Free Republic

There’s plenty to do at the Jelly Belly factory, located at 1 Jelly Belly Lane in Fairfield, California. After donning a mandatory paper hat, you can take a tour, peering over a guardrail at the factory floor as machines crank out endless flats of colorful jelly beans. Afterwards, line up for your free sample of one of their dozens of flavors—you can even try the weird ones, like earwax and vomit. Peckish? Don’t miss the cafe, where you can enjoy a bean-shaped pizza or burger. But whatever you do at the factory, you’ll be watched over by the presence of...

When it comes to food, it turns out you can sue over just about anything these days. A California woman is suing the makers of Jelly Belly jelly beans, claiming she was tricked into believing one of the company's candy products was free of sugar. The plaintiff, Jessica Gomez of San Bernadino County, first brought the case against the candy company earlier this year, blaming "fancy phrasing" for her confusion over the ingredients, according to Legal News Line.

We're in Fairfield, a few minutes away from Travis Air Force base, one of the last few remaining military installations in the Bay Area. We've come through miles of drought-desiccated fields and baked brown hills to visit what's arguably the most conservative place in Northern California: the Jelly Belly candy factory. This is where right-wingnut Rick Santorum threw a well-attended fundraiser during his short-lived bid for president in 2012. It is easy to understand why he and his Tea Party followers would feel comfortable here. The place is in many ways a Wal-Mart-sized shrine to Ronald Reagan. You see, without...

A dramatic global increase in jellyfish swarms could damage the marine food chain Global warming has long been blamed for the huge rise in the world's jellyfish population. But new research suggests that they, in turn, may be worsening the problem by producing more carbon than the oceans can cope with. Research led by Rob Condon of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in the US focuses on the effect that the increasing numbers of jellyfish are having on marine bateria, which play an important role by recycling nutrients created by decaying organisms back into the food web.

Some sweet news for Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign, so far he's winning the national jelly bean vote. "Fork Over Your Vote" is a national project where people can choose who they think should be the next president by tossing a jelly bean into a jar.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2007 – After sending thousands of homemade Valentines and boxes of candy to troops serving overseas, SI Yellow Ribbon Campaign is gearing up for its fourth “Operation Jellybeans to Heroes Unseen.” In this operation, the organization sends boxes of Easter goodies to servicemembers to remind them that Americans at home are still thinking about them. SI Yellow Ribbon Campaign is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program that highlights and facilitates the ways Americans and the corporate sector are supporting the nation’s servicemembers. “We try to include in each box a bag of...

It has been a long time since so much syrupy nostalgia has been in evidence at the White House. But Tuesday night, when President Bush announced his choice for the next associate justice of the Supreme Court, it was hard not to marvel at the 1950s-style tableau vivant that was John Roberts and his family. There they were -- John, Jane, Josie and Jack -- standing with the president and before the entire country. The nominee was in a sober suit with the expected white shirt and red tie. His wife and children stood before the cameras, groomed and glossy...

FAIRFIELD, Calif. — Black ribbons are affixed to the large jelly-bean mosaic portraits of Ronald Reagan at the Jelly Belly Candy Co. The family-owned company that makes the tiny, intense-flavored candies owes a lot to the former president. Reagan's love for the candy "made us a worldwide company overnight," said chairman Herman Rowland. It all began in 1967, when the San Francisco Bay-area company started supplying Reagan, then serving his first term as California's governor, with miniature jelly beans to help him quit smoking. "It's gotten to the point where we can hardly start a meeting or make a decision...