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.
NBC reported that Russell is the founder of a neo-Nazi group called Atomwaffen Division, which the Southern Poverty Law Center said is committed to bringing about the collapse of civilization.
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."
Ashkan Bayatpour was convicted Wednesday of a state misdemeanor charge of assault and battery in a case that was remarkable for breaking through the CIA’s veil of ultra-secrecy and playing out in a public courtroom where it has emboldened a sexual misconduct reckoning.
Four people were arrested Wednesday in connection with the kidnapping of newborn twins in Detroit.
North Korea's second attempt to launch a spy satellite into orbit failed.
A pre-trial detention was extended for The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich until Nov. 30 by Moscow.
Authorities in Oklahoma have named convicted BTK serial killer Dennis Rader as the prime suspect in two unsolved cases.
The bodies of Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and some of his top lieutenants killed in a Russian jet crash on Wednesday were sent to a nearby facility for medical and forensic analysis, according to Russian media.
Cheddar News checks in with a coast-to-coast forecast of the weather for Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023.
A scowling Donald Trump posed for a mug shot Thursday as he surrendered inside a jail in Atlanta on charges that he illegally schemed to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, creating a historic and humbling visual underscoring the former president's escalating legal troubles.
The former New York City mayor, charged as former President Donald Trump's chief co-conspirator in a plot to subvert the 2020 election, is charged with Trump and 17 other people under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
The 4-1 ruling Wednesday departs from the court's own decision earlier this year to strike down a similar law from 2021.
