Latest news with #SovietUnion-era
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Yahoo
FBI continues to track down plutonium allegedly sold by Hadley man
SPRINGFIELD — Federal investigators told a judge last week that they are continuing to assess what the customers who allegedly purchased small amounts of plutonium from a Hadley man did with the material. On April 22, a federal grand jury indicted Jacob Miller, 43, on charges of being a felon in possession of explosives and ammunition. Prosecutors said when investigators searched Miller's home, they found firearms, hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials, including plutonium taken from Soviet Union-era smoke detectors. Prosecutors said Miller ran an online business called Collect The Periodic Table. A website that appears to be connected with the enterprise lists a full periodic table for $140. A small amount of plutonium alone was listed for $500. The affidavit filed with the federal court in Springfield last week disclosed the FBI's ongoing investigation into the matter. Miller allegedly shipped out plutonium about 60 times between December 2020 and March 2025, FBI Special Agent Darrell Hunter said in the affidavit dated June 20. 'The defendant's distribution of Plutonium to a broad series of individuals, with no apparent vetting of these customers, poses a particular danger to public safety,' Hunter wrote. Miller, the affidavit said, shipped the material across the United States and out of the country. So far, only 10 of the customers gave the material they purchased from Miller to the FBI, Hunter said. 'The FBI's investigation into this matter, including the extent to which the defendant distributed Plutonium and what the defendant's customers did with the Plutonium, is continuing,' Hunter wrote. Reached for comment, a spokeswoman for the FBI referred questions to the U.S. Attorney's Office. A spokesperson at the U.S. Attorney's Office did not reply to a request for comment. John Gilbert, a senior science fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, while the small amounts allegedly sold by Miller is nowhere near the amount needed for a nuclear bomb, plutonium is deadly if handled incorrectly. If its powder is breathed in — even in small amounts — it causes 'extremely, extremely bad respiratory distress,' he said. Gilbert said it is unlikely the material prosecutors said came from smoke detectors was plutonium, as the Soviets 'needed all the plutonium they could get.' Rather, another radioactive element — americium — is good for use in smoke detectors, and it is not as dangerous, he said. The FBI said in its affidavit it is gathering the materials it obtained from Miller's customers 'for radiological testing.' Federal prosecutors filed the affidavit as part of their response to Miller's defense attorney, who requested Judge Katherine Robertson reconsider her order detaining Miller until his trial. Miller was detained after prosecutors said Miller moved materials from his home after the court said he could only reenter the home to retrieve personal care items, clothing and his cat. Miller's attorney, Charles Dolan, asked Robertson in a motion on June 13 to release his client 'under whatever conditions the Court may deem appropriate.' Miller, Dolan wrote, has been held since April 10 at a detention facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, and has been unable to take his medication for obsessive-compulsive disorder and ADHD as his prescriptions are prohibited at the facility. His mental health has deteriorated as a result, Dolan wrote. Dolan did not return a request for comment. In response to the motion, prosecutors said Miller had a history of violating probation conditions, and they are continuing to investigate him for possession of child sex abuse images. Miller was previously convicted for possessing child pornography and explosives in separate cases in Hampshire Superior Court. Prosecutors also shared with the court a series of handwritten documents — including what prosecutors said appeared to a poem titled 'Bits and Pieces.' The 'defendant appears to have engaged in dangerous musings about blowing up friends and family in Hadley, among other subjects,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Breslow wrote in a memorandum. At a hearing Wednesday, Robertson decided that Miller would remain detained, according to the clerk's notes of the proceedings. Springfield brewery, cannabis store team up to offer downtown concert Springfield debates stricter laws to stop drug dealing near parks, schools following shutdown of trafficking operation Alliance for Digital Equity pushes for internet access for underserved on namesake day Judge: Case for Pittsfield woman suing car repo company can move to trial Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump-supporting communism survivor jumps into race for late Democrat's seat
FIRST ON FOX: A survivor of Soviet Union-era communism is jumping into the race to replace late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. Karina Lipsman told Fox News Digital that her family fled the USSR when she was a child and that her childhood in the U.S. began with a single mother raising her in low-income housing in Baltimore. "We ran from socialism and toward the American dream. We came here because America stood for freedom, hard work and the chance to build something better," said Lipsman, a Republican. "We didn't speak English when we arrived. But I worked hard, kept my head down and earned every step to get to where I am today. I became a citizen at 18. I put myself through undergrad and grad school." Scoop: House Gop Memo Highlights Republican Wins In Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Lipsman, who currently works for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, also praised President Donald Trump and said she believed the country was headed in a similar direction to the situation her family fled. Read On The Fox News App "We have had an expanding government, a shrinking middle class and a growing dependence on the state. We've been sliding away from what made this country great," she said. "Thankfully, we have a disruptor in Donald Trump who is fighting the status quo, but he needs more allies because the political class is too focused on fame, clicks and climbing ladders." Lipsman is the latest candidate to jump into the race for Virginia's 11th Congressional District, a solidly Democratic portion of the Washington, D.C., suburbs. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday that the special election to fill Connolly's seat will be on Sept. 9. The late Democrat, who died of esophagal cancer in late May, had represented the district since 2009. Connolly had announced in April that he would not be seeking re-election due to his health. Prior to Connolly, the seat was held by Republican former Rep. Tom Davis from 1995 to 2008. Since then, however, it has shifted much further left. The nonpartisan Cook Political Index rates the district D+18, and Connolly defeated Republican challengers by more than 30 points in each of the last three election cycles. Lipsman previously ran for the House in Virginia's neighboring 8th Congressional District but lost to longtime incumbent Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va. She argued, however, that constituents were hungry for "work horses" – and said she could meet that demand. "We need leaders who put their heads down and do the hard work to fix what's broken," Lipsman said. Meet The Trump-picked Lawmakers Giving Speaker Johnson A Full House Gop Conference There is already a crowded field of Democratic candidates in the race, including Fairfax County supervisor James Walkinshaw – who Connolly himself endorsed before his death, and state lawmakers Stella Pekarsky and Irene Shin. Former Minority Business Development Agency counselor Leopoldo Nucete, Navy veteran Joshua Aisen and local Fairfax County official Candice Bennett are also in the race. Lipsman joins two other Republicans currently in the race, including Mike Van Meter, who Connolly defeated in article source: Trump-supporting communism survivor jumps into race for late Democrat's seat
