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.

SOUTH
ARMY AMMO PLANT EXPLODES IN TENNESSEE
MILAN, Tenn. – A thunderous explosion tore through a storage building at an Army ammunition plant yesterday, causing at least one serious injury and creating a blast that could be heard for miles. Two people were reported missing.
Mayor George Killebrew said one person was airlifted to a hospital, while authorities searched for two others caught in the explosion at the Milan Army Ammunition plant. The cause was not immediately determined, but FBI agent George Bolds had been told by authorities that the blast appeared to be an accident.
“As far as we know, they were moving some barrels of some sort of volatile material and one of the barrels flashed,” Mr. Bolds said.
Mr. Killebrew said the storage building housed ammunition and was located in an isolated area of the plant. Three to four people typically work there at a time, he said.
The plant, established during World War II, makes medium-caliber ammunition for the Army and employs about 600 workers. Milan, a town of about 7,500 people, is about 90 miles northeast of Memphis.
– Associated Press
WASHINGTON
IMPLANTABLE CHIP PROVIDES MEDICAL INFORMATION, PRIVACY WORRIES
Medical milestone or privacy invasion? A tiny computer chip approved yesterday for implantation in a patient’s arm can speed vital information about a patient’s medical history to doctors and hospitals. But critics warn that it could open new ways to imperil the confidentiality of medical records.
The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla., could market the VeriChip, an implantable computer chip about the size of a grain of rice, for medical purposes.
With the pinch of a syringe, the microchip is inserted under the skin in a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and leaves no stitches. Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code that releases patient-specific information when a scanner passes over it.
The VeriChip itself contains no medical records, just codes that can be scanned, and revealed, in a doctor’s office or hospital. With that code, the health providers can unlock that portion of a secure database that holds that person’s medical information, including allergies and prior treatment. The electronic database, not the chip, would be updated with each medical visit.
The microchips have already been implanted in 1 million pets. But the chip’s possible dual use for tracking people’s movements – as well as speeding delivery of their medical information to emergency rooms – has raised alarm.
To protect patient privacy, the devices should reveal only vital medical information, like blood type and allergic reactions, needed for health care workers to do their jobs, said Emily Stewart, a policy analyst at the Health Privacy Project.
– Associated Press
JUDGE HOLDS SECOND REPORTER IN CONTEMPT
A second reporter was held in contempt yesterday by a federal judge for refusing to reveal confidential sources before a grand jury investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer’s identity.
U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan ordered Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper jailed for up to 18 months and the magazine fined $1,000 a day for refusing to comply with a grand jury subpoena seeking the testimony. Judge Hogan suspended the jail time and fine pending the outcome of an appeal.
The ruling was nearly identical to one issued last week by Judge Hogan in the case of Judith Miller, a reporter for The New York Times who is also refusing to name her sources. Ms. Miller and Mr. Cooper, both represented by lawyer Floyd Abrams, are expected to join together in appealing their cases on First Amendment grounds.
– Associated Press
REPORT FINDS LAVISH SPENDING AT TSA
The government agency in charge of airport security spent nearly a half-million dollars on an awards ceremony at a lavish hotel, including $81,000 for plaques and $500 for cheese displays, according to an internal report obtained by the Associated Press.
Awards were presented to 543 Transportation Security Administration employees and 30 organizations, including a “lifetime achievement award” for one worker with the 2-year-old agency. Almost $200,000 was spent on travel and lodging for attendees.
The investigation by the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general, Clark Kent Ervin, also found the TSA gave its senior executives bonuses averaging $16,000,higher than at any other federal government agency, and failed to provide adequate justification in more than a third of the 88 cases examined.
The report said lower-level employees were shortchanged, with a far lower percentage receiving bonuses.
A TSA spokeswoman, Amy von Walter, said the agency believes the bonuses and party were justified “given the hours and productivity of the work force during this critical period.”
– Associated Press