NATION IN BRIEF

Paterson Backs Fees for Manhattan Road Access

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York's new governor provided critical support Friday for a plan by New York City's mayor to reduce traffic by charging motorists access fees in part of Manhattan.

Gov. David A. Paterson (D) said he supports the recommendations of the New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission. That plan, if accepted by city and state lawmakers, could draw $4.5 billion for mass-transit improvements.

Paterson backed a congestion pricing zone that would charge motorists $8 to use streets in the lower half of Manhattan during the day on weekdays, except some holidays.

Former governor Eliot L. Spitzer (D), who resigned this week, also backed a congestion-pricing plan.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) has just a few weeks to persuade the City Council and the state legislature to approve the plan. Final approval would give the city access to $354 million in federal money for implementation, Bloomberg said.

Compromise Signaled On Real ID Standoff

Homeland security officials hinted at a possible face-saving deal to end their standoff with a handful of states over new driver's license rules, granting an exemption to a state that did not ask for one and insists it will not adhere to the new rules.

Montana was exempted from a law called Real ID, which requires new security measures for state-issued driver's licenses. South Carolina, Maine and Montana are the only states that have not sought extensions or have not started to comply with Real ID.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had warned the states that without an exemption, their residents could, as of May, no longer use their driver's licenses as valid IDs to board airplanes or enter federal buildings.

Girl Injured by Pool Drain Dies

MINNEAPOLIS -- A 6-year-old girl whose intestines were partly sucked out by a wading-pool drain last June 29 has died, her family's attorney said. Abigail Taylor's parents were with her when she died Thursday at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, where she had surgery in December to receive a new small intestine, liver and pancreas. She suffered setbacks, including a cancerous condition sometimes caused by organ transplants, family attorney Bob Bennett said. Her parents lobbied for tougher regulations to help prevent such injuries. President Bush signed into law in December legislation that bans the manufacture, sale or distribution of drain covers that do not meet anti-entrapment standards.

Sex Offender Runs for Mayor

WILMER, Tex. -- A registered sex offender caught in an Internet sting four years ago is running for mayor of a small Dallas suburb. James Brian Sliter, 42, says he needs to prove that he can be an asset to his community. He received 10 years' probation after making plans for sex with someone he met on the Internet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl.

-- From News Services