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Chicago Area Synagogues On Alert For Terror Attack  (Chicago Courier News, 10/31/2010)

Chicago, IL--Area synagogues were notified Friday they might have been the destination for suspicious packages coming in from Yemen.

And Elgin Postmaster Sue Meathe said her employees also were notified to be extra vigilant as they process and deliver the mail.

But Paul Drazen, chief program officer for the New York-based United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, said Friday, “The truth is that we have for many years now told our congregations and offices to be watchful and told them what to do in terms of how to look for specific packages.”

Drazen spoke on behalf of United Synagogues in the area, including the Congregation Kneseth Israel on Division Street in Elgin, the McHenry County Jewish Congregation in Crystal Lake and the Or Tikvah in Grayslake.

Law enforcement officials were investigating reports of suspicious packages disguised as ink-toner cartridges on cargo planes in Philadelphia and Newark, N.J., as well as an overnight stop of a Chicago-bound UPS plane in England that had suspicious cargo.

According to a CNN report, law enforcement sources said they were acting on a tip from an unnamed “ally” that cargo coming from Yemen were headed for synagogues in Chicago.

The suspicious package in England, which contained a “manipulated” ink-toner cartridge, tested negative for explosive material, according to CNN, quoting a law enforcement source.

Meanwhile, officials for FedEx said the company had confiscated a suspicious package in Dubai that was shipped from Yemen and is cooperating with the FBI.

“Frankly, it should just be inspiring more diligence in what we’re already supposed to be looking out for,” Drazen said.

He said the alerts put out by the FBI and other government agencies serve as a reminder to always be vigilant. He likened it to reports of burglaries reminding residents to lock doors and windows, a practice that should be commonplace anyway.

In Elgin, Meathe said, “We have certain things we watch out for always. If we notice something suspicious we make sure it will not get delivered to the public.”

Linda Haase, associate vice president of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, said her organization was notified by authorities Friday.

“We are taking appropriate precautions, and we are advising local synagogues to do likewise,” Haase said. “Sadly, this is not the first time the Jewish community has had to deal with a security issue.”

Presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs said: “There are no identifiable or specific threats to the Chicago area. Since two of the suspicious packages that were intercepted were addressed to religious institutions in Chicago, all churches, synagogues and mosques in the Chicago area should be vigilant for any unsolicited or unexpected packages, especially those originating from overseas locations.”

Chicago, FBI spokesman Ross Rice said he knew of no suspicious packages that had arrived in Chicago. “I am aware of one package and do not know what the intended destination was,” referring to the package recovered in England.

Officials: Investigators Almost Missed 1 Mail Bomb  (FoxNews, 10/31/2010)

WASHINGTON -- One of the two powerful bombs shipped from Yemen to Chicago-area synagogues nearly slipped past investigators even after they were tipped off, a U.S. official and a British security consultant said Sunday.

The near-miss shows that the suspected Al Qaeda bomb was sophisticated enough to escape notice. It also shows how close terrorists came to getting the explosives airborne and bound for the U.S.

Intelligence officials were tipped off to a pair of explosive packages on planes in England and the United Arab Emirates early Friday morning.

After a six-hour sweep of cargo at the East Midlands airport in central England, Leicestershire police came up empty and removed the security perimeter they had set up, British aviation safety consultant Chris Yates said.

But when officials in Dubai said they had discovered a bomb disguised as a computer printer cartridge, authorities urged the British to look again, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

"As a direct consequence, they put the cordon back up again and looked again and found the explosives," said Yates, relying on a report given to him by an eyewitness to the searches.

President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, called it "a very sophisticated device, in terms of how it was constructed, how it was concealed."

"It was a viable device. It was self-contained, so it could have been detonated and activated," Brennan told NBC's "Meet the Press," adding that officials are trying to determine whether the planes or the synagogues were the intended targets.

On Friday evening, the Leicestershire police handed control of the investigation to the Metropolitan Police, the London-based agency also known as Scotland Yard.

Leicestershire police declined to answer questions Sunday about the searches, referring callers to Scotland Yard, which traditionally takes the lead in major terrorism cases in Britain.

White House: Threat From Bombs Is 'Ongoing'  (NPR, 10/31/2010)

Authorities in Yemen released a female engineering student who had been brought in for questioning in an airline cargo bomb plot, as investigators around the globe strained to understand the outlines of the attempt and the masterminds behind it.

Only hours after White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said he was "confident" that a 22-year-old woman detained Saturday in Yemen had mailed the bomb-laden parcels, government officials in the country said they had released her, citing an apparent case of identity theft.

The confusion only served to underscore the increasing sophistication of terrorists using Yemen as a home base, and the still developing national security and law enforcement response in the U.S.

A team of federal investigators -- including FBI agents and transportation security officials -- is on the way to Yemen to hunt for clues in the case and advise about screening procedures, authorities confirmed. Among their first tasks will be to find out who stole the engineering student’s identity and mailed the packages.

"We are continuing to pursue aggressively a variety of investigative leads and are working very closely with Yemeni, British and Emirati officials to find those responsible for the attempted terrorist attacks," according to a U.S. government official.

The package bombs discovered last week — one in Britain, the other in Dubai — were both addressed to Jewish institutions in Chicago, but their ultimate target remains unclear.

"I believe the threat is certainly ongoing," Brennan said on the Sunday talk shows. "We just need to stay on top of this and work it diligently."

Brennan said authorities can't rule out that the two devices are the only ones out there. He added that investigators "have to presume" there might be more potential mail bombs.

FedEx and UPS have stopped importing packages from Yemen.

The two bombs were "very sophisticated" and "self-contained," Brennan added, apparently meaning they could have exploded without an external signal of some kind, "at a time of the terrorists' choosing."

The foiled plot "certainly bears the hallmark" of al-Qaida's Yemen branch, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, and the terrorist group is "still at war with us, and we are very much at war with them," Brennan said.

Forensic analysis indicates that the bomb-maker also constructed the devices used in the failed bombing on a Detroit-bound airliner last Christmas and the attack on Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism chief last year, Brennan said.

The person assembling these devices, he told ABC's This Week, is "clearly somebody who has a fair amount of training and experience, and we need to find him and we need to bring him to justice."

U.S. intelligence officials believe the suspected bomb-maker is a Saudi named Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri.

British officials say they believe the bombers intended to bring down the airplanes, and Brennan told CBS' Face the Nation that the U.S. backs that view.

"At this point, we would agree with the British that it looks as though they were designed to detonate in flight," he said.

But Brennan added that they are still working to figure out whether the airplanes or the Chicago synagogues were intended to be the final stop for the bombs.

The bombs all contained the explosive PETN.

NPR's Tom Gjelten told Weekend Edition Sunday host Liane Hansen that the explosive powder was packed into toner cartridges, in order to hide it from scanning.

Meanwhile in Yemen, police released Hanan al-Samawi, whose detention had prompted protests among her fellow students at Sanaa University. They are now looking for a woman who may have impersonated her at UPS and FedEx offices in the country.

Gjelten said authorities apparently traced the woman through a phone number that she allegedly left.

"It suggests that the Yemeni authorities want to show that they are cooperating, but it's far from clear what responsibility this woman had," Gjelten said.

A Yemeni human rights group said al-Samawi is not known to be involved in any political activity or to have ties to any Islamic groups. After the apparent dead end, investigators were hunting the impoverished Mideast country for more conspirators. Authorities were also looking at two language institutions the plotters may have been associated with.

The explosives were pulled off airplanes in England and the United Arab Emirates early Friday morning, touching off a tense search for other devices. More details emerged Saturday about the plot that exploited security gaps in the worldwide shipping system, and prompted calls for tougher screening of air freight.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he believes the explosive device found in central England was intended to detonate on the plane, while British Home Secretary Theresa May said the bomb was powerful enough to take down the aircraft. A U.S. official said the second device found in Dubai was thought to be similarly potent.

Brennan said the devices, which other officials report were wired to cell phones, timers and power supplies, did not require someone to physically detonate them while the planes were in the air, or when the packages were halfway around the world in the U.S.

Still, the fact that the devices made it onto airplanes showed that nearly a decade since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, terrorists continue to probe and find security vulnerabilities.

Qatar Airways released a statement Sunday saying the bomb discovered in Dubai was flown out of Yemen on one of its flights by way of Doha, the Qatari capital.

A spokesman for the airline, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the company's standing policies on conversations with the media, said the parcel traveled on two separate passenger planes.

And The Associated Press, citing an unnamed U.S. official and a British security consultant, said investigators may have overlooked one of the devices the first time they swept a cargo plane at East Midlands airport.

After Dubai authorities reported finding a suspicious toner cartridge, the U.K. investigators searched again and unearthed a questionable device on a plane there, the AP report said.

In response to questions on the Sunday talk shows, Brennan said that investigators are giving a fresh look to the Sept. 3 crash of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai. But investigators in the United Arab Emirates said Sunday there was no evidence that an explosion caused that crash.

Two pilots were killed in the crash after a fire began in the cargo area and smoke filled the cockpit. Investigators initially expressed concern about a shipment of lithium batteries onboard.

UPS Terror Scare: Fear Hit Heart Of Brooklyn - If Only Briefly  (Daily News, 10/30/2010)

Brooklyn, NY--A PAIR OF suspicious envelopes at first thought to be linked to the international terror plot were found in Brooklyn yesterday, triggering mass evacuations and the closure of the Manhattan Bridge.

Police helicopters thundered in the skies above downtown Brooklyn just before noon as scores of NYPD, FBI and FDNY vehicles encircled the loading dock at 4 MetroTech, moving back terrified workers and passersby.

"We have no idea what's going on," said Joanne Attzs, 47, who works for JPMorgan on the fourth floor. "They just told us to go out and get away from the building. I'm so scared."

As federal officials pieced together a terror plot that threatened two Chicago synagogues, investigators realized the threatening shipment had originated in Yemen - and feared it had also reached the city.

NYPD detectives initially believed a suspicious package was on a UPS truck in Long Island City but later learned it had left Queens for Brooklyn, law enforcement sources said.

The truck was tracked to the MetroTech loading dock. Members of the NYPD bomb squad found two letters from Yemen inside the vehicle - but quickly deemed both harmless.

The envelopes, which were shipped from Yemen to Kennedy Airport, contained bank receipts and other paperwork, officials said. Investigators don't believe the letters were connected to the explosives found in Dubai and the United Kingdom.

Hours later, another suspicious letter was found at the Working Family Party's office blocks away from MetroTech.

The six-hour scare ended about 11:30 p.m. after about 50 workers were evacuated when an employee found a white powder in an envelope addressed to the organization. The substance was tested and found to be nontoxic.

Threats To U.S. Jews From International Mail: ADL  (Reuters, 10/30/2010)

NEW YORK- - There is a threat to U.S. Jewish institutions from packages mailed from Britain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, the Anti-Defamation League said on Friday, citing law enforcement sources.

"In light of the reported threat, the League has sent out a notice to U.S. Jewish communal institutions across the country to increase mailroom security and to contact law enforcement immediately if they see anything suspicious," the League said.

Experts: Passenger Planes Also At Risk From Cargo  (AP, 10/30/2010)

LONDON  — The mail bombs discovered aboard cargo jets in England and Dubai could very easily have ended up on passenger planes, which carry more than half of the international air cargo coming into the U.S., experts say.

And experts caution that cargo, even when loaded onto passenger planes, is sometimes lightly inspected or even completely unexamined, particularly when it comes from countries without well-developed aviation security systems.

About 60 percent of all cargo flown into the U.S. is on passenger planes, according to Brandon Fried, a cargo security expert and executive director of the Airforwarders Association. New jumbo jets flying in from overseas — like the Boeing 777 — have "cavernous" bellies where freight is stored, he said.

Most countries require parcels placed on passenger flights by international shipping companies to go through at least one security check. Methods include hand checks, sniffer dogs, X-ray machines and high-tech devices that can find traces of explosives on paper or cloth swabs.

But air shipping is governed by a patchwork of inconsistent controls that make packages a potential threat even to passenger jets, experts said Saturday. Security protocols vary widely around the world, whether they're related to passenger aircraft or cargo planes.

That at least two parcels containing explosives could be placed on cargo-only flights to England and Dubai, one in a FedEx shipment from Yemen, was a dramatic example of the risks, but the dangers have been obvious for years, analysts said.

Some Western countries, perhaps belatedly, are trying now to manage the risks.

Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May said the device discovered early Friday morning at England's East Midlands Airport was potentially able to explode — and could have been used to bring down a plane. She said the U.K. has now banned the movement of all unaccompanied air freight originating from Yemen.

France's civil aviation authority also suspended air freight from Yemen, as did the world's largest package delivery companies — FedEx and UPS.

One particular vulnerability in the system: Trusted companies that regularly do business with freight shippers are allowed to ship parcels as "secure" cargo that is not automatically subjected to further checks.

And even where rules are tight on paper, enforcement can be lax. A U.S. government team that visited cargo sites around the world last year found a range of glaring defects, said John Shingleton, managing director of Handy Shipping Guide, an industry information service.

"They walked into a warehouse where supposedly secure cargo was," he said, declining to say where that was. "Generally security is high, but if you think it's perfect you're kidding yourself."

Cargo companies have long shipped on passenger airlines, for whom cargo provides extra income. Passenger planes often carry the most perishable goods shipped internationally, like live seafood, fresh flowers and even human organs.

Authorities are well aware of the risks cargo aboard passenger planes poses, as shown by the decision Friday to have American fighter jets escort an Emirates Airlines passenger jet down the coast to New York to keep track of it until its cargo had been inspected.

Air freight generally consists of the most expensive cargo, everything from designer clothing and prescription drugs to car parts and mobile phones. Freight is often transported in large pallets, which are generally not taken apart to inspect because the process would significantly slow down air travel and the movement of goods.

About 50,000 tons of cargo is shipped by air within the U.S. every day, according to the Transportation Security Administration. About 25 percent of that is shipped by passenger airlines. Mike Boyd, who heads an aviation industry consulting firm in Colorado, said cargo is often put onboard passenger flights at the last minute, similar to passengers flying on standby.

Inside the U.S., new rules that took effect in August require that every piece of cargo be checked for explosives. Cargo is increasingly screened by X-ray machines and handheld wands — the TSA has approved dozens of new machines in the past two years that can detect traces of explosive materials.

But those rules don't cover goods coming in from other countries.

"We've known for decades that freight isn't as secure — this isn't a surprise," security expert Bruce Schneier said. "You can't protect every package. There's no way."

Cargo that travels through airports in countries with high threat levels and advanced security systems is often safer. The system at London's busy Heathrow Airport is relatively effective because cargo is held for 24 hours, giving authorities time to check it properly, according to Shingleton.

Still, since August U.S. aviation officials have been pressing the European Union to require the X-raying of every package placed on passenger planes, but they have met resistance because of the cost and logistics involved in screening such a huge amount of material, aviation safety consultant Chris Yates said.

"Is it possible one of these devices could get on passenger jets?" Yates said. "I'm not convinced it could on flights between London and the States, but it could get on from less secure parts of the world, including the Middle East. If you talk to anybody senior at airports, they will tell you freight is the weak link in the chain."

X-Ray machines are not an effective tool to screen bulk cargo because of the large size and number of the items that need to be inspected, said Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International, while more sophisticated technology, like gamma-ray machines, are extremely expensive.

Baum warned that it would be foolhardy to downplay the threat posed by cargo-only planes, since those could be loaded with an explosive device that could be detonated when the plane is on its final approach over a major city.

"Security in the UK is pretty good, the U.S. is not bad, but aviation is a global business and we need effective regimes around the globe," he said. "Cargo travels on both cargo-only and on combi-aircraft, which have passengers and cargo, and cargo is not subject to the same screening requirements as passengers' baggage."

Seattle  Jewish Organizations Urged To Boost Vigilance After Plot  (KOMO, 10/29/2010)

SEATTLE, WA -- The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle sent warning letters Friday to dozens of local Jewish organizations and synagogues, advising them of the apparent threat to Chicago synagogues and to take precautions.

"They need to have their antennas up," said Richard Fruchter, President & CEO of Jewish Federation for greater Seattle. "And relook at their security around their institution and look at how they are accepting mail and packages and make sure that any suspicious activity or people around their building is reported."

The letter, sent to the 43 local organizations that are members of SAFE Washington, came after authorities on three continents thwarted multiple terrorist attacks aimed at the United States Friday, seizing two explosive packages addressed to Chicago-area synagogues and packed aboard cargo jets from Yemen.

President Barack Obama's counterterror chief warned parts of the plot might remain undetected.

"The United States is not assuming that the attacks were disrupted and is remaining vigilant," Obama adviser John Brennan said at the White House.

The warning letter from SAFE Washington says the packages may contain specific markings from the "American Center for Training and Development" or "Yemen-American Institute for Languages, Computers and Management" and/or possibly contain the initials "Y.A.I."

Fruchter said the Jewish Federation always maintains constant touch with local and federal authorities to keep them in the loop for any threats.

