SPOKANE, Wash. — Authorities in hazardous materials suits are searching an apartment in downtown Spokane, Wash., as they investigate the recent discovery of a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin.FBI agents, Spokane police officers and U.S. Postal Inspection Service officials descended on the apartment Saturday morning.No arrests have been made. An FBI spokeswoman has not said whether agents ...

FBI executes search warrant in ricin letter case (AP) — The FBI and other law enforcement agencies are executing a search warrant Saturday in the case of two letters containing the deadly poison ricin that were intercepted this week at a post office in Washington state. "The crude form of the ricin suggests that it does not present a health ...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A former U.S. Postal Service official has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for accepting at least $40,000 in bribes to help a Maryland company receive $6 million in contracts.Forty-eight-year-old Gene Quarles of Spotsylvania pleaded guilty earlier this year in federal court in Alexandria to bribery of a public official. Prosecutors had sought a two-year sentence.

USPS official sentenced for taking bribes (AP) — A former U.S. Postal Service official has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for accepting at least $40,000 in bribes to help a Maryland company receive $6 million in contracts. Court documents show Quarles, a purchasing specialist, regularly received payments between 2010 and 2012 from the owners of AH Computer Consulting, ...

By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles has earned the dubious distinction for the second year in a row as the U.S. city with the most dog attacks on mail carriers, the U.S. Postal Service said. California's biggest city accounted for 69 such attacks in fiscal 2012, which ended in September, compared with 42 attacks each in Seattle, ...