Latest news with #SummitChurch
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Wings and Things event in Onondaga
ONONDAGA. N.Y. (WSYR-TV)– The Summit Church hosted the Wings and Things event on Sunday, June 8, 2025, at 10 a.m. The event was located at the OMAC fly field, and featured live model aircraft demos, a picnic lunch, which had guests bring meat to grill, and a worship service. 'We care for it, and then we have an event like this, which is wonderful. We hope to bring in younger kids and other people into the hobby,' said Robert Dano. 'It's a great hobby. You learn about aerodynamics. You build and fly, you learn a lot.' Two local men ordained as Priests for the Diocese of Syracuse Some of the planes that were featured were built by hand, while others were constructed together from a kit. This special celebration was free and open to the public. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Justice Department weighs in on Chatham church rezoning
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Justice Department filed a statement of interest Friday in support of a church alleging violations of federal law by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners. The Civil Rights Division filed the statement in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina supporting a claim by Summit Church-Homestand Heights Baptist Church under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The church alleges the county unlawfully denied an application to rezone several parcels of land to allow the church to build a new place of worship. '[The law] protects the rights of religious groups to exercise their faith free from the precise type of undue government interference exhibited here,' Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a release. 'The Civil Rights Division is committed to defending religious liberties as our founders intended and as federal law requires.' The church worshiped at East Chapel Hill High School for several years, but has grown and now needs additional space to meet the religious needs of its congregation. In its complaint, Summit Church claims that the denial of its rezoning applications by the board treated the church on less than equal terms to nonreligious assemblies and imposed an unjustified substantial burden on its religious exercise. Summit Church filed a motion for preliminary injunction, seeking an order requiring the County to approve the church's rezoning request and associated site plan. The county moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the zoning decision is a 'legislative act' under state law and is therefore not controlled by the federal law. The department's statement of interest supports the church's claim that the federal law protects against the county's discriminatory zoning decision. As part of this initiative, the department distributed a letter to state, county and municipal leaders throughout the country to remind them of their obligations under federal law, including its requirement that land use regulations treat religious assemblies and institutions at least as well as nonreligious assemblies and institutions.
