Senate

TRENTON - A Senate committee advanced six gun-control measures Thursday but did not take up the most contentious one being debated in the Legislature: limiting ammunition magazines to 10 bullets. The Senate is moving more deliberately than the Assembly, which adopted 22 gun-control measures in February, just two months after the slayings of 20 children and six adults in a Newtown, Conn., school reignited debate across the country on gun laws. The bills adopted Thursday would bar firearms of .50 caliber or greater, force state-run pensions to divest from companies that make military-style guns for consumers, and require people applying for permission to buy guns to submit some mental-health records to a national background-check system.

WASHINGTON - Four victims of a deadly Alabama church bombing at the height of the civil rights movement are now just a presidential signature away from receiving Congress' highest civilian honor. The Senate on Thursday approved by voice vote a measure that would posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair. The Senate approval of the measure comes after the House in April voted 420-0 to award the medal to the girls.

JEAN-GABRIEL PAGEAU got his first NHL hat trick yesterday to lead the Ottawa Senators in a fight-filled, 6-1 victory over the visiting Montreal Canadiens. The teams combined for 232 penalty minutes and nine players were given a game misconduct. The Senators have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and Game 4 is tomorrow. The third period started with the Senators leading 2-1, but after Pageau's second goal of the night and a Kyle Turris goal at 7:00, emotions overflowed and a line brawl broke out at center ice. Pageau, who was born in Ottawa, scored his second of the game at 1:18 of the third period to give the Senators a 3-1 lead.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau got his first NHL hat trick Sunday night to lead the Ottawa Senators to a fight-filled 6-1 victory over the visiting Montreal Canadiens. The teams combined for 232 penalty minutes and nine players were given game misconducts. The Senators have a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series. The third period started out with the Senators leading, 2-1, but after Pageau's second goal of the night and a Kyle Turris goal at 7 minutes, emotions overflowed and a line brawl broke out at center ice.   Penguins edge Isles Chris Kunitz scored his second power-play goal of the game 8 minutes, 34 seconds into overtime, off a pass from Sidney Crosby, and the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins shook off an early deficit to beat the New York Islanders, 5-4, in Game 3 of the first-round series.

WARREN, N.H. - The contentious fight over gun control moved into the White Mountains of New Hampshire on Tuesday as gun-control activists began to focus on Sen. Kelly Ayotte as a prime target in their effort to revive their push for stricter gun laws. Ayotte (R., N.H.) was a high-profile vote against the plan to expand the national gun background-check program, which failed in the Senate two weeks ago despite overwhelming public support. The failure was widely seen as a triumph for the National Rifle Association.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the tiebreaking goal with 3 minutes, 34 seconds to play and the Ottawa Senators beat host Boston, 4-2, on Sunday night in the NHL's rescheduled regular-season finale. The victory gave the Senators the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and a matchup with Montreal and dropped the New York Islanders into eighth and a first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.   Sacco sacked The Colorado Avalanche fired coach Joe Sacco a day after the team missed the playoffs for the third straight season.

WASHINGTON - On the day he returned to the Senate long enough to shout "aye" in support of expanding background checks for gun purchases, New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg pronounced that he was back. "Oh, yeah . . . I'm back," the Senate's oldest member told reporters as an aide wheeled him out of the Capitol. The 89-year-old added with a smile, "He's back. " Only he hasn't been. Lautenberg cast seven votes that day, April 17, and has missed eight since. Still coping with health problems - muscle pain, fatigue and weakness in his legs, according to his office - Lautenberg has voted on just one day since the end of February, effectively leaving New Jersey with a diminished voice and Democrats with one fewer vote in a closely divided chamber.

WASHINGTON - With flight delays mounting, the Senate approved hurry-up legislation Thursday night to end air traffic controller furloughs blamed for inconveniencing large numbers of travelers. A House vote on the measure was expected as early as Friday, with lawmakers eager to embark on a weeklong vacation. Under the legislation, the Federal Aviation Administration would gain authority to transfer up to $253 million from accounts that are flush into other programs, to "prevent reduced operations and staffing" through the Sept.

TRENTON - New Jersey lawmakers decided Thursday not to put stronger public access guarantees into a bill governing funding for beach replenishment projects in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The Senate Environment and Energy Committee agreed with advocates who argued for better access, but said it wanted to know whether there was evidence that projects had ever been rejected for funds as a result. The panel said it might consider amending the bill in the future to add access requirements.