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Newsweek: Tabloid intern sought in anthrax cases...
msnbc.com ^ | October 9, 2001 | msnbc.com

Posted on 10/09/2001 1:13:08 AM PDT by TheOtherOne




IMG: Police at American Media entrance
Police stand at the parking lot entrance to American Media
Anthrax Alarm
What had been a public-health probe in Florida is now a criminal investigation
By Joseph Contreras, Michael Isikoff and Howard Fineman
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE
    October 8 —  The possibility that a photo editor for the weekly tabloid The Sun was killed in a bioterrorism attack took on a new sense of urgency today after Florida public-health officials disclosed that a nose swab taken from a 73-year-old hospitalized co-worker contained the rare bacteria spore that induces Anthrax, an often-fatal illness.  

     
     
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  PUBLIC-HEALTH OFFICIALS confirmed that Ernesto Blanco, a 73-year-old Cuban American who works in the mailroom of American Media office building in Boca Raton tested as having been exposed to Anthrax. Blanco was admitted to a Miami hospital last week with symptoms of pneumonia. On Friday, Bob Stevens, a photo editor at The Sun, died from disease.
        What had been described as a public-health probe instantly became a criminal investigation as FBI agents on Sunday evening sealed off the office building, which houses the offices of most of the country’s supermarket tabloids including The National Enquirer, The Star, The Globe, News of the World and others. Employees and visitors to the building were ordered to undergo medical tests. Grim-faced state officials who had initially tried to downplay speculation late last week that Stevens’ demise might have been caused by foul play didn’t sound so sure at a Monday afternoon press conference. “We can’t speculate as to the source of this particular anthrax germ,” said acting Florida Secretary of Health Dr. John Agwunobi, who confirmed earlier reports that Anthrax spores had been found on the computer keyboard at Bob Stevens’ desk. Other officials went further. “We have to assume that a human element was involved,” concluded Florida Health Department director of disease control Dr. Landis Crockett.

Inside an anthrax attack - <illustration of diagram listing steps of an Anthrax infection>

NEWSWEEK has learned that the FBI is aggressively trying to locate a summer intern from nearby Florida Atlantic University in connection with the investigation. The intern, who sources said came from a Middle Eastern country, had sent an e-mail to all employees that a top American Media official described as “peculiar.” The e-mail thanked company employees for the help he gave them, but then contained language suggesting that he wasn’t saying “goodbye.” Another company official recalled the email as having “a sense of foreboding” and referring to a “surprise” or “something that he left behind.”

Said the official, “it was weird.”
        Sources at American Media said the FBI has asked company employees about any “enemies” the company or its papers might have. Given the content of the weekly tabloids, “that list would go on forever,” joked one employee. Alarmed workers say they are urgently trying to recall receiving suspicious or unusual letters and packages. Several are focusing on a letter that arrived at the company about a week before the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. It was described by sources as a “weird love letter to Jennifer Lopez”—similar, outwardly, to the types of mail the tabloids often get. But inside the oddly-worded letter was what was described as a “soapy, powdery substance” and in the pile of that a cheap Star of David charm. The letter, per routine, was taken in by the joint mailroom of the company. Employees said the letter was handled both by Stevens and by Blanco.

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Effects of anthrax infection
The inhaled form of anthrax is rare and extremely deadly. Studies of previous cases indicate that a dose of 2,500 to 55,000 anthrax spores is lethal to about half of the people who inhale them
The first stage of anthrax infection, lasting from hours to a few days, involves flu-like symptoms, including fever, coughing, weakness and chest pains.
The second stage usually ends in death within days. Lung damage deprives the body of oxygen. The victim then goes into shock. Brain infection may also occur.
Antibiotics only prove helpful at the earliest stages of the disease because they fight bacteria, not the toxins the bacteria produce in abundance.

       By late Monday afternoon, Boca Raton fire rescue vehicles and unmarked trucks and vans had descended on the American Media office building and investigators in white germproof suits were combing the ramp leading into the underground parking lot. Earlier in the day, hundreds of office workers filled out four-page forms at the Delray Beach health center asking them questions about their medical history, any recent unusual events that had occurred inside the building and whether they had visited the mail room and a photo library frequented by Blanco and Stevens.
        The office workers were issued 15-day supplies of the antibiotic Cipro that doctors prescribe in cases of Anthrax exposure. A skittish golf pro who works at a course adjacent to the premises of the American Media headquarters looked on warily from a distance as law enforcement officials swarmed around the building this morning. “I’m very concerned, and I’m going to give my lessons on the far side of the course,” said Broken Sound Golf Course instructor Michael Meredith. “I’m going to try to stay as far away as possible.” He was not alone in voicing such sentiments on a day when the specter of bio-terrorism suddenly loomed large over the placid suburbs of Palm Beach County.


With Catharine Skipp

© 2001 Newsweek, Inc.
       
 
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1 posted on 10/09/2001 1:13:08 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
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To: TheOtherOne
I cannot describe the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
2 posted on 10/09/2001 1:14:14 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
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To: TheOtherOne
Why are we not being told this intern's name or shown his face? I'm sure he knows they're after him.
3 posted on 10/09/2001 1:18:09 AM PDT by Clinton's a rapist
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To: TheOtherOne
Shameless plug for my conspiracy thread:

Is this what the FBI meant when they said there was a 100% chance of further attacks?

