The nation in brief

— QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’m just tired of talking about it. I’d

rather talk about golf.”

Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a South Carolina Republican, asked to comment on

House Speaker John Boehner’s latest budget proposal Article, 1A

Leahy takes oath

to lead Senate

WASHINGTON - Sen.

Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., formally assumed a position in the presidential line of succession Tuesday, becoming the president pro tempore of the Senate after the death of Sen. Daniel Inouye, DHawaii.

Vice President Joe Biden administered the oath of office to Leahy from the Senate rostrum at 11:33 a.m., with Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., standing behind him.

At least 28 senators, seated at their desks, were present for the ceremony and stood to applaud once Leahy took the oath.

In accordance with tradition, the Senate opened Tuesday morning with a black drape and a dozen white roses placed over Inouye’s desk, which is behind Reid’s desk and podium and next to desks occupied by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Leahy.

“I can’t tell you how much it pains me. He was one of the greatest members of this body ever to have served, and a dear friend to so many of us,” Leahy said before taking the oath.

Leahy, 72, was first elected to the Senate in 1974.

No shave required

in Fort Hood trial

FORT HOOD, Texas - The Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly Fort Hood shooting rampage apparently will be allowed to keep his beard during his military trial, after a new judge indicated Tuesday that she won’t force him to shave.

The previous judge’s order requiring Maj. Nidal Hasan to be clean-shaven or be forcibly shaved before his trial had tied up the case for more than three months, but an appeals court ousted that judge this month.

The new judge overseeing Hasan’s case told him during a hearing Tuesday that the beard, now thicker than when he first appeared in court with it in June, violates Army regulations. The judge, Col. Tara Osborn, said she won’t hold it against him but that military jurors might.

Hasan, 42, an American-born Muslim, faces the death penalty or life in military prison without parole if convicted in the 2009 rampage that killed 13 and wounded more than two dozen others on the Texas Army post.

2 on the lam after 20-story jailbreak

CHICAGO - A manhunt is under way for two bank robbers who pulled off a daring escape from downtown Chicago’s high-rise jail Tuesday by apparently squeezing through a narrow window and scaling down about 20 stories using a knotted rope of bedsheets.

Police helicopters and canine units swarmed the area, but not until more than three hours after Joseph “Jose” Banks, 37, and Kenneth Conley, 38, went unaccounted for during a 5 a.m.

head count.

Both men are facing hefty prison sentences, and the FBI said they should be considered armed and dangerous.

Special weapons and tactics teams stormed at least one home in Tinley Park, a suburb south of the city.

Although neither man was found, evidence suggested they had been at the home hours earlier, according to the FBI.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 12/19/2012

Upcoming Events