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Arizona Man Accused of Threatening Nevada Governor  (AP, 3/31/2010)

LAS VEGAS - A 63-year-old Arizona man convicted in 2007 of destroying 546 trees in a retirement community outside Las Vegas has been accused of making related death threats to Nevada's governor and others.

The Nevada Department of Public Safety said Wednesday it is seeking extradition to the Silver State for Douglas Hoffman of Goodyear, Ariz., on felony charges of conveying false information concerning acts of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, lethal agents or toxins.

Hoffman was arrested without incident March 19 by Goodyear police, and released on bail March 26, Nevada authorities said. The department said Hoffman was due to appear in court April 7 in Arizona.

Attempts to reach Hoffman were not immediately successful Wednesday night. His phone number in Goodyear was a private listing.

Goodyear police did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

An arrest warrant provided by the public safety department said Hoffman's fingerprints were on two letters sent to Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, and threatened militia action if immediate changes weren't made in the neighborhood.

"We can raze entire Pulte (Homes) communities, conduct drive-bys, torch house after house, use (improvised explosive device methods and or unleash are (sic) supply of chemical, biological, nuclear mass destruction or all of the above," the letter said, according to the warrant.

Pulte Homes is the company that built the community in a Las Vegas suburb. The Pulte Homes community is roughly 10 miles south of the Las Vegas Strip.

Prosecutors say Hoffman cut down and poisoned the trees because they blocked a Las Vegas Strip view from the backyard of a home owned by his in-laws. He was sentenced in January 2008 to 18 months to five years in prison.

Italian Prime Minister Targeted by Bomb Threat Letter  (Xinhua, 3/31/2010)

ROME -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was threatened on Wednesday by a mysterious militia faction through a letter addressed to the Ansa news agency.

The missive was sent by a local group called "Armed Group for Freedom" to Ansa's local office in the southern town of Bari, on the Adriatic coast. It contained a hand-written note warning that "a bomb would blow up Berlusconi's car".

Intelligence officers are investigating the danger of the missive, which follows other threats recently received by the premier.

Ahead of the March 28-29 regional elections won by Berlusconi's government center-right coalition, a missive containing a bullet and death threats had been addressed to Berlusconi and his People of Freedom Party. A bomb-pack was also sent to the premier's coalition ally the Northern League Party, injuring a postman.

The following day an envelope was sent to the premier's Milan villa containing white powder initially feared to be anthrax. The police later said it had been mailed by a man with mental problems.

The tones of the Italian electoral campaign were bitter and the fierce political wrangling between the center-right majority and the center-left opposition still rocks the country.

Mystery Bomber Targets Texas Post Offices  (CBS News, 3/31/2010)

Two more "suspicious devices" were discovered in a blue post office collection box and a mailbox in East Texas yesterday afternoon.

They are just the latest in a terrifying series of homemade devices found in East Texas post office boxes over the past several months.

According to documents obtained by CBS News, at least 17 devices ranging from pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails to "hangman style" nooses, have been found in United States Postal Service collection boxes and mailboxes since March 9 of this year. U.S.Postal Inspector Amanda McMurrey said they have been finding the devices since January 1.

The investigation is ongoing, but officials say the construction of the devices indicate the incidents are connected.

"The vast majority of these incidents are linked based on the perpetrators' method of operations," said Tom Crowley, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Collection boxes outside the main post offices in Tyler, Marshall, Laird Hill and Longview have been targeted, as well as several other East Texas collection boxes and customer mailboxes.

Though the ATF hasn't yet released the total number of devices that have been found, Crowley says the number has been "substantial."

The ATF, which is working the case with USPS, has dispatched additional units to East Texas to scour surveillance video and follow leads.

"This is a priority investigation for both the Postal Inspection Service and the ATF and we are leaving no stone unturned," Postal Inspector McMurrey said.

In the wake of yesterday's discoveries, ATF and USPS raised their reward for information relating to the persons responsible for the devices from $10,000 to $25,000.

To date, officials say there is no suspect in the case.

So far none of the devices have detonated and all have been safely disabled. Although several devices have been active, bomb squads have determined others to be hoaxes. 

Anyone with information regarding suspicious activity around blue collection boxes or the person(s) responsible for these acts can contact the Postal Inspection Service's East Texas Tip Line at 817-359-2719, or the toll-free number, 877-876-2455, option 2.

Incidents in March:

March 9, 2010--Six Crude IEDs were found in collection boxes at six locations in the Longview, TX area.  In addition, ATF reported up to 20 additional devices have been placed at other locations not associated with the mail and postal facilities.

March 15, 2010--Four "hangman's nooses" were found inside collection boxes in Gladewater, TX, the main post office in Tyler, TX, the SE Crossing Finance Unit in Tyler, TX, the Azalea Station in Tyler, TX. In addition, five Molotov cocktails were found outside Henderson main Post Office.

March 23, 2010--Two Molotov cocktail devices discovered in Marshall TX, one outside the Marshall Main Post Office, the other in a collection box on E. Travis St.

March 25, 2010--Pipe bomb found in a collection box in front of Troup, TX Post Office.

 March 30, 2010--IED device found in customer mailbox in Henderson, TX.

March 30, 2010--IED found in a USPS collection box in Longview, TX.

Commentary: Terrorism Insurance Market in State of Uncertainty (Insurance Journal, 3/30/2010)

The threat of terrorism in the U.S. is rising but the future of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) is in question. At a time when top U.S. officials warn of an imminent attack that might be hard to prevent, the government may scale back its terrorism backstop. These factors have raised uncertainty in the insurance market, particularly for brokers and buyers of terrorism protection when considering the appropriate level of coverage to purchase.

The nature of terrorist threat is shifting. The director of National Intelligence stated recently that Al Qaeda and its affiliates are determined to launch a full-scale attack in the U.S. in the next three to six months. That attack could be much harder to detect and stop, warned CIA Director Leon Panetta, who noted that Al Qaeda and its affiliates have adjusted their strategy.

Also, the global risk consultant Control Risks has identified an "emerging profile of younger, transient, impressionable operatives radicalized at a young age and trained by experienced Al Qaeda cell leaders to conduct specific operations."

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the man charged with the attempted bomb attack on a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day, fits this description. He already had a history of traveling to terrorist camps (although just 23 years old) and tried to carry out an attack, using a type of explosive that is largely undetectable to many airports' scanners.

There is also an apparent rising threat from homegrown terrorists, which was graphically illustrated by the Nov. 5, 2009 attack on the Army Post Fort Hood, Texas, when U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan went on a deadly shooting rampage that left 12 soldiers and one civilian dead and dozens more wounded.

Shrinking Coverage

Against this backdrop, the Obama Administration has proposed scaling back federal support for TRIA, as well as eliminating coverage for acts of domestic terrorism. The program's future remains uncertain, as it is only authorized through 2014.

The White House has argued that TRIA can be scaled down because of an industry surplus and greater capacity in the private market. However, insurers counter that the increased private capacity exists precisely because of TRIA. A loss of $249 million in federal subsidies could trigger a substantial reduction in that private capacity. That would undoubtedly affect the cost of coverage, particularly in big cities such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago.

Also, looking at the government's recent proposals, it appears that the mandatory make-available provision will remain. However, if the co-participation for insurers is raised from its current 15 percent, pricing is likely to increase. In addition, the trigger for government participation has been raised twice, from the original $5 million to $50 million to the current $100 million, and is likely to go up again.

The uncertainty surrounding TRIA presents a slightly different picture when looking specifically at the stand-alone terrorism insurance market, which does not rely on the government backstop. While many businesses already have stand-alone coverage, many more could be expected to buy policies if the proposed changes to TRIA are enacted. Here, brokers have an opportunity to act early to secure coverage in this market on behalf of their clients.

As well as monitoring the political climate, insurers are also heeding the advice of experts, including Control Risks. It cautions: "The new threat is more likely to be homegrown, increasingly self-radicalized and low-tech. It is also more difficult to penetrate and less predictable …"

To counter this threat, insurers are scrutinizing the risk-management policies and procedures of their clients to see whether they are proactively addressing current conditions overall and in their specific industries. For example, the 2008 terrorist attack on the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai led hotel groups worldwide to make changes to their security practices.

Renewed Fears

The threatened withdrawal of coverage for domestic acts of terrorism has also renewed concern about a specific aspect of TRIA. The act says domestic terrorist acts will be covered only if they are "certified" by the U.S. Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury and Attorney General. Since all three are part of the President's cabinet, the concern is that political considerations could factor into their certification decision. While that wasn't perceived as an issue when the provision was added in the 2007 reauthorization, the uptick in domestic terrorist threats has raised questions about potential political influence.

The FBI and other law enforcement groups have long interpreted terrorism broadly. In 2009 Congressional testimony, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, said that "(t)he nature of the terrorist threat facing the United States has also changed over these last eight years" and the country now faces a "challenge in dealing with home-grown extremists in the United States who, while not formally part of these terrorist organizations, believe in their ideologies and wish to harm the United States in furtherance of it."

Among those homegrown extremist groups the FBI has identified are the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. The FBI charges that these groups have been responsible for at least 25 acts causing $48 million in damage.

Clearly, their attacks are very different from 9/11 and other attempted acts by foreign terrorist groups. That has prompted some in the insurance industry to ask whether the TRIA program, which was designed originally to deal with foreign terrorist threats is able to respond to the domestic threats?

Again, the stand-alone terrorism insurance market -- which does not discriminate between domestic versus foreign terrorism events or rely on government certification of an incident as a terrorist attack for coverage to be triggered -- may present clients with a more secure way to manage their risks.

Between the escalating threat from "new" terrorists using new methods, coupled with uncertainty over the size and breadth of TRIA funding and coverage, insurers and businesses are unsettled. This uncertainty may force clients to think carefully about how much coverage they buy from the TRIA-backed insurance market and whether to invest in a stand-alone terrorism policy.

While the future is unclear, recent developments have the potential to substantially alter the terrorism insurance landscape.

Accused Mail Bomber Poisoned While in Custody in India  (Press Trust, 3/30/2010)

Ghaziabad,India-- An accused in the 1996 frontier mail bomb blast here was poisoned to death in custody and had not committed suicide as claimed by police, according to his viscera report which was asked for by the NHRC after his family alleged foul play.

District Magistrate R Ramesh Kumar today said that the viscera report of Mohammad Shakeel, who was found hanging from the ceiling of his cell in the high-security Dasna jail here on June 19, 2009 by Jail Superintendent VK Singh, showed Aluminium phosphide poisoning.

The National Human Right Commission (NHRC) had sent a notice to District Magistrate and Jail Superintendent to submit the viscera report after his family filed a complaint accusing the police of killing him in jail, Shakeel's uncle Suleiman said.

Alleged Letter-Bomb Killer Faces Justice in Peru (IPS, 3/29/2010)

LIMA, Peru - The arrest in Peru of a former Army Intelligence Service (SIE) agent, retired Captain Víctor Penas, may clear up the murder of journalist Melissa Alfaro, and the mutilation of human rights defender Augusto Zúñiga, both victims of letter-bombs in 1991.

According to the case file, Penas, a sabotage expert who graduated in 1980 from the notorious School of the Americas (SOA), made the letter-bombs as part of a covert operation to eliminate suspected collaborators of the leftwing guerrilla movements Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).

One other person lost his life and another lost a limb due to plastic explosives allegedly sent by Penas to different addresses in Lima, including Congress.

The operation had the approval of Vladimiro Montesinos, de facto chief of the National Intelligence Service (SIN) and security adviser to then president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000). Both men are currently serving long sentences on human rights and corruption charges.

"It has taken nearly two decades for Penas and his accomplices to be brought to answer for the murder of Melissa, a journalist who was just doing her job," Alaín Alfaro, her brother, told IPS.

The prosecution file opened against Penas by judge Magalli Báscones, to which IPS had access, states that the accused sent the first letter-bomb to Augusto Zúñiga, a lawyer with the non-governmental Human Rights Commission (COMISEDH), on Mar. 15, 1991. Zúñiga lost his left forearm in the explosion.

On Jun. 21 that year, Penas is alleged to have sent another bomb to the head of Cambio magazine, Carlos Arroyo, suspected of links with the MRTA. But the letter was wrongly addressed and was delivered to a neighbour, who was killed on opening the envelope.

Seven days later, Penas sent another letter-bomb to the head of the El Diario newspaper, a mouthpiece for Sendero Luminoso. But it was the building's caretaker who lost an arm, when it exploded as he checked the contents.

These collateral victims did not stop Penas' efforts to kill Arroyo, following orders from his superiors. On Oct. 10 he sent another letter-bomb, correctly addressed this time. But the letter was opened by Melissa Alfaro, Arroyo's assistant, killing her instantly.

Penas sent a fifth letter-bomb to leftwing lawmaker Ricardo Letts, which arrived at his congressional office on Oct. 16. But Letts' suspicions were aroused and he called the police, who disarmed the device just in time.

Judicial police arrested Penas in Lima, by order of judge Báscones, who is also prosecuting retired general Pedro Villanueva, the army commander in 1991, as well as Montesinos and Fujimori in the letter-bombs case. All three are accused of planning and ordering the murders.

Penas' undercover operation was the start of a new method of combating members of subversive groups in the 1980-2000 civil war between state security forces and Sendero and MRTA.

At Fujimori's trial for human rights violations, it was determined that in 1991 he granted Montesinos special powers for military intelligence to mount covert operations, including acts of state terrorism, against the rebel groups.

The letter-bomb crimes were described by an SIE officer to personnel at the U.S. embassy in Lima, according to a secret 18-page report by the U.S. State Department dated Jun. 30, 1994, a copy of which was obtained by IPS.

The document was declassified in 2007 at the initiative of the non-governmental Washington-based National Security Archive (NSA), and served as evidence in Fujimori's trial on human rights charges.

The anonymous officer gave U.S. diplomats a blow by blow account of the crimes he had committed, and said that he had carried them out with Montesinos' authorisation, according to the declassified document.

"Source claims that National Intelligence Service (SIN) de facto chief Montesinos' aide LTC (lieutenant-colonel Roberto) Huamán told him after the fact that Huamán had coordinated orders authorising the letter bombings between the source's unit and the SIN," the document says.

"Source concluded this showed Montesinos had approved (the operations)," it says.

Documents in Judge Báscones' prosecution file indicate that the anonymous officer is Penas, a conclusion arising from the exact account he gave his interviewers of the covert letter-bomb operation.

"We have no doubt that the informer who spoke to the U.S. embassy is Víctor Penas, because he made the letter-bombs and sent them to the targets' addresses. Now that he is in jail, we hope that he will confirm what he said in 1994, and receive the punishment he deserves," said Alaín Alfaro.

"There is evidence indicating that Víctor Penas made the letter-bombs and sent them to the victims," Gloria Cano, the Alfaro family's lawyer and a member of the non-governmental Peruvian Human Rights Association (APRODEH), told IPS.

The evidence given in testimony also indicates "he worked as part of an undercover operation which must have had the approval and authorisation of his superiors. He would never have taken such action on his own account," Cano said.

Discharged Israeli Soldiers Sue For Millions Over Anthrax Experiment  (Israel News, 3/28/2010)

Israel--Sixty-four former IDF soldiers are suing the Defense Ministry for NIS 18 million ($4.8 million) over what they claim is damage caused to them during Anthrax vaccine experiments in the early 1990s.

The experiments, which were meant to determine the efficacy of an Anthrax vaccine, were carried out in light of what was then defined at the time as the "strategic threat of a surprise biological attack facing Israel."

Nicknamed "Omer 2," the experiments included 716 IDF soldiers picked out of a pool of 4,000.

The lawsuit, filed with the Petah Tikva District Court, is based on the principle according to which anyone who decides to take part in an experiment must do so willingly and after considering the risks involved.

As part of the lawsuit the soldiers are demanding that the state reveal the ingredients of the serum that was given to them, in addition to NIS 300,000 (about $80,000) in damages to each plaintiff for mental anguish and emotional distress resulting from the involuntary use of one's body and medical negligence.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs cited an Israel Medical Association (IMA) report according to which the experiments were unjustifiable.

The report revealed that even while the experiment was taking place Israel already had a stock of vaccines. "An accelerated effort to produce large quantities of the vaccine was underway a year prior to the experiment, and by the time the experiments were launched, Israel had enough vaccines to cover the civilian concerns," the report said.

"No scientific justification was found for the experiment, scientific background was lacking, the experiment's design and execution did not suit its goals, and no result would have justified those goals. Also, conventional guidelines were not followed, risks and possible side effects were not thoroughly investigated, and a follow-up mechanism to keep track of participating soldiers was not set up," it said.

Dorit Tahan, one of the plaintiffs, said, "In light of the security establishment's lack of respect for human life, we have no choice but to turn to the court in order to teach the IDF a lesson in responsibility."

"We now know that the physical harm caused to the soldiers was also passed down to their children," she said.

Italian Police Find Bullet In Prime Minister Berlusconi's Mail  (Scotsman, 3/28/2010)

ITALIAN police have intercepted an envelope containing a bullet addressed to Premier Silvio Berlusconi, right, on the eve of regional elections.

Milan police also said a letter bomb sent to the right-wing Northern League, a Berlusconi ally, exploded in a post office slightly injuring a postman.

An anarchist group claimed responsibility. Bruno Megale of Milan's anti-terror police said the bomb was a protest against a crackdown on immigration. Berlusconi was in Libya yesterday for an Arab League summit.

Italian Hurt By Letter Bomb To Party Before Vote  (Reuters, 3/27/2010)

MILAN - An Italian postal worker suffered burns to his hands and face Saturday when a letter bomb sent to the Northern League party exploded on the eve of regional elections which are likely to boost the anti-immigrant movement.

