LITTLE ROCK (AP) – Republican lieutenant governor nominee Jim Holt compared the Arkansas Supreme Court’s ruling that the state did not adequately fund its schools to the New Jersey high court’s decision that said the state must extend all the rights of marriage to same-sex couples.

Holt criticized both rulings as “judicial activism” and said the Supreme Court could force the Legislature to include “homosexual material” in the schools.

“The courts are taking away our freedom in chunks, and Senator Holt believes that the first responsibility of a government official is to protect the freedom of citizens,” a news release issued by Holt’s campaign said.

The Arkansas Supreme Court last year ruled that the state had failed to fund its schools adequately, and the Legislature approved additional funding for its districts in response during a special legislative session this year.

Holt said that ruling was “quite similar” to the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision last month that same-sex couples must be given the same rights as married people. Arkansas voters in 2004 approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Holt questioned whether Democratic nominee Bill Halter supports civil unions for same-sex couples. Halter has said he opposes same-sex marriage and is opposed to civil unions.

“Bill Halter has repeatedly stated that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Halter spokesperson Bud Jackson said. “Two years ago, Arkansas voters added an express prohibition against gay marriage to the Arkansas Constitution, which Bill Halter supported and will vigorously defend.”

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Mayor Gavin Newsom says he is considering canceling the Castro district’s annual Halloween festivities in the future after a shooting wounded nine people and left another person injured in the ensuing panic.

Gunfire broke out late on Oct. 31 during the massive street party after a bottle was thrown during a confrontation involving two groups of young people.

“Thank God no one was killed,” Newsom said. “That probably would have ended the event immediately, and that does not mean we will not consider shutting this event down in the future.”

Eight of the 10 people injured were treated at hospitals and released, said police Sgt. Neville Gittens. Two others were hospitalized, one with a head injury and the other with a gunshot wound to the knee.

None of the injuries were life-threatening, Gittens said.

About 30 people between the ages of 15 and 25 were involved in the confrontation that led to the shooting, police said. Authorities detained and questioned one person on Oct. 31 but have made no arrests.

City officials had made a visible effort to ramp up security at this year’s event, which had been marred by violence in the past. Plans were in place to cut off the festivities at 11:00 p.m. and at least 500 police officers patrolled the streets.

More than 100 sheriff’s deputies were also posted at entrances to confiscate alcohol and weapons. Deputies discarded toy swords, real knives and a 6-foot wooden cross being dragged by a man dressed as Jesus, according to San Francisco County Sheriff Michael Hennessey.

But screening people for metal objects or searching them for weapons would have been “impractical” with such a large crowd, he said. “If people had a small weapon underneath their costume, we wouldn’t have seen that.”

The once-spontaneous and unsanctioned party was taken over by the city four years ago after police recorded five stabbings and a number of assaults in a 2002 crowd of 500,000 people.

Officials and members of the district’s large gay community said the party had started attracting gay bashers along with the usual colorfully costumed characters.

WEST PALM BEACH (AP) – Former Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned over sexually explicit messages sent to male congressional pages, is remaining in treatment for alcoholism beyond his initial 30-day stay, his attorney said.

Foley checked into a 30-day treatment program at the Sierra Tucson center in Catalina, Ariz., near Tucson, on Oct. 1. There was no immediate indication how much longer Foley would remain there.

“I can’t say any information other than he’s still there,” attorney Gerald Richman told The Associated Press.

The Florida Republican resigned from Congress in September after he was confronted with the explicit computer messages he had sent to male teenage congressional pages.

His attorneys have since said that Foley is gay, suffers from alcohol addiction and was molested by a Catholic priest when he was a teenage altar boy.

The Rev. Anthony Mercieca, who has retired to the island nation of Malta, has admitted having inappropriate encounters with Foley, including massaging him in the nude and skinny-dipping together. He denies ever having sex with Foley. Church officials are investigating whether Mercieca also had inappropriate contact with others.

Foley’s attorneys said he was seeking treatment for “alcoholism and other behavioral problems.”

Authorities are investigating whether Foley broke any state or federal laws, and a House ethics committee is questioning members of Congress about what they knew regarding Foley’s inappropriate contacts.

BOSTON (AP) – Religious groups on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate are gearing up for the Legislature’s scheduled vote on Nov. 9 whether to put a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage on the 2008 ballot.

