America responds notebook

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 6, 2001

False alarm rattles Treasure Coast

FORT PIERCE -- The National Weather Service center in Melbourne erroneously sent out a civil emergency warning in three counties, upsetting viewers on the state's Treasure Coast who feared it might be related to terrorism.

The warning for Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties appeared as a crawl on the bottom of the television screens in the area, followed by a 20-second civil defense-type buzz.

Dennis Decker, warning coordination meteorologist for the Melbourne NWS, said the office was going through weekly drills when the false message went out Wednesday.

"It appears someone pushed the incorrect button and sent out the burst of information," Decker said. "Once it went out, we couldn't stop it."

Security matters . . .

COCKPIT DOORS: Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta ordered airlines Friday to strengthen their cockpit doors within 30 days. Several already have been doing so since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Mineta acted after formally releasing the recommendations of a task force investigating ways to improve airplane security.

INTELLIGENCE SPENDING: The House, eager to boost the nation's intelligence capabilities to prevent another terrorist attack, approved a 9 percent increase in spending Friday.

U.S. AIRPORTS: National Guard troops toting automatic rifles were posted Friday at some of the nation's busiest airports, including those in Miami, Los Angeles and Boston, the departure point for the two hijacked jetliners that brought down the World Trade Center.

EUROPEAN AIRPORTS: Secret tests a year ago found airport screeners in Europe were more than twice as good at catching weapons passing through X-ray machines as those in the United States, according to the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress.

Yet screeners in Europe are not government employees. Most work for the same private security companies as their U.S. colleagues.

PRIVATE AVIATION: Pilots will be able to move their private planes from the New York and Washington airports where they have been grounded since the terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday.

Odds and ends . . .

NATO EXPANSION: Declaring solidarity with the West in the war on terrorism, the leaders of 10 Eastern European and Baltic countries urged NATO on Friday to expand its military alliance and tighten security across the continent.

HELEN KELLER MEMENTOS: Letters and autographed photographs in the Helen Keller collection were lost in offices across the street from the collapsed World Trade Center towers.

Keller Johnson-Thompson, the great-great-niece of Keller, said the Helen Keller Worldwide offices were demolished in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Helen Keller Worldwide provides glasses and eye care services to the poor.

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