Schumer proposes "no ride" list for trains, too many chiefs in Colonie?, Pastor Charlie's church expanding, the new Tulip Queen
Chuck Schumer is proposing a "no ride" list for train travel in the country (you know, like the "no fly" list for air travel). Evidence from Osama Bin Laden's compound had pointed toward Al Qaeda thinking about targeting US trains. Schumer says Amtrak carried 28.7 million passengers in 2010. [NYDN] [LAT] [NY Post]
There's a rally for same-sex marriage today at the state Capitol, with lieutenant governor Bob Duffy, Miss New York Claire Buffie and a bunch of other officials scheduled to appear. [State of Politics]
The Town of Colonie has 12 fire districts; more fire department vehicles than Albany, Schenectady and Troy combined; and it's all-volunteer districts spend more than Schenectady's professional fire department. [TU]
After sensor reported a sudden drop in pressure on the dam that holds back the Great Sacandaga Reservoir, officials say a faulty reading may to be blame -- not impending disaster. The reading had prompted a reverse-911 call to nearby residents warning of a "potentially hazardous situation." [Post-Star] [YNN]
Gary's McCarthy's dual role as acting Schenectady mayor and city council president is posing a checks-and-balances challenge. [Daily Gazette]
Pastor Charlie Muller is expanding his church to a second location in Colonie, with plans for a coffee house, discount store and smoothie truck. [YNN] [VCC] [TU]
Opening arguments are scheduled to begin today in the trial of Michael Mosely, the Averill Park man accused of killing Samuel Holley and Arica Lynn Schneider in Troy in 2002. [Fox23]
Schenectady had been hit with a rash of tagging. [Daily Gazette]
Shaker High School will be using passive alcohol sensors at its prom. [Troy Record]
One of the Michael Vick pit bulls lives in Slingerlands. [TU]
A pack of dogs ran around the Northway near Exit 10 Sunday morning. [TU]
Karen Colehour of Colonie was named this year's Tulip Queen. Juliann Urbanski of Stillwater was named Mother of the Year. [TU] [Troy Record]
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Comments
> Schenectady had been hit with a rash of tagging. [Daily Gazette]
Now if only they could tag on that paywall :)
... said -S on May 9, 2011 at 10:47 AM | link
re: No Ride list.
It's about time. When you think about the vulnerability and low security of a form of transport that heads right into the heart of, say, NYC via Penn Station...you have to wonder why this is just now coming up.
... said James on May 9, 2011 at 1:21 PM | link
@James:
Why is this now coming up? Because it's impractical and useless.
The current system works* for air travel because there are a limited number of access points into the air travel system, and one person can do significantly much more damage to property and people.
Anyone who wants to do something untoward TO a train and is unfortunate enough to find themselves on such a list will do it from the tracks. Rail lines have zero security along them.
And anyone with who wanted to deliver a weapon to a city center VIA train would just choose to do it via commuter train (MetroNorth, LIRR, NJ Transit) instead.
So at an expense of literally hundreds of billions of dollars and billions of wasted person-hours we could put up fences around train tracks and security checkpoints at commuter rail and subway entrances, rendering them effectively so clogged that they'd be unusable.
Or for free we could just not worry about it. Let the federal, state, and local governments do their legitimate anti-terror and police work (intelligence, smart foreign policy, economic development, and smart community policing), and admit that yes, the world isn't 100% safe, but that's the price we pay for having the freedoms that we do.
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*It probably doesn't work, actually, based on how many gaps are in the TSA's current system. But since the American public has been indoctrinated to think that terrorism is a whole lot more prevalent than it actually is, for their purposes, the system "works".
... said tenner on May 9, 2011 at 2:05 PM | link
Why is this now coming up? Sounds like someone actually went to see Source Code.
... said poppinjaye on May 9, 2011 at 2:45 PM | link