Authorities were hoping to net about 2,000 weapons in the city's annual gun buyback program Saturday, but the total tally of firearms that locals exchanged for gift cards won't be available until Monday, according to officials.

The program, in its fourth year and held on Mother's Day weekend, is aimed at cutting down on shootings by allowing people to turn in the weapons - no questions asked - at six locations around the city, including Facey Medical Center in Mission Hills.

About 600 to 700 guns were surrendered citywide in just the first hour, according to LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman. Since the program started in 2009, more than 6,200 guns have been collected.

"Any time you can remove guns that are the potential tool to destroy human lives, it's a positive thing," Neiman said. "So rather than these guns fall into the hands of someone who would do evil with it, they're surrendered and destroyed, and these folks get a gift card to do something nice."

Those turning in handguns and shotguns got a $100 gift card to Ralphs grocery stores or a prepaid Visa card. Assault rifles - like an Egyptian-made AK-47 that came with a 75-round drum magazine that was turned in at Mission Hills - netted $200.

Last year, the city collected 953 handguns, 688 rifles, 330 shotguns and 91 assault weapons. An anti-tank rocket launcher was also turned in.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_20611015/gun-buyback-program-nets-more-than-600-weapons

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Fire Service Day offers a look at the life of firefighters

It's not just about putting out fires and saving stranded kittens from trees. Firefighting is also about rushing to provide emergency medical service, cutting people out of mangled cars and cleaning up chemical spills.

Locals got a peek into the lives of firefighters Saturday as part of Fire Service Day, when fire stations across the Los Angeles region opened their doors for tours, demonstrations and other family-friendly activities to increase awareness of services offered by the departments.

At Burbank Fire Department, firefighters simulating the rescue of people trapped after a car crash tore apart a van using saws and the Jaws of Life, prying apart the doors to amazement of children and adults alike.

The demonstration was a firsthand look at one aspect of a firefighter's job, and a good learning experience for Glendale resident Michael Zufelt and his 6-year-old son, Zavery.

"I was explaining to them what the Jaws of Life were, and they had no idea what I was saying," said Zufelt, who watched a firefighter use an axe to dislodge the van's windshield. "It's good that I can show them where someone gets stuck in the car, and now they can actually see it."

It was also a chance for the kids to get used to public safety personnel and not be intimidated when there's trouble, Zufelt said.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_20611014/fire-service-day-offers-look-at-life-firefighters

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Ray Castellani serves up his one millionth sandwich to homeless

The first time Ray Castellani drove down to Skid Row to feed the hungry, he handed out 111 peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and cups of coffee from the back of his pickup truck.

He went back a second time with more sandwiches. And a third time, with even more food.

He returned again and again, toward the hopeless, the unloved, and the desperately addicted of downtown Los Angeles. Now, 25 years later, Castellani has given out 999,889 sandwiches - just 111 short of 1 million.

On Sunday, he will serve up that millionth sandwich and with that, he thinks maybe God will relieve him of duty.

"I was told to do this," Castellani, 79, said of his meal giveaways. "It wasn't coming from the goodness of my heart. I was orchestrated by God. That's the story. I was obedient to a call."

But it's been a difficult call to answer. Two years ago, Castellani told the Daily News he was quitting for good. He had come to a crossroads emotionally, and the economy had sliced away at the donations to the nonprofit Frontline Foundation he founded after he delivered those first few sandwiches.

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_20610211/ray-castellani-serves-up-his-one-millionth-sandwich

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From Google News

Hunt to find doctors training Al Qaeda to plant explosives inside suicide bombers

Doctors are training Al-Qaeda in Yemen to plant explosives inside the bodies of suicide bombers, it is believed.

Security at airports in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East has been stepped up amid fears terrorists with surgically implanted bombs are planning to strike on the eve of Osama bin Laden's death.

Body scanners would not be able to detect if explosive compounds were planted inside a person sparking fears the bombers could evade airport security and bring down an aircraft.

Western intelligence believe a group of doctors are working with Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri - chief bomb maker for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) - who has been in hiding.

Al-Asiri was responsible for placing a bomb inside the rectal cavity of his 23-year-old brother, Abdullah, in a botched suicide mission aimed at Saudi Arabian intelligence chief Prince Muhammad bin Nayef in 2009.

He was also responsible for building the underwear bomb used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in an attempt to bring down a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas Day in 2009.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143695/Hunt-doctors-training-Al-Qaeda-plant-explosives-inside-suicide-bombers.html

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NYPD's stop-and-frisk stops still on the rise

NEW YORK — The latest numbers show the New York Police Department's skyrocketing street stops increased to more than 200,000 stops during the first three months of 2012.

The NYPD says officers stopped people on New York City's streets 203,500 times from January through March. That's up from 183,326 during the same quarter last year.

