Free Republic

The first smartphone based on Google's Android marries a sophisticated HTC handset with software features that outmaneuver iPhone On October 22, T-Mobile will reap the benefits of its founding membership in the Open Handset Alliance. Through an exclusive partnership with Google and Asian handset manufacturer HTC, the T-Mobile G1 will become the first shipping mobile device based on the Android platform. Google and company have worked hard to make the T-Mobile G1 both affordable and easy to use. And while it's too soon to know how far developers will take the open source Android platform, we now know what to...

Like nine other states, California allows students who attend high school in the state for three years and graduate to pay in-state tuition at public universities. Yet a group of out-of-state parents doesn't like the law. The gripe? AB 540 allows kids whose parents entered the state illegally to pay in-state tuition. So they filed a lawsuit in Yolo Superior Court. Lawmakers passed AB 540 because they want kids who were brought to California through no decision of their own and who have little or no connection with their parents' country to be educated, productive members of society. The Superior...

The real reason why an Obama-Biden ticket is a vulnerable one is that it plays into one of the few strengths that Republicans and John McCain have in the 2008 election. A weak economy, a surge in Democratic voter registration, an unpopular Republican president, a sour public mood, a desire for political change -- all those favor Mr. Obama and Democrats. But what Mr. Obama has done is create an all-liberal ticket -- a very, very liberal one, at that -- in a nation whose electorate is still center-right. The political mood may be a bit more centrist today than...

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq , July 18, 2008 – Army Sgt. Jason Ruckman had a desire to be part of something that would make a difference. Six years ago, he joined the Army to whet his appetite for adventure, and he has never looked back. Army Sgt. Jason Ruckman, of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, pulls security while on a mission in Yusifiyah, about 30 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, May 21, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Jodi Krippel  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Since I was in middle school, I’ve always wanted...

WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT TO TURN ON THE TV AND HEAR ANY U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN GIVE THE FOLLOWING SPEECH? 'My Fellow Americans: As you all know, the defeat of the Iraq regime has been completed. Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete. This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now time to begin the reckoning. Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names...

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass., Dec. 11, 2007 – Kyle Causey fulfilled a lifelong dream Nov. 20 when he left Massachusetts for Texas to attend Air Force Basic Military Training. It took him more than six years, and he had to defeat cancer to reach this milestone. The former Hanscom Air Force Base pool lifeguard had always dreamed of following his father's example by serving in the armed forces. His father, John Causey, a former Army soldier, now works at Hanscom as a contractor for 66th Medical Support Squadron. Now an airman basic at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, Kyle...

11/30/2007 - HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFPN) -- Kyle Causey fulfilled a lifelong dream Nov. 20 when he left Massachusetts for Texas to attend Air Force Basic Military Training. It took him more than six years and had to defeat cancer to reach this milestone. The former Hanscom Air Force Base pool lifeguard had always dreamed of following his father's example by serving in the armed forces. His father, John Causey, a former Army Soldier now works at Hanscom AFB as a contractor for the 66th Medical Support Squadron. Currently an airman basic at Lackland AFB, Texas, Airman Causey...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) agrees with the Bush Administration’s imposition of new, strict sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which is involved deeply in global terrorism and supporting the insurgent forces in Iraq, as he said in a conference call with bloggers Thursday. McCain said the US should proceed with sanctions but encourage like-minded nations to engage as well. “We could have a significant impact on the Iranians if other European countries…who share our views and values, vote for this too,” he said. The senator said he recognized the Russians would pose a problem that we would “have to go...

IT WAS always a long shot for supporters of an immigration measure known as the Dream Act to round up the 60 votes needed to advance the bill in the Senate. But it didn't help matters yesterday when the Bush administration, having supported a comprehensive immigration reform bill containing essentially the same provision, came out against the bill on the morning of the vote. This helped quash the hopes of tens of thousands of promising young people who find themselves, through no fault of their own, in this country illegally. The failure of the Dream Act -- it got just...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Legislation to give children of illegal immigrants a path toward legality failed a crucial test vote in the Senate Wednesday, likely putting a final stamp on major immigration measures for the year. Supporters needed to get 60 votes to advance the DREAM Act, which would have allowed illegal immigrants who plan to attend college or join the military, and who came to the United States with their families before they turned 16, to move toward legality. The final vote was 52-44.

