Free Republic

MAGNOLIA -- Police say the motives of a teacher accused of taking three youngsters to motels to engage in sex in a nearby town aren't known. Donna Lou Sanders, 46, of Magnolia, was released on $100,000 bond Friday. She is charged with 12 counts of permitting abuse of a minor, and 10 counts of rape. Columbia County deputy prosecutor David Butler said she is being treated at a private mental health center. Chief Robert Gorum said Sanders told investigators on Wednesday, the day she was arrested, that she committed all of the crimes of which she is being accused. Sanders,...

Beth Modica, 44, a former assistant district attorney in Rockland County and Queens, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to counts including statutory rape, sex abuse and endangering children. Bail was set at $75,000. Her husband, the Spring Valley police chief, is "not implicated whatsoever," Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said. The 35-count indictment says that, beginning in July, Modica had sex with a 16-year-old, as well as oral sex with that boy and a 15-year-old. The judge issued orders of protection for the boys. Modica also is accused of drinking with children at her home and smoking marijuana with them...

"The Hillary Clinton for President Campaign celebrated the opening of its new San Francisco headquarters with a launch party that coincided with the Democratic presidential debate on July 23, 2007. The radical activist groups Breasts Not Bombs and Code Pink heard about the event and decided it would be a good opportunity to stage a surprise topless protest to publicize their anti-war message." "I heard about the planned party-crashing and made sure I was on hand to record what happened." WARNING: link to website contains topless photos ( Mother-Of-All-Barf-Alerts)"Everyone crowded around several large TVs to watch the Democratic candidates. The...

News broadcast says the verdict is in. Will be read shortly.

Newton didn't deny putting a gun in her 7-year-old son's knapsack and stashing the bag at an abandoned house. But she and her lawyers argued the .25-caliber blue steel revolver she hid was not the one used to fatally shoot her son, Alton; her 21-month-old daughter, Farrah; and her husband, Adrian, 23, at their Houston apartment. Newton all along insisted she was innocent, and the claim about the gun was among several in her appeal to the Supreme Court. She also contended her trial attorneys were incompetent and evidence at her trial improperly was destroyed. "I know I did not...

Report just issues, mapes finally fired

50 Years Later: Rosenberg ReduxBy Greg YardleyFrontPageMagazine.com | June 20, 2003 Fifty years ago last night, the government of the United States executed two of the most contemptible figures of the Cold War, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  And exactly fifty years later - that is, last night - the leftovers of the Cold War's losing side gathered, to wage the latest round of a decades-long struggle to exonerate their dead.  A 'major cultural program' to commemorate the Rosenbergs was held in New York City's City Center.  Michael and Robert Meeropol, the Rosenbergs' two sons, were the star attraction; an array...

Early last month, Dave Laspisa, a Poway businessman, opened his mail and discovered a holiday card from his old friend David Westerfield. "Greetings of the Seasons," the card announced, and inside was a handwritten note of thanks for Laspisa's support. Van Dams file lawsuit against Westerfield During the past year, Laspisa has been fairly vocal in his belief that Westerfield, his camping buddy, had nothing to do with the murder of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. "Please know that I was not involved in the death of this child," Westerfield wrote. "I'm saying this to you not to solicit more help...

When a person goes in search of enlightenment, it's usually good advice to avoid an Internet chat room. And yet it was a random posting on the Internet that led to a key piece of evidence in the David Westerfield case. At a luncheon in Mission Valley yesterday, prosecutors Jeff Dusek and George "Woody" Clarke told a number of anecdotes – some of them funny, others poignant and revealing – about what happened behind the scenes in the most publicized criminal trial in San Diego County history. The luncheon was organized by the San Diego Crime Commission and about 100...