Free Republic

When Democratic National Convention visitors arrive at Charlotte hotels and retail shops next month, there might be something in the air to help make these places feel a little more inviting. Convention officials checking into the Westin uptown will encounter the smell of white tea in the hotel lobby. Shoppers strolling into Solstice Sunglasses at SouthPark mall may feel they’re on vacation because of the tropical coconut aroma there. And members of the Texas and Montana delegations, staying at sprawling Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, might feel they’re in the great outdoors thanks to a Redwood Forest fragrance. Behind all...

Two legal advocacy groups announced Thursday that the U.S. Department of Education is launching a civil rights investigation into allegations that the Wake County school system is discriminating against some Latino students by not sending their parents important notices in Spanish. In a June 27 notification letter, Olabisi L. Okubadejo, a team leader for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, says they’ll probe whether Wake is “failing to ensure” that Hispanic families “have meaningful access to information.” It was up to the discretion of investigators whether to pursue the complaint filed June 12 by the Southern Poverty...

Miller said he rooted for N.C. State against Georgetown, and when they play out-of-state. And any time a Wolfpack win doesn't affect Carolina's ranking. Duke is another story altogether. "I have said very publicly that if Duke was playing against the Taliban," Miller said very publicly again, "then I'd have to pull for the Taliban." Guess who's not running for re-election?

ATHENS -- A Bulgarian baker was arrested after serving cocaine-sprinkled cookies to guests at a Greek funeral, news website Novinite reported Wednesday. Mourners phoned for help after the traditional Greek cookies caused them to act strangely, and police discovered the cookies were sprinkled with cocaine instead of powdered sugar. The baker, who is a Bulgarian national, was involved in drug trafficking and sent the cookies to the funeral service by mistake, police said.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 21% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20. The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-five (55%) at least somewhat disapprove.

When House Democrats last week passed the DREAM Act before the Senate had staged its vote, the timing was no accident. Instead, the chronology was part of a carefully designed strategy — orchestrated, with some tension, between the two chambers — to grant the proposal its greatest shot at success. The fast-evolving process required behind-the-scenes scheduling changes; an 11th hour hearing; constant lobbying from supporters; and a risky-but-successful show of procedural gymnastics in the Senate — all aimed at lending momentum to the hot-button bill in hopes of enacting it by month's end. In short, supporters say, the process has...

In one of the most unusual and hard-fought Senate races in many years, Florida voters have a choice among three capable candidates with distinctly different views on how to fix what’s wrong with the economy and the country. Don’t look for a "local favorite’’ in this race. U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio are native sons of South Florida. Gov. Charlie Crist is well known to local voters and now has a part-time home on Fisher Island. Don’t look for an "outsider," either. All three have impressive records of public service. In a year when...

A report from the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s first three months of operation shows the $200 million racing museum will likely fall short of its first-year attendance projection, and could struggle to balance its budget. After 90 days of operation, the hall has attracted 102,731 visitors, an average of 1,140 people a day. If that pace continues, the hall would have about 410,000 total attendance for its first 12 months. Before the hall opened in early May, hall officials estimated it would attract 800,000 visitors through the end of June 2011, a nearly 14-month period. “I’m not going to get...

As a four-year drought parched North Carolina into the middle of 2002, then-Gov. Mike Easley and his administration called it a major disaster. The governor urged people everywhere to save water, and he imposed stiff restrictions. Except at Easley's exclusive private golf club in northeastern Chatham County. New records and interviews show that Old Chatham Golf Club pumped millions of gallons from a creek leading to Jordan Lake, diverting water from one of the region's major sources to keep greens alive. The records show that a state water resources chief questioned the pumping but that higher-level officials -- including at...

Dell plans to close its computer manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem by January, and lay off 905 employees. Dell opened the assembly plant in 2005 and was offered a massive incentives package valued at $305 million if it met hiring and investment goals. The project was seen as a major economic development victory by supporters and a huge waste of taxpayer money by critics. About 600 workers at the plant will be let go next month, Dell announced this afternoon. The rest will be out of work by early next year. The closure of the Forsyth County plant is part of...

