Free Republic

HOBART — Mayor Brian Snedecor has joined the Republican Party. Surrounded by family, elected officials and supporters, Snedecor became emotional as he made the announcement Wednesday at Festival Park. “I must be true to my God, my family, myself and those that have supported and believed in me,” Snedecor said. “So today I am formally announcing that I am leaving the Democratic Party and that I am joining the Republican party.” He said he’s become increasingly concerned during the last several months as the national Democratic platform has moved “more and more to the left.” “The efforts of the progressive...

Police have named the man who died at a Hobart beach from a suspected stingray puncture wound, while an expert in the marine species has urged calm despite increased numbers of the animals in Tasmanian waters. Nicolas Ricketts, 42, died from cardiac arrest on Saturday shortly after he sustained the injury to his lower abdomen, believed to have been inflicted by a stingray, while swimming at Lauderdale, east of Hobart. Friends and family of Mr Ricketts, known widely as "Ned" who worked as a plumber and had served with the Australian Navy, gathered at the spot where he died yesterday....

HOBARTIANS could be excused for thinking winter had come early today, waking up to a snow-capped Mt Wellington. At 8am, the temperature at the summit was a chilly minus 1.8 degrees, with the apparent temperature a teeth-rattling minus 13.2.

he was 18 years old, a freshman, and had been on campus for just two weeks when one Saturday night last September her friends grew worried because she had been drinking and suddenly disappeared. Around midnight, the missing girl texted a friend, saying she was frightened by a student she had met that evening. “Idk what to do,” she wrote. “I’m scared.” When she did not answer a call, the friend began searching for her. In the early-morning hours on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in central New York, the friend said, he found her — bent...

Explanation: This clear night skyscape captures the colorful glow of aurora australis, the southern lights, just outside the port city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, planet Earth. As if staring into the dreamlike scene, the Tasmanian Earth Resources Satellite Station poses in the center, illuminated by nearby city lights. Used to receive data from spacebased Earth observing instruments, including NASA's MODIS and SeaWiFS, the station was decommissioned in 2011 and dismantled only recently, shortly after the picture was taken on April 30. Still shining in southern skies though, the central bulge of our Milky Way galaxy and two bright satellite galaxies...

A 19-YEAR-OLD woman set fire to her own paper-wrapped faeces in revenge for having her boyfriend stolen, a court heard. The woman defecated in a piece of newspaper and put it on the front porch of a house belonging to a woman who she found out had a brief affair with her partner. The Supreme Court in Hobart heard the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, ignited the paper but it failed to catch alight. She then lit another piece of paper on fire and slid it through the front door. The blaze caught on to the curtains...

GENEVA - The Muslim world and the West have a big communication problem. While most Americans tune into the news and scratch their heads over Muslims rioting in the streets about cartoons, Muslims across the globe learn much of what they know about our culture from one of the most popular shows in the world - "Jerry Springer." American students can come to an understanding of the faith if they know the similarities between Islam, Christianity and Judaism and can distinguish between historic Islam and the relatively recent rise of violent fundamentalism, said Audrey Shabbas, an Islamic scholar and director...

ELEANOR HALL: Is it a quirky tourist attraction or a case of animal cruelty? That's the question being asked about a pub in Tasmania which has a pair of pigs swilling beer at the bar. Animal liberationists say the pigs are being forced into a cruel and unnatural existence. But the pub's owners say it's just good fun, and that the pigs are also enjoying themselves. In Hobart, Tim Jeanes reports. TIM JEANES: The big attraction at the Pub in the Paddock in Tasmania's north-east is its beer drinking pigs. Even Tasmania's tourist authority encourages visitors to call in and...

POLICE are hoping to interview passengers from a Virgin flight to Melbourne from Hobart after a stink bomb smelling of rotten eggs was set off in the cabin. The "innocuous substance" was released as the jet was approaching Melbourne Airport, a spokeswoman for the airport said today. "The airline alerted authorities and they responded," she said. "There were no evacuations required." Detectives believe the odour came from a broken glass vial containing a clear clear liquid giving off a 'rotten egg' smell, Victoria Police spokeswoman Stacey Mair said. She said the plane landed about 8pm (AEST) and police were alerted...

Hobart and William Smith Colleges President Mark Gearan has sent a letter to faculty and staff decrying the use of the word "fruit" on t-shirts worn by Hobart lacrosse fans to the game against Syracuse last week at the Carrier Dome. The shirts read "at least our mascot isn't a fruit." Syracuse teams are called the Orangemen, frequently shortened to Orange. Gearan points out that the term fruit is used as a derogatory term for gays. Gearan calls the use of the word, "especially painful to many because of our commitment to diversity, equity and social justice."

GENEVA, NY—A group of anti-war protesters who threw blood on a soldier, a recruiting station and the U.S. flag will deliver a lecture at Hobart and William Smith campuses today.According to a campus press release, the four Ithaca residents-- Daniel Burns, Peter DeMott, Clare Grady and Teresa Grady--are expected to address students on “the use of unconventional politics as a means for political organizing and resistance in a time of war and in a time of the Patriot Act.”In addition, the group’s sponsor, Professor Craig Rimmerman of the HWS political science department, hopes to ask the group "what they were...

GENEVA — Katy Goodrich is straight. But finding out four years ago that her brother is not was enough to prompt her to do whatever she could to support the gay movement. “I’m sure he would do it for me, too,” said the William Smith College sophomore who organized a same-sex holding hands day Thursday at the Colleges. Goodrich, who chairs the campus’ PRIDE Alliance (People Respecting Individual Differences in Everyone), said the event was meant to show people of all sexual orientations that their peers accept them for who they are. Like Goodrich, most of the 20 or 30...

<p>ITHACA -- Ecological responsibility and leadership has always been part of GreenStar Cooperative Market's stated mission.</p> <p>So when GreenStar heard about the opportunity to partially power the grocery store with wind-generated electricity, market general manager Patrice Jennings said store owners did not hesitate to sign on to a wind power program offered by New York State Electric & Gas and Community Energy Inc.</p>