Free Republic

FAA licensed 5 arrested at TIMCO 3-24-05 By Taft Wireback, Staff Writer News & Record GREENSBORO -- Five of those arrested on immigration charges at TIMCO two weeks ago had high-level repair licenses from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating how they qualified for licensing tests, the agency said Wednesday. FAA administrators are looking into documents used by the five in seeking the right to test for Airframe and Powerplant certification, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. The A&P license allows mechanics to work on the more complex parts of a plane. "To our knowledge, they all passed the written,...

The state attorney general's office says those with concealed weapons permits can carry handguns into any city park in Arkansas, unless the park acts to ban them. Attorney General Mike Beebe was asked to clarify the new state law allowing permit holders to carry concealed weapons into parks and restaurants. North Little Rock city attorney Paul Suskie questioned whether Arkansas criminal code already prohibits firearms in city parks. A new law that took effect in mid-July makes concealed weapons permissible in parks and restaurants, but gives cities the ability to ban them. The attorney general's opinion says the new law's...

CHICAGO -- Coveted low-digit license plates were swapped for contributions to George Ryan's gubernatorial campaign, a witness testified Monday at a racketeering trial targeting one of Ryan's former top aides and his campaign committee. Larry Hall, who worked for Ryan when he was secretary of state, testified he arranged for those willing to contribute as much as $1,000 to get the prestigious low-digit plates. Hall told the federal racketeering trial of Scott Fawell -- Ryan's former chief of staff -- and the Citizens for Ryan campaign committee that the scheme was a "cash cow" and that he would keep Fawell...