Free Republic

WASHINGTON - Authorities dropped charges Friday against an aide to Virginia Sen. Jim Webb who carried a loaded gun into the U.S. Capitol complex. "After reviewing and analyzing all of the evidence in the case, we do not believe the essential elements of the crime of carrying a pistol without a license can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt," U.S. Attorney Jeff Taylor, top prosecutor in the District of Columbia, said in a short statement. Webb senior aide Phillip Thompson, 45, was arrested on March 26 after Capitol Police spotted the loaded pistol and two other loaded magazines in a...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Car-theft charges against Daniel Baldwin were dropped Friday. Orange County Superior Court Judge Kelly MacEachern dismissed the charges at the prosecution's request during a brief hearing, said Farrah Emami, district attorney spokeswoman. "After following up on statements that were provided to us by witnesses and the victim, we determined that the evidence didn't support us going forward with the case," she said. Authorities had alleged the actor stole a 2003 GMC Yukon from a friend, Ken Smith, but Baldwin said it was a misunderstanding. Smith reported the car missing without knowing his cousin lent Baldwin the...

Sent/received packets are running at about 4:1 ratio (ideally the figures are about even, of course). Any computer geeks know how to solve this problem? As a result, internet connectivity is nil. Tech. support is not very helpful either. I knicked the line with my pipe wrench on Sunday, while realigning the dish, but I don't think that's the problem (as the issue didn't start until today).

PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa - In a boost to his presidential hopes, a judge on Wednesday dismissed a corruption indictment against Jacob Zuma, who walked from court and broke into a Zulu song, "Bring me my machine gun." Jubilant supporters sang along, convinced the populist politician's quest to lead South Africa has gained momentum. But concerns about the former deputy president may linger. Judge Herbert Msimang first denied a motion for a postponement from prosecutors, who argued they needed more time to prepare. When stunned prosecutors said they were unable to begin immediately, the judge said he had no choice but...

LANCASTER, Wis. - A judge on Friday dismissed charges of attempted sexual assault against three men accused of trying to dig up a woman's body to have sex with the corpse, noting that Wisconsin has no law against necrophilia. The men still face lesser charges. Twins Nicholas and Alexander Grunke, 20, and Dustin Radke, 20, were arrested after an alleged attempt to dig up the body of a 20-year-old woman who was killed Aug. 27 in a motorcycle crash. Officials said a caller reported suspicious activity in the cemetery Sept. 2, and deputies found someone had dug down to her...

MARIETTA, Ohio - Prosecutors dropped the terrorism charges against two men arrested after buying large numbers of cell phones, saying Tuesday that they couldn't prove a terrorism link. The dismissal, in a one-page court document, came the day after Washington County Prosecutor James Schneider said he didn't have enough evidence to present the felony charges to a grand jury. Ali Houssaiky and Osama Sabhi Abulhassan, both of Dearborn, Mich., left prison after paying a reduced bond on their remaining misdemeanor counts of falsification. "We know it was just a matter of time. We were just hoping it wouldn't be forever,"...

Limbaugh surrenders on drug charge Conservative talk-show host reportedly reaches deal to settle Rx rap WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Rush Limbaugh and prosecutors in the long-running painkiller fraud case against him have reached a deal calling for the only charge against the conservative commentator to be dropped if he continues treatment, his attorney said Friday. Limbaugh was booked on a single charge that was filed Friday, said Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Jail. He left about an hour later, after Limbaugh was photographed and fingerprinted and he posted $3,000 bail, Barbera said. The radio giant’s...

Two weeks after a Defense Information Systems Agency official was arrested on a charge of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s office handling the case dropped the charge. But a spokeswoman in the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the investigation is continuing. “This is an ongoing investigation, so we don’t have any comments,” the spokeswoman said. Charles Lynch, director of DISA’s IP version 6 transition program, was arrested March 8 and indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia the next day on one count of possessing child pornography. According to a statement by the DOD Inspector General’s...

SACRAMENTO - Kiss goodbye that $3-per-month water fee Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had proposed to help shore up state levees. The senator in charge of overseeing the multibillion-dollar waterworks proposal axed the fee proposal Thursday night. And while the fee - some call it a tax - still lives in the Assembly, it appears doomed for the short term. The governor had proposed to charge every household $3 per month to pay for improvement to the state's water system, including maintaining levees in the Delta. The fee's demise means $5 billion of the $35 billion waterworks proposal now must be found...

