NORTHEAST

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS CIA TO TURN OVER PRISONER RECORDS TO ACLU

A federal judge in New York yesterday ordered the CIA to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and turn over to watchdog groups records concerning the treatment of prisoners in Iraq. The spy agency also was given the option of explaining better why it cannot release the documents.

“Congress has set the laws, and it is the duty of executive agencies to comply with them,” U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote. It was the second time in six months that the judge suggested the government was impeding the American Civil Liberties Union’s quest to monitor government actions in the war on terrorism.

The ACLU filed its lawsuit in October 2003 seeking information on treatment of detainees in American custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The group is seeking the records to show that prisoner abuse by America is “not aberrational but systemic.”

The CIA had claimed a provision in the Freedom of Information Act law allowed it to retain files pertaining to national security issues or state secrets.

The judge said the CIA did not follow proper procedure to claim that exception, which requires a declaration by the CIA director.

ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer said he was interested in the CIA’s documents because there have been credible allegations about the agency’s role in the abuse and torture of detainees.

– Associated Press

JET SKIDS OFF RUNWAY AND ACROSS BUSY HIGHWAY

TETERBORO, N.J. – A corporate jet skidded off a runway yesterday on takeoff and hurtled across a six lane highway during the morning rush hour, smashing into two cars and punching through the wall of a warehouse. About 20 people were taken to the hospital, including two injured in their cars.

Crew members and passengers walked or crawled from the burning wreckage after the crash at Teterboro Airport, a small airport about 12 miles from midtown Manhattan that caters to executive jets. “I think everybody at this point is extremely lucky and fortunate,” said acting Governor Codey.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The Bombardier Challenger CL-600 was carrying investment bankers from several companies to Chicago, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said. He had no other details.

All 11 people on the plane were taken to the hospital; the most seriously hurt among them was one of the pilots, who had a broken leg. One of those injured in a car was in critical condition. Five firefighters were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, and a man in the warehouse was also hurt.

FAA spokesman Greg Martin said communication between air traffic control and the aircraft was routine before the crash. The weather was clear and wind was calm, with the temperature around 20 degrees.

– Associated Press

GROUNDHOG PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL’S PREDICTION: MORE WINTER TO COME

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. – Punxsutawney Phil has spoken, and the news isn’t good. The world’s most famous furry forecaster saw his shadow yesterday on Gobbler’s Knob, suggesting another six weeks of wintry weather.

The chubby critter delivered the prediction after he was pulled from his burrow in an oak stump at 7:31 a.m. by a top-hatted handler, and his prediction was greeted by boos from the thousands in attendance.

“He’s only the messenger!” one of the members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club – the volunteer group in charge of Phil and the town’s Groundhog Day festivities – reminded the crowd braving the frigid weather.

In the years since The Punxsutawney Spirit first carried word of the groundhog’s failure to see its shadow in 1886, this town of 7,500 people about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh has been dubbed the “Weather Capital of the World.”

The tradition stems from the Christian holiday of Candlemas, and the belief that if a hibernating animal sees its shadow, winter will last another six weeks. If there’s no shadow, spring will come early.

– Associated Press