Briefly

Washington

Two arrested in cross-burning

Two 16-year-old boys turned themselves in to authorities Saturday for burning a cross at the home of a black minister, according to a newspaper report.

A relative of the boys brought them to the police station about 1:30 p.m., hours before a candlelight vigil and march organized by the community, Arlington City Administrator Kristin Banfield told The Herald of Everett.

“They were identified through our investigation, and they decided to turn themselves in,” Banfield said. “I’m hoping their conscience got the best of them.”

Jason Martin, the pastor of a Pentecostal congregation in nearby Marysville, woke up early Wednesday to find firefighters dousing a 3-foot-by-5-foot cross on his front lawn. Police and FBI agents said they had received several dozen leads, many pointing to teens known for their racist views.

Miami

Report: HIV growing at faster rate in South

The number of people with HIV or AIDS has risen faster in the South than any other region of the country, and the problem will worsen without changes, the authors of a new study said Sunday.

The South accounted for only 38 percent of the U.S. population, but 40 percent of the country’s AIDS cases in 2002, according to a report presented at the National HIV/AIDS Update Conference. The region also accounted for 46 percent of new AIDS cases between 2000 and 2002.

The report, which examined 17 Southern states and the District of Columbia, was prepared by Michelle Scavnicky, community relations director for the AIDS Institute, and Kim Williams, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Scavnicky said a growing number of people living in rural areas were being diagnosed with HIV.

Vermont

Farmer won’t slaughterany of his 300 goats

State officials are investigating a man whose goats and his religious convictions against killing them have collided in a possibly inhumane way.

There were three goats on the farm Chris Weathersbee’s mother bought seven years ago. Now there are 300 — including 70 living in his house, much of which is covered with a mix of droppings and hay.

Authorities last month raided the farm in Corinth, about 20 miles southeast of Montpelier, and seized 44 deemed unhealthy by a veterinarian. State police and the Central Vermont Humane Society are weighing whether to pursue animal cruelty charges.

Weathersbee, 63, admits he cannot afford to give the herd sufficient care, but he refuses to get rid of the animals. He said his Buddhist religious views prohibited him from slaughtering any of the goats.

“Getting rid of goats means killing them,” he said.