MEXICO CITY — Salvador Vergara Cruz, mayor of a large resort town outside Mexico City, was killed by hooded assassins armed with semi-automatic rifles as he drove with other officials toward his home city of Ixtapan de la Sal Saturday afternoon. The killing of a sitting elected official may turn out to be one of the more significant political slayings in the country’s raging drug war, not so much because of who he was but what his death represented. State prosecutors say Vergara was killed because he refused to allow drug gangs to move into his city and operate freely.– ****Los Angeles Times****
A federal grand jury in Tennessee has indicted University of Tennessee student David Kernell, whose apartment was recently raided by the FBI, in connection with the hacking of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s private Yahoo! e-mail account. The indictment charges that Kernell figured out how to gain access to Palin’s e-mail account, changed the password to “popcorn,” and then posted the new password on the Web for others to see. If convicted, Kernell faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a three-year term of supervised release.
— washingtonpost.com
WASHINGTON — The American Red Cross said Tuesday it will receive $100 million in emergency funding from Congress to replenish its disaster relief reserves, which were depleted as the charity plunged into debt to provide shelter, food and other services during a string of hurricanes this summer.
— ****The Washington Post****