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From the Los Angeles Times

Dozens charged in schemes to steal from bank accounts using computer viruses

Attackers e-mailed out malware that captured victims' user names and passwords as they logged in to online bank accounts. Almost $4 million was stolen from victims throughout the U.S.

By Geraldine Baum and Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times

October 1, 2010

Reporting from New York and Los Angeles

More than 60 people have been charged in international schemes that used computer viruses to steal millions of dollars from bank accounts throughout America, state and federal prosecutors said Thursday in New York.

"The modern, high-tech bank heist does not require a gun, a mask, a note or a getaway car," U.S. Atty. Preet Bharara said. "It requires only the Internet and ingenuity. And it can be accomplished in the blink of an eye, with just a click of the mouse."

The cyber attacks began in Eastern Europe and included malware known as the Zeus Trojan, which was typically sent in an e-mail to computers at homes, businesses and government offices in the United States. Once the e-mail was opened, the virus embedded itself in the victims' computers, recording their keystrokes and capturing user names and passwords as they logged in to online bank accounts.

Almost $4 million was stolen from victims throughout the United States, according to Bharara and Manhattan Dist. Atty. Cyrus R. Vance Jr. Federal law enforcement officers arrested 20 suspects in the U.S.; 17 others were still being sought Thursday. Since July, New York state has charged 55 people in the scheme.

Thursday's U.S. crackdown was related to the arrests Tuesday in London of 19 people suspected of stealing more than $9 million from bank accounts in England, authorities said. The arrests are the culmination of a one-year investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the U.S. attorney's office in New York, the Manhattan district attorney's office, the New York Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service and the Office of Homeland Security.

The hackers used the stolen account information to take over victims' bank accounts and then transfer thousands of dollars at a time to bank accounts controlled by other participants in the schemes, federal and New York state authorities said.

The schemes relied on "mules" who set up U.S. bank accounts to receive wire transfers and then make cash withdrawals, law enforcement officials said. These mules, typically in their early 20s, came to the U.S. on student visas from Russia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Some set out to steal. Others needed a job and were recruited by Russian ringleaders through online social networking and newspaper sites.

"This advanced cyber crime ring is a disturbing example of organized crime in the 21st century — high tech and widespread," Vance said.

Authorities said it was likely that the criminals targeted municipalities and businesses because they had large payrolls and hefty bank accounts with plenty of available cash to plunder. They probably weren't concerned as much about whether the withdrawals would be detected.

Bosses directed "the mules to open up bank accounts after providing them fraudulent passports and to withdraw money from ATM machines utilizing stolen account information," said Austin Berglas, a top agent in the New York office of the FBI. "These bank accounts are used to launder stolen funds and transfer money back to other members of the organization in Eastern Europe.… Individual mules and mule bosses may or may not know each other."

Berglas said victims often have no idea that their computers are infected with the virus until it's too late, after their personal information has been harvested and their bank accounts drained.

He said the overseas hackers were adept not only at developing viruses that would work with individual systems but at adapting them to withstand new anti-virus programs.

"By the time software companies identify the threat and patch their systems, the hackers are already working on new, undetectable malware," he said.

The Zeus malware is a product of a widely available "crimeware kit" that can be purchased from underground developers of hacking tools for as little as $700, said Derek Manky, a security analyst at Fortinet Inc., a cyber security research firm.

According to Fortinet's research, Zeus-based attacks are the most common type of hack the company sees every month.

"There are so many people who are able to reach out to these hacking forums and get a copy of this and then fairly easily infect someone," Manky said, adding that the New York prosecutions are "definitely just a drop in the bucket compared to what is happening out there."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cyber-scam-20101001,0,7363106,print.story

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U.S. border officer accused of accepting bribes to allow illegal immigrants to cross border

An inspector for U.S. Customs and Border Protection was arrested on corruption conspiracy charges  Thursday, accused of accepting bribes in exchange for allowing vehicles filled with illegal immigrants and marijuana to pass through his inspection lanes at the Otay Mesa and San Ysidro border crossings, authorities said.

