CAMPUS AU Hillel head named to national board
The national Hillel named Rita Simon, president of AU's Hillel governing board, as the organization's Exemplar of Excellence March 23. Simon, one of three existing University Professors, said she received the Exemplar honor because of her work to improve AU's Hillel.
A small group of Hillel members just returned from a trip to Moscow, which Simon cited as one of the ways in which she worked to improve the organization. Ten AU students had the opportunity to meet Russian Jews and learn about the culture and religion in that part of the world, Simon said. -RACHEL TRAINER
METRO Capitol police overlook explosives 2 blocks away
U.S. Capitol Police are trying to figure out how their bomb squad could have overlooked an explosive device that remained undetected for three weeks behind the front seat of a pickup truck two blocks from the U.S. Capitol Building, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
The vehicle had been sitting in a government parking lot after Capitol Police seized it in February. Michael S. Gorbey, the vehicle's driver, has already faced charges for carrying a loaded shotgun near the Capitol Building, and now faces charges of trying to possess or make a weapon of mass destruction, according to The Post.
Police discovered the device during a second search of the vehicle, The Post reported. Court documents identified the homemade bomb as a can of gunpowder duct-taped to a box of shotgun shells and a bottle filled with buckshot or BB pellets. -CHRISTOPHER COTTRELL
NATIONAL Former Democratic candidate Gravel joins Libertarians
Former Alaska Sen. and Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel has switched his political allegiance to the Libertarian Party, The Associated Press reported yesterday.
Gravel said in a party press release he decided to leave the Democrats because party elites did not tolerate his Libertarian views.
Libertarian Party Executive Director Shane Cory said in the press release that it was an honor to see a former senator join his party's ranks. He also said Gravel has a "sincere dedication" to "eliminating the corrupting influence of the two major parties."
Gravel is not the first congressman to abandon his first party of choice for the Libertarians. In 2006, former Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., citing a fundamental need for systemic political change, left the Republican Party.
Gravel, who announced his candidacy in April 2006, will now seek the presidential nomination on the Libertarian ticket, according to the AP. -C.C.
INTERNATIONAL ROBBER pre-ordered money before store HEIST
Ontario police arrested Monday a convenience store robber who had called ahead and demanded that the money be waiting for him outside, Canadian newspaper The Windsor Star reported Tuesday.
Daniel Glen, 40, first called the store's cashier to determine how much money was in the cash register before arriving unmasked and armed with only a steak knife, according to the Star. "They're pretty unusual," Detective Al Thompson told the Star. "There was a verbal confrontation on the phone. Not quite an hour and a half later he came in and robbed the place."
The perpetrator retrieved the money from the curb shortly before he was arrested by police, who watched the scene unfold from across the street.
Detectives said it was the third such robbery in a week where the loot has been demanded beforehand by phone, the Star reported. -C.C.