Police in Milan said the device that went off at a sorting office in the northern city was addressed to the offices of the Northern League and "was probably sent by an anarchist group," without giving more details.

Ansa news agency said police found a note accompanying the package that named Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, a Northern League member who has pushed through tough laws cracking down on illegal immigrants. The Northern League, founded to win the independence of the region it calls "Padania" in the north of the country, is a coalition ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom but it could outperform the larger center-right party in Sunday and Monday's elections.

With 13 of Italy's 20 regions up for grabs, and 40 million people eligible to vote, the vote is a major test for 73-year-old Berlusconi nearly two years into his third term.

The Northern League looks likely to boost its power in the ruling center right by gaining ground in the rich north. Opinion polls suggest it could win the top job in the Veneto region and possibly Piedmont, and perform strongly in Lombardy.

Berlusconi, who wound up his campaign with an exhaustive series of television appearances and speeches Friday, faced repeated questions about whether he was worried that League leader Umberto Bossi would be the big winner in the vote.

"I am not worried at all about Umberto Bossi," he said.

ATF and Postal Inspectors Offer Reward for Texas Bombmaker  (Kilgore News Herald, 3/27/2010)

East Texas--Mail box bombs found Tuesday in Rusk County and in Longview prompted the ATF and U.S. Postal Inspection Service to raise to $25,000 the reward leading to arrest and conviction of the suspect in a rash of mail box bombings in East Texas.

With a pipe bomb-like device discovered in a residential home's mail box at Lake Cherokee around noon on Tuesday, another found in a bank of collection boxes at a business address and a similar device left not in a mail box at all but at a business site in Tyler on Monday, the perpetrator may be changing their M.O. weeks into a spree of mail-related crimes, said postal inspector and spokeswoman Amanda McMurrey.

"They're changing," she said, taking exception when asked in the incidents were escalating. "I don't know that escalating is the appropriate term. If there was a danger to the community, we certainly would tell people."

The second discovery Tuesday was in a collection box at 1121 Judson in Longview, McMurrey said.

On Monday, a pipe bomb was found at a public company in Tyler not involving the postal service or a mailbox, and the ATF is investigating that incident.

All three devices were rendered "not immediately harmful" to the public, and were sent off to the ATF lab for forensic analysis.

The reward sponsored by ATF and the USPIS has been raised to $25,000; it was originally set at $5,000 and then raised to $10,000 after more bombs were planted.

"I know there's someone out there besides the perpetrator himself who knows who's doing this. That person really needs to make that call," McMurrey said.

"At least the money can be an incentive."

McMurrey said whoever is planting the devices needs to be stopped.

"This is causing a problem for the public ... People are having to alter their normal routines ... This is a problem for first responders, it's a problem for federal agents," she said. "I'd be much happier investigating mail fraud than a problem like this. This person has us out here using resources that could be better used to protect the community."

In a Laird Hill case, a week ago a pipe bomb was found inside a blue U.S. Mail collection box outside the Laird Hill post office. The incident follows close on the heels of an incendiary device discovered in a Marshall collection box last Monday.

On March 5, the Kilgore post office was struck in a similar incident. Henderson and Troup have also had similar incidents.

Meanwhile, postal customers whose missives were ruined in the boxes found their mail delayed and undeliverable.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and ATF are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for placing suspicious devices in blue USPS collection boxes in the East Texas area, McMurrey said.

“We’re looking for anybody with personal knowledge of who this person is, or if anyone sees suspicious activity around a collection box,” she said.

Anyone with information regarding suspicious activity around blue collection boxes or the person(s) responsible for these acts can contact the Postal Inspection Service’s East Texas Tip Line at 817- 359-2719, or the toll-free number, 877-876-2455, option 2.

Anthrax Scare At N.Y. Representative’s  Office  (Bio Prep Watch, 3/26/2010)

Queens, NY--Representative Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., received an envelope containing white powder at his Queens office this week, a detective with the New York City Police Department has revealed.

The detective told Examiner.com that five males and four females were decontaminated at Rep. Weiner's Kew Office location as a precaution by an Emergency Services unit that was dispatched to the office.

Preliminary field tests of the white powder tested positive for anthrax and other bioterror poisons but, as a precaution, Rep. Weiner's office was decontaminated.

The suspect powder was discovered Thursday afternoon in a letter that referenced Rep. Weiner's vote on health care reform.

According to the NYPD, there are currently no suspects under arrest in the case. A federal investigation is currently underway along with an investigation by the NYPD.

Rep. Weiner has been the target of several threats over the last month, including anti-Semitic communications. Additionally, more than a dozen Democratic members of Congress have been the target of death threats following the recent vote on health care reform.

Among the threats, a propane gas line at the home of the brother of Virgina Rep. Tom Perriello was cut and shots were reported fired outside of Rep. Eric Cantor's district office. There have also been reports of bricks thrown through the windows of Democratic campaign offices and phone threats in Washington have reached record levels.

Congressman Weiner's Office Closed Day After Powder Scare  (CBS News, 3/26/2010)

NEW YORK--Congressman Anthony Weiner wasn't at his Kew Gardens office when staffers received a threatening letter containing mysterious white powder on Thursday afternoon. He was still in Washington awaiting final votes on the health care overhaul.

However, nine staffers had to be isolated and decontaminated until authorities determined the powder wasn't hazardous.

"To some degree salty language and intense emotions are part of the job that go along with being a politician but the idea that my staff got dragged into that and had this experience was troubling to me," Weiner said.

He is one of a handful of congressmen being directly targeted by radical constituents outraged over the health care debate who have gone far beyond protesting.

The fury has bubbled over into threatening letters and obscene phone calls. Upstate Congresswoman Louise Slaughter had a brick thrown through the window of her home office.

"This sort of display is shocking," she said.

Carolyn Maloney of Manhattan and Steve Israel of Long Island also received threats, but it's not just Democrats in the crosshairs of intimidation tactics.

Shots were fired at the Virginia office of Congressman Eric Cantor who believes it was rooted in anti-semitism. He's warning fellow lawmakers to ease up. "By ratcheting up the rhetoric some will only inflame these situations."

Some criticized former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for doing just that when she sent out a tweet telling followers "Commonsense conservatives and lovers of America: Don't retreat, instead reload."

"All it takes is one person thinking that metaphor is literal and you have violence happening," Weiner said. He will return home to New York Friday and hold a public event to explain the health care bill to constituents. In the meantime his office remains closed until further notice.

Two Officers in Florida Written Up For Causing White Powder Scare at Police Station  (Sun Sentinel, 3/26/2010)

Lighthouse Point, FL--A suspicious white powder that brought police operations to a halt one day in January turned out to be cocaine, and two police officers are now on the hook for the scare.

Officer Mike Rowan and his supervisor, Sgt. David Nuce, were written up this week for not letting others know the white powder Rowan left in an evidence locker was believed to be cocaine and not a deadly substance, according to the reprimand letters from Lighthouse Point Police Chief Ross Licata.

When the envelope with powder was found, Rowan was gone and couldn't be reached, Licata said. A hazardous materials team then had to order the evacuation of the police station and two city government offices for nearly three hours.

UK Tax Inspectors to Get Powers to Open People’s Mail Without Asking Permission  (Telegraph, 3/26/2010)

UK--The Government wants to amend part of the Postal Services Act to allow officers to intercept any suspicious mail and open it before it is delivered.  

The measure is billed as a bid to crack down on tobacco smuggling. However, a HM Revenue and Customs spokesman said the powers could be applied much more widely.

Currently, Royal Mail staff have a legal right to intercept suspicious letters and parcels in mail centres and sorting offices and pass them to HM Revenue and Customs.

Tax inspectors must then notify the addressee and agree a mutually acceptable time to open the letter or parcel, before deciding whether to take any enforcement acdtion.

However the Government is now proposing to remove the legal requirement which will now allow inspectors to open suspicious post without asking permission first.

Treasury documents say: “HMRC will no longer be required to notify the addressee and invite them to attend before such packets can be opened”.

The new measure will be passed into law as part of the Budget over the next few weeks, and amend section 106 of the Postal Services Act 2000.

Under current law, the only other enforcement officers who can open mail are border guards who can open the post without permission at ports and airports.

The change was disclosed in a Treasury document published alongside the Budget headlined “Tackling tobacco smuggling in the post”. However a HM Revenue and Customs spokesman said the powers would be applied much more broadly.

The spokesman said: "The change is mainly directed at helping to combat tobacco smuggling but the powers in s106 apply to any contraband including prohibited or restricted goods.”

She declined to say how many times HM Revenue and Customs had used the existing powers in recent years.

Accountants warned that it was likely tax inspectors would seek to use the powers in other areas once they became law.

Heather Taylor, a senior tax partner at Grant Thornton, said: “This seems like a very small and limited change, but it could be a very big step for increased powers HMRC. Once new powers are in the hands of HMRC they tend to be extended.”

Civil liberties campaigners were appalled about the increased powers. Alex Deane, a spokesman for Big Brother Watch, said: “This is a dreadful development. The post has always been regarded as near-sacrosanct in law.

“The last time our mail was opened by the authorities without notice, our country was fighting a World War. I hardly think that the situation produced by the government’s tobacco tax compares.

“Once the principle of opening our mail has been accepted, what else will the Government use as an excuse to pry into our post?”

HM Revenue and Customs are growing increasingly aggressive in their battle with tax evaders. Earlier this year it announced plans for a crack down on middle class professionals who do not pay their fair share of tax.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "Royal Mail has no powers to open the mail and in rare cases when an item of mail clearly poses a hazard to other mail and/or the safety of our people - for example, if a noxious chemical was spilling from a package - we would call in HMRC and, usually, the police."

U.S. Embassy In Dakar Closed Following Anthrax Scare  (Bio Prep Watch, 3/26/2010)

The consular section of the United States embassy in Dakar, Senegal was closed for two days this week following the discovery of an envelope containing a white, powdery substance.

"On March 23, an envelope was discovered in the Consular Section of the US Embassy that contained a white powdery substance," an embassy statement said. "The Senegalese Police and Fire Department were called in to assist."

The consular section was closed on Tuesday following the powder's discovery but was back in operation again on Thursday.

"The substance has been tested in Washington DC and was found to be non-toxic," according to the statement. "Therefore, on March 25, the consular section reopened with full service operations."

Envelopes filled with white powder have, since the anthrax attacks in the United States in 2001, become an increasingly common hoax at U.S. embassies. The 2001 attacks killed five people and infected several others.

Senegal is considered on of the United States' most important allies in Africa based upon its long history of close cooperation and friendship. The embassy has worked to promote human rights, disarmament, conflict resolution and peace-keeping missions on the African continent.

USAID has devoted more than $204 million for programs to develop Senegal's private sector businesses, strengthen democracy and support health and education.

2nd Apparent Pipe Bomb Found In East Texas Mailbox  (AP, 3/25/2010)

TROUP, Texas — An object resembling a pipe bomb was found in a mailbox in front of a small east Texas post office Thursday, the second such incident in three days, authorities said.

Federal officials have acknowledged that they are investigating a series of apparent incendiary devices placed in east Texas mailboxes in the past month.

Authorities said the device found Thursday in Troup, about 100 miles east of Dallas, appeared similar one found Tuesday in a collection box in front of a post office in Laird Hill, 20 miles to the northeast. The Laird Hill device was explosive before bomb-disposal experts rendered it safe, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman Tom Crowley said.

A postal employee found the Troup device about 1 p.m. Thursday, Police Chief Pat Hendrix said.

"The employee went to collect the mail and found the device," Hendrix told the Tyler Morning Telegraph. "They then notified us. We secured a perimeter and called the ATF."

Postal inspectors and ATF agents summoned a bomb-disposal team. Further details about the device were not available as of early evening.

Crowley and U.S. Postal Inspector Amanda McMurrey declined to estimate the number of apparent incendiary devices found in mail collection boxes around east Texas in the past month, but reports from various law enforcement agencies put the number at at least 11.

Before the two apparent pipe bombs, authorities had reported finding bottles filled with flammable liquid and topped with wicks.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the ATF have said $5,000 would be offered for information leading to convictions after bottles were found in Henderson, Kilgore and Tyler, about 90 miles east of Dallas.

More Mail Bombs Found in East Texas  (KDFW, 3/25/2010)

TROUP, Texas - A federal official says the discovery of more potentially explosive devices in east Texas mailboxes "does up the ante" in an investigation.

A device described as a hoax pipe bomb was discovered Thursday afternoon in a collection box outside the Troup City Hall and post office building.

On Tuesday a similar device was found in a collection box in the town of Laird Hill.

They bring the total number of potentially explosive devices discovered this month in east Texas to 13.

Other devices described as bottles containing flammable liquids and wicks have been found in collection boxes in Owentown, Kilgore, Price, Henderson and Tyler.

U.S. Postal Inspector Amanda McMurrey said postal delivery workers have been finding the devices. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have removed them.

No one has been hurt and there is no threat to the public, McMurrey said.

However, a reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible has been increased to $10,000.

White Powder In Envelope Shuts US Consular Section In Dakar  (AFP, 3/25/2010)

Dakar, Senegal--The United States embassy in Dakar on Thursday said it had closed its consular section for two days, after an envelope was discovered containing a white, powdery substance.

The consular section closed on Tuesday but was operating again on Thursday.

"On March 23, an envelope was discovered in the Consular Section of the US Embassy that contained a white powdery substance. The Senegalese Police and Fire Department were called in to assist," an embassy statement said.

"The substance has been tested in Washington DC and was found to be non-toxic. Therefore, on March 25, the consular section reopened with full service operations," it said.

Envelopes containing white powder have become a common hoax after a spate of anthrax attacks in the United States in 2001 which killed five people and infected several others.

Letters containing deadly anthrax spores -- often used as a bioterrorism agent -- were mailed to several news media offices and two senators.

Powder Scare Shuts Down Royal Mail Sorting Depot  (Express and Star, 3/25/2010)

England--A suspicious powder brought Wolverhampton’s Royal Mail delivery and sorting office to a standstill.

No-one was allowed in or out of the city’s Sun Street mail centre,  which deals with more than 13million items per week, after a suspicious powder spilled out of a package at around 8pm last night. It is believed the substance discovered was a type of aluminium sulphate.

The problem has caused a “small proportion” of mail being posted out to areas other than Stoke-on-Trent, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton to be delayed. Three workers also had to be decontaminated as a precaution.

Firefighters, ambulance staff and police all attended the busy base to investigate the incident with West Midlands Ambulance Service sending its Hazardous Area Response Team.

Many workers at the base turned up for an evening shift only to be asked to wait outside while investigations continued. They were allowed back in shortly after 10pm. ]

One worker who was stuck inside said: “It was a bit of a surprise to us but we were glad when it was all over.”

Royal Mail spokesman Mike Dalton said: “A suspect powder spilled out of a package which was going through the sorting system. We followed advice from the emergency services and rather than evacuate the building we didn’t let anyone in or out.

“Three individuals who came into direct contact with it were isolated. The substance was checked and found not to pose a risk, but the three individuals were decontaminated as a precaution.”

The drama caused heavy traffic in Sun Street as staff turning up to work were held up. Two Royal Mail lorries were among vehicles forced to park up and wait.

Suspicious Package Removed From Coast Guard Building in Florida  (CBS4, 3/24/2010)

Miami, FL--Several buildings were evacuated after a suspicious package was reportedly found at the Coast Guard building in downtown Miami.

According to Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll it began around 2:30 p.m. when the package was either dropped off or delivered to the building at 909 Brickell Plaza. Security raised a red flag after it was scanned and the Miami Police Department's Bomb Squad was notified. About 700 people were evacuated from several buildings in the area as a precaution, including Mary Brickell Village.

Several hours later the bomb squad used a robot to detonate the package in question, avoiding any potential disaster. They're trying to find out what the contents of the package were. They used bomb sniffing dogs to make sure no threats inside the office building remain. Most workers in the building have since left home.

As another precaution Metromover service in the area was temporarily shut down as was Southeast 1st Avenue between 8th and 10th Streets. Miami-Dade Transit officials established a shuttle loop to move passengers between the stations during that time.

White Powder Sparks Census Worker Scare in Maryland  (NBC News, 3/23/2010)

Essex, MD--A warning if you're having a cuppa joe when you fill out your census form: Be careful not to get any creamer in the envelope.

A census data processing center in Essex, Md., was quarantined Tuesday when a worker found an envelope with white powder in it.

About 520 employees were moved elsewhere in the building while the substance was investigated. The facility was never shut down or evacuated.

The white powder turned out to be coffee creamer.

There was also a coffee stain on the form.

Missouri Man Pleads Guilty To Sending Anthrax Death Threat to Judge  (Bio Prep Watch, 3/23/2010)

A St. Genevieve, Missouri, man has pleaded guilty to sending a letter to a U.S. Senior Judge of the Eighth Circuit of Appeals containing white powder and a threatening letter.

Jeffrey Phillips was sentenced eight years in federal prison for threatening to kill U.S. Senior Judge C. Arlen Beam in a threatening letter sent to Beam's office at the federal courthouse in Lincoln, Missouri on July 13. The letter threatened to kill beam and said that enclosed white powder was anthrax. A subsequent investigation revealed that the powder was not anthrax.

Phillips' name and return address were on the letter and an investigation by the FBI determined that he was the source of the letter. Phillips, at the time, was a convicted sex offender being held at the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center.

Investigators learned during an interview that Phillips was angry with Beam over how cases involving some of Phillips' friends and associates were handled by Beam.

Authorities also believe, based on other correspondence, that Phillips' motivation for threatening Beam was to be moved from the Missouri prison system to a federal facility.

