The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I think there’s a good reason for a conservative to vote yes.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C .,

the only Judiciary Committee Republican to support Elena

Kagan’s nomination

to the Supreme Court Article, 1AFBI detonates NYC bomb replica

NEW YORK - Investigators secretly detonated a working replica of the car bomb used in the failed Times Square terror attack, creating a large explosion that destroyed other vehicles and scattered flaming debris, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

The test in central Pennsylvania showed that the homemade bomb, had it been constructed and detonated properly, would have killed or wounded an untold number of pedestrians and damaged buildings along the block where the car was abandoned by Faisal Shahzad on May 1, the officials said.

“It would have been extremely deadly,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday when asked about the test.

Kelly didn’t go into specifics about the FBI test. But two other officials told The Associated Press that it was conducted late last month in a remote area 30 miles outside of State College, Pa., and that a video of it was played for a gathering of authorities earlier this week.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the test.

The FBI’s New York office declined to comment.

The test was first reported Tuesday in the New York Post.

Calling himself a “Muslim soldier,” Shahzad pleaded guilty June 21.

Democrat sworn in to Byrd’s seat

WASHINGTON - Carte Goodwin, 36, took the oath of office Tuesday to serve in the late Robert C. Byrd’s U.S. Senate seat representing West Virginia for the rest of the year.

Goodwin was appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, who announced earlier in the day that he will run for the seat in the November elections.

Manchin watched from the Senate gallery as Vice President Joe Biden administered the oath of office. A few rows back sat the Republicans’ top prospect to challenge the governor, Rep.

Shelley Moore Capito.

Moments after his swearing in, Democrat Goodwin took his first vote on a measure to extend unemployment insurance.

Blagojevich stint on stand in doubt

CHICAGO - Attorneys for Rod Blagojevich said Tuesday that they disagree about whether the ousted Illinois governor should testify in his own defense - as he has long promised - and whether they should call any defense witnesses at all.

If Blagojevich does not testify, it would bring an unexpectedly swift end to the corruption trial of the politician accused by federal prosecutors of trying to sell or trade an appointment to the Senate seat President Barack Obama left behind after his election to the White House.

A Blagojevich attorney, Sam Adam Sr., said late Tuesday that he thinks the former governor should not testify because it appears that the government has not proved its case. Adam said the real issue is whether to call any defense witnesses at all. His son, Sam Adam Jr., said he thinks Blagojevich should testify because attorneys promised in their opening statement that he would.

But Adam Jr. said the ultimate decision is Blagojevich’s.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 07/21/2010

Upcoming Events