The Very Rev. Dean Emeritus Vilis Vārsbergs, former president of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Latviešu ev. lut. baznīca Amerika, or LELBA) and former head of the theology program at the University of Latvia, died April 22 in Chicago, according to the church’s website.

Vārsbergs, 82, was born in 1929 in Prauliena, near the city of Madona in eastern Latvia.

He was ordained in 1957 in Michigan and for many years served the Chicago area as pastor of the Zion Latvian Lutheran Church and then of St. Peter’s Latvian Church.

Vārsbergs in 2002 received the Order of Three Stars, Latvia’s highest civilian honor.

A collection of his sermons, Drošākais krasts, was published late last year.

Visitation is scheduled form 5-8 p.m. April 26 at St. Peter’s Latvian Church, 450 Forest Preserve Drive, Wood Dale, Ill. Lying-in-state is scheduled from 2 p.m. April 27 until the 3 p.m. funeral service in the church.

According to LELBA, the Vārsbergs family has requested that memorial donations be made to the Latvian Center Gaŗezers near Three Rivers, Mich., or to the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia in Rīga.

The next U.S. ambassador to Latvia will be a career diplomat who has previously served in Estonia, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Rīga announced March 30.

The U.S. Senate on March 29 confirmed Mark Pekala’s nomination as the new ambassador. He will replace Ambassador Judith G. Garber when her term expires at the end of July, said Kristīne Kreile, media specialist in the embassy.

Pekala was nominated by President Barack Obama.

Pekala since August 2010 has served as director of the Entry-Level Division of the U.S. State Department’s Human Resources Bureau. He also has served as the deputy chief of mission in Paris. From 2005 to 2007, he was deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, where he oversaw relations with 15 Baltic, Nordic and Central European countries.

Among other posts he has held, Pekala from 2002-2005 was deputy chief of mission in the U.S. Embassy in Estonia.

In his nomination testimony before the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, Pekala on March 21 said that as ambassador he would work to help American business expand in Latvia; continue Latvia’s engagement with other countries such as Moldova and Afghanistan; and foster dialogue between ethnic Latvians and minorities in the country.

Among issues Pekala noted in his testimony was Latvia’s history and the recent national referendum that, if successful, would have made Russian a second official language.

“Almost a third of Latvia’s residents are ethnic Russians, of whom just under 300,000 are non-citizens,” Pekala said, according to his prepared statement. “We are encouraged to see the Latvian government considering measures that would improve integration of this population; we hope that the recent language referendum can be used by both sides as a means to open a constructive dialog between ethnic Russians and ethnic Latvians.”

Pekala and his wife, Maria, have two young daughters.

Garber became the U.S. ambassador to Latvia in 2009.

The editor of a muckraking website that has published compromising emails from Rīga Mayor Nils Ušakovs has been shot in his apartment building, Latvian media report.

Leonīds Jākobsons, editor of kompromat.lv, was wounded the evening of March 29 in the stairwell of his apartment building on Čaka iela in Rīga. He was able to call for help and was taken to a hospital for treatment. Jākobsons is reportedly in stable condition, according to local media.

Jākabsons’ website late last year published a series of emails that were stolen from Ušakovs’ account. The correspondence, written in 2008 when Ušakovs was a member of parliament, raised suspicions that his political party—the center-left Harmony Centre (Saskaņas Centrs)—had received illegal campaign financing, possibly through Russia’s embassy in Rīga.

The editor’s apartment was searched by police in December and Jākabsons was held in jail for two days, a move that was strongly condemned by the Paris-based press rights organization Reporters Without Borders.

The Latvian Association of Journalists (Latvijas Žurnālistu asociācija) condemned the March 29 attack on Jākobsons, announcing in a statement that such events are unacceptable in a democratic state.

Jākobsons’ reporting methods have at times been questionable, the journalists association said, but added that persons who believe their reputation has been damaged may under Latvian press law turn to the courts for remedy.

Ušakovs, meanwhile, was being roundly criticized by a number of social media users. They were reacting to a message the mayor posted on his Twitter account.

“About the wounded Leonids Jākobsons,” Ušakovs wrote in Latvian. “1. My sympathy to the victim and my wish that the police quickly resolve this case. 2. I have an alibi :).”

Several Twitter users called the mayor’s message cynical and said he has created a public relations crisis for himself.