Mails

Security researchers Nick DePetrillo and Don Bailey have discovered a seven-digit numerical code that can unlock all kinds of secrets about you. It's your phone number. Using relatively simple techniques, this duo can use your cellphone number to figure out your name, where you live and work, where you travel and when you sleep. They could even listen to your voice messages and personal phone calls — if they wanted to. "It's really interesting to watch a phone number turn into a person's life," DePetrillo said.

Consumers have been told by insurers again and again that if they want cheaper prices for prescription drugs, they need to order them in bulk from mail-order pharmacies. And typically, it works out that way. Sometimes, however, the prices reveal how screwy our healthcare system is - and what a challenge it can be to get a straight answer about medical costs. Jeff Zoldos, 61, had such an experience after his employer switched his coverage to Aetna at the beginning of the year.

The Clinton presidential library on Friday released more than 75,000 e-mail messages that were sent by and to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, but they offered little new insight into her personality. The messages showed Kagan — currently the Obama administration's top lawyer to the high court and a former dean of Harvard Law School — to be more administrator than provocateur. Part of that was because of Kagan's role in the Clinton administration. As deputy director of President Clinton's domestic policy shop, she sat atop a pyramid of staffers who largely forwarded their proposals to her. Her job was to synthesize opinions to present to Clinton, not to sound off. There were, however, some flashes of personality.

Ronald Holmes, father of former UCLA basketball star Shabazz Muhammad and himself a former hoops standout, has been indicted on federal fraud charges. Holmes, 51, was detained Thursday in Las Vegas. He has pleaded not guilty to bank fraud, as well as counts for conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud. According to the indictment, which was unsealed Thursday, Holmes and several unnamed associates used fraudulent information and straw buyers to obtain home mortgages and buy and sell houses, keeping the proceeds for themselves.

Rep. Christopher Lee, a second-term Republican lawmaker representing western New York, abruptly resigned Wednesday after flirtatious e-mails, including a photo of him shirtless, were posted online by a gossip website. In a brief statement, Lee referred only obliquely to "this distraction," apologizing "deeply and sincerely" for harm he caused his family, staff and constituents. Just hours earlier, the Gawker website posted e-mails Lee exchanged with an unnamed, single 34-year-old woman in response to her personal ad on Craigslist.

Two high-profile anti-terrorism task forces did not inform the Defense Department about contacts between a radical Islamic cleric and the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in last week's rampage at Ft. Hood, a senior Defense official said Tuesday. On the day of a memorial service for those killed at the Texas military base, the revelation compounded questions about whether the government had known enough in advance to stop the gunman. The FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Forces investigated e-mails that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan sent over the last year to Anwar al Awlaki, an imam in Yemen who espouses a radical Islamist ideology and who has ties to militants.

It took just one word for Apple Inc. to make headlines. "Yep," wrote Apple chief Steve Jobs in an e-mail. The message was addressed to Andrea Nepori, an Italian blogger who wrote to sjobs@apple.com this week. He asked the reclusive Apple founder whether he'd be able to sync his free e-books to the iPad, due to hit U.S. stores next week. Jobs' affirmation wasn't the real news. That particular detail was listed on Apple's website before Nepori's inquiry. The response itself is what prompted bloggers to fly off the handle.

They arrive nearly every day, these sad, strange e-mails from Iraq. They are unsentimental and hard, gathered by stringers scattered across a country at war. They're often tough to follow, terse poems with broken rhythms and words landing in wrong places. But there's an unadorned power that speaks to things beyond style and grammar. "An IP source said that some gunmen assassinated yesterday evening staff brigadier general in the Iraqi army and his wife in Tobchi (west Baghdad)

After insisting that no one was receiving unsolicited e-mails from the White House, officials reversed themselves Monday night -- but blamed outside political groups for the messages. White House online director Macon Phillips said in a blog posting that independent groups, which he didn't name, had signed up their members to get updates about Obama's projects and priorities. "It has come to our attention that some people may have been subscribed to our e-mail lists without their knowledge -- likely as a result of efforts by outside groups of all political stripes -- and we regret any inconvenience caused by receiving an unexpected message," Phillips wrote.

The young Goldman, Sachs & Co. trader at the center of the government's civil fraud case against the firm was aware of problems with the complex financial products he was working on, e-mails released by the company indicate. In one of the messages, Fabrice Tourre, the only individual defendant in the case, called the controversial transaction that is the subject of the suit "a product of pure intellectual masturbation" and an "absolutely conceptual" invention without purpose.

