Six of a Kind Broken Up When 3 Teachers Get a Pair

--A half-dozen of the new students at St. George’s Primary School in the Liverpool, England, suburb of Wirral are already in a class of their own--in the record books. They are the world’s only surviving all-female sextuplets. The six daughters of Graham and Janet Walton were divided into three classrooms. Kate and Ruth were put in one class, Hannah and Jenny in another, and Lucy and Sarah in a third. “It was best to split them up. Their parents want to advance their individuality and it’s better that they not live in one another’s pocket,” headmaster Bruce Henry said of the girls, who were born Nov. 18, 1983. Henry said the sextuplets, who are not identical, had a successful first day. Records show several sets of sextuplets in the world but all of the others include at least one male.

--Sen. Robert T. Stafford (R-Vt.) wants to help clear the air before his retirement. Stafford, who is ending his Capitol Hill career in January after 17 years in the Senate and 11 in the House, took to the Senate floor for five minutes to discuss atmospheric contamination, his phrase for air pollution. Although the lawmaker has rarely made appearances during the Senate’s daily free-talk periods, he says he will be speaking out on national and worldwide air-quality problems every day the Senate meets for the rest of his term. The Senate hopes to adjourn in early to mid-October. “It is one of my remaining hopes that, before this senator leaves this chamber for the last time, the groundwork will have been laid here that will help the United States and the world respond to this threat,” said Stafford, who chaired the Environment Committee from 1981 to 1987.

--Author and singer-songwriter Barry Sadler was flown to the Nashville Veterans Administration Medical Center after being shot in the head in Guatemala. He was listed in critical but stable condition, said hospital spokesman Rick Stricklin. Sadler, best known for composing and singing the “Ballad of the Green Berets,” a hawkish hit during the Vietnam War era, has also written 20 adventure books. He was shot last week during a robbery attempt as he rode in a cab in Guatemala City, said his agent, Bob Robison. “He’s been living there. He writes down there and lives there temporarily, on a ranch,” Robison said. Robison said Sadler, about 46, sometimes lives in Nashville and was brought there for better medical treatment.