FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) – Programs designed to prevent new HIV infections in Coconino County have been cut after the county Health Department lost its grant funding.

The department ran the programs aimed at preventing new infections in the gay and bisexual community for more than a decade using state grants.

But the money went instead this year to two outreach programs in Tucson and two in Phoenix, Health Department Director Barbara Worgess said.

Worgess said she is consulting with the Arizona Department of Health Services in hopes of restoring funding in the future.

The county program used volunteers telling stories of risky sex or continuous condom use based on real life events. It ran on about $96,000 in state grant money last year.

Health Department employees Cheryl Has No Horse and David Fiss held events attended by 150 to 300 people about every month. The goal was to encourage people to be more aware of safer sex practices to avoid infection with the virus that causes AIDS.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) – Defense attorneys cannot ask a Bakersfield woman about an alleged romantic relationship she had with the slain wife of a former school administrator, a Kern County Superior Court judge said.

Vincent Brothers faces murder charges in the deaths of his wife, Joanie Harper, their three children Marques, 4, Lyndsey, 2, and Marshall, 6 weeks old, and Joanie Harper’s mother, Earnestine Harper. Family friend Kelsey Spann was the last person to see Brothers’ family alive and the one who found their bodies on July 8, 2003.

The defense wanted to question Spann about an alleged affair she had with Joanie Harper, but that matter is irrelevant to the case, Judge Michael Bush said.

The judge also said he would not allow Brothers’ mother to attend trial before she testifies about her son’s whereabouts during the time of the killings. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green told the court she feared Margaret Brothers could tailor her testimony to help her son if she heard the testimony of other witnesses.

Brothers’ trial is scheduled to begin this month.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) – Former Superior Court Judge Diana Hall won’t challenge the state’s decision to remove her from the bench, a newspaper has reported.

Hall, 56, was ousted last month by the state Commission on Judicial Performance for three counts of wrongdoing, including election fraud. Jan. 10 was the deadline to file an appeal with the state Supreme Court.

Hall lawyer Rebecca Lizarraga said Hall wants to end the legal troubles that have entangled her life for four years.

“She’s not admitting anything or agreeing to it,” Lizarraga told the Santa Barbara News-Press. “She acknowledged certain wrongdoing in the pleadings, but she just doesn’t agree with the disposition or what the disposition is based on.”

On Dec. 12, the state commission ordered Hall removed from the bench for moral turpitude and corrupt intentions while performing her judicial duties.

The wrongdoing included allegations of election fraud, a drunken driving conviction and inappropriate remarks to a prosecutor who did not want her to hear a case.

The election fraud stems from Hall failing to report a $20,000 contribution from her then-partner Deidra Dykeman. Hall testified she wasn’t aware she had to report the contribution.

“Apparently, if it is a lesbian partner who is a contributor whose donation wasn’t disclosed, it’s somehow more egregious than if a father donated money and it wasn’t disclosed,” Lizarraga said.

NEW YORK (AP) – The marriage of two men in Massachusetts is not recognized by the state, but an agreement the couple made for one to pay the other $780,000 if they split is valid and legally enforceable, a judge has ruled.

The ruling, published Jan. 8, came in the separation of lawyer David Gonzalez and real estate investor Steven Green. They moved in together in a New York City suburb in 2001, married in February 2005 and made the agreement the following September.

Claiming cruel and inhuman treatment, Gonzalez sought a divorce in January 2006. Green wanted a ruling that they were never married and asked that the property he had given Gonzalez, including a ski house and two automobiles, be returned.

Although the marriage was void in New York, which does not recognize same-sex nuptials, such agreements can be made “provided only that illicit sexual relations were not part of the consideration of the contract,” state Supreme Court Justice Phyllis Gangel-Jacob wrote.

The judge said the agreement called for the ski house to be returned to Green if they broke up.

Green’s lawyer, Yonatan Levoritz, said he will file an appeal to try to get his client’s $780,000 back.