"Whenever we hear something from those institutions, we will send something out to our organizations - not to make them paranoid but... vigilance is the best deterrent," Fruchter said. "We remind people if they see something to say something."

SAFE Washington is a Jewish community coalition working to keep the community safe from natural, manmade, and technological disasters, and all Jewish agencies across the state of Washington are invited to participate.

Fruchter says the organization was formed after the shooting inside Seattle's Jewish Federation in 2006. He said the need for added security is just a function of the current world climate.

"It's unfortunate because it's a distraction from the good work that we want to do in education and social services so we all have missions other than security but in this day and age it's a necessary evil," Fruchter said.

Cargo Plane Bomb Alert: Explosive Devices 'Designed To Harm US Synagogues'  (Telegraph, 10/29/2010)

An international terrorist alert over a possible al-Qaeda parcel bomb threat to synagogues has been triggered following the discovery of a package containing explosive material at a British airport.

The suspected plot was uncovered by MI6 after a tip-off to one of its officers responsible for Yemen, which has become a key battleground in the fight against Islamic terrorists.

On Friday, airports in the United States were on high alert after parcels containing explosive material, and addressed to synagogues in Chicago, were discovered on cargo aircraft at East Midlands airport and in Dubai.

Barack Obama, the US President, confirmed the packages sent from Yemen and intercepted in Dubai and the East Midlands had contained explosive material.

The US President said the devices represented a "credible terrorist threat against our country".

John Brennan, Mr Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, said the "birdbox" packages were "designed to do harm".

"Clearly from this initial analysis the materials that were found in the device that was uncovered were intended to do harm," he told reporters at the White House.

Asked whether Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical US-Yemeni cleric, was suspected of being involved, Mr Brennan said all people with known links to al-Qaeda in the country were being discussed.

The "sinister" parcel at East Midlands, contained in a UPS container, comprised what police described as a "manipulated" computer printer cartridge, which was covered in white powder and had wires protruding from it.

The device initially tested negative for traces of explosives but it was understood that a further search uncovered a second suspicious package containing a "cleverly hidden" device in a printer, which included a mobile phone as one of its components.

Officials in the US last night said that early indications were that the packages contained PETN, the chemical used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in the failed Christmas Day plane bombing in Detroit.

The white-powdered substance is commonly used in detonation material for industrial explosions. It was also part of the device used in 2001 by Richard Reid, the "shoe-bomber" who failed to blow up a plane bound for Miami.

There were reports that up to 20 similar suspect packages had been sent from Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, targeting synagogues in the US.

Mr Obama said: "Initial examination of these packages has determined that they do apparently contain explosive material."

US officials were investigating three theories: that the packages contained viable devices; that they were part of a dry run for a parcel bomb plot; or that they were a hoax designed to cause panic in the US before midterm elections. Mr Brennan said that a "traditional dry-run" would not ordinarily involve the use of explosive materials.

Mr Obama ordered a security clampdown across the US after the discovery of the parcel at East Midlands. Aircraft were grounded in Philadelphia and New York.

The alert increased the focus on the threat emanating from Yemen, which was where Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was caught trying to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear on a flight to Detroit last Christmas, said he had been trained.

US officials said the Yemeni-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) would be at the top of the list of suspects if any terrorism links were confirmed. Mr Brennan described AQAP as "the most active operational franchise" of the terrorist group.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said all direct flights from Yemen to Britain had been grounded. Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, pinpointed the country as a security concern in his first public speech on Thursday.

There is particular concern over al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda leader and US national who is based in Yemen and uses the internet to broadcast propaganda and terrorist instruction in fluent English.

Sermons by al-Awlaki, who has been described as the "bin Laden of the internet", were attended by some of the September 11 hijackers.

Faisal Shahzad, who admitted to attempting to detonate a car bomb in New York's Times Square earlier this year, said he had been inspired by al-Awlaki,

Sources told The Daily Telegraph that MI6 began the security operation after receiving information from a source in Yemen. Following the tip-off, Leicester­shire police found the package on a cargo plane at East Midlands airport at about 3.30am.

Scotland Yard's counter terrorism command, which took over the investigation, confirmed that several items had been taken away for analysis.

Mrs May said there was nothing to suggest that any location in Britain was being targeted. "A suspect package was discovered during a search of a cargo flight at East Midlands airport," she said. "The package originated in Yemen and was addressed to a US destination.

"We are considering what steps need to be put in place regarding security of freight originating from Yemen. For security reasons, there are currently no direct flights from Yemen to the UK."

The parcels appear to have been shipped by UPS and FedEx. Using the tracking numbers of all packages sent in a consignment from Sanna, which had been split as it made its way to the US, authorities began checking all other possible suspect packages.

Two UPS jets in Philadelphia and a third jet in Newark, New Jersey, that had flown in from Germany and France were moved away from terminal buildings. No explosives were found.

In Brooklyn, New York, police examined a package from a UPS lorry, but found nothing suspicious.

A spokesman for the Jewish Federation of Chicago said it was alerted early yesterday and had advised local synagogues to take security precautions.

A White House spokesman said: “Intelligence and law enforcement agencies discovered potential suspicious packages on two planes in transit to the United States. “Based on close co-operation among US government agencies and with our foreign allies and partners, authorities were able to identify and examine two suspicious packages, one in London and one in Dubai.

“Both of these packages originated from Yemen. As a result of security precautions triggered by this threat, the additional measures were taken regarding the flights at Newark Liberty and ­Philadelphia International Airports.”

There was a dispute over airline security earlier this week when senior figures in the industry, including Martin Broughton, the chairman of British Airways, said Britain should stop “kowtowing” to excessive US security demands.

The latest developments will only increase security measures, especially surrounding cargo planes. The threat level in Britain was raised from substantial to “severe” in March partly as a result of an increased threat from Yemen.

Anthrax Scare At Oklahoma City Charity Headquarters  (Bio Prep Watch, 10/27/2010)

White powder fell out of an envelope at the Feed the Children headquarters in Oklahoma City last week, prompting fears of anthrax.

Tests on the substance determined that it was nonhazardous and that it may have been corn starch, according to Oklahoma City Deputy Fire Chief Cecil Clay, NewsOK.com reports.

The powder fell onto the hands, shirt and pants of one employee. Security officers at the charity turned off the air conditioner, secured the mail room and called the police immediately after the powder was discovered, according to NewsOK.com. 

There have been many suspected powder and other bioterror threats since the 2001 anthrax attacks that occurred shortly after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. In response, the U.S. Postal Service started a new Biological Detection System with units in 270 postal distribution and processing center. This system can screen the air around the sorting machines for potentially dangerous biological substances, Medillnsj.org reports.

“Since 2001 Postal Inspectors have responded to over 38,000 (suspected bioterror) incidents,” Peter Rendina, assistant inspector of the Washington Division of the Postal Inspection Service, said, according to Medillnsj.org, “Most of the time the substances/items were caused by customers wrapping food products incorrectly or forgetting their briefcase or backpack in the Post Office lobby.”

Weekly training is administered to postal employees, which includes security and safety related to reporting and detecting suspicious mail.

NPR Receives Bomb Threat, FBI Confirms  (FoxNews, 10/26/2010)

Federal officials responded to a bomb threat at NPR in Washington, D.C., on Monday, nearly a week after the controversial firing of Juan Williams, the FBI tells Fox News.

Federal agents with the Joint Terrorism Task Force collected a letter that was received in the mail, the FBI said Tuesday. It is now in the bureau's custody. There is no word on what was said in the letter.

The Washington Post reports that NPR warned its employees about a general "security threat" in a staff memo Monday.

"We're taking extra precautions today," NPR spokeswoman Anna Christopher told the Post on Tuesday. "We're being more aware of who's entering the building."

The station has received thousands of e-mails and phone calls since the dismissal of Williams last Wednesday.

NPR fired Williams for comments he made on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" in which he said he gets worried over flying on planes with people wearing "Muslim garb." He said later in the same interview that it's wrong to racially or religiously profile people.

New Jersey Postal Processor Charged With Dumping 32,000 Pieces of Mail  (WPVI, 10/26/2010)

DEPTFORD, N.J. -- Residents in South Jersey whose mail never arrived at its destinations now have a clue about what happened to it.

A Deptford man who was supposed to deliver the mail is accused of dumping it instead.

"There's a walking trail here where three pallets of mail were discovered," said U.S. Postal Inspector Alex Sylvester.

32,000 pieces of bundled first class and bulk mail was dumped near playing fields in West Deptford.

It happened in May but the indictment was just handed up charging Robert Lyons of Wenonah with federal crime of desertion of mail.

Lyons worked for Total Mailing System, a company in West Deptford that processes mail for clients, shrink wraps it and delivers it to the regional postal facility in Bellmawr.

Most of the mail was recovered a day after it was dumped and Lyons was fired. He has been released on unsecured bond and ordered to get psychiatric help. He was also ordered to stay away from drugs and alcohol.

"The penalty would be up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine," said Sylvester.

According to the indictment, Lyons was upset about his personal life and consumed alcohol while performing his duties.

He allegedly planned to retrieve the mail and deliver it later.

Huntingdon Life Sciences Supplier's Life 'Under Siege' By Animal Rights Extremists  (BBC News, 10/25/2010)

UK--A businessman who was persecuted by animal rights activists because of his link to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) has said he has spent seven years living under siege and fearing for his family's safety.

He removed his name from the electoral register, installed security devices at his home, took a different route to and from work every day and changed his car regularly in an effort not to be identified.

But despite these measures, the man - who is too frightened to reveal his identity - was tracked by a gang of activists who subjected him to a campaign of fear and harassment.

“It has made my family very fearful of opening the door”

"We would get letters which contained broken glass, blood-stained razor blades, syringe needles, used condoms and used sanitary towels, which the letters claimed were from HIV sufferers," he said.

The three men and three women responsible for turning his life and the lives of his family upside down have now been sentenced.

Thomas Harris, 27, of Ringwood, Hampshire; Nicola Tapping, 29, also from Ringwood; Jason Mullen, 32, of Islington, London; Alfie Fitzpatrick, 21, of Solihull, West Midlands; Nicole Vosper, 22, of Newquay, Cornwall, and Sarah Whitehead, 53, of Littlehampton, West Sussex, had waged an international campaign of intimidation against a host of companies to try to force the closure of HLS.

Their victim said: "We ended up with a large section of the local community receiving letters accusing myself and my business partner of running an internet-based paedophile ring.

"[The letters] actually recruited vigilantes to come round and deal with us.

"The main fear was that somebody would actually believe these things and come round at two in the morning to wreak havoc and vengeance."

The animal rights activists never visited his home until he sold it to another family.

He said: "Mistakenly, the people who bought my house were visited by animal rights people who completely wrecked their cars.

"It has made my family very fearful of opening the door. You hear a noise in the middle of the night, is somebody outside painting graffiti on your house?

"Is there going to be a letter bomb pushed through the door, is the house going to be burnt down with you inside it?"

The group's conviction is the result of a lengthy multi-million pound police investigation into the activities of a group of animal rights activists known as Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC).

Its founding members Gregg Avery, 41, and his then wife Heather Nicholson, 41, both from Hampshire, were jailed in January last year, along with five other people, for orchestrating a six-year blackmail campaign against firms that supplied HLS.

Harris, Tapping, Mullan, Vosper and Whitehead were arrested after police raided addresses across the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium in May 2007.

Fitzpatrick was arrested in March 2008 following further investigations into animal rights extremism.

Although their victim was pleased the activists had been caught, he said he was worried they would become "martyrs to the cause" and others would follow suit.

"Everybody is entitled to their own opinion [but] it's the way it is forced on other people that's creating the problem - not the actual opinions themselves," he said.

"I cannot see it ever stopping - never."

But he and his business partner refuse to be browbeaten.

He added: "We have never thought of giving up.

"As far as we are concerned, we are supplying a valuable service to British medical research."

Suspicious Package Sent To Wisconsin Senator’s Home  (AP, 10/31/2010)

MIDDLETON, Wis. —A suspicious package sent to U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold's home in Middleton has turned out to be a harmless board game.

WTMJ-TV reports that police say the return address showed the name of Thomas Jefferson with an Illinois address, but a computer search indicates the address was a postal building.

Due to the recent national news of mail bombs being sent to Chicago synagogues, authorities contacted the Dane County Bomb Squad.

It found the package contained a letter and a board game. Police say it appears the package was sent as a joke.

Terrror Bomb Scare: NYPD Keeps Closer Eye On City Temples; Jewish Community On Alert  (Daily News, 10/31/2010)

Security was stepped up at synagogues across New York on Saturday and the Jewish community was on alert after authorities intercepted explosives bound for Chicago houses of worship.

In Brooklyn, some members of the Orthodox community were unaware of the terror threat since they had not read the newspaper, watched television or listened to the radio in observance of the Sabbath.

However, word was spreading quickly that Jewish centers in Chicago were believed to be the target of the potentially deadly packages found in the United Kingdom and Dubai and that the NYPD was beefing up security.

"It's always related to a Jewish organization," said Yehuda Eber, 43, who was attending a service at Chabad Lubavitch in Crown Heights, where NYPD patrol cars lingered on the streets as worshipers filed inside for Shabbat services.

"The threat is alive and well. I'm not gonna say I'm used to it, but anything can happen anytime, anywhere," Eber said. "We hope and pray that law enforcement takes it seriously. It's a different world now."

At the Temple Emanu-El on E.65th St. in Manhattan, a mobile command center and patrol guard stood outside the synagogue.

"Our counterterrorism coverage will continue to include coverage of synagogues, at least for the next few days," said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne. "Although I want to emphasize that there's nothing to suggest New York is being targeted in this instance."

Locals said the police presence was the same every Saturday, but news of what President Obama described as a "credible terrorist threat against our country" was on everyone's lips.

"It's scary, isn't it? It's odd, it's creepy," said Margery Daly, who sings in the choir and lives in Tarrytown. "We're always in danger but you can't dwell on it."

In Chicago, members of the Jewish community continued their weekend services despite knowing that two packages containing white power and wires were addressed to two synagogues in the city's North Side neighborhood.

"We're always prepared," said Emily Eyre, 49, who is also in the choir at Temple Emanu-El. "When you work in a synagogue you're prepared for it."

Online Shoppers Face Delivery Delays After Bomb Plot  (Independent, 10/31/2010)

UK--IRISH online shoppers are set to face significant delays in receiving their purchases as a result of Friday's global terror bomb scare.

A number of the big online shopping companies were attempting to assure customers that delays will not happen, but experts speaking yesterday said such interruptions are unavoidable. The discovery of US-bound mail bombs on cargo planes at East Midlands Airport, England, and at Dubai reveals the vulnerability of air shipping, which is governed by a patchwork of inconsistent controls that make packages a potential threat, even to passenger jets, experts said yesterday.

Irish consumers spent over €2.13bn on purchases from internet sites in 2009, with the average Irish shopper spending €1,450.

This is a decrease from an average of €1,700 in the previous year.

Flights and holidays are the most popular online purchase, with 83 per cent of survey respondents having paid for these via the internet last year.

Tickets for concerts, movies and other entertainment events were also popular, with 67 per cent of survey participants buying them online during the course of the year.

Yesterday, the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, said the device found on a plane at East Midlands Airport was viable and could have exploded on board an aircraft.

Speaking after a Cobra meeting, the UK government's emergency planning committee to discuss security, Ms May said, "The target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated, the aircraft could have been brought down."

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama said the discovery of two suspicious packages on cargo planes bound for America is being treated as a credible terrorist threat.

Initial examinations of the packages show they contained explosive materials.

One of the packages was found on a United Parcel Service cargo plane which arrived at East Midlands Airport in Britain from Yemen; and the other was discovered at a FedEx Corp facility in Dubai, following a tip-off from authorities in Saudi Arabia.

They were addressed to two Jewish places of worship in Chicago. President Obama said security would be increased for air travel for as long as necessary.

Still, since August, US aviation officials have been pressing the European Union to require the X-raying of every package placed on passenger planes, but they have met resistance because of the cost and logistics involved in screening such a huge amount of material, aviation safety consultant Chris Yates said.

"Is it possible one of these devices could get on passenger jets?" Yates said.

"I'm not convinced it could on flights between London and the States, but it could get on from less secure parts of the world, including the Middle East.

"If you talk to anybody senior at airports, they will tell you freight is the weak link in the chain."

Ink Cartridge Bomb Reveals Innovation Of Terrorist Groups  (Telegraph, 10/30/2010)

The use of explosive material built into printer cartridges shows terrorist groups are coming up with innovative new ways to launch attacks on foreign soil, according to security experts.

The packages discovered on cargo planes in Britain and Dubai are now undergoing forensic analysis.

According to US officials initial tests indicated the use of PETN, the same powerful explosive used in the plot to blow up a plane over Detroit last Christmas.

"If this attack is by AQAP (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), it demonstrates an accelerated ability to design new and innovative ways of conducting IED attacks and a focused effort to execute those attacks on US soil," Ben Venzke, chief executive of the intelligence agency IntelCenter, said.

