On the Home Front: Postal Fear and Face Scanners

— -- The Sept. 11 terror attacks had a profound impact on the United States, and the effects are still rippling across American society in large and small ways. Here is periodic a wrap-up of some of them.

Postal Union Boss Wants Facilities Closed, Threatens Suit

M I A M I, Oct. 26 —

A Miami postal union official is calling for the closure of postal facilities in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Washington until they can be tested for anthrax contamination and retrofitted with new safety equipment.

Judy Johnson is president of the American Postal Workers' Union Miami local. She says central mail-sorting facilities and postal buildings that service government offices, large businesses, media organizations, wealthy neighborhoods and Jewish communities should be shut down until tested.

The local union says it will file a federal lawsuit Monday, asking a judge to force local postal service officials to discuss the union's concerns and implement new safety procedures. Johnson says one technician from a Miami mail sorting facility has tested positive on an initial test for anthrax exposure, performed by his personal doctor.—The Associated Press

Boston's Airport to Test Face-Scanning Cameras

B O S T O N, Oct. 25 —

Logan Airport, where hijackers boarded the airliners that brought down the World Trade Center, will become one of the first airports in the nation to install controversial face-recognition technology.

Computers will scan the faces of travelers and others who pass through checkpoints, and compare them with the facial features of suspected terrorists in a law enforcement database.

The computers will be installed at two checkpoints within the next 45 days, Massachusetts Port Authority spokesman Jose Juves said today.

The technology is being used at Iceland's Keflavik Airport and Toronto's Pearson Airport, and the San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., airports also plan to install the system, The Boston Globe reported.