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By Paige Sutherland Associated Press BOSTON » The man ar- rested near the Boston Mar- athon finish line carrying a backpack containing a rice cooker was sent to a state psychiatric facility for an evaluation Wednesday after an initial court appearance. Kevin "Kayvon" Edson, 25, was sent to Bridgewa - ter State Hospital and or- dered held on $100,000 bail at an appearance in Boston Municipal Court on charges of threatening battery, pos - session of a hoax explosive device, threats to commit a crime, disturbing the peace, disturbing a public assembly and disorderly conduct. He's due back in court May 7. Edson was arrested Tues - day hours after ceremonies to mark last year's Bos- ton Marathon bombings, in which two pressure cooker bombs hidden in backpacks exploded, killing three peo - ple near the finish line and injuring more than 260 oth- ers. The backpack incident rattled nerves days ahead of this year's marathon. Po - lice kept people away from the finish line area for about three hours Tuesday and trains bypassed the nearby Copley Square station. Edson, with addresses in Boston and Wakefield, was stopped late Tuesday af - ter passers-by told an of- ficer they saw him yelling, walking barefoot down the middle of a street, veiled in black, in pouring rain. His face was painted yellow and blue, the traditional col - ors of the marathon, police said. The street was open to pedestrians at the time, and police said his presence was not a security breach. The backpack was de - stroyed. Police determined that its contents were not explosive. According to a police report read aloud in court, after Edson was read his rights, he told an offi - cer: "I knew what I was do- ing, it was conceived in my head. It's symbolism, come on. The performance got the best of me." In a statement, his fam - ily said, "Our family is so sorry and emotionally over- whelmed by the events at the finish line of the Boston Mar- athon yesterday. To have this happen on the one-year anniversary of such a hor- rific crime is unfathomable." Edson's mother, Joie Ed- son, said her son has battled bipolar disorder for many years and his mental state has recently deteriorated. A second suspicious back - pack also was found Tues- day. Officers determined it had been left behind by a me- dia outlet and was not dan- gerous, but it too was de- stroyed. BOSTON Ma n ch ar ge d wi th m ar at ho n ho ax h el d on b ai l the AssociAted Press With his attorney, shannon Lopez, le, beside him, Kevin edson is arraigned in Boston Municipal court on Wednesday in Boston. edson was arrested near the Boston Marathon finish line carrying a backpack containing a rice cooker. By Jennifer Peltz Associated Press NEW YORK » Former New York Mayor Michael Bloom- berg plans to spend $50 million this year on a new group that will mix cam- paign contributions with field operations aimed at pulling 1 million gun-con- trol supporters to the polls, he announced Wednesday, adding a new dimension to his long-running fight for tighter firearms regulation. The new organization, Everytown for Gun Safety, plans to mobilize voters to back candidates and ballot measures supporting such causes as enhancing back - ground checks for gun buy- ers, according to a news re- lease. The group also plans to issue candidate question- naires and scorecards and form a political action com- mittee. "This new organization will bring more people into the fight against gun vio - lence, which affects every town in America," Bloom- berg said in a statement. The group will look closely at 15 states, including pro- gun states such as Texas, and other states where gun control initiatives have ad - vanced. The National Rifle Associ- ation had no immediate com- ment Wednesday but said it would respond at its annual meeting next week in India- napolis. The billionaire Bloomberg has used a combination of his wealth and his stature as the 12-year mayor of the nation's biggest city to become per - haps the country's most for- midable gun-control activist. It's a cause he cast in dra- matic terms in an interview published Tuesday night on The New York Times' web- site. Citing his work on gun safety, obesity and curbing smoking, he told the paper — with a smile: "If there is a God, when I get to heaven I'm not stopping to be in - terviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It's not even close." During his mayoral ten - ure, which ended last year, Bloomberg's administration set up gun-buying stings in other states to highlight what it said were illegal sales. He and former Bos - ton Mayor Thomas Menino founded Mayors Against Il- legal Guns, which spread its message through such means as a $12 million ad campaign last year; the group is now part of Every - town for Gun Safety. Meanwhile, Bloomberg made nearly $14 million in federal campaign contribu - tions for gun-control candi- dates in the 2012 elections alone. His super PAC spent more than $2 million in a 2013 Democratic primary in a special congressional election in Chicago, where his favored candidate got the seat. Bloomberg's efforts some - times spurred criticism that the New Yorker was butting into other people's politics, and gun-rights groups have