NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : North Pension Issue Splits Senate Panel

The Senate Judiciary Committee has split along partisan lines on the issue of whether to restore former Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North’s $23,000 annual retirement pay, lost after he was convicted last May of shredding government documents. Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and six of his Democratic colleagues filed a report contending that Congress should take no action in North’s case and leave it up to the Navy and the courts. But the committee’s six Republicans dissented, saying the law that led to revocation of North’s retirement pay was not intended to have such an effect.