The men, all Muslims from the Virginia area, allegedly contacted militants over the Internet via Facebook and YouTube. All pleaded not guilty.

The five went missing in November and led a frantic chill down the FBI’s spine as their parents came forward to inform authorities of a farewell video that showed scenes of war and rants that Muslims must be defended.

The defense attorney for the young men, ages 18-25, plans to show during the March 31 trial that the men were heading to Afghanistan with no plans to stage attacks.

Naeem Baig, vice president for public affairs and the executive director for the Council of Social Justice at the Islamic Circle of North America, an organization linked to the five men, informed The Klaxon in January that ICNA has no affiliation to the five’s activities.

“ICNA is an American Muslim organization and we don’t have ties with any kind of organization outside the U.S.,” he said.

Baig said in January that ICNA did have contact with the five men—Umar Farooq, Waqar Khan, Ahmed Minni, Aman Hassan Yemer and Ramy Zamzam—before they left for Pakistan.

“We won’t say we don’t know them,” said Baig. “These five young men were from the area (Washington, D.C.) and ICNA has a center in that area where they were regular participants in the prayers.”

This case furthers exemplifies the growing problem of domestic terrorism in the U.S.

In the past six months, the claims made by the U.S. government regarding this very topic—and the cases that have evolved—have been unnerving to say the least.

In September, Najibullah Zazi was arrested after allegedly driving to New York with plans to bomb the city’s subway system.

In November, five Virgnia-area men go missing to allegedly plan “jihad,” according to reports. Then, in the same month, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hassan shoots dead 13 at Fort Hood.

Meanwhile, the FBI and authorities in Minneapolis acknowledge young men have been recruited by al-Shabaab and 14 are charged on terror-related activities.

In December, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound airline on Christmas Day. He met with Anwar al-Awlaki, an imam in Yemen with ties to mosques in the U.S.

Then, earlier in this year, the Obama Administration has said that they have no idea how many U.S. citizens have traveled to Middle East countries for school studies, disappeared from view and still hold legal passports.

In March, Colleen LaRose, aka “Jihad Jane,” was arrested after spending almost a year online, collaborating with a terrorist advisor on an assassination plot with al-Qaeda in Switzerland.

Also this month, the fiasco surrounding Adam Gadhan’s arrest—we have him, we don’t—sparked controversy with his ties back to California. And then a Colorado-based woman was held in Ireland on terror-related activities. (She later was released.)

To someone not familiar with terrorism, it seems lately there has been too much volatile activity.

Brian Michael Jenkins, a senior adviser to the president of the RAND corporation, a nonprofit that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis, wrote in an op-ed to AOL News, “Keep in mind … what hasn’t happened since 9/11. There’s been no sustained jihadist terrorist campaign in the United States. The local Muslim community has rejected overwhelmingly its appeals and has actively intervened to dissuade those with more radical tendencies from violence. Domestic intelligence efforts have been expanded and improved and, thus far, have succeeded in thwarting all but two attacks. This has contributed to a deterrent effect.”

While this might be true, it’s still not a surety to the American people.

The fact that these five men in Pakistan now formally are charged is somewhat of a relief to most, but it’s also a reality to many that this is a growing trend.

As a nation, the government must show they are in a fight they can win. This is not just at the federal level, but also at the state and local level—and even lies with every citizen.

The more vigilant people become and the more courage they have to speak up and say something, the better our chances of avoiding the consequences of saying nothing at all.

After all, what if the parents of Farooq, Khan, Minni, Yemer and Zamzam remained silent? The U.S. is most likely lucky it didn’t have to investigate that answer.

Gov. Deval Patrick said the visit by representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration is part of the state’s effort to make its case for federal disaster assistance.

The governor also is  asking residents who have suffered storm-related losses to document the damage.

“Make photographs, or a videotape,” Patrick said. “Make a claim to your insurance company in the first instance, and then for any uninsured claims, coordinate with your local emergency management officials so we can gather that information, aggregate it, and make it a part of our case.”

Patrick says he has contacted Sens. John Kerry and Scott Brown, who have promised to help with the state’s case for federal assistance.

Though federal officials surveyed damage Wednesday, the governor credits state and local emergency agencies with keeping the storm’s human toll low.

“No one was hurt, or hurt seriously in this, which is a wonderful thing and a minor miracle, considering the force and flow of some of the water,” Patrick said.

The storm caused serious flooding in parts of the state and hampered transportation routes, including a washed-out subway track bed along the Green Line’s D branch in Newton that has suspended service.

Joe Pesaturo, of the MBTA, says crews have already pumped the flood water out of the 60-foot-wide hole under the track and are bringing in material to fill the hole.

“The work crews will stay on the site 24-7 to get this job done as soon as possible,” Pesaturo said. “Everyone is working toward the goal of having full D branch Green Line service restored in time for the Monday morning commute.”

Pesaturo says the most important work is installing a 250-foot drain pipe alongside the track that would prevent flood water from destroying the track bed again.