The policy allows an officer to stop a person based on reasonable suspicion, which is lower than that of probable cause needed to justify an arrest.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the practice has gotten guns off the streets and saved lives. The city's number of murders is expected to be a record low of less than 500 this year.

Critics say the police department is unfairly targeting minorities.

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP98b6e8a2f396476487f069c62d06f4b5.html

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Illinois

Lynwood entering ‘new age’ for community policing

Would-be wrongdoers who are considering committing a crime in Lynwood may think twice, thanks to a new software application the police department soon will be rolling out.

Another option is to smile for the camera as they are caught in the act.

Using a new free app, nearly anyone with a smart phone who witnesses a crime will be able to send text messages, photos or videos to the Lynwood Police Department even as the crime is being committed.

A number of cities nationwide are using the application, and Lynwood Police Chief Michael Mears envisions a day when other Southland communities get the software, “and we could all share data and info in real time,” he said.

“It’s basically the new age for community policing,” said Mears, who expects to launch the program in Lynwood soon.

Anybody with a smart phone, iPhone, Blackberry or Android can download iWatch — the free app — from their app store and start sending in crime reports, he said. Reports also can be sent from a home computer.

http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/12398231-522/lynwood-entering-new-age-for-community-policing.html

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May 12, 2012

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From the L.A. Daily News

Los Angeles to host its 4th annual Mother's Day gun buyback program on Saturday

Los Angeles hosts its fourth annual Mother's Day gun buyback program Saturday as part of its continuing effort to get guns off the street.

With $200,000 raised privately through Ralphs markets, the Los Angeles Police Department will be at six locations around the city to provide gift cards of $100 for handguns, shotguns and rifles and $200 for assault weapons.

"Even though the city is safer than at any time since 1952, we need to remain vigilant in our effort to get guns off the street," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a City Hall news conference Friday.

"I know only too well the problems of gun violence. My phone rings constantly telling me of an incident around the city."

Police Chief Charlie Beck said the gun buyback is part of an overall strategy to reduce violence and that more than 6,000 weapons have been purchased in the first three years of the program.

"The only limitation is the money we have available," Beck said. "Every year, we have to turn people away because we are out of the gift cards."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_20603100/los-angeles-host-its-4th-annual-mothers-day

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From Google News

Trayvon Martin gun range targets sold online

Seller admits he wants to profit off controversy

Although Martin's face does not appear on the paper targets, they feature a hoodie with crosshairs aimed at the chest. A bag of Skittles is tucked in the pocket and a hand is holding a can resembling iced tea.

Martin purchased both items minutes before he was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in February, according to police.

Zimmerman, who has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges, originally told investigators he shot Martin in self-defense.

According to an advertisement for the targets that had been posted on a popular firearms auction website, the sellers stated they "support Zimmerman and believe he is innocent and that he shot a thug." That online ad has since been removed.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/news/Trayvon-Martin-gun-range-targets-sold-online/-/9533136/13069306/-/10ffct0z/-/index.html

New York – The New York City Police Department, along with other local police departments across the state, will activate the controversial federal Secure Communities program next week, despite objections from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other elected officials.

New York City joins the state's Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties in implementing the program, which feeds fingerprint information from local police departments to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the FBI.

Gov. Cuomo withdrew New York from the program last June, saying that it failed to meet its goal to “deport serious felons.”

However despite initially characterizing the program as voluntary, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said last year that states could not opt-out of the program and that it must be implemented across the country by 2013.

I am deeply troubled by and have always opposed the implementation of Secure Communities in New York City.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/05/11/secure-communities-activated-in-new-york-despite-objections/

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May 11, 2012

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From the Washington Times

FDA panel backs first pill to block HIV infection

Must be taken every day to work

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — The first drug shown to prevent HIV infection won the endorsement of a panel of federal advisers Thursday, clearing the way for a landmark approval in the 30-year fight against the virus that causes AIDS.

In a series of votes, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval of the daily pill Truvada for healthy people who are at high risk of contracting HIV, including gay and bisexual men and heterosexual couples with one HIV-positive partner.

The FDA is not required to follow the panel's advice, though it usually does. A final decision is expected by June 15.

Gilead Sciences Inc. , based in Foster City, Calif., has marketed Truvada since 2004 as a treatment for people who are infected with the virus. The medication is a combination of two older HIV drugs, Emtriva and Viread. Doctors usually prescribe it as part of a drug cocktail to repress the virus.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/10/advisers-endorse-hiv-drug-stopping-infection/

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From the Department of Justice

Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez Speaks at the Maricopa County Press Conference

Today, the Department of Justice did something it has done only once before in the 18-year history of our civil police reform work; we filed a contested lawsuit to stop discriminatory and unconstitutional law enforcement practices. In our police reform work, we have invariably been able to work collaboratively with law enforcement agencies to build better departments and safer communities. Maricopa County, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Arpaio have been a glaring exception. Attempts to forge solutions to address the serious civil rights and public safety concerns have proven elusive.

