By DAVID OLSON, The Press-Enterprise

Michael Imel wants to put his girlfriend on his health-insurance policy. But the Bermuda Dunes, Calif. man's employer declined his request because the couple is not married.

To Thomas Coleman, Imel's case exemplifies how unmarried people face pervasive discrimination under federal, state and local laws.

When Sen. Barack Obama takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Thursday night, he will be heralded as the first black candidate to accept a major-party presidential nomination.

A Temecula, Calif., group has launched a Muslim version of YouTube.

MuslimChannels.tv aims to educate non-Muslims about Islam and provide an Internet site for Muslims to view videos without worrying about anti-Islamic tirades or sexually explicit content, said Tarek Ayoub, a volunteer for the site and for the site's nonprofit founder, Islam the Answer Corp.

An anti-illegal-immigration group wants the Mexican consulate in San Bernadino, Calif., to stop providing off-site services and issuing identification cards that can be used by undocumented immigrants.

The Minuteman Project believes the consulate's mobile units violate U.S. sovereignty and that the cards encourage illegal immigration.

Chief Fama chanted as she stood on a straw mat in a bamboo-walled room behind her home near San Bernardino, Calif.