Mr Venzke said the group elaborated on its bomb-making philosophy in its official Arabic-language magazine, Sada al-Malahim, following the attempted Christmas Day bombing.

"The article provides insights into how the group approaches IED (improvised explosive device) design and creates devices for specific targets and operations," he said.

"The creation of devices built into toner cartridges fits within this philosophy and would not be surprising to see coming out of AQAP."

He quoted the article as saying: "The using of many methods for implementation and bombings is very important because it gives flexibility to operations and the infiltration through barriers.

"The decision to use one device or another differs according to the importance of the location and the results of the blast. You have weapons that you use at the proper time. This is also subject to the conditions of the targeted place.

"The tight security inside the office of a security official under observation and guard is totally different than an aeroplane that is in the air for six hours.

"It is certain that the conditions in the later situation will be more flexible and do not raise suspicions during implementation."

Terror expert Dr Sally Leivesley said it appeared to be a "sophisticated" device which may have used the powdered toner as a means of evading screening.

She said the size of the device meant if it was a bomb it could cause "devastation".

She said: "It's a step-jump change in terms of threat to aviation and it's extremely serious.

"These devices can be put on board anywhere."

A spokeswoman for Heathrow said the airport was running as normal.

She said: "There has been no effect on our operation at all. We take our lead from the Government and we have not been asked to increase security at this time."

U.S. Sees Complexity of Bombs as Link to Al Qaeda  (NY Times, 10/30/2010)

WASHINGTON — The powerful bombs concealed inside cargo packages and destined for the United States were expertly constructed and unusually sophisticated, American officials said Saturday, further evidence that Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen is steadily improving its abilities to strike on American soil.

As investigators on three continents conducted forensic analyses of two bombs shipped from Yemen and intercepted Friday in Britain and Dubai, American officials said evidence was mounting that the top leadership of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, including the radical American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, was behind the attempted attacks.

Yemeni officials on Saturday announced the arrest of a young woman and her mother in connection with the plot, which also may have involved two language schools in Yemen. The two women were not identified, but a defense lawyer who has been in contact with the family, Abdul Rahman Barham, said the daughter was a 22 year-old engineering student at Sana University.

Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, said Saturday night during a news conference that Yemeni security forces had identified her based on a tip from American officials, but he did not indicate her suspected role.

Investigators said that the bomb discovered at the Dubai airport in the United Arab Emirates was concealed in a Hewlett-Packard desktop printer, with high explosives packed into a printer cartridge to avoid detection by scanners.

“The wiring of the device indicates that this was done by professionals,” said one official involved in the investigation, who like several officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the inquiry was continuing. “It was set up so that if you scan it, all the printer components would look right.”

The bomb discovered in Britain was also hidden in a printer cartridge.

The terror plot broke publicly in dramatic fashion on Friday morning, when the two packages containing explosives and addressed to synagogues or Jewish community centers in Chicago were found, setting off an international dragnet and fears about packages yet to be discovered. It also led to a tense scene in which American military jets escorted a plane to Kennedy International Airport amid concerns — which turned out to be unfounded — that there might be explosives on board.

On Saturday, in news conferences in London and Yemen, and from interviews with investigators here and abroad, the contours of the investigation began to emerge, along with new details of the frantic hours leading to the discovery of the packages.

American officials said their operating assumption was that the two bombs were the work of Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, Al Qaeda in Yemen’s top bomb-maker, whose previous devices have been more rudimentary, and also unsuccessful. Mr. Asiri is believed to have built both the bomb sewn into the underwear of the young Nigerian who tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight last Dec. 25, and the suicide bomb that nearly killed Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief, Mohammed bin Nayef, months earlier. (In the second episode, American officials say, Mr. Asiri hid the explosives in a body cavity of his brother, the suicide bomber.)

Just as in the two previous attacks, the bomb discovered in Dubai contained the explosive PETN, according to the Dubai police and Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security. This new plot, Ms. Napolitano said, had the “hallmarks of Al Qaeda.”

The targets of the bombs remained in question.

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said on Saturday that the parcel bomb intercepted in England was designed to explode while the plane was flying. The country’s home secretary, Theresa May, said that British investigators had also concluded the device was “viable and could have exploded.”

“The target may have been an aircraft, and had it detonated, the aircraft could have been brought down,” she said.

But earlier in the day, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House homeland security intelligence subcommittee, said that federal authorities indicated to him that the packages were probably intended to blow up the Jewish sites in Chicago rather than the cargo planes, since they do not carry passengers.

Based on a conversation with Ms. Napolitano, he said that authorities were also leaving open the possibility that other packages with explosives had not yet been found. On Saturday, Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the New York Police Department’s chief spokesman, said that no specific threats had been made against synagogues or Jewish neighborhoods in the city, but that officers were watching them more closely as a precaution.

It was a call from Mr. bin Nayef, the Saudi intelligence chief, on Thursday evening to John O. Brennan, the White House senior counterterrorism official and former C.I.A. station chief in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, that set off the search, according to American officials. They said Mr. bin Nayef also notified C.I.A. officials in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia has sometimes been a reluctant ally in America’s global campaign against radical militants. But it sees Yemen, its impoverished next door neighbor, as a different matter. The Saudis consider the Qaeda branch in Yemen its biggest security threat and Saudi intelligence has set up both a web of electronic surveillance and spies to penetrate the organization.

Reviewing the evidence, American intelligence officials say they believe that the plot may have been blessed by the highest levels of Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, including Mr. Awlaki.

“We know that Awlaki has taken a very specific interest in plotting against the United States, and we’ve found that he’s usually behind any attempted attack on American targets,” said one official.

Still they cautioned that it was still early to draw any firm conclusions and they did not present proof of Mr. Awlaki’s involvement.

This year, the C.I.A. designated Mr. Awlaki — an American citizen — as a high priority for the agency’s campaign of targeted killing.

According to one official involved in the investigation, the package that was discovered in Dubai had a woman’s name and location in Sana on the return address. The package left Yemen on Thursday, the official said, where it was flown to Doha, Qatar, and on to Dubai.

Also on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security dispatched a cable warning that the bombs may have been associated with two schools in Yemen — the Yemen American Institute for Languages-Computer Management, and the American Center for Training and Development.

That connection would echo the attempted bombing last Dec. 25; the Nigerian who was implicated had studied at a different Sana language school before training with Al Qaeda. If language schools are again involved, it opens the possibility that a foreign student or students may have participated in the plot.

Security forces in Yemen were in a state of heightened alert on Saturday, as investigators questioned cargo employees and shut down the FedEx and U.P.S. offices in Sana, the Yemeni capital.

Obama administration officials said they were discussing a range of responses to the thwarted attack. The failed attack on Dec. 25 created an opportunity for the White House to press Yemen’s government to take more aggressive action against Qaeda operatives there, and some American officials believe the conditions are similar now.

A thinly veiled campaign of American missile strikes in Yemen this year has achieved mixed results. American officials said that several Qaeda operatives had been killed in the attacks, but there have also been major setbacks, including a strike in May that accidentally killed a deputy governor in a remote province of Yemen. That strike infuriated Yemen’s president, Mr. Saleh, and forced a months-long halt in the American military campaign.

In recent months, the Obama administration has been debating whether to escalate its secret offensive against the Qaeda affiliate in Yemen. The C.I.A. has a fraction of the staff in Yemen that it currently has in Pakistan, where the spy agency is running a covert war in the country’s tribal areas, but over the course of the year the C.I.A. has sent more case officers and analysts to Sana as part of a task force with the military’s Joint Special Operations Command.

American officials have been considering sending armed drone aircraft to Yemen to replicate the Pakistan campaign, but such a move would almost certainly require the approval of the mercurial Mr. Saleh.

Yemeni officials have declined to comment on details of the plot, saying only that they are investigating. But new checkpoints appeared in the capital on Saturday, with officers checking the identity cards of drivers and pedestrians.

Minnesota Man Pleads Guilty To Mailing Suspicious White Powder To Dow Jones & Co.  (KARE, 10/29/2010)

MINNEAPOLIS -- A 70-year-old Long Lake man pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Minneapolis to sending a suspicious white powder to Dow Jones & Co. after receiving unsolicited mail from the company.

Appearing before a United States District Court judge, Richard Valentine Kozak pleaded guilty to one count of false information and hoaxes. Kozak was indicted on Aug. 19, 2010.

In his plea agreement, Kozak admitted that on May 10, 2010, he placed a quantity of white powder inside a prepaid, business-return envelope, along with an obscene note, and mailed it to the Dow Jones & Co. mail facility in Massachusetts. Kozak admitted his actions were in response to a magazine offer he had received from the company.

He also admitted he had included the white powder in the envelope to get the attention of Dow Jones with the understanding that people might become frightened when they receive a white powder in the mail.

When the envelope was opened, the powder spilled on an employee, who experienced great fear. The mail handling facility was closed for a period of time, and a local hazmat team spent more than four hours determining that the powder did not represent an anthrax or other biological threat.

For his crime, Kozak faces a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison. Judge Schiltz will determine his sentence at a future hearing, yet to be scheduled.

Suspicious Package Triggers Evacuation at New Jersey Plant  (NJ News, 10/29/2010)

Fair Lawn, NJ — A suspicious package set off a bomb scare at Thermo Fisher Scientific on Reagent Lane, off of McBride Avenue, this afternoon.

Workers were evacuated from the building around 12:30 p.m. due to an unidentified package that had been left in the shipping office for the two previous days, according to employees outside of the facility.

Doug Beaton, Thermo Fisher Scientific's global director of operations, said an employee noticed the suspicious package earlier in the day and the facility was evacuated.

Officials from the Bergen County Police Department's Bomb Squad and the Fair Lawn Police Department were dispatched to investigate the package, according to Beaton.

Beaton said the package contained "standard office supplies."

Police officials indicated that the package contained ink toner cartridges from an unfamiliar vendor.

Beaton stated that the employee's concerns were heightened due to news reports that morning of other suspicious packages on two planes in the Arabian Penisula, which led to increased suspicion of packages on cargo planes in Newark and Philadelphia and a UPS truck in New York.

"Better safe than sorry," Beaton said.

Workers were let back into the Fair Lawn facility around 2:20 p.m.

Thermo Fisher Scientific is a company that provides chemical research laboratory equipment, software, chemicals, supplies, services for use in health care, scientific research, safety and education.

US Warned Of Mail Bomb Terror Tactic Last Month  (AP, 10/29/2010)

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials warned last month that terrorists want to mail chemical and biological materials as part of an attack against the country.

The Sept. 23 bulletin from the Homeland Security Department, obtained by The Associated Press, says the government has credible information that terrorists were interested in carrying out an attack on the U.S. and other Western countries using the mail.

The U.S. had issued similar warnings in the past.

Thursday night, authorities intercepted an explosive device in Dubai and another suspicious package in England. Both were mailed from the same address in Yemen, bound for Chicago Jewish organizations. The White House has called this a potential terrorist threat.

Animal Rights Activists Sentenced For Intimidating Firms  (PA, 10/28/2010)

UK--Six animals rights activists, including one from Solihull, who intimidated companies linked to Huntingdon Life Sciences in an attempt to close down the animal testing lab are due to hear their sentences.

Sarah Whitehead, 53, Nicole Vosper, 22, Thomas Harris, 27, Jason Mullan, 32, Nicola Tapping, 29, and Alfie Fitzpatrick, 21, from Knowle Road, Solihull, were all members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty Shac.

Winchester Crown Court has already heard, during the sentencing hearing, the six waged a wide-ranging international conspiracy of intimidation against a host of supply companies to force the closure of Cambridge-based HLS using Shac as a front.

Action included realistic hoax bombs posted to the homes of staff and offices, criminal damage, threats of violence and abusive telephone calls.

Some company directors had leaflets distributed near their home falsely telling neighbours they were convicted paedophiles and others had used tampons sent through the post saying the blood was HIV positive. Others had words like puppy killer, murderer and scum daubed on their houses, cars or on the roads nearby.

The abuse would only stop when the company issued a capitulation statement on the Shac website and cut links with the lab. The total cost of damage and increased security costs was £12.6 million, to around 40 companies targeted, the court heard.

Whitehead, from Thorncroft Road, Littlehampton, West Sussex, Vosper, from Bay View Terrace, Newquay, Cornwall, and Harris, from Somerville Road, Ringwood, Hampshire, have admitted conspiracy to blackmail companies and suppliers linked to the Cambridge-based company between 2001 and 2008.

Mullan, from Holloway Road, London, Tapping, from Somerville Road, Ringwood and Fitzpatrick all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harm Huntingdon Life Sciences from 2005 to 2008 under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 by interfering with companies supplying them.

The maximum jail term for conspiracy to blackmail is 14 years and the conspiracy under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 is five years.

The six were part of a larger conspiracy involving the founders members of Shac, Gregg and Natasha Avery and Heather Nicholson, who used the organisation as a front to intimidate companies under badges like the Animal Liberation Front or the Animal Rights Militia. Other members of Shac, including the founder members Gregg Avery, Natasha Avery and Nicholson, were jailed in January 2009 at Winchester Crown Court for blackmailing companies linked to HLS.

Officers Become Ill After Searching Ohio Man’s Home and Finding Ricin By-Product  (Toledo Blade, 10/28/2010)

Toledo, OH--The man at the center of a federal drug investigation in Toledo has a long history of drug abuse.

Thomas D. Wineinger, 51, of 4716 Douglas Rd. was arrested Tuesday after authorities said they seized hallucinogenic mushrooms being cultivated in his home, and less than 100 grams of cocaine.

Hours afterward, two officers in contact with substances seized from his residence - including a by-product of the toxic chemical ricin - became ill. Nine officers were sent to area hospitals as a precaution, Toledo Fire Chief Mike Wolever said.

Ricin is a toxin derived from castor beans, the same plant used to manufacture castor oil. Though ricin has surfaced as an experimental cancer treatment, the chemical can cause fever, cough, nausea, and organ damage, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The latest charges are among the most serious in Wineinger's decadelong drug history, court records show.

He served 30 days in prison after he was convicted in December 2007, of permitting drug abuse - a fifth-degree felony. He served 11 months in prison after October, 2002, convictions in Lucas County Court of Common Pleas of possession of cocaine and carrying a concealed weapon - both felonies.

Charges of trafficking, possession, and abuse of drugs against him were dismissed in Toledo Municipal Court between 1999 and 2005.

A team of eight people in white suits from FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va., carefully wiped down a pickup and car in the driveway of the Wineinger home Wednesday afternoon before combing through the residence under a federal search warrant.

A portion of Douglas Road's four lanes was closed most of the day.

Wineinger was charged Wednesday with three counts of possession of drugs and one count each of illegal manufacture of drugs, trafficking in drugs, and possessing criminal tools. He was held at the Lucas County jail in lieu of $100,000 bond. Toledo Municipal Court Judge Michael Goulding continued the case until Thursday so the suspect could hire an attorney.

Other federal weapons charges against Wineinger are pending, though the probe has focused on the illegal substances in the home, FBI Special Agent Scott Wilson said.

"This never has been a counter-terrorism investigation," he said.

Police were called to the home about 3 p.m. Tuesday by a woman who said she feared for her life, telling officers that the threat was coming from her husband.

When police arrived at the home, Wineinger allegedly tried to escape, but officers caught up with him in the driveway before he reached his vehicle, found weapons there, and detained him.

The woman came out of the house and led them to the drugs that included what police said were mushrooms and a by-product of the chemical ricin.

It took several hours and two police vehicles to transport the confiscated drugs to the Safety Building downtown, Sgt. Pete Lavey said. The confiscated drugs included "trays and trays of mushrooms."

The nine officers taken for medical treatment spent several hours in the house before two of them reported feeling ill, Sergeant Lavey said.

The fire department then staged a hazardous materials response at the Safety Building, where the drugs had been taken.

The charges against Wineinger indicate he was in possession of 100 times the bulk amount of the mushrooms.

The cultivation of mushrooms in such quantities represents a rare case for the Toledo area - the first federal agents have seen in at least five years, said Rodel Babasa, resident agent in charge for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Though hallucinogenic mushrooms were more widespread decades ago, substances including oxycotin, cocaine, and heroin are known as the most problematic, he said.

"We haven't seen them on the street for quite some time," Mr. Babasa said. "They are not the drug of choice nowadays."

Suspects In Custody For Odd 'WMD' Case in New Mexico  (KRQE, 10/28/2010)

ALBUQUERQUE, NM -  The New Mexico National Guard dispatched its Civil Support Team specially trained in weapons of mass destruction to the home at 8912 Spain NE, the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management has confirmed. The team was on a training exercise in Carlsbad and arrived just before 6 p.m.

Civil Response Teams stationed around the country are called in when local authorities believe an event may exceed their capabilities to handle it.

The incident began Wednesday morning when Albuquerque Police Department officers looking for suspects in a Tuesday night shooting a search warrant on the home and stumbled onto an apparent meth lab. While conducting their investigation officers found what are described as explosive and biohazard materials and anarchist literature.

