Free Republic

HOLLISTER, Calif. - The City Council has canceled an annual Independence Day motorcycle rally that attracted more than 100,000 bikers a year from around the country and inspired the 1950s Marlon Brando outlaw biker movie "The Wild One." The council voted 3-2 on Feb. 6 to scrap plans for this year's Hollister Independence Rally, arguing that the city cannot continue paying for police patrols at the event. The city paid $250,000 last year after the rally's nonprofit organizing group said it could not pay, city officials said. But Mayor Robert Scattini, who voted for keeping the rally, said the council...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) Sam Phillips, who discovered Elvis Presley and helped usher in the rock 'n' roll revolution, died Wednesday. He was 80. Phillips died at St. Francis Hospital, spokeswoman Gwendolyn McClain said. No details were immediately available about the cause of death or how long he had been hospitalized. Phillips founded Sun Records in Memphis in 1952 and helped launch the career of Presley, then a young singer who had moved from Tupelo, Miss. He produced Presley's first record, the 1954 single that featured ``That's All Right, Mama'' and ``Blue Moon of Kentucky.'' ``God only knows that we didn't...