Vanishes During Field Trip to County Fair; 2nd Escape for Man Who Said Voices Made Him Kill Woman, Bury Her in Garden in 1987 (CBS/ AP) Authorities searched by air and land Friday for a criminally insane killer who escaped during a mental hospital field trip to a county fair that has infuriated residents and officials around Washington. Authorities have said they believe Phillip Arnold Paul is heading to the Sunnyside area, where his parents and many siblings live. The Spokane County Sheriff's Office launched a helicopter on Friday in the search, and the public was urged to call 911...

Bad-News BudgetWanted: An Obama plan for fiscal sustainability. NO ONE LIKES to be the bearer of bad news -- especially when it could threaten your multibillion-dollar health-care reform bill. And so the Obama administration did not exactly rush to publish yesterday's required mid-session update to its federal budget estimates of last February. Still, once the numbers finally emerged in the dog days of August, they retained the power to stun: Instead of a cumulative $7.1 trillion deficit over the next decade, the White House now projects a $9 trillion deficit. These figures imply average annual budget deficits greater than 4...

The House narrowly agreed to the Senate version of a smoking ban, sending to the governor a bill that would ban smoking in bars and restaurants. "This bill has come a long way," said Rep. Hugh Holliman, the House Democratic leader and champion of the bill. "It's had a much debate as any bill has ever had in this state." Gov. Beverly Pedue is expected to sign the bill into law. It's a law that might have been unthinkable just a few years ago in a state built on the tobacco industry. The bill was approved 62 to 56. The...

RALEIGH -- The state Senate voted Thursday to ban smoking in bars and restaurants in North Carolina, setting the stage for what would be a historic prohibition of a product that created thousands of jobs, built Duke and Wake Forest universities and has long been an integral part of the culture in the nation's top tobacco-producing state. House members passed a tougher version last month, meaning that lawmakers will still have to work out a compromise, assuming the Senate passes the measure in a second vote Monday. The bill passed Thursday by an eight-vote margin, 26-18. The state's tobacco interests...

Faced with sharply declining revenues in the recession, The Charlotte Observer will cut its staff by 14.6 percent and reduce the pay of most remaining employees, the company announced Monday. In addition to the 82 companywide layoffs – 60 full-time and 22 part-time employees – the Observer will reduce the hours of some employees. The moves come after the Observer's parent company, Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy Co.,, said this month it would slash 1,600 jobs and reduce salaries to lower operating expenses. Advertising makes up more than 80 percent of McClatchy's net revenues but dropped nearly 18 percent to less than...

Idea for road-use tax is expected to hinge on odometer readings, then GPS tracking, to replace revenue lost to fuel efficiency. With gas-tax revenues plummeting, the state of North Carolina is looking seriously at taxing motorists for how far they drive. If the “road-use tax” is implemented, it would at first be simple – with the state checking your odometer annually and taxing you based on how many miles you have driven. But transportation experts say new GPS technology could allow the state to charge people different rates based on when and where they drive, in an attempt to manage...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Even for a party whose president suffers dismal approval ratings, whose legislative wing lost control of Congress and whose presidential nominee trails in the polls, it was a remarkably bad day for Republicans. ... snip ... "This is the president's own party," said Rep. Barney Frank, a top Democratic negotiator who attended both meetings. "I don't think a president has been repudiated so strongly by the congressional wing of his own party in a long time." ... snip ... At one point in the White House meeting, according to two officials, McCain voiced support for Ryan's criticisms...

WASHINGTON Many undecided voters have a common concern when they size up Barack Obama: his inexperience. “I have nothing against Obama. I just think John McCain has more experience,” said Steve Viernacki, an Ashley, Pa., restaurant owner. Experts say that such worries are overblown. “Experience matters, but its importance is terribly overstated,” said Robert Dallek, the author of recent books about Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. Presidents with sterling resumes often have turned out to be busts, usually because they lacked a key quality: sound judgment. “John Quincy Adams understood the world, but he didn't have a political gene in...

TOKYO - When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help. Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor's roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said. He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet. "I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the...

Hillary won just enough to show that it is ludicrous to oust a 10-point winner at this late junction, but not quite the blow-out that might cause a stampede to her in the next few states. The Democrats are tottering at the edge of the abyss. They are about to nominate someone who cannot win, despite vastly out-spending his opponent, any of the key large states — CA, NJ, NY, OH, PENN, TX, etc. — that will determine the fall election. And yet not to nominate him will cause the sort of implosion they saw in 1968 or the sort...