FORT SMITH (AP) — A print-shop worker on Wednesday said he will seek the 3rd District congressional seat held by Rep. John Boozman (R-Ark).

Dale Morfey, 54, of Fort Smith, said he’ll run as an independent even though he and Boozman hold the same basic views on issues like abortion and gay rights.

Boozman has said he will seek re-election. State Rep. Jan Judy, D-Fayetteville, has said he will seek the Democratic Party nomination to the 3rd District seat.

Morfey, the former chairman of a now-defunct Christian group, said Boozman should have tried to impeach the six members of the U.S. Supreme Court who struck down Texas’ anti-sodomy law this summer.

Boozman spokesman Patrick Creamer said the congressman was unaware of any need to impeach justices of the Supreme Court.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Barbra Streisand will receive a Human Rights Campaign award for her support of gay and lesbian issues, religious freedom, and racial and gender equality.

The group, which lobbies on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, will present Streisand with its Humanitarian Award on March 6.

The gay and lesbian “community and the nation have been enriched by Ms. Streisand,” said Elizabeth Birch, the group’s executive director. “Her passion and leadership are important to all Americans.”

The group said Streisand, 61, took a stand against an anti-gay-rights proposal in Colorado in 1992 and has been a regular financial contributor to the Human Rights Campaign and other gay and lesbian organizations.

Also being honored are Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, executive producers of Academy Award best-picture winner Chicago. The Human Rights Campaign is giving Zadan and Meron its corporate award for their work on projects that positively portray gay and lesbian characters, including the TV movies Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story and What Makes a Family.

PITTSBURG, Calif. (AP) — A Pittsburg man who knew he was infected with HIV faces criminal charges after he allegedly exposed several partners to the virus that causes AIDS.

Police arrested Remond Frederick, 39, at his home in response to complaints made by a former lover who said he lied to her about his HIV status. In all, Frederick is accused of exposing two lovers, an estranged wife and a deceased wife who died of AIDS-related pneumonia.

The former lover, who lives in Santa Rosa, called authorities after being told by Frederick’s second wife that he was married and HIV-positive. Another ex-lover from San Jose also filed a complaint with Emeryville police after being alerted to his HIV status.

Pittsburg police discovered in their investigation that Frederick married twice and had extramarital affairs, despite his HIV status, officials said.

He met his second wife, whom he started dating in 1996 during his first marriage. After his first wife died, he married his second wife, who discovered his HIV status about a year before they married in October 2001, police said.

After finding out about his first wife’s cause of death, she demanded that they both be tested for HIV. Both tested positive. She married Frederick despite the results but separated from him later after learning about his extramarital affairs.

Frederick told his second wife that he hid his HIV status because he was afraid to broach the subject, authorities said.

“Essentially, it strikes me as someone with a weak constitution,” said Pittsburg police inspector John Conaty, who is investigating the case. “He doesn’t want to tell them. He’s afraid he’ll lose romantic partners.”

If convicted, Frederick, who has been charged with five misdemeanor counts, may face up to 30 months in prison. He is currently being held in a Martinez jail on $500,000 bail — $100,000 for each count.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Janet Cuevas joined in AIDS Walk Los Angeles because she knew it was what her sister would have wanted.

Cuevas walked alongside more than 25 of Elvira Susana Cuevas’ friends and relatives in the event, all of them wearing T-shirts with her face printed on them. She died of AIDS at age 19 in May, and her loved ones said they were walking because she never had the chance to.

Cuevas’ family and friends were among more than 25,000 people who walked the six-mile course dotted with dogs, baby strollers and celebrities, who joined forces to raise nearly $2.5 million for the disease. AIDS has claimed 28,000 lives in Los Angeles County, according to the AIDS Project Los Angeles.

The project receives the proceeds from the walk to provide services to men, women and children with HIV and AIDS. There are an estimated 54,000 people living with HIV and AIDS in the county.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 850,000 to 950,000 Americans are living with HIV, and nearly 385,000 of those have full-blown AIDS. Last year, 42,136 new AIDS cases were diagnosed in the United States, up 2.2 percent from the previous year.

Los Angeles, which began the nation’s first AIDS walk 18 years ago, has figured out a formula for making its annual AIDS walk both fun and glamorous.

Many of the participants and people along the route dressed up in flashy costumes. Along the route were testimonials from stars like Madonna, Whoopi Goldberg, and Eric McCormack, who stars on the NBC sitcom, Will & Grace.

Event organizers said they were glad to see many participants from high schools and universities at this year’s event because it means that the word about HIV prevention is getting out to young people.

“Part of the problem is prevention education,” said APLA spokesperson Justin Burke. “When teams organize from schools, we know that it’s reaching them.”

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The state Department of Public Health reports that Hispanics top the list with the highest number of reported cases of AIDS.

It marks the first time since 1980, when the health department began keeping track of AIDS cases, that Hispanics had the highest number of reported cases of any segment of the population.

In 2003, 283 AIDS cases were reported to the state Department of Health. Of those, 44.2 percent, or 125 cases, involved Hispanics, The Day of New London reported.

The state Department of Public Health reported that from 1980 to 1993 there were 4,879 AIDS cases. Of that amount, 20.4 percent, or 995 cases, involved Hispanics.

However, for the last three reporting years, from 2001 to 2003, Hispanic o cases have been on the rise. In 2001, the number of total reported cases was 587, of which 170, or 29 percent, involved Hispanics and in 2002 they accounted for 201, or 32.2 percent, of the 625 reported cases.

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) — Faculty members at Yale University’s law school sued Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over a federal policy requiring the school to give the military full access to recruit on campus.

The faculty members say the policy violates the First Amendment, arguing that because the military won’t sign an anti-discrimination pledge, Yale should not have to provide access to its student career development office.

Many prominent law schools, including Yale, require employers wishing to use the school’s career office to sign a nondiscrimination pledge. The military, which has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays and lesbians, did not sign the pledge.

“What the military is trying to do by demanding that we actively assist them in their recruiting efforts here is draft us in their war against gays and lesbians,” said Robert Burt, one of 44 faculty members represented in the lawsuit.

Under a federal law known as the Solomon Amendment, the government threatened to withhold $300 million in research funding if the university did not allow military recruiters access to the career office.

Yale temporarily suspended the anti-discrimination pledge policy last year, granting the military access. Other schools, such as Harvard and Stanford, also capitulated or made exceptions to anti-discrimination policies to avoid losing aid.