NATIONAL BRIEFS

CONNECTICUT: Close to death penalty repeal

After executing just one prisoner in more than 50 years, the state moved Thursday to become the fifth state in five years to do away with the death penalty. But the repeal wouldn't be a lifeline for 11 death row inmates, including two men who killed a woman and two children in a horrifying home invasion supporters said was a key reason to keep the law. The State Senate debated for hours Thursday about whether the law would reverse those sentences before voting 20-16 for repeal. The heavily Democratic House of Representatives is expected to approve repeal within weeks. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the first Democratic governor in two decades, has vowed to sign the same bill vetoed by his GOP predecessor.

ARIZONA: Gun 'straw purchaser' guilty

A man who bought two rifles found at the scene of the fatal shooting of a federal agent near the Mexico border pleaded guilty Thursday to two felony charges in the federal government's botched gun smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious. Jaime Avila Jr. was said to be a member of a 20-person ring accused of buying guns and smuggling them into Mexico for use by the Sinaloa cartel. Two AK-47 variants bought by Avila from a suburban Phoenix gun store were found after a December 2010 shootout that mortally wounded Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry near Nogales, Ariz. Avila, 25, faces up to 10 years in prison. The prosecution said Avila was a straw purchaser for the ring and bought 52 guns on its behalf.

WASHINGTON STATE: 2 bodies found in marina fire

Divers recovered two bodies Thursday from sunken debris from a fire last Friday that burned boats and a boathouse at a marina. The two were not officially identified, but police said the families of Jim Langei, 43, and Sterling Taylor, 33, were notified. The two lived aboard a 42-foot boat that burned and sank in the fire at Squalicum Harbor. It took nearly a week to recover the bodies because the roof had collapsed on the boats.