Free Republic

State official resigns over 'Joe the Plumber' affair Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:54 PM Updated: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 07:38 PM By Catherine Candisky THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Helen Jones-Kelley, the state official placed on unpaid leave for improperly accessing confidential information from state databases on "Joe the Plumber," has resigned. Two senior managers involved in the incident also are leaving, The Dispatch has learned.. Jones-Kelley was scheduled to return to work as director of the Department of Job and Family Services on Monday following a one-month suspension without pay. Today's action comes just hours after the Senate approved a measure...

Supporters of ex-Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean stand at the foot of the Federal Courthouse steps in El Paso last month. (Photos By Ruben R. Ramirez -- El Paso Times Via Associated Press) Early this week, the Bush administration urged angry conservatives to remain calm over the convictions of two former Border Patrol agents who shot an unarmed Mexican drug smuggler, but petitions for their release continued to flood the White House. It did not help that one the lawmen, Ignacio Ramos, was attacked by Latino gang members in his cell at the Yazoo City Federal Correctional...

LEWISTON, Maine — U.S. prosecutors are not pursuing charges against a man who rolled a pig's head into a mosque. Brent Matthews faces a state misdemeanor charge of desecration of a place of worship. State prosecutors also won a court order requiring him to stay away from the mosque. Matthews, 33, has insisted the July 3 incident was intended as a joke. The pig's head rolled into the mosque as about 40 people were praying. Many Muslims consider pork and pork products unclean and offensive. FBI agents and federal prosecutors looked into federal hate crime charges but ultimately decided to...