In the Nation

NEW YORK

Bill Clinton will

swear in de Blasio

Bill de Blasio will be sworn in as mayor of New York City by former President Bill Clinton. The Democrat will be inaugurated as the 109th mayor of the nation's largest city during a ceremony Wednesday on the City Hall steps.

His transition team announced Saturday that he will be sworn in by the former president. De Blasio worked in Clinton's administration in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Clinton will use a Bible once owned by another former president, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The de Blasio transition team says former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also will attend the New Year's Day ceremony. De Blasio managed her successful 2000 Senate campaign.

De Blasio is succeeding Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who served three terms. - AP
CALIFORNIA

Border death probed

The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office is investigating the cause of death of a man who collapsed in a Border Patrol holding cell Tuesday after he was taken into custody for allegedly carrying three pounds of marijuana. The Border Patrol said Saturday that the man, a U.S. citizen, was stopped at a checkpoint and taken to a cell after authorities said they found marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and traces of methamphetamine in his car. - AP
CALIFORNIA

A dry year for L.A.

This year is shaping up to be the driest in Los Angeles since 1877. Only 3.60 inches have fallen at the National Weather Service station at the University of Southern California since Jan. 1, about half an inch less than was recorded in 1953 and 1947, which until now had tied for the lowest rainfall. Climatologist Bill Patzert of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab blames a weather pattern called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. - L.A. Times