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20071201

Secret - Rudy Giuliani - Cops - Car - Family - Travel - Gas - Account - New York - Pennsylvania - Christmas - 2008 Election - "City taxpayers picked up tab for Judith Giuliani's visit to kin in Pennsylvania." ... "In the fall of 2001, [New York City, New York] city cops chauffeured [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's then-mistress, Judith Nathan, to her parents' Pennsylvania home 130 miles away on the taxpayers' dime." ... "Records show that city cops refueled at an ExxonMobil station down the road from Nathan's childhood home in Hazleton on Oct. 20, 2001, while Giuliani stayed behind in New York attending 9/11 funerals." ... "A similar receipt pops up at a different Hazleton gas station two months later, when Nathan apparently went home for a pre-Christmas visit with her parents." ... "The records show that - in addition to using [New York] City Hall funds to take Giuliani and Nathan to 11 secret trysts in the Hamptons, as has been previously reported - taxpayers were paying to ferry Nathan on long-distance trips without Giuliani, now a Republican contender for President." ... "The expenses were all paid with a City Hall American Express card funded with money from mayoral office units that had nothing to do with travel or security." -By Michael Saul and David Saltonstall -NYDailyNews.com

20071130

Business - Government - Politics - 2008 Election - Family - Health - Safety - Environment - Air - Water - Soil - Labor - Animal - Farmers - Energy - Transportation - Automakers - Consumer - History - "Business Lobby Presses Agenda Before ’08 Vote." ... "Business lobbyists, nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next year’s elections, are racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety, labor and economic rules, in the belief that they can get better deals from the [Republican President] Bush administration than from its successor." ... "Hoping to lock in policies backed by a pro-business administration, poultry farmers are seeking an exemption for the smelly fumes produced by tons of chicken manure. Businesses are lobbying the Bush administration to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and medical problems. And electric power companies are pushing the government to relax pollution-control requirements." ... "The Federal Register typically grows fat with regulations churned out in the final weeks of any administration. But the push for such rules has become unusually intense because of the possibility that Democrats in 2009 may consolidate control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time in 14 years." ... "At the Transportation Department, trucking companies are trying to get final approval for a rule increasing the maximum number of hours commercial truck drivers can work. And automakers are trying to persuade officials to set new standards for the strength of car roofs — standards far less stringent than what consumer advocates say is needed to protect riders in a rollover." ... "At the Interior Department, coal companies are lobbying for a regulation that would allow them to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys." ... "Some of the biggest battles now involve rules affecting the quality of air, water and soil." (1, 2) -By Robert Pear -NYTimes
Secret - Rudy Giuliani - Police - Car - Accounting - Politics - New York - 2008 Election - "NYPD Chief Casts Doubt on Giuliani Expense Story." ... "New questions were raised today about [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's explanation for submitting police security expenses to obscure city agencies while he was mayor of New York [City, New York] and carried on a secret affair with his mistress, who also was given use of a police driver and city car." ... "Giuliani said Thursday the unusual billing practice was not intended to hide anything but instead to speed payment of American Express credit card bills." ... "But the current New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said today he knew of no problems with the delay of payments before Giuliani was mayor, when Kelly served under Mayor David Dinkins, or since." -By Brian Ross and Richard Esposito -ABCNEWS.com

20071129

Secret - Rudolph Giuliani - New York - Police - Car - Transport - Traveling - Politics - 2008 Election - "Giuliani's Mistress Used N.Y. Police as Taxi Service." ... "Well before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani provided a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com." ... ""She used the PD [Police Department] as her personal taxi service," said one former city official who worked for Giuliani." ... "New York papers reported in 2000 that the city had provided a security detail for Nathan, who became Giuliani's third wife after his divorce from Donna Hanover, who also had her own police security detail at the same time." ... "The former officials told ABCNews.com the extra costs involved overtime and per diem costs for officers traveling with Giuliani to secret weekend rendezvous with Nathan in the fashionable Hamptons resort area on Long Island." -By Richard Esposito -ABCNEWS.com

