Steve Neavling

 Prosecutors in the case against a former college student accused of trying to detonate a bomb near Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland will begin presenting evidence in the case today, KOIN Local 6 reports.

During open arguments Friday, the prosecution painted Mohamed Mohamud as a calculating jihadist intent on killing as many people as possible with what he thought was an 1,800-pound bomb packed into a van in November 2010, KOIN reported.

His attorney, Steve Sady, says Mohamud was entrapped by an undercover FBI agent who provided the fake bomb.

“It’s a matter of going too far,” Sady said during open arguments Friday.

Steve Neavling

A Home Depot worker has been arrested for threatening to detonate bombs inside the stores unless he received $2 million in ransom money, the New York Daily News reports.

Daniel Patrick Sheehan, 50, threatened to shut down all Long Island stores on Black Friday by detonating three pipe bombs inside Home Depots, the Daily News wrote.

Police found one working pipe bomb.

After lowering his ransom demand to $1 million, Sheehan sent another letter saying he would pick up the money while being “wired up like a Christmas tree,” the Daily News reported, citing a complaint unsealed in Long Island Federal Court.

Sheehan was caught after police traced his phone number when he called to complain that the money drop was crawling with cops in late October.

By Allan Lengel

There are lies. And then there are big fat lies that can land you behind bars.

Daniel Gerald Peterson, 26, told one of those big fat lies, and on Monday he pleaded guilty in Minneapolis federal court to providing the FBI with false information about a bomb threat he made up, authorities said.

Peterson admitted that on September 13, 2009, he told the FBI that someone was planning to bomb the Bank of Oklahoma Center, a sports arena, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The FBI conducted an extensive investigation and determined the story was made up, the FBI said.

He faces up to five years in prison.