anthrax (Page 10)

Governor George Pataki?s midtown Manhattan office has tested positive for anthrax. No workers are currently known to have been exposed. About 80 employees were evacuated, but other offices in the building remain open.

The governor?s Manhattan offices, on the 38th and 39th floors of 633 Third Avenue between 40th and 41st streets, have been closed for further testing and decontamination. Pataki?s main offices are in the state capital of Albany.

?I feel fine,? Pataki says. ?I feel great.?
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The FBI domestic terrorism unit is investigating the possible role of illegal militia groups in the anthrax outbreaks in Florida and New York.

Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber who killed 168 people when he blew up a federal building in 1995, belonged to a militia, the National Alliance.

Other groups have threatened to use biological weapons, including anthrax, botulism, and ricin, in their struggle against what they see as the global conspiracy of the ?New World Order.?
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Despite the fact that it was believed a few days ago that Ernesto Blanca, the 73-year old American Media employee who was exposed to anthrax, had been safely placed on antibiotics, he has been diagnosed with the pulmonary form of the disease.

Pulmonary anthrax is an extremely serious illness, with a high fatality rate. Bob Stevens, the 63-year old American Media employee who first contracted the pulmonary form of the disease, has died.

Opinion: this is another surprise in this fast-developing story. It is important that Americans remain calm but vigilant during this crisis. There is no point in wasting the authorities’ time unnecessarily, but there are unexpected events taking place now, and that fact must be taken into consideration.
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The FBI is looking into a recent break-in at a construction site in California, where thieves stole several map books that describe the water supply for 22 Bay Area cities, including Oakland and Berkeley, along with a tool used to open water valves, according to Charles Hardy, spokesman for the East Bay Municipal Utility District.

Since September 11, there have been many construction-related thefts, and Hardy does not want to dismiss this as a simple construction-site crime. Although it was the first time that maps of the district have been stolen, the maps are in the public records. ?We don?t want to alarm anyone,? he says, ?nor make them think that the district has been compromised by this theft, because it hasn?t.?
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