Free Republic

Southeast Francesca Lane cuts up and around a hillside to reveal the boom-time promise of Happy Valley circa 2006. Young families rolled in to snap up $600,000, stone-fronted homes with Mount Hood views. They came for the country meets cul-de-sac life, solid schools and a 4,000-square-foot edition of the American dream. Speculators trailed on their heels for the next get-rich-quick venture. Francesca Lane circa 2008 isn't dreamy any longer. One of every five homes or lots on the street has fallen into foreclosure since the neighborhood sprang up three years ago. The street offers a grim picture of how greed...

PHOENIX, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Muslim leaders in Arizona have drawn increased scrutiny from federal officials in the past year because of a string of suspicious incidents, officials say. Although no one in the state has been accused of supporting terrorists, one Mesa, Ariz., man was charged with lying to the FBI during the terror financing investigation into a Muslim charity accused of funneling money to the Palestinian group Hamas, The Arizona Republic reported Sunday. Also drawing attention to Arizona Muslims was a target-shooting episode in Phoenix that involved a large group of Muslim men and boys firing hundreds of...

Scott Armstrong and Steve Payer traveled from Michigan to say their "I do's" in Northampton. They are the first out-of-state same-sex couple to wed in Northampton. Last week, Governor Patrick repealed the 95 year old law which made marriage legal in Massachusetts, only if it was legal in the state you came from. The couple has been together for 17 years. "This is the first way we've had of solidifying what we've already known for all this time," said Armstrong. "I am a little nervous, but we have been together so long, that we've already gone through our trials and...

Remember the name: We are...Penn State By David Brown & Salena Zito David Brown is reporting that there is a huge line, five bodies deep, that is circling around several blocks for Sen. Barack Obama's inaugural visit to Penn State. So far no reports as of yet of an Obama version of the famous Penn State chant of "We are…Penn State!"

Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who turned 81 last week, jokingly dismissed the comments of a Texas A&M yell leader Thursday night that Paterno was “on his death bed” and “someone needs to find him a casket.” But it’s no joking matter to the Aggies, who sent the yell leader home and have issued numerous apologies to various Penn State officials. The remark came at an Alamo Bowl-sponsored pep rally for fans of both schools. Penn State fans booed loudly after the remark from the yell leader, one of five A&M upperclassmen who fill the high-profile spirit role at the...

The Lion in Late, Late Autumn By PAT JORDAN Published: August 29, 2004 Zack Mills, a 22-year-old quarterback at Penn State University, and Graham Spanier, the elegantly dressed 56-year-old president of the school, are separated by a generation, but both are equally amazed by the youthful vigor of someone who is from another generation altogether, Joseph Vincent Paterno, Penn State's 77-year-old football coach. Mills says that Paterno can still drop to the floor and perform 20 push-ups and that the coach often takes part in drills with his linemen that result in a bloody nose. ''Nobody tries to hit him,''...

<p>STATE COLLEGE -- Penn State officials had a bear of a day when a young black bruin made its way onto campus.</p> <p>The 50-pound bear, believed to be between six months and 12 months old, was captured Friday.</p> <p>Police responded to a reported bear sighting shortly before 3 p.m. in the Graduate Circle Complex. They spotted the animal in a brush-filled area between the Forestry Resources Building and the Multi-Sports Complex.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. STATE COLLEGE - The recent announcements of layoffs and consolidations by three manufacturing companies with significant local operations offer fresh evidence that the sluggish national economy is hammering Centre County. Two of the companies, C-COR.net Corp. and Atotech USA Inc., are technology firms. SMS Eumuco Inc. is an old-economy heavy-equipment manufacturer. All blame weak business conditions for downsizing their payrolls or pulling their operations into fewer locations. A fourth company, Corning Asahi Video, which makes glass panels and funnels for cathode-ray television tubes, laid off workers in September. The company's majority...