Question: Our cooperative homeowners association has an election for two of seven board members next month. As members we all received ballots recently, which we are instructed can be voted by mail (appropriate envelopes for secret ballot were enclosed) or handed in at the annual meeting. I mailed my ballot, with a vote for a candidate who then announced that he is withdrawing his candidacy. In light of that, I would like to re-vote. The board says that it is probably illegal and not practical to pull my original ballot and give me a new one. Is this fair or correct?

Eric Garcetti held a narrow lead over Wendy Greuel late Tuesday as the two longtime city officials battled each other - and voter apathy - in the race to become the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles. With more than half the vote still uncounted, the contest remained too close to call. Greuel, addressing supporters at a downtown club, said she expected the election to go into "overtime. " Garcetti, speaking just before midnight, told supporters in Hollywood, "The results aren't all in, but this is shaping up to be a great night.

After a contest for mayor of Los Angeles that has consumed the better part of two years, the two finalists, their staffs, the media and a largely disinterested electorate doubtless would welcome an end to the drama Tuesday, election day. But the large number of Angelenos voting by mail, the apparent tightness of the race and the peculiarities of the City Clerk's ballot-counting procedures open the possibility that the winner might not be known for...

A Mississippi man who had been accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Obama, a U.S. senator and a Mississippi judge was set free Tuesday and charges against him were dropped as authorities converged on the home of another man. Paul Kevin Curtis of Corinth, Miss., had been released on bond earlier in the day. The part-time Elvis impersonator had been arrested last week on suspicion of mailing three letters filled with ricin within days...

WASHINGTON -- A Mississippi man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of sending ricin-laced letters to President Obama, a U.S. senator and another official, authorities said.  The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service said Paul Kevin Curtis was taken into custody at 5:15 p.m. for sending three letters "which contained a granular substance that preliminarily tested positive for ricin. " Ricin, a poison, is deadly in small amounts if inhaled or ingested. Further tests will be performed on the letters to confirm whether the substance is ricin.  The letters went to the White House, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)

Initial election results in Compton's hotly contested race for mayor showed former Mayor Omar Bradley - whose 2004 conviction on corruption charges was overturned by an appeals court last year - heading into a runoff with political newcomer Aja Brown. The results could signal an ouster of Mayor Eric Perrodin, a deputy district attorney and former Compton police officer who unseated Bradley in 2001. However, with 1,176 vote-by-mail and provisional ballots yet to be verified by the county registrar, the final results may not be known for another week.

A gaggle of transportation officials and community leaders gathered this week to help shape the future of public transit in Los Angeles County — to decide, in effect, whether it's time for revolutionary change, or whether the status quo should prevail. Status quo won by a knockout. The so-called Metro Blue Ribbon Committee was established by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority late last year to come up with "a new regional transit vision" for bus and rail systems.

A California Coastal Commission member already under investigation for a potential conflict of interest on a controversial project was put in an awkward position this week with the release of e-mails detailing a prominent lobbyist's attempts to secure his vote. E-mails between a hired lobbyist, developers and officials at the Port of San Diego reveal efforts to convince Commissioner Patrick Kruer to vote in favor of the multimillion-dollar project to revamp the downtown San Diego waterfront, a proposal ultimately defeated by the divided panel.

When the U.S. Postal Service announced in February that it would end Saturday mail delivery this summer, most Americans reacted with a mixture of wistfulness and resignation. Yes, it was sad that the mail carrier wouldn't be dropping off letters on Saturday anymore, but scaling back to five days was a necessary concession to the agency's financial problems and a reflection of changes in communication wrought by the Internet. But not everyone saw it that way: The unions representing postal employees and their champions on Capitol Hill were especially determined to block the change, and a continuing resolution passed by Congress last month prohibited the USPS from curtailing service.

Britain's Daily Mail has issued an unusual high-profile apology and will pay an unspecified settlement to Journey guitarist Neal Schon in connection with an article that falsely characterized him as a "deadbeat dad" who slighted his children and ex-wife while showering his fiancee with pricey jewelry. The newspaper issued its statement regarding Schon and fiancee Michaele Salahi on the U.K. Home page of its Mail Online website. "We accept that these allegations are untrue and apologise to Mr. Schon, Ms. Salahi and the family for any distress caused," the statement said.