Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Church’s Political Ads Spark IRS Probe

The Internal Revenue Service has requested records from a church in Binghamton, N.Y., that ran pre-election advertisements labeling Bill Clinton a sinner, its pastor said. The probe was launched after a complaint from Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a non-sectarian group based in Maryland. The Church at Pierce Creek, a nondenominational Christian church, ran newspaper ads saying Clinton “is promoting policies that are in rebellion to God’s laws. . . . How then can we vote for Bill Clinton?”