Protests mark Hawaii’s 50th year of statehood

Protests mark Hawaii’s 50th year of statehood

HONOLULU — Hawaii welcomed its entry as the 50th state with a new postage stamp Friday, but independence supporters marked the day with passionate protest — including an effigy of Uncle Sam being beaten and Hawaii’s star cut out from the U.S. flag.

State leaders called Friday’s events a “commemoration” of Hawaii’s 50 years of statehood rather than a “celebration” out of respect to Native Hawaiians and their unresolved claims since the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom.

A few hundred Native Hawaiians marched through the streets of downtown Honolulu with an effigy of a 15-foot Uncle Sam holding machine guns and riding in a tank made of cardboard. They chanted in Hawaiian, blew on conch shells, waved ti leaves, carried upside-down Hawaii state flags and yelled, “We are not Americans! We want our country back!”

Korean officials meet

SEOUL, South Korea — Top South and North Korean officials in charge of inter-Korean relations opened talks today for the first time in nearly two years amid a series of conciliatory moves by North Korea after months of tensions on the divided peninsula.

Unification Minister Hyun In-taek met visiting North Korean spy chief Kim Yang Gon, who also handles inter-Korean affairs, ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said. She did not give further details.

The last time officials responsible for inter-Korean affairs met was for several days from late November to early December 2007.

Lutherans OK gay clergy in committed relationships

MINNEAPOLIS — Leaders of the nation’s largest Lutheran church voted Friday to allow sexually active gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy.

Gays and lesbians are currently allowed to serve as ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America only if they remain celibate. The proposal to change that passed with 68 percent approval.

At 4.7 million members and about 10,000 congregations in the United States, the ELCA is one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations yet to take a more gay-friendly stance on clergy.

Fine levied over firing of woman who breast-fed

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles taco-shop owner has been ordered to pay more than $46,000 for firing a worker because she used her break time to breast-feed her baby.

The Department of Fair Employment and Housing says Jesus Acosta, owner of Acosta Tacos, was ordered to pay Marina Chavez lost wages, compensation for emotional suffering and an administrative fine.

The DFEH prosecuted the case before the Fair Employment and Housing Commission, which found Acosta liable for sex discrimination, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination.

The agency says Acosta fired Chavez after he learned that she had breast-fed her baby in her car during a work break.

The commission also ordered Acosta to develop a written policy prohibiting sex and pregnancy discrimination in the workplace.

Report details CIA interrogation threats

WASHINGTON — Congressional officials confirm that an internal government report written in 2004 reveals that CIA interrogators threatened one of their prisoners with a gun and a power drill.

The account was reported Friday by Newsweek magazine, which said interrogators brandished the weapons during an interrogation of suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. He was captured in November 2002.

Al-Nashiri was also waterboarded, an interrogation technique approved by the Bush administration that simulates drowning. The Obama White House has denounced the method as a form of torture.

NEA criticizes Obama

WASHINGTON — The National Education Association pointedly criticized the Obama administration, saying the president is relying too heavily on charter schools and standardized tests in his attempt to overhaul the nation’s schools.

“We urge the administration to step outside of this narrow agenda,” the nation’s largest teachers’ union said in a public statement filed Friday with the Education Department.

At issue is a competition for $5 billion in competitive grants for states to pursue innovations sought by President Barack Obama. Obama’s “Race to the Top” competition, funded through the federal stimulus law, prioritizes charter schools and performance pay for teachers based on their students’ academic performance.

Associated Press