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BOSTON (Reuters) - More than 60 people in Burlington, Vermont, were being treated with antibiotics as a precaution on Thursday after a powdery substance officials said was not likely anthrax was found on an arriving jet. Airline officials quickly said the state's health department had told them the powder found in the luggage compartment of a Northwest Airlink flight was not anthrax, but that tests continued. ``Preliminary tests on Tuesday of a powdery substance found on the plane showed no evidence of spores,'' Health Commissioner Dr. Jan Carney said in a statement. ``But further tests have shown growth of a ...

In a Friday morning press conference, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik shot down widespread media reports from the night before that ten survivors had been discovered under the rubble of the World Trade Center last night -- with Kerik announcing that a hoaxer had been arrested. "Reports, for example, that there are people that we've discovered and have been in contact with that aren't verified, aren't true," Giuliani told reporters. "And there was a report like that yesterday evening that a woman was in communication with people and there were 10 or 15 people ...

A United States attorney was among a handful of high-placed people who may have influenced former President Clinton's decision to pardon a convicted cocaine dealer. According to the Los Angeles Times, U.S. Attorney Alejandro Mayorkas, whose jurisdiction includes Southern California, made several phone calls in 1999 to inquire about the case of Carlos Vignali. Vignali began serving a 15-year sentence in 1994 for his part in a drug ring responsible for the distribution of nearly 800 pounds of cocaine between Los Angeles and Minneapolis. He got out of the penitentiary on Jan. 20, thanks to an eleventh-hour pardon signed by ...

Suspect Tells Police That Victim Wouldn't 'Cooperate' A woman trying to escape an alleged carjacker Monday morning was stabbed to death, while stunned passers-by looked on. According to Redondo Beach police, Diane Bragg, 67, was pulling away from the Red Robin Restaurant on Hawthorne Boulevard around 11:30 a.m. when a man forced his way into her Mercedes Benz sport utility vehicle. As restaurant patrons and others looked on, the Bel Air woman threw open her door with the car still in motion and rolled out. "She was obviously in fear for her life and tried to escape from the suspect," ...

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Presidential Race Still Unpredictable on Final Day By Alan Elsner, Political Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican George W. Bush (news - web sites) raided his opponent's home turf on Monday while Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) embarked on a 30-hour marathon as the 2000 presidential campaign approached its climax with the election's outcome still in doubt. Bush, the governor of Texas, entered the final day of the campaign with a slight but definite lead over the vice president in national opinion polls. But with several battlefield states still hanging in the balance he could not be sure of ...

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 23 — ABCNEWS has learned that U.S. military personnel in three critical locations have been put on the very highest state of alert after being warned of potential terrorist attacks. At the U.S. Air Force installation at Incirlik, Turkey, officials say “credible” and “specific” warnings have been received. The level of credibility about the warning is so high, that “even the Turks believe it,” one source told ABCNEWS, indicating the threat was very visible and believable. Details surrounding the warnings are being closely held, but officials say the information ...

Monday October 23, 3:30 pm Eastern Time NAACP calls banking industry 'disappointing' BALTIMORE, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The banking industry is not living up to its responsibilities in the minority community, according to a report card released on Monday by the NAACP. A recently completed review of 15 major banks yielded an overall grade of C-minus. Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, the nation's oldest civil rights organisation, called the results ``disappointing.'' He told a news conference the grade falls between ``needs improvement'' and ``poor''. Over the next year, the organisation will ask ...