In June 2008, the Department of Justice began its initial inquiry into allegations that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Joseph Arpaio were violating the constitutional rights of people in Maricopa County. In September 2010, following repeated unsuccessful efforts to obtain MCSO's and Sheriff Arpaio's voluntary compliance with its legal obligations to provide information in connection with our investigation, the department took the virtually unprecedented step of filing a lawsuit to force MCSO to comply. This lawsuit successfully caused MCSO to meet its legal obligations and it was settled in June 2011.

Six months later, in December 2011, the department issued its letter of findings detailing the results of our investigation. Our investigation found that there is reasonable cause to believe that MCSO and Sheriff Arpaio engage in: 1) a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing of Latinos, 2) discriminatory jail practices against Latino prisoners with limited English skills, and 3) a pattern or practice of unlawful retaliatory behavior against perceived critics of MCSO through baseless criminal charges, unfounded civil lawsuits and meritless administrative actions.

http://www.justice.gov/crt/opa/pr/speeches/2012/crt-speech-120510.html

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From the FBI

New IC3 Internet Crime Report

Wouldn't it be nice if there was an easy, centralized place to report cyber fraud?

There is, and it's called the Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, jointly run by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.

Today, IC3 released its latest annual report, covering all the relevant and telling statistics of 2011. Overall, the center fielded more than 300,000 complaints for the third year running, adding up to losses of nearly a half-billion dollars. The total number of complaints last year rose by 3.4 percent.

We welcome your complaints and use your reports of potential or actual cyber fraud individually and in aggregate as intelligence to fuel our investigations. And they help us get our arms around the latest and most common scams so we can then report that information back to you, along with tips on how to avoid being victimized. (You can find such tips in the report in Appendix I.)

Read the full report for more details. To report a cyber scam, go to http://www.ic3.gov/.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/news_blog/internet-crime-report_051012

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Department of Homeland Security

Readout of Secretary Napolitano's Participation in the 33rd Annual Washington Area Police Memorial Service

WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today joined Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, Metropolitan Police Department Chief of Police Cathy Lanier and members of the local law enforcement community to participate in the 33rd Annual Washington Area Police Memorial Service, honoring the service and sacrifice of law enforcement professionals who gave their lives in the line of duty.

“The loss of these brave individuals is another reminder of the dangers the men and women of law enforcement often face while on the job, the risks they so willingly take, and the sacrifices they make for us, our communities, and our nation,” said Secretary Napolitano. “It is because of their service and sacrifice that our nation remains safe today and we continue to enjoy the freedoms and liberties that we all cherish.”

The annual service recognizes the members of the Washington area law enforcement family who have given their lives in service to their communities. In 2011, three local officers lost their lives in the line of duty.

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/20120507-napolitano-participation-police-memorial-service.shtm

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Arson Awareness Week May 6-12, 2012
Prevent Youth Firesetting

Ernest Mitchell, Jr., U.S. Fire Administrator

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) is pleased to partner with the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI); Safe Kids USA; USAonWatch; National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC); and the National Association of State Fire Marshals to announce the theme for the 2012 Arson Awareness Week (AAW): "Prevent Youth Firesetting."

USFA and its partners will use the week of May 6–12 to focus public attention on the importance of a collaborative effort with fire and emergency service departments, law enforcement, mental health, social services, schools, and juvenile justice to help reduce the occurrence of juveniles engaged with fire.

http://www.usfa.fema.gov/fireservice/subjects/arson/arson_awareness.shtm

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May 10, 2012

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From the L.A. Daily News

2 LAPD officers honored by president for stopping Hollywood shooting spree

Detective Craig Marquez and Officer Kevin C. Cotter Sr. will be among the National Association of Police Organizations TOP COPS award winners honored at the Rose Garden ceremony.

Marquez and Cotter shot and killed Tyler Brenham., who had walked to Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street at 10:15 a.m. on Dec. 9, pulled out a .40- caliber handgun and for an unknown reason began shooting at passersby.

Cotter was working an off-duty job at a nearby movie set, heard the shooting, and ran to help.

A few blocks away, Detective Craig Marquez was drinking a cup of coffee.

http://www.dailynews.com/crime/ci_20587304/2-lapd-officers-honored-by-president-stopping-hollywood

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From the Washington Times

Justice Dept. plans to sue Arizona sheriff Arpaio

PHOENIX (AP) — Federal authorities have said they plan to sue Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office over allegations of civil rights violations, including the racial profiling of Latinos.

The U.S. Justice Department has been seeking an agreement requiring Arpaio's office to train officers in how to make constitutional traffic stops, collect data on people arrested in traffic stops and reach out to Latinos to assure them that the department is there to also protect them.

Arpaio has denied the racial profiling allegations and has claimed that allowing a court monitor would mean that every policy decision would have to be cleared through an observer and would nullify his authority.

