Free Republic

President Barack Obama will propose a $10 per barrel charge on oil to fund clean transportation projects as part of his final budget request next week, the White House said Thursday. The proposal would have difficulty clearing the Republican-controlled Congress. Oil companies would pay the fee, which would be gradually introduced over five years. The government would use the proceeds to fund high-speed railways, autonomous cars and other travel systems. "By placing a fee on oil, the President's plan creates a clear incentive for private sector innovation to reduce our reliance on oil and at the same time invests in...

SUMTER, SC (WIS) - "You can fire it as many times as you want, it won't come out" said 6-year-old Naomi McKinney. "It's duct taped because it's broken." McKinney took her brother's air soft gun to school January 4th. The school kept it. "It was broken and I just wanted to show my friends it" McKinney said. She never got that far at Alice Drive Elementary. "I told Ms. Frye that I had the gun and she took it from my hand," said McKinney. McKinney was taken to the office and police were called. Her father, Hank McKinney, admits some...

Plainfield Student's Parents Say The Punishment Doesn't Make Sense (CBS) PLAINFIELD, Ill. -- A 13-year-old Plainfield boy and his parents are stunned and outraged after the teen found a gun in school and turned it in to authorities, who then expelled him. CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports Ryan Morgan's parents and supporters attended the school board meeting Wednesday evening to try to fight the expulsion. They believe the punishment, and the subsequent alternative school option, are not the proper responses to a mistake made by a teenage boy. Ryan Morgan, 13, says he pocketed a pellet gun he and a...

DEKALB COUNTY -- Two seniors at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. High School will miss their baccalaureate -- but make their graduation -- after a stink that started over a cake knife. Because of the school's zero tolerance policy on weapons, Ashley Pickens and Candace Grier, both honor students, were suspended from school for 10 days and told they would not be allowed to attend their baccalaureate ceremonies. The DeKalb school superintendent upheld that punishment but decided to allow the girls to walk with their classmates during graduation. The trouble started when the girls brought a cake to school and...

Mother's call gets son in hot water BY ANGELIQUE SOENARIE Staff Writer Kevin Francois gave up his lunch break to talk to his mother, but it ended up costing him the rest of the school year. Francois, a junior at Spencer High School in Columbus, was suspended for disorderly conduct Wednesday after he was told to give up his cell phone at lunch while talking to his mother who is deployed in Iraq, he said. His mother, Sgt. 1st Class Monique Bates, left in January for a one-year tour and serves with the 203rd Forward Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 3rd...

Teen risks penalty over beads School threatens in-school suspension if Raven Furbert dons red, white and blue necklace By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer First published: Saturday, April 9, 2005 SCHENECTADY -- The saga continues for a 13-year-old Mont Pleasant Middle School student who is suing school officials for the right to wear a handmade red, white and blue necklace to class. Raven Furbert was a typical student before she received a string-it-yourself bead kit for Christmas. Now, the girl who filed the civil rights violation claim in U.S. District Court in February has drawn national attention as she fights...