Author: Ring of Fire Staff

The Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT) at Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe, GA has been accused of conspiring with the Deputy Warden to assault prison inmates. The Department of Justice reported on Tuesday that seven former members of the CERT team, Christopher Hall, Ronald Lach, Jr., Delton Rushin, Kerry Bolden, Derrick Wimbush, Kadarius Thomas, and Tyler Griffin, along with Deputy Warden James Hinton, allegedly conspired to assault inmates and covered up their misconduct by filing false reports as well as feeding investigators misleading information. In 2011, a Macon State Prison inmate filed a lawsuit after he was brutally beaten by corrections...

Update 5:00 p.m.: As the fires subside, investigators are diligently working to uncover the causes of last night’s deadly explosion at a West Fertilizer Co. (West) plant in West, Texas. The number of injured and dead are still unconfirmed. A report by West, which was filed with local officials and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the ammonia investigation of 2006, was leaked to the Dallas Morning News earlier today. In the emergency planning report, which is required by the EPA of all facilities that use toxic or hazardous chemicals, the company affirms that the West fertilizer plant posed...

The proposed bill for the expansion of gun background checks is dead in the Senate after the amendment fell six votes short of the 60 needed for a majority vote yesterday, preventing the bill from breaking a Republican filibuster with a 54-46 vote. The bill, which was initially proposed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), would have expanded background checks on firearm purchasers, including those at gun shows and online sales. According to national polls, a majority of Americans were in  favor of the bill, making its failure in the Senate a notable loss for...

Around 8 p.m. CST last night, an explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Co. plant 20 miles outside of Waco, Texas. It has been reported that between five and 15 people were killed in the blast, among them, three to five volunteer fire fighters and a law enforcement officer. There are believed to be more than 160 injured. The explosion reportedly had the force of a small earthquake, and could be heard from surrounding cities as far as Arlington (80.9 miles). The explosion completely decimated the plant and leveled entire blocks of neighborhoods for miles around the site. Speaking to the Associated Press, Waco...

In another Republican-led attempt to repress education, Ohio approved a budget bill on Tuesday that will ban sexual education that “condones gateway sexual activity,” and allow parents to sue teachers who “promote” gateway sexual activity, defined as “any touching of an erogenous zone of another.” Naturally, to the convoluted conservative mind, education becomes “advocation,” as if sex ed teachers go about showering students with condoms and birth control and encouraging them to let loose. Essentially, the measure would prevent students from being taught straightforward and accurate sex education, and prohibit teachers from distributing certain educational materials as well as prevent access...