Free Republic

How would the nation's school system be different if teachers were paid like engineers? Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proposed last month that a significant boost in teacher salaries could transform public schools for the better by luring the country's brightest college graduates into the profession. But it's possible that teachers would rather have more job security than a higher salary. When Michelle Rhee controlled Washington D.C.'s schools, she offered up to $130,000 salaries to teachers if they would give up their union's tenure and seniority rules and agree to be paid based on their students' test scores. She could...

BETHESDA, Md. - When candidates are vying for votes it can be hard to get them to agree on issues. But WTOP managed to get all the major candidates in the Maryland governor's race to make the same pledge: Not to distract drivers by waving campaign signs at them. This pledge comes after political volunteers created 10 miles of delays on Interstate 270 last week by waving signs from the Falls Road overpass. Some drivers were furious about the delays. Others believe roadside distractions of any kind are a hazard that can cause crashes. "We would never condone stopping traffic."...

Mayor pushed into apology for honoring 'ex-gays' First, the mayor of Washington, D.C., honored the executive director of a leading "ex-gay" organization, then, under pressure from homosexual activists, he apologized for issuing the honor. Mafara Hobson, a spokeswoman for D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, explained to the Washington Post that the award was actually a "staff-level error." "We apologize for the error as it runs contrary to the mayor's vision of a more open and inclusive city," Hobson said. "The mayor is proud of his ardent support of the LGBT community."

WASHINGTON - D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty continues to travel out of town, keeping his whereabouts a secret from the public. A spokesperson for Fenty refused to say where the mayor is today, whether or not he's in the country, or how long he will be gone. Even people close to Fenty aren't aware of his travel schedule. Fenty's spokesperson Mafara Hobson wrote that the mayor is on a "personal trip" and declined to answer any other questions. Fenty recently returned from an undisclosed trip to the Middle East. When asked by WTOP, Fenty said the trip was "basically a family...

Mayor Adrian Fenty continues to travel out of town, keeping his whereabouts a secret from the public. A spokesperson for Fenty refused to say where the mayor is today, whether or not he's in the country, or how long he will be gone. Even people close to Fenty aren't aware of his travel schedule. D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, who is first in the line of succession to the mayor and the second-highest ranking elected official in town, is in the dark. Fenty recently returned from an undisclosed trip to the Middle East. When asked by WTOP, Fenty said the...

Mika, minus six bucks.Inauguration Day is coming! And this morning Joe Scarborough was broadcasting 'Morning Joe' from Washington, D.C., where Mayor Adrian Fenty was to be on hand to talk about the city's security and traffic plans for Jan. 20. But the public safety angle got a different twist when Mr. Scarborough revealed that an hour before his co-host, Mika Brzezinski, had been mugged outside her Washington hotel while waiting for her car service. "A guy walks across the street straight for her," Mr. Scarborough said, adding the hotel should "at least police five feet outside their own doors." Mrs....

The central meaning of the Second Amendment has long been settled in the courts. The last time the Supreme Court directly addressed the provision -- which reads, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" -- was in 1939, in a case called United States v. Miller. The court said that the Second Amendment's "obvious purpose" is to ensure the effectiveness and continuation of state military forces (the militia mentioned in the amendment), not to provide a private right to own...

In the wake of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine's recent car accident, much has been made of the governor's decision not to wear a seat belt. One of the governor's own aides suggested the governor be issued a citation, even as he lay in a hospital bed in critical condition. And a resident of New Jersey filed a formal complaint against Corzine. While I'm not personally fond of mandatory seat-belt laws (I don't think it's the government's responsibility to protect us from ourselves), there is certainly some hypocrisy involved in his presiding over a state that requires the use of...