Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Dismissal of Suit Over Anthrax Stories Upheld

A federal appeals court Monday upheld the dismissal of former Army scientist Steven Hatfill's libel lawsuit against the New York Times over a series of columns that he said implicated him in the 2001 anthrax attacks.

A three-judge panel of the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit sided unanimously with the newspaper, agreeing with a federal judge in Alexandria who ruled that Hatfill qualified as a public figure and did not demonstrate that the Times acted with malice.

Hatfill, a bioterrorism expert who formerly worked at the Army Medical Institute of Infectious Disease at Fort Detrick, alleged that columns by Nicholas Kristof published in 2002 defamed him and caused him emotional distress. He has denied involvement in the mailings of anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and infected 17 others in the month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In 2002, federal law enforcement officials, including then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, called Hatfill a "person of interest" in the investigation. Hatfill then sued various Justice Department officials, including Ashcroft.

Woman Admits Pa. ID Theft

PHILADELPHIA -- A 22-year-old woman will probably face six years in prison after admitting that she and her boyfriend pulled off a brazen identity-theft scheme that funded trips, fancy dinners and expensive salon visits. Travel photos show Jocelyn Kirsch and ex-beau Edward Anderton, a onetime Ivy League swimmer, posing in matching red swimsuits by a luxury hotel pool and kissing near the Eiffel Tower. Kirsch and Anderton, 25, acknowledge they stole the identities of friends and neighbors in the Philadelphia area in 2006 and 2007 to net more than $116,000 in goods and services -- and tried to obtain twice that.

Marine Charged in Wife's Death

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The husband of an Army nurse at Fort Bragg was charged with murder, a day after her body was discovered by authorities. Marine Cpl. John Wimunc, 23, was also charged with first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson in the death of his wife, Army 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc of Dubuque, Iowa. Her body was found Sunday, three days after a suspicious fire at her Fayetteville apartment.

Cities Losing Manhole Covers

FLINT, Mich. -- City officials have had to replace hundreds of manhole covers and grates that they say were probably stolen and sold for scrap. Nearly 400 cast-iron covers and grates have been taken from streets in the past year, leaving behind holes up to 35 feet deep, the Flint Journal reported. A cover can fetch $20 from a scrap yard but can cost the city more than $200 to replace. Officials in neighboring Burton say they have lost about 200 covers and grates during the same period.

-- From News Services