Free Republic

Pretending to be a naïve tax preparation customer, Christina [Talarczyk, an ACORN activist in San Antonio] walked into a Jackson Hewitt office with a Dateline producer who had a camera hidden in his sunglasses. The tax-preparation employees were caught on camera as they tried to convince Christina to take out a high-interest RAL [Refund Anticipation Loan]

You may recall articles in this newspaper just before July 4 about New Jersey residents who were driving to Pennsylvania to bring back fireworks that are illegal in this state. Now imagine that I was looking for an idea for a column and I came up with this scheme: I would e-mail one of my readers and tell him that, just for fun, the two of us should drive over the state line to buy fireworks. I would then arrange for the police to arrest him the minute he crossed the Delaware River. And I'd have a photographer record the...

An NBC reporter learned the hard (and embarrassing) way that DefCon 15, a conference of underground hackers who also happen to be security experts, is not the place to go undercover with a hidden camera. George Ou, who blogs for CNET News.com's sister site ZDNet, has written a detailed account of the drama that unfolded Friday at the Las Vegas conference when staff members announced the "spot the undercover reporter" game. Staffers had apparently learned that a Dateline NBC producer hoping to catch someone confessing to a hacking crime was there as a regular attendee after refusing repeatedly to seek...

NEW YORK - NBC News is dropping "Dateline NBC" anchor Stone Phillips in a cost-cutting move when his contract expires at the end of June. Phillips won't formally be replaced. His co-anchor, Ann Curry, will continue and other "Dateline NBC" reporters will serve as on-air hosts when the newsmagazine presents stories they're working on, the network said Tuesday. "It's been a wonderful 15 years," Phillips said in a statement issued by NBC. "I'm profoundly appreciative of the many friends and colleagues, past and present, who have been a part of the `Dateline' family. This is a great news division with...

Last month, the Web site Perverted-Justice.com posted news of the conviction of Sean Young, a Wisconsin man sentenced to 10 years in state prison for soliciting sex online from a 14-year-old girl. According to a transcript of an online chat posted on the site, at one point Mr. Young had asked the girl, identified only as Billie, what she was wearing. When she answered “sweats,” Mr. Young typed back that if she were his daughter, “i’d make u wear sexy clthes.” Billie turned out to be an adult volunteer for Perverted Justice, an anti-pedophile group, and when Mr. Young drove...

A Maryland rabbi caught in a television sting operation was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison yesterday for trying to solicit sex from a 13-year-old boy over the Internet. David A. Kaye, 56, told the judge that he traveled to Herndon for what he thought would be sex with a boy "as a cry out for help to fight my personal demons." Sobbing as he acknowledged his father, who sat in the courtroom in a wheelchair, Kaye said his conviction had made him face "the reality of who I am. . . . I know I need help. I...

TERRELL - Former Kaufman County District Attorney Louis "Bill" Conradt Jr. killed himself as police tried to serve an arrest warrant for soliciting sex with a minor, authorities said.Conradt, 56, was chief felony assistant attorney for nearby Rockwall County at the time of his death Sunday.Police forced their way into Conradt's Terrell home after hearing a gunshot when he refused to answer the door, a police spokesman said. The officers found Conradt with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He later died at a hospital in Dallas, about 30 miles west of Terrell.Police in the town of Murphy in nearby Collin County...

RIVERSIDE - A Norwalk man snared last January during a "Dateline NBC" Internet predator sting in Mira Loma has been sentenced to three years in state prison. Hoi "Eddie" Chan, 29, pleaded guilty June 23 to one count of attempted child molestation and was sentenced on Friday. That brings to eight the number of men who have entered pleas in the high-profile case that was televised nationally earlier this year. Five men, including Chan, have been sentenced. Defendants Corey Ahia, 26, of Fontana; Jonathan Daniel Vasquez, 21, of Chino and Miguel Angel Sosa, 35, of Perris, are all awaiting sentencing....

Five years after 9/11, it's easy to find partisan divisions. But here's an issue we should be able to agree on: Docudramas--the portrayal of real events and people by actors--are a poor way to teach children and adults history. It's especially iffy to take dramatic license in telling the story of events in which many of the principal players are still living, such as 9/11 or President Reagan's administration. Just ask ABC. Last night, it aired the first part of a six-hour miniseries, "The Path to 9/11." Sandy Berger, who served as President Clinton's national security adviser, bitterly complained about...

Asking “Who is to blame for America’s obesity epidemic” among children, Ann Curry of NBC’s “Today” show introduced a condensed edition of a story to air later that evening on “Dateline NBC.” Reporter Stone Phillips went on to suggest corporate advertising was to blame for America’s chubby kids. But Phillips left out of his report that his featured psychologist is the co-founder of a group that calls for regulation of advertising to children. “Food marketing to children is a $10-billion-a-year industry, and some parents’ advocates and lawyers are saying it’s out of control,” noted NBC reporter Stone Phillips as he...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NASCAR said it was "outrageous" that "Dateline NBC" targeted one of its racetracks last weekend for a possible segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. NASCAR said NBC confirmed it was sending Muslim-looking men to a race, along with a camera crew to film fans' reactions. The NBC crew was "apparently on site in Martinsville, Va., walked around and no one bothered them," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Wednesday. "It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news," Poston said....

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - A judge on Thursday denied a request by defense attorneys to seal records and prevent the Riverside County district attorney's office from releasing information about the recent arrests of 49 men accused of attempted child molestation. Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz denied both motions filed by the county's public defender's office, saying there wasn't enough evidence to justify the request. The decision affected only nine defendants who remain in custody. It was unknown whether defense attorneys will file a similar motion with the other 40 men who have posted bail. A message left for defense attorneys...

Former hostage talks about capture, escape Tuesday, 10PM ET Hamill talks about the day he was captured by terrorists in Iraq and how he was able to survive three weeks of captivity.

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