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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday introduced a bill that would require background checks to be run on anyone buying explosive powder, a reaction to last week's Boston Marathon bombing. Reid introduced the bill, S. 792, for Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who has been out sick for much of the year. But in a press statement, Lautenberg said the Boston bombing shows that background checks are needed for explosive materials. "It defies common sense that anyone, even a terrorist, can walk into a store in America and buy explosive powders without a background check or any questions asked,"...

Ahmed Ressam was resentenced this morning to 22 years in federal prison for conspiring to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport despite telling a judge that he recanted everything he has told the federal government about terrorist activities. Federal prosecutors had urged U.S. District Judge John Coughenour to send Ressam to prison for life — a sentence Ressam said he would accept now that he had cleared his conscience about his cooperation, which ended in 2003. Prosecutors pointed out that Ressam's defiance has cost two high-profile terrorism prosecutions so far, and that Ressam has actively tried to help the cases...

Police and emergency vehicles arrived to CBS Television City in Hollywood moments ago ... after someone reported that white powder spilled out of a letter in the CBS mailroom. Law enforcement sources confirm ... cops are investigating the scene. Sources on the lot tell TMZ ... the letter was NOT addressed to anyone on "Dancing with the Stars" ... but so far, it's unclear who the intended recipient was. It's not the first time CBS has had an anthrax scare -- just last year, the studio went on lockdown when production staff found white powder in a letter addressed to...

The Battle of Bunker Hill, a battle fought in the American Revolutionary War, occurred on June 17, 1775 between the American Revolutionary forces under the command of General Israel Putnam, and the British forces under the command of Major General William Howe. Howe was determined to take Charlestown Heights, overlooking Boston harbor. It was actually fought on nearby Breed's Hill, when Colonel William Prescott erred and set up his 1200 men at that location and began to construct earthworks. It is considered to be the bloodiest battle of the American Revolutionary War. Despite being repelled twice, the British were successful...

The FBI is investigating 13 threatening letters with a white powder and sent to Twin Cities stores. The letters went to eight Home Depots around the metro area and five Renewal By Andersen businesses, the FBI said in a statement released late Friday. The substance in 12 letters, analyzed by the Minnesota Department of Health, has been identified as sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, and is not dangerous, according to the FBI. The last letter won't be analyzed until early next week. The first letter was received Dec. 31 and the last on Thursday, according to the FBI. The return...

WASHINGTON — In most administrations, "leaks" of classified information precipitate presidential ire. Nearly all such unauthorized disclosures are the consequence of disgruntled government employees deciding that a "leak" is the best way to stop some activity they have decided should not continue. To justify their unlawful actions, they call themselves "secret whistle-blowers." The so-called "mainstream media" love them. Most American presidents do not. That's what makes the current commander in chief's reactions to a whole series of "leaks" so unusual. President Barack Obama doesn't seem to be concerned at all. President Ronald Reagan was infuriated by the publication and broadcast...

Baghdad leaders reveal that coup plot duped MI6 Julie Flint explains how rumours of Saddam's overthrow caused British intelligence to miss vital information about Iraq's weapons programme British intelligence took its eyes off Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes because it had been duped into believing a military coup would leave Sunni Muslims in power in Iraq. Sources in the country say what they missed was a push to convert chemical and biological organisms into dry agents that could be hidden until pressure on the regime was lifted. 'From the second half of 2000, the focus of the British was not on...

A powder sent to the American embassy in Rome during last week's G8 in Italy was the ashes of the sender's wife, it emerged today. Officials at the embassy went into overdrive when the envelope arrived last Wednesday, just hours before President Barack Obama arrived in the Italian capital for the summit. The post room of the building was sealed off and staff evacuated as police scientists in protective overalls arrived to take the powder away amid fears it could be an anthrax terror attack.

Note: The following text is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: U.S. Embassy Doha, Qatar, Temporary Closure CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS Middle East / N. Africa - Qatar 18 May 2009 RELATED REPORTS 13 Jan 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: DOHA, QATAR, PROTEST JANUARY 13 U.S. Embassy Doha issued the following Warden Message on May 18: At approximately 9:00 a.m, on May 18 a suspicious powder was discovered at the U.S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar. The suspicious substance is being sent to a laboratory for analysis. Until the results are received and a...

