NATION IN BRIEF

Ex-Blackwater Workers Sentenced to Probation

NEW BERN, N.C. -- Two former employees of Blackwater Worldwide, granted leniency because they have been helping federal investigators for more than a year, were sentenced to three years' probation Thursday on gunrunning charges.

A federal grand jury in Washington is investigating the involvement of Blackwater, the largest private security firm in Iraq, in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians. The firm is also under investigation over weapons-smuggling allegations -- violations the company denies.

Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys would confirm that the men -- Kenneth Wayne Cashwell of Virginia Beach and William Ellsworth "Max" Grumiaux of Clemmons, N.C. -- are involved in the smuggling investigation.

Judge Permits PTSD Lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge has cleared the way for a national class-action lawsuit challenging how the Department of Veterans Affairs treats Iraq and Afghanistan war casualties with post-traumatic stress disorder. U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti rejected a government's motion to dismiss three of the lawsuit's four claims, writing that the federal system for weighing individual veterans' claims "does not provide an adequate alternative remedy for Plaintiffs' claims." The lawsuit alleges that VA has violated federal laws and veterans' civil rights by taking too long to provide mental-health care and disability benefits, and in some cases denying them completely, for PTSD.

Taunting of Tiger Denied

SAN JOSE -- The mother of the teenager killed by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo said one of two men injured in the attack told her that none of them had done anything to taunt the animal. Marilza Sousa told the San Jose Mercury News that Paul Dhaliwal, 19, told her by phone Monday that the tiger jumped over the fence while the trio were talking. "We never tried to taunt the animal. We were talking, laughing, walking, nothing else," Sousa quoted Dhaliwal as saying. Zoo officials have suggested something must have provoked the tiger into attacking. Police are still investigating.

Freed Man Gets Scholarship

ATLANTA -- Genarlow Wilson, imprisoned for nearly three years for having consensual sex with a fellow teenager, will attend Morehouse College with the help of a radio disc jockey's foundation. The Tom Joyner Foundation is giving Wilson a scholarship to cover his tuition and room and board, said Joyner, a syndicated radio host. Wilson will begin next week, said Sterling Hudson, Morehouse's dean of admissions and records.

NASA Sets New Launch Date

CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASA set Feb. 7 as the new date to launch the space shuttle Atlantis, officials said. Two launch attempts were canceled because of problems with an emergency engine cutoff system.

-- From News Services