<p>Wednesday Cloture Vote Set For DREAM Act Amnesty Bill (October 23) Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed to invoke cloture on S. 2205, Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) new stand-alone DREAM Act amnesty bill. The cloture vote, for which 60 YES votes are necessary to prevent a filibuster on the measure, is set for Wednesday, October 24. Reid is attempting to bring this nightmarish amnesty bill to the floor under Senate Rule XIV without it ever having been debated in committee... Click here for more background on the DREAM Act.</p>

I am one of the Republicans who was shouted down in the Bush-backed immigration debate. Actually, the words were so hot here, I didn't even bother. I respect those here that feel strongly about the mass of illegals entering the country and I won't go into the reasons I thought the Bush approach was to some degree constructive. The will of the people has been heard. Now the issue is very different for me. I am heartbroken. My wife teaches high school here in Live Oak, FL. She is relatively new, so she gets lower level students. Every semester, a...

(LONDON) -- A series of giant pipes in the oceans to mix surface and deeper water could be an emergency fix for the Earth's damaged climate system, the scientist behind the Gaia theory said on Wednesday. James Lovelock, whose Gaia hypothesis that Earth is a living entity has fuelled controversy for three decades, thinks the stakes are so high that radical solutions must be tried even if they ultimately fail. In a letter to the journal Nature, he proposes vertical pipes 100 to 200 meters long and 10 metres wide be placed in the sea, so that wave motion pumps...

Business and social entrepreneurs need to take urgent action to create 80m jobs for young people in the Middle East and north Africa over the next decade to stop them falling prey to extremists, Mohammed Al Gergawi, minister of state for cabinet affairs in the United Arab Emirates, said on Friday. Mr Al Gergawi told the final day of the Clinton Global Initiative “either we have in the next ten years 80m productive young people…or we have 80m radical extremists in the Middle East.”

Wednesday evening, Sen. Majority Leader Reid tabled the Dream Amnesty Act until later this fall. Reid and Durbin all-but guaranteed the bill will be back in the next 6 weeks. Reid said the battle is "still on" and "we will move to proceed to this matter before we leave here." But for now once again our grassroots pressure made the difference. This from the Houston Chronicle: "With conservatives being barraged with calls, faxes and e-mails from anti-illegal immigration groups that view the DREAM Act as amnesty, some Republicans who supported the measure in the past have been reluctant to do...

These Senators Still Waffling on Vote on DREAM Amnesty The senators in this first list voted NO on the Comprehensive Amnesty in June, but have not yet pledged to vote NO on the DREAM Act amnesty. Phone them by contacting the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121. Alaska: Murkowski, Stevens Arkansas: Pryor Colorado: Allard Florida: Martinez Idaho: Crapo Indiana: Bayh Iowa: Grassley, Harkin Kansas: Brownback Louisiana: Landrieu Maine: Collins Michigan: Stabenow Minnesota: Coleman Mississippi: Cochran Missouri: McCaskill Montana: Baucus, Tester Nebraska: Nelson (Ben) Nevada: Ensign New Hampshire: Sununu New Mexico: Bingaman, Domenici North Dakota: Dorgan Ohio: Brown, Voinovich Oregon: Smith South Dakota:...

Measure Would Offer Legal Status to Illegal Immigrant StudentsBy JULIA PRESTON Published: September 20, 2007 WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 — A bill to offer legal status to illegal immigrant students who have graduated from high school was revived this week in the Senate, the first effort to advance a piece of broad immigration legislation that failed in June. Senator Richard J. Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who is an author of the student measure, said Wednesday that he would try this week to offer it as an amendment to the military authorization bill under debate in the Senate. The measure would provide...