Sentencing for Phillips took place on Monday. He was returned to custody in Missouri for further proceedings, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The eight year federal sentence will follow the completion of his state sentence currently being served in Missouri.

Suspicious Powder Training Exercise Tests Response System in Wyoming  (Casper Star-Tribune, 3/24/2010)

CASPER, WY — Students and visitors inundate the Casper College nurses station during a jazz festival. They are nauseous and trembling. Some are vomiting.

Within an hour, the swamped nurses call for help from firefighters and paramedics. When they arrive, emergency responders begin to receive reports that a white powder has been found inside the cafeteria.

That scenario played out Tuesday during a tabletop exercise inside the student center. Teams from Natrona and Converse counties, along with the college, discussed how they would respond to suspicious powder found during a major campus event.

Organizers said the exercise will help authorities, school officials and others improve their responses to a real event.

“We hope to work the bugs out of the system,” said Casper-Natrona County Health Department special-operations manager Audrey Gray, who ran the exercise.

In the scenario, the powder turned out to be caffeine. Dozens of people became ill, and emergency responders had to contend with a busload of Glenrock and Douglas students who became sick on the ride home. Hundreds of concerned people also inundated hospitals in Casper and Douglas, worried they’d also been exposed to the powder.

In the exercise, participants quickly established a command center and locked down the school to prevent the spread of illness. They planned to inform the community through local media outlets and discussed the logistics of transporting a large group of patients to area hospitals.

“Fifteen patients are going to start overwhelming our medical system in the community,” Casper Fire-EMS Division Chief Mark Harshman said as the exercise unfolded.

Afterward, participants looked for holes in their response. They overlooked establishing an area command that could coordinate the responses between Natrona and Converse counties. They also forgot to create a system for dealing with panicked parents who would come to the school in search of their children.

Campus security director Lance Jones said the exercise demonstrated the benefit of contingency planning with groups that come to the college.

“The discussions that have been generated by this have raised some ideas for future discussion points, especially with outside agencies,” he said.

Wyoming emergency responders have had to contend with suspicious powders before. In 2008, security officers intercepted a letter with an unidentified powder addressed to Gov. Dave Freudenthal. Authorities later determined the powder was corn starch.

Last year, the Star-Tribune was temporarily evacuated when a white powder — later identified as cocaine — was found inside a letter sent to the newspaper.

Lessons learned from tabletop exercises have proved valuable during such events, Gray said.

“It has helped us immensely to respond to suspicious powder,” she said. “It really opens your eyes to things that may happen in the heat of the moment.”

Anthrax Threat Letter Earns a Prison Sentence for Inmate  (Omaha World Herald, 3/23/2010)

A federal judge sentenced a Missouri inmate to eight years in federal prison after he sent a threatening letter containing white powder to an appellate judge in Lincoln.

The letter was opened in July 2009 by a staff member at the office of Senior Judge C. Arlen Beam of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In it, the inmate wrote, “your dead,” according to the indictment against inmate Jeffrey Phillips.

“Enjoy your anthrax,” the letter said. The powder was eventually deemed nontoxic.

Authorities traced the letter to Phillips when they discovered that the inmate had placed his name and return address on the envelope then a county jail. He confessed during a subsequent interview with the FBI and eventually pleaded guilty.

Phillips had never met Beam, nor had he been involved in a case decided by the judge. He told authorities he was angry because he disagreed with how the judge had ruled on a case involving some of Phillips’ friends.

Authorities think Phillips sent the letter because he wanted to be removed from the Missouri prison system and moved to a federal prison, court documents say.

Phillips, whom authorities listed as 37 years old, will get his wish, but not until he’s completed any sentence issued by the State of Missouri.

Estonian Post Goes Digital  (Eesti Post, 3/21/2010)

Estonia Post (Eesti Post), is to begin offering a document digitization service. According to Estonia Post, the digitalization process is one of the prerequisites in order to switch to paperless document management. Incoming paper or electronic documents, including invoices, are automatically converted into electronic data.

"The digitalization of documents focuses on scanning and detection of invoices, but can also process other types of documents such as contracts, memos, and other such forms. I am pleased to note that in the public sector our first partner is Kuressaare City Government," commented Head of Info Logistics Division Toomas Türk.

Incoming paper and electronic PDF invoices are processed with special software and digitalized according to customer´s preference such as CSV, XML, etc. The digitized invoice can then be sent over the web to a customer´s own document management system or accounting software.

Estonia Post also provides archiving services of paper and electronic documents.

Scottish Woman Tormented by Convicted Stalker Sending Threat Letters From Prison  (Scotsman, 3/21/2010)

Scotland--A STALKER used a legal loophole to bombard his victim with more than 100 "pornographic, abusive and threatening" letters sent from his prison cell.

The woman received the hate-mail from the man – who had terrorised her for more than 20 years – despite complaining to the governor of Saughton prison and the Scottish Prison Service.

He wrote "legal correspondence" on the envelopes to make sure they were not intercepted by staff and filled them with diatribes against the woman, whose life he had already turned into a living hell.

In two decades of harassment he had once marched her from hospital at gunpoint and held her hostage for nine hours, threatened her with a knife and performed sex acts in front of her. He also smashed her right knee by kicking her with steel toe-caps and hitting her with a metal bar.

She now has to walk with a crutch.

His stalking was only interrupted by spells in prison. At one point he sent letters to her from Wandsworth jail in London, but they ceased after she contacted the prison. However, when he was transferred to Edinburgh's Saughton jail in December 2008 the letters began again, marked as legal correspondence.

The Scottish Parliament justice committee will hear evidence next week as it discusses a new stalking law. The woman wishes to remain anonymous, but other witnesses at the committee are expected to cite her torment.

Stalking is currently prosecuted through breach of the peace laws, but campaigners want a new specific offence in Scotland which will make it easier to control and prosecute stalkers, and offer greater protection to victims. Similar laws already exist in England and Wales, the US and Australia.

The 47-year-old woman said: "The letters were very explicit, saying he was in his cell on his own and what he was doing, and what he was going to do to me when he got out.

"I wrote to the governor at Saughton and was told to contact (SPS headquarters] Calton House. But it didn't work because they had 'legal' on them, because they thought they were for his lawyers.

"Every couple of days I would get a letter. They said they must have been typed in the prison's education centre, but they didn't ban him from the centre; apparently that would be a breach of his human rights.

"The letters were disgusting, threatening and rude. And he said he would come for me when he got out."

His letters stopped in October after his release. The woman has moved house and she has had no contact since.

Her ordeal began when she was in her early twenties and the boy, then at school, turned up at her door. He visited regularly, but events took a sinister turn when she refused his marriage proposal.

"He started gluing razor blades to the door handle, and because they were grey and so was the handle I couldn't see them and cut myself," she said.

In 1994 she was in hospital for an ankle operation when he turned up with a gun.

"He told me to discharge myself or he would shoot everyone in the ward," she said.

They went back to her flat where he bizarrely called the police even though he had no intention of letting her go. A nine-hour standoff then ensued as police tried to talk him out of the flat. Eventually he let her go.

For the next three years she did not see him, but she saw signs he was still stalking her, such as bricks thrown through her windows and syringes pushed through her letterbox.

In 1997 he turned up at her home again, this time armed with a knife, and held her hostage for a further eight hours.

On another occasion he ran up behind her, knocked her to the ground and then repeatedly kicked her and hit her right kneecap with a metal bar.

Bill Aitken, Tory justice spokesman and convener of the Scottish Parliament justice committee, said the letters should have been stopped by Saughton prison.

"It is not acceptable. This has been a failure of the system that should not be permitted," he said. "Stalking can be a terrifying experience. I have a great deal of sympathy for victims and am minded to see the law changed."

A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: "We treat complaints on unwanted mail very seriously and take steps to stop it leaving prison.

"However, prisoners will look to circumvent the rules, for example by getting other people to post mail for them. Where we are made aware of this we can discipline them.

"Finally, recipients should consider whether the contents of mail is abusive or threatening and constitutes an offence. If so, the police should be informed."

Administration Rejects Call To Further Probe Amerithrax  (Frederick News Post, 3/20/2010)

President Barack Obama's administration is threatening to veto Congress' intelligence spending bill for this fiscal year, and further investigation of the anthrax mailings could be halted as a result.

The administration is citing U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett's amendment to investigate the FBI's handling of the 2001 anthrax case as one of many concerns with the bills. Bartlett is a Republican from Frederick who represents Western Maryland.

The House of Representatives adopted the anthrax amendment last month, which was proposed by Bartlett and Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., who represents the district from which the anthrax letters were mailed.

The amendment asks the intelligence community's inspector general to look into whether intelligence suggesting foreign influence in the anthrax attacks was overlooked.

The Senate never adopted the amendment, and the investigation would not take place unless the Senate agrees to it during a conference committee to sort out the differences in the two bills.

But negotiations haven't gone that far yet. On March 15, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag sent a letter to four congressional leaders, saying their versions of the budget bill "still contain several provisions of serious concern to the intelligence community."

Orszag said three of the issues -- the anthrax investigation was not one of them -- are so serious they would advise Obama to veto the entire bill if Congress does not fix them.

The concerns are outlined in a seven-page document, and the anthrax amendment is ninth on the list of issues. Orszag said an investigation would be "duplicative, and the Administration is greatly concerned about the appearance and precedent involved when Congress commissions an agency Inspector General to replicate a criminal investigation."

The letter goes on to say "the FBI is confident that the attacks were planned and committed by Dr. Bruce Ivins, acting alone. The commencement of a fresh investigation would undermine public confidence in the criminal investigation and unfairly cast doubt on its conclusions."

Holt disagrees, and he wrote a letter to Orszag on Thursday to express his disappointment.

"Many critical questions in this case remain unanswered, and there are many reasons why there is not, nor ever has been, public confidence in the investigation or the FBI's conclusions, precisely because it was botched at multiple points over more than eight years," Holt wrote. "Indeed, opposing an independent examination of any aspect of the investigation will only fuel the public's belief that the FBI's case could not hold up in court, and that in fact the real killer may still be at large.

"I am not surprised at the FBI's opposition to (the amendment), given the fact that they have stonewalled every House and Senate member who has sought information on (the anthrax) investigation over last decade," Holt wrote. "What surprises me is that an administration that has pledged to be transparent and accountable would seek to block any review of the investigation in this matter."

FBI records, released through the Freedom of Information Act, show that employees at Fort Detrick's U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases mention Iraq as possibly having access to the strain of anthrax used in the attacks. They also discuss foreign scientists visiting the labs, and Ivins said a number of times he thought the strain could have ended up in Britain and other countries.

Dean Boyd, spokesman for the Department of Justice, said he could not comment on the dispute over the intelligence spending bill.

"Our findings are public," he said of the FBI's anthrax investigation. "We are happy to cooperate with anyone."

Lisa Wright, Bartlett's spokeswoman, said the focus of Congress' dispute with the administration deals with sharing covert intelligence with lawmakers. It is too early to say how big an issue the anthrax amendment will prove, she said.

Orszag's letter mentions that issue first. Previously, only a select "Gang of 8" congressmen were privy to certain information, such as details of covert intelligence activities, but some provisions in the bills would require the president to brief a larger pool of lawmakers. Orszag said the bills would throw off the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of government.

A second issue is that the bills give the Government Accountability Office authority to investigate the intelligence community. Orszag said the intelligence community is legally exempt from GAO oversight for good reasons.

Orszag's letter also argues against budget cuts that would compromise several activities already in place.

Accused Toronto Man Testifies He Sent Letter Bombs To Scare, Not Kill  (Toronto Star, 3/22/2010)

Toronto, ON, Canada--Adel Arnaout admits he sent tainted water and homemade letter bombs to various people but told a Toronto courtroom Monday he did not intend to kill anyone.

“Just scare, at most, get a nail in his hand,” Arnaout, 39, testified as to his reasons for taking the TTC on Aug. 11, 2007 to drop off his homemade letter bomb at the Scarborough house of his one-time roommate, Abdelmagid Radi. The bomb shattered a glass coffee table and left Radi with cuts to his arms and feet.

Arnaout is charged with 11 counts of attempt murder and five offences relating to explosive devices and chemically spiked water that were sent to a variety of targets, including Radi, two talent agencies, a bank, a former defence lawyer and a Toronto judge.

“Did you hate this man?” asked defence lawyer Richard Stern.

“No,” he replied. Arnaout said he “chose” Radi because he lived alone and was “anti-social.” He also sent letter bombs in 2007 to a Guelph handyman and to his one-time lawyer to “confuse the police,” adding he intentionally set a “faulty igniter” on the explosive devices. Neither recipient was injured.

The Lebanese-born man said he was motivated overall by a combination of frustration and revenge and wanted to “make the cops go crazy,” since the police in Guelph, where he lived for a while, and in Toronto had been unresponsive to his complaints since coming to Canada in 2001.

“Were you trying, and just not very good, at killing anybody?” Stern asked.

“No,” Arnaout said.

An exhibit at this trial is a typewriter ribbon found in Arnaout’s apartment which contained a rant against the police and reference to himself as a “vendetta bomber.”

Arnaout spent Monday describing his life as one filled with grievances, run-ins with employers, banks and roommates, as well as a series of rejections and disappointments which left him discouraged and angry.

Before his high-profile arrest in 2007, Arnaout was spending “10 hours a day” on the Internet compiling lists because “I had nothing to do.”

One list had the names and work addresses of hundreds of people including former chief justice Roy McMurtry and Toronto Mayor David Miller, whom Arnaout acknowledged were potential targets for letter bombs.

His testimony Monday was like listening to a chemistry class as he described how he used a hypodermic needle to spike bottled water with DMSO, (dimethyl sufoxide), which he had at one time used as a linament to ease pain from injuries he sustained in a series of car accidents.

In 2004, he sent the tampered bottles to a talent agency “just to scare them” because “they didn’t do their job” and promote him after he paid them $1,500. He also sent the tainted water to the CIBC and to a Toronto judge who gave Arnaout a conditional discharge after he pleaded guilty to harassing the talent agency owner.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Todd Ducharme, who is hearing the case without a jury, asked counsel at the end of the day that if he doesn’t find Arnaout guilty of attempt murder what other offences might support a conviction.

Toronto Letter-Bomber Says He Was Getting Revenge  (The Standard, 3/22)

An aspiring actor-model testified Monday that he only meant to scare -- not kill -- a host of intended targets such as his lawyer, a judge and two modeling agency owners by sending letter bombs and spiked water bottles.

Testifying in his own defence, Adel Arnaout, 39, said he also wanted revenge against the Toronto Police.

"I wanted to waste their time and money the way they wasted mine," said Arnaout, adding the officers never investigated his myriad complaints against people he believed had ripped him off.

Arnaout, accused of targeting three victims with letter bombs and many others with toxic water bottles sent as promotional gifts, was arrested in August 2007 in Toronto.

He pleaded not guilty to 16 charges, including 11 counts of attempted murder or intending to cause explosions.

Arnaout described delivering two of the three bombs by taking Toronto public transit, and mailing the third. He also explained how he contaminated the water bottles using hypodermic needles from a drugstore.

"Are you just that bad at trying to kill people?" asked his lawyer Richard Stern.

"No, I was just trying to get even," Arnaout told Judge Todd Ducharme in the judge-only trial.

Arnaout, a Lebanese native who received his bachelor of science in California, worked as an Arabic-English court interpreter near St. Louis before immigrating to Canada in 2001.

Arnaout admitted making, testing and delivering his bombs, but insisted he had no intention of killing anyone, just "scaring the shit out of them."

Police closed three major arteries leading into the city while they carted away three bombs allegedly found in the rented car he was driving.

Arnaout was busted at an East York gas station near the Ontario Science Centre, accused of delivering explosive devices to three targets -- two in Toronto for his then-criminal lawyer Ter rence Reiber and his former roommate Abdel Magid Radi, and one in Guelph to contractor John Becker.

Years ago, Arnaout signed up at two Toronto modeling agencies, paying $1,500 at one for promotional photos, but received minimal work in 2002-03.

Arnaout pestered one agency with phone calls and threatening faxes.

Arnaout pleaded guilty to criminally harassing the agency in 2003 and received a conditional discharge by Judge Bernard Kelly.

The judge was later targeted with a case of "tampered" water bottles which arrived at his Old City Hall courthouse, court heard.

Both modeling agencies that signed Arnaout as a client received cases of bottled water that were laced with an industrial solvent.

Crown attorney James Dunda alleged that Arnaout sent a letter-bomb device to Radi, who opened his package on Aug. 11, 2007. It exploded and Radi "was injured, but not severely," Dunda said.

Eight days later, Arnaout's lawyer received a letter bomb, Dunda said. Reiber began opening the package until he smelled something suspicious. He then phoned police, who discovered it was an explosive device, Dunda said.

The trial continues Tuesday.

Animal Rights Activists Admit Targeting UCLA Researchers and Juice Company Executives  (LA Times, 3/19/2010)

Los Angeles, CA--One animal rights activist pleaded guilty and another pleaded no contest this week to charges related to protests held against UCLA researchers and juice company executives, prosecutors said Friday.

Kevin Richard Olliff, 22, pleaded no contest Friday to felony stalking and conspiracy charges, a day after Linda Faith Greene, 62, pleaded guilty to similar charges. Both are affiliated with the Animal Liberation Front, an underground network of activists that has claimed responsibility for sabotaging animal research labs, setting fires, flooding properties and making death threats against researchers.

Last year, Los Angeles County grand jurors indicted Olliff and Greene on charges that they had harassed UCLA scientists who use animals in their research and held threatening protests near the homes of executives of the POM Wonderful juice company.