NEW YORK (AP) – Alan Cumming married illustrator Grant Shaffer in a civil ceremony outside London this month, the actor’s spokesperson, Bianca Bianconi, said Jan. 9.

“Not only are we so happy to be able to celebrate our love for each other, but also to be able to do it in a country that properly recognizes the rights of same sex couples,” Cumming, 41, said in a statement released by Bianconi.

“As residents of America we would have loved to marry there, but we hope that soon the civil rights that we have been afforded in the U.K. will be available to all gay Americans, and we look forward to celebrating not only our marriage, but the end of prejudice.”

The couple, who had been dating two years, were married Jan. 7 at the Old Royal Naval College in the town of Greenwich, Bianconi said. Among the 140 guests were Ian McKellen, Geri Halliwell, Rufus Wainwright, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Monica Lewinsky.

Cumming, who was born in Scotland, was previously married to actress Hilary Lyon. They were divorced in 1993.

He has starred in films including Circle of Friends, Spy Kids and X2: X-Men United. He won a Tony Award in 1998 for his role as the Master of Ceremonies in the musical Cabaret.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A federal judge ruled Jan. 9 that a political consultant who is a former state House member violated the law by initiating 20,000 automated, prerecorded telephone calls targeting an Oklahoma County commissioner, the attorney general’s office said.

U.S. District Judge Robin J. Cauthron ruled that the phone calls initiated by Tim Pope violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act because they did not identify the organization placing the call.

Commissioner Jim Roth had asked state officials to check whether any laws had been broken by the calls, in which a female caller said Roth was “advancing a homosexual agenda in Oklahoma County.”

The calls were made in January 2006.

A single violation of the federal act could result in a $500 fine. A hearing will be held in February to determine the amount of damages due to the state.

Pope has maintained he did nothing wrong. He did not return telephone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment about Cauthron’s opinion.

“Pope’s call did not identify any organization and he failed to provide a telephone number,” said Drew Edmondson, Oklahoma attorney general. “Clearly those omissions violate federal law. Today’s ruling says our office is correct in its interpretation and application of the statute.”

Pope had maintained the case against him was politically motivated.

Cauthron denied Pope’s claims that the statute violates his First Amendment right to free speech.

“This is about the method, not the message,” the judge said. “Mr. Pope can say anything he wants. He just has to follow the law when he uses the telephone to say it.”

Pope is chair of the Oklahoma Republican Assembly, a conservative group that endorses candidates.

HOUSTON (AP) – As Phanta “Jack” Phoummarath lay dying of alcohol poisoning, members of the club he was trying to join defaced his body with anti-gay epithets and obscene drawings, according to a medical examiner’s report.

“It was disgusting and despicable behavior,” said Houston attorney Randy Sorrels, who represents Phoummarath’s family.

Sorrels said Phoummarath was not gay. The 18-year-old freshman from Houston, who wanted to join the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity at the University of Texas at Austin, died Dec. 10, 2005, after ingesting large amounts of alcohol at a party at the fraternity house. The medical examiner reported his blood-alcohol content was more than five times higher than the level needed to prove intoxication in Texas.

Phoummarath was found dead the day after the party in the bedroom where he passed out the night before.

Partygoers had used green and black markers to write “FAG,” “I’m gay” and “I AM FAT” on Phoummarath’s head, face, torso, legs and feet. Someone added several drawings of naked men and women, Dr. Roberto Bayardo of the medical examiner’s office reported.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Phoummarath died after a heavy night of drinking in which fraternity members chanted for him and six other pledges to finish as many as eight bottles of vodka, whiskey, rum and other drinks being passed around.

A grand jury indicted three members of the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity last month on charges of hazing, or abusing new members, following a yearlong investigation into Phoummarath’s death.

The university suspended Lambda Phi Epsilon’s status as a registered student organization until 2011.

Phoummarath’s family also is suing the fraternity.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Generation Next is more optimistic, more tolerant and more likely to vote Democratic than its predecessor, according to a new study.

The group’s tilt toward the Democratic Party is far different from the previous younger generation, known as Generation X, who grew up during the Reagan administration of the 1980s and was more inclined to support Republicans.

