At approximately 10:30 this morning a shooting spree occurred at the American Civic Association building in Binghamton, New York where immigrants are educated on the citizenship process. There are 14 confirmed dead, including the gunman, identified as 41-year-old Jiverly Wong.

Wong entered the building at approximately 10:30 AM Friday morning, with two handguns, a 9 millimeter with extended clip and a .45 caliber, and a satchel of ammunition and what appeared to be survival gear. He had previously blocked the back door of the ACA building with a borrowed car. Upon entering the building, Wong fired upon the two receptionists, killing one and severely wounding the other. According to Zikuski, “Shooter just came in and shot her” and that the gunman was “no stranger to the Civil Association.” The wounded receptionist managed to crawl under a desk where she proceeded to call the authorities, according to Police Chief Joseph Zikuski. Police arrived within two minutes of the call, with Zikuski arriving just a minute afterwards.

Binghamton University has once again dropped the ball on securing the private information of students and parents. In a titanic breach of security, Binghamton University kept payment information for every student, possibly dating back at least ten years in a storage area next to one of the most trafficked lecture halls on campus, behind a door that was not only unlocked but taped open. The information itself contained social security numbers, credit card numbers, scans of tax forms, business information (including social security numbers and salary information for employees of students' parents), asylum records and more, all kept in a haphazard and disorganized fashion, sprawled out in boxes, in unlocked (yet lockable) filing cabinets and shelving units. And, to seemingly add insult to injury, the university left dollies and a shopping cart in the room, apparently to aid in any attempted theft. (Pictures of the room are beneath the story.)

Ben Meyers of the Sens Army Blog and Peter Raaymakers of the Silver Seven Sens Blog talk about the latest Senators news.

With the recent downturn in the American economy, it may seem as though the issue of healthcare in the United States has been pushed aside, but that is not so. The problems with health care are a symptom of premiums increasing over the last two decades at a rate much faster than general economic growth. This has been a major factor in the economic hardship many Americans face. Therefore, it is important to look closely at the state of the United States' health care system.
So just how much of a problem has the price of family health care become? According to the report issued by Families USA, the average premium, nationally, has increased from $6,772 to $12,075 between 2000 and 2007. That means that health care premiums have risen by $5,300 or 78.3 percent over the span of seven years. In contrast with this, median workers' earnings have only increased from $25,024 in 2000 to $28,640 in 2007, only 14.5 percent. Comparatively speaking, health care premiums have increased 5.4 times faster than earnings did.

As part of its live Election 2008 coverage WHRW News interviewed Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, on how he thinks the 2008 Election will change the future of Illegal Immigration in the United States.

For more information on the Minuteman Project you can visit: http://www.minutemanproject.com/

As part of its live election coverage WHRW News interviewed Chris Edwards of the CATO Institute on how the 2008 Election will change Tax Policy in the United States in the coming four years.

News Director Robert Glass interviews Geopolitical Analyst Marko Papic from Stratfor on how the 2008 Election will change the future of the United States' Foreign Policy relationship with Russia and Eastern Europe.

For more information on Stratfor you can visit: http://www.stratfor.com/

Transcript:

Robert Glass: WHRW News is now joined by Marko Papic, a geopolitical analyst for Stratfor. Welcome on the program.

Marko Papic: Well, thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here.

Robert Glass: We're here to talk about how the election will change American Foreign Policy with Eastern Europe and Russia. And, just as a background, how would you describe America's relationship with Russia in the past eight years?

The WHRW team has come to the conclusion that no one really “won” last Thursday, despite many news networks declaring a Biden victory. Palin definitely controlled the debate, reciting all of her best talking points, all the while managing to quick-step around every question in a fabulous pair of red pumps. She recited everything she had been prepped with, completely opposite of her performance in her CBS interview with Katie Couric, however she faltered obviously whenever she was left to her own devices. The Moderator, Gwen Ifill, did not back down or ask softball questions. However, she stopped attempting to compel the candidates to actually answer her questions, realizing right off the bat that it was a waste of time an effort. According to factcheck.org, Palin repeatedly mixed up her facts concerning the effort in Afghanistan. She completely misrepresented Commander McKiernan. She said “maverick” far too many times, and could not manage to pronounce nuclear correctly once, in conjunction with her inability to form cohesive sentences, distracted from any informative points she may have made along the way.

On Friday, September 26th, members of WHRW News' political staff sat down to watch the Presidential Debate – and debate about it. The debate began with the introduction, by the debate's moderator, Jim Lehrer. This was followed by the normal thank yous that usually preface any presidential debate and it was quickly followed by an unnatural curtseying between the two candidates. Both candidates were unusually polite with each other and seemed to go to incredible length to avoid direct confrontation between them in the first part of the debate.

It has been just over seven years since two air planes flew into the Twin Towers in New York City. On that tragic day, September 11th 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States claimed the lives of almost 3,000 people in New York City, the pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania. America vowed, in the days after the attack, to fight against those that were responsible for such heinous acts and after the debris was cleared, they promised to rebuild.