Olliff and Greene were among five activists named in a 2008 injunction that barred contact between animal rights activists and UCLA researchers.

As part of a negotiated settlement, prosecutors said Olliff signed a plea agreement saying “I admit that I am an animal rights activist who engaged in demonstrations targeting specific professors, researchers and business people at the personal residences and at their workplace, including the UCLA campus."

Olliff faces up to three years in state prison, and is scheduled to be sentenced in May.

Greene signed a plea agreement acknowledging she worked for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office website and had posted “specific and personal identifying information about persons engaged in lawful scientific research involving animals.”

Greene’s settlement requires five years of strict probation, during which she cannot belong to animal rights organizations and must stay away from victims’ homes and workplaces and UC property. She is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

UCLA officials welcomed the news.

"While we respect the rights of those who take a different view of animal research, we are committed to protecting our researchers from harassment and providing an environment where they can continue their work toward cures and a greater understanding of the human body," Chancellor Gene Block said in a written statement.

Miami Street Closed After Suspicious Envelope Containing Powder Triggers Scare  (CBS4 News, 3/20/2010)

Miami, FL-- A white powder scare that evacuated a building and shut down a street in South Beach is over, and both have since reopened Friday night.

Hazmat crews descended on a Miami Beach building Friday afternoon investigating a suspicious envelope filled with white powder inside a building at 1691 Michigan Ave. But by 8 p.m. officials determined the powder was not a threat and allowed citizens back into the building.

The scare left many who work in nearby buildings frustrated because officials asked them to stay inside their offices.

Chris McKeon, a realtor, said he could watch the action from the 11th floor building directly across the street from the incident.

"I was told it was anthrax," McKeon told CBS4.com. "I'd rather be inconvenienced than dead."

Officials however did not confirm what the white powder was. McKeon said he saw four men enter the building wearing white hazardous material suits.

Inside his office at Red Pig Realty, realtors spent their Friday evening tackling work and talking with co-workers, McKeon said.

Police sent the powder to a laboratory to be analyzed.

FBI Warning: Al-Qaeda Sees Mexico Border As Prime Spot For Transporting Anthrax  (Bio Prep Watch, 3/19/2010)

Congress has been warned by FBI Director Robert Mueller this week that al-Qaeda has ongoing efforts to acquire weapons of mass attack for the purpose of attacking the United States.

"Al-Qaida remains committed to its goal of conducting attacks inside the United States,” Mueller told a House appropriations subcommittee, Newsmax.com reports. “Further, al Qaeda’s continued efforts to access chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material pose a serious threat to the United States.”

Mueller added that Al-Qaeda, to accomplish its goals of conducting new attacks, “seeks to infiltrate overseas operatives who have no known nexus to terrorism into the United States using both legal and illegal methods of entry.”

Sheikh Abdullah al-Nasifi, a known al-Qaeda recruiter in Kuwait, told al Jazeera television in February that the ideal infiltration point for terrorists seeking to attack America is Mexico's border.

“Four pounds of anthrax – in a suitcase this big – carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S., are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour if it is properly spread in population centers there,” al-Nasifi told al Jazeera.

"There is no need for airplanes, conspiracies, timings and so on. One person, with the courage to carry four pounds of anthrax, will go to the White House lawn, and will spread this 'confetti' all over them, and then will do these cries of joy. It will turn into a real 'celebration,' al-Nasifi said. "9/11 will be small change in comparison. Am I right?"

Mueller reminded lawmakers that a 2008 National Intelligence Estimate estimated that a terrorist WMD attack remains a top priority of terrorists and noted that a December Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism report warned that “the risks are growing faster than our multilayered defenses” to prevent such an attack," and that “it was more likely than not that terrorists would attack a major city somewhere in the world with a weapon of mass destruction by 2013.”

Contract Mail Carrier Arrested in Florida For Stealing Checks From Mail  (Washington Count News, 3/19/2010)

Bay County, FL--Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen announced the arrest of a Southport woman yesterday on charges of Forgery and Grand Theft.

In February 2010, two reports were received by the Bay County Sheriff's Office in reference to the theft of State of Florida checks from the US mail. Both of the checks were later cashed at a local convenience store and false information was provided by the person cashing the checks.

Working with the United States Postal Inspector, and the United States Postal Service's Office of the Inspector General, investigators were able to develop Jamie Black, a contract mail carrier working in the Bayou George area, as a suspect. Black was the carrier on a route where numerous complaints of missing and opened mail had been received.

Black was taken into custody yesterday afternoon, and during questioning, admitted to taking mail from various customers in the Bayou George area. Black also admitted to stealing, and cashing both of the state checks reported stolen to the Sheriff's Office.

Jamie Diane Black, DOB 08-11-81, of 1402 2nd St., Southport, was subsequently charged with two counts of Grand Theft, and two counts of Uttering A Forged Instrument in reference to the checks.

As a result of the above investigation, information was developed on a second carrier, Kimberly Mutter, in reference to the theft of mail. Mutter is also a contract carrier, who delivers express mail out of the Bay County Processing and Distribution Center.

During interviews conducted with Mutter, she also confessed to stealing mail from her route. The investigation into this matter continues, and more charges are expected.

Postal Worker in Texas Exposed to Suspicious Powder  (Odessa American, 3/19/2010)

MIDLAND, TX-- The powder that caused a scare in Midland on Wednesday has been further identified.

Midland Fire Department said in a news release that its hazardous materials technicians determined the chemical in the powder was monoammonium phosphate, a compound commonly used in portable fire extinguishers.

Wednesday a preliminary analysis had identified the compound as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) disodium salt, a mild irritant, but a lab analysis was able to more specifically identify the chemical compound, the release said.

On Wednesday a postal worker who came in contact with the substance near the 1000 block of Weatherford Street was transported to the hospital with respiratory problems and released later that day.

The Midland Fire Department responded and discovered the powder on cars, mailboxes and in the street. Residents were advised to stay inside while it was cleaned.

U.S. Postal officials said they will remove any residual chemical inside the mail boxes.

ATF Offers Reward For Texas Bomb Info  (Kilgore News Herald, 3/19/2010)

Kilgore, TX--Unlit Molotov cocktails dropped into U.S. Postal Service boxes in Kilgore and several other East Texas communities last week are under investigation.

Authorities are looking for a suspect who put homemade incendiary devices crafted from beer bottles, black paper, electrical tape and a wick into a collection box at the Kilgore post office, as well as boxes in Henderson, Tyler and other undisclosed locations.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives are offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible

The activities are being investigated as possible violations of Title 18, USC, Section 1705, De- struction of Letter Boxes or Mail. Each act may be punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine.

“The safety and security of the Postal Service, the mail, postal employees and our customers are of paramount importance,” said Fort Worth division inspector in charge Randall C. Till, adding that postal inspectors will aggressively investigate the person or persons responsible for these acts and will advocate for the strongest possible prosecution.

Amanda McMurrey, a public information officer for the Postal Inspection Service, said law enforcement agencies are taking the mailbox bombs seriously.

“Obviously, this is something that is taking up a good amount of time and resources … it’s pretty important to the Postal Inspection Service,” said McMurrey.

“If there was a danger to the community, obviously we would let them know. At this point we’re not considering these necessarily a danger to the community. However, they are problematic, and cause a serious response from all levels of responders. Obviously, we’d like to get hold of this person. We’d like to identify this person and put an end to their activity,” she said.

“Mailboxes shouldn’t be used for anything other than what they’re intended for,” she said, adding that mailboxes face abuse at the hands of pranksters and criminals.

“You’d be surprised at the amount of items that we find in collections boxes – cats stuffed in mailboxes – the carrier’s not very happy when they open the box and this cat launches itself at them. We’ve found narcotics, money, dead animals, snakes. Evidence. Guns,” McMurrey said.

“It’s a violation to use a mailbox for anything other than what it was intended for, the receipt and pick-up of U.S. Mail,” she said.

Anyone with information regarding those responsible for these acts is asked not to take action on their own but to call postal inspectors at 817-359-2719.

Another Scare Arrives In Baltimore Courthouse Mail  (Baltimore Sun, 3/18/2010)

Baltimore, MD--For the fifth time in six days, a package containing a bullet, harmless white powder and a threatening letter was found in the Baltimore Circuit Courthouse, this time in a judge's chambers.

An employee found the package Wednesday morning on the second floor of the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse and notified the sheriff's office, which called 911 about 9:30 a.m.

Firefighters and a hazardous-materials team responded, cordoning off the front of the building while onlookers milled outside. The powder tested negative for biological materials, said Capt. Roman L. Clark, a Fire Department spokesman.

The package, which was not addressed to a particular judge, is "now part of evidence," he said.

A similar package led to the evacuation Monday of City Hall, and four other threatening letters have arrived at the courthouse since Friday. All were addressed to Circuit Court judges, including Administrative Judge Marcella M. Holland.

In an internal memo, sent to courthouse personnel Wednesday and obtained by The Baltimore Sun, Holland assured staff that they were not in danger and explained the decision to avoid evacuation.

"If there was a hint of danger, our protocols would have been put in place and you would have been evacuated," she wrote. "This is, as you know, a very busy court with various agencies and entities located in our buildings. If we were to advise you and evacuate with every threat or incident that might occur, this Court would grind to a halt. Rest assured that the leadership of this Court is doing everything necessary to address all real, not perceived or rumored threats.

"We ask that you ignore rumors and speculation about these incidents and resist the urge to worry whenever you see a fire truck or Hazmat truck pull in front of our courthouses, as is the case today."

Attorneys, defendants and office workers stood outside the courthouse, speculating on what was going on. Some had heard that there had been a bomb threat, while others heard that a package was involved.

Ronald Chenworth showed up for his motor vehicle case about 9:30 a.m. and was turned away, he said. He communicated with his lawyer, who was inside the building, via cell phone. When asked what he thought about the incident, he grumbled, "I think it makes me late."

California UPS Building Evacuated After Elderly Woman Left Threatening Notes  (San Bernardino Sun, 3/15/2010)

Victorville, CA--A Victorville UPS building was evacuated Monday after two suspicious packages was discovered.

San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies from the Victorville station were called shortly before 6 p.m. to the building on Jasmine Avenue to investigate the packages, which included "rambling writings that implied threats," said Sgt. Chris Elvert.

The Bomb Squad was also called to the scene.

Officials discovered that the packages, which were not explosives, were left by a "disgruntled old lady," Elvert said.

Responsibility Unclear On Mail Security  (Baltimore Sun, 3/17/2010)

Baltimore, MD--The U.S. Postal Service, which is charged with screening mail for safety, failed to detect bullets that were sent with threatening letters to at least two Baltimore judges in the past week.

And it's unclear if it could. There appears to be no technology in place to identify the ammunition sent in the mail.

The oversight raises questions about mail security and who is responsible for ensuring recipients' safety in the wake of five suspicious mailings, some with a powdery substance inside, that were delivered to City Hall and Baltimore Circuit Court on Friday and Monday. The courts say it's not their job to screen packages, and the postal system says it can do only so much.

A joint investigation into the letters, sent to four judges and City Hall, has been launched by Baltimore police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

"Even though the powder contained in the mailings is not harmful, the threatening mailings not only constitute a federal crime, but they caused alarm to victims and institutions," said U.S. Postal Inspector JerVay Rodgers, who works in the Washington division. She said postal inspectors will aggressively investigate "anyone who mails these types of threats, real or hoax."

But there's little that can be done if a package isn't initially identified as suspicious, she acknowledged.

The Postal Service screening system consists mainly of employee judgment. They ask a series of familiar questions at the service counter for mailings weighing 13 ounces or more - anything hazardous, breakable or perishable? - and expect truthful answers. And they report suspicious packages for inspection or run them through a biohazard detection system.

The system was set up in more than 270 processing and distribution centers, including Baltimore's, after the 2001 anthrax attacks, in which letters containing the deadly spores killed five people and sickened 17 others.

But so far, the system - used more than 8 million times nationwide since 2003 - has never alerted authorities to a single piece of suspect mail, Rodgers said.

Rodgers also said that the postal system is not responsible for courthouse safety through special screening. "That's on their side of the house."

Judiciary spokeswoman Angelita Plemmer declined to provide details on the courts' security procedures.

"The court is not responsible for screening the mail," she said, directing security questions to the Postal Service. "We are certainly aware of the public safety issues, and we're certainly doing everything in our power to ensure the protection of the public and our employees."

On Friday, Circuit Judge Wanda K. Heard sent an e-mail to dozens of colleagues, later obtained by The Baltimore Sun, saying her law clerk had opened a priority-mail envelope "sent to me with a bullet inside and a threatening note." She added that the mayor had received a similar note.

"It should have never reached my law clerk or any member of my staff, for that matter!!! There is a breakdown in the system. The mail should have been scanned. Obviously, it wasn't," Heard wrote. "Anything could have been inside!! Anything!"

Minutes later, Administrative Judge Marcella Holland replied that the incident had already been reported.

"The USPS is investigating because its employees did not follow procedure. We will await their report and response," Holland wrote.

On Monday, she too received a threatening letter, as did two other judges and someone at City Hall. Rodgers denied that it was as a result of postal employees not following procedures, however.

Police will not say to whom the City Hall letter was addressed, and city officials declined to comment. Officials evacuated the building for more than 40 minutes Monday after a clerk discovered a letter with white powder inside.

Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock also received a letter Monday containing a bullet and white powder, she said. Police sent a hazardous-materials team to investigate, but the courthouse wasn't evacuated.

Prosecutors grumbled among themselves Tuesday about the disparity in the way the matters were handled at the courthouse and City Hall.

"There is some degree of surprise at the difference," said Margaret T. Burns, spokeswoman for the state's attorney's office. She said her office, housed within the courthouse, was not evacuated or told of a security threat.

"The only way we knew that this was going on was as a result of reading it in the media," Burns said.

Plemmer, the judiciary spokeswoman, said the courts notified law enforcement officials as soon as the letters were received, and followed their protocols, which didn't call for evacuation. The judiciary also warned leaders of the state's circuit and district courts, as well as the chief judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Anthrax Scare At Florida Print Shop  (News Sun, 3/16/2010)

Sebring, FL--Police and fire units were dispatched to a printing business in Sebring, Florida on Monday following the discovery of an unknown suspicious white substance in an envelope.

Workers at The print Shop in Sebring discover a small plastic bag that had been wrapped in notebook paper in the course of opening the morning mail. They then contacted authorities.

The envelope containing the powder was marked "photos, do not bend," Sebring Fire Chief Brad Batz told NewsSun.com.

"The substance was contained, and the workers did not breach the plastic bag while opening. Only one person touched the envelope," Batz told NewsSun. "The substance did not come out of the plastic package. We are unsure if there is any writing on the notebook paper. So far there are no signs that any substance was on the paper or outside the small plastic bag."

Batz said that the envelope containing the powder, which contained The Print Shop's address

as the return address, was a regular white No. 10 business envelope.

Workers at The Print Shop, who refused emergency medical services treatment, showed no symptoms of infection.

The Print Shop was investigated by Sebring's hazmat team. The envelope and the bag containing the powder were handed over to detectives with the Sebring Police Department. The powder will be forwarded to a Tampa lab for testing.

"Refined biological weapons are difficult to make, and hard to get. But we are handling this as hazardous until we determine the level of threat," Batz said.

Baltimore Authorities Investigate Threatening Letters Sent To City Hall And Judges  (Baltimore Sun, 3/15/2010)

Baltimore, MD--Police continue to investigate several threatening letters — some containing bullets or white powder — that arrived at City Hall and the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. courthouse Monday and Friday, authorities said.

City Hall was evacuated for about 40 minutes today after a mail clerk opened a letter that contained a white powder that police later determined to be harmless, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. Four Circuit Court judges also received threatening letters, at least two containing bullets, according to authorities. One judge said she received a letter with white powder, along with the bullet.

"We're actively trying to search the buildings to see if there are additional envelopes," Guglielmi said, adding that U.S. postal inspectors and city police are investigating.

Judges Wanda K. Heard and Administrative Judge Marcella M. Holland were among those who received the letters, along with Judge M. Brooke Murdock, who heads the criminal division. Her secretary, Sharon George, opened the note Monday, she said.

"She was very calm, she's great under pressure," Murdock said of her secretary. "She just said to me, 'Judge, I'm not putting my hand in there.' "

Murdock alerted police, who immediately sent a hazardous materials team to the courthouse to check it out. Officers determined that the powder was likely talcum, she said.

"Judges on the Baltimore City Circuit Court have their lives threatened all the time," Murdock said. But "not quite like this," she added. "This is pretty dramatic."

Judges Heard and Holland referred questions to Plemmer, but they discussed the matter in an e-mail exchange Friday, according to messages obtained by The Baltimore Sun.

In the first message, Heard complained of a security breakdown within the courthouse.

"The mail should have been scanned. Obviously, it wasn't," she wrote, describing how her law clerk found a bullet and a "threatening note" warning her about things she "might touch or even eat." Heard also wrote that the mayor had received a similar letter Friday. She copied the e-mail message to her colleagues, because "They should all know to be careful!!" she wrote in the note.

Holland replied minutes later, saying she had already been notified by the Baltimore City Sheriff's office, who had alerted postal service investigators and city police.

"There was no breakdown on the part of our court employees," Holland wrote.

Chief Deputy Henry Martin of the Baltimore Sheriff's Office said his department dealt with Heard's letter on Friday, notifying city police and the U.S. Postal Service.

"We take all threats seriously," he said.

Plemmer said in an e-mail to The Baltimore Sun that there was an anthrax scare at the courthouse several years ago, when "several judges received a powdery white substance in an envelope that was mailed to them." It too turned out to be something other than anthrax.