The state’s four Roman Catholic bishops, saying they are concerned that a walkout by lawmakers could prevent the vote on Nov. 9, are urging Catholics to go to the Statehouse that day to voice their support for the proposed ban, The Boston Globe reported.

The letter asks Catholics to “pray for success on this critical vote.”

Supporters of same-sex marriage rights have printed thousands of copies of a brochure “Why We Don’t Vote on Civil Rights,” to be distributed in places of worship, and also prepared newspaper ads signed by a group of lay Catholics who say Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley doesn’t speak for them on the issue, the newspaper reported.

Twenty-five percent of legislators need to vote “yes” on the amendment in two consecutive sessions to get the question on the ballot.

Some same-sex marriage supporters have considered walking out of the session in which the Legislature will sit as a Constitutional Convention to derail the proposal, the Globe reported.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in the state since 2004. Opponents gathered 170,000 petition signatures to bring the amendment, which would define marriage as “the union of one man and one woman,” before the Legislature.

Religious organizations across the state, and their members, can be found on both sides of the issue, and there is disagreement even within religious communities.

Many evangelical and black churches join the Catholic Church in supporting the amendment. One campaign is chaired by the Rev. Roberto Miranda of Congregation Leon de Juda, a large, predominantly Hispanic Baptist church in Boston.

The letter approved by O’Malley, as well as Bishops George Coleman of Fall River, Timothy McDonell of Springfield and Robert McManus of Worcester, is tailored to each parish and gives the name of lawmakers representing the address where the parish is headquartered. Priests were asked to include it in parish bulletins last weekend and next, the newspaper said.

On Oct. 28, delegates at the convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts overwhelmingly urged lawmakers to defeat the amendment. Support for same-sex marriage rights also has come from the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association and others, including Reform and Reconstructionist Jewish movements.

The executive director of the multi-denominational Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry, Rabbi Devon A. Lerner, said those trying to ban same-sex marriage from a religious perspective are “trying to impose their beliefs on the rest of us, who don’t share them.”

BOSTON (AP) – The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts did not take a scheduled vote on a resolution to stop performing marriages, deciding instead to study and clarify the clergy’s role in a Christian marriage.

The resolution was expected to come up for a vote at the diocese’s annual convention last weekend. A group of Episcopal priests proposed the measure, saying it would eliminate an inequity in the church, which permits priests to marry only heterosexual couples.

The resolution would have declared that all Episcopal marriages should be presided over by an agent of the state, such as a justice of the peace, starting in 2008. Episcopal priests would have limited their role to blessing the married couples, which is all they can do for same-sex married couples now.

Instead, the diocese – which covers the eastern part of Massachusetts – tabled the original resolution and approved a substitute. That measure said that beginning next year, “the diocese will engage its laity and clergy in a process of study and dialogue about the nature of Christian marriage and civil marriage in order to clarify and articulate our understanding of the theology and ethics of Christian marriage.”

The Rev. Skip Windsor, rector of Christ Church in Needham, was a sponsor of the initial resolution, which he said was not about same-sex marriage but rather concerns regarding separation of church and state. He also sponsored the substitute. He said he did not want “to diminish the role of clergy but to balance the blessing of marriage. This resolution is brought with generosity of spirit with hope for dialogue.”

NEWARK (AP) – While half of New Jersey voters agree with the state Supreme Court that same-sex couples should receive the same rights as heterosexuals, just one in four think same-sex unions should be called marriages, according to a new poll.

“People in New Jersey are very supportive of equal rights, but the concept of marriage is more complicated,” said Mickey Blum, whose firm, Blum & Weprin Associates, performed the telephone survey for The Star-Ledger of Newark.

The poll, conducted Nov. 1-2 and published in the newspaper Nov. 6, questioned 777 registered voters and had a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Fifty percent support the high court’s recent ruling that granted same-sex couples equal rights but gave the Legislature 180 days to define those rights. Overall, 23 percent of respondents favored allowing same-sex couples to marry in New Jersey.

The poll found 17 percent are undecided about the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“This is an issue people are struggling with,” Blum said. “They seem to be trying to decide what is reasonable or fair.”

Gov. Jon S. Corzine prefers calling unions between same-sex couples civil unions, and legislative leaders have said calling them marriages likely wouldn’t pass the Legislature.

Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality, a gay rights organization, said the undecided responses in the poll shows people don’t understand what same-sex marriage means.

“There is talk about pushing through a civil union bill, but we urge the Legislature to give us time,” he said.

A poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University last week found 53 percent agreed with the high court’s decision, while 40 percent disagreed, though the poll didn’t ask how the rights should be defined. A Rutgers-Eagleton poll last week found a bit more than half of New Jerseyans favor changing the state constitution so that same-sex marriage would be banned.

NEW YORK (AP) – Former NFL receiver Brian Kinchen will not work as an ESPNU commentator this week because of a comment he made during Oct. 28’s broadcast of the Northern Illinois-Iowa game.

Kinchen was explaining the need for receivers to make catches with their hands because they are “tender” and can “caress” the ball. He then paused and said, “that’s kind of gay, but hey…”

“The comments were inappropriate, and we apologize for them,” said ESPN’s vice president of public relations Josh Krulewitz.

Kinchen’s future with ESPNU is under review, Krulewitz said.

ESPN’s decision first was reported in the Des Moines Register.

Kinchen, a former tight end who played at LSU and in the NFL from 1988 to 2000 with Miami, Cleveland and Baltimore, also apologized for his remarks.

“They were completely inappropriate and not at all a reflection of who I am or the way I perform my work,” Kinchen said in a statement issued by ESPN. “I have learned from my mistake and look forward to continuing my broadcasting career.”

RALEIGH (AP) – Hundreds more needy people in North Carolina suffering from AIDS or the virus that causes the disease can now get their drugs at a lower cost after a change that makes more people eligible for financial help.

Starting Nov. 1, people making up to $19,600 annually can qualify for the N.C. AIDS Drugs Assistance Program, compared to a previous limit of $12,250 a year.

The change was made possible mainly because of an additional $4 million allocated by the legislature and savings from a new mail-order drug program.

The program, which now serves about 2,200 people, probably will provide drugs to 600 to 800 more HIV/AIDS patients, including Dallas Midgette of Wilmington.

Midgette, who takes two HIV/AIDS medicines and seven other drugs, said he expects to qualify because his income from Social Security Disability is just under the new limit. He had gotten his drugs through Medicare Part D, the prescription drug program for the elderly and disabled.

But he often borrowed money from his brother or friends because the drug plan premiums and his co-payments left him short on cash. He said he’ll save about $60 a month through the state program.

“It will be a help,” Midgette said. “Hopefully, that way I won’t have to be borrowing.”

State health officials continue to lobby for more federal money to run their AIDS drug assistance programs. The federal formula now gives more money to states with large cities, while rural states get less.

Evelyn Foust, head of North Carolina’s HIV prevention branch, argues that the old funding formula no longer makes sense because most new HIV/AIDS cases are diagnosed in poor, more rural states.

For example, North Carolina’s AIDS case rate rose 60 percent between 2000 and 2004, compared with a 4 percent rise nationally during the same time period, according to data compiled by the state Department of Health and Human Services.

“Over time, it has hurt our ability to give our patients the same level of services people can get in other parts of the country,” Foust said. “It’s been very frustrating.”

North Carolina receives about $15.8 million from the federal Ryan White CARE Act. The state finances the rest of the drug assistance program’s $28 million annual budget.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The tens of thousands of people in the U.S. who are infected by hepatitis B each year have gained a new drug to fight the virus.

The Food and Drug Administration said it approved Tyzeka, known generically as telbivudine, for use in treating adults with chronic hepatitis B. The drug is not a cure, but can suppress the hepatitis B virus and reduce the liver inflammation that accompanies the disease, the FDA said.

Hepatitis B is caused by a virus that infects the liver. It can cause scarring, cancer and failure of the liver, as well as death.

Tyzeka was developed by Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and the Swiss drug company Novartis Pharma AG.

The Hepatitis B Foundation estimates nearly 100,000 people in the United States are infected annually. Most get rid of the virus, although some go on to develop chronic infections. About 5,000 people in the U.S. die each year from hepatitis B and its complications.

The virus can be spread through infected blood, typically during unprotected sex, childbirth or through the sharing or reuse of hypodermic needles.

Side effects of Tyzeka include elevated levels of an enzyme suggestive of the breakdown of muscle tissue, upper respiratory tract infection, fatigue, headache, abdominal pain and cough, the FDA said.