ANCHORAGE (AP) – An ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation is back before the Anchorage Assembly.

Assembly members began taking testimony Tuesday. When the Assembly took up the measure last week, hundreds of people showed up to testify. Officials said that was the case again Tuesday.

Assembly chair Debbie Ossiander says she is rewriting the ordinance to make it more palatable to both sides.

The proposed ordinance bans discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals in employment, education, education, financing and housing.

PHOENIX (AP) – Due to a lack of federal funds, the state Department of Health Services is cutting the number of free medications it provides to poor and uninsured HIV patients.

Arizona didn’t receive the level of federal funding it requested for its AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which has been in place since the mid 1990s.

The program serves 1,100 patients throughout Arizona, including 800 in Maricopa County.

It still will cover essential anti-virals that keep patients alive and fight infections. But beginning July 1, it no longer will pay for more than 130 drugs that help patients manage the side effects of their disease.

Drugs that have been cut from the coverage plan include pain-relievers, antibiotics, medications that control chronic conditions such as diabetes and high cholesterol, and psychotropic drugs that treat anxiety and depression. Most are common ailments in HIV patients.

HIV advocates and health officials worry the cuts could lead to sicker patients, an increase in hospital stays and more deaths.

The AIDS Drug Assistance Program costs about $14 million annually, with about $1 million of the budget coming from the state and the rest paid for via a federal grant.

DHS officials said they had hoped to receive about $13 million in federal funding for their program. But this year, twice as many states applied for the pot of cash and Arizona received $2.3 million less than what it needed to fully fund the program.

About 13,000 Arizonans live with the HIV/AIDS virus and authorities say an additional 4,000 may have the disease but not know it.

State vital-statistics reports show that 800 people in Arizona are diagnosed with the illness each year.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – State health officials are looking into the latest HIV case reported in California’s multibillion-dollar porn industry, fearing that reckless practices on film sets might be raising the risk of new infections.

It was revealed this week that a woman tested positive for HIV immediately after making an adult film. The state Division of Occupational Safety and Health is attempting to identify the filmmaker, at which point a formal investigation would begin.

“Our concern is that we need to quickly get to the employer so that we can work with them to change their practices to ensure the proper safety measures are being taken to prevent the additional spread of HIV,” agency spokesperson Dean Fryer said.

The actress’ positive result was reported by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, which declined to reveal her name.

Known in the industry as AIM, the organization tests hundreds of actors each month in the San Fernando Valley, where the U.S. porn industry is headquartered. It grants those who pass certificates allowing them to work.

Los Angeles County health officials say there have been 22 confirmed HIV cases in industry performers since 2004.

Although the co-stars of the woman involved in the latest case have tested negative, they have been quarantined from acting for the time being and advised to be retested in two weeks because medical experts say it takes almost that long for a person to show signs of infection.

“All required reporting has been complied with,” the foundation said in a statement Thursday on its Web site. “This is not a major event.”

Fryer said the foundation has not cooperated with state investigators in previous cases, citing privacy laws. Foundation officials did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Friday.

Government health officials say they are dubious about safe-sex practices on adult film sets, despite assurances from the industry. Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health, said there are “persistent reports” about risky behavior.

Regulations require filmmakers to provide protection against the transmission of disease, such as condoms or using film techniques that involve simulations.

“There is no reason these infections should be occurring if these employers are following these precautions,” Fryer said.

After an HIV outbreak in 2004 spread panic through the industry and briefly shut down production at several studios, many producers began making condoms a requirement. But they said both actors and audiences quickly rebelled.

“What happened was the talent didn’t want to use condoms,” said Steven Hirsch, co-Chief Executive of Vivid Entertainment Group, one of the industry’s largest filmmakers. “As a result, we decided to go condom optional.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The controversial Miss California has been fired from her position by pageant boss Donald Trump.

Trump issued a statement Wednesday saying he asked Carrie Prejean to leave for failing to honor her commitments as Miss California USA.

Pageant officials say Tami Farrell, the first runner-up to Prejean in the Miss California USA competition, will take over those responsibilities.

Prejean created controversy during the Miss USA competition, where she was first runner-up, when she answered a judge’s question about same-sex marriage by saying marriage should be reserved for men and women.

POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) – A same-sex couple and their three foster children were denied a reduced admission price to a pool in eastern Idaho because the Lava Hot Springs State Foundation says the five don’t fit the definition of a family.

Amber Koger and Jeri Underwood say they and their three children were recently denied the resort’s advertised family admission price to the Olympic Swimming Complex at Lava Hot Springs.

“What made me mad is that their definition leaves out a lot of families,” Koger told the Idaho State Journal. “What you’re saying is that because we’re gay, we’re not a family.”

Koger is the aunt of 11-year-old Makayla, 9-year-old Kolton and 5-year-old Ricky. Their parents divorced and Koger and Underwood were awarded custody after the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare became involved.

“We support them, we feed them, we love them, we put them to bed every night,” Underwood said. “We are a family in every way.”

