Man suspected of planting bombs
A federal arrest warrant was issued Saturday for a man suspected of planting explosive devices at the homes of his former co-workers at an aviation company, and police said they believe whoever made the bombs is responsible for similar devices found in other states in recent months.
Robert L. Burke, 54, is suspected of placing five explosive devices at Grand Junction, Colo.-area homes of Serco Group Pcl. employees and an FAA employee Friday. Three of the bombs went off, causing some slight property damage but no injuries, and two were disarmed.
The devices were similar to some found in other states, Grand Junction police spokeswoman Linda Bowman said. Those bombs also did not hurt anyone, she said.
Burke remained at large Saturday. Police said he may be driving an extended maroon 1999 Chevrolet Astro van with Colorado license plate 794CYB, and that he may be calling himself Robert L. Pope.
Trenton, N.J.
Candidate loses party support
Democrats pulled an Arab-American candidate from their election ticket on Saturday amid a furor over comments he made four years ago that some interpreted as sympathetic to Palestinian suicide bombers.
At the urging of state party leaders, including Gov. Jon S. Corzine and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, Passaic County Democrats withdrew its endorsement of Sami Merhi for freeholder, a member of the county’s legislative body. They chose a school board member to run in his place.
“I’m in shock, feeling betrayed,” Merhi said. “They should be ashamed of themselves.”
The Lebanese-born Merhi made the comments at a September 2002 Democratic fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, where he condemned the Sept. 11 terrorists “as cold-blooded murders” and “crazy fanatics.”
When asked whether he would apply the same label to Palestinian suicide bombers who target Israelis, Merhi said, “I can’t see the comparison.”
Chicago
Two near-collisions at O’Hare probed
Two federal agencies plan to investigate how commercial planes nearly collided twice in two days on runways at O’Hare International Airport.
Pilots aborted takeoffs on Tuesday and Thursday to avoid colliding with other aircraft, the Federal Aviation Administration said. No one was injured.
“Both incidents look to be air traffic controller errors,” said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which typically responds to fatal accidents, also will investigate.
On Tuesday, two planes were mistakenly instructed to take off at the same time on crisscrossing runways. On Thursday, one plane was sent to taxi across a runway where another plane had already started its take-off roll.