By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS November 1, 2011 at 6:21 PM ET
ATLANTA (AP) — Four suspected members of a fringe north Georgia militia group have been charged with plotting to buy explosives and planning to manufacture a deadly toxin to attack government officials.
The U.S. Attorney's office said Tuesday the four were part of a group that tried to obtain an unregistered explosive device and silencer and plotted to manufacture a biological toxin called ricin.
The four are: 73-year-old Frederick Thomas, 67-year-old Dan Roberts, 65-year-old Ray Adams and 68-year-old Samuel Crump. They live in Cleveland and Toccoa.
Two are charged with purchasing what they believed to be explosives and a silencer. The other two are accused of taking steps to produce the toxin.
In an interview with the AP, Thomas' wife Charlotte called the charges "baloney."
Attorneys for the four were not immediately identified.
U.S. students lag behind in math, science and reading
By John Cookson, CNN November 1st, 2011 02:07 PM ET
In the most recent sixty-five-nation Program for International Student Assessment [ http://www.pisa.oecd.org/pages/0,2987,en_32252351_32235731_1_1_1_1_1,00.html ] (PISA), the United States came in 15th in reading, 23rd in math and 31st in science. Here are the nations who beat the U.S. in the 2009 PISA test.
Not only are Americans absent from the top-ten nations based on average score, but the U.S. also has one of the smallest portions of students that achieve a top score. Nine percent of U.S. 15-year-olds who took the PISA test in 2006 scored a 5 or 6 (out of 6) in math. Seven-and-a-half percent got a similar top score in science. On the same test in Korea, 27% got a top score in math. In Finland, 21% got a top score in math.
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