Mark Lowe, executive director for the Lava Hot Springs foundation, said the state doesn’t recognize gay or lesbian marriage and defines a family as one male, one female and children.

“We are a state agency bound by all the laws of the state of Idaho,” Lowe said.

But Monica Hopkins of the American Civil Liberties Union in Boise said state code defines marriage but has no universal definition of a family.

“What Lowe is saying is that his agency will not recognize any other family structure,” Hopkins said. “But the law doesn’t define a family.”

Koger and Underwood, of American Falls, have been together seven years. Underwood said she carries health insurance for Koger through her job and they both help support the children.

“I wanted to live with them for as long as I can remember,” said Makayla.

At the pool, Koger ended up buying individual passes for her niece and Underwood.

Other venues in the area allow family rates for nontraditional families.

At the Pocatello Zoo, director Scott Ransom said a parent or legal guardian must be present to register children for zoo programs, but forms don’t give a definition of a family.

At the Ross Park Aquatic Center, manager Cindy Robbins said families of all types get in for half price during Monday’s “Family Night.”

“If family members live under the same roof and parents can claim them on their taxes, they are a family,” Robbins said.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) – A Michigan lawmaker wants to change state law to recognize same-sex marriages.

The resolution to be announced by state Rep. Pam Byrnes on Saturday faces an uphill climb. Michigan voters in 2004 passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

But Byrnes will launch an effort to repeal that provision at the annual gay rights Michigan Pride event at the state Capitol.

The proposal by the Democrat from Washtenaw County’s Lyndon Township would have to be approved by two-thirds of the Michigan Legislature before it would be put to voters in the 2010 election.

The proposal would be opposed by many of the same groups that successfully ran the 2004 campaign.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A federal judge has issued a permanent order allowing a ministry to leaflet at a Pride event in St. Louis later this month.

A lawyer representing Apple of His Eye Inc. said Monday that the ministry will resume religious leafleting at St. Louis’ PrideFest on June 27-28, following the judge’s ruling.

Ministry members have said they were threatened with arrest by a ranger when they tried to hand out religious fliers at PrideFest in Tower Grove Park in 2006. Some viewed their actions as disruptive and felt they were violating a city ban on leafleting in public parks.

The group’s lawyer, Rick Nelson, said members of the Messianic Jewish organization believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah and were handing out fliers about the Gospel. The literature did not mention homosexuality, he said.

The ministry sued last year, and U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey issued a preliminary order, saying St. Louis can’t totally ban leafleting in public parks.

Autrey made his order permanent Thursday. The city must inform police and Pridefest organizers that leafleting is allowed and simply handing out religious fliers is not grounds for restricting their actions, he said.

City representatives say the order doesn’t change much, since officials had already repealed the law in question. They also had agreed that Autrey’s temporary order should be made permanent, court documents said.

Officials felt the ban on leafleting in parks was outdated, said Heather Dunsford, administrative assistant to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. She couldn’t say whether the PrideFest lawsuit sparked a closer look at the law.

Messages left with PrideFest organizers seeking comment were not returned. The two-day Pride festival draws about 80,000 participants and includes a well-attended parade, entertainment, food and information booths.

Nelson, an attorney with the Orlando, Fla.-based American Liberties Institute, said the leafletting was not anti-gay. The group handed out “standard missionary literature,” he said.

“It’s not targeting anyone at the event,” he said. “It doesn’t take up homosexuality.”

The institute worked with the Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian attorneys, to defend the ministry.

A.J. Bockelman, the executive director of PROMO, a statewide advocacy organization for GLBT citizens, said the judge’s ruling was not a surprise because the matter was a freedom of speech issue.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – Former New York Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said he now supports legalizing same-sex marriage in New York, a change of heart that could influence the measure’s chances in the state Senate.

The 80-year-old Republican, who retired last year as the state’s most powerful Republican, tells The Associated Press he now sees the issue as a civil right.

“As a Republican, I believe in personal freedom,” Bruno said in a written statement. He said support of the measure by Democratic Gov. David Paterson, a friend and longtime collegial adversary in the Senate, helped him change his mind about same-sex marriage. Bruno blocked an earlier version of the bill that the Democrat-led Assembly passed two years ago.

“I opposed same-sex marriage largely because the overwhelming majority of my caucus opposed it,” Bruno stated. “As a relatively conservative Roman Catholic, I instinctively view marriage as the foundation of the family.

“However, that view really does conflict with the rights that are afforded all of us,” he said. “This is America and we have inalienable rights ... life is short and we should all be afforded the same opportunities and rights to enjoy it.”

Bruno’s wife of 57 years, Barbara, died in 2008 after years of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Whether the bill to legalize same-sex marriage would pass in the Senate, now engulfed in a leadership struggle, remains unknown. The Assembly already has approved the measure, and Paterson supports it. But Republican senators, who would be crucial to gaining final legislative passage, haven’t seemed to budge on the issue.