Nation Digest

SENATE

Specter to Take Subcommittee Helm

Senate Democratic leaders gave party-switching Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on crime and drugs Thursday, a face-saving measure in the dispute over how Specter's seniority would be regarded by his Democratic colleagues.

Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) will give up the gavel on the panel, which holds jurisdiction over most Justice Department activities. Durbin will take over a newly restored subcommittee on human rights, which had been dissolved at the beginning of the current Congress because no committee member was available to run it.

Specter will not regain his seniority on the Judiciary Committee, at least until after the 2010 election, aides said, but they said he is pleased with the outcome. Senate Democrats, who balked at granting his seniority earlier, readily endorsed the plan. "What we don't want is an angry former Republican during a Supreme Court hearing," said one Democratic staff member.

Specter received another bit of good news when former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge (R) announced that he will not seek the veteran senator's seat next year. In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Ridge said that "after careful consideration and many conversations with friends and family and the leadership of my party, I have decided not to seek the Republican nomination for Senate."

-- Shailagh Murray

Wildfire Keeps Burning Near Santa Barbara: A wildfire that has damaged or destroyed 75 houses and injured 10 firefighters burned through the central California foothills at the edge of Santa Barbara for a third day. About 12,000 people have fled their homes as 2,300 firefighters continue to battle the blaze, which was being investigated as an arson. By day's end, state officials said the fire grew from 1,300 acres to more than 2,700 acres.

Wesleyan Slaying Suspect Arrested, Police Say: A man who Connecticut police killed Johanna Justin-Jinich, 21, on Wednesday and threatened a shooting spree at Wesleyan University surrendered after seeing his photo in a newspaper. Stephen P. Morgan, 29, was taken into custody after stopping at a Cumberland Farms convenience store in Meriden, about 10 miles from the campus. Clerk Sonia Rodriguez told WFSB-TV that he had trouble using the phone and asked her to call police. Authorities have said Morgan and Justin-Jinich have known each other since at least 2007, when Justin-Jinich filed a harassment complaint against him.

High Court Denies Demjanjuk's Deportation Plea: John Demjanjuk, a retired Ohio autoworker suspected of having been a guard at a Nazi death camp, lost his bid to get the Supreme Court to stop his deportation to Germany, where an arrest warrant accuses him of 29,000 counts of accessory to murder during World War II. Justice John Paul Stevens denied, without comment, his plea to step into the case. Demjanjuk, 89, lives in suburban Cleveland, and he, his family and his attorneys have said he's in poor health and too frail to be sent overseas.

Pennsylvania ACORN Workers Charged: Seven Pittsburgh area ACORN workers were charged with falsifying voter-registration forms, with six accused of doing so to meet the group's alleged quota system before last year's general election. District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. said he is hoping that the workers charged Thursday will help authorities determine whether Allegheny County ACORN officials will be charged with requiring the illegal quotas or otherwise directing that voter registrations be faked.

Ex-Policeman Is Charged in Third Wife's Death: Drew Peterson, the former police sergeant who found tabloid fame after his fourth wife's disappearance more than 1 1/2 years ago, was indicted in the drowning of his third wife, found dead in 2004.

Peterson, charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kathleen Savio, was arrested during a traffic stop near his Bolingbrook, Ill., home and was being held on $20 million bond, Illinois State Police Captain Carl Dobrich said.

Guilty Plea in Editor's Slaying: Former handyman Devaughndre Broussard pleaded guilty to killing two men, including Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey, who was investigating the finances of a community group for which the defendant worked. Under the deal, he will be sentenced to 25 years in prison in exchange for his testimony. Broussard would have faced as much as 32 years in prison if convicted at trial.

-- From News Services