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NATION IN BRIEF

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· CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The state's human services chief was ordered to pay $80,000 for keeping mentally ill inmates in jail, a week after she was charged with criminal contempt. Judge Crockett Farnell imposed the sanction against Department of Children and Families chief Lucy Hadi during a hearing on the status of seven Pinellas County jail inmates found incompetent months ago but only recently moved to mental health facilities.

· RIO GRANDE CITY, Tex. -- Authorities found nearly nine tons of marijuana, valued at about $8 million, hidden along with firearms in two underground bunkers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. No arrests had been made.

· MINNEAPOLIS -- Officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport said that they will consider setting aside a private area for prayer and meditation. A group of Somali clerics, concerned about the removal of six Muslim clerics from a US Airways flight last week, requested the area of airport officials.

· LAS VEGAS -- Police said they will recommend that no criminal charges be filed against Nevada Gov.-elect Jim Gibbons (R), a congressman accused by a cocktail waitress of assaulting her in a parking garage three weeks before Election Day.

-- From News Services

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