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In the Nation

FLORIDA

Officials: Klan-linked prison workers plotted to kill

Three Ku Klux Klan members who worked at a Florida prison have been charged with plotting to kill a black inmate after his release because the man bit one of them during a fight and they believe he has HIV and hepatitis, officials said Thursday.

Thomas Jordan Driver, 25, David Elliot Moran, 47, and Charles Thomas Newcomb, 42, were arrested Thursday. Each faces one state count of conspiracy to commit murder, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's office said in a written statement.

The state said the murder plot started after Driver, an officer at the Department of Corrections Reception and Medical Center in north Florida, had a fight with the inmate. Moran is a sergeant at that facility. Newcomb was fired in 2013 for failing to meet training requirements, according to the department.

Bondi's office said the three were also members of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Frank Ancona, imperial wizard of the KKK group to which the three men were said to belong, did not confirm or deny their membership. - AP
MISSOURI

2 now face federal charges

Two St. Louis men accused of planning bomb attacks during protests in Ferguson have been indicted on federal charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office in St. Louis said Thursday. Olajuwon Davis and Brandon Orlando Baldwin, both 22, are facing several charges, including conspiracy to use explosives and making false written statements while buying firearms. No explosions occurred from the alleged plot, and the indictment doesn't name intended targets. The indictment alleged the men were affiliated with the local chapter of the New Black Panther Party. - AP

KENTUCKY

'Dead man' running

Perennial candidate Gatewood Galbraith died in 2012, but that won't stop his name from appearing on the 2015 ballot for Kentucky governor. Terrill Wayne Newman, 68, legally changed his name to Gatewood Galbraith before filing paperwork Wednesday to run as an independent. He told the Lexington Herald-Leader he doesn't expect to be elected but, "I sure do hope this warms Gatewood's grave." Galbraith ran for governor five times and gained a following for his wit and his stances on legalizing hemp and marijuana. - AP