Portland, Ore. – The FBI offered a $5,000 reward Tuesday for help tracking down whoever mailed dozens of threatening letters – including some containing a potentially harmful insecticide – complaining about TV coverage of college cheerleaders.
The letters were sent to national networks and their local affiliates, as well as people in states throughout the West and Midwest, according to the FBI office in Portland. Recipients also included people associated with university athletic departments in Ohio, Michigan and Arizona.
The letters claim camera crews spent too much time on close-ups of cheerleaders. One letter also complained about coverage of WNBA players.
Some of the letters contained various powdery substances, which the FBI determined was an insecticide. No injuries have been reported, authorities said.
Additional nation/world news briefs:
EAGLE PASS, Texas
Texas storms kill six near Mexican border
Six people were killed when severe storms struck a small community near the Mexican border Tuesday, a local official said.
Officials had not confirmed reports of a possible tornado.
The storms struck unincorporated areas of Maverick County known as Loma Linda and Chula Vista, Eagle Pass Fire Chief Roy Delacruz said.
The six fatalities were reportedly in one residence, he said.
An unknown number of people were injured, stretching the resources of the local hospital, Delacruz said.
Eagle Pass is about 200 miles southwest of Austin.
WASHINGTON
Ex-official admits taking Abramoff gifts
A former congressional aide pleaded guilty Tuesday to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Mark Zachares was the 11th person to be convicted in the Justice Department influence-peddling probe.
Zachares admitted engaging in official acts on Abramoff’s behalf while working for Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who chaired the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Abramoff assisted Zachares in obtaining his committee post. Zachares left Young’s staff in 2005. Young’s office declined to comment Tuesday.
Zachares faces a maximum of five years in prison.
ROME
Ancient statue taken from Libya to return
Italy will return to Libya an ancient Roman statue taken from its former North African colony, a gesture Rome hopes will help its campaign to retrieve allegedly looted antiquities from museums worldwide.
The second-century statue of the goddess Venus was found in 1913 by Italian troops near the ruins of the Greek and Roman settlement of Cyrene, on the Libyan coast, the Culture Ministry said Tuesday. It is housed in Rome’s National Roman Museum.
Libyan authorities requested the statue in 1989, but a protracted judicial battle ensued with a group that considered the work part of Italy’s cultural heritage. Last week, a court ruled in favor of returning the statue to Tripoli, a ministry statement said.
WASHINGTON
Suspicions rise about Iran in disappearance
The United States is growing increasingly skeptical of Iranian claims not to know anything about a former FBI agent missing in Iran and has stepped up diplomatic efforts to find him.
Concerned that elements of Iran’s security forces may be holding Robert Levinson, last seen on the Iranian island of Kish in early March, the State Department is publicly questioning Tehran’s denials.
“Given the nature of the Iranian security apparatus, we find it hard to believe that … they don’t in some way monitor the comings and goings of individuals on Kish Island, including foreign nationals,” spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday.
There have been several news reports that Levinson, 59, of Coral Springs, Fla., who retired from the FBI in 1998, is being held in Iran, possibly as a hostage to trade for five Iranians detained by U.S. forces in Iraq.
