Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Democrats Halt GOP Wilderness Proposal

Senate Democrats turned back a Republican wilderness proposal, maintaining that while 2 million acres of federal land in the desolate desert region of southern Utah would be protected, millions more in the state would be opened to mining and development. The Utah wilderness provision deadlocked the Senate for nearly three days as Democrats refused to go along with a broader public-land bill unless the section on Utah wilderness was stripped away. After the bill’s supporters, including Utah’s two senators, failed to get the required 60 votes to cut off debate, Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) withdrew the bill from consideration. The vote was 51 to 49.