  Cosmic rays with energies above $10^{19}$ eV, observed in 1999-2004 by the
High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) experiment in the stereoscopic mode, were
found to correlate with directions to distant BL Lac type objects (BL Lacs),
suggesting non-standard neutral particles travelling for cosmological distances
without attenuation. This effect could not be tested by newer experiments
because of their inferior angular resolution. The distribution in the sky of BL
Lacs associated with cosmic rays was found to deviate from isotropy, which
might give a clue to the interpretation of the observed anomaly. However,
previous studies made use of a sample of BL Lacs which was anisotropic by
itself, thus complicating these interpretations. Here, we use a recently
compiled isotropic sample of BL Lacs and the same HiRes data to confirm the
presence of correlations and to strengthen the case for the local large-scale
structure pattern in the distribution of the correlated events in the sky.
Further tests of the anomaly await new precise cosmic-ray data.
