Miami

FBI: Suspect ‘close’ to bombing clinics

A man arrested on suspicion of plotting to bomb abortion clinics came “perilously close to carrying out his plans” after casing clinics, studying bomb-making and buying material that could be used in an attack, according to the FBI and court documents.

Stephen John Jordi, 35, was arrested Tuesday after agents arranged a meeting aboard a boat, FBI spokeswoman Beverly Esselbach said. He jumped overboard and was pulled from the ocean by the Coast Guard a half-hour later.

A criminal complaint said Jordi cased several South Florida clinics and discussed bombing one in Macon, Ga.

On Tuesday, Jordi and an FBI source bought gasoline cans, flares, starter fluid and propane tanks.

The affidavit said Jordi had discussed with an FBI source possibly using C-4 plastic explosives, propane tank bombs or pipe bombs.

“He was perilously close to carrying out his plans,” Esselbach said.

Pennsylvania

Judge won’t reveal hazing decision

A judge decided Wednesday whether three teenage boys accused of sexually assaulting three younger teammates at an overnight football camp would be tried as adults or juveniles, but ordered the decision sealed.

The outraged reaction outside the courthouse from relatives of the alleged victims suggested the judge decided against trying the three students from Mepham High School in Bellmore, N.Y., as adults.

Wayne County Dist. Atty. Mark Zimmer said the judge ordered him not to disclose the ruling under penalty of contempt. He declined further comment.

The three Long Island students had been charged with numerous felonies for allegedly sodomizing younger teammates with broomsticks, pine cones and golf balls during a weeklong summer training camp in August in Preston Park, about 125 miles north of Philadelphia.

New York

Study: Pain affects productivity at work

A new study says one in eight working Americans suffers from pain conditions that reduce productivity at work in any given two-week period and cost an estimated $61.2 billion a year in absenteeism and reduced performance in the workplace.

The study claims to be the first to capture time lost at work in addition to time off, and it concludes the vast majority of lost productive time is due to reduced performance at work — often called presenteeism — rather than absenteeism. Presenteeism due to pain accounts for an estimated $46.9 billion of the cost, four times more than the $14.3 billion cost of absenteeism, the study found.

The research, reported in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Assn., looked at common pain conditions: headache, back pain, arthritis and other musculoskeletal pain.

Headaches affected the greatest number of workers, 5.4 percent, followed by back pain, at 3.2 percent.