Free Republic

An analysis of credit card receipts finds Mexican shoppers spent $150 million dollars in Hays County last year. Their shopping trips generated $12 million in sales tax revenue and jobs throughout the community. Juan Carlos is general manager of the Tanger Outlet Center in San Marcos. He says, "Traditionally we have seen a lot of Mexican national shoppers during appropriate seasons: Tres Reyes, Semana Santa. Those types of weeks are definitely big weeks for us." San Marcos Mayor Daniel Guerrero says the visitors' spending spree extends beyond the outlet malls. He adds, "At the same time they get to stop...

Both Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev were UMass Dartmouth students originally from Kazakhstan. Terror suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev would hang out at the their New Bedford, Mass. apartment frequently and may have stayed with them on the night of the bombing and the following night. The friends raised hackles by cruising around a BMW with a "TERRORISTA #1” vanity plate, one of their fathers confirmed.

Kim Williams, the 46-year-old wife of former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams, was arrested and charged with capital murder... Over the weekend, Mr. Williams, 46, was arrested on a terroristic threat charge. Sources told WFAA evidence linked Mr. Williams to the murders of prosecutor Mark Hasse, 57, and District Attorney Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife Cynthia, 65.

ABC Los Angeles affiliate KABC reported Fridaythat a panhandler approached the victim walking into a 7-Eleven store and asked him for money. The victim said no. When the victim left the store and got into his SUV, the 37-year-old transient reportedly doused him and the inside of his vehicle with a flammable substance and lit it on fire, engulfing the truck in flames with the man inside

A Florida 2-year-old lost both feet Wednesday night after her father accidentally backed over her with his riding lawn mower... Two-year-old Ireland Nugent was calling her father’s name as he mowed the lawn Wednesday night, but he didn’t see her, said Nugent, who watched as her husband mowed over her daughter’s legs.

Many may not be aware of pancake anaphylaxis, which is a rare but serious problem in which patients have a severe and life-threatening allergic reaction after eating pancakes.

All-grown-up Jonathan Bower is ready to walk down the aisle! Former Who's the Boss child star Danny Pintauro is engaged to boyfriend Wil Tabares, he tells Us Weekly exclusively. The happy couple, who live and work in Las Vegas, headed to Palm Springs, Calif. earlier this week to celebrate their one-year anniversary together. Over a romantic dinner on Wednesday April 3, Tabares popped the question by playing a homemade video -- featuring a ring!

Two former CIA employees whose Kansas home was fruitlessly searched for marijuana during a two-state drug sweep claim they were illegally targeted, possibly because they had bought indoor growing supplies to raise vegetables.

The US 281 bridge in Marble Falls is no longer standing. The scheduled blast over Lake Marble Falls was impressive... the blast triggered a communication meltdown. Cell phones stopped working along with first responder radios. KXAN also confirmed the 911 call centers in Marble Falls, Burnet and Llano were knocked offline and the Burnet County Sheriff's Office dispatchers started fielding all calls.

Robin Fitzpatrick never knew peanuts could kill her son... The Plymouth, Mass., native was first diagnosed with a nut allergy when he was 8, after projectile-vomiting "across the room" at a Chinese restaurant, his mother said. In high school he suffered from a serious allergic reaction after he dropped his asthma inhaler into a pile of acorns... his mom couldn't find his Epi-Pen -- an epinephrine autoinjector. She had one in her cupboard but it had expired two months earlier. First responders told her over the phone that she shouldn't use it.

Lanza, whose mother used to take him to shooting ranges, killed all of his victims at the schoolhouse with a Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle that he took from the house where he lived with Nancy Lanza. He used a handgun to kill himself... It also prompted reviews of school security and mental health care and led to proposed legislation in Connecticut that would forbid arcades and other establishments from allowing children under 18 to play point-and-shoot video games.

A central California retirement home is defending one of its nurses who refused pleas by a 911 operator to perform CPR on an elderly woman, who later died... The executive director of Glenwood Gardens, Jeffrey Toomer, defended the nurse's actions in a statement, saying she did indeed follow policy. "In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives,"

The man had called police saying that he had just shot and killed dog that he said had was attacking him. The dispatcher asked the man to return to his home and let police take over once they arrived, Acevedo said. When the officer arrived, the man had the semiautomatic pistol tucked into his waistband, the chief said. The man was told to give up the gun, but instead drew it on the officer, Acevedo said. The officer then drew his gun and fired. He was pronounced dead around 7:45 a.m., Acevedo said.

Actress Bonnie Franklin, known to TV fans as divorced mom Ann Romano on the '70s sitcom "One Day at a Time," has died at age 69. Her family says her death was due to complications from pancreatic cancer, which Franklin revealed she was battling back in September.

About 10,000 Austin Energy customers are without power Monday afternoon because of high winds, utility spokesman Ed Clark said.... About 1,700 customers are without power Monday afternoon in Pflugerville... Wind has knocked out power for about 1300 customers across Bastrop, Lee and Caldwell counties... San Marcos The city’s Electric Utility and Transportation Departments are responding to numerous calls about power outages and six reports of downed trees

A Berlin family of three has been living on practically nothing but love and the goodwill of others for more than two years and counting—not as a victims of the rough economy, but as activists who are on a money strike to protest what they call our “excess-consumption society.” ... Though Fellmer uses no money, he said Palmer does use a little, mainly in the form of child support she receives from the government, which is granted to all children.

A new virus from the same family as SARS that sparked a global alert last September has been found in a further patient in Britain, health officials said on Monday. This latest case of infection with the new virus known as a coronavirus brings the total number of confirmed cases globally to 10, of which five have died. The British patient, who had recently travelled to the Middle East and Pakistan, is receiving intensive care treatment in hospital in Manchester, northern England.

Jewell has served as the outdoor retailer's CEO since 2005. She started her career as a petroleum engineer working in the oil fields of Oklahoma and Colorado for Mobil Oil Corp. She then moved to the banking industry, before joining the REI board in 1996 and becoming chief operations officer four years later.

Technically, the IRS kicked off tax season Wednesday — a week later than expected, as a result of Congress’s 12th-hour deal — but tax pros say it could be weeks before many Americans can actually file their returns. The various changes to the tax code forced payroll departments to hold off their end-of-year accounting. A fair number of taxpayers still haven’t received their W2s, experts say. Those who need to file Form 8863 to claim credits for higher education won’t be able to file until the middle of February, after the IRS finishes updating its processing systems, officials said Monday....

The chorus from Sandy Hook Elementary School will sing "America the Beautiful" before Sunday's Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens.