Free Republic

A member of the Portsmouth school board repeatedly asked the court earlier this year to reduce his child support obligations, according to court documents. Part of De’Andre Barnes’ reasoning: His position on the board prevents him from landing some good-paying jobs. “I never said I can’t get a job,” Barnes, 33, explained Friday in Portsmouth Juvenile Domestic Relations Court. “I said it precludes me from certain opportunities.” When asked outside the courtroom how long he’d been unemployed, Barnes said he “wasn’t 100 percent sure.” During a subsequent interview Monday, he said he left the For Our Future Political Action Committee...

In 1977, William McPherson earned the top honor in the writing world when he was honored with a Pulitzer Prize.But nearly four decades later, the former Washington Post critic now hovers on the brink of poverty thanks to a failing pension and a bit of bad luck on the stock market.In a heartbreaking essay for The Hedgehog Review, McPherson describes what it's like to become poor in old age-as part of a overlooked group who are neither middle or lower class.Former teachers and even lawyers who can't pay their bills but aren't on the streets begging for change.Surprisingly, he says...