The family of a fourth grade teacher was already reeling from her death in the school shooting that targeted her classroom in Uvalde, Texas. Then, just two days after Irma Garcia was killed, her grieving husband collapsed and died at home from a heart attack.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street was pointing higher before markets opened early Friday, putting major benchmarks in a position for their first week of collective gains after a seven-week losing streak.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — To drive, or not to drive? This Memorial Day weekend, with surging gas prices that are redefining pain at the pump, that is the question for many Americans as a new COVID-19 …

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Texas authorities say the gunman who massacred 21 people at an elementary school was in the building for over an hour before he was killed by law enforcement officers. The amount of time that elapsed has stirred anger and questions among family members, who demanded to know why authorities did not storm the place and put a stop to the rampage more quickly.

ATLANTA (AP) — Aaron Nola struck out 10 while pitching shutout ball into the ninth inning for his first victory since opening day, leading the Philadelphia Phillies over the Atlanta Braves 4-1. J.T. Realmuto homered as the Phillies prevented the World Series champion Braves from posting their first three-game winning streak of the season.

DALTON, Ga. (AP) — A Korean solar panel maker will expand its presence in Georgia by building a new $171 million plant next to an existing factory. Qcells is a unit of Hanwha Solutions. The company made the announcement Thursday. Qcells says the new plant will open in the first half of 2023 and will hire 470 people. The company already has 750 workers at its existing factory in the northwest city of Dalton.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Opponents of a proposed launchpad for commercial rockets on the Georgia coast want a federal court to throw out the project's government license, saying the Federal Aviation Administration failed to adequately consider safety risks.

Christa Brown, the retired attorney and grandmother, has told her story of sexual abuse and survival for decades, in news interviews, blogposts, articles and books. But when she approached the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee in 2006 to share her traumatic story of being raped as a 16-year-old more than 30 times by her Southern Baptist youth minister, many in power didn’t listen.

OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) – Southern Baptist leaders commended the enactment of Oklahoma’s latest ban on abortion. “Oklahoma thankfully has been a national leader in the efforts to save unborn lives and to end legalized abortion,” said Todd Fisher, executive director-treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Most Christians say they’re ready, willing and praying to have conversations about their faith with others, but many admit they haven’t gotten around to actually having those conversations recently. An Evangelism Explosion study conducted by Lifeway Research found Christians express a willingness and desire to talk to others about their faith, yet few have shared with someone how to become a Christian in the past six months.

ATLANTA – Martha Day was moved to action when she realized huge numbers of impoverished mothers-to-be in the U.S. are going without prenatal vitamins. “For women who are struggling to put food on the table, buying vitamins just isn’t always an option,” said Day, co-founder of The Vitamin Bridge, a nonprofit organization that’s supplying prenatal supplements to 28 organizations that minister to expectant mothers.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – North American Mission Board (NAMB) president Kevin Ezell and NAMB Board of Trustees chairman Eric Thomas issued a joint statement Wednesday outlining steps NAMB will be taking to identify, investigate and address issues of sex abuse.

ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order Thursday extending the suspension of the state gasoline sales tax through July 14.

HONOLULU (AP) — Many hotels across the United States have done away with daily housekeeping service, making what was already one of the toughest jobs in the hospitality industry even more grueling.

They come from all walks of life, but they share the same passion: to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Missionary candidates describe their experience with the International Mission Board procedure for vetting and preparing those who would serve throughout the world.

ATLANTA – A commission created to rename military bases currently named for historical figures with ties to the Confederacy is recommending renaming Fort Gordon near Augusta for former President and World War II military leader Dwight Eisenhower.

ATLANTA – State Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, has declared victory in Tuesday’s Republican primary for lieutenant governor. With 99.37% of the votes counted, Jones had received 50.06% of …

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Moscow is pressing the West to lift sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame for a growing food crisis. That crisis is worsened by Kyiv’s inability to ship millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products because of the conflict.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has announced more steps to make the antiviral treatment Paxlovid more accessible across the U.S. as it projects COVID-19 infections will continue to spread over the summer travel season.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy shrank in the first three months of the year even though consumers and businesses kept spending at a solid pace, the government reported Thursday in a slight downgrade of its previous estimate for the January-March quarter.

Eight of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. lost population during the first year of the pandemic. New estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau show only Phoenix and San Antonio gained new residents from 2020 to 2021.

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Law enforcement authorities in Texas are facing questions and criticism over how much time elapsed before they stormed an Uvalde elementary school classroom and put a stop to the rampage by a gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers.

Tuesday night, I went to sleep praying for the families in Uvalde, Texas.  They had experienced their worst nightmare, losing their innocent little children in an unimaginable act of violence.  My head hurt as I pondered their emotions. 

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Guidepost Solutions report released Sunday regarding allegations of mishandling sexual abuse claims by the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee included a detailed audit of “procedures and actions taken by the Credentials Committee.”

Members of the Baptist General Convention of Texas family are responding following a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Nineteen students and two adults were killed by a gunman on Tuesday.