Radar screen.(brief articles concerning the transportation industry)(Brief Article)

House and Senate staff members appear to have agreed on identification and background checks for port workers, one of the thorniest portions in proposed port and maritime security legislation. The federal government will be responsible for screening port employees to make sure they are citizens or legal aliens, that they're not on a terrorist watch list, and whether or not they've committed one of a list of felonies compiled by the Department of Transportation. Employees may be disqualified, but the bill also will include an appeals process to consider mitigating circumstances--for example, a long-time employee with a drug bust in his distant past. The bill will also encourage ports to use the DOT Transportation Workers …