NATION IN BRIEF

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Florida Orders Schools To Teach Evolution

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida education officials voted Tuesday to add evolution to the course work that public schools must teach, but only after a last-minute change depicting the concept put forward by Charles Darwin as merely a theory.

The Florida Board of Education voted 4 to 3 to include the language as part of its retooling of the state's science standards for public school education. The board approved clearly labeling every scientific law and theory as such.

The standard dealing with biology now says, "The scientific theory of evolution is the fundamental concept underlying all of biology and is supported by multiple forms of scientific evidence."

Some had urged the board to add an "academic freedom" provision that would have let teachers "engage students in a critical analysis of that evidence."

Gun Dealer Sets Up Web Site for Dialogue

The owner of an Internet-based gun store that sold items used in the deadly shootings last week at Northern Illinois University and last year's massacre at Virginia Tech University said he is launching a Web site to spur dialogue about preventing future tragedies.

Eric Thompson's Green Bay, Wis., company Tgscom sold 9mm ammunition clips and a holster to Steven Kazmierczak days before he killed five people in Illinois. One of his Web sites also sold a .22-caliber handgun to Seung Hui Cho before Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech last year.

"I've spent the past weekend feeling absolutely terrible that my company has been linked to both of these heinous crimes," Thompson said. "I assume it is just an unfortunate coincidence, but I also believe I now have a special responsibility to do all I can to try and prevent further loss of life."

He said he hopes his new site, http://www.gundebate.com, which may launch this week, will provoke debate from those on all sides of the gun issue.

Total Eclipse of Moon Is Tonight

LOS ANGELES -- The last total lunar eclipse until 2010 occurs Wednesday night, with cameo appearances by Saturn and the bright star Regulus on either side of the veiled full moon. The total eclipse can be seen from North America, although clouds may obscure the view for many in the United States.

Lawmaker Calls to Revamp USDA

LOS ANGELES -- A House subcommittee chairwoman called for stripping the Agriculture Department of its responsibility for food safety in the wake of the nation's largest-ever meat recall. The agency's twin mandates of promoting the nation's agriculture and monitoring it for safety have become blurred, said Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), whose subcommittee oversees the department's funding.

Nancy Reagan Is Back Home

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Former first lady Nancy Reagan, 86, has been released from a California hospital, two days after falling at her Bel-Air home. Spokeswoman Joanne Drake says Reagan is "very happy to be back in her home."

License Plate Fetches $675,000

WILMINGTON, Del. -- A license plate bearing the number 6 sold Sunday for a U.S.-record $675,000, more than twice the previous high. Delaware is the only state where license plates are easily transferred in private transactions, said Jeff Minard, a historian with the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association.

-- From News Services and Staff Reports