News In Brief

Evolution rule is repealed by Texas education board

The Texas State Board of Education voted Saturday to overturn a rule that restricted the mention of evolution in state approved textbooks. The board, meeting in El Paso, acted after Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox told board members that the 10-year-old evolution rule was unconstitutional.

The rule required science textbooks to identify Charles Darwin's theory of evolution ''as only one of several explanations of the origins of humankind.'' The rule also required publishers to write about evolution ''in a manner which is not detrimental to other theories of origin.''

But in striking down the old rule, the 27-member board also approved a new regulation that will require publishers emphatically to state that evolution is theory, not fact.