Wrongly convicted man finally free

RICHMOND, Va. -- DNA tests last year proved Marvin Lamont Anderson didn't commit the rape that sent him to prison for 15 years. Wednesday, a piece of paper finally allowed him to feel like a free man.

In a ceremony at the state Capitol, Robert Blue, chief counsel to Gov. Mark Warner, presented Anderson with a full pardon. Anderson and his attorneys used the occasion to call for reforms to Virginia's criminal justice system that they say would prevent mistakes that send innocent people to prison.

Anderson, 38, last year became the first Virginian to be cleared through DNA results obtained under a 2001 law that allows felons to seek such scientific testing. He was paroled in 1997, but his conviction stood because the law does not yet allow him to take that evidence before a judge.

Illinois again challenges breast-feeding mother

URBANA, Ill. -- Prosecutors were again trying to force a woman to stop breast-feeding her 8-year-old son, a practice that once temporarily landed the boy in foster care.

During a brief hearing Tuesday, Judge Ann Einhorn warned Lynn Stuckey, 34, against continuing the practice and set future court dates to consider the prosecutor's petition claiming neglect.

Stuckey lets her son nurse once every 10 days or so, a practice she calls natural, child-led weaning, though she's unsure whether she still produces milk.

The state took custody of the boy in July 2000 after a babysitter called a child-abuse hotline, and he remained in foster care for several months. Einhorn had approved his homecoming, saying Stuckey was no longer nursing.

The single mother appeared on ABC-TV's Good Morning America last month to discuss her situation, the first time she was identified publicly. The program included a tape of the boy while suckling.

"I think people need to see me and my child and realize that this is a perfectly normal practice," Stuckey said on the program. "We are your standard middle-class American family, and we're not doing anything wrong."

About a week later, prosecutor John Piland filed the petition, which alleges that Stuckey has neglected her son by placing him at risk of emotional harm; failed to correct the conditions that triggered the foster care two years ago; and exposed him to ridicule by showing the tape.

The petition does not bring criminal charges, instead asking the judge to intervene under the state's juvenile laws. The judge could terminate parental rights, but Piland would not say whether he'll seek that.

A new hearing was set for Sept. 10.

The boy's father lived in Oregon during the last court test and has had little role in raising him.

Also . . .

AGENCIES INVESTIGATE SABOTAGE AT LAB: The government is investigating a suspicious drop in water pressure at a federal laboratory in New York devoted to dangerous animal diseases where dozens of workers are on strike.

The FBI and U.S. Department of Agriculture stressed Wednesday that there was no danger at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, which studies highly contagious viruses like foot-and-mouth disease.

But the drop in water pressure this week weakened the power supply at the lab, keeping scientists from using facilities where dead animals are examined, said Connecticut Rep. Rob Simmons, whose district is near the island.

FBI spokesman Jim Margolin confirmed his agency is investigating, but said any potential hazard has been contained.

The USDA is also investigating. Department spokesman Sean Adams said security remained a top priority on the island and had not been compromised despite a strike by 76 maintenance and operations employees. The strike is in its second week.

GUILTY PLEA IN RACE RIOT SLAYING: A man pleaded guilty to conspiracy Wednesday for being a white gang's lookout during 1969 race riots in York, Pa., in which a black woman was shot as her car entered a white neighborhood.

Chauncey Gladfelter, 50, is the fifth defendant to plead guilty to conspiracy in the death of Lillie Belle Allen, 27, of Aiken, S.C. Murder charges were withdrawn in exchange for the pleas.

MANAGER TAKES OVER FLINT'S FINANCES: An appeals court has cleared the way for a state-appointed financial manager to take control of the debt-ridden city of Flint, Mich. He plans to take over today.

In an order released late Tuesday, the state Court of Appeals said the lower-court judge who halted the takeover last month overstepped his authority.

POWERFUL ROCKET LAUNCHED: A powerful, new version of the rocket that carried John Glenn into orbit blasted off Wednesday on a flight intended to revolutionize -- and revitalize -- the nation's launch business.

Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Atlas V rose from Kennedy Space Center right on time at 6:05 p.m., carrying a European broadcasting satellite along with the hopes of bringing more business back to the United States, with promises of cheaper and quicker launches on these latest rockets.

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