In the Nation

CHARLESTON, W. Va. - The U.S. Veterans Affairs Department will apologize personally to veterans who received erroneous letters saying they had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, agency spokeswoman Katie Roberts said yesterday.

VA employees were still trying to determine exactly how many veterans mistakenly received letters intended to inform people with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, of benefits available to them or surviving spouses and children.

Roberts said the VA mailed more than 1,800 letters last week and had been notified by fewer than 10 veterans who received them in error. But the National Gulf War Resource Center, a veterans group, said at least 1,200 veterans received the letters by mistake. Roberts did not say whether the VA determined how the error occurred. - AP

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Postal Service is offering $15,000 buyouts to employees in an effort to cut costs at a time the post office is being buffeted by the recession and the popularity of e-mail and electronic bill payment.

Up to 30,000 employees could take the offer at a total cost of $450 million, the post office said yesterday. It said it could save as much as $500 million in the next two years.

The majority of those who could take the buyouts work in mail-processing facilities, the post office said. Letter carriers weren't offered buyouts because the number of addresses the post office must service is growing, spokeswoman Yvonne Yoerger said. - AP

ORANGE, Va. - Officials in central Virginia approved a Walmart Supercenter yesterday near one of the nation's most important Civil War battlefields, a proposal that had stirred opposition by preservationists and hundreds of historians.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to grant the special permit to the world's biggest retailer after a majority of more than 100 speakers said they favored bringing the Walmart to Locust Grove, within a cannonball's shot from the Wilderness Battlefield.

Historians and Civil War buffs are fearful that the Walmart store will draw traffic and more commerce to an area within the historic boundaries of the Wilderness, where Gens. Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee first met in battle 145 years ago. - AP

New York Gov. David Paterson's poor poll ratings have boosted supporters of Republican former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to seek his candidacy for governor next year, associates say. Giuliani, who declined to comment, has told friends that he will decide by year's end whether to declare himself a candidate, said former Rep. Guy Molinari (R., N.Y.), who helped push the onetime federal prosecutor to enter politics in 1989.

A bad fuel valve forced NASA to call off today's scheduled launch of the shuttle Discovery. It was the second launch delay in two days; thunderstorms had forced yesterday morning's postponement. A new launch date was not immediately set.