Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Settlement Reached to Aid Everglades

A cleanup settlement with one of the state’s biggest sugar producers will help end a lengthy standoff between growers and environmentalists over the fragile condition of the Florida Everglades, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said. “At last the gridlock is beginning to break,” Babbitt told environmentalists at an annual conference in Miami sponsored by Friends of the Everglades. The federal government reached an agreement with Flo-Sun Sugar, accused of polluting freshwater areas of the Everglades. Flo-Sun agreed last week to pay up to $6 million annually for the next 20 years to help clean up the Everglades and meet water quality standards.