WELCOME TO THE READING ROOM.

CRITICAL MASS UPDATE. The blog Sucka Pants reports on last night's ride. Maybe it is time for the City Council to go along for the ride.

THE POST-9/11 ENVIRONMENT. Remember how thick and smoky the air was around Ground Zero? "Every action taken by the EPA during this horrific event," says Christine Todd Whitman, "was designed to provide the most comprehensive protection and most accurate information to the residents of Manhattan." Yet EPA press releases were reassuring even though tests found dangerous levels of asbestos and other toxins. Kristen Lombardi continues coverage of the resulting lawsuit in The Village Voice.

THOSE MUSLIM MOBS (ANTI-CARTOON CONTINGENT). So what really triggered the "anti-cartoon" rioting? Also in The Village Voice, Nat Hentoff lays much of the blame at the feet of the Saudi-based Organization of the Islamic Conference, which, he says, seeks "to inhibit criticism of Islamic jihadism by threats of violence."

Photo: David Marc Fischer