Free Republic

A Southwest Airlines gate agent at John Wayne Airport is accused of being awful in front of a five-year old girl - and on social media - because of her unique name. The girl's mother says the agent made fun of the name and even posted a photo of her boarding pass on social media for others to chime in. Five-year-old Abcde Redford pronounces her name "ab-city."

The weeks following any year’s Oscars are a home film festival at our house, an attempt to evaluate which movies were snubbed on the big night, and which were overpraised. After absorbing the great performances but ultimately unsatisfying payoff of “Birdman,” and the underappreciated triumph of “Still Alice,” it was time to assess the documentary feature winner, “Citizenfour,” Laura Poitras’ journey through a few days in Hong Kong with NSA leaker Edward Snowden. My political differences with the filmmaker and her subject made me even more curious. She would have no trouble hitting a home run with surveillance-phobic libertarians and...

More than half of the nation’s school cafeteria workers expect to lose money selling low-salt, low-fat meals pushed by first lady Michelle Obama, a “serious” problem that threatens the programs, according to a survey of food providers.The School Nutrition Association, which is planning to demand changes to the meal requirements to make the food more attractive to students, found that 50.35 percent of cafeteria officials surveyed expect that serving the food will “exceed revenue” next year.“Of the 92 percent of respondents reporting that rising costs pose a ‘serious’ or ‘moderate’ challenge to their programs, 70 percent indicated ‘serious,’” said the...

First lady Michelle Obama and school lunch ladies used to be on the same team, but now they’re locked in a political war against each other. For the first three years of Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, the School Nutrition Association, a powerful group that represents 55,000 cafeteria professionals, was a close ally in the White House push to get kids to eat healthier. The group helped lobby for the legislation at the center of the debate: the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, a law championed by the first lady that mandates more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and less sodium...

Bomb threat halts flight at John Wayne Airport By SEAN EMERY / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER SANTA ANA – Authorities are investigating a bomb threat involving an airplane at John Wayne Airport on Tuesday night, Orange County Sheriff's Department officials said. A plane is being held in isolation after authorities received the threat about 8:10 p.m., Lt. Joe Balicki said. Article Tab: image1-Bomb threat halts flight at John Wayne Airport ADVERTISEMENT Southwest Flight 811 was preparing to depart to Phoenix when a "nonspecific" threat was reported to Phoenix authorities, said Jenny Wedge, a John Wayne Airport spokeswoman. Sheriff's officials described...

<p>WELFARE reform was one of the big successes of the Giuliani years. Unfortunately, the city's welfare rolls are no longer steadily falling. What's more, other forms of public assistance have been steadily rising.</p> <p>From 1994 through 2001, New York's welfare caseload fell roughly 60 percent. But as the chart shows, once the five-year limit on welfare benefits kicked in at the end of 2001, tens of thousands of New York welfare recipients shifted virtually overnight from the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program to Safety Net Assistance (SNA) - a program with no time limit, financed solely by state and city taxpayers.</p>

Hey girls, want to get skanky? Well, sashay down to your local abuse shelter and get buzzed! No, you don't have to be a real victim of domestic violence. All you need is a convincing story. Last year Hollie Cephas of Monticello, Ark. arrived on the doorstep of the Options shelter to recount her tale of woe: Her husband had beaten her to the point of having two miscarriages, he hid her insulin, and once he even called her a "fat pig." The intake worker at Options had been taught to "always believe the victim," so of course she was...

Frontier Airlines Airbus 318 carrying 114 passengers and crew landed safely after being diverted shortly after takeoff from John Wayne Airport because a light indicated a cargo door was unlatched, officials said. Flight 263, bound for Denver, took off from John Wayne Airport at 11:11 a.m. and the pilot reported that the cargo door indicator light had come on, said FAA spokesman Mike Fergus. The plane was directed to burn off its excess fuel and return to John Wayne Airport. Emergency equipment and personnel from the Orange County Fire Authority were positioned at the John Wayne runway in case of...