Free Republic

About 1.7 million acres of land across California, including 20,000 acres in San Joaquin County, are candidates for a special designation that would help protect 15 rare plants and animals that live in vernal pools(mud puddles), officials announced Tuesday. Critical habitat is designated to protect threatened or endangered species and could require restrictions on how the land is used. Roughly 76 percent of the land identified Tuesday as possible critical habitat is privately owned. To some (most intelligent) people, vernal pools are useless mud puddles that appear during the wet fall and winter months. To others, they are home to...

Courtroom shooter sentenced on meth charges SONORA -- In a brief hearing that featured none of the theatrics that gained her fame, Ellie Nesler was sentenced Monday to six years in state prison for furnishing methamphetamine and possession with intent to manufacture the drug. Nesler, whose stunning 1993 courtroom shooting of a man accused of molesting her son made her the subject of a made-for-television movie, did not speak during her sentencing hearing in Tuolumne County Superior Court. Instead, Nesler -- who pleaded guilty last month but maintained her innocence -- sat quietly in black-and-white striped jail garb, turning around...

<p>Sacramento County store owners will face criminal charges if they sell alcohol to known street alcoholics, a move lauded by law enforcement Tuesday as a way to clean up blight but condemned by some saying it unfairly targets businesses.</p> <p>Under the program, store owners will be given binders containing photos of habitual drinkers. If they are caught knowingly selling alcohol to those listed in the binder, they face a $1,000 fine or a year in jail.</p>

FARMINGTON, Calif. -- A National Guard helicopter crashed and burst into flames Wednesday in northeast Stanislaus County. A CH-47 Chinook crashed just east of Farmington with three crew members on board, according to National Guard Lt. Col. Terry Knight. He said all of the crew are OK. Knight said that the helicopter was on a training mission out of Stockton and went down for an unknown reason. The crash also started a 5-acre brush fire that was eventually put out. The cause of the crash is now under investigation.

Key CIA Task Force Leader Moved May 17 — As the Bush administration defends its actions over information it had on possible terror attacks before Sept. 11, ABCNEWS has learned that the chief of the CIA's counterterrorism center has been moved out. The center, led by Cofer Black for the past three years, is the lead CIA team tasked with finding indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden. Sources tell ABCNEWS' Claire Shipman there will be more changes coming among the top figures in the CIA but President Bush still has faith in both George Tenet, the head of the CIA, and...

Law Professor: Law Sides With The Church SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The recent story of a 5-year-old being expelled from her church school because her mother is a stripper had a lot of tongues wagging Thursday. And the legality is among the first topics being discussed. Christina Silvas, 24, works at Centerfolds in Rancho Cordova. That work pays her rent and her daughter's $400 monthly tuition at Capital Christian Center. The church gave Silvas the choice of quitting and getting some financial help from the church or having her child expelled from the school.Read the full article here

We waited sooooo long for this.

Just heard on ABC radio news: Mail Box Bomber was drawing a smiley face on US.

CHP Undertakes Investigation SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Reports of document shredding at the California Department of Information Technology prompted a California Highway Patrol investigation and the seizure of a large trash receptacle by Department of Justice agents, adding new intrigue to a growing Capitol scandal over a software contract with the Oracle Corp. The growing scandal prompted Republican calls for the U.S. Attorney's Office to step in. They want an investigation into a six-year, $95 million software contract with Oracle. A state auditor said that the contract could cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Republicans turned up the heat, accusing Gov....

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - The creator of the "Melissa" virus was sentenced Wednesday to 20 months in federal prison for causing millions of dollars of damage by disrupting e-mail systems worldwide in 1999. David L. Smith, 33, pleaded guilty in December 1999 to a state charge of computer theft and to a federal charge of sending a damaging computer program. In the federal plea, both sides agreed the damage was greater than $80 million.

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) - Four reputed members of the Russian mafia are under arrest for alleged kidnapping schemes that may be linked to the discovery of five bodies in a Sierra Nevada reservoir.</p> <p>The men, who were arrested last month, are accused of hostage-taking and other federal crimes in a March 5 indictment issued in Los Angeles.</p>

Man, Thats gotta smart! Heimlich: Bush fall might have saved life CINCINNATI, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- President Bush, who choked on a pretzel and passed out briefly, may have saved his own life by falling on his belly and inadvertently performing an impromptu Heimlich maneuver, experts said Monday. Dr. Harry Heimlich, the man who developed the widely used lifesaving procedure that bears his name, told United Press International: "The fact that President Bush had bruises on his face indicates that he may have fallen on his face and therefore on his abdomen as well. That could have forced the ...

<p>Capt. Matthew Bancroft cherished his family and flying.</p> <p>REDDING -- At 6-foot-4, Marine Corps Capt. Matthew Bancroft was too tall to fly the fighter jets he yearned to pilot since second grade in Burney, where he grew up.</p> <p>So Bancroft trained in a KC-130 cargo plane instead, honing his piloting skills in a mammoth aircraft his parents called a "bus."</p>

California Senate Republicans responded to Governor Davis’ State of the State address tonight, saying that the governor failed to provide vision, leadership, and specifics on how to solve a $12 billion budget shortfall that has occurred on his watch. Following are Senators’ comments: Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte (Rancho Cucamonga): “Political cowardice” “It was a political speech at the beginning of a political year. Normally the state of the state is designed to outline the governor’s vision for the next year. I thought most of this was just a political speech – and he took credit for a lot of ...

THE colossal Buddhas of Bamiyan are destroyed, the contents of the Kabul Museum have been smashed and looted, and the countryside is peppered with unmarked minefields - but Afghanistan is preparing to receive tourists once again. Thirty years ago, in the days of King Zahir Shah, Afghanistan was an exotic destination for intrepid hippies and lovers of archaeology who came to admire its rich treasures of antiquity. With thoughts now turning towards rebuilding a shattered nation the new interim government has appointed a minister of tourism - Abdul Rehman - and a committee dedicated to luring back dollar-laden travellers from ...

Osama bin Laden plans a TV suicide that will trigger attacks on London, Paris and the US, the DAILY MIRROR of London is planning to report on Monday, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A special Thanksgiving card for my Fishing Freepers. Don't open if you are offended by misappropriation of bandwidth. It's a slow day here and this is humor.

Breaking...

You might have thought that compact disc players were only good for playing music, but according to chemists at that University of California, San Diego (UCSD), that's not so. Several inexpensive CD players were gutted and the spare parts, specifically the lasers, were used to build a portable nerve gas sensor capable of detecting G-type nerve agents, such as sarin, soman and GF. The small, inexpensive sensors could eventually be mass-produced and given to soldiers on the battlefield or police after an explosion to rapidly detect the presence of certain nerve agents and track the movement of deadly plumes. The ...