Free Republic

The historic New Jersey funeral home where mobsters wound up after getting whacked in “The Sopranos” is facing a hit job itself. The Irvine-Cozzarelli Memorial Home in Belleville — which was discussed and featured in numerous episodes of the HBO Mafia drama — could be demolished as part of a redevelopment plan recently approved by township officials, NJ.com reported. It’s a controversial move, as the building on Washington Avenue where the storied business is located dates back to 1885 — and the local historical society doesn’t want to see it fitted for cement overshoes. “The place has incredible potential,” Michael...

by Samantha Foster | 24NewsPresident Biden fell off his bike while riding near his home in Rehoboth Beach in June.According to reports, Biden had trouble removing his shoes from the bikes’ pedals.Secret Service agents swarmed the fallen commander-in-chief after he needed help getting back up.Feeble Joe Biden quickly got up and chatted with the reporters and Delaware bystanders. He also went over to a little girl on the beach.Watch:Now there is an official landmark at the location where Joe Biden fell off his bike while it as at a complete stop.It’s labeled “Brandon Falls” in honor of Joe Biden.The Brandon...

The Strand Bookstore, a New York City icon home to 2.5 million books and 92 years of storefront history, was commemorated by the city and chosen as a historic city landmark this week. Nancy Bass Wyden, the store's third-generation owner, isn't taking it as a compliment. "Some people have congratulated me and I said, 'No, this is no congratulations. This is a punishment,' " Bass Wyden tells NPR's Scott Simon. Bass Wyden feels that the designation is counterproductive. "We don't need the city to come in and just put red tape and bureaucracy and take control over decision-makings of the...

A federal judge warned the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday not to discriminate against conservative groups in how it responds to open-records requests, issuing a legal spanking. Judge Royce C. Lamberth concluded the agency may have lied to the court and showed “apathy and carelessness” in carrying out the law, though the judge was unable to determine if documents were intentionally destroyed. Judge Lamberth described the “absurdity” of the way the EPA handled a Freedom of Information Act request from the Landmark Legal Foundation and then the court case stemming from it — including late last week admitting it lied...

One of the major financial backers of President Barrack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign has been indicted in an alleged multi-million dollar insurance swindle. Kareem Ahmed, the president and CEO of Ontario firm Landmark Medical Management, is accused of masterminding the scheme and is facing charged of conspiracy, insurance fraud and involuntary manslaughter, according to TPM. Ahmed and 15 of his associates - most of them doctors and one pharmacist - were indicted by a California grand jury, TPM reported. He is accused of developing topical cream formulas 'based on the profitability of the ingredients' and bribing doctors who treated workers'...

Landmark Legal Foundation has filed suit against the EPA for the Agency's failure to produce information about regulations the EPA will issue after the November 6th election.Landmark's new brief can be found by clicking this link:EPA Lawsuit

California's landmark global-warming bill was a white-hot topic in the 2010 governor's race and remains former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature environmental achievement. But as the state prepares to unroll the law's cap-and-trade program in November with the first state auctions of emissions permits, a new poll finds that 57 percent of Californians say they have never heard anything about the program. The statewide poll by the Public Policy Institute of California further found that 30 percent of respondents said they had heard "a little," while just 12 percent said they had heard "a lot." "Cap-and-trade is a very complicated issue...

Take one good, long last look at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, a defining landmark of New York City. It is about to disappear for two or three years under a cocoon of scaffolding, inside and out, that will permit a $177 million rehabilitation project to unfold, the most extensive work at the cathedral in generations.Come to think of it, don’t take too good a look. You may see the growing cracks in the marble facade and the patchwork of repairs up and down the buttresses, the dimness of the stained-glass windows and smoke-darkened walls, the zebra striping caused by lathing behind...

After years of wrangling, US and Mexican officials signed an agreement Wednesday that allows trucks from each nation to travel on the other country’s highways – a key provision of NAFTA. Washington The United States and Mexico on Wednesday signed an agreement aimed at resolving a cross-border trucking dispute. The longstanding disagreement had come to symbolize growing resistance, especially in the US Congress, to free-trade provisions with America’s southern neighbor. The accord, signed in Mexico City by US and Mexican transportation officials, would end a 15-year-old controversy that on the US side featured fears of unsafe Mexican trucks barreling along...

