ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America has declined the job, saying the organization wouldn’t let him expand its agenda beyond opposing abortion and same-sex marriage.

The Rev. Joel Hunter, who was scheduled to take over the socially conservative group in January from Roberta Combs, said he had hoped to focus on issues such as poverty and the environment.

“These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about,” said Hunter, a senior pastor at Northland Church in Longwood, Fla.

Hunter announced his decision not to take the job during an organization board meeting Nov. 21. A statement issued by the group said Hunter left because of “differences in philosophy and vision.” Hunter said he was not asked to leave.

“They pretty much said, ‘These issues are fine, but they’re not our issues, that’s not our base,’” Hunter said.

His resignation is the latest setback for the once-powerful group.

The Christian Coalition, founded in 1989 by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, became one of the nation’s most powerful conservative groups during the 1990s, but it has faced complaints in recent years about its finances, leadership and plans to veer into nontraditional policy areas. The group claims more than 2 million members.

ATLANTA (AP) – One of the largest-ever studies of HIV treatment has found that patients who temporarily stop taking their powerful medicines more than double their risk of dying.

Many HIV patients have sought doctors’ permission to periodically take a break from the tiresome regimen of AIDS-fighting drugs, which can cause incapacitating side effects. Several small studies have suggested “holidays” from medication might be OK for patients who appear to be doing well.

But the new study, published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests such a strategy can be dangerous: The rate of disease progression or death was more than twice as high in patients who took medications intermittently than in those who took them every day. However, many of the deaths were not related to AIDS, so it’s not clear why the numbers varied, researchers said.

The study involved nearly 5,500 patients in 33 countries. About half were assigned to continuously receive AIDS drugs. The others stopped the therapy when key immune system blood cells reached certain levels, and restarted when they fell below a threshold.

The second group’s treatment breaks varied, but on average they were taking drugs 33 percent of the time. Patients in the first group were on therapy about 94 percent of the time.

The study started in January 2002 but enrollment was stopped in January 2006, when it became clear that more people in the intermittent-treatment group were dying.

The numbers were small, however. Only 3 percent of all the study participants died or developed AIDS-related illness. In the group that took drug holidays, 55 people died, compared to 30 in the group that stayed on their medication.

The leading causes of death in both groups included cancers, cardiovascular disease, substance abuse and opportunistic diseases associated with AIDS.

In the group that had interrupted drug therapy, another 65 people had non-fatal diseases like bacterial pneumonia, fungal infections and AIDS-related cancers. In the continuous group, 17 people had non-fatal infections.

“Quite unexpectedly, our results show that interrupting therapy increases the risk of serious non-AIDS-related events,” said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, one of the trial’s co-chairs, in a prepared statement. He is a researcher at the Harlem Hospital Center in New York City.

Fourteen of the researchers on the study have received consulting fees, advisory fees and other types of payments from pharmaceutical companies that make HIV medications, the journal reported.

OKLAHOMA CITY – After living with HIV for 21 years, there are few outward signs that 46-year-old Tommy Chesbro has the virus, except for a combination of 12 pills that he takes every morning.

Chesbro was one of more than 300 people who attended the Oklahoma HIV/STD Conference on Nov. 29 where AIDS, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases were at the forefront as an early kickoff to World AIDS Day.

Chesbro was infected in 1985, and although he was pursuing a master’s degree in performing arts, he dropped out of school.

“When I first was infected there were no medications available,” Chesbro said. “There was a lot of fear that if you got it, you were going to die. At that time, based on what we knew about the disease, I dropped out of school and was basically preparing to die.”

But health officials say with advances in research and new drugs, people don’t have to live with that fear when they learn they are HIV positive.

Despite those advances, parents and schools need to focus their safe-sex education on not just high school students, but middle school students, said Michael Harmon, chief of HIV/STD Service for the Oklahoma Department of Health.

Despite the concerns some parents have about their middle school child being taught about sexually transmitted diseases and safe-sex practices, Harmon said it’s necessary because children are becoming sexually active at younger ages.

“Most parents seem to be reluctant to talk about those issues about sexual activity, and they leave it up to the schools,” Harmon said. “We can’t rely on abstinence as a sole means of avoiding these infectious diseases.”

