Nation digest 07/22/05

Feds find drug tunnel under U.S.-Canada border

LYNDEN, Wash. -- Federal agents have shut down an elaborate, 360-foot drug-smuggling tunnel underneath the U.S.-Canadian border -- the first such passageway discovered along the nation's northern edge, officials said Thursday. Five people were arrested on marijuana trafficking charges in this town about 90 miles north of Seattle. The tunnel runs from a hut on the Canadian side and ends under the living room of a home on the U.S. side.

Dozens of detainees at Gitmo on hunger strike

WASHINGTON -- Fifty-two prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have declared they are on a hunger strike, military officials said Thursday. They have refused at least nine meals over the last three days, officials said. The detainees refusing meals have been given intravenous hydration, Gatorade, water and the nutritional supplement Ensure, the statement said.

Appeals court orders sale of Unabomber's writings

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court Thursday ordered the government to sell Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski's writings and other materials seized in 1996 from his Montana cabin, and use the proceeds to help pay the $15 million in restitution Kaczyski's victims were awarded. Kaczynski, who pleaded guilty in 1998 to a nearly 20-year bombing spree that killed three people and wounded 23, wanted to donate his works to the University of Michigan. The U.S. government wanted to keep his writings.

Police to begin checking bags on NYC subways

NEW YORK -- Police will begin random searches of bags and packages carried by people entering city subways, officials announced Thursday. Passengers carrying bags will be selected at random before they pass through turnstiles, and those who refuse to be searched won't be allowed to ride. The measure drew complaints from civil liberties advocates in a city where an estimated 4.5 million passengers ride the subway on an average weekday.

Chicago mayor proposes hiring by outside panel

CHICAGO -- Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday proposed to turn city hiring over to an independent commission after federal investigators charged two city officials with illegally lining up jobs for people with political connections. The panel would set up its own procedures for testing, interviewing and hiring applicants, Daley said. The proposal is subject to city council approval. The two officials were charged Monday with fraud for their alleged role in a scheme in which interviews and scores were falsified.

CDC says levels of lead, other chemicals dropping

ATLANTA -- Americans have lower levels of lead, secondhand-smoke byproducts and other potentially dangerous substances in their bodies than they did a decade ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC took blood and urine samples from about 2,400 people in 2001 and 2002 and tested for 148 environmental chemicals, including metals, pesticides and disinfectants.

-- From wire reports