NORTHEAST

CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER KWEISI MFUME ANNOUNCES BID FOR U.S. SENATE

BALTIMORE – A former Naacp president, Kweisi Mfume, announced yesterday that he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2006. “It is with great pride and deep humility that I announce to you today my candidacy for the Senate of the United States,” Mr. Mfume said at a news conference in Baltimore. “I can’t be bought. I won’t be intimidated. I don’t know how to quit,” he said as his supporters applauded.

Mr. Mfume, who was a five-term U.S. congressman before becoming president of the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, issued the statement after incumbent Paul Sarbanes announced Friday that he will not run for re-election.

“This is step one in what will be an embarrassment of wealth for the Democratic Party in 2006,” said Derek Walker, spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party.

Mr. Mfume, 56, left the House in 1996 to take the Naacp post.

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

9/11 GROUP ELICITS SERVICES OF ‘SWIFT BOAT’ GROUP

A September 11 family group advocating for increased restrictions on driver’s licenses has tapped the creators of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth advertising campaign. The group, the Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License, contracted the advertising firm Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm to create a 60-second television spot. It will begin airing in the Washington, D.C., area today, with plans to come to other cities in coming weeks.

“With this advertising campaign, we are hoping to engage the minds, hearts, and voices of ordinary Americans who will join in our mission to close an alarming homeland security loophole that terrorists already have used to attack us,” said the coalition president, Amanda Bowman.

The September 11 commission recommended federal standards for the issuance of identity documents, including driver’s licenses, to prevent fraud. Last month the House passed the Real ID Act, which supporters say adopts those recommendations by creating national standards for driver’s licenses. The Senate is expected to consider a similar bill shortly.

Immigrant and religious groups are fighting the legislation, warning that a nationalized driver’s license goes well beyond the scope of the commission’s recommendations and ultimately will advance an anti-immigrant agenda, interfere with long-standing state prerogatives, and make the country less safe.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ANTHRAX DETECTED AT PENTAGON MAILROOMS

Sensors at two military mail facilities in the Washington area detected signs of anthrax on two pieces of mail yesterday, but Pentagon officials said the mail had already been irradiated, rendering any anthrax inert.

Officials weren’t sure if this was an attack. Additional tests and other sensors at the two facilities, one of them at the Pentagon and the other nearby, found no presence of the bacteria, which can be used as a biological weapon. There were no initial reports of illness. The Pentagon’s mail delivery site, which is separate from the main Pentagon building, was evacuated and shut down yesterday after sensors triggered an alarm around 10:30 a.m. EST, spokesman Glenn Flood said. It was expected to remain closed until at least today while the investigation continued.

It was not clear when sensors at the second Defense Department mailroom were triggered yesterday, and Pentagon officials only said a nearby satellite mail facility was closed. But firefighters in nearby Bailey’s Crossroads, Va., reported that a military mailroom had been shut down after a hazardous material was detected, and no one was allowed to leave that building.

– Associated Press

REPORT: MANY HOUSE MEMBERS CARRY BIG CREDIT CARD DEBTS

As the House sat poised to take up bankruptcy reform legislation, a newspaper says more than 40 congressmen reported having at least $10,000 in credit card debt in 2003.

The House member who topped the list of congressmen with the most credit card debt was Rep. Bobby Scott, a Democrat of Virginia, who reported between $80,000 and $175,000 in such debt, according to the survey of financial disclosure reports conducted by the Hill newspaper in Washington.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican of California, who reported between $75,000 and $250,000 of debt, and Rep. Gary Ackerman,a New York Democrat who reported carrying between $50,000 and $100,000 in credit card debt, came in second and third. Rep. Timothy Bishop, a Democrat of New York, reported between $25,000 and $60,000 in credit-card debt in 2003.

“Members aren’t that much different than regular Americans. Some run up high credit-card bills when they shouldn’t,” the legislative director at the Consumer Federation of America, Travis Plunkett, told the Hill.

The bankruptcy reform measure – passed by the Senate last week – would make it more difficult for Americans to file for bankruptcy and would enable credit card issuers, retailers, and other lenders to recover more of what is owed them.

About 51 million households carry an average balance of nearly $12,000 in credit card debt, according to cardweb.com. Ten percent of House members had similar debt, the Hill reported. Members are not required to disclose accounts with balances of less than $10,000.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun