IN THE NATION

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MONTGOMERY -- A Republican congressional candidate dropped out of the race Saturday amid criticism over his defense of slavery in the Old South.

In an apology announcing the end of his campaign for the U.S. House, state Sen. Charles Davidson denied any racial motivation

Davidson's slavery defense came in a speech he planned to deliver in the state Senate last week supporting a proposal to resume flying the Confederate battle flag atop the Capitol. The Senate rejected his proposal before he could deliver his speech, so he distributed copies.

In the speech, the freshman senator quoted Bible passages about slavery and wrote that Southern farmers taught slaves about the Bible and converted them to Christianity.

NEW MEXICO

QUESTA -- Officials made plans to reseed thousands of blackened acres in the Carson National Forest as firefighters tried to stamp out the last dying embers of the third major New Mexico forest fire in a month.

The wind-driven Hondo Fire, which started from a trash fire May 5, raced through an area north of Taos, burning 32 buildings, including 18 homes, in La Lama, and threatening Questa and Red River.

The fire forced the evacuations of 1,000 people and scorched more than 7,500 acres, mostly in the national forest.