In the Nation

CHICAGO - A former chief of staff to Rod Blagojevich pleaded guilty yesterday to taking part in a scheme to use President Obama's vacated Senate seat as leverage to get the then-governor of Illinois into a high-paying job.

John Harris, 47, also promised he would be a government witness if - as expected - Blagojevich goes to trial on federal racketeering conspiracy charges.

Harris became the first of four Blagojevich codefendants to plead guilty and promise to testify for the government. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment. - AP

ALBANY, N.Y. - Gov. David Paterson yesterday named Richard Ravitch, a respected former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as New York's lieutenant governor to help end the standoff in the state Senate by presiding over the chamber and breaking tie votes.

In a televised address, the Democratic governor said the state was in crisis over the embarrassing spectacle of a Senate gridlocked 31-31 in a five-week power struggle.

Paterson's authority to appoint a $151,500-a-year lieutenant governor is likely to be contested in court. In Albany, conventional interpretations of the state constitution have long held that a vacancy in the lieutenant governor's office could be filled only in the next gubernatorial election, in this case 2010. - AP

BOSTON - Two former managers of a Big Dig contractor pleaded guilty yesterday to being part of a conspiracy to deliver substandard concrete to the massive highway project.

Six former managers of Aggregate Industries NE Inc. were indicted in 2006 on charges they falsified records to hide the inferior quality of more than 5,000 truckloads of concrete. They were accused of recycling concrete that was too old or rejected by inspectors and in some cases double-billing for the loads.

Gerard McNally, a former quality-control manager, and Keith Thomas, a former dispatch manager, pleaded guilty to 12 charges. A prosecutor said that as part of their plea agreements, both agreed to cooperate against the four other ex-managers and would testify against them at their trial, due to begin Monday.

The $15 billion Big Dig was plagued by construction problems, leaks, falling debris and huge cost overruns. - AP

The Getty Center art complex and Mount St. Mary's College were evacuated yesterday as a brush fire burned on slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains near the Getty's parking facilities. Getty spokesman Ron Hartwig said ventilation systems also were shut down to prevent smoke damage to the center's priceless artwork.

A Boston subway trolley driver, Aiden Quinn, 24, was indicted yesterday on allegations he was text-messaging May 8 when the car he was operating plowed into another train, injuring more than 50 people.

A runway at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport was shut down for a time yesterday morning, disrupting flight schedules, after 78 turtles emerged from a bay and crawled onto the tarmac.