LITTLE ROCK—Six girls taken from the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries compound in Fouke will remain in state custody for now, an official said Tuesday night.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services had faced an 8 p.m. Tuesday deadline for filing a court document to keep the children or return them to the complex of houses in Southwest Arkansas. Department spokesman Julie Munsell said she couldn’t comment about the legal process but acknowledged the girls wouldn’t be leaving the state’s care Tuesday.

“If you don’t see kids coming back today, you can assume we’re moving forward in this process,” Munsell told The Associated Press just before the deadline.

State lawyers will appear before a Miller County judge within the next five days for a closed-door hearing about the girls’ future.

The girls, ranging in age from 10 to 17, all have been identified through police investigation and birth certificates, Munsell said. However, state authorities continue to piece together who their legal guardians are, as their parents “weren’t present at the removal,” she said.

Ex-members of the Alamo ministries have claimed church officials separate adults from their children.

State and federal agents raided Alamo’s Fouke compound Saturday night, searching for evidence that children there had been molested or filmed having sex.

U.S. Attorney Bob Balfe has said he expects an arrest warrant to be issued for Alamo, who lives near Los Angeles but keeps a home at the Fouke compound.

Alamo has denied the allegations, calling the raid an attempt to smear him.

—Associated Press

ANGOR, Maine—A Maine TV news anchor who bears a resemblance to the Republican vice presidential nominee says she’s been getting “hate mail and nasty phone calls” from viewers who think she’s trying to copy Sarah Palin’s signature style.

Cindy Michaels from WVII-TV has long brown hair that she sometimes wears up in a style similar to Palin’s, and she also wears glasses on occasion.

Michaels says viewers recently began accusing her of trying to copy Palin’s style or, worse, somehow trying to subliminally sway votes.

While smarting over accusations of bias, Michaels says she’s generally flattered by the comparisons to Palin. Michaels describes her as a “beautiful woman.”