LITTLE ROCK (AP) – Inmates would have to undergo HIV tests before they could be paroled under a proposal filed Thursday by a North Little Rock lawmaker.

Rep. Fred Allen, D-North Little Rock, proposed requiring tests for HIV – the virus that causes AIDS – and other sexually transmitted diseases before an inmate could be paroled. The proposal also requires that the inmate has received treatment for the disease or for HIV if they’ve tested positive.

Dina Tyler, spokesperson for the Department of Correction, said normally about 100 of the state’s 14,000 inmates are HIV positive and between 25 and 30 have AIDS.

At intake, prisoners are required to be screened for hepatitis, and the state also provides voluntary HIV tests.

“They’re voluntary, but everyone takes one,” Tyler said. “Some of the people just want to know.”

Tyler said prison officials are studying Allen’s proposal to see what costs the additional testing would require.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Three police officers accused of verbally abusing and assaulting a gay man they caught urinating in the street will not face possible discipline because the department missed the deadline to take action.

At a meeting Wednesday, police commissioners expressed frustration at the department’s delay while approving an $83,000 tentative settlement of the man’s civil rights lawsuit over the 2004 incident.

“You are talking about a hate crime – it’s just a tragedy that the department is unable to do anything about it because it dropped the ball so early on,” Commissioner Joe Veronese said, referring to the expired one-year statute of limitations for disciplinary action.

Andrew Marconi, of Sacramento, said in the lawsuit that three officers confronted him at 2:15 a.m. on March 7, 2004, as he urinated outside a San Francisco nightclub.

Two of them began using anti-gay slurs against him, he said.

“You peeing on my streets? Do you think we want your AIDS-infected pee on our streets?” Sgt. Jason Fox asked Marconi, according to the lawsuit.

The man was forced to kneel down into his urine, and Fox slammed his head into a wall and used his hair to clean the urine off the wall, the suit said. Fox and Officer Simon Chan then stripped off Marconi’s shirt, used it to mop up the remaining waste and threatened him with more violence if he was ever caught urinating in public again, it said.

The alleged abuse only stopped when Marconi’s friend, an off-duty Stockton police officer, walked up and showed his badge, prompting the officers to leave.

Fox and Chan both denied any abuse in court documents, and Fox claimed Marconi was drunk that night. The third officer at the scene, who did not engage in the alleged abuse, said in the documents that he saw no wrongdoing.

The city attorney has said there was no evidence to support Marconi’s claims.

The case never was investigated for possible disciplinary action because Marconi failed to notify the Office of Citizen Complaints, the civilian police watchdog agency. Following its own investigation, the office would forward its findings to the police chief and commission for further action, but none of that ever happened.

The settlement still must go before the city’s Board of Supervisors for approval.

DES MOINES (AP) – The House approved a measure Feb. 7 protecting gay and lesbian students from being harassed for their sexual orientation, but also assured that private religious schools are free to offer their anti-homosexual teachings.

The bill, which heads to the Senate for more debate, lists other criteria for which students must be protected from harassment, including gender, age and race.

The measure passed 62-37 after supporters stifled efforts to eliminate the criteria and simply ban bullying for all students.

“Iowa schools need more tools to enforce discipline in schools,” said Rep. Roger Wendt, D-Sioux City. “A safe and civil environment in school is necessary for students to live up to their potential.”

The protections were first proposed in 2004 by former Gov. Tom Vilsack but have never made it through the Legislature. Gov. Chet Culver has indicated he will sign the measure if it gets to his desk.

Under the House-approved version, public and private schools would be required to report harassment incidents to the state and indicate what the school did in response. In addition, religious schools would not be barred from teaching their opposition to homosexuality – a provision added to ease concerns from some lawmakers.

Critics of the bill said they should try to ban all bullying and send a clear message to schools that harassment won’t be tolerated against anyone – not just gay and lesbian students.

“The purpose of this bill is noble, but unfortunately the policy is not consistent with the purpose,” said Rep. Mike May, R-Spirit Lake. “It sets out to stop discrimination, and it discriminates.”