The City Hall package was discovered about noon, and the clerk notified police on duty there, who called 911, said Fire Department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright.

A hazardous materials team was dispatched to the scene, and the building was evacuated within about 10 minutes, according to Cartwright. He said he did not know whether Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake was in the building at the time. The package was found to be harmless and employees returned to work about 12:40 p.m., Cartwright said.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said there were no reports of injuries.

Taliban Says It's Lacing Bombs With Anthrax (BioPrep Watch, 3/15/2010)

Taliban commanders have claimed that homemade bombs in Afghanistan are now being loaded with anthrax, bringing a new threat to troops working in the region.

No evidence has yet been found to prove the insurgents are employing biological weapons, though one of Britain's leading terrorism experts has warned that the technology necessary to produce the deadly disease is believed to be held by Taliban extremists linked to Al-Qaeda.

“There are certainly extreme elements within the Taliban, those loyal to Al Qaeda, who would not think twice about this method," Express.co.uk reported that Paul Wilkinson of the Centre for Terrorism Studies at St. Andrews University, said. "However, there is a wide chasm between producing anthrax and using it effectively in home-made bombs.

“Japan­ese terrorists had intended to use anthrax on the Tokyo metro in 1995. They experimented with it extensively but in the end opted for the nerve agent sarin. This shows that it is not an easy substance to control.”

A Taliban bomb maker, identified as regional commander Mullah Doud by an ITV camera crew filming a bomb-making factory on the Afghan-Pakistan border, said, “We use anthrax so when a bomb explodes it produces a toxic cloud," Express.co.uk reports.

Troops in Iraq are protected by anti-nuclear, biological and chemical warfare equipment, a luxury that is not enjoyed by those serving in Afghanistan, though access to the suits is available if deemed necessary.

Suspicious, Ticking Package Found at Pennsylvania Post Office Triggers Evacuation (ABC News, 3/14/2010)

Spring Grove, Pa. - Police closed streets and evacuated homes near a York County post office for more than two hours Saturday after the discovery of a suspicious package.

The package was missing the proper labeling, shipping information and postage and was emitting an audible "ticking" sound when employees found it in the drive-up letter box outside the Spring Grove Post Office at around 3:45 p.m., according to Southwestern Regional police.

Police and firefighters evacuated approximately 12 residences as well as a church and a VFW until a postal inspector responded and was able to render the item safe. Police said no explosive materials or related devices were found inside.

Residents were allowed to return to their homes by 6 p.m.

Police said they do not know who placed the package in the letter box or what their intentions were. Investigators believe the item was dropped in the box sometime between 8 a.m. and 3:20 p.m.

Oregon Student Must Pay $9,000 Restitution After Bomb Scare Prank  (Yamhill Valley Register, 3/13/2010)

McMinnville, OR--Yamhill County Circuit Court Judge John Collins listened as Melissa Davaz’s attorney described her in glowing terms, detailing her many accomplishments in high school and college.

Defense lawyer Elana Flynn raved about Davaz’s community involvement and academic achievement back home in Montana, and said that had carried over during her four years at Linfield College, where she was to graduate in June.

Collins told her he was impressed with her resume. However, knowing she had left suspicious packages around campus in early December, triggering a full-scale Oregon State Police Bomb Squad and local law enforcement response, he said he couldn’t help wondering, “What in the world were you thinking?”

The 22-year-old pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts of possession of a hoax destructive device and two counts of disorderly conduct, all Class A misdemeanors.

In exchange, two counts of possession of a hoax destructive device and three counts of disorderly conduct were dismissed through a plea agreement negotiated by Deputy District Attorney Michael Videtich.

Collins sentenced Davaz to three days in jail, which she has already served, plus two years probation and 240 hours of community service. He also ordered her to pay $9,026.47 in restitution to the McMinnville Fire Department, McMinnville Police Department, McMinnville Public Works Department and OSP. She put $1,000 toward the amount at the plea and sentencing hearing.

Only one of the five counts to which Davaz pleaded — a count of possession of a hoax destructive device — will remain on her permanent record if she meets terms of her probation, community service and restitution.

At the time of the incident, Davaz was just six credits short of completing a major in anthropology and minor in music. However, Flynn said she had been suspended by the school.

Linfield Dean of Students Dave Hansen attended the hearing, but declined comment on the case.

McMinnville police said Davaz had been drinking when she read a campus newspaper account of a suspicious object found on campus in late November, drawing OSP’s Bomb Squad to the scene. It turned out to be nothing more than a plastic milk jug filled with concrete.

That gave her the idea of placing wrapped, unmarked packages in prominent locations around campus, she told police. That drew far more police and media attention that she anticipated, so she decided to turn herself in.

She wrapped cardboard boxes in tape and placed them in the Oak Grove, outside the library and dining hall, at the football stadium and in other high-traffic locations. Campus Public Safety quickly discovered one of them and notified McMinnville police.

The bomb squad was called in. The McMinnville Fire Department also responded.

The campus was closed to both foot and vehicle traffic pending bomb squad examination of the packages. The college kept students and employees apprised by phone and e-mail as law enforcement personnel went about their work.

“She saw alerts on her phone, and up until that time, she did not realized how serious this had become,” Videtich said. “That’s when she decided to turn herself in.”

Davaz wrote letters of apology to the McMinnville and Linfield communities and the McMinnville Police Department. She read the letters in court.

In her letter to the McMinnville community, she apologized for the inconvenience and fear she caused.

“The act was one of pure stupidity, motivated by confusion about why garbage that had been found in a field on campus the week before was considered suspicious enough to investigate.

“I am terribly sorry for the anxiety that arose as a result of my actions. I am still baffled by what I must have been thinking on the evening that I placed the boxes around campus.”

Davaz said what she did was irrational at all levels. She said it should never have happened.

She vowed to pay every penny of her restitution and make amends to Linfield and McMinnville through a community service commitment with YCAP.

“I ask the citizens of McMinnville to accept my most humble and profound apology,” Davaz said. “Rest assured that my future conduct will never put the community in such a compromising and inconvenient position again.”

She told Collins directly she acted out of anger, confusion and malice. She said she had blinders on at the time, that the actions were out of character for her.

Flynn said she received more than 50 letters of support from friends and relatives, the most letters she’s ever gotten on behalf of a client.

“She knows she made a huge mistake,” Flynn said. “She wrote a four-page letter to (district attorney) Brad Berry.

“She has really thought about this. It’s been a sobering and humiliating experience, a huge deal for her.”

Flynn said Davaz has faced her situation and realizes what a “horrible” thing she did.

In her letter to Berry, she said she didn’t slow down long enough to think about what she was doing. Common sense didn’t kick in, she said.

How A Whistleblower Blew The Lid On Royal Mail's Managers Fiddling The Company's Performance  (Telegraph, 3/13/2010)

UK--The alleged wholesale manipulation of Royal Mail performance figures only came to light when a whistleblower contacted Postcomm, the mail regulator, with a confidential tip-off.

The scam saw Royal Mail staff hijack a supposedly independent performance assessment regime to ensure that the organisation was able to hit various first class and second class delivery targets, triggering bonuses for its executives.  The unnamed source told Postcomm that several Royal Mail staff had found a way of cheating the supposedly independent system of checking mail delivery times, which was carried out by an external market research company.

Managers at a depot in Scotland had learnt how to identify letters and parcels sent out by a panel of volunteers who sent mail to each other in the Motherwell area and kept records of how long it took for the mail to arrive.

By intercepting the "test" letters, postal workers were able to hijack the performance assessment by making sure they were prioritised and delivered bang on time, giving an artificially high figure for the number of letters and parcels arriving on time.

Crucially, the whistleblower pointed out that the rigged figures triggered bonuses for regional managers which ran into thousands of pounds.

At first, Postcomm thought the problem - brought to their attention in September 2008 - was confined to one part of the country, but when it launched its own investigation into the scam, it discovered that it was "entrenched" in postal workers up and down the country.

Similar fiddles were allegedly going on in Belfast, Carlisle, Manchester and Preston. There were also allegations of the manipulation happening in Kingston and Twickenham in south-west London as long ago as 2002.

Managers across the country appeared to notify each other on how to beat the independent audit, raising questions about the reliability of Royal Mail’s national performance figures.

As Postcomm dug deeper and deeper, it uncovered astonishing evidence of the amount of time and effort postal workers were putting into the con.

The Achilles heel of the market research carried out for Royal Mail by an external company, Research International, was that the "test" envelopes contained battery-powered microchips the size of a 50p piece, known as radio frequency identification devices, which were used by Research International to keep track of the letters and parcels.

But the microchips also made the letters easy for postal workers to identify by "systematically" feeling the envelopes. Managers would note down the name and address on the envelopes, and in some cases illegally open the mail to find addresses of other volunteer panellists.

The addresses would then be entered into computer spreadsheets, listed by postcode area. In sorting and delivery offices, panellists were known as “key customers” and given top priority to ensure their post was delivered in time, to hit the performance targets. In some cases individual pillar boxes were also earmarked to make sure they were emptied as late as possible, to ensure the panellists did not miss the last post.

In the Motherwell delivery office a notice pinned to the wall told staff to bring any mail addressed to two particular people to the attention of the delivery manager's office. One of the addressees was a panellist.

Postal workers also learnt to look out for "suspicious" mail. In some cases postmen realised they were delivering "test" mail when they delivered driving licences to people who did not have cars.

Postcomm found that Royal Mail delivery office managers were “accustomed to looking for (test mail) and showing other colleagues how to identify items of test mail”. In some cases, managers photocopied panellists’ mail and sent the copies to other managers. One manager from Scotland is even thought to have travelled to Manchester to brief his colleagues on how they could get involved in the scam.

In another case some of the panellists and Royal Mail staff were found to be discussing how the system worked - including the appearance of the test mail and how the tag felt in the envelope - in internet chatrooms on the website moneysavingexpert.com.

European law which governs Royal Mail’s work states explicitly that these panellists have to be “independent of the postal service operators”. The rules also state that “the exact location of the active panel shall remain unknown to the postal operator. If panellists become known they shall be excluded”.

Yet Royal Mail was aware of the problems, Postcomm said. On three occasions between June 2008 and April 2009 Research International told Royal Mail that some of its 22,000 supposedly anonymous panellists had reported “being challenged or queried by Royal Mail employees”.

On one of these occasions, in April last year, a panellist in Glasgow “reported being questioned by their postman as to whether they were happy with their postal service”.

Research International said Royal Mail staff identified panellists on 20 occasions in the past three years. In all, 26 spreadsheets detailing the names and addresses of panellists were created, and circulated among managers in Scotland, Belfast and Carlisle.

Royal Mail hired the City law firm Slaughter & May and the accountants Pricewaterhouse Coopers to investigate the claims, interviewing 74 people as part of its investigation.

A report published by Postcomm said the firms found that the “active identification of individuals in the west of Scotland was ‘culturally ingrained’ within the organisation".

The report added: “Some of the staff... described the circulation of spreadsheets as an ‘entrenched process’ that they had inherited from their predecessors."

Postcomm concluded that: "Both Royal Mail and Research International had been aware for a number of years that panellists’ anonymity could be compromised due to the design and addressing format used on test mail items. This was a risk Royal Mail accepted.”

This was despite a review of the quality of service measurement system conducted by the Letters business in 2008 finding "there were no issues regarding panellist anonymity”, Postcomm said. It added that identifying panellists was not a “rarity” and said it had found “serious and long term failings”. It concluded that these failings “are continuing”.

Royal Mail has now told Postcomm that it will co-ordinate the panellists centrally in future and look at ways to make test mail less conspicuous. But Postcomm could now levy a fine running into millions on Royal Mail in coming months.

‘Suspicious Device’ Is Detonated By Robot In Bishop’s Alabama Home  (Boston Globe, 3/13/2010)

Huntsville, AL--Alabama police called in a bomb squad after they discovered what they described as a “suspicious device’’ yesterday at the Huntsville home of Amy Bishop, the former Massachusetts resident accused of fatally shooting three colleagues last month at the University of Alabama.

Huntsville police Sergeant Mark Roberts said the squad determined it was not an explosive, but the law enforcement activity created a stir in the neighborhood where Bishop’s husband is living with their four children. Bishop is in jail awaiting trial on capital murder charges.

Roberts said police closed down the road and evacuated nearby houses before sending a robot inside the Bishop residence to blow up the device. Roberts would not say what the device was.

The Huntsville Times reported that it was a section of PVC pipe that police feared contained explosives.

The Globe reported last month that Bishop and her husband were questioned in an attempted mail bombing of a Harvard professor in 1993.

In that case, someone mailed two pipe bombs to the Newton home of Dr. Paul Rosenberg. Rosenberg, who had ended Bishop’s employment in his laboratory weeks earlier, was not injured because the bombs did not detonate.

No one was ever charged in the case. Since the shootings in Alabama, however, the case is getting a fresh look from federal authorities, who want to make sure the investigation was conducted properly.

Yesterday’s search of Bishop’s Huntsville home was the second since since the 45-year-old biology professor was arrested in the fatal shootings at a faculty meeting Feb. Three people were killed, and three others were wounded. The first search was the day of the shootings.

Yesterday, police seized several computers and a video camera, according to The Huntsville Times. The computers had been used by Bishop’s children for school work, her lawyer told the Times.

The police activity in Alabama came one day after authorities in Massachusetts announced that a judicial inquest is scheduled to begin next month in Quincy District Court to examine the 1986 shooting death of Bishop’s brother.

Bishop killed her 18-year-old brother, Seth, with her father’s shotgun, but the shooting was ruled an accident at the time. The inquest will seek to determine whether that ruling was the proper one.

Hazmat Team Determines Powdery Substance Sent To Boise Business Not Threat  (Idaho Statesman, 3/12/2010)

Boise, ID--Boise police and the hazardous materials team were called to a business in the 300 block of North 9th Street shortly before noon Friday to investigate a powdery substance in an envelope.

No one was evacuated during the investigation, according to a Boise police spokeswoman. The substance was determined not be a threat.

The investigation into who mailed the letter containing the suspicious powder continues. No other information is available at this time.

Terror Campaign 'Victim' Sent Hate Mail To Himself  (Yorkshire Post, 3/12/2010)

UK--A MAN who claimed he had been the victim of a terror campaign from a noisy neighbour has been fined for wasting police time after he sent hate mail to himself.

Mark Jefferson, 51, said he and 42-year-old partner Diane Stratford were being bombarded with loud music and slamming of doors from next door – making their lives a misery for six months.

They called police eight times and showed them countless vicious letters apparently sent from the neighbours threatening them.

But after the council installed recording equipment in their home in Tinshill, Leeds, officials found the music was coming from the couple's own living room.

Further investigations revealed the handwriting on the letters matched that which Jefferson used when he scrawled a list of the noise problems in a diary.

Now, the former motor engineer has been given an £80 penalty notice for wasting police time.

He said the offence was "totally out of character" – and claimed that the neighbours had quietened down because they knew recording devices had been installed.

He added: "For some reason when they installed the monitor it went dead quiet. I asked them to extend the monitoring period, but they refused.

"Sending the mail was out of character. We do not normally do things like that. We are not bad people. We have been dealt with by the police and received the penalty notice which we have paid."

Inspector Simon Jessup said: "False reports waste a significant amount of time that could be better spent by police officers and council officials in meeting the needs of people with genuine complaints.

"We hope that highlighting this case will serve as a deterrent to others who think they can get away with wasting our time."

4 Incendiary Devices Found In Eastern Texas Mail  (AP, 3/12/2010)

DALLAS — At least four incendiary devices have been found recently in mailboxes or postal processing facilities in eastern Texas, although none posed a danger to the public, authorities said.

U.S. Postal Inspector Amanda McMurrey said Friday that one of the devices was discovered Tuesday night at a processing site in Owentown, a town near Tyler 95 miles east of Dallas.

McMurrey declined to describe the device or to comment on reports of similar devices found in two nearby counties, but she said the public was never in danger.

"If there was anything that was dangerous, we would certainly warn the public or our employees," McMurrey said.

The Tyler Morning Telegraph, citing a Smith County sheriff's report, said the device found in Owentown consisted of a beer bottle filled with gasoline and topped with a wick.

Rusk County Sheriff Danny Pirtle told the newspaper that two incendiary devices were found recently in his jurisdiction. He did not immediately respond to a phone message Friday seeking comment.

A fourth device was found March 5 in a mailbox in the main post office in Kilgore, city police Lt. Roman Roberson told The Associated Press. He said it was a beer bottle that contained an unidentified flammable liquid and a wick. He said the top of the bottle was wrapped in paper that had writing on it, but that he didn't know what was written.

The device didn't pose a threat and was passed on to postal inspectors and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Roberson said.

"I'm not sure what the purpose was behind that," Roberson said. "It looked like somebody was just trying to get somebody's attention or get some attention."

ATF spokesman Tom Crowley said his agency responded to the report of the device in Owentown, but that postal inspectors were leading the investigation.

USPS Worker Caught Delivering More Than Mail  (NBC, 3/12/2010)

ORLANDO, FL -- A Kissimmee, Florida postal worker has been arrested after investigators said he made special drug deliveries on his route.

Federal agents say Juan Fonseca was routing drug deliveries to several vacant homes in the area just down the street from where Fonseca used to live.

The Kissimmee postal inspector first became suspicious of a package along Fonseca's route in September.

A search warrant revealed 24 pounds of marijuana, followed by a box two days later, with 22 pounds of pot.

The post office said it found another 5 pounds of cocaine right after it launched an investigation into Fonseca in November.