Lorne “Hammer” Jones, a 17-year veteran, received up to $20,000 for each vanload of illegal immigrants that passed through his lane without inspection, according to the criminal complaint unsealed Thursday. The number of loads was unspecified. Jones allegedly carried out the scheme from 2000 to 2009.

The investigation was built on the testimony of several witnesses who said Jones would alert smugglers of his lane assignments ahead of time so they knew where to cross. One witness allegedly made eight to 10 payments of about $10,000 each to Jones.

Jones was arrested Thursday while on duty at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The case is being handled by the FBI-led Border Corruption Task Force, based in San Diego, authorities said. 

It comes one week after another California inspector was charged with conspiring to smuggle cocaine and methamphetamine through his inspection lane at Calexico, in Imperial County.

Both cases mark the latest examples of alleged corruption along the U.S.-Mexico border, where federal authorities are concerned that Mexican smuggling groups are increasingly trying to infiltrate the ranks of federal agents through bribery.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/09/us-border-officer-accused-of-accepting-bribes-to-allow-illegal-immigrants-to-cross-border.html

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Advocates for homeless to protest perceived efforts to stem their work September 30, 2010 Advocates for the homeless plan to serve meals to skid row residents Thursday afternoon to protest what they say are efforts to prevent them from providing much-needed basic resources to the indigent. The Right to Share Food Extravaganza is scheduled to take place from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the southwest corner of 6th Street and Towne Avenue, two blocks east of San Pedro Street. “We want to exercise and protect our right to share food with our brothers and sisters,” said Michael Hubman, founder of the groups Right to Share Food and Watercorps, which provides drinking water to people living on skid row.

The "sidewalk picnic" is part of a daylong series of actions to support the right to provide ad hoc meals and snacks to people on the street. Dozens of groups from across Southern California hand out food and clothing each week on skid row.

Hubman and other activists claim that law enforcement officers and some city officials are intentionally trying to cut off such supplies in an attempt to force the homeless into shelters.

"It's more stereotyping people on skid row," Parham said.

LAPD Officer Deon Joseph, a senior lead officer with the city's Safer City Initiative, disputed the claims posed by some advocates. "That's absolutely 100% false," he said. "What we're for is people doing it in a responsible way."

Providing resources, such as bottled water and hygiene products, and encouraging street people to seek assistance at designated missions and shelters are productive ways to assist the homeless, Joseph said.

"When you give them food in an area where there are so many other resources for foods, you're incentivizing the streets and keeping them on the streets and nearer to their vices, like drugs," Joseph said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/09/homeless-advocates-to-protest-perceived-efforts-to-stem-their-work.html#more

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From the New York Times

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U.N. Says Global Employment Needs 5 Years to Rebound

UNITED NATIONS — It will take five more years before employment around the world rebounds to the point it was before the financial crisis, two years longer than previously predicted, the International Labor Organization said in its annual jobs report on Thursday.

To get back to the level of employment in 2007, the global economy needs to create nearly 23 million jobs, including more than 14 million in developed countries, the report said.

“The root causes of the crisis have not been properly tackled,” said Raymond Torres, an economist and the lead author of the report.

Now that the effects of public stimulus packages around the globe are fading, fiscal policies are not sufficiently focused on job growth, which helps explain the likely delay in improving employment, the report said.

Without such changes, there will probably be an increase in social unrest, especially in countries where unemployment remains high. About 25 countries have already experienced strife linked to the economic crisis, according to the report.

“We don't need the poll data to see more social unrest,” Mr. Torres said. “You can see the strikes here in Europe, while in China and other Asian countries you can see social discontent.”

Some countries have encouraging signs of jobs recovery, particularly in Asia and Latin America, but in the United States the duration of unemployment has lengthened. One reason the American unemployment rate dropped to 9.6 percent in August from 10.1 percent in the previous October is that 1.2 million people unable to find jobs stopped looking for work, the report said, so they are no longer counted.

To increase employment, governments need to focus on measures like training, raise the spending power of those with jobs in emerging economies through wage increases and enact far-reaching financial reform, according to the labor organization, a United Nations agency.

