—Urban Family magazine and its sister publication The Reconciler, started in April 1995, have combined to form a new single publication, Reconcilers, which will be supported entirely by donations rather than subscription and advertising income as before. Urban Family, the 35-year-old Jackson, Mississippi-based ministry founded by John Perkins, also has been renamed Reconcilers Fellowship, with a purpose of "inspiring and equipping God's people for racial healing and community rebuilding."

—The U.S. Supreme Court in October refused to hear an appeal of a Minnesota lower court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit against the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's pension fund investments (ct, May 15, 1995, p. 52). Thomas Basich led a group of pastors upset with the denomination for investing money in socially screened funds.

—After three years of buyout attempts, court battles, and demolitions, Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Mississippi, is moving to make way for a casino complex. The mission sold its property for $2.2 million and was awarded $514,000 for land taken by eminent domain (CT, Feb. 5, 1996, p. 106), as well as another $25,000 for dropping its appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Its new property is 10 blocks away from the original site, where it has been located for 74 years.

—Grove City (Pa.) College will end participation in the Federal Stafford and Federal PLUS student loan programs at the end of the 1996-97 academic year. New college president John Moore, 61, says the college will institute a private loan program rather than be subject to federal government oversight and audits. Moore has been director of the International Institute at George Mason University and associate director of the ...