Wendt said it makes sense to specify protections for the groups that most often are targeted by bullies.

He also said school districts would have the option to expand on the harassment policies to more effectively deter bullying.

Rep. Dwayne Alons, R-Hull, said the bill has plenty of opposition from schools in his district who oppose a statewide mandate.

“There’s a different message out there,” said Alons.

Supporters of the measure said only 75 of the state’s 365 school districts have adopted harassment policies, indicating they need a nudge.

Under the measure, each school district would have to adopt an anti-bullying policy that includes all the traits included in the measure: age, color, creed, national origin, race, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and political party, among others.

Supporters said the bill gives schools better tools to combat harassment.

“School districts understand that harassment and bullying goes on every single day,” said Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, a teacher.

Because of changes to the proposal, the bill will return to the Senate, which approved a similar version 36-14 the previous week.

BOSTON (AP) – Officials from a suburban school district asked a federal judge Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two couples who claim their parental rights were violated when homosexuality was discussed in their children’s classrooms.

U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf did not immediately issue a decision in the case from Lexington, but peppered lawyers on both sides with questions and said he understood the importance of the case to both parents and school administrators.

Tonia and David Parker sued after their 5-year-old son brought home a book from kindergarten that depicted a gay family. David Parker was later arrested for refusing to leave his son’s school after officials would not agree to notify him when homosexuality was discussed in his son’s class.

Another Lexington couple, Joseph and Robin Wirthlin, joined the Parkers in the suit after a second-grade teacher read King and King to her class. The fairy tale tells the story of two princes falling in love.

Both couples claim Lexington school officials violated their parental rights to teach their own morals to their children.

The case has attracted a great deal of attention in Massachusetts, the only U.S. state that allows same-sex marriage.

John Davis, an attorney for Lexington school officials, argued in court Wednesday that teaching diversity is a “legitimate state interest.” He said that it would be “an administrative nightmare” for schools in Massachusetts to try to predict when the topic of same-sex marriage will come up and to inform parents ahead of time.

CONCORD (AP) – Gay couples across the state would gain the explicit right to adopt children together under a bill being proposed to end discrepancies in how each county handles such requests.

The state’s existing adoption law allows children to be adopted by married couples or single adults. Gay individuals can adopt children, but same-sex couples can adopt only in certain counties because probate judges interpret the law differently.

Six counties – Belknap, Carroll, Coos, Rockingham, Strafford and Sullivan – have allowed same-sex couples to adopt. Probate judges in the other four – Merrimack, Hillsborough, Cheshire and Grafton – have not. Judges in those counties have said the language of the law does not apply to same-sex couples because they cannot legally marry in New Hampshire.

In one Merrimack County case, two Concord women were denied in their attempt to both become the legal parents of their daughter. Betsy Peabody, who gave birth to the girl, wanted her partner of 14 years, Dianne Harhigh, to adopt their daughter, but Judge Richard Hampe said the best he could offer was dual guardianship. At the end of their case, both the women and Hampe agreed on one issue: The Legislature should clarify the law.

Seeking to do just that, Rep. Frank Tupper, D-Canterbury, is co-sponsoring a bill that would allow unmarried couples to adopt a child if they live together and share financial obligations, such as rent or mortgage.

“If two loving adults have proven they are in a committed fiscal relationship … good Lord, give the child a two-parent home,” said Tupper.

Rep. Elizabeth Blanchard, D-Concord, co-sponsored the bill because she considered it a “no brainer.”

“If one person in the household can adopt a child, there is no reason they can’t both adopt.”

Blanchard said the only criticism she has heard came by e-mail as a letter expressing support for “traditional” families of one mother and one father.

Judge David King, administrative judge of the state’s probate courts, said Hampe has read the proposal to ensure that it would sufficiently clarify the issue.

SANTA FE (AP) – A proposal to allow certain patients to legally use marijuana under a state-run program passed the Senate on Wednesday and headed to the House.

