Names of high school students to go to military
They must act by Saturday to prevent information from being provided
Names, phone numbers and other information about Seattle high school students must be provided to the Defense Department on request -- unless parents opt out in writing by Saturday. President Bush's 'No Child Left Behind Act,' an expansive education reform bill passed two years ago, requires high schools across the country to release information about juniors and seniors to military recruiters and to give them the same access to students as college recruiters and prospective employers.
FBI to get help on Election Day plots
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft quietly has issued a sweeping directive that authorizes the FBI to use hundreds of law enforcement agents from other federal agencies to help investigate any terrorist plots that target the Nov. 2 elections. The directive — the first of its kind since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — allows the FBI to tap agents from the U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as part of a nationwide effort by FBI-led counterterrorism units to seek out and stop any plots against the elections.
Senate Wants Database Dragnet
The Senate could pass a bill as early as Wednesday evening that would let government counter-terrorist investigators instantly query a massive system of interconnected commercial and government databases that hold billions of records on Americans. The proposed network is based on the Markle Foundation Task Force's December 2003 report, which envisioned a system that would allow FBI and CIA agents, as well as police officers and some companies, to quickly search intelligence, criminal and commercial databases. The proposal is so radical, the bill allocates $50 million just to fund the system's specifications and privacy policies.
Feds plan to track every car
Obscure agency working on
technology to monitor all vehicles
A little-known federal agency is planning a new monitoring program by which the government would track every car on the road by using onboard transceivers. The agency, the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, is part of the Department of Transportation. According to an extensive report in the Charlotte, N.C., Creative Loafing, the agency doesn't respond to public inquiries about its activity.
Lawmakers consider 'smart' driver's licenses
Computer chip's signals allow
data to be read from a distance
A controversial technology already planned for tracking consumer products could be used to create "smart" driver's licenses that emit signals readable from a distance, according to federal and state government officials contemplating ways to fight identity fraud. Radio frequency identification, or RFID, could help thwart terrorists who use falsified documents to get around, say Virginia lawmakers who will hear testimony on the technology's uses, reports Wired.com.
Is The White House Shutting
Down The People's Right To Know
According to the 30-organization coalition, Openthegovernment.org, "Secrecy has increased dramatically in recent years under the policies of the current administration." This coalition also maintains that the costs for unnecessarily classifying information and keeping it secret hit an astronomical $6.5 billion in 2003; this excludes the CIA. In 2003, 14 million documents were classified which represents a 40% increase from 2001. This increased veil of secrecy has also caused a huge backlog in filling requests under the Freedom of Information Act. FOIA requests made in 2004 to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library probably won't get processed until 2008.
Supreme court debates pollution cleanup
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court considered Wednesday whether companies that voluntarily seek to clean up their polluted land can sue former owners to get help with the costs. The case could have important ramifications for communities with abandoned toxic plants, landfills and mines. Federal law allows the Environmental Protection Agency to designate as "Superfund" sites areas that are highly polluted. Officials can seek money from current and former owners for the cleanup costs.
Court Weighs Harm of Misleading Car Loans
WASHINGTON -- A Virginia man's car-buying nightmare ended at the Supreme Court, where justices considered Tuesday whether buyers are entitled to more than $1,000 in damages when they are misled about auto loans. Most justices appeared reluctant to allow higher damages under the Truth in Lending Act, suggesting Congress never intended that. The case involves 27-year-old Bradley Nigh, who contends he was victimized by what he considered bait-and-switch tactics of an Alexandria, Va., car dealership, Koons Buick Pontiac GMC Inc.
"Ten Commandments" scales back
performances after bad reviews
LOS ANGELES -- The critics have had their say -- and the big-budget stage musical "The Ten Commandments" is being retooled. The show starring Val Kilmer as Moses opened last week to less-than-rave reviews. The New York Times called it "bland, static, overproduced and underdirected." It went on to say the show unfolds like "a long, lumbering fancy-dress episode of American Idol." But a producer of the musical says he's been thrilled by the audience reaction and hopes to take the show on the road after its Los Angeles run.
Smacking the other cheek
A Republic, If You Can Keep It (cont'd): Police had to break up two University of North Carolina students who started slapping each other in the face while discussing who Jesus would vote for on Nov. 2.