20071108

California - Air - Environment - Enforcement - Government - Auto - Makers - Global - Planet - Climate - "California sues EPA over emissions: The state seeks to force the agency to move more quickly on its request to enforce tough regulations." ... "California sued the federal government today, demanding that the [Republican President Bush led] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency act now to give the states the power to enforce tough regulations on automakers in the fight against global warming." ... "The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way last summer for the EPA to approve state regulations to limit emissions of greenhouse gas from automobile tailpipes. But no action has been forthcoming." ... "The EPA has said it will act on the state's request by year's end, but today's move was a major assault on the federal government's perceived lack of action on what many national and world leaders consider the No. 1 threat to the planet." -By Marc Lifsher -LAtimes

20071006

Religious - University - Home - Remodeling - Jet - Trip - Autos - Clothes - Money - Political - Family - Oklahoma - Texas - California - "Scandal brewing at Oral Roberts." ... "[Televangelist Oral Roberts son and Oklahoma's Oral Roberts University President] Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay." ... "She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as "underage males."" ... "San Antonio [Texas] televangelist John Hagee, a member of the ORU board of regents, said the university's executive board "is conducting a full and thorough investigation."" ... "The university reported nearly $76 million in revenue in 2005, according to the IRS." ... "Oral Roberts is 89 and lives in California." ... "Richard Roberts, according to the suit, asked a professor in 2005 to use his students and university resources to aid a county commissioner's bid for Tulsa [Oklahoma] mayor. Such involvement would violate state and federal law because of the university's nonprofit status. Up to 50 students are alleged to have worked on the campaign." -By Justin Juozapavicius -AP via -Yahoo

20070925

Transportation - Auto - Industry - Environmental - Air - Law - Enforcement - Politics - Los Angeles - CA - "E-mails show DOT chief fought state on emissions: Official lobbied against letting California enforce own standard for tailpipe exhaust." ... "U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, with the knowledge of the [Repuublican President Bush] White House, directed a behind-the-scenes effort to block California's request for its own, more stringent tailpipe emission standard, according to documents released Monday by a congressional committee." ... "A trail of e-mails show Peters prodding her staff this spring to persuade members of Congress and state governors to oppose California's request, now pending with the Environmental Protection Agency, to enforce its own standards. To contact members, DOT staffers used a list of congressional districts with auto facilities provided by the auto industry." ... "Secretary Peters "asked that we develop some ideas A.S.A.P. about facilitating a pushback from governors (esp. D's) and others opposed to piecemeal regulation of emissions, as per CA's waiver petition," Jeff Shane, Peters' undersecretary for policy, told staffers in a May 22 e-mail about the California request. "Esp. D's" meant "especially Democrats."" ... "In another e-mail, a DOT staffer told Peters' chief of staff that Marty Hall, chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was "OK with (the secretary) making calls" to lobby Congress." ... "The e-mails were released Monday by [California Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight Committee. Waxman, a Los Angeles [California] Democrat, said the documents, along with interviews with Hall and other staffers, showed that "the administration is trying to stack the deck against California's efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles" and that "political considerations — not the merits of the issue" — will determine EPA's decision." ... "California is allowed under the Clean Air Act to set its own emissions standards if it secures a waiver from the EPA. At least 11 other states are waiting to adopt the California standard, designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from new models in 2016, which has made this a major environmental issue." -By Frank Davies -MNG via -MercuryNews

