WASHINGTON — A Senate committee on Thursday heard appeals for the creation of a federal task force to combat polygamist sects that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid described as sophisticated organized crime rings.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose office has received nationwide attention for its investigation of a sect in Texas, was among those backing legislation sponsored by Reid, D-Nev. The bill would establish a task force in the U.S. Department of Justice and assist victims of polygamist groups.

The hearing, which included testimony from two former sect members, spotlighted the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints (FLDS) led by Warren Jeffs, who was once on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. Jeffs and four of his followers were indicted Tuesday by a grand jury in Texas for felony assault of a child. » read more

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday approved an ambitious bridge safety bill that could help protect some of the 3,140 structurally deficient bridges in California, a grim-sounding roster that includes hundreds in the Central Valley.

Spurred by the collapse last year of a heavily traveled Minneapolis bridge, lawmakers are offering more safety money and stricter inspection rules. Potentially, considerable resources could reach California.

"Our bridges, roadways and transportation systems are the backbone of our nation and economy," said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento. "Improving the safety standards for our bridges delivers on our responsibility to preserve public safety." » read more

WASHINGTON — Since a severely mentally ill man rampaged through Virginia Tech last year, killing 32 people before turning a gun on himself, Congress and several states have been working to tighten rules on who can legally purchase a firearm.

But a push in the U.S. Senate would remove from the national background check the names of 115,000 veterans who have been declared "mentally defective" — and would prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from adding any more names unless the agency goes through a judicial system.

The problem, says the senator behind the efforts, is that the veterans were added not because they were a danger to themselves or to others, but because they were assigned fiduciary guardians by the Department of Veterans Affairs. » read more