Arkansas restores Martin Luther King holiday without Robert E. Lee

By Steve BarnesLITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) - Arkansas lawmakers on Friday gave final approval to a bill setting aside an official state holiday solely for slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and relegating Confederate General Robert E. Lee to a separate, lesser observance.Supporters of the legislation argued that celebrating a war hero of the pro-slavery Confederacy on the same day as King's birthday, as has been done for a quarter century, was an affront to the memory of the Africa