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Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 24, 2001
Easy crossings from Mexico, Canada a thing of the past
The United States has sharply intensified inspections and antiterrorist surveillance along its Canadian and Mexican borders, reshaping the face of two of the most open international frontiers maybe for years to come.
More inspectors on more overtime are asking more questions at the overland border stations. They are opening more trunks and peering at cars more often with imaging equipment. More agents are taking to the air also, patrolling the vast stretches of forest, desert and waterway along more than 6,000 miles of border shared by the United States with its two neighbors.
Waits of up to 15 hours have been reported at border crossings.
Todd Spencer, an executive for a Missouri-based truckers' group known as the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said he has long felt too many people cross from Canada with questionable papers.
"If it takes longer to do the job, then we're going to live with it," he said.
On a typical day, more than 1-million passengers in 350,000 private vehicles, along with 30,000 commercial trucks, rumble past more than 150 established U.S. border sites with Canada and Mexico, according to Customs data.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, travelers and truckers have been answering many more questions about themselves and their plans. Some returning Americans have been asked to show a photo ID.
In the Detroit area, Canadian nurses and others who commute to Michigan hospitals were delayed up to six hours. Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer said at least 150 more immigration agents are needed at the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
NEW YORK -- Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, reconsidering his position that the mayoral election should go on without him, thinks that New Yorkers should be able to decide who leads the city out of these troubled times, even if it includes an extension of his term, people close to the mayor said on Sunday night, the New York Times reported.
While Giuliani is barred from serving another consecutive term under the city's term-limits law, he has rebuffed questions about his view of the matter in recent days. He is expected to address the issue directly as early as today, less than 24 hours before voters are to go to the polls in the rescheduled mayoral primary.
Since the Sept. 11 attack, many New Yorkers have called for extending the mayor's term in spite of the law. Such an extension could require the approval of the state Legislature and the City Council.
NEW YORK -- The number of people thought missing in the rubble of the World Trade Center increased to 6,453 on Sunday as rescue workers continued sifting through still smoldering debris and uncovered a 10-foot piece of jetliner fuselage.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani explained the increase in the missing, up from 6,333 on Saturday, as a result of list revisions.
The mayor's spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, said the number is subject to fluctuation as officials review missing persons lists.
DENVER -- United Airlines has suspended a one-day flight simulation program following the terrorist attacks.
United's Pilot-for-a-Day program allowed anyone, including nonpilots, to train on a Boeing 757-767 flight simulator for two hours at a cost of $1,750.
The FBI said it had not found evidence that the terrorists trained at the center.
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has asked Congress for authority to waive all existing restrictions on U.S. military assistance and weapons exports for the next five years to any country if he determines the aid will help the fight against terrorism.
The waiver would cover those nations currently ineligible for U.S. military aid because of their sponsorship of terrorism, such as Syria and Iran, or because of their nuclear and offensive weapons programs or lack of commitment to democracy, which would include Pakistan and China.
WASHINGTON -- Democratic leaders of the House and Senate said on Sunday that they favored a federal takeover of airport security, and the Republican leaders raised no objection.
"We have to work out who pays for what part of it," said House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt. "But I think we must convince the American people very quickly that it's safe to . . . fly as we did before Sept. 11, and I think the federal government has the central responsibility to do that," he said.
He joined Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott on NBC's Meet the Press.