In brief: Diocese to back away from church

Mount Pleasant, S.C. – The Diocese of South Carolina voted Saturday to distance itself but not completely split from the national Episcopal Church because of church positions on same-sex unions and ordination of gays.

The discord stems from the national church’s consecration in 2003 of its first openly gay bishop and its authorizing bishops to bless same-sex unions, a decision made at its national convention last summer.

Saturday’s vote authorizes the South Carolina bishop and the diocesan Standing Committee to begin withdrawing from church councils and governing bodies that have “assented to actions contrary to Holy Scripture,” according to the resolution text.

LAPD moving into new headquarters

Los Angeles – The Los Angeles Police Department has been handed the keys to its new headquarters.

Outgoing Chief William Bratton dedicated the gleaming 10-story, $437 million downtown structure at a ceremony Saturday.

Bratton said the glass facade of the 500,000-square-foot structure represents the new LAPD of the 21st century, an era of transparency for a department once resistant to public scrutiny. The Police Administration Building replaces Parker Center, four blocks away.

Alleged burglars get $2, leave keys

Paterson, N.J. – Police in northern New Jersey nabbed three alleged burglars who fled an apartment with just $2 in change and left behind the keys to their getaway car.

Authorities say the gun-toting men entered an apartment in Paterson early Friday, expecting to find loads of money.

Realizing they targeted the wrong residence after they woke up a man who then fought with them, the men fled with just a 3-foot, beer bottle-shaped piggy bank containing the coins.

Police soon arrived. After finding the keys in a bedroom, they used the car alarm to locate a deserted vehicle in a nearby parking lot. Its registration led them to the alleged robbers, who were sitting in a taxi outside one suspect’s home.