Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Homeland Security chief said to be stressed

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who sought to reassure Americans amid frightening warnings about possible terror plots, has told colleagues he probably will resign after the election because of his personal finances and the stress of his job, the Associated Press reports, quoting unnamed officials.

During a meeting Friday in Miami, Ridge called the news "an inside-the-Beltway game" and said he wouldn't comment about it.

"The president gave me a great job," Ridge said. "I'm doing the job, and after President Bush is re-elected, we'll have to have that conversation. But I've got a job to do, and I plan on doing it."

Several senior Homeland Security officials said Ridge has indicated in recent weeks he probably will resign after the election, even if Bush wins. They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the delicate nature of describing private conversations with their boss.

Assistant Homeland Secretary Susan Neely said Ridge will not make a final decision until he talks with President Bush late this year. He now is focused on thwarting terror attacks that officials fear al-Qaida will try before November.

NEW YORK - Joseph Massino, the head of the Bonanno organized crime family, was found guilty of murder and racketeering charges Friday in a trial marked by massive defections from the mob.

The jury, which deliberated for fewer than four days, also found him guilty of arson, money laundering, loan sharking, gambling and extortion. Massino, 61, faces a mandatory life sentence.

As the verdicts were read, Massino stood silently in court in Brooklyn. Afterward, he turned to his wife, who regularly attended his 9-week trial, and shrugged.

The most damaging testimony at the trial came in a classic case of betrayal. His brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale, the Bonanno family's underboss, cut a deal with the government.

NASA's Messenger spacecraft is scheduled to launch Sunday on a 5 billion-mile trip to Mercury - the first visit in almost 30 years to the most extreme and least studied of the inner planets.

It will take seven years for the $427-million probe to reach Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. The probe will orbit the planet for one year, taking color pictures of the entire surface, as well as gathering data on the crust, the magnetic field, the core and the polar craters.