Louisiana Woman Charged After Hurricane Katrina Left Area in Ruins GRETNA, La. (Jan. 13) - A church deaconess and great-grandmother jailed for two weeks after being accused of looting sausage during Hurricane Katrina will not be prosecuted. Merlene Maten, 73, learned of the decision Wednesday when she appeared in court for her arraignment, said her attorney, Daniel Becnel III. "My God tells me it's best to give than to receive. So for anybody to even think of accusing me of doing something like that, it just sickens me to my stomach. But thank God, thank God, thank God it's over,"...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate-passed measure to add more visas for foreign workers in high-tech and specialty fields was dropped from a budget bill that passed the House early Monday, disappointing high-tech and manufacturing firms in search of skilled workers. The Senate plan would have allowed 30,000 more of the popular H1-B visas each year, and increased fees for those visas to help trim the budget deficit. Congress capped the six-year H-1B visas at 65,000 per year in 2004, and that cap has already been reached for the 2006 fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The Senate language also would...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Workers' compensation insurance rates paid by California employers have dropped an average of about 26 percent since lawmakers instituted a series of cost-cutting bills beginning in 2003, but bigger reductions are possible, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said Monday. "The full effect of reforms have not yet been realized to employers," he said in a conference call with reporters. "Further reductions are possible and should happen." Garamendi estimates that the claims insurers have paid for work-related injuries has dropped 36.5 percent since mid-2003, but insurance companies have reported overall base-rate reductions of about 26.8 percent in the same...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Federal prosecutors have dropped four extortion charges against an animal rights activist who was accused of freeing thousands of mink from farms around the Midwest. Prosecutors said they were forced to act because a Supreme Court decision changed the legal definition of extortion while Peter Daniel Young was on the run. The ruling found someone must actually take something from another person, authorities said. The surprise move shocked the owner of a farm where authorities said Young helped free 300 mink in 1997. "You've got to be kidding. Unbelievable. Unbelievable," said Alex Ott, owner of Ott's...

AUSTIN, Texas - Prosecutors dropped charges against a California company accused of making a $25,000 contribution to a political action committee formed by Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Questerra Corp. was among eight companies and three DeLay associates indicted last September in connection with contributions to the Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee. DeLay has not been accused of any wrongdoing. A grand jury has been investigating whether $2.5 million in corporate funds were used illegally to help Republican candidates win elections in 2002 that gave the GOP a majority in the Texas House for the first...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A judge dismissed all charges Thursday against four members of a conservative Christian group who were arrested last fall while picketing a street festival for gays. After watching video footage of the event, Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe said that while the protesters' message that homosexuality is a sin clearly enraged the crowd, the bullhorn-wielding demonstrators did not incite violence. "We are one of the very few countries that protect unpopular speech. And that means that Nazis can March in Skokie, Ill. ... That means that the Ku Klux Klan can march where they wish to," Dembe...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should focus on getting more federal aid for deficit-plagued California and working out the state's problems with lawmakers instead of threatening to call a special election, the Senate's leader said Tuesday. If the Republican governor decides to take issues such as legislative redistricting and a state spending cap to voters this fall, Democrats will respond with ballot measures they favor, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said. "If there's going to be a gunfight at the OK Corral, we're not going to go in unarmed," the Oakland Democrat told reporters. He also said lawmakers...

The Schwarzenegger administration, under fire for attempting a quick rule change that would weaken the state law that guarantees lunch breaks for workers, backed off its plan for the emergency order on Monday. Instead, state officials say they will pursue changes to the lunch-break law under regular, drawn-out procedures that give the public an opportunity to weigh in at public hearings and during a public comment period. "We wanted to make sure all the interested parties had a chance to have their concerns heard," said Dean Fryer, spokesman for the state Department of Industrial Relations, the agency overseeing the division...

BOLIVIA, N.C. (AP) - Prosecutors threw out charges Friday against a man who served 20 years in prison for the sexual molestation of two girls who recanted their allegations. The victims, who were 4 and 6 when they made the charges, testified that they falsely accused the man under pressure from their grandmother because she wanted to protect the real abuser - a cousin of the girls. More than 40 members of the family of Sylvester Smith were in court when the charges against him were dismissed. Smith's reaction to the dismissal was "a jubilation," said his attorney, Roy Trest....

The Labor Department reported this morning that the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 5.4% in August, down from 5.5% in July, and that our economy created 144,000 new jobs in August. July job creation was revised upward to 73,000 from the 32,000 initially reported. 78,000 new jobs were added in June. Looks like the July numbers were a blip and we’re getting back to the torrid pace of job creation of May (248,000), April (346,000), and March (353,000). After President Bush’s stirring speech last night and the good economic news, just how will Senator Franken-Kerry put a negative spin on...

Reagan series dropped after attacks from conservatives By Andrew Buncombe in Washington 05 November 2003 America's most venerable television network has dropped a series on Ronald Reagan after conservatives said its portrayal of the former president was unflattering, unfair and inaccurate. CBS said the series would be licensed instead to a pay-to-view cable subsidiary, Showtime. "Although the miniseries features impressive production values and acting performances, and although the producers have sources to verify each scene in the script, we believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience," it said yesterday. The network...