Advisory panel in Louisiana endorses science textbooks

From The Baton Rouge Advocate: A Louisiana advisory panel has voted 8-4 to endorse a variety of high school science textbooks that have come under fire for how they describe evolution. The textbooks that triggered criticism were approved earlier this year by a review committee, but final action on the biology I and biology II, and environmental science textbooks was delayed by last month amid criticism that they put too much credence in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Backers of the books say Darwin’s ideas are widely accepted in the scientific community and that continuing debate in Louisiana is an embarrassment. The state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is expected to decide next month whether to approve the textbooks.