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Elizabeth Edwards' cancer has not spread

WASHINGTON - Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards, has begun chemotherapy to shrink a half-dollar-sized lump in her breast. Doctors found no sign the cancer had spread, a family spokesman said Wednesday.

After a 16-week chemotherapy course, Edwards will take a four- to six-week break. Georgetown University Medical Center doctors who are treating Edwards will then surgically remove the lump.

A needle biopsy of Edwards' lymph nodes Tuesday found "no indication of cancer," spokesman David Ginsberg said. "From what we know now, it has not spread."

As a safety precaution, doctors will remove some of her healthy lymph node tissue. Edwards will then undergo radiation.

The mood at the Edwards household was upbeat. Well-wishers have written to say "they know she's strong and she's going to fight through this and their thoughts and prayers are with her," Ginsberg said.

Edwards, 55, said she discovered the lump in her right breast on Oct. 21, during a campaign trip. She was diagnosed with invasive ductal cancer, the most common type of breast cancer, which can spread from milk ducts to other parts of the breast.

Well-wishers can send cards to Elizabeth Edwards, P.O. Box 5428, Washington, DC 20013.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - A military jury acquitted a Marine major of assault and battery Wednesday in connection with the death of an Iraqi prisoner, but found him guilty of two lesser counts.

Maj. Clarke Paulus faces dismissal from the Marines and up to a year in military prison instead of the 11/2 years he could have received if convicted on all charges. He was found guilty of maltreatment and dereliction of duty.

Paulus, 36, showed no reaction as the foreman read the verdict after six hours of deliberations by the jury of Marine Corps officers.

NASHVILLE - The governor announced plans Wednesday to dissolve Tennessee's expanded Medicaid system and drop 430,000 poor and disabled people from the rolls of the health care program that has been devouring a large chunk of the state budget.

Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen said Tennessee will instead return to a cheaper, more basic Medicaid program.

The move followed months of legal wrangling over the TennCare program, whose $7.8-million price tag was projected to mushroom in coming years.

TennCare provides health care coverage for the poor, uninsured and disabled, covering 1.3-million Tennesseans, or about 22 percent of the state population. If TennCare is eliminated, some 430,000 of them would be dropped entirely, largely families of the working poor and those whose ailments and high medical bills make them uninsurable. The remaining 900,000 or so would continue to get coverage under basic Medicaid.

ATLANTA - Georgia's former schools superintendent has been indicted on charges that she stole more than $600,000 in federal education funds and spent the money on cosmetic surgery and her failed campaign for governor.

Prosecutors say nearly half the money went to Linda Schrenko's 2002 gubernatorial bid, with another $9,300 spent on the surgery.

Schrenko's attorney, Pete Theodocion, said the former state official denies the charges and intends to plead innocent.

Also indicted were two of Schrenko's former associates - Merle Temple Jr., the state's former deputy superintendent and Schrenko's gubernatorial campaign manager, and Stephan Botes, the owner of an Atlanta computer consulting company.