Free Republic

Washington, D.C., nosed out San Jose, Calif., as the nation's highest-income metropolitan region, fueled mainly by its army of attorneys, consultants, lobbyists and outside government contractors. Census data for 2010 show median household income was $84,523 in the D.C. area, compared with $83,944 for the San Jose region, the epicenter of Silicon Valley. Both numbers are well above the median income of about $50,000 for the nation as a whole. While Washington's incomes in 2010 were lower than in 2009, paychecks in the D.C. region have been more stable overall. About 5.6 million people live in the D.C. area, including...

Starbucks Corp. Chief Executive Howard Schultz, who has been on a mission to cut the national debt and boost job creation, has pledged to donate at least $100,000 of profits annually from two Starbucks stores in low-income areas to boost jobs in those communities. Profits from Starbucks stores in the Harlem section of Manhattan and the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles will go toward two community organizations that work to improve education and job training for young adults in those areas. High-school students in those neighborhoods also will receive barista training at the Starbucks shops. "We can't wait for Washington....

This Saturday, government price controls on debit card interchange fees (which card issuers charge to merchants) go into effect. The controls are the result of the Durbin amendment to last year's Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. They were enacted at the behest of big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Walgreen's, which stand to gain a multimillion-dollar windfall. But the controls are already transforming the retail banking landscape. The Durbin amendment tasked the Federal Reserve with establishing the allowable maximum interchange fees. It originally intended to slash them by 70%-80%. In response to a firestorm of criticism, the Fed cut the fees...

Nebraska's governor urged U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday to block TransCanada's planned Keystone oil pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, saying it could hurt a regional water source. The State Department could issue a presidential permit for the $7 billion project, which would boost U.S. dependence on Canada's controversial oil sands. Momentum for Keystone picked up last week after the department said the project would have only limited impact on the environment. The State Department should deny the permit on the grounds that the line could put the Ogallala Aquifer at risk, the Midwestern state's governor, Dave Heineman,...

<p>NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) is joining a growing number of banks that are introducing or testing a monthly fee for debit cards, casting around for revenue lost to debit-card regulatory restrictions.</p> <p>Wells Fargo, the nation's second-largest bank by deposits, will charge a $3 fee for debit and automated-teller-machine cards as of Oct. 14 in several states if such cards are used for purchases (but not for ATM usage). The bank said it is a pilot program, and it will monitor how people respond.</p>

After big events like Tuesday's debt-ceiling vote, Washington goes into overdrive to declare who won and who lost. But politics is more complex and less binary than that. In this case, neither party helped itself with the public during this struggle. But Democrats hurt themselves most of all. They made a huge strategic mistake by failing to raise the debt ceiling late last year when they still controlled Congress. Instead, Democrats tried to make the GOP complicit in their spending excesses. On Dec. 8, for example, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid explained his decision not to tackle the debt ceiling...

'This case [is] about seeking justice for Caylee . . ." So argued the prosecutor in the Casey Anthony murder case. He was wrong, and the jury understood that. A criminal trial is never about seeking justice for the victim. If it were, there could be only one verdict: guilty. That's because only one person is on trial in a criminal case, and if that one person is acquitted, then by definition there can be no justice for the victim in that trial. A criminal trial is neither a whodunit nor a multiple choice test. It is not even a...

"QE2" is not even in drydock, yet some money managers are preparing for the christening of "QE3." Investors appear to expect the Federal Reserve to wind down in June its extraordinary efforts to support the economy known as quantitative easing—currently in its second installment and therefore referred to as QE2. But a handful say the financial markets and the economy still aren't strong enough to stand on their own. They argue that, soon after QE2 ends, the economy, the jobs market and asset prices will stumble. The housing market, they say, is still struggling and may founder further without the...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is setting a goal of lowering the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years as he wades into the politically volatile debate over the nation's crushing debt. "It's an approach that puts every kind of spending on the table, but one that protects the middle-class, our promise to seniors, and our investments in the future," said Obama in a speech at George Washington University. The plan also proposes cuts to domestic spending and the defense budget. "We need to not only eliminate waste and improve efficiency and effectiveness, but conduct a fundamental review...

The opposition in eastern Libya took further steps toward establishing its legitimacy Wednesday, meeting with a U.S. envoy and loading its first shipment of oil for export since the uprising began. U.S. envoy Chris Stevens, a former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, met with members of the rebels' provisional government in talks both sides said were aimed at giving the Americans a better sense of the opposition leadership and how the U.S. can help them. Hafiz Abdel Goga, a member of the Transitional National Council in Benghazi, said the council hoped the talks would lead...

