San Francisco (AP) – A judge has dismissed felony charges against two men accused of attacking Yale University singers in a New Year’s Eve brawl.

Judge Kathleen Kelly dropped the felony charges against 20-year-olds Brian Dwyer and Richard Aicardi April 16, saying prosecutors lacked evidence.

Witnesses said that after the all-male a cappella group sang “The Star Spangled Banner,” the attackers hurled anti-gay epithets and then beat and kicked some of the singers.

DENVER (AP) – The trial for a same-sex couple who refused to leave the Denver clerk and recorder’s office after they were denied a marriage license has been postponed until May 6.

Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder of Englewood have pleaded not guilty to the charge stemming from the Sept. 24 incident.

Both refused to leave the clerk and recorder’s office, though it was closing.

The couple contended they should be entitled to all the federal benefits of a heterosexual married couple.

Denver County Court Judge James B. Breese said he had other trials that had priority.

ST. PAUL (AP) – The Minnesota Department of Health says there were 325 new cases of HIV infection in the state in 2007.

That’s up from the 318 new cases in 2006 and the 304 new cases in 2005.

The numbers are in a report released Tuesday. Health officials estimate nearly 6,000 people in Minnesota know they are living with HIV.

Health officials say that in the last six years, there has been a large increase in cases of HIV among males ages 13 to 24. There were 18 new cases among that age group in 2001, compared with 38 new cases in 2007.

Of the 325 new cases reported last year, 249 are males and 76 are females. More than half of the cases among males were found in men who have sex with other men.

The report shows that new infections are much more common among blacks and Latinos than whites. Health officials say that may be due to cultural and language barriers, social stigma, and a lack of access to health care.

SANTA FE (AP) – The number of same-sex couples in New Mexico has increased about 35 percent between 2000 and 2005, a study released last week showed.

Researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles School of Law found New Mexico in 2005 was home to 6,063 same-sex couples. Of those couples, 27 percent were raising children, the study found.

Chuck Jones and his partner, Richard Parker, who have adopted two sons, have seen evidence of more same-sex couples who have families at his son’s school. They were the only same-sex couple at the school five years ago. Now, there are two other couples like them.

“People are beginning to see that gay families are just like any other families,” Jones said. “Our biggest concern is getting our kids fed and to bed early enough so they get enough sleep.”

The UCLA study, based on Census Bureau data, shows same-sex couples live in all the state’s 33 counties. Santa Fe County has the highest percentage, while Bernalillo County has the highest total number.

Gays, lesbians and bisexual people made up about 4.9 percent of the state’s population in 2005, ranking the state 8th in the country by percentage.

While gay and lesbian couples are increasing in number, the study found they earn less to support their children than married couples with kids.

Average household income for same-sex couples with children in the state is $41,964 while the average for married couples with children is $57,131.

Adam Romero, a study co-author and a public policy fellow at UCLA’s Williams Institute, said the lower income could be a reflection of the ethnicity of the same-sex couples, 49 percent of which are nonwhite.

Gov. Bill Richardson has pushed for a law that would give same-sex partners many of the same benefits as married couples, but the measure was shelved by the Senate in this year’s session. Richardson’s office said the governor will try again to get the bill passed in next year’s session.

New York City (AP) – Cynthia Nixon has joined forces with the breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure and is going public with her own battle with breast cancer.

Nixon, who is reprising her role as Miranda in HBO’s “Sex and the City” in an upcoming movie, had a lumpectomy two years ago and then underwent six and a half weeks of radiation. She also helped her mother battle breast cancer.

“As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, knowing my personal risk made me more aware and more empowered when I faced my own diagnosis,” the 42-year-old actress said in a statement. “I want to help Susan G. Komen for the Cure educate the 1.1 million women around the globe who face a diagnosis each year.”

The Dallas-based Komen foundation is known for its Race for the Cure events.

Nixon will serve as an ambassador for the organization and will share her cancer experiences in a series of Web videos.

She told ABC’s “Good Morning America” April 15 that she didn’t want to make her cancer treatment public while she was going through it. “I didn’t want paparazzi at the hospital,” she said.

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) – A middle school principal says he made “an error in judgment” last week by not more fully discussing a teacher’s plan to tell seventh-grade students her sexual orientation during health classes.

South Middle School Principal John Wallace said in a letter to parents of about 125 students in Stephanie Rowe’s health classes that parents send their children to school each day “trusting that we as their educators will make the best decisions as to how to instruct and care for them.”

“On certain occasions, however, a decision is made that is clearly not in the best interest of the students and their guardians whom we serve,” Wallace wrote.

The principal said Rowe told him she planned to tell her seventh-grade health students that day that she is gay. She told him the question concerning her sexual orientation has come up for years during the question-and-answer day that is included in the human growth and development unit.

Wallace stated Rowe felt that, in refusing to answer the question, she was not modeling the honesty, respect, and authenticity that she encourages in her students.

She hoped to succinctly make her orientation known through a one-time announcement, and then move on to the lesson, the principal said.

Some parents complained to school officials about Rowe’s announcement and a questionnaire and discussion about sexual topics.

“Parental response has led me to realize my error in not asking Ms. Rowe to further discuss her intent and process with me,” Wallace said. “Through such a discussion, we could have better discerned what should take place and how it should take place in consideration of all members of our learning community.

“As a result of not doing so, some parents feel we have betrayed them, resulting in a loss of trust in our understanding of what’s best for kids.”

The principal said the issue was not a matter of sexual orientation but rather one of parental trust in the educators who serve them.

“I fully realize that we have lost some of that trust,” he said.