WASHINGTON — Sen. Robert Byrd became history’s longest-serving member of Congress on Wednesday, earning a formal salute from the Senate and President Barack Obama for his nearly 57 years of service. “I’ve loved every precious minute of it,” the frail West Virginia Democrat, who turns 92 on Friday, said during a day of floor tributes to him, and moments before the Senate passed a resolution marking the milestone. Obama earlier in the day described the one-time segregationist as a touchstone for constitutional values and a role model to all lawmakers.

Cheney has 7th grandchild

Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter Mary Cheney has delivered a baby girl. It’s the second child for Cheney and her partner of more than 17 years, Heather Poe. Sarah Lynne Cheney was born Wednesday morning at Sibley Hospital in Washington, weighing 6 pounds and 14 ounces. She is the seventh grandchild of the former vice president and his wife, Lynne. Mary Cheney and Poe had their first child, Samuel David Cheney, in 2007.

Kansas: MD-80 loses engine

An airline passenger suffered a slight injury coming down an escape slide when a Boeing MD-80 made an emergency landing. An Allegiant Air spokeswoman said the plane was carrying 125 passengers from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Laughlin, Nev., on Wednesday and had stopped at Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita to refuel. She said when the plane resumed its flight, passengers heard a loud boom at about 1,500 feet and the pilot returned to Wichita. Officials believe the left engine failed.

New York: Book awards

Colum McCann’s “Let the Great World Spin” has captured the fiction prize at the 60th annual National Book Awards. T.J. Stiles’ biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, “The First Tycoon,” was the nonfiction winner; Phillip Hoose’s “Claudette Colvin” won for young people’s literature and Keith Waldrop’s “Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy” for poetry. Winners each received a $10,000 prize.

Michigan: Father kills son

A 37-year-old father irate over hearing his 15-year-old son had sexual contact with a 3-year-old girl made the teen strip at gunpoint, marched him to a vacant lot and shot him to death despite pleas from the boy and his mother, a relative said. Authorities filed a first-degree murder charge Wednesday against Jamar Pinkney Sr. in the shooting death Monday of Jamar Pinkney Jr. in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park. A defense attorney said prosecutors should consider evidence of the father’s state of mind.

Virginia: Hunter’s error

Officials said a college student was shot to death while collecting frogs for biology class by a hunter who mistook her and her classmates for deer. A Ferrum College spokeswoman said three students were collecting frogs Tuesday along a trail west of campus. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries said 23-year-old Jessica Goode was shot and killed and 20-year-old Regis Boudinot was shot in the hand. The third student wasn’t hurt.

Ohio: Whoops, it’s a boy

A tortoise’s zookeepers are the ones feeling slow because after more than 50 years, they’ve discovered “Mary” is actually a male. Officials at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo said it can be tough to establish the sex of a giant Aldabra tortoise because the reproductive organs normally aren’t visible. But Mary’s maleness was unexpectedly revealed earlier this month during a routine exam. A spokesman said Wednesday the zoo has decided to rename the 400-pound tortoise Terry.

Pakistan: Missile kills three

Missiles fired from a suspected U.S. drone killed three militants today in the lawless tribal area along the Afghan border, intelligence officials said. The missiles hit a house owned by a local tribesman just after midnight in Shana Khuwara village in North Waziristan, the officials said. A neighbor who witnessed the attack said rescuers pulled three dead bodies and four badly wounded men from the rubble of the house, which was being used by Taliban militants. The drone strikes are very unpopular because they often kill innocent civilians. Although the Pakistanis publicly condemn them as violations of their sovereignty, many analysts believe the two countries have a secret deal allowing them.

From Herald news services