Marijuana raids follow California court ruling

Federal drug agents launched a crackdown on medical-marijuana providers in California yesterday, raiding more than 20 dispensaries and charging two people.

In San Francisco, drug agents searched three pot clubs and more than 20 homes and businesses, capping a two-year investigation into an alleged marijuana-trafficking ring. Officials would not say how many people were arrested or give other details, pending a news conference today.

The actions came two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that medical-marijuana users can be prosecuted under federal law even if their home states allow use of the drug. California is one of 10 states, including Washington, that allow medicinal marijuana use.

Nashville, Tenn.

Southern Baptists

end Disney boycott

Southern Baptists ended an eight-year boycott of the Walt Disney Co. for violating "moral righteousness and traditional family values" in a vote on the final day of the denomination's annual convention yesterday.

"We believe for the boycott to be effective, it had to have a beginning and an ending," said Gene Mims, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention committee that put the Disney resolution before some 12,000 members at the meeting.

Convention delegates also approved a resolution that encourages parents to investigate their children's public schools to determine whether they are too accepting of homosexuality.

The Disney resolution, passed at the 1997 convention in Dallas, called for Southern Baptists to refrain from patronizing Disney theme parks and Disney products, mainly because of the entertainment company's decision to give benefits to companions of gay and lesbian employees.

Disney officials had no immediate comment.

With more than 16 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is second in size to only the Roman Catholic Church among U.S. religious bodies.

Pasadena, Calif.

Hopes are fading

for solar spacecraft

Backers of a mission to launch the world's first solar sail-powered spacecraft said yesterday they were hoping it had reached orbit despite the apparent failure of a Russian rocket taking it into space.

Members of The Planetary Society in Pasadena said the $4 million Cosmos 1 was likely lost less than 2 minutes after takeoff Tuesday. But they said the spacecraft might have freed itself from the failing Russian booster rocket and orbited long enough to send weak signals that were apparently received by three ground stations within hours of its launch.

By last night, a radar search of the skies by the U.S. Strategic Command had failed to find any trace of Cosmos 1, further increasing the likelihood that it never reached orbit.

Cosmos 1 was launched Tuesday from a submerged Russian submarine in the Barents Sea in the tip of a converted intercontinental ballistic missile. But the disc-shape craft lost contact with its controllers almost immediately. The Russian Space Agency said the Volna rocket's first stage misfired within 83 seconds of liftoff.

Compiled from Reuters, The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times