20070922

Government - Electronic - Surveillance - Data - Travelers - Flying - Driving - Reading - People - Civil Liberties - US - International - San Francisco - California - Alaska - Terrorism - Intelligence - Politics - Law - "Collecting of Details on Travelers Documented: U.S. Effort More Extensive Than Previously Known." ... "The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials." ... "The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country." ... "Officials yesterday defended the retention of highly personal data on travelers not involved in or linked to any violations of the law. But civil liberties advocates have alleged that the type of information preserved by the department raises alarms about the government's ability to intrude into the lives of ordinary people. The millions of travelers whose records are kept by the government are generally unaware of what their records say, and the government has not created an effective mechanism for reviewing the data and correcting any errors, activists said." ... "The activists alleged that the data collection effort, as carried out now, violates the Privacy Act, which bars the gathering of data related to Americans' exercise of their First Amendment rights, such as their choice of reading material or persons with whom to associate. They also expressed concern that such personal data could one day be used to impede their right to travel." ... ""The federal government is trying to build a surveillance society," said John Gilmore, a civil liberties activist in San Francisco whose records were requested by the Identity Project, an ad-hoc group of privacy advocates in California and Alaska. The government, he said, "may be doing it with the best or worst of intentions. . . . But the job of building a surveillance database and populating it with information about us is happening largely without our awareness and without our consent."" (1, 2) -By Ellen Nakashima with contributions by Julie Tate -WashingtonPost

20070901

Mexico - US - Truck - Safety - Transportation - Union - Business - Politics - "Mexico's trucks get OK to roll in U.S. next week." ... "Mexican truckers can begin hauling goods over the border into the U.S. as soon as Thursday after a federal appeals court on Friday refused a request from the Teamsters union and others to block the vehicles." ... ""This is the wrong decision for American working men and women. We will now proceed to litigate this case on the merits," Teamsters General President James Hoffa said in a statement. "We believe this program clearly breaks the law. We will continue to fight for safety and national security in the courts and in Congress."" -By Karen Gullo -Bloomberg via -Chron

20070810

US - China - New Jersey - Company - Manufacturer - Transportation - Vehicles - Safety - "Importer Recalls 255,000 Chinese Light-Truck Tires." ... "Foreign Tire Sales, a New Jersey importer, said yesterday that it would recall about 255,000 light-truck tires made to order by a Chinese company." ... "The tires are steel-belted radial models sold under the brand names Westlake, Compass and YKS. They were produced from 2004 to 2006 for pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans, Foreign Tire said. The company has reported two deaths in a rollover accident involving the tires." ... "[The Chinese manufacturer,] Hangzhou Zhongce said it was cooperating with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which enforces federal motor vehicle safety standards." -Bloomberg via -NYTimes

20070803

Minnesota - I-35W Bridge Collapse - Car - Transportation - Water - "Driver makes dramatic underwater escape after bridge collapses." ... "Alicia Babatz was on her way to pick up her 2-year-old daughter Wednesday when she felt the [Minneapolis, Minnesota I-35W] bridge give way beneath her." ... "She said she thought she was going to die as her car crashed into the concrete and plunged into the water. Buckled in behind the wheel, she watched the water rise above her." ... "Fighting what she called "excruciating pain," Babatz, 22, escaped through a window and swam to the rubble of the collapsed bridge." ... ""I was crying for help, but there were cries for help all around me," she said." ... "It took Babatz about 30 minutes to get out of the water. She said she looked back, and her car was gone." -CNN

20070802

Minnesota - I-35W Bridge Collapse - Disaster - Vehicles - Transportation - Construction - Technology - Politics - Government - River - "Minn. bridge problems uncovered in 1990." ... "Minnesota officials were warned as early as 1990 that the [Minneapolis, Minnesota I-35W] bridge that plummeted into the Mississippi River was "structurally deficient," yet they relied on a strategy of patchwork fixes and stepped-up inspections." ... "In 1990, the federal government gave the I-35W bridge a rating of "structurally deficient," citing significant corrosion in its bearings. The bridge is one of 77,000 bridges in that category nationwide, 1,160 in Minnesota alone." ... "[Bridge engineer Dan] Dorgan said the bearings could not have been repaired without jacking up the entire deck of the bridge. Because the bearings were not sliding, inspectors concluded the corrosion was not a major issue." ... "During the 1990s, later inspections found fatigue cracks and corrosion in the steel around the bridge's joints. Those problems were repaired. Starting in 1993, the state said, the bridge was inspected annually instead of every other year." ... "A 2005 federal inspection also rated the bridge structurally deficient, giving it a 50 on scale of 100 for structural stability." ... "The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge was Minnesota's busiest bridge, carrying 141,000 vehicles a day. It was in the midst of mostly repaving repairs when it buckled during the evening rush hour. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top one of another. A school bus sat on the angled concrete." -By Sharon Cohen and Brian Bakst with contributions by Seth Borenstein, Martiga Lohn, Ryan Foley and Jon Krawczynski -AP via -Yahoo