The self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in America has been a national political fixture who has built his reputation on jailing inmates in tents and dressing them in pink underwear, selling himself to voters as unceasingly tough on crime and pushing the bounds of how far local police can go to confront illegal immigration.

DOJ officials told a lawyer for Arpaio on April 3 that the lawman's refusal of a court-appointed monitor was a deal-breaker that would end settlement negotiations and result in a federal lawsuit.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/10/justice-dept-plans-sue-arizona-sheriff-arpaio/

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FBI chief urges restoration of searches without warrants

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III on Wednesday urged the reauthorization of an act passed by Congress in 2008 — but slated to expire at the end of this year — that gives federal authorities the ability to conduct warrantless searches.

He said the law allows the collection of vital information about international terrorists “while providing a robust protection for the civil liberties and privacy of Americans.”

During a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee , Mr. Mueller said the FISA Amendments Act ( FAA ) gives law enforcement authorities wide-ranging surveillance authority to target terrorism plots at a time al Qaeda and its affiliates and adherents continue to scheme to attack U.S. sites.

“These groups have attempted several attacks in and on the United States, including the failed Christmas Day airline bombing in 2009, and the attempted bombing of U.S.-bound cargo planes in October of 2010,” he said.

“We also remain concerned about the threat from homegrown violent extremists,” he said. “Over the last two years, we have seen increased activity among extremist individuals. These individuals have no typical profile; their experiences and motives are often distinct. But they are increasingly savvy and willing to act alone, which makes them difficult to find and to stop.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/9/fbi-chief-urges-restoration-of-searches-without-wa/

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New Sanford, Fla., police chief aims to ease racial tensions

The interim police chief taking over the Florida city force embroiled in controversy from the Trayvon Martin killing told USA TODAY that he wants to improve race relations between his officers and the African-American community.

Richard Myers, 58, took over the chief's job on Thursday, replacing Bill Lee, who is on leave amid strong criticism for his handling of the Feb. 26 shooting of Trayvon. The 17-year-old was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman , who prosecutors say racially profiled Trayvon because he was black.

The case has put Sanford, pop. 54,000, and its police force in the national spotlight. Myers says he wants to bring public confidence back.

"It's apparent to me that there is some tension here between the African-American community and the police," said Myers, who has met with officers, City Council members and local community leaders. "I think both the community and people of the police department want to improve that. I'm going to do whatever I can to help facilitate strengthening that connection."

So far, Myers, who anticipates that he'll be briefed on the details of the Trayvon Martin case in the next two weeks, says he's not sure exactly how he'll deal with racial issues.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-05-09/sanford-florida-police-chief-race-relations-trayvon-zimmerman/54862188/1

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Worcester, Mass. sheriff says secure communities long overdue

http://www.necn.com/pages/print_landing?blockID=705142&feedID=4206&

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May 9, 2012

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From the L.A. Daily News

MEXICO DRUG WAR: 9 found hanging from overpass, 14 heads delivered to city hall in cooler

MEXICO CITY - The bodies of 23 people were found hanging from a bridge or decapitated and dumped near city hall Friday in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, where drug cartels are fighting a bloody and escalating turf war.

Authorities found nine of the victims, including four women, hanging from an overpass leading to a main highway, said a Tamaulipas state official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide information on the case.

Hours later, police found 14 human heads inside coolers outside city hall along with a threatening note. The 14 bodies were found in black plastic bags inside a minivan abandoned near an international bridge, the official said.

The official provided no motive for the killings. But the city across the border from Laredo, Texas has recently been torn by a renewed turf war between the Zetas cartel, a gang of former Mexican special-forces soldiers, and the powerful Sinaloa cartel, which has joined forces with the Gulf cartel, former allies of the Zetas.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_20573763/mexico-drug-war-9-found-hanging-from-overpass

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From the Washington Times

Wily bomb maker fast in race with technology; informant ID'd device

Al Qaeda 's top bomb maker in Yemen is so ruthless that he recruited and equipped his own brother for an underwear-bomb suicide attack against a top Saudi royal in 2009.

“Even for al Qaeda , that's cold,” said author Peter Bergen , who has studied the group since the late 1990s.

Now Ibrahim al-Asiri , 30, is suspected of making a new underwear bomb designed for use against a U.S.-bound airliner in a plot uncovered last month by U.S. and Saudi intelligence and thwarted within the past few days.

The supposed would-be bomber was an informant working for the CIA and Saudi Arabian intelligence , U.S. and Yemeni officials said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. The informant, who delivered the bomb to authorities, is safely out of Yemen .

The revelation, first reported by the Los Angeles Times , shows how the CIA was able to get its hands on a sophisticated underwear bomb well before an attack was set into motion, the AP reported.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/8/wily-bomb-maker-fast-in-race-with-technology/

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U.S. sends airport security guide to other countries

WASHINGTON — In the wake of a terrorist bomb plot disrupted by the CIA , the U.S. advised some international airports and air carriers Tuesday about security measures for passengers traveling to the U.S.