Economists generally endorsed the findings of the report, but they noted that if any of the recommendations were simple to achieve, they would have been put in place long ago.

Training for new skills does not automatically translate into new jobs, as seen in the fact that vocational training schools and community colleges in the United States are booming, argued Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group , an advisory organization.

The fundamental problem, Mr. Baumohl said, “is that job creation during the recovery is going to be a lot slower than in previous cycles.” Austerity measures in Europe, for example, will mean that public and private payroll cuts there will be deep and long.

Raising wages in countries like Brazil and India to help stimulate demand can cut both ways, economists noted, because it can also discourage employers from adding workers.

In terms of wider financial reform, Mr. Torres argued that re-establishing the walls separating commercial banks and investment banks would help revitalize manufacturing and other businesses that create jobs because commercial banks tend to focus on such industries.

Some economists thought that solution might border on the simplistic, though they said unfreezing the credit market for established businesses was essential for the health of the recovery.

The labor organization acknowledged that conditions varied from country to country, but it tried to boil down trends according to economic categories. In the 35 most advanced economies, job growth will remain stagnant for the rest of this year. Low- to middle-income countries, by contrast, were the least affected by the crisis, and the jobs they did lose have been largely replaced.

But restoring jobs to pre-crisis levels is not sufficient to keep up with demand, Mr. Torres said. Forty-five million jobs need to be created annually around the world to keep pace with new workers entering the market, he said, the bulk of them in the developing world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/world/01nations.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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British Police Offer Apology to Muslims for Spy Cameras

LONDON (AP) — The British police on Thursday apologized for a counterterrorism program that featured surveillance cameras that were installed in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods. Police officials said that even though the cameras had never been switched on, the initiative had damaged trust and caused anger in the community.

Under the program, more than 200 closed-circuit television cameras and license plate recognition devices were placed in parts of the city of Birmingham in central England. The effort was conceived in 2007 after a series of terrorist plots were uncovered in Birmingham.

Residents complained that they had not been consulted about the program, and civil liberties groups protested that the measures were heavy-handed.

Protests from human rights groups led the police to decide not to begin using the cameras after they had been installed. Some have been covered with plastic bags to reassure people that the cameras are not in use.

In 2006, the police and intelligence agencies uncovered a plot in Birmingham to kidnap and behead a British soldier. The accused ringleader, Parviz Khan, was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

The city was also the site of the first arrest in Britain of a terrorism suspect who the authorities said was inspired by Al Qaeda ; the suspect, Moinul Abedin, was detained in 2000 and later jailed after the security services uncovered a bomb factory in his home.

An independent review conducted by the Thames Valley Police, in southern England, criticized the police in central England for the camera program. The review found “little evidence of thought being given to compliance with the legal or regulatory framework” before the television cameras were installed.

There were 218 cameras in all, and they were placed in two mostly Muslim residential neighborhoods in Birmingham that had been associated in the past with Islamic extremism.

The West Midlands Police constable, Chris Sims, said that the authorities had made a mistake in not considering the impact of the cameras' intrusion into people's privacy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/world/europe/01britain.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Recession Drove Many to Medicaid Last Year

Joblessness and the accompanying loss of health benefits drove an additional 3.7 million people into the Medicaid program last year, the largest single-year increase since the early days of the government insurance plan, according to an annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Enrollment in the program, which provides comprehensive coverage to the low-income uninsured, grew by 8.2 percent from December 2008 to December 2009, the second-largest rate of increase in the 10 years that Kaiser has conducted the survey. There were 48.5 million people on Medicaid at the end of 2009, or about one of every six Americans.

Every state showed enrollment growth, with nine above 15 percent and Nevada and Wisconsin above 20 percent.

Those kinds of increases exact a heavy toll on state budgets, as states share the cost of the Medicaid program with the federal government. The foundation, an independent nonprofit group that conducts research on health policy, found that spending on Medicaid grew 8.8 percent in 2009, the largest increase since 2002.

