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Construction engineer John Tsikouras suspected that the salesmen were not telling him the whole story. The men from Newman Associates, a bolt distribution company, approached him in August 1999 and said they wanted his professional advice about a tunnel ceiling that was part of Boston's Big Dig. But Tsikouras said their questions seemed intended to get the Rhode Island engineer's approval rather than his expertise. Would it be safe to hang the concrete ceiling from 7.5-inch-long bolts? No, Tsikouras said. What if the bolts were 5 inches long instead? "I can ask my mother that one," he replied: Even less...

Talk to Sen. Ted Kennedy Thu Sep 28, 1:51 PM ET This was a last-minute addition to the Talk to Power schedule, so the time for questions and comments is shorter than usual. Sen. Kennedy will be fielding your comments over the next 24 hours and responding, via an interview with host Judy Woodruff, on Friday morning. Thanks in advance to Yahoo! users for your thoughts, and to Sen. Kennedy for agreeing to participate. The question of immigration and immigration reform is likely to loom large in this forum, as it has with previous Talk to Power guests. Sen. Kennedy,...

/begin my translation N. Korea Digging New Tunnels Where Nuclear Tests Are Possible 5 Tunnels in the valley of Mu-myong Mountain... could also be missile bases Kim Jong-tae Intelligence agencies have learned that N. Korea is digging five new tunnels suspected to be a missile base in the valley of Mu-myong Mountain(2851 ft), Shi-jung County, Jagang Province, N. Korea. They are looking into it carefully. In particular, they do not rule out the possibility that the tunnels could be used for nuclear test. Furthermore, they also received intelligence that there are uranium-enrichment facilities at Hwa-pyong County, Jagang Province, and now...

Census will send message to some hacks: Take a hike By Howie Carr Boston Herald Columnist Sunday, July 16, 2006 Let’s consider the bright side of this unfolding Big Dig disaster. Massachusetts could lose not one, but two seats in Congress after the 2010 census. Talk about a silver lining - bye-bye Barney, adios Olver. Move on Meehan, take a hike Tierney. The rest of the country will get a chuckle out of our predicament, because Massachusetts is a laughingstock, more so than ever after the combination of Third World-style corruption and incompetence called the Big Dig that has brought...

Big dig blunders By Herald staff Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - Updated: 10:17 AM EST 1987: Federal money approved for the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project, aka the Big Dig, at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion 1991: Work begins on the Big Dig, which now has a $5 billion price tag December 1995: Grand opening of the Ted Williams Tunnel Jan. 12, 1996: Toll collectors in the Ted Williams Tunnel forced to wear respirators because of sickening fumes January 1996: Officials pump 400,000 gallons of water out of Ted Williams Tunnel air ducts because of persistent leaks May 1997:...