New York City

Police fear threat against Bush today

Authorities were searching Monday night for an upstate New York man and a car registered in his name after finding possible threats against President Bush in his home, police sources said.

A transmission over police radio Monday identified the man as Lawrence Ward, 55, and said a federal warrant had been issued for his arrest.

Bush is to visit New York today.

The search for Ward began after a man in a small town near Binghamton told local police that a neighbor, apparently Ward, had dropped off his keys, saying: “You can have these. I won’t be coming back,” police sources said.

Police searched the neighbor’s apartment and found written material, which could be construed as a threat against the president, the sources said.

Illinois

Security guard shot, killed at Capitol

A gunman walked into the state Capitol in Springfield and fatally shot an unarmed security guard Monday before stashing the weapon in the trunk of his car and driving away, authorities said.

The officer was killed with one gunshot to the chest, said Col. Larry Schmidt, chief deputy director of the Secretary of State Police. Authorities did not immediately know the motive for the attack.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich was not in the Capitol at the time, and the Legislature is not in session. The Capitol has no metal detectors, and its security guards are not armed.

Police say the shooter matched the description of a man who was involved in an apparent robbery attempt about an hour earlier at a military surplus store two miles away. The store owner recognized the man as the same person suspected of stealing a shotgun from the business a week earlier, authorities said.

South Carolina

Plutonium shipment to France protested

A shipment of weapons-grade plutonium has left the United States for a nuclear reactor in France, drawing protests from activists who believe the shipment poses both an environmental and terrorist threat.

Government officials confirmed the plutonium had left the United States aboard an armored ship escorted by second ship, but they would not say when the shipment departed, citing security concerns.

However, about 20 activists waved signs and banners Monday along the Charleston waterfront to protest what they said was the departing plutonium.

Once in France, the material is to be converted into nuclear fuel and returned next year for a test run in a commercial reactor. The U.S. Energy Department must ship the material overseas for conversion because there isn’t a plant in the United States that can do it.

Washington, D.C.

EPA study finds tainted water on planes

Water on some of the nation’s airplanes may not be fit for drinking or even hand-washing, a preliminary federal study found.

The water on more than 1 out of every 8 airplanes that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency randomly tested was tainted with fecal coliform — evidence, the government said, that human or animal waste is in the water.

Federal officials disclosed Monday that the coliform was found in water samples drawn from the rest rooms and kitchens of 20 airplanes tested between Aug. 3 and Sept. 9. In all, 158 airliners were tested.

On two of the planes, E. coli bacteria, which can cause serious intestinal illness, were found.

More than half the flights with tainted water originated overseas, pointing to a possible problem outside of U.S. environmental control, EPA officials said.

Washington, D.C.

Intelligence chief confirmation on track

The Republican congressman chosen by President Bush to head America’s battered intelligence community sailed through a final day of questioning Monday and appeared headed for quick confirmation this week by the full Senate.

If confirmed, Rep. Porter J. Goss, R-Fla., will become head of the CIA and director of central intelligence, which makes him the nominal chief of America’s 14 other spy agencies.

Both roles probably will change under intelligence reform proposals now under consideration on Capitol Hill. But Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., the committee chairman, told reporters after the hearing that Goss probably will remain the nation’s top intelligence official if Bush is re-elected.

Washington, D.C.

Reebok recalls shoes for toddlers

Reebok is voluntarily recalling 140,000 of its Allen Iverson toddler shoes because of a potential choking hazard, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Monday.

The commission said the logo tag on the tongue of the “Iverson/Answer” shoe can be peeled off, posing a risk to young children.

The mid-and low-style athletic shoes were sold in toddler sizes 2 through 10 at Reebok, children’s apparel and athletic shoe stores nationwide from March through August, the agency said. They cost about $35.