Investigators said an undercover camera in Fonseca's mail truck showed him driving the delivery van with his knees while snorting cocaine up to six times per day.

The video also apparently shows Fonseca sifting through mail, stealing money from Christmas cards and envelopes as well as snagging Netflix return DVDs.

Investigators said they discovered the drugs being shipped from Puerto Rico with sequential mailing labels all to Fonseca's 34746 route.

Fonseca was arrested, as was Henry Fuentes Morales, who investigators said received at least two of the special deliveries.

Powder In Montana Envelope Just Crushed Pain Pill  (AP, 3/12/2010)

Helena, MT--The white powder that caused a scare at a state office building this week was actually a pain relief tablet that apparently fell into an envelope before a woman mailed in some paperwork, Helena police said.

Assistant Police Chief Dave Jeseritz said what was initially though to be a possible "triggering device" in the envelope was a lollipop stick.

When the envelope was opened Tuesday morning and the powder was released, the third floor of the Department of Labor & Industry building was closed, and three state workers and a Helena police officer were isolated for several hours while the substance was tested. It was found to be harmless.

Jeseritz said police suspect that the pill and the lollipop stick fell into the envelope as the woman carried it around in her purse for about a week before mailing it. No charges will be filed.

"Given the amount of powder that was released and the unusual nature of the envelope, the emergency response teams' actions were entirely appropriate," Jeseritz said. "We have no margin of error in cases like these."

Package Causes Temporary Evacuation At Federal Courthouse in Texas (Express News, 3/11/2010)

San Antonio, TX--Authorities are allowing people to return to the federal courthouse in downtown San Antonio after determining that a suspicious package didn't pose any danger to its occupants.

The building was evacuated for about an hour Thursday afternoon after the package was delivered there.

The package, which contained a defibrillator, was flagged as suspicious after going through a metal detector at the courthouse in the 600 block of East Durango Street, at about 1:10 p.m., according to San Antonio police.

San Antonio Fire Department spokeswoman Melissa Sparks said the bomb squad and hazardous materials team was called to the building to investigate.

Mystery Green Powder Prompts Evacuations at Massachusetts State Office  (WCVB, 3/11/2010)

BOSTON -- Hazmat crews were called to a South Boston building on Thursday after a green powder was found in an envelope.

Boston Fire's Steve MacDonald said a worker at the Massachusetts Rehabilitative Commission office on the fifth floor of 27 Wormwood St. opened an envelope and powder fell out.

Three of the building's six floors were evacuated.

EMS treated one person for exposure to the unknown substance, and 10 other people in the area were being evaluated.

A decontamination unit was also called to the scene.

Investigators Questioning Persons of Interest in Helena Powder Scare (KFFB News, 3/10/2010)

Helena, MT--Investigators say they’re questioning persons of interest in that powder scare that shut down part of a Helena building on Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning, a package with powder exploded inside of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry building. Inside the package was a form for the office of unemployment insurance as well as what authorities are calling a trigger device that caused the powder to spray out.

After about five hours, the National Guard Civil Support Team was able to deem the powder as not harmful, and workers were able to return to the third floor of the building.

There was a return address on the envelope, leading authorities to a person of interest in Butte. Interviews are being conducted and the investigation into this person of interest is on-going.

Rash of Bomb Cases in U.S. Tied to Radical-Right Views  (Intelligence Report, Spring 2010, Issue No. 137)

Illegal bombs, bullets and guns were seized from men young and old in recent months. In each of the cases, which together represented an unusual burst of such activity, there was evidence that those charged held antigovernment, survivalist or racist views. The accused ranged from their late teens to their 60s.

Mark Campano of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, pleaded not guilty in federal court in January to possession of destructive devices not registered with the federal government. They included about three dozen pipe bombs and bomb components, 17 rifles and pistols, including a revolver equipped with a homemade silencer, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Authorities learned of the arsenal after Campano accidentally detonated one of the pipe bombs in his apartment, causing him to lose parts of two fingers.

Campano’s 77-year-old mother said her son was simply indulging in a hobby. But a one-time neighbor said the former anesthesiologist continually tried to get her and another neighbor to watch and listen to antigovernment video and audiotapes. In denying Campano’s request for bail, a federal judge said she could not “imagine legal, non-dangerous uses for such an arsenal.”

A Missouri jury needed only nine minutes in January to convict Robert Joos Jr. of two felony weapons and explosives charges. Federal agents found 15 firearms, more than 19,000 ammunition rounds and bomb-making parts such as fuses and blasting caps at Joos’ rural home. The agents acted after white supremacist twins Dennis and Daniel Mahon (who separately face trial for allegedly injuring an Arizona official with a mail bomb) reportedly told undercover informants that Joos’ 200-acre property was used as a training facility for racist radicals. 

Missouri police in January seized more than 100 guns and 300,000 rounds of ammunition from a man who they said considered himself to be an “extreme survivalist” and charged him with making a terrorist threat. Lowell Aughenbaugh was accused of threatening to blow up the city of Rolla’s police department and everybody in it. Police said Aughenbaugh also had books on how to successfully kill somebody and materials that could be used to make explosive devices.

Also in Missouri in January, federal agents arrested a man accused of making “improvised explosive devices.” Richard Cobley of Trenton is alleged to have shown an undercover ATF agent a hidden room in his basement where he displayed an anti-personnel bomb with BBs attached to a PVC pipe casing with electrical tape. Cobley encouraged the agent to “try it out and see if you like it” and said he had made booby traps to place in his home to stop the government coming after him, according to an affidavit.

A Lake Elsinore, Calif., man blew several fingers off on one hand while handling explosives in October, then was charged along with his mother and brother with several crimes. After Benjamin Kuzelka went to a hospital for treatment of his injuries, authorities visited the home where he lived with his brother and mother, who ran a licensed day care facility there. Police said they found ingredients for making explosives and a marijuana-growing operation in a three-car garage. A swastika was drawn on a wall inside the house, and a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook was discovered. The book includes instructions for making explosives.

Two 19-year-old West Virginia high school seniors were arrested in September and charged with plotting to bomb their school. They were arrested after other Weir High School students notified authorities of threatening text messages that reportedly were traced to one of the defendants, Mark Mentzer. A search of Mentzer’s home turned up weapons, racist writings, a map of the school and bomb-making materials.

Also in September, a father and son in Antioch, Ill., were charged with various weapons and explosives offenses. Among the items taken from their home were two anti-tank rocket launchers, two submachine guns, an assault rifle, baseball bats with spikes, knives, machetes, land mines, sticks of dynamite and bomb-making manuals.

In the bedroom of the father, Burl Thomas, police said they found a drawing of Adolf Hitler and a vest with several patches, including a swastika. Thomas told authorities he had once ridden with the Outlaws motorcycle gang. His son, John Thomas, has a criminal history that includes hate crimes and aggravated assault.

A reputed militia member who pleaded guilty to illegally selling explosives to undercover cops was sentenced in September to the 15 months he had already served in jail in Pennsylvania. Federal authorities said that Perry Landis’ rural cabin was a meeting place for militia members and that he was in the Brookville Tigers Militia. Landis’ attorney blamed his client’s drinking of one to two cases of beer a day for his actions. “I’m not against the government, and never was,” Landis said at his sentencing. “I love the United States.”

Ronald Struve of Kirkland, Wash., was sentenced to four years in prison in August after pleading guilty to several counts of possession of illegal firearms and plastic explosives. Federal agents found grenades and grenade launchers, machine guns, plastic explosives and blasting caps in storage lockers he rented in Bellevue and Spokane. Struve, who was 67 when he was sentenced, told the judge that he started collecting weapons on the black market in the 1960s, when he said he became an anticommunist. Agents said that when they arrested Struve, he told them he might use his arsenal “some day” against “the enemy.”

Suspicious Powder Investigation in Montana Concludes (KFFB, 3/11/2010)

Great Falls, MT--New information in the powder scare in Helena earlier this week. The Helena Police Department has concluded its investigation into the person of interest who sent the envelope to the Department of Labor and Industry received on Tuesday.

They found that the person who sent the envelope from Butte intended no harm to anyone. The powder was in the envelope by accident, and the envelope was put into a purse unsealed before sending.

While in the purse a lollipop stick, which was originally though to be a "trigger device" and tablet slipped into the envelope.

Helena Assistant Police Chief Dave Jeseritz said the tablet got crushed in the mail process, so when it was opened at the Department of Labor and Industry, it appeared as a suspicious white powder.

The Helena Police Department is commending the emergency response teams. Based on the information at the time, they believe appropriate action was taken.

Envelope With White Powder Causes Evacuation In South Boston  (FOX25 News, 3/11/2010)

BOSTON, MA-- The Boston Fire Department is investigating a situation in South Boston where a mysterious envelope that contained white powder is making people feel ill.

According to authorities, at around 11:30 A.M. a woman on the fifth floor of the office building at 27 Wormwood St. received an envelope that contained a suspicious substance. The woman reportedly began to feel ill and itchy.

The incident has been declared a level 3 Haz-mat situation, which means the substance is considered extremely hazardous.

The fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the office building have been evacuated as a precaution. The woman is still being monitored and there have been no other illnesses reported.

Person Of Interest Contacted In Suspicious Letter Case  (KECI News, 3/10/2010)

Butte, MT -- New information came out Tuesday in the investigation into who sent a suspicious letter to Montana's Department of Labor on Monday.

Helena Police tell the News Channel authorities in Butte have made contact with a person of interest in the case.

The news came one day after a letter holding a powdery substance was opened by government workers in Helena. Four people, including a helena police officer, were quarantined. Officials later determined the powder was not hazardous.

Helena police report the letter came from Butte.

Powder Puts Australian Police In Lockdown  (ABC News, 3/11/2010)

Lismore, NSW, Australia--An envelope containing a white powder substance was enough to close the Lismore Police Station for a short while yesterday afternoon.

Inspector Bill McKenna says the envelope was brought to the station by a person who have received it in the mail.

He says while early investigations indicated the substance was harmless the station had to be decontaminated.

Inspector McKenna says in such circumstances it's better to leave the package where it's found and call the police to that location.

"A member of the public received a letter and within that letter was a small amount of white powder and initially they didn't think anything of it but then they thought they would attend the police station and hand it over," Insp McKenna said.

"As a result of this, NSW Fire Brigade Hazmat Unit attended and the station was closed for a very short period of time while the scene was decontaminated," he said.

"I suppose if there is one message that I'd like to give to members of the public is if they do receive any parcels that they consider suspicious that they leave them in situ and then contact police and have us come to their location," Insp McKenna said.

Lawyer Doubts Case Against Anthrax Suspect  (AOL News, 3/10/2010)

Just weeks before government scientist Bruce Ivins' suicide, a grand jury was convening on the third floor of the federal courthouse, near the U.S. Capitol, looking into the 2001 anthrax murders. Things weren't looking good for Ivins, the only suspect in the case.

It was July 2008. His attorney, Paul F. Kemp, according to court documents reviewed by AOL News, had just filed court papers to become a death-penalty-certified attorney in the case -- a little-known fact. And the chief U.S. District judge in Washington, Royce C. Lamberth, had approved the request.

"I thought this was a precaution to take. My job is to anticipate anything," Kemp said.

He said he had told Ivins the investigation could turn into a death penalty case. "At some point in the near future I felt the government was probably going to the grand jury and would issue an indictment."

What Kemp -- and the government as well -- didn't anticipate was the unthinkable. On July 27, Ivins, 62, loaded up on Tylenol with codeine in a suicide bid. Two days later, he died.

"I was disturbed over it," Kemp said in an interview this week . "I never had a client commit suicide. It's a terrible experience. I'm much more distraught for his family."

With the suicide, so died the chance for the government to prove its case before a jury or for Ivins to prove his innocence. No charges were ever filed in the case, in which letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to five media outlets and two senators. Five people died and 17 others were sickened.

On Feb. 19, the Justice Department officially closed the case and issued a 92-page summary stating why Ivins not only did it, but acted alone. It concluded that his lab notes showed he "could, and did, create spores of the concentration and purity of the mailed spores."

Kemp, a suburban Washington attorney, said he read the report, but didn't buy into it. Not at all.

Kemp said Ivins repeatedly denied that he sent the letters or that he developed the deadly anthrax spores. And Kemp cited Ivins' fellow scientists, who insisted he was incapable of making such a high-grade, dried anthrax with the equipment available at his workplace at the Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases in Frederick, Md.

"There's not one shred of evidence to show he did it," Kemp said.

Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., echoes some of that skepticism. Last week, he called for a congressional investigation into the anthrax probe.

"We don't know whether the FBI's assertions about Dr. Ivins' activities and behavior are accurate," Holt wrote in a letter to the chairmen of the House Committees on Homeland Security, Judiciary, Intelligence, and Oversight and Government Reform.

Government investigators disagree with the skeptics.

"Suggestions that this is an entirely circumstantial case are not accurate," said Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman. "We are confident Dr. Ivins acted alone in carrying out this attack. There is the direct physical evidence. The murder weapon was created by Dr. Ivins and solely maintained by Dr. Ivins.

"We wish we had the opportunity to present this case and all the evidence to a jury, but we were not able to, given the circumstances."

A Justice Department source familiar with the case insisted Ivins was "singularly capable" of producing the deadly product. The person said investigators spent an "extraordinary amount of time" researching who in the science world was capable of producing the high-grade anthrax used in the deadly letters and "Dr. Ivins came up as one of the pre-eminent anthrax researchers."

Regardless, in his final weeks Ivins had been thinking about the prospect of facing the death penalty. News reports said that during a July 9, 2008, group therapy session, he mentioned that if he faced the death penalty he would go out with a blaze of glory and shoot some of his co-workers.

Kemp acknowledges the government contacted him in the final weeks to say they were concerned about Ivins' state of mind and well-being.

To many in the public, Ivins' suicide was viewed as an admission of guilt. But others -- particularly some who knew him -- saw a man who collapsed under the mighty weight of a government determined to indict him.

Kemp says he still thinks about the suicide and wonders if he couldn't have conveyed the prospect of a death-penalty case to Ivins more gently. He won't get into specifics of the conversations with Ivins, citing client-attorney privilege. But he does share this much.

"I question myself. Maybe I was too strong," he said. "I second-guess a lot the wording I used."

Suspicious Powder In Envelope With Triggering Device Causes Scare In Montana State  Office (Independent Record, 3/10/2010)

Helena, MT--An envelope armed with a “triggering device” dispersed a small amount of white powder in a room at the Department of Labor and Industry Tuesday, prompting officials to close the building’s third floor and isolate three employees as a precaution.

Emergency responders first arrived at the Walt Sullivan Building, home to Labor and Industry, shortly after 9 a.m. They spent the next five hours managing the scene, which unfolded slowly behind the Capitol.

“The envelope had a triggering device and when they opened it, a white powder came out and was spread about,” said Sheryl Olson, deputy director of the Department of Administration. “Three employees were isolated as a precaution.”

The three employees who came into contact with the substance were held until specialists tested the powder on scene. Officials declared the substance to be inert shortly after 2 p.m., though they declined to say what it actually was.

Officials also declined to discuss the letter, saying only that it was sent on a standard Department of Labor form.

“Tests were conducted and the suspicious envelope was deemed safe,” said Dave Jeseritz, assistant chief of the Helena Police Department. “Our investigation is still going to continue. We’ll follow up on our leads.”

Jeseritz was brief on details, though he confirmed that the envelope had a return address to Butte. He said investigators were working to locate the sender, an individual Jeseritz described as a person of interest.

The building’s 180 employees were never evacuated, though the third floor, which is dedicated to unemployment insurance, was closed to 35 employees after the envelope was opened and the powder was released.

Responders cordoned off the building with yellow caution tape and closed down Lockey Avenue behind the Capitol.

At one point, two ambulances, two fire engines, several police vehicles and a mobile response unit with the Montana National Guard’s 83rd Civil Support Team were on scene.

Dore Schwinden, director of the Department of Labor and Industry, praised employees for keeping calm and working to process unemployment claims elsewhere in the building despite the distraction.

“It was certainly kind of a different business day for us,” Schwinden said. “They were able to continue processing claims, albeit not as quickly as they would have been able to do otherwise.”

Maj. Dean Roberts, commander of the 83rd CST, said his unit played a supporting role to the Helena Fire Department and scene commanders.

“We know it came from out of town to the Labor and Industry,” Roberts said of the envelope. “But we believe it was all limited to right here.

“Literally, white powder could be anything,” he added. “So many of the white powder scares turn out to be nothing. But it doesn’t change how we respond to an incident.”

Georgia Postal Worker Accused of Identity Theft  (MY FOX ATLANTA, 3/10/2010)

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga.- - A woman was in jail Tuesday, after Douglas County investigators said the assumed someone else's identity, gained U.S. citizenship illegally and stole mail.

Douglas County authorities said the case had so many twists and turns it was hard to keep up with it. The U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Attorneys Office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as local jurisdictions are now all looking into the case and the victims.

Investigators said the woman concocted an elaborate identity theft scheme that all started when she illegally entered the U.S. from Nigeria and assumed someone else's identity.

"She went through the citizenship for the U.S. and was granted citizenship under Mary Afolobi. When in fact, she is not Mary Afolobi," said Chief Deputy Stan Copeland of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Douglas County investigators said they don't know the suspect's real name but they said after she obtained U.S. citizenship using Afolobi's name, she was able to get a job with the postal service as a mail carrier in Paulding County.

Investigators said while she was employed with the postal service, she stole the identities of people on her mail route.

According to investigators, the unidentified suspect also set up her own business, a used car lot on Bankhead Highway in Douglas County. Investigators said the woman used the stolen identities to apply for a loan and buy cars from her own used car lot. None of the loans were legitimate and there were never any used cars.

