Report- Professor carried plague on airline trips

LUBBOCK, Texas -- The Texas Tech University researcher accused of lying to the FBI about missing vials of plague bacteria repeatedly carried live samples of the germ aboard commercial airliners, a newspaper reported.

Thomas Butler's attorney, Floyd Holder, told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that the professor imported plague about 60 times over the past 30 years, but said his method of transporting the specimens was "absolutely safe."

Holder said he believes federal authorities probably will file additional charges against Butler accusing him of failing to go through proper channels in importing live plague samples. Transporting such biological material requires permits and other documents.

Butler is charged with falsely reporting as missing 30 vials of the potentially lethal plague bacteria that he actually had destroyed. News of the supposedly missing vials last month triggered a terrorism alert.

Crematory investigators make final ID effort

NOBLE, Ga. -- A year after the ghastly discovery of hundreds of corpses abandoned at a rural Georgia crematory, officials brought in families for one last review of records Saturday, hoping to match relatives to the 112 bodies still not identified.

About 75 people met with investigators to look at written reports of what's left of the remains that were scattered in the woods around the Tri-State crematory in Georgia's northwest corner.

At least nine people told investigators Saturday they may have spotted something. The rest went home wondering if their last chance for a positive identification was gone.

"We don't have anything," said Greg Coln of Chattanooga, Tenn., who searched in vain for a possible match of his sister. "This has aged me about 10 years. I'm very angry."

Saturday's meeting was the last one planned by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation before allowing the unidentified remains to be buried. So far, 222 bodies have been identified.

Investigation continues into barge explosion

NEW YORK -- A badly burned survivor of Friday's deadly explosion and fire at an oil storage depot told police he heard a strange noise coming from the pumps just before the blast.

Frank Scandariato, an Exxon Mobil Corp. worker, was in a shack that contained equipment allowing him to shut down the operation when he stepped out to look for the source of the noise, a police official familiar with the investigation said Saturday.

"Next thing he knew, he was getting blown to wherever he got blown to," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Staten Island explosion and resulting fire, on a barge unloading gasoline at the Exxon Mobil depot, killed two people, shook surrounding areas and sent black smoke billowing over the city skyline.

The blast also raised terrorism fears, but officials said there was no evidence suggesting it was anything but an accident.

--From wire reports