Army chief: Human error probably was not the cause of mistaken anthrax shipments
WASHINGTON — Human error probably was not a factor in the Army’s mistaken shipment of live anthrax samples to numerous U.S. government and commercial laboratories in the U.S. and in South Korea, the Army’s top general said Thursday.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, told reporters the problem may have been a failure in the technical process of killing, or inactivating, anthrax samples. The process in this case “might not have completely killed” the samples as intended before they were shipped, he said.
Odierno said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating that aspect of what went wrong at Dugway Proving Ground, the Army installation in Utah that sent the anthrax to government and commercial labs in at least nine states across the U.S. and to an Army lab in South Korea.
The general said he was not aware that such a problem had surfaced previously at Dugway.
Hastert indicted on bank-related charges
CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors announced bank-related charges against former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Thursday, accusing the 73-year-old Illinois Republican of structuring the withdrawal of $952,000 in cash in order to evade the requirement that banks report cash transactions over $10,000. He’s also accused of lying to the FBI.
Each count of the indictment carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago.
From 2010 to 2014, Hastert withdrew a total of approximately $1.7 million in cash from various bank accounts and provided it to a person identified only as Individual A, according to the indictment.
In December last year, “Hastert falsely stated that he was keeping the cash” when questioned by the FBI, the prosecutor’s statement says.
Popular LA-area beaches closed to swimming, surfing after oil globs wash ashore
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — Popular beaches along nearly 7 miles of Los Angeles-area coastline were off-limits to surfing and swimming Thursday as scientists looked for the source of globs of tar that washed ashore.
The sand and surf on south Santa Monica Bay appeared virtually free of oil after an overnight cleanup, but officials weren’t sure if more tar would show up. They planned to assess during low tide at midday.
U.S. Coast Guard and state officials said samples of tar and water would be analyzed to identify where it originated, but it could take days to get the results. Nothing has been ruled out, including last week’s coastal oil spill that created a 10-square-mile slick about 100 miles to the northwest off the Santa Barbara County coast.
By wire sources
