Free Republic

Zoo Won’t Let de Blasio Hold Groundhog After He Killed One Last Year The NYPD isn't the only city organization that has lost complete confidence in the esteemed Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio. After he dropped the groundhog during last year's Groundhog Day celebrations, the Staten Island Zoo has unequivocally banned De Blasio from holding or handling any more of their animals in a celebratory setting. - Mayor de Blasio won’t be killing any more groundhogs — zoo handlers are forbidding the butter-fingered mayor from holding the critter at the annual shadow-sighting ceremony on Feb. 2, The...

Once bitten, twice not so shy, it seems, in the case of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his ongoing feud with Staten Island Chuck. Two years after he got bitten by the woodchuck, the Mayor called the animal a 'sonofab**ch' on Wednesday, not realising he was being filmed. Chuck lives at Staten Island Zoo and is the city's official woodchuck for the Groundhog Day ceremony.

Revolt of the rodents BY DAVE BARRY (This classic Dave Barry column was originally published Sept. 10, 1995.) Once again, we are forced to ask ourselves, as a society, whether nature should be legal. Consider a story from the June 22 Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader, written by Paul Tracy and sent in by alert reader Arnie Alpert. This story states that on June 20 a Laconia, N.H., police officer was called to the municipal water-treatment facility in response to -- and as you read this column, please bear in mind that I am not making any of these newspaper quotations...

FLASH: JUDY WOODRUFF LEAVES CNN This message was just sent on CNN's internal messaging system: "To my colleagues and friends at CNN: I've decided to leave daily journalism after 30 years, 12 of them at this network. I've had challenging and exciting opportunities, been supported by an amazing and talented group of people, and made lifelong friends. I wish them the very best. I'm discussing several long-form projects in television. I'll also teach, do some writing and be an occasional consultant and contributor to CNN. To all of you at CNN who have been so wonderful to me, I can't...