A team of Korean researchers has developed a cutting-edge solar cell that might help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. The discovery could make Korea a leader in the alternative energy industry as the research team plans to double the cell's efficiency and commercialize the technology by 2012. The team's leader, Lee Kwang-hee of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, said on Thursday, "Together with Prof. Alan Heeger at the University of California Santa Barbara, we have developed a plastic solar cell with 6.5 percent efficiency. That level of efficiency is sufficiently high for commercial products." The discovery was...

Congress is grappling with a hot button issue - immigration legislation that would make a college education tens of thousands of dollars cheaper for illegal students than U.S. citizens. The controversy stems from the senate bill S.B. 2611, the so-called "DREAM Act," which would allow states to offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. Currently, that practice is banned under the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. It prohibits public colleges from favoring undocumented students by offering them in-state tuition rates, unless those same rates are extended to all U.S. citizens regardless of their state of residency....

Hours after a massive immigration bill collapsed in the Senate, lawmakers and lobbyists began seeking ways to pass bits and pieces of the measure important to their constituents. In an interview earlier this week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. _ a backer of the sidetracked immigration bill _ said the one-at-a-time approach may prove impossible, even for tougher border-enforcement measures that now seem popular. "The only way we're going to get Ag jobs or DREAM Act" or pathways to legal status for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, Graham said, "is to do it together. This idea of 'Just do the...

Bill Carr, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, expressed hope today during a telephone conference with veterans’ group representatives that a provision in the stalled immigration bill that would have allowed some undocumented aliens to join the military won’t stall as well. The Army recruited 5,101 active-duty soldiers in May, 399 short of its 5,500-soldier goal, the Defense Department recently announced. The Navy and Air Force, however, both met their May goals, with 2,709 and 2,451 recruits, respectively. The Marine Corps exceeded its May goal by 34 percent, signing on 2,225 new Marines. The provision at stake...

More than anything, she wants to go to college. But as an illegal immigrant with a longstanding deportation order, May has little access to financial aid. If she scrapes the tuition together, there are no guarantees she will be allowed to stay in the country. Even with a college degree, she wonders, what kind of job can an undocumented worker get? "I'm not a slacker," said May, 17, who, like other students in this story, declined to use her full name for fear of being deported. "I try to go out there and make things happen, but doors close in...

U.S. Army Capt. Paul EberhardtU.S. Army Maj. Pete Eberhardt Aviation Brothers Share Childhood Dream By Spc. Bryanna Poulin25th Combat Aviation Brigade TIKRIT, Iraq, March 7, 2007 -- Being the "set of eyes" for future aviation units deploying, two brothers met at Contingency Operation Base Speicher, to learn and assist in the daily operational procedures for future mission plans. Capt. Paul B. Eberhardt, assault/cargo division, Directorial Evaluation of Standards (DES), along with 23 DES soldiers on a temporary duty assignment spent about one week at Speicher. The Captain spent time with his brother Maj. Pete Eberhardt, commander, C. Company, 3rd...

More than four out of five U.S. workers do not have their dream jobs, which most people describe as work that is fun, according to a survey released on Thursday. Salary was one of the least important requirements of a dream job, cited by just 12 percent of respondents in the survey by CareerBuilder.com, an online job site, and The Walt Disney Co , which is holding a contest in which winners can get a chance to work at a Disney theme park job for a day. ...Fields with the least number of workers with dream jobs were accommodations and...

Remember the Californian Dream that needed so much protecting just three months ago? That dream where solitary visionaries, like Disney, DeMille, Hewlett and Packard, and Jobs & Wozniak, could work through the night in a garage and create sensational things that could best be summed up by B.C. Forbes who long ago stated, "The purpose of capitalism is not to create a pile of wealth, but a pile of happiness." Remember that that dream was in such danger that the biggest gubernatorial campaign ever imagined was undertaken just to save it? After some really great pomp, humor, dancing kids, and...