“This portends a significant political impact as they get more engaged,” said Scott Keeter, a researcher from the Pew Research Center. “If they carry their party leanings with them, that will make a big difference.”

Forty-eight percent of young adults ages 18 to 25 said they were Democrats or leaned that direction while 35 percent said they were Republican or leaned that way in 2006, according to Pew polling.

The study also found a great acceptance for same-sex marriage. Forty-seven percent of those ages 18 to 25 favor allowing same-sex couples to marry while 30 percent of those 26 and older favor same-sex marriage.

While they are a generally optimistic group, large majorities think that casual sex, binge drinking, illegal drug use and violence are more prevalent among young people today.

Asked about their generation, most say getting rich and being famous are top goals.

The study found that the young adults:

-Are less inclined to vote than older generations, though young voter turnout was up significantly in 2004. About 54 percent of those from 18 to 24 voted in 2004, and 74 percent of those 25 and older voted, Keeter said.

-Have more liberal views than other generations on questions of race and homosexuality and immigration.

-Read the newspaper and follow the news on television and radio less than those in older generations.

-Keep in close touch with their parents, both for advice and for financial help.

-Are inclined to use online social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. More than half had used one of these sites.

-Tend to most admire people they personally know rather than the famous. Entertainers were twice as likely to be named as political leaders.

-Have gotten a tattoo, dyed their hair an untraditional color or had a body piercing.

The study, a collaboration of the Pew Research Center and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, is based on Edison-Mitofsky exit polls, past Pew polls and a Pew survey of 1,501 adults, including 579 people from ages 18 to 25, taken Sept. 6-Oct. 2. The study had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 5 percentage points for the young adults.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The tiny parasite undulates under the microscope like some creature from a sci-fi movie, but this one is all too real, latching onto the sexually unwary with tentacle-like probes.

Now scientists have mapped the genes of the nasty little bug that causes one of the world’s most common, and arguably least recognized, sexually transmitted infections, one with the tongue-twisting name of trichomoniasis.

Researchers hope the work will bring new attention to a parasite estimated to infect 170 million people a year worldwide, including 8 million in North America – and one emerging as a player in the spread of the AIDS virus.

“There are a huge number of people infected out there, but they don’t know it so you don’t know it,” warned Dr. Jane Carlton, a parasite specialist who led the four-year effort by the Institute for Genomic Research to crack the bug’s genome.

The work was published in the Jan. 5 edition of the journal Science.

Most sexually transmitted infections are caused by viruses or bacteria. A microscopic, single-celled protozoan named Trichomonas vaginalis causes this one.

The good news: “Trich,” as it is short-handed, is easily curable, with a drug called Flagella. The bad news: Many people go undiagnosed and thus continue spreading Trich, plus the parasite is starting to develop resistance to the drug.

Both men and women can be infected, although Trich is more common in women. But men usually suffer no symptoms, while about half of women do, reporting such problems as vaginal itching and a fishy-smelling frothy discharge.

During pregnancy, Trich can cause premature birth or low-weight babies. It is linked to pelvic inflammatory disease.

But Trich’s real threat is that it quietly increases women’s vulnerability to HIV, by altering the lining of the vagina so that it is easier for the AIDS virus to sneak in. Trich also seems to increase the chances that people who already have HIV spread it, enhancing that virus in different ways.

“It is a bad actor,” said Dr. Anthony Foci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funded the genome work.

The genetic mapping “is a very strong step in the right direction with regard to a parasite we still have not fully appreciated,” he added.

The genome – which turned out to be 10-fold larger than researchers had predicted – highlights this bug’s predatory nature, says Carlton, now at New York University School of Medicine.

First, it shifts from the shape of a pear to flatten and cover as much of the vaginal surface as possible. Then it sends tendrils under that surface to latch on. And then it gobbles up the vagina’s good, anti-infective bacteria even as it secretes proteins that can erode holes in cells in the vaginal lining.

“We think it’s a very voracious parasite,” Carlton said.