Free Republic

In 35 years in law enforcement, said the Takoma Park Police chief, he's never had this happen. He's never had a store tell him that he would have to leave his service weapon in the car or leave the store -- especially when he was in his police uniform. But that's what happened July 4 in the Ikea in College Park, where Takoma Park Police Chief Alan Goldberg had stopped in with his daughter. Goldberg was in uniform because he had worked that morning at the city's July 4 parade, and would be back on duty that night for fireworks....

I'm curious, has anyone else seen someone use a stick to find water before, and do you believe it works? We sold a piece of property and had to move a well that was on it to another older well we drilled years ago but never used. When we couldn't find the cap with a metal detector the well driller who put it in 20 years ago said we were looking in the wrong place, because there was no water there. He went back to his truck, pulled out a stick, and he and his assistant started walking the property...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis called Friday for governments to redistribute wealth to the poor in a new spirit of generosity to help curb the "economy of exclusion" that is taking hold today.

The State of Indiana is reopening discussions with Midwest Fertilizer and Fatima Group about a multi-billion fertilizer plant in Posey County. Governor Mike Pence says the decision comes after the group and government of Pakistan took steps to make it more difficult for terrorists to obtain the company's products. Pence pulled state support for the project last year. Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana Chief Executive Officer Greg Wathen says the company hopes to begin construction later this year.

With the stroke of Gov. Mike Pence's pen, Indiana became the first state to back off implementing a set of national standards for grade-school education. The standards, known as Common Core, had been adopted by 45 states, but have lately unleashed a political fight that blurs party lines. "'I believe our students are best served when decisions about education are made at the state and local level,' said Pence in a release about Senate Bill 91. " 'By signing this legislation, Indiana has taken an important step forward in developing academic standards that are written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers, and...

Regular listeners to this show know that Tim is a friend and a brother to all of us at the Bob & Tom Show. It is a very difficult day, and we couldn't be more saddened by the passing of a comedy legend. Our thoughts and prayers are with Tim's loved ones. Tim's first appearance on the show took place on April 13, 1995. His first bit played on the Bob & Tom Show was "Acid Country." "Tim is a brother to all of us at the BOB & TOM Show," said Tom Griswold. "He had a comedic voice like...

Link only to this site - This Woman Invented a Way to Run 30 Lab Tests on Only One Drop of Blood Good news for those of us who have to have blood drawn regularly. This young woman dropped out of college and used her tuition money to found this company, and it's going to be a game changer in the medical field. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/02/elizabeth-holmes-theranos/

SEATTLE — Sniff the air around Norman Lewis’ experimental poplars, and you won’t pick up the scent of roses. But inside the saplings’ leaves and stems, cells are hard at work producing the chemical called 2-phenylethanol — which by any other name would smell as sweet. Sweeter still is the fact that perfume and cosmetics companies will pay as much as $30 an ounce for the compound that gives roses their characteristic aroma. Because what Lewis and his colleagues at Washington State University are really chasing is the smell of money. Born out of the frustrating quest to wring biofuels...

Some may think of turkeys as good for just lunch meat and holiday meals, but bioengineers at UC Berkeley saw inspiration in the big birds for a new type of biosensor that changes color when exposed to chemical vapors. This feature makes the sensors valuable detectors of toxins or airborne pathogens. Turkey skin, it turns out, can shift from red to blue to white, thanks to bundles of collagen that are interspersed with a dense array of blood vessels. It is this color-shifting characteristic that gives turkeys the name “seven-faced birds” in Japanese and Korean. The researchers say that spacing...

Cloud impact on climate sensitivity unveiled Global average temperatures will rise at least 4°C by 2100 and potentially more than 8°C by 2200 if carbon dioxide emissions are not reduced according to new research published in Nature. Scientists found global climate is more sensitive to carbon dioxide than most previous estimates. The research also appears to solve one of the great unknowns of climate sensitivity, the role of cloud formation and whether this will have a positive or negative effect on global warming. “Our research has shown climate models indicating a low temperature response to a doubling of carbon dioxide...

