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Nation in brief

Long-term study will follow lives of Katrina survivors

By wire services
Published January 6, 2006

The struggles and stories of some 2,000 Hurricane Katrina survivors across the country will be documented regularly over the next two years in a project that aims to track their recovery. Their tales will be published and their advice sought for government policymakers, researchers said Thursday.

The first results are expected to be posted online by the end of February, said Ronald Kessler of Harvard Medical School, director of the project.

Participants will be interviewed every three months about such topics as their mental and physical health, hardships in getting treatment and how good it is, their financial and housing situations and practical problems they face like getting a child into a new school.

The study is being financed with an initial grant of $1-million from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Apart from statistical data, the Web site will include the participants' accounts of what has happened to them, though their names will not be revealed.

RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Mark Warner has ordered DNA evidence retested to determine whether an inmate was innocent when he was executed in 1992.

If the testing shows Roger Keith Coleman did not rape and kill his sister-in-law in 1981, it will be the first time in the United States a person has been exonerated by scientific testing after his execution.

Warner said he ordered the tests because of technological advances not available in the 1980s.

PASSENGER MISSING: A 15-year-old cruise passenger from Ireland was reported missing early Thursday morning in waters off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. The teen, whose name was not released, was traveling with her family aboard the cruise ship Costa Magica, which left Fort Lauderdale New Year's Day on a week-long Western Caribbean itinerary. It is due back on Sunday.

NURSING HOME NEGLECT: In Albany, N.Y., hidden cameras recorded nursing-home patients being left in their own waste while staffers watched movies, and 19 workers at two facilities have been arrested, prosecutors said Thursday.

DEPORTATION CASE: A Cleveland imam convicted of hiding terrorist ties has agreed to leave the United States, ending his deportation case, officials said Thursday. The agreement allows Fawaz Damra to settle in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Egypt or the Palestinian territories. Damra, leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, was convicted in 2004 of hiding ties to alleged terrorist groups when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994.

[Last modified January 6, 2006, 01:05:09]