Bill Seeks FBI Checks for Power Plant Workers

A legal loophole that allows workers hired at most power plants to avoid FBI background checks would be closed under legislation announced by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.

Schumer, D-N.Y., cited a recent Department of Homeland Security report that found disgruntled former employees have sensitive inside information that could be sought by terrorists. The report also said current employees have been solicited by unidentified outsiders.

In fall 2010, al-Qaeda urged recruits to take jobs in potential terrorist targets, such as power plants, where they could inflict significant damage and chaos quickly and easily, the federal report said. Nuclear plant workers are already required to submit to a thorough background check. Schumer's bill would require power plant workers to undergo an FBI criminal history check that includes analyzing fingerprints.

BART takes heat for cutting cell service

The ACLU said it will challenge San Francisco transit officials at a meeting today for BART's decision to cut off cellphone service at some stations to thwart a planned protest.

Bay Area Rapid Transit Deputy Police Chief Benson Fairow said power was shut down Thursday evening to cellular towers for stations stretching from downtown to the San Francisco's airport after learning protesters planned to use mobile devices to coordinate its demonstration.

In response, the hacker group Anonymous broke into BART's website Sunday and posted contact information for more than 2,000 subscribers. The hackers got the information from a database of subscribers who receive alerts from the agency, BART spokesman Jim Allison said.

Beef recall targets southeastern U.S.

At least three major grocery store chains are recalling certain packages of ground beef because of possible E. coli contamination.

The recalls at Winn-Dixie Stores, Publix Super Markets and Kroger mainly in the southeastern U.S. stem from meat from National Beef Packaging of Dodge City, Kan. The Agriculture Department announced Friday that National Beef was recalling more than 60,000 pounds of beef after the Ohio Department of Agriculture found the bacteria. The recalls affect products sold mainly in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee, but the meat could have been distributed nationwide.

Blimp goes missing for seven hours

A blimp at an Ohio airport broke free from its moorings in high winds, crashing less than 2 miles away in a 94-year-old woman's backyard.

Lillian Bernhagen said she had no idea the battered blimp had covered her picnic table and most of her yard until police arrived seven hours later. The 128-foot-long blimp broke free from Ohio State University's Don Scott Airfield with no one aboard. The Federal Aviation Administration tried to locate it via radar, and its owners searched from the ground, said a state police spokesman, Lt. Rudy Zupanc. He said storms hindered the search.

"It really is quite an occasion to have a blimp land in your yard," Bernhagen said.

Also

MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Gert strengthened in the Atlantic Ocean and was heading for Bermuda but was projected to remain well away from the U.S. coast, the National Hurricane Center said.

ANCHORAGE -- A small plane carrying all three teachers for the remote Alaska village of Anvik crashed in wilderness terrain, killing the pilot and one of the teachers, said Karen Ladegard of the Iditarod School District. The other two teachers and their two children survived.