Signs and Wonders

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, WORLD News Group vice president Warren Cole Smith calls our attention to intriguing items in the news you may have overlooked.

Eladio Gomez uses a U.S. flag to cover him from a light rain during an immigrant rights rally in downtown Dallas.

Signs and Wonders: America’s demographic destiny

Newsworthy | Brown and grey. The U.S. Census Bureau recently released its latest population projections through the year 2060. Fifty years from now, the U.S. will be only 43 percent white (compared to 63 percent today), and…

<i>CBS Evening News</i> anchor Scott Pelley

Signs and Wonders: CBS’s Scott Pelley admits media missteps on big stories

Newsworthy |  Mea culpa. CBS News anchor Scott Pelley received the 20th annual Fred Friendly First Amendment Award on Friday, and he used the occasion to give an…

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke

Signs and Wonders: Wall Street heavyweights insist Bernanke stop giving away ‘free money’

Newsworthy |  Banker objections. Those of us opposed to Ben Bernanke’s quantitative easing scheme could take solace from a new report issued this week. Bloomberg is…

Bethany Hamilton arrives at the ESPY awards.

Signs and Wonders: Soul Surfer finds soul mate

Newsworthy |  Bethany Hamilton engaged. The “soul surfer” is no longer solo. Bethany Hamilton, who survived a shark attack when she was 13 years old, announced this…

James Carville

Signs and Wonders: Democrat James Carville praises ‘talented and fearless’ Republican Ted Cruz

Newsworthy |  Praise for Cruz. If you’re a Republican, you’ve got to worry at least a little bit when Democratic strategist James Carville praises you. Does he have an…

Howard Kurtz

Signs and Wonders: Daily Beast devours another Collins casualty

Newsworthy |  Collins casualty. CNN’s Reliable Sources host Howard Kurtz has been fired by The Daily Beast for a relatively innocuous error he made in his coverage of the…

President Obama (right) congratulates his choice for transportation secretary, Anthony Foxx, on Monday.

Signs and Wonders: Turning to 'reason' instead of prayer in Charlotte

Newsworthy |  Like a Foxx. As I reported Monday, President Barack Obama appointed Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx to be the next transportation secretary. What I have found…

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton addresses a pro-gay marriage ralley on April 18.

Signs and Wonders: Lobbying Republicans to support gay marriage

Newsworthy |  Republicans, down and out. Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer last year formed American Unity PAC, which supports Republican candidates who are in…

The Mormon temple in Salt Lake City

Signs and Wonders: Mormon Church in the mushy middle on Scouting

Newsworthy |  Mormons speak. The Mormons have given a lukewarm blessing to the latest proposal by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to lift its gay ban for youth members…

IRS building in Washington, D.C.

Signs and Wonders: Taxing times ahead for IRS employees

Newsworthy |  Sequestration hits IRS. To comply with the budget cuts demanded by sequestration, the IRS plans to furlough its entire staff of 89,551 for five days spread…

Pastor John Crowder preaches to his congregation Sunday morning in West, Texas.

Signs and Wonders: West, Texas, church worships in hayfield

Newsworthy |  This is West. Boston celebrated a return to near normal this weekend at churches and at sporting events. Not so in West, Texas, where a fertilizer plant blew…

People comfort one another during a candle light vigil at St. Mary, Church of the Assumption.

Signs and Wonders: West mourns victims of plant explosion

Newsworthy |  Explosions in the Sky. I’m in Austin, Texas, this week, and in honor of that I’ve been listening to Explosions in the Sky, a Texas “post-rock” band,

Advertisement