Police released Thursday they found syringes, cash, clear bag with crystal residue in it, glass pipe, marijuana pipes, muriatic acid, sulfur, drain cleaner, phosphate chloride, bleach, unknown white powder, tubing, hot plates, and several mason jars. According to a senior narcotics detective, all of the chemicals are known chemicals associated with a methamphetamine lab.

Police also found various firearms, survival equipment, large scale lab equipment, refrigerator with affixed biohazard warning label, books referencing explosives manufacturing, chemical books, computers, various chemcials in marked containers not consistent with the manufacture of methamphetamine, matches, knives, ball bearings, fireworks, 5 gallon glass containers with unknown clear fluid, cell phones, ledgers, 55-gallon drums in front room, wiring and other equipment.

Police said four people live at the home.

Officers arrested two of the residents, a male and female. They were later identified as Joseph Paul Dauteuil, 32, and Angela Pender, 31. Police say Dauteuil is charged with attempted murder and conspiracy. His bond was increased from $15,000 to $125,000.

Pender is charged with conspiracy to commit a third-degree crime and tampering with evidence. She will appear in court Friday.

A police spokesperson said the home also contained three incubators, two of them in a box but one apparently in use. That's when police backed out of the house and called the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the scene.

The New Mexico State Police Emergency Response Team also mobilized. It is not yet known what the chemicals are or what is in the incubator.

"We'll determine if we have some type of specialist whether it's hazmat or if those are a biohazard-type of situation," APD Sgt. Trish Hoffman said early Wednesday afternoon. "That's very preliminary at this point. We just don't know."

The shooting occurred in northwest Albuquerque.

After hours of going through that house on Spain northeast, detectives came across material for manufacturing meth as well as weight scales, incubators and a refigerator marked with a biohazard label.  They also came across books on explosives and containers with suspicious liquids.

According to a criminal complaint, they were led to the house by Maurice Muhammad who said Dauteuil had shot at him on Tuesday over a $20 loan and a computer. He also said Dauteuil threatened to blow his house up.

Officers say they saw Pender trying to hide a gun in Dauteuil's garage. Dauteuil invited officers inside and that's when they discovered the hazardous materials. Dauteuil admitted to confrontating Muhammad, but said he only shot in the air to stop the argument.

The complaint says Dauteuil has cooperated, but he faces attempted murder and conspiracy charges. Pender is charged with conspiracy and tampering with evidence.

Investigators estimate it will be sometime before they know what the suspicious liquid was in the containers in the house.

The chemicals are reported to be stored in unmarked containers, and police do not know what they are or what they are used for.  A special unit from the National Guard is still trying to determine the ingredients.

Chambers Place, which runs beside the house, was blocked off for a few hours Wednesday night, but all major roads in the area remained open when the investigation first broke. Police said there was no threat to the neighborhood, and no evacuations have been ordered.

Alabama Man Charged with Mailing Hoax Anthrax Letters  (FBI, 10/28/2010)

BIRMINGHAM, AL—A federal grand jury today indicted a Madison County man for mailing hoax anthrax letters in September to political offices in Homewood and Washington, DC ., and to an insurance office in Nebraska, announced United States Attorney Joyce White Vance and United States Postal Inspector Frank Dyer. In a three-count indictment filed in United States District Court, the grand jury charges DONALD PERRY PARKS, 71, of Toney, with mailing letters containing a powdery substance to the Alabama Republican Party office in Homewood, the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, DC ., and the Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company in Omaha, Neb. Each envelope included a typewritten note referring to the mailing as a “Koran Puffie,” according to court records. Testing of the substance found in all three letters was negative for the presence of anthrax or any other biological hazard.

“Mailing threatening letters is a serious matter that is subject to prosecution,” Vance said. “When people receive or handle these letters that contain powder, they are put in fear for their lives or their health, and the emergency response to each letter costs taxpayers thousands of dollars,” she said. The maximum sentence for each count of sending hoax anthrax letters is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each mailing. The United States Postal Inspection Service and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Michael W Whisonant is prosecuting it.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

Reported by: FBI

Australian Taxation Office Staff Evacuated After Powder Scare  (AAP, 10/28/2010)

Sydney, Australia--Hundreds of workers have been evacuated from an Australian Taxation Office (ATO) building in Sydney's west after a letter containing suspicious powder was received.

The letter was opened in the mailroom of the Penrith premises about 8.20am (AEST) on Thursday, police said.

An unidentified powder was found inside the envelope, prompting employees to raise the alarm.

More than 800 workers were evacuated from the building and mailroom staff were quarantined.

Police, ambulance and a Hazmat team from the NSW Fire Brigades attended the scene.

A fire brigades spokesman said later the mailroom employees had shown no signs of illness.

Forensic teams had not yet determined what the powder was but employees were allowed to return to work.

Man Charged With Mailing Fake Anthrax Letters To Alabama Republican Party and Others  (Birmingham News, 10/27/2010)

Birmingham, AL--A 71-year-old Madison County man was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on charges of mailing hoax anthrax letters to the Alabama Republican Party's Homewood office in September, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.

Toney resident Donald Perry Parks was also charged with mailing hoax anthrax letters to the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C., and the Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company in Omaha, Neb.

Each envelope included a typewritten note describing the mailing as a "Koran Puffie," according to the statement issued by Vance's spokeswoman Peggy Sanford.

A Google search of the term "Koran Puffie" leads to several posts by a man identified as Don Parks on a website called ResistNet.com, which dubs itself the "Home of the Patriotic Resistance."

The poster makes references to a Democratic plot to halt the Nov. 2 elections and links to a blog called "Puffie Warning."

That website, maintained by someone identified only as "toneyal," includes this description of a "puffie:"

"Puffie consists of many different people in different locations sending letters to various candidates with a threatening letter that says: "Obama Rules" filled with some unidentified powder," the page states.

The "puffie game," the blog states, is perpetrated by "ultra liberal left wing political

groups ... to spread fear and panic in candidates offices and give Obama a seemingly valid reason to issue a presidential order stopping the elections."

"Of course, only Republicans, Independents, and T-Party (sic) members will be suspects," the blog stated.

The blog also links to an Amazon.com listing for a self-published e-book called, "Pending Global Disasters: Germ War Diary," written by a Donald P. Parks.

Vance denounced such hoaxes.

"When people receive or handle these letters that contain powder, they are put in fear for their lives or their health, and the emergency response to each letter costs taxpayers thousands of dollars," Vance said in the press release.

Philip Bryan, a spokesman for the state Republican Party, in September told The Birmingham News the letter contained powder and a note that referred to "jihad."

"We open a lot of mail and when you open one and powder pours out, it's a concerning situation. It's not something to take lightly," Bryan told The News.

Attorney Kenneth Gomany was appointed to represent Parks, according to court records. Efforts to reach Gomany were not immediately successful Wednesday evening.

The maximum sentence for each count of sending hoax anthrax letters is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each mailing.

Authorities Investigate Suspicious Package Sent to Georgia Tech  (Technique, 10/28/2010)

Atlanta, GA--On Oct. 15, Tech police discovered a suspicious package in the Klaus Advanced Computing Building. The recipient professor received the package under unusual circumstances and called the police to check for any potential dangers. While police found the package to be harmless and full of cookies, the circumstances that led to the package’s arrival remain bizarre.

“These [investigation] processes are never completed in a quick time. It’s a very deliberate process for the safety of the community and the responders. We’re going to take any kind of threat seriously,” said Andy Altizer, Director of Emergency Preparedness at the Georgia Tech Police Department (GTPD).

The professor who received the package had been in correspondence with a student from the University of Tehran for about two years. He communicated with the student through email and Facebook. The student found him through his research and began sending him emails asking for feedback on his own work.

“There was some communication between the professor and a student from another country,” Altizer said.

When the professor failed to respond, the student sent more emails asking why the professor would not talk with him, and whether he still liked him. The emails became progressively stranger, and the student began writing about how he had discovered time travel and was currently researching with Albert Einstein. He also asked the professor if he would like to be a keynote speaker at the University of Tehran. The professor declined the invitation. At this point the professor ceased communication with the student.

The professor received a package on Oct. 12. He placed it in his office and went on an out-of-town trip, before returning to Tech on Oct. 15. Upon returning, he discovered that it was sent by the Iranian student and called the police. Since the package had cleared U.S. Customs, the U.S. Postal Service and was somewhat crushed, the police decided that there was no explosive threat. However, the envelope inside had a white powder coating, fueling suspicions of a threat.

The Atlanta Fire Department, FBI Bomb Squad, Atlanta SWAT and Homeland Security among others arrived at the scene. After evacuating the building and securing the hallways, they analyzed the package with a portable X-ray machine only to discover that it actually contained cookies and that the white powder was merely sugar. Students were allowed to return to the building at around 12:25 p.m.

“These things take a long time to resolve. The first responders’ safety is a priority as well. Every now and then someone will call in about an unattended bag or a backpack in an unusual place. We’ll periodically get those. One that warrants a full response from Hazmat or the bomb squad is rare, but they do happen,” Altizer said.

There was a previous incident at the end of this past summer where a suspicious device was found in a common room that was later discovered to be a rust cleaning tool.

“What warrants calling the police is if [students] get any kind of package and if it has a threat associated with it. If there’s something that says the package is going to harm them, they need to call us,” Altizer said.

Animal Rights Activists Jailed For Hate Campaign  (TNT Today, 10/26/2010)

UK--Five animal rights protesters have been jailed for launching a campaign of terror and intimidation against Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Targeting businessmen who had links to the animal testing company, the protesters spread false rumors that they were “pedophiles”.

The group also sent their victims hoax bombs and soiled tampons that they allegedly claimed were contaminated with HIV.

The activists mailed letters to the neighbors of one businessman whose firm had an indirect link to the country’s largest animal research center, claiming that he was a pedophile and that they should keep their children away from him.

The protesters were part of an organization called Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty, also known as the Animal Liberation Front.

Hospital nurse Sarah Whitehead, 53, who spearheaded the campaign and was referred to as “Mumsy” by the others, was jailed for six years and was given a 10 year ban from animal rights activities.

Also jailed after admitting conspiracy to blackmail were Nicole Vosper, 22, Thomas Harris, 27, Jason Mullan, 32 and Nicola Tapping, 29.

Jailing the activists, Judge Keith Cutler said: “You are not going to prison for expressing your beliefs, you are going to prison because you have committed a serious criminal offence."

Arizona Congressman Receives Letter With Toxic Powder—Urges GOP to Condemn Act as Domestic Terrorism  ( The Hill, 10/23/2010)

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) called on fellow Republican lawmakers to condemn an attack against his district office, where an envelope containing toxic powder was sent.

Grijalva, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said that he thought he'd been targeted with "domestic terrorism" for his outspoken liberal stances on issues over the past two years.

"You know, I`m asking my Republican colleagues across the state to condemn this kind of domestic terrorism," Grijalva said Friday evening during an appearance on MSNBC. "But to add insult to injury, to bring threats, to bring intimidation into the process, it needs to be condemned for what it is. It`s domestic terrorism."

Grijalva has been targeted for defeat by Republicans during the closing weeks of the campaign. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has run an ad against Grijalva, who'd been thought before to be safe in his re-election effort, but has faced an upstart challenge from the GOP.

"I`m co-chair of the Progressive Caucus. I`m a convenient target," Grijalva said. "You take me down, you take down a philosophy and you take down a set of values that are in Congress right now."

Powder Scare At Charity Headquarters In Oklahoma City  (The Oklahoman, 10/23/2010)

Oklahoma City, OK--Feed The Children employees got a scare Monday when white powder fell out of a piece of mail at the charity's Oklahoma City headquarters, police reported.

The charity's security officers secured the mail-opening room, turned off air conditioning and called police. One employee reported the powder fell out of an envelope and got on her hands, pants and shirt, police said.

An initial test on the powder showed all the signs of it being cornstarch, Oklahoma City Deputy Fire Chief Cecil Clay said Friday. Health officials later concluded it was nonhazardous, Clay said.

Poison Package? New Hampshire Woman Says Mystery Substance In Mail Has Caused Health Problem  (Fosters Daily Democrat, 10/23/2010)

ROCHESTER, NH — A mysterious white powder that came in the mail with her dress has forced Patricia McBride and her husband, Mike, from their home and caused her several health problems.

Tests have shown that the substance isn't a biohazard, such as anthrax or ricin, and a private laboratory in Somersworth has indicated the substance is micro sized polystyrene particles.

However, McBride is convinced the substance included something else that is making her sick.

On Friday, officials from EnviroVantage of Epping were at the McBrides' Erin Lane home attempting to vacuum up additional particles of the substance. The collected particles have been sent away for additional testing.

"I want to know what this is," said a frustrated McBride, who has spent the last two weeks living in a camper parked in her driveway.

McBride's issues started on Oct. 3 when a dress that she had ordered came in the mail. The dress came third party from China.

"When I looked at the dress it didn't appear navy blue as ordered and I found it was because there was white powder all over it and in the clear bag which was folded over and closed with two pieces of tape," she said.

Within an hour of handling the dress McBride said her hands began to itch. A few days later she was at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital with a swollen, hot, itchy right hand and itchy hot left hand and two huge welts. She was given some medication and it relieved the initial reaction, she said.

At the advising of a family member, McBride called police to alert them about the substance and members of the fire department responded to her home.

The substance was bagged and taken to the Rochester Fire Department where it was tested by regional Haz-Mat team. It tested negative for being a biohazard, according to an after incident report.

McBride said she was told to vacuum her home, which she did with a mask and gloves. She was also told since the substance tested negative for being a biohazard, the city's responsibility was done and she would have to seek the services of a private lab if she wanted to know what the substance was.

"I was extremely upset that this substance was in my home and being treated so lightly," she said.

McBride then tried to get the substance tested at the state lab in Concord but was told they didn't have enough white powder to conduct a sample. In addition, somewhere between the fire department and lab, the original clear plastic dress bag the substance was in went missing, according to McBride.

From there, McBride said she struggled to reach the state and get a clear answer to whether they tested anything at all.

The McBrides' struggles continued as they decided to move into their camper on Oct. 7. McBride said she took her C-Pap machine for her sleep apnea with her, wiping down the top of it because it had some of the white powder on it.

"I didn't even think about the head gear and mask which were between my bed and nightstand and took them out to the camper with the machine," she said.

McBride had originally opened the package in her bedroom in the area those items were kept.

She put the mask on to take a nap and woke with a large fat lip. She returned to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital and was given some medication.

McBride said she used the machine again on Oct. 9 and woke up with a swollen tongue, a sore and swollen throat, hoarseness and a few welts on her head. She would later go to Portsmouth Regional Hospital where she was given high doses of steroids.

The problems persisted and McBride was referred to a specialist in Kittery, Maine, and given more medication. McBride said she is now being referred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

"The state doesn't want to hear from us anymore and won't release what they have tested for and at this point we don't really know if they did any testing because they kept telling us they didn't have much powder to go on, but they did test for anthrax and ricin," she said. "So we continue to live in our camper not knowing what this substance is and not able to get our house cleaned without exposing somebody else."

Chris Adamski, chief of disease control at the state Department of Health and Human Services, wasn't aware of McBride's case but said it's state protocol to test for anthrax and other biological threats.

If something is deemed a biological threat, the state would be involved in that case, she said.

"We can rule out biological threats, but can't identify all chemicals," she said.

Dr. Karen Simone, a clinical toxicologist with the Northern New England Poison Center, said it's unlikely that someone would get symptoms like the ones described by McBride from polystyrene particles.

"Polystyrene is generally not thought of as being very harmful at all," she said. "It's in stuff we use every day."

Simone said people who are exposed to large amounts of polystyrene dust can become irritated by it, but noted it would have to be a really large amount.

McBride said she is well aware about polystyrene not being considered harmful and that's why she feels it could be something else.

In addition to contacting EnviroVantage, McBride has reached out to several local and state politicians, seeking help in identifying the substance.

As for the dress, McBride had ordered it for a friend's wedding but never attended the wedding because she was too sick.

Suspicious White Powder Sent To Arizona Congressman’s Office  (New Mexico Independent, 10/22/2010)

Tucson, AZ--A suspicious, white powdery substance inside a Swastika-adorned package was sent to the Tucson office of U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona, CNN is reporting. Grijalva is the chairman of the House Progressive Caucus and has been an outspoken opponent of Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

A FBI spokesman told the news network that the substance was not toxic.

According to various media reports, a “white powdery substance” was sent in an envelope along with two drawings of swastikas.

It is not immediately clear what the substance is.

This isn’t the first time that Grijalva has been targeted. According to The Hill, “In April, both of his district offices were forced to close after staff members received death threats following the passage of his state’s controversial immigration law.”

Grijalva had called for a boycott of his own state of Arizona. Grijalva stopped calling for a boycott after a federal judge struck down some key components of Arizona’s new anti-illegal immigration law.

