NATION IN BRIEF

After Stock Price Sours, Hershey Shuffles Board

Eight directors of chocolate giant Hershey Co. have resigned -- six of them were asked to quit -- and will be replaced by eight directors chosen by the Hershey Trust, the company's controlling shareholder, the company said yesterday.

The shake-up follows a slide in the company's stock price since April, when Hershey traded at more than $55 per share. The company's shares closed Friday at $41.04.

Chief executive and Chairman Richard H. Lenny will retire Dec. 31, as announced last month, and will be replaced as chief executive by company director David J. West, who will remain on the board. Kenneth L. Wolfe, a longtime Hershey executive who retired in 2001, will be the company's new non-executive chairman.

Among the new directors is Edward J. Kelly III, the managing director of D.C.-based Carlyle Group.

Staph Strain Destroys One of Body's Defenses

The aggressive antibiotic-resistant staph infection responsible for thousands of recent illnesses undermines the body's defenses by causing germ-fighting cells to explode, researchers reported.

Many of the recent cases involve an aggressive strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, called community-associated MRSA, which can cause severe infections and even death in otherwise healthy people outside of health-care settings.

Researchers found that the CA-MRSA strain secretes a kind of peptide -- a compound formed by amino acids -- that causes immune cells called neutrophils to burst, eliminating a main defense against infection. Experts say the findings, which appeared in the online edition of the journal Nature Medicine, may help lead to better treatments.

Freed Man Is Greeted Warmly

WINSTON, Ga. -- A crowd gave a hero's welcome to Genarlow Wilson, the 21-year-old freed from a 10-year prison sentence imposed for having sex as a teenager with an underage girl. Hundreds rose to their feet and gave Wilson a standing ovation before honoring him with the West Metro NAACP chapter's first Staying the Course Youth Award. The chapter led the fight to free him from the prison term, and chapter President Kimberly Alexander said that while Wilson made some mistakes, his case is still a success story.