http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=mall
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http://www.wtop.com/?nid=596&sid=1090674
(AP)
"National Mall Crime Ringleader Sentenced"
Mar 17th - 3:02pm
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON - A 17-year-old boy who terrorized the National Mall last summer has been sentenced to 41 years in prison.
On Friday, a D.C. Superior Court judged sentenced Ryan Newman for his role as the ringleader of a string of armed robberies and violent attacks in poorly-lit areas of the Mall.
Newman and four other young men attacked a total of 12 people on three evenings in May and July 2006.
All pleaded guilty to some of the attacks.
Newman was responsible for threatening his victims with a BB gun and for raping a 17-year-old girl."
Anti-terror feds to patrol LIRR and Metro-North
BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, March 21st 2007, 4:00 AM
Federal security officers will board MTA commuter trains in a major anti-terror plan to safeguard more than 500,000 daily Metro-North and LIRR riders, sources said yesterday.
The Transportation Security Administration and the NYPD - as well as state and local police departments - will supplement the patrols of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's own police force, law enforcement and government sources said.
The beefed-up security plan does not appear to be in response to any new or specific threat.
The MTA Police Department, which has one of the largest bomb-sniffing squads in the country, has quietly boosted its visibility onboard trains and in stations with more officers in the past few days.
It has the primary policing responsibility for Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road, the nation's two busiest commuter railroads with a combined 244 stations, and lines stretching to the Hudson Valley, southern Connecticut and eastern Long Island.
Gov. Spitzer's homeland security chief, Michael Balboni, TSA Deputy Administrator Robert Jamison and MTA CEO Elliot Sander are among the officials expected to announce the strategy, which also encompasses the Staten Island Railway, at a news conference in the Bronx today.
Sander recently said he wanted a more visible police presence on the rails and in stations. MTA cops have done limited inspections of passengers' backpacks and briefcases for explosives using various emerging technologies, but the reinforcements will not be used for passenger screening, sources said.
Commuter lines pose a different set of challenges for law enforcement than subways, where trains depart every few minutes and riders can be checked entering stations.
Metro-North and LIRR trains come far less frequently, and most passengers arrive at platforms just in time to board.
The revised and bolstered patrol strategy has been in the works for weeks, one source said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/03/21/2007-03-21_antiterror_feds_to_patrol_lirr_and_metro.html
School Will Remain Closed Due To Rash Outbreak.
Tue Mar 20, 5:04 PM ET
The West Branch schools superintendent said officials still do not know what caused students at Beloit Elementary School to break out in a rash.
The school, along with West Branch Middle School, was closed Tuesday because the mysterious rash is still showing up on students.
In a news conference Tuesday, superintendent Dr. Scott Weingart said air and surface testing at the school is clear and health officials have not been able to pinpoint the source of the rash.
Students returned to school Monday after custodians spent the entire weekend sanitizing all four of the district's building.
Thirty-five students and two adults were treated at nearby hospitals with symptoms of a red, itchy rash. Health officials categorized the rash as non-infectious dermatitis that responds well to normal treatment.
Weingart said classes will resume on Wednesday for West Branch Middle School students, but classes will take place at the high school.
He said Beloit Elementary students will not have classes on Wednesday as health officials continue to inspect and do testing at the building.
Weingart said there was never a real concern at the middle school but was closed as a precaution at the recommendation of health officials because the two schools share common areas.
He said state health officials will arrive at the building on Wednesday for further testing.