FBI Says Substance At U.S. Rep. Grijalva's Office Not Toxic, But Grijalva Still Concerned  (KVOA, 10/22/2010)

TUCSON - The Federal Bureau of Investigation says the white powder sent to Congressman Raul Grijalva's office Thursday was not toxic.

But the Congressman says he is still concerned.

Grijalva says that a Hazmat official with the Tucson Fire Department told his staffers the powder inside the mailed envelope is toxic if inhaled in large quantities.

But the FBI says their test results came back non-toxic and they are not releasing what the substance was because of the ongoing investigation.

Friday on MSNBC, Grijalva spoke about the incident and said why he feels he is being targeted more than others.

"I'm a lightning rod, I have spoken out publicly against the immigration law in Arizona. I'm a convenient target, you take me down, you take down the philosophy and you take down the set of values that are in Congress right now," Grijalva said.

Grijalva said his office was back open on Friday.

Anthrax Hoax Package Is Sent To Public School in Queens  (Queens Chronicle, 10/21/2010)

Queens, NY--A suspicious parcel of mail last Thursday afternoon arrived at PS 91 in Glendale, prompting a hazardous material response and marking the fifth such incident — which sources said may all be connected to the Central Avenue school — this month in the 104th Precinct.

In each of the previous four occurrences, the packages were sent through the U.S. Postal Service and contained a white powdery substance that was later deemed non-hazardous, according to a spokesman for the Police Department. Last Thursday, school administrators “determined that the envelope was suspicious, but no powder was left in it,” said Marge Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education.

The mail, addressed to the principal, was isolated in a room and the building was not evacuated, the NYPD spokesman said. Investigators returned to the school on Friday, Feinberg reported, to speak to the staff.

The FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the string of malicious mailings that began on Oct. 1, when an individual opened an envelope at a residence on Grand Avenue near 65th Street in Maspeth and white powder spilled out. On Oct. 9, a woman opened an envelope at her home on 79th Street near 68th Road in Middle Village, noticed a white powder inside and called 911.

The evening of Oct. 12 saw two incidents occur within minutes of each other. FDNY HazMat and NYPD Emergency Service units responded to Pino and Santo Hair Styles on Fresh Pond Road near 68th Avenue after a co-owner opened a package and white powder, later determined to be corn starch, spilled out. Approximately 30 minutes later, first responders raced to a 911 call on Penelope Avenue between 74th and 75th streets, where a woman “observed a suspicious package in her mailbox, isolated herself inside her building” and alerted authorities, the NYPD spokesman said.

There were no injuries in any of the incidents. Reports for aggravated harassment were filed in the Oct. 12 cases.

“Whoever is sending these is using pre-paid envelopes,” the Police Deparment spokesman noted. “Sometimes the post office catches them, and sometimes they don’t and it makes it through.”

Sources told the Chronicle that each recipient of the mysterious packages is somehow connected, directly or otherwise, to PS 91.

Asked about the alleged common thread in the cases, Feinberg responded, “This is a police matter. You need to speak to them about that.”

The NYPD said Monday the investigation was ongoing.

Toxic Powder Sent To Arizona Congressman  (UPI, 10/22/2010)

TUCSON -- The FBI is analyzing a toxic substance sent to the Tucson office of U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, the Democratic congressman's campaign spokesman said.

A mail check at Grijalva's local office Thursday uncovered a white powdery substance and drawings of two swastikas inside an envelope, Adam Sarvana told CNN.

The Tucson Fire Department confirmed the substance was toxic, Sarvana said. Nearly a dozen people who were at the office when the substance was found were examined and sent home.

Scientists at an FBI laboratory in Phoenix were conducting a full analysis of the powder, Sarvana said.

The incident is the third security issue at Grijalva's district offices this year, the spokesman told CNN. Two offices were temporarily closed in April after receiving threats about Grijalva's position on immigration legislation. In July, a bullet shattered a window in his Yuma office, KVOA-TV, Tucson, reported.

"I do feel a great deal of concern for the people that work with me, for me. I feel concerned for the constituents that come to that office," Grijalva told KVOA. "Obviously, we're going to have to make more changes."

Employee Charged In White Powder Scare At John Deere  (Quad City Times, 10/21/2010)

Moline, IL--An incident in April in which white powder was found in a mailroom at the John Deere Seeding Group in Moline has resulted in federal charges against Don Lawrence Asheim.

Asheim, 59, address unavailable, was a Deere employee at the time of the incident, Deere spokesman Ken Golden said. Asheim was indicted by a grand jury this week in U.S. District Court, Rock Island, on a charge of false information and hoaxes.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after firefighters and a hazardous materials team were dispatched to the plant at 501 River Drive on April 30.

An envelope containing a suspicious substance was found in the facility’s mailroom, and authorities temporarily shut down River Drive and kept about 100 employees inside the facility during the incident. The HAZMAT team concluded the substance was not hazardous.

According to the indictment, Asheim was responsible for the letter, which was addressed to an employee at the Internal Revenue Service.

In an addition to the white powder, authorities found Asheim’s tax bill in the envelope but he had removed and obliterated his personally identifiable information, the indictment states.

He wrote various hostile and profane statements on the tax bill, placed it in the envelope and put the envelope in a box designated for outgoing mail, the indictment reports.

Golden said Deere fully cooperated with authorities during the investigation.

It was not immediately known Thursday if Asheim is in custody. 

UK Animal Rights Activists Conspired Against Lab, Court Told  (UKPA, 10/21/2010)

UK--Six animals rights activists, including one from London, intimidated companies linked to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) in a well-planned and relentless attempt to close down the animal testing lab, a court has heard.

Sarah Whitehead, 53, Nicole Vosper, 22, Thomas Harris, 27, Jason Mullan, 32, Nicola Tapping, 29, and Alfie Fitzpatrick, 21, were all members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty SHAC.

Winchester Crown Court heard at the start of a sentencing hearing that the six waged a wide-ranging international conspiracy of intimidation against a host of supply companies to force the closure of Cambridge-based HLS.

Michael Bowes QC, prosecuting, said: "SHAC was no more than a front for the criminal activities of the conspirators over a six year period. It's activities were financed largely by donations from members of the public."

The barrister said many who contributed did not know what the money was used for. Intimidation and abuse included the homes of staff and offices targeted with realistic hoax bombs, criminal damage and abusive telephone calls. Threats of violence were also used to force companies to cut links with HLS.

Some company directors had leaflets distributed near their home falsely telling neighbours they were convicted paedophiles and others had used tampons sent through the post saying the blood was HIV positive. Company directors and staff had words like puppy killer, murderer and scum daubed on their houses, cars or on the roads nearby. The abuse would only stop when the company issued a capitulation statement on the SHAC website and cut links with the lab. The total cost of damage and increased security costs was £12.6 million, to around 40 companies targeted, the court heard.

The six were part of a lager conspiracy involving the founder members of SHAC Gregg and Natasha Avery and Heather Nicholson who used SHAC as a front to intimidate companies under badges like the Animal Liberation Front or the Animal Rights Militia. Whitehead from Thorncroft Road, Littlehampton, West Sussex, and Vosper from Bay View Terrace, Newquay, Cornwall, have admitted conspiracy to blackmail companies and suppliers linked to the Cambridge-based company between 2001 and 2008.

Harris from Somerville Road, Ringwood, Hampshire, also admitted conspiracy to blackmail, but did not enter it until 2007, the court heard. Mullan, from Holloway Road, London; Tapping from Somerville Road, Ringwood, and Fitzpatrick from Knowle Road, Solihull, West Midlands, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harm Huntingdon Life Sciences from 2005 to 2008 under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 by interfering with companies supplying them.

Mr Bowes said all six knew all about the intimidation and Vosper and Whitehead took part in the direct action. Computer evidence showed they were all key members of SHAC, the court was told, with all either attending or invited to key strategy meetings to discuss the illegal conspiracy in January and April 2007. "They were all completely in the know about what was going on," Mr Bowes said.

The maximum jail term for conspiracy to blackmail is 14 years and for conspiracy under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 is five years. Other members of SHAC, including the founder members Gregg Avery, Natasha Avery and Nicholson were jailed in January 2009 at Winchester Crown Court for blackmailing companies linked to HLS.

Baltimore Postal Worker Admits Stealing  1600 Gift Cards From Mail  (Washington Post, 10/20/2010)

A former worker at the U.S. Postal Service's Baltimore distibution center admitted in federal court that he regularly rifled through greeting cards, stealing cash and gift cards and discarding the rest.

Andrew C. Walsh, 51, of Cockeysville, Md. pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Baltimore to mail theft. Authorities said he stole about 1,600 gift cards worth between $30,000 and $70,000, and about $12,000 in cash.

Walsh, who worked as a maintenance mechanic, didn't process mail but had access to areas where it was kept. From August 2009 to April 2010, court papers say, he began plucking mail off a conveyor belt in an isolated area, opening the envelopes and stealing valuables inside. He took about 10 gift cards and $75 in cash each shift.

During an April search of Walsh's home and car, authorities recovered more than 450 stolen gift cards.

Walsh, who is scheduled to be sentenced in February, faces a maximum of five years in prison.

Canada Post Worker Sentenced For Theft of 160,000 Pieces of Mail Over 16-Year Period  (St. Albert Gazette, 10/20/2010)

St. Albert, AB, Canada--A former postal carrier was sentenced to 22 months of house arrest this week for stealing a tonne of mail over a 16-year span.

John Kobitowich, 40, entered guilty pleas to theft of mail and refusing to deliver property as a public servant in May, but was not sentenced until Monday because of delays in receiving several sentencing reports.

Kobitowich will be under complete house arrest for the first 12 months and then a curfew for the remaining 10 months.

The massive theft consisted mostly of advertising mail, but among the almost 160,000 pieces police eventually found in his possession where 6,000 first-class mail items.

Kobitowich was evicted from his Rivercrest apartment on Oct. 15, 2009. When cleaning crews went into the apartment in late November, they found the mail throughout the place.

The apartment managers contacted Canada Post, which called in the RCMP to help with the investigation. Officers then searched a storage locker in Edmonton and collected several boxes that Kobitowich stored at his sister’s home.

Dennis McKay, a Canada Post inspector, read a victim impact statement into the court on behalf of the Crown corporation and said the theft was the biggest he had seen in his career and one of the largest in Canadian history.

McKay said incidents like this shake public faith in the postal system.

“The Canadian public needs to know that mail sent to them, or sent from them will reach their destination.”

Crown prosecutor Jeff Morrison was seeking a sentence of two to four years in prison for the theft and agreed the mail system cannot be tampered with.

“It is an institution of fundamental significance in a civilized society.”

Morrison admitted the case law showed other cases of mail theft had been handled through house arrest, but this one went well beyond any other cases, he said.

He said other case represented a significantly smaller amount of mail then Kobitowich’s theft.

Kobitowich’s lawyer Tim McRory argued the case law clearly pointed to house arrest.

He pointed out, while the other cases involved much smaller amounts of mail, many of them involved actual thefts where credit cards or cheques were taken for profit, which didn’t happen in this case.

“This is not someone who is stealing for profit.”

McRory highlighted Kobitowich’s efforts to gain control over his alcohol addiction and his complete lack of a criminal record.

Morrison quibbled with the idea that Kobitowich has led a clean life, given this incident spanned 16 years.

“This incident actually encompassed almost half of his life.”

In handing down the house arrest sentence, Judge Paul Adilman said he felt Kobitowich had turned things around.

“The chances of this man re-offending are absolutely minimal.”

He said the house arrest sentence would be a clear punishment, while still allowing him to continue work.

“He is going to jail, he is just going to spend it at home.”

The terms of Kobitowich’s house arrest will require him to be in his home 24 hours per day for the first 12 months with exceptions for work and any treatment or counselling his probation officer orders.

In the last 10 months of the sentence he will be under an 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. curfew.

He will also have to abstain from alcohol and perform 240 hours of community service work.

E-Bay Shipment Triggers Suspicious Package Investigation At Montclair, NJ Mayor’s House   (Montclair Times, 10/21/2010)

Montclair, NJ--A suspicious-looking envelope that was delivered to Montclair Mayor Jerry Fried's Union Street home at around noon today might have turned out to be "strangely" packed mail, he said.

The contents of the white envelope that was delivered in the regular mail may be two laptop keys he ordered from eBay a couple of weeks ago, but were oddly accompanied by some bubble wrap and a page from a scientific journal that included terms like "pulmonary host defenses" and "early effects of gene deletion," prompting Fried to believe it may have contained anthrax.

"It was disturbing," Fried told The Times this afternoon when contacted by cell phone.

Last Monday, Oct. 11, a pipe bomb was found laying on the driveway of an Aubrey Road home and was later detonated.

A Montclair police officer on the scene this afternoon told a resident, "Nothing's hazardous. Nobody's in danger."

Fried also said he believes the incident was "some freak thing" and there is no danger.

At 4 p.m., there were still two men at hazmat suits and at least one man in an FBI jacket in front of Fried's house. The hazmat unit is still on the scene.

"Another day in Montclair," said Barbara Rechan, of Clinton Avenue, who lives near the mayor.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was seen at the corners of Union Street and Clinton Avenue around 2 p.m. Teams of individuals wearing white protective suits, purple gloves and masks also were at the scene.

Fried said he called the police when he received the envelope in the regular mail earlier this afternoon.

"It was a really weird, suspicious-looking envelope, but it was something I ordered but it was packed strangely with some information about biohazards. I think it was just a freak thing."

He said the envelope was "packed really oddly" and contained little packets wrapped in bubble wrap. Fried's address was handwritten on the envelope, as well as a crossed-out address from Ann Arbor, Mich.

"It, to me, looked like it could be anthrax or something really suspicious," Fried told the Times.

There was no invoice or receipt in the envelope, he said.

"I'm almost sure that it's two keys for my laptop which I ordered from eBay," he said

"Everyone's fine."

According to a statement from Montclair Police Chief David Sabagh, sent by the Township's Communications Director Katya Wowk, Montclair Police, Montclair Fire, Nutley Hazmat, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and the United States Postal Police responded and assisted at the scene.

The contents of the letter have yet to be identified pending a complete analysis by the JTTF. The scene was immediately secured and there is no risk to the general public.

The active investigation is being conducted by the Montclair Police Department, the FBI JTTF and the US Postal Police.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Montclair Police Department at 973-744-1234.

Five White Powder Incidents Puzzle Queens Neighborhood  (Queens Gazette, 10/20/2010)

Queens, NY-- Police and fire officials are trying to determine who mailed a white powder to Pinto and Santo Hair Styles on 68th Avenue, and why.

Discovery of the substance set off a frenzy of police and FDNY activity as Emergency Service Units and the FDNY HazMat 1 truck joined cops and firefighters at the site.

Emergency service cops entered the business at about 5:20 p.m. and left at 7:45 p.m. after determining the substance was not hazardous.

Meanwhile, other police and fire units responded to the Middle Village home of a teacher, where another white powder was discovered, police said.

Emergency service cops determined that the second substance was also a hoax and that the powder was a non-hazardous substance.

Law enforcement sources said there were a total of five incidents in Queens last month involving the discovery of a white powdery substance that turned out to be non-toxic.

Helen Vance Dies--Victim of 1989 Mail Bomb That Killed Her Husband, A Federal Judge  (Montgomery Advertiser, 10/20/2010)

MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL -- Helen Rainey Vance, who was wounded by a 1989 mail bomb that killed her federal judge husband, has died. She was 76.

Family members confirmed to The Birmingham News that Vance died Monday following an illness.

Vance was at her Mountain Brook home on Dec. 16, 1989, when she accepted a package that bore the return address of another judge. She was sitting at the kitchen table later when the package exploded as her husband, U.S. Circuit Judge Robert S. Vance Sr., opened it.

Helen Vance testified at the federal and state trials of Walter Leroy Moody, who was convicted in the mail-bomb killings of her husband and Savannah, Ga., lawyer Robert Robinson. Moody, now 75, is on death row.

A memorial service for Vance is set for Monday at 1:30 p.m. at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, with visitation at the church immediately following.

Suspicious White Powder Mailed To Police In Texas Ruled Safe  (The Caller, 10/19/2010)

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — A police officer found traces of white powder in an envelope on Tuesday as he was opening the mail in the narcotics division, officials said.

The fire department’s Hazardous Materials Unit and the local Postal Inspector were called as the Leopard Street Wilson Building office was evacuated as a precaution. The powder was tested and determined not dangerous, Cmdr. David Torres said. The substance had not been identified Tuesday, he said.

Officers gearing up to serve a search warrant about 12:30 p.m. were slightly delayed by the incident.

“Sometimes people do this to alarm us, or to disrupt our operations — but it didn’t do either,” Torres said. “We evacuated the immediate office area and continued on to serve a warrant.”

A federal investigation into the sender of the powder has been launched, Torres said.

“Whoever this person is just walked into the radar of not only us, but of federal authorities,” Torres said.