4 posted on 10/09/2001 1:20:11 AM PDT by xm177e2
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To: xm177e2

RememberThe11th.com

(What's a shameless plug? - bttt)

5 posted on 10/09/2001 1:23:02 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
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To: TheOtherOne
I cannot describe the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Same sickness here.

I also heard that the missing MiddleEasterner (dare I say SUSPECT?) sent e-mails to a few selected co-workers advising them of a gift he'd left behind for them!

6 posted on 10/09/2001 1:23:06 AM PDT by onyx
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To: TheOtherOne

The intern, who sources said came from a Middle Eastern country

That says it all really....oh dear, this is beginning to look very bad indeed

7 posted on 10/09/2001 1:23:33 AM PDT by maquiladora
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To: maquiladora
I think it is time for them all to go.
8 posted on 10/09/2001 1:28:05 AM PDT by He Rides A White Horse
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To: TheOtherOne
None of this on FOXNEWS as yet!
9 posted on 10/09/2001 1:29:44 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Clinton's a rapist

Bennet Bolton, a senior reporter for The National Enquirer, told The Associated Press on Monday about a ``cryptic'' e-mail sent to the staff in late August or early September by an intern who worked in the newsroom this summer.

``It intrigued us that he left such a cryptic farewell,'' Bolton said. ``It was rather neutral and then he said, 'I left you a surprise for you to remember me by. Ha ha, just kidding.'''

He said federal investigators were told about the e-mail. The FBI did not return several phone calls seeking comment about it.


10 posted on 10/09/2001 1:29:49 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
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To: TheOtherOne
If this is true, and this kind of crap continues, we may see the depotation of all Middle Easterners, citizens or not. PC and diversity can go to hell if it does. Just my opinion, flame away if you feel you should...JFK
11 posted on 10/09/2001 1:29:54 AM PDT by BADROTOFINGER
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To: TheOtherOne

Newsweek magazine reported on its Web site that the office received a ``weird love letter to Jennifer Lopez'' a week before the Sept. 11 attacks. Inside was what was described as a ``soapy, powdery substance'' and a Star of David charm. The letter was handled by both Stevens and Blanco, according to unidentified workers cited by Newsweek.

Stevens, the dead photo editor, lived about a mile from an air strip where flight school owner Marian Smith said suspected hijacker Mohamed Atta rented planes. Several suspected hijackers also visited a crop-dusting business in Belle Glade, 40 miles from Stevens' home in Lantana.


12 posted on 10/09/2001 1:31:56 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
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To: TheOtherOne
The cheap imitation Star Of David inserted in the soapy, powdery substance tells me that the MiddleEasterner is a Muslim hell bent on death to all of us, and I do mean all of us.
13 posted on 10/09/2001 1:33:32 AM PDT by onyx
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To: TheOtherOne
Gives a new meaning to INTERN doesn't it?
14 posted on 10/09/2001 1:35:24 AM PDT by onyx
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To: onyx
I ain't thinking slutty well to do jewish girl looking for some married action anymore, if that's what you mean.
15 posted on 10/09/2001 1:41:33 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
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To: onyx
If the powdery substance was anthrax, is this just a warning, or was it an attack? If a widespread anthrax attack is to come, what are we going to do about it? It would seem that biological weapons of mass destruction deserve retaliation in kind. Probably not biological, but mass destruction to be sure.

Why are some (and many would say ALL Muslims, given the specifics of the Jihad and its importance to the faith) Muslims bent on destroying all of their own kind? Do they believe that they will win this war? Conventionally, even after eight years of Clinton/Gore, they dont stand even a ghost of a chance. Maybe they want to show all Muslims paradise before the majority even want to see it.

All I know about the rank and file Muslims I have learned from the media, but they dont seem to have much of an education. Could they be this willingly ignorant of what a really pissed off Western Civilization could do to them if they felt they had no alternative and really couldnt care less about the consequences? This truly boggles my mind, being lucky enough to have been born American (and damn proud of it), I just cant understand what passes for thought in some people...JFK

16 posted on 10/09/2001 1:41:50 AM PDT by BADROTOFINGER
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To: He Rides A White Horse
I think it is time for them all to go.

If this is s true story, and it did come from A Middle Eastern student, all Middle Eastern student visas should be revoked and future applications denied.

17 posted on 10/09/2001 1:46:30 AM PDT by HennepinPrisoner
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To: onyx
I believe from Sudan.
18 posted on 10/09/2001 1:46:42 AM PDT by txrangerette
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To: HennepinPrisoner
If this is s true story, and it did come from A Middle Eastern student, all Middle Eastern student visas should be revoked and future applications denied.

I'm sure somebody is just itching to call us 'racist'.

This is a wholly different type of war. When you are talking about people deliberately spreading biological agents, there really isn't time to sort out the 'good guys' from the 'bad guys'...it's just a cold, hard reality.

19 posted on 10/09/2001 1:57:00 AM PDT by He Rides A White Horse
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To: He Rides A White Horse
Bingo. You nailed it. When you cant separate the good from the bad, you have to throw the whole lot out. Its a damn shame. It's easy to do when you are talking about, say, hamburger patties or bottles of Tylenol, but it gets ugly when talking about other human beings, no matter how inhumanely they may behave...JFK
20 posted on 10/09/2001 2:01:56 AM PDT by BADROTOFINGER
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