Author: Ring of Fire Staff

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is in charge of investigating the explosion at the West Fertilizer plant in Texas. The independent agency, which was also responsible for the investigation after the 2010 BP Gulf Oil Spill, has been faulted for its declining investigative processes. According to the Center for Public Integrity, “The number of board accident reports, case studies and safety bulletins has fallen precipitously since 2006, an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity found. Thirteen board investigations — one more than five years old — are incomplete.” The Chemical Safety Board was authorized by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,...

The Huffington Post confirmed that a court magistrate arraigned Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokar Tsarnaev, at his hospital bedside today, formally charging him with using weapons of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property, resulting in a death. If convicted of the federal charges, Tsaernav could face the death penalty or life in prison. Tsarnaev had regained consciousness and began sporadically responding to questions from federal investigators at his bedside in the intensive care unit at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino reported over the weekend that a gunshot wound to the throat...

A Mississippi man was arrested by the FBI Wednesday in connection with threatening letters sent to President Obama. 45-year-old Elvis impersonator, Paul Kevin Curtis, has been charged with making threats against the president, and is suspected of being the origin of letters containing a poisonous substance, thought to be ricin, to both the president and U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS). The letters, which were reportedly intercepted at a mail screening facility, initially tested positive for the presence of ricin, a poisonous substance naturally found in castor beans, and yesterday the FBI confirmed the presence of the poison. Off-site screening of White House mail has...

Twelve victims have been confirmed dead from the blast at West Fertilizer Co. that occurred on Tuesday in West, Texas. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) reported that as of today, sixty people are still unaccounted for and authorities are searching area hospitals for the missing. Two-hundred injuries have been reported and fifty homes were destroyed in the blast. Mayor Tommy Muska believes the number of casualties may rise. “We are still holding out some hope,” he said. The blast has devastated the small town of West, leaving nearby homes and businesses leveled and a community torn apart. Authorities are actively...

One police officer is dead and another is wounded after a car chase with the alleged Boston Marathon bombing suspects. The violent chase ended with one suspect dead and another alive and still at large. The chaos began when the suspects reportedly shot and killed Officer Sean Collier, 26, early Friday morning as he sat in his patrol car on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus. Police then responded to reports of a robbery at a local 7/11 convenience store in Watertown, Massachusetts. Afterward, the suspects hijacked a car and police gave chase. The suspects, identified by authorities...