Former Atlanta Falcons linebacker Ken Tippins has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to cocaine possession. Alapaha Chief Assistant District Attorney Charles Stines says Tippins will serve four years followed by six years of probation. In exchange for the cocaine plea, a marijuana possession with intent to distribute charge was dropped.

President George W. Bush has granted pardons to 14 individuals, including a Georgia man, and commuted the prison sentences of two others convicted of misdeeds.