News in Brief: A National Roundup

Neither the Highline, Wash., school district nor the local police department should be held liable for failing to recognize the sexual relationship between former 6th grade teacher Mary Kay LeTourneau and her then-12-year-old student, Vili Fualaau, a jury decided last week.

Mr. Fualaau, now 18, charged in a lawsuit that the co-defendants had been negligent in failing to protect him from the teacher, and he asked for $1.9 million in damages, said Barbara Blackshear-Haley, a spokeswoman for the 18,000-student suburban Seattle district.

Ms. LeTourneau, a married woman with four children who was 34 at the time the relationship began, gave birth to two daughters fathered by the boy. She is now serving a 7 1/2-year prison...