NATIONAL BRIEFS

WASHINGTON: New chief for NRC

An expert on nuclear waste was nominated Thursday by President Barack Obama to lead the federal agency that regulates the nation's nuclear power plants. Allison Macfarlane, 48, who served on a presidential commission that studied new strategies to manage nuclear waste, would replace Gregory Jaczko as head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Jaczko announced his resignation Monday after a tumultuous tenure in which he came under fire for an unyielding management style that fellow commissioners and agency employees described as bullying, especially toward female staffers.

Loan impasse continues

The Senate held two votes Thursday on measures to ensure that student loan rates for millions of college students do not double in July, and at the conclusion of the legislative action, the issue remained exactly where it began: stuck. The measures by Democrats and Republicans each failed to get the 60 votes needed to move forward; they remain at loggerheads over how to pay for the $6 billion loan subsidy.

TEXAS: Ft. Hood soldier convicted

A federal jury convicted a Muslim soldier Thursday on six charges in a failed plot to blow up a restaurant full of Fort Hood troops, his religious mission to get "justice" for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Jurors in U.S. District Court in Waco found Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo guilty of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder of U.S. officers or employees, and four counts of possessing a weapon in furtherance of a federal crime of violence. Abdo, 22, faces up to life in prison.

MAINE: Fire hits nuclear sub

A fire that swept through a nuclear-powered submarine in dry dock at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard caused extensive damage to its forward compartments, raising questions Thursday about whether it might have to be scrapped. Rear Adm. Richard Breckenridge praised the efforts of the USS Miami's crew, shipyard firefighters and firefighters from Maine and New Hampshire. The sub's nuclear propulsion was spared, but living quarters, the command and control center and the torpedo room were damaged.

NORTH CAROLINA: Five days, still no verdict

The jury in John Edwards' campaign corruption trial ended a fifth day of deliberations without reaching a verdict. The jury looked at about 20 exhibits Thursday, most of them records involving money given by a wealthy Texas lawyer.

ARKANSAS: Who won? New trial set

A judge ordered a new trial Thursday to decide who can claim a $1 million scratch-off lottery ticket prize, a little more than three weeks after he ruled that Sharon Duncan, who said she bought the ticket but mistakenly discarded it was entitled to the money. He did not explain his reasoning.