Two of seven members of a suspected Durham, NC cult were released from jail Thursday after authorities dropped charges against them.
Sheilda Harris and Sheila Moses are the mother and sister of Pete Moses, the leader of the suspected cult who pleaded guilty earlier this week to killing Antoinetta McKoy, 28, and Jadon Higganbothan, 4, in 2010.
It’s hard to believe that the drugged, dazed woman seen wandering the streets near her home was once one of the most beautiful and popular singers in the world. But today that woman, Whitney Houston, is just another crackhead. In a painfully public self-destruction, the six-time Grammy award winner, who had hits such as I Wanna Dance with Somebody and Greatest Love of All has spiralled into a drug hell that appears irreversible. Houston’s life hit rock bottom this week when photographs, published in The National Enquirer in the US, showed a bathroom in her $7.2 million mansion looking more
Associated Press, July 29, 2003 http://www.suntimes.com/ BY CURTIS LAWRENCE The African Hebrew Israelite Community–a group of African Americans founded by a Chicago cabdriver who believe they are descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel–was given permanent resident status by the Israeli government Monday. The group, commonly known as “Black Hebrews,” immigrated to Liberia in 1967 and then relocated to Israel about two years later. “To be recognized at the very highest level speaks volumes . . . for the consistency of the community to maintain the highest level of integrity and credibility inside the country as well as
Reuters, July 29, 2003 http://famulus.msnbc.com/ By Dan Williams JERUSALEM, July 29 — Israel has granted permanent resident status to the ”Black Hebrews,” a group claiming descent from the Bible’s lost tribes, after a 34-year struggle for recognition, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Also known as the African Israelites, the sect was founded by 39 U.S.-born blacks in 1969. Its members previously had only temporary resident status in the Jewish state. About 2,500 Black Hebrews based in the desolate desert town of Dimona will now be able to serve in Israel’s military and vote in municipal elections. Under Israeli
AP, May 27, 2003 http://www.usatoday.com/ JERUSALEM (AP) — Singer Whitney Houston is in Israel looking for inspiration for her upcoming Christmas album. Houston arrived Sunday for her stay with the Black Hebrews, a group of nearly 2,000 black Americans who followed a Chicago bus driver to Israel decades ago and believe they are descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israelites. Their religious customs include a vegan diet and polygamy. Houston spent her first day at their compound in the desert town of Dimona receiving massages, relaxing, and meeting with the Black Hebrews, who call each other saints. “She
Exotic community founded by Chicago foundry worker San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 15, 2002 http://www.sfgate.com/ Danielle Haas, Chronicle Foreign Service Dimona, Israel — In Chicago, kindergarten teacher Samaheyah Bat-Yisrael says her life was “desolation.” But in this hardscrabble Negev desert town, she says she has found her “salvation.” Resplendent in a blue African-style headdress, a flowing outfit to match and gold earrings, the beaming 44-year-old Samaheyah — whose Hebrew name means “She who will make God happy” — is adamant about never returning to the crime- and drug-ridden South Side where she grew up. “We were slaves there. Here I know