Free Republic

The state of Washington formally shuttered its tourism office on Friday, a move that helps close deep budget deficits but makes it the only U.S. state no longer spending money to attract visitors.

Planned Parenthood of Central Texas Closes Two Centers Waco, TX -- Planned Parenthood of Central Texas is closing two of its centers that make abortion referrals to its main location. The affiliate of the national abortion business did not give any reasons for closing the locations in Groesbeck and Marlin, Texas. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/18/planned-parenthood-of-central-texas-closes-two-centers/

Scotland Yard has received the paperwork required to arrest Julian Assange as the net tightens on the WikiLeaks founder. A fresh European Arrest Warrant has been issued by the authorities in Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over claims of sexual assault. Mark Stephens, who represents the 39-year-old Australian former computer hacker, said he would fight any move to extradite his client. But the move means there is no longer any legal impediment to holding Mr Assange and making him appear before City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Obamacare has landed in Denver, where doctors at a pain management clinic have been told they must stop treating patients with a successful process that extracts their own adult stem cells, cultivates them and then reinjects them to stimulate growth in damaged limbs. The word of the dispute comes from Dr. Christopher Centano of the Centano Schultz clinic, whose Regenexx, or Regenerative Sciences Inc., has been successfully treating patients with the process for several years. Centano confirms his work provides a much less costly and significantly more convenient alternative to knee or hip joint replacement surgeries, which sometimes require a...

Maria Pinto Closes Chicago Boutique. What's Michelle Obama to Wear? by Lesley Kennedy  Posted Feb 15th 2010 at 4:26PM (Image not included due to Free Republic rules pertaining to Getty Images) Even designing dresses that turned Michelle Obama into a fashion trendsetter couldn't keep Maria Pinto in business. The designer has closed the doors to her Chicago boutique, reports the Chicago Sun-Times, and she is expected to seek bankruptcy protection this week. Pinto tells the Sun-Times "economic challenges and soft buying trends at the top end of the apparel market" contributed to her business woes.  ''I am confident that the 'Maria Pinto' name will not go away,...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The federal government was closed Monday after a record-breaking snowstorm swept across the northeastern United States and put a damper on one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. Just days before Christmas, the eastern seaboard from North Carolina to New England was digging out from the worst blizzard in years, which closed train and bus service, paralyzed air traffic, crippled motorists and left hundreds of thousands of residents without power in some areas. Americans pining for a white Christmas got more than they bargained for, with local officials urging residents to hunker down indoors as...

CAMP BUCCA, Iraq - The U.S. military on Wednesday closed Camp Bucca, an isolated desert prison that was once its largest lockup in Iraq, as it moves to release thousands of detainees or transfer them to Iraqi custody before the end of the year.

OAKLAND — An Oakland cookie company has closed its doors for good. After operating in Oakland for 92 years, Mother's Cookies shut down when its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection Monday. --snip-- In filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy .. company officials cited rising prices for raw materials and fuel.

by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor July 21, 2008 Sioux Falls, SD (LifeNews.com) -- Monday was the first day that Planned Parenthood, which operates the only abortion business in South Dakota, had to comply with a new state law telling women the truth about abortion. Rather than tell women abortion kills children and has numerous risks, Planned Parenthood temporarily closed its doors.

Pro-Life Groups Celebrate Closing of Dallas Late-Term Abortion Business Dallas, TX (LifeNews.com) -- The rash of abortion centers closing down continues and pro-life advocates in Dallas, Texas are excited to learn that they're next on the list. Aaron Women’s Health Center, a late-term abortion facility, will be closing its doors, and that's good news for the people who have prayed for this day to come. The closing follows on the heels of recent closures of abortion centers in other states, including Kentucky and New York.

LOS ANGELES (AP) --- Ameriquest Mortgage Co., once the nation's largest subprime lender, will close with barely a whimper, after the other assets of its parent company were sold Friday to Citigroup Inc. Ameriquest, which saw its fortunes soar during the housing boom by lending to people with less than stellar credit, is the latest victim of a mortgage crisis that has left bankrupt companies and cash-strapped borrowers in its wake. Along with shuttering Ameriquest, Orange-based ACC Capital Holdings also said it was selling its wholesale mortgage origination operation and a mortgage servicing business to Citigroup for an undisclosed sum....

