WTC Staff Charged With Cheating Red Cross
— -- A dozen people who claimed they needed help because of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks have been charged with stealing money from the American Red Cross, and the government has implemented a rule that would allow prisons to monitor phone calls and mail between inmates and their lawyers.
12 N.Y. Port Workers Charged With Cheating Red Cross
N E W Y O R K, Nov. 9 — A dozen people who claimed they needed help because of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks were charged with stealing money from the American Red Cross.
The employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey received a total of about $14,000 in emergency cash or checks for things like groceries, transportation or rent, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.
The employees, who worked at the Port Authority's cafeteria at the trade center, all escaped safely Sept. 11.
Morgenthau said the defendants went to a Red Cross disaster center and said they were left unemployed by the attacks and needed financial help.
The workers never lost any pay and were still employed by the Port Authority, Morgenthau said.
The 12 have been suspended from their jobs.
—The Associated Press
Cops Can Tap Inmate-Lawyer Conversations
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 9 — The government has implemented a rule that would allow prisons to monitor phone calls and mail between inmates and their lawyers.
The rule published last month in the Federal Register says the monitoring can take place when the attorney general concludes there is "reasonable suspicion" that the communications are designed to further terrorist acts.
The rule says it had to be implemented without public comment to make sure the Justice Department could respond to threats to national security.
The American Civil Liberties Union is criticizing the change.
ACLU Director Laura Murphy says the proposal is "a terrifying nightmare" for innocent people.
Lawyers also have trouble with it.
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