SOLDIER MEMORIALIZED IN BAKERSFIELD
The memorial service for one of the U.S. soldiers killed in the Dec. 5 friendly-fire incident was memorialized in my hometown yesterday. The 28-year-old Brian Prosser grew up in nearby Frazier Park and will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. The Bakersfield Californian has a nice story on the event, and quotes Prosser's father saying he has no ill will for the U.S. government that his son was killed by accidental fire.
- posted by Amy @ 12/14/2001 01:57:00 PM

 

ARGENBRIGHT EXITS BOSTON AMID SNAFUS
On its final day of providing security at Boston's Logan Airport, FAA officials noticed something funny and had to close a terminal and re-screen passengers, including some who were already on their planes. From the Boston Globe:

When the inspectors asked an Argenbright supervisor what was going on, ''he indicated that some of the screeners had not received proper training,'' Peters said. The trained screeners apparently were moving between checkpoints being staffed by improperly trained workers.

Later that day, a woman bolted past security and headed for her gate, causing a few hundred passengers to return to the screening checkpoint. The Globe story notes that Argenbright has already been forced out of two other airports, but doesn't name them I this story. Reuters did a story a week ago about the British parent company of Argenbright, Sucuricor. It said the the firm reported profits a 16 percent increase in annual profits but plans to exit the US airport security business shortly after the federal govenment takes over all screening duties.
- posted by Amy @ 12/14/2001 01:03:00 PM

 

EVEN AMTRAK
So would you believe I was on Amtrak today, headed back to New York and the train broke down? The engine failed, we had to get off the train in the middle of the woods somewhere and climb on the next train that came by? OK, it sounds more dramatic than it really was. (This was not at all as exciting as my cross-country Greyhound experience in September.) One of the passengers remarked that he was happy we were on a train with a failed engine - rather than a plane with a failed engine. Saw William Cohen at Penn Station, waiting under the timetable board. At least it looked like him.
- posted by Amy @ 12/12/2001 03:58:00 PM

 

AIRPORT WORKERS ARRESTED AT SALT LAKE
Prosecutors said they've indicted 69 airport workers at the Salt Lake International Airport, accusing the of using fake information to get jobs there. Apparently 200 others in less secure areas had phony credentials and were fired.
- posted by Amy @ 12/11/2001 06:05:00 PM

 

CIA AGENTS POSING AS REPORTERS?
Editor & Publisher reports that CIA agents might be posing as journalists in order to collect information. That's not terribly safe for the legitimate journalist, though. When I was in college, there was quite a stink raised over a former CIA agent who was hired to teach a class on campus. The anthropology department, in particular, was outraged because they said the mere presence of a CIA agent on campus would cause some countries (where they hoped to do field work) would automatically believe recruiting was taking place on campus. The profs argued that the agent's presence not only impacted their ability to go to some countries, but would endanger their lives once they got there
- posted by Amy @ 12/11/2001 04:08:00 PM

 

WHEN JOURNALISTS ARE ATTACKED
My good friends Matt Welch and Ken Layne have both taken a look at the weekend beating of reporter Robert Fisk at the hands of Afghan refugees. Both received drubbings from locals in more than one Middle European country, but Ken argues that the reporter should not be writing about himself, even if he's beaten. "I am no fan of Objective Journalism, but when you're covering a global event, you are not the story," Ken writes on his site. (My own husband, who was once targeted for a kidnapping and another time heard his Jeep blow up outside his hotel room, visibly recoils when he hears the cliché "I was covering the story and then I became the story.") But to pick a fight, Ken, I disagree. I think when journalists have been targeted for killing, when there has been an allegation of a bounty on journalists' heads, I think a mere beating becomes newsworthy. The beating should not be a substitute for writing the main story, but I think it should be done in addition. The Committee to Protect Journalists has a list of the recent attacks, detainments and killings of journalists.
» SWEDISH JOURNALIST KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN
» FOUR JOURNALISTS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN
- posted by Amy @ 12/11/2001 09:30:00 AM

 

ANOTHER JFK CLOSURE
AP reports a knife was found on the ground beyond a security checkpoint in the Delta terminal. Also, in case you missed it like I did, Boston dumped Argenbright security.
» CHEF'S CLEAVERS CLEAR SECURITY
- posted by Amy @ 12/11/2001 08:49:00 AM

 

MORE GENEALOGY VS. PRIVACY
The Sacramento Bee today comes back at the genealogy/privacy question.
» WEB SITE REMOVES BIRTH RECORDS
» BORN IN CALIF? THEY'VE GOT YOUR NUMBERS
- posted by Amy @ 12/10/2001 01:33:00 PM

 

WASHINGTON POST: IT'S MONDAY!
Oh great, so I wake up in Washington DC and pick up their local paper. Above the fold, no coffee and on a Monday morning no less, they give me a story about how bad things would be if everyone in DC died all at once in an attack. Yeah, thanks. I'm not sure if that would pass the Cheerios test. (Some papers have a rule that no picture can run on the front page if it would likely cause their readership to choke on their Cheerios.) The story, which isn't apparently directed just at me is more about the constitutional crisis that would erupt if all the Beltway power brokers were suddenly unavailable.
- posted by Amy @ 12/10/2001 09:05:00 AM

 

JOURNALIST ATTACKED BY MOB IN PAKISTAN
A correspondent for The Independent was beaten in Pakistan by a group of Afghan refugees, the BBC reports. The reporter, Robert Fisk, penned his account.
- posted by Amy @ 12/10/2001 08:40:00 AM

 

LIVE FROM D.C.
Took Amtrak to D.C. this afternoon and got lucky that yesterday's horrible weather abated. Walked to the Vietnam Memorial. Then to see Lincoln, back along the reflecting pool and over to the Washington Monument. Never thought the Gettysburg Address would bring me to tears, but it did. It was oddly quiet here this evening. Mostly just the sound of flocks of geese overhead and a helicopter that circled near the White House for an hour or so.
- posted by Amy @ 12/09/2001 07:51:00 PM