The proposal has the support of Gov. Bill Richardson, who has urged lawmakers to pass some measure before the annual legislative session ends March 17.

Richardson says he supports a bill “that includes proper safeguards to prevent abuse.”

The bill creates a program run by the Department of Health in which patients with cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and other conditions, or in hospice care, could participate. They would need certification from their physicians.

Supporters say the drug combats nausea and relieves other symptoms of cancer and other debilitating diseases.

“Sometimes there’s nothing else in life that would let you eat a bite of food,” said Senate Republican Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales, who voted for it.

The measure passed the Senate 34-7. The Senate has endorsed it the past two years, but it has failed to clear the House each time.

Supporters estimate that between 50 and 200 New Mexicans could qualify for the program.

Patients, who would be issued identification cards, would be protected from prosecution by state authorities for possessing or using the drug.

But opponents argued that marijuana remains illegal under federal law, subjecting patients who use it to possible prosecution.

“Why aren’t you going to Congress and asking them to change it. … This is blatantly pre-empted by federal law,” objected Sen. William Payne, R-Albuquerque.

The health agency would devise the regulations for the program, and decide how the marijuana would be supplied and distributed. The bill calls for production facilities “within New Mexico housed on secure grounds and operated by licensed producers.”

The state had a program more than two decades ago that linked the medical use of marijuana with a research project. The project eventually lost its funding.

NEW YORK (AP) – More than 25 years into the AIDS epidemic, HIV continues to soar in the black community, and for one activist in Brooklyn rowing solo across the Atlantic Ocean may be a way to raise awareness of the crisis.

Victor Mooney, 41, a college publicist and AIDS activist, in 2006 had hoped to become the first African-American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean but had to be rescued after only a few hours in the water when his boat began to leak.

The mission of Mooney’s venture remains the same – to memorialize the trans-Atlantic slave trade route that brought blacks to the Americas from Africa and to connect the plight of AIDS in the two continents.

“It is my belief, that those that survived the Middle Passage would want us to help the next generation,” Mooney said in a statement before the unveiling.

The activist, a founder of the Brooklyn-based cultural organization South African Arts International, announced that his second attempt would begin Dec. 1, World AIDS Day.

His first attempt took place in May 2006 when he departed from an island off the coast of Dakar in a 24-foot ocean rowboat he built for the journey. Less than two hours later, the Senegalese navy was called in to save him as his boat began to sink.

Solo rows across the Atlantic Ocean are notoriously perilous, with fewer than 50 people having completed the journey, according to the England-based Ocean Rowing Society.

If the 2006 trip had gone as planned, Mooney would have made it to the Caribbean in 120 days, then rowed up the coast to reach New York.

This time, Mooney plans to depart from Goree Island, Senegal – once a prison and auction site for slaves bound for the Americas – and finish in the Caribbean 90 days later.

The unveiling of the row boat coincides with various events for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day throughout the city, including free HIV prevention workshops and presentations at the William F. Ryan Community Health Network.

More than half of newly diagnosed infections of HIV in the U.S. have been documented in the black community, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Forty-seven percent of the approximately one million people in the U.S. who suffer from HIV are black, according to 2005 CDC statistics.

YORK (AP) – Churches and human rights groups held a meeting to prepare for an expected protest by Westboro Baptist Church against a school production dealing with the murder of a gay college student.

The Laramie Project, being produced Saturday at York Suburban High School, deals with the murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998 near Laramie, Wyo.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a Westboro church member and daughter of pastor Fred Phelps, said members plan to protest the play because it promotes acceptance of what they consider a sinful lifestyle and a “rebellion against God.”

Amy Van Dyke, of the state Human Relations Commission, told a meeting Monday that members of the Silent Witnesses group plan to stand between the protesters and the public to act as a physical and emotional buffer, and encourage the public not to interact with the protesters.

“You can’t argue with someone that is impervious to logic, but they are entitled to yell and scream their obscenities,” she said. “We’re not asking you to take a stand for homosexuality. We’re asking you to take a stand that everybody must be safe and respected as an individual human being.”