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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (8502)	11/19/2001 3:56:16 PM
From: Jane4IceCream	Respond to of 19428

LOL!! Jane

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (8502)	11/19/2001 4:05:05 PM
From: blebovits	Respond to of 19428

INVN : INVISION TECHNOLOGIES (NASDAQ) 4:04 PM ET Last Trade 18.48 Open 15.97 EPS Growth Rate N/A Change +3.65 Previous Close 14.83 EPS (TTM) 0.08 % Change +24.6% Today's High 18.48 P/E N/A Last Trade 3:49 PM Today's Low 15.35 Market Cap 240.52 Mil Bid 18.41 52 Wk High 16.08 Shares Outstanding 13.02 Mil Ask 18.45 52 Wk Low 1.31 Dividend N/A Volume 4,801,900 Avg Daily Vol 1,387,000 Yield N/A

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (8502)	11/19/2001 4:43:23 PM
From: blebovits	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

USA: Government must make airport safety program fly. By Susan Cornwell 11/19/2001 Reuters English News Service WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Now that President Bush has signed into law legislation aimed at making flying safer, the federal government faces the daunting task of getting the new program off the ground - soon. The new law says the Department of Transportation must hire and train some 28,000 airport baggage screeners within a year, place more air marshals on flights, and oversee other changes such as the introduction of new explosives-detection equipment and background checks for ground support personnel. "We want to do this as soon as possible. But this is very complicated legislation, and it's a challenge getting your arms around the details," said Chet Lunner, spokesman for the Department of Transportation. Bush on Monday signed the bill ordering the federal government to take responsibility for aviation security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Flying safety has previously been the job of the airlines, who contracted it out to private companies, who have been in the news almost constantly in the last two months for reported security lapses. The Transportation Department's staff is now going through the 110 pages of the new law - which was written in late-night-term-paper haste on Capitol Hill last week - analyzing its various assignments, milestones, and mandates. Among them is a requirement to name a new transportation security "czar." But officials said the other tasks could not wait for that appointment, and work would have to go ahead under Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta in the meantime. "We have to establish a recruitment and hiring regime, we have to find training sites, and develop a curriculum, and do an inventory of resources," Lunner said. "You want to train 28,000 people, it's not an overnight thing. And of course, all this takes money," he said. The bill provides for airline passengers to pay up to $5 per one-way trip to finance the changes; the airlines are also making a contribution. RAMPING UP MACHINE PRODUCTION Mineta met airline CEOS late last week to tell them that his "zero tolerance" policy on security lapses, instituted at the end of October, would continue during the one-year transition to government control of airport security, Lunner said. Mineta also met manufacturers of baggage screening machines to ask them to ramp up their operations in any way possible to meet a requirement in the bill that all bags be screened for explosives by the end of next year, Lunner said. One of the companies, InVision Technologies of Newark, California, thinks it can produce about 50 of the machines a month - up from about four to seven a month it is making now. But with under 10 percent of checked bags in the United States being screened for explosives at the moment, many observers wonder whether the manufacturers will be able to produce the equipment fast enough to meet the new law's goals. "We certainly have plans that will allow us to get there, although we don't even know where 'there' is yet," an InVision spokesman said. The new law will also cause some ructions and rearranging of payrolls in the federal government. Some Federal Aviation Administration security experts, for example, will end up working for the new Transportation Security Administration. David Butler, a spokesman for Consumers' Union, said it was important that the government keep the public informed as it implements changes, making frequent reports on indicators such as how many screeners have been trained and bags screened. "These substantive changes will take several months. This is not an overnight solution, and this is not going to be an immediate fix," Butler said. "While the public appears to be solidly behind this upgrade of national security, people will still need to be convinced that this is actually making a difference. The public needs to see the improvements, and that's why it's necessary for the government to measure and report them," he said.