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NATION IN BRIEF

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· LOS ANGELES--A federal prisoner who fled the country after he was temporarily freed to try to donate a kidney to his ailing son will be sent back to Kentucky after being arrested in Mexico, authorities said. Byron Keith Perkins and Lea Ann Howard were arrested in Puerto Vallarta and flown to Los Angeles. Perkins had been released on $10,000 bond in January 2006 but did not show up for the compatibility tests to see whether he could give a kidney to his son Destin.

· WAYCROSS, Ga.-- Emergency officials told residents to evacuate about 100 homes near a wildfire in the Okefenokee Swamp, where gusty winds threatened to spread the blaze across a four-lane highway in southeast Georgia. Wildfires have blackened about 61,100 acres -- or 95 square miles -- of forest and swamp parched by drought. Officials say 18 homes have been destroyed.

· SACRAMENTO--Legislators hoping to avoid a federal takeover of California's overcrowded prisons approved a $7.3 billion plan to add beds and beef up rehabilitation programs. The plan, which now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would add 53,000 beds for inmates, including 13,000 at county jails.

-- From News Services

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