NATION IN BRIEF: D.C. vote passes Senate

The right to a vote in Congress denied the District of Columbia when it became the nation’s capital two centuries ago would be granted under legislation the Senate passed Thursday.

The House is expected to pass the measure with a strong majority next week, and President Barack Obama has promised to sign it.

The measure, which both of Georgia’s senators opposed, is likely to face a court challenge immediately after becoming law. Opponents argue that it is unconstitutional because the District of Columbia is not a state and does not qualify for representation.

Six Republicans voted for the measure, including Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, whose state will gain a House seat to offset the one the Democrats expect to gain with the inclusion of D.C. The final Senate vote came after supporters turned back a constitutional challenge and another amendment that would have effectively returned the nonfederal areas of the district to Maryland.

Senators did approve a controversial amendment pushed by pro-gun advocates that overturns most of the district’s tough gun-control laws.

Woman charged with bartering kids

A Louisiana woman is accused of trading two young children in her care for a pet cockatoo and $175 cash from a couple who had been trying for years to have their own child, authorities said. Donna Greenwell, 53, a long-haul trucker from Pitkin with an arrest record, is charged with aggravated kidnapping, along with would-be adoptive parents Paul J. Romero, 46, and Brandy Lynn Romero, 27, of Evangeline Parish. “The Romeros had good intentions from what we see,” said Keith Dupre, a detective with the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office. “They really wanted to take care of the kids.” The transaction for the boy, 5, and the girl, 4, was negotiated by phone after Greenwell spotted a flier posted at a livestock barn selling a cockatoo for $1,500 and called the Romeros on Feb. 18, Dupre said.

State hiring of Burris’ son probed

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is reviewing how the son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris got a state job as a housing-agency lawyer under ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration, just weeks after he landed in tax and foreclosure trouble. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the September hiring of Burris II as senior counsel for the Illinois Housing Development Authority came six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped him with a $34,163 tax lien and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure lawsuit on his Chicago home. Authority spokeswoman Rebecca Boykin said Burris II was given the $75,000-a-year job based on his qualifications and in response to a published job posting.

Airport expenses under scrutiny

A small commercial airport in Lexington, Ky. —- and the taxpayers who support it —- picked up top executives’ tabs in recent years for Hannah Montana concert tickets, Nintendo Wii video game bundles and even a $4,400 strip club check, according to a state auditor’s report. The report, released this week by auditor Crit Luallen, tallied more than $500,000 in questionable personal expenses over three years. Michael Gobb, former executive director at Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport and once praised for his leadership in the wake of the 2006 Comair plane crash at the airport that killed 49 people, resigned amid the spending probe.

Handgun measure for churches stalls

A state Senate panel rejected a bill that would allow concealed handguns in Arkansas churches, a proposal that divided religious leaders. The measure would have removed churches and other houses of worship from the list of places where concealed handguns are banned in the state. Only churches and bars are on that list. The House approved the measure this month, but the Senate Judiciary Committee stalled the bill on a voice vote.

—- From news services

Ex-CIA official sentenced for fraud

A former high-ranking CIA official was sentenced to 37 months in prison for a fraud scheme in which he steered procurement contracts to an old friend. Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, who held the CIA’s No. 3 rank from 2004 to 2006, pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud in federal court in Alexandria, Va. Prosecutors said Foggo received tens of thousands of dollars worth of lavish gifts and vacations in exchange for helping his old friend, contractor Brent Wilkes, obtain no-bid contracts. They also said Foggo forced the CIA to hire his mistress for a six-figure job for which she was unqualified.

—- Associated Press