Atlanta
Scanners go online: Body scanners were activated in U.S. airports in nine cities this week, part of heightened security measures deployed after a Nigerian man attempted to detonate a bomb in a Detroit-bound airline on Christmas Day. The scanners allow security officials to see beneath a passenger’s clothing to search for nonmetallic explosives or contraband. Under the current rules, passengers can refuse to be scanned, but if they do, they have to pass through a metal detector and submit to a pat-down by a security agent. The Transportation Security Administration plans to install about 900 scanners in U.S. airports by 2014. While some advocates have raised privacy concerns, a recent poll found that 78 percent of Americans approved of the security measure.
San Diego
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More Prius troubles: Toyota’s woes deepened this week after reports of two Prius hybrid cars accelerating uncontrollably. James Sikes, 61, was driving his 2008 Prius on California’s Interstate 8 near San Diego when it suddenly accelerated to more than 90 mph. A California Highway Patrol officer drove alongside Sikes, offering instructions on slowing the vehicle, which he finally did by simultaneously applying the emergency brake and the brake pedal. The incident occurred the same day Toyota officials presented evidence they said disproved claims that electronic systems in the company’s cars had caused the runaway accelerations. In a separate incident, a driver in the New York City suburb of Harrison reported that her 2005 Prius accelerated without warning, crashing into a stone wall. She was unhurt.
Arlington, Va.
Pentagon gunman: A California man with a history of mental illness shot and wounded two police officers at an entrance to the Pentagon subway station last week before being killed by return fire. Police say John Patrick Bedell, 36, acted alone when he approached two police officers just outside the entrance to the station and calmly began firing. He was carrying two semiautomatic weapons and a large amount of ammunition. The two officers suffered minor injuries. A lawyer for Bedell’s family said the shooter was a marijuana addict whose mental state had been deteriorating for several years. Before the shootings, Bedell made several Internet postings in which he railed against the federal government.
Washington, D.C.
A military trial: The Justice Department has reportedly decided to try confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other defendants in a military court—a sharp reversal from the administration’s earlier insistence on trying Mohammed in a civilian court in New York City. White House officials said that by giving in to demands for a military trial, the administration hopes to break the logjam over closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and over funding for future military trials. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said that if the Mohammed trial were moved to a military court, he would lobby fellow Republicans to approve closing Guantánamo.
Philadelphia
‘Jihad Jane’ busted: The FBI has arrested a Pennsylvania woman on charges that she’d plotted with several Muslim extremists in Ireland to murder a Swedish cartoonist and had recruited others to perform terrorist acts. The arrest was carried out in October but not revealed until this week. Authorities say that in mid-2008, Colleen LaRose, 46, began posting messages on MySpace and YouTube, using the online names Jihad Jane and Fatima LaRose, about her desire to help the jihadists. She was allegedly contacted by a group in Ireland that encouraged her to assassinate cartoonist Lars Vilks, who had published satirical cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed. Irish police this week arrested four men and three women on related charges.
Washington, D.C.
Tickle party? Eric Massa, the Democratic New York congressman who resigned last week amid sexual-harassment complaints from male staffers, admitted this week that he’d “groped” and “tickled” staff members, but denied any sexual intent. Appearing on Fox News’ Glenn Beck show, Massa, who is 50 and married, described roughhousing with male staff members at the Washington townhouse he shared with them. “Not only did I grope” a male staffer, he said, “I tickled him until he couldn’t breathe, and then four guys jumped on top of me.” Massa, who was elected to Congress in 2008, has offered shifting explanations for his resignation, ranging from a recurrence of cancer to a White House campaign to oust him over his opposition to its health-care reform. The White House called Massa’s claims “crazy allegations.”
