From BBC World Service, Wednesday, July 7th, 1999
Rescuers finally able to enter the Bangladeshi disaster area report unprecedented scenes of total destruction in the wake of super-cyclone 16. Rivers are choked with the corpses of animals and people. Vast regions have been completely wiped clean as if a nuclear bomb had destroyed them. Casulties may be as high as one and a half-million. Tragically, rescuers are finding virtually noone to rescue. Even in this long-suffering region of the world, this latest disaster will almost certainly rank among its worst....
From USA Today, Friday, July 23rd, 1999, Page A1
DAYS OF THUNDER
Fed. Government declares "major victory" against Organized Crime
BOSTON, MA AND CHICAGO, IL -- Authorities are declaring victory after three days of the largest law-enforcement operation ever seen in American history, involving hundreds of police and federal agents in two of America's largest and most important cities. Hundreds of arrests --including high government officals, CEOs, and the police chiefs of both cities-- have been made and billions of dollars in assets seized in a sweeping series of raids that have in many cases escalated into full-scale gun battles against heavily armed criminals. Even critics concede these efforts have probably definitively broken the once seemingly invincible grip of organized crime on these two cities.
The giant undercover operation - codenamed "Thunder" - had revealed an organized crime syndicate with a breath-taking level of control over the highest levels of government, finance, and law enforcement. Equally stunning was the scale of the operations launched to destroy these organizations. While there have been major crime figures captured and significant crime rings broken in the past, nothing in the history of law enforcement can compare to the sheer scope of the operations that were a part of Operation Thunder. As of noon Friday, authorities had launched over four-hundred raids across the metropolitian Chicago and Boston areas, involving thousands of police, federal agents, and National Guard troops. Even the regular Army has been called into some of the most extreme cases, including the firefight at the Chicago Pearson Street complex on Tuesday where shoulder-fired missiles were employed by the trapped criminals...
From the Chicago Sun, Editorial, July 24th, 1999
A NEW DAY
Today truly marks the dawn of a new day for the Windy City. The effects of the secret investigations and the dramatic conclusion of Operation Thunder on the city of Chicago cannot be underestimated. Hundreds of businesses have been freed from onerous protection rackets. The police forces have been purged of corruption from top to bottom, allowing the hundreds of honest cops and officers who bravely risked all to make Operation Thunder a reality to now do their jobs. City Hall, stripped of its unholy alliances with corrupt criminal syndicates, will now be able to focus it's efforts on helping the citizens of this beleagered city. And the people of Chicago will no longer have to live in fear of the conspiracies which we now know were responsible for much of the city's suffering, including the bombing two years ago of the Sun's editorial offices in retaliation for our daring to speak out.
For years, millions of hard-working people have fought for a better tomorrow even while trapped under the weight of a criminal conspiracy whose scale noone could imagine. Often, these valiant citizens even succeeded. But now, thanks to the courage --and ultimate sacrifice-- of many, all of those energies may now have a chance to burst out, free and unfettered. Where we once dared not dream, now anything seems possible. This truly is the dawn of a new day in the City of Big Shoulders...
From the Harvard University Gazette, July 29th
UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR HONORED BY STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS FOR COURAGE UNDER FIRE
Dr. Andrea S. Alessandro, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, was among 61 law enforcment officers honored by Gov. Cellucci at a special ceremony at the Massachusetts State House.
Dr. Alessandro was awarded the George L. Hanna Medal of Honor for her actions with the Boston Police Department during the conclusion of "Operation Thunder", July 21st through the 23rd. Dr. Alessandro, who has served as a hostage negotiator for the Boston Police on numerous occasions over the last ten years, and who holds the rank of Detective (Reserve) in that department, is credited with, among other actions, convincing the criminals barricading themselves within the Prudential center not to destroy the complex with the explosive charges they had wired on the skyscraper's foundations, negotiating the release of thirty-four school children taken hostage by the criminals within Copley Place, and saving the lives of many wounded law- enforcement officers and civilians with on-scene medical care.
"Heedless of her own safety, Dr. Alessandro repeatedly worked under heavy gun fire and fearlessly entered rooms with heavily armed and desperate men to save lives and convince criminals to surrender," Gov. Cellucci stated in his remarks. "These actions were only the culmination of many such actions over her years of service with the Boston Police, and we are honored today to recognize her for her past service as well as her most recent, dramatic acts..."....
Dr. Alessandro is taking a two-week leave of absence to her summer home in New Jersey to rest and complete recovery from wounds sustained during the action.
[OOC: Dr. Alessandro would also be known as Andrea the Pooka, Turnberry and Christina's friend. :-) ]