While service is suspended, the MBTA is busing passengers between the Newton Highlands and Resevoir stations.

Patrick says homeowners with questions about storm assistance should call the state’s hot-line, 211.

WBUR’s Steve Brown contributed from the State House.

As many state and local government workers get the day off, or are given a floating vacation day to use at another time, efforts to repeal the two holidays are active at the State House. But such efforts are meeting resistance.

A Republican-sponsored measure to eliminate the holidays was sent to a study committee — a sort-of legislative “purgatory” where bills are sent to die. State Sen. Michael Knapik, R-Westfield, is one of the bill’s sponsors. He said doing away with the holidays would save the state $5 million.

“With all the cuts that government is making, and raising a billion dollars in taxes last year, I think holding on to this one is just a fool’s errand if you ask me,” Knapik said.

Last year, a similar piece of legislation failed when the state’s House of Representatives produced a 78-78 tie vote. The vote was similarly close in the Senate. Sen. Knapik is currently looking at other ways to get the question before the full Legislature.

Evacuation Day commemorates March 17, 1776, when British troops retreated from the Continental Army, which was massing in South Boston.

On March 12, 1941, Massachusetts Gov. Leverett Saltonstall signed a bill to make March 17 a holiday in Suffolk County. The law does not mention Evacuation Day by name, only specifying that the date will be a legal holiday.

Related Link:

• With a signature in green, St. Patrick’s Day became a holiday

After his public apology on Feb. 19, shown here, Tiger Woods announced this week that he will return to golf at April’s Masters Tournament. (AP)

BOSTON — Oh, basketball’s a great big deal. The tournaments are on…
the spectacles that many have been known to bet upon.
And baseball’s almost ready to commence again I’ve heard,
so it would seem, if not insane, at least somewhat absurd
that this week’s largest story is concerned with who will play
in one of golf’s premier events that’s still three weeks away.

But this event’s the Masters, and the “who” is Tiger Woods,
and who among us doesn’t wonder, “Will he bring the goods?”
To say he’s been distracted is potentially quite blue,
but who among us doesn’t wonder what the guy will do
when he returns to golf, the game that won him all his glory
before his liaisons became an even bigger story?
It shouldn’t be that way, of course, we prob’ly shouldn’t care
what Tiger did with whom and when and why he’d even dare
to risk the great façade that he and all his handlers built,
as he pursued the record set by Wilt the former stilt…
We may shout “Shame!” and “What a jerk!” but secretly we read
about the women — bet you knew this line would end in “bed.”
But, hey, you get the point, we couldn’t really look away
as story after story broke of Tiger Woods at play.

The chairman of the Masters is a guy named Billy Payne,
and he has welcomed Tiger back, and so I guess his brain
has turned to mush or oatmeal, for the Masters now will be
the destination of tabloids and those in TV
who do not know a birdie from a bogey or par,
but know that Tiger’s news no matter what his numbers are.

Will all this end up badly with commotion on the links?
With Tiger taking some girl in the gallery for drinks?
Or will he, like a stoic, just ignore the hungry press
that’s rooting for a story, even if it is a mess,
and perch atop the leader board, as he was wont to do
before the deal went down? We really haven’t got a clue.
Will all the bads in this long story bury all the goods?
The Masters will take up again the tale of Tiger Woods.

The bipartisan 68-29 vote in the Senate sends the legislation to the White House, where President Obama has promised to sign it into law.

It will be the first of several election-year jobs bills promised by Democrats to be enacted into law, though there’s plenty of skepticism that the measure will do much to actually create jobs. Optimistic estimates predict the tax break could generate perhaps 250,000 jobs through the end of the year, but that would be just a tiny fraction of the 8.4 million jobs lost since the start of the recession.

The measure is part of a campaign by Democrats to show that they are addressing the nation’s unemployment problem, but that message was overshadowed by Congress’ feverish final push to pass health care overhaul legislation by this weekend.

The bill which passed Wednesday contains about $18 billion in tax breaks and a $20 billion infusion of cash into highway and transit programs. Among other things, it exempts businesses that hire the unemployed from paying the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax through December and gives employers an additional $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year. Taxpayers will have to reimburse Social Security for the lost revenue.

“This is just the first, certainly not the last, piece of legislation that we will put forward in relation to jobs,” said sponsor Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “If we don’t create jobs, the economy will not move forward.”

It also extends highway and mass transit programs through the end of the year and pump in $20 billion in time for the spring construction season. That money would make up for lower-than-expected gasoline tax revenues.

The measure is modest compared with last year’s $862 billion economic stimulus bill, and the bulk of the hiring tax breaks would probably go to companies that were likely to hire new workers anyway.

Much of the bill is financed over the coming decade by cracking down on offshore tax havens, though it would add $13 billion to the debt in the coming three years.

“When are we going to stop spending money around here as if there’s no tomorrow?” said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. “Because pretty soon there’s going to be no tomorrow for our children as we add this debt to their backs.”

