WEST

DOCUMENTS SUGGEST FBI CASTING OVERLY BROAD NET

DENVER – The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources gathering information on anti-war and environmental protesters, and activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless, the agency’s internal memos show.

For years, the FBI’s definition of terrorism has included violence against property, such as the window smashing during the 1999 Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization. Those activities have led the FBI to investigate the online chat rooms, organizing meetings and demonstrations of a wide range of activist groups. Officials say that international terrorists pose the greatest threat to the nation, but they cannot ignore crimes committed by some activists.

“It’s one thing to express an idea or such, but when you commit acts of violence in support of that activity, that’s where our interest comes in,” an FBI spokesman in Washington, Bill Carter, said.

He stressed that the agency targets individuals who commit crimes and does not single out groups for ideological reasons. He cited the recent arrest of environmental activists accused of firebombing an unfinished ski resort in Vail, Colo. “People can get hurt,” Mr. Carter said. “Businesses can be ruined.”

– Los Angeles Times

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUE RETURNS TO COURT

SAN FRANCISCO – Each time the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on medical marijuana, the justices have come down against allowing the sick and dying to use the drug to ease their symptoms and possibly prolong life. But the door has never been fully closed.

The case to be argued today before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco narrows the matter to the so-called right to life theory: that marijuana should be allowed if it is the only viable option to keep a patient alive or free of excruciating pain.

It would apply only to the sickest patients and their suppliers, regardless of whether they live in one of the 11 mostly Western states authorizing medical marijuana. The case was brought by Angel Raich, a 40-year-old mother from Oakland who suffers from scoliosis, a brain tumor, nausea and other ailments. She uses marijuana every couple of hours to ease her pain and bolster a nonexistent appetite.

– Associated Press

NATIONWIDE

DELTA TO RESUME FLIGHTS TO ISRAEL

Delta Air Lines will resume flights between America and Israel “within a year,” according to a Reuters report. It announced yesterday it would start with nonstop flights between Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and Tel Aviv before adding the New York to Tel Aviv route, in December at the earliest, though perhaps not until early 2007.

The number of passengers to Israel will also rise when this week Germany’s Lufthansa starts using larger aircraft on its Frankfurt-Tel Aviv route.

– Special to the Sun

SOUTH

ROOKIE DRIVER DIES AFTER CRASH DURING WARMUP FOR IRL RACE

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Paul Dana was an up-and-coming rookie driver living his dream, a former motorsports journalist who was hours away yesterday from beginning his most promising season yet.

Then, before the green flag flew, something went terribly, inexplicably wrong.

While streaking around the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval during a warmup session, Dana failed to notice that another car had spun to a stop, slamming into it at close to 200 mph. Two hours after his shattered car came to a rest, the 30-year-old Dana was pronounced dead at a hospital.

– Associated Press