SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT TIES RACE AND IQ

CALIF.» A northern California school district is investigating how a science project correlating low intelligence with racial groups was on full display at a science fair, where it drew outrage from some students, parents and staff.

The project by a Sacramento high school student enrolled in an elite magnet program, titled “Race and IQ ,” questioned whether certain races lack the intelligence for the program’s academically challenging coursework.

The Sacramento Bee, which published the story Saturday, did not speak to the student at C.K. Mcclatchy High School and is not identifying the minor. The project was removed Wednesday after complaints.

Georgia mulls highway just for trucks. ATLANTA» Georgia transportation officials are exploring the idea of a separate highway for trucks only.

It would be the first highway of its kind in the United States, said John Hibbard, the Georgia Department of Transportation’s operations director.

WABE radio reports that the toll-free highway would stretch 40 miles from metro Atlanta to Macon. It would give trucks their own separate roadway, which would have its own exits and entrances, Hibbard said.

Teen accused in fatal rape. WASH.» A

EVERETT,

19-year-old Washington state man, who police say raped a high school student as she died from a drug overdose and texted seminude photos of her, has been charged with manslaughter.

Brian Roberto Varela of Lynnwood was also charged Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court with second-degree rape and controlled substance homicide in the death of 18-year-old Alyssa Mae Noceda.

Varela told detectives that Noceda snorted Percocet and also ingested liquid marijuana before collapsing in his room the previous weekend.

Authorities say Varela never sought help for Noceda, instead sending seminude photos of her to friends and texting “LOL, I think she od’d, still breathing.”

Professor blows Australia question.

MANCHESTER,

» An online adjunct

N.H. professor incorrectly told a student that Australia isn’t a country and gave her a failing grade, prompting Southern New Hampshire University to replace the instructor.

Buzzfeed News reports that the 27-year-old student in Idaho was assigned to compare American social norms to that of another country. She chose to study social media use in Australia, but the professor gave her a zero on that portion of the assignment, saying Australia is a continent, not a country. Australia is actually both.

Inmate wounded after release.

Authorities say a prison guard leaving work for the day has shot and critically injured a just-released inmate who attacked the officer in a parking lot near the prison.

The Philadelphia Department of Prisons said 26year-old Jamal Bennett attacked the 66-year-old Currran-fromhold Correctional facility guard at about 11 p.m. on Friday.

The guard fired his personal weapon, striking Bennett in the chest. Bennett was in critical condition but was expected to survive.