MIAMI — The U.S. government has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the widow and family of a Florida tabloid photo editor killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Maureen Stevens will drop all other claims stemming from the death of her husband, Robert, according to a court filing that The Associated Press obtained Tuesday. The U.S. government is not admitting fault, the document says.
Stevens' lawsuit claimed the government was negligent because it failed to stop someone at an Army lab from creating weapons-grade anthrax used in letters that killed her husband and four other people. Seventeen more people were sickened.
Robert Stevens worked in Boca Raton for the publisher of the National Enquirer and other tabloids. He died Oct. 5, 2001.
The FBI blamed scientist Bruce Ivins for the attacks, which stirred additional fears in the wake of the deadly 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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