NATION IN BRIEF

· CHICAGO -- City Clerk James Laski, 52, was charged with soliciting bribes and obstructing justice, becoming the latest figure charged in a federal investigation into a city program that awarded hauling jobs to trucking companies. According to court papers, a witness told investigators that Laski asked for $500 a month to get him work in the Hired Truck program, then increased the amount to $1,000.

· CAMDEN, Ark. -- A teenager holding a toy gun forced her way into a hospital nursery and snatched a newborn from a crib before the employees grabbed her and held her down, police said. Neither the baby girl nor the workers were harmed, said C.C. McAllister, chief executive of Ouachita County Medical Center. Authorities said the 18-year-old will be charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault.

· SAN QUENTIN, Calif. -- At least 23 inmates and two staff members were hurt in a melee in a crowded dining hall at San Quentin State Prison late Thursday, prison officials said.

· VANCOUVER, Wash. -- An 88-year-old woman, trapped for five days after her car went down an embankment and into a blackberry bramble, survived by wiping condensation off the windshield with a towel and sucking the moisture, her son said. Mary Lillian Anderson was rescued Wednesday by a delivery truck driver who spotted her car just off Interstate 5. Andrew Thompson said "she looked very happy" to see him.

· HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- A toddler was killed when his neck got stuck in a car's power window while his father slept in the driver's seat, police said. Thomaris Waite, who would have been 2 next week, and his father, Thomas Waite, 42, were waiting in the family car Thursday as the boy's mother and sibling were visiting a doctor. Thomaris leaned his head out a window and hit the switch that raised the glass, pinning his neck between it and the frame, police said.

· NEW YORK -- A fire that killed two sisters and their teenage uncle in a Coney Island apartment was started by a 7-year-old boy playing with a butane lighter, investigators said. The boy escaped serious injury.

-- From News Services