Homegrown terrorists’ arraigned in court

MIAMI – Seven young men arrested in an alleged plot against the Sears Tower were part of a group of “homegrown terrorists” who sought to work with al-Qaida but ended up conspiring with an informant, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Friday.

Outlining an alleged plot to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago and a federal building in Miami, Gonzales told a Justice Department news conference: “They were persons who for whatever reason came to view their home country as the enemy.”

Gonzales stressed that “there was no immediate threat” in either Chicago or Miami because the group didn’t have the materials it was seeking. FBI Deputy Director John Pistole concurred, saying, “This group was more aspirational than operational. . .

Civil Rights Attorney Indicted

Stephen Yagman, the prominent civil rights attorney who has zealously challenged police brutality for more than a quarter century, has been indicted on charges of income tax evasion, it was announced today.

A 19-count indictment, returned by a federal grand jury on June 1, was unsealed this morning after Yagman, of Venice, completed representing a client in an unrelated trial.

The 61-year-old lawyer surrendered and is expected to make his first court appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. . .