NATIONAL BRIEFS

CALIFORNIA: The Golden Gate at 75

Tens of thousands of people gathered along the waterfront Sunday, while San Francisco Bay was crowded with pleasure boats, tug boats and other vessels as the city celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge. The masses flocked to a section of waterfront from Fort Point, south of the bridge, to Pier 39 along The Embarcadero. Since it opened in 1937, more than two billion vehicles have crossed the 1.7-mile-long bridge named after the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean, and championed by engineer Joseph Strauss in the 1920s.

SOUTH DAKOTA: Death Row brothers

Rodney Berget awaits execution later this year for bludgeoning a prison guard to death with a pipe during an attempted escape. He is the second member of the Berget clan to be sentenced to death. His older brother was convicted in 1987 of killing a man for his car. Roger Berget spent 13 years on Oklahoma's death row until he was executed in 2000 at age 39. The Bergets stand out because their crimes were separated by more than 600 miles and 25 years. "To have it in different states in different crimes is some sort of commentary on the family there," said Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center, which tracks death penalty trends.

WASHINGTON: 2 women sue for combat roles

In an attempt to reverse policies banning women from combat, two women in the Army Reserve are suing the Defense Department and the Army. Command Sgt. Maj. Jane Baldwin and Col. Ellen Haring allege the policies have hindered their career advancement and unconstitutionally bar women from certain positions available to men. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, charges violation of the constitutional rights of servicewomen solely on the basis of gender. It names Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Secretary of the Army John McHugh, Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick and Assistant Army Secretary Thomas Lamont.