Jessica Robinson

The 38-year-old man accused of sending ricin-laced letters to a federal judge and the Spokane post office had an active social media presence. But his online profiles contain no hints at a grudge toward the federal government.

This was also not his first run-in with the law.

Federal agents in hazmat gear searched Matthew Ryan Buquet’s apartment last Saturday for evidence related to ricin, a dangerous toxin made from castor beans.

Officials at Fairchild Air Force Base say their role in the military's Asia-Pacific operations will not change anytime soon. That's despite the Pentagon Wednesday opting not to locate the next generation of Air Force refueling tankers at the base outside of Spokane, Wash.

Col. Brian Newberry spoke to reporters at Fairchild Air Force Base in front of a hulking gray plane. This aircraft was built in 1958. It's one of the refueling tankers slated to be replaced by the bigger, more advanced KC-46A, built by Boeing.

People living near Fairchild Air Force Base say they’re not worried by news they won’t get a brand new fleet of Boeing-built Air Force refueling tankers. The Air Force made the announcement Wednesday following a process that pitted Spokane against other other communities around the country.

McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas got the nod to be the first to house the new KC-46A refueling tankers. That dismayed Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who said she would press top Pentagon officials for an explanation.

Federal spending may be down because of the sequester, but this is expected to be one of the busiest summers ever at a federal superfund site in north Idaho. EPA officials said Tuesday they plan to spend $38 million and employ roughly 250 people on efforts to clear out contamination from a century of mining pollution.

The bulk of the funding for the Coeur d'Alene Basin cleanup project this year comes from mining company legal settlements, rather than tax dollars.

A tragedy in Wenatchee, Wash., is prompting educators there to bring back a high school aquatics program. Starting this fall, high school freshmen in the central Washington city will have to demonstrate they know how to swim.

Formal swimming lessons in Wenatchee had gone by the wayside, as is frequently the case lately in public schools. But the Wenatchee school board is now reversing course.

In November 2011, a freshman named Antonio Reyes drowned in the high school swimming pool.

Federal agents in hazmat suits and SWAT gear searched a Spokane apartment Saturday morning. They were looking for evidence connected to a pair of ricin-laced letters sent through the mail. The letters were addressed to a federal judge in Spokane and to the post office itself. 

The FBI is trying to find the person who sent two threatening letters containing deadly ricin in Spokane. One of the letters was addressed to a federal judge.

It's back to work-as-usual at Spokane’s historic Post Office after the two letters made it into the mailstream here. Police say the discovery prompted an evacuation. Authorities don't believe any workers were exposed to the highly toxic substance, but they are remaining tight-lipped about the case.

Representatives from the FBI and local police declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Federal agents arrested a man in Idaho Thursday suspected of conspiring to support a terrorist organization in Central Asia. Thirty-year-old Fazliddin Kurbanov is from Uzbekistan and lives in Boise.

Two federal grand juries – one in Idaho and one in Utah – handed down a total of four terrorism-related charges against Kurbanov. Federal authorities say he attempted to help the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan with money and computer software between August 2012 and May 2013. The U.S. government designates that group as a foreign terrorist organization.

In the next couple of months, many employment office workers in the Northwest will join the unemployed. State labor agencies are having to make cutbacks in staffing. It's due to a combination of the economy getting better and federal budget cuts known as the “sequester” setting in.

Staffing at the local employment office usually moves in the exact opposite direction as the rest of the economy. When times are tough, unemployment rolls are booming.

A bird of prey can get so stressed out by city noise, it will abandon its nest – with eggs still in it. That's according to a new study by researchers at Boise State University. The study suggests human disturbances affect the American kestrel more than previously thought.

Busy roads have a certain appeal for birds of prey like the kestrel. The combination of power poles and open space makes highways prime real estate for spotting rodents.