CENTRAL OREGON — A proposed Plan of Exploration (POE) to explore geothermal resources on the Deschutes National Forest was recently approved by Prineville BLM District Manager Deborah Henderson-Norton. Although the exploratory project is located on Forest Service administered lands, the BLM is the lead agency responsible for management and administration of federal geothermal leases and subsurface activities. The POE was submitted by Davenport Power, LLC, Operator for Northwest Geothermal Corp. to conduct geothermal exploration on ... [full story]

ATLANTA -- Two airline passengers have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle a number of knives and box cutters aboard a plane at the Atlanta airport.The incident took place last week when baggage screeners spotted 20 small knives, several box-cutter blades and a large “Chinese-style fighting knife” in their luggage, WAGA-TV in Atlanta reported Thursday.Atlanta police said the knives had been wrapped in foil while the blades were secreted in the battery compartment of ... [full story]

BERLIN -- The Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany acknowledged its founding leadership contained members of ex-Nazi police forces.Jorg Zierke, chief of the Federal Criminal Police Office, known by its German abbreviation BKA, said at a conference examining the organizations Nazi history, “It is only through debate about our past that we can map out our future in a responsible way,” Deutsche Welle reported Thursday.The BKA previously obscured its Nazi past, stating at the organization's ... [full story]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- A federal appeals court panel has ordered Illinois' former Republican governor, George Ryan, to report to prison Nov. 7 to begin serving a 6 ½ year sentence. Ryan, 73, who served one-term as governor from 1999 to 2003, was convicted on federal corruption charges in April 2006 after a six-month trial. He was accused of accepting cash, gifts and vacations from friends and lobbyists in return for state contracts. He and co-defendant ... [full story]

JERUSALEM -- A rights group petitioned Israel's High Court on Thursday to stop the military from performing anthrax vaccine experiments on soldiers.Physicians for Human Rights filed one petition, while a second was filed by a group of soldiers seeking to be recognized as casualties of the experiments, Ynetnews.com reported.From 1999 to 2006, some 800 soldiers underwent vaccinations of a vaccine developed in the United States and the rights group claimed in their petition scientific errors ... [full story]

TOGLIATTI, Russia, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A suspect has been identified in a deadly bus bombing in the southern Russian city of Togliatti, Russian investigators said Thursday.Inspector Alexander Bastrykin said a man's apartment had been searched and bomb parts that "could have been used for the preparation of a homemade explosive device," had been found, the Novosti news agency reported.The blast on a city bus during Wednesday's morning rush hour killed eight people and injured ... [full story]

NEW YORK -- Prosecutors dropped murder charges in a New York case against a retired FBI supervisor after a journalist’s interview indicated a lead witness perjured herself.Prosecutors had charged Roy Lindley DeVecchio, 67, with aiding in the slayings of four organized crime informers. The charges alleged that DeVecchio gave an informer, Gregory Scarpa of the Colombo crime family, orders to kill other informers and providing Scarpa with information about pending arrests, The New York Times ... [full story]

LOS ANGELES -- The driver of a pickup truck has been cleared as a suspect in one of the wildfires that raged through Southern California last month.Authorities in Orange County had been looking for the owner of a white Ford truck in connection with the Santiago fire, which consumed 15 homes and more than 28,500 acres and was still burning Thursday.The Orange County Register said the driver had cooperated with investigators and was eliminated as ... [full story]

MIAMI -- The Bahamas braced for a soaking from Tropical Storm Noel, which killed scores of people on Hispaniola, as South Florida was pummeled by winds and high surf.At 5 a.m., the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Noel's center was located about 115 miles southwest of Nassau and about 180 miles southeast of Miami, moving north near 6 mph. Tropical storm force winds extended 130 miles from the center, forecasters said.Forecasters said Noel was ... [full story]

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Two men who escaped from a Kansas prison by cutting through a fence were arrested in New Mexico, along with a former prison guard.The Kansas Department of Corrections said Jesse L. Bell, Steven A. Ford and Amber Goff were captured early Wednesday, The Kansas City Star reported.Officials said Bell and Ford apparently cut through a fence at El Dorado Correctional Center Sunday night, and then escaped with the help of a ... [full story]