Inmates can be made to give saliva sample

ATLANTA - Felons in prison can be forced to submit saliva samples for DNA profiling, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The samples do not violate the inmates' privacy rights or guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a unanimous decision Friday.

Two inmates have claimed the practice is illegal because their saliva can be taken without consent.

Georgia keeps felons' DNA profiles in a database maintained by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The profiles are used during investigations and can be requested by local police jurisdictions.

The court ruled that the state has a compelling interest for the database and that it was narrowly tailored because it applied only to incarcerated felons and can be used only during criminal investigations.

Military identifies soldier in fatal wreck

LANDOVER, MD. -A soldier killed in a single-vehicle accident at Fort Stewart on Thursday was a 21-year-old National Guardsman from Maryland.

Military officials say Pfc. Carlton Newman, of Landover, died of injuries he suffered when a Humvee he was riding in overturned.

Officials said there were three other soldiers in the vehicle, but they weren't injured.

Pfc. Newman was assigned to the 115th Infantry Regiment of the Maryland Army National Guard as an infantryman, entering the guard Oct. 10.

He arrived at Fort Stewart on Feb. 23 to prepare with his unit for a deployment in Iraq.

Machinists continue to threaten strike

MARIETTA - Machinists have defied Lockheed Martin requests to abandon strike plans and vowed to stay off the job "as long as it takes" to win a better contract.

But some Lockheed workers interviewed outside the closed union meeting Saturday said employees are deeply divided over the prospect of another strike.

Cornell "Slim" Stevens, the president of International Association of Machinists Local 709, in Marietta, said the 2,800 blue-collar workers who build F/A-22 Raptor fighters and C-130J transports at the sprawling Cobb County plant are ready to strike as early as Tuesday.

On Feb. 27, the union rejected a tentative contract that would have raised hourly pay 10 percent over three years and given $1,500 signing bonuses.

But workers said higher health care premiums and cuts in retirement insurance would have offset those pay increases.

Lockheed workers typically earn about $25 an hour.