The guidance from the Transportation Security Administration was a reminder of methods the U.S. provided to these international airports and carriers in the past six to eight months to help protect against threats from liquid explosives and explosives hidden inside a person's body or clothes or in printer cartridges. All are methods officials said al Qaeda's spinoff group in Yemen has considered for plots against the U.S, according to an American official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the details of the guidance.

The CIA recently foiled a bomb plot in Yemen in which officials say a suicide bomber was to have detonated an explosive on a U.S.-bound flight.

“The seizure of this device is a reminder that our adversaries continue to be interested in targeting the aviation sector,” Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler said Tuesday afternoon. Chandler said the government issued the guidance reminder “to underscore the importance of these ongoing measures to air carriers and foreign government partners.” He said there is currently no credible or specific information about a terror threat to the U.S.

Despite the discovery of a sophisticated new al Qaeda airline bomb plot, congressional and security officials suggested there was no immediate need to change airport security procedures, which already subject many shoeless passengers to pat-downs and body scans.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/8/us-sends-airport-security-guide-other-countries/

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Border Patrol adapting to new threats

Strategy to use drones, copters in Southwest

Just eight months after Defense Department officials complained in a Government Accountability Office ( GAO ) report that there was “no comprehensive Southwest border security strategy” in place, the U.S. Border Patrol unveiled a new strategy Tuesday that relies on helicopters and unmanned aerial drones and targets repeat offenders.

Recognizing that it had to realign its priorities, resources and organizational structure to focus on new security threats while continuing its missions of immigration enforcement and drug interdiction, the new strategy represents what Border Patrol officials called “an evolution” to account for and take advantage of changes and improvements in the border environment and the agency since the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

While threats to the Southwest border have evolved since the agency's last official strategy in 2004, the new plan said Border Patrol resources and capabilities to meet those threats “have also grown.” Accordingly, the new national strategy is structured to adjust to those evolving threats and to reflect what the agency called “the effectiveness of the Border Patrol's additional resources and improved operational capabilities.”

The new 32-page strategy comes at a time that the number of agents has more than doubled to 21,000 since 2004 and the apprehension of those entering illegally from Mexico has dropped to a 40-year low.

Qaeda bomber adept at breaching aviation security

LONDON (Reuters) - A Saudi bombmaker believed behind several failed but ingenious attempted attacks on the West is the most likely creator of an improved "underwear bomb" discovered in a plot foiled by U.S. and allied authorities, security experts and officials say.

Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who once provided the bomb for a suicide mission by his younger brother, a fellow militant, is described by security officials as one of the most dangerous and innovative explosives experts ever to serve al Qaeda.

Believed to be in his early 30s, Yemen-based Asiri became an urgent priority for Western counter-terrorism officials following his alleged role in planning strikes on the United States in 2009 and 2010, plots that included the failed bombing of an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.

Asiri, who survived a U.S. drone missile attack last year, has drawn scrutiny for his skill at fashioning bombs using a hard-to-detect powdery substance called pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN, and hiding them in clothing or equipment.

"If we assume Asiri is behind all these attacks, then he is at the top of the list of the most dangerous al Qaeda operatives," Mustafa Alani, a Gulf security expert with good Saudi contacts, told Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/09/uk-security-plot-asiri-idUSLNE84800Y20120509

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Rare Double Agent Disrupted Bombing Plot, U.S. Says

WASHINGTON — The suicide bomber dispatched by the Yemen branch of Al Qaeda last month to blow up a United States-bound airliner was actually an intelligence agent for Saudi Arabia who infiltrated the terrorist group and volunteered for the mission, American and foreign officials said Tuesday.

In an extraordinary intelligence coup, the double agent left Yemen last month, traveling by way of the United Arab Emirates, and delivered both the innovative bomb designed for his aviation attack and inside information on the group's leaders, locations, methods and plans to the Central Intelligence Agency, Saudi intelligence and allied foreign intelligence agencies.

Officials said the agent, whose identity they would not disclose, works for the Saudi intelligence service, which has cooperated closely with the C.I.A. for several years against the terrorist group in Yemen. He operated in Yemen with the full knowledge of the C.I.A. but not under its direct supervision, the officials said.

After spending weeks at the center of Al Qaeda's most dangerous affiliate, the intelligence agent provided critical information that permitted the C.I.A. to direct the drone strike on Sunday that killed Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso, the group's external operations director and a suspect in the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, an American destroyer, in Yemen in 2000.

