Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Barry Would Resign to Gain Statehood

Mayor Marion Barry denied his legal and personal problems have thwarted statehood efforts and offered to resign if Congress would vote to make the District of Columbia the nation’s 51st state. “We’ve been without statehood, local government, since 1791 when George Washington designated this area as our nation’s capital,” Barry said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Barry was arrested Jan. 18 on a cocaine possession charge. He was later indicted on eight counts of perjury and cocaine possession and faces a June 4 trial. Barry said his legal problems give statehood opponents an easy target.