Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Partner Paid Brown’s Debts, Paper Reports

Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown’s ex-business partner paid $190,000 of Brown’s personal debts last year, including legal bills, lines of credit and mortgages, the Washington Post reported. Nolanda Hill, Brown’s former partner in First International Communications Corp., paid those debts in June, July and August of 1994, the newspaper reported. Meanwhile, Brown’s attorney, Reid Weingarten, said a 1993 Justice Department investigation of a home loan arranged by a Brazilian businessman for a friend of Brown found no evidence of wrongdoing.