20070716

US - Iraq - Military - People - Vehicles - Safety - Technology - Money - Politics - Manufacturing - History - South Africa - "Pentagon balked at pleas from officers in field for safer vehicles: Iraqi troops got MRAPs; Americans waited." ... "Years before the war began, Pentagon officials knew of the effectiveness of another type of vehicle that better shielded troops from bombs like those that have killed [25 year old Pfc. Aaron] Kincaid and 1,500 other soldiers and Marines. But military officials repeatedly balked at appeals — from commanders on the battlefield and from the Pentagon's own staff — to provide the lifesaving Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, or MRAP, for patrols and combat missions, USA TODAY found." ... "As early as December 2003, when the Marines requested their first 27 MRAPs for explosives-disposal teams, Pentagon analysts sent detailed information about the superiority of the vehicles to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, e-mails obtained by USA TODAY show. Later pleas came from Iraq, where commanders saw that the approach the Joint Chiefs embraced — adding armor to the sides of Humvees, the standard vehicles in the war zone — did little to protect against blasts beneath the vehicles." ... "Why the issue never received more of a hearing from top officials early in the war remains a mystery, given the chorus of concern. One Pentagon analyst complained in an April 29, 2004, e-mail to colleagues, for instance, that it was "frustrating to see the pictures of burning Humvees while knowing that there are other vehicles out there that would provide more protection."" ... "The analyst was referring to the MRAP, whose V-shaped hull puts the crew more than 3 feet off the ground and deflects explosions. It was designed to withstand the underbelly bombs that cripple the lower-riding Humvees. Pentagon officials, civilians and military alike, had been searching for technologies to guard against improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. The makeshift bombs are the No. 1 killer of U.S. forces." ... "The MRAP was not new to the Pentagon. The technology had been developed in South Africa and Rhodesia in the 1970s, making it older than Kincaid and most of the other troops killed by homemade bombs. The Pentagon had tested MRAPs in 2000, purchased fewer than two dozen and sent some to Iraq. They were used primarily to protect explosive ordnance disposal teams, not to transport troops or to chase Iraqi insurgents." ... "Even as the Pentagon balked at buying MRAPs for U.S. troops, USA TODAY found that the military pushed to buy them for a different fighting force: the Iraqi army." ... "On Dec. 22, 2004 — two weeks after [Republican] President Bush told families of servicemembers that "we're doing everything we possibly can to protect your loved ones" — a U.S. Army general solicited ideas for an armored vehicle for the Iraqis." ... "One reason officials put off buying MRAPs in significant quantities: They never expected the war to last this long. Bush set the tone on May 1, 2003, six weeks after the U.S. invasion, when he declared on board the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."" -By Peter Eisler, Blake Morrison and Tom Vanden Brook -USATODAY

20070711

US- Iraq - Military - Vehicles - Manufacturers - "Pentagon Criticized for Armor Contracts." ... "The Defense Department put U.S. troops in Iraq at risk by awarding contracts for badly needed armored vehicles to companies that failed to deliver them on schedule, according to a review by the Pentagon's inspector general." ... "The June 27 report, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, examined 15 contracts worth $2.2 billion dollars awarded since 2000 to Force Protection, Inc., and Armor Holdings, Inc." ... "The auditors found several contracts issued by the Marine Corps on a sole-source basis to Force Protection even though it knew there were other manufacturers that might have supplied the vehicles in a more timely fashion." -By Richard Lardner and Anne Flaherty -AP via -Chron

