeted Sunday.

More: Nicki Minaj makes Stephen Colbert blush after adding X-rated lyric to ‘Barbie Dreams’

More: Nicki Minaj’s ‘Queen’: A track-by-track review

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A woman was walking her dog in a South Carolina resort community Monday when an alligator attacked, witnesses said, dragging her under the waters of a nearby lagoon.

That’s according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, which responded at 9:30 a.m. Monday to find the body of Cassandra Cline, 45, inside the lagoon at the Hilton Head Island community known as Sea Pines.

“It appears the alligator went after her dog and she tried to protect it,” Sam Chappalear of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources told Hilton Head’s The Island Packet.

The woman’s dog appeared unharmed, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. The alligator believed responsible for the attack was located and was killed “at the scene.”

Cline is the second person to die from an alligator attack in South Carolina history, the Department of Natural Resources told The Post and Courier, with the first such death occurring in July 2016. 

Blake Smith, a 34-year-old neighbor who lives down from the lagoon on Wood Duck Road, told The Island Packet that while alligators had occasionally been removed from nearby yards and pools, he had never heard of one acting aggressively toward a human.

An autopsy at the Medical University of South Carolina will help county officials determine the precise cause of Cline’s death, the sheriff’s office said in the statement.

Bret Martin, president of the Sea Pines Community Services Associates, identified Cline as a property owner in the community.

“We are shocked and heartbroken over this loss and are praying for Ms.Cline’s family and loved ones during this difficult time,” he said in a letter to property owners on Facebook. 

the lagoon as located in Sea Pines’ Club Course area

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner

More: Florida deputy kills fearless alligator who chased teen up tree

 

 

 

 

 

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