Free Republic

Late last month, Gov. Paul LePage tried to pardon a dog that had been ordered euthanized after it killed one dog and attacked another. Despite the governor’s intervention, a judge ruled Tuesday that state law requires that the husky be put down. That ruling has since been appealed, sparing Dakota for now. While Dakota awaits resolution, the governor could use his power to pardon people to right a real injustice. Abdi Ali has lived in the United States for more than 20 years. He came here from Somalia with his family as a 7-year-old refugee in 1996. He became a...

PORTLAND, Maine — Abdi Ali doesn’t have memories of the country to which the United States government intends to deport him. Ali and his family fled war in Somalia in 1996, when he was 7 years old. They came to the U.S. legally as refugees, and Ali became a permanent resident a year later, according to interviews and Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents. In his first interview since ICE agents arrested the 28-year-old inside a Portland courthouse last week, Ali said he is terrified of being sent back to Somalia and does not understand why, after decades in the U.S.,...

<p>Many liberals, including Bill Maher and Michael Moore, have blasted President Donald Trump for what they argued was his use of a Navy SEAL's widow as a political "prop."</p> <p>In his address to Congress, Trump saluted Carryn Owens, whose husband, Ryan, was killed in a raid in Yemen last month.</p>

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Gov. Pat McCrory's office is filing protests of votes in 50 counties. The governor trails Democrat Roy Cooper by about 5,000 votes currently. The McCrory campaign insists some of those votes counted were from deceased people, felons or people who voted more than once. In the Piedmont Triad, the governor is protesting votes in Alamance, Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford, Rockingham and Stokes counties. "Now we know why Roy Cooper fought so hard against voter ID and other efforts to combat voter fraud as attorney general," said Russell Peck, McCrory's campaign manager. "With each passing day, we discover more...

PORTLAND, Maine — Thirty-five people gathered at a popular Portland bistro on a recent weeknight to learn how to talk. Cards were passed and conversations sparked, but this group of branders, photographers, auditors and teachers weren’t merely networking. They were “adulting.” “Small talk is hard for me,” said Julie Moulton, a thirtysomething marketing coordinator who was attending the happy hour networking class at Sur Lie on Free Street. The event was organized by The Adulting School, a new program devoted to helping people learn skills they might not have picked up in college or from their parents. The founders take...

Cara Stadler says she just wants to do the right thing. On Tuesday, the owner of Portland’s Bao Bao Dumpling House and Tao Yuan in Brunswick announced her plan to jettison tips, pay all servers $15 an hour and tack on an 18 percent surcharge on checks. “Tips is such an arcane system. It just doesn’t make sense,” she said. Her motive, she says, is to “create stability in the workplace, because there is a disparity in pay.” Though servers make a paltry $3.75 an hour, with gratuity a waiter/waitress at Tao Yuan can easily pull down “$30 to 40...

HIGH POINT, N.C. -- Donald Trump will hold a rally at the Millis Center on High Point University's campus Tuesday. It starts at noon and the doors open at 10 a.m. "This has sparked such a debate amongst the students that it's been really awesome to see," says Julia Fiedler, a sophomore at HPU. That debate is not over Trump's economic plan or his views on immigration. Instead, it's about whether he should even be allowed on campus. "I'm a little disappointed in High Point University for allowing him to be here because I think of this environment as one...

North Korea announced last week that it’s launching Manbang (“Mon-bahng”), what it’s calling a “Netflix style video-on-demand.” Manbang literally translates to “everywhere” in Korean, and North Korea hopes the device will be ubiquitous. (snip) According to NKnews.org, the set-top box has two primary features: replaying documentary films about Kim Jong Un and his leadership and providing language-learning resources — for Russian and English. Users can search for programs by typing the title or browsing through categories, which may be the only feature that it shares with Netflix

My son, who's in third grade, loves playing soccer. And while I'm under no delusions that he’s going to be a professional athlete, I want him to reap the benefits of team sports for as long as possible. That includes making great friends, developing a strong work ethic, understanding how to be a team player - and learning how to deal with disappointment. Last weekend, his team lost and it was hard to watch, but after hearing my son's rationale on the car ride home, I realized that he needed to experience what it was like to lose. He explained...

A South Carolina teenager was sent home from school recently after she refused to change her T-shirt — which bore the tongue-in-cheek phrase “Nobody Knows I’m a Lesbian,” and was deemed “offensive and distracting” and in violation of the school’s dress code. I was told to change my shirt or go home, so I went home because I wasn’t going to allow him to tell me I can’t wear a shirt that shows who I am,” Brianna Popour, 18, tells Yahoo Parenting through a Facebook message, apparently referring to either the principal or assistant principal of Chesnee High School in...

