Virginia

Booby-trapped letters to governors stopped

Letters rigged to ignite when opened and bound for the governor’s offices in Virginia and West Virginia were intercepted Monday, officials said. Governor’s offices in at least 16 other states got similar letters last week.

The letter that arrived in Richmond never threatened Gov. Mark R. Warner, said Bill Leighty, the governor’s chief of staff. The letter to West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, addressed to “WVA Governor,” made it to his office before it was intercepted by a staffer, Wise said.

Like the letters received last week, both bore a return address from Nevada’s maximum-security Ely State Prison.

Letters were sent to governors’ offices last week in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming. In addition to the governors, Nevada’s corrections director received a booby-trapped letter.

Washington, D.C.

Power-window safety on vehicles addressed

In an effort to prevent child deaths, the government is requiring automakers to install safer switches on power windows by 2008.

Officials of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced the new requirement Monday in Columbus, Ohio, with Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, who pushed for the change. The regulation will help prevent a child’s head or limb from being caught in a power window, said NHTSA Chief Dr. Jeffrey Runge.

The rule will outlaw toggle switches, which rock back and forth, in all vehicles sold in the United States by Oct. 1, 2008.

NHTSA found that approximately two children die every three years because they hit a power window switch with their arms or legs and accidentally strangle themselves. Kids and Cars, a Kansas-based advocacy group, estimates power window switches have killed at least 23 children since 1993.

Washington, D.C.

Implanted lens OK’d for nearsightedness

The first implantable lens for nearsightedness was approved Monday by the Food and Drug Administration.

A surgeon slips the lens through a small incision and implants it in front of the natural lens. Like a photographer swiveling a camera lens into focus, the tiny hard plastic lens works behind the scenes to help the eye create in-focus images.

An estimated 53 percent of Americans use contact lenses or eyeglasses to correct their vision.

The lens implant is designed to provide an alternative to glasses, contact lenses or Lasik surgery for people who have trouble seeing distant objects. The lens is already in use in Europe.

London

‘Batman’ protester climbs palace wall

Batman invaded Buckingham Palace on Monday.

A 33-year-old man dressed as the caped crusader from Gotham City scaled an iron fence around the palace grounds and sprinted past guards, then ascended to a ledge next to the royal family’s second-floor balcony at the front of the palace.

He unfurled a banner that said, “Super Dads of Fathers 4 Justice Fighting for Your Right to See Your Kids,” and remained there for about five hours. A partner, dressed as Robin, was stopped by guards before he could reach the ledge. Both men were later arrested.

While the incursion was meant to be a colorful act of civil disobedience, palace security officials were not amused. The chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, John Stevens, said Hatch might have been shot if guards had not immediately determined he was not a terrorist.

Neither the queen nor any other royal family members were at the palace.