portrayed him as overreach - ing and out of touch with the views of millions of gun own- ers. On hearing of Bloom- berg's new initiative, Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, told the Times: "He's got the money to waste. So I guess he's free to do so." Pratt didn't immediately return a call Wednesday. In a major setback for gun-control advocates, Pres - ident Barack Obama's plan for broader background checks and proposals for a ban on military-style assault rifles and limits on ammuni - tion capacity failed last year in Congress. A n Associated Press- G f K p ol l i n D e cem b er found 52 percent of Amer - icans favored stricter gun laws, 31 percent wanted them left as they are and 15 percent said they should be loosened. NEW YORK Bl oo mb er g pl an s $50 m il li on g un c on tr ol n et wo rk the AssociAted Press in this Aug. 19, 2013 file photo, then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, le, speaks at a news conference in New York where the announcement was made regarding the arrest of 19 people and seizure of 254 guns as part of gun smuggling between the carolinas and New York. By Darlene Superville Associated Press OAKDALE, PA. » Striving to show action on jobs, Pres- ident Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are trumpeting $600 million in new competitive grants to spur creation of targeted training and apprentice - ship programs that could help people land well-pay- ing jobs. Obama and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker arrived Wednesday after - noon in Pennsylvania, where Biden and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., were waiting to greet them. Obama and Biden were to make the grants an - nouncement at the Commu- nity College of Allegheny County West Hills Center in the western Pennsylvania borough of Oakdale. Administration officials say they hear from too many businesses that they cannot find skilled workers for jobs they need to fill. On top of that, officials say many people who are looking for work may be open to learning new skills but need assurance that a job will be waiting for them at the end of a training pro - gram. Obama and others in the administration often say community colleges are among the best sources for job training and say learn- on-the-job apprenticeship programs provide some of the most direct paths to well-paying jobs. Although the economy is improving, unemployment remains stubbornly high at 6.7 percent and Obama says more must be done to cre - ate jobs. T h e p r o g r a m s t h at Obama and his Pennsylva- nia-born vice president are announcing do not need ap- proval from Congress be- cause they will be paid for with money that lawmakers have already authorized for spending. In response to stiff resis - tance to his agenda from Re- publican lawmakers, Obama has made it a goal this year to take smaller steps on his own, without support from Congress, to benefit the economy, workers and oth - ers, and Wednesday's pro- gram fits that script. The larger of the two grant programs will put nearly $500 million toward a job training competition run by the Labor Department that is designed to encour - age community colleges, em- ployers and industry to work together to create training programs that are geared toward the jobs employers need to fill. Applications will be avail - able starting Wednesday. The training is part of an existing competitive grant program for community col - leges that prepare dislocated workers and others for jobs. A priority will be placed on partnerships that in - clude national entities, such as industry associations, that pledge to help design and institute programs that give job seekers a credential that will be recognized and accepted across a particular industry, signaling to an em - ployer what kind of work the holder can do. The Labor Department is also making an additional $100 million available for grants to reward partner - ships that expand appren- ticeship programs. Apprenticeships are used less widely in the U.S. than in some other countries, said administration officials, who also noted that nearly 9 out of 10 apprentices end up in jobs that pay average start - ing salaries of above $50,000 a year. The apprenticeship grant program will begin in the fall and focus, in part, on broad partnerships that create programs in high- growth fields, such as infor - mation technology, health care and advanced manu- facturing, as well as pro- grams that provide college credit or industr y-w ide skills certification. Obama earlier this year put Biden, who is a native of Scranton, Pa., in charge of a "soup-to-nuts" review of fed - eral job-training programs, and set a July 30 deadline for his report. House Republicans have complained that Biden's ef - fort is a waste of time be- cause the Government Ac- countability Office, the au- diting arm of Congress, has identified redundancies in a comprehensive review it completed in 2011. EmPLOYmENT Obama, Biden announce $600 million for job grants the AssociAted Press Vice President Joe Biden greets President Barack obama as he arrives to speak at community college of Allegheny county West hills center on Wednesday in oakdale, Pa. 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