In the Nation

WASHINGTON - The Senate debate over Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor turned bitter yesterday, after Democrats warned the GOP it would pay a steep price for opposing the judge who would be the first Hispanic justice, and a top Republican contended they were playing destructive racial politics.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) implored Republicans to join Democrats in voting to confirm Sotomayor next week, warning that GOP opposition would bring the kind of public backlash that followed the party's opposition to measures that would have given some illegal immigrants a chance to gain legal status.

Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), head of his party's campaign committee and a Sotomayor opponent, said Reid and other Democrats were trying to exploit the nomination and "giving cover to groups and individuals to nurture racial grievances for political advantage."

Three more senators, Richard Burr (R., N.C.), Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), and Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), announced they would oppose Sotomayor. - AP

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The $90,000 cash found in the freezer of former Rep. William J. Jefferson (D., La.) was just the most recent bribe money he had received, prosecutors told jurors yesterday during closing arguments in Jefferson's bribery trial.

Jefferson, 62, is accused of receiving more than $400,000 in bribes and seeking millions more in exchange for using his influence to broker business deals in Africa. Prosecutor Rebeca Bellows told jurors that Jefferson was engaged in numerous bribery schemes while in Congress.

The defense argued that while the nine-term congressman, who lost his re-election bid last year, may have engaged in unethical influence-peddling, he did not engage in bribery. - AP

WORCESTER, Mass. - A pregnant woman was found dead in her apartment with her fetus cut from her womb, and police were trying yesterday to find the missing baby, whom they said could have survived.

Darlene Haynes, 23, was about eight months pregnant, and the child would have needed immediate medical attention to survive, authorities said.

Police said they were not ruling out anyone as a possible suspect. Relatives said Haynes had three other children, ages 5, 3, and 18 months. - AP

Endeavour's astronauts uncovered no noticeable flaws yesterday in the thermal shielding of their shuttle after an in-depth inspection with lasers and cameras. Flight director Tony Ceccacci said everything was on track for tomorrow's planned landing.

Democratic lawmakers including Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey introduced a bill yesterday calling for states to ban texting while driving or face cuts in highway funds. A newly released study found that when drivers of heavy trucks texted, their accident risk was 23 times greater than when not texting.

A heart attack killed a Continental Airlines pilot, Craig Lenell Sr., 60, who died June 18 while operating a flight from Belgium to Newark, N.J., an autopsy found. Two copilots took the controls and safely landed the Boeing 777.