Nation in brief: GOP senator says she’ll finish term

San Antonio – Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison said Wednesday she is staying in the U.S. Senate, ending a series of back and forth announcements during the last year about her career plans.

The state’s senior senator, flanked by Republican leader Mitch McConnell and junior Texas Sen. John Cornyn, told reporters in San Antonio that she will serve out her third term, which ends in 2012. She had previously said she would resign her seat in 2010 regardless of the outcome of the March primary battle for governor against incumbent Rick Perry, which she lost.

“Something has happened in our country that no one could anticipate,” she said, noting “massive debt,” health care legislation she opposed and the general direction of the nation.

Marijuana found on woman, 94

Nogales, Ariz. – Authorities say a 94-year-old Mexican woman has been arrested for trying to smuggle more than 10 pounds of marijuana across the border into Arizona.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers say the woman from Nogales, Sonora, was attempting to cross the border Tuesday for a day of shopping.

But an officer became suspicious and referred her for further inspection. That’s when authorities say they found 10 1/2 pounds of marijuana strapped to the woman’s body from her torso to her legs.