TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2011 Part 2
14 The sun sets over Arctic ice near the 2011 Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
15 A helicopter flies over Arctic ice towards the Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station during an exercise near the 2011 APLIS camp, in this March 18, 2011 picture. Using a digital "Deep Siren" tactical messaging system and a simpler underwater telephone, officials from the Navy's Arctic Submarine Laboratory at the camp were able to help the USS New Hampshire submarine find a relatively ice-free spot to surface and evacuate a sailor stricken with appendicitis. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
16 A man urinates into a box as the sun sets over Arctic ice near the 2011 Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station, in this March 18, 2011 picture. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
17 APLIS employees wait for a meal inside the mess tent at the 2011 APLIS camp, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
18 Cables for sonar equipment lead into a hole that has been cut through the Arctic ice at the APLIS camp north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, on March 18, 2011. The new digital "Deep Siren" tactical messaging system built by Raytheon Co could revolutionize how military commanders stay in touch with submarines all over the world, allowing them to alert a submarine about an enemy ship on the surface or a new mission, without it needing to surface to periscope level, or 60 feet, where it could be detected by potential enemies. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
19 Workers use a radio to verify their position after delivering supplies to a remote warming station near the 2011 APLIS camp, in this March 18, 2011 picture. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
20 A helicopter drops off supplies at a remote warming station near the 2011 APLIS camp, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
21 U.S. Navy graduate school researchers Lieutenant Brandon Schmidt (right) and Lieutenant George Suh use a computer to listen to sonar equipment during experiments at the APLIS camp, on March 20, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
22 U.S. Under Secretary of Defense, Robert Hale, surveys ice structures in the Arctic near the 2011 APLIS camp north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
23 Ice forms on the back of the camera of Reuters photographer Lucas Jackson while working near the APLIS camp in the Arctic, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
24 A plane takes off from an ice runway near the Applied Physics Lab Ice Station to return to Prudhoe Bay, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
25 The Seawolf class submarine USS Connecticut begins to rise after breaking through several feet of Arctic sea ice during an exercise near the 2011 Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
26 An APLIS employee carries a shotgun as he guards against polar bears near the Seawolf-class submarine USS Connecticut after the boat surfaced through through Arctic sea ice, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
27 A US Navy sailor on the bridge of the Seawolf class submarine USS Connecticut after it surfaced through Arctic sea ice, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
28 APLIS employee Keith Magness uses a chainsaw to cut through ice to access the hatches of the Seawolf class submarine USS Connecticut after it surfaced through Arctic sea ice during an exercise near the 2011 APLS camp, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
29 U.S. Navy sailors watch their sonar screens as they work in the control room of the Virginia class submarine USS New Hampshire as the ship participates in exercises underneath ice in the Arctic Ocean north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, on March 20, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
30 A sign stating the status of a torpedo tube hangs on a hatch in the Virginia class submarine USS New Hampshire as the ship participates in exercises underneath ice in the Arctic Ocean, on March 19, 2011.
31 A fiber-optic periscope display in the control room shows a shore party relaxing on the ice, waiting for the Virginia class submarine USS New Hampshire to surface as the ship participates in exercises underneath ice in the Arctic Ocean, on March 20, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
32 A congressional delegation and the Secretary of the Navy walk around the Seawolf class submarine USS Connecticut after the boat surfaced through through Arctic sea ice north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, on March 18, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
33 Wind patterns are left in the ice pack that covers the Arctic Ocean north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska March 19, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
Credit: Stumble Upon (www.stumbleupon.com)
NASTY HABIT
Gun-toting pair dressed as nuns rob Illinois bank
BY ALICE BRENNAN
These nuns need to brush up on the commandment “Thou Shalt Not Steal.”
Just minutes before closing time on Sunday afternoon, two armed figures wearing habits, molded plastic masks and white gloves entered the front door of a small bank in the Chicago suburb of Palos Heights, Ill.
In a scene straight out of the Ben Affleck movie “The Town,” the nuns with guns entered the TCF bank branch at 1:58 p.m., jumped over the front counter, and pulled out pistols, police said.
Then one of the robbers pointed a gun at a bank employee’s head, using the sacrilegious scare tactic to order her to open the vault and fill a Nike duffle bag with cash.
The two then fled the store and drove off in a silver four-door Chevrolet with tinted windows, cops said.
Luckily, the bank had no customers at the time, and no one was hurt.
But the nuns are still on the run — and police are searching for the theocratic thieves.
Palos Heights police Detective Gerald Wodka told the Sun-Times they have some leads, “but nothing concrete.”
Cops described the first suspect as male, black, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, wearing black and white gym shoes, gloves and possibly armed with a revolver. The second suspect is female, also black, approximately 5 feet, 5 inches tall, wearing black boots, white gloves and possibly carrying a semi-automatic pistol.
Palos Heights police said that the “takeover style robbery” might be a copycat of the Oscar-nominated Boston-based flick “The Town.”
The 2010 film is an adaptation of Chuck Hogan’s novel, “Prince of Thieves,” about a bank robber who tries to balance his feelings for a bank manager and an FBI agent. In the movie, the robbers wear masks and nun’s habits to commit a heist incognito.
