Free Republic

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — They’re calling it the parcel puppy. A Minneapolis woman is charged with animal cruelty after police say she tried to send a puppy through the mail. The poodle-mixed pup is being held temporarily at the animal control office in Minneapolis but still belongs to the woman who allegedly tried to mail it — 39-year-old Stacey Champion. “Clearly there wasn’t a whole lot of thought that went into this,” said Sgt. Angela Dodge with the Minneapolis Police Department. Dodge said last Tuesday Champion took the puppy to the Loring Post Office. The puppy was in a box with...

US intelligence officials feared that al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen were plotting to attack the United States and actually intercepted what they now believe were "dry run" shipments to Chicago in mid-September, according to several people briefed on the plot and a senior US official. ... The White House said it only learned of the actual air cargo plot late Thursday night when Saudi intelligence provided "a tip" about the bombs being shipped.

<p>A QUARTER-century ago, Proposition 13 and a court decision to equalize funding among school districts transferred power to the state and eroded local control over school taxes.</p> <p>Since then, legislators have turned education financing into a monument to the Winchester Mystery House. It's illogical and byzantine, with tiny pots of money in a thousand nooks and crannies. At least the Mystery House's foundation is stable. Education is built on the loose foundation of a cyclical economy.</p>