"We can find no evidence there was anything really sold there or if anyone was even working there," said Copeland.

Authorities said the woman's complex scheme has far reaching implications.

"You start thinking about homeland security issues. You start thinking about how many others are there like this. If she's able to do it, that means there's something in the system we need to look at," Copeland said.

Authorities wouldn't say how long the scheme had been going on or how many victims were identified because the investigation is ongoing with the federal government.

Envelope With Powder Sent To Montana State Office  (AP, 3/10/2010)

HELENA, Mont. — An envelope containing a suspicious powder burst open Tuesday while being handled by state workers in a Montana government office.

Three Department of Labor workers and a Helena city police officer were isolated while a state lab tested the substance. Other workers on the third floor of the Walt Sullivan building were relocated elsewhere for the day.

The state says the envelope burst, as if there were a triggering device to distribute the powder. The contents of the envelope were otherwise described as a standard Department of Labor form.

A state spokeswoman says there was no indication who sent the letter to the state.

Suspicious Letter Sent To Federal Building Under Investigation  (WBRC, 3/9/2010)

BIRMINGHAM, AL- Authorities are investigating a suspicious letter sent to the Vance Federal Building in downtown Birmingham Monday.

A hazmat team was called to the building after an employee opened the letter and found a white powder inside.

The powder was sent off for testing. No one was hurt.

Pensioner, 84, Leaves 'Bomb' Outside Dentist After Claiming He Was Overcharged  (Daily Mail, 3/9/2010)

UK--A disgruntled pensioner built a fake bomb and left it at a dental surgery in revenge for being overcharged, a court heard yesterday.

Peter McShane, 84, was furious at being billed £183 for treatment, despite being an NHS patient.

He placed a ticking alarm clock, twisted wires and a brick in a box, wrapped it in a bin-liner and put it on the surgery steps.

A passer-by alerted police to the device and streets and homes were evacuated while the box was blown up in a controlled explosion.

Magistrates were told how McShane, who arrived at court with a walking stick, engineered a two-year campaign of criminal damage against the surgery, which included glueing up locks and stealing a wall plaque.

It culminated in the bomb hoax last month.

Ellie Morgan, prosecuting, said the attacks began after McShane was overcharged following a visit to the surgery in October 2007.

'He was aggrieved at that because he felt he was an NHS patient, not a private one,' she said.

McShane was eventually reimbursed for the amount but the attacks continued, including the door locks at the practice having glue injected into them.

The pensioner lived in and owned a building which had been converted into flats near the Bush Street dental surgery in Pembroke Dock, South-West Wales.

The court heard that glue had also been used in disputes with neighbours - who were McShane's tenants - and at the shop of a newsagent with whom he was in dispute.

Police used CCTV to link McShane to the attack.

Footage showed him struggling along the street with his 'bomb'.

The 40in by 8in box was so heavy he had to take breaks on the way.

Shaun Dyer, defending, told the court his client had 'wanted to frighten the dentist'.

But he said: 'It was extremely amateurish... what has happened is a juvenile prank which has completely got out of control.'

Mr Dyer said McShane was among residents who had been moved out in the drama that followed the package's discovery.

Realising the situation was escalating, the pensioner had 'clammed up' and failed to claim responsibility, the solicitor added.

The pensioner admitted eight charges, including making the hoax bomb, burglary and criminal damage.

Haverfordwest magistrates ruled their sentencing powers were insufficient and adjourned the case for sentencing at Swansea Crown Court next month.

McShane was released on bail.

Package At Federal Building in Alabama Deemed Nonhazardous  (The Birmingham News, 3/8/2010)

Birmingham, AL--A hazardous materials team was called to the Robert S. Vance Federal Building this afternoon after an office worker opened a package they thought contained a dangerous substance.

U.S. Postal Inspector Tony Robinson said preliminary testing showed that the powder substance was not hazardous. As a precaution, samples will be taken to Montgomery for further testing.

Robinson said most times a phone call to the postal inspection service can determine whether something is hazardous instead of panicking and calling 911.

"If you get something suspicious, call the Postal Inspection Service and we can usually solve it over the phone," Robinson said.

Utah Inmate Charged With Sending Fake Anthrax Letters  (Deseret Morning News, 3/8/2010)

DRAPER, Utah — A prison inmate who said he had sent out letters containing anthrax to state government offices in December was hit with a federal indictment Wednesday.

The man, 21, is being charged with one count of mailing threatening communication and one count of representing false information, or a hoax, for the scare, which led Utah Department of Corrections officials to contact a number of Salt Lake offices to alert them to the claim.

The indictment states that the man, who was being housed at the facility in Draper at the time, specifically sent the letters to the governor's office, threatening to "injure" the governor and corrections employees.

In the letter, the man told the governor, "You days R numbered" before threatening to "kill UDC employees."

The letter did not, in fact, contain anthrax, and the man admitted that to officials.

British White Supremacist Pleads Guilty Of Producing Ricin For Terrorist Purposes  (PA, 3/8/2010)

UK--A WHITE supremacist has admitted producing one of the most toxic substances on earth while preparing for acts of terrorism.

Terror cops investigating extreme right wing activity found Ricin in a jam jar in the kitchen of Ian Davison's home.

Today the 41-year-old trucker, of Myrtle Grove, Burnopfield, County

Durham, admitted preparing for acts of terrorism and producing a chemical weapon.

He also admitted three charges of possessing a record containing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing acts of terrorism relating to electronic copies of The Anarchist's Handbook, Kitchen Complete and Mudgahein's Explosives Handbook.

The "handbooks" contained information and instructions on the production and use of explosives.

Davison, who wore a pale blue, short-sleeved shirt and was flanked by four prison officers, also admitted possession of a prohibited weapon which related to a spray canister found during the search.

He will be sentenced after the trial of his son Nicky, 19, who is due to be tried on April 12 on two charges of possessing material containing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing acts of terrorism.

Davison was remanded in custody, and Judge John Milford warned him: "Doubtless you have been told only custody can follow."

Toby Hedworth QC, defendng Davison snr, said the former DJ will be assessed by a psychiatrist before the sentencing hearing.

Mr Hedworth said Davison Sr.'s role in terrorism was "propaganda".

Davison Jr. was granted bail until his trial.

Ricin is a protein toxin that is extracted from the castor bean (Ricinus

communis).

It can be either a white powder or a liquid in crystalline form. Ricin can cause severe allergic reactions, and exposure to small quantities can be fatal.

The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) gives a possible minimum figure of 500 micrograms (about half a grain of sand) for the lethal dose of ricin in humans if exposure is from injection or inhalation.

Ricin is poisonous if inhaled, injected, or ingested, acting as a toxin by the inhibition of protein synthesis. While there is no known antidote, the US military has developed a vaccine.

Long-term organ damage is likely in survivors. Ricin causes severe diarrhea and victims can die of shock.

Probe Into Dumped Stolen Post  (Hampshire Chronicle, 3/6/2010)

UK--A PARISH councillor is calling for action after stolen post was dumped in his village.

Gerry Tull, pictured above, found the letters in a bin at Owslebury cricket ground near his home in Main Road on Saturday, February 21.

They were addressed to residents in Hedge End, and many had been opened, he said.

Cllr Tull called police, who took the mail away, but he said he was upset that the investigation is not moving faster.

The Owslebury parish councillor said: “I’m angry at the slow and uncoordinated response to this serious Royal Mail theft.

“Sensitive bank, credit card, passports and personal information and documents could have been stolen, and the owners might not know about it.

“There has certainly been a lack of positive action.”

Police said they had matched the stolen mail to a report of a postman’s bicycle and bag being taken on Wednesday, February 17.

They were stolen at Laburnum Road in Hedge End and the letters were meant for Whitebeam Road nearby, officers said.

Police are checking the post for any fingerprints or clues that might identify the culprits.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “The matter is currently being investigated by police and we would urge anyone with information to contact them.

“The recovered mail will be delivered over the next few days along with a letter of explanation.”

She added that any Whitebeam Road residents who were worried about their post should call 08457 740740.

Fake Bomb Deterrent Legislation Approved in Idaho (Idaho Reporter, 3/5/2010)

Boise, ID--The use of fake bombs in criminals acts is not punished severely enough by the state, says Meridian Republican Rep. Marv Hagedorn.  The House moved Friday to change that and provide for harsher penalties for those using “hoax destructive devices” during a crime.  Legislators voted 67-0 to approve the bill Hagedorn believes will help in deterring the use of fake bombs.

Under Hadegorn’s plan, those who use fake bombs with criminal intent would be punishable by a felony with up to five years in prison and a fine up to $25,000.  That sentence would mirror the current penalty for making or calling in a bomb threat.

The legislation comes in response to a hoax bomb threat in Boise early last year.  Officials evacuated more than 2,000 people at the Boise Towne Square Mall after finding five suspicious packages in the mall.  The complex was shut down for 6-7 hours as first responders, including firemen, police, medics, and SWAT teams investigated the packages.  The mall was safely cleared after the Boise Police Department (BPD) bomb-sniffing dogs confirmed no actual bombs were on the property.   According to BPD, the packages found in the mall were hoax devices designed specifically to look like actual explosive ordinances.

“Everybody was down around the mall instead of out protecting the people,” said Hagedorn at a previous hearing on the bill.

Idaho has no appropriate law to deal with such incidents, says Hagedorn.  Though there are Idaho laws in place concerning punishments for actual bomb attacks and threats, the most someone who uses fakes bombs in a threatening manner could be charged with in Idaho is disturbing the peace or trespassing on certain and specific occasions.

The Meridian Republican said he has engaged with people critical of the legislation because they didn’t see how a fake bomb could actually be injurious to citizens.  Hagedorn said that if someone sees one of the fake bombs, runs into a street, and is subsequently hit by a car, that would prove “injurious.”

Those playing jokes on friends with “hoax destructive devices” would not be punishable by law, notes Hagedorn.   He said, in a previous hearing, that prosecutors would be required to show malicious intent during court proceedings, and jokes played on friends would not qualify.  Also, those who accidentally leave something that appears to be a bomb – a briefcase or backpack – in a public place would not be subject to criminal charges unless the prosecutor could prove criminal intent.

“This will not be easily levied upon a person,” said Hagedorn on the House floor.  He added that he feels it would be difficult for a prosecutor to charge someone with this crime, but said he wants to add the provision to state law to give a prosecutor the option to do so.

The bill now heads to the Senate for further deliberation.

No New Information On Suspicious Substance Sent to IRS in Utah  (Standard Examiner, 3/3/2010)

FARR WEST, UT -- No new information is being released about the suspicious substance found Monday at the Internal Revenue Service Building at 1973 Rulon White Blvd.

Debbie Dujanovic Bertram, public affairs specialist for the FBI's Utah office, said Tuesday the investigation is ongoing.

She said the FBI will have more information soon.

The IRS and U.S. Postal Inspection Service referred questions to the FBI.

An official from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said Monday the substance found at the building was non-hazardous.

Two IRS workers were taken to an Ogden hospital, but officials said their medical emergencies are unrelated to the material.

Bertram said she was not aware of any connection between the Utah case and one announced Monday by the FBI's Denver office.

That office said it had arrested a Denver resident on charges of mailing threatening letters with white powder to Colorado officials, several congressional representatives and Argentine consulates in Los Angeles and New York.

The Farr West facility where the suspicious substance was found processes paper tax returns filed by businesses.

At its busiest times, the building has approximately 830 employees, including seasonal and part-time workers.

The IRS has between 6,500 and 7,000 employees in Weber County working in up to a dozen buildings.

North Georgia School Shuttered After Anthrax Scare  (AP, 3/3/2010)

ELIJAY, GA -- A suspicious package containing white powder shut down a Gilmer County school Wednesday morning as authorities investigated whether the substance was deadly anthrax.

A spokesman from Gilmer County schools confirmed the package arrived at Gilmer County High School before students were in class because of a delayed start due to weather.

The substance was found not to be anthrax but it was taken to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's lab for exam.

Students, meanwhile, were turned away before they reached the campus and others were held in the gym until their parents could pick them up.

A similar package with white powder was sent to the Gilmer County Government Office on Tuesday.

The FBI is investigating both incidents.

Anthrax Decontamination of New Hampshire Building to Cost $70,000  (Fosters Daily Standard, 3/3/2010)

DURHAM, NH — The remediation of the building where a Strafford County woman was exposed to anthrax spores will be costly.

The Waysmeet Center, which serves as the United Campus Ministry for UNH, is on the verge of signing a $70,000 remediation contract with CYN Environmental Services of Stoughton, Mass., said the Rev. Larry Brickner-Wood, the ministry's chaplain and executive director.

The remediation will include soaking, with a bleach-like solution, five common-area rooms and a hallway that tested positive for low levels of anthrax.

In addition to the remediation cost, many items will be lost in the process, including art, furniture, books, a piano and other musical instruments. Brickner-Wood estimated the loss of those items at about $10,000-$15,000.

"The art work will be the toughest to lose," he said. "It's original art from students and artists, and many are dear students to us and talented artists."

He said the piano also would be tough to lose. It was donated five years ago and before then, the ministry had worked for more than six years to secure one.

The ministry also has a $20,000 bill hanging over its head for the first round of testing in the building in December.

Despite the cost, Brickner-Wood said the ministry is upbeat as the woman who contracted gastrointestinal anthrax there continues to improve. He said the eight students who live in the building and the many students who use it also are looking forward to its reopening.

"The things we're losing are just things," he said. "People will donate furniture, and they'll donate other things. The important thing is being back inside the building."

Brickner-Wood said the remediation should take two weeks, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, the ministry could be reopened by the end of the month.

State officials have said the woman likely contracted the gastrointestinal anthrax by swallowing anthrax spores from an African drum during a Dec. 4 drum circle event at the center.

The type of building cleaning planned for the center also was done after similar anthrax cases in Connecticut and New York.

Powdery Substance Causes Scare In Gilmer County, Again  (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/3/2010)

Gilmer County, GA--For the second straight day, Gilmer County dealt with a scare over an envelope containing suspicious white powder Wednesday. Both incidents appear to be hoaxes.

The envelope found Wednesday morning at Gilmer County High School in Ellijay prompted officials to close school for the day while authorities investigate. The FBI, GBI and a hazardous materials team from Cherokee County were still at the scene in the afternoon.

On Tuesday, a similar envelope was found at the Gilmer County courthouse.

"They investigated and found that was just a hoax, not a volatile substance," said Michael Schlabra, spokesman for Gilmer County schools. "People processing the mail this morning at Gilmer County High School came across another envelope with a powdery substance. Same M.O., same handwriting. Looks very similar."

By Wednesday evening, Schlabra said the substance found at the school was determined to be nothing dangerous or hazardous. It is being sent to a lab for further analysis, he said.

School was closed due to snow Tuesday and scheduled to start two hours late Wednesday. As students and staff arrived, they were told to go home.

For students who arrived by bus, "We kept them in the gym; their parents were contacted and picked them up," Schlabra said.

School will be session Thursday, he said.

Suspicious Mail Package Closes Veterans Outpatient Facility in Virginia  (The Journal, 3/3/2010)

WINCHESTER, Va. - Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were investigating an incident at the Stephens City Community-Based Outpatient Clinic Tuesday in Winchester, Va., after a suspicious package led to the facility to being closed for safety precautions.

The medical facility is one of six outpatient clinics operated for and by the Martinsburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which closed the facility located at 170 Prosperity Drive at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to ensure the safety of both patients and staff after the suspicious package was discovered, according to a news release from the facility. No further information is available pending final investigation of the incident, the release stated.

"We appreciate everyone's cooperation in this matter and refer further questions regarding the incident to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office," the release stated.

Frederick County Sheriff Robert T. Williamson said the incident was still ongoing as of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, and the investigation was being handled by the FBI because the clinic is federal property.

"The FBI is taking over the investigation. We're not going to do any release on it because it's not our investigation. We are simply providing scene security there at the present," Williamson said.

Calls were made to the FBI field office in Richmond, Va., seeking information about the incident, although no official statement had been released as of Tuesday evening.

Veterans who have scheduled appointments are being asked to call the clinic today at (540) 869-0600 to confirm appointment times or reschedule.

Suspicious White Powder Sent To Brooklyn Judge Forces Evacuation  (NY Daily News, 3/4/2010)

Brooklyn, NY—A suspicious white powder sent to a Brooklyn judge Thursday forced the evacuation of the 24th floor of the Supreme Court building.

The powder, which is still being tested, was sent to Justice Abraham Gerges, the judge who last week signed off on the controversial Atlantic Yards redevelopment project.

On Thursday, Gerges was presiding over the trial of a Staten Island doctor charged with peddling steroids.

Authorities would not comment but sources say at least one person was "decontaminated" and court officers were not allowing anyone on the 24th floor.

Dozens of emergency services vehicles and fire trucks lined outside the Jay Street building in downtown Brooklyn.

White Powder Causes Alarm in Judicial Chambers At Brooklyn Courthouse  (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 3/4/2010)

Brooklyn, NY– Thursday a Brooklyn judge’s secretary opened an envelope and found a “suspicious white-powder substance” inside.

The alarming discovery, conjuring up decade-old memories of the anthrax-filled envelopes delivered in New York City after 9/11, prompted a large-scale emergency response and partial evacuation of the courthouse. According to David Bookstaver, spokesman for the Office of Court Administration, the white powder was later found to be “inert.”

The letter was sent to Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Abraham G. Gerges, according to various reports. Some have speculated that the threatening package was sent in response to Justice Gerges’ judicial order that on Monday transferred title of the land at Atlantic Yards to the state via eminent domain.