Police were reluctant to release details on how much money was taken. Palos Heights Officer Joseph Carlson told The Daily, “The FBI is working with us and they’re the experts on the bank robberies.”
The FBI wasn’t available for interview.
This wasn’t the first time the TCF branch has been robbed either. According to media reports, it’s been in bandit’s cross-hairs twice before — once in December 2008, and again in February 2010, when two thieves took off with more than $100,000.
Police are well aware of the branch’s unfortunate history. “It’s a pretty popular one. I don’t know why,” Wodka said. They refused to speculate as to whether there was a connection between any of the previous robberies.
The bank opened for business yesterday, but closed early because it was Memorial Day. TCF didn’t return calls from The Daily.
The Final Deployment
“I want to let the families know that the soldiers were taken care of from the time of the incident to the return to the final resting place.” —Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Holden, 34, Mortuary Affairs Specialist. Photographed at the Mortuary Affairs Collection Point, Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.
In his series “Soldiers’ Angels,” photographer Philip Cheung focuses on the American soldiers who prepare the bodies of their dead comrades in arms for return to the United States. Cheung spoke with Mother Jones photo editor Mark Murrmann about his project. To read the interview and see more of the mortuary series.
Home on the road
Mott Corner is more than just a deli for NYC’s Bangladeshi cabbies
BY PAUL HIEBERT
Driving a taxi on the night shift can be isolating, even in New York City. Fortunately, for cabdrivers from Bangladesh — one of the largest ethnic groups among the city’s roughly 49,000 licensed drivers of yellow cabs, according to the Taxi & Limousine Commission — there’s Mott Corner.
At the corner of Mott and Kenmare in the Little Italy district of Manhattan, Mott Corner appears, at first glance, indistinguishable from any other city deli. There’s an ATM by the front door, pastries by the cash register and bottles of beer behind sliding glass doors. In their sullied aprons, cooks prepare cheeseburgers and milkshakes.
Every night around 1 a.m., however, the deli becomes a hub of activity for Bangladeshi cabdrivers. The surrounding area has plenty of free parking and the establishment is open 24 hours, making it a reliable spot for a quick bathroom break. Usually dressed in button-down shirts, cabbies stand at the counter eating halal chicken curry or lentil soup, occasionally twisting to watch a TV tuned to Bangladeshi channels like NTV, Channel i and Cine Bangla (a Bollywood movie outlet).
Some read the “The Weekly Bangla Patrika,” a Bangladeshi newspaper that, alongside images of Will and Kate’s wedding, printed a photograph allegedly of the dead Osama bin Laden after he was killed. The headline: “The War Is Not Against Islam.” On the back page of the same issue was a blurb about a Bangladeshi cabdriver who drove two passengers 2,800 miles from New York to Los Angeles for $5,000. In the basement, room has been made for prayer mats among boxes of potato chips and Snapple.
Like most who take refuge at Mott Corner, Khondokar Akkas Ali works six days a week from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m., sharing the cost of leasing his cab with a daytime driver. Only some drivers have their own medallion — the badge recently valued at more than $600,000 that amounts to a license from the city to operate a taxi.
Ali, with graying hair and wearing large glasses and a blazer, said he came to the United States more than 25 years ago. Before he started driving a yellow cab — which he’s done for about six years — he worked as a customer service representative for AT&T. Now, to offset his driving income, Ali manages a small communications company offering cheap phone rates to Asia.
“If I hope to survive, then I have to do this job,” said Ali about cab driving. He used to work during the day but switched to nights in favor of the sparse vehicle traffic.
Many of the deli’s patrons speak in Bangla about everything from politics in their native country to the latest passenger to lose his dinner in the backseat. But not all this conversation ends in mere talk. As it turns out the New York Taxi Workers Alliance owes a lot to Mott Corner in the winter of 1998.
“One way or the other, the Taxi Alliance formed in the basement of Mott Corner,” said Mamnunul Haq, the organization’s co-founder and a cabdriver of 16 years originally from Bangladesh. “In the first meeting, we decided to have a union.”
Over the past decade, the Taxi Workers Alliance has strived to improve the lives of taxi drivers citywide. The alliance has tried to get tougher laws to protect cabbies against violence. (In 2005, a passenger stabbed Haq in the neck with a hunting knife, Haq said. He estimates the fare was around $6.40. The wound nearly killed him.)
Haq is not optimistic that a new fleet arriving in 2014 and comprised of the Nissan hybrid — winner of the Taxi of Tomorrow competition — will save cab drivers money with the rising cost of gas. The vehicles will require less gas, Haq said, adding, though, that he expects cabbies will be charged more to lease the hybrids than to rent the standard Crown Victoria model. “Only the people who own the medallion are saving money.”
At Mott Corner, cabs continue to gather and the drivers discuss their plight over plates of hot food. Mohammed Zaman, who has been driving a cab since 1998, said the deli helps its patrons miss home just a little bit less.
“It’s a Bangladeshi community,” Zaman said, adding that a lot of drivers without families of their own in the United States eventually find family at Mott Corner.
Oopsy-baby!
Credit: The Daily (www.thedaily.com)
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