John Hinckley Jr. -abc news photo

John Hinckley, the man who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, has been behaving well.

The Associated Press reports that he’s behaved well in the past year when leaving his home, a psychiatric hospital in Washington, to visit his mother in nearby Virginia.

AP reported that Secret Service agents trailed Hinckley on more than 35 days during 2012 when he visited his mother’s home in Williamsburg, Va.

To read more click here.

Steve Neavling

Two former top DEA officials who have been loudly urging the federal government to nullify marijuana decriminalization in Washington and Colorado stand to profit from making pot illegal, the U.S. News & World Report revealed.

The retired officials, Robert L. DuPont, former White House drug czar under Presidents Nixon and Ford, and Peter Bensinger, who was administrator of the DEA in the 1970s, run Bensinger, DuPont & Associates, which specializes in drug testing in the workplace, U.S. News wrote.

“These individuals still have financial and professional interests in ancillary businesses and endeavors that benefit from keeping marijuana illegal,” he says. “So there’s a lot of bluster to imply the sky is falling, while to the rest of the public this is no big deal.” Armentano cites a number of recent public opinion studies on pot, including a 2011 study from Gallup that found at least half of America today supports legalizing marijuana.

The men were among 10 former DEA officials to recently address the Senate Judiciary Committee over their opposition to the pot laws.

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Steve Neavling

If the federal government doesn’t act soon, it may lose the chance to stamp out recreational pot laws in Colorado and Washington, cautioned eight former DEA officials, the Associated Press reports.

Although voters legalized small amounts of possession last year in those states, the law still conflicts with a federal ban on marijuana.

The DEA heads plan to issue joint statements to President Obama’s administration Tuesday, the AP wrote.

“My fear is that the Justice Department will do what they are doing now: do nothing and say nothing,” said Peter Bensinger, one of the former DEA administrators said. “If they don’t act now, these laws will be fully implemented in a matter of months.”

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• ACLU Reveals Hate Crimes It Says the FBI Refused to Investigate
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• Another Suburban Detroit Government is Under Investigation 

Steve Neavling

Washington state residents who smoke pot today in celebration of the first day of marijuana decriminalization better be on the watch for federal authorities, the Justice Department said Wednesday, the Washington Post reports.

“Regardless of any changes in state law, including the change that will go into effect on Dec. 6 in Washington state, growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law,” said a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle on Wednesday evening.

Washington and Colorado voters approved decriminalization measures in November, but they conflict with federal law, which prohibits the use of marijuana.

Colorado’s law is expected to go into effect in a few weeks.

Steve Neavling

An international fugitive in one of the largest eco-terrorism cases in U.S. history surrendered to authorities Thursday after nearly a decade on the lam, Fox 31 reports.

Rebecca Jeanette Rubin, 39, surrendered to the FBI at the international border of Blaine, Wash.

Rubin is accused of firebombing sites in Colorado, California and Oregon. The targets were wild horse corrals, a ski resort and an SUV dealership, Fox 31 reported.

Rubin is a self-proclaimed member of the terror groups, Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front.

Other conspirators have been sentenced up to 13 years in prison.

 Mark Stephen Jimerson, a retired  FBI supervisory special agent, died last Thursday at his home in Mitchellville, Md., from a brain-related cancer. He was was 59.

In February 1985, Jimerson  was assigned to the FBI’s Tampa office, his first posting in the agency. While in Florida, he studied intensive Russian, according to information provided by the family.

He later went on to the FBI’s San Francisco office and began his career with foreign counter intelligence.

In the spring of 1995, he went to FBI Headquarters in Washington here he helped establish an FBI office in Moscow. He also served as a team leader and senior FBI agent for the first FBI delegation that provided law enforcement training in Russia, according to the family information.

He was also assigned to inter-agency taskforce investigating criminal activities involving Russian and Eastern European immigrants.

From 1997 to 2000, he served as the Assistant Legal Attaché, to the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia.

In 2000, he was promoted to Legal Attaché to Ukraine where he served within the U.S. Embassy as Chief of the Office of the Legal Attaché and as primary FBI representative in Ukraine.

In 2002, Jimerson and his family returned to their home in Maryland. He was promoted to Unit Chief of the Office of International Operations from 2005 to 2006, acted as an FBI Liaison Officer in the Office of International Affairs from 2002 to 2004 and again from 2006 to 2008, and lastly as Unit Chief in the Eurasian Unit of the Office of International Affairs, the family wrote in a release.

He retired on June 6, 2008.

Jimmerson was born on Aug.  7, 1953 in Madison, Ill., the son of Louise Jimerson and the late Chance Jimerson. He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Wendy Jimerson; his daughter, Stephania Mahdi; son, Mark E. Jimerson; granddaughter, Yasmeen Mahdi; mother, Louise Jimerson; brothers, Alvin (Zella)Valentine and Victor (JoAnn) Valentine of Madison, Illinois, Willard (Sandra) Valentine of Portland, Oregon, and Terrence Jimerson of Madison Illinois; sisters, Autumn Ann Mitchell of Redondo Beach, CA and Shirlee Sue (Larry) Coleman of Flower Mound, TX; and a host of loving nephews, nieces, family and friends.

Jimerson was the youngest of seven children. He was very active in his youth and participated in plays, choir activities, and track and field, the family said.

In high school he showed promise in his Russian language classes and was encouraged by a Bulgarian priest, teaching at his high school, to continue his studies.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army and graduated with Honors from the Defense Language Institute, serving his country as a Russian Linguist.

He was assigned to the 856th Army Security Agency and was stationed in Germany where he was a Russian Voice Interceptor, the family said.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian Studies from Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Now this is starting to sound like a full-blown, made for the big-screen Washington scandal.

Reporters Devlin Barrett, Evan Perez and Siobhan Gorman of the Wall Street Journal report that the FBI agent who started the probe into Patraeus scandal, was a friend of Jill Kelley, the Tampa woman who received harassing, anonymous emails, and sent her a shirtless photo of himself before the whole probe began.

The Journal reported:

 However, supervisors soon became concerned that the initial agent might have grown obsessed with the matter, and prohibited him from any role in the investigation, according to the officials.

One official said the agent in question sent shirtless photos to Ms. Kelley well before the email investigation began, and FBI officials only became aware of them some time later. Eventually, supervisors told the agent he was to have nothing to do with the case, though he never had a formal role in the investigation, the official said.

To read the full story click here.

Lee Boyd Malvo

Lee Boyd Malvo said he remembers each of the sniper shootings in detail. But one moment — one image — stands out among the carnage of that terrifying time 10 years ago:

“Mr. Franklin’s eyes.”

Malvo remembers being in the blue Chevrolet Caprice, in which police found binoculars and walkie-talkies. He scanned the area to make sure John Allen Muhammad had a clean shot. He gave the “go” order and looked across Route 50 in Seven Corners at the target. Muhammad, hidden on a hill above, pulled the trigger. A bullet screamed across the highway, instantly killing Linda Franklin, who just happened to be going about her business at the Home Depot in Virginia at precisely the wrong time.

To read full story click here.