JACKSON, Miss. — President Obama yesterday nominated former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus to be secretary of the Navy, choosing a political supporter with a two-year career in the service.

Mabus, 60, is a Democrat and campaigned extensively for Obama last year. He had been previously talked about as a candidate for a place in Obama's Cabinet as secretary of education.

If confirmed, Mabus would succeed Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter. The secretary is the civilian leader of the service and is responsible for a wide range of duties, from recruiting and mobilizing to overseeing the construction and repair of ships, equipment and facilities.

MOUNT REDOUBT ERUPTION CONTINUES

EAGLE RIVER, Alaska — Alaska's Mount Redoubt continued its volcanic explosions yesterday, sending an ash cloud 50,000 feet above sea level and prompting drivers to head to the auto parts store for new air filters.

The National Weather Service said most of the ash was expected to fall to the north, but trace amounts of ash from yesterday morning's eruption and smaller ones overnight could fall on Anchorage itself.

Since the series of eruptions began Sunday night, the volcano has had several bursts. One on Thursday sent ash 65,000 feet high. The last time the volcano had erupted was during a four-month period in late 1989 and early 1990.

EX-BUSH OFFICIAL CITES GITMO TORTURE

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A former State Department lawyer responsible for Guantanamo-related cases said yesterday that the Bush administration overreacted after 9/11 and set up a system in which torture occurred.

Vijay Padmanabhan is at least the second former Bush administration official to publicly label "enhanced interrogation techniques" as torture. He said the administration was wrong in its entire approach when it sent detainees to the remote Navy base and declared it out of reach of any court.

PHOENIX SHOOTER GETS DEATH SENTENCE

PHOENIX — The main suspect in the Phoenix Serial Shooter attacks was sentenced to death yesterday for six murders that put the city on edge for nearly two years.

Dale Hausner, 36, was convicted earlier this month of killing six people and attacking 19 others in random nighttime shootings in 2005 and 2006.

GUILTY PLEAS FOR PLANTING DRUGS IN CAR

FULLERTON, Calif. — An estranged wife and her boyfriend pleaded guilty yesterday to planting drugs and a gun in the trunk of her husband's car, a conspiracy that led to the popular history teacher's wrongful arrest for having drugs on campus at a local high school.

Devon Eileen Abbott, 33, and her boyfriend, Soloman Brian Silver, 42, conspired for nearly two weeks to hide a shotgun, marijuana and prescription pills in Gregory Abbott's vehicle.

Silver was sentenced to three years in California state prison. Abbott received a lesser sentence of one year of house arrest.

3 POLICE OFFICERS ACQUITTED IN BEATING

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A jury acquitted three Puerto Rican police officers of federal civil rights charges yesterday in the beating of a Dominican-born U.S. Marine at a baseball game between the two Caribbean rivals.

Sgt. Yonatta Crispin, a 32-year-old Iraq War veteran, said the officers used metal batons and insulted him with ethnic slurs. His only provocation, he said, was to wear a cap with a Dominican flag insignia to the raucous 2007 game against the Puerto Rico squad.

But the jury rejected arguments that the officers used excessive force.

KOREAN CHARGED WITH ILLEGAL IMPORTATION

LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors in California have charged a South Korean national with illegally importing almost a kilogram of bear bile to sell as an aphrodisiac.

The U.S. attorney's office said Seongja Hyun was charged yesterday with the illegal importation of wildlife under the federal Endangered Species Act. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Authorities say Hyun told them she had been selling bear bile harvested in China to treat ailments. They say a search of her apartment also turned up more bile, vials and packaging.