“We do have horrific pressures on the Medicaid program,” said Carol A. Herrmann-Steckel, Alabama's Medicaid commissioner.

Last year's spending growth was well above the 6.3 percent increase projected by states at the start of their fiscal years, explaining why virtually every state's program ran a deficit. And it provides a cautionary note for states that have projected a slowed rate of spending growth — 7.4 percent — for the current fiscal year.

The only hopeful news found by the survey was that the growth in enrollment slowed considerably in the second half of 2009. Yet, two-thirds of the Medicaid officials surveyed said they thought this year's appropriations might not be enough to cover continuing enrollment growth.

States have been buffered from the harshest recessionary effects of the Medicaid explosion by a series of Congressional appropriations that have temporarily increased the federal share of spending. The stimulus package included $87 billion in Medicaid relief for states, and Congress last month extended the assistance, at a reduced level, through June.

At that point, absent further legislation, the state and federal shares will revert to their historical ratios. If the economy does not recover enough to reverse the enrollment growth, states fear they could be left with an unmanageable burden on their already inadequate revenues. Unlike the federal government, states must balance their budgets.

Without the assistance from Washington, said Vernon K. Smith, a principal with Health Management Associates, which conducted the survey for Kaiser, “we would have seen cuts on a scale that we've never seen before.”

Adding to the anxiety in state capitals is an expected surge in Medicaid enrollment due to a vast expansion of eligibility for the program under the new health care law. Starting in 2014, the expansion will make the program available to able-bodied adults with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (currently $14,404 for a single adult and $29,326 for a family of four). Today, Medicaid, which was enacted in 1965, primarily serves children, pregnant women and the aged and disabled.

The government expects the Medicaid expansion to account for about half of the 32 million uninsured people who are projected to gain coverage because of the new law.

Despite the enhanced federal aid for Medicaid last year, virtually every state made cuts to benefit levels or provider payments in order to balance budgets. As a condition of receiving stimulus money, states were prohibited from lowering eligibility thresholds, which they are allowed to set within federal parameters.

Instead, 39 states cut or froze payments to providers, including 20 states that reduced rates for doctors. That can have the effect of discouraging physicians from accepting Medicaid patients. Twenty states eliminated or restricted benefits like dentistry, imaging services and certain medical equipment. Further cuts are anticipated this year in many states.

States are running out of options for cuts that produce real savings, Mr. Smith said, and are increasingly turning to efficiencies like quality improvements, managed care and computerization.

Enrollment in Medicaid declined as recently as 2006 but began a rapid ascent the next year as the economic downturn began and the unemployment rate started to double.

There is often a lag between the start of a recession and its worst effects on safety net programs. Last year's increases in enrollment and the rate of growth in enrollment were nearly double that of 2008, the survey found. Over three years, Medicaid enrollment has grown by 6.2 million.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/health/policy/01medicaid.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Before a Suicide, Hints in Online Musings

The young man writing on the gay chat site was torn: he had discovered that his college roommate had spied on him from another room with a webcam as he kissed a male friend. Should he complain to the school? Would officials assign him someone worse? Or would he simply risk angering the roommate?

After all, the man wrote on Sept. 21, aside from some occasional bad behavior, “he's a pretty decent roommate.”

The next night, Tyler Clementi , a Rutgers University freshman, walked onto the George Washington Bridge and jumped over the edge; the authorities said his roommate had streamed a live Internet feed of Mr. Clementi's encounter with another man in their dormitory room.

Mr. Clementi's body was identified on Thursday.

The messages in the forums of a pornography site, JustUsBoys.com, appear to have come from Mr. Clementi, a talented violinist from Ridgewood, N.J. The postings show a student wrestling with his rising indignation over a breach of privacy and trying to figure out how best to respond.

In one of the person's last messages, at 4:38 a.m. on the day Mr. Clementi took his life, the person wrote in a post that the roommate had tried again to catch him on camera the previous night, and had messaged friends to watch online.

He decided to act. “I ran to the nearest R.A. and set this thing in motion,” he wrote. “We'll see what happens.”