Powder Threats Sent to Houston Schools May Be Linked to Dallas Case  (Houston Chronicle, 10/19/2010)

Houston, TX--The discovery of envelopes containing suspicious white powder at 17 campuses in the Houston Independent School District may be linked to an investigation originating in the Dallas area.

Since early August, more than a dozen envelopes also containing white powder were sent to churches, mosques, businesses and at least two schools in North Texas, authorities said.

FBI officials in Dallas confirmed Tuesday that similarities exist between their cases and those in Houston.

"But we're not in a position to say they are or are not from the same person," said Special Agent Mark White.

Message not clear

The Dallas-area envelopes contained a short message that made a cryptic reference to al-Qaida. However, FBI agents said they simply don't understand what kind of message the sender is trying to convey.

"We haven't been able to figure that one out," White said. "We don't understand what his motive or her motive or their motive is."

Similar letters — all postmarked from North Texas — were sent to Austin, Lubbock, Chicago and the Boston suburb of Waltham, Mass. A pair of schools in Washington, D.C., also received envelopes from North Texas containing white powder.

HISD officials initially said the envelopes discovered at their schools contained the suspicious powder, but would not confirm any contained a message. FBI officials now say they did.

"The letters were similar in nature to those found in Dallas and those received in Washington, D.C.," said Special Agent Shauna Dunlap with the Houston FBI office.

Citing the ongoing investigation, Dunlap declined to specify what message was included in the Houston-bound envelopes or whether they had been sent from Dallas.

Reward offered

In each case, the white powder in the envelopes was examined in the field by local hazardous materials teams and found to be nontoxic.

The Houston Fire Department's initial test indicated the substance in the HISD letters was cornstarch, city health department officials said.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is offering up to $100,000 for information to track down those who sent the letters. If convicted, the suspects could face up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 for each letter, officials said.

NAACP Offices Evacuated For Suspicious Mail  (AP, 10/18/2010)

WASHINGTON -- The powdery substance that prompted the evacuation of the NAACP's Washington office turns out to have been nothing more than tea.

NAACP Washington Bureau Director Hilary Shelton said Monday the envelope contained a smaller envelope with powdery material inside. The business-sized envelope had no return address and was simply addressed to the civil rights organization's office in downtown Washington.

NAACP employees called the police and left their offices. Shelton said law enforcement officials inspected the material and told him it was tea.

In October and November 2001, five people were killed after coming in contact with mailings containing anthrax.

Suspicious Parcel For Prince Charles Sparks Bomb Scare  (SWNS, 10/18/2010)

Bedfordshire, England--Police evacuated over 500 people from a town hall after a suspicious parcel addressed to Prince Charles sparked a bomb scare, it emerged today.

Staff at Bedford Borough Council called in police just before 10am on Thursday after receiving a “suspicious” package in the post.

The parcel is believed to have been addressed to Prince Charles and contained an unidentified object similar in size to an iPhone.

Officers evacuated 500 people from the town hall and cordoned off the area for three hours while bomb experts analyzed the package.

The device was found to be “not explosive” and police have now launched a full investigation into the incident.

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said: “The Town Hall was evacuated on Thursday and roads around it closed while a suspicious package was investigated.”

“Following the arrival of the EOD team the package was not deemed to be an explosive device and the roads were reopened at approximately 12.20pm.”

“Police investigations are ongoing at this time into where the package came from.”

A total of 350 Town Hall staff and 150 members of the public were evacuated following the bomb scare on Thursday morning.

It is believed the parcel was addressed to Prince Charles at a residence in Devon but with the postcode for Bedford Borough Council.

A Bedford Borough Council spokesman said: “The Town Hall was evacuated and closed on the advice of the police due to the discovery of a suspicious package.”

“The police are currently investigating the incident. The Town Hall was re-opened at half past twelve on Thursday with business returning to normal.”

North Carolina School Removing Pens After Explosion Injures Student  (WSOC TV, 10/18/2010)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A Charlotte high school will not allow students to use pens Tuesday after one student was hurt by an exploding pen.

A staff member at Turning Point Academy told Eyewitness News an announcement would be made to all students Tuesday morning. Teachers will collect all pens in the classrooms, and students will only be allowed to use pencils on Tuesday. It's unclear how long the measure will be in effect.

Two teenage brothers were arrested after a massive investigation that began with the ink pen explosion on Monday.

Investigators plan to continue what they call a "slow and deliberate" search Tuesday morning inside the teenagers' home in Northwest Charlotte. Investigators arrested and continued questioning the boys late Monday night.

Law enforcement officials evacuated more than two dozen homes around Mount Holly Road in northwest Charlotte while they searched for possible explosives. Neighbors were allowed back into their homes Monday night. Three members of a hazmat team were injured as they tested a sample taken that exploded. Eyewitness News is told their injuries are minor.

Police went to the home after an explosion was reported at Turning Point Academy. A student was using a pen when it exploded and the explosion gave him shrapnel wounds to his arms and chest and burns to his hands.

Officers arrested his 16-year-old classmate and that classmate's 15-year-old brother. Police said after speaking with the 16-year-old, they had reason to get a search warrant for his home.

Police haven't said yet what exactly they found inside the home, but they did say a number of suspicious items and chemicals were declared safe.

Neighbors said it was a chaotic scene.

"Where the house is there was like 40 police officers, 20 police cars, a task force, all kinds of stuff," said Marlena Hampton.

Neighbors were allowed to get back into their homes around 11 p.m. Monday.

A number of agencies are investigating this case, including the FBI.

Bomb Threat Letter Sent By Inmate Causes Scare at Florida Courthouse  (Daytona Beach News Journal, 10/18/2010)

DELAND, FL -- A bomb threat at the DeLand courthouse this afternoon turned out to be a hoax from an out-of-state prison inmate, a Volusia County sheriff's spokesman said.

Deputies with bomb dogs cleared the mailroom of the DeLand courthouse on Alabama Avenue and the employees are back at work, said sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson.

An unidentified inmate from a Pennsylvania prison made the threat, Davidson said.

Deputies were called to the courthouse at noon after a threatening letter was found by a mailroom worker. The letter came from someone with a known history of doing "this sort of thing" so the threat was not deemed credible, Davidson said.

"Still in an abundance of caution we dispatched deputies with bomb detection dogs to the mailroom," Davidson said.

During the search, one of the dogs hit on a package in the mailroom, so out of caution the mailroom and immediate surrounding offices were evacuated, Davidson said.

"This did not disrupt the other operations of the courthouse in anyway," Davidson.

It turns out the package was a delivery to the courthouse's Information Technology Department, which had a substance in it detected by the dog, Davidson said.

"There was nothing suspicious about the package and it was something that is legitimately used by the IT department," Davidson said.

Suspicious Envelope Found at Office in Jacksonville  (First Coast News, 10/15/2010)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Police, a HAZMAT team and a bomb squad responded to an office building after a suspicious envelope was reported this morning.

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, police are on the scene in the 8800 block of Freedom Crossing now, "taking precautionary measures."

The envelope was received in the DeSoto Building's mail room, which handles mail for several businesses in the building. Employees have been evacuated, said JSO Lt. Larry Kitchen.

Police were called around 9:40 a.m. today after a clerk noticed a letter received Thursday did not have an address to a specific person. The letter, about the size of a birthday card, had something inside it that shifted when the letter was moved, Kitchen said.

The address did specify the building's fourth floor where Social Security and Disability Administration offices are.

Per protocol, Kitchen said, the clerk called JSO which alerted HAZMAT which called the bomb squad.

First the bomb squad will determine whether the letter is explosive. Then the HAZMAT team will evaluate the letter for harmful materials.

Suspicious Envelope Evacuates Building Housing Social Security in Florida  (News4Jax, 10/15/2010)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- An office building at 8880 Freedom Trail Crossing remained evacuated Friday afternoon and a hazardous materials team was investigating after a suspicious package without a return address was found.

Initial reports said a mysterious powder was found inside, but police said that was not the case. Later Friday afternoon, police said the package was an envelope with a "Thank You" card that had something in it that made a shaking sound.

Police said the package was directed to a local branch of Social Security Administration on the fourth floor of the building.

There is no cost of living increase for seniors on Social Security, which is one reason police said they were concerned about the suspicious package.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office bomb squad checked to see if the package contained explosives. The Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department's hazardous materials team then continued the investigation.

Channel 4's Vic Micolucci reported that hundreds of people were milling around the parking lot while investigators checked out the package received in the mail room.

The Social Security Administration is one of several organizations and businesses with offices in the building.

Suspicious Mail Shuts Down City Hall in Massachusetts For Several Hours  (Boston Globe, 10/15/2010)

Newton, MA--A suspicious piece of mail delivered to Mayor Setti Warren's office at Newton City Hall this morning shut down the building for several hours, as Newton police, fire fighters Massachusetts State Police, and the FBI conducted an investigation.

City Hall reopened at approximately 12:30 this afternoon, after the mail was found to contain a broken component to a trash bin.

"I've never had anything like this happen in my ten months as mayor, yet everyone knew the procedures to follow," Warren said in an interview. "Everyone from the first responders to the state police who arrived quickly on the scene did an outstanding job."

According to citizen's assistance officer Aaron Goldman, no one was hurt in the incident. The mail was addressed to the mayor's office and flagged as suspicious by the city hall mail carriers.

Newton fire chief Joseph LaCroix said that the mail in question was a large envelope, marked 'hand clear,' closed with packing tape and no return address.

"When you touched the mail, you could feel a cylinder of some kind inside," LaCroix said. "That's a red flag."

LaCroix said the top floor of City Hall was evacuated at approximately 9:30 a.m.., with the rest of the building emptied at around 10:30 as HAZMAT and bomb squad teams from the FBI arrived on the scene.

"We did a bio scan on the envelope, but didn't find any evidence of white powder or other contaminants, and the bomb squad tested it negative for explosives," LaCroix said. "When we opened the envelope in a negative pressure tent, we discovered it contained a note from a disgruntled resident and a broken component from a garbage bin wheel."

Newton has been working to replace the defective wheels on its garbage bins for some time. Residents are able to call into the city's DPW to schedule a replacement time for the wheels.

"I don't think the person who sent the mail in realized it would cause such a ruckus," said Newton police chief Matt Cummings. "He was upset. We're definitely going to talk to him, but there's no charges to press."

Cummings said that officers also checked Warren's home during the scare, in case something was delivered there as well.

"We make a big deal of this because sometimes it is a big deal," Cummings said. "It's important to take every incident like this seriously."

Both Cummings and LaCroix praised the work the teams did in responding to the scare.

"This was textbook," LaCroix said. "If there had been a real danger here, we would have gotten it."

Suspicious Envelope Brought to Police in Southern California  (Orange County Register, 10/15/2010)

BREA, CA – A suspicious envelope that was brought to Brea police Friday by an office worker was found not to contain any harmful substance, police said.

A person who works in an office building at 145 S. State College Blvd. opened the envelope Thursday and "felt something gritty on the outside of the envelope," said Brea police spokesman Sgt. Bill Smyser. However, the person did not bring the envelope to the police station until about 11 a.m. Friday, Smyser said.

Police took the envelope outside to a parking lot at the Brea Civic Center, where it was investigated by a hazmat team from the Anaheim Police Department, Smyser said. A number of fire department vehicles also responded.

A sample from the envelope was taken for lab testing and found to be not harmful, Smyser said

For several hours, no one was allowed to enter the office building on State College, but that restriction was lifted Friday afternoon, Smyser said.

Threats and Hate Mail Targeting American Mosques on Rise  (Christian Science Monitor, 10/15/2010)

Atlanta —When he first spotted the strange graffiti, Mushtaq Hussain thought it was a juvenile prank: Somebody had used bacon strips on a sidewalk in front of a Florence, S.C., mosque to spell out the words "PIG" and "CHUMP."

But as Mr. Hussain, a board member at the Islamic Center in Florence, gave it some thought, the incident last Sunday seemed less like an ill-advised gag and more like a cunning and cruel affront. "We thought seriously, and we thought, ‘You know, somebody doesn't like us,' " he told WMBF-TV news in Florence.

Nationwide, polls show a growing ambivalence – or even anger – toward Islam among Americans, which has in part explained the opposition to a mosque near ground zero and mosques elsewhere, as well as the aborted mass burning of Korans by a Florida preacher. But subtler, more psychological attacks against Muslims have also become prevalent, say Muslim groups.

In those attacks, pork – which Muslims are forbidden to eat because it is considered unclean – is being used as a primary weapon, sent in packages to mosques, invoked in sharply worded letters, or, as in Florence, used to spell out literal messages.

To many experts, pork-laden messages, such as the one delivered in the heart of the barbecue belt last weekend, mirror what appears to be an increasingly conflicted view in America about the impact of Muslim culture on US politics and society.

Like protests such as "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day," some Americans are needling what they perceive to be an over-sensitive Muslim population with acts that – to non-Muslims – seem relatively tame. In the process, they are exposing the vast difference between what is considered acceptable by the measures of American free speech and by the believers of Islam.

"These are not hate crimes, but they're expressions of intolerance, really," says David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "I think a lot of this is generated by a lack of understanding, anger about 9/11, and a great deal of misinformation about Muslims in America and Islam, all of which is in plentiful abundance on the Internet and on blogs."

According to the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), attacks on mosques, cases of Americans burning and even shotgun-blasting Qurans, and personal confrontations on streets have ticked up in recent months. Such claims are hard to quantify, experts say, because more people may simply be reporting incidents that went unheeded in the past.

Anecdotal evidence points to the use of pork as an anti-Islamic protest in recent years. For example:

    * In September, the US Postal Inspection Service reported that at least four packages containing hate letters and bacon were sent to American mosques from Denver. CAIR is a regular recipient of pork-related hate mail.

    * In March, two Minnesota high school students allegedly shoved bacon in the faces of several Muslim classmates, according to a CAIR complaint.

    * In 2007, a Texas farmer held afternoon pig races on Friday – the Muslim holy day – to protest a proposed mosque next to his farm.

    * In 2006, a severed pig's head was thrown into a Maine mosque during prayers.

    * Overseas, 7,000 protesters held a "pork sausage and booze" party in Paris this summer, which was designed as a provocation against Muslims and a protest against the perceived Islamicization of France.

    * On the Internet, bloggers are invoking pork to incite Muslims. In a recent column on the conservative Town Hall.com, Mike Adams, a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina, proposed several pork-related pranks against the "ground zero mosque," including "building a large bomb filled with bacon grease. Dubbed the 'Mother of All Bacon,' or MOAB, this bomb would not hurt anyone but would permanently defile the location so that no one could worship there."

"The problem is you could look at [such incidents] and say, 'Oh, well, it's just some idiot doing something stupid,' but I think it should be viewed against the overall rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in society," says Ibrahim Hooper, director of CAIR. "Right now, the whole pork theme is quite popular with the Muslim haters out there."

Weariness with Muslim sensitivities

The pork attacks come amid tensions in the US about how to talk about Islam in popular culture. A Seattle artist who proposed – then withdrew – a call for a "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day" in protest of a censored "South Park" episode, recently left her job, moved, and changed her name on the FBI's advice after radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki issued a fatwa for her death, the New York Post reported last month. Islam forbids the depicting of the Prophet Mohammed.

In light of such stories, as many as 1 in 5 Americans are incensed that they have to tip-toe around Muslim sensibilities in a country where the First Amendment guarantees nearly all speech, including hateful words and acts.

So is pork a crime?

The bacon graffiti this weekend prompted CAIR to call on the FBI to investigate what they called a "desecration" that took place as part what the organization says is a broader pattern of intimidation being waged against Muslims around the US.

So far, police in Florence say the incident doesn't meet the criteria for a hate crime, but they are investigating the incident as a case of harassment.

Critics of Islamic culture in the US see CAIR's concern about the bacon attack as part of "stealth jihad" in which US-based Islamic groups demand that Muslim sensibilities be protected at all costs, all in a larger effort to make the US "Sharia compliant," abiding by the edicts of Islam.

"If Christians are expected to endure crucifixes submersed in jars of urine being represented as art, then Muslim Americans had better develop an appreciation for the attributes of the society in which they live and don thicker skins," writes a blogger on PipeLineNews, which posits itself as a group of investigative journalists focusing on the culture wars and national security.

American views of Islam slip

The share of Americans who have a "favorable view" of Islam has dropped from 41 percent five years ago to 30 percent today, according to an Aug. 24 Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life survey. Concern about Islam's influence on US society has entered the national political arena, as well, shown by a different Pew poll that found that 1 in 5 Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim – an 11 percent jump since a year ago.

"A lot of it has to do with the economy. There is a sense that life is unstable. The American public is under siege," John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron, told the San Francisco Chronicle this summer. "So, foreign threats are magnified. In a lot of people's minds, there is this sense that this religion is associated with violence."

Experts like Mr. Schanzer fear that protests like the bacon graffiti in Florence can backfire.

"Besides it being inconsistent with American values, I think it's damaging to our security," he says. "There's no doubt that one of the best ways to prevent homegrown terrorism is to get good information from the Muslim community, and that is made much more difficult when Muslims feel there's a climate of intolerance in the country."

