In the politics of terrorism, fatal anthrax mailings that followed the 2001 Al Qaeda airplane attacks came to illustrate government agencies' frustrated failure to catch and nab an important criminal or criminals. Now the suicide of a U.S. Army scientist who was reportedly being closed in on as a suspect after all this time happens to fall amid the second presidential race since the mailings occurred. An account here. A more analytic look at the impact here.
The lame-duck Bush administration's effort to crush Congressional investigations by unilaterally defying lawful subpoenas was dealt a severe blow by a federal court judge. News account of the decision is here.
At the same time, the lame-duck Bush administration has unilaterally decided to grant broader power to the nation's spy chief.
And speaking of the U.S. Constitution, the Department of Homeland Security now has rules that say border agents may "take a traveler's laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing," as reported here.
Just two days after New York's Democratic Gov. David Paterson chose to ring the alarm bell on the state budget, California GOP Gov. Schwartzenegger has moved to lay off more than 10,000 state employees and cut back paid hours for many others. Story here.
Following up his own path, Paterson in Washington elaborated on the severity of the crisis ahead as he appealed to the national government for help. Details here.
The impact on county government triggers concern.
Rep. Charles Rangel, the Harlem Democrat who heads the House Ways and Means Committee, easily staved off censure but keeps facing ethical questions, as described here.
State officials once again get an "incomplete" in their efforts to publish a kind of report card relied on by many Long Islanders to compare academics in their districts, as described here.
The Suffolk PBA, already at odds with County Executive Steve Levy, highlights the fact that the county's "non-emergency" police number routes callers to 911 operators, as reported here.
(FBI handout photo)