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Nation in brief

'Intelligent design' trial comes to close

By wire services
Published November 5, 2005

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A lawyer for eight families urged a federal judge on Friday to overturn a policy that requires the discussion of "intelligent design" in biology classes, saying it improperly promotes religion in schools.

A lawyer for the School Board defended the policy, explaining that it was intended to call attention to a new "science movement."

The families' attorney, Eric Rothschild, said the concept promotes the Bible's view of creation.

The lawyers wrapped up a six-week trial that featured expert witnesses for each side debating intelligent design's scientific merits. Other witnesses clashed over whether creationism was discussed in School Board meetings months before the curriculum changed in 2004.

Federal Judge John E. Jones III said he hoped to issue a ruling no later than January.

HOUSTON - Authorities searched for a death row inmate Friday who slipped off his handcuffs, changed into street clothes and bluffed his way out of jail by flashing a fake ID badge with a photo of himself.

Charles Victor Thompson, who was sentenced to die for killing his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, got past at least four employees at the Harris County Jail by claiming he worked for the Texas Attorney General's Office.

"He's a charming, affable, articulate guy, and I'm sure he used his charming abilities to talk his way out of the jail," said Thompson's attorney, Terrence Gaiser.

The Sheriff's Department is investigating whether Thompson, 35, had inside help. Sheriff's Lt. John Martin said officials fear Thompson might retaliate against relatives of the woman he murdered. "He's extremely dangerous," Martin said.

WASHINGTON - Former President Jimmy Carter says the Democratic Party has become too closely associated with abortion rights and has strayed too far from religious people.

Carter, in a C-SPAN2 interview scheduled for broadcast this weekend, was interviewed about his new book Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, which argues for the separation of church and state. The program, After Words, was scheduled for broadcast today and Sunday.

Carter said: "It's a mistake to wed the Democratic Party to freedom of choice and abortion."

"As I say in this book, I have never believed that Jesus Christ would approve abortions unless the mother's life or health was in danger or perhaps the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest, for those very few exceptions," Carter said.

Another mistake by the party, Carter said, is its detachment from religious people.

"I think there was a sense among many devout people in my own church, my fellow church members, that John Kerry didn't quite relate to us," he said of last year's Democratic presidential candidate.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Tom DeLay case appeared to finally have a judge Friday, after a judicial merry-go-round that illustrated the complications that can result when judges are elected and the charges are politically sensitive.

Senior Judge Pat Priest, a Democrat, was chosen to preside over the trial, in which the Republican congressman and two associates are charged with conspiracy and money laundering in an allegedly illegal campaign-finance scheme.

DeLay's attorneys succeeded in removing state District Judge Bob Perkins, the Democrat initially assigned to the case, because of more than $5,000 Perkins contributed to Democratic candidates and groups like MoveOn.org.

[Last modified November 5, 2005, 01:23:12]