NATION IN BRIEF

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Baptists Vow to Step Up Environmental Work

NEW YORK -- A group of Southern Baptist leaders said Monday that the denomination has been "too timid" on environmental issues and has a biblical duty to stop global warming.

The declaration was signed by the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, two former presidents and others. The denomination is the largest Protestant group in the United States, with 16.3 million members.

The signers of "A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change" said that current evidence of global warming is "substantial," and that the threat is too grave to wait for perfect knowledge about whether, or how much, people contribute to the problem.

"We believe our current denominational resolutions and engagement with these issues have often been too timid," the statement said. "Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed. We can do better."

No one speaks on behalf of all Southern Baptists, who leave decision-making to local churches.

Man Is Held in Student's Slaying

LITTLE ROCK -- A student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville was killed at her off-campus apartment, and a former student she knew was arrested in Oklahoma, police and the university said. Katharine Wood, 24, a senior English major from Greenbrier, was found dead by police who were investigating a caller's report that a woman seemed to be arguing with someone, police and the university said. Zachariah Marcyniuk, 28, of Fayetteville, was charged with first-degree murder.

Groups Sue for Word on Bears

ANCHORAGE -- Three conservation groups sued the Interior Department for missing a deadline on a decision to list polar bears as threatened because of the loss of Arctic sea ice. A decision was due Jan. 9, one year after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the animals as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Agency Director Dale Hall said in January that officials needed a few more weeks to make a decision. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace asked a federal court in San Francisco to order administration officials to decide.

Bid System Proper, Official Says

DETROIT -- The head of the city's economic development office defended its practices after a report that a longtime friend of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick won millions of dollars in contracts while secretly consulting with the mayor's top aide. George Jackson, president of Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said that the city's bidding process is not influenced by politics, and that Bobby Ferguson did not have an inside track to the bidding process.

Medical Records Sold as Scrap

SALT LAKE CITY -- The medical records of 28 Florida hospital patients were sold last month at a Salt Lake City surplus store for about $20, a newspaper reported. The records were sold to a schoolteacher looking for scrap paper for her fourth-grade class, the Deseret Morning News reported. The records contained medical histories, phone numbers, addresses, Social Security numbers and insurance data.

-- From News Services