WASHINGTON

SENATE APPROVES IMMIGRATION MEASURE

The Senate approved the most sweeping overhaul of immigration policy in 20 years, voting to create a new guest-worker program and give those illegally in America a chance to gain legal status.

“This legislation addresses comprehensively one of the most important and complex issues facing our country,” Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona, said.

The Senate’s 62-36 vote sets up a clash with the House, which in December approved legislation that emphasized strengthening barriers at the America-Mexico border and didn’t account for guest workers or undocumented immigrants.

The congressional debate on immigration has sparked demonstrations across the nation by people demanding immigrant rights, while creating an election-year breach between Republicans who want to focus on border control and those who back new immigration programs.

President Bush, seeking to bridge that divide, has pledged to deploy National Guard troops on the border to boost security, while backing the creation of both a new guest-worker program and a path for undocumented immigrants to gain citizenship.

– Bloomberg News

SNOW SAID READY TO RESIGN ONCE BUSH PICKS SUCCESSOR

Treasury Secretary Snow has signaled to the White House he is ready to resign once President Bush has picked a successor, administration officials and people close to Mr. Snow said yesterday.

They said Mr. Snow has made clear he eventually intends to return to the private sector. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Mr. Snow is not ready to discuss his plans publicly. It’s unclear when Mr. Snow will offer his resignation, these people said. A Treasury Department spokesman, Tony Fratto, declined to comment. “I don’t speculate on personnel matters,” he said.

– Associated Press

HOUSE VOTE: OPEN ALASKAN WILDLIFE REFUGE TO DRILLING

Citing the public outcry over $3-a-gallon gasoline and America’s heavy reliance on foreign oil, the House yesterday voted to open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, knowing the prospects for Senate approval were slim.

The House voted 225-201 to direct the Interior Department to open oil leases on the coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – an area of 1.5 million acres that is thought likely to hold about 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil. But the action may be little more than symbolic.Arctic refuge development, while approved by the House five times, repeatedly has been blocked in the Senate where drilling proponents have been unable to muster the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

– Associated Press

MIDWEST

JUDGE SAYS RAPIST TOO SMALL TO SURVIVE IN PRISON

SIDNEY, Neb. – A judge said a 5-foot-1 man convicted of sexually assaulting a child was too small to survive in prison, and gave him 10 years of probation instead.

His crimes deserved a long sentence, District Judge Kristine Cecava said, but she worried that Richard W. Thompson, 50, would be especially imperiled by prison dangers.

Thompson will be electronically monitored the first four months of his probation, and he was told to never be alone with someone under age 18 or date or live with a woman whose children were under 18. Judge Cecava also ordered Thompson to get rid of his pornography. He faces 30 days of jail each year of his probation unless he follows its conditions.

– Associated Press

MID-ATLANTIC

SCHOOL EVACUATES AFTER TEENAGER BRINGS GUN

NORTHAMPTON, Pa. – A teenager distraught over a breakup brought a loaded rifle, a hunting knife and bottle rockets to school yesterday, leading almost 2,000 students to evacuate until he surrendered, authorities said.

The 18-year-old senior at Northampton Area Senior High School was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. He was expected to be charged with two misdemeanors, including bringing a weapon to school, police said. The student’s family declined to speak with reporters.

He was discovered by a teacher as he sat with the weapons in an unused stairwell, smoking and playing music, officials said. He had used a guitar case to carry the .22-caliber rifle from his home, police said.

“He has had a problem with his girlfriend. His girlfriend left him, and he was thinking of ending it all,” Police Detective Robert Lindenmoyer said.

– Associated Press