20070629

US - Massachusetts - Canada - Car - Travel - Pet - Animal - Mitt Romney- 2008 Election - "Romney Accused of Mistreating Family Dog." ... "[2008 election Presidential candidate Mitt] Romney placed his family dog, an Irish setter named Seamus, into a kennel lashed to the top of his station wagon for a 12-hour family trip from Boston [Massachusetts] to Ontario [Canada] in 1983. Despite being shielded by a wind screen the former Massachusetts governor erected, Seamus expressed his discomfort with a diarrhea attack." -By Glen Johnson -AP via -SFGate.com

20070625

Mitt Romney - Jay Garrity - Police - Politics - 2008 Election - Reporter - Car - Surveillance - New Hampshire - Massachusetts - "Fortune reporter: Garrity pulled me over, too." ... "After New York Times reporter Mark Leibovitch reported on June 16 that an aide to [2008 election Republican Presidential candidate] Mitt Romney -- later identified as Jay Garrity, Romney's director of operations -- had ordered him to stop following Romney's car on a campaign trip to New Hampshire, Romney's campaign denied that Leibovitch's car was ever pulled over." ... "Now another reporter is saying she had an experience similar to Leibovitch's account. Marcia Vickers, a senior writer with Fortune magazine, said that while trailing Romney in New Hampshire on Memorial Day for a forthcoming magazine piece, Garrity instructed her at one point to stop tailing Romney's car." ... "The incident with Leibovitch, in which Garrity, by Leibovitch's account, also told him he had run his license plate number, has prompted an investigation by the New Hampshire attorney general's office. State law prohibits private citizens from accessing license plate databases or pulling over fellow citizens. Garrity is now on paid leave amid an investigation by Massachusetts State Police into whether he impersonated a state trooper in a May 13 phone call to a Wilmington [Massachusetts] company." -By Scott Helman -Boston/Globe

20070622

Mitt Romney - 2008 Election - Jay Garrity - Police - Car - Politics - Massachusetts - "Romney aide, targeted in probe, takes leave of absence." ... "[2008 election Republican Presidential candidate] Mitt Romney's director of operations is taking a leave of absence from the presidential campaign after becoming the focus of an investigation into allegations that he posed as a state trooper in a recorded phone call [transcript] complaining about a company's driver, the campaign announced today." ... "During the phone call, a recording of which was made by the answering service and obtained by the Globe, a man calling himself "Trooper Garrity of the Massachusetts State Police" threatens to cite the driver he says he saw speeding and cutting off cars in the Ted Williams Tunnel." -By Stephanie Ebbert -Boston/Globe
Mitt Romney - Jay Garrity - Police - Car - Politics - Massachusetts - Mother's-Day - 2008 Election - "Romney aide takes leave amid probes." ... "An ever-present aide to [2008 election] Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney took a leave of absence Friday after he became the subject of investigations in two states for allegedly impersonating a law enforcement officer. His attorney denied the charges." ... "Jay Garrity, who serves as director of operations and is constantly at the side of the former Massachusetts governor, is accused of leaving a lengthy message with the answering service of a plumbing company on Mother's Day, identifying himself as "Trooper Garrity" of the Massachusetts State Police and complaining about erratic driving by a company driver." ... "In 2004, Garrity was cited and fined by Massachusetts officials after a Ford Crown Victoria registered to him was found to have lights, a siren, radios and other law enforcement equipment -- including a baton -- after it was parked illegally in Boston's North End." -By Glen Johnson -AP via -BostonGlobe
Mitt Romney - Jay Garrity - Political - Police - Car - Massachusetts - Company - New Hampshire - Databases - Reporter - Privacy - 2008 Election - "Romney aide is the focus of probe: Allegedly acted as State Police trooper." ... "State Police are investigating one of [2008 election Republican Presidential candidate] Mitt Romney's top campaign aides for allegedly impersonating a trooper by calling a Wilmington [Massachusetts] company and threatening to cite the driver of a company van for erratic driving, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the probe." ... "Jay Garrity, who is director of operations on Romney's presidential campaign and a constant presence at his side, became the primary target of the investigation, according to one of the sources, after authorities traced the cellphone used to make the call back to him" ... "The New Hampshire attorney general, according to the Associated Press, has also opened an investigation into a report that a Romney aide, later identified as Garrity, pulled over a New York Times reporter in New Hampshire and said he had run his license plate." ... "New Hampshire law prohibits private citizens from accessing license plate databases or pulling over fellow citizens." ... "In 2004, the Globe reported, Garrity was cited and fined for driving a Crown Victoria with red and blue lights mounted in the grill, a siren, a PA system, and strobe lights; and for having a nightstick and identification showing a State Police patch that read "Official Business."" -By Stephanie Ebbert and Scott Helman with contributions by Suzanne Smalley, Andrea Estes, and Jonathan Saltzman -Boston/Globe

