FIRST OFF . . .

Due to strong protests from a Minneapolis-based Indian parents group, CBS has deleted references to American Indians as “savages” from a Thanksgiving-related “Peanuts” cartoon special. Carol Altieri, vice president of program practices for the CBS Broadcast Group, confirmed Wednesday that the word savages has been dropped from “The Mayflower Voyagers,” due to air Oct. 21 as part of an animated historical miniseries called “This Is America, Charlie Brown.” Altieri said the change was made because of concerns raised by the Concerned American Indian Parents group of Minneapolis and the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis, WCCO-TV. She said no other affiliates had complained.