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Steve Neavling

The first congressional hearings begins next in the case of the Boston Marathon bombing, the National Journal reports.

The House Homeland Security plans to examine the attack and federal law enforcement response. 

Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said the investigation also focuses on the potential security breakdown among agencies, the National Journal wrote.

The Senate also is investigating.

“It is critical that we conduct a proper examination of the actions of the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security, and its interactions with state and local government partners, so that we as a nation are better able to anticipate, prevent, or if necessary respond to, the next terrorist threat,” the Senate Homeland Security Committee leaders said in a statement.

Reno Gazette-Journal

It is an article of faith among many opponents of additional restrictions on gun ownership that the U.S. “doesn’t need new gun laws; it only needs to enforce the ones we’ve already have.”

For the past year, the difficulties of enforcing the nation’s gun laws have been on full display in the Truckee Meadows, where a dispute between the Reno office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Office of the U.S. Attorney has decimated the ATF forces and left local law enforcement agencies scrambling to pick up the slack.

The troubles of the Reno ATF office are evidence of an agency badly in need of strong leadership, so it’s ironic that some of the same members of Congress who have blocked any new gun measures also have blocked the appointment of a permanent director for the agency for nearly seven years now.

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Steve Neavling

It was a long, fruitful day for Border Patrol Monday. 

The Action 4 News reports that agents criss-crossed the Rio Grange Valley, raiding houses where 230 immigrants were found in about a half day.

Border Patrol was tipped off of a suspected human smuggling operations by the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office. 

Agents found the immigrants scattered across the area.

The illegal immigrants will be returned to their country, Action 4 News reported.

 Steve Neavlimg

Evidence is mounting against the man accused of sending ricin-tainted letters to President Obama, a U.S. senator and a judge, the USA Today reports.

Lab tests found traces of ricin on items such as a dusk mask that were in the possession of the suspect, Everett Dutschke, USA Today reported. Tests also confirmed the presence of ricin in other materials.

FBI agents also said they found that the suspect downloaded Internet directions on handling the deadly poison.

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