In the Nation

TEXAS

Obama cuts prison time linked to a typo

President Obama on Tuesday shortened the prison sentence of a Texas man who was mistakenly sentenced to an extra 31/2 years in jail due to a typographical error.

Ceasar Huerta Cantu, of Katy, Texas, pleaded guilty in 2006 to charges related to drug trafficking and money laundering after prosecutors said he used his Houston trucking company to help move tons of marijuana.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The White House said a typographical error in Cantu's presentencing report assigned him a prison sentence that was 31/2 years longer than it should have been.

As a result, Cantu's sentence will be reduced to 111/2 years. Cantu is only the 10th inmate Obama has granted a commutation.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama acted because a judge had ruled Cantu did not find the clerical error in time to correct it through any judicial means. - Reuters

NEW YORK

Surveillance halted

The New York Police Department said Tuesday it had disbanded a special unit whose efforts to try to detect terror threats in Muslim communities through secret surveillance had sparked outrage. The program by the NYPD Intelligence Division had come under

fire by community activists who said the department was abusing civil rights. The program relied on plainclothes officers to eavesdrop on

people in bookstores, restaurants, and mosques. - AP

WASHINGTON

T. rex gets a home

More than 100 years after dinosaurs were first displayed on the National Mall, T. rex - the king - is joining the Smithsonian collection after a 2,000-mile trip from Montana. Paleontologists and curators unveiled parts of a nearly complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton Tuesday. Museum Director Kirk Johnson told a crowd the skeleton ranked as one of the top five T. rex skeletons found because it's about 85 percent complete. - AP