Ex-NSA executive fought data program
WASHINGTON – Years before Edward Snowden sparked a public outcry with the disclosure that the National Security Agency had been secretly collecting American telephone records, some NSA executives voiced strong objections to the program, current and former intelligence officials say.
The program exceeded the agency’s mandate to focus on foreign spying and would do little to stop terror plots, the executives argued.
The now-retired NSA official, a longtime code-breaker who rose to top management, had just learned in 2009 about the top secret program that was created shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He says he argued to then-NSA Director Keith Alexander that storing the calling records of nearly every American fundamentally changed the character of the agency, which is supposed to eavesdrop on foreigners, not Americans.
Town drops proposal to ban tobacco sales
WESTMINSTER, Mass. – Health officials in a Massachusetts town have withdrawn a first-in-the-nation proposal to ban all tobacco sales.
Westminster’s board of health voted 2-1 at its regular meeting Wednesday to drop the proposal, a week after rowdy opposition led them to end a public hearing early.
Sentinel & Enterprise of Fitchburg reports that two board members moved and voted to kill the proposal. The board chairwoman voted to keep it under consideration.
Buffalo bracing for another snowstorm
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Homeowners opened their front doors to find themselves sealed in by sheer walls of white. Shovelers turned walkways into head-high canyons. A woman gave birth in a firehouse after the snow prevented her from reaching the hospital.
Even for Buffalo, a place that typically shrugs at snow, this was an epic snowfall.
The Buffalo area found itself buried under as much as 5 feet of snow Wednesday, with another lake-effect storm expected to bring 2 to 3 more feet by late Thursday.
“This is an historic event. When all is said and done, this snowstorm will break all sorts of records, and that’s saying something in Buffalo,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a visit to the city.
Associated Press