Very cool art, but I wonder where PETA stands on this?

QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. - An Arizona man says he has found out the hard way just how to get banned from Walmart for life. Joe Cantrell loves to ad match. He goes through circulars to find the biggest discounts, and then goes to Walmart. According to the company's website, they match the lowest advertised price on identical products, but when Joe tried doing that last week, the unthinkable happened. What started as a trip to a San Tan Valley, Ariz., Walmart to get ornaments for his family's Christmas tree, turned into the biggest nightmare of Joe's life. "I was handcuffed,...

Hypothetical question that has been rolling around in my head for a while, wondering if it would be legal or not. Lets say I own business X with 40 employees and need to hire 20 more. I want full time employees but insurance costs will be prohibitive if I do. Business Y nearby also wants to stay under the 50 employee number of full time employees and is looking to hire, or is too close the the red to take on any more full time healthcare costs being demanded now. I'm looking for the stability of a full time employee...

Detroit has a long history of making stuff — cars, steel, even popcorn. Now, the city is home to a manufacturing facility devoted to the production of an item not made at this scale in the U.S. for decades: Wristwatches. A Dallas-based company has set up a production line for its Shinola brand of watches in Detroit. Shinola officials say their watch production target for this year is 45,000, to be sold online, at flagship stores in Detroit and New York and at fashion and jewelry retailers and department stores around the country.

NDIANAPOLIS – For the 12th time, a Corvette will pace the field for the Indianapolis 500. Race officials revealed Thursday that the 2014 Corvette Stingray will serve as the official pace car for the 97th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. The seventh-generation car differs from the production models with track-mandated safety features and strobe lights. Chevrolet said the car’s powertrain will be able to pace the field without any upgrades thanks to its new 6.2L LT1 engine.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors and Ford are putting aside their longstanding rivalry to work together to develop a new generation of fuel-efficient automatic transmissions. The companies said Monday that their engineers will jointly design nine- and 10-speed transmissions that will go into many of their new cars and trucks.

(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) -- Republicans may still get the last laugh after Arkansas Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe vetoed a bill requiring voters to present photo identification during elections. While GOP lawmakers said the legislation is intended to reduce voter fraud, Beebe argued that it was actually "an expensive solution in search of a problem." Since Republicans took over the Arkansas Legislature for the first time since the late 1880s, it's more than likely they'll override the veto with a simple majority. GOP lawmakers throughout the country have attempted to enact similar bills that Democrats contend is a blatant attempt to...

PARIS (AP) — Airbus signed its biggest deal ever on Monday, an order from Indonesia’s Lion Air worth 18.4 billion euros ($24 billion) that French President Francois Hollande said should inspire the struggling French economy and all of Europe. snip Lion Air is buying 169 A320s and 65 A321 jets. The first planes will be delivered in 2014, and most of them will be outfitted with a new, more fuel-efficient engine that Airbus has developed recently.

A man charged with aiding his wife’s suicide says he never wanted her dead. He said he tried to take back the noose he gave her when they were fighting but investigators are not buying it. Nick Ellis made the noose his wife used to hang herself, but he said he never thought she would use it. “I, in no way, assisted my wife with killing herself,” said Ellis. “Now, I am sitting in jail because of this.” Police said he helped his wife, Jessica, do just that. “I have never seen anything like this and we have never charged...

I was hoping someone was familiar with the Colt Delta Elite 10mm and could tell me if this is a decent investment or not. I am thinking of buying my neighbors that he was going to put on the market asking $750 for, it comes with about 400 rounds of Hornady ammo also. It looks to be in really nice condition, he told me he bought it new and hadn't put 100 rounds through it. My biggest question is how does the 10mm stand up against the .45, and is that a ridiculous price or not? I really love the...