GETTYSBURG — The Ku Klux Klan has been granted a permit to hold an event at Gettysburg National Military Park.

Park officials say the special-use permit was approved for a Maryland-based KKK group to exercise their First Amendment rights on Oct. 5. The event will be held on the lawn area north of Meade's Headquarters.

Officials say the park has a responsibility to make that land available for citizens to exercise their right to freedom of speech, even if the views expressed are contrary to those of most Americans. The group held a membership rally earlier this month at the Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg, Md.

EBENSBURG — An animal rights group says it released hundreds of mink from cages at a mink farm.Police in Cambria Township say an officer saw a few of the animals on a road early Wednesday and contacted the family of George Rykola, who raises mink on a farm in rural Cambria County.George Rykola told a Pittsburgh newspaper that someone came on his property and released hundreds of mink from their cages.An anonymous statement sent to Bite Back, an animal rights publication based in West Palm Beach, Fla., said the Animal Liberation Front was claiming responsibility.