Thursday’s emergency call came in just after noon. Police, fire and haz-mat crews responded to the Kings County Supreme Court Criminal Term at 320 Jay St., and the 24th floor of the building was evacuated and sealed off.

Firefighters and emergency responders crowded the 24th floor lobby and directed all members of the public who emerged on the floor to turn around and leave the area.

Several haz-mat specialists and firefighters were heard outside the courthouse discussing how the affected persons were sealed off upstairs but that the substance wasn’t likely contagious.

A court officer outside the building also said he heard that the white powder was sent to Justice Gerges, and several members of the media who had assembled outside the courthouse also wondered about the possible connection to the Atlantic Yards case.

“I’ve seen some disturbing comments on the blog of Brooklyn Paper,” said one Atlantic Yards opponent when informed of the incident. “Someone wrote ‘string him up,’ or something.”

The comment in question was from user “die from mohter----er” and stated, “this judge should be strung up from a street light in said neighborhood” [sic].

Police said initial reports were that the letter was addressed to a judge and that that judge’s secretary opened the envelope. The secretary was subsequently decontaminated by the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

Police, however, could not confirm that the letter was sent to a specific judge or which judge the letter was sent to.

Asked if Gerges had been affected, Bookstaver replied. “No, he didn’t open the letter.”

Justice Gerges, a former city councilman and former administrative judge of both the Kings County Supreme Court Criminal and Civil terms, handles Brooklyn’s condemnation proceedings, as well as a variety of felony criminal cases, including many murder trials.

Presumably the timing of the letter, arriving just three days after the Atlantic Yards ruling, and the extremely controversial nature surrounding the case has caused many to speculate that the innocuous threat was a result of the Atlantic Yards ruling.

As Gerges himself noted in his judicial order, “The Atlantic Yards Project has a long and tortuous history, including numerous court challenges in several forms.”

However, Justice Gerges was also scheduled to begin jury selections Thursday in the case of Richard Lucente, who is charged with criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance. Lucente is a doctor accused of giving steroid prescriptions to athletes and bodybuilders who he then allegedly steered towards Lowen’s Pharmacy in Bay Ridge.

John Rossi, co-owner of Lowen’s, committed suicide in January 2008 presumably as a result of the criminal investigation.

Firefighters were present in the building until at least 3 p.m. Thursday. The courthouse was fully reopened around 4 p.m., and police confirmed at 5:30 p.m. that the white powder was “non-hazardous.”

Foot Powder Sparks Scare At Adelphi University  (WPIX, 3/2/2010)

GARDEN CITY, N.Y.--Students at Adelphi University were held in lock down for nearly 5 hours Tuesday, after a suspicious powder was found inside a classroom building. The substance turned out to be foot powder, Nassau County Police confirmed to PIX News.

University officials said about 110 students were kept in the building as a precaution, while investigators determined if the substance was safe. Some of the students were taking midterm exams at the time of the lock down.

Adelphi spokeswoman Kali Chan says the powder was found outside an office in Alumnae Hall.

Fire officials and Haz-Mat personnel were on the scene with decontamination tents in the event that students needed to be showered off.

"We are getting, hungry, antsy and frustrated," an unidentified sophomore told PIX News by cell phone during the 5-hour long lock down.

Students were released after the substance was deemed safe late Tuesday afternoon. Officials are still investigating whether the white colored powder was accidentally spilled or if it was planted with the intent to prompt a scare.

No injuries were reported.

The Long Island-based college has 8,600 students enrolled in at campuses in Garden City, New York City, Hauppauge, and Poughkeepsie.

Powder Found At D.C. Office Building Not Hazardous  (WTOP, 3/2/2010)

WASHINGTON - Authorities have given the all-clear after an office building near Union Station was evacuated Tuesday due to a suspicious envelope.

There are no reports of injuries or illness.

An envelope filled with white powder that was found at the American Psychological Association offices is not hazardous, D.C. Fire department spokesman Pete Piringer tells WTOP.

The powder was found in the first-floor mailroom of the building - located at 750 First Street in Northeast D.C. - around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Crews have not identified any toxic or hazardous material, but they will take the substance to a lab for further testing. The FBI is also investigating, Piringer says.

Three people who were in the mailroom went to the hospital on their own, before paramedics arrived, Piringer says. They did not show symptoms of illness.

Denver Man Charged In White Powder Mailings; Utah Incident Over  (Vertex News, 3/2/2010)

Denver, CO -- FBI agents have arrested a Denver man for allegedly sending white powder to several federal offices.

Jay DeVaughn allegedly sent threatening letters to officials in Colorado, Alabama, New York and California.

Some of the letters contained white powder.

In Utah, U.S. Postal officials say a suspicious substance found in a mailroom of an IRS building near Ogden Monday was not hazardous. The part of the building where the IRS is located was evacuated as a precaution.

A few people were treated for medical complaints.

The FBI continues to investigate that incident.

FBI Takes Over Investigation of Anthrax Threat Mail at American Psychological Assocition  (WJLA, 3/2/2010)

WASHINGTON--The FBI has taken over the investigation of a suspicious letter sent to the American Psychological Association's offices near Union Station Tuesday.

Police were called to the building at 750 1st Street NE about 1 p.m. after a white, powdery substance came from the envelope.

"There was a note that said, 'This is anthrax,'" said Rhea Farberman, who works for the APA.

Three people from the APA's mail room drove themselves to a hospital, where they were decontaminated, according to D.C. Fire & EMS spokesman Pete Piringer. None of the patients has exhibited any symptom, Piringer said, and all have gone home.

The building was evacuated and area streets were shut down while HazMat units investigated. The FBI removed the letter from the office and in investigating it.

No hazardous materials were found.

Hazmat Team Examines Suspicious Letter Sent To San Diego Newspaper  (Union Tribune, 3/2/2010)

SAN DIEGO — A hazmat crew determined that a suspicious letter that arrived Tuesday at The San Diego Union-Tribune was harmless.

A newspaper employee who was handling the mail about 11:40 a.m. thought that the letter, which was addressed to a reporter, appeared suspicious and alerted authorities at the newspaper. The letter was marked with the words "open very carefully" and "only this end," said Drew Schlosberg, spokesman for the newspaper.

The letter did not reach the reporter. Instead, correct safety procedures were followed and the newspaper's director of risk management was notified about the letter, Schlosberg said. The director then called police, who notified firefighters and the hazmat team.

The team examined the letter in a hazmat truck in the parking lot of the newspaper on Camino de la Reina, and by 2 p.m., they determined it was full of harmless paper clippings, Schlosberg said.

Denver Man Charged With Mailing Threatening Communication  (LawFuel, 3/1/2010)

DENVER – Jay DeVaughn, age 41, of Denver, Colorado, was charged by Criminal Complaint for mailing a threatening letter to a victim on February 15, 2008. That victim’s name and address was allegedly used by DeVaughn as a return address in threatening letters later mailed to certain Colorado elected officials. DeVaughn was arrested by agents with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force agents and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service late Friday night, February 26, 2010. He made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Denver today, where he was advised of the charges pending against him. He is scheduled to have a detention hearing on March 3, 2010, and a preliminary hearing on March 10, 2010. He is currently in custody.

According to the affidavit in support of the Criminal Complaint, during the course of an investigation into threatening letters, some containing white powder, agents and officers found that a victim and his wife received harassing and threatening letters in February of 2008. The threatening letter in question as to which the Complaint charges states “[Victim’s wife] RIP”. Further investigation revealed that one of the two other letters received by the victim contained DNA believed to be from DeVaughn. The JTTF obtained the defendant’s DNA during the execution of a search warrant at his place of employment. Investigators then interviewed a witness, who stated that the handwriting in threatening letters sent to Colorado’s two U.S. Senators and two Representatives appeared to match DeVaughn’s handwriting. Other evidence identifies the handwriting on the February 15, 2008 letter received by the victims as belonging to DeVaughn.

The investigation also revealed that similar threats may have been made against members of the Alabama Congressional delegation as well as the Argentine Embassy and two Argentine Consulates, one in Los Angeles, and the other in New York. The investigation regarding these threats continues.

“All threatening communications are taken seriously, as the recipient of these threats cannot easily determine the threat’s viability,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge James H. Davis. “We will aggressively pursue such threats, along with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners through the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). This investigation is exemplary of the continued value of the JTTF partnerships.”

“The United States Postal Inspection Service wants to remind everyone that it is unlawful to use the mails to send hazardous and dangerous materials as well as threatening correspondence,” said U.S. Postal Inspector In Charge Shawn Tiller. “Security of the mail, Postal employees, and the safety of our customers is a top priority for the Postal Inspection Service. We will investigate and pursue prosecution of anyone who uses the Postal Service in this unlawful way.”

If convicted, DeVaughn faces not more than 5 years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine for mailing a threatening communication.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Force, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the JTTF with FBI Birmingham. Significant contributions were also made by the Federal Protective Service (FPS), and member agencies of the Denver FBI’s JTTF, including the Denver Police Department, the Aurora Police Department, the Colorado State Patrol, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the ATF and the U.S. Marshals Service.

A Criminal Complaint is a probable cause charging document. Anyone accused of a felony violation of federal law has a Constitutional right to be indicted by a federal grand jury.

DeVaughn is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Greg Holloway.

These charges are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Aurora College Employee Arrested In Copycat Anthrax Scare  (KDVR, 3/1/2010)

AURORA, CO - Federal investigators in Denver have arrested a popular college educator of the Community College of Aurora for sending threatening letters containing a white powder to members of Colorado's Congressional delegation and other government officials.

41-year-old Jay DeVaughn of Denver was advised in US District Court Monday he's facing charges of mailing threatening communications.

He's also suspected of sending the letters to the Argentine embassy in Washington and Argentine consulates in Los Angeles and New York, as well as individuals across the country.

One of the letters was received in late November at the Lone Tree office of Rep. Mike Coffman.

Coffman calls it an "act of terrorism" mimicking the 2001 anthrax attacks.

"Anthrax can kill people," the republican congressman told us, "And the person who sent that who has thankfully been caught clearly understood that we would open up the envelope and we would understand potentially what it was."

The Community College of Aurora says the DeVaughn is on unpaid leave, after being voted administrator of the year for 2009.

"He's been an employee for two and half years, very well respected and people here are very surprised today," said the school's president Linda Bowman at a news conference Monday.

Members of Denver's Joint Terrorism Task Force monitored mail drop boxes at the Wellshire Post Office on South Holly in Denver, where they allegedly observed DeVaughn mailing some letters containing powder

An arrest affidavit says some letters listed return addresses of people who said they didn't write the messages but had been receiving threatening calls and letters.

The affidavit says a return address on letters mailed to members of Alabama's congressional delegation was that of a woman who taught DeVaughn in high school.

CCA Administrator Accused Of Sending Threatening Letters  (Aurora Sentinel, 3/1/2010)

AURORA, CO-- FBI agents arrested a Community College of Aurora employee Friday for allegedly sending white powder and other threatening mail to governmental offices across the country.

Agents say they arrested CCA Director of Library Services Jay DeVaughn last week for sending threatening mail to the offices of Colorado elected officials, as well as other offices, consulates and embassies nationwide. During a press conference held Monday, CCA President Linda Bowman said that the college had been served with a subpoena for records prior to DeVaughn’s arrest Feb. 26. She added that pending the results of the investigation, DeVaughn is on unpaid administrative leave from his post as library services director.

Bowman stressed that there was no threat to CCA staff, faculty or students.

“We were assured that at no time has there been any threat to anyone associated with the college,” Bowman said.

Bowman said that DeVaughn had earned recognition from his colleagues for his work at the school, winning an administrator of the year award in 2009. She added that DeVaughn had passed the college’s background check when he was hired more than two years ago.

“There was nothing at all that would give us any heads up about (these) allegations,” Bowman said. “I have been meeting with employees ... People are very upset.”

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, DeVaughn was charged for a specific threatening letter sent in February 2009. In addition to letters sent to the offices of U.S. Sens. Mark Udall, Michael Bennet and Rep. Mike Coffman, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is also investigating threatening mail sent to members of the Alabama Congressional delegation, the Argentine Embassy and Argentine Consulates in Los Angeles and New York.

According to the complaint filed against DeVaughn, agents tracked down DeVaughn in February 2010 from information obtained on websites containing contact information for Alabama congressional representatives. Agents observed DeVaughn earlier this year when he dropped several packages addressed to an Argentinian embassy in Washington, D.C., at a Denver post office. The packages contained “a plastic sandwich bag containing a white powdery substance” and a single sheet of paper. The paper included black and white photos of more than 200 men and women and handwritten messages in Spanish.

Earlier in the month, an Argentine consulate in Los Angeles received a package containing white powder with a message in “broken Spanish” that translated as, “What dirty fascists, you killed my brother. Now you are going to die.”

DeVaughn’s advisement was March 1, and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 10. If convicted, DeVaughn could face up to five years in federal prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

Threats, Suspicious Mail, Contempt Come With Job For IRS Workers  (American Statesman, 3/1/2010)

Michelle Lowry knows first-hand how much people hate the Internal Revenue Service.

The 37-year-old Leander woman, who processes forms for the IRS in Austin, confronts that venom regularly. People slip razor blades and pushpins into the same envelopes as their W-2 forms. They send nasty notes with their crumpled documents. Last year during the height of the Tea Party movement, hundreds of taxpayers included — what else? — tea bags with their returns.

And then there's the weird stuff.

"Sometimes you'll see stuff that looks like blood on them," said Lowry, who has worked as a seasonal employee for five years. "We wear gloves."

Americans love to hate the IRS. The federal agency charged with making sure Uncle Sam gets his cut breeds contempt and resentment from nearly every walk of life.

On Feb. 18, Joe Stack — an Austin man with a decades-long bitterness toward the agency — crashed his private plane into a North Austin office building that housed IRS employees, killing himself and 68-year-old IRS worker Vernon Hunter. It was an extreme version of the ire directed at the agency.

Each year, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which oversees the IRS, investigates more than 900 threats made against IRS employees. Between 2001 and 2008, those threats resulted in 195 court convictions.

In 2008, for example, Randy Nowak of Mulberry, Fla. was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill the IRS employee auditing Nowak's taxes.

The IRS also has a "Potentially Dangerous Taxpayer" list that includes the names, addresses and case histories of people who have threatened, assaulted, harassed or otherwise interfered with the duties of IRS employees.

IRS spokesman Clay Sanford said he could not discuss how many people are on that list or whether Stack had been designated a potentially dangerous taxpayer.

Most IRS employees never encounter violence. But IRS employees are constantly exposed to other people's contempt for their profession.

Christopher Jenkins, who worked as a seasonal employee for the agency last year and is now a salesperson at Nordstrom, said he learned how to how to spot suspicious packages or bombs during his time with the IRS. He also read "long-winded letters about why people thought they were being wronged," he said.

"I think it's very easy for someone to hate the IRS as a non-human entity and hate what it represents in their life," said Jenkins, 23. "They forget that a human being somewhere is going to open their hate mail."

Lowry is used to the presence of security guards at the IRS office in which she works. She's been through evacuations caused by suspicious items in the mail, such as white powder. (It turned out to be packing material.) And while she has always known the risks of her job, she wasn't concerned about her safety until now.

"I'm a little worried, honestly," she said. "Every time I walk into the building, I'm going to think about it."

Austinite Jesse Pangelinan, 41, never felt threatened during his 13 years at the IRS. He said it wasn't until after he left the agency in 2000 to become a stand-up comedian that he came face to face with true IRS rage. After he joked about his former job at a comedy club in Ardmore, Okla., one audience member heckled Pangelinan so badly that the heckler had to be removed from the building.

"I was escorted back to my car in case he followed me," said Pangelinan, who also works at an insurance company in Austin. "The security guard followed me back to my hotel."

Lowry said she has heard everything from silly remarks ("Can you lose my tax return?") to disbelief ("Oh my God, I can't believe you work there.") She's heard tirades and sob stories.

IRS officials are "taking additional security measures in the Austin area," said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union in Washington, D.C., which represents 85,000 IRS workers across the country. She did not detail what they were.

Lowry said that when she went to work this weekend at her office in South Austin, she saw two SUVs marked "security" at the entrance — something she had not seen before the plane crash.

Kelley, who met with Austin employees after the attack, said she was impressed with how well workers were dealing with the tragedy. The IRS is providing counseling for employees who need it following the plane crash.

"I know that these employees face many hard days ahead but what I saw was their spirit, their strength and their resilience," Kelley wrote in an e-mail to the Statesman. "It is clear that they care deeply for one another."

KUT radio personality Bob Branson, who retired as a IRS spokesman 12 years ago after 21 years with the agency, says anger at IRS employees is misguided.

"These are people trying to enforce incredibly complex and frequently incredibly unpopular laws," said Branson, 70. "Enforcing the law has to be done by someone, but keep in mind, these are not the people who make the laws... They're doing a job that needs to be done."

Sheriff's Office in Florida Shut Down When Citizen Brings Suspicious Letter In  (NBC News, 3/1/2010)

Ft. Meyers, FL: The lobby of the Lee County Sheriff's Office was shut down for about half an hour Monday as the HAZMAT team investigated a suspicious powder.

Someone received a letter at their home that contained a white powder. Thinking it was suspicious, the person took the letter and the powder to the sheriff's office.

To be safe, the sheriff's office had to contact the HAZMAT team to investigate the suspicious powder.

Once it was determined the powder was not hazardous, it was turned over to the Lee County Health Department to find out what the substance was.

The sheriff's office wants to remind residents if you receive something suspicious, stay where you are. Let law enforcement come to you.