|
National: Americans
will need passports to return from Mexico, Canada By Michael
Doyle and Emily Bazar - Americans returning home from Mexico
and Canada will have to start presenting passports or their equivalent
starting in 2008, the Bush administration declared Tuesday.
The crackdown along borders
that have long cultivated openness could complicate casual tourism
and heavy commerce alike, officials acknowledge. In the wake
of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress and the White
House have been emphasizing security over convenience.
"We recognize the implications
this might have for industry, business and the general public,"
Assistant Secretary of State Maura Harty conceded Tuesday.
But Harty, who oversees consular
affairs, added "the overarching need is to implement this
. . . in a way that strengthens security while facilitating the
movement of persons and goods." -
More...
Wednesday - April 06, 2005
National: 1
in 4 ballots from soldiers, overseas voters uncounted By
Lisa Hoffman - The votes of at least 1 in 4 U.S. soldiers and
overseas voters in last fall's election never were counted.
That's the conclusion of a
recent report by the National Defense Committee, a private, pro-military
organization that surveyed local election offices across the
country about the number of absentee votes cast and counted in
the Nov. 3 election.
In all, more than 30,000 of
the 131,000 absentee ballots sent by troops and expatriates to
760 local elections offices around the country were not counted,
the report found. Those offices represent about 10 percent of
the 7,800 offices nationwide. - More...
Wednesday - April 06, 2005
Commentary
Dale McFeatters:
Don't make travel tougher - he departments of State and Homeland
Security are mulling a plan to require Americans returning from
Canada, Mexico and certain other countries where travel has traditionally
required a minimum of paperwork to show a U.S. passport to get
back into the country.
As of now, all that is required
is a government-issued photo ID like a driver's license.
The reasons given are increased
security and a reduction in the traffic in stolen and forged
driver's licenses. The security threat is not an idle one. Still
vivid in the authorities' memory is the December 1999 arrest
of an Algerian crossing into the state of Washington from Canada
with a carload of explosives intended for millennium terror bombings.
- More...
Wednesday - April 06, 2005
|
Ketchikan: