Anchorage
Santa’s letters resume: Children who write to Santa Claus can continue to receive replies from the Alaska town of North Pole, thanks to a policy reversal by the U.S. Postal Service. North Pole (pop. 2,100) is home to Santa’s Mailbag, a 55-year-old venture in which volunteers answer letters addressed to Kris Kringle. The Postal Service recently said it would drop Santa’s Mailbag from its route because its postal district was unable to comply with new security measures designed to protect the children’s identities; the measures were ordered after a volunteer for a similar program, in Maryland, was recognized as a registered sex offender. But following a public outcry, the Postal Service said it would continue to forward mail to North Pole under the new guidelines. “It’s great!” said Santa’s Mailbag “chief elf,” Gabby Gaborik.
New Orleans
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Guilt for Katrina: Citing “monumental negligence,” a federal district court has ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers’ failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to devastating flooding during Hurricane Katrina. The decision, which awards $720,000 to six local residents and one business, could open the door to litigation by thousands of other New Orleans residents and lead to billions in claims against the federal government. The Army Corps’ “insouciance, myopia, and shortsightedness,” Judge Stanwood Duval ruled, allowed erosion to widen the crucial Mississippi River Gulf Outlet Canal, making it likelier that waves from neighboring Lake Borgne could flood the city.
New York City
9/11 suspects to speak: The five Guantánamo Bay detainees facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will admit their roles but plead not guilty so they can air their grievances about U.S. foreign policy, The New York Times reported. Defense lawyer Scott Fenstermaker said his client Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali believes that a full-blown trial will allow the defendants to “try to get their message out.” Fenstermaker said he expects all five defendants, including alleged ringleader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, to coordinate their defense strategies. Republican lawmakers have strongly criticized the Obama administration’s decision to try the case in federal court in Manhattan, rather than by military tribunal, complaining that it would offer the accused a forum to incite others.
Columbia, S.C.
Impeachment for Sanford? Impeachment hearings began in the South Carolina state legislature this week against Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, five months after he disappeared to visit his lover in Argentina. The impeachment measure accuses Sanford of having “brought extreme dishonor and shame” to his office and of “dereliction of duty” for leaving the state without putting anyone in charge. Sanford disappeared for five days in June; his staff initially had said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. A seven-member impeachment panel is considering 37 ethics charges against Sanford, ranging from improper use of state aircraft to using campaign money for personal expenses. While acknowledging his “moral failure,” Sanford said his missteps did not constitute impeachable offenses.
Providence, R.I.
Kennedy and Communion: Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) revealed this week that Rhode Island’s top Roman Catholic leader had asked him to stop receiving Communion because he favors abortion rights. Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, said that Bishop Thomas Tobin wrote him in 2007, saying that taking Communion would be “inappropriate,” and added, “I now ask respectfully that you refrain from doing so.” In response to Kennedy’s disclosure, Tobin issued a statement saying he was “disappointed” that Kennedy had revealed “pastoral and confidential” exchanges. Kennedy did not say whether he has found priests willing to administer the rite to him. Kennedy and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have been at odds over health-care reform, as the church has been pushing for tight restrictions on federal abortion funding.
Washington, D.C.
Spying for Cuba: A former State Department analyst and his wife pleaded guilty last week to spying for Cuba for almost 30 years. Walter and Gwendolyn Myers admitted in federal court to providing classified defense information to Cuban agents through “dead drops” and “hand-to-hand” passes, including exchanging shopping carts in a grocery store; they received their coded instructions via shortwave radio. The espionage began after Myers visited Cuba in 1978 and came away thinking leader Fidel Castro was “brilliant and charismatic.” The Myerses were caught in an FBI sting in June; Myers is to serve a life sentence and his wife will serve six to seven and a half years.