He also handed over the bomb, designed by the group's top explosives expert to be undetectable at airport security checks, to the F.B.I., which is analyzing its properties at its laboratory at Quantico, Va. The agent is now safe in Saudi Arabia, officials said. The bombing plot was kept secret for weeks by the C.I.A. and other agencies because they feared retaliation against the agent and his family — not, as some commentators have suggested, because the Obama administration wanted to schedule an announcement of the foiled plot, American officials said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/world/middleeast/suicide-mission-volunteer-was-double-agent-officials-say.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

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Editorial

Al Qaeda's latest bomb plot highlights the shape of future threats

Last week , on the anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden, the United States released the terrorist mastermind's communications during his last years in hiding. Bin Laden knew he no longer had control over Al Qaeda. The splintered terrorist network may not have been capable of a large-scale, coordinated attack like 9/11, but through isolated bombings it could still wreak havoc. Stopping those attacks is the challenge bin Laden bequeathed the world.

That fact rang disturbingly true as Americans digested the news of the stunning cloak-and-dagger mission that disrupted a Yemen-based plot to bring down a US-bound commercial airliner using an undetectable bomb. The revelation that US agents infiltrated an Al Qaeda cell, and that a double agent had handed over the newly created bomb and provided the information necessary to kill the cell's external operations director, is a breathtaking triumph of counterterrorism. It was also proof that the strategies necessary to prevent such attacks — intelligence-gathering, cooperation with foreign governments, and clandestine missions to capture or kill terrorists — are quite different than those of the “war on terror” under which this nation has lived for many years.

The new type of bomb, probably designed by Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, the maker of the “underwear” bomb brought aboard a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas in 2009, was more sophisticated and likely would have gone undetected even with a patdown. It, too, was intended to be worn in underwear, but contained a high-grade explosive powerful enough to bring down a jumbo jet. It also had two types of detonators, to prevent the kind of malfunction that spared the Detroit-bound plane.

http://bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2012/05/09/qaeda-latest-bomb-plot-highlights-shape-future-threats/SwwjETdSBdedLVXVrqccXL/story.html

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Connecticut

ICE to give leniency to minor traffic violators

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on April 27, that if it identifies an undocumented immigrant through Secure Communities, from only a minor traffic violation, the agency will not keep him or her in custody until there is a conviction. The announcement comes as results of a report were issued on the shortcomings of the program.

ICE's Task Force on Secure Communities responded to the criticism through a 19–page response obtained by Tribuna.Under Secure Communities, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials check police fingerprints of criminal suspects against ICE databases in an effort to deport criminals residing in the country illegally. If ICE officials believe a suspect may be undocumented, they can issue a detainment request that the state hold the individual in custody... I mmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on April

27, that if it identifies an undocumented immigrant through Secure Communities, from only a minor traffic violation, the agency will not keep him or her in custody until there is a conviction.

The announcement comes as results of a report were issued on the shortcomings of the program. ICE's Task Force on Secure Communities responded to the criticism through a 19– page response obtained by Tribuna.

Under Secure Communities, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials check police fingerprints of criminal suspects against ICE databases in an effort to deport criminals residing in the country illegally. If ICE officials believe a suspect may be undocumented, they can issue a detainment request that the state hold the individual in custody so that ICE can determine whether to initiate deportation proceedings.

http://www.tribunact.com/news/2012-05-09/English/ICE_to_give_leniency_to_minor_traffic_violators.html

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Sanford police chief: Neighborhood watch programs need 'good, hard look'

The man tasked with leading the police department in Sanford, Florida, in the wake of the Trayvon Martin killing said communities should "take a good, hard look at who is selected," for neighborhood watch programs.

But, said Sanford's interim Police Chief Richard Myers, he still supports the programs.

"Neighborhood watch is at work in literally thousands of neighborhoods across the country and with no problems whatsoever," Myers told CNN's Erin Burnett on Tuesday. "I think the problems emerge from who the person is and perhaps there's a cause for communities to take a good, hard look at who is selected or who volunteers.

"Let's not kill the concept because of one bad, really bad outcome."

Myers, a former police chief from Colorado Springs, Colorado, took the post Friday. He said he has plans to help the department that has been under the microscope since the February 26 killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. Martin was black; Zimmerman is Hispanic.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/09/justice/florida-teen-shooting/?hpt=hp_t2

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May 8, 2012

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From the Washington Times

Officials: CIA thwarts new al Qaeda underwear bomb plot

WASHINGTON — The CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said Monday.

The plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger's underwear, but this time al-Qaida developed a more refined detonation system, U.S. officials said.

The FBI is examining the latest bomb to see whether it could have passed through airport security and brought down an airplane, officials said. They said the device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters Monday that she had been briefed about an “undetectable” device that was “going to be on a U.S.-bound airliner.”

There were no immediate plans to change security procedures at U.S. airports.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/7/officials-cia-thwarts-new-al-qaeda-underwear-bomb-/

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From Google News

Border Patrol gets first new strategy in 8 years

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The U.S. Border Patrol on Tuesday unveiled its first national strategy in eight years, a period in which the number of agents more than doubled and apprehensions of people entering illegally from Mexico dropped to a 40-year low.

