NATIONAL BRIEFS

WASHINGTON: Deal for black farmers

The Obama administration announced a $1.25-billion deal with black farmers Thursday that could end a years-long stalemate over alleged racial discrimination by the Agriculture Department. If approved by Congress, it would be the second round of damages stemming from a class-action lawsuit the government originally settled in 1999. The new money is intended for people who were denied earlier payments because they missed deadlines for filing. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the deal should close a "sordid chapter" in USDA history in which blacks often lost land or went deeply into debt after being denied loans and other aid that routinely went to their white counterparts. John Boyd, head of the National Black Farmers Association, said he and others agreed to the total because the case has dragged on so long. The original lawsuit is known as Pigford, named after Timothy Pigford, a black farmer from North Carolina who was among the original plaintiffs.

ALABAMA: Victim backed tenure

A biology department chairman gunned down at a faculty meeting was remembered Thursday as a father figure to his students. Mourners at a memorial service remembered Gopi K. Podila, 52, slain last week at the University of Alabama in Huntsville along with two colleagues. Fellow professor Amy Bishop is accused of killing them and wounding three others. Colleagues say she was unhappy about being denied tenure. Podila, however, had supported her tenure application.

MISSOURI: Back from Haiti

Missionaries accused of child trafficking in Haiti returned home Thursday and urged the safe release of the two women left behind in a Port-au-Prince jail. Four of the eight freed landed at Kansas City International Airport to cheers and hugs. The group's leader, Laura Silsby, and her former nanny, Charisa Coulter, are to be questioned further by a judge Friday.

FLORIDA: Space mission ending

The two astronaut crews aboard the International Space Station were to say farewell early Friday after a week together and seal the hatches between them. Endeavour will undock from the space station Friday night. The 11 teamed up to install a new room, Tranquillity, and an observation deck.