Still No Suspect in NYC Explosion; FBI Investigating Minnesota Knife Attack as Possibly Terror-Related
Aftermath of the Chelsea neighborhood explosion Andres Kudacki / AP Photo
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Also in our State and Local Weekend Digest: Alabama and Georgia declare states of emergency after gasoline spill; PennDOT credits app with $11M savings; Illinois governor may veto Chicago mayor's pension plan
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
BOMBING | An explosion injuring 29 people, all since released, went off in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan Saturday evening leading to street closures. Authorities have said the explosion was intentional, possibly the result of a homemade dumpster bomb, but not seemingly tied to international terrorism. There is no suspect or evidence linking the explosion to a blast 11 hours earlier in Seaside Park, New Jersey, near a U.S. Marine Corps charity race course, which injured none because the event was delayed. But it is still early into the investigation. [The New York Times]
ST. CLOUD, MINNESOTA
KNIFE ATTACK | The FBI sees the Crossroads Center knife attack, in which nine people were injured by an attacker killed inside Macy’s by an off-duty police officer, as “a potential act of terrorism.” Local Somali-Americans identified the deceased suspect as Dahir Adan. Five victims have been released from the hospital and three more admitted with injuries that aren’t life threatening. A ninth drove himself to the hospital. Witnesses said the suspect referenced Allah during the attack and asked one person if they were Muslim, and an Islamic State news agency claimed he was part of the extremist group early Sunday. [USA Today]
SHELBY COUNTY, ALABAMA
PIPELINE SPILL | The flow of gasoline from a broken pipeline here has greatly diminished since the leak was first discovered late last week, company officials said Friday. It’s estimated that over 250,000 gallons of gasoline have already spilled into a wildlife management area. Alabama and Georgia, meanwhile, have declared states of emergency in anticipation of gasoline shortages due to the interruption of the line. Shelby County is located southeast of Birmingham and the spill occurred near the Cahaba River. Officials with Colonial Pipeline, the pipeline’s owner, are claiming the spilled gasoline is confined to ponds that were part of mining activity. Colonial Pipeline’s Line 1 carries gasoline from Houston, where there are oil refineries, to suppliers along the east coast. The pipeline ends in New York Harbor. [AL.com]
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
TRANSPORTATION | The state Department of Transportation projects it will save $28 million with a mobile app that manages construction projects. Since last fiscal year, inspectors have been inputting findings and comparing them with regulations—saving an estimated $11 million according to PennDOT. "The mobile construction app reduces time spent on administrative tasks,” said state Secretary of Transportation Leslie Richards. “As a result, inspectors are in the field an additional one and a half hours per a day, or nearly 300,000 additional person hours each year.” Aspects of the app are being employed by the Department of Environmental Protection, which aims for full deployment in 2017. [Philadelphia Business Journal]
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
PENSIONS | Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is hinting that he might veto proposals that are part of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to shore up troubled public worker pension funds in the city. The City Council has already approved a 29.5 percent tax on sewer and water bills to help cover pension costs. But other pieces of the plan require approval from state lawmakers. “My concern with the proposal so far, is they’re largely based upon re-ramping the payment schedule and slowing down the payment schedule and back-loading it,” Rauner said. “That’s what we’ve done in Chicago for decades, and it’s the reason Chicago has the worst credit rating of any city other than Detroit.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
POLICE | The New York Police Department uses IMSI catchers to surveil mobile phones en masse, just don’t ask them about the technology. Asked about the models it uses, the NYPD would not divulge the information arguing it could render them vulnerable to hackers. “It would be a serious problem if the costly surveillance devices purchased by the NYPD without public competitive bidding are so woefully insecure that the only thing protecting them from hackers is the secrecy surrounding their model names,” wrote the American Civil Liberties Union in an affidavit, part of the group’s court case seeking release of the information. The police department is sticking to its guns, warning a sophisticated hacker might even be able to use the “stingray” technology to lure officers into an ambush. [Motherboard]
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