Free Republic

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi blasted the United States on Friday, after the State Department announced it would cut $200 million in bilateral assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA). "The U.S. administration is demonstrating the use of cheap blackmail as a political tool. The Palestinian people and leadership will not be intimidated and will not succumb to coercion. The rights of the Palestinian people are not for sale,” she said in a statement. “There is no glory in constantly bullying and punishing a people under occupation. The U.S. administration has already demonstrated meanness of spirit in...

CORPUS CHRISTI — Corpus Christi’s cut of federal stimulus dollars will improve city roads, pay the rent for people living in housing projects, train math and science teachers and send more people to trade schools and college on government scholarships. Those projects, along with dozens of others, are part of about $200 million of federal stimulus projects coming to the area. The money should create close to 2,000 jobs, based on White House formulas. Those job creation numbers likely are “severely inflated,” said Jason Alaniz, the city’s intergovernmental relations project manager in charge of stimulus projects.