At the Rutgers campus in Piscataway, N.J., where Mr. Clementi, 18, shared a cramped room with Dharun Ravi , students mourned their classmate on Thursday, and some questioned the accusations against Mr. Ravi and another freshman, Molly Wei . The two students, both 18 and from New Jersey, have each been charged with invasion of privacy for using “the camera to view and transmit a live image” of Mr. Clementi.

Under a leaden sky, students debated whether the surreptitious broadcast was a thoughtless prank or a crime. Gay and lesbian students demanded that the university re-examine its policies on bias and bullying, and called for safe housing and other programs.

On Wednesday night, after the start of the university's two-year campaign to foster courtesy and respect, demonstrators for gay rights got into a screaming match with residents of Mr. Ravi's dormitory, Davidson Hall, who objected to some of their language. Several students had to be physically separated.

In Trenton, Gov. Chris Christie expressed outrage over the suicide and the events preceding it, saying, “I don't know how those two folks are going to sleep at night.” And a spokesman for the state's attorney general, Paula T. Dow, said her office was consulting with Middlesex County prosecutors to see if the evidence supported bringing bias charges, based on the victim's sexual orientation, that would raise the potential punishment from 5 years in prison to 10.

On Sept. 19, Mr. Ravi messaged his Twitter followers that he had set up a webcam in his room and then watched from Ms. Wei's room, adding that he saw Mr. Clementi “making out with a dude.”

The postings on the gay chat site last week, reported Wednesday on the Web site Gawker , appear to show Mr. Clementi's reactions as he read Mr. Ravi's posts about the camera, and the apparent disdain for his homosexuality.

“And so I feel like it was ‘look at what a fag my roommate is,' ” he wrote on Sept. 21. “Other people have commented on his profile with things like ‘how did you manage to go back in there?' and ‘are you ok?' and the fact that the people he was with saw my making out with a guy as the scandal whereas I mean come on ... he was SPYING ON ME ... do they see something wrong with this?”

In earlier postings on the site, Mr. Clementi referred to his mother's work as a nurse, his love of music and theater, his fair skin and red hair. The dates and details of the postings about the webcam surveillance match those given by prosecutors.

In his posts last week, Mr. Clementi appeared offended and unsure of what to do, but also logical and circumspect, even employing a bit of humor. “Revenge never ends well for me, as much as I would love to pour pink paint all over his stuff ... that would just let him win,” he wrote on Sept. 21.

But that evening, he wrote, he discovered his roommate's camera was aimed at his bed, and he decided to tell a resident advisor.

At West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, the school near Princeton where both defendants graduated in June, students described them as kind people from loving families. Both had gay friends, they said. In their senior yearbook, in which Mr. Ravi was named “best dancer,” his parents took out an advertisement with three of his baby pictures. It read, in part, “Dear Dharun ... It has been a pleasure watching you grow into a caring and responsible person.”

Mark Lin, 17, a senior there, lives across the street from the Ravi family's spacious red-brick house, where four newspapers lay in the driveway. He described Mr. Ravi as a generous person who knew how to break dance, took Advanced Placement courses and participated in track, excelling in the long jump.

“I don't think he would intentionally harm someone,” he said. “He's not that kind of guy. He likes to make people laugh, but not at their expense.”

Former classmates described Ms. Wei as a diligent student and an only child. She is enrolled in the pharmacy school at Rutgers. Mr. Ravi and she have never dated, they said, but the two have long been friends, and ended up in the same dormitory on the university's Busch campus. “She's probably one of the nicest girls I know,” Mr. Lin said.

At Rutgers, students wrestled with the tragedy and its implications. “It's horrible for everyone involved,” said Kyle Bomeisl, 21. “There should be punishment, but five years of jail is extremely harsh. I'm sure these children did not intend for this child to go out and commit suicide.”

