The week at a glance ... United States

Columbia, S.C.

Scandal hits campaign: Republican State Rep. Nikki Haley’s campaign to be South Carolina’s governor was thrown into turmoil this week when a political consultant claimed he’d had an “inappropriate physical relationship” with her several years ago. Will Folks, a former press aide to Gov. Mark Sanford, said he revealed the affair to pre-empt an exposé by a local newspaper. Haley, who has been married for 13 years, called Folks’ claim “categorically and totally false.” Folks published messages in which he discusses the affair with a reporter and Republican officials. In one text to Folks, political operative Wes Donehue wrote, “Your [sic] the one who screwed her. You’re the one who bragged about it.” Haley, who is facing three other candidates in the Republican primary, has been endorsed by Gov. Sanford’s ex-wife, Jenny Sanford, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Lumpkin County, Ga.

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History lesson gone wrong: A high school teacher was placed on leave after some of her students dressed as Ku Klux Klansmen for a class project. Catherine Ariemma teaches an advanced-placement history and film course at Lumpkin County High School. Four of her students were filmed dressed as Klansmen as part of a project on racism. “The kids brought sheets in, they had SpongeBob party hats on underneath to make it shaped like a cone,” she explained. But several black students complained to school administrators, who said the incident raised questions about Ariemma’s judgment. “This stuff happened in history,” said Schools Superintendent Dewey Moye. “Do you ignore it? No. But you certainly don’t walk the hallway in the garb.”

West Memphis, Ark.

Extremist dies in shootout: An anti-government extremist from Ohio and his son were killed this week in a shootout with police, shortly after they allegedly shot and killed two police officers. Jerry Kane, 45, belonged to the Sovereign Nation Supremacy Group, which contends that taxes are unconstitutional and many laws are illegitimate. He and his 16-year-old son were driving in a minivan when they were pulled over by two police officers. The suspects reportedly opened fire, killing both officers, and then fled. About 90 minutes later, police cornered them in a Wal-Mart parking lot, where a shoot­out erupted, leaving both men dead and two officers wounded. The elder Kane had numerous run-ins with the law in several jurisdictions.

Detroit:

Ex-mayor jailed: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to lying under oath about an extramarital affair with his chief of staff, was sentenced this week to 18 months in prison for violating the terms of his probation. After his guilty plea, Kilpatrick was ordered to pay the city $1 million in restitution. He paid $140,000 of that judgment, but recently claimed that he was out of money. Judge David Groner, noting that the former mayor pays $77,000 a year to rent a luxurious home in Dallas and recently paid for his wife’s cosmetic surgery, accused Kilpatrick of hiding assets from the court, and he revoked his probation. “You have made it perfectly clear that it’s more important to pacify your wife than to comply with my orders,” Groner said.

Tucson

Bring in the troops: Amid mounting alarm over drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, President Obama this week announced the deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops to the Mexican border. The administration also requested $500 million from Congress for additional border security. The move came at the urging of several border-state Democrats, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who represents Arizona’s Cochise County, where a rancher was recently murdered. Lawmakers in Arizona, which has enacted a stringent immigration law, welcomed the additional troops, but said more were needed. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer also asked Obama to send drone aircraft, calling them “ideal for border-security and counter-drug missions.”

Dallas

Baptists split over gays: Texas’ largest Baptist group has broken ties with a North Dallas church over its ordination of gay and lesbian deacons. Founded in 1952, the Royal Lane Baptist Church, with a congregation of about 500, was one of the first in the region to racially integrate its pews and to ordain women as deacons. In March, its pastor, the Rev. David Matthews, announced that the church welcomed gays. The ouster by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the state’s largest umbrella group for Baptist churches, means that the church can no longer team with other Baptist congregations on evangelism, relief work, and other missions. “To say something is wrong” with homosexuals, said Royal Lane deacon Doug Washington, “is to say God made a mistake. I can’t buy into that.”