NATIONAL BRIEFS

HAWAII: Oracle exec buying Lanai

Oracle Corp. chief executive Larry Ellison has reached a deal to buy 98 percent of the island of Lanai, Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Wednesday. The land's owner, Castle & Cooke Inc., filed a transfer application with the state public utilities commission, he said. The sale price for the property, the vast majority of the island's 141 square miles, was not immediately clear. The Maui News previously reported the asking price was between $500 million and $600 million. Castle & Cooke is owned by self-made billionaire David Murdock. Abercrombie said Ellison has had a long-standing interest in the island. "His passion for nature, particularly the ocean, is well known, specifically in the realm of America's Cup sailing," the governor said. Abercrombie and Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa met with Castle & Cook last week to go over the prospective deal between the company and Ellison, whose software company is based in Redwood City, Calif. Lanai is Hawaii's smallest publicly accessible inhabited island, with 3,200 residents.

LOUISIANA: Baptists reject gay nuptials

A day after electing their first African-American president in a historic move that strives to erase its legacy of racism, Southern Baptists passed a resolution opposing the idea that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue. Thousands of delegates at the denomination's annual meeting in New Orleans were nearly unanimous Wednesday in their support for the resolution that affirms their belief that marriage is "the exclusive union of one man and one woman" and that "all sexual behavior outside of marriage is sinful."

FLORIDA: Sanford top cop leaving

Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee, strongly criticized for his agency's initial investigation of Trayvon Martin's slaying, is in talks with city leaders about departing. His spokeswoman, Sara Brady, said Lee met Wednesday with City Manager Norton Bonaparte to discuss his termination. She said she was uncertain whether he still technically worked for the city. The initial lack of an arrest following the shooting of Martin, an unarmed black teenager, by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman spurred a debate about race and the laws of self-defense.