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NATION IN BRIEF

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Lawmaker Calls to Revamp USDA

LOS ANGELES -- A House subcommittee chairwoman called for stripping the Agriculture Department of its responsibility for food safety in the wake of the nation's largest-ever meat recall. The agency's twin mandates of promoting the nation's agriculture and monitoring it for safety have become blurred, said Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), whose subcommittee oversees the department's funding.

Nancy Reagan Is Back Home

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Former first lady Nancy Reagan, 86, has been released from a California hospital, two days after falling at her Bel-Air home. Spokeswoman Joanne Drake says Reagan is "very happy to be back in her home."

License Plate Fetches $675,000

WILMINGTON, Del. -- A license plate bearing the number 6 sold Sunday for a U.S.-record $675,000, more than twice the previous high. Delaware is the only state where license plates are easily transferred in private transactions, said Jeff Minard, a historian with the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association.

-- From News Services and Staff Reports

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