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Three teenagers were charged Monday in the beating death of a 16-year-old Chicago honor roll student on his way home from school, a melee captured on a cell phone video that shows a group striking him with boards and kicking him as he lay on a sidewalk. The death of Derrion Albert, a sophomore at Christian Fenger Academy High School, on Thursday has reignited community outrage over chronic violence involving city students and is putting pressure on school and police officials to address gang problems that often are at the root of such violence. The Chicago public school system is...

It seems that Obama has finally begun to realize that so-called "bipartisan" legislation is a pointless, silly and otherwise foolish notion when dealing with the Republicans. They are The Party of No. No ideas. No solutions. No clues. And when 2010 and 2012 come, no victories... hopefully. They have tried to stop the obvious destruction of our economic, banking, housing, healthcare and other sectors that they fully allowed to happen starting back in the Reagan years and fully implemented from 1994-2006. The Republicans have failed and are now an ever-shrinking party that caters to the spiritually superstitious, homophobic, racist and...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The mother who gave birth to octuplets identified a Beverly Hills fertility clinic that she said provided in-vitro fertilization for all 14 of her children. Nadya Suleman said in an interview that aired Monday on NBC's "Today" show that she used the West Coast IVF Clinic for all of her pregnancies.

Dellums' swearing-in tainted by crowd mocking De La Fuente - The racism-tinged disruption of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' inauguration on Monday continued to have an impact in Oakland on Thursday as Asian American and Latino community leaders held a news conference to call for racial unity. But the racial divide to be bridged remained apparent. The news conference had no members of the African American community who had called at the inauguration for City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, a Latino, to step down. After those calls were not heeded and De La Fuente was re-elected in a special...

A Sumter man was severely burned late Sunday night after he reportedly climbed an electrical pole to try and steal copper wire. Authorities said Herbert Wayne Odom, 34, of 306 E. Charlotte Ave. was taken to Tuomey Regional Medical Center and later flown by helicopter to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Ga., following the 9:30 p.m. incident. "There's fluid around his heart, and he's burnt up pretty good," said a man who only wanted to be identified as Odom's brother. "We're not sure if he's going to make it." His condition could not be determined as of...

United Nations: The world body this week invited Zimbabwe's dictator, who starves his own people for political purposes, to its World Food Day — where he compared President Bush to Hitler. We kid you not. ... Also on hand at the celebration was Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, who used the occasion to accuse the U.S. and our allies of threatening "all life on the planet." Chavez praised Mugabe's policies, and said Venezuela was enacting similar "reforms." Mugabe and Chavez were photographed embracing happily, like the two birds of a feather they are.

May 7, 2005, 11:18PM 'Thanks for not shooting my son'By RICK CASEYCopyright 2005 Houston Chronicle After hearing from Rambo wannabes that I should have blown away the tattooed, drug-addled man who crashed into my house at 11 o'clock one night in February, the e-mail from Syble Asaf was arresting.It's not every day a mother thanks you for not shooting her son."I was reading an article Wednesday evening and realized it is my son you were writing about," she wrote. "I am very sorry for what he did to your family. As equally I am grateful you did not shoot him."Police...

This forum, over the past few weeks.months has gotten frankly... UGLY! This is a tremendously sad day for many. It is unimaginably sad for the Schindlers, for the many wonderful people who have been outside the hospice for the past two weeks, and it has been very sad for many of us who feel they finally have a place that they are able to voice their opinions and views, on Free Republic. Terri Schiavo passed away today and in my heart and the hearts of most here, she is now with the Lord. Yet, there are those who feel it...