Two members of a self-styled militia group from Ford County pleaded guilty Thursday in the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque, admitting that they hoped the attack would scare Muslims into leaving the country. Michael McWhorter, 29, and Joe Morris , 23, of Clarence, Illinois, pleaded guilty in federal court to five counts that also included an attempted bombing of a clinic in Champaign that performed abortions. Each faces at least 35 years in prison.

Four men from Ford County were in a federal courtroom in Urbana Thursday, pleading ‘not guilty’ to charges related to alleged activities as a militia group called the “White Rabbits”.

CLARENCE, Ill. (AP) — A former sheriff's deputy and purported ringleader in the bombing of a Minnesota mosque emerges in court documents as a sometimes-threatening figure with anti-government views who also wrote books and attracted others into his shadowy group.

Three Ford County men have been charged with arson in the bombing last year of a mosque in suburban Minneapolis.

A report of a “potential bomb” brought police to a clinic in Champaign Tuesday where abortions are performed. But the device was removed without mishap.