In addition to the hiring tax incentives and highway funding, the bill extends a tax break for small businesses buying new equipment and modestly expands an initiative that helps state and local governments finance infrastructure projects.

A far larger measure that would extend health insurance subsidies and jobless checks for the unemployed is in the works but has hit slow going. That measure has passed both House and Senate but is hung up as the rival chambers wrangle over how to partially finance the legislation, which also would extend a variety of tax breaks for individuals and businesses.

As a result, it may require a third temporary extension of unemployment benefits, which would otherwise expire at the end of this month.

The Senate vote comes as the House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to vote on a bill Wednesday that lawmakers hope will generate jobs through infrastructure spending and tax cuts for investing in some small businesses. The bill would exempt long-term investments in certain small businesses from capital gains taxes, and would expand the Build America Bonds program, which subsidizes interest costs paid by local governments when they borrow for construction projects.

The bond program would be extended through June 2013, at a cost of $7.6 billion. The entire bill would cost about $17 billion over the next decade.

Much of the bill would be paid for by limiting the ability of multinational corporations to avoid U.S. withholding taxes by shifting assets among foreign countries. The bill would also make it easier for the federal government to withhold payments from government contractors that owe back taxes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal Emergency Management Agency Mission Support Associate Administrator David Garratt, left, and Region VI Regional Administrator Tony Russell, second from left, testify March 16 about the resources and initiatives needed to ensure strong FEMA regional offices before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response. (Bill Koplitz/FEMA)

View more here.

And they are starting with another Kennedy seat. In Rhode Island, The Shawmut Group is helping Republican candidate John Loughlin in his campaign to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy.

Politico’s senior White House correspondent, Mike Allen, joined WBUR recently to discuss what GOP strategists could adopt from the so-called “Brown model.”

“(Brown’s strategy) could not be more inviting at a time when people don’t like Washington, don’t like dynasties,” Allen said. “The idea of something fresh coming in is tailor-made.”

• Listen: WBUR’s interview with Politico’s Mike Allen

The mood, exemplified by the contest, was buoyant at the 28th annual seafood show. That’s because this industry, unlike others in the floundering economy, is doing well.

• Listen: WBUR’s Monica Brady-Myerov pays a visit to the seafood show

Hoyer’s Republican counterpart, Rep. Eric Cantor, acknowledged that such a process is permissible under House rules. Under the procedure, a Senate-passed health bill would be “deemed” to have passed if House members voted in favor of a rule governing a separate bill with amendments to it.

Cantor, R-Va., said he couldn’t understand why Democrats would use such a parliamentary detour with a bill of this magnitude and reach.

Asked on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to say if he had the 216 votes necessary to pass the legislation in the House, Hoyer, D-Md., replied, “I don’t have a precise number. Having said that, we think we’ll get the votes. … We think we will have the votes when the roll is called.”

Appearing on the same show, Cantor asserted: “They don’t have the votes yet … The problem is, there’s still a lot of uncertainty surrounding this bill. The American people think there’s a better way.”

The partisan parrying has increased in intensity in the past few days as President Obama and House and Senate Democratic leaders have increased pressure to at last resolve the health care issue, which has been before the Congress for over a year. Obama is due to leave Sunday on a trip to Asia, and he has said he wanted it finished by then.

In the interview Wednesday, Hoyer, D-Md., maintained that support for the 10-year, $1 trillion health care remake has gone up in recent weeks.

“We’re going to have a clean up or down vote on the Senate vote,” he said. “That will be on the rule. … This is not an unusual procedure.”

Cantor retorted that “this is a process that you can avoid a direct up or down vote on a bill.”

Democratic Party chairman Tim Kaine voiced confidence on NBC’s “Today” show that the bill will pass, saying “we’re in the last throes of labor before something good happens. … We’re not taking anything for granted but we feel good about the outcome.”

Asked if “deem and pass” is being used to provide cover for Democrats worried about voting for the measure, Kaine replied, “I don’t think there’s any cover to be found. Everyone’s accountable.”

At stake is a bill that would cover some 30 million uninsured people, end insurance practices such as denying coverage to those with a pre-existing conditions, require almost all Americans to get coverage by law and try to slow the cost of medical care nationwide. The comprehensive legislation could affect nearly every American, from those undergoing annual checkups to people facing major surgery.

Activists on both ends of the political spectrum are energized. Tea party volunteers, who rallied Tuesday in Washington, are planning to flood congressional offices with e-mails opposing the legislation as a step toward socialism. And some on the political left have joined in calling for the bill’s defeat because it leaves out a federal insurance option.

White House aides said Obama and senior advisers are making clear to lawmakers that they will not be left standing alone in a difficult election year if they cast a tough vote for health care overhaul. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meetings.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is trying to keep wavering lawmakers in line, meeting with them individually and in groups. And she summoned female Democrats to her office for a meeting Wednesday morning.