From the Chicago Tribune:Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a chainsaw stained with what appeared to be blood, a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, and brass knuckles. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and then let him into the United States.
Cheese Used in Terror Bomb Test?http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/8688447.html
Jenn Rourke
MILWAUKEE - NBC News has obtained a bulletin from the Transportation Security Administration suggesting that there has been a surge in suspicious incidents at several U.S. airports.
The memo mentions several cities, including Milwaukee. San Diego, Houston and Baltimore are also noted.
The memo suggests that terrorists are conducting pre-attack security probes, pushing the limits of what they can bring through screening checkpoints undetected.
According to the NBC memo, some of the items confiscated during the rehearsals include wires, switches, pipes and materials used to make IEDs, or improvised explosive devices.
The notice says two of the incidents involved hiding the components in a block of processed cheese. In at least one incident, the device was connected to a cell phone charger, the memo says.
The TSA said there is no specific, credible threat attached to any of this information and that the note is part of routine information-sharing with airports and law enforcement.
Passengers who spoke with TODAY'S TMJ4 at Mitchell International Airport said they are accustomed to these types of threats and found the use of cheese blocks amusing.
Boy locked up during Packers games
Greenfield mother, boyfriend sentenced in child neglect case
By DERRICK NUNNALLY
Posted: July 23, 2007
Through last fall and into the winter, Scott Scherer and Melanie Hardrath fell into a familiar routine for each Packers game day: wake up, shower and head for Potawatomi Bingo Casino to hang out for six hours or more.
But Hardrath's 7-year-old son didn't have a place in that routine. So his mother and her live-in boyfriend forced one on him that even Hardrath's attorney called "bizarre": When the Greenfield couple went to watch the team play, the boy was deadbolted in his room with a loaf of bread, some peanut butter and jelly.
He also got a bucket to use as a toilet, which he had to empty and clean himself when the couple returned.
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Photos shown during sentencing show the couple's Greenfield home packed with thousands of dollars' worth of Packers memorabilia, including autographed jerseys, helmets, posters and legions of figurines. A prosecutor said the pictures made clear how easily they could have afforded proper treatment for the boy.
"These are not people who could not afford a baby sitter," Assistant District Attorney Chris Liegel said. "These are not desperate people making bad decisions. These are selfish people making bad decisions."
Attorneys for the couple seemed at a loss to defend what happened, which Wagner said "shocks the conscience of the community."
Hardrath's attorney, Richard Johnson, said the discovery of the "bizarre" situation had forced the couple's parenting issues to be confronted, but he said he did not have a suggestion on how proper justice could be meted out
"What do you do?" Johnson said to Wagner. "Maybe this coming football season, lock them in a room with a bucket and make them watch Bears games."