Through the postings on the site, Mr. Clementi himself could still be heard. Despite the personal revelations he had made online, there were certain things that he felt were strictly private, like displays of affection. “Anything beyond holding hands/linking arms while walking should generally be reserved for private settings,” he wrote.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/nyregion/01suicide.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From the Chicago Sun Times

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11 mil. kids products recalled

FISHER-PRICE | Tricycles, high chairs blamed for injuries

October 1, 2010

BY JENNIFER C. KERR

WASHINGTON -- Fisher-Price is recalling more than 11 million tricycles, toys and high chairs over safety concerns.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday that the tricycles and high chairs were blamed for children's injuries.

In the recall of about 7 million Fisher-Price Trikes and Tough Trikes toddler tricycles, the agency is aware of 10 reports of children being hurt. Six required medical attention.

The trikes -- some of which feature characters like Dora the Explorer and Barbie -- have a protruding plastic ignition key near the seat that children can strike, sit on or fall on, leading to injuries that the commission said can include genital bleeding.

Fisher-Price is also recalling more than 1 million Healthy Care, Easy Clean and Close to Me High Chairs, after 14 reports of problems. The pegs on the back of the high chairs can be used to store the tray, but children can fall on them, resulting in cuts and other injuries. Seven children required stitches, the commission said.

CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said manufacturers need to do more to build safety into their products before they reach store shelves. But she also offered praise for Fisher-Price for "taking the right steps by agreeing to these recalls and offering consumers free repairs or replacement."

Most of the products were being recalled in the United States, but about 400,000 of them were sold in Canada.

The two other Fisher-Price recalls were:

• More than 2.8 million Baby Playzone Crawl & Cruise Playground toys, Baby Playzone Crawl & Slide Arcade toys, Baby Gymtastics Play Wall toys, Ocean Wonders Kick & Crawl Aquarium toys, 1-2-3 Tetherball toys and Bat & Score Goal toys. The valve of the inflatable ball on the toys can come off and pose a choking hazard to children, said CPSC. The agency said there were more than 50 reports of the valves coming off the balls.

• About 100,000 Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Stand 'n Play Rampway toys. The wheels on the purple and green cars can come off, posing a choking hazard. AP

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/2762904,CST-NWS-toys01.article

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From the White House

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A Landmark Achievement for Human Rights: The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and Association

In his address last week before the UN General Assembly, President Obama issued an unprecedented appeal to heads of state around the world to promote open society and open government. He noted that the "arc of human progress has been shaped by individuals with the freedom to assemble" and called civil society the "conscience of our community." At a time when governments have grown savvy at using legal and administrative curbs to impede the work of civil society organizations, he also urged world leaders to “embrace and effectively monitor norms” that advance the rights of non-governmental groups.

Today, in Geneva, in a landmark achievement for human rights, a diverse group of countries – large and small, rich and poor, north and south, east and west – came together to create the first-ever Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association. This new position will collect critical information about how these rights are exercised, identify best practices that promote and protect these rights, and help hold governments accountable for their restrictions on civil society activity. The geographic diversity of the 62 countries that co-sponsored this resolution – including original co-sponsors the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Lithuania, the Maldives, Mexico and Nigeria – are but the latest testament to the universality of the right to assemble – a right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and acted upon every day by citizens around the world who mobilize on behalf of good government, more inclusive politics, cleaner air, media freedom, and the full stable of human rights. Most notably, many of these cosponsors were nations that emerged from tyranny in the second half of the last century. Together this group conveyed our shared belief, in President Obama's words, that “part of the price of our own freedom is standing up for the freedom of others.”

Throughout history, when societies face tough economic times, we have seen democratic reforms deferred, decreased trust in government, persecution of minority groups, and a general shrinking of the democratic space. This time, though, a large and far-sighted group of countries have banded together to send a resounding message that the protection and advancement of civil society bring about the advancement of society as a whole. The Human Rights Council's decision is both a moral and pragmatic victory. As Secretary Clinton said in Krakow this summer, “progress in the 21st century depends on the ability of individuals to coalesce around shared goals, and harness the power of their convictions.” Those who stood together today at the Human Rights Council took an important step to bring about that progress.

