The Federal Reserve, working to combat the effects of a severe credit crunch, announced Friday it had auctioned another $20 billion in funds to commercial banks at an interest rate of 4.67 percent. Fed officials pledged to continue with the auctions "for as long as necessary."


The central bank said it had received bids for $57.7 billion worth of loans, nearly three times the amount being offered, indicating continued strong interest in the Fed's new approach to providing money to cash-strapped banks.

It was the second of four scheduled auctions. The first auction, on Monday, of $20 billion resulted in loans being awarded at an interest rate of 4.65 percent. There were 93 bidders seeking $63.6 billion at the first auction and 73 at the second.

Two more auctions will occur in early January. In a statement Friday, the central bank said it would continue with further auctions "for as long as necessary to address elevated pressures in short-term funding markets."

The global credit crisis has made banks reluctant to lend to each other even as the Fed has been lowering its federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other for overnight loans.

The rate currently stands at 4.25 percent, a full percentage point lower than it was in September when the Fed began slashing rates in the wake of a severe credit squeeze that had roiled global markets in August.

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States to Track Drivers Through Licenses
A federal program promotes driving license technology that allows the tracking of motorists even when they are not driving.

Enhanced licenseElectronic monitoring of motorists will soon expand dramatically as states including Arizona, Michigan, Vermont and Washington begin to use radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in drivers' licenses. These electronic chips broadcast the identity of any card holder to any chip-reading sensor within a minimum of thirty feet. The US Department of Homeland Security is promoting the tracking projects as part of its Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

"Multiple cards can be read at a distance and simultaneously with vicinity RFID technology, allowing an entire car full of people to be processed at once," a DHS fact sheet on the Passport Card technology explained.

So-called enhanced drivers' licenses are designed to meet the DHS travel document requirements. Enhanced card holders will be allowed to travel across the border without a passport when new regulations take effect in January 2009. The enhanced licenses electronically store the motorist's name, date of birth, height, weight and identity number on the card. RFID readers use the identity number to access additional private information from a department of motor vehicles database.

Although the licenses will initially be offered on a voluntary basis, the National Motorists Association suggests that it will not take long for the program to become mandatory.

"The federal government just incentivizes their proposal so that each state, and by extension its citizens, feel like they have no choice but to go along with their program," the NMA stated today.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) warns that the move is another step toward a national identity card.

"DHS, Arizona, Vermont and Washington are creating these new ID cards in order to change the state driver's license in to a federal border security identification document," the EPIC website explained. "The license is pulled away from its original intent -- to ensure driving competence -- and used as a multi-use federal identification document that could easily be transformed into a national identity card."

Not every state is sold on the idea. The California State Senate voted in April to ban RFID drivers' licenses. The bill passed an Assembly committee by a 9-5 vote in July

Breathalyzer Tests Now The Law At N.J. High School
Pequannock Ratchets Up Alcohol Zero-Tolerance Policy
Jay Dow

PEQUANNOCK TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) ― When it comes to keeping our teenagers safe and sober, one New Jersey school district is taking the lead by employing the use of a Breathalyzer test.

And as CBS 2 HD found out, it's become such a successful deterrent, students are passing with flying colors.

Keeping high school students sober can be, in some situations, a full time job.

"I personally got Breathalyzed," said student Jessica Forrest.

At Pequannock High School.

Getting checked for alcohol is now the rule at dances and other social events.

"I'm all for it because if your child isn't doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to hide," parent Barbara Fede said.

Pequannock School District superintendent Dr. Larrie Reynolds said some students' recent behavior left the district no choice.

"It actually came to a head when last year at the graduation senior trip, that we had students who actually couldn't graduate as a result of their drinking," school board member Dr. Larrie Reynolds said.

Pequannock also has an active Breathalyzer test, similar to what would be used during a police traffic stop. It's a little more intrusive, but administrators believe it sends a clear message about their zero-tolerance policy on alcohol abuse.

So far it has worked, and now other districts are following Pequannock's lead.

In fact, Southington High School in Connecticut expanded the program for daily use when a student is suspected of drinking.

"In the world of high school students, any alcohol rating is a reading that is inappropriate," Superintendent Joseph Mirardi said.

Pequannock school officials say because their limited Breathalyzer use has been so effective, they aren't willing to take the program that far just yet.

"We'll leave that for somebody else to decide," Reynolds said. "We're really not going into that area."

However frequently it's used.

"I don't think people will like, drink anymore," Pequannock student Erika Vecchiet said.

It seems the Breathalyzer has at least cleared the air about who is -- and who is not -- welcome at school.

Pequannock school officials say they avoided running into any privacy issues by making students sign a contract which states they must submit to a Breathalyzer if they want to attend a school social event.