Sheriff Russ Isham of Marion County declined to release the suspect's name, saying it would jeopardize the integrity of the investigation and the safety of officers still working the case.

"We do believe the person responsible for the bombing is in custody," Deputy District Attorney Courtland Geyer said late Sunday.

The suspect was arrested in Salem, located just south of Woodburn, the small city south of Portland where Friday's bombing occurred.

Officers made the arrest shortly after Sheriff Russ Isham of Marion County released surveillance photos of a "person of interest." Geyer would not say if a tip led to the arrest.

He also wouldn't disclose if the man in the photos, apparently taken with a security camera, is the same person in custody.

Isham would not release the precise location where the arrest took place, and said the suspect's name likely wouldn't be released until Monday afternoon.

"I'm really proud of those who tirelessly worked to get us to this point and am humbled by the community's support," Isham said. "We know there is still a lot of hard work ahead of us, but this development will help bring relief to the local community and the officer's families."

The court issued a one-line denial of an appeal by contractors who worked at the Hanford nuclear reservation. The contractors — E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., General Electric Co. and UNC Nuclear Industries Inc. — were challenging a lower-court ruling last spring that sided largely with the plaintiffs.

The people exposed to radiation lived in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and Idaho, downwind of Hanford, as the U.S. government was developing atomic bombs in the 1940s.

The government did not disclose until 1986 that radiation had been released at the site, and since then the "downwinders" have sought compensation for thyroid cancer and other conditions they believe were caused by the exposure.

"This is very exciting for us," Richard Eymann, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers in the long-running case, told The Spokesman-Review of Spokane. "With a new administration coming in, we want a serious look at compensation for these people after years of litigation."

So far, the plaintiffs have not agreed to a settlement offer by the contractors that would compensate them based on the amount of radiation they likely received and the illnesses they have, said Kevin Van Wart, lead attorney in Chicago for the Hanford contractors.

In a 5-4 split won by the court's liberals, it ruled that smokers may use state consumer protection laws to sue cigarette makers for the way they promote "light" and "low tar" brands.

The decision was at odds with recent anti-consumer rulings that limited state regulation of business in favor of federal power.

Altria Group Inc. argued on behalf of its Philip Morris USA subsidiary that the lawsuits are barred by the federal cigarette labeling law, which forbids states from regulating any aspect of cigarette advertising that involves smoking and health.

Justice John Paul Stevens, however, said in his majority opinion that the labeling law does not shield the companies from state laws against deceptive practices. The decision forces tobacco companies to defend dozens of suits filed by smokers in Maine, where the case originated, and across the country.

Lautenberg spokesman Scott Mulhauser says the senator was an investor in Madoff's investment fund — primarily in the form of the Lautenberg family's charitable foundation.

The 70-year-old Madoff was arrested Thursday in what prosecutors say was a $50 billion scheme by the Wall Street veteran to defraud investors.

Lautenberg is among a growing roster of potential victims. Those who have acknowledged potential losses so far include former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and J. Ezra Merkin, the chairman of GMAC Financial Services, among others.

The justices did not comment Monday in turning down Hatfill's appeal of a unanimous ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va. A three-judge panel affirmed a lower court's dismissal of the libel claims on the grounds that Hatfill is a public figure and failed to prove that columns written by Nicholas Kristof were malicious.

Circumstantial evidence led the FBI to suspect Hatfill was involved in the anthrax attacks that killed five people and sickened 17 just weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft publicly identified Hatfill, who worked at the Army's infectious diseases laboratory at Ft. Detrick, Md., from 1997 to 1999, as a "person of interest" in the investigation.

In June, the Justice Department agreed to pay Hatfill $5.8 million to settle a lawsuit claiming officials violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.

No one has been charged in the attacks, although the government now believes another Army scientist, Bruce Ivins, was responsible. Ivins killed himself in July.