Samantha Power is Senior Director and Special Assistant for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/30/a-landmark-achievement-human-rights-special-rapporteur-freedom-assembly-and-associat

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If We're Serious about Jobs, Don't Stop Job Creation

Today, the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund will expire because a minority in Congress blocked the extension proposed by the President. This will put up to 100,000 jobs in jeopardy, raising unemployment and potentially even cost the government more money in additional public assistance funds. A strong commitment that the program will be restored when Congress returns could still save some of these jobs, and provide crucial help to workers, businesses and communities.

The TANF Emergency Contingency Fund lets states use Recovery Act dollars to help employers pay for the cost of hiring low-income unemployed workers. Since the inception of the program, states have provided jobs to more than 250,000 jobless parents and disadvantaged youth according to a recent analysis . In September alone, up to 100,000 Americans were employed in subsidized jobs funded through the Emergency Fund - jobs that are in jeopardy given the expiration of this successful initiative. We certainly shouldn't let effective programs expire, especially when they're still very much needed to help these low-income workers earn the paychecks they need to support their families.

Small businesses are hiring many of the workers supported by this program and these businesses have been able to grow as a result. A recent New York Times story  highlighted an innovative program  in Mississippi that used the funding to pay private companies to hire 3,200 workers and paid their salaries on a sliding scale so that the employers would end up paying the entire amount after six months. As a local employer  recently told the Los Angeles Times, “It's a win-win. We needed the help and they needed the jobs.”

Without federal funding, most states and localities won't be able to continue to provide support for these jobs. Governors from both parties have called for the extension of the program and some will try to keep it going for a couple of months with state funds, buying Congress time to act. But the reality is that many states will be unable to fill the gap, and those that can, only temporarily. A commitment to extending this program will give more governors the confidence not to end it now and could save up to 100,000 jobs.

We should all support effective job creation programs. I hope Republicans will join with Democrats in Congress to renew funding for the Emergency Contingency Fund and provide businesses a chance to hire and the neediest Americans an opportunity to work.

Lawrence H. Summers is Director of the National Economic Council

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/30/if-we-re-serious-about-jobs-don-t-stop-job-creation

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Secretary Napolitano Highlights DHS Recovery Act Projects Creating Jobs, Rebuilding Infrastructure, and Enhancing Security

September 30, 2010

Washington, D.C. - Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today marked the deadline for awarding American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding by highlighting the jobs, new infrastructure, and enhanced security created as a result of the approximately $2.6 billion in ARRA funding the Department has awarded to date.

"DHS Recovery Act projects are creating new jobs and injecting money into local economies while making America safer,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Our Recovery Act dollars are being used to hire hundreds of first responders; rebuild fire stations, ports of entry, and bridges; and deploy thousands of critical aviation and border security technologies across the country."

ARRA was signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 17, 2009. Below are some of DHS's accomplishments:

• Distributed nearly $100 million through the Emergency Food and Shelter Program to more than 10,450 Local Recipient Organizations across the country to immediate relief to communities impacted by unemployment.
  
  
• Awarded more than $205 million to over 100 recipients to build or modify existing fire stations to enhance response capabilities and protect communities from fire-related hazards. These grants will replace unsafe or uninhabitable structures and expand fire protection coverage in compliance with National Fire Protection Association standards.
  
  
• Awarded $72 million in Transportation Security Grants to support capital projects, including security enhancements to high-density tunnels, stations, and bridges.
  
  
• Awarded $78 million in Transportation Security Grants to fund approximately 240 new law enforcement officers at 15 transit systems across the country.
  
  
• Awarded $150 million in Port Security Grants to approximately 220 recipients to protect critical port infrastructure from terrorism, enhance maritime domain awareness and risk management capabilities, and support the implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)—a tamper-resistant biometric credential issued to workers who require unescorted access to secure areas of ports and vessels.
  
  
  • Awarded nearly $1 billion for inline baggage handling systems at 25 airports, closed circuit television at 14 airports and various screening technologies for nationwide deployment, including:
    
    
  • 200 Reduced-size Explosives Detection Systems.
    
    
  • 600 Advanced Technology X-ray units.
    
