If full-body scanners and TSA pat-downs make you feel uncomfortable, you now have an alternate option – for the hefty price of $85.

The Transportation Security Administration has launched a new program that will allow members to bypass regular airport security checkpoints. Those enrolled in the “trusted traveler” program, called TSA PreCheck, will no longer have to remove their shoes, jackets, and belts. Members can also keep their laptop computers in their bags.

Currently, only members of frequent-flier programs are given the opportunity to apply without paying a fee. But TSA Administrator John Pistole on Friday announced that all travelers will soon be able to join PreCheck – as long as they pay $85, provide identifying information, pass a background check, and undergo fingerprinting.

Pistole said that enrollment will be opened to the public later this year, and that he expects an additional 3 million people to sign up for PreCheck before the end of the year. About 12 million travelers are currently enrolled.

If his estimates are accurate, the TSA will reap about $255 million from the program in 2013.

Applicants must visit an enrollment site to undergo identification verification and fingerprinting. PreCheck enrollment will be launched at Washington Dulles International and Indianapolis International airports later this year.

“America’s travel community applauds TSA for making its highly successful trusted traveler program, PreCheck, more accessible to the traveling public,” U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said in a statement. “By expanding PreCheck enrollment options, today’s action by TSA will help speed more Americans safely through the U.S. air travel system while strengthening America’s aviation security. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

PreCheck passengers receive a Known Traveler Number that allows them to use special security lanes at more than 40 participating airports in the US.

Travelers have long complained that TSA agents take the security screenings too far, in some cases gropingpassengers. Carol Price, a 59-year-old woman who was trying to board a flight to Ohio, last summer complained that a TSA agent subjected her to a pat-down in which he groped her genital region and breasts.

Those who can afford the PreCheck program will in some cases have an easier time at security checkpoints.

But there’s a catch: PreCheck does not guarantee expedited screening, and all travelers are still subject to “random and unpredictable” security measures, the agency said in a statement. For the cost of $85, travelers can enter expedited security lines, but still be subjected to pat-downs and searches if they appear suspicious.

A homemade bomb was discovered hidden near a Brazilian shrine Pope Francis is scheduled to visit later this week, the military said Monday. The device was found in a parking garage bathroom inside the National Sanctuary of Aparecida in São Paulo state.

The Brazilian Air Force found the bomb, which they said was comparable to dynamite with a fuse, during a routine security sweep prior to the pope’s arrival. It was detonated without incident.

“It was a homemade device with little potential to cause fatalities,” the military said in a statement. “It is worth pointing out that such episodes formed part of our security forces’ training in Aparecida and at no point were civilians’ lives in danger.”

Police added that the bathroom is not located in an area likely to be used during Pope Francis’ visit.

Thousands of people lined the streets in Rio de Janeiro Monday, where Pope Francis arrived on the day to begin celebrations for World Youth Day. He will be in the mostly Catholic country from July 23-28.

DESERT HOT SPRINGS – This week, 40 supporters of Joe McKee met to discuss the state of the City.  McKee is running for a seat on the Desert Hot Springs City Council.  Chuck McDaniel opened his home to friends, neighbors and supporters of McKee.  The candidate received donations from the members of the San Bernardino/Riverside Counties Central Labor Council as well as from individual supporters in attendance.

“The City is in crisis,” McKee said.  “In the 2005-06 budget, we had 99 positions and spent $5.6 million, an average of $57,000 per full time employee.  By FY 2011-12, we had 56 positions.  We spent $10.2 million.  That means we spent an average of $181,428 per employee, or more than a 300% increase in payroll.”

“The citizens of the City are supporting a government that pays its staff 10 times our average Desert Hot Springs wage,” he continued.  “We need to cut expenses and not raise taxes.”

McKee answered questions and ended the evening in conversations with supporters.

Friends of DHS City Manager Rick Daniels can smile again, looks like Clackamas County Board of Commissioners picked Donald Krupp as Clackamas County Administrator.

The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners on Thursday selected Donald Krupp of Washington as Clackamas County Administrator.

Krupp had served as County Manager and Chief Administrative Officer for Thurston County, Washington since May 2001. He has extensive leadership experience in county government.

He will begin his new duties Monday Sept. 16. His selection followed a nationwide search.

Krupp replaces Steve Wheeler who left July 3.

An international agreement on protection of electronic data is needed, according to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, after Edward Snowden’s revelations that the US spied on Germany through its PRISM surveillance program. “If digital communication raises new questions worldwide, then we should take up the challenge. Germany is working for that,” Merkel told the weekly Welt am Sonntag. On Friday, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich asked Washington to provide detailed information on the NSA program, as Germans show anger that their emails, phone calls and web searches have been illegally intercepted.