8 Florida Postal Service Workers Charged With Mail Theft  (News 4 Jax, 10/14/2010)

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Eight Postal Service workers were arrested and indicted Thursday on felony mail theft charges in Orlando.

Those arrested were Ariel Alvarez-Bordoy, 34, of Sanford; Thomas Anderson, 57, of St. Cloud; Joseph Anaskevich, 21, of Inverness; Jason Fillenwarth, 25, of Orlando; Barbara Hennecy, 46, of St. Cloud; Michael Schlitt, 65, of Kissimmee; Barbara Totillo, 44, of Tavares; and Ahmed Yahya, 42, of Minneola.

According to the indictments, the workers opened or stole mail, including gift cards, debit cards, vases and other valuable items, while working for the United States Postal Service as employees or contract workers.

"The efficient and proper functioning of the U.S. mail system is vital to commerce, national security and the welfare of all of our citizens," U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill said in a news release. "I applaud the Office of Inspector General for policing their own, and bringing these few bad apples to justice."

"The American public expects that their mail will not be stolen, rifled, read or obstructed while in the possession of Postal Service employees. Anyone who betrays that trust is thoroughly investigated by Special Agents of the USPS (Office of Inspector General)," said Samuel Montalvo, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of USPS-OIG.

If convicted, each defendant faces up to five years in federal prison for each mail theft and related charge.

Canada Post Worker Charged With Stealing 12,000 Pieces of Mail  (News Services, 10/15/2010)

British Columbia,Canada -- A B.C. man who worked with Canada Post for 40 years has been accused of stealing 12,000 pieces of mail.

RCMP said some of the mail -- which they allege was found in lockers at a change room at an agency office in Richmond, as well as at the man's home -- date back several years.

The Mounties also allege they found five unregistered firearms at the home of the 61-year-old Richmond resident.

$100,000 Reward Offered Over Suspicious Powder Sent To Houston Schools  (KTRK, 10/14/2010)

HOUSTON, TX-- A reward has been announced for information leading to the arrest after letters containing a suspicious powder were mailed to HISD schools.

The FBI and the postal service have announced a $100,000 reward. A total of 17 schools have received letters over the past week containing some type of powder.

An initial test on some of those letters showed no evidence of harmful substances. The investigation is still ongoing and federal officials say no arrests have been made.

White Powder Sent To D.C., Texas Schools  (AP, 10/14/2010)

Washington, DC--The FBI is investigating letters with white powder sent to two District schools in the past two days, which follows a similar pattern at Houston schools and elsewhere since last week.

Officials say initial tests found nothing dangerous. Hazardous materials teams were called to Bancroft Elementary on Wednesday and to Adams Elementary on Thursday for letters in the school offices that seemed suspicious.

Fire department spokesman Pete Piringer says the schools were not evacuated, and no one became sick.

FBI Washington Field Office spokeswoman Lindsay Godwin says the FBI collected the letters and sent them to a regional laboratory. She says investigators haven’t determined whether they are linked to letters received at schools in other cities.

British Columbia Bomb Threat Letter Carried DNA Sample  (Ottawa Citizen, 10/15/2010)

Alberta, BC, Canada--RCMP have confirmed they retrieved DNA from a bizarre and threatening letter about a series of oil industry pipeline bombings -- but they're not calling the development a break. RCMP confirmed Thursday a forensic exam of the letter yielded a DNA sample, but they haven't firmly linked the letter to the series of bomb attacks or to any individual. Since October 2008, six bombs have targeted remote EnCana pipelines and wellheads just next to the Alberta border.

Suspicious Package With Powder Forces Closure of Courthouse in Wyoming  (AP, 10/13/2010)

LANDER, WY ― Investigators have determined that a suspicious package that forced the closure of the Fremont County Courthouse in Lander does not contain a biological threat.

Radio station KDLY-KOVE in Fremont County reported that a package containing white powder was delivered to the Fremont County Transportation Department on Wednesday morning. Authorities restricted access to the courthouse building.

The Lander Police Department issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying that investigators using hazardous materials suits tested the substance and found it was not a biological threat. They removed the package.

The investigation is continuing into who sent the package and why.

Hazmat Investigates White Powder At Medical Office Building in Oregon (KPTV, 10/13/2010)

PORTLAND, Ore. -- White powder sent to a medical office building in southwest Portland prompted a Hazmat crew to respond and investigate Wednesday morning.

Portland firefighters were called to 6420 SW Macadam Ave. after the office received a suspicious package in the mail.

Inside the package, there was bubble wrap surrounding a container or bag with white powder in it.

There was no return address on the package and it was posted with a foreign country’s stamp, said a Portland fire spokesman.

Firefighters isolated the package and waited for a hazmat crew to arrive.

Eventually, hazmat crews determined the powder was actually white powdered caffeine. Although the material wasn't hazardous, it is illegal to send the substance as it was packaged through the mail system.

No buildings were evacuated during the scare.

Portland Fire Bureau Investigates Suspicious Package Sent to Oregon Eye Specialists  (Oregonian, 10/13/2010)

Portland, OR--A hazmat crew is inspecting a suspicious package that was sent to Oregon Eye Specialists in Southwest Portland this morning.

An employee discovered a white powdery substance inside the package, which was wrapped in bubble wrap, had a foreign stamp on it and no return address. The employee took it outside the office, located at 6420 S.W. Macadam Blvd., and Portland Fire personnel were called to the scene.

Specialists wearing Hazmat suits are examining and testing the substance on a table just outside the building near Southwest Nebraska Street.

No evacuation of businesses was necessary, said Paul Corah, the Fire Bureau's spokesman. Traffic along Southwest Macadam was not disrupted.

It's not clear yet what the substance is, Corah said. An employee at Oregon Eye Specialists did not return a call seeking comment.

FBI Investigating Anthrax Scare Letters Sent to Houston Schools  (Bio Prep Watch, 10/12/2010)

Federal agents have reported that they are pursuing leads to discover who mailed envelopes full of white powder to 17 independent school districts in Houston, Texas.

Officials told Examiner.com that 13 schools called local police and Hazmat teams last week when the letters with the white powder arrived. Officials reported four more envelopes arrived at different schools this week.

The FBI has taken the lead in the investigation while officials with the U.S. Postal Inspection Services have charted out plans to try to intercept any other suspicious mail before it reaches any schools.

“The U.S. Postal Inspection Services takes investigations relating to 'hoax' mailings very seriously,” an unnamed spokesman told Examiner.com.

Preliminary tests on the substance have shown it to be corn starch. Officials say that the letters were clearly intended to spread panic.

The most recent batch of letters were sent to Askew Elementary, Austin High School, Benbrook Elementary and the Bellfort Early Childhood Center.

One veteran postal inspector told Examiner.com that the envelopes will provide plenty of evidence, including fingerprints on the letters or DNA from hairs or spit from licking the envelopes.

Officials believe that the suspect may be using a published list of schools in the district as nearly all of the schools to receive the letters so far have started with the letters "A" and "B."

Houston School District Sets New Mail Rules In Wake of Powder Threat Letters  (Houston Chronicle, 10/11/2010)

Houston, TX--The Houston school district has imposed strict rules for handling incoming mail after more schools on Monday discovered typewritten envelopes containing a suspicious, but unharmful powder.

On Friday, 13 schools in the Houston Independent School District received the envelopes. More envelopes were discovered by school officials at four other schools on Saturday and Monday, HISD officials said.

Each envelope contained less than a teaspoon of the powdery substance. Test results have come back negative for any harmful substances, Houston Health Department officials said Monday.

Preliminary tests on the envelopes showed the white substance contained no biological agents and posed no risk, said health department spokeswoman Kathy Barton.

The health department did not conduct tests to identify the powder because it would have been a lengthy and costly process, Barton said. However, a field test done Friday by the Houston Fire Department's hazardous material unit indicated that the substance was cornstarch, she said.

HISD spokeswoman Sarah Greer Osborne said only two envelopes were tested, and the remaining 15 envelopes are being tested by the health department.

The incident, while serious, had little impact on overall operations at the campuses, HISD officials said. Some of the schools already had released their students when the envelopes were found Friday, they said.

The case is being investigated by the FBI, which is working with the HISD Police Department, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Houston Fire Department.

FBI officials believe each envelope is connected to an individual or a group of individuals, said FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap. More thorough tests will be conducted on the substance and the envelopes, and tests should be completed within two weeks, she said.

She declined to discuss any further details about the investigation.

New procedures

No mail was delivered Monday because it was the Columbus Day holiday, but school officials have put in place new procedures for handling mail in case more suspicious envelopes show up.

All mail now must be screened and opened in an isolated area, and if an item is suspicious, the air handlers must be turned off, and the room must be evacuated and secured, Osborne said. In addition, the person who handled the mail must be isolated, and the police should be notified, she said.

School personnel also are being advised to open mail before or after school hours.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service also has implemented a special screening process for all HISD mail. Any suspicious envelopes or packages addressed to HISD schools should be captured, said U.S. Postal Inspector Vanessa Kimbrough.

White Powder Found At Houston Schools Called Terroristic Threat; FBI Joins Case  (KHOU, 10/12/2010)

HOUSTON, TX— The FBI joined the investigation into suspicious, powder-filled envelopes sent to numerous HISD schools after officials classified the case Monday as a terroristic threat.

Houston and HISD police were called to three Houston schools Monday morning after more envelopes containing the powder were discovered.

One of the letters was found at Askew Elementary in southwest Houston. Because they had Saturday postal delivery, their letter was dropped off over the weekend.

School officials at Austin High School found a letter Monday morning when checking leftover mail from Friday.

A suspicious letter was also discovered at Lewis Elementary, but HISD spokesman Norm Uhl said the letter found at Lewis was actually addressed to Bellfort Academy. The campuses are located on the same property.

On Friday, similar powder-filled letters were sent to Alcott Elementary, Almeda Elementary, Anderson Elementary, Ashford Elementary, Attucks Middle School, Barrick Elementary, Bastian Elementary, Blackshear Elementary, Benbrook Elementary, Browning Elementary, Fonville Middle School, Briar Meadow Elementary School, Bellaire High School and Burbank Middle School.

"It does seem to be following the alphabet—most begin with ‘A’ or ‘B’—with the exception of one that starts with an ‘F’—but it seems to be following the pattern of ‘A’ and ‘B’ schools," said Uhl.

As of Monday afternoon, the suspicious powder had been sent to a total of 17 HISD schools.

The City Health Department tested the substance and said it was not harmful, posed no risk and contained no biological agents. School officials said Monday’s classes would not be interrupted.

Parent Cassandra Siddiqui said she rushed to the Bellfort campus as soon as she got the automated call about the suspicious letter.

"The first thing I thought of was the anthrax coming back. That’s why I rushed up here to get [my daughter] but if it’s cleared up, I’m good. I don’t want her to miss school if she doesn’t have to," Siddiqui said.

Another mother who didn’t want to be identified said she wasn’t taking any chances with the scare.

"I’m gonna follow my first mind. I’m coming to get [my child] because it can turn out to be worse later," she said.

The typewritten envelopes were addressed to the schools, not individuals, and contained no notes. Each contained about a teaspoon of white powder, officials said.

Because Monday is a federal holiday, mail won’t be delivered again until Tuesday.

The U.S. Postal Service said they plan to screen all letters addressed to HISD schools.

In addition, the HISD Police Department, with guidance from the U.S. Postal Service and the Houston Health Department, has developed a set of guidelines for school staff members to follow regarding any suspicious envelopes or packages.

"I commend the efforts of our principals, central office staff, HISD police, the Houston Fire Department, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their swift action in addressing this senseless act," said HISD Superintendent Terry Grier. "One of the main goals of HISD and the Board of Education is the safety and security of our children. At no time were any children in danger, and we hope that the person or persons responsible are found and prosecuted for this crime."

Mystery Powder in Suspicious Mail to NYC Teacher and Barbershop  (NY Post, 10/13/2010)

Queens, NY--A Queens teacher and a barbershop received suspicious mail yesterday, in the latest series of bizarre postal hoaxes, law-enforcement sources said.

Cops and a haz-mat team responded to the teacher's home on Penelope Avenue in Middle Village, just after other officers rushed to the haircutters on Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood.

In both cases, the powder was found to be harmless.

They were the fourth and fifth such incidents in nine days in Queens, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

At Pino & Santo hairstyles, co-owner Pino Murado opened a letter-sized envelope with a folded piece of newspaper inside that contained the powder, co-owner Santo David said. The powder spilled onto his pants.

Federal Agents Map Out Search For Whoever Sent Powder To 17 Houston Schools  (Examiner, 10/11/2010)

Houston, TX-- Federal agents say they have lots of evidence to track down whoever mailed envelopes full of white powder to 17 Houston Independent School District campuses.

Thirteen schools called police and hazardous materials crews on Friday when letters arrived with suspicious white powder, and then four more schools received powder letters today.

While the FBI has taken the lead on the investigation, the US Postal Inspection Service also mapped out plans to intercept any other suspicious mail before it reaches any other schools.   In a statement today, the agency wrote, "The U.S. Postal Inspection Services takes investigations relatting to 'hoax' mailings very seriously."

Tests have concluded so far that corn starch was contained in the mailings, but investigators said they were clearly intended to cause panic as if anthrax or other biological agents were involved.

Monday's letters arrived at:

    * Askew Elementary on Wood Lodge Drive

    * Austin High School on Dumble in east Houston

    * Benbrook Elementary on Bolin Road

    * Bellfort Early Childhood Center, but the letter was opened at nearby Lewis Elementary on Rockhill

One veteran postal inspector said 17 envelopes will provide plenty of evidence and leads that could point them to the sender.   Some of the tactics that investigators are mapping out:

    * Collect fingerprints on the letters and check for matches in nationwide crime databases

    * Collect DNA from hairs or spit from licking the envelopes, then search for matches in DNA databases

    * Interview postal station staff for any clues at the zip code listed on the cancellation of the stamp

    * Check each stamp for embedded codes that pinpoint where the stamps were sold.

Not all stamps have code embedded in them, but many kinds of stamps do.

Houston ISD officials speculated that whoever is responsible may be relying on some sort of published list of schools in the district since nearly all of the schools to receive the letters so far have started with the letters 'A' and 'B'.

The district sent photos of one envelope that was mailed to Attucks Middle School on Friday, hoping to alert staff about what to look for as they sort each day's mail.

The district said no classes have been interrupted, and no kids were ever in harm's way because mail is handled in administrative offices away from typical student areas.

The hoax powder letter mailed to Attucks Middle School listed a type-written return address in Grapevine and a postal cancellation stamp from Dallas, indicating it was handled on October 6th.

Regardless of how harmless the powder turns out to be, staging a hoax by using the mail is a federal felony crime that could lead to a five-year prison term.

Mystery Illness Strikes Canada Post Workers  (QMI Agency, 10/9/2010)

EDMONTON - Four posties were struck with illness for a second day Friday after an undetermined odour sent them to hospital Thursday, says a Canada Post spokeswoman.

"Whether it's a case of them being overly sensitive because they've had it in their systems, I don't know," said spokeswoman Teresa Williams.

A private testing company, like firefighters the day before, could not determine what's making employees sick at the southside shop.

Postal workers -- some vomiting, others with burning eyes and throats -- were evacuated from a southside office building Thursday morning.

Five were sent to hospital after a second bout of sickness in the building later in the day.

"It's really a strange one," Williams said in the midst of the evacuation Friday.

Emergency crews were called in after a number of employees at the 99 Street and 36 Avenue sorting station reported feeling sick, said Tim Wilson, Edmonton Fire Rescue spokesman.

A strange odour was reported by employees inside. There were no strange powders or suspicious packages reported.

Between 15 and 20 employees were examined by medics and released at the scene.

Fire crews determined the building was safe and employees returned to the office about 90 minutes after being evacuated, said Wilson.

Shortly after resuming work, some employees again reported feeling sickly.

A supervisor and four employees were taken to hospital "just in case," said Williams.

Those employees were the ones to go home sick Friday, she said. The supervisor's office became the focus of testing Thursday, but she returned to work in the office Friday, said Williams.

This was the first time in at least two decades that a Canada Post office in Edmonton has faced a critical health threat to employees, said Williams.

California Fish And Game Employees Hospitalized After Contact With FedEx Package  (Sacramento Fire Dept. PR, 10/11/2010)

Sacramento, CA--Fire Department Hazardous Material Response Team, responded to the Department of Fish and Game, located at 1740 North Market Blvd for several employees complaining of eye irritation and breathing difficulty after coming on contact with a package delivered by Federal Express.

After coming in contact and being in close proximity with a legal, letter sized package, over six employees of the Department of Fish and game began complaining of burning eyes and difficulty breathing.  Two employees were transported by Sacramento Fire Paramedics to local hospitals for their symptoms.

The department of Fish and Game called it an early day and let all the employees that were evacuated go home for the day, rather than return to work. Firefighters ventilated the building to ensure the fumes were no longer present before leaving the scene.

