WASHINGTON, D.C.
Coke vows to limit marketing in schools
Coca-Cola Co. said it will change the way it markets soft drinks in schools by loading healthier drinks into vending machines alongside sodas, covering up giant logos and advocating nonexclusive deals between bottlers and school districts.
A month ago, the Agriculture Department criticized schools that raise money by selling sodas and snacks on campuses for sending mixed messages about nutrition.
The move is unlikely to have a large effect on sales for the Atlanta-based soft drink maker, which said middle- and high-school school sales represent less than 1 percent of its total.
CHICAGO
Electroshock therapy relapse rates high
Patients who underwent electroshock therapy for depression had an unexpectedly high relapse rate in a study that has refocused attention on the procedure 25 years after "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" made it seem like torture.
The treatment fell out of favor after that Oscar-winning movie, a satirical look at life in a mental hospital. But it has since made a comeback, with 100,000 Americans a year now getting it, according to the National Mental Health Assn.
A study of 84 patients in today's Journal of the American Medical Assn. found that without follow-up medication, depression returned in 84 percent of patients within six months. Among patients who received antidepressant and anti-psychotic medication after ECT, 39 percent relapsed.
MIAMI
Clemency request expedited for juvenile
Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday that he will consider speeding up the clemency process for Lionel Tate, the 14-year-old boy serving a life-without-parole sentence for beating a little girl to death.
Prisoners are not normally eligible for clemency until they have served two years. But the governor can waive that requirement and also order the request expedited.
For clemency to be granted, the governor and at least three of the six independently elected members of the state Cabinet must agree.
Tate was sentenced Friday to life in prison the mandatory sentence for first-degree murder for the 1999 slaying of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick. Tate contended he killed the girl while imitating pro wrestlers, but a jury rejected that defense.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Customs raid nets 1,600 pounds of cocaine
Customs officials seized 1,605 pounds of cocaine, three guns and body armor in the Bahamas after tracking down a speedboat that had been traveling without its lights on, the agency said Tuesday.
A Customs Service plane had spotted the boat and kept up with it until it beached on an island, where bales were unloaded from the boat onto the beach. After a law enforcement helicopter arrived at the scene, the boat's driver sped out to sea and eventually ran aground. Searches of the various sites over the weekend led to the seizures, which included the speedboat, the agency said.
Georgia
Plastics factory blast kills 3 workers
Two explosions and a fire rocked a plastics plant early Tuesday in Augusta, killing three workers who were trying to repair a malfunctioning unit. The explosions at the Amoco Polymers plant happened around 2:45 a.m. The unit involved, where metal fasteners are fashioned, had been shut down for repairs Monday night, said Pam Barbara, a plant manager.
The cause of the blasts was not immediately known. The plant produces high-performance plastics designed to withstand high temperatures, used in such products as auto parts and hospital equipment.
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