Free Republic

Was it a threat or not? In his second State of the City address, Mayor Robert Duffy said he will tie the city’s $119 million annual school aid to results. “I care about our children graduating from school and that should be and will be our funding criteria for our schools,” he said. Duffy honed in on the district’s 50 percent four-year graduation rate. The graduation rate in Rochester is worse than in Buffalo, which spends less money per pupil. “We have the worst graduation rate in the state and that has to change. Clearly money is not the issue...

CHEVY CHASE Panel Says House Is Over the Line Unhappy Neighbors Want Walls Moved By Miranda S. Spivack Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, June 8, 2006; Page B02 Marianne and Marc Duffy say their dream home renovation in Chevy Chase has turned into a suburban nightmare. Their neighbors say the Duffys intentionally flouted building rules when they expanded their $725,000 house on Thornapple Street and have no one to blame but themselves. Yesterday, a Montgomery County appeals board reaffirmed an earlier ruling that the Duffys had rebuilt their house too close to the street and to neighbors. The Duffys say...

A Chevy Chase couple has been ordered by the county to demolish their partially renovated home — or to move it 1.7 feet back from the property line. Marc and Marianne Duffy believe they are victims of a backlash against oversized homes being squeezed into small lots in older neighborhoods. They say they are being punished for a county agency’s mistakes. Neighbors who opposed the construction believe the Duffy’s problems are their own creation. Marc Duffy, an attorney, and Marianne Duffy, a stay-at-home mom and former attorney, served as their own general contractors on the project. ‘‘Three times my husband...

By JEANNETTE J. LEE, Associated Press Writer HONOLULU - A state legislator is pushing a bill that would ban the slaughter of dogs and cats for food, drawing protests from members of some Asian ethnic groups who believe the measure is aimed at unfounded and racist stereotypes of their cultures. Animal rights groups pushed for the bill's introduction this month, even though joint investigations last year by the Hawaiian Humane Society and Animal Crimestoppers yielded no proof that anyone uses the pets as food. State Rep. Glenn Wakai, who introduced the measure, said it is aimed at stemming the growth...

George W. Bush Angers Conservatives Howard Dean isn't the only presidential candidate suffering a self-inflicted meltdown. There's a certain Republican with the same problem, and we don't mean Wesley Clark the former Reaganite. President Bush has so angered his conservative base by spending more than any Democrat in history and pandering to illegal aliens that Republican congressmen, stunned by constituents' complaints, met privately with Karl Rove to unload, the Washington Times revealed Friday. "I would say 97 out of 100 of our members who asked questions laid into him pretty good about spending and the lack of discipline on the...