ARLINGTON, Va., June 7, 2007 – For two years, the American public has been given a personal look into the sacrifices of U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan through the Faces of the Fallen exhibit. Dawn Peterson holds a painting of her son, U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Jason Plite, at the closing ceremony of the "Faces of the Fallen" exhibit in Arlington Va., June 7, 2007. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Now the portraits of fallen troops that adorned the walls of the Women...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia's governor said Monday he has closed the loophole that allowed a mentally disturbed Virginia Tech student to acquire the guns he used to kill 32 classmates and faculty on April 16 in Blacksburg. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said he issued an executive order requiring immediately that the names of persons found dangerous and ordered to undergo involuntary mental health treatment be entered in a database barring the sale of firearms.

Several hundred protesters in Tijuana, Mexico blocked vehicle traffic heading to San Diego on Monday, turning the world's busiest border crossing into an empty parking lot. U.S. authorities responded by closing the metal barriers in front of vehicle inspection lanes for "security purposes" about 1 p.m. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which links Tijuana with San Diego. However, Angelica De Cima, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Customs Service, which runs the port, stressed that the port remained open to the few vehicles that were able to make it through the crowd. "We are there to do our law...

SACRAMENTO – The Schwarzenegger administration yesterday closed a pension loophole that would have allowed some state firefighters to retire with pensions higher than their final salaries. But the move does not address the state fire department's troubling high vacancy rate among top manager positions – 34 out of 151 division chief positions – that some fear could weaken response and jeopardize safety as the fire season begins. The excessive pensions, which may have been limited to about a dozen people, stem from the same lucrative labor contract that gives rank-and-file firefighters more pay than supervisors, making the top jobs hard...

WASHINGTON - The independent counsel who investigated former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros charged in his final report Thursday that the Clinton administration thwarted his work, drawing the curtain on the longest-ever probe under a post-Watergate era reform law. Officials who worked in the Clinton administration flatly deny the allegations by prosecutor David M. Barrett, who closed a decade-long probe with a report detailing a behind-the-scenes battle inside the government as he tried to look into possible tax violations by Cisneros. Cisneros, who was housing secretary during the Clinton administration, pleaded guilty in 1999 to a misdemeanor of lying to the...

SEATTLE - Canvassing boards in Grays Harbor, Kittitas, Lewis and Clark counties decide to not reconsider ballots some previously rejected ballots at the request of Republicans. The Republican party filed a public records request in Seattle Monday. Paul Berendt, Chair of the Washington State Democrats, issued the following statement Tuesday afternoon: "Canvassing boards have spoken, and they have clearly stated this election is done. The Secretary of State has said this election is over. "Chris Gregoire will be the next governor of Washington State. She will be certified on Thursday, and sworn into office on January 12th.

A former PLO terrorist who is now pro-Israel was not allowed to enter Canada - but he spoke to his scheduled audience anyway, via live video link. A former PLO terrorist who is now pro-Israel was not allowed to enter Canada - but he spoke to his scheduled audience anyway, via live video link. Walid Shoebat, formerly of a village near Bethlehem and now a resident of northern California, was scheduled to speak in Vancouver yesterday against terrorism - but was turned away by Canadian immigration officials at a California airport. Organizers held the event anyway, arranging a live video...

Taiwan closes borders to curb spread of infection By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor 28 April 2003 Taiwan became the first country yesterday to close its borders to visitors from areas affected by Sars as it recorded its first death from the disease. Authorities said visitors from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada would be barred in a drastic attempt to curb the spread of the infection. China has also attempted to slow the spread of the disease by closing cinemas, theatres, internet cafés and other public venues. Canada was offered some hope by the World Health Organisation, which said it...

The head of the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, Hans Blix, and the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed el-Baradei, have begun talks with Iraqi officials. The main issue is Iraqi cooperation with the weapons inspections. The results will be crucial to the report which the two men are to deliver to the UN Security Council on February 14th, affecting their decision on a possible war with Iraq. Mr Blix and Mr El-Baradei will remain in Iraq until Monday. During his visit to Germany US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the world must be ready to use force...