Saying she still has no idea who sent her a box of dead fish, former top homeland security bioweapons official Maureen McCarthy says she has resigned from the department and begun legal action to clear her name. Occasionally breaking into tears during a 45-minute telephone interview, McCarthy called her resignation "involuntary" and said she had suffered severe financial distress since being suspended without pay in February over the incident. "I resigned against my will," she said. "I had no income, and I couldn't use my accrued annual leave" for cash. "By resigning I got that back," she said, and could...

January 21, 2009 # Note: The following text is a quote: http://knoxville.fbi.gov/pressrel/2009/kx012109.htm Suspicious White Powder Letters Postmarked from Knoxville Received in New York and Massachusetts On Wednesday January 21, approximately 13 powder-laden envelopes were received at the office of the Wall Street Journal in New York City. The letters reportedly bear a Knoxville, Tennessee postmark. New York City Police Department's Emergency Services Unit and the FBI responded to the scene and are testing the letters to determine whether they contain a hazardous substance. An additional letter was also received today at Harvard Law School addressed to Alan Dershowitz. This letter...

Officials have confirmed that a letter that arrived for Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday contained a suspicious white powder.

Preliminary results have come back on a suspicious white powder found at the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. FBI officials say they aren't sure exactly what it is, but they know it's not toxic. The FBI says the substance was tested for known hazardous biological agents and toxins, and all tests were negative. Lab tests will continue to determine exactly what the substance is, and those results are expected sometime next week. Three employees inside the temple office were decontaminated as a precaution, and a hazardous material crew cleared the office of any...

The FBI and US Postal Service inspectors are on their way to investigate the suspicious envelope found at Temple Square containing an unknown white powder. The letter was mailed to the temple and was opened inside an office in the entrance area to the Salt Lake Temple. That is in an area open to the public. They have since placed the letter into a black plastic bag. Both Salt Lake City police and fire departments are on the scene and have closed off the area, including eastbound lanes of North Temple between State Street and Main Street. They did not...

Federal authorities are investigating at least 30 letters containing suspicious powder that have been sent to banks in seven cities. The FBI said initial tests on the powder have come up negative for dangerous toxins. Additional tests are ongoing. A law enforcement official said Tuesday the letters were mailed from South Texas to Chase bank branches in or near Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Newark, New Jersey, Oklahoma City and Washington. Postal inspector JoJan Henderson says the letters appear to be related and appear to be from the same source.

200,000 more absentee ballot requests than the Dems! The rest of the article is somewhat negative, but anecdotal at best. My local campaign office is doing precinct walks which they didn't start in 2004 until 2 weeks before the election. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/53812.html

ORLANDO - On Tuesday morning, the University of Central Florida Research Facility was evacuated after a white powder was found inside a package addressed to Oviedo resident Rep. Tom Feeney. "All 300 or so employees in the Research Facility and Pavilion were evacuated," said Grant Heston, spokesman for UCF. This is the second time this week that a suspicious package has been delivered to Rep. Tom Feeney. Heston said the problem is bigger than UCF......

The Port Orange Police Department got a call this afternoon from the office of U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, in Port Orange City Hall, saying secretarial staff had opened an envelope that contained what appeared to be a white powder substance. Capt. Wayne M. Miller said the city's fire department and Haz-Mat team responded and the building was evacuated. No word on any injuries -- or who might have sent the envelope.

Two McCain offices evacuated after letter threat Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:45pm EDT By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - Two offices of John McCain's U.S. presidential campaign, in Colorado and New Hampshire, were evacuated on Thursday, and several staffers were hospitalized, after threatening or suspicious envelopes arrived in the mail, one with an unidentified white powder. The first parcel, described as containing an unspecified threat and a powdery white substance, was opened by a staff member at the campaign's Centennial, Colorado, office, near Denver, at about 3 p.m. local time, U.S. Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Two people who sprinkled flour in a parking lot to mark a trail for their offbeat running club inadvertently caused a bioterrorism scare and now face a felony charge. The sprinkled powder forced hundreds to evacuate an IKEA furniture store Thursday. New Haven ophthalmologist Daniel Salchow, 36, and his sister, Dorothee, 31, who is visiting from Hamburg, Germany, were both charged with first-degree breach of peace, a felony. The siblings set off the scare while organizing a run for a local chapter of the Hash House Harriers, a worldwide group that bills itself as a "drinking...