In brief: Gay man back in Presbyterian ministry

Milwaukee – A Wisconsin man who left his Presbyterian ministry in California more than 20 years ago after telling his congregation that he is gay was welcomed back into the church leadership on Saturday as its first openly gay ordained minister.

In a quavering voice ripe with emotion, Scott Anderson told the hundreds of friends and backers who packed Covenant Presbyterian Church in Madison for his ordination ceremony that he never thought the day would come. “To the thousands of Presbyterians who have worked and prayed for almost 40 years for this day, I give thanks,” Anderson said.

Anderson, 56, was closeted when he served as a minister in Sacramento, Calif., from 1983 until 1990. When a couple threatened to reveal his sexual orientation, he came out to his congregation and resigned because the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) barred homosexuals from serving as ministers.

But things changed last year when the church’s national assembly voted to remove the ban, clearing the way for Anderson’s ordination.

Amish rebels held in hair-cutting attack

Steubenville, Ohio – Four Ohio men believed to be members of a breakaway Amish group have been arrested for allegedly going into the home of an Amish man and cutting his hair and beard with scissors.

It’s common practice for married Amish men to have beards, and the attack on the 74-year-old man in his Holmes County home Tuesday night was believed to be an attempt to degrade and insult him.

A Jefferson County deputy said authorities Saturday arrested Johnny Mullet, Lester Mullet and Levi Miller. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the three men were charged with kidnapping and burglary.

Spyware hits computers guiding drones

Washington – A computer virus that captures the strokes on a keyboard has infected networks used by pilots who control U.S. Air Force drones flown on the war front, according to a published report.

Wired magazine reported Friday that the spyware has resisted efforts to remove it from the computers in the cockpits at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, where pilots remotely fly Predator and Reaper drones in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

The story said there are no confirmed reports that classified data was stolen and that the virus did not stop pilots from flying any of their missions. Network security specialists are uncertain if the virus was part of a directed attack or accidentally infected the networks, the story said.