    
  • 452 Advanced Imaging Technology units.
    
    
  • 500 Bottled Liquids Scanners.
    
    
  • 150 Chemical Analysis Devices.
    
    
  • 1645 Explosives Trace Detection units.
    
    
• Drove down costs of land port of entry modernization projects by an average of 25% per port from the original cost estimates in April 2009, enabling CBP to fund the design and construction of additional Land Ports of Entry projects.
  
  
• Awarded $142 million for bridge alteration construction projects in Iowa, Illinois, Texas and Alabama, helping to facilitate safe and efficient navigation along the Nation's waterways.
  
  
• Awarded almost $90 million for tactical communications equipment and infrastructure to modernize the land mobile radio communication systems in the Houlton, ME Sector along the Northern border and the El Paso, and Rio Grande Sectors along the Southwest border.
  
  
• Awarded more than $18 million for Southwest border security technology, including 10 mobile vehicle inspection systems, 104 pursuit camera systems, 78 thermal imaging devices, and 3 aerial observation cameras.

To learn more about the DHS Recovery Act projects, visit www.dhs.gov/recovery

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1285883138041.shtm

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From the Department of Justice

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Justice Department Announces $298 Million in Law Enforcement Grants

HOUSTON – The Department of Justice announced today $298 million in grants to fund the hiring and retaining of 1,388 state, local and tribal law enforcement officers by 379 police and sheriffs departments in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.  The funding will be administered by the department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and is being awarded under the COPS Hiring Program.

The grants provide 100 percent of the approved salary and benefits for entry level officer positions over a three year period.  Police departments receiving the grants will then be required to retain the grant-funded positions for a fourth year.  The funding will provide much needed support to state and local government budgets, and will help the nation's law enforcement agencies add and retain the manpower needed to fight crime more effectively through community policing.

"We know that the men and women who serve on our nation's police forces not only respond to crime, but also are critical to reducing it and preventing it," said Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli.  "The department's COPS program is based on a simple recognition – there is almost nothing more effective in keeping the public safe than cops on the beat who have the equipment and resources they need."

"American law enforcement is consistently seeking opportunities to better serve the public and fight crime, and today's grants to hire community policing officers supports these efforts," said COPS Director Bernard K. Melekian.  

For more information about the grants or to learn which law enforcement agencies received funding, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/September/10-asg-1100.html

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From ICE

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ICE announces results of repatriation program

TUCSON, Ariz. - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Thursday that 23,384 Mexican citizens agreed to voluntarily return to their hometowns in the interior of Mexico by participating in the Mexican Interior Repatriation Program (MIRP).

MIRP is a bilaterally beneficial voluntary program that ensures the safe and swift return of Mexican nationals found unlawfully in the Sonora Arizona desert region of the United States to their places of origin in the Mexican interior. The program is run by ICE, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mexican Ministry of the Interior.

The last flight for 2010, carrying 130 people, departed Tucson Tuesday for Mexico City.

"MIRP reflects our mutual commitment to strong and effective enforcement of both nations' immigration laws, and this program is proof that we can do so in a humanitarian way," said Katrina S. Kane, field office director for ICE's Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Arizona. "This program prioritizes the humane treatment of detainees throughout the removal process."

MIRP was designed in 2004 as a bilateral effort between the United States and Mexico to reduce the loss of human life and combat organized crime linked to the smuggling, trafficking and exploitation of persons.

Under MIRP, Mexican nationals apprehended in U.S. Border Patrol's Yuma and Tucson Sectors are taken to DHS facilities in Nogales and Yuma, Ariz., where candidates are medically screened, meet with officials from Mexican Consulate and are offered the opportunity to voluntarily participate in the program.

This year's first repatriation flight departed Tucson International Airport on June 1. Of the 23,384 people returned this year 85 percent were men and 15 percent were women. A total of 963 juveniles accompanied by their parents participated in MIRP as well.

More than 116,000 Mexican nationals have been safely returned under MIRP over the program's seven summers of operation.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1009/100930tucson.htm

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