■UNITED STATES
Utensil ‘sporks’ debate
A Delaware first-grader who faced a lengthy punishment for taking his favorite camping utensil to school — a combination folding knife, fork and spoon — got a reprieve on Tuesday night when the school board made a hasty change to its strict code of conduct. The seven-member Christina School Board voted to reduce the punishment for kindergartners and first-graders who take weapons to school or commit violent offenses to a suspension ranging from three to five days. Zachary Christie, 6, had faced 45 days in an alternative school for troublemakers after he took the utensil to school to eat lunch. The punishment was one of several in recent years that have sparked a national debate on whether schools have gone too far. It was not the first such case in the Christina School District. Last year, a fifth-grade girl was expelled after she brought a birthday cake to school and a serrated knife to cut it with.
■UNITED STATES
Cuban spy resentenced
A judge on Tuesday resentenced one of five members of the biggest Cuban spy ring broken up in the US to 22 years in jail, down from a life term that was deemed too harsh. Federal Judge Joan Lenard gave a sentence of 262 months and five years’ probation to Antonio Guerrero for gathering and relaying US military information to Cuba. Guerrero committed “very serious offenses against the US,” the judge said. “The government did not present evidence that the defendant obtained top secret information, but he worked to obtain such information,” Lenard said. Cast as heroes in Havana, the “Cuban Five” — Guerrero, Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino and Fernando Gonzalez — were arrested in 1998. Cuba regards them as political prisoners and has lobbied intensely for their release.
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