By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com The FBI is continuing an investigation into an anthrax scare in Cleveland, reports WDEF.com. On Wednesday afternoon a letter containing white powder was found addressed to the Bradley County Circuit Court’s Office, but a mobile testing unit determined the substance was just talcum powder, according to WDEF. No one is sick…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The feds are getting out the check book to cover an anthrax lawsuit filed by the wife whose husband — a Florida tabloid photo editor — was killed in 2001 by an anthrax letter. The Associated Press reports that the U.S. government has agreed to pay widow Maureen Stevens $2.5 million…
Michael P. Kortan is the assistant director of Public Affairs for the FBI at headquarters in Washington. By Michael Kortan N.Y. Times Letter to the Editor WASHINGTON — I take issue with several points in your Oct. 18 editorial “Who Mailed the Anthrax Letters?” First, the National Academy of Sciences report concluded that the anthrax…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com An investigative report published by ProPublica points to some flaws in the FBI’s conclusion that Ft. Detrick, Md. scientist Bruce Ivins was the culprit who mailed the deadly anthrax in 2001. The investigation, conducted by ProPublica, PBS and McClatchy Newspapers, attempts to undercut a key theory that Ivins tried to deceive…
By WILLIAM J. BROAD and SCOTT SHANE New York Times A decade after wisps of anthrax sent through the mail killed 5 people, sickened 17 others and terrorized the nation, biologists and chemists still disagree on whether federal investigators got the right man and whether the F.B.I.’s long inquiry brushed aside important clues. Now, three…
OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST Column: ATF Gun Scandal Still Growing (NY Post) SWAT Team Kills Ft. Bragg Fugitive (Courthouse News Service) Medicare Fraud Cases Have Uncertain Future (Courthouse News Service) 2 Reserve Deputies Killed in Ok. in Crash (Policeone.com) Off-Duty Cop Thwarts Robbery, Shoots 4 Suspects (Policeone.com) CIA Operative Charged in Parking Spot Fight (AP)…
By Dan Vergano USA TODAY Anthrax-laced letters that killed five people, targeted U.S. senators and paralyzed post offices a decade ago have reshaped the nation’s biodefenses. While confidence is higher that the United States is better protected, there are continuing worries about potential threats in the coming era of “synthetic biology,” man-made designer microbes. Nationwide,…
By Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) Ashbury Park Press Ten years ago, America was a nation shaken by grief and terror. Nearly 3,000 people had perished in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and in the thwarted attack on the Capitol. Federal authorities were warning the public that additional al-Qaida “sleeper cells”…
