NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Official Testifies in Probe of Barry

A Washington city employee who reportedly has said Mayor Marion Barry smoked crack cocaine in 1988 pleaded guilty to a narcotics charge and then testified for two hours before a federal grand jury investigating the mayor. James L. McWilliams pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of aiding and abetting “another person” in the use of crack cocaine Dec. 19, 1988, when Barry allegedly used the drug at a downtown Ramada Inn. The Washington Post reported that McWilliams had agreed to tell the grand jury that he was in the hotel room as Barry smoked crack cocaine.