USA, Maryland, Baltimore, Inner Harbor, skyline from Federal Hill, sunrise. Credit: Walter Bibikow via Getty Images.
Two suspects in an attempted attack on Baltimore's electric grid have been arrested, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Unsealed court documents show that Sarah Clendaniel of Maryland and Brandon Russell of Florida are racist extremists who allegedly wanted to "completely destroy" Baltimore by shutting down its grid.
He started communicating with an FBI informant about the attack in December soon after being released from prison.
“Together, we are using every legal means necessary to keep Marylanders safe and to disrupt hate-fueled violence,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron during a press conference on Monday. “When we are united, hate cannot win.”
The arrests come amid a series of attempted attacks on power stations, as well as one successful one in North Carolina that cut power to 45,000 households. So far, no one has been arrested for that attack.
"In the last decade, we have increased our level of investment on grid hardening capital projects, and monitoring and surveillance technologies to work to prevent both physical and cyber-attacks," said Exelon and Baltimore Gas and Electric in a statement. "We remain focused on improving the resiliency of the grid by stocking critical back-up equipment while designing a smarter grid that isolates damage and routes power around it."
Complete sexual assault case folios containing intimate details were among more than 300,000 files dumped online in March after the 36,000-student Minneapolis Public Schools refused to pay a $1 million ransom. Other exposed data included medical records and discrimination complaints.
A 40-year-old accused of killing a man in a house and then gunning down four others in Philadelphia before surrendering to police officers was arraigned on murder and other charges on Wednesday.
The television actor Allison Mack, who pleaded guilty for her role in a sex-trafficking case tied to the cult-like group NXIVM, has been released from a California prison, according to a government website.
Five people were killed and two children were wounded in a shooting in Philadelphia as police arrested a suspect who was wearing a bulletproof arrest. Meanwhile in Fort Worth, Texas, three died and eight were hurt as police said several men were shooting at random near a festival celebrating July 4th.
Lawyers for Civil Rights, a nonprofit based in Boston, is filing the civil rights complaint on behalf of Black and Latino community groups in New England, alleging that Harvard’s admissions system violates the Civil Rights Act.