In more than 20 years of writing for this newspaper, I’ve learned plenty. For instance, I now know that Election Day is a newsroom holiday, and the company will feed you scrumptious snacks, even if you write outdoors stories that have nothing to do with politics. Also, I’ve learned that coffee exists as its own food group …. and that after waiting for six hours for a single callback from a source, that source will finally phone you while you’re in the men’s room. And today, I’ve learned this: Don’t chase bears. Especially with a dull hatchet. Super-duper especially if...

Kaci Hickox, the nurse who grabbed headlines for defying quarantines in New Jersey and Maine after treating Ebola patients in West Africa, is leaving the state. Hickox, a Texas native, told me in an email that she’s moving to Oregon to take a job with a large health care system. She arrived in Maine in October following a trip to Sierra Leone to care for Ebola patients, bringing the national debate over travel restrictions for health care workers returning from West Africa to Fort Kent’s doorstep. Hickox lived in the Aroostook County town during her showdown with the LePage administration,...

LOS ANGELES, Jan 22 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's proposal this week to roll back tax benefits for so-called 529 plans exposes a fundamental disagreement about who is benefiting from these state-sponsored college savings plans. 529 plans are sponsored by states and run by investment management companies. Withdrawals from the accounts can be used tax-free to pay for qualified education expenses at any college or university in the country, such as tuition, fees and books. Supporters of Obama's proposal point to a 2012 government report showing the plans being used by less than 3 percent of all U.S. families and...

This story passed through my social media feed the other day and I couldn’t resist giving it a virtual ‘shout out’. Discount Mattress and Furniture in the Airport Mall in Bangor currently has their windows decorated with a nativity, and the words ‘Jesus is the Reason for the Season.’ Nothing wrong with that, right? Jesus is the reason for this season after all. Well, apparently some “window watchers” are not having a happy holiday upon seeing this display because the furniture store recently posted the following message to their Facebook Page – “We are getting some calls that people don’t...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes plunged in June, a sign that real estate continues to be a weak spot in the economy. New home sales fell 8.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 406,000, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The report also revised down the May sales rate to 442,000 from 504,000. (snip)

<p>LONDON — Would you like some kitten with your coffee?</p> <p>Feline company is exactly what one of London's newest cafes is offering — and stressed-out city-dwellers are lapping it up.</p> <p>"People do want to have pets and in tiny flats, you can't," said cafe owner Lauren Pears, who opened Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium last month in an area east of the city's financial district.</p>

GREENSBORO — Cathy Coons has been passionate about fighting hunger since she was a teenager in Westchester County, N.Y. It was there that she first joined in a fast to raise money for Save the Children, the well-known charitable organization for children in need in the United States and around the world. Since moving to Greensboro in 2004, Coons has continued to take part in a variety of volunteer initiatives to alleviate hunger and poverty, primarily through Starmount Presbyterian Church, where — as a member of the mission committee — she is actively involved in such local ministries as senior...

Odd things happen to Nathan Baron. One of his teachers at Madawaska High School says it’s true. Nathan himself admits it. Like the time he bought a new riding mower … put in a battery … cranked it up … and watched, alarmed, as the battery exploded and his mower burst into flames. “I thought I was going to die,” he said with a chuckle. “I wasn’t burnt or anything, but I was afraid I was going to light some trees on fire.” That teacher, Maine hoop legend Matt Rossignol, said that every time he sees Nathan, the teen has...

If you have ever thought about voting twice, you might want to give it a try because unlike some crimes that the government takes seriously – such as speeding or parking for 35 minutes in a 30 minute zone – there is no penalty for voting illegally. At least no penalty that is enforced, even if you are caught. Imagine being pulled over by a police officer who says, “I clocked you going 100 mph in a 35 mph zone, but don’t worry, we are not going to give you a ticket. I just want you to understand that in...

In my work, I see more people who want to focus on losing weight rather than gaining weight, so I don’t often stop to think about the problem of hunger. It’s easy to overlook the fact that hunger is still a big problem in in the United States. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2011 about 50 million Americans were living with food insecurity — 33.5 million adults and 16.7 million children. What is food insecurity? It’s the inability to provide adequate food on a consistent basis. For adults, not getting enough food can have harmful...