The new approach — outlined in a 32-page document that took more than two years to develop — uses buzzwords like "risk-based" and "intelligence-driven" to describe a more nuanced, targeted response to constantly evolving threats.

The Border Patrol previously relied on a strategy that blanketed heavily trafficked corridors for illegal immigrants with agents, pushing migrants to more remote areas where they would presumably be easier to capture and discouraged from trying again.

"The jury, for me at least, is out on whether that's a solid strategy," Chief Mike Fisher told The Associated Press.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Border-Patrol-gets-first-new-strategy-in-8-years-3541588.php

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Young U.S. drivers know risks, but text anyway

While eight in ten said they knew of the risks, about 29 percent of drivers 16 to 21 said they had used text messaging in the past month, the survey found. And, 47 percent said they had made a phone call while driving, without a headset or other hands-free device.

The same survey showed that 48 percent said they had seen one or both of their parents using a cell phone without a hands-free device.

Nevertheless, last year there were the fewest traffic fatalities in the United States in more than six decades.

The number would have been even lower if not for traffic deaths caused by drivers who were distracted by using a mobile phone or engaged in other types of attention-dividing tasks, said Rebecca Lindland, director of automotive research for IHS Inc.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that in 2010, some 3,092 were killed in "distracted-affected crashes," or 9.4 percent of all road deaths.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/08/uk-usa-autos-distracted-idUSLNE84700L20120508

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Ohio ER policy aims to fight drug abuse

COLUMBUS — Ohio has gotten emergency rooms to join the fight against the over-prescription of addictive painkillers.

Gov. John Kasich said Monday the next step, getting similar involvement from physicians across Ohio, will be tougher.

"They had a lot of problems out in the state of Washington on this, because there's a reluctance to let legislators or bureaucrats, cabinet officials or not, tell the doctor how to practice medicine," the governor said after speaking at the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities' Opiate Summit.

He hopes to take statewide a fight that so far has largely focused on so-called "pill mills" in southern Ohio.

The administration unveiled a new protocol hospital emergency rooms have agreed to follow to restrict the prescription of addictive painkillers to patients who complain of pain. Thirty-nine percent of all opiate prescriptions nationally come from emergency rooms.

"There's a message to those going into those emergency rooms: We're not giving the stuff to you willy-nilly anymore," Mr. Kasich said. "We're not going to allow you to get a prescription and go out and give it some relative or give it to some kid, or give it to anybody. … Not only were the emergency rooms excited about cooperating with these protocols, but then the urgent care centers came in and said, ‘Can we help, too?'?"

http://www.toledoblade.com/Medical/2012/05/08/Ohio-ER-policy-aims-to-fight-drug-abuse-1.html

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From ICE

HSI rescues 4 from violent Phoenix human smuggling drop house

PHOENIX — Four Mexican nationals, including three suspected torture victims, were rescued from a human smuggling drop house Wednesday by special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) assigned to the Phoenix Border Enforcement Security Task Force Drop House Response Group, with support from the Phoenix Police Department.

Following their rescue Wednesday, three of the hostages told HSI investigators their captors had beaten, sexually assaulted and attacked them with a stun gun. One man had been stabbed.

The four were freed after HSI special agents developed information that suspected human smugglers were operating out of a residence located near 83rd Avenue and Osborn. Based upon that information, investigators initiated surveillance of the house and subsequently observed a vehicle enter its garage only to leave a short time later. Special agents stopped the vehicle, discovered $7,200 in the vehicle, and apprehended two suspected smugglers and two recently smuggled Mexican nationals. Shortly after the vehicle stop, agents observed three other men leave the residence on bicycle and on foot. All three were identified as suspected smugglers and apprehended.

When HSI special agents and Phoenix Police Department officers entered the residence, they discovered four male Mexican nationals in a bedroom. Two of the men were bound with rope around their ankles, and a third man had been stabbed recently on his upper back. All three had other visible injuries consistent with being physically abused. The fourth man appeared physically unharmed.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1205/120503phoenix.htm

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From the FBI

FBI Statement on Seizure of IED Overseas

As a result of close cooperation with our security and intelligence partners overseas, an improvised explosive device (IED) designed to carry out a terrorist attack has been seized abroad.

The FBI currently has possession of the IED and is conducting technical and forensics analysis on it.

Initial exploitation indicates that the device is very similar to IEDs that have been used previously by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in attempted terrorist attacks, including against aircraft and for targeted assassinations.

The device never presented a threat to public safety, and the U.S. government is working closely with international partners to address associated concerns with the device.

We refer you to the Department of Homeland Security, including the Transportation Security Administration, regarding ongoing security measures to safeguard the American people and the traveling public.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-statement-on-seizure-of-ied-overseas

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From the Department of Honeland Security

FEMA and its Partners Release the National Preparedness Report

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May 7, 2012

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From the Washington Times

Long fight predicted in Guantanamo 9/11 case

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE , Cuba (AP) — The United States finally has started the prosecution of five Guantanamo Bay prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, but the trial won't be starting any time soon, and both sides said Sunday that the case could continue for years.

