NATIONAL BRIEFS

ILLINOIS/Death penalty abolished

After two decades of debate about the risk of executing an innocent person, Illinois abolished the death penalty yesterday. Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat who had long supported capital punishment, looked drained moments after signing the legislation. Lawmakers sent him the measure in January, but Quinn went through two months of intense personal deliberation before acting. He called it his most difficult decision as governor. "If the system can't be guaranteed, 100-percent error-free, then we shouldn't have the system," Quinn said. Illinois becomes the 16th state without a death penalty. Quinn commuted the sentences of all 15 men on death row. They will now serve life in prison with no hope of parole.

ARIZONA/Loughner pleads not guilty

Survivors of the Tucson shooting rampage came face to face yesterday with the man accused in the attack that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, smiled as he entered the courtroom in handcuffs. His once-shaved head featured short, dark hair and sideburns. Three survivors of the Jan. 8 rampage. Susan Hileman, Army Col. (Ret.) Bill Badger and Mavanell "Mavy" Stoddard, attended the hearing, Hileman in a wheelchair. The suspect's father, Randy Loughner, made his first appearance in the gallery during his son's criminal case. Jared Loughner pleaded not guilty to dozens of federal charges, including trying to assassinate Giffords, attempting to kill two of her aides, and murdering federal judge John Roll and Giffords staffer Gabe Zimmerman. It was the same courthouse where Roll had worked. Loughner also is charged with causing the deaths of four others who weren't federal employees.

WASHINGTON/Locke tabbed for Beijing post

Hoping to make China more friendly to American business, President Barack Obama nominated Commerce Secretary Gary Locke yesterday as the first Chinese-American to serve as ambassador to Beijing. It was also disclosed that Obama intends to nominate Daniel Shapiro as U.S. ambassador to Israel.

TEXAS/Young former top cop seeks asylum

A young woman who received death threats after recently becoming police chief of a violence-plagued Mexican town is in the United States and seeking asylum, officials said in El Paso. Marisol Val-les Garcia, 20, had accepted the top law enforcement job in Praxedis G. Guerrero, a township near the border that has been overcome by drug violence. Her predecessor was shot to death in July 2009.