al-Awlaki

At least three of the hijackers on Sept. 11, 2011, received advance airline tickets from an American-born Muslim cleric killed in 2011 by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, Fox News reports, citing newly released FBI records.

The cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, likely purchased the tickets within days of the terrorist attacks, likely to test security and surveillance, Fox reported.

Fox said the records suggest the FBI had evidence linking Al-Awlaki to the hijackers about two weeks after the attacks, much sooner than expected.

“We have FBI documents showing that the FBI knew that Al-Awlaki had bought three tickets for three of the hijackers to fly into Florida and into Las Vegas, including the lead hijacker, Mohammad Atta,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Fox on Thursday.

Steve Neavling

Despite all the attention paid to gun violence, hammers and clubs kill more people each year than rifles and shotguns, FBI records indicate, CBS DC reports.

Nearly 500 people were killed by hammers and clubs, compared to 323 with rifles and 356 with shotguns.

The statistics are deceptive, though, because other types of guns weren’t counted, CBS DC wrote.

Still, deaths by hammers, clubs and other blunt objects are on the rise, as is gun ownership.

San Francisco Chronicle

One of the gun lobby’s favorite mantras is that the nation doesn’t need any more laws to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals; it needs to start by enforcing those that are on the books.

But that argument evaporates upon closer inspection of the federal government’s systems for tracking and restricting gun sales. Congress, under pressure from the gun lobby, has made it about as cumbersome as possible for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to do its job.

As the New York Times reported last week, ATF has been operating without a permanent director for six years, mostly because the Senate has stalled confirmation proceedings. ATF’s budget has remained stagnant throughout a post-9/11 period in which almost all other law enforcement and national security endeavors have been showered with resources.

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Steve Neavling

DETROIT — The U.S. Border Patrol is building a new station in Detroit after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $14 million contract for the design construction of the new building, the Associated Press reports.

The 45,000-square-foot facility is expected to be done in spring 2015.

It is to include space for 100 agents, a kennel, fitness area, holding facilities, storage space and processing area. the AP wrote.

The Detroit station protects 70 miles of border with Canada.

Steve Neavling

A former FBI agent who killed a teenager in a drunken-driving crash in Maryland could be sentenced to up to 13 years in prison today, the Associated Press reports.

Adrian Johnson was convicted in October of motor vehicle manslaughter and homicide by motor vehicle while intoxicated after crashing his car into another vehicle while drunk in Brandywine on Feb 7, 2011, the AP wrote.

The driver of the other car, Lawrence Garner Jr., was killed, and his friend was seriously injured.

The AP wrote that Johnson’s lawyers argued his client wasn’t responsible because the crash was unavoidable.