The substance later was identified as formaldehyde and traced back to the distribution center, where the contents of separate package leaked on to other packages.  It is presumed that the second hazmat incident located at, 3028 Peace Keeper Way was a result of the formaldehyde as well.  The package delivered to this location was delivered by a different truck; however it was sorted at the same distribution center.  Both law enforcement and fire officials have concluded these incidents were accidental.

Tennessee Postal Worker Accused of $90,000 Theft From Postal Service  (Tullahoma News and Guardian, 10/10/10)

Shelbyville, TN--A Shelbyville postal worker was arrested by federal authorities this past week and charged with stealing almost $90,000 from the U.S. Postal Service.

The Shelbyville Times Gazette reported that Christopher Cooper, 48, was taken into custody by United States Postal Inspector’s Service Special Agent Margaret Busbee and arraigned before federal magistrate William B. Carter in Chattanooga, where he entered a plea of not guilty.

A federal indictment filed on Aug. 24 charged that from February 2006 until January 2010, Cooper allegedly stole about $86,958 in money and property that was under his control while he was employed with the postal service.

According to USPS spokesperson Beth Barnett, Cooper is no longer employed with the post office.

She said that Cooper’s arrest followed an investigation by the USPS Office of Inspector General, which investigates fraud and waste within the federal postal system.

"We are committed to pursuing investigations and prosecutions of individuals who violate the public’s trust," Assistant United States Attorney Steven S. Neff said. "The U.S. Attorney’s Office takes very seriously our charge to preserve the integrity of all federal institutions."

Cooper faces a 10-year maximum sentence and $250,000 in fines, in addition to restitution for the money allegedly stolen.

Any plea agreement would be due by Nov. 30 and Cooper’s trial date has been set for Dec. 14 before District Judge Harry S. Mattice Jr. A pre-trial conference is set for Dec. 6.

Cooper is currently free on $30,000 bond and is represented by federal public defender Chris Stanford. Chattanooga attorney Rita LaLumia is also listed on the federal court website as representing Cooper.

Mail Powder Scares Sent to Houston Schools Treated as Terroristic Threat  (KTRK, 10/11/10)

HOUSTON-- The FBI is taking the lead in the investigation of the powder-filled envelopes sent to HISD schools. And that list of schools is getting longer.

Even if all of this is just a hoax, it is being taken very seriously, and now considered a terroristic threat. That comes as more letters were found today. The total is now up to 17 letters found at 17 schools since Friday.

Preliminary testing determined the powder is corn starch and today, the work continues to try and pinpoint the source.

The envelopes were found at 14 different campuses scattered all over the city on Friday, and investigators are trying to figure out where they came from. Three more schools were added to the list by HISD Monday morning.

The schools that received the letters are:

      Elementary Schools

      Alcott Elementary

      Almeda Elementary

      Anderson Elementary

      Ashford Elementary

      Askew Elementary

      Barrick Elementary

      Bastian Elementary

      Benbrook Elementary

      Bellfort-Lewis Elementary

      Blackshear Elementary

      Briarmeadow Elementary

      Browning Elementary

      Middle Schools

      Attucks Middle School

      Fonville Middle School

      Burbank Middle School

      High Schools

      Austin High School

      Bellaire High School

The envelopes discovered Monday are just like the ones found on Friday.

"It's just a standard letter sized with the school's name and address type written on it," said HISD spokesperson Norm Uhl.

The total number of schools targeted by the mystery mailer now stands at 17, most of them beginning with the letter "A" or "B," with the exception of one -- Fonnville Middle School. A suspicious envelope found at Lewis Elementary School Monday morning was actually addressed to Bellfort Academy next door.

Abraham Rendon and his father came to check on Abraham's third-grade brother at Lewis. Abraham says the schools told him and his father where the letters were postmarked.

"They bring a powder to school, it's from Dallas," he said. "That happened to all kinds of schools."

The US postal inspection service would not comment on whether the letters were indeed postmarked Dallas. In a statement to the media, however, a spokeswoman wrote, "US postal inspectors have implemented a process with the U. S. Postal service and HISD officials to capture additional (suspicious) envelopes prior to delivery to the schools."

At the same time, test results for the suspicious powder in eight of the envelopes came back.

"The tests we conducted on the envelopes Friday came back as negative for any harmful biological agent," said Kathy Barton with the City of Houston Health Department.

Because the mailing of the envelopes is a terroristic threat, the FBI is taking the lead and HISD is trying to reassure parents, even as the district helps in the investigation.

"We've actually asked the schools to double check and we haven't heard from any additional schools," said Uhl.

Further testing of the powder will take about two weeks to complete, and if the mailer is caught, he or she faces federal charges, to be determined by the US Attorney's office.

HISD Now Says Briarmeadow ES, Bellaire HS Were Sent Suspicious Powder  (Memorial Examiner, 10/8/2010)

Houston--Officials said they followed district protocol in calling in Houston Fire Department Hazardous Materials specialists immediately to study envelopes containing suspicious powder that arrived in the mail at 10 HISD campuses Friday.

Briarmeadow Elementary on Dunvale Street is among the nine HISD elementary, four middle schools and one high school -- Bellaire High -- identified as targets of suspicious substances mailed to each campus Friday.

Envelopes contained white powder, later determined in field tests as non-toxic substances; one source told The Examiner the powder was identified as cornstarch. Schools were in session when some of the envelopes were delivered; authorities say no students were exposed to the envelopes.

Schools received one envelope each at Alcott Elementary, Anderson Elementary, Almeda Elementary, Ashford Elementary, Attucks Middle, Barrick Elementary, Bastian Elementary, Bellaire High, Black Middle, Blackshear Elementary, Briarmeadow Elementary, Browning Elementary, Burbank Middle and Fonville Middle.

The first report came from Attucks, between 1-2  p.m.

Principals immediately alerted parents via automated messages, while FBI, Houston Fire Department HAZMAT crews and HISD police investigated the threats.

“The substances are being tested as we speak,” said HISD Police Chief Jimmie Dotson. “We want to make sure that we assure our parents that our schools across the city are safe.”

Having said that, Dotson said respective schools’ principals are combing through all mail in search of other, potentially suspicious envelopes.

“It’s not dangerous, but we don’t want to take any chances at this time,” said Dotson. Testing by the City of Houston health lab could take as long as 48 hours to verify any preliminary findings.

Chief Elementary Schools Officer Sam Sarabia said that each school sent Connect-Ed messages to parents immediately after detecting the threat.

“It wasn’t disruptive to the school day,” said district spokesperson Norm Uhl, “except that the kids might have noticed fire trucks on their campuses.”

Bellaire students had early dismissal Friday; it is believed that the letter was discovered there after school closed for the day.

“Everything showed to be non-hazardous,” said HFD Capt. John Douglas. The envelopes discovered by the schools were typewritten, with no notes enclosed. The list of targeted schools is believed to be capped, for the moment, at 14, after administrators from each school in the district were asked to check all mail for suspicious letters. Dotson said the U.S. Postal Service is involved in the investigation.

“Our main focus is to make sure our schools are safe for our students to return to on Monday,” said Dotson.

Monday is Columbus Day, and there is no mail delivery scheduled for schools that day; the U.S. Postal Service plans to hold all mail at the 14 campuses so they can be inspected before further delivery.

UK Postie Moves In With Mother After Stealing More Mail Than His House Could Hold  (UK News, 10/9/2010)

Northumberland, England--A Northumberland postman has been given a 14 month sentence for stealing post. Paul Noga, 38, packed his own home with so many items of stolen mail that he had to move in with his mother.

Noga from Ashington, who had been a postman since 2004, confessed to interfering with mail, theft and criminal damage. His home contained over 50,000 packages that he had mostly stolen from the compartments of other postal staff.

Included in the items recovered were sympathy cards to a recently bereaved man. The rogue postman admitted he had spent around £1,000 cash and retail vouchers valued at £150, which had been taken from the mail.

Passing sentence at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Michael Cartlidge said Noga had money worries and also was concerned about his mother’s health. The judge added that the postman had abused the trust of his employers with his mistreatment of countless postal packages, and undoubtedly caused distress to people whose mail he had stolen

Shaun Routledge, representing Noga, said that the mail thefts showed a lack of cleverness as there had been no attempt to use credit cards, or alter the payee on any cheques, found in the packages.

Noga has forfeited his rights to a Royal Mail pension, as his contributions have been used to redeliver the mail that he took. A spokesman for the Royal Mail said they would not tolerate any dishonesty in employees and that any employee who abused their trusted position would be prosecuted.

The spokesman added that most postmen and postwomen were honest and diligent, and did their job of ensuring that mail reached its destination safely.

Mail Theft Reports Grow  (Amarillo Globe News, 10/9/2010)

Amarillo, TX--Amarillo has seen a jump in mail thefts in the last couple of weeks, authorities say.

About two years ago mail theft was occurring regularly, but the number of cases had since dwindled, police Cpl. Jerry Neufeld said.

"Well, they're back at it again," Neufeld said. "Any way they can get a hold of mail or get their hands on it, they are."

Thieves are stealing mail from both residential boxes and U.S. Postal Service boxes, officials said.

"The main thing they are looking for is your checks," Neufeld explained. "Checks you're writing to businesses, credit card companies, electric and water bills."

The checks are then chemically washed, essentially giving the suspects a blank check.

"The info will stay on the check ... what (the account owner) wrote with ballpoint pen will wash off," Neufeld said.

No suspects have been identified, but methamphetamine users were "very much involved in the check forgery and washing going on with mail theft" previously, Neufeld said.

The recent residential mail theft has occurred mostly in the morning hours, before noon, he said.

"The main point is for people to be very careful of what they're doing with their mail and not put it in the mailbox for the postal carrier to pick up," he said.

Officials are advising taking mail into a post office to be sent.

Grand Jury Indicts Connecticut Man For Mailing Bomb Threat That Ecacuated Post Office  (The Register Citizen)

BRIDGEPORT, CT — David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Bridgeport returned a five-count indictment today charging Roland Prejean, also known as “Gary Joseph Gravelle,” 43, formerly of Thomaston and Morris, Connecticut, with one count of using the U.S. Mail to communicate a bomb threat and four counts of mailing threatening communications, one of which threatened federal employees.

The indictment alleges that, in early Sept. 2010, Prejean mailed a threatening letter to the Thomaston Post Office claiming that he had planted a hidden bomb on a remote timer in the Post Office.

According to documents previously filed in court, the letter resulted in the evacuation of the Thomaston Post Office as well as the Thomaston Town Hall and a Thomaston Public School, which were in the immediate vicinity of the Post Office. Bomb technicians from the Connecticut State Police Emergency Services Unit searched the post office for explosive or incendiary devices with negative results.

The indictment further alleges that Prejean also mailed a letter to a Connecticut Superior Court Judge in New London that included a substance that was represented to be “Liquid Anthrax,” and that he sent threatening letters to a private individual and a probation officer in Connecticut. According to documents previously filed in court, in those letters Prejean threatened to kill numerous people.

Prejean has been detained since his arrest in North Dakota on September 7, 2010.

If convicted, Prejean faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years for making a bomb threat through the mail; a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years for mailing a threatening communication to federal employees; and a maximum term of imprisonment of five years of each of the three counts of mailing a threatening communication.

U.S. Attorney Fein stressed that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

U.S. Attorney Fein commended the substantial efforts and cooperation of the several agencies involved in this investigation including the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New Haven, Minneapolis, and Bismarck; the United States Postal Inspection Service in Connecticut and North Dakota; the United States Marshals Service in Connecticut; the Connecticut State Police Emergency Services Unit and the Thomaston Police Department.

Slovak Prime Minister Reportedly Gets Death Threat Mail  (Xinhua, 10/7/2010)

Slovakia--Prime Minister Iveta Radicova received a death threat by mail and will travel in an armored vehicle for some time to come, the daily newspaper Novy Cas reported Wednesday.

Radicova received a letter containing a cartridge case at her home address in Nova Dedinka, the newspaper said, citing Milan Marko, head of the Slovak office for the protection of top politicians.

The newspaper said the threat came shortly after Radicova, whose daughter will be protected as well, promised a set of new anti-corruption measures.

The prime minister's office did not immediately respond to an inquiry by Xinhua on the report.

Suspicious Letter With Powder Sent To Chicago Area Monastery Shuts Down Building and Street  (Journal, 10/6/2010)

Park Ridge, IL--A suspicious envelope closed Busse Highway in Park Ridge for hours on Monday, Oct. 4 while hazardous material specialists tried to determine the identity of the powder inside it.

At about 11:46 a.m., a woman at an office for Passionist Monastery, 660 Busse Hwy., opened an envelope, releasing a powder from the letter inside. Police and firefighters responded to the business along with the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System Div. 3 Hazardous Materials Response Team.

As of 2 p.m., about 10 to 15 pieces of fire equipment and about 16 specialists were on the scene. The road was closed from Western to Seminary avenues, although businesses and homes in the area were not all evacuated.

The woman was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge where she showed no ill effects. “The person that handled the mail is experiencing nothing,” said Cmdr. Lou Jogmen that afternoon.

Preliminary tests at the scene determined the powder was not harmful. “It was not a protein,” said Acting Fire Chief Jeff Sorensen. He said field-testing at the scene showed the powder was 97% glycogen. “It likely was some type of cleaning agent,” he said.

The powder and letter were turned over to the FBI and is currently at the Illinois Public Health Laboratory for testing. A spokesperson for the bureau could not release any information about the envelope or markings on it.

Jogmen explained the response was appropriate to the situation under protocols since 9/11. “We treat it with the utmost respect and care,” Jogmen said. “We go into it with all the precautions for the personnel.”

Officials cleared the scene by 5:30 p.m. Monday.

According to their website, the Passionists of Holy Cross Province, founded in 1741, are a global order of Roman Catholic priests, brothers, nuns, sisters and laity. No one answered the telephone at the office on Tuesday morning.

Expert Says Intelligence Community Failing On Bioterrorism (Bio Prep Watch, 10/5/2010)

In a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Randall J. Larsen assessed the nation’s responsibility to be informed of the threat of an attack using biological weapons.

“I think we all understand that there are people and organizations out there that want to kill large numbers of Americans," Larsen said. "The Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission said there are two ways to do that, nuclear and biological, and by far, biological is easier,” Larsen said. “If the senior leaders in the Congress and Administration understood the biological capabilities now available – and even more troubling, what will be available in the next couple of years to small terrorist groups, there would be no requirement for hearings such as these.”

Larsen currently serves as the CEO of the non-profit research and education organization WMD Center, which he helped create with former Senators Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Jim Talent (R-Mo.). Larsen has also served as the chairman of the Department of Military Strategy and Operations at the National War College and the founding director of the Institute for Homeland Security.

The intelligence community, Larsen believes, is not capable assessing the threat of a biological attack.

“Frankly, I would not waste your time by recommending a briefing by the Intelligence Community on the subject of bioterrorism," Larsen said. "They would tell you they have little or no information of any terrorist group developing biological weapons capability.”

The intelligence community, Larsen said, was unable to, during 15 years of the Cold War, identify the massive biowarfare program that was initiated by the Soviet Union and included 50,000 scientists. They also missed, as Larsen pointed out, al-Qaeda’s anthrax programs in Malaysia and Afghanistan and Aum Shinrikyo’s biowarfare and chemical warfare programs.

“Do we really think there is a high probability the Intelligence Community will find a half-dozen individuals working in a makeshift laboratory with standard bio lab equipment purchased on the internet in a facility no larger than a two-car garage in a remote village in the tribal regions of Pakistan or Sana, Yemen, or the suburbs of New York City?” Larsen said.

Intelligence assessments should focus on capability, not scant or incomplete tactical data, Larsen said. The document that has proven most valuable to educate to U.S. government is the Population Threat Assessment prepared by Elizabeth George at the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Science and Technology. Larsen said it could be used to improve the understanding of the situation by the subcommittee and by other U.S. leaders.

To better prepare the country for tomorrow’s potential threats, Larsen, along with Sens. Graham and Talent, formed the WMD Center. They believe the threat of bioterrorism is increasing and want to assure that senior leaders across all levels of government understand the situation and what can be done about it.

Extra Credit Project Mailed to Chemistry Professor Triggers Evacuation at Florida College  (AP, 10/7/2010)

STOCK ISLAND, Fla. -- The Monroe County Sheriff's Office says a device that triggered the evacuation of Florida Key Community College was an extra credit chemistry project.

Chemistry professor Bruce Gragg found the device in his mail at the college on Tuesday. He placed it in a garbage can and the sheriff's office was called to the scene.

Investigators determined the device was not dangerous.

On Wednesday, 56-year-old Gary Moes of Key West called detectives to say the device was his. Moes said he was enrolled in Gragg's online chemistry class, where they were studying chemical reactions.

Moes said he'd constructed the device as an extra credit project.

Detectives are conferring with the state attorney's office to determine if any charges will be filed.