One more amnesty Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos will amend immigration law 3386 sothat more undocumented migrants in Greece can legalise their status KATHY TZILIVAKIS The government will reopen the doors of legalisation for undocumented migrants THE RUMOUR is true: the New Democracy government will give undocumented migrants in Greece a second chance to secure a residence permit. Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos unveiled new legislation on October 10, which will be tabled in parliament in the coming days. The new rules will come into force just as soon as they are approved and published in the Government Gazette. "We started with...

We have been discussing the problematic nature of pacifism over the last few days, in The Problem of Pulpit Pacifism, Part 1 and Part 2. We will finish that discussion today with an article that we think you'll find interesting. Within just a few days after the September 11th attacks, some people began forwarding emails with the inevitable pacifist pleas for "peace" and "restraint," decrying violence in all its forms. The idea, amazingly, was to encourage general opposition to action in Afghanistan. In addition to homegrown emails, many of us also had our inboxes graced with the vaunted but highly...

52 REASONS NOT TO MOW 37 WAYS TO HELP TREES Please download with 100% cotton, rice, recycled, or scrap paper Ron Howard, director of A Beautiful Mind and many other films,made his first film at age 8.. an anti mowing film which showed the nature of mowers' attacks on lawns. Art Buchwald: People shouldn't be judged by the length of their grass. In 2003 through now, the world has seen floods, famine, fire, mudslides, hurricanes, tornados and other disasters created by the unprecedented destruction of trees around the world. Trees are nature's weather stabilizers. We need trillions of trees.. new...

When Officer Manuel Gonzalez was stabbed to death Jan. 10, 2005, the inmate suspected in the killing was out of his cell – in violation of standing orders at the prison. Gonzalez, a veteran officer at the California Institution for Men in Chino, also wasn’t wearing his protective "stab-resistant" vest. That’s because it, and hundreds more like it, were in storage and had never been distributed. The killing came a year and a half after prison laundry employee Karen Gossom claims she was sexually assaulted by her supervisor while at work. An Internal Affairs investigation sustained the allegations, and Gossom...

By Lloyd Day. I had a dream recently, I heard a knock on my door and when I went to answer it, there were two men standing there. I had never seen them before. There was something different about them, though I couldn't put my finger on what it was. One interesting thing, however, is that whenever anyone comes up on our porch and knocks, our dog starts barking very loudly, but this time she didn't. They told me that I had to gather my emergency things and get out of town as soon as possible. I stood there stunned...

With all the talk about the former red state, Republican state, California, becoming a blue state -- which is not quite as true as some think -- there is someone talking about it becoming a purple state. That is California Republican Party chairman Duf Sundheim, who talked about his hopes for California during last week’s bus tour kicking off Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign against Democratic challenger Phil Angelides. The Silicon Valley lawyer came on a few years ago to put a moderate face on the party, whose apparatus was traditionally viewed as right wing and increasingly out of step...

THESE ARE THE SENATORS WHO VOTED TO GIVE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL PARTY, THESE POLITICIANS NEED TO BE DEFEATED IN 2006, 2008 OR 2010, WHENEVER THEY NEXT COME UP FOR OFFICE. SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW; THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION -- THAT IS, UNLESS THEY DO NOT MIND SHARING THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY WITH FOREIGN WORKERS WHO NEVER PAID INTO IT AND AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE BEING LEFT OUT. Grouped by Home State Alabama: Alaska: Stevens (R-AK), Yea Arizona: McCain (R-AZ), Yea Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR),...

I am curious why none of the media covers the most important aspect of the Malvo shootings. If you look at Newspapers on the dates when the shootings are underway you discover something I find quite interesting. The shootings begin to dominate the news the day before the debate on the Iraq war starts and they catch them the day after the declaration of war??? If you ask most people "do you remember the debate about starting the second Iraq war", they will all answer "yes of course". But if you followup with the question "name one point in the...

I recently received a reply to a post that stated: "This should be beneath a "freeper". Sad." So I asked.. what is it that makes a FReeper? My reply (and I will admit was tasteless) was also questioning. It stirred controversy and was removed? Why Moderators? Can you not tell me? Did it not meet with your "FReeper" mentality? According to all posted guidelines it should be listed but no, you chose to delete it. Yes.. I'm the first one IBTZ, I'm sure you'll nick me for speaking up..