20070616

US - Iraq - Military - Money - People - Transport - Vehicles - Police - Intelligence - Construction - Politics - "Iraq Contractors Face Growing Parallel War: As Security Work Increases, So Do Casualties." ... "Private security companies, funded by billions of dollars in U.S. military and State Department contracts, are fighting insurgents on a widening scale in Iraq, enduring daily attacks, returning fire and taking hundreds of casualties that have been underreported and sometimes concealed, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials and company representatives." ... "While the military has built up troops in an ongoing campaign to secure Baghdad [Iraq's capital], the security companies, out of public view, have been engaged in a parallel surge, boosting manpower, adding expensive armor and stepping up evasive action as attacks increase, the officials and company representatives said. One in seven supply convoys protected by private forces has come under attack this year, according to previously unreleased statistics; one security company reported nearly 300 "hostile actions" in the first four months." ... "The security industry's enormous growth has been facilitated by the U.S. military, which uses the 20,000 to 30,000 contractors to offset chronic troop shortages. Armed contractors protect all convoys transporting reconstruction materiel, including vehicles, weapons and ammunition for the Iraqi army and police. They guard key U.S. military installations and provide personal security for at least three commanding generals, including Air Force Maj. Gen. Darryl A. Scott, who oversees U.S. military contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan." ... "The military plans to outsource at least $1.5 billion in security operations this year, including the three largest security contracts in Iraq: a "theaterwide" contract to protect U.S. bases that is worth up to $480 million, according to Scott; a contract for up to $475 million to provide intelligence for the Army and personal security for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and a contract for up to $450 million to protect reconstruction convoys. The Army has also tested a plan to use private security on military convoys for the first time, a shift that would significantly increase the presence of armed contractors on Iraq's dangerous roads." (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) -By Steve Fainaru with contributions by Julie Tate -WashingtonPost

20070604

US - Iraq - Vehicles - "14 More American Servicemen Are Killed in Iraq, Most of Them by Makeshift Bombs." ... "The pace of American troop deaths increased this weekend as 14 more servicemen were reported killed in Iraq, all but one from makeshift bombs that insurgents have been employing with greater lethality against American soldiers and armored vehicles. Twenty-one soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded." ... "The makeshift bomb blasts were part of a brazen series of attacks throughout the country by Sunni Arab insurgents, Shiite fighters of the Mahdi Army and other gunmen using rifles, rockets, huge bombs and chlorine canisters. American forces suffered heavy casualties in and around Baghdad and in Sunni insurgent enclaves further north, while Iraqi and American forces took the offensive in Mahdi Army strongholds in Baghdad and southern Iraq." ... "At least 15 American servicemen were killed in the first three days of June, a pace that exceeds the daily fatality rate in May, when 127 troops were killed. May was the deadliest month since the invasion of Falluja in November 2004." ... "Thirty-one [Iraqi] bodies were found scattered about the capital, where sectarian murders are once again on the rise." ... "The biggest killers [of American military troops] are roadside bombs, responsible for four of every five American deaths in combat during the past three months." -By Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Khalid W. Hassan with contributions by Muhanad Seloom -NYTimes

