Free Republic

Over the past 24 hours, the Internet has exploded with commentary and armchair analysis on the riots in Baltimore. The civil unrest started just hours after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a citizen whose spinal cord was injured “mysteriously” while in the back of a police van. Gray, an African American, died on April 19. At a press conference on Friday, BPD Commissioner Anthony Batts admitted at least one glaring failure of his department: that Gray did not get the medical care he ought to have received while in police custody. Batts, a self-described reformist, forcefully asserted that he’s doing...

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday outlined a pattern of bizarre and deceptive conduct by Bruce E. Ivins, an Army microbiologist who killed himself last week, presenting a sweeping but circumstantial case that he was solely responsible for mailing the deadly anthrax letters that killed five people in 2001. After nearly seven years of a troubled investigation, officials of the F.B.I. and the Justice Department declared that the case had been solved. Jeffrey A. Taylor, the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, said the authorities believed “that based on the evidence we had collected, we...

NEW YORK — A week into the cross-country launch of a radio talk show for "Godless infidels," the son of the late former President Ronald Reagan will be a guest. Ron Reagan will speak this weekend on Freethought Radio, which Air America Radio is now broadcasting nationally, about his own atheism.

According to documents released by the U.S. Justice Department, a dog trainer from Midland, Mich., may be responsible for planting evidence in at least three investigations, Local 4 reported. Sandra Anderson, of Midland, and her dog Eagle have become famous for their ability to find human remains. But Anderson is now part of a federal probe accusing her of planting evidence at crime scenes. The FBI began investigating Anderson in 2002 when she and Eagle went to Oscoda to look for the body of missing women. Police in the town apparently accused her of pulling some bones out of her...

<p>ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A dog trainer was convicted Friday of contracting defective bomb-sniffing dogs to the federal government. Russell Lee Ebersole, 43, of Hagerstown, Md., is the owner of a Virginia business that trains dogs to detect drugs and explosives. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he charged various government agencies more than $700,000 for the use of his dogs.</p>

FBI'S USE OF BLOODHOUNDS IN ANTHRAX PROBE DISPUTED ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Last Updated 29 Oct 2002 Source: Baltimore Sun, October 29, 2002. REVIEW & OUTLOOK FBI's use of bloodhounds in anthrax probe disputed Techniques: The three California handlers brought in by the bureau are viewed skeptically by many in their field. By Scott Shane, Sun Staff Three keen-nosed bloodhounds named Lucy, Knight and TinkerBelle, flown in by the FBI from Southern California late last summer to help with the anthrax investigation, are a major reason for agents' focus on former Army bioterrorism expert Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, according to sources with knowledge...

As the FBI began draining an entire pond today in its 20-month-old anthrax probe, investigators remained focused on one man in the hunt for the perpetrator, ABCNEWS' World News Tonight reported. And today's unusual move appears to be the FBI's last, best shot at proving what it so far has been unable to prove, that former government scientist Steven Hatfill was the anthrax killer. Five people died and more than a dozen others were sickened in the rash of anthrax attacks targeting Congress and media outlets in the fall of 2001. The decision to drain the pond in Maryland's Frederick...