One of the law firms representing a lead party in the Florida litigation launched by 26 states challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare invited Landmark Legal Foundation to file an amicus curiae ("Friend of the Court") brief in support of the federal district court's decision that Obamacare was unconstitutional. Landmark was asked to address the Commerce Clause and tax issues relating to the legislation. Landmark's amicus brief is here: /uploads/Brief_Filed.pdf

Locked up, abandoned and forgotten, the vacant six-flat standing at the northeast corner of 57th and Maryland has no plaques or statues and few clues to its history. Now, the little-known childhood home of Ronald Reagan in Hyde Park could soon be torn down by the University of Chicago, which has quietly plotted its demolition, the Sun-Times has learned. The plan has made unlikely allies of conservatives who consider Reagan an icon and liberal Hyde Parkers who say the university’s secrecy is typical of how it has treated its neighbors for decades. It puts the school that provided the intellectual...

It says something about the way much of the world views the rights of Jews to live in Jerusalem that the erection of new homes in parts of that city is considered such a terrible provocation. Thus, the new housing project in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of the city is generally reported as an outrageous provocation, even though the only reason this area is usually described as “predominantly Arab” or, more outrageously, “traditionally Arab” is because from 1949 to 1967, when this location was illegally occupied by Jordan, Jews were prohibited from living there. As to whether it is wise...

Roughly 600 of California's major polluters -- from oil refineries to power plants and factories -- will face mandatory limits on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit, starting on Jan. 1, 2012, under new rules released today by state air regulators. The facilities will be able to trade pollution credits under a new "cap and trade" market, and will be allowed to use projects that offset global warming, such as tree planting, to cover up to 8 percent of their emissions limits. The new rules are part of AB 32, the landmark law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in...

SIOA MOSQUE ALERT! SIOA MOSQUE ALERT! The hearing before the Landmarks Commission concerning the Ground Zero mosque is scheduled for July 13 at 2pm, at 45 Park Place. We should be there. The 152-year-old Burlington Coat Factory building should be landmarked, as it is part of historic New York, and it is a war memorial. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MEETING. ATTEND. EMAIL THIS TO EVERYONE. CIVIL BEHAVIOR IS OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE. I ask each of you to be polite and reasoned when you speak. I noticed at the community board meeting that there were "plants" on our side, yelling inappropriately...

WASHINGTON – Anxious and angry, Americans are not in a congratulatory mood. That's bad news for President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies. After winning a landmark health care overhaul earlier this year, Obama now stands on the brink of seeing Congress approve the most far-reaching overhaul of Wall Street regulations since the 1930s. Democrats aim to put it on his desk by July 4. Yet with the economy still wobbly and the stock market retreating, Americans remain nervous about the possibility of a double-dip recession. They have seen few concrete benefits yet from the slow-to-unfold health care law. Likewise,...

A landmark ruling in a recent Kansas Supreme Court case may have given millions of distressed homeowners the legal wedge they need to avoid foreclosure. In Landmark National Bank v. Kesler, 2009 Kan. LEXIS 834, the Kansas Supreme Court held that a nominee company called MERS has no right or standing to bring an action for foreclosure. MERS is an acronym for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a private company that registers mortgages electronically and tracks changes in ownership. The significance of the holding is that if MERS has no standing to foreclose, then nobody has standing to foreclose on 60...

Landmark Health Insurance Bill Passes House Tough fight still ahead in Senate, and two versions have wide differences WASHINGTON - In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. The final vote was 220-215. Only one Republican — Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana — voted for the measure; 39 Democrats voted against it. Obama praised the House in a statement and said he is "absolutely confident" that the Senate will pass its version of...

The tallest building in America is getting a new name. Chicago's Sears Tower will be renamed Willis Tower after London-based Willis Group Holdings. The insurance broker announced the name change and other details of its agreement with the building's owners Thursday. Willis is moving five offices and nearly 500 employees into the 110-story building. The move is expected to be completed by late summer. Willis will occupy more than 140,000 square feet at $14.50 a square foot.

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 7, 2009 – A massive reconstruction of the historic Louisiana National Guard headquarters is under way and inching closer to its projected completion date of January 2010. Reconstruction has begun on a building that will house the Louisiana adjutant general's office at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans. Jackson Barracks is the Louisiana National Guard headquarters that was heavily damaged in 2005 as a result of Hurricane Katrina. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Beyonka Joseph  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Jackson Barracks, built in the mid-1830s, was heavily damaged by flood waters after Hurricane Katrina devastated...

China's President Hu Jintao made a landmark visit to Cuba Tuesday, bearing millions of dollars in aid and promises of closer future trade ties. The Chinese leader brought 4.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid for victims of three hurricanes that battered Cuba this year, which was handed over late Monday after Hu's arrival at the Jose Marti International Airport. Receiving the gift, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Rodrigo Malmierca said that Cuba "deeply appreciates the visit of President Hu Jintao, at the exact moment the country is struggling to recover and continue its development." It was the third...