Defense lawyer James Connell said a tentative trial date of May 2013 is a “placeholder” until true date can be set for the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the attacks, and his co-defendants.

“It's going to take time,” said the chief prosecutor, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, who said he expects to battle a barrage of defense motions before the case goes to trial.

“I am getting ready for hundreds of motions because we want them to shoot everything they can shoot at us,” he said in the wake of Saturday's arraignment, which dragged on for 13 hours because of stalling tactics by the defendants.

“Everyone is frustrated by the delay,” Gen. Martins said. He noted that the civilian trial of convicted Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui took four years, and he pleaded guilty in 2006 before being sentenced to life in prison.

Hearing recalls 9/11 attacks for victims' families

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 11 years after the Sept. 11 attacks, family members of some of the victims watched via closed-circuit TV as the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks and four co-defendants were arraigned Saturday at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a proceeding that left one father emotional as he recalled the loss of his firefighter son.

Seated in military movie theaters, with chaplains and grief counselors on hand, the relatives of those lost got their first glimpse of a long-awaited legal process that is likely to stretch on for many months.

In the rain outside Fort Hamilton in New York City during a break in the proceedings, Jim Riches spoke about his son, Jimmy Riches, a firefighter who died at the World Trade Center .

“I'm here for him, because he can no longer speak for himself,” Riches said.

He choked up as he said that seeing the five men brought to justice would not bring his son back. “I miss him terribly,” he said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/5/911-families-prepare-guantanamo-arraignment/

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From Google News

US citizen held hostage by al-Qaida in plea to Barack Obama

An American hostage being held by al-Qaida has said he will be killed unless President Barack Obama agrees to his captors' demands.

"My life is in your hands, Mr President," Warren Weinstein said in a video released on Sunday. "If you accept the demands, I live; if you don't accept the demands, then I die."

Weinstein was abducted in August 2011 in Lahore, Pakistan after gunmen tricked his guards and broke into his home. The 70-year-old from Rockville, Maryland is the country director in Pakistan for JE Austin Associates, a Virginia-based firm that advises Pakistani business and government.

In a video message posted on militant websites in December, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri said Weinstein would be released if the US halted air strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. He also demanded the release of all al-Qaida and Taliban suspects around the world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/07/us-hostage-al-qaida-obama/print

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Violence against youths must stop, Holder says

Calling the homicide rate among young black men unacceptable, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Sunday said his department is committing "unprecedented" resources to address violence to which young people are exposed.

Addressing more than 6,000 at the Detroit Branch NAACP's Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner at Cobo Center, Holder, the nation's first African-American attorney general, said an average of two young black men a week are killed in Detroit, according to one report. And 60 percent of young people are exposed to violence as victims or witnesses.

"This is shocking and all of this is unacceptable," Holder said.

Holder said that's why his office is directing resources to reduce childhood exposure to violence, raise awareness of its ramifications and study its causes.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120507/METRO01/205070335/Violence-against-youths-must-stop-Holder-says

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Virginia man accused of threatening to kill President Barack Obama, bomb White House

HARRISONBURG, Va. — A Virginia man has been charged with threatening to kill President Barack Obama.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Harrisonburg said Christopher Hecker of Waynesboro made death threats against the president and threatened to bomb the White House, hotels and other places, including Philadelphia City Hall and the site of the former World Trade Center. An affidavit said the threats were emailed to various media outlets.

Media outlets report an email sent April 19 to a Roanoke radio station threatened the president's life. The FBI traced the email to Hacker's account.

The affidavit said four days later, Hecker allegedly sent an email to another media outlet that threatened more violence.

“Sooner or later I will grab someone, maybe in the woods, on the trail, and beat the life out of them,” the email said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-man-accused-of-threatening-to-kill-president-barack-obama-bomb-white-house/2012/05/06/gIQAMplg5T_print.html

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New Jersey

Phillipsburg police Chief James Faulborn expands community policing efforts

When Phillipsburg police Chief James Faulborn took over the reins of the department last December, he had a plan.

“I wanted to make community policing part of what the department does,” Faulborn said last week. “We did some community policing under former Chief Ed Mirenda, but I wanted to expand upon that.”

A half-year later, Faulborn's vision is reality.

The chief has divided the town into 21 neighborhoods with an officer assigned to each one.

“The officer in each neighborhood deals with local concerns,” Faulborn said, noting officers handle issues such as quality of life, crime and speeding. “Better communication with the public can help solve problems.”

http://blog.lehighvalleylive.com/phillipsburg_impact/print.html?entry=/2012/05/phillipsburg_police_chief_jame_1.html

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