ROSEVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Despite a federal law prohibiting marijuana sales, an activist has opened a store that sells marijuana to qualified patients and caregivers in the historic district of this Sacramento suburb.

But it’s unclear how long the new “cannabis club” will be allowed to remain open, even though California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996 to legalize medical marijuana under state law.

The measure, the nation’s first medical marijuana law, allows Californians with cancer, HIV and certain other chronic medical conditions to grow and use marijuana to ease nausea and other health problems if a physician recommends the drug.

Although Roseville Police Chief Joel Neves told the Sacramento Bee that the store can be operated as long as organizers stay within state law, federal officials are not so sure.

Richard Meyer, a special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Francisco, pointed out that federal law takes precedent over state authority and that the store could be shutdown at anytime. The Placer County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

The store owner, Richard Marino of Rancho Cordova, said he became interested in the drug after being hurt in a series of automobile and workplace accidents.

He said he talked to police, the city attorney and the district attorney before applying for and receiving a business license.

The shop’s hours are 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily, but during the first week of operation business has been slow.

“I’d like to open another in Sacramento,” Marino said. “I really think this is what’s needed.”

MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — Members of a Brevard County Episcopal church voted Saturday to walk away from their denomination over the issue of homosexuality and join a breakaway group.

St. John’s Episcopal Church members voted, 282-62, to leave the Episcopal Church, USA, and join with the Anglican Mission in America, which broke from the Episcopal Church in 2000. Less than half of the church’s 887 registered members voted.

Many St. John’s congregants, as well those from other Episcopalian diocese, are upset over votes by the Episcopal Church’s general convention last year to confirm an openly gay man, the Rev. Gene Robinson, to be bishop of New Hampshire, and allow parishes to continue blessing same-sex unions.

Bishop John Howe of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida said it would be a better strategy “to work for renewal and reform,” joining with him in a new conservative network within the Episcopal Church, USA, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Howe also cautioned St. John’s members that the Anglican Mission, the group they were about to join, is not recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The state Republican Party is supporting a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution reaffirming the state’s long-standing ban on gay marriage.

The GOP State Committee adopted a resolution supporting the measure on a lopsided — but not unanimous — voice vote.

A 1996 Kansas law defines marriage as a union only between one man and woman. However, supporters of amending the state constitution argue doing so will prevent a court from declaring that law unconstitutional, or forcing Kansas to recognize a gay marriage from another state.

The proposed amendment is sponsored by Reps. Kathe Decker (R-Clay Center), and Jan Pauls (D-Hutchinson).

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Calling the decision a “victory for prejudice and fear,” an attorney is promising to appeal a ruling by Kansas’ second-highest court that the state can punish illegal sex with children more harshly when it involves homosexual acts.

But Attorney General Phill Kline and groups that promote traditional values said that the decision is a good one. Kline also suggested the ruling would prevent a future attack on the state’s ban on same-sex marriages.

The case of Matthew R. Limon had been watched by national advocacy groups because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down laws criminalizing gay sex between consenting adults — including one in Kansas.

Convicted of sodomy for having sex in 2000 at age 18 with a 14-year-old boy, Limon was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison. Had Limon’s partner been an underage girl, he could have been convicted of unlawful sex under the state’s “Romeo and Juliet” law and sentenced at most to one year and three months in prison.

Judge Henry W. Green Jr. wrote in the 2-1 decision that legislators could justify differing penalties for homosexual and heterosexual sodomy in plenty of ways, including greater health risks or an attempt to “encourage and preserve the traditional sexual mores of society.”

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — Students at William Jewell College, a historically Baptist school, have narrowly rejected a measure that would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The measure failed, 279-266, just 13 votes shy of amending the school’s bill of rights.

“I had a feeling it was going to be close,” said Student Senate President Tim Perkins. “I didn’t know it was going to be 13 votes close.”

The student bill of rights is not legally binding and is separate from the college’s anti-discrimination policy set by the board of trustees.

The vote is the latest in a campus debate on the issue. Periodic attempts to amend the bill of rights to protect gay and lesbian students from discrimination had stalled.

The most recent Senate debate stopped in December when Perkins vetoed a measure that would have put the issue before the student body. But a petition drive gathered the 106 signatures needed to force the referendum.

Also at odds with the school over sexual issues, the Missouri Baptist Convention voted in November to break its 150-year-old financial ties to the school, striking funding for the school from the convention’s 2004 budget.

Two campus forums on gays and lesbians in 1997 prompted scores of comments to administrators. A year later, senior Paul Cernin used his status as one of the school’s top students to advocate the formation of a group for gay and lesbian students.

The latest vote does not necessarily mean an end to the debate. Perkins said he would not be surprised to see the issue revisited next year.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Free, confidential HIV/AIDS testing will soon be offered by community groups around the state.

Community Action agencies in Grand Forks, Fargo, Bismarck and Williston will be offering an oral swab test, which doesn’t require blood or needles, said Jason Christenson of Red River Valley Community Action.

“This will be the first nonmedical venue for testing in the state,” Christenson said. Dickinson’s Community Action group already offers the service, Christenson said.

Community Action offers the test for free and the results are confidential, he said.

Christenson said follow-up blood examinations are recommended with the oral test.

The state Health Department has reported 311 cases of HIV/AIDS in North Dakota as of June 30.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) — Over the protests of Democratic senators who said an anti-gay marriage bill could be interpreted as an endorsement of polygamy, the Utah Senate passed the bill and sent it to the House.

The bill defines marriage as between a man and a woman and prohibits recognition of same-sex marriages, common law marriage or civil unions allowed in other states.

But Democrats claimed that unless the wording was changed to “one man and one woman,” the bill could seem to allow multiple marriages.

In committee meetings and floor debates during the past two weeks, lawmakers and lawyers were concerned that the bill would close the courts to same-sex or unmarried heterosexual couples with legitimate legal questions regarding child custody and care, wills, medical decisions, mortgages or even car ownership.

Before the vote, as several Republicans huddled on the floor in an ad-hoc caucus, Senate President Al Mansell remarked that the bill was an election year phenomenon.

Before the final vote, Sen. Patrice Arent (D-Holladay) raised the constitutionality question.

“As we all know, same-sex marriage is already banned in Utah,” she said. “I think it’s unfortunate we are inviting litigation. I think we should just staple a check to the ACLU on it.”

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 vote, struck down bans on what some states have called deviate sex acts.

In a lengthy dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia warned that the ruling would unleash a wave of challenges to state laws against “bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity.”

A civil rights lawsuit is now in federal court challenging Utah’s ban on polygamy. Some legal experts say the case has a chance to succeed because of the Supreme Court’s gay-sex ruling.