NEWS BRIEFS

LITTLE ROCK — Inmates challenge ban on ritual tobacco

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A Lakota traditional healer is arguing that tobacco is an integral part of American Indian religious ceremonies, and denying its use is akin to taking away the Bible from a Christian.

Richard Moves Camp testified during a federal trial challenging a South Dakota prison policy that bans ceremonial tobacco use. Camp said tobacco has been a central part of prayer for thousands of years.

James Moore, attorney for the corrections officials, said ceremonial tobacco inside the state penitentiary was increasingly abused, and inmates had been caught separating it from their pipe mixtures and prayer ties.

The state prison system went tobacco-free in 2000 but made an exception for tobacco used in Indian inmates’ ceremonies.

• The Associated Press

Three groups join immigration-law suit

WASHINGTON - The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops, joined by leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, are supporting a legal challenge to Arizona’s tough immigration law.

The religious groups filed a friend-of-the-court brief Monday in the lawsuit that aims to invalidate the state measure that cracks down on illegal immigration. A federal judge had issued an injunction keeping many parts of the law from taking effect. The Supreme Court will hear legal arguments concerning that injunction April 25.

Attorneys for the religious leaders argue in the brief that a patchwork of state laws could hurt the religious mission to serve immigrants by essentially criminalizing charity.

• The Associated Press

Modest attire OK’d for beach volleyball

GENEVA - Most female beach volleyball players will wear their usual bikini outfits at the London Olympics. For those who prefer to cover up, that’s allowed, too.

Under new rules adopted by the International Volleyball Federation, players are free to wear shorts and sleeved tops. The governing body said the move was made out of respect for the cultural and religious sensibilities of some of the dozens of countries still in contention to qualify for the games.

“Many of these countries have religious and cultural requirements, so the uniform needed to be more flexible,” a federation spokesman said Tuesday.

• The Associated Press

Reflective-tape bill

for Amish advances

FRANKFORT, Ky. - The Kentucky House of Representatives voted 75-21 Tuesday for a Senate bill to allow the Amish to use reflective tape on the backs of their horse-drawn buggies rather than bright orange triangles that some object to.

The Amish complain that the signs call attention to them, which is against their religion, and the triangular shape represents the Trinity, which they’re not allowed to flaunt. Several Amish men have been jailed for refusing to pay fines for not using the orange signs.

The proposal returns to the Senate for final passage.