National Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

NORTHWEST
FBI: WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES EYED FOR POSSIBLE ATTACK
SEATTLE – Federal authorities believe Washington State’s ferry system has been under surveillance and could be a possible target for a terrorist attack, the Seattle Times reported yesterday. An FBI assessment determined that 19 suspicious incidents reported by law enforcement officers, ferry workers, and passengers since the September 11, 2001, attacks were highly likely or extremely likely to involve terrorist surveillance, the Times reported.
“We may well be the target of preoperational terrorist planning,” said U.S. Attorney John McKay. Mr. McKay and other security officials said the assessment helped prompt new security requirements that began Saturday on the Washington ferries, the nation’s largest ferry system.
Suspicious incidents included individuals asking questions about ferry operations or taking photos of stairwells, car decks, and workers, according to a document obtained by the Times.
A man who is a subject of an FBI terrorism investigation allegedly was involved in three incidents: one two days after the 2001 attacks in which he allegedly videotaped an oil refinery, a bridge and Navy flight operations; another involving the videotaping of a ferry’s car deck in September 2003; and a third the following day in which a ferry was videotaped as it was loaded and unloaded.
Seattle FBI special agent in charge, Patrick Adams, said he does not think the man poses “an immediate threat to anyone here in the Seattle area.”
The chief of security for Washington State Ferries, Edmund Kiley, said security is better than in past years. Thousands of cars are screened daily by explosives-detecting dogs, Mr. Kiley said, and more Washington State Patrol troopers are present.
– Associated Press
NORTHEAST
BOSTON’S JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS GET $45M GIFT
Raising the quality of Jewish day school education is the focus of a $45 million donation announced yesterday in Boston.
The gift by an anonymous group of local families calls for the area’s three largest day schools, representing three strains of Judaism, to receive $10 million each over a five-year period: the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston (Conservative), The Rashi School (Reform), and Maimonides School (Orthodox).
Boston’s Jewish Federation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, will administer the gift, which carries the stipulation that it only be spent on education and operations. The remaining $15 million is earmarked for scholarships and educational programs at all of Boston’s day schools.
“A gift of this size used to go to Harvard or Exeter. Now someone has chosen to invest in Jewish day schools at this level. This is really a major step. It’s sending a message that Jewish day schools are a good philanthropic investment,” said the director of development at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, Helen Kadish.
The gift also “positions the schools on a playing field where they can compete even more effectively with the very best public, and the very best private schools,” said the executive director of the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education, Rabbi Joshua Elkin.
The gift is part of a new funding trend emphasizing quality over affordability. With this goal in mind, this summer the Fund for Jewish Excellence in New York ended its enrollment-based grants to area day schools in favor of expanding its teacher benefits.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
SOUTH
MATTHEW WEAKENS, SPARKS FLOODING IN LOUISIANA
NEW ORLEANS – Tropical Storm Matthew, the 13th named storm of the 2004 hurricane season, weakened yesterday after moving into southern Louisiana, causing scattered flooding as heavy rain drenched the area.
Elsewhere, the 14th named storm, a “subtropical” system named Nicole, blew gusty wind across Bermuda.
A tropical storm warning along the Gulf of Mexico from the Alabama-Florida state line westward to Intracoastal City, La., was discontinued when the storm weakened to a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center said in Miami.
Steady rain flooded streets and homes in southeastern Louisiana. No injuries were reported.
A canal levee was breached in Terrebonne Parish, flooding about a dozen homes, said Mart Black, spokesman for the parish’s emergency operations center. “We’ve got some trees across roads, but things are relatively calm right now,” he said.
Officials patrolled flooded streets and blocked motorists from driving into lower St. Bernard Parish southeast of New Orleans, where up to 2 feet of water filled the roads, said Larry J. Ingargiola, parish emergency chief.
“If this wind keeps up, it’ll top 2 feet,” he said. The hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.
– Associated Press
WEST
CASINO EXECUTIVE’S SLAYING TO BE RETRIED
LAS VEGAS – Even in this city of sin, the tawdry trial of a former stripper and her secret lover accused of murdering a former casino executive for a treasure of buried silver was a decadent distraction until guilty verdicts brought the case to a close in May 2000.
Now the sensational case of sex, lies, and murder is back as a new trial starts today, set in motion by a Nevada Supreme Court decision that overturned the convictions of Sandy Murphy and former contractor Rick Tabish in the death of Ted Binion, a mob-connected heroin addict and millionaire.
Binion’s family owned the famed downtown Binion’s Horseshoe Hotel & Casino, but he lost his gaming license over allegations of drug use and ties to a mob figure. He fell for the much-younger Ms. Murphy when he spotted her at a local strip club. She lived with him until September 1998, when police were called to Binion’s Las Vegas home and found the 55-year-old’s body next to a bottle of antidepressants. An autopsy showed he had lethal levels of Xanax and heroin in his system.
Ms. Murphy, now 32, maintains Binion’s death was an accidental overdose.
Police say it was a calculated killing orchestrated with the help of Mr. Tabish, a 39-year-old contractor from Missoula, Mont., who was a friend of Binion – and Ms. Murphy’s lover. Prosecutors say the motive was a piece of Binion’s $55 million estate and a cache of more than $5 million in silver bars and coins.
– Associated Press