Six states get waiver on education law

Six states received permission to develop their own solutions to troubled schools under the Bush administration's signature education law: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, and Ohio. The decision, revealed yesterday, is a softening from how No Child Left Behind works, with schools having to take certain steps at specific times for missing testing goals. Critics have contended that the approach is too rigid. The six states created plans to closely tailor solutions to problems and focus resources on schools in the worst shape. (AP)

President Bush signed a bill yesterday allowing Nelson Mandela to visit the United States without the secretary of state having to certify that he is not a terrorist. The law removes from US immigration watch lists the names of the former South African leader and others on the list because of a relationship with the African National Congress. The organization has been South Africa's ruling party since 1994, when a democracy replaced a white-ruled state. During the Cold War, the West considered the ANC a communist organization. (AP)

The Pentagon will buy and operate one or two commercial imagery satellites and plans to design and build another with more sophisticated spying capabilities, according to government and private industry officials. The satellites could spy on enemy troop movements, spot construction at suspected nuclear sites, and alert commanders to militant training camps. The Broad Area Space-Based Imagery Collector satellite system will cost about $3 billion. It would add to the secret constellation of satellites. (AP)

UPPER MARLBORO - A man arrested in the hit-and-run death of a police officer was found strangled in his cell, and investigators focused yesterday on guards at the jail, which has a history of security lapses. As State Police took over the investigation, a lawyer for Ronnie White's family said the man's attackers "took it upon themselves to be the judge, the jury, and the executioner." White, 19, was arrested on charges of ramming a stolen truck into Corporal Richard Findley. (AP)

NEW YORK -A 15th-century terra-cotta sculpture by Italian Renaissance artist Andrea della Robbia fell to the ground inside New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and broke into pieces, the museum said yesterday. The sculpture of Saint Michael the Archangel came loose from metal mounts attached to a wall. Conservators were assessing the damage; the museum would not say how much the piece was worth. (Reuters)