Between 175 to 220 new cases of HIV are reported annually in Oklahoma, Harmon said. As of Sept. 30, 4,297 Oklahomans were living with HIV or AIDS, he said.

In Oklahoma, African-Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS. Although they make up only about 8 percent of Oklahoma’s population, their rate of infection is about 24 percent, Harmon said.

Gay men have the highest rate of HIV and AIDS, but Harmon said the number of infected heterosexual females is rising.

“Get an HIV test – learn your status,” Harmon said.

Chesbro said overall he leads a normal life, and is grateful for the medical advances that have been made. Besides taking 12 pills a day for the virus, he takes pills for high cholesterol and side effects of the HIV medication. He works out daily at a gym and watches his diet.

He works as the vice president of education and advocacy at Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma.

“After several years of surviving with the disease, I realized that I was possibly going to live for a while, and wanted to do something positive with my life,” Chesbro said. “I started working to educate people about the disease to help prevent infection and help with people who are infected take better care of themselves.”

HARRISBURG (AP) – A lesbian woman has retained primary custody of twin boys, despite the objections of her former partner, the children’s biological mother.

On Nov. 28, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court kept in place a Bucks County judge’s ruling that the boys’ best interests were to remain in the custody of Patricia Jones rather than Ellen Boring-Jones. The two were partners for 13 years.

The county judge had determined that Jones was preferable after comparing the two women’s “psychological profiles” and because Boring-Jones had tried to cut off Jones’ contact with their sons.

The women began living together in 1988, and Boring-Jones gave birth to the twins in December 1996. She had become pregnant with sperm from an anonymous donor.

Jones’ lawyer, Alphonso B. David, said the ruling demonstrated that custody can be shifted away from biological parents without necessarily having to prove they are unfit.

“It ensures that biological ties, standing alone, cannot trump the best interests of the child,” David said.

CRANSTON (AP) – Officials at the state prison in Cranston say they oppose distributing condoms to inmates despite a recommendation from a national AIDS advocacy group.

The National Minority AIDS Council is suggesting that jails give out condoms as a way to slow the spread of HIV and protect inmates from getting infected through sexual intercourse.

But Ellen Alexander, assistant director of administration at the state Department of Corrections, said sex was prohibited at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

“It’s our position, if we provide condoms we’d be condoning coercive sex,” Alexander told The Providence Journal.

The AIDS council also recommended voluntary tests of prisoners for HIV. Inmates in Rhode Island are tested routinely for HIV and are also given counseling and free medical care.

Dr. Josiah Rich of the prison’s infectious diseases program said about 14,000 ACI inmates are tested each year, and roughly 3 percent of those have come up positive for HIV or AIDS.

BURLINGTON (AP) – A judge has dismissed hazing charges against four University of Vermont fraternity members accused of making prospective members wear cowboy outfits while they were taunted with homophobic language.

Vermont Judicial Bureau Judge Charon True ruled police hadn’t proved the allegations. The Judicial Bureau handles traffic violations and other civil complaints, including hazing violations.

“To accuse someone or an organization of hazing, you first have to prove that the conduct occurred in the context of some sort of initiation or membership or qualification procedure. The university failed to prove that,” said the students’ attorney, David Sleigh. “Second, you have to prove that the activity was directed at a specific student or students and was done so with intent of causing mental or physical harm. The university didn’t have a single declaration that any person was harmed.”

UVM officials are considering an appeal.

“I’m confident that we understood the law and the context of the case. We have until Jan. 7 to appeal,” said UVM Police Chief Gary Margolis. “It’s a new law and this was the first time it’s been tested, so I think it requires full judicial scrutiny to make sure it’s applied correctly.”

The four students – Scott Curley of Bridgewater, Mass.; Eric Freedman of West Simsbury, Conn.; Bill Holohan of Branford, Conn.; and Geoffrey Robinson of Middletown Springs – were given civil tickets in May after a police investigation into a March 2 party at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity in Burlington. Witnesses told police the theme of the party was the film Brokeback Mountain, which has a gay theme.

The fraternity has been placed on interim suspension pending the university’s review of the case, said UVM spokesperson Jeffrey Wakefield.

The Vermont Legislature passed its anti-hazing law in 2000, a year after UVM upper-class hockey players forced freshman to drink warm beer until they vomited and hold each other’s genitals.