BANGALORE, India—Call-center company 24/7 Customer Pvt. Ltd. is desperate to find new recruits who can answer questions by phone and email. It wants to hire 3,000 people this year. Yet in this country of 1.2 billion people, that is beginning to look like an impossible goal. So few of the high school and college graduates who come through the door can communicate effectively in English, and so many lack a grasp of educational basics such as reading comprehension, that the company can hire just three out of every 100 applicants. In India, Doubts Gather Over Rising Giant's Course India projects...

OMAHA, Neb. -- Omaha’s YWCA is dropping a letter from its name along with its affiliation with the national YWCA. The board of directors for the local YWCA said they have determined the organization would be more effective as an independent agency. With the transition, the organization is also changing its name to the Women’s Center for Advancement. "To better reflect our local mission of helping women and their families build lives of strength, growth and self-sufficiency, we have adopted a new, vibrant and more inclusive identity,” WCA board chairwoman Sandy Parker said. The WCA will remain at 222 South...

The Obama administration is engaged in a fierce debate over whether to supply weapons to the rebels in Libya, senior officials said on Tuesday, with some fearful that providing arms would deepen American involvement in a civil war and that some fighters may have links to Al Qaeda. The debate has drawn in the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon, these officials said, and has prompted an urgent call for intelligence about a ragtag band of rebels who are waging a town-by-town battle against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, from a base in eastern Libya long suspected of supplying terrorist...

TRIPOLI, Libya — U.S. ships and submarines unleashed a barrage of cruise missiles at Libyan missile storage facilities in the Tripoli area late Monday and early Tuesday, an official said. Later Tuesday, missiles targeted the tightly guarded residence of leader Moammar Gadhafi and military targets in the suburb of Tajura as NATO-led coalition aircraft were seen in the skies. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. military details, said 22 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from the Mediterranean — the most in at least several days. The latest U.S. barrage raised to well over 200 the...

Cathy Williams, the Bellevue Public Schools’ longtime communications director, is leaving at the end of December. Williams, 54, said she plans to help the district with its transition to a new superintendent and help train her replacement. Her retirement plans include staying in Bellevue and doing some traveling. “My intent is to stay involved in the community,” she said. “I really don’t have anything that I’ve decided that I definitely want to do other than that.” She is retiring at a salary of $132,462.77, plus longevity pay of $4,967.35. She was the highest paid school district spokesperson in Nebraska, according...

Together with my good friend and occasional courtroom adversary David Boies, I am attempting to persuade a federal court to invalidate California's Proposition 8—the voter-approved measure that overturned California's constitutional right to marry a person of the same sex. My involvement in this case has generated a certain degree of consternation among conservatives. How could a politically active, lifelong Republican, a veteran of the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, challenge the "traditional" definition of marriage and press for an "activist" interpretation of the Constitution to create another "new" constitutional right? My answer to this seeming conundrum rests on...

Republicans feel heartened by President Obama's standing in recent polls, which show that only a minority of Americans want him re-elected in 2012. But savvy Democratic analysts look at the same numbers and confidently predict another victory when the president seeks his second term. A breakdown of voter sentiment by race can help clarify the apparent contradiction. Republicans look at those numbers and say there is no way that Mr. Obama can recover without bringing about a major turnaround with the white majority. Yet Democrats point to the figures and argue that the president will safely win a second term...

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates voiced concern Wednesday about Turkey's breakdown in relations with Israel and signs that Ankara – pushed, he said, by some in Europe – may be drifting "eastward". "The deterioration in the relationship between Turkey and Israel over the past year or so is a matter of concern," Gates told reporters in London. "I think the two had a pretty constructive relationship and one that contributed to stability in the region, and I hope that, over time, that kind of constructive relationship can be reestablished," he added. Relations between Israel and Turkey broke down after a...

The deaths of nine Turkish citizens in the Gaza flotilla incident would have brought a severe reaction under any circumstances. What is nonetheless striking in this incident is the unbridled anger and fiercely hostile reaction of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish public. Mr. Erdogan said Israel was guilty of "state terrorism" and a "bloody massacre." His foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said "This attack is like 9/11 for Turkey," comparing it to a premeditated act of aggression that took 2,900 lives... The truth is that friendship toward Israel was always limited to the Turkish secular elites, including...

Either President Obama fixes what's broken in the economy, or he will be remembered for spending his entire first term blaming George Bush. Last week's jobs report was terrible for the 11th month in a recovery. With nearly $800 billion in stimulus spending at its point of maximum impact, federal employment -- net of temporary census jobs -- was up a mere 1,000 in May. Private-sector employment was up an insignificant 41,000, only one-fourth the pace of the previous two months. Retailers are again cutting employment, as consumers, turned pessimistic, flee the malls. Making worse a stock market panicked by...