20070529

British - US - Canada - Iraq - Finance - Police - Vehicles - Terrorism - Religion - "Five Britons abducted in Baghdad: Five Britons have been kidnapped from Iraq's finance ministry in Baghdad, the British government has confirmed." ... "They included four bodyguards and a finance expert." ... "Witnesses and sources told the BBC that the kidnappers wore police uniforms and arrived in up to 40 police vehicles." ... "Also on Tuesday, Baghdad was shaken by a bus explosion which killed at least 23 people and injured about 55, and a car bomb which killed at least 17 people, hurt at least 36 and destroyed a Shia mosque." ... "The US military also announced that 10 of its soldiers were killed in Iraq on Monday, including two in a helicopter crash." ... "At least 112 US troops have been killed so far in May, making it the deadliest month this year." ... "The missing security guards are all believed to have been working for the GardaWorld security agency - a Canadian-owned firm largely staffed by British former service personnel." ... "GardaWorld is one of the biggest suppliers of private security in Iraq, and is thought to have hundreds of staff in the country." -BBC/News

20070522

US - Iraq - Military - Vehicles - Technology - Money - Politics - "Military Dragged Feet on Bomb-Proof Vehicles (Updated Again)." ... "The Marine Corps waited over a year before acting on an "priority 1 urgent" request to send blast-resistant vehicles to Iraq, [Wired.com's] DANGER ROOM has learned." ... "According to a Marine Corps document [PDF] provided to DANGER ROOM, the request for over 1,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles came in February, 2005. A formal call to fulfill that order did not emerge until November, 2006. "There is an immediate need for an MRAP vehicle capability to increase survivability and mobility of Marines operating in a hazardous fire area against known threats," the 2005 "universal need statement" notes." ... "Back then -- as now -- improvised explosive devices, or IEDs -- represented the deadliest threat to American troops in the region. "The expanded use" of these bombs "requires a more robust family of vehicle capable of surviving the IED... threat," the document adds. "MRAP-designed vehicles represent a significant increase in their survivability baseline over existing motor vehicle equipment and will mitigate... casualties resulting from IED[s]."" ... ""The [Marines] cannot continue to lose... serious and grave casualties to IED[s]... when a commercial off the shelf capability exists to mititgate [against] these threats," the request continues." ... "Despite the stark language, however, that request was not acted upon. Instead, the Marine Corps waited until November, 2006 to issue a formal request for proposals to buy approximately 1,200 MRAPs." -By Sharon Weinberger -Wired

20070508

Kansas - Greensburg - Tornado - Vehicles - Police - "Kansas Tornado Death Toll Rises: 11 Deaths Now Reported After Injured Police Officer Taken Off Life Support." ... "Search and rescue operations continued Tuesday in Greensburg [Kansas], where emergency responders have struggled to determined if any of its 1,600 residents are missing because many are staying with friends or relatives rather than in shelters." ... "The 1.7-mile-wide, Category F-5 enhanced tornado, with wind estimated at 205 mph, destroyed about 95 percent of this farming town Friday." ... "The government's response to the disaster was undermined by ongoing National Guard deployments to the Middle East, [Kansas Democratic Governor] Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said." ... ""I don't think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters that the response is going to be slower," Sebelius said. "The real victims here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be at a slower pace."" -AP via -CBSNews

20070507

US - Iraq - Kansas - National Guard - Disaster - Vehicles - "Wartime Shortages Hamper National Guard: Iraq Deployments Are Leading To A Lack Of Equipment At The State Level." ... "Kansas' governor says tornado cleanup efforts are being hamstrung because the state National Guard is on a mission in Iraq." ... "But the Kansas National Guard isn't alone with its equipment shortages. According to the chief of the National Guard, it's a national epidemic." ... "Listen to what he told a Senate committee last month about the state of a Guard unit that had just returned stateside from Iraq." ... ""He doesn't have a problem of old equipment. He has a problem of no equipment," Lt. General H. Steven Blum said. "His unit, when it came back in November, came back to two Humvees that were left because they were not good enough to go to war — not suitable to go to war — and that's the equipment that he has in his unit today."" ... "The rest of the Humvees were either destroyed, damaged or left behind in Iraq." ... ""You name it, we are short of — this is meat-and-potatoes basic items," Blum said. "I'm talking about 'dozers, graders, loaders, backhoes, dump trucks."" -CBSNews

20070420

Fuel -