A first in Northwest Indiana HISPANIC SERIES: Illegal immigrant sets sights on attending college through new program BY JERRY DAVICH jdavich@nwitimes.com 219.933.3376 This story ran on nwitimes.com on Monday, May 29, 2006 12:16 AM CDT Chapter two: Reaching for the dream HOBART I Frances Vega cried when she heard the news. On Nov. 23, the day before last Thanksgiving, she heard about Sen. Dick Lugar's formal introduction of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, Act. The still pending measure would help young, undocumented immigrants in the United States earn legal status by obtaining an education and...

A main item on the Burner is Corporal Binh N. Le, (KIA Iraq) and his parents. You'd think with all these morons who run around attempting to claim our land as theirs soverign (what ever), the illegal ( I guess some folks just don't understand that word - I bet it's those left wing professors at all the colleges, universitys, grade middle and highschools ( gawd I feel surrounded) that have perverted what illegal means.. so mom and pop citizen, when you son doesn't come home cause he done something illegal that he dicided wasn't illegal using the imigration issue...

U.S. Army Capt. Mark Flitton Former Pro Golfer Fulfills Life Dream, Becomes Soldier By Spc. Michael Pfaff 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment TIKRIT, Iraq, April 18, 2006 — When his sixth-grade teacher asked the class to think about what they wanted to do when they grew up, Capt. Mark Flitton took this question very seriously. There are three things he wanted to do in life: join the military, fly planes, and play golf. “I took it to heart and really studied what I wanted to do,� Flitton, the headquarters and headquarters company commander for the 445th Civil Affairs Battalion...

BAGHDAD, April 10, 2006 — A platoon sergeant with Company A, 801st Brigade Support Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, is bidding farewell to the Army as an enlisted soldier to become a flight warrant officer. "I ended up liking it. I liked jumping, (Fort) Bragg and everything in the military, so I stayed in," U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Marlon Stewart Staff Sgt. Marlon Stewart, who will have 10 years in the Army in June, will leave his unit to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. Stewart joined the Army in 1996 as a truck driver, and said he thought he...

Mayan underworld proves researchers' dream By Tim Gaynor Mon Mar 20, 8:49 AM ETReuters Photo: Divers make their way through a freshwater sinkhole, known as a cenote, in Mexico's Yucatan... " TULUM, Mexico (Reuters) - The ancient Maya once believed that Mexico's jungle sinkholes containing crystalline waters were the gateway to the underworld and the lair of a surly rain god who had to be appeased with human sacrifices. Now, the "cenotes," deep sinkholes in limestone that have pools at the bottom, are yielding scientific discoveries including possible life-saving cancer treatments. Divers are dipping into the cenotes, which stud the...

TERROR plotter Zacarias Moussaoui told a Muslim militant he dreamed of crashing a plane into the White House, according to testimony at the al-Qaeda conspirator's death penalty trial today. Singapore-born Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana, a member of the radical Indonesia-based group Jemaah Islamiah, said in testimony recorded in 2002 that he hosted a man he knew only as "John" in Kuala Lumpur in mid-2000, who told him of the dream. Jurors later saw Bafana assert during cross-examination that "John" was Moussaoui. Moussaoui is the first person tried in the US in connection with the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed...

There's no helping you. This site is now just a diversion -- like a train wreck. This site is inherently for and about raving egomaniacs, and Jim's site policies -- which amount to excluding reality and actual dialogue in favor of political/militaristic pornography -- is conducive to cognitive dissonance, which at the times your worldview is threatened leads you into psychotic breaks (on the political cognitive plane, that is, and just maybe in other realms too). Not to mention that your baseline politics is based in mythology about American demographics, science, economics, ethics etc. You spoonfeed each other in the...

