Afternoon Edition - 7/7/05

London Rocks; Four Explosions; Over 33 Confirmed Dead
At 8:51 a.m. London time (London is five hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time) a train that was 100 yards into the tunnel just outside the Moorgate station (a financial district in London) exploded killing seven people. Minutes later, 8:56 a.m., another explosion near the King’s Cross station in north London kills 21 folks. Shortly thereafter, 9:17 a.m., an explosion near the Edgware Road station annihilates five. Finally at 9:47 a.m. a double-decker bus explodes near Tavistock Square killing an undetermined number of riders. The last attack on British soil was on September 20, 2000, when IRA dissidents fired rocket-propelled grenades at the MI5 security agency headquarters. There were no injuries in that attack. Sidebar: Congratulations to London on their 2012 Olympic bid win.

Dennis Doesn’t Play Nice; Hurricane Might Hit Florida
Folks in the Florida Keys were asked to begin evacuation in preparation for hurricane Dennis, who forecasters are predicting might hit the state by the weekend. With winds of at least 74 mph and horrific storm surges, Dennis has already ripped through several islands in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico avoided the brunt of the storm, but has been covered in rain for two days straight.

Color of the Day: ORANGE
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff raised the terror alert to code orange following the London attacks earlier today. The color change is specifically targeting public transportation. Per a U.S. counterterrorism expert the code has been changed because there are “clear and inherent vulnerabilities,” in transit. "Mass transportation systems will always be vulnerable to some extent if we want to keep them as efficient as they are today," said Rafi Ron, president of the Washington-based transportation security consulting firm, New Age Solutions. The last time the terror alert color code change occurred was in November during the elections.

You Know What… We Need Black Folks After All
The US Chamber of Commerce is quietly courting (excuse me, begun a campaign) to court the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). The CBC is largely democratic and has normally taken the side of union groups around the nation. Now, the US Chamber of Commerce has found that the support of the CBC is necessary to insure passing legislation that benefits businesses – especially since many votes are so close that even a few votes count. Recently Wal-Mart made their plea to the CBC and others are finding the group and the folks they represent are extremely important to the business community.

No On Blast questions today.

Keep passin’ the open windows…