News in brief

By The Associated Press

Judge: Bannon must surrender to prison by July 1

WASHINGTON | Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon says he’ll fight a judge’s ruling that he must report to prison by July 1 to serve his four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol insurrection.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington on Thursday granted prosecutors’ request to make Bannon begin serving his prison term after a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court upheld his contempt of Congress conviction. But Nichols also made clear Bannon could seek a stay of his order, which could delay his surrender date.

Bannon says he’s “got great lawyers” and they’ll “go all the way to the Supreme Court” if they have to.

Southern Baptists poised to ban churches with women pastors

The Southern Baptist Convention is preparing to vote on a proposed constitutional ban on churches with women pastors. The vote will take place at the annual meeting of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination June 11-12 in Indianapolis.

The denomination’s statement of faith says the office of pastor is reserved for men. However, that statement is non-binding. By some estimates, the proposal could affect hundreds of churches with women as either lead or associate pastors. The denomination can’t tell its independent churches what to do, but it can boot them out.

Even without a formal ban last year, it ousted one of its largest congregations, Saddleback Church of California, for having women pastors.

—From AP reports