CAMP BAHARIA, Iraq (Jan. 12, 2006) -- The right to wear the eagle, globe and anchor and be considered among the world’s finest is a privilege that is hard earned. Lance Cpl. Josslyn D. Selzer, a 19-year-old Boone, N.C., native with Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, is living out that dream. “I have always wanted to be a Marine, since I was about 8,” said Selzer, an ammunition technician for the battalion. “My sister, Deadra, is in the Marines; she joined a year-and-a-half before me, but I knew I wanted to join long before she ever...

When Terry Botnen built his cabin last spring...he thought he'd found his retirement dream. He built a simple 20-by-30-foot cabin on 40 acres of ground atop a ridge. No power lines run to the remote location, so he used generators to supply power. But since April, his dream home has turned into a nightmare. Part of the attraction of the land is the big-game hunting and solitude. The 120 acres are bordered by Bureau of Land Management land... The problem is that the three pieces of property are accessible only by an old road that crosses BLM land and then...

Court blocks Calif. video game sales restriction Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:40 PM ET By Lisa Baertlein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal judge has blocked a California law that would have made it illegal to sell or rent violent video games to minors, saying he doubted whether such sales could be banned even if the games were proved to cause violent behavior among children. The preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the law was based on a finding that the statute risked violating the right to free speech. The decision comes amid a political and cultural war over the content...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Dec. 20, 2005) -- Most children grow up playing with trucks and tanks, but few of them have the chance to ever experience riding the “Iron Horse.” Thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Marines of 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, that experience came alive for six-year-old Brandon Rasnick of Lehigh Acres, Fla. Brandon, who was promoted to the rank of sergeant by his fellow Marines, has cystic fibrosis, a genetic lung disorder. Since his one wish was train with Marines and to “save the world,” the Marines of 2nd Tanks arranged a...

When a rock hits the calm surface of a pond, ripples form at the point of impact and travel outward in expanding circles. The story begins with a young man and his dream - a dream of overcoming his health problems and flying for the Air Force. The boy, Ryan Penne, 14, of Chico, Calif., stepped into dreamland last year at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., when he and his family were guests of Col. Darryl W. Burke - then the 9th Reconnaissance Wing's vice commander - for a comprehensive base tour as part of the Make-A-Wish program. Ryan suffers...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Aug. 11, 2005) -- “I felt bad about the fact that there were Marines who have been over here two or three times and I had never been here once,” said the II Marine Expeditionary Force, Headquarters Group, II MEF (Forward), Marine. “I wanted the chance to come out here and serve the Marine Corps and do what I was trained to do.” Corporal Daniel H. Williams, 21, the Marine Integrated Maintenance Management System noncommissioned officer-in-charge at the II MHG Motor Transportation Maintenance garage, was activated from his reserve unit, 4th Maintenance Battalion, 4th Force Service Support...

A last-minute breakthrough in an immigration case helped four Phoenix students, including recent ASU graduate Luis Nava, escape the threat of deportation for the immediate future. U.S. Immigration Judge John Richardson threw out the federal government's case against the students on Thursday. He ruled that immigration officials unlawfully detained the students based on their ethnic origin during a school trip to Niagara Falls in June 2002. Prior to this decision, it had been widely expected that the students would request voluntary departure to avoid the potentially harsh consequences of forced deportation. This action would have required them to leave the...

Calling on Los Angeles to renew its dreams and work with him to meet the challenges of making the streets safer, the schools better and the air cleaner, Antonio Ramo Villaraigosa was sworn in Friday as the city's 41st mayor and the first Latino mayor since 1872. With more than 5,000 officials and residents packed onto the South Lawn of City Hall, Villaraigosa promised to work to bring the city together and urged the public to think big about how the city can become a world leader. "Let's swear a common oath today. Let's make Los Angeles a city of...

A “universal recipe” for building a “dream team” has been devised by scientists studying the make-up of the groups behind hit Broadway musicals and successful science projects. The perfect creative team contains just the right mix of veterans and rookies, suggests the mathematical modelling study, carried out by Luís Nunes Amaral at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, US, and colleagues. “All the best teams seem to have a certain number of newcomers,” says Amaral, who works on complex systems and network analysis. But he adds: “The successful teams also have a fair number of people who are established.” Taking completely...