In the Nation

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors are considering sending Guantanamo Bay detainee Majid Khan - who grew up in Maryland before allegedly enlisting with al-Qaeda - to face trial in New York, a person familiar with the discussions said yesterday.

Khan is one of fewer than 20 detainees at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba whom the U.S. government considers high-value - meaning someone thought to be a senior al-Qaeda member, or to have extensive knowledge of the terror network.

The Justice Department is weighing whether to try him in federal court in Brooklyn, but no final decision has been made, said a person speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the deliberations.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. already plans to try self-declared 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four accused henchmen in lower Manhattan. - AP

WASHINGTON - Rep. John P. Murtha (D., Pa.) was resting and doing well yesterday after being hospitalized with abdominal pains, his spokesman said.

Murtha, 77, chair of the influential House Defense appropriations subcommittee, was admitted Sunday night to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., spokesman Matt Mazonkey said. The 19-term congressman has a gallbladder issue, he said.

Murtha's subcommittee was to hear testimony today from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on President Obama's troop buildup in Afghanistan, but Mazonkey said that had been postponed. - AP

GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. - A military helicopter searched upper elevations of Mount Hood yesterday, as rescuers held on to hope that two experienced climbers would be found alive after a third member of their party was discovered dead.

Search teams were working against time, with a new storm expected to hit the 11,249-foot peak overnight.

Taking advantage of a brief break in the weather, a Black Hawk helicopter operated by the Oregon Army National Guard searched for signs of life or debris. Ground teams have also started up the mountain but remained at lower elevations because of avalanche dangers.

Mountaineers found the body of Luke T. Gullberg, 26, of Des Moines, Wash., on Saturday. Anthony Vietti, 24, of Longview, Wash., and Katie Nolan, 29, of Portland, Ore., are missing. - AP

About 300 guests were moved from the luxury EPIC Hotel in Miami after Legionnaires' disease struck at least three former guests since October, one of whom died. Investigators found the hotel installed a water filter powerful enough to remove chlorine from its city-supplied water, encouraging bacterial growth.

Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger has auctioned one of his pilot's caps for $5,800 and will donate the proceeds to three San Francisco Bay Area public schools. The signed hat - which he did not wear the day he safely landed a disabled US Airways jet into the Hudson River in January - drew 68 bids on eBay.